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<p>The Independent</p>
<p>Egyptian plain-clothes police beat up demonstrators in central Cairo – in some cases groping women protesters – as Egyptians voted over constitutional changes that would theoretically allow more than one candidate to stand for president.</p>
<p>But yesterday’s street protests, brutally suppressed by the security services, were held to condemn the referendum on the changes, which will insist that anyone wanting to stand against President Hosni Mubarak must have the support of 250 MPs and local councils, all dominated by Mr Mubarak’s own National Democratic Party (NDP), before being permitted to participate in the elections. So much for democracy in Egypt.</p>
<p>President George Bush has claimed that the electoral changes are part of a tide of democracy spreading across the Middle East and his wife Laura, visiting Egypt this week, went along with the official Mubarak line. The President’s changes in the constitution were “bold and wise,” she said, adding that political reform should happen slowly. But slow is not the word for it. If 51 per cent of Egypt’s 32.5 million registered voters support the changes in the referendum – which, of course, they will – then Mr Mubarak, we are to believe, may not be alone in standing for presidential election. Yet who will be nominated to oppose him when the NDP calls the shots?</p>
<p>Wednesday’s disgraceful scenes in Cairo, however, showed only too clearly what the government thinks of democracy – either the Bush or the Mubarak version. The policeattacked opposition demonstrators in front of tourists and journalists or stood aside to let pro-Mubarak mobs assault the protesters, watching from the side of the street as Egyptian citizens assaulted Egyptian citizens. Members of the opposition Kifaya movement – it means “Enough!” in English – sought protection from the Cairo police but a senior officer ordered his men to withdraw and leave the protesters to their fate.</p>
<p>When a woman tried to leave the temporary refuge of the press syndicate building in Cairo, she was punched and beaten with batons by pro-Mubarak party men who also tore her clothes. Screaming and vomiting, she collapsed in the street, according to a journalist witness from the Associated Press. Again, the police looked on without interfering. Some plain-clothes police beat, abused and sexually groped women demonstrators.</p>
<p>Only a day earlier, police arrested 17 people from opposition groups, adding to the sense of outrage felt by those Egyptians who regard the referendum as a sham. “The regime is still following the dictatorial and repressive methods towards the Egyptian people and opposition,” Mohamed Habib, the deputy leader of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood said. Gameela Ismail, a spokesman for the Ghad “Tomorrow” Party – she is the wife of the party’s leader, Ayman Noor – condemned Laura Bush for her support for Mubarak. “What she said is really frustrating for most opposition forces in Egypt,” she said. “She seems not to know enough about Egypt. I’m really amazed.”</p>
<p>The Kifaya Party’s spokesman, Abdul Hamid Qandil, reported that two of his members were hurt. “This is the first time this sort of beating and humiliation has taken place here in Cairo,” he said, pointing out that it was a common practice outside Cairo where there were no reporters or television cameras. In the countryside – in areas such as the city of Sohag – many voters said they would suffer “penalties” if they did not vote. In al-Arish on the coast, government-appointed school directors ordered their staff to vote; buses carried government employees into Cairo to participate – and to vote for the “changes”.</p>
<p>Mr Mubarak has been in power since President Sadat’s assassination in 1981, re-elected every six years in single candidate referendums. Government newspapers and television have given little publicity to possible opposition candidates, who will inevitably be turned down by the MPs and councils whose support they must have. Some Egyptians believe – despite his denials – that Mr Mubarak wants his son Gamal to succeed him in six years’ time; in which case, of course, the NDP would support his candidacy and he could – mirabile dictu – beat his father in the polls.</p>
<p>By continuing Egypt’s state of emergency, Mubarak has effectively neutered the opposition, thus forcing Egyptians to meet in mosques – and strengthening the hands of the theocrats. Like so many other Arab dictators, he has then been able to frighten the Americans into believing that the only alternative to his rule might be an Islamic republic.</p>
<p>ROBERT FISK is a reporter for The Independent and author of <a href="" type="internal">Pity the Nation</a>. He is also a contributor to CounterPunch’s collection, <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Bookshop.html" type="external">The Politics of Anti-Semitism</a>. Fisk’s new book, <a href="" type="internal">The Conquest of the Middle East</a>, will be released this fall.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Mubarak’s Goon Squads | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/05/27/mubarak-s-goon-squads/ | 2005-05-27 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Alexander Stille is a renowned American journalist and university professor. His father, Ugo Stille, was a renowned Italian journalist and former editor of the Milan-based leading daily Corriere della Sera. Alexander Stille graduated from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is currently working there as a professor of journalism.</p>
<p>He has written extensively on Italy domestic and foreign policies and has been a vocal critic of the former Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, accusing him of corruption, accumulating illegitimate power, and creating an unrivaled media monopoly in the country. Stille has also written about the role of the Sicilian mafia in Italian politics and the connections of some of the nation’s high-ranking politicians with the criminal syndicate.</p>
<p>Prof. Stille has written articles, op-eds and commentaries for Foreign Policy, The Boston Globe, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times and The New Yorker. He has also published several books, including “Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic.” His newest book, “The Force of Things: A Marriage in War and Peace”, will be published in the coming February.</p>
<p>I’ve conducted an interview with Prof. Stille and talked to him about journalism, Italian politics, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and freedom of press. What follows is the text of my interview with Prof. Stille.</p>
<p>Kourosh Ziabari: Dear Alexander, you have experienced working with several mainstream newspapers and magazines including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books. Was it easy to make it into these publications? In a broader sense, I want to ask you, is professionalism in journalism and offering high quality work and expertise in one’s field the only criteria which the mainstream media consider in order to accept a journalist and work with him? Don’t these media evaluate the journalists from ideological viewpoint in order to cooperate with them?</p>
<p>Alexander Stille: Of course, I would like to believe that whatever success I have enjoyed is entirely due to my own merit. When I started out in the 1980s, I did feel that the people I dealt with judged me pretty much entirely on whether I was able to produce work that they could use. I approached most of the publications I wrote for without knowing anyone there. Although I would be naïve to suppose that some things in my background helped me, at least indirectly: I had been to a very well-known university. I went to graduate school at Columbia, which gave me a useful credential. But, I do think, in the end, you had to produce good work that people wanted.</p>
<p>As for political ideology, I never felt judged that way, but I wasn’t trying to write in a particular ideological vein. Certainly, traditional media in this country are wary of someone who is considered outside the mainstream. Although because we are such a market society, if you can find a clever way to market even unorthodox views – “Bring back Karl Marx” or “What this country needs is Shariah Law!” – you could probably make a small niche out of it. But you would have to be clever.</p>
<p>KZ: In your article “The Paradox of the New Elite,” you quoted Prof. Karabel’s statement who has said that “after the immigration reform of 1965, this country went from being the United States of Europe to being the United States of the World.” Do you consider the economic, scientific and technological advancements of the United States a result of the open-door policy of Washington which attracted thousands of immigrants from the developing world and provided them with precious occupational and educational opportunities?</p>
<p>AS: I think the openness of our society has been a great strength, but not only since the new immigration law of 1965. Since 1901, a quarter of American Nobel Prize winners were actually foreign-born. Most of these were European, many of them Jewish. Since the 1965 law that opened up immigration from all over the world, we have seen that spectrum broaden to include other continents and many other countries. I think the U.S. has benefitted greatly, not only scientifically, but culturally and politically as well.</p>
<p>KZ: What do you think of the Occupy Wall Street movement? At the beginning, the people started to protest at the economic crisis which has entrapped the U.S., causing great loss of jobs, homes, growing poverty and uneven distribution of wealth. But with time, the protesters began to complain about the wars the U.S. had waged in different countries and also begrudged the disappearing and fading democratic values for which their ancestors had struggled for many years. What’s your analysis of this movement and the grievances of its participators?</p>
<p>AS: At first, I was very skeptical. I thought Occupy Wall Street seemed to be a vague, wooly-headed movement without any specific ideas or demands. But, in retrospect, I think I was wrong. The lack of specific proposals proved to be a strength. The simple emphasis on “We are the 99 percent” helped to finally make a national issue out of one of the biggest developments in American life: the fact that almost all the economic growth of the past thirty years has benefitted the most affluent in our country, the top one percent. It has been important because it has changed the general political conversation a bit. Until Occupy Wall Street, the right wing, the Tea Party Movement, was channeling all the discontent in the country so that, ironically, anger against Wall Street, against the economic crisis, against the fact that the financial industry has paid almost no price for the financial mess, was benefitting the Republican Party, the party that helped create the disaster and has fought to prevent reforms of the banking industry and to make sure that the wealthiest benefit overwhelmingly from tax cuts. Occupy Wall Street seems to have affected President Obama and moved him to embrace a more populist message.</p>
<p>KZ: You’ve usually spoken of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi critically. What are the main reasons you dislike him? Though, as a foreign observer, it’s quite understandable to me that you as a conscious Italian citizen should be frustrated at Berlusconi’s policies. However, I want you, to tell us more about your grievances at Berlusconi and the way he handled the Italian politics in his 10 years of ruling the country.</p>
<p>AS: My opposition to Berlusconi does not stem from personal dislike – although I cannot pretend to like him. The problem with Berlusconi is structural and deeply political: from the moment he entered politics it was perfectly obvious to me – and should have been to most Italians – (I am not an Italian citizen) – that allowing&#160; someone who was the largest media owner in the country, Italy’s richest man with a virtual monopoly of private television to also be simultaneously the prime minister with control over the state broadcasting system, his principal competitor, and the other major source of public information, would result in a total disaster for Italy and its political system.</p>
<p>Nothing – nothing – that has happened in the last eighteen years has shaken that conviction by even a jot. The presence of someone with so many powerful and extensive private interests – not only in the media – but in finance, real estate, and a wide range of fields – running the country, it was bound to lead to favoritism, self-dealing, protectionism and a system of special interests entirely contrary to the workings of a modern economy. The fact that Berlusconi’s company was deeply embedded in a corrupt political system, with a checkered past of bribery and corruption, meant that he would have to derail a whole process of reform and housecleaning that was taking place in Italy. But Berlusconi went beyond even the most pessimistic predictions by elevating self-dealing to a whole new level, placing showgirls and girl friends, personal friends in parliament or elsewhere in government, taking Italy backwards hundreds of years, as if it were a European monarchy of the 18th century or an Ottoman sultanate of centuries ago.</p>
<p>KZ: Italy is a European country and we’ve conventionally heard that the European nations are at their best state in terms of press freedom and unrestricted flow of information by the independent media. However, Silvio Berlusconi had formed a media conglomerate in Italy while he was in power and controlled the majority of influential press and TV channels in the country. Wasn’t this state dominance over the media contrary to the democratic values of the West? Why hadn’t the other EU countries showed any sign of protest against and dissatisfaction with Berlusconi’s media stronghold?</p>
<p>AS: The lack of protest in Europe surprised and disappointed me, but it, in some ways, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Europe didn’t protest when hardly anyone in Italy protested. Many people opposed Berlusconi on political grounds but even many on the left in Italy failed to understand the implications of so much control of the media.</p>
<p>KZ: On July 16, 2010, you published an article in Foreign Policy about the incarceration of members of mafia in Milan, Sicily and other Italian cities and the reactions of the American media to the mass arrests. Would you please give us an insight of the activities of organized crime groups in Italy? Why had the American media reacted to the event in such a derogatory way? Do the Italian politicians still maintain ties with the members of mafia and other organized crime groups in the country?</p>
<p>AS: I was not aware that the American had treated these arrests in a derogatory way. I certainly hope I didn’t. I applauded the arrests and admire the prosecutors and police who planned and carried out the investigation and arrests. The larger problem, however, is that for a series of reasons Italy has allowed about one-third of its territory to be heavily dominated by organized crime. Political convenience, corruption and the extreme difficulties of creating a healthy economy in that part of the country have contributed. Yes, politicians do maintain ties with organized crime groups. One of Berlusconi’s closest friends and closest aides was convicted of collusion with the mafia.</p>
<p>KZ: And finally, what’s your viewpoint regarding the future of print journalism in the 21st century? Do you think that with the emergence of digital media and the growth of social networks, the traditional outlets such as papers and books will be consigned to oblivion or lose their importance? Actually, will the development of digital media such as blogs, podcasts and Twitter lead to the marginalization of traditional media?</p>
<p>AS: We are still in the very early stages of a change that is every bit as fundamental as the invention of print in the 15th century, which changed almost everything in the world at that time. Without print, it would be difficult to imagine industrialization, mass education, and many other features of the modern world. Digital media in the short term have produced a set of contradictory results. They have undermined the economic basis of old media – the print newspaper and magazine – which were fundamental to the print revolution. But they have also brought forth other new forms of media. They have connected and empowered hundreds of millions of people – my communicating with you now in Iran – for example – which could have taken place only with great difficulty in the past. They have given access to so much more information and turned hundreds of millions of people from passive subjects and consumers of information into active producers of information as well. These are good things. We see citizens in many countries rising up against oppression, corruption and dictatorships in many countries, using new media to spread information, document government violence and oppression. I still think there is a role for traditional media. Not necessarily in the form it has taken in the best. But I think that precisely because we are overwhelmed by an excess of information – some of it false or of poor quality – for there to be professionally gathered information, professionally edited publications which have standards in terms of sources and documentation and which are seen as reliable by readers or viewers.</p> | Berlusconi was a total disaster for Italy and its political system: Alexander Stille | false | http://foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/01/21/berlusconi-was-a-total-disaster-for-italy-and-its-political-system-alexander-stille/ | 2013-01-21 | 1 |
<p>In what appears to be a serious victory for the Japanese public, Prime Minister Naoto Kan has scrapped plans to build 14 nuclear reactors in the next 20 years in favor of a policy promoting renewable energy and conservation.</p>
<p>The announcement was delivered as some residents were allowed to briefly return to their homes to collect personal belongings in an evacuated area near the damaged Fukushima plant. –ARK</p>
<p>The New York Times:</p>
<p>Tuesday’s decision will abandon a plan that the Kan government released last year to build 14 more nuclear reactors by 2030 and increase the share of nuclear power in Japan’s electricity supply to 50 percent. Japan currently has 54 reactors that before the earthquake produced 30 percent of its electricity.</p>
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<p>… Mr. Kan said Japan would retain nuclear and fossil fuels as energy sources, but vowed to add two new pillars to Japan’s energy policy: renewable energy and conservation. While Japan has been a global leader in energy conservation, it lags behind the United States and Europe in adopting solar and wind power, and other new energy sources.</p>
<p>… Mr. Kan also appeared to pull back from his earlier vows to remain committed to nuclear power. His apparent about-face may be driven partly by public opinion, which has soured on nuclear power since the Fukushima accident.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/world/asia/11japan.html?hp" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Japanese PM Rejects Plans for New Nuclear Plants | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/japanese-pm-rejects-plans-for-new-nuclear-plants/ | 2011-05-11 | 4 |
<p>ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — A dog stranded overnight on a cliff north of Indian Beach is safe after it was rescued by a Seaside rope and rescue team.</p>
<p>Sarah Stremming’s 2-year-old border collie named Felix went missing Monday afternoon during a Christmas day hike, The Daily Astorian reported.</p>
<p>Stremming and a group of friends searched for the dog through the evening but had no luck.</p>
<p>“We thought we knew where he was, we just couldn’t see him and he couldn’t hear us due to the tides,” she said.</p>
<p>Stremming and her friends took to Facebook Monday night and notified officials of the situation.</p>
<p>Hamlet Fire Chief Matt Verley located Felix by Tuesday morning using his private drone and determined the only way to reach him was by scaling the cliff face with ropes.</p>
<p>Seaside Fire Lieutenant Genesee Dennis retrieved the dog from a precipice 60 feet (18 meters) from the crest of the Clatsop Loop trail at Ecola State Park.</p>
<p>It was Dennis’ first rescue since he gained his certification a year ago.</p>
<p>The high-angle rescue that was steeper and required more climbing than usual took about three hours.</p>
<p>The most difficult part about the rescue was the fact that Felix was a dog, Dennis said.</p>
<p>“You can’t reason with a dog, and they can’t really help,” he said. “At one point he slipped out of his harness, and I was basically bear hugging him, with no available hand holds.”</p>
<p>Felix was not harmed.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Daily Astorian, <a href="http://www.dailyastorian.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.dailyastorian.com" type="external">http://www.dailyastorian.com</a></p>
<p>ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — A dog stranded overnight on a cliff north of Indian Beach is safe after it was rescued by a Seaside rope and rescue team.</p>
<p>Sarah Stremming’s 2-year-old border collie named Felix went missing Monday afternoon during a Christmas day hike, The Daily Astorian reported.</p>
<p>Stremming and a group of friends searched for the dog through the evening but had no luck.</p>
<p>“We thought we knew where he was, we just couldn’t see him and he couldn’t hear us due to the tides,” she said.</p>
<p>Stremming and her friends took to Facebook Monday night and notified officials of the situation.</p>
<p>Hamlet Fire Chief Matt Verley located Felix by Tuesday morning using his private drone and determined the only way to reach him was by scaling the cliff face with ropes.</p>
<p>Seaside Fire Lieutenant Genesee Dennis retrieved the dog from a precipice 60 feet (18 meters) from the crest of the Clatsop Loop trail at Ecola State Park.</p>
<p>It was Dennis’ first rescue since he gained his certification a year ago.</p>
<p>The high-angle rescue that was steeper and required more climbing than usual took about three hours.</p>
<p>The most difficult part about the rescue was the fact that Felix was a dog, Dennis said.</p>
<p>“You can’t reason with a dog, and they can’t really help,” he said. “At one point he slipped out of his harness, and I was basically bear hugging him, with no available hand holds.”</p>
<p>Felix was not harmed.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Daily Astorian, <a href="http://www.dailyastorian.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.dailyastorian.com" type="external">http://www.dailyastorian.com</a></p> | Seaside rope and rescue team recovers dog stranded on cliff | false | https://apnews.com/aefe559b1d6e460ea43699d05f55ddf0 | 2017-12-27 | 2 |
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<p>ELLA: Interest and attorneys’ fees are owed</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque used car dealer Reza Ella has this to say to the federal government: Show me the money.</p>
<p>Last year federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security seized $841,883 from Ella’s personal and business accounts, alleging he structured deposits to keep them under $10,000 to avoid having banks file currency transaction reports with the Department of the Treasury.</p>
<p>Ella was never charged with a crime, and the government returned the money in August. It also agreed to pay a still undetermined amount of interest and his attorneys $84,312 in fees.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>So far, that hasn’t happened.</p>
<p>Ella’s attorneys want to know when it will and have asked a federal judge to order the U.S. Attorney’s Office to make the agreed-upon payments.</p>
<p>“The government has represented that due to the government shutdown and lack of funding from Congress, funds are not currently available to pay Mr. Ella as well as attorneys’ fees,” lawyers Robert Gorence and Jason Bowles said in court documents.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the government has not indicated when such payment may be reasonably be expected,” the motion to enforce the settlement states.</p>
<p>Gorence and Bowles are asking U.S. District Judge M. Christina Armijo to order the government to make the agreed-upon payments.</p>
<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Ella’s attorney’s didn’t sign the necessary paperwork until late October and that it typically takes six to eight weeks to process the payments after the paperwork is submitted.</p>
<p>The U.S. Attorney’s Office hasn’t had a chance to respond to the motion, but according to emails attached to the court documents, federal prosecutors said they have submitted the paperwork to pay for the interest and attorneys’ fees.</p>
<p>But they say the 16-day government shutdown has “hampered this process,” according to the emails.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Last month Congress had not yet appropriated money to the Department of Justice for the specific fund that pays interest.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, a local prosecutor wrote that as soon as the money is deposited in the department’s account, the interest payment can be made in a day or two.</p>
<p>The attorneys’ fees come out of a separate fund and are being processed, but the local U.S. Attorney’s Office couldn’t provide Gorence and Bowles with a schedule for payment.</p>
<p>This was the second attempt in the last six years by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to seize and forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars from Ella’s bank accounts through civil court actions.</p>
<p>In 2007, federal prosecutors tried to seize $489,732.02 through a civil action that ended with Ella getting almost all his money back. The Feds got to keep $12,000, and Ella agreed to abide by the rules on currency transactions according to the settlement agreement.</p>
<p>Ella, owner of Discount Auto Sales on Fourth Street NW, says he believes federal agents have singled him out because he is a naturalized American citizen from Iran.</p>
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<p /> | Feds still owe car dealer over seized bank accounts | false | https://abqjournal.com/295954/over-seized-bank-accounts.html | 2013-11-07 | 2 |
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<p>A man in Pennsylvania was imprisoned for selling heroin in a room of a maternity ward of a hospital where people were visiting their newborn babies.</p>
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<p>25-year-old Cody Hulse was arrested on Friday for charges of heroin delivery and risking child welfare.</p>
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<p>The police went to the maternity room and discovered that heroin was being sold.Police said that Hals' girlfriend, baby's mother, did not know about drug trading.</p>
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<p>Do you think drug dealing is something to do with some crazy / poor people? Like homeless people, or drug addicts.</p>
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<p>In the middle class income house holds of the United States, the spread of heroin has been becoming a dangerously serious problem, especially for good, upper middle family. It says that all starts from Prescription medication.</p>
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<p>You may have headache. Menstrual pain. Low back pain. Shoulder pain. Muscle pain caused by sports.</p>
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<p>One day your child receives a couple of pills from his/her friend. "This is a prescription medicine, so no worry." That is the starting of everything. Starting of nightmare. Even if it is "prescription medicine" from hospitacl, you may know how hard hitting it is for teenagers. It gives you "Drunkenness". Kids love it.</p>
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<p>Median household income in Pennsylvania is $55,702 in 2015. 21/50. More than Texas, Florida, Arizona, Ohio and Michigan.</p>
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<p><a href="http://local12.com/news/nation-world/police-newborns-dad-sold-heroin-in-hospital-maternity-ward-10-22-2017" type="external">local12.com/news/nation-world/police-newborns-dad-sold-heroin-in-hospital-maternity-ward-10-22-2017</a></p> | Pennsylvania Man Imprisoned for Selling Heroin in Maternity Ward | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/10169-Pennsylvania-Man-Imprisoned-for-Selling-Heroin-in-Maternity-Ward | 2017-10-23 | 0 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Will “Better Call Saul” film in the Duke City?</p>
<p>That is what has been on people’s minds since “Breaking Bad” signed off on Sept. 29.</p>
<p>According to an interview in Rolling Stone with series creator Vince Gilligan, he would like to come back to Albuquerque.</p>
<p>He told the magazine he’d like to shoot in Albuquerque and get as much of the (old) crew together as he can.</p>
<p>“Better Call Saul” is billed as a prequel to “Breaking Bad” and will air on AMC, though production details are being worked out.</p>
<p>Gilligan hinted and maybe having cameos from Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul in the new series.</p>
<p>Read more <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/vince-gilligan-reveals-better-call-saul-details-20131016" type="external">here.&#160;</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | ‘Saul’ coming to NM? Report says … | false | https://abqjournal.com/282894/saul-coming-to-nm-report-says.html | 2013-10-16 | 2 |
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<p>City Manager Joshua Ray said the presentation will show a breakdown of proposed rates over the next five years. The current proposal is to increase water rates by 10 percent and increase wastewater rates by 25 percent, and have a slight reduction for electric rates, Ray said.</p>
<p>The rates are being proposed in the wake a recent cost-of-service study. The study showed a need for raising rates and proposed increases as high as 60 percent on the wastewater side.</p>
<p>After the results of the study were released, Ray said seven people contacted him expressing concerns about potential large rate increases. He said one comment he received was that people on fixed incomes may struggle with large increases.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ray said the city staff looked at what increases residents can handle while evaluating raising the rates.</p>
<p>“Ultimately, (the Aztec City) Commission is going to have to make the decision,” he said.</p>
<p>Ray encouraged people who have questions or comments about the proposed increases to attend the meeting or contact city officials.</p>
<p>“We’d like to hear people make comments,” he said.</p>
<p>The city commissioners will consider the comments received from the public while deciding on rates. People can contact City Hall at 505-334-7600 to get contact information for commissioners. They can also call Ray at 505-334-7602. Contact information for the four commissioners is also available on the city’s website, aztecnm.gov. Ray said the public meeting will be livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel.</p>
<p>“I think (public input is) important for progress, for democracy, for government to work,” Ray said.</p>
<p>Hannah Grover covers government for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4652.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>©2017 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)</p>
<p>Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at <a href="http://www.daily-times.com" type="external">www.daily-times.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p> | Aztec residents can weigh in on utility rates | false | https://abqjournal.com/1000196/aztec-residents-can-weigh-in-on-utility-rates.html | 2 |
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<p>Johnson &amp; Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky. Image source: Johnson &amp; Johnson.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Healthcare conglomerate Johnson &amp; Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) probably needs little introduction -- it's a commonly held stock among long-term investors, income seekers, and retirees.</p>
<p>Johnson &amp; Johnson's business is comprised of more than 250 subsidiaries, but in a larger sense breaks down to three major franchises: consumer products, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>Consumer products isn't a fast growing segment, but the inelasticity of its health products provides a predictable level of cash flow year in and year out. Additionally, the inelasticity of this segment allows J&amp;J the ability to pass along price hikes on an as-needed basis to ensure that it stays ahead of the inflation curve.</p>
<p>The medical devices unit has also been slow-growth of late, but it's quite promising with the elderly population expected to nearly double between 2012 and 2050, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Older Americans are living longer than ever, and medical devices will probably be called upon more frequently as baby boomers and generation X age.</p>
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<p>However, the pride and joy of J&amp;J, and without question the biggest contributor to its top-line growth and margins, is its pharmaceutical operations. Between 2009 and mid-2014, J&amp;J introduced 14 novel drugs, half of which reached $1 billion in annual sales, the definition of a "blockbuster drug." Looking ahead, Johnson &amp; Johnson anticipates bringing 10 novel blockbusters to market by 2019. One example is the Nov. 2015 introduction of multiple myeloma drug Darzalex, which could potentially expand from its current third-line indication into early indications, boosting its sales north of $1 billion.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Late last week at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology Congress in Vienna, Austria, Johnson &amp; Johnson introduced the world to its next possible blockbuster drug, guselkumab.</p>
<p>Guselkumab is an intriguing new therapy designed to treat immune disorders of the skin. The study presented at the EADV examined guselkumab as a treatment for plaque psoriasis. Unlike the vast majority of Food and Drug Administration-approved psoriasis drugs that work by slowing down the activity of the tumor necrosis factor protein, which is the driver of inflammation, guselkumab targets a protein known as interleukein-23, which has more specificity when it comes to immune response disorders of the skin.</p>
<p>The phase 3 study, which analyzed 837 patients with plaque psoriasis, found that guselkumab handily met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in skin clearance compared to the placebo and AbbVie's (NYSE: ABBV) Humira, the best-selling drug in the world. After 16 weeks, 85% of the patients taking guselkumab had clear or nearly clear skin, which compares to just 6.9% of the patients receiving the placebo.</p>
<p>In terms of near-complete skin clearance at week 16, guselkumab was effective for 73% of patients, which compared favorably with the placebo (2.9%) and Humira (nearly 50%). Furthermore, as lead researcher Dr. Andrew Blauvelt from the Oregon Medical Research Center noted of guselkumab, "These responses were durable and maintained through week 48." At the 48-week mark Humira led to near-clearance in 55% of all patients compared to 81% of guselkumab patients.</p>
<p>Safety data was in-line with existing therapies, too, with 4.9% of patients taking guselkumab dealing with a serious side effect compared to 4.5% taking Humira. It is worth noting that two guselkumab patients developed cancer (one prostate cancer and the other breast cancer); however Dr. Blauvelt doesn't believe either cancer is as a result of the treatment. Nonetheless, long-term follow-up studies would be required of J&amp;J.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>In many respects this data couldn't come at a better time for Johnson &amp; Johnson.</p>
<p>Johnson &amp; Johnson already has a variety of plaque psoriasis drugs on pharmacy shelves, including blockbusters Remicade and Stelara. However, these therapies target the tumor necrosis factor protein, which, as noted above, is a common target in plaque psoriasis and a host of other skin disorders. By introducing a new pathway of treatment, J&amp;J is providing some degree of separation that physicians and patients may latch onto -- especially with results superior to those of both the placebo and Humira.</p>
<p>More importantly, a handful of large drugmakers are actively developing <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/28/9-things-you-need-to-know-about-biosimilar-drugs.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">biosimilar drugs Opens a New Window.</a>, or copycat versions of biologic drugs, to displace select blockbuster brand-name therapies. One of the drugs actively being targeted by biosimilar drug developers is J&amp;J's Remicade. If legal maneuvering is unable to prevent biosimilars and generic entrants from reaching the market, Humira, Remicade, and a cadre of tumor necrosis factor protein-targeting therapies could see their sales pressured.</p>
<p>If guselkumab is approved, it would possibly insulate J&amp;J from these biosimilar pressures by providing what appears to be a superior product. In other words, J&amp;J would have time to move its Remicade patients, and perhaps even Stelara patients, to guselkumab before biosimilars and generics steal sales. Considering that Remicade and Stelara brought in $5.1 billion in sales through the first six months of 2016, up from the nearly $4.4 billion in sales during the first-half of 2015, it's quite reasonable to expect guselkumab to reach blockbuster status relatively quickly if approved.</p>
<p>The X-factors investors should be aware of from here on out are the Food and Drug Administration, which is never a lock to do what Wall Street and investors expect, and J&amp;J itself. Johnson &amp; Johnson will have to be careful how it prices guselkumab to avoid pricing so highly that it gets excluded from insurance company formularies. However, with a long and successful history of drug launches, J&amp;J will probably be just fine.</p>
<p>If you're a long-term shareholder of Johnson &amp; Johnson, the guselkumab phase 3 data gives you yet another reason to be excited.</p>
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<p>The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a>makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | This Looks to Be Johnson & Johnson's Next Blockbuster Drug | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/05/this-looks-to-be-johnson-johnson-next-blockbuster-drug.html | 2016-10-05 | 0 |
<p>On February 14, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html" type="external">The New York Times</a> and <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/14/politics/donald-trump-aides-russians-campaign/index.html" type="external">CNN</a> published separate reports alleging that associates or aides of Donald Trump were in contact with Russian intelligence officials throughout the campaign. Both pieces relied on anonymous sources, and The New York Times even admitted (emphasis added):</p>
<p>The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election. The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/democrats-trump-fbi-russia-communications-235332" type="external">Politico</a>, on February 15, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus that the New York Times report "was, in the FBI's view, overstating the nature of their investigation."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/fbi-refused-white-house-request-to-knock-down-recent-trump-russia-stories/" type="external">CNN</a> picks up the ball from there, claiming that "Priebus later reached out...to McCabe and to FBI Director James Comey asking for the FBI to at least talk to reporters on background to dispute the stories."</p>
<p>Comey allegedly denied the request due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.</p>
<p>There's a question as to whether Priebus violated any rules or regulations by asking the FBI to go public with aspects of their investigation. Administrations have held varying policies regarding interaction with investigative agencies. <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/02/reince-priebus-fbi-contact-trump-235351" type="external">Politico</a> adds that the FBI may have broken the rules as well:</p>
<p>In addition to the policy restricting contacts by White House staff, the Justice Department has for four decades restricted its officials, including the FBI, discussing specific cases with the White House.</p>
<p>House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has called for an investigation, issuing a <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/321019-pelosi-to-doj-probe-priebus-on-fbi-russia" type="external">statement</a> Friday, which reads in part:</p>
<p>"The Trump White House has been caught trying to pressure the FBI into undermining a vital national security investigation into explosive ties between senior Trump officials and Russian intelligence agents, an action which is in violation of Department of Justice rules and may be illegal...</p>
<p>White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus has committed an outrageous breach of the FBI’s independence...Priebus has not only damaged his reputation but tainted the impartiality of the FBI...</p>
<p>The Department of Justice’s Inspector General must open a new investigation into any and all conversations Priebus and other White House officials held with the FBI on ongoing investigations. The American people deserve to know the truth."</p>
<p>Separate from the spin, here's what we actually know:</p>
<p>From this point forward, it's all speculation and conjecture. Nancy Pelosi is actually correct; this matter should be investigated to make certain appropriate boundaries were indeed maintained.</p>
<p>However, the media hype about Priebus and the " <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/23/politics/fbi-refused-white-house-request-to-knock-down-recent-trump-russia-stories/" type="external">White House request[ing] to knock down recent Trump-Russia stories</a>" is at the very least, overstated, and presumably designed to make the situation appear as improper as possible.</p> | Media Go Nuts Over Report Suggesting Priebus Told FBI to Fight Reports of Russian-Trump Connections. But Was it True? | true | https://dailywire.com/news/13839/media-go-nuts-over-report-suggesting-priebus-told-frank-camp | 2017-02-24 | 0 |
<p>Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who was <a href="" type="internal">ousted from power</a> on Wednesday after a successful military coup, begat the misrule currently gripping his country by ignoring the needs of too many of his fellow citizens, <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2013/7/3/novelist_ahdaf_soueif_by_ignoring_egypts" type="external">says</a> Egyptian writer and activist Ahdaf Soueif.</p>
<p>“[Morsi] was not governing Egypt in the interests of Egypt,” Soueif says. “He was not even seeing the Egyptian people or their demands, and he lost an amazing opportunity to actually have a government that actually worked for the majority of the people.”</p>
<p>Soueif is the author of numerous books, including “The Map of Love” and, most recently, “Cairo: My City, Our Revolution.” She wrote the foreword to “Tweets from Tahrir: Egypt’s Revolution as It Unfolded, in the Words of the People Who Made It.”</p>
<p>Her comments echo the sentiments of <a href="" type="internal">Juan Cole</a>, who wrote on this site this week, “Morsi, given the widespread fear of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, had a responsibility to go out of his way to allay those anxieties. Instead, he reinforced them at every turn. Egyptians have been galvanized and politically mobilized by the events of the past 30 months, and refuse to be quiet in the face of what they see as incompetent government and unfair Brotherization.”</p>
<p />
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
<p>‘Democracy Now!’:</p> | Morsi Brought the Second Revolution on Himself | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/morsi-brought-the-second-revolution-on-himself/ | 2013-07-04 | 4 |
<p />
<p>[MoJo has more elections coverage: Andy Kroll has a report on the&#160; <a href="/mojo/2010/08/michigan-big-labor-battle-big-biz" type="external">Michigan governor’s race</a>&#160;and a&#160; <a href="/mojo/2010/08/game-over-kilpatrick-dynasty" type="external">post-mortem on Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick’s political career</a>, and I&#160;have the details of <a href="/mojo/2010/08/rep-roy-blunt-wins-gop-senate-nod-missouri" type="external">Missouri’s Senate and House primaries</a>.]</p>
<p>Missouri primary voters struck an impotent blow against health care reform on Tuesday, <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEALTH_OVERHAUL_MISSOURI?SITE=VACUL&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" type="external">rallying behind Proposition C</a>, a ballot measure that supposedly prohibits the government from requiring that people obtain insurance or punishing them if they don’t. (A key provision of the health care reform law, the so-called “individual mandate,” requires most people to purchase insurance. Starting in 2014, the law imposes penalties on people who don’t buy insurance. Prop C was designed to counteract this part of the reform bill.) Around 70 percent of the voters in the heavily Republican primary electorate supported the measure, which does not actually do what it claims to do. The Associated Press&#160; <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEALTH_OVERHAUL_MISSOURI?SITE=VACUL&amp;SECTION=HOME&amp;TEMPLATE=DEFAULT" type="external">explains</a> [emphasis mine]:</p>
<p>Tuesday’s vote was seen as largely symbolic because federal law generally trumps state law. But it was also seen as a sign of growing voter disillusionment with federal policies and a show of strength by conservatives and the tea party movement.</p>
<p>Legislatures in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana and Virginia have passed similar statutes, and voters in Arizona and Oklahoma will vote on such measures as state constitutional amendments in November. But Missouri was the first state to challenge aspects of the law in a referendum.&#160;</p>
<p>Republicans and red states oppose health care reform, so it’s not surprising that they’d like to pass laws invalidating it. Unfortunately for GOPers, the Affordable Care Act is a federal law, and states can’t just choose to disobey it—just as states can’t pass their own immigration laws without earning a Constitutional challenge from the Justice Department. We’re talking basic constitutional principles here. Cable news will probably try to make a big deal out of this ballot measure on Wednesday, but this is really a bunch of sound and fury signifying nothing. Meanwhile, opposition to health care reform is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/29/AR2010072900004.html" type="external">declining</a>. Here in the real world, Missouri’s Prop C isn’t even going to scratch health care reform, let alone stop it.&#160;If the GOP wants to actually do some damage to the Affordable Care Act, they need to win back the House and kill the bill by <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/hidden-danger-how-the-gop-could-kill-health-reform-without-repealing-it.php" type="external">cutting its funding in the appropriations process</a>.</p>
<p /> | The Missouri Health Care Vote | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/missouri-health-care-vote/ | 2010-08-04 | 4 |
<p>Questcor Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ:QCOR) shares tumbled more than 32% on Monday after the drug company revealed that its promotional practices are being probed by the U.S. government.</p>
<p>The latest headache for the Anaheim Hill, Calif.-based drug company comes on top of ongoing criticism from Citron Research, which is led by short-seller Andrew Left.</p>
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<p>The long-time critic claimed in July that Questcor used questionable tactics to market Acthar and forecast that its shares would fall to single digits.</p>
<p>“Questcor seems to have no hesitation when it spins its multi-billion dollar 'snake oil sales' story – on Wall Street,” Citron said in a statement in July.</p>
<p>The U.S. investigation also comes just days after health insurer Aetna (NYSE:AET), the third largest in the U.S., said it would limit coverage of Questcor’s blockbuster multiple sclerosis and infant seizure drug H.P. Acthar, which makes up nearly all of the biopharmaceutical company’s revenue.</p>
<p>Aetna had argued that the Acthar gel proved only effective at treating infant spasms and was no better than existing therapies in the other 18 diseases it has approval for. It dropped coverage last week for all uses of the drug except for infant seizures.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, following the Aetna statement, Questcor’s shares dropped 48%, touching their lowest price since June 2011. They fell as much as 33% to a 52-week low of $20 on Monday.</p>
<p>In a terse securities filing, Questcor said on Monday that it “intends to cooperate with the government in its investigation.”</p>
<p>The company said last week that it did not expect the move by Aetna to have a material impact on its results, as the insurer accounted for just 5% of Acthar prescriptions.</p>
<p>However, Questcor continues to come under fire by short sellers. Some 21.2 million of its shares had been shorted as of the end of August, representing roughly 35% of its outstanding shares, according to Nasdaq data.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Questcor Shares Plummet to New Lows on U.S. Probe | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/09/24/questcor-discloses-us-investigation-shares-plummet.html | 2016-01-26 | 0 |
<p>Straight out of Ripley’s — but it’s real.</p>
<p>My lawyer, David Yerushalmi of the American Freedom Law Center, recently apprised me of this lawsuit that had been filed against me by Muslim prisoners in Michigan. It’s paranoid, outrageous, silly and laughable — and yet it’s a legitimate lawsuit.</p>
<p>The only reason it was dismissed was because the “plaintiffs” didn’t submit the filing fee or the correct form. As funny as it is, it does speak to the supremacist tendencies of their thinking, and the kneejerk tendency among Muslims in the U.S. and other Western countries to claim victim status, even as they’re victimizing non-Muslims.</p>
<p>Muslim prisoners in Michigan filed a lawsuit against Pamela Geller for “wearing a Poke a Dot Bikini In Front of our eyes. We are offended.” They demanded their freedom claiming their civil rights were violated. This Islamic supremacism is one and the same shared by the Muslim shooters at our free speech event in Garland, at the Christmas party in San Bernardino, the Paris concert hall, the jihad against Israel, the 9/11 terror attacks, and on and on. Same motive, same piety.</p>
<p>David Yerushalmi told me that I had been sued by one or possibly two Muslims apparently who appear to be guests of the Michigan Correctional Hotel and Spa. “They sued you because, inter alia, you wear a bikini to distract them…the court dismissed the complaint on its own because plaintiff(s) failed to file the requisite filing fee or file the correct form to have the fee waived.”</p>
<p>IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN</p>
<p>Rick Tocket Muhammad; Wayde Albright, Plaintiffs</p>
<p>V.</p>
<p>Pamela Geller;</p>
<p>Michigan Department of Corrections, Defendants</p>
<p>Habeas Corpus Relief Under 28 USC 2241</p>
<p>the matter in which our sentences are executed is unconstitutional. We are subjected to cruel and unsual Punishment under the 8th amendment Farmer v. Brennan</p>
<p>Pamela Geller hates Muslims. Pamela Geller serves Pork to Muslim Inmates. Pamela Geller writes Cartoons in our Koran. Pamela Geller Rhymes with Pen and teller Making Fun of our Beards and Ankle plants. Pamela Gellar plans to Eat in Front of us During Ramadan. When we pray 5 days, Geller wears a Poke a Dot Bikini In Front of our eyes. We are offended. Pamela Geller is Anti Islamic She has Anti Islam tatted on her Naval Area and Islam with a Pig on her inner thigh. Pamela Geller Was Born in Mecca we are Denied Haj to Mecca our 5 pillars. We are scared Pamela Geller put a hit on us with the Aryan Brotherhood We seek Immediate release From prison. Our civil Rights are violated.</p>
<p>Respectfully Rick Tocket Muhammad (signed) 6/7/15</p>
<p>Wayde Albright (signed) 6/6/15</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/media.breitbart.com/media/2015/12/Habeas-Petition3.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/media.breitbart.com/media/2015/12/Habeas-Petition-pg2-blacked-out1.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>This lawsuit is comical, of course, but the attitudes and assumptions behind it aren’t – and they’re not limited to just these two Muslims. Rick Tocket Muhammad and Wayde Albright, even as they’re sitting in prison for crimes they committed, are claiming victim status.</p>
<p>In this, they’re imitating the response that we have come to expect from Muslim leaders in the United States in the wake of every jihad attack and foiled jihad plot here and across the world: instead of owning up to the ways in which Islamic texts and teachings incite believers to violence and promising to reform Islam and scrub the Quran of its texts espousing Jew-hatred, misogyny, and violence, they claim to be the victims of “anti-Muslim backlash.”</p>
<p>Muslim leaders victimize the victims — by trying to play the victim. It’s vicious.</p>
<p>Instead of Muslims joining with counter-jihadists and standing shoulder to shoulder with my colleagues and me, they engage in the second wave of jihad attacks — by attacking the victims yet again with trumped-up, fictional charges of “Islamophobia” and backlash-o-phobia.</p>
<p>These claims of victimhood aren’t as crude and silly as “Pamela Geller serves Pork to Muslim Inmates. Pamela Geller writes Cartoons in our Koran. Pamela Geller Rhymes with Pen and teller Making Fun of our Beards and Ankle plants,” but they’re just slightly more sophisticated versions of the same thing. And we see it again and again.</p>
<p>What we don’t see, meanwhile, is what we need to see: why is it that Muslim <a href="http://pamelageller.com/2014/09/pamela-geller-wnd-column-lie-of-moderate-muslims-and-islamic-jihad.html/" type="external">“moderates”</a> never protest against the Islamic terrorism that they supposedly reject and oppose? Why are there never any mass Muslim protests against this savagery? They claim to reject it, so what are they doing within their communities to stop young Muslims from falling for this supposed “misunderstanding” of Islam?</p>
<p>The answer is: nothing. In Muslim communities and among Muslim leaders, they (like Rick Tocket Muhammad and Wayde Albright) spend much more time attacking and demonizing me than they do fighting against the doctrine of jihad that is threatening and killing non-Muslims in the U.S. and worldwide. And that is a stunning indictment of their supposed “moderation.”</p>
<p>Pamela Geller is the President of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), publisher of <a href="http://www.pamelageller.com/" type="external">PamelaGeller.com</a> and author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Post-American-Presidency-Obama-Administrations-America/dp/B004J8HWWI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1359320486&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=post+american+presidency" type="external">The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America</a> and <a href="http://superstore.wnd.com/books/Current-Affairs/Stop-the-Islamization-of-America-A-Practical-Guide-To-The-Resistance-Autographed-Hardcover" type="external">Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance</a>. Follow her <a href="https://twitter.com/Atlasshrugs" type="external">on Twitter here</a>. Like her on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pamelageller" type="external">Facebook here</a>.</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://pamelageller.com/2015/12/michigan-muslim-prisoners-sue-pamela-geller-and-her-polka-dot-bikini.html/" type="external">Pamela Geller</a>.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Michigan Muslim Prisoners Sue Pamela Geller And Her Polka Dot Bikini | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2015/12/28/michigan-muslim-prisoners-sue-pamela-geller-and-her-polka-dot-bikini/ | 2015-12-28 | 0 |
<p>SEATTLE (AP) — A group representing marijuana business owners in the West is urging Congress to include language in a government spending bill that would protect pot operations.</p>
<p>The Western Regional Cannabis Business Alliance said Tuesday it is asking for legislative protection after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' signaled a tougher approach to federal pot enforcement. Earlier this month Sessions said he was ending an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the pot trade in states where the drug is legal.</p>
<p>The marijuana business group wants lawmakers to include language in an appropriations bill that would prohibit the Justice Department from spending money to thwart marijuana businesses in states where it is legal. The Western Regional Cannabis Business Alliance represents marijuana businesses in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Arizona.</p>
<p>SEATTLE (AP) — A group representing marijuana business owners in the West is urging Congress to include language in a government spending bill that would protect pot operations.</p>
<p>The Western Regional Cannabis Business Alliance said Tuesday it is asking for legislative protection after Attorney General Jeff Sessions' signaled a tougher approach to federal pot enforcement. Earlier this month Sessions said he was ending an Obama-era policy that kept federal authorities from cracking down on the pot trade in states where the drug is legal.</p>
<p>The marijuana business group wants lawmakers to include language in an appropriations bill that would prohibit the Justice Department from spending money to thwart marijuana businesses in states where it is legal. The Western Regional Cannabis Business Alliance represents marijuana businesses in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana and Arizona.</p> | Business group asks Congress for protection for marijuana | false | https://apnews.com/amp/312eccdd415e4ca8b4d382a9b6a5397a | 2018-01-16 | 2 |
<p>Dec. 18 (UPI) — Federal Judge <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Alex_Kozinski/" type="external">Alex Kozinski</a>, embroiled in sexual misconduct allegations, announced his immediate retirement on Monday.</p>
<p>Kozinski, 67, a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, faced a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/federal-appeals-judge-announces-immediate-retirement-amid-investigation-prompted-by-accusations-of-sexual-misconduct/2017/12/18/6e38ada4-e3fd-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html?utm_term=.d03e6601f8b0&amp;wpisrc=al_news__alert-politics--alert-national&amp;wpmk=1" type="external">judicial investigation</a> over allegations that he subjected female clerks on his staff to inappropriate sexual behavior.</p>
<p>Fifteen women have accused Kozinski of making inappropriate sexual comments, and four say he touched them inappropriately.</p>
<p>After the first allegation, Judge Sidney Thomas, the 9th Circuit’s chief judge, initiated a review of Kozinski’s conduct. On Friday, U.S. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/supreme-court/" type="external">Supreme Court</a> Chief Justice <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Roberts/" type="external">John Roberts</a> transferred Thomas’ complaint to the Judicial Council of the Second Circuit — an indication of the severity of the accusations.</p>
<p>The 2nd Circuit would have presided over a misconduct investigation.</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.law.com/sites/therecorder/2017/12/18/judge-alex-kozinski-apologizing-amid-harassment-claims-retires-immediately/" type="external">retirement statement</a>, Kozinski referred to “a broad sense of humor and a candid way of speaking.”</p>
<p>He added, “It grieves me to learn that I caused any of my clerks to feel uncomfortable; this was never my intent. For this I sincerely apologize.”</p>
<p>Kozinski’s statement also mentioned that he arrived in the United States from Romania when he was 12 as “a refugee from Communism.”</p> | Federal judge facing sexual misconduct accusations resigns | false | https://newsline.com/federal-judge-facing-sexual-misconduct-accusations-resigns/ | 2017-12-18 | 1 |
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<p>Without disturbing my mascara, I replied: “Anonymity.”</p>
<p>She looked befuddled.</p>
<p>I continued: “To be Googled and to have nothing turn up. That’s hot.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Too late, alas, even then.</p>
<p>In these post-Snowden days, the notion of anonymity is ludicrous. But so it has been for some time, though recent disclosures bring pause even to the habitually inured. It is one thing for Mrs. McQueen and Mrs. Harry G. Brown, my elderly dowager neighbors from childhood, to spy on each other through their porch screen doors. It is another for the National Security Agency to compile records of one’s phone calls.</p>
<p>Oh, for the days when Mrs. McQueen trumpeted gleefully: “I saw you eating that apple pie!”</p>
<p>While Americans bemoan their loss of privacy – and allow me to ululate right along with you – it is helpful to recall our own role in this gradual process of, shall we say, regurgitative knowingness.</p>
<p>That is, our apparent willingness to show-and-tell every little thing in the quest to be known. Fame and Celebrity are by comparison higher callings than whatever compels strangers to display, say, their tongues (or other points of anatomical interest) in the public forum of social media. These acts of baboonery, not so feigned after all, are unsubtly reminiscent of chimpanzees who, unconsciously aware of the camera’s hostile intrusion, try to offend it with grimaces, grins and lingual extrusions.</p>
<p>Now, suddenly we’re offended that national security operatives are following our behavior patterns? Cue Cheetah’s laugh track.</p>
<p>Whether Edward Snowden, the self-admiring 29-year-old who decided to save us from ourselves if not our enemies, is hero or villain will keep us amused until time tells. Most likely he’s a hybrid of the two, the heroic concentrated mostly in his having spawned an urgent and overdue debate about the costs of privacy in the service of security.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Americans are scrambling to read Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World,” the subject of my high school thesis. One of my more ironic literary friends called to recite Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22” scene wherein another famous Snowden, mortally wounded, literally spills his guts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Early infatuation with Huxley and other prescient writers – George Orwell’s Big Brother seems suddenly cuddly – made me rationally paranoid, yes, but mostly aware of the tyranny of caring. It comes gently at first – we only want to protect you – but soon-ish becomes oppressive.</p>
<p>Distracted by our gadgets, we hardly notice until a Snowden materializes. We love Google Earth because we can see our very own houses on our very own laptop screens. Wow. But who else is watching?</p>
<p>When I visited then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson at his post-9/11 “Command Center” – a vast room filled with gigantic plasma screens and computer arsenals manned by military personnel – he pointed to my South Carolina office building on one of the screens.</p>
<p>I asked Thompson if he could tell me whether my assistant was there. “Not yet, but soon,” he said.</p>
<p>Fast forward to the set of CNN’s “Parker Spitzer” a couple of years ago when I asked Google CEO Eric Schmidt what options were available to people (like me) who might find his “Street View” a little creepy.</p>
<p>“You can just move,” he said.</p>
<p>Well, no, you can’t.</p>
<p>There’s no habitable place left on the planet where one can move to escape the data stalkers. Speaking of which, a peeve more personally concerning than whether Edward Snowden discovers where I get my tasteful highlights – or, as the Obama campaign mastered, which candidate I might support given my proclivity for same.</p>
<p>Online shopping.</p>
<p>Take one little tiny peek at an item of even remote interest and you are owned by The Thing. Once I Googled a purse that, turned out, cost $1,200. I moved along.</p>
<p>Not so fast, hissed the serpent.</p>
<p>A full year later, I’m reading about immigration reform and suddenly the $1,200 purse slithers into view, imprinting my brain with temptation I didn’t invite.</p>
<p>But, yes, I did. I Googled. I oogled. And, though I resisted, I am henceforth captive to an automated data pimp.</p>
<p>Know this: Whatever you have done online is known. Whatever you will do will be known. And thanks to me, not even Mrs. McQueen and Mrs. Harry G. Brown, bless their dear, departed hearts, can ever be anonymous. Or hot.</p>
<p>Parker’s columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at abqjournal.com/opinion – look for the syndicated columnist link. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail to <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p /> | We clicked away our anonymity | false | https://abqjournal.com/211654/we-clicked-away-our-anonymity.html | 2 |
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<p>Memphis, TN – A video uploaded to Facebook yesterday afternoon, is causing serious backlash against the tactics being used by police to serve an arrest warrant.</p>
<p>As the video begins, several heavily armed men can be seen arresting a man who appeared to be fully compliant with their instructions.&#160;Within seconds this “typical” arrest would become yet another example of the incredible behavior we so often see in the Police State.</p>
<p>As the camera pans upward, one of the men noticeably has his weapon trained on the man filming the incident. The man filming immediately asks them why they have a gun pointed in his direction, to which one paranoid cop replies,&#160;“So we don’t get shot.”&#160;</p>
<p>The man who uploaded the video, identified as&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/CorterianEASTSIDEPRESIDENTWright?fref=photo" type="external">Corterian Bay Wright</a>,&#160;according to his Facebook page, responds by informing the militarized force that he was the one that brought the man being placed under arrest to the door. While having a shotgun aimed directly at him, he continues to plead with the heavily armed thugs to&#160;“Put the guns down.”</p>
<p>After his requests go unheeded, Corterian informs the men that his fiancee (who is next to him) is pregnant. The man who has his weapon drawn responds in typical authoritarian manner, by trying to order him around on his own property. This smug response is no doubt an attempt to intimidate a man simply for exercising his rights to film the encounter.</p>
<p>The man kept the weapon trained on Corterian, even after the suspect being arrested was secured in a vehicle and the individuals who were witnessing the encounter had complied with demands to go back inside their house. When Corterian makes yet another polite request for the men to stop pointing his weapon at him, the men continue to bark orders&#160;for him&#160;to go upstairs. Corterian astutely recognizes the inherent ridiculousness of this order and responds simply&#160;“I ain’t gotta go where you want me to go.”</p>
<p>After several more moments of an intense “standoff” between the two men, the man finally relents and lowers his weapon.</p>
<p>This is what filming the police looks like in Police State USA.</p>
<p>This horrifying act by a heavily armed force who claim to be acting under the ‘color of law’ is becoming commonplace. Having an individual with a weapon drawn to ‘cover your back’ is a tactic used by the military when clearing houses in a war zone. When law enforcement uses these tactics against the American people, one can truly begin to understand the mentality that law enforcement harbors towards the general population.</p>
<p>There is indeed a war going on in America. It is not a race war, or a “ <a href="//thefreethoughtproject.com/war-cops-debunked-police-fatalities-year-steady-decline-3-decades/" type="external">War on Cops</a>.” It is a war against the American people being waged by violent authoritarians that have no respect for life or liberty.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Cop Threatens Innocent Pregnant Woman and Her Fiancé with a Shotgun for Filming Them | true | http://alternet.org/civil-liberties/cop-threatens-innocent-pregnant-woman-and-her-fiance-shotgun-filming-them | 2015-10-02 | 4 |
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<p>Within conservative circles, most politicians and commentators recognize corporate welfare when they see it. They just downplay its true nature by giving it more palatable names, like “providing stability to financial markets” or “implementing a liquidity backstop”—terms Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used on September 7 when he <a href="http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1129.htm" type="external">announced</a> the massive government bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But there are always a few true believers—who deserve credit for their consistency, if nothing else—ready to use the dreaded S-word. Free-market zealots like those at the libertarian Cato Institute are now arguing that the problem with Fannie and Freddie is that they were <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/09/08/not-a-market-failure" type="external">“socialist from the start,”</a> while others are applying the term to the federal takeover. Republican Sen. Jim Bunning of Kentucky <a href="http://bunning.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsCenter.NewsReleases&amp;ContentRecord_id=2753FD62-C45E-4A40-5CA8-66FA83D52A00" type="external">said</a> that when he first heard about the bailout plan, “I thought I woke up in France. But no, it turns out socialism is alive and well in America.”</p>
<p>If only this were true. We’d probably be a whole lot better off if the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), which together guarantee more than 40 percent of the mortgages in the United States, had been “socialist from the start”—that is, government entities owned and run in the public interest. Instead, they are so-called government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs—publicly chartered, but stockholder owned. They are run as private corporations, with an army of <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11781.html" type="external">lobbyists</a> to advance their interests, but with “implicit” federal backing. As <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=2&amp;oref=slogin&amp;oref=slogin" type="external">Paul Krugman</a> puts it, “This implicit guarantee means that profits are privatized but losses are socialized. If Fannie and Freddie do well, their stockholders reap the benefits, but if things go badly, Washington picks up the tab. Heads they win, tails we lose.”</p>
<p>Even the government “takeover” involves putting these companies into conservatorship, which means assuming responsibility for them—on a temporary basis, at least hypothetically. It falls short of making them part of the government whose taxpayers are saving them from bankruptcy at a cost of at least $25 billion, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, and possibly much more. And in the end, it will help all the banks and other lending and financial-services institutions that in turn depend upon the solvency Fannie and Freddie, as much as it will aid struggling homeowners by stabilizing the housing market.</p>
<p>Herbert Hoover tried a similar public-private setup with the Federal Home Loan Bank Act of 1932, which aimed to support banks in making loans to homeowners. But its impact was limited, and when Franklin Roosevelt came into office, he asked Congress for legislation that focused more directly on the needs of working-class and middle-class homeowners, rather than the lending institutions, through something called the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation.</p>
<p>Here’s how Arthur Schlesinger describes it in his book The Coming of the New Deal: “The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, which went into action in the summer of 1933, bought mortgages from holders who could carry them no longer, financed the immediate payment for taxes and repairs, and rewrote the mortgages to provide easy repayment over a long term and at relatively low interest rates…[O]wners of about one-fifth of the nation’s non-farm dwellings sought HOLC loans. More than a half were granted. In the end…HOLC actually held about one-sixth the total urban home mortgage debt.” There were tricky problems in appraisals, loan criteria, servicing, and in due course its own foreclosures, but the HOLC actually managed to end its four-year run with its accounts $11 million in the black. It’s widely credited with saving millions of low- and middle-income Americans from foreclosure, while also expanding home ownership in the process.</p>
<p>Andrew Jakabovics, associate director for the Economic Mobility Program at the Center for American Progress, was among the first to float the idea of the HOLC as a model for dealing with the current crisis. Back in the September 2007, he <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/13/opinion/main3257337.shtml" type="external">wrote</a>; in The New Republic, “as the threat of eroding house prices looms larger, a neighborhood’s downward spiral can be hastened by panicked homeowners willing to take any offer before their house becomes nearly worthless. By providing direct assistance to homeowners through a government entity modeled on the HOLC but with the ability to negotiate the complexities of the present securitization process, we can eliminate the panic and stabilize neighborhoods in addition to helping individual homeowners.”</p>
<p>Earlier this week, on the Center for American Progress’ website, Jakabovics <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/09/crisis_averted.html" type="external">outlined</a> a plan that called for a more active approach by conservators, including government refinancing and resecuritization of loans: “American taxpayers will do better when the…conservators refinance or restructure the outstanding troubled mortgages in the two GSEs’ portfolios to provide lower interest rates or loan balances, rather than having the GSEs sit on a pile of delinquent, non-performing loans leading to foreclosures next door.” Last March, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairmen of the Senate and House banking committees, respectively, were also talking about a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/business/30hous.html" type="external">plan</a> they compared to the HOLC—though their plan called for the government to back mortgages from private lenders, rather than issue mortgages itself. In effect, even the most progressive solutions call for some version of public-private partnerships—better conceived and better regulated, but preserving the role and profits of the private sector. No one has yet proposed creating government-owned and -run lending institutions directly responsible to the populace, even though this might well turn out to be fairer, cheaper, and more efficient. (In a way, it runs parallel to the Democrats’ support of a “universal health care” plan that preserves the role and profits of private insurance companies, rather than the fairer and cheaper single-payer model.) Why is this? Presumably because by keeping private financial institutions in the mix, Democrats can not only continue collecting their campaign contributions, but avoid anything that smacks of the politically deadly S-word.</p>
<p>The right, of course, shows no such restraint in advancing its ideological position—and the statements of the two presidential candidates on the Fannie/Freddie crisis illuminate the pitfalls of the Democrats’ timid approach. Henry Paulson has said the government’s long-term plans for the two GSEs will be determined by the next administration. For McCain—who comes off as somewhere to the right of the Bush administration when speaking on this issue—the solution is simple: privatization. He seems to echo the position of the Cato Institute, which <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/09/08/not-a-market-failure/" type="external">declares</a>, “This is not a market failure as so many are now claiming. It is a government failure, pure and simple.” As Bloomberg News <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&amp;sid=a1ujoLiLLz78&amp;refer=us" type="external">described</a> it, “McCain is clear on what he wants to do. He backs a solution put forward by former Federal Reserve Chairman and fellow Republican Alan Greenspan that would break the companies up and sell the pieces off.” McCain’s top economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, told the network that McCain would “get them completely off the taxpayers’ back.”</p>
<p>On the other side, the Obama campaign has called McCain’s push for privatization “hasty” and “ideological,” but as of Tuesday had offered no clear alternative. Obama’s economic adviser, Jason Furman, told Bloomberg that “the outcome would depend on ‘disentangling’ the important roles that Fannie and Freddie perform that can’t be replicated by the private sector from those functions that can be handled by the market.” Not exactly something you can turn into a campaign slogan.</p>
<p /> | Is the Fannie/Freddie Bailout “Socialism”? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/09/fanniefreddie-bailout-socialism/ | 2008-09-10 | 4 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>They call her the Warrior Princess. This morning she went into battle once more in defense of Prince Charming of Crawford, Texas– who, as I have said, fell asleep and turned back into a frog, croaking “Iraq, Iraq.”</p>
<p>Even before he was anointed as our sovereign–he was warned by the departing administration about threats to our country from terrorists based in Afghanistan. That is, his courtiers were warned. –again and again. How much of it they relayed to the Prince remains in question.</p>
<p>In hours on the stand, the Princess refused to remember that she had ever talked to him about Al Qaeda until that day, or that even then he was still croaking, “Iraq, Iraq.” There was lots of hard evidence to that effect but she tried to cover it with a smokescreen of verbiage, much of it repetitive and beside the point. It did emerge, though, that he’d said going after al Qaeda for its known crimes against the U. S. was like swatting flies.</p>
<p>It was amusing to watch a former prosecutor, Richard Ben-Veniste, fighting to get a short, straight answer. It took several commissioners finally to get her to admit that a briefing paper titled Bin Laden planning something big in U.S. meant he was planning something big in the U.S. She did get in one poke at one of the commissioners, Bob Kerrey, the former Senator and former war criminal in Vietnam. She snapped that he too had once said we ought not bother with bin Laden but go after Saddam Hussein instead. It was useful to be reminded that this war has been a bipartisan catastrophe.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Rigging the Wheel</p>
<p>Dow Jones replaced three stocks on its index of leading industrials and presto–the market jumped a couple of hundred points — as measured by the Dow-Jones average. Don’t laugh— there’s a lot of money riding on those averages — including money from pension funds, invested without consulting the workers it belongs to</p>
<p>Pensions are being cut, so we need Social Security more than ever –but dear me, here comes the Times again, calling for a fix. For 25 years now it’s been warning that Social Security would go broke at a date certain– unless we plugged the deficit–and we kept plugging it — though there never was a deficit. The “great white lie,” they once called it.</p>
<p>On Sunday, the Times sounded as if it had finally become fond of Social Security. It told us not to worry, it just needs a couple of fixes. The ones it favors are to push retirement off to age 70, and to trim the cost-of-living adjustment. But they’ve been doing this all along. They got the retirement age up to 67. And they quietly rejiggered the consumer price index by half a point a couple of years ago,</p>
<p>That was after a propaganda campaign by the Times’s own Senator Moynihan and other enemies of social welfare They argued that inflation never hit the standard of living, because when steak goes up, people switch to chicken. And they got away with it — the consumers’ market basket was adjusted the way the Dow -Jones average was adjusted. Now the Times wants to give it another fix. Maybe put us on beans.</p>
<p>It’s all the more vile because like other rich companies, the Times is pushing employees to retire in their fifties and welshing on retirement benefits. But it tries to maintain an air of balance. Check out Bob Herbert, who shows how the bullish numbers on employment cover up a disaster for American workers. That is Op-Ed — opposite the editorial line.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Pulitzer Turnabout</p>
<p>American journalism crowned a new champion this week- the Los Angeles Times. With five Pulitzer prizes, it rather dimmed the luster of the seven that were heaped on the New York Times last year, largely as a tribute to 9-11 and all that. It got only one Pulitzer this year — well earned, for the series about the physical harm done to workers on the job. But the celebration on 43d Street had to be subdued by the absence of Howell Raines, the editor who was fired in the uproar over Jayson Blair.</p>
<p>In an article in the Atlantic that is, like my memoir, entitled My Times, Raines makes it clear that he was shafted by his friend the publisher, for a misjudgment that ad I pointed out harmed nobody but the Times. He overlooks other sins. The Pulitzer board underlined one of them. It gave a special prize to the Toledo Blade for its inquest into the crimes of a unit of Special Forces in Vietnam. It was terrific reporting and timely, in light of the enhanced role of such units in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it was picked up by the AP and a few other papers–but the Times ignored it . An editor explained that it was another paper’s story–not ours.</p>
<p>Talking about ethics, truth and the Times, check out the website Daily Howler. It reports that the conservative writer David Brooks was caught lying bodaciously in a political essay. First he denied it, then he said sure, he made up some facts. They appeared in a piece for the Atlantic monthly–small world. For the same offense, Jayson Blair was fired, and Howell Raines was fired. Brooks was hired by the Times, and continues to make up facts.</p>
<p>To be continued.</p>
<p>JOHN L. HESS is a former writer for the New York Times, a career he chronicles in his excellent new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1583226222/counterpunchmaga" type="external">My Times: a Memoir of Dissent</a>. Hess is now a political commentator for WBAI.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Condi on the Stand | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/04/08/condi-on-the-stand/ | 2004-04-08 | 4 |
<p>TEL AVIV, Israel - If you've ever spent time in Tel Aviv, you've undoubtedly encountered the Na Nachs. Sighting a band of the Bohemian ultra-Orthodox Jewish group usually begins the same way.</p>
<p>First comes the unmistakable thump of electronic dance music. The sound grows louder as its source approaches: a brightly painted van, festooned with stickers and crowned with a pair of huge loudspeakers.</p>
<p>The van is full of grinning, bearded, long-haired men, mostly young, wearing an assortment of comfortable-looking clothing and white, tassel-topped yarmulkes. At intervals the van stops and the grinning men pour into the streets, dancing and twirling to the music.</p>
<p>A few decades old, this quirky, happy-go-lucky sect seems to be growing in numbers.&#160;</p>
<p>A sub-sect of Breslov Hasidism, Na Nachs follow the teachings of a Kabbalist mystic who lived 200 years ago in what is today Ukraine. His name, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, forms the basis of the arcane mantra they chant throughout songs and prayers and have printed on their yarmulkes: Na Nach Nachma Nachman, Meuman.</p>
<p>Nachman was seen as somewhat outlandish in his day, but as time went by, his followers became more conventional to avoid persecution. Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser - a now-deceased mystic who believed that Nachman sent him a note from heaven in the 1920s - revived the fundamentals of Breslov. For a while, he kept it to himself. But by the 1980s, he began picking up followers, and traveled around Israel teaching and distributing Rebbe Nachman's books. Odesser died in 1994, but left behind money (from donations he had collected) to help print Rebbe Nachman literature. Today, traveling Na Nachs make up the rest with donations and at-cost book sales.</p>
<p>"People form splinter groups all the time," said Barry Freedman, an American Na Nach who spent the better part of the 80s and 90s in Israel, often cruising around in Na Nach party vans to spread Rebbe Nachman's teachings. "But eventually, they mellow out and someone else breaks away from the mainstream."</p>
<p>Freedman has mellowed out, too. He left the itinerant lifestyle of a roving Na Nach and works as a telecommunications salesman in New York City's Financial District. Now clean-cut, he teaches Rebbe Nachman classes once a week to Ukrainian immigrants in South Brooklyn. But Shaul Magid, a professor of religious studies at Indiana University, said that without Israel's cultural support, Na Nachs aren't likely to thrive anywhere else.&#160;</p>
<p>Contrary to ultra-Orthodox Judaism's typically conservative image - men wearing black hats and frock coats, women in long skirts, often surrounded by abundant offspring - joy-focused Na Nachs present a laid back vibe.</p>
<p>As a movement, Na Nach is emotional, anti-intellectual, non-hierarchical, and tends to attract a variety of what some consider social misfits. Many don't have jobs and spend most of their time traveling around Israel in the iconic vans, dancing and selling Nachman books. There is really no standard for what defines a "typical" Na Nach.</p>
<p>The movement's followers include people who grew up in Tel Aviv's poor neighborhoods, former clubbers and punk rockers, ex-convicts, and guys who got out of the Israeli army, became Buddhists, and then decided to embrace Judaism. Some people drawn to Na Nach aren't necessarily interested in becoming Na Nach, but are interested in Rebbe Nachman's teachings.</p>
<p>"It's a real Hasidic counter culture, comparable to Harikrishnas and American adaptors of Rastafarianism," Magid said. "I think they've been a punching bag for a lot of groups because they're not conventional."</p>
<p>Other religious Jews tend to dismiss Na Nachs as a joke. And secular Israelis view them with a mixture of amusement, interest and mild annoyance. But Na Nachs believe in the spiritual validity of their joyous singing, dancing and praying, whether they're doing in from a van or out in the forest.</p>
<p>Core beliefs include striving for constant happiness and performing hitbodedut, or praying to God intimately, as if conversing with a friend. The happiness factor makes many assume they're on drugs (some of them were), as does the yelling into thin air that often accompanies hitbodedut.</p>
<p>Regardless of what others think of them, Na Nachs continue to attract new devotees, though their lack of hierarchy and structure mean that it's difficult to obtain solid "membership" numbers. Like other Orthodox Jews, Na Nachs have a lot of children, so more and more young follwoers are being raised within the sect.</p>
<p>"Forty or fifty years ago, nobody was Breslov," said Israel Blumenfeld, an American expat who has dedicated most of the past seven years to manning one of Israel's fleet of Na Nach vans. "It's pretty amazing to see the difference today."</p> | Dancing in the streets of Tel Aviv | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-07-17/dancing-streets-tel-aviv | 2011-07-17 | 3 |
<p>On July 27, 2002, so the story goes, a US Special Forces unit stationed in Khost, in south eastern Afghanistan, received a tip-off from an Afghan villager that a group of al-Qaeda terrorists was operating out of a compound near Ab Khail, a small town in the hills near the Pakistani border. Although they found nothing there, one member of the unit, Sgt. Layne Morris, decided to check another compound nearby. Taking five other soldiers with him, Morris spied, through a chink in the gate, five Arab men, all heavily armed. When they refused his call to surrender, he summoned reinforcements.</p>
<p>45 minutes later, when the reinforcements arrived and Pashtu translators began attempting to negotiate with the men, they responded by firing their guns and hurling grenades. Wounded in one eye, Morris was evacuated by helicopter, but the battle continued for four hours, and the five men refused to give up even as American planes bombed the compound relentlessly. When the shooting finally stopped, the remaining soldiers — Sgt. Christopher Speer and four others — entered the shattered compound, intending to “collect arms and intelligence.” They were not expecting to find anyone alive, and were therefore caught off-guard when Omar Khadr, who was hidden between the remains of two buildings, apparently threw a grenade at them. Wounded in the head, Speer was also evacuated, but later died from his injuries at a military hospital in Germany.</p>
<p>“Within seconds,” said Capt. Mike Silver, who walked into the compound behind Sgt. Speer, “we had him [Omar] pinpointed and we opened fire.” Shot three times in the chest, Khadr dropped the pistol he was carrying, and when Capt. Silver approached him, called out, “Shoot me. Please, just shoot me.” Although a sergeant who was present noted later that “every US soldier who walked by Omar longed to put a bullet in his head,” the unit’s medic insisted on patching him up. It was an act of kindness that has rarely been repeated in the five years and four months since.</p>
<p>Transferred to a hospital at the US prison in Bagram airbase, north of Kabul, with chest wounds and shrapnel injuries to his head and one of his eyes, Khadr’s interrogation began as soon as he regained consciousness. According to his own account, reported by Amnesty International, he “asked for pain medication for his wounds but was refused,” said that “during interrogations a bag was placed over his head and US personnel brought military dogs into the room to frighten him,” and added that he was “not allowed to use the bathroom and was forced to urinate on himself.” Like many other prisoners, he was also hung from his wrists, and explained that “his hands were tied above a door frame and he was forced to stand in this position for hours.” An article in Rolling Stone, in August 2006, added further details, noting that he was “brought into interrogation rooms on stretchers, in great pain,” and was “ordered to clean floors on his hands and knees while his wounds were still wet.” The rationale, according to an unnamed official cited by Amnesty, was to secure intelligence at all costs. He claimed that captured prisoners were so scared of abuse by US soldiers that they would talk without prompting. The prisoners “sometimes think we are going to cut out their livers,” he said, citing Khadr as an example of a prisoner “singing like a bird.”</p>
<p>It is not known at which point the US authorities realized who Omar Khadr was — the third of four sons of Ahmed Said Khadr, who had fought with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s, during the US-sponsored mujahideen resistance to the Soviet occupation. Based in Canada after emigrating from Egypt in 1977, Ahmed Khadr was reportedly a financier for al-Qaeda, and had taken his family to live in a compound with bin Laden’s family after the leader of al-Qaeda returned to Afghanistan in 1996. Once this information was registered, however, Omar’s fate, as a significant “enemy combatant,” to be held beyond the reach of the law, was sealed.</p>
<p>More crucially, it is not known at which point the US authorities realized that Omar, born on September 19, 1987, was only 15 years old when he was captured, although Rolling Stone reported that, when the Special Forces soldiers approached him after shooting him in Ab Khail, “they saw that he was just a boy. Fifteen years old and slightly built, he could have passed for thirteen.” For those prosecuting the “War on Terror,” however, Omar’s age was irrelevant. Dozens of children were held in Guantánamo, and, although few were treated as badly as Omar, only a handful — three even younger Afghan children — were ever segregated from the prison’s adult population (in a separate block, Camp Iguana), and treated with something close to appropriate care.</p>
<p>Amnesty International suggested that, “because the USA is one of only two states that have not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognizes that children need special safeguards and care, it feels free to trample on the human rights of juveniles in its ‘war on terror,”‘ and this was confirmed by pronouncements from within the administration. At a press conference in April 2003, after the “child prisoners” story first surfaced, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pointedly described the juvenile detainees as “not children,” and General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that they “may be juveniles, but they’re not on the Little League team anywhere. They’re on a major league team, and it’s a terrorist team, and they’re in Guantánamo for a very good reason — for our safety, for your safety.”</p>
<p>As a result, Omar’s torture continued with impunity in Guantánamo. On his arrival, in October 2002, just a few weeks after his 16th birthday, he was immediately subjected to a regime of humiliation, isolation and abuse, including extreme temperature manipulation, forced nudity and sexual humiliation, which had just been introduced in an attempt to increase the meager flow of “actionable intelligence” from the prison. He told his lawyers that he was “short-shackled by his hands and feet to a bolt in the floor and left for five to six hours,” and that “occasionally a US officer would enter the room to laugh at him.” He also said that he was “kept in extremely cold rooms,” “lifted up by the neck while shackled, and then dropped to the floor,” and “beaten by guards.” In one particularly notorious incident, the guards left him short-shackled until he urinated on himself, and then “poured a pine-scented cleaning fluid over him and used him as a ‘human mop’ to clean up the mess.” As if further humiliation was required, he added that he was “not provided with clean clothes for several days after this degradation.”</p>
<p>Confirming its disregard for the rights of children, the administration proceeded, in November 2005, to designate Omar as one of ten Guantánamo detainees to be tried by Military Commission. Under this new process, dreamt up by Dick Cheney and his senior counsel David Addington in November 2001, the detainees could be tried, and even sentenced to death, using secret evidence that would never be revealed to either the detainees or their government-appointed defense lawyers.</p>
<p>Omar’s age did, however, make a difference to lawyers and human rights groups, who have maintained, ever since his case first came to light, that he should have been treated as a juvenile from the moment he was seized by US forces. They have also pointed out that the Military Commissions, which are grotesquely unjust when applied to adults, are doubly so when applied to juveniles, whether the children in question are “soldiers” or not. It would, indeed, be hard to imagine a situation that reflected more badly on the reputation of the United States as a nation established and administered under the rule of law than to prosecute a juvenile in a system that, rather than functioning as a beacon of justice, bore more than a passing resemblance to the show trials of Stalinist Russia.</p>
<p>Omar’s lawyers, Muneer Ahmad and Rick Wilson, who run the International Human Rights Law Clinic at American University, first visited him in October 2004, following a crucial ruling in the Supreme Court in June 2004, when, in a landmark case, Rasul v. Bush, the Justices ruled by 6 to 3 that the detainees had the right to challenge the legal limbo in which they had been held for nearly two and half years, demolishing, along the way, the administration’s long-cherished belief that Guantánamo did not count as US territory.</p>
<p>Although the arrival at Guantánamo of Ahmad, Wilson, and dozens of other lawyers finally pierced the veil of total secrecy that had shrouded the prison since its inception, the administration’s other response to the Supreme Court’s ruling on the detainees’ habeas rights was shockingly underhand. Instead of opening up to the US court system, those in overall charge of Guantánamo instigated a tribunal system to confirm that the detainees were “enemy combatants,” and that they could therefore continue to hold them without charge or trial. To effect their aims, the tribunals — the Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) — prevented detainees from being represented by lawyers, and, like the Commissions, relied on secret evidence obtained through torture, coercion or bribery.</p>
<p>Ahmad explained that he and Wilson took Omar’s case on legal principle but also “to remind the world that this kid is there, that he is alive, that his life has value and meaning and that he’s been thrown in a hole. It’s our collective responsibility to treat him with the dignity that he deserves.” He recalled that, when he finally met Omar, his first thought was, “He’s just a little kid.” As Rolling Stone described it, “Omar was gaunt and pale, in a state of everlasting exhaustion, his senses starved by solitude. He had large gunshot-wound scars on his back and chest, and smaller scars over most of his body, several parts of which still held shrapnel.” “You feel a general protectiveness toward these folks just because they’re kept without access to anyone,” Ahmad added. “And because of Omar’s age and lack of world experience, you feel that much more protective. You’re conscious of not infantilizing him, but when someone is that young, you would be wrong not to recognize this. Our contention is that children are deserving of special protection ­ that’s been our legal approach, and it’s also been our ethos in our relationship with him.”</p>
<p>Securing Omar’s trust did not prove easy, primarily because suspicion and paranoia were built into the fabric of Guantánamo, and also because guards and interrogators did all they could to slander the lawyers — as Arab-hating Jews or homosexuals, for instance — or to suggest that cooperating with them would ensure that they remained in Guantánamo for life. Gradually, however, as Rolling Stone explained, “Omar revealed himself to be very shy and curious and, in most ways, still a child, with a child’s sweetness and credulous charm.” When the lawyers offered to get him something to read, “he asked for coloring books and car magazines and books with photographs of big animals,” and when, after a break during a meeting, they asked him what kind of juice he wanted them to bring back, he said, “Just something weird.”</p>
<p>More worrying, however, than these poignant demonstrations of the stunted growth of Omar’s adolescent mind, is the psychological impact of indefinite detention. A number of medical experts, who reviewed the results of mental status tests administered by his lawyers, stated that he had been severely traumatized by his experiences. Dr. Eric Trupin, who has conducted extensive research on the effects of incarceration on adolescents, explained, “The impact of these harsh interrogation techniques on an adolescent such as O.K. [Omar], who also has been isolated for almost three years, is potentially catastrophic to his future development. Long-term consequences of harsh interrogation techniques are both more pronounced for adolescents and more difficult to remediate or treat even after such interrogations are discontinued, particularly if the victim is uncertain as to whether they will resume. It is my opinion, to a reasonable scientific certainty, that O.K.’s continued subjection to the threat of physical and mental abuse places him at significant risk for future psychiatric deterioration, which may include irreversible psychiatric symptoms and disorders, such as a psychosis with treatment-resistant hallucinations, paranoid delusions and persistent self-harming attempts.”</p>
<p>In the three years since Ahmad and Wilson first met Omar, his isolation, and the perils to his young mind, have not diminished, and, although singled out for trial by Military Commission, he remains, like every other detainee, held in what appears to be an unending legal limbo, as the Commissions have stumbled from one legal setback to another. In April 2006, when he was briefly hauled up before his first trial, Omar read out a note that read, “Excuse me, Mr. Judge, I’m being punished for exercising my right and being co-operative in participating in this military commission. For that, I say with my respect to you and everybody else here, that I’m boycotting these procedures until I be treated humanely and fair.”</p>
<p>Omar did not have long to wait until his first trial collapsed. In June 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the Commissions were illegal under US law and the Geneva Conventions, and highlighted the relevance of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which forbids “cruel treatment and torture” and “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.” Justice Anthony Kennedy even went so far as to warn the administration that “violations of Common Article 3 are considered ‘war crimes,’ punishable as federal offences, when committed by or against United States nationals and military personnel.”</p>
<p>Scurrying back to its bunker, the administration seized on a comment made by one of the judges, Justice Stephen Breyer, who had said, “Nothing prevents the President from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary,” and responded by drafting the Military Commissions Act (MCA). Passed by a comatose Congress last fall, this despicable piece of legislation reintroduced the Commissions and, for good measure, removed the detainees’ habeas corpus rights that had been demanded by the Supreme Court in June 2004.</p>
<p>Duly revived in March this year, the Commissions skirted their first challenge, when the Australian detainee David Hicks accepted a plea bargain and dropped his well-documented allegations of torture at the hands of US forces in exchange for a nine-month sentence to be served in his homeland, but collapsed again in June, when Omar’s case, and that of Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni who had worked as a driver for Osama bin Laden, were dismissed by the Commissions’ military judges. In separate decisions, both Army Colonel Peter Brownback (for Khadr) and Navy Captain Keith Allred (for Hamdan) pointed out that the MCA had mandated them to try “unlawful enemy combatants,” whereas the tribunals that had made them eligible for trial — the Combatant Status Review Tribunals — had only declared that they were “enemy combatants.”</p>
<p>After a petulant hiatus, in which the administration’s language-shredding officials declared that the distinction was merely one of semantics (which it was not), the government declared that it would appeal the decisions, and was once more ridiculed when it was revealed that the appeals court in question — the Court of Military Commission Review, which was also mandated by the MCA — had not yet been established. Convened in August, in what the New York Times described as “a borrowed courtroom half a block from the White House,” the appeals court duly decided that the Commissions’ judges had the right to sweep away these inconvenient distinctions, and Omar’s trial was rescheduled for November 8.</p>
<p>And so, last Thursday morning, as the sun rose over Guantánamo Bay, journalists, human rights activists, and, for the first time, a few hand-picked administration cheerleaders from organizations including the Heritage Foundation, crowded into a makeshift military courtroom to witness the government’s latest attempt to fulfil a six-year old dream: securing the successful conviction of a “war criminal” in a court designed primarily by Dick Cheney and David Addington, which bears no resemblance to any court recognized in domestic or international law.</p>
<p>Omar’s third trial began with the kind of unpredictable challenges that observers of the ad-hoc legal system have come to recognize from previous attempts to rewrite the law. His tenacious military lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, who has traveled to Canada to publicize his client’s plight, and, in the last few months, has described the Commissions as rigged, ridiculous, unjust, farcical, and a sham, tore into the judge, challenging Col. Brownback’s independence, and arguing that he was too involved in the system to make impartial decisions. Referring to a comment that Brownback had made, in which he admitted taking “a lot of heat” over his decision in June, Kuebler forced the judge to fight back, admitting that he made the comments, but denying that anyone in authority had put pressure on him.</p>
<p>After a two hour hearing, the much-vaunted trial turned out to be nothing more than an arraignment. To the dismay of the prosecutors, who had hoped to show a video, retrieved from the Ab Khail compound, that purportedly showed Omar making and planting roadside explosives, Col. Brownback refused to allow the video to be shown, and postponed the trial to allow time for the defense to examine the new evidence.</p>
<p>The real reason that Col. Brownback postponed the trial, without, in the end, ruling that Omar was indeed an “unlawful enemy combatant,” was only revealed after the arraignment, when deputy chief defense counsel Mike Berrigan announced that, just 36 hours before the trial began, the lead prosecutor, Marine Corps Major Jeff Groharing, had informed Khadr’s defense team of the existence of “potentially exculpatory evidence” from a “US government employee,” who was an eye-witness to the gunfight in Afghanistan that led to Khadr’s capture. As Carol Williams described it more bluntly in the Los Angeles Times, “The eye-witness’ account contradicts the government version of events and could exonerate Khadr of the war crimes with which he is charged: murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, spying and material support for terrorism.”</p>
<p>“It’s an eye-witness the government has always known about,” Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler explained to the press, adding that the disclosure was symptomatic of the underlying problem with a system that was “designed to produce convictions.” He also asked, “How much other exculpatory evidence is out there behind the black curtain that we cannot see?” and Mike Berrigan added, “How we can be on the eve of a hearing to determine his status — and how we can have newly discovered evidence — is beyond me.”</p>
<p>Further criticism came from Jennifer Daskal, senior counter-terrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch, who explained, “It is totally outrageous that the prosecution would try to push ahead with a hearing on whether or not Khadr was an unlawful enemy combatant, while all the time withholding from the defense potentially exculpatory information. Anyone who has ever gone to law school knows the fundamental legal and ethical rule — the prosecution cannot withhold exculpatory information from the defense.”</p>
<p>Jennifer Daskal was correct to highlight the “fundamental legal and ethical rule” about exculpatory evidence, but its omission for five years in Omar’s case is typical of the rigged and unjust system that Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler and other principled military lawyers — including Michael Mori, who defended David Hicks, and Charlie Swift, who lost his job for defending Salim Hamdan — have spent so long railing against. It is, moreover, not a problem that applies exclusively to the Military Commissions.</p>
<p>Just five weeks ago, an Army Major, who served on 49 tribunals at Guantánamo, made a sworn statement (included in an affidavit filed on behalf of another Guantánamo detainee, a Sudanese hospital administrator named Adel Hamad), in which he criticized the absence of exculpatory evidence in the tribunals. Noting that any exculpatory evidence, which might have exonerated the detainees, was supposed to be presented separately, “as required in the CSRT rules,” he explained that no exculpatory evidence whatsoever was presented in any of his 49 tribunals, and added that the only time he ever encountered exculpatory evidence was “by accident,” when “some of the evidence presented by the recorder [whose role was “to generate the evidence” to present to the tribunals] would contradict the allegations made against the detainee.”</p>
<p>In the legal netherworld of Guantánamo, beyond US criminal law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the failure to disclose potentially exculpatory evidence for five years is, of course, no surprise. The administration’s many shields — designed to prevent all mention of torture and ill-treatment, while securing convictions at all costs — rely, specifically, on the right to withhold classified evidence from the detainees and their lawyers, and, moreover, to impose protective orders shielding the identities of witnesses, interrogators and informants. Though little reported, the imposition of protective orders (described as “draconian” by Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler) has led to a situation whereby, as Carol Williams reported, “Affidavits sworn by bounty hunters in Pakistan who turned over more than 200 of Guantanamo’s detainees in exchange for sums upwards of $5,000 are among the classified documents that neither defendants nor trial observers are allowed to see.”</p>
<p>In such an environment, Omar is lucky that the exculpatory evidence was presented at all. As he returns to enforced solitary confinement once more, it’s hard not to wonder whether finally, after 64 months of hideous imprisonment, his long journey to some sort of justice is finally near. But then I recall some of the most chilling words ever uttered by the administration: that, even if detainees are eventually acquitted in their military trials, they might be held indefinitely in Guantánamo anyway.</p>
<p>ANDY WORTHINGTON is a British historian, and the author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison’</a> (to be published by Pluto Press in October 2007). Visit his website at: <a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/" type="external">www.andyworthington.co.uk</a></p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Trials of Omar Khadr | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/11/15/the-trials-of-omar-khadr/ | 2007-11-15 | 4 |
<p>Bernie Sanders wants everybody to go to college for free. This is a terrible idea.</p>
<p>Sanders wants taxpayers to foot the bill for little Jimmy’s major in Lesbian Dance Theory. Writing in The Washington Post, the socialist Vermont senator who didn’t understand why loan rates should be lower for houses than college tuition (hint: it’s called collateral) suggested that we must have “universally available public education.” Quoting that iconic American figure Rutherford B. Hayes (hint: he was the guy between Ulysses S. Grant and James Garfield), Sanders said: “An education should be available to all regardless of anyone’s station.”</p>
<p>Sanders traces the history of funding for public education, stating, “It took populist pressure from the progressive movement, beginning in the 1890s, to make widespread access to free public schools a reality. By 1940, half of all young people were graduating from high school. As of 2013, that number is 81 percent.” He then concludes, “A college degree is the new high school diploma,” noting that high school graduates can no longer “move right into a decent-paying job with good benefits.”</p>
<p>It apparently never occurs to Sanders that there could be a correlation between increased access to higher education and inability of those with lower educational attainment to attain jobs. If there is a higher supply of higher-level labor, that means less demand for lower-level labor.</p>
<p>At the same time, the need to push people through “free” public education, which occurs because the state cannot afford to keep people in school indefinitely, means that education must be watered down – so the new graduates aren’t capable of doing solid jobs. A high school degree used to mean actual educational attainment. Now it means virtually nothing.</p>
<p>In other words, free universal public education means more educated people, but it also means more people with a degree but without educational attainment. For employers, it becomes impossible to tell the difference between various high school graduates – and so college becomes the new sorting mechanism. Those with a college degree are automatically considered more intelligent and qualified than those with merely a high school degree. That’s because of the assumption that no one would take out massive loans unless they were willing and able to attain a higher educational level and then get a better job because of it to pay back those loans – and the assumption that banks would not give such loans if they did not believe the borrower capable of paying them back.</p>
<p>But when we expand college to everyone, we end up merely extending the problem of full high school access to colleges. Now college degrees mean nothing, because everyone is going. That situation mandates a new sorting mechanism. And eventually, having gone to graduate school will be a prerequisite for employment, at which point Democrats will suggest that graduate school must be publicly funded.</p>
<p>The proof is in the pudding: if we took Sanders’ history lesson seriously, we’d assume that the unemployment rate should be far lower today (hey, we’ve got lots more college and high school graduates!) than it was in 1890. That’s not the case. The unemployment rate in 1890 was approximately 4%. The unemployment rate in 1940 was 14.6%. And the unemployment rate in 2013, skewed by the low work force rate, was 6.3%.</p>
<p>Higher education, in other words, does not correlate highly with level of national unemployment.</p>
<p>Our lifestyle standard is better today thanks to a more highly-educated populace – but that’s an argument for private loans funding the best students, not all students getting “free” money to pick a major of their choice. And in any case, Sanders doesn’t believe in the progress of capitalism – he thinks solely in terms of how education impacts employment.</p>
<p>Sanders cites as examples of countries with free higher education the Scandinavian states. Putting aside their exponentially higher tax rates for the middle class, Sanders also neglects to mention that countries like Finland force children at age 16 to choose a track, either academic or vocational – and that many students choose a vocational track, or do not meet the academic requirements to enter the academic track. American high schools do not require such training or choice at any point – and colleges wouldn’t either, if Sanders had his way.</p>
<p>“Free” college tuition is a chimera. It often doesn’t help people gain the education necessary for employment, which is why private student loans are often unavailable. The government has responded with its own loans, which have jacked up the number of college students who exit college without solid job opportunities; meanwhile, employers are left trying to distinguish between college students without knowing their marketable skills, and thus rely more and more heavily on graduate schools, which are paid for almost entirely by private loans.</p>
<p>Bernie Sanders doesn’t understand economics, which demonstrates that his degree from University of Chicago was entirely wasted. That should be proof enough that degrees don’t all pay off. Publicly funding degrees, just like publicly funding mortgages, is a sham that will collapse under its own weight.</p> | Sanders Wants 'Free' College For Everyone. Here's Why That's Dumb. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/618/sanders-wants-free-college-everyone-heres-why-ben-shapiro | 2015-10-22 | 0 |
<p>There were the devout Bible students executed in a Charleston church and the two young women shot from behind while enjoying a silly sex comedy in a Louisiana theater and the 1,433 everyday, anonymous, quickly forgotten gun deaths during the weeks in between. There were the dog-days headlines from cities about murder tallies usually not seen until year’s end. Summers have traditionally been the high season for gun violence in the United States. But the summer of 2015 felt especially bloody, even before a gunman gave this country a killing designed to go viral, the attack timed to interrupt a live broadcast.</p>
<p>The total numbers, the numbers that matter, are these. Between the start of Memorial Day Weekend and the end of the Labor Day holiday, an estimated 4,080 people&#160;were killed by guns in America. Another 9,032 were wounded.&#160;That’s according to preliminary data from the <a href="http://www.gunviolencearchive.org/" type="external">Gun Violence Archive</a>, which tracks incidents of gun violence through media reports and police blotters. (An earlier version of this post, published on Friday, September 4 and based on data through August 28, showed rolling tallies of more than&#160;3,700 dead and nearly 8,200 injured.) The totals amount to 257 more people killed and 1,424 more wounded than during last summer, which because of the way the starting and ending holiday weekends fell on the calendar was one week shorter than the summer of 2015.&#160;</p>
<p>Statistically, then, this summer’s increase in firearms casualties has not been huge. What has seemed potentially significant is the effect on perceptions. David Chipman, a former ATF agent, believes that “people have been blown out of their detachment and denial.” If there is a lasting shift (and time will certainly test his assertion), it will owe in part to the way the summer of 2015 mixed together horrors too-familiar and new: Innocent churchgoers standing in for innocent school kids, a Tennessee Naval Reserve facility instead of a Texas army base, a movie theater shooting sequel, a workplace rampage that in a depraved twist was documented with not one but <a href="" type="internal">two</a> cameras. Americans may have come to expect an Aurora or Newtown or Fort Hood on a semi-annual basis, but there yet remain varieties of brutality for which we aren’t prepared, have not already pre-processed.</p>
<p>There are of course other ways to view the 2015 shootings that have made the most-read and most-watched lists. For example: As the product of racism, pure and simple, or a <a href="" type="internal">“mental health problem,”</a> or the perils of <a href="" type="internal">gun-free zones</a>. Dylann Roof, John Houser, Mohammad Abdulazeez, and Vester Flanagan were all able to buy guns through licensed dealers — never mind that Roof’s purchase only went through because of a loophole in the law and <a href="" type="internal">“cascade” of clerical errors</a>, nor that the other shooters all exhibited warning signs that might have disqualified them from gun possession under a background check system better designed to account for the role of <a href="" type="internal">substance abuse</a> and <a href="" type="internal">anger management</a> in violent crime.&#160;If you believe America already has all (or more than) the gun regulation it needs, then for you those four shootings fit neatly into a standing argument against reform.</p>
<p>“People have been blown out of their detachment and denial,” says a former ATF agent. Time will test his theory.</p>
<p>And so this summer may also go down as a reminder of the downside of the public tendency to fixate on mass shootings while ignoring other types of gun violence. The fact that only two of the past three months’ high-profile killings even qualify under the most widely used definition —&#160;four or more people shot dead, a public setting, a lack of gang or other criminal context — also&#160;gave&#160;fresh fodder to a group of activists who have been pushing for an updated criteria. To the pseudonymous record-keepers behind the crowd-sourced <a href="http://shootingtracker.com/wiki/Main_Page" type="external">Mass Shooting Tracker</a>, “a shooting is a shooting,” and a mass shooting is any that produces four or more victims, whether deceased or wounded. Using that standard, the numbers —&#160;and it’s the numbers, remember, that matter — are these: more than 125 incidents since Memorial Day, or more than one every 24 hours. In the aggregate, those shootings left 58 people killed and another 571 injured. In a single incident in Fort Worth, Texas, <a href="http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article31246733.html" type="external">six people</a> were sprayed with bullets, and the counts climb from there. <a href="http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2015/08/22/police-5-injured-2-dead--madisonville-shooting/32189603/" type="external">Seven shot</a>at a party outside Cincinnati in Madisonville, Ohio. <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/after-california-music-festival-shooting-leaves-1-dead-7-injured-n414561" type="external">Eight</a> in Modesto, California. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/nyregion/9-injured-in-shooting-in-east-brooklyn.html?_r=0" type="external">Nine</a> in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York.</p>
<p>The dubious distinction of the shooting producing the highest number of casualties this summer seems to belong to an outburst of violence on the evening of Saturday, August 8 in Blytheville, Arkansas, a town of around 15,000 residents near the Mississippi River. Adeline King, 19, <a href="http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/29746153/one-killed-many-injured-in-blytheville-shooting-after-family-fight?clienttype=generic" type="external">was killed</a> and 11 others were wounded after King said hello to her sister’s ex-boyfriend, angering his new girlfriend. Few witnesses came forward to provide details to the police, even though there were reportedly <a href="http://wreg.com/2015/08/10/witnesses-not-coming-forward-in-deadly-blytheville-mass-shooting/" type="external">50 people</a> at the crime scene and <a href="http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/29744836/bpd-1-killed-11-injured-in-blytheville-shooting" type="external">200</a> at a hospital that received some of the victims. It took 12 days for police to publicly identify the suspect, 27-year-old <a href="http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/29844923/blytheville-murder-suspect-identified-considered-armed-and-dangerous" type="external">Billy Dee Williams</a>, who reportedly opened fire into a crowd gathered on the street, killing King. King had been attending a family gathering following the funeral of a cousin. The shooting received scant press coverage outside of Arkansas and the nearby Memphis area.</p>
<p>Two similar shootings generated hardly more attention. On Father’s Day, ten people, including a two-year-old and a ten-year-old, were <a href="http://6abc.com/news/2-suspects-wanted-in-west-phila-block-party-shooting-idd/796886/" type="external">shot at a block party</a> in West Philadelphia by two men who randomly sprayed the crowd with shotgun pellets. That same evening, at a block party on the west side of Detroit, another ten people were shot, one fatally, when a gunfight ensued on a basketball court. Detroit Police Chief James Craig <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/06/police_chief_on_mass_shooting.html" type="external">called the shooting</a> an “act of urban terrorism.”</p>
<p>In some urban centers, news outlets tracked shootings by the hour, not the day.</p>
<p>It was in America’s cities that the spike in gun violence was <a href="http://www.npr.org/2015/06/02/411533442/major-cities-fear-violent-summer-as-shootings-increase" type="external">foreshadowed in late spring</a>, as crime statistics from the first months of the year trickled in. By early June, Chicago, St. Louis and Baltimore had reported a double-digit uptick in firearm injuries and deaths. By July, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/us/murder-rates-rising-sharply-in-many-us-cities.html" type="external">several more cities</a> had joined their ranks, one by one surpassing the previous year’s violence in half the time. When compared with Los Angeles and New York, which are home to millions, a few dozen more murders may not seem like an epidemic. For cities like <a href="" type="internal">Milwaukee</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Omaha</a>, with populations under half a million, the toll can be overwhelming.</p>
<p>In some urban centers, news outlets tracked shootings by the hour, not the day. On the Fourth of July in Chicago, gunfire took the place of fireworks when <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-violence-eight-hours-met-20150710-story.html" type="external">30 people</a> were shot in an eight-hour period. Three were killed, among them 7-year-old Amari Brown, struck with a bullet intended for his father. “He wasn’t crying, he was speaking. ‘Daddy, daddy,'” Brown’s father <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-grandmother-of-slain-boy-7-who-would-do-that-to-a-baby-20150705-story.html" type="external">said</a>. In <a href="http://www.wbaltv.com/news/10-people-shot-in-baltimore/34493244" type="external">a two-hour span</a> on one Baltimore Sunday in early August, ten people were shot, seven of them in a single incident. The next day in New York City, a pregnant woman was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/nyregion/womans-unborn-baby-dies-in-brooklyn-shooting.html" type="external">shot five times</a> and her unborn child killed in a drive-by shooting. The incident was one of seven shootings over a long holiday weekend, leaving a total of 16 shot. Days later, the city’s parks, basketball courts, and streets <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/dead-injured-separate-shootings-brooklyn-article-1.2319563" type="external">erupted in</a> mayhem again: In six hours, nine people were shot.</p>
<p>Some in law enforcement attribute the increase in urban shootings to the <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/crime-up-after-ferguson-and-more-police-needed-top-st/article_04d9f99f-9a9a-51be-a231-1707a57b50d6.html" type="external">“Ferguson effect</a>,”&#160;a term coined by St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dotson that describes overburdened and highly scrutinized forces quietly stepping down enforcement efforts. But gun violence <a href="http://www.citylab.com/crime/2015/06/busting-the-myth-of-the-ferguson-effect/396068/" type="external">had been increasing</a> in St. Louis before the death of Michael Brown, and in Baltimore before the death of Freddie Gray, whose spine was nearly severed during a “rough ride” in the back of a police van.</p>
<p>While theories falter, there are numbers, again, to be reckoned with: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database" type="external">The Guardian</a> has counted 298 people, 61 of them black — seven of them black and unarmed — shot by police this summer. On the other side of the thin blue line, twelve police officers were <a href="https://www.odmp.org/search?cause=Gunfire&amp;from=2015&amp;to=2015" type="external">killed</a>&#160;by intentional gunfire in June, July, and August, <a href="https://www.odmp.org/search?cause=Gunfire&amp;from=2015&amp;to=2015" type="external">four of them</a> in one eight-day stretch. One of them, Darren Goforth, a deputy sheriff <a href="http://abc13.com/news/hcso-deputy-shot-at-gas-station-in-northwest-harris-county/961336/" type="external">ambushed</a> while pumping gas in Harris County, Texas, was approached from behind by a man who emptied 15 rounds into his head. Firmin DeBrabander, a Baltimore resident and author, looked at the first set of numbers and the second set of numbers and saw a place where the interests of the Black Lives Matter movement and law enforcement overlap. “Neither can advance their stated missions — saving lives, affirming the value of all lives — amid a profusion of guns, which so easily waste lives,” <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-deadly-interstate-traffic-of-guns/2015/08/28/63345252-483f-11e5-8e7d-9c033e6745d8_story.html" type="external">he wrote in the Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>“It’s a domestic,” the local sheriff said. “He’s been shot and he’s dead.” A shooter, a body, another family tragedy.</p>
<p>Surging urban homicides and brutal police shootings are inherently public problems. But many gun deaths happen behind closed doors. On August 9, just 20 miles from where Texas sheriff Goforth was killed, a domestic dispute ended with <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/8-found-dead-including-5-children-after-stand-harris-county-n406636" type="external">eight dead</a>, six of the victims under 18, an event tied&#160;for the most children fatally shot in a single place since Sandy Hook. David Conley, 49, broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend, restrained her, her boyfriend, and six children — one of whom was Conley’s — and shot each of them in the back of the head. In a jailhouse interview, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/13/alleged-killer-of-6-children-says-they-were-becoming-monsters/" type="external">Conley said</a> of the son he killed, “I love Nate to death.”</p>
<p>The Conley story was unusual in that it generated national coverage; shootings that take place within four walls can seem too quotidian to attract much attention. This does not make them any less brutal. In one week in August, a mother of three was <a href="http://wreg.com/2015/08/26/early-morning-murder-investigated-in-covington/" type="external">fatally shot</a> by her boyfriend in Covington, Tennessee; a man <a href="http://www.toledoblade.com/Police-Fire/2015/08/23/Toledo-man-charged-in-brother-s-murder.html" type="external">murdered</a> his brother in Toledo, Ohio; and a firefighter was <a href="http://www.sunherald.com/2015/08/26/6384054_man-shot-dead-during-domestic.html?rh=1" type="external">shot</a> at home by a woman in Jackson County, Mississippi. “It’s a domestic,” the local sheriff said. “He’s been shot and he’s dead.” A shooter, a body, another family tragedy. The numbers from the Gun Violence Archive tell&#160;that there have been hundreds of domestic victims this summer. (Even when we do pay attention to gun deaths that take place at home, we still often overlook a still bigger category, the gun violence <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/03/the-death-toll-from-guns-no-one-talks-about/" type="external">no one talks about</a>: the thousands of gun suicides that occur every summer, part of the upwards of 21,000 suicides-by-firearm recorded each year.)</p>
<p>A majority of Americans now believe that a home with a gun in it is a safer home, as the pollsters at <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/179213/six-americans-say-guns-homes-safer.aspx" type="external">Gallup</a> tell us. When a gun kept for self-defense is a gun kept at the ready, loaded and unobstructed by locks or passcodes, it becomes a gun that can find itself into a child’s hands. Here is Fred Grimm, a popular columnist for the Miami Herald, <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/fred-grimm/article31185092.html" type="external">assessing the damage</a> done this summer in his state alone, when “Florida kids discovered their parents’ firearms and the statistical probabilities trumped all that home safety propaganda pushed by the gun lobby.” An 11-year-old boy finds his mother’s semi-automatic pistol and shoots his 9-year-old brother in the face. A three-year-old, likely searching for an iPad, instead discovers his parents’ loaded Glock 9mm and shoots himself in the head.</p>
<p>The trend of course was not confined to any one state. July 6, Spring, Texas: a three-year-old boy <a href="http://kxan.com/2015/07/06/three-year-old-shoots-self-with-grandparents-gun-in-harris-county/" type="external">fatally shoots himself</a> with his grandfather’s handgun. July 29, Washington, D.C.: A seven-year-old boy, another unsecured handgun, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/three-year-old-girl-dead-after-shooting-in-southeast-washington/2015/07/30/9ec511c6-36a1-11e5-b673-1df005a0fb28_story.html" type="external">another young sibling dead</a>. August 25, back-to-school week, Augusta, Georgia: a third-grader is <a href="http://nbc26.tv/2015/08/25/hornsby-shooting-third-grader-grazed-by-bullet-says-id-like-to-go-to-school-tomorrow/" type="external">grazed by a bullet</a> as a classmate plays with a .380-caliber handgun.</p>
<p>Perhaps the horror and shock of this last group of incidents can best be understood through the anguish <a href="http://www.rt.com/usa/266899-ohio-child-shoots-himself/" type="external">of an Ohio mother</a>, who called 911 after her three-year-old son shot himself. “The gun is mine. It is in the house, I carry it in my purse, I laid it down. We just got home,” she howls into the phone, her voice hysterical. “His eyes are open, but he’s out.”</p>
<p>[Photo:&#160;Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images]</p> | An American Summer | false | https://thetrace.org/2015/09/summer-gun-violence-america/ | 2015-09-04 | 3 |
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Given the turbulence in the shipping business brought by Hanjin Shipping's recently declared bankruptcy, it's natural that investors inTextainer Group Holdings Ltd.(NYSE: TGH)would worry about the risk in the container company's shares.</p>
<p>The shipper does, indeed, do business with Hanjin. After fillingin some overall context around Textainer, I'll analyze its exposure to Hanjin, as we try to determine just how precarious the container lessor's shares are at present.</p>
<p>It's important to understand at the outset that an investment in the container shipping sub-sector carries earnings risk for the very near future. A report by Moody's Investors Service in June extended a negative outlook on the global shipping industry for another 12 to 18 months. According to the report, container shipping companies are especially at risk of posting lower EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) due to the conflict between ample new container supply and lower demand.</p>
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<p>Since owning and leasing shipping containers is Textainer's primary line of business, it's not surprising that lower lease rates for new containers drove an 8% decline in revenue in the second quarter of 2016, revealed when the company released earningson Aug. 9. Yet shareholders were taken aback by a net loss of $1.5 million, versus net income of $40.3 million in Q2 2015.</p>
<p>A sizable chunk of the profit decline between comparable quarters arose from a $19.5 million impairment charge on used container inventory held for sale and disposal. Management pointed to weak rates for used containers as its motivation to be proactive and write down the inventory, in part to maintain a reasonable utilization of existing containers.</p>
<p>Even before the second-quarter report, Textainer's immediate prospects weren't very robust. I had the chance recently to crunch a few vital Textainer metrics in an analysis comparing the company to fellow shipping industry corporation Frontline. My opinion at the time was that Frontline constituted the better buy, due to a balance sheet encumbered with less debt, which offered a "better margin of safety" to the investor. You can see that head-to-head comparison <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/21/better-buy-textainer-group-holdings-limited-vs-fro.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The metrics I used will serve decently to illustrate Textainer's position two quarters into 2016, after we add another updated column. The July 21 calculations pull from Textainer's first-quarter data, while today's article uses information from the second quarter:</p>
<p>Data sources: Company SEC filings and YCharts.All dollar figures in millions.TTM = trailing 12 month. Balance sheet figures from Q1 and Q2 6-K earnings reports.</p>
<p>The poor second quarter negatively impacted many of the metrics above, highlighting increased risk in the company's operations, and by extension, its stock. In particular, pay attention to the deterioration in the current ratio (tracking a company's ability to cover current obligations with current assets), from 2.75 to a much lower, though admittedly still-healthy reading of 1.75. In addition, times interest earned, which measures the degree to which a company can cover its debt service, declined significantly during the quarter.</p>
<p>These two metrics point to a slight bit of liquidity and solvency pressure, and explain why management slashed Textainer's quarterly dividend payment to $0.03 per share, winnowing a more-than-generous 8% yield all the way down to 1.5%. This may not be a happy circumstance for shareholders, but on the other hand, it's a pragmatic decision, given decelerating revenue and a high proportion of debt to equity on the balance sheet.</p>
<p>Hanjin Shipping filed for protection from creditors in its home country of South Korea on Aug. 31, and in the U.S. on Sept. 2. On Sept. 9, Textainer released a one-page update for investors on the bankruptcy.</p>
<p>As of Sept. 2, roughly 5% of Textainer's owned fleet in 20-foot-equivalent units (TEU) was leased to Hanjin. Textainer disclosed that it may incur "significant costs" from the Hanjin bankruptcy, even if the troubled company resumes shipping.</p>
<p>Specifically, Textainer cited that a portion or all if its Hanjin receivables may be deemed uncollectible. In addition, significant costs may be incurred in "recovering, repairing, repositioning, and releasing those containers leased to Hanjin, and the rates achieved for released containers may be substantially below the lease rates paid by Hanjin."</p>
<p>Surprisingly, though it can quantify the percentage of its container fleet affected by Hanjin, Textainer ended its press release with the following simple statement:"At this time Textainer is unable to quantify the financial impact related to Hanjin's recent filings."</p>
<p>This, my friends, is a projection of more than mild uncertainty, and with heightened uncertainty comes increased risk. If Textainer can quantify the amount of its fleet leased out to Hanjin, why can't it go ahead and calculate and disclose at least a wide range of potential financial impact?</p>
<p>I suspect that the situation is a bit more complex than writing off receivables, guessing at lost lease revenue, and projecting container releasing costs.</p>
<p>This is because Textainer's revolving credit facilities and secured debt facilities are collateralized by its owned containers. Removing some or all of the Hanjin containers from eligible collateral schedules held by creditors could impact the company's financing cost, debt covenants, or both.Until more clarity emerges from Hanjin's receivership proceeding, it may be difficult to assess impacts on Textainer's borrowing base.</p>
<p>Let me put this another way: It would be constructive for management to address as soon as possible whether the containers leased to Hanjin affect the company's position vis-a-vis its secured creditors.</p>
<p>Until then, it's prudent to exercise caution around shares. Textainer already exhibits some strain on its balance sheet in the form of significant debt. Hanjin's receivership crisis, and a lack of clarity on how this might effect Textainer's credit, has pushed the stock's risk -- for now at least -- beyond the zone of the comfortable.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFfinosus/info.aspx" type="external">Asit Sharma Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Textainer Group. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | How Risky Is Textainer Group Holdings Ltd.? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/20/how-risky-is-textainer-group-holdings-ltd.html | 2016-09-20 | 0 |
<p>Published time: 16 Dec, 2017 00:53</p>
<p>A groundbreaking chain of German sex shops has been forced to file for insolvency after admitting its financial position was far from rock-hard.</p>
<p>Senior management at the Beate Uhse chain of adult stores were forced to make the decision after their most recent meeting with investors left company bosses high and dry, but subsidiaries will remain open as the business reorganizes.</p>
<p>“The Management Board of Beate Uhse AG has decided to take this step because in the advanced negotiations with a group of investors on a financing transaction recently, no agreement could be reached,” CEO Michael Specht said in a statement quoted by AFP.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/viral/370675-dildo-sex-shop-video/" type="external" /></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.beate-uhse.ag/index.php/the-story.html" type="external">Beate Uhse</a> chain of stores is named after its founder, Beate Rotermund-Uhse, a former Luftwaffe pilot nicknamed the “First Lady of German Sex.” Uhse began her business in 1946, printing brochures for women on how to avoid pregnancy before opening the world’s first sex shop, the Institute for Marital Hygiene, in the northern city of Flensburg in 1952.</p>
<p>Despite thousands of lawsuits from enraged conservatives, Uhse kept a straight face and expanded her business to include lingerie, X-rated films, sex toys and even an adults-only TV channel.</p>
<p>Uhse’s business model took a pounding with the arrival of the Internet, where more and more shopping is being done online, with inconspicuous packages getting delivered unlabeled at shy customers’ request, and the most intricate adult videos for the kinkiest viewer are available at the click of a mouse. In 2016, Beate Uhse reported a record €6.2 million loss, even before deducting tax.</p> | End of an Eros: Pioneering German sex shop hit by financial dysfunction, files for bankruptcy | false | https://newsline.com/end-of-an-eros-pioneering-german-sex-shop-hit-by-financial-dysfunction-files-for-bankruptcy/ | 2017-12-15 | 1 |
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<p>Former AIG chairman Maurice “Hank” Greenberg paid a visit to the <a href="http://www.fed-soc.org" type="external">Federalist Society</a> at the right-wing legal group’s annual Washington meeting Friday. And the man who spent 27 years at the helm of the insurance giant that <a href="" type="internal">nearly brought down the entire American financial system</a> was as unrepentant as ever about any role he might have played in the crisis. On hand (er, phone, actually) as part of a panel discussion on the Wall Street bailout, Greenberg devoted the bulk of his time painting AIG as a victim of government incompetence and favoritism.</p>
<p>By his telling, the government has given AIG pretty shoddy treatment since it first loaned the company $85 billion and took an 80 percent share. Observing that the government doesn’t do a very good job of running companies—witness the Post Office—he said he was “puzzled” by how the bailout terms became <a href="" type="internal">so punitive</a> and why the government wasn’t more interested in helping the company get back on its feet. He wondered how federal officials decided to stick it to AIG and not other companies that then got propped up with money funneled through AIG. “Why is one institution going to be liquidated while others have been guaranteed?” he asked.</p>
<p>To that end, Greenberg advocated the creation of a commission made up of “prominent Americans” (i.e., not members of Congress) who would have subpoena authority and get to the bottom of some of these lingering questions. Greenberg insisted that when AIG was bailed out, the “insurance entities of AIG were very solid,” a “national asset.” (No matter that back in March, AIG itself told the Treasury Department that it needed even more federal funds because of problems with <a href="" type="internal">its life insurance sector</a>, not because of the disasterous credit default swaps coming out of its now-infamous financial products division.) In Greenberg’s view, if the government had simply provided guarantees for all those credit default swaps, it would have restored liquidity and there would have been no need to take over the company.</p>
<p>But if the industry lion was hoping for a sympathetic ear from the conservative lawyers assembled in the Mayflower Hotel ballroom, Greenberg must have been sorely disappointed. During the question period, a law student from Washington and Lee got up and demanded to know why AIG deserved any government aid given the way it had behaved and allegations that it had illegally tried to squash competitors. Greenberg said AIG had never been found guilty of anti-trust violations but he conceded that “I happen to agree that bankruptcy might have been a better outcome for everyone.” Mostly, though, he stuck to his talking points about AIG as a victim of government caprice and his deisre to learn just who picked the winners and losers in the bailout.</p>
<p>Greenberg has good reason to want the government to work harder to restore AIG to its former greatness rather than sell off its assets. When the company collapsed, he <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Story?id=5826500&amp;page=3" type="external">lost the bulk of his vast fortune along with it</a>. Even though he left in 2005, under a cloud of fraud charges, Greenberg was still AIG’s largest shareholder when it went down. Presumably he still owns a few of those almost-worthless shares in the company. Still, his Wall Street mindset still prevails. In response to a lawyer’s question about whether executive pay limits might be a good idea, Greeberg thought it would be impossible to run a successful company paying people only a measly $200,000 a year, as has been proposed by the Obama administration’s “pay czar.”</p>
<p>At the end, I asked Greenberg whether he had any remorse or regret about the role that his company played in wrecking the economy. “No,” he declared. “I think we had a very good record.” And when I asked whether in retrospect there was anything he might have done differently that might have prevented the current financial disaster, Greenberg stuck with his usual defense: It didn’t happen on his watch. He claimed that the riskiest activity at AIG took place in the seven months after he departed. “I can’t be responsible for what happened after I left,” he said.</p>
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<p /> | AIG’s Greenberg Still Unrepentant | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/11/greenberg-still-unrepentant/ | 2009-11-13 | 4 |
<p>Photo courtesy of &lt;a href="http://www.ohvec.org/"&gt;the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition&lt;/a&gt;.</p>
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<p>The environmental movement lost a leader Monday night with the death of Judy Bonds, executive director of <a href="http://www.crmw.net/crmw/index.php" type="external">Coal River Mountain Watch</a>. Bonds, 58, had battled cancer for several months, but to the end was a leading voice in the movement to end mountaintop removal coal mining.</p>
<p>Often sporting a “Save the Endangered Hillbilly” T-shirt at public events, Bonds consistently reminded us that we are not dealing with an “environmental” threat, but a human one as well. Just a few months ago, she was part of the organizing team for <a href="" type="internal">Appalachia Rising</a>, an event that brought <a href="" type="internal">2,000 anti-mountaintop removal activists</a> to Washington. Coal River Mountain Watch co-director Vernon Haltom memorialized her in a <a href="http://www.crmw.net/crmw/content/remembering-judy-bonds" type="external">message last night</a>:</p>
<p>Judy was more than a co-worker, friend, and mentor: she became family. She inspired thousands in the movement to end mountaintop removal and was a driving force in making it what it has become. I can’t count the number of times someone told me they got involved because they heard Judy speak, either at their university, at a rally, or in a documentary. Years ago she envisioned a “thousand hillbilly march” in Washington, DC. In 2010, that dream became a reality as thousands marched on the White House for Appalachia Rising.</p>
<p>Judy endured much personal suffering for her leadership. While people of lesser courage would candy-coat their words or simply shut up and sit down, Judy called it as she saw it. She endured physical assault, verbal abuse, and death threats because she stood up for justice for her community. I never met a more courageous person, one who faced her own death and spoke about it with the same voice as if it were a scheduled trip.</p>
<p>Jeff Biggers also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/thousands-pay-tribute-to_b_804001.html" type="external">posted a touching piece</a> on Bonds Tuesday morning:</p>
<p>She was a tireless, funny, and inspiring orator, and a savvy and brilliant community organizer. She was fearless in the face of threats. As the godmother of the anti-mountaintop removal movement, she gave birth to a new generation of clean energy and human rights activists across the nation. In a year of mining disasters and climate change set backs, she challenged activists to redouble their efforts.</p>
<p>Bonds was a real inspiration to many, and her voice will surely be missed.</p>
<p /> | Mourning the Loss of the “Godmother of the Anti-Mountaintop Removal Movement” | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/01/judy-bonds-coal-river/ | 2011-01-04 | 4 |
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<p>I’m angry that Americans have re-elected a president with the worst economic record since the Great Depression. Apparently a majority of Americans are clinically insane because they expect a different result these next four years from the previous four. My small business suffers, as do many others. Our economy should be booming by now, but it is stagnant. I am angry about that.</p>
<p>I am angry that the president has said that I didn’t build my business. Really? Then just who did? Entrepreneurs risk their own capital, work long hours without commensurate compensation, at the risk of losing everything. Would the government come to my rescue should I fail? Of course not!</p>
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<p>And by the way, isn’t it through the taxes that we pay that our roads getting built? These things are not just magically given to us.</p>
<p>I’m angry that I have been called a racist. There is the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, Black Entertainment Television, the Black Coaches Association, Ebony Magazine, Black Miss America, League of United Latin American Citizens and on and on. Are there any equivalent socially accepted organizations for whites? I have never heard of one. So, who are the real racists here!</p>
<p>I’m angry that our society values life so little. Although birth control pills are cheap and can even be obtained for free, abortion is considered a convenient method of birth control for many. The president and many members of Congress even voted to allow partial-birth abortions, where the brains of a half-born baby are sucked out before the head has been delivered. Somehow that seems OK for a lot of people. I am angry that so many cannot see the evil in this.</p>
<p>There was a time in this country when women were considered the protectors of life; now they have become the greatest destroyers of it. It is apparent that personal responsibility has been abdicated by many and murder substituted for their own convenience. I am really angry about this, as God must be also. And I am angry that I am supposed to pay for all this!</p>
<p>I am angry that young people are not looking out for their own futures. Incomes and personal wealth have fallen dramatically over the last four years. They can’t find decent jobs after years of college and should direct their anger at the real purveyor of this recession, Washington’s socialist agenda.</p>
<p>Yet four or five years of liberal college courses have left them blind to reason. I’ll just have to be angry for them since they don’t seem to care or have the ability to care.</p>
<p>So I’ll accept myself as an angry old white man. But eventually all of us angry old white men will be gone, and who will be around to blame then?</p> | I’ve Earned My Right To Be Angry | false | https://abqjournal.com/147415/ive-earned-my-right-to-be-angry.html | 2012-11-19 | 2 |
<p>A Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) spokeswoman says that Flint Community Schools will not allow the state to test water inside its 13 buildings.</p>
<p>Tiffany Brown adds that the school district has also not permitted Michigan officials to flush the buildings’ water lines.</p>
<p>“At this point, MDEQ hasn’t been granted access into Flint Community Schools [buildings] to conduct the flushing and testing we’ve been able to complete at all of the other charter and parochial schools, day cares, and elder care facilities,” she told <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2017/12/state_says_flint_school_distri.html" type="external">MLive.com</a> Wednesday.</p>
<p>“Discussions regarding access to [Flint School District] schools are ongoing with the superintendent,” Brown added.</p>
<p>RELATED: <a href="" type="internal">Fashion and function: Designers in Flint are using water bottles to make clothes</a></p>
<p>“State officials have met with the superintendent, requested access to the schools, and stand ready to conduct the testing once granted permission.”</p>
<p>Flint school officials declined to comment on the lock-out claim, and they have also declined to comment for weeks on another part of the city’s water crisis.</p>
<p>The officials have not provided comment on what state officials have described as their interest in establishing a model lead elimination initiative for schools in Flint.</p>
<p>MDEQ last week announced the results of water testing at every other school, day care and elder care facility in Flint.</p>
<p>The agency reported that 98.5 percent of samples collected at 63 buildings tested were below the federal threshold for lead amounts.</p>
<p>The Flint School District serves about 4,500 students, and MDEQ did not initially announced that its new data did not include water samples from buildings operated by the entity.</p>
<p>MDEQ began its initial testing early last month, and initial water trials at Flint school buildings in 2015 showed toxic lead levels at drinking fountains and faucets in multiple facilities.</p>
<p>Flint’s water crisis started in 2014 when the city changed its water source to the Flint River, causing the amount of lead in area drinking water to surge.</p>
<p>Former President Barack Obama’s administration declared the situation a federal emergency last year amid the city’s ongoing struggles with the matter.</p>
<p>Flint schools are currently supplied with bottled water through donations by companies including Coca-Cola, Nestle, PepsiCo and Walmart.</p> | Michigan's government said Flint Community Schools won't allow water tests | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/12/29/nation/flint-community-schools-wont-allow-water-tests-michigan-government-says | 2017-12-29 | 1 |
<p>It looks as though John McCain has burned a lot of bridges among Arizona Republicans. And, should he choose to run for his six hundredth term in the Senate this coming year, he may very well find himself facing a viable challenge from Conservative State Senator Kelli Ward.</p>
<p>I heard Mark Levin's interview with Senator Ward this past week and I'm pretty impressed with her.</p>
<p>She is a physician who decided to run for office after Obamacare was passed into law. She is very strong on border security - a critical issue for Arizonans and the one issue Johnny boy has proven to be deeply unreliable.</p>
<p>Give Mark's interview with her a listen. I think you'll be impressed.</p>
<p>Naturally, John McCain is lurching back to the Right now that his ass is on the line. This man is shameless.</p>
<p>Seriously, Arizona. Please do not fall for it this time.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p> | Yeah Right John | true | http://patriotretort.com/yeah-right-john/ | 2015-03-29 | 0 |
<p>Twitter shares poised for its best daily gain since September 2016</p>
<p>U.S. stocks rose on Thursday after the European Central Bank announced plans to extend the length of its quantitative-easing measures but reduce its monthly asset purchases. The move had been expected, but it marked a very gradual tapering of crisis-era measures by the central bank.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The House of Representatives passed a budget blueprint (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/house-narrowly-passes-budget-in-critical-step-for-republicans-tax-plan-2017-10-26), paving the way for the Senate to eventually pass a tax-cut package by simple majority. Some analysts view passage of a tax-cut package as critical to extending the stock-market rally, while others contend gains have been driven by largely earnings and global economic growth.</p>
<p>What are stock indexes doing?</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98 points, or 0.4%, to 23,427. The S&amp;P 500 gained 7 points, or 0.3%, to 2,564 while the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 4 points to 6,568.</p>
<p>Gains in the Nasdaq were limited by heavy weakness in the biotechnology sector (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/biotech-etfs-tumble-with-celgenes-stock-headlining-weakness-2017-10-26), which also weighed on the overall health-care group. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) tumbled 1.7% while the health-care sector lost 0.7% as the biggest declining industry of the day.</p>
<p>What's could drive the markets?</p>
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<p>The ECB said it would continue the bond-buying program, which had been scheduled to expire in December, through at least the end of September (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-central-bank-to-cut-bond-purchases-to-30-billion-euros-a-month-in-january-2017-10-26) of next year. Beginning in January, monthly purchases will be reduced to EUR30 billion ($35.3 billion).</p>
<p>Read:Draghi averts 'taper tantrum'--for now--as ECB takes baby step toward ending QE (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/draghi-averts-taper-tantrumfor-nowas-ecb-begins-slow-walk-to-normalization-2017-10-26)</p>
<p>The ECB, as expected, left interest rates unchanged and reiterated that it anticipated them to remain at present levels for an "extended period" and beyond the eventual end of its asset buying program.</p>
<p>The markets are also closely monitoring whom President Donald Trump will nominate to lead the Federal Reserve when Chairwoman Janet Yellen's term ends in February. Yellen is out of the race for the top spot, according to two reports on Thursday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/yellen-looks-to-be-out-of-the-race-for-fed-chief-2017-10-26), leaving Fed Gov. Jerome Powell and Stanford University economist John Taylor as front-runners.</p>
<p>See:What investors need to know about Fed candidate John Taylor's famous rule (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-investors-need-to-know-about-john-taylor-and-the-fed-candidates-famous-rule-2017-10-17)</p>
<p>Equity investors are also digesting a parade of earnings, a day after the S&amp;P 500 and the Dow posted their biggest drops in more than seven weeks</p>
<p>(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsoft-earnings-cloud-may-maintain-600-billion-market-cap-2017-10-25)What are analysts saying?</p>
<p>On the Fed leadership watch, Kevin Giddis, head of fixed income capital markets at Raymond James, said it's likely a three-way race between Jay Powell, John Taylor, and Yellen.</p>
<p>"If it is John Taylor (hawk), look for the 10--year to take out 2.50% without a problem," he said in a note.</p>
<p>Traders are also keeping an eye on the possibility of getting tax cuts by the end of the year which could further push rates higher, according to Giddis.</p>
<p>Strategists are predicting a continued decline in bond prices which will push yields up could shift more funds into the stock market over the long term.</p>
<p>What data and Fed speakers are in focus?</p>
<p>In the latest economic data, weekly jobless claims (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-jobless-claims-climb-10000-to-233000-a-week-after-hitting-44-year-low-2017-10-26) rose by 10,000 to 233,000 in the latest week, holding at a historically low level.</p>
<p>A report on pending-home sales (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pending-home-sales-wobble-to-a-2-12-year-low-2017-10-26) showed a decline to a 2 1/2 year low in September, missing consensus estimates for a rise of 0.4%, as the housing market is buffeted by lean supply and strong demand. Meanwhile, the advanced U.S. trade deficit widened by 1.3% in September.</p>
<p>See:MarketWatch's economic calendar (http://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/calendars/economic)</p>
<p>Which stocks are in focus?</p>
<p>Shares of Twitter (TWTR)(TWTR) surged 20%, poised for their best daily performance since September 2016, after the social media group reported narrower losses (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-soars-pre-market-as-it-adds-users-but-admits-to-overestimating-users-for-years-2017-10-26). But Twitter also admitted to overstating users for years (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/twitter-admits-to-overstating-users-for-years-2017-10-26).</p>
<p>Celgene Corp. (CELG) plummeted 19% after the company reported a third-quarter profit beat and revenue miss and lowered its 2017 profit and revenue outlook (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/celgene-shares-drop-11-on-updated-2017-guidance-2017-10-26). The stock pressured the overall biotech and health-care sectors.</p>
<p>Tenet Healthcare Corp.(THC) shares tanked 8.8% following a Reuters report that the hospital operator has ended its plan to sell itself after its chief executive abruptly left (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tenet-announces-early-exit-of-ceo-as-it-continues-to-seek-permanent-successor-2017-10-23)ahead of schedule.</p>
<p>Nutrisystem Inc.(NTRI) continued to slide, falling 10%, despite turning in better-than-expected quarterly earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/shares-of-nutrisystem-skid-despite-robust-quarterly-earnings-new-buyback-plan-2017-10-25).</p>
<p>Ford Motor Co.(F) rose 1% after the auto maker beat profit and revenue estimates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-shares-jump-15-premarket-as-earnings-blow-through-estimates-2017-10-26).</p>
<p>Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.(BWLD) shares soared 20% after a big profit boost (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/buffalo-wild-wings-stock-takes-flight-with-boneless-wings-2017-10-25)due to a switch to boneless wings for one of its signature promotions.</p>
<p>Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.(BMY) shares fell 4.3% after the company missed on profit and revenue (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bristol-myers-squibb-reports-q3-profit-miss-revenue-beat-updates-2017-consensus-2017-10-26) and changed its 2017 guidance</p>
<p>Shares of Pfizer Inc.(PFE) fell 0.9% after a Reuters report that the drugmaker will begin the auction process for its consumer health care (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pfizer-sets-date-for-auction-of-consumer-healthcare-unit-reuters-2017-10-26) unit in November.</p>
<p>U.S.-listed shares of Nokia Corp.(NOK) tumbled 19% after the Finnish telecommunications company said its loss widened in the third quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nokia-loss-wider-than-seen-in-weak-networks-market-2017-10-26).</p>
<p>Shares of 3M Co. (MMM), which jumped after the maker of Post-it Notes reported better-than-expected quarterly results earlier in the week (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3ms-stock-jumps-after-profit-and-revenue-rise-above-expectations-2017-10-24), were off 1.5%.</p>
<p>U.S.-listed shares of Barclays PLC (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/barclays-profit-rises-no-word-on-dividend-hike-2017-10-26)(BCS) slid 8.6% and those ofDeutsche Bank AG (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/deutsche-bank-profit-more-than-doubles-2017-10-26-2485813)(DBK.XE) fell 1.5% after each bank reported earnings.</p>
<p>After the market closes, focus will turn to technology heavyweights, with Google-parent Alphabet Inc.(GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc.(AMZN) and Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) are slated to report.</p>
<p>Read:Alphabet earnings: Google's mobile transition is a double-edged sword (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alphabet-earnings-googles-mobile-transition-is-a-double-edged-sword-2017-10-24)</p>
<p>(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alphabet-earnings-googles-mobile-transition-is-a-double-edged-sword-2017-10-24) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/alphabet-earnings-googles-mobile-transition-is-a-double-edged-sword-2017-10-24)Also read:Microsoft earnings: Cloud may maintain $600 billion market cap (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsoft-earnings-cloud-may-maintain-600-billion-market-cap-2017-10-25)</p>
<p>What are other markets doing?</p>
<p>The euro fell to $1.1682 as that ECB announcement was made (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-higher-against-the-dollar-as-ecb-meeting-looms-2017-10-26), down from $1.1813 late Wednesday in New York. The ICE Dollar Index jumped 0.8%.</p>
<p>Oil prices reversed earlier drop (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-steady-following-pullback-driven-by-inventory-data-2017-10-26) to rise 0.3%, while gold (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-prices-retreat-as-dollar-gains-against-euro-2017-10-26) was off 0.6%.</p>
<p>Stocks in Asia closed mixed, while European stocks held steady at a higher level (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-cling-to-small-gains-as-investors-brace-for-ecb-move-2017-10-26)after the ECB announcement. Gains were led by Spanish stocks which soared almost 2% on reports that Catalan President Carles Puigdemont could call early elections (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/spain-stocks-rally-on-reports-catalan-leader-will-dissolve-parliament-hold-early-elections-2017-10-26) and dissolve parliament. However, later reports indicated that the Catalan leader may not call a snap election.</p>
<p>Read:Why Italy faces worst shock in Europe as ECB prepares to taper bond buys (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-italy-faces-worst-shock-in-europe-as-ecb-prepares-to-taper-bond-buys-2017-10-24)</p>
<p>--Sara Sjolin contributed to this report.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 26, 2017 14:03 ET (18:03 GMT)</p> | MARKET SNAPSHOT: Stocks Rise On ECB Plan To Scale Back Asset Buys, U.S. Budget Blueprint | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/26/market-snapshot-stocks-rise-on-ecb-plan-to-scale-back-asset-buys-u-s-budget-blueprint.html | 2017-10-26 | 0 |
<p />
<p>Every job search comes with some hiccups. While you may be responsible for a few of those hiccups, others may be entirely the employer's fault. For example, have you ever read a job description and immediately thought to yourself, "What the heck did I just read? What are they looking for?"</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Let's take a look at five <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/recruitment-advertising.html" type="external">recruitment advertising Opens a New Window.</a> fails we can all learn from – especially all the employers out there:</p>
<p>1. Even If You Were Born Doing This Job, You Wouldn't Have Enough Experience</p>
<p>If you hit the minimum requirement of being eighteen years old, you still wouldn't have enough experience to work at this restaurant. Employers need to really understand the requirements they are asking of candidates&#160;– as well as relay that information accurately. Otherwise, you're needlessly limiting your talent pool.</p>
<p>2. In Advertising, Placement Is Everything</p>
<p>I don't know about you, but the last thing I'm thinking about when in the bathroom is a new job. If you're looking for quality candidates, start by identifying the places where those candidates are most likely to see your advertised opportunities. Otherwise, you may pick up some pretty, er, crappy candidates along the way.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>3. Transparency Is Good – But Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid</p>
<p>Many organizations'&#160;recruiting and hiring processes lack transparency. However, there is a fine line between "enough" transparency and "too much." Of course, this advertisement is trying to&#160;build buzz through humor, but I'm not sure I'd want to apply unless I were super passionate about the brand in the first place.</p>
<p>4. The Same Transparency Rules Apply to Candidates</p>
<p>Transparency is important for candidates, too – as is knowing when enough transparency is enough.&#160;Although there are regulations in place for hiring candidates who disclose criminal records, it's probably not a great idea to lead with the skills you obtained in your time as a marijuana smuggler.</p>
<p>5. I'm Not Sure What Kind of Operation You're Running Here</p>
<p>As someone living in "the area," I'd want to know which health clinic this is so I could avoid it. Candidates applying to this position should also be cautious. Training to be a surgeon is a seven-plus-year engagement.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Candidates should thoroughly read job ads and research potential&#160;employers prior to applying. If it smells bad, it probably isn't a good fit. On the flip side, employers need to put care into their advertising strategies to ensure the right messages reach the right people in the right places.</p>
<p>Kristina Evans is&#160;a marketing content writer for&#160; <a href="http://www.phenompeople.com/" type="external">Phenom People Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 5 Recruitment Advertising Fails We Can All Learn From | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/30/5-recruitment-advertising-fails-can-all-learn-from.html | 2017-11-06 | 0 |
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<p>SANTA FE – Santa Fe County deputy Jeremy Martin – who police say was shot and killed by fellow deputy Tai Chan in a Las Cruces hotel in October – died from four or five gunshots that struck him from behind, according to an autopsy report released this week by the state Office of the Medical Investigator.</p>
<p>MARTIN: Hit from behind by four or five bullets</p>
<p>The report also found “a black powdery substance” on the palm and fingers of Martin’s left hand, but the autopsy doesn’t address whether that substance was gunpowder residue or how it might have come to be on Martin’s hand.</p>
<p>No police account of the shooting has said Martin himself fired a weapon before he was killed by Chan.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Neither the Las Cruces police nor the district attorney’s office there had any comment on the powder finding or the autopsy report in general. Chan’s attorney also had no comment.</p>
<p>Martin had five “firearm injuries” – three bullet wounds in his lower, middle and upper back, one in the left buttock and one to the right arm. All of the wounds track “from the decedent’s back to front,” the report states.</p>
<p>The autopsy said two of the bullet wounds, the arm wound and a torso wound, could have been caused by a single shot, with the bullet possibly going through the arm first and then re-entering through the back.</p>
<p>The report also states, “There were some bruises and scrapes on the hands and face, suggesting that Mr. Martin may have been involved in a physical altercation prior to being shot.”</p>
<p>Police have said previously that Martin, 29, was shot multiple times at a Las Cruces hotel in the early morning hours of Oct. 28 and died later at a hospital.</p>
<p>He and Chan were staying at the hotel on their way back to Santa Fe after delivering a prisoner to Arizona. The two deputies had been drinking at a local bar, where an argument between them broke out before they’d returned to the hotel, according to police reports.</p>
<p>Las Cruces police said Chan, 27, shot Martin, the married father of three, on the hotel’s seventh floor as Martin attempted to flee via an elevator.</p>
<p>A Las Cruces friend of Chan’s got a call from Chan’s girlfriend at about 12:31 a.m. the night of the shooting. The girlfriend reportedly said she had just gotten off the phone with Chan after hearing gunshots and wanted to make sure he was all right.</p>
<p>CHAN: Restricted to Las Cruces until trial</p>
<p>Chan was arrested in a hotel stairwell. A Glock automatic pistol believed to be his duty weapon was recovered nearby. Officers said that after he was taken into custody, Chan said, “I shot the guy,” and that Martin was his friend.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Chan is charged with an open count of murder and is free on $600,000 bond in Las Cruces, where he must remain on electronic monitoring until trial.</p>
<p>The autopsy report, obtained by the Journal under the state Inspection of Public Records Act, concluded that Martin’s death was a homicide.</p>
<p>There were no marks of soot or unburned gunpowder on Martin’s skin or clothing around the wounds, according to the report. “Therefore, the range of fire of all of the wounds is best described as intermediate,” the report said</p>
<p>With the exception of the arm wound, the paths of the bullets were upward or slightly upward.</p>
<p>The report also lists three “blunt injuries” including two cuts on the head, two abrasions on the torso, a cluster of contusions on the right-hand finger joints and an abrasion on the left knee.</p>
<p>According to the report, two different samples show that Martin had blood alcohol levels slightly above the presumed intoxication level for New Mexico. No drugs were detected in Martin’s system.</p>
<p>Martin had been with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office for about 3½years. Chan had worked for the department for about two years. Deputy Martin left a pregnant wife, Sarah, and three children aged 4, 9 and 11.</p>
<p>Chan was born and raised in Santa Fe, is divorced with no children and is a member of a well-known extended family. His father, Roy Chan, is a retired optometrist and Chan is the nephew of County Commissioner Robert Anaya and the grandson of the late Joe M. Anaya, who served on the state Highway Commission.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Autopsy finds Santa Fe deputy was shot in back | false | https://abqjournal.com/523544/autopsy-finds-deputy-was-shot-from-behind.html | 2 |
|
<p>Disclaimer:Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.</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> | Liberty Media starts secondary offering for shareholders | false | https://newsline.com/liberty-media-starts-secondary-offering-for-shareholders/ | 2017-09-19 | 1 |
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Trump administration announced Monday it was preparing to replace existing vehicle barriers along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico that officials call "an area of high illegal entry."</p>
<p>The notice published in the Federal Register said the area extends around 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.</p>
<p>According to the notice, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will replace the existing barriers with bollard walls to deter and prevent illegal crossings. Bollard walls are made up of sturdy, vertical posts that are spaced to provide visibility to the other side but are difficult to walk through</p>
<p>"There is presently a need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States to deter illegal crossings in the project area," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in the notice.</p>
<p>The targeted area is part of the U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso Sector that federal officials say remains an active route for human smuggling and drug trafficking. In 2016, officials said the Border Patrol in the sector arrested more than 25,000 immigrants suspected of trying to enter the country illegally and seized around 67,000 pounds of marijuana.</p>
<p>Santa Teresa, New Mexico — a booming industrial border town — is west of El Paso, Texas.</p>
<p>This marks the third time Homeland Security under President Donald Trump has used broad powers under a 2005 law to waive laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act for the border barriers. In September, it waived reviews for a 3-mile stretch in Calexico, California.</p>
<p>President George W. Bush's administration issued the previous five waivers in 2008.</p>
<p>But critics said the waivers are an overreach and a threat to the environment.</p>
<p>Brian Segee, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said federal authorities are waiving more than 30 environmental laws to speed construction of the proposal area around Santa Teresa, New Mexico.</p>
<p>"The Trump administration is stopping at nothing to ram through this destructive border wall," Segee said. "Trump's divisive border wall is a humanitarian and environmental disaster, and it won't do anything to stop illegal drug or human smuggling."</p>
<p>The Center for Biological Diversity said it is considering whether to challenge the waiver in court.</p>
<p>The administration has insisted new wall funding be part of any pending immigration reform deal, but President Donald Trump has been unclear about how long the wall would be and how it should be designed. The administration has asked for $1.6 billion this year to build or replace 74 miles (118 kilometers) of barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and San Diego and plans to request another $1.6 billion next year.</p>
<p>A proposal by Customs and Border Protection calls for spending $18 billion over 10 years to extend barriers to cover nearly half the border. Mexico has steadfastly rejected Trump's demand that it pay for the wall.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego, California, contributed to this report.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Russell Contreras is a member of the AP's race and ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/russcontreras" type="external">http://twitter.com/russcontreras</a></p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Trump administration announced Monday it was preparing to replace existing vehicle barriers along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico that officials call "an area of high illegal entry."</p>
<p>The notice published in the Federal Register said the area extends around 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of the Santa Teresa Port of Entry.</p>
<p>According to the notice, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will replace the existing barriers with bollard walls to deter and prevent illegal crossings. Bollard walls are made up of sturdy, vertical posts that are spaced to provide visibility to the other side but are difficult to walk through</p>
<p>"There is presently a need to construct physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the border of the United States to deter illegal crossings in the project area," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in the notice.</p>
<p>The targeted area is part of the U.S. Border Patrol's El Paso Sector that federal officials say remains an active route for human smuggling and drug trafficking. In 2016, officials said the Border Patrol in the sector arrested more than 25,000 immigrants suspected of trying to enter the country illegally and seized around 67,000 pounds of marijuana.</p>
<p>Santa Teresa, New Mexico — a booming industrial border town — is west of El Paso, Texas.</p>
<p>This marks the third time Homeland Security under President Donald Trump has used broad powers under a 2005 law to waive laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act and Endangered Species Act for the border barriers. In September, it waived reviews for a 3-mile stretch in Calexico, California.</p>
<p>President George W. Bush's administration issued the previous five waivers in 2008.</p>
<p>But critics said the waivers are an overreach and a threat to the environment.</p>
<p>Brian Segee, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said federal authorities are waiving more than 30 environmental laws to speed construction of the proposal area around Santa Teresa, New Mexico.</p>
<p>"The Trump administration is stopping at nothing to ram through this destructive border wall," Segee said. "Trump's divisive border wall is a humanitarian and environmental disaster, and it won't do anything to stop illegal drug or human smuggling."</p>
<p>The Center for Biological Diversity said it is considering whether to challenge the waiver in court.</p>
<p>The administration has insisted new wall funding be part of any pending immigration reform deal, but President Donald Trump has been unclear about how long the wall would be and how it should be designed. The administration has asked for $1.6 billion this year to build or replace 74 miles (118 kilometers) of barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley and San Diego and plans to request another $1.6 billion next year.</p>
<p>A proposal by Customs and Border Protection calls for spending $18 billion over 10 years to extend barriers to cover nearly half the border. Mexico has steadfastly rejected Trump's demand that it pay for the wall.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Elliot Spagat in San Diego, California, contributed to this report.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Russell Contreras is a member of the AP's race and ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/russcontreras" type="external">http://twitter.com/russcontreras</a></p> | Feds move to replace US border barriers in New Mexico | false | https://apnews.com/amp/0a031bb85aba4e038bdb8277f79b76d4 | 2018-01-22 | 2 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">&lt;img class=" size-large wp-image-3424 aligncenter" src="http://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Neighborhood-1024x535.jpg" alt="Neighborhood" width="620" height="324" srcset="https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Neighborhood-1024x535.jpg 1024w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Neighborhood-300x157.jpg 300w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Neighborhood-768x401.jpg 768w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Neighborhood.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px" /&gt;</a></p>
<p>I’m a guy who talks to everyone. Ask my wife. A trip to the grocery store for milk can turn into a thirty minute conversation with the bag-boy. Most of the people who work with me on this site ( <a href="https://twitter.com/brodigan" type="external">Brodigan</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/TheFriddle" type="external">Krystal</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/JMittelo" type="external">Jared,</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CalebHowe" type="external">Caleb</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/FunDipDan" type="external">‘FunDip’ Dan</a>) are just people with whom I’ve had a good conversation at one point or another. Never once did I ask for a resume.</p>
<p>They dread my phone-calls because I always go long. I’m that guy.</p>
<p>I’ve always loved talking with people. But in the last few years, something’s changed dramatically. Political correctness has become a cancerous growth on the absolute gift that is human interaction.</p>
<p>I can no longer make a silly face at a child in the movie line without his mother clutching him for fear of “stranger danger.” I can’t compliment a woman on her smile without being guilty of perpetuating “rape culture.” Some of the most common words in my everyday vernacular like “amigo” and “brother” must now be exclusively and fearfully reserved for strictly non-ethnic demographics. Instead of becoming better neighbors, we spend our time ensuring avoidance of the latest “racist code-word” or the possibility of cultural insensitivity.</p>
<p>It’s a terrible feeling, it’s dividing America more than ever before and it is absolutely ruining America’s neighborhoods. Allow me&#160;me tell you a story.</p>
<p>Last week, I was walking to my corner drugstore. As I emerged into my neighborhood, I noticed a man dressed to the nines. Clean-close-shave, suit and tie, the whole shebang. He was tying up his bicycle. Without even thinking, I&#160;blurted:</p>
<p>“Man, all decked out for an evening bike ride. I dig it! You make me look like an absolute bum.”</p>
<p>Shocked, he responded.</p>
<p>“Aw come on man, you ain’t gotta do me like that.”</p>
<p>Oh, this is about the time I should mention the fact that he was a black man. I know, I know. I didn’t think it was relevant either. Until he said that to me, that is. Then&#160;I noticed his general perturbedness. &#160;Now, I know that many white Americans can find themselves out of touch with black culture. And yes, I’m white. But I’m also a hip-hop fan. Three out of my top ten favorite albums of all time were created by talented black men. So while I may not be fluent, the lingo isn’t completely lost on me.</p>
<p>And as a general rule, “do me like that” usually implies some kind of wrong-doing. I found myself confused. So I tried to smoothe it over.</p>
<p>“No man, I just mean you look great. I should step my game up or you’ll make us all look bad.” I said with a smile. He seemed even more frustrated.</p>
<p>“Come on man.”</p>
<p>I honestly didn’t know what to say. Clearly, I’m an insensitive ass. So I wished him well and went on with my evening. But it ate away at me for days after that. I couldn’t&#160;believe that we live in a country where the joy of being neighborly has been replaced with the sinking feeling in our stomachs of collective guilt. I couldn’t&#160;believe that man’s worldview had been so warped by today’s politically correct climate, that he would take offense&#160;to a genuine compliment. Is this really what America’s become?</p>
<p>See, this is the goal of the left. Divide and conquer. It’s why they espouse multiculturalism instead of the American melting pot. The left wants a post-tower-of-babel America, where every person can be separated into their own pigeon-holed, pander-succeptible portion&#160;of the American voting base. Because if we all stand as Americans unified, they’d never win another election.</p>
<p>I just couldn’t believe that this many people had bought it. My heart literally hurt. I wept for the neighborhood of a bygone era, perhaps never to be seen again.</p>
<p>Then it happened. I was walking my dog (an all-white Dogo Argentino, mind you). The weather had turned warm, so Hopper was exhausted and dragging his feet home, trailing a good few steps behind me. A van slowed as it drove by and the window rolled down. A black lady, smile beaming, poked her head out.&#160; <a href="" type="internal">&lt;img class=" wp-image-3419 alignright" src="http://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/NobleHopper-683x1024.jpg" alt="NobleHopper" width="288" height="432" srcset="https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/NobleHopper-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/NobleHopper-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/NobleHopper-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/NobleHopper.jpg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 288px) 100vw, 288px" /&gt;</a></p>
<p>“That dog ain’t havin’ none of it from you today!” she said, commenting on Hopper’s slothfulness.</p>
<p>“Most people don’t either!” I laughed. She laughed back.</p>
<p>“He’s got that beautiful white coat.” she said.</p>
<p>“Thanks! See, an all white-dog, bridging the racial divide, who’d have thought.” I responded.</p>
<p>She cocked her head back and laughed.</p>
<p>“Haha I like that! Have a great day, sir.”</p>
<p>My heart warmed. Maybe there’s hope for American neighborhoods yet.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Political Correctness Is Ruining Your Neighborhood… | true | http://louderwithcrowder.com/political-correctness-is-ruining-your-neighborhood/ | 2015-05-25 | 0 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/OIL.jpeg" type="external" />The U.S. will remain the world's biggest oil producer this year after overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia as extraction of energy from shale rock spurs the nation's economic recovery, Bank of America Corp. said. U.S. production of crude oil, along with liquids separated from natural gas, surpassed all other [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-04/u-s-seen-as-biggest-oil-producer-after-overtaking-saudi.html" type="external">Click here to view original web page at www.bloomberg.com</a></p>
<p /> | U.S. Seen as Biggest Oil Producer After Overtaking Saudi Arabia | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/u-s-seen-as-biggest-oil-producer-after-overtaking-saudi-arabia/ | 0 |
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<p>The most recent North Korean nuclear test was claimed by Pyongyang to be a successful hydrogen bomb detonation. While the experts question whether the country is actually capable of using it, what are the main differences between H- and A-bombs?</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/404162-pyongyang-h-bomb-test-possible/" type="external" /></p>
<p>The test was performed by Pyongyang on September 3, and resulted in “perfect success,” according to the state media. The explosion caused a 6.3-magnitude earthquake according to the US Geological Survey (USGS) and was estimated to be at least 10 times more powerful than all the previous nuclear tests performed in the country.</p>
<p>The main difference between the thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb and classic atomic (fission) bomb is that it relies on a combination of fission and fusion reactions to yield an explosion. The atomic bombs rely purely on fission, the same process of splitting atoms as in a nuclear power plant reactor. Thermonuclear fusion, meanwhile, is a process, which keeps the Sun and other stars hot and shiny.</p>
<p>To put even simpler, a small fission device within a thermonuclear bomb is used as a detonator to launch the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen, which releases large amounts of energy. The thermonuclear devices can produce far more powerful yield than the atomic bombs. While the very first atomic device yielded 20,000 tons of TNT, the first thermonuclear device yielded 10 million tons.</p>
<p>Thermonuclear devices do not have a theoretic cap for their power, as new layers of fusion fuel can be added to it. The power of a device is limited only to the availability of the fusion fuel and its dimensions being small enough to be transportable.</p>
<p>Achieving a miniature size of the device requires quite a sophisticated level of technology, as the aforementioned first thermonuclear bomb, tested by the US in 1952, was as large as a three-story building, filled with isotopes of hydrogen. The device included large machinery to provide cooling for the fission fuel to keep it stable before the detonation.</p>
<p>A professor of Korean studies at Kookmin University in Seoul, Andrey Lankov, believes North Korea is definitely in possession of a thermonuclear device, as they not only detonated it on September 3, but actually showed its design.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/403895-us-may-not-be-capable-shooting-down-missile/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“They detonated [the device] and on the same day they showed a photo. Can you imagine: North Korea is the only country in the world which showed the genuine design of thermonuclear munition?” Lankov told RT.</p>
<p>“You know that up to date the setups of thermonuclear munitions, both of the American and of our ones [Russian], are a ‘super-duper’ state secret? Something leaked accidently, there have been several small leaks… The North Koreans showed and on the same day detonated it. So yes, there’s definitely a hydrogen bomb.”</p>
<p>Whether the thermonuclear device North Korea claims it possesses can fit into a ballistic missile is still doubtful, Glyn Ford, a former MEP and member of the Korean Peninsula Delegation believes.</p>
<p>“They have missiles capable of just about reaching the United States, but they don’t have the payload carry to a hydrogen bomb,” Ford told RT. “And they don’t have the sophisticated guidance, so all their hits will miss.”</p>
<p>North Korea, however, is potentially capable of launching a nuclear strike on its neighboring countries, “hitting Tokyo,” for example, Ford added.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/403667-north-korea-sanctions-nukes/" type="external">READ MORE:&#160;N. Korea says the more sanctions imposed, the faster it will move towards completing nukes</a></p>
<p>Paul Kawika Martin, the Political &amp; Communications Director at Peace Action, agrees with Ford, stating that lack of reliable missiles and miniaturized nuclear devices make the North Korean threat less than it looks like. Pyongyang, however, is striving to improve the reliability of its strategic nuclear and missile weaponry, and the threat should be taken very seriously.</p>
<p>“We don’t know if they have definitely been able to make a device small enough to fit on the missiles that they have,” Martin told RT.</p>
<p>“We don’t know if they solved the problem of a nuclear device actually surviving re-entry. … Those intercontinental ballistic missiles go into space and then come back in. On the re-entry those missiles undergo tremendous pressure, tremendous heat, so the payload or the nuclear device have to survive the re-entry and actually land in a country. We don’t know if they have that technology, but at this point we certainly need to act like they do have that technology.”</p> | H-bombs v A-bombs: What’s the difference & why does N. Korea crave thermonuclear? | false | https://newsline.com/h-bombs-v-a-bombs-whats-the-difference-why-does-n-korea-crave-thermonuclear/ | 2017-09-22 | 1 |
<p>SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Voters have placed another Republican in a northwest Iowa House seat.</p>
<p>Jacob Bossman won 59 percent of the votes to beat Democrat Rita DeJong in the District 6 special election Tuesday. He replaces Republican Jim Carlin, who vacated the post when he won a special election to the state Senate last month.</p>
<p>The heavily Republican district covers part of Sioux City, the cities of Sergeant Bluff, Bronson and Salix, and some rural areas in northern and southern Woodbury County.</p>
<p>Bossman lost his previous bid for District 6 post in 2016. It was DeJong’s first run for elective office.</p>
<p>SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Voters have placed another Republican in a northwest Iowa House seat.</p>
<p>Jacob Bossman won 59 percent of the votes to beat Democrat Rita DeJong in the District 6 special election Tuesday. He replaces Republican Jim Carlin, who vacated the post when he won a special election to the state Senate last month.</p>
<p>The heavily Republican district covers part of Sioux City, the cities of Sergeant Bluff, Bronson and Salix, and some rural areas in northern and southern Woodbury County.</p>
<p>Bossman lost his previous bid for District 6 post in 2016. It was DeJong’s first run for elective office.</p> | Voters place another Republican in northwest Iowa House seat | false | https://apnews.com/d2de9576e00c49d3ae2694bfb7170dcf | 2018-01-17 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Before devoting himself to public service, Ollie North may have to slay the dragons of his past. He’s expected to testify at the trial of Richard Secord and Albert Hakim later this year. Uncle Sam’s lawsuit against the Iran-Contra bad guys maintains that North helped abscond with more than $16 million in diverted profits from the sale of arms to Iran, which Secord and Hakim dumped into Swiss bank accounts (only $3.8 million was actually diverted to the Contras; the feds want access to the $11-12 million still sitting there). As a public reminder of Ollie’s skill at deceit, we present a typical morning during his tenure at the White House–an annotated page from his day-runner on Aug. 6, 1986:</p>
<p />
<p /> | Oliver Twisted | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1994/05/oliver-twisted/ | 2018-05-01 | 4 |
<p>Introduction (by Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb)</p>
<p>Sami Awad and Yoav Litvin are two men whose lives have been deeply impacted by the events of 1948 and 1967 when Palestinians were collectively driven from their homes and villages in order to make room for Jewish settlement. The Israeli Occupation of Palestine is ongoing; Israeli policies that resulted from the events of 1948 and 1967 continue to create daily suffering in the lives of Palestinians.</p>
<p>Sami Awad comes from a lineage of Palestinian Christians from Bethlehem. He was influenced to follow the path of nonviolence by his uncle, Mubarak Awad, a follower of Gandhi. Sami created an alternative institution, The Holy Land Trust, which is part of the wave of nonviolent movement building dedicated to resisting Occupation, which grew out of the first Intifada.</p>
<p>Yoav Litvin went through a personal journey from acceptance of the pre-determined role of Zionist soldier-guardian, to a person who dissents from the Israeli status quo regarding Palestinians. He uses his skills as a psychologist/neuroscientist and writer/artist to promote accountability, healing and reconciliation.</p>
<p>People who resist the systemic violence of Israeli Occupation in Palestine and Israel have a lot to teach us about building nonviolent movements for justice and social change under extremely challenging conditions. Millions of Palestinians suffer under a settler-colonial regime that is engaged in continuous appropriation of land, ghettoization and isolation, the imposition of hundreds of check points that curtail freedom of movement and economic growth, destruction of homes, villages and farm land, forced water deprivation, the blockade of Gaza, constant military invasion and assault, two separate and unequal systems of justice and so many other features of Israeli rule that deprive Palestinians of their capacity to live peacefully and without fear upon the land of their ancestors or fulfill their personal dreams. In addition to the Israeli Jewish and Palestinian conflict, social, political, cultural and economic divides among Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews in Israel is another complex component of the process of conflict transformation. The Zionist myth of a 2000-year absence and subsequent return of Jews to the land erases the long history of the Jews of the Middle East who are indigenous to the region.</p>
<p>In response to Israeli apartheid, Palestinians have chosen to resist forced removal from ancestral lands with a variety of mostly nonviolent tactics. Inspired by the successful South African struggle to end apartheid, Palestinians called upon the international community to take up boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) as a nonviolent solidarity tactic on July 9, 2005 after the International Court of Justice declared the Separation Wall illegal on July 9, 2004. In addition to BDS, Palestinians employ prisoner hunger strikes, Friday demonstrations against the Separation Barrier, the creation of ‘Tent Cities’, and Palestinian cultural arts to remain ‘sumud’, that is, ‘steadfast’ to their commitment to keep living on ancestral lands and preserving Palestinian culture. Palestinians refuse to be erased from history and place. Intifada, in its original meaning, means to shake off oppression through the art of resistance. This is a daily, and unavoidable practice for Palestinians, as it is a condition of existence under Israeli occupation for those who remain.</p>
<p>Israeli Jews who dissent from Occupation, although few in number, continue to create methods of solidarity in support of Palestinian human rights. Groups such as Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition (ICAHD), Combatants for Peace, Breaking the Silence, Who Profits?, Anarchists Against the Wall, Machsom Watch, Shministim, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and +972 are platforms of resistance to Occupation. The Palestinian community living inside ‘1948’ also engages in resistance through alternative institution building and human rights advocacy that includes groups like Adalah-the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Adammer (prisoner rights) and many more. Palestinians living inside Israel face ongoing assaults on their capacity to remain on traditional lands and neighborhoods as well as achieve equal rights under Israeli law. The ongoing atmosphere of racism is the price Palestinians pay for continuing to live in Israel.</p>
<p>No one knows what kind of political solution the future might bring, if, indeed, a future grounded in peaceful co-existence emerges in the next 100 years. One necessary condition for conflict transformation to take place: a foundation of human rights.</p>
<p>The authors in these conversations explore the role of nonviolence and healing from trauma in their resistance work. Sami Awad speaks from his experience as a Palestinian living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Yoav Litvin speaks as an Israeli-American Jew who lives in the United States and seeks to hold himself and his community accountable for the brutalities of occupation.</p>
<p>May this article serve as a modest contribution to building the movement for Palestinian human rights as the cornerstone of peacemaking among Palestinians and Jews living in the Holy land.</p>
<p>An Interview with Sami Awad on nonviolent civilian resistance in occupied Palestine</p>
<p>Lynn: Ahlan wa sahlan* Sami. Nonviolent civilian resistance to foreign occupation has been a way of life in Palestinian society for almost a century. The words ‘sumud- steadfast’ and ‘intifada-shaking off’ describe the nature of Palestinian nonviolence. Can you give us a thumbnail sketch of the history of Palestinian nonviolent civilian resistance and popular struggle?</p>
<p>Sami: Ahlan wu Sahlan, Lynn. Yes. We do have a long-standing engagement with nonviolence, which has existed long before our conflict with Israel. Nonviolence is part of our cultural structures and settings, part of our heritage.</p>
<p>Nonviolent popular resistance goes as far back as the British mandate. In 1936, Palestinian workers and local committees engaged in a nonviolent strike to demand that the British Mandate put limitations on the influx of Jews into the land because Palestinians were seeking statehood. Palestinian workers and local committees wanted to put a stop to the unregulated transfer of Palestinian owned lands to the Jewish community as well as establish a national government, which would be responsible to an elected representative council. At the time, our community felt there existed no structural mechanisms to regulate how Jews entered the country or the sale and transfer of lands. A popular commercial strike had the support of the people who fully participated in it. One outcome of nonviolence during that period, even at a global level, was the beginning of a communal movement expressing itself through nonviolent action.</p>
<p>In response to the war of 1948, and the onset of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, a tremendous nonviolent movement took shape. Nonviolent movements arose not only in response to the occupation of territory, but also to the occupation of mines and farms as well as to Israeli efforts to suppress our cultural expression. After 1967, “sumud”, steadfastness on the land, was applied to resisting Israeli policies that, in a sense, made Palestinian identity and even the word ‘Palestinian’ itself, illegal. This included criminalizing the use of the flag and its colors (red, white, green and black), the prohibition of all public gatherings, or giving public speeches, and any mention of political aspirations. Steadfastness, sumud, was applied to naming and keeping of Palestinian identity during those times. We refused to become ‘Arab territories’ which was the intent of Israel’s form of occupation. The word ‘Arab’ covers over our specific identity as Palestinians. Instead, we remained steadfast to our Palestinian identity, which is a form of nonviolent action.</p>
<p>Our steadfastness was expressed with many forms of movement building including protests and demonstrations and the resistance work of unions, farmers, doctors, merchants, laborers, women’s groups and educators. Students in schools and universities maintained the protest movement of that time, which eventually led to the First Intifada. The First Intifada was, for me, a global example of engaged-nonviolence. The Palestinian community felt fully empowered to stand up to the Occupation, to take responsibility for its own future by not waiting for the international community to take action, or the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; located outside the territories at that time) to come in and liberate us. During the First Intifada the Palestinian community in the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem said, “We are responsible for dealing with the cause of our suffering and we’re going to do something about it.”</p>
<p>An internal sense of empowerment sparked the Palestinian uprising. There were hundreds of nonviolent tactics employed: protests, demonstrations, boycotts, sit-ins, home-schooling, home-farming, and refusing to pay taxes (in your hometown, Lynn) in Beit Sahour where people engaged in “no taxation without representation” and refused to pay taxes to the Israeli military. Palestinians in Beit Sahour refused to pay taxes because they had no representation in any political decision-making process affecting their lives. We Palestinians throughout the OPT suffer tremendously from the lack of political representation in any decision making bodies that determine policies that affect our lives.</p>
<p>I believe empowerment is what nonviolence is all about. The continual empowerment that took place during the first intifada failed to produce a peace process that gained us our national goals, but it did not fail in the realization of nonviolence as a an effective resistance and empowerment strategy.</p>
<p>In the past ten years, we are witnessing new life in the evolution of nonviolence in the Palestinian community. This phase of nonviolence, which is being steadily developed, is in response to the failure of the two-state solution and the massive expansion of the Occupation.</p>
<p>Lynn: When I think about describing Palestinian nonviolence, which I learned in part from your uncle Mubarak, I think about the beautiful hospitality that is so much a part of Palestinian culture. The Palestinian community not only draws upon the tactics of strategic nonviolence, like strikes, boycotts, and refusing to pay taxes, but also, as you said, nonviolence is rooted in the art of hospitality, as well as other forms of Palestinian cultural and community expression. Can you elaborate on the way sumud, is a form of nonviolent resistance to the effort to erase Palestinian identity by remaining steadfast to one’s cultural identity.</p>
<p>Sami: A combination of realities impacted the development of Palestinian culture. When Palestinians use the word sumud, we are referring to our long historical commitment to survive on our land, which is an important element of our culture. If we look at the location of Palestine as the crossroads of many nations, and if we consider the historical experiences Palestinians have had that gave rise to the development of Palestinian nonviolence, we are not limited to speaking about the Israeli occupation. We need to consider the Jordanian presence, the British and even the Turkish presence as well. In fact, Palestinians have always been a land and a place where people have suffered foreign occupations. We have lived in these lands for many millenniums. Sumud refers to our way of survival at this level. I’ll give an example. A few years ago I took a group of journalists to a refugee camp near Bethlehem. As we were walking through the narrow streets, a woman was sitting outside her home baking bread in an outdoor oven. One of the journalists asked her, “What do you think of ‘the situation’? You’ve been occupied all these years.” Without blinking she looked at him and said, in Arabic, “You know, the Turks were here and they left, the British came and they left, the Jordanians came and they left, the Israelis are here and they will leave as well.” Then, she looked at him and said: “Why don’t you come in and have some bread?” That exchange represents a cultural point of view in which there is always hope and momentum for the future. This is part of understanding Palestinian nonviolence.</p>
<p>Martin Luther King reminds us that justice will ultimately triumph, that the arc of the universe bends toward the side of justice and will always resist injustice. I think steadfastness in our culture, that is, sumud, and our customs of hospitality reflect our collective belief that justice will come to the land of Palestine. This is a form of faith.</p>
<p>Lynn: I wish to ask you about the Holocaust and historic Jewish-Palestinian relations. At present, the State of Israel occupies historic Palestine. The Holocaust played a huge role in Jewish motivation to establish an exclusive Jewish state based on a demographic majority. Palestinians, however, did not cause or participate in the Holocaust, yet they have become secondary victims of it. The actual history of relations between Muslims, Christians and Jews living in the Holyland is another story, one with much to teach us about the potential of living peaceably together. The way Jews currently frame Holocaust remembrance perpetuates Jewish fear of Palestinians, a fear born out of a European and not a Middle Eastern experience. Sami, you are a person who builds bridges as well as creates the dynamics of noncooperation and resistance. How do you relate to Jewish fear? On the other hand, Palestinians fear Jewish Israelis because most of their direct contact is in the context of Occupation. The faces of Jewish Israelis most Palestinians encounter are engaged in military enforcement of checkpoints, home demolitions, confrontation at protests and the like. How do you work with this situation?</p>
<p>Sami: Another part of our culture, and I am speaking about the understanding of the vast majority of Palestinians, is the knowledge that Jewish culture and history are integral parts of the history and the culture of this land. If we look back throughout the years, back before 1948 during the time of the British mandate, and before that throughout the millennium, we clearly acknowledge that Jews lived in this land and were an essential part of the political and cultural life and discourses that existed here. The challenge for the Palestinian community begins, not as a result of the Jews who lived here, but as a result of the suffering of the Jews in Europe.</p>
<p>I decided to enter a process to deepen my understanding of Jewish motivation for their current behavior, and see if what Jewish people are doing to us is in response to what happened to them in Europe. What causes the Israelis to treat us as subjects of occupation in our own land? What causes the Jewish community to remain silent when terrible things happen to us, like the Gaza attacks a few years ago when over a thousand people and hundreds of children were killed by massive air strikes? Why did almost everyone turn a blind eye to the death and destruction that was happening there? What exists within this Israeli-Jewish mindset that causes these actions to happen?</p>
<p>I do not believe that people are born to harm each other. Something happens that generates this kind of behavior. To understand the Jewish community’s behavior toward Palestinians, I traveled to Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. This journey was a very big turning point in my life. I came to understand that what’s being experienced in Israel is the result of a long history of fear, trauma and mistrust that was compounded by the experience of the Holocaust. The world not only neglects this fear, we have actually done the opposite. The world has done everything to entrench and enhance feelings of fear in the Jewish community instead of creating means of liberation and healing for the Jewish community. How? By putting billions of dollars into weapons systems, and by giving tremendous political power to Israel to carry out occupation with impunity, the world reinforces the idea that Jews should be afraid, must be afraid!</p>
<p>And who are the subjects of Jewish fear? Israeli Jews are afraid of their neighbors. Fear creates the pattern of belief that Israel’s non-Jewish neighbors will do to them what the Germans did to the Jews of Europe, thereby justifying all kinds of actions. Fear, and a desire to be secure from fear, has enabled occupation.</p>
<p>Israel’s security claims justify violence. It’s not a problem if you suppress your neighbors, not a problem if you kill them, not a problem if you deny them rights. And the world is complicit with policies of security and repression. The present day silence of the world over the injustice being done to Palestinians emanates from the guilt caused by the silence of the world to the plight of the Jews during the Holocaust. When people are silent to terrible violations of justice for Palestinians, this silence reinforces the idea within the Jewish community that they can act with impunity; that the world will not intervene.</p>
<p>However, that is not what the world should do. Rather, what the world should say is: yes, we care about your security. But we also care about how you’re treating others. We do not accept that human rights violations are permissible for the sake of safeguarding your security, as you claim. This principle, no justification for the violation of human rights, is a universal truth for all people. People who claim security needs justify suppression and repression and the violation of human rights are in the wrong.</p>
<p>On the one hand, part of nonviolence, is the understanding that nonviolence is about liberation and achieving equal rights. This is something we’re engaged in and are still developing. At the same time, nonviolence is also about liberating those who use violence. Palestinian nonviolence includes liberating Jewish people from their occupation, their trauma and fear. We have to create mechanisms for building trust and respect between Palestinians and Israelis in order to move forward. If more trust is not created, there will never be peace in this land. If equality, that is, the recognition of the right of ‘the other’ to live here, not in the political sense but in the human sense, does not exist, then there will never be peace. That is why nonviolence needs to develop into a broader framework, a spiritual framework. We will continue to engage in nonviolent protest and demonstration as we move forward in the cultivation of nonviolent popular resistance. In addition, nonviolence must also address trauma and fear.</p>
<p>The First Intifada is a perfect example of engaging in nonviolence and moving forward and achieving results. Nonetheless, we have to ask, why wasn’t the ultimate goal of establishing peace reached during that time? I believe that a failure to look into core issues of trauma, fear and distrust that existed between the two communities by the political establishment contributed to the breakdown of making peace. Therefore, we have to speak about nonviolence from both the framework of political liberation from the structures of occupation as well as healing from trauma. Successfully applied nonviolence ultimately results in a positive transformation of communities.</p>
<p>Lynn: Part of nonviolence is non-cooperation with policies that uphold oppression and interruption of business as usual. You referred to many examples of noncooperation in Palestine, such as Beit Sahour’s refusal to pay taxes to Israel’s military administration. You also advocate establishing trust building measures that facilitate Jews and Palestinians struggling for justice together. What are the challenges for Palestinians from the OPT and Jews getting together?</p>
<p>Sami: The Israeli military government continues to impose harsh restrictions on Palestinians and Israelis who want to meet each other. Israelis are not allowed by their government to enter Palestinian areas and meet with Palestinians. Our Israeli friends, when they come to meet with us and engage with us, are forced to do that illegally. They put themselves at risk of being imprisoned or being fined up to $1500 for every time they are caught in a Palestinian area. This is a real disaster! I look at myself as an activist who seeks to engage with Israelis. I have three daughters. My oldest daughter is 10 years old and it shocks me every time I think about this: she has never met or played with an Israeli child! She has not even seen an Israeli child, or talked with one. The next generation of children growing up on both sides of the separation walls will have zero connections with each other.</p>
<p>In a sense, our children are being brainwashed by the delusion that we are eternal enemies. This, for me, is very dangerous. To combat this danger, we are trying to engage in and increase the communication between Israeli Jews and Palestinians. One of the most exciting efforts toward building trust is the effort to bring together Palestinian and Israeli activists to really look deeper into understanding the situation, to research trauma and healing methodologies, and to work together to promote equal civil rights. Together we are considering the core issues of occupation in order to assess ways we can counter it, and transform the conflict. We are looking at the methods, strategies and tactics we’ve used in the past and developing new approaches to help us move forward. But again, as I said before, these meetings are hard to arrange since Palestinians are not allowed to go into Israel to meet their counterparts, and Israeli Jews face fines if they travel to us.</p>
<p>We are looking to reframe the understanding of what the conflict is about because, even as nonviolent activists, we have been drawn into narratives, perspectives and frameworks established by the occupation. For instance, when religious establishments take the view that this is a religious conflict, those of us who are active in behalf of peace have to address religion in a new way, in a way that builds bridges and not walls.</p>
<p>Lynn: How do Palestinian women contribute to peacemaking?</p>
<p>Sami: Many families cannot find food for themselves. Large numbers of fathers and sons are imprisoned. Unemployment is high. The stress and the suffering we experience on the economic level create a strain on the community and especially upon women. Women are central to family and community, which is why we at Holyland Trust are excited about the work we have been doing with women. The Palestinian woman has a historic role in the liberation movement. However, when the so-called Oslo peace process began, Palestinian women were completely marginalized from the process. After the first intifada, during which women played a huge role, the Palestinian authority and post-Oslo political process marginalized women. Currently, many NGOs are dedicated to strengthening women’s access to resources within the Palestinian community and are working with women to develop leadership skills.
One of the programs we currently sponsor is a leadership development program for women. We go and meet with women in their communities and begin a conversation with them about the challenges they face in their communities. Women have a responsibility to honor the voice they have in creating the future of Palestine and in nonviolent social change movements. We understand that women are critical to the dream of freedom. We can’t move forward without them.</p>
<p>Lynn: We’ve talked a lot about transforming trauma into healing. As you think about nonviolence, how do you cope with the daily stress that derives from living under occupation?</p>
<p>Sami: I want to say it is a combination of spiritual and strategic approaches. It is definitely a slow process to live in a way that confronts the injustice while trying at the same time to create inner peace on a daily basis. I believe that humanity is at heart good, that human beings generally operate with good intentions, and that God’s creation is good. I look at the situation we’re living in as not a normative human situation, but as the result of experiences and realities that Palestinians and Israelis have faced and have not been able to cope with. Our situation reflects the very violent and very deadly interactions we have with each other. Being able to distinguish among our natural goodness and the distortions in our behavior that arise from violence is where spirituality plays a very important role. I rely upon the whole philosophy of nonviolence to mediate these distinctions. Nonviolence holds that we must never attack people; rather we attack the injustice and strive to dissolve and transform the structures of oppression. Faithfulness to nonviolence means never destroying human life, never undermining human dignity, never demonizing the other, and never dehumanizing even your greatest oppressor because nonviolence reveals that we are all in need of liberation. This point of view is important for my personal well-being.</p>
<p>At Holyland Trust, we emphasize in our leadership and nonviolence training programs the need and capacity to always look towards the future. What is the future you want to create? We learn from the past, we honor the past, we respect the past, and we grieve the past. And then we focus on how we can create a future that is fully independent from the experiences of the past, which have traumatized us, and really apply 100% of our effort to move toward a peaceful future. When you put 100% of your efforts to move toward that future, you can build a strategy to achieve that future that does not include anger, revenge or retaliation. A peaceful future emerges from an authentic search for peaceful coexistence, equality, justice and respectful relationships among all communities. It is not an easy process. When Palestinians and Israelis begin to move in that direction, toward the future we want to create rather than a future filled with retaliation, then I think we can really move forward toward a peaceful future for our children.</p>
<p>Yoav Litvin: Accountability and Healing in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict</p>
<p>Lynn: Yoav, Shalom. I want to ask you about your journey from a dedicated Zionist and Israeli soldier to a person who is highly critical of Israeli Occupation. How did that journey come about?</p>
<p>Yoav: I grew up in Jerusalem and New York City. My parents come from European heritage and my mother’s side of the family suffered from anti-Semitism before fleeing to Palestine during the Second World War.</p>
<p>I was raised in a middle class academic ‘Liberal Zionist’ household (aligned with the Israeli Labor Party and Meretz), which I learned later was an inherent contradiction. Liberal Zionism maintains a belief in universal human rights yet it supports a Zionist ideology that endorses and promotes Israel as a Jewish state – one that has been systematically carrying out a project of ethnic cleansing of the native Palestinian people.</p>
<p>The Zionist narrative was deeply entrenched within me and I was convinced Israel is the David eternally pitted against the Arabs, who were the Goliaths. In school I learned about the various Israeli wars, which were always framed as romantic, just and heroic yet defensive and unavoidable. Alternative narratives of settler-colonialism and occupation were completely absent and even the word “Palestinian” was considered radically political and controversial.</p>
<p>My hometown of Jerusalem was highly segregated. Other than Abed the soft-spoken gardener from Hebron (aka El Halil), Rada the lady who cleaned our home on occasion (and would delight me with a bottle of delicious home-made olive oil from her groves in Beit Jala) and the delivery boy from East Jerusalem who was my age and worked at the local grocery store, I never interacted with Palestinians.</p>
<p>At the age of 18, I enlisted into the standard three-year military service in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) as a medic in the paratroopers. I believed I held high moral ground and could serve as a positive influence within the military. But the Israeli state’s trinity of nationalism, religion and capitalism had managed to thoroughly indoctrinate me with propaganda (aka “Hasbara”) that dehumanized the Palestinian ‘other’ and was meant to alleviate any moral dilemmas I encountered while carrying out policies of oppression. During my service I was stationed in multiple “hot zones”, predominantly South Lebanon (which was occupied by Israel at the time) and Hebron (aka El Halil in Arabic) in the West Bank. I manned checkpoints and participated in raids, ambushes and other military operations. During this time, I was also exposed to the fundamentalism, violence and racism of the Israeli settlers against native Palestinians.</p>
<p>Following the army, the intensity and constant barrage of stressful and traumatic news that constituted the Israeli experience caused me to shut myself off from my environment. As a result, and similar to many my age, I willfully disengaged from any political involvement. The occupation was just too “complicated” and I opted to focus solely on my personal development.</p>
<p>I went on to study biological psychology in the United States specializing in the behavioral neuroscience of fear, anxiety, social behaviors, aggression and trauma. My studies have afforded me the opportunity to investigate the neurobehavioral pathways involved in conflict and its resolution from the aspects of both aggressor and victim.</p>
<p>In my experiments I trained rats and mice to become afraid of certain stimuli by pairing them to innate fears or pain (“fear conditioning”) and then overcome those conditioned fears by a process of re-exposure to those same stimuli in neutral settings (“extinction of fear”).</p>
<p>As these neural systems are conserved in all mammals, I extrapolate my findings to humans; politicians manipulate fear for their purposes by using propaganda and the key to healing is re-exposure, i.e. communication and bonding is essential for societies that are conditioned to fear each other, such as the Israeli and Palestinian.</p>
<p>At some point during my studies, I was challenged on my Zionist beliefs. I realized I was spewing propaganda that I could not back with facts, as I was accustomed to with my research. My ignorance and emotionality regarding Zionism, in addition to my newfound ability and curiosity to reengage with politics due to the geographical and mental distance from the once overwhelming Israeli propaganda machine, inspired me to invest in conducting my own research into the history of Israel, Zionism and the conflict with Palestinians. That is when my ongoing journey truly began.</p>
<p>Lynn: How did you begin to heal from a growing awareness of your position as a perpetrator of occupation even in your desire ‘to make a positive difference’ as a soldier? What kind of support did you need to let go of the soldier guardian persona? What did you replace that with?</p>
<p>Yoav: I am grateful for my good fortune at meeting people who, in their wisdom, empathically challenged me in my beliefs, encouraged me to be modest in my approach and to base my opinions on facts that I have personally researched rather than on dogma or hearsay, and question authority. I have adopted a humanistic and professionally rigorous scientific approach to my beliefs and political opinions that is aimed at equality and justice.</p>
<p>In order for Israeli aggressors to heal, en route to re-humanization and reconciliation with our Palestinian victims, we must break the cycle of violence and inequality. For this to happen, Israelis need to go through a painful internal process of deconstruction and reconstruction, which includes a humble yet relentless quest for historical truth, a sense of deep outrage at the lies, hatred and fear we were indoctrinated with, a reckoning with the profound shame and guilt at the crimes we were involved in both directly and indirectly and a productive formation and fortification of bridges of dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian societies.</p>
<p>Instead of perpetuating the cycle of violence, Israelis need to channel our outrage toward creating human bonds with Palestinians and others that are based on the universal values of equality, freedom and justice.</p>
<p>Israelis must break the bond that Zionist propaganda has created between the state and the self so that criticism of the state becomes possible and even encouraged as a means of building an inclusive society.</p>
<p>Lynn: In your studies as a neuroscientist, how do you understand the role that fear plays in Palestinian oppression? How do we overcome fear and cultivate empathy while living under a system of occupation?</p>
<p>Yoav: I have found that studying the brain mechanisms associated with trauma and its healing can benefit our effort to understand and find effective solutions to conflict (for more see here).</p>
<p>It is useful to analyze the Israeli/Palestinian conflict using an evolutionary approach. On the one hand, a simplistic Darwinian outlook is often cited by those who believe in a dualistic, ‘us versus them’ philosophy, i.e. in the ‘rough neighborhood of the Middle East only the strong survive’. We see that perspective represented by a long line of pro-aggression, exclusivist, expansionist and militaristic Israeli governments that instill and potentiate fear in order to control public opinion and facilitate their political and economic goals. In so doing, the Jewish victim narrative sustains the level of aggression and oppression that is a part of daily life in the reality of occupation.</p>
<p>However, evolution also emphasizes the adaptive utility of altruistic and cooperative behavior based on a joint humanity and our natural qualities as a social species. Though it is very difficult to overcome fear and cultivate empathy in an environment of separation, aggression and hatred (see Sami Awad’s insights), it is possible through a principled and sustained process of education, communication and collaboration, which can be achieved using universal human languages to connect and bridge gaps, such as art and music.</p>
<p>Lynn: What does it mean for a former Israeli soldier to create mechanisms of accountability and move into the realm of solidarity? What are your sources of strength and inspiration in this process?</p>
<p>In my work I aim to synthesize my experiences as a former Israeli soldier, the knowledge I acquired throughout my studies and research on the biological psychology of trauma, aggression, fear and social behavior and my recent efforts using art as a tool for education and healing. Though the occupation and oppression in Israel/Palestine seems intractable and hopeless I find inspiration in the work of many activists, such as you Lynn and Sami, who relentlessly focus on truth and accountability, healing and reconciliation. I find that through my writing and other activities, I heal from the injuries I have sustained as a result of the brainwashing I endured and the crimes I was an accomplice in. Further, my hope is that my experience, example and insight may inspire Israelis, Palestinians and others to confront their demons and ultimately form bridges that may serve as a backbone for an inclusive society in Israel/Palestine.</p>
<p>Lynn: As you look at the current political situation in Israel, what concerns you the most? How would you invite the American Jewish community, an identity you also share, to best serve Israel’s future?</p>
<p>Yoav: Though I have been living in the United States for over a decade now, every time I visit Israel/Palestine I feel that the mainstream moves further in the direction of a fundamentalist, nationalistic and Judeo-supremacist vision of the future. I am extremely concerned with this trend and the continued dehumanization of Palestinians as a potential prelude to further ethnic cleansing and even genocide.</p>
<p>Israeli policies are shaped by destructive forces that separate rather than unite. These include: corrupt arch-capitalists, messianic Jews who believe in the fantasy of a Judeo-supremacist Greater Israel and ultra-orthodox Jews who are highly segregated in their own communities. This trinity of forces has a joint interest in weakening democratic institutions and the continued subjugation of the Palestinian people.</p>
<p>Within this Israeli political environment, it is hard to believe that the Israeli Left can succeed on its own. Thus, it is absolutely crucial to apply pressure on Israel from the outside – especially from the United States, Israel’s greatest ally and backer of the occupation. For this purpose, American Jews must support Palestinian and international groups that promote non-violent actions such as boycott, divestment and sanction (BDS) and Jewish, Palestinian and other groups that seek justice for Palestinians and an equitable society in Israel/Palestine, such as Jewish Voice for Peace, New Israel Fund, and many more.</p> | Never Give Up: Nonviolent Civilian Resistance, Healing and Active Hope in the Holyland | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/04/28/never-give-up-nonviolent-civilian-resistance-healing-and-active-hope-in-the-holyland/ | 2017-04-28 | 4 |
<p>Keep Calm But I Told You So.</p>
<p>— Russian Embassy, UK, Tweet, Jul 6, 2016</p>
<p>Britain is in political turmoil, but even prior to that, there was that old problem of why Her Majesty’s government went to war in a disastrous conflict that had no immediate, security related grounds. The reasons for invading Iraq were more ideological than scientific, more evangelical than rational.</p>
<p>One of the greater evangelists in this mission of folly was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Britain may well have been in search of a role after empire, and here it was by way of redux, a traditional stomping ground in the Middle East. The hope was also personal. Ego, and the desperate sense of purchasing goodwill in Washington, seemed to preoccupy Blair.</p>
<p>The result of going into Iraq in a fit of moral outrage and strategic bravado was disastrous. Actually, it was more than disastrous. Virtually every murderous spin off in the Middle East has its provenance in the disturbances of the Coalition of the bungling willing in 2003.</p>
<p>That war suggested much about what was wrong with the Anglosphere, with its various satraps and misguided assumptions. The United States was charging into a bloody engagement hoping its not too questioning followers, the UK and Australia, would join in. They were right, with Blair giving a pre-determined commitment of British forces on July 28, 2002, a good deal prior to the formal Parliamentary vote on whether military intervention against Iraq was warranted.</p>
<p>Sir John Chilcot as Chairman of the Iraq Inquiry was hoping to do much. The inquiry, he hoped, would give us lessons that would “help ensure that, if we face similar situations in future, the government of the day is best equipped to respond to those situations in the most effective manner in the best interests of the country.” <a href="#_ftn1" type="external">[1]</a></p>
<p>For all of that, the history of this inquiry is characterised by chronic, mind numbing delay. Britain’s gift to the world was not merely a civil service but one of uncivil disservice when required. Such pursuits have their own rationale and powers of justification.</p>
<p>While the inquiry’s process has been unsatisfactory, Chilcot’s findings are now the stuff of pure affirmation. <a href="#_ftn2" type="external">[2]</a> There is noting new in it. Iraq’s previously sponsored dictator Saddam Hussein posed no immediate threat to Western states in 2003. Peaceful options prior to the use of force, a grave decision in international relations, had not been exhausted.</p>
<p>When the UK Ministry of Defence had committed to the bloody effort, it found itself woefully underprepared. Its inventory was poor, lacking in essential equipment such as armoured patrol vehicles and helicopters. The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the great deliverer of asymmetrical warfare, was not taken seriously.</p>
<p>The rest of the stage for the day was set by Blair’s apologetics. “The report,” claimed Blair in a statement, “should lay to rest allegations of bad faith, lies or deceit.” This is standard Blair: muddle the issue, obfuscate the finding. Regard sorrow and faith as forgivable faults.</p>
<p>Conveniently missed is a vital fact: fanatical, uninformed belief has been the basis of some of history’s most blood sodden decisions. And to say that deception was not part of it is to misread the report, which notes the desire on the part of President George W. Bush and Blair, to invade for reasons of regime change.</p>
<p>Few ever go to wars, legal or otherwise, without faith. That hardly constitutes grounds for letting planners of the hook. Crimes against peace, articulated by the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, are arguably the gravest of crimes. Whatever the faulty evidence, the diplomatic option or a continued strategy of containment, none of these mattered with a decision taken well in advance, a common plan of aggression.</p>
<p>Blair did make a feeble attempt to comb through the minute details by way of exoneration. In an attempt to appease the British public, and his God, he asserts that Chilcot did not find “falsification or improper use of Intelligence (para 876 vol 4).” He notes the finding that he did not deceive Cabinet (para 953 vol 5) and claims that Chilcot found against a “secret commitment to war whether at Crawford Texas in April 2002 or elsewhere (para 572 onwards vol 1).” There are lies, and then there are lies.</p>
<p>One can sense Blair’s relief that the inquiry did not make a finding on one of the most fundamental points that would make a prosecutor’s brief stick: whether the action to attack Iraq was itself legal. He makes much hay out of the point of a “finding” by the Attorney-General that there was a lawful basis by March 13, 2003 for possible military action (para 933 vol 5). On that score, Chilcot could have done much more.</p>
<p>Blair then gives us his reflection about consequences, which sound all too much like a defence before a future criminal tribunal – as well as it might. He accepts the errors of his administration, treating them like desk job miscalculations, only to then claim that it was perfectly right to remove Saddam. Forget the “underestimated” consequences, as Chilcot rather blandly calls them.</p>
<p>Furthermore, he continues in his refusal to accept that “the cause of terrorism we see today whether in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world” had anything to do with this adventurous gamble. Object and belief trumped procedure and execution. Such reasons are as good any for a formal conviction.</p>
<p>Notes.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref1" type="external">[1]</a> <a href="http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/" type="external">http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/</a></p>
<p><a href="#_ftnref2" type="external">[2]</a> <a href="http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/the-report/" type="external">http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/the-report/</a></p> | Crimes Against Peace: the Chilcot Inquiry, Tony Blair and Iraq | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/07/06/crimes-against-peace-the-chilcot-inquiry-tony-blair-and-iraq/ | 2016-07-06 | 4 |
<p>MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Tropical Storm Ana lost the last of its strength and was downgraded to a depression as it created wet and windy conditions along the North and South Carolina coasts.</p>
<p>At 2 p.m. Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said the center of the depression was located about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach. The storm's maximum sustained winds were at 35 mph.</p>
<p>While the storm was stationary over the northeastern coast of South Carolina, forecasters said Ana should resume moving to the north on Sunday, turn to the northeast and pick up speed. It was expected that the storm would move over eastern North Carolina on Sunday night.</p>
<p>The forecast also called for between 2 and 6 inches of rain over the affected regions, and coastal flooding, especially around high tide.</p>
<p>Tropical Storm Ana lost the last of its strength and was downgraded to a depression as it created wet and windy conditions along the North and South Carolina coasts. At 2 p.m. Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said the center of the depression was located about 30 miles north of Myrtle Beach. The storm's maximum sustained winds were at 35 mph. While the storm was stationary over the northeastern coast of South Carolina, forecasters said Ana should resume moving to the north on Sunday, turn to the northeast and pick up speed. It was expected that the storm would move over eastern North Carolina on Sunday night. The forecast also called for between 2 and 6 inches of rain over the affected regions, and coastal flooding, especially around high tide.</p> | Ana Weakens to Depression, Dumping Rain on Carolinas | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ana-weakens-depression-dumping-rain-carolinas-n356786 | 2015-05-10 | 3 |
<p>Readers ask me from time to time to recommend a book from which they can learn about economics.</p>
<p>The problem with reading a book to learn economics that is taught in the universities and practiced in Washington is that economics is now a highly formalized subject based on abstract models and assumptions and has been mathematized. It is not that the subject is totally useless and without any applicability to real world problems.&#160; Rather, the problem is that the discipline both lags an ever-changing world and got some things wrong at the beginning. Consequently, learning economics places one inside a box where some of the tools and understanding provided are outdated and incorrect.</p>
<p>For example, every textbook will draw a picture of agriculture as the perfect example of competitive markets in which “no producer’s output is large enough to affect price.” This made sense when one-third of the US work force was on family farms.&#160; Today, American agriculture is dominated by corporations and agribusiness. Additionally, part of the disastrous financial deregulation pushed by no-think economists and special interests was the removal of position limits on speculators. Formerly, speculators smoothed agricultural and commodity markets by buying and selling in order to stabilize price over periods when supply and demand were out of balance.&#160; Now speculators can dominate markets and rig prices to the benefit of their profits.</p>
<p>There are many such examples where economics no longer speaks to the real world.</p>
<p>Two other examples will suffice:</p>
<p>Most intelligent people are aware that natural resources are finite, including the environment’s ability to absorb the wastes or pollution from productive activities (see for example, Jared Diamond,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Collapse</a>, 2005). But few economists are aware, because economists assume that man-made capital is a perfect substitute for nature’s capital.&#160; This assumption implies that there are no finite environmental limits to infinite economic growth.&#160; Lost in such a make-believe world, economists neglect the full cost of production and cannot tell if the value of the increases in GDP are greater or less than the full cost of producing it.</p>
<p>Economists have almost universally confused jobs offshoring with free trade.&#160; Economists have even managed to produce “studies” purporting to show that a</p>
<p>domestic economy is benefitted by being turned into the GDP of some other country.</p>
<p>Economists have managed to make this statement even while its absurdity is obvious to what remains of the US manufacturing, industrial, and professional skilled (software engineers, for example) workforce and to the cities and states whose tax bases have been devastated by the movement offshore of US jobs.</p>
<p>The few economists who have the intelligence to recognize that jobs offshoring is the antithesis of free trade are dismissed as “protectionists.”&#160; Economists are so dogmatic about free trade that they have even constructed a folk myth that the rise of the US economy was based on free trade.&#160; As Michael Hudson, an economist able to think outside the box has proven, there is not a scrap of evidence in behalf of this folk myth&#160;(see <a href="" type="internal">America’s Protectionist Takeoff 1815-1914</a>).</p>
<p>My advice to readers who wish to develop economic comprehension is to begin with the outside-the-box economists who are addressing real issues.&#160; For example, Herman E. Daly and John B. Cobb’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">For the Common Good</a>&#160;is accessible to ordinary readers willing to take the effort to google the definitions of unfamiliar terms.&#160; However, the most&#160;important development in trade theory is not.&#160;&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Global Trade and Conflicting National Interests</a>&#160;by Ralph E. Gomory and William J. Baumol (MIT Press, 2000) is apparently even over the heads of professional economists, who prefer to babble on ignorantly about the “benefits of free trade” than to learn what they don’t know. Nevertheless, readers should understand that the case for free trade will never been the same after&#160;its dissection by Gomory and Baumol.</p>
<p>With this preface to the column, I now turn to its subject: economist Michael Hudson.</p>
<p>Hudson is totally outside the matrix in which economists imprison themselves. Hudson doesn’t live in the artificial reality of economists or shill for corporations and Wall Street.&#160; <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>A person can learn a lot from Hudson.&#160; His book,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Trade, Development and Foreign Debt</a>&#160;(2009) explains how foreign trade and economic development have been used to concentrate economic power in the hands of dominant nations. What is really going on is covered up with do-good verbiage and formal models.&#160; In reality, trade and development are ways to colonize countries that think they are independent. (Another good book on this subject is Michel Chossudovsky’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Globalization of Poverty</a>.)</p>
<p>Perhaps the best place to begin with Hudson is his latest book,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Bubble and Beyond</a>, which should be available within a few days of the appearance of this column.</p>
<p>In this book Hudson addresses the crisis in the economy and the crisis in the discipline of economics.&#160; From this book you can understand not only the crisis but also why economists have misdiagnosed the crisis and are applying incorrect remedies.</p>
<p>Hudson shows that a central problem is that economic theory ignores the role of debt in the economy.&#160; Economic theory also pretends that economic policy, such as the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, serves the public’s interest rather than the interests of powerful private interests.</p>
<p>As Lenin and others predicted, industrial capitalism has turned into finance capitalism. Finance capitalism does not finance or create new real investments such as manufacturing facilities. Instead, finance capitalism functions as a&#160;rentier. It leverages debt and extracts interest payments (and today taxpayer bailouts for its over-leveraged gambles). Finance capitalism flourishes by converting more and more of society’s resources into payments to itself.</p>
<p>One result is that markets cease to expand and economies cease to grow as austerity is imposed to service the build-up in debt.&#160; Austerity pushes economies down as consumption and investment are cut back in order to service debt. Hudson concludes that the result is that bankers now receive the rents (a form of unearned income) that once flowed to the landed aristocracy. Unlike the aristocracy, who were dispossessed of their rents, the bankers have not been.</p>
<p>Hudson knows the history of economic thought and economic history.&#160; Reading&#160;The Bubble and Beyond&#160;lets readers see how economic ideas developed in ways that leave economists unable to perceive the real character of the problems that are challenging them. Trapped in the matrix that they have constructed for themselves, economists are unable to devise solutions.</p>
<p>Hudson writes that western economies are at a turning point. GDP growth consists increasingly of the build-up of financial overhead. The wealth gains are paper gains, not gains from real plant and equipment, and are increasingly concentrated in the hands of the one percent.&#160; Financial earnings are extracted from the earnings of tangible capital and labor. Matt Taibbi captured the point with his imagery of Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”</p>
<p>My suggestion is that you read Hudson along with Taibbi’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Griftopia</a>, Nomi Prins’&#160; <a href="" type="internal">It Takes A Pillage</a>, Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Reckless Endangerment</a>, and Daly and Cobb’s&#160;For the Common Good.&#160; Then if you ever do study economics, you will be armored against being ensnared in the matrix that produces economists as shills for finance capitalism, environmental destruction, and the offshoring of the economy.</p>
<p>Everyone always wants a solution. Hudson offers suggestions how to reconstruct the economy in order that it serves the needs of the 99% instead only of the needs of the 1%.</p>
<p>Get busy. Reading these books will do you much greater good than playing video games, watching TV or hanging out in bars.&#160; Our country needs a larger informed younger generation to replace the smaller informed older generation.</p>
<p>Paul Craig Roberts&#160;is a former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury and Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal.&#160;&#160;His latest book,&#160;&#160;Wirtschaft am Abgrund&#160;(Economies In Collapse)&#160;has just been published.</p> | Escape From Economics | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/07/31/escape-from-economics/ | 2012-07-31 | 4 |
<p>CPS’ new point man on school actions faced an angry crowd of about 60 people at the first community hearing on proposed guidelines for school closings. Not only were many audience members opposed to school closings, they were also skeptical that Oliver Sicat, the chief portfolio officer, would have the power to make changes based on their feedback.</p>
<p>Angela Surney, whose children attend Marconi, which was on the school closings list last year but was spared, compared Sicat to a “puppet” and a “sheep led to slaughter.”</p>
<p>Other audience members heckled Sicat and shouted questions at him. The meeting ended with loud chants of “Save Our Schools,” drowning out any last minute remarks from Sicat.</p>
<p>It was the first of what could be two contentious meetings on closings; CPS has another meeting slated for Wednesday night. While the hearing was called to vet the district’s guidelines, most participants talked about the lack of resources spent on schools that are now on the target list for closings. It was also clear how little trust those in the audience had in CPS, which has spent the last decade closing schools and opening new ones.</p>
<p>It’s not clear how many schools could be targeted for closing this year, but the number will likely be higher than the five to 10 that have closed each year recently.</p>
<p>Opponents of the closings are already planning their next steps, which include a forum on Dec. 3 at King College Prep and a vigil the night before the December school board meeting.</p>
<p>Letting schools fail?</p>
<p>Under the proposed guidelines considered at the meeting, CPS could close schools that have been on probation for at least two consecutive years, unless they have a composite ISAT score or 5-year graduation rate that is above average for their geographic area. In a new addition to the guidlines, the district will also take schools off the list if they score in the top three-quarters on the district’s performance policy “Growth” rating, Sicat said.</p>
<p>“We are going to talk to our [network] chiefs, talk with everyone in CPS who has worked with these schools to get a better understanding of the local context,” Sicat said, and noted that schools receiving displaced students would get extra resources.</p>
<p>But this promise rang hollow for some in the crowd, who accused CPS of letting schools fail until it was time to close them.</p>
<p>“Let’s say you’re my landlord and you’re renting to me. The building’s falling down and year after year you say, ‘I’m going to close this building,’ but you never make improvements,” Surney said. “You’ve been to Marconi three times… [but] funding and other things are not even coming to the school. You have never gone back to the schools to reconcile the problem of you putting it on the list in the&#160; first place.”</p>
<p>Dvorak Elementary parent volunteer Angela Gordon made a similar point. “When we asked for tutoring programs, we have 600 students but we got 44 slots,” she said. “I can only do so much. If it was left to me, I’d take them home and tutor them.”</p>
<p>Originally, Sicat was just going to take questions on notecards, but after protests from the audience, the meeting format was changed to allow people to speak at a microphone. Many took several turns.</p>
<p>Save Our Schools, an organized group of community members, comprised about half of the audience and rode a bus to the Westinghouse High School meeting from Julian High School on the South Side. Though opposed to closings, many also voiced anger at schools’ performance and asked questions like: Why do only one in seven African-American students score at or above a 20 on the ACT? What do you plan to do about the 92 percent of 11th-graders who are not ready for college?&#160;</p>
<p>There were other questions as well, more specific to the topic at hand: How will children be kept safe if they have to travel to different neighborhoods? “This would be a citywide effort,” Sicat said, involving oother city agencies–the Chicago Transit Authority, the Chicago Housing Authority and the Chicago Police Department.</p>
<p>Chicago Teachers Union representatives at the meeting were also tough on Sicat.</p>
<p>“Are you even capable of making this ultimate decision of which schools get closed, and if not, really, should you be the one standing here with us tonight?” asked Jackson Potter, the union’s staff coordinator.</p>
<p>Union organizer Matthew Luskin said officials should have notified all students and parents whose schools could be eligible for closing.</p>
<p>“You certainly can figure out which schools are eligible for school actions. Did a letter go home with those students? Why weren’t they invited? Why aren’t you encouraging those voices to be a part of this?” Luskin asked.</p> | School closing opponents turn out to meeting | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/school-closing-opponents-turn-out-meeting/ | 2011-11-14 | 3 |
<p>A satellite-imagery company said on Thursday that the sheer number of pictures covering a large swath of ocean explains why it took days to reveal what could be debris from the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that has been missing for nearly two weeks.</p>
<p>DigitalGlobe Inc., a Longmont, Colo.-based company that collects imagery for the U.S. government and other countries, as well as private companies, confirmed on Thursday that it had collected satellite images on March 16 that appeared to show debris that may be related to the disappearance of Flight MH370. It said it provided the images to Australian authorities, who released them earlier Thursday.</p>
<p>“Given the extraordinary size of the current search area, the lengthy duration of the analysis effort was to be expected. Our constellation of five high-resolution imaging satellites captures more than 3 million square kilometers of earth imagery each day, and this volume of imagery is far too vast to search through in real time without an idea of where to look,” DigitalGlobe said in a <a href="http://www.digitalglobeblog.com/2014/03/20/flightmh370possibledebris/" type="external">blog post</a> on its website.</p>
<p>The company said Australian authorities had begun combing through the imagery of the current search area only in the last few days, after the massive international effort was expanded to the southern Indian Ocean region and waters near Australia.</p>
<p>Malaysian officials described the images as a credible sign of a possible wreckage from the flight, which vanished on March 8 shortly after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people aboard.</p>
<p>Australian officials have cautioned that the debris in the pictures might not be related to the missing plane.</p>
<p>A DigitalGlobe spokesman declined to say whether the debris was spotted by the company's own analysts, government analysts or Internet users participating in a <a href="" type="internal">"crowdsourcing" effort</a> launched by the company to help locate the plane.</p> | Satellite Data Dump Slows Hunt for Traces of Missing Plane | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/missing-jet/satellite-data-dump-slows-hunt-traces-missing-plane-n58306 | 2014-03-21 | 3 |
<p>The Syrian army announced on Thursday that the country's second city Aleppo has been fully recaptured from rebel fighters, the government's biggest victory in the nearly six-year civil war.</p>
<p>"Thanks to the blood of our martyrs and the sacrifices of our valiant armed forces as well as allied forces ... the general command of the armed forces announces the return of security to Aleppo after its release from terrorism and terrorists, and the departure of those who stayed there," the army said in a statement.</p>
<p>The announcement came shortly after state television reported that the last convoy carrying rebels and civilians had left eastern Aleppo.</p>
<p>"The last four buses carrying terrorists and their families arrived in Ramussa," a district south of Aleppo controlled by government forces, the channel said.</p>
<p>Ahmed Qorra Ali, an official with the rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, confirmed that "the last convoy has left the rebel-controlled area."</p>
<p>Earlier, the Red Cross said that more than 4,000 fighters had left rebel-held areas of the city in the "last stages" of the evacuation.</p>
<p>The United Nations said it had deployed observers to monitor the final evacuations, under a Security Council resolution adopted on Monday.</p>
<p>Rebel forces, who seized control of east Aleppo in 2012, agreed to withdraw from the bastion after a month-long army offensive that drove them from more than 90 percent of their former territory.</p>
<p>The evacuation agreement was brokered by Russia, which launched air strikes in support of Assad's regime last year, and Turkey, which has supported some rebel groups.</p> | The Syrian army says it has fully retaken Aleppo | false | https://pri.org/stories/2016-12-22/syrian-army-says-they-have-fully-retaken-aleppo | 2016-12-22 | 3 |
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<p>LAS CRUCES (AP) — Dona Ana County Republican Party chairman David Clements has announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Tom Udall.</p>
<p>Clements, an assistant district attorney in Las Cruces, said in a statement Tuesday that he will focus his candidacy on “advancing free market policies that allow small businesses to create jobs, balancing the federal budget and fighting to preserve the privacy rights of New Mexicans.”</p>
<p>He described himself as a “constitutional conservative and economics enthusiast.” Clements said “career politicians” like Udall “have created a culture of dependency in New Mexico.”</p>
<p>Clements received his law degree from the University of New Mexico. He and his wife, Erin, have a son.</p>
<p>Clements is the only declared GOP candidate running for the Senate seat that Udall won in 2008.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Las Cruces GOP lawyer running for NM Senate seat | false | https://abqjournal.com/282194/las-cruces-gop-lawyer-running-for-nm-senate-seat.html | 2 |
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<p>Jan 25 (Reuters) - General Oyster Inc</p>
<p>* Says it plans to issue 1.2 million shares to an investment limited liability partnership for 800.1 million yen via private placement as a capital alliance</p>
<p>* Says the investment limited liability partnership will hold 42.3 percent stake in the co and become co’s top shareholder after capital alliance</p>
<p>* Says a Tokyo-based firm’s stake in the co will be diluted to 13.6 percent from 23.5 percent</p>
<p>* Change will occur on Feb. 26</p>
<p>* Says through business alliance, TRYFUNDS INVESTMENT, a wholly owned unit of Tryfunds, will help the co improve co’s performance</p>
<p>Source text in Japanese: <a href="https://goo.gl/dVNcfS" type="external">goo.gl/dVNcfS</a></p>
<p>Further company coverage: (Beijing Headline News)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Toys ‘R’ Us Inc, the iconic toy retailer, will shutter or sell its stores in the United States after failing to find a buyer or reach a deal to restructure billions in debt, putting at risk about 30,000 jobs.</p>
<p>The closure is a blow to hundreds of toy makers that sell their products at the chain’s U.S. stores, including Barbie maker Mattel Inc, board game company Hasbro Inc and other vendors like Lego.</p>
<p>“This is a profoundly sad day for us as well as the millions of kids and families who we have served for the past 70 years,” Chief Executive Officer Dave Brandon said.</p>
<p>With shoppers flocking to Amazon.com Inc and children choosing electronic gadgets over toys, Toys ‘R’ Us has struggled to boost sales and service debt following a $6.6 billion leveraged buyout by private equity firms in 2005.</p>
<p>Brokerage Jefferies estimated that 40 percent of the toy sales up for grabs as a result of the bankruptcy would flow to Amazon and 30 percent to Walmart.</p>
<p>Toys ‘R’ Us said on Thursday it was seeking approval to liquidate inventory in 735 U.S. stores, which debtors anticipate will close by the end of this year.</p>
<p>It is in talks to sell 200 of those stores as part of a deal to sell its 80-odd stores in Canada.</p>
<p>For its operations in Asia and Central Europe, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the company will pursue a reorganization and sale process. The already announced administration of its UK business will continue, the company said.</p>
<p>The wind-down follows a bruising holiday season, when the company failed to stay competitive and sales came in well below projections. The quarter accounts for 40 percent of its annual net sales.</p>
<p>Toys ‘R’ Us’ creditors said in a court filing that Target Corp, Walmart Inc and Amazon pricing toys at low-margins and a greater-than-expected decline in toy and gift card sales following its bankruptcy filing in September led to the weak performance in the quarter.</p> The logo of Toys R Us is seen on a store at Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France, March 15, 2018. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
<p>“Even during recent store closeouts, Toys R Us failed to create any sense of excitement,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of retail research firm GlobalData Retail. “Its so-called heavy discounts remained well above the standard prices of many rivals.”</p> STORE CLOSURES
<p>Wayne, New Jersey-based Toys ‘R’ Us was already in the process of closing one fifth of its stores as part of an attempt to emerge from one of the largest ever bankruptcies by a specialty retailer.</p>
<p>In September, when the company operated more than 1,600 stores globally, with roughly 800 stores outside the United States, it got court permission to borrow more than $2 billion to start paying suppliers.</p> Slideshow (5 Images)
<p>But efforts to keep the business going collapsed after lenders decided that in the absence of a clear reorganization plan, they could recover more in a liquidation by closing stores and raising money from merchandise sales.</p>
<p>The company’s troubles mirror those of other mall-based retailers in the United States that have shut stores and fired employees in a bid to stay relevant.</p>
<p>More than 8,000 U.S. retail stores closed in 2017, roughly double the average annual store closures in the previous decade, according to data from the International Council of Shopping Centers.</p>
<p>The disappearance of Toys ‘R’ Us leaves a void for hundreds of toy makers that relied on the chain as a top customer alongside Walmart and Target.</p>
<p>Shares of Mattel and Hasbro tumbled last week on Toys ‘R’ Us’ liquidation reports. Both rely on Toys ‘R’ Us for roughly 10 percent of their revenues, according to their 2016 annual reports.</p>
<p>Jefferies cut its price targets for Hasbro, Mattel and a handful of other toymakers in a note early on Thursday, predicting the bankruptcy would depress 2018 revenue across the industry by between 2.5 percent and 5.5 percent.</p>
<p>“We ... expect the first half to be affected by reduced order flow from Toys ‘R’ Us and adjacent retailers, as companies like Target, Walmart, dollar stores, etc. reconcile inventory,” the brokerage said.</p>
<p>Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Sayantani Ghosh</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Former European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso denied on Thursday he had lobbied ex-colleagues for his new employer Goldman Sachs, hitting back at what he has called a personal “political attack” by the EU’s ethics watchdog.</p> FILE PHOTO: Outgoing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso attends the review of the Barroso II Commission at the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, October 21, 2014. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann/File Photo
<p>“I have not and will not lobby EU officials,” he tweeted after a European Ombudsman’s report said his successor at the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, had failed to properly scrutinize whether Barroso’s new job undermined fragile public trust in the European Union.</p>
<p>Barroso, a former Portuguese prime minister, ran into furious criticism, including from Juncker, when he joined the U.S. bank in July 2016, less than two years after leaving an EU executive that eurosceptics branded out of touch with voters.</p>
<p>Brussels was reeling at that time from Britons’ vote to quit the bloc just two weeks earlier.</p>
<p>The controversy has resurfaced as Juncker faces his own troubles. The European Parliament and the Ombudsman are reviewing complaints after last month’s surprise promotion of his chief-of-staff to run the Commission’s civil service.</p>
<p>Barroso said Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly made no “legal assessment” of his duties for the bank but said he did not oppose her call for a new review by the Commission’s ethics committee which in 2016 found no reason to object to his job.</p>
<p>In an exchange of letters with O’Reilly, published by the Ombudsman on Thursday, Barroso accused her of mounting a “thinly veiled ad personam political attack”.</p>
<p>O’Reilly in turn dismissed Barroso’s account that his meeting in October with former Commission colleague Jyrki Katainen was a private matter. She said Katainen, now a vice president under Juncker, had registered it in the EU public lobbying record as a meeting with “Goldman Sachs”.</p> PENSION RIGHTS
<p>In light of that meeting, O’Reilly recommended the Commission’s watchdog determine whether his new employment met the obligation for former commissioners to act with integrity and not damage the EU’s image. The panel can cut pension rights for any breach, but has never done so.</p>
<p>“Much of the recent negative sentiment around this issue could have been avoided if the Commission had at the time taken a formal decision on Mr Barroso’s employment with Goldman Sachs,” O’Reilly said in a statement. It could have obliged him not to engage in any lobbying at the Commission, she added.</p>
<p>Despite vocal criticism, others have defended the right of top officials to find new work and have said attacking banks, and Goldman Sachs in particular, showed political prejudice.</p>
<p>Goldman Sachs said in a statement that Barroso, who left his position as president of the Commission in late 2014, had “from the beginning of his time with us recused himself from representing the firm in any interactions with EU officials”.</p>
<p>Juncker had criticized Barroso for taking a job with a bank accused by some of contributing to Europe’s economic crisis but said he could not obstruct the move as an 18-month “cooling off” period to avert conflicts of interest had lapsed.</p>
<p>Juncker later doubled the cooling off period for himself and successors and asked the ethics committee to look at Barroso’s move. The watchdog found no ground to object in late 2016 but the Ombudsman launched her own inquiry last year.</p>
<p>A Commission spokesman said it would consider her report and reply within her three-month deadline. Noting Juncker’s changes to the code of conduct, he said. “We have very strict and very comprehensive requirements.”</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise in London; Editing by Edmund Blair</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Russia said on Thursday it would retaliate very soon for Britain’s expulsion of 23 diplomats as Moscow and London traded public insults about a nerve toxin attack on a former Russian double agent in England.</p>
<p>After the first known use of a military-grade nerve toxin on British soil since World War Two, the United States, France, NATO and the European Union gave verbal support to May, though it remained unclear what action the West would take.</p>
<p>London says the Russian state is responsible for trying to kill Sergei Skripal - a former Russian intelligence officer who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain’s MI6 - with Novichok, a lethal nerve agent developed by the Soviet military.</p>
<p>Russia denied any involvement and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused London of behaving in a “boorish” way, adding that this was partly due to the problems Britain faces over its planned exit from the European Union next year.</p>
<p>Lavrov said Russia’s response would come “very soon” but be conveyed to British officials first, an apparent contradiction of an earlier report by state news agency RIA that said Lavrov had promised to expel British diplomats.</p>
<p>In the biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats from London since the Cold War, Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday gave 23 Russians who she said were spies working under diplomatic cover a week to leave London.</p>
<p>“The temperature of Russian-British relations drops to minus 23 but we are not afraid of the cold weather,” Russia’s embassy in London said beside the picture of a thermometer surrounded by ice and reading minus 23 degrees Celsius.</p>
<p>Skripal and his daughter Yulia have been critically ill since they were found unconscious on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4. A British policeman who was also poisoned is in a serious but stable condition.</p>
<p>May on Thursday visited the normally genteel city where police investigators in chemical protection suits and the army have been removing evidence of the poisoning.</p>
<p>Britain also said it would invest 48 million pounds ($67 million) in a new chemical warfare defense center at its Porton Down military research laboratory, where scientists identified the nerve agent used against Skripal.</p> Security cameras are seen, and a flag flies outside the consular section of Russia's embassy in London, Britain, March 15, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay WESTERN RESPONSE?
<p>Britain’s allies expressed solidarity over the attack.</p>
<p>The White House said it shared Britain’s assessment that Russia was responsible and supported the decision to expel Russian diplomats.</p>
<p>France, which on Wednesday had said it wanted proof of Russian involvement before deciding whether to take action against Moscow, swung behind Britain on Thursday.</p>
<p>“France agrees with the United Kingdom that there is no other plausible explanation and reiterates its solidarity with its ally,” President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a statement.</p> Slideshow (10 Images)
<p>Macron later told reporters he would decide in the coming days what measures France would take against Russia over the attack.</p>
<p>NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the attack in Britain was part of a pattern of reckless behavior from Russia over many years. He said Britain could count on NATO’s solidarity, but said there had been no request by London to activate the alliance’s mutual defense clause.</p>
<p>In London, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson ratcheted up the rhetoric against Russia, accusing it of glorying in the attack on Skripal, which he described as a way of scaring anyone who stood up to President Vladimir Putin.</p>
<p>“There is something in the kind of smug, sarcastic response that we’ve heard from the Russians that to me betokens their fundamental guilt,” he told the BBC. “They want to simultaneously deny it and yet at the same time to glory in it.”</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-britain-russia-may-salisbury/uk-pm-may-visits-city-where-russian-double-agent-was-poisoned-idUSKCN1GR1TH" type="external">UK PM May visits city where Russian double agent was poisoned</a>
<a href="/article/us-britain-russia-allies/uk-u-s-france-germany-jointly-condemn-chemical-attack-on-ex-spy-idUSKCN1GR1VU" type="external">UK, U.S., France, Germany jointly condemn chemical attack on ex-spy</a>
<a href="/article/us-britain-russia-lavrov/russia-hopes-ex-spy-will-recover-reveal-truth-about-poison-attack-idUSKCN1GR1KO" type="external">Russia hopes ex-spy will recover, reveal truth about poison attack</a>
<p>Johnson defended the government’s response to the attack against critics who said it did not go far enough. He suggested the authorities might also go after assets held in Britain by Russians close to Putin, though he gave no specific details.</p>
<p>His opposite number in Moscow, Lavrov, suggested that one possible motive for the poisoning was to complicate Russia’s hosting of this summer’s soccer World Cup.</p>
<p>Lavrov also said he hoped Skripal recovered from the attack so that he could shed light on what happened.</p>
<p>The diplomatic rift comes on the eve of a Russian presidential election on Sunday that is expected to extend Putin’s rule by a further six years. Putin, in power since 2000, casts himself as a strong leader who stands up to Russia’s enemies in the West.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper, Estelle Shirbon, Elisabeth O'Leary and Costas Pitas in London and Edinburgh, William James in Salisbury, England, and Denis Pinchuk and Andrew Osborn in Moscow; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Gareth Jones</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SALISBURY, England (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday visited Salisbury, the elegant English cathedral city which became the unlikely backdrop to a chemical attack against a Russian former double agent this month.</p> Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits the city where former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent, in Salisbury, Britain March 15, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool
<p>Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre on March 4 after being exposed to what the British authorities have identified as a military-grade, Soviet era Novichok nerve agent. They remain critically ill in hospital.</p>
<p>May, who blames Russia for the attack and on Wednesday announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats, visited various locations in Salisbury including the area close to the bench where the Skripals were found.</p>
<p>“We do hold Russia culpable for this brazen and despicable act that’s taken place on the streets of what is such a remarkable city where people come and visit and enjoy,” she told reporters during her visit.</p>
<p>Moscow denies any involvement and has said May’s accusations are “insane”. The Russian government is expected to retaliate against the expulsion of the diplomats imminently.</p>
<p>May said her visit was to thank emergency and health services and reassure the public about their safety.</p>
<p>“It’s been great to meet some tourists here in Salisbury, people coming to Salisbury, still enjoying this great city,” she said.</p>
<p>Salisbury, dominated by its 13th Century cathedral with England’s highest spire, has witnessed dramatic scenes since the Skripals were found. Police and soldiers in chemical suits and gas masks have been conducting forensic searches and removing vehicles from places visited by the pair.</p>
<p>Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, betrayed dozens of Russian spies to British intelligence before he was arrested in Moscow in 2004.</p>
<p>He was given a lengthy jail term in 2006 but was released four years later as part of a swap for 10 Russian spies caught in the United States.</p>
<p>Since arriving in Britain, he had lived modestly in Salisbury, keeping out of the spotlight until he was found unconscious, triggering a major diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper in London; writing by Estelle Shirbon; editing by Stephen Addison</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-General Oyster says business and capital alliance and change of shareholding structure Toys 'R' Us goes out of business, 30,000 jobs at stake Barroso slams EU watchdog over probe of his Goldman Sachs role Russia says to retaliate soon for UK's expulsion of diplomats over nerve attack UK PM May visits city where Russian double agent was poisoned | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-general-oyster-says-business-and-c/brief-general-oyster-says-business-and-capital-alliance-and-change-of-shareholding-structure-idUSL4N1PK2P4 | 2018-01-25 | 2 |
<p>Pushing Tin, directed by Mike Newell, is a reminder that our popular culture wants it both ways. On the one hand it thrives, as entertainment has always done, on the competition of macho men to see who is stronger, smarter, quicker or more dexterous. On the other hand it feels constrained to deplore such competition — and, indeed, such a version of masculinity — as somehow not quite in keeping with the progressive, feminine spirit of our times. Thus Newell presents us with dueling air traffic controllers — the concept is not, it has to be said, a very promising one — for the sake of mere excitement and then proceeds to resolve their competition in a touchy-feely, feminized display of feelings and vulnerabilities. I don’t buy it. If they were capable of that in the first place, they never would have got into the mess it gets them out of.</p>
<p>The two controllers are the swaggering Nick “Zone” Falzone (John Cusack), cock of the walk among his colleagues at the busy New York control center, and the more quiet and poised newcomer from out West, Russell Bell (Billy Bob Thornton). Zone can’t bear the thought that another controller might be more nervy, or quicker to spot the possibilities on a crowded radar screen or cooler under pressure than he is. So he challenges the new guy to all kinds of competitive trials, most of which he loses, that at various times put at risk not only their own lives but those of thousands of unsuspecting air travelers. It is not easy to do this in real life and retain either your job or your reputation for responsibility and character. But in the movies you can do it simply by making everything come out all right, which most things here do — though I won’t tell you whether or not a plane goes down. It’s sort of like saying that it ain’t bragging if you can do it. And in the movies you can always do it.</p>
<p>Cate Blanchett plays Mrs Zone, Connie, and she is the most impressive thing about the film. Is this acting? We don’t believe for a moment that this magnificent creature is the little Italian housewife with the impeccable New York accent that she pretends to be. She would (and in fact did) seem underemployed as Queen Elizabeth I. And yet her condescension (in the old, good sense) in the role is rather touching too. There is something archetypal in her stooping to conquer such a man as Zone that makes all the more predictably feminine traits in Russell and his wife, Mary (Angelina Jolie), who seem to share secrets like a couple of schoolgirls, seem merely trivial in comparison. In fact, Miss Blanchett is almost enough by herself to make the film worth seeing — or she would be if we could see a bit more of her at the end and a bit less of the newly sensitized and feminized Zone.</p> | Pushing Tin | false | https://eppc.org/publications/pushing-tin/ | 1 |
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<p>Dubai's main stock market and Abu Dhabi's index have closed at their lowest points of the year amid mounting anxiety over plunging oil prices.</p>
<p>Dubai's stock market lost 7.3 percent on Tuesday, while Abu Dhabi's slid 6.9 percent.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gulf equities have been falling since late November, while oil prices have shed nearly half their value since late June. Benchmark U.S. oil prices closed below $56 a barrel on Monday, their lowest level since May 2009, when the U.S. was still in recession.</p>
<p>Also Tuesday, Saudi Arabia's stock market dropped 7.6 percent.</p>
<p>Investors are concerned that the drop in the price of oil, which is the backbone of Gulf economies, could lead to less government spending and reduced economic growth.</p> | Dubai and Abu Dhabi indexes close at lowest points of the year due to drop in oil prices | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/12/16/dubai-and-abu-dhabi-indexes-close-at-lowest-points-year-due-to-drop-in-oil.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
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<p>NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he has declared a state of emergency over New York City’s troubled public transit system and has asked its new leader to complete a series of urgent reviews of the agency’s management and aging infrastructure.</p>
<p>The Democratic governor said the state of emergency declaration will help cut red tape and speed up improvements.</p>
<p>The city’s subways and commuter trains have been plagued by rising delays and unreliable service. Dozens of people were injured when a subway derailed Tuesday.</p>
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<p>Cuomo, speaking at a conference for the MTA Genius Transit Challenge, which is seeking innovative solutions for the city’s transit woes, said he’s asked Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota to come up with a reorganization plan in 30 days and an equipment review in 60 days. He also wants a 90-day review of transit power failures.</p>
<p>The state of the subway system “is wholly unacceptable,” said Cuomo, citing decades of underinvestment, deferred maintenance and surging ridership.</p>
<p>“I think of it as a heart attack — it happens all of a sudden and the temptation is to say, ‘Well, something must have just caused it,'” Cuomo said. “No, a lifetime caused it. Bad habits caused it.”</p>
<p>The problems abound: In a fleet of 6,400 subway cars, more than 700 have passed their 40-year expiration date. The oldest are 52: “They literally should be in a museum,” Cuomo said.</p>
<p>It takes the MTA five years to get a new car.</p>
<p>“That is just ridiculous. I could build a car in five years,” Cuomo said. “If the MTA’s current vendors can’t provide them in the timeframe we need, then the MTA should find new vendors. It’s that simple.”</p>
<p>Much of the signal system was installed before 1937. The MTA’s current replacement timetable is seven to 10 years per line — 40 to 50 years systemwide.</p>
<p>“You have countries that are building entire subway systems in a matter of years,” Cuomo said.</p>
<p>The ongoing subway problems are coupled with two months of Amtrak repair work that will cause widespread delays at Penn Station, where the subways converge with New York and New Jersey commuter lines and Amtrak trains.</p>
<p>Cuomo repeated his warning that rail riders could face “a summer of hell” but said alternatives like ferries, express buses and creative train scheduling should provide some relief.</p>
<p>Conference participants included representatives of transit systems in Paris, London, Istanbul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Singapore, Toronto, Zurich and Copenhagen.</p> | Governor declares state of emergency for NYC transit system | false | https://abqjournal.com/1025531/governor-declares-state-of-emergency-for-nyc-transit-system.html | 2017-06-29 | 2 |
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<p>Having been solidly rebuffed at the ballot box,&#160; <a href="http://www.caivn.org/article/2009/05/26/now-lets-all-go-home" type="external">turned back by a repentant California Supreme Court</a>&#160;and then frustrated by a series of statewide special elections ( <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/04/maine.same.sex/index.html" type="external">most</a>&#160;of&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/07/new.jersey.same.sex.marriage/index.html" type="external">which</a>&#160;took place in blue states), the opponents of Proposition 8 have now decided to take their arguably counterproductive political strategy a step further by taking their case to the last refuge of unpopular minorities seeking special privileges – namely, the Federal Court system. This time-honored strategy of appealing to judges, however, is likely to backfire in the worst possible way come its inevitable arrival at the gates of the Supreme Court, resulting not only in a broad rebuke of the gay rights movement behind it, but of the entire school of thought which treats any and all claims to “civil rights,” however questionable, as teleologically destined for success.&#160;</p>
<p>There are any number of tactical reasons why taking a fight over gay marriage to the Federal Courts is unwise – most obviously, the fact that emotionally charged rhetoric and loud demonstrations of passion of the kind the gay rights movement specializes in have absolutely no bearing on the Law – but in spite of these, the movement has dug its heels in and made a number of legal arguments which are, on the surface, persuasive. For instance, they&#160; <a href="http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-01-26/news/17196953_1_same-sex-marriage-andrew-pugno-constitutional-convention" type="external">contend</a>&#160;that Proposition 8 “violated the constitutional separation of powers by stripping the courts of their authority to protect a minority group from discrimination,” that it was a revision of the State Constitution rather than a simple amendment, which invalidates the election process used to validate it, and that it eliminated “inalienable rights” protected by the California State Constitution’s first sections. Each of these arguments are well-rehearsed pieces of liberal jurisprudence, and certainly could hold currency with certain members of the legal community, especially in California’s left-leaning appeals court system.&#160;</p>
<p>However, with respect to actual precedent and current Supreme Court politics, all three of these claims are dead on arrival. And more disconcertingly still, the seeds of this death are to be found in precisely the cases most oft-cited by gay rights proponents as supportive of their position. Take, for instance,&#160;Loving v. Virginia, a 1967 case which established the supposed “right” to marry for interracial couples. While&#160;Loving&#160;does contain language which describes marriage as a “right,” it is worth noting, as Justice Warren did, that, all claims to “rights” notwithstanding, “marriage is a social relation subject to the State’s police power,” and that the State’s police power is only constrained by the 14th&#160;amendment. In other words, the legal question of&#160;Loving&#160;was not whether a new right – the right to marry who one wished – was being created, but whether already-protected constitutional rights (for instance, the right of protection against racial discrimination) were being violated. Moreover, even if one argued that marriage was a “right,” the more important question is whether the Court recognizes said “right” as a “fundamental right,” rather than simply a “right,” for only in the fundamental case does the more restrictive standard of legal strict scrutiny come into play.&#160;</p>
<p>However, no Court has ever explicitly recognized marriage as a fundamental right, given that this would require the invalidation of all statutes barring incest and pedophilia, so this question is simply moot. Rather, Warren wrote of the anti-miscegenation statute in question that “There is patently no legitimate overriding purpose independent of invidious racial discrimination which justifies this classification.”&#160;In other words, there was no&#160;rational&#160;reason why one should assume that racially mixed couples would be incapable of acting as legitimate married couples. This question of rationality, therefore, is the one which holds meaning on the issue of Proposition 8, and as most precedent shows, the “rational basis” test has lost all its teeth since&#160;Loving. Finally, unlike Proposition 8, the wording of the statute in&#160;Loving&#160;explicitly recognized that “marriage” was theoretically possible between consenting adults of different races, but still denied legal protection to it, whereas Proposition 8 explicitly denies that the “marriages” in question are marriages at all, only holding the ones already performed as valid because of the Constitutional prohibition against&#160;ex post facto&#160;laws.&#160;</p>
<p>Still, the rational basis has occasionally been used to invalidate certain statutes –&#160;most infamously in two other cases which gay rights proponents point to. Those two,&#160;Romer v. Evans&#160;and&#160;Lawrence v. Texas, are even more dubious in their bearing. For instance, while&#160;Romer&#160;dealt with an amendment which the Colorado Supreme Court itself had deemed unconstitutional, and which explicitly stripped homosexuals of existing rights by name, Proposition 8 neither strips homosexuals of any recognizable rights (for it leaves the domestic partnership options in place), nor would it be construed as stripping them alone of those rights, as polygamists, pedophiles, and anyone else whose tastes do not favor adults of the opposite gender would swiftly find any “marriages” they performed with their chosen partner(s) invalidated. Moreover, Justice Kennedy wrote that the amendment in&#160;Romer&#160;was “a status based enactment divorced from any factual context from which we could discern a relationship to legitimate state interests,” implying that, if the protection of traditional marriage can be described as a “legitimate state interest,” then Proposition 8 can be classified safely as constitutional.&#160;</p>
<p>Which brings us to the final nail in the coffin of the anti-Proposition 8 brigades –&#160;Lawrence v. Texas. As Justice Kennedy wrote,&#160;Lawrence&#160;succeeded only because “It [did] not involve whether the government must give formal recognition to any relationship that homosexual persons seek to enter.” Justice O’Connor put the point even more forcefully in her concurrence when she wrote that “Texas cannot assert any&#160;legitimate state interest&#160;here, such as national security or&#160;preserving the traditional institution of marriage…other reasons exist to promote the institution of marriage&#160;beyond mere moral disapproval of an excluded group.” Of these two, Kennedy is now the swing vote on the increasingly rightward-tilting Court and O’Connor has been replaced by the yet-more conservative Samuel Alito, who probably would have voted with the dissent in both&#160;Romer&#160;and&#160;Lawrence, thus removing any chance of this case seeing a happy ending in the Federal system.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Of course, one can always hope that, having exhausted their appeals to countermajoritarian institutions, the forces behind gay rights will finally discover that social change requires more than squashing dissenters under the force of a gavel. But I wouldn’t hold my breath, nor would I expect them to get anywhere because of the broad unpopularity of the issues they support. It seems, therefore, that the only question left for the gay rights movement seems to be how to wait out the backlash.&#160;</p> | Propositioning the Rule of Law | false | https://ivn.us/2010/01/14/propositioning-rule-law/ | 2010-01-14 | 2 |
<p>Ryan Lizza’s excellent <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all" type="external">profile</a> of Rep.&#160;Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), which I <a href="" type="internal">mentioned earlier</a>, frames the GOP presidential candidate as the product of a very particular brand of Christian conservative thought—one that extends far beyond the basic abortion–gay marriage axis. To wit: Lizza catches Bachmann touting the work of an historian who argued that the Confederacy was actually an&#160;Evangelical state that was raising blacks up from the depths of heathenism to a more even moral foundation. But the most interesting character in the profile is Dr.&#160;Francis Schaeffer, a theologian whose film, How Should We Then&#160;Live, Bachmann cites as life-changing.</p>
<p>As it happens, I’ve watched Schaeffer’s movie (or at least much of it), and it’s easy to see how various aspects of it rubbed off on Bachmann, then a student at Minnesota’s Winona State University. The timing was fortuitous—America’s heartland was emptying out and its urban cores seemed to be falling into disrepair. Schaeffer stepped in to make sense of the situation and prescribe a miracle cure:&#160;We could turn things around by learning from the mistakes of the past and getting back to our Christian roots. Take a look at the introductory segment, for instance:</p>
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<p>That opening scene is scary, right?&#160;Those police sirens you hear are the sound of secular humanism in action. Schaeffer’s arguing, essentially, that a relativistic society, built on a lesser belief system like that of the Roman gods, can do quite well when times are good and everyone’s happy. But when things begin to head south, such societies lack the necessary fortitude to fight vice, and give in to their basest impulses—sex (Schaeffer goes on to discuss the “cult of the phallis” in Pompeii) and dependency (relying on&#160;government handouts).</p>
<p>As Lizza notes, things get downright conspiratorial: “In the sixth episode, a mysterious man in a fake mustache drives around in a white van and furtively pours chemicals into a city’s water supply, while Schaeffer speculates about the possibility that the U.S. government is controlling its citizens by means of psychotropic drugs.” That reflects an extreme level of distruct of government—but then, so does suggesting that we are locked in a <a href="" type="internal">United Nations plot</a> to end resource extraction entirely, and warning that a moderate Democratic president will launch&#160;“ <a href="" type="internal">re-education camps</a>” for our children.</p>
<p>See also:&#160; <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/06/14/michele-bachmanns-unrivaled-extremism-gay-rights-to-religion.html" type="external">Michelle&#160;Goldberg</a>.</p> | The Documentary That Inspired Michele Bachmann | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/documentary-inspired-michele-bachmann-francis-schaeffer/ | 2011-08-08 | 4 |
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<p>It's easy to see why Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) wants people to sign up for its $99-a-year Prime program. Prime members in the United States are estimated to spend on average about $1,200 per year, compared to about $600 per year for non-members, according to data from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). That makes the 65 million U.S. Prime members CIRP estimated the online retailer having in November 2016 worth the perks the company doles out to get people to join.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But is the core offer of free two-day shipping still a good value? Especially considering items like movies and music are now delivered electronically, so you don't have to wait for them anyway. While Amazon has sweetened the pot with add-ons like free streaming music and video services, it's worth considering whether those actually add any value for most consumers.</p>
<p>Amazon uses a mix of robots and people to fill orders. Image source: Amazon.</p>
<p>Shipping prices for non-Prime members vary based on the size of the item being shipped and where it's being sent to. Amazon also offers free standard shipping, which takes five to eight days, on orders over $50 and on book orders over $25.</p>
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<p>Using an account that does not have a Prime membership, Amazon recently showed me a $5.52 charge for standard shipping on an order of 64 Bigelow tea bags. That order, placed later in the day on a Thursday, was estimated to arrive a full six days later while a Prime member would have received it on Sunday if they were in a location that gets Sunday Amazon delivery. There was also an optionfor the non-Prime account to ship the order via two-day delivery for $10.68 and a one-day shipping option priced at $22.68.</p>
<p>To look at another option, the paperback version of Stephen King's It (a rather hefty tome), shipped to the same address as used in the above non-Prime example, would cost $4.98 for standard shipping and was estimated to arrive six days later. For the book, $12.98 would have bought two-day delivery and $19.98 (more than the cost of the book) would have it arrive in one day.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>The numbers vary based on what you buy, but even if you assume an average of $5 per order in shipping costs, it only takes 20 orders to make Amazon Prime a good deal on shipping costs alone. Add in the fact that the service comes with guaranteed two-day delivery and the value grows compared to either paying more or waiting to build up $50 orders, then waiting out the longer shipping times.</p>
<p>In addition to offering free two-day shipping, Prime also gives customers a number of other perks, most notably Amazon's streaming music and video services. Both of those are arguably worth something, but less than the top-tier providers like Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) in video and Spotify (among others) in music.</p>
<p>In music, Amazon has created a pretty good service with more than a millions songs and thousands of playlists. The service is certainly not all-inclusive, but most major artists are represented, and there's plenty to listen to (albeit not always the specific song you want).</p>
<p>With the online retailer's video service, the difference between it and Netflix remains large, but it has shrunk. Amazon now offers some award-winning, highly regarded shows like Transparent and Man in the High Castle as well as The Grand Tour, a much-anticipated show from the people behind Top Gear.</p>
<p>Netflix clearly wins when it comes to volume -- both in originals and catalogue -- but Amazon has closed the gap. If you had to pick one service to pay $9.99 a month for (Netflix's basic price) it would be the streaming leader, but as part of a broader service, Amazon Prime Video clearly offers value.</p>
<p>It's worth noting that Amazon sells Prime for a once-a-year $99 payment or for $10.99 a month ($131.88 a year). The company also sells access to its video service only for $8.99 a month (which seems like a lousy deal).</p>
<p>Basically, whether Amazon Prime is worth the price comes down to whether you ship at least a couple of orders each month that fall below the $50 threshold that gets you free (slower) shipping. Given the depth and breadth of what the online retailer sells and the pricing value it offers, it's hard to see many consumers for whom a $99 Prime membership would not be a good value.</p>
<p>Frequent Amazon shoppes can also further enhance their Prime savings by getting the Amazon Rewards Visa. That credit card gives users a 5% credit -- redeemable on Amazon.com -- for any purchases they make at the online retailer. In addition, the card offers 2% back at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores, and 1% back on every other purchase, all available as Amazon spending credits.</p>
<p>In most cases, the free two-day shipping alone should pay back the membership charges, and disciplined consumers should be able to well exceed that value simply by regularly ordering a few household staples from Amazon each month instead of lugging them home from a generally more expensive store. On top of that, the music and video services, as well as the long list of lesser perks Amazon Prime offers, make it a good deal for most American consumers.</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Dankline/info.aspx" type="external">Daniel Kline Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. He would sooner get rid of cable than Amazon Prime. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com, Netflix, and Visa. 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</a>.</p> | Is Amazon Prime Worth $99 a Year? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/16/is-amazon-prime-worth-year.html | 2017-01-16 | 0 |
<p>In a <a href="http://time.com/5016104/stan-van-gundy-nfl-protests/" type="external">long-winded essay</a> for TIME Magazine, Detroit Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy argues strenuously that NFL and WNBA players who have protested the national anthem are “role models of American patriotism.”</p>
<p>Beginning from the premise that he has been coaching for roughly 20 years in a league that is 75% black, Van Gundy writes, “In a time where <a href="http://time.com/4973738/white-supremacists-charlottesville-rally-richard-spencer/" type="external">bigotry seems on the rise</a> and commitment to racial equality on the decline, I have an obligation as a citizen to speak out and to support, in any way possible, those <a href="http://time.com/4956014/history-anthem-protests-nfl/" type="external">brave and patriotic athletes</a> who are working to bring change to our country.”</p>
<p>The irony of Van Gundy claiming “racial equality is on the decline” while coaching in a league chock-full of black athletes making millions of dollars each year, can hardly be overestimated.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, in the immortal words used by leftists all too common recently, he persists, citing Michael Eric Dyson’s distinction between nationalism and patriotism:</p>
<p>Nationalism, he said, is supporting your country no matter what, right or wrong. Patriotism, on the other hand, is caring so deeply about your country that you take it as your duty to hold it accountable to its highest values and to fight to make it the very best it can be. Under this definition, these athletes and coaches are role models of American patriotism.</p>
<p>And so, Van Gundy posits, “Honoring America has to mean much, much more than standing at attention for a song (one which, by the way, contains racist language in <a href="http://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/the-lyrics.aspx" type="external">later verses</a>).”</p>
<p>A song, one might add, that has been honored by the nation’s greatest heroes, whether in the military or those defending our streets, for roughly 200 years.</p>
<p>Van Gundy notes that our military, in defending America, has defended the right to free speech, which the athletes have chosen to exercise. Thus he opines that the very act of exercising their right to free speech is an action to be lauded. The question might be asked, is the very act of speaking freely something to be honored? Does the content matter?</p>
<p>Van Gundy likens the athletes to the patriots who launched the Revolutionary War to protest against abuses by Great Britain. He writes, “Our founding fathers declared independence from Great Britain because they were dissatisfied with the laws and policies that they believed abridged their freedoms.”</p>
<p>Van Gundy posits that the athletes who protest are willing to make “significant personal sacrifices,” adding, “These athletes and many others are risking future contracts and endorsement opportunities to speak out on issues of racial injustice because they feel duty-bound to do so. These are patriots of the highest order.”</p>
<p>Then, the condemnation of America as a land of systemic racism:</p>
<p>What is it that they want? Simply and succinctly: equality. Equal rights. Equal justice. Equal treatment by police and others in authority. Equal opportunity. The second sentence of the Declaration of Independence starts with, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” In over two centuries, from slavery to segregation to lynchings and <a href="http://time.com/4426433/freddie-gray-charges-dropped-baltimore-officers/" type="external">police brutality</a> to the <a href="http://time.com/3965245/john-legend-mass-incarceration/" type="external">mass incarceration of people of color</a>, we have not even come close to that ideal. It is our systemic racial inequality, not athletes kneeling during the national anthem, that dishonors our country.</p> | Detroit Pistons Coach: Athletes Protesting Anthem Are 'Role Models Of American Patriotism' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/23593/detroit-pistons-coach-athletes-protesting-anthem-hank-berrien | 2017-11-15 | 0 |
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<p>This was the moment to award the medal to the White Helmets, the 3,000 or so Syrian volunteers who rush in to rescue victims of government and Russian air strikes. While Western leaders wring their hands as waves of barrel bombs deliberately destroy Aleppo’s hospitals and aid convoys, the White Helmets pull survivors from the rubble. They’ve saved more than 60,000 civilians, while losing hundreds of their own members.</p>
<p>At the very moment on Friday when the Nobel committee named the president of Colombia the winner, Syrian (or Russian) planes were bombing a White Helmet headquarters in Aleppo.</p>
<p>True, the medal winner, Juan Manuel Santos, did negotiate a peace deal with FARC guerrillas (although the deal was rejected in a popular referendum). But the work of the White Helmets has a greater global significance. Giving them the prize would have countered the damning narrative delivered daily by Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s Vladimir Putin that the world has entered an era where regimes can commit heinous war crimes with impunity because the rest of the world doesn’t care.</p>
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<p>To understand the courage of the group’s members, take a look at the film “The White Helmets” on Netflix. It begins with a young, sweet-faced, former construction worker named Khalid Farah saying goodbye to his toddler daughter, Amal, as he grabs his helmet and rushes out to meet his fellow volunteers. As a Russian plane whooshes overhead, he runs toward the carnage. “Does anyone need rescuing?” Khalid shouts.</p>
<p>A moment of joy in the film comes when Khalid and his colleagues, who have worked for 16 hours straight, extract a 1-month-old infant alive from the rubble of an apartment building.</p>
<p>Late last month, Raed Saleh, the founder of the White Helmets, told the Atlantic Council in Washington how the group formed in 2013 after Assad started using barrel bombs, which are designed to injure as many civilians as possible. He recalled speaking before the U.N. Security Council 18 months ago, when a resolution was passed condemning barrel bombs.</p>
<p>Six months later, one of his colleagues spoke to the U.N. council about the regime’s continued use of chlorine bombs. “Is it really possible we will we be speaking again in six months about bunker bombs?” he asked, referring to weapons used against civilians seeking refuge in basements.</p>
<p>Today, he said, in eastern Aleppo, 275,000 civilians live under siege with no access to food, water, electricity, “basically awaiting their death.” According to Saleh, the fresh-faced young volunteer Khalid, who rescued the baby in the Netflix film, was recently killed.</p>
<p>It’s clear that neither Assad nor Putin was ever really interested in the cease fire that Secretary of State John Kerry worked so desperately to negotiate in September – with very little political or military leverage. The cease fire ended after Russian planes bombed a U.N. aid convoy.</p>
<p>“In a maximum of two months, the city of eastern Aleppo may be totally destroyed, (causing) the deaths of thousands of civilians,” said Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy to Syria. He could have added, but didn’t: “while the world stands by.”</p>
<p>At this late date, it’s hard to imagine a plausible political plan that would stop the Syrian slaughter in the near term. President Barack Obama is unlikely to shift course before he leaves office, leaving Washington with little leverage on Moscow. Hillary Clinton – who, as secretary of state, had tougher instincts than her boss on Syria – has said little on the subject. Meantime, Donald Trump praises and defends Putin (while his running mate contradicts him).</p>
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<p>So what difference could the Nobel committee have made?</p>
<p>For one thing, it could have rewarded a valiant group that embodies the meaning of the peace prize. On one side of the prize’s gold medal is an inscription that reads: Pro pace et fraternitate gentium, which means, “For the peace and brotherhood of men.”</p>
<p>For another, the award would have signaled that the world does not passively accept the ethos of the barrel bombers. It would have shamed Western politicians who have failed to put sufficient pressure on Moscow – and Tehran – to advance a political deal on Syria.</p>
<p>And it would have given the White Helmets reason to believe the world had not forgotten Syria’s civilians.</p>
<p>That end won’t come soon, but the Nobel committee missed the chance to provide a glimmer of hope.</p>
<p>To support the work of the White Helmets, visit <a href="http://herofund.whitehelmets.org/donate/crowdfund" type="external">herofund.whitehelmets.org/donate/crowdfund</a></p>
<p>Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p>
<p /> | Nobel prize should have gone to Syrian group | false | https://abqjournal.com/866084/nobel-prize-shouldve-gone-to-syrian-group.html | 2 |
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<p>Sen. Rand Paul appears to be inching closer to helping GOP leaders get a healthcare bill over a procedural hurdle, <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/342981-rand-paul-opens-door-to-backing-healthcare-bill-on-key-hurdle" type="external">The Hill reported</a>.</p>
<p>The Kentucky Republican told reporters he’d support a motion to proceed to the House-passed healthcare bill —&#160;the vehicle being used for action in the Senate —&#160;if he could get a deal on amendments, including one on a “clean repeal.”</p>
<p>“If they want my vote, they have to at least agree that we’re going to at least have a vote on clean repeal,” he said, The Hill reported.</p>
<p>He suggested he’d be on board of Senate leaders guarantee votes on some of the most prominent healthcare proposals from the GOP — including repeal-only, repeal-and-replace and a bill created by Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Susan Collins of Maine.</p>
<p>“I think they’re pretty equal in support,” he said, The Hill reported. “Let’s do a random selection. Let’s have three or four of them, put them in random order, the first day, equal billing. I think that’s a compromise. I’m willing to get on the bill.”</p>
<p>Senators are expected to hold a procedural vote Tuesday.</p>
<p>Paul has been a unequivocal “no” vote on the GOP’s healthcare bill, and GOP leaders could get a boost if Paul were to come over to the “yes” side, and at least debate healthcare legislation.</p>
<p>“Up front we have a vote on clean repeal, and maybe [the Better Care Reconciliation Act], and maybe Collins-Cassidy. I think the major proposals could be put at the very front. We debate them on the first day,” he said.</p> | Rand Paul: I Want a 'Clean Repeal' Amendment on Healthcare Bill | false | https://newsline.com/rand-paul-i-want-a-clean-repeal-amendment-on-healthcare-bill/ | 2017-07-20 | 1 |
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<p>Silver and gold miner Silver Standard Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: SSRI) reacted to the commodity downturn like most in the precious metals industry -- it cut costs. The overall performance of the company is pretty impressive on this front, too. However, it's the little things that added up to big savings. Here's a quick analysis of what Silver Standard did right at one of its key mines.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Between 2014 and 2016 Silver Standard was able to reduce its cash costs per gold equivalent ounce from $810 to $653. That's an impressive 24% decrease in the underlying cost of operating its mines. This is the biggest piece of all-in sustaining costs, a broader measure that includes the capital spending needed to sustain production. For example, Silver Standard's all-in sustaining costs at its Marigold mine were up 7% year over year in 2016, partly because of the construction of a new leach pad. Cash costs, meanwhile, were roughly 6.5% lower.</p>
<p>Image source: Silver Standard Resources Inc.</p>
<p>So cash costs can give you a good idea of how efficiently a miner is running its mines. But it's important to remember that cash costs are a top-level number; there's a lot that goes on underneath that figure. This is why it's worth looking at some of the little things that Silver Standard has been doing, to see how they've added up to a 24% difference between 2014 and 2016.</p>
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<p>One of the little changes that Silver Standard implemented is known as a "hot shift change." That sounds a lot more exciting than it really is, but it helped the company reduce its hauling costs by 23% between 2014 and 2016 at its Marigold mine. What used to happen during a shift change was that drivers would turn off their vehicles, with the thought that it would reduce wear and tear on the engines and save fuel. However, engine technology has advanced notably, and now the trucks are left running while the shifts change. This ultimately reduces equipment downtime and, thus, increases productivity. Leaving trucks running sounds like a silly thing, but the savings clearly add up.</p>
<p>Another notable change was the decision to reduce the number of drills the company used at Marigold from six to four. With less gear, Silver Standard was forced to use its remaining drills more efficiently, effectively getting more out of each machine. The impact was a 17% reduction in the cost per foot drilled.</p>
<p>Silver Standard's costs have been moving steadily lower, helping improve margins as precious-metals prices head higher. Image source: Silver Standard Resources Inc.</p>
<p>Silver Standard also changed its blasting patterns, blasting products, and loading sequence at Marigold. How things work together at a mine is a giant jigsaw puzzle. You or I might view it as a logistical nightmare trying to figure out what needs to be where and when. But moving the pieces around a little helped the miner trim its blasting costs by 24% between 2014 and 2016. An outsider might not even notice the logistics change, but it obviously led to impressive results.</p>
<p>The last interesting change involved transferring the skills of a key employee to peers. The company asked the most effective shovel operator at Marigold to help train the other shovel operators, sharing best practices. It was another small change, but one that led to a 13% drop in the rope-shovel cost per tonne as the trainees adopted the new techniques they'd been shown.</p>
<p>Marigold's rope-shovel crew is a top industry performer. Image source: Silver Standard Resources Inc.</p>
<p>Mine costs ebb and flow for many reasons, including the age of a mine and the shifting geology of a site as material is dug up, so it wouldn't be surprising to see mine costs go up at Silver Standard in the future. But it's really easy to take big-picture numbers like cash costs and forget all the work that's going on beneath.</p>
<p>Indeed, little things like "hot shift changes" and sharing best practices can really start to add up, even though they are easy to miss. That's a mistake, because small changes like these highlight the focus Silver Standard has made on ensuring its operations run lean and mean. But the best part is that many of the changes noted here will have a lingering impact even if other pieces of the mining puzzle push costs up for a spell. In fact, next time you see big-picture numbers like cash costs and all-in sustaining costs, don't just move on to the next factoid; take a moment to read and understand what's driving the figure up or down. It could be more material than you think.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Silver Standard ResourcesWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
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<p><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=1ffddded-1882-4799-a123-905644f6a65c&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/ReubenGBrewer/info.aspx" type="external">Reuben Brewer 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> | 4 Little Things Silver Standard Resources Inc. Does Right, and the Big Result | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/06/4-little-things-silver-standard-resources-inc-does-right-and-big-result.html | 2017-04-06 | 0 |
<p>PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (AP) — The school board in Presque Isle is deciding whether to become the latest to abandon the fall break for the potato harvest.</p>
<p>Many farmers believe that the harvest break is good for the students by teaching them hard work and responsibility. It's also good for farms, of course.</p>
<p>But Maine Public <a href="http://mainepublic.org/post/looking-ax-vacation-potato-harvest-presque-isle-may-bring-it-classrooms" type="external">reports</a> that a growing number of community members and educators believe it's time for a change. A school district survey indicates only about 15 percent of Presque Isle High School students contributed to harvest work during the break last year.</p>
<p>School Administrative District One's school board will decide that question over the next few months.</p>
<p>In recent years, the towns of Houlton and Hodgdon eliminated their breaks, but they still accommodate students who want to work during the harvest.</p>
<p>PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (AP) — The school board in Presque Isle is deciding whether to become the latest to abandon the fall break for the potato harvest.</p>
<p>Many farmers believe that the harvest break is good for the students by teaching them hard work and responsibility. It's also good for farms, of course.</p>
<p>But Maine Public <a href="http://mainepublic.org/post/looking-ax-vacation-potato-harvest-presque-isle-may-bring-it-classrooms" type="external">reports</a> that a growing number of community members and educators believe it's time for a change. A school district survey indicates only about 15 percent of Presque Isle High School students contributed to harvest work during the break last year.</p>
<p>School Administrative District One's school board will decide that question over the next few months.</p>
<p>In recent years, the towns of Houlton and Hodgdon eliminated their breaks, but they still accommodate students who want to work during the harvest.</p> | Presque Isle deciding whether to eliminate harvest break | false | https://apnews.com/amp/5e9b00e1408e44d1b36b24ac6f673840 | 2018-01-16 | 2 |
<p>For months, activists and opposition researchers have circulated a report making explosive allegations about President-elect Donald Trump and his links to Russia. The report suggests that Russia has been “cultivating, supporting, and assisting” Trump, and has collected a file of compromising information on him, including incriminating details about his finances and his personal life. At a Wednesday press conference, Trump denied the report, calling it “fake news, phony stuff” and saying “it should never have been released.”</p>
<p>And Trump has a point. Up until recently, no journalistic outlet would publish the information because it could not be verified. But on Tuesday, BuzzFeed took the plunge and pressed “publish” anyway.</p>
<p>So we should read this report very skeptically, and then we should let it go. Here’s why.</p>
<p>1. We should be skeptical of everyone and everything. Trump’s links to Russia are very suspicious. His professed admiration for Putin, <a href="http://theweek.com/speedreads/643821/more-details-emerge-about-trump-campaign-chair-paul-manaforts-controversial-ukraine-ties" type="external">his relationship with Paul Manafort</a>, and his actions to remove confrontation with Russia over Ukraine from the Republican Party platform all raise eyebrows. But the idea that Trump is some sort of sleeper agent or Putin puppet goes too far. This reminds me of the freakout that ensued when it was revealed that ExxonMobil CEO and secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson had a good relationship with Putin. <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/667299/why-rex-tillerson-great-pick-secretary-state" type="external">Of course</a> he’s going to have a good relationship with the authoritarian kleptocrat of a country where his company does major business: That’s his job! Putin does not have some sort of magical mind-control powers. He is not directly controlling Tillerson, and by the same token, it seems hard to believe that Putin can directly control Trump. Yes, be suspicious of Trump’s ties to Russia, but also be suspicious of sensational, overly-simplistic generalizations about how political relationships work.</p>
<p>2. The most salacious parts of the report don’t pass the smell test. The files released Tuesday suggest Russia has proof of questionable sexual behavior on behalf of Trump, and might have tried to leverage that proof to gain cooperation from Trump. This would seem to be an attempt at what’s known as “kompromat” — sexual entrapment followed by blackmail. This is a time-honored Russian intelligence tradition, and indeed <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2010/12/the_spy_who_said_she_loved_me.html" type="external">a KGB specialty</a>. But I have a hard time believing that Trump would let himself be blackmailed with salacious information such as this. After all, the public already knows, based on <a href="http://theweek.com/speedreads/653871/washington-post-releases-graphic-audio-trump-discussing-women-2005" type="external">the Access Hollywood tape</a> released before the election, that Trump has a history of making lewd sexual comments and bragging about groping women. And voters elected him anyway. Even beyond the details of this report, I just don’t buy the premise that this kind of blackmail would ever work on Trump.</p>
<p>3. Follow the money. Salacious stories are irresistible to the media. But if I had to guess where Trump’s links to Russia are at their most juicy and objectionable, I would bet on his companies’ financial links to Russia. We know because of his history with bankruptcy Trump has struggled to find financing from Western banks and has sought financing from foreign countries, banks, and oligarchs. And we know it’s likely <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-presidential-debate-fact-check/2016/10/contrary-to-his-claims-there-is-evidence-that-trump-does-business-with-russians-229484" type="external">Trump has done business in Russia</a>. Putin uses financing from Kremlin-linked banks to advance Russian interests. My hunch is that the real scandal lies in the web of financial links between Trump and his companies and Russia, but that it’s going to take longer to come out. Why? Because poring over financial statements is a lot harder for a journalist to do than copying and pasting dodgy sex allegations.</p>
<p>4. We are too disoriented to respond right now. Hyper-partisanship is making it very hard to follow this story cogently. Republican officials who used to be Putin’s worst enemy are now waving off Trump’s close relationship with him. Meanwhile, the largely progressive media is treating the U.S. intelligence community’s words as Gospel when it alleges links between Russia and RNC hacks. This is despite the fact that U.S. intelligence has gotten a lot wrong in the past. What I mean is that this post-truth, fake-news, biased press, hyper-partisan era is exactly the wrong context for getting to the bottom of a fantastically important story, one that is probably more complex than a blackmail scenario. Trump’s biggest asset has been driving his opponents batty. Let’s not fall for it a hundredth time.</p>
<p>Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry is a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.</p> | Be Skeptical of the New Dossier on Trump’s Ties to Russia | false | https://eppc.org/publications/be-skeptical-of-the-new-dossier-on-trumps-ties-to-russia/ | 1 |
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<p>Jeff Sessions needs to find a dictionary and look up the definition of the word “irony”, because <a href="https://lawnewz.com/high-profile/protesters-banned-at-jeff-sessions-lecture-on-free-speech/" type="external">banning protests at a 1st Amendment speech</a> would be a perfect example of that word. Yet that’s exactly what Jeff Sessions did this week and he didn’t even once think that there was a problem with this. Ring of Fire’s <a href="https://twitter.com/farronbalanced?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" type="external">Farron Cousins</a> explains why these conservative snowflakes are so desperate to find their “safe spaces.”</p>
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<p>Transcript:</p>
<p>On Tuesday of this week, Jeff Sessions, Attorney General of the United States, spoke at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. He was giving a speech about the importance of the First Amendment and the freedoms that the First Amendments grants U.S. citizens. Before we get into what actually happened during the speech, let’s take time to appreciate the irony of the fact that his boss, Donald Trump, is currently attacking NFL and NBA players who are exercising their First Amendment freedoms. Probably not the best time for Jeff Sessions to go out there and talk about the freedoms of the First Amendments when his boss is out there attacking people for using those exact freedoms.</p>
<p>But, Jeff Sessions is clearly immune to that kind of irony. Because during his speech … Or, I guess before his speech even began, protesters were banned from attending a speech about the First Amendment from the Attorney General. Photographs of the speech itself showed many, many empty seats through the auditorium because a lot of people who were not necessarily Jeff Sessions’s fans, had been dis-invited from attending the speech in addition to the protesters.</p>
<p>Here we have the highest attorney in this country, giving a speech about basically freedom of speech, and not allowing people who disagree with him to attend or even show up. I mean, I know conservatives like to call liberals “snowflakes who love their safe spaces”, but isn’t that exactly what Jeff Sessions just proved to us that he is? I mean, you can’t get much more of a little delicate snowflake than not allowing people to attend a speech on free speech because they disagree with you. In essence, Jeff Sessions turned that whole auditorium into his personal little safe space because he’s too much of a coward to have to answer questions from someone who disagrees with him or from someone who knows more about the law than Jeff Sessions does.</p>
<p>Jeff Sessions is an absolute disgrace, a worthless human being, serving as our Attorney General. He has proven time and time again that he is a racist bigot. Now he’s proven that he’s so much of a coward that he can’t even be in the same room as someone who disagrees with him.</p>
<p>I think we all know now that conservatives are the real snowflakes out there and they’re trying to turn their little rallies into their own personal safe spaces so that they don’t ever have to be faced with a question or look another human being in the eye that happens to disagree with them on any issue.</p> | Jeff Sessions Banned Protestors From Attending His Speech on 1st Amendment Freedoms | true | https://trofire.com/2017/09/27/jeff-sessions-banned-protestors-attending-speech-1st-amendment-freedoms/ | 4 |
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<p>RIO RANCHO – If you’re scoring, that’s one state championship for Cleveland, and – for the first time in 25 years – one state championship for Rio Grande.</p>
<p>The Class 5A state wrestling tournament produced co-champions this year, as the Storm and Ravens shared the wealth on an emotional, riveting – and yes, mildly controversial – Saturday night at the Santa Ana Star Center.</p>
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<p>But as everyone shuffled out of the place, only one team was toting a blue trophy under its arm: Rio Grande.</p>
<p>Cleveland coach Corey Anderson hugged Rio Grande coach Loren Vigil after the last match, and what Anderson whispered in his ear brought Vigil to tears.</p>
<p>“I told him to take the trophy,” Anderson said. “He needed to go home and give it to his son and tell him that they won a state championship for him.”</p>
<p>Anderson was referring to Rio Grande freshman Pepper Vigil, Loren’s son, who is battling ALL – acute lymphoblastic leukemia.</p>
<p>“It meant a lot,” Vigil said, his eyes still moist moments later.</p>
<p>The Ravens last won a state title in 1988. Cleveland was the defending champion.</p>
<p>Both finished with 196 points. The Storm will get a blue trophy of its own in a few days.</p>
<p>Rio Grande’s only champion was senior Nick Chavez at 195 pounds, as he completed an undefeated season with a pin of Atrisco Heritage’s James Romero. Chavez almost missed the tournament after being suspended Thursday, when he was charged with stealing money from a fellow wrestler and striking him across the face at school.</p>
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<p>His family fought the suspension, and a court forced the New Mexico Activities Association to include Chavez in the field Friday morning.</p>
<p>Chavez was met with a smattering of boos when he was introduced, and then again after he won his match.</p>
<p>Asked whether he would grant an interview, Chavez told the Journal: “No.”</p>
<p>Chavez’s victory put Rio Grande ahead in the team standings 196-192.</p>
<p>Cleveland’s Clayton Pankey, a transfer from Bernalillo, followed in the next match at 220. He nearly pinned Valley’s Seth Mello, but eventually won a 9-6 decision to create a team tie.</p>
<p>“I didn’t know how far that shoulder was off the mat, but I wanted (the pin) bad,” Pankey said.</p>
<p>Rio Grande heavyweight Adrian Aranda had a chance to give the Ravens an outright title, but he was pinned by Atrisco’s Ismael Chavez. Chavez said he was aware of the team standings and what a win might have meant for Aranda and Rio Grande.</p>
<p>“But at the end,” he said, “I was just going for the win. I was just glad I could help Cleveland a little bit.”</p>
<p>The tournament was one of the most compelling in years.</p>
<p>There were a handful of multiple individual champions, led by four-timer Paul Mascareñas of Cleveland, who offered up the most interesting quote of the night after a 16-3 major decision of Eldorado’s Logan Gonzales at 113.</p>
<p>“I don’t feel like a four-time champ, actually,” he said. “I don’t feel anything right now. It’s weird.”</p>
<p>Volcano Vista’s Lawrence Otero (138) and West Mesa’s DeShun Brown (126) won their third titles. Albuquerque High’s D’Yon Santiago (145 pounds), like Rio Grande’s Chavez, won his second. Two other champions – Atrisco’s Chavez and Cleveland’s Pankey – won state titles as 4A athletes a year ago.</p>
<p>Third-place Rio Rancho had three champions in Orlando Gutierrez at 132, Miguel Barreras at 152 and Jordan Lara at 160. Cleveland also had a third winner in 170-pounder Arturo Vigil.</p>
<p>Atrisco Heritage’s Nate Goode took the wildly competitive 182-pound bracket, edging Manzano’s Chris Collins 4-3 with a two-point takedown with 18 seconds left.</p>
<p>The other two champions were Volcano Vista’s Cameron Huizar at 120, and Las Cruces’ Dylan Udero at 106. Eleven of 14 No. 1 seeds won state. — This article appeared on page D1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Cleveland, Rio Grande share state title | false | https://abqjournal.com/172198/cleveland-rio-grande-share-state-title.html | 2 |
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<p>The government's official 9/11 conspiracy theory was the catalyst for Washington's ongoing slaughter of Muslims and destruction of their countries.</p>
<p>Millions of refugees from Washington's wars are currently over-running Europe. Washington's 14-year and ongoing slaughter of Muslims and destruction of their countries are war crimes for which the US government's official 9/11 conspiracy theory was the catalyst. Factual evidence and science do not support Washington's conspiracy theory. The 9/11 Commission did not conduct an investigation. It was not permitted to investigate. The Commission sat and listened to the government's story and wrote it down. Afterwards, the chairman and cochairman of the Commission said that the Commission "was set up to fail." For a factual explanation of 9/11, watch this film:</p>
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<p>Here is a presentation by Pilots For 9/11 Truth:</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.luogocomune.net/site/modules/sections/index.php?op=viewarticle&amp;artid=167" type="external">Here</a> is an extensive examination of many of the aspects of 9/11.</p>
<p>Phil Restino of the Central Florida chapter of Veterans For Peace wants to know why national antiwar organizations buy into the official 9/11 story when the official story is the basis for the wars that antiwar organizations oppose. Some are beginning to wonder if ineffectual peace groups are really Homeland Security or CIA fronts?</p>
<p>The account below of the government's 9/11 conspiracy theory reads like a parody, but in fact is an accurate summary of the official 9/11 conspiracy theory. It was <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/6177194/Charlie-Sheen-urges-Barack-Obama-to-reopen-911-investigation-in-video-message.html#disqus_thread" type="external">posted as a commen</a>t in the online UK Telegraph on September 12, 2009, in the comment section in response to Charlie Sheen's request to President Obama to conduct a real investigation into what happened on September 11, 2001.</p> | 9/11 Fourteen Years Later | false | http://foreignpolicyjournal.com/2015/09/11/911-fourteen-years-later/ | 2015-09-11 | 1 |
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kelsey Mitchell scored 22 points and Stephanie Mavunga and Linnae Harper turned in double-doubles to lead No. 12 Ohio State to an 85-70 victory over Indiana on Sunday.</p>
<p>Mitchell, the all-time Division-I leader for career 3-pointers, was only 1 of 8 from the arc but 8 of 11 otherwise in passing Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante (2000-04) for second on the Big Ten’s career scoring list with 2,938 points.</p>
<p>Mavunga had 14 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks for her eighth double-double this season with Harper picking up her sixth with 19 points and 10 boards.</p>
<p>Tyra Buss scored 24 points and Kym Royster a career-high 22 for the Hoosiers (7-8, 0-2 Big Ten).</p>
<p>Ohio State (12-2, 2-0) scored the game’s first 11 points and led 32-13 at halftime. Indiana didn’t get closer than 13 thereafter and then only with 35 seconds left.</p>
<p>The Buckeyes ran their winning streak over the Hoosiers to 11.</p>
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kelsey Mitchell scored 22 points and Stephanie Mavunga and Linnae Harper turned in double-doubles to lead No. 12 Ohio State to an 85-70 victory over Indiana on Sunday.</p>
<p>Mitchell, the all-time Division-I leader for career 3-pointers, was only 1 of 8 from the arc but 8 of 11 otherwise in passing Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante (2000-04) for second on the Big Ten’s career scoring list with 2,938 points.</p>
<p>Mavunga had 14 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks for her eighth double-double this season with Harper picking up her sixth with 19 points and 10 boards.</p>
<p>Tyra Buss scored 24 points and Kym Royster a career-high 22 for the Hoosiers (7-8, 0-2 Big Ten).</p>
<p>Ohio State (12-2, 2-0) scored the game’s first 11 points and led 32-13 at halftime. Indiana didn’t get closer than 13 thereafter and then only with 35 seconds left.</p>
<p>The Buckeyes ran their winning streak over the Hoosiers to 11.</p> | No. 12 Ohio State women cruise against Indiana 85-70 | false | https://apnews.com/60190091e97c49b7ae3e6672f15ea7f5 | 2017-12-31 | 2 |
<p>Investing.com – The dollar edged lower against the other major currencies on Tuesday, as investors remained cautious amid ongoing uncertainty over the fate of a U.S. tax reform plan and ahead of a series of speeches by central bank officials.</p>
<p>Market participants were looking ahead to speeches by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, due later in the day.</p>
<p>Investors also continued to monitor developments in the U.S., where Senate Republicans unveiled a tax plan on Thursday that differed from the one crafted by House Republicans, to reconciling the differences between the two plans with just a short time before the year-end deadline they have set to pass it.</p>
<p>The , which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was down 0.19% at 94.22 by 05:15 a.m. ET (09:15 GMT).</p>
<p>The euro was higher, with up 0.43% at 1.1716, while slipped 0.13% to 1.3096 even as data showed that British inflation in October.</p>
<p>The pound remained under presssure amid concerns over Theresa May’s .</p>
<p>The two-day parliamentary debate on the Brexit bill was due to get underway later Tuesday and will take place against a backdrop of heightened political uncertainty.</p>
<p>In the euro zone, data showed that economy in the last quarter, while a separate report showed that German economic sentiment in November.</p>
<p>Elswehere, edged up 0.11% to 113.74, while fell 0.16% to 0.9947.</p>
<p>The Australian dollar was stronger, with up 0.12% at 0.7632, while dropped 0.52% to 0.6867.</p>
<p>The Aussie managed to shrug off a published earlier in the day.</p>
<p>China is Australia’s biggest export partner and New Zealand’s second biggest export partner.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, eased up 0.08% to trade at 1.2744.</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> | Forex – Dollar Edges Lower Vs. Rivals in Cautious Trade | false | https://newsline.com/forex-dollar-edges-lower-vs-rivals-in-cautious-trade/ | 2017-11-14 | 1 |
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<p>According to a statement from State Police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo, Santa Fe officers responded to the stabbing call at the Tuscany at St. Francis apartments, 2218 Miguel Chavez Road, just northeast of St. Francis Drive and Zia Road, and were involved in a shooting around 11 a.m.</p>
<p>Santa Fe Police secure the scene at the Tuscany at St. Francis apartments after a SWAT team standoff led to gunfire and a man died. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The stabbing suspect is dead, and Armijo said investigators were trying to determine Wednesday afternoon whether the suspect was killed by police gunfire or a self-inflicted wound. The stabbing victim was at a hospital in stable condition, she said. No officers were injured.</p>
<p>A man who lives near where the shooting occurred said he heard police on a loudspeaker for about an hour trying to get a man to come out of an apartment. He said he heard about six loud bangs around 11:30 a.m.</p>
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<p>“All of a sudden, we heard ‘boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,’ ” he said. The man asked that he not be identified.</p>
<p>State Police investigators were conducting interviews and gathering evidence to try to determine what led to the shooting, Armijo said.</p>
<p>She said the name of the stabbing suspect will be released after proper notifications are made. The names of the SFPD officers involved won’t be made public until all interviews of the officers are conducted, Armijo said.</p>
<p>SFPD spokesman Greg Gurule said the officers will be placed on standard leave. He said Wednesday afternoon that Chief Patrick Gallagher had not yet determined how many officers to put on leave.</p>
<p>Resident Angela Luna said she saw several police cars and an ambulance drive up in front of her apartment just before 11 a.m. and saw the SWAT team setting up. She said she heard seven loud shots about 20 minutes later and said more police began showing up.</p>
<p>“They wanted us to stay inside and make sure our doors were locked,” Luna said.</p>
<p>State Police were asked to investigate the shooting by the SFPD, Armijo said.</p>
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<p>Police tape blocked off the scene at Tuscany at St. Francis apartments Wednesday where shots were fired and a man died during a police SWAT standoff. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p> | Stabbing suspect dies in standoff | false | https://abqjournal.com/1035252/stabbing-call-in-santa-fe-leads-to-fatal-officer-involved-shooting.html | 2017-07-19 | 2 |
<p>The Hill newspaper <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/203731-business-groups-republicans-launch-onslaught-on-president-over-keystone-" type="external">reports</a> that business groups are stepping up the pressure on the Obama administration to approve the Keystone pipeline to carry oil from Canada to refineries in Texas:</p>
<p>“U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue plans to highlight the pipeline in his closely watched annual speech Thursday on the state of American business.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>‘Keystone — and energy as a whole — will be a major element of Tom’s speech tomorrow,’ a spokesman for the business group said Wednesday.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Separately, Business Roundtable President John Engler, a former GOP governor of Michigan, will hold a news conference Thursday touting what advocates call the jobs and energy security benefits of the project.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>This week’s actions are part of a wider GOP and industry blitz in favor of Keystone. Republicans are using the pipeline as an election-season political weapon against President Obama, arguing he can create jobs and help the economy by approving it.”</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Having already studied the project for years, the Obama White House has postponed a final decision until 2013 - ie, until after the election - in order to escape an awkward dilemma: offend environmentalists who oppose the pipeline or offend unionists who favor the pipeline.</p>
<p>The stated grounds of environmental opposition to the Keystone project? The pipeline’s route passes through Nebraska, and local activists fret that the pipeline might crack, spill, and poison local aquifers. The impression is left that this project would despoil a virginal natural landscape.</p>
<p>Let’s do a reality check.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>Here’s the map of the existing <a href="http://www.theodora.com/pipelines/united_states_pipelines_map.jpg" type="external">network</a> of (major) oil pipelines in the United States.</p>
<p>As you’ll see, Nebraska is already criss-crossed by pipelines—just as you would expect from a state so near the geographic center of the country.</p>
<p>Here’s the natural gas pipeline <a href="http://www.eia.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/analysis_publications/ngpipeline/dependstates_map.html" type="external">network</a>:</p>
<p>To look at these maps is to see instantly the speciousness of the stated objection to Keystone. The real motive is opposition to anything that might increase oil use in the United States—combined with a cowardly refusal by environmental groups to propose the one policy that might actually achieve that end: significant energy taxation.</p>
<p>Environmental groups are caught in a big lie: they want people to believe that green technology will lower the cost of energy. That’s pretty self-evidently false. That original falsehood tangles environmentalists in a whole series of knock-on falsehoods, including the falsehood that they only object to Keystone because of the route—rather than the truth that they oppose all new sources of oil altogether.</p> | Why Environmentalists Actually Oppose Keystone XL—David Frum | true | https://thedailybeast.com/why-environmentalists-actually-oppose-keystone-xldavid-frum | 2018-10-04 | 4 |
<p>Some twenty-three years ago, Ambassador Max&#160;Kampelman—former nuclear arms reduction negotiator with the Soviet Union and Counselor to the Department of State—decided that I needed a bit of diplomatic experience and invited me to be a public member of the U.S. delegation he would lead to the Copenhagen meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, in the summer of 1990.</p>
<p>It was an interesting gathering, being the first review of the “Helsinki Accords” since the Berlin Wall had come down. The head of the Romanian delegation had a noticeable and somewhat ominous bulge beneath the armpit of his jacket. The head of delegation of another country, which had best remain unnamed, wore a three-piece suit that seemed to have been dry-cleaned in clam chowder. The intellectual leading lights of the just-completed Revolution of 1989—the Czechs and the Poles—were fully up to speed in their approach to our topic, which was establishing the rule of law in a post-communist Europe; others, it seemed, would take longer to acclimate themselves to the New (democratic) Order.</p>
<p>My job was to be the ambassador’s speechwriter and liaison to the Holy See delegation (which was, in fact, one person). Max and I worked out several sharp, substantive statements that were not typical State Department&#160;pablum—on the meaning of pluralism (differences engaged civilly, not differences ignored); on the priority of religious freedom in any meaningful scheme of human rights; on the moral (not merely pragmatic) superiority of the rule of law to sheer coercion.</p>
<p>I also learned how to sit placidly, feigning interest, to remarkably long-winded speeches from professional gabblers, in the days before you could plug your iPod into your simultaneous translation earphones and thus enjoy some serious music while the diplomatese, like “Ol’ Man River,” just kept&#160;rollin’ along.</p>
<p>On the last day, Max gave me lunch and asked me what I had learned. “A great reverence for my great-grandfather’s widowed mother,” I replied. The ambassador’s puzzlement invited further explanation: “. . . who had the sense to get out of this patchwork of quarreling tribes and come to America.” Max’s own parents being émigré Romanian Jews, he was not inclined to contest my point.</p>
<p>Prior to his death at ninety-two this past January 25,Max&#160;Kampelman&#160;could look back on a lifetime of high adventure and great achievement. He was a World War II conscientious objector who nevertheless contributed to the nation’s war effort by volunteering for a starvation experiment at the University of Minnesota that dropped him to 100 pounds but taught medical lessons that saved the lives of former POWs and death-camp survivors. He took advanced degrees in both law and political science and became a&#160;consigliere&#160;to Hubert Humphrey, whom he might well have served as White House counsel had the 1968 election gone differently.</p>
<p>He was a major figure in forcing human rights issues onto the U.S. foreign policy agenda, made an invaluable contribution to the moral&#160;delegitimation&#160;of the Soviet Union as ambassador for Presidents Carter and Reagan to the Madrid Review Conference on the Helsinki Accords in the early 1980s, and then worked himself into a heart attack negotiating a nuclear arms reduction pact with the USSR. In his last years, Max joined forces with other foreign policy heavyweights like Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, and Sam Nunn in urging that the elimination of nuclear weapons become a national policy goal.</p>
<p>Throughout his public life, Max, who was not an especially pious man, worked out of the Jewish moral heritage he cherished: there was good in men and women, and it should be encouraged; there was evil in people and in the world, and it must be fought; true political authority had to serve the cause of justice.</p>
<p>When Max helped engineer my 1983-84 fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and thus my re-location to Washington, D.C., neither one of us thought he was incubating a papal biographer. But as his life had taken surprising turns, so did mine, not without his help. The point, he would insist, was to live vocationally.</p>
<p>George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. and holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.&#160;Mr. Weigel’s syndicated Catholic press column, “The Catholic Difference,” is the most widely circulated Catholic press column in the country, reaching a combined readership of some two million persons each week.</p> | Remembering Max Kampelman | false | https://eppc.org/publications/remembering-max-kampelman/ | 1 |
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<p>Shares in bookseller Barnes &amp; Noble tumbled nearly 12 percent Thursday after the company reported a sharp drop in quarterly sales.</p>
<p>It said part of the blame was that in the same period last year, its sales got a big boost by the release of “Harry Potter and The Cursed Child.” There was no similar hot seller in this year’s quarter.</p>
<p>The New York-based company’s total sales fell nearly 8 percent in its fiscal second quarter that ended Oct. 28 compared to last year, fueling a loss of $30.1 million. The company had a loss of $20.4 million in the same quarter last year.</p>
<p>Its sales at established stores fell 6.3 percent, with the company attributing half of that decline to the sales period being compared to last year’s quarter that featured the release of the script book for the Harry Potter play of the same name. The company blamed the remainder of the decline on its non-book products and said it would focus more on selling books while trimming its toy and game selections.</p>
<p>It said it expects sales at established stores to be about flat for the rest of its fiscal year.</p>
<p>Two weeks ago, Barnes &amp; Noble’s shares surged after activist investor Sandell Asset Management proposed buying the bookseller and taking it private. Barnes &amp; Noble said it did not take the offer seriously.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The company said it had a loss of 41 cents per share for the quarter. Three analysts surveyed expected an average loss of 26 cents for the quarter. In the second quarter last year, Barnes &amp; Noble lost 29 cents per share.</p>
<p>Barnes &amp; Noble posted revenue of $791.1 million in the period, less than the $811 million two analysts surveyed had expected.</p>
<p>Shares in Barnes &amp; Noble Inc. fell 90 cents to close Thursday at $6.90. The company’s shares have dropped more than 45 percent in the past 12 months.</p>
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<p>Elements of this story were generated in part by Automated Insights ( <a href="http://automatedinsights.com/ap)" type="external">http://automatedinsights.com/ap)</a> using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BKS at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BKS</p> | Harry Potter puts a curse on Barnes & Noble’s sales | false | https://abqjournal.com/1100629/harry-potter-puts-a-curse-on-barnes-nobles-sales.html | 2017-12-01 | 2 |
<p>Disclaimer:Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.</p>
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<p>Constellation Brands said Thursday that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income jumped 37 percent as sales of its Mexican beer brands Corona Extra and Modelo Especial rose. Constellation also said it will pay its first dividend since it went public 42 years ago, and its shares rose to an all-time high Thursday.</p>
<p>The wine, liquor and beer company said it will pay a dividend of 31 cents per share for holders of its Class A common stock and 28 cents per share for its Class B common stock. It will be paid on May 22, to those who own stock by May 8.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Beer sales, which included Corona Extra, Modelo Especial and Negra Modelo, rose 12 percent. Sales of its wine and spirit brands, including Robert Mondavi wine and Svedka vodka, rose 1 percent.</p>
<p>The Victor, New York, company reported net income of $214.6 million, or $1.06 per share, in the three month ending February 28, compared with $157.2 million, or 79 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.</p>
<p>Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring gains, came to $1.03 per share, topping Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 94 cents per share.</p>
<p>Revenue rose 5 percent to $1.36 billion in the period, meeting Wall Street forecasts.</p>
<p>For the year, the company reported profit of $839.3 million, or $4.17 per share. Revenue was reported as $6.03 billion.</p>
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<p>Constellation Brands expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.70 to $4.90 per share. Analysts expected earnings of $4.82 per share, according to FactSet.</p>
<p>Shares of Constellation Brands Inc. rose 65 cents to $119.82 in morning trading Thursday. Earlier, they reached an all-time high of $121.88. Its shares are up about 48 percent in the last 12 months.</p>
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<p>Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on STZ at http://www.zacks.com/ap/STZ</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Keywords: Constellation Brands, Earnings Report</p> | Constellation Brands posts 37 percent jump in 4Q profit on beer sales; announces 1st dividend | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/04/09/constellation-brands-posts-37-percent-jump-in-4q-profit-on-beer-sales-announces.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>“Americans are the only people I know who believe their own propaganda.”</p>
<p>Deborah Eisenberg, American writer</p>
<p>I think relatively few observers appreciate the severe limits of America’s 18th-century Constitution, the document shaping offices which so many now scramble to fill. Change does not come easily, no matter how eloquent the speeches, how worthy the promises, or how great the need. It would be easier to raise the Titanic intact than to make one authentic change of consequence in America.</p>
<p>The only exception is war, a form of destructive change which occurs with about the same frequency as elections in America. Most members of both parties unfailingly vote for it, support it with additional votes, make no apologies, and utter drivel about fighting for freedom. To do otherwise is regarded as unpatriotic and, in many parts of America, as downright dangerous.</p>
<p>America stopped declaring war after 1941 because it was too inefficient. War was put on an assembly-line basis. Now, senators and others briefly huddle before the Pentagon is ordered to bomb the shit out of some unfortunate people. In the process, the president is elevated temporarily to Caesar, never to be seriously questioned before the corpses are all counted. It is an unfortunate matter of style in Bush’s case that Caesar more closely resembles Garfield Goose than Augustus, so treating Bush with imperial reverence always has a certain absurdity about it, but absurdity is never allowed to get in the way of some serious destruction.</p>
<p>Barack Obama is said to be about change, and I think that he is, but the change he represents is in his thoughtfulness, tone of voice, and eloquent selection of words, important enough after seven years of Bush’s visceral stupidity and consistent appeal to the lowest human instincts. Obama is a decent, thoughtful politician, something not seen in the White House for a long time, and there is no more powerful argument for the importance of intelligence and reflection in high office than the grim reality of Bush.</p>
<p>Obama has what Americans like to call “class,” a form of grace that is almost indefinable and very rare in American national politics. There are echoes in his speech of John Kennedy with just a light touch of Dr. King’s cadences. He has the same effortless ability to deliver a line with subtle force. Most importantly, Obama literally breathes a sense of freshness and honesty, something which cannot be taught by the media consultants who infest these campaigns like blowflies in raw wounds.</p>
<p>When Hillary Clinton recently attacked Obama for raising too many hopes with his words an accusation more revealing of Clinton’s character than Obama’s – his answer flowed so naturally and with such quiet force of truth that his words seemed to provide a defining moment. Clinton brittlely insisted that change came only through steady hard work, something apparently she to the exclusion of others had done all her life, but the only truth she succeeded in communicating was that she was ready to put her head down like Bob Cratchit with no greater purpose than to fill a record number of forms, while giving off whiffs of sour attitude. Not a hint of grace there.</p>
<p>There is, at times, something painfully reminiscent of Bob Dole in Hillary Clinton. Dole, always a bitter man, even when he made a joke, communicated a sense that he was somehow entitled to high office because he grew up in Kansas and did his newspaper route faithfully and was injured in the war. Clinton’s self-serving stuff about hard work is Bob Dole Lite.</p>
<p>Clinton has been terribly abused in her public life, abused while First Lady by savage personal attacks from Republicans and, importantly, by her own husband’s stingingly-embarrassing behavior. That history may well explain some of her Bob Dole quality, but people do not vote for a national leader out of sympathy for a bitter past, or at least they should not.</p>
<p>Clinton has shown yet another unpleasant aspect of herself in this campaign: her excruciatingly bad acting talent. First, there was that (recorded) use of Southern drawl when speaking in the South, then there were all those photo-ops with her face fixed in a determined, big-eyed Howdy Doody smile, and only recently, there was the quavering voice and whimpering sounds about it all being for America in reply to a question about how she continued her battle. She is simply terrible at doing these things, and I am sure it is obvious to all astute readers of human communication. The impression made is disingenuousness.</p>
<p>As for Clinton’s argument that she has great experience, it simply eludes me. Clinton spent her White House years swinging between the political fights of her husband, being called names in return, and baking cookies in a frilly apron. I think we know which was the genuine Clinton: the cookies were another form of repellently insincere communication.</p>
<p>But insincere communication works in America, the public’s being so heavily conditioned by advertising and marketing. Clinton’s whimper in New Hampshire stands with more historic events like Nixon’s Checkers speech, almost enough to make those sensitive to language puke.</p>
<p>A word here about Clinton’s unexpected (narrow) win in New Hampshire after polls said she would lose: I am convinced the only factor responsible for this was a brief demonstration at an appearance of hers by some oafs chanting about her getting back to the ironing board. The event, hardly noted nationally, is said to have been well broadcast in New Hampshire. Coming shortly before the vote, it undoubtedly caused a swing with women voters who generally like Obama. You might think those ironing-board oafs were executing a clever Republican plan to promote Clinton indirectly since I am sure she is seen as the more vulnerable ultimate opponent.</p>
<p>My observation about the importance of intelligence in high office instantly excludes from that office John McCain, whose facade of freshness and independent-mindedness during the 2000 campaign was stripped away in a series of belly-crawling apologies to the Religious Right and Bush, a performance crowned by a tearful, knees-bent, televised hugging of Bush around the middle, reminding one of a tableau from a 17th century artist showing a follower touching Christ’s garment.</p>
<p>And talk about pride in stupidity, McCain actually said recently that he would have invaded Iraq even without the issue of weapons of mass destruction. But McCain never saw a bombing run he didn’t like one of the main reasons he is supported by that shriveled ghoul, Senator Lieberman and he has a vicious temper, undoubtedly inherited from father the admiral. Five and half years in a Vietnamese prison taught him nothing: he still believes he was doing the Lord’s work when he was shot-down while bombing civilians in the Hanoi area.</p>
<p>And just on aesthetic grounds, McCain looks as puffy and lumpy and weather-beaten as original-equipment tires from a 1929 Ford. If McCain lasted long enough to serve his term, he’d resemble King Tut’s unwrapped mummy by the end.</p>
<p>Knowing the real limits on change in America offers a dramatic backdrop to John Edwards’ rhetoric about controlling corporations, heavy on melodrama and chipper optimism and short on analysis. Edwards is a phony pitchman, a kind of secular tele-evangelist, although he’s not consistently secular since his vision of America is generously larded with “God bless” and sentimental, quasi-religious clap-trap.</p>
<p>Good Lord, America is today nothing but corporations. Between its corporations and the countless colonial wars serving their interests, you pretty much have the central story of modern America.</p>
<p>Most American politicians often use the word “consumers” instead of “citizens” when addressing voters today, revealing the mind set. The laws are written in favor of corporations, despite the much-repeated nonsense about the terrible toll of frivolous lawsuits. The national political duopoly, the two political parties, is organized and run much as a pair of hamburger or soft-drink multi-corporations, with a million unfair rules and regulations buried away in every state protecting their privileges. In the economic sphere, the same phenomenon is called “barriers to entry,” whose existence in many forms is why you see only two or three companies dominate the aisles of every grocery and drug store in the country. Seats and votes in the Senate the most powerful and least democratic part of the elected national government are largely bought and paid for through an elaborate web of lobbies and special interests.</p>
<p>Senator Edwards’ own wealth, which permits him the indulgence of four-hundred dollar haircuts at frequent intervals, was achieved by a vigorous career of making secret settlements with corporations. You might call it a lot of hollering about battling the devil while keeping your eyes riveted on the take from the collection plate, a wealth-building strategy perfected by the likes of Jerry Falwell. Expect only more of the same from this disingenuous man should he win, but thankfully it does appear we are to be spared regular Sunday morning preach-ups from Washington on the subject of blessed spirit of America versus the evil corporations.</p>
<p>By the way, how do you spend four hundred dollars on a haircut? Likely the price includes regular dye-job touch-ups and nose-hair trims? Perhaps black-head removal and a shoe-shine? Maybe, when you know all the stuff included, his haircuts aren’t so extravagant and only seem as though they were done by the chief hair-dresser from the Court of Louis XVI, one Monsieur Leonard who created those dazzling bouffants decorated with cages full of birds and jewels and powder.</p>
<p>No candidate can deliver great change to America, and if one were even to behave in office as though he or she could do that, one strongly suspects that he or she would meet the fate of the Kennedy brothers in fairly short order.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney, with wads of money spilling from his pockets, apparently thought he could follow George Bush’s strategy from 2000: just spend enough money, smile a lot, and don’t say anything of consequence, and you’ll win. But America has finally tired of Bush (America has a rather long learning curve, perhaps excused by its grotesque size), and besides, Romney has a cool, severe face instead of a smiling half-wit one. He just looks like a guy that would hire illegal immigrants to do his gardening work despite his being a wealthy man, something it turns out he in fact did.</p>
<p>Romney is burdened also with his past life as a missionary for a weird cult called Mormonism which only in recent years has emphasized a Christian identity rather than one associated with its odd founder who supposedly dug up a set of silver plates engraved with the Book of Mormon in his back yard (Gee, I wonder how they got there?).</p>
<p>At first, Romney thought he saw an opportunity to reprise John Kennedy’s class act concerning questions of his religion in 1960. But Kennedy was an earthy Catholic, and many recognized religion would not get in the way of the job. That is hardly the same thing as having served as a missionary and resembling a deacon. And Kennedy was eloquent while Romney resembles the kind of salesman you wish would go away and let you shop in peace. Besides, Bush’s lumpishness has exhausted the patience of many by pushing religion into everything, even the brochures handed out at the Grand Canyon.</p>
<p>Imagine an American president going to an important international meeting, thumping his big Bible, declaring it to be the certain Word of God, and challenging the other world leaders to confess that truth? This is exactly what Mike Huckabee did at an Iowa Republican debate. Does anyone not obsessed with electric organs and choir robes think this is an appropriate posture for the leader of the world’s most important country? Does being a Baptist preacher contribute to statesmanship? Voters needn’t be concerned over Huckabee’s readiness to play Caesar because his kind of Baptist is always ready for some killing, the wrathful God of the Old Testament having played a prominent role in his Sunday School experience, ready, as Mark Twain wrote in Letters From the Earth, to slay even the women for the sin of peeing against the temple wall even though they are not capable of the act.</p>
<p>Huckabee does share one advantage with Obama, and that is his quality of freshness. This cannot be underestimated in view of the desperation of a people to put George Bush and his pug-uglies into the oblivion of forgetfulness. Huckabee may be slightly demented witness his recent argument about evolution and kangaroos but he does have a boyish, fresh quality. He doesn’t look or speak anything like Giuliani or Thompson or the other grotesque political goblins haunting the campaign.</p>
<p>It would be the most entertaining outcome were the final candidates to be Obama and Huckabee. That match would provide a modern version of the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, with Obama as the voice of reason and good sense and Huckabee as the emotional and articulate defender of nonsense. The outcome in America would be anybody’s guess.</p>
<p>JOHN CHUCKMAN is the author of <a href="" type="internal">What’s It All About? The Decline of the American Empire</a>, published by Constable &amp; Robinson Ltd, London. Available from Indigo Books, Canada.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Watching the US Presidential Primaries in Canada | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/01/09/watching-the-us-presidential-primaries-in-canada/ | 2008-01-09 | 4 |
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<p>People want and demand the truth from their news outlets, and rightly so. That is the ongoing mission: to inform with facts.</p>
<p>But those facts aren’t always easy to come by, as we can see from northern New Mexico’s own little spate of sports items that easily could have found themselves in the hard news section of your media outlet of choice.</p>
<p>Folks in the know sometimes decide that it’s better to obscure, or even withhold, information from the media and, therefore, the public.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>So let’s take a look at the four most recent, head-shaking experiences that have been introducing area student athletes to the real world – sometimes in not-so-pleasant ways.</p>
<p>In an early January basketball game between Capital and Albuquerque High, something happened on the court that was serious enough to warrant the suspension of three Jaguars players, one for six games.</p>
<p>But unless you happened to be at the game, there was no way to know exactly what transpired. Santa Fe Public Schools officials refused to say anything more about it other than there was an “incident.” Generally speaking, “incidents” don’t include six-game suspensions.</p>
<p>Then there was a mysteriously postponed boys basketball game between Española Valley and Los Alamos. Sundevils athletic director Eric Vigil confirmed the game was postponed, but immediately referred all additional queries to EVPS superintendent Eric Martinez – a man noted more than anything for his failure to respond to the media.</p>
<p>Of course, since this particular episode affected public safety, as well as the possible involvement of an Española player in a shooting the day prior and possible retribution, it would have been paramount for somebody from the school district to step forward and inform the public about just what was happening. The drapes on the situation were drawn so tight that even the Los Alamos coach wasn’t exactly sure what going on. Luckily, an Española police detective had the wherewithal to give the pertinent details.</p>
<p>Then there was the suspension of players from the Santa Fe High School boys basketball team.</p>
<p>Again, for the better part of a week, what exactly happened was cloaked behind a shroud of darkness as some officials wouldn’t return phone calls, others passed the buck and, ultimately, spokesman Jeff Gephart released the rather cryptic statement: “We can confirm that some basketball players will not be completing the remainder of the 2016-2017 season.”</p>
<p>Again, since a crime was apparently connected with this issue, the public should be kept informed.</p>
<p>For a refreshing change of pace, finally, consider the ongoing Videogate drama with the West Las Vegas boys basketball team. A young assistant coach, unaware of the New Mexico Activities Association rules barring such activity, used his phone to tape some of the action between St. Michael’s and Robertson.</p>
<p>Rather than bob and weave around the situation, West Las Vegas superintendent Chris Gutierrez has been up front from the outset about the transgression, keeping media and the public aware of the twists and turns in the case.</p>
<p>It’s been a wild ride through the sports pages, but let’s hope the focus gets back to following the students’ achievements as they perform their athletic feats.</p>
<p /> | Tight lips sink the ships of truth in media coverage of local events | false | https://abqjournal.com/946739/tight-lips-sink-the-ships-of-truth-in-media-coverage-of-local-events.html | 2 |
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<p>Nearly two dozen children were injured Friday after a knife-wielding man in central China attacked children as they made their way to school.</p>
<p>The attack occurred just before 8am in Chengping, a village in Henan province said local police.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/12/14/world/asia/ap-as-china-school-stabbing.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&amp;seid=auto" type="external">The New York Times reported</a> that the perpetrator is 36-year-old Min Yingjun who attacked an elderly woman and then the elementary school children shortly after.</p>
<p>The man was subdued by security guards at the school after severely injuring two of the students.</p>
<p>The attacker is in police custody.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/121214/sandy-hook-elementary-school-shooting-connecticu" type="external">Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Connecticut (VIDEO)</a></p>
<p><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/14/world/asia/china-knife-attack/index.html" type="external">CNN said</a> that initial local reports claim the man was mentally ill.</p>
<p>Attacks on schoolchildren have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_attacks_in_China_(2010%E2%80%932011)" type="external">become commonplace</a> in China.</p>
<p>One of the most notorious cases was in March 2010, when 41-year-old Zheng Minsheng murdered eight children with a knife in an elementary school in Nanping.</p>
<p>After a number of similar incidents, security guards have been posted to schools around the country.</p> | Knife attack at Chinese school injures 22 children | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-12-14/knife-attack-chinese-school-injures-22-children | 2012-12-14 | 3 |
<p>CINCINNATI (AP) — Robots are secretly plotting to kill us. Or enslave us. Or, at best, they will take our jobs, one by one.</p>
<p>From science fiction written by Isaac Asimov eight decades ago to "Dilbert" cartoons today, the relationship between robots and humans has long fascinated — and worried — people.</p>
<p>There's even a term, "robophobia," for an irrational anxiety about robots and other advanced automation machines.</p>
<p>And there are concerns beyond the ones stoked by watching too much " <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLPMGLsf1c0" type="external">Terminator</a> ."</p>
<p>Apple computer pioneer Steve Wozniak once suggested that robots would <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/04/steve-wozniak-silicon-valleys-nerdiest-legend/" type="external">turn us into their pets</a> . Physicist Stephen Hawking and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/17/elon-musk-robots-will-be-able-to-do-everything-better-than-us.html" type="external">also warned</a> about the dangers of going too far, too quickly, in developing "thinking robots" with programmed intelligence that might keep evolving self-awareness, similar to the humanoids in the HBO series " <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3u0IlBBO4" type="external">Westworld</a> ."</p>
<p>Hawking <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540" type="external">told</a> the BBC in 2014 that "development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."</p>
<p>So there's that.</p>
<p>Researchers vary in projections on how long from now, if ever, such a threat could exist.</p>
<p>For now, deaths by robot are very rare among industrial accidents. However, in July 2015, a 57-year-old technician was killed by a robotic machine in an Ionia, Michigan, plant that makes auto bumpers, trailer hitches and chrome-plated plastics. Her husband filed a federal lawsuit, being contested by the defendants, alleging a malfunctioning robot took her "by surprise," crushing her head.</p>
<p>As chief technology officer for a private-public <a href="http://www.arminstitute.org/" type="external">effort</a> to facilitate robotic solutions in U.S. manufacturing, professor Howie Choset of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh sees the fear of robots taking jobs making his mission tougher.</p>
<p>"You have to start this discussion with the baseline that automation and innovation creates jobs," he said, by leading to new products and processes and the new jobs to make and operate them.</p>
<p>"Then you have to ask yourself, why would robots be different? And people are very quick to say, 'Well, robots are intelligent, they do what humans can do,' and there's this fear that was sort of instilled by science fiction."</p>
<p>Comparing fear of robots to 19th-century worries about steam engines, Choset said: "Robots are just the next generation of tools."</p>
<p>Singer Aimee Mann, with help from actress Laura Linney, humorously depicted the danger of letting robots help you too much in this music <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcpXTUT0-7o" type="external">video</a> .</p>
<p>And Choset was amused by a recent " <a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2017-05-08" type="external">Dilbert</a> " strip about the boss' inability to stop a robot worker who decided to quit.</p>
<p>Chris Boggess, 18, found the 2004 movie " <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouht1xip9NQ" type="external">I, Robot</a> ," about a rogue killer robot drawn from Asimov stories, frightening, but he has come to understand and appreciate their potential through the Butler Tech robotics program at Colerain High School near Cincinnati.</p>
<p>"The first day I walked in, I fell in love. I knew this was where I needed to be," Boggess said. "I like robots, anything about technology."</p>
<p>And if some day thinking robots acquired the ability to threaten humans, he said, "I would probably try to make friends with them."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>See other Future of Work stories at <a href="" type="internal">https://www.apnews.com/tag/FutureofWork</a> . Follow Dan Sewell at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dansewell" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/dansewell</a></p>
<p>CINCINNATI (AP) — Robots are secretly plotting to kill us. Or enslave us. Or, at best, they will take our jobs, one by one.</p>
<p>From science fiction written by Isaac Asimov eight decades ago to "Dilbert" cartoons today, the relationship between robots and humans has long fascinated — and worried — people.</p>
<p>There's even a term, "robophobia," for an irrational anxiety about robots and other advanced automation machines.</p>
<p>And there are concerns beyond the ones stoked by watching too much " <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLPMGLsf1c0" type="external">Terminator</a> ."</p>
<p>Apple computer pioneer Steve Wozniak once suggested that robots would <a href="https://www.wired.com/2017/04/steve-wozniak-silicon-valleys-nerdiest-legend/" type="external">turn us into their pets</a> . Physicist Stephen Hawking and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk have <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/17/elon-musk-robots-will-be-able-to-do-everything-better-than-us.html" type="external">also warned</a> about the dangers of going too far, too quickly, in developing "thinking robots" with programmed intelligence that might keep evolving self-awareness, similar to the humanoids in the HBO series " <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX3u0IlBBO4" type="external">Westworld</a> ."</p>
<p>Hawking <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30290540" type="external">told</a> the BBC in 2014 that "development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race."</p>
<p>So there's that.</p>
<p>Researchers vary in projections on how long from now, if ever, such a threat could exist.</p>
<p>For now, deaths by robot are very rare among industrial accidents. However, in July 2015, a 57-year-old technician was killed by a robotic machine in an Ionia, Michigan, plant that makes auto bumpers, trailer hitches and chrome-plated plastics. Her husband filed a federal lawsuit, being contested by the defendants, alleging a malfunctioning robot took her "by surprise," crushing her head.</p>
<p>As chief technology officer for a private-public <a href="http://www.arminstitute.org/" type="external">effort</a> to facilitate robotic solutions in U.S. manufacturing, professor Howie Choset of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh sees the fear of robots taking jobs making his mission tougher.</p>
<p>"You have to start this discussion with the baseline that automation and innovation creates jobs," he said, by leading to new products and processes and the new jobs to make and operate them.</p>
<p>"Then you have to ask yourself, why would robots be different? And people are very quick to say, 'Well, robots are intelligent, they do what humans can do,' and there's this fear that was sort of instilled by science fiction."</p>
<p>Comparing fear of robots to 19th-century worries about steam engines, Choset said: "Robots are just the next generation of tools."</p>
<p>Singer Aimee Mann, with help from actress Laura Linney, humorously depicted the danger of letting robots help you too much in this music <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcpXTUT0-7o" type="external">video</a> .</p>
<p>And Choset was amused by a recent " <a href="http://dilbert.com/strip/2017-05-08" type="external">Dilbert</a> " strip about the boss' inability to stop a robot worker who decided to quit.</p>
<p>Chris Boggess, 18, found the 2004 movie " <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ouht1xip9NQ" type="external">I, Robot</a> ," about a rogue killer robot drawn from Asimov stories, frightening, but he has come to understand and appreciate their potential through the Butler Tech robotics program at Colerain High School near Cincinnati.</p>
<p>"The first day I walked in, I fell in love. I knew this was where I needed to be," Boggess said. "I like robots, anything about technology."</p>
<p>And if some day thinking robots acquired the ability to threaten humans, he said, "I would probably try to make friends with them."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>See other Future of Work stories at <a href="" type="internal">https://www.apnews.com/tag/FutureofWork</a> . Follow Dan Sewell at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dansewell" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/dansewell</a></p> | From Isaac Asimov to Aimee Mann, 'robophobia' plagues humans | false | https://apnews.com/amp/4a51f2462a81423a9b3a9ff8a67555bb | 2017-08-16 | 2 |
<p>By Rory Carroll</p>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta put an end to 18-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov’s quixotic run at the U.S. Open with a 7-6(2) 7-6(4) 7-6(3) win on Sunday to punch his ticket to the quarter-finals.</p>
<p>Playing under a closed roof on a rainy day at Flushing Meadows, the 12th-seeded Carreno Busta showed more poise than the youngster during the match’s pivotal three tie breakers.</p>
<p>Shapovalov failed to capitalize on his opportunities during the closely fought match, converting just three of 13 break points while double faulting four times, including a momentum-killing one to start the final tie breaker.</p>
<p>The 26-year-old Carreno Busta was also the better player during the match’s long rallies, winning 17 of the 25 rallies of nine shots or more, often with help from one of Shapovalov’s 31 unforced errors.</p>
<p>Carreno Busta, who will play in his second quarter-final of the year at a major, will next face either 29th-seeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman or 16th-seeded Lucas Pouille of France.</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> | Carreno Busta dispatches newcomer Shapovalov | false | https://newsline.com/carreno-busta-dispatches-newcomer-shapovalov/ | 2017-09-03 | 1 |
<p>Austria's food safety agency says it has found the first instances of eggs contaminated with Fipronil in the country.</p>
<p>The AGES agency says eight of 80 samples tested nationwide yielded traces of the insecticide, with the highest level at 0.1 milligrams a kilogram. That's below the EU limit of 0.72 milligrams a kilogram and AGES says the traces in Austria are 10 times lower than the highest concentration, found in Belgium.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>AGES said Monday the insecticide was found in shipments of egg products for restaurant use from Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Poland.</p>
<p>Experts say the risk of getting sick from eating an egg tainted with Fipronil is low. But the illegal use of the insecticide in spray to rid hens of ticks, fleas and lice has prompted European food safety agencies to issue warnings and recalls of possibly affected imports.</p> | Austria records first instances of Fipronil-tainted eggs | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/14/austria-records-first-instances-fipronil-tainted-eggs.html | 2017-08-14 | 0 |
<p>A Univision network is dropping the Miss USA pageant and the company says it will cut all business ties with Donald Trump in a spiraling controversy over comments the Republican presidential candidate made recently about Mexican immigrants.</p>
<p>Univision said Thursday it would pull the plug on its Spanish-language coverage of the pageant July 12 by its UniMas network. It also has severed its business relationship with the Miss Universe Organization, which produces the Miss USA pageant, due to what it called "insulting remarks about Mexican immigrants" by Trump, a part owner of Miss Universe.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>During his presidential campaign kickoff speech last week, Trump portrayed immigrants from Mexico as "bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people." He also called for building a wall along the southern border of the U.S. The remarks drew condemnation from the Mexican government as "biased and absurd."</p>
<p>NBC is scheduled to go forward with its own pageant coverage, as it has done since 2003. But in a statement Thursday, the network sought to separate itself from Trump's remarks.</p>
<p>"Donald Trump's opinions do not represent those of NBC, and we do not agree with his positions on a number of issues, including his recent comments on immigration," NBC said.</p>
<p>Trump is part of another NBC program, "Celebrity Apprentice."</p>
<p>In an interview Thursday, Trump said his criticism was directed against U.S. policymakers, not the Mexican people or government, adding that Univision would be defaulting on its contract if it doesn't air the pageant and he would take legal action.</p>
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<p>"At Univision, we see firsthand the work ethic, love for family, strong religious values and the important role Mexican immigrants and Mexican-Americans have had and will continue to have in building the future of our country," said the New York-based Univision Communications Inc.</p>
<p>Both co-hosts of the UniMas telecast also pulled out Thursday, while Colombian singer J Balvin on Wednesday canceled a planned performance at the pageant.</p>
<p>"The only thing I could do as a person, not only as an artist, but as a Latino that I am, was to cancel my show immediately," he told The Associated Press on Thursday.</p>
<p>Trump said Univision is submitting to pressure from Mexican leaders to punish him for positions he voices as a candidate on the campaign trail.</p>
<p>"They don't want me saying that Mexico is killing the United States in trade and killing the United States at the border," Trump said. "Univision is totally laying down for the Mexican government. ... They want to silence Donald Trump. And Donald Trump can't be silenced. ... I have great respect for Mexico and I love the Mexican people, but my loyalty is to the United States."</p>
<p>Univision declined to comment on Trump's remarks.</p>
<p>In severing her ties with the show, Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez, one of the two co-hosts, cited Trump's comments.</p>
<p>"Since I heard Trump's speech, as a Latina I felt a lump in my stomach. 'It's got to be a joke,' I thought," the star of the Lifetime series "Devious Maids" told The Associated Press.</p>
<p>Also on Thursday, Chilean actor-producer Cristian de la Fuente, the show's other co-host, had strong words for Trump: "It's a shame that such an important institution as Miss USA is now in the hands of a clown."</p>
<p>Ricky Martin also took to Twitter to blast Trump.</p>
<p>"A lot of hatred and ignorance in his heart," he tweeted.</p>
<p>Miss California USA Natasha Martinez was asked about Trump's comments during an interview Thursday on Los Angeles TV station KCAL and said they were "a little bit tough to hear."</p>
<p>"But I know that this opportunity for me as Miss California-USA, and now competing for Miss USA, is a great bridge to kind of represent my community and let the world know that I am a proud Latino-American," she said.</p>
<p>This year's UniMas telecast would have been the first in a five-year contract that Trump said "has no termination rights." Univision's wholly owned Spanish-language UniMas network, founded in 2013, is available in 70 million U.S. homes.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Sigal Ratner-Arias and Claudia Torrens in New York, and John Antczak and Lynn Elber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.</p> | Univision drops Miss USA over Trump's remarks about Latino immigrants, Trump threatens to sue | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/06/25/univision-drops-miss-usa-over-trump-remarks-about-latino-immigrants-trump.html | 2017-01-01 | 0 |
<p>According to a teammate of Cleveland Cavaliers star Lebron James, now that Donald Trump has been elected president, NBA championship teams will <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/richard-jefferson-cavs-champs-visit-white-house-article-1.2867782" type="external">refuse to visit</a> the White House until another president is elected.</p>
<p>Richard Jefferson posted a Snapchat message on Wednesday night, just before the Cavs were due to be honored at the White House, writing, "Words cannot express the honor I feel being the last team to visit the White House tomorrow."</p>
<p>Some NBA coaches were open about their disappointment with Trump’s election, including the Detroit Pistons; Stan Van Gundy, who <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nba/pistons/2016/11/09/detroit-pistons-stan-van-gundy/93551178/" type="external">said</a>, “I don't think anybody can deny this guy is openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic. We have just thrown a good part of our population under the bus, and I have problems with thinking this is where we are as a country,: and the Golden State Warriors' Steve Kerr:</p>
<p>Here are Steve Kerr’s complete comments on Donald Trump and the election. Do read: <a href="https://t.co/SxOTduQL4z" type="external">pic.twitter.com/SxOTduQL4z</a></p>
<p>Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, who has played golf with Trump, said "the election didn't go the way I wanted it to go" but added, "I personally know Donald Trump. I've golfed with him and I know him. I don't think there's anyone who runs for president that wants to do bad. I really don't. So, you know, he won. My take on it: let's give him a chance and see what he can do. That's the only way anyway now. So, let's go with that."</p>
<p>LeBron James campaigned with Hillary Clinton last weekend at a rally in Cleveland. After the election, he posted a message on Instagram: "Parents and leaders of our children please let them know they can still change the world for the better! Don't lose a bit of faith! They're our future and we must remain stronger than ever!! Yes we all wanna lace up the boots, put on the hard hats and strike but that's not the answer. Love, genuine LOVE and FAITH will be the only thing that can get us through this."</p>
<p>"Words cannot express the honor I feel being the last team to visit the White House tomorrow."</p>
<p>Richard Jefferson</p>
<p>New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has <a href="http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/04/tom-brady-white-house-president-obama-super-bowl-ceremony" type="external">passed</a> on visiting the White House after winning a championship; Pittsburgh Steeler James Harrison declined to do it <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/articles/178530-disecting-the-mentality-of-defensive-mvp-james-harrison" type="external">twice</a>. In 2011, Boston Bruins Stanley Cup winning goaltender Tim Thomas refused to visit the White House, saying, "I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the rights, liberties, and property of the people."</p>
<p>In 1996, Green Bay All-Pro tight end Mark Chmura refused to visit President Clinton, asserting, "society puts athletes on a pedestal whether we want it or not. I would not want my kids to grow up to be like Dennis Rodman or Charles Barkley."</p> | Cleveland Cavaliers Player: We'll Be The Last NBA Team To Visit White House | true | https://dailywire.com/news/10693/cleveland-cavaliers-player-well-be-last-nba-team-hank-berrien | 2016-11-10 | 0 |
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<p>CHICAGO – Back in the mid-1700s, German immigrants were the bane of my favorite founding father, Benjamin Franklin, who believed they’d never assimilate into the predominant culture of the time.</p>
<p>Franklin believed the immigrants were “generally of the most ignorant, stupid sort of their own nation” and thus unable and unwilling to learn English. “As few of the English understand the German language, and so cannot address them either from the press or the pulpit, ’tis almost impossible to remove any prejudice they once entertain,” he wrote, complaining that few of their children were taught English, they imported books from Germany, printed materials in their native language and even “the signs in our streets have inscriptions in both languages, and in some places only German.”</p>
<p>“They began of late all their bonds and other legal writings in their own language, which (tho’ I think it ought not be) are allowed good in our courts, where the German business so increases, that there’s continual need of interpreters,” Franklin railed. “I suppose in a few years they will also be necessary in the Assembly, to tell one half of our legislature what the other half says.”</p>
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<p>Harrumph.</p>
<p>I wish that the sweet Dr. Franklin could come to the future and see what’s become of those newcomers who so threatened his vision of an English-speaking America.</p>
<p>Today, according to a Bloomberg compilation of data from the Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey, more than half of the nation’s 3,143 counties contain a plurality of people who describe themselves as German-American. The number of German-Americans rose by 6 million during the last decade to 49.8 million, almost matching the 50.5 million Hispanics who call the U.S. home.</p>
<p>And guess what? According to the most recent census figures on multilingual households, of the 1.1 million people who speak German at home, less than 5 percent don’t speak English well or at all.</p>
<p>This is one of America’s greatest immigrant success stories, right? You don’t think that, during Oktoberfests held annually across the country, attendants make fun of or look down on German-Americans who don’t sprechen sie Deutsch, do you? I’ve never heard of such a thing.</p>
<p>So how could it be that if a Latino makes it to the big time, he or she catches flack for not speaking Spanish?</p>
<p>This is exactly what has happened to the Boston Fire Department’s new second in command, Steve Abraira, who last year became the city’s first Hispanic chief and the highest-ranking Latino in the department’s history.</p>
<p>Recently, the Boston Herald reported the “surprising news” that – gasp! – the Miami-born Abraira doesn’t speak Spanish.</p>
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<p>Depending on which news site you read about this supposedly startling discovery, the comments range from discussions of tokenism and bitterness about affirmative action to complaints that it should be no surprise – or big deal – that a Latino doesn’t speak Spanish.</p>
<p>Huffington Post’s Latino Voices’ story did an excellent job of balancing the competing ideas that retaining Latino culture and language is a positive thing with many Hispanics’ fears that Spanish will eventually die out as a part of Latino identity. This story spurred a social media flurry of tweets and status updates with the angst-filled litmus-test question: “Does not speaking Spanish make you any less Latino?”</p>
<p>As my mostly monolingual Anglo husband – and co-parent to two boys whose Spanish-language vocabularies consist mainly of the labels on the popular Mexican bingo game called “Loteria” – would say: “Ay, dios mio!”</p>
<p>If you even have to ask the language questions, then you really don’t get what being an American is all about.</p>
<p>The legacy of Latinos in the United States, as proved by all descendants of immigrants from the founding fathers on down, is to become one from many. Yes, a few things from the “homeland,” including language, are lost while much more is gained in the “Promised Land” our immigrant forefathers and mothers sacrificed so much to reach.</p>
<p>A Hispanic fire chief in super-Irish Boston who can’t speak Spanish to its burgeoning Latino population got hired for his skills and not his ability to speak a foreign language.</p>
<p>Ben Franklin would be so proud.</p>
<p>Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Copyright 2011, Washington Post Writers Group.</p> | Ancestral Language Not Essential to Cultural Identity | false | https://abqjournal.com/97082/ancestral-language-not-essential-to-cultural-identity.html | 2012-03-29 | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Baseball</p>
<p>THURSDAY: Albuquerque High outlasted West Mesa 5-4 in eight innings as the Mustangs were involved in their second extra-inning game of the week.</p>
<p>TUESDAY: Volcano Vista opened District 1-5A play with a 6-0 shutout of Cleveland as Cody Trujillo tossed a four-hitter for the Hawks and Reyes Kahn drove in a pair of runs. Rio Rancho came back to beat Cibola 3-2 in the other 1-5A opener as Marcus Martinez drove in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.</p>
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<p>West Mesa overcame a 6-0 deficit and beat Valley 8-6 in nine innings. Luis Ledesma was 3-for-4 for the Mustangs.</p>
<p>Softball</p>
<p>THURSDAY: West Mesa took over first place in District 5-5A with an 8-2 victory over Albuquerque High.</p>
<p>In 1-5A, Rio Rancho, led by Nicole Pendley's six-hitter, posted an impressive 8-0 victory over Volcano Vista. She also drove in three runs for the Rams, who lead the league at 2-0. Also Thursday, Cibola beat Cleveland 8-4.</p>
<p>TUESDAY: Rio Rancho pounded out 15 hits in a 12-7 victory over Cibola in a 1-5A opener. Jessie Roane and Nicole Pendley each homered and drove in four runs for the Rams. Ariana Maldonado homered and had four RBIs for the Cougars. Volcano Vista downed Cleveland 4-1 as Jade Gray and Taylor Sargent went deep for the Hawks.</p>
<p>In 5-5A, West Mesa's Angelica Lujan threw a 1-hitter as the Mustangs defeated Valley 3-1.</p>
<p>Tennis</p>
<p>THURSDAY: Rio Rancho's girls downed Cleveland 7-2.</p>
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<p>WEDNESDAY: Bosque School's girls defeated Taos 8-1.</p>
<p>TUESDAY: In boys action, Volcano Vista edged Rio Rancho 5-4, Bosque School blanked Sandia Prep 9-0 and Valley hammered Rio Grande 8-1.</p>
<p>For the girls, Volcano Vista ripped Rio Rancho 8-1, Bosque won 9-0 over Sandia Prep, Valley shut out Rio Grande 9-0 and Albuquerque High routed West Mesa 9-0.</p>
<p>Notes</p>
<p>The meeting is for James Monroe and Taylor Middle School students who live in Cibola's district. All 21 sports will be represented.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Volcano Vista, Rio Rancho take early baseball lead in 1-5A | false | https://abqjournal.com/386459/volcano-vista-rio-rancho-take-early-baseball-lead-in-15a.html | 2 |
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<p>Don't you hate it when you're in the middle of a thought during a red carpet interview and suddenly you're rudely interrupted by a D-list pop star who barges in wanting a hug? Well, comedian Jerry Seinfeld does, and his perfect response below has the internet buzzing.</p>
<p>In the clip, Seinfeld was conducting an interview with radio host Tommy McFly on the red carpet at The David Lynch Foundation’s National Night of Laughter and Song on Monday night, when pop singer Kesha decided that she must have a hug.</p>
<p>Jerry wasn't having any of it:</p>
<p>McFly tweeted out the moment saying that Kesha just found out Jerry Seinfeld is not a hugger:</p>
<p>The cringe-worthy moment happens as Seinfeld is telling the interviewer, "It's hard to just sleep when you're tired because people are tired most of the time."</p>
<p>Kesha, known for her song "Tik Tok," spots the former TV star and rushes to his side.</p>
<p>"I'm Kesha, I love you so much," she said. "Can I give you a hug?"</p>
<p>"No, thanks," he says after clearly spotting the crazy in her eyes.</p>
<p>Kesha, undeterred pushes, "Please?"</p>
<p>"No, thanks," he says again.</p>
<p>Kesha then begs, "A little one?"</p>
<p>"Yeah, no thanks," Seinfeld says, backing away.</p>
<p>Yes, he denied her three times. A truly biblical shut down.</p>
<p>Glorious.</p>
<p>Seinfeld and McFly had a good laugh about the interaction as he admits he didn't know who the woman was. McFly informed him that he had just brushed off Kesha.</p>
<p>"Well, I wish her the best," Seinfeld tells him.</p>
<p>Thankfully, the internet already turned this into an actual Seinfeld sitcom clip:</p>
<p>Exit thought from one video commenter who says, <a href="https://68.media.tumblr.com/a7eb2b145c8a64f06fb317ee1a8f8b34/tumblr_mmfburuU6o1r7w8cbo1_400.gif" type="external">"That's why I use the Mr. Bean technique"</a>...</p>
<p /> | Video LOL: Jerry Seinfeld Utterly Rejecting A Pop Star's Hug Goes Viral | true | https://dailywire.com/news/17271/video-lol-jerry-seinfeld-utterly-rejecting-pop-chase-stephens | 2017-06-07 | 0 |
<p>Barrick Gold Corp. said its African subsidiary will make a $300 million payment to the government of Tanzania as part of an agreement to resolve tax and revenue sharing disputes over its three gold mines in the country.</p>
<p>The Toronto-based mining company also said its majority controlled Acacia Mining PLC has struck a framework for a new partnership that will hand the African government 50% of the economic benefits of its mining operations.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The details of the agreement weren't immediately available, prompting Acacia to issue a short news release stating it had yet to review the specifics of the plan, which is subject to its board's approval.</p>
<p>Barrick issued a second statement Thursday afternoon stating its 63.9%-owned Acacia will form a new operating company with Tanzania's government to hold its three gold mines in the country. The new company will split "economic opportunities" with Tanzania in the form of royalties and tax payments. Acacia has committed to increase local hiring and supply purchases.</p>
<p>Barrick said it is still in talks with Tanzania about the terms of lifting the country's ban on Acacia's exports of gold concentrate imposed earlier in March.</p>
<p>Acacia is Tanzania's biggest gold miner in the country with $1 billion in annual revenue. It was served with a $190 billion bill earlier this year for what Tanzanian authorities have said were unpaid taxes, penalties and interest accumulated over the past 17 years.</p>
<p>Aggressive actions by Tanzania President John Magufuli, who earlier this year declared an "economic war" on foreign miners, prompted some companies to cease or scale back mining operations in the country.</p>
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<p>Benjamin Mchwampaka, minerals commissioner with Tanzania's mining ministry, said the government had negotiated "a very good deal" with Acacia, which he said was in line with a July revamp of the country's mining laws.</p>
<p>"Apart from the legal requirements, we will be sharing revenues equally with Acacia Mining, this is what we have been pushing for all along," Mr. Mchwampaka said. "We are very pleased."</p>
<p>He said the government plans to start negotiations on revenue sharing with other mining companies, as it pushes to double the mining industry's contribution to gross domestic product to 10% by 2025.</p>
<p>The agreement was signed in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Thursday morning following a meeting with Barrick Executive Chairman John Thornton and Mr. Magufuli.</p>
<p>"We have developed a framework for a modern, 21st century partnership that should ensure Acacia's operations generate sustainable benefits and mutual prosperity for the people of Tanzania, as well as for the owners of Barrick and Acacia," Mr. Thornton said in a statement.</p>
<p>Write to Jacquie McNish at [email protected] and Nicholas Bariyo at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 19, 2017 16:19 ET (20:19 GMT)</p> | Barrick Gold Resolves Dispute With Tanzania, Strikes Partnership Deal -- 2nd Update | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/19/barrick-gold-resolves-dispute-with-tanzania-strikes-partnership-deal-2nd-update.html | 2017-10-19 | 0 |
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<p>Authorities, however, say it was nothing more than a cleverly disguised brothel raking in $40,000 a month in profits.</p>
<p>Owner William James Hartwell denies running a prostitution ring and in court documents accuses the government of criminalizing free speech protected by the First Amendment.</p>
<p>He will go on trial next week on charges of operating a house of prostitution, sex trafficking and sexual assault in the intriguing legal clash over the First Amendment.</p>
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<p>Hartwell, 56, says the sex acts that were recorded and photographed amount to constitutionally protected free speech practiced in the same way as professional porn studios that legally operate.</p>
<p>“All sexual conduct that took place at the studio was for the purpose of exploring and expressing an individual’s sexuality via safe and legal adult content creation,” Hartwell wrote in court records.</p>
<p>A call left for Rick Poster, an attorney for Hartwell, wasn’t returned.</p>
<p>Police say female employees who took customers into rooms would insist on shooting a minutes-long video or taking 10 photos with sexual content before the cameras were discarded and they began to have sex.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say those images were taken in a bid to guard against any future prostitution allegations.</p>
<p>To get into the location, men had to respond to an online ad and were given the address only after they called from a nearby gas station. Once inside, documents say, they had to show their genitals as a way to guard against undercover officers. (Police have to avoid the appearance of being participants in sex so they can maintain credibility when cases go to court.)</p>
<p>The investigation was launched in 2012 after police received a tip about the business.</p>
<p>Authorities sent informants who posed as customers or prospective employees. One informant said Hartwell told her during a job interview that the studio provides customers with porn production space, cameras, condoms and a “free porn girl,” court documents state.</p>
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<p>A website for the business said customers couldn’t give their money to anyone other than a receptionist — and could only do so for equipment rental and studio fees. Authorities say the sex workers were told they didn’t have to worry about the legal ramifications of prostitution because they didn’t handle any money.</p>
<p>Investigators say customers were allowed to pick up a USB drive with still photos or videos a few days after a sexual encounter. About half the customers actually returned to pick up the images.</p>
<p>Several women who worked at the studio have pleaded guilty to related charges and are expected to testify at the trial.</p>
<p>“Prosecuting the defendant and workers for crimes related to prostitution is lawful,” prosecutor Monica Sochacki said in court records.</p>
<p>Hartwell is also charged with sexually assaulting two women at the business who said they didn’t want to participate anymore.</p>
<p>It’s unclear whether any of the customers were charged with crimes.</p>
<p>The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, which is prosecuting Hartwell, declined to comment on the case beyond what is in the court records.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud." type="external">http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jacques-billeaud.</a></p> | Porn studio owner to be tried on charges of running brothel | false | https://abqjournal.com/929661/porn-studio-owner-to-be-tried-on-charges-of-running-brothel.html | 2017-01-17 | 2 |
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<p>— Rudy in Albq</p>
<p>WHILE I SHARE fans’ frustration over the direction of Lobo men’s basketball, let’s not be too quick to hang Paul Krebs out on the line to dry. Indeed he has made hiring decisions that have turned out to be disasters, but who can argue over his choices for football, baseball, and several minor sports. Maybe he was “lucky” in his hiring of Steve Alford, as Journal’s Ed Johnson suggests, but he made the decision to hire him, and it was a great decision. Mike Bradbury may be another good hire … time will tell. At the end of the day, I personally feel Paul Krebs is a credible athletic director.</p>
<p>— Bob, UNM Area</p>
<p>IF COACH NEAL is passing up an all expenses paid trip to the Final Four/Coaches Convention to hang out with his players, he must see some writing on the wall somewhere. Or maybe he doesn’t want to get too close to Krebs right now. One more defection and a million dollars may not be deterrent enough to keep him on the books.</p>
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<p>— MarkD</p>
<p>SPEAKING ON behalf of New Mexico State Aggie basketball fans everywhere, I respectfully request that the University of New Mexico retain head basketball coach Craig Neal.</p>
<p>— Aggie Dan</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Speak Up! Fans still frustrated with Neal, mixed on Krebs | false | https://abqjournal.com/980480/speak-up-fans-still-frustrated-with-neal-mixed-in-krebs.html | 2 |
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<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Defense Secretary Ash Carter says President Barack Obama will nominate the first woman to head a major U.S. military combatant command.</p>
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<p>If confirmed by the Senate, Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson would be the seventh commander to head the Colorado-based U.S. Northern Command. The command was created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to coordinate and improve homeland defense and to provide support for other national disasters.</p>
<p>Robinson is currently the head of the Pacific Air Force.</p>
<p>Carter also says Obama will nominate Gen. Vincent Brooks to head U.S. Forces Korea. Brooks currently is in charge of U.S. Army Pacific Command.</p>
<p>Brooks' nomination also is subject to Senate confirmation.</p>
<p>Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" /></p> | Obama To Nominate First Woman To Head US Combatant Command | true | http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/lori-baldor-first-woman-us-combatant-command | 4 |
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<p>Protests over the death of Freddie Gray stretched coast to coast late Wednesday, with thousands of people across the country rallying for the 25-year-old Baltimore man who died after suffering a spinal cord injury in police custody.</p>
<p>Police said more than 100 people were arrested in New York, and there were similar rallies in Boston, Seattle, San Diego and Denver.</p>
<p>In New York, several hundred people gathered in Union Square and marched in different directions, picking up demonstrators along the way and growing to more than 1,000, according to <a href="http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Baltimore-Unity-Rally-New-York-City-Union-Square-Protests-301750981.html" type="external">NBC New York.</a></p>
<p>In Denver, police said that they used pepper spray and that 11 people were detained for offenses including “resisting police, disobedience to lawful orders, obstructing roadways, and interference.”</p>
<p>Nikea Ramsey, whose brother was shot and killed in an encounter with Boston police in 2012, told The Associated Press: "Me and my family, we stand with Baltimore. We stand with Ferguson. This is too much and it's getting out of hand."</p>
<p>In Baltimore itself, thousands crammed around City Hall ahead of a 10 p.m.-to-5 a.m. overnight curfew imposed after riots broke out Monday following Gray's funeral. More than 3,000 National Guard, Maryland State Police and other law enforcement officers were involved in maintaining the curfew.</p>
<p>The overnight rallies came after Baltimore police announced that their report into Gray’s death wouldn't be immediately made public.</p>
<p>Police Commissioner Anthony Batts had set a deadline of Friday to file the report with state investigators. Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said Wednesday night that <a href="" type="internal">the report would remain closed</a> to protect the integrity of the inquiry.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, dozens of people arrested in earlier violent demonstrations in Baltimore were being released early Wednesday evening because police were unable to complete their paperwork in time, the state public defender's office said.</p>
<p>Many of those detained began streaming out of the Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center.</p>
<p>The releases were the result of a logjam for police who were scrambling to pull the necessary paperwork to file charges at the same time they were trying to keep peace on the city's streets, Kowalczyk said.</p>
<p>Batts, the police commissioner, told reporters Wednesday night: "We've come up on a timeline. We are releasing them with future prosecution in mind. ... We're not giving up on them."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, protesters planned Thursday afternoon to conduct a "Philly is Baltimore" demonstration at city hall. They've drawn parallels between Gray’s death and Brandon Tate-Brown, a local man shot during a traffic stop in December. The district attorney is not pressing charges, saying evidence indicates that Tate-Brown was reaching into his car for a loaded pistol, but a lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that officers planted the gun.</p>
<p>Becky Bratu contributed to this report.</p>
<p /> | Freddie Gray Protests Spread Beyond Baltimore, 100 Arrested in New York | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/baltimore-unrest/baltimore-protests-100-arrested-new-york-rally-over-freddie-gray-n350951 | 2015-04-30 | 3 |
<p>According to transcripts released by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, former FBI Director James Comey decided to issue a statement exonerating then-presidential contender Hillary Clinton weeks before the FBI had officially concluded its investigation into whether Clinton had mishandled classified information during her time at the State Department.</p>
<p>Committee members, including Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, allege that Comey drafted his statement claiming Clinton would not face charges sometime in "April or May" of 2016, before the FBI was scheduled to interview several key witnesses who might have changed the outcome of the case.</p>
<p><a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2017/08/31/confirmed-comey-decided-he-wasnt-going-to-refer-hillary-for-prosecution-before-interviewing-key-witnesses-n2375767?platform=hootsuite" type="external">The letter itself, available below via Townhall's Katie Pavlich</a>, was sent from the Committee to acting FBI director Christopher Wray, as part of a request for additional documents and information related to the FBI's timeline of investigation into Secretary Clinton.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/357721409/2017-08-30-CEG-LG-to-FBI-Comey-Statement#from_embed" type="external">2017-08-30 CEG + LG to FBI (Comey Statement)</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/56107854/Katie-Pavlich#from_embed" type="external">Katie Pavlich</a> on Scribd</p>
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<p>The Senators' allegations are extraordinary.</p>
<p>"According to the unredacted portions of the transcripts, it appears that in April or early May of 2016, Mr. Comey had already decided he would issue a statement exonerating Secretary Clinton. That was long before FBI agents finished their work. Mr. Comey even circulated an early draft statement to select members of senior FBI leadership. The outcome of an investigation should not be prejudged while FBI agents are still hard at work trying to gather the facts," the letter reads (emphasis mine).</p>
<p>The letter goes on to accuse Comey of trying to steer the investigation into his own pre-determined result: "Conclusion first, fact-gathering second — that’s no way to run an investigation. The FBI should be held to a higher standard than that, especially in a matter of such great public interest and controversy."</p>
<p>If it is true that Comey began drafting his statement in April or May, that means that he might have already been declaring Clinton free from blame, even though the FBI had yet to interview Clinton herself — and had yet to interview most of Clinton's top aides, including her right-hand woman Huma Abedin, her close aide and confidante Cheryl Mills, and Bryan Pagliano, her top IT adviser and the man responsible for maintaining Clinton's private email system and her bathroom server in Chappaqua.</p>
<p>Clinton aides met with FBI agents conducting the investigation May 5, 2016. Both Mills and Pagliano went on to strike immunity deals with the Department of Justice — bargains that would have been pointless if the FBI investigators had determined Clinton was truly without blame by early May.</p>
<p>Clinton herself did not speak to the FBI until July 2. Comey delivered his official statement, exonerating Clinton, on July 5.</p>
<p>It is certainly possible that Comey had his own reasons for drafting his statement back in April or May, and then waiting until after Clinton spoke with investigators to deliver it to the public. But certainly, its worth asking not just whether James Comey had already decided how he would handle Clinton's email server, but whether Comey's decision was premature. Remember, he "re-opened" the FBI investigation with just a few weeks left in the presidential election, much to Clinton's dismay.</p> | UH OH: New Evidence Shows James Comey Exonerated Clinton BEFORE FBI Investigation Was Over | true | https://dailywire.com/news/20503/uh-oh-new-evidence-shows-james-comey-exonerated-emily-zanotti | 2017-08-31 | 0 |
<p>Nearly 30 years after President Jimmy Carter signed the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the United States remains the only democracy that refuses to ratify the most significant treaty guaranteeing gender equality. One hundred eighty-five countries, including over 90 percent of members of the United Nations, have ratified CEDAW.</p>
<p>U.S. opposition to ratification has been informed not simply by an objective analysis of how CEDAW’s provisions might conflict with U.S. constitutional law. Rather, it reflects the ideological agenda and considerable clout of the religious right and the corporate establishment. Issues of gender equality raise some of the most profound divisions between liberals and conservatives. The right-wing agenda was born again in the Bush administration, which issued numerous directives limiting equality between the sexes. Bush targeted funding for family planning and packed the courts and his administration with anti-choice ideologues.</p>
<p>The parade of horribles trumpeted by ratification opponents includes predictions that it would force the United States to pass an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Opposition to the ERA in the 1980s was also grounded in religious fundamentalism. There are fears that ratification may lead to the legalization of same-sex marriage, the abolition of single-sex schools, and create a nation of androgynous children.</p>
<p>Much of the hysteria directed at ratification is based upon false assumptions. One opponent warned: “A messy divorce case shouldn’t end up in the World Court.” This is a reference to the International Court of Justice, which does not even have jurisdiction over marital dissolution cases. An editorial in Hanover, Pennsylvania’s The Evening Sun predicted CEDAW backers will use the International Criminal Court as an enforcement tool. But, the International Criminal Court only has jurisdiction over war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>Cecilia Royals of the National Institute of Womanhood said, “This treaty represents a battering ram against free and democratic societies, and particularly against women with traditional values.” The Weekly Standard charged the treaty “mandates complete sex equality in the military, the overthrow of market wages and implementation of ‘comparable-worth’ pay scales, rigid gender quotas, abortion on demand, and federally mandated child care.” Many opposed to ratification seek to protect the large corporations – the backbone of U.S. capitalism – from having to enact equality provisions that would imperil the bottom line.</p>
<p>Although President Carter signed CEDAW in 1980, the treaty has never been sent to the full U.S. Senate for its advice and consent to ratification. When the president signs a treaty, we are forbidden from taking action inconsistent with the object and purpose of the treaty. But we don’t become a party, with all the treaty obligations, until the president ratifies the treaty with the advice and consent of the Senate.</p>
<p>After Ronald Reagan became president and the Republicans gained control of the Senate, CEDAW languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Neither Reagan nor President George H.W. Bush sought ratification. Reagan made his contempt for CEDAW perfectly clear when he said that once adopted, the treaty would lead to “sex and sexual differences treated as casually and amorally as dogs and other beasts treat them.”</p>
<p>In 1994, at the behest of the Clinton administration, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings and recommended full Senate approval of CEDAW. Yet Committee chairman Jesse Helms continued to hold CEDAW hostage by keeping it from a vote in the Senate. In response to a last-minute campaign against ratification fueled by radio talk shows, a “hold” was placed on the treaty, preventing the full Senate from voting on it.</p>
<p>Five years later, 10 female members of the House of Representatives, including Nancy Pelosi, delivered to a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (the Committee) a letter supporting ratification, signed by 100 members of Congress. Jesse Helms scolded them with, “Now you please be a lady,” before ordering uniformed officers to “[e]scort them out.”</p>
<p>When the Committee recommended ratification in 1994, it attached proposed reservations, understandings, and declarations (RUDS) to its recommendation, which purported to qualify the terms of ratification. These qualifications, however, would effectively eviscerate the promise of equality enshrined in the treaty. For example, ratification opponents insist that the First Amendment, particularly freedom of religion, trumps a woman’s right to privacy. CEDAW prohibits discrimination by private as well as public entities. States have defined issues of family planning, childcare, marriage, and domestic violence as “private.”</p>
<p>CEDAW, in effect, mandates that states parties take affirmative action to ensure equality for women in the areas of employment, education, health care and family planning, economic, political, cultural, social, and legal relations. CEDAW specifies that temporary measures taken to achieve equality will not constitute discrimination. The U.S. reservation makes clear that notwithstanding the prescriptions of CEDAW to eliminate gender discrimination by any “person, organization or enterprise,” ratification would not mean that the United States would have to ensure that private entities regulate private conduct.</p>
<p>Jesse Helms added an understanding to ratification stating that CEDAW does not create a right to abortion, and that abortion should not be used as a method of family planning. This understanding is unnecessary because CEDAW does not even mention abortion. Opposition to reproductive rights has been a hot button issue for the right-wing evangelicals.</p>
<p>Other reservations specify that the United States undertakes no obligation to enact statutes requiring comparable worth or paid maternity leave. Full-time, year-round, wage-earning American women now earn an average of 75 cents for every dollar earned by men in similar jobs. Women in the United States only enjoy the right to short, unpaid maternity leave, and they can be fired for being late due to pregnancy or maternity-related illness. Women in Canada, Europe and Cuba enjoy greater wage equality and paid maternity rights than women in the United States.</p>
<p>The recommended RUDs purport to ensure that ratification of CEDAW would not require that the United States adopt greater protections than those afforded under the U.S. Constitution. Yet U.S. equal protection jurisprudence falls short of safeguards women would have under CEDAW. Classifications based on race require strict scrutiny and mandate that the government demonstrate a compelling government interest to support them. But classifications based on gender require only intermediate or skeptical scrutiny. Instead of a compelling government interest, there need only be a substantial relationship between the interest and the classification. The Secretary of State even indicated in a 1994 letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States would continue to follow the [lesser] intermediate scrutiny standard after ratification, notwithstanding the treaty’s defining principle prohibiting gender discrimination.</p>
<p>Moreover, CEDAW defines discrimination against women as “any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose” of impairing or nullifying women’s human rights and fundamental freedoms. Yet, U.S. constitutional jurisprudence requires that there be proof of both a discriminatory impact and a discriminatory purpose in order to establish an equal protection violation.</p>
<p>It has been U.S. policy to eschew limitations on speech that reinforce the inferiority of women. Indeed, significant inequality between the sexes persists in the United States in employment and education, and in the economic, political, cultural, and criminal system. Women in the United States do not enjoy guarantees of social welfare rights such as food, clothing, housing, health care and decent working conditions. The refusal to enshrine these rights in U.S. law is the reason our government has also failed to ratify the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). See Obama Spells New Hope for Human Rights ( <a href="" type="internal">http://marjoriecohn.com/2008/11/obama-spells-new-hope-for-human-rights.html</a>).</p>
<p>CEDAW, like the three human rights treaties the United States has ratified – the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Torture Convention, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – contains a declaration that the treaty is non-self-executing,which means that it requires implementing legislation to make it effective. Scholars including Professor Louis Henkin maintain that the Senate’s general practice of appending non-self-executing declarations to ratification violates the Supremacy Clause, which mandates that treaties shall be the supreme law of the land. The opposition to ratification stems not only from the belief that the United States should not ratify any treaty with provisions inconsistent with U.S. constitutional jurisprudence; it also demonstrates a refusal to require our government to change or enact laws that comport with the obligations we would undertake by ratifying a treaty.</p>
<p>Finally, there is a declaration that the United States will only submit on a case-by-case basis to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice to resolve disputes about the interpretation of CEDAW. According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, RUDs which are incompatible with the object and purpose of a treaty are void. The RUDs proposed by the Senate committee are not only incompatible with the mandate of equality in CEDAW, they shun the primary object of the treaty: non-discrimination against women. Professor Cherif Bassiouni has said: “The Senate’s practice of de facto rewriting treaties, through reservations, declarations, understandings, and provisos, leaves the international credibility of the United States shaken and its reliability as a treaty-negotiating partner with foreign countries in doubt.”</p>
<p>Yet, in spite of the RUDs, CEDAW continues to languish in Committee. Early in 2002, President George W. Bush called CEDAW “generally desirable” and said it “should be approved.” Yet once the right-wing pressure geared up, Bush backed down. Five months later and shortly before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 12-7 to approve the treaty, Secretary of State Colin Powell reported that the treaty was “complex” and “vague.” Attorney General John Ashcroft, no champion of women’s rights, was charged with “reviewing” CEDAW. Bush never sent CEDAW to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification.</p>
<p>More than 120 organizations, including AARP, the League of Women Voters, Amnesty International, and the World Federalist Association, support ratification. The city of San Francisco voted in 1998 to adopt the treaty, and its provisions are in force there. City departments have incorporated the treaty into hiring practices as well as budgets for juvenile rehabilitation programs and public transportation.</p>
<p>President-elect Barack Obama has said he supports ratification of CEDAW as well as the Equal Rights Amendment. He has promised increased enforcement by his Office of Civil Rights to ensure effective protection from sex discrimination. President-elect Obama should not hesitate to send CEDAW to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification, without the proposed RUDs that would eviscerate its protections.</p>
<p>It took nearly 150 years for women to gain the right to vote in this country. There is no principled reason our government should resist full equality for women. The United States must climb on board and ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.</p>
<p>MARJORIE COHN is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the president of the National Lawyers Guild. She is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Cowboy Republic: Six Ways the Bush Gang Has Defied the Law</a>. Her new book, Rules of Disengagement: The Politics and Honor of Military Dissent (with Kathleen Gilberd), will be published in March by PoliPointPress. This is the second in a series of articles that argue for ratification of the remaining major human rights treaties.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Obama and Women’s Rights | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/12/05/obama-and-women-s-rights/ | 2008-12-05 | 4 |
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<p>Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson took the one step absolutely necessary before he can contend for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination; he became a Republican.</p>
<p>Carson, registered as an independent until Tuesday, officially changed party affiliation in Palm Beach County, Fla., on election day, <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/4/ben-carson-officially-switches-parties-returns-gop/" type="external">The Washington Times reported</a>.</p>
<p>Momentum is on Carson’s side for a White House run, and he’s expected to make it official any day now. It was <a href="" type="internal">recently announced</a>&#160;that he topped likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton&#160;in donations last quarter, bagging $3.3 million to her $2 million.</p>
<p>Bloomberg News reported that Carson has&#160;launched his own political action committee to support his campaign — the USA First PAC — and has named Houston businessman Terry Giles as his campaign chairman.</p>
<p>“It’s truly a pragmatic move because I have to run in one party or another,” Carson told the Times on changing his party affiliation. “If you run as an independent, you only risk splitting the electorate.&#160;I clearly would not be welcome in the Democratic Party, and so that only leaves one party.</p>
<p>“Fortunately, the fit is pretty good,” he added. “I believe in reasonable sized government. I believe in personal responsibility. I believe in individual freedom. And I believe in creating an environment to let free markets grow our economy. And all of that is very consistent with being a Republican.”</p>
<p>Carson started out a Democrat before becoming a Republican during the Reagan administration, only to switch to an Independent during the Clinton years.</p>
<p>“Like most Democrats who were black,&#160;I was told most Republicans were evil, racist people,” he said. “But then I started listening to Ronald Reagan and I thought, ‘God it just makes so much sense. Let me investigate this.’”</p>
<p>He became an Independent because of what he considered hypocrisy within the GOP as it pursued impeachment of Clinton, the Times reported.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Michelle Obama to blacks: Go mindlessly vote Democrat, then get you some fried chicken</a></p> | Ben Carson clears another hurdle for White House run, changes party affiliation | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2014/11/05/ben-carson-clears-another-hurdle-for-white-house-run-changes-party-affiliation-157074 | 2014-11-05 | 0 |
<p>Shares of Tesla Inc. rose 4.6% late Wednesday after the Silicon Valley car maker reported a narrower-than-expected second-quarter loss and sales above Wall Street expectations. Tesla said it lost $336.4 million, or $2.04 a share, in the quarter, compared with a loss of $293.2 million, or $2.09 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, Tesla lost $1.33 a share, compared with $1.61 a share a year ago. Revenue reached $2.8 billion, up from $1.3 billion a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report an adjusted loss of $1.88 a share on sales of $2.52 billion. Shares ended the regular session up 2%.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Tesla Shares Up 4% After Narrower-than-expected Quarterly Loss | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/02/tesla-shares-up-4-after-narrower-than-expected-quarterly-loss.html | 2017-08-02 | 0 |
<p>In a tense exchange during the Oct. 16 debate, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney sparred over domestic oil and gas production on lands and in waters under the Obama administration’s control.</p>
<p>The facts, for the most part, are on Romney’s side.</p>
<p>Romney’s claim reflects the larger Republican talking point&#160;that production of oil and natural gas has fallen on federal lands and in federal waters but increased on private and state-owned properties.&#160;As we’ve <a href="" type="internal">written</a> before, the claim is true only for 2011.</p>
<p>Romney and Obama&#160; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/us/politics/transcript-of-the-second-presidential-debate-in-hempstead-ny.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" type="external">argued</a> during the first half hour of the town-hall-style debate — long after a man had asked a question about gasoline prices and energy policy.</p>
<p>Romney: In the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on federal land and federal waters in half.</p>
<p>Obama: Not true, Governor Romney.</p>
<p>Romney: So how much did you cut them by?</p>
<p>Obama: It’s not true.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Romney: And — and — and production on private — on government lands is down.</p>
<p>Obama: And the production is up. No it isn’t.</p>
<p>Romney: Production on government land of oil is down 14 percent.</p>
<p>Obama: Governor —</p>
<p>Romney: And production of gas is down 9 percent.</p>
<p>Obama: What you’re saying is just not true. It’s just not true.</p>
<p>Dubious Denials</p>
<p>Obama was wrong to flatly deny that he cut in half the number of new federal permits and leases for oil and natural gas drilling.</p>
<p>The number of new offshore leases has plummeted under Obama — falling by more than half, according to the&#160; <a href="http://www.data.bsee.gov/homepg/data_center/leasing/WaterDepth/wdmaster.asp" type="external">Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement</a>.</p>
<p>During Obama’s first term, the U.S. has so far issued 1,304 new offshore leases compared with 3,317 in Bush’s second term — a decrease of 61 percent.</p>
<p>The&#160; <a href="http://www.data.bsee.gov/homepg/data_center/plans/apdcombined/master.asp" type="external">number of new permits</a> for offshore wells also nosedived. The U.S. approved 1,316 new permits during Bush’s second term. The number has fallen to 515 — so far — under Obama, also a 61 percent drop.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The Obama administration had&#160; <a href="" type="internal">halted</a> the drilling of all new offshore wells for one month after the&#160; <a href="http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/sites/default/files/documents/DEEPWATER_ReporttothePresident_FINAL.pdf" type="external">explosion</a> on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010, which killed 11 people and resulted in the largest oil spill in U.S. history.</p>
<p>The administration then issued a months-long moratorium on the drilling of new deepwater wells. New safety requirements also slowed down the permitting process for new shallow-water wells.</p>
<p>The administration, for instance, <a href="http://www.data.bsee.gov/homepg/data_center/leasing/WaterDepth/wdmaster.asp" type="external">approved</a> only 12 new offshore leases in 2011.</p>
<p>Romney exaggerated, however, when he claimed the number of new permits and new leases for drilling on federal lands declined by half. The decline isn’t that steep, although the numbers have fallen under Obama.</p>
<p>The numbers for new onshore leases and permits are organized by fiscal year, preventing us from making a precise comparison. Bush was president for nearly four months of fiscal year 2009. But&#160;the comparison changes only slightly whether or not fiscal year 2009 is included.</p>
<p>First, we&#160; <a href="http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wo/MINERALS__REALTY__AND_RESOURCE_PROTECTION_/energy/oil___gas_statistics/data_sets.Par.69959.File.dat/table-01.pdf" type="external">compared</a> the last three full fiscal years of Bush’s term (2006 to 2008) with the next three fiscal years (2009 to 2011), which fall mostly but not entirely in Obama’s first term.</p>
<p>The number of new leases fell by 42 percent — from 9,661 to 5,568. And the U.S. approved 37 percent fewer new drilling permits, which dropped from 20,479 to 12,821.</p>
<p>We then compared fiscal years 2007 and 2008 against fiscal years 2010 and 2011. The number of new leases fell by 41 percent and permits by 39 percent.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Later on in the debate, Obama <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/us/politics/transcript-of-the-second-presidential-debate-in-hempstead-ny.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=1&amp;" type="external">said</a> the decline in numbers was the result of his “use it or lose it policy,” which <a href="http://www.blm.gov/pgdata/etc/medialib/blm/wy/programs/energy/og/leasing/protests/2012/may/Appeals.Par.42771.File.dat/ExhP.pdf" type="external">changed</a> some lease terms and rates to encourage oil and natural gas companies to produce or let their leases expire.</p>
<p>Regardless of Obama’s explanation, he was wrong when he flatly denied Romney’s claim about permits and leases.</p>
<p>Production Claims</p>
<p>The president was also wrong when he refuted Romney’s claim that oil and natural gas production was down on federal lands in a single year. Production did indeed fall in fiscal 2011, though Romney incorrectly said “this year.”</p>
<p>But Romney’s claim fails to tell the whole story. Oil production on federal lands and in federal waters has seen an overall increase under Obama. And natural gas production under federal jurisdiction has been falling since 2003, long before Obama took office.</p>
<p>To Romney’s credit, he did specify <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/16/us/politics/transcript-of-the-second-presidential-debate-in-hempstead-ny.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" type="external">earlier</a> in the debate that the decline was over a one-year period, although “this year” is not the correct year.</p>
<p>Romney: As a matter of fact, oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land, and gas production is down 9 percent. Why? Because the president cut in half the number of licenses and permits for drilling on federal lands and in federal waters.</p>
<p>It’s true — as Romney claimed — that production of oil and natural gas on federal lands and in federal waters&#160; <a href="http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/federallands/pdf/eia-federallandsales.pdf" type="external">fell</a> 14 percent and 9 percent respectively in fiscal year 2011 (see table 1), according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, an independent agency within the Department of Energy.</p>
<p>But overall, oil production in areas under federal jurisdiction increased under Obama.&#160;We again compared the last three full fiscal years of Bush’s term with the next three years, a period that falls almost entirely under Obama’s time in office</p>
<p>Oil production on federal lands and in federal waters&#160; <a href="http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/federallands/pdf/eia-federallandsales.pdf" type="external">grew by 14 percent</a> — or 241 million barrels of oil — during that time (see table 2).</p>
<p>(The increase is 15 percent when we exclude fiscal year 2009 and compare fiscal years 2007 and 2008 with 2010 and 2011.)</p>
<p>Adam Sieminski,&#160;the administrator of the EIA, <a href="http://www.eia.gov/pressroom/testimonies/sieminski_08022012.pdf" type="external">explained</a> to Congress in August that oil production on federal lands and in federal waters is dominated by offshore drilling. He said the decrease in production in 2011 reflects the impact and aftermath of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. As we noted before, the Obama administration instituted a temporary moratorium on new drilling following the spill.</p>
<p>But Sieminski <a href="http://www.eia.gov/pressroom/testimonies/sieminski_08022012.pdf" type="external">offered</a> a more complex explanation for why natural gas production on federal lands and in federal waters has declined, stating that&#160;federal policies are only one factor.</p>
<p>Natural gas production on federal lands and in federal waters has&#160; <a href="http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/federallands/pdf/eia-federallandsales.pdf" type="external">fallen 9 percent</a> overall under Obama (see table 3).&#160;We again compared the last three full fiscal years of Bush’s term with the next three years.</p>
<p>(The decrease is 12 percent when we exclude fiscal year 2009 and compare fiscal years 2007 and 2008 with 2010 and 2011.)</p>
<p>But natural gas production on federal lands and in federal waters has been falling since 2003. Sieminski credited the decline with the boom in the method of extracting gas from shale formations, known as hydraulic fracturing or “fracking,” which occurs mostly on private and state-owned lands.</p>
<p>Fracking has driven&#160;down the price of natural gas. And as a result, Sieminski explained, drilling on federal lands and in federal waters has become a less attractive method for producing natural gas.</p>
<p>— Ben Finley, with Lucas Isakowitz</p> | Obama’s Drilling Denials | false | https://factcheck.org/2012/10/obamas-drilling-denials/ | 2012-10-19 | 2 |
<p>LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence offered prayers and a pep talk Thursday to military service members during a visit to an Air Force technology incubator in Las Vegas and a brief speech at nearby Nellis Air Force Base.</p>
<p>In comments from a podium on an outdoor stage set between F-35A Lightning and F-22 Raptor fighter jets outside a hangar home to the Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team, Pence told more than 1,000 camouflage-clad troops that President Donald Trump “has your back.”</p>
<p>Pence drew applause when he said that under Trump, the era of armed forces budget cuts is over.</p>
<p>Nellis is a top Air Force training base and fighter pilot proving ground. Pence noted the Air Force role in fights against what he twice called “radical Islamic terrorism.” He cited Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, where he declared the Islamic State “on the run.”</p>
<p>“In the face of ongoing threats and provocations by the regime in North Korea, I can assure you the resolve of the United States is firm,” the vice president declared. “All options are on the table.”</p>
<p>He told the troops that America, “now more than ever,” needs their excellence, expertise and dedication.</p>
<p>“You are the instrument of American power,” Pence said. “On behalf of your commander-in-chief, I admonish you: Be ready. Mind your mission. Take care of one another. Train as never before. The American people are counting on it.”</p>
<p>“We pray for you, for your families and your mission,” he said.</p>
<p>Pence, traveling with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, earlier visited a newly opened storefront military technology development program near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.</p>
<p>Called AFWERX, it is a space in an office park near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, designed as a place for students, faculty, small business owners, entrepreneurs and military service members to share ideas and technological developments.</p>
<p>Officials say the goal is to cut costs while creating a conduit between industry, academia and the Air Force to speed development and testing of software and materials prototypes.</p>
<p>Pence also offered words of support for two Nevada Republicans running for office this year: U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, who is expected to face a tough re-election campaign, and state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who is running for governor.</p>
<p>LAS VEGAS (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence offered prayers and a pep talk Thursday to military service members during a visit to an Air Force technology incubator in Las Vegas and a brief speech at nearby Nellis Air Force Base.</p>
<p>In comments from a podium on an outdoor stage set between F-35A Lightning and F-22 Raptor fighter jets outside a hangar home to the Air Force Thunderbirds aerial demonstration team, Pence told more than 1,000 camouflage-clad troops that President Donald Trump “has your back.”</p>
<p>Pence drew applause when he said that under Trump, the era of armed forces budget cuts is over.</p>
<p>Nellis is a top Air Force training base and fighter pilot proving ground. Pence noted the Air Force role in fights against what he twice called “radical Islamic terrorism.” He cited Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, where he declared the Islamic State “on the run.”</p>
<p>“In the face of ongoing threats and provocations by the regime in North Korea, I can assure you the resolve of the United States is firm,” the vice president declared. “All options are on the table.”</p>
<p>He told the troops that America, “now more than ever,” needs their excellence, expertise and dedication.</p>
<p>“You are the instrument of American power,” Pence said. “On behalf of your commander-in-chief, I admonish you: Be ready. Mind your mission. Take care of one another. Train as never before. The American people are counting on it.”</p>
<p>“We pray for you, for your families and your mission,” he said.</p>
<p>Pence, traveling with Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, earlier visited a newly opened storefront military technology development program near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.</p>
<p>Called AFWERX, it is a space in an office park near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, designed as a place for students, faculty, small business owners, entrepreneurs and military service members to share ideas and technological developments.</p>
<p>Officials say the goal is to cut costs while creating a conduit between industry, academia and the Air Force to speed development and testing of software and materials prototypes.</p>
<p>Pence also offered words of support for two Nevada Republicans running for office this year: U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, who is expected to face a tough re-election campaign, and state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who is running for governor.</p> | Pence offers prayers, pep talk to troops at Nevada air base | false | https://apnews.com/ec73592d0e324930a5989fbd8d647550 | 2018-01-12 | 2 |
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Belk Bowl: Texas A&amp;M (7-5) vs. Wake Forest (7-5), Dec. 29, 1 p.m. Eastern (ESPN)</p>
<p>Line: Wake Forest by 2 1/2</p>
<p>Series Record: First meeting.</p>
<p>WHAT’S AT STAKE: The Demon Deacons look to send senior quarterback John Wolford out with a victory and earn their second straight bowl win. Texas A&amp;M will start a new era next season under new coach Jimbo Fisher. In the meantime, interim coach Jeff Banks will coach the team after Kevin Sumlin was fired on Nov. 26 after six seasons at the helm. Sumlin was 51-26 as head coach.</p>
<p>KEY MATCHUP</p>
<p>Texas A&amp;M De Landis Durham vs. Wake Forest offensive line: The Aggies were tied for third in the nation with 40 sacks, led by Durham’s 8 ½. That will put plenty of pressure on Wake Forest to keep Wolford upright. The Demon Deacons offensive line is not overly big, but has done a solid job this season allowing just 17 sacks.</p>
<p>PLAYERS TO WATCH</p>
<p>Texas A&amp;M WR/PR Christian Kirk: He is the Aggies’ Mr. Everything. The first-team All-SEC junior ranks as the NCAA’s active leader in punt return average (18.6 avg) and recently became the first wide receiver in school history to surpass the 4,000-yard plateau in all-purpose yardage. Kirk leads the Aggies in receptions (58), yards receiving (730) and TD catches (7). He needs two catches for his third straight 60-catch season, which would tie a school record.</p>
<p>Wake Forest QB John Wolford: The second-team All-ACC selection is the only Wake Forest QB to start four season openers. He led the conference in passing efficiency with a 157.5 rating this season. He ranked third in the ACC in total offense at 309.7 yards per game and is sixth in yards passing per game at 253.8.</p>
<p>FACTS &amp; FIGURES: Texas A&amp;M has appeared in nine straight bowls, but hasn’t won a bowl game since 2014. ... Aggies have won four games this season after trailing in the second half. ... Both Kellen Mond and Nick Starkel will see action at quarterback for the Aggies. Mond is a dual threat QB, while Starkel is considered more of a pocket passer... RB Keith Ford leads Texas A&amp;M with 11 touchdowns rushing. ... Aggies K Daniel LaCamera is 17 of 20 on field goal attempts this season. ... Wake Forest is 7-4 all-time in bowl games. ... The Demon Deacons closed the regular season with a 31-23 win against Duke. ... In its past 13 games, Wake Forest has averaged 33.7 points per game along with 179.6 yards rushing per game. ... Wake Forest WR Greg Dortch will not play due to an injury. He had 53 catches for 772 yards and nine TDs before going down in Week 8 against Louisville. ... TE Cam Serigne, a first-team All-ACC selection, has 1.963 career yards receiving and 20 touchdowns. ... Wake Forest had the ACC’s top red zone offense.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a>More AP college football: <a href="http://collegefootball.ap.org" type="external">http://collegefootball.ap.org</a> and</p>
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Belk Bowl: Texas A&amp;M (7-5) vs. Wake Forest (7-5), Dec. 29, 1 p.m. Eastern (ESPN)</p>
<p>Line: Wake Forest by 2 1/2</p>
<p>Series Record: First meeting.</p>
<p>WHAT’S AT STAKE: The Demon Deacons look to send senior quarterback John Wolford out with a victory and earn their second straight bowl win. Texas A&amp;M will start a new era next season under new coach Jimbo Fisher. In the meantime, interim coach Jeff Banks will coach the team after Kevin Sumlin was fired on Nov. 26 after six seasons at the helm. Sumlin was 51-26 as head coach.</p>
<p>KEY MATCHUP</p>
<p>Texas A&amp;M De Landis Durham vs. Wake Forest offensive line: The Aggies were tied for third in the nation with 40 sacks, led by Durham’s 8 ½. That will put plenty of pressure on Wake Forest to keep Wolford upright. The Demon Deacons offensive line is not overly big, but has done a solid job this season allowing just 17 sacks.</p>
<p>PLAYERS TO WATCH</p>
<p>Texas A&amp;M WR/PR Christian Kirk: He is the Aggies’ Mr. Everything. The first-team All-SEC junior ranks as the NCAA’s active leader in punt return average (18.6 avg) and recently became the first wide receiver in school history to surpass the 4,000-yard plateau in all-purpose yardage. Kirk leads the Aggies in receptions (58), yards receiving (730) and TD catches (7). He needs two catches for his third straight 60-catch season, which would tie a school record.</p>
<p>Wake Forest QB John Wolford: The second-team All-ACC selection is the only Wake Forest QB to start four season openers. He led the conference in passing efficiency with a 157.5 rating this season. He ranked third in the ACC in total offense at 309.7 yards per game and is sixth in yards passing per game at 253.8.</p>
<p>FACTS &amp; FIGURES: Texas A&amp;M has appeared in nine straight bowls, but hasn’t won a bowl game since 2014. ... Aggies have won four games this season after trailing in the second half. ... Both Kellen Mond and Nick Starkel will see action at quarterback for the Aggies. Mond is a dual threat QB, while Starkel is considered more of a pocket passer... RB Keith Ford leads Texas A&amp;M with 11 touchdowns rushing. ... Aggies K Daniel LaCamera is 17 of 20 on field goal attempts this season. ... Wake Forest is 7-4 all-time in bowl games. ... The Demon Deacons closed the regular season with a 31-23 win against Duke. ... In its past 13 games, Wake Forest has averaged 33.7 points per game along with 179.6 yards rushing per game. ... Wake Forest WR Greg Dortch will not play due to an injury. He had 53 catches for 772 yards and nine TDs before going down in Week 8 against Louisville. ... TE Cam Serigne, a first-team All-ACC selection, has 1.963 career yards receiving and 20 touchdowns. ... Wake Forest had the ACC’s top red zone offense.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a>More AP college football: <a href="http://collegefootball.ap.org" type="external">http://collegefootball.ap.org</a> and</p> | Texas A&M seeks 1st bowl victory since 2014 vs Wake Forest | false | https://apnews.com/48f8ef39edac4074980c70df3b4f5c11 | 2017-12-28 | 2 |
<p>This week, as if deliberately underscoring her commitment to live up to the Democratic Party's populist billing, Elizabeth Warren rejected the unspoken Washington rule requiring junior lawmakers to keep quiet. Instead, she used her first committee hearing to slam Obama administration regulators for being weak on financial crime.</p>
<p>Like what you’ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p>
<p>David Sirota, an In These Times senior editor and syndicated columnist, is a staff writer at PandoDaily and a bestselling author whose book Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live In Now—Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything was released in 2011. Sirota, whose previous books include The Uprising and Hostile Takeover, co-hosts "The Rundown" on AM630 KHOW in Colorado. E-mail him at [email protected], follow him on Twitter @davidsirota or visit his website at www.davidsirota.com.</p> | Two 2016 Prospects Reveal Democrats’ Identity Crisis | true | http://inthesetimes.com/article/14637/two_2016_prospects_spotlight_democrats_identity_crisis/ | 2013-02-22 | 4 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The girls race from 9:15 a.m. through 11:30 a.m. The initial boys race begins at 12:05 p.m., with the final race (Class 1A boys) set for 2:05 p.m. The 5A races are 11 a.m. (girls) and 1:35 p.m. (boys).</p>
<p>Boys</p>
<p>Cleveland’s boys have won the last two state titles in 5A, but it’s Rio Rancho’s depth and consistent pack times that could give the Rams a slight edge Saturday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Storm, led by District 1-5A champion Aaron Flores and Jared Mayoral, has two runners who should finish top 10. A less flashy Rio Rancho squad, led by Devin Paredes and Caleb Eppes, has been the steadier team, however.</p>
<p>Still, Rio Rancho beat Cleveland by just one point at last week’s District 1-5A championships.</p>
<p>From the metro area, Eldorado’s Taylor Potter, the District 2-5A champion, could push the Storm duo, and Cibola also has a strong pair in Frankie Scorfina and Chris Harlow.</p>
<p>Eldorado and La Cueva are also expected to contend for team trophies Saturday.</p>
<p>CLASS 4A: While Los Alamos has bagged the last two state titles, Albuquerque Academy looks to be the favorite this weekend. The Chargers have two runners who should contend at the top: Kyle Carrozza – the metro champion and winner at UNM – plus Kevin Wyss.</p>
<p>Belen’s Aaron Valenquela and Jared Garcia are all-state caliber for the Eagles. Los Alamos’ Colin Hemez is expected to challenge for a victory Saturday, as well.</p>
<p>CLASS 3A: Jereme Santistevan of Pojoaque Valley is one of the biggest favorites this year in any race as he defends his state title from a year ago. The Elks are looking for a third straight blue trophy.</p>
<p>CLASS 2A: Laguna Acoma ran to victory last year, the Hawks’ third consecutive year with a state championship. Augustus Cuch of Laguna is among the favorites individually.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>CLASS 1A: Cimarron is the defending state champion.</p>
<p>Girls</p>
<p>CLASS 5A: Eldorado’s girls, stacked with as much talent as any school in any classification, are the prohibitive favorite to repeat as state champions in 5A and earn the school’s fourth title in a five-year span.</p>
<p>La Cueva, Rio Rancho and Volcano Vista are among the teams hoping to push Eldorado.</p>
<p>Individually, Eagles senior Crissey Amberg won prestige events at UNM and the Albuquerque metro meet, and ran second to St. Pius’ Kelli Reagan at Rio Rancho’s Jamboree.</p>
<p>Crissey Amberg and her identical twin, Cassey, along with teammate Jessie Hix, should all be in the hunt. And since Eldorado’s girls soccer team could also be playing in the state finals on Saturday, Hix could be trying for two state titles on that day.</p>
<p>Hix last week won the 2-5A title, with Crissey and Cassey Amberg second and third in the standings.</p>
<p>Other local contenders include Rio Rancho’s Molly Klein (the District 1-5A champion), Cleveland’s Britney Lovato, Cibola’s Kim Chapman and Volcano Vista’s Rebecca Castillo and Sierra Quiñones.</p>
<p>CLASS 4A: St. Pius’ Reagan has enjoyed a strong season from start to finish, and won on this Rio Rancho course just three weeks ago at the Jamboree, as did Pojoaque’s Santistevan.</p>
<p>Sartans teammate Julie Giannini has been one of 4A’s most steady performers, and others to watch locally include Cameren Kristensen and Erin Archibeck from Albuquerque Academy, plus Arena Lewis from Belen and Camilla Orozco from Valencia.</p>
<p>Los Alamos is the defending team champion.</p>
<p>CLASS 3A: Rachel Fleddermann of Sandia Prep was the 2012 state champ in 3A, with Shiprock as the team champ.</p>
<p>CLASS 2A: Jackie Katzman of Bosque School is perhaps the strongest challenger from the metro area this season. Navajo Prep is the defending state champion.</p>
<p>CLASS 1A: Jemez Valley won the inaugural 1A state title last November.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Prep cross-country: Rams look to overtake Storm | false | https://abqjournal.com/296766/rams-look-to-overtake-storm.html | 2013-11-08 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Some men look rugged with facial hair. Some look dangerously handsome. Others look distinguished. But some look positively disastrous. Without further ado, the Hall of Shame: celebrities with the ugliest beards. Proceed with caution. Your oprinion of Brad Pitt's attractiveness is at stake.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Angus T. Jones, the "half" of Two and a Half Men, <a href="http://www.khou.com/entertainment/Former-Two-and-a-Half-Men-star-opens-up-about-leaving-show-his-faith-250523731.html" type="external">gave an interview</a>&#160;recently to talk about his transition from butt of Charlie Sheen's jokes to ambassador for the World Harvest Outreach Church in Houston. &#160;Some saw Jones's jarring physical transformation (see: gross beard) as a cry for help. We see at as a cry for a razor.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Look at that look in Bearded Shia LaBeouf's eyes. He knows he's not pulling it off.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Mel Gibson is actually mirroring the look in everyone's eyes when they first see him with that beard.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>There has, in all of time, been exactly one day that Justin Timberlake did not look flawless. This photo was taken that day: January 9, 2012, a day that will live on in infamy, the day that Justin Timberlake forgot to shave.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>We all knew this was going to be on this list, right?</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>" <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkFyGNjaQ8k" type="external">Whoa</a>."&#160;</p>
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<p />
<p>This is not a terrorist. It is former reality star Spencer Pratt, though this is not the first time we've been confused!</p>
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<p>Brad Pitt looked ugly once. You were warned.&#160;</p>
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<p>It turns out Adele Nazeem was not the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to John Travolta.&#160;</p>
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<p>The hair and beard are two different colors!</p>
<p /> | Ugliest Celebrity Beards: Angus T. Jones, Brad Pitt & More (PHOTOS) | true | https://thedailybeast.com/ugliest-celebrity-beards-angus-t-jones-brad-pitt-and-more-photos | 2018-10-04 | 4 |
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<p>Sprint is no longer the “4G king,” BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk proclaimed on Friday following a massive speed test that pitted Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G against Verizon Wireless’ HTC ThunderBolt.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Piecyk and his team conducted more than 1,000 speed tests in New York City to determine which was faster: the ThunderBolt, running on Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network, or the EVO 4G, running on Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network.</p>
<p>The analyst found that Verizon’s offering was consistently and significantly faster than Sprint’s 4G phone.</p>
<p>The speed tests were conducted using the integrated mobile hotspot functions on both devices, and the testers were equipped with both an Apple iPad 2 and a Toshiba laptop.</p>
<p>In the tests, Verizon’s LTE network averaged speeds of 9Mbps down and 5Mbps up while Sprint’s WiMAX network averaged about 1Mbps both down and up. Verizon’s LTE speeds peaked at 19Mbps down and 10Mbps up during the tests.</p>
<p>Piecyk also found that Verizon Wireless’ LTE network was more reliable than Sprint’s WiMAX offering, and it offers better coverage. Adding insult to injury, he says the ThunderBolt has better battery life than the EVO 4G as well.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.bgr.com/2011/04/01/verizon-4g-lte-blows-away-sprints-wimax-in-1000-speed-tests/" type="external">This content was originally published on BGR.com Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bgr.com/" type="external">Opens a New Window.</a>More news from BGR:- <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2011/04/01/windows-8-to-have-windows-phone-like-tile-ui-report-claims/" type="external">Windows 8 to have Windows Phone-like tile UI, report claims Opens a New Window.</a>- <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/31/acer-ceo-resigns-as-company-hits-rough-patch/" type="external">Acer CEO resigns as company hits rough patch Opens a New Window.</a>- <a href="http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/31/samsung-and-visa-team-up-for-nfc-mobile-payments-at-london-2012-olympics/" type="external">Samsung and Visa team up for NFC mobile payments at London 2012 Olympics Opens a New Window.</a></p> | Verizon 4G LTE ‘Blows Away’ Sprint’s WiMAX in 1,000 Speed Tests | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/04/01/verizon-4g-lte-blows-away-sprints-wimax-1000-speed-tests.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
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