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<p>By Diane Bartz</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The world’s biggest eyeglass frame maker is planning to merge with the largest lens maker in a tie-up U.S. antitrust experts fear will be bad news for consumers, but could still be approved.</p>
<p>France’s Essilor (PA:), the prescription lens maker, has asked U.S. regulators to bless its merger with Italy’s Luxottica (MI:), the leading frame maker, to create a company that would produce everything from Ray-Bans to Giorgio Armani frames, and be the top U.S. eyeglass retail outlet as well as a leading provider of vision insurance.</p>
<p>No eyeglass company in the United States – the biggest market for both firms – would come close.</p>
<p>Opponents of the deal include not only smaller rivals, but also the U.S. Democratic Party which noted that eyeglasses were increasingly difficult to afford and said the industry was an example of one that has “seen rising concentration that deserves careful scrutiny, and enforcement.”</p>
<p>Smaller rivals and optometrist groups worried about higher prices in their shops have met with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) staff to express concerns over the deal, according to a source familiar with the process. The eyeglass makers fear losing access to inputs such as lenses, according to two sources familiar with the process.</p>
<p>“There are clear problems here,” said David Balto, a former FTC official now in private practice. “This (the deal) will make the problems worse.”</p>
<p>U.S. antitrust enforcers rarely seek to stop these soup-to-nuts vertical deals – where a dominant company seeks to own steps along a supply chain – since it is difficult to write a lawsuit that proves that they directly raise prices. Antitrust enforcers must prove in court that a deal will hurt consumers.</p>
<p>But vertical mergers often have indirect, pernicious effects on the giants’ smaller competitors in a way that leads to higher prices. Frame makers may not get the lenses they want, for example, if the new, bigger company withholds sales, according to two industry experts who asked not to be named to protect business relationships.</p>
<p>Despite this, six of seven antitrust experts said the deal was likely to be approved since the companies specialize in different aspects of the business. Still, several also expressed concern about the creation of an eyeglass giant with outsized clout.</p>
<p>“I would be surprised if they (the FTC) sued to block it. They might put some conditions on it,” said Caroline Holland, a veteran of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “A&#160;Democratic administration&#160;would have been&#160;more&#160;skeptical&#160;of this&#160;merger and&#160;more likely to block it.”</p>
<p>Essilor and Luxottica spokespeople said that the deal was pro-competitive and said in similar statements that they were working with the FTC.</p>
<p>EU INVESTIGATES</p>
<p>The merger has already been approved by the competition authorities in several countries including India, Japan and New Zealand.</p>
<p>But European Union antitrust regulators opened a full-scale investigation in September – suspended in October while it waits for data – saying the deal may reduce competition and lead to higher prices. The final outcome there could hinge on concessions the two companies make.</p>
<p>Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute, worried that the combined company would refuse to sell to rival frame and lens makers. “Smaller frame rivals and smaller lens manufacturers are going to struggle. (The consumer) they’ll pay higher prices,” she said.</p>
<p>Luxottica, with Burberry, Chanel and Ralph Lauren (NYSE:) frames, has 40 to 50 percent of the U.S. frame market, according to an industry and regulatory expert who spoke on background to protect business relationships.</p>
<p>Essilor has about 40 percent of the U.S. lens market, according to an industry executive who spoke privately to protect business relationships. Other lens makers, Carl Zeiss Group and HOYA Group, are considerably smaller.</p>
<p>Both companies declined to give U.S. market share data.</p>
<p>The two companies are the biggest U.S. retail eyeglass sellers. Essilor is No. 1 with Vision Source, a group of 3,300 optometric practices, while Luxottica, owner of Pearle Vision and LensCrafters is No. 2, according to the trade publication VisionMonday.</p>
<p>Luxottica also owns EyeMed Vision Care, the second-largest U.S. vision benefits company. EyeMed steers people who need glasses to Luxottica retail outlets, angering rival frames and lens makers, according to industry sources.</p> | Eyewear mega deal could hurt U.S. consumers, but still be approved | false | https://newsline.com/eyewear-mega-deal-could-hurt-u-s-consumers-but-still-be-approved/ | 2017-11-07 | 1 |
<p>&lt;img class="alignnone wp-image-39823 size-full" src="http://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/De-Blasio-Terrorist.jpg" alt="de blasio parade terrorist" width="1200" height="627" srcset="https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/De-Blasio-Terrorist.jpg 1200w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/De-Blasio-Terrorist-300x157.jpg 300w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/De-Blasio-Terrorist-768x401.jpg 768w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/De-Blasio-Terrorist-1024x535.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" /&gt;</p>
<p>There are all sorts of trends making waves in leftist circles. One of the hottest is cozying up to violent&#160;jagweeds in the hope of scoring brownie points for “inclusiveness”&#160;(see&#160; <a href="" type="internal">ISIS Claims Credit for Manchester Attack. Leftists Worry About… Islamophobia</a>). Just ask New York City’s&#160;Mayor, Bill de Blasio. Billiam is doing his virtue-signaling peers proud. He’s&#160; <a href="http://nypost.com/2017/05/22/saying-no-to-a-parade-that-honors-a-terrorist/" type="external">set to march in a parade honoring a known terrorist</a>. Not kidding…</p>
<p>Three cheers for Police Commissioner James O’Neill for standing tall where New York’s political leaders have waffled by announcing&#160;he won’t march in next month’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.</p>
<p>The reason: Guest of honor Oscar López Rivera, hailed by organizers as a “national freedom hero,” is a “terrorist,” the commisioner says. Added O’Neill: “I cannot support a man who is a co-founder of an organization that engaged in over 120 bombings.”</p>
<p>That hasn’t stopped Mayor de Blasio, who plans on marching, or Gov. Cuomo, who says he’s “inclined” to march&#160;but is still thinking it over.</p>
<p>Organizers claim honoring López Rivera will “create awareness on issues.”</p>
<p>The only awareness that’s being created by honoring this douchenozzle is an awareness that leftists are out of their gourds for kowtowing to terrorists.&#160;Methinks a straitjacket and an extended holiday at Bellevue would do de Blasio well.</p>
<p>And the list of law-enforcement groups refusing to participate is growing longer by the day. It now includes&#160;the NYPD Hispanic Society, the Gay Officers Action League and the Rafael Ramos Foundation, named for a slain police officer.</p>
<p>Even the Hispanics and the fancy lads&#160;think Bill’s a nutbar.&#160;Both groups lean solidly left.&#160;There are many things that divide Americans. Having a strong dislike of terror-doing asshats isn’t one of them. De Blasio likely&#160;assumed the gesture would score popularity points.&#160;Um… no.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="size-full wp-image-39844 aligncenter" src="http://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/plane-crash-knowing.gif" alt="plane crash knowing" width="320" height="180" /&gt;</p>
<p>The left seems to get googly-eyed with radical scum-buckets, like <a href="" type="internal">Castro</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Chavez</a>. If pantywaist leftists&#160;wish to align themselves&#160;with&#160;those crapweasels there’s a simple solution:&#160;exit the country.&#160;We can help.</p>
<p>&lt;img class=" wp-image-39846 aligncenter" src="http://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/jazzy-jeff-thrown-out.gif" alt="fresh prince jazzy jeff thrown out" width="416" height="233" /&gt;</p>
<p>This is where the left stands, and it ain’t on our side. If people like de Blasio wish to pal around with terrorists, that’s fine and dandy. Just don’t come whining to the rest of us on the next election day when you guys are getting tossed out of office on your lumpy keisters…</p>
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<p>NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THE PODCAST?&#160; <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/louder-with-crowder/id929121341?mt=2" type="external">FIX THAT</a>! IT’S COMPLETELY FREE ON BOTH&#160; <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/louder-with-crowder/id929121341?mt=2" type="external">ITUNES&#160;HERE</a>&#160;AND&#160; <a href="https://soundcloud.com/louderwithcrowder" type="external">SOUNDCLOUD&#160;HERE</a>.</p>
<p /> | Douchebag NYC Mayor De Blasio to March in Parade Honoring Terrorist | true | https://louderwithcrowder.com/de-blasio-march-terrorist/ | 2017-05-24 | 0 |
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<p>Share price spikes happen for any number of reasons -- the most frequent catalyst being simple stock market noise. When a stock outperforms broader indexes by a wide margin over time, though, it's usually due to a real improvement in its earning power. That, in turn, can point to solid gains ahead for investors even following a big stock price run-up.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>With that in mind, today I'll highlight three stocks, Activision Blizzard , Ulta Salon , and Tyson Foods , that are each up by 55% or more in the last year, and I'll discuss whether growth has peaked.</p>
<p>World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and Skylanders, three of Activision Blizzard's biggest video game franchises, are all expected to post weaker results in 2016. And yet management is projecting a record fiscal year ahead. What gives?</p>
<p>Image source: Activision Blizzard.</p>
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<p>Two big trends are powering growth for this video game developer. First, its portfolio of entertainment content has improved with recent high-budget additions Destiny, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. The King Digital Entertainment acquisition also makes Activision an instant force in mobile gaming. Overall, its base of 500 million active users provides diversity that it couldn't claim a few years ago when just three titles were responsible for nearly all of its earnings.</p>
<p>Second, Activision is reaping major financial rewards from digital selling. The online spending shift has boosted profit margins by cutting out middleman retailers, but it is also turning video games into cash machines whose lifetime values rise thanks to rounds of expansion packs and millions of microtransactions by gamers.</p>
<p>Investors have reacted to all this good news by pushing Activision's valuation to 25 times earnings from a 15 P/E two years ago. That's still a good deal, in my opinion, considering the company's massive base of highly engaged users and many opportunities to leverage its entertainment properties.</p>
<p>Few retailers can claim anything close to the success that Ulta Salon has had in attracting customers lately. Comparable-store sales growth soared to an <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/05/27/ulta-salon-cosmetics-fragrance-inc-posts-record-sa.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">all-time high of 15% last quarter Opens a New Window.</a>, trouncing executives' 10% forecast. The gains were powered by surging customer traffic and greater average spending by shoppers. Gross profit margin also hit a new high at 36% of sales.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Combined with the revenue boost, that profitability bounce translated into 40% higher earnings. "We are off to a phenomenal start to the year," CEO Mary Dillon told investors in late April.</p>
<p>Ulta is grabbing more than its fair share of industry growth, and that streak looks set to continue due to the company's highly successful loyalty program and a unique salon-focused retailing format. But investors have to balance that bright future against important risks. Dillon and her executive team are aggressively expanding the store base, for one, and there will be a temptation to pick less-than-optimal sites in the name of striking while the iron is hot. Meanwhile, the stock's P/E ratio of 40 times this year's earnings doesn't leave a lot of room for big gains even if the beauty services industry continues expanding rapidly.</p>
<p>Packaged meat products can be a lucrative business -- if you have the right brands to go along with a killer operating strategy. With franchises like Jimmy Dean and Sara Lee, Tyson Foods has controlled the brands, but its business has been hostage to price swings in its key segments of chicken, beef, and pork.</p>
<p>That vulnerability is starting to disappear. Despite an average drop of 4% in chicken prices over the last six months, Tyson produced 3% higher profits in the segment. "We've fundamentally changed how we operate our chicken business," an executive told investors last month. "We've taken more than $1 billion in inefficiencies out of the business since 2009."</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/TSN/gross_profit_margin_ttm" type="external">TSN Gross Profit Margin (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The proof is in the bottom line, where Tyson's margin has soared from 5% to 8% of sales so far this fiscal year. The stock's valuation has jumped to 19 times earnings from a P/E ratio that was below 16 for much of the last few years. There's more room to run, though, if the company has succeeded in protecting itself from commodity price swings and can keep its product pipeline full of in-demand meat products.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/12/3-stocks-are-up-55-in-the-last-12-months.aspx" type="external">3 Stocks Are Up 55% in the Last 12 Months Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Activision Blizzard. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Activision Blizzard and Ulta Salon, Cosmetics and Fragrance. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 3 Stocks Are Up 55% in the Last 12 Months | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/12/3-stocks-are-up-55-in-last-12-months.html | 2016-07-12 | 0 |
<p>PRETORIA, South Africa -- Oscar Pistorius asked a friend to take the blame after a pistol was accidentally fired in a restaurant weeks before the Olympian fatally shot his girlfriend, a witness testified Wednesday.</p>
<p>The testimony by boxer Kevin Lerena relates to firearms charges against Pistorius, and raises questions about the character of a man who insists he accidentally shot dead Reeva Steenkamp in his home on Feb. 14 last year. Prosecutors allege the double-amputee sprinter murdered Steenkamp, his 29-year-old girlfriend.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Lerena said the restaurant shooting happened</a> when he and Pistorius and two other friends were in a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013. One friend, Darren Fresco, passed his gun to Pistorius under the table and told him that there was a bullet in the chamber, Lerena said. Then a shot went off, puncturing the floor near Lerena's foot, he said.</p>
<p>"There was just complete silence," said Lerena, who described being in shock and having blood where his toe was grazed in the incident. Then, he said, Pistorius apologized, saying: "Are you OK? Is everybody OK?"</p>
<p>Before the restaurant management approached the table, Lerena said, Pistorius asked Fresco to say he was responsible for the gunshot.</p>
<p>"'Just say it was you. I don't want any tension around me,'" Lerena remembered Pistorius saying. "'There's too much media hype around me.'"</p>
<p>Lerena said they paid the bill and left the restaurant and he never spoke about the incident. Two days after Pistorius shot Steenkamp, he said, he woke up to find over 100 missed calls on his telephone as media from around the world tried to contact him to ask about the gun incident.</p>
<p>Chief defense lawyer Barry Roux did not challenge Lerena's testimony that Pistorius asked a friend to "take the rap."</p>
<p>Pistorius, the world-famous athlete and first amputee to run at the Olympics, is charged with murder and three other offenses: Two relating to the shooting of a gun in public and another count of illegal possession of ammunition. He pleaded not guilty to all four charges.</p>
<p>The trial continues.</p> | Pistorius Asked Pal to ‘Take the Rap’ for Gun Incident: Boxer | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/pistorius-asked-pal-take-rap-gun-incident-boxer-n45021 | 2014-03-05 | 3 |
<p>Investing.com – Saudi Arabia stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the , and sectors led shares higher.</p>
<p>At the close in Saudi Arabia, the gained 0.08%.</p>
<p>The best performers of the session on the were Dar Alarkan Real Estate Development (SE:), which rose 5.75% or 0.50 points to trade at 9.20 at the close. Meanwhile, National Agriculture Marketing Co. (SE:) added 5.32% or 1.54 points to end at 30.50 and Saudi Industrial Export Co (SE:) was up 5.05% or 0.70 points to 14.56 in late trade.</p>
<p>The worst performers of the session were National Agriculture Development Co (SE:), which fell 2.09% or 0.70 points to trade at 32.75 at the close. Fitaihi Holding Group (SE:) declined 1.85% or 0.23 points to end at 12.18 and AXA Cooperative Insurance Company (SE:) was down 1.76% or 0.34 points to 18.98.</p>
<p>Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange by 97 to 78 and 6 ended unchanged.</p>
<p>Crude oil for January delivery was down 1.10% or 0.65 to $58.30 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in February rose 0.28% or 0.18 to hit $63.65 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.60% or 7.77 to trade at $1295.07 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>EUR/SAR was up 0.18% to 4.4825, while USD/SAR rose 0.01% to 3.7503.</p>
<p>The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.22% at 92.52.</p>
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<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Saudi Arabia stocks higher at close of trade; Tadawul All Share up 0.08% | false | https://newsline.com/saudi-arabia-stocks-higher-at-close-of-trade-tadawul-all-share-up-0-08/ | 2017-11-27 | 1 |
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<p>Marcus Ingvarsson tests out the PlayStation 4 virtual reality headset Project Morpheus in a demo area at the Game Developers Conference 2014 in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)</p>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO - The promise of virtual reality in the living room is coming closer to, well, reality.</p>
<p>Sony unveiled a prototype headset this week capable of surrounding a wearer's vision with interactive virtual worlds. The system, codenamed Project Morpheus, utilizes a 1080p head-mounted display with head-tracking capabilities and works in concert with the PlayStation 4 console to display imagery on the headset's screen, providing a 90-degree field of view.</p>
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<p>During a private demonstration of Project Morpheus to The Associated Press at the Game Developers Conference, the headset felt secure thanks to a sturdy yet comfortable halo-like ring that snaps into place around the head. There's a wheel positioned on the back headband that can be turned for an even tighter fit.</p>
<p>It's lighter than one might expect and certainly sleeker than the Oculus Rift, a similar VR headset that's captured game makers' imaginations over the past two years but has yet to be released. A long, thick cable that pokes from the side of the visor, as well as dangling headphone cords, prove cumbersome during physical movement while wearing the googles.</p>
<p>A closer look at four of the interactive experiences - not actual full-fledged games - Sony was using to demonstrate Project Morpheus at GDC:</p>
<p>"The Deep": This demo created specifically for Project Morpheus by Sony's London studio cast a standing user in the role of deep sea diver - complete with virtual wet suit and flare gun - inside a shark cage that submerges into the depths of the ocean. The undersea encounter is interrupted by a great white who attacks the enclosure at the first whiff of blood.</p>
<p>With lush graphics and stereoscopic 3-D audio, "The Deep" showcased how Project Morpheus could recreate frantic "Jaws"-like moments as the shark ominously circled the cage. However, it wasn't completely immersive because Project Morpheus only tracked movement of the head and DualShock 4 controller, so fin flipping wasn't translated to the feet on screen.</p>
<p>"EVE: Valkyrie": Developed by CCP Games and set in their "EVE" universe, "Valkyrie" is a sci-fi multiplayer dogfighter pitting players against each other in the cockpits of galactic fighter jets. Project Morpheus' version featured richer graphics and details, like a massive carrier in the distance of the star field battleground, than the one demoed over at Oculus Rift's booth.</p>
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<p>Playing in a seated position with a DualShock 4 controller in hand that acts as the spaceship's yoke, the sedentary orientation provided "Valkyrie" with a VR advantage. Pulling off dizzying maneuvers like rolls, spins and corkscrews while simultaneously blasting other users compellingly simulated what it might be like to really pilot an X-Wing from "Star Wars."</p>
<p>NASA Mars Project: The technology demo created in tandem with NASA utilized high-resolution images captured by both satellites and the Curiosity rover to transport a user to the surface of Mars. The rover itself also made an interactive appearance, separately navigated by Project Morpheus senior software engineer Anton Mikhailov on a DualShock 4 controller.</p>
<p>The parts of the landscape closest to the user were crafted from rover imagery, while mountainous vistas in the distance were filled in using satellite data. By depicting the surreal sensation of strolling around a chunk of the Red Planet, the minimalistic demo was the most immersive of those on display and showed off the non-game capabilities of Project Morpheus.</p>
<p>"The Castle": This combat-centric game demo dispatched users to a cartoony medieval training ground where they could totally abuse a dummy in a suit of armor. When armed with a pair of gesture-detecting PlayStation Move controllers in each hand, "The Castle" depicted gauntlets on the headset's screen that could reach out and wield swords and a crossbow.</p>
<p>For example, the wand-like controllers could be used to slice off the mannequin's arm with one hand and grab it with the other before gruesomely wiggling the appendage and discarding it into the distance. The controllers flawlessly mimicked hand movement in the virtual castle yard, but a lack of interactive elements in the surrounding space left a desire for more.</p>
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<p>Online:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.playstation.com" type="external">http://www.playstation.com</a></p>
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<p>Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang." type="external">http://www.twitter.com/derrikjlang.</a></p> | A heads-on look at Sony's virtual reality googles | false | https://abqjournal.com/371564/a-heads-on-look-at-sonys-virtual-reality-googles.html | 2 |
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<p>Having spent billions of dollars on post-crisis U.S. financial industry reforms they once scorned, bankers are concerned the Trump administration, joined by a like-minded Congress, will scrap or significantly change the rules.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>To comply with a rule known as Dodd-Frank, which was enacted in 2010 following the financial crisis, big U.S banks hired tens of thousands of staffers, built new technology systems, hived off businesses, simplified corporate structures and doubled the amount of capital they hold.</p>
<p>JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co has said that in its mortgage business alone, employees spent 800,000 hours in compliance training in a single year.</p>
<p>The industry went into these changes kicking and screaming. Banks lobbied hard against Dodd-Frank as it was being drafted, then cajoled regulators to go easy in defining and implementing precise rules. But now that the heavy lifting has been done and Dodd-Frank is largely in effect, the industry see a total elimination as more of a threat than a blessing.</p>
<p>Dodd-Frank has largely made banks safer and the once-opaque derivatives market more transparent, banking executives said.</p>
<p>President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, and some important lawmakers in the incoming Republican Congress have pledged to dismantle the law and put a new one in place.</p>
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<p>It is not yet clear what the replacement would look like, but Texas Republican Jeb Hensarling, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, has drafted a blueprint called The CHOICE Act.</p>
<p>The proposal has a mix of things the industry largely supports, such as abolishing the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), but it also has some ideas Wall Street vehemently opposes, like ramping up capital requirements to a level that would likely force big banks to split apart.</p>
<p>Proposed changes are also likely to run into stiff opposition from some congressional Democrats, particularly Senator Elizabeth Warren, architect of the CFPB.</p>
<p>Big U.S. banks including JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, Wells Fargo &amp; Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley have seen big gains in their share prices since the Nov. 8 election, partly on expectations that regulators will soon have a much lighter touch.</p>
<p>"There is scope for lower taxes, less regulation, and more growth," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a report on Tuesday recommending big bank stocks.</p>
<p>However, bankers, lawyers and consultants who spoke to Reuters said any big rollback in rulemaking could take several years to implement and may introduce more costs.</p>
<p>"One of the dangers of dismantling regulation is that it will be costly and disruptive," said Mike Alix, a consultant at PwC who works with banks on regulatory matters. "By and large they've gotten themselves into shape and they're not looking to get out of shape."</p>
<p>Industry sources said they are hoping it's possible to roll back some elements of Dodd-Frank that they view as too onerous or misguided, without scrapping the entire law.</p>
<p>For instance, many would like to see the Volcker rule, which places restrictions on proprietary trading, go away. The rule was intended to prevent federally insured banks from placing speculative bets in the markets, and would be repealed as part of Hensarling's plan.</p>
<p>Some banks are taking a second look at compliance initiatives until they gain further clarity on what will happen in Washington.</p>
<p>At a conference this month, Bank of America Corp Chief Operating Officer Tom Montag said he is being "a little more cautious" about compliance spending. It is difficult to know whether it is worth spending another $30 million on Volcker rule compliance, he said, because doing so may be a waste of money but not doing so could leave the bank at risk if the rule is implemented as planned.</p>
<p>"Even if Volcker doesn't go away, there are still questions about how tough the enforcement would be," said Mark Nuccio, who leads the bank regulatory practice at law firm Ropes &amp; Gray LLP. "Banks are deciding they may take the foot off the gas pedal now and just see what happens."</p>
<p>(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Jonathan Oatis)</p> | Big banks' relationship with Dodd-Frank: it's complicated | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/11/23/big-banks-relationship-with-dodd-frank-it-complicated.html | 2016-11-23 | 0 |
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<p>After a blockbuster private-sector jobs report earlier this week, Wall Street is anxiously awaiting the Labor Department’s monthly non-farm payrolls report due out Friday morning for further indication the economy is ready for higher interest rates.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Labor Department is expected to say the U.S. economy added 190,000 net new jobs in February, while the unemployment rate is seen ticking down to 4.7% from 4.8% in January as wages – a closely watched metric that’s been slow to grow – are expected to rise 0.3%, a higher pace than the prior month’s 0.1% uptick.</p>
<p>“Only a tragic employment report would derail the Fed’s plans to hike next week, and even then it would probably be dismissed as an anomaly,” said Dan North, chief economist at Euler Hermes North America.</p>
<p>The government’s figures, typically released on the first Friday of every month, are one week behind this month due to a calendar quirk during the data-collection period, and come after payroll processor ADP reported on Wednesday the private sector added 298,000 new jobs last month, 108,000 more than Wall Street analysts expected. It was the fastest pace of monthly growth seen in nearly three years, thanks to a jobs surge in the goods-producing sector and mild winter weather, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, which compiles the report for ADP.</p>
<p>While the ADP report showed goods-producing industries notched gains of 105,000 last month and 55,000 in January, construction, manufacturing, and natural resources have also been areas of strength for the private sector as the manufacturing industry overall has rebounded over the last year. Data from the Institute for Supply Management last week showed six-straight months of expansion for the industry, while its closely-watched gauge of factory activity <a href="" type="internal">spiked to the highest level since August 2014</a>.</p>
<p>While optimistic about Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, UBS Economist Samuel Coffin warned ADP’s February figures may exaggerate the pickup in U.S. employment since they can be sensitive to recent payrolls moves.</p>
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<p>“Much of the pickup in the ADP figure may simply reflect some benchmarking to stronger official figures from the BLS. And that BLS trend was probably exaggerated by swings toward warmer weather in January. In addition, there is some recent upward bias to APD estimates … and Februarys alone have shown some bias,” he said pointing to an average overestimation of 41,000 for February payrolls figures.</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve will be closely monitoring the Labor Department’s latest figures for further reassurance the U.S. economy can withstand higher short-term interest rates. In the last week, expectations for a rate rise at the central bank’s March 14-15 policy meeting skyrocketed on the heels of a slew of better-than-expected economic data – including the ISM and ADP figures – and President Donald Trump’s emphasis on made-in-America initiatives and job growth efforts in his first address to a joint session of Congress last week.</p>
<p>CME Group federal funds futures, a tool depicting market expectations for changes in monetary policy, show a 90% probability of a 0.25 percentage point increase in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate this month.</p>
<p>Fed officials, including chair Janet Yellen, have been in a rush to prep the market for a sooner-than-later rate rise. On Friday, she said with the labor market “in line” with median estimates of its longer-run normal level and inflation just below 2%, “a further adjustment of the federal funds rate would likely be appropriate” at next week’s meeting.</p> | February Jobs Report a Final Hurdle for Fed's Next Rate Rise | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/09/february-jobs-report-final-hurdle-for-feds-next-rate-rise.html | 2017-03-09 | 0 |
<p>DUBLIN (Reuters) – British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Friday the UK government was not minimizing the issue of the Irish border in Brexit negotiations and would work with Dublin to solve it.</p>
<p>Speaking in Dublin, he also said that Britain had no interest in any kind of so-called hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.</p>
<p>He added that he understood why Ireland wanted a four to five-year Brexit transition period for Britain, but said transition was possible within a much tighter timescale.</p>
<p>“I understand the sentiment behind it, which is that everybody wants to have the maximum possible reassurance,” he said.</p>
<p>“I think it’s possible to do that in a much shorter timescale… Now is the time to make haste (on moving onto stage two of Brexit talks) and perhaps we don’t need to wait quite so long to give business final certainty about how it’s all going to work.”</p>
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<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Britain's Johnson says work to be done to solve Irish border issue | false | https://newsline.com/britain039s-johnson-says-work-to-be-done-to-solve-irish-border-issue/ | 2017-11-17 | 1 |
<p />
<p>Leo Varadkar is poised to become Ireland’s first openly gay prime minister. (Photo by William Murphy; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)</p>
<p />
<p>Members of the ruling Fine Gael party on June 2 elected Leo Varadkar, who is of Indian descent, as their next leader. Varadkar, 38, will likely succeed outgoing Prime Minister Enda Kenny when the Irish Parliament votes later this month.</p>
<p>Varadkar, who is currently Ireland’s Minister of Social Protection, would be the country’s first openly gay prime minister.</p>
<p>His father was born in India. Varadkar would also become Ireland’s first prime minister of Indian descent.</p>
<p>“If my election of leader of Fine Gael today has shown anything, it is that prejudice has no hold in this republic,” Varadkar told supporters after his election as leader of Fine Gael, <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/leo-varadkar-is-elected-youngest-ever-leader-of-fine-gael-1.3106014" type="external">according to the Irish Times.</a></p>
<p>Members of Fine Gael elected Varadkar as their party’s leaders slightly more than two years after Ireland <a href="" type="internal">became</a> the first country in which same-sex couples received marriage rights through a popular vote.</p>
<p>Gays and lesbians have been <a href="" type="internal">able to legally marry in Ireland</a> since November 2015.</p>
<p>Ireland decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations in 1993.</p>
<p>A law that allows transgender people to legally change their gender without medical intervention <a href="" type="internal">took effect in September 2015.</a> The statute does not include intersex people and those who are under the age of 18.</p>
<p>Varadkar is poised to become the fourth openly gay or lesbian person to head a government.</p>
<p>Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was the prime minister of Iceland from 2009-2013. Elio Di Rupo was the prime minister of Belgium from 2011-2014.</p>
<p>Xavier Bettel has been the prime minister of Luxembourg since 2013.</p>
<p>The White House <a href="" type="internal">did not include the name of Bettel’s husband, Gauthier Destenay,</a> in the caption of a picture it released late last month that included first lady Melania Trump and other spouses of heads of state who attended a NATO summit in Brussels. Destenay’s name was added to the caption after media reports highlighted its omission.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Belgium</a> <a href="" type="internal">Elio Di Rupo</a> <a href="" type="internal">Enda Kenny</a> <a href="" type="internal">Fine Gael</a> <a href="" type="internal">gay</a> <a href="" type="internal">Iceland</a> <a href="" type="internal">Ireland</a> <a href="" type="internal">Johanna Sigurdardottir</a> <a href="" type="internal">Leo Varadkar</a> <a href="" type="internal">Luxembourg</a> <a href="" type="internal">Xavier Bettel</a></p> | Gay man poised to become next Irish prime minister | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2017/06/04/gay-man-poised-become-next-irish-prime-minister/ | 3 |
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<p>Some residents along Idaho Creek SE in Rio Rancho say the neighborhood has changed for the worse over the past few years, and the killing of a man found at a home on the block this week has some wanting to move.</p>
<p>Rio Rancho police are continuing their investigation into who killed 34-year-old James R. Chavez and why.</p>
<p>It is the first homicide in the city this year.</p>
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<p>Sandoval County Regional Dispatch got a call early Sunday that Chavez was found dead at his home on Idaho Creek SE, near Western Hills. Chavez suffered trauma to his body, according to Rio Rancho police spokesman Lt. Paul Rogers.</p>
<p>The circumstances surrounding his death are not clear, Rogers said. But police believe Chavez knew the person or people who killed him.</p>
<p>People were always seen coming and going from the home, some of Chavez’s neighbors said Wednesday. The neighbors did not want to be identified, but a woman who lives on Idaho Creek said she believes “illicit” things were happening inside Chavez’s home.</p>
<p>She said the home was recently broken into.</p>
<p>“That house has caused problems,” she said. “There’s been a lot of chaos going on there.”</p>
<p>Occupants of the home had been gone for months prior to Chavez being found dead, the woman’s son said. But after the news broke, people who appeared to be family members made their way to the home and walked around the property as if looking for answers, neighbors said.</p>
<p>Chavez’s home stands out like a sore thumb on Idaho Creek. The home, with its boarded up windows, piles of trash at the entrance and an old, worn couch thrown near the driveway, sits near neatly manicured landscaped homes.</p>
<p>The female neighbor said there was no running water at Chavez’s home and that one of his relatives would come over to use her garden hose. Her son pointed out that Chavez’s home has no gas meter and showed where the meter once stood.</p>
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<p>In addition to the killing, police have gone five times to the home since the beginning of 2010, according to Rogers. The calls were:</p>
<p>♦ June 14, 2011, for assault</p>
<p>♦ Dec. 19, 2010, for suicide</p>
<p>♦ April 16, 2010, for a stolen vehicle</p>
<p>♦ March 9, 2010, for a warrant arrest</p>
<p>♦ Jan. 28, 2010, for child abuse</p>
<p>Chavez’s female neighbor said that when she moved into the neighborhood in the early 1990s, children would play on the street and would take walks together with their pets. Now, she said that no longer happens and that the neighborhood has significantly taken a turn for the worse.</p>
<p>“This neighborhood has really changed,” she said.</p>
<p>She said she is considering selling her home that she shares with her son and moving.</p> | Slaying Site Was Source of Problems | false | https://abqjournal.com/43167/slaying-site-was-source-of-problems.html | 2011-07-14 | 2 |
<p>By Ellen Brown, Web of DebtThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2013/11/26/monsanto-the-tpp-and-global-food-dominance/" type="external">Web of Debt</a>.</p>
<p>“Control oil and you control nations,” said US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the 1970s. ”Control food and you control the people.”</p>
<p>Global food control has nearly been achieved, by reducing seed diversity with GMO (genetically modified) seeds that are distributed by only a few transnational corporations. But this agenda has been implemented at grave cost to our health; and if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) passes, control over not just our food but our health, our environment and our financial system will be in the hands of transnational corporations.</p>
<p>Profits Before Populations</p>
<p />
<p>According to an Acres USA <a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/artman2/uploads/1/May2011_Huber.pdf" type="external">interview</a> of plant pathologist Don Huber, Professor Emeritus at Purdue University, two modified traits account for practically all of the genetically modified crops grown in the world today. One involves insect resistance. The other, more disturbing modification involves insensitivity to glyphosate-based herbicides (plant-killing chemicals). Often known as Roundup after the best-selling Monsanto product of that name, glyphosate poisons everything in its path except plants genetically modified to resist it.</p>
<p>Glyphosate-based herbicides are now the most commonly used herbicides in the world. Glyphosate is an essential partner to the GMOs that are the principal business of the burgeoning biotech industry. Glyphosate is a “broad-spectrum” herbicide that destroys indiscriminately, not by killing unwanted plants directly but by tying up access to critical nutrients.</p>
<p>Because of the insidious way in which it works, it has been sold as a relatively benign replacement for the devastating earlier dioxin-based herbicides. But a barrage of experimental data has now shown glyphosate and the GMO foods incorporating it to pose serious dangers to health. Compounding the risk is the toxicity of “inert” ingredients used to make glyphosate more potent. Researchers have found, for example, that the surfactant POEA can <a href="http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/roundup-weed-killer-is-toxic-to-human-cells.-study-intensifies-debate-over-inert-ingredients" type="external">kill</a> human cells, particularly embryonic, placental and umbilical cord cells. But these risks have been conveniently ignored.</p>
<p>The widespread use of GMO foods and glyphosate herbicides helps explain the anomaly that the US spends over <a href="http://pgpf.org/Chart-Archive/0006_health-care-oecd" type="external">twice as much</a> per capita on healthcare as the average developed country, yet it is rated far down the scale of the world’s healthiest populations. The World Health Organization has <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/01/new-health-rankings-of-17-nations-us-is-dead-last/267045/" type="external">ranked</a> the US LAST out of 17 developed nations for overall health.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/08/what-are-gmos-and-why-should-i-care" type="external">Sixty to seventy percent</a> of the foods in US supermarkets are now genetically modified. By contrast, in at least 26 other countries—including Switzerland, Australia, Austria, China, India, France, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Greece, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy, Mexico and Russia—GMOs are <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/176863/twenty-six-countries-ban-gmos-why-wont-us" type="external">totally or partially banned</a>; and significant restrictions on GMOs exist in about sixty other countries.</p>
<p>A ban on GMO and glyphosate use might go far toward improving the health of Americans. But the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a global trade agreement for which the Obama Administration has sought Fast Track status, would block that sort of cause-focused approach to the healthcare crisis.</p>
<p>Roundup’s Insidious Effects</p>
<p>Roundup-resistant crops escape being killed by glyphosate, but they do not avoid absorbing it into their tissues. Herbicide-tolerant crops have substantially higher levels of herbicide residues than other crops. In fact, many countries have had to increase their legally allowable levels—by up to 50 times—in order to accommodate the introduction of GM crops. In the European Union, residues in foods are set to rise <a href="http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Why_Glyphosate_Should_be_Banned.php" type="external">100-150 times</a> if a new proposal by Monsanto is approved. Meanwhile, herbicide-tolerant “super-weeds” have <a href="http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/move-over-round-up-usda-approves-2nd-gen-gmos-that-can-withstand-even-deadlier-herbicide-09012013" type="external">adapted</a> to the chemical, requiring even more toxic doses and new toxic chemicals to kill the plant.</p>
<p>Human enzymes are affected by glyphosate just as plant enzymes are: the chemical blocks the uptake of manganese and other essential minerals. Without those minerals, we cannot properly metabolize our food. That helps explain the rampant epidemic of obesity in the United States. People eat and eat in an attempt to acquire the nutrients that are simply not available in their food.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416" type="external">According</a> to researchers Samsell and Seneff in <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy/special_issues/biosemiotic_entropy" type="external">Biosemiotic Entropy: Disorder, Disease, and Mortality</a> (April 2013):</p>
<p>Glyphosate’s inhibition of cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes is an overlooked component of its toxicity to mammals. CYP enzymes play crucial roles in biology . . . . Negative impact on the body is insidious and manifests slowly over time as inflammation damages cellular systems throughout the body. Consequences are most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet, which include gastrointestinal disorders, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>More than 40 diseases have been linked to glyphosate use, and more keep appearing. In September 2013, the National University of Rio Cuarto, Argentina, <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&amp;objectid=11150351" type="external">published research</a> finding that glyphosate enhances the growth of fungi that produce aflatoxin B1, one of the most carcinogenic of substances. A doctor from Chaco, Argentina, told Associated Press, “We’ve gone from a pretty healthy population to one with a high rate of cancer, birth defects and illnesses seldom seen before.” Fungi growths have increased significantly in US corn crops.Glyphosate has also done serious damage to the environment. According to an October 2012 <a href="http://www.i-sis.org.uk/Why_Glyphosate_Should_Be_Banned_PDF.php" type="external">report</a> by the Institute of Science in Society:</p>
<p>Agribusiness claims that glyphosate and glyphosate-tolerant crops will improve crop yields, increase farmers’ profits and benefit the environment by reducing pesticide use. Exactly the opposite is the case. . . . [T]he evidence indicates that glyphosate herbicides and glyphosate-tolerant crops have had wide-ranging detrimental effects, including glyphosate resistant super weeds, virulent plant (and new livestock) pathogens, reduced crop health and yield, harm to off-target species from insects to amphibians and livestock, as well as reduced soil fertility.</p>
<p>Politics Trumps Science</p>
<p>In light of these adverse findings, why have Washington and the European Commission continued to endorse glyphosate as safe? Critics point to lax regulations, heavy influence from corporate lobbyists, and a political agenda that has more to do with power and control than protecting the health of the people.</p>
<p>In the ground-breaking 2007 book <a href="https://store.globalresearch.ca/store/seeds-of-destruction/" type="external">Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation</a>, William Engdahl states that global food control and depopulation became US strategic policy under Rockefeller protégé Henry Kissinger. Along with oil geopolitics, they were to be the new “solution” to the threats to US global power and continued US access to cheap raw materials from the developing world. In line with that agenda, the government has shown extreme partisanship in favor of the biotech agribusiness industry, opting for a system in which the industry “voluntarily” polices itself. Bio-engineered foods are treated as “natural food additives,” not needing any special testing.</p>
<p>Jeffrey M. Smith, Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology, <a href="http://www.responsibletechnology.org/posts/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/State-of-the-Science-of-GMO-Health-Risks-sm-.2013.pdf" type="external">confirms</a> that US Food and Drug Administration policy allows biotech companies to determine if their own foods are safe. Submission of data is completely voluntary. He concludes:</p>
<p>In the critical arena of food safety research, the biotech industry is without accountability, standards, or peer-review. They’ve got bad science down to a science.</p>
<p>Whether or not depopulation is an intentional part of the agenda, widespread use of GMO and glyphosate is <a href="http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/us-birthrates-plummet-by-310000-babies-responsible-economic-planning-or-shadow-depopulation-07102013" type="external">having that result</a>. The endocrine-disrupting properties of glyphosate have been linked to infertility, miscarriage, birth defects and arrested sexual development. In Russian experiments, animals fed GM soy were sterile by the third generation. Vast amounts of farmland soil are also being systematically ruined by the killing of beneficial microorganisms that allow plant roots to uptake soil nutrients.</p>
<p>In Gary Null’s eye-opening documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6OxbpLwEjQ" type="external">Seeds of Death: Unveiling the Lies of GMOs</a>, Dr. Bruce Lipton warns, “We are leading the world into the sixth mass extinction of life on this planet. . . . Human behavior is undermining the web of life.”</p>
<p>The TPP and International Corporate Control</p>
<p>As the devastating conclusions of these and other researchers awaken people globally to the dangers of Roundup and GMO foods, transnational corporations are working feverishly with the Obama administration to fast-track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that would strip governments of the power to regulate transnational corporate activities. Negotiations have been kept secret from Congress but not from corporate advisors, 600 of whom have been consulted and know the details. <a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/trans-pacific-partnership-and-monsanto-1372074730" type="external">According</a> to Barbara Chicherio in Nation of Change:</p>
<p>The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) has the potential to become the biggest regional Free Trade Agreement in history. . . .</p>
<p>The chief agricultural negotiator for the US is the former Monsanto lobbyist, Islam Siddique. If ratified the TPP would impose punishing regulations that give multinational corporations unprecedented right to demand taxpayer compensation for policies that corporations deem a barrier to their profits.</p>
<p>. . . They are carefully crafting the TPP to insure that citizens of the involved countries have no control over food safety, what they will be eating, where it is grown, the conditions under which food is grown and the use of herbicides and pesticides.</p>
<p>Food safety is only one of many rights and protections liable to fall to this super-weapon of international corporate control. In an April 2013 interview on The Real News Network, Kevin Zeese called the TPP “NAFTA on steroids” and “a global corporate coup.” He <a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=31&amp;Itemid=74&amp;jumival=9985" type="external">warned</a>:</p>
<p>No matter what issue you care about—whether its wages, jobs, protecting the environment . . . this issue is going to adversely affect it . . . .</p>
<p>If a country takes a step to try to regulate the financial industry or set up a public bank to represent the public interest, it can be sued . . . .</p>
<p>Return to Nature: Not Too Late</p>
<p>There is a safer, saner, more earth-friendly way to feed nations. While Monsanto and US regulators are forcing GM crops on American families, Russian families are showing what can be done with permaculture methods on simple garden plots. In 2011, 40% of Russia’s food was grown on <a href="http://naturalhomes.org/naturalliving/russian-dacha.htm" type="external">dachas</a> (cottage gardens or allotments). Dacha gardens produced over 80% of the country’s fruit and berries, over 66% of the vegetables, almost 80% of the potatoes and nearly 50% of the nation’s milk, much of it consumed raw. <a href="http://thebovine.wordpress.com/2009/08/09/in-1999-35-million-small-family-plots-produced-90-of-russias-potatoes-77-of-vegetables-87-of-fruits-59-of-meat-49-of-milk-way-to-go-people/" type="external">According</a> to Vladimir Megre, author of the best-selling Ringing Cedars Series:</p>
<p>Essentially, what Russian gardeners do is demonstrate that gardeners can feed the world – and you do not need any GMOs, industrial farms, or any other technological gimmicks to guarantee everybody’s got enough food to eat. Bear in mind that Russia only has 110 days of growing season per year – so in the US, for example, gardeners’ output could be substantially greater. Today, however, the area taken up by lawns in the US is two times greater than that of Russia’s gardens – and it produces nothing but a multi-billion-dollar lawn care industry.</p>
<p>In the US, only about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_farming_by_country" type="external">0.6 percent</a> of the total agricultural area is devoted to organic farming. This area needs to be vastly expanded if we are to avoid “the sixth mass extinction.” But first, we need to urge our representatives to stop Fast Track, vote no on the TPP, and pursue a global phase-out of glyphosate-based herbicides and GMO foods. Our health, our finances and our environment are at stake.</p>
<p>Ellen Brown is an attorney, president of the <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.org" type="external">Public Banking Institute</a>, and author of twelve books, including the best-selling <a href="http://www.webofdebt.com" type="external">Web of Debt</a>. In <a href="http://www.publicbanksolution.com" type="external">The Public Bank Solution</a>, her latest book, she explores successful public banking models historically and globally. Her blog articles are at <a href="http://ellenbrown.com" type="external">EllenBrown.com</a>.</p>
<p /> | Monsanto, the TPP and Global Food Dominance | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/monsanto-the-tpp-and-global-food-dominance/ | 2013-11-28 | 4 |
<p>Los Angeles TimesRobert J. Dowling, 66, has been running the daily trade newspaper for 17 years. The editor-in-chief and publisher has weathered accusations of blurring his dual roles as businessman and journalist. Claire Hoffman notes Dowling once killed a proposed story on "The 100 Worst Movies of All Time" after reportedly getting complaints from studio advertisers. One editor says Dowling "took a publication that was second-rate and he leaves it first-rate." (Read the Hollywood Reporter's Dowling <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001615352" type="external">story</a>.)</p> | Hollywood Reporter editor and publisher Dowling to retire | false | https://poynter.org/news/hollywood-reporter-editor-and-publisher-dowling-retire | 2005-12-07 | 2 |
<p>(The Economic Collapse) – The Percentage Of Self-Employed Americans Is At A Record Low. The percentage of Americans that are working for themselves has never been lower in the history of the United States.&#160; Once upon a time, the United States was a paradise for entrepreneurs and small businesses, but now the control freak bureaucrats that dominate our society have created a system that absolutely eviscerates them.</p>
<p>This is very unfortunate, because by murdering small business, the bureaucrats are destroying the primary engine of job growth in this country.&#160; One of the big reasons why there are not enough jobs in America today is because small business creation is way down.&#160; As I mentioned yesterday, entrepreneurs and small businesses are being absolutely devastated by rules, regulations, red tape and by oppressive levels of taxation.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">SPECIAL: Join the Tea Party REVOLUTION! The Obama Regime must be dismantled!</a></p>
<p>If anyone doubts that small business in the United States is dying, just look at the charts below.&#160; Sadly, this is what the bureaucrats that run things want.&#160; They don’t want us to be independent of the system.&#160; Instead, they are much more comfortable when as many of us as possible are heavily dependent on the system in one way or another.&#160; If all of us have to go running to the government or to one of the big corporations for a job, then we are much easier to control.&#160; But as the control freaks continue to construct their bureaucratic utopia, they are also killing off what once made the U.S. economy so great.</p>
<p>The number of unincorporated self-employed Americans has dropped back to levels that we have not seen since the mid-1980s even though our population has increased by tens of millions of people since that time… &#160; From 1970 to the mid-1990s the number of unincorporated self-employed Americans rose steadily.&#160; But in the mid-1990s it began to level off and now it is falling rapidly.</p>
<p>The percentage of self-employed Americans as a share of non-farm employment has dropped.&#160; In other words, those that work on farms are excluded from this chart.&#160; The percentage of self-employed Americans was fairly stable between 1970 and 1990, but since 1990 it has been steadily eroding and it has now reached a level never seen before… &#160; At this point, only about 7 percent of non-farm workers are self-employed.&#160; That is depressingly low.&#160; That means that an overwhelming majority of those that are employed in America are working for the system in one capacity or another. &#160; But isn’t that what we pound into the heads of our children these days?</p>
<p>We teach them to work hard in school so that they can “get a good job” when they grow up.&#160; From a very early age we train our children to plug themselves into the system. &#160; Not that working for someone else is wrong.&#160; Of course not.&#160; It is just that we are not fostering a spirit of entrepreneurship in America today.&#160; In fact, we seem to be doing everything that we can to kill it off. &#160; In a previous article, I detailed how the number of new businesses (and the number of jobs those businesses create) has been steadily declining.&#160; In particular, this decline has accelerated dramatically under the Obama administration.</p>
<p>According to an analysis of U.S. Department of Labor data performed by economist Tim Kane, the following is how the decline in the number of startup jobs per 1000 Americans breaks down by presidential administration…</p>
<p>Bush Sr.: 11.3</p>
<p>Clinton: 11.2</p>
<p>Bush Jr.: 10.8</p>
<p>Obama: 7.8</p>
<p>Is that a good trend or a bad trend? It doesn’t take an advanced degree in economics to figure out where things are going. &#160; Kane speculated about why we are witnessing such a decline in his paper… &#160; There is anecdotal evidence that the U.S. policy environment has become inadvertently hostile to entrepreneurial employment. At the federal level, high taxes and higher uncertainty about taxes are undoubtedly inhibiting entrepreneurship, but to what degree is unknown. The dominant factor may be new regulations on labor.</p>
<p>The passage of the Affordable Care Act is creating a sweeping alteration of the regulatory environment that directly changes how employers engage their workforces, and it will be some time until those changes are understood by employers or scholars. Separately, there has been a federal crackdown since 2009 by the Internal Revenue Service on U.S. employers that hire U.S. workers as independent contractors rather than employees, raising the question of mandatory benefits.</p>
<p>New firms tend to use part-time and contract staffing rather than full-time employees during the startup stage. According to Labor Department data, the typical American today only takes home 70 percent of compensation as pay, while the rest is absorbed by the spiraling cost of benefits (e.g., health insurance). The dilemma for U.S. policy is that an American entrepreneur has zero tax or regulatory burden when hiring a consultant/contractor who resides abroad. But that same employer is subject to paperwork, taxation, and possible IRS harassment if employing U.S.-based contractors. Finally, there has been a steady barrier erected to entrepreneurs at the local policy level.</p>
<p>Brink Lindsey points out in his book Human Capitalism that the rise of occupational licensing is destroying startup opportunities for poor and middle class Americans. &#160; In my previous article, I also pointed out some of the other statistics that show that small business in America is dying…</p>
<p>-According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. economy lost more than 220,000 small businesses during the last recession.</p>
<p>-As a share of the population, the percentage of Americans that are self-employed fell by more than 20 percent between 1991 and 2010.</p>
<p>-As a share of the population, the percentage of “new entrepreneurs and business owners” dropped by a staggering 53 percent between 1977 and 2010.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is a crisis that has taken decades to develop and that there are not any easy solutions for.&#160; But there are certain factors that should be addressed immediately.&#160; The following are some of the things that are contributing to the murder of self-employment and small business in America…</p>
<p>#1 Taxes: The IRS seems to especially enjoy tormenting entrepreneurs and small businesses.&#160; In fact, things have gotten so bad that even late night talk show hosts are joking about it.&#160; Recently, NBC Tonight Show host Jay Leno joked that if Barack Obama really wanted to close down Guantanamo Bay, he should “do what he always does: declare it a small business and tax it out of existence”</p>
<p>#2 Ridiculous Regulations: If you have ever tried to start a small business, you probably know how frustrating it can be dealing with government red tape.&#160; In particular, the federal government has burdened our small businesses with gigantic mountains of rules and regulations and it gets worse with each passing day.</p>
<p>#3 State Governments That Are Openly Hostile To Business: A perfect example of this is the state of California.&#160; In 2011, the state of California ranked 50th out of all 50 states in new business creation, and yet they just continue to pass more legislation that hurts small businesses.</p>
<p>#4 Obamacare: Our broken healthcare system is a tremendous burden on small businesses, and Obamacare is going to make things much worse.</p>
<p>#5 The One World Trade Agenda: In many industries, U.S. small businesses simply cannot compete against products made by workers that are being paid slave labor wages on the other side of the globe.</p>
<p>#6 Predator Corporations: Time after time we have seen corporate giants extract huge tax breaks and other enormous concessions from local officials which give them an overwhelming advantage.&#160; But once the corporate giant moves into town, many of the existing small businesses find that they cannot compete and are forced to shut down.</p>
<p>#7 Our Corrupt Political System: On the national level, elections are almost always won by the politician that raises the most money.&#160; Our politicians know that their careers depend on raising money, so they tend to be very good to those that they get big money from.</p>
<p>There is a reason why big corporations spend billions of dollars on campaign contributions and lobbying.&#160; They do it because it works.&#160; Over the decades, the big corporations have been able to shift the rules of the game massively in their favor, and this has been to the detriment of entrepreneurs and small businesses. http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/they-are-murdering-small-business-the-percentage-of-self-employed-americans-is-at-a-record-low</p>
<p>TeaParty.org sums it up this way: Small business is very difficlut for the government to control. Therefore, it must be captured or destroyed, unfortunatly the destroy point of view is working very well.</p>
<p>TeaParty.org contributed to this article.</p> | Obama Administration is Murdering Small Business | true | http://teaparty.org/obama-administration-is-murdering-small-business-the-percentage-of-self-employed-americans-is-at-a-record-low-23748/ | 0 |
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<p>By Andrew Berlin</p>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – US companies with rocky histories in the leveraged loan market, including vitamin and supplement retailer GNC Holdings Inc, weight loss company Weight Watchers International and specialty drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:) International, are turning to the high-yield bond market to help refinance large existing loans, sources said.&#160;</p>
<p>Refinancing jumbo loans with a mix of loans and bonds is helping these firms to diversify their investor bases and balance sheets with a greater range of maturities. The bond market generally offers eight- to 10-year maturities while the loan market offers six- or seven-year tenors.&#160;</p>
<p>“It gives these issuers as many options as possible,” an investor said.</p>
<p>GNC is attempting to refinance for the second time this year after a previous loan market attempt failed in May. The company canceled its deal after investors asked for higher pricing to compensate for the risk associated with lending to a ‘brick and mortar’ retailer.</p>
<p>While a slew of companies has chased opportunistic refinancings in recent months amid robust market conditions, GNC faces a pressing 2018 maturity on its revolving credit facility and a 2019 maturity on its term loan, which would put the company at risk of defaulting if the loan is not refinanced. &#160;</p>
<p>The current transaction includes a US$705m term loan due in 2022 and US$500m of secured bonds also due in 2022 that will take out GNC’s existing US$1.13bn term loan and repay US$48m of borrowings under its revolving credit facility.</p>
<p>“They probably got reverse inquiry for a secured bond deal,” an investor speculated.</p>
<p>GNC’s existing debt includes a convertible note due in 2020 that will remain outstanding, a source familiar with the deal said.</p>
<p>NO WEIGHTING</p>
<p>Weight Watchers is marketing a US$1.39bn term loan due in 2024 and US$500m of unsecured notes due in 2025, which will be used along with cash on hand to refinance its existing US$1.93bn term loan that matures in 2020 and makes up the entirety of its current capital structure.</p>
<p>Although it has runway on the existing loan, Weight Watchers is likely pursuing the deal now in order to lock in longer-dated financing ahead of its most important quarter, sources said. Its first quarter results, which capture subscriptions driven by food consumption during the holiday period, could boost the clearing yield on any subsequent refinancing if they are underwhelming, sources said.</p>
<p>“Going to avoid the debt before January,” an investor said. “That’s the big sell-in period for their business.”</p>
<p>GNC and lead bank Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE:) declined to comment. Weight Watchers and lead bank JP Morgan did not respond to requests for comment.</p>
<p>Valeant has also been seeking to reprice its US$4.6bn term loan due in 2022 in conjunction with a US$750m pay down sourced from proceeds from an offering of new secured notes.</p>
<p>The company is tapping the bond market as it continues to tackle its roughly US$26bn debt stack – which includes several classes of secured and unsecured bonds in addition to the loan – with liability management exercises and debt paydowns from asset sale proceeds. The new bonds, which were issued on Tuesday as an add-on to an existing tranche, will mature three years after the loan, in 2025.</p>
<p>Other than extending Valeant’s maturity profile, the bonds are positioned as a stick to encourage lenders to approve the repricing. The loan market remains low on supply and losing some of their commitment to the bond market should persuade loan investors to&#160;hold on to the remaining pieces, a source close to the deal said. &#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Valeant wrapped up the loan repricing on Wednesday. The balance on the loan will fall to US$3.8bn following the transactions.</p>
<p>Valeant and lead bank Barclays (LON:) declined to comment.</p> | LPC: U.S. loan issuers lean on bond market to refinance parts of jumbo loans | false | https://newsline.com/lpc-u-s-loan-issuers-lean-on-bond-market-to-refinance-parts-of-jumbo-loans/ | 2017-11-16 | 1 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>I was at the gym, walking by a television tuned to one of the many insipid morning chat shows…but that’s not what stopped me dead in my tracks. What got my attention was the guest: Ralph Nader. I watched the host begin the interview with yet another rehash/accusation/question about the 2000 election. You know the drill by now: Nader spoiled it for Gore, ruined his own legacy, blah, blah, blah. It’s been repeated so often that most Americans accept it all as fact.</p>
<p>After having read New York magazine the night before, that first question was all I could stomach. You see, David Edelstein, the magazine’s film critic, just reviewed An Unreasonable Man, a new documentary about Nader. The self-important Edelstein spoke of receiving an invitation to see the film and meet Nader afterwards. “I wrote (that) I couldn’t make it,” said Edelstein, “but to leave my seat vacant in the name of the Iraqi and American dead.”</p>
<p>Left unsaid, of course, is his belief that Nader cost Al Gore the election and that Gore would never have invaded Iraq. While neither point can ever be fully proven true or false, I do have a question for Edelstein: If Al Gore cares so much about the Iraqi dead, why didn’t he speak out against the murderous sanctions when he was vice president? A half-million dead Iraqi children and Gore did not say one fuckin’ word in public to condemn it.</p>
<p>I’m also wondering if, during the Clinton-Gore years, Edelstein peppered his film reviews with similar self-righteous political statements. How about when Clinton bombed Iraq in response to an alleged plot to assassinate Bush the Elder and ended up killing Leila Attar, that country’s best-known female artist?</p>
<p>What did the millionaire morning chat show hosts and the haughty New York magazine film critic say about that? Better question: Were they even aware it happened?</p>
<p>“What we have with Edelstein is the typical liberal phenomena: blame Nader instead of facing the facts,” says Joshua Frank, author of Left Out: How Liberals Help Re-elect George W. Bush. “The reason Nader even made any headway in 2000 was due to his ability to tap into the mounting anti-globalization movement that was launched in Seattle one year earlier. Progressive, and even radical voters saw Nader as their chance to hold the neoliberals’ feet to the fire.”</p>
<p>Also in his “review,” Edelstein declares Nader to be “obviously nuts” for making the assertion that there wasn’t “a dime’s bit of difference” between Bush and Gore. This statement is presented as an article of faith as Edelstein offers no evidence. Why should he when probably 99.9% of his readers agree with him?</p>
<p>“Nobody can say Gore wasn’t a neoliberal,” says Frank. “He supported NAFTA, pushed WTO/China legislation-Al Gore was a proud New Democrat for many years and that was only part of it. Under Clinton/Gore environmentalists got the Salvage Rider and the derailment of Kyoto. The working poor got welfare reform. Labor got free trade. And Iraqi kids got deadly sanctions. Those are the reasons Nader had such a powerful campaign in 2000. I think if liberals can’t face that, they are the ones who are ‘nuts’.”</p>
<p>Take-home message: If all those Gore voters had pulled the lever for Ralph, we all would’ve been spared both the Bush administration and the Nader witch-hunt…plus, David Edelstein could to stick to writing about film.</p>
<p>MICKEY Z. can be found on the Web at <a href="http://www.mickeyz.net/" type="external">http://www.mickeyz.net</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Nader Still in the Crosshairs | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/01/31/nader-still-in-the-crosshairs/ | 2007-01-31 | 4 |
<p>Drum roll please. My official people of the year are… the&#160;CEOs,&#160;CFOs and all of those hardworking&#160;Americans&#160;who&#160;have found a way to help their respective corporations’&#160;stock valuations rise in 2013.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there&#160;seems to be an absurd game of telephone going around this country that stock prices have risen due to the government's quantitative easing program, or the "printing of money."</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>I have been saying, and I continue to say, that this program is doing very little to help stock prices rise.&#160;Claiming it does, and repeating&#160;it,&#160;deflects from the real heroes of 2013 and my people of the year. In spite of the heavy dose of regulations, increased&#160;taxes, uncertainty from proposed new regulations and the ever-heavy overhang from&#160;ObamaCare, the leadership at most&#160;U.S.&#160;corporations has&#160;been able to navigate these hurdles, most of which have come from an anti-business administration in&#160;Washington.</p>
<p>Earnings are up&#160;between 10-13% this year over last year, despite slow GDP growth both in the United States and the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Additionally, there is a&#160;completely fallacious&#160;story going around that stocks will cease to rise when "money printing" ends. Wow. That is a verbal slap in the face of all of those sitting around the board rooms, senior management and all those who report up.</p>
<p>Let me be very clear: The value of stocks&#160;is now and will always be&#160;based on earnings, projected earnings and interest rates.&#160;To say that stocks have moved higher for any other reason,&#160;especially due to money printing,&#160;is&#160;a giant&#160;cop out and proof&#160;that you need to go back and study up on how&#160;the&#160;stock market works.</p>
<p>Why do&#160;I&#160;call these&#160;business leaders&#160;and hardworking Americans&#160;heroes?&#160;In spite of all the negative&#160;economic&#160;headwinds, very few&#160;indicators&#160;are&#160;where&#160;they should be in what is the&#160;weakest&#160;recovery in our country's history.&#160;The rise in corporate earnings, which is the catalyst for increases in stock prices, is the only positive economic news that has&#160;unfolded in this country in 2013.</p>
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<p>The increase in stock prices as&#160;a&#160;result of corporations’&#160;masterful work in 2013 has added&#160;hundreds&#160;of billions of dollars into the balance sheet of all of us in this country. This will continue to trickle down into the economy. Hopefully,&#160;we will start to see the positive impact throughout all economic statistics. If you are feeling a little better financially today than you did 12 months ago, then you owe it to those hard-working&#160;soldiers of business that have done more this year to help improve&#160;their corporate balance sheets.</p>
<p>During this holiday season, be thankful for many things, but remember to be thankful for living in a country where capitalism reigns. The credit belongs to all those people&#160;who&#160;wake up every&#160;day and go out to make the economy work. It doesn't belong to a printing press.</p> | Give Credit Where Credit is Due | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/12/20/give-credit-where-credit-is-due.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>Traditional Hasidic Jewish music is typically mournful. The kvetchy tunes and OY reverberations are meant to awaken the Jewish soul, to inspire piety and spiritual yearning. Enter Lipa Schmeltzer, the Hasidic superstar whose music has earned him titles like “The Jewish Elvis Presley” and “The Hasidic Lady Gaga”</p>
<p>That last one has something to do with Lipa’s impressive collection of outlandish eyewear. In the realm of the ultra-Orthodox, he’s different, even revolutionary, and he embraces it.</p>
<p>Lipa has amassed a tremendous loyal following, but he has also been the subject of controversy and rabbinical bans ever since he popped onto the scene over a decade ago.</p>
<p>His music and concerts are routinely banned in many hardline Hasidic communities, and he has faced hostility at every step of the way.</p>
<p>Lipa grew up in New Square, a small, insular Hasidic enclave in upstate New York. This isolated village, less than 50 miles from Manhattan, is a relic of pre-Holocaust European shtetl life. There’s one road leading in and out of the densely populated village. Its suburban streets are exclusively inhabited by Hasidim of the Skverer sect. Their spiritual leader, or “Rebbe,” is revered and <a href="http://forward.com/news/210213/hasidic-enclave-keeps-its-secrets-amid-elusive-reb/" type="external">keeps a tight control over the village</a>. Anyone who doesn’t follow his rules risks expulsion from the village; members loyal to the Rebbe have <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/nyregion/in-hasidic-village-attempted-murder-arrest-is-linked-to-schism.html" type="external">resorted to violence</a>&#160;to keep nonconformists in line.</p>
<p>In New Square, boys and girls attend sex-segregated religious schools, typically marry at a young age through arranged marriages, and have an average of eight to ten children. There are no TVs and no access to the internet, or any outside influence that religious authorities deem a potential threat to impressionable minds.</p>
<p>The 11th child in a family of 12, Lipa showed great musical talent from a young age. Like all the boys from the community, he attended the village’s cheder, or boys’ school, where Yiddish is the primary language; English studies are almost non-existent. It’s limited to one hour of basic math and vocabulary in the afternoon. When they leave for yeshiva (essentially high school), many of the boys are illiterate in English. That was true for Lipa.</p>
<p>He admits he wasn’t a good student. He struggled to sit still for hours and read from the ancient Hebrew texts, and he often found himself on the receiving end of the rebbe’s (teachers) spanking stick. He was on the same course as the other boys — to study Talmud, get married&#160;and find a job that doesn’t require a good command of the English language, or a secular education.</p>
<p>But Lipa wanted something else. At first, he yearned to be a wedding singer at Hasidic weddings, conservative enough for the powers that be. But as his taste in music evolved, he ached to color outside the lines — to be creative and push the boundaries.</p>
<p>When Lipa got his first car as a married man, he started playing around with the radio dial, listening to tunes by musicians like Faith Hill and Shania Twain. He drew inspiration from their lyrics and beats, and created kosher versions of pop music.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>But Lipa’s new music shocked leaders in his ultra-Orthodox community. When he put out his first CD, they forced him to take out an ad in a Hasidic newspaper apologizing for it. Eventually, the harassment was too much to bear, and Lipa was forced to leave the village — the only way of life he ever knew — with his young family.</p>
<p>He moved to Airmont, a small suburban village on the outskirts of a more diverse Orthodox community in upstate NY called Monsey. He built a congregation for the growing Hasidic-flavored community of Airmont (of which I am a member). Families who’ve gone through similar journeys discovered a welcoming home in this community and in Lipa’s synagogue.</p>
<p>At the same time, Lipa’s music career flourished, and his popularity grew steadily, not only in strictly orthodox communities. He’s just released his 14th album, fittingly titled “Be Positive.” The album was co-written and produced by Matt Dubb, himself an expat from a stringent Jewish community and the son of a respected rabbi. As of August 13, it ranked at&#160;39 on the <a href="http://www.itunescharts.net/us/charts/albums/dance/" type="external">iTunes charts</a> for Top 40 US dance albums.</p>
<p />
<p>Album cover for Be Positive, with Lipa Schmeltzer (l) and Matt Dubb (r)</p>
<p>Dani Diamond</p>
<p>But a few years back, at the age of 33 and a father of four, Lipa began to wonder what would happen if his music career faded. He’d have no skills to fall back on, given his dismal secular education.</p>
<p>So he decided to go to a local community college to ask about enrollment. When the school asked about his high school diploma, Lipa said, “ ‘What’s that?’ They told me it’s the thing you get in high school. So I asked, ‘what’s high school?’ ”</p>
<p>Lipa eventually got his GED through a local program and enrolled for the fall 2012 semester at Rockland Community College. For him, the college scene was a big culture shock. Lipa says it took him a while to adjust, but he grew by leaps and bounds in those first few years.</p>
<p>And he’s gone even further. Lipa is now studying music and creative writing at Columbia University. He says he no longer feels completely academically inadequate, but he still struggles with the language barrier and his lack of a basic education. Lipa says he still needs a dictionary at hand when he’s reading a textbook, and often has to reread sentences to understand the context.&#160;</p>
<p>He admits to some resentment that an education was “robbed away” from him. At 37, he says he’s struggling to learn what the average American masters in grade school. But resentment is not healthy, he says.</p>
<p />
<p>Lipa Schmeltzer</p>
<p>Dani Diamond</p>
<p>On a Wednesday morning in April, I shadowed Lipa as he entered a graduate journalism class on religion at Columbia. He was dressed in a bekitche, the traditional Hasidic satin overcoat, and a colorful kippah and bowtie. He was there as a lecturer, not a student, and spoke animatedly about his music, religious devotion and academic journey. I could tell that the students were entertained, even enthralled, by his story, which, in typical Lipa fashion, was told with biblical analogies, flowery Yiddish expressions&#160;and over-the-top metaphors.</p>
<p>He told the students that his parents, who still live in New Square, know that he’s at Columbia, but that they don’t grasp the significance. He says his father, a Holocaust survivor, would ask: “What are you doing there? You gotta come back here. The rabbi is waiting for you, and I’m telling you it’s going to be good for you in this world and in the other world.”</p>
<p>But he says that after many years, he’s learned how to communicate with his father. &#160;</p>
<p>Lipa says if he could, he would stay in school for the rest of his life. He loves to sit in the library for hours, bent over books like the days of yore. He compares his curiosity for secular learning to a kid in the candy store.</p>
<p>What makes Lipa so unusual isn’t just his late start in academics and his music career; it’s also that he hasn’t rejected the Hasidic world. He’s still very much connected. So you can understand why some religious leaders view him as a threat to their insular world. But Lipa prefers to see himself as a bridge, with one foot in the Hasidic community and one in the outside world. But it’s not always an easy stance.</p>
<p>He was recently invited to sing at a wedding. It was not your run-of-the-mill Orthodox wedding: a millionaire was marrying off his child. The father flew in an ultra-Orthodox rabbi from Israel to officiate, and when the rabbi heard that Lipa was to perform there, he insisted that Lipa wait outside of the hall until the rabbi had left. For Lipa, this was a reminder of all those times he was humiliated and made to feel like an outcast by rabbis who forbid their followers from hiring him for their bar mitzvahs and weddings. He says he asked himself, ‘if this guy [rabbi] really thinks he’s God’s policeman, is this a God I want to believe in? Or do I want to believe in a loving God?’</p>
<p>But Lipa prefers to look at the bigger picture: He believes that all the embarrassment and ostracizing brought him closer to where he is today. If this is the price he had to pay, he tells me, tears welling in his eyes, it was worth it.</p> | Meet the Hasidic Lady Gaga | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-08-14/meet-hasidic-lady-gaga | 2015-08-14 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Philip Morris International.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Dividend investors always look for stocks that can give them the income they need, and they count on companies that can be successful enough over the long run to generate that income in a reliable way. Both Philip Morris International and Verizon have some attractive traits dividend investors like to see, but discriminating investors still want to know which one is the better buy.</p>
<p>Let's compare Philip Morris and Verizon on a number of dividend-related measures to see which one is the smarter dividend stock pick.</p>
<p>Current yieldThe simplest way to compare dividend stocks is by looking at what they yield currently, and right now, Verizon has the edge in that category. Philip Morris currently carries a dividend yield of about 4%, compared to 4.3% for the telecom giant.</p>
<p>Interestingly, though, it wasn't that long ago when the prospects for the two stocks were reversed. Philip Morris' 35% jump over the past year has reduced its yield dramatically. Verizon's stock is also up over that timeframe, but its more modest 11% rise hasn't cut its yield by as much.</p>
<p>Payout ratioDividend yields are great, but only if they're sustainable. One measure of how likely a company is to keep its quarterly dividends moving in the right direction is the payout ratio, which measures how much of a company's earnings it pays in dividends.</p>
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<p>Verizon is the healthier stock by this measure, as it pays out only about half of its earnings in the form of dividends. Philip Morris has a much higher ratio of more than 90%. One explanation for this disparity comes from the foreign-exchange markets, because Philip Morris has suffered from the strong dollar over the past year. Because the tobacco giant does all of its business overseas, a strong dollar means the foreign revenue it collects is worth less in dollar terms, and that puts a ceiling on top-line and bottom-line growth. Philip Morris expects better earnings once the dollar tops out, and given its recent decline, the dollar could actually start helping Philip Morris soon. Meanwhile, Verizon's U.S.-centered business doesn't have currency risk, simplifying things for dividend investors.</p>
<p>Recent dividend increasesBoth Philip Morris and Verizon have made dividend increases recently, and both have left something to be desired for longtime shareholders. In October, Verizon raised its quarterly payout to $0.565 per share. Yet that raise only represented a 2.7% increase, and some worried that the recent price wars in the wireless market could put further pressure on Verizon that, in turn, could reduce its earnings growth in the future.</p>
<p>Similarly, Philip Morris has dramatically slowed the pace of its dividend growth with its most recent dividend increase, which came in September. The company raised its dividend by 2% to $1.02 per share quarterly. As discussed above, the pressure from the strong U.S. dollar weighed on earnings and led Philip Morris to rein in the size of its dividend increase accordingly.</p>
<p>Long-term dividend growthLooking beyond the past year, Philip Morris and Verizon have established solid track records of dividend growth. Verizon has boosted its payout every single year for 11 years, and over that time, its dividend has risen by more than 55%. Increases have tended to be fairly modest, with 3% raises being most common.</p>
<p>Philip Morris has a shorter history as an independent company, but its short track record is arguably more impressive. Since 2008, Philip Morris has more than doubled its dividend, and it has made increases every year during that period. Prior to the recent dollar-related weakness, Philip Morris tended to make much larger increases of 6% to 20%, making the most recent 2% boost an outlier.</p>
<p>Overall, which stock you choose as the better dividend stock depends on your views for the future of their respective industries. If you think the wireless market in the U.S. has more promise than the international tobacco market, then Verizon gives you a higher yield now and arguably more growth opportunities. If you believe tobacco sales outside the U.S. still represent a growth industry, then Philip Morris' short-term beat-down due to the dollar could be your best buying opportunity to get into the stock.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/11/better-dividend-buy-philip-morris-international-in.aspx" type="external">Better Dividend Buy: Philip Morris International, Inc. vs. Verizon Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Better Dividend Buy: Philip Morris International, Inc. vs. Verizon | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/11/better-dividend-buy-philip-morris-international-inc-vs-verizon.html | 2016-04-11 | 0 |
<p>In the fight against HB-2, the North Carolina law that held that public schools, public college campuses and government agencies must require bathrooms or locker rooms be designated for use only by people based on their biological sex, leftist activists tried to pull a fast one by hauling numerous boxes “filled” with 185,000 supposed anti-HB2 petition signatures to the State Capitol in Raleigh.</p>
<p>Here’s the image the activists wanted for public consumption:</p>
<p>Boxes filled with signatures from those demanding lawmakers repeal <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HB2?src=hash" type="external">#HB2</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WRAL" type="external">@WRAL</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/ProgressNow_NC" type="external">@ProgressNow_NC</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/equalitync" type="external">@equalitync</a> <a href="https://t.co/oIr1Lyd8lY" type="external">pic.twitter.com/oIr1Lyd8lY</a></p>
<p>But, as you might have guessed, the activists were lying; most of the boxes were empty:</p>
<p>Unlike media reports, HB2 activists only delivered enough petitions to fill two boxes (out-of-state to the right). <a href="https://t.co/tpYCEsEqGi" type="external">pic.twitter.com/tpYCEsEqGi</a></p>
<p>Not only that, but the majority of signatures weren’t even from North Carolina;</p>
<p>The North State Journal newspaper <a href="http://www.nsjonline.com/article/2016/06/85-percent-of-h-b-2-protest-petitions-were-from-out-of-state" type="external">published</a> an article stating:</p>
<p>An audit of the petitions against House Bill 2 delivered to the N.C. governor’s mansion on April 25, Californians submitted more than five times the number of opposing petitions than North Carolinians did on the North Carolina law. The audit was obtained by North State Journal through a public records request and shows that the West Coast state delivered more opponents to House Bill 2 than the next 10 states combined.</p>
<p>Thus, about 85% of the signatures on the petition came from out of state.</p>
<p>Just where were they from, then? Any particular state?</p>
<p>Yup. The great majority of the signatures came from -- drum roll, please – California.</p>
<p>So why is that suspicious?</p>
<p>Here’s why: the North Carolina Attorney General, a Democrat, Roy Cooper, has his sights set on the governorship. Cooper just happens to be friends with California resident and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, so much so that he called Salesforce to discuss HB2. According to Megan Jacobs, deputy campaign manager for Cooper, Cooper “looked to Salesforce because he wanted them to know that this is not who North Carolina is, and that we are fighting against this discriminatory law.”</p>
<p>Bingo. In early April, Benioff met with the Deutsche Bank AG’s co-chief executive, John Cryan. Deutsche Bank AG, a Salesforce customer, just so happens to employ 900 people in North Carolina office. On April 12, the <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/deutsche-bank-freezes-north-carolina-expansion-citing-transgender-law-1460469042" type="external">Wall Street Journal</a> reported that Deutsche Bank had terminated its plans add 250 North Carolina jobs that the company had promised to add the previous September.</p>
<p>The NC Values Coalition and The Civitas Institute have filed <a href="http://nccapitolconnection.com/2016/05/09/pressconf/" type="external">information requests</a> to discover what Cooper and Benioff discussed, but the NC Values group told <a href="http://opinion.injo.com/2016/06/256636-nc-human-rights-groups-deliberately-misled-voters-anti-hb2-petition-signatures/" type="external">Sister Toldjah</a> of the Independent Journal Review that Cooper’s office released information that contained nothing of consequence.</p>
<p>"Californians submitted more than five times the number of opposing petitions than North Carolinians did on the North Carolina law."</p>
<p>The North State Journal</p>
<p>It would certainly benefit Cooper politically in his run against GOP Governor Pat McCrory if the state is suffering economically, which would be a logical consequence of companies like Deutsche Bank refuse to employ North Carolinians.</p>
<p>As Sister Toldjah concluded:</p>
<p>Perhaps some of North Carolina’s “Big Media” outlets will be inspired by North State Journal’s reports on the petition signatures and start doing analyses of their own on <a href="http://opinion.injo.com/2016/04/254965-5-ways-social-justice-warriors-seriously-violated-principles-2016/" type="external">activist left’s</a> ongoing campaigns to mislead voters–just as soon as they’re done endlessly <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article69049212.html" type="external">nitpicking</a> smaller conservative lists and telling girls to <a href="http://opinion.injo.com/2016/05/256023-major-north-carolina-newspaper-actually-argues-girls-just-need-accept-seeing-male-genitalia/" type="external">get over</a> their fear of seeing male genitalia in locker rooms and showers, of course.</p> | LGBT Activists Delivered Boxes And Boxes Of Signatures To Protest North Carolina’s Bathroom Law. There Was Just One Hilarious Problem. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/6452/lgbt-activists-delivered-boxes-and-boxes-hank-berrien | 2016-06-09 | 0 |
<p>Until &#160;November 2004, Israel lacked a partner for peace. President Arafat was locked up in a prison in Ramallah. He could admittedly receive international dignitaries from the whole world after Israeli approval. Israel often demanded that the dignitary first visit Israel and then leave for the home country to only return a couple of months later and visit the Nobel prize winner, one of the world’s most famous persons. The international community, including Sweden, accepted this moratorium theater without shame. Almost everyone obeyed the orders of the occupation power. There were, however, countries that rebelled against the folly, South Africa was one of them.</p>
<p>But in November 2004, the folly ended. &#160;Arafat died on the 11 November. Since Arafat was finally gone, normalized relations would be established and Israel would finally get a partner for peace. In regards to taking action, a lot has happened since 2004. Many hugs and kisses have been exchanged in front of the large TV channels between the leader of the occupation power and the leader of the occupied, not to mention Palestine’s first democratically held elections, according to Jimmy Carter and Carl Bildt. Construction work has also taken off on the West Bank. The settlers need somewhere to live and the number of settlers has in the years 2004-2007 increased with almost 20%. The number of children in Jerusalem who have seen their houses chopped down by Caterpillars has also remained alarmingly high.</p>
<p>We are in a large hall, the walls are white, the ceiling white, cold marble under our feet. We are in the main hall, part of the building that used to serve as President Arafat´s prison during his final years. This is where he was shut away, restricted by the curfew put upon him. A catafalk stands in the middle of the hall. This is where the coffin will he placed. The group of diplomats to which I belong are instructed by the protocol how to walk toward the coffin, bow and file past the new leaders and chief mourners.</p>
<p>Before this we have been escorted by guards through a vast sea of people. There must be more than a hundred thousand of them. Many have been waiting for days. Many have been stopped at checkpoints outside Nablus, Bethlehem, Jenin, Qalqiliya. But they have found other roads high up in the mountains or taken narrow paths past soldiers on high alert. These are the mourners that just couldn´t stay at home and watch the last journey on television; these are the mourners who want to come close. But many never managed to get through and had to turn back.</p>
<p>We are taken to the landing ground for the two helicopters and see the place that has been prepared for the interment. A few days ago, the area was filled with rubbish; old cars and cement barrels serving as protection from possible attackers, but now the threat is gone and the myth is dead.&#160; Now other people need protection.</p>
<p>The diplomats are led away from the spot. The soldiers create an opening in the compact crowd that we can pass through. All is calm, all is dignified. In spite of the weapons around us, we do not feel anxious.&#160; We are part of one great sorrow. The people we see around us have come today to honor a man, and to remember.&#160; Internal conflicts are put aside. Today Arafat is seen as a father and a leader.&#160; Today all negative epithets are forgotten.</p>
<p>We are taken away from the crowds and escorted into the large, white hall. Here we will wait for the coffin to arrive. The final religious ceremonies preceding the interment will be carried out in the presence of diplomats, the new leaders and chief mourners. The people are to wait outside.</p>
<p>We hear the rotor blades of the descending helicopters. We hear volleys of shots, fired in the air in honor of the leader. We hear the cries and whistles of the crowd.</p>
<p>It is as if we wanted to protect ourselves, shutting ourselves away from the crowd. We hear that something is happening, but we cannot see anything. We know less than we would if we had stayed at home and watched the television or listened to the radio.</p>
<p>Then we hear the pounding at the gates. The few soldiers on the inside cannot resist the crowd, pressing against the gates. They are too many and the doors are forced open. The room is filled with men that were meant to be shut out.</p>
<p>And those of us who were supposed to honor the myth in the secluded calm of the hall, we suddenly find ourselves on the side, we have put ourselves aside. All our preparation and plans come to nothing. Instead, the people take over the helicopter. They pull out the coffin and let it wander on top of the masses. It travels over everyone´s heads, as if playing a game with all of those who planned his last journey. It is as if he is performing a last dance, a tango in front of the world´s cameras. In front of those who loved him and those who were filled with hate, as if he, in spite of everything, finally surrendered himself to his people.</p>
<p>The Palestinian people who at his death were a people without a country.</p>
<p>MATS SVENSSON, a former Swedish diplomat working on the staff of SIDA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, is presently following the ongoing occupation of Palestine. &#160;He can be reached at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>. &#160;</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Last Dance in Ramallah | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/10/31/the-last-dance-in-ramallah/ | 2008-10-31 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>The word fascism, as Merriam-Webster noted on Twitter on Tuesday, is likely to be crowned 2016’s winner. The unusually high interest in its definition over the course of 2016 has propelled it to the fourth-most searched word in the history of the dictionary’s website.</p>
<p>“Guys, 2016 is so bad it made the dictionary sad,” went one reply, capturing the general pathos prompted by Merriam-Webster’s tweet. Within two hours, Merriam-Webster said there was an uptick in searches for flummadiddle, meaning nonsense. Flummadiddle’s only fighting chance against fascism, however, was if “everyone” searched it twice a day for the rest of the year.</p>
<p>The words of the year are more than the “most frequently looked up in the dictionary,” as Merriam-Webster put it in its end-of-2015 announcement. The words also “give us a window into what people are thinking.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In 2015, people were apparently thinking about the suffix “-ism.” Fascism scored high, but socialism topped the charts. Its popularity spiked after rallies held by self-avowed democratic socialist Bernie Sanders, according to the dictionary.</p>
<p>Likewise, 2008 was the year of the bailout, as well as searches for what “bailout” meant.</p>
<p>This year, words like misogyny and fascism have had huge bursts of interest, particularly after the election. Users looked up fascism at a rate 400 percent higher in 2016 than in 2015, the dictionary said on Nov. 14.</p>
<p>Merriam-Webster was unable to respond to a query from The Washington Post early Friday, to see if the dictionary was so against fascism it would suppress the rules to allow another word to win.</p>
<p>After all, the dictionary altered the selection process in the past. In 2006, the Merriam-Webster introduced an online poll to allow users to submit and vote for the word of the year. That year, the winner was “truthiness,” a joke word coined by Stephen Colbert on “The Colbert Report” in October 2005. Truthiness was followed by 2007’s “w00t,” a victory whoop popular among video-gamers in the mid-2000s; neither w00t nor truthiness was an official inclusion in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary at the time of their victories. The dictionary made the change back to search volume in time for 2008’s bailout.</p>
<p>For the record, Merriam-Webster defines fascism as:</p>
<p>1 A political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.</p>
<p>2 A tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control.</p>
<p>If fascism wins, as it seems likely to do, it will round out a cluster of bleak words for the year 2016. Across the pond, the Oxford Dictionaries announced that “post-truth” was this year’s word. As The Washington Post reported in November, the phrase does not mean beyond fact, but rather the sense that objective truth may be less relevant than appeals to emotion or belief. Paranoid occupied the brains at Cambridge Dictionary. And Dictionary.com chose xenophobia – the fear of strangers, foreigners or the alien – as its word of the year.</p>
<p>There are 29 days left to go in 2016.</p>
<p>fascism</p> | ‘Fascism’ leads in race for Merriam-Webster’s word of the year | false | https://abqjournal.com/900553/fascism-leads-in-race-for-merriam-websters-word-of-the-year.html | 2 |
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<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) _ These California lotteries were drawn Sunday:</p>
<p>Daily 3 Evening</p>
<p>4-4-9</p>
<p>(four, four, nine)</p>
<p>Daily 3 Midday</p>
<p>1-4-1</p>
<p>(one, four, one)</p>
<p>Daily 4</p>
<p>3-3-9-4</p>
<p>(three, three, nine, four)</p>
<p>Daily Derby</p>
<p>1st:7 Eureka-2nd:3 Hot Shot-3rd:9 Winning Spirit, Race Time: 1:45.97</p>
<p>(1st: 7 Eureka, 2nd: 3 Hot Shot, 3rd: 9 Winning Spirit; Race Time: one: 45.97)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $63,000</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>01-16-27-28-31</p>
<p>(one, sixteen, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, thirty-one)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $303,000</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $343 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $440 million</p>
<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) _ These California lotteries were drawn Sunday:</p>
<p>Daily 3 Evening</p>
<p>4-4-9</p>
<p>(four, four, nine)</p>
<p>Daily 3 Midday</p>
<p>1-4-1</p>
<p>(one, four, one)</p>
<p>Daily 4</p>
<p>3-3-9-4</p>
<p>(three, three, nine, four)</p>
<p>Daily Derby</p>
<p>1st:7 Eureka-2nd:3 Hot Shot-3rd:9 Winning Spirit, Race Time: 1:45.97</p>
<p>(1st: 7 Eureka, 2nd: 3 Hot Shot, 3rd: 9 Winning Spirit; Race Time: one: 45.97)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $63,000</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>01-16-27-28-31</p>
<p>(one, sixteen, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, thirty-one)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $303,000</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $343 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $440 million</p> | CA Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/e39b47408e4f484abc7e71505e0ad574 | 2018-01-01 | 2 |
<p>Every day brings more reminders of the terrible unfairness that besets our country, the tragic reversal of fortune experienced by millions who once had good lives and steady jobs, now gone.</p>
<p>An article in the current issue of Rolling Stone chronicles “The Fallen: The Sharp, Sudden Decline of America’s Middle Class” and describes a handful of middle class men and women made homeless, forced to live out of their cars in church parking lots in Southern California.</p>
<p>One of them, Janis Adkins, drove a van filled with her belongings to Santa Barbara, where she panhandled at an intersection with a sign reading, “I’d Rather Be Working – Hire Me If You Have a Job.” Once upon a time she had a successful plant nursery business in Utah that annually grossed $300,000. But two years after the nation’s financial meltdown her sales had dropped by fifty percent and the value of her land plunged even more. She tried to refinance but four banks turned her down flat. “Everyone was talking about bailouts,” Adkins told reporter Jeff Tietz. “I said, ‘I’m not asking for a bailout, I’m asking you to work with me.’ They look at you, no expression on their faces, saying, ‘There’s nothing we can do.’”</p>
<p>“Nothing we can do.” And yet it was banks like these who helped get people like Janis Adkins into such desperate jams in the first place. When faced with their own financial catastrophes, all those big-time bankers came running to the government and taxpayers for those aforementioned bailouts worth hundreds of billions of dollars, then scooped up big bonuses and perks for themselves, and went back to business as usual.</p>
<p>And what a business! You’ve most likely been hearing about the newest scandal in banking, centering on Barclays Bank in Great Britain and something called Libor. That stands for London Interbank Offered Rate and involves a group of bankers who set a daily interest rate affecting trillions of dollars of transactions around the world. Your home mortgage, your college debt, your credit card fees; all of these could have been affected by Libor.</p>
<p>Now you would think the rates would be set by market forces, right? Aren’t they what makes the world go ‘round? But it turns out some of those insiders were manipulating the index for their own gain, to make their banks look better off during the financial crisis, lower their borrowing costs, and raise their profits – by cheating. Picking our pockets and lining theirs.</p>
<p>The Economist magazine describes it as “the rotten heart of finance.” Here are some of the e-mails that have come to light: A banker in on the fix writes another, “Dude. I owe you big time! Come over one day after work and I’m opening a bottle of Bollinger.” One employee after being asked to submit false information, answered: “Always happy to help.” And another, recruiting a colleague in the fix, wrote: “If you know how to keep a secret, I’ll bring you in on it.”</p>
<p>Caught with its hand in the cookie jar, Barclay’s agreed to pay nearly half a billion in fines to British and American authorities, and as many as 20 other megabanks are under investigation, including Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, UBS, HSBC, and JPMorgan Chase. As one MIT authority on finance told CNN, “This dwarfs by orders of magnitude any financial scams in the history of markets.”</p>
<p>In the middle of this mess is an American named Bob Diamond. He was the CEO of Barclays and the man behind Barclays’ takeover of what was left of Lehman Brothers when, at the height of the financial crisis in 2008, Lehman filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. His goal was to make Barclays a global investment powerhouse but his enormous salary — his net worth has been estimated at $165 million — and unrepentant defense of the financial industry’s behavior led one British government official to describe him as “the unacceptable face of banking.” Diamond did wind up apologizing for Barclay’s role in the Libor interest rate scandal, even offering to forfeit his annual bonus — last year he received one worth more than $4 million. But in the end, under pressure from stockholders and public opinion, he was forced to resign.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the ripples from the scandal continue to spread. The New York Times reports that the city of Baltimore, stricken by financial losses and layoffs, is in the midst of a court battle against the banks that set the Libor index and that, “Now cities, states and municipal agencies nationwide, including Massachusetts, Nassau County on Long Island, and California’s public pension system, are looking at whether they suffered similar losses and are weighing legal action…</p>
<p>“American municipalities have been among the first to claim losses from the supposed rate-rigging, because many of them borrow money through investment vehicles that directly derive their value from Libor. Peter Shapiro, who advises Baltimore and other cities on their use of these investments, said that ‘about 75 percent of major cities have contracts linked to this.’”</p>
<p>What’s more, indications are that government agencies like the Bank of England and the British treasury also may have been involved, or at least looked the other way, raising questions whether other government agencies – including our own Federal Reserve — may have played a role. That remains for the investigators to find out but according to The Washington Post, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said “it had received word as early as 2007 from the British bank Barclays about problems” with Libor.</p>
<p>“In testimony last week before the British Parliament, former Barclays chief executive Robert E. Diamond said the bank had repeatedly brought to the attention of U.S. regulators — as well as U.K. regulators — the problems that the bank was experiencing in the Libor market.</p>
<p>“He said the bank’s warnings to regulators that Libor was artificially low did not lead to action. Barclays’ regulator in the United States is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which was run at the time by current Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner.”</p>
<p>This week the Senate Banking Committee asked for meetings with the principals involved and the House Financial Services Committee sent a letter to the New York Fed asking for transcripts of a dozen phone calls with Barclays executives.</p>
<p>But how far will inquiries go, especially when both American political parties are so beholden to high finance for cash? Just hours after Bob Diamond’s resignation, Mitt Romney’s campaign announced that, sadly, the disgraced financier would no longer be hosting one of two Romney fundraising events for American expatriates being held in London later this month. But no worries. The Boston Globe notes that “still among those hosting the events is Patrick Durkin, a registered lobbyist for Barclays… Durkin, who has been a top Romney bundler, is one of seven chairs for the reception and among the 13 co-chairs for the dinner.</p>
<p>“Others involved in hosting the events are Dwight Poler, managing director at the European branch of Bain Capital, the firm Romney founded; Raj Bhattacharyya, managing director at Deutsche Bank; and Dan Bricken, a managing director at Wells Fargo Securities. “ Each guest at the dinner event will pay between $25,000 and $75,000 for the opportunity to sup with the Republican presidential nominee.</p>
<p>The non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics reports that through the end of May, Bob Diamond and other Barclays employees had donated nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the Romney campaign and of course, the entire securities and investment industry has been a major donor to the Republican, more than any other. They’re giving to President Obama, too; just not as much, although they’re Number 3 on the list of top ten interest groups sending cash to the president and the Democratic National Committee.</p>
<p>And you wonder why the banksters still roam free, like gunslingers in a Wild West town without a sheriff.</p>
<p>Bill Moyers is managing editor and Michael Winship is senior writer of the weekly public affairs program, Moyers &amp; Company, airing on public television. Check local airtimes or comment at <a href="http://www.billmoyers.com/" type="external">www.BillMoyers.com</a>.</p> | Banksters Take Us to the Brink | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/07/13/banksters-take-us-to-the-brink/ | 2012-07-13 | 4 |
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<p>The House voted&#160;34-24 today to&#160;approve a measure that would require employees of licensed medical marijuana providers to pass criminal background checks.</p>
<p>The vote on the&#160;bill, which now advances to the Senate, broke down along near party lines. Most House Democrats voted for the measure — only three voted in favor — while all House Republicans that were present cast “yes” votes.</p>
<p>Some Democratic lawmakers blasted the legislation, saying it could place a stigma on working in the medical pot industry.</p>
<p>“This is inventing a solution for a problem that does not exist,” said Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Mesilla Park.</p>
<p>But Rep. Paul Pacheco, R-Albuquerque, the sponsor of <a href="http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legislation.aspx?Chamber=H&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=527&amp;year=15" type="external">House Bill 527</a>, said lawmakers need not wait for a scandal to occur before enacting such a policy.</p>
<p>“I think what we’re trying to do is take a preemptive step to make sure the program stays steady and there are no problems with it,” Pacheco said.</p>
<p>If approved, the bill would require the Department of Health to adopt rules around the background checks. But it also says certain drug-related felony convictions would permanently disqualify an employee from working for a medical marijuana dispensary.</p>
<p>There are currently 387 employees working for 23 different licensed providers in the state’s Medical Cannabis Program, Pacheco said during today’s debate.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Bill requiring background checks for medical pot workers approved by House on 34-24 vote | false | https://abqjournal.com/555561/bill-requiring-background-checks-for-medical-pot-workers-approved-by-house-on-34-24-vote.html | 2 |
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<p>David Ignatius on Saudi Arabia: “Reform plans appear to be moving ahead slowly but steadily”–as always.</p>
<p>Last week, in “A Young Prince Is Reimagining Saudi Arabia. Can He Make His Vision Come True?,” Washington Post foreign affairs columnist David Ignatius ( <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/a-young-prince-reimagines-saudi-arabia-can-he-make-his-vision-come-true/2017/04/20/663d79a4-2549-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html?utm_term=.518737d8f5e2" type="external">4/20/17</a>) wrote what read like a press release for the Saudi regime. What’s more, he’s written the same article several times before. For almost 15 years, Ignatius has been breathlessly updating US readers on the token, meaningless public relations gestures that the Saudi regime—and, by extension, Ignatius—refer to as “reforms.”</p>
<p>Ignatius columns on Saudi Arabia break down roughly into two groups: straight reporting mixed with spin and concern trolling, and outright press releases documenting the dictatorship’s spectacular reforms. First the latter:</p>
<p>Let’s begin by taking a look at his most recent iteration of this genre ( <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/a-young-prince-reimagines-saudi-arabia-can-he-make-his-vision-come-true/2017/04/20/663d79a4-2549-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305_story.html?utm_term=.518737d8f5e2" type="external">4/20/17</a>), featuring a brave Saudi prince taking on “religious conservatives” (vague reactionaries who are never named or defined) to change his own monarchy:</p>
<p>Two years into his campaign as change agent in this conservative oil kingdom, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appears to be gaining the confidence and political clout to push his agenda of economic and social reform.</p>
<p>Ignatius begins by doing something a lot of “reformer” boosters do in Saudi Arabia: conflating “economic reform” with social reform. The latter is typically the neoliberal lubricant to get to what really matters, the further privatization and leveraging of Saudi’s immense wealth. Indeed, the only social reforms even mentioned in the glowing report are “a Japanese orchestra that included women” performing to “mixed audience,” and a co-ed Comic Con. Perhaps by 2025 they’ll have mixed-gender D&amp;D tournaments.</p>
<p>David Ignatius</p>
<p>Ignatius’ cheerleading columns always rely on vague person-on-the-street sources as a placeholder for the Voice of the People. Take, for example, this framing in &#160;“Women Gain Newfound Stature in Saudi Arabia” ( <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-women-gain-newfound-stature-in-saudi-arabia/2013/01/18/9bb67c2e-610e-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html?utm_term=.6cd2b158a47d" type="external">1/18/13</a>):</p>
<p>King Abdullah announced January 11 that 30 women would join the kingdom’s Shura Council, a consultative body of 150 persons, and that women henceforth would hold 20 percent of the seats. Skeptics cautioned that it’s a symbolic move, since this is an advisory group that doesn’t actually enact any legislation. But it’s a powerful symbol, according to men and women here.</p>
<p>Which men and women? Was a poll done? It’s unclear. He goes on to interview a Cambridge-educated woman who appears hand-picked by the regime for a glossy profile. She’s from a humble background and was about to drop out of college until the king stepped in and benevolently paid her tuition. A story Ignatius, of course, dutifully repeats without skepticism.</p>
<p>Then there’s the other genre of Saudi coverage we’ll call Checking In On the House of Saud:</p>
<p>These pieces generally consist of down-the-middle updates about the status of Saudi Arabia, with some light criticism around the margins. Saudi Arabia is painted as a fearful, almost childlike place, whose evil deeds are animated by paranoia rather than ambition—bumbling “misfires” and “mistakes” rather than sinister motives.</p>
<p>The one piece whose headline seems to indicate actual criticism of the Saudi regime is anything but. In “The Costly Blunders of Saudi Arabia’s Anxiety-Ridden Monarchy” ( <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-glass-house-of-saud/2016/01/05/47583676-b3f0-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html?utm_term=.7a9dcb11fd7f" type="external">1/5/16</a>), our tough-luck Saudis are bumbling around the Middle East under siege:</p>
<p>Saudi Arabia is a frightened monarchy…. Countries that feel vulnerable sometimes do impulsive and counterproductive things, and that has been the case recently with Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>Counterproductive? Saudi Arabia has been a bad boy and needs a timeout.</p>
<p>Strangely, in 15 years of writing columns about the monarchy, David Ignatius has not himself used the term “human rights,” much less addressed their abuse in a meaningful way. In one of the few columns ( <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-glass-house-of-saud/2016/01/05/47583676-b3f0-11e5-9388-466021d971de_story.html?utm_term=.93fee8454318" type="external">1/5/16</a>) &#160;in which Ignatius actually levels criticism of the Saudi rulers’ gross human rights abuses, they are stripped of all autonomy, with the beheading of a minority religious figure painted as a response to the Evil Iranians: “The kingdom’s fear of a rising Iran led it to execute a dissident Shiite cleric.”</p>
<p>Ignatius went on to lament the execution in equally middle-management terms, saying it was a “mistake” and an “error.” What it wasn’t: “criminal,” “immoral” or “murder.” Moralizing is reserved for US enemies; US allies are simply underperforming employees in need of guidance and mild chiding.</p>
<p>Saudi Arabia, despite being an oppressive absolute monarchy that arbitrarily detains, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/04/26/un-committee-against-torture-review-saudi-arabia" type="external">tortures</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-execute-150-civilians-by-end-of-year-reprieve-human-rights-a7483951.html" type="external">executes</a> and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-s-bombing-of-yemeni-farmland-is-a-disgraceful-breach-of-the-geneva-conventions-a7376576.html" type="external">mercilessly bombs</a> civilians, is never given the dreaded “regime” moniker like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/surrender-and-you-can-eat-again-aleppo-on-the-brink/2016/10/04/fff6ecd0-8a6f-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html?utm_term=.5792f26affee" type="external">Assad</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-libya-a-minefield-of-nato-miscues-and-tribal-politics/2011/06/14/AGRhlAVH_story.html?utm_term=.e6fd23b7e61b" type="external">Gaddafi</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/north-korea-is-scarier-than-ever/2016/10/13/0657cb80-9169-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html?utm_term=.d4d20a9e8c5b" type="external">North Korea</a>. Actions are not done by an anthropomorphized state, but a nebulous blob of reluctant bureaucrats. And they are not even actions; they are always good-faith reactions to “Iranian hegemony.”</p>
<p>The Saudis’ ruthless bombing of Yemen, which has claimed <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/yemen-civil-war-civilian-death-toll-10000-killed-40000-injured-conflcit-un-reveals-a7530836.html" type="external">over 10,000 civilian lives</a> since March 2015, is almost never mentioned by Ignatius, and the few times it is touched upon it is glossed over as “costly and unsuccessful.” It is bad—not in terms of morals, but in process. It’s “costly” like an ill-advised real-estate investment.</p>
<p>Even more shockingly, Ignatius simply takes the regime’s word that all 47 people— <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/saudiarabia/12120230/Minors-among-47-executed-by-Saudi-Arabia-activists-say.html" type="external">including two minors</a>—subject to its 2016 mass execution were guilty of being “extremists”:</p>
<p>A defensive, anxious Saudi leadership tried to show its resolve with last week’s execution of 47 extremists.</p>
<p>That “defensive, anxious Saudi leadership”—a caged animal always responding to threats and occasionally overcorrecting.</p>
<p>In 2015, when King Abdullah died, Ignatius ( <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2015/01/22/saudi-arabias-coming-struggle/?utm_term=.ae353ea6cfcd" type="external">1/22/15</a>) insisted that the monarch who ruled for ten years over a country that <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/60339/nine-things-women-cant-do-in-saudi-arabia" type="external">didn’t allow</a> women to drive, swim, own property or travel alone “was seen by many Saudi women as their secret champion.” A pretty well-kept secret, it must have been—aside from allowing women to take part in meaningless local “elections” and meaningless advisory councils, it’s unclear what Ignatius’ evidence is for this, but it’s “seen by many Saudi women,” so that’s good enough.</p>
<p>One Washington Post reader put it best in a letter to the editor ( <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/saudi-arabia-fools-westerners-again/2015/02/08/8663a0b8-ae28-11e4-8876-460b1144cbc1_story.html?utm_term=.3e6989ae16d7" type="external">2/4/15</a>):</p>
<p>The Saudis have been talking reform at least since I was a student of Middle East affairs in the 1960s. Yet it still is the epicenter of inequality, human rights violations and gratuitous state-sponsored violence.</p>
<p>The wheels of alleged reform in that country are perpetually spinning but going nowhere. The rulers continue to steal the oil revenue that belongs to the people; civil liberties and personal rights are repressed; beheadings, stonings and whippings for nonviolent offenses continue unabated; and people such as Mr. Ignatius still crow about how the regime is a force for change.</p>
<p>Ignatius, of course, is not alone. He joins a long line of faithful Western pundits who frame the Saudi regime as a reformist entity, earnestly pushing change in a fundamentally reactionary country under perma-threat from Shia forces. The Al Saud mafia is not in league with religious extremists, but a bulwark against them; they are not an illegitimate dictatorship, but an enlightened ruling class helping usher in “reform” in the face of a hyper-religious population.</p>
<p>And throughout it all, they are on a 71,500-year reform plan where they are effusively praised for moving their country toward the 19th century every five years or so. Other regimes that oppress their people and bomb civilians “ <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-in-syria-russia-plays-an-important-role/2013/09/10/2e5eff98-1a45-11e3-82ef-a059e54c49d0_story.html?utm_term=.9aec851d29b8" type="external">must go</a>” now, and are beyond the moral pale—mere allegations of being friendly with them, a <a href="http://www.dailywire.com/news/10366/independent-journalist-rania-khalek-steps-down-elliott-hamilton#" type="external">career-ender</a>. But the Saudi regime, a friendly host to light-touch US pundits, is just a well-meaning scrappy band of reformers this close to turning into Switzerland. All they need is a bit more time.</p>
<p>Messages can be sent to the Washington Post at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>, or via Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost" type="external">@washingtonpost</a>. Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.</p> | David Ignatius’ 15 Years of Running Spin for Saudi Regime | true | http://fair.org/home/david-ignatius-15-years-of-running-spin-for-saudi-regime/ | 2017-04-28 | 4 |
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<p>Despite frantic calls from several people to 911 asking for police help, that didn’t come until it was too late.</p>
<p>Why was the Albuquerque Police Department unable to respond for more than two hours – when law-abiding residents were fearful of even trying to get to their homes because of the rowdy crowds in the street? Because it was an unusually busy night and we don’t have enough cops on the street.</p>
<p>Until shots rang out the party was only a Priority 2 call for the chronically understaffed department (Priority 1 is for more serious problems than noisy parties).</p>
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<p>In recent years, APD has struggled to boost its roster to its budgeted level of 1,000 officers, a challenge given the difficulty of the job and the tempting 20-year retirement that until recently allowed relatively young officers to collect a nice pension and find work elsewhere. The force is now at about 925 and likely headed downward as retirements escalate as a result of 2013 legislation to keep state pension funds solvent. The reforms include trimming future retiree benefits, requiring government employees to pay more of their paychecks into the pension funds and slightly increasing taxpayer-funded contributions.</p>
<p>And it isn’t unreasonable to think that with more officers on the force, there might have been a few available to send to an out-of-control party.</p>
<p>Mayor Richard Berry has been pitching for a limited exemption for law enforcement personnel in the state law that prohibits double dipping across state and local government. The Legislature banned the practice in 2010 over reasonable concerns that it drained state retirement accounts.</p>
<p>Berry contends a narrow return to work exemption would allow experienced officers to rejoin the force after they retire, now usually after 20 years of service. The benefits to the city would include retaining experienced officers and keeping up the numbers on the force. And, this is a problem that isn’t limited to Albuquerque.</p>
<p>Sen. Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, has caught Berry’s pitch and has introduced legislation that would create an exemption to restrictions in the Public Employee Retirement Act. Senate Bill 466 would allow retired commissioned police officers, State Police officers and sheriff’s deputies to return to work after a brief retirement and still receive their retirement benefits. They would not be able to accrue additional pension benefits and would have to make contributions into the pension fund as would the employer.</p>
<p>Ingle said he intends to amend the bill to specify that retired officers who return to work in urban areas could serve only as patrol officers.</p>
<p>While most taxpayers would likely agree double dipping is not a preferred practice, there is a real need to keep knowledgeable and steady officers on New Mexico streets – especially in Albuquerque where federally mandated reforms must be implemented.</p>
<p>This legislation is a carefully constructed and narrow exemption. Claims that this would be a serious blow to state pension actuarial figures fall into the Chicken Little sky is falling category.</p>
<p>Suggestions that more officers can simply be recruited are unrealistic when viewed through the prism of history – unless we are willing to significantly lower standards. And that should be a nonstarter based on Albuquerque’s brief experience in that.</p>
<p>Ultimately, fewer cops on the streets will translate into more blood on them. Lawmakers should make a clear choice for public safety.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
<p /> | Editorial: Police ranks desperately need return to work | false | https://abqjournal.com/540895/police-ranks-desperately-need-return-to-work.html | 2 |
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<p>A man thrown on Friday into a Dumpster truck collecting refuse from a bin where he had been sleeping is recovering from serious injuries, authorities in Portland, Ore., said.</p>
<p>Liam O’Grady, 27, screamed when the recycling truck driver turned on the compactor. The driver heard him and turned off the compactor, ran to a store for help and then returned, jumping in the vehicle’s hopper to hold O’Grady’s hand, media reports said.</p>
<p>"We open the lid and look in the container and, of course, it's quite a shock if you find somebody sleeping in it," David McMahon, the co-owner of Cloudburst Recycling, told The Associated Press. "In this case, the person had apparently burrowed under the cardboard to stay warm or dry.”</p>
<p>It was a difficult rescue for firefighters, who combed through piles of cardboard to reach O’Grady, <a href="Tommy%20Schroeder,%20Portland%20Fire%20&amp;%20Rescue%20Public%20Information%20Officer." type="external">Tommy Schroeder, Portland Fire &amp; Rescue spokesman told The Oregonian.</a></p>
<p>Authorities weren’t clear why O’Grady was in the dumpster. It wasn’t the first time a man in Portland has been thrown into a trash truck from a recycling bin: A 27-year-old man found last year suffered minor injuries, the AP reported.</p> | Man Sleeping in Bin Gets Dumped Into Trash Truck Compactor | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-sleeping-bin-gets-dumped-trash-truck-compactor-n53356 | 2014-03-15 | 3 |
<p>While quarterbacks and other big-name, high-priced players get most of the attention, unlikely heroes often emerge to help their teams win in the NFL playoffs.</p>
<p>Three of the past four Super Bowl winners played in the wild-card round and each team got help from a surprise performer during its championship run.</p>
<p>Packers rookie James Starks had 123 yards rushing in Green Bay's 21-16 win over Philadelphia on Jan. 9, 2011 after running for just 101 yards the entire season.</p>
<p>Giants No. 3 receiver Mario Manningham caught touchdown passes in each of New York's first three playoffs wins in January 2012, nearly equaling his total of four TDs in the regular season.</p>
<p>Ravens cornerback Corey Graham matched his season total with two interceptions in one game against Peyton Manning, including a pick in overtime to set up the winning field goal in Baltimore's 38-35 win at Denver on Jan. 12, 2013.</p>
<p>One of the top defensive performances came from unknown safety Vernon Perry in a playoff win. Perry intercepted four of Dan Fouts' passes and blocked a field goal in Houston's 17-14 victory over San Diego on Dec. 29, 1979.</p>
<p>Here are potential unsung heroes for each team this wild-card weekend:</p>
<p>CARDINALS: Outside linebacker Alex Okafor led the Cardinals with eight sacks and could be the key to pressuring Cam Newton and limiting his scrambling. Mobile quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick hurt the Cardinals recently, so they have to keep Newton in check.</p>
<p>PANTHERS: WR Philly Brown has turned into Carolina's deep threat and has been used on running plays late in the season. While Kelvin Benjamin will likely go against Patrick Peterson, Brown's speed and playmaking skills could make the difference.</p>
<p>RAVENS: Cornerback Lardarius Webb has a difficult assignment covering Steelers All-Pro Antonio Brown in a matchup that could determine which team advances. Brown had an excellent season, but Webb isn't backing down.</p>
<p>STEELERS: RB Josh Harris had nine carries this season, but the rookie is being asked to replace the injured Le'Veon Bell. Fellow rookie Dri Archer along with newly acquired Ben Tate also are in the mix, but Harris will keep getting the ball if he's productive.</p>
<p>BENGALS: TE Jermaine Gresham averaged a career-low 7.4 yards per catch on 62 receptions while Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Green and Mohamed Sanu make the big plays for Cincinnati's offense. Andy Dalton likes dumping the ball off, so Gresham could be quite active.</p>
<p>COLTS: LB Jonathan Newsome set a franchise rookie record with 6 1/2 sacks, including two last week that built his case for more playing time. The Colts had trouble pressuring quarterbacks, so they'll need Newsome to disrupt Dalton's rhythm.</p>
<p>LIONS: S James Ihedigbo had a career-best four interceptions in his first season with the Lions. He is coming off being benched in the second half in last week's loss at Green Bay, so he'll have even more motivation to make plays. Ihedigbo also knows what it takes to win in the playoffs. He played for the Ravens two years ago.</p>
<p>COWBOYS: WR Cole Beasley is easily overlooked on an offense that includes Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray and Jason Witten. But Beasley has a knack for making a tough catch and slipping through the defense for a key first down.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.organd AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_RobMaaddi</p>
<p>While quarterbacks and other big-name, high-priced players get most of the attention, unlikely heroes often emerge to help their teams win in the NFL playoffs.</p>
<p>Three of the past four Super Bowl winners played in the wild-card round and each team got help from a surprise performer during its championship run.</p>
<p>Packers rookie James Starks had 123 yards rushing in Green Bay's 21-16 win over Philadelphia on Jan. 9, 2011 after running for just 101 yards the entire season.</p>
<p>Giants No. 3 receiver Mario Manningham caught touchdown passes in each of New York's first three playoffs wins in January 2012, nearly equaling his total of four TDs in the regular season.</p>
<p>Ravens cornerback Corey Graham matched his season total with two interceptions in one game against Peyton Manning, including a pick in overtime to set up the winning field goal in Baltimore's 38-35 win at Denver on Jan. 12, 2013.</p>
<p>One of the top defensive performances came from unknown safety Vernon Perry in a playoff win. Perry intercepted four of Dan Fouts' passes and blocked a field goal in Houston's 17-14 victory over San Diego on Dec. 29, 1979.</p>
<p>Here are potential unsung heroes for each team this wild-card weekend:</p>
<p>CARDINALS: Outside linebacker Alex Okafor led the Cardinals with eight sacks and could be the key to pressuring Cam Newton and limiting his scrambling. Mobile quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick hurt the Cardinals recently, so they have to keep Newton in check.</p>
<p>PANTHERS: WR Philly Brown has turned into Carolina's deep threat and has been used on running plays late in the season. While Kelvin Benjamin will likely go against Patrick Peterson, Brown's speed and playmaking skills could make the difference.</p>
<p>RAVENS: Cornerback Lardarius Webb has a difficult assignment covering Steelers All-Pro Antonio Brown in a matchup that could determine which team advances. Brown had an excellent season, but Webb isn't backing down.</p>
<p>STEELERS: RB Josh Harris had nine carries this season, but the rookie is being asked to replace the injured Le'Veon Bell. Fellow rookie Dri Archer along with newly acquired Ben Tate also are in the mix, but Harris will keep getting the ball if he's productive.</p>
<p>BENGALS: TE Jermaine Gresham averaged a career-low 7.4 yards per catch on 62 receptions while Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Green and Mohamed Sanu make the big plays for Cincinnati's offense. Andy Dalton likes dumping the ball off, so Gresham could be quite active.</p>
<p>COLTS: LB Jonathan Newsome set a franchise rookie record with 6 1/2 sacks, including two last week that built his case for more playing time. The Colts had trouble pressuring quarterbacks, so they'll need Newsome to disrupt Dalton's rhythm.</p>
<p>LIONS: S James Ihedigbo had a career-best four interceptions in his first season with the Lions. He is coming off being benched in the second half in last week's loss at Green Bay, so he'll have even more motivation to make plays. Ihedigbo also knows what it takes to win in the playoffs. He played for the Ravens two years ago.</p>
<p>COWBOYS: WR Cole Beasley is easily overlooked on an offense that includes Dez Bryant, DeMarco Murray and Jason Witten. But Beasley has a knack for making a tough catch and slipping through the defense for a key first down.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.organd AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Rob Maaddi on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_RobMaaddi</p> | Unsung heroes often emerge in playoffs | false | https://apnews.com/amp/0cc03d26ebf542b39b4bc43cfcf417ea | 2015-01-02 | 2 |
<p>A look at Nasdaq 10 most-active stocks at 1 p.m.:</p>
<p>Apple Inc. rose 1.2 percent to $95.12 with 32,254,400 shares traded.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>BlackBerry Ltd. rose 5.1 percent to $11.16 with 23,160,000 shares traded.</p>
<p>Cisco Systems Inc. fell .2 percent to $25.15 with 10,427,000 shares traded.</p>
<p>Facebook Inc. fell 1.2 percent to $65.51 with 17,443,700 shares traded.</p>
<p>GT Advanced Technologies Inc. fell 13.5 percent to $16.91 with 19,802,700 shares traded.</p>
<p>Intel Corp. fell .4 percent to $31.01 with 10,827,200 shares traded.</p>
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<p>Micron Technology Inc. fell 2.1 percent to $33.04 with 13,920,000 shares traded.</p>
<p>Microsoft Corp. rose .7 percent to $42.09 with 11,538,500 shares traded.</p>
<p>NewLead Holdings Ltd. fell 6.2 percent to $.14 with 50,396,100 shares traded.</p>
<p>Sirius XM Radio Inc. fell 1.2 percent to $3.42 with 24,527,700 shares traded.</p> | Nasdaq's 10 most active stocks at 1 p.m. | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/10/08/nasdaq-10-most-active-stocks-at-1-pm.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg endorsed the anti-American racial grievance narrative of the Black Lives Matter movement on his personal profile. The company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California has a “signature wall,” where employees and visitors are free to scrawl what they want.</p>
<p>Messages pushing the #BlackLivesMatter movement, however, have been scratched out and replaced with message such as “All Lives Matter.” Springing to action, Zuckerberg has described such expressions as vandalism that are “unacceptable” and “malicious.”</p>
<p>See Zuckerberg’s message below.</p>
<p />
<p>See the "signature wall" below.</p>
<p />
<p>The head of the world’s second most-visited website describes the message of the Black Lives Matter movement as pursuing “the justice [black] deserve.” Observers should consider the political orientation of a man with such power over the dissemination of information and political discussion.</p>
<p>An advocate of open-borders and wholesale replacement of Americans with foreigners, Zuckerberg founded the FWD.us website and organization to advocate for widespread amnestying of illegal aliens.</p>
<p>Colluding with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to censor messages and information critical of the Islamic invasion of Europe - dubbed a “refugee/migrant crisis” by left-wing media on Facebook - Zuckerberg is no ally of the value of free speech and expression.</p>
<p>Given the heightened interest in politics during a presidential election year, astute observers might expect Facebook to become more aggressive with it politically-driven censorship and information management.</p>
<p>Left-wing Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has also endorsed the Black Lives Matter movement, and has recently established a <a href="" type="internal">censorship counci</a>l with an Orwellian <a href="" type="internal">self-description</a> of ensuring online “safety.”</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | Zuckerberg Endorses #BlackLivesMatter; Warns Employees Crossing Out Its Slogan | true | https://dailywire.com/news/3692/zuckerberg-endorses-blacklivesmatter-warns-robert-kraychik | 2016-02-25 | 0 |
<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>Patsy Davis, executive director of the Baptist World Alliance Women’s Department for 17 years, announced retirement plans days before an annual day of prayer she helped grow into a recognized ministry connecting Baptist women together around the world.</p>
<p>The Baptist World Alliance <a href="https://www.bwanet.org/news/news-releases/517-bwa-women-s-director-to-retire" type="external">announced</a> Oct. 30 that Davis, a former Southern Baptist missionary elected in 1998 to lead the BWA program composed of seven continental unions representing 238 national Baptist women’s organizations from 138 countries, is set to retire Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Today (Nov. 2) marks the 65th anniversary of the Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer, organized in 1911 by Woman’s Missionary Union corresponding secretary Edith Campbell Crane but given new life with the advent of instant communication afforded by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BWA-Womens-Department-160860878880/?ref=hl" type="external">social media</a>.</p>
<p>This year’s prayer focus —&#160;“Arise, Shine,” based on Isaiah 60:1 —&#160;launches a five-year emphasis on community, unity, justice and service.</p>
<p>“When we rise up, he shines through,” Davis said in a video welcome to the 2015 Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer this morning on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BWA-Womens-Department-160860878880/?ref=hl" type="external">Facebook</a>. “As we come together today to pray, let us remember the many things that are happening around the world that impact our Baptist women.”</p>
<p>Updates urged prayer for “our sisters in Asia” affected by the natural disasters of typhoons, hurricanes and earthquakes, a ministry to women in New Guinea living with HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis and women in the Caribbean who “have lost their way” in the sex slave trade.</p>
<p>Ksenija Magda, president of the BWA Women’s Department, said under Davis’ leadership the global prayer day held the first Monday each November “grew into a recognized ministry that connected Baptist women to each other both in prayer and practical support.”</p>
<p>“She has been appreciated by many women on all continents and under her leadership, the Women’s Department became an example of an effective global ministry within the Baptist World Alliance,” Magda said.</p>
<p>Davis, a Southern Baptist International Mission Board missionary for 21 years who served as general secretary of the National Woman’s Missionary Union of Venezuela, took over the BWA Women’s Department amid uncertainty. Her predecessor, Willene Pierce, previously director of WMU for the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware, held the post just two years before resigning due to “differing perspectives regarding ministry philosophy and leadership style.”</p>
<p>Pierce, who <a href="ministry/people/item/28500-former-wmu-leader-willene-pierce-dies" type="external">died</a> in 2014, went on to found The Native American LINK, Inc. (Living in Neighborly Kindness) in Oklahoma. In March <a href="http://www.baptistmessenger.com/pierce-honored-at-native-american-ministries-conference/" type="external">Davis</a> was a keynote speaker at the Willene Pierce Memorial Conference, an annual gathering for Native Americans inaugurated by Pierce in 2007.</p>
<p>Davis, originally from Startown, N.C., was appointed as a Southern Baptist missionary in 1977 and worked in Venezuela throughout her career. Prior to her IMB work, Davis was director of the child development center at Wieuca Road Baptist Church in Atlanta.</p>
<p>A graduate of Mars Hill College with a master of religious education degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., Davis served early in her ministry as a youth promotional director for WMU of Maryland/Delaware, a summer missionary for the Home Mission Board (forerunner of today’s North American Mission Board) and a counselor and recreation director at a Girls in Action summer camp in North Carolina.</p>
<p>“God called me many years ago to work with women, and he has blessed me these 17 years to be a part of the BWA Women’s Department,” Davis stated.</p>
<p>Groups promoting the Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer <a href="http://www.wmu.com/index.php?q=missions-leader/missions-involvement/baptist-women%E2%80%99s-world-day-prayer" type="external">include</a> Woman’s Missionary Union, auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention. A BWA founder and long its leading financial supporter, the SBC pulled out of the Baptist World Alliance in 2004 citing theological concerns. <a href="archives/item/2523-womens-group-affirms-bwa-despite-planned-sbc-withdrawal" type="external">Breaking ranks</a> with the denomination’s male leaders, the WMU executive board affirmed its longstanding relationship with the BWA Women’s Department and called for unity among the world’s Baptists.</p>
<p>Related commentary:</p>
<p><a href="opinion/columns/item/30606-baptist-women-s-world-day-of-prayer-reflections-memories-and-prayers" type="external">Baptist Women’s World Day of Prayer: Reflections, memories and prayers</a></p> | BWA women’s director stepping down | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/bwa-women-s-director-stepping-down/ | 3 |
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<p />
<p>The baby boom may end with a whimper.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The expansive generation that first crowded public schools in the 1950s and elbowed its way into the labor force in the 1970s is now retiring. And the timing couldn't be worse.</p>
<p>Yields on bonds and stock dividends have tumbled, heaping more financial pressure on a group that never saved like their parents and grandparents. Pension plans also have largely disappeared from the private sector, home values aren't any higher than they were 10 years ago, and Medicare is a perennial target of budget cutters in Congress.</p>
<p>Altogether, baby boomers may be leaving at the worst time in a generation or more.</p>
<p>"It'll cost more to retire," says David Blanchett, head of retirement research for Morningstar Investment Management. And "there are certainly more risks facing retirees today than there were for past generations."</p>
<p>Previous generations, for instance, could rely on defined benefit plans, or pensions. Pension plans, which provide a fixed monthly income for life, regardless of what's happening on Wall Street, have been vanishing as employers shift the investment risk associated with retirement to their employees.</p>
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<p>And, right now, those risks aren't paying off.</p>
<p>Market data analyzed by Research Affiliates at the request of Bankrate show that typical stock-and-bond investments probably won't support retiring baby boomers like they did 30 years ago.</p>
<p>For example, someone who retired in 1980 with $355,000 in a portfolio of 60% stocks and 40% bonds would have received an average annual return of 6.9% over 30 years. That person could have withdrawn 4% every year and the portfolio would still have grown to $1.3 million by 2010, according to Research Affiliates.</p>
<p>A retiree in 2013 may not have that kind of luck. Yields have dropped to around 2% for stocks and 10-year Treasury notes. And while yields certainly could rebound in the future, they might not rise fast enough to save those who are retiring right now. What is it like to retire now vs. the good old days?</p>
<p>Research Affiliates, which uses current market yields to estimate future returns, projects that someone retiring today with a similar 60-40 portfolio would run out of money in 25 years. It could be depleted even faster if inflation and interest rates rise as they did from the 1960s to the early 1980s.</p>
<p>Returns on annuities also have taken a tumble lately, thanks to lower interest rates.</p>
<p>In 1990, for example, an annuity that guaranteed a lifetime income stream for a 65-year-old man required an investment of about $9 for every $1 it paid back, according to Blanchett. Twenty years later, a similar 65-year-old would need to invest $15 to get $1 in guaranteed annual income. And that $1 has only about half the buying power after 20 years of inflation.</p>
<p>Dividend and bond yields have remained so stubbornly low this year, in fact, that financial planners have started to throw out historical assumptions about what someone can safely withdraw in retirement. Until recently, a 4% annual withdrawal strategy was considered safe; retirees could withdraw $40,000 a year from a portfolio worth $1 million, for example. But this has been called into question, and the shift is sending chills across the country.</p>
<p>If you want your savings to last, planners are saying, you may need to take out less from your portfolio than you'd planned.</p>
<p>"A lot of retirees will have significant shocks to their lifestyles when they retire, or sometime after that, because of this savings crisis and funding crisis," Blanchett says.</p>
<p>Besides adjusting to life without a paycheck, boomers also will need to figure out how to pay for higher health care costs while Congress cuts into Medicare. Even the best-laid retirement plans could be dismantled by a sudden hospitalization or an extended stint in a nursing home, says Jack VanDerhei, research director at the Employee Benefit Research Institute.</p>
<p>"That's what's going to take down most couples and make them short on money," VanDerhei says.</p>
<p>EBRI estimates that there's a growing gap between what people are saving for retirement and what they actually need. VanDerhei says that the gap, which includes income to pay for uninsured health care costs, amounted to $4.6 trillion in 2010. Last year, it grew to $4.8 trillion. Who's to blame?</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve is taking a lot of heat for squeezing yields to next to nothing, and for good reason. The Fed has pumped billions of dollars into aggressive bond-buying programs meant to push interest rates lower and, hopefully, stimulate the economy. But by doing so, bond yields have dropped, penalizing savers.</p>
<p>Baby boomers also must share some of the blame for a general lack of retirement preparation. The personal savings rate has been on the decline for the past 30 years, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis statistics. Americans are currently saving roughly 4 cents on the dollar of disposable income. That's less than half of what they were saving in the 1970s and 1980s.</p>
<p>"We have a baby boom generation that spent almost entirely what they earned during their peak earning years," says Chris Brightman, head of investment management at Research Affiliates, who analyzed data for Bankrate regarding the retirement of baby boomers.</p>
<p>"Now they're looking forward to 30 years of retirement and expecting to earn from their investment portfolio enough to live a similar lifestyle with no drop-off," he says. "But that cannot happen." What to do?</p>
<p>The retirement of baby boomers can be salvaged. They still have a lot of ways to bolster their savings, especially for those willing to put in some effort and get a little creative. Here are a few suggestions:</p>
<p>Don't punch out just yet. If you can hang on to your job for a few years longer, you'll save more money toward retirement. You'll also get higher Social Security benefits. And yields may improve enough to generate a better return. "It's infinitely easier to work a couple more years into 65, 66, 67, than to basically retire at 65 and find out when you're 70 or 75 that you don't have enough money and then try to get back in the labor force at that time," VanDerhei says. The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College estimates that 65-year-olds will need to stay at work for another five years to ensure a successful retirement.</p>
<p>Take advantage of catch-up contributions. People age 50 and older can contribute as much as $23,000 in a defined contribution plan, such as a 401(k), and $6,500 in an individual retirement account.</p>
<p>Diversify your assets. Don't buy the same low-risk investments that everyone else is chasing. "You have to start thinking about moving beyond stocks and bonds," Blanchett says. "Build a more diversified portfolio that has (real estate investment trusts) and commodities and foreign bonds."</p>
<p>Talk to your kids. Tell them how you're doing. "That's an important conversation you need to have," Blanchett says. "If you're not ready for retirement, and you retire, and then things go poorly, you're probably going to need to have your kids take care of you. That's expensive for your kids, and it creates a lot of potential family issues, too."</p>
<p>Get some expert help. "Unless you have a tremendous amount of financial acumen, you shouldn't decide on whether to retire unless you have some type of financial professional audit your circumstances and tell you you're going to be OK," VanDerhei says.</p>
<p>Bottom line, it's not a time to be passive. Navigating a risky, high-cost, low-yield world will take a tremendous amount of effort. Over their final few decades, boomers will need to draw on the same traits -- flexibility, creativity and determination -- that have characterized their generation.</p>
<p>After all, their toughest challenge still may be in front of them.</p>
<p>"Baby boomers are going to work longer than they'd originally expected," Brightman says. "They're going to have to save more than they'd planned. And they're going to have to consume more modestly in retirement."</p> | Retirement of Baby Boomers at Risk | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/07/22/retirement-baby-boomers-at-risk.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Washington Lottery's "Hit 5" game were:</p>
<p>02-13-26-32-33</p>
<p>(two, thirteen, twenty-six, thirty-two, thirty-three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $150,000</p>
<p>OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Washington Lottery's "Hit 5" game were:</p>
<p>02-13-26-32-33</p>
<p>(two, thirteen, twenty-six, thirty-two, thirty-three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $150,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Hit 5' game | false | https://apnews.com/1825a276e40f40b292593a6809fe3740 | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>Early Sunday morning, a radical Muslim born in the United States murdered at least 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando. President Obama, as he always does, downplayed the terrorist attacker’s connections to Islam, instead vaguely ascribing the attacker’s radicalization to “various extremist information.”</p>
<p>The next day, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, went on Fox and Friends to discuss President Obama’s statement. And there, as he always does, Trump stuck his foot all the way down his throat.</p>
<p>“Look,” said Trump, “we’re led by a man that either is not tough, not smart, or he’s got something else in mind.” He could have left it there — but once Trump has his teeth in something, he must continue chomping:</p>
<p>And the something else in mind — you know, people can’t believe it. People cannot, they cannot believe that President Obama is acting the way he acts and can’t even mention the words “radical Islamic terrorism.” There’s something going on. It’s inconceivable. There’s something going on. He doesn’t get it or he gets it better than anybody understands — it’s one or the other and either one is unacceptable.</p>
<p>The implication, given Trump’s context, is that Obama is a covert Muslim. This would not be the first time Trump has made such a suggestion. In 2011, as Trump called for Obama’s birth certificate (he said Obama was probably ineligible and born in Kenya), he stated, “Maybe [his birth certificate] says he is a Muslim.” In 2012, Trump tweeted, “Does Madonna know something we all don’t about Barack? At a concert she said, ‘we have a black Muslim in the White House.’” A significant number of Republicans agree with this theory by polling data.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, President Obama retaliated.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/436632/obama-trump-radical-islam" type="external">To read the rest at National Review, click here</a>.</p> | Shapiro At National Review: Why Won't Obama Say 'Radical Islam'? Not For The Reason Trump Thinks. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/6595/shapiro-national-review-why-wont-obama-say-radical-ben-shapiro | 2016-06-15 | 0 |
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<p>While the presidential election may be drawing interest outside the office, new research shows when at work, office politics are something most employees prefer to avoid.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The study by staffing firm Robert Half International revealed that 40 percent of workers characterize themselves as "occasional voters" when participating in <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2069-office-politics.html" type="external">office politics Opens a New Window.</a>, limiting their involvement to issues that affect them directly, while another 39 percent said they are "neutral parties" who stay out of the fray.</p>
<p>Despite not being heavily involved in office politics, the majority of employees have observed political maneuverings on the job, including <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2643-office-gossip-good.html" type="external">gossiping Opens a New Window.</a>, flattering the boss to gain favor and taking credit for others' work.</p>
<p>"Becoming embroiled in office politics is never a good career move, but it’s wise to be aware of political undercurrents on the job because they do exist in most organizations," said Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International. "There are people who seek to get ahead in their careers at the expense of others, and this behavior erodes trust and undermines team morale."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3022-things-not-post-facebook.html" type="external">[7 Facebook Posts That Could Ruin Your Career] Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Robert Half has identified several types of office politicians and how to work with them, including:</p>
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<p>The study was based on surveys of more than 700 workers in North America who are older than 18 and employed in an office environment.</p>
<p>Follow Chad Brooks on Twitter @ <a href="http://www.twitter.com/cbrooks76" type="external">cbrooks76 Opens a New Window.</a>or BusinessNewsDaily @BNDarticles. We're also on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/BusinessNewsDaily" type="external">Facebook Opens a New Window.</a> &amp; <a href="https://plus.google.com/113390396142026041164/posts" type="external">Google+ Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2012 <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/" type="external">BusinessNewsDaily Opens a New Window.</a>, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p> | What Workers Think of Office Politics | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/08/24/what-workers-think-office-politics.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
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<p>Besides putting him in a wheelchair, it inspired him to research and write a book about what people who’ve had near-death experiences have to say about the afterlife.</p>
<p>Although the former research psychologist, addiction counselor and music teacher knows his fall wasn’t a near-death experience, he says, “I’ve often wondered if I’ve been intervened with.”</p>
<p>Dan Mahony, author of “I Was Still Me,” which he self-published in 2011 under the pseudonym Will Rike, in his Northeast Heights home with his dog Poochini. He’s now working on a sequel. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>That’s because the morning after his October 2008 tumble, he woke up with the idea for what became the 286-page book, “I Was Still Me: Our Existence After Life.”</p>
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<p>The book was self-published in 2011 under the name Will Rike, an homage to Wilhelm Reich, an Austrian psychoanalyst who published influential books and essays in the 1930s.</p>
<p>“I’ve provided 20 details of life after life,” says Mahony, originally from Yonkers, N.Y. He came to Albuquerque in 2004 after he and his wife lived for 10 years in County Kerry, Ireland, teaching and playing music. He now lives in the Northeast Heights with her and their Maltipoo, Poochini.</p>
<p>In the very recent past, he says, he’s noticed a spike in the demand for his book, available as a paperback and ebook from <a href="http://amazon.com" type="external">amazon.com</a> and as a free downloadable pdf at <a href="http://danmahony.com/stillme.pdf" type="external">danmahony.com/stillme.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>Usually, he said during a recent interview in his living room, his website sees five downloads a day, but during a 10-day period in June, he got about 200 downloads daily.</p>
<p>A possible reason: several books on the subject are bestsellers. “Heaven Is For Real,” about a boy’s trip to heaven and back, was recently made into a feature film.</p>
<p>It was No. 2 on The New York Times Bestsellers list on June 8 in the combined print and ebook nonfiction category. And “Proof Of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey Into the Afterlife” was at No. 25 the same week.</p>
<p>Mahony says he came up with two key findings about near-death experiences (NDEs): First, “Each person will be differently affected.” And second, “The afterlife is our home. It’s where we’re from.”</p>
<p>To research the topic, he relied on two websites where people who’ve had NDEs can fill out and upload surveys that ask them to describe those experiences.</p>
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<p>One is the Near Death Experience Research Foundation, whose website says that about 5 percent of people in the United States have had an NDE, defined in a research article as “the reported memory of all impressions during a special state of consciousness (awareness of being dead) including specific elements such as out-of-body experience, pleasant feelings, seeing a tunnel, communication with a brilliant light, seeing deceased relatives, having a life review and coming to a boundary.”</p>
<p>Its 64-question survey asks the circumstances of the experience; it probes whether it involved seeing or feeling darkness, a void, a tunnel or light, and whether it had a pleasant tone or distressing imagery, among other questions.</p>
<p>The other organization Mahony used data from was the International Association For Near Death Studies, a networking center devoted to exploring NDEs; its members include researchers, academics and members of the general public from around the world. It also has a questionnaire whose results are public; site users can use the data as they choose.</p>
<p>“They both have large archives,” Mahony says. “They’ve been around more than a dozen years.”</p>
<p>He analyzed data from 460 reports of the 20,000 posted on both sites combined, using social science methodology to randomize his pool so it is statistically significant to 95 percent confidence level, he says.</p>
<p>He loves talking about his findings, which he wrote about after three years of analyzing the data sample. He found that about 20 percent of people were accompanied to the afterlife by guides.</p>
<p>He uses the term “visitor” to refer to the person having an NDE, who is sent back, often by the guide, to his or her physical life. “Most visitors did not want to come back – almost all of them,” he says. “That was a big one.”</p>
<p>While in the afterlife, he adds, about one in five people encountered relatives. Only 10 percent went through a white light, although most reported seeing it and heading toward it. Many also talked about seeing “indescribable beauty, being able to see at 360 degrees, and experiencing thinking that’s much sharper and faster,” Mahony says.</p>
<p>A database of academic journals shows that dozens of articles have been published on the subject of near-death experiences, and some of them mirror his findings.</p>
<p>In an article printed in 2004 in the Academy of Religion and Psychical Research, the author conducted research with 3,000 people, 277 of them children, and found that people who’d had NDEs described them as fitting into four types.</p>
<p>For adults, the most common was the “heaven-like experience,” which includes reassuring religious figures, beings or light, heaven-like scenarios and loving family reunions with those who had previously died. Almost half the adults in the study – 47 percent – reported this type, as did 19 percent of the children.</p>
<p>Another type was the “non-experience,” manifest by “a living darkness, a loving nothingness, a friendly voice.” This was the kind most popular with children – more that three in four kids reported this type, as did one in five adults.</p>
<p>In the “Transcendent Experience,” which 18 percent of adults and 2 percent of children have, a person sees scenes beyond his or her frame of reference.</p>
<p>The least common type is the “hell-like experience,” which features “hauntings from one’s past, or encounters with a stark limbo, a hellish purgatory or a threatening voice.”</p>
<p>Additionally, an article published in 2012 in the Annals of Neuroscience noted that other research papers reported that people who have NDEs regularly report seeing white light, traveling through a tunnel, and enjoying a sense of peace.</p>
<p>It also reported that people tended to forget the details of their experience over time, and it concluded: “Whether these are only hallucinations or a proof of afterlife will remain debatable until more data is communicable.”</p>
<p>Mahony says that working on his book left him feeling like he’d been through his own version of an NDE. “I’m beginning to go through the transformation very slowly,” he says thoughtfully, his New York accent noticeable.</p>
<p>Of those who’ve had an NDE, he says: “They report that after it, they’re changed. I’ve decided that I’ve been, too. My heart opens up a bit. The writing of the book caused it.”</p>
<p>This transformation doesn’t involve tunnels or light, but, “I’m not so angry at the Republicans or the Democrats,” he says, and, “It’s very hard for me to watch the news anymore, and I was a news junkie at one time.”</p>
<p>Now, having spent so much time researching NDE’s, he’s concludes: “This life is kind of a boot-camp that we go through, and then we graduate – some sort of growth camp. We’re all human beings trying to get this job done.”</p>
<p>He’s halfway done with a sequel, “Love and Learn: More Reliable Afterlife Details.” The title comes from what someone gleaned about why people have a physical life while going through the light during an NDE.</p>
<p>He’ll use the same sample as in the first book, and write about commonalities he didn’t already talk about. Self-published like the first one, he expects it will be done by the end of the year, because, he says, “The whole idea is to get this reliable picture of the afterlife.”</p>
<p /> | Author analyzes stories of near-death experiences | false | https://abqjournal.com/428554/author-analyzes-stories-of-neardeath-experiences.html | 2 |
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<p>During the time that Gen. Raymond Odierno was U.S. Army Chief of Staff, he testified in congressional budget hearings for three different fiscal years that the Army didn’t really need any new tanks or upgrades to existing units. He <a href="http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/01/28/pentagon-tells-congress-to-stop-buying-equipment-it-doesnt-need.html" type="external">told them</a> that they were spending “hundreds of millions of dollars on tanks that we simply don’t have the structure for anymore.” But at a cost of roughly half a billion dollars during the four years Ordierno was at the helm, Congress kept giving him what he said he didn’t need. Of course, that ends up being chump change compared to the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-audit-army-idUSKCN10U1IG" type="external">revelation</a> that the Army cooked its books to the tune of $6.5 trillion in 2015.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I recently spoke with a pediatric medical researcher who lives in a part of the country with high levels of childhood asthma. She was applying for a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to further research and address the causes. Asthma is one of the leading causes of school absence. The grants have traditionally been $600,000. One year’s worth of unneeded tanks could fund 300 of those grants.</p>
<p>But in current budget proposals, it’s things like asthma grants that are on the chopping block.</p>
<p>In 2011, the Commission on Wartime Contracting reported that up to $60 billion in private contractor expenses in Iraq and Afghanistan could be considered wasteful. There is a <a href="https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/special%20projects/SIGAR-15-57-SP.pdf" type="external">command center in Helmand Province</a> that cost $36 million to build but is sitting vacant and unused. <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/government_programs-july-dec11-warcontracts_09-01/" type="external">We built</a> water treatment plants without electricity, schools without teachers, and clinics without equipment.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in public schools, many teachers dream of having enough funding to even make ends meet in their classroom without having to dip into their own pockets. They work overtime without overtime pay. The $60 billion figure from the aforementioned commission study is an amount that, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/06/02/the-states-that-spend-the-most-and-the-least-on-education-in-one-map/?utm_term=.5b30c497e75c" type="external">using national averages</a>, would educate 5.6 million public school students for one year.</p>
<p>But in current budget proposals, it’s education that’s on the chopping block.</p>
<p>Although the U.S. has drastically reduced its number of nuclear warheads since the 1960s, our stockpile was <a href="https://www.sipri.org/research/armaments-and-disarmament/nuclear-weapons/world-nuclear-forces/the-united-states" type="external">counted</a> at 4,760 in January 2015. That’s 4,760 more than we would ever use, supposedly and hopefully. The cost to maintain these weapons is hard to come by, but was <a href="http://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/us-nuclear-weapons-budget-overview/" type="external">estimated</a> to be roughly $22 billion for 2016.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the National Endowment for the Arts <a href="https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/nea-fy2017-appropriations-request.pdf" type="external">requested</a> a budget of $150 million for FY 2017, $119 million of which is grants. Those grants fund things like <a href="https://www.arts.gov/video/art-can-heal-ptsds-invisible-wounds" type="external">art therapy with veterans</a> who suffer from PTSD, and initiatives to help people with disabilities find employment in the arts. The cost to maintain our nuclear arsenal for one year could fund NEA grants for 185 years.</p>
<p>But in current budget proposals, it’s the NEA that’s on the chopping block.</p>
<p>More and more for machines that kill, less and less for things that invest in our future and enhance our society. There is a theological word for this kind of thing: sin.</p>
<p>Let me offer two important disclaimers. First, the above comparisons should not in any way be interpreted as a devaluing of our brave men and women in the armed services, nor disrespect for the incredible burden that they and their families bear, nor an illusion that we do not need a military. Secondly, I am not in any way suggesting that there is not waste and abuse present in other areas. Inefficiency is a constant problem in government, and no program holds the answers to all our society’s ills.</p>
<p>The above comparisons simply serve to illustrate a pretty obvious truth: we have a problem of priorities.</p>
<p>It is not just a question of politics and budgeting, however. It is spiritual issue. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”</p>
<p>These “programs of social uplift” are not just expenditures. They are investments with a return. A healthier, more educated, more creative society is a more prosperous society. The arts, for example, play a crucial role in raising our collective consciousness and challenging our prejudices. For those who need to see dollar signs, “the arts and cultural production” <a href="https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/general/acpsa/acpsa0216.pdf" type="external">contributes billions</a> to the U.S. economy every year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.</p>
<p>How did we get here? Among other things, we are being sold a false narrative about our safety and security. If protecting U.S. citizens against violent death were really a top priority, we would be pumping our money into research and programs to reduce gun violence, the number one cause of such deaths. Instead, to justify bloated defense budgets and private contract work, we are bombarded about the threat of terrorism which, in the United States, is the least likely cause of death, behind things like being in a plane crash or struck by lightning.</p>
<p>This is a modern day version of something for which the prophet Amos issued stark warnings of judgment: “They sell the innocent for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.”</p>
<p>Are we to become a gutted fortress with thick, fortified walls around the perimeter but with no way of life worth defending left on the inside? This is a spiritual issue, and our current reality is something against which Scripture paints an entirely different vision.</p>
<p>Outside the United Nations Headquarters in New York, there is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swords_to_ploughshares" type="external">statue</a> created by Evgeniy Vuchetich and gifted to us by the Soviet Union in 1959 as “a symbol and expression of the desire … for general disarmament.” The sculpture is a visual representation of the prophet Micah’s vision of God’s reign: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” God has placed us here to proclaim and live this promise of a new world, what Jesus called “the kingdom of God.”</p>
<p>We have a spiritual problem. It is not a hidden problem; it is in plain sight in our budgets, priorities and rhetoric. But there is another vision, another way; and it’s up to the people of God to be its champion.</p> | More for machines that kill, less for people’s needs. The word for that? Sin. | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/more-for-machines-that-kill-less-for-peoples-needs-the-word-for-that-sin/ | 3 |
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<p>New orders for factory goods fell in April for the third time in four months as demand slipped for everything from cars and machinery to computers, the latest worrisome sign for the economic recovery.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Commerce Department said on Monday orders for manufactured goods dropped 0.6 percent during the month. The government also revised its estimate for new orders in March to show a steeper decline.</p>
<p>Economists had forecast orders rising 0.2 percent in April.</p>
<p>The report showed broad weakness in a sector that has carried the economic recovery, adding to a growing body of soft economic data.</p>
<p>The Labor Department on Friday reported that job creation slowed in May for the fourth straight month. Also that day, the Institute for Supply Management said the pace of growth in manufacturing slowed modestly in May, although the ISM's own gauge of new orders rose to its highest in over a year.</p>
<p>The Commerce Department report showed new orders for motor vehicles and parts fell 0.5 percent in April.</p>
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<p>An increase in new orders for civilian aircraft buoyed the overall transportation sector.</p>
<p>Outside transportation, orders dropped 1.1 percent, with machinery down 2.9 percent and orders for computers and electronics off by 0.8 percent.</p>
<p>Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft - seen as a measure of business confidence and spending plans - dipped 2.1 percent in April.</p> | U.S. Factory Orders Unexpectedly Fall in April | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/06/04/us-factory-orders-unexpectedly-fall-in-april.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
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<p>And more than 26 million orphans live in West and Central Africa, where Congo is located — the second highest number in the world behind South Asia, according to the United Nations.</p>
<p>These children have grown up amid conflict fueled by ethnic strife and the fight over Congo’s valuable minerals. The violence and displacement are eroding the tradition of families caring for their own.</p>
<p>The breakdown in family means some orphans are forced to look after themselves and their younger siblings. Some are vulnerable to recruitment by armed groups. And many also face sexual exploitation, in a country where rape has become commonplace on the streets.</p>
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<p>“They are the orphans with a story of violence since 1994 — it’s a generation of victims that continues,” says Francisca Ichimpaye, a senior monitor at the En Avant Les Enfants INUKA center. And the children “lose their story in the violence.”</p>
<p>As Congo falls once again into violence in the face of a delayed election, here are profiles of some orphans in Goma.</p>
<p>ALPHA MELEKI, 6</p>
<p>Alpha Meleki was found in a pile of bodies after an attack by rebels on his village in Congo’s eastern Beni earlier this year. He had been shot and left for dead with his parents in the bush.</p>
<p>The bullet wounds and the vine-like surgery scar on the 6-year-old’s pudgy belly have only recently healed. He hobbles around, pulling his loose shorts up on his tiny body.</p>
<p>The emotional scars are still fresh. When held by someone new, Alpha sits limply. His large eyes glaze over, and sometimes glare with angry distrust. He saves his smiles for those he trusts, often seeking the hands of adults he knows.</p>
<p>He cannot stand to see others suffer. Whenever another child at the INUKA center needs medical attention, Alpha cries and screams.</p>
<p>In a quiet moment, he touches a short, wide scar on his head. He lets others touch it.</p>
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<p>“They hit me with a machete,” he recalls.</p>
<p>The center says it could take years to find any family members, as attacks persist in the northeast.</p>
<p>JEANNETTE UMUTSI, 17</p>
<p>At 17, Jeannette Umutsi has become the caregiver for her little brother, whom she hopes to protect from the horrors she has seen.</p>
<p>At first she recounts her story stoically and with distance. She was born only a few years after Rwanda’s 1994 genocide spilled into Congo. Armed fighters stormed her home, hit her in the leg with a shovel and nearly killed her sister.</p>
<p>She and her family fled her hometown of Kirolarwe in 2008 to escape the violence. In the next village, she hid in a toilet enclosure with wooden plank floors for three days to save herself from another attack. Alone, she would sneak out to grab tomatoes that grew nearby.</p>
<p>For days, she heard gunshots and saw dead bodies, including that of her uncle. As she continues to talk of violence, she breaks down into tears and gasps.</p>
<p>“I have so many nightmares now. So many nightmares,” she says.</p>
<p>Her mother returned to save her. But she later died after giving birth to her brother Shukuru, now 5.</p>
<p>Her father used to be a fighter, she says. Once, he threatened to kill her with a machete. As she talks about him, she folds over herself, head in her skirt, and the fear is palpable in her eyes.</p>
<p>Finally she fled the family. She wrapped Shukuru up, put him on her back, and walked for days, struggling to breathe, on the way to Camp Mugunga in Goma. She is now an older sister to more than a dozen other children at the INUKA center, where she helps cook the fish and rice for lunch and rounds the kids up for naps.</p>
<p>MOISE, 7, AND AGATA MUNOKA, 5</p>
<p>Moise Munoka, 7, sits still, looks down and speaks in a near whisper when he recounts the loss of his mother.</p>
<p>She died in 2013 after health complications from rapes left her quite sick. Rape is a constant in Congo, where it has become a weapon of war. At the Children’s Voice Virunga Centre in Goma, where Moise and his sister Agata gather during the day, at least 30 children were born of rape.</p>
<p>Though Moise never knew his own father, he knows that he was probably a fighter who raped his mother. When asked if he wants to meet him one day, he scrunches his nose up and shakes his head in disgust, “No!”</p>
<p>He is happy to have left his war torn village of Massissi.</p>
<p>“It’s a bad place because there’s war, trouble, people don’t like each other, they like to kill,” he says. “There’s always dead people, and blood.”</p>
<p>He lights up as he explains that he and his sister are now being cared for by a widow, Arlette Kabuo Malimewa, 45. She has three children of her own and also cares for a third foster child.</p>
<p>Agata sleeps in the living room, which has several posters of Jesus Christ lining the walls. Moise has his own room, where his two book bags hang from nails on the wooden planks.</p>
<p>Malimewa sells bed covers in bright pinks and whites that hang over her black lava rock gate, and makes about $5 a week.</p>
<p>“I love them, but it is difficult,” she says. “I want to keep them until my death … because who would they go to?”</p>
<p>ANUARITA MAHORO, 12</p>
<p>Anuarita Mahoro, 12, has been ostracized because she was born with a right hand problem that leaves her too weak to do hard labor.</p>
<p>She lived with her father until he was asked to chop wood for armed men who then killed him in 2014. Her mother lived with “the men of the forests,” as she refers to the fighters. They eventually killed her mother, too, and left.</p>
<p>Anuarita fled to her grandparents in Kiwanja. When her grandfather died, she was forced to leave her grandmother to find work to eat. Starving and sick, she was eventually taken in by a center for orphans.</p>
<p>Here, her right hand tucked between her legs and leaning on her left elbow, she apologizes.</p>
<p>“I have suffered so much so I might sound confused,” she says.</p>
<p>She hopes to return to her village and reclaim her grandmother’s land, showing those in the community her worth.</p>
<p>“After the death of my parents, the community discussed who would take this child. And no one was prepared to take me on as a parent. So since no one wanted me, when I grow up they better not come and ask me for any help,” she said, grinning widely, and then covering her face and laughing.</p>
<p>She would like one day to set up a center for orphans. And if she ever got the conversation she wants with the men who killed her parents, she solemnly reveals the one thought that won’t leave her mind.</p>
<p>“I would ask why they killed my father and my mother and didn’t kill me?”</p>
<p>DAMIEN MATATA BIZI, 22</p>
<p>Damien Matata Bizi looks down, his shoulders heavy, when he hesitantly recounts his past as an orphan who became a child soldier.</p>
<p>Many of the thousands of other former child soldiers in Congo over years made a similar choice, or had none at all. Rwanda’s 1994 genocide pushed fighters into Congo, and multiple rebel groups now fight over the mineral-rich region.</p>
<p>Matata Bizi became a rebel after his father, also an armed fighter, died. He was only 10 years old.</p>
<p>“I was angry when I learned of my father’s death. So I wanted to avenge my father, so I entered into the rebellion to fight,” he said. “My mother could never pay for school, and we could never find money to pay for food so I thought this was best.”</p>
<p>Matata Bizi says he was treated well, but others weren’t.</p>
<p>“The life that vulnerable children have is hard,” he says. “They don’t have education, they don’t have clothes, so it may be better to be in an armed group with the ability to find food and clothes than to be at a loss.”</p>
<p>When asked about having to kill people, his eyes narrow and he impatiently takes a deep breath, visibly angry.</p>
<p>“There’s a difference between the militants and child soldiers,” he says. “The adults have the occasion to reflect on what they’ve done. But for a child, we can only execute an order we are given. We don’t think of things, we do what we are ordered to do. “</p>
<p>Matata Bizi was found, rehabilitated by the United Nations and integrated into the army in 2009. He signed papers that say he is no longer a child soldier. He carries the dirtied, crumbling pages around in his shirt pocket. They brand him now.</p>
<p>He came to Goma in 2013. He was trained as a mechanic at the Don Bosco center in Goma but has no work. He says it’s easier to make more money and move up in rebel groups than in the army.</p>
<p>“War I know isn’t good, and neither is violence. It’s not good or normal,” he says. “But the armed groups exist because the country is badly organized. There’s no work. There’s no occupation for the young.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p><a href="http://www.enavantlesenfants.com/inuka.html" type="external">http://www.enavantlesenfants.com/inuka.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://children-voice.org/" type="external">http://children-voice.org/</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Carley Petesch on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/carleypetesch" type="external">www.twitter.com/carleypetesch</a></p> | Silent victims of violence: 4 million kids orphaned in Congo | false | https://abqjournal.com/896971/silent-victims-of-violence-4-million-kids-orphaned-in-congo.html | 2016-11-28 | 2 |
<p>A federal judge <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060314/ap_on_hi_te/google_doj;_ylt=AtBOmvGNWl3eygQSw8VunAys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-" type="external">says he will require</a> the search engine company to provide the government with some search-query data in connection with the Justice Dept.’s attempts to revive an online child pornography law.</p>
<p>It’s unclear what kind of and how much data the judge will order turned over.</p>
<p>That strange shifting underneath your feet? It’s the slippery slope we’re all sliding down, toward an Orwellian future.</p>
<p>Truthdig’s Google expert Mark Malseed <a href="" type="internal">has the skinny</a> on the implications of this battle.</p>
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<p>SAN JOSE, Calif. – A federal judge said Tuesday he intends to require Google Inc. to turn over some information to the Department of Justice in its quest to revive a law making it harder for children to see online pornography.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge James Ware did not immediately say whether the data will include words that users entered into the Internet’s leading search engine.</p>
<p>The legal showdown over how much of the Web’s vast databases should be shared with the government has pitted the Bush administration against the Mountain View-based company, which resisted a subpoena to turn over any information because of user privacy and trade secret concerns.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060314/ap_on_hi_te/google_doj;_ylt=AtBOmvGNWl3eygQSw8VunAys0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3b2NibDltBHNlYwM3MTY-" type="external">Full story</a></p> | Judge Orders Google to Turn Over Some Data | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/judge-orders-google-to-turn-over-some-data/ | 2006-03-14 | 4 |
<p>ESPN's coverage of Monday Night Football pulled out all the stops, including an epic buildup complete with Storm Troopers, to the premiere of the trailer for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtyyIUcC_YQ" type="external">Star Wars: The Last Jedi</a>— but it wasn't enough to halt the dramatic decline in viewers that the NFL has suffered as of late. In fact, the fifth week of MNF brought in its lowest numbers of the season, suggesting that the backlash over the league's embrace of the national anthem protests isn't letting up anytime soon.</p>
<p>Over the first three weeks of the season, Nielsen found that the NFL's ratings were <a href="http://www.fiercecable.com/broadcasting/nfl-ratings-down-11-season-nielsen-says" type="external">down 11%</a> overall, declining by about 2 million viewers average from the first three weeks of 2016. This week has seen some more troubling numbers for the NFL, including a regular season low for an ESPN-broadcast game and a stunning reversal in the league's favorability.</p>
<p>Monday night's game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears saw an even more precipitous drop in viewers than average, down a devastating 17% from last week and matching a low for any game this season.</p>
<p>"Snaring a 7.0 in metered market results, last night’s MNF was down double digits from last week’s Kansas Chiefs’ 29-20 victory over the Washington Redskins," reports <a href="https://deadline.com/2017/10/vikings-win-monday-night-football-ratings-down-season-low-star-wars-bears-nfl-espn-1202185363/" type="external">Deadline</a>. "Down 17% in the ratings, that’s actually a regular game season low for the ESPN broadcast game and matches the MM result of the second game of the doubleheader MNF opener on September 11."</p>
<p>While the ratings collapse on Monday can be in part explained by the sub-par matchup, as analysts have acknowledged over the weeks, the anthem protests are undoubtedly playing a major role. A Winston Group survey published over the weekend found that the league's favorability among core fans (males ages 34-54) <a href="" type="internal">collapsed 31%</a> from the end of August to the end of September. Among that key group, the league's favorability fell to just 42% from 73% over the span of a few weeks following #TakeTheKnee Sunday. Among all male fans, the NFL's favorables fell 23%, from 68% to 45%.</p>
<p>And it's not just men that are souring on the league. The downward trend is evident among all the fans of the NFL, 13% of whom now view the league less favorably. Overall, the league's favorability has fallen from 57% to 44% since late August. But even more significantly, the NFL's unfavorability rating rose during that time to 40% — the highest unfavorability rating of all college and professional sports.</p>
<p>On Monday, ESPN and the NFL chose not to air the playing of the national anthem. The rather dire numbers streaming in suggest that was a good move.</p>
<p>More on ESPN and the NFL:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">ESPN Suspends Host Jemele Hill Over Tweets Calling For A Boycott Of NFL Sponsors</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Trump Calls Out ESPN's Jemele Hill By Name On Twitter</a></p> | Anthem Fallout Continues: The Latest On The NFL's Ratings Crisis | true | https://dailywire.com/news/22109/anthem-fallout-continues-latest-nfls-tanking-james-barrett | 2017-10-10 | 0 |
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<p>Last winter, Lt. David Zonsheine, an Israeli reserve officer who had just returned from a tour of duty in the Gaza Strip, published an open letter stating why he and fifty other soldiers felt they could no longer serve in the occupied territories. At this date, more than 500 Israeli soldiers have joined the resulting movement: Courage to Refuse.</p>
<p>As writer Gershom Gorenberg discusses, the refuseniks have ignited a furious debate, drawing criticism not only from the country’s hawks, but from many of its doves. Their actions pose deep dilemnas: Is it appropriate for the army to become a forum for civil disobedience against the policies of democratically elected officials? Is withdrawing from the territories the quickest route to peace? And do such protests, which run counter to the national tradition of public service, unnecessarily alienate the public from the left?</p>
<p>This fall, Lt. Zonsheine is due to go before the Israeli Supreme Court to make his case that the occupation is morally untenable and tactically wrong.</p>
<p>MotherJones.com: (In your article) you point out that the refusenik movement has plateaued. Do you think it will fade away, or continue to grow?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Gershom Gorenberg: Well, there’s been a slow, not dramatic increase in the number of soldiers … who signed the list, and said they intend to refuse service, and there is always continued sentencing of specific refuseniks to disciplinary terms as their reserve duty comes up. I certainly don’t expect the number to go down. The large initial response was probably due to the fact that there were many people who were already considering this when the letter appeared, so it crystallized their decisions, and gave them a group backing to something that they were already considering … I would guess that the extent to which it increases depends on a variety of factors, including what is actually taking place on the ground in the territories, what sort of measures the army is using. The Zonsheine hearings themselves at the Supreme Court will almost certainly inspire new debate and coverage and activity around the entire issue, which may or may not bring new supporters.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>I think, in a wider sense, you have to remember two factors. One is that protest movements don’t happen overnight. In America it took years for the Vietnam protest movement to develop and gain the strength it eventually did, and to have the effect it eventually did. In terms of the Lebanon war, here, also, the movement grew over time. … In this particular case, you have to remember that there are strong counter-factors that I’ve discussed in the article. There’s the democracy issue, and the desire to keep the army out of politics, and, of course, there’s the issue of a sense in a wide part of the public that the Palestinian tactics indicate a threat toward Israel as such, rather than just being aimed at ending the occupation. And as long as that’s the case, it also creates a counter-force to the growth of the movement.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: Aside from generating a lot of public debate, have the refuseniks had any real impact on official Israeli policy?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: Well … Ariel Sharon is certainly not changing his ideas on how to conduct the conflict on the basis of the refusenik movement. However, the real question is, what effect has it had on the political environment? … The movement, at least when it began, helped to reinvigorate the left … but it’s possible that it may have turned off a lot of people who are closer to the center, who dislike the idea of refusal, and might have identified the entire left with the idea of refusal.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>I think if you look at the overall situation in terms of Israeli opinion, the interesting thing is that, in a sense, public opinion is moving in two directions — two opposite directions — at once. There’s a greater number of people who, according to the polls, identify themselves as being on the right, as being more hawkish. And, yet, there’s also a rising number that favor having a Palestinian state, favor evacuation of settlements. And the numbers in both groups are so large that what you’ve actually got is a large overlapping group of people, who both say that they’re more right-wing, and yet favor things like evacuating settlements. Those are, I think, long-term changes in Israeli opinion, and, in that respect, I think that the refusenik movement is an expression of wider changes in the political environment.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>.. What you have is a situation in which the level of distrust and of anger has risen, but at the same time, a growing number of people have realized that to reach a peace agreement will require greater concessions and compromises than they had been willing to accept a couple years ago.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: One of the men you quote in your article says that “Leftists are the absolute worst.” Could you explain what he meant by that?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: I think what it shows here is an example of the tension on the left over this issue, that there is a very deep argument within the Israeli left over the issue of refusal. … Within the Israeli left what you’re talking about is a conflict between people who share a sense that they’re peaceniks, and who share a sense that they’re patriotic, but who disagree on the best way to pursue those commitments.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: Right-wingers are keen on arguing that the refusenik movement emboldens Palestinian militants, and gives them the impression that Israelis are losing heart and can be forced to evacuate the occupied territories unconditionally. Is there anything to that?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: That is one argument that is raised even on the left by people who oppose unilateral withdrawl from the occupied territories … I think it’s legitimate to say that a negotiated settlement in which both sides give up further claims is more likely to end the conflict than a unilateral Israeli move. Part of the argument is, if such an agreement is unachievable, if the Palestinian side is unwilling or unable to enter into such an agreement, what should Israel’s next step be?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: Is there a Palestinian counterpart to the refusenik movement?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: Well, there wouldn’t be an exact counterpart, because there’s no universal draft on the Palestinian side, and one of the very difficult aspects of the situation is that there is no unified military force. In a large sense, authority has broken down on the Palestinian side. … But, the major problem, on a deeper level, is in terms of moral objections to tactics being used. And here, the problem is Palestinian organizations are using terror against civilians — against non-combatants — which is very clearly immoral, and very clearly a war crime, and very clearly a violation of the law of war. In recent weeks, there have been efforts by some Palestinian public figures to publicly reject those methods. I have no doubt that their failure so far to gain wider support also weakens the Israeli peace movement. In other words, if the Israeli public saw that there was widespread public rejection on the Palestinian side to attacks on civilians, I think that that would certainly strengthen support on the Israeli side for peace and for making compromises.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>But I would add one other thing — that the refuseniks also stress that, from their point of view, the Palestinian tactics aren’t the central issue. The key question is the moral dilemma for Israeli society and for the Israeli army, and the best way to defend Israel. Their argument is that first of all, the Palestinian terrorists shouldn’t lead Israel to give up its own principles, and the only way to avoid that is to ultimately end the occupation.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: In the ‘Soldier’s Letter,’ there were no demands that were made, such as a call for Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. Will the refusenik movement make any demands?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: Well, their clear aim is an end to the occupation. … The movement has avoided making more specific policy arguments, and — here I combine what I’ve heard from various people — there are several different reasons (for that). One is they want to focus on the moral argument that service in the territories has become untenable. I think implicit in that is that they’re trying to minimize the degree to which they’re bringing politics into the army. I’d also guess that one of the reasons that they’d avoid making more specific demands is to avoid leading to the usual splintering within a protest group. The more specific you make your demands, the more likely you are to breakup — a well-known disease on the left.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: Unlike Vietnam and Lebanon, a simple withdrawl doesn’t seem to be the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Another man you quote in your article points out that Vietnam was no threat to the US, and that seems to be different from the threat Palestine poses to Israel. How do the refuseniks respond to this?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: This is one of the differences that has to be understood here. I mean, with the Vietnam protest movement, one of the basic claims was, ‘what are we doing on the other side of the globe?’ Here, I don’t think anybody involved denies the fact that you’re facing a conflict in which the Israeli public is directly threatened.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The refuseniks respond to this by saying that Israel would be in a better position to defend itself behind a clearly-marked border, and against a sovereign state, than it is today. In the current situation, between Israel and the West bank, there is no clearly-marked border, there’s no border fence. In the social sense there’s no border between the combatants and non-combatants in the West Bank. In other words the Israeli army is facing the classic dilemma of an army engaged in a battle against guerilla forces and underground forces and terrorists, in which you’re fighting against people who aren’t wearing uniforms, who fade into the civilian population, and therefore it becomes very difficult to make the distinction between who is a combatant and who is a non-combatant. I think the refuseniks would also argue that by ending the occupation that you would, for most of the Palestinian population, remove the motivation to attack Israel.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Indeed, I would say that the entire Israeli left makes that argument, that Israel would be safer and more secure without controlling a hostile population of another nationality. The security argument is always (central) to the argument of the Israeli peace camp, and that is in fact why you will find so many prominent ex-military and security figures in the peace camp, and, in fact, why the original agreement with the Palestinians — the Oslo agreement — was signed by a Prime Minister who was a former military chief-of-staff.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: The crux of the refusenik movement is the philosophical argument of ‘selective objection.’ So if right-wing soldiers were ordered to evacuate Israeli settlements as part of a peace deal, could they selectively object to that?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: Well, this is actually an issue that comes up in many of the street debates that you hear on the subject … And, in fact, during the Oslo process, when Israel carried out its withdrawl from most of the West Bank, there were public figures on the religious right who said that it’s in principle forbidden to give up any part of the land of Israel, and therefore soldiers should not carry out orders to participate in the withdraw. By the way, there was absolutely no response to that call…</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>But the philosophical issue is a real one … Israeli law itself recognizes that there are orders that should not be obeyed. And, I think, certainly on a philosophical level, it’s clear that morally the law of the state cannot be the highest moral principle. Soldiers are not guns, they are not mechanical items. There is a point at which a soldier should refuse an order. But the crucial question here is what’s the principle that overrides the law of the state, overrides a democratic decision. And the secondary question, connected to that, is how extreme does the situation have to be to refuse orders?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The debate, in a sense, on the left today is how extreme has the situation become and does it justify disobeying orders. Where I think that the right-wingers have been wrong here, on a philosophical level, is (the argument some have made that disobeying orders can be justified) because the principle of the Jewish rule of the land of Israel overrides the orders of a democratic government. In that sense, the ultimate principle that they are placing above the law of the state is the mythic right of the nation to a particular definition of territory, and I think that that’s where they’re mistaken.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>MJ.com: What kind of an effect do you think the philosophical doctrine of selective refusal will have, logistically, on the chain of command?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>GG: I don’t think that, democratically, it would be a good situation if people were disobeying orders right and left based on their political views. On the other hand, I think that it is good for commanders (to) know that they can’t simply order anything they want. The question, therefore, is what is the political impact of this particular kind of refusal in this particular context?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>It certainly could have an impact if there was large-scale refusal. … I think that the fact that the people who are currently refusing service in the territories are people who are, by and large, members of combat units — often officers — carries a message to the military that they have to take into account what the tolerance of the soldiers is for the orders they’ve received. At the moment, the number of people who have refused is not large enough to have created a sudden change in how the army is conducting matters. But I am certain that the brass is aware of the phenomenon and takes it as a warning that there are limits.</p>
<p /> | Behind the Thin Green Line | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2002/08/behind-thin-green-line/ | 2002-08-22 | 4 |
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<p>Growth stocks should be an important part of nearly every investor's portfolio. And there are a lot of ways to find growth, across industries and kinds of companies.We asked three of our contributors to write about a growth stock they think is worth buying now, and they offered up three very different companies that are growing in different ways.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Keep reading to learn more about rapid-growth investment services companyEnvestnet Inc.(NYSE: ENV), video-game makerTake-Two Interactive Software Inc.(NASDAQ: TTWO), and engineering services providerNV5 Global Inc.(NASDAQ: NVEE).</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBigFrog/info.aspx" type="external">Chuck Saletta Opens a New Window.</a> (Envestnet Inc.): No less an investing luminary than Warren Buffett once proclaimed that growth and value investing are "joined at the hip." By that, he means that growth estimates are always part of valuing an investment, and any intelligent investor will be looking to buy a company for a reasonable price when compared with that growth estimate. By that measure, Envestnetis a fairly rapidly growing company that can still find a place in a value-oriented investor's portfolio.</p>
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<p>The investment-services provider is expected to grow earnings at a 20% annualized clip over the next five years, yet its shares are available at a reasonable price relative to that potential. Despite reporting an accounting loss in 2016, Envestnet generated over $62.8 million in free cash flow, with depreciation being a key driver of the gap between accounting profit and cash flow results.</p>
<p>Combining that potential growth with that cash flow, I estimate a fair value for Envestnet at around $1.5 billion, which is right in line with its current market capitalization. For a rapidly growing company like Envestnet to be available at a reasonable market price makes it worthwhile to consider as a potential investment whether you're looking for growth or value.</p>
<p>Perhaps best of all, Envestnet's growth is coming both through acquisitions and through its own inventiveness. That gives it multiple paths to attempt to achieve the growth expected of it. While there are no guarantees about the future until it comes to pass, it's generally a good idea to look for that kind of flexibility and adaptiveness when considering companies with rapid growth prospects. That combination makes Envestnet a growth stock worthwhile of consideration for an investment.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMcNew/info.aspx" type="external">Seth McNew Opens a New Window.</a>(Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.): The video-game industry has grown substantially over the past few years as the changing business model toward digital downloads and mobile gaming has helped to increase margins and in-game sales that have sent earnings and share prices of the biggest companies higher. Take-Two Interactiveisn't nearly as big as some of its rivals, such asActivision Blizzardand Electronic Arts, but when it releases its fiscal Q4 ended March 31 and full-year 2017 earnings in May, it could get a major boost.</p>
<p>Take-Two announced in February that it acquired the privately held mobile-gaming company Social Point for $250 million in cash and stock. The acquisition should help with higher sales and net cash immediately as Social Point's well-performing business makes its way on to Take-Two's financial sheets, and management expects that utilizing Social Point's clear expertise in converting mobile gaming into higher sales will lead to long-term earnings growth. Another recent development is Take-Two's partnership with the NBA to deliver more e-sports content, including an e-sports league that follows the live NBA season and includes player and team interaction -- all starting in the 2018 season.</p>
<p>Take-Two expects sales growth of as much as 27% for fiscal 2017 year over year, but it could very well beat its own estimates, as it has done multiple times in recent quarters. The stock is likely to get a nice boost in May if sales and earnings show that the Social Point acquisition is showing promising early results and that the company's own operations continue to move higher.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFVelvetHammer/info.aspx" type="external">Jason Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFVelvetHammer/info.aspx" type="external">Hall Opens a New Window.</a>(NV5 Global Inc.): Since the election of Donald Trump as president, investors have flocked to stocks with potential to profit from increased infrastructure spending. And while the market has cooled substantially more recently under the realization that our elected officials can drag their feet even on something that more than 70% of Americans support, NV5 could be a great growth stock to own, no matter what happens with domestic infrastructure spending.</p>
<p>That's because the company, which is led by a talented and tenured executive team, is taking advantage of the opportunity to consolidate a very large industry that's made up of a handful of giants, but mostly much smaller companies. There are more than 140,000 engineering firms in the U.S., and a big part of NV5's growth strategy is acquisition.</p>
<p>There's some risk with this kind of model, but CEO Dickerson Wright and his executive team have a long track record of success in building companies in this industry. With a current market cap below $400 million, NV5 can make a lot of small acquisitions to drive growth that bigger competitors wouldn't even consider. Combined, this makes NV5 a compelling stock to buy.</p>
<p>To put it another way, infrastructure spending remains a wildcard for many construction and engineering companies, equipment makers and raw materials suppliers, but NV5 may not need to see a big boost in government spending to deliver great investor returns. If management can continue executing on a strategy they've proven for years to be very good at, NV5 could turn out to be one of the best growth stocks to own over the next decade.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Take-Two Interactive When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=1625a0c4-4287-4b9e-bef9-51c66367cadc&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Take-Two Interactive wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=1625a0c4-4287-4b9e-bef9-51c66367cadc&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBigFrog/info.aspx" type="external">Chuck Saletta</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/elihpaudio/info.aspx" type="external">Jason Hall Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of ATVI and NV5 Global. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMcNew/info.aspx" type="external">Seth McNew</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends ATVI and Take-Two Interactive. The Motley Fool recommends Electronic Arts and Envestnet. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 3 Growth Stocks to Buy in April | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/19/3-growth-stocks-to-buy-in-april.html | 2017-04-19 | 0 |
<p>There have been several notable cases of racial fakery. Years ago, then-law professor Elizabeth “Fauxcahontas” Warren falsely claimed that her great-grandfather was Cherokee Indian. A diversity-starved Harvard University jumped at the opportunity to hire her. She was so good at the racial fakery that a 1997 Fordham Law Review article lauded now-Sen. Warren as Harvard Law School’s “first woman of color.”</p>
<p>Racial fakery for private gain has been going on for decades. In 1990, there was a highly publicized case of outright racial lying. Two white men, twins Philip and Paul Malone, took the Boston Fire Department test. They failed. It turned out that the Boston Fire Department was under a consent decree mandating racial preferences, back then euphemistically called affirmative action but today called diversity. The Malone brothers retook the test, this time identifying themselves as black. Again their scores weren’t high enough to be hired as whites, but they qualified under the lower standards for blacks and were hired. They worked for 10 years, until their racial fakery was discovered during a promotion proceeding. They were fired.</p>
<p>Then there’s Vijay Chokal-Ingam, brother of “The Mindy Project” actress Mindy Kaling. He pretended to be black to successfully gain admission to the Saint Louis University School of Medicine but later dropped out.</p>
<p />
<p>Recently, there was the case of Rachel A. Dolezal, who told everyone that she was a member of my race, even though both of her parents are white. She profited immensely from racial fakery. She became president of the Spokane, Washington, office of the NAACP and became an instructor of Africana studies at Eastern Washington University. To top that off, she gained membership on Spokane’s police oversight commission, where she examined police policies on race.</p>
<p>We must combat racial fakery. We can learn from South Africa. During its apartheid era, it, too, had a racial spoils system. The government combated racial fakery by enacting the Population Registration Act of 1950, which racially classified the country’s entire population. The act laid down race definitions so as to thwart people, mostly “Coloureds,” from taking privileges set aside for whites. For example, it defined a white person as one who “is in appearance obviously white — and not generally accepted as Coloured — or who is generally accepted as White — and is not obviously Non-White.”</p>
<p>Despite South Africa’s careful attempts to define race, there was racial manipulation. A person charged with doing something prohibited for a native or Coloured might claim he had some white blood. The Population Registration Act ensured justice whereby a person aggrieved by a racial determination could appeal to a tribunal, known as the Race Classification Appeal Board. The act also provided that a third party could bring a complaint as to a person’s racial classification. It provided for heavy penalties for frivolous objections to another’s racial classification.</p>
<p>The Population Registration Act fortified both the Immorality Act of 1927, which prohibited sexual relations between Europeans and Africans, and the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949, which banned marriage between Europeans and Africans. I wouldn’t support the adoption of either one of those acts. But I do think that we need to adopt some of the features of South Africa’s Population Registration Act. Why?</p>
<p>If Americans are going to have laws that mandate special privileges in college admission and employment, we must prevent racial fakery. We cannot permit a white or Asian person to take an opportunity that by law belongs to a black person. There should be DNA criteria to accurately determine one’s race. Years ago in our country, “one drop” of Negro blood made it impossible for one to be white. With today’s technological advances, we could be more precise.</p>
<p>Racial classification is not without other benefits. Suppose one wants to marry and at the same time keep his bloodline pure. Say he’s a black man. Shouldn’t he be protected from a racial imposter like Rachel Dolezal?</p>
<p /> | Cure for Racial Dishonesty | true | http://humanevents.com/2015/07/29/cure-for-racial-dishonesty/?utm_source%3Dhefbp%26utm_medium%3Dfbpage%26utm_campaign%3Dheupdate | 2015-07-29 | 0 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Cooper Tire &amp; Rubber Co. is calling off its sale to India’s Apollo Tyres, unraveling a $2.2 billion deal announced just over six months ago.</p>
<p>Cooper said financing is no longer available and it continues to claim, as it has for months, that Apollo breached the terms of the agreement.</p>
<p>Apollo threatened for the first time Monday to pursue legal remedies after the announcement, which it called disappointing.</p>
<p>Both companies agreed to the sale in June, but things deteriorated rapidly. Negotiations with the union representing Cooper employees became a sticking point.</p>
<p>Apollo sought a better price, citing labor issues in China and weaker profit, which Cooper said was a stalling tactic. The Findlay, Ohio, company took its claim to a Delaware court, but a ruling last month found no breach of obligations on Apollo’s part.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Apollo-Cooper Tire sale deal unravels | false | https://abqjournal.com/328690/apollo-cooper-tire-sale-deal-unravels.html | 2 |
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<p>RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said Tuesday that he will not spare the life of a man set to be executed this week for the slayings of two young girls in their Richmond home on New Year’s Day 2006.</p>
<p>Ricky Gray is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Wednesday for the killings of 9-year-old Stella Harvey and 4-year-old sister, Ruby. Gray was convicted of murdering the girls and their parents while the family was getting ready to have friends over for a holiday party.</p>
<p>The 39-year-old had asked the governor for clemency, arguing that the sexual abuse he suffered as a child and subsequent drug use provides an understanding of his actions that was never provided to jurors.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But the Democratic governor said he has found no reason to intervene in Gray’s case. The governor said Gray received a fair and impartial trial and his case has been extensively reviewed by the courts.</p>
<p>“Unless a court intervenes, the Department of Corrections will carry out the execution in accordance with the order of the sentencing court,” McAuliffe said in a statement.</p>
<p>Gray’s attorneys called the governor’s decision disappointing, noting that dozens of mental health professionals had also asked for his life to be spared.</p>
<p>“Ricky’s execution will serve no purpose other than retribution, and it will add to the losses and suffering of members of our community,” Rob Lee and Jonathan Sheldon said in a statement.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Gray’s attorneys also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his execution so he can continue his challenge to the state’s plans to use lethal injection drugs from a secret compounding pharmacy.</p>
<p>Virginia will be the first state to use midazolam from a compounding pharmacy, his attorneys say. They say the state risks “chemically torturing” the man.</p>
<p>A federal judge in Richmond and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have rejected Gray’s efforts to put his execution on hold.</p>
<p>Gray and his nephew Ray Dandridge were looking for a home to rob on New Year’s Day 2006 when they spotted the Harveys’ open door. The girls and their parents, Bryan and Kathryn Harvey were found in the basement of their burning home, bound, beaten and stabbed, with their throats cut.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Gray also confessed to participating in the killing of 21-year-old Ashley Baskerville, her mother, Mary Baskerville-Tucker, and stepfather, Percyell Tucker, in their Richmond home less than a week later, but wasn’t tried in that case. Gray and Dandridge said Ashley Baskerville had served as a lookout for them during the Harvey slayings.</p>
<p>Kathryn Harvey was co-owner of a popular Richmond toy store, the World of Mirth, and Bryan Harvey was a guitarist and singer for the rock duo House of Freaks. Perycell Tucker was a forklift operator and Mary Baskerville-Tucker worked at a dry cleaner.</p>
<p>Gray had asked McAuliffe to commute his sentence to life in prison — the same sentence given to Dandridge, who pleaded guilty to the Baskerville-Tucker killings.</p>
<p>As a child, Gray was brutally beaten by his father with a PVC pipe and other objects and raped almost daily by his older brother, Gray’s attorneys say. They say Gray began using powerful drugs at a young age to deal with the emotional effects of that abuse. While Gray’s difficult childhood isn’t an excuse for his behavior, it provides an understanding of his actions that should have been afforded to jurors, the attorneys say.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been edited to restore Gray’s dropped first name.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer" type="external">http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer</a> .</p> | Virginia governor won’t spare life of convicted killer | false | https://abqjournal.com/929516/virginia-governor-wont-spare-life-of-convicted-killer.html | 2017-01-17 | 2 |
<p>Act I</p>
<p>I am having dinner on a Thursday night in a restaurant in New York’s Greenwich Village with two friends I’m working with on a documentary on pornography. We’ve had a long day and are happy to unwind. Near the end of our meal, I’m increasingly aware of the rising volume from a nearby table, where three college-age men and a woman are talking and laughing just a bit too loudly. As it becomes harder to shut out their conversation, it becomes clear that much of the talk is about sex. The alpha male of the group (who is the boyfriend of the woman) is holding forth to the other two men about how to maneuver women into bed, including tips on the use of alcohol and a little bit of force when necessary.</p>
<p>As my friends and I get up to leave, I catch the eye of the woman, inquiring silently whether her situation would be improved if we stopped by the table and said something to the men. I read, or more likely misread, her expression as an invitation to do so. I trail behind my friends and stop at the table, trying to suggest — in light-hearted fashion that isn’t too confrontational — that their conversation was not only inappropriate in a public place but unacceptable anywhere. The men don’t take the critique well, and the discussion heats up a bit.</p>
<p>Finally, the alpha male makes a move to settle things by going for what he presumes to be the ultimate insult: “All I know,” he says, smirking, “is that I’m going home with her (pointing to his girlfriend) and you’re leaving with two guys.”</p>
<p>Check.</p>
<p>I respond: “Please don’t take this personally, but I just don’t find you sexually attractive. I’m sure there will be a man who someday will, but it’s just not happening for me.”</p>
<p>Checkmate.</p>
<p>He accuses me of being gay. I accept the label and respond by telling him that, as a gay man, I can see into him and recognize him as gay as well. Not a smart move on my part, it turns out.</p>
<p>I quickly realize that things aren’t likely to end happily, and I make my way to the door. One of his buddies follows me and, just as I’m leaving, says, “It’s time for you to get the hell out of here.” My hand is on the first of two exit doors, pushing it open. I say to him, “Where does it look like I’m going?” He grabs me and reiterates the command to leave. I reflexively push back. “Listen son,” I start to say, reacting like an old guy to the 25 years between us. He’s bigger than me but drunk. As I push back, he starts to fall. I head for the second door just about the time my friends have come back to pull me out if necessary. As I’m walking on the sidewalk outside, the other two young men have joined their friend in the doorway, cursing me with instructions not to come back, advice I fully intend to take. My friends hustle me away, walking quickly to get clear of the place just in case the men decide to follow. One of my friends, Robert Wosnitzer, explains that he grew up around guys like that. “Those are the kind of guys who carry baseball bats in the trunks of their cars,” he says. “You have to be careful. They like this. They like to fight.”</p>
<p>Once we’re out of range, Robert and Miguel Picker turn to me and, appropriately, explain why I had better not pull such a stunt again. They count the four stupid men in that encounter: The alpha male, his two buddies, and me. They are right, of course. The fact that I wasn’t as crude and violent as the other three hardly absolves me. I had taken an unnecessary risk, putting others in a situation where they may have had to fight or be hurt, and I had done it out of the same macho posturing. Once engaged, I refused to back down, even though there was nothing positive that could come of the encounter and a real risk.</p>
<p>Act II</p>
<p>The next day I fly to an academic conference. I am still somewhat shaken by the previous night, not so much by the potential for violence (though I’m not a particularly physically courageous person) but by my own misjudgment and the lessons in that for me. It’s not what I learned about the world the previous night that upset me, but what I learned about myself.</p>
<p>So, I’m looking forward to a low-key interaction with other academics, who are usually pretty harmless. At the end of that evening I’m in the hotel bar with one female and two male professors. We all seem to be of similar intellectual and political leanings, and the conversation finds its way to contemporary progressive political movements, especially the antiwar movement. I offer an analysis of the state of organizing in the United States, which one of the men takes issue with. I respond to his critique, and all of a sudden the conversation kicks into overdrive. He comes back to my points even harder, getting visibly upset. He turns the discussion from an argument about issues to an attack on me, suggesting that I lacked his experience and knowledge (he’s about a decade older).</p>
<p>With the previous night’s conflict on my mind, I back off a bit, responding to his arguments but trying to lower the intensity; I am not in the mood for a fight, even verbally. He presses forward even more forcefully. At this point, the other two people at the table are visibly uncomfortable. I move to end the conversation, suggesting that some of our disagreements couldn’t be resolved, that we were both arguing based on our hunches about complex processes, and that perhaps there was no point in pushing it. At this point, I don’t care about winning the argument and want to end an exchange that is uncomfortable to the others for no good reason — no baseball bats are going to come out in this encounter, but no one is learning anything from this. He pushes one more time, implicitly demanding that I surrender to his greater knowledge and insight. One of the others finds it intolerable and leaves, and the tension finally dissipates. The conversation returns to a lower level, but it’s impossible to go back, and we quickly go our separate ways.</p>
<p>Act III</p>
<p>Sunday morning I’m on a plane heading home. Across the aisle from me is a man most easily described as a stereotypical computer nerd, in appearance and activity. He opens his laptop once we hit our cruising altitude and is buried in it the rest of the flight until the female flight attendant comes by during our descent to remind him to turn off his electronic device which might interfere with the plane’s navigational equipment. He ignores the first warning. She comes by again with a polite second warning, which he also ignores. Finally, it’s three strikes and he’s out. She stands over him and explains — politely, but with an edge in her voice that says “enough screwing around, buddy” — that he must shut off the computer. I’m chuckling at the scene, until I see that he’s angry. After the experience of the past couple of days, I’m not eager to be in the middle of another public expression of male dominance.</p>
<p>He looks up at her, his facial muscles tightening, appearing ready to tell her off, but he wisely holds his tongue. She holds her ground, and he finally backs off and powers down the laptop. Once she’s convinced he’s turned it off, she moves on. He sits, quiet but clearly struggling to control his rage. When she is out of hearing range, he looks over at me and, just loud enough for me but no one else to hear, mutters, “Bitch.” A trace of a smile comes to his lips, and he turns away from me before I can respond. In his mind, he has won. A woman had been in a position of some small authority over him and had forced him to obey her command. But, in the end, she’s just a bitch, and he’s still a man.</p>
<p>Masculinity in three acts: Attempts at dominance through (1) force and humiliation, (2) words and argument, and (3) raw insults. Three episodes about the ways masculinity does men in, neatly played out during one long weekend. By the time I get home, I am tired. I am sad. It feels like there are few ways out.</p>
<p>But there is, of course, a way out. It’s called feminism. It offers men a way to understand the nature of this toxic conception of who we are.</p>
<p>Feminism is a gift to men, if we are smart enough to accept it.</p>
<p>This essay is excerpted from ROBERT JENSEN’s new book, <a href="" type="internal">Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity</a>, published by South End Press.</p>
<p>Jensen also has helped produce a slide show in PowerPoint with a script about the feminist critique of pornography. For information on how to get a copy, email <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>ROBERT JENSEN is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and a member of the board of the <a href="http://thirdcoastactivist.org/" type="external">Third Coast Activist Resource Center</a>. He is the author of <a href="" type="internal">The Heart of Whiteness: Race, Racism, and White Privilege</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity</a>. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Quagmire of Masculinity | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/10/22/the-quagmire-of-masculinity/ | 2007-10-22 | 4 |
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<p>Editor:</p>
<p>As a lifelong Republican, I enjoyed the fine article by Mr. Knipps in the Jan. 1 Observer. His explanation of how this country is headed in the wrong direction hit the ball out of the park. I agree wholeheartedly.</p>
<p>Unless we as a country elect conservatives, this trend will continue and lead the country into financial ruin. As long as this administration continues to extend unemployment benefits to 99 weeks and possibly beyond, puts people on food stamps and other forms of welfare instead of creating a climate where businesses can expand to create jobs, all is lost. Add the socialistic “Affordable Care Act” and this government has gone too far.</p>
<p>It has to begin at the local level. People of Rio Rancho need to get out to vote in this next local election. The elections of 2014 and 2016 may be the last chance to turn this country around to what the Founding Fathers had in mind.</p>
<p>Bob Moharter</p>
<p>Rio Rancho</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Letter to the editor: Change in direction starts with voters at local level | false | https://abqjournal.com/333120/reader-couldn39t-find-aca-references-writer-cited-change-in-direction-starts-with-voters-at-local-level-city-voters-should-beware-of-39misguided-groupthink39-3.html | 2 |
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<p>PARKLAND, Fla. — Florida’s child welfare agency investigated the suspect in a school shooting that killed 17 people after he cut himself in a video but found him stable, according to state records.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article200692514.html" type="external">The Miami Herald obtained records</a> from Florida’s Department of Children and Families and reported Saturday that Nikolas Cruz posted a video on the social media network Snapchat showing him cutting his arms in 2016.</p>
<p>The agency was called to investigate. Cruz, then 18, was listed as an “alleged victim” of medical neglect and inadequate supervision; his adoptive mother, then-68-year-old Lynda Cruz, the “alleged perpetrator.”</p>
<p>“Mr. Cruz was on Snapchat cutting both of his arms,” the Florida DCF abuse hotline was told in August 2016. “Mr. Cruz has fresh cuts on both his arms. Mr. Cruz stated he plans to go out and buy a gun.”</p>
<p />
<p>According to the paper, DCF’s investigation was completed that Nov. 12. The agency concluded that Cruz had not been mistreated by his mother, was receiving adequate care from a mental health counselor and was attending school.</p>
<p>“Henderson came out and assessed the (victim and) found him to be stable enough not to be hospitalized,” the DCF report said.</p>
<p>Cruz had been diagnosed with autism, a neurological disorder that often leads to social awkwardness and isolation, and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.</p>
<p>The documents provide further evidence that Cruz was a troubled teen before being charged with 17 counts of murder in the Wednesday attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.</p>
<p>On Friday, President Donald Trump visited Broward Health North Hospital, where he saw two victims and praised the doctors and nurses for their “incredible” job. With first lady Melania Trump, he also paid his respects to law enforcement officials in Fort Lauderdale, telling officers he hoped they were “getting the credit” they deserved.</p>
<p>Asked if he’d talked with victims, Trump added: “I did, indeed, and it’s very sad something like that could happen.”</p>
<p>Trump is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the shooting scene.</p>
<p>Also Friday, an activist and teacher who wants gun control laws was removed from a Miami-area GOP fundraiser after confronting House Speaker Paul Ryan about this week’s mass shooting.</p>
<p>The Miami Herald reports that Maria Thorne, a Key Biscayne fifth-grade teacher, said she and a friend dropped in on the fundraiser at the Ritz Hotel after she noticed motorcade traffic clogging up her commute home.</p>
<p>Thorne said she shook Ryan’s hand and introduced herself but added, “You’re here celebrating the death of 17 children.”</p>
<p>She said Ryan told her he “didn’t want to talk politics” or argue. When Thorne tried to continue, security escorted her out as she chanted “No more guns!”</p>
<p>The National Republican Congressional Committee lists a 2018 Winter Meeting in Key Biscayne this weekend. Ryan’s spokesperson confirmed to the Herald that he attended it.</p>
<p>More funerals were scheduled for Saturday. As families buried their dead, authorities questioned whether they could have prevented the attack</p>
<p>The FBI said it received a tip last month that Cruz had a “desire to kill” and access to guns and could be plotting an attack, but agents failed to investigate. The governor called for the FBI director to resign.</p>
<p>A person close to Cruz called the FBI’s tip line on Jan. 5 and provided information about Cruz’s weapons and his erratic behavior, including his disturbing social media posts. The caller was concerned that Cruz could attack a school.</p>
<p>In a statement, the agency acknowledged that the tip should have been shared with the FBI’s Miami office and investigated, but it was not. The startling admission came as the agency was already facing criticism for its treatment of a tip about a YouTube comment posted last year. The comment posted by a “Nikolas Cruz” said, “Im going to be a professional school shooter.”</p>
<p>The FBI investigated the remark but did not determine who made it.</p>
<p>Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the shooting that killed 17 people Wednesday was a “tragic consequence” of the FBI’s missteps and ordered a review of the Justice Department’s processes. He said it’s now clear that the nation’s premier law enforcement agency missed warning signs.</p>
<p>Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel said his office had received more than 20 calls about Cruz in the past few years.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Lush reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.</p> | Florida Investigated School Shooting Suspect After Self-Harm | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/state-investigated-school-shooting-suspect-self-harm/ | 2018-02-17 | 4 |
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<p>The plan, a top Senate Democrat indicated Thursday, is to advance the bill along with Rep. Jason Harper’s bill that would overhaul the state’s gross receipts tax system by closing more than 100 deductions and lowering state and local rates.</p>
<p>“We’re just trying to close the (budget) gap and build a positive direction,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, during a committee hearing Thursday.</p>
<p>While Gov. Susana Martinez has vowed to veto any tax increases approved by the Legislature, the Martinez administration has indicated the governor is open to closing tax “loopholes.”</p>
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<p>That could open the door to some revenue-generating measures, including a provision to do away with a tax deduction for nonprofit hospitals.</p>
<p>The tax bills are a key part of this year’s budget debate at the Roundhouse, which is intensifying in the homestretch of the 60-day session as lawmakers seek ways to avoid additional spending cuts to public schools and other state programs.</p>
<p>The tax bill discussed Thursday, House Bill 202, was approved by the House last month as a companion measure to a $6.1 billion spending plan for the coming fiscal year, which starts in July.</p>
<p>Without the tax increases, spending levels prescribed in the budget bill would end up being about $218 million more than is expected in state revenue.</p>
<p>Proposed Senate Finance Committee changes to the bill would actually increase the amount of revenue generated – from $265 million to $350 million – by increasing the state’s gasoline tax rate by 10 cents a gallon.</p>
<p>The Senate has already approved a separate gas tax bill, but a Martinez spokesman said she would veto it if ends up on her desk.</p>
<p>Other proposed changes to the House-approved tax package include narrowing the health care tax change to affect only hospitals – not independent practitioners – and reducing how much more commercial trucks would have to pay for permit fees.</p>
<p>Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, said Thursday that committee members worked with the New Mexico Hospital Association to finely tune the legislation, and Rep. Carl Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, the bill’s sponsor, told committee members he didn’t object to the proposed changes.</p>
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<p>“I’m very happy the Senate has worked with the hospitals,” Trujillo said.</p>
<p>If the tax package reaches Martinez’s desk, the governor would be able to use her line-item veto authority to ax certain parts of the bill without vetoing all of it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the gross receipts tax overhaul bill, House Bill 412, sponsored by Rep. Harper, R-Rio Rancho, and co-sponsored by Sens. Smith and Cisneros, was assigned to two Senate committees Thursday – the Corporations and Transportation Committee and the Finance Committee – after passing the House the day before.</p>
<p>The legislation is expected to move quickly as part of a potential budget deal between the Legislature and the governor.</p>
<p>Before passing the House, the measure was amended to narrow its focus. One key change left in place is the tax exemption for the purchase of food, which was enacted in 2004.</p>
<p>House Democrats had balked at the idea of bringing back the food tax, with House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, recently calling it a “deal-breaker.”</p>
<p>Leaving the food tax exemption in place means the state would continue paying a “hold harmless” subsidy to cities and counties for the next 13 years, Harper confirmed Thursday.</p>
<p>Initially, Harper’s bill had called for the hold harmless payments – which are intended to offset foregone tax revenue – to be eliminated.</p>
<p>The other major House amendment to the tax overhaul bill was eliminating a proposed fix to “tax lightning,” which occurs when property taxes jump dramatically when a home is purchased.</p>
<p>Highlights</p>
<p>A key Senate committee is expected to vote today on House Bill 202, a revised tax package that has already been approved by the House. The bill includes provisions that would: • Increase gasoline tax by 10 cents a gallon – from 17 cents to 27 cents – and the diesel tax by 5 cents per gallon. • Levy the gross receipts tax on all hospitals, but with a 60 percent deduction initially and an even larger deduction in future years. • Increase an annual permit fee on commercial trucks from $5.50 to $55 per vehicle. The House version had called for a fee of $95.50.</p>
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<p /> | Tax increase goes before Senate panel today | false | https://abqjournal.com/966131/tax-increase-before-senate-panel-today.html | 2017-03-09 | 2 |
<p>As conservative bigots rush to refuse asylum to Syrian refugees who are fleeing the terror of ISIS, it’s important to remember&#160;that many&#160;Americans&#160;also opposed rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.</p>
<p>Indeed, history is actually repeating itself before our very eyes. Syria is a war zone and hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children are trying to escape certain death by seeking new lives in Europe and the United States.</p>
<p>But ever since ISIS launched terrorist attacks in Paris, Republicans have been insisting that America reject Syrian refugees or discriminate against Syrian Muslims by only accepting Christian refugees.</p>
<p>This attitude not only goes against the Constitution, it has been completely repudiated by President Obama, who slammed Republicans on Monday for this betrayal of the&#160;American values of religious liberty and helping others in need.</p>
<p>America has been a beacon for refugees for centuries, but <a href="http://www.occupydemocrats.com/flashback-american-bigots-didnt-want-to-accept-jewish-refugees-fleeing-the-holocaust/" type="external">it hasn’t always upheld that image</a>. Back in the 1930s, as millions of Jews fled for their lives in Europe, bigots here in the states opposed taking in Jewish refugees even as the Nazis rounded them up for extermination in concentration camps.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=6IaEAgAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PA50&amp;lpg=PA50&amp;dq=fortune+poll+opinion+on+refugees+1938&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=CiUtVWog_-&amp;sig=5WznfatLu15git589mw3nFz7_TY&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0CDEQ6AEwBGoVChMI3uHbgIeWyQIVRzkaCh38PgoE#v=onepage&amp;q=fortune%20poll%20opinion%20on%20refugees%201938&amp;f=false" type="external">survey published by Fortune magazine</a> in 1938, 67 percent of Americans said that the government should try to keep Jewish refugees out of the country.</p>
<p>That poll can be seen most clearly in this image via <a href="https://twitter.com/HistOpinion/status/666390749882277889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The bigots even opposed saving the lives of children according to this survey a year later.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>That all changed after World War II as our nation discovered the horrible consequences of our refusal to help the Jews escape Hitler’s Final Solution. In the end, the slaughter of six million Jews caused us as a nation to rethink our stance on refugees and we became the greatest humanitarian nation on the planet.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007094" type="external">Holocaust Memorial Museum</a>,</p>
<p>It was not until January 1944 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt, under pressure from officials in his own government and an American Jewish community then fully aware of the extent of mass murder, took action to rescue European Jews.</p>
<p>In 1948, legislation was passed by Congress admitting 400,000 displaced persons into the United States, which became a “turning point in American immigration policy and established a precedent for later refugee crises.”</p>
<p>But now conservative bigots want to return us to our pre-Cold War xenophobia and Islamophobia has replaced anti-Semitism.</p>
<p>We as a nation cannot allow that to happen. We have a chance to save countless lives by providing asylum to innocent Syrians who are desperate to escape the civil war that is driving them from their homes.</p>
<p>It’s time for us to once again be the humanitarian nation that is admired around the world, instead of turning a blind eye to human being who desperately need our help. If we allow these refugees to die, we are no better than the terrorists who want to kill them. In fact, we would be aiding in that violence&#160;by giving them more people to kill. We must listen to President Obama and be compassionate. Listening to the bigots would only repeat a national shame that would further erode our values as we give in to fear, and that’s exactly what ISIS wants. Don’t give them want they want.</p>
<p>Featured Image: <a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/unelected-bureaucrats-conduit-for-americas-destruction_012014/statue-of-liberty-crying-628x356" type="external">The Daily Sheeple</a></p> | American Bigots Also Opposed Taking In Jewish Refugees During The Holocaust, And Millions Died | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2015/11/17/american-bigots-also-opposed-taking-in-jewish-refugees-during-the-holocaust-and-millions-died/ | 2015-11-17 | 4 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The 2013 New Mexico Ethics in Business Awards is looking anew for some exceptional individuals, nonprofits and businesses from around the state.</p>
<p>The awards are an annual recognition of for-profit businesses, not-for-profit organizations and individuals whose present or past work in New Mexico demonstrates the highest ethical conduct and social responsibility.</p>
<p>Award categories include: Rust For-Profit Business Awards (up to three selected); Paul and LaDonna Hopkins Not-for-Profit Organization Award; PNM/Ackerman Individual Award for Ethical Leadership; Bill Daniels Award for Ethical Business Practice.</p>
<p>Nominations will be accepted until 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Detailed instructions can be found at <a href="http://www.EthicsInBusinessNM.com" type="external">www.EthicsInBusinessNM.com</a>. For more information, call 505-842-5300.</p>
<p>The Samaritan Counseling Center each year partners with the UNM Anderson School of Management for nominee analysis and reporting to an independent community selection committee.</p>
<p>By recognizing companies, organizations and individuals who give leadership in ethical business practice, the center continues to support a more ethical community while also raising funds for the Center’s Good Samaritan Fund, which provides financially assisted counseling services to the community.</p>
<p>The Journal’s Business Outlook is the media sponsor of the program.</p> | Ethics in Business Awards seeks exceptional nominees | false | https://abqjournal.com/106393/ethics-in-business-awards-seeks-exceptional-nominees.html | 2012-05-14 | 2 |
<p>By Travis Cooper and Jared Champion</p>
<p>Dear President O’Brien,</p>
<p>We write to you regarding Carson-Newman University’s decision to seek and accept a waiver to the provisions of Title IX. In a moment when division and hate abound, we were heartbroken to learn that Carson-Newman University missed an opportunity to show love and acceptance, values that are actually taught by Jesus. We have chosen to address this issue in an open letter because we want the world to know that the values you label “Christian” are not held by all, and there are plenty of Christians who accept everyone without qualification.</p>
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<p>In an interview with the Knoxville News Sentinel, you were quoted saying, “The spirit of the exemption was to clearly identify each school as a Christian institution ….” This statement is at best myopic, particularly given that the Bible — especially the New Testament teachings of Jesus — is so very clear that we are to show love and acceptance (Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 15:7, etc). When people gathered to hear Jesus teach, can you imagine anyone being excluded? Of course not! So in the same way that a person cannot eat a turkey sandwich and claim to be vegetarian, we contend that CNU cannot claim to be a “Christian college” while securing the ability to discriminate. Somehow, your advising attorney, whose advice you and the board of trustees trusted, read the New Testament’s story of unwavering love and acceptance by Jesus and walked away believing the Pharisees were the heroes. Heartbreaking.</p>
<p>Our concern is furthered by the clear failure of the administration to understand the scope and reach of Title IX. By successfully petitioning for the waiver, you have shown that the college has no interest in protecting those who have been persecuted (sadly, often by those claiming to be Christians). Rather than using your power to fight discrimination and to demonstrate the strength of Christ’s love, you have taken a stance of weakness and argued that your rights to exclude people should trump those of the persecuted. Make no mistake: acquiring the legal ability to discriminate will lead to discrimination. If not by your administration then by another in the future. As such, we cannot rely on your judgment alone to make sure this waiver is not used against those Title IX is designed to protect.</p>
<p>We ask that you revoke Carson-Newman University’s waiver so the CN community can be a beacon of love for those who suffer at the hands of the same misogyny, homophobia and bigotry that Title IX seeks to combat. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35. Also see 1 John 4:11-12). We suggest that you and the board of trustees follow this commandment from Jesus and “clearly identify” CNU as a “Christian institution” by loving and accepting all people, especially the vulnerable.</p>
<p>You must choose, President O’Brien. Will CNU be an institution that organizes itself according to the teachings of Jesus — by not dividing people into those worthy or unworthy of inclusion — or will you maintain the legal authority to exclude some of the most vulnerable in our society? Carson-Newman has an opportunity to be a light in this world, and to reclaim a Christian narrative that has become fearful and exclusionary and weak, and to reinstate one of acceptance, love, and strength.</p>
<p>We were once proud alumni who believed strongly in the institution of Carson-Newman. We hope to be again, President O’Brien.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Travis Cooper, M. Ed. Social Science Department Chair The New School of Northern Virginia Fairfax, Va.</p>
<p>Jared Champion, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of English Young Harris College Young Harris, Ga.</p>
<p>Related stories:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Alumni pair ask Carson-Newman to revoke Title IX waiver</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Baptist schools seek waiver from LBGT discrimination ban</a></p> | An open letter to Carson-Newman University | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/an-open-letter-to-carson-newman-university/ | 3 |
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<p>SALINAS, Calif., April 21 (Reuters) - Record rains are a double-edged sword for California's Salinas Valley: While the recent deluge virtually ended the state's historic drought, it also created muddy, unworkable fields - sending prices for everything from kale to cauliflower soaring.</p>
<p>The famed agricultural region just south of Silicon Valley is usually a springtime sea of green vegetables. But this year, there are patches of brown unplanted dirt in "America's salad bowl," which supplies more than 60 percent of the country's leaf lettuce and almost half of its broccoli.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"Most fields under normal conditions would be planted at this point," Jerrett Stoffel, vice president of operations at Taylor Farms, said in an interview at the privately held company's sprawling outpost in Salinas, California.</p>
<p>Taylor Farms is a major provider of produce to customers such as grocer Kroger Co and burrito seller Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.</p>
<p>"No matter whether you live here or you live in Boston, you're going to see the impact" on supply and prices, Stoffel said.</p>
<p>Salinas has been struck by a series supply-squeezing events, said Roland Fumasi, a Rabobank analyst who covers the fresh fruit, vegetable and flower sectors.</p>
<p>Unusually hot weather in desert growing areas such as Yuma, Arizona, and California's Imperial Valley during December and January resulted in early harvests. California's 90-mile long Salinas Valley, which runs from Salinas to King City, couldn't fill the supply gap because heavy rains in January and February delayed or prevented some planting.</p>
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<p>And, more recent rains have lowered yields and delayed harvests for some crops that are in the ground.</p>
<p>Since Oct. 1, Salinas has received 16.4 inches of rain, significantly more than normal rainfall of almost 12 inches annually, said Eric Boldt, a National Weather Service meteorologist.</p>
<p>California's rainy season usually wraps up at the end of April, and the 14-day weather outlook suggests that is holding, Boldt said.</p>
<p>"By the middle of next month, we might be pretty close to normal supply-side conditions," said Fumasi. "If we were to get heavy rains, then all bets are off."</p>
<p>The supply crimp sent up wholesale prices, which are usually passed on to shoppers.</p>
<p>Prices for boxes of California spinach and kale were up 20 percent and 87 percent, respectively, for the first two weeks of April versus the same period in 2016, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.</p>
<p>The moves have been more dramatic for broccoli and cauliflower. Broccoli more than tripled to $30.21 per box from $9.08; cauliflower is at $37.52 versus $13.74, USDA data as of April 15 shows.</p>
<p>Doug Classen, vice president of sales at the Nunes Co, which grows and ships Foxy brand produce, said there are few options for filling the supply gap since there is not much product coming from Mexico and other parts of the United States.</p>
<p>When asked about the area's supply prospects, Classen uttered words unthinkable just a year ago: "Let's put it this way, I don't want to see any more rain." (Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by David Gregorio)</p> | California rains muddy farm fields, higher vegetable prices soak shoppers | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/21/california-rains-muddy-farm-fields-higher-vegetable-prices-soak-shoppers.html | 2017-10-23 | 0 |
<p>OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Washington Lottery's "Hit 5" game were:</p>
<p>10-24-28-34-39</p>
<p>(ten, twenty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-four, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $100,000</p>
<p>OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Washington Lottery's "Hit 5" game were:</p>
<p>10-24-28-34-39</p>
<p>(ten, twenty-four, twenty-eight, thirty-four, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $100,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Hit 5' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/f8af5d2683bc42d48d339b358a0fb9cb | 2018-01-11 | 2 |
<p>By Andrew Kohut</p>
<p>With two years to go, Barack Obama is widely seen as a failed president, responsible for his party’s losses in the mid-term Congressional elections. He still faces strong headwinds on both domestic policy and foreign affairs. The notion that the president can make a comeback with the American public may seem very unlikely. Yet a close look at attitudes about him and recent presidential history suggests such a rebound is not out of the question. In fact, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Barack Obama’s political death may have been greatly exaggerated.</p>
<p>Indeed views of Obama are not any worse than were attitudes toward Ronald Reagan at about this time in his second term.</p>
<p>Understanding the arc of a presidential popularity rating, especially one as varied as Obama’s, requires a longer perspective than a single midterm snapshot.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/12/are-we-writing-off-obama-too-soon-113509.html#ixzz3LeCR9vEj" type="external">Continue reading in Politico Magazine…</a></p> | Are We Writing Off Obama Too Soon? | false | http://pewresearch.org/2014/12/11/are-we-writing-off-obama-too-soon/ | 2014-12-11 | 2 |
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<p>SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said it is a “pipe dream” for the United States to think it will give up its nuclear weapons, and called the latest U.N. sanctions to target the country “an act of war” that violates its sovereignty.</p>
<p>The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved tough new sanctions against North Korea on Friday in response to its latest launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang says can reach anywhere on the U.S. mainland. The resolution was drafted by the United States and negotiated with the North’s closest ally, China.</p>
<p>“We define this ‘sanctions resolution’ rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the ‘resolution,'” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.</p>
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<p>The ministry said the sanctions are tantamount to a “complete economic blockade” of North Korea.</p>
<p>“If the U.S. wishes to live safely, it must abandon its hostile policy towards the DPRK and learn to co-exist with the country that has nuclear weapons and should wake up from its pipe dream of our country giving up nuclear weapons which we have developed and completed through all kinds of hardships,” said the statement, carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.</p>
<p>DPRK is short for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.</p>
<p>China called for restraint Monday, with Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying that nations should “make positive and constructive efforts to de-escalate tensions” on the Korean Peninsula.</p>
<p>Hua said the new U.N. resolution emphasizes “not inflicting adverse humanitarian impact” on North Koreans and not affecting regular economic activities or humanitarian assistance.</p>
<p>The resolution includes sharply lower limits on North Korea’s refined oil imports, the return home of all North Koreans working overseas within 24 months, and a crackdown on ships smuggling banned items including coal and oil to and from the country.</p>
<p>The Trump administration’s success in achieving the resolution won praise from the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ben Cardin of Maryland. “That was a good move, a major accomplishment,” he said.</p>
<p>Cardin, who spoke on “Fox News Sunday,” said the stepped-up sanctions should be followed by diplomacy aimed at bringing the U.S. and China together on a sustained effort to ease tensions in that region.</p>
<p>But the resolution doesn’t include even harsher measures sought by the Trump administration that would ban all oil imports and freeze international assets of the government and its leader, Kim Jong Un.</p>
<p>The resolution drew criticism from Russia for the short time the Security Council nations had to consider the draft, and last-minute changes to the text. Two of those changes were extending the deadline for North Korean workers to return home from 12 months to 24 months — which Russia said was the minimum needed — and reducing the number of North Koreans being put on the U.N. sanctions blacklist from 19 to 15.</p> | N. Korea says it’s a ‘pipe dream’ that it will give up nukes | false | https://abqjournal.com/1110793/north-korea-calls-latest-un-sanctions-an-act-of-war.html | 2017-12-24 | 2 |
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<p>Tickets to see the Denver Broncos during their Super Bowl run had the highest resale value of any team last season, according to a new study from SeatGeek.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Resale prices for the Broncos averaged $314 per seat, better than the rest of the NFL including the New England Patriots ($300). The Seattle Seahawks ($299) had the highest mark of any NFC team.</p>
<p>Broncos tickets were up 25% compared to the previous season. SeatGeek noted that in addition to the team’s success, Denver prices also got a boost from home games against the Patriots and Green Bay Packers.</p>
<p>In its report, <a href="https://seatgeek.com/" type="external">secondary ticket marketplace SeatGeek Opens a New Window.</a> analyzed price data and the behavior of buyers and sellers during the NFL season to detect trends.</p>
<p>For instance, fans of the Oakland Raiders were more likely to make ticket purchases on their Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones than other fans. They also had the lowest percentage of purchases on SeatGeek’s desktop website.</p>
<p>Kansas City Chiefs tickets were the hottest sellers on Android devices, while Packers fans preferred iPads. Patriots fans utilized the desktop site more than other fanbases.</p>
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<p>Unsurprisingly, football fans in San Francisco were quick to adopt new technology. The 49ers led the league in mobile barcode entry, followed by the Seahawks and the Miami Dolphins. San Francisco had the highest percentage of tickets purchased on gameday, making mobile tickets a convenient option.</p>
<p>Behind the 49ers, Atlanta Falcons and Dolphins fans waited the longest to buy seats. Fans of the Packers, Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills purchased tickets well in advance.</p>
<p>SeatGeek noted that many fans may wait until the last minute hoping that prices drop. While inventory may be limited, sellers are forced to lower their asking price if they want to offload tickets before gametime.</p>
<p>“It is also worth noting that the three teams that have the longest waits are in warmer cities, while the three fan groups that buy their tickets ahead of time are in colder weather cities,” SeatGeek added.</p>
<p>The award for best value went to the Chiefs, based on their win total for the 2015 season. Minnesota Vikings and Bengals fans got the best bang for their buck, too. The Chiefs, Vikings and Bengals were playoff teams.</p>
<p>Conversely, tickets to watch the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Tennessee Titans were pricier on the secondary market, even though all three teams had rough seasons.</p>
<p>The Carolina Panthers, the Broncos’ opponent in Super Bowl 50, generated the highest resale values on the road. The Panthers went undefeated until a Week 16 loss. For that Week 16 matchup in Atlanta, tickets surged 128% compared to prices at the beginning of the season. Seats for Carolina’s Week 15 road game against the Giants cost 59% more.</p> | Broncos Ticket Prices Tops in NFL During Super Bowl Run | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/03/04/broncos-ticket-prices-tops-in-nfl-during-super-bowl-run.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>D.Raghunandan is a member of the Delhi Science Forum and an expert on climate change. He was the former President of All India Peoples Science Network and a member of the Low Carbon Path Committee of the Planning Commission. Raghu is trained as an Engineer (Aviation) and Social Scientist. Professionally, he is engaged in research, development and application of technologies for pro-poor rural enterprises in India. He has also published extensively and engages actively in advocacy on Climate Policy, both domestic and international, and other environmental issues. Raghu has served on numerous committees advising the Indian Government in these and other areas.</p>
<p>Anjali Appadurai is a member of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, an international coalition of people's movements around the world taking action on energy. She is also co-founder of the very recently-launched online political platform Tipping Point Collective. She has been organizing within and writing about international climate politics and the youth climate movement for several years.</p>
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<p /> JESSICA DESVARIEUX, PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.
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<p />India is in the grip of an extreme heatwave that has killed more than 1,100 people in the past week. Some states have seen temperatures as high as 115 degrees Fahrenheit. With the extreme heatwave in India, some are pointing to its connection to climate change. But can we make that connection? With us to help us connect the dots are our two guests.
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<p />Joining us from Delhi, India, is D. Raghunandan. Rhagu is a member of the Delhi Science Forum, which is a public interest organization dedicated to popularizing science and technology policies. And also joining us from Vancouver is Anjali Appadurai. Anjali is a member of the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice.
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<p />Thank you both for joining us.
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<p />ANJALI APPADURAI, GLOBAL CAMPAIGN TO DEMAND CLIMATE JUSTICE: Thanks, Jessica.
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<p />D. RAGHUNANDAN, DELHI SCIENCE FORUM: Thanks.
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<p />DESVARIEUX: So Rhagu, let's start off with you, since you're on the ground there in India. I understand that scientists are often reluctant to link extreme weather events like this current heatwave in India to climate change. So can you just point us to some specific studies, or any sort of evidence that can connect this extreme heat wave to climate change?
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<p />RHAGUNANDAN: Yeah. Well, scientifically the difficulty is in pinpointing a causal relationship between a particular extreme weather event and climate change. We know that with climate change, and we have figures now showing this, we will have more heatwaves every year. Slightly higher temperatures each year. More extreme rainfall events each year. That we know. But whether this particular heatwave is because of climate change or because of local climatic or weather events, that's a slightly more difficult question to answer with a great deal of certainty.
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<p />DESVARIEUX: Rhagu, those figures that you mentioned. What studies are you talking about?
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<p />RHAGUNANDAN: There are a number of meteorological studies in India as well as internationally by the IPCC and by other agencies which show that the number of high rainfall events every year have increased over the past 20 years. The number of heatwaves have also increased over the past 20 years. But as I said, it's very difficult to pinpoint whether this particular heatwave is because of climate change, or other regional or global weather events.
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<p />DESVARIEUX: Okay. But we can pinpoint who's being affected by these extreme weather events. Anjali, can you just talk about some people who are most affected by this heatwave?
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<p />APPADURAI: Yes, Jessica. So the majority of people of this--the majority of this 1,100 casualties of this heatwave were homeless people. And the people who are affected first are people of lower incomes, laborers who are expected to be working outside in the sunlight. So this is a familiar situation we see with climate impacts around the world. It really, it usually works out this way, those lower on the socioeconomic ladder affected first. And that's one of the prime characteristics of climate change and how it's going to play out in our world in the next few years.
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: Now let's speak specifically about India's contribution to carbon emissions. India is a heavy consumer of greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels. Rhagu, what specific energy policies has India maintained that's contributed to climate change?
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<p />RHAGUNANDAN: India is high on fossil fuel energy production. In terms of electricity generation for example, we are roughly in this country somewhere around 50 to 60 percent of electricity generation is down to coal. Now, that's the transition which India is trying to make, moving towards solar energy generation. But it's a slow transition given the costs.
<p />
<p />However, the flipside is on a per capita basis, India still is way, way below the global average in terms of energy consumption. So in absolute numbers, we are high emitters. But on per capita basis, we are extremely low. The U.S., for example, has about 16 times the per capita energy consumption as India does.
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: Is there real momentum, you mentioned transitioning to solar. Is there real momentum in India to really move towards a greener economy?
<p />
<p />RHAGUNANDAN: Yeah. There is good momentum on several fronts. One of them is a shift towards solar electricity generation and to wind. But the obstacle here is costs more than anything else. As we all know, solar and wind both are more expensive, particularly solar, than other forms of energy production, particularly coal.
<p />
<p />India has set a very ambitious target for solar, and maybe we can discuss that a little bit later. But the other major driver is savings on energy by large industries. And this is prompted not so much by climate considerations as by energy costs in industries like steel and cement. The bigger obstacles, however, are the rising energy expenditures in the transportation sector driven largely by personal transport and the expanding middle class, and the failure of India to invest more in rail rather than in road. The big challenges I think are in personal transportation, as I mentioned, but also the resistance comes from the automobile manufacturers as well as from government, both of whom seem to think that the automobile sector is a major driver of economic growth in the country, as well as housing sector being a major driver. And these industries, the real estate industry and the automobile industry are resisting energy efficiency policies which could save a lot of energy, but which for [GDP] growth reasons is being held back.
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<p />DESVARIEUX: Anjali, I want to ask you about the role of the U.S., China, and Europe in producing greenhouse gas emissions. What level of responsibility have they taken in trying to aid developing countries like India who make the case that they did not produce the brunt of these carbon emissions during industrialization, and need help from wealthier nations? Has the West and China really stepped up?
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<p />APPADURAI: Right. There's an important distinction to make here. I think it's important to start, the starting point should be that okay, we have a climate crisis on our hands, and 75 percent of the emissions in the atmosphere right now are the result of emissions from the industrialization of the West. And that industrialization has gotten the so-called developed countries, this is UN language, the developed, industrialized countries versus the developing countries, the developed countries to the level of wealth and human development that they're at right now.
<p />
<p />So in the last few years, in the developing countries where 80 percent of the world's population resides, those countries have started to go through their own industrialization process, like China and India are kind of leading the way on that. They're the world's largest developing countries. And so their emissions are starting to rise in the way that sort of the U.S. and England were rising in their process of industrialization.
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<p />So notably, as a side note to that, much of the carbon output of countries like China are actually generated as a result of producing goods that are then directly exported to the U.S., so that's something to take into account as well. But it just shows you that the problem is, it's systemic in nature. It's the wealthiest, essentially, in the world who have caused the most emissions thus far.
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<p />And so then there's a question of who's responsible. So there's clearly historical responsibility. But then there's also an ongoing current responsibility. But it's important, as Rhagu mentioned earlier, it's important to note on a per capita basis, so on a per human basis, who is really paying for climate change and who has the responsibility to deal with the issue the most. So someone in China is using up to 20 times fewer emissions than someone in the U.S. is, for example. And there's less historical responsibility there. So when it comes to who has the responsibility, developed countries unequivocally have the brunt of the responsibility. And China's not so much in that camp because of the lack of the historical trajectory.
<p />
<p />So that's well established in the UN negotiations. It's developed countries are legally obligated to step up and support developing countries not only through having strong domestic targets at home to curb their own emissions, but also through the very, very important pillar of climate finance. And finance can take several different forms, but it's essentially international transfers to help developing countries not only adapt to existing and ongoing climate impacts, but also to help them transition to a renewable economy. Because that transition can't happen on its own and out of the blue. The world is still very much operating on a Western economic model.
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: And is that the basis for the Green Climate Fund, Anjali?
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<p />APPADURAI: Yes. The Green Climate Fund is a bit of a, it's a bit of a, honestly, an ongoing disaster. And it just goes to show the state of climate finance right now. Climate finance has really suffered. There's been a severe lack of commitment on the part of the developed world.
<p />
<p />So the GCF, the Green Climate Fund, has been negotiating for a long time. And basically their decision was that the developed countries would work up to a pledge of $100 billion U.S. annually by 2020. And so there was a deadline of April 30th of this year for them to get up to that number. But actually what's been pledged so far is only $4 billion. And so there's a real shortfall in what's been pledged versus what has been calculated as the need. So it's really hard to point to developing countries and sort of expect them to transition to a low-carbon economy if the financial component is just not coming in.
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: So Rhagu, you've just heard Anjali talk about the Green Climate Fund and how underfunded it is. Is there anyone in the Indian political landscape making the same point?
<p />
<p />RHAGUNANDAN: Yes. In the sense that the so-called developed world owes it to the developing world to help the transition to a low-carbon or zero-carbon economy. But from a specifically Indian point of view, I don't see India standing in the same queue as Burkina Faso asking for Western funds. Which would be I think not the right thing for India to do, because if it does then India would take the lion's share on a per capita basis.
<p />
<p />But there are some fairly large big ticket items of expenditure which India needs to invest in which could do with Western funding. Such as, for example, a shift from road to rail transport will require thousands of kilometers of new rail lines. And that's a very expensive proposition which could do with Green Climate funding.
<p />
<p />So yes, there are enough people talking about it, but I think the dilemma is, does India stand in front of the line, or does it allow the least developed countries, the island states, the African nations, to get a bulk of that money?
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: Anjali, why can't countries, developing countries like India, easily transition to renewables? Is this simply about funding?
<p />
<p />APPADURAI: No. I mean, so this is a common argument, that developing countries need to industrialize and develop down a different pathway, a less dirty pathway than the developed countries did it, right. Like, not cars, not industry. Renewable, carbon-free technology. And that's a great idea, but there's so many multiple institutionalized barriers to that. And finance is a huge one. And as we just talked about, the finance is really lacking. The North-South financial transfers are lacking.
<p />
<p />But there's also a really not often talked about barrier of intellectual property rights. And this is a huge point of contention in the UN negotiations around this. Over 90 percent of the patents for clean technology are held in Western countries. Most of them are held in the U.S. So there needs to be an open conversation about transferring those intellectual property rights to the South so that those technologies can actually be invested in, can actually be replicated, can actually become infrastructure, to transition Southern economies to a low-carbon economy. And that's a conversation that the developed countries have repeatedly shut down and repeatedly ignored at the international level, because IPRs, intellectual property rights, are a real point of contention. And they represent actually a lot of money for industry. For private industry in Western countries.
<p />
<p />And that's a huge part of this whole climate mess. It's corporate interests--as countries try to work this out multilaterally, there's a whole big bloc, and that's corporate interests, that really block a lot of progress on this. So that's the unspoken barrier, the elephant in the room. We need to start talking about it. The intellectual property rights are preventing these technologies from being transferred.
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: Very interesting point. Did you want to just jump in, Rhagu, very quickly?
<p />
<p />RHAGUNANDAN: Yeah, I just wanted to say that the IPR issue is real. It also once again boils down to money. Who pays for the intellectual property rights? And if the corporations in the West want to be paid for those IPRs, then they will eat up a chunk of this Green Climate Fund, which will then further deprive the developing countries of money.
<p />
<p />So it does boil down to dollars and cents at the end. Not too many cents, mostly dollars. But it does boil down to money and the question of who pays for the IPRs. And that is certainly a very serious obstacle.
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: All right. Rhagu and Anjali, thank you both for joining us.
<p />
<p />APPADURAI: Thanks, Jessica.
<p />
<p />RHAGUNANDAN: Thank you.
<p />
<p />DESVARIEUX: And thank you for joining us on The Real News Network.
<p />
<p />End
<p />
<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | India's Heat Wave Fueled by Western & Indian Energy Policies | true | http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D31%26Itemid%3D74%26jumival%3D13932 | 2015-05-28 | 4 |
<p>Unilever PLC on Thursday reported weaker third-quarter revenue growth as the maker of Breyers ice cream and Dove shampoo struggled with lower sales in developed markets.</p>
<p>Unilever's sales for the third quarter climbed just 2.6% on an underlying basis to EUR13.2 billion ($15.56 billion) driven mostly by price rises. That's a slowdown from a year ago when Unilever reported growth of 3.2% and is also sharply below the 3.9% analysts were expecting.</p>
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<p>Shares in the company traded down 3% in early trading in London.</p>
<p>Like its peers, Unilever -- which also owns Axe deodorant and Lipton tea -- has been suffering through a double whammy of headwinds. Consumers in major, developed markets are abandoning the big brands Unilever has for decades relied on for steady growth, increasingly opting for niche, organic, local brands they see as more desirable. In emerging markets, Unilever and others are facing more competition from increasingly sophisticated local players while coping with macroeconomic disruptions in big markets like India and Brazil.</p>
<p>The tumult has attracted activist investors like Nelson Peltz to Procter &amp; Gamble Co. and Dan Loeb to Nestle SA, and created an opening for Kraft Heinz Co. earlier this year to approach Unilever, which rejected a $143 billion acquisition attempt. On Wednesday, consumer-goods giant Reckitt Benckiser PLC said it would split into two separately managed divisions in an attempt to jump start growth, a move analysts say opens the Slough-based owner of Durex condoms up to activist pressure to eventually sell one of the divisions.</p>
<p>In developed markets, Unilever said underlying third-quarter sales fell 2.3%, driven by a 2.9% drop in North America, where the company said it was hurt by hurricanes in Florida and Texas, its second and third biggest states by sales. Natural disasters in the Caribbean also took a toll.</p>
<p>"There's really no growth in the U.S. business," Unilever Chief Financial Officer Graeme Pitkethly said in an interview. "But the big one-off impact that caused us to miss against consensus this quarter were the hurricanes in Florida and Texas."</p>
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<p>Earlier Thursday, Nestle reported organic sales growth of 2.6% for the first nine months of the year, a slowdown from the 3.3% it reported a year earlier. Nestle, like Unilever, flagged flat sales in North America where it said the environment was difficult.</p>
<p>For Unilever, emerging markets were a bright spot, with underlying sales up by 6.3% helped by improvements in China and India.</p>
<p>Unilever has made a string of acquisitions in high-growth areas lately, agreeing to buy Weis ice cream in Australia, Pukka Herbs tea in the U.K., Carver skin care in Korea, and Mãe Terra organic food in Brazil. The acquisitions, while relatively small for a company with a market capitalization of $180 billion, are one way Unilever is trying to adapt to the rapidly changing landscape. The company is also undertaking a restructuring aimed at helping it compete better with local rivals in markets around the world.</p>
<p>The moves come as the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant tries to raise shareholder returns after fending off Kraft in February. Since then, Unilever has said it will look to sell or spin off its spreads arm, where sales growth has long been declining. It has also launched a share buyback and set a new operating margin target of 20% by 2020.</p>
<p>For the third quarter sales declined by 1.6% on a reported basis, with a 5.1% drag from foreign-exchange movements. Profit figures weren't disclosed.</p>
<p>The company's homecare arm reported sales growth of 4.6% but personal care, an area Unilever has been bulking up in, reported growth of just 1.8%. The foods business reported a 1.5% rise in sales, while its refreshment unit -- which houses tea and ice cream -- rose 3.1%.</p>
<p>Unilever confirmed its annual guidance for underlying sales growth of 3% to 5% for the year and a rise of at least 1 percentage point in its underlying operating margin. But RBC analyst James Edwardes Jones noted that achieving this guidance "looks like a stretch" given the 2.8% sales growth Unilever reported for the first nine months.</p>
<p>Write to Saabira Chaudhuri at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 19, 2017 03:45 ET (07:45 GMT)</p> | Unilever Results Disappoint as Hurricanes Hit U.S. Sales -- Update | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/19/unilever-results-disappoint-as-hurricanes-hit-u-s-sales-update.html | 2017-10-19 | 0 |
<p>A far-flung Alaska town is known for having streets that are among the most taxi-congested in the U.S. in proportion to the small number of people who call it home.</p>
<p>For years, locals knew the cabdrivers as a source for illegal booze in Bethel, which has 58 taxis for its population of 6,200 — one for every 107 residents. State police heard the rumors and launched a two-year investigation that recently led to charges against 18 drivers accused of selling alcohol out of their cabs without a license.</p>
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<p>At play is a mix of strict liquor laws and cars being unable to reach the commercial hub for dozens of tiny villages on the tundra 400 miles west of Anchorage. Bethel voters lifted a decadeslong ban on alcohol sales several years ago, but the town's first liquor store in more than four decades opened just last year and closes by 7 p.m.</p>
<p>Taxi drivers, mostly from South Korea and Eastern Europe, have flocked to Bethel, situated in a vast region dotted with thousands of ponds where cars have to be flown in or sent by barge on a river. They shuttle tourists and people from 56 largely Eskimo villages who come to shop, see doctors or do other errands.</p>
<p>The proportion of cabs is far greater than in New York City, where traditional taxis number one for every 625 people. But New York also is stacked with liveries and limousines, as well as ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft, which are not players in Bethel. Taking those into account, there's one vehicle for hire for every 68 New Yorkers, close to Bethel's proportion.</p>
<p>In the Alaska town, it was known that people wanting alcohol could simply call one of several cab companies and ask for a "charter" ride, City Council member and longtime resident Mark Springer said.</p>
<p>But more people illegally sell alcohol than just the cabdrivers charged, according to Springer, who said others in the community have also seen it as a way to earn a livelihood or supplement their income.</p>
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<p>"We use the term, 'subsistence bootlegging,'" he said.</p>
<p>There are plenty of reasons that illegal alcohol sales can still be a lucrative business in Bethel, Springer said, citing the lone liquor store that closes early and locals who don't want to wait to drink. Other likely customers are minors, out-of-towners or residents of surrounding villages, some of which ban alcohol.</p>
<p>Alaska State Troopers made about 50 undercover buys from people without an alcohol license. Prosecutors say that in most of the transactions, cabdrivers sold undercover officers cheap hard liquor for $50 to $60 a bottle. Besides the 18 cabdrivers, several others accused of working with them and one individual with no connection to taxi companies were charged.</p>
<p>Most of the defendants were arraigned Wednesday on misdemeanor counts of selling alcohol without a license. They pleaded not guilty and have not been jailed. One local cab company also faces the same charges.</p>
<p>"The general concept is, we think it's important to have a license because alcohol causes a lot of problems in communities all over the state," Alaska Assistant Attorney General John Haley said.</p>
<p>Rural communities have long struggled with the effects of alcohol abuse. It has been particularly brutal for Alaska Natives, who have a high rate of suicide and premature death, with alcohol long considered a major factor. Many rural communities have passed laws banning or restricting the liquor sales.</p>
<p>Local attorney Myron Angstman represents four of the cabdrivers who have been charged. He said they are all from South Korea and that the language barrier has been a challenge.</p>
<p>Angstman said he had some help talking to his clients in an initial meeting but doesn't know enough about their cases to comment. He expects to bring in a professional translator.</p>
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<p>Follow Rachel D'Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro .</p> | In Alaska town packed with cabs, bootleggers give you a ride | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/21/in-alaska-town-packed-with-cabs-bootleggers-give-ride.html | 2017-09-21 | 0 |
<p>Published time: 4 Jan, 2018 16:49</p>
<p>A German transsexual woman whose sperm was used to fertilize an egg with her female partner can be registered only as the child’s father, according to a ruling by the country’s highest civil court.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/410238-eu-social-rights-pillar/" type="external">READ MORE: EU leaders sign non-binding ‘Pillar of Social Rights’ to appease skeptics with fair image</a></p>
<p>The woman, who changed sex in 2012, has been in a registered civil partnership since September 2015. A child was born to the couple in June that year after the plaintiff’s frozen sperm was used to fertilize an egg. However, the Federal Court of Justice ruled Thursday that while the law recognizes transgender people as their chosen sex, a change in gender does not alter the legal relationship between a parent and child in cases where the child was born after the transition.</p>
<p>In a statement following the ruling, the court said that because sperm donation is the only grounds of paternity possible, the transsexual woman had no grounds to declare maternity. “Accordingly, the legal parent of the child is only the woman who gave birth to the child,” &#160;the <a href="http://juris.bundesgerichtshof.de/cgi-bin/rechtsprechung/document.py?Gericht=bgh&amp;Art=en&amp;Datum=Aktuell&amp;Sort=12288&amp;nr=80553&amp;linked=pm&amp;Blank=1" type="external">statement</a> read.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/viral/394901-canada-gender-neutral-baby/" type="external">READ MORE: Canada issues ‘unknown’ health card to gender neutral baby</a></p>
<p>Gender issues have been a hot topic in Germany in recent times. In November, the country’s constitutional court ruled in favor of introducing a third gender category for people who do not identify as either male or female. The Federal Constitutional Court <a href="http://www.bundesverfassungsgericht.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/EN/2017/bvg17-095.html" type="external">ruled</a> at the time that the law on civil status discriminated against intersex people as it ruled out “the registration of a gender other than ‘male’ or ‘female.’”</p> | German trans woman loses court bid to be registered as child’s mother | false | https://newsline.com/german-trans-woman-loses-court-bid-to-be-registered-as-childs-mother/ | 2018-01-04 | 1 |
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<p>A Spanish association representing open source software users filed a complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission on Tuesday, in a new challenge to the technology giant following a hefty fine earlier this month.</p>
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<p>The 8,000 member-strong Hispalinux, which represents users of the Linux operating system, said Microsoft had made it difficult for users of computers sold with its Windows 8 platform to switch to Linux and other operating systems.</p>
<p>Lawyer and Hispalinux head Jose Maria Lancho said he delivered the complaint to the Madrid office of the European Commission at 5.00 a.m. ET.</p>
<p>The European Commission fined Microsoft, the global leader in operating systems, 561 million euros ($729 million) on March 6 for failing to offer users a choice of web browser. ($1 = 0.7694 euros)</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sarah Morris and Teresa Larraz; Writing by Clare Kane; Editing by Julien Toyer and Tom Pfeiffer)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Open Software Group Files Complaint to EU Against Microsoft | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/03/26/exclusive-open-software-group-files-complaint-to-eu-against-microsoft.html | 2016-01-29 | 0 |
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<p>The high court’s rulings moved two inmates closer to execution: LeJames Norman, 31, condemned for the 2005 shooting deaths of three people during a botched robbery of a home in Edna, about 100 miles southwest of Houston, and Bill Douglas Gates, 67, condemned for strangling a Houston woman in 1999.</p>
<p>Neither has an execution date.</p>
<p>Norman and an accomplice also now on death row, Ker’Sean Ramey, were convicted in the slayings of Samuel Roberts, 24, Tiffani Peacock, 18, and Celso Lopez, 38, inside the home they shared in Edna, in Jackson County. Roberts’ parents discovered the bodies Aug. 25, 2005.</p>
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<p>Court records indicated Ramey and Norman believed there was 100 kilograms of cocaine in the house and hoped to steal it, but they never found any drugs. Norman was arrested trying to cross a bridge into Brownsville from Mexico about five months after the killings. He pleaded guilty to capital murder, leaving a jury to decide only on punishment. Norman’s appeal raised questions about the competence of his trial attorneys.</p>
<p>Texas prison records show when Gates was arrested for the slaying of Elfreda Gans, 41, at her Houston apartment, the Riverside County, California, man was on parole after serving six years of two life prison terms in California for robbery, assault on a peace officer and possession of a weapon by a prisoner. His appeal also questioned whether his trial lawyers were deficient.</p>
<p>The third case refused by the high court involved prisoner Michael Wayne Norris, whose case was returned by a federal district judge in 2015 to his trial court in Houston for a new punishment hearing. A federal appeals court last year upheld that decision. Norris has been on death row nearly 30 years for fatally shooting a Houston mother and her 2-year-old son.</p>
<p>Patrick McCann, Norris’ attorney, said Monday the ruling involved legal procedural point related to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.</p>
<p>Norris is awaiting his new punishment trial and Monday’s ruling had no effect on that, McCann said.</p>
<p>Norris was on parole after serving time for murder when he was arrested for fatally shooting Georgia Rollins, 38, and her 2-year-old son, Keith, at their Houston apartment in 1986. His appeal challenged the instructions provided to his jurors during the punishment phase of his 1987 trial in Harris County.</p>
<p>At the time, trial courts were wrestling with evolving jury instructions about mitigating evidence, like mental impairment or dysfunctional childhood, and how it should be applied to punishment in capital murder convictions. The Supreme Court visited the issue several times, refining trial procedures through its rulings, and several cases of Norris’ era were returned to trial courts for new punishment hearings.</p>
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<p>This story has been corrected to show two cases move closer to execution but one appeal involves case that has been returned to trial court for new punishment hearing</p> | US Supreme Court refuses appeals from 3 on Texas death row | false | https://abqjournal.com/958133/us-supreme-court-refuses-appeals-from-3-on-texas-death-row-2.html | 2017-02-27 | 2 |
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<p>Police say bandits are hitting up Albuquerque public restrooms and running off with metal pipes that automatically flush toilets.</p>
<p>KOB-TV reports that Albuquerque police commander Will Roseman says authorities have seen a rash of thefts involving Flush-O-Matics. He says the toilet pipe bandits are going into restrooms and taking the metal out.</p>
<p>Police believe the thieves hit up businesses by posing as plumbers. According to authorities, the pipes sell for around $30 on the black market but cost businesses about $400 to replace.</p>
<p>A police report says at least one Albuquerque-area recycling plant has been buying the stolen pipes.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Bandits Stealing Toilet Pipes in ABQ | false | https://abqjournal.com/166833/bandits-stealing-toilet-pipes-in-abq.html | 2 |
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<p>Democratic presidential front-runner <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Hillary Clinton</a> suggested Wednesday that Americans have too many guns in their homes.</p>
<p>“When it comes to guns, we have just too many guns. On the streets, in our homes, in our neighborhoods,” the former secretary of state told a gun violence forum in Philadelphia, according to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tidrg02G8E" type="external">clip</a> obtained by Washington Free Beacon.</p>
<p>“And, you know, there’s been a lot of talk in this campaign, in the primary campaign, about the power of certain interests in our country,” she said. “And we do have a bunch of powerful interests, make no mistake about it. But there is no more powerful lobby than the gun lobby.”</p>
<p><a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Mrs. Clinton</a> has focused her campaign on strict gun control and lashed out at Democratic rival Bernard Sanders this week for not doing the same.</p>
<p>Last year, <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Mrs. Clinton</a> said Australia’s mandatory gun buyback program of semi-automatic rifles and shotguns was “worth considering” in the United States, comparing it to President Obama’s so-called “cash for clunkers” program.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2016/apr/21/hillary-clinton-we-have-too-many-guns-in-our-homes/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Hillary Clinton: We have too many guns ‘in our homes’ | true | http://washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/21/hillary-clinton-we-have-too-many-guns-in-our-homes/ | 2016-04-21 | 0 |
<p>Somehow, in its transcript of the debate Monday night between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, which was taken from the Federal News Service, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/us/politics/transcript-debate.html?_r=0" type="external">The New York Times</a> elided a small section of the debate, a section that was reported in its entirety by T <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/26/the-first-trump-clinton-presidential-debate-transcript-annotated/" type="external">he Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>Speaking of race relations, Clinton had said:</p>
<p>Well, you’re right. Race remains a significant challenge in our country. Unfortunately, race still determines too much, often determines where people live, determines what kind of education in their public schools they can get, and, yes, it determines how they’re treated in the criminal justice system. We’ve just seen those two tragic examples in both Tulsa and Charlotte. And we’ve got to do several things at the same time. We have to restore trust between communities and the police. We have to work to make sure that our police are using the best training, the best techniques, that they’re well prepared to use force only when necessary. Everyone should be respected by the law, and everyone should respect the law.</p>
<p>The Times then segued to this:</p>
<p>Trump: You need better relationships between the communities and the police, because in some cases, it’s not good. But you look at Dallas, where the relationships were really studied, the relationships were really a beautiful thing, and then five police officers were killed one night very violently. So there’s some bad things going on. Some really bad things. But there was a whole section of the debate that dealt with stop-and-frisk that was missing, which went like this:</p>
<p>Clinton: Right now, that's not the case in a lot of our neighborhoods. So I have, ever since the first day of my campaign, called for criminal justice reform. I've laid out a platform that I think would begin to remedy some of the problems we have in the criminal justice system. But we also have to recognize, in addition to the challenges that we face with policing, there are so many good, brave police officers who equally want reform. So we have to bring communities together in order to begin working on that as a mutual goal. And we've got to get guns out of the hands of people who should not have them. The gun epidemic is the leading cause of death of young African- American men, more than the next nine causes put together. So we have to do two things, as I said. We have to restore trust. We have to work with the police. We have to make sure they respect the communities and the communities respect them. And we have to tackle the plague of gun violence, which is a big contributor to a lot of the problems that we're seeing today.</p>
<p>Holt: All right, Mr. Trump, you have two minutes. How do you heal the divide?</p>
<p>Trump: Well, first of all, Secretary Clinton doesn't want to use a couple of words, and that's law and order. And we need law and order. If we don't have it, we're not going to have a country. And when I look at what's going on in Charlotte, a city I love, a city where I have investments, when I look at what's going on throughout various parts of our country, whether it's -- I mean, I can just keep naming them all day long -- we need law and order in our country. I just got today the, as you know, the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police, we just -- just came in. We have endorsements from, I think, almost every police group, very -- I mean, a large percentage of them in the United States. We have a situation where we have our inner cities, African- Americans, Hispanics are living in he'll because it's so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot.</p>
<p>In Chicago, they've had thousands of shootings, thousands since January 1st. Thousands of shootings. And I'm saying, where is this? Is this a war-torn country? What are we doing? And we have to stop the violence. We have to bring back law and order. In a place like Chicago, where thousands of people have been killed, thousands over the last number of years, in fact, almost 4,000 have been killed since Barack Obama became president, over -- almost 4,000 people in Chicago have been killed. We have to bring back law and order.</p>
<p>Now, whether or not in a place like Chicago you do stop and frisk, which worked very well, Mayor Giuliani is here, worked very well in New York. It brought the crime rate way down. But you take the gun away from criminals that shouldn't be having it.</p>
<p>We have gangs roaming the street. And in many cases, they're illegally here, illegal immigrants. And they have guns. And they shoot people. And we have to be very strong. And we have to be very vigilant.</p>
<p>We have to be -- we have to know what we're doing. Right now, our police, in many cases, are afraid to do anything. We have to protect our inner cities, because African-American communities are being decimated by crime, decimated.</p>
<p>Holt: Your two -- your two minutes expired, but I do want to follow up. Stop-and-frisk was ruled unconstitutional in New York, because it largely singled out black and Hispanic young men.</p>
<p>Trump: No, you're wrong. It went before a judge, who was a very against-police judge. It was taken away from her. And our mayor, our new mayor, refused to go forward with the case. They would have won an appeal. If you look at it, throughout the country, there are many places where it's allowed.</p>
<p>Holt: The argument is that it's a form of racial profiling.</p>
<p>Trump: No, the argument is that we have to take the guns away from these people that have them and they are bad people that shouldn't have them.</p>
<p>These are felons. These are people that are bad people that shouldn't be -- when you have 3,000 shootings in Chicago from January 1st, when you have 4,000 people killed in Chicago by guns, from the beginning of the presidency of Barack Obama, his hometown, you have to have stop-and-frisk.</p>
<p>You need more police. You need a better community, you know, relation. You don't have good community relations in Chicago. It's terrible. I have property there. It's terrible what's going on in Chicago.</p>
<p>But when you look -- and Chicago's not the only -- you go to Ferguson, you go to so many different places. You need better relationships. I agree with Secretary Clinton on this.</p>
<p>So why would the Times elide the passage in question? Could it be because this was the section of the debate in which Lester Holt showed his bias by interrupting and questioning Trump’s position on stop-and-frisk, thereby showing his bias and ultimately provoking a furious response from people including Rudy Giuliani?</p>
<p>Just asking.</p> | Why Did The NY Times Cut A Section From The Transcript Of The Debate? | true | https://dailywire.com/news/9509/why-did-ny-times-cut-section-transcript-debate-hank-berrien | 2016-09-27 | 0 |
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<p>This is the impetus behind the member-owned, member-run art cooperative Tiaso Artist Cooperative.</p>
<p>In existence for nine months, the coop offers professional and financial support to artists.</p>
<p>There are nine full members, including former Albuquerque Poet Laureate Hakim Bellamy, poet Carlos Contreras and Michelle Otero and Kei Tsuzuki and Molly Luethi from Kei and Molly Textiles.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The focus of Tiaso is on artists who with and behalf of the community,” says Dr. Shelle Van Etten de Sanchez, a member of the cooperative’s board of directors. “The full members aren’t all studio artists. Each artist has a different background and that adds to what the co-op has to offer.”</p>
<p>Van Etten de Sanchez says the co-op also has support from the McCune Charitable Foundation, and this summer, it hosted the Chair from the National Endowment for the Arts.</p>
<p>A few member projects have been successful. They include:</p>
<p>• “Time Served,” an intimate performance and exploration of the human experience inspired by Contreras’ years spent teaching incarcerated students.</p>
<p>It has been presented in several venues and festivals, and the poems are published as a collection.</p>
<p>n “Stories of Route 66: The International District,” by Valerie Martinez, which engaged more than 130 individuals (ages 5 to 75, from seven countries, speaking eight languages) from the most ethnically diverse legislative district in New Mexico. In partnership with an artist team, this community worked weekly from January through July 2014 to co-envision and co-create works of visual and performance art.</p>
<p>• Kei and Molly Textiles, located in the International District of Albuquerque, supports and fosters community through sustainable employment (which includes on-the-job training, health and education benefits, flexible hours, and a great place to work), environmental stewardship, meaningful partnerships, and the creation of beautiful and functional textiles that embody and reflect the culture and creativity of the community.</p>
<p>“We have a really vibrant group of artists,” Van Etten de Sanchez says. “They see their work beyond the studio.”</p>
<p>More information can be found at tiaso.coop.</p>
<p /> | Tiaso seeks a broader audience | false | https://abqjournal.com/915147/tiaso-seeks-a-broader-audience.html | 2 |
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<p>Former CIA operative Valerie Plame ripped into the Bush administration Friday for blowing her cover by leaking her identity to the press in 2003. Plame told Congress in her first public testimony that her name and identity were “carelessly and recklessly abused by senior officials in the White House and State Department,” pointing out the “terrible irony” of the circumstances surrounding her outing.</p>
<p>AP:</p>
<p>“It was a terrible irony that administration officials were the ones who destroyed my cover,” she told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.</p>
<p>“If our government cannot even protect my identity, future foreign agents who might consider working with the Central Intelligence Agency and providing needed intelligence would think twice,” Plame said in response to a question.</p>
<p />
<p>The hearing was the first time Plame has publicly answered questions about the case, which led to the recent perjury and obstruction of justice conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former top aide, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.</p>
<p>Her appearance was a moment of gripping political theater as Democrats questioned whether the Bush administration mishandled classified information by leaking her identity to reporters. No one has been charged with leaking her identity.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8NTD18O1&amp;show_article=1" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Plame Takes the Stand | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/plame-takes-the-stand/ | 2007-03-16 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Recently declassified documents make it clear that the brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet ordered the killing of Chile’s former Foreign Minister Orlando Letelier near the White House in 1976. However, an important question remains: Did the CIA have anything to do with the assassination?</p>
<p>From The Guardian:</p>
<p>General Augusto Pinochet directly ordered the 1976 assassination of a Chilean diplomat who was killed in a car bomb in Washington DC, according [to] top secret US intelligence documents declassified by the Obama administration.</p>
<p />
<p>The documents, which were handed to the Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, on Tuesday in Santiago by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, also show that the former dictator was so concerned with covering up his role in the murder that he planned to assassinate his own head of intelligence, General Manuel Contreras. … Letelier, who had once been Chile’s ambassador to the US, was murdered on 21 September 1976 by a car bomb planted under the driver’s seat of his vehicle just a mile from the White House. … Investigators in the US and Chile are poring through the records searching for evidence that CIA officials had forewarning but did not stop the assassination plan.</p>
<p>Speculation that the CIA was aware of the plot to kill Letelier is based on previously declassified records showing that Manuel Contreras was paid by the CIA before the bombing and was in regular contact with top officials at the spy agency.</p>
<p>Read <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/pinochet-directly-ordered-washington-killing-diplomat-documents-orlando-letelier-declassified" type="external">more</a>.</p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Natasha Hakimi Zapata</a></p> | Investigators Seek Evidence Implicating the CIA in 1976 Murder of Chilean Diplomat on U.S. Soil | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/investigators-seek-evidence-implicating-the-cia-in-1976-murder-of-chilean-diplomat-on-u-s-soil/ | 2015-10-11 | 4 |
<p>Jimmy Kimmel <a href="https://twitter.com/jimmykimmel/status/669227427009200128" type="external">promised a “BIG” surprise</a> from his superhero guests Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans Tuesday night and the duo delivered, unveiling the first trailer for Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War during their joint late-night appearance.</p>
<p>The latest offering from the Marvel universe pits Downey Jr.’s Iron Man and Evans’s Captain America against each other in a battle for the future of the nation. Under a new government regime instituting a superhero registration system, Captain America is cast as a “vigilante” while Iron Man is tasked with bringing him in line.</p>
<p>“Sometimes I want to punch you in your perfect teeth,” Iron Man tells Captain America at one point. Later, we hear Evans’s character reply, “Sorry, Tony, you know I wouldn’t do this if I had any other choice.”</p>
<p>And then, the two heroes come to blows in spectacular fashion.</p>
<p>Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo (Captain America: The Winter Soldier), the Marvel superhero team-up stars Evans, Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Frank Grillo, and William Hurt. It will also feature the big-screen debuts of Chadwick Bosemans Black Panther and Tom Holland's revamped Spider-Man. The film is due in theaters on May 16, 2016.</p> | ‘Captain America: Civil War’ Trailer Gives First Glimpse of Black Panther | true | https://thedailybeast.com/captain-america-civil-war-trailer-gives-first-glimpse-of-black-panther | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
<p>By Jason Margolis</p>
<p>In America, we have the story of Thanksgiving. In Australia, they have tales about their founding fathers gambling on horse races.</p>
<p>Australians are among the biggest gamblers on the planet: Between 70 and 80 percent of adults gamble at least once a year. (By way of comparison, an estimated 60 percent of Americans gamble.)</p>
<p>For most, gambling is harmless fun, part of being Australian, said Ross Ferrar, chief executive of the Gaming Technologies Association. "My grandfather, who was a soldier that fought at Gallipoli, was broke when he came back because he spent all his soldier's wages playing cards with his fellow soldiers."</p>
<p>Ferrar told me that story with a smile and a chuckle, the tale of a young man having a carefree flutter, as they say in Australia. But others argue that could be the sign of a man with a gambling problem. They argue that gambling Down Under has gotten out of hand. Roughly 1 in 100 Australian adults are problem gamblers. Estimates vary by state and study, with some studies putting problem gambling closer to 1 in 200 adults.</p>
<p>Whether Australians are just having fun or the nation has a mounting gambling problem, it's a contentious issue, and it depends on whom you ask. The question could possibly topple a government. Playing the Ponies</p>
<p>To explore the question deeper, I spent a day at the races with a man who has a unique perspective. Clive Allcock is a psychiatrist who has treated problem gamblers for 30 years, but also has written a column for a horse racing magazine for 20 years.</p>
<p>Allcock briefly considered leaving his practice and making a go of it as a professional punter, or gambler. "Yes, I did. Well one of the many reasons why I chose not to, is that my wife threatened to leave me if I did go down that pathway," said Allcock.</p>
<p>We spent an afternoon together at the Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney. Men wore dapper suits and many of the women dressed like flappers from the 1920's. It seemed like harmless fun. For most.</p>
<p>"I think that there is a problem with gambling wherever you have gambling. Once you have gambling, you're going to have people who are going to have a problem," said Allcock "(But) there's no evidence that it's overwhelmingly greater in Australia."</p>
<p>Problem gambling rates in Australia are about on par with the US, England, and New Zealand.</p>
<p>Allcock said he was comfortable, as a psychiatrist working in the field, with current rates of problem gamblers in Australia. "You'd like to get it lower, but you know that you're never going to get rid of it." The Pokies</p>
<p>Still, many in Australia's government are convinced their countrymen are gambling too much and that there's a solution. They're not concerned about fun at the race track. They're concerned about electronic gaming machines, called "pokies" in Australia. They're found in hotels, pubs and casinos all over the country.</p>
<p>A government-commissioned study concluded that pokies are far more likely to lead to problems than other types of gambling: 15 percent of people who play the pokies are problem gamblers and another 15 percent are considered to be at moderate risk.</p>
<p>One independent parliamentarian is so concerned that he's threatening to withdraw his support for the prime minister if curbs on electronic gaming machines aren't put in place. And that could topple a coalition government.</p>
<p>Andrew Wilkie from Tasmania wants what's called a "pre-commitment system." Basically, it says if you play the pokies, you can only lose up to a certain amount. Then you're cut off.</p>
<p>"The stories that I've heard would bring you to tears. They have brought me to tears: stories of people who have (committed) suicide, stories of people who have been bankrupted," Wilkie said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Channel. "And at the moment, the poker machine industry is very loud and very rich and is doing its best to stop these reforms." Un-Australian</p>
<p>The clubs and hotel industry have been running commercials, calling the pre-commitment system "un-Australian." A man in a bar asks another man, "I mean, what's next? They'll be telling us how many beers to have next."</p>
<p>It's not just a matter of personal liberty, said Ross Ferrar with the Gaming Technologies Association. He said that if people need a card, or license, to play the pokies, they might stop going to clubs or casinos, which pay a tax on gambling profits. But they won't quit gambling.</p>
<p>"At home, online, our fear is online unregulated casinos, which of course return no benefit to the community, compared to hundreds of millions of dollars that the hotels and clubs and casinos do return," said Ferrar.</p>
<p>That's an argument that state governments are surely watching carefully. In the end, it may be the governments that are addicted to gambling.</p>
<p>"When you're starting to generate anywhere up to 10 percent of your state's income through gaming, what do you replace that with?" said Alun Jackson, director of the Problem Gambling Research and Treatment Center at the University of Melbourne.</p>
<p>Jackson favors gambling reforms and said it's good the government is discussing a public health approach to problem gambling. But he's not convinced a pre-commitment system is the answer. Gambling addiction is a relatively new field of research, and researchers are still debating the best ways to minimize problem gambling.</p>
<p>"And so potentially, we're in the strange position of, what is for many people, a socially very marginal issue, that's problem gambling, having the potential to bring a government down," said Jackson.</p> | Australians: Among the Biggest Gamblers on Earth | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-05-17/australians-among-biggest-gamblers-earth | 2011-05-17 | 3 |
<p>The Obama administration is homing in on the employment issue, a prime concern for millions of Americans and one that could have a considerable impact on this year’s midterm elections. Not like that’s what the White House is worried about or anything.</p>
<p>Regardless of Team Obama’s motivation or intent, the Council of Economic Advisers released a report Thursday detailing the administration’s efforts over the last year to help the U.S. economy recover from the economic catastrophe of late 2008 and the ensuing bailout and unemployment debacles. –KA</p>
<p>The New York Times:</p>
<p>Casting its first year as positive, the administration’s 462-page report served as a summary of its logic and a pitch for Obama’s future agenda.</p>
<p />
<p>Recognizing voters were likely to hold Obama to account for the economy, the White House team cast blame on their predecessors and unpopular Wall Street bankers.</p>
<p>”I think there’s just no way to understate how huge the economic challenges facing the country have been this past year,” said Christina Romer, head the Council of Economic Advisers. ”So everything obviously from the financial crisis, the terrible recession, but the longer-run problems — the stagnating middle-class incomes, soaring health care costs, the failure to invest in education, innovation, clean energy — we certainly inherited an economy with a number of economic problems.”</p>
<p>It’s not clear whether the it-didn’t-break-on-my-watch message would resonate with voters. Republicans were quick to describe the document as propaganda masquerading as governing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/11/us/politics/AP-US-Obama-Economy.html" type="external">Read more</a></p> | White House Cranks Up the Job Talk | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/white-house-cranks-up-the-job-talk/ | 2010-02-11 | 4 |
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<p>1. INAUGURATION DAY: TRUMP TO BECOME AMERICA’S 45TH PRESIDENT</p>
<p>The real estate mogul and reality TV star who upended American politics and energized voters angry with Washington is set to be sworn in.</p>
<p>2. TRUMP TO TAKE OATH OF OFFICE AMID DEEP UNCERTAINTY</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>How the new U.S. president handles immigration, health care, foreign policy and trade will have the rapt attention of a global audience.</p>
<p>3. PROTESTERS PLANNING TO DISRUPT TRUMP’S BIG DAY</p>
<p>A coalition calling itself DisruptJ20 says people participating in its actions will attempt to shut down or cause delays at the inauguration’s security checkpoints.</p>
<p>4. WHAT EXTRADITION OF ‘EL CHAPO’ SIGNIFIES</p>
<p>Joaquin Guzman’s exit to face charges in the U.S. marks the end of an era in which he was Mexico’s most notorious drug cartel boss and, for some, the stuff of folk legend.</p>
<p>5. SYRIA: IS DESTROYS PART OF ROMAN AMPHITHEATER IN PALMYRA</p>
<p>The extremists recaptured the ancient town in December from government troops — nine months after IS was expelled in a Russia-backed offensive — and have previously destroyed other relics there.</p>
<p>6. REPORTS OF SURVIVORS IN ITALY AVALANCHE HOTEL</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Firefighter radio and news reports say five people are believed to have been found alive in the rubble of the landslide that flattened a mountain resort and that helicopters have been requested to take them to safety.</p>
<p>7. GAMBIAN LEADER FACING ULTIMATUM</p>
<p>Defeated President Yahya Jammeh must cede power in the coming hours or he will be dislodged by a regional force.</p>
<p>8. MARATHON BOMBING FILM PRODUCTIONS WON’T DETAIL TAX CREDITS</p>
<p>Hollywood productions portraying the attack in Boston aren’t saying how much they’ve sought or received in government subsidies to film in the state, AP learns.</p>
<p>9. ‘WE HAVE GONE AS LOW AS WE CAN GO’</p>
<p>Madonna says Trump has done the public a great service because she believes the nation has now hit rock bottom, and the only direction it can go is up.</p>
<p>10. WHO IS GOING TO BASKETBALL’S SHOWCASE EVENT</p>
<p>Stephen Curry joins Golden State teammate Kevin Durant in the lineup, while LeBron James and Kyrie Irving also gave Cleveland two starters in the NBA All-Star Game.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to note that it was firefighter radio, not police radio, which reported survivors in the Italian avalanche.</p> | 10 Things to Know for Today | false | https://abqjournal.com/932260/10-things-to-know-for-today-80.html | 2017-01-20 | 2 |
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<p>TEHRAN, Iran — As Iranians take to the streets in the biggest demonstrations in nearly a decade, residents of the increasingly tense capital say they sympathize with the protesters’ economic grievances and anger at official corruption.</p>
<p>The Associated Press spoke to Iranians in Tehran on Tuesday, the sixth day of protests that have seen at least 21 people killed and hundreds arrested across the country. The protests, which have erupted in several cities, are the largest since those that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election.</p>
<p>Residents cast nervous looks at the growing street presence of police and Basij, a volunteer force that played a key role in the government crackdown that ended the demonstrations nine years ago. But many residents said the country’s soaring unemployment and rising prices had driven people to the point of desperation.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“If authorities do not fight protesters, then they will have peaceful protests,” said Rahim Guravand, a 34-year-old construction worker.</p>
<p>“I’ve been out of work for months. Who is accountable for this? The government should stop spending money on unnecessary things in Syria, Iraq and other places and allocate it for creating jobs here,” he said, referring to Iran’s support for the Syrian government and regional militant groups.</p>
<p>Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who was re-elected last year, has expressed sympathy for peaceful protesters worried about how to make ends meet amid high unemployment and 10-percent inflation.</p>
<p>But his support appears to be slipping as many Iranians fail to see any gains from his 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, under which Iran curbed its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some international sanctions. Iran has made billion-dollar airplane orders and resumed selling its crude oil on the international market, but the benefits have yet to trickle down.</p>
<p>“I voted for Rouhani, but I see his hands are tied and he cannot fulfill his promises,” said Parisa Masoudi, a 23-year-old student at Tehran’s Azad University. “The government should open the political sphere if it intends to keep the people’s support.”</p>
<p>Nasrollah Mohammadi, a mechanic near Tehran’s Enghelab Square, the site of many past protests, said he supports the demonstrators’ demands.</p>
<p>“They are right. Corruption is high and opportunities are given to their own friends,” Mohammadi said, referring to government officials. “I have two sons, 27 and 30, at home without jobs years after graduation.”</p>
<p>In 2009 the protests were largely centered in Tehran, led by middle and upper class supporters of reformist candidates who lost to the hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an election best by allegations of fraud.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The latest protests began in Mashhad, the country’s second largest city, and have flared across the provinces, with no clear leadership or political platform beyond anger at the government. Tehran has also seen protests, but the most violent clashes have been elsewhere.</p>
<p>Not everyone in Tehran supports the latest demonstrations. Farnaz Asadi, a 31-year-old who sells goods via the popular messaging app Telegram, expressed anger at the government’s decision to shut down the service after protesters used it to organize rallies and share photos and video. The app is used by an estimated 40 million people a day in Iran — half the country’s population.</p>
<p>“It is not fair. Some protesters went into the streets, but why I should pay the price?” she asked. “The government shut down Telegram and my store was shut down too.”</p>
<p>Another university student, 21-year-old Reza Nezami, described the Telegram shutdown as another promise broken by the government. “Rouhani had said his administration would not restrict social networks,” he said.</p>
<p>For others, the protests represent just another hardship.</p>
<p>“I am not happy. Some protesters broke windows and damaged public property,” said Abbas Ostadi, a 45-year-old electrician. “They burned my friend’s taxi. Who is going to compensate him? How will he take home some bread for his family?”</p> | On the streets of Tehran, Iranians feel protesters’ pain | false | https://abqjournal.com/1113740/on-the-streets-of-tehran-iranians-feel-protesters-pain.html | 2018-01-02 | 2 |
<p>On March 1, Walter Reed hospital director Major General George Weightman got canned. Army Secretary Francis Harvey said he lost “trust and confidence” in his ability to make improvements. Yet Weightman may be only a human sacrifice to propitiate public opinion when, in point of fact, the shoddy treatment at the Pentagon’s flagship hospital is really the fault of the White House.</p>
<p>Recall that when President Bush visited Walter Reed on January 17, 2003 he praised it. On that occasion, Bush said, “Having been here and seeing the care that these troops (from Afghanistan) get is comforting for me and Laura. We are–should and must provide the best care for anybody who is willing to put their life in harm’s way.” Either Bush was dissembling or Walter Reed has careened madly downhill on his watch.</p>
<p>Anyway, go figure. Bush hails conditions at Walter Reed, a military facility that is not part of the VA system and where conditions are deplorable, yet, during his tenure, he has worked to make it tougher for vets to get care at VA hospitals which, for the most part, are excellent, as this vet can personally attest.</p>
<p>“Ten years ago, veterans hospitals were dangerous, dirty, and scandal-ridden,” The Washington Monthly reported in its January, 2005 issue. “Today, they’re producing the highest quality care in the country. Their turnaround points the way toward solving America’s health-care crisis.”</p>
<p>And Business Week’s July 17th last year, reported, “if you want to be sure of top-notch care, join the military. The 154 hospitals and 875 clinics run by the Veterans Affairs Dept. have been ranked best-in-class by a number of independent groups on a broad range of measures, from chronic care to heart disease treatments to the percentage of members who receive flu shots. It offers all the same services, and sometimes more, than private sector providers.”</p>
<p>Where patients in the private sector are lucky to get 20 minutes with their doctor, vets commonly get lengthy, head-to-toe annual check-ups and, when indicated, tests utilizing the latest technologies. The VA has a sterling, 99.9%-plus accuracy record for filling prescriptions, in part because of its model electronic medical-records system.</p>
<p>Things at VA hospitals weren’t always this way. VA underwent a dramatic makeover starting around 1995 under the Clinton administration’s Dr. Kenneth Kizer, VA’s health under secretary.</p>
<p>Last year, on a budget of $35-billion, the VA provided services for 5.4-million of the nation’s approximately 26-million vets, most of whom are eligible for free or low-cost care.</p>
<p>Many VA employees work there for idealistic reasons. One technician told me she got “fed up with the paperwork” in private sector medicine and switched to the VA to devote herself to caring for patients full-time. Generally, the attitude is proactive. At an outpatient facility to get a flu shot at the Miami VA, the clinician asked, “When did you have your last pneumonia shot?” and when I told him, he replied, “Okay, hold out the other arm.” The VA cuts costs by stressing preventive medicine. And if you need eye glasses and hearing aids, there may be no better place than the VA to get tested and get quality product.</p>
<p>Shoddy conditions reported at Walter Reed undoubtedly are true, but this writer has seen just the opposite in visits to VA hospitals in Spokane, Miami, Orange, N.J., Roanoke, Va., and Sturgis, S.D. These impressions, of course, reflect only a small random sample, but they were all favorable. By contrast, ABC’s Diane Sawyers reported on “Primetime” on April 8, 2004, of finding sickening conditions in VA hospitals and of patients waiting up to eight hours to see a care-giver.</p>
<p>If there’s trouble in the VA, it may not be the quality of care but the Bush administration’s goal to shrink the system by closing hospitals and stiffening eligibility requirements.</p>
<p>Reporter Rick Anderson wrote in “Home Front”(Clarity Press), VA enrollment soared from 2.9-million in 1996 to 6.8-million in 2004. While older veterans die at the rate of 1,000 per day “newer veterans are signing up for benefits at a much slower rate, in part because many are being refused services due to budget and service cuts at the VA.”</p>
<p>And as the Pentagon outsources ever more jobs to private sector firms like Halliburton, the size of the armed forces is being cut back radically, meaning fewer veterans and fewer VA visits in the offing. In Iraq, for example, approximately one contract warrior is killed for every 10 uniformed soldiers. U.S. fatalities in the Iraq killing field is actually 10 percent higher than reported by the Pentagon.</p>
<p>However, as the cost of private sector health care and health insurance premiums rise, and as VA services improve, a lot of veterans are abandoning the private sector they had relied on to seek out VA medicine.</p>
<p>On the same day Bush visited Walter Reed, Anderson writes, his VA officials floated a plan to limit new enrollments, the idea being to suspend medical care for “better off” vets, those with incomes exceeding $35,000 a year, a plan rebuffed by Congress. Bush did succeed, though, in cutting the budgets for mental health and drug treatment by 30% amd 40%, respectively, he said. Anderson writes, “Facilities are being closed despite the real and emotional toll on veterans. The plan is to move further towards out-patient services,” opening two new VA hospitals while closing seven.</p>
<p>Reducing facilities is an odd step to take when it is widely believed the worst aspect of VA health care is the length of waiting time vets endure to get to see a doctor. In 2003, nearly a quarter of a million veterans waited six months or longer for a first appointment or an initial follow-up, exposing the system’s lack of capacity, according to one study.</p>
<p>The VA system may be less than perfect but, when given adequate resources, it can and does appear to provide better care than the private sector and with less paperwork. Maybe it’s the prototype of the universal health care system the American people want. And maybe the Pentagon’s other hospitals, such as Walter Reed, could be incorporated into it.</p>
<p>Whatever, canning the director at Walter Reed, a facility that got swamped with wounded from Bush’s illegal wars, is no answer and likely just an act of shameless scapegoating.</p>
<p>SHERWOOD ROSS is a Miami-based columnist. For comments or to arrange for speaking engagements contact him at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. &#160;</p> | Bush and Walter Reed Hospital | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/03/02/bush-and-walter-reed-hospital/ | 2007-03-02 | 4 |
<p>(How many patients were tested in test runs of this drug?) The first study looked at 21 patients and now we have tested 100 more, and just over 100 patients have been tested in North America. This study started in December 2005 and some of those patients are still on treatment. (What have the results been?) Importantly, all other treatments have stopped working. So that's excited us and the scientific community. These are early days still, but larger studies started eight weeks ago. (What happened to those patients who responded? You say you saw results in 80% of the participants.) The trial published is 21 pages but we have run other trials. The results is blood tests have improved and patients have felt better and within six weeks they returned to their quality of life. This is also a tablet and doesn't have side effects from chemotherapy. We're not curing patients because the cancer does ultimately come back but we are still waiting to see how long the effect really lasts. (Why is it that a drug like this doesn't factor for the long term?) Because cancer is smart and finds a way of getting around the treatments we bring to it.</p> | New drug offers hope against prostate cancer | false | https://pri.org/stories/2008-07-22/new-drug-offers-hope-against-prostate-cancer | 2008-07-22 | 3 |
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<p>DEAR ABBY: My mother-in-law has begun doing the “pop-in.” My husband passive-aggressively hinted that he wished he had known she was coming over. Her response was, “I’m your mother; I don’t need to let you know when I’m coming over.” I regard this as total disrespect.</p>
<p>She has done this plenty of times – including popping in when I was having a dinner with my parents and children, which made her mad because she and my father-in-law hadn’t been invited.</p>
<p>She did the pop-in again last week. My husband, four children and I were about to sit down to a family dinner when she rang the doorbell. I didn’t have enough food for her and my father-in-law, which made us all uncomfortable. She made a sarcastic comment, “Gee, I guess I shouldn’t have come over,” then she sat in the living room staring at us as we ate.</p>
<p>I have begged my husband to say something, but he says it would be disrespectful. I said it is disrespectful that she comes over without checking with us first. What’s your take on this? – NO POP-INS, PLEASE</p>
<p>DEAR NO POP-INS: You have my sympathy. Your mother-in-law is a handful. Your husband may be so cowed by his mother that he’s afraid to assert himself. You are under no obligation to entertain anyone who pops in, including her. The next time she shows up unannounced, remind her to call first and suggest that she come back some other time.</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: My fiancee has a 15-year-old son, “Jason,” who spends countless hours in his room playing Xbox with his buddies. He is loud and obviously has fun, by the sound of it. However, when he comes out for meals, he doesn’t communicate or answer questions like, “How was school?” or “What do you think of that?”</p>
<p>My fiancee and I don’t live together. We see each other three times a year for two to three weeks at a time. My fiancee says Jason acts the same way whether I’m here or not. He isn’t close with his dad, either.</p>
<p>Is this a phase that he will grow out of, or does he need professional help? We get along, but there is never much conversation. I ask questions to encourage interaction, but it hasn’t been successful. – FRUSTRATED IN MONTANA</p>
<p>DEAR FRUSTRATED: Whether Jason’s going through a phase or not depends on whether he has always had poor verbal skills and ignored questions he was asked. He might be reluctant to answer because he’s having problems socially or academically in school, or because the opinions you’re asking for concern things he has never given much thought to.</p>
<p>Boys that age are sometimes less verbal than when they are older, and their dependence on social media has contributed to it. Teens who spend most of their time in the virtual world tend to have lower verbal abilities than those who spend less.</p>
<p>If you and your fiancee are truly concerned, she should talk about this with a counselor at Jason’s school and ask if counseling or intervention of any kind is needed.</p>
<p>Contact Dear Abby at <a href="http://www.DearAbby.com" type="external">www.DearAbby.com</a> or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.</p>
<p />
<p /> | DEAR ABBY: Mother-in-law’s pop-ins make angry wife pop off | false | https://abqjournal.com/930630/headline-here.html | 2 |
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<p>A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy was recently caught on a cell phone camera trying to stop a special needs passenger from talking. Unfortunately, his method of trying to silence the woman was by punching her in the face.&#160;The violent exchange took place on a Metro Bus Monday night:</p>
<p>Jermaine Green explains that,&#160;‘The lady got on the bus with a stroller full of pillows, she was very polite, said hello to everyone and sat down.&#160;At the next stop, two LA County sheriff’s deputies, one male and one female, boarded the bus and called the passenger by name.&#160;They said get off the bus. She then started cursing at (the female deputy).”</p>
<p>Green made it clear that “You could tell she had special needs. After that they grab her, she curses him out, calls him a big shot, next thing you know he gives her a big shot,’ Green said.”</p>
<p>Green said that when the deputies saw him filming, they tried to intimidate and threaten him.</p>
<p>“He comes to me and says you can be under arrest if you don’t give me that video,” Green said, but he refused to comply.</p>
<p>Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore has responded to the video:</p>
<p>“We got a 911 call of a violent woman on a bus, [saying] she almost attacked an elderly man. Lakewood deputies responded. And we know this woman by the way — she has 4 previous arrests and convictions for assault on a police officer. … She’s a large woman with some mental challenges, and she became aggressive toward our deputies.”</p>
<p>Whitmore said that both Internal Affairs and the Office of Independent review are investigating this incident “as we speak.”</p>
<p>Green’s video of this shocking&#160;confrontation is below:</p>
<p>Watch the video and share with anyone you know who is sick of the creeping police state!</p>
<p>(Article by Eli Khalil)</p> | Los Angeles Cops Punch Special Needs Girl In the Face | true | http://politicalblindspot.com/los-angeles-cops-punch-special-needs-girl-in-the-face/ | 2014-01-21 | 4 |
<p>Story by Laura Lynch, "The World"</p>
<p>The search for an AIDS vaccine has been long, frustrating and mark by failure.&#160; Most recently, one study was halted in 2007 after failing to prevent infection.&#160; Five years ago, some scientists were suggesting this study was a waste of time.&#160;</p>
<p>But researchers in Thailand, sponsored by the U.S. military, carried on.&#160; They found 16 thousand people there willing to take part.&#160; Thanat Yomah signed up after seeing relatives infected with HIV.</p>
<p>"The reason I volunteered is because I really want the world to find a way to prevent HIV and AIDS," said Yomah through a translator.&#160; "I live in a place that’s been facing a pandemic.&#160; Some years ago, many people in our families and community died of AIDS.&#160; So when this trial came to us, I really wanted to help."</p>
<p>For this trial, scientists combined two earlier vaccines that hadn’t worked on their own.&#160; Eight thousand Thais between the ages of 18 and 30 were given the vaccine, the other eight thousand received a placebo.&#160; After three years, the rate of HIV infection was a third lower in the vaccinated group:&#160; 51 people infected compared with 74 in the placebo group.&#160;</p>
<p>Dr Joseph Chu, a representative of the US Army Surgeon General who’s been involved in the trial, calls it a significant breakthrough: "Some people thought maybe we’ll never get to an HIV vaccine.&#160; But the data from this study shows that perhaps we can find an HIV vaccine, finding a safe and efficacious vaccine is possible.&#160; However, we still need to do a lot more work."</p>
<p>Dr. Kate Hankins, the Scientific Advisor to the UN Program on AIDS, is also encouraged by the result.</p>
<p>"The numbers are small, and the sample size at 16 thousand is probably less than what would have been required for a resounding result," said Dr Hankins. "But nonetheless it shows that we’re moving in the right direction.&#160; The possibility that this occurred through chance alone is low; less than five percent."</p>
<p>Dr. Evan Harris is taking a special interest in all of this.&#160; The British Member of Parliament participated in an unsuccessful HIV vaccine trial in 2000.&#160; Some have raised questions about whether the U.S. military was using Thai volunteers as guinea pigs.&#160;</p>
<p>Dr. Harris rejects that: "So, this isn't a question of 'vaccination colonialism,' and experimenting on people in the developing world.&#160; A lot of the early treatments, early studies -- particularly the safety studies -- were done on British subjects like me.&#160; In fact, British Parliamentarians like me.&#160; So, this isn't a question of testing something unsafe in the developing world.&#160; It's far more relevant to test it on the sorts of virus subtypes that one sees in areas of high prevalence."</p>
<p>And in this case, the vaccine was tailored to combat the strain of HIV most common in Thailand.&#160; That suggests the vaccine might not achieve similar results in other parts of the world with different strains, like Sub-Saharan Africa, given all the uncertainties.&#160;</p>
<p>Kate Hankins says it’s still necessary to emphasize other ways to prevent HIV infections. "We have other things that are more efficacious like male circumcision.&#160; That’s not got the coverage it needs as yet.&#160; We’ve got more to do on getting people to use condoms correctly and consistently.&#160; We’ve got a lot of work do to on prevention to increase coverage while we’re trying to sort out this vaccine issue."</p>
<p>&#160;Sorting it out will take time.&#160; Probably years of testing.&#160;</p>
<p>Dr. Joseph Chu admits he has no idea when or if there will be a vaccine: "I can’t tell you how long it will be but it’s certainly a lot closer than before we started this trial.&#160; The thing that we’ll have to do right now is go back to the laboratory and find out what factors&#160; actually help prevent the infection and&#160; see whether we can improve on them."</p>
<p>It will need a lot of improving.&#160; Most health authorities won’t consider licensing a vaccine for use unless it’s at least 70 to 80 percent effective.</p>
<p>PRI's "The World" is a one-hour, weekday radio news magazine offering a mix of news, features, interviews, and music from around the globe. "The World" is a co-production of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston.</p>
<p><a href="../the-world.html" type="external">More "The World."</a></p> | Story behind new HIV vaccine | false | https://pri.org/stories/2009-09-28/story-behind-new-hiv-vaccine | 2009-09-28 | 3 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to the Middle East (all times local):</p>
<p>2:45 a.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence is greeting US soldiers at Shannon Airport in Ireland hours after the federal government shutdown.</p>
<p>Pence shook hands and posed for photos with soldiers in the airport terminal during a re-fueling stop by Air Force Two.</p>
<p>Pence tells some of the troops, “We’ll get this thing figured out in Washington.”</p>
<p>He is telling the soldiers to “stay focused on your mission.” Pence is traveling to the Middle East with stops in Egypt, Jordan and Israel.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>7:55 p.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence has departed for the Middle East, despite the looming threat of a government shutdown.</p>
<p>Pence took off Friday night on a trip that will take him to Egypt, Jordan and Israel. He’s scheduled to refuel in Ireland after midnight before proceeding to Cairo.</p>
<p>The vice president’s spokeswoman had said Pence’s trip would go forward because it is “integral” to U.S. national security and diplomacy.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump scrapped his plans to travel to Florida Friday as he worked to try to avert a shutdown. Congress must act by midnight or the shutdown will begin.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>11:30 a.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence still plans to travel to the Middle East on Friday night, despite the potential for a shutdown of the federal government.</p>
<p>The vice president’s spokeswoman says Pence’s trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel will proceed as scheduled, and that it’s “integral” to U.S. national security and diplomacy.</p>
<p>President Trump has scrapped plans to travel to his Florida resort amid the threat of a shutdown. Congress must act by midnight or the shutdown will go into effect.</p>
<p>Air Force Two is scheduled to refuel in Ireland after midnight Saturday en route to Cairo.</p>
<p>Pence is set to meet Saturday with Egypt’s president and Sunday with the king of Jordan. He meets Monday and Tuesday with Israeli leaders.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>1:17 a.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence is making his fourth visit to Israel, returning to a region he’s visited “a million times” in his heart.</p>
<p>An evangelical Christian with strong ties to the Holy Land, Pence this time comes packing two key policy decisions in his bags that have long been top priorities for him: designating Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and curtailing aid for Palestinians.</p>
<p>Since his days in Congress a decade ago, Pence has played a role in pushing both for the shift in U.S. policy related to the capital and for placing limits on funding for Palestinian causes long criticized by Israel.</p>
<p>Traveling to Israel just as Palestinians have condemned recent decisions by President Donald Trump’s administration.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to the Middle East (all times local):</p>
<p>2:45 a.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence is greeting US soldiers at Shannon Airport in Ireland hours after the federal government shutdown.</p>
<p>Pence shook hands and posed for photos with soldiers in the airport terminal during a re-fueling stop by Air Force Two.</p>
<p>Pence tells some of the troops, “We’ll get this thing figured out in Washington.”</p>
<p>He is telling the soldiers to “stay focused on your mission.” Pence is traveling to the Middle East with stops in Egypt, Jordan and Israel.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>7:55 p.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence has departed for the Middle East, despite the looming threat of a government shutdown.</p>
<p>Pence took off Friday night on a trip that will take him to Egypt, Jordan and Israel. He’s scheduled to refuel in Ireland after midnight before proceeding to Cairo.</p>
<p>The vice president’s spokeswoman had said Pence’s trip would go forward because it is “integral” to U.S. national security and diplomacy.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump scrapped his plans to travel to Florida Friday as he worked to try to avert a shutdown. Congress must act by midnight or the shutdown will begin.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>11:30 a.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence still plans to travel to the Middle East on Friday night, despite the potential for a shutdown of the federal government.</p>
<p>The vice president’s spokeswoman says Pence’s trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel will proceed as scheduled, and that it’s “integral” to U.S. national security and diplomacy.</p>
<p>President Trump has scrapped plans to travel to his Florida resort amid the threat of a shutdown. Congress must act by midnight or the shutdown will go into effect.</p>
<p>Air Force Two is scheduled to refuel in Ireland after midnight Saturday en route to Cairo.</p>
<p>Pence is set to meet Saturday with Egypt’s president and Sunday with the king of Jordan. He meets Monday and Tuesday with Israeli leaders.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>1:17 a.m.</p>
<p>Vice President Mike Pence is making his fourth visit to Israel, returning to a region he’s visited “a million times” in his heart.</p>
<p>An evangelical Christian with strong ties to the Holy Land, Pence this time comes packing two key policy decisions in his bags that have long been top priorities for him: designating Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and curtailing aid for Palestinians.</p>
<p>Since his days in Congress a decade ago, Pence has played a role in pushing both for the shift in U.S. policy related to the capital and for placing limits on funding for Palestinian causes long criticized by Israel.</p>
<p>Traveling to Israel just as Palestinians have condemned recent decisions by President Donald Trump’s administration.</p> | The Latest: VP Pence greets troops in Ireland | false | https://apnews.com/8cc9844a66104b6b87d690e16fc6f754 | 2018-01-20 | 2 |
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<p>The measure, House Bill 206, would allow voters who aren’t affiliated with a major party to participate in the June elections that determine who the Republican and Democratic nominees will be each year.</p>
<p>Supporters say the bill would boost turnout and encourage candidates to appeal to a broader cross-section of people, not just their party’s base of liberals or conservatives. It’s also important, supporters say, because many New Mexico races are decided in the primaries, leaving unaffiliated voters with no choice at all in the fall general elections.</p>
<p>A bipartisan pair of legislators, Republican Jim Dines of Albuquerque and Democrat Stephanie Garcia Richard of Los Alamos, are sponsoring the bill.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver also supports the idea. Some voters show up every year in the primary election hoping to vote, she said, only to learn they’re not eligible because they aren’t registered as a Democrat or Republican.</p>
<p>The bill now heads to the House Judiciary Committee, potentially its last stop before the House floor.</p>
<p>A similar proposal is pending in the Senate, though it’s already run into intense opposition by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, an Albuquerque Democrat and former state elections director. He has described the proposal as unconstitutional, among other objections.</p>
<p>The SUNNY SIDE: Solar powered state-owned buildings?</p>
<p>That could happen under a Senate bill that was approved without dissent Tuesday in its first assigned panel.</p>
<p>The legislation, Senate Bill 227, would require the state agency that oversees state-owned buildings – there are more than 700 such buildings – to adopt rules and examine ways to implement renewable energy improvements. It does not mandate such improvements actually be made.</p>
<p>Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, the bill’s sponsor, said the state should take advantage of purchase agreements under which retrofit costs are paid for by green energy companies.</p>
<p>“The state is woefully underutilizing an opportunity to save money,” Steinborn said.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Open primaries bill clears first committee | false | https://abqjournal.com/949947/open-primaries-bill-clears-first-house-committee.html | 2017-02-14 | 2 |
<p />
<p />
<p>One of the senior Australian Catholic official has warned that Pope Francis appears to be unwilling to crackdown on pedophile priests.</p>
<p>The Vatican has been accused of not being flexible.</p>
<p>The official is known as Francis Sullivan. He is in charge of the Catholic Church's Truth, Justice and Healing Council.</p>
<p>Sullivan said that he fears that the Vatican is trying its best to stop the Pope.</p>
<p>Back in 2014, the Pope said that members of church who raped children should not be tolerated.</p>
<p>Before the Pope made the statement, the church had been criticized by the UN. The UN said that the pedo priests should be taken to the police.</p>
<p>The Catholic Church moved pedo priests to different locations.</p>
<p>Mr. Sullivan also said that the resignation of Marie Collins from the Vatican's child protection commission was a disgrace to the church.</p>
<p>Marie Collins said the institution was not cooperating.</p>
<p>Mr. Sullivan said that the Pope is delaying cracking down on pedo priests.</p>
<p>Pope Francis had made a statement last year in May. He called the rape of children a tragedy, adding that we must protect our children.</p>
<p>The Australia's Royal Commission reported that 7 percent of Catholic priests were accused of raping children between 1950 and 2010.</p>
<p>However, few cases were ever looked into. Mr. Sullivan said that the results were shocking.</p>
<p>The Council also reported that 1,265 Catholic priests, brothers and nuns had also been reported between 1950 to 2010.</p>
<p>The Commission is also looking into rape at non-religious institutions such as schools and sports clubs.</p>
<p>The Commission was started in 2013 and it has been taking care of victims.</p>
<p>The Commission said that 4,444 people had reported being raped to 93 Catholic authorities between 1980 and 2015.</p>
<p>SOURCE: <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/pope-francis-paedophile-priests-backsliding-francis-sullivan-australia-a7625231.html" type="external">independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/pope-francis-paedophile-priests-backsliding-francis-sullivan-australia-a7625231.html</a></p> | Is Pope Francis Okay With Pedo Priests? | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/1754-Is-Pope-Francis-Okay-With-Pedo-Priests | 2017-03-12 | 0 |
<p>Shares of some top insurance companies are mixed at 1 p.m.:</p>
<p>ACE L rose $1.15 or 1.0 percent, to $111.29.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Aflac Inc. rose $.49 or .8 percent, to $64.47.</p>
<p>American International Group rose $.25 or .4 percent, to $57.68.</p>
<p>MBIA fell $.08 or .8 percent, to $9.49.</p>
<p>MGIC Investments Corp. rose $.48 or 4.8 percent, to $10.39.</p>
<p>MetLife rose $.59 or 1.2 percent, to $51.09.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>XL Group PLC rose $.18 or .5 percent, to $37.48.</p> | Insurance companies shares mixed at 1 p.m. | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/03/10/insurance-companies-shares-mixed-at-1-pm.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p />
<p>An anti-government protester wears a Ukrainian flag near Kiev’s Independence Square. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)</p>
<p>This post originally ran on <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2014/02/racializing-democracy-failures.html" type="external">Juan Cole’s Web page</a>.</p>
<p>The troubles that Ukraine is having (and that Russia and the former Yugoslavia also had) in its post-Soviet politics, with a struggle between authoritarianism and democracy and between a Moscow orientation versus a Brussels one, are very similar to the difficulties that have beset many countries of the Arab world in the past few years.</p>
<p />
<p>It is striking to me that we typically don’t speak of these difficulties as those of “Slavs” or of the “Slavic world.” In English we now tend to speak of eastern Europe, using a geographical term. Russians, Ukrainians and Serbs, Bosnians and Croats, all speak “Slavic” languages and in past decades it was in fact not uncommon to speak of them as Slavs. (This is still done in the Russian press to some extent). Robert Vitalis at the University of Pennsylvania argues that racial categories were key, not incidental, to most political science analysis in the US in the first half of the twentieth century.</p>
<p>But nowadays most journalism on eastern Europe is more sophisticated than that. This <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2013/11/18/ukraine-lost-in-transition-from-soviet-yesterday-to-21st-century-modern-state/%20" type="external">Euronews article</a> analyzes Ukraine’s divisions as generational and regional. Thus, youth under 30 overwhelmingly favor joining the European Union whereas their elders who can still remember the Soviet Union often still look toward Moscow. Those in the west of the country favor Europe, those in the east favor Russia.</p>
<p>Some journalists take a third tack, looking at the economy. <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/10-things-you-need-know-about-ukraines-economy-1556651%20" type="external">This IBT piece identifies key problems in the Ukrainian economy</a> — including low foreign direct investment rates, high unemployment, especially for college graduates, a bloated service sector, dependence on imported fuel, etc. (Since Ukraine gets its natural gas from Russia, that gives Putin leverage over Kyiv.)</p>
<p>Another tendency in the Western press is to foreground religious identity and to imagine that people in the Middle East are acting out of “age-old hatreds.” Whenever we historians have looked into supposed age-old hatreds, we have found that most often people have gotten along fine for decades. Economic struggles are more important than sectarian ones in Syria, but they overlap in ways that makes it easy to mistake religious markers of identity as the important ones when it is social class that is at issue.</p>
<p>Imagining that Egypt’s problems go back to its Mamluk sultans or to Islamic Caliphs is not very useful. Seeing the ways in which its problems are common to a post-Soviet world economy is much more salient.</p>
<p>Ukraine’s economy sounds to me a very great deal like Egypt’s. Both have a socialist background, though Egypt’s state probably only ever absorbed about half the economy, whereas in Ukraine the state was probably 95% in the Soviet period. Still, both of them have struggled toward a greater marketization of the economy, with all the inequities that process entails. Both have high unemployment, especially for college-educated youth. Both depend on foreign hydrocarbon states (Russia for Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for Egypt), and those rentier patrons in both cases are pushing authoritarian policies because they are threatened by democracy and don’t want it breaking out nearby lest it spread to them.</p>
<p>One big difference is that the Ukraine is in demographic decline, with few young people coming up and a danger of rapid greying. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/16/egypt-population-explosion-social-unrest%20" type="external">Egypt since its revolution has gone back to very large birth rates</a>.</p>
<p>Western analyses of the Middle East often racializes the analysis (implicitly asking ‘what is wrong with those Arabs?’) But few would nowadays ask ‘what is wrong with those Slavs?’ Racializing is always essentialist and always wrong. While there are differences of culture and history among peoples that cause them to play different language games, these differences have nothing to do with biological traits or kinship.</p>
<p>Good social analysis does look at generational differences, at geographical ones, at economic problems. These analytical tools are non-essentialist, since the considerations involved change over time and allow for people with a language in common still to differ from one another in other respects. This analysis avoids the fallacy of national character.</p>
<p>I’m not arguing that it is necessary to stop speaking of Arabs or the Arab world. The latter has an institutional framework in the Arab League, which groups 21 mostly Arabic-speaking countries plus, for some strange reason, Somalia. But to generalize about “Arabs,” as is still common in the Western press, is to racialize a linguistic category. Moroccans and Kuwaitis don’t actually have much in common except their use of Arabic. Their spoken dialects are barely mutually comprehensible. Kuwait is a small highly urban and literate prosperous city-state of 3.2 million people (a little more populous than Lithuania). Morocco is a still largely rural society of 32 million with a still-high rate of illiteracy, a little less populous than Poland. Their social structures, economies and ecologies are completely different. They aren’t the same “race.”</p>
<p>There anyway are no “races” in the Romantic 19th century sense of a relatively unmixed kinship group with a set of shared character traits and long residence on a particular territory. In fact, all human groups are very extensively intermixed with others, and groups have moved around a great deal.</p>
<p>So comparing Egypt to the Ukraine may be more useful than comparing Egypt to Tunisia, and obviously the latter two haven’t had similar political outcomes.</p>
<p>Interestingly, both Ukrainian and Egyptian demonstrators speak of going to the public square, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26249330%20" type="external">using the same word, “maidan.”</a> Why is Kyiv’s square called a ‘maidan’? Likely because the city was part of the realm of the Mongol Golden Horde, which under Uzbeg (Oz-Beg) in the 1300s adopted Islam, bringing some Arabic and Persian words in. The world is smaller than it seems.</p>
<p>—–</p>
<p>Related video:</p>
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/XNfGMNOKhZE%20" type="external">Reuters reports, “Ukraine government, opposition agree to a truce”</a></p> | We Don’t Say 'Slav' Democracy Troubled in Ukraine, Why Talk of 'Arab' Failures | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/we-dont-say-slav-democracy-troubled-in-ukraine-why-talk-of-arab-failures/ | 2014-02-20 | 4 |
<p>It only took one hour following the official news that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to offer a response. In his Saturday evening statement, McConnell said that the vacated position should be filled after the 2016 election as opposed to sometime during the eleven remaining months of President…</p> | Elizabeth Warren Slams McConnell On SCOTUS Threats | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2016/02/elizabeth-warren-slams-mcconnell-scotus | 2016-02-15 | 4 |
<p>HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) - Jahaad Proctor got 19 of his career-high 29 points in the first half and High Point cruised to an 80-59 win over Charleston Southern on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Andre Fox added 20 points and Brandonn Kamga had 12 for High Point, which hit 10 of 18 from long range and shot 51 percent from the field overall. Proctor was 9 for 14 from the field, including five 3-pointers, and missed just one of his seven free throws.</p>
<p>The Panthers (7-7, 2-1 Big South) never trailed and pulled away midway through the opening half with a 14-3 run sparked by Proctor's 3-pointer to make it 28-15 with under five minutes left until intermission. Then in the second half, High Point got a 3 from Kamga to ignite a 20-4 run to go up 62-34 with 13 minutes still to go.</p>
<p>Charleston Southern (6-8, 1-2) got 18 points from Cortez Mitchell and Christian Keeling had 10.</p>
<p>HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) - Jahaad Proctor got 19 of his career-high 29 points in the first half and High Point cruised to an 80-59 win over Charleston Southern on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Andre Fox added 20 points and Brandonn Kamga had 12 for High Point, which hit 10 of 18 from long range and shot 51 percent from the field overall. Proctor was 9 for 14 from the field, including five 3-pointers, and missed just one of his seven free throws.</p>
<p>The Panthers (7-7, 2-1 Big South) never trailed and pulled away midway through the opening half with a 14-3 run sparked by Proctor's 3-pointer to make it 28-15 with under five minutes left until intermission. Then in the second half, High Point got a 3 from Kamga to ignite a 20-4 run to go up 62-34 with 13 minutes still to go.</p>
<p>Charleston Southern (6-8, 1-2) got 18 points from Cortez Mitchell and Christian Keeling had 10.</p> | Proctor leads High Point past Charleston Southern, 80-59 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/d8173cfbddbb4e65a75c56c3c9fb89df | 2018-01-07 | 2 |
<p>Jane Curtin, Laraine Newman and 34 other women who worked with <a href="http://variety.com/t/al-franken/" type="external">Al Franken</a> during his years on “ <a href="http://variety.com/t/saturday-night-live/" type="external">Saturday Night Live</a>” have issued a statement of support for the embattled Democratic senator from Minnesota, calling him “a devoted and dedicated family man, a wonderful comedic performer, and an honorable public servant.”</p>
<p>The letter, issued Tuesday, comes on the heels of sexual harassment allegations leveled at Franken, who is accused of groping and other inappropriate behavior by two women. He has apologized but also maintained <a href="http://variety.com/2017/politics/news/al-franken-accused-groping-radio-host-1202616459/" type="external">he does not remember the incident, on a 2006 USO tour</a>, in the same way as his accusor, radio host Leeann Tweeden.</p>
<p>Franken was part of the original “SNL” team from 1975 to 1980, and he worked for the show again as a performer and writer from 1985 to 1995. The women who signed the letter ranged from actors to former production assistants and writers.</p>
<p>Here is the complete letter:</p>
<p>We feel compelled to stand up for <a href="http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/saturday-night-live-al-franken-sexual-assault-1202618445/" type="external">Al Franken</a>, whom we have all had the pleasure of working with over the years on <a href="http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/eminem-saturday-night-live-1202618424/" type="external">Saturday Night Live</a> (SNL).</p>
<p>What Al did was stupid and foolish, and we think it was appropriate for him to apologize to Ms Tweeden, and to the public. In our experience, we know Al as a devoted and dedicated family man, a wonderful comedic performer, and an honorable public servant. That is why we are moved to quickly and directly affirm that after years of working with him, we would like to acknowledge that not one of us ever experienced any inappropriate behavior; and mention our sincere appreciation that he treated each of us with the utmost respect and regard.</p>
<p>We send our support and gratitude to Al and his family this Thanksgiving and holiday season.</p>
<p>SIGNED BY</p>
<p>1. Jill Baylor, Production Assistant, 1991-92</p>
<p>2. Shannon Gaughan Bowman, Writer, 1988-89</p>
<p>3. Beth Einhorn, Script PA, 1987-1988</p>
<p>4. Cindy Caponera, Writer, 1995-98</p>
<p>5. Jane Curtin, Not Ready for Prime Time Player, original cast, 1975-80</p>
<p>6. Tracy Cooper Drippe, Script PA/ Script Supervisor, 1986-1991</p>
<p>7. Suzy Drasnin, Production Staff/Photographer, 1986-90</p>
<p>8. Juli Pari Frankel, Script PA, 1984-1985</p>
<p>9. Julia Fraser, Script Supervisor, 1978-1985</p>
<p>10. Tara Gardner, Writers Assistant, 1990-95</p>
<p>11. Iris March Gross, Broadway Video/SNL, 1977-1985</p>
<p>12. Marcy Hardart, Assistant to Lorne Michaels, 1987-1990</p>
<p>13. Lori Jo Hoekstra, Writer’s Assistant/Weekend Update Producer, 1990-1998</p>
<p>14. Sheila Kehoe, Costume Dept, 1976-82</p>
<p>15. Marci Klein, Co-Producer, 1989-2014</p>
<p>16. Franne Lee, Costume Designer, 1975-80</p>
<p>17. Laila Nabulsi, Schiller’s Reel 1975-79; Associate Producer, 1985-1986</p>
<p>18. Laraine Newman, Not Ready for Prime Time Player, original cast, 1975-80</p>
<p>19. Mary Ellen Mathews, Show Photographer, 1993- present</p>
<p>20. Cristina McGinniss, Assistant to Lorne Michaels (25 years);Broadway Video, 1979 – present</p>
<p>21. Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Writer, 1975 -1994 (intermittently)</p>
<p>22. Dinah Minot, Associate Producer, 1985-1989; Co-Producer, Broadway Pictures,1989-96</p>
<p>23. Evie Murray, Assistant to Lorne Michaels &amp; consultant, 1983-1994</p>
<p>24. Sarah Paley, Writer, 1979-80 (&amp; The New Show 1981-82)</p>
<p>25. Sandra Restrepo Considine, Script Supervisor/PA, 1987-1993</p>
<p>26. Suzanne Rosenberg, Coordinating Producer/Weekend Update, 1983-2003</p>
<p>27. Suzanne Ross, Script PA, 1991-1993</p>
<p>28. Karen Roston, Costume Designer, 1975-1983</p>
<p>29. Mary Salter, Film Producer, 1977-1987</p>
<p>30. Claire Shirey, Script Coordinator, 1982-present</p>
<p>31. Rosie Shuster, Writer, 1975-1980; 1984-88</p>
<p>32. Kiki Kazanas Steele, Script PA/Script Supervisor, 1985-1990</p>
<p>33. Pam Thomas, Consultant, 1980s</p>
<p>34. Bonnie Turner, Writer, 1986-1993</p>
<p>35. Christine Zander, Writer, 1987-1993</p>
<p>36. Liz Welch, Talent Coordinator, 1981-89</p> | Former Female ‘Saturday Night Live’ Staffers Issue Statement of Support for Al Franken | false | https://newsline.com/former-female-saturday-night-live-staffers-issue-statement-of-support-for-al-franken/ | 2017-11-21 | 1 |
<p>Flickr/&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/protectourprimary/477145883/sizes/m/in/photostream/"&gt;VictoryNH&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Rudy Giuliani</a>, the former New York City mayor, isn’t letting his <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2008-03-21/news/29431205_1_presidential-bid-giuliani-spokeswoman-maria-comella-rudy-giuliani" type="external">disastrous presidential bid in 2008</a> prevent him from giving the GOP’s 2012 presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney a serious tongue-lashing.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110605/NEWS0605/706059979" type="external">recent interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader</a>, Giuliani singled out <a href="" type="internal">Mitt Romney</a>, who <a href="" type="internal">officially unveiled</a> his presidential campaign last week, and bashed the former Massachusetts governor for his 2006 health care reform plan that brought universal health care coverage to the Bay State. Giuliani described RomneyCare and ObamaCare—loathed by the GOP—as “exactly the same,” and accused Romney of “telling us something that just isn’t correct: that ‘RomneyCare’ and ‘ObamaCare’ are significantly different.”</p>
<p>Giuliani went on to tell the Union Leader that Romney has done a dismal job of distancing himself from RomneyCare, and that “the best way for Mitt Romney to deal with it is to admit it’s true and to say that it’s a terrible mistake.” (In a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvPENzBO8Hs" type="external">May speech in Michigan</a>, Romney defended his health care reform plan, calling it “a state solution to a state problem.”)</p>
<p>As for Giuliani’s own presidential aspirations in 2012, the Union Leader reports,</p>
<p>While Giuliani has been making frequent visits to New Hampshire and speaking to small groups, he said he does not plan to make a decision on whether to make a second bid for President until late summer. He finished fourth in the 2008 New Hampshire primary; Romney finished second behind John McCain.</p>
<p>Giuliani said he will first determine whether he has the ability to put together grassroots organizations in New Hampshire and elsewhere and “decide whether you have a good chance of winning the nomination and whether you have the best chance of beating Barack Obama, which is the biggest question.”</p>
<p>Giuliani declined an invitation to the June 13 presidential debate co-sponsored by the New Hampshire Union Leader, WMUR, and CNN, saying, “I won’t debate until and unless I become a candidate.”</p>
<p /> | Giuliani Rips Mitt for Not Backing Down on RomneyCare | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/giuliani-rips-mitt-romneycare-record/ | 2011-06-06 | 4 |
<p />
<p>It was the talk of the cotton belt last year, a hype that blew like a lush wind from Arizona to North Carolina. After a decade of high — priced research, Monsanto Company was finally coming to market with a genetically altered cotton seed that would produce its own “natural” bug killer right there in every fiber of the plant. In the equipment sheds and ginning plants of central Texas, the seed was said to be a marvel of man over nature, the perfect child of a new science that would forever change agriculture.</p>
<p>This superseed — the offspring of Monsanto’s union with one of the oldest seed companies in the country, Delta and Pine Land of Mississippi — would reduce the need for airplanes dusting costly pesticides on the cotton fields below, at least for the bollworm and the budworm. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a toxic bacterium long used topically by organic farmers, was now part of the plant’s genetic makeup. Rain couldn’t wash it off. Sun and wind wouldn’t break it down. The unsuspecting caterpillars would never know what hit them. After a few innocent bites, a dose of hidden toxin would rend the pests’ stomach walls like razor blades, killing the bugs within three days.</p>
<p>In early 1996, St. Louis-based Monsanto gathered together farmers at lunch meetings throughout the cotton belt and pressed the gospel of Bt cotton. Gary Conn, a fourth-generation cotton farmer who leases more than 1,000 acres in the Brazos River Valley, the most fertile farmland in the Lone Star state, wanted to believe in the new technology.</p>
<p>Benedict blames the system. “The universities are cheering us on, telling us to get closer to industry, encouraging us to consult with big business. The bottom line is to improve the corporate bottom line. It’s the way we move up, get strokes…. We can’t help but be influenced from time to time by our desire to see certain results happen in the lab.”</p>
<p>Private industry contributes 10 percent of Texas A&amp;M’s whopping $41 million annual agricultural research budget, and Benedict says he knew Monsanto was contributing money to his research. “All of these companies have a piece of me,” Benedict says. “I’m getting checks waved at me from Monsanto and American Cyanamid and Dow, and it’s hard to balance the public interest with the private interest. It’s a very difficult juggling act, and sometimes I don’t know how to juggle it all.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Congress has helped pave the way for corporate biotech programs, passing a series of laws in the 1980s that pushed federally funded research at universities into the eager hands of agrochemical companies. Congressional specialty grants, which are designed to let Congress respond to pressing agricultural concerns, are generally awarded to researchers who already have industry sponsors in place. “[Universities] don’t necessarily say who their other funders are, but they will tell us if the project is leveraged 4-to-1 by private dollars,” says Tim Sanders, a staff member of the House Appropriations Agriculture Subcommittee. Industry support is important, he says, because committee members “want to see everyone participate.”</p>
<p>Under a banner of global competitiveness, this new relationship between academia, business, and government encourages universities to waste no time converting their science into patent rights. Previously, such research had been considered public property. Any patents that emerged typically were held by government. Indeed, so ingrained was this public ethos that when Jonas Salk was asked who owned the patent to his polio vaccine, he responded incredulously, “The people, I would say. Could you patent the sun?”</p>
<p>Today, however, universities are quick to license patent rights to companies for profit-making. These same companies, meanwhile, award grants to university entomologists and geneticists to conduct research on future products.</p>
<p>Often, critics say, it doesn’t take a great deal of money to entice a university department or scientist over to the corporate side, particularly in this time of state and federal funding cuts. “Universities are more than ever hunting for corporate money, and while that money may be a small percentage of the overall budget, it’s often enough to influence the direction of public science,” explains Kathleen Merrigan of the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, a nonprofit research and education organization based in Washington, D.C. “Corporate money can be the tail that wags the dog.” For example:</p>
<p />
<p>According to Hooks, the university would test BGH on dairy cows and report the findings to Monsanto, which would present its case to the FDA. The government agency would then decide if the hormone — which increases a cow’s milk production — created any health risks to cows or milk consumers. But before Cornell received the $557,000 grant from Monsanto, Hooks says, it essentially had to agree to hand over control of its research to the biotech company.</p>
<p>Computers in the university’s dairy barn sent the raw data directly to Monsanto in St. Louis. According to Hooks, the company, rather than the university’s principal research scientist, controlled and interpreted the data. “I couldn’t believe that a university would agree to such restrictions,” says Hooks.</p>
<p>Monsanto’s efforts to get BGH approved in the United States were dogged by controversy. Current and former FDA employees accused the agency of overlooking important safety concerns in its review of the product and of committing ethics violations because several recently hired FDA officials had worked on BGH for Monsanto. In the end, the FDA was cleared of misdoing. But questions about the hormone persisted. In 1994, several British scientists charged that Monsanto had suppressed their independent analysis of the company’s data because it showed a higher rate of infection for cows treated with BGH than Monsanto had acknowledged.</p>
<p>As a result of the controversy, the university instituted a policy requiring faculty to report on a yearly basis any potential conflicts of interest, such as consulting for a chemical company.</p>
<p>Other scientists who have done research for biotech companies dismiss these examples as anomalies. “Practically all of my money for research comes from industry, but I’ve never done anything to help a company promote its product,” says Daniel Colvin, a University of Florida agronomist. “If you manipulate the truth, it takes only one season on the farm to find out that the product doesn’t work like you said it would. After one bad season, your credibility with the farmer is shot.”</p>
<p>But in some cases it is difficult to tell where public research ends and the company’s marketing begins.</p>
<p>Take, for example, the August 25, 1996, letter from Ron H. Smith, an entomologist at Auburn University, that Monsanto faxed to Mother Jones in support of its Bt cotton. “Weeks from now,” Smith wrote, “when the last bale of the 1996 cotton crop is harvested…producers finally will have time to pause and reflect on the revolution that has gripped their profession. The results, so far, have been astonishing…. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding — or, in this case, the [farmer’s] pocketbook.”</p>
<p>Although the letter bore Smith’s signature, an Auburn public relations official actually wrote it for him. When asked if he received any funding from Monsanto for his research, Smith replied, “No, not directly.” However, Mother Jones found university records indicating that Monsanto gave $500,000 to Auburn University between 1991 and 1996; $26,000 was earmarked for projects listing Smith’s name. When asked again, Smith confirmed the information, saying he had misunderstood the original question.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Last spring, farmers in 11 states tried Monsanto’s Bt cotton, planting a total of 2 million acres. Its failure in Texas, and the pest problems that resulted, have heightened fears among environmental and consumer watchdog groups that some insects will quickly develop resistance to the new gene. Organizations such as the Union of Concerned Scientists are criticizing the EPA for caving in to pressure from Monsanto. “There was direct pressure on the EPA by Monsanto to move quickly,” says UCS senior staff scientist Jane Rissler. “[This] incident shows that Monsanto’s strategy as approved by the EPA is a failure.”</p>
<p>The EPA maintains it made a safe bet with Bt cotton but admits it is still an unknown. “It’s out there for commercial use,” says Elizabeth Milewski, a spokeswoman for the EPA. “But at this time, we don’t know what the real story is.” Milewski points out that further evaluation of the crop is entirely dependent on Monsanto’s own reporting. According to Lynn Goldman, the EPA official in charge of approving genetically engineered crops, a possible danger of an insufficiently tested Bt cotton seed is that it won’t produce a strong enough dose of the toxin to deliver a fatal blow to the worms. This could rapidly lead to increased resistance, ending the usefulness of Bt.</p>
<p>“Our scientists feel that you could possibly see insect resistance in three to five years unless some careful steps are taken to prevent it,” says Goldman. In July, she requested that Monsanto submit further testing on the bollworms that survived on last summer’s Bt cotton crop. As of press time, the results had not yet been reviewed.</p>
<p>The EPA has taken some steps to try to inhibit the development of pest resistance to Bt. For example, the agency required farmers to plant a small plot of non-Bt cotton within their Bt fields. In theory, such “refuges” ensure that some of the mating bugs do not feast on Bt cotton, thereby watering down the resistance potential of the bug population. Farmers are expected to comply because when they buy the seed, they grant Monsanto the right to inspect their farms.</p>
<p>But another EPA staffer candidly admits the refuge theory was untried — and the EPA’s evaluation of its success, like the bollworm report, is dependent on information supplied by Monsanto. “The problem is that, based on science and the theories, this is untested,” says the staffer. “So what’s our guarantee of enforceability? Do we wait until we’re absolutely sure, or do we take our best professional judgment with all its bells and whistles and see what happens? Monsanto put [refuge requirements] in the contracts with the farmers, but the EPA can’t regulate what the farmers do in the fields.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Insect resistance to pesticides isn’t the only possible danger of biotech crops. Scientists also warn about the unknown health implications to humans. A study of transgenic crops published in the New England Journal of Medicine last March looked at soybeans inserted with Brazil nut genes and proved that allergens can be transferred from one crop to another through genetic engineering. An editorial in the same issue called on the FDA for better research, noting that current requirements for transgenic crops “would appear to favor industry over consumer protection.”</p>
<p>In fields across the country, genetically pumped-up cropsÑfrom a virus-resistant yellow crookneck squash to transgenic wheatÑare being groomed for market. And hundreds more are in the pipeline, some implanted with the genes of animalsÑsuch as new varieties of corn, soybeans, oats, rice, apples, broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, raspberries, strawberries, papayas, and plums. There’s even transgenic seafood in the works, including genetically altered salmon, prawns, catfish, and abalone.</p>
<p>Even biotech supporters concede that there is no way to predict the health and environmental consequences of this transgenic stampede. “It’s scary. We’re so caught up in the pyrotechnics that we tend to forget that what we are doing here is altering the genetic codes of living things,” says Sharad Phatak, a plant researcher at the University of Georgia.</p>
<p>“When you insert a foreign gene, you are changing the whole metabolic process,” he adds. “You just don’t change one thing. Each change is going to have an effect on other pathways. Will that one gene kick off a whole slew of changes? We don’t know for sure.”</p>
<p>Susan Benson is a San Francisco freelance writer and former editor of Farmer to Farmer. Mark Arax is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Rachel Burstein is an investigative reporter for Mother Jones. Staff reporter Jeanne Brokaw contributed additional research for this story.</p>
<p /> | A Growing Concern | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1997/01/growing-concern/ | 2018-01-01 | 4 |
<p>Awarded&#160;to Martin Bashir for for having the stones to say, on TV, what most of us say every single day out here in internet land: Republicans, who scream and demand that they&#160;receive&#160;credit for being Christians (as if this somehow imparted an aura of goodness. Hitler was a Christian too and it didn’t make him a nice person, did it?) do not practice a form of Christianity that is remotely in line with the Bible.</p>
<p>From yesterdays’ “Clear the Air”:</p>
<p>“…most of them, aside from Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, who are Mormons, claim to be Christians with a a strong commitment to the central tenets of Christianity. Which strikes me as interesting because I’ve been having trouble trying to understand the kind of Christianity these candidates represent.”</p>
<p>Oh yeah, he totally went there. We’ve known this for years but it is a rare thing indeed for a TV&#160;personality not known for “shocking”&#160;commentary to say it. “Shocking” in this context means “anything negative about Republicans.”</p>
<p>It’s one thing to call out Republican hypocrisy and lack of humanity or compassion. That’s what people like you and me do every day&#160;hour minute second nanosecond. It’s a completely different thing to point out, accurately, that claiming to be a “true” Christian while knowingly lying &#160;and happily letting the uninsured die goes directly against those same central tenets of Christianity.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>I’m not terribly familiar with Martin Bashir. I understand people find him kind of dry and boring. Regardless, he has called out one of the most glaring flaws of the GOP&#160;that the&#160;majority&#160;of commentators refuse to touch with a ten foot pole and he did it in a manner as hard to dispute as it was unsensationally&#160;delivered.</p>
<p>Congratulation, Martin! You’ve got chutzpah!! You should be&#160;receiving&#160;your death threats from the Tea Party in 3-2-1… <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44523866#44523866" type="external" /></p>
<p>GOP!! I'm calling you out!! You want to go one on one with the Bashinator?! I will calmly point out your flaws and never raise my voice.</p>
<p>Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com" type="external">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" type="external">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" type="external">news about the economy</a></p> | Chutzpah of the Day: Martin Bashir 9-15-2011 | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2011/09/15/chutzpah-of-the-day-martin-bashir-9-15-2011/ | 2011-09-15 | 4 |
<p>TOP STORIES</p>
<p>Value Meals Drive McDonald's Sales - 2nd Update</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>McDonald's Corp. gained sales again by luring core customers to its cheapest meals and drinks.</p>
<p>The burger giant attributed U.S. sales growth in the fourth quarter to a "McPick 2" meal deal and low-price beverages, as well as to higher-priced Buttermilk Crispy Tenders. The chain introduced a new nationwide value menu this month with items priced at $1, $2 and $3, hoping consumers drawn in for cheap sodas and burgers will also order more expensive items.</p>
<p>STORIES OF INTEREST</p>
<p>Food Union Hails USDA Move on Chicken Plants -- Market Talk</p>
<p>12:06 ET -- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents meat plant employees, claims victory after the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a U.S. chicken industry petition to eliminate poultry processing line speed caps in meat plants. The organization and other consumer groups opposed the request, saying it could make food less safe and pose risks to meat plant workers, who already deal with higher rates of injury than other industries. The union says it remains "concerned" that the USDA plans to let some chicken plants apply to run processing lines at speeds up to 175 birds a minute, with most currently capped at 140. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p>
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<p>USDA Pumps Brakes on Faster Chicken Processing -- Market Talk</p>
<p>12:01 ET -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture denies a request by the National Chicken Council to lift all limits on how fast poultry plants can process birds--but the agency says it does plan to let some plants speed up. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says the chicken industry group's Sept. 1 petition to eliminate speed limits in chicken plants didn't demonstrate that inspectors could effectively check each carcass for safety at speeds beyond 175 birds a minute--nearly three chickens a second. But FSIS said that the agency plans to lay out criteria for poultry plants, most of which are limited to processing 140 chickens each minute, to run at speeds up to 175, as long as they demonstrate how they will assess food safety and meet other criteria. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p>
<p>Wheat Futures Pop on Plains Drought</p>
<p>A drought in the Great Plains sparked a rally in wheat prices on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the condition of the hard red winter wheat crop, primarily grown in southern Plains states like Kansas, dropped sharply as farmers in the region struggle through dry conditions.</p>
<p>FUTURES MARKETS</p>
<p>Live Cattle Futures Ease</p>
<p>Cattle futures were mixed on Tuesday, easing off multimonth highs.</p>
<p>The futures market started the week by hitting a two-month high, after cash prices for physical cattle rose more than expected. But analysts say futures bumped up against selling pressure after falling from those highs, with chart signals suggesting to traders that prices were headed lower.</p>
<p>CASH MARKETS</p>
<p>Zumbrota, Minn Hog Steady At $44.00 - Jan 30</p>
<p>Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today are steady at $44.00 a hundredweight. Sow prices are steady. Sows weighing 400-450 pounds are at $43.00, 450-500 pounds are $43.00 and those over 500 pounds are $45.00-$47.00.</p>
<p>The day's total run is estimated at 180 head.</p>
<p>Prices are provided by the Central Livestock Association.</p>
<p>Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jan 30</p>
<p>This report reflects U.S. pork packer processing margins. The margin indices</p>
<p>are calculated using current cash hog or carcass values and wholesale pork</p>
<p>cutout values and may not reflect actual margins at the plants. These</p>
<p>estimates reflect the general health of the industry and are not meant to</p>
<p>be indicative of any particular company or plant.</p>
<p>Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations</p>
<p>All figures are on a per-head basis.</p>
<p>Date Standard Margin Estimated margin</p>
<p>Operating Index at vertically -</p>
<p>integrated operations</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Jan 30 +$20.58 +$ 45.01</p>
<p>Jan 29 +$20.88 +$ 45.57</p>
<p>Jan 26 +$22.51 +$ 45.96</p>
<p>* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.</p>
<p>A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of</p>
<p>production of the animals.</p>
<p>Beef-O-Meter</p>
<p>This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite</p>
<p>values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.</p>
<p>Beef</p>
<p>For Today Choice 108.5</p>
<p>(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 108.2</p>
<p>USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports</p>
<p>Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds, to $209.69, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds, to $204.37. The total load count was 109. Wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents, to $81.34 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>January 30, 2018 17:31 ET (22:31 GMT)</p> | Livestock Highlights: Top Stories of the Day | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/20/livestock-highlights-top-stories-day.html | 2018-01-30 | 0 |
<p>President Donald Trump renewed his call Sunday for Republican senators to keep working to repeal and replace Obamacare, despite <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/Headline/obamacare-skinny-repeal-vote/2017/07/28/id/804299/" type="external">some significant votes</a> against doing so this week.</p>
<p>Don’t give up Republican Senators, the World is watching: Repeal &amp; Replace…and go to 51 votes (nuke option), get Cross State Lines &amp; more.</p>
<p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/891623821702295552" type="external">July 30, 2017</a></p>
<p>President Trump has alternated between multiple courses of action this week on healthcare reform, seeking to repeal and replace, trumpeting a clean repeal, a “skinny repeal,” and just <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/trump-obamacare-implode/2017/07/28/id/804487/" type="external">doing nothing and allowing Obamacare to fail</a>.</p> | Trump Tweet to GOP: 'Don't Give Up' on Repeal, Replace | false | https://newsline.com/trump-tweet-to-gop-dont-give-up-on-repeal-replace/ | 2017-07-30 | 1 |
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ These Pennsylvania lotteries were drawn Saturday:</p>
<p>Cash 5</p>
<p>01-19-22-24-40</p>
<p>(one, nineteen, twenty-two, twenty-four, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $200,000</p>
<p>Match 6 Lotto</p>
<p>03-11-14-24-25-31</p>
<p>(three, eleven, fourteen, twenty-four, twenty-five, thirty-one)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $620,000</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p>
<p>Pick 2 Day</p>
<p>1-7, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(one, seven; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 2 Evening</p>
<p>0-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(zero, two; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>0-3-1, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(zero, three, one; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>1-1-6, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(one, one, six; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>3-6-8-0, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(three, six, eight, zero; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>0-9-7-9, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(zero, nine, seven, nine; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Day</p>
<p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Evening</p>
<p>3-3-9-3-6, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(three, three, nine, three, six; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>12-29-30-33-61, Powerball: 26, Power Play: 3</p>
<p>(twelve, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-three, sixty-one; Powerball: twenty-six; Power Play: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $570 million</p>
<p>Treasure Hunt</p>
<p>02-12-15-21-24</p>
<p>(two, twelve, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $30,000</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ These Pennsylvania lotteries were drawn Saturday:</p>
<p>Cash 5</p>
<p>01-19-22-24-40</p>
<p>(one, nineteen, twenty-two, twenty-four, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $200,000</p>
<p>Match 6 Lotto</p>
<p>03-11-14-24-25-31</p>
<p>(three, eleven, fourteen, twenty-four, twenty-five, thirty-one)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $620,000</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p>
<p>Pick 2 Day</p>
<p>1-7, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(one, seven; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 2 Evening</p>
<p>0-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(zero, two; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>0-3-1, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(zero, three, one; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>1-1-6, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(one, one, six; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>3-6-8-0, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(three, six, eight, zero; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>0-9-7-9, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(zero, nine, seven, nine; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Day</p>
<p>5-0-7-2-2, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(five, zero, seven, two, two; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Evening</p>
<p>3-3-9-3-6, Wild: 9</p>
<p>(three, three, nine, three, six; Wild: nine)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>12-29-30-33-61, Powerball: 26, Power Play: 3</p>
<p>(twelve, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-three, sixty-one; Powerball: twenty-six; Power Play: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $570 million</p>
<p>Treasure Hunt</p>
<p>02-12-15-21-24</p>
<p>(two, twelve, fifteen, twenty-one, twenty-four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $30,000</p> | PA Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/ea92bf67ab5b45aba2acf326d5f939d7 | 2018-01-07 | 2 |
<p>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The rival Koreas will sit down for their first formal talks in more than two years next week to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in the South and to improve their abysmal ties, Seoul officials said Friday. While a positive sign after last year's threats of nuclear war, the Koreas have a long history of failing to move past their deep animosity.</p>
<p>The announcement came hours after the United States said it will delay annual military exercises with South Korea until after the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month. The exercises infuriate North Korea, which claims they are an invasion rehearsal, although South Korea and the United States have repeatedly said they are defensive in nature.</p>
<p>On Friday morning, North Korea sent a message saying it would accept South Korea's offer to meet at the border village of Panmunjom next Tuesday to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles North Korean matters. Panmunjom is where a North Korean soldier dashed across the border into the South in November. He is recovering after being shot five times by his former comrades.</p>
<p>Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said he expects the two Koreas will use a recently restored cross-border communication channel to try to determine who will head their respective delegations next week.</p>
<p>Any dialogue between the Koreas is seen as a positive step. But critics say the North's abrupt push to improve ties may be a tactic to divide Seoul and Washington and weaken international pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang.</p>
<p>In his New Year's address Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was willing to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics but he also said he has a "nuclear button" on his desk to fire atomic weapons at the United States. President Donald Trump quickly responded that he had a bigger and more powerful "nuclear button" of his own.</p>
<p>Past breakthroughs to ease Korean tensions have often ended with renewed animosities. It's likely the North will refrain from provocations during the Games. But tensions could return afterward because the North has no intention of abandoning its weapons programs and the United States will not ease its pressure on the country, analysts say.</p>
<p>The Trump government on Thursday said its springtime military drills with South Korea will be held from March 8-18 following the Feb. 9-25 Olympic Games. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insisted the delay was a practical necessity to accommodate the Olympics, not a political gesture.</p>
<p>The White House said Trump approved the postponement in consultation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who said he suggested the drills' delay to the United States.</p>
<p>Moon, a liberal, has been pushing to improve strained ties and restore stalled cooperation projects with North Korea since his inauguration in May, though he joined U.S.-led international efforts to apply more pressure and sanctions on the North.</p>
<p>Moon's government wants North Korea to take part in the Winter Olympics. But North Korea is not strong in winter sports and none of its athletes have been qualified to compete in the Games. It needs to acquire additional quotas by the International Olympic Committee to come to South Korea. Baik said North Korea is expected to hold talks with IOC officials next week.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has said all options are on the table to end the North Korean nuclear standoff, including military measures, but Moon has repeatedly said there cannot be another war on the Korean Peninsula. Critics say these differences may have led Kim to think he can drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington as a way to weaken international pressure on the country.</p>
<p>The United States stations about 30,000 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. North Korea has cited the U.S. military presence and its regular drills with South Korea as proof of American hostility that compels it to pursue nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>Last year, North Korea carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles as part of its push to possess functioning nuclear missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland. The repeated weapons tests earned the North toughened U.N. sanctions, and Kim and Trump exchanged threats of nuclear war and crude personal insults.</p>
<p>SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The rival Koreas will sit down for their first formal talks in more than two years next week to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in the South and to improve their abysmal ties, Seoul officials said Friday. While a positive sign after last year's threats of nuclear war, the Koreas have a long history of failing to move past their deep animosity.</p>
<p>The announcement came hours after the United States said it will delay annual military exercises with South Korea until after the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month. The exercises infuriate North Korea, which claims they are an invasion rehearsal, although South Korea and the United States have repeatedly said they are defensive in nature.</p>
<p>On Friday morning, North Korea sent a message saying it would accept South Korea's offer to meet at the border village of Panmunjom next Tuesday to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles North Korean matters. Panmunjom is where a North Korean soldier dashed across the border into the South in November. He is recovering after being shot five times by his former comrades.</p>
<p>Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said he expects the two Koreas will use a recently restored cross-border communication channel to try to determine who will head their respective delegations next week.</p>
<p>Any dialogue between the Koreas is seen as a positive step. But critics say the North's abrupt push to improve ties may be a tactic to divide Seoul and Washington and weaken international pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang.</p>
<p>In his New Year's address Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was willing to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics but he also said he has a "nuclear button" on his desk to fire atomic weapons at the United States. President Donald Trump quickly responded that he had a bigger and more powerful "nuclear button" of his own.</p>
<p>Past breakthroughs to ease Korean tensions have often ended with renewed animosities. It's likely the North will refrain from provocations during the Games. But tensions could return afterward because the North has no intention of abandoning its weapons programs and the United States will not ease its pressure on the country, analysts say.</p>
<p>The Trump government on Thursday said its springtime military drills with South Korea will be held from March 8-18 following the Feb. 9-25 Olympic Games. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insisted the delay was a practical necessity to accommodate the Olympics, not a political gesture.</p>
<p>The White House said Trump approved the postponement in consultation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who said he suggested the drills' delay to the United States.</p>
<p>Moon, a liberal, has been pushing to improve strained ties and restore stalled cooperation projects with North Korea since his inauguration in May, though he joined U.S.-led international efforts to apply more pressure and sanctions on the North.</p>
<p>Moon's government wants North Korea to take part in the Winter Olympics. But North Korea is not strong in winter sports and none of its athletes have been qualified to compete in the Games. It needs to acquire additional quotas by the International Olympic Committee to come to South Korea. Baik said North Korea is expected to hold talks with IOC officials next week.</p>
<p>The Trump administration has said all options are on the table to end the North Korean nuclear standoff, including military measures, but Moon has repeatedly said there cannot be another war on the Korean Peninsula. Critics say these differences may have led Kim to think he can drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington as a way to weaken international pressure on the country.</p>
<p>The United States stations about 30,000 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. North Korea has cited the U.S. military presence and its regular drills with South Korea as proof of American hostility that compels it to pursue nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>Last year, North Korea carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles as part of its push to possess functioning nuclear missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland. The repeated weapons tests earned the North toughened U.N. sanctions, and Kim and Trump exchanged threats of nuclear war and crude personal insults.</p> | In small breakthrough, Koreas will meet for talks on Tuesday | false | https://apnews.com/b2a4d6e6d4794cdeafd23dfef279cd43 | 2018-01-05 | 2 |
<p>Welcome back to Washington, House of Representatives. Hope you all had a great vacation. While you were out, your inaction caused markets to tumble, and now America is just hours away from collectively being pushed off the fiscal cliff.</p>
<p>Your colleagues in the Senate—the supposedly responsible body—have been working the last three days, trying to put together some kind of deal your fractious asses can pass by New Year’s Eve. The bad news is that as of Sunday morning, they still didn’t have a plan to avoid the fiscal cliff. Agreement that 98 percent of Americans shouldn’t have their taxes raised isn’t enough. And deficit and debt reduction? Forget about it—this is all now a desperate exercise in political pain avoidance.</p>
<p>The fiscal cliff is, of course, the world’s most predictable crisis. Congress set this time bomb themselves—and now they can’t agree on how to defuse it, despite more than a year of debate and a presidential election largely centered on the subject.</p>
<p>In a surreal twist, Democrats are readying bills for the first days of the new congress to pass the largest middle-class tax cut in American history if they can’t get enough Republicans to agree we shouldn’t go over the cliff.</p>
<p>The implications are not adequately captured by the catchy visual metaphor. Not only will your taxes be raised, but America’s economic recovery could be reversed, with congressional incompetence pushing America back into recession.</p>
<p>Congressional approval now stands at 18 percent. The real question is why is it so high?</p>
<p>The current 112th Congress—characterized by Tea Party congressmen elected two years ago—is the least productive since the 1940s. It makes Harry Truman’s infamous “Do-Nothing Congress” look like a paragon of speed and efficiency.</p>
<p>The problem of course is that polarization—the decline of competitive swing districts due to the rigged system of redistricting—has made most Republican congressmen terrified of being primaried from the right for being too reasonable. This problem has been compounded by the rise of partisan media, which has dumbed down civic discourse into an angry, idiotic us-against-them exercise. The result is congressional division and dysfunction. Congratulations.</p>
<p>But direct culpability in creating the conditions for this crisis hasn’t stopped the professional partisan activist class from arguing that at this pivotal moment, members of Congress should do nothing and just go over the cliff.</p>
<p>FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have been emailing their supporters to tell them to pressure their congressman not to vote for any tax increases. That might sound impressively principled, until you realize that its really an insult to their supporters' intelligence—because all taxes will be raised automatically, unless congress votes to keep taxes low on 98 percent of Americans, as our supposedly socialist president has repeatedly proposed.</p>
<p>On the left, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is also arguing for no compromise, with its cofounder Adam Green emailing supporters: “Democrats need to continue a bright line position: Raise tax rates on those making $250,000 at least to the Clinton rates and no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits. Period.” This also ends up being an argument for going over the cliff, because it dooms any hope of even a modest deal as a good-faith basis for future action on the deficit and debt.</p>
<p>If this supposedly liberated lame-duck Congress can’t agree on basic outlines of a grand bargain agreement that has been debated in detail for the past two years, why should we believe that the next Congress will have more success? Immigration reform, gun reforms—those more difficult debates will be effectively DOA from day one.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>This is self-government committing economic suicide, putting ideological absolutism ahead of solving problems. The idea of a productive lame-duck session after the contentious election has been erased. Hopefully, Senators Reid and McConnell will surprise us with some kind of patchwork compromise by the self-imposed deadline of 3 p.m. today, but they have been keeping rumors of progress to themselves. (Update: they didn't.)</p>
<p>Beyond the looming fiscal abyss, senators have been busy passing a flurry of last-minute legislation that can be categorized as the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. They finally agreed to not be complete grinches and pass a Hurricane Sandy relief bill, but it seems far from assured from passage in the House. By a lopsided vote of 73 to 23, the Senate also extended Bush-era warrantless wiretapping until 2017; civil libertarians screamed, but not loud enough. And thanks to an executive order by President Obama, members of Congress will see a modest pay raise in the new year. You know, as a reward for all their good work over the past two years.</p>
<p>This congressional Kabuki is killing us, because it masks a more fundamental problem. Congress seems unable to act unless confronted with a crisis at the last minute—and even then, they can’t agree on anything significant or substantive that actually deals with long-term problems. Maybe they should just stay on vacation and spare us the rhetoric. But as the clock ticks to New Year’s, they should have a guilty conscience that might inspire a genuine resolution to reform. Because they created this crisis and now seem unable to fix it. We’re the ones who will feel the pain. It is an epic act of self-sabotage.</p> | Our Pathetic Congress | true | https://thedailybeast.com/our-pathetic-congress | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The yearlong study – conducted in Rialto, Calif., in 2012 and 2013 by the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology – found body cameras can prevent situations from getting out of hand, whether the issue is abusive behavior toward police or unwarranted use of force by officers.</p>
<p>Just knowing that an event is being recorded creates “self-awareness” in all participants during interactions, the study found. Hence, a lapel- or other body-camera becomes “preventative treatment” that prompts people to modify their behavior. The camera acts as a “third-party” surveillance and proxy for legal courts and courts of public opinion in the event of improper behavior, the study found.</p>
<p>Use of lapel or other body cameras led to fewer use-of-force incidents and fewer complaints against officers, according to a study conducted in Rialto, Calif. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>During the 12-month Rialto experiment, use-of-force by officers wearing cameras fell by 59 percent and reports against officers dropped by 87 percent when compared with the previous year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The study also found that body cameras appear cost-effective, with analysis of the Rialto program showing every dollar spent on the technology saved about $4 on complaints and litigation.</p>
<p>But the researchers cautioned that data storage could become a problem and said additional study is needed before law enforcement agencies are “steamrolled” into using cameras, a comment underscored by the APD.</p>
<p>The study was published last month; preliminary data were released by Rialto police several months ago.</p>
<p>APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said in an email Friday that the purpose of the UNM study is “to develop a best practices policy that is specific to the needs” of the department and residents of Albuquerque.</p>
<p>He described the Rialto study as “a very small, non-representative study (that) did not conduct their research as a ‘blind study’ nor … take into consideration the proactivity of the officers who were and weren’t involved.”</p>
<p>The purpose of the UNM-APD study is to develop a camera program that is “in compliance with the (Department of Justice) settlement agreement and is effective in its ability to protect officers and citizens alike,” Tixier said.</p>
<p>“While APD is a proponent for transparency, we must also respect the privacy rights of victims, officers and uninvolved third parties. Furthermore, we must also take into consideration the demands and issues that arise with the videos and their evidentiary value,” he said.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, President Barack Obama vowed to spend $75 million to go toward 50,000 body cameras in an attempt to reduce confrontations between police and the public after a number of high-profile killings of black men by white officers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Last summer, Albuquerque approved spending $50,000 for the UNM study. It is due out in June, but officials have said a new APD policy could be implemented before then.</p>
<p>Albuquerque police are equipped with more than 700 lapel cameras. As the Journal reported Friday, most of the disagreements between APD Chief Gorden Eden and Independent Review Officer Robin Hammer stem from violations of the department’s camera policy, which requires officers to record most interactions with the public.</p>
<p>In Rialto, a computer randomly assigned all police shifts to either use cameras or serve as a control group without cameras. The study ultimately included more than 50,000 hours of police-public interactions.</p>
<p>The program got underway back in 2011, when 40 Rialto officers were required to wear cameras on their uniforms or headsets. That year, the department logged 61 use-of-force incidents by officers.</p>
<p>The number dropped to 25 in 2012, then rose to 33 in 2013 – still well below the pre-camera statistic. By 2013, the city increased the number of officers equipped with cameras from 40 to about 70.</p>
<p>The study grew out of Rialto Police Chief Tony Farrar’s master’s dissertation at the Cambridge institute. Rialto is a city of roughly 100,000 residents, some 60 miles east of Los Angeles.</p>
<p>In several instances, the cameras proved particularly valuable. In a “suicide-by-cop” case, a witness video failed to show the gun the man was holding – but the officer’s video did. In another case, a teenager who said an officer hit him in the face later withdrew his complaint when the officer’s video showed the teen leaping on his back.</p>
<p>In fact, one of the fascinating results of the study is that a fairly high percentage of complaining parties withdrew their complaints after they were shown the video. The research team is now replicating the experiment with dozens of police forces in the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay. The researchers hope to announce new findings in July 2015.</p>
<p>But the researchers noted that with the cost of technology dropping, the sheer levels of data storage has the potential to become crippling.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Police video can cool confrontations, study finds | false | https://abqjournal.com/517668/researchers-police-video-cools-confrontations.html | 2 |
|
<p>By Pete Schroeder</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. banking regulators proposed a rule on Wednesday aimed at easing regulations on capital requirements for smaller banks as part of a broader effort to make it easier for less complex financial institutions to operate.</p>
<p>The proposal would generally only apply to banks with less than $250 billion in total assets and $10 billion in foreign exposure, and would make a series of changes to how those banks must treat capital for regulatory purposes.</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency all backed the move to propose new rules and solicit public comment on them.</p>
<p>The proposal is part of a broader effort by bank regulators to streamline their rules for smaller banks, amid complaints that the heightened regulatory environment following the 2007-2009 financial crisis has made it difficult for smaller institutions to comply and compete.</p>
<p>Under the proposal, smaller banks would enjoy simpler definitions across a range of areas when it pertains to how it must comply with capital rules. For example, the proposed rule would tweak capital rules pertaining to construction loans and mortgage servicing assets in an effort to simplify the requirement. Those changes would reduce the risk profile of some types of loans, making it easier for banks to meet capital requirements.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | U.S. banking regulators propose easier capital rules for small banks | false | https://newsline.com/u-s-banking-regulators-propose-easier-capital-rules-for-small-banks/ | 2017-09-27 | 1 |
<p>I don't own a gun.&#160; But that doesn't make me anti-gun.&#160; I served in the National Guard and was trained how to use a gun safely, while attempting to kill another human being who was trying to kill me.&#160; I understand that gun ownership makes some individuals feel more secure and safe in their homes.&#160; I have often considered purchasing one for that reason myself.</p>
<p>I hunted with my father as a young man, but never developed his enthusiasm for it, even though I certainly was appreciative of the meals prepared from the game he shot or caught.&#160; I know many gun owners who are very good, and safe, hunters today.</p>
<p>Individual gun ownership is not unique to America, but it is a part of the American culture, right or wrong.&#160; Individuals with guns were the pioneers of the expanse of America to the west, using them for securing food, securing their homes and valuables, and yes, even taking other people's lands and valuables as well.&#160; In those harsh times, a gun was often a necessity for survival.</p>
<p>The Founding Fathers so respected the right for individual gun ownership they provided for it in the Bill of Rights, recognizing its importance over many other necessities for survival that existed at the time.&#160; But today, guns are not primarily used for feeding families or protecting homes from intrusion, but they quite often do serve those purposes.</p>
<p>In the aftermath of another mass shooting, the cry for gun control is at a fever pitch across the nation, with politicians and tv pundits and even late-night talk show hosts weighing in with emotion-based calls to disarm American citizens and rid the country of the plague that is gun violence.</p>
<p>Ending gun violence is certainly a most noble cause, but enacting restricting legislation cannot accomplish the goal.&#160; I cannot fathom the logic process that makes one believe the simple act of writing a "thou shalt not" on a piece of paper can bring an end to the evil that perpetrates mass shootings and everyday gun deaths.</p>
<p>Case in point, we already have a law that says "Thou Shalt Not Kill," or something similar on the nation's law books.&#160; I can't imagine that someone who is willing to end the life of another person in violation of that law, would even stop to consider the statute against gun ownership.</p>
<p>Just like laws banning alcohol, drugs, pornography, and other moral issues, making guns illegal in the US would just lead to a black market enterprise, and the amount of violence usually associated with such actions.&#160; Making guns illegal won't make them go away.&#160; They may become a little harder to get, and more expensive, but the net result will be making those responsible people who now own a gun for self-preservation vulnerable to criminals, and probably leading to even more gun deaths.</p>
<p>The Las Vegas shooter already violated several laws on the books before he took the first shot.&#160; Does anyone actually believe another law would have stopped him?</p>
<p>Gun control laws are virtually worthless because the gun is the tool the evil person used to commit the crime, not the reason for the commission of the crime.&#160; People have been killed by using homemade bombs, by driving vehicles into crowds, by throwing acid into innocent faces, and with swords and bayonets.&#160; It makes no more sense to ban guns than to ban automobiles or fertilizer in response to an attack.</p>
<p>How do you stop evil men from doing evil things?&#160; That has been debated throughout history, and no one has yet come up with an answer.&#160; Just as people used to say, you can't legislate morality, you also cannot legislate goodness and kindness to your fellow man.</p>
<p>We cannot and should not abandon our rights and freedoms, including gun ownership.&#160; Freedom is much too important to restrict with useless laws that fail to accomplish their idealistic goals.&#160; Too many have fought and died to give us that choice.</p>
<p /> | America's Gun Problem Can't be Solved by Passing More Restrictions on Freedom | false | http://natmonitor.com/2017/10/05/americas-gun-problem-cant-be-solved-by-passing-more-restrictions-on-freedom/ | 2017-10-05 | 3 |
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