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<p><a href="" type="internal" />WASHINGTON — Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose slightly this week but remained near their lows for the year.</p>
<p>Mortgage company Freddie Mac says the nationwide average for a 30-year loan edged up to 4.12 percent from 4.10 percent last week, where it had stayed for three straight weeks.</p>
<p>The average for a 15-year mortgage, a popular choice for people who are refinancing, rose to 3.26 percent from 3.24 percent.</p>
<p>At 4.12 percent, the rate on a 30-year mortgage is down from 4.53 percent at the start of the year. Rates have fallen even though the Federal Reserve has been trimming its monthly bond purchases, which are intended to keep long-term borrowing rates low. The purchases are set to end next month.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Average US 30-year mortgage rate at 4.12 percent | false | https://abqjournal.com/460451/average-us-30-year-mortgage-rate-at-4-12-percent-3.html | 2 |
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<p>8:50 ET - Eli Lilly (LLY) says positive results from a Phase 3 study of its acute migraine treatment, lasmiditan, allows it to submit a new drug application to the Food and Drug Administration in 2H18. The second Phase 3 trial to end with positive results included three different doses of the oral drug, each dose meeting the key secondary endpoint and showing migraine improvement over a two-hour period compared to the placebo, LLY says. LLY announced it would acquire the drug's maker, CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, in January, after it had succeeded in lasmiditan's first of two Phase 3 trials. LLY is up 1% premarket. ([email protected])</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>August 04, 2017 09:05 ET (13:05 GMT)</p> | Eli Lilly to Seek FDA Approval for New Migraine Drug -- Market Talk | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/04/eli-lilly-to-seek-fda-approval-for-new-migraine-drug-market-talk.html | 2017-08-04 | 0 |
<p>The Clinton campaign and Democratic Party leaders are again caught in a storm of bad press involving Senator Bernie Sanders and his so-called "revolution."</p>
<p>In an interview on Wednesday, Sanders surrogate and Ohio delegate Nina Turner <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/nina-turner-sanders-democratic-national-convention" type="external">revealed</a> that she was suddenly disallowed on the Democratic National Convention stage on Tuesday. Turner was promised the opportunity to appear on stage during Mr. Sanders’ nomination and seconding speeches just prior to the roll-call vote. According to the Sanders delegate, Sanders himself then informed her that "The Clinton campaign did not want her on the stage."</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Bernie supporters were set-off by the incident, viewing the knock against Turner as yet another bright thread in a tapestry of pro-Clinton bias in coordination with the Democratic National Committee; such bias being highlighted mere days prior via the WikiLeaks dump of DNC <a href="https://wikileaks.org/dnc-emails/" type="external">emails</a>and <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/289541-wikileaks-releases-hacked-dnc-voicemails" type="external">voicemails</a>.</p>
<p>Reportedly, Bernie supporters held signs around the convention which read "I'm with Turner," demonstrating their dissatisfaction.</p>
<p>"I was told it was going to be me and Tulsi," said Turner, referring to Hawaii representative and Sanders supporter Tulsi Gabbard. "But when she arrived at the convention on Tuesday afternoon, she saw that nobody from the Democratic Party was there to greet her or help her prepare for her appearance. She then heard from Sanders: The Clinton campaign did not want her on the stage," <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/07/nina-turner-sanders-democratic-national-convention" type="external">reports</a> Mother Jones.</p>
<p>Though it's obvious Turner was shunned from the stage because of her support for Sanders, party officials haven't bothered explaining their decision.</p>
<p>When asked if it was possible that high-ups nixed her from her stage appearance because they suspected that she was unwilling to endorse the former secretary of state, Turner answered: "No reason was given."</p>
<p>According to Mother Jones, Turner explained that "she still doesn't know exactly what happened. She noted that she had not submitted any prepared text to the convention managers and had not spoken to them about her remarks. She said she had arrived with the expectation she would be on the stage to nominate Sanders or second his nomination."</p>
<p>"Sen. Sanders is in a difficult position," answered Turner, when asked if Sanders pushed back on the Clinton camp at all. "I don't know. I don't want to say," she said.</p>
<p>"The senator wanted Senator Turner to second his nomination and was disappointed that it didn't happen. She has been one of Bernie's strongest supporters," said Sanders' Communication Director Michael Briggs.</p>
<p>Sanders supporters have demanded that Turner have some sort of representation at the DNC, since, in their eyes, the Clinton camp wrongfully shunned her. To that, Turner answered simply, "I don't know. I am still trying to figure out all that happened."</p> | Democrats Kicked A Black Woman Off The DNC Stage For Supporting Sanders | true | https://dailywire.com/news/7897/democrats-kicked-black-woman-dnc-stage-supporting-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2016-07-28 | 0 |
<p />
<p>Staples Inc is in talks with private-equity firms about a potential sale, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, sending shares of the largest U.S. office supplies retailer up more than 10 percent.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A sale to a private equity firm could provide relief from the market pressure facing the retailer, following its failed merger with a rival and increasingly potent online competition.</p>
<p>The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is confidential. Staples spokesman Mark Cautela declined to comment on Tuesday.</p>
<p>In 2015, Staples tried to merge with rival Office Depot Inc to help address its declining sales, but the deal was called off a year later due to antitrust concerns.</p>
<p>Staples and Office Depot have since announced cost-cutting and restructuring plans. Staples last year sold its UK business to restructuring specialist Hilco Capital for a "nominal" amount and a majority stake of its European business to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP.</p>
<p>Framingham, Massachusetts-based Staples had a market value of $5.65 billion as of Monday.</p>
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<p>In the United States, it has been focusing on selling its products to small businesses to help counter the loss of consumers to online retailers and big-box stores such as Costco Wholesale Corp and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Last month, it announced plans to sell roughly 60 stores in North America.</p>
<p>Staples has reported falling sales for the last five years. In its most recent quarter, it recorded a net loss of $615 million and a sales decline of 3 percent compared with the prior year. Staples shares were up 11.1 percent at $9.63 in late morning trading, off an earlier high of $10.00.</p>
<p>The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Staples was exploring a sale.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru and Lauren Hirsch in New York; Editing by Martina D'Couto and Matthew Lewis)</p> | Office Supplies Retailer Staples Explores Sale: Source | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/04/office-supplies-retailer-staples-explores-sale-source.html | 2017-04-04 | 0 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s puzzling tweets about a key U.S. spying law threw the House into temporary disarray Thursday, but lawmakers ended up renewing the law — with a new restriction on when the FBI can dig into the communications of Americans swept up in foreign surveillance.</p>
<p>During a hectic morning of House votes and presidential tweets, Trump’s national intelligence director also issued new guidance for how officials can find out the names of Americans whose identities are blacked out in classified intelligence reports.</p>
<p>Trump has said previous rules were far too lax and led to damaging leaks about top aides, a claim fiercely contested by Democrats.</p>
<p>The new guidelines on “unmasking” Americans, however, were a side show to the House showdown over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, reauthorizing a collection program set to expire on Jan. 19. The bill passed 256-164 and is now headed to the Senate. It would extend for six years the program, which includes massive monitoring of international communications.</p>
<p>Trump has said he’ll sign the renewal, but his first tweets Thursday suggested he had suddenly turned against the program, alarming intelligence officials.</p>
<p>In one tweet, Trump linked the program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia.</p>
<p>The House has passed a bill to reauthorize a key foreign intelligence collection program with an important tweak. It requires the FBI to get a warrant if it wants to view the contents of Americans’ communications swept up in the process. (Jan. 11)</p>
<p>“‘House votes on controversial FISA ACT today,’” Trump wrote, citing a Fox News headline. “This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?”</p>
<p>Trump then spoke by telephone with House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to a Republican familiar with the call but not allowed to publicly discuss private conversations.</p>
<p>And a short time later, Trump changed his tune. “This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land,” he tweeted. “We need it! Get smart!”</p>
<p>Democrats pounced on his earlier criticism.</p>
<p>“This is irresponsible, untrue, and frankly it endangers our national security,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Senate intelligence committee’s top Democrat, tweeted. “FISA is something the President should have known about long before he turned on Fox this morning.”</p>
<p>National Intelligence Director Dan Coats applauded the House action, saying it was a critical step in protecting Americans and U.S. allies and “I have faith that my former colleagues in the Senate will follow the House’s lead.”</p>
<p>“Our security is not a partisan issue,” said Coats, a former senator from Indiana.</p>
<p>Lawmakers had begun the day readying for two votes related to the program that intelligence officials call the “holy grail” because it provides insight into the thinking and actions of U.S. adversaries.</p>
<p>While the program focuses on foreign targets, Americans’ emails, phone calls and other communications get vacuumed up in the process. Privacy advocates and lawmakers from both parties have argued for years that government agencies should have to get warrants if they want to look at Americans’ communications in the database.</p>
<p>The bill approved by the House allows the FBI to continue scanning the database, using search terms, for information on Americans. But it would require investigators to get probable cause warrants to view the actual content in cases unrelated to national security.</p>
<p>Exceptions would apply, such as for murder, kidnapping and other crimes specified in the bill. The House rejected an alternative proposal that would have imposed stiffer restrictions on the FBI, requiring warrants to query the database at all.</p>
<p>Rep. Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee’s top Democrat, warned that stiffer restrictions would “cripple” the intelligence program. He described the bill that passed as reaching a “very sensible balance.”</p>
<p>However, fellow California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who backed the defeated proposal, warned the government was gathering “the content of your phone calls, content of your emails, content of your text messages, video messages,” and searching them “for crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism.”</p>
<p>The vote cut across party lines, with 65 Democrats joining 191 Republicans to pass the bill. Forty-five Republicans and 119 Democrats voted no.</p>
<p>There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trump’s oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.</p>
<p>Top intelligence and FBI officials and Republicans in Congress have rejected the wiretapping accusations as false.</p>
<p>CNN reported last year that details from the dossier were used in part to get a warrant to monitor Trump adviser Carter Page after the FBI independently corroborated them. The Associated Press hasn’t independently confirmed the report.</p>
<p>White House aides scrambled on Thursday to explain Trump’s apparent about-face, saying the president was happy to see the House approve the bill.</p>
<p>“We weren’t confused, but some of you were,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said.</p>
<p>Just as the House was voting, National Intelligence Director Coats issued his own guidance on how redacted names of Americans in intelligence reports can be requested and disclosed. Only top intelligence officials or their designees can approve such requests, which must be justified and documented.</p>
<p>Coats’ policy is designed to prevent names from being disclosed for political reasons, especially during presidential transitions. But Republicans and Democrats dispute whether there is any need for the change.</p>
<p>Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s puzzling tweets about a key U.S. spying law threw the House into temporary disarray Thursday, but lawmakers ended up renewing the law — with a new restriction on when the FBI can dig into the communications of Americans swept up in foreign surveillance.</p>
<p>During a hectic morning of House votes and presidential tweets, Trump’s national intelligence director also issued new guidance for how officials can find out the names of Americans whose identities are blacked out in classified intelligence reports.</p>
<p>Trump has said previous rules were far too lax and led to damaging leaks about top aides, a claim fiercely contested by Democrats.</p>
<p>The new guidelines on “unmasking” Americans, however, were a side show to the House showdown over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, reauthorizing a collection program set to expire on Jan. 19. The bill passed 256-164 and is now headed to the Senate. It would extend for six years the program, which includes massive monitoring of international communications.</p>
<p>Trump has said he’ll sign the renewal, but his first tweets Thursday suggested he had suddenly turned against the program, alarming intelligence officials.</p>
<p>In one tweet, Trump linked the program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia.</p>
<p>The House has passed a bill to reauthorize a key foreign intelligence collection program with an important tweak. It requires the FBI to get a warrant if it wants to view the contents of Americans’ communications swept up in the process. (Jan. 11)</p>
<p>“‘House votes on controversial FISA ACT today,’” Trump wrote, citing a Fox News headline. “This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?”</p>
<p>Trump then spoke by telephone with House Speaker Paul Ryan, according to a Republican familiar with the call but not allowed to publicly discuss private conversations.</p>
<p>And a short time later, Trump changed his tune. “This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land,” he tweeted. “We need it! Get smart!”</p>
<p>Democrats pounced on his earlier criticism.</p>
<p>“This is irresponsible, untrue, and frankly it endangers our national security,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Senate intelligence committee’s top Democrat, tweeted. “FISA is something the President should have known about long before he turned on Fox this morning.”</p>
<p>National Intelligence Director Dan Coats applauded the House action, saying it was a critical step in protecting Americans and U.S. allies and “I have faith that my former colleagues in the Senate will follow the House’s lead.”</p>
<p>“Our security is not a partisan issue,” said Coats, a former senator from Indiana.</p>
<p>Lawmakers had begun the day readying for two votes related to the program that intelligence officials call the “holy grail” because it provides insight into the thinking and actions of U.S. adversaries.</p>
<p>While the program focuses on foreign targets, Americans’ emails, phone calls and other communications get vacuumed up in the process. Privacy advocates and lawmakers from both parties have argued for years that government agencies should have to get warrants if they want to look at Americans’ communications in the database.</p>
<p>The bill approved by the House allows the FBI to continue scanning the database, using search terms, for information on Americans. But it would require investigators to get probable cause warrants to view the actual content in cases unrelated to national security.</p>
<p>Exceptions would apply, such as for murder, kidnapping and other crimes specified in the bill. The House rejected an alternative proposal that would have imposed stiffer restrictions on the FBI, requiring warrants to query the database at all.</p>
<p>Rep. Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee’s top Democrat, warned that stiffer restrictions would “cripple” the intelligence program. He described the bill that passed as reaching a “very sensible balance.”</p>
<p>However, fellow California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who backed the defeated proposal, warned the government was gathering “the content of your phone calls, content of your emails, content of your text messages, video messages,” and searching them “for crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism.”</p>
<p>The vote cut across party lines, with 65 Democrats joining 191 Republicans to pass the bill. Forty-five Republicans and 119 Democrats voted no.</p>
<p>There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trump’s oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.</p>
<p>Top intelligence and FBI officials and Republicans in Congress have rejected the wiretapping accusations as false.</p>
<p>CNN reported last year that details from the dossier were used in part to get a warrant to monitor Trump adviser Carter Page after the FBI independently corroborated them. The Associated Press hasn’t independently confirmed the report.</p>
<p>White House aides scrambled on Thursday to explain Trump’s apparent about-face, saying the president was happy to see the House approve the bill.</p>
<p>“We weren’t confused, but some of you were,” press secretary Sarah Sanders said.</p>
<p>Just as the House was voting, National Intelligence Director Coats issued his own guidance on how redacted names of Americans in intelligence reports can be requested and disclosed. Only top intelligence officials or their designees can approve such requests, which must be justified and documented.</p>
<p>Coats’ policy is designed to prevent names from being disclosed for political reasons, especially during presidential transitions. But Republicans and Democrats dispute whether there is any need for the change.</p>
<p>Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened.</p> | House OKs spy program after Trump tweets spark confusion | false | https://apnews.com/60bca9444a914bc0880c079ff713886c | 2018-01-11 | 2 |
<p>The Illinois Department of Natural Resources released a long-awaited plan Friday to regulate high-volume oil and gas drilling that supporters hope could bring an economic boost to southern Illinois but environmentalists fear may be too lenient.</p>
<p>The lengthy report follows months of delays and complaints over the process to draft rules governing hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in Illinois. Industry officials say southern Illinois has rich deposits of natural gas, but a final draft of the rules - initially touted as a national model of both sides working together - has taken months for the agency to produce.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A 150-page report was given to the 12-member Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which has 45 days to act. If no action is taken, the rules can take effect.</p>
<p>Environmental groups, industry experts and lawmakers also got their first look at the report Friday. They expected to spend several hours, possibly days, combing through the details.</p>
<p>"These are highly technical rules that will require a really close look at the details," Josh Mogerman, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said earlier Friday. "Our experts are going to be spending their holiday weekend going through these rules with a fine tooth comb."</p>
<p>The new rules would require companies awarded drilling permits to submit lists, some of them redacted, of the chemicals used in fracking. The redacted list would be made available to the public by department and be submitted to the public health department. The industry says releasing the full list would expose trade secrets.</p>
<p>In issuing drilling permits, the department would be required to determine within one day whether an applicant had fully completed the necessary forms. The department would then have 60 days to approve or reject an application.</p>
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<p>Hydraulic fracturing uses a mixture of water, chemicals and sand to crack open rock formations thousands of feet underground to release trapped oil and gas. Opponents fear it will pollute and deplete groundwater or cause health problems, while the industry insists the method is safe and will cause the same economic surge that oil booms have created in other states.</p>
<p>Illinois was praised last year for passing legislation seen as a compromise between industry and environmentalists on how to regulate the practice, while other states have declared moratoriums or adopted less comprehensive regulations. But the implementing rules proposed by the DNR were criticized by environmentalists as weakening the agreed-on provisions. Industry officials, in turn, said they would stall permits.</p>
<p>Agency officials spent months pouring over the more than 30,000 comments in response to the first draft, at the same time coming under increasing criticism by fracking supporters who had hoped that drilling would begin this summer. Backers say allowing more drilling could bring thousands of jobs to the rural area.</p>
<p>In May, drilling proponents' impatience bubbled over into a proposal in the Legislature to let lawmakers write the rules, but the plan never came to a vote.</p>
<p>The panel reviewing the rules is made up of a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the Chicago area and central Illinois tasked with evaluating state agencies' rules. It has 45 days to sign off on the suggested rules, change them or prohibit their filing. It is also allowed to ask for a 45-day extension in making its recommendations.</p>
<p>The department faces a Nov. 15 deadline for the rules to be established.</p> | Illinois Natural Resources Department issues long-awaited plan to regulate oil, gas drilling | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/08/29/illinois-natural-resources-department-issues-long-awaited-plan-to-regulate-oil.html | 2016-03-09 | 0 |
<p>Financial aid and global coordination are needed to prevent the Ebola health care crisis from becoming a food emergency, agriculture ministers from West African nations at the center of the Ebola outbreak said Wednesday.</p>
<p>In Sierra Leone, where thousands are infected and more than 900 have died, 40 percent of the farmers have abandoned their fields, said Joseph Sam Sesay, minister of agriculture, forestry and food security.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Coffee and cocoa beans amount to about 90 percent of the country's agricultural exports, and the region where they are grown has been struck hard by the virus.</p>
<p>"Farms have been abandoned. Some families have been wiped away. Some villages have been wiped away. It is very serious," Sesay said. "We have to understand that agriculture is the mainstay of our economies. If agriculture is down our economies will be down."</p>
<p>Sierra Leone's economy was expected to grow more than 11 percent this year until Ebola struck in May. Now growth is only predicted to be around 3 percent, he said.</p>
<p>Liberia Agriculture Minister Florence Chenoweth says billions of dollars of outside agricultural investment is gone because farming has been decimated.</p>
<p>Liberia expected 9 percent economic growth but has ratcheted it down twice to about 2 percent, Chenoweth said. The nation had attracted $17.6 billion of foreign investment of which $7 was for agricultural development but those investors have left, she said, adding that a recovery plan has been developed.</p>
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<p>"We are very determined, very resilient people," she said. "We have not as ministers of agriculture put forward a recovery plan for nothing. We will implement that plan ... and rebuild our country's agricultural sector."</p>
<p>Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a United Nations agency based in Rome, said the Ebola epidemic is strangling regional trade and could "lead to a hunger crisis of epic proportions for West Africa."</p>
<p>International food and medical assistance is needed to stem the spread of Ebola, he said.</p>
<p>"It is unfortunate that the international community does not look up to crises when they occur in what I call the forgotten world, the invisible world where people die in rural areas from drought or disease until it grows out of proportion or until it begins to effect the larger international community," Nwanze said. "When there's a crisis in Timbuktu it doesn't stay in Timbuktu anymore. Nowadays it reverberates in Paris, London, Berlin, and Washington."</p>
<p>The officials spoke Wednesday at the World Food Prize Foundation annual meeting in Des Moines where government, academic, corporate, nonprofit agriculture and food experts gather to discuss issues of hunger and boosting agricultural productivity.</p> | African agriculture ministers: Help needed to keep Ebola crisis from becoming a food emergency | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/10/16/african-agriculture-ministers-help-needed-to-keep-ebola-crisis-from-becoming.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>Wednesday, January 31 2018</p>
<p>Natural Rubber</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Turnover: 654,482 lots</p>
<p>Open High Low Settle Prev. Change Vol Open</p>
<p>Settle Interest</p>
<p>Mar-18 13,245 13,275 12,825 12,910 13,540 -630 38 102</p>
<p>Apr-18 13,125 13,125 13,125 13,125 13,665 -540 6 110</p>
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<p>May-18 13,400 13,440 12,880 13,175 13,585 -410 576,542 509,238</p>
<p>Jun-18 13,505 13,505 13,045 13,270 13,645 -375 22 268</p>
<p>Jul-18 13,635 13,635 13,300 13,445 13,620 -175 22 294</p>
<p>Aug-18 13,665 13,670 13,225 13,515 13,625 -110 12 90</p>
<p>Sep-18 13,705 13,760 13,265 13,520 13,875 -355 72,518 100,862</p>
<p>Oct-18 - - - 13,875 14,165 -290 0 18</p>
<p>Nov-18 13,920 13,980 13,500 13,630 14,060 -430 164 230</p>
<p>Jan-19 15,640 15,640 15,180 15,400 15,800 -400 5,158 16,118</p>
<p>Notes:</p>
<p>1) Unit is Chinese yuan a metric ton;</p>
<p>2) Volume and open interest are in lots;</p>
<p>3) One lot is equivalent to 10 metric tons.</p>
<p>Write to [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>January 31, 2018 02:37 ET (07:37 GMT)</p> | China Shanghai Rubber Futures Closing Prices, Volume | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/18/china-shanghai-rubber-futures-closing-prices-volume.html | 2018-01-31 | 0 |
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<p />
<p />
<p /> PAUL JAY: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Paul Jay. A drumroll, please. We're at the final segment of 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism with Ha-Joon Chang. Thanks for joining us again.
<p />
<p />HA-JOON CHANG: Thank you.
<p />
<p />JAY: Alright. So we're winding it up. Thing 22: Financial markets need to become less--not more--efficient. So that's not what we're being told.
<p />
<p />CHANG: That's right. Yeah. Well, you know, in the last two, three decades, all over the world but especially in the US and Britain, where I live, this idea has spread that finance is the new engine of growth, and the best way to let the financial market work is to deregulate it. And, you know, a huge amount of wealth has been built on that platform only to completely collapse in the autumn of 2008. Now, after the financial crisis, some people have come out arguing [incompr.] we should have regulated this better, so let's make it more efficient by making it more transparent, and, I mean, get rid of insider dealing and so on. But there's fundamentally really nothing wrong with the market. It's just that information was not flowing and there were insider dealings. Actually, this is a completely wrong way of looking at it, because the problem with the financial market of today is not that it is inefficient, but it's too efficient, but efficient for the wrong things, efficient in creating speculative gains, efficient in moving money around basically for the sake of making profit rather than, you know, channeling it to long-term productive investment. So [incompr.] the purpose for which these things are used, that is the problem, and not its kind of slowness or lack of transparency. And so, actually, if you have too much transparency, we are overwhelmed by the information. You know, it's not because there was no information that people made all these shady dealings and speculative investments and so on. It's exactly because the incentives were [incompr.] that--I mean, those things are paid much, much better than investing and patiently kind of training your workers and developing your technologies.
<p />
<p />JAY: So it's not so much about efficiency at all; it's about is the finance sector actually going to have some useful social purposes.
<p />
<p />CHANG: Exactly. Efficiency for whose sake? You know. I mean, yes, very efficient if you're a big banker or big hedge fund manager.
<p />
<p />JAY: Yeah. We don't want banks to more efficiently plunder the rest of the economy even more. Right. Okay. Number 23, the end of 23 things: Good economic policy does not require good economists. What do you mean by that?
<p />
<p />CHANG: Well, yes, that may be very popular among my colleagues. You know, I bought my union card with that chapter, so to speak. Well, you know, that is this belief, especially in developing countries, that in order to run better economic policies, you need PhDs from Harvard, PhDs in economics from MIT and Oxford, and so on. But, actually, when you look at, for example, the so-called miracle economies of East Asia, these were all run by non-economists.
<p />
<p />JAY: In China, the leadership of the [crosstalk] all engineers.
<p />
<p />CHANG: Yeah. No, exactly. I mean, in China and Taiwan, not just the political leaders but also these guys who run the ministry of finance, ministry of industry, and so on, they are all engineers and scientists. In Japan these were mostly lawyers. In Korea, I mean, we had more economists than Japan did in proportional terms, but the lawyers were also very predominant. So, actually, these examples make you think. I mean, how come these people who have no professional background in economics could actually engineer an economic miracle, whereas the United States, with economics PhDs coming through its nose, I mean [crosstalk]
<p />
<p />JAY: Yeah, we're so surprised when the thing crashed, 'cause it didn't fit all their theories.
<p />
<p />CHANG: That's right. Yeah. So, basically, we have to understand that the kind of economics that has dominated the world in the last 20, 30 years, free market economics, is very, actually, bad for the economy. It's that--you know, John Kenneth Galbraith once quipped that the economics is only good for creating employment for economists. But basically the kind of economics that we have been told as the only truth, only right kind of economics is actually very bad for economic development and good economic performance.
<p />
<p />JAY: Alright. So, just to wind things up quickly, after writing the book, what are the three or four things you think are needed for a healthier economy?
<p />
<p />CHANG: Oh, first of all, we have to get rid of this market fundamentalist ideology, I mean, this belief that even when half your banks have gone bankrupt, even when all your car companies have gone bankrupt, you still believe that private sector is always better than the government. You know, I mean, that kind of ideology first have to go. Secondly, we need more aware citizens. I mean, actually, that is exactly the reason why I wrote this book. You know, as I say in the book, 95 percent of economics is actually common sense--of course, deliberately made [incompr.] by professional economists. And even the remaining 5 percent people can understand its basic logic, if not all the technical details. Despite that, people are scared of economics. Economists have basically figured out a way to scare other people off. So when the economic issues come up, people become very kind of defensive and this is not for me, it's too technical. But we have to know these things to blow these people's cover.
<p />
<p />JAY: And if people don't know these things, they have no idea what public policy is actually in their own interests.
<p />
<p />CHANG: Exactly. But, you know, when you think about it, people make all kinds of judgments on really big issues without any professional qualification. I mean, you know, I had my view on Iraq War, but, you know, do I have a PhD in international relations? No. You know. I mean, I don't have a PhD in epidemiology, but I still demand that our restaurants should have a hygiene standard. So, actually, you need to see it that way. I mean, people need to learn some basic economics. When I say basic, I don't mean necessarily dumbed down; I mean the fundamental logics and some basic facts, like despite taking 2.5 times more of the national income, the American rich have failed to produce more investment and growth and so on. Only when they know those things, they can become what I call in the book active economic citizens. So we need to encourage people to acquire this knowledge, have a debate, have a informed discussion, so that they can become genuine economic citizens.
<p />
<p />JAY: Well, we're going to do a lot more of that on The Real News. Thanks very much for joining us, Ha-Joon.
<p />
<p />CHANG: Thank you.
<p />
<p />JAY: And thank you for joining us for 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism on The Real News Network.
<p />
<p />End of Transcript
<p />
<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | 23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism Pt.8 | true | http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D31%26Itemid%3D74%26jumival%3D6664 | 2011-04-25 | 4 |
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<p>Shannon Lorance as Aubrey, left, and Francois Arnaud, right, as Manfred appear in the pilot episode of “Midnight, Texas.” (Courtesy of NBC)</p>
<p>‘Midnight, Texas” is going to be quite different.</p>
<p>And that’s a huge pro for New Mexico film.</p>
<p>The New Mexico Film Office announced that the NBC TV series is filming through Feb. 2017.</p>
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<p>Production is taking place in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Bernalillo and Belen. It is being housed at Albuquerque Studios.</p>
<p>The production will employ over 450 New Mexico crew members and approximately 1,800 New Mexico background talent, according to the film office.</p>
<p>Based on the New York Times best-selling book series by Charlaine Harris — who also wrote the series that HBO’s “True Blood” was inspired by — comes a journey into a remote Texas town where being normal is really quite strange and only outsiders fit in.</p>
<p>Home to a vampire, witch, angel and hit woman, Midnight, Texas, is a mysterious safe haven for those who are different.</p>
<p>That is, until the arrival of a powerful psychic and the murder of one of their own.</p>
<p>As the town members fight off outside pressures from ever-suspicious cops, deadly biker gangs, and their own dangerous pasts, they band together and form an unlikely but strong family.</p>
<p>“Like Midnight itself, Santa Fe is also a ‘safe haven’ for those who are different. We’re very happy to have this production here,” said Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales.</p>
<p>Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry said Albuquerque welcomes the TV production to the city.</p>
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<p>“The film industry provides high-paying, creative jobs to our citizens and many businesses are affected positively by the filming here in Albuquerque,” Berry said.</p>
<p>The series stars Francois Arnaud, Dylan Bruce, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Arielle Kebbel, Jason Lewis, Peter Mensah, Sarah Ramos and Yul Vazquez.</p>
<p>Monica Owusu-Breen and David Janollari serve as executive producers. The pilot episode was directed by Niels Arden Oplev, who also directed “Mr. Robot.</p>
<p>The pilot was filmed in April in Albuquerque and Las Vegas, N.M.</p>
<p>The series got picked up by NBC as a mid-season replacement and will air in 2017.</p>
<p>Is is produced by Universal Television and David Janollari Entertainment.</p>
<p />
<p /> | ‘Midnight, Texas’ is creating hundreds of filming jobs in NM | false | https://abqjournal.com/879003/midnight-texas-begins-production-on-first-season-in-nm.html | 2016-10-31 | 2 |
<p>San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick spoke with left-wing celebrity tabloid <a href="http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/colin-kaepernick-details-childhood-racial-struggle-2015810" type="external">Us Weekly</a> in late 2015 to outline a “racial struggle” he associated with his childhood. The NFL star has <a href="http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/17401815/colin-kaepernick-san-francisco-49ers-sits-national-anthem-prior-preseason-game" type="external">generated headlines</a> today following his refusal to stand for the national anthem during the pregame ritual on Friday, citing his opposition to America's "[oppression] of black people and people of color."</p>
<p />
<p>San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick passes during warmups before a preseason NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)</p>
<p>Adopted by white parents in Wisconsin, Kaepernick is the biological child of a white woman and a black man. He was born in 1987.</p>
<p>Speaking in terms of race, Kaepernick told Us Weekly that “he knew he was different [from his parents]… even before he could speak."</p>
<p>"I knew I was different to my parents and my older brother and sister," said Kaepernick. "I never felt that I was supposed to be white. Or black, either. My parents just wanted to let me be who I needed to be."</p>
<p>Us Weekly indulged Kaepernick's grievance-mongering and self-victimization, describing him as being "judged" by “the world” because of "the color of his skin."</p>
<p>Kaepernick recalled his childhood struggles:</p>
<p>"We used to go on these summer driving vacations and stay at motels. And every year, in the lobby of every motel, the same thing always happened, and it only got worse as I got older and taller. It didn’t matter how close I stood to my family, somebody would walk up to me, a real nervous manager, and say: ‘Excuse me. Is there something I can help you with?'"</p>
<p />
<p>Somehow, Kaepernick developed a racial ethos over time:</p>
<p>"What do I represent?’ And you know what? My racial heritage is something I want people to be well aware of. I do want to be a representative of the African community, and I want to hold myself and dress myself in a way that reflects that. I want black kids to see me and think: ‘Okay, he’s carrying himself as a black man, and that’s how a black man should carry himself.’"</p>
<p>Kaepernick <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000691077/article/colin-kaepernick-explains-protest-of-national-anthem" type="external">explained</a> his refusal to stand for the Star-Spangled Banner, expressing solidarity with the neo-Marxist racial narratives of Black Lives Matter:</p>
<p>"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."</p>
<p>Describing himself as a black man in a society that “oppresses black people,” Kaepernick signed a 6-year contract with the 49ers in 2015 for <a href="http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/colin-kaepernick-7751/" type="external">$114 million</a>. He has also been paid millions of additional dollars through <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrenheitner/2013/01/14/the-business-of-colin-kaepernick/#5c51545a5fcf" type="external">endorsement deals</a>.</p>
<p>San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick holds a tablet computer as he stands on the sideline during the first half of a preseason NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2016, in Denver. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | Cry More: Kaepernick's 'Racial Struggle' As A Child | true | https://dailywire.com/news/8709/cry-more-kaepernicks-racial-struggle-child-robert-kraychik | 2016-08-27 | 0 |
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<p>Athens erupted early Monday in response to Greece's austerity measures that include deep cuts in government spending, wages (lawmakers agreed to cut the minimum wage by <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0213/Despite-riots-Greece-pushes-ahead-with-austerity-video" type="external">20 percent</a>), and pensions. Some <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/world/europe/greeks-pessimistic-in-anti-austerity-protests.html?_r=1" type="external">150,000</a> government employees will lose their jobs under the new bailout deal, which is estimated at €130 billion ($172.6 billion) and passed Parliament in a 199-74 vote.</p>
<p>The European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund were the forces demanding Greece's second bailout. This is the second time in less than seven months that the troika steered Greece toward dramatic budgetary cuts. (photo by Getty)</p>
<p />
<p>Tens of thousands of individuals took to the streets in protest that included widespread property damage –&#160;the Athens News Agency reports that more than <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/13/world/europe/greece-debt-crisis/?hpt=hp_t2" type="external">45 buildings were damaged by fire</a> and numerous others looted –&#160;resulting in the arrests of 74 people, according to police.</p>
<p>Some protesters threw rocks at the police, who countered with tear gas. After night fall, the demonstration turned more violent as Greek demonstrators threw molotov cocktails at police:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/02/13/world/europe/greece-debt-crisis/?hpt=hp_t2" type="external">CNN</a>:</p>
<p>The violent protests reflect increasing angst in Greece over crushing economic problems, said CNN iReporter Thanasis Trompoukis.</p>
<p>"They are protesting because they feel that there is no end in their financial suffering. More and more (people) every day are getting poorer and become homeless in Greece, and especially Athens," he said.</p>
<p>Despite the passage of these latest harsh cuts, it remains likely that Greece will default because its debt still looks unsustainable.&#160;</p>
<p>"Lending them yet more cash is just a stopgap -- it's a bit like borrowing on your credit card to pay your mortgage," the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/29/greece-debt-crisis-explained" type="external">Guardian reports</a>. (photo via&#160;@vourtsis)</p>
<p>Regular readers of any major newspaper within the U.S will have an extremely difficult time finding quotes from Greek citizens regarding how they feel about this austerity business. I waded through mountains of quotes from Finance Ministers and economists this morning as they theorize about the cuts' effects on the Euro, but nary a word could I find from an Athenian citizen.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielknowles/100136919/greece-and-germany-are-playing-a-dangerous-game-of-chicken-this-cannot-last/" type="external">suicide rate</a> in Greece has doubled since the start of the financial crisis, youth unemployment hovers around 50 percent, the populace has begun emigrating en masse, schools are running out of paper, hospitals are low on medicine, and homelessness is rampant in Athens.</p>
<p>It's these newest rounds of cuts –&#160;and perhaps a tin ear response from media that busily interviews bureaucrats who will be unaffected by cuts –&#160;that motivated tens of thousands of already direly struggling Athenians to hit the streets in protest. (photo by&#160;Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty)</p>
<p />
<p>According to&#160; <a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/49996" type="external">Afrodity Giannakis</a>, who works as a permanent English teacher in a Greek village,&#160;citizens are being treated like rats in a brutal experiment.</p>
<p>A few days ago, I was looking for a magazine in my neighbourhood at about 9am before going to work. I found that all the shops in the block had put up the shutters, except for one closer to my home, which did not have the magazine, anyway.</p>
<p>Shops closing down is a common occurrence in neoliberal capitalist Greece, but the situation has rapidly deteriorated since May 2010. That was the time of the first memorandum, imposed on Greece by the “troika” (the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund — IMF) and the Greek Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) government.</p>
<p>Shop owners are forced to close because of the steep plunge in consumption, combined with higher government fees and other expenses.</p>
<p>I drove along the national road to go to work, about 45 kilometres from Thessaloniki. Until recently I worked 80km away from home. Last year I worked 700km away and it is highly uncertain where I will be placed next school year.Far-away placements have been commonplace for Greek teachers for a long time. What is new is the rising casualisation, intensification of work and overall job insecurity.</p>
<p>Now, it is going to be almost impossible for teachers to make ends meet if they have to move away from home. Having a job at all is also highly uncertain.</p>
<p>The reason is that the troika, in close collaboration with the unelected Greek government imposed by the troika, has decided on more public sector sackings.</p>
<p>Photo by&#160;Vladmir Rys/Getty:</p>
<p />
<p>Giannakis goes on to describe the "crippling cuts" that threaten to crush a population with an estimated 3 million people already at or below the poverty line.</p>
<p>The immediate effects of the public sector sackings will be higher unemployment (the official figure is now 20.9%) and deepened recession.</p>
<p>In my job, after the sackings of temporary and casual teachers, face-to-face teaching hours will rise for those remaining. Needless to say, there will not be an accompanying salary rise.</p>
<p>These austerity measures are taking place against a background of deteriorating conditions for students and teachers.</p>
<p>There is a shocking shortage in school books, about 2000 schools closed down in the last school year, class sizes have risen and funding for education has dropped to 2.75% of the gross national product.</p>
<p>Schools do not have enough funding for photocopying paper or central heating. In this year’s freezing winter, students and teachers have had lessons with their coats on. Schools have been forced to shut down due to inadequate heating.</p>
<p>Photo by Vladmir Rhys/Getty:</p>
<p />
<p>In closing, Giannakis describes the heralding sacrifices many Greeks have made in an attempt to keep their heads above water, including putting their children up for adoption.</p>
<p>I am still managing to hold on to my car; using public transport for work would be very inconvenient.</p>
<p>Many people have given up their cars due to financial hardship. Soaring petrol prices, as well as rises in car registration and car insurance fees, have compounded the problem.</p>
<p>About 160,000 number plates were handed in to the taxation department at the end of the 2010 financial year. Last year, the number exceeded 250,000.</p>
<p>..</p>
<p>A huge number of homeless people can be seen living in open-air spaces. There are 25,000 homeless people in Athens alone, driven out of unused public spaces by the Pasok-affiliated mayor.</p>
<p>Many homeless people are dying during this year's extremely harsh winter.</p>
<p>Public welfare services, as well as schools and hospitals, are all but demolished.</p>
<p>People are driven to sordid poverty and despair, as working rights are abolished and public enterprises and resources are sold off. At the same time, rising taxes, along with relentless price rises, are unbearable.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of households and small businesses have had their electricity cut off due to unpaid bills.</p>
<p>Many children faint in schools after they go hungry for days because their parents can't afford to buy food. There has been a huge rise in the number of children sent to orphanages.</p>
<p>In many areas, the church or neighbourhood groups give out mess to paupers. People scavenging rubbish bins for food is now a common sight in Greece.</p>
<p>The Greek ministry of health reports psychological problems and suicide rates have risen dramatically.</p>
<p>Photo by&#160;Louisa Gouliamaki/Getty:</p>
<p />
<p>Giannakis insists that by implementing more austerity measures, the government is only deepening the recession and devastating the lives of the overwhelming majority of people.</p>
<p>Ironically, it was German leaders who maintained pressure on Greece to pass this latest austerity package despite the fact that Germany recently experienced its own <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/business/economy/23leonhardt.html" type="external">failed budget cut experiment</a>.</p>
<p>"The left must take advantage of this historical opportunity, join forces and help the Greek people reclaim their lives," writes Giannakis. "We must thwart the capitalists' plan. This nightmare has to stop and the capitalists will not stop unless we stop them."</p>
<p>(Photos of burning buildings via @skar_ and @mmgeisler, @Real_gr respectively)</p> | Athens Burns During Budget Cut Protests | true | http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/12737/athens_burns_during_budget_cut_protests/ | 2012-02-13 | 4 |
<p>Photo: Roll Call/Newscom</p>
<p />
<p>The office might be that of a regional sales director for a midsize company—a modest space, adorned by little more than family photos, a “Fightin’ Phillies” banner, and a shelf of binders bearing labels like “Northeast” and “Midwest.” Four blocks from the Capitol, it has a view not of Washington’s grand buildings, but of an elevated highway. Yet this room is the command center for a titanic fight that could determine the future of the nation. It’s the office of Jon Vogel, the man tasked with one of the toughest jobs in politics: stopping what appears to be a tidal wave heading toward Congress.</p>
<p>Vogel, 35, is the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, a.k.a. “D-Trip” (even “D-Triple C” is now passé), the party unit in charge of raising money and providing other support for House races. It’s a tall order: Since Abraham Lincoln, the party of a first-term president has <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/mid-term_elections.php" type="external">always lost</a> House seats in the midterm election, with two exceptions—the year after FDR was inaugurated during the Great Depression, and the year after 9/11. If the pattern holds true this year, Republicans might ride popular discontent, Tea Party anger, and sky-high unemployment to regain control of the House. Vogel’s job is to stop that from happening.</p>
<p>The public face of the D-Trip is Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), an ebullient congressman from the <a href="http://vanhollen.house.gov/District/Map.htm" type="external">DC suburbs</a>. Vogel stays behind the scenes running the operations: fundraising, candidate recruitment, message development, media strategies. (His counterpart is Guy Harrison, the 38-year-old tobacco-chewing executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee.)</p>
<p>Vogel has been a professional Democrat for most of his adult life. He grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, the son of a professor and a psychologist. In college, he interned for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) and ran his own car-detailing business before taking a job with the DCCC’s fundraising department.</p>
<p>Vogel’s early campaigns were tough—in one of them, he worked for <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000257" type="external">Michael Forbes</a>, a Long Island congressman who in 1999 bolted the Republican Party. To help Forbes get over his negatives with Democrats—he’d voted for Bill Clinton’s impeachment—Vogel organized a Manhattan fundraiser where Clinton told a roomful of donors that if he could forgive Forbes, so could they. Forbes lost the primary by just 35 votes, but Vogel went on to raise money for Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) and worked for him on the Hill. He returned to the DCCC under Rahm Emanuel for the 2006 campaign cycle.</p>
<p>Asked if he has any tales to tell about working with Emanuel, a time he calls “extremely stressful and extremely rewarding,” Vogel quips, “There are so many horrible ones—but I’m not trying to share.” Actually, Vogel got on well with Emanuel, says <a href="http://www.ralstonlapp.com/who/#Lapp_area" type="external">John Lapp</a>, who ran the DCCC’s independent expenditures program, because Vogel “knows how to hustle and how to take a punch.” The key lesson he learned from Emanuel, Vogel recalls, is that “it is better to make a mistake of commission than omission. Always move the ball down the field.”</p>
<p>“Jon was tenacious and annoying,” recalls <a href="http://www.politico.com/politicopros/brianwolff.html" type="external">Brian Wolff</a>, then Emanuel’s deputy. “He fought for his candidates like I’ve never seen…Is he fun? No. But he’s focused. He’s not someone to shoot the shit with.” One word that often comes up when past colleagues describe Vogel is “intense.” (Outside politics, Vogel’s passions include rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles and 5:45 a.m. workouts.)</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/politics/08RESULTS_HOUANALYSIS.html" type="external">2006</a>, Vogel’s tenacity paid off when the Democrats picked up 30 House seats and regained the majority they had lost to <a href="http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19941219,00.html" type="external">Newt Gingrich</a> in <a href="http://en.allexperts.com/e/u/un/united_states_house_election,_1994.htm" type="external">1994</a>. Thirteen of those seats were in the regions Vogel was responsible for—the Northeast and Florida—and they included races that hadn’t even been “on the map,” according to Lapp. Vogel had helped Emanuel practically eradicate an endangered species: the Northeastern Republican moderate. He repeated his success in the next cycle when, first as the D-Trip’s political director and then as head of its independent expenditure program, he helped the Dems add <a href="http://www.dccc.org/page/content/races" type="external">24 seats</a> to their House majority. Afterward, he left the DCCC to become a partner at <a href="http://www.globalstrategygroup.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&amp;screenKey=cmpContent&amp;htmlKey=work&amp;nav=work&amp;s=gsg2009" type="external">Global Strategy Group</a>, a research and marketing firm that advises corporations, politicians, and advocacy groups. (Its long list of clients has included Goldman Sachs, John Edwards, Charlie Rangel, Andrew Cuomo, the American Cancer Society, and the Akron Zoo.)</p>
<p>But a few months later, Brian Wolff resigned as executive director of the DCCC, and Van Hollen asked Vogel to take his place. Usually, Wolff notes, high-level operatives don’t return to political jobs from the private sector, where the pay is much better and the work is less consuming. Besides, Vogel’s wife had just given birth to their first child. But he couldn’t say no. “I have a lot invested in this,” he says. “It’s part personal.”</p>
<p>The problem Vogel now faces is of his own making. The Democrats did so well in the past two cycles that they elected candidates in areas that aren’t blue territory. Van Hollen points out that 80 current House Democrats hail from districts that went for George W. Bush in 2004. Vogel has identified 41 “ <a href="http://www.actblue.com/page/frontline" type="external">front line</a>” incumbents to worry about, including Reps. Alan Grayson of Florida, Tom Perriello of Virginia, and Steve Kagen of Wisconsin. (The NRCC has named just 25 GOP House members in its “ <a href="http://www.nrcc.org/2010-races/patriot-program/" type="external">Patriot</a>” program for at-risk incumbents.) And close to 20 Democrats are <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/politics/casualtylist.html" type="external">vacating their seats</a>, several in districts favorable to Republicans.</p>
<p>The specter of 1994 hovers over Democrats. In that blowout, the Dems lost 54 seats and forfeited control of the House after being in the majority for four decades. To win the House this year, the GOP must be able to “play” in some 80 competitive seats and win about 60, something Vogel doesn’t think it has the money to do. Early indicators, though, suggest voters are in a “throw the bums out” mood. It may not be an entirely partisan impulse, but as the incumbent party, the Dems are most at risk.</p>
<p>Veteran political handicapper <a href="http://cookpolitical.com/" type="external">Charlie Cook</a> notes that Vogel is contending with “horrific circumstances…He’s like a team that’s been helicoptered onto the Titanic after the iceberg hit. ‘Who can we save? What can we teach these guys to save themselves?'” Cook maintains that a race-by-race analysis shows the GOP is poised to gain at least 30 seats, even if this does not turn out to be a “wave” election like 1994: “Something will have to change the trajectory of the election for the Democrats to keep their majority.”</p>
<p>How can Vogel pull off a dramatic rescue? “In the face of a wave,” Van Hollen says, “you make it a district-by-district battle.” In other words, Vogel need not hold back the entire ocean; he must only win in a few dozen key districts. And he’s gotten off to an early start. At the end of the first quarter of 2010, the DCCC, having seen a <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/05/potentially-vulnerable-democrats-an.html" type="external">surge in donations</a> after health care reform passed, had <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_119/politics/45402-1.html" type="external">$26 million cash on hand</a> to the NRCC’s $10 million. By early May, the DCCC had field directors working for campaigns in 32 congressional districts—in previous cycles, the D-Trip’s operatives didn’t hit the ground until summer. Vogel is also using pricey “microtargeting” research—data mining, previously deployed only in presidential and Senate campaigns—to identify likely voters and their issues.</p>
<p>On the message front, says Vogel—who notes that Emanuel taught him to articulate the core narrative of an election in a sentence or two—the story of 2010 boils down to something like this: The Democrats are looking out for the middle class, and the Republicans are looking out for corporations. At least <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_Politics/___Politics_Today_Stories_Teases/100512_NBC_WSJ_Poll.pdf" type="external">one poll</a> suggests this could be a difficult talking point to drive home; asked if the Dems care more about average Americans than corporate interests, only 35 percent of respondents said regular folks, while 53 percent said the party favored corporations. But in May, the Dems won a special House election in Pennsylvania after depicting the GOP candidate as too close to big business.</p>
<p>To match his defensive game with a sound offense, Vogel is looking to run solid Democratic candidates in two dozen or so GOP districts to force the NRCC to protect its turf. He’s particularly pleased he was able to persuade Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan to challenge Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.). Vogel has also placed Tea Party darling Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on his “red to blue” hit list. He says voters could be persuaded that she focuses too much “on her national politics and [not] the needs of her local district.”</p>
<p>Still, it’s a mighty uphill struggle. A <a href="http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2010/04/27/gallup-gop-up-20-points-among-very-enthusiastic-voters/" type="external">Gallup poll</a> in April found that American voters were split when asked if they would vote for a Republican or Democratic House candidate in November. But among “very enthusiastic” voters, 57 percent said they’d choose a Republican, while only 37 percent picked a Democrat. Polls like that are warning signs. Turnout usually drops in off-year elections, especially among young and minority voters—likely Democrats—and an angry mob can have more influence.</p>
<p>“We need to raise the stakes” for Democratic base voters, concedes Vogel, who is in daily contact with the White House. After the passage of the health care bill, Vogel notes, party activists were energized. The challenge now is to remind both loyalists and independent voters “that the Republicans have stood in the way.”</p>
<p>The next months will be arduous for Vogel, who in May was already working more than 12 hours a day. As the election draws near, Wolff notes, Vogel will be faced with “horribly crucial decisions”—pulling out of some races he’s worked hard on so the party can target its money elsewhere. “When you’re playing this much defense, you’ll have to cut some members loose.” Is Wolff glad not to be in Vogel’s position? “Hell, yes!” he says. “I feel sorry for him.” Vogel, for his part, insists that he considers himself lucky—even though “I may lose sleep at night.”</p>
<p /> | The Hardest Job in Washington | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/jon-vogel-washington/ | 2018-07-01 | 4 |
<p>Global stocks mostly fell on Tuesday as investors watched for tax reform developments in the U.S. and digested weak manufacturing data from China.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent to 5,325 and Germany's DAX fell 0.2 percent to 13,053. Britain's FTSE 100 added nearly 0.1 percent to 7,420. U.S. shares were set to drift lower, with Dow and S&amp;P 500 futures both down 0.2 percent.</p>
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<p>DATA WATCH: Economic growth figures were upbeat for Italy and Germany, which saw growth accelerate to a quarterly 0.8 percent in the third quarter, from 0.6 percent in the previous three-month period. But new data for China disappointed. Its growth in industrial value-added output slowed to an annual rate of 6.2 percent in October, from 6.6-percent in September. China's private fixed-asset investment increased 5.8 percent on year in the first 10 months of this year, lower than the 6-percent increase for the first nine months. The Chinese economy is still growing but the focus is on assessing whether that pace is slowing.</p>
<p>ANALYST VIEWPOINT: "Risk appetite was . dithering," analysts from Mizuho Bank Ltd. said in a commentary. "The mood is certainly nowhere near the exuberance earlier this year."</p>
<p>U.S. TAXES: The fate of U.S. tax overhaul legislation remains uncertain. It would deeply cut corporate taxes, double the standard deduction used by most Americans, and limit or repeal completely the federal deduction for state and local property, income and sales taxes. It carries high political stakes for President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress.</p>
<p>ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index was flat to finish at 22,380.01 after trading in a narrow margin. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was nearly unchanged at 29,154.01, down 0.1 percent, and Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 fell 0.9 percent to 5,968.70. South Korea's Kospi edged down 0.2 percent to 2,526.64. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.5 percent to 3,429.55. But shares in Taiwan and Southeast Asia were mostly higher.</p>
<p>ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 31 cents to $56.45 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 2 cents on Monday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped 33 cents to $62.83 a barrel in London.</p>
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<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 113.60 yen from 113.30 yen on Friday, while the euro strengthened to $1.1742 from $1.1656 on the back of the upbeat economic growth figures.</p>
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<p>AP Business Writer Yuri Kageyama can be reached at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama</p>
<p>Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama</p> | Global stocks mostly slide after disappointing Chinese data | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/14/asia-shares-lower-nikkei-flat-as-china-data-disappoints.html | 2017-11-14 | 0 |
<p>A lot of people have sent this story asking for comment. I addressed it today on air but will do so again, here. <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/article_e0d7dc2a-39f9-5b32-9779-b502c8bee672.html#.Udg1Mhv5vcs.twitter" type="external">The story</a>:</p>
<p>In recent weeks, the grounds crew had carved a cross and a No. 6 (in honor of the late Stan Musial) on the back side of the mound. But general manager John Mozeliak, who said he first had learned about the practice from a Post-Dispatch report and photo, said Friday night that he had asked that the practice cease.</p>
<p>“Once we learned of it,” said Mozeliak, “I did contact the grounds crew and just asked that they don’t.</p>
<p>“It’s just not club policy to be putting religious symbols on the playing field or throughout the ballpark. I didn’t ask for the reason behind it. I just asked for it to stop.”</p>
<p>The Cardinals are a private entity and they can do what they want. I say this having had a Dana Show section at last Sunday’s Christian Day at the Ballpark with the St. Louis Cardinals featuring outspoken Christian evangelist Willie Robertson from “Duck Dynasty” (which I was too under the weather to attend, sadly). Our team is called the Saint&#160;Louis Cardinals. Sure, wipe away the cross on the mound since you can’t change the team’s name.</p> | On The Cardinals And The Cross In The Pitcher’s Mound | true | http://danaloeschradio.com/on-the-cardinals-and-the-cross-in-the-pitchers-mound/ | 2013-07-08 | 0 |
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<p>Now that all 50 states allow startup entrepreneurs to organize their new businesses as Limited Liability Companies (“LLC”), I routinely receive questions from entrepreneurs who want to know, “Which legal structure is better – a corporation or an LLC?”</p>
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<p>While no single strategy is right for every business situation, LLCs offer significant advantages to new business owners in terms of administration.&#160;Unlike corporations, LLC organizers are not statutorily required to hold meetings of its member owners, keep meeting minutes, or faithfully prepare formal written resolutions to issue new company stock, acquire assets, open bank accounts or make big changes in the company’s business direction.&#160;Entrepreneurs who know they won’t keep good records by themselves or hire someone who will, should favor an LLC organization.</p>
<p>What’s confusing about LLCs is the terminology.&#160;Whereas investors in corporations are called “stockholders;” investors in LLCs are called “members.”</p>
<p>Corporations are governed by documents called articles of incorporation and bylaws and LLCs are governed by, in most states, its articles of organization and its operating agreement.</p>
<p>An LLC business structure is also a common favorite among real estate developers and film producers.&#160;LLCs allow developers an easy way to involve different investors in different projects.&#160;Also, there are certain tax benefits for holders of real estate that are expected to appreciate in value.&#160;Even better, real estate developers who spend the majority of their time in the real estate profession and are active in the management of the properties can usually write off real estate losses against other forms of income without limitation.</p>
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<p>Here are some other key differences between corporations and LLCs:</p>
<p>-Tax rates and obligations.&#160; An LLC allows business profits to bypass traditional corporate taxes and “pass through” to the LLC’s members.&#160;Members then report their LLC-related income or losses on their personal income tax return.</p>
<p>In contrast, business profits in a standard C corporation are taxed by the federal government and again by most states.&#160;Then to the extent that shareholders take out the profits in the form of dividends or bonuses, <a href="" type="internal">Uncle Sam</a> gets paid once again. Owners of C corporations can receive the same tax bypass benefits of LLCs only if they qualify and elect S-corporation tax status with the IRS.</p>
<p>-Personal liability.&#160; LLC’s and C and S corporations provide owners with some limitations of liability.&#160; If, for example, a business obtains a bank loan without signing a personal guarantee, shareholders and company managers would generally not be personally liability for missed payments. It’s important to note that exceptions to liability limitations may exist in tort claims involving negligence or fraud.</p>
<p>-Equity fundraising. Big concept entrepreneurs seeking angel or venture funding should favor organizing as a C corporation. Multiple rounds of venture funding often involve the issuance of several classes of common and preferred stock – which is easily handled in a C corporation structure. Many sophisticated investors crinkle their noses at LLC’s and won’t invest until the structure is changed – at the entrepreneur’s expense.&#160;&#160; Employee stock options are also easily administered in C corporations.</p>
<p>The second most common question entrepreneurs ask me about LLC organizations is if they need an attorney. I typically encourage first-time entrepreneurs to hire a competent business attorney instead of buying do-it-yourself LLC organization kits. Sure, hiring an attorney may sound intimidating or costly, but entrepreneurs are never well served by penny pinching on potentially big dollar issues.</p>
<p>Each state has varying rules for LLC fees and formation. For example, some states don’t allow single member limited liability companies which rules out many freelance entrepreneurs who want to shield their personal assets from business calamities.</p>
<p>Attorneys can be skilled advisors and mediators as new business partners’ work through the details of their LLC’s operating agreement. At its best, this agreement should carefully define voting rights, responsibilities of the business partners, the procedures for buying or selling member shares in the business, or even how to one day dissolve the business.</p>
<p>Susan Schreter is a 20-year veteran of the venture finance community and a university educator in entrepreneurship.&#160; She is the founder of <a href="http://www.takecommand.org" type="external">www.takecommand.org Opens a New Window.</a>, a community service organization that boasts of offering the largest centralized database of startup and small business funding sources in the U.S.&#160;&#160; Ask Susan your questions at <a href="http://mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected] Opens a New Window.</a></p> | Comparing LLCs to Corporations | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/02/28/comparing-llcs-corporations.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
<p>Photo by AnaManzar08 | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>White Workers Have Double&#160;Consciousness</p>
<p>White workers have at least a dual identity — we are both workers and white. The&#160;history of white working class community organizing as told by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/418725.Amy_Sonnie" type="external">Amy Sonnie</a> and <a href="" type="internal">James Tracy</a> in <a href="https://www.mhpbooks.com/books/hillbilly-nationalists-urban-race-rebels-and-black-power/" type="external">Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times</a> suggests that on-the-ground organizing requires us to engage white identity. &#160;We will not succeed in “ <a href="http://befreedom.co/organize-the-white-working-class/" type="external">organizing our own</a>” unless we reckon with the whole person as they actually live and think.</p>
<p>In most radical working class or marxist thinking, class is the primary factor cutting across all other positions such as race, gender, sexuality, or empire. In this view, class is not really an identity but a relation to production, that is to say an objective fact waiting to be discovered as science discovers nature. This approach imagines workers as economic beings that should react rationally to their class interest, if only explained or experienced in just the right way.</p>
<p>I do not dismiss the important work done by socialists or others in addressing race issues. Instead I hope to reflect on history and enrich organizing method and strategy for anyone aiming to confront the way that race and class are tangled and intertwined. Most socialist groups today do highlight the struggles of women, gays and lesbians, blacks and latinx people and embrace “intersectionality” but organized around class as the “primary contradiction.”</p>
<p>The liberal Democratic Party version does the opposite. Class more or less disappears from liberal conceptions of intersectionality and identity. If the Democrats were to put class into the mix, then it might lead to a <a href="" type="internal">kind of identity politics subversive of the two-party system itself</a>. Once class is invisible, poor whites become objects of immense condescension; deplorable failures with no excuse other than their own stupidity and laziness. After all, we enjoyed all the privileges but are still losers. Right?</p>
<p>The history in Hillbilly Nationalists suggest a different approach. Class does cut deep sure enough, just not all the way to the bone. <a href="" type="internal">JOIN</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Young Patriots&#160;and Rising Up Angry</a>appeal to white workers not simply as workers but also as “dislocated hillbillies.” <a href="" type="internal">O4O and White Lightning</a> tapped into the rich reservoir of European and immigrant labor history. Music, breaking bread, hanging out at the pool hall, street gangs, even the pop culture identities of “greasers” carried class consciousness for those who know how to translate one language into another.</p>
<p>Organizers face a long and winding road. &#160;We travel back and forth between class and cultural identity. That road turns around race every bit as much as class.&#160;For white workers, class interest will lead the way to other things. But, race is so deeply a part how class works in the U.S. that it is impossible to separate the two.</p>
<p>People of color, gays and lesbians, sexually minorities, the young, soldiers and veterans, environmentalists — whatever their class background — may find ideas other than class more inspiring and other roads more compelling. And, there is lots of evidence to suggest that there is a transformative core to the ideals behind every social movement. &#160;Each vantage point is as equally indispensable to the revolutionary project as is class consciousness. &#160;We must use all the means — all the forms of consciousness — at our disposal.</p>
<p>There is nothing more important than finding what <a href="" type="internal">Peggy Terry</a> called “our natural allies in the struggle for real freedom and real democracy.” We can begin by seeking unity without uniformity and honoring the path each person takes to political life.</p>
<p>Once we shift our vantage point, even partially, from abstract analysis to on-the-ground activism, culture and consciousness come to the foreground and cannot be denied. When we take up the revolutionary act of taking to strangers, we find pretty quickly that there is no uncomplicated point of engagement. &#160;It’s rarely class interest pure and simple. All the deep contradictions of our culture and history govern the organizing encounter.</p>
<p>To dismiss white identity is to take our eyes off one of the main obstacles preventing working people from building the power we need to transform America into a democracy free of war and corporate power.</p>
<p>Waves of Revolution, Waves of Whiteness</p>
<p>In American history our revolutionary traditions have been kept in check and elite rule restored by wave after wave of white identity politics.</p>
<p>As <a href="" type="internal">Ted Allen taught</a>, the white race and racism,&#160;invented in tandem, were the reaction to a peoples’ uprising that was both multiracial and cross-class. During Bacon’s rebellion, people of African and European descent — united by a shared experience of servitude and hard labor — joined forces and occupied Jamestown the capital of Virginia colony. With the help of free but landless people and a few small land owners, they rose-up against slavery. After the elites crushed the rebellion,&#160;the white race was invented and the solidarity on which revolution depends was crushed as well.</p>
<p>After 1776 — when the ideal of equality was at least put on the agenda of history — whiteness and slavery betrayed the promise.</p>
<p>We lost the chance again in the 19th Century when millions of Irish — fleeing their own horrible oppression — migrated to the new republic but wasted their fighting spirit. &#160;Our ancestors sold their class struggles short by settling for whiteness as their meal ticket and assimilation into the “white man’s country” they newly called home.[1]</p>
<p>After the revolutionary phase of the Civil War and Reconstruction destroyed slavery and challenged white supremacy, Jim Crow and Klan terror once again restored white identity as the permit that granted political participation. In the end even the mighty Populists succumbed to racial division.[2]</p>
<p>The transformative revolution of the mid-twentieth century destroyed Jim Crow’s legal segregation and challenged empire. For the first time in our history anti-racist ideas gained acceptance by millions of white people. But in the following decades a vast militarized penal system — operating under cover of crime fighting and colorblindness — targeted people of color, reinventing Jim Crow and slavery.[3]</p>
<p>Trump now openly invites us back to white identity by scapegoating immigrants, blacks, latinos, natives and women to divert our attention from the real culprits: empire, corporate power and mass incarceration.</p>
<p>Whiteness Won’t Be Wished Away</p>
<p>We have a daunting history no doubt but we have had our revolutions and we shall have another.&#160;For now there is deep discontent among white workers. The <a href="" type="internal">corporations with their insatiable drive for power and profits</a>, the <a href="" type="internal">empire with its multiple and endless wars</a>, the two-party system with its frauds and fakers&#160;and a labor movement <a href="" type="internal">too often timid</a>, <a href="" type="internal">too often hobbled</a>&#160;by blind obedience to the machine, have led us to down the road to political and environmental disaster. It is time for white workers to rise up.</p>
<p>For organizing purposes — and that is the only purpose that really matters — class should be engaged as both a relation to production and a form of identity. &#160;And&#160;engage we must because the Republicans, KKK, and fascists clearly understand that white identity exists.</p>
<p>Ignore white identity and we surrender that ground to the right. Organize white identity around class issues and anti-racist action and we step closer to the day when whiteness itself will be overcome. All the wishes in the world will not make whiteness go away, it must be transformed through the hard work of raising consciousness and raising hell.</p>
<p>Enter the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/uptown1967/" type="external">Young Patriots Organization</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwgi4O61NQ8" type="external">Redneck Revolt</a>&#160;and <a href="http://www.showingupforracialjustice.org/" type="external">Showing Up for Racial Justice</a>. This is how its done. Go with them. Learn and teach others.</p>
<p>The&#160;job of the organizer is to help white people discover that our self-interest is undermined by own racism. If you want working class rebellion, then work on racism. If you want racial justice, then work on class exploitation.</p>
<p>If we can transform ourselves we can change the world.&#160;Listen to the words of the great civil rights anthem <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFCjP8Uw2-w" type="external">sung by the great working class hero&#160;Bruce Springsteen</a>:</p>
<p>The only thing we did was right Was the day we started to fight Keep your eyes on the prize Hold on</p>
<p>Notes.</p>
<p>1 Noel Ignatiev, How the Irish Became White</p>
<p>2 W.E.B. Dubois, Black Reconstruction in America</p>
<p>3 Michelle Alexander The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Era of Colorblindness.</p> | Whiteness Won’t Be Wished Away | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/12/21/whiteness-wont-be-wished-away/ | 2017-12-21 | 4 |
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<p>Not even an hour after the House of Representatives voted to pass its third continuing resolution aimed at keeping the government funded past midnight Tuesday, the Senate sent back a counteroffer in hopes of striking a deal.</p>
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<p>The sticking point has been, and continues to be, a Republican-controlled House desire to include a provision to either repeal or modify portions of President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law, the Affordable Care Act. In the House’s most recent proposal, it included a provision to delay the ACA’s individual mandate – it’s key provision – for one year. It also included in the CR an amendment to subject certain lawmakers and administration officials to the Affordable Care Act’s provision the American public is subjected to.</p>
<p>Tensions were high and continued to climb as the legislative Ping-Pong continued late into the night. House Speaker John Boehner, on the House floor, explained his reasoning for backing so strongly a provision to repeal or modify the ACA, saying it’s what the American people want.</p>
<p>“The American people don’t want a shutdown and neither do I,” Boehner said. “…Here we find ourselves in this moment dealing with a aw that’s causing unknown consequences and unknown damage to the American people and our economy. And that issue is ObamaCare. Those who don’t recall, it was passed in the middle of the night. 2,300 pages that no one ever read and all types of consequences for the American people, our constituents.”</p>
<p>But Democrats didn’t buy it. Representative Stenny Hoyer refuted the speaker’s remarks, dismissing them as nothing but pure politics and rhetoric.</p>
<p>“Tonight is about the continuing destructive obsession that our Republican friends have and their refusal to recognize there was an election just some months ago…As a result, you are about to shut down the government. You an get up here and say over and over and over again, we don’t want to shut down the government. But your actions, Mr. Speaker, their actions belile their words.”</p>
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<p>Though the effort cleared the House around 9:00 p.m. ET, the legislation was dead on arrival in the Senate as déjà vu continued late into the night, as the U.S. hurtled toward its midnight deadline. Within 30 minutes, the Senate stripped the House-passed amendments from the bill, and kicked the CR back to the House for another try.</p>
<p>The bill is now, for a fourth time, in House Republican lawmakers hands, as Speaker John Boehner works to strike a deal amidst deeply divided government. Though the outcome, at this point, is uncertain, House sources tell FOX Business any action on a new CR would involve at least the following three steps:</p>
<p>-A briefing with House GOP to decide how to proceed with a new proposal</p>
<p>-A Rules Committee meeting to write the new rule to handle the new proposal on the floor</p>
<p>-New debate and a vote on the fourth CR of this fiscal battle</p>
<p>It remains to be seen whether the Senate will reconvene to again table the fourth round of House amendments later in the night.</p>
<p>Markets Worry About Shutdown Effects</p>
<p>Though the Senate and the president believe a government shutdown isn’t all but guaranteed at this point, market participants on Wall Street have a different idea.</p>
<p>In a note to clients Monday, the Potomac Research Group said it doesn’t see any signs of reconciliation on the horizon, and a government shutdown is highly likely for the first time in 17 years.</p>
<p>“We held out hope that a short-term continuing resolution would pass by midnight tonight, but that now looks far-fetched. &#160;None of the key players will blink anytime soon, so this could last for a while. For the markets, a state of exceptional uncertainty will persist for at least another month, possibly until late December,” the Washington-based consultancy wrote.</p>
<p>But Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York said a shutdown will not happen – but the fear is sending shock through the markets – with the Dow down about 100 points in mid-day action.</p>
<p>“We've been through too many of these end-of-world crises, only to hear about a resolution being delivered in the final hours. &#160;Sadly, Congress continues to discredit itself by playing these political games and negotiating via media interviews rather than face-to-face when it pushes the country to the brink,” Schoenberger said.</p>
<p>If the shutdown becomes reality, the consequences the U.S faces are somewhat uncertain.</p>
<p>“Much of the government spending that has a direct effect on the economy – such as entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, as well as existing government contracts for constructions projects and purchases of weapons systems – will not be affected by a shutdown. Government employees who are temporarily furloughed may cut back their spending, and business and consumer confidence may be adversely affected,” Nomura outlined in its note to clients.</p>
<p>In a note to clients Monday morning, Peter Boockvar, managing director and chief market analyst for The Lindsey Group said previous government shutdowns have had little impact on U.S. equity markets, using the most recent as an example. In that case, a temporary fix ended the shutdown, and markets ended little changed from the first day to the last.</p>
<p>“Of course the circumstances are much different today in many ways but markets should assume that a deal will come sooner rather than later because the negative consequences get too large the longer this all lasts, particularly with the debt ceiling,” he wrote.</p>
<p>The bigger concern is a hit to the nation’s economy if and how long a shutdown happens. Michael Block, Chief Strategist at Rhino Trading Partners said in a note to clients Monday, he expects a shutdown to shave up to 1.4 percentage points off fourth-quarter gross domestic product.</p>
<p>“Perhaps more important, failure to reach a compromise here will damage the credibility of the U.S. political system even more acutely than recent shenanigans have already,” he wrote.</p>
<p>Next Congressional Battle</p>
<p>September 30 is not the only deadline Investors and market participants are keeping their eyes focused on. A much bigger concern is the debt ceiling deadline on October 17 – on that day, the U.S. Treasury Department has said it will max out its “extraordinary measures” to fund the government’s financial obligations. At that point, conceivably, the United States will, for the first time in history, begin to default on its obligations, which could ignite massive backlash in financial markets and even spark ratings services to downgrade U.S sovereign debt. And that has market participants worried.</p>
<p>What’s making analysts nervous is the complete inability of Congressional leaders to work out a compromise on the CR. If lawmakers are unable to come together on even a funding proposal through the end of the year, does that bode well for the negotiations sure to come on increasing the nation’s debt ceiling?</p>
<p>“The consequences of the debt limit becoming binding are potentially much more severe. Arrears on some government obligations would probably be unavoidable, and Treasury officials have indicated that they see no clear way to avoid arrears on debt service obligations if the debt limit becomes truly binding,” Nomura wrote.</p>
<p>Block added, “Failure to pass (the debt ceiling resolution) would cause much bigger potential issues and not being able to resolve this issue first will not help investors’ confidence,” Block wrote. “Some pundits do think that a government shutdown will be good for markets because it will make Congress see how urgent and dire it is that they resolve the debt ceiling crisis.”</p> | Senate to House: No Deal on CR | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2013/09/30/senate-to-house-no-deal-on-cr.html | 2016-03-02 | 0 |
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<p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy investor presentation</p>
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<p>One thing that Cheniere Energy has been good at over the past several months is generate headlines. First, we saw the company become an activist investor battleground between <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/09/29/whos-right-about-the-future-of-lng-carl-icahn-or-j.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Jim Chanos and Carl Icahn Opens a New Window.</a>. Then, we saw the company's board of directors give its <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/01/12/carl-icahns-chirstmas-gifts-two-ceos-resignations.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">founder and CEO a boot Opens a New Window.</a> over the direction of the company. And recently, it launched the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/05/shares-of-cheniere-energy-surged-19-in-february-an.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">first LNG export cargoes from its Sabine Pass facility Opens a New Window.</a>owned by its subsidiary partnership Cheniere Energy Partners . Despite all this media attention, it hasn't exactly been good for the company's stock price.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/LNG" type="external">LNG</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Now that Cheniere is an investment in exporting LNG from the US and not just the concept of exporting, there are a few catalysts that could give its struggling stock price a boost. Here's a quick look at three things that could help to get Cheniere's shares back up and running.</p>
<p>Better than expected operational performanceBased on the investor presentations that Cheniere Energy has put out over the past few years, there is a lot of clarity on how much money the company is going to make. Some of that is merited because it has several long term, fixed price contracts in place that ensure a certain amount of revenue. Of all these projections and models, there is one thing that can't be adequately factored in, and that is operational performance and costs.</p>
<p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy investor presentation</p>
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<p>With LNG exports a relatively new thing in the US, it's hard for investors to look at these costs and say whether they are conservative, generous, or in the ballpark. If the company were able to keep its O&amp;M costs and plant maintenance capex down, then we could potentially see the company's margins expand beyond its initial projections. That would go a long way in improving the profitability that Cheniere was initially projecting and would certainly help to boost its beleaguered stock price.</p>
<p>Better than expected results from its non-contracted volume salesThis catalyst is kind of in the same vein as its operational costs because it's one of the places where there is variability in the company's projections. As of today, more than 85% of Cheniere's export capacity is locked in with those 20 year contracts it has signed over the past few years. The only real variability is the price of gas and the 15% premium it charges on top of Henry Hub gas prices as a feedstock cost.</p>
<p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy investor presentation</p>
<p>That other 15% is where things could get interesting for the company. So far, it has inked a few shorter term deals that will help to ensure that the company's facilities are running at close to full capacity. However, if the company does decide to invest in the additional liquefaction trains at both Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi, then the company could have as much as 9 million tons per year of LNG to sell on the open market.</p>
<p>If LNG demand and natural gas prices across the world were to see any significant increases in the next couple of years, that play well into the marketing arm of Cheniere and give shares an added boost that isn't built into the company's current projections.</p>
<p>Nixed projects today opening market share tomorrowOf the potential reasons that Cheniere Energy could see its shares increase, this is the one that is the furthest down the horizon, but it's based on what is happening today in the oil and gas market.</p>
<p>Recently, we have seen the price of natural gas, and more specifically LNG, decline. The largest reason for this decline has been several new LNG export projects coming online. On top of Cheniere's own Sabine Pass sending its first cargoes, Chevron's long anticipated Gorgon LNG facility is bringing its product to the market for the first time. This is leading to a glut in LNG today and as a result, LNG prices in critical end markets such as Europe and China have declined 35% since the beginning of 2016.</p>
<p>This is going to likely have some widespread effects over the next couple of years as other companies look to make final investment decisions on other LNG export facilities. Royal Dutch Shell already nixed its Arrow LNG facility in Australia last year; Woodside Petroleum recently announced that it and its partners Shell and BP are shelving the $40 billion Browse LNG project; and its looking like the two major LNG projects in Western Canada -- Chevron's Kitimat LNG and Petronas' Canada LNG -- are looking less certain by the day.</p>
<p>The lack of these projects on the table today means that there could be an opportunity to fill LNG demand several years from now, and Cheniere's construction and feedstock costs have made it one of the low cost options out there to meet future demand.</p>
<p>Image Source: Cheniere Energy investor presentation</p>
<p>Granted, the company has decided to take a more conservative growth approach than former CEO Charif Souki had envisioned -- one of the reasons the board terminated him. At the same time, the company could see share prices rise significantly if the window for more LNG exports from the US opens again and the company seizes the opportunity with new facilities.</p>
<p>What a Fool believesFor the most part, the next few years of Cheniere's results are already baked in. The fixed fee contracts with volume commitments pretty much ensures the company's revenue stream over a pretty long period. There is some wiggle room around some of the less known variables like operational costs and sales of non-contracted volumes. If these two things were to swing in Cheniere's favor, then shares might see a boost from the better than expected results.</p>
<p>Longer term, though, Cheniere has an opportunity to capture greater market share if other parts of the world become a little more cost conscious of LNG prices over the next few years. If the company really wants to see its share prices rise, it will try to take some of that market with expanded facilities.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/24/3-reasons-cheniere-energys-stock-could-rise.aspx" type="external">3 Reasons Cheniere Energy's Stock Could Rise Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Tyler Crowe Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.You can follow him at Fool.comor on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/TylerCroweFool" type="external">@TylerCroweFool Opens a New Window.</a>. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chevron. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 3 Reasons Cheniere Energy's Stock Could Rise | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/24/3-reasons-cheniere-energy-stock-could-rise.html | 2016-03-24 | 0 |
<p>Photo by Kenny Cole | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>“Trump Ends Covert Aid to Syrian Rebels Trying to Topple Assad,” read a July 19 New York Times headline. Citing The Washington Post as its source, the article noted that the official termination of the “secret” U.S. program “was never publicly announced, just as the beginnings of the program four years ago were officially a secret, authorized by President Barack Obama through a ‘finding’ that permitted the C.I.A. to conduct a deniable program.”</p>
<p>“Mr. Trump’s decisions,” said The Times,&#160; “amounted to an acknowledgment that no escalation of the program, which began in 2013 in concert with the C.I.A.’s counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Jordan, was likely to yield a different result.”</p>
<p>The CIA and its “counterparts” were intervening in Syria even before 2013, if not congruent with the brief Arab Spring mobilizations of 2011, when poor peasants, democratically minded youth, and others protested against the Bashar Assad government’s neo-liberal and repressive policies. The New York Times revealed on June 21, 2012, that the CIA had been ferrying arms, recruiting, and training anti-Assad groups based in Turkey.</p>
<p>The U.S. was simultaneously the major power behind the Syrian National Council (SNC), which it established to be the new Syrian “government in waiting.” The SNC consisted of an exile-based 270-member leadership core that was overseen by the U.S. State Department and funded by most of the Gulf State monarchies. Within a year the SNC exploded as it became clear that it was dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, whose on-the-ground forces in Syria regularly collaborated with the al-Qaeda offshoot, the Nusra Front, and related jihadist groups.</p>
<p>This collaboration, together with the poor coordination and fighting ability of many local Free Syrian Army units, led the CIA to seek out more “reliable” troops that would fight under its direct control. Over the past five-plus years the C.I.A. and other U.S. government&#160;agencies&#160;have overseen various and re-named reincarnations of the SNC and FSA, all aimed at publicly presenting these as secular and democratic forces as opposed to&#160;their&#160;jihadist and&#160;otherwise&#160;reactionary and pro-imperialist&#160;nature. (See Stephen Gowans,&#160;“Washington’s Long War on Syria,”&#160;Chapter 4, “The Myth of the Moderate Rebel,” pp. 141-160.)</p>
<p>With Libya’s pulverizing defeat under their belts, via the U.S. and NATO’s “humanitarian war” in that country, the original imperialist expectation was that Assad’s army would crumble and his government would fall in a matter of weeks or months. When this proved illusory, the now-admitted “covert” operations began in earnest, soon to include an estimated 50,000 jihadist fighters from 100 countries, but mostly from the Middle East, supported by untold billions of dollars in U.S., NATO, and other “coalition” nations’ arms, organized to accomplish in Syria what U.S. imperialism had facilitated, in one form or another, in Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, and Iraq.</p>
<p>Assad’s repression of the protests in March 2011 provided the required U.S. pretext for his instant demonization and the subsequent demand of the Obama administration and its spokespersons, Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, that “Assad must go.”</p>
<p>General Tony Thomas, head of the military’s Special Operations Command, provided, according to The New York Times, “the first public confirmation by an American official that the Trump administration had ended a secret C.I.A. program to arm Syrian rebels.” While the program remains “classified,” when asked if it was aimed at currying favor with Russia, Thomas responded, “At least from what I know about that program and the decision to end it, it was absolutely not a sop to the Russians … it was a “tough, tough decision.” The CIA, upstaged by Trump, said The Times, “declined to comment.”</p>
<p>In point of fact, yesterday’s “covert” operations in Syria have at least in part been replaced by the Trump administration’s overt “no fly zone” war over Syria today. Utilizing their massive air-power superiority in the region, U.S. fighter jets now routinely attack Syrian government troops and those of its allies from Iran and Hezbollah from Lebanon whenever they move to challenge U.S.-backed and still existing “rebel” positions in areas where the U.S. contemplates a long-term, if not permanent presence. (See “President Trump’s ‘no fly zone’ escalates U.S. war on Syria” by this writer in the July issue of Socialist Action.)</p>
<p>Having lost most of the territory that the reactionary U.S.-allied forces had previously occupied, today’s bipartisan imperialist war strategy revolves around establishing control over key border areas in the north as well as in southern Syria for future use, the latter likely as a future pipeline route across the Middle East to the Mediterranean Sea. U.S. wars there, including in Iraq, buttressed U.S. corporate control of vast oil and natural gas resources that in time will require more competitive or advantageous routes than those planned by Russia. “To the victor, goes the spoils of war!” as President Trump is fond of proclaiming.</p>
<p>That the U.S. was conducting a covert war against Syria was no secret. Its basic outlines were frequently reported by The New York Times, with its Middle East Bureau Chief Anne Barnard periodically citing the details, albeit usually buried deep in her articles that aped the imperialist line justifying every U.S. war in the region.</p>
<p>Largely based on Barnard’s revelations, the bulleted selections below, taken from my Jan. 18, 2016 article entitled “U.S. imperialism’s Syria strategy,” provided an accurate summary of at least some of the key U.S. “covert” war efforts.</p>
<p>* “U.S. Major General Michael Nagata was unceremoniously removed some two months ago after his $500 million Syrian assignment to train by the end of the year a projected 5400 Syrian infantrymen to supposedly fight ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq) “languished in complications,” according to U.S. News and World Report. This project ‘ultimately yielded a force of fewer than 60, most of whom were immediately captured or voluntarily surrendered their U.S.-provided military equipment to extremist groups.&#160;Nagata’s program, aimed at training 15,000 such fighters over the next three years, was similarly abandoned.’”</p>
<p>* “The Oct. 9, 2015, New York Times article entitled, ‘Obama Administration Ends Effort to Train Syrians to Combat ISIS,’ states, ‘Obama’s reversal of policy underscored a harsh reality: tens of billions of dollars spent in recent years to train security forces across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia have rarely succeeded in transforming local fighters into effective, long-term armies.’”</p>
<p>* “Today, after four and half years of U.S. ‘training of security forces,’ supposedly to defeat ISIS, some two-thirds of Syria, mostly thinly-populated areas, is under the control of one or another jihadist group—either the Al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra Front, the Islamic State (ISIS) itself, or other Islamist groups. Virtually all are directly, indirectly, or covertly armed and financed by U.S. imperialism, its NATO allies, the Saudi government (and “private” Saudi billionaires), Qatar, the United Arab Emirates or other Gulf State monarchies.</p>
<p>* “In place of this failed program the Obama administration recently announced a ‘new program’ where, ‘for the first time the Pentagon is providing lethal aid directly to Syrian rebels, though the C.I.A. has for some time been covertly training and arming groups fighting Mr. Assad’ (emphasis added). (The New York Times, Oct. 9, 2015).”</p>
<p>In the same article, I wrote, “The U.S.-allied Saudis and the Turks today account for the lion’s share of ISIS’s finances and weapons—undoubtedly with the full knowledge of the U.S. government. The reactionary Turkish government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a U.S. NATO ally, still controls important portions of its southern border with Syria and utilizes these as central corridors for the entrance of thousands of international ISIS fighters to Syria to depose the Assad government. In the same manner over 1000 trucks from ISIS-controlled oil fields in northern Syria serve as the main conduit for ISIS-smuggled oil into Turkey.”</p>
<p>Today, with the covert cat out of the bag, The Times asserts that this allegedly now defunct CIA program “joins similar failed efforts to deliver arms and money to groups seeking to overthrow governments that Washington found noxious, most famously the Kennedy administration’s disastrous effort to do away with the government of Fidel Castro in Cuba.”</p>
<p>Russia’s “targeting and badly weakening the C.I.A.-backed rebels, who were the most capable of the opposition fighters [against Assad]” was seen by The Times as decisive to the Assad government’s winning back Syrian territory. In&#160;this regard the Syrian government’s request for Russian assistance was wholly within its right to self-determination, that is, to defend itself against U.S.&#160;imperialist intervention, war, and the organization of a “rebel” army&#160;aimed at the removal of the Syrian government itself.</p>
<p>As it turned out, U.S. aid to these same “rebels” was not enough to allow them to achieve key U.S. objectives. That is, according to The Times of July 19, it was “not sufficient to clear the way for their takeover of major cities or [to] approach the capital, Damascus.” These issues, along with the now undisputed fact that the vast array of U.S. arms supplied to these same rebels ended up in the hands of forces that the U.S. deemed terrorist, essentially convinced Trump, if not his generals, that a total U.S. victory in Syria was not possible—unless, that is, the U.S. was prepared to engage in yet another land war akin to the present imperialist catastrophes in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>After six years of U.S.-orchestrated war in Syria, at a cost of 500,000 dead and nearly half the population displaced or in exile, U.S. imperialism continues its effort to dominate a poor nation in order to advanced the corporate interests of the one percent, with Trump’s Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former chief executive officer of one of the world’s leading fossil fuel multi-national corporations, Exxon-Mobile, perhaps being the visible symbol of all that is rotten and corrupt in the imperialist U.S. body politic.</p>
<p>The demand for the immediate and total withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Syria and the Middle East must stand at the center of the U.S. antiwar movement’s efforts today. Self-determination for Syria! U.S. Out Now!</p> | Did Trump Really End the CIA’s Secret War in Syria? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/08/03/did-trump-really-end-the-cias-secret-war-in-syria/ | 2017-08-03 | 4 |
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<p>SAN DIEGO (CA)SignOnSanDiego.comBy Sandi Dolbee RELIGION &amp; ETHICS EDITOR</p>
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<p>December 25, 2003</p>
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<p>As the second year of the priest abuse scandal draws to a close, Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in San Diego will focus its Saturday evening Mass this weekend on victims and others affected.</p>
<p>The church will "pray for healing and repair and reconciliation for all those hurting from the clergy sexual abuse scandal," said Father Joe Spieler, Christ the King's pastor.</p>
<p>Spieler said this seemed like an appropriate time to include this focus during a church service. This weekend is when Catholics observe the Feast of the Holy Innocents, commemorating the biblical story of the killing of the children by King Herod after the birth of Jesus. It's also a time when the focus is on contemporary children's issues.</p>
<p>After the Mass, there will be a time of sharing, Spieler said. The service will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the church, which is at 29 N. 32nd St. near Imperial Avenue.</p>
<p>"This is our parish, not a diocesan thing," Spieler said. "We're not wanting this to be a big thing, but it is open to Catholics who want to come."</p> | Masses to be held for victims of sex abuse | false | https://poynter.org/news/masses-be-held-victims-sex-abuse | 2003-12-26 | 2 |
<p>Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter of Donald Trump’s famous book, The Art of The Deal, gave a <a href="" type="internal">scathing interview to the New Yorker</a>, saying that if he had to do it over again, he’d re-title the book “The Sociopath”. You know that Donald would not let that publicity go unanswered.</p>
<p>Despite his oddly rationalized <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/755787159735570432" type="external">tweet</a>about all press being&#160;good press, Donald was not happy about ghostwriter Tony Schwartz coming forward just before the convention to announce just how ill-suited he&#160;is for the office of the presidency.</p>
<p>Clearly, he has little appreciation for the press repeating <a href="" type="internal">Schwartz’s warning:</a></p>
<p>“I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”</p>
<p>So Donald took a rather extraordinary step. Watch:</p>
<p>Media error: Format(s) not supported or source(s) not found</p>
<p>That’s right, Donald has sent a “cease and desist” letter to Schwartz, claiming that he must return all advances and royalties received since the publication of the book in 1987.</p>
<p>Unbelievable.</p>
<p>But of course, he should have known that, because Schwartz noted in the interview just how Donald <a href="" type="internal">treats people</a>:</p>
<p>“Donald pisses ice water.” Schwartz says of Trump, “He’d like people when they were helpful, and turn on them when they weren’t. It wasn’t personal. He’s a transactional man—it was all about what you could do for him.”</p> | On Maddow, Trump’s ‘Art of The Deal’ Ghostwriter Says Donald Is Trying to Silence Him | true | http://bluenationreview.com/trumps-art-of-the-deal-ghostwriter-says-donald-is-trying-to-silence-him/ | 2016-07-20 | 4 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Sens. Leland Yee, Ronald S. Calderon and Roderick Wright have been suspended by the state Senate. So they can’t keep voting on legislation, 99 percent of which is unneeded, expensive and wasteful.</p>
<p>But they’ll still get paid themselves, according to the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-yee-capitol-20140329,0,2287785.story#axzz2xFofKkBT" type="external">L.A. Times</a>:</p>
<p>“The paid suspensions of Sens.&#160; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/leland-yee-PEPLT00008176.topic" type="external">Leland Yee</a>,&#160; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/ron-calderon-PEPLT007583.topic" type="external">Ronald S. Calderon</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/roderick-wright-PEPLT007237.topic" type="external">Roderick Wright</a>&#160;all but guarantee Democrats will not regain their supermajority in the Senate this session.”</p>
<p>Well, that’s something, I guess.</p>
<p>In the private sector, those accused of such wrongdoing would be suspended without pay.</p>
<p>Which is another reason to sharply reduce the government sector close to zero — then to zero.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 3 senators suspended — WITH pay | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2014/03/30/3-senators-suspended-with-pay/ | 2018-03-20 | 3 |
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<p>The Daily Courier in Prescott reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1NJSIFP)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1NJSIFP)</a> that the family of Kayla Mueller joined the Kiwanis Club of Prescott at a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday for Kayla's Hands playground.</p>
<p>Carl Mueller says the playground will be a wonderful tribute to his daughter and some of the equipment will be accessible to children with physical disabilities.</p>
<p>The club is still trying to collect donations to cover the costs.</p>
<p>Kayla Mueller's death was confirmed in February 2015 by U.S. officials.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>She was taken hostage by the Islamic State group in August 2013 after leaving a hospital in Aleppo, Syria.</p>
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<p>Information from: The Daily Courier, <a href="http://www.dcourier.com" type="external">http://www.dcourier.com</a></p> | Prescott playground honoring slain aid worker taking shape | false | https://abqjournal.com/715498/prescott-playground-honoring-slain-aid-worker-taking-shape.html | 2 |
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<p>A combination of rainfall and rising tides, as well as the possible effects of deforestation, sparked landslides that buried homes and killed at least 80 people in central Indonesia on Wednesday. Thousands were forced to evacuate the Java region, and officials say the death toll may still rise. The devastation came on the third anniversary of the Asian tsunami that killed nearly a quarter of a million people in 2004.</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>Television pictures showed people wading through chest-high water, clutching their belongings above their heads.</p>
<p>Landslides struck several areas, including the Tawangmangu area of Central Java, in Karanganyar district, and further south in Wonogiri.</p>
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<p>The worst incident was reportedly in Karanganyar, where people were at a dinner celebrating the clean-up of a mud-covered home.</p>
<p>Rescue chief Eko Prayitno told Associated Press news agency: “They were having dinner together when they were hit by another landslide. At least 61 people were buried.”</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7160138.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Landslides Hit Indonesia on Anniversary of Tsunami | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/landslides-hit-indonesia-on-anniversary-of-tsunami/ | 2007-12-26 | 4 |
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<p>Agreeing it's a program it can live with, if not love, the New Mexico State Game Commission voted 6-1 Thursday to support the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's recently revised Mexican wolf recovery plan.</p>
<p>Presentation of the plan topped the agenda at the commission's meeting in Albuquerque. Public comment was heard on both sides of the issue.</p>
<p>Cut to its bare bones, the plan's goal is to build the U.S. Mexican wolf population to 320 in its range in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, and to boost the number to 170 in Mexico. Latest counts show the U.S. population at 114 and the Mexican population at 28.</p>
<p>Dissatisfaction with Fish and Wildlife's handling of the program prompted the New Mexico Game and Fish Department to drop out of the recovery program's interagency field team in 2011 and led last year to New Mexico suing the agency to block the release of wolves in the state.</p>
<p>New Mexico claimed the agency did not have a sound plan for recovery. On June 20, the service issued a draft for a plan that would replace one created in 1982.</p>
<p>“The biggest difference from the previous plan is that this has objectives and measurable goals,” Stewart Liley, chief of the Game and Fish Department's wildlife management division, told Game Commission members during Thursday's meeting. “Another difference is cooperation with Mexico.”</p>
<p>Liley said he thought it possible that the plan's population goals could be reached in 10 to 15 years.</p>
<p>“I think, for New Mexico, it is a satisfactory plan,” he said.</p>
<p>Noting that the deadline for comment on the plan is Aug. 29, Paul Kienzle, Game Commission chairman, said he would entertain a motion to support the federal plan, subject to review if it was substantively changed, and also to submit a transcript of the commission's discussion at the meeting as a comment on the plan.</p>
<p>“No commissioner up here loves this plan,” Kienzle said. “I think this is a plan that the commission can support.”</p>
<p>Both wildlife advocacy groups supporting wolf recovery and members of the state's livestock industry, which opposes it, have expressed concerns about the new plan.</p>
<p>Michael Dax, New Mexico outreach representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said the organization does not believe the plan provides for sufficient genetic diversity to accomplish recovery.</p>
<p>Caren Cowan, executive director of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association, said that ranchers, concerned about loss of livestock to wolves, were ignored completely during the development of the new plan.</p>
<p>“We don't like being dismissed as a social consequence,” she said.</p>
<p>But Game Commissioner Elizabeth Ryan made the motion to support the FWS plan.</p>
<p>“I'm willing to take the lumps from the farming and ranching community, as well as wildlife groups, because I want New Mexico to have a seat at the table,” Ryan said. “This plan encourages and mandates the federal government working with the state.”</p>
<p>Before voting to support the federal plan, commissioners grappled with worries about the recovery program's effect on livestock and the state's elk population, the degree of state input and the dependency of the plan on Mexico's cooperation.</p>
<p>“My preference is not to be linked to Mexico,” Kienzle said. “We have no control over what happens there. I firmly believe we can get the job done here.”</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | NM game commission votes to support federal wolf recovery plan | false | https://abqjournal.com/1052931/nm-votes-to-support-federal-wolf-recovery-plan.html | 2017-08-24 | 2 |
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<p>Connor, who worked as an aide to then-Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., from 2001 to 2009, is currently head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages federal water projects in the western United States.</p>
<p>Bingaman praised the choice. “He’s from our state. He knows our state. He’s a good choice for New Mexico,” Bingaman told the Journal.</p>
<p>Connor was born in Utah and grew up in Las Cruces after his family moved there when he was 2. He got an engineering degree from New Mexico State University before moving to Colorado to attend law school, where his specialty was water law.</p>
<p>While working with Bingaman, Connor helped establish new Western water management programs in the Bureau of Reclamation that he was then in charge of implementing when he became commissioner of the agency in 2009.</p>
<p>While working for Bingaman, Connor also oversaw major efforts to settle American Indian water rights disputes, including the Navajo Nation’s claims to water on the San Juan River in northwest New Mexico.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Connor’s mother is descended from members of Taos Pueblo, though she was not an enrolled pueblo member. Interior officials believe Connor would be the first person with such Native American roots to serve so high in the Interior Department, which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs.</p>
<p>The position requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate.</p>
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<p /> | N.M. man tapped for Interior | false | https://abqjournal.com/228044/nm-man-tapped-for-interior.html | 2 |
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<p>(Screenshot via YouTube.)</p>
<p>“I Am Michael,” James Franco’s latest gay film project, has been picked up by Brainstorm Media and given a release date.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/james-francos-i-am-michael-gets-2017-release-by-brainstorm-media-951340" type="external">The Hollywood Reporter</a>, “I Am Michael” will be released in limited theaters and on video streaming platforms on Jan. 27.</p>
<p>The film tells the true story of gay youth activist Michael Glatze (Franco) who denounces his sexuality and becomes a straight Christian pastor. Zachary Quinto stars as Glatze’s boyfriend and Roberts stars as the woman who becomes his girlfriend.</p>
<p>Gus Van Sant executive produced the film and Justin Kelly wrote and directed. Franco also served as producer along with&#160;Vince Jolivette.</p>
<p>“’I Am Michael’ is an incredibly original film on a very important topic: identity. As we move into a new presidency where sexual orientation might once again be called into question, a film that examines this from such an unusual perspective is invaluable. I’m proud to be a part of it,” Franco said in a statement.</p>
<p>Watch the trailer below.</p>
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<p><a href="" type="internal">Emma Roberts</a> <a href="" type="internal">Gus Van Sant</a> <a href="" type="internal">I Am Michael</a> <a href="" type="internal">James Franco</a> <a href="" type="internal">Justin Kelly</a> <a href="" type="internal">Michael Glatze</a> <a href="" type="internal">the Hollywood Reporter</a> <a href="" type="internal">Vince Jolivette</a> <a href="" type="internal">Zachary Quinto</a></p> | James Franco’s gay drama ‘I Am Michael’ gets theatrical release date | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/12/02/james-francos-gay-drama-michael-gets-theatrical-release-date/ | 3 |
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<p>House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday defended the controversial border adjustment tax, which he called “good manufacturing policy,” during his weekly press conference with the media.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“[The border adjustment tax is] putting American-made products at a huge advantage. There’s a built-in bias in our tax code to outsource and re-import into this country. That’s not good for American jobs, that’s not good for American manufacturing, that’s not good for American economic growth,” Ryan said.</p>
<p>The comments come one day after retail executives, including AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) president and CEO Bill Rhodes, JCPenney (NYSE:JCP) CEO Marvin Ellison and Target (NYSE:TGT) CEO Brian Cornell, huddled with President Trump at the White House to voice their concerns over the divisive tax. The industry leaders later met with Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) of the Senate Finance Committee.</p>
<p>“We had a positive and productive conversation with President Trump… [Where] we stressed the importance of taking a thoughtful approach to tax reform for both individuals and corporations,” AutoZone CEO Bill Rhodes said in a statement on Wednesday.</p>
<p>After the meeting, Rep. Brady said he is “confident” the border adjustment tax, which would eliminate the ability for companies to deduct the cost of imports – but exempt exports from being taxed, will be included in the GOP’s tax reform plan. While supporters say the tax is designed to prevent the outsourcing of American jobs, opponents argue this type of tariff will result in a financial burden that retail companies will be forced to pass on to the consumer.</p>
<p>“This 20 percent tax on all imports is regressive, hammers consumers, and shuts down economic growth,” Senator Perdue (R-GA) wrote in a letter to his colleagues last week.</p>
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<p>In a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) echoed concerns that it would seriously cripple the average American.</p>
<p>“It’s estimated that this one change alone would produce something like $100 billion a year in additional tax revenue. That’s a lot of money, and someone has to pay it. And I’ll tell you exactly who’s going to pay: working Americans who’ve been struggling for decades. A tax on imports is a tax on things working folk buy every single day,” Cotton told his colleagues.</p>
<p>This type of consumer pain would spillover to stunt an already slowly-moving economy, Brian Wesbury, First Trust chief economist, told FOX Business.</p>
<p>“U.S. companies have arranged their affairs based on the current tax code - trillions of dollars of decisions. Shifting to a [border adjustment tax] creates a chaotic cascade of winners and losers. This chaos is bad for the economy,” he said.</p>
<p>It is unclear whether President Trump will ultimately support the tax, he has called it “too complicated.” Meanwhile, a few U.S. multinationals who stand to gain from the tax exemption on exports, including Boeing (NYSE:BA) and General Electric (NYSE:GE), have come out in favor of it. Even some retail industry insiders have spoken out for it, maintaining that it is an essential part of the GOP’s overhaul agenda.</p>
<p>“[The CEOs in opposition to the tax] are making their decisions based on the tax code as it is set up today, and what’s being proposed is a complete reform of the tax code where the incentives to export jobs and export businesses that have existed for years would be turned around so that the incentives to build capability and jobs in the U.S. would exist,” Bill Simon, former Walmart U.S. president and CEO, said during an interview with FOX Business’ Stuart Varney Wednesday.</p>
<p>Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform president, said the border tax supports the administration's pro-growth agenda.</p>
<p>"The part of the tax reform package that creates a border adjustable cash-flow business tax is part of overall pro-growth and job creating tax reform," he told FOX Business.</p>
<p>In December a staff memo leaked from the Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee revealed they find the proposal “confusing, untested” and “possibly illegal under WTO rules.”</p>
<p>On Thursday, Ryan said that division on Capitol Hill over the policy will not impede the tax reform process.</p>
<p>"We are doing tax reform. Tax reform is going to happen. Do you know why tax reform is going to happen? Because it has to happen," Ryan said.</p> | Border Tax Conundrum: Good for Made-in-America, Bad for Americans? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/16/border-tax-conundrum-good-for-made-in-america-bad-for-americans.html | 2017-02-16 | 0 |
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-07/don-t-worry-when-the-stock-market-goes-crazy-after-the-election" type="external">Bloomberg</a></p>
<p>In the hours after the president is elected, equity investors need to brace for volatility. What they shouldn’t do is panic.</p>
<p>That’s because regardless of how prices react on Nov. 9, next-day moves in the S&amp;P 500 Index are useless in telling what comes after.</p>
<p>While the index swings an average 1.5 percent the day after the vote, gains or losses over the first 24 hours predict the market’s direction 12 months later less than half the time.</p>
<p>This matters because the compulsion to act in the vote’s aftermath is often very strong — stocks swing twice as violently as normal those days, data compiled by Bloomberg show. They plummeted 5 percent just after Barack Obama beat John McCain in 2008. But while nothing says Wednesday’s reaction won’t be a harbinger for the year, nothing says it will, either, and investors should think before doing anything rash.</p>
<p>“Trying to trade that is very difficult,” said Thomas Melcher, the Philadelphia-based chief investment officer at PNC Asset Management Group. “Even if the market sells off, if you have any reasonable time horizon, that should be a buying opportunity. The dust will settle and people will conclude the economy is OK.”</p>
<p>In the 22 elections going back to 1928, the S&amp;P 500 has fallen 15 times the day after polls close, for an average loss of 1.8 percent…</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-07/don-t-worry-when-the-stock-market-goes-crazy-after-the-election" type="external">Continue this story at Bloomberg</a></p>
<p>READ MORE ELECTION NEWS AT: <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire 2016 Files</a></p> | WARNING: Don’t Worry If the Stock Market Goes Crazy After Election | true | http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/11/07/warning-dont-worry-if-the-stock-market-goes-crazy-after-election/ | 2016-11-07 | 4 |
<p />
<p>It’s common for children to receive financial contributions from parents, grandparents and other relatives to help secure a child’s financial future by funding investment accounts for them—but they come with tax implications that must be reported come April 15.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>These accounts are normally in the child’s name and Social Security number, but held in trust with a parent or guardian. At year end, a 1099 is issued to declare the dividends, interest and capital gains earned during the year. Other unearned income may be generated by a trust.</p>
<p>This creates a tax obligation and a tax return must be filed. However, if the total interest and dividend income is less than $10,000 in 2013, parents can elect to report the income on their own tax return using IRS <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8814.pdf" type="external">Form 8814 Opens a New Window.</a> rather than filing a separate income tax return for the child. Other qualifiers for using this form include:</p>
<p>There are qualifiers for using Form 8814 for the parents as well:</p>
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<p>By not filing a separate tax return for your child, you may miss out on some benefits, including: the ability to write off the child’s investment expenses, fund management or advisory fees or the early withdrawal penalty on a child’s savings account.</p>
<p>You may also end up paying more tax by including the child’s income on your tax return if the child has tax advantaged qualified dividends or capital gain distributions. This is simply because the child’s tax rate on income between $1,000 and $2,000 is 10% if you make the election to file Form 8814 with your own tax return.</p>
<p>As you are undoubtedly aware, the IRS has been scrutinizing offshore accounts. It’s possible that your child’s monies may be invested in foreign banks or trusts. If so, make sure you complete Schedule B of Form 1040, Part III and file it with your tax return. You may also be required to file <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8938.pdf" type="external">IRS Form 8938 Opens a New Window.</a> to declare foreign financial assets.</p>
<p>April 15 Deadline Tax Tip:Please know that if you owe the IRS for 2013, filing an extension does not grant you an extension of time to pay. It only grants an extension of time to file your tax return until October 15, 2014. The IRS expects payment in full on April 15. It’s usually less expensive to borrow off a high interest credit card to meet your tax obligation than it is to set up an installment agreement with the IRS.</p> | Don’t Forget Your Child’s Investment Income this Tax Season | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/04/03/dont-forget-your-childs-investment-income-this-tax-season.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>(Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP has started a proxy fight on Wednesday for control of Mellanox Technologies Ltd ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MLNX.O" type="external">MLNX.O</a>), calling the Israeli chipmaker deeply undervalued.</p> Jeffrey Smith, Managing Member, CEO and Chief Investment Officer for Starboard Value LP., speaks at the Sohn Investment Conference in New York City, U.S. May 4, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
<p>Starboard, the largest shareholder of Mellanox with a 10.7 percent stake, said it would nominate a slate of nine candidates for election to the company’s board.</p>
<p>The nominations include Starboard head Jeffrey Smith, who has become the face and name behind the fund’s multiple proxy contests.</p>
<p>“We are appreciative of the constructive dialogue we have had with various members of management and the Board over the last few months ... However, we do believe substantial change is needed after years of poor performance,” Starboard said in a letter to Mellanox shareholders.</p>
<p>Mellanox confirmed receiving the nominations of nine directors, adding its board had held several discussions with the hedge fund in recent months.</p>
<p>The company said early on Thursday Starboard did not discuss with Mellanox about the nominations before making them public despite recent ongoing talks.</p>
<p>In December, Mellanox forecast low- to mid-teens revenue growth for fiscal 2018, compared with an estimated 0.5 percent rise, but a far cry from 19 percent to 30 percent growth rates between 2014 and 2016. ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2nCz1zI" type="external">bit.ly/2nCz1zI</a>)</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MLNX.O" type="external">Mellanox Technologies Ltd</a> 77.9 MLNX.O Nasdaq +0.35 (+0.45%) MLNX.O
<p>Starboard had criticized Mellanox’s 2018 targets last week, saying they were insufficient.</p>
<p>The New York hedge fund said on Wednesday that substantial change is “required and warranted” on the board of Mellanox in order to provide a new plan for the future.</p>
<p>Shares of Mellanox have risen nearly 14 percent since Starboard disclosed its stake in the company in November.</p>
<p>Mellanox reports its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.</p>
<p>Reporting by Sonam Rai in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh; Editing by Maju Samuel and Sunil Nair</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil fell 1 percent on Monday as markets opened following western air strikes in Syria over the weekend, while a rise in U.S. drilling for new production also dragged on prices.</p> FILE PHOTO: Oil pumping facilities are seen at Venezuela's western Maracaibo lake in Venezuela, November 5, 2007. REUTERS/Isaac Urrutia/File Photo
<p>The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles on Saturday, targeting what they said were three chemical weapons facilities in Syria in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7.</p>
<p>Brent crude oil futures were at $71.85 per barrel at 0547 GMT, down 73 cents, or 1 percent, from their last close.</p>
<p>U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 57 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $66.82 a barrel.</p>
<p>Traders said markets in Asia began cautiously after the weekend strikes, with some relief that the move looked unlikely to escalate.</p>
<p>“In the wake of the coordinated attack on Syria, oil prices are significantly lower ... (but) the impact appears to be compact and over,” said Sukrit Vijayakar, director of energy consultancy Trifecta.</p>
<p>Oil markets also came under pressure from a rise in U.S. oil drilling activity.</p>
<p>U.S. energy companies added seven oil rigs drilling for new production in the week to April 13, bringing the total to 815, the highest since March 2015, energy services firm Baker Hughes said on Friday.</p>
<p>Despite this, Brent is still up more than 16 percent from its 2018 low in February, due to healthy demand and also because of conflict and tension in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Although Syria itself is not a significant oil producer, the wider Middle East is the world’s most important crude exporter and tension in the region tends to put oil markets on edge.</p>
<p>“Investors continued to worry about the impact of a wider conflict in the Middle East,” ANZ bank said.</p>
<p>Reporting by Henning Gloystein; editing by Richard Pullin and Joseph Radford</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. equity index futures rose on Sunday as financial market trading resumed for the first time since the United States, Britain and France hit Syria with missile strikes in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack.</p> FILE PHOTO - A specialist trader works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 22, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
<p>The move suggested Wall Street was set to shrug off the attack and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s warning on Sunday that further Western attacks on Syria would bring chaos to world affairs.</p>
<p>In the first few minutes of trading on Sunday evening, S&amp;P 500 e-mini futures ESv1 were up by about 0.6 percent. Futures tracking the Nasdaq Composite Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average were up by comparable amounts.</p>
<p>Futures tracking safe-haven U.S. Treasury securities were slightly lower.</p>
<p>U.S. stocks fell on Friday as results from big banks failed to enthuse and worries over the Syria situation, but major market benchmarks gained ground on the week.</p>
<p>Reporting by Dan Burns; Editing by Peter Cooney</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=DBKGn.DE" type="external">DBKGn.DE</a>) has been asked by European Central Bank supervisors to calculate the potential costs of winding down its investment banking operations, a source told Reuters on Sunday.</p> FILE PHOTO: A statue is pictured next to the logo of Germany's Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Germany September 30, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File Photo
<p>Germany’s biggest lender has been calculating the financial effects of a potential move to quit investment banking for some time, and the move is not related to the switch in Deutsche Bank’s top management position last Sunday when retail banking expert Christian Sewing was appointed to replace chief executive John Cryan.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=DBKGn.DE" type="external">Deutsche Bank AG</a> 11.7 DBKGn.DE Xetra +0.03 (+0.27%) DBKGn.DE
<p>The point of the exercise is to estimate how the value of Deutsche Bank’s capital market and derivatives business would develop if the bank was to exit abruptly from new business, the source said on condition he not be named because the matter is confidential.</p>
<p>Deutsche Bank said it “routinely” calculates the consequences of an orderly winding-down of positions in trading books for regulators. The ECB declined comment.</p>
<p>Germany’s daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung was first to report on Deutsche Bank’s explorations induced by the ECB, saying other lenders are to face similar requests at a later stage.</p>
<p>Deutsche Bank is already in the middle of a global review of the investment bank, known internally as Project Colombo, to determine the way forward as revenues shrink and clients and staff leave.</p>
<p>Reporting by Hans Seidenstuecker, additional reporting by Frank Siebelt. Writing by Andreas Cremer, editing by Kathrin Jones and David Evans</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc bought Clarity Money, a personal finance startup, to bolster its Marcus online lending business, it said Sunday.</p> A Goldman Sachs sign is displayed inside the company's post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 18, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
<p>Buying Clarity Money, a free app that helps consumers manage their personal finances, is expected to add over 1 million customers to the financial service firm’s Marcus business. Marcus offers tools to help customers save and borrow. Clarity Money will be re-branded as Marcus by Goldman Sachs over time, the company said.</p>
<p>Terms were not disclosed.</p>
<p>Goldman launched Marcus in October 2016 as a way to court Main Street borrowers saddled with credit card debt. It offers loans from $3,500 to $40,000 and targets credit card borrowers who can benefit from consolidating debt into a single loan with a lower interest rate.</p>
<p>GS Bank, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, is making the acquisition. Clarity Money CEO Adam Dell will join Goldman Sachs as a partner.</p>
<p>(This version of the story corrects in paragraph 4 to say that Marcus offers loans up to $40,000, not $30,000)</p>
<p>Reporting By Jessica Resnick-Ault; Editing by Nick Zieminski</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Starboard to nominate nine candidates to Mellanox board Oil markets tense after western strikes on Syria, rising U.S. drilling weighs Wall Street futures rise, shrug off allied missile attack on Syria ECB asks Deutsche Bank to gauge investment banking exit costs: source Goldman Sachs buys personal finance start-up Clarity Money | false | https://reuters.com/article/us-mellanox-starboard/starboard-to-nominate-nine-candidates-to-mellanox-board-idUSKBN1F702E | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Image source: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeepersmedia/14162108487/in/photolist-nzsvsg-nPTLeW-ozAHzL-oijHJ4-oijaH2-nRNbHw-oijbbr-nRNbN1-n318GN-nRDcKi-nRWnhp-n31bdQ-n31cUW-n31cdA-n2YAbT-n31a2b" type="external">Mike Mozart via Flickr Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What:According to data from <a href="https://www.capitaliq.com/ciqdotnet/login-sso.aspx?contextType=external&amp;username=string&amp;enablePersistentLogin=true&amp;OverrideRetryLimit=0&amp;contextValue=%2Foam&amp;password=sercure_string&amp;challenge_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.capitaliq.com%2Fciqdotnet%2Flogin-sso.aspx&amp;request_id=-5829970905981486522&amp;authn_try_count=0&amp;locale=en_US&amp;resource_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.capitaliq.com%252FCIQDotNet%252FLogin.aspx" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>, shares ofWeight Watchers International surged 17% last month. The company posted a strong first-quarter earnings report and the stock got a boost later in the month thanks to an analyst buy rating.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/WTW" type="external">WTW</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>So what:As the chart above shows, Weight Watchers shares dipped early in the month despite a promising earnings report. Fresh off a partnership with Oprah Winfrey, the stock spiked as high as 16% on May 5 and finished the day up 3% in response to the first-quarter earnings report. Subscriber growth rebounded to a 5% increase globally and 11% in North America, thanks to the media mogul's influence.</p>
<p>Later in the month, the stock jumped 6% on May 24 after Sidoti initiated coverage with a buy rating and a price target of $25. Analyst Frank Camma said he expected the company to return to more profitable revenue and earnings growth, and saluted the more holistic approach of its new "Beyond the Scale" program.</p>
<p>Now what:In addition to the strong subscriber growth, Weight Watchers also raised its full-year earnings per share guidance from $0.70-$1 to $0.80-$1.05. The weight loss business is a fickle one, but the investment and partnership with Winfrey should help boost the company's performance. If it can deliver on its increased guidance, the stock could keep climbing.</p>
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<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/04/why-weight-watchers-international-soared-17-last-m.aspx" type="external">Why Weight Watchers International Soared 17% Last Month Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Jeremy Bowman 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 Weight Watchers International Soared 17% Last Month | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/04/why-weight-watchers-international-soared-17-last-month.html | 2016-06-04 | 0 |
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<p>Rock trio Highly Suspect expect to head into the studio in June to record new music.</p>
<p>Ryan Meyer is able to have a better experience on tour these days.</p>
<p>This is due to the weather warming up across the country.</p>
<p>"When you are on tour, what you do and see is dependent on the weather," he says during a recent interview while walking through Seattle. "I've been doing things all day here. During the winter, it's too cold to do anything and you stay in your bunk for the majority of the tour."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Meyer is one-third of the rock trio Highly Suspect. The trio - which includes brother Rich Meyer and Johnny Stevens - got its start in 2009 playing cover songs in Massachusetts.</p>
<p />
<p>Since then, the trio has released three EPs and two full-length albums. Its most recent album, "Mister Asylum," was released in 2015 and garnered two Grammy nominations in rock categories.</p>
<p>Although the album has been out less than a year, Meyer and crew have been working on new music.</p>
<p>In fact, they spent two weeks in Los Angeles working on material before going on tour in Australia and New Zealand.</p>
<p>Meyer says the bus is now equipped with a mobile recording studio.</p>
<p>"We're still continually writing and we can demo songs out," he says. "In June, we start to record real stuff. - This will happen outside of the country."</p>
<p>These days, Meyer is proud of the music the trio is recording.</p>
<p>They aren't doing anything too different than with previous projects.</p>
<p>As songwriters, we're all in our 30s, and the music that is coming out is more mature and more intelligent,? he says. "I'm not just blasting the beat to show off how fast and hard I can play drums."</p>
<p>Highly Suspect's profile continues to rise and Meyer says the band continues to push itself with the live show, as well.</p>
<p>He enjoys having the crowd's energy to play off of with a show and wants the audience to be in the moment with them.</p>
<p>"When we're playing, we're giving it our all," he says. "This is why, during our shows, we ask the fans to put their cellphones away and to enjoy the show. We want to share a moment with the fans and it's difficult to do while watching through a cell phone. It's about being in the present."</p>
<p /> | Highly Suspect asks fans to put cellphones away during concerts | false | https://abqjournal.com/757317/being-in-the-present.html | 2016-04-15 | 2 |
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<p />
<p>The 41st Chama Chile Ski Classic &amp; Winter Fiesta is set for Jan. 18 and 19.</p>
<p>The longest running and largest cross-country skiing event in New Mexico includes seven cross-country ski and snowshoe races.</p>
<p>First and second place medals for each race will be awarded to top male and female racers in categories for adults and kids. All racers receive a T-shirt and commemorative pin. There also will be a costume contest for racers and spectators.</p>
<p>The race course includes part of the Cumbres &amp; Toltec Scenic Railroad tracks in the San Juan Mountains, north of Chama. Skiers will enjoy gliding through rolling hills, aspen groves, open meadows and spruce and fir forests. After the races, the groomed course will be open for non-competitive skiing.</p>
<p>“Throughout the Chama Chile Ski Classic &amp; Winter Fiesta weekend, there will be plenty of events for both racers and non-racers,” says Mary Ann DeBoer, race director.</p>
<p>More information is available at chamaski.com.</p>
<p />
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Skiing and chile – what a pair | false | https://abqjournal.com/329662/skiing-and-chile-what-a-pair.html | 2014-01-02 | 2 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jason_benjamin/" type="external">PerfectHue</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">(CC BY 2.0)</a></p>
<p>Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have to figure out what to do with $27 million worth of Bitcoin confiscated after the closure of an anonymous black market site authorities say was used to exchange drugs and computer hacking services. And the value of the haul could grow if the price of the currency continues to increase.</p>
<p>The Guardian <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/18/us-prosecutors-seized-bitcoin-hoard" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>No one stepped forward to claim these bitcoins, which were found in electronic “wallets” used to store the digital currency. An additional 144,336 bitcoins, worth more than $128m today, were also discovered, but the government’s claim on them is being disputed by Ross William Ulbricht, 29, who US authorities say was the founder and main operator of Silk Road. They had been stashed on his laptop.</p>
<p>It all puts authorities in an unusual position, given their concerns about the way in which bitcoins and other digital currencies are used by criminals to circumvent regulations intended to prevent money laundering. By trading in bitcoins, the government could give the currency some legitimacy.</p>
<p>… The US Marshals Service, which is in charge of liquidating such seized assets, will have to decide whether to sell the units on a Bitcoin exchange or find a private buyer, perhaps through an auction.</p>
<p>… The timing of any sale could make a big difference in the amount the government could realise. Bitcoin’s value has fluctuated wildly over the past six months. When Silk Road was seized, the bitcoins found on the server were worth $3.6m, far below their current $27m value. Friday’s exchange rate was about $900 per bitcoin, according to the Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange MtGox.</p>
<p>… Most goods seized by US authorities end up in the hands of the US Marshals, where they are auctioned or, at times, repurposed for government use. But the Marshals are not just experienced in unloading forfeited SUVs or houses; they also deal with complex financial instruments, foreign companies and other kinds of obscure assets forfeited by criminals.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
<p /> | U.S. Prosecutors Obtain Millions in Bitcoin | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/u-s-prosecutors-obtain-millions-in-bitcoin/ | 2014-01-19 | 4 |
<p>–“The freedom that one may take to say more extensively in a book what one may not say before a live audience is founded on many sound reasons.”–Pierre Bayle, “Clarification: On Obscenities.”</p>
<p>–Nothing works, everything’s dysfunctional. We are now all peasants of the third world, dressed in Nikes and driving Beemers. Is there a brain drain for laid-off dot-com workers with Wesleyan history degrees to somewhere? History spins in cycles, never letting us get anything done before noon.</p>
<p>–One manifestation of the Golden Age: California in the seventies when therapists were still a minority among social workers. Today: the meritocracy of the Ivy League bubble that doesn’t let you opt out altogether without a crushing sense of guilt.</p>
<p>–Politics as the highest form of art today. The only art. Because not translatable.</p>
<p>–But if we would shut up government within the narrowest practical limits, we must beware how we let it loose in the field of opinion. Opinion is the castle, or rather the temple, of human nature; and, if it be polluted, there is no longer anything sacred or venerable in sublunary existence. –William Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice.</p>
<p>–Every calamity outside us frightens. Why should it?</p>
<p>–If we all agree to disagree, then the tyrants take over with guns and bombs. If we all really disagree, then we all become tyrants. In any event, the age of innocence can only be captured in ornate books.</p>
<p>–One hopes to be found dead at the end of the holocaust and not one among the survivors.</p>
<p>–A Man is allowed sufficient Freedom of Thought, provided he knows how to chuse his Subject properly. You may criticize freely upon the Chinese Constitution, and observe with as much Severity as you please upon the Absurd Tricks, or destructive Bigotry of the Bonzees. But the Scene is changed as you come homeward, and Atheism or Treason may be the Names given in Britain, to what would be Reason and Truth if asserted of China. –Edmund Burke, A Vindication of Natural Society.</p>
<p>–When now I march to feel like I have a stake in the watersheds of history, I leave behind doubt and certainty in equal measure: I can only carry on when I suspend belief in what it means to be human. Afterwards, at home, empty and alone, I calculate the hours lost.</p>
<p>–In Monterey in 1969 there used to be a retired professor of philosophy with a thing for skinning cats alive. His neighbors trusted him without stint. His VW Bug had anticipated counterculture by a good half-decade.</p>
<p>–Despite abstractions to the contrary, it is not true that dying alone happens all the time.</p>
<p>–Printing presses shall be subject to no other restraint than liableness to legal prosecution for false facts printed and published. –Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Constitution for Virginia (June 1783).</p>
<p>–Countless hours of reading. Afterwards, crying in my pillow to make the point to myself that I can still feel. Writing copiously in the margins of books, pretending that someday I’ll go back and review the classics for obscure literary journals. Fearing the greatest fear of never being able to say anything new. Catching myself in mid-flow.</p>
<p>–We used to get sunburned after too much surfing, and we laughed at each other’s corny jokes over milkshakes. That was the high point of our lives.</p>
<p>–If you know you’ve blundered, don’t talk it all out.</p>
<p>–When a nation changes its opinion and habits of thinking, it is no longer to be governed as before; but it would not only be wrong, but bad policy, to attempt by force what ought to be accomplished by reason. –Thomas Paine, Rights of Man.</p>
<p>–Forster said, Only connect. How? It presumes commonality of interest and we live in an age of false self-sufficiency, the worst of all worlds. I’d rather hang out my sins for the world to see, and hope to be called one so callous as to be unforgivable. Hence, the invisible pursuit of art (invisible, that is, to those who persist in seeing in me a reflection of themselves).</p>
<p>–Even the oceans look and smell different after years of absence.</p>
<p>–Like water in a stream when it’s almost dried out, there is a time in our lives when we can still yearn for youth without feeling shame.</p>
<p>–Freedom embodies a twofold determination. The first concerns the content of freedom, its objectivity–i.e., the thing itself; the second concerns the form of freedom, in which the subject knows itself as active; for the requirement of freedom is that the subject should know that it possesses it and is playing its part, for it is in the subject’s own interest that the thing itself should be realized. –G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the Philosophy of History.</p>
<p>–If I don’t answer mail, I feel ashamed. If I don’t pick up the phone when it rings, I get scared. If I don’t read the paper in the morning, I feel adrift. If I lack the right degree of responsiveness and sensitivity to my lover’s night-time leanings, I question my human status.</p>
<p>–A quantity of guns lies embedded in the collective unconscious of the average suburban teenager. And I have known some of them myself.</p>
<p>–Leave the question of peace among peoples alone, after cursory investigation.</p>
<p>–In a population where the indispensable cooperation of individuals in public order can no longer be achieved by the voluntary and moral assent accorded by each to a common social doctrine, there remains no other expedient for maintaining any kind of harmony than the sad choice between force and corruption. Auguste Comte, Considerations on the Spiritual Power.</p>
<p>–I’m afraid of the time when the gap between my public and private personas may be completely bridged. At that point I shall know whether the lies people told about me behind my back were really flattering or humiliating. I shall not need a sixth sense about these things.</p>
<p>–Justice consists of equal distribution of pleasant feelings–we grew up together and recognize each other now by the slant of sunlight on our fading hair.</p>
<p>–Please obey the authorities only after you’ve made sure to notify your next of kin.</p>
<p>–If in observing the course of history one detaches the beliefs of a ruling class from the ruling class itself; if one renders them independent; if one is persuaded that in a certain epoch these and those thoughts have dominated, without concerning oneself with the conditions of production and with the producers of these thoughts; if, in short, one leaves out of consideration the individuals and the world conditions that underlie these thoughts, then one can say, e.g. that under the rule of the aristocracy the concepts of honor, loyalty, etc. dominated, while under the rule of the bourgeoisie it is the concepts of freedom, equality, etc. Usually the dominant class persuades itself of this. –Karl Marx, The German Ideology.</p>
<p>–If I met Thomas Pynchon on the street–perhaps vacationing in Maine, perhaps window-shopping in London–I wouldn’t know what to say to him. I wouldn’t know him. I wouldn’t know that I had seen him but hadn’t known him. I wouldn’t know the depths of my own ignorance after twenty years of auto-didacticism. For it is not true that the writer is separate from his biography.</p>
<p>–We learned to skateboard dangerously, ferociously, and we’re glad we injured ourselves when it only meant a thrill.</p>
<p>–We have allowed ourselves the merest pause of a moment to gather our thoughts.</p>
<p>–Hence, the paralysis induced by thinking is twofold: it is inherent in the stop and think, the interruption of all other activities–psychologically, one may indeed define a “problem” as a “situation which for some reason appreciably holds up an organism in its effort to reach a goal”–and it also may have a dazing after-effect, when you come out of it, feeling unsure of what seemed to you beyond doubt while you were unthinkingly engaged in whatever you were doing.–Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind.</p>
<p>–Resistance is a word I deeply censure; it can occur as an occasional rebuke to my own lassitude, but that’s as far as it can go. I often don’t fully cooperate with my need to define others aesthetically, even in the trivial details of their person.</p>
<p>–We yearned for evacuations, school shutdowns, epidemics, mass hysteria.</p>
<p>–Can we ask forgiveness of anyone but the most irrelevant?</p>
<p>ANIS SHIVANI studied economics at Harvard, and is the author of two novels, The Age of Critics and Memoirs of a Terrorist. He welcomes comments at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | A Postliberal Theory of Consciousness for the Starbucks Habitué | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/02/08/a-postliberal-theory-of-consciousness-for-the-starbucks-habitu-eacute/ | 2003-02-08 | 4 |
<p>Mars Food, which makes Uncle Ben's Rice and other products at its Greenville plant, will invest $31 million to modernize operations and expand research at the plant.</p>
<p>The company plans to add 25 jobs to the current 226 full-time and 230 contract workers at the 35-year-old operation. New production workers are expected to make $31,000 a year, while new research employees are expected to make $61,000 a year.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Mississippi Development Authority is giving Mars $3.25 million to aid the upgrades inside the existing 250,000-square-foot plant. MDA spokesman Jeff Rent said Tuesday that Greenville and Washington County are not offering local property tax breaks.</p>
<p>Apu Mody, the president of Mars Food North America, said the investment will increase production capacity and the research center will aid Mars products worldwide.</p>
<p>"This is an exciting day for Mars Food as this investment will modernize our Greenville facility, increase our site's capacity and allow us to build a state-of-the-art research and development application center that will serve our global innovation efforts," Mody said in a statement. "We have a long and proud history here in Mississippi, and this is another demonstration of our commitment to both the Greenville site and the surrounding community."</p>
<p>The company makes Uncle Ben's, Seeds of Change and Abu Siouf products at the Greenville plant. It also has a plant in Bolton.</p>
<p>Privately-held Mars, based in McLean, Virginia, has yearly sales of more than $33 billion, making food, candy, drinks and pet care products. Its food division is based in Belgium and has yearly sales of about $2 billion.</p> | Mars to invest $31 million to expand Greenville Uncle Ben's plant, add 25 jobs to current 475 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/10/21/mars-to-invest-31-million-to-expand-greenville-uncle-ben-plant-add-25-jobs-to.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
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<p>“It’s like living in a prison,” he said.</p>
<p>Months after IS swept into Shura, the militants killed Abed’s brother because he was a police officer. Last week, another relative died in an airstrike intended to liberate the village.</p>
<p>Abed and his wife, Suriyah, hung thick curtains in their windows to prevent fighters from seeing inside. As shelling and airstrikes broke window panes in their living room, they replaced them with wooden and plastic panels. All the while, Iraqi advances in the south initially made food more expensive, then unavailable altogether.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“If (the Iraqi forces) didn’t come today or tomorrow, we would have died,” Suriyah said.</p>
<p>While the fight on Mosul’s eastern front has moved at a brisk, steady pace since the offensive formally began Oct. 17, the ground assault to the south has been a grinding slog.</p>
<p>The Nineveh desert south of Mosul along the Tigris River valley is dotted with dozens of populated villages that have repeatedly slowed down Iraqi forces. In the three months since the military began moving its forces into the valley and retook a nearby air base, the southern front line has moved only 24 kilometers (15 miles).</p>
<p>The country’s elite special forces — the most experienced and professional of Iraq’s ground troops — have largely been moving through villages east of Mosul that were long emptied of civilians. With fewer chances of casualties, heavy airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition and Iraqi artillery have helped clear territory and speed progress.</p>
<p>The operation that pushed IS out of Shura — a village of fewer than 1,000 houses about 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Mosul — required days of preparation and about 2,000 Iraqi army and federal police to take on no more than 50 militants.</p>
<p>The methodical assault was intended to minimize casualties among Iraq’s armed forces — a military force still recovering from the catastrophic defeat suffered in Mosul’s fall in 2014. But it also has meant that humanitarian conditions in IS-held territory have deteriorated and are almost like a siege, putting civilians at risk.</p>
<p>The region has long been a hub for insurgents, their finance networks and anti-government sentiment following the U.S-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. When U.S. forces battled al-Qaida in Iraq — the predecessor to the Islamic State group — on these same desert plains, the fighters repeatedly fell back into Mosul and nearby villages to regroup.</p>
<p>On the outskirts of the Shura operation, federal police Brig. Gen. Fakher Ali watched the progress of the offensive on a tablet displaying a satellite map, with about two dozen red dots marking suspected IS positions that were hit by airstrikes or artillery. When his forces are fired on by a suspected sniper, they halt their convoy and wait for artillery to clear the position, he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In the days before the assault, Iraqi forces watched via coalition surveillance drones as hundreds of IS fighters withdrew northward from Shura, taking thousands of civilians with them, said federal police Lt. Col. Hussein Nazim.</p>
<p>“Each time we approach, they almost all flee,” he said, explaining that the militants leave behind only a small unit instructed to fight to the death.</p>
<p>The majority of fighters escape before the slow-moving Iraqi assault begins, he said, melting back into residential areas still under militant control and increasingly using civilian captives as human shields.</p>
<p>“This isn’t something where you can say, ‘if we move slowly, airpower and artillery power are going to deal with the issues,’ because it also gives ISIS time to consolidate,” said Anthony Cordesman, a former adviser to the U.S.-led training effort of Iraqi forces and currently a security analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.</p>
<p>Having the ability to pull back and regroup repeatedly is allowing a relatively small number of IS fighters to punch above their weight and delay overwhelming numbers of Iraqi troops, Cordesman said.</p>
<p>In the wake of Iraqi advances, local tribal and militia fighters have largely taken over security in recently “liberated” Nineveh province as Iraq’s military is increasingly stretched thin. Largely operating in a power vacuum, the local forces have already been accused of abusing civilians fleeing IS-held territory.</p>
<p>Gen. David Petraeus, who commanded U.S. forces in Mosul in 2003, relied heavily on local forces to secure Nineveh province.</p>
<p>“As quickly as we could, we consolidated those forces and put them underneath either the police or the military,” he said.</p>
<p>But the situation was entirely different back then, because he had some 20,000 highly trained U.S. troops at his disposal, Petraeus added.</p>
<p>“I was sort of the sheikh of the strongest tribe,” he said, “Today, there’s no comparable figure in Nineveh province.”</p>
<p>A few kilometers (miles) back from the front-line fighting south of Mosul, a group of Iraqi soldiers played patriotic music in their Humvees, snapped photos with mobile phones and cheered on the artillery blasts rocking a cluster of dusty, low houses on the horizon.</p>
<p>Standing to the side of the noisy onlookers, Iraqi army Sgt. Rakan Nasser’s eyes welled with tears. His wife and young children are trapped in Mosul, and as the fight pushed closer, his worries grew for their safety.</p>
<p>Nasser said he’s able to talk to them every few weeks, depending on cellphone coverage.</p>
<p>“They just say, ‘we’re waiting for you to reach us,'” he said, “I tell them we are very near, but honestly, we are far.”</p> | On Mosul’s southern front, fight against IS grinds on slowly | false | https://abqjournal.com/880339/on-mosuls-southern-front-fight-against-is-grinds-on-slowly.html | 2016-11-02 | 2 |
<p>In early 2003, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts engaged in a vigorous public debate over the definition of marriage. A proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage as the stable union of a man and a woman, H.3190, was introduced in the Massachusetts legislature. On April 28, 2003, three Catholic priests, including Fr. James Keenan, SJ (then of the Weston School of Theology, now of Boston College) testified against H.3190.</p>
<p>Fr. Keenan began his testimony as follows: “I am here today to testify against H.3190 because it is contrary to Catholic teaching on social justice.” Fr. Keenan concluded his testimony on the same note: “…as a priest and as a moral theologian, I cannot see how anyone could use the Roman Catholic tradition to support H. 3190.”</p>
<p>Fr. Keenan’s Boston College colleague, Fr. David Hollenbach, SJ, has declared his intention to denounce as “malicious slander” a recent column in which I wrote that Fr. Keenan’s testimony had argued that “the principles of Catholic social doctrine did not merely tolerate ‘gay marriage,’ they demanded it.” That was, perhaps, too telegraphic an interpretation of Father Keenan’s considerable rhetorical dexterity, both in his testimony and in a subsequent “Clarification” issued after public criticism of his position. So let me propose an emendation, based entirely on the public record:</p>
<p>In his 2003 testimony before the Massachusetts state legislature, Fr. Keenan argued that a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the stable union of a man and a woman offended&#160;Catholic social justice principles and ought to be rejected. In the course of his testimony, Fr. Keenan also misrepresented the teaching of the American bishops, appealed to a theologically dubious magisterium of theologians, failed to tell the legislators the Massachusetts bishops’ position on H.3190, and neglected to inform the legislators of recent, authoritative Vatican statements on the subject — all of which created the impression among legislators that justice required the rejection of any legal definition of “marriage” as the stable union of a man and a woman.</p>
<p>The Web site of MassEquality, a pro-“gay marriage” group ( <a href="http://www.massequality.org/" type="external">http://www.massequality.org/</a>), lists Fr. Keenan’s name under the tag line, “Support for marriage equality can be found everywhere,” and provides a link to Fr. Keenan’s April 28, 2003 testimony. This raises two questions:</p>
<p>Will Fr. Hollenbach now publicly damn MassEquality for “malicious slander?”</p>
<p>Will Fr. Keenan ask MassEquality to remove from its Web site what Fr. Hollenbach evidently regards as a malicious and slanderous misinterpretation of his testimony?</p>
<p>George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. and holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.</p> | "Gay Marriage" and Father Keenan (Once Again) | false | https://eppc.org/publications/gay-marriage-and-father-keenan-once-again/ | 1 |
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<p>With both Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) running ahead of establishment favorite Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) in Rubio’s home state of Florida, the establishment is beginning to realize how precarious its situation actually is. Cruz and Trump are most likely to win Iowa; Rubio is running a distant third in current polling. In New Hampshire, Rubio runs a distant second behind Trump, but he’s grouped in with Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ), Cruz, Governor John Kasich (R-OH) and former Governor Jeb Bush (R-FL).</p>
<p>And so the possibility now arises: if Donald Trump is the nominee, will the Republican Party back him? Or will they destroy the party the way they suggested ardent conservatives were poised to do in 2008 and 2012?</p>
<p>It appears that Republican establishment figures are already thinking along those lines.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/12/donald-trump-rhetoric-gop-opinion-213441" type="external">On Thursday</a>, former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman wrote in the pages of Politico, “Republicans, now is the time to defeat this scourge of our party. We can make America great again by defeating the selfishness, arrogance and bigotry of Donald Trump.” She called Trump “evil” and compared him to Hitler. She called Trump a threat to “the very foundational values on which our party and our nation were built.”</p>
<p>Does that sound like someone prepared to support Trump if he wins the nomination?</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Politico (it’s always Politico, isn’t it?) <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/jeb-bush-donald-trump-las-vegas-216840#ixzz3uUPOqbmn" type="external">reported</a> that Bush aides “began looking into the possibility of making a clear break with Trump – potentially with the candidate stating that, if Trump were the nominee, Bush would not support him….the option may still be on the table.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Joe Scarborough said on MSNBC’s <a href="http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/mark-finkelstein/2015/12/17/scarborough-haley-barbour-would-much-rather-have-hillary-trump" type="external">Morning Joe</a> that if Trump were the nominee, the Republican Party honchos would run a third party candidate to split the vote and give Hillary Clinton the presidency: “I think Haley Barbour and a lot of the Republican leaders would much rather Hillary Clinton be President of the United States than have Donald Trump represent them as a Republican.” Scarborough went on to suggest that the establishment would recruit Mitt Romney or Michael Bloomberg to run third party to take a “political bullet for his party.”</p>
<p>Back at the end of November, <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/261227-gop-donors-wrestle-with-possibility-of-trump-nomination" type="external">The Hill</a> suggested that GOP donors would back Hillary over Trump: “In conversations over the past month, GOP establishment donors have confided to The Hill that for the first time in recent memory, they find themselves contemplating not supporting a Republican nominee for president.”</p>
<p>The establishment and their donor base have spent so much time trying to determine how to lock grassroots conservatives out of the halls of power that they’re now finding themselves overrun – and they’re fleeing into the arms of defeat. Trump’s ascendancy has made one thing crystal clear: the establishment wouldn’t just prefer Hillary over Trump – their decision not to support Trump virtually guarantees Hillary the presidency – but that they would prefer Hillary over Ted Cruz. They could, at any time, move their support from Rubio and Christie and Kasich and Bush to Cruz; if they did so, Cruz would wallop Trump in the primaries. They aren’t doing so, because they hold out hope that Rubio will somehow pull victory from the jaws of defeat.</p>
<p>That hope is fading. The longer they wait, the clearer it becomes that the establishment’s worst nightmare isn’t merely Trump, but something bigger: losing control of the Party to either a hard-line conservative or a populist. It’s their way or the highway. And if they don’t get their way, they’ll make Hillary Clinton president.</p> | Will The Republican Establishment Elect Hillary If Trump Wins The Nomination? | true | https://dailywire.com/news/1962/will-republican-establishment-elect-hillary-if-ben-shapiro | 2015-12-17 | 0 |
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<p>Washington Post sics 20 reporters on Trump while practically ignoring the Hillary scandals. Political Cartoon A.F. Branco ©2016.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Hills Are Alive With The Sound Of Scandals | true | http://comicallyincorrect.com/2016/05/17/wa-post-on-trump/ | 2016-05-17 | 0 |
<p>Endless name-calling. The Hill <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/355439-jerry-falwell-jr-to-trump-start-calling-mcconnell-mccain-fake" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. said Friday that President Trump should escalate his war with Republicans in the House and Senate who don’t support his agenda. In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Falwell said he has called on Trump to start referring to senators that oppose his legislative agenda as “fake” Republicans.</p>
<p>“I spoke to the president last week and I told him he needs to coin a new term: Fake Republicans,” Falwell said Friday. “Because that’s what those people you just named are,” he added, referring to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Both have spoken out against Trump-backed legislation.</p>
<p>Watch the latest video at &lt;a href="//video.foxnews.com"&gt;video.foxnews.com&lt;/a&gt;</p> | Jerry Falwell Jr. To Sean Hannity: Trump Needs To Start Calling GOP Senators “Fake Republicans” [VIDEO] | true | http://joemygod.com/2017/10/14/jerry-falwell-jr-sean-hannity-trump-needs-starting-calling-gop-senators-fake-republicans-video/ | 2017-10-14 | 4 |
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<p>Freeland, a 49-year-old former journalist and fluent Russian speaker who was once Moscow bureau chief for the Financial Times of London, has long been on the outs with the Russian government for her outspoken support of Ukraine and her books exposing the influence of Russia’s oligarchs.</p>
<p>Three years ago, as an opposition member of the Canadian House of Commons, Freeland was barred from entering Russia along with a dozen other prominent Canadians in retaliation for sanctions imposed by Canada after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.</p>
<p>After Justin Trudeau became prime minister in 2015, Freeland was named to his Liberal Party Cabinet, and in January was promoted to the global affairs portfolio, the Canadian equivalent of foreign minister. Moscow officials soon made it clear that they had no intention of lifting the ban on her travels to Russia.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Since her appointment, articles about Freeland’s family history have been spread over the Internet by Putin-leaning websites such as the Russian Insider and the New Cold War. A typical article in Consortium News, titled “A Nazi Skeleton in The Family Closet,” alleges that Freeland’s maternal grandfather, Mikhailo Chomiak, ran a Ukrainian-language newspaper in occupied Krakow during the 1940s that spread Nazi propaganda.</p>
<p>Chomiak immigrated to Canada after the war and became a prominent member of the large Ukrainian Canadian community in the province of Alberta, where Freeland was born. He died in 1984.</p>
<p>Asked this week about the spread of these allegations, Freeland linked the articles to Russian efforts at disinformation.</p>
<p>“I don’t think it’s a secret,” she told reporters after announcing a two-year extension of a Canadian military training mission in Ukraine. “American officials have publicly said and even (German Chancellor) Angela Merkel has publicly said that there were efforts on the Russian side to destabilize Western democracies, and I think it shouldn’t come as a surprise if these same efforts were used against Canada.”</p>
<p>A spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Ottawa, Kirill Kalinin, said he could not confirm or deny the stories about Freeland’s grandfather. He added that the Russian government thinks strongly that “Nazism and its hateful ideology, Nazi collaborators and followers should be unequivocally condemned.” In an earlier interview with the Globe and Mail, he specifically criticized Freeland, saying that she had “avoided giving a direct answer as to what her grandfather was doing in Krakow during World War II.”</p>
<p>Kalinin told The Washington Post that Russia continues to support bilateral ties with Canada, particularly in areas of common interest such as the Arctic and counterterrorism, despite occasional “name-calling originating from Ottawa.”</p>
<p>Many of the articles appear to have been inspired by John Helmer, a Moscow-based journalist who was described by Jeremy Kinsman, a former Canadian ambassador to Russia, as a notorious “conspiracy theorist.” Kinsman said that the Russian government remains convinced that Canada’s policies “are driven by Russophobic Ukrainian Canadians” who have considerable electoral clout, particularly in western Canada.</p>
<p>Relations between Canada and Russia sank to new lows during the final years of the government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who only reluctantly shook President Vladimir Putin’s hand at a summit in 2014 and reportedly told him, “You need to get out of Ukraine.” Diplomatic interchanges between the two countries basically stopped.</p>
<p>Things have thawed a bit since those days, with Freeland meeting last month in Germany with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, although there seems little sign that her travel ban will be lifted. The embassy spokesman said it’s up to Canada to take a first step if it wants to see sanctions and Russian countermeasures lifted.</p>
<p>The Globe and Mail reported that one of Freeland’s uncles, a retired academic, had acknowledged in an article several years ago that Chomiak had worked for a publication that spread anti-Semitic propaganda, but he never signed anything that appeared in the paper. A spokesman for Freeland, Alex Lawrence, told the Globe and Mail that she supported efforts by her uncle to study “this difficult chapter in her late grandfather’s life.”</p>
<p>Asked about the allegations, Lawrence said, “People should be questioning where this information comes from and the motivations behind it.” He declined to comment when contacted by The Post.</p> | Canada’s foreign minister says Russia is spreading disinformation about her grandfather | false | https://abqjournal.com/965335/canadas-foreign-minister-says-russia-is-spreading-disinformation-about-her-grandfather.html | 2017-03-09 | 2 |
<p>No matter how one characterizes himself—as idealist or realist, optimist or pessimist, glass half-full or glass half-empty type of person—anyone who’s been paying attention has to be staggered by the fact that we live in a country where almost 90% of its workers are non-union.</p>
<p>That we once had nearly 35% union membership, and that those days of union pride and strong labor alliances happened to coincide with the 1950s—the most prosperous, vigorous and confident period in our history—shouldn’t be lost on anyone.</p>
<p>Today, in stark contrast (and with union membership hovering at just above 12%), we’ve lost our manufacturing sector, become victims to an out-of-control health care system, buried ourselves in an avalanche—trillions of dollars—of debt, and, in a cruel reversal of the economic promise of the post-war 1950s, managed to eviscerate the middle-class.</p>
<p>But there’s possible help on the way . . . maybe.&#160; The first significant move in decades to assist organized labor in its membership drives (going all the way back to the seventies, with the Democrats’ semi-serious attempt at revoking Taft-Hartley)&#160; was made yesterday.</p>
<p>On March 10, the Democrats in both houses of Congress formally introduced the long-awaited Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).&#160; By allowing workers to simply sign cards indicating they wished to join a union, the EFCA would make becoming union members substantially easier.&#160; And making it easier for workers to join a union could be the first step in replenishing and reinvigorating the middle-class.</p>
<p>To say that business groups object to the EFCA would be a laughable understatement.&#160; Not only do American businesses object to the bill, not only do they regard it as the most hideous piece of legislation since the New Deal, they are mobilized in opposition to it.&#160; Indeed, they have officially declared war against it.&#160; They have gone to the mattresses.&#160; They have vowed to see the beast killed.</p>
<p>As evidence, consider the efforts of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.&#160; In addition to raising tens of millions of dollars in anti-EFCA lobbying fees, on the eve of the bill’s introduction, the Chamber of Commerce initiated a nationwide effort to bring nearly 200 business leaders to Washington D.C., and have them pressure congressmen to vote against it.&#160; They’re using a full-court press.</p>
<p>And consider:&#160; an anti-union lobbying organization called Union Facts, led by executive director Richard Berman, spent $20 million in 2008 alone on television and radio advertising assaults against the EFCA, singling out states where Senate races are shaky for the Democrats.&#160; Berman’s group is saturating these target states with anti-union campaigns, hoping to pressure nervous Democrats to back off.</p>
<p>That’s the “good” news.&#160; The bad news is rather bleak.&#160;&#160; Despite President Obama recently reaffirming his support for the bill (after having appeared to have backed off a bit from his enthusiastic campaign rhetoric), several Democrats are reported to be having second thoughts about voting for the bill.&#160; Having been inundated with pressure, they’re reported to be wavering.</p>
<p>Even with every last Democrat voting in favor, the EFCA’s sponsors knew that to get the 60 votes necessary for cloture (to avoid a filibuster) they were going to need a couple of Republican votes—and getting the opposition to sign on was always a long-shot.&#160; Now, with some Democrats now looking to abandon ship, the chances for passage appear even slimmer. That toxic lobbying campaign launched by Berman’s group is having its intended effect.</p>
<p>The anti-EFCA folks are not only hauling out all old newsreel footage of union goons doing the perp walk on their way to jail (attempting to imply that the typical union official is a criminal), they’re trying to convince people that it’s the United Auto Workers (UAW)—and not three decades of woefully incompetent and arrogant management decisions—that are responsible for Detroit’s current problems.</p>
<p>Business groups are trying to blame the perceived greed and corruption of labor unions for America’s economic predicament.&#160; Which takes astonishing nerve, considering that it was Wall Street itself, the singularly most non-unionized, hyper-capitalistic institution in the free world, that precipitated the recession.</p>
<p>Obviously, as formal debate on the bill proceeds (the legislation must be voted on in April), we’ll get a clearer picture of where its chances stand.&#160; But two things should be emphasized:&#160; First, not having the votes for cloture shouldn’t necessarily prevent the Democrats from pursuing its passage.</p>
<p>What would be so wrong in inviting the Republicans to engage in a public, tantrum-like filibuster—the kind we used to associate with the racist Southerners who opposed civil rights legislation?&#160; Show America how trivial the Republicans can be in using these parliamentary stalling tactics.&#160; Show the public how little regard the Republicans have for working people.</p>
<p>And second, President Obama and his chief honcho, Rahm Emanuel, need to cloud up and rain on any Democratic senator who balks at voting for the bill.&#160; Threaten to support their Democratic opponent in the next primary.&#160; Threaten to ruin their political careers.&#160; Play political hardball with them.&#160; It’s been done before.&#160; Do it again.</p>
<p>DAVID MACARAY, a Los Angeles playwright (“Borneo Bob,” “Larva Boy”) and writer, was a former labor rep.&#160; He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The First Shot Has Been Fired | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/03/11/the-first-shot-has-been-fired/ | 2009-03-11 | 4 |
<p>Sibanye Gold Ltd. (SGL.JO) said Friday that ore grades at its platinum group metal operation in Montana, U.S., have been found to be better than previously expected.</p>
<p>The South African gold and platinum producer said that sampling of the ore intersection at its Blitz project has confirmed a grade of 2.3 ounces per ton compared with 0.57 ounces per ton declared in December 2016.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company said development of the Blitz project, an extension of the existing Stillwater mine, is continuing in order to establish the required infrastructure to begin production. The project is expected to increase output from Sibanye's U.S. platinum group metal operations by approximately 300,000 ounces a year once it is fully operational at some point between the end of 2021 and early 2022.</p>
<p>Write to Adria Calatayud at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 15, 2017 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)</p> | Sibanye Gold: Ore Grades at U.S. Platinum Project Better Than Expected | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/15/sibanye-gold-ore-grades-at-u-s-platinum-project-better-than-expected.html | 2017-09-15 | 0 |
<p>Heritage column for Nov. 18</p>
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<p>The little auditorium of Flint Hill Baptist Church in Rappahannock County was packed recently for the church's 150th anniversary. Nevermind the fact that the anniversary number should be reduced by 28 to take into account the number of years when the old church was closed. Its magnificent Tiffany-like windows were boarded up. Its door was locked. Its lights were out.</p>
<p>The church's history records: “1969-Sunday School sessions ended in August and the church doors were closed.” No sadder words were written. The downward spiral had hit the bottom.</p>
<p>Flint Hill was never a large church. It began in 1854 with 24 charter members. By 1900, there were 61 members. By 1940, the number had doubled. By the late ‘60s, other churches “on the field” had called their own pastor and services ceased “due to the inability to support a minister.”</p>
<p>Flint Hill was dead. The trustees held onto the property. A few held onto hope. In 1991 thirteen Baptists of the Flint Hill faithful held a meeting to consider what was best for the historic building as well as what was best for the church.</p>
<p>“We decided to do something and reopen because if we didn't before we passed on, there would be nobody to start the church again,” recalled Arland Welch in a newspaper interview. The stained-glass windows once again were revealed in their beauty. The floors swept. The woodwork cleaned. The churchyard mowed. In May 1996 Lanny Horton, director of missions for the Shiloh Association, preached at the first service held in the old church in 28 years. More than 175 persons were in attendance.</p>
<p>People came. Several area ministers filled the pulpit. Robert Goff, a lay preacher from Luray, faithfully made the trip to Flint Hill and today John S. Farrar, pastor emeritus of Culpeper Baptist Church, serves as pastor. People are being drawn back to serve as church to one another.</p>
<p>There are other signs of revival: a new furnace, air-conditioning, organ, Bibles and hymnals. And even more important, the first restroom was added. Flint Hill has come back!</p>
<p>The church building has been placed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places. Visitors are usually told the story of Albert G. Willis, a Confederate hero who is buried in the churchyard. His story is a classic in Civil War literature. Briefly stated, Willis, a ministerial student, was captured along with another Confederate. The Union soldiers decided to hang one of the men in reprisal for the murder of Union soldiers by Mosby's Rangers. Willis offered to be the one who was hanged. Sometimes the story goes that he offered because he was a Christian and knew his future was secure. Sometimes the story goes that he offered because he was single and the other man was married. Whatever, the boy became a hero.</p>
<p>Across the years numerous ministers served as pastor of Flint Hill including Barnett Grimsley- who had a voice like a trumpet and his son, Tom Grimsley-I.N. May, A.J. Fristoe, Atwell Tucker, Frank Berkley, Charlie Clement, P.H. Chelf, Millard F. Sandford and others.</p>
<p>This columnist was invited to be the speaker for Flint Hill's 150th anniversary. In my message, I concentrated on Baptist principles. I stressed the Baptists' obsession with freedom: “Freedom from ecclesiastical restrictions, freedom from the literalism of a creed, freedom from the perils of tradition, freedom to serve and freedom to guide.” The words were not my own. They were borrowed from a 19th-century Baptist statesman but they are timeless.</p>
<p>Afterward the congregation adjourned to the nearby fire hall where a covered-dish dinner was enjoyed. The sounds of happy talk and laughter were good evidence that revival had occurred and the Flint Hill Baptist Church was on the road to full recovery.</p>
<p>As I left to climb the hill from the fire hall back to my car, a man stopped me. He introduced himself as Dale Welch and paid the best compliment that this Baptist historian could have received. He said: “I'm 52 years old and have been going to Baptist churches all my life but today-in what you said about the Baptists and freedom-I really understood for the first time just why I am a Baptist!”</p>
<p>Fred Anderson is executive director of the Virginia Baptist Historical Society and the Center for Baptist Heritage and Studies. He can be reached at P.O. Box 34, University of Richmond, VA 23173.</p> | Revival at Flint Hill | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/revivalatflinthill/ | 3 |
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<p>To everything there is a season. After trailing the market for the first half of the year, the <a href="http://covestor.com/sizemore-capital/sizemore-global-macro" type="external">Sizemore Global Macro Opens a New Window.</a> portfolio has performed well in recent months. According to returns data compiled by Covestor, the portfolio was up 17.0% in the 90 days to October 1 vs. a gain of 4.9% on the S&amp;P 500 index.</p>
<p>The reason for the reversal of fortune?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Our allocation to social media stocks via GSV Capital Corp. ( <a href="" type="internal">NASDAQ: GSVC</a>) was certainly a contributing factor. GSV Capital is up year to date, and it is one of the portfolio’s largest holdings.</p>
<p>But the biggest contribution came from the portfolio’s allocation to Europe. Ten of the portfolio’s 22 current holdings are domiciled in Europe. This overweighting was a major drag on performance during the first half of 2013, as the U.S. markets outperformed virtually all others. But as investors rediscover the investment merits of the Old World, the gap is closing fast.</p>
<p>In my opinion, Europe may outperform the U.S. markets for the remainder of 2013 for the following reasons:</p>
<p>Disclaimer: The investments discussed are held in client accounts as of September 30, 2013. These investments may or may not be currently held in client accounts. The reader should not assume that any investments identified were or will be profitable or that any investment recommendations or investment decisions we make in the future will be profitable. Past performance does not guarantee future results.</p>
<p>The post <a href="http://investing.covestor.com/2013/10/my-big-portfolio-bet-on-europe-paid-off" type="external">My big portfolio bet on Europe paid off Opens a New Window.</a> appeared first on <a href="http://investing.covestor.com" type="external">Smarter Investing Opens a New Window.</a>Covestor Ltd. is a registered investment advisor. Covestor licenses investment strategies from its Model Managers to establish investment models. The commentary here is provided as general and impersonal information and should not be construed as recommendations or advice. Information from Model Managers and third-party sources deemed to be reliable but not guaranteed. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Transaction histories for Covestor models available upon request. Additional important disclosures available at http://site.covestor.com/help/disclosures.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | My big portfolio bet on Europe paid off | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2013/10/14/my-big-portfolio-bet-on-europe-paid-off.html | 2016-03-02 | 0 |
<p>Two bioethicist professors are betting more than $10,000 that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) cannot produce a victim who suffered “mental retardation” from the HPV vaccine. University of Minnesota professor Steven Miles first challenged the Bachmann campaign, <a href="http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/129821498.html" type="external">offering $1,000</a> for medical proof of Bachmann’s mysterious victim. Director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Bioethics Art Caplan raised the stakes by putting an additional <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2011/09/15/bioethicist-offers-10000-reward-for-proof-of-bachmann-vaccine-claims/" type="external">$10,000 on the line</a>:</p>
<p>If she can produce a case in one week starting today verified by three medical experts that she and I pick of a woman who became ‘retarded’ (her words) due to HPV vaccine I will donate that [$10,000] to a charity of her choice. She must donate 10k to a charity I pick if she fails to do so.</p>
<p>Miles’ <a href="http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/129821498.html" type="external">reason</a> for challenging Bachmann is because he said messages like hers can “do enormous public health harm.” The Bachmann campaign has ignored both challenges.</p>
<p>Bachmann raised a storm of anger and skepticism from the medical community when she <a href="" type="internal">told Fox News</a> on Monday night about a woman who claimed the Gardasil vaccine for HPV led to brain damage in her daughter. Medical experts have unanimously discredited Bachmann’s story, including the <a href="http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/09/14/michele-bachmanns-hpv-vaccine-claims-rejected-by-medical-community/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed:+IowaPolitics+%28Iowa+Politics+Insider+-+Des+Moines+Register%29" type="external">American Academy of Pediatrics</a>.</p>
<p>— Rebecca Leber</p> | Bioethicist Bets Bachmann $10,000 She Can’t Find Anyone Who Became ‘Retarded’ From HPV Vaccine | true | http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/09/15/320048/bioethicist-bachmann-hpv-vaccine/ | 2011-09-15 | 4 |
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<p>A person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a personnel matter said Napolitano has been benched and won’t be appearing on the air in the near future. Fox had no immediate comment Monday.</p>
<p>Napolitano’s report last week on “Fox &amp; Friends,” saying he had three intelligence sources who said Obama went “outside the chain of command” to watch Trump, provoked an international incident. Britain dismissed the report as “nonsense” after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer quoted it in a briefing, part of the administration’s continued defense of Trump’s unproven contention that Obama had wiretapped him at Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.</p>
<p>FBI Director James Comey, testifying before Congress on Monday, became the latest official to state that no evidence has been found to support Trump’s charge.</p>
<p>The president, when asked about the incident, said that “all we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didn’t make an opinion on it. You shouldn’t be talking to me. You should be talking to Fox.”</p>
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<p>Fox’s Shepard Smith, on the air Friday afternoon, quickly stepped the network away from Napolitano’s claim.</p>
<p>“Fox News knows of no evidence of any kind that the now-president of the United States was surveilled at any time, in any way,” Smith said.</p>
<p>Napolitano is a senior judicial analyst who has worked at Fox News Channel since 1998, and frequently comments on the Fox Business Network. He was a New Jersey Superior Court judge from 1987 to 1995.</p>
<p>Napolitano’s removal from the air was first reported in the Los Angeles Times.</p> | Fox pulls Napolitano from air after Trump report | false | https://abqjournal.com/973143/fox-pulls-napolitano-from-air-after-trump-report.html | 2017-03-21 | 2 |
<p>Have you noticed that some people join your church and eventually become leaders while others join and eventually drop out? It is easy to assume that people in the latter group just weren’t that interested in spiritual things. Perhaps this is true in some cases, but usually people “drop out” because they were never really “let in.”</p>
<p>This process of “getting in” is often called “assimilation,” which means helping new people find new friends in the church and become involved in fulfilling ministry. But usually this doesn’t just happen. Instead, it happens because church leaders are aware of the need to assimilate new members, plan strategies to meet the need and follow through with their plans.</p>
<p>Why do deacons need to be concerned about assimilation?</p>
<p>First al all, the new church members need it for their personal well-being. In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow introduced his now famous hierarchy of needs. His theory, which has become accepted almost as fact, was that every person is motivated by five levels of needs. It is important for deacons to note that one of the levels of need is “belonging.” Human beings need to have a place where they are known and wanted, a place where they would be missed and where people would worry about them.&#160;</p>
<p>A term often applied to the early church was “koinonia,” which is much more than just sharing a potluck meal in the fellowship hall. It means having a common life, being connected.</p>
<p>In the 1980s and 1990s the theme song for the television show Cheers got it right:</p>
<p>Be glad there’s one place in the world Where everybody knows your name, And they’re always glad you came; You want to go where people know, People are all the same; You want to go where everybody knows your name.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the song was not referring to the church. Still, it underscores that belonging is so important that people will seek it wherever they think it may be found. In years past, Sunday school classes were the primary means of getting new people connected to other people and small groups. Indeed, often new people were members of a Sunday school class before they became members of the church. More recently new people come to worship first and then find small groups where they can become known.</p>
<p>Second, deacons should be concerned about assimilating new church members be-cause the church needs the spiritual gifts new members bring. The Bible affirms that each Christian has spiritual gifts that are given to build up the whole body, the church. To the extent new church members never find avenues of service, their gifts lie dormant and the church never becomes as strong as it could be. Healthy churches find innovative ways to engage new people in ministry —even if it means letting them start new ministries.</p>
<p>What keeps new members from being assimilated? Con-sider these factors.</p>
<p>1. Family networks. Es­pecially in smaller churches where a few families make up the bulk of the membership, it is easy for new members to feel like outsiders. In fact, that is what they are! These churches have to make intentional efforts to include new people in their church family.</p>
<p>2. Existing friendships. It is only natural for friends to want to be together, so when people who have become good friends see each other at church, they tend to focus on each other. Another way of saying this is that they tend to ignore others. They do not intend to be cruel or exclusive, but when groups of friends are so familiar with one another new comers quite naturally feel like outsiders. The deacon chair of one church noticed that during their Wednesday evening meal at church, the same people sat together every week. That is perfectly understandable be-cause many of them caught up with each other over dinner. Meanwhile, new comers sat to themselves. He mentioned this to the deacons who recommended informally that each group include one new person or couple. It worked!</p>
<p>3. A church’s facilities. I am a member of a church with an educational building constructed at a time when no thought was given to steps. It is also true of our church that we appeal to people like us — middle aged to older adults. The very ones we are most likely to reach are the very ones we are most likely to exclude because the building is so hard for them to move through. Our building committee has done a commendable job of providing ramps, but only so many can be constructed.</p>
<p>4. Church health. I have noticed that in healthy churches, members often linger in the foyers and parking lots enjoying each other’s company. In contrast, in some churches people make bee lines for their cars as soon as the final “Amen” is pronounced. Healthy churches are more apt to welcome newcomers because the long-time members do not feel threatened by them. In unhealthy churches leaders are often unwilling to relinquish authority and influence to others.</p>
<p>5. Few points of entry. Sometimes churches become so set in their ways of doing things that the same people do the same things year after year. While this does provide stability, it also means that there aren’t many opportunities for new blood.</p>
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<p>6. Freeze out.&#160;People have a tendency to see the ones for whom they are looking and overlook others. Sometimes new members assume they are being intentionally ig-nored when they simply haven’t been “seen.”&#160; After a few experiences of being ignored who can blame new people if they don’t come back?</p>
<p>Can a person join a church and still never belong? The truth is many do! But attentive deacons can make a big difference. By insisting that the church make room for new members they are not only helping them grow spiritually, but they are also helping keep their church strong.</p>
<p>Jim White is executive editor of the Religious Herald.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</p> | LEADERSHIP LINK: Church members who never belong to the church | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/leadershiplinkchurchmemberswhoneverbelongtothechurch/ | 3 |
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<p>Even <a href="http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/features/salmanrushdie/" type="external">Salman Rushdie</a>, the Booker-prize winning author, couldn't resist making fun of Kim Kardashian for her 72-day marriage to basketball player Kris Humprhies.</p>
<p>Rushdie, who is the author of 'Midnight's Children' and 'The Satanic Verses' tweeted a limerick about the socialite's divorce.</p>
<p>1. The marriage of poor kim #kardashian was krushed like a kar in a krashian. 2. her kris cried, not fair! why can't I keep my share? 3. But Kardashian fell klean out fashian.</p>
<p>After being asked by fellow tweeps about why a man known for his erudite fiction would tweet something so silly, Rushdie responded:</p>
<p>"I was challenged. Cant resist a challenge." &#160;</p>
<p>Follow Salman Rushdie: @SalmanRushdie&#160;</p> | Salman Rushdie tweets about Kim Kardashian's divorce | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-02/salman-rushdie-tweets-about-kim-kardashians-divorce | 2011-11-02 | 3 |
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<p>ESPN revealed Wednesday that Obama picked the Hoosiers to win it all in his 2013 bracket. He predicted Louisville, Ohio State and Florida would round out the Final Four, the AP said.</p>
<p>If Ohio State is part of the president’s Final Four, that means the University of New Mexico Lobos — if they get past Harvard today and the winner of Arizona vs. Belmont on Saturday — will lose to the Buckeyes in the Sweet 16.</p>
<p>Last year, according to an <a href="" type="internal">Albuquerque Journal report</a>, the president had the Lobos beating Louisville to get to the Sweet 16 before losing to top regional seed Michigan State, but alas, it was not to be.</p>
<p>In his <a href="http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/tournament/2013/story/_/id/9073386/ncaa-tournament-2013-president-barack-obama-fills-bracket" type="external">fifth annual bracket picks on ESPN</a> with former Journal sports reporter Andy Katz, Obama sees Belmont in an upset over Arizona and the Lobos beating Belmont to reach the Sweet 16.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Obama has made an annual tradition of giving his bracket predictions to ESPN but only correctly picked the winner once — North Carolina in 2009. He says he thinks he can do better in his second term, according to the AP.</p>
<p>This time, Obama repeatedly advanced teams from the Big Ten. But he said “I think this is Indiana’s year.”</p>
<p>Obama filled out the bracket Tuesday at the White House, before departing on a trip to the Middle East.</p>
<p>On the women’s side, Obama selected Baylor, California, UConn and Notre Dame to advance to New Orleans. Baylor, UConn and Notre Dame are all No. 1 seeds and California is a No. 2 seed.</p> | Obama: Lobos will reach Sweet 16 | false | https://abqjournal.com/180872/obama-no-final-four-for-the-lobos.html | 2013-03-21 | 2 |
<p>Keith Olbermann whose suspension for making donations to Democratic candidates created a firestorm in the media issued an open letter late yesterday in which he apologized to his viewers for the episode but questioned the way MSNBC handled the situation.</p>
<p>From the <a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/08/olbermann-apologizes-to-viewers-but-not-to-msnbc/?src=tptw" type="external">New York Times</a></p>
<p>In an aggressive statement questioning the legitimacy of his two-day <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/us/06olbermann.html" type="external">suspension from MSNBC</a>, Keith Olbermann addressed his fans Monday night, saying that they were responsible for his scheduled return to the air on Tuesday, following revelations that he had contributed to the campaign funds of three Democrats in last week's election.</p>
<p>In an open letter to "Countdown" viewers, he blamed NBC for creating a donation policy that was "inconsistently applied," and said he did not know the rule existed. He also, referring to what he called a "ground-rattling" outpouring of support from viewers, said their efforts "should remind us of the power of individuals spontaneously acting together to correct injustices great or small."</p>
<p>He acknowledged that there should have been a conversation with NBC executives, saying that the donations merited public acknowledgment and perhaps an internal warning. Instead, he said, he was suspended even after one of his representatives was told he would not be, and he learned about the suspension through the media.</p>
<p>He wrote:</p>
<p>You should also know that I did not attempt to keep any of these political contributions secret; I knew they would be known to you and the rest of the public. I did not make them through a relative, friend, corporation, PAC, or any other intermediary, and I did not blame them on some kind of convenient "mistake" by their recipients. When a website contacted NBC about one of the donations, I immediately volunteered that there were in fact three of them; and contrary to much of the subsequent reporting, I immediately volunteered to explain all this, on-air and off, in the fashion MSNBC desired.</p>
<p>Mr. Olbermann also acknowledged that the episode had caused a bit of a media frenzy.</p>
<p>"I also wish to apologize to you viewers for having precipitated such anxiety and unnecessary drama," he said.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/41623358/A-Statement-to-the-Viewers-of-Countdown" type="external">"A Statement to the Viewers of Countdown"</a></p>
<p>Both MSNBC and Olbermann were at fault in this incident and Olbermann's response is not likely to endear him to network president Phil Griffin but until they can groom a replacement Olbermann will have the upper hand as he has proven with the end of the indefinite suspension after just two shows.</p> | Olbermann Apologizes to Viewers Questions MSNBC Policy | true | http://aim.org/don-irvine-blog/olbermann-apologizes-to-viewers-questions-msnbc-policy/ | 2010-11-09 | 0 |
<p>TOKYO (AP) — World stock markets were lackluster Thursday after China’s economy showed new signs of weakness and the eurozone saw an uptick in hiring.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent to 5,116.88 and Germany’s DAX dropped 0.5 percent to 11,796.15. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up almost 0.1 percent at 7,008.85. Futures pointed to modest losses on Wall Street later. Dow and S&amp;P 500 futures were each 0.1 percent lower.</p>
<p>CHINA, EUROPE DATA: Manufacturing in China shrank for the third month in May as demand remained soft, raising the chances of more stimulus to prop up growth in the world’s No. 2 economy. HSBC’s preliminary manufacturing index came in at 49.1, slightly better than April’s 48.9 but still indicating a contraction.</p>
<p>In Europe, a similar survey showed employers were hiring at their fastest level in four years. The improvement came as the weaker euro was helping exporters get more business. Overall business activity, however, slowed down.</p>
<p>FED MINUTES: Investors took in their stride the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting from April, which showed policymakers generally thought June was too early to raise rates. That was not a surprise and the minutes didn’t provide any hint about how long the bank would wait after June before hiking its policy rate for the first time since the global financial crisis.</p>
<p>ASIA SCOREBOARD: Japan’s Nikkei 225 was barely changed at 20,202.87 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.2 percent to 27,523.72. South’s Korea Kospi dropped 0.8 percent to 2,122.81. Benchmarks in Singapore, India and Taiwan also fell. China’s Shanghai Composite jumped 1.9 percent to 4,529.42 as the weak data reinforced hopes for more government measures to boost the economy; the index is up about 125 percent over the past year. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 rose 0.9 percent to 5,662.30.</p>
<p>BOJ MEETING: Bank of Japan policymakers started a two-day monetary policy meeting that will wrap up Friday. It’s unlikely the central bank will alter its already lavishly easy monetary stance. Some economists advocate an expansion of BOJ’s monetary stimulus but stronger-than-expected growth for the first quarter suggests policymakers will stay their current course for now.</p>
<p>ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude was up 63 cents at $59.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 99 cents to close at $58.98 a barrel in Nymex floor trading on Wednesday.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 121.08 yen from 121.25 yen. The euro rose to $1.1144 from $1.1094.</p>
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<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama: <a href="http://twitter.com/yurikageyama" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/yurikageyama" type="external">http://twitter.com/yurikageyama</a></p>
<p>TOKYO (AP) — World stock markets were lackluster Thursday after China’s economy showed new signs of weakness and the eurozone saw an uptick in hiring.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 shed 0.3 percent to 5,116.88 and Germany’s DAX dropped 0.5 percent to 11,796.15. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up almost 0.1 percent at 7,008.85. Futures pointed to modest losses on Wall Street later. Dow and S&amp;P 500 futures were each 0.1 percent lower.</p>
<p>CHINA, EUROPE DATA: Manufacturing in China shrank for the third month in May as demand remained soft, raising the chances of more stimulus to prop up growth in the world’s No. 2 economy. HSBC’s preliminary manufacturing index came in at 49.1, slightly better than April’s 48.9 but still indicating a contraction.</p>
<p>In Europe, a similar survey showed employers were hiring at their fastest level in four years. The improvement came as the weaker euro was helping exporters get more business. Overall business activity, however, slowed down.</p>
<p>FED MINUTES: Investors took in their stride the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting from April, which showed policymakers generally thought June was too early to raise rates. That was not a surprise and the minutes didn’t provide any hint about how long the bank would wait after June before hiking its policy rate for the first time since the global financial crisis.</p>
<p>ASIA SCOREBOARD: Japan’s Nikkei 225 was barely changed at 20,202.87 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.2 percent to 27,523.72. South’s Korea Kospi dropped 0.8 percent to 2,122.81. Benchmarks in Singapore, India and Taiwan also fell. China’s Shanghai Composite jumped 1.9 percent to 4,529.42 as the weak data reinforced hopes for more government measures to boost the economy; the index is up about 125 percent over the past year. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 rose 0.9 percent to 5,662.30.</p>
<p>BOJ MEETING: Bank of Japan policymakers started a two-day monetary policy meeting that will wrap up Friday. It’s unlikely the central bank will alter its already lavishly easy monetary stance. Some economists advocate an expansion of BOJ’s monetary stimulus but stronger-than-expected growth for the first quarter suggests policymakers will stay their current course for now.</p>
<p>ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude was up 63 cents at $59.61 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 99 cents to close at $58.98 a barrel in Nymex floor trading on Wednesday.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 121.08 yen from 121.25 yen. The euro rose to $1.1144 from $1.1094.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama: <a href="http://twitter.com/yurikageyama" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/yurikageyama" type="external">http://twitter.com/yurikageyama</a></p> | World stocks uneven after Chinese, eurozone data | false | https://apnews.com/c99e2b5856644eaaab7b8110ab68fd58 | 2015-05-21 | 2 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Cancer Services of New Mexico offers a free clinic on legal, insurance and paperwork assistance the first and third Thursday of each month. Expert volunteers are available. This Thursday’s clinic will start at 6 p.m.</p>
<p>To register, call Stephanie Michnovicz at 999-9764 or toll-free, 888-668-2766.</p>
<p />
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Cancer Services offers free clinic | false | https://abqjournal.com/303158/cancer-services-offers-free-clinic.html | 2013-11-18 | 2 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Swear.jpg" type="external" />A sloppy mistake, the government calls it, but you couldn't blame a person for suspecting a cover-up - the loss of an untold number of emails to and from the central figure in the IRS tea party controversy. And, because the public's trust is a fragile gift that the [?]</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/white-house/did-the-irs-really-lose-lois-lerner-s-emails-let-a-special-prosecutor-find-them-20140613" type="external">Click here to view original web page at www.nationaljournal.com</a></p>
<p /> | Hire A Special Prosecutor To Find Lois Lerner Emails | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/did-the-irs-really-lose-lois-lerners-emails-let-a-special-prosecutor-find-them/ | 0 |
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<p>The people have spoken: The Smithonian’s National Zoo’s female <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/12/01/national-zoo-panda-cub-named-bao-bao/" type="external">giant panda cub</a> will be called Bao Bao, meaning “treasure” or “precious” in Mandarin Chinese, following an online poll that allowed voters to pick one of five names.</p>
<p>More than 123,000 panda enthusiasts voted, choosing Bao Bao over Ling Hua (darling or delicate flower); Long Yun (a name signifying luck for panda cooperation between China and the United States); Mulan (the name of a 5th-century female Chinese warrior); and Zhen Bao (treasure, or valuable).</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/mulan-or-bao-bao-us-national-zoo-asks-public-pick-name-gi" type="external">Mulan or Bao Bao? US National Zoo asks public to pick name for giant panda cub (VIDEO)</a></p>
<p>"Bao Bao symbolizes 41 years of <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/131201/the-votes-are-washingtons-panda-cub-named-bao-bao" type="external">research and collaboration</a> both at the National Zoo and in China," Dennis Kelly, director of the Smithsonian's National Zoo, said in a statement. "We're grateful to everyone around the world who voted to name her and help us celebrate today."</p>
<p>There are only about 1,600 giant pandas known to be living in the wild and about 300 in captivity.</p>
<p>Bao Bao, who was conceived through <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/131201/the-votes-are-washingtons-panda-cub-named-bao-bao" type="external">artificial insemination</a> in March, is only the second surviving cub born at the National Zoo since China gave the zoo its first pandas in 1972.</p>
<p>The first surviving cub, Bao Bao’s brother, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and sent to China in 2010 for breeding.</p>
<p>Bao Bao will also be sent to China when she is four years old, zoo officials said. &#160;</p>
<p />
<p /> | US National Zoo names giant panda cub Bao Bao (VIDEO) | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-12-01/us-national-zoo-names-giant-panda-cub-bao-bao-video | 2013-12-01 | 3 |
<p>To celebrate the grand re-opening of GirlsJustWannaHaveGuns.com, we’re giving away the perfect concealed carry revolver to one lucky subscriber: the TAURUS 856 .38 +P SPECIAL. With a MSRP of $461, this 6-shot revolver features the Taurus Security System, which provides instant-ready defense with built-in ability to secure your pistol and make it inoperable at the turn of a key.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Sign up now for a chance to WIN this sweet gun. As a bonus, everyone who enters will receive a super-secret webpage link where you can watch Regis drop a monster buck and her father eat a monster cricket.</p>
<p>Entries must be received no later than midnight on December 31, 2012.</p>
<p>After submitting your entry, you will begin receiving complimentary updates from Girls Just Wanna Have Guns!</p>
<p>Contest Rules: 
No purchase necessary. Contest void where prohibited by law. One entry per person. To enter this website’s contest fill out the online entry form before midnight on the date listed above. Chances of winning determined by the number of entrants. Mail-in entries will not be accepted. Duplicate entries will be discarded. Incomplete entries will be disqualified. To be eligible to win, entrants must be U. S. citizens, residents of one of the fifty United States or the District of Columbia, and be at least 18 years of age. The prize, as described above, will be awarded to a single winner as the only prize in this contest. The winner will be selected in a random drawing held on or after the deadline listed above. The winner will be notified by telephone, mail or e-mail and must submit a signed copy of a Federal Firearms License from his or her receiving dealer. The gun will be shipped to the Federal Firearms Licensee designated by the winner. The winner must comply with all federal, state and local laws, and is responsible for all taxes and all amounts charged by the designated Federal Firearms Licensee for receiving the gun and/or processing the transfer thereof to the winner. May the odds be ever in your favor.</p> | Gun Giveaway! | true | http://girlsjustwannahaveguns.com/gun-giveaway/ | 0 |
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<p>Tired of employers who went to college when the cost of tuition was <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-15/cost-of-college-degree-in-u-s-soars-12-fold-chart-of-the-day.html" type="external">1,120 percent cheaper</a> demanding that you work for free right out of school? Interns across the country are standing up to companies who they say are abusing what is supposed to be an "educational" system.</p>
<p>In the latest development, two former interns have filed a lawsuit against publishing company Condé Nast on Thursday. One of the plaintiffs, Lauren Ballinger, worked as an intern at W Magazine in 2009. She <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/business/media/two-ex-interns-sue-conde-nast-over-wages.html?_r=0" type="external">told the New York Times</a> that she was paid $12 a day to organize and deliver accessories from 8 a.m. until as late as 10 p.m. She agreed to the dismal conditions because she was supposed to get university credit for the work.</p>
<p>Yet at the end of her internship, she didn't even get that: she told the Times that W editors failed to give her the letter of recommendation she needed to get her the course credit.&#160;</p>
<p>More from&#160;GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120201/harpers-bazaar-hearst-fashing-magazine-lawsuit-i" type="external">Former Harper's Bazaar intern suing for unpaid wages</a></p>
<p>Matthew Leib, the other plaintiff in the suit, was a summer intern in 2009 and 2010 at the New Yorker.&#160;He was paid $300 to $500 per each summer to proofread and open mail. Condé Nast “failed to pay Ballinger and members of the Intern Class minimum wages for all hours worked to which they are entitled under [New York labor law],”&#160; <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-unpaid-interns-20130614,0,4432385.story" type="external">the lawsuit says</a>.</p>
<p>The news comes just after interns won a major victory in court earlier this week. On Tuesday, a Manhattan judge ruled that Fox Searchlight Pictures violated federal and New York minimum wage laws by not paying production interns. That case was brought by two interns on the movie "Black Swan." Both the former interns and Judge William H. Pauley III agreed that the internships did not foster an "educational" environment, and that it was the movie studio that benefited the most from the unpaid labor, <a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/business/judge-rules-for-interns-who-sued-fox-searchlight.html" type="external">the Times reported</a>.</p>
<p>However, there have still been many setbacks for interns. Last month, Diana Wang, <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2012/09/norma-rae-of-fashion-interns.html" type="external">dubbed by New York Magazine</a> as "the Norma Rae of fashion interns" for her class action lawsuit against Hearst, lost a court battle when a judge <a href="http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2013/05_-_May/Interns__case_against_Hearst_falters_in_wake_of_Dukes,_Comcast/" type="external">threw out her case</a>.&#160;</p> | Condé Nast sued by interns paid less than $1 an hour | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-06-15/cond-nast-sued-interns-paid-less-1-hour | 2013-06-15 | 3 |
<p>Recently released <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/us/04detain.html?ex=1165899600&amp;en=68d39573ab02b8ba&amp;ei=5070&amp;emc=eta1" type="external">video footage</a> of Jose Padilla for the first time reveals life as an “enemy combatant” in U.S. custody. The footage shows Padilla, manacled and deprived of vision and hearing, en route to a dental appointment. Padilla was denied access to a lawyer for 21 months, testing the extent of the Bush administration’s executive power.</p>
<p>New York Times:</p>
<p>Wordlessly, the guards, pushing into the cell, chained Mr. Padilla’s cuffed hands to a metal belt. Briefly, his expressionless eyes met the camera before he lowered his head submissively in expectation of what came next: noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over his eyes. Then the guards, whose faces were hidden behind plastic visors, marched their masked, clanking prisoner down the hall to his root canal.</p>
<p>The videotape of that trip to the dentist, which was recently released to Mr. Padilla’s lawyers and viewed by the New York Times, offers the first concrete glimpse inside the secretive military incarceration of an American citizen whose detention without charges became a test case of President Bush’s powers in the fight against terror. Still frames from the videotape were posted in Mr. Padilla’s electronic court file late Friday.</p>
<p />
<p>To Mr. Padilla’s lawyers, the pictures capture the dehumanization of their client during his military detention from mid-2002 until earlier this year, when the government changed his status from enemy combatant to criminal defendant and transferred him to the federal detention center in Miami. He now awaits trial scheduled for late January.</p>
<p>Together with other documents filed late Friday, the images represent the latest and most aggressive sally by defense lawyers who declared this fall that charges against Mr. Padilla should be dismissed for “outrageous government conduct,” saying that he was mistreated and tortured during his years as an enemy combatant.</p>
<p>Now lawyers for Mr. Padilla, 36, suggest that he is unfit to stand trial. They argue that he has been so damaged by his interrogations and prolonged isolation that he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is unable to assist in his own defense. His interrogations, they say, included hooding, stress positions, assaults, threats of imminent execution and the administration of “truth serums.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/04/us/04detain.html?ex=1165899600&amp;en=68d39573ab02b8ba&amp;ei=5070&amp;emc=eta1" type="external">Link</a></p> | Padilla Video Exposes Detainment Practices | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/padilla-video-exposes-detainment-practices/ | 2006-12-04 | 4 |
<p>BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel took a significant step toward ending Germany's lengthy political impasse by securing a preliminary agreement Friday to enter formal coalition talks with a center-left party. The deal was welcomed by Germany's European allies, but her prospective partner now faces a tough task to sell it to skeptical supporters.</p>
<p>Exhausted negotiators from Merkel's conservative Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats presented their deal, which includes pledges to strengthen the European Union and keep a lid on the number of migrants entering Germany, following over 24 hours of non-stop talks to cap a week of wrangling.</p>
<p>"We have achieved outstanding results," said the Social Democrats' leader, Martin Schulz. But to make a new government a reality, he must first persuade a party congress Jan. 21 to agree to hold formal coalition negotiations. Then, if those talks are successful, he must steer a coalition deal through a ballot of the full party membership.</p>
<p>If things go well, a new government could be formed by Easter, said Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Social Union — the Bavaria-only sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.</p>
<p>"If we succeed, these could be four very, very good years," Seehofer said. "I am already speaking of these years because I believe we will succeed."</p>
<p>The prospective partners have governed Germany together for the past four years but Schulz, Merkel's defeated challenger in Germany's Sept. 24 election, initially said after the Social Democrats crashed to a disastrous result that they would go into opposition. That decision was popular with members.</p>
<p>He reluctantly reconsidered after Merkel's coalition talks with two smaller parties collapsed in November.</p>
<p>The conservatives also performed poorly in the election, and the three coalition parties' support dropped by a total of nearly 14 percentage points.</p>
<p>"This election result was a signal to politicians that business as usual wouldn't work and that we must show the people in this country we understand," Seehofer said. "We made that the basis of our work."</p>
<p>Seehofer's CSU, which has taken a hard line on migration, has sought to reinforce its law-and-order profile in the face of a challenge from the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, which entered parliament for the first time in September.</p>
<p>Friday's agreement states that the number of new asylum-seekers shouldn't exceed a range of 180,000-220,000 annually. And there will be a 1,000-per-month limit on the number of close relatives allowed to join migrants in Germany who have a status below full asylum. That falls short of conservative demands for maintaining a block on such family reunification, but also is more limited than what the Social Democrats sought.</p>
<p>Schulz obtained a minor reform to how the public health insurance system is financed — far from his party's original proposal — as well as a commitment to guarantee the current level of pensions through 2025, among other things. He didn't secure an increase in the top income tax rate that his party proposed.</p>
<p>Merkel highlighted promises to hire 15,000 more police officers and 2,000 people to strengthen the justice system.</p>
<p>The three parties didn't officially give up Germany's target of a 40 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 compared with 1990, which a draft earlier this week had suggested they would.</p>
<p>The deal pledged that Germany will play an active role in the debate on the EU's future and strengthening European integration — an issue dear to Schulz, a former European Parliament president.</p>
<p>The parties pledged to fight tax dumping and evasion in Europe, pushing for "fair taxation of big companies" including internet giants Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, and called for unspecified minimum rates for corporate tax. They said Germany wants to reform the eurozone in partnership with France and is prepared to pay more into the EU budget.</p>
<p>Merkel currently leads a caretaker government, limiting her ability to take major policy initiatives as French President Emmanuel Macron pushes an ambitious European reform agenda.</p>
<p>"We have, in what feels like a long time since the election, seen that the world will not wait for us," Merkel said. "We are convinced that we need a new awakening for Europe."</p>
<p>"So I have no worries about us finding common solutions with France," she added.</p>
<p>France and Bulgaria, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, welcomed Friday's developments. Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the EU's executive Commission, said the European part of the deal was "a significant, positive, constructive future-looking contribution to the European policy."</p>
<p>If the new coalition doesn't come together, the only remaining options would be an unprecedented minority government led by Merkel's conservatives or a new election. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who alone has the power to dissolve parliament, has made clear he doesn't want a new vote — and polls so far suggest that the result wouldn't be significantly different.</p>
<p>Prominent Social Democrat opponents of a new "grand coalition" of Germany's biggest parties weren't placated by Friday's deal and vowed to keep fighting it.</p>
<p>Kevin Kuehnert, the head of the party's youth wing, criticized "cheap compromises." Left-leaning lawmaker Hilde Mattheis said the result was "disappointing" and would produce "no new policies for more fairness and solidarity." Another lawmaker, Frank Schwabe, described the deal on migrant's relatives as "shabby."</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>David Rising and Frank Jordans in Berlin and Raf Casert in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed to this story</p>
<p>BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Angela Merkel took a significant step toward ending Germany's lengthy political impasse by securing a preliminary agreement Friday to enter formal coalition talks with a center-left party. The deal was welcomed by Germany's European allies, but her prospective partner now faces a tough task to sell it to skeptical supporters.</p>
<p>Exhausted negotiators from Merkel's conservative Union bloc and the center-left Social Democrats presented their deal, which includes pledges to strengthen the European Union and keep a lid on the number of migrants entering Germany, following over 24 hours of non-stop talks to cap a week of wrangling.</p>
<p>"We have achieved outstanding results," said the Social Democrats' leader, Martin Schulz. But to make a new government a reality, he must first persuade a party congress Jan. 21 to agree to hold formal coalition negotiations. Then, if those talks are successful, he must steer a coalition deal through a ballot of the full party membership.</p>
<p>If things go well, a new government could be formed by Easter, said Horst Seehofer, the leader of the Christian Social Union — the Bavaria-only sister party to Merkel's Christian Democratic Union.</p>
<p>"If we succeed, these could be four very, very good years," Seehofer said. "I am already speaking of these years because I believe we will succeed."</p>
<p>The prospective partners have governed Germany together for the past four years but Schulz, Merkel's defeated challenger in Germany's Sept. 24 election, initially said after the Social Democrats crashed to a disastrous result that they would go into opposition. That decision was popular with members.</p>
<p>He reluctantly reconsidered after Merkel's coalition talks with two smaller parties collapsed in November.</p>
<p>The conservatives also performed poorly in the election, and the three coalition parties' support dropped by a total of nearly 14 percentage points.</p>
<p>"This election result was a signal to politicians that business as usual wouldn't work and that we must show the people in this country we understand," Seehofer said. "We made that the basis of our work."</p>
<p>Seehofer's CSU, which has taken a hard line on migration, has sought to reinforce its law-and-order profile in the face of a challenge from the nationalist Alternative for Germany party, which entered parliament for the first time in September.</p>
<p>Friday's agreement states that the number of new asylum-seekers shouldn't exceed a range of 180,000-220,000 annually. And there will be a 1,000-per-month limit on the number of close relatives allowed to join migrants in Germany who have a status below full asylum. That falls short of conservative demands for maintaining a block on such family reunification, but also is more limited than what the Social Democrats sought.</p>
<p>Schulz obtained a minor reform to how the public health insurance system is financed — far from his party's original proposal — as well as a commitment to guarantee the current level of pensions through 2025, among other things. He didn't secure an increase in the top income tax rate that his party proposed.</p>
<p>Merkel highlighted promises to hire 15,000 more police officers and 2,000 people to strengthen the justice system.</p>
<p>The three parties didn't officially give up Germany's target of a 40 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 compared with 1990, which a draft earlier this week had suggested they would.</p>
<p>The deal pledged that Germany will play an active role in the debate on the EU's future and strengthening European integration — an issue dear to Schulz, a former European Parliament president.</p>
<p>The parties pledged to fight tax dumping and evasion in Europe, pushing for "fair taxation of big companies" including internet giants Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, and called for unspecified minimum rates for corporate tax. They said Germany wants to reform the eurozone in partnership with France and is prepared to pay more into the EU budget.</p>
<p>Merkel currently leads a caretaker government, limiting her ability to take major policy initiatives as French President Emmanuel Macron pushes an ambitious European reform agenda.</p>
<p>"We have, in what feels like a long time since the election, seen that the world will not wait for us," Merkel said. "We are convinced that we need a new awakening for Europe."</p>
<p>"So I have no worries about us finding common solutions with France," she added.</p>
<p>France and Bulgaria, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, welcomed Friday's developments. Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the EU's executive Commission, said the European part of the deal was "a significant, positive, constructive future-looking contribution to the European policy."</p>
<p>If the new coalition doesn't come together, the only remaining options would be an unprecedented minority government led by Merkel's conservatives or a new election. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who alone has the power to dissolve parliament, has made clear he doesn't want a new vote — and polls so far suggest that the result wouldn't be significantly different.</p>
<p>Prominent Social Democrat opponents of a new "grand coalition" of Germany's biggest parties weren't placated by Friday's deal and vowed to keep fighting it.</p>
<p>Kevin Kuehnert, the head of the party's youth wing, criticized "cheap compromises." Left-leaning lawmaker Hilde Mattheis said the result was "disappointing" and would produce "no new policies for more fairness and solidarity." Another lawmaker, Frank Schwabe, described the deal on migrant's relatives as "shabby."</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>David Rising and Frank Jordans in Berlin and Raf Casert in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed to this story</p> | Germany's Merkel closer to breaking impasse over new govt | false | https://apnews.com/amp/a900f435d5fd48ec89b902fed4d0cc6a | 2018-01-12 | 2 |
<p />
<p>There are two kinds of people in the tech world: Those who use plain English and those who speak in code. I used to think that being able to explain complex concepts in simple terms was a prerequisite for running a technology company. Now I’m not so sure.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It’s sort of surprising how many of the tech elite can’t communicate with regular folk outside the Silicon Valley bubble. Which is ironic because, now more than ever, they have our attention. People really are into this stuff in a big way but they shouldn’t need a decoder ring to interpret what they’re hearing.</p>
<p>The funny thing is, some of the geekiest young coders are the ones who actually know how to say what they mean when talking to a broad audience.</p>
<p>On stage at this week’s Code Conference, 24-year-old <a href="http://recode.net/2015/05/26/snapchat-ceo-the-tech-bubble-is-real-and-yes-it-will-burst/" type="external">Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel Opens a New Window.</a>, talked about a limitation of the messaging app: “In order to view a video on our service you have to literally put your finger on the screen the whole time,” he said. “I think, for us, it’s holding us back from longer videos being viewed on our service because it’s just kind of annoying to hold your finger there that long.”</p>
<p>Even if you’ve never used Snapchat, you know exactly what he meant.</p>
<p>But when asked about Millennials’ preference for experiences over things, Eventbrite co-founder Julia Hartz said, “So you see this area of experientialism over materialism that really drives this need to connect … Millennials are sharing their live experiences online, which is driving social capital. So you know the selfie is the ultimate social capital these days, which is driving the promotion of live experiences.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Huh? Couldn’t she just say, “Sharing live events online makes Millennials popular; owning stuff doesn’t?” I know; the lack of jargon is so unimpressive.</p>
<p>And when he was asked if an exit for the business matters, Spiegel said, “That really matters. We need to IPO. We have a plan to do that. Obviously I can’t give you much color there.”</p>
<p>Can’t get much more straightforward than that.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, when asked more or less the same question, Hartz sounded like a politician, going on for a full minute without really saying much of anything.</p>
<p>Personally, I think she missed her calling.</p>
<p>When asked to comment about the growing tech bubble, Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff said, “The topic of allegedly excessive valuations of private companies is something that people should be talking about more. Nobody wants to talk about the “B” word, bubble, because nobody wants it to pop on their watch.”</p>
<p>In other words, someone should talk about it, but not me.</p>
<p>In case you’re having a little trouble interpreting the code, here’s a helpful guide:</p>
<p>Users: Customers. Consumers. People. Folks. Saps.</p>
<p>Content: Free stuff used by tech companies to make big bucks while their creators fight over the scraps.</p>
<p>Empowering the masses: Getting a billion people to generate massive amounts of free content that generate countless billions in ad revenue for tech giants.</p>
<p>Brands: Corporations, but just the high-quality, cause-conscious kind like Whole Foods and Starbucks as opposed to the evil kind like Comcast and Monsanto.&#160;</p>
<p>Share of wallet: The money consumers spend on tech while dumpster diving for food.</p>
<p>Content marketing: Spamming customers.</p>
<p>Engaged users: Addicts.</p>
<p>Massive adoption: Mass addiction.</p>
<p>Early Days: Time to focus on growing and engaging users and raising enormous amounts of venture capital at sky-high valuations; no need to worry about little things like revenues and profits.</p>
<p>Exit: When startups go public (IPO) or get acquired. Party time.</p>
<p>Internet of Things: Internet companies doing to every inanimate object on Earth what they’ve already done to all our brains: say they’re making them smart while actually making them dumb.</p>
<p>Sharing Economy: When people rent their homes, bodies, services and whatever’s left of their dignity for peanuts.</p>
<p>Selfies: Social Capital: Blatant narcissism.</p>
<p>Experientialism: Going to concerts to get attention on social media.</p>
<p>Entrepreneur: 1: A person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money (Merriam-Webster). 2: A person who thinks about it.</p>
<p>Growth hacking: Marketing.</p>
<p>The Hacker Way: 1: Move fast and break things (Mark Zuckerberg). 2: When apps continuously change policies so people have no idea how their information is being used.</p>
<p>Contextual Advertising: Snooping on customers’ information and habits to blast them with ads and enable their spending addiction.</p>
<p>Streaming video and audio: Pirated copyrighted content.</p>
<p>Awesome: Life in the tech bubble.</p> | Why Can’t Silicon Valley Use Plain English? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/05/29/why-cant-silicon-valley-use-plain-english.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>The Young Turks' Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz and Ana Kasparian take a look at Scott Walker's campaign kickoff ad, which is riddled with lies and a recent article from The Hill where they did a bit of fact checking on his record as governor in Wisconsin.</p>
<p>I've got my issues with the publication, one being that even though so much of their content is non-partisan, they look like they refuse to monitor or clean up their comments section on the site, which regularly reads like some of the what we'd see on sites like Free Republic or some of the worst of the right wing blogs on the net. I don't know if they're too cheap to pay for site monitors or if they just don't care and welcome the hateful dialog you see over there, but the results are the same either way, so that doesn't matter much.</p>
<p>That said, I'll give them credit, as Cenk and his crew did as well, for allowing this editorial to be run, which took an honest look at Walker's record in Wisconsin and what the voters can expect if heaven forbid somehow this man manages to wind up being elected president.</p>
<p><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/presidential-campaign/247539-a-closer-look-at-wisconsins-economy-under-gov-scott" type="external">A closer look at Wisconsin’s economy under Gov. Scott Walker</a>:</p>
<p>Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is looking for a new job but, unfortunately, so are too many of his constituents.</p>
<p>After running on the promise to create 250,000 new private sector jobs by the end of his first term, Walker didn’t just fail to meet this goal, he failed miserably, creating barely half of his promised amount.Walker has implemented a failed economic strategy, based on basic and failed Republican economic principals, that has left Wisconsin lagging behind peer states.</p>
<p>Even just a glance at economic metrics in Wisconsin tells a story of stifled job growth, ballooning deficits, and a shrinking middle class.</p>
<p>When looking for reasons why Walker may have failed so miserably at creating jobs in Wisconsin, the obvious place to look would be his flagship job creation agency: The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC). WEDC, which Walker chaired, gave out taxpayer-funded loans to hundreds of companies in the hopes of spurring growth. But the jobs Walker promised never materialized. Instead, in an epic display of mismanagement, WEDC lost track of millions of dollars in loans, gave awards to ineligible businesses, and has generally been a poor steward of taxpayers’ money.</p>
<p>In terms of job growth, Wisconsin has consistently trailed the national average. In fact, Wisconsin only saw 1.5 percent private-sector job growth in 2014. Unfortunately for Wisconsinites, while this is the best job creation number Walker has seen throughout his entire time in office, it lags far behind the national growth rate of 2.6 percent.</p>
<p>But none of this should come as a surprise. Instead of fulfilling his promise to create jobs, Walker has chosen to prioritize attacking public workers and teachers. All this did was create a culture of polarization that has divided his state to the core.</p>
<p>How big a failure have Walkernomics been? Just look next door at Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton’s Minnesota, which leads Wisconsin in almost every economic indicator.</p>
<p>In Minnesota, Dayton turned a $5 billion budget deficit into an over $1 billion budget surplus in just one term. By requiring the wealthiest earners to pay their fair share, Minnesota is now in a position to invest more resources into the state’s schools and infrastructure.</p>
<p>In Wisconsin, Walker was unable to take his state out of the red and faced a $2 billion budget deficit. Walker made the decision to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires, while slashing education funding and refusing to make investments that would benefit middle class families and Wisconsin’s financial wellbeing.</p>
<p>In Minnesota, Dayton has moved forward Democratic policies like increasing the minimum wage, expanding Medicaid, and investing in the middle class, and now we are seen as one of the most business friendly states in the country. Just this year, Forbes ranked Minnesota as the 9th best state for business and careers, 7th in economic climate and 2nd in quality of life. On top of all that, CNBC just ranked Minnesota the country’s top state for business in 2015.</p>
<p>In Wisconsin, Walker refuses to raise the minimum wage and equal pay legislation, rejected federal funds to expand Medicaid, and attacked Wisconsin workers with right to work legislation and anti-collective bargaining policies. As a result, the cost of doing business in Wisconsin is higher than the national average, and median household income in Wisconsin is thousands of dollars less than it is in Minnesota. <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/presidential-campaign/247539-a-closer-look-at-wisconsins-economy-under-gov-scott" type="external">Read on...</a></p> | How Many Lies Can Scott Walker Cram Into One Ad? | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2015/07/how-many-lies-can-scott-walker-cram-one-ad | 2015-07-14 | 4 |
<p>Three Israelis were murdered and one severely injured early Tuesday morning, just after 7 a.m. local time, after being shot at in a " <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/four-seriously-hurt-in-suspected-terror-attack-outside-jerusalem/" type="external">suspected terror attack</a>" in a settlement just west of Jerusalem.</p>
<p>The attack’s perpetrator — only one has been identified, thus far — was shot and killed by security forces at the scene.</p>
<p>Via <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/four-seriously-hurt-in-suspected-terror-attack-outside-jerusalem/" type="external">The Times of Israel</a>:</p>
<p>According to police, the suspected terrorist arrived at the rear entrance of the settlement and opened fire at a group of security officers who were opening the back path for the day.</p>
<p>The assailant was shot dead by security forces at the scene.</p>
<p>Via <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-security-hamburg-idUSKBN1AE0CV?il=0" type="external">The Jerusalem Post</a>:</p>
<p>Large numbers of security forces are now on the scene scanning the area and ensuring there is no further attacks. The identity of those killed is under a gag order.</p>
<p>The Palestinians are among the world’s largest recipients of foreign aid, according to the <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RS22967.pdf" type="external">Congressional Research Service</a> (CRS).</p>
<p>The CRS indicates that the Palestinians have received over $5 billion in direct foreign aid from American taxpayers since the mid-1990s. This total does not include indirect funding for Palestinians from American taxpayers via the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, or other multistate institutions.</p>
<p>America is the largest single-state funder of the Palestinian government and economy. Palestinians also receive billions of dollars annually from other Western states including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Australia via both direct and indirect funding.</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | Terrorism In Israel: 3 Murdered In Terrorist Attack Outside Jerusalem | true | https://dailywire.com/news/21528/terrorism-israel-three-murdered-terrorist-attack-robert-kraychik | 2017-09-25 | 0 |
<p>At the start, the uprising of the Afghan population against the Communist regime was a spontaneous movement, centered around the village elders. But very soon and of necessity, the character of the resistance changed: to fight a machine as formidable as the Soviet army, it's not enough to have weapons and fighters. It requires a certain kind of organization, a conception of what guerrilla warfare is about, and a political program that will enlist the help of the civilian population.</p>
<p>In the various areas of Afghanistan, the movement developed in very different ways, depending on geographic conditions, the local ethnic groups, and the various resistance parties. (The differences among the resistance parties are determined largely by ethnic and social diversity but also by the varying, more substantive political attitudes.)</p>
<p /> | The Resistance in Afghanistan | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/the-resistance-in-afghanistan | 2018-03-20 | 4 |
<p />
<p>U.S. President Donald Trump will nominate Goldman Sachs banker James Donovan as&#160;deputy&#160;Treasurysecretary, the White House said on Tuesday, adding another alumnus of the Wall Street investment bank to his administration.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Treasury&#160;Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Council director Gary Cohn are also former Goldman executives who occupy senior economic posts within the administration.</p>
<p>Donovan's work at the bank as a managing director has included work on corporate strategy, investment banking and investment management, the White House said in a statement.</p>
<p>He is expected to work on the Trump administration's domestic policy agenda at&#160;Treasury.</p>
<p>The White House also named David Malpass, a former official in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, as its nominee for&#160;Treasuryundersecretary for international affairs, a key economic diplomacy post.</p>
<p>Malpass also served as a former economist at Wall Street bank Bear Stearns prior to its 2008 collapse and most recently served as an economic adviser to Trump's campaign.</p>
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<p>The White House also named former national security and federal law enforcement official Sigal Mandelker to the&#160;Treasury's top sanctions post as undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.</p>
<p>A former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Mandelker later held a series of criminal prosecution positions at the Department of Justice and advised the Secretary of Homeland Security during the George W. Bush administration.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Sandra Maler and Michael Perry)</p> | Trump to Nominate Goldman Sachs' Donovan as Deputy Treasury Secretary | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/03/15/trump-to-nominate-goldman-sachs-donovan-as-deputy-treasury-secretary.html | 2017-03-15 | 0 |
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<p>President Barack Obama received Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto in the White House on January 6 where the two men reportedly talked principally&#160;about economic affairs, security issues related to the international drug cartels, and immigration issues. But in front of the White House some 200 Mexican Americans demanded Peña Nieto’s resignation for his handling of the killings and kidnappings that occurred in Iguala, Mexico, in September.</p>
<p>The protestors who had come to the White House from Mexican activist organizations in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, North Carolina, and in one case as far away as Kansas City, as well as a small number who came from Mexico, chanted slogans and held signs and banners demanding justice for the 43 kidnapped students of the Rural Normal School (teachers college) of Ayotzinapa, Guerrero. Some carried sticks topped by flowers with a portrait and information about each one of the 43 missing students.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>One woman speaker said, “We are here to demand justice for the Ayotzinapa students, but we demand that Peña Nieto resign.” Other speakers talked about the more than 100,000 deaths and 20,000 disappearances resulting from the Mexican government’s war on drugs during the presidencies of Felipe Calderon and Peña Nieto, about the Mexican government’s corruption, and about the authorities’ impunity. Periodically the protest demonstrators counted up from 1 to 43 and shouted, “They were taken away alive, and alive we want them back.”</p>
<p>The protests began at 9:00 a.m. with a march through Washington, D.C. neighborhoods to the White House and continued there until 3:00 p.m. When at the end of the meeting with Obama, Peña Nieto left with his entourage, the demonstrators chanted in Spanish and English, “Asesino! Killer!” During the protest musicians played and sang songs of protest, while a group of indigenous dancers from the Ayotzinapa New York Coalition performed a traditional dance and indigenous religious ceremony.</p>
<p />
<p>Following the protest about 70 people from the various city and state organizations gathered at the St. Stephen &amp; the Incarnation Episcopal Church to discuss the next steps for the Ayotzinapa solidarity movement. While no firm final decisions were reached, the solidarity activists talked about the possibility of taking the case to the United Nations, of a tourist boycott of Mexico, and about other forms of protest and pressure. The Ayotzinapa activists pledged to continue and to build the movement in the New Year.</p>
<p>In Mexico the movement for justice for the Ayotzinapa victims and their families has called for a national and international day of action on January 26.</p>
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<p><a href="/filter/tips" type="external">More information about formatting options</a></p> | As Mexican President Peña Nieto Visits White House, Protestors Demand His Resignation | true | http://newpol.org/content/mexican-president-pe%25C3%25B1a-nieto-visits-white-house-protestors-demand-his-resignation | 4 |
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<p>TOKYO (AP) — With a round of golf, a custom cap and a hamburger of American beef, <a href="http://wjactv.com/news/nation-world/live-donald-trump-arrives-in-japan" type="external">President Donald Trump's first trip to Asia began with a taste of home.</a></p>
<p>Prime Minister Shinzo Abe <a href="http://wjactv.com/news/nation-world/live-donald-trump-arrives-in-japan" type="external">welcomed Trump to Japan Sunday with an effusive display of friendship</a> that, in the days ahead, will give way to high-stakes diplomacy. The two leaders, who have struck up an unlikely but easy rapport, shared a casual lunch and played nine holes at the Kasumigaseki Country Club, joined by professional golfer Hideki Matsuyama.</p>
<p>The low-key agenda was a prelude to the formal talks, <a href="http://wjactv.com/news/nation-world/live-donald-trump-arrives-in-japan" type="external">a press conference and state dinner planned in Tokyo Monday.</a> Abe will be looking for a united front against North Korea and reassurances that the U.S. will stand by its treaty obligations to defend Japan if attacked.</p>
<p>Eager to forge a bond with Tokyo's crucial ally, Abe was one of the first world leaders to court President-elect Trump. He was the first to call Trump after the election, and rushed to New York days later to meet the president-elect and present him with a pricey, gold Honma golf driver. The two men also met on the sidelines of an international summit in Italy this spring and Trump hosted Abe in Florida. White House officials said Trump has spoken with Abe by phone more than any world leader, aside from British Prime Minister Theresa May.</p>
<p>That bond was clear on Sunday.</p>
<p>"The relationship is really extraordinary. We like each other and our countries like each other," Trump said Sunday night before dinner with Abe, who for this meal did show Trump traditional cuisine with a teppanyaki dinner. "And I don't think we've ever been closer to Japan than we are right now."</p>
<p>Trump and Abe also exchanged glowing tweets about their golf. Trump dubbed Abe and Matsuyama "wonderful people," while Abe called it a "round of golf with a marvelous friend."</p>
<p>Abe told reporters after the golf session that the two could talk frankly in a relaxed atmosphere while out on the course. He said they were able to "carry out in depth discussion, at times touching on various difficult issues." A senior White House official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said the pair had discussed trade and North Korea — but didn't keep score.</p>
<p>From the time Marine One landed on the Kasumigaseki Country Club's driving range, Abe rolled out little touches to make Trump feel welcome. He presented a hat that had a version of Trump's campaign theme, this time reading "Donald and Shinzo: Make Alliance Even Greater." The two passed up the region's famed Kobe beef in favor of the American version, which is favored by Trump, a famed picky eater.</p>
<p>When Trump hosted Abe in Palm Beach earlier this year, they played at one of Trump's Florida golf courses. For that outing, Trump brought along pro golfer Ernie Els, so this time Abe matched him by bringing along Matsuyama, whom Trump described on the plane ride to Asia as "probably the greatest player in the history of Japan." Abe was behind the wheel of a golf cart as the two men were spotted moving from hole to hole, Trump in the passenger seat smiling and waving at those they passed.</p>
<p>"From the point of view of Abe administration, the personal chemistry that exists between the two leaders is seen as an asset," said Mireya Sollis, chair in Japan Studies for the Brookings Center for East Asia Policy Studies. She said that the Japanese believe it is already "seeing it pay off," including when Trump agreed to meet with the families of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North Korean regime, an important issue for Tokyo.</p>
<p>Ever since Saudi Arabia delivered a lavish welcome on Trump's first international trip, leaders have tried to outdo themselves to impress the president, who has proven susceptible to flattery.</p>
<p>Before the game, Trump delivered a speech in which he hailed Japan as a "crucial ally" and warned adversaries not to test America's resolve.</p>
<p>"Japan is a treasured partner and crucial ally of the United States and today we thank them for welcoming us and for decades of wonderful friendship between our two nations," Trump told American and Japanese service members at Yokota Air Base on the outskirts of Tokyo.</p>
<p>Though Trump did not mention North Korea by name during the speech, the spectre of its weapons program will loom large throughout Trump's five-nation Asia trip. The president warned of the consequences of crossing what he called the "most fearsome fighting force in the history of our world."</p>
<p>"Together with our allies, America's warriors are prepared to defend our nation using the full range of our unmatched capabilities. No one — no dictator, no regime and no nation — should underestimate, ever, American resolve," he told the troops.</p>
<p>And while there is worry in the region about Trump's unpredictable response to the threat posed by Kim Jong Un, Trump made clear he did not intend to tone down his bellicose rhetoric — including dubbing Kim Jong Un as "Little Rocket Man" — even while in an Asian capital within reach of the North Korea dictator's missiles.</p>
<p>"There's been 25 years of total weakness, so we are taking a very much different approach," he said, speaking to reporters on Air Force One.</p>
<p>Trump will also meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an upcoming summit in Vietnam.</p>
<p>The easy rapport with Japan could be strained if Trump takes an aggressive approach on trade or the two men disagree on how best to approach the threat looming in Pyongyang. During his campaign, Trump suggested Japan should acquire its own nuclear weapons to defend itself, hinted the U.S. might not come to the nation's defense, and accused Japan of "killing us" on trade. He has dropped that antagonist language almost entirely since the election, but tensions remain.</p>
<p>Scott Seaman, a director for Asia of the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultant organization, noted: "everything is fine with Trump until you tell him no. So far, Abe hasn't told him no."</p>
<p /> | With tensions high, Trump, Abe strengthen bond on the links | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/11/05/nation/with-tensions-high-trump-abe-strengthen-bond-on-the-links | 2017-11-06 | 1 |
<p>SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday afternoon’s drawing of the “Pick Four-Midday” game were:</p>
<p>9-3-3-2, Fireball:</p>
<p>(nine, three, three, two; Fireball: zero)</p>
<p>SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday afternoon’s drawing of the “Pick Four-Midday” game were:</p>
<p>9-3-3-2, Fireball:</p>
<p>(nine, three, three, two; Fireball: zero)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick Four-Midday’ game | false | https://apnews.com/1e287baf8fae456d9dee87fbcb40b785 | 2018-01-22 | 2 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>LOS LUNAS — Authorities say the dumping of the bodies of four mutilated dogs in a Valencia County dump may be related to training of a fighting dog.</p>
<p>The dogs’ bodies were found at the Conejo Waste Transfer Station near Meadow Lake after being dumped over a span of four days, and Valencia County Animal Control says there were signs of intentional mutilation.</p>
<p>Each had numerous mauling-type wounds and at least one was strangled, and Animal Control Director Erik Tanner says he thinks the dogs were used as bait to training a fighting dog.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Mutilated bodies of dead dogs found at Valencia County dump | false | https://abqjournal.com/530064/mutilated-bodies-of-dead-dogs-found-at-valencia-county-dump.html | 2 |
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<p>So, there is a man who calls himself " <a href="http://wokedaddy.com/" type="external">woke daddy</a>" and blogs about the horrors of "toxic masculinity" — and, amazingly, his shtick is not satirical.</p>
<p>Thirty-three-year-old Ludo Gabriele, originally from France and now a New York City resident, <a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/meet-woke-daddy-the-man-challenging-toxic-masculinity-with-his-dad-blog?utm_source=broadlytwitterus" type="external">decided</a> to blog about his woke male feminism after having a daughter. Gabriele is determined to fight so-called "toxic masculinity" (translation: anything remotely deemed traditionally masculine) through blog postings at <a href="http://wokedaddy.com/" type="external">wokedaddy.com</a>, a site which reads like a clever right-wing parody.</p>
<p />
<p>"Gabriele says his first feminist 'aha' moment was when he quit his job and felt uncomfortable, even wrong, for not fulfilling the role of the traditional male breadwinner," <a href="https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/meet-woke-daddy-the-man-challenging-toxic-masculinity-with-his-dad-blog?utm_source=broadlytwitterus" type="external">explains</a> left-wing site Broadly. "He started reading sites like the Good Men Project and became especially interested in speaker and educator Keith Edward's concept of the 'man in a box,"' a framework for understanding toxic masculinity and some of its manifestations."</p>
<p>In a post penned by "woke daddy," called "Coming out as a male feminist and why you should do it too," Gabriele laments men not showing their sensitive side. "I buried it deep, deep down because my environment made it unsafe for me to be sensitive," he says. "They are never presented the option in their lives. This leads men to associate vulnerability with weakness and by association, weakness with the feminine gender."</p>
<p>In another post, the male feminist confesses his sin of becoming a "disciplinarian" toward his son:</p>
<p>A lot of parents especially fathers tend to be hard with their son at a young age. I was sadly no different. While I gave and give my son plenty of attention and love, I wanted to be perceived as an authority figure, one that he should be afraid of. My fear of screwing up parenting by raising a bad human being turned me into a disciplinarian. I would not yell often, I would make sure that he sees in my eyes that I mean business. While this practice gave me a sense of comfort and the illusion of control it has also turned my stomach upside down more time than I can count making him miserable and me even more.</p>
<p>The epiphany of it all was when prompted to tell me if he was scared of me, he said yes without hesitation. I burst into tears. It was a huge eye opener and a very painful one.</p>
<p>Gabriele posits that yelling or spanking children "does not work."</p>
<p>"Yelling does not work. Spanking does not work," he writes. "It will drain your energy down and create a chaotic vibe in the household. Where there is fear there is no love."</p>
<p>Maybe the most parody-like post is where "woke daddy" tells us about his <a href="http://wokedaddy.com/2017/04/29/coming-out-vegan-reasoning-behind/" type="external">brave decision</a> to become a vegan. (Question: If you become a vegan but don't brag about in a blog post, are you really a vegan?)</p>
<p>"As I begin this new adventure with WokeDaddy.com, I feel the need to come out. ... I use the term 'coming out' intentionally to express the resistance and push back I experienced from society as a whole and from my peers," he writes.</p>
<p>#Brave.</p>
<p>The male feminist even deems the vegan lifestyle "[t]he only lifestyle that actually makes sense intellectually."</p>
<p>And as Broadly notes, "woke daddy" is unfazed by "trolls" who object to his anti-masculinity crusade.</p>
<p>"I get a lot of negativity from insecure men, but it does not bother me, I was expecting it," says the male feminist. "If I manage to plant the seed and instill a spark of critical thinking, my job is done. I am not looking for validation. I just feel that this is my responsibility to speak out and challenge the status quo."</p>
<p>Gabriele doesn't understand how any father can reject radical, victimizing, myth-filled feminist ideology. "How can a father of a daughter not be a feminist? It simply does not make sense to me. I just want to live in a world where my daughter can look for a job and be hired for her skills, and not for the way she looks. A world where she is not short changed on her pay and where she is not sexualized on a daily basis."</p>
<p>While he faithfully repeats all the key feminist talking points, unfortunately for Woke Daddy, his female feminist "allies" <a href="" type="internal">don't think his kids need him</a> anyhow, as woke Lena Dunham made clear on Father's Day.</p> | Meet 'Woke Daddy,' The Dad Fighting 'Toxic Masculinity' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/17669/meet-woke-daddy-dad-fighting-toxic-masculinity-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-06-19 | 0 |
<p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — With a balanced mix of fresh ingredients, an experienced chef can surprise the palate and leave food lovers craving more.</p>
<p>Similarly, a seamstress with the right tools can add the most delicate of embroideries to the hem of an otherwise basic black dress.</p>
<p>For the avid cross-country skiers who spend hours every winter packing and preparing the local trails, their mission is much the same: to find the beauty and the possibility in something that otherwise seems ordinary.</p>
<p>At ski clubs throughout the region, there is a rich history of residents — many of them retired and avid skiers — working hard to keep the trails open each year, both for their own use and for use by younger skiers, whom they hope will one day take the helm and carry on the tradition.</p>
<p>“We can start under some pretty rough circumstances — in an area that may not appear to have much resource potential — and make something rather sophisticated and polished,” said John Schlosser, a classic skier who has been grooming the trails around New London for decades.</p>
<p>Schlosser said the best trail groomers know how to “outfox” the weather, and make the most out of worst-case scenarios. While ice storms cause the most destruction, often leaving downed power lines and trees, windstorms can wreak havoc, as well, and cause snow drifts that ruin freshly groomed trails, he said.</p>
<p>“It does help to anticipate any problems that you may run into and outflank those problems. It’s certainly a challenge,” Schlosser said. “It is sort of an art to figure out when to go out and pack the snow. Sometimes you have the real arctic kind, and you don’t want to over pack it. There are other times when you want to squeeze all the air out of the fluffier snow, but you have to be careful there, too.”</p>
<p>Schlosser works closely with other New London-area volunteers to ensure that the Pine Hill Ski Club’s 15 miles of trails are clear of downed trees, stumps and excess weeds by Thanksgiving in preparation for the first hearty snowfall. Those trails extend into Wilmot and Sutton as well, thanks to area property owners who granted the club, a nonprofit organization, permission to use the land.</p>
<p>“It’s a pleasure to see people enjoy the skiing — and a lot of them have been with us for a long time,” Schlosser said.</p>
<p>In Concord, a similar tradition lives on thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers who want to make sure their children have a place to ski and train.</p>
<p>The Capital City is home to three groomed cross-country ski trails at White Farm, Carter Hill Orchard and Beaver Meadow Golf Course. All are free to the public. White Farm and Carter Hill are groomed by volunteers who use equipment bought by the Capital Ski and Outing Club, famous in town for hosting the annual ski and skate sale.</p>
<p>Frank Muller has been grooming the cross-country ski trails in Concord for more than 20 years. He began when his children were about elementary-school aged, and since then has led efforts to boost community involvement.</p>
<p>“I wanted my kids to have an opportunity to be Nordic skiers,” Muller said, noting that many of the other volunteers have children who cross-country ski, too.</p>
<p>That includes Oliver Spencer, who began volunteering a few years ago when his son, Ollie, was on the cross-country ski team at Rundlett Middle School. Spencer, who is retired from the military, said he was looking for something to keep him busy, but also allow him to give back to the community.</p>
<p>As someone who taught cold weather warfare while in the military and has experience driving tractors and other farm machinery, he found grooming to be a perfect fit and test of his skills, he said.</p>
<p>“It’s a labor of love without a doubt,” Spencer said. “If you’ve ever cross-country skied and been on a nice trail, you know what I’m talking about. Those of us who do it take great pride and care in it.”</p>
<p>Spencer said there is a misconception that the snowmobile can “fly through the snow,” but not when the snow is deep and there is a groomer attached to the back.</p>
<p>“All of the sudden you’re on a nice track and then next thing you know you’re in snow above your waist and you have to unhitch the snowmobile,” he said. “And you better have a shovel. If not, you have to hike all the way back to the maintenance area. I’ve done it before when snow is up to my waist.”</p>
<p>For those who groom the area trails, all agreed that it is a challenge, but one that is accomplished with great pride.</p>
<p>“It’s really community involvement that makes it happen; it’s not about one person,” Muller said. “It’s such an incredible resource for the community and it would be a real shame if there weren’t people who could make it happen.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2F4RQiR" type="external" /> <a href="http://bit.ly/2F4RQiR" type="external">http://bit.ly/2F4RQiR</a></p>
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<p>Information from: Concord Monitor, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com" type="external">http://www.concordmonitor.com</a></p>
<p>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — With a balanced mix of fresh ingredients, an experienced chef can surprise the palate and leave food lovers craving more.</p>
<p>Similarly, a seamstress with the right tools can add the most delicate of embroideries to the hem of an otherwise basic black dress.</p>
<p>For the avid cross-country skiers who spend hours every winter packing and preparing the local trails, their mission is much the same: to find the beauty and the possibility in something that otherwise seems ordinary.</p>
<p>At ski clubs throughout the region, there is a rich history of residents — many of them retired and avid skiers — working hard to keep the trails open each year, both for their own use and for use by younger skiers, whom they hope will one day take the helm and carry on the tradition.</p>
<p>“We can start under some pretty rough circumstances — in an area that may not appear to have much resource potential — and make something rather sophisticated and polished,” said John Schlosser, a classic skier who has been grooming the trails around New London for decades.</p>
<p>Schlosser said the best trail groomers know how to “outfox” the weather, and make the most out of worst-case scenarios. While ice storms cause the most destruction, often leaving downed power lines and trees, windstorms can wreak havoc, as well, and cause snow drifts that ruin freshly groomed trails, he said.</p>
<p>“It does help to anticipate any problems that you may run into and outflank those problems. It’s certainly a challenge,” Schlosser said. “It is sort of an art to figure out when to go out and pack the snow. Sometimes you have the real arctic kind, and you don’t want to over pack it. There are other times when you want to squeeze all the air out of the fluffier snow, but you have to be careful there, too.”</p>
<p>Schlosser works closely with other New London-area volunteers to ensure that the Pine Hill Ski Club’s 15 miles of trails are clear of downed trees, stumps and excess weeds by Thanksgiving in preparation for the first hearty snowfall. Those trails extend into Wilmot and Sutton as well, thanks to area property owners who granted the club, a nonprofit organization, permission to use the land.</p>
<p>“It’s a pleasure to see people enjoy the skiing — and a lot of them have been with us for a long time,” Schlosser said.</p>
<p>In Concord, a similar tradition lives on thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers who want to make sure their children have a place to ski and train.</p>
<p>The Capital City is home to three groomed cross-country ski trails at White Farm, Carter Hill Orchard and Beaver Meadow Golf Course. All are free to the public. White Farm and Carter Hill are groomed by volunteers who use equipment bought by the Capital Ski and Outing Club, famous in town for hosting the annual ski and skate sale.</p>
<p>Frank Muller has been grooming the cross-country ski trails in Concord for more than 20 years. He began when his children were about elementary-school aged, and since then has led efforts to boost community involvement.</p>
<p>“I wanted my kids to have an opportunity to be Nordic skiers,” Muller said, noting that many of the other volunteers have children who cross-country ski, too.</p>
<p>That includes Oliver Spencer, who began volunteering a few years ago when his son, Ollie, was on the cross-country ski team at Rundlett Middle School. Spencer, who is retired from the military, said he was looking for something to keep him busy, but also allow him to give back to the community.</p>
<p>As someone who taught cold weather warfare while in the military and has experience driving tractors and other farm machinery, he found grooming to be a perfect fit and test of his skills, he said.</p>
<p>“It’s a labor of love without a doubt,” Spencer said. “If you’ve ever cross-country skied and been on a nice trail, you know what I’m talking about. Those of us who do it take great pride and care in it.”</p>
<p>Spencer said there is a misconception that the snowmobile can “fly through the snow,” but not when the snow is deep and there is a groomer attached to the back.</p>
<p>“All of the sudden you’re on a nice track and then next thing you know you’re in snow above your waist and you have to unhitch the snowmobile,” he said. “And you better have a shovel. If not, you have to hike all the way back to the maintenance area. I’ve done it before when snow is up to my waist.”</p>
<p>For those who groom the area trails, all agreed that it is a challenge, but one that is accomplished with great pride.</p>
<p>“It’s really community involvement that makes it happen; it’s not about one person,” Muller said. “It’s such an incredible resource for the community and it would be a real shame if there weren’t people who could make it happen.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2F4RQiR" type="external" /> <a href="http://bit.ly/2F4RQiR" type="external">http://bit.ly/2F4RQiR</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Concord Monitor, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com" type="external">http://www.concordmonitor.com</a></p> | Volunteers work to keep ski trails open | false | https://apnews.com/b92f1f72ca604b5fba32df729316999d | 2018-01-22 | 2 |
<p>Steve Forbes weighs in on the trend of corporations bringing back old CEOs. And one entrepreneur explains why unlimited vacation time could be beneficial to your business. In case you missed it, here is a recap of some of the top newsmakers and expert analysis from last night on FOX Business Network.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Forbes Media chairman Steve Forbes says bringing back old bosses, like Mike Ullman or A.G. Lafley, can be a successful strategy for businesses.</p>
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<p>WSJ senior sports writer Kevin Helliker on the dangers of over-exercise – and how running a marathon could be just as dangerous as eating a cheeseburger.</p>
<p>FNC digital politics editor Chris Stirewalt and FNC contributor Monica Crowley discuss Attorney General Eric Holder’s future.</p>
<p>ZocDoc CEO Cyrus Massoumi explains how offering unlimited vacation time can pay off for businesses.</p> | 4 to Watch: Do You Have a Boomerang Boss? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2013/05/30/4-to-watch-do-have-boomerang-boss.html | 2016-06-14 | 0 |
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<p>Few people in America know who David Hicks is. He’s an Australian man who was <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.au/Act_now/campaigns/hrs-int/david_hicks" type="external">captured in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11</a> and last week was the first person stored away at Guantanamo to be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,,-6451818,00.html" type="external">formally charged</a> by the United States government under the new system of military tribunals. Hicks had been in Gitmo for five years (he claims he was <a href="http://www.amnesty.org.au/Act_now/campaigns/hrs-int/david_hicks" type="external">subject to beatings</a>), and was there under an allegation of attempted murder until the charges came down. At that point attempted murder was <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&amp;objectid=10426637" type="external">dropped</a> because of lack of evidence (see Padilla, Jose) and Hicks was instead charged with material support of terrorism, which wasn’t illegal until 2006.</p>
<p>Well, now that Hicks’s case is actually going to trial, <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/hicks-lawyer-faces-removal-from-case/2007/03/04/1172943275784.html?s_cid=rss_smh" type="external">the government is considering charging Hicks’ lawyer</a> with “using contemptuous language towards the president, vice-president, and secretary of defense.” Apparently that’s illegal for a military lawyer (free speech is notoriously lacking in the Armed Services). Never mind the obvious question of how the man is supposed to do his job without violating that law; penalties for that offense include jail time and loss of employment and Hicks’ lawyer — Major <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mori" type="external">Michael Mori</a> of Massachusetts, who has been criticized by the military for repeatedly traveling to Australia to <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5844.htm" type="external">speak out against Hicks’ treatment</a> and taking part in events like <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200608/s1722240.htm" type="external">vigils</a> on Hicks’ behalf — is saying that he may resign from the case because he can no longer speak out for Hicks’ without endangering his own legal status. It’s a total conflict of interest, one that the government may have created intentionally and in my mind amounts to an obstruction of due process.</p>
<p>The newest reporting on Hicks is that if he is willing to accept a plea bargain and plead guilty to supporting terrorism, he might get off on time served and <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/deal-to-bring-hicks-home/2007/03/02/1172338885123.html" type="external">return to Australia a free man</a>.</p>
<p>To learn more, see the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hicks" type="external">David Hicks wikipedia page</a>, which has links to dozens of Australian newspaper articles about him.</p>
<p /> | Meet David Hicks and his Beleaguered Counsel | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/03/meet-david-hicks-and-his-beleaguered-counsel/ | 2007-03-06 | 4 |
<p>STAFF CHANGES</p>
<p>• Ethan Waters, to Glenn Memorial Church, Prospect, as pastor.</p>
<p>• Kevin Wirt, resigning as pastor of Burkeville Church, Burkeville.</p>
<p>• Kevin Sayler, to New Beginnings Church, Richmond, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>• Aaron Lee, to Gayton Church, Richmond, as associate pastor of student ministries (grades 6-7).</p>
<p>• Tyler Daniels, to Indian River Church, Chesapeake, as associate to the pastor and minister of students.</p>
<p>• Grayson Leach, to Woodland Heights Church, Chesapeake; as director of student ministries.</p>
<p>• Brett Woodall, to Thalia Lynn Church, Virginia Beach, as minister of music.</p>
<p>• John Mark Skammer, to Gayton Church, Richmond, as associate pastor of student ministries (grades 8-12).</p>
<p>RETIREMENT</p>
<p>• Dave Felsburg is retiring as senior pastor of Bon Air Church, Arlington, after having served there for six years.</p>
<p>ORDINATIONS</p>
<p>• Keith Coleman was recently ordained to the gospel ministry by Antioch Church, Fairfax Station.</p>
<p>• Jeremy McIntyre was ordained to the gospel ministry by Holland Road Church, Virginia Beach, on Jan. 11.</p>
<p>• Debra Whitworth was ordained to the gospel ministry by Exaltation Church, Richmond, on March 8.</p>
<p>DEATH</p>
<p>• Fay Bowman Martin died May 5 at the age of 81. She was the wife of Louis Martin, former pastor at Oak Grove Church in Cana. Funeral services were held May 8 with interment at SkyView Church, Fancy Gap.</p>
<p>CHURCH EVENTS</p>
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<p>• First Church, Martinsville, celebrates its 125th anniversary on Sunday, April 5. For over a century this church has been a vital part of the Martinsville community of faith. It had its beginning when a group of individuals met in the home of Rebecca and Clarence Kearfott on April 10, 1884. The theme for the 125th anniversary was “Celebrating the Past, Living the Present, Embracing the Future.” As part of the morning service, a joint Senate Resolution was presented by Senator W. Roscoe Reynolds and Delegate Ward L. Armstrong. Delegates Daniel H. Marshall III and Donald W. Merricks also co-sponsored the resolution. Following worship, there was a covered-dish meal. Greetings were brought from Martinsville Mayor Kathy Lawson and from Henry County’s chairperson of the Board of Supervisors, Debra Buchanan. John Fulcher gave a brief history of the church after the meal.</p>
<p>• Lakeside Church, Richmond, will host “Music on the Lawn,” featuring acoustic roots band “Scattered Smothered &amp; Covered,” on June 14 at 5 p.m.</p>
<p>• Elk Creek Church, Mineral, will hold a Valor Remembrance Day Service on May 24 at 8:30 a.m. on the shores of Lake Anna and at 11 a.m. at the church. The public is invited.</p>
<p>REVIVALS / HOMECOMINGS</p>
<p>• Hillcrest Church, Mechanicsville; 25th anniversary; church picnic and burning of the capital improvement note June 6; celebration service and covered-dish luncheon June 7.</p>
<p>• Kedron Church, Gladys; revival May 31-June 3; Bill Saye, evangelist.</p> | From the Eastern Shore to Cumberland Gap | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/fromtheeasternshoretocumberlandgap-38/ | 3 |
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<p>It’s my belief that a wildlife-rich garden provides a far greater source of interest, relaxation and pleasure than one from which nature has been virtually banished by pesticides and herbicides.</p>
<p>When my family moved from the “low desert” of Palm Desert, Calif., to the “high desert” of Rio Rancho, we knew we would be making some adjustments as we were going from 30 feet below sea level to 5,282 feet above sea level.</p>
<p>However, we did not anticipate the adjustments that would be necessary to build a successful garden in this climate. However, our most rewarding adjustment was learning to co-exist with the wildlife that we would encounter in our Cabezon neighborhood.</p>
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<p>Our initial impression of our property was a barren, sterile, scraped-clean lot with a great view of the Rio Grande Valley below.</p>
<p>Upon closer inspection, we could see field mice scurrying into holes along the bottom of the block wall, beetles burying into the sand, ants scurrying into their perfectly formed hills, rabbits hopping down the street, quail walking along the top of the block wall and coyote tracks and scat in the dirt.</p>
<p>It would be my challenge to create an environment that would allow me to garden, then to thrive, and one which would attract other native creatures such as butterflies, birds, bees, ladybugs, praying mantises, hawks, lizards, shrews, toads, squirrels and chipmunks.</p>
<p>Pat Barger has adjusted her gardening techniques to allow for and encourage wildlife to live among her plants. (Courtesy photo)</p>
<p>To share or not to share</p>
<p>We’re all animal lovers, right? So what’s so difficult about sharing our backyard bounties with our fellow earth travelers?</p>
<p>For gardeners, that’s easier said than done. Even the most humane among us can get cranky when the kale becomes a midnight bunny snack and the sunflowers lose their heads to a feasting rodent before the first bloom.</p>
<p>I have a New Mexico shrew living in my large raised bed that I have named Katy (for Katherine in Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”) and a New Mexico spade foot toad I call Sammy (for the fictional detective Sam Spade) and his girlfriend Effie (for Sam Spade’s loyal secretary) living in my smaller raised bed.</p>
<p>These carnivorous creatures eat a large array of insects, spiders and beetles. I am positive that they munched on the roots of my asparagus plants and devoured my potatoes, beets and carrots.</p>
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<p>The theme here is that Katy, Sammy and Effie do a great job of insect control and the tradeoff is that I no longer plant root vegetables in anticipation of serving them to my human family.</p>
<p>Because I have these creatures (some of which are protected by law) that I have encouraged to reside in my garden, I have made adjustments in how I garden.</p>
<p>I work around the entrance and exit holes to Katy’s burrow each spring when I am planning the layout for my garden and I make sure that Sammy and Effie have a moist, undisturbed environment in which to burrow and hibernate between monsoons.</p>
<p>I also make sure that when the monsoons come and the creatures travel about the yard at night making their characteristic mating call, that they are safe from my tenacious Cairn Terrier.</p>
<p>4 basic needs of wildlife</p>
<p>The four basic needs of your wildlife visitors are food, water, cover and nesting. I kept these needs in mind as I planned my backyard wildlife habitat and whenever I added to or made changes to my garden.</p>
<p>I have a water fountain and two birdbaths placed in shady areas (one on a stand and one on the ground) for the various birds and butterflies that visit. I have always had swallow-tail butterflies coming to eat, and lay their caterpillars on the dill I plant for them in my herb garden.</p>
<p>This year, in addition to the multi-colored species, I have finally seen a black swallowtail!</p>
<p>I plant sunflowers for the finches that entertain me by eating upside-down and provide bee boxes to shelter the struggling bee population.</p>
<p>To encourage lizards and rabbits to live in my yard, I have built a brush pile in one corner of the yard to provide safe shelter for them.</p>
<p>I have planted trees to encourage nesting and hung bird houses. My bird feeders are always full and I plant a wide variety of flowers and bushes that attract hummingbirds, bees and other pollinating insects.</p>
<p>Changing landscape</p>
<p>In the seven years we have lived in Rio Rancho, we have seen the open space around us disappear.</p>
<p>We no longer have coyotes running down the street, as they have moved up higher on the mesa. We do not see as many rabbits, quail, chipmunks and squirrels as we once did.</p>
<p>I blame this on the domestic cats that are allowed to roam the neighborhood. But I still leave corn out for the few that occasionally visit.</p>
<p>Reality of wildlife</p>
<p>Because I attract a wide variety of birds, I must be realistic that I provide an easy meal for the Cooper’s hawk that has been visiting my backyard since we moved in.</p>
<p>One day I even witnessed him pluck his dinner off the water fountain while we were sitting at the dinner table. Talk about an unwanted dinner guest.</p>
<p>At first, this was disturbing, but I have found that the simpler and more rewarding strategy is to embrace coexistence. Why would I want to chase such beauty from my garden?</p>
<p>Every time I see a new bird, ladybug, praying mantis, lizard, butterfly, bee, rodent or amphibian, I am inspired to create a habitat for even more species. It is my privilege that wildlife call my garden home.</p>
<p>There is no definitive guide to all the wildlife likely to occur in your garden, which may support as many as 2,000 species, most of them invertebrates.</p>
<p>Instead, I suggest focusing on a relatively small number of “creatures” that are both distinctive and desirable.</p>
<p>It is not logical, or even possible, to exclude all the species that most gardeners would find undesirable, such as tomato horn worms, squash bugs, slugs and snails. These critters may seem undesirable, but there is no escaping them.</p>
<p>On the plus side, they provide food for animals and birds which we enjoy seeing. They also play a valuable part in breaking down dead and decaying vegetation.</p>
<p>It has always been my aspiration to have my yard recognized by the National Wildlife Federation as a certified wildlife habitat. I attained this goal three years ago and strive every day to contribute to local flora and fauna conservation.</p>
<p>Enjoy your garden and remember to work with nature to create a garden that is beautiful and full of life.</p> | Master gardener tells how to welcome wildlife to landscape | false | https://abqjournal.com/439450/master-gardener-tells-how-to-welcome-wildlife-to-landscape.html | 2 |
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<p>Berlin is extremely proud of being a showplace for the prestige buildings of today’s international star architects. These trophies, from embassies to executive towers to museums, have reclaimed many of the bare spots left by the city’s Cold War divisions. Nor does Berlin stint on the temporary. In advance of the 2006 World Cup held in Germany and culminating in Hitler’s Olympic Stadium a giant soccer ball was dropped next to the Brandenburg Gate. This Fussball-Globus welcomed visitors into its high-tech interior with a pair of David Beckham’s shoes in a glass display case.</p>
<p>Any number of provisional “boxes” have been introduced into the cityscape over the last decade, the most recent of which is the Humboldt University research cube which stands near to the city cathedral. The Humboldt folly is blue and wonky and an eyesore, whose main visual merit is that it is temporary. The box also stands guard over a huge barren lawn where once stood the Palace of the Republic, the Capitol of the German Democratic Republic, and before it the old City Palace. Finished in 1976, that brown glass, burnished steel, and white stone socialist structure was removed between 2006 and 2008 under pretext of asbestos contamination, but really for symbolic reasons. Especially in this city, bombs and politics have shown that no architecture is truly permanent.</p>
<p>The cathedral, city palace, and the Humboldt “box” share an island in the Spree River in the center of Berlin with an ensemble of museums to the north, most of whose buildings have been restored over the last several years. On this Museum Island, one can commune with Johann Caspar David Friedrich’s lonely paintings in the Old National Gallery—another Greek temple perched on a massive pedestal and approached by a triumphal staircase—and next door come face to face with the bust of Nefertiti alone in a soaring chamber in the recently rebuilt and reconceived New Museum.</p>
<p>The next building to the north is the Pergamon Museum, built between 1910 and 1930 to house the reconstruction of one of the wonders of the Ancient World, the Pergamon Altar. It was excavated by German archaeologists between 1878 and 1886 on a promontory above the Turkish city of Bergama, brought back to Berlin and pieced together again. The Pergamon Museum itself replaced a temporary building, built on the same the site in the first decade of the 20th century to display the tremendous find to the German educated classes, devotees of the glories of antiquity.</p>
<p>It is hard to imagine a more hulking structure than the permanent building finished in 1930. Its enormous central hall, in which the altar now looms, is guarded by a massive windowless wall that brings to mind both a bunker and a mausoleum. Two wings, nearly as imposing as the central façade, house the Middle Eastern collections (including Babylon’s Gate of Ishtar). These extend at right angles from the Pergamon Altar hall and form a large square that fronts the branch of the river.</p>
<p>Since September of last year, this square has been filled up by the latest and greatest of Berlin’s temporary showpieces: the <a href="http://www.smb.museum/pergamon-panorama_/" type="external">Pergamon Panorama</a>. This structure will remain in front of the museum for a full year until September of 2012. With its grid of steel beams on a circular footprint, the Panorama resembles a 19th-century gasometer. It is the work of Yadegar Asisi and his team. Born in 1955 in Vienna to Iranian parents, Asisi was educated in Germany and has been active here as an artist, architect, and professor for the last thirty years. For the last two decades he has dedicated himself to huge panoramas. He calls them panometers, a word that neatly combines panorama and gasometer, both crucial developments of industrial and entertainment culture of the 19th century.</p>
<p>Asis’s panometers are about 30 meters high and 100 meters in circumference. His first panorama for Dresden in a 19th-century gasometer breathtakingly depicted this most beautiful of German cities in 1756, some two centuries before its destruction in World War II. Currently the elegant Dresden building presents his view of Rome at the time of Constantine. Asisi’s vision of the Amazon Rain Forest just closed in Leipzig. But so quickly do Asisi and his team work that Mount Everest will appear in the Leipzig panometer and open to the public by the 28th of this month, a mere three weeks after the Amazon show closed.</p>
<p>Asisi’s current Pergamon Panorama, close in size to his exhibition spaces in Dresden and Leipzig, has been hugely popular, with long lines running across the bridge to the museum in good weather and bad. What makes the whole event so popular is not only the visual representation of the ancient acropolis of Pergamon and the city at its foot, but also the fact that the remnants of the famed altar can then be visited in the adjacent museum. Within a few minutes the imagined glories of the past can be compared to the real thing, transported from Asia Minor to the German capital.</p>
<p>The climb up the steel staircase of the Panorama seems longer than the structure would suggest when viewed from the outside, perhaps because the Pergamon Museum is particularly adept at dwarfing all things that come near—including the trains which rush by within a few feet on an elevated track over the Spree. At the top of the stairs the sky, blue with cumulus clouds and a few seagulls flown in from the nearby coast, opens dramatically above. You find yourself on a square viewing platform seemingly one hundred feet above the highest point of the Pergamon Acropolis with its complex of temple and squares. Set back from the edge of the Acropolis, the Trajaneum sits on the highest of plinth. Closer to the viewer is the Doric perfection of the Temple of Athena housing the gargantuan statue of the goddess, unseen within; the original statue can also be visited in one of the large halls of the Pergamon Museum. From this plateau a steeply raked theater descends towards the water of a mountain river raging whitely. Men and women in brightly colored robes peer over the parapet and mill about in front of the colonnades.</p>
<p>The topography and flora recall the Los Angeles Hills and basin, except that on top of this rise is a one of the great sights of the Ancient world at the high point of its civic splendor 129 years after Christ. On a somewhat lower shoulder of the hill is the altar itself, the base in high relief depicting an epic battle between the giants and gods. It is this relief, about 85 per cent of which survives, that was brought back to Berlin by the Germans. The backside of the Altar is not visible to panorama viewers from their platform, but the parts that are depicted had to be filled in by Asisi, drawing on his artistic creativity, knowledge of classical sculpture, and virtuosic ability at delightfully deceiving the eye. In the panorama, the relief is given back its bright colors, rather than left in the museum’s naked marble. Even from the 21st century aerial perspective the twisting, muscle-flexing, figures locked in mortal combat can be picked out and admired for their contorted physiques and for the sweep of the battle in progress.</p>
<p>Continuing clockwise around the platform cypress trees descend the hill to the valley floor and the Roman theater, the stadium with the dust of chariot races rising above its cloth shade-makers, the amphitheater, the villas and farms, burial mounds and river leading to a perhaps just-visible Aegean.&#160; Asisis’ mastery of three-dimensional space attains almost god-like power. He has created a whole city, and therefore a whole world.</p>
<p>Night falls on the wrap-around tableau and ten minutes later day returns.&#160; A dog barks, and the hub-bub of voices on the Acropolis fills the panorama. This ambient sound would have been more than sufficient to summon the civic energy of the Ancients and to add sonic encouragement to the flights of the eye.&#160; But the exhibition-makers decided that this wasn’t enough and engaged Belgian film composer Eric Babak to provide what the leaflet refers to as “subtle background music.”&#160; Among Babak’s credits is <a href="" type="internal">the music</a> for the Russian bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. &#160;On these films he proves himself to be adept at that cheap manipulation required of musical ad-men: the pseudo-symphonic writing meant to imply seriousness and made up of delirious harmonic moves that achieve their goals all too easily. The larger sweeps of the bogus heroic strivings are meant to underscore the release of Russia from Soviet bondage and the demise of&#160; fully state-funded sport training, into the contingencies of capitalist freedom and athletic freedom. Baka’s painfully obvious and opportunistic approach is the musical equivalent of a montage of winnerbs crossing the finish line. His music gives itself gold medals at every turn.</p>
<p>In spite of the preemptive adjective of the leaflet, Babak’s music for the Pergamon Panorama is anything but subtle. It is both bad and loud. Choral swells and synthesized orchestral sweeps accompany the fall of night. Ponderous descending bass-lines evoke the weight of history, the gee-whiz magnificence of the antique.&#160; An amorphous antique quality and feast-day devotional seriousness is conjured not only by the ritual choruses but also by the smudged avoidance of the obvious resolutions favored in the Russian Olympic trailer. At the break of day flute melodies above rustic dance rhythms and faintly Celtic harmonies have nothing to do with Hellenistic culture, but are merely a cinematic grope at exoticism. The exactitude of the panorama’s visual sweep is paired with souvenir-shop historical mood music.</p>
<p>The notion that we need the help of a soundtrack to be drawn into this encompassing vision of a famed city, its monuments and ceremonies belittles Asisi’s accomplishment. With its crude colossal strides and chirpy dances, this music attempts to create a sense of movement, which was mistakenly thought to be required of this panorama, whose figures and buildings do not move. The strength of this panorama, one executed with such breathtaking control, is that it alternately focuses the gaze on particulars and pulls the eye across the tremendous city- and land-scape.</p>
<p>Exiting the base of the Panometer, one can hear the faintest trace of Babak’s music escape the exhibition. A short traverse of the gift shop leads to the huge hall where the real Pergamon Altar stands. Long may it remain unmolested by a bad soundtrack—indeed, by any soundtrack at all.</p>
<p>DAVID YEARSLEY&#160;s a long-time contributor to CounterPunch and the Anderson Valley Advertiser. His latest book is&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Bach’s Feet</a>. He can be reached at &#160; <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Amazing Monuments of Modern Berlin | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/01/20/amazing-monuments-of-modern-berlin/ | 2012-01-20 | 4 |
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<p>From the conservative website <a href="http://rightwingnews.com/#post14684" type="external">Right Wing News</a> (via <a href="http://www.thenextright.com/matt-moon/who-dropped-the-ball-on-this" type="external">The Next Right</a>):</p>
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<p>I was talking to a very credible Capitol Hill source (who wishes to remain anonymous) today and that person told me a story that just blew my mind…</p>
<p>He told me the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce’s 19th Annual Legislative Conference will be taking place next week in DC.</p>
<p>Here’s the kicker: supposedly, the Democrats have 20 senators scheduled to attend various events and receptions. The Republicans? Are you ready for this? They have no senators currently scheduled to attend. Zero. Nada. Zilch.</p>
<p>You know what’s great about this? This is easy minority outreach for Republicans. It’s not like they’re being asked to go visit the NAACP or speak to an immigrants’ rights march. This is the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, an organization filled with business leaders who presumably have wealth, oppose regulations, and want to see lower corporate taxes. And yet, when the Right Wing News author followed up with the HCC (my acronym), the staff there confirmed that Republicans were taking a pass.</p>
<p>Hispanics are the fastest growing minority in the control and will soon dominate politics in the western United States. Effective Hispanic outreach by the Dems and a complete lack of attention by Republicans could mean long-term Democratic control of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, all current or former key swing states.</p>
<p>Update: Ryan Grim reports that Republican lawmakers have been <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/06/gop-outnumbered-at-hispan_n_172608.html" type="external">embarrassed into attending the HCC conference</a>! That was quick.</p>
<p /> | GOP Hispanic Outreach FAIL | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/03/gop-hispanic-outreach-fail/ | 2009-03-06 | 4 |
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<p>A year ago, 744 rigs were active. Depressed energy prices have curtailed exploration although the rig count has been rising in recent weeks.</p>
<p>Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes Inc. said 474 rigs sought oil and 118 explored for natural gas this week. One was listed as miscellaneous.</p>
<p>Pennsylvania gained four rigs, Texas three and Colorado two.</p>
<p>Wyoming declined by three, New Mexico two and North Dakota one.</p>
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<p>Alaska, Arkansas, California, Kansas, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia were unchanged.</p>
<p>The U.S. rig count peaked at 4,530 in 1981. It bottomed out in May at 404.</p>
<p>The weekly tally, normally released Friday, was released Wednesday because of Thanksgiving.</p> | US rig count up 5 this week to 593; Pennsylvania up 4 | false | https://abqjournal.com/895177/us-rig-count-up-5-this-week-to-593-pennsylvania-up-4.html | 2 |
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<p>Dec. 8 (UPI) — A Europa League soccer game in Macedonia was interrupted when a dog ran out onto the field and made friends with a goalkeeper.</p>
<p>The Thursday night match between Skopje-based FK Vardar and Norwegian team Rosenborg was <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/dog-invades-europa-league-match-steals-show-nicklas-bendtner-belly-rub-goalkeeper-a3714281.html" type="external">interrupted during the 74th minute</a> when a dog ran out onto the field as a player was lining up a penalty kick.</p>
<p>Vardar goalkeeper Filip Gacevski attempted to help chase the canine away from the pitch, but instead ended up succumbing to the canine’s charms and giving it a belly rub as it rolled over onto its back.</p>
<p>The dog’s on-field adventure was caught on camera by a spectator and posted <a href="https://twitter.com/ale_padin/status/938903053826187264?" type="external">to Twitter</a>.</p>
<p>Security staff swarmed the field in an attempt to capture the dog, but it gave them the slip and eventually ran off on its own.</p>
<p>The game ended in a 1-1 tie.</p> | Dog runs out onto field during soccer game, befriends goalie | false | https://newsline.com/dog-runs-out-onto-field-during-soccer-game-befriends-goalie/ | 2017-12-08 | 1 |
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<p>After meeting for about 4½ hours Wednesday, the governing body recessed until Thursday, when it completed the agenda, including a decision on mid-year budget adjustments.</p>
<p>Councilors Chuck Wilkins and Mark Scott voted against the budget adjustments. Councilors Lonnie Clayton, Cheryl Everett and Dawnn Robinson supported them, and Councilor Shelby Smith was absent.</p>
<p>For a resolution to pass, a majority of the governing body – four people – has to vote for it. Mayor Gregg Hull wasn’t allowed to vote because the 3-2 vote wasn’t a tie. Thus, the budget-adjustment resolution failed for lack of a majority.</p>
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<p>City Manager Keith Riesberg said the old budget, created last summer, stands until adjustments pass, even if its projections have changed since the beginning of the fiscal year.</p>
<p>City spokesman Peter Wells said no law requires mid-year budget adjustments. They’re just an efficient way to handle the changes.</p>
<p>City staff will have to bring any necessary budget adjustments to the governing body individually or continue with the old budget, he said.</p>
<p>Smith said he was absent because he had made two appointments in Albuquerque before Wednesday’s late-night decision to continue the meeting Thursday and it would have been unprofessional to cancel them at the last minute. He was disappointed and surprised by the vote on the budget adjustments.</p>
<p>“I apologize to the citizens that we can’t get it together,” Smith said.</p>
<p>Financial Services Director Dan Olsen had recommended reductions of $185,000, or 0.3 percent, in expected revenue and $294,000, or 0.5 percent, in expenditures in the general fund. The changes would have meant $111,000 more in the general fund ending balance.</p>
<p>Olsen said projections for gross receipts tax revenue to the general fund decreased by $1.3 million.</p>
<p>“It still represents a 6.7 percent growth over last year, so the message is the economy is growing, just not as fast as we’d hoped,” he said.</p>
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<p>Financial staff also recommended a $138,000 decrease in franchise tax income, mostly because PNM’s activity was less than expected, Olsen said.</p>
<p>The city saw new one-time revenue increases of:</p>
<p>Wilkins said non-recurring revenue increased to $1.33 million this fiscal year from $128,000 last year.</p>
<p>“I think that’s really important to express because we’ve really got to pay attention to next year’s budget because a lot of our reoccurring expenditure is being covered by one-time money, which is super important,” he said.</p>
<p>Responding to a question from Everett, Olsen said he didn’t see anything alarming about the fluctuations between recurring and non-recurring money.</p>
<p>Olsen and his staff recommended a $300,000 general fund transfer to start the DWI vehicle seizure program that passed the first of two readings Wednesday.</p>
<p>Wilkins opposed the DWI seizure program seed money. He said Albuquerque’s program paid 75 percent of its own costs, so Rio Rancho would probably have to subsidize its program.</p>
<p>If the seizure program passes a second reading, Riesberg said, the governing body will have to approve another, separate measure to be able to fund it without the passage of the budget adjustments.</p>
<p>In the utility fund, Olsen advised decreasing projected revenues by $2.99 million because of lower water consumption, which would mean an estimated $1.08 million less in costs. The utility could keep its 60-day cash reserve of $4.23 million by reducing its capital reserve.</p>
<p>Olsen said the drop in water consumption was concerning but not unusual.</p>
<p /> | ‘No’ vote on mid-year budget changes | false | https://abqjournal.com/534537/no-vote-on-midyear-budget-changes.html | 2 |
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<p>Otelco Inc filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday, court documents showed, three months after the telecom services provider lost a key revenue-generating contract from Time Warner Cable Inc .</p>
<p>In February, Otelco reached an agreement with its senior lenders to amend and extend the terms of its current senior financing to reduce the company's debt and improve its capital structure.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Otelco said at that time the debt restructuring would best be implemented through a "prepackaged" Chapter 11 filing, which had the support of the company's senior lenders. In a prepackaged bankruptcy, management negotiates the general terms of a bankruptcy plan with major creditors prior to the filing.</p>
<p>The company said last April that Time Warner Cable would not renew a wholesale voice contract which accounted for 12.3 percent of Otelco's total revenue of $74.5 million for the nine months to September 30, 2012. The contract expired on December 31.</p>
<p>Otelco's revenue potential was also hit by a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order in late 2011 that lowered certain access rates by changing the way telecom carriers are compensated for exchanging traffic, the company said in Sunday's court filing.</p>
<p>The company estimated its annual EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) would fall to a range of $28 million to $32 million in 2014, from $40 million to $50 million in prior years, due mainly to those developments.</p>
<p>"As a result, it is no longer feasible for the company to service over $250 million of debt," Otelco said in the filing.</p>
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<p>The company said it agreed with its senior secured lenders on a plan that would reduce its long-term debt from a current balance of about $271 million as of September 30, 2012, to "no more than $142 million."</p>
<p>Following the restructuring, which is subject to court approval, holders of subordinated notes will hold about 92.5 percent of the total equity interests in reorganized Otelco, according to the filing.</p>
<p>The company's stock closed at $1.62 Friday on the Nasdaq.</p>
<p>Otelco offers telephone, Internet, broadband and television services in Maine, New Hampshire and other areas.</p>
<p>The case is Otelco Inc et al, Case No. 13-10593, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Mridhula Raghavan in Bangalore; Editing by Edmund Klamann)</p> | Otelco Files for Bankruptcy After Losing Time Warner Cable Contract | true | http://foxbusiness.com/news/2013/03/25/otelco-files-for-bankruptcy-after-losing-time-warner-cable-contract.html | 2016-01-25 | 0 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ian James at the Desert Sun (Palm Springs) had <a href="http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2014/10/26/joshua-tree-graffiti-barker-dam/17973901/?from=global&amp;sessionKey=&amp;autologin=" type="external">a neat story this morning</a> about work a University of New Mexico researcher is doing to help clean up graffiti on the historic Barker Dam at Joshua Tree National Park in the desert of southeastern California:</p>
<p>Last week, park employees tried out various approaches for removing or masking the graffiti during a visit by researchers Angelyn Bass of the University of New Mexico and Douglas Porter of the University of Vermont. The two have experience in rock art conservation and the conservation of historic structures, as well as with graffiti cleanup efforts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | UNM helping clean up Joshua Tree graffiti | false | https://abqjournal.com/486959/unm-helping-clean-up-joshua-tree-graffiti.html | 2 |
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<p>DETROIT (AP) — In the world of full-size pickups, it's a race to see who can haul more stuff, yet do it with lighter, more efficient trucks.</p>
<p>General Motors is taking a big step that way with an all-new Chevrolet Silverado unveiled Saturday night ahead of Detroit's big auto show.</p>
<p>The Silverado is the second-best selling vehicle in the U.S. and is outsold only by Ford's F-Series pickups. Big pickup truck sales rose nearly 6 percent last year to almost 2.4 million, even though total U.S. auto sales dropped 2 percent. One in every seven vehicles sold last year was a full-size pickup.</p>
<p>GM says its new truck is up to 450 pounds lighter than the current model. The new Silverado, which goes on sale this fall, slims down by using GM's expertise in melding different metals. Parts that swing, including doors, the hood and the tailgate, are lighter aluminum, but stationery parts such as the bed, are still steel.</p>
<p>GM has used the steel bed in marketing, claiming that it's more durable than rival Ford's bed made of aluminum.</p>
<p>The Silverado's frame weighs 88 pounds less because it's made of lighter yet stronger high-strength steel, GM says. Aluminum parts in the suspension and other areas make up the rest of the weight loss.</p>
<p>The new truck is just under 2 inches longer than the old one for more space in the cargo bed and a roomier interior.</p>
<p>Alan Batey, GM's head of North America, said Chevy will offer eight different configurations of the truck from basic work models to well-equipped off-road and luxury versions so they can be personalized.</p>
<p>"People see it as their truck, not the truck that everybody has," he said.</p>
<p>It also gets two new V-8 engines — 5.3-liters and 6.2-liters — that can shut off any number of cylinders to save gas, yet have "instant power" available when needed. There's also a new 3-liter six-cylinder diesel and a 10-speed automatic transmission available. GM wouldn't say if any other engines would be offered, including a V6 gas engine that's now available.</p>
<p>Designers and engineers paid particular attention to aerodynamics for better fuel economy, GM said. The sides of a mean-looking front grille direct air around the front wheel wells to reduce wind drag, and there's a spoiler at the back of the cab roof to steer air over the bed.</p>
<p>The company wouldn't release the weight or estimated fuel economy, but said the 450-pound weight loss is on a crew cab model with a V8 engine. The current crew cab with a 6.2-Liter V8 gets 15 mpg in the city and 20 on the highway.</p>
<p>The truck also has 21 fixed and moveable tie-down points to secure cargo, and a power tailgate is available. Cutouts in the bumper that let drivers step into the bed are larger to accommodate steel-toe boots.</p>
<p>The company said it used customer feedback to redo the interior, with more comfortable seats, more interior cargo space and added legroom for front and rear passengers.</p>
<p>GM said it would release the price closer to when the new truck arrives in showrooms.</p>
<p>DETROIT (AP) — In the world of full-size pickups, it's a race to see who can haul more stuff, yet do it with lighter, more efficient trucks.</p>
<p>General Motors is taking a big step that way with an all-new Chevrolet Silverado unveiled Saturday night ahead of Detroit's big auto show.</p>
<p>The Silverado is the second-best selling vehicle in the U.S. and is outsold only by Ford's F-Series pickups. Big pickup truck sales rose nearly 6 percent last year to almost 2.4 million, even though total U.S. auto sales dropped 2 percent. One in every seven vehicles sold last year was a full-size pickup.</p>
<p>GM says its new truck is up to 450 pounds lighter than the current model. The new Silverado, which goes on sale this fall, slims down by using GM's expertise in melding different metals. Parts that swing, including doors, the hood and the tailgate, are lighter aluminum, but stationery parts such as the bed, are still steel.</p>
<p>GM has used the steel bed in marketing, claiming that it's more durable than rival Ford's bed made of aluminum.</p>
<p>The Silverado's frame weighs 88 pounds less because it's made of lighter yet stronger high-strength steel, GM says. Aluminum parts in the suspension and other areas make up the rest of the weight loss.</p>
<p>The new truck is just under 2 inches longer than the old one for more space in the cargo bed and a roomier interior.</p>
<p>Alan Batey, GM's head of North America, said Chevy will offer eight different configurations of the truck from basic work models to well-equipped off-road and luxury versions so they can be personalized.</p>
<p>"People see it as their truck, not the truck that everybody has," he said.</p>
<p>It also gets two new V-8 engines — 5.3-liters and 6.2-liters — that can shut off any number of cylinders to save gas, yet have "instant power" available when needed. There's also a new 3-liter six-cylinder diesel and a 10-speed automatic transmission available. GM wouldn't say if any other engines would be offered, including a V6 gas engine that's now available.</p>
<p>Designers and engineers paid particular attention to aerodynamics for better fuel economy, GM said. The sides of a mean-looking front grille direct air around the front wheel wells to reduce wind drag, and there's a spoiler at the back of the cab roof to steer air over the bed.</p>
<p>The company wouldn't release the weight or estimated fuel economy, but said the 450-pound weight loss is on a crew cab model with a V8 engine. The current crew cab with a 6.2-Liter V8 gets 15 mpg in the city and 20 on the highway.</p>
<p>The truck also has 21 fixed and moveable tie-down points to secure cargo, and a power tailgate is available. Cutouts in the bumper that let drivers step into the bed are larger to accommodate steel-toe boots.</p>
<p>The company said it used customer feedback to redo the interior, with more comfortable seats, more interior cargo space and added legroom for front and rear passengers.</p>
<p>GM said it would release the price closer to when the new truck arrives in showrooms.</p> | Redesigned Chevy Silverado pickup loses weight, gains size | false | https://apnews.com/amp/b28cf0f7c7ff40beaddd2eb52b1cb425 | 2018-01-14 | 2 |
<p>It was a pro-Trump party outside Mar-a-Lago today and the president shocked the crowd by stopping by.</p>
<p>Video shows a carnival-like atmosphere along the street to President Trump's "winter White House" in the West Palm Beach installment of a series of "March 4 Trump" rallies across the country to support the president.</p>
<p>Video shows hundreds of supporters lining the road, greeting each other, waving flags and cheering on Trump. There was even a DJ on the back of an Army truck.</p>
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<p>One supporter snapped a picture of the president waving from the back of his car:</p>
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<p>Trump shocked the crowd by getting out of his vehicle, waving and pumping his fist as supporters cheered wildly.</p>
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<p>Here's another angle:</p>
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<p>More:</p>
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<p>Agitators were also present outside Mar-a-Lago, and some could be seen holding the American flag upside down.</p>
<p /> | VIDEO: President stops at 'March 4 Trump' rally near Mar-a-Lago | true | http://theamericanmirror.com/video-trump-stops-rally-outside-mar-lago/ | 2017-03-04 | 0 |
<p>Shares of Smith &amp; Wesson (NASDAQ:SWHC) soared more than 10% Friday morning after the firearm company disclosed plans to unload its perimeter security unit and focus on its core business.</p>
<p>The Springfield, Mass.-based company said late Thursday it is currently exploring strategic options that will enable it to divest its perimeter security business. Smith &amp; Wesson cited weaker demand in the security arena since it acquired the Nashville-based business Universal Safety Response.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It’s not clear exactly how it will shed the unit, which has since been renamed Smith &amp; Wesson Security Solutions, but options could include an outright sale or spinoff.</p>
<p>“Smith &amp; Wesson Security Solutions has developed a track record of customer support and system expertise across a diverse corporate and government customer base,” CEO James Debney said in a statement. “We believe its strengths could be better maximized as an independent company, or as part of a group of companies, focused entirely on the security solutions market."</p>
<p>Shareholders cheered the move, bidding Smith &amp; Wesson 11.45% higher to $2.93 Friday morning. The company's shares had sunk 6% over the previous four weeks and 30% year-to-date.</p>
<p>Smith &amp; Wesson said it plans to report the unit’s results as discontinued operations beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and restate prior results to reflect the change.</p>
<p>The company said it plans to zero in on its core firearm business, which accounted for 92.5% of its revenue in its fiscal first quarter. Firearm revenue jumped 18% last quarter.</p>
<p>"The decision to divest the security solutions division and focus our financial, managerial, and operational resources toward expanding our presence across our firearm market channels is intended to support our long-term growth opportunities and enhance stockholder value." Debney said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Shares of Smith & Wesson Shoot Higher on Plans to Shed Security Unit | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/10/07/shares-smith-wesson-shoot-higher-on-plans-to-shed-security-unit.html | 2016-01-29 | 0 |
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<p>NEW YORK — Some of the biggest companies in the world had their best day in years Friday as Microsoft and Alphabet soared following strong third-quarter reports, as did online retail giant Amazon. U.S. stocks set more records as their winning streak extended to a seventh week.</p>
<p>Intel made its biggest gains in three years, while Microsoft had its biggest jump in two years and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, made its largest move in more than a year after each company’s results were better than Wall Street expected. Amazon jumped 13 percent, its biggest move in two and a half years, after it got a big boost from its latest “Prime Day” promotion and the purchase of the Whole Foods grocery store chain.</p>
<p>“The transition to cloud computing really played a role in all of those tech results to some extent,” said Brad Sorensen, the director of market and sector analysis for the Schwab Center for Financial Research. Technology companies get a lot of their profits outside the U.S. compared to other industries, so the improving global economy is helping them more.</p>
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<p>Other stocks were mixed: retailers fell after J.C. Penney cut its annual forecasts. Drugstores, drugmakers, health care suppliers and pharmaceutical distributors and retailers fell.</p>
<p>The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index rose 20.67 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,581.07. The Dow Jones industrial average made a comparatively modest gain of 33.33 points, or 0.1 percent, to 23,434.19 as drugmaker Merck and oil company Chevron skidded after their third-quarter reports. The Nasdaq composite made its biggest gain since November as it soared 144.49 points, or 2.2 percent, to 6,701.26. The Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 10.86 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,508.32.</p>
<p>The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq finished at all-time highs. The S&amp;P 500 also rose for the seventh consecutive week, something that hadn’t happened since late 2014.</p>
<p>Alphabet climbed $42.25, or 4.3 percent, to $1,033.67 and Microsoft soared $5.05, or 6.4 percent, to $83.81. Intel, the world’s biggest chipmaker, jumped $3.05, or 7.4 percent, to $44.40 after a positive fourth-quarter estimate.</p>
<p>Elsewhere Facebook rose $7.25, or 4.2 percent, to $177.88, its largest gain August 2015. Apple advanced $5.64, or 3.6 percent, to $163.05.</p>
<p>Amazon posted strong results and gave an optimistic outlook for the holiday season. Its stock jumped $128.52, or 13.2 percent, to $1,100.95.</p>
<p>Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook are the five most valuable companies on the S&amp;P 500, and with investors clamoring to send them higher, Wall Street didn’t pay quite as much attention to some strong economic data. The Commerce Department estimated that the U.S. economy grew 3 percent between July and September even though the country was hit by two major hurricanes. That was better than analysts had anticipated.</p>
<p>Aside from those giant companies, stocks were mixed. J.C. Penney fell to an all-time low after it cut its profit forecast, saying it’s been lowering prices to try clearing out unsold goods. Its stock lost 54 cents, or 14.8 percent, to $3.12. Other retailers like Macy’s and Foot Locker tumbled as well.</p>
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<p>Toy maker Mattel plunged after the company posted a huge third-quarter loss and said it will slash spending and stop paying quarterly dividends. The stock lost $1.37, or 8.9 percent, to $14.</p>
<p>Drugstores and prescription drug distributors fell for a second day following reports that Amazon is receiving state licenses allowing it to do business as a prescription drug wholesaler. Walgreens Boots Alliance lost $2.63, or 3.9 percent, to $64.48 and pharmaceutical distributor McKesson lost $7.92, or 5.5 percent, to $135.62.</p>
<p>However, Jefferies and Co. analyst Brian Tanquilut wrote that Amazon appears to have taken out licenses to sell medical equipment, not drugs. He said the company may stick to medical devices and over-the-counter medicines for now, because in order to distribute prescription drugs Amazon would need to establish relationships with pharmacy benefits managers and health insurers.</p>
<p>Benchmark U.S. crude reached a six-month high as it jumped $1.26, or 2.4 percent, to $53.90 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, rose $1.14, or 1.9 percent, to a two-year high of $60.44 a barrel in London.</p>
<p>Wholesale gasoline rose 2 cents to $1.77 a gallon. Heating oil gained 2 cents to $1.84 a gallon. Natural gas tumbled 14 cents, or 4.8 percent, to $2.75 per 1,000 cubic feet.</p>
<p>Bond prices jumped. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.41 percent from 2.46 percent, a seven-month high.</p>
<p>Gold rose $2.20 to $1,271.80 an ounce. Silver slid 6 cents to $16.75 an ounce. Copper lost 7 cents to $3.10 a pound.</p>
<p>The dollar fell to 113.81 yen from 114 yen. The euro slid to $1.1599 from $1.1657.</p>
<p>Germany’s DAX climbed 0.6 percent and the CAC 40 of France gained 0.7 percent. In Britain, the FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent. The Spanish Ibex sank 1.5 percent after Catalonia’s regional parliament voted to secede from Spain, adding new tensions to the disagreement between the region and the central government in Madrid. Catalonia, which includes Barcelona, accounts for a fifth of the Spanish economy and Spain is deeply set against allowing it to become independent.</p>
<p>The Nikkei 225 of Japan jumped 1.2 percent and South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 0.8 percent.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Markets Writer Marley Jay can be reached at <a href="http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP" type="external">http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP</a> His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jayt while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index surged 0.8 percent.</p> | Tech giants lead rally as stocks near records; Amazon surges | false | https://abqjournal.com/1084091/us-stocks-are-mixed-as-tech-soars-retail-and-energy-sink.html | 2017-10-27 | 2 |
<p>Inflammatory remarks made by NYPD union president Patrick Lynch over the past many weeks of sometimes fatal tension between police officers and private citizens are grounds for dismissal from the force, retired NYPD Detective Graham Weatherspoon says.</p>
<p>Weatherspoon made his remarks on “Democracy Now!” on Monday during a segment titled “ <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/22/calls_for_calm_after_nypd_union" type="external">Calls for Calm After NYPD Union Says Mayor, Protesters Have Blood on Their Hands for Cops’ Murder</a>.”</p>
<p>In a news conference at Woodhull Medical Center after the <a href="" type="internal">slaying</a> of NYPD Officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos on Saturday, Lynch, who is president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, continued his antagonistic campaign against critics of the NYPD by blaming the deaths of the officers on New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and demonstrators exercising their constitutional right to protest NYPD actions.</p>
<p>Lynch <a href="" type="internal">told reporters</a> there was “blood on [the] hands [of] those that incited violence on the street under the guise of protest … [blood] on the steps of city hall, in the office of the mayor.”</p>
<p />
<p>Weatherspoon said of Lynch’s remarks: “Pat Lynch is throwing gasoline on the flames. I think that he should take time to consider what he’s saying. I understand he’s a union leader. His job is to promote the welfare and the benefits for his members. But this doesn’t fall at the feet of City Hall. This is a societal issue.”</p>
<p>Of the comments that Weatherspoon says could get Lynch fired, the retired detective said, “[Lynch] had said a while back, and quite prophetically, he said, ‘If a police officer is shot, [the mayor or the police commissioner] will not be welcome at the funeral.’ Well, that was a reprehensible statement. And Pat is going to have to—I think Commissioner Bratton is going to have to sit down with him and rein him in. Pat Lynch is a member of the New York City Police Department. And to bring adverse criticism against the department is grounds for dismissal. So, he will only be a union president as long as he is a member of the police department. He is still a police officer. And I’m sure that Mayor de Blasio is going to sit down with Commissioner Bratton, and the three of them are going to have to come to terms.”</p>
<p>Weatherspoon also criticized the distorted perspectives that inherited culture, the mainstream press and prejudiced or near-sighted officials have given to the public.</p>
<p>“We can’t broad-brush anybody. Blacks have been broad-brushed in the society. Latinos have been broad-brushed. All groups have been broad-brushed. And there are some outstanding police officers out there, and some of them I know personally, you know, and they’re not happy about what has transpired with the situation in Staten Island and in other cities, because it casts a dim light on police officers.</p>
<p>“So, the death of Eric Garner, we’re waiting for the grand jury, all these things—I don’t think that the general public in New York City is looking to go into a violence mode. Protest is the right, it’s the constitutional right of the people, and we have to remember that. It’s not a matter of being policed to the point where you are now under a lockdown by the department, whether it’s New York City or any other city. People have the right to protest and make their voice heard to the political entities who are required to set policy and procedures.”</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p> | Retired NYPD Detective Criticizes Police Union President's Antagonistic Remarks | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/retired-nypd-detective-criticizes-police-union-presidents-antagonistic-remarks/ | 2014-12-22 | 4 |
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<p>This cartoon requires Macromedia’s Flash Player. If you don’t see the cartoon above, <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="external">download the player here</a>.</p>
<p>Mark Fiore is an editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a <a href="http://www.markfiore.com" type="external">web site</a> featuring his work.</p>
<p /> | The Glorious Failure! | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/07/glorious-failure/ | 2006-07-12 | 4 |
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<p>There is no timeline yet for Victor’s recovery but the expectation is the junior won’t be back this season. Petersen was noncommittal when asked if there was any chance Victor could recover in time for a bowl game.</p>
<p>“It’s OK. It’s not going to be a real long-term thing,” Petersen said. “It’s a bone and those things will heal quickly. I don’t know exactly what the timeline is but it’s probably as good as it could be in terms of all those things.”</p>
<p>Victor was injured in the second quarter of No. 7 Washington’s 26-13 loss to Southern California on Saturday. Victor was in on the tackle of USC’s Justin Davis on a running play, but immediately came up hobbling. He was on the field for several minutes getting tended to by medical personnel, who put an air cast on Victor’s leg on the field before he was taken off on a cart.</p>
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<p>Victor leads Washington with 68 tackles this season. He was regarded as a potential second-day pick in the NFL draft if he left after his junior season.</p>
<p>“So really when it was all said and done it was probably more positive than we were first thinking,” Petersen said. “Sometimes when you go into surgery and all that it’s all this kind of stuff but it was pretty straightforward from what I understand.”</p>
<p>It’s the second major loss for the Huskies on that side of the ball after sack leader Joe Mathis underwent surgery earlier this month for a foot injury. Mathis is also expected to be out for the season, although The Seattle Times reported last week that Mathis is hopeful of possibly being able to return for a bowl game.</p>
<p>Petersen joked Monday that no team other than Alabama could have the depth on the roster to withstand losing two top defensive players and not have any drop off.</p>
<p>“I don’t know if anyone does that. Maybe Alabama. I don’t know,” he said. “I think every coach in America, for the most part, you get a really good player, you lose them, you might have a really good young player but they’re just not there. I don’t know if you ever get there.”</p>
<p>Redshirt freshman D.J. Beavers is listed as the starter with Victor out. Beavers stepped in after Victor’s injury on Saturday and finished with six tackles. But he also had some of his inexperience exposed by USC.</p>
<p>Linebacker is one area where Washington still lacks experienced depth. Along with Beavers, the other options appear to be freshman Brandon Wellington and sophomore Ben Burr-Kirven.</p>
<p>“I think he filled in pretty well,” Petersen said of Beavers. “He made some tackles, played aggressive, played tough. It’s hard when you lose a player like Azeem for sure but it’s not like ‘We have no chance’ type thing. He was right there playing physical like a linebacker should. He’s had a lot of good reps throughout the season and now he’s going to have a lot more.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP college football: <a href="http://www.collegefootball.ap.org" type="external">www.collegefootball.ap.org</a></p> | No. 7 Washington loses LB Azeem Victor to broken leg | false | https://abqjournal.com/888907/no-7-washington-loses-lb-azeem-victor-to-broken-leg.html | 2016-11-14 | 2 |
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<p>Social Security is one of America's most popular and important social programs. Despite that fact, a surveyconducted by MassMutual Financial Group in 2015 showed that just one respondent out of more than 1,500 was able to answer <a href="https://www.massmutual.com/~/media/files/ss_quiz.pdf" type="external">just 10 Opens a New Window.</a> multiple choice or true/false questions about the program correctly. That's a troubling number.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Here's a look at 25 Social Security facts and figures that can help you to increase your knowledge about this important program.</p>
<p>Image Source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>This is the date that President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law.</p>
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<p>This is the total Social Security tax rate that's paid by employees and employers. This number is actually split equally between the two so that employees are only responsible for 6.2% of the total. There's also an upper limit to earnings that are subject to Social Security taxes. For 2017, that figure is$127,200.</p>
<p>This is how many Americans received benefits last year. This totalincludes more than 43.7 million retired workers and dependents, 10.8 million disabled workers and dependents, and 6.1 million survivors.</p>
<p>This is how much those 61 million Americans received in benefits in 2016.</p>
<p>This is how many people were newly awarded benefits in 2015.</p>
<p>Nearly nine out of every 10 citizens over age 65 receives a monthly Social Securitycheck.</p>
<p>This is the percentage of recipients who are women.The primary reason this figure isn't 50% is because women tend to live longer than men. Thus, they'll usuallyreceivebenefits for a longer period of time.</p>
<p>Image Source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>While some retirees are far more dependent on the program than others, Social Security represented about 34% of the average elderly person's income.</p>
<p>These figures represent the percentage of married and single persons, respectively, who rely on Social Security for more than 90% of their income.</p>
<p>This reflects the number of Social Security recipients who livebelow the poverty line as of 2014. Meanwhile, another 5.2 of recipients qualify as "near poor," meaning they make between 100% to 125% of the poverty rate.</p>
<p>This is how many workers are currently coveredby Social Security. That's important, as slightly more than half of the private workforce does not have pension coverage.</p>
<p>This is the percentage of workers who have yet to set aside any money for theirretirement.</p>
<p>This is how much longer the average 65-year-old can expect to live, based on life expectancy figures. Rewind the clock to 1940, and this figure was only 14 years.</p>
<p>This is the estimated population of Americans age 65 or older in the year 2035. By contrast, this figure is only 48 million today.</p>
<p>Image Source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>This is the estimated worker-to-beneficiary ratio expected by 2035. This ratio stands at 2.8 today.</p>
<p>Roughly 90% of workers who are between 21 years of age and 64 are protected by Social Security in the event of along-term disability. That's a nice benefit, since two out of every three workers in the private sector do not have long-term disability coverage.</p>
<p>This is the number of work credits that you need to earn during your working years in order to qualify for Social Security benefits. Since you can only earn a maximum of four work credits annually, it takes at least 10 full working years to reach this figure.</p>
<p>This was the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) that was added to recipients' benefits in 2017. While this rate was the lowest increase rate on record, Social Security's COLA was actually 0% in three of the past eight years.</p>
<p>This is the portion of a retiree's benefit that he or she receives by opting to take benefits at age 62 instead of waiting until full retirement age.</p>
<p>This is considered to be the full retirement age of anyone born in 1960 or later. By contrast, this figure is 65 for anyone born before 1937.</p>
<p>This is the average monthly benefit paid to a retired worker in 2017. For couples who are both receiving benefits, this figure comes to $2,260.</p>
<p>Image Source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>This is how much more the average man receives in monthly benefits when compared to the average woman. As of December 2015, these figures were $1,500 and $1,182, respectively. The reason for the discrepancy is that women tend to have shorter lifetime work histories than men.</p>
<p>Some recipients are shocked to find out that their Social Security benefits are actually subject to incomes taxes. If you file as an individual and earn more than $34,000 -- $44,000 if you file a joint return -- then up to 85% of your benefits may be taxable.</p>
<p>Despite all the rhetoric about the Social Security fund running out of money, the2016 Social Security Board of Trustees report showed that the fund carried more than $2.8 trillion in asset reserves. If current spending patterns hold, this figure is expected to remain in positive territory until 2033.</p>
<p>On the other hand, that same2016 Social Security Board of Trustees report showed that thepresent value of unfunded obligation owed between now and 2090 stands at $11.4 trillion if no changes are made to the program.</p>
<p>Thankfully, there's still plenty of time left for the government to make changes to the program that could keep it solvent indefinitely. Better yet, the public is even <a href="https://www.fool.com/retirement/2016/12/25/the-no-nonsense-way-to-save-social-security.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">supportive of the proposed changes Opens a New Window.</a>. But will these changes ever become the law of the land? Only time will tell.</p>
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<p>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> | 25 Facts About Social Security Every Retiree Should Know | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/21/25-facts-about-social-security-every-retiree-should-know.html | 2017-03-21 | 0 |
<p>Right in the wake of House Majority leader Dick Armey’s explicit call for two million Palestinians to be booted out of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Gaza as well, came yet one more of those earnest articles accusing a vague entity called “the left” of anti-Semitism.</p>
<p>This one was in Salon, by a man called Dennis Fox, identified as an associate professor of legal studies and psychology at the University of Illinois. Leaving nothing to chance, Salon titled Fox’s contribution, “The shame of the pro-Palestinian left: Ignorance and anti-Semitism are undercutting the moral legitimacy of Israel’s critics.”</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years I’ve learned there’s a quick way of figuring just how badly Israel is behaving. There’s a brisk uptick in the number of articles here accusing “the left” of anti-Semitism. These articles adopt varying strategies. Particularly intricate, though I think well-intentioned, was a recent column by Naomi Klein who wrote that “It is precisely because anti-Semitism is used by the likes of Sharon that the fight against it must be reclaimed.” Is Klein saying the anti-globalization movement has forgotten how to be anti-anti-Semitic? I don’t think it has. Are all denunciations of the government of Israel to be prefaced by strident assertions of pro-Semitism?</p>
<p>If this is the case, can we not ask that those concerned about the supposed silence of the left regarding anti-Semitism demonstrate their own good faith by denouncing Israel’s behavior towards Palestinians? Klein did, but most don’t.</p>
<p>In a recent piece in the New York Times Frank Rich managed to write an entire column puportedly about Jewish overreaction here to news reporting from Israel without even a fleeting reference to the fact that there might be some factual basis for reports presenting Israel and its leaders in a bad light, even though he found time for plenty of abuse for the “inexcusable” Arafat. Isn’t Sharon “inexcusable” in Rich’s book?</p>
<p>So the left gets the rotten eggs and those tossing the eggs mostly don’t feel it necessary to concede that Israel is a racist state whose obvious and provable intent is to continue to steal Palestinian land, oppress Palestinians, herd them into smaller and smaller enclaves and in all likelihood ultimately drive them into the sea or Lebanon or Jordan or Dearborn or the space in Dallas/Fort Worth airport between the third and fourth runways (the bold Armey plan).</p>
<p>Here’s how Fox begins his article for Salon: ‘”Let’s move back,” my wife insisted when she saw the nearby banner: “Israel Is a Terrorist State!” We were at the April 20 Boston march opposing Israel’s incursion into the West Bank. So drop back we did, dragging our friends with us to wait for an empty space we could put between us and the anti-Israel sign.’ Inference by Fox: the banner is grotesque, presumptively anti-Semitic. But there are plenty of sound arguments that from the Palestinian point of view Israel is indeed a terrorist state, and anyway, even if it wasn’t, the description would not per se be evidence of anti-Semitism. Only if the banner read “All Jews are terrorists”, would Fox have a point.</p>
<p>Of course the rhetorical trick is to conflate “Israel” or “the State of Israel” with “Jews” and argue that they are synonymous. Ergo, to criticize Israel is to be anti-Semitic. Leave aside the fact that many of Israel’s most articulate critics are Jews, honorably committed to the cause of justice for all in the Middle East. Many Jews just don’t like hearing bad things said about Israel, same way they don’t like reading articles about the Jewish lobby here. Mention the lobby and someone like Fox will rush into print denouncing those who “toy with the old anti-Semitic canard that the Jews control the press.”</p>
<p>These days you can’t even say that New York Times is owned by a Jewish family without risking charges that you stand in Goebbels’ shoes. I even got accused of anti-Semitism the other day for mentioning that the Jews founded Hollywood, which they most certainly did, as recounted in a funny and informative book published in 1988, <a href="" type="internal">An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood</a> by Neal Gabler.</p>
<p>So cowed are commentators (which is of course the prime motive of those charges of anti-Semitism) that even after the US Congress recently voted full-throated endorsement of Sharon and Israel, with only two senators and 21 US reps (I exclude the chickenshit 28 who voted “present”) voting against, you could scarcely find a mainstream paper prepared to analyze this astounding demonstration of the power of AIPAC and other Jewish organizations, plus the Christian Right and the military industrial complex which profits enormously from military aid to Israel since Congress put through a law concerning US overall aid to Israel, to the effect that 75 per cent of such supplies must be bought from US firms like Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin, lobbying for Israel.</p>
<p>The encouraging fact is that despite the efforts of the Southern Povery Law Center to drum up funds by hollering that the Nazis are about to march down Main Street, there’s remarkably little anti-Semitism in the US, and almost none that I’ve ever been able to detect on the American left, which is of course amply stocked with non-self-hating Jews. It’s comical to find the left’s assailants trudging all the way back to Leroi Jones and the 60s to dig up the necessary anti-Semitic jibes. The less encouraging fact is that there’s not nearly enough criticism of Israel’s ghastly conduct towards Palestinians, which in its present phase is testing the waters for reaction here to a major ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, just as Armey called for.</p>
<p>So why don’t people like Fox write about Armey’s appalling remarks, (which the White House declared he hadn’t made,) instead of trying to change the subject with nonsense about anti-Semitism? It’s not anti-Semitic to denounce ethnic cleansing, a strategy which according to recent polls, around half all Israeli Jews now heartily endorse. In this instance the left really has nothing to apologize for, but those who accuse of it of anti-Semitism certainly do. They’re apologists for policies put into practice by racists, ethnic cleansers and in Sharon’s case, an unquestioned war criminal who should be in the dock for his conduct.</p> | Israel and "Anti-Semitism" | true | https://counterpunch.org/2002/05/16/israel-and-quot-anti-semitism-quot/ | 2002-05-16 | 4 |
<p>ANN ARBOR, Mich. (RNS) — When militia expert Jack Kay first ran across a MySpace page for the Michigan-based <a href="http://hutaree.com/" type="external">Hutaree militia</a> six months ago, he thought it was just another group wrapping itself in God and country. But following raids on the Hutaree militia by federal authorities in three states, Kay said the group went beyond that initial assessment.</p>
<p>“Everything I’ve read about them and on their website establish, to me, that they are a cult,” said Kay, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs at Eastern Michigan University. “They are true believers. They feel they are on a divine mission. They are willing to be martyrs. It goes beyond patriotism and gets into groupthink.”</p>
<p>Even members of other militias describe Hutaree as a cult.</p>
<p>“You have an older religious leader with several young followers who obey his every command,” said Michael Lackomar, a spokesman for the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia, which was not targeted in the raids. His unit has trained with Hutaree in the past.</p>
<p>Nine Hutaree members were charged with planning to kill a local law enforcement officer and to attack the resulting funeral procession, targeting law enforcement vehicles with improvised explosive devices.</p>
<p>“There are a lot of groups that use the rhetoric that this group uses,” Kay said. “Their plans, if what is in the indictment is true, go well beyond that. If what’s in the indictment is true, this would be among the most extreme groups out there.”</p>
<p>On its website, the group uses heavy doses of the Bible to justify its actions and claims members are getting ready to battle the Antichrist.</p>
<p>“Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment,” the group’s website says. “The only thing on earth to save the testimony and those who follow it, are the members of the testimony, ’til the return of Christ in the clouds. We, the Hutaree, are prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren’t.”</p>
<p>Donna Stone said her ex-husband, David Stone, the accused leader of the group, pulled her son, David Jr., into the movement. Another son, Joshua Stone, also was charged.</p>
<p>“It started out as a Christian thing,” Donna Stone told the Associated Press. “You go to church. You pray. You take care of your family. I think David started to take it a little too far.”</p>
<p>The wife of one of the defendants described Hutaree as a small group of patriotic, Christian buddies who were just doing survival training.</p>
<p>“It consisted of a dad and two of his sons and I think just a couple other close friends of theirs,” said Kelly Sickles, who husband, Kristopher, was among those charged. “It was supposed to be a Christian group. Christ-like, right, so why would you think that’s something wrong with that, right?”</p> | Michigan Hutaree militia a cult, experts say | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/michiganhutareemilitiaacultexpertssay/ | 3 |
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<p>Jan 22 (Reuters) - Htg Molecular Diagnostics Inc:</p>
<p>* STONEPINE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC REPORTS A 5.6 PERCENT PASSIVE STAKE IN HTG MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS INC AS OF JANUARY 19 - SEC FILING Source text - <a href="http://bit.ly/2G2Dlxg" type="external">bit.ly/2G2Dlxg</a> Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about 1 percent on Wednesday after data showed U.S. crude inventories unexpectedly rose 1.6 million barrels last week, weighing on market sentiment.</p> FILE PHOTO: An oil well pump jack is seen at an oil field supply yard near Denver, Colorado, U.S., February 2, 2015. REUTERS/Rick Wilking/File Photo
<p>Brent June crude futures LCOc2 settled 70 cents lower at $68.76 per barrel, while the front month May contract LCOc1, which expires on Thursday, fell 58 cents, or 0.8 percent, to settle at $69.53 a barrel.</p>
<p>West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 futures for May delivery fell 87 cents to $64.38 a barrel, a 1.3-percent loss.</p>
<p>U.S. crude stockpiles USOILC=ECI rose as net imports USOICI=ECI soared by 1.1 million barrels per day, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.</p>
<p>Stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S crude futures USOICC=ECI also rose 1.8 million barrels, EIA said.</p>
<p>“Oil supplies at Cushing, Oklahoma are starting to replenish, which is bearish for prices, but they have a long way to go to near normal levels of supply,” said John Kilduff, partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital LLC in New York.</p>
<p>U.S. crude production also inched up last week to fresh record high at 10.433 million bpd. Output has risen by nearly 25 percent in the last two years to over 10 million bpd C-OUT-T-EIA, taking it past top exporter Saudi Arabia and within reach of the biggest producer, Russia, which pumps around 11 million bpd.</p>
<p>U.S. crude’s discount to Brent WTCLc1-LCOc1 widened to as much as $5.22, the biggest since Jan. 24.</p>
<p>“Costs in the U.S. are getting to be a little bit less expensive to drill and that’s one of the aspects that is potentially driving the spread between Brent and WTI,” Mark Watkins, a regional investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management said from Salt Lake City, Utah.</p>
<p>Average breakeven prices to drill a new well in the U.S. range from $47 to $55 per barrel depending on the region, according to a Wednesday survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.</p>
<p>Brent prices have risen in seven out of the last nine months and have increased by more than 4 percent so far this year. Prices have also had three consecutive quarters of gains, the longest stretch since late 2010 and early 2011, after production curbs led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries since last year.</p>
<p>Wednesday’s price falls came despite Saudi Arabia saying it was working with Russia on a long-term pact that could extend controls over world crude supplies by major exporters for many years.</p>
<p>Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters on Tuesday that Riyadh and Moscow were considering greatly extending the short-term alliance on oil curbs that began in January 2017 after a crash in crude prices, with a partnership to manage supplies potentially growing “to a 10-to-20-year agreement.”</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; editing by Marguerita Choy</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fund managers have begun to ditch so-called FANG stocks that powered the U.S. stock market to record highs in January and are slowly rotating into commodity-related shares and other value stocks which typically outperform in late-cycle recoveries.</p>
<p>Portfolio managers holding shares of Facebook Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">FB.O</a>), Amazon.com Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=AMZN.O" type="external">AMZN.O</a>), Netflix Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=NFLX.O" type="external">NFLX.O</a>), and Google-parent Alphabet Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GOOGL.O" type="external">GOOGL.O</a>) say they are increasingly concerned that the data scandal that has sent shares of Facebook down nearly 15 percent year-to-date will spill over into all of the FANG stocks, imperiling the broad market’s momentum at a time when there are no clear companies or sectors to take their place.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, an index which tracks the FANG stocks along with six other mega-cap technology stocks tumbled 6.3 percent, the biggest decline since September 2014.</p>
<p>Facebook rose as much as 1.5 percent in early trading Wednesday before falling into the red, one day after sources told Reuters that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg plans to testify before Congress. Amazon.com dropped 4 percent, while Netflix fell 5 percent. Google-parent Alphabet was slightly positive.</p>
<p>“There are legitimate concerns over the business models of these companies, and I expect that they will be ironed out in legislation” that will likely eat into their profit margins, said Michael Cuggino, a portfolio manager of the $17-billion Permanent Portfolio funds.</p>
<p>Cuggino, who would not say whether he was selling any of his shares in Facebook, said that commodity and industrial stocks look more attractive now given rising inflation and continued global economic growth.</p>
<p>Each FANG company rose more than 33 percent last year, helping power the S&amp;P 500 <a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.SPX" type="external">.SPX</a> to a nearly 20-percent gain. Yet those gains have left the broad S&amp;P 500 trading at a high trailing price-to-earnings ratio of 21.7, leaving it overpriced despite a boost to margins from the Republican-led corporate tax cut at the end of 2017.</p>
<p>“Rising volatility and changing market leadership are now pointing towards the possible conclusion that the stock market peaked in late January 2018,” said Douglas Kass, president of Seabreeze Capital Management.</p>
<p>The S&amp;P 500 is now down 2.2 percent for the year, and down nearly 10 percent below the high of 2872.87 it reached on Jan. 26.</p> Slideshow (2 Images) UNFRIENDED
<p>Fund managers say that the high valuation of FANG stocks and the likelihood of regulation are pushing them into traditional value stocks like energy and defense companies.</p>
<p>Connor Browne, a portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, said that he sold his shares of Netflix and Amazon.com last year after both companies blew through his price targets. He used those gains instead to increase positions in energy stocks such as pipeline operator Enterprise Products Partners LP ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=EPD.N" type="external">EPD.N</a>) and crude oil shipping company Overseas Shipholding Group Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=OSG.N" type="external">OSG.N</a>) that stand to benefit from the recovery in the price of oil.</p>
<p>“We noticed that in all of this excitement over the FANGs taking over the world, there are parts of the economy that seem really out of favor and offer more compelling opportunities,” he said.</p>
<p>Even after the selloff, FANG stocks continue to trade at higher valuations than the broad market. Netflix trades at a P/E of 210 and Amazon.com trades at a P/E of 327. Facebook and Google-parent Alphabet, both of which have been directly linked with privacy concerns, now trade at valuations near 52-week lows.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">Facebook Inc</a> 153.03 FB.O Nasdaq +0.81 (+0.53%) FB.O AMZN.O NFLX.O GOOGL.O .SPX
<p>The overhang of increased government oversight has sunk the fortunes of large technology companies in the past. Microsoft Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MSFT.O" type="external">MSFT.O</a>) reached a settlement in an antitrust case with the Department of Justice in 2002 that lasted until 2011, contributing to a long period of underperformance that kept the stock below the high it reached in 1999 until 2016. Since then, the stock is up nearly 60 percent on the strength of its cloud-based services.</p>
<p>Margaret Patel, a senior portfolio manager at Wells Fargo Funds, said that she has been adding to defense stocks like Raytheon Co ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=RTN.N" type="external">RTN.N</a>) that should benefit from increasing military spending in both the U.S. and overseas. At the same time, she is increasing her exposure of non-FANG technology stocks like Adobe Systems Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=ADBE.O" type="external">ADBE.O</a>) and Microsoft that have been hurt by the recent sell-off in the sector.</p>
<p>“It’s very hard to see another sector that still has all the fundamental drivers for growing much faster than any other sector,” she said.</p>
<p>Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Jennifer Ablan and Nick Zieminski</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(This version of the March 27 story corrects to “Minneapolis” from “Helena, Montana” in paragraph 3)</p>
<p>By Sruthi Shankar and Sweta Singh</p>
<p>(Reuters) - The S&amp;P 500 and the Dow rose on Tuesday, led by gains in industrial and consumer staple shares, while weakness in technology stocks dragged down the Nasdaq.</p>
<p>Stocks have been volatile in the session after the main U.S. indexes notched their best day in 2-1/2 years on Monday on waning concerns of a trade war between the United States and China.</p>
<p>“Right now, the biggest driver in the market seems to be around the trade news and it is looking more like some of these tariff discussions are negotiations rather than strong protectionist measures,” said Lisa Erickson, head of traditional investments at U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis.</p>
<p>“But there’s going to be continued volatility in the short term and a lot of it will depend on how the fundamental news flow comes out.”</p>
<p>U.S. stocks suffered their worst declines of the year last week after President Donald Trump moved to impose tariffs on Chinese imports of up to $60 billion.</p>
<p>But the sentiment has improved after reports that the countries were willing to renegotiate tariffs and trade imbalances.</p>
<p>At 13:00 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average <a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.DJI" type="external">.DJI</a> was up 0.67 percent at 24,365.61 and the S&amp;P 500 <a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.SPX" type="external">.SPX</a> rose 0.29 percent to 2,666.16.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq Composite <a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.IXIC" type="external">.IXIC</a> fell 0.33 percent at 7,196.70.</p> Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 26, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
<p>Facebook ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">FB.O</a>) dropped 2.3 percent as it continued to be weighed down by data privacy issues. The company faces an investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to explain how it allowed data of 50 million users get into the hands of a political consultancy.</p>
<p>“Tech and FANG are still trying to figure out what the way forward is, and the market is dealing with the aftermath of a massive rally. It’s hard to maintain that kind of momentum,” said Michael Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee.</p>
<p>Another weak spot in the tech space was Nvidia ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=NVDA.O" type="external">NVDA.O</a>), which fell 2.8 percent after the company temporarily suspended self-driving tests across the globe.</p>
<p>Tesla ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TSLA.O" type="external">TSLA.O</a>) shares dropped nearly 4 percent after the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board opened a field investigation of a fatal Tesla crash and major vehicle fire near Mountain View, California, last week.</p>
<a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.DJI" type="external">Dow Jones &amp; Company Inc</a> 23848.42 .DJI Dow Jones Indexes -9.29 (-0.04%) .DJI .SPX .IXIC FB.O NVDA.O
<p>Twitter ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=TWTR.N" type="external">TWTR.N</a>) fell more than 7 percent after short-seller Citron Research said it was short on the stock, adding that the company was “most vulnerable” to privacy regulations.</p>
<p>Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE for a 1.38-to-1 ratio and for a 1.20-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.</p>
<p>Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Sweta Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Tesla Inc shares fell sharply again on Wednesday, reeling from a credit downgrade of the electric car maker by Moody’s Investors Service, federal probes of a fatal crash and concerns about Model 3 production.</p>
<p>Shares tumbled 9 percent before ending down 7.7 percent at $257.78. On Tuesday, Tesla tumbled 8.2 percent to its lowest close in almost a year after the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened a field investigation into a fatal crash and vehicle fire in California on March 23.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, a second federal regulator, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), said it was sending a team to California to investigate the crash.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-tesla-stock-options/extreme-bearish-options-on-tesla-making-money-as-stock-dives-idUSKBN1H434B" type="external">Extreme bearish options on Tesla making money as stock dives</a>
<a href="/article/us-tesla-crash/u-s-auto-safety-agency-to-probe-fatal-tesla-california-crash-idUSKBN1H42X1" type="external">U.S. auto safety agency to probe fatal Tesla California crash</a>
<p>Late on Tuesday, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Tesla’s credit rating to B3 from B2, citing “the significant shortfall in the production rate of the company’s Model 3 electric vehicle.” It also noted “liquidity pressures due to its large negative free cash flow and the pending maturities of convertible bonds.”</p>
<p>Tesla has $230 million in convertible bonds maturing in November 2018 and $920 million in March 2019.</p>
<p>Moody’s said its negative outlook “reflects the likelihood that Tesla will have to undertake a large, near-term capital raise in order to refund maturing obligations and avoid a liquidity shortfall.”</p>
<p>It said Tesla’s weekly production target is now 2,500 Model 3 vehicles by the end of March, down sharply from its year-earlier target of 5,000 per week by the end of 2017. Tesla’s weekly target for the end of June is 5,000.</p>
<p>Tesla declined to comment on the downgrade. The company plans to provide an update on Model 3 production next week.</p>
<p>Tesla shares have experienced big swings in the past, as worries about losses have vied with enthusiasm for Chief Executive Elon Musk’s ambitious plans.</p>
<p>The sell-off has left Tesla’s stock market value at $44 billion, below General Motors Co’s $49 billion. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla has at times had a larger market value than GM, the largest U.S. automaker by vehicle sales.</p> A Tesla dealership is seen in West Drayton, just outside London, Britain, February 7, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
<p>Since the end of February, the median analyst price target for Tesla has dipped by $10 to $356, about 37 percent higher than Wednesday’s price, according to Thomson Reuters data. Nomura Securities analyst Romit Shah has the highest Tesla price target, $500, or nearly double the current price. All the targets were set before the March 23 crash.</p>
<p>In last week’s accident in which the Tesla struck a highway median, it was unclear if the vehicle’s automated control system called Autopilot was driving, the NTSB and police said.</p>
<p>The 38-year-old driver of the Tesla died at a nearby hospital shortly after the crash.</p>
<p>Late Tuesday, Tesla said in a blog post it does “not yet know what happened in the moments leading up to the crash,” but added that data shows Tesla owners have driven the same stretch of highway with Autopilot engaged “roughly 85,000 times ... and there has never been an accident that we know of.” The statement did not say if the crashed vehicle was in Autopilot mode.</p>
<p>Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Alexandria Sage and Noel Randewich in San Francisco; Editing by Dan Grebler and David Gregorio</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Stonepine Capital Management Reports 5.6 Pct Passive Stake In HTG Molecular Diagnostics Oil falls about 1 percent after surprise U.S. crude build FANG stocks' bite has U.S. fund managers looking for alternatives Wall Street wavers after strong rally, tech stocks struggle Tesla shares dive again, stung by fatal crash, credit downgrade | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-stonepine-capital-management-repor/brief-stonepine-capital-management-reports-56-pct-passive-stake-in-htg-molecular-diagnostics-idUSFWN1PH13O | 2018-01-22 | 2 |
<p>The parents of Rachel Dolezal have accused the former NAACP leader embroiled in a race controversy of continuing to lie about her racial identity.</p>
<p>Dolezal, who was born to a white family, <a href="" type="internal">told NBC News on Tuesday in a series of interviews</a> that she identifies as black and from around the age of 5 was "drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon and black curly hair."</p>
<p>Her mother, Ruthanne Dolezal, directly disputed that account <a href="http://www.khq.com/clip/11604834/dolezals-black-identity-timeline-questioned" type="external">in an interview with NBC affiliate KHQ</a>.</p>
<p>"That didn't happen," said Ruthanne Dolezal, who is now estranged from her daughter. "It's disappointing to see that Rachel is still making false statements... I was hoping to see a change."</p>
<p>Rachel Dolezal, however, questioned whether Ruthanne and Larry Dolezal really were her parents.</p>
<p>“I haven’t had a DNA test. There’s been no biological proof that Larry and Ruthanne are my biological parents,” she told NBC News' Savannah Guthrie, who pointed to a birth certificate listing Larry and Ruthanne Dolezal as her parents.</p>
<p>“I’m not necessarily saying that I can prove they’re not,” Dolezal added. “But I don’t know that I can actually prove they are."</p>
<p>The scandal and ensuing debate on racial identity began last week when the Dolezals accused their daughter of pretending to be black, saying they wanted people to know the truth.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">Rachel Dolezal Breaks Silence: 'I Identify as Black'</a></p>
<p>Dolezal has since resigned her position in the NAACP, lost her job as an African studies instructor at a Washington university, and is being investigated by the Spokane city ethics commission over whether she lied about her race on an application to the police oversight board.</p>
<p>"Nothing about being white describes who I am," she told Guthrie. "The closest thing that I can come to is if — if you're black or white, I'm black. I'm more black than I am white."</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.today.com/news/rachel-dolezal-caitlyn-jenners-story-resonated-me-t26651" type="external">interview that aired on Wednesday's TODAY</a>, Dolezal added that she cried while reading about <a href="http://www.today.com/popculture/caitlyn-jenner-vanity-fair-photos-came-out-great-t24231" type="external">Caitlyn Jenner's journey to becoming a woman</a> because it "resonated" with her.</p> | Rachel Dolezal Parents Dispute Daughter’s Account in NBC Interview | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rachel-dolezal-parents-dispute-daughters-account-nbc-interview-n376826 | 2015-06-17 | 3 |
<p>Politico has the shocking story of the dangerous <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=527E95FA-4F60-450C-B370-94BDD90CD7A7" type="external">lack of security</a> at the Benghazi consulate.</p>
<p>The consulate where the American ambassador to Libya was killed on Tuesday is an “interim facility” not protected by the contingent of Marines that safeguards embassies, POLITICO has learned. ...</p>
<p>Marine Corps spokeswoman Capt. Kendra Motz said that Marines were not posted to the consulate, unlike the embassy in the capital, Tripoli. ...</p>
<p>A senior administration official Wednesday called the Benghazi consulate “an interim facility,” which the State Department began using “before the fall of Qadhafi.” It was staffed Tuesday by Libyan and State Department security officers. The consulate came under fire from heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at about 10 p.m. local time on Tuesday. By the time the attack ended several hours later, four Americans were dead and three others had been injured.The Benghazi consulate had “lock-and-key” security, not the same level of defenses as a formal embassy, an intelligence source told POLITICO. That means it had no bulletproof glass, reinforced doors or other features common to embassies. The intelligence source contrasted it with the American embassy in Cairo, Egypt – “a permanent facility, which is a lot easier to defend.”</p>
<p>Benghazi was liberated from Qaddafi rule in February 2011. The war in Libya ended in October 2011, almost a year ago. Why isn't that enough time to fortify a US compound? And why no Marines? Was that an administration decision -- or Marine Corps force protection?</p> | Why Did Ambassador Stevens Die? | true | https://thedailybeast.com/why-did-ambassador-stevens-die | 2018-10-04 | 4 |
<p>(Reuters) - The UK’s Takeover Panel has extended the deadline for a consortium of companies to make an offer for British office firm IWG Plc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=IWG.L" type="external">IWG.L</a>) until 1700 GMT on Feb. 2.</p>
<p>IWG received an approach in December from a consortium comprising Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=ONEX.TO" type="external">ONEX.TO</a>) and Brookfield Asset Management ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BAMa.TO" type="external">BAMa.TO</a>).</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=IWG.L" type="external">IWG Plc</a> 232.5 IWG.L London Stock Exchange +10.10 (+4.54%) IWG.L ONEX.TO BAMa.TO
<p>Initially the consortium had until Jan. 20 to make an offer or walk away for at least six months, under Takeover Panel rules.</p>
<p>Reporting by Bhanu Pratap in Bengaluru; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | UK Takeover Panel extends deadline for IWG bidding | false | https://reuters.com/article/us-iwg-m-a-brookfield-onex/uk-takeover-panel-extends-deadline-for-iwg-bidding-idUSKBN1F82D5 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>Wanda Lee announced a one-year transition to retirement as executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union, auxiliary to the Southern Baptist Convention, at the close of a WMU executive board meeting Jan. 11 at Shocco Springs, Ala.</p>
<p>Lee, 65, a former WMU national president, was <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/5152/board-elects-wanda-lee-as-wmus-7th-executive-director" type="external">elected</a> in January 2000 as seventh leader of the organization started by and for women in 1888 to promote Southern Baptist missionaries in an era when women were not permitted to vote or speak at SBC annual meetings.</p>
<p>Over time it grew to become the largest Protestant missions organization for women in the world, enrolling more than 1.5 million in the 1970s. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the larger of two annual fund-raising projects for domestic and international missions, <a href="http://imb.org/updates/storyview.aspx?StoryID=6763#.VpaGzDH2bIU" type="external">surpassed</a> the $3 billion mark in 2007.</p>
<p>In recent decades the organization has struggled to stay relevant to younger women amid changing lifestyles, waning denominational loyalty and competition from women’s ministries programs that focus on spiritual enrichment instead of missions.</p>
<p>Lee, who served briefly as a missionary in St. Vincent, recently <a href="http://www.bpnews.net/45528/entertaining-children-costly-to-missions-lee-says" type="external">attributed</a> cutbacks at the SBC International Mission Board to the decline of programs like Royal Ambassadors and Girls in Action to educate children about the mission field.</p>
<p>Lee took over WMU at a difficult time. One of her predecessors, Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, after retirement pitched her tent with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a group formed in 1991 out of a split fueled by doctrinal debate known as the “conservative resurgence.” Conservative male leaders in the SBC accused Crumpler’s successor and Lee’s immediate predecessor, Dellanna O’Brien, of disloyalty for suggesting that WMU could work with both groups.</p>
<p>The controversy spilled over into the early years of Lee’s tenure. She was <a href="archives/item/363-wmu-president-wanda-lee-criticized-for-addressing-moderate-convention" type="external">criticized</a> in 2005 for speaking to the Baptist General Convention of Missouri, a breakaway body from the Missouri Baptist Convention. SBC leaders tried unsuccessfully in 2006 to remove WMU’s auxiliary status and place it under convention control, citing concerns about the organization’s <a href="archives/item/2523-womens-group-affirms-bwa-despite-planned-sbc-withdrawal" type="external">unwillingness</a> to join the male-led denomination in pulling out of the Baptist World Alliance two years earlier.</p>
<p>Lee told WMU leaders a search committee would be appointed to find her successor.</p> | Leader of Southern Baptist women’s auxiliary stepping down | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/wmu-leader-stepping-down/ | 3 |
|
<p>At a rally in Las Vegas on Thursday, Hillary Clinton had a momentary scare when a group of animal rights activists got unruly.</p>
<p>As The American Mirror puts it, a " <a href="http://www.theamericanmirror.com/video-hillary-panics-protesters-shout-near-stage/" type="external">distinct look of fear</a>" came over Clinton's face as security personnel moved onto the stage until they were confident there was no real threat. ​</p>
<p>When the protesters began to cause a commotion, Clinton's head turned sharply toward them, her eyes wide and her face revealing what appeared to be momentary panic.</p>
<p>"You’re okay," a member of the security team assured Clinton, who had gone completely silent and backed away from the podium, keeping her eyes fixed on the activists.</p>
<p>"We’ll handle it," he told her. "We’re not going anywhere. Keep talking."</p>
<p>Clinton moved forward, still seeming a little uneasy, and repeated the guard's statement to the audience: "Okay, we’ll keep talking,"</p>
<p>She then attempted to turn the freak out moment against Donald Trump and his kids.</p>
<p>"Apparently these people are here to protest Trump because Trump and his kids have killed a lot of animals, so thank you for making that point," she said.</p>
<p>Here's the video via <a href="https://youtu.be/119AmkkXAR4" type="external">NTK</a>:</p> | WATCH: Hillary Gets FREAKED OUT By Protesters | true | https://dailywire.com/news/8128/watch-hillary-gets-freaked-out-protesters-james-barrett | 2016-08-05 | 0 |
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