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<p>For Hugo Chavez, large, industrial mega projects could turn into a political mine field. The contradiction between Chavez’s rhetoric stressing social equality, on the one hand, and environmental abuses on the other, was driven home to me over this past summer when I attended the first ever environmental conference of Lake Maracaibo. The event was held in the city of Maracaibo itself, the capital of Zulia state, and organized by the government’s Institute for the Conservation of Lake Maracaibo (known by the Spanish acronym ICLAM).</p>
<p>Somewhat oddly, outside of the dining hall where conference participants ate lunch mining companies had set up promotional booths. Walking through an adjacent hallway, scantily clad women working for mining and oil companies plied me with glossy pamphlets and even candy. Later during the conference itself, one panelist, a representative from the local development agency Corpozulia, gave a rosy presentation about new port and infrastructure projects planned for the state of Zulia.</p>
<p>Later, I went back to the luxurious Hotel Kristoff where the government had put me up for the duration of my stay. One morning, sitting at a table overlooking the hotel pool, I was joined by Jorge Hinestroza, a sociologist at the University of Zulia and former General Coordinator of the Federation of Zulia Ecologists.</p>
<p>Sierra of Perija: Area of Conflict</p>
<p>Hinestroza spoke to me of destructive coal mining in the Sierra of Perija, a mountain range which marks a section of the border between Venezuela and Colombia. The area, which is home to large coal deposits, has suffered severe deforestation.</p>
<p>Industrial coal production, Hinestroza explained, had damaged Indian lands. He complained that America Port, a new project proposed by Corpozulia, would prove “catastrophic for mangrove vegetation in the area.” The project, he continued, was linked to coal exploitation. What’s more, Corpozulia itself owned the mining concessions.</p>
<p>According to reports, the Añú community, comprised of 3,000 people living around the Lake Sinamaica region in Zulia, is concerned about the devastation that would result from the construction of a deep-water port in the area, for exporting coal.</p>
<p>If Chavez does not attend to rising calls for greater environmental controls, he will lose support amongst one of his most loyal constituencies, the indigenous population. Already, industrial mega projects have led to angry protest and undermined public confidence in the regime. For Chavez, it is surely one of the thorniest problems that his government must confront.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Launching Raids into Indian Country</p>
<p>Though Indians inhabiting the Sierra of Perija have had to confront extensive coal mining in the Chavez era, it’s not as if indigenous peoples living in the area are strangers to conflict. In the first half of the twentieth century, Motilon Indians [also known as the Bari], which included several indigenous groups inhabiting the area of Perijá, confronted British and American oil prospectors.</p>
<p>In 2001, I was living in Maracaibo doing research for my dissertation dealing with the environmental history of oil development in Lake Maracaibo. Working in the historical archive, I was struck by historical accounts of oil prospectors headed to Indian country.</p>
<p>In 1914, for example, one oil expedition marched into the jungle accompanied by a large company of 50 peons. In seeking to penetrate Motilon Indian country, oil prospectors were aided by the Venezuelan government. As one oil pioneer put it, “we had for arms 12 Mauser military rifles from the government. Every man had either a revolver or a rifle.”</p>
<p>Oil prospectors on one expedition discovered a Motilon house, but were forced to make a harrowing escape in canoes along river rapids when Indians appeared. The oil men shot back, hitting at least twelve men.</p>
<p>One oilman commented: “I do not like the idea of destroying a whole community of men, women and children. But this would be the only thing to do unless peace is made … If oil is found up the Lora [River], peaceful relations with the Indians would be worth several hundred thousand dollars to the company.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“It Would Be Convenient to Suppress Them with Gas or Grenades”</p>
<p>Eventually, oil infrastructure in Indian country proceeded. Indians had to contend not only with armed prospectors but also growing contamination from open earth oil sumps and dwindling hunting grounds.</p>
<p>For the growing American community in Maracaibo, the Motilones were a nuisance. One English language paper, the Tropical Sun, remarked, “It would be convenient to suppress the Motilon Indians by attacking them with asphyxiating gas or explosive grenades.”</p>
<p>There are no documented cases of large scale artillery attacks on the Motilon Indians. However, Father Cesareo de Armellada, a Capuchin priest who later played a pivotal role in contacting groups of Motilones, claimed that</p>
<p>“It was said by some sotto voce and others even admitted publicly that in the Colombian region [of Perija] thenational army organized raids under the slogan of: there is no other way. And it is also saidthat in the same region the Motilones were bombed by airplanes. The same thing has been repeated to me by many people living within the Venezuelan region of Perija and Colon.”</p>
<p>De Armellada continued that “Secret punitive expeditions” were organized against the Motilones.</p>
<p>Oil Companies: Bombing the Indians</p>
<p>Some reports suggest a fair degree of cooperation between the government and oil companies in organizing armed expeditions. Not surprisingly, the government’s policy of allowing oil companies to enter Motilon territory led to greater violence. The U.S. Consul in Maracaibo, Alexander Sloan, noted that a state of open warfare existed in Motilon territory:</p>
<p>“During the last year the Indian attacks have increased in frequency and bitterness. On several occasions lately boat crews have abandoned their tows, because they were attacked so fiercely and so persistently by the Motilones [sic] that they considered it necessary to get away as speedily as possible.”</p>
<p>Even more alarming, “attacks on trains have been made only within recent months, and in these attacks the Indians have shown a persistence that they never exhibited before.”</p>
<p>According to de Armellada, in the 1930s and early 40s the oil companies were able to encircle the Motilones in a tighter ring stretching over several hundred square kilometers. However, this had resulted in many deaths.</p>
<p>There is some evidence that the oil companies even resorted to aerial bombardment. One British diplomat noted that the Motilones hated strangers, and were “embittered” as a result of an attempt by an American company to bomb their settlements.</p>
<p>The diplomat did not specify which company was involved in the attacks, although it would seem at least possible that this was Creole Petroleum Corporation, an American company which sought to open up Motilon territory to oil expansion, and which had planes.</p>
<p>Overflights of Indian Country</p>
<p>De Armellada sought support from the oil companies in the form of over flights of Indian villages. The over flights were accompanied by a propaganda effort launched by de Armellada, who sought to present his ideological justification for the expeditions. De Armellada promoted the Motilon effort through Topicos Shell, a glossy Shell company magazine.</p>
<p>In May 1947, Creole Petroleum Corporation provided de Armellada with a twin engine flying boat. The company was a powerful subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey and was in a position to lend credibility and resources to the Capuchin priest. Creole’s head of public relations, Everett Bauman, recalled later that de Armellada came up with the idea of dropping bundles of gifts as well as his own picture from a plane. By dropping gifts to the Indians, de Armellada hoped, Motilones would later prove receptive to missionary efforts. With his newfound support, de Armellada organized an over flight of Motilon villages in an effort to establish peaceful relations.</p>
<p>Shortly after one of de Armellada’s flights took off, the expedition sighted Motilon dwellings from the air, consisting of rudimentary thatched shelters. Noted Caracas Journal, “The Indians were nowhere to be seen, having rushed to hide in the undergrowth, in alarm at the roar of the plane’s motors.”</p>
<p>The plane dropped a number of goods on the village such as cloth, salt, flour, hoes, needles, thread, and mirrors as tokens of good will. The airplane was also careful to drop De Armellada’s photo, “thus ensuring the missionary a gentlewelcome when he arrives accompanied by two other monks, into their [Motilon] territory.” Throughout 1947, the Capuchins continued their over flights of Motilon territory, dropping similar “bombs” of gifts and boxes.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Triumph of Missionaries and Big Oil</p>
<p>Fortunately for de Armellada, on the fifth flight in December 1947 Motilones no longer hid in the jungle but stepped outside their huts accompanied by their pet dogs. Encouraged, de Armellada picked up the pace of the overhead flights, which ran weekly for the following three months. “The enthusiasm displayed by the Indians,” noted de Armellada, “increased as much as ours.”</p>
<p>The Indians lost their fear, and Motilon children began to play with the parachutes which accompanied box gifts. Observing that the Indians had taken to their gifts, the Capuchins dropped pre-made clothes, large dolls, and even two goats. According to de Armellada, the Indians waved donated Venezuelan flags in the air when missionary flights passed overhead.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, De Armellada made a plea in Topicos Shell for more assistance. Anyone who considered themselves a proper Christian had a “sacred duty” to help the effort. With the help of Creole Petroleum Corporation, which drew up a map of Motilon areas based on aerial photographs, de Armellada was able to locate 14 Motilon huts along the Lora River and northwards. Various families lived in each house, with a variable number of individuals oscillating between 20 and 50.</p>
<p>De Armellada’s successes paved the way for future missionary efforts in Motilon country, and by the early 1960s the Capuchins had established various missionary centers within Indian territory. The missionary advance was accompanied by yet more intrusion by oil companies and landowners, and Motilones were displaced towards nearby towns.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Chavez: A New Beginning for Zulia Indians?</p>
<p>In the mid-1990s, Indians in the Sierra of Perija continued to face daunting challenges. For example, Wayuu and Yupka peoples lost their lands to large, state-controlled coal mines and oil drilling.</p>
<p>In 1998, the election of Hugo Chavez to the presidency stood to dramatically change the plight of indigenous people. In contrast to earlier regimes, Chavez took a more anti-missionary stance on indigenous policy. For example, he expelled the New Tribes Mission, an American missionary group working with Venezuelan indigenous communities. Chavez accused New Tribes of collaborating with the CIA.</p>
<p>Chavez’s 1999 Constitution represented a big step forward for Indians. Under article 9, Spanish was declared the official language of Venezuela, but “Indigenous languages are also for official use for indigenous peoples and must be respected throughout the Republic’s territory for being part of the nation’s and humanity’s patrimonial culture.” In chapter eight of the constitution, the state recognized the social, political, and economic organization within indigenous communities, in addition to their cultures, languages, rights, and lands.</p>
<p>What is more, in a critical provision the government recognized land rights as collective, inalienable, and non-transferable. Later articles declared the government’s pledge not to engage in extraction of natural resources without prior consultation with indigenous groups.</p>
<p>Chavez himself has distributed millions of acres of land to indigenous communities. The move forms part of the so called Mission Guaicaipuro which shall provide land titles to all of Venezuela’s 28 indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>Indians to Chavez: Land Policy a “Fraud”</p>
<p>Despite the passage of the new constitution, however, Indians from the Sierra of Perija have protested the government which they claim does not pay sufficient attention to their needs.</p>
<p>In 2005, hundreds of Wayuu, Bari and Yukpa Indians traveled to Bolivar Square in Caracas. Bare-chested, wearing traditional dress and wielding bows and arrows, they denounced mining operations in Zulia.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the indigenous protestors were staunch Chávez supporters and most sported red headbands with pro-government slogans, while others wore red berets, symbolic of Chavez’s governing Fifth Republic Movement party.</p>
<p>One protest sign read, “Compañero Chávez, support our cause.” Another declared, “Vito barí atañoo yiroo oshishibain (We don’t want coal mining)”.</p>
<p>Despite their pro-government leanings, Indians said that efforts to formalize their ancestral lands constituted a “fraud.” In a statement they declared, “They will allocate lands to us but later try to evict us to exploit coal.”</p>
<p>The leader of the Wayuu delegation, Angela Aurora, said that coal mining in Zulia had deforested thousands of acres of land as well as contaminated rivers. Mining additionally had killed or sickened local residents with respiratory diseases caused by coal dust.</p>
<p>Sierra of Perija and Contradictions of Chavismo</p>
<p>Though Chavez has derided globalization and large financial institutions, the case of the Sierra of Perija reveals a fundamental contradiction within Chavismo. In fitting irony, Douglas Bravo, a former communist guerrilla from the 1960s and 70s, was also present at the indigenous protest in Caracas. Bravo now devotes his time to promoting environmental groups.</p>
<p>“This is a manifestation of an autonomous and independent revival of the popular movement,” he said. “At the same time,” he added, “it is the beginning of a new stage in the independent environmental movement, against globalization and the multinationals.”</p>
<p>In a sense, Bravo is right. The Sierra of Perija is in the crosshairs of important economic development. The government has sought joint ventures between the public coal company Carbozulia and various foreign companies including Vale do Rio Doce of Brazil, the British-South African Anglo American, the Anglo-Dutch Shell, Ruhrkohle from Germany and the U.S. Chevron-Texaco.</p>
<p>On the one hand, Chavez needs political support from indigenous peoples. But he also seeks important hemispheric integration, which could jeopardize this support. The Venezuelan northwest is vital to solidifying ties with Brazil and Mercosur, a South American trade bloc [for more on these inherent contradictions, see my earlier Counterpunch article, “The Rise of Rafael Correa: Ecuador and the Contradictions of Chavismo,” November 27, 2006].</p>
<p>“If We Have to Die For Our Lands, We Will Die”</p>
<p>Some government officials have big plans for Zulia. In 2004, Carbozulia and Companhia Vale do Rio Doce of Brazil created a new consortium, Carbosuramérica, to undertake additional mining operations in the region. Activists fear that Zulia is fast becoming an exit platform to the Caribbean Sea, and that the area is serving the interests of transnational companies. While the companies seek to get their products out, the environment is being sacrificed.</p>
<p>Mining and ports projects within Zulia in turn form part of the IIRSA, Initiative for South American Regional Infrastructure Integration (promoted by Brazil and the new South American Community of Nations).</p>
<p>Chavez, who is trying to construct an alliance of left leaning regimes in South America, knows that he must secure vital diplomatic support from President Lula of Brazil. But if the Venezuelan government presses ahead with its development agenda in the Sierra of Perija, the regime will have to reckon with severe domestic opposition.</p>
<p>During the indigenous protest in Caracas, Cesáreo Panapaera, a Yukpa leader, declared, “We want the government to hear us: we don’t want coal. Here are our bows and arrows, and we will use them against the miners if they come to our lands. And if we have to die fighting for our lands, we will die.”</p>
<p>NIKOLAS KOZLOFF is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S</a>. (St. Martin’s Press). He will shortly start work on another book, South America’s New Direction, also to be published by St. Martin’s Press.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Bombing Venezuela’s Indians | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/02/08/bombing-venezuela-s-indians/ | 2007-02-08 | 4 |
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<p>After three days of testimony in a preliminary hearing, state District Judge Francis Mathew decided Wednesday that Nicholas Ortiz will have a jury decide whether he is guilty of murdering Lloyd Ortiz, 55, Dixie Ortiz, 53 and Steven Ortiz, 20, in their home north of Santa Fe on Father's Day 2011.</p>
<p>N. ORTIZ: Faces murder charges in killings</p>
<p>Police say the murder weapon was a mattock - a large two-bladed tool similar to a pickaxe. Nicholas Ortiz, 16 at the time of the murders, was arrested in February and charged with three counts of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.</p>
<p>Also Wednesday, Mathew rejected a motion from the state to have Ortiz incarcerated without bond while he awaits trial.</p>
<p>Ortiz is out of jail on a $100,000 bond, $10,000 of which was required in cash, and must be in the custody of a third party and on house arrest. He's only allowed to travel for employment or education, can't have any firearms, drugs or alcohol and is not permitted any contact with gang members.</p>
<p>Wednesday morning, Erik Zubia-Talavera, 20, testified that Nicholas Ortiz, who had lived with the Ortiz family but is not related to the murder victims, confessed that he committed the homicides during a phone conversation about a week after the bodies were discovered. "I brought up what happened to Robert (Rios?) grandparents, and then he said he did it," Zubia-Talavera said. "Honestly, I thought it was BS, so I hung up."</p>
<p>Gregorio Trujillo testified that Nicholas also admitted killing the Ortizes during a party at Trujillo's El Rancho home in September 2011. Trujillo is a cousin of Ashley Roybal, who pled guilty to tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary in connection with the homicides and on Tuesday testified that she delivered Ortiz with the mattock to the house were the murders were committed, although she says only a robbery had been discussed ahead of time.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"I overheard Mr. Ortiz bragging that he killed the Ortiz family," Trujillo said. "I told (Roybal) that she needed to get this kid out of my house. I have my family asleep inside, you know what I mean? I took offense to that because I know the Ortiz family. I grew up in El Rancho."</p>
<p>Trujillo, 26, is being held at the Lea County jail for commercial burglary, possession of a controlled substance and receiving stolen property.</p>
<p>State Police lead case agent Sgt. Kraig Bobnock testified Tuesday that after Roybal came forward with information about the murders in October 2012, investigators found a tube sock, Ortiz's school ID card and part of a bedsheet with suspected blood on it in an arroyo near the crime scene. Roybal told police her cousin, 19-year-old Jose Roybal, and Ortiz covered their hands with socks and put plastic bags around their shoes before she gave them a ride to the Ortiz residence, where the plan was to steal 5-gallon water jugs they believed contained at least $20,000. Jose Roybal said he ran back home before Ortiz entered the house. Both Roybals testified that Ortiz told them that night that he had killed the Ortiz family but didn't take any money.</p>
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<p /> | Man ordered to stand trial in triple homicide | false | https://abqjournal.com/623889/triple-homicide-to-go-to-trial.html | 2 |
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<p>Alex Berenson is a New York Times reporter by day, bestselling spy novelist by night. Earlier this year, he published his third novel, <a href="http://www.alexberenson.com/" type="external">The Silent Man</a>, featuring his super spy John Wells. I came across the book at the library a couple of weeks ago and discovered that not only is it pretty good, but it’s the rare spy novel for media junkies. At one point in the book, Wells assumes the cover of a Lebanese businessman/freedom fighter. To get into character, he tans at Solar Planet, dyes his hair and ODs on fried chicken. Fat and swarthy, Wells procures a fake passport to travel to Moscow to avenge an attack that nearly killed his girlfriend. His alias? Glenn Kramon, which also happens to be the name of Berenson’s boss and managing editor of the Times.</p>
<p>I asked the real Kramon whether he knew Berenson had inserted him into the novel. Turns out he’s a big fan of Berenson’s novels and has read all three. When he first discovered his name in the most recent, Kramon says he “thanked Alex for not making me the villain.” Kramon’s is not the first name Berenson has appropriated from his Times colleagues. Kramon says his favorite is that of the book’s hapless American ambassador to Russia, Walt Purdy, whose name he suspects is a hybrid of investigative reporter Walt Bogdanich and his editor, Matt Purdy. Naturally, the Times names had me wondering who else had popped up in Berenson’s novels. Perhaps there’s a Maureen Dowd cameo? Alas, Berenson says no. He only poaches names from people he knows, and he’s never met Dowd. “I have a hunch that Wells wouldn’t like her much, though,” he says. “She’s not his type.” &#160;</p>
<p /> | Spy Novels For Journalists | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/05/spy-novels-journalists/ | 2009-05-27 | 4 |
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<p>Conservative TV host Bill O’Reilly is urging Donald Trump to stick to the Paris climate agreement, the global pact to reduce emissions that the president-elect has <a href="https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/an-america-first-energy-plan" type="external">railed against for months</a>. “It doesn’t really amount to much anyway,” <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/11/17/bill-oreilly-trump-should-accept-paris-treaty-climate-buy-some-goodwill-overseas/214513" type="external">O’Reilly told his Fox News audience</a> Wednesday evening. “Let it go.”</p>
<p>O’Reilly is no fan of climate action. He <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2011/04/06/oreilly-nobody-can-control-the-climate-but-god/178416" type="external">said</a> in 2011 that “nobody can control the climate but God.” But on Wednesday, O’Reilly said staying in the Paris agreement would “buy some goodwill overseas” for the incoming president. At least one prominent politician—Nicolas Sarkozy, the former leader of France who is running again for the presidency—has <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/world/united-nations-climate-change-trump.html" type="external">proposed tariffs on US imports should Trump pull out of the deal</a>, which was signed in December 2015 and came into force just before the election.</p>
<p>On Thursday, Britain <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-accord-britain-idUSKBN13C1QU" type="external">announced it had ratified the deal</a>, while hundreds of major companies co-signed a letter urging Trump to uphold America’s climate pledges. The 360 companies included <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/17/502425711/hundreds-of-u-s-businesses-urge-trump-to-uphold-paris-climate-deal?ft=nprml&amp;f=" type="external">Nike, General Mills, and Hewlett Packard</a>.</p>
<p>Trump has said that climate change is a hoax <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/17/climate-change-a-chinese-plot-beijing-gives-donald-trump-a-history-lesson" type="external">invented by the Chinese</a> and has pledged to <a href="http://www.bna.com/trump-says-plan-n57982082131/" type="external">slash funding to United Nations climate programs</a>. He put a prominent climate change denier, Myron Ebell, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/11/16/donald-trump-myron-ebell-epa-transition-tapper-dnt-lead.cnn" type="external">in charge of his Environmental Protection Agency transition team</a>.</p> | What? Bill O’Reilly Is Urging Trump to Keep the Paris Climate Agreement | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/trump-fox-bill-oreilly-paris-climate-agreement/ | 2016-11-17 | 4 |
<p>Osama bin Laden watches President Barack Obama on TV.Anonymous/AP</p>
<p />
<p>After Osama bin Laden was killed by US special operations forces, the pro-torture CIA crowd pointed to the raid as evidence that human-rights-abusing questioning can produce essential intelligence. And this debate was revived when the film Zero Dark Thirty implied the same point. During these dust-ups, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, said her committee’s years-long investigation of the CIA interrogation program showed that the agency’s use of harsh techniques did not lead it to bin Laden’s hideaway in Pakistan. The torture report she released today—that is, the 535-page executive summary of the 6,600-page full report—states bluntly that CIA torturing had nothing to do with finding bin Laden. A footnote reports that the CIA, naturally, takes issues with this and says the committee report “incorrectly characterizes the intelligence we had.” That footnote adds, “This is incorrect.”</p>
<p>Here’s the blow-by-blow. After the bin Laden raid, according to the report, CIA officials, in classified briefings to the committee, said that intelligence related to the CIA’s so-called enhanced interrogation techniques was used to locate the Al Qaeda chieftain, referred to as UBL in the report. The committee says this “was inaccurate and incongruent” with the CIA’s own records. Here’s the nut graph:</p>
<p>CIA records indicate that: (1) the CIA had extensive reporting on [bin Laden courier] Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti (variant Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti),&#160; the UBL facilitator whose identification and tracking led to the identification of UBL’s compound and the operation that resulted in UBL’s death, prior to and independent of information from CIA detainees; (2) the most accurate information on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti obtained from a CIA detainee was provided by a CIA detainee who had not yet been subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques; and (3) CIA detainees who were subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques withheld and fabricated information about Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti.</p>
<p>That’s a slam dunk. The CIA had info on the bin Laden operative who led the United States to the Abbottabad compound—but this intelligence did not come from those terrorist suspects it tortured.</p>
<p>The report notes that days after the raid, CIA officials said that terrorist suspects held by the agency had provided the “tip off” regarding Kuwaiti, the bin Laden courier. The committee, though, found that the “initial intelligence” and the “most valuable” information on Kuwaiti was not related to the torture program. The CIA, according to the report, had collected “significant reporting” on Kuwaiti and his close links to bin Laden prior to receiving any information in 2003 from CIA-held detainees. As early as the start of 2002, a phone number associated with Kuwaiti was under “government intelligence collection.” By monitoring this number, the report notes, US intelligence identified Kuwaiti as someone to watch.</p>
<p>In July 2002, the CIA slyly obtained an email address believed to be associated with Kuwaiti and within a month was tracking his email activity. That summer, the CIA received reports that originated with detainees held by other governments that Kuwaiti was associated with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected architect of the 9/11 attacks. Throughout 2002, the agency also had gathered “significant corroborative reporting” on Kuwaiti’s age, physical appearance, and family. Other reports from foreign governments indicated Kuwaiti was a courier for bin Laden. So the CIA, according to the report, had been on to him for a while before it received any info from a detainee within its own custody.</p>
<p>But after the bin Laden raid, the report says, CIA officials briefed the committee and “indicated that CIA detainee information—and the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques—played a substantial role in developing intelligence that led to the UBL operation.” This testimony, the report says, “contained significant inaccurate information.” One example: The CIA told the committee that Kuwaiti had “totally dropped off our radar in about 2002-2003 time frame after several detainees in our custody had highlighted him as a key facilitator for bin Laden.” [Committee’s emphasis.] Nope, the committee says, no CIA detainee had provided information related to Kuwaiti in 2002. Moreover, it notes, “the majority of the accurate intelligence acquired on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti was collected outside of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, either from detainees not in CIA custody, or from other intelligence sources and methods unrelated to detainees, to include human sources and foreign partners.”</p>
<p>A CIA detainee named Hassan Ghul in early 2004 did tell the CIA that Kuwaiti was a “close assistant” who was likely handling “all of UBL’s needs.” He also reported that “UBL’s security apparatus would be minimal, and the the group likely lived in a house with a family somewhere in Pakistan.” Yet, according to the report, he told this to the CIA before being subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques.</p>
<p>The report challenges a statement then-CIA chief Leon Panetta made to Congress days after the bin Laden raid: “The detainees in the post-9/11 period flagged for us that there were individuals that provided direct support to bin Laden…and one of those identified was a courier who had the nickname Abu-Ahmad al-Kuwaiti. That was back in 2002.” Not so, the report insists. And it gets worse. At a post-raid briefing a senator—unnamed in the report—asked, “Was any of this information obtained through [enhanced] interrogation measures?” A CIA officer—unnamed in the report—replied, “Senator, these individuals were in our program and were subject to some form of enhanced interrogation.” The committee dryly states that the information “is not fully congruent with CIA records.” It adds that the CIA’s own records show that those CIA detainees who were tortured provided “fabricated, inconsistent, and generally unreliable information on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti throughout their detention.”</p>
<p>The CIA subsequently provided the Senate intelligence committee with a six-page chart on detainee reporting on Kuwaiti, noting that 12 CIA detainees had linked Kuwaiti to bin Laden and that nine of them were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques and two of those—KSM and Abu Zubaydah—were waterboarded. Another CIA document maintained that of 16 CIA detainees that had provided information on Kuwaiti, 13 did so after being subjected to torture. These documents, the committee says, were inaccurate and omitted important facts, and across several pages in the report, the committee points out a host of errors within those records.</p>
<p>The report essentially accuses the CIA of trying to snow the committee and the public, noting that its postraid claims were out of sync with its preraid records:</p>
<p>While CIA documents and testimony highlighted reporting that the CIA claimed was obtained from CIA detainees—and in some cases from CIA detainees subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques—the CIA internally noted that reporting from CIA detainees—specifically CIA detainees subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques—was insufficient, fabricated, and/or unreliable.</p>
<p>A footnote in the report points out that several weeks prior to the bin Laden raid, the CIA’s office of public affairs was told about the pending bin Laden operation and that it began to prepare material for release following the mission. According to a CIA document, a key task for the CIA spinners was to promote “the critical nature of detainee reporting in identifying Bin Ladin’s courier.” It seems the agency, which was tarred by the torture controversy (and those missing WMDs in Iraq), saw the raid as an opportunity to shift the narrative about its detainee and interrogation program. And CIA boosters outside the agency, including Langley alums, did the same. The report notes that former CIA director Michael Hayden went on a talk radio show two days after the raid and said, “What we got, the original lead information—and frankly it was incomplete identity information on the [bin Laden] couriers—began with information from CIA detainees at the black sites. And let me just leave it at that.”</p>
<p>Feinstein, who has long been supportive of the intelligence establishment, was not willing to leave it at that. The executive summary diplomatically casts Hayden as a fabricator. Moreover, it makes a strong case that during the bin Laden-torture debate and related controversies, the CIA misled its overseers on Capitol Hill and the public. It’s no wonder that so many champions of the agency tried to keep this summary from becoming public. They’d rather Americans watch a Hollywood movie (which the CIA consulted on) about the bin Laden mission than read this report.</p>
<p /> | Senate Torture Report: No, Bin Laden Was Not Found Because of CIA Torture | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/senate-torture-report-bin-laden-zero-dark-thirty/ | 2014-12-09 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Unilever's purchase of Dollar Shave Club (razor not pictured) was an aggressive play in the personal-care market. Image source: Getty Images</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Unilever (NYSE: UL) (NYSE: UN) may be the biggest company you don't know about. It's a fast-moving consumer goods, or FMCG, company, and it's likely you routinely purchase Unilever goods on a weekly basis. The company has 13 "billion-euro brands" with Dove, Lipton, and Hellmann's filling grocery carts every week. Additionally, Unilever has been aggressive in the personal-care space by buying Dollar Shave Club earlier this year for $1 billion, and owns the No. 1 men's fragrance brand, Axe.</p>
<p>For income investors, there's further confusion about the company. Here's how a company that has increased its dividend payout 7.4% per year over the last six years has been labeled an inconsistent dividend payer.</p>
<p>Unilever has an odd history, but it's important for income investors to understand it. The company was created through a business merger between Dutch company Naamloze Vennootschap Margarine Unie and U.K. soap manufacturer Lever Brothers in 1930. Astute readers may have noticed Unilever is simply a portmanteau of both names.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>To avoid what Unilever calls "punitive taxation levels," the merger resulting in the formation of two new companies, which pooled their interests and agreed to equal treatment of dividends and profit. There are still two companies: the Netherlands-based Unilever NV and the British Unilever PLC.</p>
<p>This is important, because you'll notice there are two Unilever U.S.-listed shares. The UL (think Unilever London) shares are the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/04/26/what-is-an-adr-you-need-to-know-before-buying-fore.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">American depositary receipts Opens a New Window.</a>, or ADRs, of the British company, and UN (Unilever Netherlands) shares are depositary shares of the Dutch company. Considering the pooled-interests method guarantees equal treatment of profit and dividends, the ADRs typically trade very close to each other.</p>
<p>At first glance, it would appear Unilever has an unreliable dividend payout. The chart below shows the company's quarterly U.S. dividend is lower now than it was in 2014.</p>
<p>Source: Unilever.</p>
<p>Notice the dividend payouts are denominated in U.S. dollars. While most U.S. residents are accustomed to a dollar-denominated dividend, the presentation currency of Unilever is actually in euro. The reason the U.S. payout has been more volatile than that of traditional companiesis due to exchange-rate effects. Here's an average of the exchange rates between these two currencies over the last seven years.</p>
<p>Data source: <a href="http://www.usforex.com/" type="external">USForex.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Currencies can be confusing to many investors, but an easy way to think of the table above is the U.S.-dollar figure it would take to equal 1 euro during the time period. As you can see, since it now requires fewer dollars (approximately $1.12 in 2016 vs. $1.33 in 2010), the dollar has strengthened. While this is good news for American tourists who are about to take a trip to Europe, unfortunately for Unilever's U.S. investors, your cash flows (an asset) are denominated in euros, and any further strengthening of the dollar will continue to negatively impact your dividend payout.</p>
<p>However, Unilever is actively returning cash to investors in a major way. On a constant-currency basis (that is, in euro), Unilever has increased its dividend from 0.832 to 1.28 (projected) during this time frame, an annualized increase of 7.4%. The variability in Unilever's dividends is due to currency effects. In the event the euro reverses and strengthens against the dollar, however, investors will get stealthy dividend increases.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFJCar/info.aspx" type="external">Jamal Carnette Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Unilever. 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> | Here's What Investors Need to Know About Unilever's Dividend | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/30/here-what-investors-need-to-know-about-unilever-dividend.html | 2016-08-30 | 0 |
<p>A theme regarding Iraq has emerged over many months: that the “responsibility” for Iraq’s future lies in the hands of Iraqis and their neighbors. As the Iraqis “stand up,” the U.S. will “stand down.” Iran and Syria must stop fomenting violence and help build New Iraq.</p>
<p>Sounds sensible, especially at first, especially when intoned by grave-sounding politicians. But what about the U.S.? Didn’t the U.S. cause the problem in the first place? And isn’t this all a bit like claiming (without evidence) that you feel your neighbor is a threat to you, and — against the opinions and wisdom of most of your other neighbors, and against the law — smashing your way into his house, killing his pregnant wife and son, and, after finding no evidence of a threat, staying and burning his electricity and eating his food? Then billing the man for the repairs, made by companies chosen at your behest? And chastising him for failing to make the house presentable for a party you’ve decided to throw for your friends ­ and calling him a “terrorist” when he tries to kick you out?</p>
<p>With new friends like the U.S., does New Iraq need enemies?</p>
<p>It must not be forgotten, as New Iraq falters, that what the U.S. invaded was a sovereign nation. That there was no legitimate reason to invade. As Ron Suskind shows in his book <a href="" type="internal">The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America’s Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11</a>, the Bush Administration operated under a rubric that if there was a at least a one percent chance that Iraq had WMD, then that chance would be treated as a certainty. A more irresponsible policy, given the stakes, given the predictions of the horrendous events that a war could unleash, could not be devised. That’s the charitable view ­ there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that the Bush Administration simply defrauded us into the war.</p>
<p>Yet the president, his pom-pom boys, and his slippery apologists act as if this mess is the fault of the Iraqis, that somehow, since so many years have passed, the Iraqis should (like the mythic, good American), brush off the dust and blood and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. So now it’s OK for U.S. leaders to grow impatient with these people. After all, we’ve given them a shot at democracy.</p>
<p>Of course, that’s rubbish. New Iraq never had a chance after the U.S. cratered it into death and disorder. It’s now accepted wisdom that the U.S.’s disbanding of the Iraqi army was an idiotic move that fostered this chaos — the dangers were well-known but were ignored.</p>
<p>Now “The Decider” is outsourcing his decision-making to the (unelected, unaccountable) Iraq Study Group. This move is most likely not for new ideas, but political cover. The president has barked so loudly that he would “win” in Iraq, that now he must feel stuck; leaving would look like flip-flopping, and, apparently, changing one’s mind (in the face of reality) is for losers. But if the “realist” James Baker says it’s time for young George to pick up his toys and leave Iraq (three-plus years too late), the president might listen.</p>
<p>The Iraq Study Group also gives the Bush Administration cover to talk to Iraq’s neighbors Syria and Iran. The president has refused to speak to these countries because he doesn’t like what they’re doing. News flash: Syria and Iran are sovereign nations, and the U.S. is not a World Government. The refusal to acknowledge this fact, or to try to force these nations to change themselves into something that pleases the Bush Administration, is infantile. It’s time our leaders grew up.</p>
<p>And when they do, they’ll realize that the solution to Iraq is straightforward: The U.S. and its allies (accomplices) must pull out immediately. They must apologize to the Iraqi people, to Iraq’s neighbors (swarming with refugees), and to the world. The war was an outrageous violation of international law, and it was immoral. All U.S. and “coalition” businesses must decamp ­ no more no-bid, no-risk-of-loss contracts for Halliburton and other FOBs (Friends of Bush). Iraq’s economy must be returned to the Iraqi people. (The “coalition” signed a law in 2003 that opened Iraq to foreign investment (read: ownership).) The U.S. and its accomplices must fund the reconstruction, to be completed by whomever Iraqis choose to do it. The U.S. and its accomplices must also compensate Iraqis for the lives lost, the injuries caused, the lives interrupted and ruined.</p>
<p>There’s a straightforward way to describe this strategy. It’s called standing up and taking responsibility.</p>
<p>BRIAN J. FOLEY is a professor at Florida Coastal School of Law. For some of his past articles, visit <a href="http://www.brianjfoley.com/" type="external">www.brianjfoley.com</a> He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Taking Responsibility for Iraq | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/12/01/taking-responsibility-for-iraq/ | 2006-12-01 | 4 |
<p>Oval Office:&lt;a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbjlibrarynow/13545169324/in/photolist-4quDU-5T4LFb-5UWwqm-67sL-7bRxe7-7f6N6v-5nTWsV-3o4Qpp-mCWwW9-5nTW5k-9ex7W8-i2FK52-6gxYqp-C3xyY-anyt6g-dNwpV9-oBMvq9-anytcz-aCKuS2-5pQcUA-5T55Ls-5nYc3L-5SZq5H-5MXoBm-5MT97n-dWdRxQ-im89FJ-5TbxCo-6pQFj5-i2FuKw-5nYc8q-aCLx9q-aMWjAT-6bCdZM-aBPW6n-gKPas1-dJQbHX-dJQbRM-aCNdG7-5MWQxs-oAR7W-7FmQAF-5nTW9H-6mgDzp-5nYcmm-5nTWvv-5nTWei-5MXos7-5MSA1z-5BsBGb"&gt;LBJ Foundation&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr; Zbigniew Brzezinski: &lt;a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski#mediaviewer/File:MSC_2014_Brzezinski_Kleinschmidt_MSC2014.jpg"&gt;Kleinschmidt &lt;/a&gt;/Munich Security Conference/Wikimedia; Brent Scowcroft:&lt;a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thejointstaff/16086855478/in/photolist-c6htgj-c6hsMh-c6htF5-c6hu6N-qN7ecM-qvxJHs-qN2ZQG-qvxkFd-7XaPXA-ntNpPz-naxddn-6tGCVC-qvFoNZ-qMWXT4-qKPhhw-qN2T5C-qvy7mY-qvErVz-qvxZVS-qvFS6z-qvFEtr-nLT2ox"&gt;Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr; Henry Kissinger: &lt;a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mountunion/5547445251/in/photolist-9sd7cM-72JXfC-9fEVnH-9KD2oX-3vqUW-5EZSwT-4ZPaTe-njEXc-9KFPx9-9KD23n-9KD1Xt-9KFPLS-9KFPFb-9KD26B-9KFPGN-9KFPXJ-9KD2jM-bDEbwt-bqKfS1-bqKfWm-bqKfTU-bDEb7B-bqKg11-PUEbb-PRdKQ-5J6mBq-iobkmy-nKqMLQ-4eWQbf-9q9Ne1-5j732S-edpKpp-edDvix-edDvhr-9KFQb1-9KD2iF-9KD2dP-9KD1SP-9KFPQS-9KFQ7u-9KD28v-9KFPYo-9KFQ8q-dgPQSp-dgPMAV-pRFDXp-dgPMr3-dgPNHf-5VXBme-oZrnMi"&gt;University of Mount Union&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p>This <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175949/" type="external">story</a> first appeared on the <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch</a> website.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com" type="external" /></p>
<p>En route back to Washington at the tail end of his most recent overseas trip, John Kerry, America’s peripatetic secretary of state, stopped off in France “to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/01/16/world/europe/ap-eu-us-france.html" type="external">share a hug</a> with all of Paris.” Whether Paris reciprocated the secretary’s embrace went unrecorded.</p>
<p>Despite the requisite reference to General Pershing (“Lafayette, we are here!”) and <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/james-taylor-paris-john-kerry-114316.html" type="external">flying</a> James Taylor in from the 1960s to assure Parisians that “You’ve Got a Friend,” in the annals of American diplomacy Kerry’s hug will likely rank with President Eisenhower’s award of the Legion of Merit to Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza for “exceptionally meritorious conduct” and Jimmy Carter’s acknowledgment of the “admiration and love” said to define the relationship between the Iranian people and their Shah. In short, it was a moment best forgotten.</p>
<p>Alas, this vapid, profoundly silly event is all too emblematic of statecraft in the Obama era. Seldom have well-credentialed and well-meaning people worked so hard to produce so little of substance.</p>
<p>Not one of the signature foreign policy initiatives conceived in Obama’s first term has borne fruit. When it came to making a fresh start with the Islamic world, responsibly ending the “dumb” war in Iraq (while winning the “necessary” one in Afghanistan), “resetting” US-Russian relations, and “pivoting” toward Asia, mark your scorecard 0 for 4.</p>
<p>There’s no doubt that when Kerry arrived at the State Department he brought with him some much-needed energy. That he is giving it his all—the department’s website reports that the secretary has already clocked over 682,000 miles of travel—is doubtless true as well. The problem is the absence of results. Remember when his signature initiative was going to be an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal? Sadly, that quixotic plan, too, has come to naught.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805082964/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" />Yes, Team Obama “got” bin Laden. And, yes, it deserves credit for abandoning a self-evidently counterproductive 50-plus-year-old policy toward Cuba and for signing a promising agreement with China on climate change. &#160;That said, the administration’s overall record of accomplishment is beyond thin, starting with that first-day-in-the-Oval-Office symbol that things were truly going to be different: Obama’s order to close Guantanamo. That, of course, remains a work in progress (despite regular reassurances of light glimmering at the end of what has become a very long tunnel).</p>
<p>In fact, taking the president’s record as a whole, noting that on his watch occasional US drone strikes have become routine, the Nobel Committee might want to consider revoking its Peace Prize.</p>
<p>Nor should we expect much in the time that Obama has remaining. Perhaps there is a deal with Iran waiting in the wings (along with the depth charge of ever-fiercer congressionally mandated sanctions), but signs of intellectual exhaustion are distinctly in evidence.</p>
<p>“Where there is no vision,” the Hebrew Bible tells us, “the people perish.” There’s no use pretending: if there’s one thing the Obama administration most definitely has not got and has never had, it’s a foreign policy vision.</p>
<p>In Search of Truly Wise (White) Men—Only Those 84 or Older Need Apply</p>
<p>All of this evokes a sense of unease, even consternation bordering on panic, in circles where members of the foreign policy elite congregate. Absent visionary leadership in Washington, they have persuaded themselves, we’re all going down. So the world’s sole superpower and self-anointed global leader needs to get game—and fast.</p>
<p>Leslie Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, recently weighed in with a proposal for fixing the problem: clean house. Obama has surrounded himself with fumbling incompetents, Gelb charges. Get rid of them and bring in the visionaries.</p>
<p>Writing at the Daily Beast, Gelb <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/13/this-is-obama-s-last-foreign-policy-chance.html" type="external">urges</a> the president to fire his entire national security team and replace them with “strong and strategic people of proven foreign policy experience.” Translation: the sort of people who sip sherry and nibble on brie in the august precincts of the Council of Foreign Relations. In addition to offering his own slate of nominees, including several veterans of the storied George W. Bush administration, Gelb suggests that Obama consult regularly with Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and James Baker. These distinguished war-horses range in age from 84 to 91. By implication, only white males born prior to World War II are eligible for induction into the ranks of the Truly Wise Men.</p>
<p>Anyway, Gelb emphasizes, Obama needs to get on with it. With the planet awash in challenges that “imperil our very survival,” there is simply no time to waste.</p>
<p>At best, Gelb’s got it half right. When it comes to foreign policy, this president has indeed demonstrated a knack for surrounding himself with lackluster lieutenants. That statement applies equally to national security adviser Susan Rice (and her predecessor), to Secretary of State Kerry (and his predecessor), and to outgoing Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel. Ashton Carter, the technocrat slated to replace Hagel as defense secretary, comes from the same mold.</p>
<p>They are all “seasoned” &#160;— in Washington, a euphemism for bland, conventional, and utterly unimaginative—charter members of the Rogers-Christopher school of American statecraft. (That may require some unpacking, so pretend you’re on Jeopardy. Alex Trebek: “Two eminently forgettable and completely forgotten twentieth-century secretaries of state.” You, hitting the buzzer: “Who were William Rogers and Warren Christopher?” “Correct!”)</p>
<p>Members of Obama’s national security team worked long and hard to get where they are. &#160;Yet along the way—perhaps from absorbing too many position papers, PowerPoint briefings, and platitudes about “American global leadership”—they lost whatever creative spark once endowed them with the appearance of talent and promise. &#160;Ambition, unquestioned patriotism, and a capacity for putting in endless hours (and enduring endless travel)—all these remain. But a serious conception of where the world is heading and what that implies for basic US policy? Individually and collectively, they are without a clue.</p>
<p>I submit that maybe that’s okay, that plodding mediocrity can be a boon if, as at present, the alternatives on offer look even worse.</p>
<p>A Hug for Obama</p>
<p>You want vision? Obama’s predecessor surrounded himself with visionaries. Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld, and Paul Wolfowitz, products of the Cold War one and all, certainly fancied themselves large-bore strategic thinkers. Busily positioning the United States to run (just another “i” and you have “ruin”) the world, they were blindsided by 9/11. Unembarrassed and unchastened by this disaster, they initiated a series of morally dubious, strategically boneheaded moves that were either (take your pick) going to spread freedom and democracy or position the United States to exercise permanent dominion. &#160;The ensuing Global War on Terror did neither, of course, while adding trillions to the national debt and helping fracture great expanses of the planet. Obama is still, however ineffectually, trying to clean up the mess they created.</p>
<p>If that’s what handing the keys to big thinkers gets you, give me Susan Rice any day. Although Obama’s “ <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/dont-do-stupid-shit-president-obama-white-house-107293.html" type="external">don’t do stupid shit</a>” may never rank with Washington’s Farewell Address or the Monroe Doctrine in the history books, George W. Bush might have profited from having some comparable axiom taped to his laptop.</p>
<p>Big ideas have their place—indeed, are essential—when the issues at hand are clearly defined. The Fall of France in 1940 was one such moment, which President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized. So too, arguably, was the period immediately after World War II. The defeat of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan had left a dangerous power vacuum in both Europe and the Pacific to which George Marshall, Dean Acheson, and their compatriots forged a necessary response. Perhaps the period 1968-1969 falls into that same category, the debacle of Vietnam requiring a major adjustment in US Cold War strategy. This Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger undertook with their opening to China.</p>
<p>Yet despite the overwrought claims of Gelb (and others) that America’s very survival is today at risk, the present historical moment lacks comparable clarity. Ours is not a time when we face a single overarching threat. &#160;Instead, on several different fronts, worrisome developments are brewing. Environmental degradation, the rise of China and other emerging powers, the spread of radical Islam, the precarious state of the global economy, vulnerabilities that are an inevitable byproduct of our pursuit of a cyber-utopia: all of these bear very careful watching. Each one today should entail a defensive response, the United States protecting itself (and its allies) against worst-case outcomes. But none of these at the present moment justifies embarking upon a let-out-all-the-stops offensive. Chasing after one problem would necessarily divert attention from the rest.</p>
<p>The immediate future remains too opaque to say with certainty which threat will turn out to pose the greatest danger, whether in the next year or the next decade—and which might even end up not being a threat at all but an unexpected opportunity. Conditions are not ripe for boldness. The abiding imperative of the moment is to discern, which requires careful observation and patience. In short, forget about strategy.</p>
<p>And there’s a further matter. Correct discernment assumes a proper vantage point. What you see depends on where you sit and which way you’re facing. Those who inhabit the upper ranks of the Obama administration (and those whom Leslie Gelb offers as replacements) sit somewhere back in the twentieth century, their worldview shaped by memories of Munich and Yalta, Korea and Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Wall, none of which retain more than tangential relevance to the present day.</p>
<p>You want vision? That will require a new crop of visionaries. Instead of sitting down with ancients like Kissinger, Scowcroft, Brzezinski, or Baker, this president (or his successor) would be better served to pick the brain of the army captain back from multiple combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the moral theologian specializing in inter-religious dialog, the Peace Corps volunteer who spent the last two years in West Africa, and the Silicon Valley entrepreneur best able to spell out the political implications of the next big thing.</p>
<p>In short, a post-twentieth century vision requires a post-twentieth century generation, able to free itself from old shibboleths to which Leslie Gelb and most of official Washington today remain stubbornly dedicated. That generation waits in the wings and after another presidential election or two may indeed wield some influence. We should hope so. &#160;In the meantime, we should bide our time, amending the words of the prophet to something like: “Where there is no vision, the people muddle along and await salvation.”</p>
<p>So as Obama and his team muddle toward their finish line, their achievements negligible, we might even express a modicum of gratitude. When they depart the scene, we will forget the lot of them. Yet at least they managed to steer clear of truly epic disasters. When muddling was the best Washington had on offer, they delivered. They may even deserve a hug.</p>
<p>Andrew J. Bacevich, a <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175926/andrew_bacevich_daydream_believers" type="external">TomDispatch</a> <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175926/andrew_bacevich_daydream_believers" type="external">regular</a>, is writing a military history of America’s War for the Greater Middle East. His most recent book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805082964/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country</a>. To stay on top of important articles like these, sign up to receive the latest updates from TomDispatch.com</p>
<p>Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch" type="external">Facebook</a>. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Rebecca Solnit’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608464962/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Men Explain Things to Me</a>, and Tom Engelhardt’s latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World</a>.</p> | Why Does Washington Still Romanticize Kissinger, Scowcroft, and Brzezinksi? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/obama-mediocre-washington-visionaries-overrated/ | 2015-01-30 | 4 |
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<p>Roughly 550,000 new households were formed each year between 2006 and 2011, less than half the 1.35 million households formed annually over the previous five years, says a recent report titled “The Long and the Short of Household Formation” from the Federal Reserve.</p>
<p>“Indeed, household formation over the last five years appears to have been far lower than in any other five-year period over the 40 years for which we have annual data,” writes Fed economist Andrew D. Paciorek in the report.</p>
<p>The findings of the household formation report would appear to be reflected in actual counts of New Mexico households in the U.S. Census every 10 years. Households formed in the state at a pace of 11,342 a year in the 2000s, a 16 percent decrease from 13,526 households a year in the 1990s.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Household numbers, of course, can be affected by the net flow of families moving to and from the state.</p>
<p>As the obstacles to household formation fade away due to an improved job picture and consumers repairing dings to credit scores incurred during the hard times, the report projects household formation will average between 1.5 million and 1.6 million a year nationwide through 2017.</p>
<p>The upswing to a higher-than-average rate of household formation, such as grown children moving out of their parents’ houses, will lead to increased consumer spending that will benefit not only the housing market but the economy in general.</p>
<p>Consumer spending averaged 70.8 percent of the real gross domestic product, or GDP, during the 25 years that ended with what’s considered the last pre-recession quarter – third quarter of 2007 – according to the Fed. Consumer spending was still 71 percent of the GDP in the first quarter of this year.</p>
<p>The other general contributors to the GDP are investments, government spending and net exports.</p>
<p>Because of the economic importance of their spending, consumers and consumerism are studied and analyzed from all sorts of different angles. The following is a sampling of studies on consumers and the workforce in general.</p>
<p>‘Decoding’ sellers</p>
<p>A new collaborative study by faculty members at Penn State and the University of Kentucky looks at how buyers “decode” a seller displaying conspicuous consumption or wealth.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Buyers had decreased perceptions of warmth toward sellers who displayed wealth signals, but their impression of those sellers’ competence was increased,” says a synopsis of the study, “Judging the Book By Its Cover? How Consumers Decode Conspicuous Consumption Cues in Buyer-Seller Relationships.”</p>
<p>The context of the buyer-seller relationship plays a role in whether perceptions of warmth versus competence are a positive or negative.</p>
<p>If the context is health and wellness, for example, then the relationship has a more “communal orientation,” where the buyer’s expectation is that the seller show some kindness and concern. Thus a seller’s display of wealth could be counterproductive.</p>
<p>If the context is a professional service like financial or legal advice, then the relationship has a more “exchange orientation,” where the emphasis is on efficiency and value for money. Some trappings of success can make a seller look more savvy and intelligent.</p>
<p>“Interpersonal buyer-seller interactions are among the most important elements in market-based societies, and understanding how to make these encounters more effective is essential for marketers,” the researchers write.</p>
<p>Political ideology</p>
<p>A consumer’s political ideology can get in the way of them buying a product that’s promoted as good for the environment, according to a collaborative report by faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania and Duke University.</p>
<p>“A popular strategy for marketing energy efficiency is to focus on its environmental benefits,” said Dena Gromet, lead author of the report from Penn, in a press release. “But not everyone values protecting the environment.”</p>
<p>Based on two studies, the report titled “Political Ideology Affects Energy-Efficient Attitudes and Choices” found that the more politically conservative a consumer, the less likely he or she would be to support investing in energy-efficient technology.</p>
<p>An element of the study was whether study participants bought energy-efficient light bulbs with “protect the environment” stickers as opposed to blank stickers. Participants who identified as more politically moderate or conservative were less likely to buy bulbs with the environment sticker.</p>
<p>Middle-skill jobs</p>
<p>The decades-long shrinking of America’s middle class is explored indirectly in a report, “The Vanishing Middle: Job Polarization and Workers’ Response to the Decline in Middle-Skill Jobs,” written by Didem Tuzemen and Jonathan Willis of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.</p>
<p>Job polarization is the term used to describe the shift away from middle-skill jobs, which involve “routine tasks that are procedural and repetitive,” toward both high- and low-skill jobs. The shift is generally attributed to changes in technology and the global economy.</p>
<p>As a share of total employment, middle-skill jobs have dropped from 59 percent in 1983 to 45 percent in 2012, the report says. Examples of middle-skill jobs that have disappeared are secretaries replaced by computers and factory workers replaced by advanced machinery and robots.</p>
<p>Here in the metro area, advanced machinery, robots and other technology have been cited as contributing factors in the decline in employment at the Intel Corp. chip-making plant from more than 6,000 in 2005 to a reported 3,500 in 2012.</p>
<p>The share of high-skill jobs increased from 26 percent in 1983 to 37 percent in 2012. High-skill jobs are filled by workers who are typically highly educated and can perform tasks requiring analytical ability, problem solving and creativity, the report says.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, the share of low-skill jobs also increased from 15 percent in 1983 to 18 percent in 2012. Workers in low-skill jobs typically have no formal education beyond high school. Many such jobs are service-oriented, such as food preparation, cleaning and security.</p>
<p>The report observes that, according to the theory of supply and demand, the decreased demand for workers in middle-skill jobs would translate to decreased wages.</p>
<p>Yet wages for middle-skill jobs have remained relatively stable at the median income level – currently about $44,000 a year for an individual worker in the Albuquerque metro area – reflecting an organic, downward adjustment in the supply of labor for middle-skill jobs, the report says.</p> | Serious consequences | false | https://abqjournal.com/221167/serious-consequences-5.html | 2013-07-14 | 2 |
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<p>LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Authorities have identified an elderly couple who were found shot to death inside their southern New Mexico home in what appears to be a murder-suicide.</p>
<p>Dona Ana County Sheriff’s officials say the bodies of 77-year-old Everts Moulton and 78-year-old Suzanne New were discovered at their home near Mesilla on Monday.</p>
<p>The couple reportedly lived together for about 30 years, but never married.</p>
<p>Sheriff’s officials say New’s daughter was talking to her mother by phone Sunday and said Moulton talked of harming himself.</p>
<p>New’s daughter drove from California to Las Cruces to check on her mother and called 911 after finding the bodies.</p>
<p>Sheriff’s officials say it appears Moulton fatally shot New and their dog before shooting himself.</p>
<p>The couple’s bodies have been sent to the medical examiner’s office for autopsies.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | New Mexico couple found dead in apparent murder-suicide ID’d | false | https://abqjournal.com/884079/new-mexico-couple-found-dead-in-an-apparent-murder-suicide.html | 2016-11-07 | 2 |
<p>ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Officials say they’re investigating a possible case of measles in southwest Wyoming.</p>
<p>Sweetwater County school officials announced in mid-December that a junior high school student had come down with measles.</p>
<p>County health officials said Friday additional testing is being done but there’s no sign of an outbreak.</p>
<p>The Rock Springs Rocket-Miner <a href="http://www.rocketminer.com/news/officials-give-update-on-measles-investigation/article_0c5d60b0-f5f0-5a70-8e6e-ff5b16dd5f52.html" type="external">reports</a> Wyoming hasn’t had a measles case since at least 2010.</p>
<p>Sweetwater County officials say the measles immunization rate among schoolchildren in the county is better than 95 percent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Rock Springs (Wyo.) Rocket-Miner, <a href="http://www.rocketminer.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.rocketminer.com" type="external">http://www.rocketminer.com</a></p>
<p>ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Officials say they’re investigating a possible case of measles in southwest Wyoming.</p>
<p>Sweetwater County school officials announced in mid-December that a junior high school student had come down with measles.</p>
<p>County health officials said Friday additional testing is being done but there’s no sign of an outbreak.</p>
<p>The Rock Springs Rocket-Miner <a href="http://www.rocketminer.com/news/officials-give-update-on-measles-investigation/article_0c5d60b0-f5f0-5a70-8e6e-ff5b16dd5f52.html" type="external">reports</a> Wyoming hasn’t had a measles case since at least 2010.</p>
<p>Sweetwater County officials say the measles immunization rate among schoolchildren in the county is better than 95 percent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Rock Springs (Wyo.) Rocket-Miner, <a href="http://www.rocketminer.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.rocketminer.com" type="external">http://www.rocketminer.com</a></p> | Officials investigate possible Wyoming measles case | false | https://apnews.com/92e26e26d5fe46ba8489ed4d1d503709 | 2017-12-30 | 2 |
<p>___</p>
<p>Expect less and buy antacid: 2016 investment forecasts</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Investing is becoming more of a grind. Expect it to stay that way.</p>
<p>Analysts, mutual-fund managers and other forecasters are telling investors to expect lower returns from stocks and bonds in 2016 than in past years. They're also predicting more severe swings in prices. Remember that 10 percent drop for stocks that freaked investors out in August? It likely won't take another four years for the next one.</p>
<p>The good news is that few economists are predicting a recession in 2016. That means stocks and other investments can avoid a sustained slide and keep grinding higher, but don't expect outsized gains of recent years.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Extreme weather poses increasing threat to US power grid</p>
<p>An Associated Press analysis of industry data found that severe weather is the leading cause of major outages on the nation's power grid. The number of weather-related power outages has climbed over the last decade, with the greatest spikes in 2008 and 2011, according to the AP analysis and independent studies.</p>
<p>That leaves utilities across the country balancing customer costs with the need for improvements to counter the rising number of violent storms, floods and droughts threatening the U.S. power grid.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>US existing home sales tank in November</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Home sales plunged sharply in November, as buyers faced rising prices and new regulations that might have delayed some closings.</p>
<p>The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of existing homes collapsed 10.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million. It was the weakest pace in 19 months. The setback follows solid gains in real estate for much of 2015. Sales of existing homes are on track to rise roughly 5 percent for the entire year.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>US economy grew at 2 pct. rate over summer; a pickup is seen</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a slightly slower pace over the summer than the government had previously estimated. Most economists foresee a slight acceleration in the current quarter and stronger growth in the first half of 2016.</p>
<p>The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, expanded at a 2 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter. That was a bit lower than its previous estimate of 2.1 percent, a result of less restocking by businesses than previously estimated.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>FAA fines Boeing $12M for fuel tank, other violations</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Boeing has agreed to pay $12 million for failing to meet a deadline to submit service instructions that would enable airlines to reduce the risk of fuel tank explosions on hundreds of planes, among other violations, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Boeing must also take a series of actions to improve the safety certification of its planes and its aircraft production quality control, the FAA said in a statement. The settlement is the second largest for regulatory violations in the history of the FAA.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Ford recalls older large cars to fix headlight problem</p>
<p>DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford is recalling about 313,000 older large cars in North America because the headlights can go dark and cause a crash.</p>
<p>The recall covers some Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis from the 2003 to 2005 model years. It came after U.S. safety regulators opened an investigation into the problem that found 15 crashes and one injury.</p>
<p>The company says solder joints in the lighting control module can crack and cut off power to the headlights.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Hillshire Brands to pay $4M to settle discrimination claims</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Hillshire Brands will pay $4 million to settle federal claims that black employees at a North Texas food plant were exposed to dangerous work conditions and subjected to discrimination and a hostile work environment.</p>
<p>The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission earlier found that black workers at the Sara Lee plant in Paris, Texas were exposed to asbestos and other toxins. They also were targets of racial slurs and graffiti.</p>
<p>Sara Lee ended its Paris operations in 2011 and part of the company later became Hillshire Brands, which in turn was bought by Tyson Foods.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Rights group offers guidelines for builders in Gulf states</p>
<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Human Rights Watch released a set of guidelines Tuesday that it says construction companies in the oil-rich Gulf Arab states should follow to ensure basic rights for migrant workers.</p>
<p>The New York-based rights group's latest recommendations shift the focus toward employers and are aimed at tackling some of the biggest abuses facing millions of low-paid laborers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>US expands sanctions over Russia's activity in Ukraine</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Tuesday imposed financial restrictions on 34 additional people and entities for helping Russian and Ukrainian companies evade U.S. penalties and other infractions, prompting threats of retaliation from the Kremlin.</p>
<p>The action helps "maintain the efficacy of existing sanctions" established after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula last year and support for eastern Ukrainian separatists, the Treasury Department said.</p>
<p>The U.S. has been trying to find the right balance of carrots and sticks to push Russia into making a full withdrawal from eastern Ukraine, while securing its cooperation on ending Syria's civil war, enforcing this summer's Iran nuclear agreement and advancing other international priorities.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>'Fireball' lawsuit between liquor companies cools off</p>
<p>LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Heated competition between producers of cinnamon whiskeys has cooled off in the courtroom, with Sazerac dropping its lawsuit against Jack Daniel's.</p>
<p>Sazerac — whose brands include the long-established Fireball Cinnamon Whisky — had accused its rival of trademark infringement by using the term "Fireball" in online advertising for cinnamon-flavored Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire.</p>
<p>The legal fight ended quietly Monday when Sazerac filed a motion in federal court in Kentucky to voluntarily drop its claims. Sazerac's decision came just before Jack Daniel's — the flagship brand of Brown-Forman Corp. — was required to respond to the lawsuit.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Dow Jones industrial average rose 165.65 points, or 1 percent, to 17,417.27. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index rose 17.82 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,038.97 and the Nasdaq composite rose 32.19 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,001.11.</p>
<p>U.S. crude oil futures closed up 33 cents to $36.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, was down 24 cents to $36.11 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, heating oil fell 1.3 cents to $1.088 a gallon, wholesale gasoline fell 3.5 cents to $1.175 a gallon and natural gas fell 1.3 cents to $1.888 per thousand cubic feet.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Expect less and buy antacid: 2016 investment forecasts</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Investing is becoming more of a grind. Expect it to stay that way.</p>
<p>Analysts, mutual-fund managers and other forecasters are telling investors to expect lower returns from stocks and bonds in 2016 than in past years. They're also predicting more severe swings in prices. Remember that 10 percent drop for stocks that freaked investors out in August? It likely won't take another four years for the next one.</p>
<p>The good news is that few economists are predicting a recession in 2016. That means stocks and other investments can avoid a sustained slide and keep grinding higher, but don't expect outsized gains of recent years.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Extreme weather poses increasing threat to US power grid</p>
<p>An Associated Press analysis of industry data found that severe weather is the leading cause of major outages on the nation's power grid. The number of weather-related power outages has climbed over the last decade, with the greatest spikes in 2008 and 2011, according to the AP analysis and independent studies.</p>
<p>That leaves utilities across the country balancing customer costs with the need for improvements to counter the rising number of violent storms, floods and droughts threatening the U.S. power grid.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>US existing home sales tank in November</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Home sales plunged sharply in November, as buyers faced rising prices and new regulations that might have delayed some closings.</p>
<p>The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of existing homes collapsed 10.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.76 million. It was the weakest pace in 19 months. The setback follows solid gains in real estate for much of 2015. Sales of existing homes are on track to rise roughly 5 percent for the entire year.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>US economy grew at 2 pct. rate over summer; a pickup is seen</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a slightly slower pace over the summer than the government had previously estimated. Most economists foresee a slight acceleration in the current quarter and stronger growth in the first half of 2016.</p>
<p>The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, expanded at a 2 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter. That was a bit lower than its previous estimate of 2.1 percent, a result of less restocking by businesses than previously estimated.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>FAA fines Boeing $12M for fuel tank, other violations</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Boeing has agreed to pay $12 million for failing to meet a deadline to submit service instructions that would enable airlines to reduce the risk of fuel tank explosions on hundreds of planes, among other violations, the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Boeing must also take a series of actions to improve the safety certification of its planes and its aircraft production quality control, the FAA said in a statement. The settlement is the second largest for regulatory violations in the history of the FAA.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Ford recalls older large cars to fix headlight problem</p>
<p>DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Ford is recalling about 313,000 older large cars in North America because the headlights can go dark and cause a crash.</p>
<p>The recall covers some Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis from the 2003 to 2005 model years. It came after U.S. safety regulators opened an investigation into the problem that found 15 crashes and one injury.</p>
<p>The company says solder joints in the lighting control module can crack and cut off power to the headlights.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Hillshire Brands to pay $4M to settle discrimination claims</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Hillshire Brands will pay $4 million to settle federal claims that black employees at a North Texas food plant were exposed to dangerous work conditions and subjected to discrimination and a hostile work environment.</p>
<p>The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission earlier found that black workers at the Sara Lee plant in Paris, Texas were exposed to asbestos and other toxins. They also were targets of racial slurs and graffiti.</p>
<p>Sara Lee ended its Paris operations in 2011 and part of the company later became Hillshire Brands, which in turn was bought by Tyson Foods.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Rights group offers guidelines for builders in Gulf states</p>
<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Human Rights Watch released a set of guidelines Tuesday that it says construction companies in the oil-rich Gulf Arab states should follow to ensure basic rights for migrant workers.</p>
<p>The New York-based rights group's latest recommendations shift the focus toward employers and are aimed at tackling some of the biggest abuses facing millions of low-paid laborers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>US expands sanctions over Russia's activity in Ukraine</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Tuesday imposed financial restrictions on 34 additional people and entities for helping Russian and Ukrainian companies evade U.S. penalties and other infractions, prompting threats of retaliation from the Kremlin.</p>
<p>The action helps "maintain the efficacy of existing sanctions" established after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula last year and support for eastern Ukrainian separatists, the Treasury Department said.</p>
<p>The U.S. has been trying to find the right balance of carrots and sticks to push Russia into making a full withdrawal from eastern Ukraine, while securing its cooperation on ending Syria's civil war, enforcing this summer's Iran nuclear agreement and advancing other international priorities.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>'Fireball' lawsuit between liquor companies cools off</p>
<p>LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Heated competition between producers of cinnamon whiskeys has cooled off in the courtroom, with Sazerac dropping its lawsuit against Jack Daniel's.</p>
<p>Sazerac — whose brands include the long-established Fireball Cinnamon Whisky — had accused its rival of trademark infringement by using the term "Fireball" in online advertising for cinnamon-flavored Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire.</p>
<p>The legal fight ended quietly Monday when Sazerac filed a motion in federal court in Kentucky to voluntarily drop its claims. Sazerac's decision came just before Jack Daniel's — the flagship brand of Brown-Forman Corp. — was required to respond to the lawsuit.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Dow Jones industrial average rose 165.65 points, or 1 percent, to 17,417.27. The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index rose 17.82 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,038.97 and the Nasdaq composite rose 32.19 points, or 0.7 percent, to 5,001.11.</p>
<p>U.S. crude oil futures closed up 33 cents to $36.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, was down 24 cents to $36.11 a barrel in London. In other energy trading, heating oil fell 1.3 cents to $1.088 a gallon, wholesale gasoline fell 3.5 cents to $1.175 a gallon and natural gas fell 1.3 cents to $1.888 per thousand cubic feet.</p> | Business Highlights | false | https://apnews.com/amp/adaef34850464548856b5162df9aa1ae | 2015-12-22 | 2 |
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<p>This intolerance, violence and hatred even spreads over seas, creating mass prejudices between various world religions and including whole countries or groups of people.</p>
<p>Why has and does so much conflict arise based on the religious views of individuals and groups? More so, why do such numerous and intense conflicts arise when the majority of theologies and religious beliefs that are associated with said conflicts often share indisputable commonalities and generally all promote peace, acceptance, love and kindness to everyone, not just people of their own faith?</p>
<p>The idea of conflict and violence arising from some sort of a religious background is as old as time itself and doesn’t appear to be getting much better.</p>
<p>However, there must be methods in which to stem the flow of prejudice and animosity carried against certain groups for whatever reasons are present. There already is much research and activism geared toward this very goal and by concentrating on past and present efforts, new solutions may arise.</p>
<p>In order to reach for even better results, it is paramount to understand where exactly the antagonism began, how it grew and how it continues to have integrated itself within various societies and even cultures of religious – and non-religious – peoples.</p>
<p>So then, why do religious conflicts arise? Is it simply a misunderstanding of one another’s viewpoints? Or something more? Based upon the actions of religious leaders in history, bitterness has risen primarily from this one deceptively simple, immensely complicated idea: “I am right, and you are wrong.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>How can this intolerance be mended, especially when it seems to have permeated numerous, if not close to all, the cultures of the world? Education is one thought that comes to mind, but with it a thousand other arguments. The questions of whether or not religious education should be a general requirement and if not how to properly promote it in a non-biased way are the most prominent.</p>
<p>Separation of church and state is important but aren’t the knowledge, acceptance and understanding of the world and ideas of the world just as crucial when the promotion of peace is at hand? If more people had a greater collective understanding of religions apart from their own, they could in turn learn to appreciate and respect all while continuously – or possibly not continuously – holding on to their own beliefs. After all, it isn’t very wise to despise something about which you know nothing.</p>
<p>Conflict concerning religion is an immensely complicated mass of questions, recommendations, actions, futility, frustration and confusion, but a more peaceful world by its existence is not impossible.</p>
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<p /> | Conflicts often based on religion | false | https://abqjournal.com/315977/conflicts-often-based-on-religion.html | 2 |
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<p>Ahead of Small Business Week in May, FOXBusiness.com is running a special Growing Your Business series. Here is expert advice and insight for entrepreneurs from Darrell Esch, PayPal's vice president and general manager of business lending solutions.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“Uneven cash flow is a top challenge for small businesses,” said Darrell Esch, vice president and general manager, business lending solutions, at PayPal. “I often hear from small business owners that they hadn’t considered how loan repayments might impact their cash flow.”</p>
<p>Esch is an expert in business financing solutions, specifically those in the fintech arena. He currently oversees lending activities for small- and medium-sized businesses utilizing the PayPal Network. Before joining the online payment provider, he spent nearly 15 years at Bank of America, where he served, among other areas, as general manager of the business lending unit and head of business credit/debit products.</p>
<p>FOXBUSINESS.COM: What are the top three ways that fintech is changing the way small businesses operate?</p>
<p>Esch: Reducing barriers to entry. Providing access to capital for growth and hiring. And enabling cross-border commerce.</p>
<p>FOXBUSINESS.COM: Can you speak more on how fintech reduces entry barriers, and how does this relate to cross-border commerce, and by proxy, growth?</p>
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<p>Esch: Many small businesses have difficulty getting approved to process credit cards, and for others, the setup can be daunting. Fintech companies …&#160; allow small merchants … to do so with ease both online and in-store.</p>
<p>For a long time mom-and-pop retailers were bound by brick and mortar, but fintech has opened up their storefronts to the world. Small businesses can now sell globally and reach more customers without setting foot on foreign soil, with products and services that help them to generate consumer demand, drive conversion and manage logistics.</p>
<p>One way small businesses can grow is by optimizing their website for mobile. Shoppers are moving to mobile in droves, and businesses risk missing out if they don’t adapt. According to Forrester Research, an independent technology and market research company, mobile commerce will represent more than one-third of online transactions in 2016.</p>
<p>FOXBUSINESS.COM: How do fintech companies provide capital differently to small businesses or entrepreneurs?</p>
<p>Esch: While lending to large firms has rebounded relatively quickly from the Great Recession, lending to small businesses is down approximately 20 percent over the same period. Fintech companies … are filling the gap by leveraging technology and data to provide small businesses access to the capital they so desperately need to grow and hire. Through these new, technology-enabled financing solutions, applications can be simplified, credit assessments can be conducted in short order using objective criteria, funding can be disbursed in real time and repayment schedules can be adjusted to the individual business’s situation.</p>
<p>FOXBUSINESS.COM: How can small business owners be smarter when it comes to borrowing and capital?</p>
<p>Esch: Small businesses need to make sure they understand the terms and conditions of any lending service and choose the one that’s right for their situation. In particular, they should consider how they will make payments when business is slow so they don’t get locked into a payment schedule they can’t keep up with down the road. PayPal Working Capital payments are applied automatically as a fixed percentage of daily sales that the business selects in advance – meaning business owners pay more when business is strong and less during slower times.</p>
<p>FOXBUSINESS.COM: What is the single biggest mistake you often see small business owners making that could be easily fixed, and how would you fix it?</p>
<p>Esch: The biggest mistake I see small business owners make is putting the customer last. It doesn’t matter how amazing you think your product, service or concept is: If it’s not on par with what your customers want, they’re not going to buy, and you’re never going to be successful. You already know you need customer feedback before your launch. But don’t forget about continuing to talk to customers after launch. … I make a point to talk to our customers regularly to find out what we’re doing right and where we might be falling short. It’s these insights that keep our team focused on what really matters.</p> | Ebb and Business Cash Flow: Some Do's and Don'ts | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/04/05/ebb-and-business-cash-flow-some-dos-and-donts.html | 2016-04-08 | 0 |
<p>In light of the GOP’s nasty attacks against Latino immigrants, how can any rational Latino vote Republican during the upcoming November 2nd elections?&#160; Worse yet, how can any Latino be a member of a political party whose national platform centers on blaming brown immigrants for most of the country’s social and economic ills?</p>
<p>While previous White House administrations defined their respective political agendas with catchy domestic programs, such as President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty” of the mid-1960s and President Richard Nixon’s “War on Drugs” of the early 1970s, today’s GOP’s slogan can be easily coined as the “War on Immigrants.”</p>
<p>Instead of focusing on resolving the nation’s international wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Republican leaders have orchestrated a domestic war of words and laws against the country’s most vulnerable individuals: Latino immigrants.&#160; Simply put, this represents a GOP ploy to galvanize the white vote, take over key state-level positions, recapture Congress and divert the public’s attention away from the shattered economy.</p>
<p>Despite the bleak economic outlook for most Americans, double-digit unemployment rates and lack of credit for small businesses, Republicans maintain their vicious attacks against recent immigrants as part of their primary mission for this election cycle and overall governance strategy.</p>
<p>For instance, while Arizona’s Governor Jan Brewer erroneously argues that immigrants are responsible for high crime rates in the desert state, including her lies about decapitated bodies near the U.S.–Mexico border, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pejoratively refer to the children of immigrants as “anchor babies.”</p>
<p>In a recent television interview, Graham foolishly claims that immigrants come here for the sole purpose to “drop a baby” and leave.&#160; What ever happened to Southern hospitality, Mr. Graham?</p>
<p>Isn’t the “family values” mantra one of the cornerstone principles of the GOP?&#160; If so, Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for targeting immigrant mothers and their children.&#160; Even for conservatives, this is a new low to target Latino newborns.</p>
<p>Where’s former Florida Governor Jed Bush, who married a Mexican-born woman, when we need him?&#160; Under McConnell and Graham’s logic, does this mean that Jed Bush and his wife Columba Bush (born Colubmba Garnica Gallo) have three grown “anchor babies”?&#160; Where’s former Massachusetts Governor and potential GOP 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who can trace his family lineage to Mexico dating back to the 1800s, to condemn the hate-speech in his own party?</p>
<p>Straying from the official GOP agenda, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came out of his hiding-hole and recently wrote an op-ed in support of immigrants.&#160; As a key figure in the George W. Bush Administration and grandson of Mexican immigrants, Gonzales correctly states that immigrants represent hard working people.&#160; He also argues against the Republicans’ plan to change the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution where individuals born in this country, regardless of the legal status of the parents, automatically become citizens.</p>
<p>Gonzales’ logic goes astray, however, when he blames Democrats for the GOP’s xenophobia since apparently liberals “purposefully” maintain the immigration debate alive, prompting Republicans to spew their anti-immigrant rhetoric.&#160; This is like saying that school-yard bullies should not be held accountable for their actions, since their victims continue to show up to school, essentially “daring” the bullies to unleash their terror on them.</p>
<p>This is not to say that Democrats symbolize the champions of Latino immigrants.&#160; Despite the fact that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nv.) supports amnesty for undocumented college students under the DREAM Act, as a strategic attempt to court the Latino vote, the Obama Administration has deported more immigrants than George W. Bush during the same time frame.&#160; Furthermore, Democrats, similar to Republicans, favor the same old enforcement-only based approaches to the complex immigration problem without considering human rights issues, such as deporting parents of U.S.-born children.</p>
<p>In this season of immigrant bashing, it’s baffling to see how any Latino would support a Republican candidate in the nation’s highly contested elections.&#160; Don’t Latino Republicans understand that anti-immigrant laws, such as Arizona’s SB 1070, also applies to them due to the color of their skin or Spanish-surname?&#160; What about their friends, acquaintances, neighbors, workplace associates, parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles who may lack legal status in this country?</p>
<p>It’s time to stop the racism and name-calling against Latino immigrants. From Meg Whitman’s campaign for governor in California to Marco Rubio’s candidacy for the U.S. senate in Florida, Latinos will play a key role in determining the outcome of tight elections and should differentiate between friends and foes in the voting booth.</p>
<p>ALVARO HUERTA is a doctoral student at UC Berkeley. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | The Curious Case of Latino Republicans | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/09/23/the-curious-case-of-latino-republicans/ | 2010-09-23 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>The University of New Mexico women's basketball team slogged through three ineffective quarters of offense Saturday and ultimately could not overcome them in a 51-43 road loss at Fresno State's Save Mart Center.</p>
<p>It was a familiar refrain for the Lobos (14-13, 7-9 Mountain West), who got nearly all their scoring from Khadijah Shumpert and Cherise Beynon. Shumpert had a strong outing with 22 points, nine rebounds and three steals. Beynon finished with 12 points.</p>
<p>UNM's other three starters failed to score and the bench produced just nine points.</p>
<p>"It's so hard when only two people are scoring or even looking for shots," Lobo coach Yvonne Sanchez said in a postgame phone interview. "We tried to draw up plays for Khadijah and Cherise in the second half, but at some point the other guys know it's coming."</p>
<p>New Mexico's defense was, as usual, solid enough to keep the game within reach. Fresno State (18-9, 14-2) managed just 16 field goals in the game and shot 32.7 percent.</p>
<p>But the Bulldogs were able to steadily build a lead because the visiting Lobos simply had no offensive answers through three quarters. Bothered by Fresno State's full-court pressure, UNM scored six points in each of the first two quarters and seven in the third.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"It's pretty amazing that our defense never really let the game get away," Sanchez said. "Our goal was to hold them to 53 points and we did that. That's really all you can ask defensively against a good offensive team."</p>
<p>UNM trailed 22-12 at halftime. Fresno took its largest lead, 39-19, late in the third quarter before UNM's slumbering offense finally awoke.</p>
<p>Sanchez moved Beynon to point guard in the final 10 minutes and suddenly the Lobos began to effectively break Fresno State's press. UNM scored more points (24) in the final quarter than in the first three combined.</p>
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<p /> | Women's basketball: Stagnant offense is Lobos' downfall again | false | https://abqjournal.com/731605/stagnant-offense-is-lobos-downfall-again.html | 2 |
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<p>CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s military says an F-16 crashed during a training drill in an undisclosed location in the country, killing its entire crew.</p>
<p>Thursday’s statement did not specify the number of dead or provide further details.</p>
<p>Military spokesman Mohamed Samir says “these details only concern (them). Why does it interest the media or anyone else?”</p>
<p>A day earlier, officials said a roadside bomb struck an armored personnel carrier in the turbulent north of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula killing an army colonel and three soldiers.</p>
<p>Egypt has been battling a burgeoning Islamic insurgency in the peninsula that mainly targets police and military posts. In recent months, attacks have increased in frequency and spilled over to the mainland after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.</p>
<p>CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s military says an F-16 crashed during a training drill in an undisclosed location in the country, killing its entire crew.</p>
<p>Thursday’s statement did not specify the number of dead or provide further details.</p>
<p>Military spokesman Mohamed Samir says “these details only concern (them). Why does it interest the media or anyone else?”</p>
<p>A day earlier, officials said a roadside bomb struck an armored personnel carrier in the turbulent north of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula killing an army colonel and three soldiers.</p>
<p>Egypt has been battling a burgeoning Islamic insurgency in the peninsula that mainly targets police and military posts. In recent months, attacks have increased in frequency and spilled over to the mainland after the military overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.</p> | Egypt F-16 crashes during training drill, kills crew | false | https://apnews.com/5151caf05ebe46e188258a4655da6982 | 2016-01-27 | 2 |
<p>Turns out comparing unions to <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/are-starbucks-and-whole-foods-union-busting" type="external">herpes</a> and raving against health care reform in The <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070.html" type="external">Wall Street Journal</a> isn't great for business, at least when your business sells granola to progressives, hippies and other Truthdig readers. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey's efforts have earned him a <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119099537379&amp;ref=ts" type="external">boycott</a>. Guess we'll just have to get our gluten-free almond cookies elsewhere.</p>
<p>The Opinionator has a broad selection of reaction from the blogosphere. Top of its post is below. - PS</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p>Of all the sideshows to the Great 2009 Health Care Debate, the Whole Foods boycott may take the prize as the most unexpected.</p>
<p />
<p>Last Wednesday, John Mackey, the chief executive of Whole Foods, took to the pages of The Wall Street Journal to opine that "we clearly need health care reform," but arguing against the solutions being put forward by the administration: "The last thing our country needs is a massive new health care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health care system."</p>
<p><a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/whole-foods-fight/" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Can Whole Foods Repair Its Image? | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/can-whole-foods-repair-its-image/ | 2009-08-19 | 4 |
<p>Abrams ComicArts</p>
<p>“The Best We Could Do”</p>
<p>A book by Thi Bui</p>
<p>Reviewed by Janice Raymond</p>
<p />
<p>When asked to write a review of Thi Bui’s book, “The Best We Could Do,” I hesitated. I had never read a graphic novel, much less reviewed one. Of course, as a kid I had read many comic books, but had never considered these graphic novels.</p>
<p>In pursuing information about the graphic novel, I learned there is much debate about what to call any graphic with text, encapsulated in book form. Is it a genre or format, what some would call a medium? Is it sequential art? Is it fiction, memoir, or something else? Many assert that the term “graphic novel” includes nonfiction as well as fiction. Or is it simply a book-length comic?</p>
<p>I had heard about “March,” the graphic trilogy of young civil rights activist John Lewis, which recently won the National Book Award for young children’s literature. But this was part of my hesitation. Graphic novels were kid stuff, not serious writing. I was wrong, and there is no better book than “The Best We Could Do” to prove how faulty was my impression. This migration memoir of a Vietnamese family is illustrated in what I would call a visual prose that befits the ebb and flow of the author’s turbulent and moving journey. As one commentator said of this genre, “There are numerous treasures lurking in the graphics.”</p>
<p>“The Best We Can Do” is much more than the personal chronicle of a family ravaged by war and forced migration. It is the story of a family seeking refuge whose experiences reflect the larger social and political contexts of the “fog of war,” nationalism, communism, refugee camps, and multiple relocations only to end in the United States. It is also a moving quest narrative to locate the author’s own place in the history of her family and in the history of a country called Vietnam.</p>
<p>The book begins in the present, but the past is always present. There are two migrations — the journey from Vietnam via Malaysia to the United States; and the family’s U.S. relocations from first landing in the Midwest and then resettling from East to West coasts.</p>
<p>The memoir begins in 2005 when we observe Thi giving birth to her son in a New York City hospital. It is not an easy labor and delivery. Her mother, Má, comes from California to be with her but cannot bear to be in the same room, as Thi endures pain and anguish. In absenting herself from the labor room, Má seems to conjure up her own difficult birthing of Thi’s brother in a refugee camp in Malaysia. The whole process of labor and delivery serves as a stand-in for the arduous journey illustrated in the rest of the book.</p>
<p>One of my favorite graphics comes in the beginning of the memoir where Thi traces the family’s “journey in reverse, through the war, seeking an origin story that will set everything right.” She draws images of desperation and escape. The wreckage of a country, the boat that carries them from Vietnam to Malaysia and the immense waves, bring her reflections to life.</p>
<p>In addition to a mother (Má) and father (Bô), Thi has three siblings: her older sisters Lan and Bích and a younger brother, Tân, who make the journey. Two sisters died before leaving the country, and they take the form of phantoms in the family pantheon.</p>
<p>The family saga begins with colonial wars — those of the French, Japanese, Chinese, and French redux occupations in what was then called Indochina. The violence of these years mirrors the violence in the personal lives of Thi’s parents. Thi shows us what Bô endured as a little boy in Ha’i Phòng, the northernmost port in Vietnam 200 kilometers from the Chinese border. Bô’s father had joined the revolutionary Viêt Minh, but his ideals don’t lodge in the domestic context. Bô and his mother suffer from the violence of Bô’s father. The violence comes full circle when Bô, the terrified boy, grows to become a terrorizer of his own wife and children.</p>
<p>Feminists of the 1960s generated the refrain, “The personal is political.” This is an apt description of Thi’s effort throughout the book as she sketches her family’s history: of the famine years when all the food grown was requisitioned by the clashing French and Japanese armies; the return of the French colonizers; the 1945 victory of Hô Chí Minh; and the partitioning of Vietnam in 1954. Thi wonders had the North and South consented to unify before the French returned after World War II, how different her life might have been.</p>
<p>But the political is also personal, and Thi inverts the refrain by always bringing history and politics home. Thi’s mother, Má, had been born in Cambodia to a professional family. Má’s father worked as an engineer for the French and, later, as the chief of public works for the government of South Vietnam. The family enjoyed the services of cooks, chauffeurs and gardeners. Youngest of five children, Má was an excellent student educated in French schools in Cambodia and Vietnam. Má’s mother, however, beat her children.</p>
<p>The American war on Vietnam, which begins in the 1960s, features prominently in the book. American planes carpet-bombed a richly agricultural country with napalm and defoliants, the worst among them Agent Orange. The United States dropped more bombs on Vietnam than were dropped in all its previous wars combined, and unremittingly sprayed Agent Orange across the war zones. I had been to Vietnam in 2014, part of a project to meet and raise support for second and third generation children who had been profoundly damaged by Agent Orange. My personal interest in visiting the country was catalyzed by having a nephew and grandnephew whose disabilities, in all likelihood, are the results of my brother’s exposure to Agent Orange at the beginning of the American war.</p>
<p>In every war, there are contradictions. Thi draws a landscape of contradictions in the history of Vietnam and in the ways in which family members view the conflicts. Bô has little identification with the Hô Chí Minh regime that “…had to kill all those people who were friends of the French. … They called these SACRIFICES.” Thi makes visible cities that become police states, villagers who turn on one another, and the many who are labeled enemies of the state, rounded up and treated as criminals — some to be killed, some disappeared, and others to be reformed.</p>
<p>However, the contradictions in her father’s stories have troubled Thi for a long time, though she doesn’t specify what they are. Here, the reader senses a disjunction between the image and the text, which don’t quite match up. Thi recognizes the oversimplifications of the war in the American media, and seeks to illustrate, in dueling stereotypes, who gets designated the good guys and bad guys:</p>
<p>Good Guys — “the American soldiers and the American version of the war.”</p>
<p>Bad Guys — “the Viêt Công (communist front in the South)…Very hard to see.”</p>
<p>The South Vietnamese — “The bar girls and ‘hookers,’ the corrupt leaders, the Papa-sans, the kids looking for handouts, and the small effete men” overshadowed by the tall American soldier.</p>
<p>The author acknowledges there is no single narrative of the wars that Vietnam has experienced throughout its history. The story is in its people, in those who stayed and those who left.</p>
<p>To young generations, both in Vietnam and the United States, the American war and its consequences are a faraway tale. One of the many things that make these events relevant today is the occurrence of the largest migration of people in history. This migration flow has become a crisis in almost every part of the world, both in countries from which people are fleeing and in the countries to which they emigrate. “The Best We Could Do” is akin to this contemporary plight of refugees, viewed through the lens of a single family and presented in visual prose. It has all the hallmarks of a book that will be regarded as a pioneer in both form and content.</p> | The Best We Could Do | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/the-best-we-could-do/ | 2017-04-08 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Social Security provides the lion's share of most retirees' income during their golden years. It's critical to take your benefits at the time when they'll do you the most good. Before you make that key decision, you owe it to yourself to learn as much as you can about how the timing of when you take Social Security will affect your finances. Below, we'll discuss some of the most important elements of Social Security to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Many people like the idea of continuing to work while taking Social Security. That way, they can ease back, perhaps working part-time as they phase into retirement. However, before you make that decision, you need to know the circumstances under which the Social Security Administration will claw back your benefits.</p>
<p>The key question is whether you've reached full retirement age, which for those born from 1943 to 1954 is 66 and for those born in 1955 is 66 and two months. If you're younger than your full retirement age, then there's a maximum you can earn before you'll have to give back some of your Social Security. For 2017, that limit is $16,920 for those who won't reach full retirement age during the year, and if you earn more than that, you'll lose $1 in annual benefits for every $2 you earn above the limit. If you will reach full retirement age during 2017, the limit is higher -- $44,880 -- and you'll lose $1 for every $3 over the limit in earnings.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Social Security does give you some credit for your lost benefits if this happens to you. For every month's worth of benefits you lose, you get treated as if you had retired a month later. The result is an incremental boost in your future monthly benefit check, but it will still take you years to earn back the lost amount. For many, this means it makes more sense just to wait before claiming Social Security in the first place. Once you reach full retirement age, you can earn as much as you want and keep all your Social Security.</p>
<p>More generally, timing is the biggest question most people have about Social Security. The biggest positive of claiming as early as age 62 is that you get a larger number of checks during your lifetime. However, that comes at the cost of accepting smaller monthly payments. By contrast, you can get bigger checks, but only at the cost of giving up months or even years in benefits in your early and mid-60s.</p>
<p>However, it's essential to know the rules, because sometimes it doesn't pay to wait. For instance, with your own retirement benefits, the monthly check you'd receive steadily rises as you wait from 62 to 70, with age 70 benefits being as much as 75% higher than what you'd receive at age 62. That's the reason why you'll see so many analysts talking about the <a href="http://www.fool.com/retirement/2016/10/15/3-reasons-its-smart-to-take-social-security-benefi.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">benefits of claiming at age 70 Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>If you're claiming spousal benefits on someone else's work history, however, the rules governing increases are different. In that case, you only get boosts up to your full retirement age. From 66 to 70, there is no increase available. It therefore makes little sense to wait in that scenario. The same is true for survivor benefits -- when the surviving spouse reaches full retirement age, the survivor benefit reaches its maximum, and no extra money is available from waiting until 70.</p>
<p>It's important to get your Social Security decision right, but if you realize you've made a mistake, you might be able to change your mind. Social Security allows you to use a process known as withdrawing your Social Security application, and that has the effect of undoing your initial decision and letting you claim at a later date.</p>
<p>In order to use this provision, you'll need to file Form SSA-521 with Social Security. This is a once-in-a-lifetime option, and you only have 12 months from when you first apply for Social Security benefits to use it. If your request is granted, you have to return all benefits you've already received, but at that point, you're treated as if you had never filed.</p>
<p>Applying for Social Security is one of the most important decisions you'll make. By knowing these three key elements of the program, your decision will be the right one for you.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>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> | Read This Before You Take Social Security Benefits | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/24/read-this-before-take-social-security-benefits.html | 2017-01-08 | 0 |
<p>AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall</p>
<p />
<p>A week after proposing to <a href="" type="internal">ban all Muslims</a> from entering the United States, Donald Trump has reached new heights in the polls.</p>
<p>The real estate tycoon has 41 percent nationally in the Republican presidential contest, according to a survey released Monday by Monmouth University—27 points ahead of the rest of the field. Ted Cruz comes in a distant second at 14 percent, followed by Marco Rubio at 10 percent and Ben Carson at 9 percent. No other candidate exceeds 3 percent.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.monmouth.edu/assets/0/32212254770/32212254991/32212254992/32212254994/32212254995/30064771087/af4c5edf-9cef-47bb-8440-a702be832156.pdf" type="external">Monmouth’s findings</a> are based on interviews with 385 registered Republican or Republican-leaning voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.</p>
<p>Among that sample, 67 percent responded that they would feel either “enthusiastic” or “satisfied” if Trump became the GOP nominee, while 28 percent reported that they would be “dissatisfied” or “upset.” Trump is also enjoying his peak favorability among these voters: 61 percent have a favorable impression of him, 29 percent are unfavorable, and just 10 have no opinion.</p>
<p>While continuing to gain in nationwide polls, Trump’s only recent bad news comes out of Iowa, where Cruz, the tea-party-aligned senator from Texas, has recently gained on him and now holds a small lead over Trump in <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/ia/iowa_republican_presidential_caucus-3194.html" type="external">most recent polls</a>.</p>
<p /> | Trump Soars to New Heights in Poll After Proposing Muslim Ban | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/12/donald-trump-proposes-ban-muslims-soars-new-heights-poll/ | 2015-12-14 | 4 |
<p />
<p>The US carried out the strikes at <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-led-strike-held-syria-town-kills-23-111027539.html" type="external">3:00 am, targeting a series of apartment buildings</a> in the town’s residential area. Unsurprisingly, the apartments were full of sleeping civilians, and also unsurprisingly, blowing up the apartments killed a lot of them.</p>
<p>According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ISIS is believed to have been using some of the apartments in the targeted area. There is, however, no sign that the apartments the US bombed contained any of the ISIS fighters in question.</p>
<p>This is the latest in a growing number of US strikes around Syria which have killed civilians, with <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/42-syrian-civilians-reportedly-killed-in-latest-usa-led-strikes/article/492660" type="external">reports of at least 87 civilians</a> killed in the last five days from US and coalition strikes.</p>
<p>Abu Kamal is a hugely important strategic holding of ISIS, though its value has dropped somewhat since they lost most of their territory in Iraq’s Anbar Province. Still, it is along the main highway connecting Syria’s Deir Ezzor and Iraq, and has been contested by US-backed rebels intermittently, albeit unsuccessfully.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2017/05/15/us-airstrike-kills-23-syrian-civilians-near-iraq-border/" type="external">SOURCE</a></p> | War of terror: US airstrikes kill at least 30 civilians in Syria | true | http://hangthebankers.com/us-airstrikes-30-civilians-syria/ | 2017-05-17 | 0 |
<p>By Wa Lone</p>
<p>YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar authorities said there was no sign of attacks by Rohingya Muslim militants on Tuesday as a one-month insurgent ceasefire came to end.</p>
<p>The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army announced the ceasefire from Sept. 10 in order, they said, to facilitate aid deliveries to Rakhine State, where their attacks on the security forces on Aug. 25 triggered a ferocious government crackdown.</p>
<p>The government offensive in the north of Rakhine State has sent some 520,000 Rohingya civilians fleeing to Bangladesh and has drawn international condemnation and U.N. accusations of ethnic cleansing.</p>
<p>The government denies ethnic cleansing. It had rebuffed the insurgents’ ceasefire, saying it did not negotiate with terrorists.</p>
<p>Myanmar says more than 500 people have been killed in the violence since late August, most of them insurgents.</p>
<p>Even before the government offensive, the small, lightly armed ARSA had only appeared capable of hit-and-run raids on security posts, unable to mount any sort of sustained challenge to the army.</p>
<p>Authorities had been on guard over recent days and tightened security in the state capital of Sittwe as the end of the ceasefire approached, a state government spokesman said.</p>
<p>“We had information that the ARSA could attack but there have been no reports,” the spokesman, Min Aung, said early on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The insurgents said on Saturday they were ready to respond to any peace move by the government, even though the ceasefire was ending at midnight on Monday.</p>
<p>They also reiterated their demand for rights for the Rohingya, who have never been regarded as an indigenous minority in Myanmar and so have been denied citizenship under a law that links nationality to ethnicity.</p>
<p>Instead, Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants with freedoms restricted and rights denied, and are derided by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, and much of the wider popular in Myanmar, which has seen a surge in Buddhist nationalism in recent years.</p>
<p>Thousands more Rohingya villagers have arrived in Bangladesh this week in a new surge of refugees, now also driven by fears of starvation and telling of bloody attacks by Buddhist mobs on people trekking towards the border.</p>
<p>Villagers in Rakhine said food was running out because rice in the fields was not ready for harvest and the state government had closed village markets and restricted the transport of food, apparently to cut supplies to the militants.</p>
<p>“While the Myanmar military has engaged in a campaign of violence, there is mounting evidence that Rohingya women, men and children are now also fleeing the very real threat of starvation,” rights group Amnesty International said.</p>
<p>The government has cited worry about food as one of he reasons people have been giving for leaving, but a senior state government official on Monday dismissed any suggestion of starvation.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Rohingya insurgent ceasefire ends in Myanmar with no report of attacks | false | https://newsline.com/rohingya-insurgent-ceasefire-ends-in-myanmar-with-no-report-of-attacks/ | 2017-10-09 | 1 |
<p />
<p>The end of the year is the season of giving, and where there are gifts, there's also the potential for gift tax. The U.S. tax laws impose gift tax on gifts of cash or property whose value exceeds annual limits, with rates as high as 40%. However, most people never have to think about what the gift tax is, because a combination of annual exclusions and a lifetime exemption prevents taxpayers from owing any actual tax currently. Below, you'll learn more about the rules and regulations that apply to gifts and whether you'll owe tax.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>The U.S. uses a tax system that combines gifts made during one's lifetime with bequests left in one's estate at death. The person who gives the gift is the one who may owe gift tax.</p>
<p>However, lawmakers didn't want to put the IRS in charge of policing every minor gift that people made. That's why there's an annual exclusion amount under which you don't have to pay any gift tax. For 2016 and 2017, you can give up to $14,000 per year without any gift tax liability. In addition, you can make as many of those $14,000 gifts to different people as you want, because it's a per-person limit, not a total limit. For instance, if you have three children and want to make maximum gifts to each of them, you could give a total of $42,000 -- $14,000 each to all three.</p>
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<p>So what happens if you give someone $15,000? The $1,000 in excess of the annual exclusion amount is theoretically subject to gift tax, and you'll have to file a gift tax return. However, most taxpayers also have access to what's known as the lifetime exemption. For 2016, that amount is $5.47 million, and it goes up to $5.49 million in 2017. So if this were your first such gift, then the taxable amount of the gift would use up $1,000 of your lifetime exemption, leaving you with $5.489 million to use for the remainder of your life and in calculating estate taxes after your death. You wouldn't actually owe any out-of-pocket tax until you used up all of your lifetime exemption amount, which is rare for any but the wealthiest Americans.</p>
<p>The gift tax rules also acknowledge several types of gifts for which higher limits or no limits at all apply. There are four categories that are most frequently used:</p>
<p>Finally, the only situation in which you have to file a gift tax return with the IRS on Form 709 is if your total gifts to any one person exceed the annual exclusion amount of $14,000. That keeps most people from having to file returns at all. For more on Form 709 and how to fill it out, this <a href="https://www.irs.gov/uac/about-form-709" type="external">online IRS information about gift taxes Opens a New Window.</a> can be helpful.</p>
<p>So as the holiday season continues, remember that for most people, the gift tax shouldn't be a concern. Only those making large gifts will need to pay closer attention to the gift tax rules and the ins and outs of filing returns with the IRS.</p>
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<p>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> | Gift Tax in 2017: Will You Owe Tax on Holiday Presents? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/18/gift-tax-in-2017-will-owe-tax-on-holiday-presents.html | 2016-12-18 | 0 |
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<p>A teddy bear hangs from a fence at the scene where Walter Scott was killed by a North Charleston police office Saturday after a traffic stop in North Charleston, S.C., Wednesday, April 8, 2015. The officer, Michael Thomas Slager, has been fired and charged with murder. (AP Photo/David Goldman)</p>
<p>NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — There is almost nothing in Michael Thomas Slager’s police personnel file to suggest that his bosses considered him a bad apple, let alone a trigger-happy renegade. People in the community he served said Thursday that this is precisely the problem: the department does too little to scrutinize its officers and keep them in check.</p>
<p>In his five years with the North Charleston Police, supervisors consistently gave positive performance reviews to the officer now jailed for murder in the shooting of an unarmed black man who in the back. Slager had claimed self-defense, but he was swiftly charged and fired this week after the dead man’s family released a bystander’s video showing him shooting Walter Lamer Scott eight times as he ran away.</p>
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<p>Slager’s file includes just one excessive use-of-force complaint: A man said Slager used his stun gun against him without reason in 2013. But that internal investigation was quickly dismissed, exonerating Slager even though witnesses told The Associated Press they were never even contacted.</p>
<p>As a steady crowd left flowers, stuffed animals, notes and protest signs Thursday in the empty lot where Scott was gunned down, many people in South Carolina’s third-largest city said police routinely dismiss their complaints of harsh treatment, even when eyewitnesses are available to attest to police misbehavior.</p>
<p>Residents say they’ve experienced so much petty brutality that they regard officers with a mixture of distrust and fear.</p>
<p>“We’ve had through the years numerous similar complaints, and they all seem to be taken lightly and dismissed without any obvious investigation,” the Rev. Joseph Darby, vice president of the Charleston branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Thursday.</p>
<p>Slager’s new attorney, Andy Savage, said Thursday that he’s conducting his own investigation into Saturday’s shooting. His statement added that it’s “far too early for us to be saying what we think.”</p>
<p>Slager’s original attorney, David Aylor, bowed out after asserting that Slager had followed all proper procedures before using deadly force, a version that quickly unraveled after the video came out. The former officer, whose wife is eight months pregnant, is being held without bond pending an Aug. 21 hearing.</p>
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<p>Mario Givens, who alleged two years ago that Slager repeatedly and unnecessarily caused him excruciating pain with a Taser, told the AP Wednesday that he was dismayed to learn that Slager’s file shows he was “exonerated” even though the internal investigation never sought his version.</p>
<p>“They never told me how they reached the conclusion. Never. They never contacted anyone from that night. No one from the neighborhood,” Givens said.</p>
<p>Givens said he’s convinced that Scott’s death could have been prevented: “If they had just listened to me and investigated what happened that night, this man might be alive today.”</p>
<p>Darby also wonders if Saturday’s fatal shooting might have turned out differently had the department thoroughly investigated the 2013 Taser complaint.</p>
<p>“I think he would have been rebuked instead of fired,” Darby said. “But maybe it changes the way he sees things.”</p>
<p>Darby and other civil rights leaders want North Charleston to create an independent citizens review board to review complaints against police, since “law enforcement is going to almost always give itself the benefit of the doubt.”</p>
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<p>Such boards are few and far between in South Carolina.</p>
<p>North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said Wednesday that the department now plans to review Givens’ complaint, although he wouldn’t say what difference that could make now.</p>
<p>Givens, 33, told the AP that Slager woke him before dawn one morning by loudly banging on his front door, and saying “Come outside or I’ll tase you!”</p>
<p>“I didn’t want that to happen to me, so I raised my arms over my head, and when I did, he tased me in my stomach anyway,” Givens said.</p>
<p>Slager wrote in his report, obtained by The AP through a public-records request, that he could not see one of Givens’ hands and feared he might be holding a weapon.</p>
<p>As it turns out, Givens’ arrest was a case of mistaken identity. After witnesses said he was tased, dragged outside, thrown to the ground, tased again, handcuffed and accused of resisting arrest, he was released without charge.</p>
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<p>“It was very devastating,” said Bessie Givens, 57, who was awakened by her son’s screams. “You watch your son like that, he’s so vulnerable. You don’t know what’s going to happen. I was so scared.”</p>
<p>Mario Givens, his mother and several others who watched the scene unfold complained to a police supervisor that officers had refused to take their statements. A senior officer assigned to investigate closed the complaint case within weeks, labeling Slager “exonerated,” even though Givens and other witnesses told the AP that no one had ever contacted them.</p>
<p>Their North Charleston neighborhood of Union Heights is overwhelmingly black and working poor, typified by sagging wood-frame houses with peeling paint, barren yards and chain link fences festooned with no trespassing signs. The force that patrols it is about 80 percent white.</p>
<p>Slager responded that night to a 911 call from the ex-girlfriend of Givens’ brother Matthew, Maleah Kiara Brown, who said Matthew had come into her bedroom uninvited and then fled. Brown said she went along with police to the Givens home and was outside when Slager knocked on the door.</p>
<p>The incident report filed by Slager and another officer, Maurice Huggins, says the brothers look “just alike,” and that Slager had to use the Taser because Mario Givens resisted arrest and attempted to flee.</p>
<p>Brown, Givens and his mother said they told Slager’s supervisor that this wasn’t how it happened at all.</p>
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<p>“He asked the officer why he was at the house. He did it nicely. The police officer said he wanted him to step outside. Then he asked, ‘Why, why do you want me to step outside?’ Then the officer barged inside and grabbed him.”</p>
<p>She said she kept yelling that they had the wrong man, but they wouldn’t listen, and that Slager used the stun gun on Givens again even though he was offering no resistance.</p>
<p>“He was screaming, in pain,” she said. “He said, ‘You tased me. You tased me. Why?’ It was awful. Terrible. I asked the officer why he tased him and he told me to get back.”</p>
<p>Slager “was cocky,” Brown added. “It looked like he wanted to hurt him. There was no need to tase him. No reason. He was no threat — and we told him he had the wrong man.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Biesecker reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Jeffery Collins in North Charleston, South Carolina, contributed to this report.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Biesecker at <a href="http://Twitter.com/mbieseck" type="external">http://Twitter.com/mbieseck</a></p> | Blacks blame shooting on police indifference to complaints | false | https://abqjournal.com/567010/blacks-blame-shooting-on-police-indifference-to-complaints.html | 2 |
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<p>TUCSON, Ariz. — Officials say extreme heat will challenge firefighters battling a wildfire in the Santa Catalina Mountains overlooking Tucson.</p>
<p>High temperatures in the Tucson area are expected to range Thursday and Friday from 109 to 114, and fire management team spokesman Sandra Lopez says heat limits what firefighters can do and carry while restricting use of aircraft.</p>
<p>An expected weather change by Saturday is expected to help firefighters by increasing moisture and producing rainfall.</p>
<p>The fire has burned more than 38 square miles and its perimeter is 11 percent contained.</p>
<p>The summer-retreat community of Summerhaven atop Mount Lemmon remains evacuated.</p>
<p>Nearly 700 personnel are assigned to the fire, which started Friday. Its cause remains under investigation.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | High heat an obstacle to fight against Tucson-area wildfire | false | https://abqjournal.com/1029009/high-heat-an-obstacle-to-fight-against-tucson-area-wildfire.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Thursday marks the two-year anniversary of President Bush’s landmark education reform legislation, the No Child Left Behind Act. The law required schools, teachers, and students, under threat of federal sanctions, to meet steadily rising standards of performance as measured by regular testing, the ultimate goal being “to close the achievement gap … so that no child is left behind.” All students are supposed to be performing at grade level by 2013.</p>
<p>Democrats, and many teachers, criticize NCLB as underfunded and overreliant on testing, and say it stifles local initiative. In his weekly radio address, Bush <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/04/books/chapters/0104-1st-thern.html?pagewanted=2" type="external">defended</a> the act agains these charges:</p>
<p />
<p>“Some critics have objected to these reforms because they believe our expectations are too high, or that it is unfair to hold all students to the same standards regardless of background, or that we’re punishing schools that are not making progress. Our reforms insist on high standards because we know every child can learn. Our reforms call for testing because the worst discrimination is to ignore a school’s failure to teach every child.”</p>
<p>The law passed with bipartisan support (the Senate voted 98-1 in favor). But the consensus has unraveled. Nancy Pelosi, the top House Democrat, said this week:</p>
<p />
<p>“For Democrats, that agreement represented a call to action and a strong commitment to students, parents, and teachers. And we have fought for the resources agreed to in the bill. For Republicans, that agreement was an empty promise. Again and again, President Bush and congressional Republicans have refused to honor their commitment — for 2004 they provided nearly $8 billion less for No Child Left Behind than they had promised just two years before.”</p>
<p>Democratic presidential candidates, sensing an opportunity, have started to <a href="http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1022542&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;l=1&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;t=Iowa+%2F+Illinois&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;c=24,1022542" type="external">criticize</a> NCLB. Howard Dean says:</p>
<p />
<p>“The president promised better schools. Instead, he has delivered more paperwork, lower standards and higher property taxes, as state and local governments scramble to comply with this unfunded federal mandate.”</p>
<p>Dean highlights one major criticism: it can’t do the good it promised because its an <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/05/elec04.prez.bush.no.child.ap/" type="external">under-funded</a> program. In fiscal years 2002 through the current 2004, Congress authorized President Bush to spend billions more on the initiative than he requested. Sen. Ted Kennedy, one of the original architects of the bill, said:</p>
<p />
<p>“The president’s budget fails to recognize that strong schools are as important to our future as a strong defense. Parents and communities are fighting every day for better schools with high standards for their children, and they expect the federal government to do its part.”</p>
<p>Dick Gephardt objects to what he considers <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/7539708.htm" type="external">unachievable standards</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>“George Bush is deliberately setting up public schools to fail so he can say there is no choice but to take money away from public schools. There’s only one way to fix No Child Left Behind, and that is to leave George Bush behind…George Bush set school standards so high and funding so low, the schools that need the most help have no prayer of meeting the standards.”</p>
<p>Politicians aren’t the only ones <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/02/education/02RESI.html" type="external">complaining about the law,</a> according to the New York Times. The Reading, Pa. school board sued the state and federal governments, arguing that NCLB has created an unfair financial burden. Cheshire, Conn. recently turned down $80,000 in federal school funding tied to NCLB, arguing that the bureaucracy and paperwork involved in dividing students into racial and ethnic groupings and testing their abilities wasn’t worth it. And in Utah, Republican legislator Kory Hodaway has introduced a bill that would prevent the state from accepting $100 million in funding tied to NCLB, saying the law amounts to “an unfunded mandate.”</p>
<p>Critics have other concerns, too. Some worry that its focus is on testing, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/01/opinion/01THU1.html?pagewanted=2" type="external">not teaching</a>. The New York Times says sometimes the problem isn’t the school:</p>
<p />
<p>“The administration’s desire to hold schools accountable, particularly when it comes to minority performance, is exactly the right priority. But there has always been a danger that the program will be too much about testing and too little about teaching. That’s bound to be the case as long as the federal government lets states ignore the quality of teachers.”</p>
<p>The problem with relying on tests to determine progress, of course, is that teachers then begin to <a href="http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=tct:2003:12:29:293119:EDITORIAL" type="external">“teach to the tests”</a> and end up ignoring other material. The Capital Times:</p>
<p />
<p>“Nearly everything taught in school is now geared at doing well on those tests — either that or become a failing school and suffer all the consequences that go with.Because the federal “reforms” focus solely on reading and math, schools are concentrating on those subjects and sacrificing others — like history, for example.”</p>
<p>But the issue is complicated, and that some of the act’s original intentions have proved harder than expected to put into practice argues for a bipartisan approach to fixing its flaws, as James Traub, writing in the New York Times Magazine last month, suggests:</p>
<p />
<p>“We are going to hear more about NCLB as the presidential race heats up next year. I herewith propose a pre-emptive compromise. Liberal Democrats and teachers’ unions and school professionals should stop trying to prove that No Child Left Behind is a failure and should stop pretending that money is the cure for everything; Republicans should accept that money does, however, matter terribly if you wish to attract the kind of teachers who can make a difference. The law itself should be subjected to the kind of tinkering that incredibly complicated legislation generally requires. And then, perhaps, we could practice some real nation building at home.”</p>
<p /> | Left Behind | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2004/01/left-behind-2/ | 2004-01-08 | 4 |
<p>Obama’s deadly dance around Armageddon in Iran, by Sasan Fayazmanesh. Secrets of the Temple: Why Romney’s Mormonism really matters, by a former Mormon. The war on Gilad Atzmon: Can one Jewish sax player be that bad, by Jean Bricmont. The anatomy of hopelessness: Scenes from a West Virginia Middle School, by JoAnn Wypijewski.</p> | “ALL OPTIONS ON THE TABLE” | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/04/03/all-options-on-the-table/ | 2012-04-03 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Baby boomers are increasingly hanging the “for sale” sign on their small businesses as they prepare to leave the workforce and enter retirement.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A recent survey by Pepperdine University and two trade groups, show retirement as the No. 1 contributor to business sales in the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of 2013. In the past, tax increases were the main driver of owners wanting to sell their businesses.</p>
<p>In the first three months of 2013, the number of small business sales that closed jumped 56% from the same time in 2012, according to BizBuySell.com, an online marketplace for small businesses. And as the economy continues to improve, brokers expect selling activity to continue to increase this year.</p>
<p>Boomers looking to sell their business and enter their golden years need to be prepared with the proper documentation, financial planning and professional help in order to make their exit and transition smooth, says Mark Tepper, CFP, president and founder of <a href="http://www.swp-ohio.com" type="external">Strategic Wealth Partners Opens a New Window.</a> in Seven Hills, Ohio.</p>
<p>Tepper has conducted extensive research with baby boomer entrepreneurs, particularly focusing on the challenges they face in planning their exit and personal finances, and he offered the following advice:</p>
<p>Boomer: When should you start preparing to sell your business and how?</p>
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<p>Tepper: The sooner the better. Ideally, you should start planning for your exit the day you begin your business. If you do that, you'll manage your business as an investment as opposed to a vehicle that supports your lifestyle.</p>
<p>However, since most people don't do this immediately, we'd recommend that you begin three years prior to your desired exit date. That will give us enough time to optimize the value of the business while implementing various proactive wealth management strategies</p>
<p>Boomer: What considerations should be taken to determine the value of your business?</p>
<p>Tepper: Appropriately determining and continuing to build upon the value of your business can make a significant difference when it comes time to sell. There are common value drivers that reduce a potential acquirers’ risk or enhance the business’ growth prospects. These drivers must be considered in addition to several other key factors, including:</p>
<p>• Your EBITDA: Your company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation or amortization is the cash flow figure that merger and acquisition firms typically work off of when determining the multiple they are willing to pay for the firm.</p>
<p>The smaller the firm, the more risk is perceived by a potential acquirer, so continuing to increase your EBITDA will lead to a multiple expansion.</p>
<p>• Quality of Management Team: The employees are among the most significant assets to a potential acquirer and a quality management team stands out as the most important within that group. Having a strong team in place will ensure that the transition is as seamless as possible for the acquiring owner, which is extremely beneficial in the process.</p>
<p>• Facility Appearance: The manner in which your facilities appear to potential buyers reflects how the business is run on a day-to-day basis. Ensuring that machinery is up to date, offices are organized and workspaces are clean will help in the selling process.</p>
<p>• Revenues Types: The type of revenue your business generates, either recurring or one-off is a key factor for an acquirer. Firms that generate recurring revenue—particularly that on a contractual basis—are perceived as more valuable since the revenue appears year after year.</p>
<p>• Concentrated Risk: Diversification is key to boosting value. One of the main aspects of M&amp;A activity is evaluating the risk of a potential purchase, so if most of your revenue comes from one customer, one employee is responsible for the major processes or your business relies on a single supplier, it will impact overall value. A riskier business has a reduced multiple.</p>
<p>• Potential Industry Growth: Certain industries are considered fast growth, such as the technology industry, while others, like manufacturing, are considered slower growth. Understanding where your business is and what multiple is associated with your industry is an important starting point.</p>
<p>• Barriers to Entry: The better your firm’s value proposition, the higher the multiple on EBITDA. It’s important to understand what differentiates your firm from the competition and to know what prevents another firm from stealing your market share and eliminate these concerns to boost value.</p>
<p>Boomer: Is it important to identify key employees and to make sure they stay on board?</p>
<p>Tepper: Yes. Without them, you have no business. You would simply be selling your inventory. Providing them with non-qualified deferred compensation plans with vesting schedules can help to keep them on board after you leave.</p>
<p>Boomer: Should boomers look to outside help for guidance on their exit plan?</p>
<p>Tepper: Yes. You should build a proper team consisting of certified public accountants and financial planners as well as investment bankers that have experience selling businesses. Selling your business is likely be the biggest financial event of your lifetime—you don't want to screw it up!</p>
<p>Boomer: What tips would you give boomers to help prepare for their post business sale life?</p>
<p>Tepper: Learn how to transition from success in business to significance in life. When you go from receiving 200 emails a day down to one almost overnight, you're going to have to find something you're passionate about to get you out of bed every morning. Whether it be family, travel, charity, etc., you should know the answers BEFORE you exit.</p> | Tips for Boomers Ready to Sell their Business to Enter Retirement | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/07/18/tips-for-boomers-read-to-sell-their-business-to-enter-retirement.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>On July 26, Samsung Electronics (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) reported its full financial results for the quarter after preannouncing that the results would be solid.. &#160;</p>
<p>Samsung saw its sales surge year over year from 50.94 trillion Korean won (about $45.74 billion) in the year-ago quarter to 61 trillion won ($54.78 billion). Its gross profit margin expanded to 46.9% from 41.9% a year ago, and its total operating profit popped, hitting $12.63 billion, up from $7.3 billion last year.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>This was an extremely good quarter for the company. Let's take a closer look at what drove these phenomenal results.</p>
<p>Samsung said&#160;its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/06/30/intel-is-about-to-lose-its-semiconductor-crown.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3cf24962-726f-11e7-8cc9-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">semiconductor business</a>, which consists of logic chips as well as memory products such as NAND flash and DRAM, saw revenue grow 46%, from about $10.78 billion to $15.79 billion year over year. The memory business in particular grew from $7.57 billion to $12.5 billion, and the non-memory portion of the semiconductor segment inched up from $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion.</p>
<p>In other words, Samsung's memory business stole the show within its broader semiconductor operations last quarter. Its non-memory semiconductor business was a yawner.</p>
<p>Operating profit in the semiconductor business was another show-stealer. Its semiconductor business generated $7.21 billion in operating profit, with the remaining $8.7 billion in profit that Samsung's "device solutions" segment generated coming from its display-panel business.</p>
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<p>Samsung's memory business, in line with the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/24/3-things-micron-technology-inc-management-wants-yo.aspx?source=iaasitlnk0000003&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3cf24962-726f-11e7-8cc9-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">memory businesses of its few remaining competitors</a>, is simply on fire.</p>
<p>Another area of focus among those who follow Samsung is the mobile-devices business, particularly as the company ships more smartphones per year <a href="http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS42268917" type="external">than does any other vendor</a>. Revenue in this segment grew 11% year over year, from $23.42 billion in the year prior to $26 billion in its most recent quarter.</p>
<p>Profitability wasn't as nice as the revenue picture, though. Operating profit in the combined "IT and mobile communications" business, which sees 96.4% of its revenue coming from sales of mobile devices, dropped modestly, from $3.88 billion last year to $3.65 billion.</p>
<p>Another highlight from the report was the performance of Samsung's display-panel business. Revenue here grew 20% year over year, and operating profit surged from just $126 million $1.53 billion.</p>
<p>Given that Samsung seems to have a <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/03/apple-inc-reportedly-orders-70-million-oled-screen.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3cf24962-726f-11e7-8cc9-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">near-monopoly on OLED-based displays for smartphones</a> and isn't likely to see that dominance seriously challenged for the next year or so, I'd expect the good times to continue to roll here as well.</p>
<p>Revenue in the consumer-electronics business dropped 1% year over year. Operating profit came down quite a bit, contracting from $898 million in the year prior to just $288 million.</p>
<p>Samsung said that although its TV business, a significant portion of its consumer electronics business, saw "expanded sales of premium products such as QLED TV," the segment suffered a big drop because of "increased panel [average selling prices] and shipment declines."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the digital-appliances business, the non-TV portion of Samsung's consumer--electronics business, saw increased revenue "driven by strong sales of seasonal products, such as wind-free air conditioners," but its profitability plunged because of "increased material costs and investment in [business-to-business] business."</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of July 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/aeassa/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3cf24962-726f-11e7-8cc9-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Ashraf Eassa</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;uuid=3cf24962-726f-11e7-8cc9-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> | Key Takeaways From Samsung Electronics' Earnings Results | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/29/key-takeaways-from-samsung-electronics-earnings-results.html | 2017-07-29 | 0 |
<p>FIFA cleared Russia and Qatar on Thursday of wrongdoing in their bids to host the World Cup, but the former US prosecutor who led the investigation by soccer's governing body said it had misrepresented his findings.</p>
<p>A German judge who ruled on behalf of the soccer body's ethics committee said he found no grounds sufficient to re-open the bidding process for the 2018 cup in Russia and the 2022 cup in Qatar.</p>
<p>But former US attorney Michael Garcia, hired by FIFA to head an investigation into the bids that lasted more than a year, said he would appeal against the committee's conclusion.</p>
<p>"Today's decision by the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions detailed in the investigatory chamber's report," said Garcia, who will take his case to another FIFA department, the appeals committee.</p>
<p>FIFA and Qatar World Cup organizers have been fending off allegations of corruption ever since the tiny Gulf state was awarded the 2022 tournament. Qatar has little domestic soccer tradition and its desert climate is widely seen as too hot for the game to be played in summer when the cup is normally staged.</p>
<p>Qatar has also been criticized over its treatment of migrant workers in the construction industry. It denies any wrongdoing and says it would be good for the world's most popular sporting event to have it staged in the soccer-mad Middle East.</p>
<p>Russia was awarded the 2018 cup on the same day in a dual bidding process that ended in 2010.</p>
<p>Garcia was hired by FIFA and spent more than a year combing through allegations of bribes paid and favors given to the international soccer officials who made the decisions, not just by the winning countries but by other bidders as well.</p>
<p>But instead of issuing his own report, he presented his findings to FIFA, which issued its own ruling. Garcia did not give any further details about the errors he said had been made in the summary of his findings, delivered by ethics committee chief adjudicator Hans-Joachim Eckert.</p>
<p>Eckert, for his part, ruled that any improprieties uncovered by Garcia were too minor to require new bidding.</p>
<p>"The effects of these occurrences on the bidding process as a whole were far from reaching any threshold that would require returning to the bidding process, let alone reopening it," Eckert's statement said.</p>
<p>"The assessment of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is therefore closed for the FIFA Ethics Committee."</p>
<p>FIFA welcomed Eckert's report and said it was looking forward to continuing the preparations for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, "which are already well underway."</p>
<p>Corruption accusations</p>
<p>Accusations of corruption at FIFA have been widespread, notably in media in Britain after England was one of the countries to lose the 2018 bid to Russia.</p>
<p>England's own bid came under criticism from Eckert for "an apparent violation of bidding rules" in its relations with FIFA power broker Jack Warner, then the head of soccer in North America and the Caribbean.</p>
<p>Eckert also raised questions over people connected with the bids of Qatar, Australia and South Korea.</p>
<p>In the case of Qatar, the statement said "there are certain indications of potentially problematic conduct of specific individuals in the light of relevant FIFA Ethics rules."</p>
<p>However, it said that the Qatar bidding team had only a "distant" relationship to former Asian Football Confederation president Mohamed bin Hammam, a Qatari who has since been banned for life from football (soccer) by FIFA, which accused him of paying bribes, charges he denied.</p>
<p>Qatar has always maintained that bin Hammam played no part in its bid.</p>
<p>Eckert's report said that it could not find any evidence of misconduct from the Russian bid, although it added that not all records had been available.</p>
<p>The statement added that Garcia intended to open formal investigations against individuals who were not named.</p>
<p>Eckert's statement praised FIFA's president, Sepp Blatter, for implementing "critical" reforms "including those that made this inquiry possible."</p>
<p>It concluded that "the line between a bid team's conduct... and improper conduct is a very fine one. From which point on lobbyism must be considered as improper conduct is, for example, not always clear."</p>
<p>(Editing by Peter Graff)</p> | FIFA clears Qatar, Russia World Cup bids but its own investigator disputes findings | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-11-13/fifa-clears-qatar-russia-world-cup-bids-its-own-investigator-disputes-findings | 2014-11-13 | 3 |
<p>Voters who thought that Donald Trump’s election would make them materially better off were delusional or gullible or both.&#160; The only exceptions were Trump’s class brothers and sisters – plutocrats with, as Joyce wrote in Ulysses, “financial resources surpassing those of Rothschild or the silver king.”</p>
<p>He shamelessly bamboozled the rest.&#160; They ought to have known better, but perhaps they can be forgiven for being taken in.&#160; Trump did talk a good “populist” line, after all.&#160; Also, Hillary Clinton was the candidate of the other neoliberal party; that was a powerful mitigating factor.</p>
<p>Before Election Day, the case for calling Trump a conman, though compelling to everyone who was minimally informed, was still largely conjectural. &#160;But that was then.&#160; Victims of Trump’s con who are still standing by their man, five months into his presidency, have no excuse.</p>
<p>There were less implausible expectations clustering around Trump’s candidacy as well.</p>
<p>The sounder ones had mainly to do with the kinds of people who were crawling out from under the rocks Trump turned over.</p>
<p>Those people are indeed a worrisome lot; they are, to quote the devil, “bad hombres.”&#160; But people who voted for Hillary because they thought that Trump’s hardcore supporters would enable or even compel him to turn the United States into a twenty-first century version of an inter-war fascist state were worrying too much.</p>
<p>He has indeed emboldened nativists and Islamophobes, along with others who enjoy the privileges that come with whiteness and heterosexuality.&#160; He has also given misogyny a shot in the arm, and made bullying respectable again.</p>
<p>There is no doubt too that civic life is coarser now than it was before Trump, and that the police are less constrained than they used to be.&#160; ICE is even more odious now than it was when Barack Obama, the Deporter-in-Chief, was calling the shots.</p>
<p>Also, black and brown lives matter less than before; and people who are, or look like they might be, of Middle Eastern origin are in greater danger than they used to be.&#160; The so-called alt-right is riding high as well.</p>
<p>But damaging as all this has been, these are differences in degree, not kind; the country has not fundamentally changed. &#160;Worrywarts who likened the views of the anti-Hillary Left to those of Communists in the final days of the Weimar Republic were wrong.</p>
<p>This will not change even if the Donald somehow manages to serve out his full term – not because his personality is less “authoritarian” than many thought, but because the institutional constraints holding him back remain well entrenched.</p>
<p>It is possible, of course, that a massive terror attack or a “lovely little war” would change all this in the blink of an eye.&#160; But this is unlikely.&#160; Public opinion nowadays is less prone than it was immediately after 9/11 to succumb to panic; and people are more aware than they used to be of the fragility and preciousness of basic rights and liberties.</p>
<p>Freedom of speech, along with the rights and liberties associated with it, therefore seem secure.</p>
<p>Whistleblowers who embarrassed or otherwise upset our intelligence services, military establishment, or the Clintons would probably have a more nuanced view, but it would be fair to say that, for the most part, civil liberties were fairly well protected in recent years.</p>
<p>Even Dick Cheney and George W. Bush were unable to do too much harm.&#160; Even as their “war on terror” unfolded, most of us only suffered minor inconveniences at airports or when entering government buildings.&#160; There was no massive uptick in the level of state repression.</p>
<p>So far, at least, it has been the same under Trump.&#160; He has done his best to villainize the press, but all he has actually done is make the atmospherics surrounding mainstream journalism worse. &#160;Nothing like what happened to civil liberties in Italy under Mussolini has happened here. &#160;Comparisons with Nazi Germany are even more farfetched.</p>
<p>Even Muslims, the most vulnerable group of all in Trump’s America, have fared better with him in the White House than Japanese Americans did during World War II.&#160; Trump plainly does have a soft spot in his heart for authoritarian rule, but he has neither the will nor the means to become an authoritarian leader or even to weaken civil liberties fundamentally.</p>
<p>It is therefore no more dangerous now than it was a year ago to criticize the government or the regime it superintends. &#160;Thanks to pressures emanating out of civil society, it may actually be easier.</p>
<p>Needless to say, this was not Trump’s intention, but it is his fault – indirectly – because mainstream media have it in for him, and they are not about to surrender.</p>
<p>How ironic that Trump, the supposed authoritarian, would be the one to inspire our “free press” to relax its ingrained servility to power! &#160;But this is how it is.</p>
<p>Trump was and is good for ratings, and therefore for advertising revenues.&#160; The cable news networks therefore gave his campaign full spectrum coverage when he was running for president.</p>
<p>Perhaps the people who manage and work in those organizations, and their counterparts in broadcast and print media, have guilty consciences.&#160; Whatever the reason, they have gone out of their way to make it known that they despise the man, and to lay bare the (very obvious) reasons why.&#160; Even if Trump were a more competent politician, he would have a hard time getting past that.</p>
<p>Fox News and other rightwing and alt-right media outlets still try to make excuses for him. &#160;Had they been less successful in misinforming and dumbing down their target audiences, they would not now be convincing anybody.&#160; As it is, their influence is on the wane.&#160; Trump has seen to that; despite himself, he keeps subverting their efforts.</p>
<p>It could be argued that the Trump phenomenon shows that “it can happen here.”&#160;&#160; Perhaps so – but not now, and not under Trump’s aegis.</p>
<p>This is hardly news, but we can still feel relieved that the fears of those who thought it would come to pass never materialized.</p>
<p>On the other hand, there were other pre-election expectations that also never materialized – most unfortunately.</p>
<p>There was, above all, the hope that Trump would turn back the reckless, Clinton-inspired campaign to turn former Soviet republics into biddable allies of the West, and to knock Russia back down to a level where it could no longer challenge American world domination.</p>
<p>There was never any reason to think that Trump would do the right thing for reasons of justice or common decency.&#160; But it did seem that a man with so many properties to protect might be more reasonable than Clinton or the average Clintonized Democrat – more risk averse and therefore less inclined to act in provocative ways that could lead to nuclear war.</p>
<p>There was also the expectation that Trump’s administration would get the United States out of the regime-change business.&#160; Regime change was what Clinton, and her gaggle of “humanitarian” and neocon advisors, were all about.</p>
<p>Their conception of America’s role in the world led to mayhem and instability in and around the greater Middle East, to the indefinite prolongation of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, to the destruction of the Libyan and Syrian states, to a massive refugee crisis that has engulfed the region and spilled over into Europe, to a coup d’état in Honduras and to similar mischief elsewhere in Latin America, and, of course, to efforts to destabilize territories within and around Russia itself.</p>
<p>Trump may know next to nothing about world politics.&#160; But if he could nevertheless get the United States to change course on regime change, then hurray for him.</p>
<p>It was possible before he took office to think that maybe, just maybe, his presidency might have that effect.&#160; But now that he has been in office for what seems like an eternity, no sane person can think that still.</p>
<p>Trump has continued all the bad stuff that Clinton and Obama inherited or started, while, more or less on his own initiative, encouraging the most odious regime in the world, Saudi Arabia, to wreak havoc in Yemen and around the world.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Nevertheless, when Trump is right, he’s right – even if his reasons are vile.</p>
<p>Needless to say, when he tries to save his ass by blaming media purveyors of “fake news” for his troubles, he is only blowing air.&#160; He can hardly help it; that is what he does.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, there is a kernel of truth at the core of his self-serving blather.&#160;&#160; The recklessly dangerous, anti-Putin and anti-Russia campaign that Clinton and her people launched last summer, and which Democrats subsequently took up with a vengeance, is indeed a partisan concoction.</p>
<p>That Republicans are now on board too – most of them grudgingly, a few, like John McCain and therefore Lindsey Graham, enthusiastically – does not belie this fact.&#160; The bastards were backed into a corner.</p>
<p>The Democrats’ Russia story is as phony as Trump’s populism.&#160; And, in this case too, the people who are snookered are not entirely at fault.</p>
<p>They ought to know better, but how could they if they depend on CNN and MSNBC and similarly minded corporate news and opinion outlets, and on The New York Times and Washington Post?</p>
<p>Blaming the Russians is as American as senseless gun violence, private health insurance and apple pie. &#160;It is therefore easy to propagandize against.&#160; Small wonder that this is one of the very few things Hillary set out to do that she has actually done well.</p>
<p>Indeed, her media friends have done so well that someone eager to find out what is actually going on might just as well turn to Fox News, the gold standard for dumbing down and misinforming the public.</p>
<p>And so, insofar as he actually had a plan, his efforts to “reset” relations with Russia – to do what Obama and even George W. Bush tried to do, not entirely without success – have come to naught.</p>
<p>The Donald is stymied – on this, as on much else.&#160; When he complains that this is the case, it is not just because he is whacky.&#160; It is also because he is right.</p>
<p>In these circumstances, if he rump had a sounder purchase on reality, he would resign his office ex post haste – to work on his, and his family’s, bottom lines, and to salvage what he can of the reputation of his brand.&#160;&#160; But he is too full of himself to do anything of the sort.&#160; “Self-impeachment” would be his least bad option, but things would have to get a whole lot worse for him than they now are for him to realize that this is so.</p>
<p>And so, irrespective of what the truth might be, charges of Trump campaign collusion with Russian “meddlers” may finally be what will rid us of the Donald.</p>
<p>If so, then two and a half cheers for those charges, even if they turn out to be entirely without merit.&#160; Commander-in-Chief Trump has it in him, if he feels irked enough, to take the whole world down with him.&#160;&#160; If it takes a cock-and-bull story to keep that from happening, then so be it.</p>
<p>Withhold half a cheer, however, inasmuch as Vice President Mike Pence is already in the bullpen warming up, and, on the raving reactionary scale, he is even worse.</p>
<p>In a country with enough nuclear weapons to ignite Armageddon many times over, the temperament and mental stability of the individual who has the ultimate say on matters of war and peace is obviously of paramount importance.&#160; But the fact that Trump, desperate to hold onto the troglodytes in his base, is only an opportunistic reactionary while Pence is the real thing surely counts for something.</p>
<p>In the circumstances, wise anti-Trump resisters would do all they could to slow down Trump’s ouster – whether he leaves of his own accord or because the Republican establishment comes to the realization that they would be better off with him impeached than they would be facing an electoral season with him as their standard bearer.</p>
<p>Since there is no way that the hard right power that Trump brought with him to Washington can be replaced by anything less noxious before the next presidential election, stasis should be the goal. &#160;Anything Trump does will be bad; the first order of business should therefore be to keep him from doing anything at all.</p>
<p>There is, of course, the danger, as long as he remains in office, that something will set him off, putting everyone and everything in peril.&#160; There is therefore a tradeoff.&#160; On the one hand, an immobilized Trump will do less harm than than a fully up and running Pence; on the other, there is the increased probability, under Trump, of nuclear annihilation.</p>
<p>Sadly, though, it hardly matters in our so-called democracy how anybody outside the inner circle of the GOP conceives the probabilities, benefits and costs.&#160;&#160; What Democrats think or do is of no importance; they have made themselves irrelevant.</p>
<p>This will only change if, as now looks very unlikely, the Democratic Party changes beyond recognition. &#160;If Democrats instead heed the calls for “unity” coming from the usual sources — the editorial and op-ed pages of The New York Times and Washington Post, for example – the party will only become more like what it already is, a rotting irrelevance fit only to be smashed.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, thinking he is doing the opposite, Trump is making it difficult for GOP muckety-mucks to stand by their man.&#160; It has become axiomatic since Watergate that cover-ups are worse than the crimes they are concocted to hide. &#160;Either Trump is covering something major up, or he deserves an Academy Award for acting like he is.</p>
<p>During Watergate, it was clear what the underlying crime was.&#160; In this case, it is not.&#160; It is certainly not colluding with Russian meddlers in the 2016 election.</p>
<p>The conventional wisdom now is that while Trump and his campaign may or may not have been involved, the Russians did indeed meddle.&#160; The CIA says so, so it must be true.&#160; Seriously.</p>
<p>Never mind that lying is in their genes, or that, when it suits their purpose, they will politicize intelligence, as everyone knows they did in the run up to the Iraq War.</p>
<p>Never mind too that there is not one shred of evidence that they have released to the public.&#160; Ironically, though, evidence did surface last week – no thanks to our vaunted “intelligence community” but to one heroic leaker, Reality Winner, a woman about to join the ranks of the victims of politicians of both the Democratic and Republican parties who want to stifle efforts to tell the public things the authorities want to hide, but that citizens of a democracy ought to know.</p>
<p>She produced a document, published by The Intercept.&#160; It is hardly dispositive.&#160; It does not even count as a smoking gun because there is no reason to think that any gun was ever actually fired.</p>
<p>There is every reason to marvel, though, at the stupefying level of hypocrisy promoters of the campaign against Russia evince.&#160; The United States interferes in elections wherever and whenever it pleases; it has been hard at it at least since the end of World War II.&#160; Russia and the other former Soviet republics have been targeted with particular intensity.</p>
<p>It is remarkable too that the propagandists can’t even come up with a plausible rationale for those real or imagined Russian hackers.&#160; Could it be that, in view of how easy it is for them to blame Russians, they feel they don’t have to bother?</p>
<p>Their main insinuation was that the Russians wanted to depress the turnout of Democratic voters by stifling the enthusiasm of Sanders supporters when it would come time for them to vote for Clinton against Trump.&#160; Supposedly, the news that the Democratic National Committee, the DNC, had rigged the election to assure Hillary’s nomination would have that effect.</p>
<p>News flash: it was always clear to everyone who cared that the Democratic establishment was doing all it could to assure Clinton’s nomination.&#160; John Podesta’s emails changed nothing.</p>
<p>Here is another news flash: there is also no evidence so far made public that Russians, official or otherwise, were the ones who hacked into the DNC’s, server and gave those Podesta emails to Wikileaks.</p>
<p>But this hardly mattered to sore losers who saw a chance to kill, or at least wound, two birds – Russia and Wikileaks — with one stone. The entire political class hates Wikileaks because it causes them embarrassment.&#160; Democrats are the worst; Julian Assange is number two on the DNC’s shit list, second only to Putin himself.</p>
<p>Someday those Democrats will probably find themselves with copious quantities of egg on their face for that.&#160; In these dark and seemingly hopeless times, that is something to look forward to. &#160;For now, though, they are getting away with it.</p>
<p>Recently, another insinuation has come to the fore.&#160; Now the story is that what the Russians wanted to do was more general and nefarious than just telling Sanders supporters what they already knew.&#160; Their goal, it seems, was to undermine Americans’ confidence in the electoral process itself.</p>
<p>Do we really need Russians for that?&#160; Investigative journalists have been exposing problems with the ways Americans’ votes are collected and tallied for years. The case of Florida in the election that set George W. Bush loose upon the world is only the most notorious example.</p>
<p>However, until now, the problem has always been Republican Secretaries of State and the people working for them; not Russians.&#160; And yet the DNC would rather blame their party’s failures on Putin.&#160; Go figure!</p>
<p>In a similar vein, it has been known for years that it is possible, even easy, to “violate the sanctity” of voting machines.&#160; If our politicians and pundits were serious about safeguarding the voting process, they would be insisting on going back to paper ballots.</p>
<p>It is old-fashioned, but it works almost everywhere else in the world, and it used to work well here.&#160; Were ballots pieces of paper counted by human beings, it would be harder for cable and broadcast news outlets to call elections quickly, often as soon as the polls close.&#160; Corporate media would therefore object.&#160; But the integrity of the voting system, and the public’s confidence in it, would be enormously enhanced.</p>
<p>More important still, if those politicians and pundits really cared about democracy, they would have Republican efforts at voter suppression in their crosshairs, not real or imagined Russian meddlers, who, even if they did all the hacking it is claimed they did, seem to have had no effect on anything at all.&#160; On that crucial point, everyone seems to agree.</p>
<p>The one and only good (or not too bad) thing about Trump was that he wasn’t buying into the nonsense on Russia that Clinton and the others were promoting. &#160;No doubt, his reasons were self-serving. But at least he was on the right page.</p>
<p>Now, it seems that he is buying into it, after all; or so he claims when he is not straying too far off script.&#160; Therefore, he is no longer good even for that; perhaps he never was.</p>
<p>In any case, it is now plain as can be that he has no redeeming features at all; that he is just a sleazy, hyper-rich, septuagenarian ignoramus with the emotional maturity of a male adolescent, decomposing in full public view.</p>
<p>His one and only televised cabinet meeting, where the millionaire and billionaire scoundrels he enlisted to work under him abased themselves in public before the Dear Leader, declaring how wonderful he is and what an honor and blessing it is to serve him, says it all.</p>
<p>Thus it has finally become clear that Trump is good for nothing, not even for keeping the warmongers at bay.</p>
<p>Well, not quite nothing.&#160; The longer he stays in office, the less harm Mike Pence will do if and when Republicans cut Trump loose. &#160;That could turn out to be consequential indeed.</p> | Trump, What is He Good For? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/06/16/trump-what-is-he-good-for/ | 2017-06-16 | 4 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Steve Stockman is at it again. With conservative news sources hailing the likes of Rand Paul, Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, &#160;not many are noticing the brash Constitutional Congressman from Texas’ 36th District. <a href="" type="internal">Let’s not forget that this is the same man who exposed the Obama anti-gun campaign for using fake spambots just over a month ago.</a></p>
<p>In a press release from April 2, 2013 Stockman vows to declare the proposed Senate gun ban (s.649) “dead on arrival.” Stockman is proposing the use of a “blue slip” which is defined by Wikipedia as follows:</p>
<p>“In the&#160;House, it refers to the rejection slip given to Senate tax and spending bills that have not originated in the House in the first place, per the House’s interpretation of the&#160;Origination clause.”</p>
<p>Source:&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_slip" type="external">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_slip</a></p>
<p>“The Democrat gun ban is dead on arrival.&#160; I will introduce in the House a blue slip resolution that will automatically kill the Senate gun ban,” said Stockman. “Not only are Democrats on the wrong side of public opinion, they are on the wrong side of the Constitution.&#160; You can’t strip Americans of their gun rights, and you certainly can’t do it by having the Senate create a national tax on firearms.&#160; They are in violation of constitutional limits on federal power.”</p>
<p>Stockman’s release elaborates on the Constitutional issues in great detail:</p>
<p>“Blue slip resolutions are immediately considered as a matter of constitutional privilege, are debatable for an hour and are not subject to amendment.</p>
<p>Senate Democrats took three anti-gun bills (S. 374, S. 54 and S. 146) and quickly rammed them through the Judiciary Committee without even a committee report, then combined them into one bill (S. 649.)&#160; The bill includes language mandating a fee for background checks for all private transfers of firearms. Similar legislation has been construed by the Supreme Court to be a tax.&#160; By introducing a bill imposing a new tax through the Senate, Democrats have violated constitutional mandates and the bill is automatically invalid.</p>
<p>According to The Heritage Foundation, S.649 imposes a new tax by forcing individuals to pay for background checks when selling or giving away a firearm.&#160; The mandate to use the National Instant Criminal Background Check System does not provide a service to the buyer or seller but to the government, making it a tax.</p>
<p>Additionally, the Supreme Court ruled last year in NFIB v. Sebelius that mandating citizens to pay for a service can be construed to be a tax, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing the majority opinion expanding the federal definition of a tax.”</p>
<p>Source:&#160; <a href="http://stockman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/stockman-moves-to-automatically-kill-senate-gun-ban" type="external">http://stockman.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/stockman-moves-to-automatically-kill-senate-gun-ban</a></p>
<p>The D.C. Clothesline applauds Steve Stockman for again standing tall for the Constitution. He may not get as much press time as “The Three Musketeers” of the Senate, but Stockman has proven to be every bit as tenacious, and probably more. The 36th District should be very proud of Steve Stockman.</p>
<p>To the Democrat controlled Senate, on behalf of Congressman Stockman and 300 million Americans…</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Have you joined “The Patriot Team” Project? We are organizing people all over the country. We are not a militia and we are not planning any offensive revolts against our government. We are simply providing people with a way to meet other like-minded individuals in their area. These contacts could come in handy in a real-life SHTF situation. Over 20,000 people joined us last week. Join the team in your area today.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Texas Congressman Stands Tall. Vows to Automatically Kill Proposed Senate Gun Ban. | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2013/04/03/texas-congressman-stands-tall-vows-to-automatically-kill-proposed-senate-gun-ban/ | 0 |
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<p>Dissension over Adm. Mike Mullen’s accusation that the Haqqani network of Afghan insurgents is a “veritable arm” of Pakistan’s intelligence agency and the revelation that a U.S. official met with a Haqqani official have provided new evidence of a long-simmering struggle within the Barack Obama administration over how to deal with the most effective element of the Afghan resistance to U.S.-NATO forces.</p>
<p>One issue under debate is whether is whether military force alone can settle the problem of the Haqqani network or if a political settlement is necessary.</p>
<p>The other issue is whether the United States should continue to carry out a drone war against the Haqqani network in defiance of Pakistan’s demand for a veto over the strikes, or reach an accommodation with Pakistan that would narrow the focus of the strikes.</p>
<p>That policy debate pits top military leaders, Pentagon officials and the CIA, who want to put priority on pressuring Pakistan to attack the Haqqani forces, against those in the Obama administration who doubt that the military effort can be decisive and support a political approach to that key insurgent force.</p>
<p>The military, the Pentagon and the CIA have been pushing aggressively since late 2010 to get the administration to force the Pakistani military leadership to carry out a major offensive against the Haqqani leadership and forces in North Waziristan, despite an intelligence assessment that Islamabad will not change its policy toward the Haqqani group.</p>
<p>Just days before his tenure of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ended, Mullen took advantage of the consternation of the entire Obama administration over the 20-hour siege of the U.S. Embassy and U.S.- NATO headquarters in Kabul Sep. 13 to raise the issue of Pakistani ties with the Haqqani group at a higher level of intensity.</p>
<p>He sought to exploit what he called “credible evidence” that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI) was involved in the planning or execution of the Kabul attacks.</p>
<p>It soon became evident, however, that Mullen was not speaking for a united Obama administration. White House spokesman Jay Carney responded to a question about Mullen’s remarks on Sep. 28 by saying it was “not language that I would use”.</p>
<p>A Sep. 27 article in the Washington Post quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying that Mullen’s charge was “overstated” and that there was “scant evidence” of ISI “direction or control” over the Haqqani group.</p>
<p>Then Washington Times Pentagon correspondent Bill Gertz suggested Sep. 28 that the criticism of Mullen was coming from officials in the intelligence community and the State Department who wanted to relax the pressure on Pakistan over the Haqqani network rather than intensifying it.</p>
<p>The critics were calling for cutting back sharply on drone strikes in northwest Pakistan, according to the Pentagon official who leaked the disagreement to Gertz. Their argument, according to Gertz’s source, was that continuing the strikes at the present level is unlikely to damage Al-Qaeda any more than it already has been.</p>
<p>That argument parallels those made by former Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair in an Aug. 14 New York Times op-ed piece.</p>
<p>The vast majority of the drone strikes over the past two years, however, have targeted the Haqqani network, not Al-Qaeda or the Pakistani Taliban. The drone war has therefore become the basis for an alliance between the leadership of the CIA and the military in support of pressure on Pakistan’s military over its failure to attack the Haqqani network.</p>
<p>The military and the CIA have argued strongly against negotiating with the Haqqani network. In June 2010, CIA Director Leon Panetta declared publicly, “We have seen no evidence that they are truly interested in reconciliation where they would surrender their arms, where they would denounce Al-Qaeda, where they would really try to become part of that society.”</p>
<p>That position also reflected the interests of the U.S. military. Panetta’s move to Defence and his replacement by Gen. David Petraeus at CIA ensures that the same alignment of interests will continue.</p>
<p>But the Obama administration’s December 2010 strategy review produced a potential alternative to that military-CIA approach.</p>
<p>An intelligence assessment circulated just as the 50-page classified review of progress in Afghanistan and Pakistan was being completed concluded that Pakistan was not likely to agree to carry out a major military operation against the Haqqani group, regardless of U.S. pressures. It also suggested that, without such a change in Pakistan’s policy, the U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan couldn’t succeed.</p>
<p>That strengthened the hand of those who had been sceptical about the military’s approach to the problem. The result, according to sources familiar with the document, was that the strategy review suggested the need for a “political approach” to the insurgency in general and the Haqqani network in particular.</p>
<p>The review, which is described as “diagnostic” rather than “prescriptive”, did not mandate such a political approach, nor did it define what it would entail, according to the sources. The political approach “wasn’t off the ground yet”, one source told IPS.</p>
<p>The implication, however, was that the Haqqani network would have to be integrated into the broader U.S. strategy of “dialogue” with the Taliban insurgent leadership, even as military pressure on the insurgents continued. It could not go further than that, because Obama had not made a decision to enter into peace negotiations with the Taliban.</p>
<p>After the December review, Pakistan stepped up its effort to persuade the United States to deal directly with the Haqqani network, telling the Obama administration that it could bring the Haqqanis to the negotiating table.</p>
<p>Despite opposition from the military-Pentagon-CIA phalanx to a Haqqani role in negotiations, those in the State Department and the White House who were backing a broader strategy of negotiations for Afghanistan and hoping to ease tensions with Pakistan supported separate talks with the Haqqani group.</p>
<p>In a hint of the direction U.S. policy was tilting, Mullen, who was no fan of direct contacts with the Haqqani network, declared in June that some members of the network might be open to “reconciliation”.</p>
<p>ABC News revealed on “The Blotter” Oct. 3 that a U.S. official had met with Ibrahim Haqqani, the son of the patriarch of the organisation, Jalaludin Haqqani, a few months before the Sep. 13 Kabul attacks.</p>
<p>Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is now in day-to-day command of the network, told BBC the same day that the U.S. had raised the possibility of representation of the network in the Afghan government.</p>
<p>Although no U.S. official has confirmed that claim, it is consistent with past efforts to divide the Haqqanis from Mullah Mohammed Omar, to whom the Haqqanis have pledged their loyalty. In May 2004, Seyed Saleem Shahzad reported in the Asia Times Online that Siraj Haqqani had confirmed a report Shahzad had gotten from another source – presumably ISI – that the United States had offered through ISI to make Jalaludin Haqqani prime minister.</p>
<p>The elder Haqqani’s response, according to his son, was, “After so much killing of Afghans through ‘daisy cutter bombs’ and like, shall I sit in the government under U.S. command?”</p>
<p>While rejecting offers to end their resistance war in return for a position in the government, the Haqqanis are ready to join broader negotiations whenever Mullah Omar agrees to begin talks, as was confirmed by a Haqqani network source to Reuters Sep. 17.</p>
<p>Last week, unnamed U.S. officials were spreading the word to news media that there was reason to believe the Haqqanis were to blame for the assassination of Afghan High Peace Council Burhanuddin Rabbani, despite the apparent absence of any real evidence the group was involved.</p>
<p>That was another indication that the debates over the two Haqqani- related issues are far from being resolved.</p>
<p>GARETH PORTER&#160;is an investigative historian and journalist with Inter-Press Service specialising in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, “ <a href="" type="internal">Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam</a>“, was published in 2006.</p> | The Haqqani Debate | true | https://counterpunch.org/2011/10/07/the-haqqani-debate/ | 2011-10-07 | 4 |
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<p>Regan Farquhar, also known as Busdriver, is bringing his new music from “Perfect Hair” to Albuquerque.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Regan Farquhar is taking it easy during some down time in France.</p>
<p>I mean, who wouldn’t?</p>
<p>“I walked the streets earlier today and will go back and see some more,” he says. “It’s been an amazing time for me with the new music and a tour.”</p>
<p>Farquhar performs under the moniker Busdriver, and he recently released his album “Perfect Hair.” He says the album represents where he is in life right now.</p>
<p>“There’s a place of being comfortable,” he says. “I’ve been doing music since I was young and this album is all about coming into my own. There’s a confidence that comes with this album. It’s me being comfortable in my skin.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Farquhar will perform on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at Launchpad. <a href="" type="internal">Read more about the underground rapper</a>.</p>
<p>Sticking with the rap and hip-hop genre, K. Flay will perform on Sunday, Oct. 5, at Launchpad. The California-based rapper recently left her major label and released her debut album, “Life as a Dog,” on her own label. <a href="" type="internal">Read more about this up-and-coming artist</a>.</p>
<p>If you’re in the mood for some folk rock, then <a href="" type="internal">check out the Saintseneca show tonight at Low Spirits</a>. The band recently was signed with Anti Records and is quickly become a buzz band. It has released a new album called, “Dark Arc.”</p>
<p>Read further into this issue to find more about <a href="" type="internal">dining</a> and <a href="" type="internal">movies</a>.</p>
<p /> | No rap shortage: Busdriver, K. Flay bring it | false | https://abqjournal.com/473019/this-week-adrian-gomez-62.html | 2 |
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<p>Photo Credit: whitehouse.gov</p>
<p>President Trump and congressional Republicans are on course to do to America’s finances what Donald Trump did to Atlantic City—use other peoples’ money to pad their own pockets, while bleeding the surrounding economy dry.&#160;</p>
<p>It is indisputable that Trump made sure he was skimming off of his New Jersey casino operations—forcing them to buy Trump bottled water, for example—while <a href="//fortune.com/2016/03/10/trump-hotel-casinos-pay-failure/" type="external">Trump’s “casino empire lost more than $1.1 billion</a>,” as Fortune magazine reported in 2016.</p>
<p>Nearly three decades earlier, <a href="//www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/donald-trumps-13-biggest-business-failures-20160314" type="external">Trump defaulted on a $245 million</a> loan to start Trump airlines, as Rolling Stone reported in a 2015 piece that listed his “13 biggest” business failures. Trump indisputably paid himself using loans and investor’s money, while failing to deliver on his over-promises.</p>
<p>But now the conman-in-chief is telling Americans that they are on track to get the biggest tax cuts in decades. But Trump’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/28/5-trillion-question-for-trump-tax-plan-how-to-pay-for-it.html" type="external">not saying how his trillions in tax cuts will be paid</a> for—apart from vaporous promises of vast economic growth—just as Republicans in Congress are saying they will <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/politics/in-battle-over-tax-cuts-its-republicans-vs-economists.html?mcubz=0&amp;_r=0" type="external">ignore their non-partisan fiscal analysts</a>’ reports on its impact across government—reports by professional economists. (On Friday, the GOP Senate's budget blueprint authorized a $1.5 trillion cut.)</p>
<p>Add to that the just-passed <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/18/senate-passes-700-billion-defense-policy-bill-backing-trump-call-for-steep-increase-in-military-spending.html" type="external">Pentagon budget, increased by more than $1 billion a week</a>, and the unknown multi-billion cost for hurricane relief for Texas, Florida and (eventually) Puerto Rico, and a pragmatic question emerges: who will foot the bill when the biggest spending spree of Trump’s life comes to a close?&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>“You’re correct that he has no sense of fiscal responsibility whatsoever,” said <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19KI_2X2Sfs" type="external">David Cay Johnston</a>, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who met Trump in 1988 when he moved to Atlantic City to cover the casino industry, and wrote the bestselling biography, The Making of Donald Trump. “If he wasn’t fiscally responsible in his own life—and he has a history of using other people’s money—why would we think he wouldn’t do that here?”</p>
<p>Johnston doesn’t think Trump has the slightest idea of what Congress has in mind for tax cuts, just as it’s another big lie that he would end up paying more to the feds. But what Trump does know about is using other people’s money; in this case, U.S. taxpayers, to foot the trillions his policies will cost. Moreover, while that dynamic may take years before an inevitable sea of red swamps the U.S. economy, Trump—as he did in Atlantic City—is ensuring he is paying himself handsomely, also at taxpayers’ expense.</p>
<p>“Look at the private use of the jets, using [his] Mar-a-Lago [resort] and taxpayers to make him rich, which I believe violates the third Emoluments Clause, the one that is only for the&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_7:_Salary" type="external">president in Article Two [of the Constitution</a>], look at the tax policies that he’s proposing that will for sure drive up red ink,” said Johnston. “The fundamental thesis is the guy is irresponsible with money, bankers and other people’s money, investors’ money, why wouldn’t he do it with taxpayers’ money?”</p>
<p>If Trump and the GOP succeed with their tax cuts, when will the fiscal reckoning come?</p>
<p>“These things take time,” Johnston said. “First of all, they don’t actually have a tax plan. They just have some more talking points… The military spending will have a positive effect on the economy because there will be some hiring done. But the red ink? The interest rate environment we’re in, that’s not going to have a big negative. They can get away with running up more debt. That’s contradictory to what he said, but their answer will be, ‘Well, that’s because Congress didn’t do the other things to grow the economy; it’s not our fault.’ …It will be several years.”</p>
<p>In the meantime, as Trump and the GOP push their tax cuts, ordinary Americans should look for telltale signs of how the plan could transfer enormous sums to the very top—another way of messing with other people’s money. Look at what’s not in it, starting with the <a href="https://taxfoundation.org/2016-tax-brackets/" type="external">top tax bracket—individuals making $415,050 a year</a> (after taking deductions)—that’s not changed. Neither Trump nor the GOP are proposing higher brackets for people earning $1 million, $2 million, $5 million, $10 million, $50 million and more.</p>
<p>Then people should compare what percentage of their income they pay in federal taxes.&#160;</p>
<p>“Just look at your tax return... where it says your total tax,” Johnston said. “Calculate what percentage of your income you gave the federal government. And then remember that under Donald Trump’s plan, he would pay less than three-and-one-half percent. And <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/14intop400.pdf" type="external">lots of very rich people pay 10, 15, 16 percent</a>… Why in the hell should anybody who makes a million dollars a day pay a tax rate of 10 percent?”</p>
<p>That’s a good question. And here's another good question: Why should taxpayers trust anything about a tax plan put forth by a con-man who made a fortune using other people’s money, leaving lenders, investors and customers to pay for the bills that ensued.</p>
<p>Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet. He is the author of several books on elections, most recently&#160; <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/democracy-betrayed-steven-rosenfeld/1127810302;jsessionid=AC5E9DD4655097E5A38BC19EF350CCC2.prodny_store01-atgap04?ean=9781510729452#/" type="external">Democracy Betrayed: How Superdelegates, Redistricting, Party Insiders, and the Electoral College Rigged the 2016 Election</a>&#160;(March 2018, Hot Books).</p> | The GOP Embraces Trump's Corrupt Business Model in Tax Plan: Take People's Money and Screw the Public | true | https://alternet.org/trump-trauma/gop-embraces-trumps-business-model-take-other-peoples-money-and-burn-investors-and | 2017-09-29 | 4 |
<p>After Democratic members of congress were all-but forced to denounced the anti-fascist, or Antifa movement’s violent protests, the group Refuse Fascism has put out a press release defending the movement’s actions.</p>
<p>In the release, the condemnation and “attacks on Antifa” are characterized as “shameful” and “dangerous.”</p>
<p>A controversy has erupted around Antifa, a broad grouping of people who are anti-fascist and anti-racist, many of whom are associated with anarchism. After torch-wielding white supremacists and Nazis brutalized and even murdered in Charlottesville, Donald Trump argued that Antifa and other counter-protesters were just as responsible for violence and hate. In reality, Antifa and others played a courageous role in defending people against the brutal violence threatened and inflicted by fascists. Since thenIn reality, Antifa and others played a courageous role in defending people against the brutal violence threatened and inflicted by fascists. Since then, the media has reported that the Department of Homeland Security has classified Antifa’s activities as “domestic terrorist violence.” Nancy Pelosi has called for the arrest and prosecution of members of Antifa. The mayor of Berkeley has called for them to be classified as a “gang.” And some voices of the so-called “progressive left” have joined in condemning and distancing from Antifa.</p>
<p>You can’t make this up. And it gets better as the group states that by trying to criminalize the violent protests by Antifa members, President Trump is doing the bidding of the fascist community.</p>
<p>Refuse Fascism even condones the use of violence, but only if it meets their criteria for self-defense.</p>
<p>Refuse Fascism does not initiate violence. We oppose violence against the people and among the people, but we uphold people’s fundamental and legal right to self-defense. We welcome and actively seek to involve people who come from a great diversity of views on many big questions, including when and whether any form of violence is ever legitimate. This is a great strength as it will take millions of people working and struggling together to stop a fascist America by driving out the Trump/Pence Fascist Regime. The efforts we undertake together consist of nonviolent political protest.</p>
<p>Is anyone buying this garbage?</p>
<p>Here is an example of Antifa’s so-called “self-defense” in motion:</p>
<p /> | Antifa Group Defends Their Violence, Cites Self-Defense | true | http://shark-tank.com/2017/09/13/antifa-group-defends-their-violence-cites-self-defense/ | 0 |
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<p />
<p>Theater Grottesco’s “PIE”</p>
<p>Theater Grottesco’s latest creation was inspired by a Carl Sagan quote: “If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”</p>
<p>According to this longtime Santa Fe company whose productions blur the lines between drama, dance and the circus, the Sagan remark led to many questions that are very Grottesco-esque, including “Would the universe exist if weren’t for apple pie?” and, finally, “What if we each had an alter-ego: a demigod that could create, destroy, and make big mistakes?”</p>
<p>Grottesco’s latest original show is 18 months in the making and provides an abridged history of the universe and the planet, starting with the Big Bang. “PIE” opens this weekend at the Adobe Rose Theatre, 1213 Parkway Dr. Tonight, there’s a gala at 6 p.m. followed by the show (no tickets at the door). “PIE” runs Thursdays-Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through April 30. Tickets other than tonight are $25, students $12, pay-as-you-wish on Thursdays. Go to http://tgpie.brownpapertickets.com/.</p>
<p>B. Dolan</p>
<p>MEOW RAP: Imagine this: The old United Mine Workers anthem “Which Side Are You On?” converted into a rap song, but a rap song backed by a banjo and other acoustic instruments, the traditional chorus done by what sound like old-timey folk singers and lyrics that condemn homophobia in rap music.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>That’s a cut by B. Dolan, a hip-hop performer who mixes just about any influence you can think of into his interesting and politically charged music. He’s part of The Four Horsemen Tour that comes to Meow Wolf, 1352 Rufina Circle, Thursday at 9 p.m. Tickets are $18 in advance at meowolf.com, $22 at the door.</p>
<p>John Nichols</p>
<p>MILAGRO MAN: Author and Taos-area resident John Nichols will talk about his latest book, “My Heart Belongs to Nature: A Memoir in Photographs and Prose,” with Lorene Mills at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave. A screening of Robert Redford’s movie version of Nichols’ “The Milagro Beanfield War” follows at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $10, which covers both the talk and the movie, pay more if you want a signed copy of a Nichols book.</p>
<p>BAROQUE: Santa Fe Pro Musica’s Baroque Holy Week continues at 7:30 p.m. today and 6 p.m. Saturday at the Loretto Chapel, 207 Old Santa Fe Trail. The Santa Fe Pro Musica Baroque Ensemble with soprano Kathryn Mueller – a Journal reviewer said of her, “Every once in a blue moon a young singer comes along who thoroughly captures the imagination” – performs pieces by Bach and Handel. Tickets – not many are left – are generally $75 at ticketssantafe.org or by calling 988.4640, ext. 1000.</p>
<p /> | Arts and Entertainment: Top Picks for the Week | false | https://abqjournal.com/987616/top-picks-for-the-week-40.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Dear Dr. Don,&#160;</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>I want to refinance my mortgage, but the balance is small enough that interest rate quotes I'm getting are higher than if I had a higher balance. I feel I have a lot of credit card debt, but I still have an excellent credit score.</p>
<p>Would there be any benefit to taking a cash-out refinance at a higher mortgage amount to pay off credit card debt? Would the mortgage interest rate be lower? Does all of that affect equity in my house?</p>
<p>Thanks,&#160;</p>
<p>-Rebecca Restructures</p>
<p>Dear Rebecca,&#160;</p>
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<p>Bankrate's content, including the guidance of its advice-and-expert columns and this website, is intended only to assist you with financial decisions. The content is broad in scope and does not consider your personal financial situation. Bankrate recommends that you seek the advice of advisers who are fully aware of your individual circumstances before making any final decisions or implementing any financial strategy. Please remember that your use of this website is governed by <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/coinfo/disclaimer.asp" type="external">Bankrate's Terms of Use Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2013, Bankrate Inc.</p> | Use Cash Out Mortgage to Pay Off Credit Cards? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/06/18/use-cash-out-mortgage-to-pay-off-credit-cards.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">The Israeli economy</a> is composed of several sectors that include industries such as hi-tech, biotech, agriculture, communications and tourism, among others. It is a relatively young, diversified and growing neoliberal economy that has managed to stay afloat while many have shrunk, barely survived or collapsed entirely due to debt, market fluctuations and crashes.</p>
<p>As a member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), <a href="http://www.oecd.org/israel/economic-survey-israel.htm" type="external">Israel</a> is highly ranked for health care and life-satisfaction but is plagued by poverty, housing crises and stark inequality.</p>
<p>Yet it is in the war, security and incarceration industries that Israel truly excels.</p>
<p>Israel is one of the world’s main arms dealers. It has a <a href="" type="internal">shady history</a> of selling weapons to some of the most brutal regimes and militias. For decades, Israel’s arms industry has fueled wars and crises throughout the globe, which has resulted in thousands of victims. Only recently, <a href="" type="internal">Israeli weapons sales to Myanmar</a> were the subject of intense debate and condemnation due to the ongoing ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people carried out by the Burmese regime.</p>
<p>Israel is also a leader in security services. American police and other security forces <a href="" type="internal">regularly receive training in Israel</a>, despite, or likely because, of its long history of occupation, repressive practices and human rights abuses.</p>
<p>Israel has served as <a href="" type="internal">an inspiration</a> for the <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/zionist-white-supremacist-alliance-trumps-white-house" type="external">most regressive</a>, xenophobic and oppressive policies and ideologies. In fact, <a href="" type="internal">American President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</a> have very <a href="" type="internal">similar visions</a> for a future dominated by ethnocentric, hyper-militarized, privatized and corporate-controlled economies that benefit their rich friends at the expense of the commons, with an emphasis on a continued impoverishment of the global south and disenfranchisement of black, brown, indigenous and immigrant communities.</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" />Recently, the Israeli government announced a dystopic initiative. According to <a href="" type="internal">Walla News</a>, Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan and the President of Bar-Ilan University Arie Zaban are collaborating on a “university teaching prison”, in the same format as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_university_hospitals" type="external">university teaching hospitals</a>.</p>
<p>The prison will be managed by the <a href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/israel-prison-service" type="external">Israeli Prison Service</a> and academics from Bar Ilan University will have free reign to conduct “experiments” and other ventures (unspecified). Erdan added that he believes the new university prison will “inspire other countries”.</p>
<p>This new venture is in line with <a href="" type="internal">Israel’s continued economic interest</a> in imprisonment and wall-building. After all, it has <a href="https://imeu.org/article/israels-mass-incarceration-of-palestinians" type="external">decades of experience with the mass incarceration</a> of Palestinians, has built a 422 mile-long <a href="" type="internal">annexation wall</a> that cuts off and impoverishes the Palestinian population of the West Bank while stealing many of its vital resources, and is actively maintaining the largest modern open air prison – Gaza.</p>
<p>Erdan’s and Zaban’s initiative is cynical and dystopic on multiple levels. First, it appears that its goals are primarily economic, not humanitarian. This means that profit will be placed before people, i.e. human rights. The notion of turning an entire subclass of society, the incarcerated, into an “industry” that should be studied and experimented on in an academic setting is, in fact, the normalization and even glorification of modern-day slavery, and ultimately caters to the private prison industry.</p>
<p>Second, “experiments” conducted in a prison setting have a very dark history, including the infamous case of Jewish prisoners in German camps during World War 2, e.g. Josef Mengele in Auschwitz. <a href="" type="internal">A recent case</a> that involved a collaboration between an academic association (the American Psychological Association), the US Department of Defense and the CIA clearly demonstrated the dangers of such ventures.</p>
<p>Finally, the academicization of imprisonment focuses on- and promotes resolving the symptoms of a diseased society, instead of working on healing its pathology. In contrast to the provably effective approaches of prevention, decriminalization, humane rehabilitation and mental healthcare, Israel’s new and inherently immoral venture seeks to perfect and model the profit-making industry of mass incarceration and maximize the exploitation of imprisoned populations, at the expense of their human rights.</p> | Israel’s Dystopic Prison Initiative | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/10/06/israels-dystopic-prison-initiative/ | 2017-10-06 | 4 |
<p>Thursday, at 1:05 pm, U.S. President Barack Obama issued&#160; <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/06/statement-president-ukraine" type="external">a statement&#160;</a>to the press that:</p>
<p>“This morning I signed an executive order that authorizes sanctions on individuals and entities responsible for violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of <a href="" type="internal">Ukraine</a>, or for stealing the assets of the Ukrainian people.</p>
<p>According to my guidance, the State Department has also put in place restrictions on the travel of certain individuals and officials.&#160; These decisions continue our efforts to impose a cost on Russia and those responsible for the situation in Crimea.&#160; And they also give us the flexibility to adjust our response going forward based on Russia’s actions.”</p>
<p>But Obama left out the most important and quite extraordinary part of his executive order from his press statement:</p>
<p>I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, find that&#160;the actions and policies of persons&#160;— including persons who have asserted governmental authority in the Crimean region without the authorization of the Government of Ukraine —&#160;that undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets,&#160;constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.</p>
<p>Here’s his&#160; <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/06/executive-order-blocking-property-certain-persons-contributing-situation" type="external">Executive Order of March 6, 2014</a>&#160;in its entirety:</p>
<p>By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701&#160;et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601&#160;et seq.) (NEA), section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,</p>
<p>I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, find that the actions and policies of persons — including persons who have asserted governmental authority in the Crimean region without the authorization of the Government of Ukraine — that undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. I hereby order:</p>
<p>Section 1.&#160;(a) All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person (including any foreign branch) of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:</p>
<p>(i) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have engaged in, directly or indirectly, any of the following:</p>
<p>(A) actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine;</p>
<p>(B) actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine; or</p>
<p>(C) misappropriation of state assets of Ukraine or of an economically significant entity in Ukraine;</p>
<p>(ii) to have asserted governmental authority over any part or region of Ukraine without the authorization of the Government of Ukraine;</p>
<p>(iii) to be a leader of an entity that has, or whose members have, engaged in any activity described in subsection (a)(i) or (a)(ii) of this section or of an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order;</p>
<p>(iv) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, any activity described in subsection (a)(i) or (a)(ii) of this section or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or</p>
<p>(v) to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.</p>
<p>(b) The prohibitions in subsection (a) of this section apply except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior to the effective date of this order.</p>
<p>Sec. 2.&#160;I hereby find that the unrestricted immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of aliens determined to meet one or more of the criteria in subsection 1(a) of this order would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and I hereby suspend entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of such persons. Such persons shall be treated as persons covered by section 1 of Proclamation 8693 of July 24, 2011 (Suspension of Entry of Aliens Subject to United Nations Security Council Travel Bans and International Emergency Economic Powers Act Sanctions).</p>
<p>Sec. 3.&#160;I hereby determine that the making of donations of the type of articles specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(2)) by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to section 1 of this order would seriously impair my ability to deal with the national emergency declared in this order, and I hereby prohibit such donations as provided by section 1 of this order.</p>
<p>Sec. 4.&#160;The prohibitions in section 1 of this order include but are not limited to:</p>
<p>(a) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; and</p>
<p>(b) the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.</p>
<p>Sec. 5.&#160;(a) Any transaction that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.</p>
<p>(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited.</p>
<p>Sec. 6.&#160;For the purposes of this order:</p>
<p>(a) the term “person” means an individual or entity;</p>
<p>(b) the term “entity” means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization; and</p>
<p>(c) the term “United States person” means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.</p>
<p>Sec. 7.&#160;For those persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United States, I find that because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this order would render those measures ineffectual. I therefore determine that for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency declared in this order, there need be no prior notice of a listing or determination made pursuant to section 1 of this order.</p>
<p>Sec. 8.&#160;The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by IEEPA, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. The Secretary of the Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government consistent with applicable law. All agencies of the United States Government are hereby directed to take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out the provisions of this order.</p>
<p>Sec. 9.&#160;The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to submit the recurring and final reports to the Congress on the national emergency declared in this order, consistent with section 401(c) of the NEA (50 U.S.C. 1641(c)) and section 204(c) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1703(c)).</p>
<p>Sec. 10.&#160;This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.</p>
<p>BARACK OBAMA</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Contributed by <a href="http://cofda.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/obama-executive-order-declares-national-emergency-ukraine-crisis-an-extraordinary-threat-to-u-s-national-security/" type="external">Consortium of Defense Analysts</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p /> | Obama executive order declares national emergency; Ukraine crisis an “extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2014/03/07/obama-executive-order-declares-national-emergency-ukraine-crisis-extraordinary-threat-u-s-national-security/ | 2014-03-07 | 0 |
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<p>U.S. consumer sentiment dropped to its lowest point in more than three decades in early August, as fears of a stalled recovery gelled with despair over government policies, a survey released on Friday showed.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary August reading on the overall index on consumer sentiment came in at 54.9, the lowest since May 1980, down from 63.7 in July. It was well below the the median forecast of 63.0 among economists polled by Reuters.</p>
<p>High unemployment, stagnant wages and the protracted debate over raising the U.S. government debt ceiling spooked consumers,polled before the downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt by Standard &amp;Poor's.</p>
<p>"Never before in the history of the surveys have so many consumers spontaneously mentioned negative aspects of the government's role," survey director Richard Curtin said in a statement. The survey's gauge of consumer expectations slipped to 45.7, also the lowest since May of 1980, from July's 56.0 and below a predicted reading of 55.3.</p>
<p>The Obama administration received poor ratings from 61 percent of respondents, the worst showing among all prior heads of state.</p>
<p>"This was more than the simple recognition that traditional monetary and fiscal policy measures were largely spent; it was the realization that the government was unable or unwilling to act," Curtin added.</p>
<p>Two-thirds of all consumers reported that the economy had recently worsened, and just one-in-five anticipated any gains during the year ahead.</p>
<p>Bad times in the economy were expected by 75 percent of all consumers in early August, just below the all-time peak of 82 percent in 1980.</p>
<p>The survey's barometer of current economic conditions was 69.3 in August, down versus 75.8 in July and below a forecast of 74.3.</p>
<p>The survey's one-year inflation expectation remained stuck at 3.4 percent, while the five-to-10-year inflation outlook also flatlined at 2.9 percent in August.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Consumer Sentiment Hits Lowest Level Since 1980 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/08/12/consumer-sentiment-hits-lowest-level-since-180.html | 2016-01-28 | 0 |
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<p>SUNLAND PARK (AP) — A troubled New Mexico border town rocked by a recent election extortion case and allegations of voter fraud now faces water problems.</p>
<p>The Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office warned Sunland Park residents Monday that a well in the city was out of service and the problem could spark system-wide water outages.</p>
<p>The office said that Camino Real Regional Utility Authority users are advised to immediately implement and maintain a strict conservation schedule until the well repairs have been confirmed and the system is once again fully pressurized.</p>
<p>Officials say the well may be repaired today.</p>
<p>The Camino Real Regional Utility Authority provides water service for Sunland Park and most of the unincorporated areas around the Santa Teresa County Club and the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Sunland Park now facing water outages | false | https://abqjournal.com/211806/sunland-park-now-facing-water-outages.html | 2 |
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<p>Iran has sentenced a US dual national to 10 years in prison for “gathering information” while being “directly guided by America,” Iran’s Judiciary spokesman said.</p>
<p>“This person, who was gathering information and was directly guided by America, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but the sentence can be appealed,” spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on state TV on Sunday, as cited by Reuters.&#160;</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/391879-iran-claims-has-proof-us-alliance-isis/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“It was verified and determined that he was gathering (information) and was involved in infiltration,” Ejei said according to&#160;AP.</p>
<p>The spokesman revealed neither the name, nor occupation of the suspect. Apart from US citizenship, the person has citizenship of another nation, but not Iran. He also did not elaborate on the specific charges that led to the conviction.</p>
<p>Later, the suspect was identified as Xiyue Wang, a 37-year-old Chinese American researcher at Princeton University, who was arrested in Iran on August 8, 2016, while trying to leave the country, according to the official news agency of Iran’s judiciary, Mizan Online.</p>
<p>According to AP, Wang was not previously known to have been among the Americans detained in Iran. Mizan Online said the Chinese-American was part of “an infiltration project” aimed at gathering “highly confidential articles” for several US and British institutions, including Princeton University, the US State Department, Harvard’s Kennedy School and the British Institute for Persian Studies.</p>
<p>“Before his arrest he was able to digitally archive 4,500 pages of the country’s documents, while under covert surveillance,” Mizan said, as cited by AFP.</p>
<p>It also added the documents were gathered from “research and cultural archives” and “the libraries of some state organizations.”</p>
<p>The US State Department, in a statement to AP, called for “the immediate release of all US citizens unjustly detained in Iran so they can return to their families…”</p>
<p>“The Iranian regime continues to detain US citizens and other foreigners on fabricated national-security related charges,” the statement said.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/393293-iran-tillerson-interventionist-plan/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Wang is one of several American citizens and permanent US residents currently being held in Iran.</p>
<p>A Lebanese national and permanent US resident, Nizar Zakka, 49, has been held in solitary confinement in Tehran’s Evin Prison since his arrest in September 2015. Zakka, a businessman and information technology expert, was <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/4086/2016/en/" type="external">detained</a> when he arrived in Iran to join an international conference on the role of women in sustainable development, according to information provided by Amnesty International.</p>
<p>An Iranian-American art gallery manager Karan Vafadari was detained along with his Iranian wife. They have not yet been convicted of any crime.</p>
<p>Another Iranian-American, dual national, businessman Siamak Namazi, was handed a 10 year prison sentence in Iran along with his father, Baquer, 81, for “cooperating with the hostile American government,” AP reports.</p>
<p>Robin Shahini, another Iranian-American sentenced to 18 years for “collaboration with the hostile government,” was released on bail in 2016 after staging a weeks-long hunger strike.</p> | Iran sentences US dual national to 10yrs in prison for spying | false | https://newsline.com/iran-sentences-us-dual-national-to-10yrs-in-prison-for-spying/ | 2017-07-16 | 1 |
<p>UNITY, Maine (AP) - A college in Maine is hosting the largest environmental career fair in New England in the hopes of connecting job seekers with green careers.</p>
<p>Unity College is hosting the Environmental Career Fair on its campus on March 6. College president Melik Peter Khoury says the event will bring together employers who are seeking workers trained in "sustainable principles and practices."</p>
<p>The college says exhibitors at the fair will include conservation groups, private sector companies and public agencies that work in fields such as law enforcement and wildlife and habitat protection. Khoury says one of the goals of the fair to dispel the myth that the only green jobs are with conservation non-profit groups and land trusts.</p>
<p>There will be more than 100 companies and organizations at the event.</p>
<p>UNITY, Maine (AP) - A college in Maine is hosting the largest environmental career fair in New England in the hopes of connecting job seekers with green careers.</p>
<p>Unity College is hosting the Environmental Career Fair on its campus on March 6. College president Melik Peter Khoury says the event will bring together employers who are seeking workers trained in "sustainable principles and practices."</p>
<p>The college says exhibitors at the fair will include conservation groups, private sector companies and public agencies that work in fields such as law enforcement and wildlife and habitat protection. Khoury says one of the goals of the fair to dispel the myth that the only green jobs are with conservation non-profit groups and land trusts.</p>
<p>There will be more than 100 companies and organizations at the event.</p> | Job fair hopes to link job seekers with green careers | false | https://apnews.com/amp/625b3717dc0f484493fda1c4bf8fc9a9 | 2018-01-06 | 2 |
<p>An emergency management official says none of the 147 passengers survived after a Dana Air plane flew into a two-story building in the Iju neighborhood of Lagos on Sunday. (The actual number of passengers is not clear. Differing reports place it at 147, “around 150” or “more than 150.”)</p>
<p>According to reports from <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/03/us-nigeria-crash-deaths-idUSBRE8520DG20120603" type="external">Reuters</a>and the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18316130" type="external">BBC</a>, it appears the plane was attempting to land at the nearby airport and may have had technical problems, although the true cause of this tragedy is still unknown. — PZS</p>
<p>More from the BBC:</p>
<p>In a statement, President Jonathan declared three days of mourning and said he had ordered the “fullest possible” investigation into the crash.</p>
<p />
<p>The crash had “sadly plunged the nation into further sorrow on a day when Nigerians were already in grief over the loss of many other innocent lives in the church bombing in Bauchi state”, the statement reportedly said.</p>
<p>The weather at the time of the crash was overcast – but there were none of the storms that regularly strike the city.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18316130" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Plane Crashes in Nigeria's Largest City | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/plane-crashes-in-nigerias-largest-city/ | 2012-06-04 | 4 |
<p>I oppose the Bush administration's drive to war on Iraq, though not without continuing internal argument. Should Saddam Hussein fail to comply with the Security Council's resolution, I would have to rethink my position. In the event of a popular democratic revolt against Saddam, I would support various forms of U.S. intervention, including sending troops, if necessary. And I am moved by Kanan Makiya's conviction that only the U.S. military can install democracy in Iraq, even as I believe he is investing his hopes in the wrong cast of characters. But at this moment I find it impossible to disentangle the call for war from the larger vision of international relations it is meant to test. Iraq has been a chronic problem, but the current crisis is a manufactured one. The Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld-Wolfowitz gang has seized on September 11 as an excuse and a cover for an agenda that long predated it: taking advantage of the power vacuum supposedly created by the fall of the Soviet Union to wage a forceful campaign for world domination.</p>
<p>To say that the Bush policy is one of preemptive war is misleading. If we have information that a country is preparing to launch an imminent attack on us, and we attack first, that is a preemptive strike-arguably an act of self-defense. Attacking a specific weapons cache or factory, as the Israelis did with their bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor (doing the world a favor, in my view), might also be justified on defensive grounds. But the Bush doctrine goes much further, claiming our right to make war on any nation we, in our sole judgment, perceive to be a threat to us or a hostile competitor for military power. It discards the principle that the only legitimate war is one that defends against aggression. While we as well as others have often honored that principle in the breach, openly flouting it invites others to do so and encourages wholesale contempt for international law.</p>
<p>The Bush doctrine is also a recipe for permanent war that threatens incalculable devastation abroad while wrecking democracy at home. In its delusions of unchecked American power it's a fantasy of lunatics. In reality, the post-cold war power vacuum has been filled by transnational capital, which will not passively allow its own goals-global stability and the spread of neoliberalism-to be undermined by American dreams of a new imperium: it's safe to conclude that the reason Bush felt forced to go to the UN, finally, was not the sheer eloquence of Colin Powell's arguments!</p>
<p>It's unclear at this writing whether Saddam's agreement to admit inspectors is a transient glitch or a major roadblock in the path to war (in which case the administration may turn its attention to new targets). Ironically, if the UN's efforts are successful, it may well be because Bush's belligerence convinced Saddam that he had no choice but to comply; it could be argued that, after all, someone n...</p>
<p /> | Ellen Willis Responds | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/ellen-willis-responds | 2018-10-04 | 4 |
<p>The Arizona man arrested this month for allegedly planning a terror-related strike was attacked in jail, authorities confirmed to NBC News.</p>
<p>Mahin Khan, 18, of Tucson was assaulted by other inmates in a Maricopa County jail on July 2, the day after his arrest, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department said.</p>
<p>Khan suffered “some minor non-life-threatening injuries” and has been moved to segregated housing in Lower Buckeye Jail, authorities said.</p>
<p>Khan declined to be placed in segregation when it was offered, the sheriff’s office said.</p>
<p>Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpalo has ordered for Khan and any inmate with similar charges to be automatically isolated from the rest of the jail population going forward.</p>
<p>Khan was arrested this month on terrorism-related charges linking to a conspiracy targeting government buildings in two Arizona cities.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">Arizona Terror Suspect Sought Guns, Bomb Instructions: Court Docs</a></p>
<p>The FBI alleges that Khan made contact with the terrorist group Terik-e Taliban Pakistan, also known as the <a href="" type="internal">Pakistani Taliban or TTP</a>. Khan also made contact with an individual in hopes of obtaining two rifles and a handgun.</p>
<p>Khan is due back in state court in Phoenix on Tuesday. He is being held without bond, according to jail records.</p> | Arizona Terror Suspect Mahin Khan Attacked by Inmates in Jail: Officials | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/arizona-terror-suspect-mahin-khan-attacked-inmates-prison-officials-n610891 | 2016-07-17 | 3 |
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<p>DALLAS — A federal judge who declared Texas’ foster care system unconstitutionally flawed says more work is needed on a reform plan being crafted by court-appointed experts.</p>
<p>In a court filing Monday, U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack ordered those experts to continue working with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to help the agency create and implement an array of reforms.</p>
<p>Jack ordered the independent overhaul in her December 2015 opinion regarding those in long-term foster care. Experts she appointed submitted their recommendations in November.</p>
<p>Jack’s latest order includes a directive to develop a databank containing a child’s health, school and court records in addition to their caseworker’s notes and placement evaluations. She also wants a plan created to give youths the life skills needed upon release from care.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Judge: More work needed on Texas foster care reform plan | false | https://abqjournal.com/924877/judge-more-work-needed-on-texas-foster-care-reform-plan.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Immigrant advocates have expressed their concern over Trump administration plans to arrest parents and other relatives who authorities believe smuggled their children into the United States.</p>
<p>The advocates revealed that the move would send a wave of fear through vulnerable communities.</p>
<p>Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials confirmed on Thursday that the new surge initiative aims to dismantle human smuggling operations, including identifying and arresting the adult sponsors of unaccompanied minors who paid coyotes or other smugglers to bring young people across the U.S. border.</p>
<p>The bold move is unlike what the U.S. experienced during Obama's tenure, tens of thousands of children were seen fleeing gang and drug violence in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador crossed the border and were placed with sponsors in communities nationwide.</p>
<p>Wendy Young, president of Kids In Need of Defense said that arresting those who come forward to sponsor unaccompanied children during their immigration proceedings, often parents are unimaginably cruel.</p>
<p>ICE officials did not respond to questions Thursday seeking details on the number of sponsors who would be targeted or already had been arrested, or what charges would be applied. Immigrant advocacy groups said they were investigating three arrests in Texas, New Jersey, and Virginia that may involve sponsors.</p>
<p>ICE spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez revealed that the children whose sponsors were arrested would be placed with another verified relative or guardian, or under the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.</p>
<p>Approximately 170,000 unaccompanied minors have been placed with sponsors in all 50 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands since October 2013. The federal data shows that many are still awaiting their day in court.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump has made immigration enforcement a top priority and has vowed to continue a crackdown on those living in the U.S. illegally and sneak into the country. A former Obama administration Justice Department official, Leon Fresco, said Trump's recent move likely would be challenged in court, given limits on a number of time children can be detained.</p>
<p />
<p>Source: <a href="https://apnews.com/291d565801984005886f5a22c800fee6/Feds-will-now-target-relatives-who-smuggled-in-children" type="external">apnews.com/291d565801984005886f5a22c800fee6/Feds-will-now-target-relatives-who-smuggled-in-children</a></p> | Trump Administration to Arrest Parents Who Smuggled Their Children Into the United States | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/4526-Trump-Administration-to-Arrest-Parents-Who-Smuggled-Their-Children-Into-the-United-States | 2017-06-30 | 0 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>All foreigners are targets in Iraq, Americans especially. Even those who come to the country to do good share the fate of those who come to kill.</p>
<p>Moments after Andrea Parhamovich, a 28-year-old from Ohio, left the offices of a Sunni Arab political party in Baghdad this week, her car was caught in withering crossfire and burst into flames, killing her and her two bodyguards. Unlike the 20,000 troops who have started arriving in the country as part of President George Bush’s “surge”, she was not a soldier who had come to Iraq to fight: her mission was to teach the people how to vote.</p>
<p>The ambush was a deadly reminder of the danger all foreigners face. It should, but probably will not, give pause to the plan to embed more US soldiers with Iraqi military units in Baghdad. Polls show about four out of five Iraqis in the capital approve of armed attacks on US-led forces.</p>
<p>It may have been an attempted kidnapping. Some of the attackers first attempted to break into her car. It was only when they failed to break the locks that they used grenades and machine guns. Another guard was killed and two more wounded in a second car. The first vehicle of the little convoy escaped and then returned to help the two survivors who had been wounded. Ms Parhamovich appears to have died in the first assault.</p>
<p>Ms Parhamovich was working for the National Democratic Institute giving lessons to Iraqi political parties. She had gone to meet Sunni politicians of the Iraqi Islamic Party at its headquarters in the Yarmouk district. The insurgents were probably tipped off by a guard at the headquarters.</p>
<p>Ms Parhamovich had followed her boyfriend, Michael Hastings, a Newsweek journalist, to Baghdad 15 months ago. In Baghdad, she first worked for the International Republican Institute before joining the National Democratic Institute at the end of 2006.</p>
<p>The ambushers were probably unaware who she was. Jill Carroll, the Christian Science Monitor correspondent, was kidnapped in similar circumstances last January after leaving the office of a political party.</p>
<p>Mr Hastings said they were planning to get married _ she had e-mailed him last week with specifications for the ring. “We were going to formalise everything,” he said, recalling that Parhamovich’s ring finger was a size 6. They had been dating for about two years and were planning to travel to Paris in March so he could propose.</p>
<p>In a statement, her family said: “Andi’s desire to help strangers in such a dangerous environment thousands of miles away might be difficult for others to understand, but to us, it epitomised Andi’s natural curiosity and unwavering commitment.”</p>
<p>Mr Hastings told the Associated Press: “She didn’t agree with the war, but she felt that now that we’re here, she wanted to do what she could to help the Iraqis. She wasn’t afraid.” She was especially frustrated by the extreme security measures and limited movements employed by foreigners to avoid Baghdad’s dangers, he said, and she was very excited about participating in a democracy programme outside the Green Zone.</p>
<p>“It was one of her first trips out,” Mr Hastings said. “She was really excited.”</p>
<p>Much of west Baghdad is under the control of insurgent fighters. One group wrote on a Sunni insurgent website: “With God’s assistance, we have succeeded in the destruction of two SUV vehicles belonging to the Zionist Mossad, attacking them by light and medium weapons.” The insurgents sometimes have armed units waiting for opportunities to attack when they are tipped off.</p>
<p>The extent of insurgent dominance in Baghdad is such that it will be extremely difficult for Mr Bush’s “surge” in troops to work. It is easy enough for guerrillas to pull back, stockpile weapons, or even leave Baghdad for a period. Mr Bush’s answer is that US troops will stay in place instead of withdrawing as they did in the past. But saturation of whole districts with troops over an extended period would require a far bigger army than the US is ever likely to field in Iraq.</p>
<p>The Mehdi Army, the largest Shia militia, has been adopting a low profile in order to avoid a confrontation with US troops. The Iraqi government has even arrested some of its militants and is holding them in what appears to be a carefully calculated ploy to make it difficult for the US to assault Shia neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>The Mehdi leaders may also calculate the natural friction between US troops and local people will ultimately work in their favour. In one Sunni area of west Baghdad, US troops have distributed leaflets telling people to ring a hotline telephone number if they come under attack from sectarian militias. ” But we don’t know how long the Americans are going to be around,” one resident said.</p>
<p>Kidnappings of foreigners have tailed off in recent months because there are few foreigners outside heavily defended areas or the Green Zone.</p>
<p>The US has hinted that if the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, does not move against Shia militias, he might lose US support.</p>
<p>PATRICK COCKBURN is the author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">The Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq</a>‘, a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for best non-fiction book of 2006.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | In Iraq, All Foreigners are Targets | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/01/23/in-iraq-all-foreigners-are-targets/ | 2007-01-23 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Magellan Midstream Partners (NYSE: MMP) and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) both offer investors very similar current yields of 4.45% and 4.3%, respectively. Meanwhile, both companies have sector-leading credit metrics, which improves the security of those payouts. But while each appears to be an excellent candidate for an income investor's portfolio, Magellan has two additional security features that give it the upper hand for investors that value safety above all else.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>As a refiner, Valero turns oil into refined products such as gasoline and diesel. That's its core business, so the company has direct exposure to commodity prices, which can have a significant impact on its profitability. Last year was one of those years where its exposure to commodity prices had a major impact on earnings and cash flow. In fact, adjusted net income plunged 59.7%, while net cash provided by operating activities slumped 14.1% to $4.8 billion. While the company still generated more than enough money to cover its $1.1 billion individends and $2 billion in capital spending, the concern is that a string of even worse years could jeopardize the company's ability to maintain the dividend.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Magellan, on the other hand, has limited direct exposure to commodity prices, because the master limited partnership primarily owns assets that generate stable fees. In fact, last year only 13% of its operating margin came from commodity-related activities, while the other 87% came from fees for services. Magellan's distributable cash flow thus edged up 0.5% last year to $947.5 million despite a very tough year for the energy sector. That ability to deliver stable cash flow in tough years makes it much more likely that Magellan will be able to maintain its payout over the long term.</p>
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<p>The other factor that plays in Magellan's favor is the clear visibility it has into future cash-flow growth. For example, the company expects to generate roughly $1 billion in distributable cash flow this year as a result of new fee-based projects entering service. Because of that clearly visible cash flow growth, Magellan expects to increase its payout by 8% this year. Further, with $900 million of construction projects already under way through next year, Magellan plans to provide investors with another 8% increase in 2018.</p>
<p>Valero also has clearly visible growth on the horizon, since it's spending $1.1 billion in expansion capital this year, including $265 million on a pipeline joint venture with Plains All American Pipeline (NYSE: PAA). However, while that pipeline project with Plains All American Pipeline will generate stable cash flow once it enters service, the bulk of the company's other projects will only increase its capacity to process commodities. Thus, there's no guarantee that these projects will generate incremental cash flow once they enter service, since prices could collapse. While that's not what Valero expects to happen, it simply can't be ruled out. So investors can't bank on seeing these projects grow Valero's cash flow to the same extent that Magellan's investors can take its projects to the bank.</p>
<p>Valero and Magellan Midstream Partners are both good income stocks. However, because of its focus on operating primarily fee-based assets, Magellan generates a much more stable cash flow stream. That not only lowers the risk of it running into trouble maintaining the payout during down times but also increases the visibility of future growth. Those two reasons make Magellan a better dividend stock than Valero, in my opinion.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Magellan Midstream PartnersWhen 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=b9b6f8b9-a80f-45f7-8885-9cc81df4a7e2&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 Magellan Midstream Partners 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=b9b6f8b9-a80f-45f7-8885-9cc81df4a7e2&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/TMFmd19/info.aspx" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Magellan Midstream Partners. 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> | 2 Reasons Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. Is a Better Dividend Stock Than Valero Energy Corporation | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/24/2-reasons-magellan-midstream-partners-lp-is-better-dividend-stock-than-valero.html | 2017-04-24 | 0 |
<p>They may have different objectives, but tech giants are all jumping into Hollywood with open wallets. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has been slowly working on original content for a couple of years now to bundle with Apple Music, in a bizarre effort to attract subscribers to its music streaming service with TV content. The first show, Planet of the Apps, debuted over the summer to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/06/14/apples-first-foray-into-original-content-looks-lik.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">horrendous reviews Opens a New Window.</a>. The second show, Carpool Karaoke, was released this month to a similarly cold&#160;reception.</p>
<p>Facebook is also dabbling with original content as it launches its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/10/facebook-officially-launches-its-video-platform.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">new Watch video platform Opens a New Window.</a> to compete with YouTube. The competition may not necessarily overlap in the consumer-facing services, but when it comes to buying content from Hollywood, all the newfound buyers entering the market may push up the value of original content.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Wall Street Journal reports&#160;that Apple has&#160;now allocated a cool $1 billion to its original content ambitions. That could be enough to buy around 10 TV shows, according to the report. That's not an insignificant amount of money, but still a fraction of what other companies spend on original content. Amazon.com is expected to spend around $4.5 billion on original content this year, according&#160;to JPMorgan, while Netflix's (NASDAQ: NFLX) content budget&#160;for 2017 is $6 billion.</p>
<p>Given Apple's massive cash position, which is now <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/03/apple-earnings-youre-not-appreciating-the-services.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">over a quarter of a trillion dollars Opens a New Window.</a>, the Mac maker could easily continue to grow its content budget if it chooses to. Netflix largely funds its content with debt, and those rising debt levels are potentially a <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/18/netflixs-rising-debt-levels-are-cause-for-concern.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">cause for concern Opens a New Window.</a> given its smaller balance sheet combined with the fact that interest expenses are already eating into profits.</p>
<p>The two Hollywood execs that Apple poached from Sony this summer,&#160;Zack Van Amburg&#160;and&#160;Jamie Erlicht, will reportedly be in charge of that $1 billion allowance.</p>
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<p>As Apple continues to wade deeper and deeper into original content, it has to balance several considerations regarding its services ambitions. The company wants to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/07/heres-how-apple-inc-plans-on-doubling-services-rev.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">double its services business Opens a New Window.</a> by 2020 to around $50 billion in revenue. Paid content subscriptions will be a key lever that Apple can pull, and it now has 185 million paid subscriptions through its various digital stores.</p>
<p>For third-party subscriptions that it sells through the App Store -- like Netflix -- Apple keeps a 30% cut for the first year and 15% after that. There's a possibility that Netflix <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/09/28/did-netflix-inc-score-a-discounted-deal-with-apple.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">scored a discounted deal Opens a New Window.</a>, since its dominant position in video streaming gives it more leverage.</p>
<p>At the same time, Apple has been seeing its position in the video download market slip. Revenue is trending higher in absolute terms, but iTunes' market share of video downloads continues to fall. The <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/11/theres-an-easy-solution-to-apples-digital-video-wo.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">most obvious solution Opens a New Window.</a> to this conundrum is for Apple to simply compete with Netflix outright, instead of pussyfooting around with its currently misguided strategy. People don't sign up for music services to watch unrelated video content; people sign up for video services to watch video content, so Apple should just create one.</p>
<p>As long as it's meaningfully differentiated, it might not even hurt Netflix that much, as video services are not an either/or proposition. Apple just needs to find better shows to buy, because its current slate of content can't compete with the likes of House of Cards or Bojack Horseman.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than AppleWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=f4981ce6-04c9-48a6-93d5-4b8855e3f825&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Apple wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=f4981ce6-04c9-48a6-93d5-4b8855e3f825&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&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 August 1, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewCow/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Evan Niu, CFA Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Apple, FB, and Netflix. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewCow/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Evan Niu, CFA Opens a New Window.</a> has the following options: long January 2018 $120 calls on FB. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends AMZN, Apple, FB, and Netflix. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4e8a3f12-8378-11e7-8ab8-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Apple's Original Content Budget Is Going Up | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/18/apples-original-content-budget-is-going-up.html | 2017-08-18 | 0 |
<p>Getting ready for this weekend’s <a href="" type="internal">blog crew retreat</a> has me all nostalgic for my first Feministing retreat in 2010:</p>
<p>An open letter on Syria <a href="http://humanprovince.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/an-open-letter-on-syria-to-western-narcissists/" type="external">to Western narcissists</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/29/9-questions-about-syria-you-were-too-embarrassed-to-ask/" type="external">9 questions about Syria</a> you might be too embarrassed to ask.</p>
<p><a href="http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2013/08/30/from-miley-to-macklemore-the-privilege-spectrum/?fb_source=pubv1" type="external">Still more on</a> Miley, Robin Thicke, Macklemore, and privilege.</p>
<p>Ken Cuccinelli’s disturbing family law stance is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/ken-cuccinellis-family-law-stance-won-him-support-of-fathers-rights-movement/2013/08/28/92052224-051f-11e3-9259-e2aafe5a5f84_story.html" type="external">what got him the support</a> of the father’s rights movement.</p>
<p>Dave Chapelle <a href="http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/dave-chappelle-didnt-meltdown-405#axzz2dTZzjvcK" type="external">didn’t meltdown</a>.</p> | Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet | true | http://feministing.com/2013/08/30/daily-feminist-cheat-sheet-160/ | 4 |
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<p>At a <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/14/watch-president-obama-answers-your-questions-google-hangout" type="external">Google+ fireside "hangout"</a> on Thursday, President Obama fielded questions about baby names and Valentine's Day.</p>
<p>Obama also tackled an issue that's of interest to tech startups: <a href="http://www.patentprogress.org/2013/02/14/obama-acknowledges-patent-troll-problem-w-transcript/" type="external">patent trolls.</a></p>
<p>An entrepreneur told Obama she had friends who were interested in starting new tech companies but feared being targeted by software patent trolls.</p>
<p>Obama had strong words about patent trolls, a derogatory term for companies that make most of their money from patents they own – either by licensing them or filing patent litigation.</p>
<p>"They don't actually produce anything themselves," Obama said. "They are essentially trying to leverage and hijack somebody else's idea and see if they can extort some money out of them."</p>
<p>Obama pointed out that Congress passed patent reform during his term but said, "Our efforts at patent reform are only about halfway to where we need to go."</p>
<p>The America Invents Act that Obama signed in 2011 aimed to cut down on costly patent litigation, but it contained just one minor provision <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/trolls-filed-40-of-patent-infringement-lawsuits-in-2011/" type="external">aimed to cut down on patent trolls</a>, Ars Technica has pointed out. Under the patent law, it's tougher to name a huge amount of defendants in a single suit.</p>
<p>The law's biggest change was&#160;granting patents to the first companies or people to file patent paperwork rather than the first ones to invent something. The change from a "first to invent" rule to a "first to file" rule is not likely to have any impact on trolls, according to Ars Technica.</p>
<p>Obama acknowledged Thursday that we need "smarter patent laws" so startups have an incentive to keep innovating. He seemed open to some kind of expiration date on patents.</p>
<p>But, he added, "We also want to make sure the patents are long enough that people's intellectual property rights are protected."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.patentprogress.org/2013/02/14/obama-acknowledges-patent-troll-problem-w-transcript/" type="external">Head on over to Patent Progress to watch the relevant clip.</a></p>
<p><a href="www.businessinsider.com" type="external" /></p>
<p>More from our partner, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com" type="external">Business Insider</a>:</p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meteorite-shower-hits-russia-photos-2013-2" type="external">Crazy Images Of The Meteor That Exploded Over Russia</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/beer-consumption-per-capita-falls-2013-2" type="external">There's A Great Rotation Going On Among Drinkers</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/herman-cain-fox-news-signs-contributor-2013-2" type="external">Fox News Signs Herman Cain As A 'Political Expert With Business Savvy'</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/deutsche-bank-compares-us-to-communism-2013-2" type="external">DEUTSCHE BANK: Communism Is Alive In America</a></p>
<p>Business Insider: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tunguska-an-mysterious-explosion-rocked-siberia-104-years-ago-today-2013-2" type="external">This Is What Would Happen If Today's Flyby Asteroid Smashed Into Earth</a></p> | Obama calls out patent trolls who 'hijack' people's ideas | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-02-15/obama-calls-out-patent-trolls-who-hijack-peoples-ideas | 2013-02-15 | 3 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>One of the favorite fantasies of right-wing talk radio and Fox “News” is that only Bush-hating liberals oppose the Iraq war and additional US military incursions into the Middle East or wherever.</p>
<p>Yet, it is the March issue of the Washington Monthly, a magazine with a liberal Democratic audience, which makes a case for the draft as the only way “America can remain the world’s superpower.”</p>
<p>The authors, Phillip Carter and Paul Glastris, take it for granted that America’s duty is to make the rest of the world conform to America. They regard this virtuous calling to be so great that a draft is a small price to pay.</p>
<p>The authors have no doubts that Americans exist in order to serve other countries. American lives, limbs, and treasure are required to rectify whatever happens elsewhere that fails to meet with our leaders’ approval.</p>
<p>Since other countries are not willing “to share the burden” by sacrificing their own citizens and resources, America must build a large enough army to do the job on its own.</p>
<p>The authors try to devise a draft proposal that “would create a cascading series of benefits for society” by instilling “a new ethic of service” among college-bound youth. Before America’s youth could be admitted to college, they would first have to serve either in the military or in tutoring disadvantaged children or by helping old folks, or in homeland security by guarding ports.</p>
<p>The authors admit that few would choose combat abroad, but say that some would out of patriotism. They write: “Even if only 10 percent of the one-million young people who annually start at four-year colleges and universities were to choose the military option, the armed forces would receive 100,000 fresh recruits every year.”</p>
<p>The authors mean “nationalism,” when they say “patriotism.” True patriots would oppose the Jacobin agenda of Global Cop and demand that America stick to its founding principles. But the authors cannot imagine America without “its mantle of global leadership” and regard enslaving youth in the service of the state as a small price to pay.</p>
<p>The authors are probably correct that the neoconservatives’ war plans cannot be undertaken with the present US force structure. The neocons thought that in Iraq all the US had to do was to defeat a poorly equipped army. They overlooked that insurgency is a different kind of fighting.</p>
<p>To deal with insurgencies requires vast numbers of troops and practices that tend to produce more insurgents. When the draft army fails to impose America’s will on the world, we will hear the case for “useable nukes.”</p>
<p>The US desperately needs to escape from Iraq before America is sucked into a wider conflict that will necessitate a draft. Once the Bush administration has created so much instability in the Middle East that a rising Islamic revolution is afoot, the stakes will be too high for the US to be able to withdraw.</p>
<p>What might save America from further neoconservative miscalculations is the collapse of the US dollar. A country dependent on foreign financing, as is the US, cannot fight wars that its foreign bankers do not approve. I suspect America’s foreign bankers would let the US fight itself into a deep hole before pulling the plug. It is the best way the world has of getting rid of us.</p>
<p>PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of <a href="" type="internal">The Tyranny of Good Intentions.</a>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | A Bail Out Draft for a Cakewalk War? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/03/28/a-bail-out-draft-for-a-cakewalk-war/ | 2005-03-28 | 4 |
<p>LONDON, UK — Families of soldiers killed in combat may sue the government for damages, Britain’s highest court ruled Wednesday in a surprising decision that may have profound consequences for future military operations.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court found that soldiers in foreign combat zones are covered by human rights legislation, and that the Defense Ministry has a duty to care for its soldiers that makes it liable for negligence.</p>
<p>The ruling is the result of cases brought by the families of soldiers killed serving in Iraq. By sending the soldiers on patrol with inadequate training and insufficient armor, the families charged, the ministry failed to take reasonable precautions to protect the soldiers’ lives under the European Convention on Human Rights.</p>
<p>Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling, they can now take their cases to trial.</p>
<p>"We have won at last. To be honest we didn't expect to,” <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/19/iraq-soldiers-damages-claim-government" type="external">said Susan Smith</a>, mother of Private Phillip Hewett, who was killed in 2005 when his Snatch Land Rover was blown up. “The MoD will now have to make sure our soldiers are safe abroad.”</p>
<p>The claimants said they would continue to pursue their cases in court.&#160;</p>
<p>"We want combat immunity thrown out of the rulebook, so instead of soldiers having to sue the Ministry of Defence, the equipment and the training will be in place to stop things like this happening again,” said Debi Allbutt, widow of Corporal Stephen Allbutt, who died under “friendly fire” in 2003.</p>
<p>The Defense Ministry had argued that combat immunity covered the government against charges of negligence in the care of soldiers fighting abroad.</p>
<p>"I am very concerned at the wider implications of this judgment, which could ultimately make it more difficult for our troops to carry out operations, and potentially throws open a wide range of military decisions to the uncertainty of litigation,” Defense Minister Philip Hammond said Wednesday.</p>
<p>"We will continue to make this point in future legal proceedings as it can't be right that troops on operations have to put the European Convention on Human Rights ahead of what is operationally vital to protect our national security."</p>
<p>The ruling could throw open the door to the once-unheard of possibility of legal liability claims by the families of dead and wounded soldiers. However, the justices urged that threat of legal action shouldn’t hamstring the army’s ability to do its job.</p>
<p>“The sad fact is that, while members of the armed forces on active service can be given some measure of protection against death and injury, the nature of the job they do means that this can never be complete,” <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/decided-cases/docs/UKSC_2012_0249_Judgment.pdf" type="external">they wrote</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>“It is of paramount importance that the work that the armed services do in the national interest should not be impeded by having to prepare for or conduct active operations against the enemy under the threat of litigation if things should go wrong.”</p> | British court says dead soldiers’ families can sue government | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-06-19/british-court-says-dead-soldiers-families-can-sue-government | 2013-06-19 | 3 |
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<p>While mainstream NFL figures criticize police violence by refusing to stand during the national anthem, they are completely overlooking the rising number of black-on-black homicides. Baltimore for example saw a 157 black on black murders in a 10-month-period last year. The truth is, black men are paying the ultimate price with their lives faster than any other demographic group. The surging violent crime rate of black males has increased substantially in the past two years.</p>
<p>Manhattan Institute's Heath Mac Donald found that an FBI Uniform Crime Report released on September 25 showed the number of black homicide victims has jumped by nearly 900 percent since the Black Lives Matter movement started in 2014. Ms. Mac Donald said in an email, "The majority of victims of that homicide surge have been black. They were killed overwhelmingly by black criminals, not by the police and not by whites."</p>
<p>Even The Washington Post's Fatal Force database shows the number of blacks killed by police has decreased from 259 in 2015 to 233 in 2016 with 175 deaths as of October 12 for 2017. The dramatic increase in black on black violence makes one wonder if the NFL players kneeling during the anthem are missing the bigger picture. Perhaps they should consider the type of examples they are setting for youth not just at games but in their daily lives.</p>
<p>Another startling fact quoted by Ms. Mac Donald, "A police officer is 18 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer. Black males have made up 42 percent of all cop killers over the past decade, though they are only 6 percent of the population."</p>
<p>The true risk is not for a young black man to be shot by police for no reason, rather being killed by another black man which statistically occurs many times more frequently making it a bigger threat. Yet not a single one of these protesting NFL players talks about stopping black-on-black crime.</p>
<p>On Twitter:</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/ErvinProduction" type="external">@ErvinProduction</a></p>
<p>Tips? Info? Send me a message!</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/12/nfl-protests-overlook-black-homicide-rise/" type="external">washingtontimes.com/news/2017/oct/12/nfl-protests-overlook-black-homicide-rise</a></p> | NFL Protests Ignore The Deadlier Issue: Rising Black-On-Black Homicides | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/9682-NFL-Protests-Ignore-The-Deadlier-Issue-Rising-Black-On-Black-Homicides | 2017-10-15 | 0 |
<p>Procter &amp; Gamble Co. is scheduled to report earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30 before the market opens Friday. Here's what you need to know.</p>
<p>EARNINGS FORECAST: Analysts expect P&amp;G to report "core" earnings of $1.07 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters. That compares with core earnings of $1.03 cents a share a year earlier.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>SALES FORECAST: Net sales are expected to rise to $16.69 billion from $16.52 billion a year earlier.</p>
<p>WHAT TO WATCH:</p>
<p>CONSUMER SPENDING: The malaise hanging over the biggest makers of consumer staples appears to be sticking around. Nielsen has reported continued weakness in major categories from diapers to laundry detergent. Unilever PLC reported Thursday that organic sales growth, which strips out currency movements and portfolio changes, slipped to 2.6% in its latest quarter. RBC says the analyst consensus for P&amp;G's organic sales growth is 1.1% in the quarter, though RBC is expecting 1.4%.</p>
<p>PELTZ REACTION: P&amp;G says it prevailed in its fight to keep investor Nelson Peltz off its board, but the activist remains one of P&amp;G's largest shareholders. Expect Mr. Peltz and his team to thoroughly scour P&amp;G's results and critique anything they deem problematic. Last quarter, after P&amp;G said it cut more than $100 million in ad spending on "largely ineffective" digital ads, Mr. Peltz criticized the company for what it called a shortsighted tactic to improve results.</p>
<p>DIGITAL MARKETING: Regarding that reduction, P&amp;G has said it expected to return to more normal spending levels this quarter. In cutting back, P&amp;G said it targeted ads that could wind up on sites with fake traffic from software known as "bots," or those with objectionable content. Marketing executives have become increasingly concerned about the efficacy of digital advertising amid concerns they are wasting money on ads that never reach their intended audience. Investors -- and Madison Avenue -- will be listening to what P&amp;G has to say about how it is dealing with those concerns.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>MARKET SHARE: P&amp;G's decadelong trend of market-share losses were at the center of Trian's campaign to get on the board. P&amp;G has slowed share losses in some areas but continues to struggle in key segments such as razors. Investors will be looking for progress in winning back customers from rivals, especially since P&amp;G's argument against Mr. Peltz largely centered on an assertion that it has turned the corner on share losses and stagnating profits.</p>
<p>Write to Sharon Terlep at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 19, 2017 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)</p> | P&G's Efforts to Win Back Customers From Rivals Will Be Under Microscope--Earnings Preview | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/19/p-gs-efforts-to-win-back-customers-from-rivals-will-be-under-microscope-earnings-preview.html | 2017-10-19 | 0 |
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<p>Last week, federal authorities detained 38-year-old Jorge Ramos at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry. They discovered several active warrants as he tried to enter the United States, Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kelly Jameson said Monday.</p>
<p>One of those warrants was for a 1997 sexual assault investigated by DASO.</p>
<p>On June 21 that year, authorities received a report that a woman was raped and severely beaten behind her home on Ruth Street in Anthony, according to a news release from the 3rd Judicial District Attorney’s Office.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The attackers left a shoe imprint on the woman’s forehead, the DA’s news release states. She also had her clothing ripped off and was covered in dirt, weeds and blood.</p>
<p>Eventually, Ramos was charged first-degree kidnapping, second-degree criminal sexual penetration and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.</p>
<p>Monday, more than 17 years later, Ramos appeared in state District Court to be arraigned on those charges.</p>
<p>Ramos, of the 1200 block of Katy Avenue in Anthony, New Mexico, was being held at the Doña Ana County Detention Center on a $100,000 secured bond.</p>
<p>In July 1998, Jesus A. Aguirre was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the crime. The sentenced was enhanced because of the brutality of the crime, according to the DA’s office.</p>
<p>Ramos’ trial date is pending.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>©2014 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)</p>
<p>Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at <a href="http://www.lcsun-news.com" type="external">www.lcsun-news.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by MCT Information Services</p>
<p>———-</p>
<p>Topics: t000002458,t000027866,t000210820,t000027865,t000027879,t000002465,g000362661,g000066164</p> | Authorities nab man for alleged 1997 Anthony, N.M., rape | false | https://abqjournal.com/494643/authorities-nab-man-for-alleged-1997-anthony-n-m-rape.html | 2 |
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<p>Scott Roeder, the anti-abortion zealot charged with killing Dr. George Tiller, has been busy. He called the Associated Press from the Sedgwick County Jail in Kansas, saying, “I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal.” Charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault, he is expected to be arraigned July 28. AP recently reported that Roeder has been proclaiming from his jail cell that the killing of abortion providers is justified. According to the report, the Rev. Donald Spitz of the Virginia-based Army of God sent Roeder seven pamphlets defending “defensive action,” or killing of abortion clinic workers.</p>
<p>Spitz’s militant Army of God Web site calls Roeder an “American hero,” proclaiming, “George Tiller would normally murder between 10 and 30 children … each day … when he was stopped by Scott Roeder.”</p>
<p>The site, with biblical quotes suggesting killing is justified, hosts writings by Paul Hill, who killed Dr. John Britton and his security escort in Pensacola, Fla., and by Eric Rudolph, who bombed a Birmingham, Ala., women’s health clinic, killing its part-time security guard.</p>
<p>On Spitz’s Web site, Rudolph continues to write about abortion: “I believe that deadly force is indeed justified in an attempt to stop it.”</p>
<p />
<p>Juxtapose Roeder’s advocacy from jail with the conditions of Fahad Hashmi.</p>
<p>Hashmi is a U.S. citizen who grew up in Queens, N.Y., and went to Brooklyn College. He went to graduate school in Britain and was arrested there in 2006 for allegedly allowing an acquaintance to stay with him for two weeks. That acquaintance, Junaid Babar, allegedly kept at Hashmi’s apartment a bag containing ponchos and socks, which Babar later delivered to an al-Qaida operative. Babar was arrested and agreed to cooperate with the authorities in exchange for leniency.</p>
<p>While the evidence against Hashmi is secret, it probably stems from the claims of the informant Babar.</p>
<p>Fahad Hashmi was extradited to New York, where he has been held in pretrial detention for more than two years. His brother Faisal described the conditions: “He is kept in solitary confinement for two straight years, 23- to 24-hours lockdown. … Within his own cell, he’s restricted in the movements he’s allowed to do. He’s not allowed to talk out loud within his own cell. … He is being videotaped and monitored at all times. He can be punished … denied family visits, if they say his certain movements are martial arts … that they deem as incorrect. He has Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) … against him.”</p>
<p>Hashmi cannot contact the media, and even his lawyers have to be extremely cautious when discussing his case, for fear of imprisonment themselves. His attorney Sean Maher told me: “This issue of the SAMs … of keeping people in solitary confinement when they’re presumed innocent, is before the European Court of Human Rights. They are deciding whether they will prevent any European country from extraditing anyone to the United States if there is a possibility that they will be placed under SAMs … because they see it as a violation … to hold someone in solitary confinement with sensory deprivation, months before trial.”</p>
<p>Similarly, animal rights and environmental activists, prosecuted as “eco-terrorists,” have been shipped to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ new “communication management units” (CMUs). Andrew Stepanian was recently released and described for me the CMU as “a prison within the actual prison. … The unit doesn’t have normal telephone communication to your family … normal visits are denied … you have to make an appointment to make one phone call a week, and that needs to be done with the oversight of … a live monitor.”</p>
<p>Stepanian observed that up to 70 percent of CMU prisoners are Muslim — hence CMU’s nickname, “Little Guantanamo.” As with Hashmi, it seems that the U.S. government seeks to strip terrorism suspects of legal due process and access to the media — whether in Guantanamo or in the secretive new CMUs. The American Civil Liberties Union is suing U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Bureau of Prisons over the CMUs.</p>
<p>Nonviolent activists like Stepanian, and Muslims like Hashmi, secretly and dubiously charged, are held in draconian conditions, while Roeder trumpets from jail the extreme anti-abortion movement’s decades-long campaign of intimidation, vandalism, arson and murder.</p>
<p>Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.</p>
<p>Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 750 stations in North America. She is the co-author of “Standing Up to the Madness: Ordinary Heroes in Extraordinary Times,” recently released in paperback.</p>
<p>© 2009 Amy Goodman</p>
<p>Distributed by King Features Syndicate</p> | Two Standards of Detention | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/two-standards-of-detention/ | 2009-07-09 | 4 |
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<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — A rollover semi-truck accident this morning has closed the NM 599 on-ramp to U.S. 84/285 south of Santa Fe, Santa Fe police reported. There are no injuries but the on-ramp may be closed for several hours and authorities are asking motorists to avoid the area.</p>
<p>Santa Fe police are working with other agencies to clear the scene.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Truck accident closes on-ramp near Santa Fe | false | https://abqjournal.com/493096/truck-accident-closes-on-ramp-near-santa-fe.html | 2 |
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<p>If “hands up, don’t shoot” taught America anything, it is that the&#160;presence of racism is not required to build a trumped-up nationwide narrative of racial oppression.</p>
<p>Fast forward nearly&#160;18 months and that lesson can be seen in all its glory in the claim that Hollywood is racist because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences didn’t nominate any black actors for an Oscar this year — for the record, 32 Oscars have been awarded to African Americans.</p>
<p>Oh, and the Academy president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, is <a href="" type="internal">a black woman</a>.</p>
<p>Black comedian Chris Rock is scheduled to host the Oscars this year, and he is being pressured by other black artists to pull out over the perceived slight.</p>
<p>Rock, who has not been shy about labeling Hollywood racist — having once called Los Angeles “a slave state” — has been quiet thus far.</p>
<p>Piers Morgan, the former MSNBC host who failed brilliantly, has a more militant idea for Rock, urging&#160;him to go rogue and to “rip the Academy to pieces.”</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3410304/PIERS-MORGAN-Chris-Rock-shouldn-t-pull-presenting-Oscars-rip-racists-Hollywood-new-one.html" type="external">op-ed for the Daily Mail</a>, Morgan wrote that boycotting Hollywood isn’t the answer; rather, he said he’d prefer to “see every major black star attend this year’s Oscars and only speak about this issue in every interview they give on the red carpet.”</p>
<p>“Then I’d like to see the black host, Chris Rock – one of the sharpest, most brilliant stand-up comedians in the world – ignore his undoubtedly very carefully crafted, PC-friendly teleprompter script and rip the Academy to pieces in front of a billion viewers worldwide,” Morgan wrote.</p>
<p>(A billion viewers might be a slight exaggeration.)</p>
<p>“Imagine if he just stood there, exposing the racist underbelly at the heart of Hollywood until a panic-stricken load of crusty old white Academy buffers raced on stage to drag him away and stop him talking,”&#160;he continued.</p>
<p>The television personality said&#160;it “would&#160;be the most electrifying moment in Oscars history.”</p>
<p>“The only thing stopping Rock from doing this is the inevitable threat of ‘you’ll never work in this town again,'” Morgan said. “But very few black people work in this town anyway, not at any significant level – that’s the whole damn shameful point.”</p>
<p>He concluded by slamming the “white guys” running Hollywood studios who don’t think black actors sell movies:&#160;“I suspect these very same people never thought America would have a black president, either.”</p> | Chris Rock’s in a bind hosting ‘white’ Oscars; Piers Morgan has a plan | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2016/01/21/chris-rocks-in-a-bind-hosting-white-oscars-piers-morgan-has-a-plan-297136?hvid%3D321Ya6 | 2016-01-21 | 0 |
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<p>LAS CRUCES - Sunland Park could be looking at a special election after residents submitted a petition calling for redistricting.</p>
<p>The Las Cruces Sun-News reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1aUtpoo" type="external">http://bit.ly/1aUtpoo</a> ) that just 12 hours after a motion to discuss redistricting died in the City Council a resident submitted a petition with 163 signatures calling for redistricting. If at least 76 if those signatures are of registered voters in Sunland Park, the organizers will then submit a resolution calling for a special election asking voters for redistricting.</p>
<p>Sunland Park residents have broached the topic of redistricting before due to the belief that the population is unevenly distributed across the six districts. The mayor said the differences could be 2,000 people.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Redistricting will happen after the 2020 U.S. census, as required by state law.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, <a href="http://www.lcsun-news.com" type="external">http://www.lcsun-news.com</a></p> | Sunland Park residents petition for redistricting | false | https://abqjournal.com/573800/sunland-park-residents-petition-for-redistricting.html | 2 |
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<p>The division in America has become so dramatic over the past year that many people can only foresee it heading one place: Civil War.</p>
<p>There’s a pronounced uptick in violence and protests (often going hand in hand.) Free speech is being crushed by the opposition with the mere threat of violent responses. Statues and memorials are being vandalized or defended. Protesters show up armed and armored, ready for battle. The media throws gasoline on these flames with reports solely laying the blame on one side. Some groups are&#160; <a href="http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/communists-trump-pence-regime-08192017" type="external">openly planning sedition</a>&#160;and no one is trying to stop them.</p>
<p>Our country has reached a point of such division that it’s hard to imagine how we could once again become united.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-23/united-nations-issues-rare-early-warning-signals-potential-civil-conflict-america" type="external">The United Nations has issued</a>&#160;an “early warning” about civil conflict in America. Many people believe these extremist “sides” are made up of professional provocateurs&#160;and do not reflect the true feelings of Americans. ( <a href="http://www.alt-market.com/articles/3259-globalist-strategy-use-crazy-leftists-and-provocateurs-to-enragedemonize-conservatives" type="external">Brandon Smith makes an incredibly compelling case for this</a>.) California&#160; <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/california/2017/07/26/calexit-approved-to-gather-signatures-for-the-right-to-secede/" type="external">wants to secede</a>&#160;and a&#160; <a href="http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/what-would-really-happen-if-california-seceded_08022017" type="external">lot of folks</a>&#160;would be happy to see them go. Some black people want&#160; <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/08/22/black-lives-matter-leader-issues-10-requests-for-white-people-and-theyre-doozies/" type="external">outrageous “reparations” from white people</a>&#160;while others&#160; <a href="http://theduran.com/watch-video-young-black-woman-speaking-race-goes-viral/" type="external">call them out for being easily manipulated.</a></p>
<p>It seems like no one wants peace in America except us average folks, who are happy to get along with our neighbors, regardless of their race, religion, or sexual proclivities. But at the rate things are escalating, our wishes could be irrelevant.</p>
<p>Historian and strategist&#160; <a href="http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/North-America/What-Would-A-US-Civil-War-Will-Look-Like.html" type="external">Gregory Copley wrote</a>:</p>
<p>Yes, there is a civil war looming in the United States.</p>
<p>But it will not look like the orderly pattern of descent which characterized the&#160;conflict of 1861-65. It will appear more like the Yugoslavia break-up, or the Russian and Chinese civil wars of the 20th Century.</p>
<p>It will appear as an evolving chaos…</p>
<p>…It is significant that the gathering crisis in the United States was not precipitated by the November 7, 2016, election of Pres. Donald Trump, and neither was the growing polarization of the United Kingdom’s society caused by the Brexit vote of 2016.</p>
<p>In both instances, the election of Mr Trump and the decision by UK voters for Britain to exit the European Union were late reactions — perhaps too late — by the regional populations of both countries to what they perceived as the destruction of their nation-states by “urban super-oligarchies”.</p>
<p>The last-ditch reactions by those who voted in the US for Donald Trump and those who voted in the UK for Brexit were against an urban-based globalism which has been building for some seven decades, with the deliberate or accidental intent of destroying nations and nationalism. It is now crystallizing into this: urban globalism sees nations and nationalism as the enemy, and vice-versa.</p>
<p>The battle lines have been drawn. ( <a href="http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/North-America/What-Would-A-US-Civil-War-Will-Look-Like.html" type="external">source</a>)</p>
<p>And this makes sense if you consider that the majority of Clinton voters were from heavily populated urban areas like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City. As well, Mr. Copley points out, the urban globalists control the greater part of the media.</p>
<p>Urban globalists control most of the means of communications [is this new “means of production”; the 21st Century marxian dialectic?] and therefore control “information” and the perception of events.</p>
<p>“Nationalists”, then, are operating instinctively, and in darkness.&#160;( <a href="http://oilprice.com/Geopolitics/North-America/What-Would-A-US-Civil-War-Will-Look-Like.html" type="external">source</a>)</p>
<p>He’s certainly not wrong.</p>
<p>Oh – and before someone chimes in and starts hysterically talking about “white nationalists” – Mr. Copley isn’t referring to the KKK. He’s referring to people who put national interests ahead of global interests.</p>
<p>It’s interesting to get a perspective from a spectator outside the United States.&#160;Russian political commentator Dmitry Kosyrev says that the war has been raging in America for the last few years.</p>
<p>“Democrats are doing wild, suicidal things because they are not just on&#160;the defensive, but&#160;on the verge of&#160;collapse, as&#160;the Trump administration breaking down&#160;their ‘evil empire’… Their goal is not the destruction of&#160;Russia, but&#160;the salvation of&#160;their own project,” Kosyrev pointed out, referring to&#160;the ongoing scandal over&#160;alleged “Russian interference” in&#160;the US 2016 presidential election.</p>
<p>“Democrats do not have a majority in&#160;Congress or their own army, but&#160;the war they have been waging is a hybrid one,” the commentator wrote.</p>
<p>“Therefore, in&#160;the media zone, they are advancing with&#160;a wild, schizophrenic rage. However, they haven’t yet fully monopolized this sphere,” Kosyrev noted, adding that their outrage against&#160;the very existence of&#160;the Russian English-language TV channel Russia Today is also a “military phenomenon.”</p>
<p>“The essence of&#160;what is happening is that the Republicans are now advancing,” he explained, “It simply happens in&#160;dozens of&#160;small, internal episodes.”</p>
<p>“As one could see, the Democrats have a lot to&#160;lose in&#160;this war,” the commentator said, adding that the ongoing civil war still has no end in&#160;sight. ( <a href="https://sputniknews.com/politics/201705201053816028-trump-democrats-republicans/" type="external">source</a>)</p>
<p>Unsettling when viewed from a distance, right?</p>
<p>I asked you, the readers, for your opinions on what a Civil War would look like if it erupted in American.</p>
<p>With the incendiary situation going on across the country, there’s been a great deal of talk about the potential of civil war erupting in America.</p>
<p>IF such a terrible thing would occur, how do you think it would happen? How do you believe we’d all be affected? What would you foresee?</p>
<p>This is all speculation, of course, but share your thoughts in the comments below.</p>
<p>Of course, this is all speculative, but there are some pretty interesting answers. Here’s what you all had to say:</p>
<p>1.) Laura…</p>
<p>…the cities would be hit hard, outlying areas will become balkanized…and as far as ‘it’ happening, it started with ‘the resistance’…just hasn’t gone hot yet. And PS it won’t be a civil war, when it goes hot it will be along the lines of race and economics, nothing like the Civil War which was a federal vs state issue (control).</p>
<p>Note: Balkanization is defined as the “fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states that are often hostile or uncooperative with one another.” ( <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkanization" type="external">source</a>)</p>
<p>2.) Jeriann…</p>
<p>I see it starting in the streets of the South. Then the National Guard gets sent in, then local militias build to fight the National Guard. Civil unrest runs amuck. People flee the Southern states, going north and west. Seeds of hate growing in their hearts against the government for allowing this to happen. Groups are gathering in homes to discuss the next step. Hoarding of food and gas begins. Desperation sets in. Peopllosese faith in government both local, state, and federal. The reality sets in we are vulnerable to Russia, China, Isis, fear and despair over take the people. They cry out in the streets, camps are set up for our protection and to provide for us.</p>
<p>3.) Chris…</p>
<p>I wonder what it would be fought over….where would the lines be drawn? Racial? Political? Economics? Who will be fighting who? I think flat-out every man for himself anarchy is a more likely scenario than what we would consider a civil war.</p>
<p>4.) Koi…</p>
<p>This is what the government wants to happen so they can have Martial law, and throw the Constitution in the trash.</p>
<p>5.) Ryan…</p>
<p>It’ll be based on race, the easiest distinguisher for low information people with anger and a desire to fight. I’m not sure how white people on the left would distinguish themselves as allies though, they’ll probably get caught up in the carnage. The real question I have is: how long will TPTB allow the bloodshed before they implement the next phase of police state</p>
<p>6.) Andrea…</p>
<p>If it really took off, if you don’t live in a major city, I think the main effect you’d feel is a shortage of goods. Truckloads of deliveries not being able to get safely to certain destinations would eventually just stop coming.</p>
<p>7.) Tony…</p>
<p>If this did go down I think it will be short lived. The government would turn off the communication systems and money supply to the country. The stock market will crash and the one-percenters will load up on shares and make billions once order is restored and the market rebounds.</p>
<p>8.) Lyle…</p>
<p>A civil war totally manufactured by the media.</p>
<p>9.) Joshua…</p>
<p>There is nothing left to hold civil society together. No shared values. No shared history. No shared worldview. In many places, not even a shared language. What we see now is the Balkanization of America. In essence, we as a people have already seceded from each other.</p>
<p>10.) Marvin…</p>
<p>Here are the options 1. Nothing’s gonna happen, well, except ALL statues will be removed, confederate, union, MLK, presidents, baseball players, even poor ole Elvis. 2. A lot more protests and more deaths. 3. North Korea drops an EMP and we thin the herd.</p>
<p>11.) Sherri…</p>
<p>In a way I think it’s already been going on for sometime. Internet trolling, hackers, some laws aren’t really enforced.</p>
<p>12.) Brian…</p>
<p>The UN will get called in. One World Order implementation.</p>
<p>13.) Liz…</p>
<p>I think a financial crisis of sorts , most likely causing serious uproar. An outside source of the United States coming in to try to look like helpers , I think they get a lot of people to follow them then off more than half, I think they want the very young. Madness, looting, complete anarchy until people begin to fight back.</p>
<p>14.) Scott…</p>
<p>It’s not just America, the civil divide is being pushed toward civil war in Europe and UK too! The economic crash will be global as will the response… this is the endgame that has been coming a long time. Expect microchipping of the population through FEMA camps for starving and preppers being shot for hoarding food. Make sure your food is not all in one place, have multiple caches so if one or two are discovered it doesn’t leave you with all the others queuing up for a loaf of bread and swiping your new microchip.</p>
<p>15.) Tim…</p>
<p>…Someone in our government will get the idea, if they haven’t already, that the best way to bring us back together as a nation is to give us a common enemy. Then with the help of the Media,&#160;they will demonize this enemy to the point where we as Americans can no longer just sit idly by. All the sudden, all the other issues disappear and the US government is back in control of the hearts and minds of its people.</p>
<p>16.) Pat…</p>
<p>I think the polarization is so extreme and so deep-seated that the very best thing for the majority of people would be for the USA to split into 3 or 4 separate countries. I don’t think we will have peace until this happens (if it ever happens). The alternative is likely to be extreme control by the government to a degree that none of us ever want to see or experience.</p>
<p>17.) Ivar…</p>
<p>What will begin as a somewhat ideological war (Antifa versus the Alt-Right) will sooner or later devolve into an outright race war. At that time, Antifa will cease to exist (split up in ethnic gangs). The Whites in Antifa will be on their own, and not&#160;last very long… The Alt-Right will continue to exist, although it might adopt a different name.</p>
<p>Since Whites own most of the land and ammunition, and are better trained and prepped, they will most likely win this race war.</p>
<p>I do not think it is likely that the race war will end soon. I’m afraid it will continue until America is all-White. Once faced with an existential threat, people can do crazy things to make sure it can never ever happen again.</p>
<p>This could have as a consequence that not only North America becomes all-White, but South America too.</p>
<p>A similar process will happen in Europe. It is quite likely that the Europeans will not only drive Islam from their continent, but remove it from the globe completely and repopulate the entire Middle-East.</p>
<p>These Antifa provocateurs and Islamic terrorists are taking a terrible gamble. Their tactics either succeed (and the entire world turns Communist or Islamic), or it will be the eradication of all the people they represent.</p>
<p>18. Renny…</p>
<p>I foresee a lot of guerrilla-type warfare. If Martial Law was instituted, I could easily imagine the Antifa types committing acts of vandalism, bombing things, holding up supply trucks. Sneak attacks with huge shocking impacts, like attacking children at a school or something. It would become dangerous for people to be in certain areas based on their race.</p>
<p>This could result in extreme violence against innocent non-combatants. Schools would shut down, public gathering areas like malls and markets could be targeted. Businesses would be unable to continue due to repeated vandalism. This would, in turn, affect the supply chain, which would increase theft as desperate hungry people did what they had to so they could feed their families.</p>
<p>19. Kendall…</p>
<p>This will be a race war, flames fanned by the likes of George Soros in order to destabilize the country. It’s a Marxist agenda that separates black vs. white and causes problems where there were none before. Paid protesters, activist groups funded by billionaires, and the crushing of free speech through violent protests will all boil over into more division.</p>
<p>Confusion will occur because this won’t be a clear-cut, North vs. South issue. The “enemy” would be hard to identify and easy to be mistaken for. How can you tell if someone is right-leaning or left-leaning?</p>
<p>United we stand…divided, billionaires make lots of money off our pain. Just like every other war, it all boils down to money and control.</p>
<p>20.) A…</p>
<p>I think we’re already seeing civil war, courtesy of Bush, Obama, Trump and now people who want to further ‘fundamentally change America’. The ‘war’ is between those who think the American dream is so-called equality for all, free stuff like healthcare, maternity leave and cell phones (coz that’s what our Founding Fathers intended – NOT!) and those of us who want to retain Her glory, where Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is all that matters. We won’t see the death toll of the 1860’s, but we’ll see even more hatred, fear and division, combined with occasional attacks like Charlottesville. A nation divided cannot stand and sooner or later, whether</p>
<p>We won’t see the death toll of the 1860’s, but we’ll see even more hatred, fear and division, combined with occasional attacks like Charlottesville. A nation divided cannot stand and sooner or later, whether it’s a natural disaster, an external attack, financial crippling or just plain consequences of our action, there will be chaos, with FEAR being the biggest killer!</p>
<p>People keep talking about this one event…</p>
<p>I think it’ll be more of a slow and painful process, with serious consequences for our children’s children worldwide! The Beacon on the Hill WILL go out, and the world will be plunged into darkness</p>
<p>Some ugly and terrifying pictures painted there…</p>
<p>Thank you, Readers, as always, for your insight and participation.</p>
<p>Just like any other disaster, unless you are right in the midst of the conflict, your primary concerns would be supply shortages and self-defense.</p>
<p>Prepping for a long-term supply shortage is the number one thing you should do in order to be ready for this.</p>
<p>You also have to be prepared to defend yourself, your family, and your home.</p>
<p>It would be wise to be discreet about your supplies, as shortages and hunger will cause otherwise decent people to commit acts they would have otherwise never considered.</p>
<p>In the comments section, let me know what you think about the looming prospect of civil war. Tell me…</p>
<p>Alternatively, you may think we are in no danger of Civil War 2.0 actually occurring. Explain your reasoning.</p>
<p>And please, be courteous.&#160;Civil War 2.0 &#160;shall not erupt in my comments section. Thanks.&#160;</p>
<p>Daisy is a coffee-swigging, gun-toting, homeschooling blogger who writes about current events, preparedness, frugality, and the pursuit of liberty on her websites,&#160; <a href="http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/sign-daily-newsletter" type="external">The Organic Prepper</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://daisyluther.com/" type="external">DaisyLuther.com&#160;</a>She is the author of&#160; <a href="http://amzn.to/2h3c5S1" type="external">4 books</a>and the co-founder of&#160; <a href="https://preppersuniversity.com/" type="external">Preppers University</a>, where she teaches intensive preparedness courses in a live online classroom setting. You can follow her on&#160; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TheOrganicPrepper?ref=hl" type="external">Facebook</a>,&#160; <a href="http://pinterest.com/daisyluther/boards/" type="external">Pinterest</a>, and&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/DaisyLuther" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p>
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<p /> | What Civil War 2.0 Would Look Like in America | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2017/08/25/what-civil-war-2-0-would-look-like-in-america/ | 2017-08-25 | 0 |
<p>One bit news coming out of Iraq suggests that in at least one respect Iraq has modeled itself after its invaders. It comes as a welcome antidote to the bad news coming out of other places in that part of the world.</p>
<p>In Bahrain where the United States Fifth Fleet is docked when it’s not sailing around protecting the United States’ vital interests, the Bahrain royal family whom the U.S. been supporting for almost 50 years, took offense at the notion that its people might favor greater freedom, similar, perhaps, to the freedom enjoyed by its benefactors. It expressed its offense by killing and clubbing demonstrators who were peacefully expressing their hopes for those greater freedoms. As of this writing, the Bahrain royal family has said it’s sorry for having clubbed and killed those peacefully seeking greater freedoms and now wants to talk with its citizens. That makes those not clubbed and killed feel a bit better.</p>
<p>Another good friend that disappoints is Afghanistan, the country into which the United States continues to pour money and blood. Although the war there is not going as well as one might wish, in at least one respect, Afghanistan is doing exceptionally well. According to Transparency International’s annual list of corruption in 178 countries that was published in October 2010, Afghanistan is number 176. The downside is that unlike some scoring systems , the higher the number, the worse the result. Only two countries on the list are more corrupt than Afghanistan: Myanmar, formerly known as Burma (home to the almost perpetually house arrested Aung San Suu Ky) and Somalia, a country which as far as can be determined, has been without a government of any sort for years. With all that dismal news and the uprisings in other countries in that part of the world, news from Iraq offered a bit of relief.</p>
<p>Although random attacks in Baghdad and outlying areas continue at an alarming rate and a day of rage was planned for February 25 to protest a lack of government services in the city, in at least one respect Iraq is adapting to the United States way of doing things-assigning blame when bad things happen. In mid-February, Hakeem Abdul Zahra, a spokesman for the city of Baghdad, said the invasion of Iraq by United States forces inflicted considerable damage on Baghdad. This does not come as a surprise to anyone who has seen television footage of what went on in that country after it was invaded in 2002. What is surprising is that it took almost 10 years for any Baghdad official to point this out. Equally surprising it that the damage about which he complains is limited to the erection of blast walls and the use of humvees within the city limits of Baghdad. Damage inflicted by bombs was not mentioned. In demanding payment of damages of $1 billion and an apology, Zahra said: “The U.S. forces changed this beautiful city to a camp in an ugly and destructive way, which reflected deliberate ignorance and carelessness about the simplest forms of public taste. Due to the huge damage, leading to a loss the Baghdad municipality cannot afford. . . we demand the American side apologize to Baghdad’s people and pay back these expenses.” Elaborating on his concerns he said that sewer and water systems have been damaged by the heavy walls that were erected to protect against the force of blasts, humvees that were carrying troops did not always stay on roadways but sometimes drove on median strips and through gardens, ruining the vegetation. These violations Sahra said, caused “economic and moral damage.”</p>
<p>In the overall scheme of things, the amount being requested by Zahra is modest. Although different analysts assess the cost of the war in Iraq differently, it seems fairly clear that any way the amount is calculated, the war has been an expensive undertaking. In an analysis by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes in the Washington Post last September, the overall cost was estimated to be $3 trillion. The Cost of War analysis is somewhat more modest, placing the cost at just under $800 billion. Whichever figure you believe, what the city of Baghdad is requesting is a modest amount. Using the Cost of War analysis, the damages sought are only 1/800th of the total cost of the war and that does not seem like an unreasonable request for reimbursement.</p>
<p>The request proves that the Iraqis are good students. In the United States there is a belief that when bad things happen it is someone else’s fault and the offending party should be made to pay. That is true even if the offending party was trying to help the party aggrieved. The planned Day of Rage suggests that Iraq may not have learned from its invaders how to govern. Zahra’s demand suggests it has at least learned to assert its rights when it believes it has been wronged. Time will tell whether that is a good thing.</p>
<p>CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI is an attorney in Boulder, Colorado. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p /> | What $3 Trillion Bought the US | true | https://counterpunch.org/2011/02/25/what-3-trillion-bought-the-us/ | 2011-02-25 | 4 |
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<p>Marissa Mayer is burning up the phone lines.</p>
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<p>After striking out on a $225 million deal to take control of Dailymotion last month and <a href="" type="internal">holding preliminary talks about acquiring Hulu</a>, reports now indicate the new Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) CEO is in serious discussions about buying social blogging site Tumblr in a $1 billion bid to make the Internet giant “cool” again.</p>
<p>The potential acquisition of Tumblr, which had 117 million visitors in April, would mark the first major strategic acquisition by the former Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) exec.</p>
<p>According to tech blog All Things Digital, Yahoo is in serious talks with executives at Tumblr, paving the way for a strategic alliance, investment or even an outright acquisition.</p>
<p>A deal could reach as high as $1 billion and be reached as soon as this weekend, Adweek reported.</p>
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<p>A spokesperson from Yahoo said the company doesn't comment on "rumors or speculation," while Tumblr didn't respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>Based in New York, Tumblr is a micro blogging site that draws a younger, hipper following than Yahoo’s core audience. The company, which was founded in February 2007 and has 175 employees, told Forbes it generated $13 million in 2012 and could rake in $100 million in revenue this year.</p>
<p>The report comes after Yahoo’s <a href="" type="internal">efforts to acquire a 75% stake in online video site Dailymotion were rebuffed by politicians in Paris</a> who were scared about losing control of one of the top French Internet companies.</p>
<p>Earlier this month reports emerged that Yahoo held preliminary meetings with top execs at premium video service Hulu, which is being shopped by its media owners: FOX Business parent News Corp. (NASDAQ:NWSA), Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA).</p>
<p>Shares of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo ticked up 0.53% to $26.72 in premarket trading on Friday. The Internet company has rallied over 33% so far this year, compared with a gain of just 13% on the Nasdaq 100.</p> | Reports: Yahoo Could Scoop Up Social Blogging Site Tumblr for $1B | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/05/17/reports-yahoo-could-scoop-up-social-blogging-site-tumblr-for-1b.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
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<p>Image source: 3M.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Sometimes, you have a gut reaction to a stock's valuation. "Itfeelslow," you say to yourself, or "Itsoundstoo rich." But of course, the only way to know for sure is to do some digging. That's why, after hearing that the P/E ratio ofindustrial heavyweight3M(NYSE: MMM) was above 22, I decided to look more closely into things.</p>
<p>Because to me, a P/E of 22feelshigh -- but maybe for 3M, it's right on target.</p>
<p>The cheese stands aloneWhen assessing a company's valuation, it's helpful to compare it to the valuation of its peers. The trouble is, it's difficult to assign a "peer group" to 3M.</p>
<p>On one hand, it's definitely an adhesives company, with its Duct Tape, Scotch, and Post-it brands. Other major adhesives companies, such as The Gorilla Glue CompanyandShurTech Brands, maker of Duck Tape, are not only privately held but also much, much smaller.</p>
<p>The company has a robust materials-sciences business, which might put it in the same class as chemical companiesDuPont(NYSE: DD) andDow Chemical. But that, too, ignores its large consumer-products division.</p>
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<p>Many analysts lump it in with industrials such as General ElectricandHoneywell International(NYSE: HON). 3M's size and diversity are certainly comparable to these other conglomerates, and it even operates in some of the same sectors -- aerospace and healthcare, for example. But 3M deals in much smaller-scale items. You'd be hard-pressed to find a 3M product that wouldn't fit in a shopping bag.</p>
<p>So let's take an "all-in" approach and look at 3M's valuation against each of these other groups.</p>
<p>Assessing the valueDuPont is certainly 3M's largest U.S. materials-science rival, but it's currently engaged in a merger with Dow Chemical. Once that merger is complete, it will split itself into three different companies, only one of which will have a materials-science focus. Since the merger <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/01/04/the-dupont-dow-chemical-merger-a-lot-of-hype-or-a.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">was announced in December Opens a New Window.</a>, the valuations of DuPont and Dow have changed dramatically. Here are the P/E ratios of 3M, DuPont, and Dow, along with the largest chemical company in the world, GermanBASF:</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MMM/pe_ratio" type="external">MMM P/E Ratio (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Generally speaking, 3M has been at or near the highest valuation among these companies for a decade (Dow's wild jumps notwithstanding). Moreover, 3M's P/E has been the most consistent of the batch. That said, although it has been hovering right around 20 for a couple of years now, its current valuation is higher than its 10-year average.</p>
<p>Now let's look at how its P/E ratio compares with industrials such as GE, Honeywell, andUnited Technologies:</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MMM/pe_ratio" type="external">MMM P/E Ratio (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a></p>
<p>As you can see, the picture is mixed. 3M is seldom in the middle of the pack: it usually either has the highest P/E of the group...or the lowest. While its current P/E of about 22 is its highest since 2005 it saw much higher valuations in the decade prior. Based on this data, 3M doesn't seem to be a value proposition...but neither is it definitely overvalued.</p>
<p>Hitting the booksBecause the asset values of manufacturing companies such as 3M are generally high, another useful value metric to look at is the price-to-tangible book value ratio. Using this ratio instead of simple price-to-book can give a clearer picture because it excludes items such as goodwill and non-tangible assets. You can see in the table below that 3M's price-to-tangible book value ratio has been much higher than average recently:</p>
<p>This raises some serious concerns that the company may be overvalued, particularly when coupled with a negative tangible book value. However, for 3M, that's not the case. 3M has been repurchasing its stock more rapidly than it has been growing its profits. That's a good sign, since it means the company is churning out free cash flow in excess of earnings.But all those share repurchases have artificially lowered the company's book value, which is why the price-to-tangible book value ratio looks so high right now.</p>
<p>It's a good idea to compare book value with return on capital employed, because investors will naturally pay a premium for an investment that gives a good return. As you can see below, 3M has been at the top of its class for more than a decade:</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MMM/roce" type="external">MMM Return on Capital Employed (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a></p>
<p>3M's already-high return on capital employed has been trending slightly upward since 2013, and right now sits at an impressive 27%! To put that in context, only three of the other companies on the Dow (Apple,Home Depot, andNike) currentlyhave a higher ROCE. Naturally, investors will be willing to pay a premium for those kinds of returns. .</p>
<p>Putting it all togetherYour gut may tell you that 3M is overvalued with a P/E of 22, and there's a good reason for that: Its valuation is indeed higher than many of its "peers." But historically, that's always been the case, so there's no reason to think it will be a particular problem now.</p>
<p>The company's stellar ROCE, though, seems to justify that higher valuation. So while the company may not be "undervalued," per se, it's certainly not overvalued. Value investors should feel relatively safe that they are buying 3M for a decent price.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/26/is-3m-overvalued.aspx" type="external">Is 3M Overvalued? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Truth2Power/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">John Bromels Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Nike. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric Company. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Is 3M Overvalued? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/26/is-3m-overvalued.html | 2016-04-26 | 0 |
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<p>Madigan, who is playing on the eGolf Tour in the Carolinas, is on a break from the circuit to spend June with his family and play in today’s San Juan Open.</p>
<p>The former Rio Rancho High and New Mexico State golfer, who won the 2011 New Mexico Open in his first pro event, has been on the eGolf Tour the past two years. He finished 21st on last year’s money list ($37,068), winning an event in early October and finishing tied for eighth at the tour’s championship later that month.</p>
<p>Madigan has had some strong showings this year, finishing as high as third and adding an 11th and a 14th. He is 27th on the money list ($14,537), but has missed two of the last four cuts and says he’s been struggling of late.</p>
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<p>The homecoming could be the elixir.</p>
<p>“When I got back, I changed my swing with my dad,” he said of father Steve Madigan, who will be Tim’s caddie this week. “A lot of things were really loose. I went back to basics, and I’m striking it great right now.</p>
<p>“I think I was just falling into bad habits. I was trying to do certain things with the ball, but I was doing it by changing my swing instead of manipulating the shot.”</p>
<p>Madigan said when he got back home, one session on the course with a video camera changed everything.</p>
<p>“It was only after I watched myself on video that I knew how awful my swing had gotten,” he says. “It was really out of whack.”</p>
<p>Madigan said he’s undecided whether he’ll play in September’s New Mexico Open, but there was never a doubt he’d be playing San Juan for a third straight year.</p>
<p>He finished sixth in 2011 as an amateur and eighth last year as a pro.</p>
<p>“The competition is as stiff as can be, and there are some real seasoned guys in it,” Madigan said. “Guys like (former champion) Ryan Hogue are fantastic players. But my goal is to win. I expect to win.”</p>
<p /> | Madigan fixes swing for San Juan Open | false | https://abqjournal.com/239853/madigan-fixes-swing-for-san-juan-open.html | 2 |
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<p>Ladytron have always been kind of sneaky. They’re better than they should be, with a far-from-unique formula of vaguely out-of-date electronica and breathy female vocals, plus a name that seems culled from Barbarella or something. Yet each of the foursome’s three albums so far, starting with their 2001 debut, 604, has risen above generic retro-futurism or pretentious glam-techno, utilizing a diverse stylistic palette as well as an wry playfulness (witness <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhmT_eqewQI" type="external">their cover</a> of Tweet’s “Oops (Oh My)”). Plus, they just write really good, catchy songs: “Seventeen,” “Destroy Everything You Touch,” and “Playgirl” could all take on the best Depeche Mode songs in an electro battle of the bands. Most intriguingly, they seem to have gotten better with every album; does Velocifero, out next month, continue the Tron’s evolution?</p>
<p>Sorry for the copout, but yes and no. Let’s start with the cover: it’s their most colorful and organic to date (do I see yellow and purple over there?), but oddly enough, the music seems more industrial and harsh than usual, perhaps as a result of the production help from Alessandro Cortini, who has helped out Nine Inch Nails in the past. Opener “Black Cat” indulges in over two minutes of Front 242-style drums and dramatic synths before getting to the vocals, which turn out to be in Bulgarian. Seriously. My Russian skills let me catch phrases here and there: did they just sing about a murdered secretary? I know, this sounds like a parody of a Ladytron song, but while it’s not exactly “catchy,” it’s strangely appealing.</p>
<p>Thankfully, there are more accessible moments, like the swing tempo “Ghosts” (“There’s a ghost in me/who wants to say ‘I’m sorry'”) and the oddly Raveonettes-reminscent “Runaway.” Unfortunately, six of the album’s 13 tracks that have the stomping, “boom-boom-chick” beat, and while some of them, like “Burning Up,” are hypnotic and intense, the style feels like Ladytron Default Mode, and “They Gave You A Heart, They Gave You A Name” is an awkward misfire. Even the admirable attempt at what seems like a ballad sung to a computer (“Deep Blue/I wanna give it all to you”) doesn’t take off.</p>
<p>While the rock intensity on Velocifero is an interesting, and admirable, development for Ladytron, the songwriting seems a little aimless, and there are some good songs, but nothing as transcendent as any of the three earlier singles I mentioned above. Perhaps the Tron’s more goth-industrial fans will appreciate the harder edges without worrying too much about whether they’ll remember the songs in the morning. But to me, Velocifero seems more like a step to the left than a step forward, and really, they could have set their sights much higher.</p>
<p>Velocifero is out June 3 on Nettwerk. The whole album is streaming at <a href="http://www.myspace.com/ladytron" type="external">their MySpace page here</a>.</p>
<p>Video for “Ghosts”:</p>
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<p /> | New (Leaked) Music: Ladytron – Velocifero | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/05/new-leaked-music-ladytron-velocifero/ | 2008-05-19 | 4 |
<p>Republicans in the House of Representatives backed away on Friday from a fiscal clash with President Barack Obama next month that could have risked a government default and chaos in financial markets, shifting to a new, less aggressive stance.</p>
<p>Top Republican leaders, meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, said they were prepared to allow the U.S. government to borrow enough money to keep it fully operating for the next three months without demanding immediate spending cuts from Obama.</p>
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<p>Instead, the Republicans, who control the House, will require as part of the legislation raising the debt ceiling that the Democratic-led Senate pass a budget plan by April 15.</p>
<p>If the Senate fails to act, they said, members of Congress would not get paid. How that might work in practice, in light of existing budget law and constitutional restrictions on changing congressional salaries in the middle of a term, was unclear. House Republicans hope to pass the legislation next week.</p>
<p>Republican leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, made the announcement after an annual retreat at a resort in Williamsburg, where members listened to pollsters describe the party's decline in standing among American voters.</p>
<p>It followed a humiliating defeat in the "fiscal cliff" battle that ended on New Year's Day with Obama getting tax increases he sought on the wealthy without committing to significant budget cuts Republicans were seeking in return.</p>
<p>World equity and oil prices rebounded after the statement by the Republican leaders.</p>
<p>STRATEGIC SHIFT</p>
<p>The announcement marked a major climbdown for Republicans, who have seen the debt ceiling as their strongest point of leverage in Washington's partisan spending wars, despite the consternation it caused the White House, global financial markets and public opinion.</p>
<p>The White House on Friday welcomed the three-month extension plan as long as it was not conditioned on spending cuts. Obama has argued that negotiations on spending cuts should be part of larger deficit reduction talks, and not be tied to the debt ceiling.</p>
<p>"We are encouraged that there are signs that Congressional Republicans may back off their insistence on holding our economy hostage to extract drastic cuts in Medicare, education and programs middle class families depend on," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.</p>
<p>Adam Jentleson, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, also said the Republican approach was reassuring.</p>
<p>"If the House can pass a clean debt ceiling increase to avoid default and allow the United States to meet its existing obligations, we will be happy to consider it," he said in a statement.</p>
<p>A spokesman for House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi was less receptive. "This proposal does not relieve the uncertainty faced by small businesses, the markets and the middle class. This is a gimmick unworthy of the challenges we face and the national debate," Drew Hammill said.</p>
<p>The details on the new Republican approach appeared less pressing to party leaders than defusing the politically and economically explosive debt ceiling battle that was expected in late February and early March.</p>
<p>The Treasury needs congressional authorization to raise the current $16.4 trillion U.S. debt limit sometime between mid-February and early March. How long a debt ceiling lasts - a few months or a few years - depends on the amount of borrowing authorized.</p>
<p>Republicans had promised to use the occasion to demand deep spending cuts from Obama and his Democrats, and some had said they were willing to push the government to the brink of default if their demands were not met.</p>
<p>That sort of rhetoric all but vanished on Friday.</p>
<p>"Next week, we will authorize a three month temporary debt limit increase to give the Senate and House time to pass a budget," Cantor said in a statement.</p>
<p>"Furthermore, if the Senate or House fails to pass a budget in that time, Members of Congress will not be paid by the American people for failing to do their job. No budget, no pay."</p>
<p>The statement made no mention of the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which says that no law "varying the compensation" of members of Congress shall take effect until after an intervening congressional election.</p>
<p>The plan aims to draw the Senate into action to shrink deficits. The Senate has failed to pass a formal budget resolution in nearly four years, and it has taken no action on House-passed Republican budgets.</p>
<p>Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate's Republican minority leader, said in a statement he welcomed the pressure on his Democratic counterparts who had "prevented this body from performing its most basic of duties: passing a federal budget."</p>
<p>RETREAT REFLECTION</p>
<p>A key theme to emerge at the Williamsburg conference was a willingness to pursue more incremental steps on deficit reduction. Rather than one massive deal, each fiscal deadline would represent an opportunity to find savings.</p>
<p>After the deadline for a debt ceiling increase, Congress faces a March 1 deadline to avert automatic spending cuts, and the March 27 expiration of funding for government agencies and programs. A three-month debt limit extension would add a further deadline in April or May.</p>
<p>Representative Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, one of the House's most conservative budget hawks, said he had concluded that smaller steps were the best path forward in dealing with the immediate fiscal crisis.</p>
<p>Instead of passing regular budgets to try to reduce spending, Congress has relied largely on stop-gap spending measures, known as continuing resolutions, to keep the government running.</p>
<p>Senate leaders have said there was no need to pass a budget for the past two fiscal years because the last major budget deal in 2011 set spending levels that were more legally enforceable.</p>
<p>A House Republican leadership aide said it was not anticipated the three-month debt limit legislation would include spending cuts.</p>
<p>Although Boehner previously sought at least $1 in long-term spending cuts for every dollar of debt limit increase, the aide said the reforms associated with requiring budgets from both chambers would meet the speaker's requirements.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | House GOP Backs Off Debt Ceiling Stance | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2013/01/18/house-gop-backs-off-debt-ceiling-stance.html | 2016-03-02 | 0 |
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Cash 5” game were:</p>
<p>08-11-19-26-40</p>
<p>(eight, eleven, nineteen, twenty-six, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $125,000</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Cash 5” game were:</p>
<p>08-11-19-26-40</p>
<p>(eight, eleven, nineteen, twenty-six, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $125,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Cash 5’ game | false | https://apnews.com/47d9f533e87c4f5caaec324528f87a86 | 2018-01-11 | 2 |
<p>CHRIS CUOMO (CO-HOST): Let me cut to the chase here,&#160;in terms&#160;of our political discussion.&#160;I've been reading the&#160;transcripts of your interviews,&#160;and I understand why you're&#160;getting frustrated with these&#160;questions about defending Donald&#160;Trump.&#160;But what I don't understand,&#160;Governor, is why don't you say,&#160;I don't agree with what Donald&#160;Trump has said about Muslims and about the Mexican judge?&#160;Because before you were his&#160;nominee,&#160;Governor, you said&#160;that.&#160;You said Trump is wrong about&#160;categorically saying Muslims&#160;can't get in the country.&#160;Why not just own your own truth&#160;on those situations?&#160;</p>
<p>GOV.&#160;MIKE PENCE: Well, first let me say that&#160;I'm very humbled by the fact&#160;that your poll and some people&#160;think I won the debate.&#160;I'll leave that to others.&#160;But I really do think that,&#160;whatever I was able to do the&#160;other night,&#160;that Donald Trump&#160;won the debate,&#160;that&#160;Donald Trump's vision to make&#160;America great again won the&#160;debate.&#160;And I couldn't be more honored&#160;to have been at that table, to&#160;be articulating his&#160;vision,&#160;and&#160;to be drawing the contrast with&#160;the campaign of Hillary Clinton&#160;and Tim Kaine that simply want to&#160;continue the policies that have&#160;weakened America's place in the&#160;world, set areas of the wider&#160;Middle East literally spinning&#160;apart,&#160;and has stifled the&#160;American economy in places like&#160;here in Pennsylvania.&#160;And&#160;so for me, I'm honored&#160;to stand shoulder to shoulder&#160;with him, and also honored to&#160;address those very same&#160;questions.&#160;I'm not -- I'm not frustrated at&#160;all about it, Chris.&#160;Donald Trump and I have been&#160;very, very clear about the issue&#160;of suspending immigration&#160;from countries that have been&#160;compromised by terrorism, or&#160;some of these other issues.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>CUOMO: But&#160;Governor,&#160;that is a&#160;finessed position.&#160;We both know that where he&#160;started was saying there is a&#160;problem with Islam.&#160;That Muslims should be kept out&#160;of the country.&#160;You condemned those comments,&#160;and you did so strongly as the&#160;governor of Indiana when you&#160;were backing Ted Cruz.&#160;You said we can't say that. When&#160;he said what he said about Judge Curiel, not making it about the&#160;case but about his ethnicity, you&#160;condemned those comments.&#160;Why do you not condemn them now?&#160;</p>
<p>PENCE: Well because it's not Donald&#160;Trump's position now.&#160;Look you've known him for a long&#160;time, Chris.&#160;I haven't known him that long at&#160;all.&#160;But what you see in Donald Trump&#160;is a man who has built an&#160;extraordinary business. You&#160;found out in the last week he&#160;faced some really hard times 20&#160;years ago and led an incredible&#160;comeback to build a business&#160;that's created tens of&#160;thousands of jobs and now&#160;is worth billions of dollars.&#160;But in Donald Trump you have&#160;someone that is -- is -- has&#160;been willing to speak his mind,&#160;he's spoken about the&#160;frustrations and the aspirations&#160;of the American people, and&#160;I'm proud to stand with him&#160;as he talks about ending illegal&#160;immigration once and for all,&#160;and doing it when he becomes&#160;president.&#160;I'm proud to stand with him when&#160;he says that we need to suspend immigration from&#160;countries and territories that&#160;have been compromised by&#160;terrorism.&#160;I understand why you want to&#160;play the oldies, you want to&#160;talk about the where the&#160;campaign began or what&#160;statements were&#160;made, but the&#160;American people are focused&#160;on the&#160;policies that Donald Trump is&#160;articulating every day across&#160;this country and I think it’s the reason why --</p>
<p>CUOMO: Right but it's also about the&#160;person --&#160;</p>
<p>PENCE: There's so much momentum in&#160;this movement and people are&#160;being drawn to that vision and&#160;for me to be able to share that&#160;vision, to share the choice at&#160;that table Tuesday&#160;night was one&#160;of the greatest honors of my life.</p>
<p>CUOMO: Except that, governor, there is&#160;the policy but there's also the&#160;person.&#160;And again, you know, you don't&#160;like handling directly these&#160;questions of what he said.&#160;You can't argue that he's&#160;changed his position.&#160;That's fine.&#160;He's different now than where he&#160;started on immigration.&#160;And that's for the voters to&#160;decide how they feel about that&#160;change.&#160;But what he has said about&#160;women, about Mexicans, about&#160;Muslims, matters and I know that&#160;you have said you don't share&#160;those positions.&#160;And now, tacitly, you are&#160;accepting those positions&#160;because you won't speak out&#160;against them.&#160;You understand that?&#160;</p>
<p>Previously:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Media Hammer Mike Pence For Denying His Running Mate’s Past Statements During VP Debate</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Journalists Are Calling Out Mike Pence For Lying About Things Donald Trump Has Said</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Watch CNN’s New Day Show Pence Whitewashing Trump’s Own Words On Foreign Policy, Abortion, And Immigration</a></p> | CNN’s Chris Cuomo Grills Mike Pence On His Refusal To Condemn Trump’s Racist And Sexist Statements | true | http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/10/06/cnn-s-chris-cuomo-grills-mike-pence-his-refusal-condemn-trump-s-racist-and-sexist-statements/213576 | 2016-10-06 | 4 |
<p>SOUTHINGTON, Conn. (AP) — A former custodian at a Massachusetts middle school has been charged with attempting to meet in Connecticut who he thought was a 14-year-old boy.</p>
<p>Police say 50-year-old Carl Bezo, of Westfield, Massachusetts, turned himself in Friday on an outstanding warrant.</p>
<p>Authorities say Bezo began messaging who he thought was an underage boy in September, but was actually an adult associated with an online child safety group.</p>
<p>Police say Bezo agreed to meet the fictitious minor at a Southington Walmart store in September. The meeting was recorded and turned over to police.</p>
<p>Bezo was fired from his job at a Westfield middle school after the meeting.</p>
<p>Bezo's lawyer says his client has no criminal record and was cooperative with police. He is free on $50,000 bond.</p>
<p>SOUTHINGTON, Conn. (AP) — A former custodian at a Massachusetts middle school has been charged with attempting to meet in Connecticut who he thought was a 14-year-old boy.</p>
<p>Police say 50-year-old Carl Bezo, of Westfield, Massachusetts, turned himself in Friday on an outstanding warrant.</p>
<p>Authorities say Bezo began messaging who he thought was an underage boy in September, but was actually an adult associated with an online child safety group.</p>
<p>Police say Bezo agreed to meet the fictitious minor at a Southington Walmart store in September. The meeting was recorded and turned over to police.</p>
<p>Bezo was fired from his job at a Westfield middle school after the meeting.</p>
<p>Bezo's lawyer says his client has no criminal record and was cooperative with police. He is free on $50,000 bond.</p> | Man charged with trying to meet minor from online website | false | https://apnews.com/amp/278edd2fbe7349acbb15e4820fea5844 | 2018-01-22 | 2 |
<p>Courtesy of &lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_MiGzkgtdfmw/SsTwm6B8DVI/AAAAAAAAAWs/x-UNlHABjlo/s1600-h/Sharron+Angle+Senate.JPG"&gt;Dullard Mush&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p />
<p>[UPDATE: A version of Sharron Angle’s “issues” page has been <a href="http://www.sharronangle.com/issues/" type="external">revived</a>, misplaced commas and all. How long will it last??]</p>
<p>That Internet thing is mighty tricky for Republicans to master. Sharron Angle—Tea Partier, <a href="" type="internal">Oath Keepers</a> supporter, <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/06/09/sharron_angle_cavity_creep/index.html" type="external">anti-fluoride crusader</a>, and new GOP candidate for Senate from Nevada—is already demonstrating her solidarity with party luminaries like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f99PcP0aFNE" type="external">Ted Stevens</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internets" type="external">George W. Bush</a>, and the <a href="" type="internal">entire House Republican caucus</a> by staging an epic Web fail of her own. In a possible bid to play down her more right-leaning, less mainstream views—which are bound to be a liability in a general election fight with Democratic Senate majority leader Harry Reid—Angle’s campaign website was scrubbed of its spiciest material. Previously, her site featured <a href="http://www.sharronangle.com/issues.html" type="external">an “issues” page</a>, where Angle champions nuclear waste while deriding the UN, the Department of Education, “Obamacare,” “illegals,” and “an unscientific hysteria over the man-caused global warming hoax.” That web page became&#160; <a href="http://www.sharronangle.com/issues.html" type="external">inaccessible</a>.</p>
<p>Unless, that is, you search for <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3KZCMWh3fYEJ:www.sharronangle.com/issues.html+/search%3Fhl%3Den%26q%3D%2Bsite:sharronangle.com%2Bsharron%2Bangle&amp;cd=2&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=us" type="external">the cached page</a>.</p>
<p>So, here, saved for posterity with annotations, are 11 top “issues” statements by Sharron Angle that should be remembered…or at least fact-checked…between now and November:</p>
<p /> | Nevada Tea Partier’s Memory Hole | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/06/nevada-tea-partier-memory-hole-website-sharron-angle-harry-reid-senate/ | 2010-06-10 | 4 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/kid-eating-big-burger-46115530?st=4d25fb9"&gt;Kenishirotie&lt;/a&gt;/iStock</p>
<p />
<p>Every day, more than a third of children in the United States eat fast food. A new <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db213.htm?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&amp;utm_medium=Physician%27s%20First%20Watch+PFW%20with%20VALID%20Emails+PFW%20with%20VALID%20Emails&amp;utm_campaign=PFW%20150917%20LIVE" type="external">report</a> from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention also showed that teens eat twice as much fast food as younger children; on average, 17 percent of teens’ daily calories come from fast food.</p>
<p>Fast food consumption among children grew between 1994 and 2006, rising from 10 percent to 13 percent. The new report, which used data from the CDC’s 2011-2012 <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm" type="external">National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey</a>, shows only a slight decrease—overall, kids ages 2 to 19 consume 12 percent of their calories from fast food. Surprisingly, these numbers weren’t different across socioeconomic status, gender, or weight.</p>
<p />
<p>Over the last 30 years, childhood obesity in the United States has <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm" type="external">more than doubled</a>. Between 1980 and 2012 the number of kids considered obese increased from 7 percent to 18 percent and the number of teens during that same period quadrupled.</p>
<p>In an interview with&#160; <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/09/16/kids-fast-food-calories/72325838/" type="external">USA Today</a>, Sandra Hassink, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, pointed to fast food ads geared toward kids as a main factor in the soaring obesity rates. Indeed, as my colleague Kiera Butler <a href="" type="internal">wrote earlier this year</a>, McDonald’s, in an effort to revive its flagging sales, is marketing inside schools:</p>
<p>Over at Civil Eats, school food blogger Bettina Elias Siegel <a href="http://civileats.com/2014/12/16/mcdonalds-and-in-school-marketing-the-clown-speaks-from-both-sides-of-his-mouth/" type="external">explained</a> in December that McDonald’s targeting of kids is no accident. Rather, it’s part of the company’s strategy to revive its <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q;_ylt=AwrT6VqIQgtVgzwAmaEnnIlQ?s=MCD" type="external">flagging sales.</a> In a December conference call, Siegel reported, McDonald’s then-CEO Don Thompson and the company’s US President Mike Andres told investors that the company has “got to be in the schools. When you look at the performance relative to peers of the operators [whose] restaurants are part of the community–it’s significant.”</p>
<p>Hassink also noted that diet-related diseases, like type-2 diabetes, are affecting Americans at much younger ages than they used to. (In fact, the youngest type-2 diabetes patient on record, a three-year-old girl, was <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/16/us-health-diabetes-toddler-idUSKCN0RG2YF20150916?feedType=RSS&amp;feedName=healthNews" type="external">recently diagnosed</a>.)&#160; This, said Hassink, should be cause for concern:</p>
<p>“Childhood is not a place where you can say, ‘Let everyone eat what they want and we can fix it later.’ “Hassink said parents should remember that daily choices about food can contribute to long-term chronic disease. “Health doesn’t happen by accident,” she said.</p>
<p /> | A Third of American Kids Will Eat Fast Food Today | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/09/kids-eat-a-lot-of-fast-food/ | 2015-09-17 | 4 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>(AP) — An Arizona pastor who struck and killed a man changing a flat tire on the side of Interstate 40 has been sentenced to jail.</p>
<p><a href="http://bit.ly/12Zt3sk" type="external">KRQE-TV reports</a> that Wayne Salguero was sentenced Thursday to 45 days in jail after pleaded no contest to careless driving.</p>
<p>He was charged with vehicular homicide for veering off I-40 and hitting a McAlister’s Deli delivery driver, 23-year-old Timothy Sheehan, in 2011.</p>
<p>Last month, however, prosecutors said Salguero was driving the speed limit and that there was no evidence he was using his cellphone.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Ariz. pastor gets jail in NM traffic fatality | false | https://abqjournal.com/213003/ariz-pastor-gets-jail-in-nm-traffic-fatality.html | 2013-06-21 | 2 |
<p>Over the last several years Joe Scarborough has been progressively getting more aggressive on the attacks on the intransigence and lack of ideas of the Republican Party. His attacks are more piercing because he is in fact a real conservative. From watching his various diatribes over the years, one comes to the conclusion that as a real conservative he believes in small government, very little social services, and very little corporate set asides. This is unlike conservatives of today that talk small government yet want huge defense expenditures, remaining in failed wars, and never ending budget busting tax cuts.</p>
<p>In October 2009 Joe Scarborough called out the Right as not being conservative, <a href="" type="internal">saying that they were the ones that took a $155 billion surplus into a $1.5 trillion deficit</a>. In June of 2010 he said his positions have not changed, yet he feels his party distancing from his conservative beliefs as he <a href="" type="internal">laid into Gingrich anti-Islam rhetoric</a>. In December of 2012 while responding to the Newtown Massacre, Joe showed something rare in conservatives, <a href="" type="internal">the ability to change his position when circumstances dictate it</a>. In January of 2013, Scarborough acknowledged that Republicans <a href="" type="internal">cheated themselves into holding on to the House of Representatives</a> given that they got over a million less votes than Democrat. In February, Joe <a href="" type="internal">excoriated Republican for their refusal to call out Wayne LaPierre’s racially laced op-ed</a>.</p>
<p>Today Joe Scarborough was at it again. He simply could not believe that the GOP blocked the confirmation of the secretary of defense Chuck Hagel because of a grudge. He said.</p>
<p>Joe Scarborough</p>
<p>For the sixty six thousand troops currently serving in Afghanistan and for their families all across America this morning, I am sure they are glad to know that we don’t have a secretary of defense in place and not going to because of a seven year old political grudge. Forget about sequestration, forget about all the cuts. There are men and women on the ground in Afghanistan today fighting and possibly dying for this country and they don’t have a secretary of defense running the Pentagon because of a six or seven year old grudge? Really? Is that how small we’ve become? And because this guy is disagreeable. Richard, kinda frightening isn’t it?</p>
<p />
<p>He played <a href="" type="internal">the video in this post</a> of Senator John McCain stating what most know.</p>
<p>McCain then said the following on Fox News.</p>
<p>He will probably get the votes when we return from the recess unless something pops up and that’s doubtful that it will. To be honest with you Neil, it goes back to there is a lot of ill will towards senator Hagel because when he was a Republican he attacked President Bush mercilessly. At one point said he was the worst president since Herbert Hoover. Said the surge was the worst blunder since the Vietnam War which is non-sense. And was very anti his own party and people. People don’t forget that.</p>
<p>The media has been playing up Marco Rubio as the savior of the Republican Party. He gave the rebuttal to the President’s State of the Union address, and absent the <a href="" type="internal">embarrassing water bottle moment</a>, his speech was nothing more than a <a href="" type="internal">rehash of failed and rejected policies</a>, including policies that mimicked those in the Romney campaign. The reality is the savior of the Republican Party will be the brave conservatives that swim against the tide of the Tea Party and other factions of the Right Wing while speaking the truth about the real reasons for the Party’s failures. The savior of the Republican Party just may be Joe Scarborough.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/EgbertoWilliescom/181893712536" type="external">LIKE My Facebook Page</a></p> | Joe Scarborough May Be The Republican’s Savior- Rubio Need Not Apply (VIDEO) | true | http://egbertowillies.com/2013/02/15/joe-scarborough-may-be-the-republicans-savior-rubio-need-not-apply-video/ | 2013-02-15 | 4 |
<p>USA Today‘s Susan Page</p>
<p>“Democrats on one side, Republicans on the other” is the way conventional Beltway reporters seem to see the world–and it’s reflected in their reporting on political events.</p>
<p>On the front page of USA Today ( <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2013-06-07-obamaanalysis_ST_U.htm" type="external">6/7/13</a>), <a href="" type="internal">Susan Page</a> has a piece wondering if the unfolding scandals surrounding the White House and surveillance will threaten the president’s “agenda.” That’s a strange concern for the moment, but we’ll put that aside. The most unusual part of the piece is the very premise: That Obama’s actions have verified Republican criticisms of his presidency. As Page puts it, the current story</p>
<p>is especially problematic for Obama because it stokes controversies he already was struggling to contain and reinforces criticism that has dogged him from the start.</p>
<p>Republicans have long depicted Obama as an advocate of a big, dangerous and overreaching government, back to the federal bailout of the auto industry he undertook during the financial crisis that greeted his first inauguration. That has been their fundamental philosophical objection to his signature Affordable Care Act, now just months away from implementation of its major provisions.</p>
<p>So Obama is a “big government” something-or-other, which is what Republicans most certainly are not. Thus, big government spying shows that Obama is just as Republicans have “long depicted” him.</p>
<p>The Washington Post‘s Karen Tumulty recently made the same argument (FAIR Blog, <a href="" type="internal">5/17/13</a>)–Beltway scandals are scandals because they reinforce partisan criticism. It’s an illogical jump even when it comes to most Republican criticism of Obama, like the argument that the new healthcare law is a Big Government power grab.&#160; Of course accusations that come from partisan critics reinforce&#160; partisan criticism–how could they not?</p>
<p>But this line of argument makes even less sense in the case of surveillance, as Page acknowledges deep within the article: “To be sure, Obama didn’t launch the data-mining initiatives, which were started during the Bush administration.” So Republicans, if we’re to buy the premise here, are mad about Obama carrying out a policy begun under a Republican administration.</p>
<p>The real story, on a political level, is one of continuity: The <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/lindsey-graham-m-glad-nsa-collecting-phone-records-151211411.html" type="external">elites in both parties</a> basically agree on the policy in question, which is why there are not all that many politicians of either party speaking out forcefully right now in criticizing the administration’s policies. But that’s not the way most political journalists are trained to look at the world.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Pointless Partisanship on Surveillance | true | http://fair.org/blog/2013/06/07/pointless-partisanship-on-surveillance/ | 2013-06-07 | 4 |
<p>Earlier this week, our own Nick Baumann pointed out the “ <a href="" type="internal">revolutionary cynicism</a>” espoused by lefty bloggers Matt Yglesias and Ezra Klein. Their radical views, he wrote,&#160; indicate “a near-total loss of faith in the system.” Yglesias was <a href="" type="internal">quick to respond</a> that his cynicism is nothing new because he “always knew that Barack Obama wouldn’t be able to get anything done.”</p>
<p><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/07/am_i_a_radical.html" type="external">Ezra Klein</a> weighed in on the issue this afternoon. Here’s an excerpt (with a sweet graph!):</p>
<p>To make a related point to the previous post, I’m not sure I’d term calls for procedural reform “radical,” much less “ <a href="../../../../../../mojo/2009/07/do-ezra-klein-matt-yglesias-want-revolution" type="external">revolutionary</a>.” The history of Congress is, in part, a history of procedural reforms. Newt Gingrich made a bunch of changes in 1994. Democrats made a bunch of changes in 1975. John F. Kennedy made some big changes in the early 1960s. FDR changed the way Congress worked, and so too did Woodrow Wilson. This isn’t something invented by a bunch of bloggers in the early 21st century.</p>
<p>There’s nothing abnormal about changing the rules of a governing body in response to changes in the country. It’s pretty common, for instance, for political scientists to remark on the incredible rise in party polarization in recent decades. According to Keith Poole and Howard Rosenthale, political polarization is <a href="http://voteview.com/Polarized_America.htm#POLITICALPOLARIZATION" type="external">at its highest point since Reconstruction</a>:</p>
<p><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/partypolarization.jpg" type="external" /></p> | Procedural Revolution: Klein Responds | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/political-reform-and-revolution-klein-responds/ | 2009-07-31 | 4 |
<p>As <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-sentence-man-to-10-years-in-prison-and-2000-lashes-for-expressing-his-atheism-on-a6900056.html" type="external">reported</a> by The Independent, a 28-year-old man was fined, sentenced to ten years in prison and 2,000 lashes by a court in Saudi Arabia for expressing his atheistic views on the social media platform, Twitter.</p>
<p>According to a report in Al-Watan, the unidentified man owned up to the posts expressing his atheism and refused to disavow or repent for his views. The man reportedly said that his posts reflect his beliefs, which he felt he had a right to express.</p>
<p>The report said that the Muslim country's "religious police," who monitor social media, found over 600 posts from the 28-year-old on Twitter "denying the existence of God, ridiculing the Quranic verses, accusing all prophets of lies and saying their teaching fuelled hostilities." Additional, the court fined the man 20,000 riyals, which equates to roughly $5,300.00.</p>
<p>As noted by Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia advanced its oppression of atheists in 2014 with a series of laws that targeted nonbelievers, characterizing atheists as terrorists.</p>
<p>"In a string of royal decrees and an overarching new piece of legislation to deal with terrorism generally, King Abdullah attempted to clamp down on all forms of political dissent and protests that could 'harm public order,'" notes The Independent. Such provisions labeled terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based."</p>
<p>"Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism," weighed-in Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East and North Africa director of Human Rights Watch.</p>
<p>The Middle Eastern country boasts a notoriously horrific human rights record, particularly with religious "heretics" and women. Currently, females are <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/60339/nine-things-women-cant-do-in-saudi-arabia" type="external">not permitted</a>to drive cars, use public swimming facilities or wear makeup that "shows off their beauty," among other restrictions.</p> | Here’s What Happens When You Express Atheist Views on Twitter in Saudi Arabia | true | https://dailywire.com/news/8855/heres-what-happens-saudi-arabia-when-you-express-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2016-09-01 | 0 |
<p>South Africa's Caster Semenya wins the 800-meter run at a competition in Rome in June 2016.Alessandro Bianchi/Reuters via ZUMA Press</p>
<p />
<p>Expectations are soaring for 25-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya, who races next week in the 800 meters. She’s favored to clinch a gold medal. She might even shatter the longest-running world record for track and field. And if she does, it could affect much more than the pride of her competitors. A big win for Semenya would likely add fuel to an already-fiery debate about gender and sports, and whether women like her should be allowed to race at all.</p>
<p>Semenya has an intersex condition, meaning her body doesn’t conform to typical notions of male or female. The South African runner produces testosterone at a level much higher than what’s found in most women, prompting questions about whether she has an unfair biological advantage. “These kind of people should not run with us,” Italian middle-distance runner Elisa Cusma <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/magazine/the-humiliating-practice-of-sex-testing-female-athletes.html?_r=0" type="external">said</a> of Semenya back in 2009, after the South African was first publicly identified as intersex. “For me, she is not a woman. She is a man.”</p>
<p>For decades, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), the world’s governing body for track and field, has sought to preserve the male-female division in its sport through <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/magazine/the-humiliating-practice-of-sex-testing-female-athletes.html?_r=0" type="external">variations of sex testing</a>—gynecological exams, chromosome tests, or hormone tests to make sure female competitors aren’t actually men trying to pass as women, or intersex women with masculine traits that might give them an unfair boost. Since 2011, sex testing has focused on testosterone. Women like Semenya whose functional levels of the hormone are within “the male range,” or higher than&#160;10 <a href="https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/molarity" type="external">nanomoles</a> per liter of blood, have been barred from international competitions like the Olympics.</p>
<p>But not this year. For the first time in more than half a century, female Olympians will not be subject to any form of sex testing in Brazil, which means intersex track athletes will be allowed to compete with their natural testosterone levels. That’s because the IAAF’s testosterone rule was <a href="http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/award_internet.pdf" type="external">suspended</a> last year by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which said there was not enough scientific evidence to suggest that women with high levels of the hormone have a significant competitive advantage. The court gave the IAAF a deadline of July 2017 to come up with more evidence. If the athletic federation can do it, it can reinstate its rule, but otherwise the rule will be permanently void. (In February, the International Olympics Committee agreed to stop regulating women’s natural testosterone levels until the IAAF case is resolved.)</p>
<p>Now, as scientists struggle to determine how testosterone affects performance, thousands of athletes are converging on Rio de Janeiro for what some have described as a total <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2016/08/01/testosterone-rules-suspended-intersex-athletes-caster-semenya-dutee-chand-maria-jose-martinez-patino/87787248/" type="external">“free-for-all,”</a> as far as gender boundaries go. If Semenya dominates, will it be fair? What does the science say?</p>
<p>Testosterone, a hormone that’s been linked with increased muscle, bone mass, and competitive drive, is naturally found in both men and women, but the average man produces much more of it than the average woman does—a healthy young man can produce more than <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15476527" type="external">35 nmol/L</a>, while women usually produce less than 3 nmol/L.</p>
<p>Between 2011 and 2015, the IAAF had a rule that any woman with less than 10 nanomoles of testosterone per liter of blood could compete in women’s events—a cap that it said left plenty of wiggle room for almost all female athletes. But not everyone agreed. Last year, the Court of Arbitration for Sport suspended the IAAF’s “testosterone rule” after an Indian sprinter named Dutee Chand said it unfairly discriminated against women like her with higher levels. (Check out the New York Times Magazine‘s profile of Chand <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/03/magazine/the-humiliating-practice-of-sex-testing-female-athletes.html" type="external">here</a>.)</p>
<p>One of the main questions in Chand’s case was whether it made sense to create separate “male” and “female” ranges for testosterone, and whether 10 nmol/L was the appropriate threshold. Expert witnesses for the IAAF <a href="http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/award_internet.pdf" type="external">pointed</a> to two large studies in Russia and South Korea showing that most elite female athletes had much lower testosterone levels, between 0.1 and 3.08 nmol/L. In fact, they added, 99 percent of female athletes had testosterone below 3.08 nmol/L. If anything, they said, the 10 nmol/L cap for women was “arguably too generous.”</p>
<p>But Chand, who will race the 100-meter dash at the Olympics on Friday, said plenty of women don’t fit neatly within that range, and that there’s overlap between the sexes. Testifying on her behalf, Richard Holt, a UK-based endocrinologist, pointed to a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cen.12445/abstract" type="external">study</a> showing that 32 of 234 female athletes had natural testosterone levels above 2.7 nmol/L, including 11 athletes who had more than 8 nmol/L. In the study of athletes in South Korea, he added, four male athletes had testosterone levels below 3.08 nmol/L, and 198 men had testosterone below 10 nmol/L. This type of data suggests there’s not necessarily a big gap between normal male and female ranges of the hormone, <a href="https://d2ufo47lrtsv5s.cloudfront.net/content/348/6237/858" type="external">explained Dr. Katrina Karkazis</a>, a bioethicist at Stanford University who also testified on Chand’s behalf.</p>
<p>However, Martin Ritzén, a Sweden-based professor who specializes in pediatric endocrinology and testified on behalf of the IAAF, said the probability of a healthy woman reaching 10 nmol/L of testosterone was “zero.” Another IAAF expert witness, Angelica Lindén Hirschberg, a professor of gynecology, noted that she had never seen such a high level of the hormone in someone with healthy ovaries and normal adrenal glands. Other expert witnesses told the Court of Arbitration for Sport that any healthy woman with more than 10 nmol/L of testosterone would likely have to be intersex. Still, Dr. Karkazis of Stanford criticized the threshold, which she said was based on the faulty premise that “men have the exclusive right to testosterone.”</p>
<p>Do women with higher levels of the hormone, like Caster Semenya and Dutee Chand, have an unfair advantage on the track? The IAAF says yes, in part because testosterone is linked with lean body mass, which experts on both sides of the debate say is a reason male athletes tend to perform better than female athletes. Testosterone leads to increased strength, speed, and power, IAAF experts argued, which is why many athletes try to illegally take synthetic versions of the hormone to boost their performance.</p>
<p>Ross Tucker, a professor of exercise physiology in South Africa, <a href="http://sportsscientists.com/2016/05/hyperandrogenism-women-vs-women-vs-men-sport-qa-joanna-harper/" type="external">points</a> to Semenya’s career as an example of natural testosterone’s effect. In 2009, before the public knew she was intersex, Semenya dominated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/aug/19/caster-semenya-800m-world-athletics-championships-gender" type="external">the 800m race</a> at the world championships in Berlin. Then the IAAF instituted its testosterone rule. Semenya was required to suppress her levels, and voilá: Her performance dropped off. Though she won a silver medal at the London Games (behind a Russian runner who has since been <a href="http://nytlive.nytimes.com/womenintheworld/2015/11/10/the-face-of-russias-doping-scandal-mariya-savinova/" type="external">accused</a> of doping), she failed to move beyond the semifinals in Beijing. After the testosterone rule was suspended in 2015 and she went back to her normal levels, she started dominating again. In April this year, she won the 400m, 800m, and 1500m races at the African Championships—all on the same day. “Now, she is untouchable,” Ross <a href="http://sportsscientists.com/2016/05/hyperandrogenism-women-vs-women-vs-men-sport-qa-joanna-harper/" type="external">wrote</a> recently.</p>
<p>We can also look to the performance of transgender female athletes, argues Joanna Harper, a doctor and transgender woman who has advised the International Olympic Committee on gender-based issues. Harper competed in male distance running events for decades, but when she started taking a testosterone blocker and estrogen as part of her transition, she became “noticeably slower,” she told the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Harper collated data from seven other transgender runners, too, for a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/do-transgender-athletes-have-an-edge-i-sure-dont/2015/04/01/ccacb1da-c68e-11e4-b2a1-bed1aaea2816_story.html" type="external">study</a> published in the Journal of Sporting Cultures and Identities, and found that all of them had “much slower times” competing as females than they had competing as males.</p>
<p>But other experts question whether it’s fair to equate the experience of trans women—who were born biologically male—with the experience of intersex women. “These are two different populations that don’t have comparable physiologies, so we can’t extrapolate from one group to the other,” Karkazis says. Yes, some intersex runners have lost speed after medically suppressing their testosterone levels, but Karkazis thinks other factors are at play. Drugs to suppress testosterone have side effects that affect metabolism and hydration, and that could slow an athlete down. A runner’s performance may also take a hit from the psychological toll of being outed to the world as intersex. “I have been subjected to unwarranted and invasive scrutiny of the most intimate and private details of my being,” Semenya <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2010/mar/30/caster-semenya-comeback-statement" type="external">wrote</a> in 2010.</p>
<p>It’s not even clear whether natural testosterone boosts performance to the same degree that synthetic testosterone does. Holt, the UK-based endocrinologist, told the Court of Arbitration for Sport that “the current state of evidence regarding testosterone’s effects on athletic performance is ‘rudimentary.'” He said natural testosterone may affect a person’s lean body mass, but other things do, too, like high levels of <a href="http://www.espn.com/olympics/news/story?id=5159799" type="external">human growth hormone</a> in the body. What’s more, he says, plenty of other physical traits give advantages to athletes, and those aren’t regulated like testosterone is. Some basketball players are blessed with height, for example, while some swimmers are born with higher lung capacity and large hands and feet.</p>
<p>The IAAF argued with its rule that testosterone is the most important boost to athletic performance. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport wasn’t convinced. It came down to numbers. The average performance gap between male and female athletes is 10 to 12 percent. But IAAF experts were only able to present data—including some that had not been published—that showed a 1 to 3 percent performance difference between female athletes with higher testosterone levels and those with more typical levels. “While a 10 percent difference in athletic performance certainly justifies having separate male and female categories, a 1 percent difference may not justify a separation between athletes in the female category,” the Court of Arbitration for Sport wrote in its <a href="http://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/award_internet.pdf" type="external">decision</a> to suspend the IAAF rule. Other factors affect athletic power too, it noted, including things like nutrition, access to specialist training facilities and coaches, and other genetic factors. “In other words, there is presently insufficient evidence about the degree of the advantage” that women with high testosterone levels have, it wrote.</p>
<p>“Nobody is saying that testosterone is not relevant to performance. It is,” Dr. Karkazis says. But based on the scientific evidence, she says, “you can’t say women with higher testosterone levels will necessarily or always do better than women with lower levels. People are overdetermining testosterone’s effects in ways that don’t fit with what we know scientifically.”</p>
<p>The IAAF, which did not respond to a request for comment, will likely come forward within the next six months with more evidence to try to support its hormone-level-based policy. In the meantime, the world will look to Rio de Janeiro, as Semenya gears up for the race of her life.</p>
<p>Australian coach Nic Bideau predicts Semenya won’t have to push herself to take home gold. “When you’re watching it, clearly it’s not a fair competition, but the rules say it is fair,” he <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/top-australian-coach-nic-bideau-says-controversial-runner-caster-semenya-will-easily-win-gold-in-rio/news-story/f6a41ecb3609be68fa878a5a5da1d7d3" type="external">said</a> recently. US middle-distance runner Brenda Martinez, who did not qualify for the 800-meter race but will compete in the 1,500 meters, has also <a href="http://www.letsrun.com/news/2016/07/brenda-martinez-intersex-controversy-800-olympics-think-worked-benefit-im-not-running-8-caster-semenya-francine-niyonsaba/" type="external">said</a> she believes Semenya should be forced to lower her testosterone levels for fairness’ sake. If women with high levels are allowed to race, will other women with more typical levels have any chance to win?</p>
<p>Dutee Chand, the Indian sprinter, counters that it’s unfair to make someone reduce hormone levels with medical intervention when it’s not medically necessary. “Other athletes have their own natural advantages,” <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/semenya-724210-women-world.html" type="external">points out</a> Christopher O. Tollefsen, a philosophy professor at the University of South Carolina who has studied Semenya’s case. “She should not be penalized for hers.”</p>
<p>And as for Semenya? Asked last year about her prospects for an Olympic gold, she <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5yFslYoPh8" type="external">said</a>, “That’s the ultimate dream.”</p>
<p>“I’m just being Caster, you know?” she said. “I’d rather just be natural, be who I am.”</p>
<p>This article has been revised.</p>
<p /> | The Biggest Issue in Women’s Sports Is About to Come to a Head | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/rio-olympics-caster-semenya-how-does-testosterone-affect-athletic-performance/ | 2016-08-10 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: Shares of Advaxis , a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of cancer immunotherapies, dropped 14% in April, according to data from <a href="https://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>So what: The likely culprit behind Advaxis' tumble in April is a combination of profit-taking -- Advaxis' stock had risen by 70% from the beginning of March through the first week of April -- and high levels of short interest. Short-sellers are traders who are betting on a stock to move lower, making money when stock prices fall and losing money when they rise. Advaxis, as of mid-April, had 8.4 million shares held by short-sellers, which works out to about a third of its 25 million share float. It could be difficult for Advaxis to gain much traction with this many short-seller attempting to hold it at bay.</p>
<p>Image source: Merck.</p>
<p>Conversely, Advaxis also reported a number of positive press releases that would otherwise make you scratch your head as to why its share price retreated in April. Most notably, on April 28, Advaxis announced that the Food and Drug Administration had granted the fast track designation for ADXS-HER2 in patients with newly diagnosed, non-metastatic, surgically resectable osteosarcoma. The fast track designation means more one-on-one conversations with the FDA to speed up the clinical process, and it could mean an expedited review as well. The fast track designation don't guarantee approval, but they're typically only handed out by the FDA to experimental therapies that have an opportunity to make a major impact on an unmet indication, or provide perceived superiority over a current standard-of-care drug.</p>
<p>Earlier in the month, Advaxis also announced that it and Merck had completed their first two dose-escalation trials in the KEYNOTE-046 study involving the combination of ADXS-PSA and Merck's FDA-approved cancer immunotherapy, Keytruda, for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Both parties have launched a third dose-escalating cohort and plan to evaluate ADXS-PSA as a monotherapy, and the combination of ADXS-PSA plus Merck's Keytruda, in 51 advanced prostate cancer patients by about mid-year.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Now what: If there's any way to aptly describe Advaxis' April performance, it would be that the company took baby steps forward with its pipeline, but it got blindsided by emotional and short-term minded traders. Unfortunately, this is something Advaxis' shareholders, and most clinical-stage biotech investors, come to live with. It's incredibly difficult to value a company's pipeline when there are no guarantees its experimental products will work in clinical trials, that it'll sell once it reaches pharmacy shelves, or that another drug developer won't create a superior product. Of course, when investors are right, they tend to see incredible gains that would likely make your jaw drop.</p>
<p>Advaxis' technology is certainly intriguing -- using Listeria monocytogenes to effect a response from the patient's immune system. Cancer immunotherapies are arguably the hottest thing in cancer drug development. Advaxis has also developed partnership with heavy hitters in oncology, Merck and MedImmune. However, it's yet to move anything past phase 2 trials. Until we have some concrete efficacy data on a large scale, it could be difficult for Advaxis' stock to gain sustainable traction.</p>
<p>For now I consider Advaxis an intriguing watchlist stock, but would suggest observing it safely from the sidelines.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/08/profit-taking-clobbers-advaxis-inc-in-april-despit.aspx" type="external">Profit-Taking Clobbers Advaxis, Inc. in April Despite Positive PR Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a>has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/tmfultralong.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>, track every pick he makes under the screen name <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/trackultralong.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">TrackUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/TMFUltraLong" type="external">@TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>.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 Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a>makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Profit-Taking Clobbers Advaxis, Inc. in April Despite Positive PR | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/05/08/profit-taking-clobbers-advaxis-inc-in-april-despite-positive-pr.html | 2016-05-08 | 0 |
<p>WATERFORD, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont town has voted unanimously to host the proposed Granite State Power Link transmission line.</p>
<p>Waterford had previously indicated support for the new transmission line with a letter prior to the vote. The Caledonian-Record <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/waterford-signs-agreement-to-host-granite-state-power-link/article_d86e2439-ddb5-5ebf-baf1-41f2280ceb4b.html" type="external">reports</a> the vote to sign a memorandum of understanding establishes a formal collaboration between the town and Granite State Power Link.</p>
<p>The transmission line is intended to transmit wind energy generated in Canada down through Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.</p>
<p>National Grid, backer of the Granite State Power Link, said Wednesday the town of Waterford will directly receive more than $1.3 million in local property tax payments over the 40-year life of the project for hosting about 2 miles of the transmission line.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Caledonian-Record, <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com" type="external">http://www.caledonianrecord.com</a></p>
<p>WATERFORD, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont town has voted unanimously to host the proposed Granite State Power Link transmission line.</p>
<p>Waterford had previously indicated support for the new transmission line with a letter prior to the vote. The Caledonian-Record <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com/news/local/waterford-signs-agreement-to-host-granite-state-power-link/article_d86e2439-ddb5-5ebf-baf1-41f2280ceb4b.html" type="external">reports</a> the vote to sign a memorandum of understanding establishes a formal collaboration between the town and Granite State Power Link.</p>
<p>The transmission line is intended to transmit wind energy generated in Canada down through Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.</p>
<p>National Grid, backer of the Granite State Power Link, said Wednesday the town of Waterford will directly receive more than $1.3 million in local property tax payments over the 40-year life of the project for hosting about 2 miles of the transmission line.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Caledonian-Record, <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.caledonianrecord.com" type="external">http://www.caledonianrecord.com</a></p> | Vermont town votes to host proposed transmission line | false | https://apnews.com/9cac1001f0af403fb8e13d010bf6da78 | 2018-01-12 | 2 |
<p>When the hideous photographs of torture and abuse emerged from Abu Ghraib in the fall of 2004, they created a public relations disaster for the Bush administration. The White House had painstakingly worked to capitalize on the 9/11 attacks by creating a “war on terror.” Never mind the absurdity of declaring war on a tactic. Central to Bush’s new “war” was the portrayal of us as the good guys and al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Saddam Hussein as the bad guys.</p>
<p>But the Abu Ghraib photos of naked Iraqis piled on top of one another, forced to masturbate, led around on leashes like dogs shined the light on U.S. hypocrisy.</p>
<p>After the Abu Ghraib revelations, the Bush administration could not tolerate more bad publicity. So in 2005, the CIA destroyed several hundred hours of videotapes depicting torturous interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, probably including water boarding. The former U.S. official involved in discussions about the tapes reported widespread concern that “something as explosive as this would probably get out,” according to the Los Angeles Times. This destruction of evidence may violate several laws. And it remains to be seen how high up the chain of command the criminality goes.</p>
<p>Now that the videotape scandal has come to light, Bush and his men are back in damage control mode. CIA Director Michael Hayden minimized the significance of the destruction, claiming the tapes were destroyed “only after it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative or judicial inquiries.” These claims are disingenuous.</p>
<p>The tapes likely portray U.S. officials engaged in torture, which violates three U.S.-ratified treaties as well as the U.S. Torture Statute and the War Crimes Act.</p>
<p>Bush justifies his administration’s “harsh interrogation techniques” by maintaining that Zubaydah, under interrogation, fingered Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. But according to investigative journalist Ron Suskind in his 2006 book One Percent Doctrine, it was a “walk-in” who led the CIA to Mohammed in return for a $25 million reward.</p>
<p>Zubaydah evidently wasn’t a top al Qaeda leader. Dan Coleman, one of the FBI’s leading experts on al Qaeda, said Zubaydah “knew very little about real operations, or strategy.” Moreover, Zubaydah was schizophrenic, according to Coleman. “This guy is insane, certifiable split personality.” Coleman’s views were echoed at the top levels of the CIA and were communicated to Bush and Cheney. But Bush scolded CIA director George Tenet, saying, “I said [Zubaydah] was important. You’re not going to let me lose face on this, are you?” Zubaydah’s minor role in al Qaeda and his apparent insanity were kept secret.</p>
<p>In response to the torture, Zubaydah told his interrogators about myriad terrorist targets al Qaeda had in its sights: the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statute of Liberty, shopping malls, banks, supermarkets, water systems, nuclear plants, and apartment buildings. Al Qaeda was close to building a crude nuclear bomb, Zubaydah reported. None of this was corroborated but the Bush gang reacted to each report zealously.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed the government’s duty to provide criminal defendants with any evidence in the government’s possession that might tend to exonerate the defendant or impeach the prosecutor’s case. Zacarias Moussaoui tried to subpoena Zubaydah to testify at his trial. On May 9, 2003, Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Novak and David Raskin lied to U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema, who presided over Moussaoui’s trial. When the judge asked “whether the interrogations are being recorded in any format”?, the U.S. Attorneys, evidently relying on information from the CIA, said “No.” This is obstruction of justice.</p>
<p>When Zubaydah and al-Nashiri go before the military commissions, they will undoubtedly raise their torture as a defense to whatever crimes they face. Yet the evidence of that torture has been destroyed by the government.</p>
<p>There was no way of knowing whether these tapes could have intelligence value in the future. Indeed, the government defied the 2003 and 2004 demands of the 9/11 Commission by failing to turn over the videotaped interrogations. Now the CIA is parsing words by claiming the commission never directly asked for videotapes. “We asked for every single thing they had,” commission co-chairman Thomas Kean said. “And then my vice chairman, Lee Hamilton, looked the director of the CIA in the face, and said, ‘Look, even if we haven’t asked for something, if it’s pertinent to our investigation, make it available to us.'” Hamilton said the CIA “clearly obstructed” the commission’s investigation.</p>
<p>At the same time the 9/11 Commission was denied the tapes, the ACLU filed Freedom of Information Act requests seeking records of the treatment of all detainees held in U.S. custody abroad since 9/11. When the government refused to comply with the FOIA requests, the ACLU sued in federal court in New York On September 15, 2004, U.S. District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein ordered the CIA and other government agencies to “produce or identify” all requested documents within one month. They are still not forthcoming. The ACLU has filed a motion to hold the CIA in contempt of court for refusing to comply with Judge Hellerstein’s order.</p>
<p>When the destruction of the tapes became public, both the House and Senate intelligence committees opened investigations, and subpoenaed witnesses and documents to shed light on the matter. Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to cooperate and tried to put the kabosh on the congressional probes, asking them to wait until he had finished his own internal investigation. But after criticism in the media, the CIA relented and agreed to produce documents and the testimony of acting CIA general counsel John Rizzo.</p>
<p>The decision to destroy the tapes was allegedly made by Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., who was chief of the Directorate of Operations, the CIA’s clandestine service. Although the House intelligence committee has subpoenaed Rodriguez, there is no indication his bosses will allow him to testify.</p>
<p>The Sunday Times (London) reported that Rodriguez may seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying before the House intelligence committee. Rodriguez’s testimony could be explosive.</p>
<p>At least four top White House lawyers participated in discussions with the CIA between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy the videotapes. They included Alberto Gonzales, David Addington (Cheney’s former counsel, now his chief of staff), Harriet Miers, and John Bellinger (former senior attorney at the National Security Council). The New York Times quoted a former senior intelligence official as saying there was “vigorous sentiment” among some high White House officials to destroy the tapes.</p>
<p>Two former CIA officials, Vincent Cannistrano and Larry Johnson, think it highly unlikely Rodriguez made the decision to destroy the tapes on his own. George W. Bush “has no recollection” of hearing about the existence or destruction of the tapes before Hayden briefed him on December 13. Yet given Bush’s keen interest in Zubaydah’s interrogation, it seems more likely the President was involved with the decision to destroy the tapes.</p>
<p>During his Senate confirmation hearing, Michael Mukasey refused to opine about whether water boarding constitutes torture. Mukasey knew the Bush administration had admitted water boarding prisoners, and that torture is a war crime under the U.S. War Crimes Act. Mukasey was shielding his future bosses from criminal liability as war criminals. Now the Department of Justice, under Mukasey, is investigating the destruction of the tapes.</p>
<p>Justice Department regulations call for the appointment of an outside special counsel when (1) a criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted, (2) the investigation or prosecution of that person or matter by a United States Attorney’s Office or litigating division of the Department of Justice would present a conflict of interest for the Department, and (3) under the circumstances it would be in the public interest to appoint an outside Special Counsel to assume responsibility for the matter. When these three conditions are satisfied, the attorney general must select a special counsel from outside the government. (28 C.F.R. 600.1, 600.3 (2007).)</p>
<p>When he was a federal judge, Michael Mukasey issued the material witness warrant for Jose Padilla. The warrant was based partly on information from Abu Zubaydah. It is not clear whether Mukasey knew Zubaydah’s statements were obtained by torture. But since he issued the warrant, Mukasey has a real or apparent conflict of interest. He has said it is premature to appoint an outside special counsel. But like the Nixon administration, the Department of Justice cannot be trusted to investigate itself. Congress should be pressured to pass a new independent counsel statute.</p>
<p>MARJORIE COHN is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Torture Tape Cover-Up | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/12/27/the-torture-tape-cover-up/ | 2007-12-27 | 4 |
<p>A new laboratory technique enables biologists to “edit” the genetic makeup of entire species for purposes ranging from the benevolent to the nefarious, with the “potential to cause ecological mayhem,” Antonio Regalado <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/view/529146/protect-society-from-our-inventions-say-genome-editing-scientists/" type="external">reports</a> in MIT Technology Review.</p>
<p>“Gene drive,” Regalado writes in a review of current articles on the topic, “would cause chosen genes, including man-made ones, to quickly spread through a species as its members reproduce.” He cites a new report in Science that gives background on the method:</p>
<p>[A] gene drive involves stimulating biased inheritance of particular genes to alter entire populations of organisms. It was first proposed more than a decade ago, and researchers have been developing gene drive approaches to alter mosquitoes to slow the spread of malaria and dengue fever. Although progress has been quite slow, recent advances in gene editing could lead to a rapid application of gene drive approaches to other species.</p>
<p>Researchers have already used the method to design mosquitos that produce only male offspring “with the idea of releasing them in the wild to cause a population crash, thereby reducing malaria,” Regalado explains. Any number of other ends could be imagined.</p>
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<p>Regalado quotes James Collins, an expert in genetic engineering at Arizona State University, as saying in an editorial: “gene drives present environmental and security challenges.” A separate article cited by Regalado has experts warning that “[t]he possibility of unwanted ecological effects and near-certainty of spread across political borders demand careful assessment of each potential application.”</p>
<p>Regalado puts the cause for concern plainly:</p>
<p>The fear is that the gene drives might run amok and affect wild populations of plants, animals, or insects. The faster an organism reproduces, the quicker a gene could spread. Any gene variants given an artificial boost could eliminate other versions of those genes, whose potential evolutionary importance scientists have no idea of. Also, the technology could be used to create weapons that destroy agricultural crops or create super pests.</p>
<p>In consideration of these dangers, some scientists are calling for a voluntary moratorium on development of the technique “until its safety is better understood,” just as scientists did in the 1970s when they learned how to alter DNA, Regalado writes. “Today, genetic research is moving even faster, but with few if any constraints on laboratory science.”</p>
<p>Scientists in an editorial cited by Regalado asked for help from regulators and the rest of the scientific community in controlling their creation:</p>
<p>For emerging technologies that affect the global commons, concepts and applications should be published in advance of construction, testing, and release. This lead time enables public discussion of environmental and security concerns, research into areas of uncertainty, and development and testing of safety features. It allows adaptation of regulations and conventions in light of emerging information on benefits, risks, and policy gaps. Most important, in the case of gene drives, lead time will allow for broadly inclusive and well informed public discussion to determine when and how gene driver should be used.&#160;</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p> | Save Us From Our Frankensteins, Genome-Editing Scientists Urge | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/save-us-from-our-frankensteins-genome-editing-scientists-urge/ | 2014-07-19 | 4 |
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<p>On Friday, that tapestry, purchased for Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest the year before the war began from a Munich art gallery owned by a Jewish family, will be formally returned in a ceremony in Germany. It will eventually be displayed at the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.</p>
<p>“The tapestry has been on a journey, and now it’s going home,” Hinz said.</p>
<p>The tapestry’s trip back to Germany began when Hinz gave it to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. Enough was known about its past that Gordon “Nick” Mueller, president and CEO of the museum, and Robert Edsel, a board member and founder of the Dallas-based Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, knew it needed to be returned to its rightful owner.</p>
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<p>So Edsel began untangling the mystery.</p>
<p>Hinz’s father, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Paul Danahy, often told the story of taking the tapestry after being struck by the historical significance of the moment after his 101st Airborne Division made it to the Eagle’s Nest above Berchtesgaden and began interrogating German officers. Danahy, who served in the war as an intelligence officer, died in 1986 at the age of 71, and the tapestry eventually landed on the wall of Hinz’s dining room.</p>
<p>Seeing carefully preserved tapestries on a trip to Italy in 2000 gave Hinz pause about continuing to keep the 7-foot-by-7-foot tapestry depicting a courtly hunting scene. She knew it was time to let go of it, she just wasn’t sure how.</p>
<p>Edsel said the key was determining whether the September 1938 sale of the tapestry would have been considered forced. His foundation endeavors not only to honor but also continue the work of the Monuments Men, a group of art experts from more than a dozen countries who worked with Allied forces to protect cultural treasures during the war, and afterward to return works stolen by the Nazis.</p>
<p>Thomas R. Kline, a Washington D.C.-based attorney who specializes in art restitution, said multiple factors can go into determining if a sale was forced. For instance, some gallery owners decided to sell collections for fear the Nazis would confiscate them anyway.</p>
<p>It was the family of Konrad Bernheimer, a present-day Munich art dealer, who owned the gallery that sold the tapestry.</p>
<p>“My first reaction was, if you have the invoice then let’s have a look at how much they paid,” Bernheimer said. “There are two possibilities: Either it was sold below the actual value — then it would indicate that this was a false sale. Or it was sold at the full price — then I would not be able to say it’s a false sale.”</p>
<p>Bernheimer said he didn’t consider it a false sale because the full price — about $10,000 U.S. dollars at the time — was paid. “Not everything that was sold between 1933 and 1945 could be considered a false sale,” he said.</p>
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<p>Bernheimer said that up until the Nazis’ attacks on Jewish synagogues, businesses, schools and homes on Kristallnacht in November 1938, his family was convinced they were safe. After that, family members were taken to a concentration camp, and the Nazis took over their gallery. They were eventually able to rebuild the business after the war.</p>
<p>So with Bernheimer not laying claim to it, the tapestry goes to the Bavarian State, the heir to items once belonging to Hitler. Bavarian National Museum official Alfred Grimm said the tapestry will be restored, studied and then displayed at the museum.</p>
<p>Edsel said the return is a reminder to family members of World War II soldiers to be aware of what items might be found in their homes.</p>
<p>“They’re going to inherit these things, and so this is going to be a good chance for us if we can make sure people are aware of the foundation to come forward without feeling any sense of concern about getting in trouble — that’s not what we’re about,” he said.</p>
<p>Edsel founded his group in 2007 and has written several books on the efforts to save art during WWII, including “The Monuments Men,” on which the 2014 George Clooney movie of the same name was based. Last fall he announced his foundation would likely be closing due to a lack of funds, but it was reinvigorated after a donation and the offer to participate in a television show called “Hunting Nazi Treasure” that will air next year.</p>
<p>Hinz, who is traveling to Munich for the return ceremony, said she’s been a bit nostalgic about seeing the tapestry go so far away, but says it feels right.</p>
<p>“My thought was, you know, it never was ours to begin with. It’s something that came into our lives as a result of a moment in history, but the tapestry itself is so much more than our history with it,” she said.</p>
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<p>Online:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/" type="external">http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/</a></p> | Tapestry from Hitler’s alpine retreat returning to Germany | false | https://abqjournal.com/909400/tapestry-from-hitlers-alpine-retreat-returning-to-germany.html | 2016-12-15 | 2 |
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<p>With video of a passenger being dragged off one of its planes going viral, United Airlines has faced public outrage&#160;all week. The company vowed to no longer have police remove passengers from overbooked flights, but&#160;some consumers may still feel wary. (United Airlines did&#160;not respond to Credit.com’s request for comment by press time.)</p>
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<p>If you’re thinking about&#160;taking your business&#160;elsewhere, these four cards from other airlines may be worth considering.</p>
<p>British Airways Visa Signature Credit Card</p>
<p>Why We Picked It: A sweet signup bonus and the opportunity to earn a companion ticket.</p>
<p>Rewards Details:&#160;Travelers earn 50,000 bonus Avios, (the British Airways version of points), after spending $3,000 in the first three months. They’ll earn an additional 25,000 bonus Avios after they spend $10,000 within the first year. In terms of rewards, cardmembers receive three Avios per dollar on British Airways purchases and one Avio per dollar on everything else. Every&#160;year you spend $30,000, you’ll earn a Travel Together ticket good for two years, allowing you to bring a companion on a reward flight without using additional Avios.</p>
<p>Annual Fee: $95</p>
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<p>APR: Variable 16.74% to 23.74%</p>
<p>Citi / AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard</p>
<p>Why We Picked It: This card offers a competitive rate of return and a rarely seen points redemption.</p>
<p>Rewards Details: In-flight food and beverage purchases on American Airlines flights net a 25% discount while members earn two miles for every dollar spent on AA purchases and one mile per dollar on everything&#160;else. Redeem your miles, and you’ll get 10% back, up to 10,000 miles per year. Spend $1,000 in the first three months, and you’ll earn a 30,000-point bonus.</p>
<p>Annual Fee: None the first year, then $95</p>
<p>APR: Variable 16.49% to 24.49%</p>
<p>JetBlue Plus Card From Barclaycard</p>
<p>Why We Picked It: This popular card offers a stellar rate of return for&#160;loyal fliers, a 10% point redemption and a free first checked bag.</p>
<p>Rewards Details: Fans earn&#160;six points on JetBlue purchases, two points on dining and groceries and one point on everything else. They&#160;can also earn 30,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 90 days. Points are redeemable&#160;for any seat on JetBlue flights, and there are no blackout dates. Every&#160;anniversary, members receive a 5,000-point bonus.</p>
<p>Annual Fee: $99</p>
<p>APR: Variable 12.74%, 20.74% or 25.74, based on creditworthiness</p>
<p>Southwest Airlines&#160;Rapid Rewards Plus</p>
<p>Why We Picked It:&#160;A decent&#160;rate of return and the chance&#160;to score&#160;a Companion Pass&#160;after taking 100 qualifying one-way flights or earning 110,000 qualifying points. First and second checked bags fly free.</p>
<p>Rewards Details: Travelers earn two points for every dollar spent on Southwest Airlines flights as well as hotel and car rental partners. They earn one point for every dollar spent everywhere&#160;else&#160;and receive a 3,000-point bonus every&#160;anniversary. Spend $1,000 in the first three months, and you’ll&#160;earn 40,000 points.</p>
<p>Annual Fee: $69</p>
<p>APR: Variable 16.74% to 23.74%</p>
<p>Want more options for cards that help you earn miles? Here are <a href="https://www.credit.com/credit-cards/content/best-credit-cards-for-airline/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=travel_card_alternatives_united&amp;utm_content=IB_1" type="external">more of our favorites. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Before You Apply</p>
<p>Remember, before&#160;you apply for any credit card it’s a good idea to check the terms and&#160;conditions to ensure&#160;it’s the right fit. Another smart move is checking your credit to make sure&#160;you’re able to qualify. (You can <a href="https://www.credit.com/free-credit-score/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_campaign=travel_card_alternatives_united&amp;utm_content=IB_2" type="external">view two of your credit scores for free on Credit.com Opens a New Window.</a>.) If the annual fee is&#160;too high or the rewards aren’t something you’ll use, consider applying&#160;for&#160;a simple&#160;cash-back card or a card&#160;that focuses&#160;on building your credit.</p>
<p>Note: It’s important to remember that interest rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products frequently change. As a result, rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products cited in these articles may have changed since the date of publication. Please be sure to verify current rates, fees and terms with credit card issuers, banks or other financial institutions directly.</p>
<p>This article originally appeared on <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2017/04/ditching-united-here-are-4-solid-airline-credit-card-alternatives-169774/" type="external">Credit.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Jill Krasny is an editor at Credit.com. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, The Financial Times and Travel + Leisure. <a href="http://blog.credit.com/author/jill-krasny/?utm_source=Fox" type="external">More by Jill Krasny Opens a New Window.</a></p> | Ditching United? Here Are 4 Solid Airline Credit Card Alternatives | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/14/ditching-united-here-are-4-solid-airline-credit-card-alternatives.html | 2017-04-14 | 0 |
<p>Filmmakers using drones to film the active volcano in Vanuatu kept losing their remotely-controlled vehicles, either from being swallowed in the molten lave or from being damaged by the extreme temperatures. But fortunately, they were able to get some incredible footage in the meantime.</p>
<p>"It's a glimpse into the center of the Earth," said Sam Cossman, who was a filmmaker on the project. "It's like listening to the heartbeat of the planet."</p>
<p>From <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/environment/drones-sacrificed-volcano-science" type="external">IFLS:</a></p>
<p>Marum crater is a 7.5-mile-wide caldera in Ambrym, a volcanic island in the archipelago of Vanuatu, with poisonous chlorine and sulfur gases that rise from its vent. The large volcanic crater made news last September when a <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/environment/video-man-climbs-active-volcano" type="external">daredevil donned a protective suit</a> and rappelled as close as he could to the churning lake of lava.</p>
<p>However, the purpose of this particular mission was to investigate how quickly microbial colonization happens on nearby rocks. "The instant the rock cools to below about 120 degrees Celsius, it's considered an inhabitable environment," said Jeffrey Marlow, a geobiologist from California Institute of Technology, who participated in the study. "Getting a handle on how microbes colonize this particular substrate is a good example of what will happen across the planet and has happened across the planet throughout geological time."</p>
<p>Watch the amazing footage in the video below, via <a href="http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/news/150220-volcano-drones-vin?utm_source=Facebook&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_content=link_fb20150224video-volcanodronesvod&amp;utm_campaign=Content&amp;sf7631860=1" type="external">National Geographic:</a></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.growshop-highfive.com/where-to-buy-puffco-plus-online-lowest-price" type="external">puffco plus weed</a></p>
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<p>73256 272820Utilizing writers exercises such as chunking. They use numerous websites that contain several creative writing exercises. Writers read an exercise, and do it. 890895</p>
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<p /> | Explorers send drones on suicide missions to capture incredible volcano footage | true | http://deadstate.org/explorers-send-drones-on-suicide-missions-to-capture-incredible-volcano-footage/ | 2015-03-03 | 4 |
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<p>Christopher Cruz, left, and Donovan Maez appear for arraignment in District Court on Friday in the fatal shooting of Jaydon Chavez-Silver. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Three youths charged with murder in the fatal drive-by shooting of Manzano High School athlete Jaydon Chavez-Silver at a party in the Northeast Heights in June remain in custody after entering not-guilty pleas Friday before 2nd Judicial District Judge Cristina Jaramillo.</p>
<p>Jaramillo continued the $250,000 cash-only bail for Donovan J. Maez, 18; Nicholas Gonzales, 17, also known as Nicholas Villasenor; and Christopher Cruz, 21, also known as Christopher Marley.</p>
<p>All three are charged with first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement, attempted murder, shooting at an occupied dwelling, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and conspiracy for those crimes.</p>
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<p>Chavez-Silver was at a house on Nakomis NE when he was shot, but apparently wasn't the target of the shooting, according to detectives. They have said a drug debt and a fight before the June 26 shooting were apparent motives.</p>
<p>Nicholas Gonzales appears for arraignment in District Court. He is one of three people charged with the killing of Jaydon Chavez-Silver. (Dean Hanson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>In court Friday, KOAT reported, Chavez-Silver's mother pleaded with the judge to set bail for all three at $250,000, cash only.</p>
<p>"They still have a life to live, and my son doesn't because they took that away," an emotional Nicole Chavez said. "They took that from us."</p>
<p>Chavez wasn't the only mother in court. State Rep. Stephanie Maez, D-Albuquerque, was also there, wiping away tears as her son was called up.</p>
<p>The judge set bail for all three at $250,000, cash only.</p>
<p>Jaramillo, who is also the assigned criminal judge on the case, said at the arraignment that she would consider motions at a later date.</p>
<p>Donovan Maez's attorney, John Day of Egolf, Ferlic &amp; Day, said afterward that prosecutors had just handed over discovery materials on Friday and that he might seek his client's release.</p>
<p>"It would make sense to revisit the bond at a later date," he said.</p>
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<p>Day's law partner is state Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe.</p>
<p>Prosecutors have filed an initial witness list that includes nearly 40 officers of the Albuquerque Police Department, including lead detective J. Gonterman, officers at the scene, detectives who conducted multiple interviews and crime lab personnel.</p>
<p>The witness list also includes more than a dozen people who attended the party at 1101 Nakomis NE, where the homicide occurred, including two residents of the home.</p>
<p>Other witnesses provided information about Twitter posts and about a prior incident.</p>
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<p /> | Trio plead not guilty in drive-by shooting of Manzano High student | false | https://abqjournal.com/639705/trio-plead-not-guilty-in-driveby-shooting-of-manzano-high-student.html | 2 |
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<p>Mendoza knows she needs to stay healthy. During a tightly wound legislative session, a week or two lost to illness is tough to make up. Now in her 14th year as a committee secretary, she doesn’t recall being sick during a session.</p>
<p>Mendoza and more than 400 other seasonal workers who make the session hum put their regular routines on hold to make the annual pilgrimage to the Roundhouse.</p>
<p>Penny Mendoza, left, and Henrietta Leos are veteran legislative workers and, like many of their Roundhouse colleagues, each year, they put their lives on hold for a month or two as they make the daily trek to the Capitol (Vik Jolly/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>They brave long work hours and sometimes rough weather. They have to delegate tasks – in Mendoza’s case, the care of about 50 rescue cats and a few dogs – to others until they can return to their routines, their rest-of-the-year lives. For some, that’s retirement.</p>
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<p>For Henrietta Leos, a former state worker who serves as a senator’s secretary during the session, the Legislature provides a “government fix” and money to travel to exotic places.</p>
<p>Mendoza dedicates much of her time, energy and the money she takes in from working the session to rescue animals in Cerrillos and help animal control authorities find homes for them.</p>
<p>Even though workdays during the legislative session stretch beyond 12 hours, Mendoza said she loves it. “It’s a vacation for me from taking care of the animals,” said Mendoza, 75.</p>
<p>While Mendoza stays in Santa Fe with a friend rather than returning home every day, Leos makes the 80-mile round-trip between Santa Fe and Bernalillo.</p>
<p>Half-awake, Leos throws on makeup and is at the train station by 6:15 most mornings.</p>
<p>“The lines are so long,” she said. “I freeze out there for 15 minutes.”</p>
<p>Once in Santa Fe, she and dozens of others head straight for the shuttle to the Capitol.</p>
<p>After retiring from the Transportation Department in 2009, Leos says she couldn’t stay away from government altogether.</p>
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<p>The 58-year-old widow lived in Santa Fe back then, but she bought a retirement home in Bernalillo. Leos volunteers for a nonprofit in her retired life and takes care of a grandchild one day a week.</p>
<p>“I can’t wait to get back to my happy little retirement,” she said.</p>
<p>Leos greets all of her senator’s visitors, studies capital outlay requests and keeps on top of more than two dozen bills.</p>
<p>Mendoza tracks committee meetings with more than two dozen items on the docket at times and pores over reports late into the night.</p>
<p>Both know about the hot-button issues of the session, but they keep their opinions to themselves.</p>
<p>Mendoza and Leos share a special camaraderie with other secretaries – referred to as the “Room 300 Cub” after their office room number – occasionally cooking with crockpots for shared meals.</p>
<p>It just takes a few months away from the Capitol and they’re ready to swing into the session anew.</p>
<p>“It’s exciting,” Leos said. “I start looking forward to it around Thanksgiving.”</p>
<p>All seasonal employees apply for their posts every year, which run the gamut from analysts and sergeant at arms to administrative staff and maintenance workers. This year, the Senate side has 213 full-time workers, the House more than 230.</p>
<p>“This is our government fix for the year,” Leos said. “I see myself doing it until I am too old to do it.”</p>
<p>As long as she and Mendoza keep washing their hands, there’s no telling how many more sessions the pair will work.</p>
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<p /> | Some 450 seasonal workers descend on Santa Fe to keep session going | false | https://abqjournal.com/555716/some-450-seasonal-workers-descend-on-santa-fe-to-keep-session-going.html | 2 |
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<p>Beaten-down shares of <a href="" type="internal">Research in Motion</a> (NASDAQ:RIMM) soared double-digits Wednesday morning in response to reports that a number of tech heavyweights recently mulled making buyout offers for the embattled <a href="" type="internal">BlackBerry</a> maker.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>According to The <a href="" type="internal">Wall Street</a> Journal, <a href="" type="internal">Microsoft</a> (NASDAQ:MSFT) and <a href="" type="internal">Nokia</a> (NYSE:NOK) flirted with the notion of a joint bid for Canada’s RIM, but the status of the talks remains unclear.</p>
<p>Likewise, Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) hired an investment bank this summer to explore a potential RIM bid, but did not make a formal offer because initial overtures were rejected, Reuters reported. The report added it’s not clear if the informal discussions ever led to specific price talk.</p>
<p>The reports buoyed the spirits of shareholders, who have largely been calling for bold action such as a sale or a shuffle of RIM's front office due to the company’s continued market erosion. Last week the former smartphone leader revealed a 71% plunge in earnings and a delay of a key new line of phones, sending its stock plunging to multiyear lows.</p>
<p>"They have had approaches from folks who have wanted to have discussions," an investment-banking source told Reuters. "The issue is it is hard to find a value that makes sense with a falling knife."</p>
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<p>Shareholders probably shouldn’t get their takeover hopes up, however. According to the Journal, co-CEO Jim Balsillie has indicated he wants to wait for the launch of the new BlackBerry next year before seriously considering potential buyout offers.</p>
<p>Instead, RIM is expected to weigh a number of more modest options, such as new licensing opportunities and avenues to leverage the company’s network.</p>
<p>RIM’s board wants Balsillie and co-CEO Mike Lazardis to zero in on a turnaround plan focused on new devices, better use of assets and restructuring, Reuters reported. An outright sale or joint venture isn’t in the cards for now, the wire service reported.</p>
<p>That didn’t stop Wall Street from ratcheting up the sale pressure on RIM, sending its stock as much as 12% higher at Wednesday’s open. RIM, which has plummeted nearly 80% this year, was recently up 8.87% to $13.64.</p>
<p>Led by activist shareholder Jaguar Financial, a number of shareholders have called on RIM to sell itself or certain parts of its business.</p>
<p>Shares of Microsoft, which acquired Skype for $8.5 billion in May, slid 0.50% to $25.90 Wednesday morning, compared with a 1.42% drop on the Nasdaq Composite. Amazon.com was recently off 0.96% to $180.83.</p> | Reports: Microsoft, Amazon Explored Research in Motion Bids | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/12/21/reports-microsoft-amazon-explored-research-in-motion-bids.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>Image: Mark Hooper</p>
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<p>On August 7, thousands of state legislators and corporate lobbyists were scheduled to descend on Orlando, Florida, for the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. There, they could play golf, listen to speeches by Secretary of Education Rod Paige and Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, and attend the Thomas Jefferson Freedom Award Banquet, raising a glass to limited government. Those able to resist the lure of Epcot and Gatorland could also attend sessions on “free market” reforms designed to minimize government’s role in health care and curb lawsuits by consumers. And all the while, state representatives and business lobbyists would engage in what ALEC calls an “exchange of ideas” about public policy.</p>
<p>But that exchange didn’t end when the conferees returned to their home states. With more than 2,400 state lawmakers as members—roughly one third of the nation’s total—ALEC is a year-round clearinghouse for business-friendly legislation. Its nine task forces, each composed of legislators and representatives from private industry, sit down together to draft model bills on issues ranging from agriculture to school vouchers, which are then introduced in state legislatures across the country.</p>
<p>Though it calls itself “the nation’s largest bipartisan, individual membership association of state legislators,” ALEC might better be described as one of the nation’s most powerful—and least known—corporate lobbies. While other lobbyists focus on the federal government, ALEC gives business a direct hand in writing bills that are considered in state assemblies nationwide. Funded primarily by large corporations, industry groups, and conservative foundations—including R.J. Reynolds, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute—the group takes a chain-restaurant approach to public policy, supplying precooked McBills to state lawmakers. Since most legislators are in session only part of the year and often have no staff to do independent research, they’re quick to swallow what ALEC serves up. In 2000, according to the council, members introduced more than 3,100 bills based on its models, passing 450 into law.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, many of the bills benefit the companies that helped write them. Consider ALEC’s “Environmental Audit Privilege,” a measure that relieves companies of legal responsibility for their own pollution. The bill got its start in 1992, when Colorado regulators fined the Coors Brewing Company for smog-inducing air emissions at several plants. ALEC was quick to respond, drafting a measure to prevent firms from being fined if they report environmental violations at their facilities, and to keep such disclosures secret. Coors is a corporate member of ALEC, and company executive Allan Auger is a past chairman of the group, to which the Coors family’s Castle Rock Foundation is also a donor. Last year, Kentucky and Oregon passed audit-privilege laws like the one drawn up by ALEC.</p>
<p>In another instance of profitable policymaking, ALEC drafted a model “truth in sentencing” bill that restricts parole eligibility for prisoners, keeping inmates locked up longer. One of the members of the task force that drafted the bill was Corrections Corporation of America, the nation’s largest private prison company, which stands to cash in on longer sentences. By the late 1990s, similar sentencing measures had passed in 40 states. “There was never any mention that ALEC or anybody else had any involvement in this,” Walter Dickey, the former head of Wisconsin’s prison system, told reporters after his state passed a version of the measure.</p>
<p>Other corporate-friendly bills drafted by ALEC would require state governments to deregulate electric utilities, repeal minimum-wage laws, limit class-action lawsuits against companies, privatize public pensions, and compensate property owners for environmental regulations that restrict land use. The Electronic Government Securities Act, an ALEC-drafted bill being considered in seven states, would limit state governments from providing Internet services that compete with the private sector.</p>
<p>Many lawmakers welcome the chance to draft such legislation with corporate executives. “It gives you an opportunity to sit down at the same table with all of the companies in the private sector and discuss issues that affect the public,” says Bill Carter, a Republican state representative in Texas who has belonged to the organization for more than a decade. “It’s very helpful.”</p>
<p>But critics charge that the group allows corporations to write public policy in secret. “Where we have trouble with ALEC is the fact that it operates in a very behind-the-scenes fashion,” says Brad DeVries of the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife. “It brings together some of the most powerful corporate interests to sit down and write legislation, which is then offered around the country without their fingerprints on it.”</p>
<p>Indeed, lawmakers sometimes have no idea that they are voting on bills that have been drafted by industry. Fred Bosse, a Democrat in the Texas House, says he discovered ALEC’s pro-business bias when he attended one of the group’s conferences. “I saw that one of the talks was on the greenhouse effect, which was one of the issues I’ve always been interested in,” he recalls. “There was this professor from someplace, and the theme of his talk was that the greenhouse effect is nothing but a scam being advanced by environmental terrorists to destroy business in America.”</p>
<p>In a report issued earlier this year, Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural Resources Defense Council denounced ALEC as a vehicle for corporations to buy access to state legislatures—often with a little help from taxpayers, who in many states foot the travel bill for legislators who attend ALEC meetings. The report found that the group’s corporate donors—some of whom pay membership dues of $50,000 a year—have included Philip Morris, Amoco, Chevron, Enron, and the American Energy Institute. ALEC enjoys what it calls an “impressive presence” among the leadership of state legislatures, with a membership that includes speakers, presidents, and majority and minority leaders in 22 senates and 30 houses. The group’s alumni also include nine governors and more than 80 members of Congress, among them House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Whip Tom DeLay. The council wasn’t always so dominated by business interests. Founded in 1973 by conservative activist Paul Weyrich and a handful of state legislators, ALEC initially positioned itself as a counterweight to liberal foundations and think tanks, focusing on social issues like abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that ALEC shifted its emphasis to drawing up bills that benefit industry. Now the group seeks to “espouse Jeffersonian, free-market principles in the process of formulating innovative policy ideas and solutions,” says ALEC spokesman Joseph Rinzel.</p>
<p>What troubles critics of ALEC, though, is the way those ideas are intentionally divorced from their source. “People can push different ideas,” says DeVries. “But the system only works when we know who’s behind them.”</p>
<p /> | Ghostwriting the Law | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2002/09/ghostwriting-law/ | 2018-09-01 | 4 |
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<p>In today’s economy, debt is a four-letter word — but it can also be essential for growing a business. Here are some options that could help boost your working capital.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Stretching a company’s working capital through various forms of debt can be the source of just enough extra cash to fund revenue-generating marketing programs or help companies manage when customers don’t pay bills on time.</p>
<p>The trick to securing debt is first exploring your funding options long before you can’t make payroll. Your job is to learn what type of loan best matches your operations and customer activity. Here are a few choices to research:</p>
<p>SBA-backed loans</p>
<p>The Small Business Administration (SBA) operates several loan programs for startup and advanced-stage businesses. The first thing to know is that you don’t usually apply directly to the SBA for a loan, but to a local bank that participates in the SBA loan program. Some of these loans provide long-term financing for ambitious real estate or manufacturing expansion programs, while others help business owners buy franchise outlets or start new businesses.</p>
<p>The SBA requires its partner lenders to adhere to strict underwriting guidelines, so it’s not true that SBA-backed loans are easy money. The real advantage of the program benefits partner lenders the most. In addition to bringing in new business, lenders also have the added comfort of being able to turn to the federal government if the borrower doesn’t repay the loan in full.</p>
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<p>Most local SBA websites list partner lenders, which can include big banks and regional community banks. It’s entirely possible to get a “no” from one partner SBA lender and an enthusiastic “yes” from another. Even though SBA administrators are not supposed to recommend one partner bank over another, I find that, when asked in person, they gently steer businesses toward lenders who are most active in a community. Check out www.sba.gov for helpful descriptions of SBA-backed loan programs.</p>
<p>Asset-based lenders (ABLs)</p>
<p>The range of ABLs — financial service companies that offer asset-backed lending — is much broader than most business owners realize. And that’s good news for business owners who may be discouraged by big-bank lending decisions. Asset-based lenders typically advance funds against a company’s accounts receivable, inventory or equipment.</p>
<p>Of course, some lenders are more aggressive than others and will offer lines of credit to younger companies or companies that have recently received a boost of equity from investors. The amount of funds that are advanced under ABLs is dependent on an agreed percentage of the value of the secured assets — typically 70 percent to 80 percent of eligible receivables and 50 percent of finished inventory.</p>
<p>Notice the phrase “eligible receivables.” Commercial lenders cherry-pick your customers, focusing on those that preferably pay in less than 60 days and have strong credit ratings. Sales to individuals or small companies may not be considered as “eligible” for loan advances. Interest rates vary according to the size of the line and financial position of the borrower.</p>
<p>Sometimes banks tack on additional “audit” or due diligence fees that increase the overall costs of borrowing through an ABL. Larger banks tend to ask for personal guarantees of company founders and require companies to transfer all other banking relationships over to the bank, too.</p>
<p>Factors are a close cousin to asset-based lenders in terms of providing extra working capital in exchange for a secured interest in a company’s accounts receivable. With accounts receivable financing, the stability of a company’s customer base is just as important as the creditworthiness of the borrower. It makes sense, too. Factors usually purchase eligible receivables directly from business owners and arrange to have customers submit payments directly to the factor through a “lockbox.”</p>
<p>Today, factors provide financing in a broad range of industries, not just the garment trade, where they predominated in the U.S. up to <a href="" type="internal">World War II</a>. Theirs is usually the first kind of funding companies can receive after emerging from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. But don’t be fooled by the way most factors quote their interest rates. A 1 percent per month interest rate is much more expensive than 1 percent per year.</p>
<p>Revenue-based financing</p>
<p>Revenue-based loans, or RBLs, are a relatively new kind of loan, well suited to growing companies that don’t have a lot of hard assets to lend against. Typically, companies receive an advance of approximately 10 percent of their prior-year revenues. Lenders are paid back each month based on the company’s monthly revenue results. So if revenues are growing, then payment to the RBL lender increases; if revenues are declining, payment is reduced.</p>
<p>Internet, film production and technology companies that receive monthly royalties from licensing deals are good candidates for RBLs. However, RBL lenders rarely work with companies with gross profit margins that fall below 50 percent, which is a high bar for young non-technology companies to achieve.</p>
<p>The cost of an RBL is not usually quoted in interest rate terms, though the effective cost of the capital arrangement typically exceeds 20 percent. Expect all revenue-based lenders to ask for some sort of “equity kicker” in your business in the form of a warrant or common stock.</p>
<p>Microloans</p>
<p>Microfinance companies, which now operate in all 50 states, offer small loans — at rates that are usually below those of small-business credit cards — mostly to first-time business owners, and even to entrepreneurs with a low personal credit score. Loans can range from $500 all the way up to $35,000. The average first microloan is approximately $2,000.</p>
<p>Microloans can be a great solution for many service-oriented startup entrepreneurs who need to buy office, computer, culinary, film production or other supplies to start a viable business. What I like best about the microfinance community is its eagerness to serve business owners in a friendly way. Many microfinance offices also provide helpful training programs on accounting, marketing and sales generation.</p>
<p>Here’s a final tip for networking to sources of debt in your community. In addition to asking other business owners in your social network for referrals, talk to your local accountant — business accountants see the paper trail of lending relationships in their client files.</p> | Taking on Debt to Grow Your Business | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/02/06/taking-on-debt-to-grow-your-business.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
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<p>“In Baghdad and the South, long-oppressed Shiites — 60 percent of Iraq’s population — have the most to gain from democracy and reconstruction. But they are now split. A minority of terrorists led by the firebrand Moktada al-Sadr, under Iran’s influence, are challenging the quietist Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. That ayatollah is keen to protect his following by complaining about the liberation and wrings his hands about Sadr, who has openly declared alliance with Hamas and Hezbollah and war on the West.”</p>
<p>So wrote the conservative New York Times columnist <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/opinion/07SAFI.html" type="external">William Safire</a> in defense of Bush’s Iraq policy. Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani — until recently considered the main obstacle to “progress” in Iraq — is now labelled “quietist.” Clearly, the U.S. has set its bar for radicalism quite a bit higher of late. As the June 30th deadline for the transfer of sovereignty approaches, the violence is getting worse. Over the last few days more than a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3608315.stm" type="external">100 Iraqis</a> and 30 coalition troops have been killed in the worst violence since last May.</p>
<p>The Bush administration says that the surge in violence was only to be expected — that the “terrorists,” fearing that the U.S. is building a successful democracy in Iraq, want to thwart all progress. Violence, the administration would have us believe, is a sign not of the insurgents’ strength but their weakness — they can’t win politically, so they kill in an effort to destabilize Iraq. But if the spike in violence is an indication of the insurgents’ weakness, so is the U.S.’s inability to maintain security in Iraq — this goes for the U.S. troops and the Iraqi police force they have trained. As <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56304-2004Apr6.html" type="external">Harold Meyerson</a> points out in the Washington Post:</p>
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<p>“In Kufa, Najaf and Baghdad’s own Sadr City, the government’s new cops handed over police cars and police stations to the militia without any reported resistance. In some instances, the cops actually joined forces with Sadr’s militants.</p>
<p>Within Iraq, there are thousands of current and potential gunmen willing to fight for their people and their creeds — Kurdish automony, Sunni hegemony, Shiite control, an Islamic republic. But the force charged with defending a pluralistic, united Iraq just went AWOL under fire.</p>
<p>Even Republicans who support Bush’s Iraq policy are questioning whether the U.S. is in control. The Bush administration’s talk of winning “hearts and minds” sounds hollow — especially when congressmen on both sides of the aisle are drawing comparisons to Vietnam. Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy went so far as to call Iraq “George Bush’s Vietnam,” and Sen. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1187437,00.html" type="external">John McCain</a> said, “We have to tell the American people that we are in this for the long haul. We cannot say, as we did in Vietnam, that the light is at the end of the tunnel.”</p>
<p>The U.S.’s goal is to sustain as few casualties as possible before quitting a relatively stable Iraq, but U.S. troops are badly overstretched. With the presidential race in full swing, this is a convenient time for Bush to remember that the U.S. is a member of the United Nations — an organization that could supply troops and play a role in legitimizing Iraq’s political transition. But having gone over the head of the U.N. to invade Iraq, the U.S. has largely sidelined it during the occupation. Besides, even if the U.S. acceded to a central U.N. role in Iraq, it is doubtful that the organization would have either the will or the capacity to take up the offer.</p>
<p>The U.N. will have a hard time convincing its members of the value of the mission. The French and Germans, and others who opposed the war from the get-go, aren’t likely to send troops to sort out the mess created by the U.S. invasion. And the lesson they draw from Madrid is that committing forces to Iraq entails risks both there and at home. Moreover, given the U.S.’s refusal to implement a fair, international bidding process on contracts for Iraq’s reconstruction projects, it is also in a bad position to lecture other countries about the need to donate millions of dollars to rebuild Iraq.</p>
<p>What’s more, the U.N. carries out strictly peace-keeping missions — though its record even in these is mixed — and Iraq hardly qualifies as that.</p>
<p>There are other reasons why the U.N. isn’t in the best position to send troops to Iraq at this time. <a href="http://nytimes.com/2004/04/07/opinion/07WED1.html" type="external">New York Times</a> says:</p>
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<p>“Unfortunately, not only is the role of the U.N. still unsettled, the world organization is suffering from two self-inflicted wounds. One is a kickback scandal of multibillion-dollar proportions swirling around the U.N.-run oil-for-food program that kept ordinary Iraqis from starving during the long years of punishing economic sanctions. The other is the recent finding by an independent investigative panel that oversights in U.N. security management may have worsened the death toll in last August’s terrorist bombing of the Baghdad headquarters.”</p>
<p>That leaves the U.S. and its coalition — minus Spain, Honduras, and whoever else decides to pull out by June 30th — all by themselves to deal with the insurgents. The recent violence weakens Bush’s claims for himself as a “war president.” John Kerry’s criticisms of the Bush administration as unilateral, secretive, and deceptive have been bolstered by damaging testimony by Bush’s former counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke to the 9/11 Commission. And it’s unlikely that Bush’s National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who after much arm-twisting will testify before the commission today, will be able to repair the damage done. With mounting U.S. casualties and the possibility of more mass deployments to Iraq, the Bush administration no longer has public opinion on its side. The <a href="http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=210" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=210" type="external">Pew Center</a> for the People and the Press reports:</p>
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<p>“Public support for war in Iraq has been unaffected by the murders and desecration of the corpses of American citizens in Falluja. However, continued turmoil and violence in Iraq may be taking a toll on President Bush’s approval ratings. More Americans now disapprove of the way he is doing his job than approve, though by only a slight margin (47% disapprove vs. 43% approve). Just four-in-ten approve of the way Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, his lowest rating ever and down from 59% in January. Bush’s evaluations on other issues – the economy, energy and even terrorism – have fallen as well. And by a wide margin (57% to 32%) the public does not think he has a clear plan for bringing the situation in Iraq to a successful conclusion.”</p>
<p>Who is the man to design and carry out such a “clear plan for bringing the situation in Iraq to a successful conclusion”? That, of course, is the question of the hour. But Kerry has no answer, except to criticize the Bush approach. In a radio interview</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Iraq.html?hp" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Iraq.html?hp" type="external">Kerry</a> said that:</p>
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<p>“You don’t set an arbitrary date for the transfer of power to a non entity. You have to make the judgment of stability. I mean, this date it, appears to me, may well have been set by the American election, not by the stability of Iraq.”</p>
<p>The June 30th transfer of sovereignty will be a façade. Iraq is without legitimate political institutions or security structures. Whoever wins the U.S. election, don’t expect U.S. troops to quit “sovereign Iraq” in numbers any time soon.</p>
<p /> | Stuck in Iraq | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2004/04/stuck-iraq/ | 2004-04-08 | 4 |
<p>Today, a rocket was launched at Israel from a Gaza Strip, landing in a field near Ashkelon. This is the latest in a renewed series of attacks that began in late May.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.idfblog.com/blog/2015/06/24/renewal-of-rocket-attacks-on-israel/" type="external">the website of the Israel Defense Forces</a> (IDF):</p>
<p>Nearly a year of relative quiet has been broken by rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Each incident has prompted an Israeli response, aimed to put a stop to these intolerable attacks that threaten the lives of over one million Israeli civilians.</p>
<p>The IDF reports on rocket attacks beginning May 26, and occurring on June 3, 6 and 23, along with the latest attack today.</p>
<p>No injuries have been reported as a result of any of these attacks.</p>
<p>In each instance, the IDF struck numerous "terror targets" in the Gaza Strip, both north and south, all resulting in confirmed hits.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">JOIN TheRebel.media</a> for more fearless news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else.Who are Canada's radical Muslim leaders? <a href="" type="external">FIND OUT and fight back at CanadianJihad.ca</a></p> | IDF: Rocket attacks on Israel have resumed | true | http://therebel.media/idf_rocket_attacks_on_israel_have_resumed | 2015-07-16 | 0 |
<p>Google is ready to start sending out the latest version of its Android operating system to a handful of devices.</p>
<p>The release announced Monday means many Nexus-branded devices should receive a free upgrade to Android 7.0, nicknamed "Nougat," during the next few weeks.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The first models in line include the Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, Nexus Player, Pixel C and General Mobile 4G.</p>
<p>Other smartphones coming out this fall will be sold with Nougat already installed.</p>
<p>The new version of Android has been in a testing phase since March as Google polished the system that will feature 72 new emojis and the ability to reply to notifications without opening an app.</p>
<p>Rival Apple is scheduled to release the latest operating system for the iPhone next month.</p> | Google rolling out latest Android system to Nexus phones | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/08/22/google-rolling-out-latest-android-system-to-nexus-phones.html | 2016-08-22 | 0 |
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<p>Dear Retirement Adviser,&#160;</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Our home is paid off with a value of more than $400,000. We are in our mid-70s and would like to use some of the equity to increase our income and giving. Our only debt is a credit card, which we pay off each month. Should I consider refinancing at these low rates?</p>
<p>Thanks,&#160;</p>
<p>- Jack Juncture</p>
<p>Dear Jack,</p>
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<p>Retired seniors are, unfortunately, having problems qualifying for conventional mortgages. Today's loan underwriting model focuses on income and credit history. With your credit card payment history, I'd expect that your credit score is good. At the same time, you need a retirement income stream to get the loan approved.</p>
<p>I'm particularly uncomfortable with the idea that you'd like to borrow against the equity in your home to increase your giving. Financially speaking, that's a bad idea, regardless of whether it's for charitable giving or a gifting program for family members. While generosity is wonderful, you can't anticipate your future financial needs as a couple. Borrowing money to give to others reduces your financial flexibility and could cause you potential difficulty.</p>
<p>I can understand wanting to tap your home's equity to free up funds for spending. With conventional financing, you'd get a big lump sum upfront and then have to pay the interest expense on the entire lump sum. Sure, you can invest what you don't need, but it's still a drag on the budget because you're unlikely to earn more than you must pay in interest.</p>
<p>A home equity line of credit lets you borrow less upfront and to draw against a line of credit as needed. These kinds of adjustable-rate loans are interest-only in the early years but have higher interest rates than conventional loans. As I write this, Bankrate's national average for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage is 3.21%, versus 5.12% for a home equity line of credit.</p>
<p>A home equity conversion mortgage may be a better, viable option. While closing costs can be expensive, you get a lower fixed-rate than the home equity line of credit. You also get the option of borrowing only what you need, avoiding a monthly loan payment.</p>
<p>Get more news, money-saving tips and expert advice by signing up for a free <a href="http://app.bankrate.com/prefcenter/signup.cfm?t=newsletter" type="external">Bankrate newsletter Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Ask the adviser</p>
<p>To ask a question of the Retirement Adviser, go to the " <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/brm/ask.asp" type="external">Ask the Experts Opens a New Window.</a>" page and select "Retirement" as the topic. Read more <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/advisers/retirement-adviser.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Retirement Adviser Opens a New Window.</a> columns and more <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/individual-retirement-accounts.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">stories Opens a New Window.</a> about retirement.</p>
<p>Bankrate's content, including the guidance of its advice-and-expert columns and this website, is intended only to assist you with financial decisions. The content is broad in scope and does not consider your personal financial situation. Bankrate recommends that you seek the advice of advisers who are fully aware of your individual circumstances before making any final decisions or implementing any financial strategy. Please remember that your use of this website is governed by <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/coinfo/disclaimer.asp" type="external">Bankrate's Terms of Use Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2013, Bankrate Inc.</p> | Borrow Against Your Home While in Retirement? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/06/06/borrow-against-your-home-while-in-retirement.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
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<p>DEL RIO, Texas - An internal affairs investigation into a fatal shooting by Del Rio police has led to the resignation of two probationary officers and the suspension of seven police officers.</p>
<p>KENS-TV ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1G05Yni" type="external">http://bit.ly/1G05Yni</a> ) reports Del Rio Police Chief Waylon Bullard suspended the officers last month and the two officers resigned in lieu of being fired. Capt. Fred Knoll said Monday the officers would not be charged in the Feb. 17 shooting.</p>
<p>According to court documents, 50-year-old Pedro Saldivar was fatally shot after his semitrailer moved toward Del Rio police officers and members of the Val Verde County Sheriff's Office.</p>
<p>Documents say the internal investigation revealed the discharge of weapons put officers and citizens in danger, and a supervisor officer failed to manage personnel, causing the rest of the city to not be properly covered.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KENS-TV, <a href="http://www.kens5.com" type="external">http://www.kens5.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 2 Del Rio officers resign, 7 suspended in fatal shooting | false | https://abqjournal.com/647906/2-del-rio-officers-resign-7-suspended-in-fatal-shooting.html | 2 |
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<p>Image source: Exelon.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: Shares of giant utility Exelon Corporation jumped 14% in March after it finally got approval to buy Pepco Holdings.</p>
<p>So what: After two years of negotiations with regulators and other stakeholders, Exelon finally bought the east coast utility Pepco, making it the biggest utility in the country. The hope for investors is that more scale will lead to lower administrative costs for utilities, and maybe even more bargaining power with suppliers.</p>
<p>One of the reasons the acquisition took so long was customer and regulator concerns that the larger utility would lead to higher rates. That remains to be seen, but if that happens it would be a benefit for investors.</p>
<p>Now what: While investors were excited for the Exelon-Pepco merger to finally be over, it points to a larger problem utilities face nationwide. Competition from energy innovations like rooftop solar and even energy efficiency has led to flat, or even declining, demand for the country as a whole. For companies like Exelon to find growth they have to acquire growth or push through rate increases. If rates go up, it makes competing energy sources more attractive to consumers, perpetuating the downward cycle.</p>
<p>Exelon isn't terribly expensive at 13.5 times trailing earnings, but it does have over $26 billion in debt, which will expand after this deal, and that increases long-term risk. Given the trend of little to no growth in terms of electricity consumption, this is a stock I'll avoid for now. I just see too much disruption coming down the pipeline, and that could hurt profitability long-term.</p>
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<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/07/why-exelon-corporations-shares-popped-14-in-march.aspx" type="external">Why Exelon Corporation's Shares Popped 14% in March Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. 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 Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Exelon Corporation's Shares Popped 14% in March | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/07/why-exelon-corporation-shares-popped-14-in-march.html | 2016-04-07 | 0 |
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