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<p>Are you new to investing in stocks thatpay dividends? If so, you need to know that not all dividend-paying stocks are created equal. That's why it is important to be highly selective about which income stocks you choose to buy.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In order to point you in the right direction, we asked a team of Fools to highlight a dividend stock that they feel is a great stock for a beginner. Read on to see why they picked AT&amp;T (NYSE: T),Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL),Anheuser-Busch InBev(NYSE: BUD), Mastercard(NYSE: MA), andJPMorgan Chase(NYSE: JPM).</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> (AT&amp;T): Beginning investors do best when they can invest in companies with simple business models, and it's hard to get simpler than what AT&amp;T does. The company that brought America the telephone is now most popular for its wireless telecommunications network, but the principle of how AT&amp;T makes money is still the same: build up a high-quality communications infrastructure and charge customers a monthly subscription fee for using it. That business model has served AT&amp;T for decades, and it currently is what drives the telecom giant's 4.6% dividend yield. Moreover, AT&amp;T has an impressive streak of dividend performance, having raised its annual payout each and every year going back 33 consecutive years.</p>
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<p>Some investors worry that AT&amp;T's dividend dominance could come to an end. Competition in U.S. wireless telecom is fierce, and some of the company's rivals are offering services similar to what AT&amp;T has at lower prices. Yet the telecom giant has been down this road before, and one of the things that led to the pioneering of wireless technology was the fact that consumers were no longer satisfied with landline-based local and long-distance calling restrictions. It's uncertain what the next big innovation in telecom will be, but AT&amp;T has a fighting chance at being the company behind it, and investors can count on the company remaining a viable competitor for years to come.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fool.com/about/staff/RichDuprey/author.htm?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Duprey Opens a New Window.</a> (Apple): Few companies are so iconically ingrained in the landscape of technological achievements as is Apple, which seems to come to define a niche within its industry as soon as it turns its mind toward it. From its original Macintosh computers to the iPhone,Apple's innovations have been flipping the industry on its head for years.</p>
<p>And all along the way, analysts have doubted its ability to grow. Back in 2006, they questioned where Apple could go since its iPod had saturated the market, only to be shocked and awed by the introduction of the iPhone one year later. They're saying a lot of the same things today, that with iPhone sales on the decline, there might not be another technological rabbit to pull out of the hat.</p>
<p>Yet, although the iPhone does account for almost two-thirds of its total revenues, Apple has far more irons in the fire than it did a decade ago. It is no one-trick pony (or even just two or three tricks). The tech icon is advancing its Apple Pay mobile-payment and digital-wallet service, which, by the way, can be used with your iPhone, iPad, Mac, and even the Apple Watch (yet another of the company's advancements -- in wearables).</p>
<p>In particular, the services segment has grown to become Apple's second largest revenue generator behind the iPhone, accounting for more than $24 billion in total sales last year. Services include not only Apple Paybut also iTunes and its app store, as well as iBooks and Apple Music. While they likely won't ever reach a percentage of revenue proportional to that of Apple's tech gadgets, services are likely to hold an increasingly important role in driving the company forward.</p>
<p>Because Apple's cash balance has continued to grow, the company made the decision to start paying a dividend in 2012. The current quarterly payout is $0.57 per share, giving the company a yield of 1.68%. That's not especially robust, but no laggard either, and investors have every right to be confident it will continue for many years to come.So a dividend stock as integral to the tech industry as is Apple is arguably a basic building block for a well-rounded, growing portfolio.</p>
<p><a href="https://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a>(Anheuser-Busch InBev): One smart way for new investors to get started with dividend-paying stocks is to buy shares of a company that sells products they know well. If you're a beer drinker, the odds are quite good that you are already familiar with several of Anheuser-Busch InBev's brands. Thanks to the recent acquisition of SABMiller, AB InBev now owns a portfolio of more than 500 beers. This includes 18 brands that generate more than $1 billion in annual sales, such as Stella Artois, Modelo Especial, Corona, Beck's, and Bud Light.</p>
<p>One reason that I think AB InBev is a smart buy right now is that the company is on the verge of driving profit growth through simple cost-cutting. As of the fourth quarter, management believes that it can cut about $2.8 billion in costs out of its business through merger-related synergies. The company has already delivered more than $800 million in cost savings thus far and expects the remainder to be realized over the next few years.</p>
<p>Why we wait for those cost savings to be realized, investors can enjoy the company's generous dividend. At current prices, the company's yield is just over 3%, which is about 50% higher than the S&amp;P 500 in general. Better yet, the company's shares have fallen about 20% from their52-week high over macroeconomic concerns <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/02/anheuser-busch-inbev-polishes-off-a-tough.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">in Brazil Opens a New Window.</a>. I think the concerns are overblown and they are offering potential shareholders a chance to buy an industry leader at a discount.</p>
<p>WhileAB InBev's size will likely prevent it from putting up big growth numbers, this company looks poised to dominate the global beer market for decades to come. That makes it a great choice for new dividend investors.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFVelvetHammer/info.aspx" type="external">Jason Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFVelvetHammer/info.aspx" type="external">Hall Opens a New Window.</a>(Mastercard): Mastercard and rival Visaare by far the two dominant companies in electronic-payments processing. Between the two of them, they handle a huge percentage of global credit and debit card transactions, processing payments for millions of merchants in hundreds of countries around the world.</p>
<p>And while Visa is easily the much bigger of the two, there is more than enough room for both companies -- and others -- to ride the trend of electronic-payments growth that's happening around the world. And make no mistake, there's a lot of growth set to happen in coming decades.This is because electronic payments, as commonplace as they may be in many developed countries, still make up only a small fraction of global transactions.</p>
<p>Two major trends are set to change that. First, mobile technology is changing the way people all over the world interact with one another, and how they pay for things. Both Visa and Mastercard are central to mobile payments, with their processing networks connecting merchants and financial institutions.Second, the global middle class could be 2 billion people bigger than it is today. That's a lot more consumers who will grow up using digital currency.</p>
<p>Combined, these two trends position Mastercard to be a wonderful long-term dividend growth stock. Its current 0.7% yield may not look like much today, but with a couple of decades of market expansion and cash flow growth, those payouts are likely to be much, much bigger.</p>
<p><a href="https://my.fool.com/profile/TMFValueMagnet/activity.aspx" type="external">Jordan Wathen Opens a New Window.</a>(JPMorgan): A good stock for beginning investors is one that you can learn from, and that you'll benefit from following over time. For exposure to the financial world, there are few better than JPMorgan.</p>
<p>Jamie Dimon has served as CEO of JPMorgan ever since it purchased Bank One in 2004, and he's used his position to explain to the world what makes a great bank in his annual letter to shareholders. Never one to spare the details, he pens annual letters that frequently top 40 or even 50 pages, and explain in detail how he thinks about JPMorgan's role in the financial world. They also cover topics like projections and predictions about the future of the economy and banking.</p>
<p>With its hands in everything from consumer banking and credit card processing to corporate lending and investment banking, JPMorgan is a good way for investors to get introduced to every facet of the financial world. It's worth owning a small stake just to get your hands on each year's annual letter. Consider it an educational investment that pays a quarterly dividend, too.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than AppleWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=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=591bc81c-e6e4-4a55-b148-140291528397&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 Apple wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=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=591bc81c-e6e4-4a55-b148-140291528397&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/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Apple, Mastercard, and Visa. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger</a> owns shares of Apple. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/elihpaudio/info.aspx" type="external">Jason Hall Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Apple and Mastercard. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFValueMagnet/info.aspx" type="external">Jordan Wathen Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCop/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Duprey Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Apple, Mastercard, and Visa. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | The 5 Best Dividend Stocks for Beginning Investors | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/27/5-best-dividend-stocks-for-beginning-investors.html | 2017-03-26 | 0 |
<p>The sense of resistance was fierce:</p>
<p>“Grab ’em by the profits” . . . “Keep your hands out of my wherever” . . . “Not Declawed” . . .</p>
<p>But it was also, oh Lord, joyous — in a scraped raw kind of way, you might say. For instance, the young woman with the bullhorn, who led the chant where I was walking, had almost no voice left as she shouted “Show me what democracy looks like!” But as soon as the marchers shouted back, “This is what democracy looks like!” she threw her vocal cords back into it, and somehow, oh, somehow, I could feel it: the birth of a movement.</p>
<p>I was at the Chicago rally this past Saturday, one of 673 such events, according to womensmarch.com, around the country and around the planet, with nearly 5 million participants in 83 countries.</p>
<p>This is stunning. But what was it? What happened this past weekend? The coverage I’ve seen and read mostly boiled it down to issues: women’s rights and reproductive rights, of course. These were women’s marches, after all, fueled by women’s anger and shock over the attitudes, policies and basic idiocy of the incoming Trump. Add to this environmental concerns and a dismay over the president’s alliance with climate-change deniers and corporate polluters; the demand for LGBTQ rights; an intense condemnation of right-wing racism and Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and threats to register Muslims and build a wall on the Mexican border; a defense of the Affordable Care Act and demands for universal health care; and on and on, including basic contempt for the president’s reckless arrogance and utter lack of moral authority.</p>
<p>But these rallies were also more than a sum of their parts. They were a culmination — a fusion — of the issues the participants stood for, and thus they were something new, nameless, in the process of becoming.</p>
<p>While the rally I joined clearly was focused on women’s rights, those rights didn’t feel in any way separate from my own rights or needs. Indeed, a celebratory vibration continued to swell as I walked and swayed and danced with the enormous crowd down Jackson Street to Chicago’s Federal Plaza. On Dearborn Street, in front of the plaza, the music began. Suddenly everyone began singing the old Bill Withers song, “Lean on Me”:</p>
<p>“Lean on me, when you’re not strong/ And I’ll be your friend/ I’ll help you carry on/ For it won’t be long/ ’Til I’m gonna need/ Somebody to lean on.”</p>
<p>I confess — I couldn’t help myself — I broke into tears in the middle of this song. “We all need somebody to leaaaaaan on . . .” On this incredibly beautiful January afternoon, a wound burst open: a wound of joy and outrage, but mostly joy. I felt cradled in the collective soul, connected to everyone there — including the police, including the very, very few counter-demonstrators (one guy, holding a sign comparing abortion to the Holocaust). This was peace.</p>
<p>Whatever that is.</p>
<p>Peace in all its pain and diversity and anger. Women and men, grannies and toddlers, lots and lots of children. I saw one couple leading a border collie, who wore a sign that said: “Dogs for equality.”</p>
<p>Yeah, the signs. There were so many of them, mostly hand-scrawled, occasionally obscene:</p>
<p>I love science</p>
<p>You haven’t seen nasty yet</p>
<p>Don’t tread on me (atop a drawing of a vagina)</p>
<p>Men of quality do not fear equality</p>
<p>Girls just wanna have FUN- damental rights</p>
<p>No wall no registry no misogyny</p>
<p>I want to be the kind of girl who, when her feet hit the floor in the morning, the devil says “Oh crap, she’s up”</p>
<p>Your damn right my body is a temple. I am the God it was built for.</p>
<p>Equality is not a big ask</p>
<p>We’re all immigrants (except Native Americans)</p>
<p>Scream louder</p>
<p>Hate Has No Home Here: Not my president</p>
<p>Impeach the asshole</p>
<p>This is my agenda: Love is love</p>
<p>Here was a country, here was a philosophy of being, constructing itself out of all these pieces and so many more. I felt the presence of history: the civil rights movement, the antiwar movement, the environmental movement . . . good</p>
<p>Lord, the suffragettes: They still live, they still seek fulfillment. This was not spectator America, helplessly watching the news.</p>
<p>This was a turning point. This was a beginning.</p> | The Birth of a Movement | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/01/27/the-birth-of-a-movement/ | 2017-01-27 | 4 |
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<p /> NERITA OEIRAS, TRNN PRODUCER: This was a busy week on Brazil's political agenda. After a wave of protests that involved more than 100 cities throughout the country, several moves took place in the political arena.
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<p />On the third week of social unrest, on Monday President Dilma Rousseff met governors and mayors to discuss topics being demanded by those protesting on the streets.
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<p />DILMA ROUSSEFF, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): People are now out on the street saying that they desire for change to continue, that those changes be increased, that they occur even faster.
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<p />The country wants accountable political representation, a society where citizens, and not the economic power, are in first place. It is very good that people are voicing all this out loud.
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<p />OEIRAS: President Rousseff proposals where directed to improve basic services and infrastructure, on the belief that the popular uprising was not so much anti-government as it was motivated by income inequality and lack of basic services.
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<p />She then outlined a governmental action plan of five agreements in favor of the population. Dilma suggested that local governments would take action for immediate improvements.
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<p />The first agreement involved fiscal responsibilities and the guaranty of economic stability, with particular attention to inflation control.
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<p />In the second agreement, President Rousseff proposed a broad political reform that will put emphasis on citizen involvement on public decisions.
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<p />As part of the political reform and in order to immediately attend some demands, on Thursday, senators and congressmen on both chambers of Brazilian Congress quickly approved alterations in the penal code, considering corruption as a hideous crime, which minimal penalty raise from two to four years of incarceration.
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<p />In a third agreement, Dilma Rousseff proposed reforms to immediately improve the public health system, with the hire of international professionals as an emergency measure, but also thinking long-term by increasing the seats in the public universities to graduate more health professionals.
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<p />Regarding public education, Dilma suggested that the chambers would approve to use 100&#160;percent of royalties coming from oil extraction on the public education system. Congressmen and senators immediately discussed this proposal, and on Wednesday they finally approved to split 75&#160;percent education, 25&#160;percent health.
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<p />Finally, to address the public transport issue, President Rousseff suggested an urban mobility agreement, promising to invest $25&#160;billion in transportations systems. Dilma also reduced taxation on diesel to lower the cost of providing transportation.
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<p />On the streets, protests are still ongoing all over the country. Local movements haven taken the streets. In Rio de Janeiro, residents of favelas, taxi drives, LGBT community, health professionals, users of public transportation, and even leftist movements like Aldeia Maracanã and the United Socialist Workers' Party have taken the streets to claim for immediate changes in their relevant topics, like on this protest we encountered downtown on Thursday at 5&#160;p.m.
<p />
<p />It is undeniable that protests have taken politicians to work out of their comfort zone, legislating in the same week about topics that have long been discussed, but never before obtained parliamentarian unanimity.
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<p />One important conquest for the population was the drop of constitutional amendment number 37 (the PEC 37) by 430 votes against, nine votes in favor, and two abstentions, all this in a matter of days after debating it since 2011 when it was introduced.
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<p />During this week, parties of the government and from the opposition arrived to a historic consensus. Pressured by the population, parties showed that efficacy and dialog are possible.
<p />
<p />The opposition, who many feel could have taken more advantage of this fragile moment for the government, seemed divided. Senator Aécio Neves, favorite candidate of the opposition for the next election, criticized Dilma's posture, accusing her of trying to "abstain from her responsibilities and transfer them to the National Congress".
<p />
<p />Contrasting Neves' criticism, PSDB colleague and São Paulo's governor Geraldo Alckimin declared that the meeting with the president was profitable and praised her decision to invest $25&#160;billion in urban mobility.
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<p />Jailson Silva from Observatorio de Favelas, an NGO working inside Rio's poorest neighborhoods, believes the most important issue is to achieve the participation of the general public on the main decisions.
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<p />JAÍLSON SILVA, DIRECTOR OF NGO OBSERVATORIO DE FAVELAS (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): In Brazil, poorest pay higher taxes than richest, and therefore there is a set of several dissatisfactions.
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<p />PT's government disappointed people in several aspects, the main one being the participation of society in public decisions. Their political program included creating more participatory mechanisms, like plebiscite, referendums, and the possibility to revoke political mandates. None of these proposals have been implemented.
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<p />JOSÉ GOMES TEMPORÃO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ISAGS, FORMER HEALTH CARE MINISTER 2007-2011 (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): Twenty-five years ago, in the context of political struggles, we created a new health system, generous, universal, that pretended to be a model in public health system. It is being repeated now, in a context of political struggles, with people in the streets, unsatisfied. That is a precious moment, because we can take steps forward regarding the question of public health.
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<p />Twenty-five&#160;percent of royalties from oil invested in public health was a remarkable achievement, but not enough. We must conquer 10&#160;percent of all public incomes to be invested in health care to properly finance the system.
<p />
<p />I insist that on the basis of all our problems, there is the question of financing, in this case the health care system.
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<p />ARY PIMENTEL, LECTURER, FEDERAL UNIVERSITY RIO DE JANEIRO (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): We can no longer watch soccer inside the stadiums. It became so expensive that we can no longer be part of it. People who were used to going to Maracanã and other stadium over the country now can no longer pay 400&#160;reais to watch a match, and now they can only see it from the street.
<p />
<p />People understood that it would be much more interesting to take the streets and not to be passive, and to became socially active even about soccer, to transform the history of the country. That is what we have built during these last weeks.
<p />
<p />A protest organized by the People's Committee to World Cup and Olympics took place outside the final game of the Confederations Cup, with people protesting against the privatization of the stadiums, and other social issues affecting those who demonstrated.
<p />
<p />PROTESTER (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): It is more than just being against the government. It is against neoliberal development policies that exclude popular participation.
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<p />LUIZ FERNANDES, PCB (PARTIDO COMUNISTA BRASILEIRO) (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): In the name of stability and governance, PT have made pacts with bourgeois and representatives of capital. This government has detached itself from workers' demands, and that explain why leftist movements are now on the streets criticizing the government's posture in favor of monopolies and great capital.
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<p />PROTESTER (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): We the indigenous were violently taken out of the Aldeia Maracanã only because we defended our rights in favor of the indigenous populations.
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<p />PROTESTER (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): Brazilian government is not left. it is a government that carries on economical politics that are directly linked to imperialism and international financial capital.
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<p />The people now on the streets is the result of a frustration with a government that presented itself as a worker's government, but in reality it represents the owners.
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<p />OEIRAS: This Sunday, in the historic Maracanã stadium, Brazil won the Confederations Cup, defeating Spain in the final game. Now we are left to know if the waves of protest will also come to an end.
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<p />Reporting from Rio de Janeiro for The Real News, this is Nerita Oeiras.
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<p />End
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<p />DISCLAIMER: Please note that transcripts for The Real News Network are typed from a recording of the program. TRNN cannot guarantee their complete accuracy. | In Response to Protests, Brazil's Congress Votes to Invest 100% of Oil Revenue into Education and Healthcare | true | http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option%3Dcom_content%26task%3Dview%26id%3D31%26Itemid%3D74%26jumival%3D10386 | 2013-07-01 | 4 |
<p>A statue of the famous photograph of five marines and a Navy officer raising the flag in Iwo Jima will be auctioned off later this month.</p>
<p>The 20-foot statue, created in 1945, will be auctioned by American war artifact collector Rodney Hilton.</p>
<p>Hilton took possession of the statue from its creator, Felix de Weldon, while working on his biography.</p>
<p>The statue was traded for a violin, a sword and an undisclosed sum, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/auction-to-feature-iconic-world-war-ii-statue/" type="external">reported ABC News</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/war/conflict-zones/130201/timbuktu-manuscripts-saved-mali-al-qaeda" type="external">Meet the unlikely group that saved Timbuktu's manuscripts</a></p>
<p>When <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/auction-to-feature-iconic-world-war-ii-statue/" type="external">ABC asked</a>why he would give up such an important piece of his collection he said:</p>
<p>“I’m 70 years-old. I don’t have an aircraft carrier. It doesn’t fit in my living room, and it’s time to pass the torch to a younger generation."</p>
<p>The monument is made of cast stone over a steel skeleton and is finished in bronze.</p>
<p>The statue is said to weigh about 10,000 lbs.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.eastoregonian.com/community/entertainment_news/other/original-iwo-jima-monument-coming-to-nyc-auction/article_b60b69ca-27f0-550f-92d7-d5597080a797.html" type="external">The Associated Press said</a> the piece was expected to get up to $1.8 million later this month at a New York auction house.</p> | Iwo Jima statue up for auction in New York | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-02-08/iwo-jima-statue-auction-new-york | 2013-02-08 | 3 |
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<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares ofPTC Therapeutics(NASDAQ: PTCT),a commercial-stage biotech focused on rare diseases, plunged 25.3% in March, according to data from <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Here's a look at the key headlines from March that triggered the stock's movement:</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Regardless of the upbeat financial results and regulatory news, the disappointing clinical update and controversial acquisition caused shares to take a beating in March.</p>
<p>TheACT CF trial data was a big blow to the bull thesis for owning PTC's stock. The company had estimated thatTranslarna could have been used to treat more than 9,000 cystic fibrosis patients had the drug made it to market. That's a big market potential than DMD, so it was disappointing to see this label expansion opportunity disappear.</p>
<p>TheEmflaza deal also appears to be a bit of head-scratcher. While PTC has a relationship in place with the DMD community, there is a very real risk that the company just lit a bunch of money on fire if political pressure causes the drugmaker to adjust its pricing.</p>
<p>On the bright side, Translarna appears to be selling well in Europe, and the FDA's decision to finally accept the company's application does offer the real potential to bring the drug to the U.S. Given that the agency gave the thumbs-up toSarepta Therapeutics'DMD drug Exondys 51 last year, the company appears to have a decent argument in favor of approval.</p>
<p>Still, PTC remains a highly controversial company and its future is far from certain. Given those realities, I, for one, plan to keep far away.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than PTC TherapeuticsWhen 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=b65757bf-9bf7-4105-a8a2-931f63b37a6c&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 PTC Therapeutics wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=b65757bf-9bf7-4105-a8a2-931f63b37a6c&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why PTC Therapeutics Dropped 25.3% in March | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/07/why-ptc-therapeutics-dropped-253-in-march.html | 2017-04-07 | 0 |
<p>Just when you thought <a href="" type="internal">Obama’s disastrous Iran deal</a> couldn’t get any worse, we learn that in order to protect the <a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/617643897787781120" type="external">bad deal</a>, Obama systematically disbanded units investigating Iran’s terror-funding networks.&#160; Not only that, but he also disbanded units investigating the state funding of terrorists by Syria and Venezuela.</p>
<p><a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/obama-admin-systematically-disbanded-units-investigating-irans-terrorism-networks/" type="external">The Washington Free Beacon reports</a>:</p>
<p>The Obama administration “systematically disbanded” law enforcement investigative units across the federal government focused on disrupting Iranian, Syrian, and Venezuelan terrorism financing networks out of concern the work could cause friction with Iranian officials and scuttle the nuclear deal with Iran, according to a former U.S. official who spent decades dismantling terrorist financial networks.</p>
<p />
<p>David Asher, who previously served as an adviser to Gen. John Allen at the Defense and State Departments, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee&#160;Thursday&#160;that top officials across several key law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the Obama administration “systematically disbanded” law enforcement activities targeting the terrorism financing operations of Iran, Hezbollah, and Venezuela in the lead-up to and during the nuclear negotiations with Tehran.</p>
<p>“Senior leadership, presiding, directing, and overseeing various sections [of these agencies] and portions of the U.S. intelligence community systematically disbanded any internal or external stakeholder action that threatened to derail the administration’s policy agenda focused on Iran,” he testified.</p>
<p>Under oath, Asher attributed the dismantling of terror investigations to the Iran deal that Obama was determined to reach . . . at any cost.</p>
<p />
<p>The Washington Free Beacon continues:</p>
<p>[Asher] attributed the motivation for decisions to dismantle the investigative units to “concerns about interfering with the Iran deal,” a reference to the nuclear deal forged between the U.S., five other world powers, and Iran during the final years of the Obama administration.</p>
<p>As a result, “several top cops” retired and the U.S. government lost their years of expertise.</p>
<p>The United States squandered the chance “at a very low financial cost” to take apart Hezbollah’s finances, its global organization, and the Iran proxy’s ability to “readily terrorize us, victimize us, and run a criminal network through our shores, inside our banking systems—and in partnership with the world’s foremost drug cartels—target our state and society,” he said.</p>
<p>“We lost much of the altitude we had gained in our global effort, and many aspects including key personnel, who were reassigned, budgets that were slashed—many key elements of the investigations that were underway were undermined,” he said.</p> | Report: Obama “Systematically Disbanded” U. S. Terror Investigations To Protect Iran Deal | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/06/report-obama-systematically-disbanded-u-s-terror-investigations-to-protect-iran-deal/ | 2017-06-10 | 0 |
<p>The Arab League unveiled a plan to end the violent crackdown by the Syrian regime on protestors, said Qatar's Foreign Minister, reports the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9926729" type="external">Associated Press</a>. &#160;</p>
<p>The proposal, which was announced in Cairo earlier today, calls on Syria to withdraw all tanks and armored vehicles from the streets, to stop violence against protesters, and to release all political prisoners. The Arab League hopes that Syria can begin a dialogue with the opposition within two weeks.</p>
<p>Syria has also agreed to allow journalists, representatives from the Arab League, and human rights groups into the country in order for them to monitor the situation in Syria.</p>
<p>However, the Associated Press reports that it still remains unclear whether the agreement between the Arab League and Syria will make a difference on the ground. Despite international criticism and promises of reform, Syria has continued its crackdown on anti-government protesters.&#160;</p>
<p>The UN has reported that more than 3,000 lives have been claimed in the government crackdown.</p>
<p>Before details of the plan had emerged to the public, Syria's state news agency, SANA, said that Syrian officials had agreed to the proposal said&#160; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/02/world/middleeast/syria-accused-of-kidnapping-4-in-lebanon.html?_r=1&amp;ref=middleeast" type="external">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/nov/02/arab-league-to-reveal-syria-plan-live-updates" type="external">The Guardian</a> reported that he plan would give the Assad regime a deadline to remove tanks from the the streets and begin talks with the opposition.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/11/02/syria_agrees_to_an_arab_league_peace_plan_set_to_be_disclosed_today" type="external">Foreign Policy</a>, Bashar al-Assad's government had accepted the plan that the Arab League presented on Sunday, but Arab League had yet to receive an official response from Syria.&#160;</p>
<p>The Arab League was expecting Syria's response to the proposal yesterday, reports <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/syria-agrees-to-arab-peace-map" type="external">the National</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/111024/zeinab-al-hosni-syria-protests-crackdown-assad" type="external">Zeinab al-Hosni: A Syrian murder-mystery</a>. &#160;</p>
<p>A Lebanese official with ties to Assad's regime has also presented a proposal to the Arab League. This proposal calls for the opposition to drop their weapons and for "the Arab states to end their funding for the weapons and the opposition, and an end to the media against Syria."</p>
<p>Opposition groups remain skeptical of the proposal as they believe the agreement helps keep the Assad regime in power.</p> | Syria 'agrees' to Arab League peace plan | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-02/syria-agrees-arab-league-peace-plan | 2011-11-02 | 3 |
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<p />
<p>Health regulators are trying to reinforce a longstanding rule against the practice, a leading app is pushing back, and a city councilman is pondering the issue. And anxious pet sitters are wondering what to tell clients.</p>
<p>“I don’t know what to do,” says Tanoopa Jaikaran, who left a marketing job last year to start a dog-walking and pet-sitting business.</p>
<p>She does most of her sitting in clients’ own homes but she’d agreed to take a pet or two during upcoming holidays to her three-family Bronx house, where the animals can have their own apartment.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We want to do everything the right way,” she said, but “it’s a really hard pill to swallow right now.”</p>
<p>In New York and elsewhere, pet-boarding rules have gotten new attention with the rise of apps. The popular Rover and a former rival, DogVacay, were among the top five highest-funded “pet tech” startups in the last five years, according to CB Insights, which tracks venture capital.</p>
<p>Just last month, Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed a law letting people board as many as three pets without a license. The sponsors, Republican Rep. Lois Landgraf and Democratic Rep. Dan Pabon, said constituents had been stunned to learn they needed licenses to board pets even occasionally.</p>
<p>“It’s not realistic to think that somebody who may not make $400 a year pet-sitting has to have a $400 license, compared to somebody who runs a full-blown dog day care and grooming facility,” says Landgraf, a Colorado Republican.</p>
<p>Similarly, California lawmakers last year limited the state’s first pet-boarding regulations to facilities hosting four or more animals.</p>
<p>New York City health officials, on the other hand, have proposed to tweak regulations to make the city’s in-home pet boarding ban all the more clear. The policy, discussed at a health department hearing this week, doesn’t apply to pet-sitting an animal in its own pad or watching someone’s pet for free as a favor.</p>
<p>The years-old prohibition isn’t actively policed; enforcement is driven by complaints. Statistics weren’t available from the Health Department this week.</p>
<p>State Sen. Tony Avella, a Democrat who contacted the city health department last year about pet-sitting apps, says people who advertise and charge for pet care should have to meet licensing standards.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And in a city of apartment-dwellers, health department lawyer Thomas Merrill says residents “have a right not to have someone next door with a bunch of animals coming in.” As the Daily News first reported, he told DogVacay in October that its at-home boarders were breaking the law and could be fined.</p>
<p>Rover, which has since acquired DogVacay, says it’s unfair to require more of pet sitters than baby sitters and to deprive pet owners of an option that many prefer to a kennel, especially for aged or disabled animals.</p>
<p>“Rover did not invent pet sitting; we simply make it safer with peer reviews, 24-hour safety support and pet sitter screening,” said company lawyer John Lapham. He says he’s optimistic about reaching “a sensible compromise” with New York regulators.</p>
<p>City Council health committee chairman Corey Johnson, a Democrat, is looking at whether to propose changing the rules.</p>
<p>Proprietors of pet-boarding facilities say it is unfair to let others get into the business without following the same rules.</p>
<p>Tammy Karecki took a city-required course to get a permit, pays thousands of dollars in rent and collects sales tax for her Manhattan dog day care and training center, Star Paws.</p>
<p>“I have to do it, so I think everybody should have to do it,” said Karecki, a longtime dog trainer who worries that the do-it-yourself app atmosphere may attract inexperienced pet boarders.</p>
<p>Whatever the setting, the Humane Society of the United States advises pet owners to check references and meet prospective caregivers in person, spokeswoman Vicki Stevens said.</p>
<p>Jaikaran, meanwhile, says she’s determined to figure out a solution.</p>
<p>“We do this because we love it,” she said as she walked, cajoled and encouraged a client’s 10-year-old, arthritic dog on lower Manhattan streets this week.</p> | NYC to at-home pet boarders: Legally, you’re in the doghouse | false | https://abqjournal.com/1040361/nyc-to-at-home-pet-boarders-legally-youre-in-the-doghouse.html | 2017-07-29 | 2 |
<p>One week after CAMP OUT NOW was erected in the cold, pouring rain, the tent was dismantled during a cold, pouring rain. This was the day after a deformed healthcare bill was passed, one that further enriches Big Insurance in its backward slide for many Americans, especially poor women who will be denied access to abortion.</p>
<p>On Saturday, March 20th, I distributed World Can’t Wait information as Debra Sweet, the group’s national coordinator, delivered an antiwar/anti-torture message to the crowd. Then, I stood behind Cindy Sheehan on a stage at Lafayette Park as she gave an impassioned speech in opposition to what are now Barack Obama’s wars of aggression, surges, and occupation. Had my son, arriving for Sunday’s Immigration Rally, not needed me to meet him, I’d have been in front of the White House where Sheehan, Elaine Brower, Matthis Chiroux, Jon Gold, and a few others were arrested. Most were held over the weekend for arraignment on Monday.</p>
<p>Interlude: I went with my son, who’s an anti-eviction attorney at a community based organization in Brooklyn, to the Immigration Rally on Sunday. I marched, alongside the many undocumented workers who held signs that said, “WE ARE THE AMERICAN DREAM” and “DON’T SEPARATE OUR FAMILIES”. Can it get more poignant that this? The answer is a big NO, but, then, it’s not a contest. One only had to see the memorial markers, on the grounds of the Washington Monument, commemorating troop deaths and civilian deaths, including babies, to understand the overwhelming agony of the times in which we live.</p>
<p>I arrived at the courthouse early for the arraignment and saw two men who’d just married. They were dressed alike and wore cowboy boots. Someone held a bouquet of flowers. The newlyweds stood together as a photographer snapped pictures. I approached, congratulated the couple, and wished them happiness. We hugged.</p>
<p>Subsequently, I went inside, and after a couple of hours, our antiwar stalwarts were processed.</p>
<p>Then, I dashed to Convention Center to protest AIPAC’s meeting and dinner where Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was keynote speaker. CODEPINK had arranged a press conference and demonstration. We held signs that called for an end to the occupation of Gaza, and speakers condemned US military aid to Israel and Israel’s colonization of Palestinian land.</p>
<p>Zionists were adorned in their finest threads for this event but, obviously, their high style doesn’t translate to comportment. One woman, on the arm of her man, looked our way, was angered by our action, and gave me the finger.</p>
<p>I shouted, “Shame on you.” Over and over.</p>
<p>Several conference attendees approached for dialogue but the majority smirked and ridiculed us. Apparently, we don’t understand “their suffering” and the holy message sanctioned by The Old Testament that Israel is the province of the Jewish People. Without question. Without any examination of morality and immorality.</p>
<p>Some of the most obnoxious who entered the building were young, today’s adolescents, tomorrow’s future. Our signs with “Free Gaza” were met with: “Where do I get my free Gaza?” Disgustingly self-righteous, they were enamored by their wit.</p>
<p>An elderly attendee shook his head at us and said, “I have a great lunatic asylum I can recommend for you.”</p>
<p>These people, with an ancestry of suffering that is beyond beyond, believe they have the pain market cornered. Thus, their compassion extends only to each other.</p>
<p>Perhaps, the most profound example of truth came from Neturei Karta International, an anti-Zionist, orthodox Jewish organization, standing with us in support of Palestinians. These men, robed in black, carried signs, saying: “JUDAISM REJECTS ZIONISM.” In their brochure is this statement: “The Palestinian people have a right to their homeland.” The presence of these men was in stark contrast to the men and women who entered the Convention Center to hear Netanyahu claim Jerusalem and justify more settlements.</p>
<p>I walked to the apartment where I was staying, buoyed by the perseverance of people I’ve met in D. C.</p>
<p>Suddenly, the next morning, I was ready to go home. I threw things together and went to the train station. The train was crowded. A couple walked the aisle and sat down, facing me. The wife was blistering the husband for leaving his wallet in a taxi. “I would never forget my purse,” she said. Resignation registered on his face. He said nothing. Yet, she continued, berating, as if he had deliberately lost his wallet. My attention didn’t dissuade her from demeaning him.</p>
<p>The ticket taker came and said, “Have a nice day.”</p>
<p>She said, “It couldn’t be any worse.”</p>
<p>I’m not going to tell you exactly what I said to her about valuing the brief time we have with our spouse, but when I told my children, one said, “Mom, you didn’t use your favorite expletive.”</p>
<p>The couple looked at me without expression. Within minutes, the wife launched more verbal turds his way.</p>
<p>Peace on Earth.</p>
<p>Rodney King: “You know, can we all get along?”</p>
<p><a href="http://peaceoftheaction.org" type="external">Peace of the Action</a> was shut down by law enforcement last Monday. It will reopen in June.</p>
<p>Missy Beattie lives in New York City. She’s written for National Public Radio and Nashville Life Magazine. An outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq, she’s a member of Gold Star Families for Peace. She completed a novel last year, but since the death of her nephew, Marine Lance Cpl. Chase J. Comley, in Iraq on August 6,’05, she has been writing political articles. She can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://greentags.bigcartel.com/" type="external">WORDS THAT STICK</a></p>
<p /> | Peace on Earth | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/03/26/peace-on-earth/ | 2010-03-26 | 4 |
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<p>Today: A 10 percent chance of snow showers before 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. West wind between 5 and 15 mph.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 21. Northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 41. Northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Cold, Wind, Snow. Yep, it’s Acting Like Winter | false | https://abqjournal.com/10422/cold-wind-snow-yep-its-acting-like-winter.html | 2 |
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<p>RALEIGH, N.C. - A federal appeals court will consider whether county commissioners in North Carolina violated the Constitution by delivering Christian prayers at their meetings and inviting audience members to join.</p>
<p>A three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled on Wednesday to hear Rowan County's effort to overturn a federal judge's ruling that local officials ran afoul of constitutional requirements separating church and state.</p>
<p>The case marks the first time a federal appeals court has considered how local councils conduct prayers since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014 upheld a New York town's use of predominantly Christian invocations at its meetings.</p>
<p>The appeals court in Richmond is expected to issue a written ruling sometime after this week's hearing.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Public prayer reviewed; 1st case since Supreme Court ruling | false | https://abqjournal.com/712563/public-prayer-reviewed-1st-case-since-supreme-court-ruling.html | 2 |
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<p>Investing.com – Colombia stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the , and sectors led shares lower.</p>
<p>At the close in Colombia, the declined 0.24%.</p>
<p>The best performers of the session on the were Ecopetrol SA (CN:), which rose 0.72% or 10.0 points to trade at 1390.0 at the close. Meanwhile, Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA Pref (CN:) added 0.38% or 5.0 points to end at 1320.0 and Banco Davivienda Pf (CN:) was up 0.36% or 120.0 points to 33120.0 in late trade.</p>
<p>The worst performers of the session were Bcolombia (CN:), which fell 1.14% or 380.0 points to trade at 32820.0 at the close. Grupo Nutresa SA (CN:) declined 1.04% or 280.0 points to end at 26720.0 and Avianca Holdings Pf (CN:) was down 1.03% or 30.0 points to 2895.0.</p>
<p>Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Colombia Stock Exchange by 21 to 6 and 4 ended unchanged.</p>
<p>US coffee C for December delivery was down 2.04% or 2.75 to $131.82 . Elsewhere in commodities trading, US cocoa for delivery in December fell 0.18% or 3.50 to hit $1976.00 , while the December Gold Futures contract rose 1.20% or 15.60 to trade at $1313.10 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>USD/COP was up 0.73% to 2926.18, while BRL/COP fell 0.26% to 927.21.</p>
<p>The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.57% at 92.47.</p>
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<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Colombia stocks lower at close of trade; COLCAP down 0.24% | false | https://newsline.com/colombia-stocks-lower-at-close-of-trade-colcap-down-0-24/ | 2017-09-25 | 1 |
<p />
<p>Are you holding onto an older car or truck, hoping to squeeze&#160;a few more months (or a few more thousand miles) out of&#160;it, all the while wondering whether it’s time to start shopping for a newer one?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Maybe your vehicle is paid off and you aren’t anxious to have a car payment, or perhaps you are worried your credit may keep you from getting a good car loan. The average car payment is just under $350 a month, according to Experian Automotive. And payments on some vehicles can top $400 a month, so for most people it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.</p>
<p>How do you know when it’s time to start looking for a new set of wheels? Here are three signs it may be time to start car shopping.</p>
<p>1. Your Vehicle Isn’t Safe.</p>
<p>My friend was driving on the interstate when her minivan inexplicably started slowing down. I was riding next to her at the time, and was terrified as we slowed to a crawl while traffic whizzed around us at 80 miles per hour. She told me it wasn’t the first time that had happened, but it was the first time it happened on the highway. Not too long after, she got a new vehicle.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>“If you fear that it will break down and leave you stranded on the side of the road, you should replace it with something safer and more reliable,” says LeAnn Shattuck with Women’s Automotive Solutions.</p>
<p>2. Repair Costs Are Mounting.</p>
<p>“It’s almost always going to be cheaper to keep fixing an old car,” says Gordon Hard, senior editor with Consumer Reports. But a big, expensive repair, or a long series of repairs, can quickly throw a wrench in the budget and make a monthly car payment seem very attractive.</p>
<p>That’s what happened with my previous vehicle, which like my friend’s, began to stall at traffic lights, and then in traffic. I would get it repaired, only to find the same problem happening again. When my mechanic sent me to another mechanic, who also tried to fix it without success, I realized it was probably time to throw in the towel.</p>
<p><a href="http://blog.credit.com/2014/08/the-most-dependable-cars-93313/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_1&amp;utm_campaign=time_to_buy_car" type="external">The reliability of your vehicle is one factor to look at when making the decision whether to continue to driving it. Opens a New Window.</a> “Has it been good to you all along or does it seem you’re constantly getting something fixed?” asks Hard. “If it’s trouble-prone, get out of it sooner rather than later,” he advises. Extensive reliability data on used cars is available through Consumer Reports. “On average, some models are a lot less troublesome than others,” he notes.</p>
<p>And keep the hassle factor in mind as well. “If you frequently worry that your car won’t start in the morning, causing you to be late for work or other important activities, it’s time to consider buying a new one,” Shattuck says. A car payment may be far preferable than losing your job over a car that won’t start time and again.</p>
<p>3. It Doesn’t Work for Your Life Anymore.</p>
<p>I recently drove the truck my dad purchased from me some 15 years ago. It has 137,000 miles on it now but it’s been reliable and has worked great for him. He bought it from me after I became pregnant with my daughter and realized there was no place for a car seat. And I inherited it from my husband after the bed proved to be too small for the supplies he needed to haul for his work.</p>
<p>There are plenty of lifestyle changes that may force you to re-evaluate what you’re driving. For example: You take a job farther away and need better gas mileage. Your family grows and you need a larger vehicle; or your kids move out and you don’t need a large vehicle anymore. Or your car is involved in an accident and can’t be repaired.</p>
<p>Before You Start Shopping</p>
<p>Regardless of your reason for getting a different vehicle, giving yourself enough time to research possible choices will increase the odds you’ll make a choice you’re less likely to regret</p>
<p>In addition to researching vehicles, check your credit reports and credit scores. ( <a href="http://www.credit.com/free-credit-report-card/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_2&amp;utm_campaign=time_to_buy_car" type="external">You can get a free credit score and analysis of where you stand at Credit.com Opens a New Window.</a>.) Ideally, you’ll want to <a href="http://www.credit.com/credit-reports/free-annual-credit-report/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_3&amp;utm_campaign=time_to_buy_car" type="external">get your free credit reports Opens a New Window.</a> at least a month before you start car shopping, to give yourself time to address any mistakes or problems you may find. <a href="http://www.credit.com/credit-reports/how-to-dispute-an-error-on-your-credit-report/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_4&amp;utm_campaign=time_to_buy_car" type="external">This guide explains how to fix credit report mistakes Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>While you are at it, <a href="http://www.credit.com/loans/loan-articles/auto-loans-lingo-terms-to-know/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_5&amp;utm_campaign=time_to_buy_car" type="external">get pre-approved for a car loan Opens a New Window.</a>. That way you can focus on negotiating the best deal on your vehicle. If the dealer offers you a better car loan –&#160;perhaps even <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2014/06/is-0-auto-financing-85923/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_6&amp;utm_campaign=time_to_buy_car" type="external">0% financing Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;– great, but you’ll know what you qualify for walking into the dealer.</p>
<p>Read More from Credit.com</p> | 3 Signs It's Time to Buy a New Car | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/09/11/3-signs-it-time-to-buy-new-car.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
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<p>Greg Sorber/Journal</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico community peppered interim president Chaouki Abdallah with questions about a series of issues via Twitter on Monday, asking him about UNM’s sexual assault policies, the ongoing hiring freeze and the Lobo football players who knelt during the national anthem.</p>
<p>Multiple participants alluded to the new discretion universities have regarding how they handle sexual misconduct complaints under Title IX. The U.S. Department of Education last month withdrew Obama-era guidance directing schools to use a lower standard of proof when investigating and resolving such cases. Some hailed the move as a step toward fairness for all parties, but critics argue it might make victims less likely to report crimes.</p>
<p>Abdallah said UNM is reviewing the latest federal guidance. But he defended the fairness of UNM’s current policies, writing “UNM has developed investigative and sanctioning processes that provide equitable access and treatment for both parties.”</p>
<p>Interim UNM President Chaouki Abdallah</p>
<p>UNM uses “preponderance of the evidence” standard of proof in student conduct cases – rather than the higher “clear and convincing evidence” standard – aligning UNM with the state standard for discrimination and harassment cases, a spokeswoman said. Universities can use either under the new guidance.</p>
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<p>Others asked about Abdallah’s decision to suspend a campus policy that would have compelled the UNM College Republicans to pay a $3,400 security fee to host a January event featuring controversial speaker Milo Yiannopoulos. KUNM has since reported that total event security – which included numerous agencies – cost nearly $81,000 and UNM paid “less than a quarter (of it).”</p>
<p>“The fee was not waived but suspended for all speakers pending a policy review, which has been completed,” Abdallah wrote. “I do not regret that decision.”</p>
<p>One participant inquired about the university’s hiring freeze, writing it is “devastating departments ability to be high functioning.”</p>
<p>Financial pressures have forced UNM to restrict hiring and the current budget covers 13.5 percent fewer positions than fiscal year 2016.</p>
<p>Abdallah said the administration continues to approve some new hires, but would “love to lift the freeze as soon as possible.”</p>
<p>Responding to another question, Abdallah shared his thoughts on the Lobo football players who took a knee when the anthem played during Saturday’s game against Air Force. The interim president said he supports “all rights spelled out in our Constitution.” He expressed agreement with Air Force Coach Troy Calhoun, who said the players have a right to kneel and “There’s no law and there should be no law and it should be your choice.”</p>
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<p /> | UNM president fields questions from Twitterverse | false | https://abqjournal.com/1072182/unm-president-fields-questions-from-twitter-verse.html | 2017-10-02 | 2 |
<p>Did someone really just accuse the Dems of offending God by holding a vote on Sunday?&#160; Oh, the silliness that has become our political dialog.&#160; Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) on the Glenn Beck radio program:&#160; “They intend to vote on the Sabbath, during Lent, to take away the liberty that we have right from God…”</p>
<p>And now, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/14/AR2010031402904.html%20%20" type="external">word</a> from the real world:</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; RICHMOND — The Virginia General Assembly adjourned its annual legislative session Sunday evening after adopting a two-year, $82 billion budget that cuts millions from education, health care and public safety — curtailing state spending more aggressively than any in generations while fulfilling the new Republican governor’s promise not to raise taxes.</p>
<p>Now, let’s check back on any other blasphemous acts by a legislative body on a Sunday.&#160; Wait…I think I remember one.&#160; It was Palm Sunday in 2005 when the Republican leadership called a special session to consider the case of Terri Schiavo, who had been in a coma for over a decade and had been declared “brain dead” by her physicians.&#160;</p>
<p>From Wikipedia:&#160; Soon after Senate approval, the House of Representatives passed an identical version of the bill S.686, which came to be called the “Palm Sunday Compromise” and transferred jurisdiction of the Schiavo case to the federal courts.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, the Senate Bill was passed on Saturday – the Jewish Sabbath, which has been around a lot longer than the Christian Sabbath.&#160; But I do understand all of this.&#160; The Terry Schiavo legislation was intended to save a woman who was considered to be in a Permanent Vegetative State (PVS). So saving her was a God-like act that deserved a Palm Sunday hearing.&#160; But health care legislation is a godless concept that shouldn’t be discussed any day of the week – much less on Sunday.</p>
<p>Not to be outdone, according to Nancy Pelosi, one of God’s closest buds is on her side in the battle for healthcare. Yesterday, on CNN, Pelosi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/20/opinion/20collins.html" type="external">claimed</a> St. Joseph as her ally by describing the Feast of St. Joseph as the time when “…we remember and pray to St. Joseph to benefit the workers of America. And that’s exactly what our health care bill will do.”</p>
<p>I don’t know Joseph personally, so I can’t vouch for his support of the current healthcare legislation, but apparently Speaker Pelosi has an inside source.</p>
<p>Really, Americans, can we halt the absurdity that has become our political discourse?&#160; I find it especially galling when religious pomposity enters the dialog.&#160; Religious beliefs are absolute, but politics is “the art of compromise.”&#160; Even Jesus counseled to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.”&#160; (Matthew 22:21).</p>
<p>Besides, once you declare that the legislature shouldn’t vote on Sunday because it’s the Sabbath, then you have to start reconsidering the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_law" type="external">old blue laws</a> that would probably make it impossible to sell beer at an NFL game – or even to play an NFL game.&#160; It’s a slippery slope.&#160; Let’s get off it.</p> | On healthcare debate, Congress takes slippery slope to eternal damnation | false | https://ivn.us/2010/03/21/healthcare-debate-congress-takes-slippery-slope-eternal-damnation/ | 2010-03-21 | 2 |
<p>General Motors says it has replaced faulty ignition switches on just under 20 percent of 2.6 million small cars that are being recalled.</p>
<p>The company has repaired just over 491,000 cars that are covered by the recall announced in February.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Switch maker Delphi Automotive says it has produced over 1 million parts and expects to have made 2 million by the end of August. GM says it expects all parts to be made by late October.</p>
<p>Delphi CEO Rodney O'Neal tells lawmakers his company has added three lines to speed up production.</p>
<p>Some car owners have complained it's taking too long for GM to finish repairs.</p>
<p>The switches can slip into the accessory position and unexpectedly shut off engines. That has caused crashes that killed at least 13 people.</p> | GM says it's fixed 491,000 ignition switches, fewer than 20 percent of recalled small cars | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/07/17/gm-says-it-fixed-41000-ignition-switches-fewer-than-20-percent-recalled-small.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
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<p>Aggies coach Doug Martin, Arizona Bowl Executive Board member Kym Adair and NMSU players Conner Cramer and Cedric Wilcots II took part in a media conference Tuesday to discuss the program’s first bowl appearance since 1960 and the positive jolts it has provided.</p>
<p>New Mexico State (6-6) will take on Utah State (6-6) in the Arizona Bowl in Tucson on Dec. 29.</p>
<p>“This whole season has been about getting respect,” Martin said. “Nationally, we haven’t been on the scene in a long time. Now we’re on the national stage with clips on ESPN, Bowl Mania and so on. People are hearing about us and it’s an opportunity to get that respect.”</p>
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<p>Martin gave the Aggies last week off for final exams, but the team returned to practice Tuesday to begin preparing for Utah State. Players enjoyed the break and the overdue attention that went along with it, but Cramer and Wilcots said the Aggies are ready to get back to work.</p>
<p>“It’s been exciting,” Cramer said. “Guys were singing the fight song in the locker room, watching Bowl Mania and seeing our team was fun. There have been a lot of distractions, but we’ll be well-prepared for the main thing, which is the game. The next two weeks are about building a game plan and getting ready to execute it.”</p>
<p>Still, there are off-the-field benefits to NMSU’s moment in the spotlight. After drawing an announced crowd of more than 26,000 to their season finale against South Alabama, the Aggies are suddenly the talk of Las Cruces, which is music to the ears of Arizona Bowl officials.</p>
<p>NMSU had sold more than 5,700 of its allotted 8,000 tickets for the game as of Tuesday. Adair said overall sales are ahead of last year, when the Arizona Bowl’s announced attendance topped 33,000 for an Air Force-South Alabama matchup.</p>
<p>“We were keeping our fingers crossed that New Mexico State could become bowl eligible,” Adair said. “… We were hoping for a Utah State-New Mexico State matchup because of the history and the proximity of Las Cruces. We anticipate having a full, energetic stadium.”</p>
<p>Playing in Tucson is also a bonus for NMSU, which has several current players from the state – including quarterback Tyler Rogers – and numerous Arizona recruits.</p>
<p>“We’ve got several kids committed from Arizona already,” Martin said, “so this couldn’t be any better for us. We also had three recruits come on campus visits last week just because they heard about us on ESPN and in the national media. We’ve got two more coming this weekend in that same situation. Getting a little name recognition is great.”</p>
<p>Martin also is excited about the prospect of having extra practice time this month. In addition to making bowl preparations, NMSU can get a head start on preparing for 2018.</p>
<p>“It’s like getting two spring practices,” Martin said. “We have a redshirt senior at quarterback, so we know we’ll have a new starter at the quarterback position. We have three redshirt freshmen quarterbacks on our roster and they’ll get a lot more work in the next couple weeks. That’s a big benefit for them and for us as coaches.”</p>
<p>Adair pointed out some of the extras the Arizona Bowl includes for participating teams and fans, including a nacho festival and a players’ party at Old Tucson Studios, where numerous Western movies have been made. But Martin and the Aggies insist the month of college football celebrity won’t go to their heads.</p>
<p>“This is so exciting,” Wilcots said, “but no one in our locker room is satisfied with just getting to a bowl game. We want to go win it. We’re going to work to get it done.”</p>
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<p /> | Aggies enjoy being part of bowl mania | false | https://abqjournal.com/1105918/aggies-enjoy-being-part-of-bowl-mania.html | 2 |
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<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Panthers coach Ron Rivera sent a clear message to his players Monday: Forget about Atlanta.</p>
<p>Rivera took only a couple questions during his press conference about his team's uninspiring performance in <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/falcons-clinch-playoff-spot-beat-panthers-bryants-5-fgs" type="external">a 22-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons</a> on Sunday before saying he was done talking about it. Rather than allow a bad New Year's Day football hangover to linger, the two-time NFL Coach of the Year told his players it is time to move on and turn their attention to next Sunday's NFC wild card game at New Orleans.</p>
<p>"The big thing that we need to do more than anything else is to move forward and get past the game we just played," Rivera said. "Right now that game isn't going to do anything for us."</p>
<p>The Panthers had plenty of momentum entering the regular season finale having won seven of their previous eight games.</p>
<p>Had Carolina beat Atlanta, they would have won the NFC South and had a home playoff game.</p>
<p>Now they're limping into the postseason and likely will have to win three in a row on the road to reach the Super Bowl.</p>
<p>Cam Newton's struggles in one of the worst games of his career could be cause for concern entering the postseason. Newton missed on his first eight passes against Atlanta, his throws often sailing high and wide of his intended targets and could never get on track. It hasn't helped that the Panthers wide receiver position has been besieged by injuries, leaving Newton with <a href="" type="internal">a cast of no-name players</a> .</p>
<p>One thing is for certain: Newton and the offense will need to be on its game Sunday against the Saints.</p>
<p>The Panthers (11-5) don't appear to match up well with the Saints (11-5), particularly on defense where they've been unable to slow drew Brees and the NFC South champions.</p>
<p>New Orleans <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/brees-throws-3-tds-saints-dominate-panthers-34-13" type="external">clobbered Carolina 34-13</a> in Charlotte in September, then <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/saints-alone-atop-nfc-south-after-31-21-win-over-panthers" type="external">beat them again 31-21</a> on Dec. 3 at the Superdome to take control of the NFC South.</p>
<p>Panthers coordinator Steve Wilks, who said he has <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/2-fired-1-retired-and-1-near-miss-nfls-black-monday" type="external">already received interview requests</a> for head coaching vacancies with the Giants, Colts and Lions, wants to stop the Saints running game first.</p>
<p>Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara found gaping holes against the Panthers, helping the Saints average 148.5 yards per game on the ground along with four touchdowns in those two games. They struggled with wrapping up Kamara and getting him to the ground.</p>
<p>"Their running game right now is dynamic," Wilks said. "That is the most important thing we have to stop."</p>
<p>He also said the Panthers need to be physical at the line of scrimmage with the Saints receivers to throw off Brees' timing. Brees has had a field day against Carolina too, completing 74.6 percent of his passes (47 of 63) for 465 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.</p>
<p>Panthers defensive end Mario Addison points to self-inflicted mistakes in the wo previous losses to New Orleans.</p>
<p>"It really ain't what they're doing, it's really what we're doing," Addison said. "It's hard to play against a team and beat yourself at the same time. That's what we did the first two times — we beat ourselves. It ain't that they outplayed us, because they didn't. We just made too many mistakes."</p>
<p>As for the it's-hard-to-beat-a-team-three-times theory, well, that doesn't hold much water in the NFL.</p>
<p>Since 1970, there have been 20 teams that went 2-0 against an opponent during the regular season before facing them again in the postseason. Thirteen times those teams completed the sweep by winning the playoff game.</p>
<p>However, Addison said losing to Saints twice benefits the Panthers.</p>
<p>"We can't let them beat us three times," Addison said. "You have to come out swinging and throw everything at them, including the kitchen sink."</p>
<p>Some help could be on the way for Carolina.</p>
<p>Rivera said he's optimistic that safety Kurt Coleman will be back after missing Sunday's game with an ankle injury and running back Jonathan Stewart should return after sitting out against the Falcons with a stiff back. Also, guard Trai Turner could return if he clears the NFL concussion protocol. Turner has missed the last three games.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Panthers coach Ron Rivera sent a clear message to his players Monday: Forget about Atlanta.</p>
<p>Rivera took only a couple questions during his press conference about his team's uninspiring performance in <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/falcons-clinch-playoff-spot-beat-panthers-bryants-5-fgs" type="external">a 22-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons</a> on Sunday before saying he was done talking about it. Rather than allow a bad New Year's Day football hangover to linger, the two-time NFL Coach of the Year told his players it is time to move on and turn their attention to next Sunday's NFC wild card game at New Orleans.</p>
<p>"The big thing that we need to do more than anything else is to move forward and get past the game we just played," Rivera said. "Right now that game isn't going to do anything for us."</p>
<p>The Panthers had plenty of momentum entering the regular season finale having won seven of their previous eight games.</p>
<p>Had Carolina beat Atlanta, they would have won the NFC South and had a home playoff game.</p>
<p>Now they're limping into the postseason and likely will have to win three in a row on the road to reach the Super Bowl.</p>
<p>Cam Newton's struggles in one of the worst games of his career could be cause for concern entering the postseason. Newton missed on his first eight passes against Atlanta, his throws often sailing high and wide of his intended targets and could never get on track. It hasn't helped that the Panthers wide receiver position has been besieged by injuries, leaving Newton with <a href="" type="internal">a cast of no-name players</a> .</p>
<p>One thing is for certain: Newton and the offense will need to be on its game Sunday against the Saints.</p>
<p>The Panthers (11-5) don't appear to match up well with the Saints (11-5), particularly on defense where they've been unable to slow drew Brees and the NFC South champions.</p>
<p>New Orleans <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/brees-throws-3-tds-saints-dominate-panthers-34-13" type="external">clobbered Carolina 34-13</a> in Charlotte in September, then <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/saints-alone-atop-nfc-south-after-31-21-win-over-panthers" type="external">beat them again 31-21</a> on Dec. 3 at the Superdome to take control of the NFC South.</p>
<p>Panthers coordinator Steve Wilks, who said he has <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/2-fired-1-retired-and-1-near-miss-nfls-black-monday" type="external">already received interview requests</a> for head coaching vacancies with the Giants, Colts and Lions, wants to stop the Saints running game first.</p>
<p>Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara found gaping holes against the Panthers, helping the Saints average 148.5 yards per game on the ground along with four touchdowns in those two games. They struggled with wrapping up Kamara and getting him to the ground.</p>
<p>"Their running game right now is dynamic," Wilks said. "That is the most important thing we have to stop."</p>
<p>He also said the Panthers need to be physical at the line of scrimmage with the Saints receivers to throw off Brees' timing. Brees has had a field day against Carolina too, completing 74.6 percent of his passes (47 of 63) for 465 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.</p>
<p>Panthers defensive end Mario Addison points to self-inflicted mistakes in the wo previous losses to New Orleans.</p>
<p>"It really ain't what they're doing, it's really what we're doing," Addison said. "It's hard to play against a team and beat yourself at the same time. That's what we did the first two times — we beat ourselves. It ain't that they outplayed us, because they didn't. We just made too many mistakes."</p>
<p>As for the it's-hard-to-beat-a-team-three-times theory, well, that doesn't hold much water in the NFL.</p>
<p>Since 1970, there have been 20 teams that went 2-0 against an opponent during the regular season before facing them again in the postseason. Thirteen times those teams completed the sweep by winning the playoff game.</p>
<p>However, Addison said losing to Saints twice benefits the Panthers.</p>
<p>"We can't let them beat us three times," Addison said. "You have to come out swinging and throw everything at them, including the kitchen sink."</p>
<p>Some help could be on the way for Carolina.</p>
<p>Rivera said he's optimistic that safety Kurt Coleman will be back after missing Sunday's game with an ankle injury and running back Jonathan Stewart should return after sitting out against the Falcons with a stiff back. Also, guard Trai Turner could return if he clears the NFL concussion protocol. Turner has missed the last three games.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p> | Rivera wants Panthers to turn focus to Saints, playoffs | false | https://apnews.com/amp/5d6d1abe4c97438e862f48d9bb0fcbb1 | 2018-01-01 | 2 |
<p>Over the weekend of June 9, about seventy activists from around the country converged in a poor neighborhood of Greenville, South Carolina. Led by the Prometheus Radio Project, a visionary Philadelphia-based organization of techies and media policy advocates, they came to assist organized local residents in what was billed as a “radio station barnraising” a weekend of collective work completing the studio, tuning, testing and raising the broadcast antenna, teaching and learning basic and advanced production skills and on Sunday evening, flipping the ON switch for Greenville’s first fully licensed low power community-owned FM radio station.</p>
<p>WMXP-LP Greenville’s broadcast range is only about 3.5 miles, but its impact is enormous. Owned and operated by the Malcolm X Grassroots Organization in that city, it’s one of many stations Prometheus and its allies aim to assist progressive organizations around the country in creating. WMXP-LP Greenville will provide local news and analysis, a venue for locally produced music and other programming in English and Spanish. According to its founder Efia Nwangaza, a former SNCC activist and local attorney, WMXP-LP will serve, empower and enrich the life of its community in ways that large corporate broadcasters never have and never will.</p>
<p>For African American communities, corporate monopolization of the airwaves has reduced our musical choices to degrading minstrel shows. Thanks in part to black commercial radio’s exclusive diet of entertainment and marketing, we know more about the furniture in Jamie Foxx’s new mansion than we do about our local school boards or police practices.</p>
<p>Worst of all by denying black audiences news and analyses of public affairs through the lens of the black experience, corporate media have shrunk the civic space in our communities where grassroots organizing and the Freedom Movement of a generation ago thrived to almost nothing. Back in 2000, the FCC approved low power nonprofit licensing, paving the way for thousands of local stations in urban and rural areas within the reach of most of the nation’s population. Big media responded with the false claim, rejected by almost every broadcast engineer not in their employ, that low power would interfere with their giant 20 and 50,000 watt operations. Big media’s generous campaign contributions persuaded the Congress to halt low power station licensing until now.</p>
<p>This month bills will be introduced with bipartisan sponsorship in both the House and Senate, to reopen the licensing of nonprofit, community-owned low power FM stations. Whether citizens will get the power to start and program their own radio stations on the tiniest remaining slice of what are, after all, their own airwaves will be decided by Congress this session. We can expect little or no help informing the public on this issue from corporate print and broadcast media in informing the public on this score. Three was no mainstream coverage of low power radio in 2000, no coverage of radio deregulation in 2003, and next to none of network neutrality today. But the wiggle room this time around for members of Congress will be small.</p>
<p>The public is deeply dissatisfied, and will not be easily convinced that they need fewer rather than more choices, less news, less local ownership, and less local content. Now Greenville SC is one more place they can look to, and ask, if they can do it at WMXP-LP Greenville, why can’t we?</p>
<p>BRUCE DIXON is managing editor of <a href="ttp://www.blackagendareport.com/" type="external">Black Agenda Report</a>, where this piece appears.</p> | Black Power Through Low Power Radio | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/06/14/black-power-through-low-power-radio/ | 2007-06-14 | 4 |
<p>PARIS (AP) — Slovenian-born Melania Trump has been unafraid to go against her husband’s “America First” agenda and stay true to her roots, if there’s a message to be taken from her bold, foreign-flavored wardrobe in 2017.</p>
<p>In her first year as first lady, Mrs. Trump has often wrapped herself in the clothes of her home continent as several American designers publicly refused to dress her in what was a fashion industry-wide backlash against her unpopular spouse.</p>
<p>The first first lady to be born in continental Europe, Trump grew up in Sevnica in Slovenia, in the southern Balkans, just over 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Italian border. Her first real taste for fashion came while living in Paris as a young model in the mid-1990s, years before she got U.S. citizenship in 2006.</p>
<p>From designs by Dolce &amp; Gabbana, Del Pozo, Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci, Givenchy and Valentino to daringly high Christian Louboutin heels, the 47-year-old first lady’s touchstones have not only been the Old World, but its most established — and expensive — design houses.</p>
<p>As the wife of a billionaire, Mrs. Trump can afford to spend into the five figures for a garment and seems unconcerned about how that squares with voters in President Donald Trump’s political base.</p>
<p>Since becoming first lady, Mrs. Trump has chosen Herve Pierre, a French-born immigrant, as her fashion adviser. Politics be damned: He’s helped her hone looks that emphasize the sleeve, eye-popping colors and big sunglasses, and show off her svelte, 5-foot-11 frame and thick, dark hair.</p>
<p>“In the news, we speak a lot of politics, so if for a moment we can forget about it and enjoy something else, why not?” Pierre told AP.</p>
<p>Mrs. Trump’s old-school, dressed-to-the-nines glamour and full fabrics evoke distance not only in how far the clothes have had to travel, but in perceptions that the first lady, who only moved to the White House in June and rarely speaks publicly, is reserved in her persona.</p>
<p>Not since Jackie Kennedy has a U.S. first lady had such a European aesthetic as Mrs. Trump.</p>
<p>Although she wore Ralph Lauren to the inauguration and has also shown a penchant for U.S. brands such as Michael Kors and Calvin Klein, many of her most recognizable looks have been foreign designed and assembled.</p>
<p>It’s a striking contrast with Michelle Obama — who famously used her first lady wardrobe as a way of championing often young American designers, and with Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton, who stuck closely to U.S. fashion brands.</p>
<p>Most of Mrs. Trump’s clothes are bought off-the-rack from a retailer without the design house’s knowledge that the garment is destined for the first lady.</p>
<p>This is highly unusual — and contrasts with Mrs. Obama’s frequent collaborations with designers.</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s not Mrs. Trump’s choice, given her husband’s unpopularity.</p>
<p>People from 17 fashion brands that Mrs. Trump wears declined to comment on the first lady when contacted by AP, even though she is among the world’s most photographed women.</p>
<p>It’s a deafening silence, especially given that it’s an industry Mrs. Trump actually worked in.</p>
<p>Walking the path of both foreign and highly priced glamour presents its share of risks for any first lady. (Mrs. Kennedy was criticized for wearing Parisian stalwart Chanel.)</p>
<p>But in an “America First” administration, Mrs. Trump is particularly vulnerable to criticism as her husband assails immigration and plays to blue-collar supporters.</p>
<p>While the fashion press gushed over a brightly colored, floral D&amp;G silk coat Mrs. Trump wore in Sicily in May, political commentators didn’t have such a rosy view of the garment’s over-$50,000 price tag.</p>
<p>It cost, they quickly pointed out, more than the average annual U.S. household income. Mrs. Trump was criticized for a Marie Antoinette-style wardrobe as the president’s ill-fated attempt to repeal “Obamacare” was being considered, an effort that might have stripped millions of people of their insurance.</p>
<p>She was praised for getting it right when she wore $50 converse sneakers and $185 J Brand jeans (despite the $1,100 Balmain shirt) during a day spent digging around the White House vegetable garden with children.</p>
<p>Since the television age, the first lady’s wardrobe has invariably invited vibrant political critique.</p>
<p>It’s an impossible game to win.</p>
<p>Mrs. Obama was criticized for wearing $540 Lanvin sneakers at a food bank in Washington — despite twinning them with a more affordable J.Crew cardigan.</p>
<p>Rosalynn Carter was berated during the 1970s oil crisis for being too unglamorous when she wore an off-the-rack gown to the 1977 inaugural ball, after having worn it to a previous ball.</p>
<p>If there’s a message in Mrs. Trump’s fashion — it’s that she dresses to look good, in keeping with the expensive personal taste she’s acquired since marrying Trump in 2005. Political meaning isn’t part of the equation.</p>
<p>“She does not concern herself with what others think about her fashion and always stays true to herself,” Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for the first lady, told AP. “Mrs. Trump wears what she likes, and what is appropriate for the occasion.”</p>
<p>Adds Pierre, via email: “She has and had already a very personal style in fashion, before she was first lady. As you can see she likes suits and structured dresses, I work keeping her vision in mind.”</p>
<p>Sometimes, Mrs. Trump’s looks contain a veiled reference to the event she’s dressing for.</p>
<p>She wore an iconic piece of French fashion — a red Christian Dior bar jacket — for the Trumps’ visit to Paris in July.</p>
<p>But the references vary in degrees of subtlety and can sometimes be heavy-handed.</p>
<p>In May, Mrs. Trump passed up the traditional headscarf in Saudi Arabia in favor of a Ralph Lauren shirtdress in khaki. The dress evoked the Arabian Desert, and its military-style epaulettes and pockets suggested the garb of troops in the Middle East.</p>
<p>When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House, Mrs. Trump dressed in a maxi-dress from Italian house Pucci. The gown’s wild print and bright yellow color might well have been chosen to capture the vibrancy of the subcontinent and the hue of its flag.</p>
<p>Mrs. Trump has a great passion for fashion, and alongside former Carolina Herrera design chief Pierre, has shown she’s not afraid of bold style statements even if it upstages her political ventures.</p>
<p>The bright pink belted Del Pozo dress with dramatic leg of mutton sleeves that she wore for an address at the United Nations seemed to take precedence over the actual speech she gave on the importance of protecting children’s interests.</p>
<p>When she departed the White House to visit hurricane-damaged Texas last year, her impractically high stilettos, though chic, upstaged the trip and set off a social media backlash. She changed into sensible sneakers before deplaning in Texas, but the damage already had been done.</p>
<p>Much like her husband, who has tried to undo much of Barack Obama’s legacy, many of Mrs. Trump’s fashion choices seem to be the polar opposite of her predecessor’s.</p>
<p>Her high-end European clothes contrast with Mrs. Obama’s buy-American wardrobe priority and the relatable image she honed by mixing high-priced garments with more popular brands.</p>
<p>Mrs. Obama was associated with sleeveless styles that showed off her famously toned arms — and promoted her get-fit initiatives as first lady.</p>
<p>Mrs. Trump’s signature style is the dramatic, often covered, sleeve.</p>
<p>A white sheath from British designer Roksanda that Mrs. Trump wore at the Republican National Convention gained attention for its striking bell sleeves. Mrs. Trump also garnered attention for wearing a bright red Givenchy cape dress with bold floppy sleeves as she joined the president for a trip to Palm Beach, Florida. In another twist on that style, Mrs. Trump sometimes wears coats, such as a pink number in October by Swedish house Acne, draped over the shoulders with the sleeves hanging limp. It does away with the hands — and adds to the subliminal message that her priority is to be a fashionable, but not hands-on, first lady.</p>
<p>Madrid-based fashion house Del Pozo has gained unparalleled publicity for its sculptural, pret-a-couture creations being worn by Mrs. Trump, but that hasn’t affected its communications policy.</p>
<p>The house told AP: “Melania Trump is a normal client that buys from a retailer in the U.S. and we don’t comment on private clients. We’ve never had contact with her team.”</p>
<p>By contrast, designers generally were eager to talk about dressing Mrs. Obama.</p>
<p>Many may have heeded lessons from the unpleasant experience of a few designers who have supported Mrs. Trump publicly — such as Ralph Lauren, Dolce &amp; Gabbana and Beirut-born Reem Acra. They all faced criticism on social media and would not comment to AP.</p>
<p>Stefano Gabbana told his online critics to “go to hell” when he revealed himself to be among Mrs. Trump’s most passionate supporters — posting a photo of her in D&amp;G on his Instagram account to instant criticism.</p>
<p>And when Mrs. Trump wore Ralph Lauren at the White House, some even threatened to boycott the house.</p>
<p>For the fashion industry, it’s perhaps a case of once bitten, twice shy.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Nancy Benac in Washington and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report</p>
<p>PARIS (AP) — Slovenian-born Melania Trump has been unafraid to go against her husband’s “America First” agenda and stay true to her roots, if there’s a message to be taken from her bold, foreign-flavored wardrobe in 2017.</p>
<p>In her first year as first lady, Mrs. Trump has often wrapped herself in the clothes of her home continent as several American designers publicly refused to dress her in what was a fashion industry-wide backlash against her unpopular spouse.</p>
<p>The first first lady to be born in continental Europe, Trump grew up in Sevnica in Slovenia, in the southern Balkans, just over 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Italian border. Her first real taste for fashion came while living in Paris as a young model in the mid-1990s, years before she got U.S. citizenship in 2006.</p>
<p>From designs by Dolce &amp; Gabbana, Del Pozo, Christian Dior, Emilio Pucci, Givenchy and Valentino to daringly high Christian Louboutin heels, the 47-year-old first lady’s touchstones have not only been the Old World, but its most established — and expensive — design houses.</p>
<p>As the wife of a billionaire, Mrs. Trump can afford to spend into the five figures for a garment and seems unconcerned about how that squares with voters in President Donald Trump’s political base.</p>
<p>Since becoming first lady, Mrs. Trump has chosen Herve Pierre, a French-born immigrant, as her fashion adviser. Politics be damned: He’s helped her hone looks that emphasize the sleeve, eye-popping colors and big sunglasses, and show off her svelte, 5-foot-11 frame and thick, dark hair.</p>
<p>“In the news, we speak a lot of politics, so if for a moment we can forget about it and enjoy something else, why not?” Pierre told AP.</p>
<p>Mrs. Trump’s old-school, dressed-to-the-nines glamour and full fabrics evoke distance not only in how far the clothes have had to travel, but in perceptions that the first lady, who only moved to the White House in June and rarely speaks publicly, is reserved in her persona.</p>
<p>Not since Jackie Kennedy has a U.S. first lady had such a European aesthetic as Mrs. Trump.</p>
<p>Although she wore Ralph Lauren to the inauguration and has also shown a penchant for U.S. brands such as Michael Kors and Calvin Klein, many of her most recognizable looks have been foreign designed and assembled.</p>
<p>It’s a striking contrast with Michelle Obama — who famously used her first lady wardrobe as a way of championing often young American designers, and with Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton, who stuck closely to U.S. fashion brands.</p>
<p>Most of Mrs. Trump’s clothes are bought off-the-rack from a retailer without the design house’s knowledge that the garment is destined for the first lady.</p>
<p>This is highly unusual — and contrasts with Mrs. Obama’s frequent collaborations with designers.</p>
<p>Perhaps it’s not Mrs. Trump’s choice, given her husband’s unpopularity.</p>
<p>People from 17 fashion brands that Mrs. Trump wears declined to comment on the first lady when contacted by AP, even though she is among the world’s most photographed women.</p>
<p>It’s a deafening silence, especially given that it’s an industry Mrs. Trump actually worked in.</p>
<p>Walking the path of both foreign and highly priced glamour presents its share of risks for any first lady. (Mrs. Kennedy was criticized for wearing Parisian stalwart Chanel.)</p>
<p>But in an “America First” administration, Mrs. Trump is particularly vulnerable to criticism as her husband assails immigration and plays to blue-collar supporters.</p>
<p>While the fashion press gushed over a brightly colored, floral D&amp;G silk coat Mrs. Trump wore in Sicily in May, political commentators didn’t have such a rosy view of the garment’s over-$50,000 price tag.</p>
<p>It cost, they quickly pointed out, more than the average annual U.S. household income. Mrs. Trump was criticized for a Marie Antoinette-style wardrobe as the president’s ill-fated attempt to repeal “Obamacare” was being considered, an effort that might have stripped millions of people of their insurance.</p>
<p>She was praised for getting it right when she wore $50 converse sneakers and $185 J Brand jeans (despite the $1,100 Balmain shirt) during a day spent digging around the White House vegetable garden with children.</p>
<p>Since the television age, the first lady’s wardrobe has invariably invited vibrant political critique.</p>
<p>It’s an impossible game to win.</p>
<p>Mrs. Obama was criticized for wearing $540 Lanvin sneakers at a food bank in Washington — despite twinning them with a more affordable J.Crew cardigan.</p>
<p>Rosalynn Carter was berated during the 1970s oil crisis for being too unglamorous when she wore an off-the-rack gown to the 1977 inaugural ball, after having worn it to a previous ball.</p>
<p>If there’s a message in Mrs. Trump’s fashion — it’s that she dresses to look good, in keeping with the expensive personal taste she’s acquired since marrying Trump in 2005. Political meaning isn’t part of the equation.</p>
<p>“She does not concern herself with what others think about her fashion and always stays true to herself,” Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for the first lady, told AP. “Mrs. Trump wears what she likes, and what is appropriate for the occasion.”</p>
<p>Adds Pierre, via email: “She has and had already a very personal style in fashion, before she was first lady. As you can see she likes suits and structured dresses, I work keeping her vision in mind.”</p>
<p>Sometimes, Mrs. Trump’s looks contain a veiled reference to the event she’s dressing for.</p>
<p>She wore an iconic piece of French fashion — a red Christian Dior bar jacket — for the Trumps’ visit to Paris in July.</p>
<p>But the references vary in degrees of subtlety and can sometimes be heavy-handed.</p>
<p>In May, Mrs. Trump passed up the traditional headscarf in Saudi Arabia in favor of a Ralph Lauren shirtdress in khaki. The dress evoked the Arabian Desert, and its military-style epaulettes and pockets suggested the garb of troops in the Middle East.</p>
<p>When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the White House, Mrs. Trump dressed in a maxi-dress from Italian house Pucci. The gown’s wild print and bright yellow color might well have been chosen to capture the vibrancy of the subcontinent and the hue of its flag.</p>
<p>Mrs. Trump has a great passion for fashion, and alongside former Carolina Herrera design chief Pierre, has shown she’s not afraid of bold style statements even if it upstages her political ventures.</p>
<p>The bright pink belted Del Pozo dress with dramatic leg of mutton sleeves that she wore for an address at the United Nations seemed to take precedence over the actual speech she gave on the importance of protecting children’s interests.</p>
<p>When she departed the White House to visit hurricane-damaged Texas last year, her impractically high stilettos, though chic, upstaged the trip and set off a social media backlash. She changed into sensible sneakers before deplaning in Texas, but the damage already had been done.</p>
<p>Much like her husband, who has tried to undo much of Barack Obama’s legacy, many of Mrs. Trump’s fashion choices seem to be the polar opposite of her predecessor’s.</p>
<p>Her high-end European clothes contrast with Mrs. Obama’s buy-American wardrobe priority and the relatable image she honed by mixing high-priced garments with more popular brands.</p>
<p>Mrs. Obama was associated with sleeveless styles that showed off her famously toned arms — and promoted her get-fit initiatives as first lady.</p>
<p>Mrs. Trump’s signature style is the dramatic, often covered, sleeve.</p>
<p>A white sheath from British designer Roksanda that Mrs. Trump wore at the Republican National Convention gained attention for its striking bell sleeves. Mrs. Trump also garnered attention for wearing a bright red Givenchy cape dress with bold floppy sleeves as she joined the president for a trip to Palm Beach, Florida. In another twist on that style, Mrs. Trump sometimes wears coats, such as a pink number in October by Swedish house Acne, draped over the shoulders with the sleeves hanging limp. It does away with the hands — and adds to the subliminal message that her priority is to be a fashionable, but not hands-on, first lady.</p>
<p>Madrid-based fashion house Del Pozo has gained unparalleled publicity for its sculptural, pret-a-couture creations being worn by Mrs. Trump, but that hasn’t affected its communications policy.</p>
<p>The house told AP: “Melania Trump is a normal client that buys from a retailer in the U.S. and we don’t comment on private clients. We’ve never had contact with her team.”</p>
<p>By contrast, designers generally were eager to talk about dressing Mrs. Obama.</p>
<p>Many may have heeded lessons from the unpleasant experience of a few designers who have supported Mrs. Trump publicly — such as Ralph Lauren, Dolce &amp; Gabbana and Beirut-born Reem Acra. They all faced criticism on social media and would not comment to AP.</p>
<p>Stefano Gabbana told his online critics to “go to hell” when he revealed himself to be among Mrs. Trump’s most passionate supporters — posting a photo of her in D&amp;G on his Instagram account to instant criticism.</p>
<p>And when Mrs. Trump wore Ralph Lauren at the White House, some even threatened to boycott the house.</p>
<p>For the fashion industry, it’s perhaps a case of once bitten, twice shy.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Thomas Adamson can be followed at Twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Nancy Benac in Washington and news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report</p> | Melania Trump’s fashion style true to her Europe roots | false | https://apnews.com/c17019d689b943a38e73cdf2886223ec | 2018-01-16 | 2 |
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<p>Here, counting down, are a few:</p>
<p>No. 8: When Mary met Zola</p>
<p>Of the three Olympic games I’ve covered for the Journal (Los Angeles 1984, Atlanta 1996, Salt Lake City 2002), perhaps the most dramatic moment I witnessed was the collision between 3,000-meter runners Mary Decker of the United States and Zola Budd of South Africa (competing for Great Britain) at the Coliseum in L.A.</p>
<p>Mary Decker grimaces and clutches her leg after a cruel collision with bitter rival Zola Budd during the women’s 3,000-meter final at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. (AP Photo/File)</p>
<p>Budd, a teenager who ran barefoot, was almost but not quite hugging the curb in lane one. Decker, impatiently attempting to pass Budd on the inside, tripped over Budd’s left leg and fell in pain onto the infield.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>For Decker, one of the pre-race favorites, it was over. Budd finished seventh. Initially disqualified, she was reinstated on the basis that, while she might have violated running etiquette, she had broken no rules.</p>
<p>No. 7: Super Bowl XXIII</p>
<p>What almost no one remembers now is what a stinker of a first half the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Bengals played on that January Sunday in Miami: Bengals 3, 49ers 3.</p>
<p>At halftime, in my seat in the stands of Hard Rock Stadium — unaffiliated media like myself weren’t granted seats in the press box — I pondered a series of “How boring was it?” lines.</p>
<p>I used none of those, of course, after a Super Bowl classic broke out in the second half: 49ers 20, Bengals 16, on a Joe Montana-led touchdown drive at game’s end.</p>
<p>Afterward, Bengals linebacker Leo Barker, a former New Mexico State Aggie, was disconsolate.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t enough,” he said of the Bengals’ supreme, though losing, effort. “We weren’t good enough. We couldn’t stop them when it counted.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>This was the finest of the eight Super Bowls (XVII through XXIV) I was fortunate enough to cover for the Journal.</p>
<p>No. 6: When Tommy met Freddie</p>
<p>When asked what was the most exciting sports event I’ve covered, I always cite the June 12, 1984 fight between Albuquerque boxer Tommy Cordova and Los Angeles’ Freddie Roach at the Showboat Hotel &amp; Casino in Las Vegas., Nev.</p>
<p>These were good but not great fighters, neither of whom had met a fist they couldn’t hit with their face. For 12 breathtaking rounds they battled, before Cordova’s hand was raised as the winner by split decision.</p>
<p>Whatever the two were paid for the fight, it wasn’t enough. Roach, now one of boxing’s most successful and respected trainers, suffers from Parkinson’s disease believed to be linked to the punishment he took during his eight-year, 53-fight professional career.</p>
<p>Cordova, current whereabouts unknown, was slurring his words while still fighting into the early 1990s.</p>
<p>No. 5: Santa Fe 19, Eldorado 15</p>
<p>On Dec. 7, 1979, the Santa Fe High School Demons took the field at University Stadium against the Eldorado Eagles — a team that had humbled them 35-6 earlier in the season — with the big-school state football title at stake. Making big plays on offense and defense, capitalizing on Eldorado mistakes, SFHS took a victory as satisfying as it was improbable.</p>
<p>“I even have a shirt at home that says ‘State in ’80 (a reference to his graduating class),'”said Demons senior quarterback Steve Baca. “It’s all ripped and torn now — I’ve had it since I was a freshman.”</p>
<p>This was a highlight of the two years I spent at the Journal’s prep editor.</p>
<p>WBO junior bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia, right, defeated IBF junior bantamweight champion and fellow Albuquerquean Danny Romero, during their title bout in Las Vegas Friday, July 18, 1997. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)</p>
<p>No. 4: When Johnny met Danny</p>
<p>Actually, Danny Romero and Johnny Tapia were already well acquainted when they stepped into a Vegas boxing ring on July 18, 1997. Here were two world boxing champions who’d grown up within a mile of each other in Albuquerque’s North Valley and at times had trained in the same gym.</p>
<p>Friends turned rivals, the two fought valiantly for 12 rounds — Tapia winning by unanimous decision. In the buildup to this unique sporting event, Albuquerque’s two daily newspapers, the Journal and the Albuquerque Tribune, published more than 100 stories.</p>
<p>No. 3: The good, the bad, the ugly</p>
<p>On most occasions while covering an event, whether the team or the individual I’m covering wins or loses is of little interest to me. What happens happens, and I write about it.</p>
<p>Two exceptions to the rule:</p>
<p>On Oct. 22, 2011, the New Mexico Lobo football team lost 69-0 to the TCU Horned Frogs in Fort Worth. It wasn’t nearly that close, and watching it was like watching the same ax murder over and over again for three-plus hours.</p>
<p>This was the bad and the ugly. What do you even ask a kid after a humiliation like that?</p>
<p>Interim coach George Barlow, who’d taken over for fired coach Mike Locksley a month earlier, handled the post-game as well as could be expected. “In all phases,” he understated, “we didn’t play very well.”</p>
<p>Four years and three weeks later, Lobos coach Bob Davie took his team to Boise, Idaho, to play the heavily favored Boise State Broncos on their blue turf.</p>
<p>This wasn’t just good; it was great. I wish I could say my story the next morning did justice to the Lobos’ remarkable, 31-24 upset. It did not. But that would have had to be one heck of a story.</p>
<p>No. 2: Goodbye, Johnny</p>
<p>On May 27, 2012, Tapia died from heart disease at his West Side home. A week later, almost 7,000 people came to a memorial service held at the Pit — where Tapia had won the first of his five world titles in 1994.</p>
<p>What was it about Tapia, a cocaine addict with a criminal past, that commanded so much affection from so many? I can’t explain it.</p>
<p>But, like all the others that day at the Pit, I felt it.</p>
<p>No. 1: Holly-lujah!</p>
<p>The same night on which the Lobos upset Boise State — actually the next day in Melbourne, Australia — Albuquerque boxer-turned-MMA fighter Holly Holm upset the thought-to-be unbeatable Ronda Rousey.</p>
<p>I was in Boise, not Melbourne. But I was there on Dec. 6 when, upon Holm’s return to Albuquerque, thousands of people gathered Downtown for a parade and a reception on Civic Plaza.</p>
<p>Holm, perhaps, is the poster child for the birth and growth of women’s athletics since I started 40 years ago at the Journal in 1977.</p>
<p>Back then, opportunities in sports for girls and women were precious and few.</p>
<p>Today, though a few barriers for women in sports may still exist, most have been knocked down — as forcefully as Holm floored Rousey with that left-footed kick.</p> | 40 years of Rick being Wright: Eight indelible, incredible memories | false | https://abqjournal.com/988435/40-years-of-rick-being-wright-eight-indelible-incredible-memories.html | 2017-04-15 | 2 |
<p>The State Department will soon be unveiling an exhibit dedicated to Hillary Clinton at a ceremony on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Clinton will be speaking at the event and will be joined by former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright. Clinton's exhibit in the State Department will be one of four halls honoring former secretaries of state, with the other three honoring Henry Kissinger, James Baker and John Kerry.</p>
<p>However, Clinton's tenure heading the State Department was marked with failure and corruption, and the exhibit probably won't mention that at all. Here are seven things that won't likely be in the exhibit.</p>
<p>1. Clinton's emails. Clinton clearly violated the Espionage Act with her use of a private email server that was unsecure and exposed sensitive, classified information to the country's enemies. While FBI director James Comey didn't recommend indictment charges against her, the scandal plagued Clinton throughout the election and it was ultimately her undoing as a presidential candidate.</p>
<p>2. Clinton's failed <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/03/17/the-failure-of-the-u-s-russia-reset-in-9-photos/?utm_term=.77f81fce1cff" type="external">Russian reset policy</a>. Shortly after President Barack Obama took office, Clinton unveiled an actual reset button that she thought to the Russians to signify a new relationship between the two countries. The reset button was intended to say "reset" in Russian but it actually said "overcharge," and it only went downhill from there, as Russia filled the gaping void left by Obama and Clinton's weak foreign policy and they are now running the show in the Middle East and <a href="http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/10/putins-dangerous-games-in-the-baltic/" type="external">threatening to expand even further</a>. Clinton may talk tough towards the Russians now, but <a href="" type="internal">Wikileaks emails</a> show that Clinton had glowing things to say about Vladimir Putin in 2013.</p>
<p>3. Clinton orchestrated the collapse of Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi, causing Libya to descend into chaos. "We came. We saw. He died," Clinton <a href="" type="internal">gloated</a> at the time as if she had achieved something spectacular. But it was actually a disaster–Gaddafi at that point had become an ally to the United States, as he provided intelligence on Islamic terror organizations. Gaddafi's demise has led to Libya becoming overrun by jihadists as a result of the feckless government that replaced Gaddafi.</p>
<p>4. Benghazi. Four Americans died in terror attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya in 2012, a result of the fact that Clinton repeatedly ignored requests for more security at the consulate. After the attacks, Clinton and Obama lied repeatedly that the attack was caused by an anti-Muslim video. It is still unknown as to what Clinton was doing during the attack, but she clearly didn't do enough to provide help to those in the attack when help could have easily been sent.</p>
<p>5. The rise of ISIS. Clinton is one of the main people responsible for the rise of ISIS, as she was unable to achieve of a status of forces agreement in 2011 to leave troops behind to maintain stability in Iraq. Clinton has defended the withdrawal without a status of forces agreement, but the vacuum left by U.S. departure allowed ISIS to rise, de-stabilize Iraq and become one of the most feared, babaric Islamic terror organizations in the world.</p>
<p>6. Clinton championed the Arab Spring. "For the United States, supporting democratic transitions is not a matter of idealism," Clinton <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mideast-idUSBRE89B19Z20121012" type="external">said</a> in 2012. "It is a strategic necessity." She also stood by the election of Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood who has a history of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/01/egyptian-president-calls-jews-sons-of-apes-and-pigs-world-yawns/267131/" type="external">anti-Semitic comments</a>.</p>
<p>The problem with the Arab Spring is the so-called democracy movement resulted in <a href="https://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/2011/11/30/arab-spring-islamist-winter/" type="external">Islamic takeovers</a> in countries like Libya and Tunisia in addition to Egypt. And Clinton supported it.</p>
<p>7. The Iran deal began during Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State. Towards the end of her time heading the State Department, Clinton "helped open the door" towards "acceptance that Tehran would maintain at least some capacity to produce nuclear fuel," the <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-clinton-backed-key-u-s-shift-toward-iran-nuclear-deal-1441753099" type="external">Wall Street Journal reported</a>, a crucial step towards the Iran deal that <a href="" type="internal">Clinton defended</a> throughout the campaign. However, the Iran deal has proven to be a disaster, as Iran has violated the agreement numerous times and yet the Obama administration has exempted Iran from these violations through <a href="" type="internal">secret side agreements</a>. Even if President-elect Donald Trump were to nullify the deal, Iran will still be in a stronger position than before the deal due to the <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438640/iran-ransom-payment-proves-obama-clinton-iran-deal-fraud" type="external">$150 billion</a> they gained from the lifting of sanctions.</p> | State Department To Release Hillary Exhibit. Here Are 7 Things That Probably Won't Be In It. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/12201/state-department-release-hillary-exhibit-here-are-aaron-bandler | 2017-01-06 | 0 |
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<p>But how such affection and the king’s ideals will impact the country’s turbulent political arena and day-to-day life remains to be seen. That depends on how successfully Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn ultimately fills his father’s shoes, how the ruling military regime shapes the vacuum left by the politically powerful king and whether Thais translate some of Bhumibol’s admonitions — like not succumbing to rampant greed, corruption and environmental exploitation — into practice.</p>
<p>“We will hear people in power asserting that they will continue his legacy by following his examples. Will this be just more lip service?” wrote a columnist in the Bangkok Post.</p>
<p>Other comments in local newspapers note that despite the surface calm imposed by the junta, deep divisions still permeate society following more than a decade of mass protests, bloodshed and coups. The king resolved several political crises over his reign, but over the last several years illnesses had removed him from center stage.</p>
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<p>Conservative, largely urban elites who champion the monarchy and at times favor military intervention in politics — labeled “yellow shirts” — have long been pitted against “red shirts” from rural regions and among the intelligentsia who decry inequality and a lack of popular participation in political decision making. While many in the red faction held great respect for Bhumibol himself, they view the institution of the monarchy as having held back Thailand’s progress toward democracy, with some favoring largely ceremonial royals along European lines.</p>
<p>These rifts escalated in 2006 when the military ousted populist Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and exploded four years later when pro-Thaksin red shirts took over central Bangkok, only to be bloodily suppressed by the military in clashes that killed nearly 100 people. Generals led by current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha staged a second coup in 2014 against a government headed by Thaksin’s sister and present themselves as defenders of the monarchy against those who allegedly seek its demise.</p>
<p>“A military government that bases its support on defense of the monarch in Bangkok will become deeply problematic,” said Charles F. Keyes, an emeritus professor at the University of Washington who has followed developments in Thailand for more than half a century. “But the return of democracy will come from increasing pressure from the populace who no longer can be cowed by invoking the support of the monarchy.”</p>
<p>Whatever happens next, the country’s 800-year-old institution is likely to change. The prince, who has not yet become king, has not been held in the same regard as his beloved father.</p>
<p>“After seven decades under one king, who became known as the father of the country, there is nobody to fill those shoes,” said Paul Handley, author of a critical biography of Bhumibol, “The King Never Smiles.”</p>
<p>The king once described himself as “unique” among the world’s 26 remaining monarchs.</p>
<p>He was not an absolute ruler like some still holding power in the Middle East and elsewhere, yet as a constitutional monarch he far exceeded the power and influence of such similarly defined royals as Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.</p>
<p>Through his personality, political acumen and good works, Bhumibol created a new role for himself and energized an institution which had been waning since the abolition of absolute monarchy in 1932. He called himself a “self-made man.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Much of this clout and the reverence in which he is held by Thais stems from his years working in the countryside on behalf of the poor. The palace initiated more than 4,300 development projects, and while some have floundered, others still reap benefits. Hilltribe families in northern Thailand will to this day say how the coffee plants or pigs they acquired from the royal projects years ago continue to better their lives.</p>
<p>The king’s rural bias spawned a philosophy of “sufficiency economy” — living modestly and sustainably, conserving natural resources and shielding the country from negative economic forces from abroad. While this has been given lip service by Thai officials as well as some foreign critics of globalization, it matches up with neither Thailand’s highly capitalist economy nor its poor environmental record.</p>
<p>Born in the U.S. and Swiss-educated, the king maintained healthy relations with the West. Though he hadn’t traveled abroad in nearly 50 years, the king and his wife, Queen Sirikit, made many foreign trips in the 1950s and ’60s that helped put Thailand, then a little-known country, on the world map. Ties with the U.S. were particularly close during that time, and he maintained warm ties with Europe’s royal families.</p>
<p>Thai-U.S. relations have cooled somewhat since the 2014 coup, while the junta government’s ties with China have appeared to strengthen.</p>
<p>In Thailand, the king’s legacy will certainly be protected from any criticism. The country has the world’s toughest law against insulting the monarchy, a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.</p>
<p>Abroad, appraisals of his reign have appeared in recent years, some arguing that by siding with conservative forces, including the military, he did little to promote a democratic future for his country.</p>
<p>“King Bhumibol will be remembered for his dedication as a working monarch, getting his shoes and pants muddy in the fields to visit farmers, putting his efforts into finding ways to elevate the livelihoods of the kingdom’s poorest,” Handley said. “Other things that could mar his image — problems with his family, his lifetime alliance with the military — won’t be remembered.</p>
<p>“Thai people will remember him as a father figure who embodied the ideals they have about their own culture: humility, modest, fun-loving, earnestness, selflessness.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Denis D. Gray has covered Thailand and Southeast Asia for The Associated Press for more than 40 years.</p> | Deceased Thai king to remain a future father figure | false | https://abqjournal.com/868992/deceased-thai-king-to-remain-a-future-father-figure.html | 2016-10-17 | 2 |
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<p>Lobo guard Sara Halasz (20) and UNM coach Yvonne Sanchez didn’t have any answers against hot-shooting Colorado on Saturday. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Just looking at the final score does not tell the tale of Saturday’s women’s basketball game between the University of New Mexico and No. 16 Colorado.</p>
<p>Yes, the Buffaloes won by a landslide, 85-53, in front of 5,951 fans at the Pit, and credit to the victors is immediately due.</p>
<p>Colorado (4-0) was all that and a box of holiday chocolates, shooting 56 percent from the field, hitting 10 of 18 from 3-point range and looking every bit like a legitimate Pac-12 title contender.</p>
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<p>But the final score remains at least a bit misleading.</p>
<p>The Buffaloes piled it on in the closing minutes, finishing the game with a 16-2 run against an inexperienced group of Lobo subs. Up to that point, a short-handed UNM squad had acquitted itself fairly well against a talented, red-hot opponent.</p>
<p>“No excuses, we got beat bad by a very good team,” Lobos coach Yvonne Sanchez said. “(The Buffaloes) hit shots with hands in their faces and really showed how to run an offense.</p>
<p>“But that’s a veteran team, and our bench is all freshmen and sophomores. That really showed today.”</p>
<p>UNM had to go deeper into its bench than normal because starting post Khadijah Shumpert was out attending a family funeral. The Lobos’ first post off the bench had been Ebony Walker, who suffered a season-ending injury in Tuesday’s loss to Texas.</p>
<p>As a result, Colorado racked up a staggering 36-14 advantage in bench points. That and a wide disparity on 3-point shooting were the differences between a tight game and a 32-point runaway.</p>
<p>The Buffaloes hit 10 of 18 3-pointers. UNM was 2-for-10.</p>
<p>UNM’s Deeva Vaughn (44) looks to pass against the defensive pressure of Colorado’s Jamee Swan. The Buffaloes blasted the Lobos 85-53. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“They did shoot amazingly well,” UNM’s Deeva Vaughn said. “At times it seemed like no matter what we did, they just knocked down shots. Everyone was ready to shoot and they pretty much killed it.”</p>
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<p>Five players scored in double figures for the Buffaloes, while Sara Halasz was the lone Lobo to manage the feat with 16 points.</p>
<p>But until the final five minutes, UNM’s offense was reasonably effective. For the first time in four games, the Lobos got off to a solid start and were even at 9-9 at the first media timeout.</p>
<p>That’s about the time Colorado caught fire.</p>
<p>Jasmine Sborov, Ashley Wilson, Lauren Huggins and Jen Reese swished four 3-pointers in a row. Another long trey by Sborov capped a 20-6 tear that gave the Buffs a 29-15 lead and had fans and UNM players shaking their heads.</p>
<p>“They just hit shots,” Halasz said. “Tough shots, good shots, everything. They picked us apart pretty good.”</p>
<p>UNM’s offense took a hit when leading scorer Antiesha Brown picked up two early fouls and sat out most of the first half. Still, the Lobos gamely tried to weather the storm and trailed just 37-28 when Halasz banked in a reverse layup with 2:48 left in the first half.</p>
<p>Huggins followed with another 3-pointer, and Colorado rebuilt a 42-28 margin by halftime.</p>
<p>The story was much the same after intermission. The turquoise-clad Lobos made several brief pushes only to have Colorado answer with runs of its own.</p>
<p>UNM (1-3) was unable to mount a serious threat but remained in contact until the final 16-2 run.</p>
<p>“I think our spirits were hurt a little bit by then,” said Vaughn, who watched the final minutes from the bench along with New Mexico’s other starters.</p>
<p>Reese finished with a game-high 18 points for Colorado, which also got 13 points from Lexy Kresl.</p>
<p>Many of the overall statistics were close: UNM outscored CU 30-28 in the paint, while the Buffs had small edges in rebounds (34-29) and turnovers (11 to UNM’s 14).</p>
<p>“Our offense was not horrible,” Sanchez said. “We’re not really a high-scoring team. Colorado hit 10 3-pointers and that was really the game – that and their big advantage off the bench.”</p>
<p>Shumpert is expected to be back when the Lobos host Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Tuesday, ending a run of three games against Big 12 and Pac-12 teams.</p>
<p>“We could have scheduled games against 120-RPI teams and gotten three wins,” Sanchez said, “but I still believe these games will make us better. We can definitely learn some things from a team like Colorado. They’re very impressive.”</p>
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<p /> | Lobo women’s team pounded by Buffaloes | false | https://abqjournal.com/307795/lobo-women-get-pounded-by-no-16-buffaloes.html | 2 |
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<p>By David Henry and Dan Freed</p>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. consumer credit reporting bureau Equifax Inc (NYSE:) risks losing support from banks unless it can show its database on millions of borrowers is secure from another cyber-attack.</p>
<p>Banks are critical to Equifax’s operations as they give the company information on consumer debts and payments which it compiles into credit reports sold to other creditors, including mortgage and credit card lenders, landlords and hospitals.</p>
<p>“If we don’t feel that they can do the job, then we will obviously look at whether we want to continue to do business with them,” said an executive at a large bank who declined to be quoted by name.</p>
<p>But a withdrawal of support for Equifax by banks would come at the cost of further reliance on the other two major collectors of U.S. consumer credit and employment histories, Experian plc and TransUnion.</p>
<p>U.S. financial industry practice usually involves collecting credit scores from all three credit agencies before bundling loans made on homes, autos and credit cards and selling the securities in debt markets.</p>
<p>Government-backed mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for example, check with the three credit reporting agencies. The difficulty of ending such a practice could shelter Equifax from a sudden revolt by banks.</p>
<p>“Given the level of interdependence between lenders and these data providers, they have a vested interest in there being more than two and would like Equifax to still exist,” said James Thomas, an analyst of corporate credit at Standard &amp; Poor’s.</p>
<p>“If there’s only two players, then they have less ability to play them against one another” in negotiating prices for credit reports, Thomas said.</p>
<p>Rick Smith, CEO of TriCo Bancshares, a Chico, California-based lender with $4.5 billion in assets, said it would be difficult to stop using Equifax.</p>
<p>“The reality is we’re dependent upon them, as most lenders are.”</p>
<p>But the willingness of lenders to support Equifax is being tested by the way the agency has managed the fall out from its disclosure on Sept. 7 that hackers had obtained access to information on 143 million people.</p>
<p>“Most of the major financial institutions learned about it through the media,” the banker said. “And, their responsiveness to customers has been slow and unclear as well. We would go down to two [bureaus] if we ultimately get to the point where we think that is necessary.”</p>
<p>Equifax said in a statement that it was supporting any customers who may have been impacted by the hack. “We value our banking customers and have been in close communication with them.”</p>
<p>PRIVILEGED POSITION IN JEOPARDY</p>
<p>Until the breach was acknowledged, investors in Equifax were confident that the company’s business model involved selling products that lenders need and that newcomers cannot duplicate.</p>
<p>The welter of financial information that the credit bureaus hold, including the borrowing practices of millions of consumers, would be difficult for anyone else to gather. Most countries have no more than one or two firms that have collected consumer credit information nationally.</p>
<p>“To even come close to replicating them, you would need to go to pretty much every major lender in the credit ecosystem and convince them to include you in their data provisioning,” Thomas said.</p>
<p>Because of the hacking banks may now be even more reluctant now to share their customer information with a newcomer to the industry, Thomas added.</p>
<p>The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s admission this week that it was also hacked last year and the information possibly used for insider trading shows how widespread cyber breaches have become.</p>
<p>But the scope of the Equifax breach has made the company’s privileged position appear vulnerable. Not only is there the risk of widespread losses to fraud, but lenders also risk a slowdown in the pace of account openings and credit card approvals as they take longer to check a person’s identity.</p>
<p>Equifax has lost $5.8 billion of stock market value since Sept. 7, one-third of what its shares were worth before the breach was disclosed.</p>
<p>Brian Gudmundson, a lawyer at Zimmerman Reed in Minneapolis, said he is preparing for a possible suit on behalf of thousands of lenders against Equifax.</p>
<p>“There are going to be costs that we’re not even imagining right now,” said Gudmundson, who represented lenders in a $39 million settlement with Target Corp (NYSE:) in 2015 over a cyber-breach of its credit card system.</p>
<p>The very biggest banks, however, tend to work out legal claims on their own, Gudmundson said.</p>
<p>So far, bankers say, they have not noticed an increase in fraudulent activity that would suggest the data exposed at Equifax is being used.</p>
<p>Nor is it clear whether Equifax fell short of industry standards for protecting against cyber-attacks which banks are quick to say could happen to any company.</p>
<p>“It is hard to be tough on them [Equifax] until the details come out,” the banker said.</p> | Equifax under pressure from banks to shape up | false | https://newsline.com/equifax-under-pressure-from-banks-to-shape-up/ | 2017-09-21 | 1 |
<p>Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS), the biggest theme park operator in the world, owns 12 parks across three continents. That's why it wasn't surprising when the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and&#160;Aecom's latest report revealed that Disney owned four of the five most visited parks in the world.</p>
<p>However, attendance at Disney's top parks has actually declined as turnstile clicks at Comcast's (NASDAQ: CMCSA) Universal theme parks rose. Attendance improved at all four Universal properties listed in the top 25 parks: Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure, and Universal Studios Hollywood.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>All 12 of Disney's parks were listed in the top 25, but attendance fell at 11 of them. The one park that didn't report a drop was Shanghai Disneyland, but only because the park hadn't been open for a full year.&#160;Disney likely hopes that <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/12/disney-stumps-chinas-richest-man.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fdbbb238-aa59-11e7-9ef0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">strong results</a> in Shanghai can help offset the declines at its other properties.</p>
<p>Disney's theme park revenue won't dry up anytime soon, since it can raise ticket, food, and room prices to offset weaker attendance. But it should keep an eye on Universal, which is <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/10/01/comcast-corporation-bets-big-on-universal-studio-2.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fdbbb238-aa59-11e7-9ef0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">spending</a> <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/10/01/comcast-corporation-bets-big-on-universal-studio-2.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fdbbb238-aa59-11e7-9ef0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">&#160;billions</a> to&#160;expand its theme parks.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSunLion/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fdbbb238-aa59-11e7-9ef0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Leo Sun</a> owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fdbbb238-aa59-11e7-9ef0-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p> | A Foolish Take: Disney's Theme Park Attendance Dips as Universal Gains Ground | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/09/foolish-take-disneys-theme-park-attendance-dips-as-universal-gains-ground.html | 2017-10-09 | 0 |
<p>Five people were shot during a community vigil commemorating a shooting victim in Baltimore, authorities say.</p>
<p>According to investigators, 20-30 people attended the vigil that was being held for Jermaine Scofield, a 24-year-old black man who was fatally shot in the same spot early Sunday in Baltimore. Suddenly, at about 6:30 p.m., a gunman started shooting into the crowd.</p>
<p>Baltimore police spokesman Donny Moses described the situation as “pandemonium.”</p>
<p>This occurred just shortly after Doreen, Scofield’s mother, had begged racial protesters to refrain from reacting to her son’s tragedy, saying more violence is “not going to bring my son back. I just want to bury my son.”</p>
<p>"We only wanted to celebrate my son, and they're shooting at us," Doreen cried after she, her family and friends abandoned the vigil for safety. "What else is it you want? What else do you want? You got my son ... and you're still shooting at us because we have a candlelight vigil? When will it end?"</p>
<p>According to police reports, four women and one man were wounded by the gunshots, although none of them had sustained life-threatening injuries. According to the Baltimore Sun, a 27-year-old woman was shot in her ankle, a 48-year old woman was grazed in her stomach, a 31-year-old man was shot in his foot, a 24-year old woman was shot in her shin, and a 20-year old woman was shot in her thigh.</p>
<p>62-year-old Keith Bailey, a reverend and neighbor, was watching from his chair across the street from the vigil when the shooting broke out.</p>
<p>"Every week, I do a funeral for some baby that's been shot," he said. "I'm in the funeral home 24 hours a day."</p>
<p>Bailey said he was having trouble sleeping recently due to the regular occurrence of violence and death in his neighborhood.</p>
<p>“It’s not an easy thing to see," he said. "Because just realize, some of those same kids that I see getting shot in this area, I’m pushing them down the aisle in the church or in the funeral home.”</p>
<p>Scofield was the father of two young children.</p>
<p>Follow Pardes Seleh on <a href="https://twitter.com/PardesSeleh" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | Community Holds Vigil For Man Shot In Baltimore. Naturally, Gunfire Breaks Out. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/7402/community-holds-vigil-man-shot-baltimore-naturally-pardes-seleh | 2016-07-12 | 0 |
<p>By Valerie Volcovici and Alister Doyle</p>
<p>WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) – Devastation from Hurricane Irma in the Caribbean will sharpen the demands from small island nations that top fossil-fuel consumers help them cope with damage attributable to climate change, according to representatives of some of those countries.</p>
<p>That will put island nations on a collision course with the United States and other rich countries during United Nations climate talks in Bonn, Germany, in November.</p>
<p>The United States, under President Donald Trump, has expressed doubts about global warming and has vowed to withdraw from a global pact to fight it, while other wealthy nations have long resisted calls to pay for climate-related “loss and damage” abroad.</p>
<p>“If ever there was a case for loss and damage, this is it,” Ronny Jumeau, U.N. ambassador from Indian Ocean island nation the Seychelles, told Reuters, referring to Irma and other recent storms. The Seychelles is a member of the U.N. negotiating bloc Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS).</p>
<p>“Hurricane Irma graphically shows the destructive power of climate change and underscores that loss and damage isn’t some abstract concept, but the reality of life today for the people who contributed least to the problem,” said Thoriq Ibrahim, Maldives’ environment minister who chairs AOSIS.</p>
<p>Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, whose country will host the Bonn talks Nov. 6-17, has said the issue of who pays for “loss and damage” from climate-related disasters will be a key priority at the summit.</p>
<p>Irma barreled into Florida on Sunday, sparking one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history, after leveling Caribbean islands St. Martin, Antigua and Barbuda. Gaston Browne, prime minister of Barbuda and Antigua, said Barbuda is “barely inhabitable.”</p>
<p>Hurricane Harvey slammed into Texas on Aug. 25, triggering record flooding that killed around 60 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.</p>
<p>Ministers from island nations will point to the back-to-back storms to pressure negotiators at Bonn to agree to details of a mechanism for addressing loss and damage from extreme weather as well as slower changes such as sea level rises and desertification.</p>
<p>Climate scientists have said warmer air and water resulting from climate change may have contributed to the severity of the storms. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has disputed such claims as an attempt to “politicize” natural disasters.</p>
<p>RICH VS POOR</p>
<p>Loss and damage has been a contentious issue in climate negotiations for years, pitting rich countries against poor. Governments first approved a U.N. “loss and damage mechanism” in Warsaw in 2013 and reaffirmed it in the 2015 Paris Agreement. But it is unclear exactly what it would cover, who would pay, and how much it would cost.</p>
<p>Under pressure from the rich nations, the preamble of the Paris Agreement says the loss and damage mechanism “does not involve or provide a basis for any liability or compensation”.</p>
<p>Myles Allen, a professor of geosystem science at the University of Oxford in England, said developed nations don’t want to open the door to legal liability. But he said there should be debate about whether major corporations, such as producers of coal and oil, or other parties could be held responsible.</p>
<p>Researchers at the Berlin-based Heinrich Böll Foundation have said at least $300 billion a year by 2030 would be needed to help people who lose their land and culture or are forced to migrate as a result of extreme climate-related problems.</p>
<p>Such spending would come on top of $100 billion a year in funding by 2020 that richer nations have promised poorer ones under the Paris Agreement to help them develop cleanly and adapt to climate change.</p>
<p>Trump and the U.S. Congress have said the United States will no longer contribute to that goal.</p> | Powerful hurricanes to fuel demands from island nations at climate talks | false | https://newsline.com/powerful-hurricanes-to-fuel-demands-from-island-nations-at-climate-talks/ | 2017-09-11 | 1 |
<p>What went through her mind during the final minutes of her life? What feelings of terror flooded her heart as she crouched on the rock-strewn barren ravine bank just outside her native village of Charikar in Afghanistan? Powerless to prevent what was happening to her, she could only sit and wait for the end. Her only protection was the gray shawl shielding her from view. Could she distinguish the voices of the men around her shouting their condemnations?</p>
<p />
<p>An hour earlier the 22-year-old woman identified only as Najiba had experienced a sham trial by what was believed to be a Taliban “court” made up of fanatics who had predetermined her guilt. Accused of adultery, she was found guilty. The outcome was never in doubt.</p>
<p>Did she hear the crunch of gravel beneath the sandals of her executioner—who is reported to have been her husband—as he approached and aimed his rifle? Did she scream silently for deliverance? Did she pray?</p>
<p>The rifle cracked and a bullet pierced the shawl. But the woman continued to sit erect. A second shot—and still the woman did not move. And a third. Finally, the lonely figure lurched backward and toppled to the sand. And the 150 men watching from the hillside, some of them at least, cheered and chanted “Mujahideen!,” a name by which the Taliban are known. Six more times the executioner fired his rifle into her motionless body. A grainy cell-phone video recording of the execution circulated in Kabul and found its way to the internet last Saturday, July 7. It is believed that the killing took place on or about June 23, 2012.</p>
<p>According to some bystanders, justice was done. But others tell a different story—murder on trumped up charges. Reports conflict as to the specifics, but they generally agree that that the woman was married to one Taliban commander and she was accused of adultery with another. To save face and to exact revenge the men had her eliminated. Where was her accomplice?</p>
<p>Soon after the woman was killed, some reports indicate that the two Taliban commanders were themselves murdered by a third.</p>
<p />
<p>I will leave it to military and political strategists to sort out the implications of withdrawal in the wake of such a tragic and horrific act in Parwan Province, an area generally considered secure because of its close proximity to Kabul the capital and a base of operations for the U.S. military. My thoughts take a different turn.</p>
<p>In my mind’s eye, I see another isolated woman likewise accused of adultery standing in fear while angry men surround her. Like the men of Parwan, they are shouting her offense as justification for the execution they envision.&#160;&#160; Some of the mob’s leaders, however, see in this event a wonderful opportunity to not only remove the adulteress from their midst, but to also remove a figurative religious thorn from their sides.</p>
<p>“So,” they pose to Jesus, “what do you say we should do?” Jesus stoops to think. Perhaps from that vantage point he can see beneath her shawl the terror written plain on the condemned woman’s face. The commanders smile their congratulations to one another. They have him trapped as surely as the woman, they think. If he says to kill her, where is the love and compassion he has emphasized in his preaching? If he says to spare her, where is his allegiance to the religious laws that have governed their religion since the time of Moses?</p>
<p>Jesus draws something or writes something in the dirt then stands to his full height. “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to cast a stone at her.” And again he stooped. A momentary silence was broken by the thud of a dropped rock hitting the ground. Then a second and a third, followed by many all at once. Did the woman hear the sound of pebbles crunching beneath the sandals of departing men? Then, silence except for her own ragged breathing.</p>
<p>Finally, the voice of Jesus penetrates the void, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she answers with trembling voice. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declares. "Go now and leave your life of sin." Jesus pronounces not condemnation but forgiveness—and a new expectation.</p>
<p>The two women were so much alike: Same accusation, same isolation, same sentence, same eager expectation on the part of the men around them that execution would be the penalty exacted. But there was also a difference. Jesus.</p>
<p>I cannot excise from my mind the image of the terrorized woman crouching beneath her shawl in Parwan Province. “Where was Jesus for you, dear sister,” I wonder?</p>
<p>The Taliban may be successful in keeping the Christian witness out of Parwan Province, but they cannot ban the Spirit of the living Christ. Perhaps Jesus came to you with the same compassion that other woman experienced. As Najiba crouched in the dust waiting for the bullets, perhaps she cried out silently for salvation from anyone who would listen to her. Or maybe not.</p>
<p>The horror of this incident has caused a global mobilization in support of women’s rights in Afghanistan. As Afghanis contemplate the withdrawal of NATO troops next year they are right to fear what any negotiated peace with the Taliban will bring. The support of women’s rights whether in Afghanistan or Alabama is a good thing. But I am hoping that another kind of mobilization will occur.</p>
<p>No Christian could squat in the dust beside Najiba to be with her in her moment of death. No Christian could plead her cause or purchase her release. She was too isolated; too far from us in time and place.</p>
<p>But I would venture to say there is no shortage of gross injustice. Even here at home some sit in hopeless resignation awaiting their fate. The powerless have no one to speak for them; no one to plead their cause. Wherever in the world they happen to be, I hope Christ’s followers will take note of the ones sitting isolated and desperate waiting for the bullets. And I pray we will rise to our full height in their defense.</p>
<p>Jim White ( <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>) is executive editor of the Religious Herald.</p> | OPINION: Waiting for the bullets | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/opinionwaitingforthebullets-2/ | 3 |
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<p>From SJ Mercury:</p>
<p>Santa Clara leaders on Tuesday enthusiastically endorsed the deal to fund and build a new 49ers stadium, leaving one final obstacle before pro football comes charging into the South Bay: a huge cash infusion from the NFL.</p>
<p>City Council members, acting as the Santa Clara Stadium Authority, unanimously voted to tap $850 million in bank loans to begin construction within the next year, as dozens of supporters — including business groups, unions and fans in 49ers jerseys — wildly applauded.</p>
<p>“I look forward to getting this game started,” Councilwoman Lisa Gillmor said at the meeting packed with more than 100 people, with only a few voicing disapproval.</p>
<p>Photo courtesy renaissancechambara, Flickr</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/california-high-speed-rail/ci_19542816?source=rss" type="external">(Read Full Article)</a></p> | Santa Clara approves 49ers stadium deal; fate in NFL’s hands | false | http://capoliticalreview.com/trending/santa-clara-approves-49ers-stadium-deal-fate-in-nfls-hands/ | 2011-12-15 | 1 |
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<p>At the latest stop on my book tour, in response to a bunch of questions about the Gulf catastrophe, I delivered an impromptu oil spill lecture. It’s a decent distillation of my latest article, <a href="" type="internal">BP’s Deep Secrets</a>. Thanks to <a href="http://tucradio.org/" type="external">Tuc Radio</a> for recording, editing, and posting this video.</p>
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<p /> | My Impromptu Oil Spill Lecture | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/my-impromptu-oil-spill-lecture/ | 2010-08-11 | 4 |
<p>CHICAGO (AP) - Jemerrio Jones totaled 18 points, 16 rebounds and five assists to propel New Mexico State to a 97-60 romp over Chicago State on Saturday in a Western Athletic Conference opener.</p>
<p>Jones connected on 9 of 16 shots from the floor in posting his third straight double-double and 10th of the season. Zach Lofton had 17 points, Gabe Hadley scored 14 and Sidy N'Dir chipped in with 10 points and six boards for the Aggies (13-3).</p>
<p>Fred Sims Jr. paced the Cougars (2-16) with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Glen Burns added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Chicago State has lost 12 in a row.</p>
<p>NMSU, the defending WAC champs, dominated all facets of the game. The Aggies shot 55 percent from the floor, while holding the Cougars to 34-percent shooting. They owned the boards 47-34 and had a 26-8 advantage in assists.</p>
<p>The Aggies led 42-34 at halftime and pushed the lead to 20 on a N'Dir 3-pointer midway through the second half. NMSU beat Chicago State for a ninth straight time and lead the all-time series 13-1.</p>
<p>CHICAGO (AP) - Jemerrio Jones totaled 18 points, 16 rebounds and five assists to propel New Mexico State to a 97-60 romp over Chicago State on Saturday in a Western Athletic Conference opener.</p>
<p>Jones connected on 9 of 16 shots from the floor in posting his third straight double-double and 10th of the season. Zach Lofton had 17 points, Gabe Hadley scored 14 and Sidy N'Dir chipped in with 10 points and six boards for the Aggies (13-3).</p>
<p>Fred Sims Jr. paced the Cougars (2-16) with 20 points and nine rebounds, while Glen Burns added 13 points, six rebounds and five assists. Chicago State has lost 12 in a row.</p>
<p>NMSU, the defending WAC champs, dominated all facets of the game. The Aggies shot 55 percent from the floor, while holding the Cougars to 34-percent shooting. They owned the boards 47-34 and had a 26-8 advantage in assists.</p>
<p>The Aggies led 42-34 at halftime and pushed the lead to 20 on a N'Dir 3-pointer midway through the second half. NMSU beat Chicago State for a ninth straight time and lead the all-time series 13-1.</p> | Jones, New Mexico St roll past Chicago St in WAC opener | false | https://apnews.com/amp/7340bd90d1a847dc937bec5c5cc040e9 | 2018-01-06 | 2 |
<p />
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/GretchenCarlson/status/750708886227849216" type="external">Former</a> Fox News host Gretchen Carlson is <a href="https://twitter.com/brianstelter/status/750708639070031873" type="external">reportedly</a> filing a "sexual harassment/retaliation" lawsuit against Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.&#160;Ailes has a long history of sexist behavior.</p>
<p>Media Matters&#160;previously highlighted several examples of Ailes' misogyny that were reported in Gabriel Sherman's biography of the Fox News chief. That post, <a href="" type="internal">originally published</a> in 2014, is replicated&#160;below:</p>
<p>Gabriel Sherman's biography of Roger Ailes revealed a pattern of misogyny and sexism from the Fox News CEO.&#160; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Loudest-Voice-Room-News/dp/0812992857" type="external">The Loudest Voice in the Room</a>&#160;documents numerous examples from Ailes during his years working in television, both on Fox and elsewhere.&#160;</p>
<p>Media Matters&#160;and others have noted that&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Fox News' on-air programming</a>&#160; <a href="" type="internal">has a long history of sexism</a>&#160;which mirrors a culture at Fox News and its parent company (previously News Corporation, now 21st&#160;Century Fox).&#160;</p>
<p>Sherman's reporting confirms Ailes' obsession with&#160; <a href="http://gawker.com/fox-news-uses-a-leg-cam-to-ogle-female-panelists-legs-1469841162" type="external">displaying&#160;</a>his female anchors' legs on Fox programs. The topic of the dress code and makeup of Fox News' female personalities has long been the&#160; <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/09/foxy-ladies/309054/" type="external">subject</a>&#160;of scrutiny among writers. Carlson&#160; <a href="" type="internal">said</a>&#160;in 2013 that "pants were not allowed on&#160;Fox &amp; Friends."</p>
<p>In addition to the allegation that Ailes once offered to increase a female producer's salary in exchange for sex, Sherman's book features several examples of Ailes' sexism.&#160;</p>
<p>Sherman relayed an anecdote of Ailes regarding former Fox News reporter Kiran Chetry: "Anchor Bob Sellers remembered Ailes once calling the control booth. 'I was doing the weekend show with Kiran Chetry. He called up and said, 'Move that damn laptop, I can't see her legs!'"</p>
<p>Sherman reports that Ailes "had admiration for [former Fox host Catherine Crier's] legs" and was livid when she appeared on-air wearing pants:</p>
<p>"Be more opinionated," he told Crier in one meeting. "The guests are there as a foil for you." He also disagreed with her dress. "He had admiration for her legs," a senior executive said. In one meeting, Ailes barked, "Tell Catherine I did not spend x-number of dollars on a glass desk for her to wear pant suits." [The Loudest Voice in the Room,&#160;pg 238]</p>
<p>Elsewhere in the book, discussing Megyn Kelly's famous&#160; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXwCNPXds7w" type="external">walk</a>&#160;through the newsroom on election night in 2012, Sherman quotes a Fox employee saying, "This is Fox News, so anytime there's a chance to show off Megyn Kelly's legs they'll go for it."&#160;</p>
<p>Sherman wrote of Ailes' inspiration for the afternoon Fox News program&#160;The Five:</p>
<p>Years later at Fox News, Ailes would talk fondly about his theatrical experience. "Whenever he can, he gets into the conversation that he produced&#160;Hot l Baltimore," a senior Fox executive said. Creating the Fox News afternoon show&#160;The Five, Ailes found his inspiration on the stage. "He said, 'I've always wanted to do an ensemble concept,'" a close friend said. "He said, 'I wanted a Falstaff, and that's Bob Beckel. I need a leading man, and it's Eric Bolling. I need a serious lead and that's Dana Perino. I need a court jester and it's Greg [Gutfeld], and I need the leg. That's Andrea Tantaros." [The Loudest Voice in the Room,&#160;pg 95-96]</p>
<p>Sherman reports that&#160;while interviewing a prospective employee for NBC's&#160;Tomorrow, a show he was producing,&#160;Ailes "posed romantically suggestive questions and made flirtatious comments" to a woman, who told him it made her feel "uncomfortable":</p>
<p>Unbeknownst to Harrison, Shelley Ross, a former newspaper reporter turned television producer, experienced an interview in which Ailes posed romantically suggestive questions and made flirtatious comments about her appearance. "This is making me uncomfortable," Ross recalled telling Ailes. She had worked with [John] Huddy at&#160;The Miami Herald&#160;and he had recommended her for the&#160;Tomorrow&#160;job. In a follow-up telephone interview, she told Ailes that she would never date a boss. Ailes's reaction was, according to Ross, "Don't you know I'm single?" When Ross said she was no longer interested in the position, Ailes began apologizing profusely. "This must be middle-aged crazy. I'm&#160;so&#160;sorry," he said. "If you come to work for me, you know, we're not going to have any problems." Ross eventually accepted the offer and had a positive experience working for Ailes. When asked by a reporter in the mid-1990s about the comments he made to Ross in the interview, Ailes called her "crazy" and a "militant feminist." [The Loudest Voice in the Room,&#160;pg&#160;115]&#160;</p>
<p>In 1994, Ailes appeared on the radio show of shock jock and former Fox Business host Don Imus and made sexual and sexist remarks about two of his female hosts. &#160;</p>
<p>Before it was over, Ailes skewered his own employees. He joked that Mary Matalin and Jane Wallace, hosts of CNBC's&#160;Equal Time, were like "girls who if you went into a bar around seven, you wouldn't pay a lot of attention, but [they] get to be tens around closing time."</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>Jane Wallace didn't appear in any news stories defending Ailes. "He had no right to say something like that," she later said. "He was our boss. It was completely sexist. It was disgusting. It was outrageous. I thought it was a hideously awful thing to say." But she, too, didn't make it an issue with Ailes. "I didn't say so out loud, I was working for the guy." A few weeks later, however, Wallace quit to host her own show on FX, the start-up cable network owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. [The Loudest Voice in the Room,&#160;pg&#160;153]</p>
<p>Sherman reports that in 2009 -- around the time Ailes hired Don Imus to try to inject life into the flagging Fox Business Network -- he also considered hiring CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo. Sherman quotes an executive involved in the negotiations saying that Ailes was disappointed Bartiromo had "gained so much weight":</p>
<p>Around this time, he also considered poaching CNBC star Maria Bartiromo. "Roger passed on her," one executive involved in the talks said. "He wished she hadn't gained so much weight. He said she went from looking like Sophia Loren to Mamma Leone. He felt he was being used to get more money from CNBC. He told us her agent should give him part of the commission, because the talks were worth another million dollars." (In November 2013, Bartiromo jumped from CNBC to Fox Business.) [The Loudest Voice in the Room,&#160;pg 388]</p>
<p>Ailes' temper features prominently in the book, with Sherman explaining that Ailes "vented constantly about his talent":</p>
<p>No one was spared from Ailes's eruptions. He vented constantly about his talent. He complained about&#160;The Five&#160;co-host Andrea Tantaros, who was a former political consultant. "She's pretty, but did she ever get anyone elected, even a dog catcher?"&#160;When Gretchen Carlson's name came up, Ailes pointed out she was once Miss America, then added, "It must not have been a good year."&#160;Her co-host, Brian Kilmeade, was a "soccer coach from Long Island." Bill O'Reilly was a "book salesman with a TV show."&#160;[The Loudest Voice in the Room,&#160;pg 389]</p> | Gretchen Carlson Reportedly Files 'Sexual Harassment/Retaliation Lawsuit' Against Roger Ailes | true | http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/07/06/gretchen-carlson-reportedly-files-sexual-harassmentretaliation-lawsuit-against-roger-ailes/211375 | 2016-07-06 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>I suggest that the long waiting list is not just due to myths that might give pause to someone considering becoming a donor in the event of their accidental death or otherwise. Rather, it has to do with the fact that potential donors, to my knowledge, are not allowed by law to sell their organs.</p>
<p>Donors are allowed to sell blood. Why not organs?</p>
<p>At every step in the process of securing, harvesting and implanting a donor organ, the medical establishment receives financial compensation, unless perhaps the administrative staff, technicians, nurses and doctors provide their services gratis.</p>
<p>Maybe in some cases they do, but I am not aware of it. If they do, then they are to be commended.</p>
<p>Even so, if the goal is to increase the availability of organ donations, this would be far more likely to happen if living donors or survivors were generously compensated with something more than the knowledge of having done a good and noble thing.</p>
<p>Most of us can live without a second kidney, a cornea, some skin or bone marrow, or a even a section of vein or artery. Why not allow individuals to sell a portion of their own body and participate in the same kind of financial rewards the medical community does?</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>If a donor desires the compensation to come to his heirs upon his death, he can make advance arrangements and have the terms included in his living will and durable power of attorney.</p>
<p>Many healthy people who need a significant infusion of cash or who have little if anything to leave their heirs would doubtless seize the opportunity to sell their own organs or tissue if the law allowed it.</p>
<p>If granted this freedom, the long waiting list would be far shorter and untold lives could be saved.</p>
<p>The bumper sticker says "Don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here." I agree. But the sentiment expressed is more likely to be fulfilled if financial compensation is given to donors.</p>
<p /> | Organ donors should be paid | false | https://abqjournal.com/597625/organ-donors-should-be-paid.html | 2 |
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<p>Is another world food crisis in the works? The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization suspects the answer may be "yes," thanks in part to nasty world weather conditions.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/wfs-home/foodpricesindex/en/" type="external">The FAO's Food Price Index</a>climbed by 6 percent in July 2012, primarily driven up by an increase in grain and sugar prices, although international prices in meats and fats were little changed.&#160;</p>
<p>Corn and wheat were primarily affected, but a price jump in these popular grains could lead to serious trouble down the road, hearking back to the food riots of 2007 and 2008.&#160;</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/global-economy/120725/drought-food-prices-latin-america-mexico-argentina-brazil" type="external">Cruel season for some, windfall for others</a></p>
<p>FAO senior economist and grain analyst <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-food-fao-idUSBRE87809H20120809" type="external">Abdolreza Abbassian told Reuters</a> that there "is potential for a situation to develop like we had back in 2007/08."</p>
<p>"There is an expectation that this time around we will not pursue bad policies and intervene in the market by restrictions, and if that doesn't happen we will not see such a serious situation as 2007/08. But if those policies get repeated, anything is possible."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/120724/2011-global-hunger-index-data" type="external">Calculating global hunger and food prices&#160;</a></p>
<p>According to the FAO, dismal corn supplies in the USA partially explain the jump in prices: maize prices rose almost 23 percent for the month of July, precipated by drought conditions and extremely hot weather. According to Bloomberg, the US corn crop was rated by the government <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-09/corn-soybeans-surge-on-declining-u-dot-s-dot-crops-wheat-gains" type="external">as the worst since 1988</a>, a particularly dry year.&#160;</p>
<p>Wheat posed another problem: Russian wheat quotations rose by 19 percent, partially due to poor production, and partially because the market anticipates using wheat to fill the gap poor corn supplies will create.&#160;</p>
<p>How is the FAO Food Price Index measured, anyway? It's calculated by measuring international change in a "basket" of common food commodities. You can read a good explanation of how <a href="http://www.information-management.com/specialreports/20061031/1067598-1.html" type="external">market basket analysis works here</a>, via Information Management.&#160;</p> | Food prices rise, prompting fears of another world food crisis | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-08-09/food-prices-rise-prompting-fears-another-world-food-crisis | 2012-08-09 | 3 |
<p>A WSJ Roundup</p>
<p>U.S. STOCKS</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The tax overhaul making its way through Congress could help many stocks, providing another potential lift to an 8-year-old bull market.</p>
<p>A reduction in the corporate tax rate is expected to boost earnings growth, which many analysts consider to be the biggest driver of long-term stock gains. Goldman Sachs forecast that if Congress manages to cut the federal corporate tax rate to 25% from the current 35%, per-share earnings growth in the S&amp;P 500 next year could rise to 15% -- more than double the bank's current estimate of 7% growth.</p>
<p>Shares of smaller, domestic-focused companies have already been gaining, and financial stocks are also predicted to rise. But technology, health-care and consumer-staples firms with a large share of profits coming from outside the U.S. may not benefit as much.</p>
<p>--Akane Otani</p>
<p>BANKS</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Banks stand to be big winners from the planned tax-code overhaul.</p>
<p>Big financial firms pay among the highest effective tax rates of any major industry, making a possible drop to a 20% corporate rate highly profitable. S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence estimated the five largest diversified U.S. banks might have had a combined tax savings of $11.5 billion in 2016 if the new rate had been enacted.</p>
<p>Executives say the changes will also spur customers to invest and boost the broader economy. "People will have the optimism which is built around it fulfilled," said Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Brian Moynihan. "If they're more optimistic, they'll borrow more."</p>
<p>There are potential drawbacks, however. Several big banks, including Bank of America and Citigroup Inc., will have to write-down the value of tax I.O.U.s generated by financial-crisis losses. The biggest banks may also lose the ability to deduct payments they make to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for tax purposes.</p>
<p>--Telis Demos</p>
<p>ASSET MANAGERS</p>
<p>For asset managers, the tax proposals offer something money managers of all stripes can rally around: The promise of higher stock prices.</p>
<p>A rising market would lift the value of the assets investment firms manage, and juice the performance of their funds. "That's what is creating a reasonable amount of excitement," said Loren Starr, finance chief at Invesco Ltd.</p>
<p>Some managers with a big presence overseas, such as Franklin Resources Inc., would further benefit from provisions making it easier for U.S. companies to bring home foreign profits.</p>
<p>But the industry could be indirectly hurt by provisions for individual investors. A proposed "first in, first out" rule would prevent investors from minimizing their taxes by choosing specific shares they sell from an investment position. Another limits how much individuals can put in their retirement-savings plan on a pretax basis. "If people are not allowed to invest in retirement as much, that would be negative for whole retirement space," said Mr. Starr.</p>
<p>--Justin Baer</p>
<p>PRIVATE-EQUITY FIRMS</p>
<p>Private-equity firms say tax changes being proposed by Republicans in both the House and Senate could dent their lucrative business model.</p>
<p>The industry's angst is primarily focused on a plan to limit businesses' ability to deduct interest payments from their taxes. Private-equity firms say the change could curb their ability to use debt to fund acquisitions, and hurt returns.</p>
<p>Another proposal would make it more difficult for private-equity managers to pay a reduced tax rate on a substantial portion of their income that's known as carried interest. Both versions of the bill extend the period over which firms must hold an asset before it is eligible for the lower long-term capital-gains rate to three years from one.</p>
<p>But one aspect of the proposed tax changes could greatly benefit companies owned by private-equity firms: the lower corporate tax rate.</p>
<p>--Miriam Gottfried</p>
<p>RETAILERS</p>
<p>Retailers and industry associations started lobbying politicians last year to remove a border-adjusted tax clause that would have imposed taxes on imported goods. Since most retailers sell large amounts of imported products, the clause would have eaten away at their profits -- costs retailers said would have to be passed on to consumers.</p>
<p>Since Republican lawmakers dropped the border-adjusted tax from draft legislation this summer, many retailers have pushed hard for a new tax bill, with a lower tax rate, to be passed. The National Retail Federation says retailers have one of the highest average corporate tax rates. "We like the lowest possible rate, but also want to see the rate effective January 2018 rather than phased in gradually," said David French, the group's senior vice president of government relations.</p>
<p>The NRF's spending on lobbyists soared this year to $10.5 million through October, compared with $7.1 million for all of last year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The other large retailer organization, Retail Industry Leaders Association, spent $2.3 million so far this year, about the same as last year.</p>
<p>--Sarah Nassauer</p>
<p>TELECOMS</p>
<p>A corporate tax cut would be welcome news for telecommunications carriers, which are some of the nation's biggest spenders on infrastructure and make most of their money through U.S. sales. It would save them billions annually. A provision that allows companies to immediately write down the full value of their capital investments through 2023 would also lead to big savings in the near term.</p>
<p>Companies that have a lot of debt may feel some pain from a cap on net interest deduction, but that would mostly be offset by a lower tax rate, analysts say.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T has thrown its weight behind the legislation, saying it would increase its capital spending by $1 billion in 2018 if the legislation passes. "If you bring that down to 20%, we would expect businesses of all types and characteristics to come and invest," AT&amp;T CFO John Stephens said at a recent investor conference. "That tax reform could generate significant opportunities for us."</p>
<p>--Ryan Knutson</p>
<p>ENERGY</p>
<p>Oil giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. stand to see significant gains from the GOP tax legislation, mostly from broad changes that would benefit other large companies.</p>
<p>Proposals such as reducing the overall corporate tax rate and lowering taxes on overseas profits will "help unleash economic growth and allow our industry to continue providing safe, reliable energy for Americans," Jack Gerard, president of the American Petroleum Institute, said earlier in November.</p>
<p>The Senate bill also includes a measure that would potentially open part of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, including the leasing of 800,000 acres for exploration.</p>
<p>--Bradley Olson</p>
<p>RENEWABLES</p>
<p>The renewable energy industry is wary of proposals in the House tax bill that would reduce or sunset federal tax credits for wind and solar projects.</p>
<p>The Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, says it is pushing to protect the existing solar investment tax credit, which is scheduled to be gradually reduced to 22% in 2021 under current law. After that, the credit for residential projects is set to expire, but commercial and utility projects would receive a 10% credit. The House measure would do away with that 10% credit at the end of 2027.</p>
<p>The bill would retroactively change how businesses can qualify for wind energy tax credits. The American Wind Energy Association says altering the terms of a previous agreement to phase out credits by 2019 would be harmful.</p>
<p>"It would kill over half the wind projects in America, cause factory layoffs and break construction contracts already signed, and deprive farming communities of a cash crop they're counting on," said Jim Reilly, senior vice president of federal legislative affairs at AWEA.</p>
<p>--Erin Ailworth</p>
<p>HOSPITALS</p>
<p>The American Hospital Association opposes the Senate tax bill provision to repeal the Affordable Care Act's requirement that everyone get health insurance. A repeal of this mandate is expected to increase the number of uninsured, which will drive up unpaid hospital bills, said Tom Nickels, executive vice president of the AHA.</p>
<p>The AHA, which launched a digital advertising campaign in D.C. media to promote its views, also opposes the Senate proposal to do away with a tax exemption for so-called advanced refunding bonds, a money-saving option for tax-exempt borrowers under certain interest rate conditions. Nearly 80% of U.S. hospitals have access to tax-exempt bond markets because they are government-owned or private nonprofits.</p>
<p>The AHA, however, welcomed the Senate's move to omit a provision included in the House plan that would eliminate the tax-free benefits of private activity bonds.</p>
<p>--Melanie Evans</p>
<p>PHARMACEUTICALS</p>
<p>Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are expected to support any eventual bill that lowers the corporate tax rate, which they argued has put them at a competitive disadvantage to overseas rivals.</p>
<p>Provisions in both the House and Senate bills imposing a relatively low, one-time tax on cash made overseas, meanwhile, could pave the way for U.S.-based multinationals to bring back billions of dollars they have kept outside the country to avoid the higher corporate tax rate. Moody's Investors Service estimates that drug and other health-care companies held $273 billion overseas last year. Analysts speculate the companies would use repatriated money to fund acquisitions, as well as pay for share buybacks and dividends.</p>
<p>One fly in the ointment: The plans imperil the orphan drug tax credit that provides an incentive for drug companies to conduct R&amp;D in rare diseases. It currently allows companies to claim a 50% tax credit for the cost of such R&amp;D, according to Goldman Sachs.</p>
<p>--Jonathan D. Rockoff and Peter Loftus</p>
<p>AUTOS</p>
<p>Auto makers plowing billions of dollars into developing electric cars are nervous about losing an income-tax credit of up to $7,500 for consumers buying the advanced vehicles after the House tax bill eliminated it. (The Senate bill preserves the credit.)</p>
<p>Car companies view the tax credit as key to luring consumers to electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles that are thousands of dollars more expensive than gasoline-powered counterparts.</p>
<p>They and their Washington lobbyists have been vocal that eliminating the tax credit could curb electric-car sales and make it difficult for them to meet looming environmental regulations, which call for significant curbs on emissions and increases in fuel economy.</p>
<p>--Mike Spector</p>
<p>MANUFACTURERS</p>
<p>Manufacturers have long complained about the difficulty of finding skilled workers with degrees in science, technology, engineering and math. Kip Eideberg, vice president for public affairs and advocacy at the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, said the proposed elimination of tax credits for graduate students could have a "chilling effect on the future manufacturing workforce."</p>
<p>"Making it harder or less affordable for people to pursue those degrees is not a good thing at all," he said.</p>
<p>In addition, small- and medium-size manufacturers may not get as much tax relief as larger corporations, according to the National Association of Manufacturers. "Permanent, real and strong relief for small businesses is going to be an imperative in the final bill," said Jay Timmons, the association's chief executive.</p>
<p>Caterpillar Inc. is among U.S. multinationals hoping for lower taxes on foreign profits and repatriated cash. Amy Campbell, director of investor relations, has suggested such changes would free up funding for the company's U.S. operations "About 90% of our cash right now is overseas," she said at a Nov. 15 conference.</p>
<p>--Andrew Tangel</p>
<p>AIRPORTS AND AIRLINES</p>
<p>A provision in the House bill would end the practice of local governments selling tax-exempt "private activity bonds" that airports use to finance new or rebuilt terminals, parking garages and other infrastructure.</p>
<p>Airports estimate they have $100 billion in infrastructure needs in the next five years. Without the tax break, they say they would have to sell costlier taxable bonds. Two trade groups are lobbying to retain the bonds, which also are used to fund ports, hospitals and universities.</p>
<p>Airlines are equally unhappy about the potential repeal of those bonds, as well as provisions in the tax bills that would limit corporate interest deductions. But the promised corporate tax rate cut would more than make up the effect of smaller changes airlines dislike, according to their leading trade group.</p>
<p>--Susan Carey</p>
<p>DEFENSE</p>
<p>If the tax cut doesn't generate increased revenue through higher economic growth, as Republicans envision, a rising federal budget deficit could lead to military spending cuts in the early 2020s that would hurt defense contractors.</p>
<p>While the Pentagon investment budget is now growing at 3%-4% a year, the administration hasn't flagged medium-term growth trends. "As it did in the 1980s, that could signal a peak in DoD spending prospects, even in a world that is dangerous," said Byron Callan, at Capital Alpha Partners LLC.</p>
<p>Defense executives say they may prepay some pension obligations to secure tax benefits of writing off that cost at the current 35% rate.</p>
<p>--Doug Cameron</p>
<p>RESTAURANTS</p>
<p>Most restaurant companies have been battling increased labor costs and flat or falling customer traffic, making a lower tax rate more welcome than ever.</p>
<p>"We believe that a simplified tax code for businesses and individuals will lead to more economic growth for the country," said Dunkin Brands Group Inc. Chief Executive Nigel Travis.</p>
<p>Stephens Inc., a financial-services firm, said companies that own most of their restaurants rather than franchise them would especially benefit from the proposed legislation because they could write off the cost of building new outlets.</p>
<p>--Julie Jargon</p>
<p>GROCERS</p>
<p>Independent supermarket owners are pushing for Congress to adopt the same lower corporate tax rate for pass-through businesses that will be given to big corporations under current proposal.</p>
<p>The National Grocers Association, the trade association representing independent supermarkets, wrote to Senators on Tuesday urging them to "create a more level playing field for Main Street supermarkets." As it stands, the tax bill could accelerate consolidation already under way in the grocery industry, they said.</p>
<p>--Heather Haddon</p>
<p>AGRICULTURE</p>
<p>Many farm groups are pleased the proposed legislation includes tax deductions for large capital purchases and other provisions that help farmers reduce large swings in their tax burdens resulting from variations in markets and weather.</p>
<p>But the National Farmers Union, which advocates for small farmers, is worried about plans in the Senate version of the bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act's health-insurance mandate. Roger Johnson, the group's president, said farming is among the most dangerous occupations in the country and that many farmers rely heavily on access to medical care and would be hurt by higher premium costs expected to result from the bill.</p>
<p>Agricultural cooperatives want to protect deductions related to co-op costs, which farmers use to reduce their own tax obligations. Discarding that deduction -- which both the versions of the legislation would do -- would hurt farmers amid a multiyear slump in crop prices, said Chuck Conner, chief executive of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. "The timing of this couldn't be worse," he said.</p>
<p>--Jesse Newman and Jacob Bunge</p>
<p>CRUISE OPERATORS</p>
<p>Major cruise operators are looking at the possibility of paying more to the U.S. Treasury if the Senate version of new tax legislation becomes law.</p>
<p>Under current rules, Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., have minimal U.S. taxable income on most of their operations. The companies are all based in Miami but incorporated in other counties. But the Senate proposal would create a new category of taxable income for foreign corporations with cruises originating from the U.S.</p>
<p>"The industry pays hundreds of millions of dollars in fees and taxes to U.S. ports and jurisdictions in which they operate -- even though a very small percentage of cruise line operations occur in U.S. waters," said Carnival spokesman Roger Frizzell.</p>
<p>Even if the Senate measure is adopted, cruise operators would only be subject to corporate tax for an average 12% of their total cruise days, which translates to an effective tax rate of 2%, or a combined $70 million a year, according to estimates by UBS.</p>
<p>--Costas Paris</p>
<p>JAPAN</p>
<p>Concerns that a lower U.S. corporate tax may undermine the competitiveness of Japanese companies and cause them to relocate to the U.S. have spurred some to suggest that Japan might follow America's lead.</p>
<p>"Japan should also do tax reform to be on an equal footing," Mitsui Fudosan Co. chairman Hiromichi Iwasa said in early November. His company, one of Japan's biggest real-estate firms, has been actively investing in the U.S. real-estate market. A spokesman said the company wasn't reconsidering its stance.</p>
<p>Toyota Motor Corp. expects a positive impact from a lower corporate tax rate but is also girding for a possible negative impact from any tax that may be levied on transactions between Toyota's headquarters in Japan and its American affiliate, a spokeswoman said.</p>
<p>"As a global company, we expect open trade and fair systems," she said. "We will carefully watch the process and try to deepen our understanding."</p>
<p>--Megumi Fujikawa</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 30, 2017 16:58 ET (21:58 GMT)</p> | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Industry Reaction -2- | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/30/good-bad-and-ugly-industry-reaction-2.html | 2017-11-30 | 0 |
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<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — Lt. Gov. John Sanchez addressed more than 600 chamber of commerce, business and government leaders from around the state Tuesday in Albuquerque, outlining the 2014 legislative agenda of the Gov. Susana Martinez administration.</p>
<p>Sanchez filled in for Martinez at the luncheon after the governor, who had been scheduled to speak, traveled to Roswell to help deal with a school shooting there Tuesday.</p>
<p>Chambers of commerce from around the state participated in the business community-sponsored event.</p>
<p>Sanchez said that the administration’s legislative efforts will include: stepped-up recruitment of businesses to New Mexico; expansion of the state’s health care workforce, development of new water infrastructure; and continued efforts to pass so-called education reforms such as such as mandatory retention of underperforming third-graders.</p>
<p>“In the weeks ahead, I encourage you to travel up to Santa Fe … to help me voice support for job creation initiatives and for education reforms designed to help every child learn and succeed in life,” Sanchez told business leaders.</p>
<p>The annual legislative session starts Tuesday.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Lt. governor touts jobs, education | false | https://abqjournal.com/337360/lt-governor-touts-jobs-education.html | 2 |
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<p>Few current politicians can lay tighter claim to the Tea Party mantle than White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.</p>
<p>The South Carolina Republican rode the 2010 Obama backlash into a House seat as one of Paul Ryan’s “Young Guns,” a more establishment-friendly subset of the broader right-wing surge. The group build its political house atop deficit panic and promises to rein in a supposedly malcontrolled federal spending apparatus.</p>
<p>Interest rates were negative at the time. The world’s financial systems were begging the United States government to take their money and spend it on putting people back to work. But Democrats had already bargained against themselves in the 2009 stimulus package fight, ultimately producing a lump of spending projects and tax cuts that was at best half the size of what was required by the worst economic collapse in 80 years.</p>
<p>The result: Unnecessary pain for millions. The nation’s GDP remained trillions of dollars below its potential and millions of Americans willing and able to work remained unemployed. Yet even after the under-stimulating 2009 policy choices, Republicans like Mulvaney made hay of the deficits and retook the House.</p>
<p>As a junior back-bench figure in the new GOP majority under then-Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Mulvaney didn’t get as much of the spotlight as Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Eric Cantor (R-VA). But he remained <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-mick-mulvaney-may-be-one-trumps-most-alarming-picks" type="external">a staunch cheerleader</a> for the austerity Republicans demanded and <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/445678/obamas-greatest-failure-rapidly-falling-deficit" type="external">the White House grudgingly agreed to</a>. Through years of stunt votes, spending intransigence, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/21/opinion/Paul-Krugman-An-Imaginary-Budget-and-Debt-Crisis.html" type="external">do-nothing debt commissions</a>, and even a government shutdown, Mulvaney and the right-wing brigade held budgetary balance as a sacred duty even as every economic indicator called for spending more money on a population starved of dignity and basic economic security.</p>
<p>But now Donald Trump is president, and Mick Mulvaney suddenly loves deficits.</p>
<p>“ <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-03/white-house-accused-of-softness-as-tax-plan-hits-early-bumps" type="external">We need to have new deficits</a>,” Mulvaney told Fox News Sunday, in response to questions about the budget-busting implications of Trump’s proposed tax cuts. “We need to have the growth. If we simply look at this as being deficit-neutral, you’re never going to get the type of tax reform and tax reductions that you need to get to sustain 3 percent economic growth. We really do believe that the tax code is what’s holding back the American economy.”</p>
<p>Mulvaney’s whiparound on the growth-driving potential of deficits now that both the partisanship and the policy mechanic suit him are obnoxious, but perhaps not altogether surprising. Indeed, while Mulvaney’s newest formulation of this thought is more flagrant, he’s been open since at least the spring about his lust for deficits as long as they are caused by tax cuts. His defense of Trump’s hypocritical budget blueprint in April explicitly tagged this pro-deficit base, revealing Mulvaney’s belief that “the market distribution of income is sacrosanct,” as Jonathan Chait <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/04/trump-budget-director-wants-high-inequality-not-low-deficit.html" type="external">put it</a>.</p>
<p>But a jaded dismissal of Mulvaney’s reversal would take pressure off an administration still very much in the middle of a trickle-down grift that will exacerbate inequality — and let Mulvaney off a personal hook for his role in perpetuating the harms of the Wall Street collapse for years longer than was necessary.</p>
<p>Through three full terms, Mulvaney helped thwart sensible fiscal policy from the Obama White House with uncommon zeal and talent for a newbie. He told anyone who’d listen that shutting the government down over spending and abortion was “good policy.” He not only opposed raising the debt ceiling to prevent economic calamity, but <a href="http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201107180004" type="external">proposed legislation to lower</a> the statutory borrowing cap — effectively a plan to proactively downgrade the U.S. economy and dump millions of workers onto the dole.</p>
<p>In 2013, he <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/277321-house-kills-gop-amendment-offsetting-sandy-bill-with-spending-cuts" type="external">tried to block relief funding for Superstorm Sandy’s carnage</a> unless the emergency spending came with offsetting cuts. His zeal for keeping spending down in fealty to the debt gods is so stern that even after a friend who had volunteered for his campaign told him that Mulvaney-backed budget cuts had gotten him laid off and left his family on the brink of eviction, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/as-budget-cuts-hit-sc-a-congressman-is-surprised-at-constituents-reactions/2013/05/28/b7566fb6-c7c5-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_story.html?utm_term=.3131fe93c4de" type="external">he excused it</a> as simply the concerns of a single constituent.</p>
<p>The deficit myopia that Mulvaney helped instill in all of Washington’s decision-making processes while in Congress forced government eyes off the ball. Outcomes for real people became secondary to balance-sheet abstractions. All the way back in early 2011, as the ink was still drying on Mulvaney’s new office door, the economist James Galbraith noted that budget conversations had already abandoned their proper material. “Does it deal with unemployment, does it deal with the foreclosure crisis,” Galbraith <a href="http://prospect.org/article/qa-why-deficit-doesnt-matter-0" type="external">told The American Prospect</a>. “In a real world those are the important issues. [But] I defy you to find me a single news story on the initiatives in this [White House] budget that deal with any of those questions.”</p>
<p>Six years later, from a new office with a new boss and less accountability to the voters his ideas hurt than ever before, Mulvaney is the same man. He’s just free to acknowledge that he never cared about deficits as a matter of principle.</p> | Mick Mulvaney’s flagrant flip-flop on deficits is a reminder of GOP’s Obama sabotage | true | https://thinkprogress.org/mulvaney-deficits-180-a979154d6a47/ | 2017-10-03 | 4 |
<p>In the aftermath of the Kelly Thomas verdict, it’s been depressing to read the comment sections of Cal Watchdog, blogs, news sites and newspapers.</p>
<p>A lot of oddly gleeful folks treat the verdict as evidence that police did the right thing the night Thomas suffered fatal injuries while being remorselessly tortured by men with badges.</p>
<p>That’s absurd. The frail, mentally ill homeless man wouldn’t be dead if a cop didn’t openly declare he was going to “f—” Thomas up and then follow through on his threat. If the officers had a shred of humanity, Thomas would be alive.</p>
<p>I’m glad to see the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-kelly-thomas-case-former-officers-tries-to-win-back-job-20140116,0,641666.story#axzz2qczLR8Dc" type="external">L.A. Times</a> report that at least one person in Fullerton <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-kelly-thomas-case-former-officers-tries-to-win-back-job-20140116,0,641666.story#axzz2qczLR8Dc" type="external">understands this</a>:</p>
<p>“Fullerton’s chief of police said he would fight an appeal from one of the officers acquitted in the death of Kelly Thomas to get his job back.</p>
<p>“Jay Cicinelli was fired after being charged by Orange County prosecutors with involuntary manslaughter and excessive force in the 2011 death of the mentally ill homeless man.</p>
<p>“His co-defendant Manuel Ramos, also a former Fullerton police officer, was charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.</p>
<p>“On Monday a Santa Ana jury found both of them not guilty of all charges.</p>
<p>“Dan Hughes, Fullerton chief of police, said in a statement that his decision to fire Cicinelli is separate and unaffected by the acquittal.”</p>
<p>“’Former Police Officer Jay Cicinelli has alleged that he was wrongfully terminated and has demanded his job back,’ Hughes said. ‘I stand behind the employment decisions I have made.'”</p>
<p>Why do I express satisfaction that “at least one person in Fullerton” understands what happened to Thomas was horrible?</p>
<p>Because of Steve Greenhut’s <a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/Jan/17/Kelly-Thomas-beating-verdict-reason-for-cynicism/2/" type="external">U-T San Diego column</a>, which points out that many in Fullerton didn’t get this at all.</p>
<p>“…in July 2011, the Fullerton political establishment rushed to the defense of officers who had beaten a 130-pound homeless schizophrenic named <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-kelly-thomas-verdict-readers-react-20140114,0,5919865.story#axzz2qbSP3lnS" type="external">Kelly Thomas</a>. The public saw the published photo of <a href="http://www.fullertonsfuture.org/2012/cops-got-scratches-tended-to-by-paramedic-as-kelly-thomas-lay-dying-in-the-street/" type="external">Thomas’ horribly swollen and bruised face</a>, yet <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-9qGpLG2xs" type="external">the mayor went on TV</a> saying he had seen worse injuries in the Vietnam War and that it was unclear what killed Thomas, who died in a hospital days after the whomping.</p>
<p>“We also learned that police officers <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKgpbC6WmFM" type="external">confiscated the video camera</a> of a bystander and were allowed to <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/12/local/la-me-fullerton-death-20110812" type="external">watch the surveillance video of the incident</a> and essentially get their stories straight before giving their statements.”</p>
<p>This is pathetic. As Steve points out, it is also not surprising.</p>
<p>“This one-time idealist wants to believe that in a free society the rulers are held to the same standards as the ruled, that the public wouldn’t stand for the kind of official brutality that takes place in unfree nations and that juries would punish killers even if they wear a uniform.</p>
<p>“Yet over years of writing about policing issues, it’s hard to remain hopeful. No matter how egregious the incident — police gunning down a <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/10/local/me-hbshooting10" type="external">troubled teen in an empty park,</a> shooting a fleeing suspect in the back, or planting evidence in a car trunk — there’s rarely any punishment.”</p>
<p>Take it away, commenters. Explain to us once again how Kelly Thomas got what he had coming.</p>
<p>Sheesh.</p> | Fullerton police chief doesn’t think verdict vindicated lethal cop | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2014/01/18/fullerton-police-doesnt-want-lethal-cop-back-on-job/ | 2018-01-20 | 3 |
<p>Oct. 11 (UPI) — Lockheed Martin conducted another successful launch of its Army Tactical Missile System or MGM 140 ATACMS Wednesday morning.</p>
<p>The company announced on Wednesday that a flight test of the ATACMS modernization, a surface-to-surface missile with a range of over 100 miles, was conducted at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.</p>
<p>The flight was a system-level test conducted in collaboration with the U.S. Army’s Precision Fires Rocket &amp; Missile Systems, or PFRMS Program Management Office.</p>
<p>Other test objectives included the missile’s performance range and accuracy from launch to impact, validating the interface with the HIMARS launcher, and testing system software performance.</p>
<p>“This was our seventh consecutive successful test in the ATACMS modernization program,” Matt Berger, Precision Fires program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a press release. “ATACMS is extremely accurate, affordable and mission-flexible, and is a missile our war fighters can rely upon when performance is most needed.”</p>
<p>The ATACMS was launched from a soldier-manned M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, launcher — a warfare tool that has been used in both Iraq and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/War_in_Afghanistan/" type="external">Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin officials said the ATACMS missile flew more than 86 miles and demonstrated a proximity sensor height-of-burst detonation over the target area, meaning the missile exploded in the air versus on contact with the ground or intended target.</p>
<p>“This is a new ATACMS feature that allows battlefield commanders to address imprecisely located or area targets,” Lockheed officials said.</p>
<p>In August, Lockheed Martin’s Missile and Fire Control <a href="https://www.upi.com/Lockheed-receives-1614M-ATACMS-missile-life-extension-contract/8661501764673/" type="external">was awarded</a> a $161.4 million contract for the production of launch assemblies for the ATACMS.</p>
<p>The contract is part of the Service Life Extension Program for aging components of the missile system, and calls for the modernization of 150 missiles as part of the Army’s ATACMS Service Life Extension Program. Work will be conducted at sites across the U.S. with an estimated completion date of Feb. 3, 2020.</p>
<p>“The modernization process disassembles and demilitarizes ATACMS Block 1 and 1A submunition warheads, replacing them with new unitary warheads and bringing them into compliance with Department of Defense policy on cluster munitions. The modernization process also resets the missile’s 10+ year shelf life,” according to Lockheed Martin officials.</p>
<p>ATACMS is the U.S. Army’s only tactical long-range precision-strike surface-to-surface weapon system and can be operated in all weather conditions. Successful firing can be achieved from the entire family of Multiple Launch Rocket System launchers.</p> | Lockheed Martin test of ATACMS missile system successful | false | https://newsline.com/lockheed-martin-test-of-atacms-missile-system-successful/ | 2017-10-11 | 1 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Could George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and maybe Alberto Gonzales all end up sucking poison gas?</p>
<p>That, apparently, is a concern now being taken seriously by Attorney General Gonzales, who is quietly working with senior White House officials and friendly members of Congress to do what murderous dictators in Chile, Argentina and other bloodthirsty regimes have done as their future in office began to look uncertain: pass laws exempting them from prosecution for murder.</p>
<p>At issue is a growing legal threat of the president and other top administration officials facing prosecution for violations of the U.S. War Crimes statutes, which since 1996 have made violation of Geneva Conventions adopted by the U.S. violations of American law, too.</p>
<p>Gonzales knows the seriousness of this threat. As he warned the president, in a January, 25, 2002 “Memorandum to the President” (published in full in the appendix of Barbara Olshansky’s and my new book, <a href="" type="internal">The Case for Impeachment</a>), “It is difficult to predict the motives of prosecutors and independent counsels who may in the future decide to pursue unwarranted charges based on Section [the US War Crimes law].” In another part of that same memo, Gonzales notes that the statute “prohibits the commission of a `war crime'” by any U.S. official, with a war crime being defined as “any grave breach of” the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War” or of the Geneva Convention’s Article 3. That article extends protection to combatants in other than official wars or military roles. Gonzaqles, in that memo, also pointedly notes that the punishments for such violations, under U.S. law, in the event that mistreated captives die in custody, “include the death penalty.”</p>
<p>What has the White House and Bush’s mob attorney, Gonzales, worried is the decision last month by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hamden v. Rumsfeld, which expressly established that the president had “violated” the Geneva Convention’s Article 3 by arbitrarily deciding that captives in the so-called War on Terror and in Afghanistan would not be considered POWs, and would not be accorded protection under the Geneva Convention. This determination by a 5-3 majority of the US Supreme Court could easily be the basis for the prosecution Gonzales warned about.</p>
<p>Of course, the president could not be indicted for this offense while in office. The Constitution provides a protection against that. But he could be indicted once his term ends. Meanwhile, other administration personnel, including the vice president, have no such protection against indictment even while in office.</p>
<p>The very fact that Gonzales, according to a report in today’s Washington Post, has been ‘quietly approaching” Republican members of Congress about passing legislation exempting Americans involved in the “terrorism fight” from war crimes prosecution suggests how worried Bush and his subordinates really are.</p>
<p>It’s interesting how this has become the tactic of choice for the criminals in the White House. When Bush was caught violating the clear provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by authorizing spying by the National Security Agency on Americans’ communications without a warrant, the administration went to Congress to seek legislation retroactively authorizing the crime. Since the president was exposed as having summarily and unconstitutionally invalidated some 800 laws passed by Congress through the use of what he calls “signing statements,” an astonishing breach of the separation of powers, the administration has been seeking a new law in Congress that would in effect grant that power to presidents, again retroactively. Now Bush is apparently hoping to get the same compliant Republican-led House and Senate to backdate a law exempting him and his cohorts from punishment under the War Crimes statute-a law, ironically, passed almost without objection by both houses of a Republican-led Congress in 1996.</p>
<p>Of course, this legal dodge might not work. Not only could a future prosecutor seek to have such a law ruled illegal itself (after all, the U.S. is a signatory of the Geneva Conventions, making them legally binding anyhow), but because the U.S. is a signatory of the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture in any form, the president and his subordinates could also be charged as war criminals by other nations-particularly if it were determined that the U.S. was unwilling or legally unable to prosecute.</p>
<p>That could make things a little claustrophobic for administration personnel once they leave office.</p>
<p>No doubt Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld et all would like to continue their world travels once they leave government “service.” For one thing, there’s lots of money to be made on the internation speaking circuit. Lots more can be made by doing international business consulting. But if there is a threat of arrest and prosecution by prosecutors in countries like Spain, Germany or Canada, such travels would pose a huge risk. Similar fears have kept former National Security Director and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger pretty much housebound since a near detention in Paris on war crimes charges a few years back.</p>
<p>Gonzales’ anxious behing-the-scenes scuttling about in the halls of Congress in an effort to save his boss’s neck also suggests that the White House is getting worried about the November election. After all, if they thought they had a secure grip on Congress through November 2008, why the sudden rush to get a bill through undermining the War Crimes statute now? Maybe Bush is afraid that if he waits until November, he’ll be dealing with a Democratic House and/or Senate, which would be unlikely to grant him such legal protection.</p>
<p>There is a delicious irony in watching this law-and-order, let-’em-fry president and his tough-guy VP, attorney general and defense secretary, resorting to the same kind of dodgy legal tactics that they accuse convicted killers (and terrorists) of using in an attempt to avoid the gallows.</p>
<p>Chances are their strategy will work, at least in the U.S. But at least it’s entertaining to watch.</p>
<p>DAVE LINDORFF is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512283/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal</a>. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512984/counterpunchmaga" type="external">This Can’t be Happening!</a>” is published by Common Courage Press. Lindorff’s new book is “ <a href="" type="internal">The Case for Impeachment</a>“, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Bush Regime’s War Crimes Dodge | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/01/25/the-bush-regime-s-war-crimes-dodge/ | 2006-01-25 | 4 |
<p>Van Dyke Parks, rendered.Charles Ray</p>
<p />
<p>Van Dyke ParksSongs CycledBella Union</p>
<p>Boasting a lengthy résumé spanning nearly a half-century, Van Dyke Parks has written and recorded with Brian Wilson; played, produced, or arranged for everyone from The Byrds and Harry Nilsson to Rufus Wainwright and Joanna Newsom; and written music for film and TV. But his greatest achievement may be his determinedly noncommercial solo albums.</p>
<p>Even in the anything-goes 1960s, when he released his first LP, Song Cycle, the Mississippi-born Parks was too out-there to command a large following, thanks to his eccentric stew of old-timey parlor music, classical strains (Aaron Copland et al.), Caribbean spice and all-around genial oddness.</p>
<p>Songs Cycled, his first solo release in 15 years, finds Parks’ magic undimmed. His sprightly voice suggesting a loopy Southern aristocrat, Parks ponders injustice (“Money Is King”), revisits a shimmering gem from his debut (“The All Golden”) and offers a hallucinatory steel drum interlude that could be “The Nutcracker” by way of Trinidad. However strange he may seem at first, Parks’ uniquely offbeat sounds quickly cast their own satisfying spell. Don’t miss out on this true original, who may just be a genius.</p>
<p /> | The Song Cycles of (Possible Genius) Van Dyke Parks | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/song-cycled-van-dyke-parks-review/ | 2013-07-22 | 4 |
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Will Smith may be “Gettin’ “Jiggy Wit It” again. He says he’s hoping to return to hip-hop and never stopped recording privately.</p>
<p>Smith, whose last solo album was released in 2005, and Kanye West were photographed in a recording studio together in Brazil last February.</p>
<p>“Oh, so you know. You’ve been paying attention?” the 46-year-old actor said in a recent interview.</p>
<p>“I did a fun thing with Jimmy Fallon the other night messing with music, so you know, I got the bug. I might see if I got one more in me.”</p>
<p>Smith was the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff &amp; The Fresh Prince with his childhood friend Jeffrey “DJ Jazzy Jeff” Townes.</p>
<p>He starred in the TV series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” His films include “Ali,” ″The Pursuit of Happyness” and the “Men in Black” movies.</p>
<p>“Over the years I’ve always recorded,” he said. “... Yeah, tons of songs. But ... it’s nothing I like. Recording will be a part of my life forever whether or not I feel that something is of the quality for public consumption.”</p>
<p>His new film, the crime comedy “Focus,” will be in theaters on Feb. 27.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.willsmith.com/" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.willsmith.com/" type="external">http://www.willsmith.com/</a></p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Will Smith may be “Gettin’ “Jiggy Wit It” again. He says he’s hoping to return to hip-hop and never stopped recording privately.</p>
<p>Smith, whose last solo album was released in 2005, and Kanye West were photographed in a recording studio together in Brazil last February.</p>
<p>“Oh, so you know. You’ve been paying attention?” the 46-year-old actor said in a recent interview.</p>
<p>“I did a fun thing with Jimmy Fallon the other night messing with music, so you know, I got the bug. I might see if I got one more in me.”</p>
<p>Smith was the MC of the hip-hop duo DJ Jazzy Jeff &amp; The Fresh Prince with his childhood friend Jeffrey “DJ Jazzy Jeff” Townes.</p>
<p>He starred in the TV series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” His films include “Ali,” ″The Pursuit of Happyness” and the “Men in Black” movies.</p>
<p>“Over the years I’ve always recorded,” he said. “... Yeah, tons of songs. But ... it’s nothing I like. Recording will be a part of my life forever whether or not I feel that something is of the quality for public consumption.”</p>
<p>His new film, the crime comedy “Focus,” will be in theaters on Feb. 27.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.willsmith.com/" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.willsmith.com/" type="external">http://www.willsmith.com/</a></p> | Will Smith says he’s got the music ‘bug’ | false | https://apnews.com/b2afcccb7e864e09baedc1ee6ba64bb8 | 2015-02-12 | 2 |
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<p>In this Sunday, May 17, 2015 photo provided by the Davis County Sheriff's Office, a large boulder blocks a vehicle on a road in Farmington Canyon, about 20 miles north of Salt Lake City. Spring storms that have been pounding the West hit northern Utah over the weekend, causing minor flooding and a rock slide, with more storms forecasted this week. (Davis County Sheriff's Office via AP)</p>
<p>DENVER - The latest in a series of Pacific storms spreading damp weather across the West is raising concerns of flooding in areas stripped bare by forest fires.</p>
<p>A storm dumped up to 2 inches of rain in some areas of northern Utah over the weekend, causing minor flooding and a rock slide, and has moved into Colorado, which already is waterlogged from several days of rain. Up to 2 feet of snow is expected in the eastern mountains Tuesday.</p>
<p>Pacific storm systems are driving the unusually cold and damp weather, National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Struthwolf said. A weather ridge that protected the West from storms all winter dissipated, opening the door for these latest patterns of disruptive weather, he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"We're just getting one storm after another," said Struthwolf, who is based in Salt Lake City.</p>
<p>In Nevada, the Las Vegas area had dark clouds Monday that brought showers and severe thunderstorms and let loose hail the size of quarters in neighborhoods close to the region's mountains.</p>
<p>Parts of Arizona and California have also been hit by heavy rains in recent days.</p>
<p>Pamela Evenson, a NWS meteorologist in Pueblo, said the storm moving into Colorado on Monday night and will linger all day Tuesday, dropping up to 2 inches of rain in some areas.</p>
<p>Forecasters are warning of the possibility of flooding on two burn scars left by devastating wildfires in the Colorado Springs area in 2012 and 2013.</p>
<p>"Those are our main concern areas with the system coming in," Evenson said. "The soils are pretty much saturated in that area. It's rained pretty much every day."</p>
<p>A flash flood watch will remain in effect in Teller and El Paso counties until Tuesday evening, she said, and the storm is expected to move out of the state by Wednesday.</p>
<p>May is typically Colorado's wettest month, and so far, it's rained almost every day this month.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"The ground just got really wet, and all the precipitation is just running off at that point," Evenson said.</p>
<p>On its march toward Colorado, the storm system dumped up to 2 inches of rain in some areas and several inches of mountain snow in Utah, flooding several homes, triggering an avalanche warning and forcing the closure a canyon road after a boulder the size of a car blocked the road.</p>
<p>But the precipitation also is good news for the drought-stricken Southwest.</p>
<p>"Any precipitation we get here would be beneficial, ultimately, for California," said Jim Pringle, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Grand Junction, Colorado.</p>
<p>But how much water gets that far depends on how much is held back in a series of dams on the Colorado River. Winter snow in the Colorado mountains is a bigger producer of water for the Colorado River than spring rains, he said.</p>
<p>The river supplies water to about 40 million people in seven states, including California.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City and Dan Elliott in Denver contributed to this report.</p> | Storm renews flooding concerns near Colorado burn scars | false | https://abqjournal.com/587101/storm-renews-flooding-concerns-near-colorado-burn-scars.html | 2 |
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<p>Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki&lt;a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Awlaki_1008.JPG"&gt;Muhammad ud-Deen&lt;/a&gt;/Wikimedia Commons</p>
<p />
<p>Radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the only publicly known name on a “ <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239.html" type="external">kill list</a>” of US citizens abroad that the government believes it has the authority to assassinate without charge or trial, was <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/26/AR2010012604239.html" type="external">reportedly</a> killed in Yemen on Friday morning by an American airstrike. His death marks the first public example of the US government successfully targeting and killing an American citizen abroad based on the suspicion of terrorist activities.&#160;</p>
<p>Awlaki <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html" type="external">emerged</a> in recent years as one of the most recognizable figures associated with Al Qaeda, largely because US officials had linked him to high-profile attacks (and attempted ones), including Nidal Malik Hasan’s Fort Hood rampage, Faisal Shahzad’s botched attempt to explode a car bomb in Times Square, and Umar Abdulmutallab’s failed Christmas Day plane bombing. Nevertheless, the extent of Awlaki’s operational role in any particular plot was never proven, raising the uncomfortable question of whether or not the US government had asserted the authority to kill a US citizen based solely on his ability to “inspire” terrorism through extremist sermons and magazine articles.&#160;</p>
<p>Though Awlaki was never indicted in a court of law, he was essentially <a href="http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=11&amp;year=2010&amp;base_name=glenn_greenwald_on_his_exchang" type="external">convicted in the court of public opinion</a>, with the mainstream media largely uncritical of the government’s shifting <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/29/radical-imam-tied-plots-gone-operational-yemen/" type="external">explanations</a> for why he was legally targetable. State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh has&#160; <a href="http://progressiverealist.org/blogpost/did-harold-koh-also-provide-legal-justification-targeted-killings-americans-suspected-terro" type="external">argued</a>&#160;that “a state engaged in an armed conflict or in legitimate self-defense is not required to provide targets with legal process before the state may use lethal force,” meaning that killing Awlaki without trial is justifiable because he was a suspected member Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a faction at war with the United States.</p>
<p>Last December, a federal court <a href="http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=11&amp;year=2010&amp;base_name=does_alawlakis_father_have_sta" type="external">dismissed</a> a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of Awlaki’s father, Nasser, seeking to compel the government to disclose the internal legal process by which it determines that it has the authority to kill an American citizen based on the suspicion of terrorism. Judge John Bates ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the suit because Awlaki could have brought the case himself and chose not to, and that there were “no judicially manageable standards” by which the court could <a href="http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/adam_serwer_archive?month=12&amp;year=2010&amp;base_name=alawlaki_suit_dismissed%5C" type="external">evaluate</a> the government’s authority to kill an American terrorism suspect.&#160;</p>
<p>The United States has wrongly announced the death of suspected terrorist figures before. However, if he has in fact been killed, he would be the second American citizen the US has acknowledged killing in the context of a strike against an Al Qaeda-affiliated target. The first was Kamal Derwish, who was born in Buffalo, New York, and killed in a drone strike in Yemen in 2002. Back then, US officials felt <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2002-11-12/us/yemen.blast.us_1_ahmed-hijazi-kamal-derwish-men-of-yemeni-descent?_s=PM:US" type="external">compelled</a> to assure reporters that he was not the actual target and that they weren’t aware he was in the car that was destroyed until after the strike. Perhaps they were worried about the legal implications of asserting that a US president possesses the ultimate power of life or death over an American citizen.&#160;</p>
<p /> | US Kills Al Qaeda-Linked Cleric Anwar al-Awlaki | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/us-citizen-anwar-al-awlaki-killed/ | 2011-09-30 | 4 |
<p>JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he has told the United States and Russia that Israel will continue to take action across the Syrian frontier according to its security needs, even as the two powers try to build up a ceasefire.</p>
<p>“We are controlling our borders, we are protecting our country and we will continue to do so,” Netanyahu said in public remarks to members of his Likud party in parliament.</p>
<p>“I have also informed our friends, firstly in Washington and also our friends in Moscow, that Israel will act in Syria, including in southern Syria, according to our understanding and according to our security needs.”</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Netanyahu signals Israel will act with free hand in Syria | false | https://newsline.com/netanyahu-signals-israel-will-act-with-free-hand-in-syria/ | 2017-11-13 | 1 |
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details of allegations of sexual harassment against humorist Garrison Keillor on Tuesday, saying his alleged conduct went well beyond his account in November of accidentally touching a woman's bare back.</p>
<p>MPR said in a statement that Keillor was accused by a woman who worked on his "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show of dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents over several years, including requests for sexual contact and explicit sexual communications and touching.</p>
<p>MPR said the woman, whom it has not identified, detailed the allegations in a 12-page letter that included excerpts of emails and written messages. MPR said as it attempted to investigate the case, Keillor and his attorney refused to grant access to his computer, emails and text messages.</p>
<p>Keillor did not respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press. He told the Star Tribune listeners were angry over his firing because they "smelled a rat" and "they know I'm not abusive." He called the woman's account "a highly selective and imaginative piece of work" drawn up by her attorney.</p>
<p>MPR faced a backlash from outraged Keillor fans after firing the best-selling humorist after four decades of his telling folksy stories about his fictional Minnesota hometown of Lake Wobegon. Keillor accused the station of firing him without a full investigation. Until MPR's new statement Tuesday, the only account of his actions was his.</p>
<p>He told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Nov. 29 that he had simply been trying to console a co-worker.</p>
<p>"I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness, and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized," Keillor told the newspaper in an email. "I sent her an email of apology later, and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it."</p>
<p>In a note to members Tuesday afternoon, MPR President Jon McTaggart said otherwise.</p>
<p>"If the full 12-page letter or even a detailed summary of the alleged incidents were to be made public, we believe that would clarify why MPR ended its business relationship with Garrison and correct the misunderstandings and misinformation about the decision," he added.</p>
<p>The station also disputed that Keillor was fired in a rush, laying out a timeline in which it launched an internal investigation after receiving a general allegation against Keillor from a former employee — not the alleged victim — in late August. MPR said that employee refused to identify the alleged victim or detail what happened to her, and MPR didn't get specifics of the allegations until it received letters from the former employee Sept. 29 and from the alleged victim Oct. 22.</p>
<p>MPR said it notified its board Oct. 26 and launched an independent investigation a few days later.</p>
<p>MPR said Keillor responded to the allegations with his attorney present. MPR said Keillor and his attorney declined to give access to his computer, emails and text messages to allow a full investigation.</p>
<p>The station said it had avoided releasing more information about the allegations while it was in mediation with Keillor "and the other parties in this matter."</p>
<p>"Unfortunately, the mediation sessions have not produced the final settlements we had hoped for," the station said.</p>
<p>MPR has removed from its website archived "A Prairie Home Companion" shows featuring Keillor. The network also ended broadcasts of "The Writer's Almanac," Keillor's daily reading of literary events and a poem, and ended rebroadcasts of Keillor-hosted "Prairie Home" shows.</p>
<p>Keillor, 75, retired in 2016 as host of "Prairie Home," a Saturday evening radio variety show he created in 1974. The show, now titled "Live from Here," continues with Keillor's hand-picked successor, mandolinist Chris Thile.</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Public Radio provided additional details of allegations of sexual harassment against humorist Garrison Keillor on Tuesday, saying his alleged conduct went well beyond his account in November of accidentally touching a woman's bare back.</p>
<p>MPR said in a statement that Keillor was accused by a woman who worked on his "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show of dozens of sexually inappropriate incidents over several years, including requests for sexual contact and explicit sexual communications and touching.</p>
<p>MPR said the woman, whom it has not identified, detailed the allegations in a 12-page letter that included excerpts of emails and written messages. MPR said as it attempted to investigate the case, Keillor and his attorney refused to grant access to his computer, emails and text messages.</p>
<p>Keillor did not respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press. He told the Star Tribune listeners were angry over his firing because they "smelled a rat" and "they know I'm not abusive." He called the woman's account "a highly selective and imaginative piece of work" drawn up by her attorney.</p>
<p>MPR faced a backlash from outraged Keillor fans after firing the best-selling humorist after four decades of his telling folksy stories about his fictional Minnesota hometown of Lake Wobegon. Keillor accused the station of firing him without a full investigation. Until MPR's new statement Tuesday, the only account of his actions was his.</p>
<p>He told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Nov. 29 that he had simply been trying to console a co-worker.</p>
<p>"I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness, and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized," Keillor told the newspaper in an email. "I sent her an email of apology later, and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it."</p>
<p>In a note to members Tuesday afternoon, MPR President Jon McTaggart said otherwise.</p>
<p>"If the full 12-page letter or even a detailed summary of the alleged incidents were to be made public, we believe that would clarify why MPR ended its business relationship with Garrison and correct the misunderstandings and misinformation about the decision," he added.</p>
<p>The station also disputed that Keillor was fired in a rush, laying out a timeline in which it launched an internal investigation after receiving a general allegation against Keillor from a former employee — not the alleged victim — in late August. MPR said that employee refused to identify the alleged victim or detail what happened to her, and MPR didn't get specifics of the allegations until it received letters from the former employee Sept. 29 and from the alleged victim Oct. 22.</p>
<p>MPR said it notified its board Oct. 26 and launched an independent investigation a few days later.</p>
<p>MPR said Keillor responded to the allegations with his attorney present. MPR said Keillor and his attorney declined to give access to his computer, emails and text messages to allow a full investigation.</p>
<p>The station said it had avoided releasing more information about the allegations while it was in mediation with Keillor "and the other parties in this matter."</p>
<p>"Unfortunately, the mediation sessions have not produced the final settlements we had hoped for," the station said.</p>
<p>MPR has removed from its website archived "A Prairie Home Companion" shows featuring Keillor. The network also ended broadcasts of "The Writer's Almanac," Keillor's daily reading of literary events and a poem, and ended rebroadcasts of Keillor-hosted "Prairie Home" shows.</p>
<p>Keillor, 75, retired in 2016 as host of "Prairie Home," a Saturday evening radio variety show he created in 1974. The show, now titled "Live from Here," continues with Keillor's hand-picked successor, mandolinist Chris Thile.</p> | MPR: Allegations against Keillor far beyond single touch | false | https://apnews.com/amp/1bca61b9503a483a84907bf6ef567b1f | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
<p>Read or listen to the mainstream media these days and you get the impression that Sunday’s coup in Honduras was all about a simple disagreement over the constitutionality of presidential term limits. But as the coup unfolds it’s becoming clear that the authorities want something more: the restoration of Honduras’s conservative political order and an end to President Manuel Zelaya’s independent foreign policy which had reached out to leftist countries like Cuba and Venezuela.</p>
<p>As part of their effort to consolidate power officials have moved quickly to restrain the free flow of information, in particular by cracking down on progressive leaning media. Only TV stations sympathetic to the newly installed coup regime have been left alone while others have been shut down. The climate of repression is similar to what we have seen elsewhere in Latin America in recent years. Specifically, there are eerie parallels to the April, 2002 coup in Venezuela when the briefly installed right wing government imposed a media blackout to further its own political ends.</p>
<p>Perhaps somewhat tellingly, the Honduran army cut off local broadcasts of the Telesur news network which is sponsored by leftist governments including Venezuela, Uruguay, Argentina and Cuba. Adriana Sivori, Telesur’s correspondent in Tegucigalpa, was in her hotel room speaking on the telephone to her network when ten soldiers arrived with rifles drawn. The men unplugged Telesur’s editing equipment in an effort to halt the network’s coverage of protests in support of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.</p>
<p>When a soldier lightly slapped Sivori’s hand so she would hang up, the journalist grew alarmed. “They’re taking us prisoner at gunpoint,” she remarked. Sivori along with producer María José Díaz and cameraman Larry Sánchez were taken to an immigration office in a military caravan. There, the authorities beat them and demanded to see their Honduran visas. Shortly later, the journalists were released. However, the authorities have warned Telesur journalists to cease transmitting images in support of Zelaya or face further detention.</p>
<p>What is so important about Telesur in particular? In my latest book, <a href="" type="internal">Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left</a> (Palgrave, 2008) I devote considerable attention to the rise of the new station, itself a product of South America’s stormy political battles and contested media landscape. First launched in 2005, Telesur represents Venezuela’s effort to counteract the power of the right wing media establishment which played a role in the short-lived April coup of 2002 against the Chávez government. Seen as South Ameica’s answer to Al Jazeera and CNN, the station has been spearheaded by Andrés Izarra, up until recently the station’s president. A rising star in the Chávez administration, Izarra got his start as a journalist at NBC and CNN. Disgusted by right wing media coverage of the 2002 coup, he started to work for Telesur.</p>
<p>Since its launch, Telesur has given CNN en Español a run for its money and now has slick production values. Station Director Aram Aharonian says the news industry has gone through a dumbing down since the Gulf War. Journalism, Aharonian remarked to me during our interview in Caracas, had become instantaneous but also devoid of any investigation, analysis or debate. Telesur, by contrast, was “rescuing” journalistic ethics by providing context and opinions about goings-on. While you can expect to see more critical coverage of the Iraq War on Telesur than most mainstream U.S. media outlets, Aharonian says Telesur is independent and doesn’t have any particular political axe to grind.</p>
<p>Such assurances aside, the conservative establishment views Telesur as a threat. When the station announced a content-sharing agreement with Al Jazeera in 2006, Connie Mack, a right-wing Republican congressman from Florida, remarked that the decision was designed to create a “global television network for terrorists.” In light of Sivori’s recent detention, one may surmise that the Honduran coup regime agrees with Mack’s hysterical views.</p>
<p>In Latin America, media has become a crucial fault line in the battle between the pro-U.S. elite and the incipient left “Pink Tide” which has been sweeping into power. In Honduras, the coup regime has not only gone after Telesur but also Channel 8, the official broadcaster of the Zelaya government. The moves prompted Venezuela’s official Bolivarian News Agency as well as Cuba’s Granma newspaper to issue formal letters of protest. Meanwhile a climate of fear and intimidation reigns throughout the capital, with networks providing scant coverage of political protest. Soldiers are reportedly guarding local television and radio stations.</p>
<p>In recent years Zelaya had been embroiled in a war with the conservative private media in the country. Now that the President is gone, these outlets have rallied in defense of the coup regime. Honduras’ two leading radio networks, Radio América and Radio HRN, have urged Hondurans to resume their normal routine and not to protest. Even as hundreds of protesters rallied at the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa to demand Zelaya’s reinstatement, radio and TV stations made little reference to the demonstrations. Instead of reporting on political goings-on, the Honduran media outlets played tropical music or aired soap operas and cooking shows.</p>
<p>It’s reminiscent of the April, 2002 coup against Chávez when conservative media station Venevisión refused to cover pro-Chávez demonstrations and preempted its normal news coverage with a day-long marathon of American films such as Lorenzo’s Oil, Nell, and Pretty Woman. Venevisión, which substituted nonstop vitriolic anti-Chávez propaganda for its regular programming in the days leading up to the coup, was owned by billionaire media magnate Gustavo Cisneros, himself a leading figure in the Chávez opposition who reportedly bankrolled the opposition’s takeover of government.</p>
<p>In Venezuela, conservative coup leaders misjudged the popular mood. Amidst street protests, Chávez was reinstated in two days. In the wake of the coup Venevisión began to moderate its strident tone and the Venezuelan President went on the political offensive by spurring the creation of Telesur as well as other media outlets. If you flip the TV dial today you can still watch rabidly anti-Chávez stations like Globovisión, though the playing field has been leveled considerably. In addition to Telesur Venezuelans can also watch Venezolana de Televisión, a government channel, as well as state sponsored Vive which provides discussion on Venezuelan culture and politics. Chávez has his own TV talk show, Aló, Presidente, and there are dozens of pro-government papers including a tabloid called VEA.</p>
<p>The antagonistic media environment in Venezuela is echoed in other left-leaning countries in South America. Indeed, the newly elected Pink Tide regimes have taken on the private media with a vengeance: in Ecuador, President Rafael Correa has proposed that the constitution disallow bankers from financing media outlets. According to him, Ecuadoran television is controlled by powerful interests and the Association of Television Channels is nothing more than a “bankers club.” In Bolivia, indigenous President Evo Morales launched a weekly radio show called The People Are News. The show airs for two hours each week on the Patria Nueva (New Fatherland) state network.</p>
<p>If Zelaya returns to power in Honduras, which seems likely, then we could see the government take on the power of private TV, radio and the like more significantly, perhaps by emphasizing more state media. It will be merely the latest chapter in the ongoing information war between the conservative, globalizing elite and more left-leaning leaders who are coming to power throughout the region.</p>
<p>NIKOLAS KOZLOFF is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Revolution! South America and the Rise of the New Left</a> (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008)&#160; Visit his blog at <a href="http://www.senorchichero.blogspot.com/" type="external">http://www.senorchichero.blogspot.com/</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Latin America Media Battle Continues | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/07/02/latin-america-media-battle-continues/ | 2009-07-02 | 4 |
<p>OK, so in case anyone was wondering where the White House stands vis-a-vis its base these days, the defeat of Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter makes it pretty stark.</p>
<p>Who went off to campaign for incumbent Blanche Lincoln?&#160; None other than Bubba himself. Bill Clinton’s way, just to recall, was to promise loyalty to labor then push through NAFTA against their will.&#160; Clinton launched the reign of Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers –&#160; today so well ensconced still in the White House.</p>
<p>It was Bubba who early on embraced Dick Morris’s dictum, “Out Republican the Republicans” and, he might have added, to hell with your base while you’re at it.&#160; Cut deficits, grow poverty. That was an acceptable equation for getting re-elected. DC politics comes first. What if a bad recession hit, with no jobs, cut services, and unemployment benefits dry up?&#160; Take a look around today and you see the answer. This is the result of that.</p>
<p>Lest anyone forget, It was Rubin-Summers-Clinton’s buy into deficit panic that gave “shrink Government” Republicans the ideological edge – then. And the ideological give-way has sharpened the slash and burn budget knife ever since.</p>
<p>As for the party?&#160; It was the top-down party rule of Bill Clinton’s DNC&#160; that left scores of state Democratic parties penniless dependent – and pissed off. in fact, It was Clintonism that sparked the bottom up revolt on which Barack Obama rode to pow.</p>
<p>To sum up – Obama better beware Bubbaism. You saw the grief Senator Blanche Lincoln got from her voters for flip-flopping on worker rights and healthcare. That could end up being nothing, in comparison to what the 21st century Democratic base gives another flip-flopper president.</p>
<p>LAURA FLANDERS is the host of GRITtv, which broadcasts weekdays on satellite TV on cable, public television and online at GRITtv.org and TheNation.com. Follow GRITtv or GritLaura on Twitter.com.</p>
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<p><a href="http://greentags.bigcartel.com/" type="external">WORDS THAT STICK</a></p>
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<p /> | Bubba Goes Home | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/06/10/bubba-goes-home/ | 2010-06-10 | 4 |
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<p>Our new issue’s cover package on the <a href="" type="internal">new plutocracy</a> has gotten a record response—more than two million people have looked at the <a href="" type="internal">income inequality charts</a> that accompanied Kevin Drum’s piece. Among them, it turns out, was Stephen Colbert, who built a segment around the package in Tuesday’s show and offered a simple, brilliant solution. Over to you, Stephen.</p>
<p /> | Colbert: “Why Not Make it Official? Let the Rich Start Their Own Country.” | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/colbert-mother-jones-income-inequality/ | 2011-03-02 | 4 |
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California is a week into winter but it’s feeling a lot like summer.</p>
<p>High pressure and weak offshore flow is keeping temperatures warm — as much as 12 to 18 degrees above normal.</p>
<p>The National Weather Service says that means there will be 80-degree readings in the valleys and interior coastal sections through Friday and near-shore temperatures will be in the 70s.</p>
<p>The warmth has been accompanied by extreme dryness — just .01 inch of rain in downtown Los Angeles this month — but there’s a chance for relief.</p>
<p>Two forecast models show rain in the middle of next week. The weather service says the models have been inconsistent recently but the fact they both now agree offers some hope for a bit of rain.</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California is a week into winter but it’s feeling a lot like summer.</p>
<p>High pressure and weak offshore flow is keeping temperatures warm — as much as 12 to 18 degrees above normal.</p>
<p>The National Weather Service says that means there will be 80-degree readings in the valleys and interior coastal sections through Friday and near-shore temperatures will be in the 70s.</p>
<p>The warmth has been accompanied by extreme dryness — just .01 inch of rain in downtown Los Angeles this month — but there’s a chance for relief.</p>
<p>Two forecast models show rain in the middle of next week. The weather service says the models have been inconsistent recently but the fact they both now agree offers some hope for a bit of rain.</p> | Southern California’s winter feels a lot like summer | false | https://apnews.com/25230dbf3a2140f798c119f66515ad22 | 2017-12-28 | 2 |
<p>Passion Pit photo courtesy French Kiss records</p>
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<p>This week, a couple tunes good for indie dance parties, a surprising and hilarious mashup, a Brooklyn duo takes an eventful trip to Times Square, and Kate Bush fans have a new artist to worship.</p>
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<p>1. Passion Pit – “The Reeling” (from Manners out May 26 on French Kiss)</p>
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<p>This Boston-based band charmed me (and lots of other people based on their Top 30 ranking on iTunes) with their quirky “Sleepyhead,” but I was wholly unprepared for the raucous good time that is “The Reeling.” Tinkly ’80s-style synths are offset by stomping rock drums, and the sing-along chorus is irresistible: “Oh, noooo!”</p>
<p>2. Bon Jovi vs. Nina Simone – “Like a Life on a Prayer” (Mad Mix Mustang mashup, download at <a href="http://www.madmixmustang.nl/" type="external">his web site</a>)</p>
<p>Usually, the point of a mashup is to be amused at the transformation of both sources, but I’d never heard this Nina Simone track before. However, it’s perfect with the Bon Jovi lyrics, and the track ends up sounding like a Mark Ronson souled-up retro-remix, with some Austin Powers silliness thrown in.</p>
<p>3. Matt &amp; Kim – “Lessons Learned” (from Grand out now on Fader)</p>
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<p>Sure, it’s a YouTube stunt, jump out in an apparently freezing-cold Times Square and strip down to the altogether for everyone to see. But the odd emotions on the Brooklyn duo’s faces as the camera lingers on them, and the strange ending, gives the video an obtuse mystery.</p>
<p>4. Bat for Lashes – “Sleep Alone” (From Two Suns out now on EMI)</p>
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<p>The English singer-songwriter otherwise known as Natasha Khan has taken a major creative leap forward on her second full-length, whose title supposedly refers to two sides of her own personality. The album’s stylistic breadth and lyrical coyness is reminiscent of Kate Bush, but “Sleep Alone”‘s shimmering synth lines remind you it’s 2009.</p>
<p>5. Basement Jaxx – “Raindrops” (from The Return of Basement Jaxx, release date TBD)</p>
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<p>The UK combo were, at one point, on top of the world; “Where’s Your Head At” straddled underground house music and alt-radio like nothing since Daft Punk. But recently, they seemed to have lost the plot, making shrill, nonsensical pop-house. But “Raindrops” is both a return to eclectic, joyous form and a surprising step outside their comfort zone, with weirdly psychedelic and prog-rock touches.</p>
<p /> | Monday Top Five | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/monday-top-five/ | 2009-04-27 | 4 |
<p>Do America's sugar policies harm consumers?</p>
<p>"America's highest remaining trade barriers are aimed at products mostly grown and made by poor people abroad and disproportionately consumed by poor people at home," wrote Daniel Griswold in a September 29th Washington Times <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/29/economic-watch-obamas-protectionist-policies-hurti" type="external">article</a>. He then identified numerous government trade policies that adversely affect low-income populations: Chinese tire tariffs increased the price of low-cost tires, cash-for-clunkers increased the price of used vehicles, and the 2008 farm bill imposed tariffs on staples such as "imported sugar, milk and cheese."</p>
<p>Daniel Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, spoke on "Tricked on our Treats: Time to Rethink the U.S. Sugar Program" at Cato on October 30th. He and William Reinsch, President of the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTA), censured U.S. protectionist policies on sugar, which they both agreed negatively impact American consumers and manufacturers.</p>
<p>On June 19th, 2008, Congress passed the most recent farm bill, the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008. This bill includes many protectionist measures, warned the panelists, with sugar being one of the most cosseted. Sugar accounts for the third most costly U.S. trade barrier, after textiles and dairy, said Reinsch.</p>
<p>It is not the consumer that benefits from the U.S. sugar program; rather, thanks to the efforts of sugar lobbyists such as the American Sugar Alliance, a few thousand sugar producers are enriched, argued Griswold. Also hurt by these protectionist policies are sugar-using industries who have been forced to lay off workers and relocate factories due to costs incurred from superficially high sugar prices, he said.</p>
<p>Due to the tariffs imposed on sugar imports, foreign suppliers cannot compete with domestic markets-domestic sugar-producers account for approximately 80% of the domestic market for sugar. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is "attempting to micro-manage supply and demand of commodities," wrote Sallie James <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/favicon.ico" type="external">on August 19th</a> on Cato-at-Liberty.org. Consequently, U.S. companies in the past 25 years have been forced to pay two to seven times the global price, eroding their global competitiveness. In Griswold's October 8th Detroit News article, "Obama Cuts Sour Deal on Sugar," he lists several sugar-reliant companies that have closed domestic facilities due to the high price of domestic sugar. For example, "Hershey Foods closed plants in Pennsylvania, Colorado and California while moving production to Canada" because, in Canada, sugar prices "average less than half of U.S. prices." Approximately "6,400 workers in the sugar-processing industry have lost their jobs because of their own government's deliberate policy to drive up the cost of their major input," wrote Griswold.</p>
<p>At Cato, Griswold said that "protection[ism] is a conspiracy against liberty" and that it "tramples on the spirit, if not the letter of anti-trust laws." The trend in Congress, observed Bill Reinsch, has been towards more protectionism in the sugar trade.</p>
<p>In his Detroit News article, Griswold stated that President Obama has "kept a campaign promise to the sugar lobby at the expense of American families struggling to pay their grocery bills and U.S. manufacturing workers fighting to keep their jobs."</p> | Artificially-Sweetened Prices | true | http://aim.org/briefing/artificially-sweetened-prices/ | 2009-11-11 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/analysts-cite-clintons-illness-plunge-mexico-peso-202534473.html" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/analysts-cite-clintons-illness-plunge-mexico-peso-202534473.html" type="external">Analysts cite Clinton's illness in new plunge by Mexico peso</a></p>
<p>MEXICO CITY (AP) - Economists have long said that when the United States catches a cold, Mexico gets pneumonia. But analysts said Monday that Hillary Clinton's pneumonia has given Mexico's peso something worse. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/330201017032791/posts/1253443044708579" type="external">Source</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">On this day in 1993, NAFTA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton who sai...</a>December 8, 2016In "Conservative Blogs"</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">CNN's Jake Tapper Edits out Hillary Clinton's "Bombings" Remark</a>September 19, 2016In "Conservative Blogs"</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Wow. Hillary just said she was going to RAISE TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS!!!!This ...</a>September 3, 2016In "Conservative Blogs"</p> | Analysts cite Clinton's illness in new plunge by Mexico peso | true | http://libertyfederation.org/analysts-cite-clintons-illness-in-new-plunge-by-mexico-peso/ | 2016-09-20 | 0 |
<p>A new article by Boston Globe reporter Eric Moscowitz gives an account of the carjacking victim from last Thursday night's events in Boston.</p>
<p>The victim, Danny, a Chinese emigre, describes how he spent a harrowing 90-minutes with the Tsarnaev brothers playing down his success, his new Mercedes, and a new job at a start-up. Instead he played up the idea of being a foreigner from China.</p>
<p>Danny was adept at what writer and MIT professor, Seth Mnookin calls "code-switching,"? or shifting your identity depending on the person that you're talking with.</p>
<p>Anchor Marco Werman talks with Mnookin about Danny's interaction with the brothers as well as the atmosphere today at MIT one week after the tragic events that occurred near the campus.</p> | How the Carjack Victim Survived 90-Harrowing Minutes with the Tsarnaev Brothers | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-04-26/how-carjack-victim-survived-90-harrowing-minutes-tsarnaev-brothers | 2013-04-26 | 3 |
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<p>The doubters, including the presumed incoming Fed chair Jerome Powell, expressed fears that the risks outweighed what they believed would be small benefits. Even then-Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, who was pushing for the move, conceded that whatever action the Fed took was “going to be a shot in the proverbial dark.”</p>
<p>After extensive debate over two days, the central bank ended up supporting Bernanke by voting to launch the new effort to bolster the economy by buying $40 billion monthly in mortgage-backed securities to push long-term borrowing costs down.</p>
<p>The discussion was revealed in full transcripts of the Fed’s eight meetings in 2012, released after the customary five-year delay.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The transcripts showed a central bank struggling to come to grips with an economy still trying to gain momentum after the 2008 financial crisis which had pushed the country into the deepest recession since the 1930s.</p>
<p>All officials agreed that the economy was weak, but they differed sharply over what the Fed should do. One group argued that after two rounds of bond purchases totaling over $2 trillion, it was not likely that a third round would do much good. The Fed was buying bonds as a way to lower long-term interest rates and spur borrowing by businesses on new equipment and consumers on such items as homes.</p>
<p>Janet Yellen, then the Fed’s vice chairman who would succeed Bernanke, was a strong supporter of the new round of bond purchases. New board member Jerome Powell, who joined the Fed in May 2012, was less enthusiastic. Powell has been nominated by Trump to succeed Yellen as Fed chairman next month.</p>
<p>“My concern is that for very modest benefits, we are piling up risks for the future,” Powell said.</p>
<p>Several presidents of the Fed’s regional banks argued against new bond purchases, saying that they could trigger higher inflation down the road and create dangerous asset bubbles in such areas as stock prices.</p>
<p>Among the other details revealed in the discussions:</p>
<p>–Yellen warned that without further Fed help, the economy could be facing a “lost decade” of high unemployment from a “painfully slow recovery.”</p>
<p>–Bernanke argued that the risks of doing nothing, given the economy’s weakness, were greater than providing more support. He urged his colleages “despite their disagreements to present a united front” in support of the Fed’s actions.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>–The Fed voted 11-1 in the end to launch the new bond purchases with Bernanke helped by the fact that many of the regional bank presidents who spoke against the action did not have a vote in 2012.</p>
<p>–The worries that an extended period of low interest rate policies could trigger inflation or financial market instability have yet to materialize, although Fed critics contend that the central bank may set off market turmoil as it tries to unwind its massive bond holdings.</p>
<p>The Fed followed up the September decision with a move in December to buy $45 billion a month in Treasury bonds. That brought total purchases to $85 billion per month and made the program open-ended until the economy showed improvement.</p>
<p>The efforts pushed the Fed’s balance sheet up to $4.5 trillion. It was only in October 2017 that the central bank began gradually trimming its holdings.</p>
<p>The Fed also debated throughout 2012 how to tweak its forward guidance to provide assurance to markets that rates would remain low for an extended period. At the final meeting of the year, it changed the wording to say it would not begin raising interest rates until the unemployment rate, then at 7.7 percent, had fallen to at least 6.5 percent.</p>
<p>The Fed kept rates at a record low near zero for three more years until December 2015 when it nudged its benchmark rate up by a quarter-point. It also raised rates once in 2016 and then three times in 2017, pushing its policy rate to a range of 1.25 percent to 1.5 percent.</p> | Transcripts show Fed divided in 2012 over bond purchases | false | https://abqjournal.com/1115301/transcripts-show-fed-divided-in-2012-over-bond-purchases.html | 2018-01-05 | 2 |
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<p>SEOUL, South Korea — Asian stock markets were mixed on Monday following the London attack over the weekend and a private survey showing improvement in China’s service sector. Stocks moved within a narrow range ahead of the week packed with political events and economic data from the United Kingdom’s elections to China’s export data.</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 was flat at 20,180.22 while South Korea’s Kospi was also nearly unchanged at 2,372.16. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.3 percent to 25,838.21 and China’s Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.5 percent to 3,091.01. Australia’s S&amp;P/ASX 200 lost 0.8 percent to 5,742.30. Stocks in Taiwan, Indonesia and other Southeast Asian markets were mostly higher.</p>
<p>CHINA DATA: A private survey showed that China’s factory activity expanded modestly in May while its service sector improved at a solid pace. The Caixin China Composite Output Index was 51.5 last month, up slightly from April but the second-lowest reading since September 2016. On the other hand, the Caixin China General Services PMI was 52.8 in May, up 1.3 points from April, the highest reading in four months. Beijing will release its May export data on Thursday, which will be a gauge for global demand.</p>
<p>LONDON ATTACK: Britain suffered another terrorist attack on Saturday night, increasing uncertainty ahead of its general election Thursday. Reactions in Asian markets were largely muted but investors were keen on the outcome of the upcoming election</p>
<p>ANALYST’S VIEWPOINT: “The markets impact has been mute as dealers are becoming desensitized to the shocks knowing that whatever market impact occurs it diminishes quickly,” Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA, said in a daily commentary.</p>
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<p>U.S. WATCH: The U.S. economy added fewer than expected jobs in May, the government’s report showed Friday. The report was a disappointment to investors but it did not change their expectation that the Federal Reserve would increase a rate when policymakers meet later this month.</p>
<p>WALL STREET: On Friday, U.S. stocks finished higher despite the disappointing unemployment report. The Standard &amp; Poor’s 500 index rose 0.4 percent to 2,439.07. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.3 percent to 21,206.29, and the Nasdaq composite added 0.9 percent to 6,305.80.</p>
<p>OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude oil added 60 cents to $48.26 per barrel in electronic trading on New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 70 cents to settle at $47.66 per barrel on Friday. Brent crude, which is used to price international oils, rose 61 cents to $50.56 per barrel.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar strengthened to 110.56 yen from 110.41 yen while the euro fell to $1.127 from $1.128.</p> | Asian markets mixed as London attack, China data in focus | false | https://abqjournal.com/1013111/asian-markets-mixed-as-london-attack-china-data-in-focus.html | 2017-06-04 | 2 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Albuquerque police have arrested a fourth person in the shooting death of a popular Manzano High School teen in 2015.</p>
<p>Police this afternoon announced an open count of murder charge against Dominic Conyers, 19.</p>
<p>Dominic Conyers</p>
<p>They say he was involved in the death of Jaydon Chavez-Silver, 17, who was shot while at a party with friends in June. Police believe Chavez-Silver was an unintended victim of a drive-by.</p>
<p>They have also arrested and charged Donovan Maez, 18, Christoper Cruz, 22, and Nicholas Gonzales Villasenor, 17, in Chavez-Silver's death.</p>
<p>After his death, Chavez-Silver's mom, Nicole Chavez, rallied other crime victim families to push for criminal justice reform in the state.</p>
<p>The legislature this year passed Jaydon's Law in memory of her son. The law allows judges access to certain defendant's juvenile criminal history.</p>
<p>Conyers was arrested in 2015 on an unrelated incident in which police say he sold explosive devices to undercover officer.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Fourth arrest made in drive-by killing of popular Manzano athlete | false | https://abqjournal.com/738455/fourth-arrest-made-in-death-of-popular-teen.html | 2 |
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<p>NEW YORK - Ralph Lauren's stylish uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team, complete with a jaunty beret, have sparked a political row because the red, white and blue outfits were made in China.</p>
<p>With U.S. unemployment hovering at 8 percent, politicians are speaking out against the uniforms for the London Games that start later this month, saying they should have been made at home.</p>
<p>"It is not just a label, it's an economic solution," Rep. Steve Israel, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement issued on Th ursday.</p>
<p>"Today there are 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in this country and the Olympic committee is outsourcing the manufacturing of uniforms to China? That is not just outrageous, it's just plain dumb. It is self-defeating."</p>
<p>House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, echoed that criticism.</p>
<p>"You'd think they'd know better," Boehner told reporters.</p>
<p>Despite the criticism, the U.S. Olympic Committee defended its decision to have Lauren design the outfits.</p>
<p>"Unlike most Olympic teams around the world, the U.S. Olympic Team is privately funded and we're grateful for the support of our sponsors," spokesman Patrick Sandusky said in a statement.</p>
<p>"We're proud of our partnership with Ralph Lauren, an iconic American company, and excited to watch America's finest athletes compete at the upcoming Games in London."</p>
<p>No one was immediately available at Ralph Lauren to comment. (Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Christine Kearney, Phil Berlowitz and Dan Grebler)</p> | US Olympic uniforms made in China | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-07-13/us-olympic-uniforms-made-china | 2012-07-13 | 3 |
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<p>Weather has been a problem all weekend at Bristol, where Friday qualifications were washed out. On Saturday, the Xfinity Series race had a lengthy stoppage for rain.</p>
<p>Cup points leader Kyle Larson will start on the pole next to Chase Elliott.</p>
<p>Bristol officials this year applied a VHT resin to the track surface that is intended to enhance grip. But the nonstop rain has washed away most of the tire rubber accumulated through three practice sessions.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s unclear if both the preferred bottom lane and top line will work on Monday. If only one lane works, it could turn into a throwback Bristol race in which bumping is the only way to pass a car.</p>
<p>Larson said he expected NASCAR to call a competition caution early in the first stage Monday to check tire wear.</p>
<p>“I’m sure we will all pit probably because it has shown a lot of tire wear on the left side, so I’m sure everybody will pit,” Larson said. “We will see if people take two or four or whatever, but it kind of just depends on what position you are in at that point if you are going to take two or four (tires).”</p>
<p>Five-time Bristol winner Kurt Busch called the rain “a blessing in disguise.”</p>
<p>“The track was talking about laying down more VHT and they can’t do it while it’s wet,” Busch said. “The VHT is like a grip applicator and you have to heat it up to make it work, so in the drag-racing world the guys do a burnout through it and you have that stripe that you just heat it up and that’s what has to happen for us oval guys. We have to have more cars out there to heat it up, so it’s going to be like ice when we first start off and then the grip will come back once we do heat it up after this rain.</p>
<p>“I’m hopeful that once we burn through some of that top surface, and we get through to where we’re starting to wear it away, then the outside groove will come into play. Hopefully, you’ll have a bottom and a top once it gets down to it.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to show that Kyle Larson, not Kyle Busch, will start on the pole.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP Auto Racing at: <a href="http://www.racing.ap.org" type="external">www.racing.ap.org</a></p> | Rain washes out NASCAR race at Bristol until Monday | false | https://abqjournal.com/992057/rain-washes-out-nascar-race-at-bristol-until-monday.html | 2017-04-23 | 2 |
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<p>And Rachel Maddow gave a master class in just that on her MSNBC show Tuesday night.</p>
<p>With huge numbers of viewers tuned in because of her earlier tweet that she had obtained President Donald Trump’s tax returns, she talked … and talked … and talked. For an eternity – or close to 20 minutes, which certainly felt like an eternity – viewers heard about everything except the actual news. We got Russian oligarchs, Cypriot banks, the firing of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and much more.</p>
<p>“Haven’t seen this much windup since El Duque,” quipped Maggie Haberman, a New York Times reporter, referring on Twitter to former Yankee Orlando Hernandez’s pitching style.</p>
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<p>About 10 minutes in, I started wondering what would have happened if Maddow, rather than David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post, had been sent the “Access Hollywood” video? How long, how long, would we have waited to find out what a really famous guy can grab ’em by?</p>
<p>Some old-timers were even recalling TV host Geraldo Rivera’s overhyped 1986 exploration of Al Capone’s vault.</p>
<p>Maddow’s reveal, when it finally came, was interesting if underwhelming: Trump paid $38 million taxes in 2005 at about a 25 percent rate and took a huge write-down. (Donald Trump Jr. tweeted his sarcastic thanks to Maddow for showing his father’s business success; and indeed, these figures were not damaging to Trump in the way that a New York Times report last fall on his leaked 1995 taxes were.)</p>
<p>In the nearly 90 minutes between Maddow’s initial tweet and the actual news being pronounced on her show by her star guest, investigative reporter David Cay Johnston, the White House itself had gone on the offensive to release the numbers, and the Daily Beast, where Johnston writes a column, had published a story on the same.</p>
<p>And by then, talk on Twitter had already turned to whether Trump himself had released the returns, possibly as a shiny-object distraction from the Republican health-care bill.</p>
<p>The smart money says no: Much more likely, they emanated from the unsuccessful and ill-advised 2006 lawsuit that Trump filed against former New York Times reporter and Trump biographer Timothy O’Brien in which the same returns – 2005 – were provided in discovery.</p>
<p>Maddow’s slow reveal had its defenders, like viewer Karen Charmatz, who tweeted: “I like the way she explains things. Sometimes it’s proper to contextualize an issue. This is one of those times.”</p>
<p>But mostly, it had its critics, including Jason Del Rey of Recode: “Maddow just convinced millions more to cut the cable cord.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And, happily, the show provided educational material beyond how to bury the lede. Dictionary.com said its top request for word definition was for “transom,” after Johnston described how he received the documents “over the transom,” meaning that they arrived unrequested and in this case, in the old-fashioned U.S. mail – the second time Trump tax returns have come to a reporter that way in recent months.</p>
<p>And the cable-cutting generation under 35 who scrambled to stream the Maddow show or watch from a bar or a parent’s home seemed to learn something, too: That the world of cable-TV has its own language and its own inexplicable mores.</p>
<p>Maddows’s approach was in keeping with how she conducts her highly rated show every night. This is not a woman who believes in cutting to the chase.</p>
<p>As she told Michael Grynbaum of The Times in a recent interview, Maddow never assumes that her viewers have all the information and context they need: “There’s new people here every night. I definitely feel like, hey, if you’re new, let me meet you where you are.”</p>
<p>In the end, a scoop is a scoop, and Maddow certainly milked it for all it was worth. To her credit, she also put the crucial subject of Trump’s finances squarely back in the national conversation.</p>
<p>The president’s Tuesday night complaint that Maddow must be “desperate for ratings” – and that the publication of the return was illegal – doesn’t hold up.The publication of newsworthy material is not against the law; the president’s tax returns, long denied to the public, certainly meet that test.</p>
<p>In addition to Maddow’s not-so-short course in burying the lede, and the new understanding of how “over the transom” works, we all learned something else: just how fast Trump can move to release his tax returns when he wants to.</p>
<p>The transom awaits.</p> | Rachel Maddow had a decent scoop – here’s what she did wrong with it | false | https://abqjournal.com/969632/rachel-maddow-had-a-decent-scoop-heres-what-she-did-wrong-with-it.html | 2 |
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<p>Oregon Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley has <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/special/index.ssf/2008/11/senate.html" type="external">defeated</a> moderate Republican incumbent Gordon Smith for Oregon’s junior Senate seat, bumping the Dems’ roster in the Senate to 57. For a rundown on where they are in Georgia, Minnesota, and Alaska, the three races still outstanding, <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/11/10698_democrats_disappointing_congressional_results.html" type="external">click here</a>. Below, an illustration of what Oregon looks like politically (courtesy of the Oregonian). Can you guess where Portland and Eugene are located?</p>
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<p /> | Oregon Comes Through: Dems Win Another Senate Seat | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/11/oregon-comes-through-dems-win-another-senate-seat/ | 2008-11-06 | 4 |
<p>At least this much can be said of the Supreme Court under John Roberts now that the high tribunal has agreed to review two cases testing the constitutionality of same-sex marriage: The chief justice and his colleagues don’t duck the hard ones. In agreeing to examine California’s Proposition 8 (Hollingsworth v. Perry) and the federal Defense of Marriage Act (Windsor v. United States), the court has created a defining moment, not only for its own legacy but for the country as a whole. By upholding the right of same-sex couples to marry, the court could lay the foundations of an expansive constitutional framework for the 21st century. By deciding in the other direction, the court could take us decisively backward. History is at stake.</p>
<p>The easiest way to tell that the opponents of same-sex marriage are on the wrong side of history is that their strongest argument is an updated and hypocritical iteration of one the nation rejected a century and a half ago. This is the contention that in democracies, majorities rule and that once a law delineating individual rights is duly ratified — either by way of a ballot initiative, as in California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, or by an act of Congress, as in the 1996 passage of DOMA — it should withstand judicial scrutiny. As Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council (which helped write DOMA), exclaimed in a <a href="http://www.frc.org/newsroom/family-research-council-pleased-supreme-court-will-examine-marriage-cases" type="external">press release</a> issued soon after the Supreme Court’s announcement that it would take on the two marriage cases, “Voters … will not accept an activist court redefining our most fundamental social institution.”</p>
<p>On the eve of the Civil War, the notion that majority rule trumped individual rights was known as “popular sovereignty.” The concept was at the heart of the most famous electoral debates in our history — those between Democrat Stephen Douglas and Republican Abraham Lincoln in the Illinois Senate contest of 1858.</p>
<p>With the union fast unraveling over the question of slavery’s spread into the Western territories and particularly Kansas, Douglas defended the right of each jurisdiction to vote slavery up or down. Lincoln, though not yet a committed abolitionist much less a proponent of true racial equality, countered that popular sovereignty not only undermined the long-term goal of the nation’s founders to set slavery on a course of “ultimate extinction” but that the idea of leaving individual rights to the changing whims of political majorities corroded, rather than advanced, the ideals of self-government.</p>
<p />
<p>Writing in a 2009 Daily Dish blog post about the brewing <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/print/2009/11/popular-sovereignty-now/194426/" type="external">controversy</a> over Proposition 8, political commentator and gay rights activist Andrew Sullivan cited one of Lincoln’s 1855 letters, in which the future president reasoned:</p>
<p>“Our progress in degeneracy appears to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it, ‘all men are created equal, except negroes. … ’&#160;”</p>
<p>As Sullivan suggested, substitute the word “gay” for “negroes” and Lincoln’s logic still resonates in today’s same-sex marriage disputes.</p>
<p>As recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/us/justices-consider-same-sex-marriage-cases-for-docket.html?_r=1&amp;" type="external">opinion polls</a> show, support for same-sex marriage across the country is growing, with roughly half of Americans — albeit many of them young and in blue states — favoring equality. Currently, excluding California, nine states plus the District of Columbia recognize same-sex marriage. At the same time, however, 31 states have amended their constitutions to prohibit such unions.</p>
<p>So when all the legal arguments are heard, how will the Supreme Court — considered by many the most conservative in decades, but also one of the most activist — weigh in? Contrary to the complaints raised by some on the right, the court possesses well-established powers of judicial review, authorizing it to uphold or strike down both state and federal laws. From a strictly technical standpoint, the two cases under review thus present the justices with several options, ranging from wholesale constitutional endorsement or rejection of same-sex marriage to the crafting of narrow decisions that restrict the scope and application of each lawsuit. The court could also dismiss either or both cases on procedural grounds.</p>
<p>The DOMA case, brought by 83-year-old Edith Windsor — a New York woman who was required to pay federal estate taxes after her longtime partner whom she had married in Canada died — raises the issue of whether equal protection principles prohibit the federal government from using DOMA to deny gay and lesbian married couples the same treatment as heterosexuals in states that have already approved gay marriage. Had Windsor been wed to a man, she would have paid no inheritance tax. Although it’s difficult to discern how the Roberts court, committed by its own past decisions to states’ rights and federalism, could uphold DOMA as applied to approving states like New York, it’s unlikely the justices will restrict the application of DOMA elsewhere or establish a nationwide constitutional standard in favor of same-sex marriage even if they rule in Windsor’s favor.</p>
<p>The Proposition 8 matter, by contrast, offers a better opportunity for broader gains, although the opportunity is circumscribed both by the Supreme Court’s right-wing orientation and the narrow wording of the lower court decision in the case. In a 2-1 majority opinion written by the 9th Circuit’s Stephen Reinhardt, perhaps the most consistently liberal appellate judge in the country, the court explicitly sidestepped the question of whether same-sex couples have a fundamental federal constitutional right to marry. Rather, in what may have been an attempt to avoid review altogether by the Roberts court, Reinhardt limited his opinion to California, holding only that Proposition 8 had violated the rights of same-sex married couples there by invalidating a ruling of the state Supreme Court and in the process unlawfully singling out gays and lesbians for discriminatory treatment.</p>
<p>As most students of constitutional law well know, the Roberts court has been no fan of the 9th Circuit generally or Reinhardt in particular. Last term alone, the high court <a href="http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SB_scorecard_OT11_final.pdf" type="external">reversed</a> no less than 17 9th Circuit rulings, more than three times the number of reversals issued for any other circuit court. Overturning Reinhardt’s decision and upholding Proposition 8’s gay marriage ban would be consistent with that trend.</p>
<p>Doing so, however, would be wrong and not just legally but also for the same profound moral reasons that Lincoln raised in the 1858 debates over popular sovereignty and slavery. When it comes to individual rights and freedoms, principle and human dignity should prevail over politics. Given the positive gay rights record of the court’s perennial swing vote — Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose majority 2003 opinion in Lawrence v. Texas overturned that state’s sodomy law — there is some reason to hope the Supreme Court will go even further than the 9th Circuit and recognize once and forever the basic right of consenting adults across the country to marry the partners of their choice.</p>
<p>We had to fight a civil war to settle the debate over slavery. All that’s needed this time is some fair and forward thinking from the nation’s top judicial body.</p> | Same-Sex Marriage and the Supreme Court's Historic Choice | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/same-sex-marriage-and-the-supreme-courts-historic-choice/ | 2012-12-11 | 4 |
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<p>COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Authorities are investigating after a 71-year-old man was found dead inside a burning motor home in Colorado Springs.</p>
<p>Police Lt. Howard Black says firefighters found the motor home fully engulfed in flames Saturday night and found the body as they were dousing the blaze.</p>
<p>An autopsy was completed Monday, but the cause and manner of death have not been determined. Investigators say the death is not suspicious.</p>
<p>The man’s family has not yet been notified of the death.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Body found in burning motor home in Colorado Springs | false | https://abqjournal.com/944317/body-found-in-burning-motor-home-in-colorado-springs.html | 2 |
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<p>&#160;</p>
<p>While I was at the University of Maryland during the 1974-1975 academic year one of the projects among the leftist counterculture community was supporting a group of students who wanted to start a food co-op on campus. These folks were constantly being threatened by an administration that had sold its soul to big business years before.</p>
<p>In this particular instance, the co-op workers had been arrested twice for selling food in front of the student union without a permit. Of course the reason they were selling without a permit was because the school wouldn’t give them one because it violated the standard exclusive contract that the Marriot Corporation had with the University. So, the University sent its cops out to cuff a bunch of hippies selling sandwiches. Such obvious corporate buttkissing eventually worked against the school and, after a spring of demonstrations and arrests, the trustees changed the food service contract, and allowed the co-op to operate legally, even giving it a room in the Student Union building and some money to bring their operation up to code.</p>
<p>Later on that year while the co-op struggle languished in officialdom, our cadre of the Revolutionary Student Brigade (RSB) set up a human blockade around a pair of Marines who were attempting to recruit a few good men from the campus. This was the first time since before the Cambodia/Kent State riots in 1970 that any type of military recruitment had been attempted on the University of Maryland campus. Our goal was to make them leave. Every day at noon a bunch of antiwar types would sit down in front of the Marines’ table in front of the Student Union building and link arms. Eventually there would be between fifty and a hundred folks completely surrounding the table. The Marines just stood there at attention, but occasionally right wing students, usually big white guys, would charge through the crowd. It wasn’t that they wanted to join the Marines –they just wanted to kick some commie butt. From what I remember, the only butt they kicked belonged to a woman with real long hair who attended RSB meetings. One afternoon, she threw her ninety-pound body in front of some guy who thought he was running through the defensive front line of the Washington Redskins football team and he trampled her. She ended up with some badly bruised ribs and a charge of assault. He ended up feeling like a man. After this incident the University had the Marines move inside the Student Union building to a room that was towards the back of the building. They left the campus when nobody cared enough to find them. Before that occurred, however, two of our cadre members from off-campus were arrested on trespassing charges for sitting inside the room where the Marines were. The rest of our cadre and some supporters took over one of the dean’s offices and held it until they were released.</p>
<p>One of our other projects was helping to bring down the Shah of Iran-a brutal dictator who was owned lock, stock and barrel by the CIA and the oil companies. His secret police ­ the SAVAK ­ were notorious for the regime of fear they had created in Iran and amongst Iranians around the globe. Lots of Iranian youth studied in the United States, and the DC area certainly had its share. I was one of the liaisons to the Iranian Students Organization ­ ISA. We spent several afternoons together at a crowded office in downtown DC taking part in meetings planning for the upcoming visit to DC by the shah. In return for our support, local ISA members attending the University of Maryland helped us out as much as possible. Once when we were picketing the Administration building over a planned budget cut aimed at the Ethnic Studies department, two Iranian guys driving a black Mercedes pulled up on the sidewalk, jumped out of the car and attacked our Iranian friend whom I’ll call Rashif. They almost had him in the car before we realized that they were probably part of the Shah’s secret police (SAVAK) and trying to kidnap him. After a bit of a struggle, we managed to rescue him. Rashif was a very dedicated Marxist revolutionary and took it all in stride. It was his instruction that helped me to understand some of the finer nuances of Lenin’s treatise on imperialism. After the attack, he disappeared for a couple weeks and then reappeared. After the Iranian revolution I heard that he had returned to Iran. For all I know, Khomeini’s soldiers killed him.</p>
<p>While working on the co-op protests at the university, I was reminded that sandwiches had figured into a protest back in high school also. After the Department of Defense School System (which ran all schools on military bases overseas, where my dad was stationed as an Air Force officer) raised prices on all of the cafeteria food back in 1972, some of us asked why. The answer given by the school administration was that the pentagon had to cut expenses. Our immediate response was why not end the war instead of raising food prices? After all, one fuckin’ bomb cost a hell of a lot more money than a high school lunch. A fellow student, TW, and I got together with a few friends and printed a leaflet that asked that very question and announced a lunch boycott until prices were lowered. We gave away sandwiches outside the cafeteria for three days and had speakers talking about everything from the war to David Bowie. A local rock band attempted to give a free concert but was denied electricity by the administration. The boycott was successful for a few days and then lost momentum. People just got tired of making sandwiches and coffee. Prices never went down.</p>
<p>While we boycotted lunch, the revolutionary armed cells of the Red Army Fraktion (RAF) were blowing up U.S. Army buildings. I was at home the evening the first bombs of their campaign destroyed a good portion of the Officers’ Club and a part of the IG Farben office building in Frankfurt am Main where hundreds of military folks, including my dad, worked, killing an army colonel. The following morning the US military was very nervous and under a state of high alert. Military policemen inspected our bags before we left the school bus, and soldiers with small arms stood at several key intersections in the areas of the city where the Americans lived and worked. In the coming weeks, these areas, which had been relatively open, were closed off. Sentry posts were hastily constructed and concrete barriers put in place. Metal detectors were placed in the entrances to U.S. office buildings and military identification cards were scrutinized more closely before one entered buildings like the commissary and Post Exchange.</p>
<p>In the weeks that followed, other bombs were set off in other cities in West Germany. In Heidelberg two GIs were killed when their cars exploded. Apparently, the bombers had placed the bombs under the vehicles unbeknownst to the servicemen. Although I was sympathetic to the reasons behind the bombings, I did not understand or support the murders. It was too simple to blame anybody connected to the military for US imperialism and not take into account the reasons those individuals might be in the service. Of course, the RAF did not really concern itself with those reasons; they just opposed and hated the existence and presence of the US military on foreign soil. So they killed people, more for their own satisfaction than to further the revolution. Sometime around this period a group of friends and I went to a big demonstration in downtown Frankfurt opposing the intensified U.S. bombing of Vietnam and, in the United States, the Weather Underground set off a bomb in the Pentagon.</p>
<p>In mid-June one of the leaders of the RAF-Andreas Baader-was captured in an apartment near the building where Armed Forces radio was headquartered. This ended the bombings for a while. The buildup towards a police state continued, however. In their search for the remaining members of the RAF, German police set up unannounced roadblocks on the autobahn and stopped every vehicle. Leftist demonstrations were more tightly controlled and the police were freer in their attacks on such protests. In addition, the numbers of police outside rock concerts and festivals increased.</p>
<p>I’m not selling sandwiches these days, but the equation we considered back in high school still works. The cost of the latest imperial war is causing many US residents to go hungry. The rest of us are paying more for our sandwiches and everything else because of the money going to the war and occupation. Some of the costs are direct-less money for so-called safety net expenditures and more for the costs of war; and some are indirect-we pay more for fuel at home, in our cars, and at the grocery store because of shippers’ fuel costs rising. And car bombs have become a daily occurrence.</p>
<p>RON JACOBS is author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1859841678/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground</a>, which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs’ essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch’s new collection on music, art and sex, <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CP_Books.html" type="external">Serpents in the Garden</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Sandwiches and Car Bombs | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/11/20/sandwiches-and-car-bombs/ | 2004-11-20 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing Beijing is “paying close attention” to what nuclear weapons policy Trump’s administration will follow.</p>
<p>After meeting with Pentagon officials and defense contractors a day earlier, Trump tweeted Thursday: “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”</p>
<p>His comments came hours after Putin said he wanted to strengthen Russia’s own nuclear capabilities in the coming year.</p>
<p>The U.S. and Russia hold the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons. China is also a nuclear power and in 1996, Beijing signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>According to the Washington, D.C.-based Arms Control Association, China has an estimated 260 nuclear warheads. Russia and the U.S. have more than 7,000 each.</p>
<p>Hua said that China advocates a ban on and destruction of nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>“The countries that have the largest nuclear arsenals should bear special responsibility for nuclear disarmament, take a lead in drastically and tangibly cutting the number of nuclear weapons so as to create conditions for the eventual full and thorough nuclear disarmament,” Hua said.</p> | China ‘closely following’ Trump comments on nuclear policy | false | https://abqjournal.com/914787/china-closely-following-trump-comments-on-nuclear-policy.html | 2 |
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<p>ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A western North Carolina city has voted to restrict tourist rentals downtown.</p>
<p>The Asheville <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/01/09/asheville-downtown-vacation-rentals-airbnbs-banned-6-1-city-council-vote/1019195001/" type="external">Citizen-Times reported</a> the city council voted 6-1 Tuesday to restrict short-term vacation rentals. Supporters say the restriction will help prevent too many homes from being converted to short-term rentals such as those make popular by Airbnb and others.</p>
<p>Councilwoman Julie Mayfield says the city needs to protect downtown housing.</p>
<p>The only council member who voted no, Keith Young, said the move came without comprehensive discussion.</p>
<p>The newspaper reported the new restrictions come in a city recognized internationally as a tourist destination, but where many local residents feel overwhelmed by visitors and businesses that serve them.</p>
<p>One woman told the council she had been evicted twice last year by owners who wanted to create tourist rentals.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com" type="external">http://www.citizen-times.com</a></p>
<p>ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A western North Carolina city has voted to restrict tourist rentals downtown.</p>
<p>The Asheville <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2018/01/09/asheville-downtown-vacation-rentals-airbnbs-banned-6-1-city-council-vote/1019195001/" type="external">Citizen-Times reported</a> the city council voted 6-1 Tuesday to restrict short-term vacation rentals. Supporters say the restriction will help prevent too many homes from being converted to short-term rentals such as those make popular by Airbnb and others.</p>
<p>Councilwoman Julie Mayfield says the city needs to protect downtown housing.</p>
<p>The only council member who voted no, Keith Young, said the move came without comprehensive discussion.</p>
<p>The newspaper reported the new restrictions come in a city recognized internationally as a tourist destination, but where many local residents feel overwhelmed by visitors and businesses that serve them.</p>
<p>One woman told the council she had been evicted twice last year by owners who wanted to create tourist rentals.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, <a href="http://www.citizen-times.com" type="external">http://www.citizen-times.com</a></p> | Asheville votes to restrict short-term vacation rentals | false | https://apnews.com/amp/207352a7030749ae8ed37bf87854a8af | 2018-01-11 | 2 |
<p>Fred Allen, who owned the Drinkery for many years, died on Aug. 7. (Photo by Steve Charing)</p>
<p>Frederick “Fred” Allen, the former owner of The Drinkery, a longstanding gay bar in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, died from natural causes on Aug. 7 at the age of 86, according to his granddaughter Amy Miller.</p>
<p>Allen, who owned The Drinkery since 1972 and maintained an apartment above the bar for more than 40 years, transferred the Class “BD7” Beer, Wine &amp; Liquor License to Miller this past Jan. 19.</p>
<p>The Drinkery, situated on the corner of Park Avenue and Read Streets, made news when the Baltimore City Board of Liquor License Commissioners voted 2-1 on May 19, 2016 not to extend the bar’s liquor license based on a petition from neighboring businesses and residents alleging rowdiness, excessive noise, drug activity and violence in and around the establishment.</p>
<p>Allen, frail and wheelchair-bound, was among those who testified on behalf of the bar at the liquor board hearing.</p>
<p>Two weeks later on June 2 a motion for reconsideration hearing was held, and the liquor board reversed the earlier decision based on an appeal by Allen. One of the individuals who signed the petition and testified against the license extension&#160;is listed on the liquor license of another Mount Vernon establishment and therefore, as a competing licensee, he was not permitted to participate under the board’s rules.&#160;This led to one of the commissioners to reverse her previous vote thereby overturning the previous ruling by the board.</p>
<p>The Drinkery re-opened the next day to much relief and jubilance by its patrons.</p>
<p>“Mr. Allen formed a mainstay institution in the Mount Vernon neighborhood and the Baltimore LGBT community,” Brian Dolbow, a longtime patron of The Drinkery and resident of the neighborhood, told the Blade. “He cared deeply about his employees, his customers, and his community. Thanks to Mr. Allen, I have met so many wonderful people and have made lifelong friends. May he rest in peace.”</p>
<p>Carlton Smith, executive director and CEO of The Center for Black Equity Baltimore, agreed.</p>
<p>“I have been a 10-year patron of The Drinkery in which I visited so often in the gayborhood. I’m sure Mr. Allen’s death is a kind of shock to many of his patrons who especially had a long time relationship with the bar and family members. This bar has been a staple for many young men and women in the gayborhood. It was our ‘Cheers’ where everyone got to know your name,” Smith told the Blade.</p>
<p>Allen’s body was donated to the Maryland Anatomy Board.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Amy Miller</a> <a href="" type="internal">Baltimore</a> <a href="" type="internal">Baltimore City Board of Liquor License Commissioners</a> <a href="" type="internal">Carlton Smith</a> <a href="" type="internal">Center for Black Equity</a> <a href="" type="internal">Fred Allen</a> <a href="" type="internal">gay bar</a> <a href="" type="internal">LGBT nightlife</a> <a href="" type="internal">Maryland</a> <a href="" type="internal">Maryland Anatomy Board</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mount Vernon</a> <a href="" type="internal">The Drinkery</a></p> | Former owner of The Drinkery dies | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2017/08/16/former-owner-drinkery-dies/ | 3 |
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<p>Thanks to a federal appeals court decision <a href="" type="internal">handed down this week</a>, it’s about to be <a href="http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/getting-an-abortion-in-texas-is-now-almost-impossible-again-7300959" type="external">much harder to get an abortion</a> in Texas. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Texas may implement a <a href="" type="internal">sweeping anti-abortion law</a> known as HB2 that threatens to shutter dozens of clinics in the Lone Star State.</p>
<p>Among other things, HB2 will force clinics to make expensive upgrades to bring their buildings in line with the standards for “ <a href="http://kut.org/post/issue-texas-abortion-debate-whats-ambulatory-surgical-center" type="external">ambulatory surgical centers</a>” (ASCs). Under this particular portion of the law, all abortion providers in the state will need to implement <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/13/texas-abortion-providers/2514783/" type="external">costly renovations</a> to their buildings — like widening their hallways, building janitor’s closets, and installing sophisticated air filtration systems — to make their facilities more analogous to a hospital than a doctor’s office.</p>
<p>Some abortion providers have estimated that these renovations will cost them <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/13/texas-abortion-providers/2514783/" type="external">upwards of a million dollars</a>. Planned Parenthood, a national organization with considerably more resources than independent abortion providers, is <a href="http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2014/04/03/planned-parenthood-announces-plan-build-new-surgery-center-texas/" type="external">currently spending $5 million</a> to construct a sophisticated surgical center in San Antonio to comply with HB2. Other providers don’t have that kind of money, and will now be <a href="http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/dozen-texas-abortion-clinics-could-close-soon" type="external">forced to close</a>.</p>
<p>Significantly, the Fifth Circuit <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/14/14-50928-CV0.pdf" type="external">decided</a> that this portion of Texas’ omnibus abortion law applies even for the provision of <a href="" type="internal">medication abortion</a>, the non-surgical method of ending an early pregnancy that involves taking two rounds of pills.</p>
<p>“We conclude that the record and district court’s opinion do not justify statewide invalidation of the ASC requirement in the context of medication abortions,” the panel of judges <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/14/14-50928-CV0.pdf" type="external">wrote</a>. “The ASC requirement in the context of medication abortion is rationally related to a legitimate state interest and has not been shown to have an improper purpose or impose an undue burden on a large fraction of women for whom it is relevant.”</p>
<p>In practice, this means the state of Texas will require abortion clinics to make hospital-style upgrades to their buildings to legally allow their patients to swallow pills.</p>
<p>Even when it comes to surgical abortion procedures, there’s no evidence that patients would receive safer or better care in ambulatory surgical centers. Abortion is already a <a href="" type="internal">very safe procedure</a> with an incredibly low rate of complication; clinics have been <a href="" type="internal">providing this particular service</a> for decades without major issues. It’s also a procedure that doesn’t require a high level of anesthesia, unlike the outpatient surgeries that are <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/06/27/obgyn-docs-say-provisions-in-filibustered-texas-abortion-bill-dont-make-sense" type="external">typically handled in ASCs</a>. Medical experts point out that there’s no good rationale to regulate abortion more stringently than <a href="" type="internal">other procedures</a> currently offered outside of hospitals, like colonoscopies.</p>
<p>But specifically in terms of the abortion pill, the argument in favor of HB2 becomes particularly strained. It’s unclear why patients would need to be in an environment resembling an operating room in order to swallow pills that global health experts have <a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3816412.html" type="external">confirmed</a> are actually <a href="" type="internal">safe enough</a> for women to <a href="http://iwhc.org/resource/abortion-self-administered-misoprostol-guide-women/" type="external">take alone</a>.</p>
<p>Plus, making abortion clinics look like hospitals isn’t necessarily the best strategy for putting patients at ease. The staff members at <a href="http://wholewomanshealth.com/" type="external">Whole Women’s Health</a>, a group of reproductive health clinics with several locations in Texas that has served as the <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/08/13/arguments-trial-over-abortion-restrictions-wrap-/" type="external">lead plaintiff</a> in the legal challenge against Texas’ law, say there’s a <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a28431/texas-abortion-rio-grande-valley/" type="external">big issue with ASCs</a> that often gets overlooked in the debate over HB2: These facilities feel cold, impersonal, and a little scary.</p>
<p>The other clinics run by the organization look more like cozy gynecologist offices, with purple paint and <a href="http://cos.h-cdn.co/assets/14/29/1280x853/nrm_1405443252-7h1a1453.jpg" type="external">Audre Lorde quotes</a> on the wall. But at the Whole Women’s Health clinic that meets the standards for a surgical center, the atmosphere is quite different. Patients wear hospital gowns and have their abortion performed on an operating table. An NPR reporter <a href="http://kut.org/post/issue-texas-abortion-debate-whats-ambulatory-surgical-center" type="external">toured that facility two years ago</a> and described it as looking like an emergency room, right down to the “bright red line that divides the sterile surgical suites from the rest of the center.”</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/politics/news/a28431/texas-abortion-rio-grande-valley/" type="external">interview with Cosmopolitan</a>, Fatimah Gifford, the communications director for Whole Women’s Health, explained this environment can feel intimidating for some people seeking a pregnancy termination. When patients enter the ASC, Gifford says they sometimes ask, “Why do I feel like I’m going into a hospital? I thought you said this was safe?”</p>
<p>Imposing tight restrictions on medication abortion — which is involved in <a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/16/1/gpr160118.html" type="external">about a quarter</a> of all pregnancy terminations in the U.S., according to 2008 figures — is becoming <a href="" type="internal">increasingly popular</a> on the state level. Many states are moving to require patients to take abortion pills in the <a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/16/1/gpr160118.html" type="external">presence of a doctor</a>, rather in the comfort of their own home.</p>
<p>The rest of the global community, meanwhile, is <a href="" type="internal">taking the opposite approach</a>. In an attempt to reduce maternal mortality from unsafe abortions and births, other countries have been moving to <a href="http://www.ipas.org/en/News/2015/May/Ipas-mHealth-projects-explore-new-ways-to-expand-access-to-comprehensive-abortion-care.aspx" type="external">expand access</a> to abortion-inducing medication — including, in some cases, making it available on <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3510770/" type="external">pharmacy shelves</a>.</p>
<p>Reproductive rights advocates estimate that HB2 will leave just <a href="http://www.texastribune.org/2014/03/19/impact-hb2-regulations-abortion-facilities-over-time/" type="external">eight abortion providers</a> operating in a state with nearly <a href="http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.html" type="external">27 million people</a>. The law will take effect on <a href="http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Court-upholds-law-that-could-leave-8-abortion-6316420.php" type="external">July 1</a> unless the Supreme Court steps in to intervene.</p> | Texas Clinics Won’t Be Able To Give Out The Abortion Pill Without Hospital-Like Facilities | true | http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/06/10/3668277/texas-surgical-center-abortion-law/ | 2015-06-10 | 4 |
<p>Audiences got their first look at <a href="http://variety.com/t/marvel-television/" type="external">Marvel Television</a>’s upcoming <a href="http://variety.com/t/abc/" type="external">ABC</a> series “ <a href="http://variety.com/t/inhumans/" type="external">Inhumans</a>” over the Labor Day weekend, though not on TV. But soft numbers at the feature-film box office are not an encouraging sign for how the show will perform on TV.</p>
<p>As part of a unique production partnership, Marvel, ABC Studios, and <a href="http://variety.com/t/imax/" type="external">IMAX</a> mounted a theatrical release for the first two episodes of the superhero-action drama. Over the weekend, the 84-minute “Inhumans” feature earned an estimated $2.6 million across 676 IMAX screens worldwide, including $1.5 million via 393 IMAX screens in North America. That tally is relatively modest. But given that <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/box-office-tulip-fever-close-encounters-labor-day-weekend-1202546346/" type="external">the holiday weekend saw no new wide U.S. releases</a> from studios and capped an abysmal summer at the box office, IMAX is getting credit for taking a swing.</p>
<p>“My hat was off to any distributor that released something at least new and innovative and different on this very slow Labor Day weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore. “At least IMAX looked at the marketplace, saw an opportunity and did [something] for the fans. To me, that’s a winning strategy.”</p>
<p>Marvel, ABC, and IMAX announced the greenlight for “Inhumans” last November as a joint production that would see IMAX share costs with the Disney division, then premiere the first two episodes exclusively ahead of the show’s fall premiere on ABC. (The episodes air back-to-back Sept. 29 on ABC with several minutes of additional footage not seen in the IMAX feature included.)</p>
<p>Such crossovers between television and theatrical film are rare. When the “Game of Thrones” season four finale screened in IMAX theaters over Super Bowl weekend in 2015, it drew $1.4 million in the U.S. — a shade less than the “Inhumans” premiere.</p>
<p>Thanks to the investment from IMAX, Disney divisions Marvel and ABC consider the show effectively paid for, regardless of its performance on broadcast, where it will air on Friday nights. But the trailers for series and clips screened this summer at Comic-Con have fueled negative early buzz for the series.</p>
<p>Speaking at the Television Critics Association press tour in August, ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey warned reporters that the premiere episode that had been made available for them to view was not a complete project. “I think that the episode that you guys have seen is still a bit of a work in progress,” Dungey said. “We are still a month away from final air, but I do feel like there’s great opportunity there as well.”</p>
<p>ABC sources tell Variety that concerns over quality of “Inhumans” episodes — both the special effects of early cuts and the underpinning scripts — were a source of contention between ABC and Marvel. The IMAX box-office numbers will do little to reverse that narrative, and could dissuade future such hybrids strategies.</p>
<p>“The fact that they really didn’t do that well for IMAX doesn’t bode well for other networks copying this strategy and also whether the show will be successful,” said veteran media analyst Brad Adgate.</p> | What Marvel’s ‘Inhumans’ IMAX Performance Means for ABC Series | false | https://newsline.com/what-marvels-inhumans-imax-performance-means-for-abc-series/ | 2017-09-05 | 1 |
<p>Donald Trump with right-wing preacher Pat Robertson in Virginia during the 2016 campaign. Under the House tax bill, Robertson's nonprofit could endorse political candidates for the first time since 1954. <a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/GOP-2016-Trump/8213c8355e68410689f932473cc760f2/4/0" type="external">Steve Helber/AP</a></p>
<p>Fetuses don’t file 1040s in April, but they still appear in both Republican tax bills.&#160;The reason is simple: giving corporations a massive tax cut is great; doing that while advancing the culture war is even better.</p>
<p>“Unborn children” are not the only ones who are singled out in one, or both, of the House and Senate tax bills. Tucked in amid changes to tax rates are provisions that target&#160;undocumented immigrants, preachers, and graduate students. It doesn’t take too much familiarity with Republicans’ priorities to guess whether each of those groups wins or loses.</p>
<p>Overall, the provisions are largely incidental&#160;to&#160;saving or spending money in the&#160;Republicans’ <a href="" type="internal">$1.5 trillion tax cut</a>, though they do manage to add significant&#160;complexity to the tax code. Taken together, the changes show how Republicans are using tax reform to push through long-standing priorities that would be&#160;difficult to pass as standalone bills. Below is how four groups would be helped or hurt by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.</p>
<p>Under current law, parents can open a tax-advantaged college-savings account, known as a 529, to help their kids pay for college. Both the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1/text" type="external">House</a> and Senate tax bills specify that “unborn children” can be declared&#160;the beneficiary of a 529 plan.&#160;The bills define an unborn child as a “child in utero,” or a “member of the species homo sapiens, at any stage of development, who is carried in the womb.”</p>
<p>From a tax perspective, the change is <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/11/06/why_the_republican_tax_plan_gives_fetuses_the_right_to_save_for_college.html" type="external">completely unnecessary</a>. Parents can already open a 529 in their own name and transfer the benefits to future children. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/02/gop-tax-bill-abortion-rights-college-savings-244486" type="external">has said</a> the provision is simply “a back-door attempt to establish personhood from the moment of conception.”&#160;There is some federal precedent for giving rights to fetuses, but this would be the <a href="https://www.snopes.com/gop-tax-bill-fetal-personhood-legislation/" type="external">first use</a> of the tax code to promote fetal personhood.&#160;</p>
<p>Under the current tax code, parents can get a $1,000-per-child tax credit for any children who live in the United States.&#160;The House tax bill would&#160;require kids to have a Social Security number to be eligible for the credit.&#160;As a result, roughly <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/house-tax-bills-child-tax-credit-increase-excludes-thousands-of-children-in-low" type="external">1 million children</a>, who are overwhelmingly undocumented,&#160;would no longer be eligible for the CTC.</p>
<p>Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been one of the main critics of undocumented parents’ ability to claim the CTC. In April, Sessions <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/apr/27/jeff-sessions/sessions-says-4-billion-tax-credits-go-mostly-mexi/" type="external">said</a>&#160;billions of dollars of “excess” CTC payments to “mostly Mexicans” could be used to help pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall. Instead, the $20 billion of savings over 10 years would now be used to offset corporate tax cuts.&#160;</p>
<p>As long as churches and nonprofits don’t explicitly endorse politicians, they can already say just about anything without jeopardizing their tax-exempt status. The House bill would remove that one limit to&#160;let nonprofits endorse politicians for the first time <a href="" type="internal">since 1954</a>. As a result, billionaires like the Koch brothers would be able to get millions in tax&#160;breaks for their political contributions.</p>
<p>Watchdog groups warn that it could easily become the next Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court decision that opened the door to unlimited corporate political spending. Numbers from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation suggest the change could lead to <a href="" type="internal">$2 billion</a> of tax-deductible political spending per year being routed through nonprofits. Aside from a few conservative Christian groups, <a href="" type="internal">hardly any</a> religious leaders or charities support the proposal.</p>
<p>Doctoral students who work as teaching or research&#160;assistants&#160;often get free tuition along with&#160;their salary so they can afford to get a Ph.D.&#160;Undergrads like <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-the-House-GOP-Tax-Plan/241824" type="external">resident assistants</a> who work for their school can also get some or all of their tuition waived.&#160;Today, <a href="https://www.aau.edu/sites/default/files/AAU-Files/Key-Issues/Taxation-Finance/Aid-Students-Families/Qualified-Tuition-Reduction-117d.pdf" type="external">only the salary</a> is considered taxable income. So if a university waives $40,000 of tuition&#160;and pays&#160;an extra $30,000 to cover living expenses, the student <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/grad-students-are-freaking-out-about-the-gops-tax-plan-they-should-be/" type="external">only pays taxes</a> on $30,000 of income. The House bill would tax all $70,000&#160;by&#160;treating tuition waivers as income.&#160;As a result, <a href="http://www.cupahr.org/wp-content/uploads/advocacy/2017-10-06-tuition-reduction-infographic.pdf" type="external">roughly 145,000</a> graduate students, as well 27,000 undergraduates,&#160;would end up paying more taxes—in some cases by more than&#160; <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-the-House-GOP-Tax-Plan/241824" type="external">$6,500</a> per year.&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>The House bill would also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/us/politics/house-tax-bill-higher-education-increases-tuition.html" type="external">block</a> people from deducting interest on their students loans. The attack isn’t just on students, though.&#160;Both bills would impose a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-10/senate-matches-house-s-1-4-tax-proposal-for-college-endowments" type="external">1.4 percent</a> excise tax on about 70 schools whose endowments exceed $250,000 per student. &#160;&#160;</p>
<p>The shift comes as conservatives‘ support for higher education wanes. Over the past two years, the share of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who believe colleges and universities have a negative impact on the United States has jumped from <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/07/20/republicans-skeptical-of-colleges-impact-on-u-s-but-most-see-benefits-for-workforce-preparation/" type="external">37 percent to 58 percent</a>, according to a June poll from the Pew Research Center. Jason Delisle, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/tax-bill-reflects-rift-between-many-republicans-and-higher-education/2017/11/19/33f52a6e-cb0c-11e7-aa96-54417592cf72_story.html?utm_term=.14a2ae015808" type="external">told the Washington Post</a> the proposals reflect increased suspicion of “elite institutions” among Republicans. “It’s a class warfare thing,” he said.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Republicans Are Sneaking Right-Wing Social Policies Into Their Corporate Tax Cut | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/11/republicans-are-sneaking-right-wing-social-policies-into-their-corporate-tax-cut/ | 2017-11-24 | 4 |
<p>Christian Castillo is a founding member of the Argentine Socialist Workers Party (Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas —&#160;PTS) and the Workers’ Left Front (Frente de la Izquierda y los Trabajadores —&#160;FIT). He was elected to the provincial chamber of deputies for the province of Buenos Aires as a FIT candidate in 2013 and is currently running for a seat in the national Chamber of Deputies.</p>
<p>He also serves as the campaign coordinator for the FIT presidential ticket of Nicolás Del Caño and Myriam Bregman. <a href="" type="internal">Todd Chretien</a> caught up with&#160;Castillo one week before the October 25 national elections. They discussed Argentina’s history of social movements, how revolutionaries should participate electorally, and the Left’s prospects in Sunday’s elections.</p> | The Left Alternative to Peronism | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2015/10/peronism-argentina-fit-castillo-del-cano/ | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />The Albuquerque Police Department’s burglary unit has a large amount of stolen property and it is trying to match the items with the owners.</p>
<p>The stolen property, such as laptop computers, electronic tablets, gaming systems, jewelry, designer purses and collector’s coins, at an estimated total value of $100,000, were recovered through an investigation and the execution of search warrants, according to APD spokesman Tanner Tixier.</p>
<p>The investigation identified Jose Valles, who confessed and showed police several residences where he had committed burglaries. The investigation is still ongoing and Valles is expected to be charged with several felonies, Tixier said.</p>
<p>Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of Valles can call detectives at 768-2030 to schedule a time to come in and look through the recovered property. Victims must have a police report dated between May 2014 and September 2014 and have the items that were stolen listed on the police report, Tixier said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | APD has $100K in burglary victims’ goods | false | https://abqjournal.com/475477/apd-has-100k-in-burglary-victims-goods.html | 2 |
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<p>After leaving office, former Albquerque Mayor Martin Chavez went to work as executive director of ICLEI, an organization of local governments dedicated to the sort of sustainability principles Chavez espoused while mayor. But is ICLEI all that it appears?</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/election2010/ci_15673894" type="external">Denver Post story</a>, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes thinks not:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Maes is warning voters that Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper’s policies, particularly his efforts to boost bike riding, are “converting Denver into a United Nations community.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“This is all very well-disguised, but it will be exposed,” Maes told about 50 supporters who showed up at a campaign rally last week in Centennial.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Maes said in a later interview that he once thought the mayor’s efforts to promote cycling and other environmental initiatives were harmless and well-meaning. Now he realizes “that’s exactly the attitude they want you to have.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“This is bigger than it looks like on the surface, and it could threaten our personal freedoms,” Maes said.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>As a veteran reporter, I can imagine poor Christopher Osher, the story’s author, at this point doing a double take and saying, “Huh?” But not to worry, in a followup interview, Maes elaborated:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Maes said in a later interview that he was referring to Denver’s membership in the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, an international association that promotes sustainable development and has attracted the membership of more than 1,200 communities, 600 of which are in the United States.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Ah, ICLEI, yes, now I see. (h/t <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/08/co-gov-goper-maes-hickenloopers-bike-love-is-a-un-plot.php?ref=fpblg" type="external">TPM</a>)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>update: According to an AP story, apparently <a href="http://cbs4denver.com/news/Colo.gov.candidate.2.1842647.html" type="external">supporting for community bicycling also leads to abortions somehow</a>:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Nate Strauch told The Associated Press that Maes was trying to say that the biking initiative is a “gateway program” being pushed by ECLEI on cities that eventually lead to extreme measures, such as the promotion of abortions and population control.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Is Martin Chavez Part of Evil UN Plot? | false | https://abqjournal.com/3585/is-martin-chavez-part-of-evil-un-plot.html | 2 |
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<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bret Saberhagen was just 21 years old when the Kansas City Royals were last in the World Series. He pitched a Game 7 shutout to beat the St. Louis Cardinals.</p>
<p>It took 29 years for him to stand on the mound at another World Series.</p>
<p>On Tuesday night, Saberhagen took part in a ceremony to deliver the game ball before the opener between the Royals and the San Francisco Giants. Asked if he had any advice for the players who were warming up on the manicured outfield grass, he replied: “Enjoy the moment.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure they think, ‘OK, we’ve been here once and we’ll be here a bunch of times,’” Saberhagen told The Associated Press before the Giants rolled to a 7-1 victory behind a dazzling performance by their own star pitcher, Madison Bumgarner.</p>
<p>“But I think it’s going by so quick, and it’s such a quick run — I don’t think it’ll sink in for a long time, maybe until they’re done playing.”</p>
<p>That was the case for Saberhagen, who made other playoff appearances with Colorado and Boston but never again reached the Fall Classic. It was the same for George Brett, Frank White and many of their 1985 teammates on the only Royals club to capture a World Series crown.</p>
<p>They made it once to baseball’s pinnacle. They never made it again.</p>
<p>Perhaps that is why they’ve remained so close all these years. Many get together for golf outings, or chat on the phone on a regular basis. And as this year’s version of the Royals has taken an entire city on a magical ride, the players from yesteryear have tagged right along with them.</p>
<p>Saberhagen watched the AL Championship Series against Baltimore from a suite with infielder Greg Pryor, catcher Jamie Quirk and Janie Quisenberry, the widow of the late pitcher Dan Quisenberry.</p>
<p>Along the way, Saberhagen has heard from pitchers Charlie Leibrandt, Bud Black and Mark Gubicza.</p>
<p>“Everybody is very passionate about the Royals. You play here and you get a special feeling,” Saberhagen said. “I don’t know if you drink the water or what, but I was very fortunate to play here for eight years. I thought I was going to go my whole career, but they traded me away.”</p>
<p>They never traded away Brett, of course. Now nobody is more closely linked to the club.</p>
<p>After retiring as a player, No. 5 moved into the front office, where he has held a variety of roles. He even briefly slipped back into his uniform last season to serve as interim hitting coach, then quietly changed back into a suit and tie. But during this year’s playoff push, he’s been in the spotlight, TV cameras watching him wherever he goes.</p>
<p>When the Royals made their late-inning rally to beat the Oakland A’s in their wild-card game, the images of Brett — mouth agape, hands on his head in disbelief — were everywhere.</p>
<p>“After we beat Oakland, I said, ‘This is unbelievable,’” Brett recalled. “Then I caught myself and said, ‘Well, maybe it’s not unbelievable. We believed we were this good in spring training.’ Then when you beat the Angels three straight, you say, ‘Unbelievable!’ But now I’ll never say unbelievable again. I’ll say, ‘Fantastic! Great!’ Whatever. But I’m not going to use that as an adjective.”</p>
<p>The World Series has become a businesslike affair for many of the Giants, who are chasing their third crown in the last five years. The playoffs are a rite of autumn in the Bay Area.</p>
<p>That’s hardly the case for the Royals, who suffered through several years of 100-loss seasons, managerial changes and youth movements gone awry before finally finding a winning formula.</p>
<p>Saberhagen and Brett both see similarities between their ’85 championship team and the group of Royals trying to replicate their feat. That team was also full of youth. It relied on pitching and defense and speed. It refused to quit, even when things looked the bleakest — remember, the Royals lost the first two games of that ’85 Series at home before bouncing back.</p>
<p>That might be the most important characteristic after dropping Game 1 on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>“There’s a few comparisons, but they also have their own identity,” Saberhagen said. “They’re really, truly a fun team to watch. They’re young. They have great energy. The city feeds off them.”</p>
<p>It turns out that this year’s bunch of Royals has fed off the ’85 team, too.</p>
<p>“It means a lot to be able to share this moment with them,” Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas said recently. “It means a lot to George, just to see the way he reacts and the way he celebrates with us. He’s like a kid again.”</p>
<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bret Saberhagen was just 21 years old when the Kansas City Royals were last in the World Series. He pitched a Game 7 shutout to beat the St. Louis Cardinals.</p>
<p>It took 29 years for him to stand on the mound at another World Series.</p>
<p>On Tuesday night, Saberhagen took part in a ceremony to deliver the game ball before the opener between the Royals and the San Francisco Giants. Asked if he had any advice for the players who were warming up on the manicured outfield grass, he replied: “Enjoy the moment.”</p>
<p>“I’m sure they think, ‘OK, we’ve been here once and we’ll be here a bunch of times,’” Saberhagen told The Associated Press before the Giants rolled to a 7-1 victory behind a dazzling performance by their own star pitcher, Madison Bumgarner.</p>
<p>“But I think it’s going by so quick, and it’s such a quick run — I don’t think it’ll sink in for a long time, maybe until they’re done playing.”</p>
<p>That was the case for Saberhagen, who made other playoff appearances with Colorado and Boston but never again reached the Fall Classic. It was the same for George Brett, Frank White and many of their 1985 teammates on the only Royals club to capture a World Series crown.</p>
<p>They made it once to baseball’s pinnacle. They never made it again.</p>
<p>Perhaps that is why they’ve remained so close all these years. Many get together for golf outings, or chat on the phone on a regular basis. And as this year’s version of the Royals has taken an entire city on a magical ride, the players from yesteryear have tagged right along with them.</p>
<p>Saberhagen watched the AL Championship Series against Baltimore from a suite with infielder Greg Pryor, catcher Jamie Quirk and Janie Quisenberry, the widow of the late pitcher Dan Quisenberry.</p>
<p>Along the way, Saberhagen has heard from pitchers Charlie Leibrandt, Bud Black and Mark Gubicza.</p>
<p>“Everybody is very passionate about the Royals. You play here and you get a special feeling,” Saberhagen said. “I don’t know if you drink the water or what, but I was very fortunate to play here for eight years. I thought I was going to go my whole career, but they traded me away.”</p>
<p>They never traded away Brett, of course. Now nobody is more closely linked to the club.</p>
<p>After retiring as a player, No. 5 moved into the front office, where he has held a variety of roles. He even briefly slipped back into his uniform last season to serve as interim hitting coach, then quietly changed back into a suit and tie. But during this year’s playoff push, he’s been in the spotlight, TV cameras watching him wherever he goes.</p>
<p>When the Royals made their late-inning rally to beat the Oakland A’s in their wild-card game, the images of Brett — mouth agape, hands on his head in disbelief — were everywhere.</p>
<p>“After we beat Oakland, I said, ‘This is unbelievable,’” Brett recalled. “Then I caught myself and said, ‘Well, maybe it’s not unbelievable. We believed we were this good in spring training.’ Then when you beat the Angels three straight, you say, ‘Unbelievable!’ But now I’ll never say unbelievable again. I’ll say, ‘Fantastic! Great!’ Whatever. But I’m not going to use that as an adjective.”</p>
<p>The World Series has become a businesslike affair for many of the Giants, who are chasing their third crown in the last five years. The playoffs are a rite of autumn in the Bay Area.</p>
<p>That’s hardly the case for the Royals, who suffered through several years of 100-loss seasons, managerial changes and youth movements gone awry before finally finding a winning formula.</p>
<p>Saberhagen and Brett both see similarities between their ’85 championship team and the group of Royals trying to replicate their feat. That team was also full of youth. It relied on pitching and defense and speed. It refused to quit, even when things looked the bleakest — remember, the Royals lost the first two games of that ’85 Series at home before bouncing back.</p>
<p>That might be the most important characteristic after dropping Game 1 on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>“There’s a few comparisons, but they also have their own identity,” Saberhagen said. “They’re really, truly a fun team to watch. They’re young. They have great energy. The city feeds off them.”</p>
<p>It turns out that this year’s bunch of Royals has fed off the ’85 team, too.</p>
<p>“It means a lot to be able to share this moment with them,” Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas said recently. “It means a lot to George, just to see the way he reacts and the way he celebrates with us. He’s like a kid again.”</p> | ’85 World Series Royals relishing playoff run | false | https://apnews.com/be8a26d3b1ec4844a10f5981d5e67c4c | 2014-10-22 | 2 |
<p>To qualify as one of the top 1% of income earners in the United States, one must earn <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/top-1-percent-earn.aspx" type="external">around</a> $350,000 and above,&#160;annually.&#160;For the purposes of this article, ‘rich’ will refer to this top 1% of income earners.</p>
<p>The prevailing arguments surrounding tax policy reform this election fall into two primary camps. One argues that the wealthiest Americans are already paying their fair share in taxes and any increase would stifle already weak economic growth and lead to higher unemployment. The other camp argues that wealthy Americans have perverted the tax system to benefit themselves and this has resulted in weak economic growth.</p>
<p>Driving this debate is the mounting US deficit. In order to address America’s overwhelming debt, tax policy must change in one form or another in order to slow and eventually reverse the growing disparity between revenue and borrowing. There is consensus on one facet of this debate: the only way to address the mounting debt is to either increase revenues (by raising taxes or closing loopholes and exemptions) or cut spending (government services like Medicare and Social Security), or a combination of both.</p>
<p>A Congressional Research Service <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=0CCEQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fgraphics8.nytimes.com%2Fnews%2Fbusiness%2F0915taxesandeconomy.pdf&amp;ei=zn2QULL9KIKQ2AWv7oHABA&amp;usg=AFQjCNGignNkq00qUNlMzDAmdZfeHvMl5w&amp;sig2=R5kPS3HD5BeZYaQAf-agOA" type="external">report</a> released in September sought to answer a key question: Will raising taxes on the wealthy create economic growth?</p>
<p>Historical anecdotes are used by all camps to justifier higher or lower taxes on the rich. Opponents of raising taxes on the wealthy reference the past periods of economic prosperity like the 1920s and the Reagan era. During the Reagan era, real median household income <a href="http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/supplyside-tax-cuts-truth-about-reagan-economic-record" type="external">rose</a> by $4,000, as tax rates were lowered. Similarly, during the roaring 20s marginal tax rates on high-income earners were lowered from 73 percent to 25 percent.</p>
<p>“If you look at the whole period from 1978 all the way to 2007 we cut the highest tax rate on earned income from 50 percent to 35 percent, we cut the capital gains tax rate, we cut all of these tax rates across the board…We had huge growth during that period. If you look at what happened to the tax revenues from the top income earners.” -Arthur Laffer <a href="http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/775-the-rich-are-taxed-enough" type="external">debating</a> on Intelligence Squared</p>
<p>Those in favor of raising taxes on high-income earners point to post-war growth from 1945-1981.</p>
<p>“They will say that higher taxes have a negative impact on economic growth. Well guess what? In the three decades before 1981, when taxes were higher on the rich, the economy on average, per year, grew faster than it has grown since 1981. There was no negative impact on growth.” – Robert Reich <a href="http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/775-the-rich-are-taxed-enough" type="external">debating</a> on Intelligence Squared</p>
<p>The Congressional Research Service’s report made several conclusions regarding economic growth and its relationship to tax rates on the wealthy.</p>
<p>&#160;“The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie. However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution.”</p>
<p>Whether or not lowering or raising tax rates on the wealthiest Americans leads to more or less economic growth remains murky. Yet, there is one Congressional Research Center finding that is absolutely clear: the correlation between tax cuts on the wealthy and income inequality is a positive one. As tax cuts for the wealthy increase, so does income inequality.</p> | Will Raising Taxes On The Wealthy Create Economic Growth? | false | https://ivn.us/2012/10/31/will-raising-taxes-on-the-wealthy-create-economic-growth/ | 2012-10-31 | 2 |
<p>Concho Resources (NYSE:CXO) has inked a $1 billion deal to buy all of the oil and natural gas assets of privately-held energy explorer Three Rivers.</p>
<p>Three Rivers has about 200,000 net acres in the Permian Basin, which spans Texas and New Mexico. It also has large positions in the northern Delaware Basin play, the Midland Basin Wolfberry play, and the southern Midland Basin horizontal Wolfcamp and Cline shale plays.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The purchase highlights the recent boom in the U.S. energy sector as oil prices continue to rise and new technology, such as horizontal drilling, allows companies to extract harder-to-reach oil.</p>
<p>The industry’s growth prospect was underscored earlier this year when private equity firms Riverstone and Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) led a consortium that paid $7.15 billion of El Paso’s (NYSE:EP) oil and gas exploration and production business.</p>
<p>Three Rivers has proved reserves of about 58 million barrels of oil equivalent and estimated net production of 7,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day. With the acquisition, Concho also receives 380 horizontal drilling locations and more than 1,100 vertical drilling locations.</p>
<p>“We are pleased to announce our largest and most strategic transaction since the Marbob acquisition nearly two years ago,” Concho CEO Timothy Leach said in a statement. “Combined with our existing portfolio, these assets give the company nearly 750,000 net acres across the Permian Basin, with exposure to some of the most exciting oil plays in the U.S.”</p>
<p>Concho, which is being advised by JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), said it would finance the deal using a $2 billion credit facility, which had about $1.8 billion remaining as of the end of March, and from the sale of $200 million to $400 million of non-core assets over the next nine months.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The transaction, which is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings, is on track to close in July, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions, Concho said in a statement released Sunday night.</p> | Concho Strikes Billion-Dollar Oil and Gas Asset Deal | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/05/14/concho-strikes-billion-dollar-oil-and-gas-asset-deal.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
<p>Washington Post Ousted CBS News producer Mary Mapes says Dan Rather "was betrayed by a number of people, certainly by the company he has gotten up and worked for every morning for 40 years." She writes of CBS president Les Moonves, who married "Early Show" anchor Julie Chen: "I used to say everything Les knows about journalism had been sexually transmitted. Now I know even that hasn't taught him much." &gt; <a href="http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051109/1072692.asp" type="external">"I was a worker bee and I did good work," says Mapes (Buffalo News)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/08/AR2005110801891.html" type="external">"Mapes is madder than a rained-out rooster," writes Farhi (WP)</a></p> | Mapes: Moonves doesn't know journalism from dirt farming | false | https://poynter.org/news/mapes-moonves-doesnt-know-journalism-dirt-farming | 2005-11-09 | 2 |
<p>The headline of February 22 was eye-catching and unambiguous. It read “Europe, Canada and Mexico Opposed to Spread of Democracy”, which isn’t the sort of thing you see every day. It not only caught my attention, it made me sit up and stare in disbelief. How could any sane person imagine for an instant that the twenty-five nations of the European Union and two other democratic countries could actually oppose the spread of the very system of governance they have themselves chosen? Could anyone believe this rubbish to be true?</p>
<p>Yes, they could. The crackpots of The Conservative Voice believe it. They must do, otherwise they wouldn’t have published that plain and clear-cut headline. But the truth, hidden in the text, was that an Associated Press poll showed “a majority of people in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Korea and Spain do not believe that the United States role should be to spread democracy throughout the world.” To be blunt : The Conservative Voice headline was an outright lie. The words “Opposed to Spread of Democracy” and “do not believe that the United States role should be to spread democracy” convey very different meanings. But this doesn’t matter to the cretins whose idol, Bush, has set a standard of flagrant mendacity they are trying hard to equal. Unfortunately, the lying doesn’t stop there. And the effects of the lies are both startling and depressing.</p>
<p>Last month a Harris poll showed that 64 per cent of Americans believe Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda, that 47 per cent believe Saddam helped plan and support the 9/11 attacks, and that 44 per cent believe several of the 9/11 hijackers were Iraqis. It is staggering that so many millions of Americans can have got it entirely wrong. Surely they must have read at least some coverage of the 9/11 Commission Report which states “We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States”? There wasn’t a newspaper or radio or television station, even in deepest, darkest Bushland, that claimed the 9/11 terrorists included Iraqis. It appears that millions of people are so grotesquely gullible as to continue to imagine there were “strong links” between Saddam and Al Qaeda when an independent Commission determined that this was not so. Do they not read the responsible newspapers? – for example, the Washington Post recorded “The Sept. 11 commission reported yesterday that it has found no “collaborative relationship” between Iraq and al Qaeda”. How can so many people be fooled for so much of the time?</p>
<p>The reason they believe that up is down, round is square, lies are truth, is that Bush and Cheney told them there was cooperation between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. In his 2003 State of the Union Address Bush declared “Evidence from intelligence sources, secret communications, and people now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda.” There is no double-meaning in that pronouncement. The words are as clear as the headline in The Conservative Voice about Europe being opposed to the spread of democracy. And they are equally false and deceitful. The President assured the American people that Saddam Hussein aided and protected members of Al Qaeda. He said he had evidence to prove it. He lied.</p>
<p>This isn’t a matter of Clinton’s “I did not have relations with that woman” or even Nixon’s “You can say I don’t remember. You can say I don’t recall.” The lies of Clinton were absurd and pathetic, and those of Nixon dark and squalid. But their lies were not told with the intention of encouraging the American people to support an illegal and disastrous war that would kill or main thousands of young Americans and tens of thousands of blameless Iraqi citizens.</p>
<p>Clinton’s lies didn’t work, and he was disgraced. Neither did Nixon’s, and he was forced to resign. But the lies by Bush have worked very well. And he goes from depth to depth, telling more and more lies that are believed by many millions of Americans.</p>
<p>Bush and his coterie were determined to invade Iraq, and there was no better way of whipping up support for the attack than the Nazi device of the Big Lie. If the people of the United States were to be deceived into supporting his war, then it would take the biggest lies conceivable – real whoppers – to persuade them. And that’s what they got : exactly what Hitler’s Germany got in the 1930s. Little wonder the people who see only Fox News and consider their patriotic local newspapers to be next thing in credibility to the Gospel failed and still fail to realize they are lied to by experts. But they aren’t the only ones. It may seem bizarre, but some quite intelligent people believe that Saddam and Al Qaeda worked together. Last June Cheney told the James Madison Institute, a conservative organisation based in Florida that Saddam Hussein “had long established ties with al-Qaeda’.” This is a flat, outrageous and easily identifiable lie, but these people lapped it up, and they are not low in the IQ department. Yet they cannot believe – they refuse to credit – the 9/11 Commission’s finding that “We have no credible evidence that Iraq and al-Qaeda co-operated on attacks against the United States.”</p>
<p>Let there be no doubt : if the 9/11 Commission had found the slightest, tiniest, most miniscule pointer that might possibly have indicated the remotest connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, they would have told the American people about it. But there wasn’t, so they didn’t. But it made no difference. The brainwashed faithful believers follow the false prophets.</p>
<p>Thirty years ago Nora Beloff, a British political analyst, wrote that “a Communist will always put the interests of the party and class war above the bourgeois concept of objective truth”. She wrote in the context of Marxist influence in the UK press, but her observation is applicable today in Washington. All we have to do is replace ‘a Communist’ with ‘Bush’, ‘Cheney’, Rumsfeld’ or ‘Rice’, to realize that truth is no longer important or even relevant to the country’s rulers. The present ‘class war’ is between the regime in power and the people they are willfully deceiving.</p>
<p>Contrary to the ideals of providing (or permitting) objective truth, there was constant repetition of the false claim that Al Qaeda was linked to Iraq. On October 7, 2002 Bush said “We know that Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist network share a common enemy: the United States of America. We know that Iraq and al-Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade . . . We’ve learned that Iraq has trained al-Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases.” All lies. But clever lies, because the American people were mesmerized by terrorism to the point of believing anything. When Bush strung together ‘terrorist’, ‘al-Qaeda’, ‘poisons’ and ‘Iraq’ in his speech, his audience leapt to the obvious conclusion they were meant to draw : Iraq was a deadly threat to the United States.</p>
<p>On January 21, 2003, Cheney announced on NPR that “There’s overwhelming evidence there was a connection between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government. I am very confident that there was an established relationship there.” There was no evidence whatever. Little wonder that Conservatives and Madisons and hosts of others have been thoroughly brainwashed. They are brought up to believe that a Republican president and vice-president can think no wrong, say no wrong, do no wrong, and they lack the strength of will to question anything. Just like poor little Britney Spears they believe that “Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision that he makes and we should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens.”</p>
<p>Even when evidence is produced by impeccable sources and shows, absolutely without doubt, with no possibility of it being contradicted, that Bush and Cheney were and are lying in their teeth, the loony tunes team continue believing the lies. They have to. They have no alternative to unconditional belief, even when the lies are so blatant and obvious. Because if they were to begin to question what Bush and Cheney tell them as truth, the whole edifice, the whole artifice, of the Bush administration would crumble to dust.</p>
<p>Three days after his lying announcement that Saddam Hussein “aids and protects” members of Al Qaeda, Bush was asked a penetrating question (not, of course, by one of the White House press spaniels) at a joint press conference with the equally mendacious Tony Blair, prime minister of Britain: QUESTION. One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on September the 11th?</p>
<p>BUSH : I can’t make that claim.</p>
<p>BLAIR : That answers your question.</p>
<p>No; Bush avoided the question. Blair came to the aid of his fellow-conspirator and finessed the potentially embarrassing situation, but nobody was allowed to pursue the subject to the point that Bush would have to answer “No”, which, to anyone less devious and deceitful, would be the honest answer. But even if he had been honest for once in his life, and actually dared to say ‘No’ (although “I can’t make that claim” is pretty clear, at that), the Conservatives and the Madisons and their like would continue to believe that up is down and black is white because “we should just trust our president” . We are caught in a sticky web of sordid mendacity, spun by swindlers whose only loyalty is to the cause of power. A lying headline in a third-rate amateur publication may not seem of much importance; but it is, because it is an example of what Bush and Cheney have sponsored and encouraged, and of what they stand for. They have lost touch with truth. That wouldn’t be too bad in itself, if it wasn’t for the fact that they have dragged an awful lot of good people down into the gutter with them.</p>
<p>BRIAN CLOUGHLEY writes on military and political affairs. He can be reached through his website <a href="http://www.briancloughley.com/" type="external">www.briancloughley.com</a></p> | Headlines, Beliefs and Deceptions | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/03/03/headlines-beliefs-and-deceptions/ | 2005-03-03 | 4 |
<a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000691077/article/colin-kaepernick-explains-why-he-sat-during-national-anthem" type="external">began last year</a> when San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem during preseason games in August 2016. Regarding his kneeling, Kaepernick told NFL media in an interview: On 22 September, President
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBVtNGByVC4" type="external">Trump gave a speech</a> in support of Luther Strange’s race for Senator in Alabama. During his speech, he mentioned the fact that NFL players had knelt during the national anthem in the past. Trump said: Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: Sean Hannity tweeted: Eric Reid, a player for the 49ers, said: Mike Freeman, NFL columnist, tweeted: In response to Trump’s speech on 22 September,
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iEu2HIKf3k" type="external">Terry Bradshaw</a>, co-host of Fox NFL Sunday, said: Share on
<a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Email</a> | Trump Defends Pence for Leaving NFL Game Amid Anthem Protests | false | http://thewhim.com/trump-defends-pence-leaving-nfl-game-amid-anthem-protests/ | 2017-10-10 | 2 |
<p>UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Facing Western criticism over the halt to Syria peace talks, Russia said Friday it plans to present new ideas on how to restart peace efforts at a meeting of nearly 20 key nations on Feb. 11.</p>
<p>Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow hopes other members of the International Syria Support Group meeting in Munich will also “shoulder responsibility” in restarting talks between the government and opposition.</p>
<p>Tensions were high during and after a closed Security Council briefing by Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy for Syria, over who was to blame for this week’s suspension of the Syria talks.</p>
<p>Britain and France blamed the halt on the government’s current offensive, backed by Russian airstrikes, against Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.</p>
<p>Churkin accused unidentified Western nations of encouraging an opposition walkout from the talks, saying they have “no moral or formal ground to criticize us.”</p>
<p>But France’s U.N. Ambassador Francois Delatte said the opposition couldn’t be expected to negotiate “with a gun to their heads.” And British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said Churkin “needs to look in the mirror and understand where the responsibility lies.”</p>
<p>After years of deadlock, foreign ministers from key nations supporting different sides in the Syria conflict — spurred by the United States and Russia — met in Vienna in November and called for a cease-fire and the start of negotiations in early January.</p>
<p>The previously divided Security Council endorsed the peace process in a unanimous resolution in mid-December that calls for “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance” in Syria within six months and U.N.-supervised elections within 18 months under a new constitution.</p>
<p>De Mistura said when talks were suspended on Wednesday that they would resume by Feb. 25 — and Churkin said Russia is “encouraged” that the U.N. envoy reiterated this on Friday.</p>
<p>But the government’s new offensive against opposition strongholds has raised serious questions about opposition participation.</p>
<p>France’s Delattre stressed that negotiations “cannot be a smoke screen allowing the regime to continue quietly its massacres.” Britain’s Rycroft said a strong package of confidence-building measures is needed “to help rebuild the faith of the Syrian opposition that is being bombarded” so the talks can resume by Feb. 25.</p>
<p>Churkin said Russia cannot stop unilaterally bombing.</p>
<p>“What about the terrorists and the opposition groups? Are they going to stop too? What about this American-led coalition? Are they going to stop too?” he asked.</p>
<p>Churkin said it was strange that opposition supporters — who for a long time said there needed to be political progress before a cease-fire — are now saying a cease-fire must take place before political negotiations.</p>
<p>All these issues, including humanitarian problems, need to be discussed by the two sides in Geneva, he said.</p>
<p>Churkin warned that new preconditions to resume talks, such as demanding that sieges be lifted or humanitarian access be granted, will only delay talks where those issues can be resolved.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, Churkin said he has no doubt that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry “are going to do their utmost” to re-energize the International Syria Support Group at the ministerial meeting in Munich next week and make sure that talks will resume.</p>
<p>“We cannot afford to be pessimistic,” Churkin said. “We need to have even stronger concerted efforts in order to overcome the problems we are faced with with Syria, so this public recrimination is wrong.”</p>
<p>UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Facing Western criticism over the halt to Syria peace talks, Russia said Friday it plans to present new ideas on how to restart peace efforts at a meeting of nearly 20 key nations on Feb. 11.</p>
<p>Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow hopes other members of the International Syria Support Group meeting in Munich will also “shoulder responsibility” in restarting talks between the government and opposition.</p>
<p>Tensions were high during and after a closed Security Council briefing by Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy for Syria, over who was to blame for this week’s suspension of the Syria talks.</p>
<p>Britain and France blamed the halt on the government’s current offensive, backed by Russian airstrikes, against Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.</p>
<p>Churkin accused unidentified Western nations of encouraging an opposition walkout from the talks, saying they have “no moral or formal ground to criticize us.”</p>
<p>But France’s U.N. Ambassador Francois Delatte said the opposition couldn’t be expected to negotiate “with a gun to their heads.” And British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said Churkin “needs to look in the mirror and understand where the responsibility lies.”</p>
<p>After years of deadlock, foreign ministers from key nations supporting different sides in the Syria conflict — spurred by the United States and Russia — met in Vienna in November and called for a cease-fire and the start of negotiations in early January.</p>
<p>The previously divided Security Council endorsed the peace process in a unanimous resolution in mid-December that calls for “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian governance” in Syria within six months and U.N.-supervised elections within 18 months under a new constitution.</p>
<p>De Mistura said when talks were suspended on Wednesday that they would resume by Feb. 25 — and Churkin said Russia is “encouraged” that the U.N. envoy reiterated this on Friday.</p>
<p>But the government’s new offensive against opposition strongholds has raised serious questions about opposition participation.</p>
<p>France’s Delattre stressed that negotiations “cannot be a smoke screen allowing the regime to continue quietly its massacres.” Britain’s Rycroft said a strong package of confidence-building measures is needed “to help rebuild the faith of the Syrian opposition that is being bombarded” so the talks can resume by Feb. 25.</p>
<p>Churkin said Russia cannot stop unilaterally bombing.</p>
<p>“What about the terrorists and the opposition groups? Are they going to stop too? What about this American-led coalition? Are they going to stop too?” he asked.</p>
<p>Churkin said it was strange that opposition supporters — who for a long time said there needed to be political progress before a cease-fire — are now saying a cease-fire must take place before political negotiations.</p>
<p>All these issues, including humanitarian problems, need to be discussed by the two sides in Geneva, he said.</p>
<p>Churkin warned that new preconditions to resume talks, such as demanding that sieges be lifted or humanitarian access be granted, will only delay talks where those issues can be resolved.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, Churkin said he has no doubt that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry “are going to do their utmost” to re-energize the International Syria Support Group at the ministerial meeting in Munich next week and make sure that talks will resume.</p>
<p>“We cannot afford to be pessimistic,” Churkin said. “We need to have even stronger concerted efforts in order to overcome the problems we are faced with with Syria, so this public recrimination is wrong.”</p> | Russia says it will offer new ideas to restart Syria talks | false | https://apnews.com/da93e137828e4347b8077f04f8293253 | 2016-02-05 | 2 |
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/local/obit_detail.htm?obitID=24497" type="external">Bruce E. Ivins</a>, an anthrax scientist at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick, died Tuesday at a hospital in Frederick, Maryland, after ingesting a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine. He was 62. According to the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-anthrax1-2008aug01,0,2864223.story" type="external">Los Angeles Times</a>, he was among the nation’s leading experts on the military uses of anthrax. A native of Lebanon, Ohio, Ivins received his doctorate in microbiology from the University of Cincinatti, had worked in the Fort Detrick laboratory for 18 years, and, in 2003, was honored with the Pentagon’s highest civilian award for resolving technical problems afflicting the Army’s anthrax vaccine. He sat on USAMRIID’s protocol and animal rights committees. He lived in a small white house near the laboratory with his wife. And on Sundays, he played keyboards at his church. He also, according to the FBI, is the man responsible for the anthrax attacks of 2001.</p>
<p>Ivins’ apparent suicide occurred after he learned that the Department of Justice was preparing to file criminal charges against him for mailing a series of anthrax-laden letters in fall of 2001 that killed five people, sickened another 17, interrupted mail service, and shut down a contaminated Senate building for several months.</p>
<p>The anthrax investigation—dubbed “the largest and most complex” in FBI history, <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8842_has_the_anthrax.html" type="external">according to a spokesman</a>—had become an embarrassment to the Bureau. For years it focused on Steven Hatfill, a onetime USAMRIID colleague of Ivins’, named a “person of interest” by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2002. In June, the Justice Department settled with Hatfill for $5.82 million. (Hatfill continues to press libel cases against the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, and columnist Nicholas Kristof. He has already reached private settlements with Vanity Fair and Reader’s Digest for their coverage of the case.) Amid speculation that all the attention paid to Hatfill and the alleged mishandling of evidence had caused the investigation to go cold, FBI Director Robert Mueller <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/01/anthrax.death/index.html" type="external">told CNN last week</a> that “in some sense, there have been breakthroughs” in the case. “I tell you we made great progress in the investigation, and it’s in no way dormant,” he continued.</p>
<p>In September 2006, having little to show for its efforts, the FBI replaced its lead investigator and, concluding that the strain of anthrax used in the attacks was not as sophisticated as first thought, broadened the search beyond Hatfill. The initial suspicion that the letters could only have come from a scientist expert in the production of military-grade anthrax, <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gH1fcT1QrjvwIaAZTO63_lxHs9EQD929AMOO0" type="external">a field of about 30 individuals</a>, seemed in doubt as agents looked farther afield for suspects. By last spring, however, it appeared that investigators had rounded a corner back to where they began. In March, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342852,00.html" type="external">FOX News reported</a> that the Bureau was focusing on four suspects, among them “three scientists—a former deputy commander, a leading anthrax scientist and a microbiologist—linked to the research facility, known as USAMRIID.”</p>
<p>Ivins had been cooperating with the FBI investigation for about a year, his lawyer, Paul F. Kemp, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/anthrax_scientist&amp;printer=1;_ylt=AuVXFb9wbxz4NIohfnuMqlKWwvIE" type="external">told the Associated Press</a>. The Bureau’s interest was raised by the revelation that Ivins had failed to report several anthrax contaminations at the Fort Detrick laboratory in the five months immediately following the 2001 attacks. Ivins wiped down several parts of the laboratory with bleach to kill errant anthrax spores, believing, he later told investigators, that samples sent there for testing had been improperly contained. (Ivins was among the scientists involved with testing anthrax samples obtained from letters sent to the Senate.) “In retrospect, although my concern for biosafety was honest and my desire to refrain from crying ‘Wolf!’ . . . was sincere, I should have notified my supervisor ahead of time of my worries about a possible breach in biocontainment,” Ivins explained to Army investigators. “I thought that quietly and diligently cleaning the dirty desk area would both eliminate any possible [anthrax] contamination as well as prevent unintended anxiety at the institute.” The Army elected not to press charges. (Read the results of its official investigation <a href="http://www.cbwtransparency.org/archive/amridthrax.pdf" type="external">here</a>.)</p>
<p>According to people familiar with the incident who spoke to the Los Angeles Times, Ivins acknowledged swabbing areas in and adjacent to his office for anthrax and applied bleach to kill spores, but was uncertain if he ever reswabbed to ensure there was no further contamination—an obvious and essential step in anthrax containment. A USAMRIID official told the Times that “Ivins might have hedged regarding reswabbing out of fear that investigators would find more of the spores inside or near his office.”</p>
<p>Still, despite suspicions raised by the incident and the Justice Department’s subsequent decision to charge Ivins as the anthrax attacker, the nature of the evidence against him in the case has not been disclosed. The Justice Department will decide in the next few days whether to close the anthrax investigation, but has yet to do so, leaving open the possibility that Ivins did not act alone. There has been speculation that one possible motive for anthrax attacks, assuming they were committed by a government scientist, might have been to win greater funding for anthrax-related research. And according to the <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080801/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/anthrax_scientist" type="external">Associated Press</a>, the Justice Department planned to charge Ivins with mailing the anthrax letters in order to test anthrax drugs he had been developing.</p>
<p>Also possible, of course, is that Ivins—like Hatfill—is the wrong guy. His suicide comes at a curious moment in the investigation, but Ivins, according to those who knew him, had been suffering from severe depression for many months and had even checked into a treatment clinic last month, partially as a result of the strain placed on him by the attention he had been receiving from federal investigators. Kemp, his lawyer, issued a statement today, denying his client’s involvement in anything sinister. “We are saddened by his death, and disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to defend his good name and reputation in a court of law,” he said. “We assert his innocence in these killings, and would have established that at trial.”</p>
<p>UPDATE 1: New evidence paints Ivins as a bit more than a sensitive biodefense researcher who flew into a depression at being suspected of horrible crimes. According to <a href="http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/0801081anthrax1.html" type="external">documents obtained</a> by The Smoking Gun, Ivins’ psychological counselor, <a href="http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=76902" type="external">Jean Duley</a> of Comprehensive Counseling Associates, filed a restraining order against Ivins last week, claiming he has “a history dating to his graduate days of homicidal threats, actions, plans, threats &amp; actions towards therapist.” The restraining order, granted by a judge, resulted from several threatening phone calls Ivins made last month. Duley writes in one of the documents that she had been scheduled to testify today before a federal grand jury in Washington, DC, with regard to Ivins’ involvement in five capital murders. She further notes that his psychiatrist described him as “homicidal, sociopathic with clear intentions.”</p>
<p>UPDATE 2: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_D._Holt,_Jr." type="external">Rep. Rush Holt, Jr.</a>represents New Jersey’s 12th District, from which one of the anthrax letters was mailed in 2001. He’s a physicist and the former assistant director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University, the state’s largest energy research facility. He’s also a longtime critic of the FBI’s handling of the anthrax case. (Read <a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/FBI_letter_to_Rush_Holt" type="external">this response</a> from the FBI to a critical letter it received from Holt in 2006.) When the FBI settled with Hatfill in June, Holt stated that he planned to press FBI Director Mueller to release more information on the investigation. I spoke with Holt this afternoon to get his reactions to the day’s news and ask his thoughts about the FBI investigation. Some excerpts:</p>
<p>MJ: What do you think of today’s revelations?</p>
<p>RH: However final this tragic turn is, whether or not it means that the case is closed, it doesn’t change the fact that the investigation was not handled well and shouldn’t have taken six years.</p>
<p>MJ: What went wrong with the FBI investigation?</p>
<p>RH: I watched the investigators take evidence. I’ve used the word sloppy before, and I’ll use it again. They found anthrax in my office. They wiped the entire office with a couple of different wipes and they found anthrax. You’d think what they would do in a case like that is come back and check each inbox to see if you find anthrax there, so that there would be some way of tracing back how the anthrax entered the office. Similarly, once they knew there was anthrax at the Hamilton, New Jersey, mail sorting facility, you’d think they would trace back and find out exactly how the mail entered there. Well, seven months later, they found anthrax in a mailbox on Nassau Street in Princeton. I don’t know what took them seven months to check that. They should have checked it the next day! And then it was reported in the newspaper that agents were on Nassau Street in Princeton the following summer asking if anybody remembered any unusual activity around that mailbox the previous fall.</p>
<p>MJ: Was the FBI forthcoming with you about where things stood?</p>
<p>RH: No, no, certainly not forthcoming. They did brief members of Congress, including me, early on in some detail. They claim there were leaks. If there were, I know nothing about it. And then they just clammed up. It seemed to me that they clammed up, wouldn’t brief us, when it was apparent that the investigation wasn’t going well. Now, I don’t know whether that was why they refused to brief us, but it didn’t inspire confidence.</p>
<p /> | Alleged Anthrax Attacker Commits Suicide | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/08/alleged-anthrax-attacker-commits-suicide/ | 2008-08-01 | 4 |
<p>FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady is staying mum on his status for the AFC championship game after suffering a right hand injury earlier in the week.</p>
<p>Brady said a bit contentiously only "We'll see" on Friday when asked whether he would play in Sunday's conference title game against Jacksonville.</p>
<p>The quarterback wore red gloves and responded to several other questions about how much he practiced or how he sustained the injury by saying "I'm not talking about that."</p>
<p>Brady is listed as questionable for Sunday after being a limited participant in practice Friday. He was also limited on Wednesday. He sat out practice Thursday, but wore a glove on his injured hand during the stretching period open to reporters. He usually only wears a glove on his non-throwing hand.</p>
<p>One thing Brady was clear about was the test he expects from a Jaguars unit ranked second in the NFL in total and scoring defense.</p>
<p>"It's a very unique challenge," Brady said. "I think their front three, their linebackers, are very instinctive and very fast. And great cover guys in the secondary. Ball-hawking defense. They strip it off you, they sack you. ... So they're a good defense."</p>
<p>Brady appeared on the Patriots' weekly injury report several times during the latter half of this season with injuries to both his Achilles tendon and his left shoulder. The four-time Super Bowl MVP has never missed a playoff start during his 18-year career.</p>
<p>"Tom always tends to show up in big games. This is a big game," receiver Danny Amendola said. "(He's) super tough. The toughest. He's a warrior, he's a competitor and there's really only one reason why he's here, and that's to play football. "</p>
<p>Jacksonville is preparing like Brady will be in the huddle as usual Sunday. Jaguars defensive tackle Marcell Dareus said typical methods of rattling a quarterback don't apply when it comes to him.</p>
<p>"You can hit Brady, but hitting him isn't what's going to get to him. It's constantly being that gnat in his face. He just hates that gnat just always around," said Dareus, who might be more familiar than any Jacksonville player with Brady, having spent six-plus seasons with the Bills.</p>
<p>"You sack him he's going to get up and just keep rolling. He's that competitive spirit, like, 'OK, you got me. Now I'm fixing to go throw this touchdown the next play. Forty yards. You happy about that sack? But there you go.' That's just his mentality. I like it. I love playing against the guy. He's phenomenal to watch."</p>
<p>If for some reason Brady can't go — no, the Earth won't stop rotating on its axis and New England still would show up to play — the Patriots would look to backup Brian Hoyer. His last playoff start was the antithesis of a Brady performance. For Houston in its 2015 AFC wild-card matchup with Kansas City, Hoyer completed 15 of 34 passes for 136 yards, with no touchdowns and five turnovers (four interceptions) in a 30-0 loss.</p>
<p>Hoyer, a former Patriot, was acquired in midseason when the Patriots traded Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco.</p>
<p>"I'm always preparing to play because the truth of reality is you never know when your name's gonna be called," he said Thursday.</p>
<p>The Patriots haven't called any QB's name in the postseason other than Brady's since the 1990s.</p>
<p>Including the playoffs, the Jaguars scored eight defensive touchdowns this season, three more than any other team. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey had four interceptions during the regular season and also had one in the wild-card win over Buffalo.</p>
<p>He also fully expects to see Brady on the field Sunday.</p>
<p>"He's going to be out there, he's going to play, he's going to play to his best of ability and do what he does," Ramsey said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Kyle Hightower at http://www.twitter.com/khightower</p>
<p>FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Brady is staying mum on his status for the AFC championship game after suffering a right hand injury earlier in the week.</p>
<p>Brady said a bit contentiously only "We'll see" on Friday when asked whether he would play in Sunday's conference title game against Jacksonville.</p>
<p>The quarterback wore red gloves and responded to several other questions about how much he practiced or how he sustained the injury by saying "I'm not talking about that."</p>
<p>Brady is listed as questionable for Sunday after being a limited participant in practice Friday. He was also limited on Wednesday. He sat out practice Thursday, but wore a glove on his injured hand during the stretching period open to reporters. He usually only wears a glove on his non-throwing hand.</p>
<p>One thing Brady was clear about was the test he expects from a Jaguars unit ranked second in the NFL in total and scoring defense.</p>
<p>"It's a very unique challenge," Brady said. "I think their front three, their linebackers, are very instinctive and very fast. And great cover guys in the secondary. Ball-hawking defense. They strip it off you, they sack you. ... So they're a good defense."</p>
<p>Brady appeared on the Patriots' weekly injury report several times during the latter half of this season with injuries to both his Achilles tendon and his left shoulder. The four-time Super Bowl MVP has never missed a playoff start during his 18-year career.</p>
<p>"Tom always tends to show up in big games. This is a big game," receiver Danny Amendola said. "(He's) super tough. The toughest. He's a warrior, he's a competitor and there's really only one reason why he's here, and that's to play football. "</p>
<p>Jacksonville is preparing like Brady will be in the huddle as usual Sunday. Jaguars defensive tackle Marcell Dareus said typical methods of rattling a quarterback don't apply when it comes to him.</p>
<p>"You can hit Brady, but hitting him isn't what's going to get to him. It's constantly being that gnat in his face. He just hates that gnat just always around," said Dareus, who might be more familiar than any Jacksonville player with Brady, having spent six-plus seasons with the Bills.</p>
<p>"You sack him he's going to get up and just keep rolling. He's that competitive spirit, like, 'OK, you got me. Now I'm fixing to go throw this touchdown the next play. Forty yards. You happy about that sack? But there you go.' That's just his mentality. I like it. I love playing against the guy. He's phenomenal to watch."</p>
<p>If for some reason Brady can't go — no, the Earth won't stop rotating on its axis and New England still would show up to play — the Patriots would look to backup Brian Hoyer. His last playoff start was the antithesis of a Brady performance. For Houston in its 2015 AFC wild-card matchup with Kansas City, Hoyer completed 15 of 34 passes for 136 yards, with no touchdowns and five turnovers (four interceptions) in a 30-0 loss.</p>
<p>Hoyer, a former Patriot, was acquired in midseason when the Patriots traded Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco.</p>
<p>"I'm always preparing to play because the truth of reality is you never know when your name's gonna be called," he said Thursday.</p>
<p>The Patriots haven't called any QB's name in the postseason other than Brady's since the 1990s.</p>
<p>Including the playoffs, the Jaguars scored eight defensive touchdowns this season, three more than any other team. Cornerback Jalen Ramsey had four interceptions during the regular season and also had one in the wild-card win over Buffalo.</p>
<p>He also fully expects to see Brady on the field Sunday.</p>
<p>"He's going to be out there, he's going to play, he's going to play to his best of ability and do what he does," Ramsey said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Kyle Hightower at http://www.twitter.com/khightower</p> | Brady mum on status for AFC title game after hand injury | false | https://apnews.com/amp/06d4191df1bb49059b5b7d3bf2981d8f | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p>As if there weren’t already too many reasons to distrust the United States’ government’s discretion with weapons of war, a federal agency has found that our bureaucrats can and will give weapons to just about anyone.</p>
<p>A government watchdog group called the Government Accountability Office (GAO) produced a report highlighting a Department of Defense program’s serious vulnerabilities in sending excess military equipment to law enforcement agencies across the country <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/19/politics/defense-program-military-equipment/index.html" type="external">when they posed as a false agency and acquired military equipment afterwards</a> without any verification in less than a week.</p>
<p>The GAO, under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2016 (NDAA), went to carry out an assessment into the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) program which sends excess military equipment to federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, applied for the program, posing as a false federal law enforcement agency and created a false agency website to test out the program’s handling of sending controlled property to law enforcement agencies. Afterwards they obtained an estimated $1.2 million’s worth of controlled property ranging from <a href="http://www.gao.gov/mobile/products/GAO-17-532" type="external">“night-vision goggles, simulated rifles, and simulated pipe bombs, which could be potentially lethal items if modified with commercially available items,”</a> according to the report.</p>
<p>The director of the GAO’s defense capabilities and management team that ran the operation, Zina Merritt, later stated that <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/07/21/how-fake-cops-got-1-2-million-in-real-weapons#.CIHjmF0Sj" type="external">“they never did any verification, like visit our ‘location,’ and most of it was by email… It was like getting stuff off of eBay.”</a></p>
<p>The Defense Department later promised to strengthen its procedures in the future by making visits to law enforcement agencies applying for the program and making sure the agents applying have valid identifications.</p>
<p>Since 1991, the Defense Department through the LESO program has transferred $6 billion worth of supplies to more than 8,600 law enforcement agencies.</p> | Pentagon Sends Weapons to Fake Federal Agency | false | http://libertyviral.com/pentagon-sends-weapons-to-fake-federal-agency/ | 2017-07-26 | 1 |
<p>While most Americans would consider the CIA, and perhaps the NSA, household names, one U.S. spy agency — whose headquarters surpasses the U.S. Capitol in size — has managed to keep to the shadows while possessing cutting edge tools of the surveillance trade.</p>
<p>Called the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/20/the-multibillion-dollar-u-s-spy-agency-you-havent-heard-of-trump/" type="external">even former President Barack Obama didn’t know of its existence when he first took office</a> — despite that the agency employs some 15,400 people.</p>
<p>“So, what do you [do]?” Obama <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/the-national-geospatialintelligence-agency/news-story/0713f1b760d9c8df57b1156873900e30" type="external">asked</a> a customer at a Washington, D.C., Five Guys hamburgers in May 2009.</p>
<p>“I work at NGA, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,” he answered.</p>
<p>“Outstanding,” then-president Obama asserted. “How long have you been doing that?”</p>
<p>“Six years.”</p>
<p>“So, explain to me exactly what this National Geospatial …” Obama asked, unable to recall the agency’s full name.</p>
<p>Timidly, the man replied, “Uh, we work with, uh, satellite imagery.”</p>
<p>“Obama appeared dumbfounded,” Foreign Policy’s James Bamford <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/20/the-multibillion-dollar-u-s-spy-agency-you-havent-heard-of-trump/" type="external">reports</a>. “Eight years after that videotape aired, the NGA remains by far the most shadowy member of the Big Five spy agencies, which include the CIA and the National Security Agency.”</p>
<p>The NGA’s secretive identity belies the agency’s massive physical size and the scope of its surveillance activities, as Bamford continues,</p>
<p>“Completed in 2011 at a cost of $1.4 billion, the main building measures four football fields long and covers as much ground as two aircraft carriers. In 2016, the agency purchased 99 acres in St. Louis to construct additional buildings at a cost of $1.75 billion to accommodate the growing workforce, with 3,000 employees already in the city.</p>
<p>“The NGA is to pictures what the NSA is to voices. Its principal function is to analyze the billions of images and miles of video captured by drones in the Middle East and spy satellites circling the globe. But because it has largely kept its ultra-high-resolution cameras pointed away from the United States, according to a variety of studies, the agency has never been involved in domestic spy scandals like its two far more famous siblings, the CIA and the NSA. However, there’s reason to believe that this will change under President Donald Trump.”</p>
<p>Originally <a href="https://news.clearancejobs.com/2013/03/22/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-national-geospatial-intelligence-agency/" type="external">tasked</a> primarily with cartography — before a mammoth expansion, the spy arm had been called the National Imagery and Mapping Agency — until a name and mission switch in 2003 gave the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency its name, with the hyphen allowing a three-letter acronym so enamored by the government.</p>
<p>President Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose fondness for imagery intelligence became known when he served as a general during World War II, <a href="https://news.clearancejobs.com/2013/03/22/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-national-geospatial-intelligence-agency/" type="external">created</a> the National Photographic Interpretation Center shortly before leaving office — an agency also later absorbed by the NGA.</p>
<p>Now, the NGA works in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force to analyze the staggering amount of data collected through aerial surveillance abroad — mostly by unmanned aerial systems, such as drones with high-powered cameras.</p>
<p>According to at least <a href="https://news.clearancejobs.com/2013/03/22/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-national-geospatial-intelligence-agency/" type="external">one source</a>, as of 2013, the NGA was integral in the analysis of surveillance data pertaining to Iran’s nuclear capabilities.</p>
<p>Revelations on the depth and breadth of the Central Intelligence Agency’s domestic capabilities, long believed out of its territory, was exposed by Wikileaks <a href="https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/" type="external">Vault 7</a> recently to be on par with National Security Agency programs — so much so, analysts say it constitutes a duplicate Big Brother.</p>
<p>Data provided to the NGA by military officials has assisted in various U.S. operations in the Middle East by tracking vehicles believed responsible for planting improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and for monitoring hot spots for insurgent breakouts.</p>
<p>But the NGA hardly only keeps to support operations, as David Brown — author of the book, “Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry” — <a href="https://news.clearancejobs.com/2013/03/22/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-national-geospatial-intelligence-agency/" type="external">explained</a>,</p>
<p>“Before the trigger was pulled on NEPTUNE’S SPEAR, the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden, SEAL Team Six had access to a perfect replica of the Abbottabad compound where the terrorist mastermind was hiding. The details for the replica were gathered by the NGA, which used laser radar and imagery to construct a 3D rendering of the compound. How precise were its measurements and analysis? The NGA figured out how many people lived at the compound, their gender, and even their heights. But the NGA didn’t stop there: Its calculations also helped the pilots of the stealth Black Hawks know precisely where to land.”</p>
<p>With a combined budget <a href="https://www.dni.gov/index.php/intelligence-community/ic-policies-reports/ic-policies-2" type="external">request</a> for 2017 of $70.3 billion, the National and Military Intelligence Programs — NGA falls under the latter — have seen a quickening of support from the authoritarian-leaning, pro-military Trump administration. This and additional factors — such as the astonishingly sophisticated equipment at the agency’s disposal — have ignited fears the NGA could be granted authority to bring its expert microscope into focus against the American people.</p>
<p>“While most of the technological capacities are classified, an anonymous NGA analyst told media the agency can determine the structure of buildings and objects from a distance, has some of the most sophisticated facial recognition software on the planet and uses sensors on satellites and drones that can see through thick clouds for ‘all-weather’ imagery analysis,” <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/the-national-geospatialintelligence-agency/news-story/0713f1b760d9c8df57b1156873900e30" type="external">reports</a> news.com.au.</p>
<p>Efforts to bolster NGA’s innovate staff pool ratcheted up on Thursday, as Business Wire <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/national-geospatial-intelligence-agency-nga-131500798.html" type="external">reported</a>,</p>
<p>“From navigating a U.S. aircraft to making national policy decisions, to responding to natural disasters: today’s U.S. armed forces rely on Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) to meet mission requirements. As the nation’s primary source of GEOINT for the Department of Defense and the U.S. Intelligence Community, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) depends on the National Geospatial-Intelligence College (NGC) to produce top-tier talent to deliver intelligence with a decisive advantage. Today, Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) announced that it has been awarded a five-year, $86 million contract by NGA-NGC to lead the Learning Management and Advancement Program (LMAP) that will provide high-quality learning solutions to equip a diverse workforce with the knowledge and skills necessary to meet current and future GEOINT mission requirements.”</p>
<p>Bamford points out for Foreign Policy the Trump administration intimated a significant expansion of spying on mosques and Islamic centers, while others admonish said surveillance could put Black Lives Matter and other protest groups in the NGA’s silent crosshairs.</p>
<p>Of distinct concern for privacy advocates are drones with uncanny zooming capabilities — features used against U.S. citizens before. Bamford <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/03/20/the-multibillion-dollar-u-s-spy-agency-you-havent-heard-of-trump/" type="external">continues</a>,</p>
<p>“In 2016, unbeknownst to many city officials, police in Baltimore began <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-baltimore-secret-surveillance/" type="external">conducting</a> persistent aerial surveillance using a system developed for military use in Iraq. Few civilians have any idea how advanced these military eye-in-the-sky drones have become. Among them is ARGUS-IS, the world’s highest-resolution camera with 1.8 billion pixels. Invisible from the ground at nearly four miles in the air, it uses a technology known as ‘persistent stare’ — the equivalent of 100 Predator drones peering down at a medium-size city at once — to track everything that moves.</p>
<p>“With the capability to watch an area of 10 or even 15 square miles at a time, it would take just two drones hovering over Manhattan to continuously observe and follow all outdoor human activity, night and day. It can zoom in on an object as small as a stick of butter on a plate and store up to 1 million terabytes of data a day. That capacity would allow analysts to look back in time over days, weeks, or months. Technology is in the works to enable drones to remain aloft for years at a time.”</p>
<p>With cutting edge technology, a rapid enlargement underway, and billions in budgetary funds at the ready, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is the cloaked, mute sibling of the nefarious Intelligence Community — but it’s time to pull the protective shell off this potential ticking time bomb before reining it in becomes an impossibility.</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/nsa-images-spy-agency/" type="external">The Free Thought Project</a></p>
<p />
<p /> | They Can See a ‘Stick of Butter from Space’ — The Billion Dollar Spy Agency You’ve Never Heard Of | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2017/03/26/they-can-see-a-stick-of-butter-from-space-the-billion-dollar-spy-agency-youve-never-heard-of/ | 2017-03-26 | 0 |
<p>In a lecture in late 1967 over the Canadian Broadcasting Company, Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the subject of “Conscience and the Vietnam War.” His conscience was clearly telling him that this was a war that made no sense and must be stopped.</p>
<p>“Somehow this madness must cease,” King said. “We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative of this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours.”</p>
<p>King went on to say in his speech, “The war is Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit.” Within a few months, that malady would result in King’s assassination, and over the years since King’s death that malady would lead America into other wars in other places.</p>
<p>Today, King’s words could be transposed from Vietnam to Iraq: “I speak as a child of God and a brother to the suffering poor of Iraq….” And it is still the “poor of America” who are paying the greatest price, the ultimate price on the battlefield and the loss of hope at home, while corporations such as Halliburton reap obscene profits.</p>
<p>Over the decades the “malady within the American spirit” that King named persists. It is a malady of power, arrogance and greed, a malady that takes our high ideals and smashes them in the dust, along with human life, by bombs dropped from 30,000 feet. With the power to wage war, our leaders have again thumbed their noses at the international community and sent our young soldiers to fight and die in an illegal war, authorized neither constitutionally nor under international law.</p>
<p>King concluded his speech by saying, “We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and for justice throughout the developing world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.”</p>
<p>The world warned the US against going to war in Iraq. The UN Security Council refused to be forced into war or to authorize it, and the US president called the UN irrelevant. Millions of people throughout the world took to the streets, and the US Administration dismissed them as irrelevant.</p>
<p>Today, the US Administration has had its way, and the terrible scourge of war has again been unleashed. Thousands have died, including more than 500 American soldiers. Tens of thousands have been injured and maimed, including thousands of American soldiers. Saddam Hussein has been pulled from power and his statues toppled, but Iraq is in chaos as a result of the US invasion and occupation, and experts are predicting that a terrible civil war lies ahead. No weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, although the US president assured us they were there, and American soldiers are being confronted daily by bullets, bombs and scorn.</p>
<p>What would King say to us today? Would he be resilient, or would he be broken by the “shameful corridors” through which our leaders have dragged us? Surely, he would be resilient. He knew the pain of struggle and he knew that war and violence only breed more war and violence. But how his heart would ache for the lost promise of those destroyed by this war and for the poor who bear the burden most. How his heart would ache if he could see how little we have progressed in overcoming the maladies of power, arrogance and greed. Surely, King’s message would be constant, and he would be leading a nonviolent struggle today to find the way to peace and respect for human dignity in America, Iraq and throughout the world.</p>
<p>DAVID KRIEGER is president of the <a href="http://www.wagingpeace.org/" type="external">Nuclear Age Peace Foundation</a>. He can be contacted at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Why It is Relevant to Iraq | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/02/05/why-it-is-relevant-to-iraq/ | 2004-02-05 | 4 |
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<p>LONDON — A closely watched survey is showing that the eurozone economy, made up of the 19 countries that use the euro currency, has ended the third quarter on a strong note, in a development that further reinforces hopes about the state of the region’s recovery.</p>
<p>Financial information company IHS Markit says Friday that its main gauge of the eurozone’s business activity — the so-called purchasing managers’ index — jumped to a four-month high of 56.7 in September, a whole point above the previous months’ rate.</p>
<p>The firm’s chief business economist Chris Williamson says that points to a high quarterly economic growth of 0.7 percent, “with accelerating momentum boding well for a buoyant end to the year.”</p>
<p>However, he said the stronger euro was cited as a source of concern for manufacturers.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Eurozone growth hopes reinforced by strong survey | false | https://abqjournal.com/1067504/eurozone-growth-hopes-reinforced-by-strong-survey.html | 2 |
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<p>KCTV-5/AP Photo</p>
<p />
<p>What explains the <a href="" type="internal">horrific shootings</a> in a Kansas suburb that claimed the lives of three people? Searching for an answer, I called a jail in Stanton, North Dakota, the temporary residence of Craig Cobb, a white nationalist whom Frazier Glenn Miller, the suspect in these attacks, called a friend during a <a href="" type="internal">2010 radio interview</a>. Cobb, 62,&#160;has been locked up for months after being <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21591876-hardly-anyone-shares-craig-cobbs-dream-white-christmas-racist-mob-two" type="external">arrested</a> for terrorizing residents of a small town that he was trying to turn into an all-white enclave; he and a buddy had been patrolling the streets brandishing weapons. (Last year, he earned a few minutes of fame when a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm9LZiKuOLI" type="external">DNA test indicated</a> that Cobb, who believes Jews have orchestrated the “genocidal collapse” of the white race, was 14 percent black.)&#160;</p>
<p>I couldn’t reach Cobb directly, but he soon called me back—collect—and was eager to discuss Miller, who was a <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get%20informed/intelligence%20files/profiles/Glenn%20Miller" type="external">former grand dragon</a> of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and a founder of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Patriot_Party" type="external">White Patriot Party</a>. Cobb says that he had only met Miller once in person, but that the two had for years been associates via online&#160;bulletin boards and forums, that they spoke on the phone once or twice a week, and that he thinks of Miller, 73, as&#160;an older brother or father figure. During their most recent call, which happened at the end of last week, Miller seemed upbeat to Cobb—more upbeat than usual. Miller had mentioned that he had weekend plans to get together with friends for barbecue and beer. Cobb says Miller mentioned nothing indicating he might go on a shooting rampage.</p>
<p>But, Cobb notes, a few weeks ago, Miller told him that he was suffering from an emphysema-like disease and had one foot in the grave. Did he want to go out with a grand statement? Cobb says he saw no sign of that. In fact, he points out that Miller in recent months had repeatedly expressed an overall positive outlook, telling Cobb that he believed that now the “whole world was on to them.” By “them,” Miller meant Jews. Cobb recalls that Miller had noted that the internet had allowed the spread of information about the global Jewish conspiracy: “Recently, he’s said the whole world has figured out what the Jews have done to whites.” Miller, Cobb recounts, “was quite excited there seemed to be a worldwide consciousness” about Jewish schemes against white people and “Zionist wars.”</p>
<p>Miller had military training, Cobb says, noting that Miller told him he had been a Green Beret and had served in Vietnam, earning a military pension. Miller had a son, according to Cobb, who died in a shootout with law enforcement officials several years ago.</p>
<p>Cobb says that he never discussed any plans for violence with Miller—especially not on a prison phone line that is routinely recorded. He notes he has no idea where or how Miller obtained his weapons. As a convicted felon, “he’s not supposed to have weapons,” Cobb points out. (In 1986, Miller was&#160; <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get%20informed/intelligence%20files/profiles/Glenn%20Miller" type="external">convicted</a>&#160;of violating a federal order. A year later, after being indicted for conspiring to obtain stolen military weapons and for other charges, he received a five-year sentence in exchange for testifying against other white supremacists.) Cobb insists that Miller never discussed weapons with him at any time: “We consider ourselves propagandists.”</p>
<p>Cobb thinks highly of Miller: “He has real high social skills. He’s a real people person. That’s why it’s so shocking. Everyone likes him. He’s a natural leader.” He continues: “Like a lot of white nationalists, he’s an alpha personality…He has always said that David Duke is the greatest white nationalist in the world.” Miller, according to Cobb, has passed out 1 million pieces of “white literature.”</p>
<p>He recalls that Miller once told him a story that Cobb found amusing. Miller was driving along and suddenly&#160;spotted several police cars—lights flashing, sirens wailing—heading in his direction. Believing they were after him, he pulled his car into a parking lot. He jumped out, grabbing a gun or two, and positioned himself behind the car, as the police cars neared. Miller aimed his gun at the oncoming cars,&#160;ready to fire. And…the police cars raced past him, toward another destination. There was no shootout.</p>
<p>Cobb says he doesn’t believe Miller committed the shootings. “I hope he didn’t,” he says. But if Miller did, what might be the explanation? “People are fed up,” Cobb says.</p>
<p /> | Alleged Kansas Gunman’s White Nationalist Buddy: He Was “Upbeat” in Last Phone Call | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2014/04/craig-cobb-frazier-glenn-miller-kansas-shootings/ | 2014-04-14 | 4 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — Former acting attorney general Sally Yates is expected to testify to Congress next week that she expressed alarm to the White House about President Donald Trump’s national security adviser’s contacts with the Russian ambassador, which could contradict how the administration has characterized her counsel.</p>
<p>Yates on Monday is expected to recount her Jan. 26 conversation about Michael Flynn and to say that she was concerned by discrepancies between the administration’s public statements on his contacts with ambassador Sergey Kislyak and what really transpired, according to a person familiar with that discussion and knowledgeable about Yates’s plans for her testimony.</p>
<p>The person spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to pre-empt the testimony.</p>
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<p>Yates is expected to say that she told White House counsel Don McGahn that she believed Flynn’s communications with Kislyak could leave Flynn in a compromised position because of the contradictions between the public depictions of the calls and what intelligence officials knew to be true, the person said.</p>
<p>White House officials have said publicly that Yates merely wanted to give them a “heads-up” about Flynn’s Russian contacts, but Yates is likely to testify that she approached the White House with alarm, according to the person.</p>
<p>“So just to be clear, the acting attorney general informed the White House counsel that they wanted to give a ‘heads up’ to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had sent the Vice President out in particular,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters at a Feb. 14 press briefing.</p>
<p>Flynn resigned in February after published reports detailed Yates’s conversation with the White House. White House officials initially maintained that Flynn had not discussed Russian sanctions with Kislyak during the transition period, but after news reports said the opposite, they then admitted that he had misled them about the nature of that call.</p>
<p>“The issue, pure and simple, came down to a matter of trust,” Spicer told reporters.</p>
<p>Flynn was in frequent contact with Kislyak on the day the Obama administration slapped sanctions on Russia for election-related hacking, as well as at other times during the transition period, a U.S. official has said.</p>
<p>Yates’s scheduled appearance before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, alongside former national intelligence director James Clapper, will provide her first public account of the conversation with the White House. It will also represent her first testimony before Congress since Yates, an Obama administration holdover, was fired in January for refusing to defend Trump’s travel ban.</p>
<p>She was previously scheduled to appear in March before a House committee investigating Russian interference in the presidential election, but that hearing was canceled.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP</a></p> | AP source: Yates to testify on warning White House on Flynn | false | https://abqjournal.com/997321/ap-source-yates-to-testify-on-warning-white-house-on-flynn.html | 2017-05-02 | 2 |
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<p>Obama is trying to seize the advantage in the heated dispute over the contentious issue while Congress is on a Thanksgiving recess and Republicans scramble to coalesce behind a unified opposition strategy.</p>
<p>The president was scheduled to speak to Chicago community leaders, part of an ongoing effort to defend and promote his decision to bypass Congress and direct sweeping executive actions that could spare millions of immigrants illegally in the United States from being deported.</p>
<p>Obama will speak at a center in the city’s predominantly Polish-American far northwest side, underscoring how his immigration measures would affect more than Latino immigrants. Chicago has the largest population of Poles in the United States.</p>
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<p>Under a series of measures Obama announced last week, nearly 5 million immigrants will be eligible to avoid deportation and sign up for work permits. The number who could benefit represents about 45 percent of the total number of immigrants who either entered the country illegally or have overstayed their visas.</p>
<p>Republicans have vowed to rein Obama in, but have not fallen behind any specific plan.</p>
<p>Obama has called on Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration overhaul that he has said would render his executive actions moot.</p>
<p>Chicago is Obama’s hometown — he worked in the city as a community organizer in the 1980s — and its metropolitan area has the fifth largest Latino population in the country.</p>
<p>The White House says Obama will draw attention to the contributions of immigrants and their role in creating businesses and jobs and will cite economic estimates from the White House that the executive actions would boost the economy and expand the tax base.</p>
<p>The Chicago visit is his second trip out of Washington to draw attention to his actions since he announced them Thursday. Last Friday, the president spoke in Las Vegas, another city with a large Latino population.</p>
<p>Obama has a mixed history in Chicago over the question of immigration. He conceded in his 2006 book “The Audacity of Hope” that his experiences there led him to reflect on the meaning of citizenship and “my sometimes conflicted feelings about all the changes that are taking place.”</p>
<p>In 2006, when he was a senator from Illinois, he denied a request from about 30 Mexican nationals living in Chicago for a special piece of legislation that would protect them from deportation. The decision infuriated immigration activists in the city.</p>
<p>But Obama has also backed an overhaul of immigration law, and while he initially angered advocacy groups by delaying his executive actions until after this month’s midterm elections, last week’s measures have generally been greeted with enthusiasm from immigration advocates and Latino groups.</p> | President Obama heads to Chicago to pitch immigration steps | false | https://abqjournal.com/501528/president-obama-heads-to-chicago-to-pitch-immigration-steps.html | 2 |
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<p>Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., right, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, fields questions with Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee. (The Associated Press)</p>
<p>Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee, appear to be in sync in defending the controversial cap that Congress has imposed on cost-of-living adjustments for “working age” military retirees starting in January 2016.</p>
<p>They should be, Ryan is suggesting, because the idea for the COLA cap came to him from the Department of Defense. And the budget deal he struck will help to ease automatic defense spending cuts from sequestration that military leaders said were decimating force readiness.</p>
<p>Hagel and Ryan also agree, however, that it was a mistake for Ryan and his negotiating partner, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, not to have shielded more than 100,000 service members retired on medical disability from the planned COLA caps.</p>
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<p>Therefore, even as Congress forwarded the Bipartisan Budget Act on to President Barack Obama to be signed into law, Ryan said he and Murray will work to amend it so it excludes those medically retired and their survivors from the COLA caps “well before” they are to take effect.</p>
<p>Ryan wrote this in a guest editorial in the USA Today newspaper.</p>
<p>At a Pentagon press conference, Hagel embraced the Ryan-Murray budget deal after it passed both the House and Senate by comfortable margins. Defense leaders, he said, are “prepared to engage the Congress in achieving compensation reform. But any changes to cost-of-living adjustments should not apply to medically disabled retirees. These retirees need to be exempted from the changes in the budget agreement.”</p>
<p>The vast majority of retirees are non-disabled, but the COLA cap provision in the Bipartisan Budget Act makes no distinction. Unless the law is amended, COLAs for all military retirees under age 62 will be capped after 2015 at 1 percentage point below annual inflation as measured by the government’s Consumer Price Index or CPI.</p>
<p>At age 62, full COLAs would be restored and annuities reset to levels retirees would have seen at that age had full COLAs been in effect since retirement. Impacted retirees, however, would never get back money lost annually before 62 under the CPI-minus-1-percent formula.</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office estimates savings to the Department of Defense of $6.3 billion over the first decade the COLA cap is in effect. The impact on individuals will vary based on rate of inflation.</p>
<p>For example, if an enlisted member in pay grade E-7 retirees at age 40 with an initial annuity of $23,000, and if cost of living climbs an average of 3 percent a year, then by age 62 the COLA capped of 2 percent would cut $83,000 off the total value of E-7 retired pay. However, if inflation averages 2 percent a year, the loss by age 62 falls to $72,000.</p>
<p>An officer who retirees as an O-5 at age 42, with an initial annuity of $43,000, stands to lose more than $124,000 by age 62 with a CPI-minus-1 COLA, assuming average inflation of 3 percent. If inflation, however, averages 2 percent, the COLA cap would dampen retired pay for that officer by $109,000 by age 62.</p>
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<p>Military Officers Association of America, which prepared these estimates, also produced numbers showing the effect of the COLA cap on some few members forced to retire early on medical disability.</p>
<p>An E-6 who retires at age 32, after 12 years of service, due to injury or illness would lose more than $45,000 in retired pay by age 62 if inflation were to average three percent. An O-3 officer medically retired at 34 after 12 years would lose more than $63,000 in retired pay by age 62.</p>
<p>The Senate followed the House by a week in approving the budget deal, as a dozen Republicans joined every Senate Democrat in voting for the bill despite a rising chorus of criticism from military retirees, careerists nearing retirement and by military association and veterans’ groups.</p>
<p>The intensity of the political heat encouraged a number of lawmakers to introduce bills immediately that would replace the COLA cut with cost-cutting alternatives their constituents might find more palatable.</p>
<p>For instance, Sens. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced legislation to replace the COLA cap with language that would block companies from using foreign tax havens to avoid U.S. taxes. That idea isn’t popular with Republicans who oppose any kind of tax increase.</p>
<p>Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., instead wants to replace the COLA cuts with a bill to tighten the Refundable Child Tax Credit program so illegal immigrants can’t abuse it and receive fraudulent payments. Fitzpatrick cited recent findings from the Treasury Department’s inspector general of billions of dollar being paid improperly to undocumented workers.</p>
<p>The budget deal Ryan and Murray struck softens the effect of budget sequestration by $63 billion across 2014 and 2015, with half of it bringing budget relief to the Department of Defense. It shelves about one-third of across-the-board defense spending cuts expected those years from the sequestration mechanism adopted in the 2011 Budget Control Act.</p>
<p>Hagel said the deal restores some predictability to defense spending near-term but DoD still faces “very difficult budget decisions.” With defense budgets still capped $70 billion below requested levels for 2014 and 2015, Hagel said, DoD still must make deep cuts to overhead and infrastructure costs, “tough choices on force structure” and reform military compensation.</p>
<p>Even as Murray moved to distance herself from the COLA cap provision in the deal she negotiated, Ryan defended it. He called current retirement benefits generous and said most retirees to be impacted by the COLA caps will be working in second careers anyway. He also echoed warnings from Hagel and the joint chiefs about the perils of rising personnel costs.</p>
<p>“For me, there’s simply no choice between responsible reforms of military compensation and making what our military leadership has called ‘disproportionate cuts to military readiness and modernization,'” Ryan explained. “Every time we kick the can down the road, we put our troops’ combat readiness at risk.”</p>
<p>Send comments to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120, email <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a> or twitter: Tom Philpott @Military_Update.</p>
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<p /> | Deal caps future military retirees’ pay | false | https://abqjournal.com/331570/deal-caps-future-military-retirees-pay.html | 2014-01-06 | 2 |
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<p>SANTA FE – State Police have identified the Santa Fe police officer and the stolen vehicle suspect he fatally shot near Eldorado on Saturday night, four days after the shooting occurred.</p>
<p>Officer Leonardo Guzman, a three-year SFPD veteran, fired one round into 33-year-old Andrew James Lucero's abdomen around 10 p.m. Saturday after Lucero got into Guzman's patrol car and knocked Guzman down while driving forward, a statement released by State Police on Wednesday said. Lucero was pronounced dead at the scene.</p>
<p>State Police had refused to release the suspect's name until he was identified by the Office of the Medical Investigator and said they wouldn't release the names of the officers until they were interviewed by investigators. The Santa Fe police also refused to name any SFPD officers, citing a 10-year-old agreement between news organizations and the Department of Public Safety that the city wasn't a part of. News organizations and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government have rejected the city's legal stance.</p>
<p>Santa Fe police started pursing a stolen Mercedes through town around 9:20 p.m. Saturday. The driver, now identified as Lucero, led officers though city streets and at one point dropped off two passengers. Police called off the pursuit when Lucero started driving north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 25 with no headlights.</p>
<p>State Police said Wednesday that Agent Jeremy Stricklin, a three-year State Police veteran, was on his way to Pecos when he saw SFPD emergency lights. Stricklin contacted Guzman and Alexis Carlos, identified as an SFPD “recruit officer” of only 12 days who was with Guzman, and learned that they were looking for a stolen car.</p>
<p>Guzman and Stricklin found the Mercedes in the driveway of 12 Chaparral Drive near Eldorado. Guzman broke one of the windows and Lucero got out of the car with his hands up, the State Police release says. But Lucero turned and ran toward Guzman's patrol car, and was able to get in the driver's seat and put the car in drive. Stricklin entered the passenger side and tried to take control of the car, and “a physical altercation ensued.”</p>
<p>Stricklin was able to put the car in park, but Lucero put it in drive again, causing the car to move toward a tree, the State Police said. Guzman was pinned between a car door and the tree, and was knocked down. He got back to his feet and fired a round, hitting Lucero in the abdomen. Guzman and Stricklin performed CPR, the news release says, but Lucero was later pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel. Guzman was treated at the hospital for a sprained leg ligament, while Stricklin was treated for ringing in his ears.</p>
<p>A man named Andrew James Lucero has an extensive criminal history in the Santa Fe area, court records show, but that man is not 33 years old, the age the State Police gave for the suspect shot by Guzman.</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Santa Fe police officer involved in fatal shooting identified | false | https://abqjournal.com/998067/santa-fe-state-officers-involved-in-fatal-shooting-identified.html | 2017-05-03 | 2 |
<p>German fans in blackface&lt;a href="http://instagram.com/p/phMAaCCHrs/"&gt;selma_slim&lt;/a&gt;/Instagram</p>
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<p>Hooligan culture has long brought out the ugliest elements of soccer fan bases. But recently the consensus is that hate speech—and even violence—have gotten worse in soccer stadiums around the world, from <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=130886" type="external">Europe</a> to <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/9/brazil-soccer-racism.html" type="external">South America</a>.</p>
<p>That’s why FIFA, international soccer’s governing body, has gone on the offensive during this year’s World Cup, slapping “Say No to Racism” patches on players’ jerseys and on signs around the pitch during matches. FIFA also has a number of tools in its arsenal to punish offending parties, from banning individual fans and fining countries to even deducting teams’ points or suspending them altogether.</p>
<p>Despite these efforts, racism and homophobia have emerged in the stands and on the field at this year’s World Cup in Brazil. Here’s the worst of the worst so far, and how they stack up to past misbehavior:</p>
<p>1. Neo-Nazis on the loose. During Saturday’s match between Germany and Ghana, a shirtless man <a href="http://time.com/2911124/racism-and-nazism-are-haunting-germanys-world-cup-campaign/" type="external">ran on the field</a> during the 53rd minute. On his body he’d written the symbol of the Nazi SS, as well as the letters “HH”—short for “Heil Hitler.” Shockingly, he paraded around midfield for a few moments—with no security personnel in sight—until a Ghanaian player took it upon himself to escort him away.</p>
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<p>It was hardly the first time neo-Nazis have used the World Cup as a platform for their views. Last week, for example, Russian and Croatian fans were <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10910538/World-Cup-2014-Brazil-and-Mexico-face-action-for-homophobic-chanting-by-fans.html" type="external">spotted in the stands</a> with banners with anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi symbols. One Croatian player, Joe Simunic, was banned from this year’s Cup after <a href="http://www.espnfc.com/fifa-world-cup/story/1623756/croatia-defender-joe-simunic-fined-for-pro-nazi-chants" type="external">shouting slogans from Nazi-era Croatia</a> following his side’s qualifying victory. And in 2006, <a href="http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk/news/793030.supporters_arrested_in_germany_face_court/" type="external">English fans were arrested</a> in Germany for displaying Nazi symbols on their bodies.</p>
<p>Despite FIFA’s promise to punish hate speech—and even deduct teams’ points for offenses—there’s reason to believe this isn’t the last incident of this kind. <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Jewish-World/Jewish-News/Kantor-Amid-increasing-anti-Semitism-normative-Jewish-life-in-Europe-is-unsustainable-350545" type="external">Anti-Semitism</a> and <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130524/european-racism-greece-italy" type="external">racism are on the rise</a> in many parts of Europe <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/jewish-group-concerned-about-anti-semitism-european-soccer-games_663885.html" type="external">and in its soccer stadiums</a>; in particular, the 2018 World Cup host, Russia, has a disturbing trend of violent neo-Nazism and racism (and, as Mother Jones has reported, <a href="" type="internal">homophobia</a>). Some players have already <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/24660581" type="external">called for a boycott</a>.</p>
<p>2. Blackface and yelling “monkey.” Also at Saturday’s Germany-Ghana match, German fans were seen wearing blackface and Afro wigs, happily taking pictures with other fans. While it’s unclear how many there were, an <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/worldcup/world-cup-2014-fifa-investigate-image-of-fans-wearing-black-face-paint-during-ghana-vs-germany-9556535.html" type="external">Instagram user posted a picture of two</a> and said he’d counted eight Germans in blackface at the stadium.</p>
<p>FIFA is currently investigating, and despite its tough talk on racism, it’s unclear how the issue will be handled. Like the <a href="http://www.ushistoryscene.com/1800-1850/stephenfoster/" type="external">United States</a>, Germany has a history of whites putting on black makeup—particularly in theater—and some Germans still consider the practice <a href="http://www.thelocal.de/20120106/39967" type="external">acceptable</a>.</p>
<p>Even the World Cup’s tremendously diverse host country has been waging a high-profile battle with its own racial tensions, which sometimes manifest themselves at soccer games. Arouca, a former Brazilian national player, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/06/22/rousseff-pledge-brazil-world-cup-without-racism-puts-more-focus-on-old-hidden/" type="external">was taunted</a> several months ago in Rio de Janeiro by fans repeatedly chanting “monkey” at him, along with other nasty slurs. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/2014/06/22/brazil-faces-issues-around-racism-despite-image/11232763/" type="external">tweeted her disapproval after the incident</a>, writing, “It is unacceptable that Brazil, the country with the largest black population after Nigeria, has racism issues.”</p>
<p>Rousseff also pledged a “World Cup without racism,” which would certainly be an accomplishment for an international soccer competition. At the <a href="http://zeenews.india.com/sports/football/euro-cup-2012/euro-cup-2012-racism-violence-and-football_743756.html" type="external">2012 Euro Cup</a>, Dutch players were harassed by fans and Italian player Mario Balotelli was verbally abused; at the 2006 World Cup, Spanish fans <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/5127374.stm" type="external">allegedly taunted</a> French players during an elimination match; and in the 1970s and 1980s, <a href="http://www.sirc.org/publik/fvracism.html" type="external">racist taunting was so common</a> in soccer stadiums in Europe that it was hardly newsworthy at all.</p>
<p>3. Mexico’s popular homophobic chant. Mexican fans have <a href="http://www.outsports.com/2014/6/18/5819316/mexican-soccer-fans-puto-gay-slur-world-cup-brazil" type="external">brought the infamous “¡EHHH…PUTO!” chant</a>, reliably shouted during goal and corner kicks, to the World Cup. “Puto” is historically an offensive slur for gay men, and when Mexican fans shouted it during their side’s match against Cameroon, FIFA promised an investigation, which could’ve resulted in a fine for the Mexican soccer federation.</p>
<p>On Monday, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/06/23/fifa-drops-gay-slur-charge-against-mexico-federation-over-fans-chant-at-world/" type="external">FIFA concluded</a> that the chant “is not considered insulting in this specific context” and refrained from issuing any kind of punishment. Anti-racism activist group Football Against Racism in Europe <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10920613/World-Cup-2014-Fifa-say-Brazil-and-Mexico-fans-faggot-chant-is-not-considered-homophobic.html" type="external">condemned FIFA’s lack of action</a>, stating, “If the decision is that the use of the word ‘puto’ is not homophobic then this [is] disappointing and contradicts the expert advice of the Mexican government’s own anti-discrimination body, CONAPRED, and numerous other experts.” (Last week, <a href="http://www.animalpolitico.com/2014/06/grito-de-puto-refleja-la-homofobia-el-machismo-y-la-misoginia-reinantes-en-mexico-conapred/#axzz35Sr0DYUN" type="external">CONAPRED denounced the chant</a>, saying that it “reflects the homophobia, machismo, and misogyny that still exists in our culture.”) Mexican soccer officials have been mostly silent, but coach Miguel Herrera <a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/mexico-coach-herrera-defends-gay-slur-chants-by-world-cup-crowd-062014" type="external">defended the chant’s use</a>, calling it “not that bad.”</p>
<p>Worse still, when Mexico took on Brazil last week, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/10910538/World-Cup-2014-Brazil-and-Mexico-face-action-for-homophobic-chanting-by-fans.html" type="external">Brazilian fans adopted the chant</a>—not exactly the kind of cross-cultural sharing FIFA hopes for during soccer’s biggest event.</p>
<p /> | Neo-Nazi Banners, Blackface, and Homophobic Chants: World Cup Fans Behaving Badly | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/world-cup-racism-homophobia-brazil/ | 2014-06-24 | 4 |
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<p>SANTA FE - A judge will hear arguments later this month on whether the education department's evaluation system should be shut down while a lawsuit heads to court.</p>
<p>The Los Alamos Monitor reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1K52Ebr)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1K52Ebr)</a> Santa Fe First Judicial District Court Judge David Thomson scheduled preliminary injunction hearings for Sept. 16 and Sept. 21.</p>
<p>The Albuquerque Teachers Federation and the American Federation of Teachers requested the injunction after filing a lawsuit earlier this year that said the evaluations are punitive.</p>
<p>Thompson scheduled an April 4 court date in the lawsuit to determine the validity of the evaluations.</p>
<p>Attorney Shane Youtz is defending New Mexico Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera and the New Mexico Public Education Department. Thompson granted Youtz's request for more time to conduct research on the allegations being made by the plaintiffs.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Los Alamos Monitor, <a href="http://www.lamonitor.com" type="external">http://www.lamonitor.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Judge to decide on halting teacher evaluation system | false | https://abqjournal.com/641016/judge-to-decide-on-halting-teacher-evaluation-system.html | 2 |
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<p>Ford Motor’s (NYSE:F) Focus Electric compact car will cost about 10% less when 2014 models hit showrooms in the next few weeks, a move that comes amid a string of price cuts for battery-powered cars.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The 2014 Focus Electric’s sticker price will start at $35,200, down $4,000 compared to the base price of the 2013 model. The base price including shipping will be $35,995.</p>
<p>Ford spokeswoman Amanda Zusman said the price change will keep the company “competitive in the marketplace and is an important part of our commitment to provide customers with a range of electrified vehicles to choose from.”</p>
<p>Some buyers also qualify for a $7,500 credit on federal income taxes, while certain states like California have separate incentives for purchasing electric vehicles.</p>
<p>Other car makers have dropped electric vehicle prices as well, looking to jump-start demand. Nissan recently lowered the base price for its Leaf electric vehicle by $6,400 to bring the starting price to $29,650 including shipping.</p>
<p>General Motors’ (NYSE:GM) Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid got a price reduction of $1,000 in 2011, before Chevrolet began offering incentives of as much as $5,000 last month. The Volt starts at nearly $40,000 before tax credits.</p>
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<p>The Department of Energy said last month that according to its estimates, the gas-equivalent cost of an electric car is about $1.14 a gallon. Gasoline prices on Thursday averaged about $3.51 a gallon nationwide, according to AAA.</p>
<p>But more gas efficient vehicles have narrowed the cost-of-ownership gap between traditional vehicles and electric ones, and electric vehicles remain a fraction of the total market.</p>
<p>In its annual 5-Year Cost to Own ranking, Kelley Blue Book named the Volt as the most cost-efficient electric vehicle with an estimated five-year cost of $37,153. Several gas-powered vehicles, including the 2013 Jeep Patriot and Honda Insight, were estimated to cost less.</p> | Ford’s 2014 Focus Electric Gets 10% Price Cut | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/07/11/fords-2014-focus-electric-gets-10-price-cut.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>PIERRE, S.D. (AP) _ These South Dakota lotteries were drawn Tuesday:</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>02-06-30-31-55, Mega Ball: 7, Megaplier: 4</p>
<p>(two, six, thirty, thirty-one, fifty-five; Mega Ball: seven; Megaplier: four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $63 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $92 million</p>
<p>PIERRE, S.D. (AP) _ These South Dakota lotteries were drawn Tuesday:</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>02-06-30-31-55, Mega Ball: 7, Megaplier: 4</p>
<p>(two, six, thirty, thirty-one, fifty-five; Mega Ball: seven; Megaplier: four)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $63 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $92 million</p> | SD Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/c4d25a24bd36440a8082434efec5ed0c | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
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<p>Convicted con man Matthew Sample, seen here in 2014, was able to avoid prison time for his crimes. (Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Santa Fe “con man” who stole more than $1 million from investors escaped a prison sentence, and instead was sentenced to probation and was required to pay back his victims.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera handed down the five-year probation sentence on Thursday, in part, because defendant Matthew Sample is expected to make $200,000 this year in his current job, enabling him to make restitution.</p>
<p>Sample, who now resides in San Diego, previously pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges. He bilked six sets of victims out of their money, which in some cases had been put aside for retirement and college accounts, to fund a lavish lifestyle. Prosecutors said he ran his schemes roughly from 2008 to 2014.</p>
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<p>“I’m not going to enjoy making these phone calls to the victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Federici said after the sentencing. His office had sought more than six years in prison for Sample.</p>
<p>Sample’s former Santa Fe home had real gold woven into the wallpaper, and the home was featured on the show “House Hunters” on HGTV, where the show’s host described it as the “ultimate party house.” Prosecutors included pictures of him on yachts, at ball games and at amusement parks in his sentencing memorandum.</p>
<p>“The label ‘con man’ has been applied to you, Mr. Sample, and I want to say I understand that label,” Herrera said. “You did your best to earn that label.”</p>
<p>But while awaiting sentencing, Sample obtained a high-paying job at mortgage data company SettlementOne and has been promoted several times. He has paid more than $70,000 in restitution to victims in recent years. and he is expected to make more than $200,000 this year, according to a letter his supervisor submitted to the court.</p>
<p>Herrera said she expects Sample to live frugally until his victims are repaid.</p>
<p>“If you didn’t have your current job and the ability to make these payments, I might be doing something differently,” she said. “I don’t think you deserve to have fun for the next few years.”</p>
<p>Federal prosecutors had requested a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for Sample in addition to restitution. That was at the low end of federal sentencing guidelines.</p>
<p>Federici said in court that Sample damaged the public’s trust and earned a prison sentence. He said a sentence of only probation would amount to Sample’s buying his way out of prison.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“This isn’t a civil case where restitution clears the decks. This is a criminal case,” he said.</p>
<p>Sample convinced his victims to give him money to invest in a fund he created, but it was in fact a scheme in which he took money from the fund or other trading accounts to pay for his lavish lifestyle, according to court records. To cover up his scheme, Sample moved money around among his clients, mixed it with his own, held weekly phone conferences and quarterly meetings with clients and sent them false statements that showed their accounts were profitable. He even created a fake website about the investment fund.</p>
<p>Ray Twohig, Sample’s attorney, said his client has changed his ways.</p>
<p>Sample said during a hearing earlier this year that he was in an abusive relationship and was using drugs and alcohol when he started to steal.</p>
<p>“I would say what Mr. Sample is trying to do is work his way out of the problems he created for himself,” he said.</p>
<p>Sample declined to comment after the hearing.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Judge orders Santa Fe con man to pay back victims | false | https://abqjournal.com/974861/million-dollar-con-man-gets-probation-ordered-to-pay-back-victims.html | 2017-03-23 | 2 |
<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas man who is black has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was racially discriminated against at the Power &amp; Light District in Kansas City, Missouri.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article195117904.html" type="external">The Kansas City Star</a> reports that Arthur Wayne Brown, of Shawnee, says in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was verbally and physically abused in October 2014 when he went to the entertainment district to watch the Royals play in the World Series. Brown says he was buying drinks from the Dubliner's outdoor bar and needed to use the restroom inside. Brown says security officers then handcuffed him and took him to the entertainment district's security office, where he was "chained to a bench."</p>
<p>Downtown Irish Pub, which does business as the Dubliner, didn't return a call from The Star for comment.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Kansas City Star, <a href="http://www.kcstar.com" type="external">http://www.kcstar.com</a></p>
<p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas man who is black has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was racially discriminated against at the Power &amp; Light District in Kansas City, Missouri.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article195117904.html" type="external">The Kansas City Star</a> reports that Arthur Wayne Brown, of Shawnee, says in the federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was verbally and physically abused in October 2014 when he went to the entertainment district to watch the Royals play in the World Series. Brown says he was buying drinks from the Dubliner's outdoor bar and needed to use the restroom inside. Brown says security officers then handcuffed him and took him to the entertainment district's security office, where he was "chained to a bench."</p>
<p>Downtown Irish Pub, which does business as the Dubliner, didn't return a call from The Star for comment.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Kansas City Star, <a href="http://www.kcstar.com" type="external">http://www.kcstar.com</a></p> | Suit alleges racial discrimination at entertainment district | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ab322d6530604406b190ea2ad8fb59b5 | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
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<p>Alicia Garcia/MDC.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A woman faces battery charges after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend with a grilling fork during an argument over a camping trip the pair planned on taking, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.</p>
<p>Alicia Garcia, 28, allegedly hurled kitchen utensils at her boyfriend during the confrontation at an apartment complex near Osuna and Second Street around 3 a.m. Friday, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>The boyfriend ran to the neighbors house "in fear of his life" after Garcia stabbed him in the upper right arm with the kitchen-ware, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>Garcia's child was sitting on the couch about 10 feet from the stabbing during the argument, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>Garcia was charged with aggravated battery on a household member and child abuse, and was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on $20,000 bail.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | BCSO: Woman stabs boyfriend with grilling fork | false | https://abqjournal.com/379686/bcso-woman-stabs-boyfriend-with-grilling-fork.html | 2 |
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<p>Dual power has come to Bolivia most suddenly: not, as expected, in the form of a coordinated uprising of coca growers, highland Aymara peasants, and Quechua-speaking peasants from the valleys under the direction of Evo Morales, Felipe Quispe, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the People; instead, high school students and the working class of La Paz and its satellite city, El Alto, rose up spontaneously in the largest urban insurrection since the National Revolution of 1952.</p>
<p>On the afternoon of Wednesday, February 12, students from Ayacucho high school attacked the Presidential Palace in the Plaza de Murillo with stones, and after the Military Police shot and killed members of the police’s Special Group, crowds burned the headquarters of the major neoliberal political parties (MNR, MIR, ADN) as well as a privately-owned television station, the vice-president’s office, the Ministry of Labor, and the Ministry of Sustainable Development, the last of which was created under the first Sanchez de Lozada administration (1993-97). They looted supermarkets, stores, ATMs, the Central Bank, destroyed a cafe frequented by many of Bolivia’s notables, and burned a car that was carrying the son of the leader of MIR. In El Alto, rioters burned and looted the water company, the power company, Banco Sol, the customs office, and the mayor’s office, and on the morning of February 13, they took over the Coca Cola and Pepsi bottling plants.</p>
<p>The second Sanchez de Lozada administration, teetering on the brink, has responded once again with a display of violence, though it does not yet control the proletarian areas of La Paz and El Alto that voted for Evo Morales and MAS. Armed with clubs, residents there have organized neighborhood watch groups to guard against looting and have blocked off main roads as well as selected side arteries to keep the military out.</p>
<p>As in the National Revolution of 1952, the police are part of the popular revolt, though it is anyone’s guess as to how long the unity will last. What detonated the uprising–which has since spread to Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and could easily reach Sucre–was the violence that the Military Police unleashed against the police’s Special Group, which had marched peacefully on the Presidential Palace to protest proposed tax measures that threaten to further reduce their meager $105/month salaries. By the end of the Wednesday, February 12, there were more than 100 injured, and the death toll was 18, with 13 in La Paz and 5 in El Alto, including a young girl. To put this figure in regional perspective, since Bolivia has just over 8 million inhabitants, a proportionate number of dead in Colombia would be roughly 95 and in Venezuela, 60. To situate it in national historical context, the most violent contemporary administration was that of former IBM executive Jorge Quiroga (2000-2001), which killed roughly forty people in less than a year. In six months the Sanchez de Lozada administration is already responsible for 44 civilian deaths.</p>
<p>Since the major TV stations ceased broadcasting at 7 PM, the first night of the uprising was not televised, but it was atmospheric: close to midnight, with a dense fog covering El Alto (the Aymara city of 500,000 above La Paz), people met in groups of several hundred to discuss strategy, decide on appropriate tactics, and come up with a division of labor as rumors of an imminent coup circulated. Human concentrations were strongest on the bridges in La Ceja and at the toll that separates El Alto from La Paz. Old women, children over 12, young couples—nearly everyone participated. The streets, empty of traffic and smoking from the bonfires that rebels had set, were full of broken glass and large metal objects like desks, road construction signs and iron rods. In the hillside neighborhoods of northwestern La Paz below El Alto, the scene was much the same, except that certain secondary routes were deliberately kept open to traffic and people concentrated in smaller groups, with larger groups battling the military behind barricades in the city center immediately below. In La Paz as well as El Alto, the army fired live ammunition and tear gas into the crowds through the day and night.</p>
<p>Because it faced the military’s tanks, bullets and tear gas in the Plaza San Francisco, on Thursday, February 13, a march of more than 10,000 people was dispersed within hours. By early afternoon eight were dead and more than ten injured with bullet wounds from shots fired by army snipers posted on the rooftops of buildings and in the streets around the Presidential Palace. One of the dead was a nurse from the Red Cross who entered a building to help someone who had been shot.</p>
<p>The lower and middle ranks of the police who led yesterday’s revolt do not recognize the agreement signed by the government and the leadership of the police in the early morning of February 13, and have called for Sanchez de Lozada’s renunciation–a demand first voiced by Evo Morales in January. They did not participate in the repression of the march or the assault on El Alto’s barricades (though the Judicial Police rounded up looters).</p>
<p>Morales, absent from the march that he and MAS had called, plans to marshal his forces in Joint Chiefs of Staff of the People, and though Felipe Quispe is in Mexico, he returns on Friday, February 14. He and Morales have agreed that the highland Aymara will join the coca growers in a solidarity blockade. Though it is impossible to predict anything more specific than a broad spectrum of possibilities, unless the government manages to bring the lower ranks of the police into line, and quickly, the extension of dual power in time and space is one of the possibilities. More likely, the requisite co-ordination across regional, ethnic, and class barriers will not materialize in time to overthrow the government. Whatever the short-term outcome, however, the question of dual power has arisen again in Bolivia, and this time not only in the countryside. It will not likely disappear anytime soon.</p>
<p>FORREST HYLTON is conducting doctoral research in history in Bolivia and can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Working Class Revolt in Bolivia | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/02/15/working-class-revolt-in-bolivia/ | 2003-02-15 | 4 |
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