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How did Northants MPs vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement? | Tonights historic commons vote has seen the government face a record defeat against its Brexit withdrawal agreement. Prime Minister Theresa May had tabled her 585-page agreement on the terms on which the country will leave the EU on March 29. Andrew Lewer and Michael Ellis But MPs voted overwhelmingly against the agreement, with 432 MPs voting against the agreement and just 202 in favour. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, has tabled a vote of no confidence that has the potential to bring down the government. Heres how Northamptonshire MPs voted: Tom Pursglove, Conservative, Corby and East Northants - AGAINST Philip Hollobone, Conservative, Kettering - AGAINST Peter Bone, Conservative, Wellingborough - AGAINST Andrea Leadsom, Conservative, South Northamptonshire - FOR Michael Ellis, Conservative, North Northampton - FOR Chris Heaton-Harris, Conservative, Daventry - FOR Andrew Lewer, Conservative, Northampton South - AGAINST | https://www.daventryexpress.co.uk/news/how-did-northants-mps-vote-on-the-brexit-withdrawal-agreement-1-8770980 |
Is Devin Nunes in Trouble with Mueller? | Months after his name largely disappeared from national headlines, Congressman Devin Nunesone of the earliest and most vocal critics of the Mueller investigationis back in the news for all the wrong reasons. On Monday, the Daily Beast reported that Muellers team, as well as federal prosecutors in Manhattan, have begun looking into a breakfast event hosted at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., days before the inauguration, with dozens of foreign officials. Also in attendance were Nunes and Michael Flynn, the soon-to-be short-lived Trump national-security adviser. Manhattan prosecutors are reportedly scrutinizing the event as part of their probe into whether Team Trump misspent inaugural funds. The special counsels office has reportedly opened a parallel inquiry into whether foreign officials illegally donated to the Trump inaugural fund via American middlemen. In both cases, prosecutors want to know whether countries like Russia managed to buy influence with the White House. As former federal prosecutor Paul Pelletier explained to the Daily Beast, If youre a prosecutor, all of the right players are there. In a lot of ways, breakfasts like this are totally normal. It happens all the time in Washington. So, they wouldnt be investigating it if they werent following the money. Its got to be part of the broader scheme of who is trying to use money to influence the White House. Muellers team has reportedly already asked Flynn about the breakfast; what role, if any, that Nunes played is unclear. In any case, his reemergence on the other side of the Russia probe is hardly surprising, given Muellers interest in potential obstruction of justice. As chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes launched an investigation into whether Russia colluded with the Trump campaign in 2016, only to use his position to defend the administration, claiming that Donald Trump was being unfairly targeted by the Deep State. Shortly thereafter, reports emerged that he was covertly sharing information with the White House, making at least one evening visit to meet with a Trump aide before dramatically revealing his findings to the public. Nunes was eventually forced to recuse himself from the inquiry, but he continued to parrot the administrations witch hunt line, reportedly sending aides to London in a futile attempt to dig up dirt on Christopher Steele, the ex-spy who wrote the Trump-Russia dossier, and hyping a supposedly damning memo that he said proved the F.B.I. had improperly obtained warrants to wiretap the Trump campaign. (The memo, like so much of Nuness flailing defense, was a dud.) Nunes may only be a bit player in Muellers probe. But his presence at key moments could at the very least raise additional questions about his odd behavior. Sign up for our daily Hive newsletter and never miss a story. | https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/01/is-devin-nunes-in-trouble-with-mueller |
When will shutdown impact free school lunch program? | CLOSE On Monday, amid the partial government shutdown, Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport kept one terminal shuttered after it was initially closed Sunday afternoon, according to an airport spokesman. (Jan. 14) AP As the partial federal government shutdown drags on, the 35 million children across the country who rely on free or reduced cost school lunches dont have to worry yet. In a Jan. 9 advisory, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it has enough previously approved funding to reimburse schools for meals provided through the National School Breakfast and Lunch program through the end of February. Should the impasse last beyond that, school districts may need to find emergency funds to cover the cost of food. Of the 35 million kids served daily through the program, about 66,000 are in Rockland County and around 129,000 in Westchester County, according to state data. For the 2017-18 school year, total federal support for the program was about $120 million. Buy Photo Vivek Mathews, then a sixth-grader at Suffern Middle School, eating a grilled cheese sandwich in May 2017. (Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News, Seth Harrison/The Journal News) The USDA is one of nine federal agencies that will remain shut down until President Donald Trump and Congress can reach a deal. At the USDA, which oversees meat, poultry and processed egg products, inspections are still going on because they're considered essential, but they could slow down as a result of furloughs, the agency has said. Aside from school meals, the USDA will continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC which provides aid for new mothers and pregnant women through the end of February. The three-week impasse has shuttered parts of government and left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay. On Friday, Trump threatened to keep the shutdown in effect for months or even years during a meeting with congressional leaders. Trump may also declare a national emergency to pay for his long-promised $5.7 billion U.S.-Mexico border wall. The shutdown entered its 25th day on Tuesday, making it the longest shutdown in U.S. history. Read or Share this story: https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/ramapo/2019/01/15/government-shutdown-free-school-lunch/2579309002/ | https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/ramapo/2019/01/15/government-shutdown-free-school-lunch/2579309002/ |
Will 2019 be the year of white backlash in Canada? | How to deal with climate change, could take a back seat to an ugly debate that seems to be emerging that of race and migrants. Thank you for reading this story More people are reading rabble.ca than ever and unlike many news organizations, we have never put up a paywall at rabble weve always believed in making our reporting and analysis free to all, while striving to make it sustainable as well. Media isnt free to produce. rabbles total budget is likely less than what big corporate media spend on photocopying (we kid you not!) and we do not have any major foundation, sponsor or angel investor. Our main supporters are people and organizations -- like you. This is why we need your help. You are what keep us sustainable. rabble.ca has staked its existence on you. We live or die on community support -- your support! We get hundreds of thousands of visitors and we believe in them. We believe in you. We believe people will put in what they can for the greater good. We call that sustainable. Depend on a community of visitors who care passionately about media that amplifies the voices of people struggling for change and justice. It really is that simple. When the people who visit rabble care enough to contribute a bit then it works for everyone. And so were asking you if you could make a donation, right now, to help us carry forward on our mission. Make a donation today. | http://rabble.ca/multimedia/2019/01/will-2019-be-year-white-backlash-canada |
Did People Replacing Their Batteries Lead to Weak iPhone Sales? | After complaints by users, Apple offered highly discounted replacement iPhone batteries in early 2018. Photo: Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images One year ago, Apple was furiously putting out a fire of its own making as iPhone owners realized that the company was slowing down phones with older lithium-ion batteries that were losing their ability to hold a charge. Batterygate eventually led to Apple allowing users to choose whether to throttle their phones or not, and offering one-time battery replacements for $29 to iPhone owners. As Apple watchers continue to wrap their head around Apples historic warning letter to investors that it would miss its forecasted revenues by a significant margin due to soft sales, some wondered whether iPhone owners replacing their batteries instead of buying new phones could have played a part in that miss. After all, an iPhone owner who replaced a battery is likely an iPhone owner who will hold on to their phone for longer, meaning one less new sale for Apple. It was hard to tell just how many iPhone owners had replaced batteries in 2018 versus in prior years, leading to a lot of best-guess estimates. But Apple enthusiast John Gruber, author of the popular blog Daring Fireball, passed along hard numbers from someone at Apple who attended the all-hands meeting Tim Cook gave to Apple employees shortly after his warning letter to investors. Per Gruber, Apple swapped out 11 million batteries while running its $29 replacement program. In a normal year, Apple would have expected about 1 to 2 million battery replacements. So that is on the high side an extra 10 million phones that got replacement batteries, and if were putting our thumb on the scale for the argument that replacement batteries led to lost sales, 10 million vanishing for Apple. Apple sold about 216 million iPhones in 2017, so taking that 10 million number, you get 4 percent of its total sales. (This is where the math gets even more back-of-the-envelope: Its likely that in 2018, Apple actually sold less than 216 million phones the smartphone decline means that Apple has been selling fewer phones for higher prices for a while but we dont know those numbers, and thanks to Apples no longer reporting its actual unit sales, we may never know.) But as Ben Thompson at Stratechery points out, those 11 million Apple customers taking advantage of the cheap battery replacement may not be the full story. Up until Batterygate and its fallout, iPhone owners were likely aware that if their phone screen shattered, they could get a new screen, either from Apple or from a third-party vendor. But Batterygate likely led to many, many more Apple customers also becoming aware that if their phone was working fine in all other regards, they could swap out the battery and keep chugging along. All of that elongates the upgrade cycle for Apple, which is already longer than average compared to the rest of the smartphone market. But this isnt the end of the world for Apple. Tim Cook has been clear that the future of Apple isnt in selling more phones, but in increasing its services revenue everything from Apple Music subscriptions to iCloud storage to the 30 percent it takes from every sale on the App Store. Even if Apple is perhaps losing out on selling a few new iPhones because people are replacing batteries, for Cook and company, the future of Apple is about having as wide an install base as possible. You can extract some subscription revenue for a phone with a replaced battery just as easily as you can from a brand new iPhone XS Max. | http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/did-people-replacing-batteries-lead-to-weak-iphone-sales.html?utm_source=flipboard.com&utm_medium=social_acct&utm_campaign=feed-part |
Will I always face the threat of a peanut-laden kiss of death? | I write about the business of health care, focusing on how consumers interact with the system what we pay, what we get and why American care costs so much. But in this particular instance, I have another kind of authority: 26 years of life-threatening allergies to nuts and peanuts. Whenever I see a report touting possible new peanut allergy treatments, I devour it. I cant help it. Its an occupational hazard for any health journalist whose reporting specialty and medical history intertwine. If any one of them succeeds, it could change my life. Aimmune is just one company eyeing the prize. Childhood peanut allergy diagnoses increased more than 20 per cent in the United States from 2010 to 2017. The global market for relief is worth as much as $2 billion. The French drugmaker DBV Technologies is also working to commercialize a peanut allergy patch. Other companies, including industry giant Sanofi, are following their lead. I approached the question as I would any other assignment. I read the research, called immunologists, and spoke with economists and drug pricing experts about whether these treatments offer meaningful benefit. My mom also recalls another incident when she had to pick me up early from daycare because the class was making peanut butter bird feeders. And I spent too many years of pre-adolescence eating lunch at the designated peanut-free table. Now, I can only dream of flying to visit my parents for Christmas without worrying about whether my seatmates snacks might induce anaphylaxis. And yes, kissing someone who has just eaten peanut butter would put my life in danger. Ive carried epinephrine since I was 7 years old. My friends are trained to inject it in my leg, the standard procedure for an emergency allergen exposure. Though I luckily havent had to take a shot of it since I was 4. (Another child in my Montessori class had a peanut butter sandwich for lunch.) My friends call nuts Shefali poison. My allergies first surfaced when, as a 15-month-old, I picked Thai noodles off an aunts plate and developed hives on my face, and then a few months later when I tasted my moms kaju barfi an Indian dessert with cashews and ended up in the hospital. Nobody in my family had ever heard of peanut allergies. Medically, theres a lot we dont know about the risks, how much these drugs could help and how long any effects would last. One of the first things I heard: We are still in the infancy of these treatments, said Dr. Corinne Keet, a pediatric allergist at Johns Hopkins University. None of these treatments have been shown to prevent fatal reaction, Keet emphasized. The idea behind them is to desensitize people. Aimmunes peanut pill is modelled on the oral therapies some specialists use to wean allergic kids back on to nuts. This approach has gained popularity in recent years, especially for children with multiple allergies, or when its a substance particularly hard to avoid. A colleagues young daughter, who was born with multiple allergies, used that very treatment, as did a younger cousin of mine who, for the first several years of her life, was allergic to not joking almost everything but fruits and vegetables. In my case, this therapy came into vogue after I was too old to have a good chance of it weakening my sensitivities. How it works: Kids ingest tiny, escalating doses of peanut protein. They then stay on peanut protein Aimmune recommends the pill, though other doctors I spoke to suggested a little bit of peanut as a maintenance drug. But its unclear how much the new therapies would improve upon that ad hoc oral immunotherapy allergists are already offering. Instead of drugs, they use store-bought peanut protein, usually de-fatted peanut flour available online for as little as $1 a pound. This method isnt approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and often isnt covered by insurance though doctors visits can be billed as food challenges or other visits that are typically covered. In contrast, Aimmunes product is expected to cost between $5,000 and $10,000 for the first six months of use, and $300 to $400 per month after. Analysts predict DBVs will cost more than $6,000 for a years supply, though the company says it has not yet determined a price. DBV, Aimmunes chief rival, has come up with a wearable skin patch that would transmit tiny, desensitizing protein doses. It declined to estimate a price, but it does not view oral immunotherapy as a competitor, said Joseph Becker, a company spokesman. Theres excitement, theres caution and a lot of unanswered questions, warned Dr. Erwin Gelfand, a pediatrics and immunology professor at the University of Colorado. According to Aimmunes results, published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, two-thirds of allergic children could ingest 600 milligrams of peanut without harm after going through treatment. To be clear, even with Aimmunes help, someone like me still couldnt safely eat PB&J. But it would desensitize me enough that I could taste a friends wine even if he recently ate pad thai. Still, the treatment comes with caveats. While 496 children started the trial, only 372 completed it. Of the 20 per cent who backed out, half did so because of adverse events. About 14 per cent of kids getting treatment still had to take epinephrine, and one experienced anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that can involve rashes, vomiting, a tightening throat and difficulty breathing. (For an allergic kid, even the possibility is maybe one of the most terrifying things you can imagine.) Children who completed the regimen still had to take small doses of peanut protein daily, either the Aimmune drug or a controlled peanut serving. Statistically significant benefits were clear only in patients through age 17, though Dr. Daniel Adelman, the companys chief medical officer, said Aimmune plans to do a follow-up trial for adults. And the results dont indicate who is likely to benefit, or how long improvements would last. Thats impossible to know, Adelman said, though he suggested accidental peanut exposure is scary enough and pure avoidance ineffective enough that the treatment is still worth it. But all this means that anyone who has gone through Aimmunes regimen would still want to carry epinephrine, and try to avoid peanuts. Not everybody responds well, Gelfand said. When you factor in those details, the results are not all that impressive, he argued. Dr. Tina Sindher, a pediatric allergist at Stanford University, pointed out that the Aimmune pill is a repackaged, clinically tested version of that homegrown oral therapy many allergists have already been using. DBVs peanut patch, Viaskin, to a lesser extent, is the same more convenient, perhaps, and more regulated, but still a variation on the existing medical approach. This concept has been around for a long time, she said. Whats new is the addition of labour, standardization and federal oversight which companies then say demonstrates increased value. It highlights a pattern Ive noticed from my reporting: Drugmakers develop medication that refines a low-tech remedy, run a clinical trial to secure FDA approval, and then sell it at a higher price. For pharma, its a logical way to profit. But it puts patients in a bind. The hard outcome is we have these new products and theyre just about as good or slightly better than what we have, said Nicholson Price, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Law School, who studies drug pricing. The closest authority I know: my mother, who raised me with peanut allergies when they were more or less unheard of, and is now doing it all over again for my 10-year-old brother. (My other brother, my twin, was allergy-free until about a year ago.) Its not worth it, my mom told me. Getting any of us to maintain a peanut dose without knowing how long that reduced sensitivity would last could induce what she called a false sense of security. This thinking isnt out of line, Sindher suggested. The way these studies are touted, she said, often gloss over the fact that theres a lot we dont know. So for now, Ill have to maintain my distance from the newsroom stash of Reeses Pieces. My epinephrine and I arent parting ways anytime soon. | https://www.thestar.com/life/2019/01/14/will-i-always-face-the-threat-of-a-peanut-laden-kiss-of-death.html |
What exactly is going on with the Eureka Women's March? | Women raise their hands protesting racism, bigotry and male chauvinism during Black Women's March rally, Saturday, March 3, 2018, in Houston. ( Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle ) Women raise their hands protesting racism, bigotry and male chauvinism during Black Women's March rally, Saturday, March 3, 2018, in Houston. 1 / 68 Back to Gallery The Women's March in Eureka continues to twist and turn. In less than a month, the Women's March in Eureka has been postponed, canceled, reinstated by new organizers, and made target of an impending boycott. Jesse Watters has mocked it on his show and tangled debates on the subject continue to crescendo. Late December, the original organizers announced they were postponing the march because the group was "overwhelming white." The reaction to this was mixed many, including the president of the Eureka chapter of the NAACP, were pleased by the news. Others were angry and disappointed their city wouldn't have a march. BACKGROUND: Northern California Women's March canceled for being 'overwhelmingly white' Not even a week had passed before Linda Atkins, a former Eureka city council member, decided to reinstate the march, and reschedule it with the help of several new organizers. Now, in a latest turn to the saga: Atkins has been hospitalized after suffering a heart attack over the weekend, the Lost Coast Outpost reported. MORE: Special San Francisco trash headed to the White House Despite this, the original organizers announced in a statement that they plan to boycott the Jan. 20 march, which Kathy Srabian, a co-organizer within the new leadership, will be taking control of. According to the event's Facebook page, 682 people have expressed interest in attending the march. Srabian told the Outpost that she doesn't see why the march must necessarily be organized by those "most oppressed by the current system." She also encouraged people to boycott, if that feels most appropriate to them. | https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/eureka-womens-march-too-white-atkins-boycott-13535874.php |
Is Unbreakable on Netflix? | The biggest gag in M. Night Shyamalans Split wasnt the 23 different personalities roiling around inside James McAvoys character. It wasnt psychiatrist Betty Buckley getting lured to their lair and ultimately killed for her trouble. And it wasnt the revelation that the teen girl played by Anya Taylor-Joy had been abused in her younger years and that trauma is what keeps the Horde (the collective name for all 23 personalities in one body). No, the real gag comes right after the end tag, when the customers at a local Philadelphia diner react to the news reports of this seemingly super-powered villain theyre calling The Horde Yes, maam, this IS just like that crazy guy in the wheelchair who got sent up the river 15 years ago. Thankfully, Bruce Willis is here as his Unbreakable character, David Dunn, to remind us that Mr. Glass was the moniker that we gave the nascent supervilain played by Samuel L. Jackson. Not only did the end of Split suddenly turn into a supervillain origin story for the McAvoy character, but suddenly were in a surprise Unbreakable sequel! With the third film in the trilogy, Glass, poised to hit theaters, this would be a really good time to catch up on the earlier films in the Unlikely Philadelphia Superheroes (and Supervillains) trilogy. Nope. Sadly the first chapter in the great saga of Mister Glass and the M. Night Shyamalan Cinematic Universe isnt currently streaming on Netflix. Probably not as much as youll want to have seen Split, but it can only enhance your viewing experience to brush up on the backstory between David Dunn (Willis), who survives a train crash and begins realizing that hes indestructible, and comic-book-shop owner Elijah Price, whose brittle bone disease had the kids in school calling him Mr. You can! Which is to say, you can if you have the Hulu with Live TV plan. Sorry to get your hopes up if you dont. Yes, but youll have to pay for it. You can rent (for $3.99) or purchase (for $9.99) Unbreakable on Amazons streaming video platform. You can also purchase on iTunes, YouTube, Google Play, Vudu, or Fandango Now. Where to stream Unbreakable | https://decider.com/2019/01/15/is-unbreakable-on-netflix/ |
What can SC schools learn from Finland? | This fall, I had the pleasure of joining a group of educators and leaders on a trip to Finland led by Public Education Partners, Furman Universitys Department of Education and the Riley Institute at Furman. Our goal was to learn about what makes Finlands public school system one of the best in the world, and how we could put some of their strategies to work here in South Carolina. On the way home, the lessons I learned there began to form in my mind into a simple rhyme: Build more. Feed all. Test less. Play ball! One of the first differences I noticed at Finnish elementary schools was how much the students worked with their hands. They were constantly making, crafting and building! Finland is not afraid to put You do not have permission to view this content | http://www.yourpickenscounty.com/what-can-sc-schools-learn-from-finland/ |
Could Pete Buttigieg Become the First Millennial President? | Just before 10 on a balmy Sunday morning in mid-October, right on time, Pete Buttigieg marches into a squat brown building on the edge of Colonial Williamsburg, ready to fire up a group of door-knocking volunteers for Elaine Luria, a former Navy commander challenging a scandal-plagued Republican for a U.S. House seat from Virginia. Inside he comes upon a mere half-dozen bleary-eyed folks milling around Lurias headquarters. They seem not quite sure just who this perky young dude in the crisp white shirt, blue tie and neatly pressed slacks might be. Listen to this and other great stories from The Washington Post Magazine on the Curio app. The local field organizer is full of apologies. We had 10 people email this morning and say they couldnt come because of the storm, she says. A surprise weather system had blasted through two nights earlier on the tail of Hurricane Michael, felling pine trees and downing power lines. It was like, I havent had a shower in days and I just cant. But were so glad to have you! Pete Buttigieg, who was first elected at age 29, is a two-term mayor of South Bend, Ind. (Photo by Joshua Lott for The Washington Post) Buttigieg, the wunderkind mayor of South Bend, Ind., and one of the longest of 2020 presidential long shots, knew about the storm. His plane from Chicago had been delayed by the bad weather on Friday night, finally touching down in Charleston, S.C., at 3 a.m. After three Saturday events in the Carolinas, he had driven five hours through the night with Matt McKenna, his lanky and eternally patient young aide, only to find most of Williamsburgs tourist hotels booked solid with local families and work crews. Somebody forgot to make reservations. For the second straight morning, Buttigieg has had to skip his 6 a.m. run. Hes just learned that his second planned event of the day, another pep talk for another congressional candidate in Richmond, has been canceled. In short, his trial campaign run through the South is not proceeding quite as planned. But there are seven people here to inspire and impress eight, if you count me and Buttigieg is not one to waste an opportunity. Im glad too! he says, and does the politician thing he has perfected despite his innate shyness: He trains his full attention on everyone in turn, peppering them with questions about their lives, the power outages, the poll numbers, how folks are responding when they come knocking, the provenance of this bland office suite. What did this place used to be before the campaign? he asks. A dentists office? one of the young women replies. And I think a massage parlor. A normal politician might be miffed at the low turnout. A regular human being might not be looking quite so bright-eyed and bushy-tailed under the circumstances. But normal and regular are not adjectives that apply to the son of a Maltese immigrant father and an Army brat mom who grew up in decaying South Bend, got himself into Harvard, summer-interned for Ted Kennedy, worked for John Kerrys presidential campaign, won a Rhodes Scholarship, learned Arabic in Tunisia, landed a jet-setting consultants job, left it to return to his beat-up hometown and become the youngest mayor of a midsize U.S. city, transformed that city into a national model of renewal, and then deep breath volunteered for active duty in Afghanistan while serving as mayor, came out as gay in the local newspaper, married a schoolteacher live on YouTube, turned heads in a dark-horse bid to lead the Democratic National Committee, and had the New York Timess Frank Bruni gushing about him as potentially the First Gay President all by age 36. Buttigieg, in fact, appears intent on proving Bruni right far sooner than the columnist might have expected; hes currently making all the moves one would expect from an about-to-declare 2020 candidate. But he wont be hinging his long-shot bid on the prospect of being the first openly gay president. Instead, hell be running as the herald of a new generation. Buttigieg performs a marriage ceremony in his mayoral office for Catherine Pittman, left, and Victoria Powers. Millennials became the countrys largest voting-age cohort in 2018, displacing baby boomers and their politics break sharply with their parents and grandparents. (Opinions vary as to where the millennial generation technically begins and ends, but the Pew Research Center defines it as those born between 1981 and 1996. Buttigieg was born in 1982.) This group not only leans heavily Democratic, but emphatically leftward. Of course, they overwhelmingly tell pollsters, gay people should be able to marry. Of course black and brown people have been shortchanged throughout history and continue to be. Of course immigrants do nothing but make the country stronger. Of course the government owes every citizen decent health care. And of course climate change is humanitys greatest peril. The center of gravity of the American people is way to the left of the center of gravity of Congress and, in many ways, to the left of the national Democratic Party, Buttigieg had told me earlier in the year. Thats especially true of millennials. Their political outlook is shaped by being the first post-World War II generation to face diminished economic prospects, and also the first to fully experience the diminished quality of life wrought by decades of tax-slashing, privatization and deregulation: inefficient social services, unaffordable child care, crummy roads and trains and public transportation, slow Internet speeds, and a rapidly warming Earth. Buttigiegs peers are eager to embrace a politics thats bigger and more ambitious more New Deal than New Democrat. They want swing-for-the-fences solutions from politicians who dont pretend that all the country needs is just some minor tweaks. Donald Trump got elected because, in his twisted way, he pointed out the huge troubles in our economy and our democracy, Buttigieg says. At least he didnt go around saying that America was already great, like Hillary did. The mistake Democrats risk making in 2020, he says, is looking in the rearview mirror for solutions. I get the urge people will have after Trump. Look at the chaos and the exhaustion: Wouldnt it be better to go back to something more stable with somebody we know? But theres no going back to a pre-Trump universe. We cant be saying the system will be fine again just like it was. Because thats not true; it wasnt fine. Not if we could careen into this kind of politics. Buttigieg, who was elected South Bend mayor in 2011, will not run for a third term. After a 10-minute wait to see who else might turn up, a bushy-bearded Afghanistan veteran in a hoodie is called upon to introduce the special guest and mangles his name four different ways. Buttigieg (buddha-judge) just beams. You can call me Pete; everybody does, he says. He stands and delivers a condensed version of the talk hes been giving around the country since the summer, mostly in support of the 20 first-time House candidates in red districts that hes backing with his super PAC, Hitting Home. Then he watches the organizer run through her tips for the day, looking as rapt as an eager first-time canvasser. Whats that behind you? he asks, pointing to a big sheet of paper tacked on the wall with names and messages scrawled all over it. The volunteers are asked to sign it when they come to canvass, the organizer says. Were going to give it to Elaine after she wins. That, he says, is an incredible idea. I figure hes just being super polite, but after we make our exit and he takes the wheel of his rented SUV You navigate, Ill drive, he tells McKenna; Ive always been terrible at land navigation it becomes clear that he wasnt pretending. That banner shes having them sign, what a good way to build teamwork, he says. Its the kind of thing that builds a sense that youre all working together, and toward something. A good organizer knows about building a social culture in a campaign. With McKenna navigating from the back seat, we speed off with controlled aggression toward the interstate and two fundraisers in Northern Virginia. Its a shame about Richmond, but well have more time to talk this way, Buttigieg says. I have to make a couple of calls, just so you know. I figure what we ought to do is well find a place with a decent lunch. As long as were in Fairfax by 3 oclock or so well be okay. So Im pretty much all yours. We can make this a rolling interview. So to speak! Rolling monologue is more like it. Buttigieg is a human data-processor, one very interesting topic suggesting the next, punctuated by observations about something hes spotted out the window in passing. One minute hes telling me about his plans for the rest of the midterm election season, then hes asking me about the prospects for the campaigns Ive covered, then hes on to the theory of parks and recreation, the wonders of tax-increment financing, the time he drove a van for Al Gore and got lost in Boston, and the unpredictable dress codes at different kinds of campaign events. I was underdressed for the fundraiser in Columbia. It turned out to be a very dignified thing at Don Fowlers house the former DNC chief and now this morning, I felt overdressed with the tie with the volunteers. It took me years to calibrate my way around South Bend, and now Im trying to crack the campaign dress code. Im beginning to absorb the lifestyle of somebody whos running. Most of our events have been surgical, flying in and out, but its going to be this way for the next three weeks and, hey, Matt, look! Maybe not the exact ones. Buttigieg speaks with Shatoria Adams, left, and Kenneth Garrett during a visit to Elkhart Plastics in South Bend. Buttigieg can come off like a combination Boy Scout and lovable dork. You can easily imagine him in Silicon Valley, deeply debating the future of artificial intelligence with his college friend Mark Zuckerberg before leaving work to feed the homeless. But politics has always been his main obsession. As a senior and student-government officer in high school, he won the 2000 JFK Profile in Courage Essay Contest, earning a trip to Boston for the annual ceremony. His subject was as millennial as it gets: Bernie Sanders. Candidates have discovered that its easier to be elected by not offending anyone rather than by impressing the voters, he wrote. Politicians are rushing for the center, careful not to stick their necks out on issues. Most Democrats shy away from the word liberal like a horrid accusation. But not the man from Vermont. Sanders courage is evident in the first word he uses to describe himself: Socialist. Reading his paean to Bernie, its clear that young Buttigieg already had a streak of ambition and opportunism to match his idealism. I have heard that no sensible young person today would want to give his or her life to public service, the senior-class president and valedictorian of St. Joseph High concluded. I can personally assure you this is untrue. And it paid off: At the award ceremony in Boston, Ted Kennedy offered him a summer internship on the spot. That first wide-eyed taste of Washington after his freshman year at Harvard set him on the path that could soon, improbably enough, have him facing off against the once-obscure socialist congressman who struck him, 18 years ago, as both immensely admirable and impossibly old. Buttigieg at the Progress Iowa holiday party in December. His appearance there signaled his intentions to political observers. The departure of the Clintons kind of uncorks a new energy, Buttigieg is saying as we rattle up the interstate. Its an exciting time to be a Democrat. The party has to figure out what it means now. Hed endorsed Hillary Clinton after her nomination in 2016, as any aspiring party leader must, but he clearly wont be writing any laudatory essays about her campaign. I organized a Union Hall event for her in South Bend, he says, and shakes his head. You could just tell the enthusiasm wasnt there. The problem, he says, was partly that the stakes seemed too low. We need a bigger scope of ambition for people to rally around. A return to the Clinton and Obama style of centrist incrementalism, he says, will invite disaster just as surely in 2020. Change is something we need to face with clear eyes. Its scary, but its also exciting. He paints his potential presidential campaign as a kind of blown-up version of his first run for mayor. Buttigieg announced his 2011 campaign two weeks after Newsweek featured South Bend as one of Americas Dying Cities. People had been promised a return of manufacturing jobs for almost half a century, Buttigieg says a little like Trump in coal country. From 1902 to 1963, the city was the home of carmaker Studebaker, which employed nearly 25,000 local workers at its peak, before going belly-up. The city never recovered. When he was growing up, a lot of people would still talk about the closure like it happened yesterday, he says. When I ran, we had to paint a picture of the future that did not translate into nostalgia. He points with particular pride to the massive infrastructure projects he undertook: refashioning the old, decaying Studebaker building into a hub for small creative industries like tech start-ups, and pledging that 1,000 homes in 1,000 days would either be razed or refurbished to rid neighborhoods of the crumbling vestiges of the past. The word again was not part of our vision, he says. The message from the start was, The Studebaker plant isnt coming back, but we are, and heres how. Buttigieg knew that if he could make good on his audacious promises, he could also make a name for himself which he quickly proceeded to do, beating the 1,000-day target and spiffing up the old plant over the harrumphs of the city council veterans and longtime government officials who couldnt help resenting the technocratic kid from the fancy schools and the global consultancy. As we proceed through Virginia, interstate traffic, as its wont to do, repeatedly bottles up for no apparent reason. Weve still got plenty of time to get to Fairfax County for the first event up there, but the creeping pace is driving Buttigieg to distraction. Lets find an alternate route, he says. Okay. Two miles and youre going to hop on 301, McKenna says. Got it, Buttigieg responds. Wow, this needs resurfacing. Theres a Nobel Prize waiting for someone who can figure out how to make asphalt last longer than 12 years. Im not kidding. I really think there ought to be a Manhattan Project for this. Its classic market failure. Buttigieg has a magnetism about him. ... I think his age is an advantage, says former DNC chairman Howard Dean. If Buttigieg becomes president, you sense, the future will be chock-full of Manhattan Projects. But first he has to overcome the considerable odds and find a way to win. He has clearly made a close study of how Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy took their nontraditional paths to the presidency at young ages. When you run young, your face says you represent change, he says. But he doesnt want to stop at symbolism: His message for 2020 will be centered on a clean, sharp break with the Lite Republicanism that Democrats embraced in the 1990s. While older voters still tell pollsters they favor keeping taxes low and ambitions modest, millennials overwhelmingly support Medicare-for-all, free college, heavy spending to tackle poverty and climate change, and major infrastructure investments social democracy, in a nutshell. Though Buttigieg prefers to label himself if he must label himself a progressive Democrat, he can deliver a spontaneous dissertation on why young Americans say they prefer socialism to capitalism that would do Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proud. Nobody should mistake it for youthful idealism or recklessness, he says. I think the new generation that emerges now will have a different kind of seriousness about the future, he says. Its more immediate and personal, the younger you are. Youre going to be on the business end of climate change, of tax cuts; youre going to be touched more by our post-9/11 wars. Matt, how old were you on 9/11? Um, lets see I was 5. Thats what I mean. You can be a grown-a man like Matt here and dont recall us not being at war. Which is a whole nother part of it. Look how many candidates this year including 11 of the House candidates hes been boosting are young veterans. I think the sense of obligation kicked in, the awareness that its part of a civic duty and a moral failure when you only have other people fighting your wars. And in my case, that included a lot of the people I was commanding in the reserves. Thats part of what pushed me into it. I thought, Why not me? Why not me? is also the way Buttigieg thinks about running for president. Its no accident, he says, that this years Democratic field could include five other current and former mayors: Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, Andrew Gillum of Tallahassee, Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, Michael Bloomberg of New York and Julin Castro of San Antonio. With most state capitols every bit as clogged up in partisan stalemates as Washington, mayors still actually get to do stuff, as he puts it. The discussion in Washington has gotten so abstracted from reality, he says. He wants to drive politics back toward the lived experiences of the citizenry, which dont divide them the way ideological abstractions do. We like to talk about freedom and security and family values or whatever, he says. But the measure of a countrys greatness is whether it helps people lead better lives, with less worry. Buttigieg takes a selfie with a customer outside Taqueria El Aguila in South Bend in December. As soon as weve broken free of bottlenecks, Buttigieg starts searching the side of the highway for a lunch spot. South of Fredericksburg, he spots a low-slung, ramshackle series of structures: Hey, theres two things Ive never seen paired: restaurant and thrift shop. In a split second, hes making a quick swerve left. Lets check it out! he says, as McKenna lets out a little groan. After a quick scan of the dingy thrift shop Matt, look, $7 suits! we follow him into Lous Soul Food, which smells like 30 years of fried food. Its a buffet, he says, as if that settles things, and we find a table near the back to talk about his first campaign experience. Right after college I went to work for John Kerry, June of 2004. It was one of those deals where you graduate, pack a bag and go where they tell you. I thought I was going to D.C., so I moved there, started sleeping on a friends couch, and then got a phone call from Arizona: I hear youre my new research director. Im like, Oh, okay. They said, Do you have a car? No, I didnt. Well, buy one tomorrow, start driving, and you can be here at work on Friday. So thats what I did. When Kerrys Arizona experiment floundered, they pulled us, a month out from the election. I got reassigned. We actually wanted you to go to Albuquerque. So thats how I learned what a presidential campaign was actually like. After the Kerry campaign, Buttigieg went back to Washington for six months, biding his time before the Rhodes Scholarship kicked in. When he graduated from Oxford, he decided to give the business world a try and took a job at McKinsey, the prestigious global consulting firm. I knew that I really didnt understand the way the world worked, he says. How does this stuff work? In all the hours Ive spent talking to Buttigieg, this is the first time I catch a whiff of disingenuousness. Companies like McKinsey, a little like their Silicon Valley compadres, are magnets for high-achieving Ivy Leaguers who like to talk about making the world better while raking in some serious salaries. His 2020 message will be centered on a clean break with the Lite Republicanism that Democrats once embraced. But Buttigieg, who worked out of Chicago and specialized in energy and economic development, didnt make a career of it. He left McKinsey after three years and two extended leaves to door-knock for Obama in 2008 and serve as research director for the gubernatorial campaign of Indiana Democrat Jill Long Thompson. In 2009, he got his dander up when Richard Mourdock, the Republican state treasurer facing reelection in Indiana, sued the Obama administration to block the auto bailout. This was an insane thing for an elected official in Indiana to do, Buttigieg says. That made me start asking: Why dont I run against this guy? Buttigiegs Meet Pete campaign never took flight. He blew through his McKinsey savings and still got clobbered, losing by 25 points. But in a way, he says, it was my first experience in winning by losing. The defeat stung, but I learned how to organize a team, he says. And he learned that smarts werent the only secret to political success: It matters more to understand human beings and how to reach them, how to move them. For all his aw-shucksiness, if Buttigieg has the least bit of doubt that hes ready to make the leap to commander in chief, at an age that barely qualifies him constitutionally for the job, its impossible to detect. He has often been urged to run for Congress the next logical steppingstone but he sees it as a dead end. I would find it demoralizing, he says. David Axelrod, Obamas political guru, is among the powerhouse Democrats who see no reason Buttigieg should wait. Axelrods first Pete sighting was in November 2015, when the young mayor was given the John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award at Harvard. He spoke without a note in front of him and gave one of the most stirring speeches Ive heard, Axelrod told the South Bend Tribune. He has that gift. Axelrod has given Buttigieg the same advice he gave Obama after his famous Democratic National Convention keynote speech in 2004: The biggest mistake politicians make is missing their moment by hesitating. When Buttigieg decided to undertake the DNC race in 2017 gambling that if he couldnt knock off Keith Ellison and Tom Perez, the favorites of the Sanders and Clinton camps, he could at least give his future a rocket-boost and once again win by losing he debated circles around the two front-runners, and charmed cable-news viewers and grizzled party elders with his unexpected eloquence and fresh vision for the party, which included a bundle of bright ideas for digital strategies. Right before the vote, headed for a third-place finish, he bowed out and returned to South Bend with enough new backers to form a super PAC that would give him an excuse to travel the country in 2018 and lay the groundwork for 2020. He might very well have won the DNC race if you could have had a secret ballot, says Howard Dean, who endorsed Buttigieg for his old job. But its such an insider race. That was hard to overcome. Dean, who has spoken with Buttigieg about his own experience vaulting from obscurity to the top of the 2004 Democratic primaries, sees a lot of Obamaesque qualities in the mayor. He has a magnetism about him, he says. And I think he projects this idea of, Lets get past all this partisan crap and do something for the country for a change. I think his age is an advantage. I really think the American people would like to see our generation step aside and see a new generation take leadership. Obama is also a Buttigieg fan. In his 2017 New Yorker exit interview, the former president named Buttigieg as one of four Democrats who would lead the party forward. Theyve met at least once to discuss the future. According to Buttigiegs husband, Chasten Buttigieg, theres another Obama parallel that most people wouldnt guess from Petes genial retail politicking and smooth style on the stump: Hes definitely an introvert. And hes still coming out of some of his shells. Thats something hes learned in part from Chasten, who does improv comedy on the side and maintains a busy Twitter feed that can be flat-out hilarious. When we go out, well go to events and then Id want to keep going out to a bar for a beer, Chasten says. And hell be wanting to go home and curl up with a book. While Buttigieg frames his sexual orientation as part of his next-generation appeal, he finds it uncomfortable to talk about why it took him so long until he was 33, and back from Afghanistan to accept the plain fact that Im gay. When he spoke to Axelrod for his podcast, The Axe Files, in March 2017, his silver tongue abandoned him as he tried to explain. If willpower alone could make somebody straight, you know I wouldve . He didnt complete the thought but acknowledged that his struggle had something to do with his political aspirations and his desire to serve in the military while dont ask, dont tell was still in effect. But once he finally abandoned the struggle, Buttigieg was characteristically all in. He came out in the South Bend Tribune during his mayoral reelection campaign, soon after then-Gov. Mike Pence signed his infamously anti-gay Religious Freedom Restoration Act. And in short order he met Chasten online and quickly fell in love. When the two wed in June 2018, they timed it for Pride Week. The ceremony was live-streamed on YouTube and afterward, the couple joined revelers at a Pride block party, with a New York Times reporter in tow. Still, Buttigieg doesnt much care for being identified primarily as the first gay anything. Millennials are supposed to be obsessed with identity politics, but Buttigieg thinks that Democrats make a serious mistake when they slice-and-dice their message to appeal to particular identities. Along the way, the party fell into this pattern of thinking we should have a message for each constituency, he says. But the reality is that people care about issues that arent their issues, quote unquote. Elderly residents care about education. Suburban women care about racial justice. Young people care about social programs for the elderly. Buttigieg at home with his husband, Chasten, and their dogs Buddy, left, and Truman. Ive ridden along with candidates for decades and have long since grown accustomed to the interview pausing when they approach the next event. This is the time for a tense, whispering huddle with aides, reviewing talking points and notes on the pols and donors who need impressing. Buttigieg, by contrast, grows practically giddy the closer we get to the first event in Northern Virginia, taking only a minute to quiz McKenna on the essentials of the fundraiser for Jennifer Wexton, a young Virginia state senator challenging Republican Barbara Comstock for her U.S. House seat. Earlier in the day, Buttigieg had told me how much he relishes coming into an environment like this, where nobody knows me from Adam, and seeing what happens when he starts speaking. Sometimes you can watch people as you go up to the podium and theyre like, Whats the deal with this guy? And then its, Okay, hes up there, he can talk. If its going right, I love to watch the faces then: Partly I like to study them to see whats working and not, what to cut out next time or maybe expand. But theres this look, when you know you really have them. Its hard to describe, but its unmistakable. This time, the turnout is clearly not going to be a disappointment; we start to see the lines of very nice parked cars a couple of blocks before we reach the McMansion that is our destination. Inside, the vast open living, dining and kitchen space is jammed with well-off white people in high cocktail mode. Only Wexton recognizes the special guest, and they chat briefly before the folks are hushed and Buttigieg (pronounced properly) is introduced. Standing in front of a big fireplace and a huge TV showing the Redskins game on mute, Buttigieg is in his element, opening with some banter about where hes from You might know us for our football team before segueing into the message hes honing for 2020. Its very important for people in communities like mine to know theres a formula for moving forward that isnt resentment, that isnt nostalgia, he says, recounting his first campaign for mayor. We didnt go around saying were going to make South Bend great again. The folks laugh heartily at the implicit dig at Trump. I didnt go around thumping my chest saying I alone can fix it. Were finding a whole new vocabulary for why people should vote, Buttigieg is saying. Were reclaiming some territory that our party, in my opinion, foolishly left to the other side. The so-called Freedom Caucus, as you know, has the most fanatical members of Congress. But they dont seem to know that youre not free if you cant change jobs because youll lose your health care. And that youre not free if you cant sue a credit-card company thats ripping you off. And youre certainly not free if somebody youve never met gets to tell you who you can and cant marry based on their interpretation of their religion. Theres one little hitch in the performance, when he praises Wexton for being in the minority in the state assembly and still passing four pieces of major legislation. (Actually, its 40, she says, interjecting with a smile but an unmistakable note of sharpness.) Buttigieg plays it off laughingly, saying hes so much more impressed with her now, since in our legislature back home, four bills for a Democrat would be quite a feat, and hands over the mic to the candidate, who smiles a bit warily, looking like she knows shes been upstaged. When Wexton finishes her spiel, Buttigieg is mobbed by wine-sipping admirers. It takes McKenna a bit of elbowing and sorry-ing to push his way near enough to start nudging his man out the door; theres another crowd of tony Democrats waiting on the other side of Fairfax County. Buttigieg grips and grins his way out the door, feeling that feeling. As we bustle out to the SUV, he looks over at me and says, Yep. You saw that, right? Buttigieg with staff members, from left, Laura O'Sullivan, Mark Bode and Suzanna Fritzberg. During our day trip in October, Buttigieg was coy about his plans for the future. But on Dec. 20, three days after announcing that he wouldnt run for a third term in South Bend, he spoke at the annual Progress Iowa holiday party in Des Moines signaling his intentions to political observers. In January, he hired Marcus Switzer, Hillary Clintons 2016 deputy finance director. And in February, following the release of his book, Shortest Way Home: One Mayors Challenge and a Model for Americas Future, Buttigieg plans to strike out across the country on what will likely amount to an exploratory campaign for the presidency. He knows that the effort might add up to nothing more than one more instance of winning by losing raising his profile for whatever else might lie ahead. But hes calculating that the whole bundle of firsts he represents will make him stand out from the pack of senior citizens Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bloomberg, Sanders and the football-teams worth of middle-aged members of Congress harboring White House dreams. While others might see his age and inexperience as fatal liabilities, Buttigieg recognizes that the path to the White House often evolves. Its actually been a very long time since Democrats recaptured power without a candidate who didnt represent a departure from political norms: the young, Catholic JFK; the up-from-nowhere Southerner Jimmy Carter; the New Democrat Bill Clinton; and Barack Obama, the African American just a few years removed from being an Illinois state senator. When we catch up in early December, Buttigieg says he saw glimmers of it in 2018: We saw indications that its okay to talk about our values as Democrats again. That the politics of conviction that appealed to young people, with Bernie in 2016, can also be articulated successfully by the next generation. I mention that the day before, Biden, on his own book tour, had proclaimed himself the most qualified person in the country to be president. Buttigieg laughs. So was Hillary, he says. Game on. Bob Moser is a writer in Beacon, N.Y. | https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/01/14/feature/could-pete-buttigieg-become-the-first-millennial-president/?utm_term=.46bf1617f3ac |
What are the diseases patients of HealthPlus Surgery Center may have been exposed to? | Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that ranges in severity from a mild illness lasting a few weeks to a serious, lifelong illness. (Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto) The three diseases that patients of HealthPlus Surgery Center may have been exposed to are Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), hepatitis B and hepatitis C, all blood-borne pathogens, or infections. HealthPlus, located at 190 Midland Ave. in Saddle Brook, sent notices in December to 3,778 patients who had procedures there between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7, 2018 to tell them lapses in infection control had led to the potential exposures. The letter recommended patients have their blood tested and listed a panel of seven tests to show whether they had been infected. The five varieties of hepatitis A, B, C, D and E all come from different viruses, but each one attacks the liver, causing inflammation. (Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto) The diseases are transmitted through direct contract with blood or other bodily fluids. They are not spread through casual contact such as coughing or sneezing. To avoid spreading the diseases, patients who have been diagnosed are advised to avoid unprotected sex and the sharing of personal items that may come in contact with the blood, such as razors and toothbrushes. Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are viral infections that attack the liver. Some people may experience a mild illness of a few weeks duration, while others may develop a chronic, lifelong illness that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer. Symptoms of either form of hepatitis include fever, tiredness, loss of appetite, belly pain, dark urine, clay-colored stools, joint pain, and yellowing of the eyes, or jaundice. But many people take 20 or 30 years to develop symptoms, and some may not have symptoms at all. They may not know they are infected. Tests: Two former patients at Saddle Brook facility test positive for hepatitis B, lawyers say Initial report: Patients possibly exposed to HIV, hepatitis at Saddle Brook surgery center New drugs have transformed hepatitis C into a disease that can be cured. However, the drugs are extremely expensive. There is no specific medication available to treat hepatitis B, although various anti-viral drugs can be used to manage it. People with hepatitis are advised to avoid alcohol to prevent damage to the liver. The best way to prevent hepatitis B is to get vaccinated, but there is no vaccine for hepatitis C or HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, a disease in which the cells that fight disease are killed and the body has a hard time warding off infection. Many people with HIV do not have symptoms for as long as 10 years and dont know they are infected. While there is no cure for HIV, current medications dramatically improve the health of people living with HIV and slow its progression to AIDS. With treatment, the life expectancy of a person with HIV can be the same as that of an uninfected person. CLOSE Thousands of patients in New Jersey may have been exposed to HIV and hepatitis. Veuer's Justin Kircher has the story. Buzz60 Read or Share this story: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/health/2019/01/15/what-hiv-hepatitis-b-and-hepatitis-c/2583516002/ | https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/health/2019/01/15/what-hiv-hepatitis-b-and-hepatitis-c/2583516002/ |
Do the Warriors value home-court advantage this season? | * * * Subscribe to the Mercury News and East Bay Times for $40 a year and receive a free Warriors championship coffee table book * * * DENVER The Warriors arrived in this city, giving them plenty to think about beyond the Nuggets dominance, the citys high altitude and if they can rectify a loss here nearly three months ago. When the Warriors (29-14) visit the Denver Nuggets (29-13) on Tuesday, the game will determine at least temporarily who holds the Western Conferences best record. It could also influence which team has home-court advantage leading into a potential Western Conference Finals matchup. Its very important. We havent taken advantage of our home-court advantage as much as wed like to early this season, Stephen Curry said. But when you get to the games that matter and the games in the playoffs and things like that, creating that identity like that on your home floor, you have that much more of an edge. The Warriors coach does not feel as strongly about the big-picture implications. Steve Kerr cited the obvious that the Warriors want to win as many games as we can. Does he consider it a priority, though, for the Warriors to have a No. Not really, Kerr said. It doesnt mean anything to me, but they all count. Kerr had the same reasoning last season. As the Warriors labored through complacency and overlapping injuries, Kerr gave up in chasing the Houston Rockets for the Western Conferences top seed. As they earned the No. 1 record in the Western Conference two weeks before the regular season ended, the Warriors lost 10 of their last 17 games amid overlapping injuries to their four All-Stars in Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green. Yet, the Warriors breezed through the first two round of the playoffs in five games against the San Antonio Spurs and New Orleans Pelicans. The Warriors then beat the Rockets in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. The Warriors then reclaimed home-court advantage in the Finals and swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in four games. You got to be able to win anywhere if you want to win a championship, Kerr said. On the road, Im not sure if there has ever been a team that won a championship without winning a road game. Sign up for a free trial of Mark Medinas Warriors text messaging service * * * The Warriors became just the 26th NBA road opponent to steal a playoff series out of a possible 113 Game 7s. To the Warriors dismay, they also lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals at Oracle Arena and squandered a 3-1 series lead. The Warriors have since moved on from that painful memory partly by acquiring Durant. But they are still aware of the cost-benefit on chasing playoff seedings. After all, the Warriors set an NBA record in regular-season wins (73) only to end that season without a championship parade. You always want home-court advantage. Its always great to have. Nonetheless, we won a championship last year without it. It is what it is, Green said. You just got to play. No matter where you are, the ball bounces the same and the rim is the same size. You just got to play the game. The Warriors still played the game in that pivotal Game 7 against Houston despite varying difficult circumstances. While the Rockets nursed an injury to point guard Chris Paul (hamstring), the Warriors remained thin on the wing with an injured Andre Iguodala (knee) and a limited Patrick McCaw (spine). The Warriors also trailed the Rockets in Game 7 by as many as 15 points. But then the Warriors outscored the Rockets, 33-16 in the third quarter. Meanwhile, Houston clanked on 27 consecutive 3-pointers. We wish we could draw it up a little differently, Curry said. There is no perfect journey and you cant predict what is going to happen. You just have to take it all as a challenge with what comes at you and do something with it. Perhaps the Warriors do not have to rely on winning a Game 7 on the road this season. Kerr reiterated that DeMarcus Cousins remains on track to return on Friday against the Clippers in Los Angeles after spending nearly the past year rehabbing an injured left Achilles tendon. Kerr reported the team feeling fully healthy other than a season-ending injury to Damian Jones (left pectoral muscle). Though the Warriors also play against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday at Oracle Arena, Kerr said he does not plan to sit any of his players on the first night of a back-to-back. Its a big game, Curry said. You cant show up and expect to win like this, especially in their building. We understand what happened last time we were here. Then, the Warriors lost to the Nuggets, 100-98, on Oct. 21, 2018. Then, the Warriors missed some late-game shots, went 7-of-29 from 3, collected 29 fouls and committed 18 turnovers. Down the line, though, the Warriors still plan to prioritize health over regular-season results. That explains why the Warriors remained patient this season with healing Currys left groin (11 games), Greens right toe (13 games) and Cousins left Achilles (slated to miss the first 44 games). The Warriors appear likely to be just as deliberative with any future injuries. If it happens to be a Game 7, its even more difficult. But we got a lot of experience, Kerr said. We got three championships banners. Our guys have been through everything. Theyve seen everything. So theyre confident they can win anywhere. But wed always rather play at Oracle. For better and for worse, the Warriors play nearly as similar as they do at Oracle Arena (17-6) as they do on the road (12-8). With a mostly healthy Warriors team having a regular-season game that has some added purpose, a regular-season win here in January might make life easier for the Warriors in April, May and June. The Warriors had an easier playoff journey in 2015 and 2017 partly because of their No. 1 seed. Golden State swept New Orleans in the first round of the 2015 NBA playoffs and beat Memphis in six games in the second round, while the third-seeded Los Angeles Clippers needed seven games to beat San Antonio in the first round. Houston then overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat the Clippers in the second round. The Warriors swept every Western Conference opponent before beating Cleveland in five games in the Finals. Teams are going to have to really play to beat you. Establishing that kind of presence, thats important, Curry said. In terms of getting that No. 1 seed and all that type of stuff , it is still important for us. Understanding our journeys for the championship, its a lot better when you can start out series at home. WARRIORS HQ PODCAST: Be sure to visit our podcast page at mercurynews.com. You can also get notified of new episodes on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, Stitcher and SoundCloud. * * * Follow Bay Area News Group Warriors beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. | https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/15/to-what-extent-do-the-warriors-value-home-court-advantage-this-season/ |
How is the Jimmy Butler trade working out for the Philadelphia 76ers and Minnesota Timberwolves? | When the Minnesota Timberwolves dealt Jimmy Butler to the Philadelphia 76ers for Robert Covington and Dario Saric back in November, it signaled an end to one of the more bizarre situations we've seen for quite some time. Two months later, Butler is set to face his old team for the first time since the blockbuster trade that altered the trajectory for both franchises. Butler's fit alongside Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons From Day 1, the biggest takeaway from this trade would be how Butler fits in alongside the 76ers' franchise pillars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. After a tumultuous end to the stint playing alongside a similarly exciting young duo in Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins, all eyes would be on Butler to see if he could make it work in a new city. Within his first two weeks on his team, Butler hit a pair of game winners that seemed to immediately and perfectly articulate just why the 76ers made that trade in the first place. One of the league's worst fourth-quarter offences over the last year and change, they finally had a closer. They told me to go win the game. - Jimmy Butler : 34 PTS (18 in the 4th), 12 REB, 5 3PTS, 4 STL, 1 GM Winner (2nd in 8 days) Via @ESPN pic.twitter.com/vRGTcF4MGs Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) November 26, 2018 And yet despite that strong first impression, the results have been a mixed bag largely left for interpretation in the eye of the beholder. The 76ers' star trio has played 383 minutes together in 22 games with a net rating of +0.1. The offence with all of them on the court performs at a rate that would fall in the mid 20s over the course of an entire season while the defence has performed at a rate that would rank sixth. While not bad per se, that's overall an underwhelming start for a trio that was on paper supposed to give the 76ers a big edge in collective star power, at least in the Eastern Conference. MORE: It's way too early to give up on Philly's Big Three There have been questions raised from all directions. Embiid for a time lamented about his role. Butler himself has commented on how he's used. And of course there's non-stop chatter on how Simmons adapts to more time spent off the ball where his lack of an outside shot becomes more problematic. There's enough talent that those three should be able to produce regardless of who else shares the floor and yet the puzzle pieces are just awkward enough for that not to be the case, at least thus far. They're an entirely different group when JJ Redick is a part of the equation. Embiid and Simmons destroy anyone and everyone when playing without Butler. You can play with these combinations all day and come to a conclusion that fits your narrative. The 76ers made this move for April, May and June, not for January. The truth is that it's still too early to judge these three and that we won't fully know until the playoffs. Karl-Anthony Towns: The Force Awakens The most positive development for Minnesota has been the resurgence of Towns, who has simply been a different player since the departure of Butler. Prior to the Butler trade, Towns just didn't look like the same wrecking ball from a year ago when he was named All-NBA Second Team after averaging 21.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game as a 22-year-old. Though he was still putting up 20 and 10, Towns seemed to come and go depending on the night with a series of uninspiring performances in marquee matchups. Eight points on 2-6 shooting in the season opener. 14 points on 5-17 shooting in a loss to the Toronto Raptors 13 points on 5-13 shooting in a loss to the Golden State Warriors 13 points on 5-16 shooting in a loss to LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers Perhaps it was telling that with the writing on the wall for an imminent deal, Towns' breakout performance of the season came in his final game alongside Butler as a teammate when he exploded for 39 points and 19 rebounds, albeit in a loss. With Butler now in Philadelphia, Towns is averaging 23.5 points, 13.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 51% from the floor. He once again looks like the player that NBA GMs not that long ago deemed the one they would most want to build a franchise around. Philly's updated title chances At the time of the trade, the 76ers were 8-6, fourth in the East and 4.5 GB of the Raptors in the East. They had a negative scoring margin and were coming off a pair of overtime losses to the Grizzlies and Hornets, two losses that had they swung the other way would have left Philly at 10-4, which would have certainly looked better even if somewhat misleading. Since the trade (not including the game on Nov. 12 which they played without Butler on the day of the trade), the 76ers are 19-10, tied for the fifth-best record in the East. They are, however, only 10th in net rating over that same span, most notably two spots behind the Timberwolves. As mentioned above, incorporating a major piece like Butler takes time so it's too early to read too much into things. According to Inpredictable.com, the 76ers have a 52% chance of finishing with the five seed. That would mean a difficult first-round series in a conference that features a major drop off after the first five teams. There's still time to course correct and finish among the top three. But finishing without even home court in the first round would surely be considered a loss for a team with legitimate hopes of reaching the NBA Finals. Robert Covington and Dario Saric Both Covington and Saric are very good players that fill in nicely next to Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins in the Wolves' re-calibrated new world order. After finally receiving All-Defence recognition for the first time in his career last season, Covington is once again demonstrating that he's got serious chops on that end as a "do-it-all" perimeter defender that can play up or down depending on matchups. Prior to the trade, the 76ers had a top 10 defence while the Timberwolves ranked just 28th. Since then, Minnesota ranks 10th in defensive rating while the 76ers have slid down to 14th. At the centre of it all is Covington, who logged major minutes in Philadelphia and is doing the same in Minnesota. As he did a year ago, Covington once again ranks second in the entire league in defensive real plus-minus among all perimeter players behind only Paul George. Though he's not starting as he did in Philadelphia, Saric has proven a useful spacer on a team desperate for more shooting. He's a natural fit offensively next to Towns as a cutter, spot-up shooter and passer, even if the numbers don't yet bare it out. Moving forward, the 24-year-old Saric better fits the timeline in Minnesota as well. Starting power forward Taj Gibson is 34 and sitting on an expiring contract that pays him $14 million. While Saric has one more year left on his rookie deal after this one before the Timberwolves will have to make a decision, he's at the very least a relatively high upside piece with significant value. Depending on the direction they go now that Tom Thibodeau is out, it's not out of the question that Gibson is moved for an asset now, thus clearing the path for a longer look at Saric this season. Stay tuned. End of the Tom Thibodeau Era The Timberwolves decided to move on from Thibodeau a couple of months after the Butler trade. In Thibodeau's two and a half years in Minnesota, the Timberwolves went 97-107 (47.5%). He led the franchise to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2003-04, ending the longest active postseason drought in the league at the time. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the move caught Thibodeau by surprise, as he expected to finish the season as head coach. He left with the second-most wins in team history, tied with Rick Adelman and trailing Flip Saunders. Ryan Saunders, the son of Flip Saunders, has since taken over for Thibodeau. The team has already picked up a couple of impressive wins under him, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder by two points in his debut and the New Orleans Pelicans by four points a couple of days later. It's early, but the Timberwolves are playing a different style under Saunders that has them shooting more 3s and playing more through Towns and Wiggins. They enter Wednesday's game 2-1 with Saunders as their interim head coach. | https://www.sportingnews.com/au/nba/news/jimmy-butler-trade-dario-saric-robert-covington-philadelphia-76ers-minnesota-timberwolves/1b3zamt3o1z9v1fh4qj09hi46v |
Did 'True Detective' Just Connect Season 3 to Season 1? | Best not think too deeply on a passing mention, executive producer Scott Stephens says. [This story contains minor spoilers for the season three permiere of True Detective.] It's not for nothing that reviewers have been comparing the newly launched season of True Detective to the show's breakout first run. The HBO anthology has returned to the multiple-timeline structure and Southern Gothic atmospherics that helped make season one distinctive. The central case, involving a missing brother and sister named Will and Julie Purcell in Arkansas in 1980, also carries undertones of the "Satanic Panic" stories of ritual abuse from the 1980s and early '90s. Those stories also influenced the details of the case in season one. In the second of two episodes that aired Sunday, though, there's a direct link between the two seasons. In 2015, documentary producer Elisa Montgomery (Sarah Gadon) is interviewing the 70-year-old Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) about the Purcell case he worked 35 years earlier. She explains the burgeoning online community devoted to true crime and rattles off several other cases with markers similar to the Purcell case. One of them, she notes, featured "crooked spiral" iconography and wonders whether the dolls that are part of the Purcell case are something similar. It's a bit of a throwaway line, but one that might have perked up the ears of True Detective sleuths and Redditors. That symbol was all over season one, carved into the back of victim Dora Lange, in a vision Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) sees and in and around Carcosa. "Not really," executive producer Scott Stephens told The Hollywood Reporter. The reference is kind of a nod to the [first season]. The stuff in season one was based on the same sort of pedophilia stories that are mentioned by the documentary crew. That's kind of the connective tissue." Anyone thinking the passing mention of a small piece of season one may lead back to the Yellow King, however, is likely to wind up at a dead end. "It's just a fun way to tie things in," Stephens said. | https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/true-detective-season-3-connection-season-1-explained-1175607 |
How Did The WWE Total Bellas Season 4 Premiere Do? | Sundays season 4 premiere of WWE Total Bellas drew 505,000 viewers and ranked #35 on the Cable Top 150. This is down from the season 3 finale back in July, which drew 617,000 viewers and ranked #24 for the night. The season 3 premiere drew 517,000 viewers. To compare, the Total Divas season 8 finale drew 412,000 viewers and ranked #45 on the Cable Top 150 back in November. The Total Divas season 8 premiere drew 454,000 viewers. TLCs 90 Day Fiance topped the night in viewership and the 18-49 demographic with 2.668 million viewers. Below is our Total Bellas Season 4 Viewership Tracker: Episode 1: 505,000 viewers Episode 2: Season 3 Total: 6.342 million viewers Season 3 Average: 634,200 viewers per episode (10 episodes) Season 2 Total: 4.702 million viewers Season 2 Average: 587,750 viewers per episode (8 episodes) Season 1 Total: 3.842 million viewers Season 1 Average: 640,000 viewers per episode (6 episodes) | http://www.24wrestling.com/wwe-total-bellas-season-4-premiere/ |
Why are SP Group's rates higher than retailers'? | I appreciate the Energy Market Authority's (EMA) response (Open electricity market gives consumers choice; Jan 14) to Mr Hoe Lye Soon's concerns regarding the Open Electricity Market (OEM) (Keep buying of electricity simple; Jan 5). I acknowledge that it is always good for consumers to have more choices. However, I have a seemingly simple question that has yet to receive a satisfactory answer from the electricity retailers I have asked. Many of the 13 or so retailers participating in the OEM do not generate their own power, instead claiming to buy in bulk from power plants to sell to consumers. As the largest bulk buyer of electricity, SP Group should benefit the most from economies of scale, and be able to pass the savings on to consumers. It is hard to understand the logic behind creating the OEM and getting so many retailers to compete for consumers, when SP Group is in a position to bypass this step to sell electricity directly to consumers at more competitive rates. I doubt I am the only consumer puzzled by this, and hope that EMA can give a satisfactory explanation. Albert Tang | https://www.straitstimes.com/forum/letters-in-print/why-are-sp-groups-rates-higher-than-retailers |
Was luft bei Airopack? | Aktie Wertpapier, das einen Anteil am Kapital einer Aktiengesellschaft verkrpert. Es sichert dem Eigentmer Mitgliedschaftsrechte (Stimm- und Wahlrecht an der Generalversammlung) und Vermgensrechte (Recht auf Anteil am Gewinn, Beteiligungsquote bei Kapitalerhhungen oder am Liquidationsergebnis) zu. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Aktionr Teilhaber einer AG bzw. Inhaber einer Aktie oder einer Mehrzahl von Aktien. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Ausbung Geltendmachung des Rechts zum Bezug des im Optionsvertrag fixierten Basiswerts zum Ausbungspreis (physische Lieferung) oder zum entsprechenden Barausgleich. Findet whrend (amerikanische Option) oder am Ende (europische Option) der Laufzeit statt. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Bezugsrecht Recht des Aktionrs und des Partizipanten zum Bezug neuer Aktien, Partizipationsscheine oder Wandler, meist in Form eines bestimmten Coupons der Aktie oder des Partizipationsscheins. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Brse Regelmssig stattfindender, nach feststehenden Usanzen organisierter Markt. Je nach den gehandelten Gtern spricht man z. B. von Wertpapier-, Effekten-, Devisen-, Warenbrsen oder Brsen fr derivative Instrumente (Terminbrsen ). Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff CEO Angelschsische Krzel fr Unternehmenschef (Chief Executive Officer), Leiter der Finanzabteilung (Chief Financial Officer), Leiter Anlagestrategie (Chief Investment Officer) sowie Leiter operatives Geschft (Chief Operating Officer), die gemeinsam die Geschftsleitung bilden. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Eigenkapital Der Teil des Gesamtkapitals, der den Aktionren gehrt und ihnen im Fall einer Geschftsaufgabe ausgezahlt wird. Aus Sicht der Aktionre besteht die wichtigste Aufgabe eines Unternehmens darin, auf dem Eigenkapital eine risikogerechte Rendite zu erwirtschaften (vgl. Eigenkapital der Banken ). Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Fonds Ein mit ffentlicher Werbung von Investoren zum Zweck gemeinschaftlicher Kapitalanlage aufgebrachtes Vermgen, das von der Fondsleitung in der Regel nach dem Grundsatz der Diversifikation auf Rechnung der Investoren verwaltet wird. Anlagefonds werden direkt bei der Bank und vermehrt auch ber Internet-Plattformen gekauft und im Gegensatz zu ETF in der Regel nicht brslich gehandelt. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff GV Oberstes Organ einer AG. Neben der ordentlichen jhrlichen Versammlung der Aktionre knnen auch ausserordentliche GV einberufen werden. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Generalversammlung Oberstes Organ einer AG. Neben der ordentlichen jhrlichen Versammlung der Aktionre knnen auch ausserordentliche GV einberufen werden. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Gewinnschwelle Preis, mit dem fr den Anleger weder ein Gewinn noch ein Verlust entsteht. Im Fall eines Calls wird zum Ausbungspreis der Optionspreis addiert, bei einem Put wird der Optionspreis vom Ausbungspreis abgezogen. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Kapitalerhhung Kapitalbeschaffung der Aktiengesellschaft durch Erhhung des Aktienkapitals . Zu unterscheiden sind ordentliche, bedingte und genehmigte Kapitalerhhung. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Kapitalschnitt Herabsetzung des Aktienkapitals , verbunden mit einer anschliessenden Kapitalerhhung durch die Ausgabe neuer Aktien . Fhrt zu einer Strkung der Kapitalbasis eines vorbergehend in Schwierigkeiten geratenen Unternehmens. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Liquiditt 1. Fhigkeit eines Unternehmens zur fristgerechten Erfllung der Zahlungsverpflichtungen. Als Liquidittskennzahlen gebruchlich sind die Cash Ratio, die in Prozenten ausdrckt, wie viel des kurzfristigen Fremdkapitals durch liquide Mittel gedeckt ist, die Quick Ratio, die zeigt, wie viel des kurzfristigen Fremdkapitals durch liquide Mittel und Forderungen gedeckt ist, und die Current Ratio. Letztere setzt alle Aktiven des Umlaufvermgens ins Verhltnis zum kurzfristigen Fremdkapital. 2. Hohe Marktgngigkeit eines Wertpapiers, die auf der Vielzahl der im Umlauf befindlichen Titel und einer engen Geld-Brief-Spanne grndet. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff Refinanzierung Als Refinanzierung bezeichnet man die Geldbeschaffung von Kreditinstituten. Hat eine Bank Gelder an Kreditnehmer ausgezahlt, kann sie sich u. a. ber die Emission festverzinslicher Wertpapiere refinanzieren und erhlt somit den Spielraum, weitere Kredite zu gewhren. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff VR berwacht und lenkt (ber die Strategiefestlegung) fr die Gesamtheit der Aktionre die Geschftsleitung eines Unternehmens. Die VR-Mitglieder einer AG schweizerischen Rechts mssen in der Regel mehrheitlich das Schweizer Brgerrecht besitzen und in der Schweiz wohnhaft sein. Der VR besteht aus exekutiven (unternehmensinternen) und nicht exekutiven (externen) Mitgliedern. Immer mehr setzt sich im Rahmen einer guten Corporate Governance die Praxis durch, dass ein bedeutender Teil der VR in keiner geschftlichen Beziehung zum Unternehmen stehen darf. Der VR wird von der GV gewhlt. Alle Artikel zu diesem Fachbegriff | https://www.fuw.ch/article/airopack-mehrere-abgaenge-im-vr/ |
Is big data ruining education? | Standardized tests may not be making kids smarter. If you've ever had the sneaking suspicion that standardized tests are a waste of time, you're not alone. Simon Rodberg, the District of Columbia International School's founding principal, recently wrote about how the promise that data will improve education is failing students. "The drive for data responded to a real problem in education, but bad thinking about testing and data use has made the data cure worse than the disease," he wrote. In 2001, No Child Left Behind mandated more standardized testing and made decisions for schools based on the testing data. Since then, teachers have been stuck devoting tons of time to preparing students for and administering standardized tests rather than teaching. "'Are the students learning?' is still the most important question, and it cant be answered without looking at the results," Rodberg continued. "But looking ever-closer, and ever-more-often, wont make the students learn more. And trying to turn teachers into data analysts instead of helping them to be better teachers is a recipe for disaster." This would all be understandable if these standardized tests were actually improving learning. But ... The best estimate is that test-based accountability may have produced modest gains in elementary-school mathematics but no appreciable gains in either reading or high-school mathematics even though reading and mathematics have been its primary focus," wrote Daniel Koretz, a Harvard professor who studies testing. Our culture is data-obsessed, and for good reason. There's real value in measuring and analyzing new things. But the line between using data appropriately and putting blind faith in data is oddly fuzzy. Data doesn't fall from the sky. Humans decide what to measure, then do their best to measure it. So the values and capabilities of the people in charge determine what data gets collected. And what's true in physics is true in schools: measuring something changes it. Besides, people can't measure everything. The government might want to measure children's learning. But the closest they can get is making students take standardized tests (determined, again, by the values of those making the tests). Standardized tests leave out plenty. They also measure things that aren't necessarily indicative of learning. For instance, standardized tests don't ask very difficult questions. Hard questions take a long time to figure out; these tests need questions that students can answer in a couple minutes. So on these tests, the real challenge is spitting out answers quickly. Maybe not, but it's much easier to measure. The problem is, things humans can measure aren't necessarily more important than things that humans can't measure. Politicians don't add the value of a vivacious rainforest to GDP, but our bodies still benefit from the oxygen. "We wanted data to help us get past the problem of too many students learning too little, but it turns out that data is an insufficient, even misleading answer," Rodberg wrote. "Its possible that all weve learned from our hyper-focus on data is that better instruction wont come from more detailed information, but from changing what people do." In spite of all these problems, it's no surprise that schools treat children like products to be sorted rather than future scientists and writers. Mandatory education arose with the Industrial Revolution. As workers were sent to factories, children were sent to school to prepare for factory life. Today, businesses may depend more on creative problem-solvers than people who reflexively respond to bells, but schools don't seem to have noticed. It's going to take some serious introspection to figure out how education ought to change in the modern economic era, and no standardized test will spit out the answer to that. | https://www.treehugger.com/culture/big-data-ruining-education.html |
Why did Fyre Festival fail? | Nothing has ever quite caught the imagination and interest of the internet like the implosion of the Fyre Festival. Originally touted as the most glamorous and immersive music festival to have ever been created, Fyre Festival was due to take place in the Bahamas, with ticket prices as high as $12,000. But as soon as guests arrived they were instead greeted with mass chaos, as the luxury villas, gourmet food and musicians promised were absent, as was any semblance of organization, and it was cancelled just a few hours in. Thousands of people online took immense pleasure in the debacle, as it was described as Lord Of The Flies with social media influencers. Luckily for those that were hooked by the Fyre Festival failure Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened takes a deep dive into the disaster. I actually heard about it when it imploded, director Chris Smith tells Metro, who soon after wanted to go deeper to try to understand what had happened. Initially, Smith wasnt even sure if he could make a movie out of what had unfolded. But as we got further and further in, you just started to see all these different layers, and all these different parts of the story that werent evident. You didnt really see it just by looking at these headlines. I felt like even looking back at what was written there was very little information actually about the festival, it was a lot of stories about Lord of the Flies, Instagram, social media influencers. But they didnt dig a lot deeper. With Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened Smith does just that, and what he discovered is truly astounding, as co-organizer Billy McFarland repeatedly deceived and committed fraud in order to try and put on the festival. It wasnt until you dug deeper that you understood where the deception started and how all these lies added up, to result in what eventually went down. There was deception on two main fronts. One was the investors they were using false information to raise money and consequently had they been honest about the fundraising, they wouldnt have been able to raise more money. It would have been likely that they wouldnt have raised more money and the festival wouldnt never have gotten as far as it ended up getting. Smith insists that those involved also had an opportunity to be more honest with the attendees and reveal that the vision they had sold of Fyre Festival, that it would include models, private jets and exclusive private islands, just wasnt going to happen. When reality set in, and it changed, there was an opportunity to be honest with the attendees and communicate that the festival was something different than what they had advertised. There was a chance that people could have adapted and the ones that wanted to bail and that wanted out could have left. Had the expectations been set properly that maybe there was a version that wasnt what was promised, but could have gone off You know there was never a chance that it was going to be the festival that was advertised. Yes. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is released on Netflix on January 18. | https://www.metro.us/entertainment/movies/fyre-festival-netflix-billy-mcfarland |
Will Democratic Leaders Follow Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on the New Green Deal? | Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands in line during a ceremonial mock swearing-in ceremony with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Capitol Hill on Jan. 3, 2019 in Washington. Zach Gibson/Getty Images This story was originally published by High Country News and has been republished here with permission from Climate Desk. On Nov. 13, more than 200 activists protested on Capitol Hill, demanding a Green New Deala massive economic stimulus package designed to create jobs, remake the U.S. energy system, and fight climate change. Then-Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez waded into their midst, vaulting the movement to national prominence. As determined young protesters in matching brown T-shirts hunkered in front of the unoccupied desk of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, holding signs reading, Step Up or Step Aside and Green Jobs for All, Ocasio-Cortez addressed them. I just want to let you all know how proud I am of each and every single one of you for putting yourselves and your bodies and everything on the line to make sure that we save our planet, our generation, and our future, she said, as cameras rolled. Indeed, by days end, many protesters were arrested. The Green New Deal is popular: According to a recent poll by Yale University and George Mason University, more than 80 percent of registered voters support the concept. But its also vague about details, and Democratic leaders are divided on how to respond. Even as newly elected progressives and activists push for sweeping policy change, the partys established power brokers favor caution. How the party resolves this discord could determine whether climate change becomes a prominent issue in the 2020 electionand what action Democrats are prepared to take on it, should their power expand. Before taking office, Ocasio-Cortez pressed Pelosi to create a Green New Deal select committee, which would have one year to design a job-creating solution to climate change. Ocasio-Cortezs proposalcrafted in partnership with the Sunrise Movement and Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee working to get corporate money out of politicscalls the transition away from fossil fuels a historic opportunity to virtually eliminate poverty in the United States. A Green New Deal would include job-training programs in renewable energy and guaranteed employment for all Americans. Climate change is an urgent issue, said New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland, who campaigned on getting the country to 100 percent renewable energy and was an early supporter of the Green New Deal. We have to do something now. A new generation of activists dismisses the idea that the existing power structure can address the climate crisis. The Green New Deals massive scope and ambitionto wean the entire country from fossil fuels in just over a decadecome in response to scientists evermore urgent warnings. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, nations must reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050 or face increasingly catastrophic consequences. Yet the politics of climate change remain fraughteven among Democrats. Democratic House leaders firmly rejected Ocasio-Cortezs proposal for a select committee. According to E&E News, the Democratic chairs of existing committees bristled at the possibility of a new select committee usurping some of their own powers. Instead, House Speaker Pelosi reinstated the defunct Climate Crisis Select Committee, which is charged with investigating and recommending climate change solutions. However, it lacks authority to craft legislation, and its members will be allowed to accept campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry, something Ocasio-Cortez wanted to ban. The title is the only thing about the committee that begins to acknowledge the magnitude and urgency of the crisis we are in, said Benjamin Finegan, an organizer with the Sunrise Movement. University of Oregon law professor Greg Dotson, who worked on climate policy for former California Rep. Henry Waxman, believes the partys internal disagreement is a symptom of the growing pains its experiencing as it regains power. We are in an interesting situation where the Democratic Party agrees on the most important things, which are: Climate change is happening, its caused by humans, and we have to take action to address it, Dotson said. Because theyre coming out of the minority, how exactly to do that, theyre still working on. Although the Green New Deal select committee would have a new and specific mission, there are other ways to advance its goals. Democrats on House committees like Transportation and Energy and Environment have expertise on key climate issues and could do similar work. Advocates should understand that theres a tremendous amount of institutional history and expertise on all the committees for even the most far-reaching goals of a Green New Deal, Dotson said. But a new generation of climate change activists, including Finegan, dismisses the idea that the existing power structure can address the climate crisis. I think that argument is politicians being politicians, Finegan said. After all, for decades, politicians have known climate change was happening, but theyve done little to stop it. Its a frustration with the old guard that some early-career Democrats, like Ocasio-Cortez and Haaland, seem to share. We should have done something decades ago, Haaland said. To be clear, even if a new committee were created, Green New Deal legislation would have a snowballs chance in Phoenix of passing the Republican-controlled Senate, never mind being signed into law by President Donald J. Trump. Still, the debate matters: For the next two years, the most successful outcome would be for the Democratic Party to come to a view on how to address climate change and the equity issues that the Green New Deal points to, Dotson said. The sooner that happens, the better. Leadership has never been more needed: In 2018, after years of decline, carbon dioxide emissions again surged in the United States, even as climate changes impacts became harder to ignore. | https://slate.com/technology/2019/01/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-house-democrats.html |
Is President Joo Lourenos Team Driving Angolan Oil Rebound? | By NJ Ayuk In December, I was accompanying OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo and Africa Oil and Power CEO, Guillaume Doane, on a working visit to Angola. This is an oil market that has been under a lot of scrutiny by many industry players and there is no question that Angolas oil sector is at a time of transformation. It is now clear that when President Joo Lourenos promised he would clean the countrys administration and revamp its economic engine, namely the national oil company Sonangol, he meant business. Certainly, his plans are driven by a medium to long-term vision of diversifying the economy from oil, but in a nation so dependent on the black gold for its economic lifeblood (oil accounts for as much as 90% of Angolas exports), it is in the oil industry that the funds for developing other sectors will be found. Since his term in office started in the Summer of 2017, the administration of nearly every national strategic asset has been changed. Particularly in Sonangol, the leadership of Africas richest woman and the daughter of former president Jos Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel dos Santos, has been replaced by an oil industry-savvy technocrat named Carlos Saturnino, which has over 30 years of oil industry experience within Sonangols core businesses. This is a man much less likely to spend the companys resources in questionable investments in healthcare, hospitality, aviation or sports clubs, than previous administrations of politically-charged leaders have been, and which has led to Sonangols current dire financial situation. Further, the new Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources, Diamantino Azevedo, announced, last September, that fifty-four concessionaires under the Sonangol umbrella were to be privatized in the run up to 2022, in order to shed costs, reduce operational complexity and allow the national oil company to focus on its core business. Earlier in the year, the government announced a full revamp of the countrys legal framework for the oil and gas industry, which would include the landmark decision of striping Sonangol from its role as oil block concessionaire. That responsibility will pass to the newly created National Agency of Petroleum and Gas, a migration of duties that should be concluded during the second quarter of 2019. The decision puts an end to decades of conflict of interests between Sonangols role as an oil and gas operator and concessionaire of oil and gas blocks. Further, over the last eighteen months, the government has put in place official policies that have largely simplified investment in the hydrocarbons sector, clarified and brought transparency to the rules applicable to bidding rounds and public tenders, and introduced the countrys first comprehensive antitrust law, in a row of decisions that is dramatically changing the industrys landscape. In all, the decisions taken over the oil and gas sector sound like a housecleaning operation and will hopefully see Sonangol quickly become more efficient and focused on its core business. However, that will not be enough. Strong but pragmatic commonsense measures The first eleven months of 2018 saw Angola make more money from oil than in any of the previous four years, at the tune of USD$8.7 billion. While that goes some way into helping the countrys economy as a whole, those results can not be attributed to the recent reforms in the sector. The rise in oil prices witnessed in the run up to November 2018 justified most of the gains. Actually, November 2018 marked the highest price per barrel of Angolan oil (nearly USD$80) since November 2014. The average sales price in the year up to November stood at USD$70,82, while the national state budget had been built on an expected average price of USD$50 per barrel for the year. This represents welcome news for this cash-strapped economy, but it can also be misleadingly positive. While the income is rising, production is declining. 2018 marked the first time Angolas average daily production stood below the 1.5-million-barrel mark in over a decade. The lack of investment in exploration witnessed in the wake of the oil price collapse in 2014 (which resulted in a drastic decrease in exploration wells that culminated in a zero count for 2018) means that there are no new projects and reserves to replace the declining and ageing active oil fields. Joo Loureno and his cabinet needed to get to work in order to attract investment and revamp the industry. In part, this work will take the form of the Angolan Marginal Field Bid Round of 2019, the first bid round in the country in over 8 years. As the new investment attraction policies slowly start to impact the sector and again bring the industrys big players into the countrys least charted waters, the new legal framework created to facilitate the exploitation of the countrys marginal oil fields will go a long way in slowing down the declining oil production. At the same time, Sonangol has drafted an ambitious plan to develop its downstream sector. After securing a USD$200 million financing package to quadruple the capacity of the Luanda refinery, it is now in the last stages of contracting the construction of two new refineries, one in Lobito and another in Cabinda. These projects will help address the long-standing issue of fuel imports, which today account for 80% of Angolas fuel consumption. These are long-term plans to address some of the countrys most structural issues, which have prevented it from rising as a wealthy nation despite its immense natural resources. At the same time, Sonangol has been signing deals in recent months with the likes of BP and ExxonMobil to streamline development in a number of offshore oil fields. These deals have been facilitated by the renewed confidence these companies feel in the Angolan oil landscape. The words of BP CEO Bob Dudley, in December, when the two companies agreed on the joint development of block 18, are telling of this brighter vision for the sector. I would like to thank President Loureno, the government and Sonangol for their vision, leadership and drive to improve the industrys competitiveness and encourage new investment, he said in a statement. Another factor underlying optimism for the future of the industry is the reviewed natural gas policy. Up until now, Angolas hydrocarbon licenses referred solely to crude oil resources. Sonangol is technically the owner of all of the countrys natural gas resources, which are considerable. However, the national oil company has never really explored those assets, preferring to focus on the more profitable oil reserves. This will now also change, as a new policy will give license-holders control over the natural gas resources within their licenses, which could see a renewed expansion of the sector beyond the single standing LNG train of the Angola LNG Project, in Soyo. This intent was further reinforced by Angolas ascension as a member of the Forum of Gas Exporting Countries in December. Finally, after being at the brink of bankruptcy, Sonangol seems to be threading a more sustainable path, having secured the USD$1 billion loan it needed to finance its restructuring plan in December. In many more ways than one, the transformations we are witnessing in the Angolan oil sector are bound to propel the country into a level of development and sustainable economic wealth it has never seen before. If these measures are sustained in time, Angola will undergo a de facto transformation for the better and many oil leaders have already voiced their approval for these transformation. In that sense, we make ours the words uttered by His Excellency Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in his visit L to Luanda at the end of 2018: we congratulate the governments heroic efforts to reform the industry. These are the right reforms at the right time. We [] applaud these reforms. *NJ Ayuk is founder and CEO of Centurion Law Group and the executive chair of the Africa Energy Chamber of Commerce (AEC). | https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2019/01/15/is-president-joao-lourencos-team-driving-angolan-oil-rebound/ |
What Do Banks Believe Family Offices Should Focus On? | Often banks are the institutions that operate closest to family offices. For this reason, family offices also look to banks more frequently for guidance to ensure they're equipped to facilitate the growth and sustainability of the family enterprises that they serve. For family firms to thrive in the fast-evolving modern world of business, family offices need to be acutely aware of shifting investment trends and the need to expand their attention outside of financial services and into the sphere of governance, information security, management culture, succession and specialist in-house expertise. Management Culture Two key performance enablers that demand attention within the family office space are agility and purpose, both proving to be highly effective ingredients of successful management culture. When companies have an articulated purpose that transcends products and services and is more significant than just money, customer loyalty and employee engagement is superior, ultimately leading to improved long-term financial performance. Purpose consultant Aaron Hurst, the founder of Imperative, found that 42% of companies that were not considered purpose- driven experienced a decline in year-on-year revenue. In contrast, 85% of purpose-led companies enjoyed positive growth. UBS & Campden Wealth 2018 Global Family Office Report indicates that only a third of family offices have a clearly defined purpose statement, which is evidence of the work required to address this gap. Agility is also essential to success. Michael Hugos, principal at Centre for Systems Innovation, estimates that companies who achieve adequate levels of agility can grow profit by an additional 2%-4% per annum. Companies should be looking at reducing structures and processes to promote flexibility, creativity and swift decision-making. Governance And Controls According to Emile Salawi, Head of Family Offices at BNP Paribas, By improving governance, the whole office can be more efficient, and the succession to next generation can also be managed far more effectively. Governance enables fast decision-making, empowering employees at all levels to make decisions according to a clear mandate. Governance structures and guidelines relating to information security and decision-making are generally more informal within the family office space, impacting efficiency and making these firms vulnerable to fraud and cyber-attacks. On this topic, Salawi claims that Cyber-security is one of the three most important focus areas for family offices. Traditionally, families have relied on banks to exercise necessary governance and compliance requirements when it comes to protecting information and funds, but the time has come for families and family offices to take more responsibility for the protection of their own data, with consideration to the entire information and document flow. Investment Trends Are Evolving According to Salawi, future-centric family offices should take note of how investment allocations and investment drivers are changing within the sector. Family offices are becoming leaner and focused, with increasing emphasis on direct investments, impact investing and more active participation in the management of the businesses that they invest in. Commenting further on direct investments, Salawi adds that very few families are taking majority stakes in businesses, rather securing minority stakes coupled with more active involvement in board decisions, and leveraging their networks to grow these companies. Direct investment into real estate (17%) and private equity (22%), now account for approximately 39% of total family office investments, and this allocation is expected to grow in the coming years, as funds shift into higher yielding, more illiquid assets. Impact Investing And The Next Generation The motivation behind investment is evolving, with social and environmental impact becoming a serious consideration. As an investment driver, impact investing is becoming increasingly popular amongst family offices, with 32% surveyed now reporting involvement in this space, a 4.2% increase versus 2017. Dr. Rebecca Gooch, Director of Research, Campden Wealth comments in their latest report: Impact investing will be an important space to watch over the coming years. Our research shows that the next generation, and millennials, in particular, are driving impact investing within the family office space. Explore Specialist In-house Expertise According to Salawi: Family offices need to understand the constraints of banks on various regulatory and compliance matters, for example concerning KYC (Knowing your customer). Hence having specialist in-house expertise can be very beneficial, eg, legal counsel, allowing for quicker reactions and decision-making. The Succession Challenge Succession planning in family businesses is often not prioritized until it is too late. It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of U.S. businesses are family owned, yet less than a third of family businesses succeed into the second generation, and only 10 percent survive into the third. If securing multi-generational participation in the family business is a priority, more focus needs to be placed on succession planning. Worldwide, understanding key trends, unique opportunities, threats and emerging needs within this sector is crucial for family offices to provide an effective, holistic service to their families and clients. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/francoisbotha/2019/01/15/what-do-banks-believe-family-offices-should-focus-on/ |
Is Dancing On Ice star Gemma Collins an out of control diva or reality TV gold? | Get celebs updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email It's quite the feat to make professional nice girl Holly Willoughby publicly call you out on your behaviour. But if one person could manage to make her crack, it would, of course, be Gemma Collins. The Dancing on Ice reality star has had rather a dramatic 48 hours. Having left Sundays live show 25 minutes early because she was bored, Holly later slammed her on This Morning for a lack of professionalism, prompting Gemma to threaten to quit. Sources close to her went as far as to claim she thought there was a conspiracy to bring down the shows biggest star. Meanwhile tales of her diva demands were getting all the more extravagant - from apparent calls for foot massages to wanting her favourite pie and mash being shipped in from London restaurants. (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock) Viewers had already been told the whole studio - including Torvill and Dean - were kept waiting for 10 minutes while she had a nap. The week before, her introductory video showed her boasting about being Beyonce on ice and the next Champion skater, before stumbling out like a gold-sequinned Bambi. And then theres the elephant the room - were not watching Gemma, 37, but her diva alter-ego The GC. For the majority of Dancing on Ice viewers who didnt watch the curvy blonde cut her showbiz teeth on ITV2s The Only Way Is Essex, Gemma has hit Sunday night primetime TV like an avalanche. Now on her 12th reality show, whatever shes selling, TV bosses certainly seem to be buying. (Image: Instagram) Gemmas big break came in 2011, when the mother of former The Only Way Is Essex star Amy Childs, suggested to producers that they might want to screen test a car salesman she knew. Two weeks later Gemma was joining the second series of the show - and the boat was well and truly rocked. A yo-yo dieter, Gemmas been anywhere up to a size 24. Then she was just a size 16, but was still dubbed the curvy girl among the super skinny cast. Yet rather than dwell on it, Gemma got stuck in - ending up in a love triangle with her now-boyfriend James Arg Argent and his on-off girlfriend Lydia Bright. It wasnt long before her loud, brash alter-ego The GC emerged, and Gemma could not be contained to just TOWIE. Fast forward to today and shes arguably done better than many of her co-stars in terms of making it to the primetime - and the headlines. First there was ITVs Splash! in 2014, where Tom Daley taught her to dive, only for her to end up covered in bruises. After losing out to Michaela Strachan in a dive off, she declared: Thats the best news Ive heard all day. (Image: ITV) A few months later, she became the first Towie girl to do Im A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! but wasnt even off the helicopter before she broke down, and with mascara running down her face. Can you stop a minute please, Im serious just stop, she screamed at the pilot. I need to get out, seriously Im going to be sick, I cant do it, no way! Some 72 hours later she quit the show, moaning that being given porridge was against her human rights. I just dont want to do it. Its too hard, she said. People that murder get treated better than this, and thats the truth. Even a murderer gets fed three times a day. True that may be, but they also dont get a handsome payday. Still it only made her more attractive to TV producers. It was clear youll never be short of drama with The GC around. She even declared on TOWIE, Im Gemma Collins, Ive earned my divaship. She brought that diva to the Celebrity Big Brother house, in 2016, when just 48 hours in she declared she was bored. I am f***ing gamed out. I have had enough of playing games, she yelled to Big Brother. Its like having a job and working 24/7 for two days on the trot! (Image: Rex Features) And when former EastEnders star John Partridge accused her of making him cry, she was having none of it. I just dont believe it to be honest, she mused, later telling housemates: Youre obsessed with me and I love it. Thats an understatement. Gemmas also been snapped up to appear on Sugar Free Farm, Celebrity MasterChef, Big Brother (again), All Together Now Celebrities, and Channel 5s In Therapy among others. And its all thanks to a knack of stealing the limelight. There was the fall through the trapdoor at 2017s Radio One Teen Awards; that super-shoulder padded dress that upstaged much bigger names than hers at that years ITVs Summer Party; and an excruiating interview about to answer any questions about her second book The GC: How to Be a Diva because the journalist hadnt been able to read it, after not being sent a copy. Have you read the book?. Gemma later admitted she hadnt exactly been slaving over a keyboard. Well, I didnt sit there writing it, no, she told Loose Women. I got offered to do a book, and they said to me, Gem, youre so busy, how about we get someone to walk around with you with a dictaphone?. And thats how we did it. Whether shes conscious of spewing the one-liners is unclear. But shes definitely is game for a laugh: Shes said yes to naked shoots, yes to recreating the Kardashians best Instagrams, even yes to releasing a pop single last September. (Image: WENN.com) And with more than a million Instagram followers, shes even shrugged off her new status as queen of internet memes, fully subscribing to Oscar Wildes theory that the only thing worst than being talked about is not being talked about. Gemma is, after all, not a dumb blonde Essex girl. Shes not actually an Essex girl at all. Born in 1981 in Romford - officially in the London borough of Havering - shes the daughter of self-made working class parents, Alan and Joan Collins (not, that one). And far from being plucked from obscurity, she was educated at the famous Sylvia Young Stage School, where she fell in love with musical theatre, after calling it the best education money can buy. Yet while she loved everything about the stage, a career in the West End never happened for her. So when she was 31, working on a car lot and the TOWIE producers came calling, she jumped on the next best thing: reality TV. Somewhat candidly though, the effervescent blonde, has quietly admitted that sometimes she wonders if she should have been more careful what she wished for. And despite being proud of her plus-sized clothes line, her fame has put an unfair focus on her weight. (Image: David Fisher/REX/Shutterstock) She said in 2017: I probably felt more beautiful before I went on TV. Cos I get so much criticism now. Away from the cameras, her worries havent been constricted to the best fake tans and perfect hair flicks. Indeed, she later claimed the reason she was so upset in the jungle was that she had been attacked by an ex-boyfriend just before she flew to Oz. He strongly denied the claims, but police confirmed they had been called to her address. Then there was the broken engagement with Rami Hawash. Their three-year-relationship ended in 2014 with his claims that she threw an Indian takeway over him in a row, and her claims that he made her feel bad and called her a fatsie. Even her current man Arg famously cheated on her. (Image: ITV/REX/Shutterstock) All the while, her mum Joan was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis , and spent three years in a wheelchair, only just being able to walk again, days before Gemma entered CBB. All the time, Gemmas OTT diva brand - and shoulder pads - just kept getting bigger and bigger: The more strife she had in her life, the more abuse about her weight she got, the less she seemed to want to be painted as a victim. Almost in the same sentence as she genuinely admitted she sometimes struggled with fame, Gemma spewed what would become another classic quote from The GC. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now The Range Rover lifestyle just become normal to me, she said. After the first Range Rover I went on to have another four or five, and the last Range Rover I had, I didnt get the buzz. Whether shes got zero self-awareness, or just knows how to get people talking about her, is up for debate. But one things for sure this homegrown diva is not going to be short of work for a long time to come. She summed it up best herself, when she made this promise to Big Brother in the Diary Room: Ill make it TV gold for you. | https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/dancing-ice-star-gemma-collins-13862008 |
Can 'Catering And Delivery' Bolster Chipotle's Same Store Sales 10% By 2021? | Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) continued a strong performance in its third quarter, with the company beating consensus expectations on earnings. The 8.6% revenue increase was driven by a comparable sales increase of 4.4% and 28 new store openings. This positive performance aided in the restaurant level margin expansion of 260 basis points. We expect these strong trends to continue in the fourth quarter as well. In 2018 Chipotle has recorded nearly a 45% surge in its stock price. We have maintained our long-term price estimate for Chipotle at $468. In our interactive dashboard Whats the Upside for Chipotle if we provide a scenario in which we estimate Chipotles Share Price in a situation where the Catering and Delivery offering bolsters its same store sales by 2021. Below we detail the scenario further. The company is expected to continue growing at 8-9% and post approximately $6.1 billion in revenue in the year 2021. It is expected that the Average number of restaurants will reach approximately 2971 by 2021 while expected revenue from each restaurant will touch $2.1 million. We expect the Net Income margin to continue improving and it is anticipated at 7.25% of Total Revenue in 2021. We also estimate the P/E multiple to be 26.65 In our scenario we estimate the expected revenue from each restaurant to reach approximately $2.3 million with a further improvement of 50 basis points in Net Income margin on the back of the growth in the Catering and Delivery offering. Overall, for this scenario estimates result in an upside of $82 for Chipotle, which is almost 17.6% higher than our current Trefis Price of $468. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/15/can-catering-and-delivery-bolster-chipotles-same-store-sales-10-by-2021/ |
Should Investors Buy Goldman Sachs Stock Ahead of Its Earnings? | On Wednesday before the stock market opens, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) will report its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings. Goldman Sachs stock certainly has been one of the worst performers in the investment-banking industry. The recent track record of GS stock doesnt exactly inspire confidence, even though GS has a low valuation and generates high profits. Goldman Sachs stock rallied 1% yesterday after Citigroup (NYSE: C ) reported higher-than-expected profits, but missed revenue expectations. Citis sales sank 2.2% year-over-year, but that didnt stop C stock from advancing 4% yesterday. Perhaps. A Preview of Goldman Sachs Earnings GS has beaten analysts consensus earnings and revenue expectations for six straight quarters. Its last miss came in its results of the first quarter of 2017, as its top and bottom lines both came in below the consensus outlook. Expectations for the Q4 results that GS will report tomorrow have been declining, as worries continue to mount about the banking sectors performance last quarter. In Q4, investors and investments banks alike saw a dramatic spike in volatility. For Citigroup, that caused issues, but for Goldman, the high volatility could have created opportunities for its trading desk. As of now, consensus expectations call for $7.78 billion of revenue, a decline of 0.7 percentage points from the same period last year. Analysts average estimate now calls for earnings of $5.61 per share of GS stock, down over 12% from the $6.40 per share that analysts were looking for just 90 days ago. Even as recently as seven days ago, analysts were looking for earnings per share of $6.03. So Q4 expectations for GS have come down in a hurry lately. Despite the estimate cuts, GS stock has held up, climbing almost 2% over the past five trading sessions. At this point, it seems like analysts are pricing in the worst-case scenario. If Goldman reports in-line results, GS stock will be trading at just over seven times its earnings. Thats an insultingly low valuation for what many on Wall Street regard as one of the most talented firms in the industry. Dont forget that Goldman Sachs stock also has a dividend yield of 1.8%. For some, a stock trading at seven times its earnings with a decent dividend might be worth buying. However, others might be turned off by Goldmans expected lack of growth in 2019. Even if GS finished last year strong, consensus estimates call for revenue growth of just 0.1% and an earnings contraction of 1.2% in 2019. To some, that outlook may make GS stock dead money for the next few quarters. On the daily chart above, we can see that downtrend support, depicted by the blue line, gave way in November. GS then declined sharply, bottoming out near $150 before rebounding back into the $170s. As you can see on the three-year weekly chart above, though, GS just got back above its pre-presidential-election levels. GS stock is also running into its ten-week moving average, which could act as resistance. On a negative reaction to earnings, I would sell GS below $170. If Goldman Sachs stock falls below that level, the $150 lows would be back on the table. If shares rally above their recent consolidation area near $175, look for a test of the 50-day-moving average near $188. If Goldman Sachs stock climbs above that level, Id expect prior downtrend support to act as resistance, at least on the first downward test. Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. | https://investorplace.com/2019/01/buy-goldman-sachs-gs-stock-ahead-of-earnings/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InvestorPlace+%28InvestorPlace%29 |
Did a SUPERNOVA kill off the megalodon? | It ruled the seas for 21 million years - but then mysteriously disappeared. Megalodon is the most massive shark species that ever lived, growing to 60 feet long, three times the size of the largest of today's great whites. Yet researchers have never found out why it suddenly disappeared 2.5 million years ago - until now. New researcher has revealed energetic particles from an exploding star, known as muons, could have been to blame. Scroll down for video Megalodon is the most massive shark species that ever lived, growing to 60 feet long, three times the size of the largest of today's great whites. Yet researchers have never found out why it suddenly disappeared 2.5 million years ago. They are made when high-energy particles called cosmic rays slam into atoms in Earths atmosphere. They can sail through Earth's atmosphere with greater ease than protons and electrons. Travelling at close to the speed of light, muons shower Earth from all angles. Every hand-sized area of the planet is hit by roughly one muon per second, and the particles can pass through hundreds of metres of solid material before they are absorbed. A new study claims energetic particles from an exploding star, known as muons, may have contributed to the extinction of the prehistoric monster shark megalodon. The new research, led by Adrian Melott, an astrophysicist at the University of Kansas, concluded a supernova around 2.6 million years ago would have increased the flow of muons streaming through the atmosphere several hundred times over. 'We find that the radiation dose from the muons will exceed the total present surface dose from all sources at depths up to 1 km and will persist for at least the lifetime of marine megafauna,' the team wrote in the journal Astrobiology. 'It is reasonable to hypothesize that this increase in radiation load may have contributed to a newly documented marine megafaunal extinction at that time.' The study estimates cancer rates could have increased by 50 percent for an animal the size of a human, Melott told Quanta. For a mammoth or a megalodon which was the size of a school bus the radiation dose would be even worse, THE BIGGEST SHARK EVER The megalodon, meaning big-tooth, lived between 15.9 and 2.6 million years ago. C. megalodon is considered to be one of the largest and most powerful predators in vertebrate history and fossil remains suggest it grew to 59 ft (18 metres) long. It's thought the monster looked like a stockier version of today's much feared great white shark and weighed up to 100 tons. Megalodon is known from fossilized vertebrae and teeth, which are triangular and measure almost eight inches (20cm) in diagonal length. Famed fossil hunter Vito 'Megalodon' Bertucci took almost 20 years to reconstruct a megalodon's jaw - largest ever assembled - which measures 11 ft across and is almost 9 nine ft tall. The Megalodon's colossal mouth would have produced a but force of 10.8 to 18.2 tons. The ancient shark has been described as a super predator, because it could swim at high speeds and kill a wide variety of prey such as sea turtles and whales, quickly in its strong jaws. The fossilized jaw of a giant, prehistoric Megalodon shark at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 'It's an interesting coincidence,' he said. Researchers have previously suggest two supernovae had substantial effects on the terrestrial atmosphere and life on Earth during the Early Pleistocene. When a star dies, its 'guts' stream ut, and within them is a rare form of iron known as iron-60. By looking for this, researchers have been able to roughly date when supernovae hit Earth. A recent study found one event took place roughly 2.6 million years ago, and another sometime between 6.5 million and 8.7 million years ago. Another recent study claimed the shark itself could be to blame, because of its inability to regulate its temperature and deal with cooling oceans. Preliminary tests found that, compared to modern sharks, megalodons 'maintained a higher body temperature' Michael Griffiths, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science at William Paterson University in New Jersey, told Live Science the megalodon was unusually hot. Ancestors of today's makos and great white sharks that swam alongside megalodon millions of years ago likely had body temperatures of about 68 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit (20 to 30 degrees Celsius), the researchers say - while megalodon may have been running a body temperatureas high as 95 to 104 degrees F (35 to 40 degrees C), which is the body temperature of whales, Griffiths said. Modern-day sharks can self-regulate their body heat and adapt to their environments. To keep their temperatures warm enough to survive, it is believed the megalodon ate large quantities of food. However, as the oceans cooled during the Pliocene, its prey was able to adapt, while the megalodon was not. Researchers have previously suggest two supernovae had substantial effects on the terrestrial atmosphere and life on Earth during the Early Pleistocene. The blasts would initially have lit the night sky, potentially disrupting circadian rhythms. An influx of blue light at night may have had physiological effects for weeks to follow. Artist's impression of a supernova About 500 years later, there may have been increased ionization in the troposphere, which may have triggered climate change. At the ground level and in the upper ocean, muon irradiation would have increased 20-fold for several thousand years, causing the radiation dose to triple. This may have put large organisms, including human ancestor Homo erectus, at higher risk of cancer and mutations. 'While still preliminary, these results may provide clues as to what may have led to the demise of O. megalodon during the Pliocene,' researchers wrote in a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union 'Cooling of ocean temperatures during the Pliocene would have constrained the species to lower latitudes where ocean temperatures were warmer, whilst its preferred prey (e.g., whales) evolved traits to adapt to cooler temperatures of the higher latitudes. 'Therefore, large climatic shifts combined with evolutionary limitations may provide the 'smoking gun' for the extinction of the largest shark species to ever roam the planet.' Professor Sora Kim and her colleagues are interested in why an apex predator vanished. Megalodon is the most massive shark species that ever lived, growing to 60 feet long, three times the size of the largest of today's great whites. Yet researchers have never found out why it suddenly disappeared 2.5 million years ago. Using fossilized teeth from different sites around the world that span megalodon's time as the ocean's apex predator, the researchers will use a suite of analytical methods not typically used in paleontology to probe them and improve understanding of the largest shark that ever swam Earth's oceans. 'I'll use stable isotope analysis and build a bridge between classical paleo and modern techniques,' Kim said. Over two million years ago, a third of the Earth's largest marine animals including sharks, whales and sea turtles, disappeared, according to a new study. Pictured are various bones and teeth analysed by the researchers in the study By performing 'isotope fingerprinting' on oxygen, strontium, calcium and other trace elements found in fossilized megalodon teeth, Kim and colleagues will be able to answer fundamental questions about megalodon that have eluded scientists up to now. Isotope fingerprinting will provide more definitive answers to these questions,' Kim said. | https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6595489/Did-SUPERNOVA-kill-megalodon.html |
Whats the good news in the season after Epiphany? | James Tissot, Jesus Unrolls the Book in the Synagogue, watercolor over graphite, 18861894 The day after Epiphany, a friend of my extended familythe kind of friend who would appear at family gatherings when I was a kid, the kind of friend who felt like familydied alone. Hed been a drifter, to use my familys language, but that didnt keep us from loving and welcoming him. My sister told me that he died in his apartmentnot the apartment hed recently been evicted from, but the dump of an apartment hed landed in. She told me that drugs and alcohol were involved, and that theyre not sure if his death was an accident or hed intended it. The day before in worship wed sung Charles Wesleys hymn Christ, Whose Glory Fills the SkiesDark and cheerless is the morn, unaccompanied by thee / joyless is the days return, till thy mercys beams I seeand three days later I grieved the dark, cheerless morn when our friend lost his life, when he perhaps decided that living no longer mattered. L. Roger Owens L. Roger Owens teaches Christian spirituality and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and is author of Threshold of Discovery: A Field Guide to Spirituality in Midlife. Then I remembered a scene from a middle-grade novel Id read in December. Patricia MacLachlans books are known for helping grade-school kids make sense of difficult subjects like death and grief, and My Fathers Words is no different. It tells the story of Fiona and her younger brother Finn after the death of their father in a car accident. The scene I recalled moved me when I first read it, and now I know why. Fiona and Finn are sitting at home during the celebration their father requested in his will. Visitors are coming and going. Their friend Luke, who lives across the street, enters and squeezes between them on the couch. Fiona narrates the brief scene. Luke sat between Finn and me, saying nothing. Luke didnt talk much ever, and that was one of the things I liked about him. Im here, he said finally. I see that. Thanks. Im here. I see that. Thanks. These are the words I remembered. These are the words that capture for me the good news in this season after Epiphany, the words that give me hope. In December we journey toward Bethlehem, toward Christs birth. In several weeks well walk toward Jerusalem, toward Christs death and resurrection. In between we follow Jesus around, and he seems to be saying at every turn exactly what we need to hear: Im here. Glancing through the Gospel texts assigned for this season, thats what I see again and again. Jesus, emerging from the Jordan, water cascading off his shouldersIm here. Jesus, performing his first miracle in CanaIm here. Jesus, reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, announcing the prophecys present fulfillmentIm here. Jesus, startling some fishermen by directing them to their biggest catch, then calling them to followIm here. Jesus, hiking up a mountain with his closest friends and letting the mystery of his identity shine brighter than theyd ever seenIm here. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus squeezes into human livesinto celebrations, sabbaths, and occupations; into fears, frustrations, and perseverationsand keeps speaking that simple refrain: Im here. Our world is like a funeral parlorpeople stunned silent, sitting in the aftermath of all kinds of tragedy and trauma, personal and corporate. We are all Fiona and Finn, in one way or another. Yet the Christ we hear preached about in this season after Epiphany is not just a figure of the past. Hes still walking through the funeral parlor of our world, still whispering his sweet refrain. In an immigrant detention center along the border with Mexico, in an Alzheimers unit of a nursing home, in a homeless camp in the woods, in the dormitory of an addiction treatment center, in family rooms and kitchens and dining rooms where hide unspoken griefs and fears, the Christ still speaks: Im here. Even in a lonely apartment on a dark and cheerless morn, where a beloved child of God wheezes his last breath. And wherever this Christ says Im here, hope is never extinguished, and the possibility persists that we might find venture a response. That we might say, I see that. Thanks. | https://www.christiancentury.org/blog-post/guest-post/what-s-good-news-season-after-epiphany |
Are the Analysts Right About Palo Alto Stock? | Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW ) was quite a story when it hit the markets a little over six years ago. By the time its first year was over, PANW stock was on its way. Since its IPO, its up more than 260%, or more than 45% a year for more than half a decade. But 2018 was a tough year for PANW for a couple of reasons. First, it got caught up in the big tech selloff. That wasnt something it could control, but that didnt really matter. It happened all the same. However, in the past 12 months the stock is up 27%, so it wasnt a disaster. And sales of upgrades for its current product line was up 30%. The numbers were solid, but there has been concern in the sector that a slowing economy may hamper enterprises desire to prioritize cybersecurity in their budgets. Leadership Changes for PANW Stock Second and more specific to PANW is the shift in leadership in the company and whats in store for the future of the company. Last year, PANW got a new CEO in Nikesh Arora, a former executive at Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank. Later in the year, Amit Singh was brought on board as president. He is a former VP of business and operations in emerging computing platforms at Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG , NASDAQ: GOOGL ). First, analysts were concerned that neither of these two leaders had strong cybersecurity backgrounds. And then there was the issue with shareholders voicing their disdain for the $125 million pay package offered to Arora for a mere 39 business days of work in 2018. There was also some concern that Aroras pay package is built around PANW stock price, and that meant there may be significant M&A activity to spike the potential value of shares. But Arora and his management team have been reaching out to large shareholders and analysts to explain what their real plans are. This has helped calm some of the consternation that was showing up in PANWs stock price. There was also concern that PANW was going to have to enter the cloud security market after significantly disrupting the firewall enterprise market. This transition is another point of concern for analysts. However, PANW has already spent $500 million in the sector to beef up its offerings, so this is more a matter of executing than it is buying more cloud security assets. But a similar sized competitor Fortinet (NASDAQ: FTNT ) is also going through the same transition. Whats more, Palo Alto is also looking to move into the telecom sector, where FTNT is already positioned. Any market share PANW stock can get is a win for the company. As for the M&A concerns, Palo Alto leadership has said its not looking for blockbuster deals, but rather small deals that will help it transition into the new markets it wants to enter. Ultimately this is more a pivot than a restructuring of the company, and the new leadership has a new skill set as well as holding onto the core cybersecurity talent it has built over the years. Louis Navellier is a renowned growth investor. He is the editor of four investing newsletters: Growth Investor, Breakthrough Stocks, Accelerated Profits and Platinum Growth. His most popular service, Growth Investor, has a track record of beating the market 3:1 over the last 14 years. He uses a combination of quantitative and fundamental analysis to identify market-beating stocks. Mr. Navellier has made his proven formula accessible to investors via his free, online stock rating tool, PortfolioGrader.com. Louis Navellier may hold some of the aforementioned securities in one or more of his newsletters. | https://investorplace.com/2019/01/are-the-analysts-right-about-palo-alto-stock/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+InvestorPlace+%28InvestorPlace%29 |
Why does NC GOP believe Mark Harris should take office? | North Carolina Republicans ratcheted up their drive to put Mark Harris in Congress on Tuesday, questioning the entire legitimacy of a state investigation into allegations of election fraud in the 9th Congressional District. North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes accused elections officials of one stalling pattern after another, in a meeting with reporters in Charlotte. When there (isnt) evidence that irregularities would change the outcome of the election, Mark Harris should be certified, Hayes said. If they had discovered a shred of evidence, they would have made it public. State law, however, allows for the board to call for a new election if Irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness. The McCready campaign, in a legal brief filed Monday in Wake County Superior Court, called that finding an inevitable conclusion to the case. Digital Access for only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. Democrats, too, have accused Harris and his campaign of delaying the investigation. In a legal brief filed by the state board Monday, it argued that the Harris campaigns delayed production of documents is a substantial source of the prolonged investigation. The district that runs from Charlotte to Bladen County has remained unrepresented since the new Congress took office on Jan. 3. The election, in which Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in unofficial totals, has been clouded by the allegations of fraud, particularly in Bladen County. The allegations of fraud involving mail-in absentee ballots surfaced after the nine-member bipartisan elections board voted unanimously Nov. 27 not to certify the results. Three days later, the board called for a hearing into what then-vice chairman Josh Malcolm called claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities related to absentee mail ballots . . . to assure that the election is determined without taint of fraud or corruption. But the hearing, originally scheduled for Jan. 11, was delayed indefinitely after a three-judge panel dissolved the board on Dec. 28 as part of a separate legal dispute. Since then, the elections staff has continued its investigation. A new board is scheduled to be named on Jan. 31. Board spokesman Patrick Gannon said in the meantime, the staff continues to conduct a thorough investigation into absentee voting irregularities in the 2018 election. We look forward to presenting a full picture of the investigation to the public when a new State Board is seated, he said. At Tuesdays news conference, Hayes used a series of PowerPoint slides to paint a timeline of the controversy, cast doubt on affidavits submitted by the McCready campaign and call into question the motives of Malcolm, a Robeson County Democrat who had been the boards chairman at the time it was dissolved. Hayes argued that officials should have provided evidence that irregularities would have changed the elections outcome. Asked why not wait two weeks until a new board is appointed, he said he has little faith in Malcolm, who could come back and head the board. Theres no reason to believe that he would not do what hes already done, which is delay, Hayes said. Its unclear who will be on the board, which will have three Democrats and two Republicans. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will make the appointments Jan. 31 from among those recommended by party chairs. Hayes sought to portray Malcolm as having conflicts as a partisan Democrat whose wife once donated to Cooper and whose daughter worked for the state Democratic Party last year. Malcolm told the Observer that no state law prevents his family from being politically involved. I do have an adult daughter whos a strong-minded, intelligent American Indian female who walks her own walk and makes her own decisions, he said. Malcolm said he wouldnt discuss the election or the lingering issues related to it. But he did note that the board twice declined to certify the 9th District election once unanimously and once by a vote of 7-2 with two GOP board members joining Democrats. Attorneys for Harris have asked a Wake County Superior Court to order the election results certified, enabling Harris to join Congress. In papers filed Monday, they said state election officials cherry-picked the congressional race from among others clouded by allegations of election fraud. And they say Harris apparent margin of victory 905 votes exceeds the total number of votes in dispute. Meanwhile lawyers for the state board argued that the investigation should continue. By law, the State Board of Elections is . . . obligated to conduct, and complete, a full investigation into the alleged fraud impacting the (9th District) election, they wrote, adding that Harris demand that the election be certified before completion of that investigation is supported by neither sound electoral principles nor (state law). | https://www.heraldonline.com/news/state/north-carolina/article224556845.html |
Did 11 million iPhone battery replacements in 2018 harm update sales? | Apple replaced a whopping 11 million iPhone batteries while offering them on the cheap throughout 2018, a report has claimed. Daring Fireball reports that the battery program, which offered a new cell for $29/29, saw a dramatic uptick in replacements. The report says CEO Tim Cook informed Apple staff of the figures during the recent all-hands meeting earlier this month. The company usually replaces 1-2 million batteries per year, according to the update from Jon Gruber. Thats up to 10 million more replacements than it provides in a normal 12 month period. Related: Best iPhone 2019 Late last year, Tim Cook was not fully drawn on whether the replacement program had contributed to sluggish iPhone sales. However, given a thirty quid replacement to revitalise a slowing iPhone was a much more attractive proposition than a 1,000 upgrade, this wouldnt be a surprise. We did not consider what the battery program would do for upgrade rates. Sitting here now, I dont know how it will impact upgrades, he said in an interview in December. We did it because we saw it as the right thing to do for our customers. The effect on upgrades was not in our thought process in deciding what to do. Apple offered the replacement program as a result of the CPU throttling controversy that led to accusations it was forcing obsolescence on iPhone users. The company defended slowing down iPhones with ageing batteries in order to guard against unexpected shutdowns. The company also launched a Battery Health tool in iOS 11.3, which enables users to chance their arm on shutdowns by overriding CPU throttling. The tool also informs iPhone users when their iPhone battery requires a replacement. As of January 1, the cheap deals on iPhone battery replacements came to an end, but that is unlikely to lead to a dramatic increase in iPhone sales with weak demands reported for the 2018 flagships. Drop us a line @TrustedReviews on Twitter. | https://www.trustedreviews.com/news/11-million-iphone-battery-replacements-2018-harm-updates-3644924 |
Will co-ops really provide high-speed internet to rural Miss. if Legislature changes the law? | CLOSE Sen. Roger Wicker discusses the importance of rural internet connectivity. Ron Maxey / Commercial Appeal Randy Moss would work from home more often if his internet wasn't so slow. Instead, the Carroll County resident usually commutes to his Greenwood office. Sometimes clients of his IT company need help with something late at night or on the weekend, so in to town he goes. Ive tried it all, and it doesnt work, Moss, 60, said of various internet options, ticking off satellite, fixed wireless, a Verizon 4G home service and DSL. About the only task he can accomplish at home is checking email. In a world where jobs, education, health care and leisure are increasingly based online, rural Mississippians are falling behind. Fewer than 30 percent of Carroll County residents can get broadband internet faster than 25 megabits per second, compared to available speeds often between four and 40 times faster in urban areas. The state as a whole ranks 49th for average speeds and availability, beating only Montana, according to BroadbandNow, an internet research company. Several bills filed recently in the Mississippi Legislature could help, however. House Bill 170 sets a goal of 2027 to have certain broadband speeds available everywhere and lays out funding avenues to accomplish it. House Bill 366 and a similar version in the Senate would allow electricity cooperatives which deliver power to about 85 percent of the state to also offer broadband services. HB366 was approved by the House 115-3 on Tuesday, and now heads to the Senate. This measure is sponsored by Republican House Speaker Philip Gunn. "There's not adequate access for all of our citizens," Utilities Chairman Rep. Jim Beckett, R-Bruce, said. While the bill would not solve Mississippi's internet divide, he said it was a way of "chipping away" at the problem. Cooperatives currently banned from providing internet service As it stands now, a 1942 Mississippi law bans the nonprofit, member-owned power cooperatives from providing anything but electricity. This policy has come under fire in recent months as cooperatives in other states successfully entered the internet business building high-speed networks in areas overlooked by companies such as AT&T and Comcast. "The current law weve got right now is a gatekeeper," said Mississippi Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley. A new Millsaps College and Chism Strategies poll shows 86 percent of Mississippi voters support allowing cooperatives to provide high-speed internet, with 6 percent opposed. The state's 26 cooperatives voted unanimously to support the legislation, and many have already studied financing options. Dozens of cities and counties have passed resolutions backing the change. Northern District Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley. (Photo: AP) About a year ago, Presley said he learned about a cooperative in Alabama that was starting to offer fiber-optic internet to customers, and a "light bulb went off." Last spring, Presley watched as that Alabama provider, Tombigbee Electric Cooperative, located near the Mississippi state line, raked in $3 million from the federal government to help build its fiber system. It just becomes real when you see this small little operation changing the lives of rural Alabamians, while Mississippi is handcuffed from doing it because of a 1942 law, Presley said in a recent interview. He estimated about 100 electric cooperatives around the country are now offering high-speed internet along with electricity. Internet connection challenges continue in rural Mississippi, but a bill before the legislature could allow some better access by giving rural electric cooperatives the option to provide it. Right now, it's illegal for the cooperatives to provide anything but electricity. (Photo: Royce Swayze/For The Clarion-Ledger) If the legislation passes, Mississippi cooperatives could apply for some of the $600 million in grants and loans recently offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve rural broadband. The goal of this bill is that the house at the end of the dirt road will have as good of internet service as is in downtown New York City," Presley said. "They deserve it. Theyre just as good as anybody in New York. But while Mississippi's cooperatives agree they want the option to offer internet, it doesn't mean all of them will. The legislation does not mandate they offer high-speed internet to their customers. It also doesn't stop AT&T and others from moving into rural areas in the future. More: New coalition aims to eliminate digital divide in rural Mississippi More: Broadening broadband's reach in Mississippi The legislation requires cooperatives to carry out a feasibility study before they start a broadband project, and many could realize they don't want to risk it. Alcorn County Electric Power Association was the first electric cooperative in the country, formed to provide power to a rural area that wasn't served by the large corporate power providers similar to high-speed internet today. But Alcorn CEO Eddie Howard said he's uncertain whether his organization will be able to enter the internet business. It is "something we'll take a serious look at" if the bill passes and Alcorn determines there's enough demand, he said. Delta Electric General Manager David O'Bryan knows firsthand the internet struggles of many of his rural members, spread over 13 counties. He can't even get DSL at his Carroll County home, and relies on a cellular connection that's expensive and inconsistent. "We have probably some of the (most) non-served, underserved areas in the nation in terms of high-speed internet service," he said. But O'Bryan also knows the challenge ahead if his cooperative were to offer internet. Electric customers are spread few and far between in the Delta, so such an endeavor would require miles and miles of fiber-optic cable laid for only a few paying customers. Delta Electric recently determined such a venture would not be possible to absorb on its own, but O'Bryan said it would consider partnering with another company on the project or leasing out a fiber system to a third party in order to reduce financial risk. O'Bryan said he knows better internet is desperately needed across the Delta. This is an economic development issue," he said. "Its a quality of life issue for the people in our service territory. This will enhance economic development, telemedicine, education, workforce it just touches every segment of our society. For now, Moss, the Carroll County resident, plans to wait. He's been told a fixed wireless internet tower could go up nearby, which would affordably boost connection speeds. If that doesn't happen, he and several neighbors have grown frustrated enough that they have explored splitting the approximately $25,000 it would cost to have fiber lines strung from a nearby AT&T line to their homes. "We'd more than welcome that," Moss said. Contact Luke Ramseth at 601-961-7050 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter. Read or Share this story: https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/15/co-ops-provide-rural-high-speed-internet-even-if-mississippi-legislature-changes-law/2569078002/ | https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/15/co-ops-provide-rural-high-speed-internet-even-if-mississippi-legislature-changes-law/2569078002/ |
Whats the best way to respond to Chinas economic and military might? | The Huawei logo displayed at the main office of Chinese tech giant Huawei in Warsaw. The United States and the rest of the West initially encouraged Chinas engagement with Western markets on the expectation that as it liberalized economically it would naturally liberalize politically, too. Common wisdom held that the Chinese people would demand more freedom as they grew wealthier. The government would accede to this, experts believed, because to do otherwise would cause instability and hold back growth. Fueling Chinas economic rise with membership in the World Trade Organization, then, was viewed as a win-win global wealth would rise and global tensions would fall. Chinas behavior since then suggests the optimism was misplaced. The Chinese government still tilts intra-Chinese markets toward domestic providers and favored firms when possible. The U.S. government also believes that the Chinese government steals the intellectual property of U.S. and other Western companies. Free trade with China, then, has been anything but free. The Chinese government has also failed to meet initial expectations regarding its role in the world and regarding domestic political freedoms. Xi Jinping has repealed a post-Mao-era law restricting Chinese presidents to two terms, effectively making it possible for him to remain president for life. The Communist Party retains a monopoly on national political power, and censorship of the press and the Internet remains high. China is getting wealthier, but there is no evidence it is moving toward Western-style democracy or even the halfway house that Singapores autocratic democracy represents. Meanwhile, Western military dominance in the Pacific is also coming under threat. Using in some cases stolen technology, the Chinese military is quickly closing the gap between its capabilities and those of the West. If Chinas economy were not intermingled with the Wests, the response would be easy. The United States and the West could aggressively combat IP theft and freeze economic engagement with China, depriving it of the wealth and technology it would need to mount a geopolitical threat. But unlike in our Cold War with the Soviet Union, that is not the case. Any attempt at political confrontation will bring pain. Huawei demonstrates the pitfalls nicely. Western countries could bar the company from doing business within their borders if they wanted to, but companies that use Huawei technology would bear the cost as they struggled to find replacements. China could also retaliate against Western individuals or firms doing business in China to gain leverage in the dispute. Indeed, China has already arrested two Canadians living in China on espionage charges and recently re-sentenced a Canadian convicted of drug smuggling a few years ago, handing down a death sentence. Many believe this is retaliation for that countrys December arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of U.S. law enforcement. It looks as if the West is finally waking to the threat. Germany, Britain and other countries are increasingly preventing Chinese investment in technology companies that could give the Chinese government access to knowledge with military uses. Chinese global investment was down substantially in 2018, in part because of these measures. None of them has triggered serious Chinese retaliation. The real battles, though, are likely still ahead of us. Because China relies on loose IP protection, coercive IP transfers, espionage and theft to get the knowledge it needs for its military, one should expect China to ratchet up the pressure the more the West clamps down. About 340,000 Chinese students attend universities in the United States, for example, providing many institutions with needed tuition revenue. The FBI says some of these students are in fact spies; indeed, one was arrested recently on espionage charges. The outcry should the West start to limit enrollment of Chinese nationals would be fierce, and one should expect Chinese retaliation if this occured. Western governments will need to resist the temptation to take the easy way out and turn a blind eye toward Chinas rise. Our technology and investment are making China a rich country. But it is one thing to help friends and allies be better off; it is quite another to pay for the rise of a technocratic autocracy that, to all appearances, seeks to supplant liberal democratic capitalism. Our free way of life is too dear to be sold. Read more: Henry Olsen: Trump might win his trade war with China Michael Morell and David Kris: Its not a trade war with China. Its a tech war. John Pomfret: How the worlds resistance to China caught Xi Jinping off guard Michelle Caruso-Cabrera: The Huawei case shows how Chinas ambitions are on a collision course with the U.S. Fred Hiatt: Again, China debases the rule of law. This time, President Trump chimes right in. | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/15/whats-best-way-respond-chinas-economic-military-might/ |
Should federal workers walk off the job? | Employees line up to receive food and other resources at a pop-up pantry in the police training facility at the Tampa International Airport on Monday in Tampa, Fla. (Eve Edelheit for The Washington Post) Opinion writer It says everything about the lowly state of the American worker that it has taken weeks for the idea that federal employees working without pay maybe should refuse to work to begin creeping into our civic discourse. On Monday, Barbara Ehrenreich and Gary Stevenson called for what amounts to a wildcat strike by the nations Transportation Security Administration agents, while over the weekend, veteran labor reporter Bob Hennelly at Salon went even further, pondering a national general strike in support of the 800,000 federal workers currently not receiving a paycheck. Its about time. The federal government has been partially closed for business due to President I am proud to shut down the government Trumps intransigence for 24 long days. During that time, 800,000 federal workers and a large number of federal contractors have not received paychecks, even as about 420,000 government employees are deemed so essential they are required to still turn up and do their jobs. For the most part, they are doing just that. After all, if they dont, they could be fired and their unions fined. The law forbids federal employees from striking, which is why a number of federal unions and workers have taken to the courts, alleging everything from violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act to claims that demanding workers show up for their jobs even though they have no idea when they will receive a paycheck amounts to indentured servitude and is an unconstitutional violation of the 13th Amendment. In this crucial way, the many federal workers potentially have the leverage to stick it to Trump and put an end to the shutdown. As Ehrenreich and Stevenson pointed out, they dont even need their unions to organize for them last years red-state teacher walk-outs were coordinated by the teachers themselves on Facebook and other social media. Answer: In many cases, we probably wont. I didnt think so. Well, weve likely so internalized our powerlessness as employees, we lack the knowledge of what power we possess. We have suffered, mostly silently, as our pay has stagnated (or worse) for more than a generation, and our rights on the job, never robust, have declined markedly. Yet Americans continue to identify with their work. We put in long hours and are the only first-world country with no national right to a single vacation or sick day. Most of us dont even leave our desks for lunch. (Guilty.) Were more likely than Europeans to say our ultimate success depends on hard work and less likely to attribute failures to outside economic and political forces. We are, all too often, our jobs. Take that away from us, and we are bereft. The more money we make and the more authority we possess in our jobs, the more likely we are to say we are happy with our employment. Perhaps then it shouldnt come as a surprise that the most prominent signs of federal worker protest are coming from the TSA, where a typical front-line worker earns little more than $30,000 annually. Even when they are paid, turnover is high and morale low. Over the past several days, TSA work absences have been twice as common as they were at this time in 2018, and they are growing. On Monday, security checkpoints at Dulles International Airport were shut down, while would be passengers waited more than an hour in Atlanta to get screened. Im at @ATLairport and this may be the longest security line I have ever seen, CNN reporter Omar Jimenez tweeted out on Monday. It says something about Americans that few of us are questioning how safe this is. Common sense says a worker who isnt getting paid is not going to be an employee on top of his or her game. But that didnt seem to occur to many, perhaps because we ourselves are all but numb to the outrage that is the fact we are constantly expected to do more at our places of employment with less in the way of resources, even as corporate shareholders make out like bandits. One group that did not make this mistake: the Trump administration. When the real estate industry pointed out that the mortgage industry would come to a sudden halt unless the Internal Revenue Service could perform income verifications, not only were the clerks who perform the service suddenly deemed essential, they also were cleared to get paid. As well they should be. We shouldnt expect anyone to show up for work if they are not receiving a check for services rendered when they are accustomed to receiving it. Trumps whining on about a wall that will do next to nothing for our nations security while the front-line workers who are tasked with preventing another Sept. 11 go unpaid is the ultimate scam. Someone needs to call him on it. Heres a thought: The Womens March is set for Saturday. Federal workers should join it. My guess is they will find a lot of support in the crowd. Read more: The Posts View: The shutdown is causing real suffering and not just to federal workers Catherine Rampell: Turns out Republicans dont care about the dignity of a paycheck after all The Posts View: The shutdown leaves the most vulnerable federal workers paying the price | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/15/should-federal-workers-walk-off-job/ |
What's the scoop? Is Graeter's in Anderson Township closing? | CLOSE Kathrine visits Hotel Covington for a latte and talks about medical marijuana in Ohio, January babies, and fast food at the White House. Kathrine Nero, @KathrineNero on Instagram/Twitter Graeter's Ice Cream. (Photo: Provided) Ice cream fans in Anderson and Union Townships will be minus one favorite sweet spot for treats beginning Jan. 20. Graeters Ice Cream announced plans to expand and enhance one of the familys flagship locations, the Cherry Grove scoop shop on Beechmont Avenue in Anderson Township. The work requires the temporary closure of the location. The scoop shop is expected to reopen sometime in early April, just in time to meet candy and bakery needs for the Easter season, according to the ice cream maker. During renovations, Graeters said guests can still visit its locations in Loveland, Hyde Park or Taylor Mill, Kentucky. The temporary closure of the Cherry Grove scoop shop begins 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/15/whats-scoop-graeters-anderson-closing/2584554002/ | https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/15/whats-scoop-graeters-anderson-closing/2584554002/ |
Is Google Chrome OS arriving this week? | Rumours abound that Google's Chrome OS will be 'open sourced' in the coming week, although the early glimpses are likely to be some way from the final product due for release in late 2010. The likes of TechCrunch and Reuters have suggested that this could be the week that the eagerly awaited operating system and rival to Microsoft's Windows is pushed out to developers, with its source code given out for anyone to see. Announced back in July, Google Chrome OS will launch as an alternative to Windows on the likes of netbooks, but the company will be aware that this could build a platform and user base for an all-out assault on Windows. Baited breath With Google insisting that late 2010 would be the first time that the operating system would be ready for the mass market, the software industry has been waiting with bated breath for an alpha or beta version of Chrome OS to gauge exactly how much of a threat it potentially could be in the operating system market. Chrome OS is pitched as a fast, simple and secure OS with a minimal user interface, that has been designed with internet and cloud apps in mind. Although it is still early days in the cloud computing revolution, Google will hope that Chrome OS will be a major boon to its own range of internet based service. Foremost among these are Google Docs, Google Apps, Gmail and the Wave collaboration tool, along with things like Picasa and Google Calendar. | https://www.techradar.com/sg/news/software/operating-systems/is-google-chrome-os-arriving-this-week-650427 |
Who will enter the May election in Abilene? | In the past month, May's Abilene City Council election suddenly got interesting. Before voters are Places 5 and 6, with incumbents who won solidly three years ago. Then Place 6 office-holder Steve Savage indicated he would not run. He was elected in a special election in 2015, then won a full term in 2016. Kyle McAlister, who was chosen for Place 5 in 2013 and reelected in 2016, indicated in December that he was running again. Last week, however, some in the city called for his resignation after Facebook posts dating back to 2010 were circulated and deemed racist. Though he apologized, the Abilene ISD gave him the boot as a soccer official and public radio station KACU parted ways with the longtime show host. McAlister has not indicated any intention to change his election plans, saying only that he would accept censure by the council. Names already have been batted around as possible council candidates. There are no Abilene ISD seats up for election, but Wylie ISD incumbents for Place 1 (Chris McCurley), Place 2 (Mike Awtry) and Place 3 (Darrell Moore) have indicated they will seek to return to the boardroom. A contested WISD race is a rarity, so there may an election or not if no opponent files. The next vote for the Taylor County Commissioners Court comes in 2020, when Precincts 1 (Randy Williams) and 3 (Brad Birchum) go before voters. Filing begins Wednesday. The council job doesn't pay much 99 cents on top of a penny, per year but the call to community service is appealing. School board members make a dollar less than their city counterparts. Commissioners are paid a full salary. Returning council members are Shane Price (Place 1), newcomer Jack Rentz (Place 2), Donna Albus (Place 3) and Weldon Hurt (Place 4). They join first-term mayor and former longtime council member Anthony Williams on the seven-person board. Read or Share this story: https://www.reporternews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2019/01/15/who-enter-may-election-abilene/2576673002/ | https://www.reporternews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2019/01/15/who-enter-may-election-abilene/2576673002/ |
What were the previous biggest Government defeats in the House of Commons? | The last time a government was defeated by more than 100 votes on the floor of the House of Commons was almost a century ago. On October 8 1924, the minority Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald went down to a defeat of 166. MPs voted on an amendment put forward by the Liberal Party to set up a select committee to investigate the governments decision to drop criminal proceedings against JR Campbell, editor of the Communist newspaper Workers Weekly, which had recently published an article encouraging the armed forces to mutiny. The government lost by 364 votes to 198. Prime minister Ramsay MacDonald declared the issue a matter of confidence - and, having lost the vote, obtained a dissolution of the Commons the following day, which led to a general election that Labour lost. Mr MacDonalds minority government suffered a string of defeats during its short time in office in 1924, including another one that topped 100, when it lost a motion on its Housing Bill by 140. Theresa Mays defeat on the Withdrawal Agreement is the first time since 1924 that a government has endured a defeat on the floor of the Commons totalling more than 100. The next largest defeat took place on March 22 1979, in the last few weeks of the Labour government led by Jim Callaghan. MPs voted by 115 to 26 on a motion to annul the fees for a firearms certificate - a defeat of 89, although the number of MPs taking part in the vote was low. Mr Callaghans government suffered a defeat of 86 on January 25 1978, when MPs voted by 204 to 118 on an opposition amendment to the Scotland Devolution Bill, which excluded Orkney and Shetland from the provisions of the Bill if they voted no in a referendum. Government defeats since 1979 have tended to occur by much smaller margins, though no prime minister - even with a landslide majority in the Commons - has escaped without at least one loss. On April 14 1986, the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher suffered a rare defeat over its plans to relax laws on Sunday trading in England and Wales. On the second reading of the Shops Bill, MPs voted against by 296 to 282 - a government defeat of 14. More recently, the Labour government of Tony Blair was defeated on November 9 2005 on its proposal to allow police to detain terror suspects for up to 90 days without charge. MPs voted against by 322 votes to 291 - a government defeat of 31. It was a small defeat but a symbolic one, as it was Mr Blairs first House of Commons defeat since becoming prime minister eight years earlier in 1997. | https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/what-were-the-previous-biggest-government-defeats-in-the-house-of-commons-1-9539229 |
What is a home cinema laser display? | Big, bulky and brilliant, rear-projection TVs were among the first show-off TVs, but died-out in the UK a few years ago when the TV world went flat. Now it's back - and set to deliver the best 3D pictures yet from a far thinner design. Using new laser tech, Mitsubishi is about to put its home cinema laser display (a variant of which is available in the US) in front of the watching world at IFA 2011 in Berlin. The Japanese company hopes to gauge interest in its technology, and has tentative plans to launch a laser display in Europe in 2012. "It's based on rear projection laser technology that uses laser light to generate the picture," says Hans-Joerg Hinkel at Mitsubishi Electric Corporate Communications. "For that reason it doesn't have a colour wheel, with beams of laser light directed by a mirror to the screen." Because it uses laser light, there's no need to replace a bulb every few years at great expense - one of the major complaints about rear-pro TVs - though the unit that produces the laser light does need to be replaced every 40,000 hours. Our calculations say that's eight hours per day for 10 years, which ought to see you through the lifetime of any TV. If not, you've got more to worry about than lasers. Home cinema laser display vs LED and plasma There is a good reason why the likes of Sony chose LCD and plasma over rear-pro tech, and it had nothing to do with picture quality. Although the exact dimensions of a home cinema laser display aren't yet available, Mitsubishi already sells the 75-inch L75-A94 LaserVue TV in the US and Japan, under the LaserVue moniker. "The footprint is not much bigger than a current plasma display," says Hinkel, "and there is a good chance that any European-bound laser display will be a next-generation model, so will be slightly thinner." The space a laser display takes is significantly less than an old-fashioned rear projection TV, but it's more than we're used to. The L75-A94 has a depth of 12.7-inches, or 32cm, which doesn't compare well to the latest high-end LED-backlit LCD or plasma TVs. Price-wise, the laser displays should compete, albeit only at the high-end; the L75-A94 sells for around US$6,000 States-side. That's about 3,675 in real money, which compares well to Samsung's 60-inch UE60D8000 LED-backlit LCD TV (4,500) and Panasonic's 65-inch TX-P65VT30 plasma (4,000). You're also getting at least an extra ten inches for the money - and the screens that hit Europe could be as big as 80-inches. Put simply, the picture quality surpasses anything you've seen. Mitsubishi is hoping the technology's superior picture quality will win the day and convince movie fans to make allowances for its extra girth, especially those with a dedicated cinema room and who demand the best. There's no colour wheel - as with DLP rear projection TVs that Mitsubishi also sell in the US - so there's no colour distortion. "The colours are generated by pure laser light so we get a 100% wider colour spectrum than on a plasma or LCD," says Hinkel. "It's very easy to see on reds - they're just so much more natural." Oh yes - and we've already seen the US versions come up trumps with 3D at January's CES. "The big advantage for 3D is that laser displays are very bright," says Hinkel. "The main problems with 3D are that it is often very dark, and it needs a bigger screen to be life-like." A 75-inch size assures the latter, while energy efficiency is also an ace-card. "Laser displays use 85W in operation and 0.5W in standby. That's a lot less than plasma or LED, and if you do watch 40,000 hours of TV it will make a huge difference!" There won't be a tuner in it, so technically it can't be called a TV. "Most people using a rear-pro display will use their own source," says Hinkel. "There is no real need for a tuner, and in Europe there are five or six tuners, so it becomes a huge task - especially for a fairly low number of pieces." Hopefully, though IFA will play a crucial role. "We want to see how people react at IFA, to see if it's accepted and seen as better than other displays," says Hinkel. "The laser displays are manufactured in US, and it's a fairly niche market, to be honest. We've had a lot of requests from Europe, but it's not an easy decision to make to actually start selling it - we'll need good customer service, and go through the certification processes. We don't want to just throw something at the market, especially at this kind of price." If it is brought to these shores, expect a name-change, says Hinkel: "They wont be called LaserVue in Europe - that name is associated with TVs, and this isn't a TV - it's a display." TechRadar will report back from IFA with an eyewitness report. | https://www.techradar.com/uk/news/television/what-is-a-home-cinema-laser-display-1005495 |
Will woman IAS officer become Cabinet Secretary? | India oi-Chennabasaveshwar P New Delhi, Jan 16: The Government of India has seen only four Cabinet Secretaries in 14 years from 2004 to June 2018. B K Chaturvedi, K M Chandrashekhar, Ajit Seth and P K Sinha. Three were Cabinet Secretary for four years while P K Sinha will also complete the fourth year in June 2019. With one-year extension to PK Sinha, Cabinet Secretary has closed the doors for two batches of IAS officers. IAS officers of 1981 and 1982 batches will retire by June 2019. Secretary in the PM Office Bhaskar Khulbe may be the dark horse for the post. Khulbe, 1983 batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, is scheduled to retire on March 31,2019. Defence Secretary Sanjay Mitra,1982 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, may also be considered for the post. Mitra is to retire in May. He was Chief Secretary in West Bengal Government. Also read: 10 per cent quota to be implemented from academic year 2019: Javadekar If all goes well, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba will be new Cabinet Secretary. Gauba, 1982 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer, will be senior-most IAS officer in the Government of India. Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan is said to be a strong contender for the post. 1982 batch IAS officer Sundararajan is also next in seniority to Rajiv Gauba. According to reports, in view of the next Lok Sabha elections, Modi Government may appoint new Cabinet Secretary in March before the imposition of the Code of conduct. In that case present Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha may be given another assignment. | https://www.oneindia.com/india/will-woman-ias-officer-become-cabinet-secretary-2837399.html |
Who's behind the egg that broke the Instagram world record? | By now, you've heard about the egg, which surpassed a photo of Kylie Jenner's daughter, Stormi, on Sunday as the most-liked post on Instagram. Here's what we know so far: 1. The egg account holder goes by "Henrietta." Henrietta is, according to a report from BuzzFeed News, a "chicken from the British countryside." 2. The account holder, however, claims to live in London. Im an individual living in London, the account holder told The Independent earlier this week. They also revealed that they only have 400 followers on their personal Instagram account. 3. The egg's name is Eugene, allegedly. In some interviews, the account holder goes by the name Eugene, bypassing the whole "Henrietta" schtick entirely. 4. The person who did the egg was participating in dry January at the time. Nothing breeds creativity like suddenly not drinking. 5. Fans of the egg are called the "Egg Gang." Sure. 6. Supreme Patty is a suspect. So far, the only public figure to have implied responsibility for the egg is Supreme Patty, an Instagram star who smokes hot sauce and is known for squeezing lemon juice into his own eyes. While Patty didn't claim he did the egg outright, one of his friends did say so in a TMZ interview. (This is, of course, to be taken with a lemon-sized grain of salt.) For what it's worth, we do not think Supreme Patty did the egg. It's more likely that he's just capitalizing on the big meme of the moment. He did get an egg tattoo, though, so kudos on committing to the bit. And the egg does follow him on Instagram ... oh god. We've reached out to Supreme Patty and will update this post if we hear back. Until then, stay tuned for more egg updates. This story is developing ... | https://news.yahoo.com/whos-behind-egg-broke-instagram-194311538.html |
Did Bella Hadid Just Make Gingham Look Hot? | When I think of gingham clothing, I picture rich, preppy blondes in Cape Cod eating $10 million lobsteror whatever it is they do there all summer. I definitely dont picture Milan Fashion Week street style, and I definitely dont picture winter. But Sunday night, Bella Hadid stepped out in a gingham outfit that was actually hot as shitand she did so in the middle of January. Hadid looked like a business bitch gone rogue in the gingham blazer dress, which she accentuated with a giant white belt cinched around her waist. The deep V on the lapel plunged to reveal Hadids bra. I. Want. One. (The models boobs were lifted so high toward the fashion gods, you could almost hear designer angels singing her praises.) Rather than heels (TBH her feet were probably super tired after walking the Versace show), Hadid instead donned black loafers and mid-calf socks. She topped the outfit off with Matrix-like sunnies, huge earrings and a black purse. Someone write that girl a model-turned-international-spy movie, stat. Of course, Ive just accepted that Bella Hadid looks good in literally everything, so it comes as little surprise that she could completely rock a gingham dress in the middle of Milan Fashion Weekand in the middle of winter. In fact, Im low-key so on-board with this look, I might just have to buy this super similar Milly blazer dress and walk around my neighborhood, pretending I, too, just modeled in the Versace Fall/Winter 2019 show in Milan. (Let me have this, OK?) When it comes down to it, though, Bella Hadid led me to a real break-through. Now when I think about gingham, Ill picture Hadid strutting through Milan looking like shes about to enter an incredible spy movie fight scene. Because lets be real, shes totally hiding a knife in that high pony. Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale. | https://stylecaster.com/bella-hadid-gingham-outfit/ |
Is MS Dhoni still a great finisher or merely a very enthusiastic witness of finishes? | MS Dhoni (CC licensed by Marc via Flickr) Our primary school sports day used to climax with a run right the way round the field. For 10 and 11-year-olds it was quite a long way. The top two years took part. On our first attempt, we performed solidly and passed a very large number of kids with a sprint finish on the home straight. A year older and a year stronger, we decided to employ the same tactics. This time we held even more in reserve so much, in fact, that half the field had finished by the time we launched our finishing kick. And so to MS Dhoni. There are three main flavours of MS Dhoni innings these days. (1) The dawdling non-event where he faces a couple of overs and never gets going. (2) The dawdling non-event where he faces plenty of balls but still doesnt get going. (3) The knock where he happens to be there at the end and India win but its still not wholly clear whether he was hugely influential or not. Most of the time, it feels like were going to get (2) because more often than India would like, Dhoni is the man who wont (or cant) shift beyond third gear. You need to make a slow and arduous journey in rush hour traffic, Dhonis your man but for Gods sake dont pull onto the motorway. As the engine roars and the vehicles speed hovers around 40mph, you implore him to change up. But he doesnt. He just sits there in the nearside lane, foot to the floor, getting passed by everyone. Dont worry, says a fellow passenger. He knows what hes doing. Hes done this before. 20 minutes later, youre flicking through your phone trying to find the contact number for your breakdown cover. Meanwhile, Dhoni stands outside the car, head held high as he nobly and silently surveys the horizon. On days like these, Dhoni is not a finisher but an impediment; a dead man in a three-legged race. But sometimes India win and sometimes when India win, MS Dhoni is batting when the winning runs are scored. It is tempting to conclude from this that he still has it but surely the mark of whether or not a batsman is positively influential is how he compares to the average player across a large number of matches. According to CricViz, when Dhoni arrived at the crease against Australia today, India were slight favourites to win. And then they won. This, to us, sounds pretty average. Dhoni made 55 off 54 balls. His two batting partners Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik made 76 off 58 balls. Victory came with four balls to spare. Dhoni was unarguably there for the finish and you rather feel that he would also have been there for the finish had Kohli and Karthik been the ones contributing 55 off 54 balls. That would have changed the demands of the situation greatly and there are two main things we cannot be certain of in that hypothetical scenario. They are: Dhonis score and the match result. | https://www.kingcricket.co.uk/is-ms-dhoni-still-a-great-finisher-or-merely-a-very-enthusiastic-witness-of-finishes/2019/01/15/ |
What happens next? | In the immediate aftermath of the defeat the prime minister announced that - for the first time in the Brexit process - she would reach out to MPs from other parties to try and identify what would be required to secure the backing of parliament for an alternative deal to leave the European Union. She added that if those meetings yielded ideas the government would explore them with the European Union. But afterwards Downing Street insisted that Mrs May was not looking to move away from her core principles of taking the UK out of the customs union and single market. They also said that the prime minister still did not believe that it was necessary to extend Article 50 - despite | https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/brexit-what-happens-next-vs0m3ln20 |
Do Canadian charities and foundations have too much money sitting on the sidelines? | John Hallward is chairman of GIV3, a charity that encourages Canadians to donate and volunteer. I recently asked the folks at Statistics Canada for help with a question: What is the sum total of all assets owned by charities and foundations in Canada, and how has this trended over time? They obliged, providing me with the answer from all 85,000 charities and foundations, as reported in the T3010s filed with the Canada Revenue Agency. The numbers raised several questions in my mind. Story continues below advertisement If we exclude operating charities such as hospitals and educational institutions (which need buildings, equipment and supplies to provide their charitable services), foundations alone have now accumulated $80-billion, largely as endowment investments. This has grown at an annual rate of more than 10 per cent during the past decade and has more than doubled in the past five years. This represents a great deal of money accumulating on the sidelines, rather than being put to use supporting charities and those currently in need in our communities. I wonder how Canadians feel about this unused $80-billion while so many charities and individuals currently struggle to make ends meet. As money is donated to foundations, charitable tax credits are given from the public purse to the donors, costing each of us as taxpayers. I appreciate that foundations are required to grant and expense 3.5 per cent of their capital each year toward charitable purposes, and that many foundations exceed this level. However, the numbers show that in aggregate, the amounts being held in endowments are increasing much faster than the amounts being granted. For comparison, U.S. foundations are required to grant and expense at least 5 per cent a year. Raising the minimum disbursement requirement in Canada would have two major benefits. First, more money would be put to work immediately in our communities, helping alleviate the massive funding pressure so many charitable organizations are currently experiencing. And second, it would ensure that current taxpayers see the benefits of the lost tax revenue in their own lifetime. If the required level of disbursement was doubled to 7 per cent from 3.5 per cent, and assuming that all foundations collectively give 5 per cent currently, then this 2-per-cent net increase would yield approximately $1.6-billion more a year for our charities. I appreciate that doubling the disbursement requirement of foundations would result in the endowment eroding over time (perhaps over 30 years), but this is precisely the goal. It is morally right, and we need to have these charitable funds used now rather than sitting on the sidelines (often well past the lifetime of the donors!). Nor should we worry that we will not have foundations in the future. Every generation creates both new wealth and new philanthropists (think Balsillie, Gates, Buffet, Zuckerberg, Bezos and so on). Furthermore, as baby boomers continue to age, there is a significant amount of money likely to be donated over the next 15 to 30 years. There is every reason to believe that new dollars will be available to continue supporting the charities of coming generations. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement I urge foundation leaders, policy-makers and the public to consider this issue more closely and act quickly for the public good. Imagine what could be accomplished with billions more flowing into the charitable sector each year. | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-do-canadian-charities-and-foundations-have-too-much-money-sitting-on/ |
Did Trump really threaten Turkey? | U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter earlier this week to negotiate with Turkey in his own crude way. The United States "will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds," Trump tweeted. Followed by his thinly-veiled attempt to appease the designated terrorist organization PKK's Syrian affiliate, the People's Protection Units (YPG), was an offer to create a "20 mile safe zone" along the Turkish-Syrian border. The Turks were quick to respond that they won't be intimidated by such threats. "Strategic partners do not hold discussions via Twitter," Foreign Minister Mevlt avuolu told reporters. President Recep Tayyip Erdoan's Communications Director, Fahrettin Altun, tweeted that "the Republic of Turkey is the protector, not the enemy, of the Kurds. Turkey has no argument with the Kurds. Our problem is with the terrorist organization PKK and its extensions in Syria." To be clear, Trump's tweets were unacceptable in the sense that adopting the old "carrot and stick" approach toward a U.S. ally is discourteous. In many ways, the U.S. president's comments resembled his remarks on Turkey against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the imprisonment of Andrew Brunson, a U.S. citizen and evangelical missionary who was convicted by a Turkish court on terrorism-related charges last October. Yet Trump also delivered a message to Ankara that John Bolton, his national security adviser, and other members of his administration failed to pass on to the Turkish leadership. As a matter of fact, the YPG militants and their sponsors in Washington were probably unsettled by that proposal. I cannot imagine that Trump's critics, who have urged him to cooperate with Russia and the Assad regime instead of Turkey, were thrilled either. If Trump actually meant what he said, the White House just offered to place a large chunk of Syrian territory, covering the YPG-controlled M4 highway and several residential areas along the border, including Ayn al-Arab, Tal Abyad, Rasul Ayn and Jazira, under Turkey's control. All the tough talk is nothing but Trump is being Trump and throwing a bone to the YPG's international supporters. Despite threatening economic sanctions against the Turks, the U.S. president remains committed to withdrawing from Syria and working together with Turkey. Speaking by phone on Monday evening, "the two leaders agreed on the need to further strengthen bilateral economic relations," according to a readout issued by the office of President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, who "reiterated that Turkey was prepared [for] all kinds of support to the United States, its NATO ally, within that framework to prevent a power vacuum in the area and deny opportunities to all elements that seek to stop the withdrawal decision from being implemented." The Turkish readout of Monday's phone call also stated that Erdoan and Trump "exchanged views on the creation of a terror-free safe zone in Northern Syria on the basis of Syria's territorial integrity." Given the difficulty of seizing control of the entire YPG-controlled area in a heartbeat and the eagerness of Russia and Iran to fill the post-American power vacuum, the negotiations between Ankara and Washington are critically important. Turkey could focus on the timing of its counter-YPG operation and possibly accomplish its mission gradually. Going forward, it would make more sense to concentrate on the content of Trump's tweets rather than his language to which Turkish diplomats have responded already. | https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/duran-burhanettin/2019/01/16/did-trump-really-threaten-turkey |
Who Is Elyse Dehlbom Of ABCs The Bachelor 2019 Season With Colton Underwood? | Contestant Elyse Dehlbom captured Colton Underwoods attention during an Episode 2 group date on The Bachelor and spoilers suggest that shell get quite a bit of quality time with Colton during Episode 3. Elyse got a group date rose during the most recent show, and she clearly managed to get Underwoods heart racing. As a result, fans are curious to know more about her. Elyse Dehlboms ABC profile notes that she is 31 years old and that she is a makeup artist. Dehlbom grew up in Soldotna, Alaska, a town outside of Anchorage. However, her Instagram profile reveals that shes currently based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dehlbom has never been out of the country, at least not as of when she started filming Colton Underwoods Bachelor season. It looks like Elyse loves laughter, glam, glitter, and hope and she cherishes spending time with friends, wine, and good food. This Bachelor contestant appears to be quite close with her family, and some time back she wrote an incredibly touching Instagram post about the loss of her sister Sarah to cancer. Elyse has another sister as well as a brother, and she posts frequently about her mom and dad as well. Elyse has at least one tattoo, per Instagram, an inscription of some sort on the inside of her wrist. According to some scoop gathered by In Touch Weekly, Dehlbom has had a few driving-related legal issues over the years. For example, she ran into trouble in 2015 in North Dakota when she was pulled over and had a blood alcohol content registering significantly over the legal limit. Theres even a mugshot connected with that incident. Dehlbom was given a fine and a suspended sentence after that arrest, and she did some community service. The incident apparently has not caused too much long-term chaos in her life. There have also been a few other tickets and such over the years, including a 2017 citation. However, it doesnt seem there have been any additional alcohol-related incidents. Spoilers previously shared via the Inquisitr reveal that she will get her opportunity to travel outside of the United States. However, she may ultimately decide that her future doesnt necessarily include Colton or additional roses. The Bachelor spoilers, via the Inquisitr, reveal that Elyse Dehlbom will get a one-on-one date with Colton Underwood during Episode 3 and it sounds as if she will stick around at least for a little bit beyond that. If she doesnt get that final rose, fans may clamor to see her on Bachelor in Paradise this summer. It appears that she is one to keep an eye on as this season progresses. | https://www.inquisitr.com/5251069/who-elyse-dehlbom-abc-bachelor-2019-colton-underwood/ |
Is perfect storm headed for the Taiwan Straits? | Special to WorldTribune.com By John J. Metzler NEW YORK While the world is looking elsewhere and transfixed on the whirling Washington Merry-go-Round, a perfect political storm is brewing in East Asia. Unpredictable winds are gathering over the Chinese Mainland. The epicenter is the Zhongnanhai compound near Beijings once Forbidden City, as leader Xi Jinping renews his call for an independent Taiwan to rejoin the Peoples Republic of China or else. Xi Jingpings New Years clarion call for Peaceful Reunification, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Message to Compatriots in Taiwan, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) stressed that achieving the countrys greatness, national rejuvenation, and Cross Straits reunification is a trend of history. Its all part of Chairman Xis China Dream of national rejuvenation. Having lost the civil war to the communists in 1949, Chinas Nationalists retreated to the offshore island of Taiwan where they subsequently established a separate government which exists to this day as a democratic counterbalance to authoritarian China. Nonetheless Beijing is offering Taiwan a sugar-coated poison pill to annex the island state. Significantly, the Beijing communists have never renounced the use of military force to bring Taiwan back to the Motherland; Chairman Xi reiterated that threat yet again. As state run China Daily editorialized, Xi offers practical means to inevitable reunification. The Chinese love numerology. Indeed 2019 holds of slew of anniversaries, both proud and ominous, which could possibly presage actions towards what the Chinese communists view as the unresolved case of Taiwan. The 40th anniversary of Washington opening diplomatic relations with Beijing was in January 1979. President Jimmy Carters surprise actions, which not only switched political ties from the Republic of China on Taiwan to the Peoples Republic, also crucially severed the U.S./ROC Military Treaty. Also in 1979, Deng Xioapings China called for wayward Taiwan to accept a One Country, Two Systems plan by which the island would join Mainland China in a presumably coercion free arrangement. This system was applied to British Hong Kong when it reverted to Chinas control in 1997. Precisely in reaction to the swirl of events, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) in April 1979 legislating a formula to facilitate future political and economic ties with Taiwan. The TRA is not a formal military Treaty but establishes mechanisms which could allow for the defense of the island state. Taiwans security has recently been enhanced through the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) of 2018 which recommits Washington to promote key geopolitical interests in East Asia. The Trump Administration has firmly backed this legislation. While we are reviewing notable dates, 1919 recalls a significant if humiliating year for the newly independent Republic of China who suffered from an overlooked slight of the Versailles Peace Treaty ending the First World War. Some small German enclaves on the China coast were awarded to Japan. Though Japan was a WWI ally, so too was China! The subsequent May 4th Movement which represented the smoldering embers of Chinese nationalism will be commemorated this Spring. The Beijing rulers may well use the theme of being the victim yet again to call for the overdue reunification of Taiwan. Of course the seminal year of 1949; that being when the Chinese communists under Mao took over the Mainland and the routed Chinese Nationalists moved into exile on Taiwan. The 70th anniversary of Liberation as the Peoples Republic will celebrate it, puts additional political pressures on and threats to Taiwan. Modern Taiwan is a thriving East Asia democracy. Despite a fractious political scene, most people overwhelmingly prefer to keep the status quo in links to Mainland China; trade and tourism, but not formal political ties to Beijing. Equally, the argument has always been phrased as One Chinese nation which has two separate de facto governments much like South and North Korea or former West and East Germany. Any move by Taiwans political figures to alter this fragile but working arrangement, through advocating formal independence or separatism, would likely trigger a military attack by Beijing. Xi demands Taiwan to accept a dubious One Country, Two Systems has ironically united most of Taiwans disparate political spectrum against Beijings dictate. The Taipei Times stated editorially, The rosy picture that Xi paints might appear harmless and come across as sincere, but Taiwanese are not as easily fooled as he might think. Chairman Xis renewed Taiwan overtures may actually be more about politics in Beijing than Taipei. Given Chinas economic slowdown and social ills, the CCP knows that shifting the political focus from the Mainland to errant Taiwan offers Beijing a nationalistic rallying point. It could equally ignite a dormant flashpoint for China/U.S. strategic interests. John J. Metzler is a United Nations correspondent covering diplomatic and defense issues. He is the author of Divided Dynamism the Diplomacy of Separated Nations: Germany, Korea, China (2014). [See pre-2011 Archives] Share This Post! If you enjoyed this article we'd really appreciate a quick share. Every share makes a big difference and helps us focus on what we do the best: The news! Thanks from World Tribune Editors and Correspondents! Related FACEBOOK Comments Login To Your FaceBook to Make Comments | https://www.worldtribune.com/is-perfect-storm-headed-for-the-taiwan-straits/ |
Is Everybody Really Doing It? | Sex positivity is a scam, Ms. Pham said. She said the movement tends embrace people who are having sex, whereas not being sexually active is considered not liberating. As for me, Im now in my sophomore year and Im still not having sex, the way I define it. At this point in my life, the act of exposing my body in any way makes me feel vulnerable. My anxiety often stops me from continuing intimate conversations that might lead to sex, and like many students, my schedule makes me feel like I dont have the time to work through these issues, either. Im comfortable with my choice, but its still tough to see sex come so naturally to other people. I always want to ask how they do it. Obviously not how, but I want to know if they had to overcome the kind of barriers that are stopping me. Maybe Ill understand it one day, maybe I wont. For now, Im cool with spending my nights alone. What Were Reading How to Actually, Truly Focus on What Youre Doing Tired: Shallow work. Wired: Deep work. Why It Could Be Hard to Mute R. Kelly Many people have called for repercussions against the R&B star following a documentary about his treatment of women, but legal and commercial hurdles stand in the way. How We Apologize Now The iPhone app Notes has become the medium of choice for celebrity mea culpas. The Shutdown Makes Me Nervous: Young People Caught in Cross Hairs of Impasse Now in its fourth week, the shutdowns effects have cascaded across generations, from children worried about their parents to college students unable to pay tuition. 52 Places to Go in 2019 A starter kit for escaping into the world. Redefining Representation: The Women of the 116th Congress Just over 100 years ago, the first woman was sworn into Congress. Now a record 131 women are serving in the Legislature. | https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/smarter-living/the-edit-sex-abstinence.html |
Why haven't cancer cells undergone genetic meltdowns? | Cancer first develops as a single cell going rogue, with mutations that trigger aggressive growth at all costs to the health of the organism. To get at the heart of the matter, a team of scientists from Beijing and Taipei wanted to get a new hint at cancer vulnerability from a mutational perspective by probing the most famous cultured cancer cells, HeLa cells. Famously isolated from cervical cancer victim Henrietta Lacks in 1951, they became the first immortalized cell line, helped in the development of the polio vaccine, and have become a biotechnology foundational resource for any in vitro drug development or cancer studies. And they are still providing ample opportunities to further our understanding of cancer. "In this study, HeLa cells are not used to reveal the process of tumorigenesis but mainly a model for addressing the underlying evolutionary forces, which need to be powerful enough to measure in laboratory settings. We examined variation in growth rate among individual HeLa cells by monitoring clones from a common ancestral HeLa cell population," said corresponding author Xuemei Lu. They first established a HeLa cell line (E6) derived from an ancestral cell line. When the population size of E6 reached approximately 5 104 cells (15~16 divisions), five single-cell clones were generated and established in culture. They team DNA sequenced these clones to catalog the mutations. They focused on copy number variation (CNV) rather than single DNA changes because single-nucleotide mutation rates are too slow to produce significant sequence variation during the short-duration culturing experiments. "We then estimated the deleterious mutation rate and the average fitness decrease per mutation by performing computer simulations of cell growth," said author Hurng-Yi Wang. Overall, they found that the main mutations affect the copy number of genes, with an average of 0.29 deleterious events for every cell division. Each of these events reduces fitness 18 percent. Their results indicate that heterogeneity in cell growth can be generated in a very short period of time in cancer cells and is heritable and genetically determined. 5%) in fitness for every generation. Our observations suggest that human cells that have been cultured for a sufficiently long period still generate deleterious mutations in the form of CNVs at a high rate and with a high intensity. For such systems, a mutational meltdown might be plausible." For example, when they isolated 39 cells from B8 (a fast-growing clone) and 40 cells from E3 (slow growing clone), and monitored their growth from a single cell for seven days, approximately 23 percent of B8 and 50 percent of E3 cells died out within seven days, due to either damage caused during cell isolation or genetic defects. Most cell lines with growth rates < 0.6 died within 2 months. In total, only 60 percent of B8 and 27 percent of E3 cells survived for more than two months. Next, they picked about 20 cells from each of the single cell originated clones from B8 and counted their chromosome numbers. The chromosomes varied far from the normal human number of 46. They ranged from 38 to 113 chromosomes, with most (72 percent) cells harboring between 55 and 70 chromosomes, indicating that they are triploid. Therefore, despite single-cell origin, the progeny quickly generated aneuploidy within only 20-30 cell divisions, again illustrating frequent cytogenetic change in cancer cells. Despite the level of mutations occurring, reduction in growth rates, and chromosome numbers no longer representing that of normal humans, cancer cells still find a way to survive. "High deleterious mutation rate would raise an impression that the HeLa cell lines may have gone extinct long ago," said Lu. Their simulation results indicated that although most of the cells accumulated deleterious mutations and were worse than the ancestral cells, there were still 13.1 percent of cells which were mutation-free. "These mutation-free cells can avoid the population from extinction." It also explains why, even if chemotherapy treatment successfully killed 90 percent of a cancer cell population, it may still not be enough. The new study not only advances the understanding of the evolution of HeLa cells, and of tumors in general, but of the cells of multicellular organisms in culture in general. In future work, the scientists want to exploit their cancer cell fitness and growth rate findings to understand how cancer cells can become even more vulnerable to recent breakthroughs with checkpoint inhibitor drugs. ### | https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/mbae-whc011319.php |
Why so few arrests after bloody August weekend in Chicago? | Congratulations to the Chicago Tribune for recently publishing at least three long-form stories about the aftermath of the horrendous August 2018 weekend when 75 people were shot, 13 of them fatally, in Chicago. Its important to keep this in the publics consciousness. The stories noted that only four people have been charged in these criminal cases and that the four men are alleged to have shot only one person each. I mourn for Chicago but also worry about these conditions bleeding into the mostly safe suburbs. Ineffective law enforcement breeds more crime. Lets see arrests! Charles F. Falk, Schaumburg Slow down Lincoln Yards I totally agree with Blair Kamin about the Lincoln Yards proposal (Hopkins makes bold move on Lincoln Yards, Jan. 9). Mayor Rahm Emanuel tried to push this proposal through without getting input from the community it affects most. I'm glad that Ald. Brian Hopkins, 2nd, is slowing down the process. Sterling Bay needs to go back to the drawing board and build something that complements the neighborhood. Carolyn Minkel, Chicago House drafts gun control bill A new day is truly dawning with Democratic control of the U.S. House. The House has drafted H.R. 8, which would mandate universal background checks for gun purchases. Congress has a conscience again. Bogus sentiments of "thoughts and prayers" will now be replaced by concrete actions. With Democrats firmly in control, this bill will pass the House. Then we will see if the Senate and president care enough about gun violence victims to vote their way for a change. Ken Kramer, Glen Ellyn Columnist wrong about the wall In On the border, Trump builds a wall of lies (Jan. 10), Tribune columnist Steve Chapman says, There is no epidemic of unauthorized entry from Mexico. Twenty years ago, most of those coming across the border illegally were men who wanted work and then returned to Mexico and beyond. How things have changed. Now there are women and children by the hundreds, if not thousands. They come in caravans organized by groups in countries south of Mexico. It is they who create the new humanitarian crisis on the border. Also, the amount of drugs and criminals even if only a relative few who come across the border illegally now create an emergency that needs to be stopped. Instead of referring to conclusions from the Congressional Research Service (all career bureaucrats), why not listen to the professional border control agents who are there, day in and day out, on the firing line, protecting us all. We all realize that no physical barrier would stop all illegal immigration, but the evidence from the professionals supports it would greatly help in places. The cost is so minor compared to everything else. I listened carefully to President Donald Trumps speech last week, and everything he said rings true, even if sometimes he exaggerates to make a point. Roland G. Ley, Arlington Heights A surefire fix to shutdown This idea would guarantee to anger just about everyone in the U.S. and our allies to the point of forcing the government to reopen: Have all the Transportation Security Administration screeners go on strike for a day. And threaten to do it again within "X" number of days unless the shutdown ends. David White, Chicago | https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/ct-vp-voice-letters-011619-story.html |
Can Macron's open letter save his presidency? | After weeks of protests, Emmanuel Macron sent out a letter to Yellow Vest protesters that he is open to new ideas. Shaken by weekly protests on the streets of France, sparked by a rise in fuel prices, French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to turn anger into solutions. Macron's answer is to build a new "contract" with the nation. He's launched a two-month national debateand says he's open to ideas. The French will be encouraged to vent their grievances and offer new suggestions online and in meetings around the country. Presenter: Nick Clark Guests: Pierre Olivier Pinquet - Member of the Yellow Vest movement Jacques Reland - Head of European Research at the Global Policy Institute Laura Slimani - member of the Generation.S a French political party created by Benot Hamon Source: Al Jazeera News | https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2019/01/macron-open-letter-save-presidency-190115193146624.html |
What has Huawei given to the world? | Huawei's strategy is to survive by low-cost competition. What we cannot forget is that innovation and progress are triggered by new competition, not only by brilliant engineers and scientists. New competition forces the established players to be inventive. To answer this question, you need to know the story of a struggle. One is named Cisco or Ericsson or Nokia or Alcatel-Lucent. He once dominated the world of telecommunications, exporting network switches from Europe and the US and providing mobile carriers all over the world with the reliable infrastructure that powers our laptops and smartphones. He spent incredible amounts of money on research and development, recruiting the smartest engineers into world-class laboratories, and bringing forth previously unseen technological marvels. The other is named Huawei. She was a scrappy fighter who didn't play by the rules, but who tried to survive in a country plagued by copycat competition, pricing pressure and poverty. She not only persisted for three decades, she somehow managed to bloom to her fullest, until the chief financial officer and deputy chairman, Sabrina Meng, was arrested in Vancouver on Dec 12. She was whisked away by bodyguards into a Cadillac Escalade on a US$7.5million bail and would wear a GPS ankle bracelet for the next 51 days until the next extradition hearing scheduled for Feb 6, 2019. Companies usually survive and even prosper after important executives leave - Apple took off under Tim Cook; Microsoft flourished under Satya Nadella; Uber realigned itself under Dara Khosrowshahi - so long as they don't lose market access. But losing market access is what's in store for Huawei in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom. sentifi.com Market voices on: Blocking Huawei may be a punishment for the company's alleged violation of the US sanctions against Iran, a matter that has yet to go to trial. Or it may be intended to forestall concerns that Huawei is spying, a claim for which substantial evidence has yet to be found. What is evident, however, is that Huawei earns half its revenue from overseas, where consumers won't buy its products unless they are cheaper or better than Cisco's and Ericsson's. Of the 170,000 Huawei employees, 40,000 are non-Chinese. In Enlightenment Now, Harvard scholar Steven Pinker noted that in 1800, a person in Britain making an average wage needed to work six hours to earn enough to purchase a hand-dipped candle that burned for one hour. Any non-natural light sources were deeply expensive. Eight decades later, in 1880, after the invention of the kerosene lamp and the refinery technologies of Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the average American needed to work for 15 minutes to afford an hour of artificial lighting. Later, the incandescent bulbs introduced by Thomas Edison could be lit for an hour at the cost of a mere eight seconds of labour. Later still, fluorescent bulbs that cost only half a second were introduced. Today, solar-powered LED lamps are practically free in terms of fuel costs. The prices of running water, electricity, automobiles, personal computers, mobile phones, washing machines, vacuum cleaners, stoves, air conditioners, dishwashers and refrigerators have all plummeted. Whereas in 1929, Americans spent more than 60 per cent of their disposable income on necessities, people are spending less than a third nowadays. When measured by purchasing power, our material advancement is indisputable. What we cannot forget is that innovation and progress are triggered by new competition, not only by brilliant engineers and scientists. New competition forces the established players to be inventive. Without it, old corporations grow fat, executives become lazy, and consumers suffer. Competition might be bad news for CEOs, but it is a boon for the public. And here is the story of Huawei over the last three decades: When a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Algeria in May 2003, killing some 3,000 people, expatriate managers working for major multinationals all fled. Huawei stayed. The company's engineering team completed a network migration as scheduled, which ensured access to communication during the emergency period. When civil war broke out in Libya in 2011, Huawei kept its flag flying in the country. In the words of Xia Zun, the general manager at the time, Huawei's goal is "to serve our customers, be they government troops or rebels because in times of war, people need to report back home more than ever". Huawei is no saint. But it fits into a pattern. For every market giant in China, there have been hundreds of copycats. They typically start out focusing on markets ignored by Western multinationals, and rather than competing with cutting-edge technologies, they develop products and distribution systems for less-affluent populations. Haier began by making compact refrigerators for small homes in China, a market segment that Western organisations deemed unprofitable; PC maker Lenovo invested in its distribution infrastructure - local offices, sales teams and supervisors - in order to be able to manage a sprawling retail network covering the remotest towns and villages. China's massive population is what enables copycats to fight, and the winners of those fights develop immense economies of scale and extreme operating efficiency. Through this corporate bloodshed, the scrappy copycats turn into world-class gladiators. It's the gladiator Huawei, which innovates and leads 5G providers, that now clashes with the US. The White House's consideration of an executive order that would bar all US companies from buying Huawei-made equipment is no skirmish over compliance. It is a battle for dominance over critical technologies in the age of connectivity and smart machines. When I visited Shenzhen in China last year, local managers explained to me that much of the city's infrastructure will be digitised, and that Huawei will saturate it with a 5G network. This will lower speed issues and latency problems for computers using the network. In other words, the amount of computing power needed for a driverless car, for instance, can be massively reduced. That computing power can simply be off-loaded onto the city's infrastructure by way of the next-generation networking system. This is a radical vision, radically different from Intel's. As autonomous driving takes off, vehicles are to become computers on wheels. More powerful microchips will be needed, and Intel could again dominate that transportation market. Huawei has a different idea for connected cars - one that will directly undermine Intel's strategy in China and beyond. For the most part, this should concern no one but China's IT industry - except that without Huawei, Apple won't have its largest international market, and Facebook won't have a well-connected India, Bangladesh or Africa to fuel its overseas expansion. And the rest of us will have less ability to use technology to alleviate poverty, an effort that has historically been made possible by low-cost competition. Only by disrupting the powerful industry incumbents can we lift billions out of poverty. And that's what's at stake. | https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/what-has-huawei-given-to-the-world |
What is a vote of no confidence? | Get daily updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Following Theresa May's staggering Brexit vote defeat, the Labour party called a vote of no confidence. It gives all MPs the opportunity to force out the Prime Minister and could result in a General Election. Now there will be a debate tomorrow (January 16) in the House of Commons before a vote. MPs will be asked to vote on a motion: "That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government." (Image: PA) Every MP must now vote on whether they have confidence in the Prime Minister and her government or not. If the government wins, Mrs May continues in office. If she loses, then the government falls and the country could be forced into an early election. There is the possibility that only the Prime Minister needs to resign, if there is an alternative leader that could regain confidence within Parliament. Then a new leader can ask for another confidence vote within 14 days. A general election could happen as early as 25 days after the vote of no confidence. The vote itself will be held at 7pm tomorrow, after a debate in the House of Commons. (Image: PA) Yes. But that was the Conservative party's own vote of confidence in Theresa May's leadership. She survived, when Tory MPs voted by 200 to 117 in a secret ballot held in December. The result means 63 per cent of Conservative MPs backed the Prime Minister, with 37 per cent voting that they had no confidence in her. Mrs May required the support of at least 159 Tory MPs under party rules set by committee. She is safe from a vote of no confidence from her own party for another 12 months. Despite a third of her own party MPs voting against her in this historic Brexit vote, Mrs May is likely to survive with the backing of the DUP. | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/what-vote-no-confidence-15683961 |
Is Silent Witness star Emilia Foxs Dr Nikki Alexander pregnant? | Thats what were left wondering after a pre-credits teaser in Silent Witness episode four revealed a shot of Dr Nikki Alexander (Emilia Fox) sitting on the toilet and examining a pregnancy test. Asked about the brief pregnancy test shot, producer Kiaran Murray-Smith remains tight-lipped. But he does tell RadioTimes.com: Once you have relationships, like any drama you have to try and push a little bit more as to reality and what happens in relationships. The storyline in episodes five and six (titled To Brighton, To Brighton) will explore how important they are to each other. Even better, Matt will finally be in town to reunite with Nikki. Theres nothing better than a walk on the beach with your lover, is there? Murray-Smith says. He adds: The pregnancy test in the teaser whether or not what happens after that, obviously I cant say at the moment until that comes out! Advertisement Silent Witness continues on Monday 21st January at 9pm on BBC1 | https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-15/silent-witness-nikki-alexander-pregnant/ |
What's secret to San Diego Gulls' record-setting hockey run? | Well um its not entirely fit for a family newspaper. Or a Teamsters newsletter. Lets see. No-baloney boss Dallas Eakins, who became the winningest coach in the history of the NHLs Anaheim Ducks primary affiliate last Wednesday at Stockton, offered it up in all its salty glory. Not sure how you edit this, but It doesnt (#&%$) matter, Eakins said. In December, the Gulls had unearthed hockeys version of puck-chasing bottom. The team languished in the AHLs icy basement for points and win percentage. Third-period breakdowns piled up. Late-game fates sneered. So, they plowed fate into the boards. They won on the road. They won when they were tired. They won when they were injured. They won when the bus was late. They won despite the chaos of a league-high, no-close-second 125 transactions. They won when one rink was double-booked, forcing them to miss a pregame skate. They won after flying from sand to snow. Now the Gulls, without argument or equal, are the hottest team wearing AHL skates an unprecedented about-face in just a months time. They won eight in a row, a franchise record, before falling 3-2 in overtime Monday at Iowa. Theyve scored points in 14 straight games, a franchise best and unmatched in the league this season. That, thanks to Adam Cracknells goal with two seconds left in regulation Monday against the Wild. It doesnt (#&%$) matter. When you go through a hard time and everythings against you, it doesnt matter, explained Sam Carrick, the Gulls leading goal scorer. You still have to put in the work. The team has established a relationship with the military in San Diego. They use that one a lot. Its been good. The team had to re-calibrate its mindset, from one ear to the other. Practices amped up. Third periods became nightly proving grounds. They skated harder. The puck bounced more forgivingly. Its never one thing, captain Jaycob Megna said. Its a lot of things, so its hard to put it into a box. Its a feeling within the group. I think we had stretches where we played good hockey for a period or two and things would fall apart. So its all about consistency. The recent streak was anchored in eight consecutive wins on the road. In back-to-back games last week at Ontario and Stockton, the Gulls throat-stomped both in the third period by turning tight games into laughers. San Diego wiped out the pair by outshooting them 35-4 in those final periods. The Gulls, once last in both categories, have roared past 22 teams in win percentage and 14 in points. Entering Wednesdays home game against Texas, they are only one point out of second place in the AHL Pacific Division, just five points behind first-place San Jose (a team they defeated four times in their streak). All of it in the face of 125 total transactions. The next most in the league entering this week was Toronto, with 106. The Marlies, though, live in the same city and share a practice facility with the NHLs Maple Leafs, meaning they deal with a mere fraction of the logistical headaches. Our equipment guys have had a real tough time this year, putting new names on jerseys, Megna said. New guys walking in the door every couple of days, it seems. Eakins, told of the singular amount of player moves, said he noticed an obvious clue. When I look at the stat sheets, we take up two pages and other teams take up one, he said. Then again, it goes to the resiliency of group. Weve had players come in and out, up and down. Its not Holy man, Ive been moved to three different lines in three weeks or Ive had two different line mates or The lineups different again tonight. You can use that as an excuse. Or you can use it as an opportunity. All that change can breed confusion. Not for the Gulls. Not during this It doesnt (#&%$) matter run. San Diego has outscored opponents 61-37 during the record-setting run of 14 games scoring a point, besting the previous best of 13 by Syracuse. Things are just clicking right now, Carrick said. Technically, in an Xs and Os way, Eakins chalks the core of the turnaround to puck proximity. Its been really simple, said Eakins. Weve been really, really good at supporting the puck and playing close together. If theres a breakdown, were always close enough to correct it. What that enables you to do is have the puck. When you have it, good things are going to happen. When you dont have it, bad things can happen. After all, it doesnt (#&%$) matter. =================== Hottest team on ice The Gulls havent lost in regulation in five weeks, earning points in 14 straight games since a 4-3 defeat Dec. 8 at Colorado. A look at the streak (11 wins, one OT loss, two shootout losses): Dec. 14, at Bakersfield L 3-4 (shootout) Dec. 15, San Jose W 4-3 (shootout) Dec. 19, San Jose W 6-1 Dec. 21, Ontario W 5-3 Dec. 22, at Ontario L 6-7 (shootout) Dec. 27, Bakersfield W 4-3 Dec. 29, at Bakersfield W 3-2 (OT) Dec. 30, at San Jose W 5-1 Jan. 2, at Bakersfield W 2-1 Jan. 4, San Jose W 4-3 Jan. 6, at Ontario W 4-1 Jan. 9, at Stockton W 7-4 Jan. 12, at Milwaukee W 5-2 Jan. 14, at Iowa L 2-3 (OT) | https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/columnists/bryce-miller/sd-sp-miller-gulls-win-points-streak-eakins-carrick-megna-20190116-story.html |
Could Community Christian College save junior college football in Arizona? | It's getting late in the football recruiting process for current high school seniors who want to play in college but need that bridge to get to a four-year school. With the Maricopa Community College District canceling football for financial reasons, and the programs in Tucson, Safford and Yuma dying, most Arizona's high school coaches have been telling their players to seek opportunities in California, Texas, Kansas or elsewhere. "There are definitely many less opportunities now and that hurts a lot of kids, especially kids like ours, who are not highly recruited," said Sahuarita Walden Grove coach Corey Noble. Enter Community Christian College and the Hohokam Junior College Athletic Conference. Thousands of future student athletes are counting on each of us to do our part, please take a moment to read and share. pic.twitter.com/zYMQom7Rkd Hohokam Junior College Athletic Conference (@HJCAC) January 6, 2019 Mickey Nunez, the Arizona director of the online Community Christian College, said news will be released later this week on the formation of four teams in the Valley to play in the HJCAC next season. That news has already started to come out. JUCO FB IS BACK IN AZ! More info: https://t.co/yIwvNbLiyqpic.twitter.com/vnoHMvBOyZ Vince D'Aliesio --Coach D (@VDAliesio) January 15, 2019 So, instead of Mesa Community College, Phoenix College, Glendale Community College and Scottsdale Community College, the names on players' jerseys around the Valley next season could have "Community Christian College" on them with their city names. "We're registering students," Nunez said. "Theyre supposed to have press release. They're going to be announcing the format and the coaches. It will be ready to go by the end of the week." Community Christian College is an online program based in Redlands, Calif. There are regional athletic directors: In Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina. According to its website, starting this summer, the quarterly course charge is $197.22 per unit for courses. That will increase the following year to $219.44 per unit. But students can apply for financial aid, Nunez said. There are private donors helping with costs, Nunez said. Players take a break during practice at Mesa Community College in Mesa, Ariz. on Aug. 16, 2018. (Photo: Patrick Breen/The Republic) The HJCAC is working to secure facilities to use around the Valley. There isn't housing for athletes. Nunez said that the accredited online courses can be taken at home, but he added, "We're going to have an on-the-ground campus to facilitate them and help them." "A kid who is failing, we send an email to the coaches that they need to send them here instead of practice to make sure they're catching up on their work," Nunez said. "I think they'll have a lot of success this way. We're keeping them accountable. We want to make sure they're succeeding. It's going to be awesome. "With freshmen, 30 percent drop out. They're not life-ready. If we get them past that first year of school, we should be able to get them to graduate and break that cycle of poverty." Phoenix Greenway coach Ed Cook said that junior college coaches from out of state have been reaching out to him since the Maricopa Community Colleges dropped football after last season. "It's tough because some kids need JUCO to mature as a football player and or as a young man," Cook said. "Now they have to be ready not just for football but also mentally, socially and also financially like going to a four-year school." Nunez believes the HJCAC can blossom into a viable option, during which the student-athletes can either obtain an Associate of Arts degree or leave after a year to play at a four-year university. Many high school coaches have been telling their players looking for college options that junior college football in Arizona is dead, but Nunez believes junior college football in Arizona will be back in the fall. "Every day, I get phone calls," he said. High school coaches are in wait-and-see mode. "The new potential opportunities of the HJCAC private JUCOS are interesting and I am hopeful that these will allow many of our athletes an opportunity to compete at the next level," Noble said. MORE SPORTS | https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/high-school/2019/01/15/online-community-college-program-save-juco-football-arizona/2584356002/ |
Why is Egypt intent on restoring Jewish heritage sites in a country devoid of Jews? | The government of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi recently announced a multimillion-dollar initiative to restore Jewish heritage sites throughout the country. Soon afterwards, the government backtracked, probably due to a public backlash. The Egyptian ministry of antiquities issued a correction saying the $71 million were intended for restoration of monuments of all three religions [Islam, Judaism and Christianity], and not only for Jewish monuments, Zvi Mazel, Israels former ambassador to Egypt and a senior analyst with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, told JNS. When I heard the news about that the enormous sum, I knew it was fake, he said. Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani announced in December that roughly $70 million would be spent to restore Jewish heritage sites. Cairo has 13 synagogues, but only three of them are active: the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue, the Ben Ezra Synagogue in the Abbassia neighborhood and the synagogue of the Karaite community, wrote Ynets Smadar Perry. The announcement by Egypt comes as Israel said that it plans to seek at least $250 billion from seven Arab countries, including Egypt, for expelling their Jewish communities following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. The time has come to correct the historic injustice of the pogroms [against Jews] in seven Arab countries and Iran, and to restore, to hundreds of thousands of Jews who lost their property, what is rightfully theirs, said Israels Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel. Prior to 1948, Egypt was home to between 75,000 and 80,000 Jews. However, the country began to expel its Jews during the 1950s as tensions with Israel heightened. Only an estimated 100 mostly elderly Jews remain in the country today. According to a report by Haisam Hassanein at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Washington, D.C., some local political pundits have responded by saying the initiative should not come at the expense of impoverished Egyptians, arguing that foreign Jews should pay for it instead. Cairo sees Jews and their organizations as a gateway to U.S. policymakers, said Hassanein, going on to point out that many Egyptiansparticularly the religious, nationalists and leftistsview Israel as an intolerable tool of American hegemony in the Middle East. Indeed, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi acknowledged for the first time that the Egyptian military is cooperating with Israel in the Sinai Peninsula against Islamic State-affiliated terror groups there. The Air Force sometimes needs to cross to the Israeli side. And thats why we have a wide range of coordination with the Israelis, El-Sisi told CBSs 60 Minutes. Pompeo outlines the U.S. role in the region While the notion of restoring Jewish sites in Egypt should be welcome, Jews around the world should not be misled into believing that there is a newfound national fascination of Jewish culture in Egypt, even for the few Jews who remain there. El-Sisi is operating purely based on realpolitik, just as he cooperates with Israel on defense and intelligence issues. In particular, El-Sisi has been keen on forging close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, which the Egyptian leader hopes can bolster the countrys fight against Islamic extremists by providing military assistance and also provide critical economic investment. In July, the Trump administration released $195 million in military aid to Egypt after withholding the funds due to the countrys human-rights record and relationship with North Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also gave a major foreign-policy speech in Cairo, where he outlined the U.S. role in the region. The Egyptian masses and the Arab world as a whole are not going to change their attitude towards Israel overnight, and in the meantime, Israel will continue to promote ties with friendly governments both openly and covertly. It is only a matter of time before no Jews are left in Egypt, and therefore the talk about refurbishing Jewish sites should be put in the proper context. To take care of rundown synagogues is a fine goal, but it should be understood that the effort, in essence, is a public-relations exercise meant to project a moderate view of El-Sisi to the Americans, the world, and mainly, to U.S. Jewish leaders. | https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/fl-jj-egypt-restoring-jewish-heritage-sites-20190123-story.html |
Why is the Canadian government helping to kill local journalism? | The steady bleeding of Canadian advertising dollars to Silicon Valley tech giants has burst into a full-blown hemorrhage. Data released in December suggest that the forces undermining Canadian journalism are advancing much faster than the governments attempt to address them. More than $6 billion per year in internet advertising travels down a tax-free highway south of the border to Google, Facebook, Amazon, and a handful of other internet media companies, writes Daniel Bernhard. ( Dmien Myer/Agence France-Press ) According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Canadian internet advertising spending grew in 2017 by a staggering 23 per cent to $6.8 billion. Canadian advertisers now spend more online than they do on TV, radio and print combined. The 2018 figures have not yet been tabulated, but the IAB estimates an increase of $945 million over 2017 levels a 14 per cent increase brining Canadas annual internet advertising bill to $7.7 billion. Most of that money about 80 per cent of it, or $6.2 billion per year travels south down a tax-free highway to Google, Facebook, Amazon, and a handful of other internet media companies. And as we know, companies like Facebook dont exactly bring us truthful, trustworthy journalism. The consequences for democracy are serious. Article Continued Below Heres the thing: Ottawa actually greases this slide with billions of public dollars. Our tax laws prohibit companies from deducting the cost of foreign advertising. But a loophole in the law allows Ottawa to look the other way when Canadian companies buy digital foreign advertising. A $1.6 billion subsidy to companies that buy ad space from the likes of Facebook. Heres how ridiculous this is. A Canadian company advertising in the New York Times cannot deduct the cost of the ad. But if they put the exact same ad on nytimes.com, they can claim the full deduction. Why the Canadian government subsidizes foreign internet media companies that kill Canadian journalism is beyond me. But thats exactly what it is doing. This rich tax deduction cost Canadians an estimated $1.6 billion in 2018. To put that into perspective, the government spends $1.2 billion on CBC. And the recently announced support package for the journalism industry is worth just $120 million. If Ottawa were to close the internet advertising tax loophole, Canadian companies could still buy all the ads they want from foreign publishers like Facebook. But these would be treated like all other foreign advertising, and they would not be tax deductible. We estimate this move would repatriated about $600 million that is currently going south for Canadian media that tell the truth, follow the rules, and contribute to our society. Article Continued Below And it would mean increased corporate tax revenue of over $1.45 billion annually. That would make a huge difference to struggling Canadian media much more than the $120 million the government is offering in its bailout. The scale of Ottawas plan doesnt come close to matching the scope of the problem. It boggles the mind that with the Canadian journalism industry on its deathbed, all the government could muster was a kiss goodbye. We need to do better. The good news is that we know what to do: close the internet advertising loophole. The bad news is that the government isnt doing it. The consequences of this special treatment go far beyond lost public money. The story of Toronto City Councillor Kristen Wong-Tam is instructive. Recently, the veteran politician revealed that she was the target of a vicious smear during the 2018 Toronto municipal election. A political opponent and a gang of his supporters mobbed Wong-Tam, alleging corruption on her part, and they recorded the ambush on their phones. Wong-Tam called them vicious, ridiculous and easy-to-disprove lies. But it didnt matter. Her opponent had what he wanted: video of an intimidated Wong-Tam walking away without refuting the charges. This video and other false allegations were shared far and wide on social media, boosted by paid Facebook ads. Canadian media are subject to hate speech, defamation and slander laws. They would face legal action if they published this kind of propaganda, even as advertising. Because we let them. Its bad enough that these tech companies circulate misinformation and extremism with impunity. Whats worse is that in doing so, they are siphoning advertising revenue away from respectable Canadian publishers that sustain our democracy with quality journalism. Ottawas messed up tax policy does not just empower the sickness. It also suppresses the cure. So heres some unsolicited advice to Finance Minister Morenau. Close the internet advertising loophole. Daniel Bernhard is Executive Director and Spokesperson of the watchdog group FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting. Follow him @Sendinthewolf Read more about: | https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2019/01/15/why-is-the-canadian-government-helping-to-kill-local-journalism.html |
Whats not to love? | Of the many things that Charlotte has to offer, both the city and the University are the top contenders. However, some might say that Will Healy, Charlottes newest head football coach, is now on that list. After more than seven years with the Charlotte 49ers and accepting the challenge of beginning a division one football program, Brad Lambert coached his final game as 49ers head coach and was sent out with a deserved win and a gatorade bath. Of course, whenever a big change such as this is made, it affects a lot of people, including the players. Many of the Niners showed up to Healys first Charlotte Football press conference to shake hands with their new coach, but a week and a half prior, they were celebrating a big win and celebrating Lambert the man and coach that he was to them. Several of the 49ers took to social media to say thank you to Lambert after the win over FAU. Both of them are great coaches. Coach Lambert definitely knew what he was doing. I feel like Coach Healy might have a recruiting edge and Im just excited to see what he brings to the table. said running back Benny LeMay. Less than two weeks later, Healy was introduced at a press conference which essentially lasted about an hour and not by any means because he was boring those in attendance. Healy had a lot of good things to say as did Athletic Director Mike Hill. Clearly a rising star, a proven recruiter, a proven developer of talent, a man of high character and integrity, and someone who values culture. I think what we got in Will Healy is this: Will Healy reflects our program and our institution. He is a young, hungry up-and-comer and a force to be reckoned with. He is gonna kill it in recruiting, Im just telling ya; mark my words, he is going to kill it in recruiting. And he is going to make our football program a major factor in this city, in this state and in our conference. said Hill. With someone new in the head coaching position, its common that the rest of the coaching staff sees changes as well and sure enough, come fall 2019, Charlotte fans will see an entirely new coaching lineup on the sidelines, including some of Healys former staff at Austin Peay. Meanwhile, the players themselves will get acquainted with the coaches for the start of the 2019 season. I feel really good about it. I feel like Coach Healy brings a lot of energy and I feel like hes excited to get here, and you want someone whos gonna be here like we have [had] in the past and like well have now. said defensive back Ben DeLuca. Less than 48 hours after accepting the job, Healy already knew and was convinced of why well before being offered the job. As mentioned before, the press conference introducing Healy to Niner Nation was far from boring and was actually captivating. This place is a goldmine. What you have in front of you, I dont know if even you understand the potential of this place. I promise you when we have opportunities to bring recruits on this campuspeople will fall in love when they drive through the gates. The vision, the excitement, the opportunities that this campus and this football program have are through the roof, said Healy. And I am so fortunate and luckyto have a chance to be the head football coach here because this place is going to be really special. Healy told Hill he wouldve walked all the way to Charlotte from Chattanooga just to have an opportunity to talk about this job. That kind of passion about this program is what he hopes to help build. As far as looking ahead for this program, Charlotte may still have a lot of work to do. Although they have always had heart for the game, fans got to really see more of that this past season. I think you look at the character of a team through the adversity that they went through, said Healy. Defensively, its one of the best turnarounds in college football this year, but I think you went from an opportunity where you hoped you could win to now they expect to win. So, I think the foundation has been laid to take the next step and do it in a hurry. It was a season of record-breaking, lightning delays and a season full of examples as to why this team and Charlotte, overall, is such a special place and program. Much like Healy, the football program is young and growing and has so much passion within. | https://ninertimes.com/2019/01/whats-not-to-love/ |
Is the time ripe for Israel to push for recognition of the Golan Heights? | In a joint press conference with U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that the Golan Heights is tremendously important for our security we will never leave the Golan Heights it is important that all countries recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. It was a rare moment in which Netanyahu publicly asked a U.S. administration official to officially recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Dennis Ross, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former adviser to Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, told JNS that Netanyahus request might be understandable given the context of Boltons trip but is unlikely to draw a favorable response from the administration in advance of presenting the presidents peace plan. The White House is seeking Arab support for the plan and probably not looking to take steps that might make it harder for Arab states to be responsive. Ross placed the issue of recognition and Boltons visit in a larger context. He told JNS that Boltons trip is about reassuring Israel about the presidents decision to withdraw from Syria. I hope the Iranian emplacement of missiles on Syrian bases is being raised by the prime minister with an eye to coordinating an approach on this issue at least with the Russians, he said. The Russians want the U.S. out of Syria, and the question is whether it is possible to get the Russians to pressure [Syrian President Bashar] Assad not to permit Iranian missiles on Syrian bases prior to our withdrawal. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War after Syria and other Arab nations attacked the Jewish state. In 1981, Israel annexed the Golan Heights. Since then, the United States and the broader international community have refused to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the region. But there has been some movement in Israels direction. In November, the United States opposed for the first time the annual U.N. resolution calling on Israel to relinquish the Golan Heights. Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley declared, The United States will no longer abstain when the United Nations engages in its useless annual vote on the Golan Heights. The resolution is plainly biased against Israel. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Jordan as part of a larger Middle East tour to allay fears that America is abandoning the Middle East, as well as to stress that the central threats to the region are Iran and ISIS. Jordans foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, told Pompeo: International law regarding the Golan Heights is clear. Netanyahu isnt alone in his belief that the United States should finally recognize Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights. Last May, the House of Representatives debated a similar resolution. Then-Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) introduced a resolution asking Congress to recognize the Golan Heights as belonging to Israel. That measure was never adopted. Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Ted Cruz of Texas issued a joint statement calling on the administration to recognize Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights. According to a statement on Cruzs website, In the last Congress Sens. Cruz and Cotton introduced S.Res.732, a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should recognize Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The resolution Cotton and Cruz introduced in mid-December of last year urged the Senate to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The resolution stated that the United States would support Israels right to defend itself, that it is in the United States national security interest to ensure Israels security, and that Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights would ensure that the Assad regime faces diplomatic and geopolitical consequences for the killing of civilians, the ethnic cleansing of Syrian Sunnis and the use of weapons of mass destruction. The statement went on to affirm that responding to the threat posed by Iran and its proxies requires ensuring that Israel can defend its territory and its citizens from attacks. To support Israels right to self-defense, Washington should take the long overdue step of affirming Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Efraim Inbar, president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security has a different approach. He told JNS that the Americans might [recognize Israeli sovereignty] as they see Syria divided among Assad, the Russians, Turkey and Iran. I am not sure we should spend much political capital on this issue, he added. After all, the Golan is in our hands since 67, more years than the Syrians ruled the area. Any American recognition will not have the same resonance as moving the embassy to Jerusalem, acknowledged Inbar. What we should do is double the Jewish population in the Golan. What counts most is facts on the ground and not political declarations. | https://www.sun-sentinel.com/florida-jewish-journal/fl-jj-israel-push-recognition-golan-heights-20190123-story.html |
Where are Bay Area Womens Marches? | Marches and rallies across the Bay Area begin as early as 10 a.m. Saturday, when tens of thousands of people are expected to fill the streets from San Jose to Oakland to support the third annual Womens March. has evolved into a coalition of groups bringing attention to immigration issues, LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter and other social justice issues. Here is a list of when and where rallies are being held across the Bay Area: When: Saturday, January, 19 San Francisco: Civic Center Plaza Rally starts at 11:30 a.m. and then march at 1:30 p.m. down Market Street to the Embarcadero Plaza San Jose: City Hall March starts at 11 a.m. at City Hall, followed by rally at the Arena Green East (next to the SAP Center) Oakland: Lake Merritt March starts at 10 a.m. with rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza Walnut Creek: Civic Park Rally begins at 11 a.m. followed by march Pleasanton: Amador Valley High School football field Rally begins at 1 p.m., followed by 2 p.m. march to downtown Pleasanton, followed by a Womens Expo until 4 p.m. Alameda: Corner of Park St. and Santa Clara Ave. Rally starts at noon. | https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/15/where-are-bay-area-womens-marches/ |
Whats the real cost to society of a 5 dress? | Boohoos festive sales rise might have allayed investor fears that it was going to repeat Asoss shock profit warning, but the millennial-focused fashion brand is stoking a wider debate about the bigger cost of fast fashion. Few fashion retailers can afford to sell dresses for 5 a pop. The rise of social media has meant fashion has become even more disposable, with younger customers saying that once a picture of their outfit has appeared on Instagram, or Snapchat, they dont want to wear it again. Previously the only dress women would boast about wearing just once would be their wedding dress. Now, a shopper can order a dress online and have it delivered... | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2019/01/15/real-cost-society-5-dress/ |
Does Penny Hardaway have an answer to Memphis basketball's rebounding troubles? | CLOSE Penny Hardaway said Memphis needs to box out on the perimeter instead of running inside to get rebounds. Drew Hill, The Commercial Appeal For Memphis basketball, its close win at Tulane Sunday was not only a disaster avoided, it was also a moment of realization for coach Penny Hardaway. After Memphis allowed 18 offensive rebounds at Houston, 19 against ECU and 19 more at Tulane, Hardaway suggested he might have a solution to the Tigers' ongoing struggles on the glass. "I saw what's happening tonight," Hardaway said Sunday. "The guys they are shooting threes and the guys are running in to get the rebound, but the ball is bouncing right back out to the guys that shot it." Over the last three games, Memphis' opponents have attempted 78 3-point shots, making only 19 of those tries. The Tigers are allowing conference opponents to grab an offensive rebound on 38 percent of their attempts, which is last in the AAC. It's indicative of the change in the college game, according to Hardaway. Teams are shooting a high volume of 3-point attempts, which has forced coaches to adjust their strategy on the glass. "You have to stay on the perimeter and box out," Hardaway said. "It's a weird game nowadays because you don't go back to the paint and box out. You have to box out on the perimeter because all those long shots are bouncing long." Buy Photo Memphis teammates Kyvon Davenport (left) and Isaiah Maurice (right0 fight each other for a rebound during action against Tulane in New Orleans, Sunday, January 13, 2019. (Photo: Mark Weber, The Commercial Appeal) "We have to adjust and read the bounce better, and rebound outside of our areas," he added After all, it's not a coincidence that AAC teams like Memphis, Tulane and Tulsa rank at the bottom of the league in offensive rebounds allowed, and at the top in opponent 3-point field goal attempts. Mark it as another area where Hardaway is adjusting to the college level. In his years with the Orlando Magic, the NBA featured all-time greats like Charles Barkley and Dennis Rodman, who made rebounding popular. That's not the case anymore. "These kids, that's the last thing on their mind, is rebounding," Hardaway said. "They want to score, they want the glamorous stuff, and rebounding is dirty and nasty." Buy Photo Memphis forward Kyvon Davenport (left) grabs a rebound in front Kevin Zhang (right) of Tulane defender during action in New Orleans, Sunday, January 13, 2019. (Photo: Mark Weber, The Commercial Appeal) And on this team, in particular, Hardaway doesn't have the same luxury on the interior that he had while coaching Memphis signees James Wiseman and Malcolm Dandridge overpowering post players at East High School. Even when Memphis does clear out opponents, it still has trouble gathering missed shots. For Hardaway, that can be the most frustrating part. It's why he decided to start Victor Enoh over Isaiah Maurice and Mike Parks Jr. at Tulane. The sophomore was "dominating the glass in practice." Buy Photo Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway (left) chats with teammates Raynere Thornton (middle) and Kareem Brewton Jr. (right) during action against Tulane in New Orleans, Sunday, January 13, 2019. (Photo: Mark Weber, The Commercial Appeal) And after allowing 47 second-chance points over the last three games, Hardaway knew it was time to make a change and send a message to his team. "We're not trying to please people," Hardaway said. "We're trying to win basketball games." Tigers' road trip: Sparse crowd at Tulane gives Memphis basketball unique road experience | https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/sports/college/memphis-tigers/basketball/2019/01/15/penny-hardaway-memphis-basketball-tigers-rebounds/2569345002/ |
Who is Harriet Blue in the James Patterson and Candice Fox book series? | If you're one of the many already engrossed in the Harriet Blue series by prolific author James Patterson and Australian crime fiction master Candice Fox then you already know the stage is set for "Liar Liar," the third in the four-part book series, out Jan. 13. "Liar Liar" by James Patterson and Candice Fox (Photo: Little, Brown) But perhaps you're just getting starting on the series -- maybe you made a New Year's resolution to read more books and chose this thriller to kick off your year. Maybe you picked up this book out of order and want some background. If that's you, we have a guide to the series -- including a fifth book you might not know about and the latest on the release date for the fourth book in the Harriet Blue series. The main character in "Never Never," "Fifty Fifty" and now, "Liar Liar," was first introduced in a short, 176-page "BookShots" novel that precedes the Harriet Blue series. The series is set in Australia. According to Blue herself, "I'm an experienced hunter of humans.... My job gives me access to crime alerts... I can tag a person's file and get a notification every time they're brought in, even if their original charge never stuck." Blue grew up in the foster system in Australia with her brother, and best friend, Sam. Both siblings have a history of bad behavior -- including a history of fighting at school and bouncing between hopeful adoptive parents and group homes. Not a fan of institutions, Blue was brought in as the lone female member of the sex crimes squad by the police chief, who is both her boxing coach and father figure. The BookShots story -- "Black & Blue" -- is a prequel not officially included in the four-part series, but functions as an introduction to the hard-charging Australian detective Harriet Blue. In the book, college women are showing up dead, and she's pushing to solve the Georges River Killer case, "most savage serial killer in our nation's history." While "Black & Blue" introduces Harriet -- or Harry, as some call her -- it also tells the story of the thrilling case she chases before the series begins. Published: Dec. 6, 2016. "Never Never" is book 1: After her brother is accused of a series of gruesome murders, Harriet is transferred to another department while the media circus descends at home. She's thrown into a case in the Australian outback, where the disappearance of a worker in a remote mine is just the beginning. Published: Jan. 16, 2017. "Fifty Fifty" by James Patterson and Candice Fox (Photo: Little, Brown) "Fifty Fifty" is book 2: Sam Blue is on trial for murder, but the only person who believes he is innocent is Harriet. Meanwhile, a diary turns up with a plot to kill an entire small town -- and time is of the essence for Harriet, Sam and a mysterious person who holds the key to the truth about Sam's case. Published: Feb. 19, 2018 "Liar Liar" is book 3: Harriet Blue is on the run, and a known killer is on the hunt. In this book, out Tuesday, the Sydney police are chasing one of their own, and Harry's own freedom is at stake. Published: Jan. 13 "Hush Hush" is book 4: The final book in the series has Harriet solving a case in order to earn her freedom -- and a woman and her child's lives are also at stake. You may see a May 2019 date on an Amazon listing for the book, but that's not accurate. Sorry eager readers. Current plans, according to the publisher, have "Hush Hush" slated for a fall 2020 publication. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2019/01/15/who-harriet-blue-james-patterson-and-candice-fox-series/2572553002/ | https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2019/01/15/who-harriet-blue-james-patterson-and-candice-fox-series/2572553002/ |
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Who will win 2018 Horse of the Year award? | Back in 1935, after sweeping Thoroughbred racings classic races, Omaha lost twice to Discovery, first in the Brooklyn Handicap, then in the Eclipse Award voting, making Omaha the only Triple Crown winner to not be voted Horse of the Year. Eight decades later, Justify could be the second. Well know for sure next week when the Eclipse Awards are officially announced Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park. The voting deadline was Jan. 2, from which we learned the three finalists for the sports highest honor Triple Crown winner Justify, Breeders Cup Classic winner Accelerate and 3-year-old champion filly Monomoy Girl. In most any other year, Justify would be a lock. After all, the son of Scat Daddy is just the 13th Triple Crown winner. He was the first since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby after being unraced as a 2-year-old. He joined Seattle Slew as the second undefeated Triple Crown winner, and the first to retire undefeated when an injury sent him to stud after the Belmont Stakes. Digital Access For Only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. Therein lies the rub, however. Owned in a partnership headed by Woodford Countys WinStar Farm and trained by Bob Baffert, Justify raced for only 111 days from his February debut through June 9. He never ran against older horses. He didnt compete in the Breeders Cup Classic. That has opened the door for the backers of Accelerate, a 5-year-old son of Lookin At Lucky whose stellar 2018 campaign stretched from the San Pasqual Stakes on Feb. 3 at Santa Anita right through his win in the Breeders Cup Classic on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs. Owned by Kosta and Peter Hronis and trained by John Sadler, Accelerate won six of his seven races, the loss coming in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap on April 4 in Arkansas, where he finished second. He recorded five Grade 1 wins, including a sweep of the California Triple the Santa Anita Handicap, the Gold Cup and the Pacific Classic, which he won by a record 12 1/2 lengths. Not even the far outside No. 14 post could keep Accelerate from the Breeders Cup Classic winners circle at Churchill. That victory capped a magnificent training job by Sadler, who patiently brought along a horse that had won just four of his 15 starts before 2018. None of this is to slight Monomoy Girl, who won nine of 11 races, including the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill and the Grade 1 Breeders Cup Distaff. Still, most believe the brilliant daughter of Tapizar will wind up third in the voting. Traditionalists would answer yes. The award after all is Horse of the Year not Horse of May and June. It was not Justifys fault he did not race after the Triple Crown, but the fact remains he did not race after the Triple Crown. Unlike previous Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, he never beat older horses. Meanwhile, Accelerate took on all comers of all ages. The one hole in his resume that he had never won outside of California was filled by the November win in Louisville. In most every other year, his accomplishments should almost certainly earn him Horse of the Year honors. Just not this year, it says here. There has been a Breeders Cup Classic winner every year for the past 35 years, but there have been just 13 Triple Crown winners in 150 years. That American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, and the Breeders Cup Classic at Keeneland, just three years earlier takes nothing away from the difficulty of the feat. Justify is just the second Triple Crown champion in the past 40 years. That he pulled if off in such a short period of time, winning six consecutive races from a maiden special weight in February through the Belmont in June, is even more remarkable. So, yes, Accelerate was spectacular in 2018. In my book, however, Justify is the Horse of the Year. | https://www.kentucky.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/john-clay/article224557375.html |
Who has the inside track in the Western Conference wild card race? | The Western Conference wild card race is setting itself up to be an insane scramble to the finish in the second half of the season. Not only because there are a bunch of teams all jumbled together in the standings, but because several of them are completely volatile organizations that have the potential to do something completely outrageous and exciting! in the comings weeks to try and secure one of the playoff spots that are still up for grabs. Heading into Tuesday night the race features four teams all tied in the standings with 47 points for the last playoff spot. That alone is pretty incredible, even at the halfway point of the season. But when you add in the suddenly fading Colorado Avalanche who sit just three points ahead of that pack, as well as the Dallas Stars who hold the third spot in the Central Division based on a tiebreaker with the Avalanche, and then consider the St. Louis Blues are still somehow lurking around after their terrible start, and you have got seven teams all packed together in what can probably best be described as a log-jam of mediocrity. Also included in it are the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, Vancouver Canucks, and the Minnesota Wild who will be hosting the Los Angeles Kings (8 p.m. ET on NBCSN) on Tuesday night. [Related: Should Wilds future include Bruce Boudreau?] It is absolute mayhem. First, lets just take a look at where the standings sit as of Tuesday. The important thing to keep in mind here is that even though the Wild, Oilers, Ducks, and Canucks are all currently tied in terms of their points, the number of games played by each team kind of skews things a little bit and puts some teams a little behind the pack. Here are all seven teams mentioned, their current point total, their current points percentage, and their current points projection based on that points percentage. The remarkable thing about the Stars is that they are in as good of a position as they are despite all of the drama surrounding them. Like the rest of the teams on this list they are quite flawed, but the national perception of them (at least recently) is that they are a complete mess because their CEO briefly lost his mind and sounded like an irrational fan that decided he had to rant on the post-game call-in show for no real reason. Now they are looked at as a dysfunctional organization and are a league-wide punchline instead of what they actually are: A team that probably has a better record than it deserves given the flaws on the roster outside of its top line. Theyve probably overachieved this season. Not underacheved. [Related: Stars CEOs ire should be directed at GM, not Seguin and Benn] The Stars, along with the Avalanche, are probably in the best position out of this group even though the latter has hit a wall recently and won just four of its past 17 games. They still have a cushion and a little bit of breathing room between them and the teams on the outside of the playoff picture, and assuming neither one really collapses (or in the Avalanches case, continues to collapse) in the second half they should be in. Both teams are also similar in the sense that they are pretty much being carried by a single line. Fortunately for them, they are great lines. The real fight comes with the five teams after them, and thats where thing get interesting because this is where they have to make decisions on whether or not they are legitimate playoff teams and should try to add to their rosters before the trade deadline, or if they would just be chasing a mirage. On paper the Wild probably have the best and most well-rounded team out of this group, even if it hasnt played out that way on the ice this season. They have a top coach, a goalie that can be one of the best in the league when he is on his game, and a decently balanced roster. You would like to think they could get this season sorted out and get back on track. The Ducks are pretty much the Western Conference version of the Buffalo Sabres at this point. Only worse. A team that banked a lot of points early in the season and has badly fallen back to the pack as reality punches them in the face. In the Ducks case it has been an 11-game losing streak that has featured a couple of crushing losses over the past week where they allowed early multi-goal leads to spectacularly disappear. It is kind of remarkable they could go through such a losing streak and still be in contention. Nothing about the way this team plays suggests it is a playoff team, but it does have the one X-factor that could give it an edge in the race. That X-factor of course John Gibson, arguably the best goalie in the league this season. That is the one position and the one player that can significantly elevate a mediocre team above the rest in a race like this. But the team to really watch here is going to be Edmonton. They have the best player in the league (Connor McDavid), they are on the fringes of the playoff race, they have a desperate general manager that is almost certainly trying to save his job, and what is seemingly a playoffs-or-bust mandate from ownership and upper management. After all, you can not keep wasting the prime years of a generational superstar. The problem, of course, is that even with that generational superstar this is still a team that is probably more than one or two mid-season additions away from even being a playoff team, let alone a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Can you really risk trading a 2019 first-round draft pick, or your No. Doing so would be risking what could still be something that could benefit the McDavid-Leon Draisaitl core in the future for what is basically a Hail Mary attempt at trying to make something out of this season. Those types of trades have not exactly worked out well for this particular organization. On one hand, a lot of crazy things can happen if you get in the playoffs. A goalie can get hot, the other teams goalie can fall apart, a superstar like McDavid can go off for seven games and throw everything off course and open the door for a 2017 Ottawa Senators like run. But you have to actually get in the playoffs for that to be a possibility, and that still seems like it could be a big challenge for this team. Then we have the Canucks and Blues, who are for all intents and purposes tied based on their current projections. The Canucks are the feel-good story here because they seem to be ahead of schedule in their rebuild thanks in large part to the rapid development of Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. But even with those two, and even with their better-than-expected record, they are still only an 82-point pace for the season right now, still have a deficit to make up when it comes to catching the the wild card teams, and still are not that great of a team. Keep in mind that 82-points would have been 13 points short of a playoff spot a year ago, and while the threshold to get in this year will probably be lower than that, there is still a chance that it increases from the 85-point projection it is at now with the Wild. All it is going to take is one of those current Wild Card teams to go on a five or six game winning streak (something they are both perfectly capable of doing) to change the target. Look at it this way, only one Western Conference team in the salary cap era has made the playoffs with less than 90 points (the 2015-16 Wild made it with 87 points). Reaching the 90-point plateau would require Vancouver to play at a .614 points percentage over its remaining 35 games. This is a team that has played at a .500 pace over 47 games. Then there are the Blues, winners of five of their past seven and 11 of their past 17, trying to dig themselves out of their slow start. This seems like a case of too little, too late. Goaltending is still a big issue and the they just seem to have put themselves in too deep of a hole to make up that much ground. So that is where every team stands and what is ahead of them. If you are a Stars or Avalanche fan, you should be somewhat comfortable. If you are a Wild fan perhaps cautiously optimistic. If you are fan of the other teams, you should hope your team does not do something drastic and could potentially damage the long-term outlook of your team. Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @AGretz. | https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2019/01/15/who-has-the-inside-track-in-the-western-conference-wild-card-race/ |
What could happen next to Rep. Steve King after backlash to 'white supremacy' comments? | Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) As Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King faces fierce backlash for questioning why white supremacy is considered offensive, for now hes showing no signs of stepping down amid mounting pressure to resign. In an interview with the New York Times published Thursday, King asked, White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization how did that language become offensive? Those comments set off a series of rebukes from both sides of the aisle and ultimately resulted in the eight-term congressman being stripped of his committee assignments by GOP leadership Monday. Steves remarks are beneath the dignity of the Party of Lincoln and the United States of America, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement, adding, His comments call into question whether he will treat all Americans equally, without regard for race and ethnicity. Meanwhile, Democrats have scheduled a House vote on a resolution Tuesday that disapproves of Kings statements. The resolution was introduced by House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking African-American member of Congress, and two other Democrats, Rep. Bobby Rush and Rep. Tim Ryan, have also introduced censure resolutions, which serve as more forceful reprimands. The harshest form of punishment King could face is expulsion from the House, but the bar for that is high. There have only been five members expelled from the House in history. All of those members were charged with crimes the first three were expelled for joining the Confederacy. The most recent example of a member facing expulsion was in 2002 when Ohio Democrat-turned-Independent Rep. James Traficant was convicted of conspiracy to commit bribery, filing false tax returns, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes. Prior to that, Pennsylvania Democrat Rep. Michael Myers was ousted in 1980 after he was convicted of bribery. In Kings case, the terms of how the rules of expulsion would apply are murky. The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote to expel a member, but according to the Congressional Research Service, there are no specific grounds for an expulsion expressed in the Constitution, expulsion actions in both the House and the Senate have generally concerned cases of perceived disloyalty to the United States, or the conviction of a criminal statutory offense which involved abuse of ones official position. Meanwhile, Kings loss of committee assignments on the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees already renders him virtually powerless in terms of legislating, which would be problematic if he chooses to pursue a 2020 reelection bid. King is now one of three GOP House members with no committee assignments the others include Rep. Chris Collins and Rep. Duncan Hunter, both of whom are, respectively, under indictment for insider trading and misusing campaign funds. Copyright 2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. | https://wfin.com/abc-politics/what-could-happen-next-to-rep-steve-king-after-backlash-to-white-supremacy-comments/ |
Should there be a voting center on the campus of ISU? | Below is the closed-captioning text associated with this video. Since this uses automated speech to text spelling and grammar may not be accurate. good afternoon. i'm lacey clifton, in for susan dinkel. it's only january, but many are already looking forward to may. that's as the topic of the next election is already being talked about. a vigo county polling location that was popular last election, doesn't look to be an option this year. but, some folks are taking action to prove why it should be. < the digital signatures are rolling in. that's as an online petition is circulating to re-instate indiana state university as a vigo county polling location. "we need to as a community value this location as a real center of the community." nearly 500 voters cast their ballots at the isu poll. a fact pointed out in the petition. between students, staff, and faculty, assistant communication s professor, lori henson says this option needs to be available. "it's not just the students who are using this polling location it's an incredibly convenient location for literally hundreds and hundreds of staff members, faculty members." the vigo county election board cited reasons why the isu polling location wouldn't be an option for 2019. this included campus construction, the parking, and some other un-named issues that came about during the board's experience with isu. "personally i think it's probably the best that they don't have it again this year. // being as how last year didn't really go all that well, i know the lines were really long, a lot of people had some complaints." official voting center locations haven't been decided just yet. but officials say there are tentatively three other voting centers near isu that voters can use. student hunter moran thinks that's good enough. "there are some really close ones to campus so i think if students are going to get their ballot in this district, it would be easy for them to go to another polling location." but others on campus who support the petition, say having to travel could easily turn many in the campus community away from voting. "honestly i would, but for a lot of kids since it's not right on campus and it's not somewhere they could easily access, i don't think they would. "> coming up on news 10 at six... we'll hear from one person behind the petition. we'll also share how well it's | https://www.wthitv.com/content/video/504392562.html?ref=562 |
What is a Google Chromebook? | Youve probably seen the term Chromebook mentioned on the internet, and you might be wondering what they are, and how they differ from regular laptops. In this guide well explain what a Chromebook is, list the pros and cons of the devices, and help you decide whether or not a Chromebook is right for you. and Best Chromebook guides. Lets begin with a quick overview of what a Chromebook is. Essentially, Chromebooks are light and cheap laptops that run Googles ChromeOS operating system. Most laptops run Windows 10 as their operating system, unless you have a MacBook, which uses macOS. ChromeOS is a lightweight OS, which means its not as fully featured as Windows 10 or macOS. In fact, when ChromeOS was first released in 2011 it was extremely barebones, and you needed an internet connection to use apps such as Google Docs. ChromeOS has evolved since then, so you can now install apps including Android apps and use it without an internet connection, but its still more limited than Windows 10 and macOS. However, that's one of the reasons why Chromebooks are so appealing to many users. Because ChromeOS is a lightweight operating system, it doesnt need powerful components to run, and it can use hardware that Windows 10 or macOS would struggle to run on. This enables Chromebooks to be much more affordable than other laptops. It also means Chromebooks have impressively long battery lives, easily lasting a whole work day on a single charge. The first Chromebooks were released by Samsung and Acer in May 2011. While we sometimes refer to the devices as Google Chromebooks, a number of major laptop manufacturers make Chromebooks, with the likes of Dell, HP and Asus joining Samsung and Acer. Of course, Google has released its own Chromebooks over the years as well. Interestingly, while most Chromebooks are affordable alternatives to Windows and Mac laptops, Googles Chromebooks, like the Google Pixelbook, are premium devices that show that a Chromebook can be as powerful, and as beautifully designed, as any MacBook or Windows laptop. Because Chromebooks run ChromeOS, you cant simply install and run Windows or Mac programs. Instead, you use Chrome apps, or online apps that you can run through the Chrome browser, such as Google Docs. Theres a decent selection of Chrome apps, and using online apps like Google Docs means you dont need to mess around installing apps, which means many Chromebooks only need small hard drives which again helps to keep their price low. Chromebooks are now also able to run Android apps, giving Chromebook users access to thousands of apps through the Google Play Store. Most modern applications have a version for Android devices, which means Chromebooks can run a huge range of software, from office suites like Microsoft Office to photo editors and even games. Chromebooks can also run Linux applications, further bolstering the productivity benefits of the devices. Compatible Chromebooks can now use programs that were created for Linux, the open source desktop operating system. While ChromeOS used to be seen as a limited operating system, the scope of the software you can now run on a Chromebook is truly impressive. ChromeOS is also a lot less prone to viruses and malware compared to Windows 10; malicious users are more likely to attack Windows 10 devices due to their popularity. Using cloud-based services on a Chromebook also limits the number of files you download and install, and ChromeOS is automatically updated with the latest security patches to keep you safe and secure. Chromebooks and education Because of the affordability, long battery life and security of Chromebooks, they've become increasingly popular in the education sector. They're ideal laptops for students, as they come with pretty much all the software they would need, including word processors and presentation programs. The use of cloud services such as Google Docs also allows for online collaboration between students and teachers, and several manufacturers have made Chromebooks that are specially designed for students, with durable bodies that can survive being tossed into a backpack and carried around all day. The Chrome Education License also enables schools to provide Chromebooks to students and easily manage the devices centrally, ensuring that only approved apps are installed. Parental controls can also ensure that students are kept safe from inappropriate online content. So, to answer to the question 'What is a Google Chromebook?' Essentially, they're affordable laptops with simple designs, that can surprise you with how flexible and adept they are for many day-to-day tasks. | https://www.techradar.com/au/news/what-is-a-google-chromebook |
Are Black Babies A Fashion Statement? | paradox said: Unless you post a link to a source which proves this 'pet like' relationship or unless of course your mother is a 'white' celeb who adopted you and treated you like a pet I beg to differ. Click to expand... mkuu sina link wala nini na mama yangu ni mtoto wa mkulima! jaribu kutembelea website ya madonna ujue how she handles kale kadogo [BANDA] ka malawi na jinsi dogo alivyo tofauti na watoto wa madonna wenyeweLABDA NIKUSHAURI KWAMBA HAYA MAMBO YA MAMA YAKO [OR YO MAMA SHIT!] HAYANA TIJA SANA NA TUSIKAE NYUMA YA HIVI VISIMU AU LAPTOPS KUTUMIA LUGHA CHAFU, HAITUPELEKI MBALI SANA MAZEEIn the 19th century the Scottish missionary David Livingstone came to Malawi to save African heathens. Unknown to many individuals in the West and in Africa is the fact that Madonna belongs to the religious organisation Kabbalah that has allegedly provided childcare centres to 160,000 children in Malawi.Fundamentally, neocolonialism is thriving on the African continent in different permutations from its 19th century predecessors of formal colonialism and slavery that engendered direct colonial rule. During the Slave Trade, African people were taken to slave markets and auctions in the Americas and the Caribbean. They were inspected like cattle. In the documentary, we learn that Madonna's first adoption of David Banda in 2006 was prearranged by her then husband, Guy Ritchie, who saw David. It seems David was not among the 12 children lined up for inspection by Ritchie, who somehow saw David in the orphanage and sent pictures of him to Madonna before she came to Malawi to see him for herself.Her arrival is similar to those few European slave-owning women in the Caribbean, who were a minority but no less brutal in their treatment and attitudes to African slaves, as documented in the scholarly work by female historian, Verene Shepherd. Unlike those European slave-owning women, Madonna contends that her motives are benevolent and altruistic. Her charity Raising Malawi is run by Michael Birch, head of Kabbalah in the US, of which Madonna is a prominent member. Other celebrities donate to the Kabbalah organisation; they wear a special wristband that David Banda can now be seen sporting and they promote 'spirituality for kids'. The implications of this are that an entire generation of children are being 'raised' in the Kabbalah mindset. Some would argue that such children would otherwise lead a life of poverty, if not death. | https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/are-black-babies-a-fashion-statement.60242/ |
Where Is Captain Sully Today? | Captain Chelsey Sullenberger is still heralded as a hero today, 10 years after he landed an airplane on the Hudson River. Captain Sully has since retired and lives a quiet life (despite having a major motion picture made in his honor) in San Francisco with his wife, Lorrie. He Has Appeared on CNN & Urged People to Vote for a Change on Election Day Although Sully said he wouldnt run for office, he has spoken out about his concerns when it comes to America. He said that he believes that his fame has given him a gift; a greater voice. We cannot wait for someone to save us. We must do it ourselves. This Election Day is a crucial opportunity to again demonstrate the best in each of us by doing our duty and voting for leaders who are committed to the values that will unite and protect us, Sullenberger wrote in an Op-Ed for the Washington Post before the November 2018 elections. Although Sully didnt mention anyone by name or give many specifics in the piece, he urged voters to do the right thing. While he admitted to once being a Republican, he said that hes always voted as an American. Looking Back at the Miracle on the Hudson Today marks one decade since Capt. Sully and the crew of US Airways Flight 1549 turned what could have been a fatal tragedy into the Miracle on the Hudson where all 155 passengers and crew survived a ditch landing into the Hudson River. https://t.co/jovi8LqSlg pic.twitter.com/ucrUMg9pxP CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) January 15, 2019 On that fateful day, Sully and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles saved more than 150 lives after the US Airlines flight they were on had engine trouble shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York. The Airbus A320 had come in contact with a flock of geese. In an interview with ABC News Amy Robach, Sully talked about his thoughts now a decade later. I think about not only what we did but what everybody else did. All the pieces had to come together. This group of strangers had to rise to the occasion and make sure that they saved every life, Sullenberger said. Sully explained that he was able to keep himself calm and positive through the ordeal. Once he realized that he couldnt make it back to the airport, he told air traffic control that the plane may end up in the Hudson. It all happened to fast, but Sully was in complete control. I never had any extraneous thoughts in those few seconds that we had. I didnt allow myself to and I didnt have any inclination to. I never thought about my family. I never thought about anything other than controlling the flight path and solving each problem in turn until, finally, we had solved them all, he told Robach. Captain Sullenberger treated the frigid Hudson River like a runway, landing the plane effortlessly. Once the planes belly rested on the water, Sully instructed passengers and crew to exit the plane, many standing on the wings awaiting rescue. Sully himself stayed on the plane and made sure that every single passenger and crew member had made it off safely before exiting himself. I was deathly afraid after the landing was accomplished and wed pulled that off that someone might slip into the water unnoticed and drown, or succumb to hypothermia, Sully told Robach. | https://heavy.com/news/2019/01/captain-sullenberger-sully-today-now/ |
Is Apple changing the iPhone charger? | Apple is rumoured to be changing the iPhone charging cord again. Picture: Supplied Apple is rumoured to be changing the iPhone charging cord again. Picture: Supplied APPLE could make iPhone users fork out for a new charging cable when it releases its next model. The tech giant is rumoured to have plans to adopt a USB-C charging port for the 2019 iPhone, just like it did for the latest iPad Pro, The Sun reports. The switch would make current iPhone charging cables useless once a person upgrades to the latest model. Apple charges just shy of $30 for USB-C cables in Australia - though you can get off-brand versions for less. Rumours Apple plans to adopt the iPhone's third charging port in 12 years come from supply chain blog Macotakara. They suggest Apple is following rival Samsung with a switch to a new USB Type-C port, which is thicker than the lightning port used by iPhones since 2012. Citing "supply chain sources", the blog says Apple might make the change to a USB-C port for iPhones next year, following last March's successful Type-C switch for the 2018 iPad Pro. More devices are introducing USB-C ports. The next generation of plug is reversible and faster than its predecessors. Picture: Supplied Those working on the port say it has not yet reached the reference design stage, meaning it could miss 2019's iPhone release window, forcing Apple to push it back to 2020. When the first iPhone launched in 2007, it featured a charging port designed from the ground up by Apple. This was called the 30-pin dock connector, and survived on Apple handsets for years. But in 2012, Apple introduced a new Lightning port for charging phones (from the iPhone 5 onwards), making everybody's old charging cables useless. Seven years on, it looks like Apple is getting ready to replace your lightning port too. Apple fans reacted sourly to the news on social media, with one fan pointing out that they would still have to carry lightning cables for older devices. I have dozen of devices with lightning and only one with USB-C (HP laptop), which I don't take with me on vacation, for example. "I will still have to carry lightning cable with me for years for 'legacy' Apple products. Why does this hold so much importance?" Another wrote: "I'm not sure if people are ready for USB-C. I bought one of the new iPad Pros and hated the USB-C connector." Some were more positive about the change. One wrote: "It seems new 2019 iPhone might have USB-C connector that would be a definitive upgrade." USB-C is an increasingly popular type of charging and data transfer port that was launched in the middle of 2014. The male end of the cable is a little thicker and much wider than Apple's Lightning cables, but they largely perform the same job. However, while Lightning ports are exclusively used on Apple devices, USB-C ports are now very common. Most flagship Android phones now feature USB-C ports, including the Samsung Galaxy S9, Google Pixel 2, and OnePlus 6. And Apple has already fitted out its latest MacBook Pro models with USB-C ports, too. The advantage of all gadgets switching to USB-C is that you'll be able to use accessories (like headphones and charging cables) across all of your devices. It means you could potentially charge your iPhone and MacBook up using the same cable, and plug your headphones into the same port too. This article originally appeared on The Sun and has been republished with permission. | https://www.cqnews.com.au/news/rumours-apple-is-changing-iphone-cord-making-yours/3623414/ |
What demand does Kirsten Gillibrand supply? | Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is expected to enter the presidential race today. Reportedly, she will make the announcement on Steven Colberts program, and then head to Iowa to campaign. When the Democratic field is set, Gillibrand will likely be its second phoniest member, trailing only Sen. Cory Booker. In itself, phoniness is not necessarily a drawback. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards both made the national ticket. The real problem for Gillibrand is the presence of her female Senate colleagues, Elizabeth Warren and (presumably) Kamala Harris, in the 2020 field. Warren has been a leader of the Democratic left for some time. She has a national following. Gillibrand lagged well behind Warren in the lefty sweepstakes until recently, and she has no national following. Harris is a relative newcomer, but she has pushed her way to near the front of the leftist pack. She seems more charismatic than Gillibrand and shes African-American. Thus, its difficult to see Gillibrand getting far running from the left. The best niche for Gillibrand might be as a less radical alternative to Warren and Harris (as well as to males in the field, such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, if he enters). She might target, say, the less radical half of Hillary Clintons 2016 supporters. Thats about one-fourth of the Democratic primary vote. Gillibrand might receive aid in this endeavor from Wall Street, which seems to prefer her to Warren and Harris. Wall Street apparently sees Gillibrands leftism much as it saw Hillary Clintons i.e., less than genuine. But Gillebrand would probably have to tack to the center to appeal to the less radical half of Clintons supporters. This is true even taking into account the possibility that these voters have moved leftward during the Trump years. Another opportunist tacking by Gillibrand might prove one too many. If Joe Biden enters the race, he would blow up any strategy by Gillibrand of moving back towards the center. Biden would occupy most of the niche Ive just described. But even if Gillibrand is able to occupy this niche, its a formula, perhaps, for becoming a top tier candidate, not for capturing the nomination. Hillary Clinton barely won the nomination with her entire bloc of voters. Its difficult to see Gillibrand winning it with, say, half of that amount of support. Maybe, if she distinguishes herself on the campaign trail. The Democrats will want one female on the ticket, so any hope for Gillibrand probably rests on a male winning the presidential nomination. A black or Latino male might be optimal, since it would relieve pressure to put a minority on the ticket. But Julian Castro is quite unlikely to win the nomination. The answer to the first question is probably why not? The answer to the second is probably no. | https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/01/what-demand-does-kirsten-gillibrand-supply.php |
Could Soo Locks funds be diverted to build Trump's wall? | Buy Photo In this file photo, the Great Lakes Trader and the tug Joyce L. VanEnkevort exits the Poe Lock at the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie. (Photo: Photos by Dale G. Young / The Detroit News, Photos by Dale G. Young / The De) Washington The White House has considered diverting money for Army Corps of Engineers projects to build a border wall, but Michigan lawmakers are split on whether projects such as the Soo Locks upgrade could be among those tapped. The White House recently asked the Pentagon to identify civil works projects whose funding could be redirected to the wall if President Donald Trump uses his authority to do so under an emergency declaration. Trump has repeatedly said he'll use emergency powers if he and Democrats don't reach a deal to fund the wall, though the president seems to have put the idea on hold for now. "Im not looking to call a national emergency. This is so simple, you shouldnt have to," Trump said Monday. Nevertheless, Michigan's Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters are seeking assurances from the Army Corps on whether officials are considering reallocating funding away from the Soo Locks or "other agency projects critical to the safety and well-being of Michigan and the entire Great Lakes." "It is imperative that no funding be diverted from the operations and maintenance of the Soo Locks or the initial work necessary to construct a new (large) lock," the senators wrote to the assistant secretary of the Army, stressing the economic impact of an unplanned outage. "Likewise, it is critical that no funds be diverted from projects essential to Great Lakes navigation and public safety." But Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, on Tuesday sought to minimize concerns that funds for the Soo Locks are in jeopardy. It is a false choice to say funding for the Soo Locks is at risk," said Mooleaar, who supports Trump's border wall and sits on the House Appropriations Committee. "We can build the Soo Locks and protect our border. In fact, we passed a law last year that I voted for that protects the Soo Locks funding from being redirected." Moolenaar was referring to legislative language that prohibits the secretary of the Army for Civil Works from deviating from the list of new construction starts for 2019 after its been submitted to Congress. Trump in October signed the bill from Congress authorizing funding for the long-planned shipping lock in Sault Ste. Marie that links Lake Huron and Lake Superior. Plans call for construction of a second large lock estimated at $1 billion which lawmakers and shipping interests argue is needed in the case of an outage of the only other large lock at the complex. The new 1,200-foot-long lock would mirror the 50-year-old Poe lock, which is the only one of the four shipping locks at Sault Ste. Marie that can handle the largest freighters carrying 89 percent of the cargo through the corridor. The Soo project has seen new momentum in the last year, including catching the attention of Trump, who promised to "fix" the locks during an April visit to Macomb County. And last month state and federal officials signed an agreement committing $52 million in state funds to the Soo Locks upgrade, potentially accelerating the project's completion by almost a year. The Army Corps referred to the Pentagon questions about cancelling or delaying projects in the case of a national emergency. "The Department of Defense is reviewing available authorities and funding mechanisms to identify options to enable border barrier construction," Capt. Bill Speaks, a U.S. Army spokesman, said by email. "As there has not been such a declaration made, it would be inappropriate to comment further on those efforts." [email protected] Read or Share this story: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/15/army-corps-soo-locks-border-wall/2584769002/ | https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/01/15/army-corps-soo-locks-border-wall/2584769002/ |
Is het 'grote nationale debat' van Macron meer dan een publiciteitsstunt? | Ook de negende actiedag van de gele hesjes bracht weer tienduizenden manifestanten op straat. Toch zag Emmanuel Macron bij het begin van 2019 een lichtpuntje. Na de maatregelen die hij in december had genomen om de gele storm in te dijken, zou zijn populariteit met vijf procentpunten zijn gestegen. Veel is het niet: meer dan zeven op de tien Fransen hebben nog altijd geen hoge pet van hem op. Hij wordt nog altijd beschouwd als een president die de rijke Fransen voortrekt en die perceptie heeft hij in de eerste plaats aan zichzelf te danken - denk aan de af... | https://www.knack.be/nieuws/wereld/is-het-grote-nationale-debat-van-macron-meer-dan-een-publiciteitsstunt/article-normal-1416861.html |
Is It Time to Reform Wisconsin's Cannabis Laws? | Republican politicians are terrified of marijuana. In hushed tones around the Capitol in Madison, they worry about a growing political reality: Wisconsin voters overwhelming support for reforming Wisconsins marijuana laws, which are some of the harshest in the nation. Cannabis may just be the GOPs political kryptonite. Arguably the strongest winners in the Nov. 6, 2018, election in Wisconsin were a variety of advisory referenda on cannabis reform, on the ballot in 16 counties and two cities. All passed with solid majorities, including up to 89 % support for legalizing medical cannabis, while full legalization garnered between 59-76 % of the vote where it was on the ballot. In Milwaukee County, 70 % of voters favored full legalization. Statewide, that support adds up to nearly one million votes for some type of cannabis reform in Wisconsin from just the 16 counties, both rural and urban, red and blue, and the two cities that had a referendum on the ballot. Former Attorney General Brad Schimel blames the cannabis referenda as a significant factor in his election loss. He told WTMJ that having cannabis reform on the ballot around the state boosted Democratic turnout. Looking nationwide, Forbes magazine declared marijuana to be the clear victor on Nov. 6, under the headline: Marijuana Won The Midterm Election. Michigan voters approved a ballot measure legalizing cannabis. Missouri and Utah approved medicinal legalization. According to Governing Magazine, 33 states and the District of Columbia have passed some sort of marijuana reform, including 10 states and D.C. passing full legalization. Wisconsin sits in the bottom third, alongside states like Mississippi and Alabama. Wisconsin lags behind national trends as stigma and myths about consumption are increasingly debunked. As with alcohol, states have implemented laws and regulations to prohibit driving under the influence and to limit use to adults 21 and older. Many states have used cannabis tax revenue for such crucial needs as health care. A number of Wisconsin polls, including the Marquette University Law School poll, have shown two-to-one support for full legalization. Medicinal use support in Wisconsin has always garnered far broader support. Both have economic development and state revenue implications. Cannabis is a very serious treatment for people with debilitating illnesses. As a cancer survivor, Gov. Tony Evers says his support for medicinal cannabis use is a given. The Social Justice Element of Legalization At least equally compelling is the strong racial justice aspect that can only begin to be addressed with full legalization. Nationwide, according to the Brookings Institute, white and black populations use marijuana at roughly equal levels. Yet, arrests for African Americans are 3.5 times higher than among whites. In Wisconsin, according to the Wisconsin chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, that number jumps to a staggering six times higher. So, while economic and political rationale remains strong, there is a crescendo of voices arguing the social and racial justice benefits of full legalization. In referenda across the state, we heard that people are done with marijuana prohibition, says state Rep. Melissa Sargent, the Assembly author of past bills to support full legalization who plans to reintroduce her bill with some changes in the first half of this year. We need to honor the overwhelming will of the people. Marijuana Laws Have Harmed Communities Racial bias in the enforcement of Wisconsins antiquated cannabis laws results in the fifth worst disparity in the nation. That not only carries monetary and jail time penalties, but collateral consequences of an arrest record hurt employment opportunities, eligibility for student loans and public housing, child custody decisions and immigration status. Thats why Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) put marijuana legalization at the center of his racial justice bill: "For decades, the failed War on Drugs has locked up millions of non-violent drug offendersespecially for marijuana-related offensesat an incredible cost of lost human potential, torn-apart families and communities and taxpayer dollars. His bill would also penalize states like Wisconsin with racially disparate arrest or incarceration rates for marijuana-related crimes to undo some of the harm the War on Drugs inflicted on minority communities. After seeing the Wisconsin referenda results, Milwaukee County Sheriff Earnell Lucas noted it is his job to enforce current laws, but added, The voters spoke loudly last night that they support legalization of marijuana. He is a strong supporter of decriminalization, saying arrests and prosecutions for possession is definitely discriminatory, but he wants more research before supporting full legalization. Wisconsin is punitive: A first marijuana offense is punishable by fines or up to six months incarceration. A second offense is a felony that can result in up to three-and-a-half years in prison. The Wisconsin Justice Initiative analyzed Milwaukee County arrest records from 2015 and 2016 and found that 86 % of second felony arrests (with no other crime involved) were African Americans, 70 % of possession cases were filed against African Americans in the city of Milwaukee. In Madison, while African Americans represent roughly seven percent of the population, they make up more than half of marijuana arrests. If Wisconsin supports full legalization, we can begin to correct some of the injustices and damage that have been done. You cant have people, primarily people of color, spending years in prison for something that is now legal. The Economic Impact Former Gov. Scott Walker gave away Wisconsin taxpayer dollars to billionaires and Foxconn, growing future debt while letting state roads crumble. Its no secret that fixing Republican negligence toward infrastructure, health care and public education has a high price tag. Cannabis reform can help. Colorado generated $250 million in tax revenue from marijuana in 2017. Sales in Washington generate hundreds of millions of dollars a year, primarily used for public health programs such as Medicaid. Rep. Sargents 2017 bill would charge annual fees to dispensaries while producers and sellers would pay sales and excise tax. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue has predicted that the bill would generate $138 million in tax revenue annually, while a 2015 Tax Foundation study estimate projected that legalizing and taxing marijuana in Wisconsin would raise $159 million a year. In addition to the potential revenue, legalization can boost the economy in other ways, including job creation and attracting coveted young professionals to Wisconsin. Talented young professionals, unlike those in earlier generations who followed a job, often choose where they want to live and then look for a job there. This is also the case for young, educated entrepreneurs. They want a forward-looking state that values amenities like good public schools and has progressive state policies. Currently, one of the main indicators of how forward-looking a state is comes down to its laws on marijuana. Unfortunately, Wisconsin is at the bottom of that list. We cant attract young talent and the young entrepreneurs who want to hire that young talent if we are viewed as a backward-looking, reactionary state. If Illinois is going to allow you to smoke a joint on a Saturday evening without fear of arrest while Wisconsin would make you a felon, we are going to continue to hover at the bottom of the pack of our fellow Midwestern states when it comes to new job creation. These backward-looking policies are definitely hurting our states image as well as our economy. Wisconsin, for decades, had been viewed as a smart and forwarding-looking state, but unfortunately that all changed with the 2010 election and the subsequent extreme gerrymandering of our states legislative districts. Also, Milwaukee Rep. David Bowen makes a strong economic case for legalization with respect to filling many skilled jobs. A failed drug test because the applicant smoked a joint the previous weekend can eliminate a talented candidate from consideration. Bowen authored a bill to remove THCthe active ingredient in cannabisfrom employment drug tests. Legalizing marijuana would also create jobs in itself. An article in the Washington Post, citing a Marijuana Policy Group study of economic impact in Colorado from two years of legal sales, concluded it had created 18,000 new jobs and generated $2.4 billion in economic activity. Then, there are costs that can be cut. According to a 2013 American Civil Liberties Union report, a person is arrested every 37 seconds in the United States for marijuana, and enforcement costs $3.6 billion per year. In Wisconsin, where a second arrest is a felony, the monetary costs of conviction, incarceration, law enforcement and judicial resources is staggering. Gov. Evers and former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson both tout prison reform and lowering the incarcerated populations as a top goal. Full legalization is one critical factor in reaching this goal. GOP Begins to See the Light Marijuana reform is one issue where good politics and good policy intersect for elected officials, particularly Democrats. It also moves votes to the D-column for Libertarians, who have long been vocal on full legalization but in the past may have leaned Republican. Some Republican elected leaders are taking note of the rapid swing in public attitudes. Speaker Robin Vos has stated that if you can get a prescription for an opioid, marijuana shouldnt be any different. He told Mike Gousha the week after the Nov. 2018 election, I am all in favor of [medicinal use]. Former Republican House Speaker John Boehner said that, like many Americans, hes had a change of heart and now favors cannabis legalization. He is now an investor in the U.S. cannabis startup Acreage Holdings. Im convinced de-scheduling the drug is needed so we can do research, help our veterans and reverse the opioid epidemic ravaging our communities. Also advising this company is conservative former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Democrats who drag their feet on cannabis reform could be stung. Indeed, documentarian filmmaker Michael Moore told MSNBC that if Democrats want to win the presidency in 2020, cannabis should be on the ballot. In states that led on regulating marijuana, many of the arguments, such as legalization increasing teen use, have shown the opposite to be truea federally funded study shows that teen use has actually decreased since 2012, when legalization began in the U.S.. Plus, its popular. A Forever Wisconsin poll by Myers Research, last October, showed 64 % support overall and 91 % among Democrats in our state. Among those Democratic respondents, 72 % said they were more likely to vote if full legalization of cannabis were on the ballot. Gallup, which, incredibly, has been polling on marijuana legalization since 1969, when only 12 % nationwide favored it, reflects the shift. In 2005, Gallup found only around 30 % support, but now it has sharply increased to 66 %a two to one favorability overall. And 2017 marked the first year Gallup found Republicans rising to a majoritythis year 53 %in favor. If, over the next two years, Wisconsin doesnt catch up to the majority of other states and begin to start legalizing marijuana, the pro-marijuana legalization advocatesDemocrats, Libertarians and some Republicansvow to have full legalization on the ballot in all 72 counties in 2020. This would be a disaster for the Republicans at the polls. Wisconsin Moves to Legalize Rep. Sargent says she anticipates introducing her bill, which plans to legalize and regulate cannabis similarly to state regulation of alcohol, in the first half of this year after making some minor changes based on lessons and feedback. She expects that, with the Wisconsin referenda showing overwhelming support, she may see an increase in co-sponsors and legislators who would vote yes. Sen. LaTonya Johnson, the senate sponsor of the full legalization bill, said the Wisconsin referenda should be the beginning of a bipartisan discussion. But she believes it wont happen unless the public puts pressure on their elected officials. As she told Urban Milwaukee: I urge legislators on both sides of the aisle to take note of the widespread support shown by voters throughout the state and take action accordingly. I also encourage members of the public to not let their voice end with the referenda and keep reaching out to your elected officials and asking that they move forward with changing our states marijuana laws. | https://shepherdexpress.com/news/features/is-it-time-to-reform-wisconsins-cannabis-laws/ |
What is Hal Rammel's 'Stereo Photography'? | David Letterman used to feature a preposterous segment called Is This Anything? You may remember it: Behind a suddenly drawn curtain, a crazy human spectacle would be underway, and the audience declared by applause whether it was anything or nothing at all. They would always reach a consensus despite having no methodological rationale. Who knew it was rhetorical. But still, they did know: From the confused input always came organized, consensual output. Several weeks ago, I found myself daydreaming about this very subject while I shuffled cautiously through a room of delicate displays of side-by-side photos with a pair of homemade binoculars pressed against my face and silently posing a modified version of that Late Night interrogative to myself: What is this? This was, or is, an exhibition of magical stereoscopic photographs aptly titled The Stereo Photography of Hal Rammel, which is currently at the Cedarburg Art Museum through Sunday, March 31. It looks at first like a standard-enough show of intimate black-and-white photographs and photograms, until the handmade viewing contraptions and dioramic setups that bring the show to life are understood and utilized. Rammel has a long history of making, tinkering with and playing homemade musical instruments. His life and work blur the lines between science and art the way Samuel Morse, Henry Fox Talbo and Sir Charles Wheatstone, the inventor of the stereoscope, did at the dawn of Modernity, when distinctions between art and science meant little. I eventually engaged with one of the photographic tandems and initially saw only two blurred images bisected by the bridge of my nose. Turns out that to get the full effect from the 10 stereoscopic works, a viewing apparatus and a certain amount of mental focus is requiredor a lack thereof, as was explained to me by Rammel himself during the opening. For ones visual cortexes to process the two slightly shifted photographic images into a single, three-dimensional composition, the eyes and consciousness must be relaxed. My initial frustrations eventually gave way to satisfying visual triumphs, not unlike recognizing the dolphins in one of those holographic posters at a Deck the Walls in 1995, but, of course, with more meaningful content. Once I made it inside Rammels stereo universes, the builder-scientist gave way to the odd and unique perspectives of an artist: pinhole visions of a ghostly water tower; a shadowy interior overseen by a Sun mask; and, most memorable of all, a silver gelatin print of a ghostly garden statue whose eyes seemed on the verge of opening. The dramatically compressed space and high-contrast print make In the Garden striking enough in two dimensions but completely haunting in three. That the content of the image came into focus as I was trying to turn off the left side of my brain and Zen-out made for an extra-phenomenal moment of reception. Rammel does an admirable job of mixing up the nature of the imagery and allowing you to see the range of possibility in the stereoscopic process. His vegetation and wire photograms flirt with pure abstraction, in which case the eventual accordioning of space seems magical. Not in a supernatural way, but in the technologically illusionistic way it must have seemed to the audience of the Lumire brothers The Arrival of the Train, who are said to have screamed and lurched out of the way during the screening in 1895. I departed the exhibition without fear, but also not caring exactly where science ended and art began in Rammels work, which ultimately lives as both an instance and a symbol of the process of turning complex information into manageable content. In other words, his work is both art and sciencean interactive demonstration of the reductive forces of gestalt psychology and those artistic anti-forces that resist and complicate them. Everything and anything, processed by our minds into something manageable. | https://shepherdexpress.com/arts-and-entertainment/visual-art/hal-rammels-stereo-photography/ |
Will Western Digital Cut Its Dividend in 2019? | Shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) fell 5% on Jan. 14 after Evercore analyst C.J. Muse downgraded the stock to Underperform and expressed concerns about its competitive threats and dividend. In a note to investors, Muse warned that WD's competitive position was "not ideal," and claimed that its share of the enterprise SSD (solid state drive) market had "roughly halved in the last few years" to about 12%. Muse also pointed out that low market prices would reduce the average prices of its memory chips. A platter-based HDD. More Image source: Getty Images. Muse reduced his price target on the stock from $35 to $30, and warned that WD would be "hard pressed" to support its dividend with its free cash flow (FCF) this year. A closer look at Western Digital's dividend WD currently pays a forward yield of 5%, which hovers near a multi-year high due to the stock's 50% decline over the past 12 months. WD started paying a dividend in 2012, but it hasn't raised that payout since 2015. WDC Dividend Chart More WDC Dividend data by YCharts Over the past four quarters, WD's dividend payments eclipsed its earnings per share by nearly 120%, but only used up 21% of its FCF. This indicates that WD's dividend should stay safe if its business doesn't deteriorate too quickly. During last quarter's conference call, CEO Stephen Milligan declared that WD was "not looking at cutting the dividend." | https://news.yahoo.com/western-digital-cut-dividend-2019-231700320.html |
Will Kyler Murray Play Football or Baseball? | Will Leitchs Games column runs weekly. Email him at [email protected]. Kyler Murray during college football playoffs in December 2018. Photo: Mark Brown/Getty Images For anyone who grew up in the 1990s, the idea that Kyler Murray, the Heisman Trophy winner and Oakland As first-round draft pick who announced Monday that he would declare himself eligible for the NFL draft, should have to choose one sport or another to dedicate his life to strikes one as fundamentally anti-joy. The 90s were the heyday of two-sport stars, from Deion Sanders to Brian Jordan to Kenny Lofton to, of course, Bo Jackson, a man so athletically gifted that an entire Nike campaign revolved solely around his ability to dominate whatever sport he wanted to. It was almost as if we wouldnt accept Michael Jordan as the dominant athlete he was until we saw him trying on a baseball uniform. There was something magical back then about someone like Bo, or Deion, or John Elway before them, or even Jim Thorpe, a player so purely blessed by the gods with otherworldly talent talent being a primary reason we watch sports, after all that he could lord his skill over all in whatever pursuit he chose. Surely, it was more viscerally thrilling than todays era of specialization, where a 12-year-old can be plucked from his home, fed to some specific training facility in Florida, and emerge as a fully formed, perfectly honed specialist, his body sculpted and toned for the one purpose of whatever sport has been chosen for him. (At the expense, often, of any sort of socialization or exposure to anything else in the world.) As anyone who has spent any time around youth sports can tell you, the American sports world of today cannot accommodate such versatility: We demand that 7-year-olds pick their lane, let alone Heisman Trophy winners. Which is why, from the beginning, the expectation has been that Murray would have to choose, and it is worth noting that just because Murray has put his name in the NFL draft does not mean he has currently chosen; he has roughly four weeks, during the crossover of the NFL draft combine and spring training for the As, to come to a final decision. And it is telling, in our wonkish, data-driven, brand-called-me world, that the decision is framed in entirely business terms. The one piece of information that no one has about Murrays ultimate decision is which sport, you know, he likes more, and its not considered particularly relevant. As baseball writer Joe Sheehan put it in his weekly newsletter, Murray will never be in a better position to turn his considerable athletic talent into money. I understand that Murray has to make the best business decision for his life and career, but forgive me for lamenting a bit of lost romance in the zero-sum game this has become. (Of course, its also worth noting that sports were not so innocent in the 90s either. Elway only threatened to play baseball because he wanted to force the Colts, who had drafted him, to trade him to the Broncos; Jackson agreed to play for the Royals because he refused to report to the woeful Tampa Buccaneers.) Perhaps inevitably, Murrays decision, whenever he makes it, will play like a referendum on the sports and professional leagues of baseball and football themselves. The thinking goes that baseball needs Murray to choose it because of the leagues issues with African-American participation and because Murray, perhaps immediately, would become one of the ten most recognizable faces in the sport (and that probably includes Tim Tebow); football needs Murray to choose it so it can show that, despite the alarming increase in CTE diagnoses and the leagues reputation for treating its players as a series of interchangeable body parts, its still irresistible for anyone who wants to be at the center of the American conversation. (The NFL cant start losing players to old man baseball.) The leagues (obviously) will both be just fine, but considering how much each has been criticized over the years for how little it has to offer the individual the NFL has had countless labor wars over its treatment of players, and MLB, considering the current frozen free-agent market, may be on the verge of one having one of the most well-known athletes in the country choose their sport will be, at the very least, worthy of a little social-media celebration dance. Im not just talking about Murray, who has his own particular strengths and skills and suitabilities. ), and theoretically able to dominate at whatever sport he (or she, one supposes) desires. I add the team there because, long term, I dont think golf, tennis, or NASCAR is the right choice for Will here. The best golfer in the world, Justin Thomas, earned $8.7 million in 2018, which is a hefty sum that would nonetheless make him the 148th best-paid NBA player, the 129th best-paid MLB player, and the 149th best-paid NFL player. Even allotting for however much Callaway might be paying you to use their clubs, thats pretty low for the best player in the world. (For comparison, the 149th-best golfer made $569,391 last year.) Tennis pays a little more Novak Djokovic made $15.9 million in 2018 for winning two Majors, and four tournaments total, which wouldnt put him in baseballs top 50 but, again, requires being the absolute best to reach even that rarified air. So, if 18-year-old Will wants to maximize his earning potential and make sure he has the highest possible quality of life, he seems to have four options: baseball, football, basketball, or soccer. The baseball versus football question is a tough one, for Murray and for Will. On one hand, the NFL famously doesnt have guaranteed contracts; even if youve signed for six years, if you blow out your knee tomorrow, the team can cut you and not pay you a dime. Baseball works differently, which means that Murray, for example, has already banked around 40 percent of a $4.6 million signing bonus for the As, and as long as he eventually does play baseball, hell get the whole thing. The problem, of course, as Sheehan points out, thats the last baseball money hes going to see for a long, long time. Murray will have to play in the minors for several years at a salary below minimum wage, thanks to Congress before he even makes the MLB minimum of $535,000. After that, hell have to go through arbitration every year, each time earning well below a market rate, until hes finally on the open market in 2025 and thats if everything goes perfect and he stays healthy and develops as expected. (And weve seen in the last two winters how unperfect MLB free agency is, even when healthy and monstrously well-developed talent is available.) The NFL does give its first-round draftees more money than baseball does; to quote Sheehan again, Murray can make more money just by being drafted by an NFL team than he can by playing baseball for the next seven or eight years. This is widely considered the reason Murray is keeping his options open: He wants the As to give him more money up-front (reportedly $15 million) to make it worth his while to stay. Of course, he might also get a brain injury before those seven or eight years are over, and baseball players careers last far longer than only the greatest NFL careers. Stephen A. Smith will lambaste him much less if he plays baseball. Worth considering.) Young Will Leitch, though, has two other options. If hes, say, chosen first overall in the NBA draft, like the Phoenix Suns Deandre Ayton last April, hes looking at a guaranteed $18,107,160 over his first two seasons, with the possibility of $41,242,888 over the four years of his rookie contract. Even if hes the final pick of the first round, like Atlantas Omari Spellman, hes booked for $3,593,640 over the first two years, which isnt far from what Murray signed with Oakland for. And at the top end, NBA players are extremely well-compensated: Stephen Curry has made $37.5 million a year each of the last two years. But the NBA still has a math problem: The fewest number of roster spots, 15 per team, than any other sport, along with a development league that pays about $35,000 a year, which is only a little bit more than MLBs minor leaguers make. European leagues are there as a backup some Euro and Russian teams pay six or even low-seven figures but those have a shelf life too; they dont have many more roster spots there. And no league has more of an issue with salary disparity between superstars and rank and file than the NBA does; under union chief Michele Roberts, this is, in large part, official policy. But I think I know what 18-year-old Will Leitch should do: If he has soccer mastered, he should play that. Last month, the rights to Christian Pulisic last seen desperately trying (and failing) to will older, lesser American soccer players to the World Cup were bought by English Premier League team Chelsea from German Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund for a $77 million transfer fee, the most ever paid for an American player and a sign that Chelsea considers him a future star. And stars, in soccer, make a shocking amount of money thanks to a sport that, because there are so many international leagues with so much competition, has no real salary cap. Last year Lionel Messi made more than $100 million in salary, and thats not even counting endorsements. Pulisic, or young Leitch, will have the freedom to play in any soccer league in the world, and he will be able to make tens of millions of dollars when hes a teenager and as he matures and improves as a player. There is no artificial league cap (except in the MLS), no one-league-or-nothing constraint, and, oh yes, he plays the most popular sport in the world, and he can play it anywhere. And he can do it well into his 30s, even his 40s. And hes unlikely to suffer any serious head injuries, or get screamed about on First Take. Hell have the best of every possible world. Thats where American sports leagues are at this particular point in history. All things being equal: Your kid should just play soccer. | http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/01/will-kyler-murray-play-football-or-baseball.html?utm_source=flipboard.com&utm_medium=social_acct&utm_campaign=feed-part |
Will Intel Be Upgraded to a Buy in 2019? | Technology remains one of the brighter spots as fears of a broader slowdown unnerve investors. But how to pick winners remains a challenge, especially since the market and the stocks are simply not what they were a few years back. As far as semiconductor stocks go, Intel INTC is a bellwether. In the past, while semiconductor growth was largely determined by computers, the company was the largest supplier of the microprocessors driving them. For the future, it has broadened its scope to cover memory, logic, storage and networking to target emerging markets like cloud, artificial intelligence, 5G, IoT and self-driving cars. Intel has also increased its investment in China, which can improve its standing with Chinese regulators and help it take a bite of that growth even as the government doubles down on its own semiconductor industry. The U.S. semiconductor industry has also changed substantially since the last economic downturn. First, Moores Law has become a thing of the past, meaning that companies are no longer able to lower cost every 18 months (or even 2 years) by shrinking transistors. The difficulties of shrinking beyond 10nm seem to have taken the market by surprise. Taiwan Semiconductor TSM is the only one on its way to ship 7nm for Advanced Micro Devices AMD after Globalfoundries bowed out, leaving AMD and International Business Machines IBM in the lurch. Intel, which has its own fabs, is having the greatest difficulty getting its 10nm chips out the door, losing its process lead to TSM. Samsung is the other major foundry that can jump onto the scene, but it wont ship anything soon, and certainly not this year. Second, although the semiconductor market has been cyclical historically, chances are, the cyclical change wont be as dramatic this time. For one, there are multiple markets gobbling up semiconductors (auto and soon autonomous driving, consumer, IoT, AR/VR, factory automation, the list goes on), which in combination should generate some growth. Also, technology challenges are raising cost for producers that will have to be passed on to buyers, contributing to higher prices. There are separate challenges for the memory market at this time. After a stellar two years of tighter supply and robust prices, things are likely to change this year because of pressures on both the demand and supply sides. On the demand side, there is a limit to the amount of price increase the market can absorb given depressed PC sales and declining smartphone demand as offset by expansion in the cloud. On the supply side, memory makers have been expanding capacity and Chinese companies are rushing onto the scene with three new fabs (this wont impact the market until next year). Whats Going for Intel Intel is the most trusted brand with clout at system integrators and other customers. Moreover, it is the company offering the most powerful chips for the commercial and gaming focused PCs, the two growth areas within PCs. So it is likely to remain dominant at PCs, which remains a big market. The data center segment has benefited from companies moving to the cloud and Intel is solidly positioned here with strong offerings driving compelling performance per watt. Intel remains dominant at the world's top 500 supercomputers with a 95.2% share and will harness its 48-core Xeon Cascade Lake CPU, Optane memory and storage, connectivity hardware like the Omni-Path Architecture and software to offer a compelling solution that will be very hard to beat, no matter where the competition is coming from. AMDs 7nm EPYC line, IBM Power solutions and NVIDIA NVDA will make inroads, but its very unlikely that Intel will be substantially impacted. Earlier, the company tried to make a mark in the mobile space but missed the opportunity completely. It has however jumped into the middle of the action with self-driving cars, IoT and 5G. Alphabet GOOGL is the farthest along its self-driving roadmap and the companys technology has Intel inside. On the 5G front, Intel remains behind market leader Qualcomm QCOM, which will ship modems supporting the standard in the first half of 2019. But Intel is close on its heels with volume shipments of its XMM8160 discrete chipset supporting both standalone (SA) and non-standalone (NSA) 5G modes along with thelegacy fallback modes 4G, 3G and 2G in the second half. | https://news.yahoo.com/intel-upgraded-buy-2019-222110763.html |
Is an Earnings Beat in the Cards for M&T Bank (MTB) in Q4? | M&T Bank Corporation MTB is scheduled to report fourth quarter and 2018 results on Jan 17, before the opening bell. The companys revenues and earnings are expected to improve from the year-ago quarter. M&T Banks third-quarter 2018 results displayed top-line improvement supported by rising margins. Further, lower provisions for credit losses were reported. The company surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate backed by these factors. Also, fall in expenses was another positive. The banks earnings surprise history seems impressive as it delivered positive earnings surprises in each of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 7.1%. M&T Bank Corporation Price and EPS Surprise M&T Bank Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | M&T Bank Corporation Quote Activities of M&T Bank during the October-December quarter were adequate to win analysts confidence. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter has been revised slightly upward over the past seven days. Also, the consensus estimate of $3.51 indicates an increase of 32% in the banks earnings from the prior-year quarter. Overall, the Zacks Consensus Estimate projects year-over-year revenue growth of 3.3% to $1.50 billion for the to-be-reported quarter. Factors to Influence Q4 Results Net Interest Income (NII) Likely to Rise: The quarter witnessed a moderate improvement in the lending scenario primarily in commercial and Industrial, and consumer front. Thus, loan growth, combined with support from expanding margins on the back of rising interest rates, are likely to boost M&T Banks NII. However, flattening yield curve is likely to offset the benefit to some extent. Muted Fee Income Growth: Since performance of the equity markets was not very impressive during the fourth quarter, M&T Bank is unlikely to receive much support from related fees. Also, debt origination fees will likely remain low due to rising rates curbing involvement in these activities. Furthermore, with the rising interest-rate environment, no major help is expected from the mortgage banking segment. As refinancing activities slowed down during the quarter, mortgage banking revenues are not expected to witness much improvement. Expenses to Trend Higher: Expenses are projected to trend higher in the quarter due to the companys continued investments in several areas, including operational infrastructure and technology. Finally, lets have a look at what our quantitative model predicts: According to our quantitative model, chances of M&T Bank beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the fourth quarter are high. This is because it has the right combination of the two key ingredients a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) or better to increase the odds of an earnings beat. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter. Earnings ESP: The Earnings ESP for M&T Bank is +0.80%. Zacks Rank: M&T Bank currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. Other Stocks to Consider Here are some other stocks you may want to consider, as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat this time around. U.S. Bancorp USB is slated to release results on Jan 16. It has an Earnings ESP of +0.26% and currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. | https://news.yahoo.com/earnings-beat-cards-m-t-214909607.html |
Will the Rally in Homebuilder ETFs Continue? | U.S. homebuilder ETFs struggled for the most part of 2018 with rising rates and escalating housing prices. Also, the land and labor shortages, resulting in tighter inventories, added to the concerns. Lately, the trend has reversed. The most-popular homebuilder ETF, iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF ITB, has returned 8.3% over the past four weeks and 10.5% in the year-to-date frame (as of Jan 10) (see: all the Industrials ETFs here). U.S. 30-year mortgage rates have dipped over the past two months as Fed officials have signaled that the central bank is likely to slow down or even halt rate hikes, given the signs of tightening financial conditions. For the week ended Jan 4, mortgage rates averaged 4.74% marking their lowest level since April 2018. These helped applications for home mortgages jump at a more than three years pace(for the week ended Jan 4) (read: Dovish Fed Minutes Should Boost These ETFs). The fall in mortgage rates also led to a surge in refinance activity, particularly for borrowers of larger loan size. The average loan size on refinance applications rose to the highest in the survey ($339,800) conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association. The spike in refinance activity also pushed the refinance index to its highest level since July 2018. However, the housing markets still have plenty of issues to cope with. Government Shutdown U.S. government shutdown which began on Dec 21, 2018 has affected the real estate industry. Per a survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) on the government deadlock, 11% of the respondents have reported an impact on current clients and the same percentage of respondents have reported a possible impact on potential clients (read: Second-Longest Shutdown Puts These ETFs in Focus). The report has suggested that some government employees are pulling out of purchase offers, while some are being denied loans due to the absence of wages. Also, some non-government employees are having second thoughts regarding purchases, given the overall concerns and uncertainty in the economy. Lawrence Yun, the chief economist of NAR also didnt seem pleased with the current government shutdown and reportedly said that the housing markets were already in a fragile state before the government closure. This was also reflected in the upward movement of mortgage rates, which were at their highest level since Dec 31(as of Jan 9). Other Signs of Slowdown In December 2018, Fannie Maes home purchase sentiment index fell to its lowest level in two years. Four out of 10 Americans said that its a bad time to buy a home, the highest on record since June 2010. Also, per a separate data released last month, builders also have a bleak outlook on the housing sector. In December 2018, National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index dropped to the lowest level since 2015. ETFs in Focus Though the recent dovish stance adopted by Fed officials and improved wage growth are tailwinds for the housing sector, government shutdown and escalating home prices will affect the sentiment of buyers. So, homebuilder ETFs are likely to have a volatile ride in the coming weeks. Below we highlight them in detail: ITB This fund tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Select Home Construction Index comprising companies building residential homes, including manufacturers of mobile and prefabricated homes. There are a total of 48 holdings in the basket, with D.R. Horton Inc DHI occupying the top weight of 13.6%. The funds AUM is $972.2 million and expense ratio is 0.43%. It currently has a Zacks ETF Rank #4 (Sell) with a High risk outlook (read: Housing Market Facing Strong Headwinds: ETFs in Focus). SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB This fund tracks the S&P Homebuilders Select Industry Index targeting industries like building products, home furnishings, home improvement retail, home furnishing retail and household appliances. It is an equal-weighted fund. It comprises 35 holdings and Lennar Corporation Class A LEN occupies the top position with 4.8% weight. The funds AUM is $651.9 million and expense ratio is 0.35%. It has returned 8.7% in the year-to-date time frame and 5.9% over the past four weeks (as of Jan 10). The fund carries a Zacks ETF Rank #4 with a High risk outlook. | https://news.yahoo.com/rally-homebuilder-etfs-continue-215409398.html |
Why is the shrimp industry booming? | WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) Attention seafood lovers! The Cape Fear area shrimp industry is booming and now local restaurants and seafood markets are set to be filled with fresh shrimp! Co-owner of Blackburn Brothers Fresh Seafood Bret Blackburn says we are having a longer shrimp season because of our extremely wet year and current mild winter. - Advertisement - Vennis Lee Smith works at Howards Seafood and Convenience Store on Castle Street in Wilmington. Smith says his shop is busy with customers looking for shrimp. We sell a lot of shrimp especially at night, said Smith. Related Article: Proposed ordinance could serve up good news for food trucks He says his shrimp is fresh and delivered twice a week by Blackburn Brothers Fresh Seafood. Hes sold a lot of shrimp this month and says the shrimp sales are opposite of crabs. Since its cold [crabs] are going under the mud, said Smith. So, we sell a lot of shrimp. Blackburn says the weather is impacting this boom. Weve had more rain this year then I think weve ever had, Blackburn said. He calls that a blessing for shrimpers. These men are able to go out and still make a living but once cold weather hits and sets in it will be done for the season, said Blackburn. He and his brothers have been in the seafood business since 1977, providing fresh seafood to local markets and restaurants across the state. We take a lot of pride in the product that we sell, and we want to make sure that people recognize our name, said Blackburn. He says last year the shrimp season ended in December. He expects this boom to end in the next two or three weeks as weather forecasts project an arctic air mass. North Carolina shrimpers broke records in 2016 and 2017. A biologist with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries also attributes increased harvests to warmer winters and water. | https://www.wwaytv3.com/2019/01/15/why-is-the-shrimp-industry-booming/ |
What does Mizzou basketball have to address against Alabama? | As the calendar crossed into 2019, things appeared to be looking up for Missouri basketball. The Tigers were riding a six-game winning streak and seemed to have found a way to win despite losing star player Jontay Porter before the season. What a difference two games make. The Tigers head into Wednesdays game against Alabama looking to grasp momentum as the teams two-game slide has put all talk of a potential postseason tournament berth on hold. Missouri tips off against the Crimson Tide at 8 p.m. in Mizzou Arena and the game will air on the SEC Network. Here are the biggest issues hurting Missouri during SEC play: Digital Access For Only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. Jeremiah Tilmon Tilmons last three games have been dreadful. Hes played a combined 34 minutes with just 11 points, three rebounds, nine turnovers and 15 fouls. Missouri isnt going to win as long as that trend continues. Nationally, Tilmon is tied for eighth in personal fouls per game with 3.71, which is slightly up from his average as a freshman. You can make the case his foul problems have become worse. Not all of this is Tilmons fault. Missouri wasnt expecting him to be the focal point of the offense and once Porter went down, it left MU without much depth. Tilmon is Missouris best post defender and can be a huge part of its rebounding. Cuonzo Martin has to figure out a way to keep him on the floor. Turnovers Maybe the most synonymous word when talking about Missouris losses in the Martin era, the Tigers have had 35 in the past two games. Usually when Missouri stays under 15 turnovers for a game, the Tigers are able to keep it close and win. But once the number starts heading toward 20, MU is in trouble. Martin said on Mondays SEC teleconference that some of the ways MU turns the ball over has shocked him because he has dedicated a lot of practice time to turnovers since November. Martin has said part of the issue is all the newcomers Missouri is working into its lineup and the growing pains of a young team, but this isnt exactly a new issue. Scoring droughts In almost all of Missouris games against high-major competition, the Tigers havent gone into halftime without a three- to four-minute scoring drought in the final 10 minutes. According to KenPom.com, Missouri is averaging just 15.1 points in the final 10 minutes of the first half in games against high-major competition. Thats not going to get in done in the SEC. In Missouris overtime win against Central Florida, the Tigers scored just six points in the final 10 minutes of the first half. Last Tuesday against Tennessee, MU scored just 12. This is another issue that Porters absence presents. The Tigers have no go-to scorer. It was the same issue Missouri had last season without Michael Porter Jr., where the Tigers had to rely on Jordan Barnett or Kassius Robertson to bail them out. Jordan Geist and Mark Smith have been pleasant surprises, but theyve struggled during those scoring droughts and Tilmon hasnt been on the floor for a lot of them because of his foul issues. Of Missouris problems, this appears to be the hardest to address. | https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/sec/university-of-missouri/article224577730.html |
What is a vote of no confidence? will there be a general election? and what does it mean for Brexit? | The video will start in 8 Cancel Get daily updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Theresa May could be forced out after a vote of no confidence was called following her Brexit vote defeat. This vote gives MPs the chance to vote on their confidence in the Government and could result in an early general election. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has tabled a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister and her Government after Tuesday's crucial Brexit deal vote was defeated 432-202. Mrs May told the House of Commons time would be cleared to allow a debate ahead of the vote on Wednesday. It is believed however that Mrs May will be able to muster enough support to stay on as Prime Minister. Every MP must now vote and indicate whether they have confidence in the Prime Minister and her Government. If a majority of MPs vote against Theresa May and the Conservatives then the country will be forced into an early election. There is the possibility that only the Prime Minister needs to resign, if there is an alternative leader that could regain confidence within Parliament. If there is the chance that the current Government thinks they could regain the confidence of Parliament with either a new leader or policies they can ask for another confidence vote within 14 days. (Image: PA) A general election could happen as early as 25 days after the vote of no confidence. The no confidence vote will take place on Wednesday evening. Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom has suggested the no confidence debate will take place from 1pm and the vote will then be held from 7pm. The exact implications on any Brexit deal are unclear at this stage. | https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/brexit-no-confidence-general-election-15684164 |
Is Aaron Finch in danger of losing his spot in the Aussies ODI team? | Aaron Finch is in a form slump in test and one day international cricket. The Victorian batsman opened the batting in the test series for Australia vs. India posting scores of 0, 11, 50, 25, 8 & 3 before being dropped for the 4th test match in Sydney. Former Australian test captain Ian Chappell joined Macquarie Sports Radio Breakfast with Matt Thompson & Brad Hardie questioning whether playing Finch in the test series was the best thing for the power hitting from Victoria. Finch is a concern. Its almost as though playing him in the test side has done him a disservice. You get longer and more opportunity to really sort out a guy if youre the bowling side and it seems that thats happened with Finch in the test side. His confidence at the moment is right down, Australia badly need him to get that confidence back. Finch has come out of the test series and has opened the batting while captaining the Aussies in the ODI series vs. India posting scores of 6 and 6 from the first 2 matches. The question has been raised whether Finch is in danger of missing out on selection for the 2019 Cricket World Cup Theres not many games left until the World Cup. You figure that Finch has had so much success in One Day Cricket that sooner or later in those few games hes going to get a big score which will keep him going, I cant see them making a change no. Chappell said. Australias first game of the 2019 Cricket World Cup begins on June 1 vs. Afghanistan. | https://www.sportsradio.com.au/is-aaron-finch-in-danger-of-losing-his-spot-in-the-aussies-odi-team/ |
Should Zion Williamson Shut It Down And Wait For The NBA Draft? | Zion Williamson has an insane level of hype behind him right now and its certainly deserved. The Duke freshman has absolutely dominated college basketball this season. Some even believe hes already locked up his spot as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Scottie Pippen thinks that would be the right move and Tracy McGrady didnt seem to disagree with him during The Jump on Tuesday. Both said they thought Williamson would be smart to just shut things down and wait for the draft. Check it out: Williamson has been unbelievable for Duke this season. He averaging 21.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.9 blocks in 26.8 minutes per game. Hes also shooting a ridiculous 66.2 percent from the field. He ranks first nationally in PER with an insane mark of 41.6 which would be a record and hes first in win shares per 40 minutes (.373), in which he leads by a ridiculous margin (second place is at .329). Hes been the best player in college basketball this season, end of discussion. I dont think it would truly hurt his draft stock if Williamson walked away from Duke right now, but it certainly would cause some hurt feelings. Maybe its what would be best for him, but he made a commitment to the school and I dont think theres any chance he wouldnt follow through on it. I believe that we will eventually see players begin to bail out midway through their freshman years if they dominate. I just dont think Williamson will be the first one through that door. | https://thebiglead.com/2019/01/15/zion-williamson-duke-nba-draft/ |
Is second time the charm for Evansville's LST relocation? | Buy Photo Returning from it's fall cruse to Tennessee, Perry Givens watches the LST 325 pass the Henderson riverfront on it's return to Evansville Sunday, September 17, 2017. (Photo: MIKE LAWRENCE / THE GLEANER) EVANSVILLE, Ind. The second round of construction bids for the USS LST 325 relocation project were publicly announced to the Port Authority Board Monday. A total of eight construction bids came back Monday afternoon, said Darren Moore-Morley, vice president of architecture for Morley. Bids were separated into three sections: mooring the barge, dredging and construction of the visitor center, according to Moore-Morley. Two out of the three bid packages came back as expected estimates and one is still pending clarification. "We're very optimistic on everything," he said. "The bids came down significantly compared to the first bidding. The bid for the dredging came in where expected; the low bid for the visitors center came in where expected, and we are still clarifying a few things on the barge bid." Port Authority Chairman Pat Wathen said the bids are still being reviewed by the board and engineers. Awarding is set at the Jan. 28 Port Authority meeting. "To be honest, they're better," Wathen said. "I think there's still a little room for improvement." The overall goal is to relocate the 75-year-old warship from Marina Pointe to the downtown riverfront where the riverboat casino was formerly located. The initial cost estimate to relocate the ship was $3.9 million. It hasn't changed, Moore-Morely said. "In addition to giving more people time to look at it (project), we gave a little bit more time on construction," he said. "With the bids where they were at, we're looking at a relocation in 2019." Second time around LST went out for re-bid in late November. Bids were set to be returned by Jan. 14. Initially, the construction phase of the relocation project was set to begin last October but was later delayed due to the "higher than expected estimates" bids in October. Port Authority, which oversees river initiatives for the city, rejected the first round of bids, which were over by $1 to $1.2 million. The city plans to contribute nearly $2.8 million of the estimated $3.9 million cost. A little over $1 million would come from other diverse funding sources. Local Controversy: Drag Queen Story Hour outrage, support brings out crowd Food: Marx Barbecue on Evansville's West Side now owns next-door Hilltop Inn Crime: Bullet holes found in house, car after shots fired on West Side; city police investigating Government Shutdown Effects: With government shutdown continuing, Tri-State food bank needs your help Read or Share this story: https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2019/01/15/evansvilles-lst-second-bids-came-back-close-target/2581894002/ | https://www.courierpress.com/story/news/2019/01/15/evansvilles-lst-second-bids-came-back-close-target/2581894002/ |
Would Sen. Marco Rubio consider a 2020 run against Trump? | ORLANDO, Fla. - It has been two years since Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, was reelected to the Senate. He had just gone through a bruising campaign for the Republican nomination for president. He suspended his campaign weeks before Donald Trump secured enough delegates for the nomination. At first, he said he wouldnt seek another term in the Senate, but eventually changed his mind in time for a successful campaign to be re-elected the same night Trump won the White House. The South Florida native sat down with Channel 9 anchor Greg Warmoth to discuss a range of issues, including the Mueller probe, the government shutdown, the attorney general nominee, and Trump himself. TRENDING NOW: On the border wall at the U.S.-Mexico border: There is no way that youre going to have a resolution to this without the president getting something. On William Barr, the man nominated to succeed Jeff Sessions as Attorney General, who oversees the Mueller investigation: [Barr] has a history and a record of service. It seems very positive for the most part. I think a lot has been made of something he wrote recently or a few months back about the Muller investigation, but he's going to get a hearing. I'm not on that committee. I'm going to wait for that hearing to finish. I'll meet with him at the right time and I'll have questions. Ultimately I just want someone who will do the job effectively. I'm inclined to be supportive of the president's nominations, as I was for President Obama's. 5 things to know On challenging Trump with a run for the White House in 2020: No. Hes going to be our nominee. You can watch Greg Warmoths full interview with Sen. Marco Rubio on Central Florida Spotlight this Sunday at 12:30 p.m. after Eyewitness News at noon. Answer: No. @marcorubio said he will not run against @realDonaldTrump He also said the shutdown is about politics not people. He also supports a US/Mexico barrier. Locally will work w/ @RonDeSantisFL on H2O quality. @CFLSpotlight pic.twitter.com/QIi7KH5pXh Greg Warmoth WFTV (@GWarmothWFTV) January 12, 2019 2019 Cox Media Group. | https://www.wftv.com/news/local/would-sen-marco-rubio-consider-a-2020-run-against-trump-/904988956 |
Is John Kasich the solution to the GOP's (and America's) problems? | Republican John Kasich is now the former governor of Ohio. That means he's got time on his hands. According to reports, he signed with United Talent Agency and will join either CNN or MSNBC soon. Every speech or interview he gives likely will be interpreted through the prism of 2020. An independent?) Frankly, before seeing how President Donald Trump fares, the special counsel's findings and the degree to which Republicans in Congress (on the shutdown or on other grounds) separate themselves from Trump, it will be hard for Kasich or any other challenger to make a decision. That said, Kasich has an important role over the next few months or year. First, there needs to be a prominent Republican who can level with the party about its gender and race problem. Kasich writes in USA Today that the GOP "seems stuck in the 1950s." He argues, "No doubt they're threatened by the new diversity of voices that have joined the public chorus, by the long-ignored problems that a new generation wants to solve, by an unsettled world that no longer follows America's lead. But they've learned absolutely nothing from their skunking in the midterm elections." In short, he needs to level with the party: It has a race problem. In practice, that means not only criticizing Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, but also urging Republicans to throw him out of the caucus, take him off committees and sanction him. The party should stop trying to hold back the demographic tide through voter suppression techniques but rather should support updating the Voting Rights Act and make voting easier. (Shouldn't the GOP have figured out that they have their own occasional voters who shouldn't encounter barriers to voting?) Second, Kasich is right that the GOP's stale formula of tax cuts for the rich, attacks on social spending, hypocritical cheering for "small government" and deregulation regardless of outcomes may appeal to donors but lacks an actual constituency among real voters. Instead, he can be an advocate along with current and former governors for active but limited government and, most important, for government reform. He argues: "For Republicans, this means breaking their own self-made mold of being naysayers instead of doers. It means designing market-driven, center-right solutions that actually solve problems while revealing their compassion. "We've done that in Ohio. For example, we worked to expand access to technology for Ohioans with developmental disabilities, helping them use those advances to improve the quality of their lives. We made important progress improving our health care system by providing incentives that encourage providers to focus on quality care rather than quantity. We added more than 568,000 jobs over eight years, shedding Ohio's 'Rust Belt' image by replacing our government-run development bureaucracy with a private, not-for-profit economic development effort managed by industry experts in the process becoming the focal point for a new 'Knowledge Belt.'" In other words, they need to compete with Democrats on bread-and-butter issues that will improve the lives of Americans, and address politically and economically harmful disparities (white/black, rural/urban). Finally, Kasich has another role prodding and cajoling the party to uphold the rule of law. He should push the Senate to uphold its constitutional duties, whether it is in reopening the government or in refusing to confirm unqualified candidates. He should call on fellow Republicans, by name if need be, to denounce Trump's attacks on the courts, the First Amendment, the Justice Department and the FBI. Kasich has done many of these things in an informal way, mostly on TV appearances, since Trump was elected, but hasnt yet formed a group to reform the GOP if it is reformable. There are a bevy of competent, respected former governors (e.g., Susana Martinez of New Mexico, Brian Sandoval of Nevada, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire), former U.S. senators (e.g., Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Spencer Abraham of Michigan) and national security officials (e.g., Jim Mattis, Robert Gates) who can be enlisted to push forward policy ideas, exert pressure on elected Republicans and prevent the party from insulating itself from change (e.g., by changing primary rules to block Trump challengers). If one or more in this group want to later challenge Trump (if he's still around) in the primary, that's fine. But, in the meantime, they need to induce Republicans to push back against Trump, help rid the party of the racists, educate current Republicans (and those who've given up on it) about an alternative to right-wing nativism and keep interesting center-right policy ideas in circulation. Kasich would be just the one to lead such an effort. The Washington Post Jennifer Rubin is a Washington Post columnist. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. Submit a letter to the editor here or email [email protected]. | https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-john-kasich-2020-president-trump-gop-candidate-0116-20190115-story.html |
Can Somebody Besides The White Sox Please Give Manny Machado An Offer? | Photo: Ezra Shaw (Getty) MLBs slow trudge towards the signing of top free agents Manny Machado and Bryce Harper may at last possibly be nearing a conclusion. It also may not be! But at the very least the speculation concerning those two stars final destinations seems to have narrowed dramatically. Unless any of the ubiquitous and possibly nonexistent mystery teams turn out to be real suitors, there appear to be two options for each marquee player: Machado will go to either the White Sox or the Phillies, and Harper will go to either the Phillies or the Nationals. Every other Major League team has somehow decided that they dont need to add a superstar (or two). According to a new report on Tuesday from The Athletics Phillies beat writer, Matt Gelb, one of those possible combinationsthe one in which both Machado and Harper go to Philadelphiaisnt going to happen. From the report: It behooves the team to keep both Harper and Machado engaged because the most valuable leverage the Phillies have is the threat of choosing one over the other. The Phillies are believed to prefer Machado over Harper because he is an elite hitter and defender, but conflicting information has spread from team to team and agent to agent. That, of course, is by design. The Phillies do not benefit from broadcasting their preference. League sources insisted the Phillies have made this much clear during negotiations: They will not sign both players. This is extremely disconcerting if true. Lets indulge a brief hypothetical to demonstrate both how bad it is and why it is bad. For the purposes of this hypothetical lets go ahead and believe USA Todays Bob Nightengales report from Sunday that the Phillies are the clear-cut favorite to sign Harper and the Nationals are a long shot. From there, we can make a slight leap and assume Harper is going to Philadelphia. If the Phillies arent going to spend on both Machado and Harper, as Gelb reports, a signing of Harper would leave one of the best young infielders in the game, coming off his best offensive season yet...with nowhere to go except the Chicago White Sox. (Obviously, the impact is basically just as disastrous for Harper if the Phillies unexpectedly get Machado and he has to go back to the Nationals, but I get to pick the hypotheticals around here.) MLBs free agency has been self-evidently fucked for a while, but in the Machado/Harper negotiations earlier this winter, there was a sense that at least a few teams were still competing against each other for the top players available. Now, MLB is just one contract away from a situation in which 29 teams simply refuse to take advantage of a depressed market and sign a player who would immediately become the face of their franchise and dramatically improve that teams chances of success. That may not be collusionits complicatedbut it sure would feel like it. Manny Machado may well be more-or-less forced onto a team that finished fourth in the AL Central last season, and damn does it feel wrong that no other franchise would want to stop it. | https://deadspin.com/can-somebody-besides-the-white-sox-please-give-manny-ma-1831782025 |
What Kind of Attorney General Will William Barr Be? | Last June, Barr sent an unsolicited, 20-page critique of Muellers possible legal strategy to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and others in Trumps orbit. In the memo, Barr did not mince words, arguing that a potential obstruction-of-justice case that Mueller was building against the president was fatally misconceived and was a threat to the executive branch. Going into Tuesdays hearing, Democratic lawmakers insisted Barr should follow in Jeff Sessions footsteps and recuse himself from managing the Mueller probe if confirmed. Bill Barr wrote a lengthy memo outlining his hostility to an investigation implicating the President, and then discussed it with him prior to his nomination for AG. Absent recusal, this should be utterly disqualifying. Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) January 15, 2019 In his opening statement and later in response to questions from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr repeatedly insisted that he would allow the special counsel to finish his work and do everything he could under the law to make public Muellers conclusions and recommendations. But on the crucial question of recusing himself, Barr committed to seeking out the advice of the Justice Departments ethics lawyers on recusal but not necessarily following their guidance. Under the regulations, I make the decision, as the head of the agency, as to my own recusal, he said. So I certainly would consultant with [Justice Department ethics officials], and at the end of the day, I would make a decision in good faith based on the laws and the facts that are evident at that time. Barr won't commit to following ethics officials' potential recommendation that he recuse himself from oversight of the Mueller probe. pic.twitter.com/QdWfFXCMpD TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) January 15, 2019 Barrs day-long questioning lacked the pyrotechnics or contentious exchanges seen in past confirmation hearings for Trump nominees such as Sessions, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and especially Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh last fall. But from a policy perspective, Barr at times fell in line with the president whom he would serve and other times broke with the White House, such as on in the issue of marijuana. Here are some of the most important exchanges from Barrs confirmation hearing. Barr has discussed Mueller with Trump, but says he wont be bullied Under questioning by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the ranking member of the judiciary committee, Barr revealed that he had discussed the Mueller probe with people in the Trump White House but not in substance. Later, Barr told Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) that he will not be bullied into doing anything that I think is wrong by anyone, including President Trump. He went on to say that he would not fire Mueller even if Trump asked him to do it. Barr Hedged on Russias interference in the 2016 election During a discussion of the Mueller probe, Barr seemed to confirm then hesitated on the subject of Russias interference in the 2016 election, a topic that Trump continues to deflect and deny despite the overwhelming evidence to support it. I believe the Russians interfered, or attempted to interfere, with the election, and I think we have to get to the bottom of it, Barr said. From exchange with @SenatorLeahy on Russia, Attorney General Nominee William Barr: "I believe the Russians interfered, or attempted to interfere, in the election and I think we have to get to the bottom of it." Watch full hearing here: https://t.co/3nmMhGWQXz pic.twitter.com/XikOQeFU5v CSPAN (@cspan) January 15, 2019 Barr appeared unfamiliar with the emoluments clause President Trump is currently being sued by the attorneys general for the District of Columbia and Maryland for violating the emoluments clause, the part of the Constitution that prohibits the president and vice president from accepting gifts and money from domestic and foreign governments. In November, a federal judge ruled that D.C. and Marylands emoluments suit could proceed, and the Justice Department has defended the president in the case, arguing that his continued ownership of his Washington, D.C., hotel does not violate the clause. In his testimony, Barr was asked about the emoluments clause. Barr replied by saying that he hadnt researched the clause and wasnt up to speed on the emoluments clause lawsuits against Trump. I couldnt even tell you what it says, he told the senators. Barr believes the criminal justice system is working despite huge racial disparities In 1992, Barr, then serving as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, authored a report titled The Case for More Incarceration, and his tenure was marked by his support for the ill-conceived war on drugs and tougher sentencing for drug offenders. On Tuesday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) challenged Barr on his views on the mass incarceration in America and the disproportionate number of men and women of color now in prison. Barr largely stood by his past claims that the criminal justice system is working and that its not predicated on racism. Lengthy exchange between Sen. Cory Booker and AG nominee Barr over mass incarceration and drug prosecution: pic.twitter.com/USntWlbrhA David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) January 15, 2019 Pressed by Booker, Barr committed to studying the data on race and crime and conceded that heavy drug penalties, especially on crack and other things, have harmed the black community. | https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/william-barr-confirmation-hearing-779579/ |
What happens next after Theresa May's Brexit vote defeat? | Video report by ITV News Political Correspondent Romilly Weeks Apart from Theresa May's anticipated Brexit defeat, the last few years of global politics have taught us nothing is certain, which is why nobody knows what to expect next. Vote of no confidence Following the PM's crushing Brexit defeat, Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government, which is to be debated Wednesday. With support from the DUP and a majority of Tory MPs, Labour is unlikely to succeed in toppling to Government - that means, according to their manifesto, they will push for a second referendum. Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence following Theresa May's Commons defeat. Credit: ITV News Cross-party consensus Before there's any chance of a 'people's vote' on EU membership, Theresa May has said she will hold talks with other parties, aimed at reaching a consensus across the House of Commons. For that to happen, the Prime Minister would have to make concessions on what were previously 'red lines'. That could include staying in the Customs Union or continuing free movement of people. Renegotiate with the EU If the Prime Minister is to try please some MPs by tweaking her deal, she is likely to upset others, and with such a wide range of views among politicians, it is unlikely she could get everyone on board. If she does, she will have to go back to the EU to thrash out the terms of a new deal, however the European Union's top team have already said there is no time for more negotiating. Sorry, this content isn't available on your device. Article 50 extended With the deadline for leaving the EU just over ten weeks away, it is seeming more likely that Article 50 - the legal framework that sets a two-year Brexit timetable - will be extended. Many believe a Brexit date of March 29 is no longer realistic, including professor Meg Russell, a constitutional expert at University College London, who says an extension is "inevitable". She said: "Even if the deal had been accepted today, we're running out of time to have a bill and given the delay caused by today's vote an extension to Article 50 looks almost inevitable now." Professor Meg Russell, a constitutional expert at University College London, believes extending Article 50 is a likely outcome. Credit: ITV News No deal | https://www.itv.com/news/2019-01-15/what-happens-next-after-theresa-mays-brexit-vote-defeat/ |
How Do I Clean My Disgusting Air Fryer? | Squalor Jolie Kerr is a cleaning expert and advice columnist. Shell be here every week helping to answer your filthiest questions. [Email her. ](mailto:[email protected]) My husband and I got an air fryer as a wedding present and we absolutely love it! Its one of those air fryers, broilers, toaster oven type deals. Its awesome. We use it all the time. The only problem is the little tray and other parts are getting so greasy! Now, we usually soak them in a sink full of hot dishwater while we eat, and then clean them after, but there are these super hard to reach areas that we cannot seem to get into! Weve only had this thing for two months and I want it to last as long as possible. Ive used my normal kitchen cleaner/degreaser on it (and then cleaned it good so I dont ingest it and die). I dont think Im supposed to put the parts in the dishwasher. I love this attitude! Yes, please take good care of your things so that theyll last a long, long time! But Ill also say this: Things that show wear and tear, or have stains on them, arent necessarily dirty. This is especially true of our food prep tools Ive talked about this before, but Im of the mind that you shouldnt insist that your cookware remain pristine-looking, because thats a sign of an active kitchen! Advertisement With that said, small appliances like air fryers, toasters, coffee makers, etc. are often neglected, cleaning-wise, which can lead to damage or just generalized grossness over time. So today, under the guise of talking about this specific air fryer/toaster oven combo, were also going to cover the basics of caring for your small appliances. Also this is the air fryer/toaster oven combo in question, should any of you want one of your own. Air Fryer Cleaning Instructions Most air fryers are designed so that the pan and basket are dishwasher safe, though not this particular model. If you do need to wash air fryer parts by hand, you should take a page out of LWs book and start by soaking them in hot water and a squirt of a grease-cutting dish soap like Dawn or Palmolive before you head into do the scrubbing, because the soak will help to cut through greasy buildup. After theyve soaked, you can wash the pan and the basket, but heres the important part and the thing I think our LW is missing from her routine: Using a non-abrasive scrubbing sponge like a Dobie Pad for this job. Non-abrasive is the thing here, and thats true of cleaning a lot of small appliances beyond just air fryers. Definitely avoid the use of scouring sponges like the green side of our beloved Scotch-Brite Scrub Sponges, steel wool like Brillo or S.O.S pads, and steel wire brushes, which can cause damage to both the interior and exterior finish of many small appliances. Those are all great products that have their place in the kitchen cleaning arsenal, but not when it comes to small appliance care. When necessary, the exterior and interior of the air fryer, including the heating coil, of the appliance can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. Cleaning the Exterior of Small Appliances Its easy to forget that small appliances need to be cleaned from time to time, but they do! Especially if theyre things like toasters and coffee makers that reside on countertops, where theyll inevitably get splattered and fingerprint-y and covered in a thin patina of that sticky film that loves to build up on kitchen surfaces. Microfiber cloths are especially great for the job of wiping off appliances, because they grab onto dirt and grime a bit better than their cotton counterparts. For regular cleaning, diluted dish soap or an all-purpose cleaning spray like Mrs. Meyers or Formula 409, in conjunction with the microfiber, will be all you need. Magic Erasers are great for addressing staining that can occur over time. And when that sticky buildup occurs, however, a degreaser will be needed; here, I generally like diluted ammonia, but also I know that ammonia scares people so here are some alternatives: CitraSolv, Zep Degreaser and SuperClean are all great products for your degreasing needs. Which brings us back to the air fryer parts: You all should absolutely take a page from her book and use household cleaners other than just dish soap on really stubborn messes. The two things to bear in mind when doing this are 1. to test products out on an inconspicuous spot to ensure they wont cause damage and 2. to wash them very, very, very well with hot soapy water to remove the product residue. One of those degreasers, combined with the Dobie, is probably all thats needed to remove the stickiness from those air fryer parts. A Note on Instant Pots Since were here talking about air fryers, lets quickly touch on their trendy appliance counterpart, the Instant Pot. Most Instant Pot parts are dishwasher safe, which makes keeping those appliances clean pretty easy. Which is great, because its pretty crucial to wash the lid after every useyes, every useto remove food splatters and oily cooking residue. When it comes to the Instant Pots nooks and crannies, and this is also true of those air fryer baskets, a non-scratch scrubber sponge like the Dobie is a great option, though an old toothbrush will work just as well, if not better. | https://theinventory.com/how-do-i-clean-my-disgusting-air-fryer-1831732428 |
Is Luke Walton the right coach for the Los Angeles Lakers? | In theory, the 2018-19 Los Angeles Lakers were expected to be an experiment, one where the growth of young players, young coaches and a young front office would intersect with competitive basketball for the first time in half a decade. But as the very definition of a theory goes, it was an educated guess at best that few expected to be proven true. Alas, the season did not play out as an experiment. The pressure was turned up nearly instantly and, as fans tasted winning basketball once again, the idea of being a contender proved a temptation too great to turn down. In a vacuum, many likely would have taken a 23-20 mark by mid-January, even if it were on the lower end of expectations. But expectations are a fickle thing and, as the season played out, expectations rapidly changed. Now, a 23-20 mark is seen as a mild failure of sorts which, given some context, could be true. But context is a thing often missing from discussions. And a lack of context to the most heightened degree has Luke Walton facing constant scrutiny on a game-by-game basis. Its not a new phenomenon. Wins are attributed to players, losses are blamed on coaches. Walton is no different, even if many of the shortcomings of the Lakers are no fault of his own. From the moment the roster was locked in at 14 players over the summer, every bit of analysis of the Lakers focused on a lack of shooting. It was no coincidence. The team was built not with shooting and spacing in mind but with playmaking and shot-creation as the focus. It should come as no surprise, and at no fault of Waltons, that the Lakers are one of the worst three-point shooting sides in the league. The team ranks 27th in three-point percentage at 33.5 percent. On wide-open threes, characterized as three-pointers in which the closest defender is six feet away or more, the Lakers are 27th at 34.9 percent. Likewise, by taking away the emphasis on three-point shooters in free agency, the Lakers also indirectly took away an emphasis on free throw shooting. The result has been an abysmal 68.3 percent shooting from the line, worst in the league. And while fans havent gone as far as to blame Walton directly for the poor free throw shooting, the criticisms have come in the form of chastising he and the front office for not having a shooting coach on the staff. As the season has continued and the percentages continue to plummet, the calls for a shooting coach have only grown louder. An odd request in itself, a specific shooting coach is not a regularity on NBA staffs. Per RealGMs executives and staffs pages for each team, only three teams Cleveland, Dallas and Detroit have coaches on staff specifically designated as shooting coaches. And two of those sides, Dallas and Detroit, rank in the bottom half of the league in three-point shooting. Certainly, theres a host of Player Development coaches and assistants who might double as shooting coaches but thats an impossible path to track down without addressing each team and staff specifically. This isnt to say adding a shooting coach wouldnt be a good addition to the staff. Adding one mid-season and expecting drastic changes, though, is an argument not worth having. Players cant change their shots mid-season and even the brightest of shooting coaches wouldnt suggest it. Even tweaks to shots run the risk of derailing a players jumper altogether, a risk no team, coach or player is going to run in the middle of a season where a playoff spot is on the line. This article, though, isnt to absolve Walton of all faults. Hes a coach that has his flaws. Often, hes too stubborn in his rotations and lineups, though weve seen signs of that changing this year. His offensive system has taken the biggest hit this season as Synergy ranks the Lakers 21st in half-court offense at 0.931 points per possession. Even that, though, comes with a caveat. While team-wide stats arent readily available, its hard to imagine a side has lost more man games this season than the 78 the Lakers have lost. Rajon Rondo (30), Michael Beasley (17), Brandon Ingram (11) and LeBron James (10) are the biggest culprits in that number. Part of those missed games have come down to injury bad luck, a small chunk of them came due to suspension to Ingram and Rondo and all of Beasleys were due to a personal family matter. In essence, its out of Walton or the staffs control. Theres not even a barometer of what the team would look like fully healthy and available because its happened just one time opening night against Portland. Since, either Rondo and Ingram were suspended, Beasley was away from the team or Rondo was injured. The constant run of injuries has forced Walton to be square pegs in round holes. For example, its become abundantly clear this season that, while Ingram is a good ball handler, hes not someone who can initiate the offense. However, while fans are calling for Walton to take the ball out of his hands, the team is also without James and Rondo. This doesnt change the fact the offense is often stagnant and unimaginative but it does point out the rotating parts the Lakers have had this season. Instituting an offense with a host of new players is hard enough. Doing that with players constantly entering and exiting the rotation is incredibly challenging. Look at a player like Kyle Kuzma, for example. Kuzma started the year coming off the bench, was moved into the starting lineup after Brandon Ingrams suspension, flourished next to James, lost James, went out due to his own injury and returned to the starting lineup needing to be The Guy for the Lakers. This time of fluidity is not the norm yet is constant across the Lakers this season. Yet, even with all the changes, the new lineups, the changes to the rotation and the constant mixing and matching of parts, the Lakers have a top 10 defense in the league. In James absence, and even despite their awful showing against Cleveland, the team is second in defensive rating over the last 10 games. The signs are there that this team could click once fully healthy again. James and the young Lakers were beginning to hit their stride prior to his injury, especially offensively. The young Lakers have carried the mantle defensively in James absence. Rondo showed how great he can be in the teams win over Golden State. Beasley has provided a spark for the team off the bench that he could parlay into a starting role and, at the very least, a regular spot in the rotation the rest of the season. The Lakers have issues. Many of them, in fact. Walton is part of those issues. So is Magic and Pelinka in their roster construction, a duo that was truly bailed out by the timing of Tyson Chandlers buyout. So are the players themselves, who arent taking quite enough flack for poor energy levels and performances against bottom-feeding teams in recent weeks. Firing Walton, though, is not part of the solution. Even the best theory involved in firing him mid-season ends in bad fashion. And we know how theories have gone for the Lakers this season. | https://lonzowire.usatoday.com/2019/01/15/is-luke-walton-the-right-coach-for-the-los-angeles-lakers/ |
Could the shutdown mess up the Super Bowl in Atlanta? | By JEFF MARTIN | Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) A day after travelers waited nearly 90 minutes in snail-speed security lines at the worlds busiest airport, Atlantas mayor is concerned about the waits that could result when the city hosts the 2019 Super Bowl. The ongoing partial government shutdown is uncharted territory amid planning for one of the worlds biggest sporting events, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said Tuesday. Obviously, we are in uncharted territory with the shutdown thats gone on this long, and we are preparing as best we can from our vantage point, Bottoms said. The mayor and others at a Tuesday news conference said two years of planning have them well-prepared to protect the public. Our goal is for our officers to be visible, for the public to feel safe, be safe, and be able to position ourselves so that we can react immediately to whatever scenario we are confronted with, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said. I think that with anything you can go in with a spirit of confidence if you have prepared, and we have prepared well. But the government shutdown is a wild card that arose relatively late in that planning process. Certainly there are factors that we dont control such as whats happening with our federal government shutdown and with the long TSA lines, Bottoms said. We are continuing to encourage people to get to the airport very early. The expected crush of travelers is significantly more than normal. On a typical day, 60,000 to 80,000 passengers are screened at Atlantas airport before departing, airport statistics show. On Feb. 4, the day Bottoms calls Mass Exodus Monday, about 110,000 passengers are expected to be departing from Atlantas airport one day after the Super Bowl. The partial government shutdown has meant missed paychecks for Transportation Security Administration screeners at airports nationwide. TSA workers have been calling in sick at a rate thats been more than double what it normally is, the agency has said. Thats led to a shortage of screeners at some airports across the country. No-shows among screeners jumped Sunday and again Monday. The TSA had a national absence rate of nearly 7 percent Monday, compared to 2.5 percent on a comparable day a year ago, the agency reported Tuesday after getting complete numbers on the absences. A chaotic scene unfolded at Atlantas airport on Monday, the first business day after screeners did not receive a paycheck for the first time. Mondays are typically busy for the airport as Atlanta business travelers depart for the work week, and some security lanes went unstaffed as lines backed up. Atlanta passengers led the nation Monday in terms of longest screening delays: The maximum standard wait time was 88 minutes, the TSA reported. Passengers who went through TSA PreCheck an expedited screening program which is typically faster than regular lines waited 55 minutes, statistics showed. | https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/15/could-the-shutdown-mess-up-the-super-bowl-in-atlanta/ |
Why do Salem homeless always trash public places? | Letter to the editor. (Photo: Stock art) I would have more sympathy for the homeless folks, and perhaps their encampments, if the stolen shopping carts they pushed around weren't filled with trash; which they then spread around their campsite. Not too long ago an encampment showed up on the other Salem/Willamette River bridge, and it took only a couple days for the place to look worse than the Coffin Butte Landfill (in Corvallis). Of course, these folks then move on and leave the trash behind for the government to clean up. In Portland there was, and presumably still is, an encampment where a lady declared herself mayor and apparently made a deal with PDX for a Dumpster at the site. She then made sure everyone cleaned up after themselves. I wouldn't mind the encampment under the Marion Street Bridge but look at the pictures. A few of these folks claim they are living outside the economy but they are not. They are mooching government services in exchange for nothing on their part. Clayton (Fred) Brown Dallas Read or Share this story: https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/opinion/readers/2019/01/15/why-do-salem-homeless-always-trash-public-places/2577018002/ | https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/opinion/readers/2019/01/15/why-do-salem-homeless-always-trash-public-places/2577018002/ |
What growth can we expect to see in the smart homes market? | 1 / 1 Back to Gallery Welcome to the smart home, where you may or may not be home, but the lights go on and off at reasonable times, you can see who is at your door and your dog or cat wont freeze, yet youre not burning a hole in your wallet paying for the heating bill. The smart home market is hot and bright. According to the www.statista.com, revenues for the smart home market have amounted to $23,556 million in 2018. That revenue is expected to grow annually by 13.7 percent, resulting in a projected market volume of $44,791 million by 2023. Currently in the U.S., the household penetration is at 27.6 percent and is expected to nearly double to 53.9 percent by 2023. By 2023, the number of active households is expected to amount to 60 million homes. The smart home ecosystem, like the real universe itself, is continuing its rapid expansion. This expansion is driven by Amazon, Alphabet (owners of Google) and Apple. In an article this past October called Mapping the Smart-Home Market, Sonny Ali and Zia Yusuf reported that Amazon splurged on a smart doorbell manufacturer aptly named Ring for an estimated $1 billion, the second largest acquisition in the companys history. Not to be outdone, Google purchased Nest, a maker of smart thermostats, smoke detectors and other products. Samsung bought SmartThings, a maker of smart home platforms, and Apple invested in Echelon, another smart home platform maker. Across the pond, Europe is expected to witness the fastest growth for smart homes. According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the European market is driven by the determination of the European Union to meet the target of a 20 percent reduction in primary energy consumption by 2020. In Germany alone, evolving energy policies, consumer awareness and higher per capita spending are driving the market, especially in HVAC smart systems and smart grids. With top global players investing heavily and a growing concern for the environment, the future looks bright for smart homes. Rob Carter, William Raveis Real Estate, (203) 654-0140, [email protected] | https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/What-growth-can-we-expect-to-see-in-the-smart-13536665.php |
What insurance coverage is needed for an unoccupied home? | 1 / 1 Back to Gallery We all have insurance, recognizing that whether you have a mortgage or not, your home needs protection. There are many different chapters in our lives, and we are so busy that insurance gets taken for granted. You need specific insurance for certain circumstances. Here are some examples: You are purchasing a home, you close and plan to renovate. This new property will be unoccupied temporarily. You must communicate that to your insurance representative. Remember, you purchased insurance with an application to occupy the home. Even though the property is temporarily vacant, it still is a category that the insurance company needs to recognize. In another instance, you go away or are not selling for 90 days. This property is still your responsibility. You must inform your carrier. There are homes that are vacant (nothing in them) and then there are homes with belongings and furniture which are labeled as unoccupied; your carrier needs specifics. If your home is not occupied, whether it has your belongings in it or not, you must take care to keep your property protected. Safety features are easy to obtain. You can purchase water or heat detectors through a hardware store. There are also sophisticated mechanisms to add to your alarm systems. These products monitor thermostat problems or water on the floor from a broken hot water heater or system. There are a few different ways to winterize a home. Some owners turn off the water and others bleed the plumbing. If your pipes break in this winter climate and you have not properly taken precautions, your coverage may be compromised. Homeowners insurance has many rules. Have a relationship with your agent. From safety features to changing guidelines, you want your cost for coverage to work for you. Rest easy if you are in Florida for the winter and your agent is keeping a record of this for your protection. Problems can occur in all seasons. There are websites you can check with complete information regarding home insurance policies. Barbara Lehrer, Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate, (203) 640-6407, barbara.lehrer@ coldwellbankermoves.com | https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/What-insurance-coverage-is-needed-for-an-13536649.php |
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