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<p>NEW YORK (AP) — It may be a while, if ever, before investors can buy an exchange-traded fund made up of bitcoin and other digital currencies.</p>
<p>Federal regulators have a long list of questions they want answered before they'll approve a digital currency fund for Main Street investors. This week the Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter listing more than 30 of them to trade groups representing the investment industry.</p>
<p>Among the concerns in the letter, which was dated Thursday: How would funds determine the value of their holdings when prices for digital currencies are so volatile? And, what steps would funds take to ensure they can cash out investors who want their money back each day? The SEC also expressed concern that digital currency markets have higher opportunities for fraud and manipulation than traditional securities markets.</p>
<p>Until the industry is able to answer these questions, "we do not believe that it is appropriate for fund sponsors to initiate registration of funds that intend to invest substantially in cryptocurrency and related products, and we have asked sponsors that have registration statements filed for such products to withdraw them," Dalia Blass, the SEC's director of the division of investment management, wrote in the letter.</p>
<p>An exchange-traded fund is similar to a traditional mutual fund, except that investors can buy and sell it throughout the trading day. A digital currency ETF would allow mom-and-pop investors to own bitcoin and other digital currencies without going onto the private exchanges they trade on.</p>
<p>Bitcoin and other digital currencies have skyrocketed in recent years. As a result, some investors have joined the frenzy and made eye-popping profits, while a growing number of skeptics have called it a bubble that will end in pain. Bitcoin is up more than 10-fold from early 2017, when it was worth less than $1,000. But bitcoin has been particularly volatile recently, and is down by nearly half from its peak of more than $19,000 last month. In early afternoon trading on Friday, it was little changed from a day earlier at $11,221, according to Coindesk.</p>
<p>Digital currencies were intended to be used to buy things, but lately they've been seen more as an investment. The currencies trade on private exchanges with little regulation or protection for investors, and no country or central bank is behind them.</p>
<p>The investment industry has been trying to profit from the craze, and two major financial exchanges last month started trading bitcoin futures, which allows investors to make bets on the future price of bitcoin without actually holding them.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — It may be a while, if ever, before investors can buy an exchange-traded fund made up of bitcoin and other digital currencies.</p>
<p>Federal regulators have a long list of questions they want answered before they'll approve a digital currency fund for Main Street investors. This week the Securities and Exchange Commission sent a letter listing more than 30 of them to trade groups representing the investment industry.</p>
<p>Among the concerns in the letter, which was dated Thursday: How would funds determine the value of their holdings when prices for digital currencies are so volatile? And, what steps would funds take to ensure they can cash out investors who want their money back each day? The SEC also expressed concern that digital currency markets have higher opportunities for fraud and manipulation than traditional securities markets.</p>
<p>Until the industry is able to answer these questions, "we do not believe that it is appropriate for fund sponsors to initiate registration of funds that intend to invest substantially in cryptocurrency and related products, and we have asked sponsors that have registration statements filed for such products to withdraw them," Dalia Blass, the SEC's director of the division of investment management, wrote in the letter.</p>
<p>An exchange-traded fund is similar to a traditional mutual fund, except that investors can buy and sell it throughout the trading day. A digital currency ETF would allow mom-and-pop investors to own bitcoin and other digital currencies without going onto the private exchanges they trade on.</p>
<p>Bitcoin and other digital currencies have skyrocketed in recent years. As a result, some investors have joined the frenzy and made eye-popping profits, while a growing number of skeptics have called it a bubble that will end in pain. Bitcoin is up more than 10-fold from early 2017, when it was worth less than $1,000. But bitcoin has been particularly volatile recently, and is down by nearly half from its peak of more than $19,000 last month. In early afternoon trading on Friday, it was little changed from a day earlier at $11,221, according to Coindesk.</p>
<p>Digital currencies were intended to be used to buy things, but lately they've been seen more as an investment. The currencies trade on private exchanges with little regulation or protection for investors, and no country or central bank is behind them.</p>
<p>The investment industry has been trying to profit from the craze, and two major financial exchanges last month started trading bitcoin futures, which allows investors to make bets on the future price of bitcoin without actually holding them.</p> | SEC letter shows bitcoin funds won't happen soon, if ever | false | https://apnews.com/amp/d70c3dfe82eb49708eecf070c5d0a9f0 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
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<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch police arrested five Romanian men suspected of stealing iPhones worth 500,000 euros ($590,000) in a dangerous heist on a moving truck, a spokesman said Monday.</p>
<p>The five men, aged from 33 to 43, allegedly stole the iPhones in a late-night raid a week ago by driving a modified van so close to the delivery truck that one of the suspects was able to clamber across the van’s hood and break into the truck while it drove along a Dutch road, police spokesman Ed Kraszewski. He said the suspect then passed boxes of iPhones back to the van through a hole cut in its roof.</p>
<p>Kraszewski said police have long been investigating thefts from trucks but remained skeptical that such a heist could succeed. Not anymore.</p>
<p>“The truck was taking its freight from A-to-B and did not stop. Even so, (the phones) were gone,” he said. “So it must have happened that way. And now we finally have the evidence, with the van and the loot.”</p>
<p>The men were arrested Saturday at a holiday park in the central Netherlands, where police also recovered iPhones and the van they believe was used in the theft. The suspects were to appear Tuesday before an investigating judge.</p>
<p>Such raids have been reported elsewhere in Europe, almost always targeting high-end smartphones, but there have been no arrests in the other cases, Kraszewski said.</p>
<p>Dutch police plan to send fingerprints of the suspects to European colleagues to check for matches in previous thefts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Don’t try this: Thieves steal iPhones from moving truck | false | https://abqjournal.com/1041117/dont-try-this-thieves-steal-iphones-from-moving-truck.html | 2017-07-31 | 2 |
<p>President Obama took a break from his Hawaii vacation Thursday to sign the new National Defense Authorization Act, which he criticized for not giving him the flexibility he needs to close Guantanamo Bay. But it also retains the government’s authority to indefinitely detain U.S. citizens, a detail he didn’t seem to mind so much.</p>
<p>The new NDAA makes it easier for the government to transfer Gitmo detainees to other countries, but continues a ban on moving them to the U.S. for trial. From the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-obama-guantanamo-prison-20131226,0,6818077.story#axzz2oh6VBGgF" type="external">Los Angeles Times</a>:</p>
<p>The new defense authorization bill includes measures that ease what Obama called “rigid restrictions” that have interfered with his ability to negotiate with other countries about where detainees could be sent.</p>
<p>But Obama argued that the relaxation of the rules did not go far enough because it did not “eliminate all of the unwarranted limitations” on prisoner transfers. He asserted that his office must have the flexibility to “act swiftly” when negotiating with other countries about how and where detainees would be transferred.</p>
<p />
<p>The president said “in certain circumstances” the rules Congress has put in place could “violate constitutional separation of powers principles” – language that leaves open the possibility that the administration could argue it is not bound by the restrictions it considers unconstitutional.</p>
<p>The president also cited his objections to several sections of the bill that restrict the use of U.S. funds to transfer Guantanamo detainees to U.S. facilities or house them on U.S. soil — arguing that his administration must have that authority.</p>
<p>Yet Obama was less concerned with the constitutional rights of American citizens, who can still be detained indefinitely under the NDAA. <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/12/27/obama_signs_ndaa_2014_indefinite_detention_remains/?source=newsletter" type="external">From Salon</a>:</p>
<p>Meanwhile the troubling NDAA provision first signed into law in 2012, which permits the military to detain individuals indefinitely without trial, remains on the books for 2014. Efforts to quash or reform the provision (especially with regards to the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens) have failed and been fiercely fought by the administration. Most notably, a lawsuit filed against the president by plaintiffs including journalist Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky and Daniel Ellsberg against the provision <a href="http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/ndaa_is_back_in_court/" type="external">has been aggressively fought at every turn by the president’s attorneys</a>. The plaintiffs argue that the NDAA provision constitutes a significant expansion of the laws regarding indefinite detention already established by Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).</p>
<p>Hedges has chronicled his fight against the detention provision of the NDAA <a href="" type="internal">here at Truthdig</a>. And it should be a worrisome provision for anyone who believes in basic American civil liberties, which have been significantly eroded since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the U.S. has a long history of clamping down on civil liberties in times of political stress, which Geoffrey Stone detailed admirably in his 2004 “ <a href="http://books.google.com/books/about/Perilous_Times.html?id=S7ScI3Ia25sC" type="external">Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime — From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism</a>” (I dove into a single case, Dennis v. US, in my 2011 book “ <a href="http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/product/Fear-Within,3863.aspx" type="external">The Fear Within: Spies, Commies, and American Democracy on Trial</a>“). In past suppressions, the government, after emotions and the fears subsided, generally corrected the excesses it had embraced (usually through court decisions). But here, a dozen years after the catalyzing event, there is no sign of the government recognizing that it had erred in a fundamental way by infringing on basic civil liberties, which suggests some of these clampdowns may be here to stay — a frightening thing to contemplate.</p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Scott Martelle</a>.</p> | Obama Signs NDAA, Maintaining Indefinite Detention Provision | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/obama-signs-ndaa-maintaining-indefinite-detention-provision/ | 2013-12-27 | 4 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">FLORIDA MAN CALLS 911 TO REPORT HIMSELF DRUNK DRIVING</a></p>
<p>WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) — Florida authorities are sharing the details of an unusual 911 call on New Year’s Eve, from a man who said he wanted to report himself drunk-driving.</p>
<p>Polk County Sheriff’s officials say the dispatcher kept him talking while directing officers to the scene.</p>
<p>When the dispatcher asked Michael Lester where he was, he said, “I’m too drunk. I don’t know where I’m at.”</p>
<p>And when she asked what he’d been doing all night, he said “I don’t know, driving around, trying to get pulled over, actually.”</p>
<p>“I’m driving on the wrong side of the road,” he said later.</p>
<p>The operator repeatedly urged him to park his truck and wait for officers to find him. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong spot.</p>
<p>This undated photo provided by the Polk County Sheriff’s office on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 shows Michael Lester. Authorities in Florida received a 911 call on New Year’s Eve from Lester who said he was driving drunk and needed police. (Polk County Sheriff’s office via AP)</p>
<p>“Look, I’m parked in the middle of the road,” he said. Sirens could be heard in the background a short time later.</p>
<p>Deputies said Lester admitted drinking beers and swallowing methamphetamine. He also said he’d barely slept for several days.</p>
<p>The sheriff’s office Facebook post says Lester’s criminal history includes DUI, aggravated battery, drug possession and hit-and-run.</p>
<p>“Driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a serious crime. Innocent people are too often injured or killed from impaired drivers. DUI is not a laughing matter,” sheriff’s officials wrote. “However ... in this particular incident, nobody was hurt, so we couldn’t help but LOTO (that means we Laughed Our Tasers Off).”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">POLICE: SNOW THWARTS SHOPLIFTER IN NORTH DAKOTA</a></p>
<p>MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Authorities say a North Dakota man who wheeled a shopping cart with stolen merchandise out of a Hobby Lobby craft store was stopped by snow.</p>
<p>Police say 22-year-old Dustin Johnson filled up a cart with about $4,000 in products at a Hobby Lobby store in Minot on Wednesday. After the cart got stuck in the snow in the parking lot and tipped over, Johnson allegedly ran off.</p>
<p>Police say that along with the merchandise, Johnson left behind his wallet — which contained identification with his address.</p>
<p>Johnson is charged in Ward County with theft of property. Court documents do not list a lawyer for him.</p>
<p><a href="faea4c44585c419c9a9c99c61c828105" type="external">MAN ALLEGES BOBCAT ATTACK; CONDO OWNER SAYS IT WAS HOUSECAT</a></p>
<p>TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida contractor says he was attacked by a bobcat inside a woman’s condo, but the animal’s owner says her feline is no predator, just a 10-pound domestic longhair kitty named Calli.</p>
<p>The contractor, Marcos Hernandez, filed a lawsuit in Tampa on Dec. 19, alleging condo owner Christine Lee illegally kept a bobcat inside her unit. He said a bobcat scratched him on May 16, causing serious injuries after he entered the condo to conduct a fire safety inspection.</p>
<p>Hernandez was in the condo alone, Lee said, something that shouldn’t have happened. She said an employee from the building was supposed to accompany him inside.</p>
<p>“This has gotten so blown out of proportion, it’s ridiculous,” Lee said.</p>
<p>According to the lawsuit, Hernandez said he was attacked by an unleashed bobcat and suffered permanent injuries. He’s seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages. Hernandez said Lee had a duty to provide a safe environment and failed to warn him about the bobcat.</p>
<p>Lee said that’s nonsense. She only has a fluffy, tortoiseshell-colored housecat and a sleeker black cat named Max. She doesn’t know which cat may have scratched Hernandez, but Max’s color would likely rule him out.</p>
<p>She has not yet retained an attorney.</p>
<p>“I’m not denying he got scratched, what he was doing to get scratched, I don’t know,” she said, adding that when she arrived home that day, Calli was “cowering and scared.” Max was underneath her bed.</p>
<p>Calli, who is 3 1/2, is friendly, Lee said. But “just like any animal, she is guarded. If they feel threatened, they may attack, scratch or bite.”</p>
<p>Soon after the incident, she was informed by building management that Hernandez had been scratched, but she hadn’t heard of the lawsuit until this week, when the Tampa Bay Times first wrote about the case and took a photo of Calli. Hernandez is also suing the condo building’s owner.</p>
<p>Lee said she has never owned a bobcat.</p>
<p>“A bobcat does look much different than this. They’re much bigger than this 10-pound little thing,” she said. “It’s a litigious society and here we are.”</p>
<p>According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, wild bobcats in the state are about twice the size of a domestic cat, up to about 35 pounds. They are tan to yellowish brown, with dark spots. A wildlife official visited Lee’s apartment on Thursday, the newspaper report.</p>
<p>Hernandez’ attorney’s office said they were not going to comment at this time.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">MAN GETS STUCK IN BLIZZARD IN TOPLESS CONVERTIBLE</a></p>
<p>CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) — Wintry weather didn’t keep a Rhode Island man from driving through town in his topless convertible.</p>
<p>WPRI-TV reports the roof on John Pratt’s convertible Mercedes Benz has been broken for about a month. He tried to get the lipstick red luxury car to the repair shop Thursday morning, as a massive storm dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of the state.</p>
<p>But his chilly open-air ride turned into an icy predicament when his car got stuck. Onlookers took video, which then made the rounds on social media .</p>
<p>The episode left the Cranston man and his car covered in snow.</p>
<p>Pratt blames his 16-year-old son for the broken roof. He says he doesn’t mind the trouble because people got a few laughs out of it.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">JUST SHY OF HER 100TH BIRTHDAY, MISSISSIPPI WOMAN BAGS DEER</a></p>
<p>MORGANTOWN, Miss. (AP) — A 99-year-old hunter in Mississippi wants to know why people are making a big fuss about her recent kill. It was a doe after all, not a prized buck.</p>
<p>The Clarion Ledger reports that Bertha Vickers used a .243 Winchester rifle to kill a doe recently a few miles from her rural home. Relatives posted pictures of Vickers and her kill on Facebook, and people sent messages of congratulations.</p>
<p>Vickers says she doesn’t know “why everybody is making such a big deal about it” because it was “just a doe” and not a buck.</p>
<p>Vickers lives near the farming community where she grew up in northern Mississippi, outside Starkville. She still mows her own yard and enjoys squirrel hunting.</p>
<p>She turns 100 on Tuesday.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">SNATCHED BY HUNGRY EAGLE, LITTLE DOG LIVES TO BARK THE TALE</a></p>
<p>Felipe Rodriguez says he thought he was hallucinating when an eagle snatched his sister’s little white dog from her yard, flapped its massive wings and disappeared over the trees.</p>
<p>Did he really just see that?</p>
<p>He had. Zoey the 8-pound bichon frise was gone, taken by a hungry raptor Tuesday afternoon not 50 feet from his sister’s house on the banks of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania, Rodriguez said.</p>
<p>“It seemed like something from the ’Wizard of Oz,’” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’m a city boy. This doesn’t happen in my world.”</p>
<p>Even more astonishing: Zoey would live to bark the tale.</p>
<p>More on that later. But first, let it be said that eagles are quite capable of taking a small dog or a cat.</p>
<p>“It has been documented before, but not that often,” said Laurie Goodrich, a biologist at nearby Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a ridgetop preserve that annually records tens of thousands of migrating hawks, eagles and falcons.</p>
<p>With food scarce and waterways freezing up, raptors are “looking a little more widely and taking advantage of whatever might be out there,” she said.</p>
<p>Rodriguez said he was by himself at his sister’s home in Bowmanstown, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) north of Philadelphia, and Zoey was playing in the fenced yard when he heard a loud screech, hurried to the door and looked out.</p>
<p>“The bird was holding onto the dog. There was flapping of wings and then it was gone,” said Rodriguez, a 50-year-old healthcare executive visiting from Chicago.</p>
<p>He drove around the neighborhood looking for the 7-year-old bichon, to no avail. Rodriguez assumed Zoey was gone for good.</p>
<p>His sister and her family were devastated when they found out.</p>
<p>“I did nothing but cry all day,” Monica Newhard said.</p>
<p>Newhard said it’s not unusual to see eagles, given her home’s proximity to the river. She also suspected they occasionally grabbed one of the rabbits that lived under her shed. But it didn’t occur to Newhard that any of her four dogs would be in danger.</p>
<p>Heartbroken, she and her husband scoured the woods for Zoey’s body. Little did they know their bitty bichon would be found later that afternoon — a full four miles away.</p>
<p>Zoey’s rescuer was Christina Hartman, 51, who said she was driving on a snow-covered back road when she spotted a furry white lump ahead and pulled over to investigate.</p>
<p>“I notice this little frozen dog, icicles hanging from all over. It could hardly move,” Hartman said.</p>
<p>She scooped up the whimpering pooch, wrapped her in a blanket and took her home, feeding the dog two bowls of chicken-and-rice soup. Gradually, the bichon warmed up and began to show some spunk. Hartman noticed several small wounds on the back of her neck, and the dog walked with a limp. She had no collar.</p>
<p>“This dog belongs to a family, and I’m gonna find out who owns it,” Hartman told herself.</p>
<p>It didn’t take long. She spotted Newhard’s public Facebook post Wednesday morning — Newhard had uploaded a photo of Zoey — and made an excited call.</p>
<p>“I said, ‘It’s a miracle! I have your dog!’”</p>
<p>Zoey had bruises and a few missing patches of fur. It’s not clear how far the eagle might have carried the dog, but Rodriguez said he can’t believe Zoey survived.</p>
<p>“She is not really herself, but she is getting lots of love,” his sister, Newhard, texted the AP late Wednesday. “She doesn’t want to go out. ... I really can’t blame her.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">IT’S SO COLD IN FLORIDA, IGUANAS ARE FALLING FROM TREES</a></p>
<p>MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It’s so cold in Florida that iguanas are falling from their perches in suburban trees.</p>
<p>Temperatures dipped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) early Thursday in parts of South Florida, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.</p>
<p>That’s chilly enough to immobilize green iguanas common in Miami’s suburbs.</p>
<p>An iguana that froze lies near a pool after falling from a tree in Boca Raton, Florida.</p>
<p>Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino tweeted a photograph of an iguana lying belly-up next to his swimming pool. WPEC-TV posted images of an iguana on its back on a Palm Beach County road.</p>
<p>The cold-blooded creatures native to Central and South America start to get sluggish when temperatures fall below 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius), said Kristen Sommers, who oversees the nonnative fish and wildlife program for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.</p>
<p>If temperatures drop below that, iguanas freeze up. “It’s too cold for them to move,” Sommers said.</p>
<p>They’re not the only reptiles stunned by this week’s cold snap: Sea turtles also stiffen up when temperatures fall. The wildlife commission’s biologists have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles found floating listlessly on the water or near shore, but no such rescue is planned for iguanas.</p>
<p>Well-meaning residents finding stiffened iguanas are advised to leave them alone, as they may feel threatened and bite once they warm up.</p>
<p>“Don’t assume that they’re dead,” Sommers said.</p>
<p>Green iguanas are an invasive species in Florida known for eating through landscaping and digging burrows that undermine infrastructure. They can grow over 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, and their droppings can be a potential source of salmonella bacteria, which causes food poisoning.</p>
<p>The wildlife commission has begun holding workshops to train homeowners and property managers to trap or manage iguanas. The reptiles may be easier to catch this week, Sommers said.</p>
<p>“This provides an opportunity to capture some, but I’m not sure it’s going to be cold enough for long enough to make enough of a difference,” she said. “In most cases, they’re going to warm back up and move around again, unless they’re euthanized.”</p>
<p>A two-week cold snap with temperatures below 40 degrees (5 degrees Celsius) in 2010 killed off many iguanas, along with Burmese pythons and other invasive pests that thrive in South Florida’s subtropical climate. Those populations have since rebounded.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in Florida, the effects of a brutal winter storm rolling up the East Coast were less exotic. It snowed briefly Wednesday in the state’s capital, Tallahassee, for the first time in 28 years.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FED-UP PASSENGER SOUGHT FAST TRACK ON RYANAIR WING</a></p>
<p>MADRID (AP) — A passenger on a delayed Ryanair flight from London who apparently got fed up waiting to get off a plane after it landed in the southern Spanish city of Malaga surprised fellow passengers by using the emergency exit to jump onto a wing.</p>
<p>The incident on New Year’s Day took place 30 minutes after the flight from Stansted Airport landed.</p>
<p>The man, who has not been named but is said to be a non-Spanish citizen, was coaxed back onto the plane while police were called.</p>
<p>A Ryanair passenger who apparently got fed up waiting to get off a plane stands on the wing of a Ryanair plane at Malaga airport, Spain, Monday Jan. 1, 2018, filmed by another passenger. After various delays in the flight from London’s Stansted Airport, the passenger, who has not been named, used the emergency exit to climb onto the wing after landing in Spain New Year’s Day. (Fernando del Valle Villalobos via AP)</p>
<p>Fellow passenger Fernando del Valle Villalobos, who videoed the incident, said he heard the man say he got fed up waiting.</p>
<p>“I was astonished,” del Valle, 25, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.</p>
<p>He said the passengers were standing in the aisle waiting to get off the plane when the man “very calmly asked permission to get past, opened the emergency exit, looked out, saw the wing, went back for his back-pack.”</p>
<p>Later, he said the captain came out and asked the man why he had done it and del Valle heard him say clearly that he was sick of waiting inside. The passengers, except the man in question, were kept a further 15 minutes on the plane before being let off.</p>
<p>Police said Wednesday that they have opened a complaint against the man for breaching security.</p>
<p>Ryanair said the incident was now in the hands of Spanish authorities.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FOWL WEATHER FRIENDS: ARKANSAS STUDENTS PRINT 3-D DUCK LEG</a></p>
<p>ARMOREL, Ark. (AP) — Eighth-grade science students have used a 3-D printer to create a prosthetic leg for a duck found without a foot shortly after he hatched.</p>
<p>The students in northeastern Arkansas created the leg at Armorel High School’s environmental and spatial technology lab for an 8-month-old Indian runner duck named Peg.</p>
<p>Peg’s owner, Patsy Smith, told television station KAIT that when she found the bird, a turtle had apparently chewed off his foot. She said the leg became more irritated as Peg grew. The students reached out after hearing Smith was seeking a way to help Peg.</p>
<p>Lab director Alicia Bell said it took about 30 tries before students Matthew Cook, Darshan Patel and Abby Simmons built an appropriate leg.</p>
<p>Smith said Peg now walks and runs like a normal duck.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">BRAKE FOR BEAKS: CALIFORNIA OFFICERS SAVE CHICKENS FROM ROAD</a></p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was a race against the cluck as California Highway Patrol officers scrambled to rescue nearly 20 chickens that ran through highway lanes near Los Angeles.</p>
<p>The agency says the birds blocked a portion of Interstate 605 in the Norwalk area Tuesday morning after their cage fell from the back of a truck.</p>
<p>The agency tweeted photos and video of the chickens on the highway and a motorcycle officer collecting them.</p>
<p>Officers managed to rescue 17 birds. Two died.</p>
<p>In this photo released by the California Highway Patrol, CHP officer DaSilva rescues nearly 20 chickens that ran through highway lanes in Norwalk, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018. The CHP says the birds blocked a portion of Interstate 605 Tuesday morning after their cage fell from the back of a truck. The agency tweeted photos and video of the chickens in lanes and a motorcycle officer collecting them. Officers managed to rescue 17 birds. Two died. (CHP Officer C.Lillie/California Highway Patrol via AP)</p>
<p>One tweet asked: “why DID the chickens cross the road? Because they obviously did not want to become ‘fast food’ on an LA area freeway, of course!”</p>
<p>The driver transporting the chickens was unaware that the birds fell off the truck and did not stop.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">KID WIT: DAD MEASURES BABY’S GROWTH WITH CHEESESTEAKS</a></p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia father put the city’s signature sandwich to use in a whole new way: measuring his baby’s size in cheesesteaks.</p>
<p>Philly.com reports Thursday that computer programmer Brad Williams used a foolproof system he calls “Cheesesteak for Scale” to measure the growth of his son during the child’s first year in 2015.</p>
<p>It started when he noticed his 2-week-old, Lucas Royce, was about the same size as a cheesesteak he’d brought home. So Williams snapped a picture of the sandwich next to his newborn and the tradition was born.</p>
<p>Every month for the next year Williams and his wife would buy a cheesesteak to track their growing boy .</p>
<p>This 2015 photo provided by Brad Williams shows his wife April Williams swaddling their 2-week-old son Lucas Royce Williams next to a wrapped cheesesteak sandwich to compare their son’s size, at their home in the Philadelphia suburb of Glenside, Pa. In a Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, blog post, computer programmer Brad Williams outlined the “Cheesesteak for Scale” system he devised to measure his son’s growth each month following the boy’s birth in October 2015, according to Philly.com. (Brad Williams via AP)</p>
<p>He says babies and cheesesteaks are quite similar. He says they are warm and cuddly when wrapped up “but once you unwrap them, expect a huge mess.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">POLICE: MAN BREAKS INTO EVIDENCE UNDETECTED, TAKES BACK BIKE</a></p>
<p>PROVO, Utah (AP) — Provo police say a man broke into the department’s evidence room undetected and took back his bike.</p>
<p>Deseret News reported Thursday that the burglary went unnoticed until the person who originally was found with the bike was arrested again and told officers David Elwin Snow was bragging that he “pulled off the crime of the century.”</p>
<p>The 37-year-old Snow and his brother had gone to the department on Dec. 18 to retrieve the bike, but since they never reported it stolen they had a hard time verifying it was Snow’s bike. Police accuse Snow of stealing it that same night after seeing where it was being stored.</p>
<p>The bike was found Wednesday at Snow’s grandmother’s house.</p>
<p>Police Sgt. Nisha King said such a heist has never happened at the department.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">POLICE: MAN USED BANK ROBBERY CASH TO BUY ENGAGEMENT RING</a></p>
<p>MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a man robbed a bank in Ohio and used the money to buy his fiancee an engagement ring.</p>
<p>The Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News reports 36-year-old Dustin Pedersen has been charged with robbing a Fifth Third Bank branch in Trenton on Dec. 16.</p>
<p>Police say records show that Pedersen spent $4,500 on an engagement ring less than an hour after the robbery and presented it the next day.</p>
<p>A Trenton police detective said in court Wednesday the robbery netted $8,800.</p>
<p>Police say Pedersen became a suspect after a man wearing an identical hat robbed a Butler County bank six days later.</p>
<p>Pedersen has denied robbing any banks, but told police that surveillance photos of the robber look like him.</p>
<p>Pedersen’s attorney wasn’t immediately available for comment Thursday.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">RATS! DC WAGES WAR AGAINST RESURGENT RODENTS WITH DRY ICE</a></p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Any mists spotted rising over the swamp may just be Washington wielding its newest weapon in its never-ending war on rats: dry ice.</p>
<p>The District of Columbia’s rodent control division’s program manager, Gerard Brown, tells The Washington Post the frozen form of carbon dioxide complements the poison the city uses, as reported rat complaints reach a four-year high.</p>
<p>Last month, Brown and Mayor Muriel Bowser oversaw a demonstration in which health department staffers stuffed dry ice into a northeast Washington alley rathole. As the ice smoked, the emanating carbon dioxide suffocated the rats, according to Brown’s explanation.</p>
<p>Residents are encouraged to purchase their own dry ice. The city is working on usage guidelines.</p>
<p>Department of Energy and Environment Director Tommy Wells says dry ice is relatively humane, cheap and pet-friendly.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FALSE TSUNAMI ALERT STARTLES COASTAL OREGON TOWN</a></p>
<p>SEASIDE, Ore. (AP) — A tsunami-warming system erroneously informed people living in Seaside, Oregon, that a tsunami was approaching in four hours.</p>
<p>City spokesman Jon Rahl says a malfunction in the system replaced what was supposed to be Wednesday’s regularly scheduled test message.</p>
<p>Seaside police quickly sent email and text notifications correcting the error.</p>
<p>Gas station owner Rich Trucke wrote to The Daily Astorian newspaper that some people panicked despite his assurances that tests are regularly done on Wednesdays. He says one customer hastily drove up, demanding gas to leave town. Another had told his 95-year-old mother to start packing.</p>
<p>Rahl says the mishap is a reminder of why tests are conducted. He says they “give us the opportunity to evaluate what’s working, and in this case what’s not.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">VALUABLE VODKA BOTTLE REPORTED STOLEN FOUND IN COPENHAGEN</a></p>
<p>COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police say a valuable bottle of vodka that was reported stolen from a Copenhagen bar has been found.</p>
<p>Copenhagen police say the bottle — which is worth $1.3 million, according to its owner — was recovered intact. Police say the investigation is continuing.</p>
<p>The vessel is made of 3 kilograms (6.6. pounds) of gold and the equivalent amount of silver. It has a diamond-encrusted cap fashioned to resemble a vintage car front.</p>
<p>In this image taken from CCTV provided by Brian Ingberg, shows a man stealing a bottle of vodka from Cafe 33 bar in Copenhagen on Tuesday Jan. 2, 2018. Copenhagen police were on Thursday Jan 4, 2018, were investigating the theft of a bottle of vodka claimed to be the world’s most expensive at 1.3 million US dollars.(Brian Ingberg via AP)</p>
<p>Cafe 33 owner Brian Ingberg told The Associated Press that he received a call on Friday from person who reported finding the vessel at a construction site in Copenhagen and handing it over to the police.</p>
<p>Ingberg says no arrests have been made. He refused to identify the caller.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">EASTER HUNT IS ON: CADBURY MAKES BATCH OF WHITE CREME EGGS</a></p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — British confectioner Cadbury is making a white chocolate version of its popular Easter Creme egg — and offering a cash prize for those who find them as it tries to bolster the product’s appeal.</p>
<p>The company says it will make a small batch of between 350 and 400 white eggs, for sale until Easter Sunday on April 1. Each will carry a prize of at least 100 pounds ($130).</p>
<p>Cadbury’s has faced accusations of cheapening its chocolate recipe in its Creme Egg since it was taken over by U.S. company Kraft Foods in 2010 and is hoping to ramp up interest in the product, which first went on sale in 1971.</p>
<p>White eggs will be wrapped in the same foil as regular Creme Eggs, making the hunt a blind draw.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">MONTANA TOWN GETS NEW MAYOR AFTER NO-SHOW FROM MAYOR-ELECT</a></p>
<p>LAUREL, Mont. (AP) — A different mayor of a southern Montana town was sworn into office a day after the mayor-elect failed to appear for a swearing-in ceremony.</p>
<p>Former city councilman Tom Nelson was sworn in as the new mayor of Laurel on Wednesday after mayor-elect Dave Waggoner did not show up to the city council’s Tuesday meeting.</p>
<p>Nelson had lost to Waggoner in the November mayoral election.</p>
<p>Waggoner was asked to leave his current position at the city’s wastewater treatment plant before he could take office.</p>
<p>City officials say Waggoner did not submit a letter of resignation for his city job, so the council appointed Nelson.</p>
<p>Waggoner did not return calls seeking comment from the Billings Gazette.</p>
<p>Nelson’s term as mayor will last until the next municipal election in 2019.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">PRIEST GETS 8 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR EMBEZZLING $500,000</a></p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The rector of a retirement home for Roman Catholic priests who was convicted of embezzling a half-million dollars has been sentenced to eight months in federal prison.</p>
<p>Authorities say Monsignor William Dombrow spent the stolen funds on casino visits, expensive dinners and concerts.</p>
<p>At his sentencing Wednesday, Dombrow acknowledged committing a “serious crime” and said he would accept the judge’s decision.</p>
<p>Dombrow’s attorney says the priest was sometimes accompanied on those outings by residents of Villa St. Joseph. The Philadelphia Archdiocese runs the facility in Darby to house aging priests and treat those accused of sexual abuse.</p>
<p>In addition to his prison term, Dombrow was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to repay the embezzled funds.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">SHARKS’ THORNTON USES CHUNK OF MOUNTAIN-MAN BEARD DURING FIGHT</a></p>
<p>TORONTO (AP) — Nazem Kadri was an assist short of a bizarre Gordie Howe hat trick.</p>
<p>Kadri ripped out part of Joe Thornton’s mountain-man beard in a fight off the opening faceoff and scored in regulation in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 3-2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.</p>
<p>Thornton and Kadri dropping the gloves just two seconds after being tossed out of the opening faceoff for slashing each other like manic lumberjacks. The 38-year-old Thornton’s beard took a beating in the scrap, thanks to Kadri hanging on to the beard rather than his jersey as he was twirled around by the bigger Shark. A hunk of Thornton’s facial hair was left on the ice like a mini-tumbleweed.</p>
<p>“I ended up with a piece of it in my hand,” Kadri said. “I have no idea how that happened</p>
<p>“I thought I was a hockey player not a barber. I didn’t mean to grab him there. I mean he’s a big boy. I couldn’t reach all the way across his shoulder. I felt like I just grabbed him in the middle of his jersey and just came down with a handful of his hair.”</p>
<p>Thornton didn’t comment after the game.</p>
<p>The hair ultimately found its way to the glove of backup goalie Aaron Dell on the San Jose bench.</p>
<p>“We were trying to figure out what it was,” Sharks forward Chris Tierney said.</p>
<p>Kadri, who was giving up at least 4 inches and 30 pounds to Thornton, had a welt on the side of his face as a souvenir of the fight.</p>
<p>“I didn’t see that coming,” said former Shark Patrick Marleau.</p>
<p>The fight seemed to spark the Leafs, who snapped a three game losing streak. They had plenty of jump against the talented Sharks in a wide-open, entertaining game that saw plenty of big saves at both ends.</p>
<p>“It was a good fight ... It kind of gets everybody pumped up, especially to see a smaller guy like that (fight),” Leafs center Auston Matthews said.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">MERCHANDISE FEATURING FIONA THE HIPPO BRINGS IN BIG BUCKS</a></p>
<p>CINCINNATI (AP) — Merchandise inspired by Ohio’s famous baby hippo, Fiona, has returned nearly half a million dollars to the Cincinnati Zoo.</p>
<p>The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the zoo has collected about $480,000 in sales from businesses with merchandising agreements. Products include everything from clothing and ornaments to beer and ice cream.</p>
<p>The zoo says it isn’t keeping track of cash the hippo-themed products are turning over. But zoo spokeswoman Michelle Curley says more than $200,000 of the money was used for Fiona’s neonatal care. Curley says the remainder is helping with the care, feeding and enrichment of all the zoo’s hippos.</p>
<p>The beloved baby hippo will celebrate her first birthday Jan. 24. Local merchants expect the celebration to spur an economic boost as businesses roll out more Fiona-themed products.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">CHEETAH AT ST. LOUIS ZOO GIVES BIRTH TO 8 CUBS</a></p>
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) — A cheetah named Bingwa at the St. Louis Zoo is a proud mother — eight times over.</p>
<p>The zoo announced Wednesday that the 4-year-old cheetah gave birth Nov. 26 to eight cubs — three male and five female. It’s the largest litter of cheetah cubs ever delivered at the zoo. The average litter size is three to four cubs.</p>
<p>In fact, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has documented 430 litters and said this is the first time a cheetah mom has given birth to and reared on her own a litter of eight cubs at a zoo.</p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, Bingwa means “champion” in Swahili.</p>
<p>All eight cubs and the mom are doing well. They’ll remain indoors, away from the public and under close scrutiny from staff, for several months.</p>
<p>Bingwa is proving to be an “exemplary” mom, zoo officials said.</p>
<p>“She has quickly become adept at caring for her very large litter of cubs — grooming, nursing and caring for them attentively,” Steve Bircher, the zoo’s curator of mammals/carnivores, said in a news release.</p>
<p>The cubs were born at the zoo’s River’s Edge Cheetah Breeding Center as part of a program to manage genetically healthy population of cheetahs at North American zoos. More than 50 cheetah cubs have been born at the breeding center since 1974, the zoo said.</p>
<p>Bingwa is at the zoo on loan from Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. The father, 9-year-old Jason, is on loan from White Oak Conservation in Yulee, Florida.</p>
<p>Cheetahs once roamed much of Africa and Asia. Today, only around 10,000 remain in the wild in Africa along with 100 or fewer in Iran. The decline in numbers is due in part to conflict with humans as well as lack of genetic diversity, the zoo said.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FLORIDA MAN CALLS 911 TO REPORT HIMSELF DRUNK DRIVING</a></p>
<p>WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (AP) — Florida authorities are sharing the details of an unusual 911 call on New Year’s Eve, from a man who said he wanted to report himself drunk-driving.</p>
<p>Polk County Sheriff’s officials say the dispatcher kept him talking while directing officers to the scene.</p>
<p>When the dispatcher asked Michael Lester where he was, he said, “I’m too drunk. I don’t know where I’m at.”</p>
<p>And when she asked what he’d been doing all night, he said “I don’t know, driving around, trying to get pulled over, actually.”</p>
<p>“I’m driving on the wrong side of the road,” he said later.</p>
<p>The operator repeatedly urged him to park his truck and wait for officers to find him. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong spot.</p>
<p>This undated photo provided by the Polk County Sheriff’s office on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2018 shows Michael Lester. Authorities in Florida received a 911 call on New Year’s Eve from Lester who said he was driving drunk and needed police. (Polk County Sheriff’s office via AP)</p>
<p>“Look, I’m parked in the middle of the road,” he said. Sirens could be heard in the background a short time later.</p>
<p>Deputies said Lester admitted drinking beers and swallowing methamphetamine. He also said he’d barely slept for several days.</p>
<p>The sheriff’s office Facebook post says Lester’s criminal history includes DUI, aggravated battery, drug possession and hit-and-run.</p>
<p>“Driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a serious crime. Innocent people are too often injured or killed from impaired drivers. DUI is not a laughing matter,” sheriff’s officials wrote. “However ... in this particular incident, nobody was hurt, so we couldn’t help but LOTO (that means we Laughed Our Tasers Off).”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">POLICE: SNOW THWARTS SHOPLIFTER IN NORTH DAKOTA</a></p>
<p>MINOT, N.D. (AP) — Authorities say a North Dakota man who wheeled a shopping cart with stolen merchandise out of a Hobby Lobby craft store was stopped by snow.</p>
<p>Police say 22-year-old Dustin Johnson filled up a cart with about $4,000 in products at a Hobby Lobby store in Minot on Wednesday. After the cart got stuck in the snow in the parking lot and tipped over, Johnson allegedly ran off.</p>
<p>Police say that along with the merchandise, Johnson left behind his wallet — which contained identification with his address.</p>
<p>Johnson is charged in Ward County with theft of property. Court documents do not list a lawyer for him.</p>
<p><a href="faea4c44585c419c9a9c99c61c828105" type="external">MAN ALLEGES BOBCAT ATTACK; CONDO OWNER SAYS IT WAS HOUSECAT</a></p>
<p>TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A Florida contractor says he was attacked by a bobcat inside a woman’s condo, but the animal’s owner says her feline is no predator, just a 10-pound domestic longhair kitty named Calli.</p>
<p>The contractor, Marcos Hernandez, filed a lawsuit in Tampa on Dec. 19, alleging condo owner Christine Lee illegally kept a bobcat inside her unit. He said a bobcat scratched him on May 16, causing serious injuries after he entered the condo to conduct a fire safety inspection.</p>
<p>Hernandez was in the condo alone, Lee said, something that shouldn’t have happened. She said an employee from the building was supposed to accompany him inside.</p>
<p>“This has gotten so blown out of proportion, it’s ridiculous,” Lee said.</p>
<p>According to the lawsuit, Hernandez said he was attacked by an unleashed bobcat and suffered permanent injuries. He’s seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages. Hernandez said Lee had a duty to provide a safe environment and failed to warn him about the bobcat.</p>
<p>Lee said that’s nonsense. She only has a fluffy, tortoiseshell-colored housecat and a sleeker black cat named Max. She doesn’t know which cat may have scratched Hernandez, but Max’s color would likely rule him out.</p>
<p>She has not yet retained an attorney.</p>
<p>“I’m not denying he got scratched, what he was doing to get scratched, I don’t know,” she said, adding that when she arrived home that day, Calli was “cowering and scared.” Max was underneath her bed.</p>
<p>Calli, who is 3 1/2, is friendly, Lee said. But “just like any animal, she is guarded. If they feel threatened, they may attack, scratch or bite.”</p>
<p>Soon after the incident, she was informed by building management that Hernandez had been scratched, but she hadn’t heard of the lawsuit until this week, when the Tampa Bay Times first wrote about the case and took a photo of Calli. Hernandez is also suing the condo building’s owner.</p>
<p>Lee said she has never owned a bobcat.</p>
<p>“A bobcat does look much different than this. They’re much bigger than this 10-pound little thing,” she said. “It’s a litigious society and here we are.”</p>
<p>According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, wild bobcats in the state are about twice the size of a domestic cat, up to about 35 pounds. They are tan to yellowish brown, with dark spots. A wildlife official visited Lee’s apartment on Thursday, the newspaper report.</p>
<p>Hernandez’ attorney’s office said they were not going to comment at this time.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">MAN GETS STUCK IN BLIZZARD IN TOPLESS CONVERTIBLE</a></p>
<p>CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) — Wintry weather didn’t keep a Rhode Island man from driving through town in his topless convertible.</p>
<p>WPRI-TV reports the roof on John Pratt’s convertible Mercedes Benz has been broken for about a month. He tried to get the lipstick red luxury car to the repair shop Thursday morning, as a massive storm dumped more than a foot of snow in parts of the state.</p>
<p>But his chilly open-air ride turned into an icy predicament when his car got stuck. Onlookers took video, which then made the rounds on social media .</p>
<p>The episode left the Cranston man and his car covered in snow.</p>
<p>Pratt blames his 16-year-old son for the broken roof. He says he doesn’t mind the trouble because people got a few laughs out of it.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">JUST SHY OF HER 100TH BIRTHDAY, MISSISSIPPI WOMAN BAGS DEER</a></p>
<p>MORGANTOWN, Miss. (AP) — A 99-year-old hunter in Mississippi wants to know why people are making a big fuss about her recent kill. It was a doe after all, not a prized buck.</p>
<p>The Clarion Ledger reports that Bertha Vickers used a .243 Winchester rifle to kill a doe recently a few miles from her rural home. Relatives posted pictures of Vickers and her kill on Facebook, and people sent messages of congratulations.</p>
<p>Vickers says she doesn’t know “why everybody is making such a big deal about it” because it was “just a doe” and not a buck.</p>
<p>Vickers lives near the farming community where she grew up in northern Mississippi, outside Starkville. She still mows her own yard and enjoys squirrel hunting.</p>
<p>She turns 100 on Tuesday.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">SNATCHED BY HUNGRY EAGLE, LITTLE DOG LIVES TO BARK THE TALE</a></p>
<p>Felipe Rodriguez says he thought he was hallucinating when an eagle snatched his sister’s little white dog from her yard, flapped its massive wings and disappeared over the trees.</p>
<p>Did he really just see that?</p>
<p>He had. Zoey the 8-pound bichon frise was gone, taken by a hungry raptor Tuesday afternoon not 50 feet from his sister’s house on the banks of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania, Rodriguez said.</p>
<p>“It seemed like something from the ’Wizard of Oz,’” he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’m a city boy. This doesn’t happen in my world.”</p>
<p>Even more astonishing: Zoey would live to bark the tale.</p>
<p>More on that later. But first, let it be said that eagles are quite capable of taking a small dog or a cat.</p>
<p>“It has been documented before, but not that often,” said Laurie Goodrich, a biologist at nearby Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a ridgetop preserve that annually records tens of thousands of migrating hawks, eagles and falcons.</p>
<p>With food scarce and waterways freezing up, raptors are “looking a little more widely and taking advantage of whatever might be out there,” she said.</p>
<p>Rodriguez said he was by himself at his sister’s home in Bowmanstown, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) north of Philadelphia, and Zoey was playing in the fenced yard when he heard a loud screech, hurried to the door and looked out.</p>
<p>“The bird was holding onto the dog. There was flapping of wings and then it was gone,” said Rodriguez, a 50-year-old healthcare executive visiting from Chicago.</p>
<p>He drove around the neighborhood looking for the 7-year-old bichon, to no avail. Rodriguez assumed Zoey was gone for good.</p>
<p>His sister and her family were devastated when they found out.</p>
<p>“I did nothing but cry all day,” Monica Newhard said.</p>
<p>Newhard said it’s not unusual to see eagles, given her home’s proximity to the river. She also suspected they occasionally grabbed one of the rabbits that lived under her shed. But it didn’t occur to Newhard that any of her four dogs would be in danger.</p>
<p>Heartbroken, she and her husband scoured the woods for Zoey’s body. Little did they know their bitty bichon would be found later that afternoon — a full four miles away.</p>
<p>Zoey’s rescuer was Christina Hartman, 51, who said she was driving on a snow-covered back road when she spotted a furry white lump ahead and pulled over to investigate.</p>
<p>“I notice this little frozen dog, icicles hanging from all over. It could hardly move,” Hartman said.</p>
<p>She scooped up the whimpering pooch, wrapped her in a blanket and took her home, feeding the dog two bowls of chicken-and-rice soup. Gradually, the bichon warmed up and began to show some spunk. Hartman noticed several small wounds on the back of her neck, and the dog walked with a limp. She had no collar.</p>
<p>“This dog belongs to a family, and I’m gonna find out who owns it,” Hartman told herself.</p>
<p>It didn’t take long. She spotted Newhard’s public Facebook post Wednesday morning — Newhard had uploaded a photo of Zoey — and made an excited call.</p>
<p>“I said, ‘It’s a miracle! I have your dog!’”</p>
<p>Zoey had bruises and a few missing patches of fur. It’s not clear how far the eagle might have carried the dog, but Rodriguez said he can’t believe Zoey survived.</p>
<p>“She is not really herself, but she is getting lots of love,” his sister, Newhard, texted the AP late Wednesday. “She doesn’t want to go out. ... I really can’t blame her.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">IT’S SO COLD IN FLORIDA, IGUANAS ARE FALLING FROM TREES</a></p>
<p>MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — It’s so cold in Florida that iguanas are falling from their perches in suburban trees.</p>
<p>Temperatures dipped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) early Thursday in parts of South Florida, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.</p>
<p>That’s chilly enough to immobilize green iguanas common in Miami’s suburbs.</p>
<p>An iguana that froze lies near a pool after falling from a tree in Boca Raton, Florida.</p>
<p>Palm Beach Post columnist Frank Cerabino tweeted a photograph of an iguana lying belly-up next to his swimming pool. WPEC-TV posted images of an iguana on its back on a Palm Beach County road.</p>
<p>The cold-blooded creatures native to Central and South America start to get sluggish when temperatures fall below 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius), said Kristen Sommers, who oversees the nonnative fish and wildlife program for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.</p>
<p>If temperatures drop below that, iguanas freeze up. “It’s too cold for them to move,” Sommers said.</p>
<p>They’re not the only reptiles stunned by this week’s cold snap: Sea turtles also stiffen up when temperatures fall. The wildlife commission’s biologists have been rescuing cold-stunned sea turtles found floating listlessly on the water or near shore, but no such rescue is planned for iguanas.</p>
<p>Well-meaning residents finding stiffened iguanas are advised to leave them alone, as they may feel threatened and bite once they warm up.</p>
<p>“Don’t assume that they’re dead,” Sommers said.</p>
<p>Green iguanas are an invasive species in Florida known for eating through landscaping and digging burrows that undermine infrastructure. They can grow over 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, and their droppings can be a potential source of salmonella bacteria, which causes food poisoning.</p>
<p>The wildlife commission has begun holding workshops to train homeowners and property managers to trap or manage iguanas. The reptiles may be easier to catch this week, Sommers said.</p>
<p>“This provides an opportunity to capture some, but I’m not sure it’s going to be cold enough for long enough to make enough of a difference,” she said. “In most cases, they’re going to warm back up and move around again, unless they’re euthanized.”</p>
<p>A two-week cold snap with temperatures below 40 degrees (5 degrees Celsius) in 2010 killed off many iguanas, along with Burmese pythons and other invasive pests that thrive in South Florida’s subtropical climate. Those populations have since rebounded.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in Florida, the effects of a brutal winter storm rolling up the East Coast were less exotic. It snowed briefly Wednesday in the state’s capital, Tallahassee, for the first time in 28 years.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FED-UP PASSENGER SOUGHT FAST TRACK ON RYANAIR WING</a></p>
<p>MADRID (AP) — A passenger on a delayed Ryanair flight from London who apparently got fed up waiting to get off a plane after it landed in the southern Spanish city of Malaga surprised fellow passengers by using the emergency exit to jump onto a wing.</p>
<p>The incident on New Year’s Day took place 30 minutes after the flight from Stansted Airport landed.</p>
<p>The man, who has not been named but is said to be a non-Spanish citizen, was coaxed back onto the plane while police were called.</p>
<p>A Ryanair passenger who apparently got fed up waiting to get off a plane stands on the wing of a Ryanair plane at Malaga airport, Spain, Monday Jan. 1, 2018, filmed by another passenger. After various delays in the flight from London’s Stansted Airport, the passenger, who has not been named, used the emergency exit to climb onto the wing after landing in Spain New Year’s Day. (Fernando del Valle Villalobos via AP)</p>
<p>Fellow passenger Fernando del Valle Villalobos, who videoed the incident, said he heard the man say he got fed up waiting.</p>
<p>“I was astonished,” del Valle, 25, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.</p>
<p>He said the passengers were standing in the aisle waiting to get off the plane when the man “very calmly asked permission to get past, opened the emergency exit, looked out, saw the wing, went back for his back-pack.”</p>
<p>Later, he said the captain came out and asked the man why he had done it and del Valle heard him say clearly that he was sick of waiting inside. The passengers, except the man in question, were kept a further 15 minutes on the plane before being let off.</p>
<p>Police said Wednesday that they have opened a complaint against the man for breaching security.</p>
<p>Ryanair said the incident was now in the hands of Spanish authorities.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FOWL WEATHER FRIENDS: ARKANSAS STUDENTS PRINT 3-D DUCK LEG</a></p>
<p>ARMOREL, Ark. (AP) — Eighth-grade science students have used a 3-D printer to create a prosthetic leg for a duck found without a foot shortly after he hatched.</p>
<p>The students in northeastern Arkansas created the leg at Armorel High School’s environmental and spatial technology lab for an 8-month-old Indian runner duck named Peg.</p>
<p>Peg’s owner, Patsy Smith, told television station KAIT that when she found the bird, a turtle had apparently chewed off his foot. She said the leg became more irritated as Peg grew. The students reached out after hearing Smith was seeking a way to help Peg.</p>
<p>Lab director Alicia Bell said it took about 30 tries before students Matthew Cook, Darshan Patel and Abby Simmons built an appropriate leg.</p>
<p>Smith said Peg now walks and runs like a normal duck.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">BRAKE FOR BEAKS: CALIFORNIA OFFICERS SAVE CHICKENS FROM ROAD</a></p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was a race against the cluck as California Highway Patrol officers scrambled to rescue nearly 20 chickens that ran through highway lanes near Los Angeles.</p>
<p>The agency says the birds blocked a portion of Interstate 605 in the Norwalk area Tuesday morning after their cage fell from the back of a truck.</p>
<p>The agency tweeted photos and video of the chickens on the highway and a motorcycle officer collecting them.</p>
<p>Officers managed to rescue 17 birds. Two died.</p>
<p>In this photo released by the California Highway Patrol, CHP officer DaSilva rescues nearly 20 chickens that ran through highway lanes in Norwalk, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018. The CHP says the birds blocked a portion of Interstate 605 Tuesday morning after their cage fell from the back of a truck. The agency tweeted photos and video of the chickens in lanes and a motorcycle officer collecting them. Officers managed to rescue 17 birds. Two died. (CHP Officer C.Lillie/California Highway Patrol via AP)</p>
<p>One tweet asked: “why DID the chickens cross the road? Because they obviously did not want to become ‘fast food’ on an LA area freeway, of course!”</p>
<p>The driver transporting the chickens was unaware that the birds fell off the truck and did not stop.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">KID WIT: DAD MEASURES BABY’S GROWTH WITH CHEESESTEAKS</a></p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia father put the city’s signature sandwich to use in a whole new way: measuring his baby’s size in cheesesteaks.</p>
<p>Philly.com reports Thursday that computer programmer Brad Williams used a foolproof system he calls “Cheesesteak for Scale” to measure the growth of his son during the child’s first year in 2015.</p>
<p>It started when he noticed his 2-week-old, Lucas Royce, was about the same size as a cheesesteak he’d brought home. So Williams snapped a picture of the sandwich next to his newborn and the tradition was born.</p>
<p>Every month for the next year Williams and his wife would buy a cheesesteak to track their growing boy .</p>
<p>This 2015 photo provided by Brad Williams shows his wife April Williams swaddling their 2-week-old son Lucas Royce Williams next to a wrapped cheesesteak sandwich to compare their son’s size, at their home in the Philadelphia suburb of Glenside, Pa. In a Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018, blog post, computer programmer Brad Williams outlined the “Cheesesteak for Scale” system he devised to measure his son’s growth each month following the boy’s birth in October 2015, according to Philly.com. (Brad Williams via AP)</p>
<p>He says babies and cheesesteaks are quite similar. He says they are warm and cuddly when wrapped up “but once you unwrap them, expect a huge mess.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">POLICE: MAN BREAKS INTO EVIDENCE UNDETECTED, TAKES BACK BIKE</a></p>
<p>PROVO, Utah (AP) — Provo police say a man broke into the department’s evidence room undetected and took back his bike.</p>
<p>Deseret News reported Thursday that the burglary went unnoticed until the person who originally was found with the bike was arrested again and told officers David Elwin Snow was bragging that he “pulled off the crime of the century.”</p>
<p>The 37-year-old Snow and his brother had gone to the department on Dec. 18 to retrieve the bike, but since they never reported it stolen they had a hard time verifying it was Snow’s bike. Police accuse Snow of stealing it that same night after seeing where it was being stored.</p>
<p>The bike was found Wednesday at Snow’s grandmother’s house.</p>
<p>Police Sgt. Nisha King said such a heist has never happened at the department.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">POLICE: MAN USED BANK ROBBERY CASH TO BUY ENGAGEMENT RING</a></p>
<p>MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (AP) — Authorities say a man robbed a bank in Ohio and used the money to buy his fiancee an engagement ring.</p>
<p>The Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News reports 36-year-old Dustin Pedersen has been charged with robbing a Fifth Third Bank branch in Trenton on Dec. 16.</p>
<p>Police say records show that Pedersen spent $4,500 on an engagement ring less than an hour after the robbery and presented it the next day.</p>
<p>A Trenton police detective said in court Wednesday the robbery netted $8,800.</p>
<p>Police say Pedersen became a suspect after a man wearing an identical hat robbed a Butler County bank six days later.</p>
<p>Pedersen has denied robbing any banks, but told police that surveillance photos of the robber look like him.</p>
<p>Pedersen’s attorney wasn’t immediately available for comment Thursday.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">RATS! DC WAGES WAR AGAINST RESURGENT RODENTS WITH DRY ICE</a></p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Any mists spotted rising over the swamp may just be Washington wielding its newest weapon in its never-ending war on rats: dry ice.</p>
<p>The District of Columbia’s rodent control division’s program manager, Gerard Brown, tells The Washington Post the frozen form of carbon dioxide complements the poison the city uses, as reported rat complaints reach a four-year high.</p>
<p>Last month, Brown and Mayor Muriel Bowser oversaw a demonstration in which health department staffers stuffed dry ice into a northeast Washington alley rathole. As the ice smoked, the emanating carbon dioxide suffocated the rats, according to Brown’s explanation.</p>
<p>Residents are encouraged to purchase their own dry ice. The city is working on usage guidelines.</p>
<p>Department of Energy and Environment Director Tommy Wells says dry ice is relatively humane, cheap and pet-friendly.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FALSE TSUNAMI ALERT STARTLES COASTAL OREGON TOWN</a></p>
<p>SEASIDE, Ore. (AP) — A tsunami-warming system erroneously informed people living in Seaside, Oregon, that a tsunami was approaching in four hours.</p>
<p>City spokesman Jon Rahl says a malfunction in the system replaced what was supposed to be Wednesday’s regularly scheduled test message.</p>
<p>Seaside police quickly sent email and text notifications correcting the error.</p>
<p>Gas station owner Rich Trucke wrote to The Daily Astorian newspaper that some people panicked despite his assurances that tests are regularly done on Wednesdays. He says one customer hastily drove up, demanding gas to leave town. Another had told his 95-year-old mother to start packing.</p>
<p>Rahl says the mishap is a reminder of why tests are conducted. He says they “give us the opportunity to evaluate what’s working, and in this case what’s not.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">VALUABLE VODKA BOTTLE REPORTED STOLEN FOUND IN COPENHAGEN</a></p>
<p>COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Danish police say a valuable bottle of vodka that was reported stolen from a Copenhagen bar has been found.</p>
<p>Copenhagen police say the bottle — which is worth $1.3 million, according to its owner — was recovered intact. Police say the investigation is continuing.</p>
<p>The vessel is made of 3 kilograms (6.6. pounds) of gold and the equivalent amount of silver. It has a diamond-encrusted cap fashioned to resemble a vintage car front.</p>
<p>In this image taken from CCTV provided by Brian Ingberg, shows a man stealing a bottle of vodka from Cafe 33 bar in Copenhagen on Tuesday Jan. 2, 2018. Copenhagen police were on Thursday Jan 4, 2018, were investigating the theft of a bottle of vodka claimed to be the world’s most expensive at 1.3 million US dollars.(Brian Ingberg via AP)</p>
<p>Cafe 33 owner Brian Ingberg told The Associated Press that he received a call on Friday from person who reported finding the vessel at a construction site in Copenhagen and handing it over to the police.</p>
<p>Ingberg says no arrests have been made. He refused to identify the caller.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">EASTER HUNT IS ON: CADBURY MAKES BATCH OF WHITE CREME EGGS</a></p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — British confectioner Cadbury is making a white chocolate version of its popular Easter Creme egg — and offering a cash prize for those who find them as it tries to bolster the product’s appeal.</p>
<p>The company says it will make a small batch of between 350 and 400 white eggs, for sale until Easter Sunday on April 1. Each will carry a prize of at least 100 pounds ($130).</p>
<p>Cadbury’s has faced accusations of cheapening its chocolate recipe in its Creme Egg since it was taken over by U.S. company Kraft Foods in 2010 and is hoping to ramp up interest in the product, which first went on sale in 1971.</p>
<p>White eggs will be wrapped in the same foil as regular Creme Eggs, making the hunt a blind draw.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">MONTANA TOWN GETS NEW MAYOR AFTER NO-SHOW FROM MAYOR-ELECT</a></p>
<p>LAUREL, Mont. (AP) — A different mayor of a southern Montana town was sworn into office a day after the mayor-elect failed to appear for a swearing-in ceremony.</p>
<p>Former city councilman Tom Nelson was sworn in as the new mayor of Laurel on Wednesday after mayor-elect Dave Waggoner did not show up to the city council’s Tuesday meeting.</p>
<p>Nelson had lost to Waggoner in the November mayoral election.</p>
<p>Waggoner was asked to leave his current position at the city’s wastewater treatment plant before he could take office.</p>
<p>City officials say Waggoner did not submit a letter of resignation for his city job, so the council appointed Nelson.</p>
<p>Waggoner did not return calls seeking comment from the Billings Gazette.</p>
<p>Nelson’s term as mayor will last until the next municipal election in 2019.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">PRIEST GETS 8 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR EMBEZZLING $500,000</a></p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The rector of a retirement home for Roman Catholic priests who was convicted of embezzling a half-million dollars has been sentenced to eight months in federal prison.</p>
<p>Authorities say Monsignor William Dombrow spent the stolen funds on casino visits, expensive dinners and concerts.</p>
<p>At his sentencing Wednesday, Dombrow acknowledged committing a “serious crime” and said he would accept the judge’s decision.</p>
<p>Dombrow’s attorney says the priest was sometimes accompanied on those outings by residents of Villa St. Joseph. The Philadelphia Archdiocese runs the facility in Darby to house aging priests and treat those accused of sexual abuse.</p>
<p>In addition to his prison term, Dombrow was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to repay the embezzled funds.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">SHARKS’ THORNTON USES CHUNK OF MOUNTAIN-MAN BEARD DURING FIGHT</a></p>
<p>TORONTO (AP) — Nazem Kadri was an assist short of a bizarre Gordie Howe hat trick.</p>
<p>Kadri ripped out part of Joe Thornton’s mountain-man beard in a fight off the opening faceoff and scored in regulation in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 3-2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.</p>
<p>Thornton and Kadri dropping the gloves just two seconds after being tossed out of the opening faceoff for slashing each other like manic lumberjacks. The 38-year-old Thornton’s beard took a beating in the scrap, thanks to Kadri hanging on to the beard rather than his jersey as he was twirled around by the bigger Shark. A hunk of Thornton’s facial hair was left on the ice like a mini-tumbleweed.</p>
<p>“I ended up with a piece of it in my hand,” Kadri said. “I have no idea how that happened</p>
<p>“I thought I was a hockey player not a barber. I didn’t mean to grab him there. I mean he’s a big boy. I couldn’t reach all the way across his shoulder. I felt like I just grabbed him in the middle of his jersey and just came down with a handful of his hair.”</p>
<p>Thornton didn’t comment after the game.</p>
<p>The hair ultimately found its way to the glove of backup goalie Aaron Dell on the San Jose bench.</p>
<p>“We were trying to figure out what it was,” Sharks forward Chris Tierney said.</p>
<p>Kadri, who was giving up at least 4 inches and 30 pounds to Thornton, had a welt on the side of his face as a souvenir of the fight.</p>
<p>“I didn’t see that coming,” said former Shark Patrick Marleau.</p>
<p>The fight seemed to spark the Leafs, who snapped a three game losing streak. They had plenty of jump against the talented Sharks in a wide-open, entertaining game that saw plenty of big saves at both ends.</p>
<p>“It was a good fight ... It kind of gets everybody pumped up, especially to see a smaller guy like that (fight),” Leafs center Auston Matthews said.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">MERCHANDISE FEATURING FIONA THE HIPPO BRINGS IN BIG BUCKS</a></p>
<p>CINCINNATI (AP) — Merchandise inspired by Ohio’s famous baby hippo, Fiona, has returned nearly half a million dollars to the Cincinnati Zoo.</p>
<p>The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the zoo has collected about $480,000 in sales from businesses with merchandising agreements. Products include everything from clothing and ornaments to beer and ice cream.</p>
<p>The zoo says it isn’t keeping track of cash the hippo-themed products are turning over. But zoo spokeswoman Michelle Curley says more than $200,000 of the money was used for Fiona’s neonatal care. Curley says the remainder is helping with the care, feeding and enrichment of all the zoo’s hippos.</p>
<p>The beloved baby hippo will celebrate her first birthday Jan. 24. Local merchants expect the celebration to spur an economic boost as businesses roll out more Fiona-themed products.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">CHEETAH AT ST. LOUIS ZOO GIVES BIRTH TO 8 CUBS</a></p>
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) — A cheetah named Bingwa at the St. Louis Zoo is a proud mother — eight times over.</p>
<p>The zoo announced Wednesday that the 4-year-old cheetah gave birth Nov. 26 to eight cubs — three male and five female. It’s the largest litter of cheetah cubs ever delivered at the zoo. The average litter size is three to four cubs.</p>
<p>In fact, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has documented 430 litters and said this is the first time a cheetah mom has given birth to and reared on her own a litter of eight cubs at a zoo.</p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, Bingwa means “champion” in Swahili.</p>
<p>All eight cubs and the mom are doing well. They’ll remain indoors, away from the public and under close scrutiny from staff, for several months.</p>
<p>Bingwa is proving to be an “exemplary” mom, zoo officials said.</p>
<p>“She has quickly become adept at caring for her very large litter of cubs — grooming, nursing and caring for them attentively,” Steve Bircher, the zoo’s curator of mammals/carnivores, said in a news release.</p>
<p>The cubs were born at the zoo’s River’s Edge Cheetah Breeding Center as part of a program to manage genetically healthy population of cheetahs at North American zoos. More than 50 cheetah cubs have been born at the breeding center since 1974, the zoo said.</p>
<p>Bingwa is at the zoo on loan from Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. The father, 9-year-old Jason, is on loan from White Oak Conservation in Yulee, Florida.</p>
<p>Cheetahs once roamed much of Africa and Asia. Today, only around 10,000 remain in the wild in Africa along with 100 or fewer in Iran. The decline in numbers is due in part to conflict with humans as well as lack of genetic diversity, the zoo said.</p> | This week in odd news: Chickens saved and falling iguanas | false | https://apnews.com/2463ba8a70e342f89fc98813d2867cb7 | 2018-01-06 | 2 |
<p />
<p>An influential member of the Federal Reserve on Thursday floated a proposal in which top executives at big U.S. banks would receive deferred payment in debt rather than stock.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said in a speech that paying banking executives in debt rather than equity would likely “affect management’s risk tolerance.”</p>
<p>Dudley said changing how executives are paid in deferred compensation is a tool that could be used to create incentives more in line with the Fed’s goal of preventing banks from becoming “too big to fail.”</p>
<p>Specifically, top banking executives would be more inclined to safeguard the quality of their bonds and less likely to deeply leverage their banks’ investments with debt -- like many of them did a decade ago -- if a significant portion of their compensation was being paid with that debt.</p>
<p>“If most of the deferred compensation were in the form of debt rather than equity, I suspect this would also affect management’s risk tolerance and the appetite to cut dividend payments, reduce share repurchases or raise more capital more promptly when the firm began to become stressed,” Dudley said in a speech at the Global Economic Policy Forum.</p>
<p>Dudley’s speech was titled “Ending Too Big To Fail.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The New York Fed has oversight over many of the big Wall Street banks with headquarters in New York.</p>
<p>It’s uncertain whether Dudley’s proposal has been discussed by a broader group of Fed policy makers. But the fact that Dudley floated the idea in a public speech makes it likely that Dudley’s not the only Fed member who’s thinking about it.</p>
<p>In other comments, Dudley said he agrees with criticism that the biggest U.S. banks have a funding advantage over smaller banks because lenders believe the bigger banks pose less risk since they are more likely to be bailed out by the government if another financial crisis emerges.</p> | Fed's Dudley: Pay Top Bankers With Debt | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2013/11/07/fed-dudley-pay-top-bankers-with-debt.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Texas Lottery’s “Triple Chance” game were:</p>
<p>04-05-10-11-17-19-34-42-50-55</p>
<p>(four, five, ten, eleven, seventeen, nineteen, thirty-four, forty-two, fifty, fifty-five)</p>
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Texas Lottery’s “Triple Chance” game were:</p>
<p>04-05-10-11-17-19-34-42-50-55</p>
<p>(four, five, ten, eleven, seventeen, nineteen, thirty-four, forty-two, fifty, fifty-five)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Triple Chance’ game | false | https://apnews.com/1c1428f9bdaa4e80929641436277d417 | 2018-01-12 | 2 |
<p>The White House is acknowledging that top officials responded to a British-based email prankster and says it is investigating.</p>
<p>CNN identified Tom Bossert, President Donald Trump's homeland security adviser, as one of the officials who fell for the prank. Bossert apparently responded believing that he was corresponding with Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The network says Anthony Scaramucci, ousted Monday after a brief tenure as communications director, also responded to the prankster.</p>
<p>White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says it takes cyber-related issues seriously and is looking into the incidents.</p>
<p>Eric Trump, the president's son, says he was contacted but recognized the email as a "sham" and immediately turned it over to the U.S. Secret Service.</p>
<p>The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p> | White House investigating email prank against top officials | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/01/white-house-investigating-email-prank-against-top-officials.html | 2017-08-01 | 0 |
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<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chewbacca is no Bing Crosby, but the Wookie's rendition of “Silent Night” is adding some “Star Wars” flair to the Christmas classic.</p>
<p>The site <a href="http://www.howitshouldhaveended.com/" type="external">How It Should Have Ended</a> re-mixed audio of Chewie's grunts and growls with clips from several “Star Wars” films to create a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd79mpzBnJ4" type="external">video</a> that has been watched nearly 2.5 million times on YouTube.</p>
<p>(For added comedy, turn on YouTube's closed captions.)</p>
<p>The parody song was first created as a joke in 1999 by web designer Scott Anderson, who writes on his <a href="http://room34.com/chewbacca/" type="external">website</a> that he made it for a parody Christmas album, “Christmas With Chewbacca.”</p>
<p>The song has made the rounds online for several years.</p>
<p><a href="#dbd17105-93d8-4e42-a533-22defe032594" type="external">© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</a> Learn more about our <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy" type="external">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms" type="external">Terms of Use</a>.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | A new Christmas classic? Chewbacca roars out 'Silent Night' | false | https://abqjournal.com/915086/a-new-christmas-classic-chewbacca-roars-out-silent-night.html | 2016-12-23 | 2 |
<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday afternoon's drawing of the South Carolina Lottery's "Pick 4 Midday" game were:</p>
<p>7-7-8-7</p>
<p>(seven, seven, eight, seven)</p>
<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday afternoon's drawing of the South Carolina Lottery's "Pick 4 Midday" game were:</p>
<p>7-7-8-7</p>
<p>(seven, seven, eight, seven)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 4 Midday' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/19a07aeeb23142adb737f02be46b29ba | 2018-01-25 | 2 |
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<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — Well-known Taos body builder Mikolai “Mick” Sopyn has been indicted by a Taos County Grand Jury on charges of second-degree murder and evidence tampering in the shotgun killing of a Taos woman in July.</p>
<p>The grand jury returned the indictment on Thursday in the July 11 shooting of Amber Hava, said Eighth Judicial District Attorney Donald Gallegos. Hava, 38, was pronounced dead at Sopyn’s Dona Ana drive home.</p>
<p>Hava was killed after an argument over money for drugs when Sopyn, 62, had ordered her and a man with her to leave his house, authorities said at the time. Sopyn told deputies he got a shotgun from another room and put in a couple of rounds intending to fire into the air but Hava struck him and the shotgun discharged striking Hava in the chest, the sheriff’s office said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Taos body builder indicted in shotgun killing | false | https://abqjournal.com/463297/taos-body-builder-indicted-in-shotgun-killing.html | 2 |
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<p>With the election right around the corner, I thought it’d be interesting to see how the winner shapes the market. &#160;The truth? &#160;It’s the trend going into the election that matters a lot more than who takes the oath of office in January.</p>
<p>Below I have charts of the past three elections, and you can see that routine technical analysis helps us figure out where the market was going to head.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The 2000 election was easy and we would have guessed the trend would continue down.</p>
<p>2004 was a bit trickier and even if you hadn’t looked very long term and saw the current trend was a pause before a continued uptrend, you’d have been safe in guessing the next move wouldn’t be down.</p>
<p>2008 was interesting, though, and you’d normally think a post-election move would continue down. It did, but then reversed course to make a strong move up that’s lasted pretty much since early January. Keep in mind, however, the market was already down nearly 40% going into the election, and was ripe for a move up. Still, I’ll throw this into the “tough to predict” category.</p>
<p>That leads us to what happens after the election. Well, so far the market has been moving up since ’11. Is it now overbought (the opposite of late 2008)? &#160;Unlikely, as it’s up only 25% from the November lows.</p>
<p>Therefore, given both the current trend and the fact that it looks like there’s more room to rise, I’d say that either Romney or Obama will be gifted with a rising market.</p> | Stocks Set to Rise Regardless of Who Wins Election, Technical Analysis Shows | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2012/10/26/stocks-set-to-rise-regardless-who-wins-election-technical-analysis-shows.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — The White House is undergoing a major face-lift while President Donald Trump is out of town.</p>
<p>The Oval Office and other working quarters of the West Wing have been cleared of furniture while crews work on upgrades, including to the heating and air conditioning system. Spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said the system is 27 years old.</p>
<p>Workers also are fixing leaks, repairing the South Portico steps, renovating the Navy mess kitchen and West Wing lower lobby, and updating the IT system.</p>
<p>West Wing staffers who aren’t with Trump at his New Jersey golf course have been temporarily relocated to an office building next to the White House.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Renovations underway at the White House | false | https://abqjournal.com/1046750/renovations-underway-at-the-white-house.html | 2017-08-11 | 2 |
<p>RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nick Sherod had a career-high 22 points to go with a career-high-tying nine rebounds and Richmond beat Davidson 69-58 in an Atlantic 10 opener on Saturday.</p>
<p>Sherod finished 4 of 6 from 3-point range, including one that gave the Spiders (3-10) a 59-53 lead with 2:52 left. From there, Richmond made 10 straight free throws to hold on for the win.</p>
<p>Richmond took the lead for good early in the second half and held on to a narrow advantage until taking the first double-digit lead of the game on Jacob Gilyard's pair of free throws with 1:14 left.</p>
<p>De'Monte Buckingham, Khwan Fore and Grant Golden added 12 points each for the Spiders. Golden also grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.</p>
<p>Kellan Grady made 4 of 7 from 3-point range and had 25 points for the Wildcats (5-7). Peyton Aldridge added 13 points and Oskar Michelsen grabbed 10 boards.</p>
<p>RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nick Sherod had a career-high 22 points to go with a career-high-tying nine rebounds and Richmond beat Davidson 69-58 in an Atlantic 10 opener on Saturday.</p>
<p>Sherod finished 4 of 6 from 3-point range, including one that gave the Spiders (3-10) a 59-53 lead with 2:52 left. From there, Richmond made 10 straight free throws to hold on for the win.</p>
<p>Richmond took the lead for good early in the second half and held on to a narrow advantage until taking the first double-digit lead of the game on Jacob Gilyard's pair of free throws with 1:14 left.</p>
<p>De'Monte Buckingham, Khwan Fore and Grant Golden added 12 points each for the Spiders. Golden also grabbed 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.</p>
<p>Kellan Grady made 4 of 7 from 3-point range and had 25 points for the Wildcats (5-7). Peyton Aldridge added 13 points and Oskar Michelsen grabbed 10 boards.</p> | Sherod with 22, Richmond beats Davidson 69-58 in A-10 opener | false | https://apnews.com/amp/842676f272db46dc851d03fb2c42bc05 | 2017-12-30 | 2 |
<p>MORRISTOWN (NJ)Daily RecordBy Abbott Koloff, Daily Record</p>
<p>MORRISTOWN -- Three appellate court judges heard arguments on the validity of a law barring lawsuits against charities in a session at the Morris County Courthouse Wednesday.</p>
<p>Their decision, expected in a few weeks, could open or shut the door to potentially dozens of lawsuits against charitable organizations, such as schools and churches.</p>
<p />
<p />
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<p>The law, the Charitable Immunity Act, is meant to protect money sent to charities. ...</p>
<p>Victims' rights advocates say the law prevents survivors of sexual abuse from filing lawsuits against charitable organizations and getting justice. The Morris County chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, held a news conference after the hearing to support efforts to overturn or weaken the charitable immunity law. Members contend that a change in the law could have an impact on more than a dozen people who have claimed they were abused by a former Mendham priest, and who have not yet filed lawsuits.</p> | Court could shake up charity law | false | https://poynter.org/news/court-could-shake-charity-law | 2003-11-13 | 2 |
<p>On January 31, 2008, when the Winograd Commission submitted its final report on the Second Lebanese War of July 2006, this was a first in Israeli history: a report on why the Israeli military had failed in a war.</p>
<p>The Winograd Commission offers a quite honest appraisal of some aspects of the July 2006 War. [1] It acknowledges that it was “a serious missed opportunity.” Israel had “initiated a long war, which ended without its clear military victory (italics added).” The Commission notes that a militia “of a few thousand men resisted, for a few weeks, the strongest army in the Middle East, which enjoyed full air superiority and size and technology advantages.” Nothing could reverse Israel’s handicaps: not even a massive ground offensive launched in the last days of the war.</p>
<p>Yet, after this clear-headed assessment, the Commission stumbles. It blames Israel’s military setback on “serious failings and flaws” in decision-making, preparedness, coordination between the civilian and military leadership, and strategic planning.[2] In other words, the Israeli military’s poor showing in July 2006 was not the result of any fundamental shift in the balance of forces. These failures were the result of a few bad judgments, inadequate preparation and less-than-optimal coordination between different branches of the Israeli military: all of them errors which can and will be easily corrected in a rematch with the Hizbullah.</p>
<p>We cannot credibly blame the Israeli defeat on failures in decision-making. Israel had many years to destroy the Hizbullah during its long occupation of southern Lebanon; but it withdrew unilaterally in April 2000, with the Hizbullah claiming victory. In July 2006 too, the Israeli military fell far short of matching its earlier easy victories over Arab armies: but this was not because of failures of leadership, the failure to use sufficient firepower (which it did), or the failure to launch a timely ground offensive (it would get grounded the way it had before).</p>
<p>The Israeli military offensive of July 2006 had failed because Israel was fighting a war that did not play to its advantages in size and technology. Israel had finally met its match ­ a foe that was prepared to fight, that knew how to fight on its own terms, a foe that was elusive and cunning, skilled and daring, ready to adapt its methods to neutralize Israel’s technical superiority, that controlled its terrain, and, most importantly, was backed by Iran and Syria. For the first time in its history, an Israeli invasion had been reversed by a cunning guerilla resistance.</p>
<p>In the past, Arab armies had handed easy victories to Israel. Repeatedly, the Arab states chose to fight conventional wars: these backward, recently decolonized countries sent their poorly trained, poorly led, poorly motivated military to fight against the best, most determined military force the developed West could put together. Israel’s victories against the Arab armies is overrated: it always remained an unequal match. The Palestinians chose to fight a guerilla war in Jordan in the late 1960s, but they did so prematurely, without preparing the political conditions for their success. They were defeated because they were forced to fight on two fronts: against Arab enemy states and the Israelis.</p>
<p>The Israelis only deceive themselves when they use alibis ­ bad decisions or inadequate preparation ­ to ‘explain’ their military failures. Ever since their withdrawal from southern Lebanon in April 2000, the Israeli leadership had prepared for the occasion to deal a knockout blow to Hizbullah. Indeed, when the Israelis launched their latest invasion of Lebanon on July 12 2006, they had had more than six years to prepare; and they had had more than two decades to study their adversary.</p>
<p>The Hizbullah too had prepared. Without fanfare, but with dedication, discipline, skill, and cunning, the Hizbullah leaders assembled an arsenal of low-tech rockets as well as more advanced missiles; they built secret bunkers; they laid out defensible communications; they acquired capabilities in electronic warfare; they used drones and eaves-dropping equipment to gather information; they placed spies inside Israel; they studied their enemy; and, most importantly, they had planned and trained, while maintaining the highest secrecy.[3] In a word, the small bands of Arab guerillas in southern Lebanon were prepared and ready.</p>
<p>Israel executed its long-planned offensive against Hizbullah on July 12, 2006, using the excuse of a border skirmish to launch a full-scale and devastating war against Lebanon. They launched massive air and artillery strikes against Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure ­ targeting Beirut and sites as far north as the port city of Tripoli. Israeli ground forces crossed the Lebanese border the same day, and continued to expand their ground invasion in stages throughout the war. During the 33-day war, the Israeli air force flew more than 15,000 sorties and struck 7000 targets in Lebanon; the Israeli navy imposed a blockade on Lebanon, and bombed 2,500 Lebanese targets; and, all told, the Israelis destroyed 15,000 homes, 900 commercial buildings, 400 miles of roads, 80 bridges, and Lebanon’s international airport. Lebanon’s human toll at the end of the war consisted of 845 dead, including 743 civilians, 34 soldiers and 68 Hizbullah guerillas.[4] In addition, close to a million Lebanese were forced to flee their homes.[5] The intent of these genocidal attacks was to turn the Lebanese against the Hizbullah. The Israelis failed in this objective too.</p>
<p>In all its wars against Arab armies, the Israelis had achieved clear victories within days. In 1956, they had captured nearly all of the Sinai in about seven days. In June 1967, they crippled the Egyptian air force within two hours: and the war against the three front-line Arab armies was over in six days. In October war of 1973, the Israelis recovered from their initial losses to cross the Suez Canal ten days after the start of the war, and five days later they had encircled the Egyptian Third Army, a mere 40 miles from Cairo. On the Syrian front, the Israelis had advanced to within ten miles of Damascus. Since 1973, Israel has many times violated the sovereignty of Arab states with impunity.</p>
<p>In contrast, Israel’s full-scale war against Hizbullah’s small guerilla force of some 3000 fighters had lasted for 33 days, without giving the Israelis the satisfaction of claiming victory.[6] On July 12 2006, Israel had started a full-scale war against Lebanon, convinced that it could destroy Hizbullah or greatly diminish its military force within a few days ­ and do it with air power alone. Israel’s decision to end the war 33 days later, even as Hizbullah kept up its barrage of Katyusha rockets into Israel, was a dark chapter in Israel’s military history. Israel’s military might had been neutralized by a seemingly Lilliputian adversary.</p>
<p>In July 2006, agility and cunning favored the Hizbullah. Consider the victories that Israel failed to score against this tiny but agile foe: it failed to destroy or jam Hizbullah’s communications network; to knock out Hizbullah’s television and radio stations; to kill or capture Hassan Nasrallah; or to dent Hizbullah’s ability to launch Katyusha rockets into Israel. Hizbullah was firing Katyusha rockets at the rate of 100 a day during July, doubled this rate in early August, and, in the last few hours before the ceasefire came into effect, fired 250 rockets.[7] On the day of the ceasefire, the Hizbullah still had 14,000 rockets in its arsenal, enough to continue the war for another three months.[8]</p>
<p>Contrary to Israeli denials, the daily barrage of Katyusha rockets took a heavy toll on the Israeli economy. Altogether, a quarter of the 4000 rockets Hizbullah launched during the war hit urban areas: they “paralyzed the whole of northern Israel, its main port, refineries, and many other strategic installations. Over one million Israelis lived in bomb shelters and about 300,000 temporarily left their homes and sought refuge in the south.”[9] For a change, the Hizbullah had brought the war to Israel.</p>
<p>Moreover, the Hizbullah scored several clear victories over Israel’s military. According to an IDF Report Card published in the Jerusalem Post, Israel had deployed some 400 Merkava MK-4 tanks ­ its safest and deadliest tank ­ in Lebanon: 40 of these were hit by Hizbullah’s anti-tank weapons, 20 of them were destroyed, and 30 tank crewmen were killed.[10] According to a report published by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, “Hizbullah’s success with antitank weapons during the July War reflects many years spent training on these weapons as well as a good plan to use these weapons once the battle began.”</p>
<p>Hizbullah’s infantry or ‘village units’ ­ deployed along the border to slow down the advance of Israeli ground forces ­ “made the IDF pay for every inch of ground that it took. At the same time, crucially, Hizbullah dictated the rules of how the war was to be fought.” It is worth noting that the fighters Hizbullah deployed in southern Lebanon were not its best. “One of the war’s ironies,” Andrew Axum writes, “is that many of Hizballah’s best and most skilled fighters never saw action, lying in wait along the Litani River with the expectation that the IDF assault would be much deeper and arrive much faster than it did.”[11]</p>
<p>The Hizbullah scored its most impressive military victory in the area of intelligence. Israel’s electronic warfare systems are amongst the most advanced in the world; they are war-tested and developed in cooperation with the United States. Indeed, the Israeli commanders were certain at the outset of the war of their ability to jam Hizbullah communications. They were wrong. Hizbullah’s command and control system remained operational throughout the war; they evaded Israeli jamming devices by using fiber optic lines instead of relying on wireless signals.</p>
<p>The Hizbullah had blocked the Barak anti-missile system on Israeli ships; hacked into Israeli battlefield communications in order to monitor Israeli tank movements; and, they monitored cell phone conversations in Hebrew between Israeli reservists and their families. They intercepted Israeli military communications on battlefield casualties and announced them on their media network.[12] They successfully employed decoys to hide the location of hundreds of bunkers they had built in southern Lebanon to store weapons and shelter their fighters.[13] As a world leader in weapons technology and communications, Israel had held a decisive advantage in electronic warfare in its wars with Arab armies. In July 2006, the Hizbullah had neutralized this advantage.</p>
<p>Israel claims that it killed 400-500 Hizbullah fighters. Crooke and Perry insist that these numbers are exaggerated. “It is impossible for Shi’ites (and Hezbollah),” they argue, “not to allow an honorable burial for its martyrs, so in this case it is simply a matter of counting funerals. Fewer than 180 funerals have been held for Hezbollah fighters – nearly equal to the number killed on the Israeli side.”[14]</p>
<p>The Israeli setbacks in the July War of 2006, then, represents a paradigm shift ­ not something that can be pinned on careless errors in decision-making. Unlike the Arab armies in the past, the Hizbullah had fought a people’s war. It neutralized Israel’s technological superiority by deploying its mobile, elusive, disciplined and skilled guerilla detachments ­ not a centralized, conventional army ­ to fight the Israelis.</p>
<p>The Hizbullah fights in small groups, it is evasive, it is secretive, it owns its terrain, it trains, it has high morale, and it enjoys complete popular support amongst Lebanon’s Shi’ites. It can launch thousands of low-tech rockets which rendered sophisticated anti-missile defenses useless. It has also acquired and learned to use with great effectiveness anti-tank missiles that make Israel’s most advanced tanks vulnerable. They have successfully targeted even Israeli warships.</p>
<p>If the Hizbullah can extend these advantages, if it can add shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to its arsenal and bring down a few Israeli helicopters and jets, Israel could quickly lose its unchallenged control over Lebanese skies. Israel’s daily and wanton violations of Lebanese airspace would also come to an end.</p>
<p>The Hizbullah offers Israel a new kind of asymmetric warfare: it combines low-tech guerilla tactics with sophisticated missile and communications technology. Understandably, the Israelis find these Hizbullah achievements hard to digest. What the world witnessed in Lebanon in July 2006 were events that contain the potential for shifting the balance of power in the Middle East. Earlier, the Iraqi insurgents had demonstrated that they can make an occupation ­ even by the world’s greatest power ­ very costly. Now, the Hizbullah had shown that a disciplined guerilla force, with access to advanced missiles, can repel the most powerful invading army.</p>
<p>It appears that the weapons gap that had opened up in recent decades between Western powers and the weaker, technologically backward nations may be closing. How rapidly this happens will depend on the willingness of Russia, China, North Korea, Iran ­ with other countries getting ready to join them ­ to make these weapons available to movements of resistance. Alternatively, if these countries hesitate, the arms smugglers will step in to provide this service. Once anti-tank, anti-ship and shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles can be bought on the world’s illicit arms markets as readily as AK-47s, this will begin to alter the fortunes of resistance movements battling great powers.</p>
<p>In the late nineteenth century, the advanced Western nations had opened a lethal weapons gap with their automatic weapons: this gave them a quick, nearly costless colonization of Africa and Southeast Asia. When that gap began to close in the interwar period, it gave an impetus to resistance movements in Indonesia, Vietnam, Kenya and Algeria.[15] Already weakened from fighting their own fratricidal wars, the Western colonial powers retreated: and the Third World was born.</p>
<p>Will the twenty-first century herald the dawn of another era of gains for movements of resistance across Asia, Africa and Latin America?</p>
<p>M. SHAHID ALAM is professor of economics at Northeastern University, and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1889999458/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Challenging the New Orientalism: Dissenting Essays on America’s ‘War Against Islam’</a>. He may be reached at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>References:</p>
<p>[1] It would be naïve to expect the Winograd Commission to censure Israel for unleashing a war of destruction against Lebanon’s civilian infrastructure ­ for bombing villages, apartment blocks, ambulances, dairy plants, bridges, roads and the Beirut airport. With the unconditional support of Western nations ­ and the US taking the lead ­ over the past sixty years, Israel’s wars of aggression against Arabs, its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, its assassinations of Palestinian leaders, its bombing of civilian infrastructure, its torture of prisoners, its siege of civilian areas ­ have been excused as ‘security’ measures against ‘terrorism.’</p>
<p>[2] <a href="" type="internal">Summary of the Winograd Commission Report. International Herald Tribune</a> (January 31, 2007).</p>
<p>[3] David Eshel, “ <a href="" type="internal">Hezbollah’s intelligence war,</a>” Defense Update.</p>
<p>[4] Sergio Catignani, <a href="http://www.globalstrategyforum.org/upload/upload26.pdf" type="external">The Israeli-Hezbollah rocket war: A preliminary assessment</a> (Global Strategy Forum: September 26, 2006): 2-3. &lt;www. globalstrategyforum.org/upload/upload26.pdf&gt;</p>
<p>[5] On July 24, Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, UN, called for aid to help 800,000 Lebanese displaced by the war. “ <a href="" type="internal">Timeline of the July war 2006</a>,” The Daily Star (Lebanon).</p>
<p>[6] Efraim Inbar, “ <a href="" type="internal">How Israel bungled the Second Lebanon War</a>,” Middle East Quarterly 14, 3 (Summer 2007).</p>
<p>[7] Sergio Catignani, The Israeli-Hezbollah rocket war: 2.</p>
<p>[8] Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry, “ <a href="" type="internal">How Hezbollah defeated Israel, Part II: Winning the ground war,</a>” Asia Times Online (October 13, 2006).</p>
<p>[9] Efraim Inbar, “ <a href="" type="internal">How Israel bungled the Second Lebanon War</a>,” Middle East Quarterly 14, 3 (Summer 2007).</p>
<p>[10] Yaakov Katz, “IDF report card,” Jerusalem Post (August 24, 2006).</p>
<p>[11] Andrew Exum, <a href="" type="internal">Hizballah at war: A military assessment</a> (Washington Institute for Near East Policy: Policy Focus No. 53, December 2006).</p>
<p>[12] David Eshel, “ <a href="" type="internal">Hezbollah’s intelligence war,</a>” Defense Update; Iason Athanasiadis, “ <a href="" type="internal">How high-tech Hezbollah called the shots</a>,” Asia Times Online (September 9, 2006).</p>
<p>[13] Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry, “ <a href="" type="internal">How Hezbollah defeated Israel, Part I: Winning the intelligence war</a>,” Asia Times Online (October 12, 2006).</p>
<p>[14] Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry, “How Hezbollah defeated Israel, Part II.”</p>
<p>[15] Philip D. Curtin, The world and the West: The European challenge and the overseas response in the age of empires (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000): 27-32.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Meaning of Hizbullah’s Big Win | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/04/14/the-meaning-of-hizbullah-s-big-win/ | 2008-04-14 | 4 |
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<p>The volcanic activity that formed the Jemez Mountains created an array of hot and cold pools, some of them within easy hiking distance, where you can soak tired legs under a canopy of pine trees. More refined types – and it’s all relative – can opt for a dip (or a mud wrap) in one of three developed bathhouses in the area.</p>
<p>Here in the Jemez, a funky nook of the woods about 60 miles northwest of Albuquerque, you’re as likely to bump into a lumberman as a hippie, but you won’t find gourmet restaurants, shopping malls or chain hotels. If, however, you prefer quirky and home-spun to high-brow and sophisticated, this is your place.</p>
<p>We do, and that’s why my husband and I came here.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At the moment, we’re simmering in one of Mother Nature’s saucepans at San Antonio Hot Springs, a collection of toasty, hot tub-sized pools that cascade down the side of a mountain not far from the little town of La Cueva. We walked six miles to get here and will walk six more to get out, but if the gate at the trailhead is open you can drive the rough road to a parking area that’s just a short, steep climb from the springs.</p>
<p>We’re wearing our skivvies. The six other people and three big dogs that were lounging in the pools when we arrived are not.</p>
<p>I’m practically frozen in place, mesmerized by the little puffs of steam rising from the water and the chipmunks trying to eat the sack of trail mix someone left on a rock.</p>
<p>Soon, though, it’s time to trek back to our car and explore more of our surroundings. We head back to N.M. 4, part of the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway that winds through these quiet pine forests.</p>
<p>The village of Jemez Springs is ground zero of the Jemez. The town popped up around the time of the Civil War and incorporated in 1955 but didn’t get telephone service until 1964. According to local lore, Chicago gangster Al Capone enjoyed the occasional dip in the local springs.</p>
<p>Our circuit includes stops at Battleship Rock, an imposing slab of mountain that looks like the front half of an old war ship, and Soda Dam, a lumpy, 300-foot formation created by mineral deposits from a hot spring. From Battleship Rock you can hike to McCauley Warm Springs, an 84-degree pool in a forest clearing.</p>
<p>Spence Hot Springs is right on Highway 4, but it’s often crowded. If the small parking area is full, the pool is probably at capacity. Try visiting in the early morning or evening.</p>
<p>From there, it’s a quick drive to the actual Jemez Falls on the east fork of the Jemez River. There’s a campground and parking lot there, and it’s just a short hike to the falls. Or, you can drive down the road toward the Valles Caldera National Preserve. Stop at the Las Conchas trailhead and lace up your shoes for one of the prettiest hikes in the area. The trail takes you along the Jemez River, beneath high canyon walls and past a rock face that looks just like the facial profile of a giant.</p>
<p /> | Go for a dip | false | https://abqjournal.com/508530/go-for-a-dip.html | 2014-12-11 | 2 |
<p>Optimism dominated Obama’s State of the Union address. He confidently stated that the financial system had stabilized, and economic growth&#160; had begun. It was the same “we’ve turned the corner” cheerleading that&#160; began on day two of the recession; and the same corner has been&#160; proclaimed as “turned” and returned dozens of times since by the media,&#160; politicians, and Wall Street CEOs.</p>
<p>In the real world, the economy remains lifeless with over 10 million jobs lost. Those lucky enough to have jobs are working harder with longer hours, while wages and benefits are being downsized. Obama gave quick acknowledgement to this in his speech, and his proposal for jobs got a big cheer from &#160;Congress. Obama’s “solution” received an even bigger ovation, not for&#160; its audacity, but for its meagerness.</p>
<p>His plan would be laughable were not the stakes so high and were not&#160; millions of people suffering. That night Obama essentially told&#160; millions of U.S. workers to “eat cake.” Most of the Republicans refused&#160; to applaud for anything Obama said; but they must have been smiling&#160; brightly inside given that he had plagiarized their ideas.</p>
<p>The core of Obama’s “bold plan” to create jobs does not create a single&#160; job. Rather, it encourages corporations to hire workers by giving&#160; them a variety of tax credits or tax breaks — the same solution&#160; proposed by Bush and Reagan; a building block of Conservative Ideology.</p>
<p>The reason that Obama’s plan is bound to fail is that businesses need&#160; more than merely encouragement to hire workers, they demand profits.&#160; A recession is defined by an absence of profits, without which&#160; corporations lay off workers or hibernate until a more profitable&#160; environment reappears. This is capitalism 101.</p>
<p>This recession will last longer than previous ones because the environment of profitability flourishing pre-crash, no longer exists. The main driving force of the economy was consumer spending, which&#160; accounts for 70 percent of the U.S. economy! Anybody can plainly see that the consumers — working class Americans — are going broke. They cannot continue to prop up the economy.</p>
<p>For years the U.S. working class took on enormous debt as they tried to compensate for their shrinking wages, or exploding healthcare costs.&#160; They took on second mortgages, credit cards, student loans, etc. This debt was single-handedly fueling the economy. It could not all be paid&#160; back, especially since wages continued to decline; better times refused&#160; to come. The banks realized that many of the loans they made were not getting paid back; they stopped giving loans, and the house of cards&#160; collapsed.</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve has tried to re-inflate the debt bubble by making&#160; money cheap for banks, but they still refuse to lend. And why should&#160; they? Why make loans if consumers are broke and can’t pay them back?&#160; Why make loans to small businesses if consumers cannot buy their&#160; products? Under capitalism, banks are run for profit, not social&#160; service.</p>
<p>This economic reality, obvious to anyone who looks around, was&#160; unmentioned by the President in his speech. If Obama were serious about&#160; returning the economy to a “sound foundation,” he would need to create&#160; living wage jobs by the millions, which now exist in dwindling numbers&#160; and face extinction. If workers have living wages, they can afford&#160; houses, cars, food, loans, and other products that corporations need to&#160; sell in order to make profits, and thus hire workers.</p>
<p>But corporations aren’t hiring. The supply of corporate goods is still much higher than demand on the market, i.e. what workers can afford. A recession equals a failure of the market economy. When something fails, it is helpful to try something new. Obama, however, is using Republican-inspired “free market solutions” to tackle the crisis, akin&#160; to using a flamethrower to put out a fire.</p>
<p>The U.S. economy cannot correct itself; much more than “encouragement”&#160; is needed. Workers demand intervention. The highly-touted 5.7 per cent&#160; growth in fourth quarter U.S. GDP was revealed as a fraud by Wall&#160; Street, which saw stock prices fall that day. Instead of expanding, and&#160; hiring, companies were only re-stocking empty inventories, causing a&#160; temporary surge in spending. Don’t forget that this 5.7 percent “surge”&#160; was accompanied by the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs.</p>
<p>Why does Obama refuse to intervene? Why will he not create a real stimulus plan, i.e., a big, federally-run jobs program? There are two answers.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; First, Obama has promised the rich investors who fund America’s debt that they are the priority. These investors demand that America’s debt be managed — by trimming the budget. Instead of cutting back on war spending or bank bailouts, or taxing the rich and corporations, Obama&#160; is freezing social spending, while refusing to spend money to create&#160; jobs.</p>
<p>The second reason that Obama will not create millions of new, living-wage jobs is more ominous. To the President, low wages do not present a problem, but an opportunity. Although low wages destroy domestic demand for consumer goods, they create the potential for a new kind of demand&#160; internationally.</p>
<p>Since corporations can no longer sell their products to American workers, they are trying to switch gears, and sell more of their&#160; products abroad. This is the grand solution that Obama speaks of&#160; whenever he talks about “increasing exports,” which he mentions often now.</p>
<p>Exports can only be increased if U.S. workers make even lower wages, since U.S. products must compete on the world market with the slave&#160; wages of China and India. Implied in this plan is a major restructuring&#160; of the American working class. Living standards must drop further and&#160; faster.</p>
<p>This plan is unknown to most Americans, but it’s already begun.</p>
<p>Unemployment caused by the recession is being used as a blunt object to&#160; pressure workers to accept lower wages. Workers everywhere are not complaining about these conditions since they fear being fired, knowing&#160; that a thousand unemployed workers would do the job for half the wage&#160; (thus the importance of unions). Public workers are being fired or&#160; having their wages slashed due to the state budget crises.</p>
<p>The Democrats are watching this dynamic take place and doing nothing&#160; about it. They are merely overseeing phase one of Obama’s plan to&#160; increase corporate exports. They strain to make sad faces when talking about joblessness, but shrug their shoulders and blame the federal&#160; deficit.</p>
<p>But something must be done. The Democrat’s plan must not go unchallenged. Labor unions must mobilize their ranks and the community&#160; around them to demand jobs, living wage jobs. Unorganized workers must&#160; be organized, as should the unemployed.</p>
<p>If labor and community groups unite and put forth aggressive demands,&#160; and the Democrats still fail to act, then everyone will recognize the&#160; need to finally leave this corporate party, and start one that serves&#160; working people.</p>
<p>Shamus Cooke is a social service worker, trade unionist, and writer for Workers Action ( <a href="http://www.workerscompass.org/" type="external">www.workerscompass.org</a>).&#160; He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | China’s Wage Rates for U.S. Workers | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/02/04/china-s-wage-rates-for-u-s-workers/ | 2010-02-04 | 4 |
<p>In this <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2006/05/21/snl-funhouse-with-bush-real-audio" type="external">witty clip</a> from “Saturday Night Live’s” animated “TV Fun House,” characters have a tough time with the president’s falsehoods over the years.</p>
<p>Crooks and Liars:</p>
<p>On Saturday Night Live, Fun with Real Audio “kicked out the jams” last night.</p>
<p>Every time Bush, Cheney or Rummy say something that has ultimately turned out wrong, someone, animal or thing spits water or soup on them. Karl Rove scurries into the frame each time and makes them do another take. All the audio is of course the real thing. Another excellent job by Robert Smigel and Matt O’Brien.</p>
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<p><a href="http://crooksandliars.com/2006/05/21/snl-funhouse-with-bush-real-audio" type="external">Link</a></p> | SNL's 'TV Fun House' Can't Stomach Bush's Lies | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/snls-tv-fun-house-cant-stomach-bushs-lies/ | 2006-05-22 | 4 |
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<p>Shares of specialty generic-pharmaceutical manufacturer Akorn Inc. (NASDAQ: AKRX) rose nearly 13% this morning after management announced that it was discussing a possible sale to Fresenius Kabi. The potential suitor is a subsidiary of Fresenius SE &amp; Co. KGaA, a $41 billion healthcare conglomerate headquartered in Germany.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, no other specifics were given to investors. It's customary for both parties to remain mum during potential acquisition discussions until a deal is reached, talks are abandoned, or more important information needs to be disclosed. As of 2 p.m. EDT, the micro-cap stock had settled down to a 7.5% gain.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Despite the pop from today's news, the specialty generic-drug leader is trading just shy of a $5 billion market cap and at a historically low 22 times trailing earnings. Why the low valuation for a high-growth company? After all, growth has come easy in the past. Akron has grown sales from $317 million in 2013 to $1.16 billion in 2016, while net income swelled from $52 million to $184 million in the same period. But the stock has had a rough time in the past year.</p>
<p>Management announced several delays regarding regulatory approvals in 2016 that pushed back growth estimates, then followed up with weak guidance for 2017. The high range of revenue estimates calls for just $1.06 billion (8% lower than the prior year), while the high range of earnings-per-share estimates calls for just $1.18 (20% lower than the prior year). The company has also found itself mixed up in uncertainty regarding the potential for stricter regulation of generic-drug pricing, which includes a Department of Justice probe into possible collusion between generic-drug manufacturers. Akorn has not been mentioned specifically, but merely being in the same neighborhood has increased the volatility of its shares.</p>
<p>In other words, while the stock is trading below its all-time high of $55 per share, it may not be realistic to expect any potential acquisition price to match that high-water mark.</p>
<p>For now investors simply need to wait for another update regarding the acquisition talks. At this point there's no guarantee that Akorn will be acquired by Fresenius Kabi. Even if a sale does materialize, the fact that the former high-growth company will turn in its weakest year-over-year performance ever in 2017 could hint that any potential acquisition price will be below what long-term investors think is fair. Long story short: Knee-jerk reactions are never good, but realistic expectations can go a long way to successful investing. Investors should stick with their original investment theses even with today's news.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than AkornWhen 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=d5a685f6-2776-4bc9-8dc3-433d9227442f&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 Akorn 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=d5a685f6-2776-4bc9-8dc3-433d9227442f&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/TMFBlacknGold/info.aspx" type="external">Maxx Chatsko Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Here's Why Akorn Inc. Rose as Much as 12.8% Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/10/here-why-akorn-inc-rose-as-much-as-128-today.html | 2017-04-10 | 0 |
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<p>HOUSTON - Authorities say a Houston-area woman faces a weapons charge after a 4-year-old boy staying at her home found a gun and fatally shot himself.</p>
<p>KPRC-TV ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1FpFBfS" type="external">http://bit.ly/1FpFBfS</a> ) reports Franchesia Parrish has been charged with misdemeanor making a firearm accessible to a child.</p>
<p>Harris County prosecutors announced the charge Friday in the March 1 death of Codrick McCall Jr. Investigators have Cordick located a gun at the residence and shot himself.</p>
<p>Online jail records Saturday didn't immediately list custody information for Parrish or an attorney to speak for her. Details weren't immediately available on Parrish's relationship with the boy. The Harris County District Attorney's Office didn't immediately provide additional information.</p>
<p>Conviction on the firearms count carries penalties of up to a year in custody and a $4,000 fine.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KPRC-TV, <a href="http://www.click2houston.com" type="external">http://www.click2houston.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Houston-area woman charged after boy, 4, fatally shoots self | false | https://abqjournal.com/649879/houston-area-woman-charged-after-boy-4-fatally-shoots-self.html | 2 |
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<p>Harley Davidson has hit some hard times, the company just reported an 84% slide in 3rd quarter profits. So it's looking to wealthy customers overseas to expand its market. Places like the Middle East. Earlier this month, more than 200 Harley bikers came together in Lebanon for one of the biggest motorcycle tours the region has ever seen. Ben Gilbert reports from Beirut.</p> | Mideastern Harleys | false | https://pri.org/stories/2009-10-19/mideastern-harleys | 2009-10-19 | 3 |
<p>A Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate has a new theory about the root cause of inequality; more Mexican immigrants have gone back to their native country since the 2008 economic crash than have moved to the U.S.; and a professor of linguistics explains why English is an extremely weird language. These discoveries and more below.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/the-ferenstein-wire/a-26-year-old-mit-graduate-is-turning-heads-over-his-theory-that-income-inequality-is-actually-2a3b423e0c#.s6dqqd369" type="external">A 26-Year-Old MIT Graduate Is Turning Heads Over His Theory About Income Inequality</a> Wealthy tech founders and the automation of middle-class jobs are often blamed for increasing concentrations of wealth in fewer hands. But, a 26-year-old MIT graduate student, Matthew Rognlie, is making waves for an alternative theory of inequality: the problem is housing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/18/1451617/-BBC-asks-Anonymous-about-its-threat-against-ISIS-What-are-the-aims-of-your-operations?detail=email" type="external">BBC Asks Anonymous About Its Threat Against Islamic State—the Answers May Surprise You</a> The idea/entity called Anonymous has been making international headlines over the last 30 days.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/11/colistin-last-report-antibiotic-drug-resistance/?mbid=nl_111915" type="external">A Once Powerful Antibiotic Goes the Way of All Flesh</a> Colistin, a toxic antibiotic used to treat only the worst drug-resistant infections, died on XX at age XX.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/11/18/global-support-for-principle-of-free-expression-but-opposition-to-some-forms-of-speech/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&amp;utm_campaign=834ce9f890-11_19_2015&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-834ce9f890-399350061" type="external">Global Support for Principle of Free Expression, but Opposition to Some Forms of Speech</a> Although many observers have documented a global decline in democratic rights in recent years, people around the world nonetheless embrace fundamental democratic values, including free expression.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/2015/11/18/advances-in-telephone-survey-sampling/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&amp;utm_campaign=834ce9f890-11_19_2015&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-834ce9f890-399350061" type="external">Advances in Telephone Survey Sampling</a> Telephone surveys face numerous challenges, but some positive developments have emerged, principally with respect to sampling.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.pewhispanic.org/2015/11/19/more-mexicans-leaving-than-coming-to-the-u-s/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&amp;utm_campaign=834ce9f890-11_19_2015&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-834ce9f890-399350061" type="external">More Mexicans Leaving Than Coming to the U.S.</a> More Mexican immigrants have returned to Mexico from the U.S. than have migrated here since the end of the Great Recession, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from both countries.</p>
<p><a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/smith-college-protesters-bar-journalists-from-covering-sit-in-unless-they-support-the-cause/106834?cid=pm&amp;utm_source=pm&amp;utm_medium=en&amp;elq=ccdaf1eec88544bbbfd775ef0a9e3c32&amp;elqCampaignId=1895&amp;elqaid=6961&amp;elqat=1&amp;elqTrackId=7fa0d2b83ce44b808c086f56efe657fc" type="external">Smith College Protesters Bar Journalists From Covering Sit-In Unless They Support the Cause</a> Student protesters at Smith College barred journalists from a sit-in on Wednesday that drew a crowd of hundreds unless they agreed to support the cause, reports The Republican, a newspaper in Springfield, Mass.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/11/why-the-wealthy-have-been-returning-to-the-city-center/416397/?utm_source=nl__link3_111815" type="external">Why the Wealthy Have Been Returning to City Centers</a> There’s no single reason, of course, but a hatred of long commutes might be a big one.</p>
<p><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/why-is-english-so-weirdly-different-from-other-languages" type="external">English Is Not Normal</a> No, English isn’t uniquely vibrant or mighty or adaptable. But it really is weirder than pretty much every other language.</p> | Is Income Inequality Actually About Housing? | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/is-income-inequality-actually-about-housing/ | 2015-11-23 | 4 |
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Adam Kredo</a> April 25, 2012 5:00 am</p>
<p>The Persian-Jewish proprietor of a bogus hedge fund under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission is a prolific Democratic donor who dined at the Obama White House just months before the SEC shut down his Ponzi scheme.</p>
<p>Shervin Neman, a self-described hedge fund manager in Los Angeles, is said to have targeted members of his own Persian-Jewish community in a $7.54 million Ponzi scheme that the <a href="http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2012/lr22331.htm" type="external">SEC claims</a> "raised funds from at least 11 investors in the fraudulent securities offering."</p>
<p>Neman, the SEC alleges, raised funds by fictitiously claiming he was a hedge fund manager with Neman Financial L.P. After collecting monies from unsuspecting investors, Neman claimed to have invested the money in high-grossing entities such as Facebook stock and foreclosed residential properties.</p>
<p>"Although Neman promised investors exorbitant returns resulting from his investing acumen and access to pre-IPO shares of well-known companies, what they actually received was simply other investors’ monies, the hallmark of a Ponzi scheme," the SEC <a href="http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2012/lr22331.htm" type="external">alleged</a> in a statement on the matter.</p>
<p>Neman—who has opened his wallet to the president’s reelection effort and other Democratic causes—is another name on a <a href="http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/10/14/7127/obama-campaign-reports-more-350-big-bundlers-including-solyndra-figures" type="external">growing</a> <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/02/Major-Obama-Bundler-Fraud" type="external">list</a> of Obama donors and bundlers who are ensnarled in controversy.</p>
<p>His association with the president also raises questions about how team Obama will handle donations made by questionable supporters.</p>
<p>The alleged swindler <a href="http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=name_address&amp;lat=34.0587010000&amp;lng=-118.4151010000&amp;lname=NEMAN&amp;fname=SHERVIN" type="external">donated</a> $35,800 to the Obama Victory Fund and DNC in the second fundraising quarter of 2011, according to FEC filings. He also donated generously to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) re-election fund, as well as to several other Democratic causes. In each of the donations, Neman describes himself as either a "hedge fund manager" or the CEO of Neman Financial.</p>
<p>It remains unclear whether the donations came from Neman’s personal coffers or from his company.</p>
<p>Also listed as a donor to team Obama is Neman’s wife, Cassandra, who donated $5,000 and $30,800 to the Obama campaign and Democratic National Committee respectively. She is described as the owner of <a href="http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Los-Angeles/virago-inc/93383261.aspx" type="external">Virago PR &amp; Management</a>.</p>
<p>While the PR firm does not have a large web presence, its owner is alleged to have <a href="http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/shady-event-planner-facing-new-allegations/nKtpZ/" type="external">reportedly</a> stolen thousands of dollars from a California high school.</p>
<p>Cassandra Neman, who is referred to by the name <a href="http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Los-Angeles/cassandra-grill/93383857.aspx" type="external">Cassandra Grill</a> in the report, was hired to help a high school senior class with its prom, <a href="http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/shady-event-planner-facing-new-allegations/nKtpZ/" type="external">according to KTVU</a> in California. Instead, the event planner skipped town with around $6,500 of the students’ money.</p>
<p>Shervin Neman <a href="http://white-house-visitors.findthedata.org/l/2200841/Shervin-Neman" type="external">dined</a> at the White House in early November, according to White House visitor logs. Neman was hosted by <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/engage/about-ope" type="external">Jon Carson</a>, Director of the Office of Public Engagement, according to the logs.</p>
<p>The ongoing SEC <a href="http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2012/comp22331.pdf" type="external">case against Neman</a> alleges that he preyed on members of the Jewish community in which he often traveled.</p>
<p>"The Commission alleges that more than 99 percent of the money Neman raised was used either to pay returns to existing investors, or to fund his lavish lifestyle," the SEC <a href="http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2012/lr22331.htm" type="external">said</a>. "According to the Commission, Neman spent nearly $1.6 million of investor funds to buy jewelry, pay for his wedding and honeymoon, as well as high-end cars, VIP tickets to sporting events, and vacations."</p>
<p>Neman’s wife is also named "as a relief defendant, seeking disgorgement of her ill-gotten gains."</p>
<p>A preliminary court hearing on the matter was scheduled to take place Monday.</p>
<p>UPDATE: The original headline of this story incorrectly identified Neman as an Obama bundler.</p>
<p>UPDATE: <a href="" type="internal">Politico reported Wednesday afternoon</a> that the Obama campaign will return Neman's donations. The WFB will update as to the monies Neman donated to other Democrats.</p> | Obama’s Ponzi Scheme Donor | true | http://freebeacon.com/obamas-ponzi-scheme-donor/ | 2012-04-25 | 0 |
<p>As much as we love Fridays, knowing that it's almost Friday is just as sweet. When you wake up on a Thursday morning knowing that that weekend is almost here, you can't help but bust a move, much like these kids do when the music hits.</p>
<p>People tend to find it pretty adorable when kids get into some innocent mischief. The same can't be said when adults get into the same kind of mischief.</p> | These kids know what it's like to wake up and realize it's almost Friday | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/09/28/humor/these-kids-know-what-its-like-to-wake-up-and-realize-its-almost-friday | 2017-09-28 | 1 |
<p>Photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/68069913@N02/" type="external">DryHundredFear</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">(CC BY 2.0)</a></p>
<p>Every week the Truthdig editorial staff selects a Truthdigger of the Week, a group or person worthy of recognition for speaking truth to power, breaking the story or blowing the whistle. It is not a lifetime achievement award. Rather, we’re looking for newsmakers whose actions in a given week are worth celebrating.</p>
<p>Leslie Feinberg, a pioneering author and activist who represented the experience of transgendered people in contemporary society, died Nov. 15 at her home in Syracuse, N.Y. The cause was complications from multiple tick-borne infections (including Lyme disease) from which she suffered for decades. In the U.S. where she lived and worked, up to <a href="http://issuu.com/humanrightscampaign/docs/transgender_visibility_guide_042013/25?e=1357809/2226681" type="external">1 percent</a> of the population is thought to be transsexual, meaning that they do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth. (The number of transgender people is thought to be much higher.)</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2014/11/17/transgender-pioneer-leslie-feinberg-stone-butch-blues-has-died" type="external">obituary</a> written by Feinberg’s partner of 22 years and eventual spouse — author, activist and poet Minnie Bruce Pratt — and published at the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered news and information website Advocate.com, gives readers a sense of the facts and significance of Feinberg’s life. Feinberg’s working-class family is said to have rejected her when she began exploring the gay bar scene as a teenager in her native Buffalo, N.Y. From this point on, the discrimination she faced as an openly transgender person (meaning anyone who dresses, talks or otherwise behaves differently from what a majority of people would expect given their apparent gender) “made it impossible” to get steady work. (A majority of U.S. states grant employers the right to fire someone for being transgender.) She supported herself with a series of low-wage temporary jobs, including as a dishwasher, an American sign language interpreter and a cleaner of ship cargo holds, as well as inside a PVC pipe factory and a book bindery. In her early 20s she encountered the communist World Workers Party at a demonstration for Palestinian rights and joined the group’s New York chapter.</p>
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<p>After moving to New York City for what would be 35 years, she participated over the years in numerous anti-war and pro-labor campaigns organized by the WWP. In the early 1980s she toured nationally in an effort to get AIDS recognized as an epidemic. Almost a decade earlier she was a key organizer of a “March Against Racism” in Boston, during which she led a group of 10 lesbians on a night long “paste up” of racist messages visible throughout the city. White supremacists had been attacking African American children and adults throughout the city. in 1988 she organized an action that prevented the Ku Klux Klan from marching down Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. on Martin Luther King Day. On numerous other occasions she organized what Pratt describes as “community self-defense for local LGBTQ+ bars and clubs as well as the women’s clinic.”</p>
<p>For more than a decade Feinberg worked as a journalist, editor and then managing editor for the Workers World Party newspaper and became a member of the party’s National Committee. From 2004 to 2008, her 120-part column on socialism and LGBT history, “Lavender &amp; Red,” ran in the newspaper. She published “Stone Butch Blues,” an award-winning 1993 novel regarded as having driven gender issues hard into the mainstream of American culture. It was translated into at least seven languages and sold hundreds of thousands of copies (and will be available for a free download online in the 20th anniversary edition Feinberg worked on until a few days before her death). Feinberg also wrote a second novel and four works of reporting and essays. Within and outside of her efforts to develop a Marxist theory of “transgender liberation,” Feinberg’s commitment to communism appears to have been absolute. Pratt reports that the last words Feinberg uttered before dying in bed were: “Remember me as a revolutionary communist.” In addition to that label she identified as an “anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female.” She respected the effects that the use of a wrong gender pronoun could have on people who felt it did not apply to them. She preferred to go by “she/zie” and “her/hir” herself, but according to Pratt, seemed to be understanding when a person innocently used the wrong pronoun, without intending disrespect or harm.</p>
<p>Feinberg’s other affiliations included the National Writers Union, Local 1981, and Pride at Work, an AFL-CIO constituency group. For her transgender and social justice work she held an honorary doctorate from the Starr King School for the Ministry, and received numerous other awards including, Pratt writes, the Lambda Literary Award and the American Library Association Gay and Lesbian Book Award.</p>
<p>Later in life her illnesses prevented Feinberg from writing, and at times even reading and talking. This development prompted her to take up photography on the popular photo-sharing website Flickr. There, among thousands of pictures, she published her “ <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/sets/72157627520720784/" type="external">Screened-In Series</a>,” a documentary of her neighborhood in Syracuse photographed entirely from behind the windows of her apartment. In the <a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/transgenderwarrior/" type="external">introduction</a> to her Flickr page, she refers to two other debilitations, both of which occurred in childhood: the loss of use of her left hand, and perhaps more mysteriously, the loss of her ability to close her eyes and picture anything in her mind. The photos that appear on Flickr serve as “a kind of geographic and emotional GPS of where I was and how I got here,” she writes.</p>
<p>Before she died, she regarded “bigotry , prejudice and lack of science” as the causes of her catastrophic health. Pratt described these as “active prejudice toward her transgender identity that made access to health care exceedingly difficult, and lack of science in limits placed by mainstream medical authorities on information, treatment, and research about Lyme and its co-infections.” Feinberg wrote about these issues online in her blog series “ <a href="http://www.transgenderwarrior.org/lymeseries.html" type="external">Casualty of an Undeclared War</a>.” Friends of hers will continue to curate her work at her <a href="http://www.lesliefeinberg.net" type="external">website</a>.</p>
<p>Like so many people whose nature, behavior and lifestyles fall outside the definitions of the mass culture, Feinberg lived a life of pointless opposition — pointless not in terms of her struggle, but in the moral and practical harm society inflicts upon itself by excluding her and people like her; by turning them into aggrieved “others.” Those of us who are in some way different speak up about it at great risk. But if we do not, then we lose the insight that is necessary to create a society where all people — for example: whomever, reader, your unborn son or daughter might be — have a place to live in peace, comfort, happiness — and sure, productivity. Feinberg honored her identity and the human race by speaking out, and we are all of us richer for it. She is our Truthdigger of the Week.</p> | Truthdigger of the Week: Leslie Feinberg | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/truthdigger-of-the-week-leslie-feinberg/ | 2014-11-24 | 4 |
<p>If you’ve tuned in to the presidential campaign you know that Barak Obama and John McCain are both pushing the idea of “change”. It is, after all, what their pollsters and focus group gurus tell them the voters want.</p>
<p>When we examine the policies Obama and McCain articulate, however – or when we look into who provides the obscenely large campaign donations both receive – we quickly come to the conclusion that the “change” either candidate will bring if elected is change at the margin. Both candidates want to tinker with corporate rule; neither is interested in challenging the rulers.</p>
<p>There is one member of the establishment who is talking about fundamental change this campaign season. James Gustave “Gus” Speth currently serves as dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies at Yale. His resume includes a stint as chair of President Carter’s Council on Environmental Quality and as head of the United Nation’s Development Program. Gus Speth is as comfortable in the halls of power as he is in his wood-paneled office at Yale.</p>
<p>That is why it comes as a surprise that Speth is calling not only for the transformation of capitalism through “a new set of laws” designed to fundamentally change corporations’ “incentive structure” but also for “civic unreasonableness” – a mass movement (similar to the movement for civil rights in the 1960s) geared to generate the moral and political force necessary to make fundamental change possible.</p>
<p>Skepticism is in order. The older among us will remember a call for the “ <a href="" type="internal">greening of America</a>” issuing from the same ivy-covered halls where Speth is now a dean. Charles Reich’s call never inspired the change he predicted; he did not provide a blueprint for the necessary organizing.</p>
<p>Gus Speth is not simply issuing impotent calls from the comfortable halls of academia. He has also used his position at Yale to promote – if not to foment – the movement he believes is needed. For example, in 2007 Speth’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies convened a conference in Aspen Colorado which brought together leaders from major corporations and foundations along with religious, education and academia leaders to chart a direction for the transformations Speth seeks. As reported in the Journal of the Yale school he heads, the conferees called for exposing the “destructive trends in the current relationship between human beings and the natural world” as well as “conducting research on the role of values in behavior.” They also decided that “we need to be prepared to act when the (future) crisis occurs” and that we must “reconnect people to nature, especially within urban settings.”</p>
<p>But neither the Yale sponsored conference nor Speth’s newest book – “ <a href="" type="internal">The Bridge at the Edge of the World</a>” (Yale U Press, 2008) – nor any of the interviews which Speth has given recently provide a roadmap for how these transformations are to be accomplished. Sure Speth calls for a “mass movement’ and for “leadership” but he fails to tell us how we need to organize now to support the emergence of a new mass movement and new leadership. And Speth is particularly reticent about the failures of the so-called “Environmental Movement” to lead or even to support such a mass movement.</p>
<p>Gus Speth is a founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council and he is on a first name basis with the leaders of virtually all the major US environmental groups as well as with the leaders of numerous foreign and international environmental organizations. Speth knows the environmental establishment from the inside out and implicit in his words and works is the understanding that the fundamental “change” which he believes is needed can not come from an environmental establishment which is overly cozy with the corporate and political establishments.</p>
<p>The fundamental change Gus Speth wants will require storming the gates of the citadel in which he himself – and the other leaders of the environmental establishment – occupy honored places. And so Gus Speth can not bring himself to go the extra mile; he can not bring himself to indict the environmental non-movement and to call for fundamental change within the environmental establishment. The environmental establishment – flush with money and power – should be able to use the current world-wide concern about the impacts of climate change to build and lead the mass movement Gus Speth says we need. But instead Speth looks for change from outside – the emergence of a new movement and new leadership born, as it were, fully formed from the thigh of Zeus.</p>
<p>This is counter-intuitive. Currently the major organizations which make up the environmental establishment control more than 90% of the funding available for environmental work. These organizations publish magazines which shape the opinions of millions of citizens. And here we are talking not about all citizens but precisely that subset of citizens – those who care for the Earth enough to pony up membership fees, donations and subscriptions in order to save it and its diverse life forms. It is precisely these masses – the environmental conscious citizens of the US and the world – who must provide the foot soldiers of the new mass movement which Gus Speth says we need.</p>
<p>In spite of this reality, Speth proposes that we allow the environmental establishment to continue as it has in the past – to grow fat and satisfied with narrow battles and narrower “victories” while the Earth itself is being destroyed by individuals and corporations which occupy seats on the boards of director’s of these same environmental organizations. Rather than strategizing on how to create a mass movement for change our so-called ‘environmental leaders” are busy spiffing up their resumes in anticipation of a new administration in Washington DC.</p>
<p>We should applaud the steps Gus Speth has taken and we must hope that he is only the first in what will become a growing stream of establishment types who realize that only fundamental change will restore American democracy and prevent the utter destruction of Planet Earth. But we must also challenge Speth to go the extra mile – to demand from the environmental establishment that they either lead the effort to bring on the transformations we need or that they cease from claiming the mantle of Earth’s defenders.</p>
<p>It is too easy to call for fundamental change without applying that call where we conduct our daily lives. Gus Speth has walked the walk at Yale – not only has he transformed what was a moribund School of Forestry into a modern school of environmental studies, he has also convinced his university to get its head out of the sand and build a sustainable campus.</p>
<p>But Gus Speth must not stop there. Having realized what must be done, Speth must also challenge his colleagues within the environmental establishment to fundamentally change the way they do business so that they can provide the base of support needed for emergence of the mass movement which he believes we so desperately need.</p>
<p>(note: you can read Gus Speth’s call for “Civic Unreasonableness” and about the Aspen Conference mentioned above in the Spring 2008 edition of environment Yale: <a href="http//environment.yale.edu" type="external">http//environment.yale.edu</a>.</p>
<p>An interview with Gus Speth by Jeff Goodell can be found in the September/October2008 edition of Orion at <a href="http://www.orionmagazine.org/" type="external">www.orionmagazine.org</a>)</p>
<p>FELICE PACE has lived in the Klamath Mountains since 1975. Since 1987 he has walked and studied all the large fires that have burned in the Klamath Mountains. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Big Change | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/10/30/the-big-change/ | 2008-10-30 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Fitch Ratings reiterated on Thursday it would cut its sovereign credit rating for the United States next year if Washington cannot come to grips with its deficits and create a "credible" fiscal consolidation plan.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"The United States is the only country (of four major AAA-rated countries) which does not have a credible fiscal consolidation plan," and its debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to increase over the medium term, said Ed Parker, sovereign ratings analyst, speaking at a Fitch conference in New York.</p> | Fitch: U.S. Rating Could Suffer in 2013 Without Credible Plan | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/06/07/fitch-us-rating-could-suffer-in-2013-without-credible-plan.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
<p>Mia Love speaks at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Ron Sachs/DPA/ZUMAPRESS.com</p>
<p />
<p>When she spoke at the Republican National Convention last month, Mia Love, a GOP rising star who’s vying to become the first black Republican woman elected to the House, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/28/republican-convention-to-feature-rising-star-mia-love/" type="external">wowed delegates</a>with her parents’ up-by-their-bootstraps tale. She said their story of coming to America from Haiti with $10 in their pockets formed the basis for her own belief in self-reliance and her staunch opposition to government handouts.</p>
<p>Love—mayor of the small town of Saratoga Springs, Utah—has been widely spotlighted as a pol who’s going places in the GOP, and she’s linked herself closely to GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney. Recently, she served as an <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsoutofcontext/54912217-64/love-romney-campaign-las.html.csp" type="external">official surrogate for Romney</a>on a campaign swing through Nevada, and she <a href="http://hollyonthehill.com/2012/09/18/mitt-romney-send-me-mia-love/" type="external">MC’d a fundraiser</a> for him in Utah last Tuesday. Though a child of immigrants, Love has embraced much of her party’s tough stance on immigration. She has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KikEdyBiHNQ&amp;feature=endscreen#t=8m05s" type="external">implied that she would back deporting the US-born children</a> of illegal immigrants so as not to reward “bad behavior.” Yet by Love’s own account, she is what Republicans derisively call an “anchor baby”— someone born to immigrant parents specifically to game the immigration system and secure legal status for family members.</p>
<p>Love doesn’t talk about this aspect of her family’s immigration story now that she’s running for Congress, but she once said in a little-noticed interview that her birth on US soil helped bring her siblings to America. In January 2011, Love told the <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700101394/Kings-dream-certainly-thrives-along-the-shores-of-Utah-Lake.html?pg=all" type="external">Deseret News</a> that her parents, Jean Maxime and Marie Bourdeau, came to New York in the 1970s, fleeing poverty and looking for a better life. Love said that her parents immigrated legally, but were forced to leave their two young children behind in Haiti because their visa didn’t allow them to bring the kids. But, writes the Deseret News:</p>
<p>There was an immigration law in place, however, that would grant the entire family citizenship if Jean Maxine and Mary had a baby in America.</p>
<p>But there was a deadline.</p>
<p>The law was set to expire on Jan. 1, 1976.</p>
<p>On Dec. 6, 1975, with 25 days to spare, Mia was born in a Brooklyn hospital.</p>
<p>In no time, her older brother and sister were sent for in Haiti and the family was re-united.</p>
<p>Says Mia: “My parents have always told me I was a miracle and our family’s ticket to America.”</p>
<p><a href="#correction" type="external">*</a>Love appears to be describing a provision in an old immigration law that <a href="http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/87863.pdf" type="external">allowed residents of the Western Hemisphere to apply</a> for permanent resident status if they had a US-born child before 1976. The law made an exception to longstanding immigration policy that, since 1924, has barred minor children from petitioning for permanant residency for their parents. Love’s story raises many questions about the legal status of her parents after they arrived in the US. Immigration lawyers contacted by&#160;Mother Jones say that if the Bourdeaus were in the US legally on a permanent visa, they would have been able to bring her siblings, according to the law at the time. However, if they had come on a tourist visa, as Love now claims, and had overstayed illegally, they might have been able to use her birth to eventually stay in the US and reunite their family.</p>
<p>Though Love’s story raises questions, her campaign declined to make the candidate available for an interview or respond to repeated requests for clarification concerning her account.&#160;Her parents—whose phone number has been disconnected—could not be reached for comment; Love’s campaign told Mother Jones&#160;it was specifically shielding them from press interviews.</p>
<p>Along with potential factual discrepancies, Love’s account is problematic from another perspective—a political one. Her story of being her “family’s ticket to America” runs contrary to conservative sentiment and policies on immigration. In recent years, prominent GOPers in the House and Senate have pushed unsuccessfully to end birthright citizenship (as outlined in the 14th Amendment) for so-called “anchor babies.”&#160;(See <a href="" type="internal">here</a>&#160;for why anchor baby concept itself is&#160;largely a&#160;myth concocted by conservatives seeking crackdowns on illegal immigrants.)&#160;</p>
<p>Even so, Love has repeatedly highlighted her parents’ story to justify a <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/54398316-90/love-utah-million-budget.html.csp?page=3" type="external">host of policy proposals targeted at the country’s most vulnerable,</a> including poor immigrants, whom she says are pushed into “dependency” by anti-poverty programs. More broadly, she’s emphasized how their tale solidified her conservative views. “My parents immigrated to this country from Haiti with $10 in their pockets, and they worked hard for everything that they have,” Love <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvPKUG-Cg80&amp;feature=relmfu" type="external">told Fox News’ Chris Wallace</a>recently, echoing her RNC speech. “My parents taught me that we weren’t entitled to anything that we didn’t own, earn, work for, or pay for ourselves. And I’ve taken those principles everywhere I’ve gone. And that’s how I ended up the way I am.”</p>
<p>Love has proposed eliminating the federally subsidized school lunch program and the funding that supports special education in public schools. She wants to halve the Earned Income Tax Credit that keeps millions of working people out of poverty, and she would radically slash housing subsidies that keep millions of poor people off the streets.</p>
<p>Love is running against six-term Rep. Jim Matheson, the scion of Utah’s only real Democratic dynasty and a politician Republicans have <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705389999/Matheson-Theres-no-question-Im-a-target-in-redistricting.html?pg=all" type="external">repeatedly tried to redistrict out of office.</a> Despite Love’s lack of experience, the GOP has provided her with major backing, funneling $1 million into the race and setting up a Salt Lake City call center on her behalf. Some of the party’s biggest names have come to Utah to fundraise for Love, including GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Ann Romney has also offered an endorsement, and Josh Romney is the chairman of Love’s campaign.</p>
<p>Despite the national firepower, Love was <a href="http://polltracker.talkingpointsmemo.com/candidates/mia-love" type="external">trailing by double digits in recent polls</a>. While Utah is one of the country’s more homogenous states, the district Love is running in is 6 percent Latino. Love’s lack of sympathy for people who may have a lot in common with her parents is unlikely to win her any fans in that voting bloc.&#160;</p>
<p>Correction: The original version of this article stated that federal immigration officials and immigration lawyers consulted for this story could find no law that matched the details Love shared with the Deseret News. While there was no law that would have conferred citizenship on Love’s family due to her birth in the US, a pair of immigration lawyers, following the publication of the article, <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2012/09/28/mia-love-may-be-right-about-her-familys-immigration-history/" type="external">came forward in Forbes</a> to point out an old law that would have allowed a minor child to petition for permanent resident status for family members. You can read more about what that means <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p /> | GOP Rising Star Mia Love: “Anchor Baby”? (Updated) | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/republican-rising-star-mia-love-anchor-baby/ | 2012-10-01 | 4 |
<p>It is officially not safe to put Mickey Mouse’s head on Jesus’ body if you live in Russia. A Russian court has fined the creators of a museum show more than $11,000 on the grounds they hatred.</p>
<p>BBC via <a href="http://twitter.com/stephenfry" type="external">@stephenfry</a>:</p>
<p>The show provoked condemnation from the Russian Orthodox Church, among others, for artworks that included a depiction of Jesus Christ with the head of Mickey Mouse.</p>
<p>[…] The exhibition featured several images of Jesus Christ. In one painting of the crucifixion, the head of Jesus Christ was replaced by the Order of Lenin medal.</p>
<p />
<p>There was also a spoof ad for Coca Cola with the slogan “This is my blood” that visitors looked at through peep holes.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10595903.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Russia Fines Art Mongers for Provoking Church | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/russia-fines-art-mongers-for-provoking-church/ | 2010-07-13 | 4 |
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Miami found out an eight-man rotation might be just as effective as a full bench.</p>
<p>Sometimes, it can even be better.</p>
<p>Goran Dragic scored 20 points and backup Wayne Ellington made the decisive 3-pointer with 25.5 seconds left Wednesday night to help the Heat fend off a late charge to hold on for a rare 114-106 victory at Indiana.</p>
<p>"None of these wins are going to come easy, but I think it just says a lot about how tough we are," Josh Richardson said after scoring 14 points and shooting 3 of 4 from 3-point range. "Every night, we have to scratch and claw for everything and it's paying off."</p>
<p>This game might have been their most impressive yet.</p>
<p>With four players sitting out because of injuries, Tyler Johnson not expected to dress and James Johnson suspended by the league for throwing punches in a victory over Toronto, the Heat showed up at Bankers Life Fieldhouse expecting only seven players to be available for their second road game in two nights.</p>
<p>Tyler Johnson, it turns out, managed to play through a sprained left shoulder giving coach Erik Spoelstra one more body to divvy up the minutes.</p>
<p>And he needed every one.</p>
<p>Ellington, Johnson and Bam Adebayo all played more than 30 minutes, all scored 15 points off the bench and all made key plays throughout the game as Miami won its sixth in a row and snapped a 10-game road losing streak against the Pacers.</p>
<p>Hassan Whiteside added 16 points and 15 rebounds.</p>
<p>"We knew it was going to be tough here. (Indiana) plays extremely well at home," Spoelstra said. "They're athletic. They have great team speed. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but it was probably a little bit more to our pace and our liking."</p>
<p>It was good enough to fend off the hard-charging Pacers, who had won their previous two games.</p>
<p>Victor Oladipo had 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists and Lance Stephenson gave Indiana a late boost of energy that nearly led Indiana back from a 10-point deficit in the final 9:57. Stephenson wound up with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists.</p>
<p>Miami showed no sign of fatigue early, shooting better than 60 percent for most of the first two quarters and took a 58-47 lead at halftime.</p>
<p>And when Indiana used a 14-2 run to get within 65-63, the Heat fought through the weariness again.</p>
<p>Indiana blew its first chance to tie the score, or take the lead, when Al Jefferson drew an offensive foul late in the third. The Heat then retook an 84-78 lead after three and extended the margin to 90-80 early in the fourth on a basket by Adebayo.</p>
<p>That's when the Pacers turned it on. They scored six straight to make it 92-89 and used another 6-0 spurt to finally tie it at 97 on Stephenson's 18-footer with 5:09 left.</p>
<p>But Miami broke the tie on Johnson's 3 and put it away when Ellington's shot dropped in for to make it 109-103.</p>
<p>"They hit some tough shots," Oladipo said. "They've been hitting tough shots every win, the last three or four wins, down to wire and they executed again. Credit them, they did a great job."</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Heat: Dragic also finished with nine assists. ... Miami has won 13 consecutive games in January including last season, the longest active streak in the league. ... The home team had won 18 of the previous 20 regular-season games in this series.</p>
<p>Pacers: Missed their first 10 3s and wound up 1 of 18 from beyond the arc. Indiana also went 19 of 29 from the free-throw line. ... Thaddeus Young had 12 points and nine rebounds. ... Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and seven rebounds after replacing Myles Turner in the starting lineup.</p>
<p>TURNER OUT</p>
<p>Turner injured his right elbow Monday night after making a dunk in the victory over Milwaukee.</p>
<p>The team announced he wouldn't play Wednesday morning and said he would miss at least one more game as he continues to be evaluated. He showed up in street clothes and wore a protective brace over his sport coat on the bench. Turner was averaging 2.24 blocks per game, second in the league.</p>
<p>"We'll get more information after Friday's game," coach Nate McMillan said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Heat: Return home to face Milwaukee on Sunday.</p>
<p>Pacers: Are seeking their third straight win against Cleveland this season when the Cavaliers come to town Friday.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>For more NBA coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Miami found out an eight-man rotation might be just as effective as a full bench.</p>
<p>Sometimes, it can even be better.</p>
<p>Goran Dragic scored 20 points and backup Wayne Ellington made the decisive 3-pointer with 25.5 seconds left Wednesday night to help the Heat fend off a late charge to hold on for a rare 114-106 victory at Indiana.</p>
<p>"None of these wins are going to come easy, but I think it just says a lot about how tough we are," Josh Richardson said after scoring 14 points and shooting 3 of 4 from 3-point range. "Every night, we have to scratch and claw for everything and it's paying off."</p>
<p>This game might have been their most impressive yet.</p>
<p>With four players sitting out because of injuries, Tyler Johnson not expected to dress and James Johnson suspended by the league for throwing punches in a victory over Toronto, the Heat showed up at Bankers Life Fieldhouse expecting only seven players to be available for their second road game in two nights.</p>
<p>Tyler Johnson, it turns out, managed to play through a sprained left shoulder giving coach Erik Spoelstra one more body to divvy up the minutes.</p>
<p>And he needed every one.</p>
<p>Ellington, Johnson and Bam Adebayo all played more than 30 minutes, all scored 15 points off the bench and all made key plays throughout the game as Miami won its sixth in a row and snapped a 10-game road losing streak against the Pacers.</p>
<p>Hassan Whiteside added 16 points and 15 rebounds.</p>
<p>"We knew it was going to be tough here. (Indiana) plays extremely well at home," Spoelstra said. "They're athletic. They have great team speed. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but it was probably a little bit more to our pace and our liking."</p>
<p>It was good enough to fend off the hard-charging Pacers, who had won their previous two games.</p>
<p>Victor Oladipo had 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists and Lance Stephenson gave Indiana a late boost of energy that nearly led Indiana back from a 10-point deficit in the final 9:57. Stephenson wound up with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists.</p>
<p>Miami showed no sign of fatigue early, shooting better than 60 percent for most of the first two quarters and took a 58-47 lead at halftime.</p>
<p>And when Indiana used a 14-2 run to get within 65-63, the Heat fought through the weariness again.</p>
<p>Indiana blew its first chance to tie the score, or take the lead, when Al Jefferson drew an offensive foul late in the third. The Heat then retook an 84-78 lead after three and extended the margin to 90-80 early in the fourth on a basket by Adebayo.</p>
<p>That's when the Pacers turned it on. They scored six straight to make it 92-89 and used another 6-0 spurt to finally tie it at 97 on Stephenson's 18-footer with 5:09 left.</p>
<p>But Miami broke the tie on Johnson's 3 and put it away when Ellington's shot dropped in for to make it 109-103.</p>
<p>"They hit some tough shots," Oladipo said. "They've been hitting tough shots every win, the last three or four wins, down to wire and they executed again. Credit them, they did a great job."</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Heat: Dragic also finished with nine assists. ... Miami has won 13 consecutive games in January including last season, the longest active streak in the league. ... The home team had won 18 of the previous 20 regular-season games in this series.</p>
<p>Pacers: Missed their first 10 3s and wound up 1 of 18 from beyond the arc. Indiana also went 19 of 29 from the free-throw line. ... Thaddeus Young had 12 points and nine rebounds. ... Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and seven rebounds after replacing Myles Turner in the starting lineup.</p>
<p>TURNER OUT</p>
<p>Turner injured his right elbow Monday night after making a dunk in the victory over Milwaukee.</p>
<p>The team announced he wouldn't play Wednesday morning and said he would miss at least one more game as he continues to be evaluated. He showed up in street clothes and wore a protective brace over his sport coat on the bench. Turner was averaging 2.24 blocks per game, second in the league.</p>
<p>"We'll get more information after Friday's game," coach Nate McMillan said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Heat: Return home to face Milwaukee on Sunday.</p>
<p>Pacers: Are seeking their third straight win against Cleveland this season when the Cavaliers come to town Friday.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>For more NBA coverage: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p> | Miami's short bench comes up big in 114-106 win over Pacers | false | https://apnews.com/amp/a5502572b89447d598d293b542027169 | 2018-01-11 | 2 |
<p>Jason Rohrer is one of the top game designers in the world. So when the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act came out ,&#160;he found a loophole. Turns out, its' not all internet gambling games that are against the law. It's only the ones that are subject to chance. He claims that his new online gambling&#160;game is all skill.</p> | Gambling with 100% Skill | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-06-07/gambling-100-skill | 2015-06-07 | 3 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“Freedom answers the need of the spirit, but must be sustained by the experience of the body.”</p>
<p>Michael Manley</p>
<p>“Politics makes visible that which had no reason to be seen. . . .”</p>
<p>Jacques Rancière</p>
<p>With the election of Senator Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States, the nation and the world breathed a collective sigh of relief.</p>
<p>The reign of the rogue Bush-Cheney regime brought about a heightened awareness of the utter destructiveness of American Empire both at home and abroad.&#160; Coupled with a crippling crisis in global capitalism, the American electorate decided to entrust presidential power in the Illinois senator whose keen political sensitivity, adept media savvy, and boundless oratorical skill swayed a majority of voters to view his candidacy as the best chance for a return to some semblance of political normalcy.</p>
<p>The historic nature of Senator Obama’s campaign and election has been justly hailed as a signal event in American politics.&#160; Indeed, given the peculiar – to put it gently – history and character of Majoritarian Democracy in the United States coupled with the deep symbolic investments in the Office of the President, Senator Obama’s ascendancy to the nation’s highest political office will rightly be the subject of conversation and debate for many years to come.</p>
<p>But the election of Senator Obama raises anew the complex tensions between the American experiment with democracy and a just democratic politics.</p>
<p>Such a tension is particularly evident in recent assessments of Senator Obama’s election.&#160; Instead of an acute focus on the over two decades long evolution of a new black political class from the lower ranks to the higher echelons of major party politics and formal political power – from the late Ron Brown to Donna Brazile to Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice – there has been a pronounced tendency to follow one dominant narrative that telescopes all of African American life, thought, and history into the ascent of President-elect Obama.</p>
<p>These first drafts of history collapse the multiple and varied African American freedom struggles to the narrow terrain of electoral politics and make them absolutely commensurate with the politics of American statecraft. &#160;Such pronouncements not only diminish the significant ways in which African Americans have sought to fundamentally challenge the imperial and inegalitarian configurations of American power, but they also work to erase the more foundational challenge issued by these multitudes and movements in seeking to inaugurate new and more egalitarian social, political, and economic orders – locally, nationally, and globally.</p>
<p>Perhaps this narrative line says more about the class character and ideological hegemony of the chattering classes in their equation of power with justice and privilege with equality.</p>
<p>To be sure, political parties and electoral campaigns do not exhaust politics – particularly a just democratic politics.&#160; Furthermore, for all of their symbolic value, elections do not in and of themselves signal the beginning or end of radical and fundamental change.&#160; It can justifiably be argued that in a culturally and politically conservative democracy, such as the United States, elections serve as a channel to discipline the unruly dreams and radical political imaginations of the people.</p>
<p>While the election of Senator Obama to the American presidency is a pivotal event in American cultural and political history, it also serves as a prescient reminder that the work of politics is not solely funneled through the office of the President, but rather, through the critical consciousness of a people intent on creating a just social and political order.</p>
<p>As a new nationalism – one that replaces the violence of the bellicose nationalism of the Bush-Cheney regime with an equally violent one that narrates centuries of racialized chattel slavery, state sanctioned and enforced racial discrimination, and structural injustice and inequality as unfortunate but necessary preconditions for the election of Senator Obama – sweeps across the land, the work of a genuine and just democratic politics begins again.</p>
<p>Although there are those who seek to maintain the political status quo albeit with new actors, such as the Brookings based Hamilton Project which boldly states that “the most pressing need now is not new ideas, but greater political will and a bipartisan political process,” the work of a just democratic politics taps the creative energies of everyday citizens in expanding the terrain of freedom and equality while rejecting the sophomoric rhetoric of “bipartisanship” in its myopic focus on process instead of people.</p>
<p>As the nation and world transitions to the administration and policies of President-elect Obama, there must be an intensification and deepening of a just democratic politics that does not confuse political style with substantive change and soaring rhetoric with the hard work of doing right.&#160; Such a politics must focus on cultivating informed and responsible citizens and not a periodically awakened and mobilized electorate.</p>
<p>Along with a fundamental challenge and transformation of the formal mechanisms of politics – from a domestic policy that leaves citizens unprotected in the face of mounting economic devastation to an ideologically driven economic policy that privileges the wealthy over the needy to a foreign policy that fundamentally reinforces the dictates of empire to a virtually nonexistent environmental policy in the face of a planetary ecological crisis that threatens all of existence – there must be an equally dramatic reconfiguration of power between the American state and the American people.</p>
<p>Thus, while the nation and world breathes a justified sigh of relief, the searing words of Martin Luther King, Jr. serve as a forceful reminder that the work of a just democratic politics has only just begun:&#160; “The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”</p>
<p>COREY D. B. WALKER is an assistant professor of Africana studies at Brown University and the author of <a href="" type="internal">A Noble Fight:&#160; African American Freemasons and the Struggle for Democracy in America</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | And We Are Not Saved | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/11/10/and-we-are-not-saved/ | 2008-11-10 | 4 |
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<p>VIENNA — Police say they have arrested a man who was suspected of tweeting death threats against Austria’s chancellor and a left-leaning candidate for the country’s presidency.</p>
<p>Police spokesman Johann Baumschlager said Thursday the 27-year old has confessed to the tweets. The man, whom police describe as psychologically unstable, was not named in conformity with Austrian anonymity laws.</p>
<p>Baumschlager spoke a day after extremist death threats prompted authorities to upgrade security for Alexander Van der Bellen, who is facing right-winger Norbert Hofer in Dec. 4 elections.</p>
<p>Chancellor Christian Kern is under permanent high-security protection, and Hofer also has police protection.</p>
<p>Police say the man has been charged with “uttering dangerous threats” and “incitement.” Both crimes carry prison sentences on conviction.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Man arrested for death threats against Austrian politicians | false | https://abqjournal.com/866457/man-arrested-for-death-threats-against-austrian-politicians.html | 2016-10-13 | 2 |
<p>HUD Secretary Julián Castro said a new rule would help transgender people seeking housing in homeless shelters (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key).</p>
<p>The Department of Housing &amp; Urban Development made&#160;final on Tuesday&#160;a rule requiring equal access for transgender people in federally funded homeless&#160;shelters.</p>
<p>HUD Secretary Julián Castro said in a statement the new rule is “another important step to ensure full acceptance of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in the programs HUD supports.”</p>
<p>“This new rule will ensure equal access to the very programs that help to prevent homelessness for persons who are routinely forced to choose between being placed in facilities against their gender identity or living on our streets,” Castro said.</p>
<p>As explained in the <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2016-22589.pdf" type="external">73-page rule</a>, the change requires federally funded providers operating single-sex projects to provide transgender individuals with access consistent with their gender identity to programs, benefits, services and accommodations without&#160;asking them to provide documentation or&#160;subjecting them to intrusive questioning about their anatomy. The change goes into effect 30 days from its scheduled publication in the Federal Register on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Julianna Gonen, policy director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, praised&#160;HUD for making the rule final, calling it “such clear guidance to shelters and for affirming the equality and dignity of transgender people.”</p>
<p>“This new rule ensures that no transgender person will be denied shelter simply because of who they are and that transgender women, in particular, will no longer be forced to choose between being housed with men or going without shelter,” Gonen said. “This is a huge step forward for the transgender community and will empower transgender individuals who need shelter to stand up for their rights.”</p>
<p>The rule, initially proposed last last year, builds on an earlier 2012 HUD rule barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status in federally funded housing programs. However, HUD&#160;at the time declined to adopt a national policy on the placement of transgender people in homeless shelters, deciding to monitor its programs to determine if more guidance was necessary.</p>
<p>The final rule says HUD determined the 2012 change “did not adequately address the significant barriers” facing transgender and gender non-conforming persons and found they “continue to experience significant violence, harassment and discrimination in attempting to access programs, benefits, services and accommodations.”</p>
<p>Citing an LGBT listening session conducted with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, the final rule says homeless shelter providers reported transgender people are&#160;often excluded from the facilities&#160;or face dangerous conditions within them.</p>
<p>“Some commenters reported that, if given the choice between a shelter designated for assigned birth sex or sleeping on the streets, many transgender shelter-seekers would choose the streets,” the rule says.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, the Center for American Progress published <a href="https://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/06113001/HomelessTransgender.pdf" type="external">the results</a>of&#160;a study consisting of telephone tests on 100 homeless shelters across&#160;four states intended to determine the degree to which transgender woman can access facilities in accordance with their gender identity.</p>
<p>The study&#160;found&#160;only 30 percent of shelters were willing to house test callers with women, although states with LGBT protections were twice as likely to be willing to provide test callers with shelter in accordance&#160;with their gender identity. According to HUD’s final rule, 27 percent of those shelters received HUD&#160;funding at some point.</p>
<p>Laura Durso, senior director for the Center for American Progress LGBT Research and Communications Project, said in a statement the new HUD rule reflects the Obama administration’s commitment to LGBT rights.</p>
<p>“The Obama administration continues to make good on its promise to stand with transgender people and ensure equality on the basis of gender identity,” Durso said. “While the country works to identify and address the root causes of homelessness, these provisions will help ensure that no transgender people are&#160;ever turned away from shelter because of who they are and that everyone has access to equitable and appropriate services.”</p>
<p>Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), one of seven openly LGB members of Congress, also praised HUD in a statement for making the change.</p>
<p>“Transgender Americans, particularly transgender women of color, can face multifaceted discrimination in many areas of life,” Takano said. “Access to emergency housing is a vital part of our shared safety net: A place that any person can go when they are facing a dangerous situation at home or on hard economic times. The HUD rule will literally save lives.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Department of Housing &amp; Urban Development</a> <a href="" type="internal">homeless shelters</a> <a href="" type="internal">Julian Castro</a></p> | HUD makes rule final barring anti-trans bias in homeless shelters | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/09/20/hud-finalizes-rule-barring-anti-trans-discrimination-in-homeless-shelters/ | 3 |
|
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Come November, America will have two unpalatable choices: either Tweedle Bush or Tweedle Kerry. Given such, nothing of substance will change. Oh, those of us who cringe at the sight of neocons may be momentarily relieved to see the “creative destructionists” pack their bags and leave the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House, head out for their radical right-wing foundations and conspiracy tanks, but it will be, all told, little more than a shuffling of deck chairs and a change of stationary.</p>
<p>The Tweedle Democrats are a bit more liberal when it comes to social policy, but in the realm of foreign policy they are almost identical to the Tweedle Republicans. The style is different, but the cloth is cut from the same bolt. Recall Clinton’s bombing of Yugoslavia, his raids on Iraq, his vindictive destruction of the al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum. Recall as well Clinton’s NATO commander, Wesley Clark, almost starting a war with Russia in Kosovo.</p>
<p>In essence, the only difference between the Clinton and Bush neoliberal agenda is the difference between multilateralism and unilateralism. Bush is the lone cowboy, while Clinton wanted the United Nations and Europe on the neoliberal bandwagon. For more on the lack of difference between Kerry and Bush, read John Pilger’s recent article: Bush or Kerry? No Difference.</p>
<p>“Let them have the election without us,” writes Kathy Fisher. “The media whores and special interest groups and Corporate arm-twisters can vote for the brownnose of their choice. After all, they’re the only people the politicians work for. The rest of us should boycott this fake-phony-fraud of an election.” The only difference between Bush and Kerry, as Mike Whitney sees it, “is the difference between driving off a cliff on a bike or in a limo. The flight pattern might be different, but the results are guaranteed to be the same.”</p>
<p>The idiot Tweedle Democrats bemoan Ralph Nader the Spoiler. Instead of criticizing the Tweedle Republicans for stealing the election in 2000, these Democrats point to Nader’s insignificant 3% of the vote. Even so, exit polls in 2000 showed that Nader took his votes in equal measure from Bush and Gore.</p>
<p>Once an idiot Tweedle Democrat, always an idiot Tweedle Democrat.</p>
<p>If the Democrats sincerely wanted the progressive vote, they would endeavor to change their party from a pale mirror image of what the Republicans offer and rediscover their progressive roots. As it now stands, the vast majority of Tweed Dems have absolutely nothing in common with Ralph Nader or, for that matter, Dennis Kucinich, who was completely marginalized and ignored by the “media whores” mentioned by Fisher.</p>
<p>In fact, as underscored by Pilger, the Tweedle Democrats have a more consistent record of butchery than the Tweedle Republicans. “Like the Blairites, John Kerry and his fellow New Democrats come from a tradition of liberalism that has built and defended empires as ‘moral’ enterprises. That the Democratic Party has left a longer trail of blood, theft and subjugation than the Republicans is heresy to the liberal crusaders, whose murderous history always requires, it seems, a noble mantle.”</p>
<p>“The leading mouthpiece for the New Democrats’ radical interventionist program could be our next president,” notes Mark Hand. “John Kerry, the frontrunner in the quest for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, has been promoting a foreign policy perspective called ‘progressive internationalism.’ It’s a concept concocted by establishment Democrats seeking to convince potential backers in the corporate and political world that, if installed in the White House, they would preserve U.S. power and influence around the world, but in a kinder, gentler fashion than the current administration.”</p>
<p>Of course, this “kinder, gentler fashion” translates into mass murder, and the end result is identical to the less kind and more brutal Bushites — dead Iraqis, Afghans, Haitians, Colombians, Nigerians, and countless others. It’s still empire, if an empire tumble dried with fabric softener for public consumption.</p>
<p>Kerry likes to pose as a liberal populist. But even the nutcakes on the radical right know this is fakery. Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard, the neocon house organ bankrolled by Fox’s Rupert Murdoch, says Kerry’s fake populism works on Tweedle Democrat consultants and the party faithful, but it falls flat as a pancake on everybody else.</p>
<p>“In Boston, Kerry has a home on fancy Beacon Hill,” writes Barnes. “In Washington, he lives on an estate near Rock Creek Park and belongs to the Democratic establishment… As a senator for 19 years, he’s advocated mainstream liberalism, not the left-wing populism of fringe figures like Ralph Nader and Jim Hightower. So it’s easy to conclude Kerry’s populism doesn’t reflect the essence of the man. It’s a pose.”</p>
<p>Barnes forgot to mention Kerry is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, not exactly a flaming liberal bastion, but more of a New World Order fraternity. Like his rival, Bush, Kerry is a Bonesman. And although Barnes would never admit it in a month of Sundays, so-called “mainstream liberalism” is not a radical departure from what Republicans espouse, at least on foreign policy issues, thanks mostly to the New Democrat William Jefferson Clinton and his pet project, the Democratic Leadership Council.</p>
<p>Oh, and then there’s the nearly $640,000 Kerry the anti-corporate populist received from lobbyists. Many of these corporate lobbyists represented telecommunications and financial companies with business before his committee — the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee — according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. “Here is a man who wants to appeal to public distrust of insider politics, yet he is the ultimate insider,” Mark Rozell, chairman of the Department of Politics at Catholic University in Washington, told the Detroit Free Press. “It is a stretch to say that he has no connection to insider Washington and that he is untainted by politics and lobbying.”</p>
<p>“Senator Kerry has taken individual contributions from lobbyists, but that has not stopped him from fighting against special interests on behalf of average Americans,” Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter told the Washington Post, obviously taking most of us for morons. “If anyone thinks a contribution can buy Kerry’s vote, then they are wasting their money.”</p>
<p>Say what?</p>
<p>Excuse me, Ms. Cutter, such patently absurd nonsense may work on your average and pathetically desperate “anybody but Bush” Tweedle Democrat, but for those of us with frontal lobes intact it ain’t gonna wash. Corporations buy votes, they don’t throw money after politicians because they like the hors d’oeuvres at their fundraisers or the cut of their chic Cristophe salon coiffures.</p>
<p>So, for all the idiot Tweedle progressive internationalist Democrats out there: come November, when you vote for Kerry, you will be voting for mass murder and flagrant violation of international law. Like the Good Germans of Nazi Germany, you will be guilty of supporting crimes against humanity. Let’s hear no whining on the day you are held accountable. Don’t blame it on Bush. Remember John Kerry voted to invade Iraq, as did the vast majority of the Tweedle Democrats in Congress.</p>
<p>He also voted for the Patriot Act. “It reflects,” he boasted on the Senate floor, “an enormous amount of hard work by the members of the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. I congratulate them and thank them for that work.” Hard work? As I recall, nobody even read it, they simply gave it a thumbs up because they were afraid of Bush calling them no-good unpatriotic pantywaists.</p>
<p>Finally, Kerry voted for NAFTA, so no commiserating over your lost job. Get over it. McDonalds is hiring and those jobs are now considered manufacturing.</p>
<p>KURT NIMMO is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Visit his excellent no holds barred blog at <a href="http:/blogger.html" type="external">www.kurtnimmo.com/blogger.html</a>. Nimmo is a contributor to Cockburn and St. Clair’s, <a href="" type="internal">The Politics of Anti-Semitism</a>. A collection of his essays for CounterPunch, <a href="" type="internal">Another Day in the Empire</a>, is now available from Dandelion Books.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Kerry and the Progressive Internationalists | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/03/12/kerry-and-the-progressive-internationalists/ | 2004-03-12 | 4 |
<p>Public optimism is usually best held at bay during the early period of a new presidency, as sweet words and empty promises flow quickly to assure and distract the constituency. In the seven days that Oscar Berger has held the Guatemalan presidency, however, his outline for the next four years in Guatemala have been impressive, taking what appear to be genuine steps towards demilitarization and renewed respect for the social sector.</p>
<p>Berger’s most significant action since taking office on January 14, 2004 has been his position on the military. The new president has proposed to reduce the armed forces by 10,000 soldiers, nearly one-third of the current 31,000, and to combine the air force and navy under one central command center. Berger has also announced that he will cut military spending to Q1.268 billion ($158.5 million), limiting the budget of the armed forces to 0.66% of the GDP as called for under the peace accords. (1) Additionally, Berger has offered to modify the Escuela Politecnica military training institution to allow for public attendance. (2)</p>
<p>Berger has also reached out to the Guatemalan social sector in an attempt to repair damage done over the last four years by the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG). Most symbolically, Berger offered a government position to Rigoberta Menchu, the Nobel Peace Prize winning indigenous activist who fled the country for Mexico after receiving multiple death threats in 2001. Menchu accepted the role of “goodwill ambassador to the peace accords,” and will be in charge of monitoring government progress on the accords. (3)</p>
<p>The office of the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) has also been offered a helping hand after enduring FRG persecution. The PDH was threatened and attacked for their criticism of heavy-handed FRG tactics in the 2003 election campaign, and FRG officials were linked to the vandalization of the PDH headquarters in September. Now the annual budget, which has been fixed at Q40 million ($5 million) for eight years, may be increased to as much as Q106 million ($13.25 million). (4)</p>
<p>The conservative Berger is even taking steps towards budget reform to support increased social spending. The new president has announced a plan to renegotiate the foreign debt, transferring payments to a Citibank loan and freeing an additional Q3 billion ($375 million) per year to invest in health, education and security. (5) Berger also expressed the desire to restart the largely ignored Fiscal Pact, an agreement on the financial management of the country drawn up between the government, the business sector, and grassroots social organizations in 2000. (6)</p>
<p>The past week has also seen advances in three major cases against FRG human rights abuses. On January 18, Elvia Domitila Morales de López and Vilma Vidalina Orellana Ruano were arrested for a October 2003 attack on Rigoberta Menchu inside the building of the Constitutional Court. A third person, Carlos Humberto Rivas García, fled his pending arrest. (7)</p>
<p>On January 19, four people linked to government security agencies were identified as having violently attacked a journalist and his family in June 2003. (8) And a court case opened against General Rios Montt on January 20, the first since he l! ost his diplomatic immunity on January 14. The General is accused of the murder of a journalist, due to the his role in orchestrating the July 2003 “Black Thursday” riots in which the reporter was killed. (9)</p>
<p>Such a series of positive actions on the part of the Guatemalan government is unheard of in recent years, comparable only to the announcement of the democratic transition in 1985 and the signing of the peace accords in 1996. But, as in these other examples, the benevolence of the government is far outweighed by the personal opportunism of the elite which it represents.</p>
<p>The Guatemalan military and economic elite have been locked in a power struggle since even before the democratic transition of 1985. While the economic elite prevailed during the 1980s and 1990s, largely by strengthening themselves through the neoliberal economic transition, the military regained the presidency through Alfonso Portillo and the FRG in 1999. During their four years in power the FRG successfully attacked the economic elite, forcing open monopolies in order to invest savings left over from the period of military dictatorships. The FRG regularly used a strong hand across the country, and the deterioration of social investmen! t and respect for human rights in Guatemala helped Oscar Berger triumph over the FRG and Rios Montt’s presidential bid.</p>
<p>The oligarchy has returned to the presidency with Oscar Berger, and the president’s early dedication to demilitarization and the social sector should not distract from the right-wing reality of his power base. The main function of the current government will be to repair of the financially-damaged oligarchy, along side implementing the CAFTA, FTAA and PPP free trade agreements, regardless of their impact on the Guatemalan poor. As with the previous oligarchical administration (Alvaro Arzu, 1996-1999), support for the peace accords may be limited to adhering to financial reforms, the legacy of IMF inclusion in the negotiation process.</p>
<p>But it would be unfair to say that Berger’s contributions to Guatemala will be concentrated entirely among the very rich. In contrast to the FRG, who would benefit from military participation in an increasingly violent post-conflict society, Berger and the economic elite can only advance through a peaceful and stable Guatemala capable of attracting foreign investment. As such, the oligarchy has often supported the grassroots political and social sectors since the end of the armed conflict, most obviously through their alliance against Jorge Serrano’s 1993 self-coup.</p>
<p>Real progress such as land reform, a more even distribution of wealth, or full compliance with the peace accords should not be expected. But there is no doubt that Berger means to create an improved climate, and through four years of peaceful governance the historically excluded Guatemalans, the Maya, the campesinos, women, the landless, war victims and returned refugees, can push slowly on to make a better Guatemala as they have for decades, step by painful step.</p>
<p>SIMON HELWEG-LARSEN is a human rights worker and author living in Central America. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>References</p>
<p>(1) “Gasto militar sera reducido, dice Otto Perez.” Prensa Libre, January 19, 2004.</p>
<p>(2) “Oscar Berger pide austeridad.” Prensa Libre, January 21, 2004.</p>
<p>(3) “Nobel Laureate to Join Guatemala Gov’t.” Associated Press, January 17, 2004.</p>
<p>(4) “Ofrece mejorar fondos a PDH.” Prensa Libre, January 20, 2004.</p>
<p>(5) “Oscar Berger busca renegociar la deuda externa.” Prensa Libre, January 14, 2004.</p>
<p>(6) “Oscar Berger pide austeridad.” Prensa Libre, January 21, 2004. (7) “Capturan a agresoras de Rigoberta Menchu.” Prensa Libre, January 19, 2004.</p>
<p>(8) “Identificados agresores de José Rubén Zamora.” Prensa Libre, January 20, 2004.</p>
<p>(9) “Piden captura de Ríos Montt por muerte de periodista.” Prensa Libre, January 21, 2004.</p>
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<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-87q" type="external">21st Century Wire</a> says…</p>
<p>As the bombs drop in Gaza and in eastern Ukraine, another siege has been underway in Great Britain. A sustained&#160;barrage of a different kind of bombshell continues to rain down on the centre of power in Westminster…</p>
<p>An&#160;epidemic of&#160;paedophiles, or to be more accurate, of ‘ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pederasty" type="external">Pederasts</a>‘, has for decades, freely festered in and around the governing institutions, as well as inside&#160;media and entertainment in&#160;the UK. Many experts believe that this the tool of choice when it comes to high-level political blackmail.</p>
<p>Given the establishment’s insistence on maintaining a coordinated cover-up of these crimes, will we ever truly know the full scale and scope of this problem?</p>
<p>Past proponents of the sordid practice (image, left, of ancient paedohile folklore), like the part publicly-funded Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), were even&#160; <a href="" type="internal">paid to lobby for a more relaxed paedophile culture in Britain</a>, including active lobbying to lower the age of consent to 12 years old. Many of those who were involved or helped to facilitate PIE’s presence in Westminster – are still in government, or quango organisations today.</p>
<p>A culture of denial has taken over the halls of Westminster, with countless MP’s and bureaucrats are said to be linked to not only to Jimmy Savile, but also other child sex rings that were being operated out of Boys Homes in both London, North Wales and elsewhere. The scale of the problem is immense.</p>
<p>It’s doubtful that the public will ever know the true extent of this plague which remains obscured by complicit members of the political elite, the Royal Family, the police, the security services (MI5 &amp; Mi6) and most importantly – the judiciary.</p>
<p>Add to this, the mainstream press and we can see a complete breakdown in law and order surrounding the paedophile/pederast and child abuse issue – where these key men and women play their roles in covering for those known to be involved in this wretched and highly organised practice that ruins so many young lives, and is used to blackmail and control so many in the seats of power and influence.</p>
<p>One man currently <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/margaret-thatchers-cabinet-bigwigs-named-3919442" type="external">at the centre of Westminster’s rank&#160;VIP pederast controversy</a>, is former Home Secretary, Leon Brittan (photo, left), who vehemently&#160;denies any knowledge, or involvement in the long list of incidences surrounding the Tory party, dating back to Margaret Thatcher and John Major’s governments.</p>
<p>Coincidentally, Brittan was a key player in solidifying the UK’s entrance into the European Union, and a conduit for the <a href="http://aanirfan.blogspot.com/2014/07/mark-regev-on-leon-brittan.html" type="external">British government’s steadfast&#160;support of Israel</a>.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the current Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, is also a protégé&#160;of Brittan’s, and some feel that Clegg’s hardened pro-EU views are credited to Leon Brittan having ‘discovered’ the young Clegg, after which time Nick later spent his post-university years <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh-2aIZV8ps" type="external">as a young political upstart under Brittan’s wing</a>.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, it seems&#160;that <a href="http://7493021a.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/who-has-been-cleaning-up-for-sir-leon-brittan/" type="external">certain references to Leon Brittan appear to have been scrubbed from Google</a>.</p>
<p>Recently, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/lord-brittan-issues-statement-on-alleged-westminster-paedophile-ring-9579141.html" type="external">The Independent</a> revealed just how deep the cover-up effort truly is, detailing inquiries by&#160;Labour MP Simon Danczuk:</p>
<p>“Mr Danczuk said the late Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens had written to Lord Brittan, Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985, about paedophiles “operating and networking within and around Westminster”.</p>
<p>“I do think it would be helpful for Sir Leon Brittan to share his knowledge of how he dealt with these allegations that were made at the time,” said Mr Danczuk.</p>
<p>“I think that politics is the last refuge of child sex abuse deniers. Other institutions, the police, have dealt with this and changed their culture.”</p>
<p>But politics suffered from “a continual view that we should sweep it under the carpet, that we shouldn’t speak about it, that we shouldn’t name people, that there shouldn’t be a discussion about what’s gone on”.</p>
<p>In the end, it boils down to confidence in elites’ ability to govern – free of compromising entanglements that, unlike the pumped-up ‘Islamic terror threat’, ultimately determine real state of&#160;‘national security’.</p>
<p>Truth and reconciliation&#160;can only happen if the full extent of the problem is known, but unfortunately, no one is holding their breath…</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wearechangeuk.org/government-will-drip-feed-vip-paedophile-revelations-over-decades-to-avoid-mass-civil-unrest.html" type="external">We Are Change UK</a></p>
<p>The British government plans to strictly control the release of ‘establishment’ paedophile revelations over a period of decades in order to avoid mass civil unrest, according to a Westminster source.</p>
<p>It is further claimed that many cases will never be disclosed due to the severity of the offences that took place, and also the high profile status of those involved.&#160;</p>
<p>Even politicians such as Simon Danczuk and Tom Watson,&#160;who have pushed for transparency, are all too aware of the dangers that&#160;mass disclosure may bring.</p>
<p>A ‘total disclosure event’ would see citizens of the United Kingdom take to the streets in their hundreds of thousands, if not millions, as the extent of the crimes are revealed. The offences include the rape, torture and murder of children.</p>
<p>When the public accept that throughout the 70’s, 80’s, and into the 90’s, elected officials and other dignitaries in shocking numbers&#160;used their position and&#160;status to have sex with vulnerable children, a ‘critical mass&#160;mentality’ will have been achieved, and the state will not have the resources or the moral high&#160;ground available to quell the disquiet.</p>
<p>There is no sector of the ‘establishment’ that remains distant from the culture of paedophilia in and around the power bases of London.&#160;The Royal Family, government, security services, the police and the judiciary have all played their part in covering up a sickness that has plagued the country for decades.&#160;</p>
<p>​The abuse of children by establishment paedophiles continues to this day, albeit on a lesser scale. The unaccountability of decades ago has been diluted by the information age.</p>
<p>Yet, powerful players in the corridors of power still have a vested interest in not only covering up the evil deeds of the past, but also indulging those who still engage in these heinous crimes.</p>
<p>READ MORE PAEDOPHILE SCANDALS AT: <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Savile Files</a></p> | An Elite Ring: Britain’s Plague of Pederasty and Power | true | http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/07/29/britains-plague-of-pederasty-and-power/ | 2014-07-29 | 4 |
<p>By Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan</p>
<p>A light installation at the Eiffel Tower commemorating the beginning of the United Nations climate conference in Paris. ( <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-345543914/stock-photo-art-installation-lights-up-eiffel-tower-on-eve-of-paris-climate-talks-during-cop-united-nations.html?src=FBpd7UvJHOF8-E3flHZV1g-1-33" type="external">Elfred Tseng / Shutterstock</a>)</p>
<p>PARIS — The candles still burn across this city at the massacre memorials to the more than 130 people killed by armed militants identified with the Islamic State (which, many Muslims point out, is neither Islamic nor a state), from the Bataclan theater to the restaurants attacked nearby and the national stadium. Flowers, messages, French flags, photos and mementos of the dead, reproductions of the now-iconic peace sign with the embedded Eiffel Tower — all are arranged in a heartfelt outpouring of grief where these acts of violence occurred.</p>
<p />
<p>It is in this context that one of the most significant global summits in history is happening: COP 21, the 21st “Conference of Parties” to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Here, almost every nation on the planet is represented as negotiators attempt to forge a treaty by Dec. 11 to stave off irreversible, catastrophic climate change.</p>
<p>COP 21 is supposed to be a culmination of more than two decades of work at the U.N. to transform society, ending the fossil-fuel era and shifting to renewable energy and drastically reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. A mass march was organized in Paris for Nov. 29, the day before the climate summit was to begin, with more than 400,000 people expected. But French President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency after the attacks, banning all demonstrations. Many critics say that the warming planet is another state of emergency – and that dissent is the only thing that will save us.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, 10,000 Parisians and international activists formed a human chain stretching for blocks in Paris. After that action ended, they defied the French ban on protests and tried to march to the Place de la Republique, where thousands had placed candles and flowers in remembrance of the terror victims. While the French president blamed the protesters for destroying the memorial, “Democracy Now!” video footage showed protesters joining arms to protect the memorial from hundreds of riot police as they moved in with tear gas, concussion grenades and pepper spray.</p>
<p>The next day, inside the climate summit, we bumped into Yeb Sano, former chief climate negotiator for the Philippines. We last saw him in 2013 at the U.N. climate summit in Warsaw, while Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest cyclones in recorded history, devastated his country, killing thousands of people. At the time, Yeb made headlines with an emotional plea to the world body to take immediate action on climate change:</p>
<p>“Typhoons such as Haiyan and its impacts represent a sobering reminder to the international community that we cannot afford to delay climate action. … It must be poetic justice that Typhoon Haiyan was so big that its diameter spanned the distance between Warsaw and Paris.” He implored his fellow negotiators, “If not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?” He had just learned that his brother, A.G. Sano, had narrowly survived the typhoon in his devastated town of Tacloban.</p>
<p>The following year, as yet another deadly storm battered the Philippines, Yeb Sano was unexpectedly absent from the U.N. Climate Summit in Lima, Peru, shocking many. He had been pulled from the delegation at the last minute, leading to speculation he had been targeted for his outspokenness amidst pressure from wealthier countries, like the United States. At the time, he tweeted: “They can silence my mouth. But they cannot silence my soul.”</p>
<p>This year, Yeb Sano is back at the U.N. climate summit, not as the chief negotiator for the Philippines, but as a grass-roots activist. He had just walked 900 miles over 60 days from Rome to Paris on a People’s Pilgrimage for Climate Action. At his side was his brother, A.G. A street artist, along the way he painted six beautiful murals depicting pilgrims from around the world walking to Paris. Since he had no official credentials to access the summit, I interviewed him outside the secure zone. A.G Sano offered a tribute to a friend of his, killed in Typhoon Haiyan:</p>
<p>“I came here to bring the voice of my dead friend. I’d just like to tell the world the name of my friend, Agit Sustento. Climate change is as real as Agit Sustento. I was with him the night before, and the last thing that I told him was to take care of himself and his family because that’s the strongest typhoon in recorded history that we’re about to face, and that was the last time that I ever talked to him. He lost his wife, his little boy, his mom and dad. My promise to him is that I’ll tell the world about his name. His name is Agit Sustento, and he will never get to see the sun rise again.”</p>
<p>A fitting honor to those who died here in Paris, and to the countless victims of climate change, would be a fair, ambitious and binding agreement at the climate summit, to help make the world more safe, equitable and sustainable.</p>
<p>Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,300 stations. She is the co-author, with Denis Moynihan, of “The Silenced Majority,” a New York Times best-seller.</p>
<p>(c) 2015 Amy Goodman</p>
<p>Distributed by King Features Syndicate</p> | Paris—and the World—Is Burning | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/paris-and-the-world-is-burning/ | 2015-12-03 | 4 |
<p>After missing out on its three top targets, Stoke finally landed a new coach to try to keep the team in the English Premier League by hiring Paul Lambert on Monday.</p>
<p>In the nine days since firing Mark Hughes, Stoke had seen Derby manager Gary Rowett, Ireland coach Martin O'Neill and Espanyol coach Quique Sanchez Flores reject the chance to take charge of a side that recently slipped into the relegation zone.</p>
<p>Lambert was available — he has been out of work since leaving second-tier club Wolverhampton Wanderers in May — and has the Premier League experience that Stoke's hierarchy desired, having previously managed at Norwich and Aston Villa.</p>
<p>"Paul has been successful in management at clubs with a strong and stable background and with local ownership — the kind of foundation we are able to give to our managers," Stoke vice-chairman John Coates said.</p>
<p>A Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund as a player, Lambert won back-to-back promotions with Norwich to get the team into the Premier League and keep it there. He joined Villa and kept the club up for two seasons before being fired midway through his third season.</p>
<p>Lambert has since worked at Blackburn and Wolves in the second tier, lasting less than a season at both.</p>
<p>He is tasked with reviving a Stoke side whose decade-long status in the Premier League is in jeopardy after years of mid-table finishes. It has been undermined by defensive problems — the team has conceded 47 goals in 22 games in the league, more than any other team — and has lost eight of its last 11 games.</p>
<p>Stoke headed to Manchester United for a Premier League game on Monday in third-to-last place, and was embarrassingly eliminated from the FA Cup by fourth-tier Coventry in its last match. Lambert will not be in charge of Stoke at Old Trafford.</p>
<p>"Paul greatly impressed us with his knowledge of our squad and had a clear plan of how he would improve our results," Stoke owner Peter Coates said.</p>
<p>"He's a man who backed himself as a player, none more so than when he turned down contract offers in Scotland to go on trial in the German Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund, and it's obvious he adopts the same approach as a manager."</p>
<p>After taking over from the pragmatic Tony Pulis in 2013, Hughes tried to make Stoke more expansive and bought a number of talented players from across Europe who had lost their way after bright starts to their careers. The likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnautovic and Ibrahim Afellay impressed in spells but were not consistent.</p>
<p>Stoke gradually lost its identity as a hard-to-beat team, something Lambert will need to recover if it is to survive.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Steve Douglas is at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sdouglas80" type="external">www.twitter.com/sdouglas80</a></p>
<p>After missing out on its three top targets, Stoke finally landed a new coach to try to keep the team in the English Premier League by hiring Paul Lambert on Monday.</p>
<p>In the nine days since firing Mark Hughes, Stoke had seen Derby manager Gary Rowett, Ireland coach Martin O'Neill and Espanyol coach Quique Sanchez Flores reject the chance to take charge of a side that recently slipped into the relegation zone.</p>
<p>Lambert was available — he has been out of work since leaving second-tier club Wolverhampton Wanderers in May — and has the Premier League experience that Stoke's hierarchy desired, having previously managed at Norwich and Aston Villa.</p>
<p>"Paul has been successful in management at clubs with a strong and stable background and with local ownership — the kind of foundation we are able to give to our managers," Stoke vice-chairman John Coates said.</p>
<p>A Champions League winner with Borussia Dortmund as a player, Lambert won back-to-back promotions with Norwich to get the team into the Premier League and keep it there. He joined Villa and kept the club up for two seasons before being fired midway through his third season.</p>
<p>Lambert has since worked at Blackburn and Wolves in the second tier, lasting less than a season at both.</p>
<p>He is tasked with reviving a Stoke side whose decade-long status in the Premier League is in jeopardy after years of mid-table finishes. It has been undermined by defensive problems — the team has conceded 47 goals in 22 games in the league, more than any other team — and has lost eight of its last 11 games.</p>
<p>Stoke headed to Manchester United for a Premier League game on Monday in third-to-last place, and was embarrassingly eliminated from the FA Cup by fourth-tier Coventry in its last match. Lambert will not be in charge of Stoke at Old Trafford.</p>
<p>"Paul greatly impressed us with his knowledge of our squad and had a clear plan of how he would improve our results," Stoke owner Peter Coates said.</p>
<p>"He's a man who backed himself as a player, none more so than when he turned down contract offers in Scotland to go on trial in the German Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund, and it's obvious he adopts the same approach as a manager."</p>
<p>After taking over from the pragmatic Tony Pulis in 2013, Hughes tried to make Stoke more expansive and bought a number of talented players from across Europe who had lost their way after bright starts to their careers. The likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Bojan Krkic, Marko Arnautovic and Ibrahim Afellay impressed in spells but were not consistent.</p>
<p>Stoke gradually lost its identity as a hard-to-beat team, something Lambert will need to recover if it is to survive.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Steve Douglas is at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sdouglas80" type="external">www.twitter.com/sdouglas80</a></p> | Stoke hires Paul Lambert to end frustrating search for coach | false | https://apnews.com/amp/fbc8a71b8c894f97a8eb3659c4ba5931 | 2018-01-15 | 2 |
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<p>In a letter to the 14-year veteran, NFL senior vice president of labor policy Adolpho Birch said Brown was being placed on the league’s “exempt list” while the league investigates whether he should be suspended as punishment for several alleged acts of spousal abuse. Birch said the move “does not represent a finding that you have violated the personal conduct policy,” but does pave the way toward potential further sanctions.</p>
<p>Being placed on Commissioner Roger Goodell’s “exempt” list means Brown cannot attend practices or Giants games but can go to Giants headquarters for meetings and workouts. It also means Brown continues to be paid and his presence won’t be counted on the Giants’ 53-man roster. Brown could appeal the decision.</p>
<p>“The NFL has the ability to place a player on the exempt list and the player has the right to appeal that decision, if he chooses,” the NFL Players Association said in a statement. “The League office wanted unilateral control of this process and accordingly, their system lacks transparency.”</p>
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<p>The action on Brown came hours after McAdoo had trouble explaining the Giants’ intentions toward Brown, their kicker since 2013. The questions about how much the Giants knew about Brown’s off-field troubles have overshadowed preparations for Sunday’s game in London against the Los Angeles Rams.</p>
<p>Brown did not travel to London following Wednesday’s release of police records which contained the player’s written admissions that he physically abused his wife, Molly, over a protracted period. She told police in the documents released by the King County Sheriff’s Office in Washington state that the abuse and other threatening behavior stretched from 2009, when she was pregnant with their daughter, to the Pro Bowl in January 2016.</p>
<p>In May 2015, Molly Brown sought and was granted a temporary protection order against her husband. A King County Superior Court commissioner issued the temporary restraining order on May 27, 2015. The order was reissued several times until July 24, 2015 when the order was terminated by the court at Molly Brown’s request.</p>
<p>At the Pro Bowl in Honolulu, Brown’s wife said she called NFL security to move her and her three children to another hotel to avoid harassment from her estranged husband. She said he had pounded on their hotel door seeking to get in. The allegation is included in the final report filed last month by the local investigating detective, Robin Ostrum.</p>
<p>Brown’s former wife did not respond to messages seeking comment from The Associated Press. A law firm representing the kicker declined to comment.</p>
<p>When asked whether the Giants knew about Brown’s behavior at the Pro Bowl, McAdoo repeatedly said the Giants were still gathering information on the 9-month-old event. Finally, he said: “I’m not going to answer that.”</p>
<p>When a reporter asked McAdoo about his comments in August suggesting he would show no tolerance for players abusive of their family members, McAdoo said his comments then were more nuanced.</p>
<p>“When did I say zero tolerance?” he said, adding: “I do not support domestic violence, if that’s what you’re asking. I do not condone it.”</p>
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<p>McAdoo described Brown as a “man of faith” who was trying to improve his behavior and the Giants organization was supporting him in this. But when asked to explain how the Giants provided this or monitored his off-field behavior, McAdoo said he couldn’t detail any specific acts of support.</p>
<p>The NFL’s official policy is to suspend players guilty of domestic abuse for six games on their first offense. Brown was suspended for one game, the Giants’ season-opening victory over the Dallas Cowboys, in punishment for his May 2015 arrest at his family home in Woodinville, Washington, on suspicion of assaulting his wife by grabbing one of her wrists as she tried to reach for a phone, leaving an abrasion and bruising. No charges were filed but the detective, Ostrum, gathered detailed statements from Molly Brown who also provided her husband’s written admissions of abuse in diary and email entries.</p>
<p>The NFL said its investigators asked to see these records but were denied.</p>
<p>Earlier Friday, Goodell suggested in a BBC interview that Brown could face further punishment now that league officials can see the full King County evidence file detailing Molly Brown’s allegations of more than 20 episodes of abuse and other threatening behavior to herself, her two sons from a previous relationship and the couple’s daughter.</p>
<p>“We have asked repeatedly for those facts and the information that’s been gathered by law enforcement both orally and in writing. And we weren’t able to get access to it. So you have to make decisions on whatever information you have,” Goodell said in a transcript of the London interview provided by the BBC.</p>
<p>“We take this issue incredibly seriously. … When it happens we’re not going to tolerate it. So we have some new information here, we’ll evaluate that in the context of our policy and we’ll take it from there,” Goodell said.</p>
<p>The Giants in April re-signed Brown to a two-year contract valued at $4 million. When facing his one-game suspension, Brown in August said he was divorced from his wife, although police documents released Wednesday suggested that civil proceedings remain incomplete.</p>
<p>The Giants have signed kicker Robbie Gould, an 11-year veteran of the Chicago Bears who was cut in September for salary cap reasons. The 34-year-old is expected to practice with the team Saturday.</p>
<p>“I’ve seen him (Gould) make a lot of kicks against me in the past. He’s been successful, and we’re hoping that continues,” McAdoo said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi in Philadelphia, AP Sports Writer Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Associated Press reporter Phuong Le in Seattle contributed to this story.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: AP NFL website: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">www.pro32.ap.org</a> and AP NFL Twitter feed: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p> | NFL puts Giants’ Brown on ‘exempt’ list pending abuse probe | false | https://abqjournal.com/872337/giants-coach-unsure-if-team-will-keep-abuser-josh-brown.html | 2016-10-21 | 2 |
<p>A look at the 10 biggest volume gainers on Nasdaq at the close of trading:</p>
<p>American National Insurance Co. : Approximately 255,100 shares changed hands, a 1,268.1 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $8.83 or 8.4 percent to $96.46.</p>
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<p>Authentidate Holdings Corp. : Approximately 1,359,200 shares changed hands, a 2,475.4 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $.29 or 47.3 percent to $.33.</p>
<p>Carver Bancorp : Approximately 49,500 shares changed hands, a 1,999.3 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $.65 or 11.5 percent to $5.00.</p>
<p>1st Constitution Bancorp : Approximately 97,600 shares changed hands, a 1,613.5 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.11 or .9 percent to $11.80.</p>
<p>Heat Biologics Inc. : Approximately 594,400 shares changed hands, a 1,421.9 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.95 or 12.9 percent to $8.30.</p>
<p>Meru Networks Inc. : Approximately 1,729,400 shares changed hands, a 1,628.2 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares fell $.76 or 32.2 percent to $1.60.</p>
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<p>Pendrell Corp. : Approximately 4,376,500 shares changed hands, a 2,002.6 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.01 or 1.0 percent to $1.00.</p>
<p>RMG Network Holding Corp. : Approximately 8,874,500 shares changed hands, a 33,806.8 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.69 or 65.7 percent to $1.74.</p>
<p>Recro Pharma Inc. : Approximately 480,800 shares changed hands, a 2,334.9 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $1.21 or 36.8 percent to $4.50.</p>
<p>Seneca Foods Corp. : Approximately 893,200 shares changed hands, a 4,759.8 percent increase over its 65-day average volume. The shares rose $.50 or 1.9 percent to $26.54.</p> | Top 10 Nasdaq-traded stocks posting largest volume increases | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/03/30/top-10-nasdaq-traded-stocks-posting-largest-volume-increases.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>Heavy rains battering the southern Philippines left at least six people dead and eight others missing, authorities said Sunday, sparking fears for typhoon survivors still living in makeshift shelters.</p>
<p>Four people were crushed to death in their homes on the southern island of Mindanao after landslides struck the mountain town of Tarragona on Saturday, local police said.</p>
<p>A seven-year-old girl was killed and three others were missing after a landslide in the gold-rush mining town of Monkayo, while a one-year-old boy drowned when a flash flood from nearby mountains hit the mining city of Bayugan, civil defence officials said.</p>
<p>Two other people went missing as they crossed a swollen river in the town of Santiago, while three fishermen vanished after going out to sea in the coastal town of Tubay, local police said.</p>
<p>Officials fear the rains may worsen the already-harsh living conditions for survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, many of whom are still lodged in temporary shelters after their homes were destroyed in the November typhoon.</p>
<p>Government weather forecaster Manny Mendoza said the heavy rains would continue for two to three days, primarily affecting the islands of Samar and Leyte which bore the brunt of Haiyan, one of the most intense typhoons on record.</p>
<p>The downpours have pounded the southern and central Philippines for three days as a low-pressure area -- an atmospheric phenomenon that causes heavy rains -- came closer to Mindanao, finally making landfall in Surigao del Sur province, about 820 kilometres (510 miles) southeast of Manila, on Sunday.</p>
<p>The government civil defence office said that more than 4,000 people had been evacuated from their homes on the banks of waterways and on hillsides under a precautionary measure due to the rains.</p>
<p>Haiyan, one of the worst natural disasters to hit the Philippines, left nearly 8,000 people dead or missing as it flattened whole towns in Samar and Leyte with strong winds and tsunami-like storm surges.</p>
<p>strs-mm/erf/pj</p> | Philippines hit by rain that kills 6, hampers typhoon recovery efforts | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-01-12/philippines-hit-rain-kills-6-hampers-typhoon-recovery-efforts | 2014-01-12 | 3 |
<p>Jacquelyn Martin/AP</p>
<p />
<p>Earlier this week, Mother Jones <a href="" type="internal">reported</a> that Donald Trump’s loans from the German-based Deutsche Bank—totaling at least $100 million and possibly much more—would pose a significant conflict of interest, should Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee, become president. After all, the bank was recently caught manipulating markets around the world (and had to pay $2.5 billion in fines), and it has tried to evade US laws aimed at curtailing risky financial shenanigans and has attempted to influence the US government via lobbying.</p>
<p>Richard Painter, an attorney who teaches at the University of Minnesota and who was the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007, noted that Trump’s relationship with the overseas financial giant was disturbing: “Having a president who owes a lot of money to banks, particularly when it’s on negotiable terms—it puts them at the mercy of the banks and the banks are at the mercy of regulators.” He added, “That is a potentially very troublesome business model for someone in public office.”</p>
<p>In response to the article, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) says Trump’s dealings with Deutsche Bank—and his connections with other major financial institutions—could indeed pose trouble, were he to win the White House. In a statement to Mother Jones, the senator slammed Trump’s relationship with the bank:</p>
<p>The job of the President is to enforce the law fairly. If a serial lawbreaker like Deutsche Bank is caught manipulating markets again, how would Trump hold it accountable knowing that the bank had the power to pull the plug on his own businesses? That’s a question that should worry every American. These financial entanglements—along with many of his other ongoing business concerns and arrangements—present huge conflicts of interest.</p>
<p>In recent months, Warren has repeatedly challenged Trump. In a string of tweets in March, she <a href="" type="internal">listed</a> all the ways Trump has been a “loser” (Trump University, bankruptcies, attacks on women, narcissism, bullying). On Stephen Colbert’s show, she <a href="" type="internal">declared</a>, “The truth is that [Trump] inherited a fortune from his father, he kept it going by cheating and defrauding people, and then he takes his creditors through Chapter 11.” In a speech two weeks ago, she <a href="" type="internal">denounced</a> the mogul for having said he was delighted to have made money off the 2008 economic crash: “Let’s face it: Donald Trump cares about exactly one thing—Donald Trump. It’s time for some accountability because these statements disqualify Donald Trump from ever becoming president. The free ride is over.” Trump has retorted by calling Warren “Pocahontas” and <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-elizabeth-warren-feud-223623" type="external">deriding</a> her as “a woman that’s been very ineffective other than she’s got a big mouth.”</p>
<p>The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment regarding Warren’s remarks about his Deutsche Bank loans—or what Trump would do about his financial relationships if elected president.</p>
<p /> | Elizabeth Warren Slams Donald Trump’s “Huge Conflicts of Interest” | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/elizabeth-warren-slams-donald-trump-huge-conflicts-interest/ | 2016-06-03 | 4 |
<p>Mitt RomneyJeff Siner/Charlotte Observer/ZumaPress.com</p>
<p />
<p>Richard Grenell, Mitt Romney’s newly christened foreign policy spokesman, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/us/politics/richard-grenell-resigns-from-mitt-romneys-foreign-policy-team.html" type="external">stepped down</a> from the campaign on Tuesday. Grenell, who is gay, had come under fire from social conservative activists who viewed his hiring as a slap in the face. Although a Romney spokesman&#160;claimed the campaign had wanted Grenell to stay on, Romney staffers had already begun to shut him out before his resignation, counseling the gay foreign policy spokesman to stay silent during a recent campaign press call on foreign policy.&#160;</p>
<p>The episode is reminiscent of a controversy that occurred when Romney was governor of Massachusetts: The 2004 dismissal of Ardith&#160;Wieworka, longtime head of the state’s Office of Child&#160;Care Services, who alleged that she had been terminated because of her decision to marry her partner.</p>
<p>In May of that year, the same month same-sex marriage was legalized in the Bay State, the Northeastern&#160;University press office published a story announcing that Wieworka intended to marry her longtime partner, Carol Lyons, who worked at the school as the dean of career services.</p>
<p>The next month,&#160;Romney traveled to Washington,&#160;DC, to testify in support of a federal constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. “Marriage is…a fundamental and universal social institution that bears a real and substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare of all the people of Massachusetts,”&#160;he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.</p>
<p>Two weeks later, the Boston&#160;Globe reported that Ronald Preston, Romney’s state health and human services commissioner, asked Wieworka to resign.</p>
<p>A veteran of three previous&#160;Republican administrations, Wieworka was at a loss about why she was fired. (She declined to comment for this story.)&#160;She told the <a href="http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston-sub/access/660301671.html?FMT=FT&amp;FMTS=ABS:FT&amp;type=current&amp;date=Jul+8%2C+2004&amp;author=&amp;pub=&amp;desc=IT%27S+FAIR+TO+ASK+WHY" type="external">Boston&#160;Globe</a> later that month that, absent any clear motive, she suspected her ouster may have been a result of marriage:</p>
<p>Earlier this week, Wieworka strongly suggested that her firing was connected to her recent marriage to her lesbian partner. She said yesterday that she was not saying that was the reason, but that she wanted to raise the question in the absence of other credible explanations.</p>
<p>“When you accuse someone of something, you’ve reached a conclusion,” Wieworka said yesterday. “I want to look into the motivation.”</p>
<p>Wieworka noted that Preston’s explanation for the move changed considerably over time. He initially said it was due to restructuring, but later suggested that Wieworka had also been uncooperative. He never offered a clear, specific reason for the termination. Romney and Preston <a href="https://secure.pqarchiver.com/boston-sub/access/660178041.html?FMT=FT&amp;FMTS=ABS:FT&amp;type=current&amp;date=Jul+7%2C+2004&amp;author=&amp;pub=&amp;desc=CHILD+SERVICES+CHIEF+IS+FIRED+AFTER+REFUSING+TO+STEP+DOWNROMNEY+AIDE+DEFENDS+CHANGE+IN+LEADERSHIP" type="external">vehemently denied</a>&#160;Wieworka’s firing had anything to do with her marriage, however. The governor told the Globe that Wieworka’s sexual orientation was something he only learned about after she had been fired. Preston called the idea that Wieworka was fired for her marriage “an outrageous allegation with no foundation whatsoever.” (Preston now teaches medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.)</p>
<p>Whatever the explanation, the move was divisive. “[T]hose who have worked with Wieworka express shock and dismay at her departure,”&#160;Boston Magazine <a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2006/05/the-kids-arent-alright/" type="external">reported</a>. The Boston&#160;Globe editorial board—making no mention of Wieworka’s charge of discrimination—panned the firing, <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2004/07/07/a_department_for_children/" type="external">writing</a> “It is unfortunate that Preston could not work out a way to make use of Wieworka’s considerable experience and talent.”</p>
<p>In the eyes of Massachusetts’s LGBT&#160;community, the firing had a certain resonance. The state’s LGBT monthly, Bay Windows, <a href="http://baywindows.editme.com/The-Romney-Files" type="external">noted the firing</a> in a&#160;January 2012 piece detailing Romney’s record on gay issues as governor. Whether or not Wieworka’s marriage played a part in her termination, the timing of her departure was fitting: The episode came as Romney was in the midst of his&#160; <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_conversion/2012/02/mitt_romney_s_abortion_record_flip_flop_or_conversion_.html" type="external">political evolution</a>&#160;from a gay-friendly, pro-choice moderate into someone culture warriors could believe in—an evolution, as Grenell’s resignation shows, that is far from finished.</p>
<p /> | When Mitt Romney Fired a Gay Staffer, 2004 Edition | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/05/mitt-romney-fire-gay-staffer-ardith-wieworka/ | 2012-05-04 | 4 |
<p>Honda is quietly offering to replace potentially defective air bag parts across the U.S., even though its latest recall only covers cars in 13 high-humidity states and territories.</p>
<p>The replacement program for owners concerned about their safety was revealed in documents posted recently by U.S. safety regulators. Customers outside the recall areas won't be notified.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Honda says it's trying to take care of customers but is not expanding the recall nationwide.</p>
<p>The company announced in November that it would recall about 2.8 million 2001 to 2006 Hondas and Acuras to replace air bag inflators made by Takata Corp. They can explode with too much force, blowing apart a metal canister and sending shrapnel into the passenger compartment.</p>
<p>At least five deaths worldwide have been linked to the faulty inflators.</p> | Honda Quietly Replacing Takata Air Bags Across US, Even as Official Recall Covers Limited Area | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/11/17/honda-quietly-replacing-takata-air-bags-across-us-even-as-official-recall.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p />
<p>My nephew recently sent me a link to a website advertising what he excitedly called an “incredible investment.” &#160;It was for a 770 account, and he was ready to jump on the bandwagon.</p>
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<p>The ad called 770 accounts secret accounts used by banks and the wealthy to earn 30 to 40% more interest than other bank accounts provide.</p>
<p>I found the ad’s claim that the interest or the withdrawals from the account to be tax free misleading.</p>
<p>You should always do your research before getting involved in any investment to make sure you understand how it works along with any potential risks and fees.</p>
<p>A 770 account is named after IRS code 7702 which governs “life insurance contracts.” The IRS guidelines state, “A contract meets the cash value accumulation test of this subsection if, by the terms of the contract, the cash surrender value of such contract may not at any time exceed the net single premium which would have to be paid at such time to fund future benefits under the contract.”</p>
<p>And in subsection (d), it states, “A contract falls within the cash value corridor of this subsection if the death benefit under the contract at any time is not less than the applicable percentage of the cash surrender value.”</p>
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<p>So in essence, the consumer is using a life insurance contract as a savings account. Once you have funded it sufficiently, then yes, you may make withdrawals tax free. But that’s nothing new and amazing. You are actually only borrowing the money from the account, not taking a disbursement. And according to IRS regulations, loan proceeds are never considered taxable income whether they are from a life insurance contract, a credit card cash advance or a loan taken for the purchase of a vehicle.</p>
<p>By the same token, almost all interest is taxable income to the recipient. There are a few exceptions of course, including interest earned within qualified retirement accounts (IRA, 401(k)). However, the IRS gets their pound of flesh when you begin taking distributions from said accounts. Distributions are taxable income and invariably include the interest earned since the account was opened.</p>
<p>According to Brett Goldstein, director of retirement planning at American Investment Planners in Jericho, N.Y., “The term infinite banking [770 account] is based on you borrowing money from your life insurance to buy a car or some other purchase. &#160;Then you pay yourself back as opposed to paying the bank back. Thus, you are getting the interest not the bank.”</p>
<p>This is not to say that a life insurance contract is a rip off. In fact, most of the time they can be beneficial. But as with anything, you must do a little shopping, learn the concepts and make an intelligent decision.</p>
<p>“What no one talks about is the loan aspect. &#160;What is the interest rate of the loan? &#160;Is it a fixed loan, a variable loan, and how much are you making? &#160;If your cash is only making 5% but the loan is 4%, you are not making much,” Goldstein says.</p>
<p>He also advises determining whether the loan rate is a contractual rate or current practice. “If the loan interest rate is current, then they can change it at any time. If it’s contractual then they have to honor it or ask the state to change the rate for all contracts.”</p>
<p>In general, be skeptical of any advertising piece that presents a “get rich scheme” or any “secret tax-free investment known only to bankers or the rich.” Run the concept before a qualified investment advisor and/or your tax pro before investing.</p> | The Tax Story Behind 770 Accounts | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/06/26/tax-story-behind-770-accounts.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>California leads the way when it comes to government pension dysfunction. The first big city to be stricken by pension costs in the U.S. was San Diego, leading to the memorable 2004 New York Times’ description of it as “ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/07/national/07diego.html?_r=0" type="external">Enron by the Sea</a>.”</p>
<p>Since then, three cities in the Golden State have either entered bankruptcy or on the verge of it because of massive pension costs — Vallejo, Stockton and San Bernardino. I’m not aware of any other state with more than one such afflicted city, and most states don’t have any.</p>
<p>But are other states learning from California’s mistakes? Evidently not. On Monday, there were reports that New Jersey was <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-31/n-j-pension-fix-disturbing-moody-s-shows-cuts-limits.html" type="external">copying the screw-up</a> that San Diego elected officials made beginning in 1996:</p>
<p>“Gov. Chris Christie’s move to reduce New Jersey’s pension payment to help close a mid-year budget gap has Moody’s Investors Service concerned that the state is approaching the limit of steps to trim spending.</p>
<p>“The second-term Republican is cutting $694 million of spending to balance the budget for the year through June. That includes $94 million from recalculating the required pension contribution as a result of revised actuarial assumptions, Baye Larsen, a Moody’s analyst in New York, said in a report last week.</p>
<p>“While the fix will help balance budgets through fiscal 2018, pension costs will be higher in later years as a result, according to Moody’s.”</p>
<p>This is crazy. It’s especially crazy from a guy who likes to criticize President Obama for fiscal recklessness. But it’s also super-mega crazy for a politician who takes shots for his doughy appearance to be making like Wimpy of Popeye fame when it comes to indiscipline and the need for instant gratification.</p> | Pension follies: New Jersey adopts insane San Diego approach | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2014/04/01/pension-follies-new-jersey-adopts-insane-san-diego-approach/ | 2018-04-20 | 3 |
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officially declared today that the flu virus has become an epidemic in the United States following the deaths of 15 children so far this season. The agency has reported severe outbreaks in every region of the country. Since last week, the number of states reporting high levels of “influenza-like” illness has increased from 13 to 22. The states with the most severely affected populations are in the south, Midwest and western parts of the country, though researchers are not certain why that is the case. Tennessee has been one of the hardest hit states with six children dying from the flu and 442 children hospitalized at the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital.</p>
<p>According to the CDC, roughly 90 percent of this year’s flu cases have been the H3N2 subtype. There are 17 different types of H particles, or hemagglutinin, which bind the virus to the cells, and nine different types of N particles, or neuraminidase, which are responsible for the spread of the virus throughout the body. Of the various subtypes, the H3 variety, which comprise most of this year’s cases, typically leads to the highest numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.</p>
<p>Compounding the severity of the strain itself is the concerning trend that the flu season has been breaking out earlier and earlier over the last four years. While in prior years the flu season did not peak until February or March, health officials are now seeing it peak at the end of December. Furthermore, this season’s flu vaccine – which health agency officials advise is your best defense against contracting the flu – is now believed to be a poor match for the predominant strain affecting the majority of the population. Many health officials believe that the H3N2 strain mutated, thereby comprising the effectiveness of the vaccine that had been prepared for this season.</p>
<p>The flu is always especially deadly in children, the elderly and individuals with compromised immune systems. While this season appears to be more severe than others, health officials advise that you can reduce your risk of becoming infected with the flu by practicing hand hygiene, coughing and sneezing into your elbow and getting a flu shot, which still will provide some level of protection especially for the most vulnerable categories of the population.</p>
<p /> | CDC declares flu epidemic as numbers of affected soar | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/12/30/cdc-declares-flu-epidemic-as-numbers-of-affected-soar/ | 2014-12-30 | 3 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Officials have identified the two people killed in separate crashes Sunday that closed down both interstates for hours.</p>
<p>Albuquerque police say Marlena Torres, 44, was killed when she was ejected from her SUV which police say she was driving aggressively through I-25 traffic Sunday morning. The SUV rolled after she passed a vehicle then rammed into another vehicle.</p>
<p>No one else was injured in that crash.</p>
<p>Bernalillo sheriff's deputies say Miranda Mirabal, 22, of Belen, was killed when she stepped in front of a semi-truck heading east on I-40&#160; near Tramway Sunday evening.</p>
<p>No one else was injured in that crash and no charges are pending.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Identities released in Sunday's fatal crashes | false | https://abqjournal.com/630235/identities-released-in-sundays-fatal-crashes.html | 2 |
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<p>People who choose alternative cures for common cancers are up to five times more likely to die compared to those opting for standard treatments, the lead scientist of a new study told AFP Friday.</p>
<p>The risk of death five years after diagnosis “was highest for breast and colon cancer,” said lead author Skyler Johnson from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut — 5.6 and 4.6 times greater respectively.</p>
<p>Lung cancer patients who spurned surgery, radiation or chemotherapy in favour of herbs and vitamin, homoeopathy, special diets or other unorthodox therapies were more than twice as likely to die over the same period, he reported last week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.</p>
<p>Five-year survival rates for prostate cancer remained high — around 90 percent — for both conventional and alternative treatments, but this was not necessarily evidence that the alternative therapies were as effective.</p>
<p>“Prostate cancer usually grows very slowly in the early stages so few people die,” Johnson explained by email.</p>
<p>Faced with poor prognoses or painful courses of chemotherapy, which can cause severe nausea and weakness, many cancer patients place their faith in a wide range of treatments dismissed by most medical doctors as useless at best.</p>
<p>These include probiotics, vitamins and minerals; traditional Indian and Chinese methods such as Ayurvedic medicine and acupuncture; homoeopathy and naturopathy; chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation; as well as yoga, Tai Qi and Qi Gong, all of which involve breath control.</p>
<p>Mind-over-matter approaches also include prayer, meditation, and guided imagery, in which one visualises one’s cancer in order to overcome it.</p>
<p>Researchers led by Johnson identified 281 people in the United States with the four most common types of cancer — breast, prostate, lung and colon — who turned towards one or more of these unproven treatments when diagnosed.</p>
<p>The team compared their health outcomes with those of 560 other cancer patients of comparable age, also taking into account race and different health factors.</p>
<p>On average, the first group were 2.5 times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis.</p>
<p>“For several reasons, I believe this may be an underestimate,” Johnson told AFP.</p>
<p>To begin with, the data only covered only initial treatment, which means that some of the patients who first sought out alternative cures may have switched to standard treatments as their disease progressed, thus prolonging their lives.</p>
<p>It is also likely, he added, that the non-conventional medicine cohort was heathier, younger and had higher income and education — attributes that translate into better survival rates.</p>
<p>“We don’t know the exact number of people that make the decision to pursue alternative medicine instead of conventional cancer treatment,” Johnson said.</p>
<p>Patients are reluctant to confide in doctors who are likely to frown upon their choices, he added.</p>
<p>But, he noted, all the miracle cancer cures on offer probably add up to a multi-billion dollar business.</p> | Death Rates Much Higher for Cancer Patients Who Use Only Alternative Cures: Study | false | https://newsline.com/death-rates-much-higher-for-cancer-patients-who-use-only-alternative-cures-study/ | 2017-08-21 | 1 |
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<p>German authorities informed the public on Wednesday this week that supermarket chains across the country had received an email which stated that food had been poisoned and unless a 10 million Euro (12 million dollars) ransom would be paid, the poisoning would only widen.</p>
<p>After this is it all escalated very quickly. The following day police across Germany released pictures of a 53-year old man wearing glasses and a white hat and - remarkably for the time of year, gloves in a supermarket in the area of Friedrichshafen, near Konstanz.</p>
<p>He had sprayed ethylene glycol via a syringe into multiple jars of baby food. Thanks to CCTV from within the supermarket police officers were able to identify which jars had been contaminated and in order to be sure they closed the supermarket for several hours and confiscated all products in that isle to check them.</p>
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<p>The jars which he had injected contained ethylene glycol, an odourless and colourless toxic liquid that has a sweet taste and is known to attract children and animals. He got it from subtracting it from anti-freeze products. According to health experts, the substance can cause kidney failure, brain damage and eventually death if used in a high concentration in a food product. No one was injured.</p>
<p>Thanks to a whopping 650 tips from the public, the man was arrested on Friday and has confessed yesterday.</p>
<p>According to police officers, the 53-year-old man (who has not been named) carried out his act "alone". He appeared before a judge in a closed session and admitted the facts, also revealing that he had not poisoned any other products than the ones already known to investigators.</p>
<p>In order not to spread panic or cause harm to any type of supermarket, police have refused to state exactly which retailer was targeted.</p>
<p>They told the public that there is no further need to worry, but shoppers should always remain vigilant and check the safety seals on products. If they suspect future tampering, they should report the authorities. German police received widespread praise for their quick handling of the case.</p>
<p>Source:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dw.com/en/german-police-say-supermarket-food-poisoner-suspect-has-confessed/a-4076186" type="external">dw.com/en/german-police-say-supermarket-food-poisoner-suspect-has-confessed/a-4076186</a></p> | Video - German Baby Food Extortionist Captured | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/8960-Video-German-Baby-Food-Extortionist-Captured | 2017-10-01 | 0 |
<p>Royal Bank of Canada's U.S. wealth-management arm said it recruited an all-female team of financial advisers who managed $375 million as brokerages put more emphasis on expanding their ranks of women.</p>
<p>Advisers Tracey Schusterman and Rosa Mazzone, along with two other associates, joined RBC Wealth Management's New York branch from UBS Group AG, where they generated $2.7 million in fees and commissions annually.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Based in Minneapolis, RBC Wealth Management has about 1,800 brokers who oversee $289 billion in assets. RBC said it is focused on bringing more women to the firm.</p>
<p>Ms. Schusterman and Ms. Mazzone had worked at the Swiss bank's U.S. brokerage arm since 2009. Before that, they worked at Smith Barney.</p>
<p>A UBS spokesman didn't immediately respond to a message seeking comment.</p>
<p>Female brokers are scarce in the industry. Of about 310,500 brokers in the U.S., just 15.7%, or 48,631, are women, according to research firm Cerulli Associates.</p>
<p>Other brokerages, including Morgan Stanley and Raymond James Financial Inc., have also publicly said they are actively trying to attract more women to their ranks.</p>
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<p>Write to Michael Wursthorn at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 25, 2017 12:11 ET (16:11 GMT)</p> | RBC Hires $375 Million All-Female Adviser Team -- Street Moves | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/25/rbc-hires-375-million-all-female-adviser-team-street-moves.html | 2017-04-25 | 0 |
<p>Toyota, which only just reclaimed its status as the world’s biggest three years after a major recall that raised questions about its vehicles’ safety, is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19894322" type="external">once again</a> asking customers to bring their vehicles in for inspection.</p>
<p>This time it’s faulty window switches — not stuck accelerator pedals as in 2009 — that are to blame for the recall.</p>
<p>The following is Toyota’s <a href="http://pressroom.toyota.com/releases/toyota+voluntary+safety+oct10.htm" type="external">own explanation</a> of the problem:</p>
<p>The driver’s side PWMS may experience a “notchy” or sticky feel during operation. If commercially available lubricants are applied to the switch in an attempt to address the “notchy” or sticky feel, melting of the switch assembly or smoke could occur and lead to a fire under some circumstances.</p>
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<p>The “notchy” or sticky feel may be caused by an uneven application of the grease during the switch assembly process at the supplier. If the grease is not applied evenly, frequent use of the switch and normal operation may cause the grease to become carbonized and may eventually result in the deterioration of its lubricating properties.</p>
<p>The recall remedy will involve an inspection, switch disassembly, and application of special fluorine grease. The switch inspection and repair will be performed at no charge to the vehicle owner.</p>
<p>Of the 7.4 million vehicles globally under recall, roughly 2.5 million were sold in the U.S. and include the following models:</p>
<p>• 2007 to 2008 Yaris (approx. 110,300) • 2007 to 2009 RAV4 (approx. 336,400) • 2007 to 2009 Tundra (approx. 337,100) • 2007 to 2009 Camry (approx. 938,100) • 2007 to 2009 Camry Hybrid (approx. 116,800) • 2008 to 2009 Scion xD (approx. 34,400) • 2008 to 2009 Scion xA (approx. 77,500) • 2008 to 2009 Sequoia (approx. 38,500) • 2008 Highlander (approx. 135,400) • 2008 Highlander Hybrid (approx. 23,200) • 2009 Corolla (approx. 270,900) • 2009 Matrix (approx. 53,800)</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Peter Z. Scheer.</a></p> | Toyota Recalls 7.4 Million Vehicles Over Window Switches | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/toyota-recalls-7-4-million-vehicles-over-window-switches/ | 2012-10-10 | 4 |
<p>As President Barack Obama gets closer to issuing an <a href="" type="internal">executive order protecting the LGBT employees of federal contractors</a> from discrimination, a growing number of progressive faith voices are working to counter conservatives who are pressuring the administration to include special exemptions for religious groups.</p>
<p>Conservative faith groups were quick to voice apprehension over the executive order when it was first announced in June, with several Catholic bishops <a href="http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/bishops-state-great-concern-over-executive-order-lgbt-discrimination" type="external">expressing</a>“great concern” over how it might affect partnerships between the government and faith-based nonprofits. Then on Tuesday, the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to exempt closely-held corporations from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate on religious grounds, a group of 14 prominent faith leaders <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/faith-leaders-exempt-religious-groups-from-order-barring-lgbt-bias-in-hiring/2014/07/02/d82e68da-01f1-11e4-b8ff-89afd3fad6bd_story.html" type="external">sent a letter to the President</a> arguing that faith-based nonprofits that use federal funds but who do not embrace homosexuality should be exempt from the order. The letter was somewhat unusual, because while it listed several traditionally conservative voices such as megapastor Rick Warren, it also included the signatures of faith leaders who are fairly close to the administration, such as Michael Wear, former faith outreach director of Obama’s 2012 campaign for president.</p>
<p>“…It still may not be possible for all sides to reach a consensus on every issue,” the <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/232327567/Religious-Exemption-Letter-to-President-Obama" type="external">letter read</a>. “That is why we are asking that an extension of protection for one group not come at the expense of faith communities whose religious identity and beliefs motivate them to serve those in need.”</p>
<p>But while the letter claimed to represent religious groups who “seek to serve in accordance with their faith and values,” it has triggered outrage among progressive religious groups who feel the signers don’t adequately represent America’s broader religious landscape. Faithful America, a progressive Christian organization, <a href="http://act.faithfulamerica.org/sign/executiveorder/?akid=386.183902.NNTQhA&amp;rd=1&amp;t=1" type="external">launched an online petition</a> today decrying the letter and asking supporters to sign their name to a statement that read, “There’s nothing Christian about firing someone just because they’re gay or lesbian. Taxpayer dollars shouldn’t fund discrimination.” The petition, which posted late Thursday morning, has already garnered over 11,000 signatures.</p>
<p>In addition, Serene Jones, president of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, published an <a href="http://time.com/2954744/dear-christians-stop-opposing-obamas-ban-on-lgbtq-job-discrimination/" type="external">Op-Ed over at Time.com</a> this afternoon saying that she was “devastated” by the letter, and argued that the proposed exemption should be left out of the executive order.</p>
<p>“I was saddened, I was embarrassed, I was appalled, [by the letter]” Jones wrote. “The faith that fought for justice for so many is now being used to justify injustice. The faith community that taught me to never throw stones was asking that Christians have a special permission to throw stones if they wanted. It’s simply theologically indefensible&#160;… I do not support a religious exemption that permits Christians to behave worse than their fellow citizens, and the president should not include it.”</p>
<p>Sources close to several progressive faith groups have also informed ThinkProgress that a coalition of denominations, faith-based advocacy organizations, and seminaries are crafting their own letter to President Obama asking him not to include the exemption. In fact, several other faith-based groups have publicly opposed the idea of a religious exemption ever since the Obama administration first announced their intention to issue the executive order a few weeks ago. As Sarah Posner <a href="http://religiondispatches.org/many-religious-leaders-oppose-religious-exemption-in-anti-discrimination-order/" type="external">points out over at Religion Dispatches</a>, pro-LGBT faith groups such as <a href="http://equally-blessed.org/release/catholics-applaud-obama%E2%80%99s-plans-protect-lgbt-workers-discrimination" type="external">Equally Blessed</a>, a Catholic organization, have been vocal opponents of any stipulation that would allow for the discrimination of LGBT people, a sentiment echoed by Rev. Welton Gaddy, head of the <a href="http://www.interfaithalliance.org/the-news/press-releases/601-interfaith-alliance-applauds-executive-order-to-curtail-lgbt-discrimination-urges-against-religious-exemption" type="external">Interfaith Alliance</a>, who voiced his organization’s opposition to the exemption by saying, “The tenet that religion should never be legitimated as a license to discriminate remains our core belief.”</p>
<p>The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., also opposed the idea of an exemption on religious grounds.</p>
<p>“I also take issue with calls from some faith leaders for the inclusion of a religious exemption in the executive order or in federal legislation,” he <a href="http://www.nationalcathedral.org/press/PR-6O6IH-P3000M.shtml" type="external">said</a>. “They falsely claim that federal workplace non-discrimination legislation would threaten religious freedom. As a Christian, it is deplorable to me to suggest that someone should have the right to discriminate against you for simply who you are or whom you love.”</p> | After Hobby Lobby, Faith Groups Reject Push To Perpetuate Discrimination Against Gays On Religious Grounds | true | http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/07/03/3456438/religious-exemption-letter-pushback/ | 2014-07-03 | 4 |
<p>From reader Bob:</p>
<p>Another interesting sticker…</p>
<p>I’m in northern virginia, deep in democratic country, and just love the disconnect with this sticker! The president is great! If only those pesky republicans (who only control one third of the government) would get out of the way all would be unicorns and rainbows!</p>
<p>Those R’s must be some really powerful folks!</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p> | They’re onto us | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/06/theyre-onto-us/ | 2012-06-30 | 0 |
<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>Christians lost more than just a word when they began substituting modern euphemisms like “premarital sex” for the old-fashioned sin of “fornication,” a Southern Baptist theologian said in a recent essay.</p>
<p>Russell Moore, theology dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., <a href="#ixzz2H1CSz1bo" type="external">argues</a> in Touchstone magazine that the terms are not interchangeable.</p>
<p>Moore said the words “fornicate” and “fornication” — used more than 40 times in the King James Version of the Bible to condemn the consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other — today sound as out-of-place to Christian ears as they do to the secular usage that ridicules Puritan norms now deemed obsolete.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.russellmoore.com/about/" type="external">Moore</a>, however, who has a Ph.D. in systematic theology, said talking to teenagers and single adults about “abstinence” or “premarital sex” instead cedes ground to the sexual revolution.</p>
<p>“In the term ‘premarital sex,’ the emphasis is on timing,” Moore contended. “The act itself is the same; the ‘sex’ is unaltered linguistically. What changes ‘marital sex’ to ‘premarital sex’ is simply when one chooses to engage in it.”</p>
<p>Moore said the word “fornication,” isn’t about timing but rather represents a “parody” of the marital act. He cited the passage in Ephesians 5 where Paul describes the union of male and female in Genesis 2 as a “mystery” that “refers to Christ and the Church.”</p>
<p>“The husband/wife union is a visible representation of the Christ/Church union,” Moore said, “a covenantal bond in which, as a head with a body, Jesus is inseparable from his bride, a bride he protects, provides for, leads, disciples, and sanctifies.”</p>
<p>“Fornication pictures a different reality than that of the mystery of Christ,” he continued. “It represents instead a Christ who uses the Church without joining her, covenantally, to himself.”</p>
<p>It is not just “naughtiness,” Moore said. “To use another word Christians find awkward and antiquated, it’s blasphemy.”</p>
<p>Moore said that is why the consequences for fornication in Scripture are so severe. “The man who leads a woman into sexual union without a covenantal bond is preaching to her, to the world and to himself a different gospel,” he said.</p>
<p>Moore said one problem with “premarital” language is it regards out-of-wedlock sex not as a sin to be repented of but as something that is automatically “fixed” by marriage.</p>
<p>“Fornication is, itself, an act of infidelity,” he said. “In the act of fornication, I am sinning against a future or a potential spouse, because I am indulging my desires apart from the self-giving of covenant union.”</p>
<p>Moore said he wouldn’t ban use of the terms “abstinence” and premarital sex” outright, but it is important for Christians “to recover a lexicon worthy of the gravity of human sexuality.”</p>
<p>“We don’t simply wish to say, ‘Wait more patiently,'” he advised. “True love waits, yes, but, more importantly, true love mates.”</p> | Redeeming fornication | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/redeeming-fornication/ | 3 |
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<p>A terrifying tropical cyclone which smashed into Vanuatu in the South Pacific wreaked widespread devastation, aid agencies said Saturday, raising fears that dozens may have died in what may be one of the region's worst weather disasters.</p>
<p>The full extent of the damage is unknown, with limited communications in place after Super Cyclone Pam, a maximum category five storm, slammed directly into the island country late Friday with gusts up to 320 kilometers (200 miles) an hour.</p>
<p>The UN had unconfirmed reports of 44 people killed in one province, and said late Saturday that there was no clear number of deaths or injuries but that the impact of the cyclone had been "catastrophic."</p>
<p>"A disaster of this magnitude has not been experienced by Vanuatu in recent history — particularly in terms of the reach of the potential damage and the ferocity of the storm," said Sune Gudnitz, who heads the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the Pacific.</p>
<p>Aid agencies were scrambling for information and preparing to send teams to Vanuatu — with a UN disaster assessment and coordination team expected to arrive late Sunday.</p>
<p>"While it is too early to say for certain, early reports are indicating that this weather disaster could potentially be one of the worst in Pacific history," UNICEF New Zealand's executive director Vivien Maidaborn said in a statement.</p>
<p>"The sheer force of the storm combined with communities just not set up to withstand it, could have devastating results for thousands across the region."</p>
<p>Aurelia Balpe, head of the Pacific regional office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said there were unconfirmed reports of casualties in the capital Port Vila.</p>
<p>But they had greater fears for outlying southern islands, home to more than 33,000 people, where communication had been cut.</p>
<p>"We are starting to get a picture from Port Vila, but there's nothing from the south," she told AFP from Suva.</p>
<p>"We are very worried just because there are less permanent structures in that part of the country. There's probably less infrastructure to be evacuated to, it's a less developed part of the country."</p>
<p>Residents of Port Vila spent the night hunkering down as the terrifying storm raged, waking to find trees had been uprooted, homes destroyed and areas flooded.</p>
<p>"The scene here this morning is complete devastation — houses are destroyed, trees are down, roads are blocked and people are wandering the streets looking for help," said Save the Children's Tom Skirrow.</p>
<p>UNICEF spokeswoman Alice Clements described the cyclone as "15-30 minutes of absolute terror" for "everybody in this country" as it passed over.</p>
<p>Care International's Charlie Damon added: "Homes have been blown to pieces, and even evacuation shelters, where people had sought refuge, have been flooded and left exposed to Cyclone Pam.</p>
<p>"If this is the level of impact in communities where emergency shelters were an option, we are deeply concerned about what has happened in remote communities without them."</p>
<p>Aid agencies launch appeals</p>
<p>The storm crossed the main Vanuatu island, home to more than 65,000 people, and a group of islands further south where 33,000 live after affecting the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, where there were no reports of fatalities.</p>
<p>Aid agencies have launched appeals and are hoping to start flying in emergency supplies of food, shelter and medicine from Sunday, when the airport in Port Vila is expected to reopen.</p>
<p>United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon, speaking from Japan, said while the impact was not yet clear "we fear the destruction and damage would be widespread", as he offered his deepest condolences to the people of Vanuatu.</p>
<p>Fiji Weather Service meteorologist Neville Koop said the cyclone was weakening as it slowly moved away from Vanuatu, and would pass between Fiji and New Caledonia before brushing the North Island of New Zealand on Monday.</p>
<p>Koop said that Pam was not the strongest storm ever to hit the South Pacific — Tropical Cyclone Zoe, which hit in 2002, was stronger — but that it was packing gusts of 320 kilometers per hour and sustained winds of 250 kilometers per hour.</p>
<p>Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that Canberra stood ready to assist, and had medical and search and rescue staff on standby while New Zealand immediately announced NZ$1 million in an initial funds to assist Vanuatu, Fiji, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.</p> | Dozens feared dead as cyclone pounds Pacific island of Vanuatu | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-03-14/dozens-feared-dead-cyclone-pounds-pacific-island-vanuatu | 2015-03-14 | 3 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />For the first time in our nation's history, the nominee for a presidential cabinet position was filibustered in the Senate. <a href="" type="internal">Rachel Maddow</a> marveled at how Republicans like Lindsay Graham were willing to break with precedent by blocking Chuck Hagel's nomination for defense secretary reaching the Senate floor in order to get more answers on Benghazi, a topic that is only tangentially related to Hagel. Maddow said that the filibuster sets a new tone for "how the presidency is treated," calling it a "fresh hell in American politics."</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">RELATED: Harry Reid Lambasts GOP After Hagel Vote Blocked: "Just When You Thought Things Couldn't Get Worse"</a></p>
<p>Maddow pointed out that in the case, there have been Cabinet nominees that never made it through the Senate due to lack of support, and there have been past threats from the minority party to filibuster nominees, but this is the first time in history it has actually happened. Maddow singled out senators Graham, John McCain, Roy Blunt, and Roger Wicker for previously going on record opposing a filibuster only to renege on their word today.</p>
<p>Maddow tore into Graham for trying to deny it's a filibuster, pointing out that his attempt to get more information on Benghazi is a ridiculous justification since Hagel knows nothing about Benghazi and had nothing to do with it. At least, Maddow reasoned, it would have made some sense to do this with John Kerry's nomination, but as for why the GOP decided on Hagel instead, Maddow could only imagine.</p>
<p>Maddow ended by pointing out that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid <a href="" type="internal">initially pledged</a> that the new Congress would take on filibuster reform, only to go back on it and instead settle for a "gentleman's agreement" with Republicans not to abuse the filibuster. Maddow asked, "How's that going?"</p>
<p>Watch the video below, courtesy of MSNBC:</p>
<p>""</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/feldmaniac" type="external">Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac</a></p>
<p>Have a tip we should know? <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a></p> | Rachel Maddow Slams GOP's Unprecedented Hagel Filibuster As 'A Fresh Hell In American Politics' | true | https://mediaite.com/tv/rachel-maddow-slams-gops-unprecedented-hagel-filibuster-as-a-fresh-hell-in-american-politics/ | 4 |
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<p>The UFO and the title of the album, the band’s 22nd, are metaphors for the challenges people encounter in life.</p>
<p>“You never know how things are going to work out,” guitarist Russell Ferrante said in phone interview. “The title came to me on my morning bike ride and the area I ride is very hilly.”</p>
<p>He was thinking that anyone in any walk of life has their challenges, those difficult stretches. Ferrante said that challenges can, of course, apply to musicians. They may come and go as band members.</p>
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<p>WHERE: Hiland Theater, 4800 E. Central</p>
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<p>HOW MUCH: $25 and $35 for the general public, $5 discount for students and members. Tickets available by visiting <a href="http://www.newmexicojazzfestival.org" type="external">www.newmexicojazzfestival.org</a>, at <a href="http://www.ticketssantafe.org" type="external">www.ticketssantafe.org</a>, at the Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale SE, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center box office, 211 W. San Francisco, Santa Fe, by calling 268-0044 or 505-988-1234. Tickets for a pre-concert reception and the concert are $75</p>
<p>In the case of the Yellowjackets, a two-time Grammy-winning jazz fusion ensemble, most players have stayed around. Ferrante himself is the last founding member still in the band, which formed in 1981. Bassist Jimmy Haslip, another founding member, decided to retire a year and a half ago.</p>
<p>“When he left, I inherited the mantle of the last man standing,” Ferrante said.</p>
<p>Saxophonist Bob Mintzer has been in the band for 23 years and drummer Will Kennedy has been in the group for 14 years.</p>
<p>With Haslip’s departure, the Yellowjackets brought in Felix Pastorius, son of the late jazz bassist, Jaco Pastorius.</p>
<p>“Bob was playing with Jaco at the time Felix and his twin brother were born. He even visited them in the hospital. So the history with Felix goes way back,” Ferrante said.</p>
<p>“Bob played with Felix about three years ago. … You can tell Felix is a really gifted musician and a really nice guy.”</p>
<p>Chemistry is a critical element in membership in the band.</p>
<p>“You spend time together and you have to get along. It’s been a year and a half gigging with Felix. He’s a joy,” Ferrante said.</p>
<p>The Yellowjackets are in concert Friday, July 19 at the Hiland Theater. It is both a part of the New Mexico Jazz Festival and it is the opening event of the Route 66 Summerfest weekend.</p> | ‘Rise in the Road’ connotes challenge | false | https://abqjournal.com/221088/rise-in-the-road-connotes-challenge.html | 2013-07-14 | 2 |
<p>An unexpected voice is joining the international chorus urging Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to leave. On Friday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that he would use his country’s solid rapport with Libya to encourage Gadhafi to finally abandon his position — a development that happened on the heels of Medvedev’s meeting with President Obama. –KA</p>
<p>The New York Times:</p>
<p>Mr. Medvedev’s announcement, which came a day after a 90-minute bilateral meeting with President Obama in France represents a pronounced shift in Russia’s tone on Libya. Russia’s criticism of NATO attacks had become increasingly tough over the last months, reviving a longstanding critique of American unilateralism that had quieted since Mr. Obama took office.</p>
<p>By attaching Russia’s prestige to the effort, Mr. Medvedev is taking a gamble. If Colonel Qaddafi could be convinced to leave, Russia would win international plaudits but would also bear some responsibility for guaranteeing his safety. If he cannot, Mr. Medvedev might find it more difficult to keep his distance from the military campaign, which is not popular in Russia.</p>
<p />
<p>But for Russia, all those risks may be mitigated by the symbolism of the moment, when it is called on to defuse a violent standoff on behalf of world powers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/world/europe/28russia.html?_r=1&amp;hp" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Russia Changes Stance on Libya | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/russia-changes-stance-on-libya/ | 2011-05-28 | 4 |
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Costas won’t be working the Super Bowl for NBC next month.</p>
<p>The longtime broadcaster was not included in the network’s lineup for the NFL title game telecast from Minneapolis on Feb. 4, leading to speculation that Costas’ comments about head injuries in football might have affected the decision.</p>
<p>Dan Patrick and Liam McHugh will host the broadcast.</p>
<p>An NBC Sports spokesperson said: “Dan and Liam have served as hosts for our NFL pregame/studio shows on Sunday nights and Thursday nights, respectively, throughout the season and will continue on Super Bowl Sunday.”</p>
<p>Costas said: “Dan and Liam have done the job hosting NBC’s NFL coverage all season. It wouldn’t be right for me to parachute in and do the Super Bowl.”</p>
<p>When he stepped down as host of the Olympics last February, Costas was expected to keep his Super Bowl duties because Mike Tirico, his Olympic replacement, would be in South Korea.</p>
<p>Costas hosted NBC’s Super Bowl pregame coverage in 1986, 1989, 1993, 2009, 2012 and 2015.</p>
<p>During an appearance at the University of Maryland in November, he said of football: “the reality is that this game destroys people’s brains.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Bob Costas won’t be working the Super Bowl for NBC next month.</p>
<p>The longtime broadcaster was not included in the network’s lineup for the NFL title game telecast from Minneapolis on Feb. 4, leading to speculation that Costas’ comments about head injuries in football might have affected the decision.</p>
<p>Dan Patrick and Liam McHugh will host the broadcast.</p>
<p>An NBC Sports spokesperson said: “Dan and Liam have served as hosts for our NFL pregame/studio shows on Sunday nights and Thursday nights, respectively, throughout the season and will continue on Super Bowl Sunday.”</p>
<p>Costas said: “Dan and Liam have done the job hosting NBC’s NFL coverage all season. It wouldn’t be right for me to parachute in and do the Super Bowl.”</p>
<p>When he stepped down as host of the Olympics last February, Costas was expected to keep his Super Bowl duties because Mike Tirico, his Olympic replacement, would be in South Korea.</p>
<p>Costas hosted NBC’s Super Bowl pregame coverage in 1986, 1989, 1993, 2009, 2012 and 2015.</p>
<p>During an appearance at the University of Maryland in November, he said of football: “the reality is that this game destroys people’s brains.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p> | Bob Costas left out of NBC’s Super Bowl coverage | false | https://apnews.com/552a6f70df7f4c5e956cf6fc096e604d | 2018-01-23 | 2 |
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<p>For the rebels, it’s a devastating loss of territory, morale and their supply corridor to Lebanon. No one knows if this reversal of fortune will be the last, but everyone knows that Assad now has the upper hand.</p>
<p>What altered the tide of battle was brazen outside intervention. A hardened, well-trained, well-armed Hezbollah force – from the terrorist Shiite group that dominates Lebanon and answers to Iran – crossed into Syria and drove the rebels out of Qusair, which Syrian artillery has left a smoking ruin.</p>
<p>This is a huge victory not just for Tehran but also for Moscow, which sustains Assad in power and prizes its warm-water port at Tartus, Russia’s only military base outside of the former Soviet Union. Vladimir Putin has stationed a dozen or more Russian warships offshore, further protecting his strategic outpost and his Syrian client.</p>
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<p>The losers? NATO-member Turkey, the major supporter of the rebels; Jordan, America’s closest Arab ally, now drowning in half a million Syrian refugees; and America’s Gulf allies, principal weapons suppliers to the rebels.</p>
<p>And the U.S., whose bystander president, having declared that Assad must go, that he has lost all legitimacy and that his fall is just a matter of time, is looking not just feckless but clueless.</p>
<p>President Obama doesn’t want U.S. boots on the ground. Fine. No one does. But between nothing and invasion lie many intermediate measures: Arming the rebels, helping Turkey maintain a safe zone in northern Syria, grounding Assad’s murderous air force by attacking airfields – all the way up to enforcing a no-fly zone by destroying the regime’s air-defense system.</p>
<p>Obama could have chosen any rung on the ladder. He chose none. Weeks ago, as battle fortunes began changing, the administration leaked that it was contemplating possibly, well maybe, arming the rebels. Then nothing. Obama simply does not understand that if America is completely hands-off, it invites hostile outside intervention. A superpower’s role in a regional conflict is deterrence.</p>
<p>In 1958, President Eisenhower – venerated by today’s fashionable “realists” for his strategic restraint – landed Marines in Lebanon to protect the pro-American government from threats from Syria and Egypt.</p>
<p>In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Russia threatened to send troops on behalf of the Egyptian army. President Nixon threatened a U.S. counteraction, reinforced the Sixth Fleet and raised the U.S. worldwide military alert level to DEFCON 3. Russia stood down.</p>
<p>That’s how the region works. Power deterring power. Obama deals instead in empty abstractions – such as “international legitimacy” – and useless conclaves, such as “Friends of Syria” conferences.</p>
<p>Assad, in contrast, has a real friend. Putin knows Obama. Having watched Obama’s retreat in Eastern Europe, his passivity at Russian obstructionism on Iran, his abject bended-knee “reset” policy, Putin knows he has nothing to fear from the American president.</p>
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<p>Result? The contemptuous Putin floods Syria with weapons. Iran, equally disdainful, sends Revolutionary Guards to advise and shore up Assad’s forces. Hezbollah invades Syria and seizes Qusair.</p>
<p>Obama’s response? No warning that such balance-altering provocations would trigger even the most minimal American response.</p>
<p>Even Obama’s chemical weapons red line is a farce. Its very pronouncement advertised passivity, signaling that anything short of WMD – say, massacring 80,000 innocents using conventional weapons – would draw no U.S. response.</p>
<p>And when that WMD red line was finally crossed, Obama went into lawyerly overdrive to erase it. Is it any wonder that Assad’s allies are on full offensive – Hezbollah brazenly joining the ground war, Russia sending a small armada and mountains of military materiel, Iran warning everyone to stay out.</p>
<p>Obama’s response is to send the secretary of state, hat in hand, to Moscow. And John Kerry returns actually thinking he’s achieved some great diplomatic breakthrough – a “peace” conference that Russia will dominate and use to re-legitimize Assad and marginalize the rebels.</p>
<p>Just to make sure Kerry understood his place, Putin kept him waiting outside his office for three hours. The Russians know how to send messages. And the one from Qusair is this: If you’re fighting for your life and have your choice of allies – Obama bearing “international legitimacy” or Putin bearing Russian naval protection, Iranian arms shipments and thousands of Hezbollah fighters – which would you choose?</p>
<p>Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail to <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p /> | Wrong people are intervening in Syria | false | https://abqjournal.com/208097/wrong-people-are-intervening-in-syria.html | 2013-06-08 | 2 |
<p>Current TV, which fired Keith Olbermann last week and is now locked in a nasty battle of words, is also being threatened with a lawsuit by the former anchor and is in danger of being dropped by Time Warner Cable.</p>
<p>Reuters <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-04-04/features/sns-rt-us-currenttv-timewarnercablebre83404p-20120404_1_time-warner-cable-keith-olbermann-gore-s-current-tv" type="external">Peter Lauria</a>&#160;is reporting that if the network fails to meet audience benchmarks for two consecutive quarters, Time Warner Cable can drop the low-rated network.</p>
<p>If Current TV misses the audience benchmark in two consecutive quarters, another clause is triggered that would allow Time Warner Cable to drop the channel. The condition was built into the most recent distribution pact between the two parties, which was signed in 2010.</p>
<p>“Time Warner Cable has been flirting with the idea of pulling Current off its systems for some time now,” said one of the sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity.</p>
<p>That would be devastating to Current. The network was founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, who had hoped to build Current into what they said would be a purely progressive network, as opposed to MSNBC, which Hyatt called a “confused, inauthentic brand” in an interview last week.</p>
<p>Gore and Hyatt, who saw Olbermann as the linchpin of their primetime strategy, had to scramble last week after they fired the volatile anchor and replaced his show with one hosted by the ethically-challenged former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer.</p>
<p>Based on Friday’s debut, the decision to replace Olbermann with Spitzer did nothing to help Current stay above the benchmark trigger as he attracted just 47,000 viewers compared to Olbermann’s March average of 152,000.</p>
<p>But Current should have known what they were getting with Spitzer whose show on CNN struggled to attract half the audience that Olbermann had at MSNBC when they went head to head. Spitzer was eventually fired by CNN due to consistently low ratings.</p>
<p>It seems that they could have tried a little harder to find someone viewers actually wanted to watch.</p>
<p>If Olbermann is going to sue he’d better hurry up while there is still a network to sue.</p> | Firing Olbermann May Be the Least of Current TV’s Woes | true | http://aim.org/don-irvine-blog/firing-olbermann-may-be-the-least-of-current-tvs-woes/ | 2012-04-05 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />To this day, I have no idea how Floridians elected Rick Scott.</p>
<p>I mean honestly, <a href="http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2003/June/03_civ_386.htm" type="external">the man was CEO of a company that was found guilty of 14 felonies for defrauding hundreds of millions from Medicare</a>.</p>
<p>How you can be CEO of a company caught defrauding Medicare to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, and still get elected governor? &#160;It’s truly pathetic that anyone actually voted for this man.</p>
<p>Many who might not have known about the fraud committed while he was CEO of Columbia/HCA might know him from <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/24/florida-voting-lines-report_n_2544373.html" type="external">the Florida voting fiasco where he closed polling places, and shortened early voting times, causing Florida voters to wait in ridiculously long lines to vote this past November</a>.&#160; Then followed that with an “investigation” into the voting process in Florida and the problems they had.</p>
<p>Now, I’m not a rocket scientist, but when you close voting locations, then cut early voting times in half, there doesn’t need to be much of an investigation as to why people waited till as long as 1 a.m. just to vote—especially when you approved both measures.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/online/eichenwald/2013/05/rick-scott-privatize-florida-citizens" type="external">Now Scott is out to hand state disaster funding for Floridians over to his corporate buddies</a>.</p>
<p>He’s using the claim that the not-for-profit company which provides property insurance for the state of Florida, Citizens United Insurance Corp., is inadequately funded to handle Florida’s disaster needs should a hurricane strike.</p>
<p>Except, he completely distorts his numbers—shocking, right?&#160; Who would think a man whose business was convicted of hundreds of millions of dollars in fraud would push false numbers?</p>
<p>Scott claims that Citizens carries less than $10 billion in funds for disasters, yet insures over $500 billion worth of property.</p>
<p>Which both claims are actually true.</p>
<p>Citizens carries with it roughly $6 billion in funds for disasters, and insures roughly $500 billion worth of Florida property.</p>
<p>What Scott doesn’t say is that they’re backed, just like every private insurance company in Florida is, by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.&#160; This back up insurance puts their funds closer to $20 billion rather than his “less than $10 billion” claim.</p>
<p>And his $500 billion in damages number?&#160; Well, he’s right about that— <a href="http://www.politifact.com/florida/statements/2012/jun/13/rick-scott/rick-scott-said-citizens-has-500-billion-risk-expo/" type="external">if every single property in Florida covered by Citizens Insurance was somehow destroyed simultaneously by an apocalyptic storm that resembled something from a Michael Bay movie</a>.</p>
<p>Then yes, theoretically the total damage could reach $500 billion.</p>
<p>But by realistic expectations, the next time a “1 in 100 years” storm strikes Florida, most expert estimates put damage at around $21 billion, not $500 billion.</p>
<p>What this really breaks down to is his attempts to funnel more money to his big insurance backers so they can profit heavily off devastation the next time Florida is hit with a hurricane.</p>
<p>And don’t kid yourself, this plan would end up shifting an even larger burden of disaster relief onto the federal government and FEMA.</p>
<p>But what did Floridians expect when they decided to elect a man who was CEO of a company found guilty of 14 felonies for defrauding the federal government of hundreds of millions of dollars?</p>
<p>Solid morals, a strong work ethic and a representative of the people?</p>
<p>They’re getting exactly who they elected—a corporate shill who would sell the soul of every citizen in the state of Florida to the highest bidder if he legally could.</p>
<p>And if his plans for completely privatizing all property insurance in Florida go through the way he hopes, the next time a hurricane devastates millions in Florida, that’s exactly what he will have done.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">FL Gov Rick Scott Pleaded the Fifth a Shocking Number of Times During Medicare Fraud Trial</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">New Poll Results Not Looking Good For Florida Governor Rick Scott</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Breaking: Florida Gov. Rick Scott Defeats Democrat Charlie Crist in Florida</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | Florida Governor Rick Scott is Trying to Destroy Hurricane Insurance to Benefit Big Insurance Companies | true | http://forwardprogressives.com/florida-governor-rick-scott-is-trying-to-destroy-hurricane-insurance-to-benefit-big-insurance-companies/ | 2013-05-31 | 4 |
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<p>The Santa Fe artist traveled to that haunted island in 2015 and came home with a series of watercolors capturing its buildings and people.</p>
<p>“Agua” by Antonio Darden, watercolor.</p>
<p>Darden’s work will hang in the New Mexico Watercolor Society Fall National Exhibition opening at the Expo New Mexico Fine Arts Building this weekend. The works range from traditional landscapes and portraits to abstract expressions.</p>
<p>Darden’s visit to Cuba spawned a series of works exploring the street scenes, fluttering laundry, battered cars and diagonal telephone wires of a country in decline. He photographed everything he saw and then painted the results when he returned home.</p>
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<p>“When you see a building that’s falling down; the plaster, the bricks and the mortar that’s falling off – I see such beauty in these things,” he said in a telephone interview.</p>
<p>At least one resident disagreed.</p>
<p>“Blue Cuba” by Antonio Darden, watercolor.</p>
<p>“A woman came up and smacked me on the shoulder and said, ‘Ugly, ugly,’ Darden said with a laugh . “To her, it needs to be cleaned up and painted.”</p>
<p>The artist waited patiently for the old woman captured in his painting “Agua.”</p>
<p>“I sat on this corner with my telephoto lens because this was such a beautiful building,” he said. “She had finished washing all the laundry white and clean. She finally sat and took this drink of this ice-blue cold water. I thought, ‘Oh my God, that tells a story’.”</p>
<p>“440” shows a man peering out of an iron door gate to something unknown down the street.</p>
<p>“He’s probably waiting for someone,” Darden said.</p>
<p>“Cuba just fascinated me,” he said. “I knew they were not keeping up their homes. Buildings were falling down and people were trying to survive with all of that. I had no idea that I would fall in love with Cuba and with the Cuban people. I could put my camera down and not worry about it. I couldn’t do that here. It was like family.”</p>
<p>“Cuba” by Antonio Darden, watercolor.</p>
<p>Darden grew up in Napa, Calif., where he began drawing with a No. 2 pencil at age 10.</p>
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<p>“I started with drawing everything I could see on the back of my mother’s envelopes for bills,” he said.</p>
<p>He waited until 2009 to progress into color work, taking workshops, buying books and watching YouTube videos. He cites Winslow Homer and John Singer Sargent as major influences. He chose watercolor because his asthma forbade the use of turpentine-dependent oils. But he soon fell in love with the translucent medium.</p>
<p>“When the colors mingle together, the mistakes turn out to be the most wonderful mistakes,” he said. “Somebody will look at something and say, ‘How did you do that?’ and I don’t know.</p>
<p>“There are so many things I see – the changing light casts shadows on walls – I just can’t wait to put it down on paper.”</p>
<p>He’s planning a 2018 trip to Amsterdam “to paint the women in the windows.”</p>
<p>“I’m looking to capture those moments of a story where you want to know about that person,” he said.</p>
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<p /> | Cuba impressions: Watercolor artist captures scenes from a country in decline | false | https://abqjournal.com/1071074/cuba-impressions-watercolor-artist-captures-scenes-from-a-country-in-decline.html | 2 |
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<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Toys ‘R’ Us Inc, the iconic toy retailer, is shuttering its 735 U.S. stores after failing to find a buyer or reach a deal to restructure billions in debt, putting about 30,000 people out of jobs.</p>
<p>The closure is a blow to generations of consumers and hundreds of toy makers that sold their products at the chain’s U.S. stores, including Barbie maker Mattel Inc, board game company Hasbro Inc and other vendors like Lego.</p>
<p>“This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families who we have served for the past 70 years,” Chief Executive Officer Dave Brandon said.</p>
<p>With shoppers flocking to Amazon.com Inc and children choosing electronic gadgets over toys, Toys ‘R’ Us has struggled to boost sales and service debt following a $6.6 billion leveraged buyout by private equity firms in 2005.</p>
<p>Toys ‘R’ Us said on Thursday it is seeking approval to liquidate inventory in its U.S. stores, which debtors anticipate will close by the end of this year.</p> FILE PHOTO: People pass by the Toys R Us store at Times Square in New York, U.S., March 9, 2018. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
<p>The company also said it is in discussions with some interested parties for a deal to combine up to 200 of its top performing U.S. stores with its Canadian operations.</p>
<p>For its operations in Asia and Central Europe, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the company will pursue a reorganization and a sale process. The already announced administration of its UK business will continue, the company said.</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>Wayne, New Jersey-based Toys ‘R’ Us was already in the process of closing one fifth of its stores as part of an attempt to emerge from one of the largest ever bankruptcies by a speciality retailer.</p>
<p>Efforts collapsed this month after lenders decided, absent a clear reorganization plan, they could recover more in a liquidation, closing stores and raising money from merchandise sales, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.</p>
<p>The disappearance of Toys ‘R’ Us leaves a void for hundreds of toy makers that relied on the chain as a top customer alongside WalMart Inc and Target Corp.</p>
<p>Shares of Mattel and Hasbro tumbled last week on Toys ‘R’ Us’ liquidation reports. Both rely on Toys ‘R’ Us for roughly 10 percent of their revenues, according to their 2016 annual reports.</p>
<p>Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(This version of the March 14 story corrects 11th paragraph to reflect that the coalition had agreed to consider summoning Sagawa for questioning, not that they had agreed to summon him)</p> Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tells reporters at his office in Tokyo on March 12, 2018, that he deeply apologizes to the public over the Finance Ministry's alternations of documents over a state land sale. Mandatory credit Kyodo/viaREUTERS
<p>By Kaori Kaneko</p>
<p>TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday remained steadfast that he and his wife were not involved in a discount land-sale deal that has seen the opposition call for the resignation of his ally, Finance Minister Taro Aso.</p>
<p>Abe and Aso have come under fresh pressure over the ministry’s admission this week that it had altered documents related to the sale of state-owned land at a steep discount to a school operator with ties to Abe’s wife, Akie.</p>
<p>Suspicion of a cover-up could slash Abe’s ratings and dash his hopes for a third term as leader of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Victory in the LDP September leadership vote would put him on track to become Japan’s longest-serving premier.</p>
<p>Copies of documents released by the finance ministry on Monday showed that references to Abe, his wife and Aso were removed from the ministry’s records of the sale to school operator Moritomo Gakuen.</p>
<p>“When you look at the documents even before they were altered, it is clear that my wife and I were not involved,” Abe told an upper house budget committee, a statement echoed by chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga.</p> Protesters shout slogans and hold placards during a rally denouncing Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso over a suspected cover-up of a cronyism scandal in front of Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Issei Kato
<p>Abe has said he would resign if evidence were found that they had.</p>
<p>According to the ministry documents, a comment from Moritomo Gakuen citing Akie Abe as telling him, “This is good land so please proceed”, was removed. Yasunori Kagoike, the former head of Moritomo Gakuen, and his wife remain in custody after being arrested last July over the deal.</p>
<p>Asked about the reference on Wednesday, Abe said: “I checked with my wife and she says she said no such thing. My wife was neither the person in charge of establishing the school nor Mr Kagoike’s boss, so naturally she would not have made such a remark.”</p> Slideshow (3 Images)
<p>Abe and Aso told parliament they had never instructed officials at the finance ministry to alter the documents.</p>
<p>The scandal has caused a stalemate in parliament, with opposition parties boycotting debate on the next fiscal year’s budget, potentially delaying reforms to boost long-term economic growth.</p> Related Video
<p>On Wednesday, Tetsuro Fukuyama, secretary-general of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party told reporters the ruling LDP-Komeito coalition had agreed to consider summoning former National Tax Agency chief Nobuhisa Sagawa to testify in parliament.</p>
<p>Sagawa headed the ministry division that submitted the documents before he became tax agency chief in July, an appointment critics saw as a reward for his efforts to smooth over the issue with his statements to parliament last year.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Kiyomi Tsujimoto, a prominent Constitutional Democratic Party lawmaker, asked for Abe’s wife to appear for questioning, a senior LDP politician said earlier. She did not receive a reply.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Yoshifumi Takemoto and Elaine Lies,; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May’s response to Russia after a nerve agent attack on British soil is unlikely to trouble Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin unduly, despite the expression of outrage that greeted it in Moscow.</p> Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street, in London, March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville
<p>After the first known use of a military-grade nerve toxin on British soil since World War Two, May expelled 23 Russian spies using diplomatic cover and promised to freeze Russian State assets if they were used to threaten British interests.</p>
<p>May also said Britain would work on new powers to defend against hostile state activity, beef up counter espionage powers and cut back official participation in the soccer World Cup. Other measures may be considered, she said.</p>
<p>But her announcement, just days before an election in which Putin, a former KGB officer, is expected to coast to a fourth term, gave no examples of Russian officials or companies that would be targeted or barred from London’s financial center.</p>
<p>London remains open to Russian investment, albeit with a political chill. Other than the expulsions, May went no further than current EU sanctions which include travel restrictions and asset freezes against 150 people and 38 companies.</p>
<p>“The Kremlin will understand this as a very mild response,” said Mathieu Boulègue, a Russia expert at Chatham House think-tank in London. “Putin is unlikely to be worried by this.”</p>
<p>A senior British government official said further options remained on the table: “Economic, diplomatic, legislative, and our security capabilities can all be brought to bear if needed.”</p>
<p>But after days of full-volume rhetoric from London about the suspected Russian attack and a midnight deadline that Moscow scorned, May has shown just how little appetite Britain has for a fight on the eve of Brexit.</p>
<p>While the United States and European Union joined criticism of Moscow - albeit with a delayed response from U.S. President Donald Trump - there was little evidence of appetite in Paris, Berlin or Washington for anything beyond a scolding.</p> Russian president Vladimir Putin addresses the audience during a rally marking the fourth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Crimea, March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
<p>Russia denied any involvement in the attack and simply declined to say anything about how a Soviet-era nerve toxin ended up striking down a former double agent on the normally genteel streets of the English city of Salisbury.</p>
<p>The foreign ministry described May’s measures as a flagrant provocation and promised a speedy response.</p>
<p>If Russia - or Russians - were behind the nerve attack, some of their aims may have been achieved: Britain has shown just how little power it is willing to exercise while every Kremlin opponent will be more nervous about retribution.</p>
<p>For many Russian experts, the attack on Sergei Skripal, a former GRU military intelligence officer who betrayed dozens of Russian agents to MI6, was a test for Britain after years of turning a blind eye to the reality of modern Russia.</p>
<p>Part of that policy is due to money.</p>
<p>One of the biggest exports since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union was money and London, as one of the top two financial capitals in the world, is a major beneficiary.</p> Related Video
<p>London, or Londongrad as it is sometimes dubbed, is the Western capital of choice for the oligarchs and Russian officials who flaunt their wealth across Europe’s most luxurious destinations.</p>
<p>France, with its own business ties to Russia, has been more muted on the issue of Russian involvement in the attack on Skripal than Germany or the United States.</p>
<p>“Britain has tied itself up in knots,” said a French official who spoke on condition of anonymity.</p>
<p>“It’s had a very open policy on Russian private investment and émigrés for years and now it wants Europe to offer support in taking steps against Moscow. This is for them (Britain) to respond to. It’s shocking that it happened, but ultimately it’s up to Britain.”</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Luke Baker in Paris and Elizabeth Piper in London; editing by Philippa Fletcher</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - IHeartMedia Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday as the largest U.S. radio station owner reached an in-principle agreement with creditors to restructure its overwhelming debt load.</p>
<p>The company, which filed for bankruptcy along with some of its units, said it ‍reached the agreement with holders of more than $10 billion of its outstanding debt for a balance sheet restructuring, which would reduce its debt by more than $10 billion.</p>
<p>IHeartMedia, which has struggled with $20 billion of debt and falling revenue at its 858 radio stations, said cash on hand and cash generated from ongoing operations will be sufficient to fund the business during the bankruptcy process.</p>
<p>“The agreement ... is a significant accomplishment, as it allows us to definitively address the more than $20 billion in debt that has burdened our capital structure,” Chief Executive Bob Pittman said.</p>
<p>The filing comes after John Malone’s Liberty Media Corp proposed on Feb. 26 a deal to buy a 40 percent stake in a restructured iHeartMedia for $1.16 billion, uniting the company with Liberty’s Sirius XM Holdings Inc satellite radio service.</p>
<p>Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc, a subsidiary of iHeartMedia and one of the world’s largest billboard companies, and its units did not commence Chapter 11 proceedings.</p>
<p>IHeartMedia skipped a $106 million interest payment on Feb. 1, triggering a 30-day grace period during which the company has tried to hammer out a deal with it bondholders.</p>
<p>The company disclosed on Monday it was still exchanging proposals with its creditors, but had yet to reach an agreement.</p>
<p>Its most recent proposal would have given holders of secured loans, who are owed nearly $13 billion, about $5.6 billion in new debt and 94 percent of the equity in a reorganized iHeartMedia. These creditors also would have received iHeartMedia’s 89.5 percent stake in Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings.</p>
<p>Bain Capital LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP control 68 percent of the voting stock of iHeartMedia, according to the company’s most recent annual report.</p>
<p>The private equity firms led a $17.9 billion leveraged buyout of what was then Clear Channel Communications Inc in 2008, just as the buyout boom was fading and as the signs of the financial crisis began to emerge.</p>
<p>Shares of iHeartMedia lost three-quarters of their value in the second half of 2015 and have never recovered since then. On Monday, the pink sheet stock closed at 48 cents.</p>
<p>IHeartMedia traces its roots to the 1972 purchase of KEEZ-FM in San Antonio, Texas, where it is currently headquartered. It also produces syndicated radio programs that feature “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest and political personalities Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.</p>
<p>The company had 14,300 employees at the end of 2016, according to its most recent annual report.</p>
<p>Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Mekhla Raina in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | TABLE-Sekisui House Reit-6 MTH forecast Toys 'R' Us to close U.S. stores, leaving void for toy lovers Japan PM Abe denies involvement by him, wife in discount land sale British PM May expels 23 Russian spies but stops well short of bothering Putin Largest U.S. radio company iHeartMedia files for bankruptcy | false | https://reuters.com/article/table-sekisui-house-reit-6-mth-forecast/table-sekisui-house-reit-6-mth-forecast-idUSL4N1PK2ZG | 2018-01-25 | 2 |
<p>Today in fucked up shit, <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2016-06-18-US-Child-Given-Away-Arrests/id-e5a37baac0544978982c9822191b1dfe" type="external">12 girls&#160;were found in a man’s home</a> in Buck’s County, Pennsylvania, at least two&#160;of whom he allegedly&#160;sired with a girl who&#160;was was “gifted” to him by her biological parents, according to the Associated Press. The girls are all between six and 18 years old, and the man, 51-year-old Lee Kaplan, was&#160;arrested and charged for statutory sexual assault, corruption of minors, aggravated indecent assault, indecent assault, and unlawful contact with a minor. The whole situation is just completely disgusting and upsetting.</p>
<p>Daniel&#160;Stoltzfus, the father of the teen allegedly “gifted” to Kaplan who’s now 18, was&#160;charged with&#160;conspiracy of statutory sexual assault and child endangerment for giving his daughter to Kaplan in return for some financial help. His wife,&#160;Savilla Stoltzfus, was&#160;charged with endangering the welfare of a child for letting that shit go down. Their bails are set a $1 million dollars, and let’s please hope no one pays it.</p>
<p>The investigation is ongoing, as Lower Southampton police search the property for evidence. A neighbor, Jen Betz, called in a tip to the police that set the arrests in motion. She said she had seen Kaplan walking around the neighborhood with the girls and she told WPVI: “ <a href="http://6abc.com/news/police-girl-gifted-to-sex-assault-suspect;-12-girls-found-in-home/1390408/" type="external">They’re so sad and fearful every time</a> I see them. That’s what made me call.” But not right away. Betz added that she’d been&#160;telling her&#160;husband for years, “ <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/salvadorhernandez/man-allegedly-found-living-with-12-girls-in-pennsylvania-hom?bftwnews&amp;utm_term=.ki1nLwkwX#.xtbogD4DB" type="external">Something isn’t right</a>, something isn’t right.”</p>
<p />
<p>The house had boarded up windows and weeds out front (looking just like a dirty place for a nasty sex offender to hoard underage girls), and the captive&#160; <a href="http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/12-Children-Found-Inside-Home-of-Bucks-County-Man-Who-is-Charged-with-Sex-Assault-383448131.html" type="external">girls would reportedly play outside wearing “Amish”-style</a>clothes. Hint to neighbors in Pennsylvania: Amish country is about three hours from Feasterville in Lancaster, so anyone wearing long dresses and holding hands with a bearded man who lives in a broken down house with boarded up windows is not OK, and you should help them, puh-lease.</p>
<p>The scary part is that they weren’t being held in some underground bunker or hut, but apparently were allowed to play in the fucking front yard in plain sight.&#160;The world, as always, is often just a whole heap of sad ass shit.</p>
<p>The one “gifted” girl,&#160;has been identified, along with her two kids, but the other girls’ identities are&#160;still unknown. Police still haven’t found any identification on them or stashed away in some weird shoebox where Kaplan keeps records of his possibly kidnapped or otherwise bartered children. At least the girls’ nightmare is over, and they can start getting help to deal with this shit. And of course they will, because females are strong as hell.</p> | 12 Girls Found In Some Sicko’s Pennsylvania Home, One Of Whom Was Allegedly “Gifted” To Him By Her Parents | true | http://thefrisky.com/2016-06-20/12-girls-found-in-some-sickos-pennsylvania-home-one-of-whom-was-allegedly-gifted-to-him-by-her-parents/ | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Years ago, I read a news story about a guy who owned a fleet of cement-mixer trucks that supplied concrete for road construction in his area. He was also active in community affairs and won all sorts of citizenship awards. Then some financial analyst noticed that the community devoted an unusually large proportion of its budget to roadwork. It turned out that the man routinely overloaded his trucks. The trucks cracked the roads they traveled on, which guaranteed his company a steady stream of business. An elegant scam.</p>
<p>I think about that guy every spring when the Skin Cancer Foundation (SCF) makes its annual appeal to the public to use sunscreen. As people heed their warning this year, few will remember the report that made headlines in February. According to a survey of new research by epidemiologist Marianne Berwick of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, there is no evidence that sunscreen offers any real protection against malignant melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. “It’s not safe to rely on sunscreen,” Berwick told the press.</p>
<p>The SCF promptly refuted her findings in a press release, telling consumers that “sunscreen should continue to be an integral part of a comprehensive program” to prevent melanoma. That’s what most people will likely hear from their dermatologists as well. What they won’t learn is that dermatologists get much of their information from the SCF, and the SCF, in turn, is heavily supported by the sunscreen industry. (A sunscreen manufacturer even funded SCF’s quarterly consumer publication, “Sun and Skin News.”) No wonder the foundation doesn’t give much credence to the growing number of studies showing that even so-called broad-spectrum sunscreen doesn’t prevent melanoma. Like the road-destroying trucks that guaranteed work for the concrete company, rising melanoma rates scare people into using more sunscreen.</p>
<p>In a 1993 Mother Jones article (“ <a href="/news/feature/1993/05/castleman.html" type="external">Beach Bummer</a>,” May/June), I reported that sunscreen may actually contribute to skin cancer. It prolongs people’s time in the sun by preventing the only natural melanoma warning system human skin has—sunburn. Berwick didn’t go that far, but in noting the mounting evidence against sunscreen, she credited Mother Jones for its reporting.</p>
<p>What’s changed in the five years since our report? More studies prove this link, melanoma rates are rising about 6 percent each year, and sunscreen sales are continuing to climb.</p>
<p>Sunscreen makers and the SCF have engaged in a cynical sleight of hand by claiming that sunscreen helps prevent skin cancer. There are three main kinds of skin cancer: basal cell, squamous cell, and malignant melanoma. The first two are common (about 1 million cases a year) and almost always medically minor. The American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute don’t even count them in the nation’s cancer statistics. Melanoma is much less common (40,300 diagnoses last year), but often fatal (7,300 deaths).</p>
<p>Basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer are caused primarily by UV-B light, the kind that causes sunburn, and there’s credible evidence that sunscreen helps prevent those two types of cancer (as well as offers protection against premature aging of skin). The Food and Drug Administration’s SPF (or sun protection factor) rating program measures UV-B protection. But most sunscreens do not offer protection against UV-A, the harmful, longer-wavelength UV light. UV-A penetrates right through the outer skin—and through sunscreen—down to the melanocytes, the cells that become cancerous in melanoma cases. In one study that proved this point, researchers at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, induced melanoma in fish by exposing them to both UV-B and UV-A sunlight. They concluded: “Sunscreens effective in the UV-B region…would not protect against melanoma.”</p>
<p>But when people hear the term skin cancer, they think melanoma. That’s because when sunscreen labels claim that the product can protect people from skin cancer, consumers don’t differentiate melanoma from basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers.</p>
<p>Until around 1950, melanoma was rare. then its incidence increased slowly until the mid-1960s, when it accelerated into the current epidemic. The standard, pro-sunscreen explanation is that, like lung cancer, the disease has a long lag time, on the order of 20 years. Americans began sunbathing in earnest in the 1950s, and as a result, the melanoma epidemic hit in the 1970s. But even a cursory look at the history of sunbathing washes this explanation away faster than a sand castle in a hurricane. Ask any elderly person you know. Beaches around the country were jammed on summer weekends in the 1930s. Why didn’t a melanoma epidemic hit the Depression generation 20 years later? Why did it take until the mid-1970s for the epidemic to strike? Sunscreen promoters offer no clue.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, ever since the melanoma rate began soaring, health authorities have exhorted us to use sunscreen. Americans have clearly taken this advice to heart. Sales figures jumped from $18 million in 1972 to $500 million in 1996. If melanoma has a 20-year lag time and sunscreen is protective, the melanoma rate should have started to level off by now. Instead, it’s climbing. In 1980, an American’s lifetime melanoma risk was 1 in 250. Today, it’s 1 in 84.</p>
<p>Now take a closer look at the presumption that melanoma has a long lag time. The research indicates that the lag time could be as low as two years. Lung cancer, heart disease, and other conditions with long lag times are diagnosed at a steady rate year-round. Summer brings no more diagnoses than winter because over, say, 20 years, seasonal distinctions blur. Melanoma diagnoses, on the other hand, do reflect seasonality. At least five studies of melanoma (in Hawaii, the continental U.S., Sweden, Norway, and England and Wales) all agree that melanoma diagnoses follow a seasonal pattern, showing up at a considerably higher rate in summer than in winter. Seasonality is a hallmark of biological events with short lag times.</p>
<p>Given that melanoma was rare until 1950, and that melanoma may have a lag time of only two to five years, then something about our relationship with UV light must have changed a few years before the melanoma rate began inching up in the early 1950s.</p>
<p>Consider sunscreen. It was first introduced in the early 1940s as tanning lotion. The idea was that if you could stay in the sun without burning, you’d tan. A few years later, the melanoma rate began to rise. Improved tanning lotions came on the market in the early 1960s, and a few years after that, the melanoma rate zoomed up. Public health authorities became concerned, and melanoma became news. Seeing a commercial opportunity, the makers of tanning lotions repositioned their products as “sunscreen,” and the now familiar sermonizing began. Since then, melanoma has become the nation’s fastest-rising cancer and sunscreen sales have continued to climb. Ozone depletion may play a role in the higher melanoma rate, as some scientists say, but melanoma cases began to go up long before ozone depletion became an issue.</p>
<p>In recent years, it has become clear that to prevent melanoma, sunscreen must do more than block UV-B rays—it must also protect against UV-A. As a result, sunscreen makers have tinkered with their formulas, and now most claim that their products provide broad-spectrum UV-A and UV-B coverage. Sounds good, but it’s actually another sleight of hand on the part of sunscreen manufacturers. Only one ingredient, avobenzone, is “clearly proven” to block UV-A sunlight, and according to FDA spokeswoman Ivy Kupec, the FDA doesn’t require its inclusion in sunscreens in order for manufacturers to claim that their products offer broad-spectrum protection. (“I guess there’s an inconsistency,” she notes.) Kupec added that manufacturers “could still say [their product] protects against UV-A, because they can do it until we tell them not to.” So much for regulatory protection.</p>
<p>Even if sunscreen blocked UV-A completely, almost no one uses it in the way that grants real protection against sunburn. For sunscreen to live up to its hype, you have to slop it on real thick and reapply it every few hours. We’re talking at least one full bottle per person per day at the beach. Meanwhile, the vast majority of sunscreen users apply a thin layer once or twice.</p>
<p>The only proven way to prevent melanoma is to cover up. Our forebears did so in the days before sunscreen. Clearly it worked because melanoma was so rare. It’s also what people now do in Australia. White Australians come largely from light-skinned British/Irish stock. Queensland province, in northeastern Australia, has the highest melanoma rate in the world, but as the SCF proudly pointed out when it rebutted Berwick’s study, melanoma rates there have started to flatten. What the SCF did not mention is that while the Queensland public health authorities began a big-budget PR campaign promoting sunscreen in 1981, they shifted the campaign’s focus a few years ago to strongly encourage people to cover up and stay in the shade.</p>
<p>The Skin Cancer Foundation does acknowledge that sunscreen alone is not enough. You need to wear protective clothing (pricey new fabrics such as Solumbra apparently block both UV-A and UV-B, but a wide hat and long, lightweight summer clothing should suffice), and spend more time in the shade. If you’re a beach lover, invest in a sun umbrella. But think twice before you slap on sunscreen. Some cement mixers destroy the roads we’re told they build. And some products may contribute to the cancer we’re told they prevent.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Kate Rope.</p>
<p /> | Sunscam | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1998/05/sunscam/ | 2018-05-01 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>In a Feb. 3 letter to Martinez, the organizations cite Bidegain's competing in a coyote-killing contest in Nevada in December, in which he and a partner killed eight coyotes and won $1,300. They take Espinoza to task for helping organize coyote-killing contests in New Mexico while serving as executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife New Mexico.</p>
<p>"By their actions, these two officials have demonstrated a callous disrespect for wildlife and betrayed the public trust placed in them to manage and conserve New Mexico's wildlife for the benefit of all the state's residents," Kevin Bixby, executive director of the Southwest Environmental Center, states in the letter. "The Governor should replace them immediately with individuals who will take their stewardship responsibility seriously."</p>
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<p>The seven-member, governor-appointed Game Commission is responsible for protecting the state's wildlife and natural resources.</p>
<p>Bidegain and his partner, Jim Bob Allen, placed sixth by shooting and killing eight coyotes during the Dec. 6-7 World Coyote Calling Championship in Elko, Nev., according to contest results. Bidegain also has appeared in coyote-killing episodes of "Carnivore," a predator-hunting show aired on the Pursuit Channel.</p>
<p>Espinoza, a Farmington businessman, is the former executive director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife New Mexico, which has sponsored annual coyote-killing contests.</p>
<p>According to the Farmington-based group's website, its mission is to provide "quality wildlife management programs to local and federal wildlife agencies, educate the public about the roles hunters play in wildlife conservation, and perpetuate the family traditions of hunting and fishing." The nonprofit group accomplishes that by focusing on "habitat protection and enhancement, responsible predator control and reasonable management of hunters."</p>
<p>The conservation groups question at least one of those goals.</p>
<p>"Their actions demonstrate ignorance of the important, scientifically-established role predators such as coyotes play in natural ecosystems, and indicate an extreme view of wildlife killing for mere entertainment and to win prizes, which has no place on the Game Commission," Mary Katherine Ray, wildlife chairwoman of the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, stated in the letter.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Attempts to reach Bidegain and Espinoza for comment were unsuccessful Thursday.</p>
<p>Enrique Knell, the governor's spokesman, did not respond to a request seeking comment on whether the governor is considering the groups' concerns.</p>
<p>Other groups endorsing the letter are: Southwest Environmental Center, Sierra Club - Rio Grande Chapter, The Rewilding Institute, Project Coyote, WildEarth Guardians, Sandia Mountain BearWatch, Conservation Voters of New Mexico and the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance.</p>
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<p /> | Game officials' removal requested | false | https://abqjournal.com/349287/game-officials-removal-requested.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Image source: Apple.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Good news, Universal Display shareholders: Apple may finally be ready to pull the trigger on that OLED iPhone that you've been hearing about for half a decade.</p>
<p>I know, I know. These OLED iPhone rumors have been circling for as long as most of us can remember. But maybe, just maybe, they might actually come true this time. The latest buzz comes from the Chinese division of Japan's Nikkei news, which reports that Apple is accelerating its OLED iPhone plans and is now on track to launch the device in 2017.</p>
<p>Party like it's 2017If true, that's right on the horizon. Apple was previously said to be targeting a 2018 or 2019 launch for an OLED iPhone. Reports from December had indicated that Apple was pushing its display suppliers to prepare for a 2018 launch of OLED displays. Both LG Display and Samsung were already beginning to invest a combined $13 billion in capacity expansion, considering Apple's volume requirements.</p>
<p>Apple has held off quite a while due to some limitations around OLED technology (which Tim Cook was kind enough to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/02/12/3-sentences-that-knocked-down-universal-display.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">elaborate on</a> a few years back), but Apple has <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/27/at-long-last-apple-is-prepared-to-embrace-oled-dis.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">seemingly overcome</a> those hurdles now and OLED is capable of meeting the Mac maker's stringent quality standards. Including an OLED display in Apple Watch was an <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/05/20/how-apple-inc-will-transition-completely-to-oled-d.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">extremely important</a> piece of evidence in this department.</p>
<p>Samsung takes the display leadJust a couple weeks ago, Samsung unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7. Samsung has been a long-standing proponent of OLEDs, having investing vast sums over the years in the technology, and it has a long list of improvements to show for it. As expected, the Galaxy S7 also included an OLED display.</p>
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<p>While in prior years, Samsung OLED displays were grossly oversaturated and featured the characteristic blue tint, the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge are impressive technical feats. DisplayMate even went as far as to call it the best smartphone display ever. Note that DisplayMate is quite objective. The company awarded that same distinction to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in 2014, only to give it to Samsung's Galaxy Note 5 in 2015. DisplayMate similarly called the iPad Mini 4's display the best tablet display ever. It goes without saying that Apple and Samsung overall are neck-and-neck in the display technology race.</p>
<p>The difference in performance this year was even enough to win over technically oriented fellow Fool Ashraf Eassa, who is <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/25/why-im-ditching-my-apple-inc-iphone-6s-plus.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">ditching his iPhone 6s Plus</a> in favor of one of Samsung's new handsets. Beyond technical benefits, there are now strong competitive reasons to really take OLEDs seriously, which could be why Apple is reportedly pulling its timeline in by a year.</p>
<p>Sooner or laterIn no uncertain terms, an Apple adoption of OLED would be a huge windfall for Universal Display. Samsung and LG have long been Universal Display's largest customers, but Apple comprises such a huge chunk of the smartphone market that both the licensing business and materials business would enjoy meaningful upside. Fellow Fool Steve Symington will fill you in on the latest quarter <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/26/why-universal-display-corporation-stock-plunged-to.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>It won't happen this year, but an OLED iPhone might actually see the light of day next year.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/04/will-apple-incs-mythical-oled-iphone-ever-see-the.aspx" type="external">Will Apple, Inc.'s Mythical OLED iPhone Ever See the Light of Day?</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewCow/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Evan Niu, CFA</a> owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Universal Display. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> | Will Apple, Inc.'s Mythical OLED iPhone Ever See the Light of Day? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/04/will-apple-inc-mythical-oled-iphone-ever-see-light-day.html | 2016-03-28 | 0 |
<p>Texas financier <a href="" type="internal">Allen Stanford</a> pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a streamlined indictment, with a judge rejecting last-minute requests for more time from defense lawyers who have cited budget and time constraints in previous filings.</p>
<p>Stanford, nearly three years after his arrest, pleaded not guilty to 14 criminal counts of fraud, obstruction of a federal investigation and conspiracy to launder money in an alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The original indictment charged the former billionaire and cricket promoter with 21 counts of fraud and other charges. Federal prosecutors filed the narrowed case in May.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge David Hittner said Stanford's trial will begin Jan. 23.</p>
<p>Defense attorneys on Wednesday continued to state that Stanford is unable to help them prepare his defense, an argument Hittner rejected.</p>
<p>"I found him competent and therefore we are ready to proceed," the judge said.</p>
<p>Robert Scardino, one of Stanford's lawyers, said the defense fully intends to put their client on the stand at trial to give the jury an opportunity to decide whether he is fit for trial.</p>
<p>Stanford, 61, is accused of running a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors throughout the United States and Latin America through the sale of certificates of deposit from a bank based on the Caribbean island of Antigua.</p>
<p>Late last month, Hittner ruled that Stanford was mentally fit to stand trial after spending eight months at a prison hospital in North Carolina to treat an addiction to a powerful anti-anxiety drug and injuries from a 2009 jailhouse fight.</p>
<p>The case is USA v. Stanford et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, No. 09-cr-00342.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Allen Stanford Pleads Not Guilty to 14 Counts | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/01/18/allen-stanford-pleads-not-guilty-to-14-counts.html | 2016-01-26 | 0 |
<p>We still don’t have any sort of apology or retraction from the&#160;Washington Post&#160;for promoting “The List” — the highly dangerous blacklist that got a huge boost from the newspaper’s fawning coverage on November 24. The project of smearing 200 websites with one broad brush wouldn’t have gotten far without the avid complicity of high-profile media outlets, starting with the&#160;Post.</p>
<p>On Thursday — a week after the&#160;Post&#160;published its front-page news&#160; <a href="" type="internal">article</a>&#160;hyping the blacklist that was put out by a group of unidentified people called PropOrNot — I sent a petition statement to the newspaper’s executive editor Martin Baron.</p>
<p>“Smearing is not reporting,” the RootsAction&#160; <a href="https://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12566" type="external">petition</a>&#160;says. “The&#160;Washington Post’s recent descent into McCarthyism — promoting anonymous and shoddy claims that a vast range of some 200 websites are all accomplices or tools of the Russian government — violates basic journalistic standards and does real harm to democratic discourse in our country. We urge the&#160;Washington Post&#160;to prominently retract the article and apologize for publishing it.”</p>
<p>After mentioning that 6,000 people had signed the petition (the number has doubled since then), my email to Baron added: “If you skim through the comments that many of the signers added to the petition online, I think you might find them to be of interest. I wonder if you see a basis for dialogue on the issues raised by critics of the&#160;Post&#160;piece in question.”</p>
<p>The reply came from the newspaper’s vice president for public relations, Kristine&#160;Coratti Kelly, who thanked me “for reaching out to us” before presenting the&#160;Post’s response, quoted here in full:</p>
<p>“The&#160;Post&#160;reported on the work of four separate sets of researchers, as well as independent experts, who have examined Russian attempts to influence American democracy. PropOrNot was one. The&#160;Post&#160;did not name any of the sites on PropOrNot’s list of organizations that it said had — wittingly or unwittingly — published or echoed Russian propaganda. The&#160;Post&#160;reviewed PropOrNot’s findings and our questions about them were answered satisfactorily during the course of multiple interviews.”</p>
<p>But that damage-control response was as full of holes as the news story it tried to defend.</p>
<p>For one thing, PropOrNot wasn’t just another source for the&#160;Post’s story. As&#160;The New Yorker&#160;noted in a&#160; <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-propaganda-about-russian-propaganda" type="external">devastating article</a>&#160;on Dec. 1, the story “prominently cited the PropOrNot research.” The&#160;Post’s account “had the force of revelation, thanks in large part to the apparent scientific authority of PropOrNot’s work: the group released a 32-page report detailing its methodology, and named names with its list of 200 suspect news outlets…. But a close look at the report showed that it was a mess.”</p>
<p>Contrary to the PR message from the&#160;Post&#160;vice president, PropOrNot did not merely say that the sites on its list had “published or echoed Russian propaganda.” Without a word of the slightest doubt or skepticism in the entire story, the&#160;Post&#160;summarized PropOrNot’s characterization of all the websites on its list as falling into two categories: “Some players in this online echo chamber were knowingly part of the propaganda campaign, the researchers concluded, while others were ‘useful idiots’ — a term born of the Cold War to describe people or institutions that unknowingly assisted Soviet Union propaganda efforts.”</p>
<p>As&#160;The New Yorker&#160;pointed out, PropOrNot’s criteria for incriminating content were broad enough to include “nearly every news outlet in the world, including the&#160;Post&#160;itself.”</p>
<p>Yet “The List” is not a random list by any means — it’s a targeted mish-mash, naming websites that are not within shouting distance of the U.S. corporate and foreign policy establishment.</p>
<p>And so the list includes a few overtly Russian-funded outlets; some other sites generally aligned with Kremlin outlooks; many pro-Trump sites, often unacquainted with what it means to be factual and sometimes overtly racist; and other websites that are quite different — solid, factual, reasonable — but too progressive or too anti-capitalist or too libertarian or too right-wing or just plain too independent-minded for the evident tastes of whoever is behind PropOrNot.</p>
<p>As&#160;The New Yorker’s writer Adrian Chen put it: “To PropOrNot, simply exhibiting a pattern of beliefs outside the political mainstream is enough to risk being labeled a Russian propagandist.” And he concluded: “Despite the impressive-looking diagrams and figures in its report, PropOrNot’s findings rest largely on innuendo and conspiracy thinking.”</p>
<p>As for the&#160;Post&#160;vice president’s defensive phrasing that “the&#160;Post&#160;did not name any of the sites on PropOrNot’s list,” the fact is that the&#160;Post&#160;unequivocally promoted PropOrNot, driving web traffic to its site and adding a hotlink to the anonymous group’s 32-page report soon after the newspaper’s story first appeared. As I mentioned in my reply to her: “Unfortunately, it’s kind of like a newspaper saying that it didn’t name any of the people on the&#160;Red Channels&#160;blacklist in 1950 while promoting it in news coverage, so no problem.”</p>
<p>As much as the&#160;Post&#160;news management might want to weasel out of the comparison, the parallels to the advent of the McCarthy Era are chilling. For instance, the&#160;Red Channels&#160;list, with 151 names on it, was successful as a weapon against dissent and free speech in large part because, early on, so many media outlets of the day actively aided and abetted blacklisting, as the&#160;Post&#160;has done for “The List.”</p>
<p>Consider how the&#160;Post&#160;story described the personnel of PropOrNot in favorable terms even while hiding all of their identities and thus shielding them from any scrutiny — calling them “a nonpartisan collection of researchers with foreign policy, military and technology backgrounds.”</p>
<p>So far&#160;The New Yorker&#160;has been the largest media outlet to directly confront the&#160;Post’s egregious story. Cogent assessments can also be found at&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Intercept</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Consortium News</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Common Dreams</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">AlterNet</a>,&#160; <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/washington-post-blacklist-story-is-shameful-disgusting-w452543" type="external">Rolling Stone</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Fortune</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">CounterPunch</a>,&#160; <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/the-washington-post-promotes-a-mccarthyite-blacklist/" type="external">The Nation</a>&#160;and numerous other sites.</p>
<p>But many mainline journalists and outlets jumped at the chance to amplify the&#160;Post’s piece of work. A sampling of the cheers from prominent journalists and liberal partisans was published by <a href="http://fair.org/" type="external">FAIR.org</a> under the apt headline “ <a href="http://fair.org/home/why-are-media-outlets-still-citing-discredited-fake-news-blacklist/" type="external">Why Are Media Outlets Still Citing Discredited ‘Fake News’ Blacklist?</a>”</p>
<p>FAIR’s media analyst&#160;Adam Johnson cited enthusiastic responses to the bogus story from journalists like&#160;Bloomberg’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Sahil Kupar</a>&#160;and&#160;MSNBC’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Joy Reid</a>&#160;— and such outlets as&#160; <a href="" type="internal">USA Today</a>,&#160; <a href="http://gizmodo.com/research-confirms-that-russia-played-a-major-role-in-sp-1789363613" type="external">Gizmodo</a>,&#160;the&#160; <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/russian-propaganda-effort-behind-flood-fake-news-preceded-election/" type="external">PBS NewsHour</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Daily Beast</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Slate</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">AP</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Verge</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">NPR</a>, which “all uncritically wrote up the&#160;Post’s most incendiary claims with little or minimal pushback.”&#160;On the MSNBC site, the Rachel Maddow Show’s&#160; <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/it-was-russia-was-running-super-pac-trumps-campaign" type="external">blog</a>&#160;“added another breathless write-up hours later, repeating the catchy talking point that ‘it was like Russia was running a super PAC for Trump’s campaign.’”</p>
<p>With so many people understandably upset about Trump’s victory, there’s an evident attraction to blaming the Kremlin, a convenient scapegoat for Hillary Clinton’s loss. But the&#160;Post’s blacklisting story and the media’s amplification of it — and the overall political environment that it helps to create — are all building blocks for a reactionary order, threatening the First Amendment and a range of civil liberties.</p>
<p>When liberals have green lighted a witch-hunt, right wingers have been pleased to run with it. President Harry Truman issued an executive order in March 1947 to establish “loyalty” investigations in every agency of the federal government. Joe McCarthy and the era named after him were soon to follow.</p>
<p>In media and government, the journalists and officials who enable blacklisting are&#160;cravenly&#160;siding with conformity instead of democracy.</p> | Media Complicity is Key to Blacklisting Websites | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/12/06/media-complicity-is-key-to-blacklisting-websites/ | 2016-12-06 | 4 |
<p>A picture is not always worth a thousand words. The recently released photographs of Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Washington during their first direct talks in many months certainly don’t say anything new.</p>
<p>It was the status quo at its best, a mere procession of regional and US leaders before hungry cameramen. The leaders promised “not to spare any effort” and praised the undeniable altruism embedded in the very concept of “peace”. Israeli Prime Minister repeated the martyr-like emphasis of past Israeli leaders regarding the “painful” compromises and sacrifices required to defeat the many obstacles standing before them. Mahmoud Abbas – with his expired presidency over a corrupt Palestinian Authority – smiled, shook hands and spoke unconvincingly about his hopes and expectations.</p>
<p>Jordanian and Egyptian leaders also attended. Their presence was purely an endeavor to mark a difference between this event and the last failed attempt at reaching a peace agreement. When late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s Ehud Barak were herded into Camp David under the auspices of then President Bill Clinton, Arafat was left to fend for himself without any Arab backing. This left Barak, fully backed by the US, with all the cards. The process was a mockery then, as it is now.</p>
<p>Today’s badly staged talks are actually much less promising than the ones of July 2000. Barak had a considerably serious mandate, while Netanyahu runs a discontented coalition of largely rightwing fanatics. Arafat, although his popularity had dwindled, also represented a moral authority and a unifying figure among all Palestinian factions, including Hamas. Abbas, on the other hand, sits on the helm of hugely discredited and ineffectual band of contractors and self-serving politicians. More, Abbas operates with an expired mandate, and his cabinet members are handpicked to replace the democratically elected government of Hamas, whose members are either under siege in Gaza or held in Israeli prisons.</p>
<p>Needless to say, this latest round of peace talks is seriously lacking in legitimacy and goodwill.</p>
<p>Firstly, Israel has no interest in guaranteeing any positive outcome. It is hell-bent on carrying on with its colonization of the already disconnected West Bank and East Jerusalem. Netanyahu’s government intends on speeding up such efforts once the temporary settlement construction freeze expires, only a few days after the second round of negotiations resume on September 14-15. On the very first day of talks, Israeli troops also invaded parts of northern Gaza and expanded the so-called buffer zone by around 300 meters.</p>
<p>As for Abbas, the problem is compounded. His power is truly feeble in comparison to Israel’s political supremacy both in Tel Aviv and Washington, and also its near total control of Abbas’ own domain in the West Bank. Knowing this, one cannot be both realistic and still hope for ‘painful’ Israeli concessions. Still Abbas continues to hang around. He might feel he has no other option, as his absence would both chip away from his miniscule political worth and risk raising the ire of Washington, his greatest sustainer.</p>
<p>But even if the one-year-long talks miraculously yield an agreement, Abbas will not be able to sell this agreement to his own people. The aging leader is barely capable of uniting his own party, which is no longer the main player in Palestine’s political milieu. Today’s Fatah is a different Fatah to the one under Arafat in 1993. Its corruption has grown to the extent that it now functions as a self-serving welfare organization, whose members get richer through international handouts and business monopoly orchestrated by Israel.</p>
<p>Equally significant is the fact that yesterday’s ‘enemies of peace’ have become the legitimate parties that should actually be involved in any substantial talks with Israel. They are dismissed because they insist on a paradigm shift in how talks with Israel are conducted. They argue that any meaningful talks – especially between vastly unequal powers – must take place with a clear frame of reference, involving an even-handed third party, and predicated on the concept of ‘justice’ – not Kissinger’s deceptive ‘peace process’. The talks must also guarantee the welfare and security of the Palestinian people in the interim, through a long-term truce guarded by the United Nations. Peace talks held at gunpoint while the population is forcibly starved and besieged hardly promises any positive outcome.</p>
<p>What we can be sure of is that that the halfhearted peace attempt will garner nothing good. If an agreement is somehow concocted, it is doomed to fail. The Palestinian people, the absent but real party in any lasting solution, will simply not allow it. The Palestinian collective has the tendency to watch charades to their end, and then react at the opportune moment to defeat them. Almost every Palestinian revolt in the past has resulted from similar processes, the Second Palestinian Uprising of 2000 being the most pertinent example. When Arafat was being humiliated and forced into submission to US-Israeli diktats, Palestinians of all parties and from all sections of society rose in anger. Israel understood the revolt as a Palestinian attempt at extracting concessions and used unprecedented violence to quell their revolt. Many thousands were killed and wounded, and the rest is history.</p>
<p>If violence spirals this time around, it promises to be much worse than before. Those who cling to resistance in Palestine have been bolstered by the success of Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. More, they are emboldened by their political legitimacy as a result of the democratic elections of 2006. Predictably, Netanyahu will not shy away from interpreting Palestinian protests as a conspiracy to intimidate Israel. The problem with violence is that once it reaches a new threshold, it rarely retreats to old parameters. What took place in Gaza at the hand of the Israeli army in 2008-09 was frighteningly genocidal in its scope. Future violence is likely to stay within this category.</p>
<p>To avoid this, Washington’s strategists really need to reconsider the long-term consequences of their government’s policies. Obama’s choreographers might succeed in getting a few leaders to stand in perfect order before a crowd of reporters, but they will fail to contain the political chaos that will ensue when the talks fail, as they surely will.</p>
<p>RAMZY BAROUD is editor of <a href="http://www.PalestineChronicle.com" type="external">PalestineChronicle.com</a>. His work has been published in many newspapers and journals worldwide. His latest book is <a href="" type="internal">The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle</a> (Pluto Press, London). His newbook is, “ <a href="" type="internal">My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza’s Untold Story</a>” (Pluto Press, London).</p> | The Photo Before the Storm | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/09/10/the-photo-before-the-storm/ | 2010-09-10 | 4 |
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<p>Long-term investors have seen strong returns from many stocks in the tobacco industry over time. Even though many have steered clear of the sector because of worries about legal disputes and regulatory limits, many tobacco companies have managed to navigate successfully through potential difficulties and produce big profits. Yet in 2016, the line in the sand in tobacco was between U.S. companies and foreign rivals. Among the worst performers of the year were Imperial Brands (LSE: IMB) and Japan Tobacco (NASDAQOTH: JAPAF). Let's take a look at why Imperial and Japan Tobacco didn't keep up with some of their peers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Image source: Imperial Brands.</p>
<p>Imperial Brands didn't deliver the returns that investors wanted to see, as its stock fell 15% in U.S. dollar terms. Some of the declines stemmed solely from the plunge in the British pound that followed the U.K. electorate's decision to vote to leave the European Union at mid-year. Indeed, the stock managed to post a slight gain when you look at its London-listed shares in pound terms, and full-year revenue climbed almost 10% to produce a 16% rise in adjusted operating profit.</p>
<p>Imperial Brands faces some fundamental difficulties that have investors nervous about the future. Within Europe, countries such as France, the U.K., and Ireland are all looking hard at imposing regulations requiring plain packaging of cigarettes. If that happens, it will be harder for Imperial to reap the benefits of the marketing it has done to establish the Kool, Salem, and Winston brands that it acquired from Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI) in 2015 when Reynolds merged with Lorillard.</p>
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<p>Moreover, higher taxes could also eat into profits. Most tobacco companies have found ways to boost prices in such a way as to preserve profits in the face of falling demand from rising tax levels. However, at some point, smokers will reach the limits of their ability to afford cigarettes, and if regulators hit that level, it will leave Imperial and its peers without the means to sustain their profitability.</p>
<p>For Japan Tobacco, which suffered a 6% decline in U.S. dollar terms, the situation was different but equally difficult. The company's core Japanese market has been aging, and a rising awareness of health impacts from smoking has taken its toll on demand. That has pushed the company to seek ways to expand internationally, but the strength of the Japanese yen compared to many currencies around the world has also put a damper on Japan Tobacco's growth. In the first nine months of 2016, sales have fallen 4% from year-earlier levels, and the strong yen has been a big component of that decline.</p>
<p>The big question for Japan Tobacco is whether it can defend its turf from foreign competition. Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) has done an extraordinarily good job of building up market share in the Japanese market for its iQOS heat-not-burn alternative to traditional cigarettes. For its part, Japan Tobacco has already identified the need to compete in e-cigarettes and other reduced-risk products, as it cut its guidance for total cigarette sales volume within Japan by 1 billion units due to the rising popularity of alternatives like e-cigarettes. In the long run, better margins from vapor-based products could help Japan Tobacco recover, but the company will also have to find ways to expand geographically in order to reach its full potential.</p>
<p>Shareholders in these companies won't be happy with their performance in 2016, especially given how well some of their industry peers did. However, in the long run, both Imperial Brands and Japan Tobacco have the potential to rebound convincingly from their 2016 swoons and find new ways to tap into the growth opportunities both in the core cigarette market and in alternatives.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than JAPAN TOBACCO When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Imperial Brands. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | The Worst Tobacco Stocks of 2016 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/29/worst-tobacco-stocks-2016.html | 2016-12-29 | 0 |
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<p>On Nov. 11, a mere five days after the presidential election, the cruise ship Nieuw Amsterdam pushed off from Fort Lauderdale for a Caribbean jaunt. Aboard were nearly 600 emotionally tattered Republicans, most of whom had been expecting a Republican victory of Rovian proportions – surely they had all read Karl’s prediction in The Wall Street Journal – and now were about to cruise 750 miles to nowhere, just like the party they so adored. The Nieuw Amsterdam was 86,000 tons of painful metaphor.</p>
<p>The cruise was sponsored by National Review, the magazine founded by William F. Buckley and for years the most important and probably the most readable journal in all of American conservatism. As with other such magazines – The Nation, a liberal journal, does the same thing – a group of columnists and other well-known movement types get piped aboard so that along with the flambeed everything comes a dessert of political instruction, faux insider stuff and the usual warnings that civilization (as we know it) is coming to an end.</p>
<p>The difference between this cruise and others like it was the (paying) presence of Joe Hagan, a writer for New York magazine. To his considerable credit, Hagan abstained from shooting these particular fish in their barrel and instead portrayed them as dismayed and somewhat disoriented refugees from an America that used to be. Not only had they been unprepared for Mitt Romney’s loss, but it was dawning on them that their tribe – mostly affluent, elder whites – had lost the election as well as the demographic battle that had preceded it.</p>
<p>“Minorities came out like crazy,” Kevin Hassett, a former Romney economic adviser, told them. “White people didn’t get to the polls. There are far more African-Americans voting than they expected.” Imagine!</p>
<p>Who “they” might be is not exactly clear. But what is clear is that to the cruising Republicans, there is something weirdly topsy-turvy about minorities gaining the political clout once held in perpetual trust for the majority. Suddenly, the GOP must entice them to vote Republican – not through fierce empathy but by what amounts to a salesman’s unctuous patter. Scott Rasmussen, the GOP pollster who thought better of Romney chances than did the voters, put it this way: “You show them that you really care, you talk to them as grown-ups on a range of issues.”</p>
<p>A menacing sense of foreboding permeates Hagan’s article. The passengers both fear and hate Barack Obama. To them, he is the nightmare president – allegedly alien in outlook, morality and economic approach. An economic cataclysm is imminent and the nation has wandered into an icky swamp of immorality. “I’m afraid,” a passenger told Hagan. “Write that. We’re scared to death.”</p>
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<p>I chortle not. I was once a National Review subscriber, although never a conservative. In its infancy and for years afterward, the magazine was bursting with ideas. The writing was often fresh and engaging – Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne and Garry Wills were contributors – and liberalism, to which I also subscribed, was already showing signs of intellectual exhaustion.</p>
<p>Now, though, it is conservatism that is both intellectually exhausted and nearly indefensible. It is the movement of the ideologically ossified, of gun zealots and homophobes, of the immigrant-phobic and the adamantly selfish. It insists that government must be small (an impossibility!), education must be local (a stupidity), and that debt, no matter what the reason, is immoral and reckless. The movement has lost its reliable monster. Godless communists have been replaced by the church ladies of Planned Parenthood. History giggles.</p>
<p>Nothing good happens when Republicans leave land. In 2008, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker wrote about the voyage of the M.S. Oosterdam, which chugged up the Alaska coast carrying a tour group from The Weekly Standard. At Juneau, conservative notables including Fox News commentator Fred Barnes lunched with the governor, Sarah Palin – and, as men often do on shore leave, swooned. Her remarkable qualities – “how smart Palin was,” according to Barnes – and her considerable beauty left most of them a bit addled. A buzz went up. The zeitgeist was alerted. In due course, she was John McCain’s running mate. Only the voters saved us from a debacle.</p>
<p>The National Review cruise encountered no such star of tomorrow. Instead, the emphasis was on yesterday. These passengers were people who had – and maybe still have – a sense of possession about America. It was once theirs. It once looked like them and acted like them and thought like them. No more. In more ways than one, they were out to sea.</p>
<p>E-mail: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.</p> | The GOP Has Lost Its Way | false | https://abqjournal.com/157108/the-gop-has-lost-its-way.html | 2013-01-02 | 2 |
<p>Former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman (R) weighs in on the status of the GOP and what President-elect Donald Trump must do to succeed.</p>
<p>Some “never Trumpers” are dialing back their feelings toward the now President-elect following Tuesday’s 2016 election results.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Former Republican Governor of New Jersey Christie Whitman, who said previously she could not get behind the GOP nominee, joined the FOX Business Network to react to Trump’s victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>“Obviously I wish him well. Lord, I hope that the rhetoric of last night that he gave at his acceptance speech and in Hillary’s concession speech is how we go forward. That’s what we need desperately. We need to bring the country together,” Whitman said.</p>
<p>According to the former governor, part of the problem was the discord of this year’s historic presidential campaign — one which saw the first woman to win a major party’s nomination and a billionaire businessman with no prior political experience to win the other.</p>
<p>“This has been an extraordinarily divisive campaign with some of the harshest rhetoric and most divisive rhetoric I think we’ve ever heard, and we’ve got to get over that,” Whitman said. “If Donald Trump is going to succeed at what he says he wants to do, he is gonna need to reach out to those people who were not for him.”</p>
<p>Whitman, who also served in the George W. Bush administration, explained what else she would advise the next president to do when he steps into the Oval Office.</p>
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<p>“He needs to find out this strike of balance that ensures that while we want to grow our economy – we need to desperately…We have some protections in place to keep us healthy, to keep our environment healthy. We need to readjust those, make sure they’re in the right place. We need not to walk away from them entirely. And that’s going to be his challenge throughout, is finding that way of bringing people together.”</p>
<p>Whitman commented on the possibility of the state’s current governor and Trump supporter, Chris Christie, having a place in the presidential administration.</p>
<p>“I suspect it would be more likely to be Chief of Staff,” Whitman said. “I don’t know if Trump would go ahead given all the Bridgegate fuss and furor that’s been going on that he would risk putting him up for Senate confirmation. It just might be a battle he doesn’t want to fight.”</p> | Fmr. Gov. Whitman: Trump’s Challenge Will Be Finding a Way of Bringing People Together | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/11/09/fmr-gov-whitman-trump-s-challenge-will-be-finding-way-bringing-people-together.html | 2016-11-09 | 0 |
<p>By Amy Butler</p>
<p>Lately, that vacation Bible school song “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” has been running around in my head, and I can’t get it out.</p>
<p>Remember the song? We learned it, I guess, to remind us that if we love Jesus successfully enough then joy and peace and all that good stuff would naturally come to us. I don’t recall worrying too much as a 5-year-old about a potential absence of those things in my life, but I do remember liking the song.</p>
<p>Cut to being a grown up: Now the quest for love, joy and peace can be almost all-consuming. I see people in my office day in and day out who are looking for some or all of these things, often without much success.</p>
<p>This is surely one of the great ironies of adulthood — that we’re constantly looking for all these things, yet we never sing that Bible-school song in grown-up church.</p>
<p>Does this mean that the VBS teachers were wrong, that following Jesus is not automatic bliss and wonderfulness in life? Does it mean that we grown-ups are not following Jesus closely enough when our lives seem lacking peace, joy and love? Does it mean the musical integrity of “I’ve Got the Joy” just won’t stand up to Sunday morning worship? Is the Christian life supposed to be hard?</p>
<p>The other day I heard a story on NPR about the differences between Eastern and Western styles of learning. Here in the West, it seems that you’re not doing well unless you get the answers right all the time. In Eastern cultures, it’s the struggle that gets rewarded instead of the immediate correct answer.</p>
<p>The story recounted an experience by a researcher who observed a fourth-grade math class in Japan. The kids were learning to draw three-dimensional cubes on paper. In the class there was one kid who just couldn’t get it. The way he was drawing his cubes was all wrong. The teacher noticed this and asked that student to come up to the front and draw his cubes on the board in front of the whole class.</p>
<p>The American researcher saw this and cringed. In America, it’s the kid who had the right drawing first who would be invited up to the board to demonstrate for the class. Calling up the one who wasn’t getting it would surely humiliate the poor kid.</p>
<p>But the researcher watched as the kid tried and erased, over and over again, until he finally drew the cube correctly. When he did, the whole class broke into applause, and that kid went back to his seat feeling important and successful.</p>
<p>In our Western world we feel like failures if we are unable to accomplish something off the bat. If we struggle, we think something is wrong.</p>
<p>Hearing that story made me wonder about the joy, joy, joy: Is the life of faith a kind of wonderful struggle, where there’s joy and peace and love to be found in the hard trying?</p>
<p>Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart, no matter what the song suggests. I don’t know about you, but I try and try and fail again and again to live a life in which true discipleship comes easy, and very often the joy, peace, love don’t automatically fall into place, either. Sometimes discipleship is hard.</p>
<p>But perhaps it’s worth considering Eastern theories of learning when it comes to Christian discipleship, because there’s surely peace, joy, and love way down in our hearts — and maybe in the struggle to unearth them, too.</p> | Joy, joy, joy | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/joy-joy-joy/ | 3 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />Twenty-twelve has been an incredible year for feminism and for Feministing. After eight years, we’re still going strong — bringing you feminist news, analysis, laughter, and gifs direct to your screen of choice.&#160;ICYMI, this one was an election year, and even as we managed to avoid a transition in our White House leadership, we faced some change-ups with our own staffing. As one Feministing heavy hitter&#160; <a href="" type="internal">transitioned out of regular blogging</a>, we&#160;gained&#160; <a href="" type="internal">three amazing new contributors</a>&#160;(after holding our&#160; <a href="" type="internal">first-ever contributor contest</a>), and two <a href="" type="internal">longtime</a>&#160; <a href="" type="internal">contributors</a> became editors.</p>
<p>The updated crew has been having a blast producing fresh feminist content at a mind-numbing pace. As a result, Feministing pageviews and visitors numbered higher than ever before in 2012, with the most notable metric pointing to an increase in visitors of over 40% as compared to 2011. While traffic isn’t the end-all-be-all here at Feministing, and we value the smaller, thought-leadery pieces as much as the more popular heavy hitters, we do love to take a moment to recognize the posts that resonated so well with you all that you decided to share them around the internet.</p>
<p>That’s why, this week, we’re happy to bring you a series of end-of-year reflections and reports instead of the usual bloggity-blogging. Tomorrow and Friday, we’ll be posting staff picks for our favorite posts from here and around the web. For now,&#160;I’m happy to present to you the top ten most popular posts on Feministing in 2012!</p>
<p>Maya struck a nerve when she highlighted the “verbal kicking” issued by&#160;British Olympic weightlifter Zoe Smith in response to some dudes who posted offensive gender essentialist comments about her on Twitter.&#160;“Shall we stop weightlifting, amend our diet in order to completely get rid of our ‘manly’ muscles, and become housewives in the sheer hope that one day you will look more favourably upon us and we might actually have a shot with you?!” she asked incredulously. Badass. 9. “ <a href="" type="internal">Reactions of Mitt Romney’s 47 percent write off in gifs</a>” (Vanessa – September 18)</p>
<p>If there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2012, it’s that everyone loves a good gif. Vanessa’s post combined one of the most explosive news stories of 2012, Romney’s secret “47%” video, with one of the year’s hottest online mediums, and the result was pure magic.</p>
<p>8. “ <a href="" type="internal">Sherlyn Chopra- the first ever Indian lady to pose nude in playboy</a>” (Samhita – July 31) While it may seem obvious why a post with “nude” and “playboy” in the title did well on the Interwebs, Samhita paired this SEO goldmine with her trademark whipsmart analysis, exploring Playboy’s “awkward” relationship to feminism and likely dropping some serious knowledge on more than one person who may have started out simply in search of some naked lady pics. 7. “ <a href="" type="internal">What if dude superheroes posed like lady superheroes?</a>” (Jos – May 9)&#160;</p>
<p>Jos’ post about artist Kevin Bolk’s subversive gender switcheroos capitalized on the hype &#160;around one of the year’s biggest blockbuster, The Avengers, while turning some of the comic industry’s sexist imagery on its head.</p>
<p>6. “ <a href="" type="internal">Enough with I date women and trans men</a>” (Jos, June 28)</p>
<p>With this piece, Jos made a compelling, well-reasoned, and incredibly necessary point on why saying or “I&#160;date women and trans men” is the definition of cissexism, and cemented her place as an epic feminist thought leader (if it hadn’t been cemented already). Her post helped push forward our narrative about gender and dating, hegemony and misogyny, and caused something of a cathartic conversation in the lively comments section that followed. Jos continues to be such a boon to the Feministing team, as evidenced by the gushing of one commenter after reading her post: “That’s exactly what I love about this site. It complete embraces how “feminism” as a movement/cultural concept is constantly evolving, adding aspects, subtracting/multiplying/dividing aspects, parsing things out, figuring things out, and taking on all obstacles as they come to us.”</p>
<p>It’s encouraging to see a post like this get shared enough to make this list. Thanks Jos.</p>
<p />
<p>5. “ <a href="" type="internal">Matt Lauer is gross, Anne Hathaway kicks slut shaming’s ass</a>” (Jos, December 13)</p>
<p>Noticing a pattern here? Jos once again dominates. This time, the target of her razor sharp analysis was slimeball-of-the-moment Matt Lauer, who raised feminist eyebrows across the nation when he chose to interrogate Hathaway about her “wardrobe malfunction” (read: incident of unwanted sexual attention from opportunistic, commodifying paparazzi) rather than the movie she was there to promote.</p>
<p>4. “ <a href="" type="internal">New study: Lesbian households produce a child abuse rate of 0%</a>” (Vanessa – November 11, 2010)</p>
<p>The only post on this list to have been published in a year other than 2012, this post saw a resurgence in popularity as the study Vanessa cites became fodder for gay marriage debates across the country in an election year. While the sample size was small, Vanessa was right to point out that these kinds of studies are critical in breaking down the myths that are constantly being perpetuated by anti-LGBT culture, and to call for more studies in kind.</p>
<p>I was horrified when I learned the real context for this image, but I’m glad this particular “inconvenient truth” got the attention it deserved. A drunk man assaulting a stranger on the street has no place in our national conception of romance.</p>
<p>2. “ <a href="" type="internal">A Sikh Woman Does Not Apologize for Her Appearance and Everyone Learns Something</a>” (Samhita – September 27)</p>
<p>In a rare overlap between the Reddit and Feministing community, Samhita highlighted a beautiful post by a Sikh woman whose image had been posted online in an effort to shame her for having facial hair. In an impressive show of faith and courage, the woman published a moving response, prompting the original poster to apologize and, as Samhita describes, “pushing both normative Western standards of beauty and gender divisions in Sikhism.” LOVE.</p>
<p>1. “ <a href="" type="internal">Well you did dare to speak in public so I guess you deserve this</a>” (Chloe – October 18)</p>
<p>It’s perhaps fitting that in an election year, our most trafficked post was related to one of the presidential debates. When&#160;Katherine Fenton, a&#160;24-year-old kindergarten teacher who doesn’t identify as feminist but apparently wants to be paid as much as a man doing the same job,&#160;asked Mitt Romney and Barack Obama a question about the gender pay gap during the second presidential debate, she did more than launch the now infamous “binders full of women” meme. As Chloe points out in her post about the subsequent conservative freakout, apparently, by speaking out in public about one of the –let’s be honest here — most straightforward and noncontroversial woman-related issues of the election, she also volunteered herself the target of some vicious attacks from the right. As always, Chloe brings her signature sarcasm and poignancy to this latest injustice, creating a rock solid post and the most popular of the year.</p>
<p>Ed note: This is the first in a <a href="" type="internal">series of posts</a> summarizing the year in online feminism. Check back tomorrow and every day through the New Year for more end-of-the-year content.&#160;</p> | People’s choice: The ten most trafficked Feministing posts of 2012 | true | http://feministing.com/2012/12/26/peoples-choice-the-ten-most-trafficked-feministing-posts-of-2012/ | 4 |
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<p />
<p>The letters were intended to congratulate the winner of the election.</p>
<p>Only one was ever sent.</p>
<p>Lofven’s office released parts of the letter sent to Trump last week, although considerable sections of it were censored under Sweden’s official secrets act. On Monday, the Expressen newspaper released what it said was a copy of the letter in its entirety.</p>
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<p>Expressen simultaneously published what it said was the letter drafted for Lofven to send to Clinton if she won the election. As reporter Niklas Svensson noted, there was a “clear difference” in tone between the two letters.</p>
<p>Notably, in the letter to Clinton, the first paragraph says that “it is a pleasure” to congratulate the new president; it does not say the same in the letter to Trump. The letter then calls Clinton’s election a “milestone for the world.” Noting that Lofven leads what has been referred to as the world’s first “feminist government,” the letter says he is looking forward to working with the Clinton administration to “increase gender equality worldwide.”</p>
<p>Here’s that section in full:</p>
<p>“As the leader of Sweden’s – and the world’s – first feminist government, I attach great importance to the fact that you will be the first woman to take office as President of the United States. It is a milestone for the world. I am looking forward to cooperating with you and your administration on how to increase gender equality worldwide.”</p>
<p>The tone of the letter to Trump is markedly less warm, offering only congratulations and noting that Swedes “value the broad collaboration” between their country and the United States.</p>
<p>It then moves on to a more detailed discussion of policy – a section that Swedish authorities had initially censored. Some of this discussion appears in both letters – notably, the business ties between Sweden and the United States and the potential for a transatlantic free-trade agreement. However, the letter to Trump appears to emphasize the U.S. role in European security, including Sweden’s partnership with NATO and the country’s role in anti-terrorism efforts:</p>
<p>“Global and regional challenges require transatlantic cooperation. The United States’ engagement in Europe is central for both European and American security. Sweden is committed to the security situation in Europe and in our neighbourhood through partnership with Nato, bilateral security and defence cooperation with key countries such as the United States. The promotion of dialogue and reduction of tension are fundamental elements in our approach. Sweden also takes global responsibility for contributing to the anti-Daesh [Islamic State] coalition and by being one of the largest humanitarian donors in the world. We value our cooperation with the United States on anti-terrorism and on countering violent extremism.”</p>
<p>It is unclear from the Expressen’s report whether the letter to Clinton would have been edited further. It appears notably longer than the letter eventually sent to Trump – the version published by Expressen cuts off after the first page. Monica Enqvist, a press counselor at the Embassy of Sweden in Washington said that both letters published by Expressen were “early drafts, produced by civil servants before the elections.”</p>
<p>“The Prime Minister has never seen those drafts,” Enqvist wrote via email. “There is only one letter; the one that was sent to the incoming President.”</p>
<p>Lofven had made it clear ahead of the election that he was not enamored of Trump, suggesting in August that the Republican’s campaign was based on “fear.” The initial note released by his office after Trump’s win didn’t mention the president-elect by name, noting that it was “an election outcome that many people feel concerned about but that we have prepared for.” Lofven was later reported to have spoken by phone to Trump, with the American apparently inviting the Swedish prime minister for a meeting during an upcoming visit to the United States.</p>
<p>In a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center earlier this year, just 6 percent of Swedes were found to have confidence that the American businessman would do the right thing regarding global affairs, while 92 percent said they had no confidence. Meanwhile, Swedish respondents were widely supportive of Clinton, with 83 percent expressing confidence in her handling of world affairs and 14 percent saying they had no confidence.</p>
<p>sweden-clinton</p> | Sweden’s unsent letter to a President-elect Hillary Clinton: ‘It is a milestone for the world’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/898586/swedens-unsent-letter-to-a-president-elect-hillary-clinton-it-is-a-milestone-for-the-world.html | 2 |
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<p>The map below shows the polling places during the 2014 general election for Bernalillo, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties.</p>
<p>Early voting locations are shown by default, and you can view election day locations by toggling the button in the top right corner of the map.</p>
<p>Early voting runs from Oct. 18 to Nov. 1, and locations are generally open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Election day is Nov. 4, and locations are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>For more voting location information specific to your county, visit one of the links below:</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | N.M. Voting Locations Map | false | https://abqjournal.com/483659/n-m-voting-locations-map.html | 2 |
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<p>Hollywood's newest studio doesn't operate out of a majestic multiacre lot or a sleek office tower but an unmarked former art gallery whose lobby is decorated with thousands of VHS tapes arranged in a giant "A."</p>
<p>Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures has a distinct vibe that isn't imposing like Twentieth Century Fox or Universal Pictures, nor high-tech like Netflix Inc. or Amazon.com Inc. Like its social media savvy millennial founder, Annapurna projects an image that is retro, artistic and bespoke, even as it is investing hundreds of millions of dollars to compete directly against those giant companies and others that dominate Hollywood.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Personally wealthy thanks to her father, billionaire Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, the 31-year-old Ms. Ellison has produced and financed several Oscar-nominated pictures in the past five years, including mid-budget adult dramas "Zero Dark Thirty," "Her" and "Foxcatcher."</p>
<p>Until now, though, Annapurna has been a small company whose movies are released by other studios, such as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures.</p>
<p>Last year, Ms. Ellison decided she wanted more control over how her movies are released and full credit, as well as full profits, when they succeed, according to people familiar with her thinking. She tripled Annapurna's staff to nearly 120 so it could release and market its own movies, and produce television shows and videogames. The release this weekend of "Detroit," a historical drama from "Zero Dark Thirty" director Kathryn Bigelow, marked the first time Annapurna has distributed and marketed a film itself.</p>
<p>Annapurna's expansion comes as the original, mid-budget movies Ms. Ellison favors are struggling for attention against major studios' superheroes and reboots. At the same time, deep-pocketed Amazon and Netflix have aggressively moved onto Annapurna's turf, raising prices for the hottest indie movie ideas and increasing competition for consumers.</p>
<p>"The fact that Megan is building an independent outfit and taking the risks she is taking puts her in a pretty singular space," said Dede Gardner, a partner in Brad Pitt's production company, Plan B, that has signed a deal to work on several projects with Annapurna.</p>
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<p>Ms. Ellison, who never gives interviews, declined to comment through a spokeswoman.</p>
<p>Privately held Annapurna doesn't share financial results, but it has had a mixed record at the box office. Along with such hits as "Sausage Party" and "American Hustle" have been flops including "Her" and "The Master." Ms. Ellison has been frustrated working with other studios that controlled when her movies were released and how they were advertised, leading her to build those capabilities in-house, said the people close to her.</p>
<p>With "Detroit," Annapurna is using a particularly risky movie to make that leap, and not only because so few adult dramas have succeeded at the box office recently. The $35 million picture about the killing of three African-Americans by police during riots in 1967 is opening near the end of a summer packed with big budget "event" films, known in the industry as "tentpoles." After playing in 20 theaters this weekend, it will be released nationwide Friday against an adaptation of the popular Stephen King book "The Dark Tower."</p>
<p>Annapurna didn't initially intend to release "Detroit" itself. After financing the movie, the company late last year offered it to other Hollywood studios, but was unable to strike a deal. At least two companies passed after concluding its commercial prospects were small, according to people at studios who evaluated the film.</p>
<p>Early reviews for "Detroit" have been positive.</p>
<p>"This is the kind of movie Hollywood used to make on a regular basis, but the industry [now] relies on mega-mega-tentpoles that sell in China, " said "Detroit" writer and producer Mark Boal. "Megan has a different business model."</p>
<p>Focus Features, part of Comcast Corp.'s Universal, and Fox Searchlight, part of 21st Century Fox Inc.'s Twentieth Century Fox, are the two remaining studio labels making low- to mid-budget adult movies, similar to Annapurna. Other major studios like Walt Disney Co., Viacom Inc.'s Paramoun Pictures and Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. have exited that segment of the business after sustaining losses.</p>
<p>Netflix and Amazon, meanwhile, are betting big. They have bid the prices for hot pictures at festivals such as Sundance so high that Focus and Fox Searchlight have pulled back on acquiring finished films, once a key part of their business. Now, both primarily produce movies themselves and look to develop long-term relationships with filmmakers, said people close to those companies.</p>
<p>Amazon, which has previously relied on partners like Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. to release movies it acquires, such as this summer's hit "The Big Sick," plans to release its own films starting with Woody Allen's "Wonder Wheel" in December. That will make it an even more formidable competitor.</p>
<p>To build her company into a fully functioning studio, Ms. Ellison has made high-profile hires, including a former head of marketing at Fox and Sony as Annapurna's president, a veteran of Weinstein Co. to run distribution and a former programming chief at HBO to oversee TV.</p>
<p>They work in the studio's offices, a former gallery and several adjoining buildings in West Hollywood, Calif., that a company controlled by Ms. Ellison bought for roughly $35 million last year, according to property records.</p>
<p>Annapurna also has signed deals with companies that will release its movies outside the U.S. and with Hulu, which will be their first home on television, providing guaranteed money that reduces the risk on its productions.</p>
<p>To sustain its overhead, Annapurna will release roughly eight films a year, including some from other companies that aren't auteur-made indies, such as a remake of "Death Wish," starring Bruce Willis, from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.</p>
<p>What Annapurna spends its money to make, however, is still largely defined by Ms. Ellison's taste for material and filmmakers, said people who have worked with her. In May, she committed to a biopic of former Vice President Dick Cheney that will star Christian Bale and be directed by "The Big Short"'s Adam McKay. Paramount let it go, concluding the $50 million production was too risky.</p>
<p>"Megan loved the script and Adam, and she didn't pause," said Ms. Gardner, also a producer on the Cheney movie.</p>
<p>Write to Ben Fritz at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>July 29, 2017 09:42 ET (13:42 GMT)</p> | Megan Ellison's Big Hollywood Gamble: a Movie Studio for Grown-Upgrades | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/29/megan-ellisons-big-hollywood-gamble-movie-studio-for-grown-upgrades.html | 2017-07-29 | 0 |
<p>If you are a military member or spouse, please come join me this Thursday at the Fox and Friends plaza in Midtown Manhattan for a live career fair featuring some of the largest companies in the nation that are focused on getting you Deployed to Employed.</p>
<p>Until then, I’ve got five companies today that are looking for qualified candidates in technology, food service, and finance.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Happy hunting!</p>
<p>CC</p>
<p>SITEL – An outsourced customer-care service company that supports some of the world’s best-known brands with customer acquisition, customer care, technical support and social media programs.</p>
<p>GATE GOURMET&#160;-&#160;The world’s largest independent provider of catering and provisioning services for the airline industry.</p>
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<p>TIGERDIRECT – North American reseller of Consumer and Business electronics and systems -- everything from home security and automation to laptops, computers, and software</p>
<p>FIREHOUSE SUBS – Fast-casual chain and the only restaurant concept using a steaming method to create hot subs.</p>
<p>EDWARD JONES – Provides financial services for nearly 7 million clients in the U.S. and Canada.</p> | Hired! | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/03/11/hired.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>DES MOINES, Iowa — The most challenging and confounding part of a political correspondent’s job is to pick out something important from the chaff of daily news.</p>
<p>I was reminded of this when I reported to the press desk at the Holiday Inn for a credential that would admit me to Sen. Barack Obama’s speech on foreign policy. I had not sought such a badge since the 1996 Democratic and Republican conventions, and I was curious to see how the political reporting game had changed since then.</p>
<p>Not much, really. Technically, communications are better, with e-mail, the Internet, wireless computers, Blackberries and Treos. But the work is the same. The reporting crew traveling on the Obama bus had a part of the press section reserved for them. They arrived with the same air of sorority-fraternity insider privilege that my contemporaries and I had when we were on the bus many years ago.</p>
<p>And they had the same task I did then — trying to find hard news in a speech that they had undoubtedly heard several times while accompanying Obama around this state.</p>
<p />
<p>Once I found a space and the program began, I had my first look at Obama in person. He is better live than on television, yet he was no different from what I had expected. He is both warm and distant. His tone is calm and cool. He doesn’t pander to the audience. Rather, he drew the 300-plus men and women in the room to him with distinctive mannerisms — his chin raised when he is making a point, his hands constantly on the move with graceful gestures that emphasize his points. Afterward, when he shook hands with people on his way out, he connected with them, listening to what they said, taking time with each person.</p>
<p>His speech wasn’t especially new to me. The Internet, television and four daily newspapers keep me informed in my home office. But toward the end, he said something that prompted me to underline and mark it in my notebook: “A long résumé doesn’t guarantee good judgment.” He had said about the same thing in the fall, but he was talking about Vice President Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush’s former defense secretary.</p>
<p>Now Obama is under attack from Hillary Clinton’s campaigners — her husband and, recently, one of her key celebrity supporters, ex-Lakers star Magic Johnson — for being inexperienced. In another part of the state, with the Clintons standing by, the basketball legend said, “She is the only one with 30 years of experience.” When someone corrected him, he said, “Thirty-five, all right.”</p>
<p>So when Obama dragged out the résumé line, I thought, given the context, it had real resonance. He was making a big effort to show he was qualified to be commander in chief.</p>
<p>That obviously was the motive of a panel discussion of foreign policy that preceded his speech. One panelist was Tony Lake, Clinton’s national security adviser. Another was Susan Rice, a National Security Council official and assistant secretary of state in the Clinton administration. Adding military heft was a retired Air Force general, Scott Gration, who had held top policy posts and flown 274 combat missions over Iraq.</p>
<p>In his speech and in the Q &amp; A session that followed, Obama was fairly detailed about his foreign policy.</p>
<p>I still didn’t like what he said about the war, calling for just a phased removal of combat troops from Iraq, and more emphasis on Afghanistan. This sounds increasingly like the British Empire during Victorian times, when troops were perpetually stationed in colonial India so long that their service became an accepted way of life.</p>
<p>I did approve of what he said about Israel and the Palestinians. Start with a two-state solution, with Israel — “a stalwart ally” — assured of uncompromised security. The Palestinians’ demand for a right of return cannot be allowed to threaten Israel as a Jewish state, but Israel must acknowledge that a Palestinian state must be “cohesive and able to function.”</p>
<p>Obama showed a restrained bit of humor when a man demanded a short and specific answer to a question about China. “I feel like I am in class,” Obama said. “Are you a professor?”</p>
<p>He was unclear when someone in the audience asked his view on funding President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. He said that he wouldn’t give Pakistan military aid unless it is “directly related” to fighting terrorism. Since Musharraf says that fighting terrorism is all he does — even if it means jailing protesting lawyers — I didn’t see that Obama would bring a huge change in that area.</p>
<p>But I was impressed with the details of his answer on Sudan and Darfur as he explained why we and other nations must get involved in sending a stronger force there to protect the refugees, convince the Sudanese not to resume civil war and assign a special envoy there.</p>
<p>But I still hadn’t answered the age-old journalistic question: “What’s the lede?” The lede is the first paragraph of a story, the one that sets the tone, shapes the organization and helps determine the headline of a hard news story. I felt sorry for the reporters struggling to figure out the answer after covering an event without a hard news lede.</p>
<p>I had watched something important that would probably disappear in the campaign abyss. Here, among the thoughtful questions and answers, Obama displayed an impressive command of details, even though I didn’t like all of his answers. And, cool as he is, he showed he could connect with people.</p>
<p>This was at least a hint of what Obama would bring to the White House, unfiltered by the restrictions of a television debate or the mainstream media’s constant demand for news with an edge. It’s too bad so few of us saw it.</p> | Iowa '08: Barack Obama Live | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/iowa-08-barack-obama-live/ | 2007-12-20 | 4 |
<p>EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Officials have placed a Rhode Island animal shelter under quarantine because two puppies contracted a deadly viral disease.</p>
<p>Animal Control Supervisor William Muggle <a href="http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180119/east-providence-shelter-under-quarantine-after-puppies-contract-deadly-virus" type="external">tells</a> The Providence Journal the East Providence animal shelter cannot accept new dogs during the quarantine. He says stray dogs are being housed at the Pawtucket animal shelter instead.</p>
<p>Muggle says the two puppies were rescued from an alleged animal horder last week. He says the gastrointestinal virus makes the dogs very sick, and other puppies from the same litter are showing symptoms.</p>
<p>Dogs cannot pass the disease to humans.</p>
<p>Muggle says the shelter is giving the affected dogs supportive care. The quarantine is scheduled to last for 10 days after the last dogs show symptoms.</p>
<p>EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Officials have placed a Rhode Island animal shelter under quarantine because two puppies contracted a deadly viral disease.</p>
<p>Animal Control Supervisor William Muggle <a href="http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180119/east-providence-shelter-under-quarantine-after-puppies-contract-deadly-virus" type="external">tells</a> The Providence Journal the East Providence animal shelter cannot accept new dogs during the quarantine. He says stray dogs are being housed at the Pawtucket animal shelter instead.</p>
<p>Muggle says the two puppies were rescued from an alleged animal horder last week. He says the gastrointestinal virus makes the dogs very sick, and other puppies from the same litter are showing symptoms.</p>
<p>Dogs cannot pass the disease to humans.</p>
<p>Muggle says the shelter is giving the affected dogs supportive care. The quarantine is scheduled to last for 10 days after the last dogs show symptoms.</p> | Animal shelter placed under quarantine for deadly dog virus | false | https://apnews.com/24a384591e03437aa72a8febe9a266c7 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
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<p>By Emily Van Cleve</p>
<p>For the Journal</p>
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<p>Jason Halladay climbed to within 3,000 feet of the summit of Mount McKinley (Denali) last June with the plan of snowboarding down the side of the mountain. When he got to an elevation of 17,200 feet and realized that trail conditions prevented him from going any further, he re-evaluated his plan to snowboard down the mountain.</p>
<p>“I saw an icy headwall and decided it was just too icy to snowboard down from that elevation,” he explained. “So I hiked down a couple of thousand feet until I found a safe place to get on my snowboard.”</p>
<p>That careful evaluation of risks is what’s kept Halladay out of harm’s way during the many hiking, rock climbing and high mountain snowboarding expeditions in which he’s participated for the past 20 years. Halladay is an adventurer, but an adventurer who takes every possible precaution.</p>
<p>“So far, I can say that I’ve never finished a trip thinking that I narrowly escaped death or getting seriously injured,” he added.</p>
<p>Halladay, a 38-year old systems administrator at Los Alamos National Laboratory who lives in Los Alamos, has climbed all 59 14,000-foot-plus mountains in Colorado twice in the past decade during all seasons of the year. His family and friends have gotten used to not seeing him at Thanksgiving and Christmas because he’s usually climbing a mountain during those holiday breaks.</p>
<p>“Summer climbing is straightforward, maybe even routine,” he said. “Winter climbing is more challenging and there are fewer crowds. It can feel like a real wilderness experience.”</p>
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<p>Winter means avalanche season. Halladay has taken an avalanche preparation class and always keeps local conditions in mind before and during a winter hike.</p>
<p>“I watch the weather, and I never rush when I’m climbing in the winter,” he said. “I go as far as I can without getting into trouble. Then I stop to assess the situation. I may have climbed that route during the summer, but what is a good trail in the summer can be very slippery in the winter. I always have to be willing to turn back on my goal, just like I did when I climbed Denali in June. Intuition plays a big part in my decisions.”</p>
<p>Halladay made it to the summit of Denali (20,320 feet) in 2003. He’s also reached the summit of Kilimanjaro in Africa (19,340 feet) and Aconcagua in Argentina (22,841 feet).</p>
<p>On some of his climbs, he takes his snowboard with him.</p>
<p>“It’s not often that I find great snowboarding when I get to the top,” he said. “Sometimes I feel like I’m taking my snowboard for a walk.”</p>
<p>Rock climbing also is an integral part of Halladay’s life. He began climbing in 1999. In 2001, he met Aron Ralston and began rock climbing with him on a regular basis. Ralston survived a canyoneering accident in southeastern Utah in 2003 by amputating his right arm. His story is the subject of the film, “127 Hours”. Since Ralston’s accident, he and Halladay haven’t climbed together.</p>
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<p>“I have six or so climbing partners at this point in my life,” said Halladay. “My wife Allison (Fritz) climbs at about the same level that I do, so we climb a lot together. For me, a good climbing partner has a good personality and provides good support. I trust that person to catch me when I fall and be positive when I do fall.”</p>
<p>“I work hard at my climbing routes until I get them right,” he explained. “Recently, I climbed a short wall in Parajito Canyon near the (Los Alamos) ski area. It’s really close to town. I became obsessed with it. I fell asleep thinking of the moves I should make climbing it. I did four visits and 15 attempts before I could climb it without falling.”</p>
<p>When not rock and mountain climbing, Halladay is honing his skills as a long-distance trail runner. Since 2005, he’s been building endurance and strength. Last summer, he ran 100-mile races in the Colorado towns of Leadville and Silverton. There are points in the races where the trails go higher than 12,000 feet in elevation.</p>
<p>“The elevation is the biggest challenge,” said Halladay. “But I’ve never needed to use supplemental oxygen.”</p>
<p>For Halladay, outdoor sports are all about pushing himself while keeping safe.</p>
<p>“One of the reasons I do so many different things is that it helps me from getting mentally tired, which is what I think would happen if I did just one sport,” he said. “I also want to keep growing and challenging myself.”</p> | Climber takes precautions on trips | false | https://abqjournal.com/238299/climber-takes-precautions-on-trips.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Image source: Insys Therapeutics.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: After reporting that it has secured FDA approval for its alternative to Marinol, shares in Insys Theraepeutics were rallying more than 10% earlier today.</p>
<p>So what:The FDA gave a go-ahead to Insys Therapeutics Syndros today, clearing the way for the company to begin marketing it as a more flexible alternative to Marinol.</p>
<p>Marinol has been used to treat vomiting and nausea in cancer patients caused by chemotherapy, and to increase appetite in patients with AIDS since the 1980s. However, Marinol is only available in capsule form, and that makes altering dosage to each patient more difficult than it has to be.</p>
<p>Syndros is an oral formulation of dronabinol, the active ingredient in Marinol, and dronabinol is a pharmaceutical synthetic version of THC, the most common chemical cannabinoid found in marijuana. As an oral alternative to Marinol, Syndros is far more easily dose-adjusted for each individual patient.</p>
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<p>Now what:Marinol lost its patent protection years ago, so the $150 million-plus market for Marinol is currently dominated by cheap generics. Syndros will be pricier than those generic alternatives, but Insys Therapeutics thinks its dosing advantage will win over the majority of market share.</p>
<p>If Insys Therapeutics is right, then sales could increase significantly next year. Currently, the company's only other product is Subsys, a fentanyl spray that's selling at an annualized $240 million clip.</p>
<p>Because Insys Therapeutics is already a profitable company (industry watchers went into today expecting the company to earn $0.87 in 2017), Syndros could provide a nice boost to the bottom line next year.</p>
<p>First, though, Insys Therapeutics will have to nail down Syndros scheduling by the DEA. Once scheduling is determined, then Insys Therapeutics will start targeting the thousands of doctors who currently prescribe Marinol to patients.</p>
<p>Overall, Syndros approval is a plus for investors, but the company's been plagued with allegations regarding improper off-label marketing of Subsys. Until those allegations are put to rest, this company's shares remain best suited for risk-tolerant investors only.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/05/whats-got-this-marijuana-stock-jumping-double-digi.aspx" type="external">What's Got This Marijuana Stock Jumping Double-Digits Today</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/EBCapitalMarkets/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Todd Campbell</a> owns shares of Insys Therapeutics.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned. Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/ebcapital" type="external">@ebcapital</a> to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> | What's Got This Marijuana Stock Jumping Double-Digits Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/05/what-got-this-marijuana-stock-jumping-double-digits-today.html | 2016-07-05 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Maybe he can get her to confess her Benghazi lies too.</p>
<p>Monday on NBC’s “Today,” Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump took aim at Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton for <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/12/19/hillary-trump-becoming-islamic-states-best-recruiter-theyre-showing-vids-of-him-to-recruit/" type="external">her claim that Trump was a recruiting tool</a> for ISIS.</p>
<p>According to Trump, comparing his prior statements about celebrations by Muslims in the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks to Clinton’s rhetoric from Saturday was not a fair comparison because Trump argued what he said was factual, while what Clinton said was not factual.</p>
<p>“Well first of all, there is proof because many people saw that happen, Matt, as you know,” Trump said. “It was written about in The Washington Post and numerous other places. I’ve been totally exonerated from that. I’ve had headlines exonerating me saying ‘Trump was right.’ I can send you a Breitbart story. I can send you other stories.”</p>
<p>Read more:&#160; <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/video/2015/12/21/trump-i-will-demand-an-apology-from-hillary/" type="external">Breitbart</a></p> | NOT LETTING IT GO: Trump, ‘I Will DEMAND an Apology from Hillary’ | true | http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/not-letting-it-go-trump-i-will-demand-an-apology-from-hillary/ | 0 |
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<p>The current turmoil in financial markets around the world is another illustration of the damage that can be done by a bloated and politically powerful financial sector, combined with finance ministers and central bankers who identify with this sector and have their own right-wing policy agenda.</p>
<p>Welcome to Europe, which has become the epicenter of the new global “financial crisis.”</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the focus of Europe’s troubles shifted somewhat from Greece to Spain.</p>
<p>At first glance it’s not obvious that there should be a crisis in Europe at all. Even if Greece were to default on its debt – and this would most likely be a rescheduling or a restructuring rather than a large-scale cancellation of the bulk of Greece’s debt – this would involve a relatively small amount of money compared to the resources that the EU has available to bail out any affected banks. And Spain’s debt is much smaller, relative to its economy, than that of Greece: it’s about 60 percent of GDP, well below the EU average of 80 percent.</p>
<p>But “the markets” have decided that Spain is next in line for attack, and so the price of Credit Default Swaps – a type of insurance — on their debt shot up today. If this sentiment grows, Spain’s interest rates will continue to rise, and then their debt burden really could become unsustainable.</p>
<p>To make it worse, “the markets” can’t seem to decide what they want from these governments in order to love them again. Two weeks ago the Euro was plummeting because the financial markets wanted more blood: they wanted Greece, Spain, Portugal, and the other currently victimized countries of Europe (Italy and Ireland) to commit to more spending cuts and tax increases. Then they got what they wanted, and within a day or two, the Euro started crashing again because “the markets” discovered that these pro-cyclical policies would actually make things worse in the countries that adopted them, and reduce growth in the whole Eurozone.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the European authorities – especially the European Central Bank – are even worse than the markets. They are less ambivalent and more committed to punishing the weaker economies by having them cut spending even if it causes or deepens recession and mass unemployment (over 20 percent in Spain).</p>
<p>It will be recalled that the turmoil in financial markets took a big turn for the worse on May 6 when the European Central Bank announced that it was not going to engage in “quantitative easing” – creating money – in order to help ease the crisis. They reversed their decision, but only partially. And the agreement reached for the so-called “trillion dollar bailout” requires that any country borrowing the funds must agree to more austerity. This means that if a country like Spain does run into trouble due to increased borrowing costs, tapping the “bailout” funds will force them to accelerate a downward economic spiral. And where is the inflation that the ECB is worried about? The Eurozone is projected by the IMF to have 1 percent inflation for this year and 1.5 percent next year.</p>
<p>Imagine how much worse the United States economy would be today if, instead of responding to our recession with fiscal stimulus, near zero interest rates and a doubling of the Fed’s balance sheet – we had opted for budget cuts and tax increases. That is what the European authorities are advocating for the weaker Eurozone economies.</p>
<p>The Greek population refuses to accept these conditions, and understandably so. The upper classes in Greece don’t pay their taxes, and now the majority are being forced to pay the price for their cheating – a price greatly magnified by the irrational, pro-cyclical nature of the adjustment. Unrest is growing in Spain as well, with the largest unions talking about a general strike.</p>
<p>There is a class dimension to all of this, with the EU authorities and the bankers united in wanting to balance the books on the backs of the workers – and adopt “labor market reforms” that will weaken labor and redistribute income upward for generations to come. The EU authorities and financiers believe that real wages must fall quite sharply in these countries in order to make them internationally competitive – but the protestors are responding with a fiscal version of “No justice, no peace.”</p>
<p>They might add: “No justice, no euro.” From the beginning there have been serious economic questions about the viability and the desirability of the common currency – most importantly whether such a currency union was feasible among countries with greatly different productivity levels, no common fiscal policy, and a Central Bank committed only to maintaining very low inflation (without regard to employment).</p>
<p>The populations now suffering under EU-imposed austerity must have a real and credible threat to get out – or they will end up with indefinite sacrifice for the reward of lower living standards.</p>
<p>MARK WEISBROT is an economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. He is co-author, with Dean Baker, of <a href="" type="internal">Social Security: the Phony Crisis</a>.</p>
<p>This article was originally published in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/" type="external">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://greentags.bigcartel.com/" type="external">WORDS THAT STICK</a></p>
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<p /> | The Eurozone’s Self-Inflicted Crisis | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/05/26/the-eurozone-s-self-inflicted-crisis/ | 2010-05-26 | 4 |
<p>BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Gov. Doug Burgum has signed an executive order establishing a new office aimed at addiction recovery and treatment initiatives.</p>
<p>Burgum signed the order Tuesday.</p>
<p>Burgum’s wife, Kathryn Helgaas Burgum, will chair an advisory council of up to seven members appointed by the governor that will guide the efforts. The council will include individuals in recovery, and community and tribal leaders.</p>
<p>Helgaas Burgum adopted addiction recovery as her platform as North Dakota’s first lady. Helgaas Burgum says she is a recovering alcoholic and wanted to use her experience to help others.</p>
<p>Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki says the office will not use state money. He says it will be funded through philanthropic grants, including from Burgum, who has refused a state salary.</p>
<p>BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Gov. Doug Burgum has signed an executive order establishing a new office aimed at addiction recovery and treatment initiatives.</p>
<p>Burgum signed the order Tuesday.</p>
<p>Burgum’s wife, Kathryn Helgaas Burgum, will chair an advisory council of up to seven members appointed by the governor that will guide the efforts. The council will include individuals in recovery, and community and tribal leaders.</p>
<p>Helgaas Burgum adopted addiction recovery as her platform as North Dakota’s first lady. Helgaas Burgum says she is a recovering alcoholic and wanted to use her experience to help others.</p>
<p>Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki says the office will not use state money. He says it will be funded through philanthropic grants, including from Burgum, who has refused a state salary.</p> | Gov. Burgum establishes addiction recovery, treatment office | false | https://apnews.com/0bf8f995648e4bc5ab95fea8e6f394e9 | 2018-01-09 | 2 |
<p>The NBA draft has always fascinated me as an incongruous piece of social engineering in a larger environment that finds the concept repugnant.</p>
<p>Here’s something from the web describing it:</p>
<p>“The NBA draft is divided into two rounds. The order of selections is based on certain rules. The first turns of the draft belong to the fourteen teams that did not enter the playoffs in that year’s season. These teams participate in a lottery that determines the spot each team will have in the draft. The next sixteen spots in the draft are reserved for the teams that made it into that season’s playoffs. The order of these sixteen teams’ selection is determined by their regular-season win-loss record, going from worst to best.”</p>
<p>Here’s a similar description of the NFL’s recruitment of new players:</p>
<p>“The NFL draft is an annual event in which National Football League franchises take turns selecting amateur football players and other first-time eligible players. Currently, the draft consists of seven rounds. Each team is assigned a selection in each round, with the teams with the worst record from the previous year being assigned the best picks in each round. This helps the league achieve a degree of parity.”</p>
<p>The operative idea in both cases is ‘parity’, the opposite of which is ‘disparity’. To ensure an element of parity, as the descriptions attest, leagues deliberately set down procedures to promote equalization of team strengths. It is still possible for some teams to dominate over short periods of time, such as the Chicago Bulls in the late 90’s or the Dallas Cowboys for a while the same decade, but there is an institutional check on monotonic increases in one team’s strength, such a trend being recognized as serving the league ill.</p>
<p>It seems odd, when you think about it, that a truth grasped by something as puerile as a sports league has been forgotten by the country that swears by sports, where even presidents and senators cannot go one sound-bite without invoking a Hail Mary metaphor here or a Slam Dunk there (or taking great pains to emphasize that it is NOT an Islam Dunk).</p>
<p>The single greatest distinction between developed nations and underdeveloped nations is not the GDP or the technological gap. It is the absence or presence of great economic disparity. But it is a lesson that has America has shelved for many years now, and the result is its slide into third-world status. Lest there be any confusion, that superpowers can turn quickly into third world countries was proven by the old Soviet Union, and that they can be both simultaneously will be proven by China and India in the coming decades.</p>
<p>Disparity in America has grown by leaps and bounds (no pun intended) over the past quarter century, in a game that shows no signs of ending. The driving force behind this growing divide is the ruling idea of the age, the trickle-down theory, a view tantamount to the following: it is fine for one basketball franchise to hire the entire Olympic “Dream Team”, if it is able. Over time, players can be expected to drift to weaker teams, and over the years, the league will find its own parity. In other words, you get the drift (not the draft).</p>
<p>A funny word, that. ‘Draft’ also means a sharp, cold, burst of air, one avoided by wise men and women for fear of catching something. As in members of Congress refusing to touch the word with a barge pole. Not to be confused with ‘daft’, which describes exactly those who would quickly endorse wild adventures so as to “put the war behind us and get the discussion back to the ‘economy'” before a mid-term election.</p>
<p>The donkey is a draft animal in every part of the world. But barring Rep. Charlie Rangel’s brief flirtation with the idea before the Iraq war started, a trial floatation he quickly abandoned, no Democrat has brought up the topic again. The impact of the draft is a reflection of society as a whole. When I talk to members of the World War II generation, many were in the war themselves, others had their relatives in the war, in some cases they even had relatives who died in the war. Among my Vietnam era friends, they were intimately aware of the war, more rarely, some had served there, but many at least knew someone who had gone. And Iraq?</p>
<p>The elephant too is a draft animal, but only in remote places like the forests of India, Burma or Thailand, where it is used to drag huge logs of wood to the railhead (Is it just chance that even there it seems to be used to promote logging?). This noble animal, social, familial and intelligent in nature, is controlled in captivity by a puny mahout who has gained its allegiance by the use of fear, and the constant threat of an ankush (ambush?), an instrument that he uses as both spear and mallet (queer and wallet?)</p>
<p>Animals, as a rule, are drafted without their consent. They cannot escape across the border, seek five deferments, or promise they will serve in the National Guard instead. Of course, some drafts are more final than others.Was it Churchill who observed that in a breakfast of eggs and bacon, the hen was ‘involved’, but the pig was ‘committed’?. As we look at our predicament this Thanksgiving Day, while donkeys and elephants may be involved in how we arrived here, it is the turkeys that are ‘committed’. Who are the turkeys, you ask. Abbot hinted at the answer as he turned to Costello in the old movie and barked, “Idiot, you are the people!”</p>
<p>NIRANJAN RAMAKRISHNAN is a writer living on the West Coast. He can be reached at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Thoughts on Thanksgiving | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/11/24/thoughts-on-thanksgiving-2/ | 2005-11-24 | 4 |
<p>Not only does American democracy rank a miserable 17th on the list of the world’s modern democracies (according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s index of democracy); it also doesn’t fare well when compared with traditional Native American democracies, in particular, with the Iroquois Confederacy–the Haudenosaunee–“the oldest living participatory democracy on earth.”</p>
<p>In “Perceptions of America’s Native Democracies,” Donald A. Grinde Jr. and Bruce E. Johansen point out that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, among others, could benefit–and did benefit to some extent–from Native Americans’ experience in designing functional democracies. Unfortunately, being racist and sexist as well as mostly contemptuous of direct democracy, our Founding Fathers failed to take full advantage of the political genius of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy: The Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Senecas, and the Tuscaroras. Among the Iroquois provisions absent from the U.S. Constitution is the law that allows Iroquois clan mothers to initiate impeachment against incompetent or criminal political leaders, or “sachems”:</p>
<p>The rights, duties, and qualifications of sachems were explicitly outlined, and the clan mothers could remove (or impeach) a sachem who was found guilty of any of a number of abuses of office–from missed meetings to murder.</p>
<p>Had our Founding Fathers been less prejudiced and more inclined to study Native American political philosophy seriously, they would have learned a valuable political lesson from the Iroquois. Today the mothers of U.S. soldiers killed in wars started by the neocon armchair warriors in the White House would have the moral and legal authority to initiate impeachment of these immoral “sachems.” In the case of the worst crime of the 21st century–the U.S. war on Iraq–the Iroquois law would give Cindy Sheehan and thousands of American mothers the legal power to force impeachment proceedings in the Supreme Court by bypassing an irresponsible or incompetent Congress.</p>
<p>Once removed from office, Bush and other warlords like Cheney and Rumsfeld would be subject to our criminal laws–no pardon or parole being available to officials thus impeached. (Consider the advantage of this provision if Nixon had been sent to prison, instead of being pardoned by President Gerald Ford, an immoral decision that has had tragic consequences.)</p>
<p>The genius of Iroquois democracy to empower mothers, “the Lifegivers of our Mother Earth,” with impeachment authority is that such a law restrains expedient political power with apolitical moral judgment. Iroquois women were not part of the political/military elites and did not feel compelled to compromise moral principles under political pressure. Not our elected representatives in Congress, not our career female politicians like Clinton or Pelosi–but ordinary American citizens, mothers of U.S. soldiers, should ultimately keep executive power in check.</p>
<p>It may be that the Iroquois impeachment law is the only efficient way for modern democracies to balance political expediency with moral responsibility.</p>
<p>KAZ DZIAMKA is editor of the American Rationalist and teaches English and Native American Studies at the Albuquerque Central New Mexico Community College. Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Iroquois Way of Impeachment | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/03/24/the-iroquois-way-of-impeachment/ | 2007-03-24 | 4 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Interstate 40 westbound is closed after a crash, involving four vehicles, left two people hospitalized with one in critical condition, according to an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman.</p>
<p>Officer Daren DeAguero said, in an 8 p.m. email, the accident occurred on between 12th and Rio Grande.</p>
<p>“Two individuals were transported to UNMH, One for non-life-threatening injuries and the other is in critical condition,” he said.</p>
<p>DeAguero said Interstate 40 westbound is closed while police investigate with traffic is being diverted off and back onto I 40 at Rio Grande.</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | APD: I-40 WB closed after four vehicle crash leaves one in critical condition | false | https://abqjournal.com/1043706/apd-i-40-wb-closed-after-four-vehicle-crash-leaves-one-in-critical-condition.html | 2 |
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<p>Last year, in a written affidavit to the conservative FAMiLY Leader, thrice married Newt Gingrich pledged to “defend” traditional marriage between one man and one woman, writing, “As President,&#160; <a href="//www.thefamilyleader.com/former-speaker-newt-gingrich-provides-written-response-to-the-family-leaders-marriage-pledge" type="external">I will vigorously enforce</a>&#160;the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted under my leadership as Speaker of the House, and ensure compliance with its provisions.” “I will support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification. I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman.”&#160;</p>
<p>But as the former House speaker gains steam as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney in the lead up to Saturday’s South Carolina primary, his second wife, Marianne Gingrich is claiming that he did not live up to his public proclamations. In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Brian Ross, Gingrich claims her ex-husband wanted an&#160; <a href="//www.joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/01/newt-gingrichs-ex-wife-drops-bombshell.html" type="external">open marriage</a>. “He came to her and said, ‘I want to stay married to you and still have an affair with Calista, his current wife,” said Ross. “According to Marianne, he said ‘You need to share me,’ and she said ‘I don’t want to share,’ and the marriage ended.” Listen:</p>
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<p>The full interview will air on ABC after tonight’s GOP Presidential debate in South Carolina.</p> | Gingrich Ex-Wife's Pre-SC Bombshell: He Asked Her to Have an "Open Marriage" So He Could Stay With Mistress | true | http://alternet.org/newsandviews/article/764527/gingrich_ex-wife%27s_pre-sc_bombshell%3A_he_asked_her_to_have_an_%22open_marriage%22_so_he_could_stay_with_mistress/ | 4 |
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<p>Following Vladimir Putin’s reelection as president of Russia, Donald Trump called him to offer his hearty congratulations. The fact that Trump thinks that Putin deserves applause for masterminding a sham election is bad enough. But in the midst of ongoing atrocities related to Russia’s election tampering in the United States, and it’s complicity in executing opponents with nerve agents on British soil, it is utterly disgraceful. And he was even <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/21/17147684/do-not-congratulate-trump-putin" type="external">warned</a> against sending congratulations by his top advisors, a warning that he ignored.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2082540175094100" type="external" /></p>
<p>Many Americans are outraged by Trump’s fealty to Putin, including a few Republicans who castigated him for praising the Russian tyrant’s undemocratic victory. But most Republicans are either defending Trump or remaining silent in the wake of yet another heinous act against the interests of America. And Trump’s greatest defender is, as usual, himself. In a Wednesday morning twitter rant, Trump tried to excuse sucking up to Putin by saying that…</p>
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<p>First of all, Obama didn’t call Putin while Russia was still trying to undermine America’s democracy and attacking our allies with chemical weapons. Secondly, the media are not the only critics of Trump’s Putin-fluffing. Ask GOP senators John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Lindsey Graham. Thirdly, would Trump have also said that getting along with Hitler was a good thing?</p>
<p>But the most troubling part of this tweet-plomacy is Trump’s curious reference to Russia helping with “the coming Arms Race.” Is there something he knows that he isn’t telling us?</p>
<p>It should be noted that any suggestion that an arms race is developing has to recognize that Trump himself is waging it. He has railed for months about what he regards as a depleted and ineffectual U.S. military. During his campaign, and now as president, Trump has promised to build up the military with an infusion of billions of dollars. He has advocated more and newer nuclear weapons, as well as piling on additional conventional munitions.</p>
<p>What’s more, Russia doesn’t seem to be a particularly helpful party when it comes to an arms race. Putin recently <a href="" type="internal">showed off</a> what he said were invincible new missiles that could be used against the U.S. and for which we would have no defense. If anything, Trump and Putin appear to be engaged in a mutually agreed upon escalation of weapons of mass destruction. Which would just make this the latest sweetheart deal that Trump has executed with his BFF.</p>
<p>It is no longer shocking when Trump says something false or stupid. That’s a nearly daily occurrence. But it is still worrisome when he makes dangerous comments that bring the country closer to conflict with foreign adversaries. Especially when those comments are contrary to the public policies and best interests of the nation.</p>
<p>By announcing that there is a “coming Arms Race,” Trump is alerting Russia and other nations of an intention by the U.S. to expand its military advantage. In effect, the comment has the potential to be the trigger for an arms race that didn’t exist previously. Hopefully somebody in the media will ask Trump what the heck he’s talking about. Although it may be too much to hope for that he actually knows.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p> | The Coming Arms Race? WTF is Trump Tweeting About Now? | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D34983 | 4 |
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<p>Washington Post It's a quarterly DVD magazine -- put out by the McSweeney's people -- with short films instead of articles. "The idea of a DVD magazine full of odd little films still sounds great," writes Peter Carlson. "But maybe it's the kind of idea that should be executed by somebody other than the editors of self-consciously weird literary magazines. Or maybe not. The Wholphin folks promise that their next issue will include short films created by the writers at 'The Daily Show.'"</p> | Wholphin is a whole new concept of a magazine | false | https://poynter.org/news/wholphin-whole-new-concept-magazine | 2006-01-17 | 2 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices at the wholesale level rose at the fastest pace in nearly 3 years in May, pushed higher by a sharp jump in the cost of gasoline and a record increase in the price eggs related to an outbreak of avian influenza. But outside of increases in volatile food and energy costs, core inflation remained moderate.</p>
<p>The producer price index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach consumers, spiked 0.5 percent in May, the Labor Department reported Friday. It was the biggest one-month increase since September 2012. The increase followed a 0.4 percent drop in wholesale prices in April. The May increase reflected a 17 percent rise in gasoline prices, the biggest hike since August 2009, and a record 56.4 percent surge in egg prices.</p>
<p>Core prices, which exclude energy and food, rose just 0.1 percent in May.</p>
<p>Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are down 1.1 percent, reflecting big declines in energy prices over the past year. Core inflation is up a modest 0.6 percent over the same 12-month period.</p>
<p>Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., said that inflation pressures should remain modest in coming months, given weakness in the global economy and a stronger dollar, which lowers the price of imports for Americans.</p>
<p>The government will report on consumer prices next week. Over the 12 months ending in April, consumer prices fell 0.2 percent, reflecting the big decline in energy costs. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices have risen 2.6 percent for the 12 months ending in April.</p>
<p>For May, wholesale energy prices rose a record 5.9 percent with the cost of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and home heating oil all posting big gains.</p>
<p>Food costs rose 0.8 percent in May, the biggest one-month gain since a 1.8 percent rise in April.</p>
<p>Economists had expected the increases given that gas prices, which had been falling sharply, have begun to tick higher. The nationwide average for a gallon of regular gas is now up to $2.76, compared to $2.66 a month ago. Still, a gallon of gas is 88 cents below where it was a year ago.</p>
<p>Federal Reserve officials are monitoring measures of inflation as they weigh whether to raise a key short-term interest rate. They have kept it at a record low near zero for more than six years. Fed officials have said they want to be “reasonably confident” that inflation is headed toward their 2 percent target, which would signal a stronger economy.</p>
<p>The Fed meets to consider interest rates next week, but most economists believe they will not move to boost rates at that meeting or at the following meeting in late July. Instead, many private economists are looking at September as the likely date for the Fed’s first rate hike in nearly a decade.</p>
<p>Analysts believe the Fed wants to be assured that the economy has rebounded from the period of weakness during the winter and the job market is continuing to improve. And even when the Fed starts raising rates, analysts believe the moves will be very gradual, especially if inflation continues to fall below the central bank’s preferred 2 percent level.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Prices at the wholesale level rose at the fastest pace in nearly 3 years in May, pushed higher by a sharp jump in the cost of gasoline and a record increase in the price eggs related to an outbreak of avian influenza. But outside of increases in volatile food and energy costs, core inflation remained moderate.</p>
<p>The producer price index, which measures inflation pressures before they reach consumers, spiked 0.5 percent in May, the Labor Department reported Friday. It was the biggest one-month increase since September 2012. The increase followed a 0.4 percent drop in wholesale prices in April. The May increase reflected a 17 percent rise in gasoline prices, the biggest hike since August 2009, and a record 56.4 percent surge in egg prices.</p>
<p>Core prices, which exclude energy and food, rose just 0.1 percent in May.</p>
<p>Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are down 1.1 percent, reflecting big declines in energy prices over the past year. Core inflation is up a modest 0.6 percent over the same 12-month period.</p>
<p>Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc., said that inflation pressures should remain modest in coming months, given weakness in the global economy and a stronger dollar, which lowers the price of imports for Americans.</p>
<p>The government will report on consumer prices next week. Over the 12 months ending in April, consumer prices fell 0.2 percent, reflecting the big decline in energy costs. Excluding food and energy, consumer prices have risen 2.6 percent for the 12 months ending in April.</p>
<p>For May, wholesale energy prices rose a record 5.9 percent with the cost of gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and home heating oil all posting big gains.</p>
<p>Food costs rose 0.8 percent in May, the biggest one-month gain since a 1.8 percent rise in April.</p>
<p>Economists had expected the increases given that gas prices, which had been falling sharply, have begun to tick higher. The nationwide average for a gallon of regular gas is now up to $2.76, compared to $2.66 a month ago. Still, a gallon of gas is 88 cents below where it was a year ago.</p>
<p>Federal Reserve officials are monitoring measures of inflation as they weigh whether to raise a key short-term interest rate. They have kept it at a record low near zero for more than six years. Fed officials have said they want to be “reasonably confident” that inflation is headed toward their 2 percent target, which would signal a stronger economy.</p>
<p>The Fed meets to consider interest rates next week, but most economists believe they will not move to boost rates at that meeting or at the following meeting in late July. Instead, many private economists are looking at September as the likely date for the Fed’s first rate hike in nearly a decade.</p>
<p>Analysts believe the Fed wants to be assured that the economy has rebounded from the period of weakness during the winter and the job market is continuing to improve. And even when the Fed starts raising rates, analysts believe the moves will be very gradual, especially if inflation continues to fall below the central bank’s preferred 2 percent level.</p> | US wholesale prices jump in May, led by eggs, gasoline | false | https://apnews.com/883518ba941a49568aee2750955af478 | 2015-06-12 | 2 |
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<p>A: An emphatic no! Unless there are broken or damaged branches or stems, no, now is not the time to prune roses of any sort. You could get down on their level and really inspect the bushes to see what should go when the time comes but for the time being keep your pruners sheathed – except if you discover damage. That should be cleaned up but as soon as the damage is removed put the pruners down. Don’t get carried away by how nice it is to prune.</p>
<p>In these parts, rose pruning is typically on the calendar for the last weeks in March. There is a logical reason, too. Roses tend to be what I describe as “hormonal.” If you fuss with them they take that as a signal that it’s time to start to grow. Well, trust me, we’re nowhere near the end of cold weather and if your roses got triggered and push any tender new growth it would be maimed or killed outright. Then you’d need to re-prune, perhaps taking off far too much of the plant, making it ever harder for it to recuperate. So wait!</p>
<p>For the time being, just keep everything watered. With the recent and continuing precipitation we’ve had that shouldn’t be difficult, but be ready to step in as needed. With each rain or snow we get mark your calendar and if there isn’t any wet weather by the time 12 to 15 days pass you will want to water – especially your pots. Remember, it’s the water that’ll insulate the plants roots, keeping them quietly dormant and protected from frost damage as our winter advances.</p>
<p>Q: I have three red yucca plants in the landscaping in the front yard. They have those long flower stalks, all light tan colored with the finished flowers at the ends. I think they are an eyesore and need to know what to do about them. – D.B., West Side</p>
<p>A: OK, counterintuitive to what I just wrote about pruning, the spent bloom stalks your red yu ccas are supporting ca n go now if you want. A couple of cautions to think about if you are really determined to tidy up your plants, OK? First, be sure to dress in stout layers. The yucca is a truly pokey creature and will stab you. Next, grab the old bloom stalk, gently but firmly, as deep into the plant as you can humanly get and give it a good tug. Sometimes the spent stalk will pop off cleanly and, voil à, you’re done. If it doesn’t give way easily don’t pull, tug and fight with the plant. Being overzealous you could actually cause the plant harm, so if the stalk doesn’t pop off, you just change your mode of attack. More times than not you will need to get into the plant, following that stalk as deep in as you can and using the sharpest hand pruner you have, and cut the stalk out. See, that’s why you’re dressing in layered armor, so to speak, to keep yourself from being attacked by this pokey plant.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It does no harm to leave the spent stalks but if you’re determined to remove them and tidy up their look, you can. Just keep yourself safe and the mother plants uninjured. Happy Digging In.</p>
<p>OK, Albuquerque: The Christmas tree recycling program is fast coming to a close. This is the last weekend you’ll be able to drop your tree at any one of the three tree-cycle spots in town to turn your holiday treasure into a viable compost product and keep our community tidier in the long run. Here on the West Side you can take the cut tree to Ladera Golf Course, 3401 Ladera NW. Just be patient, watchful and stay safe with all of the road construction in the area. Thanks Albuquerque for pitching in!</p>
<p>Need tips on growing your garden? Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send your garden-related questions to Digging In, Rio West, P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Now is not the time to consider pruning those roses | false | https://abqjournal.com/927707/now-is-not-the-time-to-consider-pruning-those-roses.html | 2 |
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<p>Following a record year in per-capita homicides, Baltimore’s mayor on Friday fired the city’s police commissioner after 2 ½ years on the job and named DeSousa to the top post, saying a change in leadership was needed immediately.</p>
<p>“I am impatient. We need violence reduction. We need the numbers to go down faster,” Mayor Catherine Pugh said at a news conference at City Hall after announcing DeSousa’s promotion.</p>
<p>While violent crime rates in Baltimore have been high for decades, Baltimore ended 2017 with 343 killings, bringing the annual homicide rate to its highest ever: roughly 56 killings per 100,000 people. Baltimore, which has shrunk over decades, currently has about 615,000 inhabitants.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In contrast, New York City had 290 homicides last year, its fewest on record in the modern era for the city of 8.5 million people. Los Angeles, with about 4 million residents, saw 305 homicides last year.</p>
<p>The challenges facing DeSousa are numerous: the pervasive mistrust of many citizens due to a history of corruption and discriminatory police practices; a federal corruption investigation into a group of indicted officers; and the unsolved slaying of a detective that has produced rumors but no arrests.</p>
<p>His promotion also comes as a monitoring team is overseeing court-ordered reforms to Baltimore’s police department as part of a federal consent decree reached last January between Baltimore and the U.S. Justice Department due to discriminatory and unconstitutional policing.</p>
<p>DeSousa, a 53-year-old city resident who joined the department in 1988, said he’s looking forward to the challenges. He said he’ll approach his role as a strategic thinker who knows the ins and outs of the department’s operations as well as law enforcement approaches that have had success in other U.S. cities.</p>
<p>“Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a chess player, and I don’t like to be outwitted,” he told reporters.</p>
<p>The head of Baltimore’s police union, Gene Ryan, said the leadership shakeup is already improving morale, and “will bring about the positive changes that will allow us to achieve our mission of violence reduction.”</p>
<p>DeSousa on Friday pledged to reduce crime by putting more uniformed officers on the streets and saturating “hot spots,” an effort he said is already underway. He said he had a message for the city’s violent repeat offenders, a rotating cast of “trigger pullers” that law enforcers say are responsible for an outsized percentage of the city’s crime.</p>
<p>“We’re coming after them. And I want to let everybody know that it will be done in a constitutional manner,” DeSousa said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The native New Yorker has served in just about every police department role over the years and in 2017 was assigned to lead the patrol bureau, the largest in Baltimore’s force. His appointment will be made permanent following “appropriate approvals,” Pugh’s office said.</p>
<p>He appears to have the backing of the City Council and a number of Baltimore’s civic leaders and organizers. Councilman Brandon Scott, who described DeSousa’s promotion as a “great decision,” said he received numerous phone messages from community leaders praising the move.</p>
<p>“Never before did I get text messages from community leaders saying, ‘Thank you, this is the right choice,'” Scott said, describing the three previous times during his career as an elected official that a police commissioner was replaced.</p>
<p>Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, tweeted that she was perplexed by the leadership change. In a statement, she said Commissioner Kevin Davis had shown “unyielding commitment” to police reforms.</p>
<p>Some Baltimore residents were also skeptical that a veteran as entrenched as DeSousa could bring true reform.</p>
<p>“He’s been there for 30 years and that’s the guy who’s going to change things up?” said resident Gerald Spann, who was washing the windows of a convenience store where gunmen and officers exchanged a barrage of gunfire earlier this week.</p>
<p>Davis, previously chief of police in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County, replaced Anthony Batts in the job in October 2015. Batts was fired amid a spike in homicides after Freddie Gray died of a fatal spinal cord injury received while in police custody. The black man’s death triggered massive protests and the city’s worst riots in decades.</p>
<p>Pugh, who took office in December 2016, said she was grateful to Davis “for all that he has done to implement the initiatives underway to address violent crime at its root causes.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.</p> | Baltimore police leader fired after record year in homicides | false | https://abqjournal.com/1121682/baltimore-police-leader-fired-after-record-year-in-homicides.html | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p><a href="http://www.freedomtooffend.com" type="external">Motion-103</a>was passed in the Canadian parliament on March 23 by a vote of 201-91. <a href="" type="internal">This motion</a>lets the government set up a committee to investigate offensive speech, discrimination, and harassment against Muslims.</p>
<p />
<p>The problem with this motion, though, is that we already have laws that protect anyone, including religious minorities, from offensive speech, discrimination, and harassment.</p>
<p>It seems that, on top of the fact that they’re already protected, our government feels like we need to further cater to the whims of Muslims.</p>
<p>That’s not the part that pisses me off the most, though. The motion itself is unclear and vague. The interpretation of this motion can lead to a mild or a heavy corrosion on our fundamental rights and freedoms.</p>
<p>For starters, the wording of the motion conflates Islam with a race.</p>
<p>So if you’re dark-skinned, like I am, apparently hating and fearing Islam is hating and fearing myself because I’m also hating and fearing my own race.</p>
<p>The most important criticism of this motion, though, derives from the its wording. It uses the term “Islamophobia.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">What is Islamophobia?&#160;</a></p>
<p>I’ll show you examples of so-called “Islamophobic” cartoons, YouTube comments, ISIS videos and more.</p>
<p>It’s all incredibly arbitrary, and we shouldn’t base our laws on arbitrary definitions of what’s bigoted.</p>
<p>In the near future, it might be illegal in Canada for me to say that much of Islam and the Muslim world is terrible and we need to empower them to change that.</p>
<p>It’ll be illegal in Canada because our own government would think I’m a racist for saying it.</p> | Sharia law: Passage of M103 makes Canadians “Islamophobic" overnight | true | https://therebel.media/how_m103_turns_you_into_a_bigot_overnight | 2017-03-28 | 0 |
<p>Smuggle a thousand rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers into the 20 largest American cities, distribute them among known criminals, excops,&#160;the hard core of left- and right-wing lunatic sects, and assure a continuous supply of ammunition and tactical intelligence, leaving behind the simple order: Disorganize; disrupt; create chaos. What would the result be? Very quickly, life in our cities would become intolerable. Violent incidents&#160;would be the order of the day, on subways, in buses, or merely walking down the street. Citizens would begin routinely staying home from work. Many would complain about the inefficiency of the government. Most would still hope for its victory, and do what they could to assist it, but with some&#160;bafflement about their fate. The smugglers of arms (they would say to themselves) are so rich, so far away, so irresponsible. Why do they destroy us and then point to the effects and say we are destroying ourselves? How can they set about wrecking our society, and then call our society a wreckage?</p>
<p /> | Our Outrages in Nicaragua | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/our-outrages-in-nicaragua | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
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