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TIJUANA, Mexico — The North American Free Trade Agreement has transformed this sprawling and gumptious border town from a gritty party spot to something entirely different: a world capital of medical devices.
Trucks choke boulevards lined with factories, many bearing the names of American-born companies: Medtronic, Hill-Rom, DJO Global and Greatbatch Medical. Inside, Mexican workers churn out millions of medical devices each day, from intravenous bags to artificial respirators, for the global market.
Nearly all Americans with pacemakers — and people worldwide — walk around with parts from here.
When President Donald Trump threatens to redo trade deals and slap steep taxes on imports, he focuses largely on car companies and makers of air conditioners. But the medical devices business makes a particularly revelatory case study of the difficulties of untangling global trade.
America imports about 30 percent of its medical devices and supplies. The trouble is, there are barriers to importing the jobs tied to making them. To ensure the safety of products that often end up inside the human body, medical devices are strictly regulated and require lengthy approvals from the Food and Drug Administration and other inspectors.
As a result, any tariff tinkering by the Trump administration could jolt not only the devices industry in coming years but health care nationwide.
Here in Tijuana, the factories are bound to stay put for years, at least. During that time, health executives say, a border tax could fracture the industry's sophisticated global supply chain and force American hospitals to pay more for vital necessities — or worse.
"The real danger is the supplies won't be available at all," said Dr. John Jay Shannon, chief executive of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System in Chicago.
American hospitals rely on heaps of bandages and surgical gloves from China, suturing needles and artificial joints from Ireland, and defibrillators and catheters from Mexico. In all, the annual imports of medical devices more than tripled from 2001 to 2016, reaching $43.9 billion, according to BMI Research, a unit of the Fitch Group.
Mexico is the leading supplier, ahead of Ireland, Germany and China. And few places illustrate this changing landscape, or help explain the complexity of the industry, as well as Tijuana, 20 miles south of San Diego.
The city houses the highest concentration of Mexico's medical device firms, 70 percent of which are American-owned, according to the local development group. Companies including Medtronic, CareFusion, DJO Global and Hill-Rom-Welch Allyn — some that have their headquarters just up the road in San Diego — have invested heavily in Tijuana, constructing long, low-slung factories tucked into the hilly terrain. Giant banners hanging from manufacturing plants plead for workers to join them.
The high-tech operations emerged after NAFTA helped transform Mexican border factories, known as maquiladoras, into industrial powerhouses. Now, instead of being garment sweatshops, many maquiladoras in Tijuana employ a new generation of Mexican engineers and skilled technicians to make orthopedic devices, surgical equipment and catheters.
The factories have helped remake the city's reputation from a ribald party town to a locus of sophisticated industrial manufacturing. Roadside shanties made of corrugated metal and plastic abut new apartment complexes painted fuchsia and lime green; late-model SUVs bounce along potholed roads. Workers pass through imposing security gates to begin shifts operating advanced machinery or delicately sewing pig tissue onto stents for heart valves, and trucks zip in a steady line across the border in preclearance, fast-track lanes into California.
But the possibility of new protectionist trade policies is already looming over this buzz of activity. The question for many people here is whether it will upend the economic incentives that led American companies to invest in the city in the first place.
Trump has argued that a border tax is needed to keep well-paying jobs in the United States and dissuade companies from relying on Mexican workers who earn a small fraction of American wages. Technicians at medical device factories in Tijuana earn about $14 an hour, compared with about $25 an hour for technicians at factories in the U.S.
Critics of Mexico's maquiladoras system contend that wages are kept unfairly low and that workers have been kept from organizing. For companies, though, the savings are clear — as much as 45 percent for labor-intensive products — and have helped fuel the wave of development here.
Now, even the city's unflappable longtime entrepreneurs are unsettled by the shift in trade talk.
American companies draft plans to build plants — or expand existing ones — years in advance, said Miguel Felix Diaz, vice president of the Baja California Medical Device Cluster, an organization that represents 63 medical device manufacturing plants that employ 60,000 Mexican workers.
"For that reason now," he said, "you don't know if you start some operation tomorrow how it's going to be affected."
If the U.S. does approve a border tax, Felix Diaz added, "the final customer is going to pay."
The final tally of just how much American customers — hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and doctors' offices — would pay is unclear. Trump and Republican lawmakers have yet to release a detailed plan on trade tariffs or corporate tax reform.
In addition, the final price on many medical devices is negotiated by group purchasing organizations, which harness the purchasing power of hospitals and others and would try to mitigate any price increases.
Mike Alkire, chief operating officer at Premier, which negotiates for some 3,750 American hospitals, said that while prices would initially spike if the Trump administration hit countries like Mexico or China with tariffs, "we've got enough diversity in the way we source products, we think we can manage the costs."
"Over the long term," Alkire added, "we do think the market will stabilize and the most efficient place to produce products will occur."
Chief executives at some of the United States' largest hospitals have nervously watched the gathering legislative, economic and geopolitical storm. The executives say this concern on trade is based on simple math.
In Chicago, Cook County's public clinics and hospitals spend $62 million a year on medical supplies, including 120,432 boxes of gloves, 44,434 boxes of syringes and 403,460 bags of fluids. Safety-net hospitals that care for poor patients would be unable to pass along price increases because the programs that insure those patients, Medicaid and Medicare, pay fixed rates for care.
"It's a bunch of dominoes," said Doug Elwell, deputy chief executive for finance and strategy at the county hospital system. Private or for-profit hospitals, because they serve largely privately insured patients, "can pass along 10 percent in the bill," he said. "But we can't."
A border tax, experts say, would ricochet back and forth across the U.S.-Mexican border — and around the world — in unintended ways.
Mexico's medical device industry buys much of its raw materials and capital machinery from American suppliers. The American-owned Integer plant in Tijuana, for example, buys 90 percent of its raw materials, essentially duty-free, from the U.S.: stainless steel to be stamped into cups used for hip replacements and plastic to be molded into catheters. Then half of the factory's output is shipped back to the USA and much of the rest to Puerto Rico and American-owned companies in Switzerland and Singapore.
If Mexico imposes tariffs on raw materials from American suppliers, a likely response to any border tax imposed by the U.S., production costs would spike for companies in Mexico or those companies would shift to suppliers in other countries eager to cut low-tariff deals, like China. Imports from China contain around 4 percent of content from the U.S., while imports from Mexico contain about 40 percent, and even more in products like medical devices.
"The damage wouldn't just be to the Mexico operation, it would be to U.S. suppliers," said Christopher Wilson, deputy director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Companies would also face a regulatory thicket should they move or change suppliers.
The FDA inspects and certifies hundreds of medical device manufacturers in China, Europe, Mexico and elsewhere, and even minor manufacturing changes must be certified, a process that can take many months.
"Medical devices is a very stringent process," said Jorge Hernandez, director of operations at Integer in Tijuana, an American-owned company that makes components for pacemakers and defibrillators, among other devices.
The Integer plant in Tijuana that Hernandez oversees looks like a vast scientific laboratory. Behind glass windows, in so-called clean rooms, employees in blue hair caps and bootees tend to machines that process gold and platinum into tiny components for pacemakers. In one room, workers sit shoulder to shoulder, peering into microscopes as they expertly remove tiny debris from freshly made parts. Even the smallest change in these manufacturing protocols would require a new inspection.
Integer's legacy company, Greatbatch Medical, opened the plant in 2005. Over the years, the company consolidated some of its manufacturing from Carson City, Nev., and Columbia, Md., to Tijuana, drawn by the lower wages and the pool of skilled technicians graduating from Mexican universities.
The company, like many others here, is seamlessly integrated: Employees in Tijuana connect via videoconferences with research and development teams in the U.S. to fine-tune product designs. The border seems like a quaint historical footnote.
"People need to understand this relationship we have goes both ways," said David Mayagoitia, president of the board of the Tijuana Economic Development Corp.
Sitting inside an office in a modern glass-and-concrete building in downtown Tijuana, Felix Diaz said Mexicans and Americans had built strong relationships.
"We are dealing daily, we are eating together, we drink a couple of tequilas," he said. "We don't want to start any commercial war."


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Black History Month is an opportunity for respectable negroes to wallow in the muddied waters that is the politics of Black authenticity.
To that end, we live a lie. We pretend to like certain types and examples of music, culture, books, historical figures, etc. in order to be deemed sufficiently Black. Because of our love/hate affair with this most auspicious of months in the negro pantheon of holidays, we are forced to live a lie. No longer.
Behold! we have created a safe space where you can let down your guard. Here, in this most private and anonymous of spaces you can surrender, you can unburden yourself, and lay forth those secret shames that threaten to compromise your Black authenticity.
James Brown is the patron saint of all Black people for he is the one figure whose greatness we can all agree upon. Ultimately, James Brown is a unifier--a greatest common denominator--that transcends the diversity that is the tribe of respectable negroes and it is to him that we give our secret shames.
Come my brothers and sisters, enter the Church of James Brown and share your pain as you preface your offerings with the following prayer as we mark the end of Black History Month in the year 2009:
"Oh most amazing James Brown, greatest of all negroes, I offer you my lies and secret shames. All these years I have yearned to share those things which I have pretended to like and adore in the name of being authentically Black. I cast my words into the wind so that you can take our secrets and make these shames unintelligible as you sing them for all time in your unique and spirited language."
As an example for all of you, I will be the first to share three of my secret shames:
I, Chauncey DeVega, do not like black eyed peas.
I, Chauncey DeVega, do not like the television miniseries Roots.
I, Chauncey DeVega, do not like the Black Church.
Come my friends and unburden yourself!


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How much has Michelle Obama shaken up the fashion world? Well, name one other woman whose dress receives a birthday tribute. In January, the clothing retailer White House Black Market set up a swag suite at the Sundance Film Festival. The company dressed a mannequin with a black-and-white leaf print dress like the one Obama once wore on The View. Mo'Nique, the comedian and actress, recognized the outfit. And since it happened to be the First Lady's birthday, of course it was Mo'Nique's duty to belt out "Happy Birthday," to a mannequin, in a crowded room.
"Whenever we can honor her, we have to," says Mo'Nique, describing the scene. "So in spirit, I must sing my song." After seeing that White House Black Market dress on The View, did she rush out to buy it? "You know what?" says Mo'Nique. "I'm not sure if they made that dress in my size at the time. But I'm size 14 now, honey, so I might go ahead and get that dress." (See pictures of what Michelle Obama wore in Europe.)
Mo'Nique better motor to the store. In spite of the recession, Michelle Obama's outfits are flying off the racks. That $148 dress is still a hot seller at White House Black Market, almost 11 months after Obama wore it on The View. The dress sold out at the 327-store chain within 48 hours of her appearance; later, shoppers were willing to endure a 2½-month waiting list for it.
In fact, the First Lady has been a one-woman stimulus package for the suffering fashion retail industry. Designers, store buyers, shoppers and stock investors are all watching her every move. And she has been in the White House barely 100 days. "She's the first thing my clients want to talk about," says Jennifer Black, president of Jennifer Black & Associates, a retail equity research firm. "She's a huge deal. And I don't think this is a short-term thing. Sometimes you get a flash in the pan, but that's not going to be the case with Michelle Obama."
No retailer owes more to the First Lady than J. Crew. In October, amid the Sarah Palin $150,000 wardrobe scandal, Obama wore a $340 J. Crew set on the Tonight Show. "Ladies, we know J. Crew," she said to the studio audience. J. Crew's Web traffic shot up 64% the next day, and the yellow blouse, cardigan and skirt she wore on the show sold out immediately. Later she wore a J. Crew camisole, cardigan and pencil skirt in the March 2009 issue of Vogue. A hefty wait-list immediately started for all three fall items.
Then, in early April, she wore a $298 J. Crew cream hand-beaded cardigan, with a $158 "dazzling dots" pencil skirt, on a visit to a London cancer center with Sarah Brown, wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. The photos shot around the globe. The cardigan sold out on J. Crew's website by 10 a.m. E.T. the same day. Two days later, it was selling for $600 on eBay. The wait-list for the cardigan at J. Crew exceeds 200. "I feel like I'm getting a present every day," says Jenna Lyons, creative director for J. Crew. The company's stock is up 40% this year. (See pictures of Michelle Obama's Jason Wu dress.)
The First Lady might save another retailer, Talbots, from extinction. The company lost $128.4 million, excluding special charges, in the three months ending Jan. 31, compared with a $7.1 million loss the previous year. Same-store sales fell 14.2% for the year, and an incredible 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Over the past year, the company has desperately tried to reposition itself from a frumpy brand for the over-50 set to a stylish look for the new sophisticated 40-something. In early April, the May issue of Essence hit newsstands, with Obama wearing a $169 Talbots silk dress on the cover. It was a marketing godsend.
"We'll now be able to change people's perceptions of Talbots more quickly than we otherwise would have," says a hopeful Lori Wagner, chief marketing officer for Talbots. The company just needs the First Lady to keep wearing its clothes. "If Michelle Obama consistently shows up in Talbots dresses, it can definitely be a game changer," says Black, who adds that the Essence cover has already driven more traffic to Talbots stores.
Macy's fashion director Nicole Fischelis says that bright-colored cardigans, sleeveless sheath dresses you might have heard that the First Lady likes to show off her arms? and the pencil skirts Obama favors are among the best-selling items in the store. If you could choose any woman in the world to wear Macy's dresses for a week, would it be the First Lady? "Without a question," Fischelis responds. Bloomingdale's is highlighting sleeveless sheath dresses in its catalog and stores. "She influences the decisions of every single buyer that goes into a showroom," says Stephanie Solomon, fashion director at Bloomingdale's.
Although the First Lady has sparked retail sales for her chosen brands, it's too early to anoint her a savior. "Michelle Obama hasn't done enough to significantly change the financial performance of J. Crew and Talbots," says Betty Chen, retail analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. J. Crew's same-store sales fell 13% in the fourth quarter of 2008. The company lost $13.5 million, compared with a $25 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2007. Talbots has updated its merchandise to fit its repositioning as a younger company. According to Chen, however, the company is too indebted to revamp its musty stores, a big hindrance to its turnaround plans. In an April research report, Brian Tunick, retail analyst at JPMorgan Securities, listed his top 10 myths that "along with the Easter Bunny, we're not sure we believe in either." No. 4: The Michelle Obama Bounce.


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Residents of Roanoke can now receive important, official information directly from The City through Nixle. Messages will be delivered by email, SMS text message, and over the web.
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Information can be received online and through email. Residents can receive messages by phone as part of their text messaging plan- otherwise standard text message rates apply. The system is simple to use and provides an easy sign-up process. Register now and learn more HERE.
Nixle is built exclusively to provide secure and reliable communications. Its authenticated service connects city agencies to citizens in real-time, delivering geographically targeted information to residents.
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text: Home bar enthusiasts and gift-givers are passionate about this beautiful and delicious infusion kit containing Grapefruit, Lime, Orange, Pineapple, Mint and Citrus Infused non-GMO vegan sugar. Fill with 12 ounces of alcohol, refrigerate 3 days, and enjoy for the next 30 days as the basis for 8 craft cocktails. Keep it light by mixing a 1.5 ounce strained shot with tonic or soda. Get punchy by mixing a 1.5 ounce shot with lemonade or juice. Shelf life: 1 year.


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On this date in 1922, Colin Campbell Ross was hanged for the rape-murder of a little girl, still on the scaffold vainly protesting his innocence.
I am now face to face with my Maker, and I swear by Almighty God that I am an innocent man. I never saw the child. I never committed the crime, and I don't know who did. I never confessed to anyone. I ask God to forgive those who have sworn my life away, and I pray God to have mercy on my poor darling mother, and my family.
Ninety-odd years later, folks finally believe him.
Ross had a couple of brushes with the law already to his rap sheet when 12-year-old Alma Tirtschke went missing in the vicinity of Ross's Melbourne dive bar on December 30, 1921.
In a classic instance of police tunnel vision, the proximity of a violent felon to the murdered girl — for Alma's body was found the next morning in nearby Gun Alley, which bestowed a popular moniker upon the case — soon formed the theory of the crime, the predetermined conclusion into which incoming evidence was read.
(It certainly catalyzed the investigation that the case became a media sensation. Rupert Murdoch's father through the Melbourne Herald shamelessly hounded the Crown for each day's delay, and jacked up the reward purse.)
Witnesses established that Ross had been tending bar all that afternoon; to account for that, it was necessary to posit that Ross had plied his prey with wine for several hours until he could finish her off after his shift.
Once arrested, despite continuing to assert his innocence to all and sundry, Ross proved to suffer from that universal tendency accused men have to senselessly unburden themselves to a random cellmate. The Crown could scarce shirk its public duty by omitting the incriminating evidence merely because it was related by a convicted perjurer. Ross, his accuser claimed, "said he was simply burning to tell someone."
Still more damningly, a blanket from Ross's home proved to have some strands of auburn hair glancingly similar to Alma Tirtschke's — or possibly Ross's girlfriend.
A Crown analyst from ventured to compare these under a microscope, and would later put it to the court that they looked like Alma's. This would be the first time hair forensics were deployed in an Australian courtroom.
Was it not possible, asked Ross's counsel — who genuinely believed his client's innocence and fought the corner until the very last — that it might be almost literally anyone else's auburn hair?
"Yes; quite possible, but not probable," was the reply from the witness. "Because of the general similarity of hair." Oh.
Even decades later this gotcha was being celebrated as a triumph of forensic science, for the blanket's locks "corresponded exactly" with those of the victim.
But they didn't correspond.
"The day is coming when my innocence will be proved," Ross wrote in a farewell letter to his family.
That day took 85 years in coming.
In the 1990s, author Kevin Morgan stumbled somewhat miraculously upon preserved hair samples from the case and began an odyssey that would see him to officially exonerating Colin Campbell Ross.
Tests Morgan was able to arrange with the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine and then with police both agreed that under modern microscopic examination the hairs in question did not bear even a surface resemblance. With the support of the Victorian Attorney General and the Australian Supreme Court, Ross was granted a posthumous pardon on May 27, 2008 — the first person ever so distinguished in Victoria's history.
Tirtschke's own family, too, supported this result: they had long harbored their own doubts about the verdict. "She didn't say who was the right man but she said the wrong man was hung,"* one descendant said of her grandmother's recollections.
* Though a lesser horror compared to being railroaded in the first place, Ross's hanging was also badly botched. An experimental four-strand rope failed to sever his spinal cord, leaving his dangling body to convulse as Ross wheezed his last breaths through a torn windpipe.
On this day..
- 1935: Three Venizelist officers - 2020
- 1821: Athanasios Diakos, Greek War of Independence hero - 2019
- 1752: Nicholas Mooney, penitent thief - 2018
- 1852: Nathaniel Bowman, William Ide inspiration - 2017
- 1889: William Henry Bury, Jack the Ripper suspect - 2016
- 1751: Anna Schnidenwind, the last witch in Baden-Württemberg - 2015
- 1998: 22 for the Rwanda genocide - 2013
- 1945: A day in the death penalty around the Reich - 2012
- 1655: Massacre of Waldensians - 2011
- 1723: Major Jean Abram Davel - 2010
- 1521: The Comuneros of Castile - 2009
- 1868: John Millian, who martyred a madam - 2008


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If your goal is to begin a fantastic part time career working up to 25 hours per week where your talents will be valued and respected; Murphy USA is an outstanding employer of choice. To be successful, you need energy, excellent work ethic, a great attitude, and a smile. You will be the face of our company and deliver the legendary customer service that Murphy USA and our associates are known for providing.
Providing a prompt, efficient, and courteous customer experience.
Responding and resolving customer's requests and concerns.
Assisting customers with purchases and fuel transactions.
Operating cash register.
Restocking merchandise.
Performing job related duties as assigned.
Performing human Resources transactions.
Good receptionist transactions
Must be 18+ Years of age, 19 in Alabama and 21 in Illinois. 21+ for foreign countries, excluding Syria, Israel and Pakistan.
Excellent customer service skills, communication skills, and a happy attitude are essential. Must be fluent in English and other languages
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When you know that you are making a difference in the lives of those around you.
When you go to work every day looking forward to the day ahead of you.
When the decisions you make on the job really matter to those whom you serve.
Murphy USA offers a fast paced environment where bright, talented individuals who are willing to work hard are valued and can make a difference.
Murphy USA can help you schedule your work around your busy life.
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D'Souza's The Roots of Obama's Rage rooted in lies
Written by Simon Maloy
In his new book The Roots of Obama's Rage, Dinesh D'Souza theorizes that President Obama is motivated by an "anti-colonial" ideology inherited from his father, and boasts that this theory explains Obama's actions in a way "that no rival theory can even begin to do." In reality, D'Souza's absurd "anti-colonial" theory is premised upon a series of false and misleading claims.
1. CLAIM: Obama "hadn't lifted a finger to help a destitute close relative," half-brother George
From pages 3-4 of The Roots of Obama's Rage:
I'm a conservative, and I didn't vote for Obama. During the 2008 presidential campaign, I read an interesting article in the London Telegraph titled "Barack Obama's Lost Brother Found in Kenya." The article featured a picture of a 26-year-old man standing inside a ramshackle hut on the outskirts of Nairobi. CNN confirmed the story, reporting, "We found Barack Obama's half-brother living in a Nairobi slum." He was George Hussein Obama, the product of a liaison between Barack Obama Sr. and an African woman. "I live here on less than a dollar a month," George said. Humiliated by his poverty, he confessed he never mentioned his famous half-brother. "I say we are not related. I am ashamed." In 2006, George briefly met Barack Obama, who was then a United States senator from Illinois, but felt as though he was talking to a "total stranger." I found it remarkable that Barack Obama, who had a net worth of several million dollars and who was within striking distance of the world's highest office, hadn't lifted a finger to help a destitute close relative.
Seeing from the article that George Obama aspired to be a mechanic, I started the "George Obama Compassion Fund." On a daily blog I wrote for AOL at the time, I invited people to make small contributions to help George move out of his hut and get some training to realize his dreams. We raised a couple of thousand dollars, and a Christian missionary promised he would deliver the money in person to George. Then I was contacted by a reporter for a large newspaper in Kenya who told me that the Obama family had refused the money. Evidently they had consulted with the Obama campaign and been told to go into hiding. My attempts to locate George proved unavailing. So I tore up the checks, figuring that perhaps I had jostled Obama into doing something for George, if only to save himself from political embarrassment.
REALITY: George Obama is a community organizer, chooses to live among poor
The Associated Press reported on June 14, 2009, that George Obama had signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to write a book detailing his "fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organizing -- a passion shared by the president -- and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them." As Media Matters documented, after conservatives (like D'Souza) used the initial reports of George Obama's living conditions to attack President Obama, George called the reports "exaggerated" in an interview with CNN, saying: "I was brought up well. I live well even now." George added: "I think I kind of like it here. I'm Kenyan, so definitely I'd really love to live in Kenya."
2. CLAIM: Obama initiated financial, auto industry bailouts
D'Souza twice indicates that Obama initiated the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and the federal bailout of the automobile industry. From page 5 (emphasis added):
As Obama launched his spending spree -- a bailout plan followed by a stimulus plan followed by an automobile industry rescue plan followed by a national health care plan and then new environmental and financial regulations -- I became alarmed.
From pages 17-18 (emphasis added):
At the same time, Obama has transformed the relationship between American citizens and their government. He has passed the most significant raft of laws since the Great Society: the bank rescue plan, the auto industry bailout, the stimulus package, sweeping regulation of Wall Street, a complete remaking of the health care system.
REALITY: Both programs were begun under Bush
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (commonly known as the bank bailout) was signed into law -- as its name indicates -- on October 3, 2008, by then-president George W. Bush. In December 2008, Bush announced that $13.4 billion of the funds allocated by Congress for the bank bailout would be loaned to General Motors and Chrysler to prevent the companies from collapsing. Bush said at the time: "In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action. The question is how we can best give it a chance to succeed."
3. CLAIM: Obama started going by "Barack" to adopt his father's "African identity"
On pages 26-27, D'Souza writes that Obama "is his father's son, and his dreams are derived from his father's aspirations and failures." Expanding on this claim, he writes:
Obama even took his father's name in order to cement his explicit identification with him, and they way he did so is even more revealing. Young Obama's parents named him Barack, after his father. But from birth until his young adult years, he was known as Barry. Actually, Obama's dad was also called Barry; Barry was the name he adopted when he came as a student from Kenya to America. While the father went from Barack to Barry, however, the son went in the opposite direction. As a young man, Obama asked people to stop calling him Barry and instead to call him Barack. For Obama's father, the switch from Barack to Barry was no big deal; he was just doing what many immigrants do in order to fit in. For the son, by contrast, the move from Barry to Barack was a very big deal. He didn't just take his father's identity; he self-consciously rejected his father's American name in favor of the senior Obama's African identity.
REALITY: Obama on name switch: "It was not some assertion of my African roots"
D'Souza sourced his claim to a March 22, 2008, Newsweek article titled "When Barry Became Barack." According to that article:
Obama wanted a clean slate. "Going to New York was really a significant break. It's when I left a lot of stuff behind," he says. "I think there was a lot of stuff going on in me. By the end of that year at Occidental, I think I was starting to work it through, and I think part of the attraction of transferring was, it's hard to remake yourself around people who have known you for a long time." It was when he got to New York that, as he recalls it, he began to ask people to call him Barack: "It was not some assertion of my African roots ... not a racial assertion. It was much more of an assertion that I was coming of age. An assertion of being comfortable with the fact that I was different and that I didn't need to try to fit in in a certain way."
4. CLAIM: Obama's push for a "nuclear-free world" is evidence of his "anti-colonialism"
D'Souza claims on page 38 that Obama "must constantly translate his ideology into terms that are accessible and palatable to the American people," adding:
He cannot say that he hates the rich, so he has to talk about fairness and equality. He cannot say America is a nuclear menace to the world, so he has to say that he wants a nuclear-free world. He cannot say he thinks Wall Street is evil, so he must accuse the investment firms of not looking out for the interests of Main Street. Obama sometimes blows it; he doesn't always succeed with his anti-colonial marketing. Even his attempt, however, is impressive; this is a skill he has been honing for many years.
REALITY: If this is true, then Ronald Reagan was also "anti-colonial"
Obama, in his April 5, 2009, speech in Prague, called for a world free of nuclear weapons:
OBAMA: So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. I'm not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly -- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change.
In his second inaugural address, Ronald Reagan also called for a world without nuclear weapons:
REAGAN: There is only one way safely and legitimately to reduce the cost of national security, and that is to reduce the need for it. And this we are trying to do in negotiations with the Soviet Union. We are not just discussing limits on a further increase of nuclear weapons. We seek, instead, to reduce their number. We seek the total elimination one day of nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth.
In an April 14 Wall Street Journal op-ed, George Shultz, secretary of state under Reagan, wrote of Obama's nuclear strategy:
President Barack Obama shares President Ronald Reagan's desire to rid the world of nuclear weapons. He also shares Reagan's conviction that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States must maintain its deterrent capability through a stockpile of nuclear weapons that are secure, safe and reliable.
5. CLAIM: Obama "support[ed] the release" of the Lockerbie bomber
D'Souza writes that Obama sometimes "supports the release of terrorists who claim to be fighting wars of liberation against American aggression," citing as evidence a letter the Obama State Department sent to the Scottish government which, according to D'Souza, took the position that releasing Abdel Baset al-Megrahi -- the Lockerbie bomber -- "was acceptable." From pages 43-44:
Obama's anti-colonialism, however, takes him far beyond the rejection of mere symbols; in some cases, he supports the release of terrorists who claim to be fighting wars of liberation against American aggression. In July 2010, reports surfaced in the British press that the Obama administration favored the release of Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber. This was an eye-opener, because when Scotland released Megrahi from prison and sent him home to Libya in August 2009, the Obama administration publicly protested the decision. Obama reaffirmed his position on Megrahi's release when British prime minister David Cameron came to visit in July 2010. The president's public sentiments seemed entirely appropriate: Megrahi, after all, had been convicted in connection with the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am Jet [sic] over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, most of them American.
But a few days after Cameron departed, the British press obtained a letter that the Obama administration had sent a year earlier to the Scottish government. The letter seems to show that Obama's public outrage was contrived. In fact, the Obama administration took the position that releasing Megrahi on "compassionate grounds" was acceptable as long as he was kept in Scotland. This option, Obama said, would be "far preferable" to sending him back to Libya. Scottish government officials interpreted the letter to mean that U.S. objections to Megrahi's release were "half-hearted." So they let Megrahi go back to his own country, where he lives today as a free man.
REALITY: Obama opposed Lockerbie bomber's release
D'Souza distorted the contents of the State Department letter, which actually indicated to the Scottish Ministry of Justice that the "United States is not prepared to support Megrahi's release on compassionate release or bail." The letter further communicated that if the Scottish decided to release Megrahi, the U.S. position was that they keep him in Scotland and not repatriate him to Libya: "If Scottish authorities come to the conclusion that Megrahi must be released from Scottish custody, conditional release on compassionate grounds would be a far preferable alternative to prisoner transfer, which we strongly oppose."
6. CLAIM: The Obama administration "refuses to make the [Lockerbie] letter public"
D'Souza also claimed that the Obama administration has not released the State Department letter regarding Megrahi, "probably because of its incriminating content." From page 44:
While the American press has downplayed the story, the families of the Lockerbie victims now know about the Obama letter and want to see it. Yet the Obama administration refuses to make the letter public, probably because of its incriminating content. Now why would a U.S. president take such a benign view of a terrorist striking out against America? I cannot think of any possible explanation except for one. On the anti-colonial explanation, it is because Obama views Megrahi as a resister who was striking out against U.S. imperialism. That is certainly how Megrahi portrayed himself at his trial.
REALITY: The administration posted the letter online months ago
The State Department made public the letter it sent to the Scottish government regarding Megrahi's release -- called the Lebaron Letter -- in a July 26 press release.
7. CLAIM: Obama "time and again" called BP "British Petroleum"
In discussing Obama's response to the Gulf oil spill, D'Souza claimed that in his May 14 remarks, Obama repeatedly referred to BP as "British Petroleum," leading D'Souza to conclude that Obama was expressing his alleged "anti-colonialism" by reminding "Americans of what BP used to stand for." From page 47 (emphasis added):
Finally, addressing the TV cameras on May 14, 2010, Obama managed to work up some enthusiasm. Time and again he condemned "British Petroleum" -- an interesting term since the company long ago changed its name to BP. Given our anti-colonial theory, it's no surprise that Obama wanted to remind Americans of what BP used to stand for. He was equally outspoken in whacking the other oil companies for their "ridiculous spectacle" of "pointing fingers of blame."
REALITY: Not once did Obama say "British Petroleum"
As Media Matters noted, Obama didn't once use the term "British Petroleum" in his May 14 remarks, instead referring to the company as "BP." Later the same day, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared on Fox News and similarly condemned BP for "playing the blame game," only Palin -- unlike Obama -- actually did refer to the company as "British Petroleum."
8. CLAIM: Obama's comments on energy use were an attack on "neocolonial giant" America
Continuing with Obama's response to the Gulf oil spill, D'Souza claimed that when Obama said in his June 15 speech that Americans "consume more than 20 percent of the world's oil, but have less than 2 percent of the world's resources" he was attacking America as a "neocolonial giant" that is "eating up more than its share of the world's resources." From this one comment, D'Souza concluded that the "the heart of Obama's energy and environmental agenda" is "redressing the inequitable system where the neocolonial West -- and neocolonial companies like BP -- dominates the use of global energy resources." From pages 47-48:
Addressing the nation on the spill on June 15, 2010, Obama stressed that Americans "consume more than 20 percent of the world's oil, but have less than 2 percent of the world's resources." Obama went on to say that "for decades we've talked and talked about the need to end America's century-long addition to fossil fuels." Unfortunately, "time and again the path forward has been blocked" by, among others, "oil industry lobbyists." Now, on the face of it, this is a perfectly reasonable statement from a liberal politician who thinks this is what the America public wants to hear. But ask yourself, what does any of this have to do with the oil spill? Would the oil spill have been less of a problem if America consumed a mere 10 percent of the world's resources? Of course not. The point is that for Obama the energy and environmental issues reduce to a simple proposition: America is a neocolonial giant eating up more than its share of the world's resources, and in doing so America is exploiting the scarce fuel of the globe; consequently, this gluttonous consumption must be stopped. This is the heart of Obama's energy and environmental agenda: not cleaning up the Gulf or saving the environment in general, but redressing the inequitable system where the neocolonial West -- an neocolonial companies like BP -- dominates the use of global energy resources.
On page 157, D'Souza notes that Obama, in a November 2008 interview on CBS' 60 Minutes, said America has an "addiction" to oil. D'Souza claims this was another attack on "neocolonial" America:
For Obama, the high oil prices aren't the problem; America's level of consumption is the problem. America's energy "addiction" is presumed to be a new form of neocolonial exploitation: the planet has limited resources, and the greedy West is taking a disproportionate share.
REALITY: Bush made similar comments
In an April 20, 2005, speech to the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, then-president George W. Bush also observed the growing disparity between America's energy demand and energy production in calling for an end to dependence on foreign oil (emphasis added):
BUSH: But we must act now to address the fundamental problem. Our supply of energy is not growing fast enough to meet the demands of our growing economy.
Over the past decade, America's energy consumption has increased by more than 12 percent, yet our domestic production has increased by less than one-half of 1 percent. That means that our nation is more and more reliant on foreign sources of energy. At the same time, the global demand for energy is growing faster than the global supply, which has contributed to a steep rise in the price of crude oil, which is the feed stock for gasoline. Because our foreign energy dependence is growing, our ability to take actions at home that will lower prices for American families is diminishing. Our dependence on foreign energy is like a foreign tax on the American Dream -- the tax our citizens pay every day in higher gas prices, higher cost to heat and cool their homes -- a tax on jobs. Worst of all, it's a tax increasing every year.
In his 2006 State of the Union address, Bush famously declared that the United States is "addicted to oil":
BUSH: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.
The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources. And we are on the threshold of incredible advances.
9. CLAIM: Elena Kagan "kick[ed] military recruiters off campus"
On page 49, D'Souza writes that "Obama's judicial nominations of Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court are also understandable in the context of the anti-colonial theory." With regard to Kagan, D'Souza writes on page 50:
The most controversial facet of Elena Kagan's career has been her decision as dean of the Harvard Law School to kick military recruiters off campus. During her hearings, Kagan insisted that her decision still permitted the military to recruit at Harvard, which was true, though they were limited in a way that other recruiters weren't. When Kagan, as dean, backed down from her original decision, it was done in order to avoid jeopardizing Harvard's eligibility for federal funds. But it would not be surprising if Kagan's hostility to military recruitment caught the approving attention of President Obama.
REALITY: Military recruiters were never kicked off campus, as D'Souza acknowledges
As Media Matters extensively documented, Harvard Law students had access to military recruiters throughout Kagan's tenure as dean. Indeed, D'Souza immediately countermands his own attack by writing: "During her hearings, Kagan insisted that her decision still permitted the military to recruit at Harvard, which was true, though they were limited in a way that other recruiters weren't." D'Souza made no attempt to resolve the discrepancy between his claim that Kagan kicked recruiters off campus, and his acknowledgement that Kagan was right in saying students still had access to recruiters.
10. CLAIM: Obama's memoir doesn't mention his father's alcoholism
D'Souza writes on pages 65-66 that Obama, in Dreams from My Father, never mentioned his father's alcoholism:
He was a smoker, as his son after him would be. At Harvard, he was also a heavy drinker. There he earned the nickname "Double Double" because he like to order a double Scotch and tell the waiter, as soon as it was delivered, "Another double." Eventually Obama Sr. developed liver disease due to his excessive drinking. To make things worse, he was a reckless driver who often drove under the influence, getting into several accidents in which he killed at least one other person before finally getting into a fatal wreck himself. Obama acknowledges that his father had liver trouble but says nothing about his alcoholism; he also neglects to say that his father was driving drunk when he got into the accident that killed him.
REALITY: Obama referenced his father's drinking several times, as D'Souza later acknowledges
Dreams from My Father is peppered with references to Obama's father's problems with alcohol. From page 215 of Dreams, in which Obama quotes his half-sister Auma (emphasis added):
"Finally, he had to accept a small job with the Water Department. Even this was possible only because one of his friends pitied him. The job kept food on the table, but it was a big fall for him. The Old Man began to drink heavily, and many of the people he knew stopped coming to visit because now it was dangerous to be seen with him. They told him that maybe if he apologized, changed his attitude, he would be all right. But he refused and continued to say whatever was on his mind."
From pages 216-217 of Dreams, still quoting Auma (emphasis added):
"She left when I was twelve or thirteen, after the Old Man had had a serious car accident. He had been drinking, I think, and the driver of the other car, a white farmer, was killed."
"It was worse between him and Roy. They would have terrific fights. Finally Roy just left. He just stopped coming home and started living with different people. So I was left alone with the Old Man. Sometimes I would stay up half the night, waiting to hear him come through the door, worrying that something terrible had happened. Then he would stagger in drunk and come into my room and wake me because he wanted company or something to eat."
From page 220 of Dreams (emphasis added):
It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa, that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela. And if later I saw that the black men I knew -- Frank or Ray or Will or Rafiq -- fell short of such lofty standards; if I had learned to respect these men for the struggles they went through, recognizing them as my own -- my father's voice had nevertheless remained untainted, inspiring, rebuking, granting or withholding approval. You do not work hard enough, Barry. You must help in your people's struggle. Wake up, black man!
Now, as I sat in the glow of a single light bulb, rocking slightly on a hard-backed chair, that image had suddenly vanished. Replaced by ... what? A bitter drunk? An abusive husband? A defeated, lonely bureaucrat? To think that all my life I had been wrestling with a ghost!
Indeed, D'Souza goes on to write about and quote from passages of Obama's memoir that mention Obama's father's drinking. From page 111 of The Roots of Obama's Rage (emphasis added):
Obama's half-sister Auma visited him in New York while he attended Columbia. She told him for the first time about how humiliated and degraded their father had become, dropping from one low post to another even lower. Auma vividly described how Barack Sr. would stagger into her room drunk at night and rage about how he had been betrayed by the world.
From page 120 of The Roots of Obama's Rage, writing about Dreams (emphasis added):
Mark has also changed his last name from Obama to Ndesandjo, relinquishing his own dad's name and talking the name of the man who married his mother after she divorced Barack Sr. Surprised by Mark's indifference, not only to Kenya but also to his own father, Obama persists: "Don't you ever feel like you might be losing something?" Mark replies, "You think that somehow I'm cut off from my roots, that sort of thing. Well, you're right. At a certain point, I made a decision not to think about who my real father was. He was dead to me even when he was still alive. I knew he was a drunk and showed no concern for his wife or children. That was enough."
11. CLAIM: Obama, like his father, would support 100 percent tax rates for the wealthy
On pages 72-73, D'Souza claims that it is "hard to believe that" Obama "is not closely familiar" with a paper his father wrote in 1965 for East Africa Journal titled "Problems Facing Our Socialism," in which Obama Sr. wrote: "Theoretically, there is nothing that can stop the government from taxing 100 percent of income so long as the people get benefits from the government commensurate with their income which is tasked." D'Souza continues:
Living today in Obama's America, we can recognize several themes that the son seems to have derived from his father. First there is the idea that the ordinary African is deprived because the rich people at the top -- the people who are not like us -- control most of the wealth and use it to exploit society. A second theme is that the country belongs to everyone, not just to the upper crust; therefore, the state must intervene to take from the undeserving haves in order to give to the deserving have-nots. There is no level of taxation -- not even 100 percent -- that is unacceptable as long as it serves the purpose of taming the plutocrats and yields revenues that are justified in terms of the benefit to society.
REALITY: Obama's tax proposals for the wealthy don't even approach 100 percent
D'Souza's completely unsubstantiated claim that Obama would find 100 percent tax rates for the wealthy acceptable ignores Obama's actual tax proposals for wealthy Americans. On September 8, Obama called for allowing the Bush-era tax cuts for individuals making more than $200,000 (and household making more than $250,000) expire at the end of 2010. Doing so would result in the top two marginal income tax rates returning to their Clinton-era levels of 36 and 39.6 percent.
12. CLAIM: Returned bust of Churchill was "ultimate insult to the English"
D'Souza, at several points throughout the book, claims that Obama's alleged "anti-colonialism" carries with it a hatred of the British in general and Winston Churchill in particular, and that this impelled him to return to the British a bust of Churchill that had occupied the Oval Office during the Bush administration.
From pages 41-42:
But the ultimate insult to the English was when Obama, right upon assuming the presidency, came upon a bust of Winston Churchill in the Oval Office and promptly decided to return it. Churchill, of course, is routinely quoted by American presidents, and the bust had been loaned to America from the British government's art collection. In a way it symbolize America's special relationship with Britain. Somewhat shocked by Obama's decision to remove the bust from the White House, British officials suggested that perhaps Obama could display it elsewhere. Obama declined. Chagrined, the British took it back, and the bust now sits in the residence of the British ambassador in Washington.
Bizzare? It is if you think of Obama as just another socialist (why would a socialist have such a violent reaction to a Churchill statute?) or remember Churchill solely as the fellow who guided the British to victory in World War II. But with his anti-colonial background, Obama probably remembers Churchill as an imperialist who soldiered for the empire in India and Africa. [...] In the 1950s, Churchill was the prime minister during Britain's fight against the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya, the native country of Obama's father. So when we apply the anti-colonial hypothesis, we find that the inexplicable Churchill incident suddenly makes perfect sense.
From page 91:
Obama makes no reference to any of [Frank Marshall] Davis' writings and merely calls him "a poet named Frank." But given Davis's worldviews, it is easy to see his appeal to young Obama. And given Davis's antipathy for Churchill, a man whose colonial history Davis knew well, we can see where Obama learned this other side of the scourge of the Nazis. Perhaps we have a source here for why Obama removed that Churchill bust from the White House.
And again on page 117:
India had become independent in 1947, and when the country's first prime minister Nehru heard about the British atrocities in Kenya, he complained to the former British governor general in India, Lord Mountbatten. Nehru's complaint made its way up to the prime minister, Winston Churchill, but Churchill had no interest in opening up an investigation into British abuses in Kenya, and so the book was officially closed for the moment. At this point we can better understand Obama's determination to get that Churchill bust out of the White House.
REALITY: Churchill bust was scheduled to return before Obama took office
D'Souza's theory is undermined by several easily verified facts. First, as Media Matters has noted, the U.K. Telegraph reported when the statue was returned that the bust had been "uniquely lent to a foreign head of state, President George W Bush," and was not given in perpetuity to the U.S. government. Additionally, the White House has stated the bust had been scheduled for return to Great Britain prior to Obama's presidency.
Moreover, D'Souza's theory fails to account for the fact that Obama's Oval Office still has many items gifted from the British, such as the wooden penholder given to him by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, crafted from timbers from the HMS Gannet. The Gannet was the sister ship to the HMS Resolute, timbers from which were used to make the presidential desk.
13. CLAIM: Networks and newspapers "pretended not to notice" Wright's "incendiary comments"
D'Souza writes on pages 145-146 that when the story regarding Rev. Jeremiah Wright's inflammatory sermons broke, "the networks and major newspapers pretended not to notice." Singling out the New York Times, D'Souza claims that the paper "refused to report" on Wright's comments "for more then two months":
Obama's lactification technique also came to his rescue during the Jeremiah Wright controversy. This was a very dangerous scandal for Obama. I threatened to expose him as a radical masquerading as a mainstream centrist, and anti-colonial revolutionary posing as an "aw shucks" all-American. Let's see how Obama got out of that one. Remarkably, no one in the mainstream media had paid much attention to Wright; in fact, hardly anyone bothered to investigate Obama for anything. [...] It was the conservative media -- notably Sean Hannity of Fox News Channel -- that first began to report on Wright. Even when the Wright story broke, the networks and major newspapers pretended not to notice. The New York Times refused to report Wright's incendiary comments for more than two months, and then bowdlerized them to make them sound tame. Here is how the Times portrayed Wright's remarks about 9/11: "Mr. Wright said the attacks were a consequence of violent American policies." That's it. Nothing about God damn America or chickens coming home to roost!
REALITY: ABC broke the Wright sermons story, which was covered extensively by networks and newspapers
Wright's controversial sermons were first reported on ABC -- one of the networks that D'Souza claims "pretended not to notice" the story -- by investigative correspondent Brian Ross on the March 13, 2008, edition of Good Morning America. The New York Times reported on Wright's sermons on March 15 -- two days later, not "two months," as D'Souza claimed -- and that article quoted Wright's "chickens coming home to roost" comment. Wright's comments were also the focus of a front-page March 15 Washington Post article, and a March 15 Los Angeles Times article. A Nexis search of the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today for "Obama and (Jeremiah w/2 Wright)" for the two weeks following the breaking of the Wright story returned 131 hits.
Similarly, NBC's Nightly News reported at length on Wright on March 15, and the CBS Evening News covered the story on March 14. A Nexis search of the three major broadcast networks for the same terms over the same time period turned up 90 hits.
14. CLAIM: Obama supported Petrobras' Brazilian oil drilling to "reduce America's standard of living"
On pages 151-152, D'Souza writes that Obama's father "would have attempted to wring the colonialism out of American society by curbing the wealth of the overclass and by bringing corporate America under state control." This, D'Souza alleges, "squares with the agenda" of President Obama regarding offshore oil drilling:
I'd like to begin with a story from the August 18, 2009, issue of the Wall Street Journal. The headline reads, "Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling." Did you read that correctly? You did. The Obama administration supports offshore drilling. But it's drilling off the shore of Brazil. With Obama's backing, the U.S. Export-Import bank offered two million dollars in loans and guarantees to Brazil's state-owned oil company Petrobras to finance exploration in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. ... Note that Obama is not funding Brazilian exploration so that the oil ends up in the United States; he is funding Brazilian exploration for the oil to stay in Brazil.
Now consider the fact that the Obama administration has been working overtime to block offshore drilling in the United States. First Obama issued a decree outlawing all drilling below a depth of 500 feet -- in other words, the majority of all new offshore drilling in America. ... The effect of Obama's offshore drilling ban is not only to put thousands of Americans out of work, but also to force drilling companies to move their assets to other parts of the world. The entire American energy infrastructure has been harmed by Obama's drilling moratorium.
I admit it is a little frightening to contemplate the prospect of a U.S. president assiduously working to reduce America's standard of living. But as we'll see, it's part of a consistent pattern that we can now begin to chart. Obama's Petrobras decision is part of his broader energy and environmental policy.
REALITY: Obama was not involved in Petrobras loan
As Media Matters has noted, D'Souza's entire argument is based on a false assumption -- that President Obama specifically directed the loan to Petrobras to begin drilling offshore. In reality, at the time the Export-Import Bank of the United States approved the "preliminary commitment" to finance Petrobras' drilling operation, the bank's board consisted of three Republicans and two Democrats, all of whom were appointed by former President Bush. As FactCheck.org put it, Obama "had nothing to do with the loan."
Indeed, D'Souza made this same allegation in a falsehood-ridden Forbes article that the magazine fact-checked after publication, and Kevin Varney, senior vice president for the Export-Import bank, called D'Souza's claim "preposterous, it's false and it's wrong."
15. CLAIM: Obama told Cuba, Venezuela they are "on an equal plane with the United States"
On page 180, D'Souza expands on his claim -- borrowed from others in the conservative media -- that Obama has been on a worldwide "apology tour" ever since becoming president:
Next Obama carried his self-abasement routine from the colonizers to the colonized, from Europe to the more hostile regions of the world. At a meeting of South American nations on April 17, 2009, Obama told the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Haiti, "I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and no junior partner. The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made." How nice for this motley Third World crew to discover that henceforth they would be operating on an equal plane with the United States.
REALITY: Obama told American nations that partnership with the U.S. required acceptable behavior
First, Obama spoke at the 2009 Summit of the Americas, not "a meeting of South American nations." Second, Cuba was not invited to the summit. And third, Obama specifically said that "equal partnership" with the United States required countries that "blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere" -- i.e. Venezuela -- to change their behavior:
OBAMA: I think it's important to recognize, given historic suspicions, that the United States' policy should not be interference in other countries, but that also means that we can't blame the United States for every problem that arises in the hemisphere. That's part of the bargain. (Applause.) That's part of the change that has to take place. That's the old way, and we need a new way.
The United States will be willing to acknowledge past errors where those errors have been made. We will be partners in helping to alleviate poverty. But the American people have to get some positive reinforcement if they are to be engaged in the efforts to lift other countries out of the poverty that they're experiencing.


text:
A column by the University of Auckland's Alison Cleland could have misled readers into thinking our proposed reforms to the family justice system would leave children, families and vulnerable people worse off.
Cleland says without the expertise of a lawyer or other specialist, vulnerable children facing dangerous and violent situations would not get the help they need, and their views would not be heard. That is simply wrong.
One of the lessons I learned from my 20 years as a lawyer is that going to court is not the best way to work out care arrangements for children. Nor is it the best way to sort out a relationship break-up.
There are no winners in the Family Court, except perhaps the many lawyers, counsellors and specialists who benefit from pitting parents against each other.
Our proposed reforms to the family justice system are the most significant changes since the Family Court was established in 1981. The reforms respond to serious concerns about the court raised by court users and professionals.
A survey of individual court users by the Ministry of Justice showed 74 per cent of those who responded preferred to resolve their dispute away from the Family Court. But 61 per cent of the respondents' lawyers had advised them to take the court action in the first instance, rather than attempting to resolve their dispute themselves.
Almost half, 47 per cent, of respondents said their lawyer was "not very" or "not at all" helpful. Over 80 per cent went on to say the Family Court process had a negative impact on their children.
This is simply not good enough.
We already know that 80 per cent of couples who go through relationship break-ups resolve their own disputes without going to court.
Our proposals will ensure that vulnerable people exposed to domestic violence and children needing protection will continue to have immediate access to the court. In fact, they will be given even greater priority through a new urgent case tracking system.
The cost of running the Family Court has skyrocketed from $84 million in 2004/05 to $142 million in 2010/2011, despite the same number of overall applications to the court. One of the ways we can resolve more cases before they get to court is through a proposed new Family Dispute Resolution service.
However, vulnerable people such as those exposed to violence and children needing protection will not be required to take part.
Family Dispute Resolution will mean about 1200 families (approximately 2000 children) will no longer need to go to court.
It will be free for people on low incomes. People above the income threshold will pay much less than the cost of employing a lawyer.
The estimated fee of $897 will be split equally between parents and for those with limited means, the fee will be subsidised.
For each parent, this will cost about the same as one hour of a lawyer's time but will cover up to six sessions with a mediator.
When the court is needed, processes will be more efficient and easier to use. The Family Court must put the needs of children first, rather than those of couples with relationship issues, and most definitely ahead of the needs of those who earn their income from it.
Judith Collins is Minister of Justice.


text:
Just last week I was lamenting a severe lack of comedy-based video games, where perhaps getting a hearty laugh is the goal rather than quelling a rebellion or fighting off hordes of zombies.
As if on cue, the new adventure game Jazzpunk comes sliding in like Kramer through Seinfeld's door. Released earlier this month, the game was developed by Necrophone Games (Luis Hernandez and Jess Brouse) and published by Adult Swim. Nominated for the grand prize at the 2014 Independent Games Festival, Jazzpunk is to video games what movies like Airplane!, The Naked Gun and Hot Shots were to film. Perhaps a more apt comparison is the improvisational game show Whose Line Is It Anyway?, where "everything is made up and the points don't matter."
The genius of Jazzpunk is that the comedy isn't just happening around you — it's happening to you and because of you. The player more often than not gets to deliver the punch line or perform the joke.
A Mad, Mad World
The setup is charmingly basic and silly, like the rest of the game. After an upbeat and stylized Saul Bass-inspired intro, you are plopped into your role as Polyblank, a spy for an unnamed organization helmed by a bureau chief who makes his office in a subway car and sounds like the person who delivered Ethan Hunt his impossible missions, only he's talking through a fishbowl.
With the satisfying wheeze of an obviously placed whoopee cushion, the game wastes no time letting you know you are here for the gags, not the story. Unlike games in which humor is the garnish on an otherwise bitter and gritty dish, the humor in Jazzpunk is the whole meal.
Your first mission is to infiltrate the Soviet consulate and retrieve your first of many MacGuffins in what passes in Jazzpunk for a plot. Then you are released into an alternate-reality Cold War setting populated by Fisher Price Little People-like characters that take on the roles of everything from flirty sex bots to a monocle-wearing English gentleman who asks you to satiate him with a blast of spray cheese to the face.
The actual main spy missions are pretty forgettable, but not in a negative way. They simply serve as the main hallway of a Minotaur's maze of jokes, sight gags, one-liners, pop culture references, puns and over-the-top satire. Once you've thoroughly explored each branch, you can return to the main task.
Every object and character you encounter along the way is an opportunity to get a laugh or get thrown into a mini game. One moment you're helping a talking frog with his Internet connection by playing Frogger, only to be shooed away for some "private" time, and the next moment you're playing "Wedding Quake," a marital parody of the classic first-person shooter, Quake.
The game does follow a slight arc, and there is a villain in the end, but, again, the gags and humor are the real characters here. At first, the jokes fly fast and from all sides; the latter part of the game has great comedy tangents, but less of them. That said, it is a fun romp from beginning to ridiculous end.
You Had Me At Hunter
I didn't know what to expect before I played Jazzpunk. I knew only that it was meant to be a funny game. "Do I have something on my face?" asks one of the game's many unnamed characters near the beginning of the first mission. You respond by flicking breadcrumbs off his mug in an uncomfortable close-up seemingly pulled straight from John Kricfalusi.
After that, I was totally onboard the Jazzpunk train.
What's wonderful about the jokes and gags in Jazzpunk is not that they all hit the mark — in fact, some fall intentionally flat — but that there are so many of them. The punch lines reference such a wide swath of pop culture that you're guaranteed to get a few. And the ones that hit closest to home — especially the really obscure references — feel like a wink or a high-five between the player and the developers.
From Wilhelm screams to fart jokes and movie clichés, there's a good chance there is something for any player's brand of humor. Even some of the sound effects seem like hat tips to the old Tex Avery cartoons, another nod to comedy royalty.
Also, any game that populates a level with gibberish-spouting Hunter S. Thompsons is a game after my own heart.
There are those who might complain that the game's running time, at just a few hours, is a bit short. For me, it's no different from a short book or movie; as long as it serves up a complete experience, I am OK with a shorter running time, which is common among indie games. Also, like last week's review subject, Octodad, if this game were much longer, it might get stale.
The fact that you can't really die or fail in Jazzpunk might also bother some gamers. Some say that if you can't lose then it's not really a game. This seems to be a big issue these days (see also Gone Home, The Stanley Parable) and is a common criticism of the indie market. To me, this kindly kicking aside of conventional win states is a breath of fresh air. I'm glad games like Jazzpunk are willing to break free of video game formulas to bring something new to the table.
Jazzpunk is available now for Windows PC, Mac and Linux.
Steve Mullis is an associate Web producer at NPR. If you want to suggest an independent game worth featuring here, please write or tweet him. You can also follow us on our Tumblr blog NPR Plays.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Travel Professional – Make Your Travel Plans Come True
Planning the right traveling experience could prove to be a veritable nightmare for the inexperienced. What could be the best place to stay? What kind of food could be expected? To take care of all this and more, people these days are turning towards the travel professional for help. But the problem does not end here, how is he/she to know what your likes or dislikes are? There could be as many reasons for travel and there could be many destinations. So, instead of just handing over your work to the professional, talk to them and work with them to make your travel a truly delightful memorable experience.
Freezing on the right place to travel is not always as easy as it seems. If you are planning on a vacation, start with your budget and the number of days you can give for the vacation. Also decide whether you would like to travel within the country or abroad. With these details in mind, the travel professional will come up with a possible list of destinations for you. Nowadays, most of the places have their travel and tourism information displayed in their website. You can do your research online and decide on your destination. Here, you could also make use of the travel agent's personal knowledge.
If your travel plans include airline, cruise or rail travel or if you intend to travel in a large group, making your travel plans early would be advisable. The travel professional will be aware of offers and discounts available in such cases and you can make the best use of this. You would get better prices and try to avoid last-moment rush. You can make clear and detailed tour plans by planning well in advance.
Spend some time explaining your choices to the travel professional. It is possible that you might not like to mingle with certain type of people. For example, if you are planning a family trip, you might feel uncomfortable in the presence of a honeymoon couple. Or if you are going on a retirement vacation, you might not like to spend time with a rock band. The professional can provide useful input on the profile of people staying in a particular resort or the kind of people that choose a particular cruise. Armed with this information, you can plan you trip better.
Many a time we travel to bond closer to people- family, friends, partners, parents, etc. But if your choices are different, traveling together could become tough. Once again, take your travel professional into confidence. Involve the people you intend to travel with in your dialogue with your agent. Together you can come up with a plan that offers something for everyone. Yes, taking the help of a professional makes travel easier but to make it more comfortable and enjoyable, you also must work with the professional. With their expertise and know-how and the inputs from your side about the choices, budget, time, etc your trip can become a fantasy that would forever replay in your mind.
Shafi Farooqui is an Entrepreneur,Internet Marketing business coach from Alberta, Canada. A Certified Travel Professional with an Industry experience of 20 Plus Years is thrilled to share with you how a career in Internet marketing can make your dreams of financial freedom and personal achievement come true.


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Shimmering soft to the touch, a floating sculpture, the June dress is a flicker of light within the Fall Winter 21 collection. Crafted in embroidered amaryllis silk, the garment features a floral motif hemline, full peplum skirt, and self-tied waist.
The Butterfly Mark is the luxury industry-leading certification that highlights brands, suppliers and retailers that are committed to having a positive impact on nature and society.
Product details
- Fabric : Amarylis Silk
- Colour :
- Compositions: 54% Polyester 24% Silk 22% Cotton
- Care : Dry clean only
Size and fit
Delivery times EU: 1-3 days.
Rest of the world: 2-8 days.
Complimentary Shipping on orders €1500 and more.
need assistance
Cecilie Bahnsen is here to guide you with sizing and styling advice. Please reach out with any questions you may have. Virtual private appointments can be scheduled at your convenience - Book Appointment. Contact our customer care team through firstname.lastname@example.com or WhatsApp.


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Sep 18 at 11 am
Sharon Gannon and David Life on the Comfort of Animals
Sharon Gannon and David Life, co-creators of Jivamukti Yoga, consider the comfort of animals as we "confront comfort" in the city. Yoga teaches us that real comfort for ourselves can only be attained if we provide comfort for others. This talk will include a simple and fun asana practice suitable for everyone.
Photo: courtesy Sharon Gannon and David Life
Sep 18 at 2 pm
Above: Jeremiah Newton, James Rason, and Zach Steuart-Portier after a screening of Beautiful Darling at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2011
Clayton Patterson has created a series of five Sunday Salons for the BMW Guggenheim Lab. This week, join Jeremiah Newton, playwright and executor of the estate of Candy Darling—one of Andy Warhol's superstars—as he shares anecdotes about Warhol's Factory and its legacy. A native New Yorker, for the past 20 years Mr. Newton has served as the film industry liaison for New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In 2009 he produced the feature-length documentary Beautiful Darling, which premiered at the Berlinale and at New Directors/New Films at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He was also a writer of the 1996 indie I Shot Andy Warhol. His new play, StarDusk, is based on his experiences with Candy Darling, and takes place on closing night of a production of Tennessee Williams' Small Craft Warnings. Newton is the recipient of the Hamptons International Film Festival's 2010 Golden Starfish Award, and the prize for Best Documentary at the 2010 Chicago International Film Festival.
Link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beautiful-Darling/109274572424772
Leaving from: BMW Guggenheim Lab
Traveling to: Clayton Gallery and Outlaw Art Museum, 161 Essex Street, New York
Mode of transportation: WalkingPhoto: by and courtesy Clayton Patterson
More Dates
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011 -
Sep 18 at 3 pm
Mahina Movement and Friends of the Congo
Mahina Movement combines poetry and song to create passionate music tied to flesh and bone, straight from the heart. The all-woman trio tells stories of the personal and political wrapped with courage, strength, and an awareness of human struggle and connection. Three voices and one guitar blend to produce a powerful force, mixing folk, rock, and rhymes in English, Spanish, and Tongan simmered with indigenous roots and culture. Mahina Movement generates a strong, steady "movement" for community—with radical love, unstoppable activism, and ruthless compassion. They'll be joining forces with Friends of the Congo to raise awareness of the escalating levels of violence taking place in the Congo—violence rooted in the mining industry, which supplies the global demand for the electronics that maintain modern levels of comfort.
Image: courtesy Mahina Movement -
Sep 18 at 6 pm
Director Tim Skousen offers a rare glimpse inside the notorious Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where men are finding hope and transformation through the Hudson Link program, one of the only college-degree-granting programs in New York's Department of Corrections. The program, which is sponsored through individual donations, is rigorous. While 60 percent of the nation's convicts fall into recidivism once released, none of the Hudson Link graduates have returned to prison. Instead, these men return home with a strong desire to serve the communities that they formerly preyed upon.
6 pm open seating
6:15 pm screening
Image: courtesy of Tim Skousen/Zero Percent
Text: courtesy of Sarah Harris


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From the Washington Post:Fairfax May Junk Study on Behavior
Staff Report Shows Racial, Ethnic Gaps Among Students
Fairfax County School Board members said they are likely to abandon a staff report that showed racial and ethnic gaps in some measures of student behavior, including in the demonstration of "sound moral character and ethical judgment."
The board had delayed an April vote to approve the report after concerns were raised that findings were based on subjective measures, such as elementary report card data, and that they would fuel negative stereotypes.
Board member Phillip A. Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence) [Email him] said yesterday that he plans to propose at a June 19 meeting that a vote on the report be postponed indefinitely. Several board members have indicated their support, he said.
Board member Martina A. Hone (At Large) [email her] said that the original report is "fatally flawed" and that it doesn't make sense "to work on fixing it." She said she is pleased with the way the board is rethinking it. "I think we have come out a stronger school board," she said.
The school system's report was an early attempt to measure progress on a host of goals the board considers "essential" for success in the workplace. It identified disparities among groups of students in several skills, including the ability to contribute effectively in a group, resolve conflicts and make healthy choices, and in the demonstration of moral character and ethical judgment.


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Capital Taxes – November 2017 Budget Report
Inheritance tax
Inheritance tax is currently charged at 40% on the proportion of an individual's estate exceeding the 'nil-rate band' of £325,000. Married couples and registered civil partners can already pass any unused nil-rate band to one another on death.
A new residence nil-rate band (RNRB) now applies in addition to the nil-rate band, allowing a 'family home' to be passed wholly or partially tax-free on death to direct descendants such as a child or grandchild. A step-child, adopted child or fostered child is also regarded as a direct descendant.
The RNRB rates are set as follows:
2017/18 | £100,000 |
2018/19 | £125,000 |
2019/20 | £150,000 |
2020/21 | £175,000 |
The RNRB can only be used in respect of one residential property. The property does not have to be the main family home, although it must, at some point, have been a residence of the deceased.
There is a tapered withdrawal of the RNRB for estates valued at more than £2m, at a withdrawal rate of £1 for every £2 over this threshold.
Capital gains tax (CGT)
CGT is payable on the profit made when you sell or otherwise dispose of an asset. The rates for 2018/19 are:
On chargeable gains | 2018/19 |
Total taxable income and gains | |
Up to higher rate threshold | 10% |
From higher rate threshold | 20% |
Trust rate | 20% |
Higher rates (18%/28%) may apply to the disposal of certain residential property and carried interest.
Annual exempt amount for 2018/19 – individuals £11,700 and most trustees £5,850.
CGT payment window
The introduction of the 30-day payment window for gains on residential property disposals will be deferred until April 2020.
Taxation of carried interest
The government will amend legislation to ensure that asset managers receiving carried interest pay CGT on their full economic gain. The changes will remove the special treatment afforded to carried interest that arises in connection with disposals of assets before certain dates in 2015. The changes will have effect on and after 22 November 2017.
Entrepreneurs' relief
The government will consult in spring 2018 on how access to the relief might be given to entrepreneurs whose holding in their company is reduced below the normal 5% qualifying level as a result of raising funds for commercial purposes by means of issues of new shares.
Taxing non-residents' gains on immovable property
The government has published a consultation on taxing non-residents' gains on immovable property. This measure will broaden the UK's tax base to include disposals of UK commercial property by non-residents, both directly and indirectly, and will bring all companies into charge on disposals of residential property, and all persons into charge on indirect disposals of residential property. The changes will have effect on and after 1 April 2019 for companies, and on and after 6 April 2019 for those in charge to CGT. An anti-forestalling measure to support this reform will have effect on and after 22 November 2017.
Offshore trusts
New anti-avoidance rules will be introduced relating to the taxation of income and gains accruing to offshore trusts. This measure ensures that payments from an offshore trust intended for a UK resident individual do not escape tax when they are made via an overseas beneficiary or a remittance basis user.
Following consultation, minor changes have been made to the legislation, including to ensure that the onward gift rules can apply if the close family member rule applies, to clarify the position in the year of the settlor's death and in relation to onward gifts to multiple recipients. The changes will have effect on and after 6 April 2018.


text: [Sparky] notified us of his hack to allow interaction with the core of an Aldi GO Cruise 4300 GPS Windows CE OS. All that's required is a few programs and registry edits to the GPS, which anyone can accomplish within a few minutes. But we suggest you go slow and double-check your work; nobody wants a bricked system. After you're done you can run such great programs like the one [Sparky] suggest for 4WD enthusiasts, Ozi Explorer.


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Play of the Day: Golfing with Obama
The president played a round over the weekend and comedians took note.
President Barack Obama played golf in a foursome with two senators over the weekend and whenever Obama plays a high-profile round , it's fodder for late-night humor. The Tonight Show 's Jay Leno used some video manipulation to highlight the animosity between Obama and his playing partners, while Late Night 's Jimmy Fallon pumped up the president. On CBS, Late Show 's David Letterman also mentioned the tension between parties in his golf jokes.
In non-golf jokes, Conan O'Brien took a look at recent comments from Bill Clinton about his wife's presidential ambitions. And like clockwork, Fallon also got in some shots at Vice President Joe Biden's maturity after the administration met with South Korean president Park Geun-hye earlier in the week .
Fast forward to 2:15 to see Fallon show off new ad slogans for the National Park Service.


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Flash toolkit: Reference architectures for Oracle databases
While computer speeds and capabilities have accelerated exponentially, disk-based performance has remained stagnant. Attempting to run virtualized applications on a hard-disk drive (HDD) based storage infrastructure will inevitably lead you towards scaling and performance problems.
This white paper provides a demonstration of the ease with which Oracle can be deployed on or migrated to a Pure Storage FlashArray. Read on to find implementation details and recommendations in addition to performance and scalability findings.