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<p>Nearly 40 percent of the CEOs on the highest-paid lists from the past 20 years were eventually "bailed out, booted, or busted."</p>
<p>This 20th anniversary&#160; <a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive-excess-2013" type="external">Executive Excess report</a>&#160;examines the "performance" of the 241 corporate chief executives who have ranked among America’s 25 highest-paid CEOs in one or more of the past 20 years.</p>
<p>The lavishly compensated CEOs we spotlight here should be exemplars of value-added performance. After all, sky-high CEO pay purportedly reflects the superior value that elite chief executives add to their enterprises and the broader U.S. economy.</p>
<p>But our analysis reveals widespread poor performance within America’s elite CEO circles. Chief executives performing poorly — and blatantly so — have consistently populated the ranks of our nation’s top-paid CEOs over the last two decades.</p>
<p>The report’s key finding: nearly 40 percent of the CEOs on these highest-paid lists were eventually "bailed out, booted, or busted."</p>
<p>The Bailed Out</p>
<p>CEOs whose firms either ceased to exist or received taxpayer bailouts after the 2008 financial crash held 22 percent of the slots in our sample. Richard Fuld of Lehman Brothers enjoyed one of Corporate America’s largest 25 paychecks for eight consecutive years — until his firm went belly up in 2008.</p>
<p>The Booted</p>
<p>Not counting those on the bailed out list, another 8 percent of our sample was made up of CEOs who wound up losing their jobs involuntarily. Despite their poor performance, the “booted” CEOs jumped out the escape hatch with golden parachutes valued at $48 million on average.</p>
<p>The Busted</p>
<p>CEOs who led corporations that ended up paying significant fraud-related fines or settlements comprised an additional 8 percent of the sample. One CEO had to pay a penalty out of his own pocket for stock option back-dating. The other companies shelled out payments that totaled over $100 million per firm.</p>
<p>Over the past 20 years, we have seen no shortage of creative and practical proposals for reining in excessive executive compensation. Three pending reforms strike us as particularly urgent:</p>
<p>CEO-worker Pay Ratio Disclosure</p>
<p>Three years after President Barack Obama signed the Dodd-Frank legislation, the SEC has still not implemented this commonsense transparency measure. The reform would discourage both large pay disparities that can harm employee morale and productivity and excessive executive pay levels that can encourage excessively risky behavior.</p>
<p>Pay Restrictions on Executives of Large Financial Institutions</p>
<p>Within nine months of the enactment of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, regulators were supposed to have issued guidelines that prohibit large financial institutions from granting incentive-based compensation that “encourages inappropriate risks.” Regulators are still dragging their feet on this modest reform.</p>
<p>Limiting the Deductibility of Executive Compensation</p>
<p>At a time when Congress is debating sharp cuts to essential public services, corporations are able to avoid paying their fair share of taxes by deducting unlimited amounts from their IRS bill for the cost of executive compensation. Two bills, the Stop Subsidizing Multimillion Dollar Corporate Bonuses Act (S.1746) and the Income Equity Act (H.R. 199) would fix this outrageous loophole and significantly reduce taxpayer subsidies for excessive CEO pay.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/executive-excess-2013" type="external">Originally published by Institute for Policy Studies</a></p>
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<p /> | Executive Excess 2013: Bailed Out, Booted and Busted | true | http://occupy.com/article/executive-excess-2013-bailed-out-booted-and-busted | 4 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal">BlackRock</a> (NYSE:BLK) weighed in on Thursday with a 16% decline in fourth-quarter profit amid shrinking fees, but the world’s largest asset manager's results managed to exceed <a href="" type="internal">Wall Street</a>’s expectations.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>New York-based BlackRock, which is run by influential Wall Street executive <a href="" type="internal">Larry Fink</a>, blamed the drop in fees and a decline in revenue on “challenging market conditions.”</p>
<p>The asset manager said it earned $555 million, or $3.05 a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $657 million, or $3.35 a share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, it earned $3.06 a share, topping estimates from analysts for $2.99.</p>
<p>Revenue slipped 11% to $2.23 billion, nearly matching the Street’s view of $2.24 billion.</p>
<p>“We finished 2011 with solid annual revenue and earnings growth despite challenging market conditions, particularly in the second half of the year,” Fink said in a statement. “Our mix of businesses, together with unparalleled risk management capabilities and a sharp focus on execution, have allowed us to deliver strong results through highly challenging market cycles.”</p>
<p>BlackRock’s fourth-quarter was hurt by a 5% decrease in investment advisory, administration fees and securities revenue to $1.9 billion due to lower average assets under management. Performance fees slumped 55% to $147 million amid shrinking performance fees from <a href="" type="internal">hedge funds</a>.</p>
<p>BlackRock ended the fourth quarter with $3.513 trillion in assets under management, up 5% from the end of the third quarter, but down 1% from the end of 2010. The company generated net inflows of $23.8 billion in long-term new net business</p>
<p>Fink said “improved economic indicators” have led to “greater market stability,” but warned “political and regulatory dynamics, persistent low-rates, continued divergence between developing and developed economies and protracted periods of heightened volatility will remain key factors.”</p>
<p>Shares of BlackRock fell 2.26% to $183.61 Thursday morning. BlackRock’s shares have been mostly unchanged over the past year, falling less than 2% as of Wednesday’s close.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | BlackRock 4Q Net Slips 16% as Fees Shrink | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/01/19/blackrock-4q-net-slips-16-as-fees-shrink.html | 2016-01-26 | 0 |
<p>The writer David Halberstam, author of a cruel analysis of the people who gave America the Vietnam War, “The Best and the Brightest,” observed that “no matter how small the initial step, a policy has a life and a thrust of its own, it is an organic thing. More, its thrust and its drive may not be in any way akin to the desires of the president who initiated it.” He had a hard time making his Vietnam-era interlocutors agree, for part of being one of the military and civilian best and the brightest was that you didn’t need advice from journalists.</p>
<p>It is another characteristic of official life that you are discouraged from applying lessons from experience and history (in the military case, before that experience has been incorporated into field manuals and regulations placed in front of you).</p>
<p>This rumination is motivated by the scarcely believable news that the people who are running the war in Afghanistan are contemplating an air attack on a Pakistan city in order to kill one of the most important figures in Pakistan’s own foreign and security policy.</p>
<p>Pakistan, as most sensible people know, is in the grip of forces that could tear the country apart if that happened — which would make it the third nation, after Iraq and Afghanistan, to be devastated by the United States since that fateful day in September 2001 when the so-called war on terror began.</p>
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<p>The idea is for the United States to bomb Quetta, one of Pakistan’s principal cities, the capital of its largest province, Balochistan, which already experiences separatist forces. Quetta is a major Pakistan military base, home of the century-old Command and Staff College inherited from the British army.</p>
<p>A reported American threat is not just one of sending drones over this city of 850,000 people, with missiles meant to kill Mullah Omar, the leading figure in at least one branch of the Taliban; senior al-Qaida figures also supposedly in Quetta; and Siraj Haqqani, called the most important Taliban leader in the country, whose men are supposed to pose the biggest threat to NATO forces in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Haqqani is also, as it happens, a major and longstanding Pakistani strategic asset and ally. He will be a vital factor in the regional reconciliation and strategic settlement that will follow America and NATO’s defeat. That is the most important objection to the supposed plan.</p>
<p>The Pakistanis believe that the NATO expedition in Afghanistan is an ill-conceived and futile affair from which, after killing and being killed in large numbers, and accomplishing nothing useful, the Europeans and Americans will depart, just as the U.S retreated from Lebanon under Ronald Reagan, after the 1983 attack on the troops’ barracks in Beirut, and Bill Clinton pulled U.S. troops out of Somalia not long after losing the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993.</p>
<p>After the foreigners leave, Pakistan will find itself once again in the awkward geopolitical and militarily dangerous situation in which nature and the vagaries of man have placed it. Its avowed great enemy is India, with which Pakistan shares a very long eastern border, with Iran to its west, and Afghanistan on its long northwestern frontier. A friendly Afghanistan therefore offers strategic depth in case of Indian attack, and access to Central Asia, while Iran is a corridor to the Middle East. This is the sort of thing they teach at the Quetta Command and General Staff College.</p>
<p>The American generals seem to be saying to Pakistan: You henceforth will ignore your own national security interests and devote yourself to our interests, whatever the cost to you. You will hand over all of the Taliban’s leaders and men in your country, and place your army under our strategic control. Otherwise, we will bomb your cities.</p>
<p>Why, according to the Los Angeles Times, “senior U.S. officials” think this is a good plan I cannot for the life of me tell you. I think it is a way to wreak further havoc in the region and do fundamental damage to the United States itself.</p>
<p>Visit William Pfaff’s Web site at <a href="http://www.williampfaff.com" type="external">www.williampfaff.com</a>.</p>
<p>© 2009 Tribune Media Services, Inc.</p> | U.S. Contemplates More of the Scarcely Believable in 'Af-Pak' | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/u-s-contemplates-more-of-the-scarcely-believable-in-af-pak/ | 2009-12-16 | 4 |
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<p>Rick Swift of Village Motorsports stands among snowmobiles at his business in Speculator, N.Y., on Tuesday. (Mike Groll/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>MONTPELIER, Vt. - Some Northeasterners are beginning to wonder if a white Christmas may just be a dream, and business owners who rely on snow are starting to worry if warm weather could lead to a nightmare winter.</p>
<p>In Maine, an outdoor sports business owner says he's anxious. And in Vermont, ski areas are making snow but wishing Mother Nature would chip in.</p>
<p>Buffalo, New York, already has broken a record this year: Previously, the latest the city had seen measurable snow was Dec. 3. As of Tuesday, it had beaten it by five days.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Burlington, Vermont, could follow. Its current record for having no more than an inch of snow is Dec. 21, set in 1948, said Eric Evenson, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Burlington had received two-tenths of an inch as of Tuesday, well shy of the normal snow to date of 8.7 inches, Evenson said.</p>
<p>Ski resorts have been busy making snow, but a spokeswoman for the Vermont Ski Areas Association said they need it to fall in cities to the south to get people in the mood for skiing and snowboarding.</p>
<p>"Mother Nature dropping snow is probably the best marketing tool we can ask for," said the group's Sarah Wojcik.</p>
<p>Snowmobiling businesses, a big economic driver in remote areas of New England and New York, also are apprehensive.</p>
<p>Neil McGovern, town supervisor and owner of a lodge and restaurant in the Adirondack town of Speculator, New York, said, "For most of the central Adirondacks, snowmobiling is the most important winter business," accounting for 60 percent of visitors.</p>
<p>Vermont's trails open next week, and they are brown and bare. Often, the snow isn't deep enough for snowmobilers until after Christmas, but the warm trend threatens that.</p>
<p>"It makes us a little bit anxious, but we're not panicked yet," said Matt Polstein from New England Outdoors, which rents 26 snowmobiles and grooms 110 miles of trails in Maine's Mount Katahdin region.</p>
<p>In neighboring New Hampshire, John Berry sounded a bit more alarmed.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"To ensure a great snowmobiling season you need to have frozen ground to begin with, and with this warm weather, the ground is far from anywhere near being frozen, so that's the first biggest concern," said the trail administrator of the Blow-Me-Down Snowriders Club, which maintains about 56 miles of trails that wind through the Connecticut River valley communities of Cornish and Plainfield.</p>
<p>Berry noted the outlook is dim.</p>
<p>The forecast for Montpelier called for a warming trend toward the upper 40s by this weekend, and there's no snow in the long-range forecast, which goes out two weeks.</p>
<p>David Johnson, who works in financial services in Boston, said he expected this winter would not match the record 110.6 inches the city got last winter.</p>
<p>"I have no grounding for that, it's just a feeling," Johnson said.</p>
<p>Charles Blakeman, a 25-year-old college student and product promoter, was more fatalistic.</p>
<p>"There's a lack of snow so far, which just means that we're going to get hit harder later on," he said as he waited for a train at Boston's South Station. He said he is an avid snowboarder, so he doesn't mind some snow "as long as it stays in Vermont and New Hampshire."</p>
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<p>AP reporters David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H.; Mark Pratt in Boston; and Mary Esch in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this story.</p> | Some in Northeast are beginning to wonder: Where's the snow? | false | https://abqjournal.com/687904/some-in-northeast-are-beginning-to-wonder-wheres-the-snow.html | 2015-12-08 | 2 |
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<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of Sierra Wireless, Inc. (NASDAQ: SWIR) were up 29% as of 12:30 p.m. EST on Friday after the Internet of Things pure play reported <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/10/sierra-wireless-delivers-a-solid-beat.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">strong fourth-quarter 2016 results Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Quarterly revenue climbed 12.5% year over year, to $163 million, and translated to adjusted net income of $8.8 million, or $0.27 per share. That's up from $2.5 million, or $0.08 per share, in last year's fourth quarter. For perspective, Sierra Wireless' guidance called for Q4 revenue of $157 million to $166 million, and adjusted earnings per share in the range of $0.13 to $0.19. Sierra Wireless management credited their outsized profitability to a combination of higher revenue, strong gross margin, and the company's continued focus on cost-management initiatives.</p>
<p>Image source: Sierra Wireless.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Perhaps most notably within Sierra Wireless' top line, original equipment manufacturer solutions revenue climbed 11.2% year over year, to $163 million, reflecting continued contributions from new programs, and normalized demand from key existing customers and programs -- as <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/10/5-things-sierra-wireless-inc-management-wants-you.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">management promised Opens a New Window.</a> last quarter. Revenue from the enterprise solutions segment also climbed 27.1%, to $21 million, while the smaller cloud and connectivity services' segment revenue was flat, at roughly $6.8 million.</p>
<p>In addition, Sierra Wireless issued guidance for first-quarter 2017 revenue of $152 million to $161 million, which should translate to adjusted earnings per share of $0.13 to $0.20. Analysts, on average, were looking for revenue slightly below the midpoint of that range, with significantly lower adjusted earnings of $0.12 per share.</p>
<p>In short, this was a strong quarterly beat from Sierra Wireless, followed by solid guidance indicating more of the same going forward. With Sierra Wireless positioned well to take advantage of the burgeoning Internet of Things market opportunity, it's no surprise to see shares trading near a fresh 52-week high today.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Sierra WirelessWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSymington/info.aspx" type="external">Steve Symington Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Sierra Wireless. 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> | Why Sierra Wireless, Inc. Stock Skyrocketed Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/10/why-sierra-wireless-inc-stock-skyrocketed-today.html | 2017-02-10 | 0 |
<p>Despite hefty bailouts and infinitesimal interest rates, Citi, Ally Financial, MetLife and SunTrust were not able to pass the latest round of stress tests designed and measured by the Federal Reserve.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17361899" type="external">BBC</a>describes the criteria:</p>
<p>The Fed tested the banks' ability to withstand a crisis that triggered a rise in unemployment to 13%, a 50% fall in share prices and a 21% drop in house prices from current levels.</p>
<p>Their strength is assessed by the amount of "buffer" best-quality assets, known as Tier 1 capital, they would hold if such conditions occurred.</p>
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<p>The banks with the highest rating, reports the Beeb, were American Express, Bank of New York Mellon, and State Street.</p>
<p>The Fed released the results early after JP Morgan Chase started bragging that it had passed despite gobbling up the remains of some of the financial crisis' most troubled institutions, including Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual. - PZS</p> | Citigroup and 3 Other Banks Can't Take the Stress | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/citigroup-and-3-other-banks-cant-take-the-stress/ | 2012-03-14 | 4 |
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<p>Beginning in January, the board will hold one regular meeting each month to discuss and vote on issues, and a second work session will focus on the district's strategic plan.</p>
<p>Both meetings will be open to the public, but only the first one will include a public comment period.</p>
<p>Superintendent Sue Cleveland spearheaded the change, which was unanimously approved by the board Nov. 23.</p>
<p>She said that the current structure of two regular board meetings per month is rare and stressed the need to devote time to the 2016-2020 strategic plan.</p>
<p>"Right now, we throw out a project here and throw out a something there - it doesn't look very strategic to me," Cleveland said. "Let's try something different."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The district has organized a strategic plan design team, which will provide updates and presentations during the work sessions.</p>
<p>Board member Ramon Montano supported the change, saying that he served on the board in another district that had a similar schedule.</p>
<p>"We got a lot of things accomplished and done because we were able to sit at the table and talk," he said. "At the work sessions, we will be able to hash things out and come to the board meeting with more information."</p>
<p>The board will evaluate the new meeting structure in a year.</p>
<p /> | School board decides to devote alternate meetings to work on strategic plan | false | https://abqjournal.com/686458/school-board-decides-to-devote-alternate-meetings-to-work-on-strategic-plan.html | 2 |
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<p>North Carolina's biggest newspaper has weighed-in on the saga involving the state's Republican governor, a fired grocery store cook and now a Democratic mayor.</p>
<p>The verdict: Everybody ended up looking kind of bad.</p>
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<p>An editorial published Wednesday by the <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2014/02/19/4708614/at-reids-mccrory-misses-an-opportunity.html#.UwYVyEJdWb8" type="external">Charlotte Observer</a> acknowledged that Drew Swope "acted inappropriately" when he made a snarky remark to Gov. Pat McCrory (R) at Reid's Fine Foods in Charlotte. The confrontation <a href="" type="internal">cost Swope his job</a> at the high-end grocery store and he <a href="" type="internal">accepted the consequences.</a></p>
<p>After the firing drew some publicity, Charlotte Mayor Pat Cannon <a href="" type="internal">stepped in</a> and offered to help Swope find a job - an action that the Observer panned as "a blatant and useless political ploy."</p>
<p>"He did not offer to individually help the tens of thousands of other unemployed Charlotteans find a job," the editorial board wrote.</p>
<p>But the harshest judgment, by far, was reserved for McCrory.</p>
<p>The editorial board wrote that the incident "reinforced his image as thin-skinned" and that a savvier politician would have played it differently.</p>
<p>Imagine how a sharp political adviser would have had the governor parlay the confrontation into a positive. Instead of coming across as petty, McCrory could have ignored Swope's comment, or even embraced the opportunity for dialogue. He could have been forgiving and charitable - and be seen as the grown up in the room. Instead, he accidentally made national news again.</p> | Charlotte Newspaper: McCrory Was 'Thin-Skinned,' 'Petty' In Cook's Firing | true | http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/charlotte-observer-pat-mccrory-drew-swope-fired-grocery-store-worker | 4 |
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<p>Last week here, I <a href="" type="internal">wrote</a> about the career potential for independent professional obituary writers as "citizen obits" catch on. As news organizations open up space online for survivors to write obits for their family members, opportunities exist for those who would be hired to write the articles. (Most newspaper staff obit writers can't cover every person who dies in their communities in the news pages.) I since heard from Larken Bradley, the obituary writer for the Point Reyes Light in California, who recently launched an Internet enterprise, <a href="http://www.obituarywriters.com" type="external">ObituaryWriters.com</a>. Bradley has become an obituary writer for hire, writing custom obits for family members who have lost a loved one, and for people still alive who want their obituaries written before they die. Most of Bradley's for-hire obituaries end up in major daily newspapers as paid death notices, but now opportunities are opening up for them to be published in citizen-journalism initiatives at newspapers, as well. She charges $75 an hour for her services, with a typical obit costing between $375 and $750. In her day job, Bradley says she writes up everyone who dies in her community -- "whether he/she is a retired judge, a ranchhand from Mexico, or anyone else. Evidently it's the luxury of a country weekly to offer such a service to families free of charge." She says she enjoys writing obituaries so much that it prompted her to start this side business.</p> | Citizen Obit Writer for Hire | false | https://poynter.org/news/citizen-obit-writer-hire | 2005-10-26 | 2 |
<p>From time to time events ecclesiastical eclipse things political. It’s happened before and will happen again.</p>
<p>On October 31, 1992 it was reported that Pope John Paul II was prepared to close an investigation into the condemnation some years earlier of Galileo. In 1632 Galileo published his proof of the Copernican theory of the solar system, a proof that put him in bad odor with the church since it contravened the Ptolemaic theory that all heavenly bodies orbit the earth. Unsuccessful at convincing the powers that were that his findings did not constitute heresy, on June 21, 1633, he was found guilty of having “held and taught” the Copernican doctrine and was ordered to recant. Recanting, he was placed under house arrest where he remained until his death at age 77 and his study of the solar system was placed on the list of church-banned books where it remained for 122 years. His rehabilitation was delayed until 1992 when Cardinal Paul Poupard, who was the head of an investigation by the church into Galileo’s theory, said: “We today know that Galileo was right in adopting the Copernican astronomical theory.” Galileo, wherever he now is, was undoubtedly delighted. Shortly after his restoration to the ranks of the reputable, Charles Darwin’s theories of evolution that had once given the church ecclesiastical heartburn, were embraced. That happened in 1994.</p>
<p>That was the year in which the Pope announced to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that Darwin’s theories are sound so long as they take into account that creation as described by him was the work of God. The Pope said that “fresh knowledge leads to recognition of the theory of evolution as more than just a hypothesis”.</p>
<p>Commenting on the two rehabilitations, Francesco Barone, a philosopher on scientific issues said: “With Galileo’s recent ‘rehabilitation’ and with this message by Pope John Paul II, the tear between the church and science has been strung together.”</p>
<p>The most recent good news from the Vatican was Pope Benedict XVI’s approval of a Vatican report released April 20 by the International Theological Commission that said there were “serious” grounds to hope that unbaptized children might get into heaven. Prior to this report it was believed that unbaptized children went to a place called “limbo”. Theologians (none of whom, I have it on good authority, has ever visited) describe “limbo” as a place where children enjoy an eternal state of perfect natural happiness. It almost certainly has enough teeter-totters and swings for everyone as well as cotton candy, lemonade, computer games and all the other things children enjoy. According to those in the know, the only thing lacking in limbo is communion with God which in the vernacular means the children there have no adult supervision, a condition that most of the children would find very much to their liking and in many cases probably comports with their idea of heaven.</p>
<p>If the International Theological Commission in its continuing studies of this issue concludes that the unbaptized can go straight to heaven without passing limbo and that view becomes church doctrine, there are two obvious questions. Will the new policy be retroactive and will there be an age or geographical cutoff?</p>
<p>With respect to the first question, it seems likely that in the divine order of things there are a certain number of unbaptized infants who die each year and if they are now permitted to enter heaven, their entry will occur in an orderly fashion. Those presently in limbo present an entirely different problem. There are surely billions of unbaptized infants cavorting about in unsupervised perfect happiness in limbo. Although all may not want to leave their perfectly happy state, others may welcome the chance to get to heaven which, even though none of them as been able to visit it, almost certainly enjoys as good a reputation in limbo as it enjoys here on earth. If billions decide all at once that they want to go to heaven, the question is can heaven accommodate what might be described in today’s parlance as a “surge”.</p>
<p>The second question is whether there is an age or geographical cutoff for invocation of the dispensation. At what age does failure to be baptized become an offense that warrants limbo or, worse yet, hell, and is there consideration of where the child is located geographically. It is a lot easier to get baptized in Manhattan than in a remote village in Tibet. Those are questions that I, being a columnist and not a theologian, cannot hope to answer. I suspect the Vatican will appoint yet another commission with an appropriate Latin moniker to study the question and make appropriate recommendations to the Pope. The children in limbo as well those still on earth will eagerly await its conclusions.</p>
<p>CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI is a lawyer in Boulder, Colorado. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected].</a>Visit his website: <a href="http://hraos.com/" type="external">http://hraos.com/</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Children of Limbo | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/05/11/the-children-of-limbo/ | 2007-05-11 | 4 |
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<p>Radio: 610 AM</p>
<p>Probables: Game 1: Isotopes RHP Stephen Fife vs, Rainiers RHP Blake Beavan. Game 2: Isotopes RHP Matt Magill vs. Rainiers LHP Anthony Fernandez.</p>
<p>Thursday: The Isotopes' game at Tacoma was postponed because of rain. The teams will play two, seven-inning games today.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>This and that: Right-handed pitcher Tyson Brummett and infielder Carlos Triunfel have joined the Isotopes. Brummett was promoted from Double-A Chattanooga, while Triunfel was claimed off waivers by the Dodgers outright from Seattle.</p>
<p>In corresponding moves, right-handed pitcher Jose Dominguez was recalled by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and infielder Ryan Adams was sent to Chattanooga.</p>
<p>Brummett spent the 2013 season almost exclusively with Double-A New Hampshire and made a single start for Triple-A Buffalo in the Blue Jays organization.</p>
<p>Triunfel spent 2013 splitting time between the Mariners and Triple-A Tacoma.</p>
<p>Realignment: With the former Tucson Padres becoming the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Pacific Coast League shook up its conferences and divisions prior to the 2014 season.</p>
<p>Albuquerque moved from the American Conference to the Pacific Conference, Southern Division where it is joined by El Paso, Las Vegas and Salt Lake.</p>
<p>Roster: The Isotopes? Opening Day roster has an average age of 27 and includes 13 players with major league service.</p>
<p>Highlighting the youngsters, the Dodgers? No. 1 overall prospect Joc Pederson is joined by the organization's No. 4 overall prospect Zach Lee.</p>
<p>Home opener: April 11 vs. Tacoma, 7:05 p.m.</p> | ?Topes today | false | https://abqjournal.com/378979/topes-today-209.html | 2 |
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<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>Baptists in the Central African Republic have requested urgent prayer from global Baptists about rebels <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/01/07/Rebels-want-CAR-President-Bozize-to-go/UPI-22681357576924/" type="external">challenging</a> the leadership of President Francois Bozizé.</p>
<p>Peace talks are scheduled this week between government officials and the rebel coalition called Seleka, which has <a href="http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/12602/central-african-republic-faces-risk-of-fragmentation-in-seleka-rebellion" type="external">captured</a> at least 11 towns and cities since launching an offensive on Dec. 10.</p>
<p>Singa-Gbazia Nicolas Aime Simplice, president of the Association of Baptist Churches of the Central African Republic, described the situation as “precarious” in the landlocked country that gained independence from France in 1960.</p>
<p>Elements of the rebel group are reportedly Islamic fundamentalists, prompting fears of a situation similar to northern Mali, now under <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2013/01/06/qaeda-carves-out-own-country-mali/vkVO4nmaGPDNGvX4kklTxM/story.html" type="external">control</a> of Al Qaeda-backed militias that have <a href="http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/world-view/2012/oct/19/islamic-extremism-growing-mali-sharia-gains-streng/" type="external">imposed</a> Shariah law.</p>
<p>Simplice <a href="http://www.bwanet.org/news/news-releases/212-car-conflict" type="external">told</a> officials at the Baptist World Alliance that life has become difficult for citizens displaced by the fighting in the impoverished but mineral-rich country. He said a number of Baptist churches have been badly damaged or destroyed in the conflict, and expatriates have fled the nation. He asked for Baptists around the world to pray for peace and stability in the country.</p>
<p>Simplice’s group is one of four BWA <a href="http://www.bwanet.org/about-us2/statistics" type="external">member</a> organizations in French-speaking CAR. Combined they represent about 185,000 members in nearly 800 churches.</p> | Baptists in Africa seek prayer | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/baptists-in-africa-seek-prayer/ | 3 |
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>As long as there are kind-hearted motorists supplying handouts at corners, the homeless, poor, down on their luck or just plain opportunists will step in to plead for them.</p>
<p>And while the Mayor Richard Berry administration hopes to redirect those handouts to a system that can leverage the dollars to help more folks (and clean up the street corners in the process), panhandler Connor Reid succinctly sums up that challenge as he exhibits a keen sense of business and marketing that has allowed him to earn up to $30 an hour:</p>
<p>"You can't beat the human heart."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>After all, it's hard not to reach into your pocket or purse when another human being is just asking for a little help. Throw in a kid, a flag, a dog or a piece of medical equipment, and for many handing over loose change or a few bucks is a done deal.</p>
<p>The mayor's point is that loose change or a few bucks can be leveraged to help 20 people instead of just one. "We're telling people we love your compassion, we love your heart and sincerity," he says. "But use <a href="http://(DONATEabq.org" type="external">(DONATEabq.org</a>) and do this in a better way."</p>
<p>That better way will allow United Way of Central New Mexico to channel donations to groups that provide services to the homeless and poor, and direct those in need to 80-plus services in the city that include 12 shelters, eight meal sites and more than 20 programs for substance abuse and mental health problems. Signs have been posted advising those who need help to call 311.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It makes sound financial and humanitarian sense - use resources wisely to help more people. But it ignores the fact there are those folks who, for myriad reasons, will never plug into "the system" for help. And to work, it will take serious buy-in from those who give.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, economic multipliers don't pull on the heartstrings like a panting dog with a bandana.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
<p /> | Editorial: Stopping handouts is key to ending panhandling | false | https://abqjournal.com/582525/stopping-handouts-is-key-to-ending-panhandling.html | 2 |
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<p>Capitol Hill Blue:</p>
<p>Secret Service agents guarding Vice President Dick Cheney when he shot Texas lawyer Harry Whittington on a hunting outing two weeks ago say Cheney was “clearly inebriated” at the time of the shooting.</p>
<p>Agents observed several members of the hunting party, including the Vice President, consuming alcohol before and during the hunting expedition, the report notes, and Cheney exhibited “visible signs” of impairment, including slurred speech and erratic actions.</p>
<p>According to those who have talked with the agents and others present at the outing, Cheney was drunk when he gunned down his friend and the day-and-a-half delay in allowing Texas law enforcement officials on the ranch where the shooting occurred gave all members of the hunting party time to sober up.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8184.shtml" type="external">Full story</a></p>
<p>Truthdig says: The sourcing on this is sort of vague, but the reporter has good credentials.</p>
<p /> | Report: Secret Service Agents Say Cheney Was Drunk While Hunting | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/report-secret-service-agents-say-cheney-was-drunk-while-hunting/ | 2006-02-23 | 4 |
<p>By Amy Butler</p>
<p>My city must be one of the easiest cities in which to meet people. With all the power that gets thrown around here, networking events and happy hours are a regular part of life in this town. Which is a good thing, since most people here are transplants from other places and many leave support networks and family to come work here.</p>
<p>But one thing I’ve noticed is that, easy as it is to meet people here, it’s very difficult to make friends.&#160;</p>
<p>I’m not talking about casual acquaintances; I’m talking about people you can call in the middle of the night when you’re sick and need a ride to the hospital. I’ve noticed that many of the people who come to be part of our church come seeking that very thing: a break from the lonely pace of life in a town where being a star is on everybody’s bucket list.</p>
<p>I was thinking about all of this a few weeks ago when I happened to see a documentary film called <a href="http://twentyfeetfromstardom.com/" type="external">Twenty Feet From Stardom</a>. The film is about back-up singers. You know, those people who stand behind the main superstar and sing all the stuff in the background.&#160;</p>
<p>So much talent, it turns out, regularly stands behind stars like Mick Jagger and Sting and Elton John. And while people like me don’t generally know the names of those folks in the background, many of the singers featured in the film are powerhouse talents themselves.&#160;</p>
<p>No offense to, say, Taylor Swift, but I’d even say many of them are considerably more talented than the stars they support.</p>
<p>I found the film fascinating. I learned, for example, that it’s really the sound of the back-up singers that makes the song. Some of the most familiar and hum-able parts of songs aren’t even sung by the artist whose name is on the song; it’s the back-up singers!</p>
<p>But most surprising to me was that many of the back-up singers really, really wanted to be back-up singers. Not stars.&#160;</p>
<p>They sounded in some cases almost sorry for the stars — sorry their music becomes co-opted by the industry, sorry for the incredible pressure of fame, and sorry that they have to sing alone. Many of them talked about decisions they made to intentionally pursue careers singing back-up, not solo, because the beauty of the human voice is best heard and experienced when it’s joined with other voices.</p>
<p>This, in particular, shocked me. In an industry where so many people will do just about anything to be in the spotlight, here were people who intentionally chose the background because they think they are better doing what they do in a community of other people doing the same.&#160;</p>
<p>In other words, we’re better together, as Jack Johnson (and his back-up singers) regularly remind us.</p>
<p>It sounds strange when you’re talking about the music industry, but it seems to me that we’ve known this for awhile over here at church.&#160;</p>
<p>In fact, I think community is one of the best beautiful and subversive gifts that the church has to offer this lonely world.&#160;</p>
<p>When we do it well, we are turning convention on its head, setting a new standard for success. Where once we were under the impression that being a stand-out is all that matters, we learn at church that success looks more like learning to live in messy relationship with others, joining our resources to heal the world, and allowing and supporting God’s transformational work in our own lives.</p>
<p>We learn all these things. And, also, we learn peoples’ cell phone numbers in case we need them in the middle of the night.</p>
<p>It seems like these days the church faces the reality of being less and less compelling to a mostly disinterested society, but by creating and nurturing healthy community we can breach that growing divide. And on our best days, we might even corner the market.&#160;</p>
<p>Now if only I could convince some of those back-up singers to find community in the church choir.&#160;</p> | Singing for community | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/singing-for-community/ | 3 |
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<p>Throughout his life, Herbert Marcuse endeavored to develop a theoretical analysis of the dynamics of contemporary capitalist society that would have practical relevance as well as explanatory value. Indeed, he was not entirely unsuccessful in this regard. The mutual attraction, in the 1960s, between politically active radicals searching for the means to comprehend their society and Marcuse's penetrating analyses of the structure,ideology, and dangers of late capitalism created a powerful synthesis that gave the New Left many of its distinguishing characteristics. Now that Marcuse has died, it is well worth the effort to take another look at what he wrote, and to ask: in what way does Marcuse's mode of theorizing remain pertinent to the analysis of American society by a left that intends to be both democratic and socialist?</p>
<p>The theory of one-dimensional society is the core of Marcuse's work. But Marcuse's peculiar combination of a Marxist orthodoxy with an unfortunate reading of Weber's concept of rationalization produces a version of neo-Marxism that, although initially attractive, is no longer fruitful. The theory of one-dimensional society postulates the emergence of an authoritarian technological rationality that has freed itself from the particular interests of capital and has become a political force capable of suppressing social contradictions,</p>
<p /> | The Legacy of Herbert Marcuse | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/the-legacy-of-herbert-marcuse | 2018-03-20 | 4 |
<p>Valentine’s Day is not celebrated in Brazil. Lover’s Day is. Regardless, Brazil’s governing PT had not expected the day to end with a kiss from Al Capone. On February 14-15, Lula’s government suffered the single most devastating blow to its legislative power since taking office on January 1, 2003.</p>
<p>After weeks of campaigning for the election of Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh (PT representative for Sao Paulo) to the Leadership of the lower house of Congress, the PT suddenly found itself dealing with embarrassing competition from a self-nominated party member, Virgilio Guimaraes (PT representative for Minas Gerais state).</p>
<p>Never suspecting Greenhalgh had a chance of being edged by Guimaraes, by the early morning hours of February 15 the PT ended up losing out on both candidates in a shifted alliance of parties.</p>
<p>As a result, the low-profile ultra-conservative member of the lower house, Severino Cavalcanti (Partido Progressista (PP) for Pernambuco state), was elected by a landslide victory of 300 to 195 votes.</p>
<p>The “long knife” nature of these congressional elections was reinforced by Cavalcanti’s victory speech. He immediately confirmed his intension to raise the salary of house representatives and senators, as well as federal judges, and maintain the three-month vacation plan for house representatives, which was set for major axing.</p>
<p>He also plans to impede the Executive from running through a tax hike on service-providing companies (Provisional Measure 232). His agenda also features an unpopular draft on extending the presidential mandate to six years-but barring the possibility of re-election.</p>
<p>What this means for Lula’s government is that the roughshod alliance it managed to built in the Congress has evaporated. Cavalcanti, also known as the king of the backbenchers, has a long history of repressive policies.</p>
<p>A fundamentalist Catholic, in 1980 he snitched on an Italian priest, Father Vito Miracapillo, leading to the priest’s expulsion from Brazil by the then military government. Father Miracapillo had refused to celebrate a “mass for the people” on Independence Day since, in his view, Brazilians could not be independent while under dictatorial rule.</p>
<p>(Belonging to the Church’s progressive wing, the priest saw the expulsion order lifted in 1993, but cannot live in Brazil as he is still awaiting amnesty.) Although a nationalist, or rather a populist, Cavalcanti can easily become one of Bush’s bedfellows in South America.</p>
<p>The results of the Congressional elections, either at the lower or upper house levels, are an unexpected turnabout for Lula’s cabinet. Historically, the party holding the highest number of seats in the Assembly heads the directing “board”, which organizes the voting agenda especially regarding the Executive’s decision to pass “Provisional Measures”.</p>
<p>Due to the nature of Brazil’s post-dictatorial 1988 Federal Democratic Constitution, the political landscape is spread widely across several parties, rendering it next to impossible for a single party to govern as a majority. Provisional Measures, roughly equivalent to American Presidential decrees although they require Congressional approval, facilitate governance under these circumstances.</p>
<p>Despite the high profile exiting and debarring of the most vocal radical members of the PT, a strain of participatory democracy still runs through the party. The nomination procedure for the house leader is one of its unfortunate effects.</p>
<p>Greenhalgh was the nominee to have received the most nominations from house representatives in the three choices they were each given. The problem was that he was edged in first-place finishes by Guimarães. This information was revealed only after the party’s defeat so as to justify what had seemed to be Guimarães’ stubborn adamancy to remain in the race.</p>
<p>By the end of the first round on February 14, Greenhalgh was largely ahead of Cavalcanti, who held a small lead over Guimaraes and thus eliminate him from the run-off. But then, Guimaraes supporters, who reportedly gathered more of the left-wing of the party and allies, voted in opposition to Greenhalgh.</p>
<p>Whatever their motivation, distraught representatives have ushered one of Brazil’s oldest ultra-conservative politicians to the seat of the third most powerful post in Brazil’s governing hierarchy, right after the president and vice-president.</p>
<p>For the Brazilian population who gave Lula a landslide victory in 2002, the Congressional elections amount to nothing less than intra-political negligence. For Lula, it was clearly a stab in the back. The landscape of federal politics in Brazil has reverted back to old times.</p>
<p>Basically, without any inkling of a majority in the Congress, Lula’s executive risks being legislatively paralyzed. Worse, he is going to have to take the blame for Congress’s attempt to rule as an independent body.</p>
<p>For the time being, though, the still popular President has proved to be optimistic. He told BBC news on Wednesday February 16, “I’ve already spoken to Severino today. He has always voted with the government, and has always been part of the alliance base. I have no doubt that our bills will be enacted as they have been [until now].”</p>
<p>Some ten years older than Lula, Cavalcanti is also a Pernambuco state high school drop out, but the comparison between the two men stops there. By Thursday evening, the scenario did not look as clear with House Leader Cavalcanti exposing his own agenda and conditions to the President in a personal meeting.</p>
<p>Faced with the prospect of legislative resistance, this time around, Lula might be able to contest the booing he gets from the opposition within his own party. Not that the rowdy reception given to the President at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre was undeserved.</p>
<p>On a practical and administrative level, not much in his government’s policies has amounted to a major shift away from the principles of neo-liberal governance, notwithstanding its concerns for sustainable development.</p>
<p>On the economic front, it is true that Lula’s government has been able to overcome the devaluation suffered by the national currency, the real. It managed to jumpstart a logistically ill-prepared export sector and boost it into a world leader.</p>
<p>Despite outstanding port facilities in Santos, Vitória and Rio, and the private ports run by companies such as Vale do Rio Doce, Brazil’s industrial infrastructure is painfully underdeveloped given the country’s heavy reliance on exporting natural resources and agricultural products.</p>
<p>Lula’s government freed up desperately needed credit lines for companies to take advantage of the weak currency abroad. Their contribution went on to set record after record in yearly export surpluses.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Brazil’s economic performance has allowed the government to negotiate conditions with the IMF on servicing its public loan. Still, Lula’s Finance Minister, Antonio Palocci, has convinced himself and the government of the need to hold firm on neo-liberal “developmental” policies as dictated by the World Bank.</p>
<p>According to him, it is necessary in order to get out of the volatile situation Wall Street and the City placed the country in owing to the apparent shift of its voting population toward the “left-leaning” candidate, Lula da Silva in 2002.</p>
<p>Ken Maxwell reminded the Anglo-American financial sector in the Financial Times in 2002 that while magic realism had faded as a literary movement in South America, Wall Street was manifestly intent on keeping it alive. It was portraying Lula as a leader hell-bent on defaulting on the debt and waging a revolution.</p>
<p>Various House representatives in the US still do tend to paint in similar numbers. Upon closer inspection, anyone can call their bluff as their main beef with Brazil has to do with nothing more than the country’s great competitive export power.</p>
<p>In a bid to convince Brazil’s middle classes of his moderation, candidate Lula even decided to hire spin-doctor cynic (and coq fighter) Duda Mendonça to refurbish his image. By doing so, he had forgone a revolutionary experiment that would have plunged Brazil into international isolation before it could pull itself out from the hole.</p>
<p>By the end of 2002, though, the IMF’s dictates to neighboring Argentina proved misguided as they led to the collapse of the country’s economy and a palace coup. The following year, Joe Stieglitz nailed the IMF on incompetence for the economic recovery policies it was imposing on countries suffering from collapsing currency markets.</p>
<p>Examples of Russia, South Korea and Malaysia all refused IMF assistance in the face of economic breakdown and defaulted on their public loan servicing. And they all managed to post outstanding growth only a few years later and managed to maintain those levels with real GDP growth rates of 7.1%, 6 %, 7%, respectively, in 2004 alone.</p>
<p>On the other hand, under IMF escort, Brazil finally managed some 4.3% growth in 2004, but after three years of utter stagnancy, which saw it slip in GDP rank from 8th to 15th in the world.</p>
<p>As the Argentine crisis headed for collapse in late summer of 2002, the Financial Times held a knife to Lula’s throat about naming his finance minister and central bank president before the elections took place. As it turned out, it was all a skillful power play contributing to the rampage that tore international hot-money and short-term investments out of the country.</p>
<p>In the turmoil, Lula could not get out of appointing Henrique Meirelles as Central Bank President. As a former executive director of Fleet-Boston, Meirelles stands directly over the conglomerate’s 30 million dollar investment in Brazil. This figure resounded with the loan proposed to stranglehold Lula in late summer 2002 when the real fell prey to “international” speculation.</p>
<p>Judging by the hushed up scandal of Meirelles’ alleged income tax inconsistencies, he is the IMF’s guarantee to keep the prime lending rate up (now at 16.5%) and spending on infrastructure down. Nonetheless, with its outstanding economic results the government forced through a law on raising minimum wage to R$ 300 (roughly, US$ 90 per month) against IMF dictates, after it had been slapped on the hand by the working poor for penny pinching a month earlier on the same issue.</p>
<p>Lula’s victory as president in 2002 was a historical landslide. Yet his gains in Congress are built upon an alliance with parties often completely at odds with the PT’s program of deep social and constitutional reform. Lula’s attempt at overhauling a completely elitist “public” sector within his first year of government, and axing the pension plans and sundry handouts offered to the country’s wealthiest, had to be watered down in order to avoid a Machiavellian turnaround.</p>
<p>The threat to cut absurdly overpaid pension plans to federal judges was cynically used by the latter to mobilize lower-paid civil servants who were being asked, in a gesture of fairness, to bear proportional cuts. With raises on salaries for public servants stalled during the post-1998 real devaluation period, and despite mounting inflation to near double-digit levels, neither the bottom scale nor the top-despite the extreme disproportion-would accept cuts to pensions. To avoid a social crisis Lula’s team had to pull back.</p>
<p>Like any capital, Brasilia lives on a cloud of privilege. Not all countries in the world, however, are as proto-revolutionary as Brazil is. Without giving some slack, the politicians of the two houses of Congress, senior civil servants and the judiciary, despite how buffered they might feel on the plateaus of Goias, are playing with fire.</p>
<p>Less than a 100 km away, hundreds of “sem tetos”, homeless squatters, have been battling a brutal military police attack ordered by the state government. In Para, as Lula attempted to crush illegal deforestation of the Amazon forest and the use of slave labor, the 73-year-old American missionary Sister Dorothy Stang was assassinated.</p>
<p>Now the lower house of the Congress is ruled by a man who stands against constitutional reform, against homosexual common-law union and marriage, and social reform in general. A catholic fundamentalist, Cavalcanti is the oligarch’s new man in power-two steps back for Lula’s half step forward. Lula’s executive is now near paralysis. It may have to adopt yet another tactic from former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, whose own government was often paralyzed by the PT opposition and similarly had to accept power sharing with the oligarchs.</p>
<p>But Cardoso discreetly went after his political opponents by pinning long-term corruption charges against them. With white-collar crime blooming in Brazil as much as in the G7 zone, such tactics might lay out of reach. The problem is criminal powers also learn not to repeat mistakes.</p>
<p>NORMAN MADARASZ, a Canadian, is Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy (Bolsista CAPES / Brasil) at Universidade Gama Filho, Rio de Janeiro. He welcomes comments at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Death Wish for Reform in Brazil | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/02/19/death-wish-for-reform-in-brazil/ | 2005-02-19 | 4 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal">ChameleonsEye</a>&#160;|&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Shutterstock.com</a></p>
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<p>Well, once again, Israeli Prime Murderer Benjamin Netanyahu astounds. One would think that there must be some limit to the bizarre statements that issue from his mouth, but no, we learn again and again that he is willing to push the bizarreness envelope to places where, like the crew of Star Trek’s Enterprise, no one has ever before ventured.</p>
<p>His latest flight of fancy even seems to have astonished his worshipful U.S. government, which characterized his statements as ‘inappropriate and unhelpful’, harsh criticism indeed from that bastion of Israeli love. And what is it that Mr. Netanyahu has said? This writer hesitates to even put the words to paper, they are so incredible. As has been said, ‘you can’t make this stuff up’.</p>
<p>But here it is: He said that he has “always been perplexed by the notion” that the “Jewish community in Judea and Samaria [the Israeli name for the West Bank] is an obstacle for peace.”</p>
<p>So this has always perplexed the Prime Murderer. For years, through countless, meaningless negotiations, United Nations resolutions and international boycotts, he has been unable to understand why driving people from their homes, destroying those homes to build luxury residences for people who, by living there, are in violation of international law, is an obstacle for peace.</p>
<p>Yet the august Prime Murderer did not stop there. No, warming to his topic, he seemed to be on quite a roll, as he said this: “The Palestinian leadership actually demands a Palestinian state with one pre-condition: No Jews. There’s a phrase for that: It’s called ethnic cleansing.”</p>
<p>Elizabeth Trudeau, U.S. State Department spokesperson, said this: “We obviously strongly disagree with the characterization that those who oppose settlement activity or view it as an obstacle to peace are somehow calling for ethnic cleansing of Jews from the West Bank. We believe that using that type of terminology is inappropriate and unhelpful.” And, to indicate the extreme displeasure the U.S. feels about these statements, she further criticized the ‘dramatic escalation’ of the demolition of Palestinian homes, and said that such actions “raise real questions about Israel’s long-term intentions in the West Bank.”</p>
<p>Now, if anyone reading this has ‘real questions about Israel’s long-term intentions in the West Bank’, please raise your hand. This writer sees no hands raised, but assumes that Ms. Trudeau, President Barack Obama, and the odious candidates representing the Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee parties, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are not reading this essay. They may delude themselves, blinded as they are by the money thrown in their direction by AIPAC (Apartheid Israel Political Affairs Committee), that, up until now, Israel’s leaders had every intention of eventually vacating the West Bank. After all, they might say, look at all the evidence pointing in that very direction. Um, well, doesn’t the emperor have beautiful new clothes?</p>
<p>The uninitiated might believe that, with such blatant violations of international law and the basic human rights of millions of people, the U.S., that self-proclaimed leader of all that is good and just, would exert pressure on Israel to, in short, simply back off. After all, the U.S. sends that apartheid nation $4 billion annually, with absolutely no strings attached. Might the U.S. not, after all, attach a string or two? Perhaps saying that, if Israel wants to continue to receive the largess that the U.S. so willingly doles out, it needs to vacate the West Bank, withdraw to the internationally-accepted 1967 borders, and end the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. Is that really too much to ask? What real threat does Palestine, a nation with no army, navy or air force, present to a country with a powerful military machine, backed up by the most powerful?</p>
<p>Ah, but we are forgetting the ‘special’ relationship that the U.S. has with Israel. Yes, when millions upon millions of dollars pour into the campaign coffers of U.S. officials, each dollar of which, we should mention, has strings attached, demanding Congressional votes in whatever way Israel dictates, the relationship between the two countries is, indeed, ‘special’. International law? Not worth considering, if it’s inconvenient. Human rights for the Palestinians? Bah! Who are they? Where is their wealthy lobby?</p>
<p>So as Mr. Netanyahu decries what he somehow sees as Palestinian demands for a West Bank free of Jews, he drives Palestinians out of the West Bank, to build homes exclusively for Jews. While he wonders why illegal settlement activity is an obstacle to peace, more people around the world condemn it. One might think that he is trying to make it appear that, like one’s own back yard, where one can dismantle an old tool shed to build a fancy two-car garage, he is simply removing unnecessary structures on Israeli land, to build new ones. A more apt analogy might be if this writer decided the build a new, two-car garage in his next door neighbor’s back yard. As soon as the bulldozer arrived to demolish the one-car garage that is currently standing there, the police would be called, destruction prevented, and this writer would be hauled away.</p>
<p>But, sadly for the Prime Murderer, his particular fairy story has run out of the gold dust of credibility. No longer do people barely hear some obscure news item about Palestinian homes being demolished to make way for illegal settlements, and then listen intently to the latest, really interesting news about the Kardashians. No, more and more people are turning to social media and getting the facts, seeing the faces of suffering men, women and children, and recognizing the unspeakable injustice that is apartheid Israel.</p>
<p>For the past eight years, President Obama, who is said to detest Mr. Netanyahu, could certainly have made significant changes that would have elevated human rights and international law to the level of priority and significance they deserve. He did nothing. And with either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Trump poised to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in January, one can have little hope for change from that quarter.</p>
<p>But the will of the people can only be thwarted for so long. The U.S. stood in isolation for years in its support of apartheid South Africa, and is increasingly isolated in its complete toeing of the Israeli party line. Boycotts and resolutions, strengthening all the time with each new Israeli-perpetrated horror, will succeed, despite all efforts to outlaw them.</p>
<p>Time is running out for apartheid Israel, as it ran out for apartheid South Africa. The sooner Israel and the U.S. wake up to that fact, the sooner peace will come to the Middle East. And while peace there isn’t the goal of either rogue nation, they will have to face the inevitable.</p> | Netanyahu, Palestine and Ethnic Cleansing | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/09/16/netanyahu-palestine-and-ethnic-cleansing/ | 2016-09-16 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Resistance to same-sex marriage remains in certain pockets of the country. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p />
<p>Although the decision is overwhelmingly enforced throughout the U.S., the South remains a region where in some places same-sex couples aren’t assured a marriage licenses despite the decision in Obergefell v. Hodges finding that said banning gay nuptials is unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Jasmine Beach-Ferrara, executive director of the Campaign for Southern Equality, said same-sex couples by and large are able to marry in the South, but LGBT people in the region still face discrimination as a result of state laws that undermine their rights.</p>
<p>“A year into marriage equality we see two competing realities in the South,” Beach-Ferrera said. “On the one hand, same-sex couples are marrying across the South, living more openly and experiencing increasing support. But at the same time, anti-LGBT politicians are devising laws – like HB 1523 in Mississippi and SB 2 and HB 2 in North Carolina — that are a backlash to Obergefell and that target the LGBT community for continued discrimination. LGBT Southerners navigate the tension between these realities everyday in countless ways.”</p>
<p>Alabama is the state where obstruction to same-sex marriage is the most pervasive. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, 12 of the state’s 67 counties are still not granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples.</p>
<p>Of these 12, 11 counties — Choctaw, Washington, Marengo, Clarke, Covington, Geneva, Pike, Bibb, Autauga, Elmore and Cleburne — are enforcing a “no licenses” policy to all couples, gay or straight, in the aftermath of the decision. Another county, Coosa, is issuing licenses, but says it’s unable to grant them to same-sex couples because of “technical difficulties.”</p>
<p>Brock Boone, staff attorney for the ACLU of Alabama, said she was told by the clerk these technical difficulties started around the time of “this same-sex stuff.”</p>
<p>“I asked her in December when they plan to fix it, and she was unsure,” Boone said. “I asked in February when it has no been fixed, again she was unsure. Then I asked in June, still unsure and no plans for it to be fixed. They have been marrying opposite-sex couples since Obergefell, but have not married any same-sex couples.”</p>
<p>Unlike other states, Alabama has seen additional confusion despite the Obergefell decision as a result of now suspended state Chief Justice Roy Moore and the Alabama Supreme Court insisting federal court decisions on same-sex marriage don’t apply to the state. Even after the U.S. Supreme Court decision was handed down, the Alabama Supreme Court in March refused to withdraw its order against same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Callie V. Granade, who issued the initial ruling in favor of same-sex marriage in Alabama, <a href="" type="internal">issued an order earlier this month</a> clarifying marriage equality has come to the state despite “the failure of the Alabama Supreme Court to set aside its earlier mandamus order.”</p>
<p>Despite the order, Boone said “there is no indication” that after the latest ruling these counties will now issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but additional litigation could happen “once we have a couple willing to serve as plaintiffs.”</p>
<p>In North Carolina, an obstruction to marriage equality is Senate Bill 2, which enables magistrates in the state to “opt out” of performing marriages if they have a religious objection. Invoking the “opt out” means a magistrate cannot perform any marriage, gay or straight, for a six-month period. After the six months passes, the exemption can be renewed.</p>
<p>The legislature <a href="" type="internal">enacted the measure</a> last year by overriding the veto of Gov. Pat McCrory, who’s now known for signing into law House Bill 2, the measure that blocked local pro-LGBT ordinances and banned transgender people from using the public restroom in schools and government buildings consistent with their gender identity. At the <a href="" type="internal">time of his veto</a>, McCrory said “no public official who voluntarily swears to support and defend the Constitution and to discharge all duties of their office should be exempt from upholding that oath.”</p>
<p>According to the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, a total of 29 magistrates as of this week have recused themselves from performing civil marriages in the state, but the names of magistrates who’ve recused themselves aren’t public because that is protected by a public records law. The Judicial Branch has about 670 magistrates statewide.</p>
<p>The law stipulates a magistrate must be on hand to perform marriages in a county office and allows magistrates to assume that task if all officials in a particular invoke the exemption. Late last year, all magistrates in the McDowell County Clerk of Superior Court reportedly invoked the exemption, requiring magistrates from Rutherford County to fill in for officials and limiting the hours McDowell County offers marriage services.</p>
<p>In Mississippi, marriage equality may be compromised by the sweeping “religious freedom” bill recently signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant. A component of law, which among other things allows businesses and individuals to deny services to LGBT people, permits clerks and registers of deeds to recuse themselves from facilitating same-sex marriages, although they must ensure the licensing of legally valid marriage, including same-sex marriages, aren’t impeded as a result.</p>
<p>Zakiya Summers, a spokesperson for the ACLU of Mississippi, said she’s unaware of same-sex couples being unable to obtain marriage licenses as a result of the law, but added it “plays an interfering role” in marriage equality.</p>
<p>“Bottom line is that when it comes to being able to earn a living, having a place to live, or being served by a business or government office, gay and transgender Mississippians should be treated like everyone else and not be discriminated against just because of who they love, who they are married to, or if they’re unmarried,” Summers said. “They should not have to deal with a separate system with separate rules.”</p>
<p>At least three federal lawsuits are challenging Mississippi’s “religious freedom” law. This week, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves refused to block enforcement of the law as litigation against it remains ongoing on the basis of no “imminent risk of injury.”</p>
<p>In Texas, at least one county clerk — Molly Criner of Irion County — has suggested she would deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples, although none has apparently sought a marriage license in her office.</p>
<p>Criner in the aftermath of the Obergefell ruling pledged to reject the decision — or even allow deputies in her office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples — comparing herself to those in Nazi Germany who refused to help the government hunt down Jewish people.</p>
<p>“This, of course, is something the voters of Texas have voted on and come to a different conclusion,” Criner said. “It’s something that our legislators have come to a different conclusion about. I was dismayed, of course, with the ruling, and do not believe that lines up with God’s law and God’s plan for us.”</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Criner told the Washington Blade she won’t “discuss marriage policy over the phone” when asked if she now would give a marriage license to a same-sex couple.</p>
<p>“But we can tell you that anybody who applies for a marriage license needs to come and bring ID and both parties need to show up, and then we’ll evaluate their qualifications at that time,” Criner said.</p>
<p>Asked by the Blade whether it’s still her position she would deny a marriage licenses to a same-sex couples, Criner replied, “We don’t discuss marriage policy over the phone.”</p>
<p>One state that previously had issues with issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but now apparently has resolved them, is Kentucky.</p>
<p>Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis gained notoriety last year for refusing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, which led to a federal judge sentencing her to jail for three days for being in contempt of court. Although she agreed not to interfere with the issuing of marriage licenses, she removed her name from them and instead said they were issued “pursuant to federal court order.”</p>
<p>Another clerk, Casey County Casey Davis (no relation to Kim Davis,) had also pledged to defy the Supreme Court ruling and halted the distribution of marriage licenses to all couples in his office. In October, Davis at least partially relented, saying he would begin to distribute marriage licenses in his office, although not to same-sex couples.</p>
<p>But that seems to have changed. On Wednesday when the Blade reach out to Davis’ office over the phone, Jamie McGowan, who identified himself as a clerk who works with Davis, replied “yes” when asked if a same-sex couple would be eligible to receive a marriage license in that office.</p>
<p>Chris Hartmann, director of the Kentucky-based Fairness Campaign, said to his knowledge “there are no counties where marriage licenses are being denied” in his state.</p>
<p>In fact, Hartmann said LGBT advocates won a victory on marriage licenses with the support of Kim Davis and newly-elected Republican Gov. Matt Bevin.</p>
<p>“The Kentucky Senate proposed separate but equal marriage licenses — one for straight couples that said ‘Bride and Groom,’ and one for LGBTQ couples that said ‘Party 1 and Party 2,” Hartmann said. “After much debate, both Davis and Bevin endorsed our proposed single marriage license form that allows people to check a box to identify as ‘Bride,’ ‘Groom,’ or ‘Spouse.’ After an initial defeat, the measure passed both the House and Senate unanimously.”</p>
<p>Evan Wolfson, former president of the now closed Freedom to Marry, denied the pockets of marriage inequality in the country undermine the significance of the marriage decision.</p>
<p>“The fact that there is a sprinkling of acting out and posturing doesn’t take away from the victory, the momentum, and the fact that more than 1,000,000 gay people have now married in the U.S., with many more to come here and around the world,” Wolfson said. “And we keep working.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">ACLU of Alabama</a> <a href="" type="internal">Alabama</a> <a href="" type="internal">Brock Boone</a> <a href="" type="internal">Chris Hartmann</a> <a href="" type="internal">Evan Wolfson</a> <a href="" type="internal">Freedom to Marry</a> <a href="" type="internal">Kentucky</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mississippi</a> <a href="" type="internal">North Carolina</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a> <a href="" type="internal">Zakiya Summers</a></p> | One year after marriage ruling, pockets of defiance remain | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/06/22/one-year-after-supreme-court-ruling-pockets-of-marriage-inequality-remain/ | 3 |
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<p>The <a href="" type="internal">Turkish elite</a> is in a state of shock after one of its chosen daughters was killed when a private jet carrying her home from an overseas bachelorette party crashed into an Iranian mountain range.</p>
<p>Mina Basaran, 28, one of the country’s most high-profile socialites and one of its few native Instagram stars, was killed with six of her friends and three crew this weekend as they flew home from celebrations to mark her planned wedding.</p>
<p>Sources in Turkey told The Daily Beast that two of the other young women on board the jet were pregnant, compounding the horror of the disaster among Turkey’s close-knit elite.</p>
<p>Basaran, whose 100,000 social-media followers received regular updates on her gilded lifestyle, was a fixture of society parties and glossy magazine pages, and her death, a Turkish journalist told The Daily Beast, had come as a shock.</p>
<p>“Her father is a very well-known businessman. She was the only child of his business empire,” Nalan Koçak of Haberturk News told The Daily Beast. “She was very well known in society. And all the other ladies in the plane were also from well-known families. It is the No. 1 topic here. All the artists and society people are sharing her pictures.”</p>
<p>Basaran, 28, who studied for a master’s degree in luxury brand management at the European Business School in London, according to reports, had spent the weekend partying in the United Arab Emirates. She had posted pictures of her group enjoying a concert by Rita Ora in Dubai and posing on the tarmac next to the private jet.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/turkish-heiress-mina-basaran-and-her-hen-party-die-in-plane-crash-6xpfxkb8x" type="external">According to The Times</a>, she was being groomed to succeed her industrialist father, Huseyin Basaran, as the boss of Basaran Yatirim Holdings, a conglomerate he started 25 years ago.</p>
<p>Her father referred to her as “my princess,” Koçak said.</p>
<p>Koçak said that contrary to some reports suggesting a hedonistic lifestyle, Basaran was known to be hard-working and studious, and only opened her popular Instagram account after her engagement.</p>
<p>“She was not that into being a celebrity, she was a hard-working business woman. She was really modest, not a showoff. Her family is from Trabzon, a conservative Black Sea city. It is well known that she was ‘a good girl.’”</p>
<p>The Times reports that her father’s company has interests in a wide variety of industries and also holds the franchises for several Ramada hotels in Turkey. Basaran joined the executive board in 2013.</p>
<p>The use of a private jet to take her hen party on a glamorous trip to Dubai was typical of the perks she enjoyed in that role, but disaster struck after the plane crashed into remote mountains in western Iran on Sunday night in thick fog and rain.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>She and her party had been celebrating before her marriage to Murat Gezer, a businessman, on April 14.</p>
<p>The couple had marked their engagement at the Istanbul branch of the London members’ club <a href="" type="internal">Soho House</a> in October, and would have held their wedding on the Mediterranean coast, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/turkish-heiress-mina-basaran-and-her-hen-party-die-in-plane-crash-6xpfxkb8x" type="external">the Times reports</a>.</p>
<p>Basaran tried to use her profile to raise the issue of gender inequalities in the Turkish workplace, saying, in her last interview, “Unfortunately, women in our country have serious problems in social and family life.”</p>
<p>Villagers near the crash site said they saw the plane, reportedly a Bombardier CL604, on fire in the air, two hours after it had taken off from Sharjah airport in the Emirates.</p>
<p>According to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft, which took off from Sharjah International Airport, near Dubai, on Sunday, rapidly gained altitude a little over an hour into the flight and then “dropped drastically within minutes.”</p> | Millionaire Turkish Socialite Killed in Private Jet Disaster | true | https://thedailybeast.com/millionaire-turkish-socialite-killed-in-private-jet-disaster | 2018-10-02 | 4 |
<p>Some of the contributors to this collection of essays would describe themselves as democratic socialists. Some as liberals. Others as liberal- socialists. And a few perhaps as people of the democratic left who prefer not to be labeled.</p>
<p>So be it. Whatever our long-range outlooks, we all agree on the need for the programs advanced in these pages. Still, it may be of interest if I put down a few remarks about the relationship between socialists and liberals, as seen by one of the former.</p>
<p>With a large part of a forthright liberal program, we socialists entirely agree. We agree because we concern ourselves not only with our own long-range ideas, but also with the immediate needs of our country. We are glad to join with others who favor national health insurance, measures for helping black youth in the cities, programs for the unemployed, legislation for equal treatment of women, etc., etc.</p>
<p /> | Of Socialists, Liberals & Others | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/of-socialists-liberals-others | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
<p>The Vermont Teddy Bear Company CEO William Shouldice IV, on the company's line of limb loss and limb difference bears.</p>
<p>These teddy bears look different--and proudly so. The Vermont Teddy Bear Company worked with the Amputee Coalition to create "limb loss" and "limb difference" bears to help support acceptance and celebrate people’s differences.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“We started to think about it and we said, ‘we got to do this really well,'" said company CEO William Shouldice IV.</p>
<p>"We did some research and hooked up with the Amputee Coalition and we worked on building the prototypes and when we got their sign off we decided to roll them out.”</p>
<p>Shouldice told the FOX Business Network’s Dagen McDowell the idea for the limb loss and limb difference bears came from the company’s employees paying attention to customer requests.“We also have great employees who listen and it became this recurring theme where customers kept asking for bears that had limb loss or limb differences.”</p>
<p>The bears are customizable, with options such as a soccer bear, baseball bear and a military bear.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>When Taya Kyle, Wife Of 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle, asked about the higher cost for the military bear, Shouldice responded, “It costs more to make, it has the full uniform, crutches and as a result of that we had to charge more for it.”</p>
<p>Shouldice then explained the importance of being able to personalize the bears, saying “We say, ‘when you send a bear, you send love’ and we hope this goes a long way towards that.”</p> | Vermont Teddy Bear Company Creates Limb Loss, Limb Difference Bears Including Military Bear | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/04/24/vermont-teddy-bear-company-creates-limb-loss-limb-difference-bears-including-military-bear.html | 2017-04-24 | 0 |
<p>By Steven Harper / <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/trump-100-days-of-deconstruction/" type="external">Moyers and Company</a></p>
<p>At its best, government saves the environment from polluters, prevents companies from exploiting consumers, safeguards individuals against invidious discrimination and other forms of injustice, and lends a helping hand to those in need. None of those principles guides the Trump/Bannon government.</p>
<p>Two months into Trump’s presidency, historian <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-presidency-first-100-days-most-failed-ever-douglas-brinkley-gerald-ford-white-house-us-a7642706.html" type="external">Douglas Brinkley said it would be</a> “the most failed 100 days of any president.” David Gergen, a seasoned adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2017/03/24/trump-presidency-the-panel-the-lead-jake-tapper-house-republican-health-care-bill-failure.cnn" type="external">agreed</a>. But they’re using a traditional scorecard. With the help of <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/trump-resistance-plan-step-4-brand-opposition/" type="external">Trump Party senators and loyalists</a>, Steve Bannon and his boss are remaking America. Future generations won’t judge kindly those who let it happen. Then again, if Trump’s trajectory continues, maybe there won’t be many more future generations anyway.</p>
<p>After losing his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/05/us/politics/national-security-council-stephen-bannon.html" type="external">seat on the National Security Council</a>, Bannon’s influence over US foreign policy may have waned. But regardless of his future, he has already had an indelible impact on the country. At CPAC, he declared that key members of Trump’s Cabinet were “selected for a reason.” In the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency, that reason has become clear. They have demonstrated a collective determination to deconstruct not only the administrative state, but also the essence of America itself. They hold views that are anathema to the missions of the federal agencies they now lead. They blend kleptocracy — government by leaders who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expense of the governed — and kakistocracy — government by the worst people.</p>
<p />
<p>Anyone who lived through the 1960s — or observes China and India today — knows what happens when polluters get a pass. <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/an-epa-nominee-drafted-by-business-interests/" type="external">Bill Moyers’ Jan. 31, 2017 video essay</a> previewed how Scott Pruitt was poised to return the nation to the darkest chapter in its environmental history: contaminated water unfit for drinking or swimming; smog-filled air unfit for breathing; a deteriorating planet careening toward a time when it will be unfit for human habitation. In 1970, President Richard Nixon created the EPA for a reason. Now it’s the victim of a hostile takeover.</p>
<p>After the election, Trump asked one of his billionaire friends, Carl Icahn, to screen candidates for the job of EPA administrator. As <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/26/us/politics/carl-icahn-trump-adviser-red-flags-ethics.html" type="external">an unpaid adviser</a>, Icahn wasn’t subject to the stringent ethics and conflict of interest reviews facing Cabinet appointees. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/26/us/politics/carl-icahn-trump-adviser-red-flags-ethics.html" type="external">During his interview of Pruitt</a>, Icahn asked specifically about an ethanol rule that was costing one of Icahn’s oil refineries more than $200 million a year. Pruitt said he opposed the rule; <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2016-12-07/icahn-pruitt-a-great-pick-for-epa" type="external">Icahn then supported Pruitt</a> for the EPA job.</p>
<p>Along with Icahn’s blessing, Pruitt had other uniquely Trump qualifications for the position. As Oklahoma’s attorney general, he sued <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/scott-pruitt-trump-epa-pick.html" type="external">the EPA 14 times; 13 of the lawsuits included co-parties</a> that had contributed to Pruitt or Pruitt-affiliated campaign committees. He sided consistently with his state’s poultry farms, energy producers and other polluters. Explaining why for the first time in its 50-year history the Environmental Defense Fund opposed Pruitt’s nomination to head the EPA, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/scott-pruitt-trump-epa-pick.html" type="external">EDF’s president</a> said, “[A]t some point when the nominee has spent his entire career attempting to dismantle environmental protections, it becomes unacceptable.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/02/16/on-eve-of-confirmation-vote-judge-orders-epa-nominee-to-release-thousands-of-emails/" type="external">On Feb. 16, 2017</a>, an Oklahoma state court judge gave Pruitt five calendar days to release his email exchanges with the fossil fuels industry. But before another 24 hours passed, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and fellow <a type="external" href="">Trump Party senators</a> gave America the bum’s rush and confirmed Pruitt’s nomination to lead the EPA. A few days later, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency.html" type="external">release of 6,000 pages of Pruitt emails</a> provided more proof of his cozy relationship with the industries he now regulates.</p>
<p>Once in office, Pruitt wasted no time. On <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/09/on-climate-change-scott-pruitt-contradicts-the-epas-own-website/" type="external">March 9, 2017, he dismissed the impact of human activity on climate change:</a> “I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.” That put him at odds with the EPA’s findings and contrary to international scientific consensus. But he’s in line with Trump, who has <a href="http://www.snopes.com/donald-trump-global-warming-hoax/" type="external">called climate change a “hoax.”</a></p>
<p>Trump’s budget director, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/climate/trump-budget-science-research.html" type="external">Mick Mulvaney, labeled climate science expenditures</a> a “waste of money… I think the president was fairly straightforward: We’re not spending money on that anymore.” And they aren’t. Trump’s proposed budget would slash EPA funding by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/us/politics/trump-budget-spending-cuts.html" type="external">more than 30 percent — to its lowest level in more than 40 years</a>. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trumps-budget-would-slash-scientific-and-medical-research/2017/03/15/d3261f98-0998-11e7-a15f-a58d4a988474_story.html" type="external">It would reduce by half</a> the EPA’s Office of Research and Development. It would cut civil and criminal enforcement personnel by 60 percent. It would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html" type="external">eliminate regional water cleanup programs</a> from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, from San Francisco Bay to the Great Lakes and from Long Island Sound to South Florida. Superfund money for cleaning up contaminated sites would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html" type="external">decline by 30 percent</a>. Appropriations for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html" type="external">vehicle emissions and certifications</a> would all but disappear.</p>
<p>While endangering the planet, Trump and his minions stage photo ops to support an ongoing disinformation campaign about illusory benefits from their unprecedented environmental destruction. At the EPA on March 28, Pruitt, Vice President Pence and a group of coal miners surrounded <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/28/climate/trump-executive-order-climate-change.html" type="external">Trump as he signed a sweeping executive order aimed</a> at reversing President Obama’s signature initiatives. His actions, which included rolling back emissions standards and lifting the moratorium on mining federal lands, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/trump-cant-bring-back-mining-jobs-574766" type="external">won’t bring back coal jobs</a> that were lost to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-27/trump-s-order-won-t-resurrect-jobs-of-miners-key-to-his-campaign" type="external">technology, cheaper sources of cleaner energy and competitive market forces</a>. But the Trump/Pruitt agenda will provide short-term profit incentives that encourage American companies to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/opinion/trump-is-a-chinese-agent.html" type="external">cede leadership in the development of innovative solutions</a> to China, which has been doubling down on clean energy research for the long-term.</p>
<p>Rick Perry’s appointment to head the Department of Energy is a perfect complement to Scott Pruitt’s selection for the EPA. During a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rick-perry-oops-energy-department-2016-12" type="external">2011 Republican presidential debate, Perry had such disdain for the EPA he couldn’t even remember</a> that it was the third of three Cabinet-level agencies he vowed to eliminate as president. But now he heads one of the other two that he’d hoped to destroy. In April, he <a href="http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a54326/steve-bannon-nsc-rick-perry/" type="external">replaced Steve Bannon</a> on the National Security Council.</p>
<p>In Secretary Perry’s first address to his department, he said <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2017/03/13/secretary-perry-energy-department-employees-can-change-world" type="external">Trump had told him</a> to “do with American energy what you did for Texas.” But an approach that might work for one state competing with others doesn’t work for the zero-sum game that is the country as a whole. Even worse, there was a dark side to Gov. Perry’s lower taxes, less regulation approach. Texas public schools are <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2016/01/27/report-says-texas-school-standards-are-worst-in-nation" type="external">among the worst in the nation</a>; <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2016/06/21/report-texas-among-worst-country-high-numbers-teen-moms-uninsured-kids" type="external">rates of teen moms and uninsured kids are among the highest</a>, as is its <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-is-the-worst-state-for-health-insurance-in-the-country-2016-9" type="external">rate of uninsured citizens</a>: 27 percent. Residents of the state’s two largest cities, Dallas and Houston, are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-is-the-worst-state-for-health-insurance-in-the-country-2016-9" type="external">the least health-insured of any major metropolitan area</a> in the country.</p>
<p>Perry’s agenda is consistent with his oil industry connections. <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2017/01/05/perry-tapped-energy-secretary-resigns-pipeline-com/" type="external">Until Dec. 31, 2016,</a> Perry served as a board member of <a href="http://investor.phillips66.com/investors/news/news-release-details/2016/Energy-Transfer-Sunoco-Logistics-and-Phillips-66-Announce-Successful-Completion-of-Project-Financing-for-Bakken-Pipeline-Joint-Ventures/default.aspx" type="external">Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners, which jointly developed</a> the Dakota Access Pipeline that the Army Corps of Engineers had stopped before Trump took office. Four days after the inauguration, Trump blew past protesters <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/mbillyhart/nodapl/" type="external">carrying “No DAPL” signs</a> and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/24/politics/trump-keystone-xl-dakota-access-pipelines-executive-actions/" type="external">issued an executive order approving it</a>. After the temporary employment of construction labor to build the controversial pipeline ends, it will create <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2016/09/14/five-things-to-know-about-the-north-dakota-access-pipeline-debate/" type="external">approximately 40 permanent operating jobs</a>.</p>
<p>Two months later, Perry stood nearby as Trump announced his approval of the Keystone Pipeline that President Obama had stopped in 2015. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/24/trump-administration-grants-approval-for-keystone-xl-pipeline/" type="external">Obama had said approving the project</a> “would have undercut” America’s global leadership on fighting climate change. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/24/trump-administration-grants-approval-for-keystone-xl-pipeline/" type="external">Reversing Obama’s order, Trump called it</a> “the first of many infrastructure projects” and “a great day for jobs.” The pipeline will produce <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/24/investing/keystone-pipeline-jobs-trump/" type="external">35 permanent jobs</a>.</p> | What Led Donald Trump to Select His Cabinet Appointees | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/what-led-donald-trump-to-select-his-cabinet-appointees/ | 2017-04-18 | 4 |
<p>ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Free-agent catcher Rene Rivera and the Los Angeles Angels have agreed to a $2.8 million, one-year contract.</p>
<p>Rivera has played for six teams over nine seasons in a major league career that began with Seattle. He split last season between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs, batting .252 with 10 homers and 35 RBIs in 74 games.</p>
<p>The 34-year-old Rivera has a strong arm behind the plate, throwing out 36.8 percent of attempted base-stealers.</p>
<p>He is likely to compete for the Angels' backup job behind Gold Glove winner Martin Maldonado, who is eligible for arbitration after appearing in 138 games last season.</p>
<p>Rivera's base salary is guaranteed, and he can earn $200,000 in performance bonuses for games started at catcher: $50,000 each for 45, 50, 55 and 60.</p>
<p>In another move Tuesday night, Angels left-hander Nate Smith was designated for assignment. Smith is a longtime Angels prospect. He won't pitch in 2018 after having shoulder surgery last month.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP baseball: <a href="" type="internal">www.apnews.com/tags/MLBbaseball</a></p>
<p>ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Free-agent catcher Rene Rivera and the Los Angeles Angels have agreed to a $2.8 million, one-year contract.</p>
<p>Rivera has played for six teams over nine seasons in a major league career that began with Seattle. He split last season between the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs, batting .252 with 10 homers and 35 RBIs in 74 games.</p>
<p>The 34-year-old Rivera has a strong arm behind the plate, throwing out 36.8 percent of attempted base-stealers.</p>
<p>He is likely to compete for the Angels' backup job behind Gold Glove winner Martin Maldonado, who is eligible for arbitration after appearing in 138 games last season.</p>
<p>Rivera's base salary is guaranteed, and he can earn $200,000 in performance bonuses for games started at catcher: $50,000 each for 45, 50, 55 and 60.</p>
<p>In another move Tuesday night, Angels left-hander Nate Smith was designated for assignment. Smith is a longtime Angels prospect. He won't pitch in 2018 after having shoulder surgery last month.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP baseball: <a href="" type="internal">www.apnews.com/tags/MLBbaseball</a></p> | Veteran catcher Rene Rivera reaches $2.8M deal with Angels | false | https://apnews.com/amp/15e9240ccc6748de8f400c42b7e74699 | 2018-01-10 | 2 |
<p>My friend Tommy was an old school gay man whose preferred gender pronoun was she or Mary. When I would meet someone at one of his dinners, it would take me a while to realize that the guy talking to me, was the ‘she’ who had the big job at the Pru in Boston.&#160; He was the ‘Mary’ who Tommy claimed also had a legendary, lunchtime sex-life in the fens of Boston.</p>
<p>Tommy was one of the funniest people ever, an idiot savant of punchlines. Whenever I was stuck with a set-up, but no punchline, I would call him. “Tommy, men who take Viagra get hard-ons. If women took Viagra, what would they get?” Nano-pause. “Wide-ons.”</p>
<p>He loved to entertain and loved music, especially, of course, Broadway show tunes. During his delicious and basic home-cooked meat, potatoes, salad, green vegetable dinners and dessert he would play Broadway show tunes on shuffle. One night, instead of the shuffle button, he pressed whatever button cued his CD player to play the first song of every show, then the second song, third, etc. until the finale of every show.</p>
<p>Dinner was pleasant enough through the first rounds of each show’s prelude, first act, introduction of characters, themes. But things got tense times six when one after another, West Side Story, Oklahoma, Music Man, Gigi, Hello Dolly and Gypsy crescendoed to their climactic, wrenching, show-stopper song.</p>
<p>Suddenly Tommy’s dining room started shrinking. I started looking for an exit and any excuse to leave. In my panic I eyed my dinner companions and worried that my steak knife was not going to be sharp enough. We were all still rattled during dessert and denouement. We helped clear the table and were gone before his beloved “Jeopardy!” came on.</p>
<p>The next day when Tommy called for our traditional, dishy post-dinner debrief, he said he’d figured out that the uncharacteristically unsettled mood of dinner had been caused, not by his broccoli casserole, but by the serial, unshuffled tracks in his CD tray.</p>
<p>This summer I have flashed back to that night as six different breaking news stories cycled through to their climactic cuts. Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. North Korea: the improvised fire and fury. The peaceful military takeover of the White House. Charlottesville. Trump bemoaning the crumbling infrastructure of white racism with its beautiful statues. He’s looked at crowds from both sides now. Bannon’s departure.</p>
<p>Forgotten are those months of prelude, introduction of theme and character. Our national needle is stuck in the chaotic, claustrophobic loop of hysteria. Our dining rooms are panic rooms. Of course I want the total solar eclipse to be a sign of the beginning of the denouement, then end of the totalitarian rectal prolapse that is the cis-narcissist Donald Trump. We shall see, partially.</p>
<p>But in the meantime to honor Tommy’s dinners and his jonesing for “Jeopardy!,” I took Poetry for $500!</p>
<p>My brain was hurting from trying to wring any humor from the daily breaking shit-storm of news for my summer show in Ptown: “Knock, Knock; Who’sThere? Zombie Apocalypse.” Scaramucci was fun, but I only had the Mooch for 11 days.</p>
<p>I needed a break.</p>
<p>So on my night off, we went to hear poetry at the Fine Arts Work Center.&#160;Luckily the extraordinary poets, Natalie Diaz, Brenda Shaughnessy, Rachel Eliza Griffiths and Robin Coste Lewis were all teaching poetry that week. Their evening poetry readings, each different and challenging were generously structured to allow for interpretation and experience. They were a timely reminder that the opposite of fascism is imagination; the opposite of fake news is poetry. Nevertheless; always the more.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Kate Clinton is a longtime humorist. She writes regularly for the Blade.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Boston</a> <a href="" type="internal">Brenda Shaughnessy</a> <a href="" type="internal">Charlottesville</a> <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a> <a href="" type="internal">Natalie Diaz</a> <a href="" type="internal">Provincetown</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rachel Eliza Griffiths</a> <a href="" type="internal">Robin Coste Lewis</a> <a href="" type="internal">Steve Bannon</a> <a href="" type="internal">total eclipse</a> <a href="" type="internal">Trump administration</a></p> | Our national needle is stuck in chaos | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2017/08/26/opinion-hysteria-chaos/ | 3 |
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<p>Track star&#160;Oscar Pistorius isn't the only son in his family accused of killing a woman. His older brother killed a woman with his car in 2010, prosecutors say.&#160;Carl Pistorius, 28, allegedly killed a female motorcyclist while driving outside Johannesburg. His trial was scheduled to start last Thursday, a day before his younger brother was granted bail,&#160; <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/world/pistorius-brother-charged-over-fatal-crash-20130224-2ezgp.html" type="external">The Canberra Times reported</a>.</p>
<p>Though the accident happened three years ago, it didn't make news until it was reported recently by a local television station.&#160;</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;cad=rja&amp;ved=0CD0QqQIwAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.globalpost.com%2Fdispatch%2Fnews%2Fregions%2Fafrica%2Fsouth-africa%2F130223%2Fpistorius-must-live-with-his-conscience-steenkamp-father-says&amp;ei=qyUqUbWbIuS0iQKJi4Ew&amp;usg=AFQjCNGDUyli9LY9Q52eOmUV54jHUKQhrA&amp;sig2=5HTx7_v8xUMc9Z4s8VZw3A&amp;bvm=bv.42768644,d.cGE" type="external">Pistorius must 'live with his conscience,' Steenkamp's father says</a></p>
<p>The trial of Carl Pistorius, who is charged with culpable homicide, was pushed back and will now start at the end of the month, Oscar's lawyer Kenny Oldwage <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2013/02/20132248373259780.html" type="external">told NCA TV</a>.</p>
<p>"There is no doubt that Carl is innocent and the charge will be challenged in court. Carl deeply regrets the accident," Oldwage said in a statement, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/24/us-safrica-pistorius-brother-idUSBRE91N05V20130224" type="external">according to Reuters</a>. He added that no alcohol was found in Carl's system after the crash. Reuters reached out for more comments from Carl and the lawyer but both declined to talk.</p> | Pistorious' brother charged in fatal hit-and-run | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-02-24/pistorious-brother-charged-fatal-hit-and-run | 2013-02-24 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Source: NIH Image Gallery via Flickr.</p>
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<p>The stock market lost ground on Tuesday, reversing Monday's gains as investors seemed to turn their attention to continued pressure on the global economy. Some market commentators looked at the U.S. dollar, which has been giving up ground to major currencies like the euro and Japanese yen. With the euro trading above $1.15 and the yen having gone from about 125 to the dollar a year ago to just 106 today, long-term investors hope that multinational companies in the U.S. will see benefits in future quarters from more valuable foreign-currency revenue. That didn't move the markets higher today, but some individual stocks did rise substantially, and among the best performers were Vertex Pharmaceuticals International , FMC Corp. , and Fidelity National Information Services .</p>
<p>Vertex Pharmaceuticals climbed 10% after newly hired executive Joseph Papa officially took over as chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the drug giant. The transition has been quick, with the announcement having been made just over a week ago, and Papa has more than 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and broader healthcare services fields. "We have a lot of work to do," Papa said, "but I am confident we will succeed in better serving our customers and realizing the exception potential of the company." With so much public scrutiny of Valeant's business recently, all eyes will be on the new CEO to see what changes he makes to the company's business model. Although the stock has already lost huge amounts of ground, Valeant investors hope that Papa will be able to help them recover their losses without having to sacrifice too much for the sake of regulators and other interested parties.</p>
<p>FMC gained 9% after releasing its first-quarter earnings report late Monday. The maker of agricultural and industrial chemicals and related products said that its overall revenue jumped 21% from year-ago levels, helping FMC reverse a year-earlier loss and post a profit of $48.3 million. After taking out the influence of restructuring charges, earnings of $0.58 per share were flat compared to the prior year's quarter, but that was a nickel above the consensus forecast among investors. CEO Pierre Brondeau called out the success of FMC's Lithium unit, noting that although the Agricultural Solutions segment and the Health and Nutrition segment both performed roughly in line with expectations. Despite challenging conditions in the agricultural markets, FMC did a good job to keep its business lean and position itself for a future recovery.</p>
<p>Finally, Fidelity National Information Services rose 6%. The provider of technological solutions for the financial services industry reported a 40% jump in revenue that helped boost adjusted earnings by 22% from year-ago levels, and solid revenue growth in both its Integrated Financial Solutions and Global Financial Solutions businesses spoke to the overall success of the company's approach. In particular, CEO Gary Norcross pointed to new solutions in Fidelity's SunGard portfolio of products, and synergies obtained from previous mergers also helped boost margins. The company also maintained guidance for 3% to 4% organic sales growth and a 15% to 18% growth rate for adjusted earnings from continuing operations, giving investors every reason to believe that Fidelity National Information Services' climb could continue.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/03/why-vertex-pharmaceuticals-fmc-and-fidelity-nation.aspx" type="external">Why Vertex Pharmaceuticals, FMC, and Fidelity National Information Services Jumped Today Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Valeant Pharmaceuticals. 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 Vertex Pharmaceuticals, FMC, and Fidelity National Information Services Jumped Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/05/03/why-vertex-pharmaceuticals-fmc-and-fidelity-national-information-services.html | 2016-05-03 | 0 |
<p>Here’s one man’s recent Holy Week schedule:</p>
<p>On Palm Sunday, he celebrated a three-hour Mass, preached, and led the Angelus for a congregation of over two hundred thousand.</p>
<p>On Holy Thursday morning he celebrated a lengthy Chrism Mass and preached on the theology of the priesthood. That evening, he celebrated a two-and-a-half hour Liturgy of the Lord’s Supper, washed the feet of twelve men, and preached on the Eucharist.</p>
<p>On Good Friday, he celebrated a two-and-a-half-hour Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion and then led a ninety-minute Way of the Cross in a driving rainstorm; at the close of the service, soaked to the skin, he gave a short homily.</p>
<p>On Holy Saturday he celebrated and preached at a three-hour Easter Vigil. The next morning he celebrated a ninety-minute Easter Sunday Mass, after which he delivered Easter greetings for forty-five minutes in fifty-seven languages.</p>
<p>I doubt that there are many priests in the United States who kept a schedule like Pope John Paul II’s — which I’ve just rehearsed — during Holy Week. I know there aren’t any priests or bishops who did all that and conducted general audiences for eighteen thousand pilgrims, with catechetical talks and seasonal greetings in six or seven languages, on the Wednesday before Easter and the Wednesday after.</p>
<p>Yet the persistent theme of the press coverage of Holy Week in Rome was “the feeble Pope.” Why?</p>
<p>Twenty-five years ago in The Boys on the Bus (a book on the 1972 presidential campaign), Timothy Crouse described in minute (and very funny) detail the phenomenon of “pack journalism.” For all their insistence on being tough-minded, independent investigators, most reporters are, in fact, terrified of receiving a call-back from an editor saying, “Your story was different from the Associated Press’s (or the New York Times‘, or the Washington Post‘s); why?” The wire services and the certified Big Feet determine “the news,” and the herd of independent minds falls into line.</p>
<p>I’ve watched this happen in Rome for years; it happened again in April. A major Italian paper decides that “the feeble Pope” is the story-line for Holy Week 1998. The Associated Press and the Times of London agree. Suddenly, almost every newspaper in America and all the TV networks are writing or talking about “the feeble Pope.”</p>
<p>Never mind that the evidence right before their eyes tells them that the Pope is keeping an incredibly rigorous Holy Week schedule that is leaving far younger men exhausted. “The news” has been determined. And woe betide the reporter with the wit and courage to say, “Wait a minute. The real story here is that this 78-year old man, with a remarkable combination of intense piety and great good humor, is maintaining a ferocious schedule and attracting even larger crowds that usual during Holy Week in Rome.”</p>
<p>A few years ago, Pulitzer Prize-winning media critic David Shaw of the Los Angeles Times wrote a four-part series arguing that the “John Paul II Story” was one of the worst-covered dramas of the twentieth century. He was right then, and he would be right if he wrote a similar series today. To be sure, you can find pack journalism in Washington, Boston, Phoenix, and Oshkosh. But it seems to be a particularly acute problem in Rome (from which one of the reporters prepared to be different, Celestine Bohlen of the New York Times, has just been transferred, alas).</p>
<p>Part of the problem is that American reporters lean on their Italian and British colleagues. But the Italian press specializes in lurid speculation on the thinnest foundation of fact. And the British press is the least reliable in the English-speaking world on Vatican matters. Another part of the problem is that many Vatican offices have woefully inadequate press relation. But the Holy Father’s press spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, is a wonderfully knowledgeable, intelligent, and interesting interlocutor. A lot of what he says never gets into print or on the air because it doesn’t fit the stereotypes the pack has established as templates for measuring Vatican realities.</p>
<p>So the pack continues to miss the story. The story’s protagonist, who doesn’t fret about such things for a second, continues to amaze and inspire. Ask the three hundred thousand in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday morning.</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> | Pack Journalism, Vatican-Style | false | https://eppc.org/publications/pack-journalism-vatican-style/ | 1 |
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<p>In this segment from <a href="https://www.fool.com/podcasts/motley-fool-money?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Motley Fool Money Opens a New Window.</a>, Chris Hill and Simon Erickson break down the phenomenal gains Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) enjoyed last week after the company announcedthe details of a deal with Amazon,which could total $600 million over the next few years. That would effectively double currentrevenue in one fell swoop.</p>
<p>A full transcript follows the video.</p>
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<p>10 stocks we like better than Plug PowerWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=d67f6950-86f8-4cce-8061-127c322ece17&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Plug Power wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017</p>
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<p>This video was recorded on April 7, 2017.</p>
<p>Chris Hill: One ofbest performing stockson the NASDAQ this week isPlug Power. Sharesof the fuel cell company rose more than50% after Plug Power announced a deal with Amazon that could reach $600 million over the next few years. That'spretty incredible if that happens, Simon, because Plug Power's market cap isn't even $600 million.</p>
<p>Simon Erickson: Itessentially doubled their annual revenue just inworking with Amazon for this one deal. They're big game hunting. Everyone knows Amazon -- forreference, by the way, Plug Power ismaking hydrogen fuel cells, you'regoing to be using these in the forkliftsAmazon will be using in their warehouses across thecountry, replacing battery powered forklifts. So, they're moreenvironmentally friendly,a lot of people like that they'remore efficient than batteries. So if you're a short-term trader,this is your dream come true. This is a micro cap that pops on the news of a bigcustomer that everybody knows who they are. But still,in the back of my mind,I have to go on record and say that theeconomics still suck.</p>
<p>Hill: For Plug Power?</p>
<p>Erickson: Yes. This is a business that, we saw the same thingback in February 2014,they signed a deal withWal-Mart, same kind of specific, stock popped to about $9 a share. Every year since then, thecompany has still lost in net earnings. Negative net earnings. Negativeoperating earnings and negative cash flowevery year since then. It'sstill only at about 75% down from its highs back then.I'm seeing another story play out here. Theyhave to figure out and demonstrate that they can make money in this business before I'm going to buy into the hype.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFWizard/info.aspx" type="external">Chris Hill Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFInnovator/info.aspx" type="external">Simon Erickson Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. 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> | Plug Power Inc Shares Double -- Should Investors Buy Into the Hype? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/12/plug-power-inc-shares-double-should-investors-buy-into-hype.html | 2017-04-12 | 0 |
<p>Not long after coming under fire for promoting fake news stories, Facebook found the spotlight again – this time for briefly censoring a historical war photo before hurriedly reinstating it after complaints.</p>
<p>The controversy began when Facebook removed a post by Norwegian author Tom Egeland, featuring Nick Ut’s Pulitzer prize-winning photograph of nine year-old Kim Phuc, naked and running from a napalm attack during the Vietnam War.</p>
<p>A post by Aftenposten, a major Norwegian paper, slammed Facebook for censorship. And, a slightly less critical post by Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg was also removed by Facebook for using Ut’s image.</p>
<p>Facebook’s reasoning? Phuc’s nakedness violates community standards. In its initial statement, the company recognized the iconic nature of the photo but claimed “it’s difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not others.”</p>
<p>Facebook later retracted its censorship of the image but not before being criticized by newspaper outlets around the world for eschewing any editorial responsibility.</p>
<p>“I think you’re <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kommentar/Dear-Mark-I-am-writing-this-to-inform-you-that-I-shall-not-comply-with-your-requirement-to-remove-this-picture-604156b.html" type="external">abusing your power</a>,” said Aftenposten editor-in-chief Espen Egil Hansen in a front-page open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the paper.</p>
<p>Prime Minister Solberg reposted the image, this time self-censoring the photo with a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ernasolberg/posts/10154351913481832" type="external">large black box</a> covering Phuc’s body. “What Facebook does by removing images of this kind, good as the intentions may be, is to edit our common history.”</p>
<p>Phuc herself, who <a href="http://www.people.com/article/napalm-girl-vietnam-war-kim-phuc-forgiveness" type="external">survived</a> the terrible attack shown in the photograph and eventually moved to Canada, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/09/facebook-reinstates-napalm-girl-photo" type="external">commented on Facebook’s decision</a> as well, saying “I’m saddened by those who would focus on the nudity in the historic picture rather than the powerful message it conveys.”</p>
<p>A criticism laid on Facebook is that it is <a href="http://fortune.com/2016/09/09/facebook-napalm-photo-vietnam-war/" type="external">taking over</a> editorial responsibility from news editors.</p>
<p>The debate over editorial responsibility stems not just from the censorship of Ut’s well-known and historically significant photo. In July, the company briefly removed a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/07/07/why-facebook-took-down-the-philando-castile-shooting-video-then-put-it-back-up/" type="external">Facebook Live video</a> depicting the shooting of Philando Castile at&#160;a traffic stop. In August, Facebook’s switch from human filtering to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/29/facebook-trending-news-editors-fake-news-stories" type="external">an algorithm</a> to promote trending stories led to fake reports trending about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.</p>
<p>The other sticking point for many in the media fell around Facebook’s insistence that it is a tech company, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/facebook-napalm-girl-vietnam-picture-started-acting-like-media-a7234451.html" type="external">not a media company</a>.</p>
<p>Facebook’s desire to remain known primarily as a tech company was pushed by Zuckerberg himself during a visit to Rome at the end of August.</p>
<p>“The world needs news companies, but also technology platforms, like what we do, and we take our role in this very seriously,” said Zuckerberg.</p>
<p>However, that stance is not enough for those who feel whether Facebook likes it or not, they are acting as an editor when they filter the distribution of news.</p>
<p>Back at Aftenposten, Hansen put the sentiment to words in his open letter. “Editors cannot live with you, Mark, as a master editor.”</p> | History Clashes with Facebook’s Community Standards Over Vietnam Photo | false | http://mediafiledc.com/history-clashes-facebooks-community-standards-vietnam-photo/ | 2016-09-19 | 3 |
<p>Of all the Religious Right’s schemes, the constant promotion of Bible-based creationism in schools is one of its most nefarious.</p>
<p>Not only does replacing science with biblical literalism violate the separation of church and state, it leaves young people massively ill-prepared for higher education. Public universities teach evolution without qualification or apology. A poor understanding of what is considered to be the central organizing principle of science handicaps students from the first day they walk into freshman Biology 101.</p>
<p>In fact, a failure to understand evolution can make it harder for high school students to get into the best colleges. Try passing the Advanced Placement Biology exam when you know nothing of natural selection. A poor grounding in evolution can choke off entire career paths for young people.</p>
<p>Despite these high stakes, some states, school districts and individual teachers insist on doing students a disservice by promoting scientific illiteracy.</p>
<p>Anyone who thinks this issue died with the Scopes trial in 1925 hasn’t been keeping up. Creationists have continued to spread ignorance and attempt to infiltrate public education. Examples are legion, but here are five prominent (and outrageous) attempts by creationists to disrupt the education of America’s budding scholars.</p>
<p>1. Texas:&#160;In one of the creationists’ sneakiest moves to date, in 2007 a phalanx of anti-science fundamentalist groups swamped the Texas legislature and lobbied for a law allowing elective courses “about” the Bible in public schools.</p>
<p>At first glance, it sounded like it might work. The courses were supposed to be objective and not promote any one version of faith over others. But Texas lawmakers refused to allocate any money for teacher training, leaving the matter in the hands of local school districts.</p>
<p>You can guess what happened – in most districts, no training was offered. About 60 public school districts and charter schools adopted the classes, and many of them ended up with instruction that had the flavor of fundamentalist Sunday School lessons.</p>
<p>A recent report by the Texas Freedom Network authored by Mark Chancey, a professor of religious studies at Dallas’ Southern Methodist University, found that many schools are teaching that the Earth is 6,000 years old, a key concept of creationism. Chancey found two districts that went so far as to teach that modern racial diversity can be traced back to Noah’s sons, another creationist standby. Another district used videos from YouTube arguing that people’s lifespans began to drop “due to major environmental changes brought about by [Noah’s] flood.”</p>
<p>Most of the Bible courses, Chancey reported, were taught from a default conservative Protestant perspective. Most claimed that the Bible is literally true, and some even included anti-Jewish bias.</p>
<p>Observed Chancey, “Courts have repeatedly ruled that advocating creation science in public school science courses is unconstitutional….Nonetheless, several courses incorporate pseudoscientific material, presenting inaccurate information to their students and exposing their districts to the risk of litigation.”</p>
<p>2. Louisiana:In the early 1980s, Louisiana legislators decided to pass a law mandating that when evolution was taught in public schools, “creation science” must be as well. Scientists, educators and advocates of church-state separation were appalled and blasted the so-called “balanced treatment” measure, but lawmakers, led by state Sen. Bill Keith, plowed ahead. The bill was soon law.</p>
<p>Advocates of the new law didn’t even bother to disguise their religious motivations. Keith asserted that evolution is a tenet of “secular humanism, theological liberalism and atheism.” Paul Ellwanger, a creationist who helped author the bill, said he viewed the struggle as “one between God and anti-God forces.”</p>
<p>A legal challenge was promptly filed, and the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Fundamentalist religious groups bombarded the high court with legal briefs urging the justices to uphold the law, arguing that it was merely an attempt to promote “academic freedom” and present both sides of a controversial issue.</p>
<p>But the justices weren’t fooled. In a 7-2 ruling in&#160;Edwards v. Aguillard, the court struck down the law. Writing for the majority, Justice William Brennan observed, “Families entrust public schools with the education of their children, but condition their trust on the understanding that the classroom will not purposely be used to advance religious views that may conflict with the private beliefs of the student and his or her family.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Louisiana learned little from the experience, and legislators there have continued to pass bills designed to eviscerate the teaching of evolution. Most recently, the legislature in 2008 approved a “Science Education Act” that has little to do with actual science or useful education. The law allows teachers to use “supplemental” materials – code for creationist propaganda – in science classes.</p>
<p>Zack Kopplin, a former high school student in Baton Rouge who now attends Rice University, put it well during a 2011 pro-science rally: “Louisiana,” he said, “is addicted to creationism.”</p>
<p>3. Georgia:&#160;Education officials in Cobb County, Georgia have a long and sorry history of trying to undercut instruction about evolution. Any discussion of the “origin of the human species” is banned in elementary and middle schools, and high schools are forbidden to require students to demonstrate an understanding of evolution as a condition of graduation.</p>
<p>In 2001, the Cobb school board decided to take things a step further. When members discovered that new high school science books contained information about evolution, they voted to paste stickers inside the texts that read, “This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully, and critically considered.”</p>
<p>Jeff Selman and other concerned parents quickly filed a lawsuit. It bounced around in the courts for a few years as procedural matters were resolved. In January 2005, U. S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ruled against the stickers, writing, “In this case, the Court believes that an informed, reasonable observer would interpret the Sticker to convey a message of endorsement of religion. That is, the Sticker sends a message to those who oppose evolution for religious reasons that they are favored members of the political community, while the Sticker sends a message to those who believe in evolution that they are political outsiders.”</p>
<p>Rather than appeal&#160;the ruling in&#160;Selman v. Cobb County School District, the Cobb board in 2006 agreed to settle the case out of court. As part of the settlement, the board agreed not to order the placement of “any stickers, labels, stamps, inscriptions, or other warnings or disclaimers bearing language substantially similar to that used on the sticker that is the subject of this action.”</p>
<p>Media&#160;in Georgia reported that anti-evolution stickers had been pasted into 34,452 textbooks. The board hired teachers to remove them, paying them $10 per hour. The entire project cost $14,243.</p>
<p>4. Pennsylvania:&#160;The school board in Dover, PA., a small town south of Harrisburg, thought it would be a good idea in 2004 to introduce “intelligent design” (ID) creationism in public school science classes. (“Intelligent design” holds that human life is so complex that it must have been purposefully designed by some intelligent agency. God and space aliens are the leading contenders, and the IDers aren’t really serious about the space aliens.)</p>
<p>Science teachers&#160;and administrators in the district spoke out against the idea, and national civil liberties groups also warned the board that they could be sued – but the board would not be dissuaded.&#160;</p>
<p>Under the policy passed by the board, Dover students had to listen to a pro-Intelligent&#160;Design disclaimer in class, and the school library was stocked with copies of an insipid creationist tome called&#160;Of Pandas and People.</p>
<p>The statement read in part, “Because Darwin’s Theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The Theory is not a fact. Gaps in the Theory exist for which there is no evidence.”</p>
<p>Dover teachers refused to read it, leaving the task to administrators.</p>
<p>In December 2004, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union, representing parents and taxpayers in the district, filed suit. The trial, dubbed "Scopes II" by the media, gained international attention.&#160;</p>
<p>One&#160;year later, U.S. District Judge John E. Jones – an appointee of President George W. Bush – didn’t just strike down the policy, he eviscerated it. Jones wrote in a 139-page opinion that ID is not science but religion and blasted the Dover school board for adopting a divisive and contentious policy that sparked a powerful backlash in town.</p>
<p>The board’s actions, Jones wrote, were clearly religious in nature.</p>
<p>“The disclaimer’s plain language, the legislative history, and the historical context in which the ID Policy arose, all inevitably lead to the conclusion that Defendants consciously chose to change Dover’s biology curriculum to advance Religion,” wrote Jones in his&#160;Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District&#160;decision. “We have been presented with a wealth of evidence which reveals that the District’s purpose was to advance creationism, an inherently religious view, both by introducing it directly under the label ID and by disparaging the scientific theory of evolution, so that creationism would gain credence by default as the only apparent alternative to evolution….”</p>
<p>The decision sparked some interesting fallout. Dover voters had already ejected the board members who supported ID, and the new board found itself facing legal fees exceeding $1 million over the fiasco. Meanwhile, angry TV preacher Pat Robertson informed the citizens of Dover that they just might incur the wrath of God.</p>
<p>“I’d like to say to the good citizens of Dover, if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to God," Robertson told viewers of his “700 Club” program. “You just rejected him from your city. And don’t wonder why he hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. And I’m not saying they will. But if they do, just remember you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, then don't ask for his help ‘cause he might not be there.”</p>
<p>5. Ohio:&#160;In 2007, a disturbing incident came to light in Mount Vernon, Ohio. Parents discovered that a science teacher named John Freshwater was secretly teaching creationism to middle-school students.&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>Freshwater, who in 2003 had publicly attacked the school district for mandating that evolution be taught, began quietly pushing intelligent design in class, including distributing materials designed to cast doubt on the validity of evolution. Interestingly, these special creationist “work sheets” were used only in class. Students were not permitted to take them home.</p>
<p>The matter came to school officials’ attention only after the parents of a 13-year-old boy complained when he came home with a red cross on his arm. The boy said Freshwater had made the mark with an electronic device called the Tesla coil.</p>
<p>Administrators at the school began looking into the matter. They soon discovered that Freshwater had put religious posters in his classroom, asked students questions about their religious beliefs and the depth of their commitment and even offered “healing” services at meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.</p>
<p>Freshwater was fired in 2008, but he is contesting the dismissal. Although two Ohio courts have ruled against him in the&#160;Freshwater v. Mount Vernon City School District Board of Education&#160;case, the Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to give the matter another review this spring.</p>
<p>As these incidents indicate, creationists tend not to do very well in court. They’ve lost a string of legal challenges at the Supreme Court and lower courts. So why haven’t they been entirely vanquished, and why isn’t evolution taught in public schools nationwide? It’s because the creationists never give up.</p>
<p>When one variant of creationism is struck down by the courts, the creationists simply come back with something else. Over the years, biblical literalists have shopped their theology under a variety of labels, including “creation science,” “creationism,” “the theory of abrupt appearance,” “evidence against evolution” and “intelligent design.”</p>
<p>The aim remains the same: to make evolution appear controversial so public schools will stay away from it. Here, sadly, they’ve had an effect. While it’s difficult to get a handle on what’s going on nationally, educators agree that too many science textbooks don’t give adequate attention to evolution. Some avoid the word entirely, relying on euphemisms like “change over time.”</p>
<p>Ironically, creationist strategies keep evolving. But the end game is the same: to replace modern science with biblical literalism and use public schools as vehicles for fundamentalist evangelism.</p>
<p>Rob Boston is director of communications at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. His latest book is " <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Liberties-Religious-Freedom-Doesnt/dp/1616149116" type="external">Taking Liberties: Why Religious Freedom Doesn't Give You the Right to Tell Other People What to Do</a>."</p> | 5 Shocking Ways the Christian Right Has Forced the Bible Into America's Schools | true | http://alternet.org/5-shocking-ways-christian-right-has-forced-bible-americas-schools | 2013-01-28 | 4 |
<p>A monument to pilgrims looking toward Santiago de Compostela from Monte de Gozo</p>
<p>From the heights of Monte de Gozo (Mount of Joy), pilgrims are able to first glimpse their final destination: Santiago de Compostela. Since early in the 12th century, when the cathedral was completed, the church towers could be seen below in the valley. Because of this, starting nearly a thousand years ago, the moment pilgrims reach the top of Monte de Gozo they experience a rush of mixed emotions — it’s the realization that the end of a long, difficult, and often magical voyage is at hand.</p>
<p>According to Camino historians, close to a million pilgrims undertook the journey during medieval times. These quests started in the year 813, when a Christian hermit named Pelayo saw a light shining down on Mount Libredon. The illumination led him straight to the grave of Saint James. And last year, 2015, the year of my pilgrimage, over a quarter million pilgrims walked the Camino to pay their respects to the patron saint of Spain.</p>
<p>The cathedral, currently under restoration</p>
<p>Is the apostle really buried in Compostela, or the “Field of Stars,” as the location was originally called? The truth is that we lack historical evidence to back this claim. The story of how Santiago’s remains ended up in Galicia, in a remote area of northwestern Spain, is a tale that has been passed down orally through generations and has now gone on to reside in the realm of myths and legends.</p>
<p>And, yet, in our times, in this age of skepticism, the number of pilgrims who walk long distances to visit the apostle’s tomb is at its highest point ever.</p>
<p>The tomb of Santiago, apóstol</p>
<p>I, for one, do not care if the remains entombed in the cathedral are actually those of Saint James. What I love is the&#160;idea&#160;of the shrine being his tomb. This notion alone filled my journey with meaning.</p>
<p>I suspect that many other pilgrims feel the same way. What is ultimately important is that the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela invited us to take a dual journey: an outward, physical one of enduring a 500-mile walk, and an inward one of reflection and self-exploration that leads to becoming more compassionate.</p>
<p>In the quest to test physical limits and spiritual potentials, today’s pilgrims walk a path that millions have treaded before them. And the spirits of previous pilgrims, many who completed their journey millennia ago, still inhabit the churches, villages, trails, and inns along the Camino. It’s virtually impossible for today’s pilgrims to ignore their strong presence, a presence that urges us to keep moving forward during the most difficult passages.</p>
<p>Statue of a windswept pilgrim on Alto de Roque, Galicia</p>
<p>It becomes an odd sensation, then, that upon arrival at our final destination we too become spirits. At the conclusion of the journey, the Camino requires those who have completed the pilgrimage to leave a part of our spiritual selves&#160;behind in gratitude for the countless blessings we have received throughout our lives.</p>
<p>What’s more, once we reach Santiago de Compostela, our quest becomes another: for the remainder of our lives we need to apply the lessons we have learned during our walks. Otherwise our effort would become meaningless.</p>
<p>And to live a life of reflection and compassion, as we did during our travels along the Camino, is a far greater challenge than just walking 500 miles.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Silvio Sirias&#160;is the author of&#160;Bernardo and the Virgin, the award-winning&#160;Meet Me under the Ceiba&#160;and&#160;The Saint of Santa Fe. You can follow him&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/silviosirias" type="external">@silviosirias</a>.</p>
<p>Continuing along Spain's Camino de Santiago, author Silvio Sirias stops to reflect on how the journey changed the life of a modern-day literary giant.</p>
<p>December 6, 2015</p>
<p>Continuing his journey along Spain's Camino de Santiago, author Silvio Sirias profiles the life of Emilia Pardo Bazán, a lady of letters who introduced naturalism to Spanish literature.</p>
<p>February 27, 2016</p>
<p>Author Silvio Sirias arrives in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the starting point of the Camino de Santiago, and learns about how the label "pilgrim" has changed in recent years</p>
<p>September 21, 2015</p> | A Neverending Quest | true | http://latinorebels.com/2016/03/20/a-neverending-quest/ | 2016-03-20 | 4 |
<p>“They had to kill him to prolong the life of apartheid.”</p>
<p>— Nelson Mandela</p>
<p>Commemorating birthdays in the aftermath of a person’s death tends to be a false exercise. At best, it reminds us about an era that will have, almost certainly, vanished. This goes for whatever that era entailed – brutality, or peace; tranquillity or chaos. Then comes the issue of historical effectiveness: what would that person have actually achieved had he seen the world he fought change?</p>
<p>The martyr, to that end, bridges the world that needs changing to the change to come.&#160; Many would regard Steve Biko as one such martyr in the anti-apartheid cause. But the pathway of the martyr after death tends to be the work of others, they who serve a posthumous name or worship at the altar of a legacy.</p>
<p>Biko’s contribution was primarily the notion of Black Consciousness, which he considered “an attitude of the mind and a way of life, the most positive call to emanate from the black world for a long time.”&#160; Gradually, his activities earned the violent ire of authorities.&#160; It began gradually.&#160; The ban in February 1973 was meant to neuter his drive to organise, speak and publicise. It did the opposite.</p>
<p>In 1976, the savage bloodiness of the apartheid regime, in its remorseless effort to curb revolt, saw 170 people, many children, slain.&#160; It had begun with protests by high school students in the township of Soweto to the southwest of Johannesburg.&#160; Their beef with the instructors was simple: why should they be forced to undertake studies in Afrikaans?</p>
<p>Biko’s arrest followed on August 27, after which he was held for 101 days.&#160; In September 1977, he was again arrested at a police roadblock and subjected to a dedicated, torturous thrashing, then taken, stripped and shackled, 750 miles to Pretoria prison hospital via land rover. He died a few hours on arriving.</p>
<p>The inquest in tho his death, publicised in the aftermath as a world historical event, could not repel the element of farce.&#160; The police account was that the death was self-inflicted, occasioned by a hunger strike that enfeebled him.&#160; This was assisted by the conspicuous absence of witness accounts.</p>
<p>Biko’s circle disputed the official version, while the magistrate responsible for steering the 15-day inquest found it impossible to identify a killer despite finding that the “cause or likely cause of Mr. Biko’s death was a head injury, followed by extensive brain injury and other complications including renal failure.”</p>
<p>Jimmy Kruger, the Justice Minister, preferred a crass analysis, claiming that there were “cases when I think to myself: Christ, I don’t know what to do now, I may as well give myself a bang.” <a href="#_ftn1" type="external">[1]</a>&#160; Five members associated with Biko’s death were only identified after the fall of apartheid as part of the workings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.</p>
<p>As always, auras of nobility tend to spring up among such figures. There are the ardent supporters in tow, sometimes more star struck than sober; and the keen civil rights supporters eager to point out the terrible flaws in mistreatment. Then come the modern, commercial appropriations of revolutionary ardour: Hollywood with its films; and Google with its commemorative Google Doodle on the occasion of Biko’s 70th birthday.</p>
<p>Former South African newspaper editor Donald Woods was certainly the main thrust behind Biko’s posthumous veneration, dragging another terrible fate at the hands of a repressive regime into a vast political limelight.&#160; As Woods himself conceded, Biko, even at the time of his death, was not that known among the black masses in the townships, though his “black consciousness” notion found truck with activists.</p>
<p>Woods’ account of Biko, given vent through the Rand Daily Mail and was subsequently given the celluloid treatment by Richard Attenborough in Cry Freedom (1987).&#160; Emotional proximity, and the subsequent work to promote Biko’s name led to the Writers’ Association of South Africa (Wasa) passing a resolution accusing Woods of being an “unscrupulous opportunist”. <a href="#_ftn2" type="external">[2]</a>&#160; Such are the travails of publicising the fallen among supporters.</p>
<p>Biko’s fate has subsequently spawned a weighty literature focused on his bloody demise rather than his intellectual oeuvre.&#160; The “Biko Case” has become a foundational study in medical ethics as how these suffer under an authoritarian government.&#160; One academic has even gone so far as to identify a “torture aesthetic” at play in the use of Biko’s case in the publicising of human rights abuses. <a href="#_ftn3" type="external">[3]</a></p>
<p>Biko was certainly one of the figures who supplied the anti-apartheid movement with oxygen when it risked being asphyxiated by the security apparatus.&#160; He had been a serial troublemaker during his years in education, expelled from high school, and active with the National Union of South African Students while attending the University of Natal Medical School.</p>
<p>The vehicle he chose to further his protest agenda was through the South African Students’ Organisation, which he co-founded in 1968. The Black Consciousness Movement soon became more than just the aspirations of a rebellious stripling, though it remained, till after his death, less grandly muscular than assumed.</p>
<p>Having died prematurely in incipient revolutionary harness, Biko did not live to see the demise of the hated ideology he fought for. He did not see the release, rehabilitation and even sanctification of Nelson Mandela, who became leader of the Rainbow Nation.</p>
<p>Nor did he see Mandela’s successor, Thabo Mbeki, take searing jabs against that nation, using his own brand of ideology to deny the ravages of HIV in South Africa, and antiretroviral drugs to sufferers.&#160; The current near unaccountable President, Jacob Zuma, is even more demagogic.</p>
<p>Revolutions, just as those who launch and implement them, eventually die.&#160; Posterity, however, often supplies a different picture, one where ideas can become canon balls, making the pen a truly dangerous weapon.&#160; That point was not lost on the engineers of apartheid.</p>
<p>Notes.</p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" type="external">[1]</a> <a href="http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-november-1977/7/fighting-over-biko" type="external">http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-november-1977/7/fighting-over-biko</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref2" type="external">[2]</a> <a href="" type="internal">https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/aug/20/pressandpublishing.guardianobituaries</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref3" type="external">[3]</a> <a href="" type="internal">http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/essays/100117831/stephen-biko-torture-aesthetic</a></p> | Biko at 70 | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/12/22/biko-at-70/ | 2016-12-22 | 4 |
<p>Jerome "Jay" Powell, a member of the Federal Reserve's board, is President Donald Trump's leading candidate to replace Janet Yellen as the head of the nation's central bank, with an announcement planned for Thursday, according to senior administration officials.</p>
<p>One senior official said Monday that the announcement is planned for Thursday. Another said Powell is the president's top choice for the job but stressed that the decision still isn't final. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters that have yet to be announced.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Trump's impending announcement of his choice to lead the Fed is overshadowing this week's meeting of the central bank's policy group, composed of its board members and regional bank presidents.</p>
<p>With no policy changes expected when the meeting ends Wednesday, investors are instead waiting to assess what Trump's choice for Fed chair could mean for the direction of interest rates, and perhaps for the economy.</p>
<p>Trump said in an interview that aired Wednesday that his decision had come down to two or three candidates. At the time, the finalists were thought to be Powell, Yellen and John Taylor, a Stanford University economist. And on Friday, Trump sent out a video in which he declared that he had someone "very specific in mind" for the job, saying that person will do a "fantastic job."</p>
<p>In Powell, Trump would be selecting a policymaker with a reputation as a moderate whose stance on interest rate increases would likely deviate little from Yellen's cautious approach. Powell would, though, be expected to be marginally more favorable toward easing some of the stricter financial rules that were enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has complained that those rules have been too restrictive.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, when the Fed issues a statement after its meeting ends, it's all but sure to keep rates unchanged. But it might issue a hint of what is widely expected: That it's likely to raise rates modestly at its next meeting in December for the third time this year. Another rate hike would reflect the economy's steady gains. It would also suggest that the Fed is confident that inflation will pick up and reach its 2 percent target rate relatively soon.</p>
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<p>"Yellen and many of her colleagues believe that stronger economic growth will lead to higher wages and then higher inflation," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor at California State University's Martin Smith School of Business.</p>
<p>The problem with too-low inflation is that it can slow the economy by causing consumers to delay purchases if they think they can buy a product or service for a lower price later. And so far this year, inflation has actually been slowing. The trend that has raised doubts about whether, as the Fed has suggested, lower-than-optimal inflation reflects mainly temporary factors, such as a price war among cellphone service providers, or rather something more fundamental.</p>
<p>Last week, the government estimated that they economy grew at a solid 3 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter despite severe damage from two hurricanes. The economy has now posted two straight quarters of at least 3 percent annual growth — the strongest two-quarter stretch in three years.</p>
<p>And while job growth was disrupted in September by the hurricanes, the unemployment rate reached a 16-year low of 4.2 percent.</p>
<p>Those factors, along with a stock market setting record highs, are thought to have put the Fed on a path to raise rates modestly later this year and thereby avoid having to tighten credit more aggressively later to prevent high inflation — something that would risk derailing the economy.</p>
<p>The Fed has raised rates four times in incremental moves beginning in late 2015, after its benchmark rate had stood at a record low near zero for seven years. The rate is still historically low at a range of 1 percent to 1.25 percent.</p>
<p>If Trump chooses Powell to succeed Yellen, most analysts expect the Fed's pace of rate hikes to remain gradual, with perhaps some possibility of a slight acceleration. Powell, who has been on the Fed board for five years, has been a reliable ally in Yellen's go-slow policy on rate increases.</p>
<p>Many conservative members of Congress had been pushing Trump to select Taylor, rather than Powell, for Fed chairman. Taylor, one of the country's leading academics in the area of Fed policy, would likely embrace a more "hawkish" approach — more inclined to raise rates to fight inflation than to keep rates low to support the job market. Taylor is the author of a widely cited policy rule that provides a mathematical formula for guiding rate decisions. By one version of that rule, rates would be at least double what they are now.</p>
<p>Yellen, who was selected as Fed chair by President Barack Obama, has been an outspoken advocate for the stricter financial regulations that took effect in 2010 to prevent another crisis. If Powell proves more inclined to ease some of those regulations, he would have an ally on the board in Randal Quarles, a Trump nomine who has joined the board as its first vice chairman for supervision, a position from which he can lead the effort to loosen regulations. The seven-member board has three other vacancies, thereby providing Trump with additional ways to put his imprint on the central bank.</p>
<p>Some Fed watchers had speculated that Trump might try to install both Powell and Taylor — one as Fed chair, the other as vice chair, a spot that is also open. But some economists said that might risk disunity on the board: Taylor has been critical of the looser-money policies that Yellen and her predecessor, Ben Bernanke, pursued and might break with Powell on the pace of rate hikes. That prospect could unnerve markets.</p>
<p>Diane Swonk, chief economist at DS Economics, said that whoever gets the top job will likely oversee a slight increase in the pace of rate increases.</p>
<p>"My guess," she said, "is that the economic data will be a little stronger, and that will support more rate hikes next year."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP White House reporter Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.</p> | Administration official: Powell top candidate for Fed chair | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/30/fed-meeting-to-be-eclipsed-by-trumps-decision-on-fed-chair.html | 2017-10-30 | 0 |
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<p>AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas comptroller has terminated oil and gas industry-funded organization responsible for overseeing the protection of a rare lizard in West Texas.</p>
<p>State records show the Texas Habitat Conservation Foundation failed to perform habitat restoration or monitor drillers and other landowners to ensure protections for the dunes sagebrush lizard.</p>
<p>The Austin American-Statesman ( <a href="http://atxne.ws/1SlCdoJ" type="external">http://atxne.ws/1SlCdoJ</a> ) reports that State Comptroller Glenn Hegar terminated the foundation's contract last month after discovering those and other lapses.</p>
<p>The petroleum industry created the foundation four years ago to protect the lizard instead of listing the species as endangered, which could've severely limited oil production in the area.</p>
<p>At the time, conservationists said placing the species' well-being in the hands of a private organization was risky. A lawsuit two organization brought forth to stop the plan was unsuccessful.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Austin American-Statesman, <a href="http://www.statesman.com" type="external">http://www.statesman.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Texas terminates foundation formed to manage lizard species | false | https://abqjournal.com/746303/texas-terminates-foundation-formed-to-manage-lizard-species.html | 2 |
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<p>A pop quiz every now and then might be the best way to get the most out of employees, a new study finds.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Research published by the by the <a href="http://www.apa.org" type="external">American Psychological Association</a> revealed that older adults who haven't been in school for a while learn just as much from tests as do younger adults. And people of all ages learn more when tested on material, compared to when they simply re-read or re-study information.</p>
<p>"The use of testing as a way to learn new information has been thoroughly examined in young students," said the study's lead author, Ashley Meyer, a cognitive psychologist with the Houston Veterans Affairs Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence. "This research builds on that and supports the notion that educators, or even <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3238-employees-want-nonfinancial-benefits-and-money.html" type="external">employers</a>, can use tests to increase <a href="http://vocabulary-software-review.toptenreviews.com/?cmpid=ttr-bnd" type="external">learning in adults</a> of all ages."</p>
<p>As part of the study, researchers gave participants 15 minutes to study and read materials on four separate topics. The participants then took a <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2903-identify-arrogant-boss.html" type="external">multiple-choice test</a> on two of the four topics. The tests were then graded, and participants were given their scores.</p>
<p>Following that, the participants restudied the other two topics that the test had not covered. Some participants then took a final exam, which tested them on all four subjects. This exam was more difficult, since it required participants to write answers rather than simply select from multiple choices. Some participants took the test right away, while others took it two days later.</p>
<p>Researchers found that adults of various ages improved their retention of new information when they were tested on the material and received feedback on their scores, compared to when they just re-studied the material. And this improvement was similar to that shown by college students.</p>
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<p>"Both groups benefited from the initial testing more than the additional studying," Meyer said. "Taking the test and then being told how many answers they got wrong or correct was enough for these adults to improve their memory of the material as shown in a final, more difficult test."</p>
<p>Participants who took the final test on the same day as the study period did significantly better than those who took it a couple of days later. However, older adults, who presumably have poorer memories than <a href="http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3831-what-major-pays-college-grads-the-most.html" type="external">young college students</a>, still showed improved retention after a two-day delay for previously tested material as compared to re-studied material.</p>
<p>"Working adults often need to gain new skills or knowledge as they advance through their careers," said Meyer. "Our research suggests that testing may be one way to help them improve and move up."</p>
<p>The study, co-authored by Rice University's Jessica Logan, was recently published online in the journal Psychology and Aging.</p>
<p>Follow Chad Brooks @ <a href="http://www.twitter.com/cbrooks76" type="external">cbrooks76</a>. Follow us @ <a href="http://twitter.com/BNDarticles" type="external">BNDarticles</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/BusinessNewsDaily" type="external">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://plus.google.com/113390396142026041164/posts" type="external">Google+</a>.</p> | Pop Quizzes at Work? Employees Learn From Testing | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/03/11/pop-quizzes-at-work-employees-learn-from-testing.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
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<p>Maj. Gen. Russ Handy braves a sandstorm at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq, Sept. 27, 2011. As the commander of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force-Iraq and director of Air Component Coordination Element-Iraq, the general is the senior US Air Force representative in Iraq and represents the combined force’s air component commander to the commanding general of US Forces-Iraq. (US Air Force <a href="http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/110927-F-MJ260-002w.jpg" type="external">photo</a>/Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo)</p>
<p /> | We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for October 18, 2011 | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/10/were-still-war-photo-day-october-18-2011/ | 2011-10-18 | 4 |
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<p>Cybersecurity has certainly become a serious topic of discussion in the last few years, particularly since the emergence of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower organization that seeks to make public the private doings of the government and other large organizations. This calls national security into question as it hangs in a delicate balance with freedom of the press, freedom of information, and a citizen’s right to know.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the <a href="Freedom%20of%20the%20Press%20Foundation%20Established" type="external">Freedom of the Press Foundation</a> was established to fund four media outlets:&#160;The National Security Archive, MuckRock News, The UpTake, and WikiLeaks. The press release reads:</p>
<p>“Notable journalists and free expression advocates today launched the Freedom of the Press Foundation, an organization designed to crowd-source funding for cutting-edge, independent journalism and publishing outlets that expose government and corporate mismanagement, corruption, and law breaking.”</p>
<p>Co-founder Trevor Timm continues:</p>
<p>“Seeking the truth in reporting without fear or favor is one of the great traditions of journalism and the foundation that underlies the First Amendment. We aim to support economic independence in the Fourth Estate, so that hard-hitting investigative journalism doesn’t end up on the cutting-room floor because of government or corporate censorship.”</p>
<p>Two Huffington Post writers published an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-ellsberg/wikileaks-funding_b_2313376.html" type="external">article</a> about the initiative (of which they are involved) titled Crowdfunding the Right to Know, which along with social media outlets like Twitter, is becoming a means to penetrate the mainstream media’s monopoly on information and, most importantly, perception.</p>
<p>After WikiLeaks exposed the Pentagon Papers in 2010, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Representative Peter King (R-NY) pressured certain financial organizations that allowed funding processing for Wikileaks such as PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, and Bank of America, to stop accepting donations to that website.&#160;This eliminated 95% of WikiLeaks funding, almost overnight. As stated by Freedom of the Press Foundation, funding is a form of speech, and limiting such funding is thus a limit on free speech.</p>
<p>After all, the Citizens United Supreme Court case offered protections to corporations’ free speech via campaign finance. Doesn’t good journalism warrant the same protections? Or, a fierce offensive to ensure its perpetuation?</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Freedom of the Press Foundation Established | false | https://ivn.us/2012/12/18/freedom-of-the-press-foundation-established-2/ | 2012-12-18 | 2 |
<p>Overwatch has been a great success for Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), reaching over 30 million registered players in its first year since release.&#160;Now, the attention turns to Overwatch League -- a professional competitive gaming league based on the hit game.</p>
<p>Specifically, investors want to know: Is Overwatch League going to be profitable?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>On their second-quarter conference call with analysts in August, Activision management gave its first guidance on when to expect revenue from Overwatch League, and they also gave some insight about the League's profitability.</p>
<p>First, let's review what they said about revenue.</p>
<p>Activision sold 12 teams for the inaugural season of Overwatch League.&#160;On the company's second-quarter conference call, CFO Spencer Neumann, speaking about the revenue opportunity from team sales, said, "we do expect some revenue upside to [the fourth quarter of 2017], but it will be modest given the recognition of team sale proceeds over multiple years."Spreading team sales out over time will lessen the immediate impact esports will have on Blizzard's top line in the short term.</p>
<p>Turning to profits, Neumann essentially telegraphed to investors not to expect any profit any time soon. Here's what he said: "From an operating income perspective, the revenue recognition of team sales will be partially offset by the investment required to launch the league, including inaugural season marketing."</p>
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<p>In addition, Neumann explained, "we see a number of important upcoming milestones, including standing up league operations, supporting teams development of player rosters, attracting sponsors, elevating the viewer experience and securing media distribution."</p>
<p>Neumann went on to explain that management is investing in Overwatch League for the long term and they see it as a "substantial long-term <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/24/the-3-biggest-opportunities-for-activision-blizzar.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=3a05bc3c-b9c5-11e7-8134-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">value driver Opens a New Window.</a> for the business."</p>
<p>I interpret all of this to mean it's going to take at least a full year of operation for Activision Blizzard to get Overwatch League running smoothly, not to mention signing up more teams to get the League at a size it can generate enough revenue to matter for shareholders.</p>
<p>But, yes, it does seem from Neumann's comments that management is expecting&#160;Overwatch League to generate a profit, just not in the short term.</p>
<p>Management did not offer further specific guidance on Overwatch League during this week's third-quarter conference call, though they continued to talk optimistically of the endeavor.</p>
<p>Said Michael Morhaime, president and CEO of Blizzard Entertainment:</p>
<p>With generous play contracts, player benefits, retirement savings plans for participating players, and teams representing major cities around the world, there's never been an esports undertaking like this before. We won't know exactly what the magnitude of this league will be until it gets underway next year. Even then it may take awhile for <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/10/21/3-things-about-esports-you-probably-didnt-know.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=3a05bc3c-b9c5-11e7-8134-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">esports Opens a New Window.</a> to become a meaningful contributor to Activision's bottom line. It certainly has a lot of promise and investors will be watching closely.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Activision BlizzardWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=22d18a8a-8d2b-4f1d-b451-504fa3495798&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=3a05bc3c-b9c5-11e7-8134-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Activision Blizzard wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=22d18a8a-8d2b-4f1d-b451-504fa3495798&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=3a05bc3c-b9c5-11e7-8134-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of October 9, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFRazorback/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=3a05bc3c-b9c5-11e7-8134-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">John Ballard Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Activision Blizzard. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Activision Blizzard. 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;referring_guid=3a05bc3c-b9c5-11e7-8134-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | When Will Activision Blizzard’s Overwatch League Be Profitable? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/10/when-will-activision-blizzard-s-overwatch-league-be-profitable.html | 2017-11-10 | 0 |
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<p>Image source: SodaStream.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA)has never shied away from throwing a punch, even if it's not a carbonated fruit punch. The company behind the namesake machine that turns flat water into sparkling beverages is at war with the bottled water industry. It fired the first shot, just as it did when it was heaving shells at Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) in its prime. It's basking in the glow of when its foe strikes back.</p>
<p>SodaStream kicked off its latest marketing campaign -- Shame or Glory -- by aiming at buyers of bottled water. The ad starsHannah Waddingham and Thor "The Mountain" Bjornsson fromGame of Thrones. Waddington recreates her bell-ringing Septa Unella character, following a buyer of bottled water around and chanting "shame" as the bell tolls. Bjornsson pops up near the end of the spot, having already starred in an <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/03/sodastream-still-hopes-to-get-the-last-laugh.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">earlier SodaStream campaign Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>As you can probably imagine, the campaign isn't going over too well for those who rely on selling bottled water for a living. The International Bottled Water Association reportedly fired off a cease and desist letter, asking SodaStream to nix the attack. SodaStream, naturally, is milking the publicity. It put out a press release on Wednesday rejecting the gag order. It's a strategy that initially worked a couple of years ago when Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were the targets, so it's not going to back down when butting heads with a much larger corporate entity.</p>
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<p>SodaStream isn't afraid to rattle cages. It rolled out Super Bowl ads bashing Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, and when the ads were banned by the network -- it happened twice -- it made the most of the opportunity by having the commercials go viral. SodaStream also wheeled out public displays showing the number of bottles and cans that a typical family goes through in a given year, and once again, the soda giants tried to put an end to the campaign.</p>
<p>If there's any company that relishes the aftermath of crossing the line, it's SodaStream. When it was positioning its flagship product as a soda maker, it knew that it was a hard sell to market it on value. SodaStream sodas may be cheaper than Coca-Cola or PepsiCo, but it wasn't always cheaper than store brands given the high cost of soda syrups. Pitching its product on convenience was also a mixed bag. Folks having to lug soda bottles or cans around for store-bought sodas is a hassle, but the soda-creation process and swapping out carbonator tanks are knocks against the platform.</p>
<p>SodaStream's marketing would have had an easier time knocking the health benefits of its soft drinks since they contain a third of the calories, carbs, and sugar found in Coca-Cola's and PepsiCo's non-diet rivals, but the low-hanging fruit has always been to play the environmental card. It worked in competing against soft drink giants, and it's apparently working even better now that sparkling water is SodaStream's primary focus.</p>
<p>SodaStream stock is hot, soaring 126% so far this year. Revenue climbed 13% in its latest quarter, posting double-digit top-line growth every single period in 2016. This may not seem like much of an achievement, but you have to go all the way back to 2013 to find the last time that SodaStream had posted year-over-year growth in the double digits the way it has consistently done this year. Profits are growing even faster, as SodaStream cements its product's status as a "must-own" appliance for drinkers of carbonated water.</p>
<p>SodaStream is making enemies, because it's making friends, and that's something that can help give any business model a leg up on the steamed competition.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than SodaStream When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=9f265388-8479-4bb0-b382-f9cf9b7f4bbb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and SodaStream wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBreakerRick/info.aspx" type="external">Rick Munarriz Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends PepsiCo. The Motley Fool owns shares of SodaStream. The Motley Fool recommends Coca-Cola. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | SodaStream Is Making Enemies Again and That's Great | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/25/sodastream-is-making-enemies-again-and-that-great.html | 2016-11-25 | 0 |
<p>Attempting to shield Islam and Muslims from critical analysis in light of a <a href="" type="internal">clumsy comment</a> recently made by Donald Trump, Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace took it upon himself to infer the true meaning of the Republican front-runner’s statement in order to erect a straw man argument. Implying that Trump was indicting the entirety of the world's Muslims as haters of America, Wallace provided his own version of <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2014/09/04/myth-tiny-radical-minority/" type="external">The Myth Of The Tiny Radical Muslim Minority</a> as a retort.</p>
<p>Conflating hatred of Americans with taking up arms for Islamic terrorism as one and the same, Wallace constructed his straw man argument. Building on the false premise that Trump was incriminating all of the world’s Muslims - apparently 1.6 billion - as anti-American haters, Wallace proceeded to assert that the “best experts” estimate the number of active Islamic terrorists at around 100,000.</p>
<p>“You’ve also created a controversy this week with your comments about Islam. Now Mr. Trump, there are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world today, and according to the best experts, think tanks all around the world they say at most 100,000 people are fighting for Jihadist causes. It’s a tiny fraction of one percent,” said Wallace, laying out his premise.</p>
<p>“So why draw a battle line against an entire religion including major countries that are helping us in the war against ISIS?” asked Wallace.</p>
<p>Failing to directly dismantle the false premise of Wallace’s question, Trump asserted that a much higher share of Muslims are willing to take up arms against America.</p>
<p>“You’re saying that out of one and a half billion, a hundred thousand, right? Let me tell you, whoever did that survey was about as wrong as you can get. It’s 27%, could be 35% would go to war, the hatred is tremendous, Chris,” responded Trump.</p>
<p>“There’s something going on, whether you like it or not. Radical Islamic terrorism is taking place all over the world. You look at what happened in <a href="" type="internal">Paris</a>. You look at what happened in <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/02/san-bernadino-mass-shooting/" type="external">California</a>recently with the fourteen people killed by co-workers, by people where they gave ‘em baby showers, and then they walk in and they kill ‘em. They shoot ‘em. They had no guns. They had no weapons. They had no nothing. They shot ‘em. They killed ‘em all. I mean, there’s something going on, Chris. We can be very nice, and we can be very naive and say that everything’s wonderful. All you have to do is look all over the world. There’s a great hatred out there,” added Trump.</p>
<p>Rewinding the clock to the context of the Second World War, Wallace’s journalistic antecedents would have warned Americans not to induct Germany or Japan, given the fraction of both nations’ persons that were uniformed combatants. Moving into the onset of the Cold War, Wallace’s narrative would have cautioned against unfair generalizations of the Soviet Union given the limited percentage of its population that were ready for combat in its military.</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | Wallace Goes To Bat For Muslims Against Trump With Straw Man Argument | true | https://dailywire.com/news/4089/wallace-goes-bat-islammuslims-against-trump-robert-kraychik | 2016-03-13 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">AOL</a> Inc is expanding its local news network, Patch, with the launch of 33 sites in targeted states as the United States gears up for a national election.</p>
<p>The Patch sites are rolling out in communities in New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina -- key states that play an early role in the U.S. presidential election.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>AOL plans to hire approximately 50 employees to staff up the new hyperlocal sites as part of a broad expansion of its editorial operations following the $315 million purchase of the <a href="" type="internal">Huffington Post</a> in February.</p>
<p>Hyperlocal sites focus on specialized topics, including issues of interest only to people in a well-defined community-sized area.</p>
<p>The additional Patches bring the total number in the network to 837 located in more than 20 states and Washington D.C.</p>
<p>"(It is) a way for us to leverage this great network to bring in real-time news," said <a href="" type="internal">Arianna Huffington</a>, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group. "All voices will be welcomed and encouraged if they clear the quality bar -- it's not a free-for-all."</p>
<p>Huffington spoke ahead of the Reuters Global Technology Summit, where she and AOL's CEO, Tim Armstrong, were expected to speak later on Monday.</p>
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<p>AOL is making a significant bet on Patch to help transform the company into a media and entertainment powerhouse.</p>
<p>Patch was founded by AOL's Armstrong in 2007 when he was serving as president of the Americas at <a href="" type="internal">Google</a> Inc. In a story that Armstrong repeats at industry conferences, the idea of Patch came to him when he could not find local volunteer opportunities for his family one weekend.</p>
<p>Armstrong was appointed chief executive of AOL in April 2009 and under his watch the company bought Patch in June 2009.</p>
<p>The hyperlocal network is one of the key components that AOL is depending on to boost revenue. In the first quarter, AOL reported that total revenue fell 17 percent on an 11 percent decline in advertising revenue.</p>
<p>Though for the first time in three years, display advertising revenue -- big splashy units that appear on Web pages -- increased 4 percent.</p>
<p>AOL spent $70 million in 2010 expanding Patch and plans to spend $160 million, or $40 million per quarter, in 2011.</p>
<p>So far, Patch has been unprofitable but AOL expects to see some Patch in the black by the end of this year.</p> | AOL Expands Local News Network in U.S. | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/05/16/aol-expands-local-news-detwork.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>Despite its reputation as one of the greatest party countries on the planet and home of the world's largest gay pride parade, Brazil has&#160; <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/08/brazil-s-surge-in-violence-against-gays-is-just-getting-worse.html" type="external">a startling violent streak</a>directed at&#160;the&#160;LGBT community. Hate crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are incredibly common and despite calls from rights groups, the violence hasn't abated.</p>
<p>Grupo Gay da Bahia (GGB), the country's oldest and largest gay rights advocacy group, reports there was <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/159703/brazil-crossroads-lgbt-rights" type="external">a gay hate crime every 36 hours in 2011</a>, and the numbers are only growing. In the first weeks of 2012, 75 people have already been murdered - just for being gay.&#160;</p>
<p>Brazil allows same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples, and even includes gender reassignment surgery in state-sponsored medical procedures. But GGB's report suggests the truth is different than what meets the eye, in that many Brazilians are stridently homophobic.</p>
<p>The murder of Edson Neris de Silva by 18 skinheads in a public square in 2000 caught the country's attention and brought the issue of gay hate crimes into the open. De Silva's death sparked a call for anti-hate crime legislation.&#160;</p>
<p>Ten years later in 2010, a 14-year-old was strangled and beaten to death by skinheads in Sao Paulo. His mother <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13890258" type="external">said to the BBC</a>, "Brazil is a very hypocritical society, it pretends to be tolerant but it isn't. We have the best Carnival in the world and it appears that everyone lives together harmoniously, yet gay couples still can't kiss in public." She added, "Every time we have a march to promote tolerance, the Church groups organize an even bigger one in the name of the family."&#160;</p>
<p>Luiz Mott is the founder and head of GGB, and a long-time gay rights activist. In two 2009 and 2010 <a href="http://terramagazine.terra.com.br/interna/0,,OI4796310-EI6578,00-Mott+sobre+ataques+a+gays+Igrejas+tem+maos+sujas+de+sangue.html" type="external">interviews with Terra Magazine</a>, Mott blamed evangelical religious groups for country's lingering culture of hate.</p>
<p>There is "a whole cultural and institutional homophobia that still exists and has, in evangelical churches and Catholic churches, the great manufacturing centers for such ideological weapons," he said. "Christian churches in general have their hands stained with blood, the intolerance that spread in pulpits and on television. They provide ideological ammunition to those who have hatred for homosexuals, so that this hatred will increase."</p>
<p>Mott also attacked former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva&#160;for not doing enough to combat the homophobia coming from the other side of the aisle for fear of alienating the churches.</p>
<p>"Lula had a lack of political will to pass nearly a dozen laws in Congress aimed at full homosexual citizenship," said Mott. "To enact such laws, political will and pressure by the executive on the legislature were necessary. Lula, unfortunately, lacked the courage and boldness to press his power base."</p>
<p>Much of the violence seems to originate away from the Church, however. Many of the murders and attacks on gay men, women, and transgendered people have been&#160; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WotXp85a6co" type="external">perpetrated by skinheads and neo-Nazis</a> as retaliation for passage of pro-gay legislation such as a gay marriage law, and recently in retaliation for controversial "gay kits," which were to be used in schools to teach children about homosexuality. (The kit was lauded by gay rights advocates and later vetoed by President Dilma Rousseff.)</p>
<p>There is presently no hate crime law in Brazil that addresses homophobia, although there is one that criminalizes prejudice on&#160;on the "grounds of race, colour, religion, or national origin," according to the BBC, and President Rousseff faces trouble from her party for not doing enough to combat this violent homophobia.&#160;</p>
<p>"Brazil is at a pivotal moment in its history," said <a href="http://blog.amnestyusa.org/iar/homophobic-hates-crimes-spreading-throughout-brazil/" type="external">Amnesty International's US blog</a>. "The new administration can choose between allowing hate crimes to continue festering the nation's stance towards human rights, or promote respect and equality for all."</p> | Rights group: One gay Brazilian murdered per day | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-04-13/rights-group-one-gay-brazilian-murdered-day | 2012-04-13 | 3 |
<p>A Red Arrow pilot died Tuesday after being ejected from his aircraft reportedly while it was on the runway.</p>
<p>It was the second death involving a jed from the British military's Red Arrows aerobatic display team: in August, Afghanistan war veteran Flight Lt. Jon Egging, 33, was killed when his jet crashed during an air show in southern England.</p>
<p>(GlobalPost reports: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/110820/red-arrows-crash-bournemouth-air-show-military-video" type="external">Red Arrows fatal crash at Bournemouth under military investigation</a>)</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>All 126 of the Red Arrow team's training jets were briefly grounded after the August accident.</p>
<p>The Royal Air Force had opened an investigation into Tuesday's incident, <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/world/8691884-418/red-arrows-stunt-pilot-dies-after-ejecting-from-plane.html" type="external">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p>
<p>The aviator's name was not released, although Group Cpt. Simon Blake said family members had been informed.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/8878023/Second-tragedy-hits-Red-Arrows-team.html" type="external">Daily Telegraph</a> reported that the ejector seat was triggered while the Red Arrow pilot's Hawk T1 aircraft was on the runway, and that the incident had raised questions about the team's future.&#160;</p>
<p>Red Arrow pilots have used the Hawk T1, which has a top speed of Mach 1.2, since 1979, <a href="http://www.news.com.au/world/daredevil-red-arrows-pilot-dies-after-ejector-crash/story-e6frfkyi-1226189745182" type="external">News.com</a>reported.</p>
<p>According to the AP, other flight demonstration teams - including the US Air Force's Thunderbirds and the US Navy's Blue Angels - have had deaths in training and during displays, "although they are relatively rare."</p>
<p>In 2007, Blue Angels pilot Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Davis died at an air show in South Carolina when he briefly lost control of his F/A 18 Hornet jet.</p>
<p>Canada's Snowbirds have had several fatal accidents, most recently a training crash in 2007 that killed a pilot.</p> | Red Arrow pilot dies after ejecting while on runway (VIDEO) | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-09/red-arrow-pilot-dies-after-ejecting-while-runway-video | 2011-11-09 | 3 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://libertyunyielding.com/?attachment_id=1425" type="external" />Knife-wielding union thugs went on a violent rampage in Lansing, Mich., after the state legislature passed a right-to-work bill on Tuesday.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://twitchy.com/2012/12/11/new-tone-mich-democrat-threatens-violence-over-right-to-work-vote-there-will-be-blood/" type="external">reports</a> from the scene, a tent set up by the conservative <a href="http://www.examiner.com/topic/americans-for-prosperity" type="external">Americans for Prosperity</a> was torn down and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/video/union-thugs-destroy-afp-tent-after-right-to-work-bill-passes-legislature" type="external">destroyed</a>, and Fox News contributor Steven Crowder was assaulted.</p>
<p />
<p>“The protesters shouted ‘scab’ and ‘Walmart tent’ as they advanced,” Lee Stranahan wrote at <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/11/Exclusive-union-crowd-destroys-tent-with-people-inside-at-Michigan-protest" type="external">Breitbart.com</a>. “The tent had been used by AFP to house members who were reportedly threatened at last week’s demonstration,” he added.</p>
<p>“This is what democracy looks like,” they <a href="http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/12/union-thugs-destroy-trample-afp-tent-rough-up-conservatives-at-michigan-state-capital-grounds-video/" type="external">chanted</a> as they destroyed the tent.</p>
<p>According to Crowder, women and children were in the tent when it was destroyed, and he was punched in the face four times.</p>
<p>Crowder said he did not respond with violence, but expressed concern that union protesters would have killed him.</p>
<p>“The mob would have literally killed me,” he said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/scrowder/statuses/278562411731103745" type="external">tweet</a>.</p>
<p>Earlier in the day, Rep. Douglas Geiss, a Democrat from Taylor, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/michigan-democrat-on-right-to-work-bill-there-will-be-blood" type="external">threatened violence</a> if the bill passed.</p>
<p>“We are about to undo 100 years of [labor progress]. There will be blood on the streets,” he said during a debate on the bill.</p>
<p>“We will relive the Battle of the Overpass,” he said recalling a 1937 <a href="http://libcom.org/history/battle-overpass" type="external">incident</a> where labor organizers clashed with security guards working for Ford Motor Company.</p>
<p>Michigan Democrats proudly tweeted Geiss’ threat, but <a href="http://twitchy.com/2012/12/11/new-tone-mich-democrat-threatens-violence-over-right-to-work-vote-there-will-be-blood/" type="external">Twitchy</a> said the threatening tweet was deleted after violence broke out.</p>
<p>Video of union thugs destroying the AFP tent follows:</p>
<p>Democrat Douglas Geiss threatens violence if the bill passes:</p>
<p>Crowder assaulted by union thugs:</p>
<p>Related:</p>
<p /> | Union thugs go on violent rampage over right to work bill, assault Steven Crowder | true | http://conservativefiringline.com/232/ | 2012-12-12 | 0 |
<p>When the young woman was preparing to open a business in Jamaica selling pipes, vaporizers and other smoking paraphernalia, some acquaintances suggested she would have difficulty succeeding in a niche trade dominated by men.</p>
<p>Now, about a year-and-a-half after its launch at a hotel complex in Jamaica's capital, Ravn Rae's smoking supplies store is growing and she's proving doubters wrong in a Caribbean country where women have made such big advances in professions once dominated by men that a new U.N. study says it has the world's highest proportion of female bosses.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"Women are the ones who are the main breadwinners. We push harder to earn," says Rae at her smoke shop, which she hopes to soon expand into a medical marijuana dispensary if lawmakers pass a decriminalization bill and allow a regulated cannabis industry. For now, she manages one saleswoman.</p>
<p>According to data analyzed by the International Labor Organization, nearly 60 percent of managers in Jamaica are women, including those who work for large companies and those, like Rae, who own their own businesses. That's the globe's highest percentage and way ahead of developed countries. Colombia, at 53 percent, and St. Lucia, at 52 percent, are the only other nations in the world where women are more likely than men to be the boss, according to the ILO's ranking of 108 countries. The highest ranking first world nation is the United States, with almost 43 percent, and the lowest is Japan, at 11 percent.</p>
<p>Overall, women in the Caribbean and parts of Latin America make up the managerial ranks to a greater extent than in the developed world. Experts say the gain is due in part to improvements in the level of female education, but also because men have failed to keep pace and have in some cases gone backward.</p>
<p>The Caribbean and Latin America have seen such big improvements in the economic and social status of women that gender gaps in education, labor force participation, access to health systems and political engagement "have narrowed, closed and sometimes even reversed direction," according to a World Bank study that analyzed women's economic empowerment in the region. More women are receiving advanced degrees even as a number also juggle household and child-rearing responsibilities.</p>
<p>But while government officials and educators celebrate that fact they also have serious worries about stagnating men, who have lower levels of academic achievement and are at increased risk of falling into criminality, trends that undermine the gains by females.</p>
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<p>Wayne Campbell, a Jamaican high school teacher who blogs about the problem of male underachievement, believes "toxic" notions about masculinity permeate entire communities, reinforced by a popular music culture that often celebrates law-breaking. Boys who display school smarts are often ridiculed as effeminate by peers and even adults in areas where academic excellence by males is typically devalued, he says.</p>
<p>"It's almost as if manhood and masculinity have been hijacked by a thug culture far removed from education," he said.</p>
<p>From the southern country of Trinidad &amp; Tobago to the northern archipelago of the Bahamas, Caribbean education ministries have focused attention for years trying to solve the worrying reality of male underachievement and the social problems it leaves in its wake. Grace McLean, Jamaica's chief education officer, says "it is evident that boys' underachievement in the education system is weighing heavily on national socio-economic development."</p>
<p>Regional educators say the scale of academic underachievement by boys, a trend which is mirrored in other parts of the world including the U.S., points to the need for systemic changes in the way that lessons are planned and delivered. Many schools in the Caribbean have experimented with approaches large and small to better engage boys, but results have typically been mixed when they haven't been considered outright failures.</p>
<p>In 2010, Trinidad and Tobago transformed about a fifth of its co-educational secondary schools into single-sex institutions to address underperformance. But the pilot program was scrapped after officials found students did not improve in single-sex classrooms.</p>
<p>But educators in Jamaica say the research they have conducted has shown that boys in single-sex schools do better than those in co-educational ones. In one co-ed Kingston primary school, the principal is now experimenting with single-sex classrooms and she says the results are promising.</p>
<p>"We're finding that reading levels are improving and the boys are more focused and engaged when they learn by themselves," said principal Candi Lee Crooks-Smith at Allman Town Primary, where exuberant 8-year-old boys in one classroom learned math lessons on a recent morning by taking turns juggling a soccer ball with a male trainee teacher.</p>
<p>Not everyone is convinced regional women are close to pulling ahead of men in Caribbean societies. Camille Hernandez-Ramdwar, an associate professor of sociology at Canada's Ryerson University who researches Caribbean cultures, said the majority of top positions are still dominated by men, even if countries like Jamaica and Trinidad have female heads of state. She says women in the Caribbean still "have to contend with old boy networks, male privilege, and males dominating in the justice, social, political and religious systems."</p>
<p>But with far more women pursuing higher education compared to men, the gender gap could grow lopsided. For years, there's been a steady 70-30 ratio in favor of women at the University of the West Indies, a public university system serving 18 Caribbean countries and territories.</p>
<p>"Caribbean culture has a laid-back, slow-paced vibe. But generally, Caribbean men are a lot more relaxed than the women," Rae says, checking inventory at her smoke shop.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmcfadd</p> | Gender gap in Caribbean broadens as women rise in work force, while men stagnate | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/02/11/gender-gap-in-caribbean-broadens-as-women-rise-in-work-force-while-men-stagnate.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals , a globally diversified biotechnology company, shed another 12% of its value in June, based on data from <a href="https://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>. The reason for the drop appears to be concerns tied to PCSK9 inhibitor Praluent.</p>
<p>So what: Regeneron's woes can actually be traced back more than three months to mid-March when a Delaware jury decided that Regeneron and collaborative partner Sanofi had infringed on two of Amgen's patents for Repatha, its PCSK9 inhibitor. Regeneron and Sanofi announced plans to appeal the decision, but it leaves Praluent, a possible blockbuster drug that's designed to lower LDL-cholesterol levels -- the bad kind -- in limbo.</p>
<p>One solution for Regeneron and Sanofi could include admitting patent-infringement guilt, and forging a royalty agreement with Amgen. Some analysts, according to FiercePharma, believe a royalty arrangement could cost the duo between 5% and 20% of total sales.</p>
<p>The other option, assuming their appeal is denied, is worse. Praluent could wind up being completely barred from sale in the United States, leaving Amgen's Repatha as the lone approved PCSK9 inhibitor.As long as Praluent's future remains uncertain, Regeneron's share price could be quite volatile.</p>
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<p>Image source: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>Now what: Regeneron is now forced to fight a number of "battles." In addition to its court battle with Amgen over Repatha, Regeneron is dealing with skeptical investors, who've focused on slowing year-over-year growth for eye drug Eylea. The company recently upped its full-year sales growth for Eylea to a range of 20% to 25% in 2016, but this is down substantially from the 47% year-over-year growth Eylea delivered in 2015, from 2014.</p>
<p>Despite these near-term concerns, I believe the recent downside in Regeneron could be overstated. Eylea's growth isn't slowing so much as it's reaching a steadier percentage of available patients. It'll remain a growth driver for both Regeneron and Sanofi for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Additionally, Regeneron has a promising pipeline that could rapidly expand its top line. In early June, Regeneron and Sanofi announced the results of their LIBERTY AD CHRONOS phase 3 study of dupilumab in combination with topical corticosteroids as a treatment for moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis. Dupilumab wound up meeting both the primary and key secondary endpoints in the study. A regulatory submission for dupilumab is expected this quarter.</p>
<p>Worries over Praluent have pushed Regeneron below a PEG of two, a figure that it's regularly been above for years, implying that it could be attractively priced relative to its other high-growth biotech peers. It's true that Praluent's future is still up in the air, but Regeneron is far more than just Praluent. My suggestion would be to take this recent dip in its share price as an opportunity to further dig into Regeneron's pipeline and underlying fundamentals.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/13/heres-why-regeneron-pharmaceuticals-inc-dropped-an.aspx" type="external">Here's Why Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dropped Another 12% in June Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a>has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/tmfultralong.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle <a href="http://twitter.com/#%21/TMFUltraLong" type="external">@TMFUltraLong Opens a New Window.</a>.The Motley Fool owns shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. 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> | Here's Why Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dropped Another 12% in June | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/13/here-why-regeneron-pharmaceuticals-inc-dropped-another-12-in-june.html | 2016-07-13 | 0 |
<p>Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen‘s ministry has gone viral, but not in the way he’d like.</p>
<p>Since Hurricane Harvey rained down destruction on the Houston area, Osteen’s initial failure to open his church’s doors to flood victims quickly became a trending topic on social media.</p>
<p>When called out, Osteen claimed that “safety issues” prevented him from using the church as a shelter, then he said it was because the city never asked. “If they would have asked us to become a shelter early on, we would have prepared for it,” he told the Today show <a href="" type="internal">on Wednesday</a>.</p>
<p>But the excuses didn’t do him any good and the memes because circulating with a furor.</p>
<p>Below are a few examples:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>[at Sunday school]</p>
<p>Joel Osteen: Why did Noah take animals on the Ark?</p>
<p>8 year old: Because Twitter shamed him into being a good Christian?</p>
<p>— Frederick Douglass (@HITEXECUTIVE) <a href="https://twitter.com/HITEXECUTIVE/status/902914507038629888" type="external">August 30, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>https://twitter.com/alamanecer/status/903002511543603202</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>https://twitter.com/TheMeemStreams/status/903636305564794881</p>
<p />
<p>[ <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/joel-osteen-memes-houston_us_59a902f8e4b0354e44093d3b?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004" type="external">HuffPo</a>] Featured image via Twitter</p> | Internet turns Joel Osteen into the meme he was always meant to be | true | http://deadstate.org/internet-turns-joel-osteen-into-the-meme-he-was-always-meant-to-be/ | 2017-09-01 | 4 |
<p>In just three years, Earth Hour has spread from Australia to more than 4,000 cities around the world, and environmentalists are thrilled with the results. Participants in 88 countries killed the lights for an hour on Saturday to call attention to the dangers of climate change.</p>
<p>AP via Google:</p>
<p>From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Empire State building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday night to highlight the threat of climate change. Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries dimmed nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.</p>
<p>WWF called the event, which began in Australia in 2007 and grew last year to 400 cities worldwide, “the world’s first-ever global vote about the future of our planet.”</p>
<p />
<p>The United Nations’ top climate official, Yvo de Boer, called the event a clear sign that the world wants negotiators seeking a climate change agreement to set an ambitious course to fight global warming.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jTPC5ic6tJh9PiHscwgOANkJ17-wD977R3400?index=6&amp;ned=us" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Turning Off the Lights Gives Activists a Charge | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/turning-off-the-lights-gives-activists-a-charge/ | 2009-03-30 | 4 |
<p>Chances are that Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller III isn’t the only person giving President Trump sleepless nights about the roiling charges of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in connection with the 2016 presidential election. The odds are that the names “Rod Wheeler” and “Seth Rich” also have given Trump a restless turn or two in the wee small hours.</p>
<p>Rich was a Democratic National Committee staffer who was murdered on July 10, 2016, on a Washington, D.C., street at the age of 27. Since his death, which remains officially an unsolved homicide, right-wing media has been <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-08-02/seth-rich-investigator-accusations-debunked-own-interviews-seymour-hersh-leak-kills-" type="external">abuzz with stories</a> suggesting it was Rich, described as a disgruntled Bernie Sanders supporter, who gave WikiLeaks the damaging DNC emails that were published to so much fanfare during the campaign. Rich was gunned down from behind, the stories maintain, in reprisal for the leak, and to help promote the now-dominant mainstream account that Russian agents had hacked into the DNC’s computers and sent the committee’s emails to WikiLeaks.</p>
<p>On May 16, Fox News weighed in on Rich’s murder with a blockbuster article by reporter Malia Zimmerman that was <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20170516133954/http:/www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05/16/slain-dnc-staffer-had-contact-with-wikileaks-investigator-says.html" type="external">published on the network’s website</a>. Zimmerman wrote that “law enforcement sources [had] told Fox News” that Rich had provided “thousands of internal [DNC] emails to WikiLeaks.”</p>
<p>The only source quoted in Zimmerman’s piece, however, was Rod Wheeler, a former D.C. homicide detective who currently works as a private investigation consultant and also has served as a Fox News commentator on law enforcement subjects since 2005. In March, Rich’s family hired Wheeler to look into their son’s murder with funds provided by a wealthy, Dallas-based Republican donor and Trump backer named Ed Butowsky.</p>
<p />
<p>Zimmerman quoted Wheeler in her article as saying: “My investigation up to this point shows there was some degree of email exchange between Seth Rich and WikiLeaks.” Another quote has Wheeler adding: “My investigation shows someone within the DC government, Democratic National Committee or Clinton team is blocking the murder investigation from going forward.”</p>
<p>Following the article’s posting online, several Fox News television personalities — including Lou Dobbs, Steve Doocy and Sean Hannity — hyped the story on air. On his May 16 show, Hannity told viewers, referring to <a href="http://www.nationalmemo.com/email-gives-away-pro-trump-medias-seth-rich-game/" type="external">Zimmerman’s report</a>, that “explosive developments” [in the Rich story] “could completely shatter the narrative that, in fact, WikiLeaks was working with the Russians, or there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”</p>
<p>One week later, however, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2017/05/23/fox-news-retracts-its-seth-rich-story-can-it-also-retract-sean-hannity/?tid=a_inl&amp;utm_term=.bf3e69e77a0f" type="external">network retracted Zimmerman’s article</a> and removed it from its website. The retraction was accompanied by an official statement acknowledging that “[t]he article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.”</p>
<p>Wheeler also sought an apology from Fox, claiming that Zimmerman’s story had misquoted him. The network declined. On Aug. 1, Wheeler filed a federal defamation and civil rights lawsuit in New York against Fox, Zimmerman and Butowsky, alleging that Zimmerman’s story was “fake news,” and that his reputation, credibility and career had been irreparably damaged by the false quotes Zimmerman had attributed to him. The suit also claims Zimmerman’s story was prepared with advance approval and encouragement from the Trump administration.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Wheeler-Filed-Complaint.pdf" type="external">Wheeler’s 33-page complaint</a>, the defendants worked together to publish Zimmerman’s report to “shift the blame” for the release of the DNC’s emails “from Russia and help put to bed speculation that President Trump colluded with Russia in an attempt to influence the outcome of the Presidential election.”</p>
<p>Unlike <a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3893506/Invasion-of-Privacy-lawsuit-complaint-Trump.pdf" type="external">some civil complaints</a> that have been filed against Trump since the election, Wheeler’s is highly detailed and specific, in keeping with <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2008/07-1015" type="external">recent Supreme Court case law</a> interpreting the requirements for legal pleadings under the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/rule_8" type="external">Federal Rules of Civil Procedure</a>. In a footnote, the complaint asserts that “[e]very quotation [it contains] is from an email, text message, published news article and/or recorded or videotaped conversation.”</p>
<p>Wheeler is represented by a gritty boutique law firm — Wigdor LLP, which has its offices on Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron section of Manhattan and specializes in employment and civil rights litigation, criminal law and catastrophic personal injury torts. Although the firm has only 12 lawyers, it is no stranger to high-profile cases. According to the <a href="https://www.wigdorlaw.com/the-firm/" type="external">practice’s website</a>, founding partner Douglas Wigdor represented the hotel maid in the Dominique Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case, and currently represents the victim in the Uber rape case (that recently led to numerous executive resignations), as well as over 20 Fox News employees in claims of gender and race discrimination.</p>
<p>Wheeler’s complaint reads almost like a Scott Turow legal thriller. It opens with a text message Butowsky sent him on May 14, 2017, advising:</p>
<p>Not to add any more pressure but the president [Trump] just read the [Zimmerman] article. He wants the article out immediately. It’s now all up to you. But don’t feel the pressure.</p>
<p>From there, the pleading backtracks to February, when it alleges Butowsky introduced himself to Wheeler and offered to bankroll an investigation into Rich’s murder, explaining that he was working with Zimmerman, who was preparing an article on the killing. On March 14, the Rich family agreed to retain Wheeler for an upfront sum of $5,000, which Butowsky wired to Wheeler.</p>
<p>But Butowsky and Zimmerman, according to the complaint, “were not simply Good Samaritans attempting to solve a murder.” Rather, their aim was to advance the political agenda of the Trump administration by linking Rich to WikiLeaks and characterizing his murder as an act of reprisal carried out by a “Democrat operative.”</p>
<p>The complaint further alleges that Butowsky and Zimmerman did not act alone, but in the weeks and months leading up to the publication of Zimmerman’s story, Butowsky “kept in regular contact” about the Rich investigation with Trump administration officials, including then-press secretary Sean Spicer, chief strategist Steve Bannon, and Sarah Flores, director of public affairs at the Justice Department. On April 20, the pleading continues, Butowsky and Wheeler met with Spicer in person and handed him a copy of Wheeler’s investigation notes. Spicer asked to be kept abreast of any developments in the case.</p>
<p>On May 14, in addition to dispatching the text message advising that the president had read an advance copy of Zimmerman’s story, the complaint asserts that Butowsky left a voicemail message for Wheeler, in which he said: “A couple minutes ago, I got a note that we have the full, uh, attention of the White House on this. And, tomorrow, let’s close this deal, whatever we’ve got to do. But you can feel free to say that the White House is onto this now.”</p>
<p>Initially, Wheeler appears to have gone along with the plan. On May 15, he was interviewed on air by the Fox network’s D.C. television affiliate. In the interview, he stated that he had sources at the FBI who had told him “there is information that could link Seth Rich to WikiLeaks.” Two days later, however, Wheeler <a href="http://www.fox5dc.com/news/255305734-story" type="external">backtracked on those statements</a>, terming them “miscommunications.”</p>
<p>Whatever his initial role in promoting the story, Wheeler’s complaint maintains that “[a]t no point in time did Mr. Wheeler say that Seth Rich [in fact] sent any emails to WikiLeaks, nor did he say that the DNC, Democratic Party, or [the] Clintons were engaged in a cover-up” to stop the official police investigation of the murder from proceeding.</p>
<p>Some of the “miscommunication” about FBI sources may have come from none other than the venerable investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. As set forth in the complaint, even before Butowsky reached out to Wheeler in February, he spoke over the phone with Hersh about Rich. Butowsky tape-recorded at least part of their conversation.</p>
<p>During his phone chat with Butowsky, the complaint alleges, Hersh said he had a source in the FBI, whom he described as “unbelievably accurate and careful,” who had told him of a report that detailed the bureau’s search of Rich’s computer. The computer search, Hersh said, revealed that in the late spring or early summer of 2016, Rich had made contact with WikiLeaks.</p>
<p>Over the past week, in the aftermath of Wheeler’s lawsuit, a redacted — and it must be said, unverified — version of <a href="https://www.mintpressnews.com/seymour-hersh-phone-call-russiagate-disinformation/230531/" type="external">Butowsky’s recorded conversation with Hersh</a> has been making the rounds of the right-wing blogosphere. A full 6:47 in length, the recording is rambling in nature, features only Hersh talking, and cuts off in mid-sentence, clearly before Hersh had completed his thoughts.</p>
<p>By contrast, the summary of the same conversation contained in Wheeler’s complaint includes a quote from Butowsky, saying that with information from Hersh’s purported FBI contact, “[w]e solve the problem about Russians are the ones that gave the [DNC] emails [to WikiLeaks] because that did not happen.” The blogosphere version also does not include Hersh’s caution to Butowsky that the “information” from Hersh’s source “was not necessarily true, and that, even if true, it did not preclude the possibility that Russians also hacked the DNC.”</p>
<p>Wheeler’s complaint also alleges that as Zimmerman’s story began to unravel in the days immediately after it was published, Butowsky tried to “extort” Hersh in an effort to save the story. Specifically, the lawsuit charges that in a May 19 telephone call to Wheeler, Butowsky said he had a “friend” who does “a lot of crisis management stuff,” who would be emailing Hersh to say, “[Y]ou have three hours to write back who at the FBI you spoke to, with his name, that read you the Seth Rich report. If you don’t give us that in three hours, a full recording of everything we have will be at every news agency tonight with your name and phone number on it. If you give it to us, you will never hear from us again.”</p>
<p>Butowsky does not appear to have followed through on the threat. However, on Aug. 2, the day after Wheeler’s lawsuit was filed, the right-wing website Big League Politics <a href="http://bigleaguepolitics.com/emails-ed-butowsky-pleads-sy-hersh-go-public-knows-seth-rich/" type="external">posted an article</a> containing what purported to be an email exchange between Butowsky and Hersh from June 2. In the exchange, Butowsky wrote:</p>
<p>I am curious why you haven’t approached the house committee telling them what you were read by your FBI friend related to Seth Rich that you in turn read to me. Based on all your work, it appears that you care about the truth. Even though, as you said you couldn’t get a second, shouldn’t you tell them so they could use their powers to determine the truth?</p>
<p>Hersh replied:</p>
<p>ed—you have a lousy memory…i was not read anything by my fbi friend..i have no firsthand information and i really wish you would stop telling others information that you think i have…please stop relaying information that you do not have right…and that i have no reason to believe is accurate…</p>
<p>In an interview with NPR reporter David Folkenflik on Aug. 1, <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2017/08/08/a-new-twist-in-seth-rich-murder-case/" type="external">Hersh remarked</a>, “I hear gossip. [Butowsky] took two and two and made 45 out of it.” In a phone interview with me this week, Hersh said much the same, and added that he never claimed to have a source in the FBI on the Rich case.</p>
<p>Folkenflik also reported that a spokeswoman for the FBI had told NPR “that the agency has played no part in the investigation of the unsolved homicide.” Local police regard the crime as an attempted robbery gone awry.</p>
<p>It must be stressed that each of the defendants sued by Wheeler has denied the essential allegations of the lawsuit. As the plaintiff, moreover, Wheeler bears the burden of proof in the case.</p>
<p>Butowsky has been particularly adamant in his own defense, insisting that in enlisting Wheeler’s investigative expertise to work on the Rich case, he was sincerely trying to <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2017/08/01/dallas-man-worked-white-house-push-fake-news-distract-russia-investigation-suit-says" type="external">help the deceased young man’s family</a>. In addition, Butowsky now says that he was “just joking” when he sent Wheeler the May 14 text message about feeling “pressure” because of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/you-dont-have-to-believe-everything-that-seth-rich-lawsuit-whats-been-confirmed-is-bad-enough/2017/08/01/c7516060-76cb-11e7-8839-ec48ec4cae25_story.html?utm_term=.e8914c64f07b" type="external">president’s interest in Zimmerman’s story</a>, and that he’s never actually <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hollywood/la-et-ct-fox-news-seth-rich-20170801-story.html" type="external">met Trump</a>. He also has accused Wheeler of being “broke,” and “trying to get money” by <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/trump-backer-ed-butowsky-claims-fox-news-lawsuit-plaintiff-rod-wheeler-is-broke-trying-to-get-money/article/2630389" type="external">going to court</a>.</p>
<p>Butowsky’s denials and countercharges, however, are not likely to derail Wheeler’s lawsuit, at least not anytime soon. “The case will definitely make it past the pleading stage,” Michael Willemin, one of the attorneys at Wigdor LLP assigned to the litigation, told me in a phone interview last week. If it does, the case will move onto the fact-finding phase of civil litigation known as “discovery.”</p>
<p>“We’re going to handle the case as we would any other, and be very aggressive in discovery,” Willemin said. That means, he explained, requesting all relevant documents and communications between all people with “inside knowledge” about the interactions between Fox, Butowsky, Zimmerman and White House personnel. His office will also be taking several depositions.</p>
<p>When I asked specifically if that could include a deposition from President Trump, Willemin answered: “It would not be unprecedented for a president to be deposed, although it would be unusual. We will consider [deposing anyone] with relevant information, as we would on behalf of any client.”</p>
<p>That possibility, compounded by the ongoing collusion and obstruction of justice probes led by special counsel Mueller, could give the president many sleepless nights to come.</p> | Rod Wheeler, Fox News, Donald Trump and the Ghost of Seth Rich | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/rod-wheeler-fox-news-donald-trump-ghost-seth-rich/ | 2017-08-09 | 4 |
<p>Nikkei hits levels last seen in 1992; Hang Seng hits decade high</p>
<p>Asia-Pacific stocks posted gains Tuesday after several days of little movement globally, allowing many indexes in the region to hit fresh multiyear highs.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Fresh foreign inflows helped Japan's Nikkei top its 1996 high and reach levels last seen in early 1992. It closed at 22,937.60, up over 380 points or 1.7%.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng hit a fresh 10-year high and Australia's benchmark exceeded its 2015 peak to hit its highest point since early 2008. It closed up over 1% at 6,014.30.</p>
<p>The continuing low-interest-rate environment and a solid earnings season has presented a Goldilocks climate -- an environment where economic conditions are seen as neither too week nor too strong to warrant policy efforts to prevent activity from potentially overheating -- said Andrew Bresler, deputy Asia Pacific head of sales trading at Saxo Capital Markets.</p>
<p>"There are few risks on the horizon" to cut into current valuations, he added. Some have been concerned that equities globally have become overpriced.</p>
<p>Australian stocks notably lagged behind the region throughout 2017. But they came alive last month as prices for stocks and commodities rose globally, with the S&amp;P/ASX 200 rising 4% in October, its best month of the year.</p>
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<p>It climbed another 1.5% this first week of November, including 0.7% Tuesday, putting the benchmark briefly above 6,000.</p>
<p>Major mining companies BHP Billiton (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto (RIO) led the day's gains, rising more than 2% to hit their best levels in two years and six years respectively.</p>
<p>The sector was helped by a further rebound in Chinese iron-ore prices, which recently hit four-month lows. Futures prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchange in China shot up about 5% Monday and were recently 3.5% higher Tuesday.</p>
<p>"Rising steel prices now have investors alert to the possibility that iron ore" might be putting in a base, "justifying a rally in the major mining stocks," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.</p>
<p>Higher oil prices in overnight U.S. trading gave energy stocks across the region a lift. After settling up 3% Monday, oil futures were recently down less than 0.2% in Asian trading.</p>
<p>Japan Petroleum (1662.TO) and Inpex (1605.TO) each climbed some 4% Tuesday.</p>
<p>Sinopec (600028.SH) rose similarly, which, along with another 3% jump in internet heavyweight Tencent (0700.HK) , had Hong Kong's Hang Seng rising 1.4%, extending Monday's rebound in which a near-2% decline was erased by the close.</p>
<p>Stocks in Singapore, which are also influenced by oil prices, logged strong Tuesday morning gains. The Straits Times Index was up 0.9%, hitting a fresh two-year high.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 07, 2017 08:45 ET (13:45 GMT)</p> | ASIA MARKETS: Asia-Pacific Markets Charge To Multiyear Highs In Low-rate, Low-inflation Climate | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/07/asia-markets-asia-pacific-markets-charge-to-multiyear-highs-in-low-rate-low-inflation-climate.html | 2017-11-07 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">Download MP3</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />This week on CounterSpin: FBI director James Comey received praise for saying that police officers should recognize their own racial biases. But a new report says eliminating racism in criminal justice is about more than what’s in a cop’s mind. We’ll speak with the report’s author, Nazgol Ghandnoosh of the Sentencing Project.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Also on the show: How does a company become wildly profitable and market-dominant–with little or no evidence that its products and services are effective? And the business it’s in is…testing students and teachers? We’ll talk to Stephanie Simon, senior education reporter at Politico, about the power of Pearson.</p>
<p>LINKS:</p>
<p>—Black Lives Matter: Eliminating Racial Inequity in the Criminal Justice System, by Nazgol Ghandnoosh (Sentencing Project, <a href="http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_Black_Lives_Matter.pdf" type="external">2015</a>)</p>
<p>–“No Profit Left Behind,” by Stephanie Simon (Politico Pro, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/pearson-education-115026.html" type="external">2/10/15</a>)</p>
<p>Subscribe: <a href="" type="internal">Android</a> | <a href="" type="internal">RSS</a></p> | Nazgol Ghandnoosh on Criminal Justice Racism, Stephanie Simon on Pearson | true | http://fair.org/home/nazgol-ghandnoosh-in-criminal-justice-racism-stephanie-simon-on-pearson/ | 2015-02-27 | 4 |
<p>Published time: 7 Dec, 2017 10:44</p>
<p>A Commons bar infamous for its unruliness has been shut down after a fight left one man seriously injured in an alleged glassing and another arrested.</p>
<p>The brawl erupted on Tuesday evening and saw one man, 57, arrested by police near the Sports and Social Club – a venue renowned for its rowdiness and heavy-boozing patrons.</p>
<p>A second man, 64, was hospitalized but doesn’t have life-threatening injuries, Scotland Yard has said.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/408744-commons-bar-sexual-harassment/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“Following an incident on the Parliamentary Estate last night involving two parliamentary staff, after leaving the Sports &amp; Social Club Bar, an investigation is under way and the Bar will be temporarily closed until that investigation is complete,” a House of Lords spokesperson said in a statement.</p>
<p>The incident follows recent calls for the bar – known for its cheap drinks – to shut down as MPs’ boozing was blamed as a trigger for a number of sexual offences.</p>
<p>The Commons has recently been hit by allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of parliamentarians, with former Defense Secretary Michael Fallon handing in his resignation amid reports of him acting inappropriately.</p>
<p>An unofficial guide written for House of Commons staff warns: “Watch out for the karaoke night on a Thursday, not something you want to end up in by mistake.”</p>
<p>Former bar manager Alice Bailey said she experienced harassment by some MPs while working at the establishment. She told the Sun that some MPs “spent all day boozing” and “fancied their chances” because they thought they were “very important people.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/408321-sex-women-scandal-westminster/" type="external">READ MORE: Sexual harassment isn’t just a Westminster problem… it plagues local govt too – councilor</a></p>
<p>Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the Commons, said: “There should be no place here on the estate, or in our constituency offices, where people can be abused or their allegations not taken seriously.”</p>
<p>A brawl at the same venue got former MP Eric Joyce arrested on suspicion of assault in 2013. In a bid to control chaotic scenes, it was announced last month that the venue’s management would no longer be under an outside company but of House of Commons staff.</p>
<p>A police investigation into the incident on Tuesday is ongoing.</p> | Rowdy Commons bar shuts after brawl leaves one glassed & another arrested | false | https://newsline.com/rowdy-commons-bar-shuts-after-brawl-leaves-one-glassed-another-arrested/ | 2017-12-07 | 1 |
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<p>From left, Jackie Bregman, William Dudeck, Chrys Page and Tina Panaro perform in cabaret tribute to American Jewish composers on Saturday.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — UpStaged’s Chrys Page grew up in New York across the street from a nursing home housing veterans from the legendary Ziegfeld Follies.</p>
<p>The chorus girls who performed in Florenz Ziegfeld’s lavish version of Paris’ Folies Berger urged the fledgling Page to keep on singing.</p>
<p>“I used to go down there and sing to them,” she said.</p>
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<p>She’s been singing for 55 years.</p>
<p>On Saturday, July 19, Page and her UpStaged traveling cabaret troupe will bring “Mahvelous Schmahvelous” to the Jewish Community Center.</p>
<p>Page – whose first name is short for Chrysanthemum – will perform with singers Jackie Bregman, William Dudeck and Tina Panaro to piano accompaniment by Todd Lowry.</p>
<p>Page came up with the idea of focusing on Jewish composers after watching a PBS series on the impact of Jewish culture on Broadway. Gathering the names of songwriters was just the beginning.</p>
<p>“That was hard because everybody on Broadway was Jewish and I was trying to include every one of them,” she said.</p>
<p>Audiences can expect to hear songs from “Cabaret,” as well as “Fiddler On the Roof.” The music of Burt Bacharach, Carole King and Billy Joel also made the cut.</p>
<p>“It’s not just back in the ether where the old folks live,” Page added.</p>
<p>Once Page had compiled the initial list featuring such obvious choices as Jerome Kern (“Showboat”) and Lerner and Loewe (“My Fair Lady”), she realized she had omitted a couple of giants.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I went, ‘Where the hell are the Gershwins?'” she said, laughing. “So I wrote a great big finale.”</p>
<p>A professional voice teacher, Page formed UpStaged three years ago with three of her former students. The group’s repertoire ranges from music from the ’20s and ’30s to rock ‘n’ roll and Broadway.</p>
<p>“I like to show my students off,” she said. “But I don’t like to give recitals.”</p>
<p>Page defines cabaret as songs that “strip you down and leave you out there raw.”</p>
<p>“They’re very personal,” she said. “Part of my teaching experience is if you can’t make it personal, you can’t make it sell.”</p>
<p>The author of “A Voice for a Lifetime in 30 Days,” she often matches a specific singer singing a specific song in her dreams.</p>
<p>“If I hear a student of mine singing in my dreams, I know that’s it,” she said. “I know it’s gold. I tell them, ‘Try it on.'”</p>
<p /> | Traveling cabaret troupe brings ‘Mahvelous Schmahvelous’ to the Jewish Community Center | false | https://abqjournal.com/428363/cabaret-group-performs-mahvelous-schmahvelous-at-jcc.html | 2 |
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<p>DOUGLAS, Ariz. — Border Patrol agents from the Douglas Station say they have discovered a collapsed and abandoned cross-border tunnel.</p>
<p>They say a city employee reported a suspicious opening near the Raul Hector Castro Port of Entry on Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>Agents responded and confirmed the tunnel once extended about 60 yards into Arizona.</p>
<p>The tunnel is adjacent to a sewer line and had cut through a previously found and destroyed tunnel.</p>
<p>Border agents say the newly discovered tunnel showed no signs of recent use and was collapsed about 25 feet from its opening.</p>
<p>Authorities say criminal organizations use a wide range of techniques to smuggle both humans and narcotics into the U.S., including tunnels.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Border Patrol find abandoned cross-border tunnel in Douglas | false | https://abqjournal.com/995003/border-patrol-find-abandoned-cross-border-tunnel-in-douglas.html | 2 |
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<p>A U.S. warship has begun shadowing an Iranian cargo ship approaching the coast of Yemen with Iranian military escorts, raising concerns it could be delivering weapons for Houthi rebels in violation of a United Nations arms embargo, Defense Department officials said.</p>
<p>Iran says the cargo ship, "Iran Shahed," is carrying humanitarian relief to war-torn Yemen. It is being accompanied by a pair of Iranian warships, the “Vosper” and “Bandar Abbas.”</p>
<p>The Iranian government has publicly announced the cargo ship intends to deliver its shipment directly to Yemen and ignore U.N. demands that all relief shipments for Yemen first be delivered to a U.N. inspection station in nearby Djibouti.</p>
<p>But it’s not yet certain whether the U.S. or other coalition warships will attempt to intercept the Iranian vessel. For now, the amphibious U.S. helicopter carrier “Iwo Jima” is monitoring its movements.</p>
<p>U.S. officials suspect the Iranian ship may in fact be carrying relief supplies and not weapons and are attempting to draw the U.S. and coalition warships into a confrontation at sea.</p>
<p>According to the officials, there’s evidence that for “propaganda purposes” a number of “international observers” may be aboard the Iranian cargo ship prepared to document any attempt to board and search the Iranian vessel only to find no weapons on board.</p>
<p>On the other hand, to allow the ship free passage into Yemen without an inspection could set a “dangerous precedent” for future shipments.</p>
<p>Officials said no final decision had been made on the U.S. response.</p>
<p>Yemen's dominant Houthi group recently accepted a <a href="" type="internal">five-day humanitarian ceasefire</a> proposed by its adversary Saudi Arabia but said it would respond to any violations of the pause. Neighboring Saudi Arabia had previously said that the ceasefire could begin if the Iranian-allied militia agreed to the pause, which would let in badly needed food and medical supplies.</p>
<p>Backed by the United States, a Saudi-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against the Houthis and army units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 26 with the aim of restoring the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.</p>
<p>Pentagon spokesperson Colonel Steve Warren previously said that if the ship is carrying humanitarian aid, the U.S. encourages the Iranians to deliver it to the United Nations aid distribution hub in Djibouti. He added that if the Iranians are "planning some sort of stunt," that would be "unhelpful" and could threaten the ceasefire.</p>
<p>Warren said that providing warships to escort a single ship carrying aid is "not necessary." He added that the Iranians moved a much larger convoy several weeks ago and "provoked tensions."</p>
<p>Warren would not discuss a possible U.S. response if the ship tries to dock in Yemen.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Iran Deploys Warships Off Yemen's Coast: Report</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Yemen Crisis: President Hadi Calls Houthi Rebels 'Stooges of Iran'</a></p>
<p>—Jim Miklaszewsk, Courtney Kube and Jon Schuppe</p> | U.S. Weighs Military Options as Iran Cargo Ship Nears Yemen | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-weighs-military-options-iran-cargo-ship-nears-yemen-n361436 | 2015-05-19 | 3 |
<p>Still need to find a present for your girlfriend? We won't judge you too much for waiting until basically the very last minute. After all, when you really care about someone, you want to get them that absolutely perfect gift, and it's not always an easy task. You might find yourself totally overthinking things in your quest to show her how much you love and value her. That's why we're here to help! If you pick something from our list, you simply can't go wrong.</p>
<p>Depending on where you live, you may or may not be able to legally buy marijuana for your friend's holiday gift. But either way, there are a ton of cool accessories that you could give to them instead, from iridescent lighters to the latest smokewear styles. Cannabis lifestyle brands have gotten huge lately, and all of these companies are putting out unique and thoughtful designs. Check out the slideshow for some inspiration!</p>
<p>Secret Santa gift exchanges can be a lot of fun. But they can also be a huge source of holiday stress if you end up picking the name of a coworker or acquaintance that you don't talk to very much. How do you choose a present for someone you barely know? These seven gifts are all really practical, so pretty much anyone can find a use for each one of them. (And they're also really easy to regift, in case the person already owns the item.)</p> | These 10 gifts will show her that you're totally ready for commitment | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/12/19/sex-relationships/these-10-gifts-will-show-her-that-youre-totally-ready-for-commitment | 2017-12-19 | 1 |
<p>Sometime in the last 15 years or so, the tone of the fitness industry changed from selling consumers on how easy their programs were (“8 Minute Abs”) to how hard they were (CrossFit, P90X). Each new workout fad promises to be more extreme than the last, but experts say that when it comes to overall health and fitness, simpler is better: Walking, they say, <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/09/29/us-fitness-walking-idINKCN0HO0PV20140929" type="external">is tops in terms of cardiovascular health and general wellness</a>.</p>
<p>“Actively sedentary is a new category of people who are fit for one hour but sitting around the rest of the day,” <a href="http://www.katysays.com/" type="external">said</a> <a href="http://www.katysays.com/" type="external">Katy Bowman</a>, scientist and author of Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement. “You can’t offset 10 hours of stillness with one hour of exercise.”</p>
<p>Walking, she says, acts like a “superfood” for the body, suggesting that there are “nutrients” the body receives through movement similar to those absorbed from food. For actively sedentary people, simply moving is easier than properly exercising, and it may be just as (if not more) important.</p>
<p>Many people who consider themselves “active” actually fall into the actively sedentary category. A 2013 study by the University of Texas School of Public Health surveyed 218 recreational marathon and half marathon runners. In reporting their training and sitting times, the researchers determined an average of 6.5 training hours per week, while participants averaged 10.5 sitting hours per day. Even weekend fitness warriors, it seems, are susceptible to moving too little, and not often enough.</p>
<p>A small study of obese people published in Medicine &amp; Science in Sports and Exercise by scientists at Indiana University found that it doesn’t take much walking to stay healthy: For every hour spent sitting, a five-minute walking session is enough to undo the harmful effects sitting causes in the arteries in the legs.</p>
<p /> | Walking is the best overall exercise, experts say | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/09/29/walking-is-the-best-overall-exercise-experts-say/ | 2014-09-29 | 3 |
<p>Fresh from the "Lord, don't let them be black" file, an Indianapolis woman has been charged in the deaths of two of her children, who were allegedly locked in a closet and left for more than 10 hours. Edyan Farah, 28, locked five of her kids in the upstairs closet and pushed an oversized bed against the door, preventing them from getting out. Farah then left the house. When she returned home more than 10 hours later, she found two of the children "stiff and unresponsive." Farah brought them downstairs and did not call paramedics or try to revive them. Farah was charged with two preliminary counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, and her three other children are in foster care. She says she wasn't in her right mind when she locked them in the closet. You think? Maybe someone should lock Farah in the closet for 10 hours without food, water or air and see if she survives. We are completely disgusted over here at The Root.</p>
<p>Read more at <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/22/national/main6889887.shtml?tag=topnews" type="external">CBS News</a>.</p> | Woman Locks 5 Kids in Closet for More Than 10 Hours | true | https://theroot.com/woman-locks-5-kids-in-closet-for-more-than-10-hours-1790881015 | 2010-09-23 | 4 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />I’ve received a few messages over the last few days from conservatives professing that our Constitution, and in turn our laws, are derived from the Ten Commandments. I guess this is the argument conservatives are using to try to convince people that those commandments do indeed have a place on government property. I’ve heard this argument for years, and no matter how many times I hear it, <a href="" type="internal">it still never makes any sense</a>.</p>
<p>First, <a href="" type="internal">there’s not a single reference to Christianity anywhere in our Constitution</a>. You would think with as many people who were involved in writing our Constitution, if they wanted this nation to be based upon Christianity, they would have included at least&#160;some&#160;reference to Christianity in our Constitution somewhere, right? Heck, even a shout out to “the Creator” – but no.</p>
<p>But even going beyond that, many also claim that our laws are taken directly from Christian values and rules, with the Ten Commandments most commonly referenced as “proof.” When people say this, the first thing that goes through my mind is that they clearly don’t know all of the commandments – at least not correctly.</p>
<p>So I thought I’d provide a brief breakdown of each commandment to see just how many might pertain to our Constitution and/or our laws.</p>
<p>1.&#160;You shall have no other gods before Me.</p>
<p>Well, this one has absolutely nothing to do with our Constitution or our laws.</p>
<p>2.&#160;You shall not make idols.</p>
<p>This pertains to worshipping false idols other than the Christian God. But, again, it has absolutely nothing to do with our Constitution or our laws.</p>
<p>3.&#160;You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.</p>
<p>We’re on #3 and still nothing to do with our Constitution or our laws.</p>
<p>4.&#160;Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.</p>
<p>Once upon a time in certain areas of the country businesses weren’t legally allowed to be open on Sundays. Then they realized how economically ridiculous that was, those laws were then abandoned, and now any business that wants to be open on Sunday can be. Oh, but this still has nothing to do with our Constitution. As a matter of fact, laws forcing businesses to close on Sunday are flat-out unconstitutional.</p>
<p>5.&#160;Honor your father and your mother.</p>
<p>Hey, for the most part, this is a great commandment, though being respectful and honoring your parents isn’t exclusive to Christianity. In fact, in many cultures around the world, the parents have&#160;much&#160;more control over their children than they do in the United States. Besides, as with the first four, there’s absolutely nothing illegal about any child who disrespects their parent(s).</p>
<p>6.&#160;You shall not murder.</p>
<p>Finally&#160;the first commandment tied to an actual law – but “murder” is not something that’s exclusive to Christianity either. Pretty much in every culture and religion around the world, murder is seen as a crime. In fact, murder as a crime predates Christianity.</p>
<p>7.&#160;You shall not commit adultery.</p>
<p>While adultery is frowned upon, it’s not illegal. Sure, it’s grounds for divorce in many cases – but it’s not illegal. There’s absolutely nothing in our laws, or our Constitution, pertaining to the legality of adultery. If someone wants to cheat on a spouse, for the most part they’re free to do so without fear of any sort of legal recourse outside of potential divorce proceedings.</p>
<p>8. You shall not steal.</p>
<p>Ah, another actual law. But as with murder, stealing as a crime is not exclusive to Christianity. Many religious and societies around the world look negatively upon those who steal. Heck, in the Islamic country of Saudi Arabia you can have your hand(s) chopped off for stealing.</p>
<p>9.&#160;You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.</p>
<p>While this could be tied into our judicial system, it basically amounts to “thou shall not lie.” Again, lying is frowned upon by many societies and religions. Outside of providing false testimony in a court of law, lying technically isn’t illegal either.</p>
<p>10.&#160;You shall not covet.</p>
<p>This one has been shortened overt time. It used to include a list of things you weren’t supposed to “covet” such as your neighbor’s wife, donkey, his male servant (apparently the female ones were okay) or ox.</p>
<p>Once again, there’s nothing legal about this commandment that ties into our laws or our Constitution unless you want to claim that this is in reference to stealing. That wouldn’t make sense considering there’s already a commandment that references theft.</p>
<p>So, where is this “proof” that our Constitution and our laws are derived from these commandments? Sure, there are a few “moral codes” our society exemplifies that some could argue were taken from these commandments, but none of those are mutually exclusive to Christianity so that’s not even a rational argument.</p>
<p>Naturally, I’m sure none of this will make any difference <a href="" type="internal">to those who will continue to profess that this nation was founded on Christianity</a>, and our laws are based off Christian principles, even if they can’t cite a single part of our Constitution to actually support these beliefs.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Attention Republicans: Let Me Prove to You That the United States is Not a Theocracy</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Ted Cruz Whines Because Too Many Americans Support the Constitution (Video)</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Conservatives, Let Me Explain the Difference Between the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | Dear Conservatives: Neither Our Constitution Nor Our Laws are Based on the Ten Commandments | true | http://forwardprogressives.com/dear-conservatives-neither-constitution-laws-based-ten-commandments/ | 2015-07-08 | 4 |
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<p>Euro zone manufacturing took another turn for the worse last month as output plummeted, hammering home the scale of the region's economic crisis which also depressed export orders from factories in China and India.</p>
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<p>Surveys of thousands of factories across the world released on Wednesday showed activity in the 17-nation euro zone contracted for the eleventh straight month in July as a downturn that began in the periphery sinks deeper roots into the core.</p>
<p>The manufacturing slump worsened in Italy, Spain and Greece, but also in the region's two biggest economies France and Germany, the purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) showed. Britain's PMI plummeted to a more than three-year low.</p>
<p>In Asia's biggest economies China and India, which until recently had appeared more resilient to the effects of recession in Europe and disappointing growth in the United States, export orders were weak and output stalled.</p>
<p>"The euro zone continues to struggle with the debt crisis, while the world economy is slowing down. This last piece of information should give policymakers food for thought," said Peter Vanden Houte at ING.</p>
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<p>But there was plenty of doubt over how much major non-Asian central banks meeting this week - the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England - will or can do to turn the tide.</p>
<p>Expectations are running high for another round of money printing from the Fed, although it probably will not happen until next month.</p>
<p>The ECB may fall short of lofty market hopes at its meeting this week, with insiders telling Reuters bold policy action could be weeks away, while the BoE is already in the middle of a money printing campaign it just increased to 375 billion pounds.</p>
<p>But in the meantime most of Europe's economies are sinking.</p>
<p>Markit's Eurozone Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector fell to 44.0, well below the 50 level that divides growth from contraction. The reading was the lowest since June 2009, below the flash reading of 44.1 and June's 45.1.</p>
<p>The output index sank to 43.4, the lowest since May 2009, also revised down from 43.6 and down from 44.7 in June. Markit said this pointed to production falling at a quarterly rate of more than 1 percent.</p>
<p>Across the channel in Britain, the manufacturing sector shrank at its fastest rate in more than three years, dealing a blow to hopes the country may come out of recession over the summer as it hosts the Olympic Games.</p>
<p>In the U.S., the Institute of Supply Management is expected to report later on Wednesday that its gauge of manufacturing popped back up above 50 in July after slipping to 49.7 in June on a slump in new orders.</p>
<p>Spain, which slid deeper into recession in the second quarter, saw the 15th straight month of contraction, while Italy chalked up a year in negative territory.</p>
<p>The PMI for Greece, where the debt crisis began, has been below 50 since September 2009. Even in once-booming Turkey, manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in four months.</p>
<p>The only bright spot was Ireland. It was the only euro zone country to show signs of emerging from the downturn, with its PMI above 50 for a fifth straight month.</p>
<p>WEAK ACTIVITY ACROSS ASIA</p>
<p>China's official factory PMI fell to an eight-month low of 50.1 in July. The HSBC China PMI rose to 49.3, its highest level since February, but it was the ninth straight month below 50.</p>
<p>Analysts drew some comfort from the slight improvement in the HSBC China PMI, which focuses on smaller private enterprises while the official PMI primarily covers big state companies.</p>
<p>Unlike central banks in developed economies, China also has plenty of room to cut interest rates.</p>
<p>"The low inflation environment should allow Chinese authorities to provide further stimulus in coming months," said Craig James, economist at Commsec in Sydney.</p>
<p>Ten of China's 11 major sub-indexes in the official PMI were under 50, showing just how much the economy is struggling to revive its momentum, with little evidence of measures aimed at boosting domestic demand taking quick effect.</p>
<p>China, the world's second largest economy, faces a sensitive few months with a leadership succession looming later this year for the ruling Communist Party.</p>
<p>President Hu Jintao was quoted on Tuesday as saying fiscal and monetary policy support for the economy would be stepped up in the second half, while Premier Wen Jiabao spoke of policy fine-tuning and signs that the economy was stabilising, after growth slowed to its slowest pace in more than three years in the second quarter.</p>
<p>Manufacturing looked weak across Asia. Activity in South Korea shrank by the most in seven months, Taiwan contracted again and factories in India, Asia's third-largest economy, showed the sharpest one-month drop in growth since September.</p> | Eurozone Manufacturing Slump Deepends, China Stalls | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/08/01/eurozone-manufacturing-slump-deepends-china-stalls.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
<p>Stabenow (AP)</p>
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Washington Free Beacon Staff</a>April 10, 2013 11:14 am</p>
<p>Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.) said she is "working with" the Department of Energy to revive the department's dormant $25 billion auto loan program, which has <a href="" type="internal">not closed a loan in two years</a>, and extend it to auto suppliers.</p>
<p>That program, the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program (ATVM), issued a $5.9 billion loan to Ford, as well as awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to green car makers like Tesla and the struggling Fisker.</p>
<p>Stabenow said energy secretary nominee&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Ernest Moniz</a>&#160;"agrees there is a need" for the program in an interview with <a href="http://bit.ly/10TaXRc" type="external">the&#160;Detroit News</a>:</p>
<p>In an interview, Stabenow said she wants the program opened to auto suppliers and said she raised the issue with Ernest Moniz, a physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has been nominated to replace Steven Chu as energy secretary. "We're working with the department… to get it back on track," Stabenow said. "(Moniz) agrees there is a need. The need's not gone away." […]</p>
<p>"Everybody kind of backed away after Solyndra, even though (the auto loan program) had nothing to with Solyndra," Stabenow said.&#160;[…]</p>
<p>Asked if a Fisker bankruptcy could hinder the program further, Stabenow said each applicant should be considered individually. "We have to look at each individual case," Stabenow said.</p>
<p>Fisker Automotive, which was originally awarded a <a href="" type="internal">$529 million loan</a>, is expected to file for <a href="" type="internal">Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection</a> within the next week after failed buyout talks with Chinese firms. DOE froze Fisker's loan in 2011; the company received an estimated $192 million in federal money.</p>
<p>Republicans on the House Oversight Committee have planned <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/04/09/house-republicans-plan-a-hearing-on-fisker/" type="external">an April 24 hearing</a> on the Fisker loan.</p>
<p>The ATVM is currently&#160; <a href="" type="internal">sitting on $16.6 billion</a>, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.</p> | Stabenow: Let’s Get the DOE Auto Loan Program Going Again | true | http://freebeacon.com/stabenow-lets-get-the-doe-auto-loan-program-going-again/ | 2013-04-10 | 0 |
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<p>Trump Derangement Syndrome on full display.</p>
<p>And you just know that if Michelle Obama had donated the exact same books, she would have been hailed as a literary scholar/genius.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/librarian-explains-why-she-rejected-books-donated-by-melania-trump/" type="external">Via CBS News.</a></p>
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<p>A librarian at the Cambridgeport Elementary School in Massachusetts is declining a shipment of books from first lady Melania Trump.</p>
<p>One school from each state was chosen by the White House to receive 10 Dr. Seuss books as part of National Read a Book Day, CBS Boston reports.</p>
<p>"Getting an education is perhaps the most important and wondrous opportunity of your young lives," Trump said in a letter to the children who will be receiving books.</p>
<p>The school's librarian, Liz Phipps Soeiro, wrote a lengthy editorial for the Horn Book's Family Reading blog explaining why her school does not need the books.</p>
<p>"My students have access to a school library with over nine thousand volumes and a librarian with a graduate degree in library science. Multiple studies show that schools with professionally staffed libraries improve student performance," wrote Phipps Soeiro.</p>
<p>The librarian's editorial also criticizes the first lady's book selections, which include "The Cat in the Hat," "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish," "The Foot Book," "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"</p>
<p>"You may not be aware of this, but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a clich?, a tired and worn ambassador for children's literature. As First Lady of the United States, you have an incredible platform with world-class resources at your fingertips," she wrote?.</p> | true | http://tammybruce.com/2017/09/cambridge-mass-librarian-refuses-books-donated-by-melania-trump.html | 0 |
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<p>Michelle Obama says her husband’s administration was built on hope. I guess in some ways that could be considered the truth. Many people sat around hoping his presidency would soon come to an end. Does that count?</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/351936-michelle-obama-wh-being-led-with-fear" type="external">The Hill</a>, Michelle Obama’s comments on the Trump White House came at a three-day tech conference hosted by Utah-based Pluralsight.</p>
<p>“It isn’t just us first,” she said, referring to Trump’s “America first” policies. “We live in a big country and a big world,” she said. “You can’t just want to help someone in a hurricane and not make sure they can go to the doctor when they’re sick.</p>
<p>Trump reiterated his “America first” doctrine in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly this week, emphasizing that America would put its people first just as other nations should put their people first, which he said would bring about international security and prosperity</p>
<p>“As president of the United States, I will always put America first, just like you as the leaders of your countries will always and should always put your countries first,” he said at Tuesday in New York.</p>
<p>Trump has also emphasized an “America first” stance on&#160;international trade and domestic manufacturing.</p>
<p>Michelle Obama said that “things are tough right now” and “we’re being tested.”&#160;The former first lady says she “continues to be hopeful” that things will improve.</p>
<p>When pressed by an audience member to run for president in 2020, she quickly shot back, “Oh, no! … Running for office is nowhere on the radar screen, but continuing in public service is something I will do for the rest of my life.”</p>
<p>Let’s just rewind for a minute here. Didn’t her husband hide millions of dollars in a university slush fund so that the government couldn’t trace it? Furthermore, Obama wasted billions of dollars on so-called green energy and ended up with only a 1% gain in usable green energy. Meanwhile, nearly bankrupt companies cashed in subsidies worth millions.</p>
<p>President Obama used fear when he gave America the nightmare they call Obamacare. Twelve of the fourteen original co-ops are bankrupt. “You can keep your doctor:” that was a lie. “You can choose your plan:” another lie. “Affordable:” the biggest lie of all. People in rural areas were stuck with plans that didn’t even cover basic services. The monthly fees were so high and the deductibles were so big it made you hope you never had to use the plan. Furthermore, if you still couldn’t afford to be insured, you were slapped with a big fat fine from the IRS. It is the grossest debacle in history. Sadly, Obama stroked his ego, thinking this plan was some kind of accomplishment.</p>
<p>Need more examples? Obama paid off terrorists with a money laundering scheme that should’ve landed him in jail. And speaking of terrorists, up until his final hours in the Oval Office, he was releasing prisoners from Guantanamo Bay so they could return to the streets and continue unleash terror.</p>
<p>Obama’s legacy is the real horror flick.</p>
<p>Of course things are tough right now. They’re tough because liberals insist on dividing our nation with “fake news,” personal attacks against conservatives, and a Russian narrative that is reminiscent of the Cold War. The only good thing Michelle Obama had to say was that she won’t run for President, because honestly, I don’t think America can withstand two Obamas in one century.</p>
<p>After living in a White House full of secrets and lies, Michelle Obama criticizes Trump’s leadership style. This has to be some kind of joke!</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Michelle Obama Attacks Trump, Says His White House is ‘Led by Fear’ | true | http://silenceisconsent.net/michelle-obama-fearful-trumps-white-house/ | 2018-04-03 | 0 |
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<p>Friday ended a successful week for the stock market, as investors who chose not to take the day off for Black Friday shopping helped send major market benchmarks to fresh new all-time record highs. Gains of about a third of a percentage point for the Dow and S&amp;P 500 added to their record runs earlier in the week, and investors didn't see anything in the early results from the beginning of the holiday shopping season to justify reversing the positive momentum that stocks have seen lately.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>However, some individual stock names didn't participate in the rally, and Ensco (NYSE: ESV), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (NYSE: MTU), and comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR) were among the worst performers during the holiday-shortened trading session. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.</p>
<p>Image source: Ensco.</p>
<p>Ensco dropped 5% on a bad day for energy stocks, in general, and offshore drilling stocks, in particular. Oil prices continued to show weakness, falling almost $2 per barrel, to approach the $46 mark.</p>
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<p>Earlier in the week, decent news from offshore-drilling peer Seadrill had suggested that the worst might finally be coming to an end for the industry, which has suffered even more than the broader energy sector because of the higher costs of offshore drilling activity compared to most land-based drilling. Looking forward, it will be hard for Ensco to make much progress in recapturing some of the ground its share price has lost over the past two years until oil prices show true strength. With crude having failed to hold above $50 per barrel, it's evident that the tough conditions for energy appear likely to continue well into 2017.</p>
<p>Mitsubishi UFJ Financial fell 6% as investors apparently reacted to negative comments about the Japanese financial giant from earlier in the week. Analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded Mitsubishi UFJ from buy to neutral on Wednesday, putting a temporary stop to huge gains that the bank has seen so far this month. Negative interest rates in Japan have weighed on the financial sector, but investors are now anticipating a potential uptick in global macroeconomic growth, and that has spurred Mitsubishi shareholders to think that an end to the tough monetary-policy environment might be coming.</p>
<p>However, today's drop shows that there's no firm consensus on just how much Japanese banks could benefit from changing conditions. Until the true impact of recent events plays out in Japan and across the globe, it's uncertain whether Mitsubishi will get the benefit that its share-price advance this month would suggest is coming.</p>
<p>Finally, comScore declined 5%. The digital-intelligence specialist revealed in a filing with the SEC earlier this week that Board Chair Joan Lewis and Nominating and Governance Committee Chair Patricia Gottesman had resigned from their respective positions. The move follows an audit committee investigation of the company, which responded to concerns about the company's practices in recognizing revenue, as well as its disclosure, internal control, and employment practices.</p>
<p>The SEC filing said that comScore cannot support the way that certain nonmonetary transactions were accounted for, and it will also make some adjustments to monetary transactions. Although the board is looking at remedial measures to address the issues, investors don't seem entirely satisfied with the outcome of the investigation and its aftermath.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Ensco When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=84da0560-2e47-48e6-ba1e-f2d085d52efe&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Ensco wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool 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=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Ensco, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and comScore Slumped Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/25/why-ensco-mitsubishi-ufj-financial-group-and-comscore-slumped-today.html | 2016-11-25 | 0 |
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<p>NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denied Sunday that the league’s 32 teams are blackballing free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick due to his political beliefs, months after the former San Francisco 49er kicked off a national debate by refusing to stand for the National Anthem.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“He can’t be [blackballed] because we’re not,” <a href="http://www.mediaite.com/online/nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-colin-kaepernick-isnt-being-blackballed/" type="external">Goodell told Opens a New Window.</a> reporters Sunday during a fan forum event at M&amp;T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. “The clubs are making those individual evaluations to make the determination whether they think he can help them win, and that’s true with any player. Obviously, everyone’s aware of the fact of his protests last year, and that’s something individual clubs will either weigh or not weigh.”</p>
<p>Kaepernick conducted his National Anthem protests to draw attention to perceived racial and social injustice in America. The 29-year-old NFL veteran has been a free agent since he opted out of his contract with the 49ers last March.</p>
<p>Kaepernick’s employment status will be decided as teams make “football decisions” about “what they think are the right ways to make their football teams better,” Goodell said.</p>
<p>“Those are decisions I don’t get involved with, decisions that rightfully belong with the club,” he added.</p>
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<p>At the same event, Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti confirmed that his club has considered offering Kaepernick a contract. The Ravens’ starting quarterback, Joe Flacco, is currently dealing with a minor back injury.</p>
<p>“We’re very sensitive to [the situation], and we’re monitoring it and we’re still, as [Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome] says, we’re scrimmaging it. We’re trying to figure what’s the right tact. Pray for us,” Bisciotti said, adding that the team is consulting with Ravens legend Ray Lewis and fans about the decision.</p> | Roger Goodell denies Colin Kaepernick is being blackballed by NFL | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/31/roger-goodell-denies-colin-kaepernick-is-being-blackballed-by-nfl.html | 2017-07-31 | 0 |
<p>A new poll released by Kaiser Health indicates that a majority of uninsured Americans, the specific targets for Obamacare, oppose the law.</p>
<p>47% of uninsured Americans say they oppose the law. That percentage has increased by a shocking 11-points since December.&#160; Just 24% support ObamaCare. &#160;More than half the respondents said Obamacare hasn’t made any difference to them or their families.</p>
<p>Via <a href="http://capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org/index.php/2014/01/health-law-is-a-tough-sell-to-uninsured" type="external">Kaiser Health</a>:</p>
<p>Uninsured Americans — the people that the Affordable Care Act was designed to most aid — are increasingly critical of the law as its key provisions kick in, a poll released Thursday finds.</p>
<p>This month’s tracking poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 47 percent of the uninsured said they hold unfavorable views of the law while 24 percent said they liked it. These negative views have increased since December, when 43 percent of the uninsured panned the law and 36 percent liked it. (KHN is an editorially independent program of the Foundation.)</p>
<p>The poll did not pinpoint clear reasons for this drop, which comes in the first month that people could start using insurance purchased through the online marketplaces that are at the heart of the law. It did point out that more than half of people without insurance said the law hasn’t made a difference to them or their families. In addition, the pollsters noted that almost half of people without coverage were unaware the law includes subsidies to offset premium costs for people of low and moderate incomes.</p>
<p>Among all Americans, the sentiment was also negative, with 50 percent holding unfavorable views of the law and 34 percent supporting it. Views on the law have not been even since the end of 2012. Despite this, just 38 percent of the public wants the law to be repealed.</p>
<p>With Obamacare in full swing, rising disapproval comes as quite a surprise.</p>
<p /> | Obamacare Opposed by a Majority of Uninsured | true | http://menrec.com/by-nearly-2-to-1-margin-uninsured-americans-oppose-obamacare/ | 2014-01-30 | 0 |
<p>The Senate Judiciary Committee <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-panel-to-probe-donald-trumps-firing-of-ex-fbi-director-james-comey-1497459756" type="external">will open an inquiry</a> into why President Donald Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey, and whether his termination was wrongful or not.</p>
<p>The Wall Street Journal reports that the Judiciary Committee will specifically look into whether Trump acted improperly when he dismissed Comey from his position. Some have suggested that Trump’s firing of Comey, which the president admitted the Russia investigation was on his mind when he terminated the former FBI director.</p>
<p>Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said there was a strong need to understand what exactly went down.</p>
<p>In a press release, <a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-agrees-feinstein-need-examine-justice-dept-fbi-decisions-politically" type="external">Grassley wrote</a>, “the Judiciary Committee has an obligation to fully investigate any alleged improper partisan interference in law enforcement investigations. It is my view that fully investigating the facts, circumstances, and rationale for Mr. Comey’s removal will provide us the opportunity to do that on a cooperative, bipartisan basis.”</p>
<p>Comey alleged under oath to the Senate this month that the president asked him to drop the investigation into collusion with the Russians, specifically dealing with former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. In a controversial meeting where Trump had allegedly spoken alone to Comey, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/07/politics/james-comey-testimony-released/index.html" type="external">Comey said that Trump had asked him</a>, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”</p>
<p>Trump fired Flynn in February due to Flynn’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/us/politics/michael-flynn-russia.html" type="external">improper contacts with Russia</a> regarding possibly ending sanctions for the nation before the Trump administration took office. Such meetings would violate federal law. Flynn also <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-flynn-lobbying-20170425-story.html" type="external">failed to disclose that he received speaking fees</a> while in Russia and Turkey, which he was supposed to do before receiving clearance for the NatSec position.</p>
<p>Trump has told his closest confidants that he wishes he could have kept Flynn on staff, despite his improper connections with Russia. “Trump feels really, really, really, bad about firing him, and he genuinely thinks if the investigation is over Flynn can come back,” <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-flynn-russia-investigation-white-house-return-come-back-latest-news-a7743836.html" type="external">an anonymous White House official said</a> back in May.</p> | Senate Judiciary Committee to Investigate if Trump Improperly Fired Comey | true | http://resistancereport.com/news/senate-judiciary-committee-investigate-trump-improperly-fired-comey/ | 2017-06-14 | 4 |
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<p>Apartment listing services get most of their listings from large syndicators and apartment industry giants. Now they’re courting mom-and-pop landlords to expand their reach. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times/TNS)</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES – For a long time, hunting for an apartment has meant wading through cryptic yard signs, inscrutable classifieds and frustrating games of phone tag.</p>
<p>That’s finally changing.</p>
<p>Mobile-app startups, online real-estate giants and even old-school local listing firms are gearing up to streamline the splintered business of apartment advertising, looking to make it more reliable for landlords and more user-friendly for tenants. They’re aiming to turn a huge business – 2.3 million households rent in Los Angeles and Orange counties, for example – into a modern marketplace, and make finding a place to live a little easier.</p>
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<p>For now, though, many apartment hunters still face challenges that are increasingly rare in the digital age. Consumers can comparison shop for hotel rooms, plane tickets, even houses online or through their smartphones, using data-rich websites to tap up-to-the-second data. But there’s no complete repository for the rental market.</p>
<p>To find a place in LA a renter has to scan yard signs, scour Craigslist, stop by leasing offices and search a bevy of websites big and small. No single source shows everything on the market all at once, not even close. Add in the challenge of tracking down landlords by phone, enduring the often-opaque application process and racing fellow renters to be first in line, and finding an apartment can become a disappointing time suck.</p>
<p>It’s a frustration that’s familiar to many Southern California renters, especially as rents rise and vacancy rates fall. And it helped to inspire at least one of the startups that’s trying to transform the industry.</p>
<p>Jonathan Eppers and a few friends in the Santa Monica tech industry were fed up with their struggles to find a place in LA – searching from a laptop computer, chasing stale listings, writing paper checks – and they saw an opportunity. So a little less than two years ago, they launched RadPad, a photo-driven mobile app that generates a list of apartments for rent nearby.</p>
<p>Today, RadPad lists thousands of apartments in Southern California, each with details and at least three photos – Eppers says his days at EHarmony taught him that profiles with three or more photos got a much higher response rate. With a few taps and swipes, users can share a listing with friends or contact the landlord. It’s rolling out a mobile payment service too, so renters can skip the monthly ritual of the check in the mail, and can build a payment history to show their next landlord.</p>
<p>“We’re trying to create a very efficient, end-to-end service that’s built for renters,” Eppers said.</p>
<p>A similar pitch is being made, in a different way, by a far older and more established rival.</p>
<p>Westside Rentals has been in the apartment listing business for 18 years, from the pre-Internet age of yard signs and newspaper classifieds to today’s mobile-focused market. That longevity has helped build good relationships with landlords, said President Kevin Miller, especially smaller property owners. Westside has nearly 11,000 listings right now, many of which are exclusive, Miller said.</p>
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<p>As he walks through a Santa Monica neighborhood dotted with his firm’s red-white-and-black “for rent” signs, Miller says the company’s secret sauce is a twist none of its rivals use: It charges would-be renters. It costs $60 for two months of access to listings. That reduces traffic, Miller acknowledges, but it also saves landlords time, because they know they’re dealing only with serious applicants. That, too, helps build loyalty.</p>
<p>“It’s such a mom-and-pop business,” he said. “I still think there’s a market for what we do.”</p>
<p>But the big guys are moving in.</p>
<p>National websites such as Zillow and Trulia have their eyes on the rental market, aiming to leverage their vast troves of housing data – like Zillow’s value estimate for nearly every house in the country – to try to scoop up more listing business. For a giant like Zillow, which makes most of its money selling ads to for-sale agents, rentals are a long-term play, said Chief Marketing Officer Amy Bohutinsky. Most renters eventually become buyers, she notes, and Zillow would like to get their business early on.</p>
<p>Some apartment hunters are already enjoying the new data-rich rental world.</p>
<p /> | Apartment renting going high-tech | false | https://abqjournal.com/518003/apartment-renting-going-hightech.html | 2 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />On Tuesday, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) conceded the race for Florida’s 18th District to Democrat Patrick Murphy.&#160; The full text of his statement follows:</p>
<p>“For two weeks since Election Day, we have been working to ensure every vote is counted accurately and fairly.&#160; We have made progress towards that goal, thanks to the dedication of our supporters and their unrelenting efforts to protect the integrity of the democratic process.&#160; While many questions remain unanswered, today I am announcing that I will take no further action to contest the outcome of this election.</p>
<p />
<p>While there are certainly still inaccuracies in the results, and the actions of the St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections rightly raise questions in my mind and for many voters, after much analysis and this past weekend’s recount in St. Lucie County, our legal team does not believe there are enough over-counted, undercounted or fraudulent votes to change the outcome of the election.&#160;</p>
<p>While a contest of the election results might have changed the vote totals, we do not have evidence that the outcome would change.&#160; Given the extremely high evidentiary hurdles involved in a successful challenge, I will not ask my generous supporters to help fund a drawn-out, expensive legal effort with little chance of success. Therefore, we will not contest the certification or challenge the seating of Congressman-elect Murphy.</p>
<p>Serving the people in the House of Representatives has been among the highest honors of my life, but this seat does not belong to me, or for that matter, to any individual. &#160;It belongs to the people.&#160;</p>
<p>I want to congratulate my opponent, Patrick Murphy, as the new Congressman from the 18th&#160;Congressional District. I pray he will serve his constituents with honor and integrity, and put the interests of our nation before his own.</p>
<p>I must thank my wife Angela, and my daughters Aubrey and Austen for their support, patience, understanding and most of all, love. These are three of the toughest women I know. They have sent me off to defend our nation overseas at war, and to Capitol Hill to serve our nation in the House of Representatives. They have all handled the challenges of these last few months, and the last many years, with amazing grace. I know they will be by my side for whatever is our next chapter.</p>
<p>I want to thank my congressional and campaign staff for their service, and most importantly, I want to thank all of our tremendous supporters who provided their time and money to power our campaign. I am humbled by the dedication and perseverance of our supporters, and their commitment to a free and prosperous America.&#160; I cannot thank them enough for all they have done for our campaign, but most importantly, what they have done, and will continue to do for our country.&#160; None of us should let the outcome discourage us. We should only redouble our resolve.&#160;</p>
<p>Above all, I want to thank God for his blessings, and for blessing me with the opportunity to serve.</p>
<p>Only God knows what is in store for each of us. I have dedicated my life to serving this nation, and the results of this election will not change my purpose. Just as I did in the deserts of Iraq and Afghanistan, just as I did on Capitol Hill, I will continue to fight for our Republic.&#160;</p>
<p>Our nation will not overcome our challenges overnight, and the road ahead for each one of us will not be easy. But this nation would never have become that shining beacon of light if our founders had chosen the easy path 236 years ago.&#160; We all must proudly continue their legacy.</p>
<p>For the protection and preservation of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, I shall remain steadfast and loyal.&#160; God bless you and God bless these United States of America.”</p>
<p>After West conceded, liberals responded with the usual <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/liberals-on-twitter-react-with-hate-after-allen-west-concedes-election" type="external">hateful rhetoric</a>.</p>
<p>Allen West concedes on Fox and Friends.</p>
<p>Related:</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Allen West statement on election results | true | http://conservativefiringline.com/allen-west-statement-on-election-results/ | 2012-11-21 | 0 |
<p>A county emergency chief insisted Tuesday that officials could not have anticipated the Washington mudslide that killed at least 16 people — and suggested it might have been triggered by a small earthquake almost two weeks earlier.</p>
<p>"I want to know why this slide went, too," Snohomish County Emergency Management Director John Pennington said at a briefing where he was asked about studies by geomorphologists that highlighted the hillside's instability.</p>
<p>"We're going to get to the bottom of this," Pennington said.</p>
<p>One of the studies was undertaken in 1999 for the Army Corps of Engineers by geomorphologist Daniel Miller, who told NBC News that his warning about the potential for a massive collapse "should have triggered major concerns."</p>
<p>Another study submitted the following year, by engineer and geomorphologist Tracy Drury, said a replay of a 1967 slide that dammed up the river could take a severe toll.</p>
<p>"Based on the available data, and assuming the future resembles the past [the site] poses a significant risk to human lives and private property, since human development of the floodplain in this area has steadily increased since the 1967 event," Drury wrote in the document, which was released by the Army Corp on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Pennington said he had not had a chance to look at the old reports because he was more focused on rescue and recovery.</p>
<p>But on a hunch, his agency did look at recent seismic activity and found that on March 10 there was a 1.1-magnitude earthquake behind the slab of hillside that broke free Saturday and buried a square mile in muck.</p>
<p>It's unknown if the microearthquake, too small to be felt by anyone, played any role in the disaster, which followed a rainy winter.</p>
<p>Pennington said homeowners "were very aware" of the potential for a landslide — there had been at least three smaller collapses at the site since the 1950s — and that the county took steps to reduce the risk.</p>
<p>“My job is advance warning and public information," Pennington told reporters at a morning briefing. "If I had any idea this was going to break on that Saturday afternoon … c'mon guys.”</p>
<p>"This is just one that hit us," he added.</p>
<p>There were 49 homes, cabins or trailers in the path of the mudslide — which tore off a 1,500-foot by 600-foot section of the hillside, spilling earth over the Stillaguamish River and State Route 530.</p>
<p>Miller, who has studied the area extensively, said he never would have built a house there and was surprised it was so developed.</p>
<p>"We did anticipate this event could occur, but we had no idea what the probability was."</p>
<p>He said the 1999 report he prepared was focused on how to protect fish in the river from the sediment that would disrupt their environment in the event of a mudslide.</p>
<p>He said he identified the potential for a collapse that was nearly identical in size to the one that happened in 2006 but also noted that a large block of earth beyond that could pose an even bigger hazard.</p>
<p>"The primary conclusion to be drawn is that mass wasting activity will persist for as long as the river remains at the toe of the landslide," according to his draft analysis, which was <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023218573_mudslidewarningsxml.html" type="external">first reported by the Seattle Times</a>.</p>
<p>The Army Corps of Engineers said its copy was archived and not immediately available, but that it would have been shared with the county at the time.</p>
<p>Miller said that after the 2006 slide, he went back to the site and later gave a presentation where he again spoke of the potential for a bigger repeat. He could not remember which group he spoke to, but assumed county and tribal representatives were there.</p>
<p>"We did anticipate this event could occur, but we had no idea what the probability was," Miller said.</p>
<p>He said the risk was small enough that he would not have thought twice about driving down Route 530, "but I wouldn't have put a house there."</p>
<p /> | Did Tiny Quake Cause Mudslide Or Should Officials Have Seen It Coming? | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/deadly-mudslide/did-tiny-quake-cause-mudslide-or-should-officials-have-seen-n61721 | 2014-03-26 | 3 |
<p>Tensions between Canada's Assembly of First Nations and some chiefs who are feeling excluded could lead to the formation of a new breakaway group at a meeting next month.</p>
<p>The National Treaty Gathering will take place July 14 to 18 at Onion Lake, Saskatchewan, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/06/27/pol-new-first-nations-group.html" type="external">the same time the AFN will have its annual meeting</a> in Whitehorse, Yukon. Those invited must choose which meeting they want to attend.</p>
<p>Grand Chief Derek Nepinak of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/06/28/Dissatisfied-chiefs-in-Canada-could-form-new-First-Nations-group/UPI-91831372444514/?spt=hs&amp;or=tn&amp;utm_content=buffer400fd&amp;utm_source=buffer&amp;utm_medium=twitter&amp;utm_campaign=Buffer" type="external">will present at the Onion Lake event the idea of a new group</a>, tentatively known as the National Treaty Alliance.</p>
<p>Nepinak said there is a general sense of exclusion and that some chiefs feel the AFN is not listening to their grievances.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/hrw-report-first-nations-women-abused-canadian-mounties" type="external">First Nations women abused by Canadian Mounties, HRW reports</a></p>
<p>"Indigenous people across the country stand firm on recognizing that change needs to happen. We have to get past those political power vacuums that we've allowed to persist for too long, where very few people are allowed to share their ideas and their perspectives on what we need to do," he said.</p>
<p>Chief Delbert Wapass of Saskatchewan's Thunderchild First Nation said he would also be attending the Onion Lake meeting and is excited about what could happen there.</p>
<p>"I know it will be something great. Everybody should be there as far as I'm concerned," Wapass said.&#160;"If the AFN is not stepping up and defending our rights, we have to."</p> | Dissatisfied chiefs in Canada could form new First Nations group | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-06-28/dissatisfied-chiefs-canada-could-form-new-first-nations-group | 2013-06-28 | 3 |
<p>Boyd Co., Ky. 85, Spring Valley 80</p>
<p>Cameron 67, Bridgeport, Ohio 44</p>
<p>Chapmanville 81, Winfield 53</p>
<p>Greater Beckley Christian 83, Fayetteville 51</p>
<p>Lincoln County 67, Wayne 58</p>
<p>Martinsburg 75, Washington 61</p>
<p>Mingo Central 63, Logan 47</p>
<p>Morgantown 64, Brooke 20</p>
<p>Musselman 78, Spring Mills 34</p>
<p>Nicholas County 71, Herbert Hoover 62</p>
<p>Oak Glen 66, Weir 61</p>
<p>Oak Hill 64, Wyoming East 60</p>
<p>Paden City 70, Hundred 68</p>
<p>Ravenswood 78, Wirt County 39</p>
<p>Tug Valley 86, Tolsia 64</p>
<p>Valley Fayette 76, Sherman 57</p>
<p>Boyd Co., Ky. 85, Spring Valley 80</p>
<p>Cameron 67, Bridgeport, Ohio 44</p>
<p>Chapmanville 81, Winfield 53</p>
<p>Greater Beckley Christian 83, Fayetteville 51</p>
<p>Lincoln County 67, Wayne 58</p>
<p>Martinsburg 75, Washington 61</p>
<p>Mingo Central 63, Logan 47</p>
<p>Morgantown 64, Brooke 20</p>
<p>Musselman 78, Spring Mills 34</p>
<p>Nicholas County 71, Herbert Hoover 62</p>
<p>Oak Glen 66, Weir 61</p>
<p>Oak Hill 64, Wyoming East 60</p>
<p>Paden City 70, Hundred 68</p>
<p>Ravenswood 78, Wirt County 39</p>
<p>Tug Valley 86, Tolsia 64</p>
<p>Valley Fayette 76, Sherman 57</p> | Tuesday's Scores | false | https://apnews.com/amp/c6c09a1a33ca4149883afbde1c79e81b | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Customers looking to buy Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iPhone 5 online through Apple in the U.S. will need to wait two weeks for it to ship, according to Apple's website. Pre-orders for the September 21 debut became available at 3:01 am ET Friday and sold out within an hour.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In comparison, the iPhone 4S, which represented a smaller upgrade, took nearly a day to sell out.</p>
<p>Apple did not immediately return requests for comment on the subject.</p>
<p>People looking to snatch one up on launch day can still do so at Apple's retail stores at 8 a.m. local time. Historically, there have been long lines at these events, although Apple has worked to increase staff and inventory levels ahead of these releases in recent years.</p>
<p>Verizon Wireless, AT&amp;T (NYSE:T) and Sprint (NYSE:S), the three carriers that will support the new phone, all say on their websites that it is possible to pre-order for arrival on launch day on September 21. It is unclear, however, if those measures represent current inventory levels.</p>
<p>The process reportedly didn’t go off without its flaws. Danny Sullivan, a tech writer, <a href="https://twitter.com/dannysullivan/status/246514493717377025/photo/1" type="external">dispatched a tweet</a> showing a screenshot of Apple’s website that says “we’re currently unable to reach the carrier systems to process your order, but will reserve an iPhone for you.”</p>
<p>The new phone represents a substantial upgrade to the iPhone 4S. It is made completely of aluminum and glass, with a taller screen, faster processor, better camera and a host of other improvements.</p>
<p>Analysts across Wall Street are bullish on Apple and the new device. In fact, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) boosted its price target on the tech juggernaut to $810 from $790 following the announcement earlier this week. The biggest American company by market capitalization is forecast to see sales of $156 billion this year, and $193 billion the following year, according to estimates from Thomson Reuters.</p>
<p>Shares were up 1.8% to a fresh all-time high at $695.21 in morning trading in New York.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | First Round of iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Sells Out | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/09/14/first-round-iphone-5-pre-orders-sells-out.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
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<p>As Mercedes responded to Ferrari’s strong early-season pace, it was Bottas, often viewed as the No. 2 driver of the team, who delivered a calm, precise win when his more illustrious teammate Hamilton struggled in the Sochi heat.</p>
<p>Bottas started third but beat second-placed Kimi Raikkonen off the start and slipstreamed past Vettel’s Ferrari to lead at the end of the first straight.</p>
<p>The Finn looked on course for a straightforward win until a rare slip saw him damage a tire. That helped Vettel to close in, but Bottas held on to cross the line 0.6 seconds ahead of the Ferrari. Raikkonen took third, 10.3 seconds further back.</p>
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<p>“Took quite a while, more than 80 races,” said Bottas, who had his debut with Williams in 2013. “Worth the wait.”</p>
<p>The 27-year-old Finn joined Mercedes after last year’s champion, Nico Rosberg, surprisingly announced his retirement.</p>
<p>“There was this strange opportunity that happened in the winter that made this possible,” Bottas said. “You never know in life what’s going to happen and it was a great opportunity.”</p>
<p>Vettel, who had started on pole, hunted Bottas down in the latter part of the race. However, he was left fuming after his hopes of passing him on the last lap were dashed by having to lap the Williams of Felipe Massa. “What was that?” Vettel asked over the team radio in frustration that Massa hadn’t moved out of his way swiftly enough, though the German was in conciliatory mood afterward.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter,” Vettel said of the incident with Massa. “This is the man of the race today, big congrats to Valtteri.”</p>
<p>Vettel’s second place meant the German extended his standings lead to 13 points over Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who trailed in fourth after suffering overheating trouble. Bottas is third, 10 points further back.</p>
<p>It was a lonely race for Hamilton, who had large gaps with Raikkonen ahead and Max Verstappen behind.</p>
<p>“Why is my car overheating? We’re out of the race now,” Hamilton told his team on lap 16. The British driver never came close to third-placed Raikkonen, and the gap stood at more than 25 seconds at the checkered flag.</p>
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<p>Since joining Mercedes, Bottas had been struggling to match the knowledge of the car and the team that Hamilton has built up over four seasons with Mercedes, including two titles.</p>
<p>Before the race, Bottas had faced questions over whether Mercedes would order him to let Hamilton through in order to boost the British driver’s title chances against Vettel. His win shows it’s not clear-cut who’s better suited to take the fight to Ferrari.</p>
<p>“All the questions and all the speculation, No. 2 driver and so on, it doesn’t get to me,” Bottas said.</p>
<p>For Mercedes, the win is a strong response to Ferrari’s good early-season pace following its winless 2016. Vettel may still lead the drivers’ standings after two wins and two second places in the opening four races, but it’s Mercedes on top by a point in the constructors’ championship.</p>
<p>With Russian President Vladimir Putin looking on, Red Bull driver Verstappen claimed fifth, ahead of the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon. Eighth went to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Massa and Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz claiming the final points.</p>
<p>Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was the most notable retirement, parking his car on lap 6 after the right-rear brakes caught fire.</p>
<p>There was a safety-car stoppage after barely half a lap when Romain Grosjean’s Haas hit the Renault of Jolyon Palmer on the inside of a right-hand bend, putting both cars into the wall. Bottas held on to his lead comfortably at the restart in a race with few overtaking opportunities.</p>
<p>McLaren’s Fernando Alonso is still yet to reach the checkered flag this season after his car broke down on the formation lap.</p> | Bottas beats Vettel in Russian GP for 1st F1 win | false | https://abqjournal.com/995778/bottas-beats-vettel-in-russian-gp-for-1st-f1-win.html | 2017-04-30 | 2 |
<p>In the last three or four years, because of globalization, there are many ways of entertaining Indian audiences and they understand more subtle differences in acting. As a trained actor, I feel the time has come for us to produce the next gen of actors who are more educated and understand international cinema. (How are you teaching Bollywood actors that come from India then?) My school in Bollywood is just training actors, but not in any particular style, so they can do exaggerated acting as well as other styles. The only thing taught that's different is Bollywood dancing. (How is that different?) It has its own rhythm and own feel. You have to go a bit wild. And it's a very integral part of our culture. We celebrate life. We are not a quiet people. (Is there a model for acting versatility?) I have played a wide range of characters even. Someone like Al Pacino or Robert DeNiro are such models as well, they identify with their characters. Actors shouldn't take themselves too seriously. (What's your best advice?) Nothing is better than honesty or hard work. Come up with your own self and style, and be original.</p> | Bollywood goes to acting schools | false | https://pri.org/stories/2008-03-06/bollywood-goes-acting-schools | 2008-03-06 | 3 |
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<p>GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — Greeley Mayor Tom Norton is there for his hometown University of Northern Colorado men's basketball team. Unless he gets ejected after protesting a referees' call.</p>
<p>The Greeley Tribune reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2j1qMFE" type="external">http://bit.ly/2j1qMFE</a>) Norton was ejected from Saturday's game against Weber State University when officials said he got up from his courtside seat and walked onto the floor to object.</p>
<p>Norton denied being on the court, saying, “I'm behaving.”</p>
<p>He was later readmitted and watched the rest of the game from another seat several rows up.</p>
<p>Northern Colorado coach Jeff Linder joked that he would have to send Norton treats because they're neighbors.</p>
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<p>Weber State won, 74-69.</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to say that the University of Northern Colorado played Weber State University, not the University of Colorado.</p>
<p>Information from: The Tribune of Greeley, Co, <a href="http://greeleytribune.com" type="external">http://greeleytribune.com</a></p>
<p><a href="#79a067bf-28a1-45be-9be8-cbfc1d92bd0f" type="external">© 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</a> Learn more about our <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy" type="external">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms" type="external">Terms of Use</a>.</p> | Mayor loves his team: He's booted after protesting a call | false | https://abqjournal.com/933260/mayor-loves-his-team-hes-booted-after-protesting-a-call-2.html | 2017-01-22 | 2 |
<p>The 42-year-old Modern Family&#160;star Sofia Vergara posed for the cover of the May 2015 issue of Vanity Fair,&#160;and she opened up about everything from her accent to her engagement to Joe Manganiello. Most notably, she discussed her figure, which she shows off in the magazine.</p>
<p>Though it may come as a surprise, Vergara believes that her curves are undesirable. She complained that buying a bra over the years has been a “nightmare.”</p>
<p>“I found places like Frederick’s of Hollywood that make bras for [strippers],” Vergara admitted. “I wish I had fake boobs,” she said. He added that&#160;hers “go down like all the way,” and having her breasts is “not fun.” “My boobs are, like, huge,” Vergara said.</p>
<p>This may be part of the reason why she can be defensive about the kinds of dresses she wears on the red carpet. Vergara explained that the press often comments on the similarities in her dress shapes at different events. She said that obviously “there’s a reason why” she continuously chooses similar shapes.</p>
<p>Despite her complaints, it seems that Hollywood still considers her one of the most attractive actresses around. And her fiance agrees!</p>
<p>Vergara told Vanity Fair&#160;that her 38-year-old fiance badgered her co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson to give him her number hours after she broke it off with her ex-fiance Nick Loeb. When Jesse Tyler Ferguson told Vergara that Magic Mike&#160;actor Joe&#160;Manganiello was interested, she said “no, he’s too handsome.”</p>
<p>Finally she gave in, but she did not think that anything would come of it. She was in New Orleans shooting and he was in L.A., but she said they “started talking a lot, and then he showed up in New Orleans.” Since he showed up, the two have been “inseparable.”</p>
<p>Along with her figure and her relationship, Vergara discussed her Colombian accent with the magazine. She said that she hired a speech coach to help lessen it, but eventually, she learned to use it.</p>
<p>She said that working with a speech coach was “exhausting” and she finally realized–after being in the country for 20 years–that her accent was not going away. From that point on, she decided that she was OK with only taking jobs that allowed her accent.</p>
<p>In the end, her accent did not seem to be an issue. Vergara is the highest paid actress in television and has been for three consecutive years, according to Entertainment Tonight.&#160;Last year, she racked up <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/vannale/2014/09/03/sofia-vergara-is-the-highest-paid-tv-actress-of-2014-for-third-year/" type="external">$37 million</a>.</p>
<p /> | Sofia Vergara opens up to ‘Vanity Fair’: ‘I wish I had fake boobs’ | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/04/09/sofia-vergara-opens-up-to-vanity-fair-i-wish-i-had-fake-boobs/ | 2015-04-09 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Dear Bankruptcy Adviser,&#160;</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>We filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2006. We presently have a lot of credit card debt among some other things that we should not have done. My husband lost his full-time job and is working a temporary job with a huge pay cut. He is going to be laid off for the next two weeks and will hopefully be able to go back after that, but it is iffy. We have gone through all of our extra cash paying bills. Should we try to file for bankruptcy again? We have one child and another on the way. I am really concerned about losing our home and everything.&#160;</p>
<p>-Courtney</p>
<p>Dear Courtney,&#160;</p>
<p>You say that you have done some things you shouldn't have to get yourself back into this financial headache. I am sorry you didn't learn from your first mistake.</p>
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<p>Unfortunately for you, having one child, another on the way and unstable employment is a recipe for financial turmoil and marital acrimony.</p>
<p>While another bankruptcy filing may be around the corner, you can't file Chapter 7 bankruptcy until next year. You can only file Chapter 7 bankruptcy and receive a bankruptcy discharge once every eight years.</p>
<p>While the eighth year is right around the corner, you might be facing creditor lawsuits or pending foreclosure. If you are facing a lot of pressure, you may consider filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy before you become eligible for another Chapter 7.</p>
<p>A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is a repayment of none, some or all of your debt over a three- to five-year period. In some cases, filers could have a payment as low as $100 per month. Most likely, that amount will not pay back much to your creditor, but when you are facing lawsuits, garnishments or bank levies, some sort of bankruptcy protection is needed.</p>
<p>As for your home, you should be concerned. This will need to be a priority for you with your growing family. While you may be dealing with lots of calls from debt collectors, you need not let those calls distract you from trying to save your home.</p>
<p>I strongly suggest hiring a bankruptcy attorney to help field calls from collectors and keep lawsuits at bay. Unless one of the creditors has already filed a lawsuit against you, hiring an attorney should also buy you some time if you wanted to wait until you are eligible to file another Chapter 7 bankruptcy.</p>
<p>It is important to note that hiring a bankruptcy attorney will not slow down the foreclosure process. You would need to work on a loan modification with your lender to slow that process down if you are already behind on your payments.</p>
<p>I would also look into what financial missteps you took to lead you back to the path of bankruptcy once again. While ill-fated job problems can't be helped, taking a hard look at your spending and saving and making a strict budget could alleviate the need for such stressful, drastic measures in the future.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Ask the adviser</p>
<p>To ask a question of the Bankruptcy Adviser, go to the " <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/brm/ask.asp" type="external">Ask the Experts Opens a New Window.</a>" page and select "Bankruptcy" as the topic. Read more <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/personal-finance/advisers/bankruptcy-adviser.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">Bankruptcy Adviser Opens a New Window.</a> columns and more <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/debt-management.aspx?pid=p:foxbz" type="external">stories Opens a New Window.</a> about debt management.</p>
<p>Bankrate's content, including the guidance of its advice-and-expert columns and this website, is intended only to assist you with financial decisions. The content is broad in scope and does not consider your personal financial situation. Bankrate recommends that you seek the advice of advisers who are fully aware of your individual circumstances before making any final decisions or implementing any financial strategy. Please remember that your use of this website is governed by <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/coinfo/disclaimer.asp" type="external">Bankrate's Terms of Use Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2013, Bankrate Inc.</p> | Too Soon to File for Bankruptcy Again? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/08/13/too-soon-to-file-for-bankruptcy-again.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>Is your teen a big fan of energy drinks (like Monster and Redbull), or sports drinks (like Gatorade)? If so, do they also smoke, spend inordinate amounts of time in front of device screens and enjoy other sugary beverages? Because <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/ehs-sae050114.php" type="external">according to researchers from the University of Minnesota and Duke University</a>, there’s an association between sports/energy beverages and those behaviors.</p>
<p>“Among boys, weekly sports drink consumption was significantly associated with higher TV viewing; boys who regularly consumed sports drinks spent about one additional hour per week watching TV compared with boys who consumed sports drinks less than once per week,” said lead author Nicole Larson, PhD, MPH, RDN, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. “Boys who consumed energy drinks at least weekly spent approximately four additional hours per week playing video games compared to those who consumed energy drinks less than once per week.”</p>
<p>Though adolescent consumption of soda and fruit drinks is on the decline, sports and energy drinks have more than taken up the slack, tripling in recent years. Doctors have long been concerned with the caffeine content of energy drinks in particular, and at least on the surface it appears that they may give teens the extra pep needed to put in more hours using screen-based devices.</p>
<p>Scientists gathered data on 2,793 students from 20 schools across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, with a median subject age of 14.4. They found that while sports drink consumption was associated with higher levels of activity and sports participation, the larger picture indicates that sports and energy drink consumption are part of a larger cluster of unhealthy teen behaviors.</p>
<p /> | Energy drinks linked with teenage smoking; couch potatoes | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/05/06/energy-drinks-linked-with-teenage-smoking-couch-potatos/ | 2014-05-06 | 3 |
<p>Financial services stocks and exchange traded funds, such as the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF), have recently had the wind at their backs. This month, the Federal Reserve helped XLF and rival bank ETFs with its interest rate increase of 2016 while unveiling expectations for three more interest rate hikes next year. Prior to… <a href="http://www.etftrends.com/2016/12/trump-and-bank-etfs-not-all-good-news/" type="external">Click to read more at ETFtrends.com. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Trump and Bank ETFs: Not All Good News | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/28/trump-and-bank-etfs-not-all-good-news.html | 2016-12-28 | 0 |
<p>Panama, December 21, 1989 (photo: Morland/DoD)</p>
<p>Two weeks after the Panama invasion, CBS News sponsored a public opinion poll in Panama that found the residents in rapture over what had happened. Even 80 percent of those whose homes had been blown up or their relatives killed by U.S. forces said it was worth it. Their enthusiasm did not stop with the ousting of Gen. Manuel Noriega, however. A less heavily advertised result of the poll was that 82 percent of the sampled Panamanian patriots did not want Panamanian control of the Canal, preferring either partial or exclusive control by the U.S. (“Panamanians Strongly Back U.S. Move,” New York Times, 1/6/90).</p>
<p>A “public opinion poll” in a country under martial law, conducted by an agency obviously sanctioned by the invading forces, can be expected to come up with such results. Most reporters, traveling as they did with the U.S. military, found little to contradict this picture. Less than 40 hours after the invasion began, Sam Donaldson and Judd Rose transported us to Panama via ABC‘s Prime Time Live (12/21/90). “There were people who applauded us as we went by in a military convoy,” said Rose. “The military have been very good to us [in escorting reporters beyond the Canal Zone],” added Donaldson.</p>
<p>While this kind of “Canal Zone journalism” dominated television, a few independent print journalists struck out on their own. Peter Eisner of Newsday’s Latin America bureau, for example, reported (12/28/89) that Panamanians were cursing U.S. soldiers under their breath as troops searched the home of a neighbor–a civilian–for weapons. One Panamanian pointed out a man speaking to U.S. soldiers as a “sapo” (a toad–slang for “dirty informer”) and suggested that denouncing people to the U.S. forces was a way of settling old scores. A doctor living on the street said that “liberals will be laying low for a while, and they’re probably justified” because of what would happen to those who speak out. All of Eisner’s sources feared having their names printed.</p>
<p>The same day’s Miami Herald ran articles about Panamanian citizen reactions, including concern over the hundreds of dead civilians: “Neighbors saw six U.S. truck loads bringing dozens of bodies” to a mass grave. As a mother watched the body of her soldier son lowered into a grave, her “voice rose over the crowd’s silence: ‘Damn the Americans.'”</p>
<p>Obviously there was a mix of opinion inside Panama, but it was virtually unreported on television, the dominant medium shaping U.S. attitudes about the invasion. Panamanian opposition to the U.S. was dismissed as nothing more than “DigBat [Dignity Battalion] thugs” who’d been given jobs by Noriega. And it was hardly acknowledged that the high-visibility demonstration outside the Vatican Embassy the day of Noriega’s surrender had been actively “encouraged” by the U.S. occupying forces (Newsday, 1/5/90).</p>
<p>Few TV reporters seemed to notice that the jubilant Panamanians parading before their cameras day after day to endorse the invasion spoke near-perfect English and were overwhelmingly light-skinned and well-dressed. This in a Spanish-speaking country with a largely mestizo and black population where poverty is widespread. ABC‘s Beth Nissen (12/27/89) was one of the few TV reporters to take a close look at the civilian deaths caused by US bombs that pulverized El Chorillo, the poor neighborhood which ambulance drivers now call “Little Hiroshima.” The people of El Chorillo don’t speak perfect English, and they were less than jubilant about the invasion.</p>
<p>“Our Boys” vs. Unseen Civilians</p>
<p>US Army Rangers invading the Panamanian neighborhood of El Chorrillo (photo: DoD)</p>
<p>In the first days of the invasion, TV journalists had one overriding obsession: How many American soldiers have died? The question, repeated with drumbeat regularity, tended to drown out the other issues: Panamanian casualties, international law, foreign reaction. On the morning of the invasion, CBS anchor Kathleen Sullivan’s voice cracked with emotion for the U.S. soldiers: “Nine killed, more than 50 wounded. How long can this fighting go on?” Unknown and unknowable to CBS viewers, hundreds of Panamanians had already been killed by then, many buried in their homes.</p>
<p>Judging from the calls and requests for interviews that poured into the FAIR office, European and Latin American journalists based in the U.S. were stunned by the implied racism and national chauvinism in the media display. The Toronto Globe and Mail, often referred to as the New York Times of Canada, ran a front-page article (12/22/89) critiquing the United States and its media for “the peculiar jingoism of U.S. society so evident to foreigners but almost invisible for most Americans.”</p>
<p>TV’s continuous focus on the well-being of the invaders, and not the invadees, meant that the screen was dominated by red, white and blue-draped coffins and ceremonies, honor rolls of the U.S. dead, drum rolls, remarks by Dan Rather (12/21/89) about “our fallen heroes”…but no Panamanian funerals. This despite the fact that the invasion claimed perhaps 50 Panamanian lives for every U.S. citizen killed.</p>
<p>When Pentagon pool correspondent Fred Francis was asked on day one about civilian casualties on ABC‘s Nightline (12/20/89), he said he did not know, because he and other journalists were traveling around with the U.S. army. Curiosity didn’t increase in ensuing days. FAIR called the TV networks daily to demand they address the issue of civilian deaths, but journalists said they had no way of verifying the numbers.</p>
<p>No such qualms existed with regards to Rumania, where over the Christmas weekend CNN and other U.S. outlets were freely dishing out fantastic reports of 80,000 people killed in days of violence, a figure–greater than the immediate Hiroshima death toll– which any editor should have dismissed out of hand. Tom Brokaw’s selective interest in civilians was evident when he devoted the first half of NBC Nightly News (12/20/89) to Panama without mentioning non-combatant casualties, then turned to Rumania and immediately referred to reports of thousands of civilian deaths.</p>
<p>Not until the sixth day of the Panama invasion did the U.S. Army augment its estimated dead (23 American troops, 297 alleged enemy soldiers) to include a figure for civilians: 254. The number was challenged as representing only a fraction of the true death toll by the few reporters who sought out independent sources: Panamanian human rights monitors, hospital workers, ambulance drivers, funeral home directors. These sources also spoke of thousands of civilian injuries and 10,000 left homeless. Many journalists, especially on television, were too busy cheerleading “the successful military action” to notice the Panamanians who didn’t fair so successfully.</p>
<p>TV correspondents, so incurious about civilian casualties, could not be expected to go beyond U.S. military assurances about who was being arrested and why. As the Boston Globe noted (1/1/90), U.S. forces were arresting anyone on a blacklist compiled by the newly installed government. Newsday‘s Peter Eisner reported (1/7/90): “Hundreds of intellectuals, university students, teachers and professional people say they have been harassed and detained by U.S. forces in the guise of searching for hidden weapons.”</p>
<p>The “Objective” Reporter’s Lexicon: We, Us, Our</p>
<p>In covering the invasion of Panama, many TV journalists abandoned even the pretense of operating in a neutral, independent mode. Television anchors used pronouns like “we” and “us” in describing the mission into Panama, as if they themselves were members of the invasion force, or at least helpful advisers.</p>
<p>NBC‘s Tom Brokaw exclaimed, on day one (12/20/89): “We haven’t got [Manuel Noriega] yet.” CNN anchor Mary Anne Loughlin asked a former CIA official (12/21/89): “Noriega has stayed one step ahead of us. Do you think we’ll be able to find him?” After eagerly quizzing a panel of U.S. military experts on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (12/21/89) about whether “we” had wiped out the Panamanian Defense Forces (PDF), Judy Woodruff concluded, “So not only have we done away with the PDF, we’ve also done away with the police force.” So much for separation of press and state.</p>
<p>Nightline‘s Ted Koppel and other TV journalists had a field day mocking Noriega’s Orwellianly titled “Dignity Battalions,” but none were heard ridiculing the invasion’s code name: “Operation Just Cause.” The day after the invasion began (12/21/89), NBC Nightly News offered its own case study in Orwellian newspeak: While one correspondent referred to the U.S. military occupiers as engaged in “peacekeeping chores,” another correspondent on the same show referred to Latin American diplomats condemning the U.S. at the Organization of American States as a “lynch mob.” After the Soviet Union criticized the invasion as “gunboat diplomacy” (as had many other countries), Dan Rather (CBS Evening News, 12/20/89) dismissed it as “old-line, hard-line talk from Moscow.”</p>
<p>Journalism gave way to state propaganda when a CNN correspondent dutifully reported on the first day of the invasion (12/20/89), “U.S. troops have taken detainees, but we are not calling them ‘prisoners of war’ because the U.S. has not declared war.” (That kind of obedient reporter probably still refers to the Vietnam “conflict.”) Similarly, on day one, many network correspondents couldn’t bring themselves to call the invasion an invasion until they got the green light from Washington; instead, it was referred to variously as a military action, intervention, operation, expedition, affair or insertion.</p>
<p>Where Did Our Love Go?</p>
<p>Many reporters uncritically promoted White House explanations for its break-up with Noriega. Clifford Krauss reported (New York Times, 1/21/90) that Noriega “began as a CIA asset but fell afoul of Washington over his involvement in drug and arms trafficking.” ABC‘s Peter Jennings told viewers on the day of the invasion, “Let’s remember that the United States was very close to Mr. Noriega before the whole question of drugs came up.”</p>
<p>Actually, Noriega’s drug links were asserted by U.S. intelligence as early as 1972. In 1976, after U.S. espionage officials proposed that Noriega be dumped because of drugs and double-dealing, then-CIA director George Bush made sure the relationship continued (San Francisco Examiner 1/5/90; New Yorker, 1/8/90). U.S. intelligence overlooked the drug issue year after year as long as Noriega was an eager ally in U.S. espionage and covert operations, especially those targeted against Nicaragua.</p>
<p>Peter Jennings’ claim that the U.S. broke with Noriega after the “question of drugs came up” turns reality upside down. Noriega’s involvement in drug trafficking was purportedly heaviest in the early 1980s when his relationship with the U.S. was especially close. By 1986, when the Noriega/U.S. relationship began to fray, experts agree that Noriega had already drastically curtailed his drug links. The two drug-related indictments against Noriega in Florida cover activities from 1981 through March 1986 (“Analysts Challenge View of Noriega as Drug Lord,” Washington Post, 1/7/90).</p>
<p>When, as vice president, Bush met with Noriega in Panama in December 1983, besides discussing Nicaragua, Bush allegedly raised questions about drug-money laundering. According to author Kevin Buckley, Noriega told top aide Jose Blandon that he’d picked up the following message from the Bush meeting: “The United States wanted help for the Contras so badly that if he even promised it, the U.S. government would turn a blind eye to money-laundering and setbacks to democracy in Panama.”</p>
<p>In 1985 and ’86, Noriega met several times with Oliver North to discuss the assistance Noriega was providing to the Contras, such as training Contras at Panamanian Defense Force bases (“Noriega Could Give Some Interesting Answers,” Kevin Buckley, St. Petersburg Times, 1/3/90). Noriega didn’t fall from grace until he stopped being a “team player” in the U.S. war against Nicaragua.</p>
<p>Democracy had as little to do with the break-up as drugs. If Noriega believed Bush had given his strongarm rule a green light in 1983, confirmation came the next year when Noriega’s troops seized ballot boxes and blatantly rigged Panama’s presidential election. Noriega’s candidate, Nicolas Ardito Barletta, was also “our” candidate–an economist who had been a student and assistant to former University of Chicago professor George Shultz. Though loudly protested by Panamanians, the fraud that put Ardito Barletta in power was cheered by the U.S. embassy. Secretary of State Shultz attended his inauguration. (See “The Press on Panama,” Extra!, 3-4/88; Richard Reeves, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/25/89.)</p>
<p>As the Noriega case progresses toward trial, the media’s treatment of key witnesses against the general may offer a case study in bias. Several of the witnesses have already testified on these matters in a very public forum–hearings before Sen. John Kerry’s Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Narcotics. At that time, February 1988, they fingered Nicaraguan contras as cocaine cohorts of Noriega operating under the umbrella of the CIA and Oilie North.</p>
<p>The hearings were ignored or distorted by national media outlets, with Reagan/Bush officials and CIA dismissing the witnesses as drug trafficking felons (Extra!, 3-4/88; Warren Hinckle, San Francisco Examiner, 1/11/90). In a predictable turnaround, as soon as Noriega was apprehended, TV news brought forth experts to explain that “when one prosecutes someone like Noriega for drug dealing, witnesses will of necessity be drug dealers.”</p>
<p>Provocations or Pretexts?</p>
<p>The U.S. media showed little curiosity about the December 16 confrontation that led to the death of a U.S. Marine officer and the injury of another when they tried to run a roadblock in front of the PDF headquarters. The officers were supposedly “lost.” In view of what is now known about the intense pre-invasion preparations then underway (New York Times, 12/24/89), is it possible the Marines were actually trying to track Noriega’s whereabouts?</p>
<p>The Panamanian version of the event was that the U.S. soldiers, upon being discovered, opened fire–injuring three civilians, including a child–and then tried to run the roadblock. This version was largely ignored by U.S. journalists even after the shooting two days later of a Panamanian corporal who “signaled a U.S. serviceman to stop,” according to the administration. “The U.S. serviceman felt threatened,” the administration claimed, after admitting that its earlier story that the Panamanian had pulled his gun was false (New York Times, 12/19/89).</p>
<p>As for the claim that a U.S. officer had been roughly interrogated and his wife sexually threatened, the administration provided no supporting evidence (New York Times, 12/19/89; Newsday, 12/18/89). Since the Marine’s death and the interrogation were repeatedly invoked to justify the invasion, the lack of press scrutiny of these claims is stunning.</p>
<p>For months, U.S. forces had been trying to provoke confrontations as a pretext for an attack. In response to an August 11 incident, Panamanian Foreign Minister Jorge Ritter asked that a U.N. peacekeeping force be dispatched to Panama to prevent such encounters. The U.S. press largely ignored his call (El Diario/La Prensa, New York’s Spanish-language daily, 8/13/89).</p>
<p>The “Declaration of War” That Never Was</p>
<p>“When during the past few days [Noriega] declared war on the United States and some of his followers then killed a U.S. Marine, roughed up another American serviceman, also threatening that man’s wife, strong public support for a reprisal was all but guaranteed,” Ted Koppel told his Nightline audience December 20.</p>
<p>Noriega never “declared war on the United States.” The original Reuters dispatches, published on the inside pages of the New York Times (12/17-18/89), buried the supposed “declaration” in articles dealing with other matters. In the December 17 article headlined “Opposition Leader in Panama Rejects a Peace Offer from Noriega,” Reuters quoted the general as saying that he would judiciously use new powers granted him by the Panamanian parliament and that “the North American scheme, through constant psychological and military harassment, has created a state of war in Panama.” This statement of fact aroused little excitement at the White House, which called the parliament’s move “a hollow step.”</p>
<p>The day after the invasion, Los Angeles Times Pentagon correspondent Melissa Healey told a call-in talk show audience on C-SPAN that Noriega had “declared war” on the United States. When a caller asked why that hadn’t been front-page news, Healey explained that the declaration of war was one of a series of “incremental escalations.” When another caller pointed out that Panama had only made a rhetorical statement that U.S. economic and other measures had created a state of war, the Pentagon correspondent confessed ignorance of what had actually been said, and suggested that it was certainly worth investigating.</p>
<p>The incident symbolizes media performance on the invasion–dispense official information as gospel first, worry about the truth of that information later. It’s just what the White House was counting on from the media. The Bush team set out to control television and front-page news in the first days, knowing that exposes of official deception (such as Noriega’s 110 pounds of “cocaine” that turned out to be tamales) would not appear until weeks later, buried on inside pages of newspapers. Rulers do not require the total suppression of news. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said: It’s sufficient to delay the news until it no longer matters.</p>
<p>Besides uncritically dispensing huge quantities of official news and views, the TV networks had another passion during the first days of the invasion: polling their public. It was an insular process, with predictable results. A Toronto Globe and Mail news story summarized it (12/22/89):</p>
<p>Hardly a voice of objection is being heard within the United States about the Panama invasion, at least from those deemed as official sources and thus likely to be seen on television or read in the papers. Not surprisingly, given the media coverage, a television poll taken yesterday by one network (CNN) indicated that nine of 10 viewers approved of the invasion.</p>
<p>Sidebar:</p>
<p>* “[The invasion was legal] according to all the experts I talked to.” –Rita Braver (CBS Evening News, 12/20/89)</p>
<p>* “As far as international law is concerned, even sources in the U.S. government admit they were operating very near the line.”</p>
<p>–John McWethy (ABC World News Tonight, 1/5/90)</p>
<p>* “The territory of a state is inviolable. It may not be the object, even temporarily, of military occupation or other measures of force taken by another state directly or indirectly on any grounds whatsoever.”</p>
<p>–Article 20, OAS Charter</p>
<p>Sidebar:</p>
<p>“One of the more odious creatures with whom the United States has had a relationship.”</p>
<p>–Peter Jennings (ABC, 12/20/89)</p>
<p>“At the top of the list of the world’s drug thieves and scums.”</p>
<p>–Dan Rather (CBS, 12/20/89)</p>
<p>John Chancellor: “Do we bring him here and put him on trial…or do we just neutralize him in some way?”</p>
<p>Tom Brokaw: “I think you bring him here and you make it a showcase trial in the war on drugs and justice prevails.”</p>
<p>—NBC, 12/20/89</p>
<p>“We lose numbers like that in large training exercises.”</p>
<p>–John Chancellor, commenting approvingly upon hearing only nine U.S. soldiers had died (NBC, 12/20/89)</p>
<p>“Noriega’s reputation as a brutal drug-dealing bully who reveled in his public contempt for the United States all but begged for strong retribution.”</p>
<p>–Ted Koppel (ABC‘s Nightline, 12/20/89)</p>
<p>“Noriega asked for this. President Bush listed all the things Noriega had done to force him to take action. Why does Noriega do these things?”</p>
<p>—CNN anchor Ralph Wenge, interviewing a former U.S. military commander (12/21/89)</p>
<p>“Noriega seemed almost superhuman in his ability to slither away before we got to him.”</p>
<p>–Anchor Bill Beutel (WABC-TV, New York, 1/3/90)</p>
<p>“[George Bush has completed] a presidential initiation rite [joining] American leaders who since World War II have felt a need to demonstrate their willingness to shed blood to protect or advance what they construe as the national interest…. Panama has shown him as a man capable of bold action.”</p>
<p>–R.W. Apple (New York Times, front-page news analysis, 12/21/89)</p> | How Television Sold the Panama Invasion | true | http://fair.org/extra/how-television-sold-the-panama-invasion/ | 1990-01-01 | 4 |
<p><a href="http://politicalblindspot.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/zimmer-down-now.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>As the George Zimmerman trial has continued throughout the day, a number of blatant lies and memes have gone viral in the “blogosphere”, being spread through Tea Party Facebook and Twitter accounts.</p>
<p>The most ridiculous one that I saw had hundreds of comments and shares within hours of being posted. See below…</p>
<p><a href="http://politicalblindspot.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/the_game.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>As you might be aware, the man on the left is&#160;not&#160;Trayvon Martin&#160;at any age.&#160;It is the hip hop artist “The Game.”</p>
<p><a href="http://politicalblindspot.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/game-1.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Apparently, those sharing the image believed that having tattoos and being a wealthy hip hop star would have been justifiable cause to be shot dead.</p>
<p>But take a look at the number of “likes” and shares of this image… This was only one image, on one Tea Party page. There were several others, though this was perhaps the most obvious example.</p>
<p><a href="http://politicalblindspot.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/circle.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Other examples included pictures of Trayvon Martin exhaling presumably marijuana smoke… Any white kids out there ever smoked weed as a teenager?</p>
<p>But so many throughout the United States seem all too eager to lap up any justification vomited out of the mouth of Zimmerman, his family and the defense.</p>
<p>The fact of the matter is all the middle fingers, marijuana smoke and even tattoos on The Game (not on Trayvon), do not give the least bit of justification for a man to arm himself, stalk a teenager walking to his father’s girlfriend’s house to meet his father, and then shoot that teenager dead because that teenager punched the stalker in the nose.</p>
<p>READ MORE &gt;&gt;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Viral Lies About Trayvon Are Sweeping Facebook | true | http://politicalblindspot.com/viral-lies-about-trayvon-are-sweeping-facebook/?fb_source%3Dpubv1 | 2013-06-24 | 4 |
<p>Osama bin Laden once told me that Americans did not understand the Middle East. Last week, in a little shuttle bus shouldering its way through curtains of rain across the Iowa prairies, I opened my copy of the Des Moines Register and realised that he might be right. “BIG HOG LOTS CALLED GREATER THREAT THAN BIN LADEN,” announced the headline. Iowa’s 15 million massive pigs, it seems, produce so much manure that the state waterways are polluted. “Large-scale hog producers are a greater threat to the United States and US democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network, says Robert F Kennedy Junior, president of… a New York environment group… ‘We’ve watched communities and American values shattered by these bullies,’ Kennedy said…” I took out my pocket calculator and did a little maths. Cedar Rapids, I reckoned, was 7,000 miles from Afghanistan. Another planet, more like.</p>
<p>I’ve been travelling to the United States for years, lecturing at Princeton or Harvard or Brown University, Rhode Island, or San Francisco, or Madison, Wisconsin. God knows why. I refuse all payment and take just a business-class round trip from Beirut because I can’t take 14 hours of screaming babies in each direction. American college students are tough as nails and bored as cabbages, and in some cities – Washington is top of the list – I might as well talk in Amharic. If you don’t use phrases like “peace process”, “back on track” or “Israel under siege”, there’s a kind of computerised blackout on the faces of the audience. Total Disk Failure. Why should my latest bout of Americana have been any different?</p>
<p>Sure, there were the usual oddballs. There was the old black guy whose first “question” on the Middle East in a Chicago University lecture theatre was a long and proud announcement that he hadn’t paid taxes to the IRS since 1948 – a claim so wonderful that I forbore the usual threat to close down on him. There were the World Trade Centre conspiracists who insisted that the US government had planted explosives in the twin towers. There was the silver-haired lady who wanted to know why God couldn’t be made to resolve the hatred between Israelis and Palestinians. And a Native American Indian in Los Angeles who ranted on about a Jewish plot to deprive his people of their land. A bespectacled man with long white hair in a ponytail shut him up before declaring that the Israeli-Palestinian war was identical to the American-Mexican war that deprived his own people of… well, of Los Angeles. I began to calculate the distance between LA and Jenin. A galaxy perhaps.</p>
<p>And there were the little tell-tale stories that showed just how biased and gutless the American press has become in the face of America’s Israeli lobby groups. “I wrote a report for a major paper about the Palestinian exodus of 1948,” a Jewish woman told me as we drove through the smog of downtown LA. “And of course, I mentioned the massacre of Palestinians at Deir Yassin by the Stern Gang and other Jewish groups – the massacre that prompted 750,000 Arabs to flee their homes. Then I look for my story in the paper and what do I find? The word ‘alleged’ has been inserted before the word ‘massacre’. I called the paper’s ombudsman and told him the massacre at Deir Yassin was a historical fact. Can you guess his reply? He said that the editor had written the word ‘alleged’ before ‘massacre’ because that way he thought he’d avoid lots of critical letters.”</p>
<p>By chance, this was the theme of my talks and lectures: the cowardly, idle, spineless way in which American journalists are lobotomising their stories from the Middle East, how the “occupied territories” have become “disputed territories” in their reports, how Jewish “settlements” have been transformed into Jewish “neighbourhoods”, how Arab militants are “terrorists” but Israeli militants only “fanatics” or “extremists”, how Ariel Sharon – the man held “personally responsible” by Israel’s own commissioner’s inquiry for the 1982 Sabra and Chatila massacre of 1,700 Palestinians – could be described in a report in The New York Times as having the instincts of “a warrior”. How the execution of surviving Palestinian fighters was so often called “mopping up”. How civilians killed by Israeli soldiers were always “caught in the crossfire”. I demanded to know of my audiences – and I expected the usual American indignation when I did – how US citizens could accept the infantile “dead or alive”, “with us or against us”, axis-of-evil policies of their President.</p>
<p>And for the first time in more than a decade of lecturing in the United States, I was shocked. Not by the passivity of Americans – the all-accepting, patriotic notion that the President knows best – nor by the dangerous self-absorption of the United States since 11 September and the constant, all-consuming fear of criticising Israel. What shocked me was the extraordinary new American refusal to go along with the official line, the growing, angry awareness among Americans that they were being lied to and deceived. At some of my talks, 60 per cent of the audiences were over 40. In some cases, perhaps 80 per cent were Americans with no ethnic or religious roots in the Middle East – “American Americans”, as I cruelly referred to them on one occasion, “white Americans”, as a Palestinian student called them more truculently. For the first time, it wasn’t my lectures they objected to, but the lectures they received from their President and the lectures they read in their press about Israel’s “war on terror” and the need always, uncritically, to support everything that America’s little Middle Eastern ally says and does.</p>
<p>There was, for example, the crinkly-faced, ex-naval officer who approached me after a talk at a United Methodist church in the San Diego suburb of Encinitas. “Sir, I was an officer on the aircraft carrier John F Kennedy during the 1973 Middle East war,” he began. (I checked him out later and he was, as my host remarked, “for real”.) “We were stationed off Gibraltar and our job was to refuel the fighter jets we were sending to Israel after their air force was shot to bits by the Arabs. Our planes would land with their USAF and Marine markings partly stripped off and the Star of David already painted on the side. Does anyone know why we gave all those planes to the Israelis just like that? When I see on television our planes and our tanks used to attack Palestinians, I can understand why people hate Americans.”</p>
<p>In the United States, I’m used to lecturing in half-empty lecture halls. Three years ago, I managed to fill a Washington auditorium seating 600 with just 32 Americans. But in Chicago and Iowa and Los Angeles this month, they came in their hundreds – almost 900 at one venue at the University of Southern California – and they sat in the aisles and corridors and outside the doors. It wasn’t because Lord Fisk was in town. Maybe the title of my talk – “September 11: ask who did it, but for heaven’s sake don’t ask why” – was provocative. But for the most part they came, as the question-and-answer sessions quickly revealed, because they were tired of being suckered by the television news networks and the right-wing punditocracy.</p>
<p>Never before have I been asked by Americans: “How can we make our press report the Middle East fairly?” or – much more disturbingly – “How can we make our government reflect our views?” The questions are a trap, of course. Brits have been shoving advice at the United States ever since we lost the War of Independence, and I wasn’t going to join their number. But the fact that these questions could be asked – usually by middle-aged Americans with no family origins in the Middle East – suggested a profound change in a hitherto docile population.</p>
<p>Towards the end of each talk, I apologised for the remarks I was about to make. I told audiences that the world did not change on 11 September, that the Lebanese and Palestinians had lost 17,500 dead during Israel’s 1982 invasion – more than five times the death toll of the international crimes against humanity of 11 September – but the world did not change 20 yearsago. There were no candles lit then, no memorial services. And each time I said this, there was a nodding of heads – grey-haired and balding as well as young – across the room. The smallest irreverent joke about President Bush was often met with hoots of laughter. I asked one of my hosts why this happened, why the audience accepted this from a Briton. “Because we don’t think Bush won the election,” she replied.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s easy to be fooled. The first local radio shows illustrated all too well how the Middle East discourse is handled in America. When Gayane Torosyan opened WSUI/KSUI for questions in Iowa City, a caller named “Michael” – a leader of the local Jewish community, I later learnt, though he did not say this on air – insisted that after the Camp David talks in 2000, Yasser Arafat had turned to “terrorism” despite being offered a Palestinian state with a capital in Jerusalem and 96 per cent of the West Bank and Gaza. Slowly and deliberately, I had to deconstruct this nonsense. Jerusalem was to have remained the “eternal and unified capital of Israel”, according to Camp David. Arafat would only have got what Madeleine Albright called “a sort of sovereignty” over the Haram al-Sharif mosque area and some Arab streets, while the Palestinian parliament would have been below the city’s eastern walls at Abu Dis. With the vastly extended and illegal Jerusalem municipality boundaries deep into the West Bank, Jewish settlements like Maale Adumim were not up for negotiation; nor were several other settlements. Nor was the 10-mile Israeli military buffer zone around the West Bank, nor the settlers’ roads, which would razor through the Palestinian “state”. Arafat was offered about 46 per cent of the 22 per cent of Palestine that was left. I could imagine the audience of WSUI/KSUI falling slowly from their seats in boredom.</p>
<p>Yet back at my folksy, wooden-walled hotel, the proprietor and his wife – P Force volunteers in the Kennedy era – had listened to every word. “We know what is going on,” he said. “I was a naval officer in the Gulf back in the Sixties and we only had few ships there then. In those days, the Shah of Iran was our policeman. Now we’ve got all those ships in there and our soldiers in the Arab countries and we seem to dominate the place.” Osama bin Laden, I said to myself, couldn’t put it better.</p>
<p>How odd, I reflected, that American newspapers can scarcely say even this. The Daily Iowan – there are no fewer than four dailies in Iowa City, press freedom being represented by the number of newspapers rather than their depth of coverage – had none of my hotel landlord’s forthrightness. “The situation in the Middle East is one that many Americans do not adequately understand,” it miserably lamented, “nor can they be reasonably articulate about it.” This rubbish – that Americans were too dumb to comprehend the Middle East bloodbath and should therefore keep their mouths shut – was a pervasive theme in editorials. Even more instructive were the reports of my own lectures.</p>
<p>The headline, “Fisk: Who really are the terrorists?” in the Daily Iowan last week at least caught the gist of my message, and included my own examples of American press bias in the Middle East, although it failed on the facts, wrongly reporting that it was the United Nations (rather than the far more persuasive Israeli Kahan Commission) which concluded that Sharon was “personally responsible” for the Sabra and Chatila massacre. The Des Moines Register’s account of one of my talks was intriguing. It concentrated on my interviews with Osama bin Laden – which I had indeed mentioned in my lecture – and then referred to my account of how an Afghan crowd beat me up last December. I had told the American audience that the Afghans were outraged by US bombing raids that had just killed their relatives around Kandahar and how important it had been to include this fact in my own report of the fray – to give context and reason to the Afghan attack on me. The Register used my words to describe the attack but then itself made no mention of the reasons. Long live, I thought, the Iowa City Press-Citizen, whose own headline – “Middle East reporter slams media” – got the point.</p>
<p>It’s not that Iowans have any excuse to be unaware of the Middle East. In the small town of Davenport, Israelis have been trained in the systems of the Apache AH-64 attack helicopters used to assassinate Palestinians on Israel’s wanted list. According to one local journalist, several Iowa companies, including the regional office of Rockwell, have been involved in military contracts worth millions of dollars with Israel. CemenTech of Indianola supplies equipment to the Israeli air force. The day I arrived in Iowa City, John Ashcroft, the US Attorney General, was telling Iowans that a hundred foreign nationals “from countries known as home to terrorists” had been interrogated in the state. Another hundred were likely to be “interviewed” soon. There was no editorial comment on this.</p>
<p>So Iowa University classes were absorbing. One young woman began by announcing that she knew the American media were biased. When I asked why, she said that “it has to do with America’s support for Israel…” and then, red-faced, she dried up. Not so the student in Rex Honey’s global studies class. After I had outlined the military trap into which the Americans had been lured in Afghanistan – the supposed “victory” followed by further engagements with al-Qa’ida and then, inevitably, daily battles with Afghan warlords and sniping attacks on Western troops – he put his hand up. “So how do we beat them?” he asked. There was a gentle ripple of laughter through the room. “Why do you want to ‘beat’ the Afghans,” I asked? “Why not help them build a new land?” The student came up to me afterwards, hand outstretched. “I want to thank you, sir, for all you told us,” he said. I had a suspicion he was a military man. Are you planning to join the army, I asked? “No, sir,” he replied. “I’m going to join the Marines.”</p>
<p>I advised him to stay clear of Afghanistan. In its own way, the American national press was doing the same. Two days later, the Los Angeles Times, in a remarkable dispatch from its correspondent David Zucchino, reported on the bitterness and anger among Afghans whose families had been killed in United States B-52 bomber raids. The recent American battle in Gardez, the report said, had left “bitterness in its wake”.</p>
<p>If only the same bluntness was applied to the Palestinian-Israeli war. Alas, no. On the freeway past Long Beach on Friday, I opened the LA Times to be told that Israel “mops up [sic] in the West Bank”, while the syndicated columnist Mona Charen was telling readers in other papers that “98 per cent of Palestinians have not been living under occupation since Israel pulled out under the Oslo accords” and that the Israeli Prime Minister at the time, Ehud Barak, had offered Arafat “97 per cent of the West Bank and Gaza”. This was 1 per cent higher even than the statistic from “Michael” on WSUI/KSUI radio. Arafat – “this murderer with the deaths of thousands of Jews and Arabs on his hands” – was to blame. The issue between Israel and her neighbours, Charen contended, “is not occupation, it is not settlements and it certainly is not Israeli brutality and aggression. It is the Arabs’ inability to live peacefully with others”.</p>
<p>Maybe California is organically different from the rest of the United States, but its journalists as well as its students seemed a tad smarter than the Midwest of America. The Orange County Register, a traditionally conservative newspaper in an area that is now 50 per cent Latino, has been trying to tell the truth about the Middle East and was carrying a tough feature by Holger Jensen, which warned that if President Bush didn’t rein in Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister “will succeed where Osama bin Laden failed: forcing us into a war of civilisations against 1.2 billion Muslims”. When I lunched with senior editorial staff, they invited three members of the Orange County Muslim community to join them.</p>
<p>Cocktails with friends of the Methodist church revealed a sane grasp of the Middle East – one of them was deeply disturbed by a recent remark by Israel’s Internal Security Minister, Uzi Landau, who had said that “we’re not facing human beings, but rather beasts”. A black guest commended the UN secretary general Kofi Annan’s criticism of Israel. Yet when I flipped on Fox News, there was Benjamin Netanyahu out-Sharoning Sharon, declaring that Palestinian suicide bombers would soon be prowling America’s streets, meeting Congressmen to enlist their help in Israel’s “war on terror”, even while the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, was in Israel.</p>
<p>“Why Israel’s Mission Must Continue,” the New York Times’s comment page shouted on Friday. A long and tedious article on Israel’s crusade against “terror” by an Israeli army colonel, Nitsan Alon, included several of my favourite cop-out phrases, including the stock reference to “a large number of civilians” who were – yes – “caught in the crossfire”.</p>
<p>By the time I was addressing the more bohemian denizens of an art club in Los Angeles, the newspapers I was attacking were beginning to turn up. Mark Kellner arrived to report for The Washington Times. “He’s going to stitch up everything you say,” a friend remarked. “The Washington Times is to the right of the Republican Party.” We shall see.</p>
<p>But if my audiences had been largely made up of Americans without any Middle East roots, the same could not be said of Sunday’s cocktails at the home of Stanley Sheinbaum, the philanthropist, art collector and libertarian – we shall forget the period in which he helped to run the Los Angeles Police Department – where my little speech was to set off some verbal hand-grenades. Sheinbaum it was who met Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad at President Jimmy Carter’s request, arranging Assad’s extraordinary summit with Carter in Geneva. “Tell me something good about yourself,” he said to me. Have you heard nothing good from anyone else, I enquired? “Nope,” he said.</p>
<p>But I liked Sheinbaum, a crusty, humorous man in his eighties who encourages every liberal Jewish American to have his say about the Middle East. As the lunchtime fog embraced the rose gardens and villas and swimming pools and hills of Brentwood, up stepped Rabbi Haim dov Beliak to explain how he intends to close down the bingo and gambling operations of one of America’s greatest Jewish settlement builders. “Call me when you get back to Beirut – by all means write about it.” As we scoffed Stanley Sheinbaum’s strawberries and sipped his fine Californian red wine, another rabbi approached. “You’re gonna have some hostile people in your audience,” he said. “Just let ’em hear the truth.”</p>
<p>So I did. I talked about the cowardice of Secretary Powell, who dawdled his way around the Mediterranean to give Sharon time to finish destroying the Jenin refugee camp. I talked about the rotting bodies of Jenin and the growing evidence that back in 1982 Sharon’s troops handed the survivors of the Sabra and Chatila massacre back to their Phalangist tormentors to be killed. I said that Arafat was never offered 96 per cent of the West Bank at Camp David. I advised the 100 or so people in the room to read the Israeli journalist Amira Haas’ courageous reports in Haaretz. I talked about the squalor of the Palestinian camp. I talked of suicide bombings as “evil” but suggested that Israel would never have security until it abided by UN Security Council Resolution 252; that Israel would never have peace until it abandoned all of the West Bank, Gaza, Golan and East Jerusalem.</p>
<p>“I find it very difficult to ask you a question, because what you said made me so angry,” a woman began afterwards. Why did I not realise that the Palestinians wanted to destroy all of Israel, that the right-of-return would destroy the state? For an hour I explained the reality I saw in the Middle East; an all-powerful Israel fighting an old-time colonial war. I talked about the 1954-62 Algerian war, its brutality and cruelty, the French army’s torture and killings, the Algerians’ slaughter of civilians, the frightening parallels with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. I talked about the Palestinians who wanted, at the least, an admission of the injustice their people had suffered in 1948, adding that there were Palestinians aplenty who realised that financial compensation would have to suffice for most of those refugees whose homes were in what is now Israel. I talked about Sharon and his bloody record in Lebanon. And about the pressures of the Israeli lobby in America, the fear of being labelled an anti-Semite, and the feeble reporting of the Middle East.</p>
<p>A rabbi was the first to tell me afterwards that the Palestinians were victims, that they should be given a real state. An old lady asked me for the name of the best book on the Algerian war. I gave it to her; Alastair Horne’s A Savage War of Peace . A card was pushed into my hand. “Insightful talk!” the owner had written at the bottom and – hate though I do the word “insightful” – I couldn’t help noticing that the name on the card was Yigal Arens, the son of one of Israel’s most ruthless right-wing ministers, who had once informed me – in Beirut, back in 1982 – that Israel would “fight forever” against Palestinian terror.</p>
<p>On the freeway to LAX afterwards, the terminals and control tower looming through the Californian haze, I looked over Saturday’s LA Times. A report on page 12 revealed that the BBC’s award-winning film on Sharon’s involvement in the Sabra and Chatila massacres had been dropped from a Canadian film festival after protests from Jewish groups. The organisers had explained that The Accused “could invite unwanted attention from interest groups” – whatever that means. But a paragraph at the end of the report caught my attention. “Sharon, who was the Israeli defence minister at the time, allegedly facilitated the assault on the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps…” There it was again. Allegedly? How many angry letters was that little lie supposed to avoid? Allegedly indeed.</p>
<p>But on reflection, I didn’t think the Americans I met would be fooled by this. I didn’t think my hotel proprietor would accept “allegedly”. Nor the old naval officer from the John F Kennedy. Nor the listeners to KSUI. Nor even Stanley Sheinbaum. Yes, Osama bin Laden told me he thought Americans didn’t understand the Middle East. Maybe he was right then. But not any more.</p> | Fear and Learning in America | true | https://counterpunch.org/2002/04/16/fear-and-learning-in-america-2/ | 2002-04-16 | 4 |
<p>According to a new report released by the Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, we’re all ‘Islamophobic.’ Liberals, conservatives, libertarians, communists. Everyone. All of us. All Islamophobes. CAIR’s latest blacklist is a product of a collaborative project that includes cartoonish-sounding and rather cliche Leftist social justice organizations.</p>
<p>Conservative Review (CR) <a href="https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/06/meet-the-islamophobes" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>“Confronting Fear: Islamophobia and its Impact on the U.S. 2013-2015” is a joint project of CAIR and the U.C. Berkeley Center for Race and Gender meant to outline the funding streams for, and cast aspersions on, what it calls “The U.S. Islamophobe Network.” This list boasts 33 “inner core” and 41 “outer core” groups, while offering “a four-point strategy designed to achieve a shared American understanding of Islam in which being Muslim carries a positive connotation.”</p>
<p>CAIR’s “inner core” consists of “[g]roups whose primary purpose is to promote prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims and whose work regularly demonstrates Islamophobic themes,” while the “outer core” is made up of “[g]roups whose primary purpose does not appear to include promoting prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims, but whose work regularly demonstrates or supports Islamophobic themes.”</p>
<p>As CR notes, “Essentially, it’s a hit job on anyone who has ever dared say anything negative about radical Islam and has ever been willing to speak up against it.”</p>
<p>The sheer extent of the list underscores the fact that CAIR and its affiliates don’t really have a concrete metric to identify “Islamophobia.” Rather, the group uses McCarthyite tactics to silence any and all dissent not just against pundits who deconstruct jihadism, but those that dare criticize the 7th century faith of Islam.</p>
<p>Here’s just a small sampling of who’s on CAIR’s creepy blacklist (read the full report <a href="http://www.islamophobia.org/images/ConfrontingFear/Final-Report.pdf" type="external">here</a>):</p>
<p>The list spares no one. Everyone from Bill Maher to Mark Levine has been awarded a coveted spot on CAIR’s Islamophobia blacklist. Also included are children’s charity organizations, Christian support groups, conservative publications, liberal talk shows, and foreign policy think tanks.</p>
<p>As The Daily Wire <a href="" type="internal">reported</a>, CAIR is listed as a terrorist group by a wide array of foreign governments, including many Arab governments. Specifically, CAIR is accused of being an offshoot of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>Hamas “indirectly created CAIR and the two groups remain tight,” according to <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/393614/cair-terror-group-daniel-pipes" type="external">National Review.</a> “In 1994, CAIR head Nihad Awad publicly declared his support for Hamas; the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), a Hamas front group, contributed $5,000 to CAIR; in turn, CAIR exploited the 9/11 attacks to raise money for HLF; and, this past August, demonstrators at a CAIR-sponsored rally in Florida proclaimed ‘We are Hamas!’”</p>
<p>Moreover, CAIR has launched a jihad of censorship against human rights activists, women’s rights advocates, and liberal Islamic reformers. It was only a matter of time before they came after the free press in the United States.</p> | CAIR Labels Everyone And Their Mother ‘Islamophobic’ In Bitter Blacklist | true | https://dailywire.com/news/6762/cair-labels-everyone-and-their-mother-islamophobic-michael-qazvini | 2016-06-20 | 0 |
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<p>The so-called "fiscal cliff" refers to an automatic $560 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that would go into effect, beginning in January 2013, to reduce the US budget deficit. These higher tax rates and slashed government budgets, negotiated as part of the "debt ceiling" debate in 2011, will go into effect if Congress does not pass a debt reduction package before the end of the year.</p>
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<p>Elements of the new laws are distasteful to both Democrats and Republicans. President Obama is pushing for an agreement that would raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Republicans, seeking smaller government, want the reduction of federal spending on programs. They will have to meet somewhere in the middle.</p>
<p>Why is this important?</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warns that the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts designed to cut the deficit in half next year would be so steep that they might combine to send the country into a recession. The CBO estimates is that GDP would contract at an annual rate of 1.3% during the first half of 2013 if we do not avert going over the fiscal cliff.</p>
<p>Reductions would be imposed on numerous federal agencies with some exceptions, such as Social Security, Medicaid, military pay and pensions, and veterans' benefits. This could mean the closing of military bases, which would hurt small businesses as well as the local economies in areas surrounding the bases. Federal cutbacks could mean the reduction of staff and the hours of operation at national parks and historic monuments. None of these occurrences will be popular... and that's just for starters.</p>
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<p>Tax hikes would include: • Expiration of the Bush tax cuts extended by President Obama in 2010; • Across-the-board federal spending cuts ("sequestration") as outlined by the Budget Control Act of 2011; • Return of the Alternative Minimum tax rates to 2000 levels; • Expiration of the 2% Social Security payroll tax cut; and • Imposition of new taxes that are part of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").</p>
<p>Other unpopular consequences would be the end of unemployment benefits for thousands of out-of-work Americans and the one-third reduction of physicians' Medicare reimbursement rates from their current levels. Unemployed workers will hold onto their disposable income, rather than spend it with small businesses. Doctors, who regularly tell me they are in a cash crunch, are struggling. Many of them are taking lines of credit and other forms of short-term funding in order to keep their practices going. Reducing already below-market Medicare payments will hurt them even further. Many have had to put off upgrading their practices because they are unable to secure equipment loans or expansion loans to modernize their offices.</p>
<p>House Republican leaders are calling on President Obama to respond to the offer they devised this week to avert the fiscal cliff with a balanced approach that cuts spending and prevents a massive tax rate hike on small businesses. Otherwise, they want the President to put forth his own plan that can pass both houses of Congress.</p>
<p>“Going over the ‘fiscal cliff’ would hurt our economy and cost jobs, and people in both parties agree we need a ‘balanced approach’ to deal with our debt," said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) in a statement. "One thing Republicans won’t be party to is a deal that protects big businesses and preserves special-interest tax breaks while raising tax rates on the small businesses we’re counting on to create jobs... With the American economy on the brink of the fiscal cliff, we don’t have time for the president to continue shifting the goal posts. We need to solve this problem.”</p>
<p>Small business owners that I speak with have concerns about their cash flow if and when increased tax rates combine with the provisions of Obamacare. I believe small business owners are inherently optimistic and understand that something must be done to reduce government debt. Continued deficit spending hurts the overall economy and thereby impacts consumer spending on small businesses' products and services. Thus, many of them would be okay with a return to the higher tax rates during the Clinton era, a time period when the economy thrived.</p>
<p>America should avoid the drastic measures of the fiscal cliff. However, Congress and the President must act together and compromise to develop a long-term deficit plan.</p>
<p>This opinion column was written by Rohit Arora, co-founder and CEO of <a href="http://www.biz2credit.com/" type="external">Biz2Credit Opens a New Window.</a>, an online resource that connects small business owners with 1,100+ lenders, credit rating agencies, and service providers such as CPAs and attorneys via its Internet platform. Since 2007, Biz2Credit has secured more than $750 million in funding for thousands of small businesses across the U.S.</p> | The Fiscal Cliff's Impact on Small Business | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/12/11/fiscal-cliff-impact-on-small-business.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
<p>Intel CEO Brian Krzanich on the company’s latest technology.</p>
<p>FBN’s Liz Claman took a product-demo walk-and-talk Tuesday with newly-appointed Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) CEO Brian Krzanich at the company’s <a href="" type="internal">annual developer conference Opens a New Window.</a> in San Francisco.</p>
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<p>Krzanich showed Claman the new 13-inch MacBook Air, which runs on the Haswell system.&#160; This allows the laptop to have a battery life of up to approximately 12 hours, depending on how the product is used.</p>
<p>“The whole idea here is to just give you some examples as to where our technology is headed, and really how we’re moving the mobile space and trying to lead in the mobile space,” said Krzanich.</p>
<p>He also displayed the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix Ultrabook, which, like Apple’s Macbook Air, runs on the Haswell system.&#160;The product has a 1080p HD display, while sporting about 10 hours worth of battery life.&#160;Another highlight for the Helix is that it can be used as both a computer and a tablet.&#160;Users can actually disconnect the screen from the keyboard by simply pushing a button.</p>
<p>Krzanich says the company is not concerned about potential changes coming down the pike at Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and/or Dell (NASDAQ:DELL).</p>
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<p>“We do a lot of business with them on servers and data centers.&#160; That’s actually a very large section of our business with them,” said Krzanich about H-P.&#160; “So no matter what, H-P will continue to be a great partner for us.” When asked how things would change if Dell is taken private, he said, “if anything, it’ll just continue to&#160; get stronger. [Michael Dell] has a great plan for what he is going to do with his company as he goes private, and I think he’ll do a good job. ”</p> | Intel CEO on Latest Products, Future of H-P, Dell | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/09/10/intel-ceo-on-latest-products-future-h-p-dell.html | 2016-08-15 | 0 |
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<p>The controversy, with strong echoes of one that played out across the United States this year, turns on the question of whether identity checks are a reasonable tool to combat electoral fraud or are merely an attempt at voter suppression by another name.</p>
<p>Until now, voters in every part of the United Kingdom except Northern Ireland have been allowed to vote without presenting an ID.</p>
<p>But that will change under a pilot program announced Tuesday by Britain’s Conservative government. A photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, will be required in up to 18 different areas across England for local elections in 2018.</p>
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<p>If the program is successful, it could be expanded nationwide. Britain is next expected to hold national elections in 2020.</p>
<p>“Voting it is one of the most important transactions you can make as an individual, and in the 21st century many transactions require proof of ID,” Chris Skidmore, the constitution minister, told the BBC on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Skidmore denied that the pilot program targets any “particular community” and said the program would help ensure that British citizens can exercise their democratic rights “regardless of their race or their religion.”</p>
<p>But critics said the program would disproportionately hurt immigrants and poor voters who lack the necessary documents.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, Cat Smith, said that mandating identification “risks denying millions of electors a vote.” She cited data from Britain’s Electoral Commission showing that 3.5 million voters – or about 7.5 percent of the national total – would not have the necessary photo ID.</p>
<p>Katie Ghose, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, issued a statement comparing the plan to using “a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”</p>
<p>“There is simply no evidence to suggest that electoral fraud is widespread across the U.K.,” Ghose said. “Where it has occurred, it has been isolated and should be tackled locally.”</p>
<p>Ghose, whose group campaigns to improve democratic participation, said that “evidence from the U.S. shows that it’s generally those already most excluded from the political process that are worst affected by strict ID laws.”</p>
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<p>According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 34 U.S. states have laws requiring that voters show some form of ID at the polls.</p>
<p>Allegations of voter fraud and voter suppression became flashpoints in this year’s U.S. presidential election campaign.</p>
<p>Republican-controlled state legislatures in recent years have passed a series of laws making it more difficult for citizens to register and to vote. The changes, Democrats have argued, amount to an organized effort to disproportionately exclude poor and minority voters.</p>
<p>Republicans say the changes are needed to prevent fraud. Following his November victory, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted that rival Hillary Clinton had benefited from the support of “millions of people who voted illegally.”</p>
<p>He supplied no evidence, and election-law experts say the claim is baseless.</p>
<p>britain-voterid</p> | British plan to force voters to show ID provokes a backlash | false | https://abqjournal.com/916313/british-plan-to-force-voters-to-show-id-provokes-a-backlash.html | 2 |
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<p>Thousands of people are fleeing Hurricane Matthew as it barrels toward Florida, but some hospital staffers are sticking around.</p>
<p>Florida hospitals prepared Thursday to get hit by the monster storm Matthew, with many facilities altering their normal operations, and a number of facilities closing and evacuating patients.</p>
<p>Jackson Health System, a major hospital operator in the Miami area, <a href="http://jacksonhealth.org/community-weather-advisory.asp" type="external">said it "will continue normal operators at all Jackson facilities,</a>with the exception of its primary care clinics, the ambulatory care centers and rehab outpatient clinic, which will all be closed Thursday and Friday."</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">'This Storm Will Kill you': Matthew Churns Toward Florida Coast</a></p>
<p>Jackson Health also put out an alert for pregnant women, urging women who plan to deliver their baby at one of the system's hospitals to check in with their doctors about whether they should report to a hospital.</p>
<p>Another big health system in South Florida, Broward Health, closed its five hospitals except for emergencies and trauma patients, according to the system. The system canceled all outpatient procedures on Thursday and Friday.</p>
<p><a href="https://baptisthealth.net/en/lp/pages/storm-information.aspx" type="external">Baptist Health is keeping its hospitals and emergency rooms in the South Florida open</a>, but shut down its urgent care centers for Thursday at the least, closed its ambulatory surgery centers through Friday, and closed its imaging centers for the same time period.</p>
<p>Cape Canaveral Hospital <a href="http://www.fox35orlando.com/home/209790283-story" type="external">began evacuating patients on Tuesday</a>, transferring them to other facilities. More than 90 patients have been removed from the hospital. Baptist Medical Center Beaches in Jacksonville Beach <a href="http://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2016/10/06/tolls-lifted-state-offices-closed-and-some-hospitals-evacuated-in-advance-of-hurricane-matthew#" type="external">was also being evacuated on Thursday</a>.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">Hurricane Matthew Death Toll Climbs in Haiti</a></p>
<p>Also up the coast, Florida Hospital Flager, in the city of Palm Coast, began evacuating patients and staff by Wednesday night and continued that process on Thursday. The hospital, which transferred patients to other locations in its health system, is still open for emergencies, <a href="http://www.palmcoastobserver.com/article/update-florida-hospital-flagler-evacuate-hurricane-matthew" type="external">according to the Palm Coast Observer</a>.</p>
<p>Two other Florida Hospital locations, in Ormond Beach and New Smyrna Beach already have been evacuated. The ERs at both hospitals are closed as well, according to the system.</p>
<p>In the middle of the state, hospitals were saying they expected to operate as normal, even as they <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/os-central-florida-hospitals-remain-open-20161005-story.html" type="external">kept tabs on the storm and stocked up on fuel, food and water.</a></p>
<p>The Orlando Sentinel reported that hospital officials were urging people not to use their facilities as shelters when Matthew hits.</p>
<p>"Inevitably every year we get a few people who show up wanting to be sheltered and want to ride out the hurricane," Orlando Health's emergency preparedness manager Eric Alberts told the Sentinel.</p>
<p>"The problem is that we don't want to set aside staffing to help with that, when we need to care for patients."</p>
<p /> | Florida Hospitals Brace for Hurricane Matthew, Some Close | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/hurricane-matthew/florida-hospitals-brace-hurricane-matthew-some-close-n661151 | 2016-10-06 | 3 |
<p>In 2001, just some weeks after 9/11, she made a name for herself by opening her stand-up shows with the line “My name’s Shazia Mirza — at least that’s what it says on my pilot’s licence.”</p>
<p>In 2007 she released a documentary on BBC Three titled “F--- Off, I’m a Hairy Woman." Her new special,&#160;“The Kardashians Made Me Do It,” is a commentary on ISIS and jihadi brides, and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/aug/18/shazia-mirza-look-at-me-isis-would-stone-me-to-death" type="external">it's making headlines</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>“First, it’s about political correctness, people being offended," Mirza says.&#160;"Then I go on to ISIS and jihadi brides, but it’s all linked.”</p>
<p>She's using comedy to show that ISIS doesn't represent all Muslims.</p>
<p>“I do talk about the repression and the repressive culture [of Islam]&#160;and how, you know, when teenagers rebel, they do crazy things," she says.&#160;"And I talk about, in particular, women going over to join ISIS and why they’re going. And I say it has nothing to do with religion, and I say it has nothing to do with politics.” &#160;</p>
<p>Mirza is Muslim. She's a Brit of Pakistani descent and an&#160;award-winning comedian.&#160;She&#160;says the show is the only political one she’s ever done. Faith and politics are not something she likes to use as a source of material.&#160;</p>
<p>“In the past I have talked about things like Brazlilian&#160;waxing, hair removal, traveling, shopping dating. All the ordinary normal things that most other comedians talk about. I never did anything remotely like this before,” says Mirza.</p>
<p>In preparation for this show, Mirza says she did a lot of research.</p>
<p>"I spoke to hundreds of Muslim women, all my friends, a close friend of mine who is an Islamic scholar.&#160;I read hundreds of articles, and watched a lot of real,&#160;live footage of ISIS," she says. "I used those responses and feelings in my show."</p>
<p>"The Kardashians Made Me Do It" poster.</p>
<p>Photo courtesy of Shazia Mirza</p>
<p>Her show was inspired by three high school girls from&#160;Bethnal Green Academy&#160;in London who made international headlines last year when they&#160;left home to join ISIS. The&#160;title&#160;was taken from the testimony of&#160;the sister&#160;of one of the girls during a hearing before Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee.</p>
<p>Sahima Begum&#160;described her&#160;younger sister Shamima as&#160;"normal," adding that she&#160;watched "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and showed no signs of being&#160;radicalized.</p>
<p>“I just thought that was hilarious," says Mirza. "That’s the answer they gave to our government. ... I mean, I just thought, 'God, this is so funny,' but it’s also, you know, they were normal ... I mean I watch the Kardashians. It’s a normal thing I would do.”</p>
<p>Originally, she had a more daring name for the show.</p>
<p>“I wanted to call it ‘The Road to al-Baghdadi’ because the leader of ISIS is Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi," she says.&#160;"But [the theater managers]&#160;wouldn’t let me. ... They were worried that people would get offended and something terrible would happen."</p>
<p>Mirza says she fought back hard on a title change, but was ultimately unsuccessful.</p>
<p>“As a comedian I don’t believe in censorship," says Mirza. “I believe in freedom of expression, freedom of thought, freedom of speech.”</p>
<p>For her,&#160;the show is personal. She discusses in it her upbringing, which she says was similar to&#160;the Bethnal Green girls'.&#160;Of all the shows she’s done, Mirza says she’s especially proud of this one.</p>
<p>“I feel like this is the show that I was always meant to do. I just feel that everything I’ve done in my career has been leading up to this. I just feel I’m saying exactly what I think, exactly what I believe,” says Mirza. “It’s the funniest show,&#160;the darkest subject, but the funniest show I’ve ever done.”</p>
<p>Mirza’s show is currently touring in the UK and is expected to tour in the US soon.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | They say laughter is the best medicine. Shazia Mirza is using it as a weapon against ISIS. | false | https://pri.org/stories/2016-03-11/they-say-laughter-best-medicine-shazia-mirza-using-it-weapon-against-isis | 2016-03-11 | 3 |
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<p>Another advertiser is finished with the National Football League (NFL) after the ongoing kneeling controversy. Players have continued to protest the National Anthem and our police officers, <a href="" type="internal">even after the deadly mass shooting Sunday night in Las Vegas</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>Now, Flemington Car and Truck Country – a massive car dealer in New Jersey – will pull all their ads for the remainder of the football season.</p>
<p />
<p>Owner Steve Kalafer said in a statement the American flag protests are disrespectful, and <a href="http://www.nj.com/hunterdon/index.ssf/2017/10/flemington_business_owner_pulls_tv_ads_over_nfl_pr.html" type="external">he will not support them</a> with his advertising dollars anymore: “The National Football League and its owners have shown their fans and marketing partners that they do not have a comprehensive policy to ensure that players stand and show respect for America and our flag during the playing of the national anthem. We have canceled all of our NFL advertising on the Optimum and Infinity (cable) networks.”</p>
<p>Kalafer is also part of the Somerset Patriots’ ownership group, which is an independent professional baseball team.</p>
<p />
<p>Kalafer added, “As the NFL parses the important nationwide issues of ‘social justice’ and ‘freedom of speech,’ it is clear that a firm direction by them is not forthcoming.”</p>
<p />
<p>He also noted that his customers and employees overwhelmingly agreed that the kneeling and arm-locking was disrespectful. He said, “I’m talking to 99-percent of (my) contacts, and they agree that it’s disrespectful, it’s improper. We couldn’t support the lack of direction.”</p>
<p />
<p>Kalafer supports the players’ freedom of speech and believes the true blame is with the team owners, who have not taken a leadership role in responding to the players’ outrageous displays. The lack of intervention has made the situation worse.</p>
<p />
<p>He suggested that instead of protesting on television in front of police, veterans, and first-responders, “everyone should be involved in true social justice to make sure we’re looking at our communities and seeing how we can make them better, fairer and more equitable.”</p>
<p />
<p>This is a devastating financial loss for the NFL, which is already suffering from low ratings and a <a href="" type="internal">decision by DirecTV</a> to refund subscription fees for the NFL Sunday Ticket package.</p>
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<p>What do you think about this car dealership pulling their ads from all NFL games? Please leave us a comment (below) and tell us.</p> | Flemington Car and Truck Country Pulls Ads Due to NFL “Take a Knee” Protests | true | http://thepoliticalinsider.com/flemington-car-nfl-advertisement/ | 2017-10-03 | 0 |
<p>Target rallies after raising outlook</p>
<p>U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, putting the Dow on track for its fourth straight daily gain, though traders were taking a cautious approach ahead of the latest Federal Reserve minutes, which could indicate whether more rate increases are coming this year.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 66 points, or 0.3%, to 22,062, with United Technologies Corp.(UTX) and Home Depot Inc. (HD) helping to support the blue-chip gauge. The S&amp;P 500 rose about 6 points, or 0.3%, to 2,471 and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite Index added 24 points, or 0.4%, to 6,357.</p>
<p>"Consumer sentiment is high and there is a perception that Republicans are unified on tax reforms," which are helping to offset the potentially negative impact from headlines, said Kent Engelke, chief economic strategist at Capitol Securities Management.</p>
<p>The day's gains were broad, with nine of the 11 primary S&amp;P 500 sectors higher. But energy and telecommunications sectors were weak.</p>
<p>Even news that housing starts fell 5.6% in July (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-starts-stumble-in-july-as-new-home-construction-churns-gradually-higher-2017-08-16) is not dragging on the market as the weak number is a result of tight supply rather than weak demand, according to Engelke.</p>
<p>Recent trading has had an upward bias, even given an uncertain geopolitical environment that pressured stocks last week. The Dow has risen in 13 of the past 16 sessions, excluding Wednesday, and major indexes are within striking distance of record levels.</p>
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<p>"This is a momentum-driven move. The path of least resistance has been up, last week's hiccup not withstanding, and unless the Fed says something unexpected I think the market is in a trend that it likes," said Steve Sosnick, chief options strategist at Interactive Brokers Group.</p>
<p>However, he added that he was "somewhat concerned about valuations" given current levels. "Not everything is expensive, but when you get to historically high [price-to-earnings ratios] you have to be concerned about it. But whether that's an immediate worry or just in the backdrop remains to be seen."</p>
<p>U.S. stocks closed mixed on Tuesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-eye-opening-gains-as-north-korea-pulls-back-on-guam-threat-2017-08-15), with the Dow average ending slightly higher for a third straight session, though the S&amp;P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite Index finishing with small losses. The mixed session came after retail sales beat forecasts and as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea eased after Kim Jong Un decided not to launch a threatened missile attack on Guam.</p>
<p>Fed minutes in focus: Wednesday's main event is the release of minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting, which are due at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Investors will watch the minutes for any insight into when the Fed may next raise interest rates, how many rate hikes can be expected over the rest of 2017, and any commentary on inflation.</p>
<p>Traders on the federal-funds futures market have this week ramped up their bets for one more rate hike this year to above 50% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/traders-lift-bets-on-one-more-rate-hike-this-year-up-above-50-2017-08-15), compared with 37.4% on Friday, according to CME Group data.</p>
<p>The shift in sentiment comes after better-than-expected data and Fed President Dudley's comments on Monday suggesting he would not rule out a rate hike for this year.</p>
<p>Stock movers:Target Corp. (TGT) rose 3.2% after the retailer reported an increase in same-store sales (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/target-sees-sales-growth-as-it-plans-store-refresh-2017-08-16-74853019) and lifted its full-year adjusted profit outlook.</p>
<p>Shares of Urban Outfitters Inc.(URBN) soared 19% after the retailer late Tuesday reported earnings that easily beat estimates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/urban-outfitters-shares-rally-after-sales-earnings-beat-2017-08-15).</p>
<p>Agilent Technologies Inc.(A) also reported profit above forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/agilent-shares-rise-more-than-4-after-company-reports-sales-eps-above-forecast-2017-08-15), sending shares 4.1% higher as one of the biggest percentage gainers among S&amp;P 500 components.</p>
<p>Shares of Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) and 3M Co.(MMM) were both up 0.3% after chief executives of the two companies stepped down from President Donald Trump's manufacturing panel in protest over his remarks over the violence in Charlottesville, Va. The exodus comes as Trump tweeted that he is disbanding strategic and policy forum.</p>
<p>(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/897869174323728385)</p>
<p>In other earnings on Wednesday, Cisco Systems Inc.(CSCO) and NetApp Inc. (NTAP) are scheduled to report after the market closes. Both stocks were higher in midday trading.</p>
<p>Other markets:Asian markets closed mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-take-a-breather-after-early-week-rebound-2017-08-15), while European stocks headed higher for a third straight day (http://www.marketwatch.com/topics/columns/europe-markets).</p>
<p>The ICE Dollar Index edged up 0.2% and the euro (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dollar-steady-ahead-of-fed-minutes-pound-firms-after-jobless-data-2017-08-16) fell against the greenback after Reuters reported that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi won't deliver a fresh policy message at the Fed's Jackson Hole conference next week.</p>
<p>Oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-rise-on-hopes-for-another-big-drop-in-us-inventories-2017-08-16) slid after the Energy Information Administration said crude supplies fell for a seventh week but domestic production reached rose to the highest weekly level in over two years. Gold was mostly flat.</p>
<p>--Sara Sjolin contributed to this report.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 16, 2017 13:25 ET (17:25 GMT)</p> | MARKET SNAPSHOT: Dow On Track For 4-day Win Streak As Fed Minutes Due | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/16/market-snapshot-dow-on-track-for-4-day-win-streak-as-fed-minutes-due0.html | 2017-08-16 | 0 |
<p>The recent publication of two biographies of Betty Friedan, and the media attention the books have drawn, make this an apt moment to reflect on the myths about the women's movement that some on the political left as well as the right have accepted for the past thirty years.</p>
<p>As an activist, scholar, and writer focused on the dynamics of sexism, and an associate of Betty Friedan's for three decades, I must confront one of the most serious of these myths: the view that the women's movement was created by white, middle-class women, led by white, middle-class women, to defend the interests of white, middle-class women. This view is now so commonly accepted that feminist activists routinely cry mea culpa for neglecting women of color and of the working class. The accusations and the apologies are ill-placed.</p>
<p /> | The Major Myth of the Women's Movement | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/the-major-myth-of-the-womens-movement | 2018-10-02 | 4 |
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<p>Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has come a long way in the 13 years since Mark Zuckerberg started hacking away at what would become the world's largest social network. It's no longer just a place to post status updates and invite friends to parties; Facebook encompasses Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp, Oculus, and many more smaller products.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Investors who got in at the IPO are currently sitting pretty. If you had invested $10,000 at Facebook's IPO in 2012, at $38, you'd currently own about $36,000 worth of Facebook stock less than five years later. That's good for a 29% annual return.</p>
<p>Of course, it hasn't been all roses. And patient investors may have scored an even bigger return.</p>
<p>Image source: Facebook.</p>
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<p>Facebook's IPO in May of 2012 was a complete mess. Nasdaq experienced technical difficulties fulfilling orders. Some orders were filled at lower or higher prices than anticipated, and some investors received their confirmations hours after their trade went through, leaving them unsure of how many shares they actually owned.</p>
<p>The stock price touched its $38 IPO price several times that Friday. The share price went as high as $45 per share.</p>
<p>Following the IPO, Facebook shares trended lower as investors expressed concerns over its valuation and ability to monetize users as they shift to mobile devices. The stock bottomed out in September at $17.55 per share. The stock traded around $20 per share until its third-quarter earnings results showed investors that it was ready to monetize mobile.</p>
<p>Still, Facebook didn't get back to its IPO price until the end of July in 2013 -- over a year later. Investors could have bought into Facebook at any time during that first year of trading and seen an even better return on investment than those who got in at the IPO. Since August 2013, shares have gone nearly straight up.</p>
<p>Facebook has quickly grown into one of the largest digital advertising platforms in the world. The only company attracting more ad spend is Google. Since its IPO, Facebook has gone from four million businesses with Pages on its platform to 60 million.Four million of them are now active advertisers.</p>
<p>Facebook also started monetizing Instagram in late 2013, opening up its ads API to small businesses in 2015. Within a year, Instagram reached 500,000 active advertisers.</p>
<p>Facebook also own Messenger, WhatsApp, and Oculus. While Messenger and WhatsApp are still in the very early stages of monetization, they each have over 1 billion users. That's a lot of potential. Oculus is still in the very early stages, but it has made some inroads by partnering with Samsungfor the Gear VR.</p>
<p>Facebook is already one of the largest companies in the world, but given the growth of digital advertising, its ability to attract more advertisers to its various products, and the potential of its yet-to-be-monetized products, it could get bigger still.</p>
<p>While investors who bought Facebook at its IPO have made a solid return (and investors who waited a few months made even better returns), it's not too late to invest in Facebook. It still has room to run.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than FacebookWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=e9a68c75-2fd6-433e-9f61-05016132f092&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and Facebook wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=e9a68c75-2fd6-433e-9f61-05016132f092&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/adamlevy/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levy Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. 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> | How Much Money Would I Have If I Had Invested in Facebook's IPO? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/08/how-much-money-would-have-if-had-invested-in-facebook-ipo.html | 2017-03-17 | 0 |
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<p>Rio Rancho’s Tim Madigan finished third in last week’s event on PGA Tour Canada and is still third on the money list after three events. He also has tied for seventh and second.</p>
<p>The top five at season’s end qualify for the 2015 Web.com Tour.</p>
<p>In addition, the top three after the season’s first six events qualify for the PGA Tour’s RBC Canadian Open, July 24-27.</p>
<p>“It’s a big three-week stretch coming up,” Madigan told the Journal. “The ultimate goal is to finish in the season’s top five, but the new goal is to hold down that third spot or move up to play in my first PGA Tour event.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Golf: Madigan on move on PGA Tour Canada | false | https://abqjournal.com/420827/golf-madigan-on-move-on-pga-tour-canada.html | 2 |
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<p>Aides said it was a deeply personal and even painful decision for the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. He insisted he could win the next election if he ran, but his announcement followed a three-week fact-finding effort that revealed significant resistance to a third campaign.</p>
<p>ROMNEY: Looks to “next generation”</p>
<p>“I believe that one of our next generation of Republican leaders, one who may not be as well-known as I am today, one who has not yet taken their message across the country, one who is just getting started, may well emerge as being better able to defeat the Democrat nominee,” Romney told supporters on a conference call. “In fact, I expect and hope that to be the case.”</p>
<p>The remark was both a recognition of his own limitations and an indirect swipe at the man who created the urgency behind Romney’s brief flirtation with a third presidential campaign. That is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, who is speeding toward a campaign of his own.</p>
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<p>Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie would have served as Romney’s most likely rivals for the support of the GOP establishment, and both men felt an immediate impact. The announcement sparked a rush of activity by Romney loyalists – operatives and donors alike – suddenly freed to support another White House hopeful as the crowded 2016 field begins to take shape.</p>
<p>Devoted Romney supporter Bill Kunkler, part of Chicago’s wealthy Crown family, said he was disappointed by Friday’s news but now was all in for Bush.</p>
<p>“I’ll work for Jeb. Period. And no one else,” Kunkler said, noting that he planned to attend a Feb. 18 Chicago fundraiser for Bush hosted by former Romney backers.</p>
<p>Bobbie Kilberg, a top GOP fundraiser based in Virginia, quickly settled on Christie.</p>
<p>“We had long and deep ties and friendship with Mitt,” she said. “That has changed obviously, at 11 o’clock this morning.”</p>
<p>Romney’s aides insist there was no specific incident that caused Friday’s abrupt announcement, which came during a late morning conference call with close supporters and former staffers.</p>
<p>The former Massachusetts governor, who is 67, shocked the political world three weeks earlier, when he signaled interest in a third presidential run during a private meeting with former donors in New York.</p>
<p>That followed what aides describe as several months of strong encouragement from Republicans as he toured the country raising money and energy for GOP colleagues.</p>
<p>The surprise announcement of Romney’s interest three weeks ago was the first public step in a fact-finding mission meant to assess the 2016 outlook. He and his most trusted advisers plunged into phone calls and personal visits with key GOP officials and activists across the country.</p>
<p>At the same time, Romney tested a new stump speech focused on the poor and middle class in three public appearances. Critics jabbed the new focus as an insincere shift designed to shed his image as an out-of-touch millionaire.</p>
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<p /> | Romney decides against 3rd try at Republican nomination | false | https://abqjournal.com/534432/romney-decides-against-3rd-try-at-republican-nomination.html | 2 |
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<p>Russia is widely expected to face punishment over allegations of state-sponsored doping, which it vehemently denies, when the IOC meets Tuesday to decide on the country’s participation in the upcoming Winter Games in Pyeongchang.</p>
<p>“We are hoping that sanity wins the day,” Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s vice premier and former sports minister, said ahead of the session in the Swiss city of Lausanne, where a press conference announcing the outcome is scheduled for 18:30 GMT.</p>
<p>Mutko also spoke out against imposing “collective responsibility” on innocent Russian athletes.</p>
<p>Various scenarios have been laid out by journalists familiar with the IOC process, which will conclude with a 14-strong IOC panel hearing the results of two separate investigations – one into violations at Russia’s home winter Olympics, and the other concerning the involvement of state officials in covering up and encouraging doping violations over a period of years.</p>
<p>These range from an outright ban on Russian athletes in South Korea in February, to a fine, to a complete dismissal of all charges. The most likely, however, is thought to be allowing Russian athletes to compete under a neutral flag, where they will not participate in the opening ceremony, wear distinctive uniforms, or have their national anthem played if they rise to the podium.</p>
<p>“Of all my achievements in sport, representing Russia at the Olympic Games was by far the most important and proudest; I cannot imagine that feeling would be the same if I was asked to compete under the neutral flag,” Evgeni Plushenko, Russia’s four-time gold-winning medalist figure skater told Around the Rings website. “To ask our clean athletes to do this would be unfair on them and all their competitors who in some way would feel that the competition and Olympic spirit would have been devalued.”</p>
<p>President Vladimir Putin previously said that the option would represent a “humiliating” compromise, but on Monday, his press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said that the country had no plans to boycott the Olympics, and that no final decision had been taken in advance of the IOC statement.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/sport/411915-russia-olympic-games-boycott/" type="external">READ MORE: Russia ‘not considering Olympic boycott’ – Kremlin spokesman</a></p>
<p>Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov said that political and media pressure meant that the voices of Russian athletes – some of whom are expected to personally appeal to the panel in Switzerland – “have not been heard,” but vowed to explore all legal options.</p>
<p>“It the decision is negative, then we will not give in to emotions, as there is a need to analyze everything that is going on and make a well-considered decision, carefully read everything what is written there, particularly between the lines,” said Kolobkov, quoted by Tass news agency.&#160;“We understand it all, nothing happens without a reason. We are getting ready, we have serious lawyers.”</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/sport/411896-rodchenkov-wada-informant-confessions/" type="external" /></p>
<p>But Richard McLaren, the former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, who led the investigation that accused more than 1,000 Russian athletes of breaking protocols, has urged Russia to accept guilt for running a systematic performance-enhancing program, to put an end to the crisis.</p>
<p>“If Russia refuses to take responsibility, it could incur an even harsher punishment,” the Canadian scientist told Politiken, a Danish newspaper, saying that Moscow was “weakening its international authority” with its persistent denials.</p>
<p>But while Russia’s Olympic Committee has admitted that individual athletes had broken rules in the past, and recognized poor practices at certain testing facilities, it categorically denies that this was ever a result of instructions from the government, or the relevant ministry, as has been alleged.&#160;</p>
<p>Russia&#160;has repeatedly questioned the credibility of Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of the Moscow anti-doping lab, whose testimony has produced the narrative of state doping that the Kremlin has described as “slander by a turncoat.”</p>
<p>Moscow officials have said that Rodchenkov, who is currently in hiding in the United States, was himself deeply implicated in doping, while Mutko has described him as “an instrument” in a geopolitical rivalry between Russia and the West, which has led calls for the harshest possible sanctions against Russian Olympians.</p> | ‘We hope sanity wins the day’: IOC to decide if Russia can go to Olympics | false | https://newsline.com/we-hope-sanity-wins-the-day-ioc-to-decide-if-russia-can-go-to-olympics/ | 2017-12-05 | 1 |
<p>Americans, by most measures, appear ready to shop this holiday season.</p>
<p>Consumer confidence is at a 17-year high, while unemployment is at a 17-year low. The economy appears to be humming, with growth of 3 percent at last measure. And initial numbers show millions more Americans shopped over the long holiday weekend than last year, spending an estimated $335 on average on gifts and other items, according to National Retail Federation.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But other indicators suggest there may be less merry times ahead.</p>
<p>"I am generally positive for this holiday shopping season that consumer spending will be robust, (but) the economic growth we are seeing may take a downturn next year," said Robert Murphy, an economics professor at Boston College.</p>
<p>Initial numbers for the holiday shopping season are just that, initial. The full scope of the holiday shopping season won't really be known until January when the Commerce Department reports its retail sales numbers for December. Plus, there are signs that consumers may be under a bit of a squeeze.</p>
<p>Consumer borrowing is up as Americans take on more debt for auto and student loans, according to Federal Reserve data. Borrowing for revolving credit, such as credit cards, is up too. At last measure, Americans' total borrowing is at $3.79 trillion. That does not cover home mortgages or other loans such as home equity loans that are secured by real estate.</p>
<p>Americans seem to be tapping into their savings for this increase in spending too, as the savings rate has fallen since the middle of 2016, said Lara Rhame, senior economist at FS Investments. That happened during the last economic expansion and it proved to be an unhealthy move.</p>
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<p>Also, unemployment is so low in part because many people stopped looking for work and are no longer counted as unemployed. Income, the biggest indicator of a consumer's ability to shop, is a muddy area too. Pay gains are sluggish as companies struggle to increase prices and wages in a low-inflation and weak-productivity environment.</p>
<p>Why does it all matter anyhow? It's important because any pressure on the consumer could hinder spending — and consumer spending is the biggest driver of the U.S. economy, accounting for about 70 percent of economic growth. And a good chunk of consumers' discretionary spending occurs in November and December. For some retailers, the holiday season can represent as much as 30 percent of its annual sales, according the NRF.</p>
<p>"Consumer spending is a big ship, so it tends not to move much up or down, but it just has to move a little bit and there are big consequences," Murphy, said.</p>
<p>At this point, it appears things are looking good for this holiday shopping season. Still, experts say the 3 percent economic growth in the U.S. may be a bit too high to sustain for much longer.</p>
<p>"If you look at where the upward momentum comes from, it's hard to see consumers accelerating from here," said Rhame. "Without wage growth, I don't find them able to accelerate."</p>
<p>Rhame also points out in her research that while consumer confidence has been soaring, that hasn't translated into actual spending at retailers.</p>
<p>The two typically move in lockstep, but retail sales growth has been decelerating for years. Since 2014, year-over-year sales growth has averaged about 3.4 percent — much lower than the 5.3 percent seen from 2010 to 2013. That has her concerned because a slowdown in consumer spending could pull U.S. growth lower.</p>
<p>"Cash dollars going in the register is what really matters in the end," she said.</p> | Consumers are ready to spend this holiday season _ right? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/29/consumers-are-ready-to-spend-this-holiday-season-right.html | 2017-11-29 | 0 |
<p>Shutterstock</p>
<p>This post originally ran on <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2015/08/american-involvement-abroad.html" type="external">Juan Cole’s website</a>.</p>
<p>A new <a href="http://www.apnorc.org/projects/Pages/HTML%20Reports/global-issues-americans-foreign-policy-priorities.aspx%20" type="external">NORC/ AP poll</a>, done before the Iran deal was announced by President Obama, shows how out of touch most of the presidential candidates are on foreign policy public opinion.</p>
<p>The American public just doesn’t want more involvement overseas. To be exact, a third of Americans want less involvement overseas and a third is satisfied with the amount we have. Only about a fourth wants a more pro-active foreign policy.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.juancole.com/images/2015/08/ForeignPrioritiesGraph3.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>That speech GOP presidential Marco Rubio made [Friday] about how wrong President Obama’s policies are on Cuba and Iran? Those weren’t the high items on the public’s list. Only a third even care what the president’s position is on Cuba. Something over two-thirds did care about the president’s policies toward Iran. But that issue was less on their minds than terrorism and Daesh (ISIS, ISIL). Respectively, 90% and 86% wanted to know the prospective president’s position on terrorism and Daesh.</p>
<p>Americans are enthusiastic about using diplomacy and economic tools to promote US interests abroad. The only times they really want to see military action is in defense of the US and its allies from a terrorist attack, or to stop a country blowing up an atomic bomb.</p>
<p>The public is desperately uninterested in military democracy promotion of the sort the Bush administration said it was doing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it isn’t really happy about deploying military tools for virtually any non-defensive goal.</p>
<p>Listening especially to the GOP candidates, you hear a lot of saber-rattling of a sort this poll says most Americans don’t approve of. You hear a lot of talk of issues like Cuba, about which they couldn’t care less. You hear a lot of trashing of diplomacy, but the American public really likes the idea of achieving goals through diplomatic means. With a couple of exceptions, the US public is far more sensible than the people who say they want to lead it.</p> | Poll Shows Only 1 in 4 Americans Wants More U.S. Involvement Abroad; Cuba and Iran Low on List | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/poll-shows-only-1-in-4-americans-wants-more-u-s-involvement-abroad-cuba-and-iran-low-on-list/ | 2015-08-17 | 4 |
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<p>Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) recently discontinued theNote 7 phablet after replacement units for the original device, which overheated and caught fire several times, were found to have the same flaws. Macquarie analyst Daniel Kim estimates that the debacle could result in 3.1 trillion won ($2.8 billion) in losses during Samsung's fourth quarter, which would likely wipe out the entire mobile division's quarterly profits.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gear VR. Image source: Samsung.</p>
<p>The damage to Samsung is obvious, but the Note 7 fiasco could also hurt Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB) Oculus VR. That's because the Note 7 was one of the few Samsung devices that worked with the Gear VR headset, which was co-developed with Oculus and tethered to Facebook's Oculus Home ecosystem. In response to the Note 7's discontinuation, Oculus recently disabled theGear VR app on those handsets.</p>
<p>The Gear VR is expected to reach a wider mainstream audience than higher-end VR headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, since it has a lower price tag and doesn't require a high-end gaming PC. Could Samsung's big blunder also impact Gear VR sales this year and in turn throttle the expansion of the Oculus Home ecosystem? Let's crunch the numbers to find out.</p>
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<p>Samsung offered the Gear VR, which usually costs $99, for free in various promotions to customers who purchased the S7, S7 Edge, andNote 7 earlier this year. The Gear VR is also compatible with older flagship devices like the Note 5, S6, and S6 Edge.</p>
<p>SuperData estimates that the Gear VR will have an install base of about 2.3 million bythe end of this year, making it the second most popular VR headset after Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation VR, which is expected to hit 2.6 million.</p>
<p>Facebook is only expected to sell 360,000 Oculus Rifts. That anemic interest was confirmed by a recent Steam survey, which found that a mere 0.1% of therespondents owned a Rift. As a result, Facebook will still depend heavily on Samsung's devices to expand Oculus Home's reach for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Oculus Home on the Rift. Image source: Oculus VR.</p>
<p>Back in August, Hyundai Securities estimated that shipments of the Note 7 could hit12 million this year. Meanwhile, Daishin Securities estimated that Samsung could sell up to 25 million S7 and S7 Edge devices thisyear. Based on those estimates, we can assume that Note 7 users would have accounted for about a third of the new Gear VR-compatible user base by the end of the year.</p>
<p>But that doesn't necessarily mean that the Note 7's demise will reduce Gear VR sales by a third. Many Note 7 customers already received the Gear VR as a free gift that they can still use with other flagship devices. Sales estimates for the S7 and S7 Edge could also rise as the Note 7 disappears, in spite of thereputation-beating the brand has taken. Lastly, users of older flagship devices who don't own a Gear VR yet might buy the headset this holiday season without buying a new phone.</p>
<p>Therefore, I believe that the Note 7's failure should just be a bump in the road for the Gear VR, and probably won't cause the headset to fall behind its pricier PC-based rivals.</p>
<p>This whole incident reveals how much Facebook still depends on Samsung in the VR market. Facebook needs Oculus Home to reach more users, because it retains a 30% cut on all VR content sales. This next-gen app store is basically Facebook's forward-thinking answer to Alphabet'sGoogle Play.</p>
<p>Without Gear VR, Oculus Home would have a hard time gaining momentum outside the Rift's core demographic of affluent, hardcore-gaming early adopters. However, Samsung and Facebook could soon face tough competition in the mobile VR space when Google's Daydream, a similar VR ecosystem, arrives on more Android devices.</p>
<p>Since Daydream is essentially a VR expansion for Google Play, it could marginalize Oculus Home out of the mobile market by spreading to Samsung devices. The companion headset, the Daydream View, is also cheaper than the Gear VR at$79.</p>
<p>The real danger to Facebook's VR ambitions isn't the Note 7's fiery flop. It's the company's dependence on Samsung to retain a foothold in the higher-growth mobile VR market. Google is trying to drive a wedge between the two companies with Daydream. If it succeeds, Facebook could find it very difficult to expand its Oculus Home ecosystem without the backing of a major mobile OS like Android.</p>
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<p>Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSunLion/info.aspx" type="external">Leo Sun Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), and Facebook. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Will Samsung's Note 7 Fiasco Hurt Facebook's VR Efforts? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/24/will-samsung-note-7-fiasco-hurt-facebook-vr-efforts.html | 2016-10-24 | 0 |
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