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<p>Focusing on the development and production of entertainment formats, from talent and game shows to dating skeins, comedy sketch programs and docutainment, <a href="http://variety.com/t/ufa/" type="external">UFA</a> Show &amp; Factual provides content to all of Germany’s leading broadcasters, including RTL, ARD, ZDF and ProSieben.</p>
<p>From its headquarters in Cologne and offices in Berlin, Hamburg and Baden-Baden, <a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/global/ufa-history-production-powerhouse-1202615699/" type="external">UFA</a> Show &amp; Factual produces shows that attracts millions of viewers in Germany as well as in Austria, Switzerland and beyond.</p>
<p>“People are quickly at home with our formats,” says UFA Show &amp; Factual CEO Ute Biernat, explaining the company’s continuing success with its shows.</p>
<p>Among its most popular shows are RTL Television’s long-running “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” (“DSDS”), Germany’s version of “American Idol,” and “Supertalent,” the local version of “America’s Got Talent,” which achieves a share of more than 22% among young viewers.</p>
<p>Biernat describes dating format “Take Me Out,” likewise on RTL, as “unbeatable,” noting that it has a market share of up to 21.3% among 14-to-49-year-olds. UFA Show &amp; Factual’s other dating show, “Bauer sucht Frau” (Farmer Wants a Wife), has similarly proved a major success for RTL in Germany and ATV in Austria.</p>
<p>Biernat adds that UFA Show &amp; Factual has “revolutionized” ARD’s early evening lineup with the original quiz show “Wer weiss denn sowas?” (Who Knew?), garnering a market share of up to 19.2% among total viewers and 12.7% among young audiences – double the channel’s early evening average in the 14-to-49 demographic.</p>
<p>“We always have a clear orientation and meet the expectation of our viewers for entertainment, fun or even knowledge,” Biernat says. “Our casting shows ‘DSDS’ and ‘ <a href="http://variety.com/t/das-supertalent/" type="external">Das Supertalent</a>’ offer the chance to fulfil a dream; ‘Take Me Out’ is great dating fun and ‘Who Knew?’ conveys useless knowledge in a humorous way.”</p>
<p>RTL II’s social documentary format “Hartz und Herzlich” continues to attract viewers with its focus on German families living in poverty. The show, Biernat says, “presents the untold truth, just real people in real life, without a script.”</p>
<p>“The proximity to our protagonists and guest contestants is important to us – we present real people and treat everyone in front and behind the camera the way we would want to be treated,” she adds.</p>
<p>Other popular shows include the long-running hit home renovation show “Zuhause im Glück,” which the company has produced for RTL II since 2005.</p>
<p>UFA Show &amp; Factual has also scored big with revivals of classic gameshow formats for RTLplus, including new editions of “The Price Is Right,” “Family Feud” and “Ruck Zuck,” an adaptation of the 1980s ABC format “Bruce Forsyth’s Hot Streak.”</p>
<p>Also benefiting from the company’s formats is kid’s channel Super RTL, which has achieved market shares of more than 20% among 3-to-13-year-olds with the popular format “Super Toy Club.”</p>
<p>UFA Show &amp; Factual’s formats are not just ratings successes at home – they also perform strongly abroad. Biernat points to “Who Knew?” in particular: “Internationally, it naturally helps the format that the show is doing so well in such a large market as Germany.”</p>
<p>The greater the success abroad, the more it boosts productions domestically, she says.</p>
<p>“It is precisely due to the international success of original German productions that a new self-awareness has developed, which has a cross-border effect,” Biernat points out.</p>
<p>At the same time, a dearth of quality international formats on the world market has led to greater innovation on the domestic front, she adds.</p>
<p>“The international format market has been depleted for years. At the big trade fairs in Cannes there is no longer the ‘next big hit’ to buy from the traditional format-developing countries like the U.S., the U.K. or the Netherlands. This is why investments are also being made in the development sector in countries which used to adapt a lot. That’s naturally an opportunity for us and for the creative heads in our team.”</p> | UFA Entertains German Audiences With Talent and Game Shows | false | https://newsline.com/ufa-entertains-german-audiences-with-talent-and-game-shows/ | 2017-11-17 | 1 |
<p>When it comes to Republicans, in particular <a href="" type="internal">Trump supporters</a>, there’s a litany of things that disgust me about them that I could list here. From the bigotry, to the racism, to the outright ignorance it takes to believe a con man like Trump should be president, it’s all absolutely inexcusable. As some have joked, myself included, it’s almost as if they’re going out of their way to turn the movie Idiocracy into a prophetic documentary.</p>
<p>That being said, the main characteristic about Republicans that’s always bothered me most was their blatant hypocrisy and talking points that often contradicted the reality of how their party behaved.</p>
<p>There’s a question I’ve asked for over two decades now that I’ve still yet to have rationally answered. How can Ronald Reagan be the epitome of “fiscal conservatism” when he <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/sep/25/stephen-colbert/stephen-colbert-brings-ronald-reagans-tax-raising-/" type="external">raised taxes</a> on several occasions and nearly tripled the national debt during his eight years in office?</p>
<p>Another example of the selfish hypocrisy of which I’m talking about was shown on Wednesday by Trump supporter Caitlyn Jenner, who sent out this tweet following his announcement that transgender Americans would no longer be allowed to serve, in any capacity, in the U.S.&#160; military:</p>
<p />
<p>It’s amazing, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Apparently, Jenner was fine when Trump:</p>
<p>Despite all of that, Jenner still voted for Trump because none of his previous horrific behavior was really aimed at her or any sort of demographic to which she belongs. It wasn’t until he did something aimed at individuals like herself, transgender Americans, that she’s now speaking out against him.</p>
<p>See, that’s what drives me crazy about Republicans. They’re perfectly fine letting their politicians vilify or screw over other groups of people, just as long as that GOP ignorance doesn’t impact them.</p>
<p>It’s the mindset I’ve seen from so many of them living on Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, Medicaid, or some other government program they need to survive, yet don’t think they’re “mooching off the government” as they accuse millions of others of doing. Sure, when Republicans stand up and say people need to “take personal responsibility for themselves instead of relying on a handout from the government” they all applaud in approval. Yet when you point out to them that they, themselves, are heavily reliant upon help from the government — they always have an excuse as to why they’re “different than the moochers” they often have no problem attacking.</p>
<p>It’s sickening, yet I see it all the time.</p>
<p>Back when the same-sex marriage debate was at its most heated, with everything terrible that Dick Cheney is, he was actually pro-gay marriage. Why? Because he has a daughter who’s a lesbian. Since that particular issue touched home with Cheney, he was far more “progressive” on same-sex marriage than many of his colleagues.</p>
<p>It’s that same mindset Jenner displayed on Wednesday.</p>
<p>With <a href="" type="internal">all the horrific things</a> Trump has said and done, not just during his political career, but throughout his life, she still voted for him last November. Yet now that his hateful ignorance has targeted a demographic of Americans to which she belongs, now she’s calling him out for being a liar — even though this is who he’s always been.</p>
<p>This is <a href="" type="internal">one of the biggest differences</a> between progressives and conservatives.</p>
<p>As progressives, we fight for the rights for all people and demographics. I’m a straight, white Christian male who frequently fights for, and defends, the rights of women, Muslims, minorities, the LGBT community, immigrants, and any other group of people whose rights I feel are being trampled on. I don’t belong to any of those particular groups, yet I stand up for them anyway because it’s the right thing to do.</p>
<p>Whereas conservatives only care about themselves. Most are perfectly fine if other groups of people are discriminated against or vilified — just as long as they aren’t directly impacted. Because once they are, look out, that’s when they want answers as to why the very same politicians they’ve defended and supported are now doing to them the same crap they had no problem with them doing to other groups of people.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">It’s hypocrisy at its worst</a>.</p>
<p>Feel free to <a href="https://www.twitter.com/allen_clifton" type="external">follow me on Twitter</a> or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/allencliftonroc" type="external">Facebook</a> and let me know what you think.</p>
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<p><a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump Just Said Something That Wasn't Offensive, But It Should Terrify Republicans</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Here's How Donald Trump Has Proven That Real Republicans No Longer Exist</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Ted Koppel Blasts Donald Trump: He's the 'Recruiter in Chief for ISIS' (Video)</a></p>
<p>134 Facebook comments</p> | Caitlyn Jenner’s Response to Transgender Ban Exemplifies My Biggest Issue with Republicans | true | https://forwardprogressives.com/caitlyn-jenners-response-to-transgender-ban-exemplifies-my-biggest-issue-with-republicans/ | 2017-07-27 | 4 |
<p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning pregnant women to stay away from 11 Southeast Asian countries where Zika is spreading — including Thailand, where officials on Friday reported the first confirmed cases of birth defects linked to the virus.</p>
<p>“Pregnant women should not travel to any area with a <a href="http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/zika-travel-information" type="external">Zika travel notice</a> and should consider postponing non-essential travel to the 11 countries in Southeast Asia listed in the newly issued considerations,” the CDC advised on Thursday.</p>
<p>“The countries included in these considerations are Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste (East Timor), and Vietnam.”</p>
<p>Thailand confirmed Friday it had "found two cases of small heads linked to Zika," Prasert Thongcharoen, an adviser to Thailand’s Department of Disease Control, was quoted by Reuters as saying.</p>
<p>The CDC also <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/zika/index.html" type="external">updated its recommendations</a> to women considering becoming pregnant and men whose partners were considering it. Both women and men should consider just staying away from Zika zones if they're planning a pregnancy, the CDC said, and it said men who have been in areas where Zika is spreading should avoid unprotected sex for six months, even if they haven't had symptoms of infection.</p>
<p>The Zika strain spreading in Southeast Asia is somewhat different from the one spreading across the Americas. It’s not clear if there are new outbreaks in that region, or whether doctors are finding it in more patients because health officials are on the alert and more patients are being tested.</p>
<p>Either way, it’s worth taking precautions, the CDC says.</p>
<p>Zika is linked to severe birth defects in babies born to women who became infected while pregnant. Doctors say they’re finding almost daily evidence of new defects caused by Zika in babies — from the well-publicized small head called microcephaly to less visible damage to the brain, eyes and limbs.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">Congress Finally Passes Zika Spending Bill</a></p>
<p>The CDC has reported thousands of confirmed Zika cases that U.S. travelers have brought back to the states with them, including more than 800 pregnant women. CDC experts say there are likely thousands more that have not been reported.</p>
<p>Florida reports 134 home-grown cases — presumably caused by travelers infected in other Zika zones who were then bitten by local mosquitoes. Southern states, including Florida, are home to the Aedes aegypti mosquito that spreads Zika.</p>
<p>“Zika virus has been present in areas of Southeast Asia for many years, and several countries have reported occasional cases or small outbreaks. Recent variations in the number of cases reported in the area have been observed,” the CDC said.</p>
<p>“ <a href="http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/epidemic-vs-endemic-zika" type="external">Zika virus is considered endemi</a> <a href="http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/page/epidemic-vs-endemic-zika" type="external">c</a> in some of these countries, and many people who live there are likely immune. But U.S. travelers to areas where Zika is endemic may not be immune to the virus and infections have occurred in travelers to Southeast Asia.”</p>
<p>The CDC says it’s not clear how big the risk actually is. Zika doesn’t cause symptoms in most people who get it, so it can spread quietly.</p>
<p>“Travelers to areas where Zika is actively spreading who have not already been infected with Zika virus can get it from mosquito bites,” the CDC said.</p>
<p>“Some travelers to areas with Zika will become infected while traveling but will not become sick until they return home and they might not have any symptoms. To help stop the spread of Zika, travelers should use insect repellent for three weeks after travel to areas with Zika to prevent mosquito bites.”</p>
<p>Zika can also spread sexually, so men and women alike who travel to Zika-affected areas should take precautions to avoid pregnancy. And pregnant women need to avoid having unprotected sex with anyone who’s traveled recently to an affected area.</p>
<p>“If you or your partner live in or travel to these areas, use condoms from start to finish every time you have sex or do not have sex during the pregnancy. Sex includes vaginal, anal, and oral sex,” the CDC advised.</p>
<p>Zika was never linked with birth defects until Brazil noticed an upsurge in microcephaly cases last year that coincided with a new Zika outbreak. Scientists are trying to figure out if the birth defects had been there all along and simply not linked to Zika, or whether something new is going on.</p>
<p>Until recently, there had not been a good test that could tell the difference between someone infected with Zika, dengue virus or chikungunya virus, all of which circulate in many of the same areas.</p>
<p>The Zika strain spreading in Southeast Asia is somewhat different from the one spreading across the Americas. It’s not clear if there are new outbreaks in that region, or whether doctors are finding it because they are looking for it for the first time.</p>
<p>Either way, it’s worth taking precautions, the CDC says.</p> | CDC Sounds Alarm on Travel to Asia as Zika Spreads There | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/cdc-sounds-alarm-travel-asia-zika-spreads-there-n657416 | 2016-09-30 | 3 |
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<p>The long awaited A.F. Branco coffee table book will be out in late October – November, featuring some favorites past and present. Published through Liberty Alliance.</p>
<p>Update!!!!</p>
<p>A.F.Branco <a href="http://patriotdepot.com/comically-incorrect-a-collection-of-politically-incorrect-comics-volume-1/" type="external">Comically Incorrect Coffee Table Book</a> – Available for pre-order only.</p>
<p>*Autographed books will be available for purchace at a later date!</p>
<p><a href="http://patriotdepot.com/comically-incorrect-a-collection-of-politically-incorrect-comics-volume-1/" type="external">ORDER HERE!!!</a>&#160;… Non-Autographed Edition</p>
<p><a href="http://patriotdepot.com/comically-incorrect-a-collection-of-politically-incorrect-comics-volume-1/" type="external">ORDER HERE!!!</a>&#160;… Non-Autographed Edition</p>
<p><a href="http://patriotdepot.com/comically-incorrect-a-collection-of-politically-incorrect-comics-volume-1/" type="external">ORDER HERE!!!</a>&#160;… Non-Autographed Edition</p>
<p>**Autographed books will be available&#160;in time for Christmas!</p>
<p>The publisher is charging more for autograph copies.Regular 24.95…… Autographed 39.95</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Thank you for all your support over the years.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | A.F.Branco Coffee Table Book Pre-order | true | http://comicallyincorrect.com/2015/07/13/a-f-branco-coffee-table-book/ | 2015-09-26 | 0 |
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<p>The oil market is on the cusp of a new cycle, Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) said on Friday, with demand in the United States growing at a faster pace than in emerging economies such as China and India for the first time in a decade.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>That's likely to have profound implications for how oil markets operate, Jeffrey Currie, Goldman's influential chief commodity analyst wrote in a note, which says there will be a "new oil order".</p>
<p>Currie was one of the first oil analysts to predict that crude prices would surge last decade, driven by growing Chinese demand and tightening supplies. Now as U.S. shale production drives down prices for American consumers, the market may shift, he says.</p>
<p>"As oil demand leadership transitions to developed markets from emerging markets, this not only represents a significant fundamental shift, but combined with significant developed market-led production, this turns the previous commodity cycle upside down," Currie said.</p>
<p>The immediate impact may be subtle at first - Goldman is maintaining its price forecasts for next year for both North Sea Brent crude and U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate at $106 and $98, respectively.</p>
<p>THREE DEVELOPMENTS</p>
<p>In the long run, Currie expects three inter-related developments to flip the market on its head.</p>
<p>First, he writes, the boom in U.S. shale oil output should keep oil prices in the United States low and lead to a "substantial acceleration" in its economic activity.</p>
<p>Second, stronger U.S. growth will lead the Federal Reserve to scale back its monetary support, which is likely to strengthen the dollar. That should put pressure on emerging market demand by making oil and other commodities priced in the greenback more expensive for users of other currencies.</p>
<p>Third, weaker oil demand growth in countries including China and India should help keep markets well supplied, limiting inflation in developed countries.</p>
<p>"This new emerging commodity cycle is the exact opposite of the 'super cycle' where weak U.S. economic growth, exacerbated by a lack of domestic energy supplies and conflicts in key commodity-producing regions, helped facilitate more accommodative monetary policy," Currie said.</p>
<p>"U.S. policy reinforced emerging market demand growth and a weaker U.S. dollar, which largely offset the higher oil and commodity prices to emerging market countries," in the last decade.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the reversed trend will lead emerging market economies to "shift from being consumers to producers", Currie said forcing countries such as China to follow the U.S. path in tapping unconventional resources.</p>
<p>Since hitting a record of almost 21 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2005, U.S. oil demand has fallen by more than 10 percent to 18.5 million bpd last year, data from the U.S. Energy Information shows.</p>
<p>But in September, U.S. demand was up by 1 million bpd on the same month in 2012 - the biggest year-on-year leap since 2001 - while Chinese demand growth has been muted in the second half of this year.</p>
<p>Currie estimates total Chinese demand growth at just 230,000 bpd throughout 2013. Growth was as low as 70,000 bpd in October year-on-year.</p>
<p>U.S. demand has been boosted in part by the fact that gasoline prices are 15 percent lower in Chicago than in Singapore, Currie said.</p>
<p>Retail prices in the United States were at the lowest level in three years at the end of November, the EIA said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Goldman to Oil Market: U.S. is New China | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/12/06/goldman-to-oil-market-us-is-new-china.html | 2016-01-26 | 0 |
<p>“We can’t let history repeat itself.” Miguel Zubietta, Miners’ Leader</p>
<p>La Paz, Bolivia.</p>
<p>With multicolored indigenous flags (wiphalas) flying alongside the Bolivian tricolor (red, gold, and green), on June 6, amid rumors that President Carlos Mesa would resign, perhaps 400,000 protestors descended like a “resplendent serpent” on the Plaza San Francisco in La Paz for a cabildo, or open-air assembly*. As the low bellow of cow horns (pututus) echoed through the plaza, young men armed with wooden rifles wearing black ski masks expressed the militant spirit. The largest mobilizations in Bolivia since October 2003 shut the city down for the second week running, as Plaza San Francisco overflowed to the point where those arriving from El Alto had to accommodate themselves in the surrounding streets. When marchers arrived at “the gateway” (La Portada) to the city, residents of that hillside neighborhood joined the protest, as last week neighborhood associations from Villa Victoria and Munaypata marched behind radical-popular demands for the nationalization of hydrocarbons and the convening of a constitutional assembly. Both neighborhoods were insurgent proletarian strongholds during the national revolution of 1952, and had provided important support for the overthrow of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada in October 2003.</p>
<p>The heterogeneous radical-popular bloc could no longer be characterized as an isolated vanguard confined to El Alto and the 20 provinces of the department of La Paz. Unlike the cabildo MAS organized on May 23, on June 6, protestors affirmed the possibility of radical, participatory democracy and negated the reality of liberal, representative democracy. Neighborhood activists from El Alto (FEJUVE), rural and urban teachers, bakers, butchers, market women, street vendors, students, factory workers, the unemployed, landless peasants, and community peasants pronounced unanimously in favor of nationalizing hydrocarbons and forming a transitional government composed of workers, peasants, and the middle class. Toward the end of the meeting, armed with clubs, stones, and slings, 20 truckloads of Aymara community peasants arrived from Aroma, the high plains province that fronts the department of Oruro and which was home to the two historic leaders of indigenous insurgency**. With marchers from other provinces, community peasants from Aroma headed to the Plaza Murillo to take over parliament and the presidential palace.</p>
<p>Equipped with copious quantities of tear gas and rubber bullets, the elite police unit (GES) blocked the plaza off from protestors, but by early afternoon their hold had loosened and they needed reinforcements from soldiers armed with live ammunition. The mood was decidedly insurrectionary, and peasants spent the afternoon attempting to take the plaza. Yet radical-popular unity was de facto rather than programmatic, and the collective discipline that was such a notable feature of mobilization in October was absent. Furthermore, whereas neighborhood activists from El Alto, familiar with La Paz and the prejudices of many of its inhabitants, spearheaded the October insurrection, in June 2005, community peasants and miners were on the front lines as the level of confrontation steadily increased.</p>
<p>In October 2003, facing marches from the Aymara communities of Chaskipampa, Mallasa, Achocalla, and Ovejuyo — and fed up with state violence — progressive sectors of the middle class initiated hunger strikes in the southern zone of the capital. These spread to middle-class neighborhoods further north, which backed the demands of the national-popular bloc led by El Alto, thereby helping hasten Sánchez de Lozada’s overthrow. This time, however, in San Miguel and Cala Coto (south), as well as Sopocachi and San Jorge (north), the middle class formed reactionary “self-defense” groups to protect themselves from perceived threats to property and persons. With a look of terrified horror, a woman in San Miguel explained, “We have to protect all that we have,” and a man in Sopocachi asked, “Geographically, what is our territory?” Such comments brought to light what historical sociologist Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui has called the “ancestral fear of indigenous siege.”</p>
<p>Polarization along regional, class, and ethnic lines was pronounced, but it was more complex than binary formulas (El Alto-La Paz, western highlands-eastern lowlands) allowed, for La Paz was divided against itself. A slight majority of laborers of Aymara descent outweighed the light-skinned, middle-class reaction. In October 2003, largely indigenous rebels figured as “patriotic martyrs” in the country’s political imaginary, but in June 2005, racist, unrepresentative minorities called the kettle black, accusing protestors of racism, and casting them as a radical, unrepresentative minority. A citizen who complained that Aymara communities used clubs, rocks, and slingshots failed to understand the historic modes and methods of peasant struggle in the southern Andes. Basic misunderstandings of this type highlighted the contradictions of a social formation scarred by internal colonialism. Lacking allies in the city center, the Aymara peasantry likely perceived it as a place hostile to radical-popular aspirations for sovereignty and self-determination, and acted accordingly. Smashing windows, dirtying the dyed hair of middle-class urban women with clumps of earth, cutting off the neckties of “gentlemen” (caballeros), and yelling insults at passers-by — these tactics depended for their effectiveness on the fear they inspired rather than damage they did.</p>
<p>Happily, middle-class participation was much greater in October 2003, as most of the middle class flooded the country’s supermarkets and neighborhood stores in June, hysterical at the prospect of scarcity (a prospect made more likely by their own behavior). Remaining progressive elements of the middle class mobilized around La Paz mayor Juan del Granado, declaring a civic strike on June 7. As in October, they backed the demand for nationalization, and called for a halt to the marches and protests. By and large, however, October’s temporary national-popular convergence had fractured into trajectories of mobilization that scarcely overlapped. In the unlikely event that it came into being, workers and peasants would likely dominate the hoped-for transitional government. The inclusion of the middle class may have been little more than an act of rhetorical generosity.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, 61 peasant blockades (up from 46 on Friday, June 3) paralyzed the circulation of commodities throughout the country, with an estimated $5,000,000 in exports lost per day. Food prices in the capital increased between 10 (bread, sugar, wheat) and 100 per cent (meat, chicken, peas, eggs). In El Alto, neighborhood organizations in District 2 blocked the transport of gas to La Paz as in October, but Mesa continued to eschew violent repression, so the massacres that led to Sánchez de Lozada’s downfall did not materialize. The entrances to El Alto and La Paz were sealed off, like the countryside to the north, east, and south of the capital.</p>
<p>Contrary to last week’s forecast, and similar to October 2003, the mobilization had taken on a national, hydra-headed character, as indicated by the fact that eight of nine departments were shut down on June 3 and June 6. MAS mobilized its rank-and-file in the Chapare (lowland Cochabamba) and the southern highlands and valleys of Potosí, Sucre, and Oruro, but even MAS’s peasant caudillo, Román Loayza, appeared to have lost control over his followers. This was also true of El Alto’s Abel Mamani, leader of the FEJUVE. Only Gualberto Rojas, head of the Aymara peasant community trade union in the department of La Paz (CSUTCB-Túpaj Katari), was able to maintain a semblance of control, and he called for unity among the Quechua, Aymara, and Guaraní. Taken together, these indigenous groups made up a majority of the Bolivian population. In sharp contrast to Evo Morales and the MAS leadership, Rojas and his constituency showed no interest in obtaining support from the urban middle class.</p>
<p>The range of actors was broad, and tactics were more radical than those sanctioned by Loayza, the MAS leader located furthest to the left. 1,500,000 barrels of gas per day were blocked when the lowland Guaraní took over fields in Camiri, Santa Cruz, while in Milluni, La Paz, approximately 100 peasants blew up part of the canal that brings water to the capital. Three hydroelectric plants were taken over, while in Tapacarí, Cochabamba***, under pressure from peasants, workers shut down pipeline valves — property of the transnational Transredes (Enron) — carrying 20,000 barrels of gas to Chile.</p>
<p>With strikes, marches, and protests accompanied by other forms of direct action at the national level, international consequences were immediate. The largest investor in the Bolivian gas industry, Repsol YPF, a Spanish consortium with majority U.S. ownership, had earlier announced it would suspend proposed investments of $850 million. The Chilean, Argentine, Uruguayan, and Brazilian governments announced intentions to construct a pipeline through Peru in order to bypass Bolivia. According to José Aylwin, a lawyer from the Institute of Indigenous Studies in Temuco, Chile, the U.S. government had a “perception of indigenous activists as destabilizing elements and terrorists.”</p>
<p>In its annual report, Amnesty shrewdly listed the Bush administration’s “war on terror” as a threat to indigenous movements in the Americas. Beginning in the Cold War and accelerating after the Cuban Revolution, U.S. counterinsurgent ideology dictated that those working to bring about social reform and/or transformation were actual or potential allies of communism. They were the sea in which communists were thought to swim, such that no distinction could be made between those who confronted state and empire by force of arms and those who did not. This ideology, and the practices it inspired — the formation of death squads in particular — laid the foundation for Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, and torture chambers dotting the world, from Central Asian steppes to South Pacific seas. And indeed, following the June 6 assembly, an authoritarian solution — entailing the resignation of Mesa, the imposition of a State of Siege, and an attempt at a Pinochet-like beheading of social movements — was rumored to be in the works. The military high command and Hormando Vaca Díez were said to be ready to assume power, but crowds in San Francisco burned effigies of a cow to make clear that they were unwilling to accept Vaca Díez as president (vaca meaning “cow” in Spanish).</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>On the morning of June 6, shortly before the mass assembly, from which Evo Morales was conspicuously absent, Morales emphasized that both Vaca Díez and the head of the Lower House of Congress, Mario Cossío, would have to resign after Mesa. The President of the Supreme Court, Eduardo Rodríguez, would then call elections for December. On Friday, June 3, thanks to stall tactics the bloc from Santa Cruz utilized to powerful effect, when parliament failed to achieve consensus or discuss regional autonomy and the constitutional assembly, Morales and Mesa asked the Catholic Church to step into the growing institutional vacuum. Coup rumors had become serious enough that the head of the armed forces, General Marcelo Antezana, held a press conference to deny them. Mesa emitted a decree the night before that called for the convening of a referendum on autonomy and a constitutional assembly for October, but it was too little, too late.</p>
<p>The weekend thus witnessed a last-ditch effort to “bring the two agendas together”: the January 2005 agenda of regional autonomy for dominant minority interests in Santa Cruz, and the national-popular agenda of October 2003 — a constitutional assembly and nationalization of hydrocarbons — property of the country’s exploited and oppressed majority. In retrospect, the Church’s effort can be viewed as a doomed attempt to construct a viable political center. That center had already collapsed under the weight of mobilization, polarization, and not least, the parliamentary cretinism of the bloc from Santa Cruz, which was adamantly opposed to a constitutional assembly that might allow for debate over new, more inclusive forms of political representation.</p>
<p>Recognizing the absence of a center, on the evening of June 6, Mesa presented his resignation to Congress. He complained that radical-popular leaders had taken advantage of his unwillingness to kill innocent civilians, and, ironically echoing the reactionary leaders who prepared and cheered his downfall, Mesa urged the country’s social movements to demobilize. Hoping to take the wind out of insurgent sails, Vaca Díez proposed to convene congress in the former colonial and republican capital of Sucre on Thursday, but after he announced his plans, Gualberto Choque offered security guarantees for all congressmen and women. Choque could point to the willingness the rank-and-file demonstrated last week in order to illustrate his point, and Vaca Díez was obliged to call for sessions in La Paz on June 8.</p>
<p>At the time of writing, a march as large as yesterday’s — led by Aymara peasants from La Paz and miners of Quechua-Aymara descent from Oruro, who had arrived by the truckload — had taken over the center of La Paz. Twenty soldiers with live ammunition were posted on each corner of the Plaza Murillo, as miners and community peasants tried to take it over. What comes next is anyone’s guess, but the semantic fiat of empire is unlikely to resolve Bolivia’s problems: calling radical, indigenous-based democracy “terrorism” does not make it so. In the event that Vaca Díez declines to make a bid for power, elections are likely to prolong the agony of stalemate rather than end it. Insurgents were willing to pull back from the Plaza Murillo in October so as to permit a constitutional succession. Unwilling to see history repeat itself, this time they seem bent on seizing power.</p>
<p>Notes:</p>
<p>* Túpaj Katari, the name taken by Julián Apaza, leader of the Aymara rising of 1781, means “resplendent serpent” in Aymara.</p>
<p>** Katari and Pablo Zarate “Villca,” head of indigenous community forces in the Federal War of 1899.</p>
<p>*** In 1899, Tapacarí was a key foco of indigenous insurgency.</p>
<p>FORREST HYLTON lives in La Paz. He is author of An Evil Hour: Colombia in Historical Context (forthcoming from Verso), and co-author of Ya es otro tiempo el presente: Cuatro momentos de insurgencia indígena, the second edition of which is forthcoming from Muela del Diablo Editores. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p>Sources: Canal Universitario, Inter Press Service, Narco News, La Prensa, La Razón, Radio Erbol, RTP. &#160;</p> | Bolivia’s Agony of the Stalemate Continues | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/06/07/bolivia-s-agony-of-the-stalemate-continues/ | 2005-06-07 | 4 |
<p>In a disturbing <a href="http://dailysignal.com/2017/09/05/underreported-christian-baker-reacts-government-official-comparing-nazi/" type="external">report</a> from The Daily Signal, a Christian baker from Colorado, Jack Phillips, broke down over the vitriol that's been unleashed on him since he held true to his religious beliefs and declined to service a gay wedding. Phillips found the accusation that he's just like a Nazi, launched, incredibly, by a government official, the most hurtful of all, especially since his father fought against the Nazis during WWII and shared with Phillips the first-hand horror he encountered.</p>
<p>Phillips was <a href="http://heavy.com/news/2017/06/jack-phillips-supreme-court-colorado-masterpiece-cakeshop-baker-religion/" type="external">sued</a> by gay couple Charlie Craig and David Mullins for refusing to make them a custom cake for their wedding back in 2012. The baker says he services people from the LGBT community all the time, but felt it was against his Christian faith to make the custom cake and therefore be participating in the gay wedding.</p>
<p>"I serve everybody," he told the Signal, "I just don't make cakes for every event; it's never the people, it's always the event that I look at."</p>
<p>Phillips' case, Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, is now set to hit the Supreme Court.</p>
<p>As you might suspect, gay activists have put a target on Phillips' back since the fallout, attacking and smearing the baker at every turn. Even a government official, Colorado Civil Rights Commissioner Diann Rice, got in on the slander in 2014, comparing Phillips to a slave owner and a WWII Nazi:</p>
<p>I would also like to reiterate what we said in … the last meeting [concerning Jack Phillips]. Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust. … I mean, we can list hundreds of situations where freedom of religion has been used to justify discrimination. And to me it is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use — to use their religion to hurt others.</p>
<p>While all the accusations are vile and completely asinine, Phillips took particular issue with the Nazi remark, as his father fought with the Allies during WWII and told Phillips all about the disturbing atrocities he witnessed first-hand.</p>
<p>The Signal sat down with Phillips, where the baker "recounts learning about the Nazi concentration camps from his father in the years before he passed away, and describes what it was like to hear a government official compare not making a cake for a same-sex wedding to the atrocities committed during the Holocaust."</p>
<p>“I don’t have words for it,” said Phillips of the accusation made against him. “But it’s wrong.”</p>
<p>WATCH:</p> | WATCH: Christian Baker Breaks Down After Govt Official Compares Him To Nazi For Not Servicing Gay Wedding | true | https://dailywire.com/news/20773/watch-christian-baker-breaks-down-after-government-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-09-07 | 0 |
<p>Audio briefing from Web+10Listen to Howard Finberg and Nora Paul, seminar co-directors, talk about Web+10.</p>
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<p>To figure out the path to the future, each participant joined one of seven working groups created during the seminar.&#160;These groups looked at content, customers, competition, community, credibility, competencies and corporate structure. The output from those groups will be used to create a "manifesto."&#160;No time table has been set.&#160; Meanwhile here are some of the key takeaways and questions from the seminar, as reported by <a href="" type="internal">Chaser Rob Runett</a>:</p>
<p>Many of the Web+10 participants have personal blogs (no surprise), and they wrote about the seminar.&#160;Here are few worth a look:</p> | Envisioning the Future of Online Journalism | false | https://poynter.org/news/envisioning-future-online-journalism | 2005-02-07 | 2 |
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<p>The kingdom, which bans movie theaters and other entertainment venues, is challenging its ultraconservative image and loosening the reins on fun by opening its doors to live shows, including some American ones.</p>
<p>Clerics and many citizens still consider it all very sinful, but the growing entertainment scene has a powerful backer — the second-in-line to the throne. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s support is key to this cultural push, which also means the fun is tightly controlled.</p>
<p>Still, it’s a notable shift from just a few years ago, when the religious police — known as the Muttawa– would shoo women out of malls for wearing bright nail polish, insist restaurants turn off music and break up gatherings where unrelated men and women were mixing.</p>
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<p>Last year, the Muttawa were ordered to soften their approach and their powers were curtailed.</p>
<p>Though most Saudis voluntarily adhere to the country’s Islamic mores, there are plenty who are happy to embrace reforms — or what could also be seen as a return to the more relaxed era of the 1980s, when music concerts were performed.</p>
<p>The recent all-male concert of Saudi singer Mohammed Abdu was both nostalgic and groundbreaking. He had not performed in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, since the late 1980s.</p>
<p>History is also being made. The first ever Comic-Con event in Saudi Arabia drew thousands of spectators in February in the Red Sea city of Jiddah.</p>
<p>Fans dressed up as their favorite Marvel characters. Actors Julian Glover and Charles Dance — Grand Maester Pycelle and Tywin Lannister from HBO’s Game of Thrones — made an appearance. Rock music blared in the halls. For most of the event men and women were not segregated — a surprising departure from the norm in schools, universities, mosques, restaurants and the many Starbucks and Pizza Huts across the country.</p>
<p>Though women must dress in loosely-fitted, long robes and most cover their hair and face with black veils, there was a female-only area at Comic-Con for those dressed up in colorful superhero costumes.</p>
<p>Moiz Muqri has been collecting comic books since the 1990s, when there was little else to do in the kingdom.</p>
<p>“An event like Comic-Con, I could not have imagined it happening in Saudi Arabia five years ago,” said the 37-year-old resident of Jiddah, who wore a Spiderman hoodie to the event. “It is a seismic shift what has happened in the last two, three years.”</p>
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<p>The event was a step too far for some. It drew backlash from tens of thousands of Saudis on Twitter, including the prominent imam of the Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in Medina.</p>
<p>Sheikh Hussein al-Sheikh denounced the event for its life-size statues and its glorification of mystical superheroes, seen as a form of idolatry. He said it was “shameful that there be such events sponsored by an official entity,” and called for a boycott.</p>
<p>Within weeks his Twitter account was deleted without explanation — a reminder that speaking out against the government remains a red line.</p>
<p>The official arm behind these events is the General Entertainment Authority, created last year as part of a wider effort by the deputy crown prince to diversify the oil-driven economy.</p>
<p>A major aim is to keep some of the Saudi tourism money spent abroad each year in the country. The National Committee for Tourism says Saudis spent $35 billion abroad in 2015.</p>
<p>The Entertainment Authority wants to double what Saudi families currently spend on entertainment in the kingdom by 2030. Saudi Arabia is also in talks to open a Six Flags theme park.</p>
<p>Another aim is to appease the country’s majority youth, who — unlike older generations– have unrestricted access to the world through their smartphones.</p>
<p>One of the first shows to perform under this new banner was iLuminiate, a performance that fuses hip-hop dance with electrified glow-in-the-dark suits.</p>
<p>Several thousand men and women packed halls in Riyadh and Jiddah in October to watch the dancers perform to Michael Jackson, Bruno Mars and Missy Elliott hits.</p>
<p>Egyptian-American creator Miral Kotb, a software engineer and dancer, said she was approached to bring the show to Saudi Arabia by the company Live Entertainment with support from the government.</p>
<p>“They wanted something that would be family-friendly… so people are dancing in the dark and it is a pretty, I guess, conservative show as far as the movements,” she said.</p>
<p>There were a few women on stage, but there was no way to know who was doing what because the dancers were dressed in special suits and performing in the dark. Kotb says they took out hip movements and changed the costumes to look more conservative.</p>
<p>Crowds were loud and excited. “They were hungry for it,” Kotb said.</p>
<p>There are still no plans for movie theaters, but an evening with American movie star Al Pacino may take place in May, according to the Entertainment Authority’s website. Also scheduled for 2017 is a performance by Blue Man group, a comedy play, a poetry recital and drag racing.</p>
<p>Previously, Saudi Arabia hosted WWE wrestling matches for male-only crowds. This month, the all-American Monster Jam truck show roared in Riyadh. Tens of thousands showed up to watch the massive, four-meter-tall (13 feet) monster trucks fly across pits and dunes.</p>
<p>Female drivers, mechanics and spectators were not allowed. The kingdom bars women from driving.</p>
<p>“You respect their religion and their beliefs and they really didn’t seem to have a problem with us,” said Monster Jam driver Randy Brown, a native of North Carolina.</p>
<p>“It was unbelievable how excited they were to have us there,” Brown said. “It was an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Aya Batrawy on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ayaelb" type="external">www.twitter.com/ayaelb</a></p> | With monster trucks and Comic-Con, Saudis defy killjoy image | false | https://abqjournal.com/978314/with-monster-trucks-and-comic-con-saudis-defy-killjoy-image.html | 2017-03-29 | 2 |
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<p>Santa Fe plans to create a Native American Arts or Crafts District downtown.</p>
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<p>The Santa Fe City Council on Wednesday unanimously voted to create a Native American Arts or Crafts District in the downtown area and along Canyon Road, believed to be the first of its kind in the country.</p>
<p>Under the ordinance, businesses selling authentic Native American merchandise within the area would have to obtain a special business license and adhere to certain requirements. Participating businesses would have to display a sign at the store entrance stating it sells authentic Native American arts and crafts, they would have to clearly identify which items in their store are authentic and which are not, and they would have to post a sign at the cash register informing shoppers they are entitled to a certificate of authenticity.</p>
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<p>Mayor Javier Gonzales said he didn’t believe the ordinance would be onerous on existing businesses that sell merchandise made by Native Americans. It would not only protect consumers from unwittingly purchasing counterfeit jewelry, he said, but would also protect Santa Fe’s brand as a place to buy real, high-quality Native American jewelry, pottery and artwork.</p>
<p>Gonzales said the ordinance was “the first of its kind to protect authenticity through a disclosure process.”</p>
<p>During the public hearing preceding the vote, two Native American artists, Brian Vallo of Acoma Pueblo and Pauline Vigil of Tesuque Pueblo, thanked the council for taking the step.</p>
<p>Businesses are required to secure the new license upon obtaining or renewing their business license.</p>
<p>While there was overwhelming support for the measure, some councilors questioned how the ordinance would be enforced.</p>
<p>Councilor Chris Rivera said it would be difficult for the Land Use Department to take on additional enforcement responsibilities. It was already short-staffed, he said, and he noted that in recent months it has been given greater enforcement responsibilities under an ordinance addressing short-term rentals. In addition, Wednesday night’s agenda also included items having to do with a green building code and an overlay district along St. Michael’s Drive that also called on that department to conduct enforcement.</p>
<p>“I think we’re piling more onto them tonight,” he said.</p>
<p>Councilor Joseph Maestas agreed, saying the ordinance seemed to rely heavily on the honor system. He said the ordinance did provide a foundation, but he planned on introducing legislation in the future that would build on it.</p>
<p>Businesses found to be in violation of the ordinance would be subject to revocation of their business license.</p>
<p>Gonzales said earlier this week that businesses in violation may also be referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for making false advertising claims.</p> | Santa Fe creates Native American Arts or Crafts District | false | https://abqjournal.com/875879/santa-fe-creates-native-american-arts-or-crafts-district.html | 2016-10-26 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Starbucks.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Stock gains of roughly 240% over the past five years and expectations for healthy earnings growth are reflected in Starbucks' forward P/E ratio of 36, and concerns about broader economic trends are prompting appraisal and reappraisal of the long high-performing stock. Amid these concerns, the coffee giant is also catching heat from customers and analysts about changes to its customer rewards system.</p>
<p>The controversial new rewards programsees the company apportioning points per dollar spent, as opposed to the previous system that awarded points based on number of visits. Adding extra juice to the matter, Dunkin' Brands has improved its rewards program in conjunction with a revamped mobile approach and has even taken the opportunity on social media to poke fun at Starbucks' perceived misstep.</p>
<p>Vocally dissatisfied customers and ample media coverage suggest that, to some extent, the dissatisfaction with the new Starbucks rewards program is real, but does the change represent a significant threat to the value proposition of Starbucks stock?</p>
<p>A brewing controversyThe big rewards shift comes at a time when the Seattle coffee giant's ability to deliver strong growth from its more than 24,000 global locations is debated in the context of volatility in China, domestic competition, and concerns that the brand could lose appeal in the event of significantly weakened economic conditions. Evidencing the sentiment that the rewards program could present a meaningful threat to Starbucks, a Deutsche Bank analyst recently issued a downward revision on the stock and cited the new rewards changes amid competing offerings from Dunkin' Donuts as a factor in the downgrade.</p>
<p>With a P/E that's roughly double that of the S&amp;P 500 Index andunknown variables in key growth markets including China, there are valid reasons to take a cautious outlook on Starbucks, but the rewards program might not be as big an issue as initial customer dissatisfaction and the Dunkin' Donuts' marketing push might suggest.</p>
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<p>Why the rewards program controversy could be overblownDunkin' Donuts' ribbing of Starbucks and the highlighting of its own ample April rewards offerings is well-timed and supported by a revamped mobile app and membership incentives, including a free beverage of any size for signing up with the program. The rewards push and app overhaul indicates movement on the company's stated desire to drive growth with better promotions, but it's far from a clear sign that the new rewards program will drive Starbucks customers to switch to Dunkin' in significant numbers or be a definitive factor in new customer acquisition. From its coffee and food items to its in-store layout, Starbucks is significantly differentiated from Dunkin' and most other competitors in the space, and the customers visiting Starbucks stores enough to be frequent participants in its rewards programs could prove among the most difficult for competitors to court.</p>
<p>While the switch to the new points-per-dollar system is clearly not universally loved, the promotional steps that Starbucks is taking with its rewards revamp might actually work to speed adoption of the company's mobile app -- a major focus as it seeks to create more personalized connections with its customer base and streamline its store experience with mobile ordering and other features. Like Dunkin', Starbucks revamped its mobile app with the rollout of the new rewards program, and is running a promotion that offers a year-long membership to Starbucks Gold Rewards program to users who make a purchase with Starbucks' app or regular rewards card by May 2. The Gold upgrade might not have the same immediate appeal as a free beverage from Dunkin', but the benefits of easy entry into Starbucks' upper-tier rewards program could win over skeptics with time.</p>
<p>In a worst-case scenario where the new rewards program proves to be a complete miss with customers, Starbucks wouldn't face great barriers in returning to its previous system and could offer extra freebies as a proactive gesture. It seems unlikely that such a move will be necessary, but the option for reversal is there if needed, and expecting Starbucks to deliver a rewards program that satisfies customers is not unreasonable, given the company's brand history.</p>
<p>More pressing issues for Starbucks investorsWhile the possibility of continued issues stemming from the rewards change exists and keeping the brand in top shape is greatly important, Starbucks' stock performance probably hinges on factors that are much bigger and more complex than the rewards controversy.</p>
<p>China is Starbucks' second-largest market, and the company is counting on big growth in the territory, anticipating that the country's middle class will have increased from a 300 million-person base in 2010 to 600 million in 2022. The company currently operates roughly 2,000 stores in mainland China and is targeting 3,400 by 2019, with room for significant further expansion if middle-class growth targets pan out as anticipated.</p>
<p>The company is also expanding its packaged-food strategy across territories, with a partnership with Chinese consumer-goods company Tingyi for a bottled-coffee release later this year and an effort with PepsiCo to scale up bottled distribution in Latin America. If discretionary spending in China and other emerging markets continues to see favorable trends and Starbucks continues to find success with its food and packaged innovations, it has strong growth prospects and the ability to reward continued investor confidence.</p>
<p>The level of strength assumed in those growth propositions relative to Starbucks' valuation should guide investor action, with the new rewards issue representing a more tertiary concern.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/30/should-starbucks-investors-be-worried-about-the-co.aspx" type="external">Should Starbucks Investors Be Worried About the Company's New Rewards Program? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/keithnoonan/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Keith Noonan Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends PepsiCo and Starbucks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Should Starbucks Investors Be Worried About the Company's New Rewards Program? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/30/should-starbucks-investors-be-worried-about-company-new-rewards-program.html | 2016-04-30 | 0 |
<p>A Spending Breakdown for Valentine's Day</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Love is in the air and retailers are seeing dollar signs. Here’s a breakdown on how Americans will be spending an estimated $18.6 billion this year on chocolates, pets and of course, on Facebook.</p>
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<p>More than half of consumers (51 %) will buy candy for their significant other this year, spending $1.6 billion in total, according to the National Retail Federation. In addition, one-third (36.6%) will give flowers to a loved one, with spending topping $1.9 billion. &#160;The average consumer will spend $130.97 this year, the NRF reports.</p>
<p>Nearly one-fifth of consumers will be giving jewelry to a significant other, with more than $4.4 billion expected to be spend on diamonds, gold and silver, according to the NRF.</p>
<p>Less-traditional gifts are in style this year with 15.6% of consumers a total of $1.6 billion on clothing for their loved one, says the NRF. The organization also reports 15% will be buying gift cards, spending a total of $1.5 billion.</p>
<p>Men will be spending significantly more than women this holiday, according to the NRF, spending an average of $175.61 on jewelry, flowers and a romantic night out.</p>
<p>Women will be spending far less than men on their partner, the NRF reports, with the average bill coming it at $88.78.</p>
<p>More than 40% of consumers plan to dine at their local restaurants this year. According to American Express OPEN’s Shop Small Valentine’s Day Monitor, 91% of consumers believe it’s important to support local businesses, and on average they plan to spend around $151 on the holiday this year.</p>
<p>Twenty percent of Americans plan to buy gifts for their pets this year, spending an estimated $815 million on pets, up from $630 million in 2012. The National Retail Federation said on average, pet owners will spend $28.55 this years on their pets. However, men plan to spend more than double on pets, at $72.88, compared to women spending $33.46, the NRF says.</p>
<p>Facebook gets hit with the highest number of added relationships on V-Day with an increase of 200%. The survey also said Valentine’s Day is the third most popular day to share engagement news on the site, after Christmas, and Christmas Eve.</p>
<p>An <a href="http://www.rocketlanguages.com/valentines-day/" type="external">international survey</a> of more than 5,000 men and women found that if you speak a different language, 79% find you more attractive and 77% rate you as more intelligent. Rocket Languages found French is the No.1 sexiest language (41%), followed by Italian (16%) and Spanish (15%).</p> | Valentine’s Day by the Numbers | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/02/13/spending-breakdown-for-valentine-day.html | 2016-06-14 | 0 |
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<p>LAS CRUCES&#160; – New Mexico State football and Washington State have agreed to a deal to square off on the gridiron for the first time ever in program history for the 2019 campaign. The scheduled date of competition is slated for Saturday, Aug. 31, in Martin Stadium.</p>
<p>The announcement pushes the number of contracted games set for 2019 to six with half of the season remaining to be filled. Other games in 2019 for New Mexico State include Alabama, Georgia Southern, Liberty twice) and Louisiana Lafayette.</p>
<p>New Mexico State’s 2017 schedule features Arizona State, Arkansas, UTEP and New Mexico while Washington State’s consists of Montana State, Boise State and Nevada.</p>
<p>The Cougars finished second in the Pac-12 North with an 8-5 overall record and 7-2 mark in conference play in 2016. After dropping its first two games of the season, WSU reeled off eight consecutive victories before falling in its final three contests of the year.</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Aggie football adds Washington State for 2019 | false | https://abqjournal.com/1017435/aggie-football-adds-washington-state-for-2019.html | 2 |
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<p>The Pew Forum on Religion &amp; Public Life has new polling data out about Roe v. Wade ahead of the decision’s 40th anniversary next week. Here are two charts that say quite a bit.</p>
<p>The first shows public support for the decision. I’ve heard, again and again, that the pro-Roe crowd is “losing.” (Look no further than the <a href="http://lifenews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/timemag.jpg" type="external">cover of the new issue of Time</a> for the latest example.) But support for the decision has held pretty firm, Pew found:</p>
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<p>Millennials, meanwhile, apparently think “Roe” is something you do in a boat. Less than half of them could correctly identify it as a case dealing with abortion rights:</p>
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<p /> | Roe at 40, in 2 Charts | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/roe-40-two-charts/ | 2013-01-16 | 4 |
<p>Evo Morales recently read the “Supreme Decree” in which the nationalization of natural gas was announced. The rumor that this was about to happen had already spread in Bolivia. The decree starts by considering that “in historical struggles, the people have conquered and paid with their blood, the right to return our natural resources and our wealth in natural gas to the hands of the nation and to be utilized to the benefit of the country.”</p>
<p>According to current polls Evo Morales has 80% approval, but the U.S. is concerned about a government that is not following the path of democracy. George Bush had a similar approval rate after 9/11 and although there were concerns in other parts of the world, the official discourse in the US linked popular approval of the government with democracy and not with populism. What are the relations between democracy and popular approval of the presidential mandate?</p>
<p>The international press reported the substantial concern of the industrial sector after President Morales announced the nationalization. The New York Times quoted Adriano Pires, director of the Brazilian Center for Infrastructure Studies, who said:</p>
<p>“Governments in the region see energy as a commodity they can use to push populist agendas … From a political point of view, it’s a powerful issue to manipulate, but from an Industrial point of view, it can do real harm” (05/02/06, A5).</p>
<p>Pires’ statement is half true. He assumes that nationalization of natural gas is just a political move and he assumes that the industrial sector has no political interests. Furthermore, he assumes that industrialization in itself is good for all and that there will be no economic benefits for the majority of the Bolivian population.</p>
<p>One can surmise that Pires would do whatever is possible to benefit the industrial sector, and leave other institutions to fight poverty. Pires’ concern is not the well being of human beings, but the increase in productivity.</p>
<p>The industrial sector and the government of industrial countries are not considering the possibility that the nationalization of natural gas in Bolivia could be a way to fight poverty. Regaining the autonomy that was taken away by the privatization of natural resources under the government of Gonzálo Sánchez de Losada may not be going back to the national populism of the 70’s in Latin America, but moving forward to a new way of doing politics and economy (the de-colonial way, as it is being conceptualized in Bolivia).</p>
<p>It is time perhaps to start questioning the idea that industrialization and technology paves the way to democracy and that democratic projects that are different from those of the private sector are authoritarian populism. The news and official reports regularly inform that while worldwide wealth and productivity increases, poverty climbs as well.</p>
<p>We, readers and audience of popular media, are daily invited to think that there is only one way to go: to increase productivity, to spread technology and to allow people to vote. Democracy is at the end of this road. When people vote in a surprising majority for a project (like that of Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez or Hamas), that is not following the predicted path, democracy in danger is debated and the authoritarian use of force is considered as a measure to re-establish democracy. That makes you think that democracy means to be in agreement with the concept of democracy defended by those who have the control of money and the control of authority. That profile makes us believe that indeed people who do not believe in capitalism and that suffer the consequences of globalization, are wrong in their feeling and in their struggle for liberation of imperial global designs.</p>
<p>The strengthening of the State that we are witnessing around the world (from Vladimir Putin in Russia to Mahmoud Amhadinejad in Iran; from Hugo Chávez to Evo Morales) is a response to the danger of a private sector, as Joseph Stiglitz has analyzed in the case of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and also of the end of the ten years of privatization in Argentina under Carlos Ménem.</p>
<p>If President Bush and Osama Bin Laden have been a portrait of a struggle of fundamentalisms, we can conclude that today Bolivia provides an example of the struggle between the danger of the private sector that Antonio Pires mentions and the danger of national populism. Neither offers a way to the future.</p>
<p>But, in the last analysis, Evo Morales may be doing something different: not a move toward revamping national populism in Latin America, as the vox populi has it, but moving in a different direction: the de-colonization of the State and the de-colonization of the economy. Which means, working toward a political theory that is not contained in John Locke and in a political economy that is beyond Adam Smith and Karl Marx.</p>
<p>WALTER MIGNOLO is the William H. Wannamaker Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University. His books include: <a href="" type="internal">The Idea of Latin America</a>, <a href="" type="internal">The Darker Side of the Renaissance: Literacy, Territoriality and Colonization</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Local Histories/Global Designs: Coloniality, Subaltern Knowledges and Border Thinking</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Nationalization of Natural Gas in Bolivia | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/05/09/nationalization-of-natural-gas-in-bolivia/ | 2006-05-09 | 4 |
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<p>White, who lived in Boston for 10 years and is a diehard fan of the city’s sports teams, fired back with something more impressive: a shot of him flashing a Boston Celtics NBA championship ring straight from his courtside seat with team owner Wyc Grousbeck.</p>
<p>It’s been a happy homecoming this week for White. He caught a Celtics game, will attend Sunday’s AFC championship game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots, and caught up with countless old friends from his old stomping ground.</p>
<p>“Not a bad weekend,” the 48-year-old White said, wearing a Patriots T-shirt and jacket.</p>
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<p>But the main attraction this week is UFC 220 on Saturday night at a sold-out TD Garden. Stipe Miocic defends the UFC heavyweight championship against Francis Ngannou and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier defends against Volkan Oezdemir .</p>
<p>White touched on a wide range of subjects during interview Friday with The Associated Press ahead of UFC 220.</p>
<p>— On Conor McGregor:</p>
<p>Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov for the interim lightweight title, the one Ferguson won in October, was announced for UFC 223 in New York. The 29-year-old McGregor has not fought for UFC since he won the lightweight belt in November 2016 . McGregor has not competed at all since August, when he lost to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in his boxing debut.</p>
<p>McGregor could soon be stripped of the title.</p>
<p>“We can’t tie up the title two years, no matter how much I love the kid,” White said. “We’ll let Tony Ferguson and Khabib fight for the title and then Conor obviously will be the first one to come back and get a crack at either one of them.”</p>
<p>Will McGregor come back?</p>
<p>“I don’t know,” White said. “I don’t wait for anybody. I run my business, I keep rolling and that’s it. The kid’s got $100 million. Who knows, he might never fight again.”</p>
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<p>— On a potential Mayweather-McGregor rematch.</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t do that fight again,” White said. “I would never work with Showtime again. I’d never work with that weasel (Showtime Sports executive Stephen Espinoza) again.”</p>
<p>How about Mayweather in UFC?</p>
<p>“If Floyd wants to fight in the octagon and get out of his Showtime deal, let’s do it,” White said. “I think that’s the only way people would care this time. Do you know how many people want to see that guy take a shin to the face?”</p>
<p>— On Ronda Rousey:</p>
<p>Like McGregor, Rousey stood as the face of UFC for years but has also been out of the cage since 2016. The once-feared Rousey hasn’t fought since December 2016 when she suffered the second of two straight defeats — the only ones of her career. The 30-year-old Rousey has kept busy in entertainment and has met with WWE officials about a possible pro wrestling career.</p>
<p>White said Rousey is still under contract with UFC.</p>
<p>“She won’t fight again,” White said. “I love that woman. We have an amazing relationship. What she’s done for the sport and for this company, created millions of female fans around the world. Ronda can do whatever the hell she wants to do.”</p>
<p>— On CM Punk:</p>
<p>The former WWE superstar made headlines when he jumped to UFC in 2014 . But Punk’s debut at UFC 203 in September 2016 was a short one, and he tapped out just 2:14 into the first round against welterweight Mickey Gall.</p>
<p>White said the 39-year-old Punk will fight again.</p>
<p>“I like that guy. He’s a good dude,” White said. “He wants one more. He wants to get another shot. I’m going to give it to him.”</p>
<p>White said he has no date or opponent in mind for Punk, “but I’m working on it.”</p>
<p>“He’s a completely different case than most normal human beings, so I’m going to give him another shot,” White said.</p>
<p>On Brock Lesnar:</p>
<p>–Lesnar returned to MMA in July 2016 with a victory, but he is under contract to WWE as a professional wrestler and is the promotion’s Universal champion. Lesnar beat Mark Hunt at UFC 200 in a unanimous decision that was changed to a no-contest after Lesnar failed a doping test. He received a one-year suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission, but could return to MMA after completing the final months of the ban.</p>
<p>“I think he’ll give it one more run,” White said. “I just think Brock loves to fight.”</p>
<p>— On Georges St-Pierre.</p>
<p>GSP was one of the UFC’s marquee names and a legit pay-per-view draw during his long reign atop the 170-pound division. He returned from a four-year break to beat Michael Bisping in November at Madison Square Garden for the middleweight championship. GSP has since relinquished the belt and has said he may take more time off because of health issues.</p>
<p>“I think his return was purely financial,” White said. “But he did it. He came back and beat Michael Bisping.”</p>
<p>— On early weigh-ins.</p>
<p>All the UFC 220 fighters made weight on Friday morning, but one MMA journalist counted 51 fighters who have missed weight or failed to weigh in since the company went to early weigh-ins about 18 months ago. The Uriah Hall vs. Vitor Belfort fight scheduled for last Sunday in St. Louis was scrapped after Hall was hospitalized trying to cut weight. Hall said he suffered a “mini-seizure” and a “slight heart attack.”</p>
<p>“Guys think that they can just wake up in the morning and get that weight down and weigh in and then put the weight back on,” White said.</p>
<p>White said he will not move the weigh-in time.</p>
<p>“There’s a way to get down and cut the weight the right way,” he said. “If you can’t do it the right way, then fight the weight class above.”</p>
<p>— On future cards:</p>
<p>White said UFC planned to run 2018 shows in Utica, New York, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.</p> | UFC prez White sounds off on McGregor, Rousey, Punk futures | false | https://abqjournal.com/1122088/ufc-prez-white-sounds-off-on-mcgregor-rousey-punk-futures.html | 2018-01-20 | 2 |
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<p>A Mexican girl piñata from the 1990s is made of cardboard, papier-mâché and tissue paper. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The art of piñata making has evolved over time.</p>
<p>One thing is for certain – it takes a lot of time and patience.</p>
<p>And the National Hispanic Cultural Center is well-aware of this.</p>
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<p>After Tey Marianna Nunn, NHCC visual arts director, discovered a 1930s piñata at an antique store in Santa Fe, the seed was planted for this exhibit.</p>
<p>For months, Nunn and the NHCC staff have researched piñatas and their origins.</p>
<p>The result is “The Piñata Exhibit (Sure to be a Smash Hit!),” which has its opening reception tonight. The exhibit will feature different iterations of the art form through more than 150 pieces.</p>
<p>“It all got sparked by the vintage piñata,” Nunn says. “After that I was tracking down piñata makers in Albuquerque and then visiting the piñata district in Los Angeles. There are so many variations of them. They are traditional and handmade and take hours to make. At the same time, Nordstrom and Urban Outfitters are selling piñata-inspired items. There seems to be a moment that is converging with fashion and popular culture.”</p>
<p>Nunn curated the exhibit to showcase the art and the artists who make them.</p>
<p>Piñateros, or piñata artists, care a lot about their creations and they also believe deeply in keeping the art form and its traditions alive.</p>
<p>“Tissue paper cutting techniques, a good paste recipe and other stylistic differences become evident once one looks closely at piñatas by different artists,” Nunn says in the exhibit introduction. “These unique and elaborate sculptures are formed of recycled cartón (cardboard), papel (paper), papel de china (tissue paper), and various other accessible materials. They are labor-intensive creations that require patience, a delicate hand and attention to detail. While piñatas are used in a variety of celebrations all over the world, and happen to be highly popular right now in a variety of forms, the art form is endangered.”</p>
<p>“Fisherman in Boat” is a piece by the Collaborative Piñata Project, based in Mexico. (Jim Thompson/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Nunn says the tradition of piñata making is passed down over generations, yet piñateros are now finding that in the 21st century, few want to learn the artistic techniques of piñata making.</p>
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<p>“Fewer and fewer individuals see the value in painstakingly hand-making these ephemeral sculptures to turn around and sell them at an affordable price – and at a reasonable profit. As a result, more and more piñatas are being turned and imported from overseas,” she says.</p>
<p>Nunn says that historically, piñatas were made using a jar as a base. Sometimes the jar was covered with natural reeds or paper and then decorated with tissue paper, foil, and other embellishments.</p>
<p>Nowadays, piñatas are made around a papier-mâché base from a mold or created by hand.</p>
<p>Piñatas can be stuffed with candies, fruit, little toys, confetti and sometimes money. For holidays, birthday parties and other celebrations, a piñata is suspended by a strong rope so that the person in charge of festivities can maneuver the piñata up and down. Children (and adults) are blindfolded, given a stick, and spun around a few times so as to make them lose their bearings.</p>
<p>“Culturally, the celebrations have evolved,” Nunn says. “Some of the new forms of piñata making are amazing.”</p>
<p>The history of piñatas and how they came to be such an important art form is embedded in global and multicultural intersections.</p>
<p>And piñatas have always been in sync with popular culture.</p>
<p>Nunn says piñata artists react quickly to popular culture, movies, television, cartoons, politics and trends.</p>
<p>Their agility in visually responding also sets trends and helps sales. They can make anything, and most piñateros will tell you that special orders take about a week for a regular-sized piñata.</p>
<p>Traditional shapes including estrellas (stars), burros (donkeys), and toros (bulls) are the most iconic, and all piñata shops will stock these familiar images. Superheroes and princesses are always in fashion. Disney and Pixar characters also sell well. Numerals for any birthday and quinceañeras can be ordered.</p>
<p>“In 2017, emojis are all the rage,” she says. “According to one piñata maker in Albuquerque, la caquita, or poop emoji, is currently the most popular piñata with little girls.”</p>
<p>Holidays are also very popular, with Christmas piñatas being the No. 1 seller in Mexico.</p>
<p>Halloween is the most popular piñata holiday in the United States.</p>
<p>In the Southwest, Easter piñata sales are also strong and connect back to the European “Piñata Sunday” tradition.</p>
<p>New Mexico love for piñatas</p>
<p>Piñatas take on special meaning in New Mexico.Of course, chiles, both red and green, are popular.</p>
<p>Hot air balloons can be seen in piñata shops in the fall.</p>
<p>The beloved novel “Bless Me, Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya has also inspired piñatas of some of its key characters, Ultima herself, the owl and the golden carp commissioned by María Teresa Márquez in honor of the coming opera and art exhibition at the NHCC.</p>
<p>Francisco Rodríguez, the artist and owner of Casa de Piñatas in Albuquerque, created these for Ms. Márquez in response to the novel.</p>
<p>Finally, Zozobra! If you are from northern New Mexico or have lived in the state for a while, you are probably familiar with the Santa Fe tradition of Zozobra. Zozobra (or Zozo for those in the know) is burned every year during Santa Fe Fiestas in early September.</p>
<p /> | Stick Art: ‘Piñata Exhibit’ traces history of art form | false | https://abqjournal.com/1022390/art-exhibit-albuquerque.html | 2 |
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<p>DANVILLE, Ky. — A Danville teen who fled the state after her stepmother’s death has been indicted on a murder charge.</p>
<p>Jenna Oakley was reported missing after the body of her stepmother, 52-year-old Rhonda Oakley, was found in the family’s home on Sept. 1.</p>
<p>WDRB-TV reports (bit.ly/2dv7ZQl) Jenna Oakley was indicted Thursday for complicity to murder and theft by unlawful taking. The 15-year-old girl was found by police in Rhonda Oakley’s car in Tucumcari, New Mexico on Sept. 3. Her boyfriend, 20-year-old Kenneth Nigh, was in the passenger’s seat.</p>
<p>Nigh is charged with possessing stolen property and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.</p>
<p>Authorities said Nigh attempted to hang himself in jail. His injuries were so severe, he was taken to a hospital in Texas where he was placed on a ventilator.</p>
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<p>Information from: The (Danville, Ky.) Advocate-Messenger, <a href="http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews" type="external">http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Danville teen charged in killing of stepmother | false | https://abqjournal.com/872466/danville-teen-charged-in-killing-of-stepmother.html | 2 |
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<p>Leading Spanish social activist Ada Colau said Monday she would fight evictions, poverty and corruption after being elected mayor of the country's second city, Barcelona.</p>
<p>Colau, 41, has has taken part in anti-eviction protests and been led away by police in some - including one occasion when she occupied a bank.</p>
<p>She told a news conference she intends to halt evictions of people who can't afford to pay their mortgage or rent and will demand that banks free up the thousands of empty houses they possess.</p>
<p>Backed by the new far-left We Can party that has shaken up Spanish politics, Colau beat the candidate of the Catalonia region's long-dominant conservative Convergence and Union party in Sunday's local elections in Spain.</p>
<p>Colau has said she is in favor of a referendum on Catalonian independence but her political grouping, called Barcelona Together, hasn't said whether it favors a break with Spain, as several other Catalan parties do.</p>
<p>Formerly the head of Spain's active anti-eviction movement, Colau said her victory demonstrated the desire for change in Spain after years of economic crisis and political corruption scandals. The governing Popular Party's support dropped significantly.</p> | Spanish Anti-Austerity Activist Ada Colau Elected Mayor of Barcelona | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/world/anti-eviction-campaigner-promises-change-barcelona-n364176 | 2015-05-25 | 3 |
<p>The guys in the band are in black, with shaggy hair, and attitudes. They do a sound check in their rehearsal room, and then let it rip.</p>
<p>Guitars shriek through a familiar opening, and then move into a hyper-paced riff on the Pachelbel Canon. This might not be the usual punk rock fare — but then, not all self-proclaimed punk rockers are polite, well-spoken Bhutanese college students.</p>
<p>"Most of our audience is not into hard music, like what we like to play," says 19-year-old guitarist Ughyen Phuntso, a communications major. "So mostly, we end up playing in my garage."</p>
<p>Or they play here, at the Youth Development Fund's youth center in Thimpu, where rehearsal space and instruments are offered free, as an attempt to keep young people off the streets and out of trouble.</p>
<p>"We had noticed there were very few places where the youths could engage productively," says Dorji Ohm, the center's program director. "They'd go to the movies or to the bars. In fact, we did a survey and found 500 bars and one library, which was shocking."</p>
<p>Perhaps it wouldn't be so shocking in many places, but Bhutan is experiencing growing pains. It has long been a mostly rural, deeply Buddhist, largely isolated mountain kingdom. But in the dozen years since it decided to modernize, and opened up to television, internet and other outside influences, cities have grown and, some Bhutanese fear, mores have changed.</p>
<p>"People are becoming more self-centered, less considerate of society and less sensitive," says Lungten Gyatso, a Buddhist monk and director of Bhutan's Institute of Language and Cultural Studies. "And this is because of the global culture, modernization and development whatever you call it — internet, television, and all kinds of media."</p>
<p>As part of the effort to modernize Bhutan, villages that were once days' walk to the nearest road are getting connected, with roads, electricity, television and mobile phones. That has opened up new worlds to Bhutanese villagers, and has attracted ever more young Bhutanese to cities and towns — but the economy can't yet provide jobs for them all. Youth center director Dorji Ohm says some unemployed young people have taken up disturbing new habits — like smoking marijuana and taking ecstasy.</p>
<p>"I remember when I was a child, we never had drugs," she says. "We saw the marijuana growing — lots of it — but we didn't know what it was for. We saw our grandparents feed it to the pigs, so we looked at it more as fodder for animals.</p>
<p>I observe that they must have been very happy pigs. "Very happy pigs," she agrees.</p>
<p>Drug use is still not all that common in Bhutan. But as a younger generation grows up with internet and satellite TV, and other influences from the outside world, older Burmese wonder what will become of Bhutan's spiritually-based identity.</p>
<p>Buddhist monk Lungten Gyatso believes modernization has shifted Bhutan's moral center off-balance. He refers to Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index — the government's effort to measure well-being — and says, the very definition of happiness seems to be changing.</p>
<p>"If you are to consider, in terms of good feeling, or a feel good factor…modern amenities can give you happiness, because you have a good place to sit, a good bed to rest, and good food to eat" he says. "But I think that's not the definition of happiness. Happiness is the peace of mind deep down even beyond the couch, cars, and buildings, even beyond the sense of relaxation you have…is happiness. So it is totally upside down."</p>
<p>Gyatso would like to see Bhutan find a better balance, as it modernizes. Radio personality and film star Phubgyel Tshen says, he already has.</p>
<p>"I would say I'm balanced, and I'm happy in the present situation," he says.</p>
<p>Tshen works at the radio station Kuzoo FM — which tries to draw young listeners with — among other things — Western pop music. It broadcasts both in English and in the Bhutanese language, Dzonka, encouraging young people to stay grounded in their own culture as they navigate a rapidly changing society It also offers talk shows, call-in advice shows, and public service announcements — including frequent ones on sexually transmitted diseases, which are on the rise.</p>
<p>"We let the student speak their own view on radio, like what are their concerns and responsibilities," Tshen says. "Some have family problems. Dad and Mom are divorced. And there's no one to sponsor their education. So they really lag behind, compared to other students."</p>
<p>Divorce is becoming increasingly common in Bhutan, but Dorji Ohm thinks that's not necessarily all bad.</p>
<p>"When I look at my parents' generation, it was the wife who stayed at home," she says. "And divorce was something the Bhutanese didn't really see as a choice. If there were some extramarital affairs, or some abuse, the wife would take it. I think with education, you have more of a sense of independence. You realize your rights. You are more economically independent. So you aren't as dependent on your husband."</p>
<p>Ohm sees the higher divorce rate as yet another sign of a society trying to find its balance. Not all Bhutanese feel it's all that hard.</p>
<p>On a mountain's edge, where pilgrims pause to turn a Buddhist prayer wheel, carpenter Norbu Torsha still seems quite grounded in the Buddhist culture he grew up with. He says his Buddhist beliefs tell him the cutting of trees is sinful, so he's come here to the Tiger's Nest temple, to light a butter lamp as an offering, to at least slightly make up what he has to do to make a living. On balance, though, he says he sees Bhutan's development as a good thing.</p>
<p>"In our village, we used to have to walk days to get a message out," he says. "Now we can just use our mobile phones. Our country is developing fast, and I'm happy with it. I'm happy to have been born here."</p>
<p>Back in Thimpu, high school students Sonam and Nanjita feel the same. Stopping to chat on their way home from school, they say they like listening to Usher and Justin Bieber on Kuzoo FM, and playing around on the internet. But Sonam says it doesn't change who they are as Bhutanese:</p>
<p>"We can listen to the songs, but (inside) we have the sense of (being) Bhutanese," she says. "So we won't forget our culture and tradition."</p>
<p>Nanjita chimes in. "We still like Bhutanese culture and tradition, more than Western things."</p>
<p>The girls say they like the fact that, at school, there are lessons in Buddhist mindfulness, with time given for silent meditation. They're glad the government actively thinks about the happiness of Bhutan's citizens, as it seeks greater economic growth.</p>
<p>In Bhutan, Buddhism's counsel to choose a middle path seems to provide both a guiding principle, and a challenge — develop, but don't lose your identity. Modernize, but don't lose your soul. Many cultures have faced this challenge — few have done it as consciously.</p> | Buddhism and Modern Life in Bhutan | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-12-02/buddhism-and-modern-life-bhutan | 2011-12-02 | 3 |
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<p>Make sure you check <a href="../news/state/032357423453newsstate09-03-10.htm" type="external">this list</a> before you set out to business with city and county offices on Monday. Most government offices will be closed for the holiday. Trash pickup will go on as normal, however, and transportation services such as the <a href="http://www.nmrailrunner.com/schedule_weekend.asp" type="external">Rail Runner</a> will have extended hours so you can take in holiday festivities, such as the <a href="" type="internal">New Mexico Wine Festival at Bernalillo.</a></p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Holiday Closings | false | https://abqjournal.com/9176/holiday-closings.html | 2 |
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<p>According to Houston police, a total of <a href="http://abc13.com/houston-police-catch-armed-robbers-and-looters/2354955/" type="external">14 armed looters</a> have been arrested thus far in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey — and prosecutors have made it clear that those criminals will face even harsher penalties for victimizing people during a crisis situation.</p>
<p>The city of Houston is reeling from one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the state after some 50+ inches of rain inundated large sections of the city, resulting in the deaths of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/us/hurricane-harvey-storm-flooding.html?mcubz=1" type="external">at least 30 people</a> so far.</p>
<p>Despite the catastrophic circumstances and widespread suffering, some low-lifes have decided to take advantage of the situation and their fellow Texans for personal gain. But as Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has been underscoring over the last few days, officers will not be sitting back and letting those losers get away with it.</p>
<p>"This is the state of Texas. We are a welcoming city, but we are not going to tolerate people victimizing others," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo <a href="http://abc13.com/houston-police-catch-armed-robbers-and-looters/2354955/" type="external">said</a> Tuesday. A total of 14 armed looters have been arrested so far, the department revealed.</p>
<p>"We've already arrested a handful of looters. We've made it real clear to our community we're going to do whatever it takes to protect their homes and their businesses," he <a href="" type="internal">said</a> earlier. "And when people come from the outside to Houston, Texas, know we're going to be out in the city, we're not going to rest as a police department or law enforcement community until people restore their lives."</p>
<p>Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg also emphasized on Tuesday that the city is making sure victims of the hurricane aren't "easy prey" for criminals. "People displaced or harmed in this storm are not going to be easy prey," said the DA.</p>
<p>Houston's <a href="http://abc13.com/houston-police-catch-armed-robbers-and-looters/2354955/" type="external">ABC 13</a>notes that while burglarizing a home usually carries a penalty of two to 20 years in prison, in a crisis situation the laws stiffen, resulting in the potential penalty of five years to life. The DA promised to push for the maximum sentencing.</p>
<p>"Acevedo said his officers arrested a crew of people with guns robbing members of our community Monday night," ABC 13 reports. "They found them after a pursuit and took them into custody. He said officers also caught three looters at a Game Stop Monday night."</p>
<p>A few images from the devastating natural disaster below:</p> | Houston Looting Update: Here's How Many People Have Been Arrested So Far | true | https://dailywire.com/news/20417/houston-looting-update-heres-how-many-people-have-james-barrett | 2017-08-30 | 0 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.myspace.com/thathandsomedevil"&gt;That Handsome Devil&lt;/a&gt;/Myspace</p>
<p>When Esquire published its list of <a href="http://www.esquire.com/features/music/best-new-songs-2011-0511" type="external">“50 Songs Every Man Should Listen To,”</a> one reader <a href="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/31967_411949858480_35117718480_4320547_2788054_n.jpg" type="external">responded</a> that the editors had left out one crucial band for the XY set. It was That Handsome Devil, a gonzo-punk outfit out of Boston, whose music sounds as if a jowling, snarling creature had crept down from the rafters to join Mr. Toad on his wanton hell ride. But on the band’s second (or fourth, if you include EPs) album, The Heart Goes to Heaven, the Head Goes to Hell, the musicians are in full control of their Haunted House-macabre sound. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBhjUyBvMT8" type="external">“Charlie’s Inferno”</a> is an unintentional nod to the TV show It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnnwZzk9ryg" type="external">“Adapt”</a> sounds like a back alley fist fight about to bust out. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUL6NY1RplA" type="external">“Inside You,”</a> finds lead singer Godforbid mastering that clinging-to-the-bottle drawl the band’s become known for. When I caught up with Godforbid last Friday, he regaled me with talk about hustling beer at Coney Island, milking tall tales, and his struggle between pure intentions and royal douchebaggery.&#160;</p>
<p>Mother Jones:&#160;One of my favorite tracks is <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzkMkr99R8o" type="external">“How to Get Money.”</a> Any tips for readers who are broke and pissed off?&#160;</p>
<p>Godforbid:&#160;[Laughs.] If I&#160;had gobs of cash&#160;I’d have plenty of ideas. But I’ve given all my tips up on that track. Well, there’s an insane hustle in&#160;New York. I’ve got three jobs&#160;to keep the wheels spinning. But you can get creative with it; there are always fun little hustles out there. You can take beers and sell ’em down at the Coney Island Beach. Just walk around with a cooler and have a buddy walk 20 feet in front of you to cop watch. You can sell them for whatever price you’d like because people are just too lazy to stand in line.</p>
<p>MJ: What sort of work are you doing?</p>
<p>GF:&#160;I don’t have many commodities other than the fact that I&#160;can write and perform. I’ve got three jobs where I’m making the same amount of money I would if I were 16.&#160;I press records at Hit-Bound Records, but it’s hard working in a hot factory like that.&#160;I’ve got to meditate for a bit, turn into a robot for eight hours, to be able to do that job.&#160;And I&#160;do janitorial work for a plastic surgeon—you’ll find fat globules and blood spatters, but it makes for good song writing. And depending on the gig, I’ll do construction here and there.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Wow, then your music is really a product of hard-ass labor!</p>
<p>GF:&#160;God, I wish it wasn’t. I wish it was gold, bubbly, and frankincense. [Laughs.]</p>
<p>MJ: How do you even find time to work on music?</p>
<p>GF:&#160;I like to go on walks or write at bars.&#160;I wrote the first EP&#160;at a strip club; I used to always kick it there. Not because I’m a gross dude, but because something would happen where the dancing would take over that constant sexual drive that all males have to live with and I could numb myself out; the writing would just pour out. Now I’m kind of on this hand recorder bridge-walking deal. The walk across the bridge is like my church; it’s the wilderness of the city for me. I&#160;just hold my recorder and walk it, possibly four times a day, until my legs go numb.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Where’d the name Godforbid come from?&#160;Godforbid what?&#160;</p>
<p>GF: [Laughs.] It’s kind of like a madlib, you can just fill in whatever you’d like after that. I&#160;came up with hip-hop so I had a moniker, and I grew up with nicknames, too.&#160;My old man was a truck driver and he was always called 9 Ball. Godforbid was a young joke, really. I&#160;called my boy “Lunch Line” when we were in school. I was like “Lunch Line?”&#160;just asking him if he wanted to come with me to get some food, and he turned on me all serious saying,”Don’t call me Lunch Line!” Joking, obviously. And then that same day I showed up for class and the teacher said,&#160;“Oh&#160;God forbid you showed up” and then my buddy was like, “Godforbid, you showed up?”&#160;And it stuck from there. I had people who only knew me as that. To this point now, it’s like I can’t call myself high fructose corn syrup because Coca-Cola’s the name that sells. They’re not ready to hear high fructose yet.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Speaking of half-truths, what’s the tallest tale you’ve heard about your band?&#160;</p>
<p>GF:&#160;Well, there’s a big rumor going around that we met in the back of a cop car.&#160;I don’t know how many times these folks have been arrested, but they often don’t put you in the car with other non-related people. But we’ll gas it up and let that one run.</p>
<p>MJ: I read somewhere that you voice was influenced by&#160; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM9N30V4wnQ" type="external">Dr. Teeth</a>, which is pretty dead-on. So your sound is Muppet-inspired?</p>
<p>GF:&#160;It’s more because people keep throwing this Tom&#160;Waits shit on me, so I like to set the record straight by saying my voice comes from a mashup of Dr.&#160;Teeth and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltlPINPn8UU" type="external">Rowlf the Dog</a>. I didn’t realize until recently, but my voice sounds exactly like my dad,&#160;Larry&#160;Lee Oppel.&#160;I used to go with my dad on truck drives for weeks long and it must have rubbed off.&#160;We have a slightly different twang in different parts, but I&#160;never put it together until we laid down a track.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Have you ever walked into an arcade and saw a high schooler jamming to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KsYUYEkKlw" type="external">“Elephant Bones”</a> on&#160;Guitar Hero?&#160;</p>
<p>GF:&#160;Oh, I wish to&#160;God I could see that! I’d go nutty. They were pulling artists from&#160;Boston onto that game, so it worked out well. I was kind of against it when it came out—I’m very much an anachronism on the industry.&#160;It’s taken me a while to get used to this people-play-fake-guitar kind of world, and then when we heard we were going to be put on the soundtrack, I was like, “Oh hell yes! Let’s go for it.”&#160;Lot of push and pull.&#160;</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;Does that ambivalance resonate on your new album?&#160;</p>
<p>GF:&#160;Definitely. It’s the duality of this travel.&#160;It’s what I face every moment of every day.&#160;My head leads me through this hell that I&#160;have to live in and my heart left me at the Pearly Gates. I see it as an undated and universal truth as far as the pain of man is concerned. Yeah, I went up to the mountain and ate the enlightenment pill, but then I came down and realized, “Ugh, this isn’t working. Enlightened people aren’t funny.” The beauty in the experience is the fluctuation anyway. You gotta be down there and you gotta scramble it up.</p>
<p>MJ:&#160;The devil you know, right?&#160;</p>
<p>GF:&#160;Yeah that’s where That Handsome Devil comes from. It’s a very simple, multi-layered phrase. Part of it comes from that struggle within. I&#160;had pure intentions, but then I became increasingly aware of how to manipulate the moment or people around me. I looked at myself and realized I had become a royal douchebag. It was a horrifying thing. I woke up from it like a blacked out night, “Ah!&#160;I’ve been a douchebag all these years!”&#160;just like a cold sweat. The other part about That Handsome Devil is that handsome can mean generous and the devil is just the first rebel. It’s all about poison being presented to you in a candy shell, and whether you should accept or deny that gift is entirely up to you.</p>
<p>Here’s “Rob The Prez-O-Dent.” You can sample the new album on <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-heart-goes-to-heaven-the/id456006341" type="external">iTunes</a>.&#160;</p>
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<p>Click <a href="" type="internal">here</a> for more music features from Mother Jones.</p> | That Handsome Devil, Godforbid | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/that-handsome-devil-godforbid-interview/ | 2011-09-26 | 4 |
<p>Anthony Shahid’s House of Stone.</p>
<p>From the Hamra section of Beirut—one of those must-see areas for tourists, full of cafes and honking cars and far less appealing to me than the beautiful Corniche–after a lunch of grape leaves, tabouleh, spicy potatoes (batata harra)- a favorite of my guide Karim- we set out in his black Toyota Corolla 2016 for Marjayoun. I’m again on one of my obsessive literary journeys, this time to visit the House of Stone built by Anthony Shadid&#160; on his ancestral land in the south of Lebanon, an area which used to be largely Christian, but has since become a Shiite stronghold of the Hezbollah party. &#160;Shadid, a Lebanese American of Christian background, was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times who won the Pulitzer prize twice for international reporting, having written empathetically about the effects of the Iraqi war on its people, and was attempting to leave Syria in 2012 while covering the contemporary crisis, when he died tragically, supposedly of an asthma attack.</p>
<p>Ever since I read his beautiful, lyrical, haunting memoir about his quest to find his roots in the country his great grandfather migrated to the USA from, I became obsessed with wanting to see this symbol of one man’s determination to recover his past, and the past of his ancestral homeland, in a present riven by war. &#160;His memoir intertwines his intimate journey with the challenge of rebuilding his great grandfather’s abandoned home, which in 2006 was hit and partially destroyed by a half-exploded Israeli rocket. The book becomes a chronicle of the chaotic history of one of the oldest inhabited regions of the world which, because of its geographic location has seen war throughout its centuries old history, and part of Shadid’s goal in the book is an attempt to better understand the rise and fall of the Ottoman empire and the ensuing consequences which have embroiled Lebanon and the region of the Levant &#160;in an imperial game involving Britain, France, the US and their watchdog in the region Israel, ever since the beginning of the last century and lasting into our present time. Even as I pen this, US warplanes under President Trump’s directives, have started a bombing campaign in neighboring Syria, which was once part of Greater Lebanon—or was Lebanon part of Greater Syria? Borders remain porous, reminders of the careless carving up of once autonomous regions into spurious nation states modeled on those of the Western powers who became imperial masters after they defeated the Ottomans who had ruled the Levantine region for centuries.</p>
<p>Leaving Beirut on a Friday afternoon we meet tons of traffic, which my guide tells me in a matter of fact tone, is par for the course in this city of 2.5 million where urban planning simply doesn’t exist. Surely this is one of the unfortunate results of a 14 year civil war aided and abetted by Israel, Iran, Syria and the USA, with the presence and intermittent fighting between Israeli army and Hezbollah militias still ongoing? Karim blames it on corruption of all state actors. In any case, “rush hour” here extends continuously from 9-6 pm 6 days a week! 11 am is when the traffic really gets going and the only quiet day when Beirut apparently turns into a ghost city is Sunday, a family day when everyone stays home and the workers who come into Beirut from the surrounding towns and villages thus contributing to the traffic, also stay home and off the roads.</p>
<p>My guide is a charming young Beiruti man born and raised in Calgary CA,&#160; back in his native country trying to make his fortune in the tourist industry which is at this time suffering due to the recession that hit around 2007. &#160;He tells me that life is tough for most young people as there are virtually no jobs save in the service industry, and that the average salary is around 800$ a month. As we drive out on the highway headed south to Saida, Tyre, Nabatieyeh, Marjayoun, he points out signs advertising the International School of Chouifat which is apparently the most prestigious primary and secondary school in the country founded by Jesuits in 1886; students who graduate from this elite school often end up at the American University of Beirut which is the most sought after university in the Middle East especially for its Medical school- which costs 45,000 $ a year to attend. Who can afford this price ticket in a country where the average salary is 800$ a month, I wonder?</p>
<p>En route we stop at Shamsine bakery for kuneffeh, which I’ve been hankering after since I got to Beirut . Sadly– they’re out! It’s a very popular sweet and this bakery&#160;is supposedly known for it. So instead we get some namourah which is delicious; I try the kind with rice pudding in the middle and it’s pretty divine! The best bakery apparently is the two hundred year old Abdul Rahman al Halab bakery so I’m planning to get some boxes of my favorite Lebanese sweets from it to bring back to Abu Dhabi…a modest desire compared to those who Karim tells me travel straight from the Rafik Hariri airport in Beirut to the town of Tripoli in the north, where the original monsieur Halab built himself a qasr (castle)– from profits of his sweet business. Folks head back to Beirut from there laden with at least 500$ worth of sweets for friends and family!</p>
<p>Soon, we enter and drive through the southern towns and hamlets of Sidon, Saida, Nabitieyeh and I realize we are in Hezbollah –controlled territory by the overwhelming visual presence of posters on lampost after lamppost, billboard after billboard, of young bearded men wearing rolled up keffiyehs around their necks, with the Hezbollah symbol of the rifle held aloft in the background, and the word “Shaheed” in Arabic lettering as an identifier written across the bottom.&#160; These are the martyrs of the Lebanese-Israeli war of 2006 mostly, as well as those who have died in Syria more recently, sent there by Hezbollah to counter the Sunni militias. The visual onslaught of so many young men glorified in death, together with military checkposts reminding us of the underlying and ongoing state of insecurity and conflict in the region, contributed to my sense of growing unease about this personal quest I was on. Which I realized ofcourse—was also a deeply political one.</p>
<p>Sure enough, as soon as we pulled up at the largest (in) security checkpoint yet, the last one before the road on this stunning mountainous terrain wound upwards to Marjayoun and other hilly hamlets, we were stopped by security officers who, pointing to me, ask my guide who I am, where I’m from, and on learning I’m&#160; “Pakistani American”—ask whether I have a pass to enter this border zone area with Israel. My guide is convinced they’ve stopped us and made us get out of the car because I was snapping a photo with my cell phone of a larger-than-life poster on an electric pole next to the checkpoint, of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini –not of Hassan Nasrallah, but of the father of the Iranian revolution, resurrected like a Lazarus in all his white bearded glory! Whatever the reason, we were detained for a couple of hours, during which I tried my best to convince them with Karim’s help, that I was a “mashoor musanifa”—his words, not mine– as he kept flashing my wikipedia page at them! In all honesty, I kept saying I was just a scholar and professor who occasionally wrote freelance essays for newspapers and zines about topics of cultural and political interest.&#160; The head guard however, seemed to think I was a spy since, when we tried to get an army officer my guide’s girlfriend knew, to call and intervene on my behalf, the guard told him he couldn’t just accept his word and let me though as I was “taking photographs”—not a sensible move on my part, obviously. Basically—the head guard told Karim I would need to secure a formal pass from their office in Saida in order to get through, which wasn’t going to happen that day as the offices were all closed, it being almost 6 pm.</p>
<p>We turned around finally to go back to Beirut- very disappointed, but Karim promised to try and get me a pass the next day and bring me back if I could spare the time.</p>
<p>Armed with my passport copy, Karim drove back down an hour and a half to Saida the following day, while I went to attend a session featuring my dear friend Nawal el Saadawi at a conference on sexual harassment in the Arab world at the American University of Beirut. After spending a wonderful day with the 86-year old leading lady of Arab feminism who spoke out in favor of pre-marital sex in the Arab world and a hijab-free culture to a cheering auditorium full of young Arab students of both genders—I returned to the hotel to be greeted with the good news that Karim had managed to secure me a pass!</p>
<p>Next morning, with just a few hours to spare before catching my flight back to Abu Dhabi, Karim picked me up at 7 am and we drove through torrential rain back on the now traffic-free highway toward Marjayoun.</p>
<p>This time, we succeeded in getting—finally!—my longed-for kunnefeh from the Shamsine bakery, prepared as a breakfast treat: the cheese-filled choux pastry wrapped inside hot bread which is somewhat like Pakistani naan bread—and I told Karim this reminded me of our own heart-attack-inducing breakfast from the Punjab comprising halwa poori: semolina pudding and deep fried bread devoured by millions as a weekend treat!</p>
<p>I also now began to feel like a traveler rather than a tourist—recognizing the turn-off to the Chouf mountain where my old friend Ralph who I found thanks to Facebook after 35 years—had taken me the day before to visit his house of stone, in the mountain village of Deir al Qamar, a former stronghold of Turkish Emirs and an area that is home to the Druze community though ofcourse, this being Lebanon, other religious groups also reside here, including Maronite Christians and Sunni Muslims. After the difficult years of the civil war, and ongoing Israeli attacks in the south supposedly in retaliation for Hezbollah incursions/rocket attacks–minority communities are beginning to feel as though they can return and build homes to start living in harmony again. This is the hope that Ralph expresses to me, even though when friends and family found out he and his wife intended to build a summer home here several years ago, they were not at all sanguine about the wisdom of such a move. But as I sat with him soaking up the sunny view of the mountains from the terrace of his home, enjoying mint tea made with fresh mint from his garden, munching on freshly baked maanishey filled with the garden’s herbs and prepared so lovingly by the Syrian couple who are the house’ caretakers, I prayed to all the gods that it be so…..</p>
<p>The same sentiment of hope washed over me as we passed little hamlets in the district of&#160; Marjayoun as we headed for the hilltop municipality of Jedeidat, where Shadid’s house was supposed to be located.&#160; Burj ul Malook, Cleiyya, Debbine, &#160;Deir Mimas, Deir Syriane;…all pass us by, as Karim drives on with a sense of mission to get me to where I want to be; he feels his reputation as a tour guide is on the line, constantly apologizing for having not known about the need for a pass and having “wasted” my time on our first failed attempt to get through the checkposts. I can’t seem to convince him that I had quite enjoyed playing Matahari….</p>
<p>The rain was coming down pretty hard as we pulled into the little village square of Jedeidat, and Karim just pulled up to the side of the square, where we both jumped out to see if anyone on this wet, chilly Sunday morning was around to point us in the direction of Shadid’s house. One store seemed to be open, so we went in and Karim asked the woman there, in Arabic, if she knew about Shadid and his house. Having met with folks at a nearby gas station who had never heard of him—making me feel like we’d come all this way for nothing—it was exciting to hear the woman say she’d heard the name. We were making progress—and I could see my young guide brightening up. The woman pointed to what seemed to be an office of some sort diagonally across from her store, and Karim now tells me…”she is saying those guys there knew him.”</p>
<p>I feel my pulse racing as we dash across to them, soaking wet now despite the umbrellas we have, because the rain is heavy, there is wind, and rivulets of water are creating big puddles that we cant avoid stepping into. “Ahlan” say the two men to us, looking up quizzically at Karim, then me, wondering who we are and why we are in their sleepy hamlet so early on a wet and windy Sunday morning. Sure enough, they have heard of Shadid and as I listen to them say something to Karim, gesticulating toward a gas station down the hill past the square, I tell him to also ask them if they’d heard of Dr Kheirallah, the village doctor who was the epitome of the cultured and helpful Arab man who befriends Shadid and counsels him on how to navigate his relationships with more contentious characters in Jedeidat, including the testy foreman Shadid hires to rebuild his great grandfather’s house. People in general, according to Shadid’s own account, remained skeptical of his intentions and his mission to rebuild—no one though it was a wise thing to do given the political uncertainty in the area, and the difficulties involved in obtaining and transporting building materials necessary for the project.</p>
<p>“His clinic, madam, was right above this office” says one of the men, responding in English to my question. I’m so excited, I run out into the rain to snap some photos, but he tells us both to “Hurry and go find the owner of the gas station; his name is Hikmat, and he was Anthony Shadid’s friend. He is there in his house near the gas station, but he may leave soon so go now…he may be able to guide you to the Shadid&#160; house too.”</p>
<p>“I’ve hit the jackpot” I think to myself. Surely this must be THE Hikmat Farha—who is one of Shadid’s few confidantes in Marjayoun in the book, with whom, as with others he interacts with—his relationship is a mixture of intimacy and irritation, closeness at a shared heritage, skepticism by locals like Hikmat of Shadid’s motives and his fanatic desire to build a house in a place folks generally fled from, not stayed in. Indeed, as Shadid reported from&#160; Hasbaya in Lebanon in The Washington Post on August 13th, 2006, the same year he later started to rebuild his ancestral home in&#160; what surely was an act of resistance,</p>
<p>Israeli troops entered Marjayoun at 3:30 a.m. Thursday. They had first seized Burj al-Molouk. Next was Qleia. The last, along a road stretching from the border, was the capital of the province, a faded, once-prosperous town that unfurls up a hill overlooking a valley carpeted in olive trees and the imposing, wizened peaks of Mount Hermon, known here as Jebel al-Sheikh.</p>
<p>These were the very towns Karim and I had passed on our drive up to Jedeidat this morning of Aril 2nd 2017.</p>
<p>Shadid goes on in his article from 2006, to quote Fouad Hamra, the town’s mayor “They came with the tanks, of course.” And he quotes the man we are about to meet:</p>
<p>“People didn’t dare leave their homes. ” Shadid concludes mournfully,</p>
<p>Nearly everyone has now departed the Christian town, where houses of cream stone and red-tiled roofs sit tucked in a southern corner of Lebanon, perched unfortunately along the Israeli border</p>
<p>And as Hikmat Farha is quoted once more in Shadid’s piece, summing up the fear that compels people to leave their homes:</p>
<p>Water was scarce, an irony for a town whose name means “field of springs” in Arabic. They had springs outside their homes, and they couldn’t reach them. Generators began giving out as gasoline ran short. And people decided to leave.</p>
<p>Everybody will say: ‘Why did they leave? How did they leave?’ ” Farha … called the question easy in hindsight. “Looking at the war with your eyeglasses on is easy,” he said. “But when you’re in the middle of it, it’s much more difficult.”</p>
<p>(T <a href="" type="internal">he Washington Post,</a> Aug 13th, 2006; accessed April 7th 2017 )</p>
<p>We arrive at Hikmat Farha’s house, clearly rebuilt and re-inhabited now after a decade, to find him and a friend of his seated in a cozy parlour around a woodstove fire. He remains guarded throughout our conversation, but is gracious in inviting us in and allowing us to get warm and dry off while serving us some strong Arabic coffee. He is bilingual in Arabic and English, and like the guards at the checkpost, wants to know why I’m interested in Shadid, how did I find him, who alerted us that Hikmat lived here and so on. The Israeli-Hezbollah conflict has left deep scars, but interestingly, neither Shadid nor Hikmat blame the Hezbollah for the ongoing state of conflict that erupt into hostilities and wars every so often, keeping this little town’s nerves constantly on edge.</p>
<p>Indeed, when I ask Hikmat pointblank what he thinks of the Hezbollah presence in town—as he sits beneath a large painting of the Virgin Mary on the wall behind him—he shrugs and says, “they don’t bother us.”&#160; This is very much in line with Shadid’s observations on the occasion of the Israeli attack on Marjayoun in 2006:</p>
<p>Ever since Israeli forces left Marjayoun and the rest of southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah and its Shiite Muslim militia maintained a discreet presence. There were no retributions. There was no armed presence inside Marjayoun and other villages that belonged to Lebanon’s other sects: Druze, Christian and Sunni Muslim. Some residents said it was not Hezbollah that fired on the Israeli troops in Marjayoun [in 2006], but operatives of a secular, leftist party whose posters still adorn the sides of buildings and telephone poles across the region.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the Israeli army attacks and invades Marjayoun and surrounding areas in 2006 citing Hezbollah hostilities, &#160;and leaves devastation in its wake. That devastation has helped ignite conflicts beyond Lebanon’s southern border with Israel into neighboring Syria, aided and abetted by other regional powers as well as the superpowers of our neocolonial/imperial world, which has led in turn to the creation of the much-abhorred ISIS of today</p>
<p>Looking back at these antecedents of present-day conflicts, I turn once again to Shadid’s observations:</p>
<p>Memories run deep of the 18-year Israeli occupation over mostly Shiite villages. Often heard in today’s conflict is the idea that nothing can be gained without sacrifice, that the Shiite community has already proved its steadfastness by battling the Israelis…..</p>
<p>What Shadid says next brings up an eerie sense of déjà vu today:</p>
<p>There is a sense, too, that the war is not yet over. Hasan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, vowed Saturday that while his group would accept a cease-fire, fighting would persist as long as Israeli troops were on Lebanese land.</p>
<p>“It is our natural right to confront them, fight them and defend our land, our homes and ourselves,” he said.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, today, it looks like Israel is hell-bent on escalating violent conflict in the region with an aim of destroying the Hezbollah threat it fears against its security from Southern Lebanon. Nicoloas Noe, writing in The Independent tells us</p>
<p>By operationalizing Israel’s full spectrum missile defense system this past weekend …</p>
<p>Israel will not only be well positioned to defend against Hezbollah’s main weapon – rockets launched against military and civilian targets – but it will also employ the unrestrained bombing of all Lebanese infrastructure and “supportive” civilian populations…ensuring that Hezbollah’s depth is thoroughly flattened and that other Lebanese turn on Hezbollah as a result of the widespread destruction.</p>
<p>Astutely, Noe concludes, that such an assumption by the Israelis is wishful thinking regarding the balance of terror. He reasons that:</p>
<p>First, a vicious bombing of all Lebanon will likely produce greater solidarity among Lebanese, rather than lead to any combination of ill-equipped communities to somehow confront Hezbollah. As the Israelis should have learned a long time ago, Lebanese attitudes quickly harden against any external power that persists in spreading widespread violence, no matter what the original (and usually disputable) “provocation” might have been by any Lebanese party.</p>
<p>Second, the Party of God [as Hezbollah is known]–is not the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which was expelled from Lebanon after the devastating Israeli invasion in the summer of 1982. It is a deeply rooted Lebanese party that has significant support among other confessions. As the leader of Hezbollah, Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah, has long reminded the Israelis, party supporters and especially its base among the Shia of Lebanon are not going to get on a ship and move to Tunis as PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat once did. Most will stay and fight for their land and their countrymen.</p>
<p>I think Anthony Shadid could sense this looming Armageddon which, especially with the current US regime’s unqualified backing of Israel in any conflict that occurs now in the Middle East, following on the Trump administration’s dismantling of rapprochement with Iran achieved with much diplomatic wrangling by the Obama administration—has seriously damaged any semblance of a balance of power in the region. The news this morning of US airtsrikes on Syria simply strengthens the sense of déjà vu I have reading and thinking about Anthony Shadid’s work and career cut so tragically short when he was only 43 years old.</p>
<p>Rather melancholically, as though sensing the Past intruding into the present in a seemingly never-ending pattern, Hikmat tells me, “My friend Anthony had an adventurous spirit, and he was certainly a brave man. But I believe he was also a stupid man.”</p>
<p>Without elaborating, Hikmat got up abruptly, said he would lead us to Anthony’s house, which I could see only from the outside as his widow wasn’t there this weekend, and the caretaker who had the keys couldn’t be found despite calls Hikmat had been making as were sipping our coffee. We could, however, wander about the garden Anthony had planted and where his ashes lay buried under an olive tree.</p>
<p>The sun had come out while we were inside Hikmat’s den. After thanking him for taking us to the house, I wandered into the garden, lovingly planted with shrubs and fruit trees and overflowing with lavender bushes blazing purple in the sun that seemed to be welcoming us to the house that Shadid never got to turn into a home, dying in a war zone just as construction was finally completed.</p>
<p>I realized as I said a little prayer under the olive tree beneath whose branches his remains have become part of the land he loved: Hikmat’s pronouncement of his friend’s stupidity was the biggest compliment he could give to the memory of a man he loved, who has become synonymous with the Land of Liban. Stupidity is another word for courage after all—especially if that courage means you risk life and limb to remain human in the face of an endless war that seeks to dehumanize us all.</p>
<p>On the way down from Jedeidat, as we exit the area of Marjayoun, we pass Jabl el Rihan where a large billboard warns the traveller, “this is an area of Zionist military operations.”</p>
<p>And so the world turns, till one day, it won’t.</p> | Journey to the House of Stone: Where Past Meets the Present in the Levant | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/04/10/journey-to-the-house-of-stone-where-past-meets-the-present-in-the-levant/ | 2017-04-10 | 4 |
<p>When Godzilla first hit box offices in the 1950s, it was a clear metaphor for the danger and destruction of nuclear weapons — an expression of what World War II wrought on Japan.</p>
<p>But over the next 30 to 40 years, Godzilla morphed — more about Cold War politics in one film, terrorism the next, and in the latest film, starring Bryan Cranston of Breaking Bad fame, it plays off climate change and pollution.</p>
<p><a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/en_uk/read/godzilla-trailers-as-a-history-of-20th-century-manmade-disasters?utm_source=vicetwitteruk" type="external">Vice compiled trailers</a>&#160;from various films and lined them up, along with the key themes of each film. It seems Godzilla is a powerful vessel for the fears of our time.</p>
<p>(Editor's note: The Global Scan can be delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. Just&#160; <a href="" type="internal">register and sign up&#160;</a>today.)</p>
<p>Rio de Janeiro's favelas were first erected on steep and beautiful hillsides by the poor and, until recently, were virtually off-limits to law enforcement and government officials. Drug dealers fought over them and tried to control them.</p>
<p>But with Brazil hosting the World Cup this summer and the 2016 Olympics, the government undertook a massive effort to convert the favelas into respectable (or at least less crime-ridden) communities. Some researchers have even studied the favelas as smart solutions to the problem of urban housing,&#160; <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/apr/30/rio-favelas-world-cup-olympics-vision-future-criminal-eyesore" type="external">according to The Guardian</a>, which also found&#160;that the aims of renewal have fallen far short of the hopes.</p>
<p>Humans have had an enormous impact on the environment — from high-rises to dams, roadways to pollution, mining to mass agriculture. But human appetite has also altered living things, often dramatically.</p>
<p>Take the chicken and the chili pepper. Both are almost unrecognizable today from their original forms.&#160; <a href="" type="internal">PRI's Science Friday interviewed</a> a team of researchers that is using biology, archaeology and even linguistics to pinpoint just how and when those changes occurred.&#160;</p>
<p>“I gave Ahmed’s wife all of my money. I entrusted [her] with it, as well as with my life.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/04/aleppo-syria-idlib-turkey-war.html" type="external">The Al-Monitor website recounts</a> a recent journey from Aleppo to nearby Turkey. Before the war, it would have been a simple trip, less than an hour. But as Syria's war rages on, it's a perilous journey over 500 kilometers, more than 300 miles, through regime and rebel-controlled territory. The trip requires a different cover for each group that the travelling party meets.</p>
<p>A small town in Canada is dealing with a smelly, ticking time bomb. A dead blue whale washed ashore in the town, where decompostion and rotting have led the whale to bloat to incredible size. <a href="" type="internal">PRI's The World talked to</a> one woman who lives in the town and says residents are concerned, and not just because of the smell.</p>
<p>It turns out the whale may be carrying diseases that can be spread merely by touching the carcass. And if that's not bad enough, there's a risk the whale will become so bloated that it actually explodes.</p>
<p>Metro Vancouver is preparing for a beautiful week of sunny skies and temperatures that would make just about anyone jealous. The city is expecting temperatures to range from 20 to 27 degrees Celsius, or between 68 and 80 degrees Farenheit, <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/health/Metro+Vancouver+weather+ready+some+sunshine+warm+temperatures+until+weekend/9788202/story.html" type="external">according to The Province</a>.</p> | 60 years of Godzilla trailers say a lot about society's worst fears | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-04-30/60-years-godzilla-trailers-say-lot-about-societys-worst-fears | 2014-04-30 | 3 |
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<p />
<p>The holidays are often difficult for anyone with an addictive behavior. Compulsive gamblers, who commonly also have alcohol or drug addictions, may be drawn to play more often when holiday stresses and more family interactions happen. Whether the game of chance is found online, through lottery ticket purchases, or area casinos, the Responsible Gaming Association of New Mexico advocates responsible play. For those who haven’t yet learned when to stop, a variety of free or low-cost treatment options are available.</p>
<p>Our association, made up of eight member pueblos, is dedicated to helping individuals in need and to educating the public at large about the serious issue of compulsive gambling. Since 1996, the association, funded by tribal gaming revenue, has taken specific, voluntary and preemptive steps to assist problem gamblers in New Mexico.</p>
<p>Our association funds the Compulsive Gambler Treatment Fund, providing free early intervention counseling for any New Mexico resident, available through counselors across the state as well as organizations such as Five Sandoval Indian Pueblos, Integrity Recovery House, New Mexico Asian Family Center and The Evolution Group.</p>
<p>We contribute to the state’s toll free, round-the-clock hotline (1-800-572-1142) operated by the New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling. And each year in August, we host an annual conference to provide training and continuing education for 500 counselors on problem gambling treatment.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>We have developed a detailed and mandatory training program for all gaming employees at our combined 11 casino properties. That training teaches all of our employees how to recognize the signs of problem gambling and how to take immediate steps to intervene. Each of our associated members has a self-exclusion policy, making it easy for people to self-ban themselves from casino properties.</p>
<p>Each year, our outreach campaign uses statewide media to educate all New Mexicans about problem gambling and the resources that are available. We have also produced and disseminated an innovative Emmy-nominated documentary titled, “Knowing When to Stop” to educate the public about problem gambling. The documentary and other resources are available on our website, <a href="http://www.rganm.org" type="external">www.rganm.org</a>.</p>
<p>As a result of our association and member pueblos’ efforts directed to problem gamblers and to those at risk because of addictive behavior, to the casino personnel and to treatment providers, a very effective and proven system is currently in place to provide treatment, education and prevention. The advantage of this system is that there is no wait or delay in services – a person can get help immediately, regardless of where they live in New Mexico.</p>
<p>The Responsible Gaming Association of New Mexico takes problem gambling seriously, and continues to voluntarily provide free or very low-cost resources for those who may need it.</p> | Pueblos Offer Help For Compulsive Gamblers | false | https://abqjournal.com/156815/pueblos-offer-help-for-compulsive-gamblers.html | 2012-12-31 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Philip Morris International.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Long-time investors in Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM) know firsthand just how much the strong U.S. dollar has hurt its overall results. The tobacco giant has shown substantial growth in local-currency terms, but the weakness of most foreign currencies has turned what would have been gains on the top and bottom lines into declines. Coming into the company's third-quarter financial report on Oct. 18, Philip Morris shareholders are finally hoping that it will be able to post flat earnings results on a slight gain in sales, as the negative impact of foreign currency weakness finally starts to wane. Let's take an early look at what Philip Morris International is likely to say and what it means for investors going forward.</p>
<p>Data source: Yahoo! Finance.</p>
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<p>Investors have had mixed views in recent months about the prospects for Philip Morris International's earnings. They've cut their third-quarter projections by $0.05 per share, but they've increased their full-year projections for 2016 and 2017 by small amounts. The stock, meanwhile, has lost ground, falling about 4% since early July.</p>
<p>Philip Morris International's second-quarter results in July showed investors that the anticipated improvement in the tobacco giant's numbers has taken longer than many had hoped. The company posted a revenue decline of 8%, which was nearly twice the drop that most of those following the stock had anticipated. Net income fell an even more precipitous 15% from year-ago levels, and that produced earnings of just $0.98 per share, missing the consensus forecast by $0.13 per share. Although currency impacts did hurt Philip Morris' results, falling shipment volumes also played a factor. Nevertheless, Philip Morris had high hopes for the rest of the year, and the company increased its earnings guidance for 2016 by 3% to 4% to a new range of $4.40 to $4.50 per share.</p>
<p>Since then, Philip Morris has continued to face challenging conditions. At its investor day earlier this month, Philip Morris said that it anticipates cigarette industry volume declines to return to a 2% to 2.5% pace, ending a brief period of better performance. The company expects that it can outperform the broader industry, thanks largely to the pricing power and brand strength of its Marlboro and Parliament premium brands. Yet even though conditions have improved in Europe, negative factors in markets such as Argentina, North Africa, and the Philippines show that Philip Morris will have to keep fighting potential instability from having a downward impact on its results.</p>
<p>Partly because of those tough conditions, Philip Morris has been conservative in its capital management. The company gave investors their ninth straight annual dividend increase in late September, but the boost was just 2% over what it had paid investors over the past year, and that disappointed those investors who had looked for a slightly larger increase. At the same time, though, Philip Morris left open the possibility of restoring stock buybacks if the dollar stops strengthening, allowing the tobacco giant to convert more of its local-currency earnings into dollar-based profits.</p>
<p>Finally, Philip Morris is more enthusiastic than ever about its reduced-risk portfolio of products. The company's iQOS heat-not-burn technology has taken off in markets like Japan, claiming market share of almost 3% by the end of June. To meet strong demand, Philip Morris opened a new production facility in Italy, and rollouts in up to 20 different markets by year-end could demonstrate even more of the potential that the company's HeatSticks have to revolutionize the market for alternatives to traditional cigarettes.</p>
<p>In the Philip Morris earnings report, investors need to see evidence that the dollar's gradual flattening will eventually bring earnings growth. For the most part, shareholders have been patient, but anything that suggests that profit gains won't come by the end of 2016 could lead to a big disappointment for Philip Morris stock.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2667&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGalagan/info.aspx" type="external">Dan Caplinger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Can Philip Morris End Its Earnings Slide? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/11/can-philip-morris-end-its-earnings-slide.html | 2016-10-11 | 0 |
<p>You know how Bernie Sanders is always railing against the privileges of the rich?</p>
<p>Hypocrite.</p>
<p>Even though Hillary Clinton has effectively nailed down the Democratic presidential nomination, Sanders has not left the race, which means he is entitled to Secret Service protection 24-7.</p>
<p>And how much does that cost taxpayers, while Sanders cavorts protected by the Secret Service?</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/an-expensive-reminder-that-sanders-still-hasnt-dropped-out-his-secret-service-detail/2016/06/19/a3f717c6-3555-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html" type="external">The Washington Post</a>, as much as $38,000 per day. That means with the Democratic convention starting five weeks away, the tab for Sanders to enjoy his protection could total as much as $1,330,000. The Post adds, “A team of agents still guards him at his home, where they’ve constructed a small watch station on the property. They travel with him on commercial and charter flights and use a motorcade to whisk him through cities he visits. And they marched alongside him during a gay-pride event here in his home town after the Orlando shootings.”</p>
<p>If you think for a nanosecond that Sanders might give up this perk, think again; Jeff Weaver, Sanders’s campaign manager, told the Post that he won’t suspend his campaign before the convention.</p>
<p>Only four candidates received protection from the Secret Service for the presidential primary season: Hillary Clinton, who as the wife of a former president has a Secret Service detail for the rest of her life, Sanders, Donald Trump, and Ben Carson,. Trump and Carson <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-carson-will-receive-secret-service-protection-dhs-confirms/2015/11/05/54529be0-83e5-11e5-9afb-0c971f713d0c_story.html" type="external">both requested</a> it. The Post states that a candidate can jettison the protection any time he or she chooses.</p>
<p>Carson told his Secret Service agents he didn’t need them within two days after he ended his campaign. His friend Armstrong Williams said, “He wasted no time. His attitude was, ‘There’s no path forward, and I don’t want to spend the taxpayers’ money.’ ”</p>
<p>Sanders has <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fApO2K314I" type="external">said</a>, “The American people know that community, helping each other, supporting each other, trumps selfishness.” Apparently Sanders’ idea of the American community helping each other means all of us footing the bill for his own “selfishness.”</p> | Bernie Sanders Won’t Drop Out. Here’s How Much Money That’s Costing YOU. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/6763/bernie-sanders-wont-drop-out-heres-how-much-money-hank-berrien | 2016-06-20 | 0 |
<p>For those stuck in debilitating grief after a loved one’s death, their condition can often be mistaken as depression. However, complicated grief is just as debilitating but otherwise exists as a different condition altogether. Those who suffer from complicated grief have intense yearning for the deceased that persists over time.</p>
<p>“They have difficulty comprehending the reality of the death,” said lead author M. Katherine Shear, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University School of Social Work.</p>
<p>These individuals may actually blame themselves for the deaths and shun places and activities that they once enjoyed together, according to Shear, who is also the director of the Center for Complicated Grief in New York City.</p>
<p>“They are caught up in thinking about the person who died, sometimes daydreaming about them,” said Shear.</p>
<p>Roughly nine percent of bereaved elderly women will suffer complicated grief. While some cases resolve spontaneously, others left untreated can cause major health problems.</p>
<p>Shear and colleagues <a href="http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1910337" type="external">report</a>this week in JAMA Psychiatry that people who suffer from complicated grief respond better to a specially designed treatment approach that is different than standard approaches for treating depression. They looked at over 150 older adults suffering from the condition who either received the special treatment or received treatment for depression called interpersonal psychotherapy.</p>
<p>While 70 percent of the subjects that received the special treatment showed improvement, only a third of those on interpersonal psychotherapy showed improvement.</p>
<p>One key difference between complicated grief and depression is that those who are depressed lack the ability to have positive feelings.</p>
<p>“Grief is the form love takes after someone dies,” Shear said. “It has a lot of positive emotions.”</p>
<p>The specialized treatment for complicated grief involves asking the patients to visualize the loved ones’ deaths and explain what happened. The recount is recorded, and the patients are instructed to listen to the stories again at home. The highly emotional activity “jump-starts” the patients’ processes of coming to terms with the deaths.</p>
<p>People are also asked to identify the activities, things, and places they avoid because of their connection to the deceased. They are then asked to re-engage with the identified items.</p>
<p>“The goal of the therapy is to get grief back on track,” Shear said. “We are not trying to achieve a remission of grief. We are trying to free grief to find its rightful place in our lives.”</p>
<p /> | New brand of therapy developed for treating complicated grief | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/09/25/new-brand-of-therapy-developed-for-treating-complicated-grief/ | 2014-09-25 | 3 |
<p />
<p>There are numerous well-known methodologies for change management. They are mainly based in logic, and historically they've worked to effect change.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>However, the way we <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/business-communication.html" type="external">communicate Opens a New Window.</a> as individuals and organizations has completely shifted in response to technology, and methods to enact change have advanced accordingly.</p>
<p>Continuous crowdsourcing platforms allow organizations to reimagine and realign their visions of success. Giving everyone a voice allows us to effectively lead change. We are more enabled than ever before to not just listen, but to respond.</p>
<p>Let's face it: If leaders ask for employee feedback but never respond to it, they might as well not ask at all. Ignoring feedback causes irritation and distrust, and it ultimately sends the message that you don't care about what your employees have to say.</p>
<p>Progressive leaders understand they don't have all the answers. They surround themselves with diverse groups of talent, and they listen to and respond to their employees' insights in order to drive their organizations forward. Conversations about change aren't limited to insider groups. In a listening culture, everyone is invited to participate, and their shared purpose allows the group to thrive.</p>
<p>In an era of constant digital disruption, it's vital to remain agile and responsive, but also human. People are every organization's most important resource, and their insights are a valuable advantage.</p>
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<p>Feedback platforms function best when leaders can enact the following steps for change consistently and continuously:</p>
<p>1. Ignite Conversation</p>
<p>Identify areas within your organization that could benefit from change. Perhaps you've noted something that exists within a small subset of the workforce or a larger systemic trend. Pick one area you'd like to optimize and ask a question that will empower you with unique insights you don't already&#160;have.</p>
<p>2. Respond</p>
<p>Once you've received feedback, respond to let everyone know you've heard the key points your people have identified. Pay attention not only to the common trends within the answers you receive, but also to the outlying comments that will shed light on less common viewpoints.</p>
<p>3. Follow Through</p>
<p>Transformation does not happen all at once. Small and incremental change will be noticed and appreciated. The more you share your vision for the future of the organization, the stronger the sense of collective buy-in will be. This connection boosts productivity, increases retention, and creates a positive and motivated workforce.</p>
<p>4. Acknowledge</p>
<p>After action has been taken, reach out once again to acknowledge the key areas that have been changed and the future actions being put in place. Reaffirm your commitment to continuous feedback&#160;and continuous change.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Disruption does not need to be an obstacle to organizational progress. In fact, acknowledging and embracing our evolving communication landscape helps us to create agile organizations that thrive in the face of disruption.</p>
<p>A version of this article originally appeared on the&#160; <a href="http://blog.waggl.com/2017/08/does-path-to-change-have-to-be-hard.html" type="external">Waggl blog Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.waggl.com/" type="external">Waggl Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;is the most human way for organizations to crowdsource feedback.</p> | Does Organizational Change Have to Be Hard? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/11/does-organizational-change-have-to-be-hard.html | 2017-10-18 | 0 |
<p>RICHMOND, Va. — Tornadoes kept Virginia Baptists’ disaster relief ministries on its toes during the first half of April, as severe weather caused damage in two widely-separated parts of the state — along the Chesapeake Bay and in the mountains of Southwest Virginia.</p>
<p>A tornado that wreaked havoc in North Carolina April 16 moved north along Virginia’s coast, damaging Chesapeake Bay communities before heading out to sea. At least one Baptist church — <a href="index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=4953&amp;Itemid=53" type="external">Zoar</a> in Deltaville, Va. — saw its sanctuary destroyed by the twister.</p>
<p>Disaster relief ministries sent a shower unit to <a href="http://www.providence-baptist.com/" type="external">Providence Baptist Church</a>&#160;in Hayes, Va., April 20 to support the congregation’s relief efforts in the Gloucester County community, said Dean Miller, who coordinates disaster relief for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.</p>
<p />
<p>“We haven’t triggered an official response in that area yet, but we’re monitoring the situation,” said Miller. “I had a conversation with one of the regional disaster relief coordinators who explained that there are many churches that are coordinating their own efforts and are responding to the needs of their own communities rather well.</p>
<p>"At least four congregations affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia are providing work teams from their own membership to respond to the needs of those affected," he added. "We stand ready to assist these churches as they respond. The shower unit is one example.”</p>
<p>Though Virginia Baptists are not mobilizing volunteers for the area, Miller said people interested in offering help can call the Virginia Department of Emergency Management volunteer center at 757.232.4819 or the non-profit group Operation Blessing at 757.374.0944.</p>
<p>Meanwhile in Pulaski County, Virginia Baptist volunteers are completing initial relief operations after two tornadoes touched down there April 8, causing more than $9 million in damage. About 10 people were injured and more than 400 structures in the town of Pulaski — the county seat — were damaged.</p>
<p>“The Virginia Department of Emergency Management asked Virginia Baptists to take the lead in coordinating all volunteer work in Pulaski,” Miller told members of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board at their April 12 meeting.</p>
<p>Most of the work involved cutting trees, removing debris and assessing damage, he said. “There was a total of 96 jobs and Virginia Baptist volunteers took care of about a third of them.”</p>
<p><a href="http://dublinbaptistva.org/" type="external">Dublin (Va.) Baptist Church</a>, about eight miles from Pulaski, housed and fed Virginia Baptist volunteers.</p>
<p>Most workers have returned home, but a laundry unit remains in place for residents whose washing machines and dryers are damaged or destroyed.</p>
<p>In the next few weeks Pulaski County administrators will release a long-term strategy for recovery, Miller said. “We plan to find ways to plug into that.”</p>
<p>Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell asked President Obama April 18 for a federal disaster declaration for the county, which would qualify its residents for low-interest loans, grants and housing assistance. Miller said county officials are awaiting the results of that request before finalizing their recovery plan.</p> | Tornadoes keep Virginia Baptists’ disaster relief ministries busy in April | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/tornadoeskeepvirginiabaptistsdisasterreliefministriesbusyinapril/ | 3 |
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<p />
<p>So Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats got together for a strategy session today.</p>
<p>Their mission: to find a way to stop the Republicans and President-Elect Trump from repealing Obamacare.</p>
<p>But from the twaddle being burped out by those in attendance, the strategy session wasn’t so much finding legislative ways of stopping repeal.</p>
<p>Instead, it was straight out of Alinsky.</p>
<p>They got a slogan and a logo:</p>
<p />
<p>Which they then made into a hashtag.</p>
<p>And they trotted their typical worn out, decades old fearmongering tactics in an effort to paint Republicans as unfeeling, uncaring monsters.</p>
<p>Then, like a well-oiled machine, all the Democrats took to social media — logo and hashtag in hand — and regurgitated this drivel ad nauseam while attempting to make it look like it was all totally spontaneous.</p>
<p>Really?</p>
<p>That’s the best they could come up with?</p>
<p>Do these people not realize that the Democrat Alinsky tactics aren’t going to work anymore?</p>
<p>Hillary had splashy slogans, logos and fearmongering too.</p>
<p>Hillary had sycophantic, slavish followers who dutifully retweeted her garbage too.</p>
<p>How’d that work out for her?</p>
<p>Do they not realize that in one series of tweets Donald Trump can tear this insipid “strategy” to shreds without breaking a sweat?</p>
<p>Donald Trump didn’t just change the rules of the game.</p>
<p>He changed the game.</p>
<p>And these morons in the Democrat Party, still unwilling to admit they’re out of their league, just keep going back to the same tired well.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Please consider making a contribution to PatriotRetort.com. Hit DONATE button in the side bar. Even a few bucks can make a world of difference!</p> | Strategy Session by Alinsky | true | http://patriotretort.com/strategy-session-alinsky/ | 2017-01-04 | 0 |
<p>Published time: 19 Nov, 2017 06:27</p>
<p>Hundreds of activists flocked to the Libyan Embassy in Paris on Saturday, outraged with the government’s failure to tackle people smuggling after a CCN report unveiled a network of migrant slave auctions in Libya.</p>
<p>About a thousand people <a href="http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2017/11/19/un-millier-de-personnes-manifestent-a-paris-contre-l-esclavage-en-libye_5217098_3224.html" type="external">turned</a> up to the protest following calls by several prominent anti-slavery groups and a number of celebrities of African origin, including soccer star Didier Drogba and former Miss France Sonia Rolland.</p>
<p>Carrying signs reading “No to slavery in Libya,” the demonstrators gathered in front of the Libyan Embassy on Saturday afternoon before marching towards the Champs-Elysees, where they were stopped by riot police cordons.</p>
<p>Paris – Forte mobilisation devant l’ambassade de Libye contre l’Esclavage après la diffusion d’images montrant la vente aux enchères de migrants.</p>
<p>La foule criant : «&#160;Libérez nos frères ». <a href="https://t.co/ywmE1u8pmj" type="external">pic.twitter.com/ywmE1u8pmj</a></p>
<p>— Remy Buisine (@RemyBuisine) <a href="https://twitter.com/RemyBuisine/status/931887038680522753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">18 ноября 2017 г.</a></p>
<p>“Free our brothers,” “Let’s liberate Africa,” “We are black, we are human!” the demonstrators <a href="https://francais.rt.com/france/45720-centaines-personnes-ont-manifeste-paris-contre-esclavage-en-libye" type="external">chanted</a>.</p>
<p>Clashes broke out as police moved to disperse the protest. Some activists began hurling rocks at police, who responded with tear gas.</p>
<p>A Ruptly crew was on the spot to film as activists attempted to break through metal barriers erected by police.</p>
<p>One person was arrested following the scuffles, AFP reports. Police say the protest was illegitimate, adding that “no damage” resulted from the clashes.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, the Libyan government launched a probe into slave auctions operating in the country, including areas controlled by the UN-backed internationally-recognized Government of National Accord, after CNN showed footage of migrants being sold at a location outside Tripoli.</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p>
<p>CNN claims in the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/14/africa/libya-migrant-auctions/index.html" type="external">report</a> that men were priced at as little as $400, and that auctions are being <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/17/africa/libya-slave-auction-investigation/index.html" type="external">carried</a> out at many sites across Libya each month.</p>
<p>Libya has become the last stop on the route to Europe for migrants fleeing war, persecution, and poverty in their home countries, with the ongoing political chaos allowing people smugglers to thrive in the country, ravaged by civil war.</p> | French police use tear gas to disperse protest against slave auctions in Libya (VIDEO) | false | https://newsline.com/french-police-use-tear-gas-to-disperse-protest-against-slave-auctions-in-libya-video/ | 2017-11-19 | 1 |
<p>Capitalism is a flurry of contradictions, and one of its strangest is the burgeoning alliance between the antisemitic forces of the “alt-right” and Israeli settlers.</p>
<p>This alliance is not exactly new. For some time, the far-right parties of Europe have been outspoken in their support of Israel, all while courting hardline nationalists who often hold racist and antisemitic views. Even in the United States, this alliance has been around for a while. In the 1970s, Richard Nixon — <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/oct99/nixon6.htm" type="external">a severe antisemite</a> — provided significant financial and military support for Israel, allowing the country to prevail in the Yom Kippur War.</p>
<p>What is different now, however, is how closely the two are working together — and how willing the Israeli right has been in embracing these unlikely bedfellows.</p>
<p>The alt-right is antisemitic. This point should not be controversial. We can see it when Milo Yiannopolous <a href="http://forward.com/fast-forward/358909/milo-yiannopoulos-slams-thick-as-pig-st-media-jews/" type="external">referred to a re</a> <a href="http://forward.com/fast-forward/358909/milo-yiannopoulos-slams-thick-as-pig-st-media-jews/" type="external">porter</a> as a “thick-as-pig shit media Jew” or when the Trump administration <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-white-house-block-state-department-holocaust-memorial-day-mention-jews-statement-nazis-a7560866.html" type="external">released a statement for Holocaust Remembrance Day</a> that failed to mention Jews (or any other targeted group, for that matter). Antisemitism has been central to the alt-right’s program. When they speak of “ <a href="https://mic.com/articles/156748/donald-trump-says-global-special-interests-anti-semites-in-the-alt-right-hear-jews#.c2OozF8s7" type="external">global special interests</a>,” they are really just rebranding the old antisemitic trope of a global Zionist conspiracy.</p>
<p>Moreover, it should also be obvious that the recent rise in antisemitic incidents in the aftermath of both <a href="http://www.vox.com/2017/2/19/14650180/trump-anti-semitism-jews-america-religion" type="external">Trump’s election</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/02/reports-of-antisemitic-incidents-increase-to-record-levels-in-uk" type="external">the Brexit vote</a> are a direct consequence of the increased acceptability of white nationalism in public discourse. These threats, which include bomb threats and cemetery desecrations, are serious.</p>
<p>Despite all this, the Israeli right, ever quick to denounce the smallest critique of Israel as antisemitism, has largely embraced the alt-right.</p>
<p>Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been possibly Trump’s biggest cheerleader among foreign leaders. After Steve Bannon officially became Trump’s chief strategist, Alan Dershowitz, the outspoken defender of Israeli apartheid, eagerly spoke out to shield him from accusations of antisemitism. (This is the same Steve Bannon, mind you, who <a href="http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/354334/steve-bannon-didnt-want-children-going-to-school-with-whiny-jews/" type="external">said</a> he didn’t want his daughters going to school with “whiny brat” Jews.)</p>
<p>Israeli backing for Trump is easy to understand: they gladly welcome the increased support from their greatest ally at a time when the rest of the world is beginning to wise up to their system of apartheid. But the alt-right’s affinity for Israel is a bit stranger.</p>
<p>Trump has vowed to be the best friend Israel has ever had and has floated the idea of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer has actually <a href="http://forward.com/news/breaking-news/354334/steve-bannon-didnt-want-children-going-to-school-with-whiny-jews/" type="external">praised Zionism</a> for helping inspire the ethno-nationalism that he has made his own.</p>
<p>Herein lies the key to understanding this alliance. The state of Israel was founded at the end of World War II, when the major powers sought to redraw the world map in a way so that (nearly) every minority got their own country. This way, there would be no minorities. In order for Israel to become a Jewish state, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had to be ethnically cleansed in what is now known as the Nakbe.</p>
<p>This ideology — that ethnicities should be separate and that minorities should be expunged — is precisely what is driving the alt-right. This allows us to understand why the alt-right can simultaneously hate Jews and love Israel. The alt-right is fine with Jews, as long as they’re over there, far away from the United States.</p>
<p>And because they consider Jews “more white” than Arabs, the alt-right is happy to use them, through the state of Israel, to keep those uppity Muslim states in check. This has been Israel’s historical role. It was the case in 1956, when France and Britain entreated Israel to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis" type="external">invade Egypt</a> in order to stop Gamel Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal.</p>
<p>More recently, the Mossad has also helped the United States <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Iranian_nuclear_scientists" type="external">assassinate</a> Iranian scientists and otherwise sabotage Iran’s nuclear program. The alt-right is happy to give support to the state it sees as the West’s first line of defense against the dreaded Muslim invasion.</p>
<p>As shocking as it might seem to see orthodox Jews eagerly jump into bed with rabid antisemites, we should really know better than to be surprised. What the alt-right and Israeli settlers (and their supporters) have in common is a shared fervor for ethno-nationalism and a strong inclination towards Islamophobia and racism.</p>
<p>Israel is useful to the alt-right both as a tool for wreaking havoc in the Muslim world and as an ideological fellow traveler, willing to support their nationalist and chauvinist policies. Without acknowledging this, we cannot hope to understand either movement. The Left must be vigilant in opposing this alliance and refuse to let the alt-right’s support for Israel be a cover for their extreme antisemitism.</p> | An Unholy Alliance | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2017/03/alt-right-zionism-richard-spencer-netanyahu-settlers-trump/ | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
<p>One of the surest signs of a commentator worth reading is that they get vociferously attacked by extremists on both ends of a spectrum. I'm very well acquainted with this experience, as is Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic. His most recent column, " <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-14/what-obama-thinks-israelis-don-t-understand-.html" type="external">Obama: "Israel Doesn't Know What Its Best Interests Are"</a>," has opened him up to unprecedented attacks from the Israeli right. Goldberg is a well-established supporter of the two-state solution and opponent of Israel's settlement project. As such, he's never been particularly popular with the Israeli far right.</p>
<p>Some members of the Likud party are painting him as a stalking horse for President Barack Obama, who they accuse of "gross interference" in Israel's election and "taking revenge" against Netanyahu. <a href="http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=299709" type="external">According to the Jerusalem Post</a>, some Netanyahu supporters believe this "revenge" is in response to Netanyahu's "perceived intervention in the November US election on behalf of unsuccessful Republican challenger Mitt Romney." The Post quotes Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan as saying "Goldberg was merely a dovish publicist trumpeting the views of the American far-Left," and accusing him of engaging in inaccurate "gossip."</p>
<p>The effrontery of these complaints is extraordinary. First, they virtually acknowledge that Netanyahu did try to intervene in the American election on behalf of Romney, at least at some stages. Second, there isn't any reason to believe that Obama is using Goldberg as a stalking horse against Netanyahu. Third, such concerns are hardly limited to the "American left," since none other than President George W. Bush expressed similar concerns on numerous occasions. In April, 2005, Bush <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east/jan-june05/israel_4-11.html" type="external">said</a>, "I've been very clear about Israel has an obligation under the road map. That's no expansion of settlements."</p>
<p>This is really just a backlash by Israeli ultranationalists against the nearly universal criticism that Israel's settlement policies are self-destructive. As Goldberg wrote, these policies seem to be "foreclosing on the possibility of a two-state solution." By asking Israel to restrain itself from aggressive settlement expansions, particularly in strategically crucial areas such as the E1 corridor, governments and commentators around the world are simply asking them what kind of future they are constructing for their society if Palestinian statehood is to be foreclosed.</p>
<p>What the whole brouhaha demonstrates is a kind of epistemic closure in which significant portions of Israeli society have lost the ability to hear the voices, even of their friends, who are simply asking them what kind of reality they are constructing through these policies. As <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/west-of-eden/it-s-not-obama-who-s-meddling-in-israel-s-elections-it-s-reality.premium-1.494203" type="external">Chemi Shalev noted in Ha'aretz</a>, complaints that Obama is interfering in Israel's elections are not only "a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black," it is "not Obama who's meddling in Israel's elections: it's reality."</p>
<p>While the Israeli far-right appears to be suffering from some form of Asperger's syndrome regarding any criticism of its settlement policies, and is taking it out on both Obama and Goldberg, the far-left has also been recently engaged in a scurrilous attack of its own against the columnist. In his book Prisoners, Goldberg recalls that for a brief period when he was 12, he was attracted by the writings of the violent and racist Rabbi Meir Kahane. But, he continues, by the time he was 14 he "came to see the egalitarian beauty of democratic socialism," and was singing The Internationale. Nonetheless, some on the extreme left are so gripped with distaste for Goldberg that they <a href="http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2012/11/06/jeffrey-goldberg-was-kahane-disciple/" type="external">continue</a> to <a href="http://exiledonline.com/the-atlantic%E2%80%99s-jeffrey-goldberg-was-a-follower-of-jewish-rightwing-terrorist-meir-kahane/" type="external">describe</a> him as a follower of Kahane, and speculate that he may still be one.</p>
<p>And even more common and scurrilous <a href="https://twitter.com/MJayRosenberg/status/289489208148623361" type="external">charge</a> is that Goldberg was involved in "tormenting" or even " <a href="http://www.jewishjournal.com/thegodblog/item/torture_jews_and_finkelsteins_fact_finding/" type="external">torturing</a>" Palestinian prisoners when he served as a guard in an Israeli prison in his youth. However his memoir demonstrates he was troubled by the abuses he saw and attempted to intervene to stop them. He does admit to having lied after another guard beat a prisoner. But, he writes, this was only after he had intervened to stop the beating, which was being performed with an army radio. "Yoram didn't stop [the beating] when I came upon him. I took hold of his arm, knocking the radio to the ground." There is nothing in Prisoners, or any other information I'm aware of to sustain the notion that Goldberg was involved in torturing or tormenting Palestinian prisoners. Indeed, it contains an interesting account of how he befriended one of them in an uneasy, complex relationship between detainee and guard.</p>
<p>There are two things that every commentator deserves from readers and interlocutors. One is the right to change their minds, and particularly not to be held to views they long since abandoned (especially when those opinions were formed at the age of 12 and quickly abandoned). Second, they have the right not to have their opinions distorted beyond recognition. Criticism is one thing, and that's always fair game, but outright misrepresentation is indefensible. It's been fascinating, instructive and disturbing, to watch Goldberg being subjected to this in recent weeks by both the ultra-right and the far-left in the Israeli-Palestinian imbroglio.</p> | The Goldberg Variations | true | https://thedailybeast.com/the-goldberg-variations | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
<p>Available this past summer, the loyalty program Chiptopia yielded some intriguing numbers forChipotle Mexican Grill(NYSE: CMG). For example, over 75,000 people managed to earn the program's biggest reward: a catered meal for 20 people. That amounts to about $18 million in free food!</p>
<p>In the accompanyingvideo from <a href="http://www.fool.com/podcasts/industry-focus?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Industry Focus: Consumer Goods Opens a New Window.</a>, Vincent Shen and Asit Sharmabreak down the details behind Chiptopia and how it delivered for the struggling fast casual chain.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A full transcript follows the video.</p>
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<p>This podcast was recorded on Nov. 1, 2016.</p>
<p>Vincent Shen:I want to take our conversation now to our second company. Whereas Dunkin' Brandshas,I think, instituted a very competitive programeven against a very well-establishedincumbent with its ownvery competitive and successfuloffering, we haveChipotle. Chipotle obviously hasexperienced a ton of challenges, we've talked about them on the show previously together,in the past year, with food safety scandals. Over the summer,July, August, and September, they had their temporaryChiptopia program. During those three months,essentially, based on the frequency with which you visited their locations, you could reachone of three tiers: mild, medium, or hot. Each one came with its own benefits. Going four times in a month,you would reach mild status. Another four times on top of that, medium. Another four times on top of that, you'd reach hot.</p>
<p>The big carrot that they offered to members of Chiptopia were the catered meal for 20. Basically,if you can reach hot status with 12 visits each month for each month of the program,at the end of the program, they will give you acatered meal for 20,which is about a $240 value. I think this was obviously reservedfor the real die-hard fans. With this show, today, I was with my brother over the weekend,he mentioned that he had just recently eatenhis last free mealthat he got from Chiptopia. I thinkhe was a regular medium level member over the three months. But, 75,000people actually managed to reach that hot status, and to get that catered meal for 20. 75,000 people, a $240 value.I think the company said that over the next six months, they'regoing to have to give out about $18 million in free food,on top of the approximately $2 million infree burritos those customers were already getting,assuming you're paying about $9 per meal.</p>
<p>Theprogram overall attracted about 6 million people, with2.5 million actually earningrewards through the program. What were your thoughts on Chiptopia? The company recently released earnings -- the stock took quite a hit,I think they're down about 11% since theyrelease earnings last week. What do youthink about the program? Anddo you think this will be a preview of somethingthey establishon a more permanent basis in terms of a loyalty program?</p>
<p>Asit Sharma:First, on a personal level, I reached medium status in our household. Myyoungest is a Chipotle freak. We didn't obtain the highestreward simply because I had to say no after a while. But this,I think if you extrapolate this,I think it's very indicative of Chipotle's approach and how it's very different from Dunkin's.Chipotle started with the premise thatwe do have this core of really loyal customers. So,they weren't trying to build loyalty. They hit a rough patchwith theirnorovirus and E. coli scare, and they're stillmodeling in the revenue trough,honestly. So their proposition was, why don't we --I'm going to use this key word today -- activatesome of these loyal customers. If you are a casual eater of Chipotleand happened to look at the rewards chart that Vince was talking about, it reallyrewarded very frequent visits. It wasn't really just a dollar spend. You had to show up at Chipotle. What they were trying to do wasrekindle the fire and enthusiasm of their peak visitors. This is one of the reasons, in the first place, to institute a loyalty program. It's much cheaper to get acurrent customer to spend again than it is togo out and acquire a new customer. So,for Chipotle, this made all the more sense. AndI think this was a tremendous cost they undertook. I, too, was really surprised by those statistics, hearing them on the conference call. Yet,it's exactly what Chipotle needed to do, which was to solidify --if I can use this phrase in the political season --they needed to solidify their base.This cost they're incurring now is really an investment instabilizing of revenue. As they additems to their menu, they'll be able to have newer customers come on.</p>
<p>But,my personal take is,it was a very appropriate action for Chipotle. I'm going to make a prediction that we'll see a revival of Chiptopia. It may not be called that. But you'll see a program leaning towardrewarding frequency. Chipotle wants you back in the stores. It's a little less concerned in the near-term with how much you spend. They want you to have thatexperience so that you begin to build a deeper innate trust in their product once again,just like they enjoyed before all this food scare came and walloped the company.</p>
<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. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFJourneyMan/info.aspx" type="external">Vincent Shen Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill. 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 Chipotle Is Spending Millions to Win Back Its Most Loyal Customers | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/09/how-chipotle-is-spending-millions-to-win-back-its-most-loyal-customers.html | 2016-11-09 | 0 |
<p>MILWAUKEE (AP) — Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke did not violate a man's free speech with taunting Facebook posts after detaining him at an airport last year for shaking his head at Clarke while boarding a flight, a federal jury concluded Monday night.</p>
<p>In a civil lawsuit against Clarke, Daniel Black argued he received hateful messages and was fearful after Clarke called him a "snowflake" online and said Black "wouldn't be around to whine" if the then-sheriff really wanted to harass him. Clarke made the comment after Black complained to the county that the sheriff had his deputies detain and question him for 15 minutes after he got off the plane in Milwaukee.</p>
<p>Jurors deliberated nearly three hours before deciding Clarke's posts were not enough to chill Black's future speech. Clarke resigned on Aug. 31 to join a political action committee that supports President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Black said he shook his head at Clarke last January on the flight from Dallas to Milwaukee because Clarke was wearing Cowboys gear when they were playing the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.</p>
<p>Black at one point became teary-eyed while testifying Monday, saying he would never file another complaint against an elected official because the incident left him so rattled. He said he sued last year because he needed "someone to say this is wrong."</p>
<p>Although Black was not arrested or cited, his attorneys argued that Clarke's actions — particularly his social media taunts — were retaliatory and threatening enough to silence criticism of the sheriff.</p>
<p>"I felt guilty, I felt scared, that I had a target on my back," Black testified, recalling one post in particular on the sheriff's official Facebook site.</p>
<p>Clarke wrote on Facebook: "Cheer up, snowflake ... if Sheriff Clarke were to really harass you, you wouldn't be around to whine about it."</p>
<p>Black's attorney, Anne Sulton, showed jurors an email from Clarke staffer Fran McLaughlin expressing concern about the post, telling the sheriff it was "perceived as a threat, and I don't think it should be on our agency page." Clarke responded by saying, "It stays."</p>
<p>"That shows the malice," Sulton said.</p>
<p>Clarke was not in court Monday. His attorneys said Black did television interviews after the encounter and didn't appear scared.</p>
<p>"Far from being chilled, he was encouraged and he enjoyed it," attorney Charles Bohl said during opening statements, describing the case as "an unfriendly internet spat between two people who apparently don't like each other very much."</p>
<p>In his closing arguments, Bohl told jurors that Black's TV interviews and social media posts about the incident showed that Clarke's comments did not stop Black from exercising his free speech rights "abundantly" and that "he got his 15 minutes of fame."</p>
<p>Black wanted jurors to award him a compensation amount of their choosing for emotional distress and other damages, as well as attorneys' fees.</p>
<p>MILWAUKEE (AP) — Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke did not violate a man's free speech with taunting Facebook posts after detaining him at an airport last year for shaking his head at Clarke while boarding a flight, a federal jury concluded Monday night.</p>
<p>In a civil lawsuit against Clarke, Daniel Black argued he received hateful messages and was fearful after Clarke called him a "snowflake" online and said Black "wouldn't be around to whine" if the then-sheriff really wanted to harass him. Clarke made the comment after Black complained to the county that the sheriff had his deputies detain and question him for 15 minutes after he got off the plane in Milwaukee.</p>
<p>Jurors deliberated nearly three hours before deciding Clarke's posts were not enough to chill Black's future speech. Clarke resigned on Aug. 31 to join a political action committee that supports President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Black said he shook his head at Clarke last January on the flight from Dallas to Milwaukee because Clarke was wearing Cowboys gear when they were playing the Green Bay Packers in the playoffs.</p>
<p>Black at one point became teary-eyed while testifying Monday, saying he would never file another complaint against an elected official because the incident left him so rattled. He said he sued last year because he needed "someone to say this is wrong."</p>
<p>Although Black was not arrested or cited, his attorneys argued that Clarke's actions — particularly his social media taunts — were retaliatory and threatening enough to silence criticism of the sheriff.</p>
<p>"I felt guilty, I felt scared, that I had a target on my back," Black testified, recalling one post in particular on the sheriff's official Facebook site.</p>
<p>Clarke wrote on Facebook: "Cheer up, snowflake ... if Sheriff Clarke were to really harass you, you wouldn't be around to whine about it."</p>
<p>Black's attorney, Anne Sulton, showed jurors an email from Clarke staffer Fran McLaughlin expressing concern about the post, telling the sheriff it was "perceived as a threat, and I don't think it should be on our agency page." Clarke responded by saying, "It stays."</p>
<p>"That shows the malice," Sulton said.</p>
<p>Clarke was not in court Monday. His attorneys said Black did television interviews after the encounter and didn't appear scared.</p>
<p>"Far from being chilled, he was encouraged and he enjoyed it," attorney Charles Bohl said during opening statements, describing the case as "an unfriendly internet spat between two people who apparently don't like each other very much."</p>
<p>In his closing arguments, Bohl told jurors that Black's TV interviews and social media posts about the incident showed that Clarke's comments did not stop Black from exercising his free speech rights "abundantly" and that "he got his 15 minutes of fame."</p>
<p>Black wanted jurors to award him a compensation amount of their choosing for emotional distress and other damages, as well as attorneys' fees.</p> | Jury: Clarke, ex-sheriff in Milwaukee, didn't violate speech | false | https://apnews.com/amp/3d49b7385b1d48f5ba11f6638a1d08f5 | 2018-01-23 | 2 |
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<p>“The president,” says the Constitution, “shall have the power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the Senate” (emphasis added). Today’s case concerns whether Barack Obama made recess appointments when the Senate was not in recess and made them to fill vacancies that did not happen during a recess.</p>
<p>In 2012, the National Labor Relations Board rendered a decision adverse to a soft-drink bottler in Yakima, Wash. The bottler asked the court to declare the NLRB’s intervention unlawful because the board did not have a legitimate quorum, three members having been installed by Obama when the Senate was not in recess as the Framers understood this term.</p>
<p>Republicans, wanting to block some Obama nominations, used a practice Democrats used in 2007 when they controlled the Senate and wanted to block some George W. Bush nominees.</p>
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<p>Under a unanimous consent agreement – no Democrat objected – pro forma sessions occurred on Jan. 3 and Jan. 6 of 2012. Obama declared the Senate in recess Jan. 4 and made his NLRB appointments, thereby disregarding the Senate’s determination of the rules of its proceedings and the settled practice both parties have used to remain not in recess even when most senators are away.</p>
<p>The Obama administration argues that the word “happen” is a synonym for “exist.” And it rejects the argument that an intra-session Senate break is a synonym for “adjournment,” not “recess.”</p>
<p>This, however, ignores the reasonable reading of the definite article: Recess appointments fill vacancies that “happen,” meaning come about, during “the” recess of the Senate – the one break that occurs between sessions, which until the Civil War usually lasted only three to six months.</p>
<p>The first president made the first recess appointment in the first year of his first term, in 1789, when travel was slow and arduous, and Congress was usually not in session.</p>
<p>The Recess Appointments Clause was written when conditions made such a power crucial. Obama, however, contends that, in today’s world of instant communication and easy travel, he deserves a much larger – almost unlimited – recess appointment power.</p>
<p>His administration argues that “at least 14 presidents have, collectively, made at least 600 civilian appointments (and thousands of military ones) during intra-session recesses.”</p>
<p>But Obama’s action regarding the NLRB is characteristic of his aggressive expansion of presidential power. He is the first president to make recess appointments when the Senate was convening pro forma sessions every three days and he has articulated an anti-constitutional defense of his aggression:</p>
<p>“I refuse to take no for an answer. … When Congress refuses to act … I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them.”</p>
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<p>If he really can refuse a “no” answer, then the Senate’s role in the appointment process is vitiated. Now the court should apprise him of what he cannot do without Congress. Which means a Madisonian dialectic is occurring: The executive’s usurpation of power has provoked the legislature, precipitating an overdue judicial intervention to clarify constitutional boundaries. The Constitution’s text, and perhaps its original meaning, may be at odds with historical practice.</p>
<p>Because the ability to defeat by filibuster some presidential nominees has recently been restricted, perhaps not for the last time, presidents will have less need to resort to recess appointments.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, were the court to uphold Obama’s action, two of the Senate’s constitutional powers would be substantially reduced – the power (which the House also has) to “determine the rules of its proceedings” and the power to reject presidential nominees.</p>
<p>Many presidents have chafed against limits to their power but, in progressive presidents, normal political ambition is alloyed with a validating ideology. Woodrow Wilson provided the progressive template by disparaging the separation of powers as an anachronistic impediment to the presidential power requisite for the modern age.</p>
<p>Today’s argument will be another manifestation of America’s intermittent efforts to tame executive power, efforts that predate nationhood: The Declaration of Independence is a menu of complaints against “a long train of abuses and usurpations” by “the present King of Great Britain.”</p>
<p>The present president’s cavalier approach to statutes (as with his unilateral rewriting of the Affordable Care Act) and the Constitution (see four paragraphs above) make today’s argument important.</p>
<p>Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Taming rampant executive power | false | https://abqjournal.com/335486/taming-rampant-executive-power.html | 2 |
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<p>Florida governor and US Senate hopeful Charlie Crist. Courtesy of the Florida Governor's Office.</p>
<p />
<p>Despite his best efforts to distance himself from the Florida GOP’s disgraced former chairman, Charlie Crist, governor and US Senate candidate, just can’t shake off Jim Greer’s long tail of controversy. The latest twist in Greer’s saga, who as party chairman is alleged to have stolen $200,000 in GOP funds and <a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-06-02/news/os-republican-jim-greer-arrested-20100602_1_victory-strategies-llc-jim-greer-mr-greer" type="external">was arrested</a> in June, is this:&#160;A Florida lobbyist and state GOP member said she’d heard that, at a supposedly men-only fundraiser in the Bahamas for the GOP, “women were involved and paid,” the St. Petersburg Times <a href="http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/07/crist-says-no-hookers-on-bahamas-trip.html" type="external">reported</a>. Having attended the fundraiser, Crist called the claims “absurdly false.” Regardless of who’s right and wrong, the allegations are nonetheless a new nightmare for Crist.</p>
<p>Crist, an independent candidate for the US Senate, abandoned the Republican Party in April, saying the party had become too right-wing for him. Outsiders, on the other hand, saw Crist’s jump as a move to avoid losing to conservative Marco Rubio in a Republican primary. Since becoming an independent, and looking for support (and money) from both Democrats and Republicans, Crist has opened a <a href="" type="internal">modest lead</a> over Rubio and Democratic also-ran Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fl.). Nonetheless, revelations about Greer, who headed the Florida GOP from 2007 to 2010, continue to threaten Crist’s run for the Senate.</p>
<p>Worse yet for Crist is the news that Greer’s trial will open in October—just weeks before election day. If you’re Charlie Crist, you couldn’t ask for more unfortunate timing. We’ll see in the coming months if Crist can raise enough money and run enough ads to fully distance himself from Greer and the walking ethics nightmare that’s become the Florida GOP.</p>
<p /> | Charlie Crist’s Hookers Headache? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/07/charlie-crist-hookers-jim-greer-florida-senate/ | 2010-07-02 | 4 |
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<p>Smart devices are some of the most exciting new consumer products, and from the looks of it, they’re only going to get more popular. Adding Internet capability to something as mundane as a light switch can make your home more exciting, comfortable and personalized — it can also make it more vulnerable to intruders.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The so-called Internet of Things presents a new challenge to home-tech enthusiasts. As people want to adopt new technology and enhance their everyday tasks with connectivity, they risk exposing their homes to hackers. There have been several reports of Internet of Things vulnerabilities, some scarier than others, but they’re not necessarily reasons to avoid embracing new things. More than anything, they’re a reminder to be cautious and aware of potential risks of Internet-connected items.</p>
<p>How to Protect Yourself</p>
<p>As boring as it sounds, reading the manual to your gadgets is a crucial first step to protecting yourself, said Adam Levin, author of Swiped, a book on <a href="https://www.credit.com/identity-theft-protection/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_1&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked#what-is-identity-theft" type="external">identity theft Opens a New Window.</a>, and co-founder of Credit.com.</p>
<p>“The issue really is all of these devices come with default passwords, most of those default passwords can be found <a href="https://www.credit.com/personal-finance/4-tips-for-better-internet-safety/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_2&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked" type="external">on websites Opens a New Window.</a>,” Levin said. “A lot of consumers don’t take the time to read the manual to find out exactly how they can change the password.”</p>
<p>Internet-connected items tend to collect and transmit data for the purpose of making improvements to meet current and future customers’ needs, but that connection could be an open window to unwelcome guests. If one device on your network is vulnerable, other things on the same connection could be at risk, too.</p>
<p>“The bottom line is we are moving more and more toward very smart products and consumers have to at least be in a position to outsmart the smart products,” Levin said. “Read the manuals to determine where your points of exposure are.”</p>
<p>And, if you ever have reason to believe your personal information has been exposed, you should <a href="https://www.credit.com/credit-monitoring/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_3&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked#what-is-credit-monitoring" type="external">monitor your credit Opens a New Window.</a>. You can do so by <a href="https://www.credit.com/credit-reports/free-annual-credit-report/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_4&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked" type="external">pulling your credit reports for free each year Opens a New Window.</a> at AnnualCreditReport.com and <a href="https://www.credit.com/free-credit-score/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_5&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked" type="external">viewing your credit scores for free each month Opens a New Window.</a> on Credit.com.</p>
<p>Here are some common household items that have been in the news for hacking vulnerability (besides the obvious: personal computers).</p>
<p>1.&#160;TVs</p>
<p>At the 2013 Black Hat security conference, researchers showed how Samsung’s Smart TVs could be overtaken by hackers, reported Mashable. Samsung responded saying the bugs had been fixed (the company did not respond immediately for follow-up comment). Still, the demonstration at the conference raised awareness of such devices’ vulnerabilities.</p>
<p>2.&#160;Baby Monitors</p>
<p>Several stories of parents hearing creepy messages coming through their baby monitors have hit the news in the last year. In one story, from CBS New York, a couple heard, “Wake up little boy, daddy’s looking for you,” come through the monitor in their son’s room, and they noticed the hacker could control the camera. Later in 2015, a security firm issued a report saying many popular Internet-connected baby monitors lacked basic security features.</p>
<p>3.&#160;Thermostats</p>
<p>TrapX Security, a security research firm, reported in early 2015 that smart thermostats could be vulnerable to external takeover and serve as a gateway to control a home’s network and items&#160;connected to it. The report focused on Google-owned Nest thermostats, though the company said there’s no evidence that a Nest device has been compromised in the way the researchers said it could be, Forbes reported.</p>
<p>“The vast majority of hardware devices — from laptops to smartphones — are susceptible to hacking with physical access,” a spokesperson from Nest said in an email. “This is sometimes called a jailbreak or rooting — and describes the kind of hack TrapX performed. A jailbreak doesn’t compromise the security of our servers or the connections between non-jailbroken devices and our servers. To the best of our knowledge, no Nest device has ever been compromised remotely.”</p>
<p>More from Credit.com:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.credit.com/credit-monitoring/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=BO_1&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked#how-to-use-free-credit-monitoring-tools" type="external">How to Use Free Credit Monitoring Tools Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="https://www.credit.com/credit-scores/what-is-a-good-credit-score/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=BO_2&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked" type="external">What's a Good Credit Score? Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="https://www.credit.com/credit-cards/reviews/chase-slate-card/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=BO_3&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked" type="external">Chase Slate Review: A Great Bet If You Need Breathing Room From Your Debt Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://blog.credit.com/2016/01/6-things-in-your-home-that-could-get-you-hacked-135823/?utm_source=Fox&amp;utm_medium=content&amp;utm_content=IB_6&amp;utm_campaign=home_get_hacked" type="external">Want to know which hackable household items made the rest of our list? Check out the full article on Credit.com. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>This article originally appeared on <a href="http://blog.credit.com/2016/01/6-things-in-your-home-that-could-get-you-hacked-135823/" type="external">Credit.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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<p>Advertisement</p> | 6 Things in Your Home That Could Get You Hacked | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/01/28/6-things-in-your-home-that-could-get-hacked.html | 2016-01-28 | 0 |
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<p>Verizon Uptown store manager Isaac Valdez displays a helicopterlike drone equipped with a video camera that users can control from a smartphone or tablet to stream real-time images from the sky. (Dean Hanson/journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On a recent Friday afternoon, Verizon Wireless’s Uptown Albuquerque store was teeming with customers mulling over the latest smartphones, accessories and service plans.</p>
<p>The hustle and bustle resembled an Apple store, with an open showroom for customers to sample a broad range of cutting-edge devices and mobile apps. That included everything from a GPS tracker for pets to a wireless wrist monitor that analyzes golf swings for players to improve their game.</p>
<p>Store manager Isaac Valdez said one of the latest products is a helicopterlike drone, equipped with a video camera, that users can control from a smartphone or tablet to stream real-time images from the sky.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Remote control with smart accessories is enabling some really wild things,” Valdez said. “We offer everything from cellphones to data devices and service plans to go along with them.”</p>
<p>Such advanced technologies are possible thanks to ever-faster mobile broadband networks that Verizon Wireless and other major cellphone carriers are building across the U.S. Increased bandwidth provides the kind of reliable and instantaneous data and voice communications needed to operate new products and services.</p>
<p>That, in turn, is converting smartphones and tablets into catchall remote controls for work and home, with an explosion in consumer demand for all things wireless. And, as the market expands, competition among cellphone providers is intensifying to win over the hearts and minds of consumers.</p>
<p>“The wireless industry as a whole is incredibly competitive,” said Verizon spokeswoman Jenny Weaver. “That’s a good thing for device and operating diversity. It’s what drives innovation and investments.”</p>
<p>Many industry experts say market domination by the nation’s two giants, Verizon and AT&amp;T Inc., stunts competition. But in many respects, consumers are benefitting from the race among wireless providers to build bigger and faster broadband networks, and to entice customers with more-compelling service plans and devices than their rivals.</p>
<p>In New Mexico, for example, both Verizon and AT&amp;T are investing heavily in the latest broadband technology, known as “fourth generation long-term evolution,” or 4G LTE.</p>
<p>Both companies already have extensive, standalone 4G networks, which offer data speeds about four times as fast as third-generation (3G) systems. By adding LTE to 4G, the companies boost speeds to about 10 times more than 3G.</p>
<p>Verizon is the furthest along. It launched 4G LTE in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces in 2011. It’s since expanded to about two dozen urban centers and towns in northern and southern areas through a $75 million investment last year in New Mexico and El Paso.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Nationally, Verizon’s 4G LTE offering is now available to about 273 million people.</p>
<p>“We’ve been aggressive in our rollout,” Weaver said. “We’ll have all of our 3G network at it exists today with 4G LTE by the end of 2013.”</p>
<p>AT&amp;T, meanwhile, invested about $175 million between 2009 and 2012 in New Mexico to upgrade its networks, including about $80 million in Albuquerque, where it launched 4G LTE for the first time in December. The company says it will extend 4G LTE availability to 300 million people nationwide by year’s end.</p>
<p>“We’re actively expanding and enhancing the network (in New Mexico) to increase reliability and speeds,” said Vicki Martin, AT&amp;T vice president and general manager for Arizona and New Mexico.</p>
<p>In addition, AT&amp;T launched two special offers for New Mexico and Arizona consumers this year. Customers whose contracts expire in 2013 can make upgrades in advance without penalties, and those who add a new line for a wireless device will get a $100 discount, Martin said.</p>
<p>On the other hand, despite the 4G LTE race, telecommunications analysts say market domination by Verizon and AT&amp;T is limiting the range of benefits consumers might attain in a more competitive landscape. Those two companies together control about 70 percent of the U.S. market.</p>
<p>Verizon is number one nationwide, with 110 million wireless subscribers. AT&amp;T follows with 100 million. Sprint Nextel Corp. is third with 53 million, and T-Mobile USA fourth with 33 million.</p>
<p>Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at the international research firm Ovum, said most Verizon and AT&amp;T service offerings are very similar, reflecting the limits on competitive benefits from market domination. Both companies, for example, rolled out “shared plans” – which give pools of customers joint access on multiple devices to unlimited voice and text with caps on data usage – within one month of each other last summer.</p>
<p>“Verizon and AT&amp;T seem to move in lock step with one another the way they structure and upgrade plans,” Dawson said. “The competition is less fierce than it appears on the surface, because it’s dominated by these two large players.”</p>
<p>T-Mobile and some smaller, regional companies – such as San Diego-based Leap Wireless International Inc. (Cricket) and Chicago-based U.S. Cellular Corp. – have carved out niches by providing lower-cost and prepaid cellphone alternatives for consumers. But T-Mobile has lost ground in recent years, and the smaller players struggle to keep up with the large ones on services, devices and network quality, Dawson said.</p>
<p>Toni Toikka, president of the Finnish mobile diagnostics firm Alekstra Inc., said the market could benefit from consolidation among some smaller players, such as T-Mobile’s plan to acquire Texas-based MetroPCS Communications Inc., which federal regulatory authorities approved in March.</p>
<p>T-Mobile will gain about 9 million subscribers, plus access to MetroPCS’s incipient 4G LTE infrastructure. And the company is now using its newfound clout to launch aggressive, novel initiatives, such as $100 discounts on Apple’s iPhone 5, monthly rather than upfront payments to buy that phone, and no-contract plans with unlimited voice, text and data usage.</p>
<p>Dawson said T-Mobile’s latest moves might facilitate more intense competition on service plans.</p>
<p>“We’ve seen several shifts in the focus of competition in recent years,” Dawson said. “Before it was all about network coverage and quality, then it shifted to focus on 4G LTE, and now it’s switching to service plans. T-Mobile now says all plans should be unlimited, and that may open up a new battleground.”</p> | Going wild for wireless | false | https://abqjournal.com/185989/going-wild-for-wireless.html | 2013-04-07 | 2 |
<p />
<p>An organization called <a href="http://www.j2000usa.org/j2000/" type="external">Jubilee 2000</a>, which advocates debt relief for poor countries, has organized massive protests to be staged during this weekend’s annual <a href="http://www.g8cologne.de" type="external">G8 summit</a> meeting, being held in Cologne, Germany.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/180699/world/929700960-90618101628.newswor%20ld.html" type="external">AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE</a> reports that a massive demonstration is planned for Saturday, which will feature a human chain around the city of Cologne. Turnout is exepcted to number in the tens of thousands. Also, rock star Bono of U2 and Honduran Bishop Oscar Rodriguez, are expected to submit a petition to the G8 demanding debt relief for poor countries. Distributed by Jubilee 2000, which has chapters in many countries, the petition has millions of signatures, including, the group claims, 15 percent of the population of Peru.</p>
<p>Demonstrations coinciding with the G8 summit are planned in cities around the world. The <a href="http://www.newsunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,59237,00.html" type="external">GUARDIAN UK</a> reports that demonstrations in London, dubbed a “Carnival Against Capitalism”, turned ugly on Friday as protesters clashed with police. One woman was reportedly run over by a police van. A McDonald’s restuarant and a Mercedes dealership were damaged.</p>
<p>Debt reduction for poor nations is one of the main topics on the agenda for this year’s summit. Reports are just hitting the wires that an agreement has been reached to forgive up to $100 billion owed by the world’s 33 poorest nations.</p>
<p><a href="http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/180699/world/929700960-90618101628.newsworld.html" type="external">http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/…</a></p>
<p>— <a href="" type="internal">JB</a></p>
<p />
<p>_ <a type="external" href="" />Auto biz misled public on air-bag danger</p>
<p>June 17</p>
<p />
<p>A thorough investigative report from Detroit’s alternative weekly, the <a href="http://www.metrotimes.com/19/37/Features/newCrash1.htm" type="external">METRO TIMES</a> outlines how the automobile industry, particularly Chrysler, as well as federal safety regulators, failed to warn customers about the potential threat automobile passenger-safety air bags posed to children and petite women. Patented in the 1950s, the potential for the devices to save lives in otherwise fatal crashes has been known for decades. However, equally clear was that a small percentage of people, mostly children, would be killed each year by air bags which deployed in low speed, and otherwise harmless, accidents. Industry concern about the danger — and thus corporate liability — these incidents would pose, as well as the cost of the new technology, kept air bags out of automobiles for decades.</p>
<p>However, after years of opposition to air bags, in the late 1980s, Chrysler’s Lee Iacocca sensed the new potential of marketing cars based on safety. He made an about-face on air bags, and in 1988 Chrysler became the first major auto manufacturer to make them standard equipment on their passenger cars. The company’s hugely popular minivans included air bags as a standard feature beginning in 1993. Nothing was said of the potential dangers — especially to children — the bags could cause, despite the fact that the industry clearly had been aware of that fact for more than 30 years.</p>
<p>According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as of May 1 of this year, airbags have killed 76 children and saved none. These sobering statistics have finally prompted the NHTSA to require all air bag-equipped vehicles to include a warning that children and small statured women should never ride in the front passenger seat.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.metrotimes.com/19/37/Features/newCrash1.htm" type="external">http://www.metrotimes.com/19/37/Features/newCrash1.htm</a></p>
<p>— <a href="" type="internal">JB</a></p>
<p />
<p>_ <a type="external" href="" />U.S. blocks ban on child soldiers</p>
<p>June 16</p>
<p />
<p>We knew Bill Clinton was capable of speaking out of both sides of his mouth, but on Wednesday he managed to talk out of two entirely separate orifices at once.</p>
<p>At the same moment that Clinton was <a href="http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/ap/international/story.html?s=v/ap/19990616/wl/clinton_europe_4.html" type="external">giving a speech</a> at the International Labor Conference in Geneva denouncing “the most vicious forms of abusive child labor” including military service, U.S. representatives at the conference there were still actively blocking a broad ban on child military service of any kind, according to a report from HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH. The U.S. has instead advocated a narrower provision only blocking the compulsory recruitment of children into the military, and not child military service of any kind. In other words, the U.S. is fighting for the right of 8 year olds to voluntarily join their country’s armed services. (The U.S. only allows citizens who are 17 or older to volunteer for active duty.)</p>
<p>“Child soldiers are in terrible danger no matter how they are recruited,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. “This narrow provision fails to protect thousands of child soldiers who are lured or coerced into warfare.” Offer a starving kid food, and he’ll gladly take that M-16 in exchange.</p>
<p>Clinton promised in his speech to send the treaty to the Senate floor for ratification as soon as the conference ended. However, if the U.S. negotiators do not agree to the military service provision as it is currently stated, the treaty may never get that far.</p>
<p>So what’s the issue for the U.S. — what’s to gain by blocking such a ban? You got us.</p>
<p>(Another highlight from Clinton’s speech was this: “There are children chained to often-risky machines …” which makes one wonder, if the machines were safe, would the chains somehow be more agreeable?)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.hrw.org/press/1999/jun/labor699.htm" type="external">http://www.hrw.org/press/1999/jun/labor699.htm</a></p>
<p>— <a href="" type="internal">BSB</a></p>
<p />
<p>_ <a type="external" href="" />Schools quickly resegregating</p>
<p>June 15</p>
<p>Forty-five years after the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation stating, “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” a new study concludes that schools are resegregating — fast, according to the LOS ANGELES TIMES. The Harvard University study concludes that, in addition to inherent inequality, schools whose student bodies have a majority of non-white students are disadvantaged in many other ways. They are more likely to be underfunded and overcrowded, have fewer honors classes and send fewer students to college.</p>
<p>Segregation is no longer confined to inner cities, researchers concluded, and is spreading to the suburbs. However, the report’s author argued that while inner city segregation is so severe as to be nearly irreversible, planners may still have an opportunity to reverse the trend in the suburbs. The report criticizes President Clinton for failing to act on this critical issue.</p>
<p>One UCLA researcher quoted in the article defended the trend toward de facto segregation, arguing that it is a result of natural housing patterns and immigration. Regardless of segregation’s causes, the Supreme Court’s Brown vs. the Board of Education decision noted that there are benefits of integration that transcend test scores, the most important of which is the promotion of racial harmony. In a country still blighted by persistent discrimination, that message is as compelling today as it was four decades ago.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/search/findcgi?action=View&amp;VdkVgwKey=%2E%2E%2F%2E%2E%2Fvol7%2FCNS%5FDAYS%2F990612%2Ft000052876%2Ehtml&amp;DocOffset=1&amp;DocsFound=4&amp;QueryZip=segregation&amp;Collection=Hunter&amp;ViewTemplate=search3%2Ehts" type="external">http://www.latimes.com/…</a></p>
<p>— <a href="" type="internal">LS</a></p>
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<p>_ <a type="external" href="" />Nominee: Dump toxics in third world</p>
<p>June 14</p>
<p>There has certainly been enough drama surrounding President Clinton’s nomination of Lawrence Summers as the new U.S. Treasury Secretary. Senate Republicans have threatened to block all presidential appointments — including Summers’ — in protest over Clinton’s recess appointment of an openly gay San Francisco philanthropist as ambassador to Luxembourg. Some of the controversy actually goes back to 1991, when a memo Summers wrote while he was the chief economist for the World Bank was leaked to the environmental community. The memo advocated exporting rich countries’ “dirty industries” and toxic waste to underdeveloped countries.</p>
<p>Even if you’ve heard about the memo check out the real thing, reprinted with brief commentary in <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/summers.html" type="external">COUNTERPUNCH</a>. The man in line to be the driving force behind the world’s strongest economy asks, “shouldn’t the World Bank be encouraging MORE migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [less developed countries]?” Answering his own question with brutal rationality, he essentially argues that the best places to pollute are those with the cheapest wages, because in that scenario financial losses due to “foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality” (because of the pollution) are minimized. According to Summer, “the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccable and we should face up to that.” Later in the memo he writes “I’ve always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are vastly UNDER-polluted.” And this is the man the Washington Post recently called a “key player in [the] global rescue effort.” Scary.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/summers.html" type="external">http://www.counterpunch.org/summers.html</a></p>
<p>— <a href="" type="internal">jr</a></p>
<p /> | Protest accompany G8 summit | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1999/06/protest-accompany-g8-summit/ | 1999-06-18 | 4 |
<p>The fourth Republican primary debate on Fox Business Network offered far more substance, hard data, and policy than CNBC’s salvo of verbal attacks.</p>
<p>While heated exchanges between moderators and candidates often provide a platform of entertainment for American audiences attuned to the histrionics of reality shows, <a href="" type="internal">Tuesday night’s lively arguments</a> were nonetheless memorable without the strobe light of character assassination.</p>
<p>Here are the 5 best debate moments:</p>
<p>1. Trump face-plants Kasich.</p>
<p>When Trump was asked about the court decision invalidating Obama’s executive amnesty, he plainly responded, excoriating Obama's plan as “unbelievable.” Trump’s was response was expected given the fact that he essentially founded his campaign on a speech condemning the uncontrolled onslaught of illegal immigrants. “We have to stop illegal immigration. It’s hurting us from every standpoint,” said Trump, adding that walls work and “We have a country of laws.”</p>
<p>A faint and feeble voice from the corner of the room then muttered something that appeared to come straight from the gospel of social justice advocacy. It was the invisible Kasich, gently scratching at the leaderboard with the might of a baby weasel. “Think about the families, think about the children,” muttered Kasich.</p>
<p>The real estate mogul fired back with full force.“Donald Trump is a fat lion. And if you poke at the Fat Lion, your face will be eaten,” as Ben Shapiro colorfully <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/659802279483043840" type="external">noted</a>. Kasich learned quickly that weasels don’t last in the wild.</p>
<p>"You're lucky in Ohio that you struck oil...Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him, 'I Like Ike,' moved 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of the country," Trump told Kasich. "You should let Jeb speak." Killing two-birds with one stone, Trump undermined Kasich’s record as governor and took the exclamation point out of Jeb! for acting like a mute the entire debate.</p>
<p>2. Cruz blasts media, illegal immigration, and all supporters of amnesty.</p>
<p>Riding on the momentum of his last stellar debate performance, Cruz gave clear and cogent answers to nearly every question addressed to him on Tuesday evening. However, his biggest moment came when he took his fellow Republicans to task for edging closer to amnesty. "[T]he Democrats are laughing, because if Republicans join Democrats as the party of amnesty, we will lose," <a href="" type="internal">stated</a> Cruz.</p>
<p>Next, Cruz struck the media. "I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn’t often see it as an economic issue. But I can tell you, for millions of Americans at home, watching this, it is a very personal economic issue, and I will say the politics of it would be very, very different if a bunch of lawyers or bankers were crossing the Rio Grande, or if a bunch of people with journalism degrees were coming over and driving down the wages in the press (cheers and applause), then we would see stories about the economic calamity that is befalling our nation," declared Cruz.</p>
<p>After deriding establishment Republicans and the mainstream media, the Princeton debate champ went after the Left. “Cruz...took on the left's smear that conservatives are "anti-immigrant," blasting it as "offensive" and distinguishing legal from illegal immigration,” <a href="" type="internal">reported</a> The Daily Wire’s James Barrett.</p>
<p>"I understand that when the mainstream media covers immigration, it doesn’t often see it as an economic issue. But I can tell you, for millions of Americans at home, watching this, it is a very personal economic issue."</p>
<p>Ted Cruz</p>
<p>3. Rubio Body-Slams Rand.</p>
<p>Rubio’s stinging response to Paul’s ambivalence about increasing military spending stole the night. “I know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I’m not,” proclaimed Rubio to a kindred audience.</p>
<p>“In two sentences, Rubio put the nail in the coffin of Paul’s perceived legitimacy as a foreign policy showman,” asserted The Daily Wire’s Joshua Yasmeh. “As Christians get slaughtered and an increasingly imperialistic Russia stampedes through territory in Crimea and Syria, Rubio’s ardent defense of military spending strategically undermined Paul’s protectionist platform and Obama’s Chamberlinian submission in one fell swoop.”</p>
<p>Rubio’s stellar performance in that moment may be a gamechanger, proving to be fatal blow to a Paul campaign that’s already on life-support The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro acutely <a href="" type="internal">noted</a>:</p>
<p>Only one moment truly elevated [Rubio]: his brutal knifing of Rand Paul over national defense. His description of Paul as a “committed isolationist” stuck, and it hurt – and then Paul was dumb enough to double down on it in his closing statement. We may spend too much on the military, but in an era in which President Obama has sliced our military readiness to the bone, Rubio wins that argument hands down.</p>
<p>4. Carson Responds to Media Inquisition, Turns Attention to Hillary’s Week of Lying</p>
<p>Although Carson’s gave a “ <a href="" type="internal">tepid answer</a>” when asked about the leftist smear campaign, the surging conservative candidate still managed to beat down Hillary Clinton for her blatant lies during the Benghazi hearing and expose the hypocrisy of media mainstream slander.</p>
<p>As Ben Shapiro pointed out, Carson’s answer could have been much stronger. “It was a strong answer, but it could have been tougher – he should have said that the media are a passel of liars dedicated to ruining conservatives, particularly black conservatives who wander off the left’s racial reservation,” <a href="" type="internal">explained</a> Shapiro. “Had he done that, he would have brought the crowd to its feet. Carson missed the mark when asked about Syria, but his closing was strong. He didn’t lose anything tonight, and continued media attention on him will make him stronger, not weaker.”</p>
<p>5. Rand Calls Out Trump on Crucial Misunderstanding of US Trade Deal.</p>
<p>Despite plunging poll numbers and a relatively fruitless campaign, Paul managed to sneak in one jab at front runner Donald Trump. Trump’s diatribe against Obama’s trade deal, TPP, included attacks against China’s currency manipulation.</p>
<p>While Trump’s larger point that a better-formatted TPP could have offered more provisions that protected American manufacturing registered with his namely blue-collar voting bloc, the real tycoon missed the mark when he implied that the United States had negotiated with China on the deal.</p>
<p>In perhaps his last moment under the sun, Rand cleverly called Trump out, explaining that China is a non-signatory on the trade deal. In fact, TPP may even function as a strategic bulwark against Chinese expansionism by buttressing US economic partners in the Pacific Rim.</p>
<p>Bonus: Jeb!</p>
<p>Just Kidding. There was nothing redeeming or remotely entertaining about Jeb’s performance on Tuesday night. Boring Bush gave the same, recycled answers to every question, intimating a tone of utter indifference. Why is Jeb! still in the race again?</p>
<p>Whenever Jeb! talks <a href="https://t.co/EP6rMydr54" type="external">pic.twitter.com/EP6rMydr54</a></p> | Last Night’s Five Best Debate Moments | true | https://dailywire.com/news/1059/last-nights-five-best-debate-moments-michael-qazvini | 2015-11-11 | 0 |
<p>A Weather Channel reporter didn't forget he was a proud American during his coverage of Hurricane Harvey.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Paul Goodloe was reporting near Houston on Saturday when he stood near a tree for his report.</p>
<p>"I don't know how strong the winds have to be to cut a palm tree in half, but that's what happened to the top of this tree," he said.</p>
<p>"But next to it, we've got Old Glory and I just, I can't let Old Glory just sit here like that. The school, yeah, it's battered, so is the flag, but we've got to fold this up," he said, holding a microphone in one hand as the strong winds blew the flag.</p>
<p>"Make sure this isn't a casualty to Hurricane Harvey," he continued.</p>
<p>Goodloe then handed off his microphone before he and a cameraman properly folded the flag.</p>
<p>After retrieving his microphone from the ground, Goodloe said, "Not the perfect fold, but definitely a rescue from Hurricane Harvey."</p>
<p>The reporter surveyed the scene of devastation with the flag tucked under his arm.</p> | Weather Channel reporter rescues American flag downed by Hurricane Harvey | true | http://theamericanmirror.com/weather-channel-reporter-rescues-american-flag-downed-hurricane-harvey/ | 2017-08-27 | 0 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Bernalillo County has announced that it has closed the Los Padillas Community Center because of a natural gas leak.</p>
<p>Crews are responding and the center has been evacuated.</p>
<p>Twelve children from the center’s preschool program have been transported to Mountain View Community Center, located at 201 Prosperity Ave. S.E., according to a release from the county.</p>
<p>About 20 more children who normally would go to the after-school program at Los Padillas will be rerouted to Mountain View Community Center.</p>
<p>Parents have been contacted directly.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Gas leak closes Los Padillas center | false | https://abqjournal.com/331989/gas-leak-closes-los-padillas-center.html | 2 |
|
<p>Ann Arbor Huron 57, Monroe 44</p>
<p>Bath 59, Portland St. Patrick 46</p>
<p>Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood 62, Royal Oak Shrine 42</p>
<p>Dansville 69, Fulton-Middleton 60</p>
<p>Flint Hamady 71, Corunna 45</p>
<p>Frankenmuth 68, Reese 52</p>
<p>Gaylord St. Mary 41, Bellaire 39</p>
<p>Harbor Beach 60, Saginaw Nouvel 52</p>
<p>Laingsburg 58, Potterville 29</p>
<p>Millington 42, Elkton-Pigeon Bay Port Laker 33</p>
<p>Montrose 63, Vassar 49</p>
<p>Onaway 52, Fife Lake Forest Area 42</p>
<p>Owosso 48, Flint Kearsley 41</p>
<p>Pinckney 58, Adrian 48</p>
<p>Richmond 55, Sandusky 40</p>
<p>Roseville 72, Utica Ford 54</p>
<p>Traverse City Grand Traverse Academy 68, Boyne Falls 30</p>
<p>Unionville-Sebewaing 65, Caro 36</p>
<p>Ann Arbor Huron 57, Monroe 44</p>
<p>Bath 59, Portland St. Patrick 46</p>
<p>Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood 62, Royal Oak Shrine 42</p>
<p>Dansville 69, Fulton-Middleton 60</p>
<p>Flint Hamady 71, Corunna 45</p>
<p>Frankenmuth 68, Reese 52</p>
<p>Gaylord St. Mary 41, Bellaire 39</p>
<p>Harbor Beach 60, Saginaw Nouvel 52</p>
<p>Laingsburg 58, Potterville 29</p>
<p>Millington 42, Elkton-Pigeon Bay Port Laker 33</p>
<p>Montrose 63, Vassar 49</p>
<p>Onaway 52, Fife Lake Forest Area 42</p>
<p>Owosso 48, Flint Kearsley 41</p>
<p>Pinckney 58, Adrian 48</p>
<p>Richmond 55, Sandusky 40</p>
<p>Roseville 72, Utica Ford 54</p>
<p>Traverse City Grand Traverse Academy 68, Boyne Falls 30</p>
<p>Unionville-Sebewaing 65, Caro 36</p> | Wednesday's Scores | false | https://apnews.com/amp/5c750911eb26404b8fb0fe039f755a29 | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
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<p />
<p>The town of Bernalillo has become the latest rural community in New Mexico to open a HELP-New Mexico community service center.</p>
<p>The center at 149 E. Calle Don Francisco will be used to provide low-income adults and farmworkers with job training and job placement opportunities and other forms of assistance such as helping Sandoval County clients of the Child and Adult Care Food Program.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Under Secretary Judy Canales joined local and state officials on Monday for a ceremony officially opening the center.</p>
<p>“Not only are we investing in Bernalillo in this particular facility,” Canales said, “but also it’s about the development of the people.”</p>
<p>People can get help with resume writing, learning interview skills and conducting online job searches, said HELP’s Workforce Development Director Rita Garcia-McManus.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The USDA through its Community Facilities Program provided a $133,000 loan and a $50,000 grant to purchase and renovate the building.</p>
<p>HELP, which stands for Home Education Livelihood Program, was created in 1965 to create self-sufficiency and promote economic opportunities to strengthen New Mexico families. It now has 40 facilities throughout the state.</p>
<p>The Bernalillo center has six offices, a computer lab, conference room, kitchen, copy center and two bathrooms. Some of the space will be available for lease to local nonprofit agencies, Garcia-McManus said.</p>
<p>Mayor Jack Torres, who attended the ribbon-cutting, said there was great need in the community for the services that would be offered.</p>
<p>“The programs are designed to help people help themselves,” Torres said, “Having a resource like this will just be a benefit to us.”</p> | Center Offers Job Training | false | https://abqjournal.com/127260/center-offers-job-training.html | 2012-08-30 | 2 |
<p />
<p>New <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4345263.ece" type="external">research</a> shows that Africans and African-Americans bear a <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/ucl-gvi071608.php" type="external">gene variant</a> that helps protect them from malaria, but also makes them more vulnerable to HIV infection. The variant increases susceptability to HIV by 40 percent, says the <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/16/BARI11PM03.DTL&amp;tsp=1" type="external">San Francisco Chronicle</a>.</p>
<p>The genetic trait is found in 90 percent of Africans and 60 percent of African-Americans. Thus far, it has protected against malaria by disabling a protein that some strains of malaria use to enter red blood cells. However, that same protein that’s disabled in Africans to prevent malaria can actually <a href="/news/outfront/2008/05/the-hiv-morning-after-pill.html" type="external">protect</a> against HIV by soaking up virus cells before they can invade white blood cells. With this sponge-like protein disabled, Africans lose a key pre-infection barrier.</p>
<p>This finding helps explain, in part, the high HIV infection rates among Sub-Saharan Africans and Americans of African descent. On the flipside, there is a <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/case_plague/index.html" type="external">genetic variant</a> among people of Northern European heritage that actually makes them immune to HIV infection. Scientists think the mutation was passed down by ancestors who survived the Black Plague. In one test, a man’s blood was exposed to <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/previous_seasons/case_plague/clues.html" type="external">3,000 times</a> the amount of HIV needed to infect a cell, but infection still didn’t occur. The HIV virus simply had no gateway of entry.</p>
<p>Both the European and African genetic traits are currently being studied to see if they can shed light on a cure to HIV.</p>
<p /> | African-Americans Genetically Prone to HIV, AIDS | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/african-americans-genetically-prone-hiv-aids/ | 2008-07-16 | 4 |
<p>TOP STORIES</p>
<p>Value Meals Drive McDonald's Sales - 2nd Update</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>McDonald's Corp. gained sales again by luring core customers to its cheapest meals and drinks.</p>
<p>The burger giant attributed U.S. sales growth in the fourth quarter to a "McPick 2" meal deal and low-price beverages, as well as to higher-priced Buttermilk Crispy Tenders. The chain introduced a new nationwide value menu this month with items priced at $1, $2 and $3, hoping consumers drawn in for cheap sodas and burgers will also order more expensive items.</p>
<p>STORIES OF INTEREST</p>
<p>Food Union Hails USDA Move on Chicken Plants -- Market Talk</p>
<p>12:06 ET -- United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents meat plant employees, claims victory after the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected a U.S. chicken industry petition to eliminate poultry processing line speed caps in meat plants. The organization and other consumer groups opposed the request, saying it could make food less safe and pose risks to meat plant workers, who already deal with higher rates of injury than other industries. The union says it remains "concerned" that the USDA plans to let some chicken plants apply to run processing lines at speeds up to 175 birds a minute, with most currently capped at 140. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p>
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<p>USDA Pumps Brakes on Faster Chicken Processing -- Market Talk</p>
<p>12:01 ET -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture denies a request by the National Chicken Council to lift all limits on how fast poultry plants can process birds--but the agency says it does plan to let some plants speed up. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service says the chicken industry group's Sept. 1 petition to eliminate speed limits in chicken plants didn't demonstrate that inspectors could effectively check each carcass for safety at speeds beyond 175 birds a minute--nearly three chickens a second. But FSIS said that the agency plans to lay out criteria for poultry plants, most of which are limited to processing 140 chickens each minute, to run at speeds up to 175, as long as they demonstrate how they will assess food safety and meet other criteria. ([email protected]; @jacobbunge)</p>
<p>Wheat Futures Pop on Plains Drought</p>
<p>A drought in the Great Plains sparked a rally in wheat prices on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that the condition of the hard red winter wheat crop, primarily grown in southern Plains states like Kansas, dropped sharply as farmers in the region struggle through dry conditions.</p>
<p>FUTURES MARKETS</p>
<p>Live Cattle Futures Ease</p>
<p>Cattle futures were mixed on Tuesday, easing off multimonth highs.</p>
<p>The futures market started the week by hitting a two-month high, after cash prices for physical cattle rose more than expected. But analysts say futures bumped up against selling pressure after falling from those highs, with chart signals suggesting to traders that prices were headed lower.</p>
<p>CASH MARKETS</p>
<p>Zumbrota, Minn Hog Steady At $44.00 - Jan 30</p>
<p>Barrow and gilt prices at the Zumbrota, Minn., livestock market today are steady at $44.00 a hundredweight. Sow prices are steady. Sows weighing 400-450 pounds are at $43.00, 450-500 pounds are $43.00 and those over 500 pounds are $45.00-$47.00.</p>
<p>The day's total run is estimated at 180 head.</p>
<p>Prices are provided by the Central Livestock Association.</p>
<p>Estimated U.S. Pork Packer Margin Index - Jan 30</p>
<p>This report reflects U.S. pork packer processing margins. The margin indices</p>
<p>are calculated using current cash hog or carcass values and wholesale pork</p>
<p>cutout values and may not reflect actual margins at the plants. These</p>
<p>estimates reflect the general health of the industry and are not meant to</p>
<p>be indicative of any particular company or plant.</p>
<p>Source: USDA, based on Wall Street Journal calculations</p>
<p>All figures are on a per-head basis.</p>
<p>Date Standard Margin Estimated margin</p>
<p>Operating Index at vertically -</p>
<p>integrated operations</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Jan 30 +$20.58 +$ 45.01</p>
<p>Jan 29 +$20.88 +$ 45.57</p>
<p>Jan 26 +$22.51 +$ 45.96</p>
<p>* Based on Iowa State University's latest estimated cost of production.</p>
<p>A positive number indicates a processing margin above the cost of</p>
<p>production of the animals.</p>
<p>Beef-O-Meter</p>
<p>This report compares the USDA's latest beef carcass composite</p>
<p>values as a percentage of their respective year-ago prices.</p>
<p>Beef</p>
<p>For Today Choice 108.5</p>
<p>(Percent of Year-Ago) Select 108.2</p>
<p>USDA Boxed Beef, Pork Reports</p>
<p>Wholesale choice-grade beef prices Tuesday rose 58 cents per hundred pounds, to $209.69, according to the USDA. Select-grade prices rose 24 cents per hundred pounds, to $204.37. The total load count was 109. Wholesale pork prices fell 26 cents, to $81.34 a hundred pounds, based on Omaha, Neb., price quotes.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>January 30, 2018 17:31 ET (22:31 GMT)</p> | Livestock Highlights: Top Stories of the Day | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/10/livestock-highlights-top-stories-day.html | 2018-01-30 | 0 |
<p>Ramesh Ponnuru <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-20/-obama-scandals-could-actually-hurt-republicans.html" type="external">warns</a> at Bloomberg View that Republicans will be very foolish to believe that scandals are a substitute for ideas:</p>
<p>For the most part, Republicans didn't campaign on impeachment in 1998: They didn't say, "Vote for me and I'll do my level best to oust Clinton." Their strategy was more passive. They were counting on the scandal to motivate conservatives to vote while demoralizing liberals. So they didn't try to devise a popular agenda, or to make their existing positions less unpopular. That's what cost them -- that, and the mistake of counting on statistics about sixth-year elections, which also bred complacency.</p>
<p>Republicans have similar vulnerabilities on the issues now. They have no real health-care agenda. Voters don't trust them to look out for middle-class economic interests. Republicans are confused and divided about how to solve the party's problems. What they can do is unite in opposition to the Obama administration's scandals and mistakes. So that's what they're doing. They're trying to win news cycles when they need votes.</p> | Scandals Do Not a Party Platform Make | true | https://thedailybeast.com/scandals-do-not-a-party-platform-make | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
<p>Barack Obama has frozen out Fox News since he found himself the victim of the network’s attack journalism at the start of the campaign. Here he lifts the ban to run the gantlet with Chris Wallace on flag pins, the Rev. Wright and, to be fair, more substantive issues.</p>
<p>Summary (see clips below for full interview):</p>
<p>Part 1:</p>
<p>Part 2:</p>
<p />
<p>Part 3:</p>
<p>Part 4:</p> | Obama on Fox News | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/obama-on-fox-news/ | 2008-04-28 | 4 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Tired of “info-tainment?” Tired of pundits screaming at each other between the seemingly endless commercials for Activia, reverse home mortgages and gold investments? Have you had just about enough of watching MSNBC only to watch “defund Obamacare” ads in the middle of the Rachel Maddow Show?</p>
<p>Well, guess what? <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/" type="external">Al Jazeera America</a> launches on this coming Tuesday, August 20th, and <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/television/al-jazeera-america-will-have-6-minutes-ads-hour-151876" type="external">they have stated</a> that there will be no more than 6 minutes of commercials per hour. In addition to that, they have promised to be <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/al-jazeera-america-plans-radical-shift-news-article-1.1427046" type="external">completely unbiased</a>.</p>
<p>“It will be fact-based, meaty, balanced reporting,” stated Al Jazeera America deputy launch chief Paul Eedle. “We will be absolutely unbiased and impartial.”</p>
<p>There will be some familiar faces like Soledad O’Brien and Ali Velshi formerly with CNN, as well as some former executives from NBC, CBS and others.</p>
<p>Many have speculated that Al Jazeera will face an uphill fight to gain traction in the American media, but there is a niche right now that is just begging to be filled with a straight-forward news channel devoid of spin, regardless of which “side” it comes from. The other problem (which can be easily be disproven by Al Jazeera) is the idea pushed by right-wing media that they’re an anti-American, pro-radical Islam propaganda machine. The people who tend to believe that are those who have never actually watched the channel, from my personal experiences in talking with people who have voiced that concern.</p>
<p>Al Jazeera’s target audience is a younger demographic which tends to be more globally-minded and independent in their world view, versus those who rely on just a couple of sources for their information. They’re hoping to appeal to an audience that doesn’t want their news delivered to them with regurgitated talking points, out of context video clips, and an ever present partisan slant reinforced by hosts who angrily shout down guests brought on to prove they’re “fair and balanced.” As much as I enjoy some of the programs on MSNBC, they are there to make money off the other side of the political spectrum, with an admittedly liberal slant. Nothing wrong with that, but a lot of us prefer to process information and come to our own conclusions.</p>
<p>While our “news” market is already saturated with a myriad of commercial and independent media sources, there is a huge void when it comes to actual news instead of hyped partisan opinion thinly disguised as news – and that is the void <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AlJazeeraAmerica" type="external">Al Jazeera America</a> hopes to fill. I don’t know about you, but I’m hoping that we finally get an actual source of “fair and balanced” news. Only time will tell whether Al Jazeera America lives up to their word and succeeds in bringing that to us.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">This Profound Video Explains Why Clickbait Is Destroying Our Political System</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Former CNN Host Destroys Network for Helping Trump 'Normalize White Supremacy' (Video)</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">The Right-Wing Propaganda Bubble Is A Very Profitable Lie</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p> | What the Heck is Al Jazeera America? | true | http://forwardprogressives.com/what-the-heck-is-al-jazeera-america/ | 2013-08-18 | 4 |
<p>Reaction to the Supreme Court's decision Thursday upholding tax subsidies in President Barack Obama's health care law:</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"Today, after more than 50 votes in Congress to repeal or weaken this law, after a presidential election based in part on preserving or repealing this law, after multiple challenges to this law before the Supreme Court - the Affordable Care Act is here to stay." - Obama, speaking in the Rose Garden.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"The debate will continue because the law has failed to accomplish its prime objective: containing health care costs." - Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"As a physician, I know Americans need a health care system that reconnects patients, families and doctors, rather than growing our government bureaucracy." - Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is running for president and says the court's decision "turns both the rule of law and common sense on its head."</p>
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<p>___</p>
<p>"Anyone seeking to lead our country should stand up and support this decision." - Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"Over 6 million Americans and their families will sleep easier knowing they will still be able to afford health coverage." - Sylvia Burwell, the Health and Human Services secretary, referring to people using the law's subsidies to buy health insurance in the states that were most likely to be affected by the case.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"It was never up to the Supreme Court to save us from 'Obamacare.'" - Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate and former Texas governor.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"Today's decision only reinforces why we need a president who will bring about real reform that repeals 'Obamacare,' replaces it with a plan that expands consumer choice, increases coverage, delivers better value for the dollar, and gives states more control, without stifling job creation." - Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who's seeking the GOP presidential nomination.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"The Republicans have just been saved from themselves by the Supreme Court of the United States." - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"The lasting solution here is what we've been saying all along: Repeal 'Obamacare' and let the free market - not crony capitalism - improve access and care for all Americans." - Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, formerly CEO of Hewlett-Packard.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"This decision turns common language on its head. Now leaders must turn our attention to making the case that 'ObamaCare' must be replaced." - New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is expected to seek the Republican presidential nomination, said on Twitter.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"This ruling by the Supreme Court ensures that millions of Americans, particularly the underserved, poor and minority communities, can enjoy without uncertainty access to affordable health care." - Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"The problem with 'Obamacare' is still fundamentally the same - the law is broken. ... We're going to continue our efforts to do everything we can to put the American people back in charge of their own health care and not the federal government." - House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"Today is a big victory for all those families across the country whose health care hung in the balance." - Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>"The objective remains the same. We've got to repeal a law that the American people don't like, and we've got to replace it." - Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, leader of a large group of House conservatives.</p> | Reaction to the Supreme Court's decision upholding the health care law | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/06/25/reaction-to-supreme-court-decision-upholding-health-care-law.html | 2016-03-09 | 0 |
<p>Is there ever anyone luckier than Judy Miller!</p>
<p>All last year she was pilloried as the prime saleslady for the imaginary WMDs that offered the prime pretext for the invasion of Iraq. Although it refused to denounce her by name, the New York Times publicly castigated itself for poor reporting, and Miller’s career seemed to be at an end, except for the occasional excursion to CNN studios for tete-a-tetes with Larry King.</p>
<p>But then came a glimmer of hope. With unexpected zeal, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was pressing his investigation of who exactly outed Valerie Plame as a CIA officer. Plame, (as the world knows, is the wife of Joe Wilson, who had incurred the displeasure of the Bush White House by discrediting the phony Nigerian yellowcake story, part of their vast propaganda operation to sell the Iraq attack to Congress and the American people.</p>
<p>Fitzgerald was threatening journalists with prison time unless they disclosed their sources. It wasn’t long before some journalists informed the zealous Fitzgerald that they had been released from confidentiality by their sources. Indeed, Scooter Libby, Cheney’s chief of staff, declared publicly that any journalist who had talked to him was free to discuss such conversations with Fitzgerald. The Washington Post’s Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler testified forthwith before the federal grand jury, as did Tim Russert of NBC. The general assumption is that Robert Novak, who’d outed Plame in his column in July 2003, was subpoenaed by Fitzgerald and duly testified.</p>
<p>How Miller’s heart must have leaped. Here was the glorious prospect of her instant conversion from pariah, only one rung up from Jayson Blair, to martyr to free speech, only one rung below John Peter Zenger. She and Matt Cooper of Time magazine declined to testify or furnish their notes. Encumbered by the counsel of that perennial incompetent, Floyd Abrams (representing the NYT), their cases commenced their climb up through the federal courts, until the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the ruling of the federal appeals court in favor of Fitzgerald.</p>
<p>Time magazine roared its dedication to free speech, while simultaneously declaring it had to obey the law of the land. Against Cooper’s proclaimed wishes, Time handed over Cooper’s notes to Fitzgerald. The New York Times said it would not comply.</p>
<p>But Fitzgerald was not appeased by Time’s ductility. He said he was not to be appeased by only Cooper’s notes. By now he wanted to grill the two journalists on the stand. The issue was not just the matter of the identity of the White House source, but the handy standby of all federal prosecutors, the matter of perjury. Ask Martha Stewart. It was her misleading declarations to federal investigators that put her in prison.</p>
<p>Cooper bid a manly adieu to his family, packed his toothbrush, and made himself ready for incarceration at least as far as October, when the grand jury’s term expires. Then came the dramatic release from confidentiality by Cooper’s source. Cooper went off to court, embraced Judy Miller in a fine display of solidarity, and then told the judge he would comply with Fitzgerald’s subpoena.</p>
<p>Miller, of course, was publicly adamant. But there seems to be no reason why she should not have echoed Cooper’s statement to Judge Thomas Hogan. Fitzgerald has publicly declared that not only does he know the identity of Miller’s source, but also that this source has released Miller from confidentiality.</p>
<p>But Miller was not be balked of the martyrdom that will blot out her fake stories on Iraq’s WMDs and convert her into the heroine of the Fourth Estate, with lucrative lecture fees and book sales for the rest of the decade. Never, she told the judge, would she reveal the Name that could not be named. The gates of the federal prison in Alexandria invitingly beckoned.</p>
<p>There are curious questions hanging over Miller’s determined march towards her prison cell, not far from that of Moussaoui, who is probably offering her free legal advice on the prison grapevine.</p>
<p>Miller never actually wrote a story in the New York Times about Plame being in the CIA. So why has Fitzgerald been so eager to have her testify? The answer may lie in a paragraph buried in the Washington Post, reading as follows: “Sources close to the investigation say there is evidence in some instances that some reporters may have told government officials ­ not the other way around ­ that Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA employee.”</p>
<p>We could conjecture that when Fitzgerald interviewed White House political adviser Karl Rove and Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby, one or other or both had said that they learned Plame was married to Wilson and in the CIA from Miller, who ­ again this is surmise ­ might well have learned this from one of her other sources, whether Perle or Chalabi or someone else in the intelligence world.</p>
<p>After all, this is Miller’s style of reporting. Learn something (entirely false in the case of the WMDs) from one source, then bounce it off another, and then put together a story citing two sources. In the case of the WMDs, Chalabi would give her a “defector” who would duly impart his fantasies about Saddam’s arsenal. She would relay the defector’s story to “a high intelligence source” who would confirm it.</p>
<p>We applaud prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s gallant bid to do what now departed Times ombudsman Daniel Okrent should have done: grill Miller about the techniques and veracity of her reporting. Here, after all, is a journalist with blood on her hands, a fabricator who played a major role (rivaled perhaps only by the New Yorker’s Jeffrey Goldberg) in selling a war with one fabrication after another, eagerly offered to the public by the New York Times.</p>
<p>But alas, all hopes that her career would expire in ignominy have now been dashed. As swift as the moves to canonize John Paul II, the vestments of sainthood are being draped over St. Judy. If her past career is anything to go by, already the prison guards are melting before her winsome smiles and confiding the little secrets and disclosures that will soon being their careers to end and their families to the brink of starvation. It would require the pen of Henry Fielding to do her proper justice.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | The Luckiest Martyr | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/07/07/the-luckiest-martyr/ | 2005-07-07 | 4 |
<p>The sheriff of a Texas jail has fired six jailers over the treatment of a mentally ill inmate, who was found living in squalor in a jail cell for weeks.</p>
<p>Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia fired six jailers and suspended 29 other jailers, and his second-in-commander, Chief Deputy Fred Brown, will be resigning at the end of the month, according to a <a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Sheriff-fires-6-disciplines-others-over-6222905.php" type="external">Houston Chronicle report</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, the major who was in charge of inmate housing had been demoted from her command.</p>
<p>The grand jury had indicted two detection officer sergeants three weeks ago after Terry Goodwin, a mentally ill inmate, had been found in the fall of 2013 in his cell with food containers filled wit bugs, a toilet clogged with feces, and his shredded uniform hanging from the ceiling.</p>
<p>Garcia said that while is it is never “pleasurable” to discipline employees, they failed to take the necessary action and it led to conditions that “no inmate should be subejcted to.”</p>
<p>Goodwin, who is 24, had been booked on a marijuana charge while on probation.</p>
<p>Garcia said that after an internal affairs investigation, he fired two indicted detention officer sergeants and four supervisors.</p>
<p>The indicted officers face charges of tampering with governmental record, which is a felony that carries a sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of $100,000. Their names are Ricky D. Pickens-Wilson and John Figaroa.</p>
<p>They are accused of signing off on a form saying that Goodwin’s cell had been checked and searched, but in reality they were skipping his cell, according to the report.</p>
<p>Garcia also suspended 29 jailers without pay, and in total the office issued 109 days of suspension without pay.</p>
<p /> | Sheriff fires 6 jailers, disciplines dozens others over treatment of mentally ill inmate | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/04/25/sheriff-fires-6-jailers-disciplines-dozens-others-over-treatment-of-mentally-ill-inmate/ | 2015-04-25 | 3 |
<p>Wells Fargo &amp; Co.'s shareholders voted to re-elect all of the bank's directors, in some cases by slim majorities that reflected persistent unease about the lender's sales-practices scandal last fall.</p>
<p>After a contentious three-hour shareholder meeting, the bank said that all 15 directors were re-elected, but longer-serving directors who were around before the problems erupted received approvals as low as 53% of shares voted.</p>
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<p>Nonexecutive Chairman Stephen Sanger, who received only 56% approval according to a press release, said that long-serving directors received less than 81% and that shareholders "sent the entire board a clear message of dissatisfaction." The head of the bank's risk committee, Enrique Hernandez, received the lowest majority, 53%.</p>
<p>Shareholders' limited support for the board suggested shareholders seek further changes and explanations following the scandal. Tensions were high at the bank's shareholder meeting Tuesday in Florida as shareholders voiced their complaints, prompting Mr. Sanger to halt the meeting for several minutes.</p>
<p>The bank and its 15 board directors were on edge through the night and early morning as key institutional shareholders placed their votes, people familiar with the process said.</p>
<p>At the meeting, one bank shareholder refused to stop asking individual directors to explain what they knew about the sales practices scandal. Mr. Sanger and Chief Executive Timothy Sloan repeatedly asked the shareholder to sit down and wait until the question-and-answer period began. The shareholder said the bank and board's response was "not good enough," and he wanted more details from each director.</p>
<p>When the meeting restarted a few minutes later, Mr. Sanger said the shareholder made a "physical approach to our board members and ultimately we removed him from the meeting." There were two other shareholder outbursts during the nearly three-hour meeting.</p>
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<p>Much of the discontent among shareholders is rooted in the bank's sales-practices scandal that led to a $185 million settlement with regulators last September and a more recent, pending $142 million settlement with customers. Its reputation has been hit hard with two congressional grillings and a spate of state and federal investigations. The bank has said it is cooperating with those.</p>
<p>In an unusual move, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc., one of the largest and most influential proxy advisory services, had recommended earlier this month that shareholders vote against re-electing 12 long-serving directors.</p>
<p>While the re-election of directors is a relief for the bank, the fact that at least one director received just 53% of votes cast is concerning. Directors, who usually run unopposed, typically receive more than 95% or more of the votes cast.</p>
<p>The board's two newest directors, appointed in February, received more than 90% of the vote, Mr. Sanger said.</p>
<p>The bank has told shareholders that six directors will hit retirement age in the next four years and will step away from the board with "significant turnover," emphasizing that point in recent days, people familiar with the conversations said.</p>
<p>Many large shareholders thought the board was slow to react to the sales-practices problem but in the last six months has taken appropriate action, some of these people said.</p>
<p>While no specific deals were struck with shareholders on changing directors, there were some backdoor negotiations, some of these people said. It is possible that committee chairs could change but not as a result of an explicit agreement, one of these people said.</p>
<p>Write to Emily Glazer at [email protected] and David Benoit at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 25, 2017 13:55 ET (17:55 GMT)</p> | Wells Fargo Holders Expected to Re-Elect Board, Send Message -- 4th Update | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/25/wells-fargo-holders-expected-to-re-elect-board-send-message-4th-update.html | 2017-04-25 | 0 |
<p>“If Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?”—President Obama, on Friday.</p>
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<p>Obama made a surprise address at Friday’s White House press briefing. He weighed in on the Trayvon Martin <a href="" type="internal">case</a>, spoke about race issues in America, and called for an evaluation of the efficacy and wisdom of Stand Your Ground <a href="" type="internal">laws</a>. “Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago,” the president said.</p>
<p>Here’s the text of Obama’s remarks:</p>
<p>I wanted to come out here, first of all, to tell you that <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec" type="external">Jay</a> is prepared for all your questions and is very much looking forward to the session. The second thing is I want to let you know that over the next couple of weeks, there’s going to obviously be a whole range of issues—immigration, economics, etc.—we’ll try to arrange a fuller press conference to address your questions.</p>
<p>The reason I actually wanted to come out today is not to take questions, but to speak to an issue that obviously has gotten a lot of attention over the course of the last week—the issue of the Trayvon Martin ruling. I gave a preliminary statement right after the ruling on Sunday. But watching the debate over the course of the last week, I thought it might be useful for me to expand on my thoughts a little bit.</p>
<p>First of all, I want to make sure that, once again, I send my thoughts and prayers, as well as Michelle’s, to the family of Trayvon Martin, and to remark on the incredible grace and dignity with which they’ve dealt with the entire situation. I can only imagine what they’re going through, and it’s remarkable how they’ve handled it.</p>
<p>The second thing I want to say is to reiterate what I said on Sunday, which is there’s going to be a lot of arguments about the legal issues in the case—I’ll let all the legal analysts and talking heads address those issues. The judge conducted the trial in a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a case such as this reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the jury has spoken, that’s how our system works. But I did want to just talk a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people are feeling.</p>
<p>You know, when Trayvon Martin was first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you think about why, in the African American community at least, there’s a lot of pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the African American community is looking at this issue through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.</p>
<p>There are very few African American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are very few African American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens to me—at least before I was a senator. There are very few African Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off. That happens often.</p>
<p>And I don’t want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African American community interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it’s inescapable for people to bring those experiences to bear. The African American community is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the application of our criminal laws—everything from the death penalty to enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms of how people interpret the case.</p>
<p>Now, this isn’t to say that the African American community is naïve about the fact that African American young men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system; that they’re disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence. It’s not to make excuses for that fact—although black folks do interpret the reasons for that in a historical context. They understand that some of the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is born out of a very violent past in this country, and that the poverty and dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult history.</p>
<p>And so the fact that sometimes that’s unacknowledged adds to the frustration. And the fact that a lot of African American boys are painted with a broad brush and the excuse is given, well, there are these statistics out there that show that African American boys are more violent—using that as an excuse to then see sons treated differently causes pain.</p>
<p>I think the African American community is also not naïve in understanding that, statistically, somebody like Trayvon Martin was statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was by somebody else. So folks understand the challenges that exist for African American boys.&#160; But they get frustrated, I think, if they feel that there’s no context for it and that context is being denied. And that all contributes I think to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different.</p>
<p>Now, the question for me at least, and I think for a lot of folks, is where do we take this? How do we learn some lessons from this and move in a positive direction? I think it’s understandable that there have been demonstrations and vigils and protests, and some of that stuff is just going to have to work its way through, as long as it remains nonviolent. If I see any violence, then I will remind folks that that dishonors what happened to Trayvon Martin and his family. But beyond protests or vigils, the question is, are there some concrete things that we might be able to do.</p>
<p>I know that Eric Holder is reviewing what happened down there, but I think it’s important for people to have some clear expectations here. Traditionally, these are issues of state and local government, the criminal code. And law enforcement is traditionally done at the state and local levels, not at the federal levels.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean, though, that as a nation we can’t do some things that I think would be productive.&#160; So let me just give a couple of specifics that I’m still bouncing around with my staff, so we’re not rolling out some five-point plan, but some areas where I think all of us could potentially focus.</p>
<p>Number one, precisely because law enforcement is often determined at the state and local level, I think it would be productive for the Justice Department, governors, mayors to work with law enforcement about training at the state and local levels in order to reduce the kind of mistrust in the system that sometimes currently exists.</p>
<p>When I was in Illinois, I passed racial profiling legislation, and it actually did just two simple things. One, it collected data on traffic stops and the race of the person who was stopped. But the other thing was it resourced us training police departments across the state on how to think about potential racial bias and ways to further professionalize what they were doing. And initially, the police departments across the state were resistant, but actually they came to recognize that if it was done in a fair, straightforward way that it would allow them to do their jobs better and communities would have more confidence in them and, in turn, be more helpful in applying the law. And obviously, law enforcement has got a very tough job. So that’s one area where I think there are a lot of resources and best practices that could be brought to bear if state and local governments are receptive. And I think a lot of them would be. And let’s figure out are there ways for us to push out that kind of training.</p>
<p>Along the same lines, I think it would be useful for us to examine some state and local laws to see if it—if they are designed in such a way that they may encourage the kinds of altercations and confrontations and tragedies that we saw in the Florida case, rather than diffuse potential altercations.</p>
<p>I know that there’s been commentary about the fact that the Stand Your Ground laws in Florida were not used as a defense in the case. On the other hand, if we’re sending a message as a society in our communities that someone who is armed potentially has the right to use those firearms even if there’s a way for them to exit from a situation, is that really going to be contributing to the kind of peace and security and order that we’d like to see?</p>
<p>And for those who resist that idea that we should think about something like these Stand Your Ground laws, I’d just ask people to consider, if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?&#160; And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman who had followed him in a car because he felt threatened? And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws.</p>
<p>Number three—and this is a long-term project—we need to spend some time in thinking about how do we bolster and reinforce our African American boys. And this is something that Michelle and I talk a lot about. There are a lot of kids out there who need help who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement. And is there more that we can do to give them the sense that their country cares about them and values them and is willing to invest in them?</p>
<p>I’m not naïve about the prospects of some grand, new federal program. I’m not sure that that’s what we’re talking about here. But I do recognize that as President, I’ve got some convening power, and there are a lot of good programs that are being done across the country on this front. And for us to be able to gather together business leaders and local elected officials and clergy and celebrities and athletes, and figure out how are we doing a better job helping young African American men feel that they’re a full part of this society and that they’ve got pathways and avenues to succeed—I think that would be a pretty good outcome from what was obviously a tragic situation. And we’re going to spend some time working on that and thinking about that.</p>
<p>And then, finally, I think it’s going to be important for all of us to do some soul-searching. There has been talk about should we convene a conversation on race. I haven’t seen that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations. They end up being stilted and politicized, and folks are locked into the positions they already have. On the other hand, in families and churches and workplaces, there’s the possibility that people are a little bit more honest, and at least you ask yourself your own questions about, am I wringing as much bias out of myself as I can?&#160; Am I judging people as much as I can, based on not the color of their skin, but the content of their character?&#160; That would, I think, be an appropriate exercise in the wake of this tragedy.</p>
<p>And let me just leave you with a final thought that, as difficult and challenging as this whole episode has been for a lot of people, I don’t want us to lose sight that things are getting better. Each successive generation seems to be making progress in changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesn’t mean we’re in a post-racial society. It doesn’t mean that racism is eliminated. But when I talk to Malia and Sasha, and I listen to their friends and I seem them interact, they’re better than we are—they’re better than we were—on these issues. And that’s true in every community that I’ve visited all across the country.</p>
<p>And so we have to be vigilant and we have to work on these issues. And those of us in authority should be doing everything we can to encourage the better angels of our nature, as opposed to using these episodes to heighten divisions. But we should also have confidence that kids these days, I think, have more sense than we did back then, and certainly more than our parents did or our grandparents did; and that along this long, difficult journey, we’re becoming a more perfect union—not a perfect union, but a more perfect union.</p>
<p>Thank you, guys.</p> | Full Video: Obama Delivers Surprise Address on Race, #RealTalk Ensues | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/barack-obama-address-trayvon-martin/ | 2013-07-19 | 4 |
<p>Kimberly-Clark Corp. reported first-quarter net income of $563.0 million, or $1.57 per share, up from $545.0 million, or $1.50 per share, last year. The FactSet consensus was $1.54 per share. Sales were $4.48 billion for the quarter, flat versus the same period last year and just below the $4.49 billion FactSet estimate. The consumer products company said Monday that it sees a sales increase of 1% to 2% for 2017. Kimberly-Clark shares are up 0.3% Monday premarket trading, and up nearly 14% for the year so far. The S&amp;P 500 index is up nearly 5% for 2017 to date.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Kimberly-Clark Earnings Beat Estimates | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/24/kimberly-clark-earnings-beat-estimates.html | 2017-04-24 | 0 |
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<p>BRISBANE, Australia — Rafael Nadal was up a set and had a break point against defending champion Milos Raonic when he sent a forehand just wide.</p>
<p>It was a mistake the 14-time Grand Slam champion wouldn’t recover from.</p>
<p>Raonic made the most of the reprieve, holding serve in that fifth game of the second set and then attacking Nadal’s serve in the eighth to swing the momentum his way in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 quarterfinal win Friday at the Brisbane International.</p>
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<p>The top-seeded Raonic broke Nadal’s serve again to start the third set, and calmly held on for only his second win in eight matches against the Spaniard.</p>
<p>Raonic served 23 aces and hit 50 winners to just 19 for Nadal, who could only convert one of his seven break-point opportunities.</p>
<p>As well as the big, deep service returns, Raonic also repeatedly went to the net, trusting his instincts and putting pressure on Nadal.</p>
<p>“Today the mentality behind the match was what sort of kept me around,” Raonic said. “Some moments things weren’t looking great. I wasn’t efficient coming forward. I was missing some shots I shouldn’t be. I was rushing.</p>
<p>“But at least I kept myself there, and I was able to always recuperate the next point. That’s what I have to be most proud of.”</p>
<p>Nadal, coming back from a layoff after an injured left wrist curtailed the end of his 2016 season, beat Raonic in an exhibition tournament last week. But Raonic played with more intensity in Brisbane, and Nadal said a couple of lapses were costly.</p>
<p>“Probably if I put that passing shot forehand cross, I had the break in the second set, big chance that we will be here one hour before with a victory,” Nadal said. “That passing shot was long, and that’s it. Then he had the break and match changes.”</p>
<p>Nadal said three wins at the exhibition tournament, two wins and a close result in Brisbane gave him confidence his progress was good ahead of the Australian Open, where he is desperate to make amends for a surprising first-round exit last year.</p>
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<p>Still in contention to start back-to-back seasons with a Brisbane title, Raonic will play seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov — a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 winner over No. 4 Dominic Thiem — in the semifinals.</p>
<p>U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka and third-seeded Kei Nishikori will meet in the other semifinal match.</p>
<p>The second-seeded Wawrinka beat unseeded Kyle Edmund 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals in his first trip to the Brisbane tournament.</p>
<p>In the previous three years, Wawrinka won the title in Chennai in the first week of the season before heading to Australia for the season’s first major.</p>
<p>Wawrkina has a 4-3 lead over Nishikori in career head-to-heads, including the semifinals at the U.S. Open last year, but Nishikori won two of the three meetings in 2016.</p>
<p>Nishikori has now reached the semifinals four times in seven visits to the Brisbane International, needing just an hour for a 6-1, 6-1 quarterfinal win over Australian wild-card entry Jordan Thompson.</p>
<p>“I think I played one of the best matches so far, really dominating from the baseline and serving good today,” Nishikori said. “Everything was working well.”</p>
<p>U.S. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova will play Alize Cornet in the women’s final on Saturday.</p>
<p>Cornet was leading 4-1 when French Open champion Garbine Muguruza retired with a right thigh injury. Pliskova beat sixth-seeded Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-4 in the other semifinal match.</p>
<p>“A little bit of luck never killed anybody,” said Cornet, who finished last year ranked No. 46 but now expects to be seeded at the Australian Open. “I’m just going to take it. I really enjoy the fact that I’m in the final. It’s a big day for me, yeah.”</p>
<p>Muguruza didn’t think the injury setback would trouble her at the Australian Open.</p>
<p>“It will not stop me,” Muguruza said. “Cornet was playing good. I couldn’t match her level today. I had some pains, and I thought it was smarter to take care of my body.”</p> | Raonic beats Nadal, keeps Brisbane title defense on track | false | https://abqjournal.com/922090/wawrinka-nishikori-to-meet-in-brisbane-semifinals.html | 2017-01-06 | 2 |
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
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<p>Leaders of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico agreed this week to increase their renewable energy consumption in an effort to get half of North America's energy from renewable sources by 2025. It's a lofty goal, despite assertions that 37% of the region's energy already comes from renewables. But it highlights just how much of a coordinated effort the countries are taking. And it may open a trillion dollar energy market for renewable energy companies.</p>
<p>One of the biggest things holding back renewable energy from an even larger market share is transmission lines. There's not enough transmission that goes from the windy sections of Texas or Iowa or the sunny corners of Nevada and California to population centers. Part of the agreement will be to build cross-border transmission that will allow cheap renewable energy to flow more freely to where it's needed.</p>
<p>To put the potential impact into perspective, the Brattle Group estimated that $130 billion in grid upgrades and transmission will be needed in the next decade to meet renewable standards in the U.S. And if those standards go up, we're talking about billions, or hundreds of billions more.</p>
<p>The companies that could benefit from this are transmission line builders like Quanta Services and MYR Group , which have been talking about the upgrade cycle in transmission lines for years. Maybe this will help some of that come to fruition. On the ownership side, National Grid is a major infrastructure company with transmission lines all over the world.</p>
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Building out transmission lines to move energy is just half the battle. Then you have to build renewable energy plants and likely energy storage capabilities to create a resilient grid.</p>
<p>General Electric is a major player in wind, producing some of the most popular turbines in the industry. It also has a stake in First Solar and supplies other electric components to the utility market. Since wind turbines are a small percentage of GE's revenue, I wouldn't buy the stock solely on bullishness on wind, but more renewable development would be positive for the company.</p>
<p>The two developers that would likely get a lot of business from a North America expansion of renewables are First Solar and SunPower , which are the two largest solar developers in the U.S. For example, SunPower just won 500 megawatts out of 1,860 megawatts auctioned in Mexico, part of the country's major expansion in renewables. If Mexico starts exporting solar or wind energy to Southern California it could expand that solar market.</p>
<p>But it's the opportunity that really matters for these developers. Assuming a 25% capacity factor (meaning a wind or solar project would generate electricity 25% of the time), 289 gigawatts of renewable capacity would have to be built in the U.S. to bring the country up from 33% renewables to 50% renewables. If it's assumed the value of those plants is $3 per watt, that's $867 billion in investment needed in renewable energy. That's a lot of money to be spent over the next decade and doesn't include potential energy storage investments that may be needed.</p>
<p>If the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are really serious about getting half of their energy from renewable sources, there will need to be a flood of investments in the industry. As much as $1 trillion of new investment may be needed, which would be a huge tailwind for those developing, building, and owning these projects.</p>
<p>Maybe the renewable energy revolution has legs left in North America after all.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/04/a-trillion-dollar-renewable-energy-market-just-ope.aspx" type="external">A Trillion Dollar Renewable Energy Market Might Have Just Opened Up in North America Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of First Solar, General Electric, and SunPower. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | A Trillion Dollar Renewable Energy Market Might Have Just Opened Up in North America | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/04/trillion-dollar-renewable-energy-market-might-have-just-opened-up-in-north.html | 2016-07-04 | 0 |
<p>Chaim Levin, left, and Michael Ferguson, right, are suing a New Jersey organization that offers gay conversion therapy.AP Photo/Richard Drew</p>
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<p>In a blow to the controversial practice of gay conversion therapy, a New Jersey judge has ruled that therapists who claim that homosexuality is a curable mental disorder are committing consumer fraud.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/downloads/case/ferguson_v._jonah_l-5473-12_summary_judgment_orders_statement_of_reaso.pdf" type="external">ruling</a>, issued on Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Peter F. Bariso Jr., is part of an ongoing lawsuit filed on behalf of four men who say they were subjected to humiliating treatments by therapists affiliated with <a href="http://jonahweb.org/index.php" type="external">Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing</a> (JONAH), a gay conversion therapy referral service based in Jersey City. Bariso said it violates the state’s Consumer Fraud Act to advertise conversion therapy services by describing homosexuality as a mental illness, disease, or disorder.</p>
<p>“This ruling makes clear that when conversion therapists lie about the nature of homosexuality in order to lure these vulnerable clients into their services and their programs, they’re committing fraud,” says David Dinielli, deputy legal director of the <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/?ref=logo" type="external">Southern Poverty Law Center</a>, which filed the lawsuit for the plaintiffs. According to the SPLC, this marks the first time a US court has found that homosexuality is not a mental disease.</p>
<p>Bariso already <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/new-jersey-judge-excludes-key-conversion-therapy-experts-in-splc-consumer-fraud-ca" type="external">ruled</a> that several experts who promote conversion therapy would not be allowed to testify in the trial. “The theory that homosexuality is a disorder is not novel—but like the notion that the earth is flat and the sun revolves around it—instead is outdated and refuted,” he wrote. “The overwhelming weight of scientific authority concludes that homosexuality is not a disorder or abnormal. The universal acceptance of that conclusions—save for outliers such as JONAH—requires that any expert opinions to the contrary must be barred.” On Tuesday, the judge also said consumer protection laws prohibit conversion therapists from advertising “success” statistics “when there is no factual basis for calculating such statistics.”</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/downloads/case/jonahopinion.pdf" type="external">written opinion</a> published last week, Bariso described some of the allegations against JONAH. One of the men suing the group says his therapist instructed him to make a negative comment about himself and remove an article of clothing, repeating the process until he was naked, at which point he was told to touch his private parts. The therapist allegedly told another client to “beat an effigy of his mother with a tennis racket while screaming, as if killing her.” Group therapy sessions “included reenacting scenes of past abuse,” with the therapist allegedly telling a client to role-play another’s sexual abuse: “The selected participants would repeat statements similar to those his abuser had made, such as ‘I won’t love you anymore if you don’t give me a blow job.'”</p>
<p>Conversion therapy has been rejected by major health organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, which&#160;scrapped homosexuality from the list of disorders in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973. The APA <a href="" type="internal">warns</a> that the potential risks of conversion therapy include depression, anxiety and self-destructive behavior. Late last year, a transgender teenager in Ohio committed suicide after participating in conversion therapy, sparking a campaign for <a href="http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2015/01/27/few-days-left-sign-petition-leelah%E2%80%99s-law-ban-conversion-therapy" type="external">a federal ban</a> on the practice. New Jersey, California, and Washington, DC, have laws banning licensed conversion therapists from <a href="" type="internal">working with minors</a>.</p>
<p>Bariso’s rulings are part of pretrial proceedings in the lawsuit. During the trial, set to begin in June, a jury will hear the allegations and decide whether they believe JONAH violated consumer protection laws. The plaintiffs are seeking damages for the costs of the therapy and the subsequent counseling they say was necessary to recover from it. According to the judge, JONAH’s services could cost more than $10,000 a year.</p>
<p>Charles LiMandri, president of the <a href="http://www.consciencedefense.org/" type="external">Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund</a> and chief counsel for JONAH, says he’s disappointed with the latest decision but does not believe it will change the end result of the trial. He explains that the judge has also said that First Amendment protections apply to references to religious prohibitions against homosexuality. “This is a Jewish, Torah-based religious organization,” LiMandri says of JONAH. “They’re entitled to their religious belief.”</p>
<p>The judge also disagreed with the plaintiffs’ assertion that therapists who promise to change an individual’s sexual orientation are committing consumer fraud. He left it up to the jury to decide whether JONAH’s use of the word “change” was misleading. LiMandri says that “change” may simply refer to modifications in behavior, noting that many of JONAH’s male clients go on to marry women but may still occasionally feel attracted to men. “Just like if someone goes through Alcoholics Anonymous, they may not drink any alcohol for 10 years but they’re still attracted to it—you’re always an alcoholic—so you can’t call the program a failure if people still have the attraction,” he says.</p>
<p>The SPLC’s Dinielli seemed heartened by the preliminary rulings. “Purveyors of this quackery are lying to the public, lying to their clients in order to peddle their theories and their false methods on unsuspecting vulnerable young people,” he says. “Ours is the first lawsuit that has used the consumer fraud laws against people who practice these methods. I would not be surprised if it’s not the last.”</p>
<p /> | Judge Says That Claiming to Cure Homosexuality Is Consumer Fraud | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/02/gay-conversion-therapy-consumer-fraud/ | 2015-02-13 | 4 |
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<p>Health officials said Wednesday that three women — ages 83, 70 and 53 — died after catching influenza, and all three had serious underlying health conditions before catching the flu, the Times said.</p>
<p>The cases are the first flu-related deaths in El paso since 2011, when three deaths also were reported, the paper reported.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In 2009, 17 people died in the West Texas city during the H1N1 influenza outbreak, officials told the Times.</p>
<p>Health officials said that 1,989 flu cases have been reported in El Paso since October, compared to 31 cases during the same period in the 2011-12 flu season, the Times said.</p> | El Paso Reports 3 Flu-Related Deaths | false | https://abqjournal.com/161014/el-paso-reports-3-flu-related-deaths.html | 2013-01-17 | 2 |
<p>The inclination of a mother to protect her children is instinctual and when violated, renders a pure form of justice that is powerful, swift and decisive. George W. Bush’s illegitimate war in Iraq is becoming the corporeality that got between the proverbial mother bear and her cub. Threaten a Grizzly bear’s cub and with unblinking furor, momma will take your head off with one swipe of her paw–just lookin’ out for her baby. Nature expects nothing less, neither should humankind.</p>
<p>Bush has raised the ire of the mommas who are sacrificing their babies as cannon fodder in his imperial oil war. As the death toll rises, so do the voices of the mommas who aren’t mincing words in opposition to George W. Bush for killing their babies.</p>
<p>First Lady Laura Bush was interrupted at a campaign event at a Hamilton, NJ firehouse last week by Sue Niederer. Mrs. Niederer, a member of Military Families Speak Out, was wearing a shirt with a picture of her son Army Lt. Seth Dvorin that read “President Bush You Killed My Son.” Dvorin died in Iraq in February, 2004.</p>
<p>After Neiderer wondered out loud at the rally about why the Bush children and the kids of other politicians are not serving in Iraq, she was descended upon by people in black suits with earphones, pushed, shoved and arrested for trespassing. Sue Niederer said she had tickets to the event.</p>
<p>Seth Dvorin was 24 years old and joined the Army in order to enhance his employment prospects with the FBI or CIA. Seth was married to Kelly Harris just before he departed for Iraq. Seth, whose only training was on-the-job, was assigned to find bombs similar to the one that killed him in February.</p>
<p>Mrs. Neiderer was never a fan of the war, but when she heard that the entire “weapons of mass destruction” justification for going to war was a sham, <a href="" type="internal">she told Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg during an interview for CounterPunch</a>, “I wanted to rip the president’s head off. Curse him, yell at him, call him a self righteous bastard and a lot of other words. I think if I had him in front of me I would shoot him in the groin area. Let him suffer…Put him through misery, like he’s doing to everyone else. He doesn’t deserve any better.”</p>
<p>Rosemarie Dietz Slavenas, mother of an Illinois National Guard pilot, 1st Lt. Brian Slavenas killed in Iraq in 2003, emerged from her son’s funeral to tell the press that she holds George W. Bush personally responsible for her son’s death. She would not allow military trappings of any sort at the funeral. Speaking of her baby, she said, “George [W.] Bush killed my son. I request in Brian’s name a stop to the killing. No more preemptive wars.”</p>
<p>Brian’s mom spoke out bravely, even in opposition to other family members who publicly disagreed with Rosemarie’s conclusion that Bush killed her son. In an interview with Socialist Worker Online, the long-time peace activist said, “There is…one man who’s responsible for it, and that’s George Bush. I hope he will live in history as George V. Bush–for George ‘Vendetta’ Bush. Or ‘Bush the Barbarian’ works for me. Or ‘Bush the Baby Butcher’–he butchered my baby.”</p>
<p>Celeste Zappala lost her son Sgt. Sherwood Baker, a husband and father who died In Iraq on April 27, 2004. In an interview with The New Standard, Zappala said, “What about all the others who have died since [my son] and will keep on dying? I want to see it stop for all the families and the soldiers most of all. How sad. How sad that we are still letting this go on. Our voices must make an impression on the people. They have to hear us because we are the ones suffering the most.”</p>
<p>In the same interview, Jane Bright of California, who lost her son, Sergeant Evan Ashcraft, on July 24, 2003, said she feels compelled to speak out as a way of coping with her loss. She refuses to “move on,” as if she did not lose her son and says, “I won’t be quiet until everyone knows how bad it hurts. I won’t be able to ‘get over it’ as long as more of our children are dying in Iraq.”</p>
<p>Lila Lipscomb, from Michael Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan has emerged as one of the most powerful players in both the documentary film, Fahrenheit 911 and as a spokesperson against Bush’s bungled foray into Iraq. In the film, Lipscomb reads a letter from her oldest son Michael Pedersen, written just days before his death. It urges his family to work for Bush’s defeat. Michael Pedersen wrote:”We are just out here in the sand and windstorms waiting. What in the world is wrong with George (trying to be like his dad) Bush? He got us out here for nothing whatsoever. I am so furious right now, Momma. I really hope they don’t re-elect that fool . . .”</p>
<p>Lipscomb’s experience has transformed her from an unquestioning matriot into a passionate, anti-war activist, who also works with Military Families Speak Out. In an interview in the The Guardian Unlimited, the mom from Michigan says that her entire world view was shattered as a result of the loss of her son and she is teaching her grandchildren to question authority.</p>
<p>Mommas of America are wise to Dubblyak. They know that they are sacrificing their babies to a war that violates precedent that has guided America’s entry into war from the beginning of our nation’s history. A declaration of war is usually spurred, either by a direct attack on the United States or our allies; or a broad consensus among our allies; or an imminent threat to our national security. None of these conditions existed for war in Iraq. Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, recently told the BBC that he believe that this war is “illegal,” under the U.N. Charter.</p>
<p>This historically unprecedented war is brought to those sacrificing their children, by a man who would not deign to put his regal butt in harms way during the Vietnam War, going AWOL while he was supposed to be serving in the National Guard. There are no weapons of mass destruction and no connection between 9-11 and the war in Iraq. Our children are dying for no legitimate reason.</p>
<p>Mother Freedom is shaking her fist at the President of the United States of America for needlessly sacrificing our children in the Iraq war. Right now the ranks of the armed forces are being filled by volunteers, many of whom have no alternative route out of poverty. Mommas of every income-level, shape, size, color, creed, and national origin need to join together and loudly resist this war. Because as the death toll rises, the situation in Iraq becomes increasingly chaotic, more people are needed and fewer people volunteer, George W. Bush is likely to advocate a national draft, putting all of our children at risk. He’s got nothing to lose.</p>
<p>KARYN STRICKLER is a political activist, and writer living outside Washington, DC. You can reach her at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a> .</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Momma, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cannon Fodder | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/09/25/momma-don-t-let-your-babies-grow-up-to-be-cannon-fodder/ | 2004-09-25 | 4 |
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<p>BIDEGAIN: Will be under 2 years’ supervision</p>
<p>The charges of unlawful hunting against Bidegain of Tucumcari and Larry Webb of Newkirk will be dismissed if they successfully complete the program, which includes up to two years of supervision and at least 24 hours of community service, Rose said.</p>
<p>Oklahoma City lawyer Jason Roselius, who shot the cougar, had previously pleaded no contest to unlawful hunting and had been ordered by a judge to pay $500 in restitution to the Game and Fish Department.</p>
<p>The charges against the men stemmed from a hunt Feb. 9, 2014, on the Bidegain family’s T4 cattle ranch near Tucumcari.</p>
<p>According to Game and Fish officer reports, hunting dogs had the male cougar cornered in a cave when Roselius arrived at the ranch. The men were charged with illegal hunting because a hunter must be present continuously once any dog is released.</p>
<p>In a statement released last week by his office, Rose said Roselius shot the cougar without the use of dogs.</p>
<p>Bidegain and Webb were charged as accessories to unlawful hunting, but Rose said, “In my opinion, at best, the actions of Mr. Bidegain and Mr. Webb were marginally sufficient for them to be held liable as an accessory.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Rose said that prosecutors must prioritize cases, and that he wouldn’t forgo prosecuting violent crimes and other serious offenses “in order to prosecute two otherwise outstanding and honorable men of this community for a petty misdemeanor offense in which their guilt is questionable. I believe the resolution of this case is fair and in the best interest of our community.”</p>
<p>In addition to Bidegain, Webb and Roselius, two other men were charged in the hunt, but Rose dismissed those cases.</p>
<p>Bidegain, an appointee of Gov. Susana Martinez, resigned as Game Commission chairman shortly before he and the others were charged last February.</p>
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<p /> | No prosecution for 2 in illegal cougar kill | false | https://abqjournal.com/542470/no-prosecution-for-2-in-illegal-cougar-kill.html | 2 |
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<p>Alcoa Inc. said late Wednesday it will sell its stake in the operator of an Australian natural gas pipeline for about $154 million. The aluminum producer said it will sell its 20% stake of DBP, which owns and operates the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline, to Duet Group, which controls an 80% stake, for $205 million Australian. The sale, which is expected to close in early April, will add 1 cent a share to earnings, Alcoa said. Alcoa shares were flat at $9.68 after hours.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Alcoa To Sell Australian Natural Gas Pipeline Stake For $154 Million | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/30/alcoa-to-sell-australian-natural-gas-pipeline-stake-for-154-million.html | 2016-03-30 | 0 |
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<p>Albuquerque’s BioPark is one of New Mexico’s premier attractions. In fact, it is the most-visited entertainment destination in the state, with a record 1.2 million visitors in fiscal 2011-2012.</p>
<p>It is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is a leader in conservation programs. It is involved in the sustainability of 34 endangered and threatened species.</p>
<p>And it’s falling apart behind the scenes, particularly at the 85-year-old zoo.</p>
<p>Mayor Richard Berry wants to stop the degradation of facilities at the BioPark, which includes the zoo, aquarium and botanic garden. He is launching a plan for catching up with an $18 million backlog in repairs and maintenance — leaky roofs, climate control at the ape house and other problems that could jeopardize accreditation and ultimately the quality that makes the zoo so attractive.</p>
<p>New construction will be contracted out and most of the city employees who now work on BioPark construction projects will be reassigned to create a 24-person maintenance crew for the entire park.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>To make this work, on Sept. 4 the basic adult admission fee will go up from $7 to $10, which will generate about $1.3 million a year, freeing up money for construction and maintenance. There will be smaller increases for children and seniors, but the $1.50 price for students on field trips will not go up.</p>
<p>Half-off days would be offered four times a year.</p>
<p>The increase will be the first in 10 years for the BioPark. Of the $12 million annual cost to taxpayers to operate the BioPark, only $3.8 million currently comes from ticket revenues.</p>
<p>In the past bond money and private funds have helped bring on new and exciting exhibits. Now it’s time to take care of the taxpayers’ infrastructure investment in the state treasure that the BioPark has become.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | Editorial: BioPark Changes Key | false | https://abqjournal.com/125256/biopark-changes-key.html | 2012-08-19 | 2 |
<p>According to <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100512062631.htm" type="external">an article in Science Daily</a>, Demi Moore probably won't be with us much longer. Seriously, though, studies show that women who get hitched to younger dudes have a lower life expectancy than chicks who score a spouse their own age. On the flip side, men with younger wives tend to live longer. Life just isn't fair. While the reasons are unclear, studies show that men who have younger wives increase their life expectancy by 11 percent. It has long been thought that this was true for women too but, alas, it isn't. Women who want to maximize their life span must chose carefully. Younger men and older men make our lives shorter, so we have to go with someone who's exactly the same age.</p>
<p>Scientists are still struggling to explain this mess but one theory is that women who marry younger men violate social norms and, thus, spend the rest of their lives suffering from social stigmatization. They get less support, have increased stress and aren't happy. This sounds like a bit of a stretch to me and, in fact, this whole thing just seems crazy. Studies have also shown that marriage makes us live longer'so what gives?!</p>
<p>Are you convinced by all this?</p> | Ladies, Marrying A Younger Man Can Kill You | true | http://thefrisky.com/post/246-ladies-marrying-younger-will-kill-you/ | 2018-10-04 | 4 |
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<p>WASHINGTON – Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Wednesday that they intend to vote against the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee, Betsy DeVos, giving Democrats two of at least three Republican votes they would need to block her appointment.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Republican leaders said that despite the defections, they are confident DeVos will be confirmed.</p>
<p>“She’ll be confirmed – you can take that to the bank,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the majority whip.</p>
<p>Both Collins and Murkowski said on the Senate floor that while they appreciate DeVos’s efforts to help at-risk children through advocating for vouchers and charter schools, they are concerned that DeVos lacks the experience needed to serve as education secretary and improve public schools, particularly in rural areas. DeVos has no professional experience in public schools, and she did not attend public schools herself or send her own children to them.</p>
<p>“The mission of the Department of Education is broad, but supporting public education is at its core,” Collins said. “I’m concerned that Mrs. Devos’s lack of experience with public schools will make it difficult for her to fully understand, identify and assist with those challenges, particularly for our rural schools in states like Maine.”</p>
<p>Murkowski said children in remote communities across Alaska depend on a strong public school system, and that she isn’t persuaded that DeVos has the background to strengthen that system. As she left the Senate floor, Murkowski said that her decision was the result of an outpouring of responses from Alaskans as well as her own research. “I was trying to get to yes. I just couldn’t,” she said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A final confirmation vote is expected on the Senate floor either over the weekend or early next week, according to aides to Republican leadership.</p>
<p>There are 48 senators in the Democratic caucus. If they vote as a bloc against DeVos, and if they are joined by Murkowski and Collins, the vote to confirm would be 50-50. In that event, Vice President Mike Pence – a staunch DeVos supporter – would cast the tiebreaking vote. It would mark the first tiebreaking vote by a vice president since Richard Cheney did so nine years ago. Joe Biden, Cheney’s successor, went eight years as vice president without ever breaking a tie.</p>
<p>If a third Republican senator votes against DeVos, she could lose the confirmation vote. Several are facing constituent pressure to oppose the nominee, including Patrick Toomey, R-Pa. “I’m all for her,” Toomey told The Washington Post on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Alaska’s junior senator, Republican Dan Sullivan, would not say whether he will vote yes or no on DeVos. But his tone suggested he would lean toward support.</p>
<p>He detailed concerns “similar to what Sen. Murkowski was talking about. We have very – almost frontier-type education environments where there’s only one school in the communities. There’s no choice at all.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“But I’ve had very good meetings with the nominee,” he added. “From my perspective I think she’s going to be adequately focused on those issues.”</p>
<p>White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the Trump administration has “zero” concerns that DeVos’s nomination will be voted down.</p>
<p>“I am 100 percent confident she will be the next secretary of education,” Spicer said at Wednesday’s news briefing.</p>
<p>Trump’s nomination of DeVos, a Michigan billionaire and major donor to Republican causes, has triggered a sharp partisan battle, and she has faced an unprecedented level of opposition for a prospective education secretary. Both of the nation’s largest teachers unions mounted campaigns against her immediately after her nomination, but opposition broadened after she stumbled over basic education policy questions during her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing. Parents and teachers have flooded the Senate’s phone lines and email inboxes in recent weeks, urging senators to vote against DeVos.</p>
<p>“The nation is speaking out. . . . [S]enators need to listen,” said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association.</p>
<p>Several previous nominees were confirmed on a voice vote or by unanimous consent. The deepest division to date was over the nomination of John King , who was confirmed in March 2016 on a 49-40 vote. Even then, key Republicans – including Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky , the majority leader – voted in King’s favor, giving his confirmation a bipartisan blessing.</p>
<p>– – –</p>
<p>The Washington Post’s Kelsey Snell, Paul Kane and Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report.</p> | Two Republican senators say they will vote against DeVos for education secretary | false | https://abqjournal.com/940607/two-republican-senators-say-they-will-vote-against-devos-for-education-secretary.html | 2017-02-01 | 2 |
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<p>There was a tied vote on Tuesday in the Voters and Elections Committee on the proposed constitutional amendment, stalling its progress with less than three weeks left in the legislative session.</p>
<p>Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, sponsor of the measure, House Joint Resolution 9, said he hasn’t given up; he plans to talk to committee members about possible changes to the measure to make it more palatable.</p>
<p>The proposal would increase the size of the board at New Mexico State University from five to seven – the same as the University of New Mexico. Both boards would have three elected regents – one from each congressional district – as well as two regents appointed by the governor, a faculty regent and a student regent.</p>
<p>Currently, all regents for the state’s colleges and universities are appointed by the governor. Gov. Susana Martinez opposes Steinborn’s proposal, although she doesn’t have veto power over constitutional amendments.</p>
<p>Supporters say the restructuring would make regents more responsive to the local and university communities and make their actions more transparent.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Opponents objected that the proposal singled out UNM and NMSU. Steinborn said the two schools account for more than half the higher education budget, and they are where the highest-profile financial and personnel problems have occurred.</p>
<p>“This is where reform is needed the most,” Steinborn said.</p>
<p>With one of the 11 committee members missing, the vote to pass the measure was 5-5, with five Democrats favoring it and four Republicans and one Democrat opposed.</p>
<p>Steinborn has a second regents-related constitutional proposal pending in the House; it would require the governor to appoint regents from lists provided to her by nominating committees that would screen the candidates. — This article appeared on page A4 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | House committee deadlocks on regent restructuring bill | false | https://abqjournal.com/172865/house-committee-deadlocks-on-regent-restructuring-bill.html | 2013-02-27 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Doctor Richard <a href="http://www.darkgovernment.com/news/x-22a-fighter-disk/" type="external">Boylan</a>, and numerous others have already let the cat out of the bag when it comes to anti-gravity space flight, so why do Boeing and Lockheed, two of America’s largest military industrial contractors, and the recipient of trillions in tax payer ‘ <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/2015/08/06/quantum-spacecraft-other-hidden-truths-snowdens-black-budgets/" type="external">black budget</a>’ dollars still hide that they are operating at least 12 anti-gravity aerospace platforms?</p>
<p>It seems that Boeing <a href="http://www.drboylan.com/colbirb2.html" type="external">hides</a> this advanced aerospace technology because it would prove what many free energy enthusiasts have said about <a href="" type="internal">Nikola Tesla</a> – that he discovered anti-gravity, and learned how to utilize it as an abundant, if not free, <a href="http://www.nottaughtinschools.com/John-Hutchison/Antigravity.html" type="external">energy source</a>.&#160;Objects can even be levitated easily with anti-gravity, and its numerous applications are just beginning to be understood by the public at large.</p>
<p>The late genius and inventor even explained the fact prior to his death. William R. Lynewrites in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0985452714/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=wakitime09-20&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;creativeASIN=0985452714&amp;linkId=13b9068b1be40e26c379f3958f948b13" type="external">Occult Ether Physics</a> (Creatopia Productions), that a lecture Tesla prepared for the Institute of Immigrant Welfare (May. 12, 1938), dealt with his Dynamic Theory of Gravity. Tesla said in his lecture that he had developed, “one of two far-reaching discoveries, which I worked out in all details in the years 1893 and 1894.” Indeed, Tesla held a&#160; <a href="http://electrical-engineering-portal.com/did-tesla-discover-the-secrets-of-antigravity" type="external">patent</a>&#160;in 1928, for a flying machine which resembled both a helicopter and an airplane and&#160;is thought to have run with the benefit of anti-gravity.</p>
<p>Boeing has loosely <a href="http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1064.htm" type="external">revealed</a> that they have already developed this technology in a veiled admittance that “it is working on experimental anti-gravity projects that could overturn a century of conventional aerospace propulsion technology.” And <a href="https://xenophilius.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/ben-rich-lockheed-ceo-admits-on-deathbed-et-ufo-are-real/" type="external">Ben Rich</a>, once the CEO of Lockheed Martin, admitted on his deathbed that “aliens were real,” and the “US military already travels to the stars, ”explaining where this technology could have been sourced, aside from terrestrial beings like Tesla.</p>
<p>This means that for more than 130 years we have been kept in the dark about a known free energy source so that the powers-that-be can profit from our ignorance. Every time you see a ‘ <a href="http://www.nasamoonhoax.com/chinese-get-in-on-the-fakery-laughably-fake-rocket-launch/" type="external">rocket ship</a>’ go up in space, it is essentially no different from the&#160; <a href="http://www.rense.com/general76/flagd.htm" type="external">false flag</a> attempts orchestrated by <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/2015/08/28/the-illusion-of-choice-90-of-american-media-controlled-by-6-corporations/" type="external">six&#160;media companies&#160;controlling the media</a> to alter your perception of reality.</p>
<p>Theodore C. Loder, PhD, posits in one <a href="http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/loder.htm" type="external">paper</a> that since the 1950’s (known to some as the&#160; <a href="http://exopolitics.org/tag/german-secret-socieities/" type="external">brain drain era</a>) almost all research into anti-gravity seems to have disappeared.</p>
<p>None other than Professor Hermann Oberth, considered by some to be one of the fathers of the space age (and who later worked in the US with Wernher von Braun, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and NASA), stated the following in 1954: <a href="http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/loder_fn.htm" type="external">[3]</a> “It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system.”</p>
<p>Perhaps of more interest to our present discussion on the secrets Boeing and Lockheed have kept, Oberth states:</p>
<p>“They are flying by the means of artificial fields of gravity. .&#160;.&#160;. They produce high-tension electric charges in order to push the air out of their paths, so it does not start glowing, and strong magnetic fields to influence the ionized air at higher altitudes. First, this would explain their luminosity .&#160;.&#160;. Secondly, it would explain the noiselessness of UFO flight.”</p>
<p>Indeed, you can see the crumbs of government contractor’s special operatives at work when you look into the work of John Hutchison. He discovered, “highly-anomalous electromagnetic effect which causes the jellification of metals, spontaneous levitation of common substances, and other effects,” which echo Tesla’s findings. These strange effects were later dubbed the Hutchison effect.</p>
<p>As is usually the case when silencing the curious, a Vancouver businessman, George Hathaway heard of the Hutchison effect around 1980, and hired an engineer from <a href="http://www.hutchisoneffect.com/" type="external">Boeing Aerospace</a> to work with the Canadian government to form a company that would promote technology developed from the effect. They called this company Pharos’ Technology. You likely haven’t heard of what they have created since then.</p>
<p>Dr. Boylan <a href="http://www.metatech.org/wp/ufos/secret-government-anti-gravity-fleet/" type="external">explain</a>s:</p>
<p>“At this time, I am aware of the existence of 12 kinds of special-technology advanced aerospace platforms [mil-speak for craft], all incorporating antigravity technology in some form. These 12 are: the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, the F-22 Raptor advanced stealth fighter, and its successor, the F-35 Lightning II advanced stealth fighter; the Aurora, Lockheed-Martin’s X-33A, the Lockheed X-22A two-man antigravity disc fighter, Boeing and Airbus Industries’ Nautilus, the TR3-A Pumpkinseed , the TR3-B Triangle , Northrop’s “Great Pumpkin” disc, Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical’s XH-75D Shark antigravity helicopter, and the Northrop Quantum Teleportation Disc.”</p>
<p>Since <a href="http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/loder.htm" type="external">at least</a> 1956, the press has been trying to manage public awareness by staying hush-hush about anti-gravity research, or discounting those who attempted to show that it was real. However, a trade press magazine, the Aviation Report, made numerous references to anti-gravity projects, and listed many of the companies pursuing research into anti-gravity technologies. Quotes from the Aviation Report listed in the Aviation Studies (International) Ltd. report <a href="http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/loder_fn.htm" type="external">[8]</a> are suggestive of what was truly going on at Boeing, Lockheed and other agencies despite what the public was being told.</p>
<p>Anti-gravity, first and foremost would make petrol-guzzling cars, crumbling electric grids, and other outdated and dirty fuels a total waste of time. Anti-gravity, as <a href="" type="internal">Nikola Tesla</a> made clear, would make space flight to other heavenly bodies as simple as driving your car to a nearby city, today. It would also turn Einstein’s E=MC2 <a href="http://www.ancient-code.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-teslas-antigravity-technology-creating-the-perfect-ufo/" type="external">theory on its head</a>, and it&#160;also suggests, as Tesla explained, that the ether is given to us to use responsibly by a life-giving creative force.</p>
<p>In short, everything we need is already out there, in abundant supply. We just need to tap into it and free these technologies from the grip of the military industrial complex.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/contributors/christina-sarich/" type="external">Christina Sarich</a> is a staff writer for <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/" type="external">Waking Times</a>. She is a writer, musician, yogi, and humanitarian with an expansive repertoire. Her thousands of articles can be found all over the Internet, and her insights also appear in magazines as diverse as <a href="http://www.westonaprice.org/category/journal/" type="external">Weston A. Price</a>, <a type="external" href="">Nexus</a>,&#160; <a href="http://www.atlantisrising.com/" type="external">Atlantis Rising</a>, and the&#160; <a href="http://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com/" type="external">Cuyamungue Institute</a>, among others. She was recently a featured author in the Journal, “Wise Traditions in Food, Farming, and Healing Arts,” and her commentary on healing, ascension, and human potential inform a large body of the alternative news lexicon. She has been invited to appear on numerous radio shows, including Health Conspiracy Radio, Dr. Gregory Smith’s Show, and dozens more. The second edition of her book, Pharma Sutra, will be released soon.</p>
<p>This article ( <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/2016/08/15/teslas-anti-gravity-research-in-use-in-dozens-of-secretive-military-projects/" type="external">Tesla’s Anti-Gravity Research in Use in Dozens of Secretive Military Projects</a>) was originally created and published by <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/" type="external">Waking Times</a> and is published here under a&#160; <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" type="external">Creative Commons</a> license with attribution to&#160; <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/?s=Christina+Sarich" type="external">Christina Sarich</a> and <a href="http://www.wakingtimes.com/" type="external">WakingTimes.com</a>. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement. Please contact [email protected] for more info.</p>
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<p /> | Tesla’s Anti-Gravity Research in Use in Dozens of Secretive Military Projects | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2016/08/22/teslas-anti-gravity-research-in-use-in-dozens-of-secretive-military-projects/ | 2016-08-22 | 0 |
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<p>The Ryans seem to imply that, without all these layers of rules and regulations, the city will fall back into the Stone Age. If they took the time to read through these regulations, they would be even more confused, since many of them directly contradict one another. Which regulation supersedes the other when they conflict? Well, it depends on who you ask.</p>
<p>Let me explain:</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At the top of this hierarchy of plans is the Strategic Plan, a broad overview of what the city's plan is for development. Beneath this is the 250-page Comprehensive Plan, which details the city's goals and policies for development and land use over 20 years.</p>
<p>Targeting smaller areas are 13 Specific Area Plans designed to steer development and control esthetics in different areas of the city. These Area Plans dictate design standards that focus on commercial, not residential. Residential fencing materials are not dictated under Area Plans, so people suggesting we need area plans to curtail dilapidated wood fences across the city are mistaken.</p>
<p>Parallel to these plans is city-wide Zoning Ordinance 154. Wait, how does the Zoning Ordinance fit with these hundreds of pages of plans?</p>
<p>Zoning Ordinance 154 is a law. It also dictates residential and commercial design standards, land use and more. Usually, when conflict occurs between regulations, the Area Plans directly contradict the Zoning Ordinance. Opposing height limits, construction materials, landscaping requirements and others cause confusion. There are over 100 items within the Area Plans' design standards alone where they contradict Zoning Ordinance 154.</p>
<p>Staff members then usually go by the Specific Area Plan guidelines. However, Zoning Ordinance 154, a law, should trump simple resolutions (Area Plans). Not so simple.</p>
<p>Beyond this, Master Plans govern large developments like Loma Colorado and Cabezon. These plans are agreed upon between the developers and city staff, and add another layer of standards for each development.</p>
<p>When businesses, large or small, build in our city, time equals money. Most projects are financed and interest calculates immediately. Any confusion or misunderstandings during the building process can cost a great deal of money. Word spreads from project to project, and this creates doubt and uncertainty for those looking to build here. Ironically, Area Plans (sometimes called Sector Plans) in Albuquerque are inhibiting development.</p>
<p>My goal is to review and repeal most of the Area Plans in Rio Rancho. Any necessary components of the Area Plans could be incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan. There will be work sessions followed by one Area Plan each month going before Planning and Zoning, and then to the Governing Body. It will take about a year to complete them all, but is necessary to provide consistency and predictability in our zoning regulations.</p>
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<p /> | We don't need all the layers of regulations | false | https://abqjournal.com/346291/we-dont-need-all-the-layers-of-regulations.html | 2 |
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<p>WASHINGTON - Allowing airline passengers to make cellphone calls in-flight is asking for trouble, lawmakers said Tuesday as a House panel approved a bill to ban such calls.</p>
<p>The bill - passed without opposition by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee - requires the Department of Transportation to issue regulations prohibiting such calls.</p>
<p>The bill has no impact on the Federal Aviation Administration's decision late last year to allow passengers to email, text, surf the Internet and download data during takeoffs and landings.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | House panel OKs ban on in-flight calls | false | https://abqjournal.com/351632/house-panel-oks-ban-on-in-flight-calls.html | 2 |
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<p>The Independent</p>
<p>He was everything loyal and everything miserable about the Palestinian dream. I have a tape recording of Arafat, sitting with me on a cold, dark mountainside outside the Lebanese port of Tripoli in 1983 where the old man–he was always called the old man, long before he was elderly–was under siege by the Syrian army, another of the Arab “brothers” who wanted to lead the Palestinian cause and ended up fighting Palestinians rather than Israelis.</p>
<p>Even worse, the Syrians had suborned some of “their” Palestinians to join the siege. Just a year before, Arafat and his PLO had withstood an 88-day encirclement in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by the Israeli army, led by the then defence minister, Ariel Sharon. Now Arafat’s fortunes had crumbled again.</p>
<p>The tape hisses and occasionally, far away, shells thump into a hillside. I played it again yesterday, listening to the wind.</p>
<p>“I will not be away from my freedom fighters while they are facing death and dangers from death,” says Arafat’s voice, “It is my duty to be beside my freedom fighters and my officers and my soldiers.”</p>
<p>“A year ago,” I tell him, “you and I talked in west Beirut. Here we are on a windy hilltop outside Tripoli, 50 miles further from the border of Israel, or the border of Palestine, and people within Fatah are rebelling.”</p>
<p>Arafat replied: “You see, I give you another proof that we are a nut that is not easy to be cracked. I hope you still remember what Sharon mentioned in the beginning of his invasion. He was dreaming that in three or five days he would liquidate or smash the PLO, our people, our freedom fighters, and here we are. The siege of Beirut, the battles of the south of Lebanon, this miracle, 88 days, the longest Arab-Israeli war–and after that we have this war of attrition against the Israeli army, not only the Palestinians–definitely, we and our allies the Lebanese, are participating in this war of attrition and we are proud, I am proud, I have this brave alliance.”</p>
<p>“Fifty miles further from Palestine!” I replied.</p>
<p>“What is the difference to be 50 miles or to be 50,000 miles?” came the reply “One metre outside the border of Palestine, I am far away.”</p>
<p>Arafat was a dreamer, a popular characteristic for Palestinians who had only dreams to give them hope. Even in the early days, if compromise was required of him, he could talk to Israelis, even hint at acceptance of the partition of Palestine. “I will live on one square metre of my land,” he would say.</p>
<p>But if one of the PLO’s more outlandish satellites embarrassed the Palestinians–and the world–by murdering an innocent, Arafat would step in to prevent further tragedy, thus acquiring prestige from the crimes of his own organisation. Hence the murder by Palestinians of a crippled Jewish pensioner called Leon Klinghoffer on board the hijacked cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985 was supposed to be overshadowed by Arafat’s humanitarian gesture in arranging for the liberation of the other 300 passengers.</p>
<p>But it was his greatest political error–his support for Saddam Hussein after the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait–that gave him his greatest and hollowest victory. His refusal to support President George Bush Sr’s Pax Americana left Arafat weak enough to make peace with Israel; and the Oslo agreement was the bait to pull him in.</p>
<p>Arafat thought he was being given Palestine–statehood, stamps, a national airline, prestige, admiration, east Jeru-salem and an army–but he was being offered nothing. Instead, Oslo turned out to be an offer of collaboration: Arafat was being asked to police the West Bank and Gaza on Israel’s behalf. His job was not to represent his people but to “control” them, which is why the mantra question, “Can Arafat control his own people?” was taken up with such speed by the Israelis.</p>
<p>Of course, he could not. Hamas had been an Israeli creation to balance Arafat’s power, when the PLO were the “super-terrorists” of the Middle East, and Arafat was not going to fight a civil war in “Palestine” on Israel’s behalf. So he clung to power not with authority but with cash, paying off his gunmen and his cronies, ignoring some of the PLO’s splinter outfits while promising security, peace, prosperity, statehood and all the other things Oslo would not give him. His cronyism was part of his failure. Unwilling to allow younger, educated Palestinians to run even his public relations network, he surrounded himself with hopeless, middle-aged spokesmen whose anger was loud but whose English was incomprehensible. When Israel reneged on withdrawal agreements, Arafat pleaded with the Americans for help in keeping to a timetable which no one but himself believed in. “It is up to the parties concerned,” the State Department told him, handing all decisions to the most powerful of those parties, the Israelis.</p>
<p>He could not protect his people from Israeli military incursions or air raids and he could not protect the Israelis when Palestinian suicide bombers began to hurl themselves into Israel. He could not stop the illegal settlements for Jews on Arab land and he could not obtain even a sliver of Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital.</p>
<p>He could not obtain permission for a single Palestinian refugee to return to live in the home from which their family was driven in 1948. He could not guard his own national frontiers. He was not allowed to control his own airport. In the end, he could only leave the wrecked building in which he lived by starting the long process of dying.</p>
<p>Arafat governed by emotion rather than reason and this led him into flights of rhetoric that were a panacea to his people as they were an insult to his educated elite. Edward Said, that most brilliant of Palestinian scholars, was driven to distraction by Arafat’s nonsense as well as by his vain, dictatorial rule; Arafat banned Professor Said’s books and Palestinians who wished to read them had to purchase them in Israel.</p>
<p>“The people loved him, of course,” Professor Said told me. “He stood on the podium and he promised them a Palestinian state and they clapped and shouted and banged their feet. Someone asked him what the state would be like and Arafat pointed to a small child in the front and said, ‘If you want to know the answer to this, you must ask every Palestinian child what he wants.’ And the crowd went wild again. It was a popular reply. But what was he talking about? What did he mean?”</p>
<p>Only Hanan Ashrawi could speak her mind to Arafat. “I was the only one who would call him up and say he was wrong,” she told me. “I would say, ‘Mr Chairman, this is wrong, this will not work.’ And after, his advisers would come to me and say, ‘How can you speak to the Chairman like that? How dare you criticise him.’ But someone had to.”</p>
<p>There was another, more profound conversation, between Professor Said and Arafat, in 1985 when they were discussing Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who supported the 1936 revolt against British rule, and who believed the Zionists would take Palestinian land but who ended up in Berlin, urging Hitler to prevent the emigration of Jews to Palestine and encouraging Bosnian Muslims to join the SS. Professor Said told me Arafat said: “Edward, if there’s one thing I don’t want to be, it’s like Haj Amin. He was always right and he got nothing and died in exile.”</p>
<p>What will they say of Arafat? The Israelis refused permission for Haj Amin to be buried in Jerusalem. Ariel Sharon has said the same rule will apply to Arafat. In death, at least, Arafat and Haj Amin were equal.</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 hot new book, <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Bookshop.html" type="external">The Politics of Anti-Semitism</a>. &#160;</p> | Arafat Ruled by Emotion and Cronyism | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/11/13/arafat-ruled-by-emotion-and-cronyism/ | 2004-11-13 | 4 |
<p>Guess they're still smarting about that whole "low-energy" thing.</p>
<p>In surprisingly undiplomatic terms for elder statesmen, George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, bash President Trump in a yet-to-be released book. Both of the former presidents vowed when they left office not to speak ill of their successors, and both kept that pledge for the most part — until now.</p>
<p>Bush the elder, 93, was blunt, even crass, calling the president of the Unite States — a fellow Republican — a "blowhard."</p>
<p>“I don’t like him,” Mr. Bush said in May 2016, according to the upcoming book The Last Republicans, written by Mark Updegrove. “I don’t know much about him, but I know he’s a blowhard. And I’m not too excited about him being a leader.” Rather than being motivated by public service, Mr. Bush said Mr. Trump seemed to be driven by “a certain ego.”</p>
<p>George The Younger echoed his father, saying "As you know from looking at my family, humility is a certain heritage. That's what they expect, and we're not seeing that" in Trump.</p>
<p>The White House shot back Saturday. "If one presidential candidate can disassemble a political party, it speaks volumes about how strong a legacy its past two presidents really had. And that begins with the Iraq war, one of the greatest foreign policy mistakes in American history."</p>
<p>Zing.</p>
<p>Trump in the 2016 campaign shredded Jeb Bush — sorry, Jeb! — by calling him "low energy." He repeatedly bested him in debates, and Jeb, the man who would be president, slinked away after just a few primaries.</p>
<p>“You can either exploit the anger, incite it,” W. said, “or you can come up with ideas to deal with it.” Jeb, W. said, offered real solutions, “but it didn’t fit with the mood.”</p>
<p>“If you’re angry with the powers that be,” he added, “you’re angry with the so-called establishment, and there’s nothing more established than having a father and brother that have been president.”</p>
<p>Spot on.</p>
<p>And now, George The Younger says he fears he'll be the last Republican president.</p>
<p>Said Updegrove: "George W. Bush himself said in 2016 privately, and then to me, that 'You know, I fear that I will be the last Republican president.' And it wasn't just about Hillary Clinton becoming president, as the Republican Party was having a difficult time finding itself. It was because Donald Trump represented everything that the Bushes abhorred," the author told CNN.</p>
<p>Asked about W. Bush's fear, Updegrove said, "There's no question that I think there's a battle for the soul of the Republican Party. And the Republicans have to figure out who they are, and what they stand for."</p>
<p>Neither Bush voted for their party's candidate, Updegrove wrote. "I voted 'None of the Above' for president, and Republican down ballot in 2016," W. said. George The Elder said he voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. No, seriously.</p>
<p>From CNN:</p>
<p>In the first chapter, George W. Bush calls the notion that he was the "prodigal son," a reference to a wayward son in the Bible, "bullshit." And in a 2012 interview with Updegrove, Bush told the historian he "chased a lot of pussy and drank a lot of whiskey" as a young man, but added, "I was never the prodigal son because I never left my family."</p>
<p>Goodness. So much for the Bushes staying out of politics.</p>
<p>George Jr., by the way, also wanted to set the record straight. He said Vice President Dick Cheny and Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld, “didn’t make one f*cking decision" while he was president.</p>
<p>“The fact that there was any doubt in anyone’s mind about who the president was, blows my mind,” the 43rd president said.</p>
<p>So much for stoic elder statesmen.</p> | STILL MAD? Bushes, Senior And Junior, Bash Trump | true | https://dailywire.com/news/23171/still-mad-bushes-bash-president-trump-joseph-curl | 2017-11-04 | 0 |
<p>Overturning an executive action of President Obama, a federal judge ruled that the chief executive’s 2012 removal from the Endangered Species List of the gray wolf in the Great Lakes region was a violation of the the United States’ Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The Act was intended to increase scant populations of flora and fauna on the verge of extinction.</p>
<p>Federal protections were dropped with Obama’s decision and, with the new ruling from U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., management of the species’ population is now back in federal hands. After just one season of wolf hunting in three states in the Great Lakes region, the practice&#160;is once again prohibited in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Signed by President Nixon, the ESA was created to protect species from extinction that became <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/laws/esa/text.htm" type="external">imperiled because of untempered development</a>. The tendency toward species extinction was to be halted “whatever the cost.” The ESA is administered and enforced by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).</p>
<p>The case that Judge Howell heard was brought by The Humane Society of the United States, which alleged that the movement of management duties from the U.S. to the states was a failure, with the result that more than 1,500 gray wolves were killed by humans, thus putting population recovery in peril. Unless the case is appealed and overturned, Howell’s decision will continue to prohibit wolf hunting and trapping in the three states.</p>
<p>After federal protection was stopped and 40 years of wolf protection was reversed, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/wisconsin-minnesota-ready-for-first-ever-wolf-hunts/" type="external">Wisconsin and Minnesota legalized the hunting and trapping of wolves</a>. 272 gray wolves were soon killed in Minnesota and 154 in Wisconsin, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/federal-court-rejects-obama-decision-to-delist-great-lakes-wolf-popuation/" type="external">the majority of both being a result of leghold traps</a>.</p>
<p>Gavin Shire, a spokesmen for the Fish and Wildlife Service, expressed disappointment with the decision, characterizing it as a significant step backward. He said “the science clearly shows that wolves are recovered in the Great Lakes Region,” reporting further that his agency believes the states involved “have clearly demonstrated their ability to effectively manage their wolf populations.”</p>
<p>It was in 1978 that gray wolves were first placed under the protection of the ESA. The canines by then had been trapped, hunted, and harassed to near extinction, with but a few hundred wolves throughout the continental United States, and most of those were in or near the Superior National Forest of Minnesota. Federal protection gave the wolves room to live without predation and the population rebounded faster than some expected, spreading into Michigan and Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Farm and hunting groups praised the 2012 shift from federal protection to state management, but <a href="http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/3638642-court-order-puts-great-lakes-wolves-back-endangered-species-list" type="external">the Humane Society sued</a>, stating that the gray wolf had not recovered sufficiently over the areas it had once roamed and that the Fish and Wildlife Service had unlawfully selected a small and successful population from enormous areas where wolves no longer exist.</p>
<p>Canis lupus, also known as the timber wolf or western wolf, is native to North America, Africa and Eurasia. Its winter fur is thick and long, distinguished in color by various shades of gray, but reds, whites, browns and black also can be displayed. Like many canines, the gray wolf is social, with nuclear families traveling together over ranges of various size. Humans and tigers are the animal’s only serious threat.</p>
<p /> | Wolf back on Endangered Species list | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/12/24/wolf-back-on-endangered-species-list/ | 2014-12-24 | 3 |
<p>NOV. 15, 2010</p>
<p>Will Siskiyou Residents Lose Property Rights To Environmental Interests?</p>
<p>By WAYNE LUSVARDI</p>
<p>The last eruption of Mount Mazama in the Klamath Basin in southern Oregon occurred over 7,700 years ago and scattered mineral ash as far as the Canadian border to the north, and creating Crater Lake and the Klamath River system as an aftermath. To the south it scattered ash as far south as the present location of Sacramento, the Capitol of California.</p>
<p>Just to the south in Siskiyou County in northern California, Mount Shasta last blew its top about 200 years ago. The French Navy Commadore Jean Francois de Galaup viewed the eruption and recorded it on September 7, 1786 on his ship, “The Astrolabe,” from as far away as the California coast.</p>
<p>During the summer winds called “Northers” blow hot air and pollen from the northerly Siskiyou Mountains on Sacramento. Today, volcanic eruptions and hot winds of a different sort continue to blow on Sacramento, now even reaching as far south as Los Angeles.</p>
<p>A recent political eruption in Siskiyou County in northern California, population 50,000, occurred on November 2nd when 79 percent of the voters recorded their opposition to a plan to dismantle three dams (Iron Gate, Copco 1 and Copco 2) and associated hydroelectric power plants along the Klamath River in Oregon purportedly to return the river to a “wild” state and restore Salmon runs and habitats. Warren Buffett owns the dams.</p>
<p>The Klamath River runs from Klamath Lake in Oregon through Siskiyou County in Northern California to an ocean outlet on the California coast. Except for the dams, the Klamath provides an ideal spawning habitat for anadromous Salmon that need to migrate from the ocean to fresh water to reproduce. The Klamath branches into the Trinity and Salmon Rivers in northern California.</p>
<p>The Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement between Oregon, California and the U.S. Department of Interior to remove the dams and indirectly provide California with more water has been widely reported in the media as a “done deal.”</p>
<p>One glitch to removing the dams, however, is that the $1 billion demolition cost has to partly come from California’s proposed $33 billion Consolidated Water Bond which was pulled from the November 2010 California ballot due to the public’s anti-tax mood and deferred until the 2012 election (the $33 billion includes $11 billion in bonds, interest and local matching requirements).</p>
<p>Another possible glitch has been to get the “locals” in northern California and southern Oregon to buy-in to the plan with notions of tourism, sport fishing and environmental restoration to replace farming, ranching and cheap hydro-power. The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors was not included in the negotiations for the Klamath Basin Settlement Agreement (KBSA) and there were no public hearings before it was agreed and signed. Locals in Siskiyou reportedly suspected a land and water grab, not environmental restoration, when they were left out of the approval process.</p>
<p>In a prior action the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors approved by a 4-1 majority vote, to put Measure G on the November 2nd ballot as a purely advisory measure to poll public opinion in the County about the dam removal project.</p>
<p>Even though it was an advisory measure only and not legally binding, the measure served finally to give Siskiyou County voters a voice on the issue. Siskiyou County is a Republican stronghold that has expressed that neither Sacramento nor Washington, D.C., has given them an opportunity to be heard on the proposed expansion of the flow of a river that is the defining topographical and economic feature of their county.</p>
<p>By analogy, imagine having an existing right of way corridor for an Interstate highway that runs through your county and both the state and federal governments have a plan to double the traffic volume and you have no say so in the issue.</p>
<p>In response to the proposed Klamath Dam Removal Project, residents formed the Siskiyou County Water Users Association (SCWUA), a tax-exempt organization to defend property and water rights in the county. The SCWUA is an educational organization comprised of ranchers, farmers, biologists, foresters, engineers, lawyers, Grange Masters and Native Indians to develop and review scientific alternatives for saving fish, “if the true agenda for dam removal is saving fish.” SCWUA’s web site is <a href="http://siskiyoucountywaterusers.weebly.com/" type="external">here</a>:</p>
<p>The Klamath Diversion Project</p>
<p>Siskiyou County residents suspect there is another agenda given the history of proposed Klamath River diversion projects. In 1960, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposed the ambitious “Klamath Diversion Project” which would have diverted the waters of the Klamath River in Oregon and Northern California to arid Southern California. Initially, this proposal would have allowed for other states in the southwestern U.S. (Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah) to receive a larger share of waters of the Colorado River by supplanting Southern California’s allotment of Colorado River Water with Klamath River water. A tunnel running most of the length of the state of California was proposed to carry Klamath River water to the Sacramento River, around the Sacramento Delta, and then southward under the Tehachapi Mountains to the Los Angeles metropolitan area.</p>
<p>The Klamath is the second largest river system in California and carries almost as much water as the Colorado River. The original 1960s diversion plan would have mostly destroyed any salmon runs and habitats and, thus, was originally opposed by the Yurok Indian Tribe and commercial fishermen. Interestingly, in the 1960s the city of Los Angeles reportedly viewed the Klamath Diversion as a “ploy to encourage it to relinquish its claim on the share of the river [the Colorado] it considered its own” (Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert, 1984, p. 270).</p>
<p>Back to the future</p>
<p>In 1786 when de Galaup was exploring the California coastline in sailing ships, the French were looking for lands to colonize along with Spain and opportunities for fur trading and whaling. Second Lieutenant Napoleon Bonaparte applied for the expedition but was left behind in France. William Bolts, a merchant-adventurer looking for enterprise opportunities, had interested Louis XVI and his court in the expedition.</p>
<p>France did not establish any colonies in California but Spain and Russia did. Spain used religious missions as part of its colonization strategy.</p>
<p>In the early 1900s, William Mulholland sent a small militia army to Inyo County in northern California to protect the Los Angeles Aqueduct that had been blown up by local opponents to his project to bring water to Los Angeles. Earlier, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) sent shill buyers to start purchasing farm and range land to “colonize” Inyo County for the Mono Lake reservoir and aqueduct to ship water to Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times editor and land speculator Harrison Gray Otis infamously obtained the rights to the water for potential land subdivisions in what is now San Fernando Valley.</p>
<p>At least the stealthy land transactions involved buying the land in Inyo County at then fair market value. Of course the LADWP wasn’t willing to share the mark up for the higher and better use of the water downstream. Even if government had legitimately acquired land in Inyo County for the Los Angeles Aqueduct, government could have bought land at low prices upstream and sold water downstream at high prices hiding behind U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’ legal concept that just compensation was “what a property owner lost, not what they could gain.” When Enron pulled off this “buy low, sell high” strategy during the California Energy Crisis of 2001, it was called “gaming the system.” But Inyo County landowners who recognized the Los Angeles Aqueduct Project of the early 1900s as a possible water grab were accused of wanting “holdout” prices.</p>
<p>Today, both the federal and state governments want to remove dams upstream along the Klamath River and increase the flow of water through Siskiyou County purportedly for environmental restoration purposes.</p>
<p>Instead of taking land and water rights by covert means enforced at the barrel of a shotgun as did Mulholland’s operatives and agents, today an army of environmentalists often propose to do much the same thing only under the cover of fish and riparian habitat restoration. But typically there isn’t any just compensation afforded to affected land and business owners under a “regulatory taking” as opposed to a physical taking. Economic losses are not compensable if they stem from regulatory actions, unless inverse condemnation can be proven in a costly court action where landowners would have to bear all the upfront costs.</p>
<p>Siskiyou County residents have not as yet established what, if any, property or water rights they would lose as part of the Klamath River Dam Removal Project. But government has left the county in the dark as to how it might impact them. And then there is the possibility of the burden of taxation by the proposed California Water Bond but without any public hearings in the affected county and with no representation in the Klamath Basin Settlement Agreement.</p>
<p>True environmentalism is about species protection, not necessarily protection of special interests or the creation of lucrative business opportunities for the well connected.</p>
<p>For more on the Klamath Dam Removal Project – see <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p> | Locals Excluded From Klamath Dam Plan | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2010/11/15/locals-excluded-from-klamath-dam-plan/ | 2018-11-20 | 3 |
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<p>Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc Director Rajat Gupta was ordered to pay a $13.9 million penalty and banned from serving as an officer or director of a public company for having illegally passed corporate secrets to former hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, a top U.S. regulator said on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said the order was issued earlier in the day by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan, who also oversaw Gupta's related criminal trial.</p>
<p>Gupta is appealing his June 2012 conviction and two-year prison term for having fed confidential information he learned at Goldman board meetings to Rajaratnam, a former billionaire who ran Galleon Group.</p>
<p>A lawyer for Gupta was not immediately available for comment.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Dan Grebler)</p> | SEC Hits Ex-Goldman Director Gupta With $13.9M Fine, Ban | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2013/07/17/sec-hits-ex-goldman-director-gupta-with-13m-fine-ban.html | 2016-03-02 | 0 |
<p>Sept. 16 (UPI) — More than 30 people were arrested and nine officers were injured, one seriously, during protests Friday in St. Louis after former police officer Jason Stockley was acquitted of murder charges stemming from the shooting death of a black motorist in 2011.</p>
<p>About 1,000 protesters <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/officers-injured-in-day-of-protests-downtown-and-in-central/article_e1ae8685-64bc-5833-8785-2859002b1276.html" type="external">surrounded the house</a> of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and smaller groups of protesters clashed with police in other parts of the city, though officials said much of the protesting was peaceful.</p>
<p>In some cases, mace, tear gas and pepper balls were used to disburse crowds, including at a St. Louis public library and several locations around downtown St. Louis.</p>
<p>In his first interview since the acquittal, Stockley <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/acquitted-officer-stockley-everyone-wants-someone-to-blame-but-i/article_1e4b29ee-d558-5aed-8279-4e2ca19133be.html" type="external">told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch</a> it felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, saying that though he understood the video of the shooting looks bad, he did nothing wrong.</p>
<p>“I can feel for and I understand what the family is going through, and I know everyone wants someone to blame, but I’m just not the guy,” Stockley said.</p>
<p>The protests <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/09/15/St-Louis-police-arrest-13-during-protest-of-Stockley-verdict/4861505522392/" type="external">started Friday afternoon</a> after Stockley’s <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/09/15/Ex-St-Louis-officer-Stockley-aquitted-of-murder-charges/6751505481072/" type="external">acquittal was announced</a>, with protesters filling streets, stopping traffic on highways and shouting at police.</p>
<p>Police said 32 protesters were arrested over the course of the night, and nine officers were injured, including one with a dislocated shoulder and one with a broken jaw. Although no charges have been filed against the protesters, a police spokesperson said they would be forthcoming.</p>
<p>“Many of the demonstrators were peaceful,” said St. Louis Police Chief Lawrence O’Tool. “However, after dark many agitators began to destroy property and assault police officers.”</p>
<p>About 1,000 protesters were estimated to have surrounded Krewson’s home, though it is unknown if she was home, and were later broken up by about 200 police officers responding to the scene. The protesters threw paint at the house and broke at least two windows.</p>
<p>With protests expected to continue today, the city has continued to brace itself for unrest. The police department has gone so far as to warn the band U2 it would be unable to provide security for the band’s concert there, causing it to be canceled.</p>
<p>“We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the standard protection for our audience as would be expected for an event of this size,” the band <a href="http://www.u2.com/news/title/st-louis-show-cancelled" type="external">said in a statement</a>.</p>
<p>“We have also been informed that local crowd security personnel would not be at full capacity. In light of this information, we cannot in good conscience risk our fans’ safety by proceeding with tonight’s concert. As much as we regret having to cancel, we feel it is the only acceptable course of action in the current environment.”</p> | St. Louis mayor's house surrounded, officers injured during protests | false | https://newsline.com/st-louis-mayor039s-house-surrounded-officers-injured-during-protests/ | 2017-09-16 | 1 |
<p>Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered a probe on Friday into the mass disappearances during the country's civil war.</p>
<p>"The president has directed his secretary to take necessary measures to institute a commission to look into disappearances during the conflict period," <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130726/sri-lankas-president-orders-probe-war-time-disappearances" type="external">said presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake</a>.</p>
<p>"It is the (president's) secretary who will decide on the terms of reference, who the members will be, the time frame and so on."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/india/120313/sri-lanka-atrocities-civil-war-tamil-tigers-india" type="external">Sri Lankan war atrocities purportedly shown in British documentary</a></p>
<p>The president made the decision after being pressured by the United Nations and the West to address alleged rights abuses during the nearly three-decade war, which came to an end in 2009.</p>
<p>A UN investigation indicated that government troops <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Sri-Lanka-to-probe-wartime-disappearances/articleshow/21370083.cms" type="external">might have killed as many as 40,000 minority ethnic Tamil civilians</a> in the final months of the Sri Lankan war.&#160;Rajapaksa's government had initially denied any civilian deaths, but later agreed to look into alleged abuses.</p>
<p>Four years after the conflict ended, hundreds of mostly Tamils are still missing.</p>
<p>UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is set to visit Sri Lanka next month and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will take place in the country in November.</p>
<p>But former diplomat and now independent analyst Dayan Jayan Jayatilleka has said that Rajapaksa's decision to open an inquiry was not to respond to UN queries, but to pressure from abroad, and that it needs to be done by an independent body to be credible.</p>
<p>"The announcement is clearly coincident with the impending visit of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay," he told Reuters.</p>
<p>"The move may lack credibility unless the probe is conducted by respected, independent personalities. It cannot be an in-house matter. For instance, it can't be coordinated by the secretary to the president. The credibility is important."</p> | Sri Lanka orders probe into war-time disappearances | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-07-26/sri-lanka-orders-probe-war-time-disappearances | 2013-07-26 | 3 |
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<p>This year, the rallies and posters and slogans were still there, but the message was a lot more complicated.</p>
<p>The state projected a formal and somewhat distant presence for the occasion Sunday. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other officials issued statements calling for “self-determination” for the Muslims of Kashmir, which is divided into Pakistani and Indian portions, and decrying abuse by Indian forces.</p>
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<p>The army’s publicity office produced a videotaped song titled “Sangbaaz,” or stone pelters – young Kashmiri protesters who battled Indian troops for months last year. One refrain referred to widespread reports of troops blinding demonstrators with rubber bullets: “You can snatch out our eyes but you cannot snatch our dreams.”</p>
<p>Out in the streets, though, the day was dominated by right-wing religious groups, some of them part of the public political scene but others more shadowy. At rallies that drew sizable crowds in many cities, shouts of “Free Kashmir” mingled with shouts of “Free Hafiz Saeed,” referring to the Islamist cleric who was seized at his mosque in Lahore last week and placed under house arrest.</p>
<p>Saeed has long been a vociferous drumbeater for the Kashmir cause, a mainstay of Pakistan’s foreign and military policy built on a permanent theme of aggression and abuse by Hindu-led India. Pakistan has long championed Kashmiri independence while denying charges that it supports militant and terrorist groups there.</p>
<p>But Saeed has been accused of a far more ambitious and sophisticated attack that has no relation to Kashmir. Officials in India, backed by the United Nations, say he and the group he once headed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, carried out a commando siege of Mumbai in 2008 that killed 166 people. He has been detained but released several times since then, and Pakistan maintains that India has never provided proof of his involvement.</p>
<p>The sudden new crackdown on Saeed came at an awkward time for Pakistani officials, who looked like they were kowtowing to India just before Solidarity Day. Previous efforts by Sharif’s government to reach out to India have been opposed by the military, and his appeals for international support on Kashmir in September were undercut by a terrorist attack that burned a group of Indian soldiers to death.</p>
<p>Some observers point out that the government has now hurt its own cause by allowing hard-line religious groups to champion the Kashmir cause. In its lead editorial Sunday, Dawn Newspaper called that strategy “a historic mistake. Mainstream politics based on a mainstream acceptance of human rights . . . is the only sensible approach,” the paper said.</p>
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<p>For the moment, though, the arrest of Saeed gave Islamist leaders a chance to capitalize on this official ambivalence. At a news conference Saturday, Sami-ul-Haq, an influential cleric whose seminary trained many Taliban fighters, charged that “putting Hafiz Saeed behind bars is tantamount to betraying the Kashmiris’ struggle.”</p>
<p>Claiming that the government had acted at the behest of Washington and India, Haq said he was “rather happy” over President Trump’s move to ban visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries, adding that it has “shown us the real face of our rulers and their duality. The so-called liberals who always dubbed the U.S. a friend of Pakistan stand exposed.”</p>
<p>On Monday, rallies led by a variety of religious groups drew large crowds in the federal capital, all five provincial capitals and numerous smaller cities. Speakers condemned Indian repression and the arrest of Saeed in the same breath, challenging an official mantra of unshakable support for Kashmir that has long united Pakistanis and ensured the loyalty of religious groups. Some groups chanted, “Go, Nawaz, go,” referring to the prime minister.</p>
<p>In Islamabad, an official of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema party, Maulana Attaur Rehman, aimed his speech directly at the government. “Today, we have sent a clear message to the world that Kashmiris can’t be enslaved,” Rehman said. “This message has also reached the power corridors in our country. Regardless of what decision the government makes, we will never compromise on Kashmir. You have arrested Hafiz Saeed, but every person in this gathering has become Hafiz Saeed now.”</p>
<p>About 50 members of Al Badr, a semi-clandestine militant group that has sent fighters to Indian Kashmir and Afghanistan for years, joined one rally in Peshawar, the major city in northwest Pakistan. A leader of the group, Rab Nawaz, told the rally that it fully supports the Kashmiri people and vowed that “no world power in the world can stop jihad in any part of the world. We will continue our jihad.”</p>
<p>In Lahore, the home of Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD) movement, a rally by thousands of his supporters jammed a major boulevard, dwarfing both an official pro-Kashmir rally addressed by a federal cabinet minister and a second one by Jamaat-e-Islami, the country’s largest and oldest Islam-based political party, which regularly elects members to provincial and national legislatures.</p>
<p>Some people in the crowd said they supported Jamaat-ud-Dawa in part because it is devoted to assisting the poor and victims of disasters. Mahmad Ahmed, 55, a high school teacher, said he had taken his son to help dig irrigation wells with JUD in parched Baluchistan Province. “They help people in trouble where the government doesn’t,” he said.</p>
<p>But many others said the Kashmir cause was close to their hearts, and a pillar of their loyalty to religious parties. At the Jamaat-e-Islami rally, Rifaat Ilyas, a well-dressed man in his 40s, said it was a very emotional day for him. “I am thinking of all the brothers and sisters who were tortured and killed,” he said. “It has to stop. We have to fight.”</p>
<p>– – –</p>
<p>The Washington Post’s Shaiq Hussain in Islamabad and Haq Nawaz Khan in Peshawar contributed to this report.</p> | In Pakistan, Kashmir Solidarity Day is tinged with a more ambivalent message | false | https://abqjournal.com/943845/in-pakistan-kashmir-solidarity-day-is-tinged-with-a-more-ambivalent-message.html | 2 |
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<p>By Nick Carey</p>
<p>(Reuters) – Avis Budget Group Inc said on Thursday it has launched in the Kansas City, Missouri, area its first fleet of cars that are fully connected to the internet, other vehicles, and to the car rental company via wireless technology as it seeks to enhance its fleet-management services.</p>
<p>The Parsippany, New Jersey-based company’s so-called Mobility Lab will connect all 5,000 cars in its Kansas City fleet and share live data with the city from those vehicles so it can sharpen computerized traffic flow models, and collaborate on ways to improve tourists’ experiences when they rent through Avis.</p>
<p>A “connected car” is linked wirelessly to the internet, other vehicles and, in Avis’ case, to a centralized network, which the company said will enable it to automate many processes that are currently performed manually.</p>
<p>Vehicle connectivity is a building block in the process of developing self-driving cars, which major automakers are rushing to bring to the market.</p>
<p>In June, Waymo, Alphabet (NASDAQ:) Inc’s self-driving car unit, signed a multi-year agreement for Avis to manage its growing autonomous vehicle fleet. [nL1N1JN1E4]</p>
<p>“As we think about how we’re managing our own fleet, we’re also looking to see how we can do this for others as well,” Avis Chief Executive Officer Larry De Shon told Reuters. “There’s a lot of learnings that will come out of this that will be beneficial as we look at fleet management as a service.”</p>
<p>Major automakers are racing to roll out alternatives to private car ownership including ride sharing amid the rise of Uber [UBER.UL] and Lyft Inc. The rush is based on the notion that instead of buying cars, future consumers – especially city dwellers – will generate revenue through vehicle usage.</p>
<p>A challenge for automakers is how to manage fleets of vehicles when their core traditional business is building cars.</p>
<p>Avis has said its global fleet will be fully connected by 2020. According to industry estimates, the company’s U.S. rental fleet numbered close to 400,000 vehicles in 2016.</p>
<p>Worries about overcapacity and industry pricing have weighed on shares of rental companies like Avis and rival Hertz Global Holdings inc, as have concerns that off-lease cars are flooding the used-car market. The rise of car- and ride-sharing companies also makes some investors wary.</p>
<p>De Shon said a fully connected fleet will help automate manual processes and manage the entire life cycle of its vehicles, allowing each car “to say ‘I’m on the lot, I’m cleaned and serviced, and I’m ready to be rented.'”</p>
<p>“You can’t really start changing your business processes and improve fleet management when some of the cars are connected and some are not, so we really needed a lab where we could get our hands dirty,” De Shon added.</p>
<p>Connected cars allow Avis customers to manage their entire rental through an app, including locking and unlocking car doors via smartphone or honking the vehicle’s horn when they cannot locate their car.</p>
<p>Bob Bennett, the chief innovation officer for Kansas City, Missouri, said Avis’ connected car fleet will augment the city’s wireless network covering 54 contiguous blocks, providing data to enhance its traffic flow models.</p>
<p>The city will hold talks with Avis in the coming months on how to use connected cars to improve Kansas City’s parking apps and tourist experience, Bennett said. For instance, if a consumer’s telephone shows they are interested in baseball or history, they may receive a “push notification” from their car recommending the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum or the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.</p>
<p>“This is fertile soil that has not yet been farmed,” Bennett said. “I think it’s going to be a bumper crop, I just don’t know what the hell it’s going to be yet.”</p> | Avis tests fully connected wireless car fleet in Kansas City | false | https://newsline.com/avis-tests-fully-connected-wireless-car-fleet-in-kansas-city/ | 2017-11-30 | 1 |
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<p>Kurdish forces moved to take a string of villages east of the captive city while Iraqi army and police units made a push from the south, a rare display of coordination and harmony between rival forces that officials hailed as a significant victory in itself. Kurdish officials said Monday evening that their forces had cleared nine villages in an area measuring roughly 75 square miles, although the degree of their control over the territory remained unclear.</p>
<p>Announced before dawn in a televised address by Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, the battle is the most ambitious offensive launched by Iraq’s security forces since they were created after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. As the sun rose and warplanes of the U.S.-led coalition circled overhead, giddy Kurdish soldiers known as peshmerga rode armored vehicles, land movers and even motorcycles on dirt roads toward front lines that seemed to advance by the hour.</p>
<p>“This is a historic day,” Massoud Barzani, president of Iraq’s semiautonomous Kurdish region, said at a news conference Monday evening in which he hailed the unity and shared sacrifice of the combined forces in their first major test.</p>
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<p>“We have achieved a lot of success so far,” he said.</p>
<p>The disparate forces pushing to play a role in Mosul’s liberation – including peshmerga, Sunni tribal fighters, Iranian-backed Shiite militias and government units supported by the United States – has underscored the collective sense of trauma and anger in Iraq as the city has suffered under the brutal reign of the Islamic State since it stormed Mosul early in the summer of 2014.</p>
<p>Despite often competing agendas, some of the forces have united to take back the militant group’s most prized remaining territory in the country.</p>
<p>But there are fears that any alliances will only be temporary because of competing interests in and around Mosul, an area rich with ethnic and religious differences as well as oil. Iraqi and U.S. officials have assiduously sought to build up a sense of momentum around the battle for Mosul, partly out of concern that rivalries will rise to the fore and hamper the military effort.</p>
<p>U.S. officials say that American troops, who number more than 5,000 in Iraq, are helping to coordinate logistics, conduct planning and oversee the air campaign, while a smaller number are expected to move forward with Iraqi forces, including the Iraqi army, elite counterterrorism service troops and peshmerga, as they advance on Mosul.</p>
<p>The repeated delays in mounting an offensive on Mosul have been attributed to the special challenges posed by the city, because of ethnic sensitivities and its sheer size. Iraqi officials estimate that at least 1.2 million residents remain in Mosul, raising fears of civilian casualties as well as a mass exodus. Officials are hastily erecting encampments for fleeing residents around Mosul, with relief workers warning that hundreds of thousands of people could soon become displaced.</p>
<p>Military planners have also puzzled over how fiercely the Islamic State would fight to defend Mosul, the most populous city the transnational militant group controls. Over the past two years, residents have spoken about the harsh strictures imposed by the militants, including executions and public floggings, but also the sophisticated fortifications, including trenches, the Islamic State has built to repel any outside attack.</p>
<p>Monday’s battle suggested that the militants would fight to hold their ground – but also that their ability to do so may increasingly be in doubt.</p>
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<p>Dozens of peshmerga fighters gathered early Monday in staging areas about 30 miles from Mosul, loading ammunition and supplies into Humvees and other armored vehicles. The soldiers spoke confidently about their mission – to capture a sequence of villages east of Mosul and near the town of Bartala as warplanes with a United States-led coalition carried out airstrikes on Islamic State held territory nearby.</p>
<p>“We are feeling great. It won’t take more than a day and a half,” said Maj. Bahram Bahjat, a peshmerga commander. He was far less confident, though, about the possibility of liberating Mosul itself, predicting it would take months and be a “bloody battle.”</p>
<p>Armored columns barreled down roads toward villages obscured by smoke from fires set by the militants. Mortar rounds landed near peshmerga engineers building dirt fortifications, but they continued their work, undeterred. A suicide car bomb was struck before it could attack, according to Maj. Shivan Ihsan Saleh, pointing at a towering plume of smoke from a nearby hill.</p>
<p>“This is a dangerous enemy. They use booby traps, suicide bombs. Our information is that they have been digging tunnels,” he said, adding that “our morale is high.”</p>
<p>Kurdish officials refused to comment on casualties. Medics near the front lines said Monday morning that at least one soldier was killed and two were injured in the fighting around Bartala.</p>
<p>Separate from the Kurdish gains, the Iraqi military said more than a dozen villages were captured between the area of Gwer and the south of the city, while two others were seized by police and army forces as they advanced from Qayyarah air base, about 35 miles south of Mosul. The base is the main logistical hub for the Iraqi government’s operation.</p>
<p>But the military official said the villages were largely empty.</p>
<p>“The enemy booby-trapped them and then retreated,” he said. “The advance is very, very slow because of the booby traps.”</p>
<p>Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said that Iraqi forces were doing better than expected on the first day of the Mosul operation.</p>
<p>Early indications are that Iraqi forces have met their objectives so far and that they are ahead of schedule for this first day,” Cook told reporters at the Pentagon. He said they had reached their first-day objectives by around midday.</p>
<p>“This is going according to the Iraqi plan, but again, it’s early and the enemy gets a vote here,” he said. “We will see whether ISIL stands and fights.” ISIL is another name for the Islamic State.</p>
<p>Some 3,000 to 5,000 Islamic State fighters were estimated to remain within Mosul, Cook said.</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Morris reported from Khazir, Iraq. Missy Ryan in Washington, Mustafa Salim in Khazir and Aaso Ameen Shwan in Asquf contributed to this report.</p>
<p>iraq-2ndld-writethru</p> | Fierce resistance on first day of push toward ISIS-held Mosul, then Iraqi forces advance | false | https://abqjournal.com/869231/fierce-resistance-on-first-day-of-push-toward-isis-held-mosul-then-iraqi-forces-advance.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Fertilizer heavyweight Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) announced a deal on Monday to acquire the phosphate business of rival CF Industries (NYSE:CF) for $1.2 billion in cash and $200 million to fund an asset retirement fund.</p>
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<p>The transaction would give Mosaic control of four Florida phosphate facilities that produce about 1.8 million tons of phosphate fertilizer a year.</p>
<p>Already producing 8.2 million tons of phosphate a year, Mosaic is the world’s largest maker of finished phosphate products.</p>
<p>"Uniting CF Industries' phosphate operations with Mosaic's creates an ideal combination that provides the opportunity for enhanced operating efficiencies and sustainability efforts, lower production costs and reduced capital investment,” Mosaic CEO James Prokopanko said in a statement.</p>
<p>Mosaic highlighted the close proximity of CF Industries’ South Pasture mine to Mosaic’s planned Ona phosphate mine in Hardee County. Mosaic said it would save $500 million by not having to construct a $1 billion beneficiation plant and could instead invest the cash into developing rock reserves and improving existing mines.</p>
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<p>Mosaic expects the acquisition to add 30 cents to its 2015 earnings per share, excluding debt financing costs. The deal is seen closing during the first half of 2014.</p>
<p>The two companies also unveiled a strategic supply agreement that calls for CF Industries to provide Mosaic with up to 1 million tons of ammonia a year.</p>
<p>Mosaic agreed to replace CF Industries’ $200 million of escrowed financial assurance earmarked for closure and long-term care of phosphogypsum stocks in the company’s Florida operation.</p>
<p>“The sale of our phosphate operations represents good value for our shareholders and the full set of transactions enables us to sharpen the strategic focus on our nitrogen business,” CF Industries CEO Stephen Wilson said in a separate statement.</p>
<p>Shares of Plymouth, Minn.-based Mosaic rallied 1.89% to $46.81 on the deal news Monday morning, while CF Industries jumped 3.98% to $217.97.</p>
<p>Dorsey &amp; Whitney served as lead outside transaction counsel to Mosaic, while Rothschild advised CF Industries.</p> | Mosaic Shells Out $1.4B to Buy Phosphate Business of CF Industries | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/10/28/mosaic-shells-out-14b-to-buy-phosphate-business-cf-industries.html | 2016-01-26 | 0 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2351346" type="external">Finally.</a> The emergency contraceptive, which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sex, will be be available over-the-counter to women over 18 as soon as the drug’s maker reprints the packaging. This comes nearly <a href="/news/update/2006/08/planb_timeline.html" type="external">three years</a> after an independent FDA advisory committee voted overwhelmingly that Plan B is perfectly safe for over-the-counter sale without age restrictions.</p>
<p>As part of the <a href="http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/planB/approval.pdf" type="external">FDA approval</a>, the drug’s maker agrees to “conduct an education campaign … to raise awareness and knowledge levels about emergency contraception.” This is great news, because <a href="/news/update/2006/08/planb_timeline.html" type="external">recent surveys</a> have shown only one in five women is aware that there are effective methods of after-sex contraception.</p>
<p>Now for the bad news: Women under 18 will still have to get a doctor’s note to purchase Plan B for themselves, even though all research says that the drug can be safely and effectively used by teens. The age restriction means that Plan B will not be sold in convenience stores, but only at businesses with a licensed pharmacist. In this way, it also affects women 18 and up. Not every town in America has a 24-hour pharmacy, but most have a 24-hour gas station. <a href="http://www.nwlc.org/details.cfm?id=2185&amp;section=health" type="external">Pharmacist refusals</a> are likely to remain a huge problem.</p>
<p>And even though the FDA has finally caved to common sense, the Center for Reproductive Rights lawsuit against the agency will continue. Depositions in the case <a href="http://www.reproductiverights.org/pr_06_0803FDADepositions.html" type="external">show</a> the White House intervened in the FDA’s supposedly independent decision-making process, and the Center has subpoenaed members of the Bush administration. This ain’t over yet.</p>
<p /> | FDA Approves Plan B for Over-the-Counter Sale | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/08/fda-approves-plan-b-over-counter-sale/ | 2006-08-24 | 4 |
<p>(Screenshot via YouTube.)</p>
<p>In a new USA crime series “Eyewitness” a secret teenage romance turns from innocent fun into a deadly crime.</p>
<p>The show begins when popular kid Lukas (James Paxton) and outsider Philip (Tyler Young) decide to fool around in an abandoned cabin. In the middle of their rendezvous&#160;they witness a murder and end up being next on the killer’s hit list.</p>
<p>While Philip wants to tell his foster mom and town sheriff (Julianne Nicholson), Lukas is afraid he will outed to his school, especially since he is already in a relationship with his equally popular girlfriend.</p>
<p>“Eyewitness” premieres Sunday, Oct. 16 at 10 p.m.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Eyewitness</a> <a href="" type="internal">James Paxton</a> <a href="" type="internal">Julianne Nicholson</a> <a href="" type="internal">Tyler Young</a> <a href="" type="internal">USA</a></p> | Teen gay love story gets murderous on new crime show ‘Eyewitness’ | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/10/14/teen-gay-love-story-gets-murderous-new-crime-series-eyewitness/ | 3 |
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<p>President Trump earlier this year said he desired what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in America’s nuclear arsenal, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-wanted-dramatic-increase-nuclear-arsenal-meeting-military-leaders-n809701" type="external">NBC News</a>.</p>
<p>NBC News on Wednesday reported that Trump’s remarks came during a gathering this past summer of the highest ranking national security leaders in the U.S.</p>
<p>Three officials who were present said that Trump made the comment after seeing a briefing slide depicting the steady reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons since the late 1960s.</p>
<p>Trump noted he wanted a bigger stockpile, according to the officials, rather than the bottom position on that falling curve.</p>
<p>The officials added that Trump’s words surprised his advisers present, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.</p>
<p>Some Twitter users on Wednesday expressed alarm about Trump’s reported remarks during a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon.</p>
<p>NBC News’ sources said Trump was referencing a slide showing that the U.S. had about 32,000 nuclear weapons in the late 1960s.</p>
<p>Trump told his team that he wanted the U.S. to boast that amount of arms now, a remark his advisers then outlined as not feasible.</p>
<p>Two senior administration officials cited U.S. treaty obligations and budget restraints as hurdles to such an expansion.</p>
<p>The Federation of American Scientists says that American currently sports about 4,000 nuclear warheads in its nuclear stockpile.</p>
<p>Trump’s advisers also noted that America’s total conventional and nonconventional military stockpile leaves it stronger defensively then when its nuclear arsenal alone was bigger.</p>
<p>Two officials present added that Trump also said he wanted more U.S. military equipment and troops during the meeting.</p>
<p>NBC’s sources noted that no expansion of the nuclear arsenal is currently planned, with some adding they did not take Trump’s comments as a literal request for more weapons.</p> | Trump called a report that he wanted a tenfold increase in the nuclear arsenal 'pure fiction' | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/10/11/politics/trump-wanted-nearly-tenfold-increase-in-us-nuclear-arsenal | 2017-10-11 | 1 |
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<p />
<p>"We should be OK," NASA astronaut Scott Kelly assured The Associated Press. "I think we're going to be in good shape."</p>
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<p>Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko, the space station's one-year crew members, told the AP during an interview that flight controllers had given up trying to command the cargo carrier. NASA and the Russian Space Agency later confirmed the news.</p>
<p>The unmanned Progress vessel, bearing 3 tons of goods, began tumbling when it reached orbit Tuesday, following launch from Kazakhstan. The head of Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, Igor Komarov, cited a lack of pressure in the main block of the propulsion system in the decision to abort the mission.</p>
<p>Kelly said the craft will fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere. Russian reports indicated a re-entry possibly next week.</p>
<p>The capsule is expected to burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, as is the case for all Progress carriers, once they have delivered their shipments and are filled with trash.</p>
<p>"The program plans for these kinds of things to happen. They're very unfortunate when they do," said Kelly, one month into a yearlong mission, which will be a record for NASA.</p>
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<p>He added: "The important thing is hardware can be replaced."</p>
<p>Kornienko called it "a big concern." But he expressed "100 percent confidence" that operations will continue as planned until the next shipment arrives.</p>
<p>Supplying the space station is mostly handled by the United States and Russia. NASA hired SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to provide regular shipments, once the shuttle program ended in 2011.</p>
<p>SpaceX plans to send up a load of supplies in June; its most recent shipment arrived less than two weeks ago.</p>
<p>This is the second cargo ship lost in the past half year.</p>
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<p>In October, Orbital Sciences suffered a launch explosion in Virginia that destroyed a station supply ship.</p>
<p>NASA officials want a six-month supply of food on the space station, but because of the Orbital Sciences accident, the reserves are down a month or so. The Japanese Space Agency also periodically sends up cargo; it is aiming for a summer shipment</p>
<p>Six people currently live at the space station: two Americans, one Italian and three Russians.</p>
<p>Just days before Tuesday's launch, Roscosmos announced that the cargo ship held a copy of the Banner of Victory, the red flag with the Soviet hammer and sickle that was raised over the Reichstag in Berlin by victorious Soviet soldiers in 1945. It is a highly revered symbol of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.</p>
<p>But on Wednesday, the agency said the banner was already on the space station, arriving with Kelly and Kornienko in March.</p>
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<p>Russia is planning extensive celebrations for the 70th anniversary of Victory Day on May 9.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>NASA: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html" type="external">http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html</a></p> | Russia's spinning cargo capsule for space station total loss | false | https://abqjournal.com/576874/space-station-crew-russias-spinning-supply-ship-total-loss.html | 2 |
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<p>DENVER - A man accused of driving drunk when he hit and killed a father who was riding his bicycle on Lookout Mountain Road near Golden has pleaded guilty vehicular homicide and DUI.</p>
<p>The Denver Post reports ( <a href="http://goo.gl/UnA5oz" type="external">http://goo.gl/UnA5oz</a> ) 20-year-old Zachary Strnad entered his plea Tuesday in the Aug. 21 crash that killed 38-year-old Thomas Flanagan, of Golden. Strnad, of Aurora, is scheduled to be sentenced March 11.</p>
<p>Colorado State Patrol Trooper Nate Reid said after the crash that Strnad passed at least two vehicles on the left over a double-yellow line on a blind uphill left curve when he hit the bicycle head-on. Strnad's blood-alcohol content was 0.204 percent, more than twice the legal limit for driving.</p>
<p>Flanagan, who worked for the National Park Service, is survived by his wife and young son.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Denver Post, <a href="http://www.denverpost.com" type="external">http://www.denverpost.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Man pleads guilty in DUI crash that killed bicyclist | false | https://abqjournal.com/717493/man-pleads-guilty-in-dui-crash-that-killed-bicyclist.html | 2 |
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<p>When Jacob Rudolph gave an acceptance speech at an assembly this month for winning the class award for best actor, the New Jersey high school senior did something that many of the more than 300 students in the audience did not expect: He came out.</p>
<p>“Most of you see me every day. You see me acting the part of ‘straight’ Jacob, when I am in fact LGBT,” the courageous teen said. “Unlike millions of other LGBT teens who have had to act every day to avoid verbal harassment and physical violence, I’m not going to do it anymore.”</p>
<p>Rudolph continued: “It’s time to end the hate in our society and accept the people for who they are regardless of their sex, race, orientation, or whatever else may be holding back love and friendship. So take me, leave me or move me out of the way. Because I am what I am, and that’s how I’m going to act from now on.”</p>
<p>The crowd’s reaction? A loud, standing ovation–exactly what Rudolph deserved for his incredible speech.</p>
<p />
<p>Rudolph’s father posted the video to YouTube with the following message at the end that read in part:</p>
<p>The reaction of the students is testimony to the progress we’ve made in our society to respect everyone.</p>
<p>But we still have a long way to go. Jacob made his statement where he made it and when he made it to let other LGBT teens know they’re not alone and that sometime not too far, we hope, down the road, no kid will ever have to act as someone they’re not to avoid being bulled, harassed, or assaulted.</p>
<p>( <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2013/01/jacobrudolph.html" type="external">h/t Towleroad</a>)</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Tracy Bloom</a>.</p> | Watch What Happens When 12th-Grader Comes Out to Entire School | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/watch-what-happens-when-12th-grader-comes-out-to-entire-school/ | 2013-01-24 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Chinese shares stumbled lower on Monday after an official measure of activity in the giant factory sector fell to its lowest since mid-2012, offering no respite for markets from the country's economic drift.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Shanghai Composite Index eased 1.8 percent, while the CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen lost 1.5 percent.</p>
<p>The official version of the PMI survey for manufacturing slipped to 49.4 in January, from 49.7 the month before and short of forecasts of 49.6.</p>
<p>While the miss was minor, the PMI for services also disappointed by easing to 53.5 and challenged hopes consumption would take over from industry as the driving force for the world's second-largest economy.</p>
<p>A private survey - the Caixin/Markit China Manufacturing PMI - underscored the trend by showing factory activity shrinking for the 11th straight month.</p>
<p>"The manufacturing sector will likely face a tough year ahead on the back of overcapacity, weakening global demand, and government's plans to tackle pollution," said ANZ's chief China economist, Li-Gang Liu.</p>
<p>The Australian bank expects Beijing will have to ease policy further, including a cut in banks' reserve requirements sometime in the next two months.</p>
<p>Equity and bond markets globally had rallied on Friday after the Bank of Japan stunned many by cutting its rates into negative territory for the first time.</p>
<p>That did not stop January from being the worst month since October 2008 for China's stock markets, with 12 trillion yuan ($1.8 trillion) sliced off the value of its benchmark indexes. The CSI300 and the Shanghai Composite indexes fell more than 20 percent each in January.</p>
<p>RISKS</p>
<p>Caroline Yu Maurer, head of Greater China Equities for BNP Paribas Investment Partners in Hong Kong, said Chinese stocks were still not attractive for investors to buy despite a sharp fall.</p>
<p>"Last year, the China market was propped up by the government, but now, it's hard to find natural buyers," she said. Any slight rebound would be used by investors as a chance to sell and so reduce their financial exposure.</p>
<p>The downtrend risks becoming a vicious cycle, as those who have used shares as collateral for loans or have bought stocks with borrowed money are forced to meet margin calls or sell up.</p>
<p>The dangers are multiplied by the vast scale of the shadow banking system, an opaque network of trust companies and non-bank lenders.</p>
<p>Mid-tier Chinese banks are increasingly using complex instruments to make new loans or restructure existing ones that are then shown as low-risk investments on their balance sheets, masking the scale and risks of their lending.</p>
<p>The size of this "shadow loan" book rose by a third in the first half of 2015 to an estimated $1.8 trillion, equivalent to 16.5 percent of all commercial loans, a UBS analysis shows.</p>
<p>Concerns are not just focused on stocks. The Shanghai Stock Exchange has warned several securities firms to strengthen risk control in their corporate bond and asset-backed securities (ABS) businesses, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.</p>
<p>Bond issuance has skyrocketed in the past year as firms took advantage of easier regulations and falling yields.</p>
<p>HEDGE FUNDS TARGET YUAN</p>
<p>The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has managed to calm fears of an imminent devaluation of its yuan by holding its midpoint, a reference point for trading, rock steady day after day.</p>
<p>The Monday fix of 6.5539 per dollar was just a whisker softer than Friday even though the dollar had climbed broadly elsewhere in the wake of the Bank of Japan's easing.</p>
<p>Still, many analysts suspect the currency will be allowed to move lower over time, and some funds are actively betting on it.</p>
<p>Chinese state run media has carried repeated warnings to offshore speculators against trying to profit from a yuan devaluation.</p>
<p>Such reports will only heighten the focus on the PBoC's reserves position, due to be reported some time this week, for details on just how much intervention has been needed to shelter the yuan from capital flight.</p>
<p>(Writing by Wayne Cole and Neil Fullick; Editing by Sam Holmes)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | China Shares Fall on Economic Data | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/02/01/china-shares-fall-on-economic-data.html | 2016-02-01 | 0 |
<p>BOSTON (AP) - Terry Rozier scored 20 points in 20 minutes, stealing the spotlight from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas in a rematch of the Eastern Conference finals and leading the Boston Celtics to a 102-88 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>Rozier scored the last eight Boston points of the first quarter to give the Celtics an 11-point lead, and had another eight in a row midway through the fourth when they expanded the lead to 21. Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum had 15 points apiece, and Irving and Al Horford each had 11 points and nine rebounds to help Boston to its fourth straight win.</p>
<p>James had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Tristan Thompson had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland, which lost for the fourth time in five games. Playing on back-to-back nights - the Celtics had been preparing for them since New Year's Eve - Cleveland shot 34.8 percent.</p>
<p>It was the first time the teams had played since the season opener, when top Boston free agent Gordon Hayward broke his leg in a gruesome injury that reshuffled the Eastern Conference playoff race.</p>
<p>WARRIORS 125, MAVERICKS 122</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) - Stephen Curry hit a long 3-pointer with three seconds to play, giving Golden State a hard-fought victory over Dallas.</p>
<p>Curry finished with 32 points as Golden State's "Big Four" combined for 100 - and the Warriors needed every one of them against a Mavericks team that had won four straight.</p>
<p>Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had 25 points each, and Draymond Green added 18 to go with 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks with 22 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Dwight Powell tied his career high with 21.</p>
<p>Dallas, playing from behind most of the game, erased a 12-point deficit with 4:32 to play, tying the score at 120 on Harrison Barnes' jumper with 39.9 seconds left.</p>
<p>THUNDER 133, LAKERS 96</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - Russell Westbrook had 20 points and 12 assists in a successful return home, and rookie Terrance Ferguson scored all 24 of his points in the second half of his first career start as Oklahoma City handed Los Angeles its eighth consecutive defeat.</p>
<p>Paul George also scored 24 points and Carmelo Anthony added 21 to complement Westbrook, the reigning MVP who was born in Long Beach and went to college at UCLA.</p>
<p>The Lakers were led by rookie Kyle Kuzma's 18 points. They shot just 41.3 percent from the field, while the Thunder shot 60.2 percent.</p>
<p>76ERS 112, SPURS 106</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Joel Embiid shook off a sprained right hand that nearly kept him out of the lineup to score 21 points, grab 11 rebounds and lead Philadelphia past San Antonio.</p>
<p>The 76ers snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Spurs. They needed all 35 minutes from Embiid to knock off short-handed San Antonio.</p>
<p>Embiid was injured in a hard fall Saturday against the Suns. Philadelphia's leading scorer and rebounder sat at his locker before the game and said his hand was swollen and he couldn't shoot.</p>
<p>Embiid used a soft touch to sink a couple of shots during pregame drills, and that was enough to convince the Sixers he could play.</p>
<p>The Sixers blew a 16-point lead and might have been thumped from the outset had the Spurs not sat five players. Patty Mills led the Spurs with 26 points and LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 14 rebounds.</p>
<p>ROCKETS 116, MAGIC 98</p>
<p>ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Gerald Green scored 27 points, Clint Capela had 21 points and eight rebounds and Houston got by without NBA scoring leader James Harden, routing Orlando.</p>
<p>Harden was sidelined by a strained left hamstring.</p>
<p>Green made his first five 3-point shots and finished 7 for 10 from behind the arc for the Rockets, who were never behind and led by as many as 28 late in the third quarter.</p>
<p>Eric Gordon added 17 points and six assists to help Houston tune up for its Thursday night showdown with Golden State.</p>
<p>Aaron Gordon led the Magic with 16 points after missing his first eight shots. Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja added 14 each during Orlando's 12th loss in 13 games.</p>
<p>WIZARDS 121, KNICKS 103</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Bradley Beal scored 27 points, John Wall added 25 with nine assists and Washington beat New York.</p>
<p>Playing for the first time since he was selected Eastern Conference player of the week, Beal followed his 39-point outburst on Sunday by hitting 11 of his 14 field goal attempts for Washington, which was won five of six.</p>
<p>Marcin Gortat had a season-high 21 points, shooting 9 of 10 from the field.</p>
<p>Michael Beasley had 20 points, including 16 in the second half to lead the Knicks, who have lost six of seven.</p>
<p>Kristips Porzingis scored 16 points. New York has lost 14 of its last 15 against Washington.</p>
<p>HEAT 111, PISTONS 104</p>
<p>MIAMI (AP) - Kelly Olynyk scored 25 points, including a big layup with 39 seconds left, and Goran Dragic added 24 as Miami held off Detroit.</p>
<p>Olynyk finished with 13 rebounds and Dragic had 13 assists for the Heat, who are three games over .500 for the first time since April 2016.</p>
<p>Josh Richardson scored 22 for Miami, which shot 51 percent and outscored the Pistons 51-27 from 3-point range. James Johnson scored 16, Wayne Ellington had 12 and Hassan Whiteside added 10 for the Heat.</p>
<p>Tobias Harris led a balanced Detroit effort with 19.</p>
<p>NETS 98, TIMBERWOLVES 97</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) - Spencer Dinwiddie made the go-ahead jumper with 9.7 seconds left and tied his career high with 26 points, leading Brooklyn over Minnesota.</p>
<p>Jimmy Butler missed at the buzzer as the Timberwolves lost for just the second time in nine games.</p>
<p>Dinwiddie added nine assists as the Nets improved to 2-0 in the new year - more wins than they had all last January, when they were 1-15. Joe Harris came off the bench to score 17 points.</p>
<p>Butler finished with 30 points, mostly on the strength of 16-of-18 shooting at the foul line. Andrew Wiggins added 17 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points and 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>RAPTORS 124, BULLS 115</p>
<p>CHICAGO (AP) - DeMar DeRozan had 35 points and Delon Wright set career highs with 25 points and 13 rebounds as Toronto beat Chicago.</p>
<p>DeRozan came up big again after scoring a franchise-record 52 points in a win over Milwaukee on New Year's Day. Held to nine in the first half this time, he scored 18 in the third quarter. He also shot 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and converted all 10 free throws.</p>
<p>Wright had his first career double-double and hit four 3s.</p>
<p>Serge Ibaka scored 16 points for Toronto. Fred VanVleet added 13 and the Raptors pulled away in the fourth quarter for their ninth win in 11 games.</p>
<p>Justin Holiday led Chicago with 26 points, and Lauri Markkanen added 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nikola Mirotic scored 20, but the Bulls dropped their third straight.</p>
<p>BUCKS 122, PACERS 101</p>
<p>MILWAUKEE (AP) - Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points and 10 rebounds, Khris Middleton added 27 points and Milwaukee pulled away from Indiana.</p>
<p>Antetokounmpo had his way around the rim with his usual array of dunks and layups, shooting 12 of 18. He secured his 18th double-double of the season with 1:01 left in the third quarter and was rested for the entire fourth.</p>
<p>Minus leading scorer Victor Oladipo (24.9 points per game) for a fourth straight game because of a knee injury, the Pacers couldn't keep up. Domantas Sabonis had a career-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Indiana, which lost its season-high fifth in a row.</p>
<p>The Pacers shot just 3 of 15 from 3-point range.</p>
<p>PELICANS 108, JAZZ 98</p>
<p>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Anthony Davis had 29 points and 15 rebounds to lead New Orleans past Utah.</p>
<p>Jrue Holiday carried the offense early with 18 first-half points and finished with 24 for the Pelicans. DeMarcus Cousins added 19 points and 11 rebounds.</p>
<p>Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 24 points, and Joe Johnson scored 20 off the bench.</p>
<p>The Pelicans' 3-point shooting was the difference, as New Orleans went 14 for 30 (46.7 percent) from beyond the arc while the Jazz were 7 of 32 (21.9 percent).</p>
<p>The game went back and forth before the Pelicans closed the third quarter on a 12-1 run, including seven points from Davis. He added 10 in the fourth to help close it out.</p>
<p>NUGGETS 134, SUNS 111</p>
<p>DENVER (AP) - Gary Harris scored 28 of his 36 points in the first half and Denver used a big third quarter to beat Phoenix.</p>
<p>Harris tied his career high in points, finishing 14 of 17 from the field. Nikola Jokic added 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists to help the Nuggets stop a two-game slide and improve to 13-4 at home this season.</p>
<p>Wilson Chandler scored 17 points, Trey Lyles had 16 and Jamal Murray 13.</p>
<p>Devin Booker led the Suns with 17 points. Greg Monroe, filling in for starting center Tyson Chandler, had 16 points and 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p>
<p>BOSTON (AP) - Terry Rozier scored 20 points in 20 minutes, stealing the spotlight from LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Isaiah Thomas in a rematch of the Eastern Conference finals and leading the Boston Celtics to a 102-88 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>Rozier scored the last eight Boston points of the first quarter to give the Celtics an 11-point lead, and had another eight in a row midway through the fourth when they expanded the lead to 21. Marcus Smart and Jayson Tatum had 15 points apiece, and Irving and Al Horford each had 11 points and nine rebounds to help Boston to its fourth straight win.</p>
<p>James had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Tristan Thompson had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Cleveland, which lost for the fourth time in five games. Playing on back-to-back nights - the Celtics had been preparing for them since New Year's Eve - Cleveland shot 34.8 percent.</p>
<p>It was the first time the teams had played since the season opener, when top Boston free agent Gordon Hayward broke his leg in a gruesome injury that reshuffled the Eastern Conference playoff race.</p>
<p>WARRIORS 125, MAVERICKS 122</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) - Stephen Curry hit a long 3-pointer with three seconds to play, giving Golden State a hard-fought victory over Dallas.</p>
<p>Curry finished with 32 points as Golden State's "Big Four" combined for 100 - and the Warriors needed every one of them against a Mavericks team that had won four straight.</p>
<p>Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson had 25 points each, and Draymond Green added 18 to go with 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>Wesley Matthews led the Mavericks with 22 points, including seven 3-pointers, and Dwight Powell tied his career high with 21.</p>
<p>Dallas, playing from behind most of the game, erased a 12-point deficit with 4:32 to play, tying the score at 120 on Harrison Barnes' jumper with 39.9 seconds left.</p>
<p>THUNDER 133, LAKERS 96</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) - Russell Westbrook had 20 points and 12 assists in a successful return home, and rookie Terrance Ferguson scored all 24 of his points in the second half of his first career start as Oklahoma City handed Los Angeles its eighth consecutive defeat.</p>
<p>Paul George also scored 24 points and Carmelo Anthony added 21 to complement Westbrook, the reigning MVP who was born in Long Beach and went to college at UCLA.</p>
<p>The Lakers were led by rookie Kyle Kuzma's 18 points. They shot just 41.3 percent from the field, while the Thunder shot 60.2 percent.</p>
<p>76ERS 112, SPURS 106</p>
<p>PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Joel Embiid shook off a sprained right hand that nearly kept him out of the lineup to score 21 points, grab 11 rebounds and lead Philadelphia past San Antonio.</p>
<p>The 76ers snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Spurs. They needed all 35 minutes from Embiid to knock off short-handed San Antonio.</p>
<p>Embiid was injured in a hard fall Saturday against the Suns. Philadelphia's leading scorer and rebounder sat at his locker before the game and said his hand was swollen and he couldn't shoot.</p>
<p>Embiid used a soft touch to sink a couple of shots during pregame drills, and that was enough to convince the Sixers he could play.</p>
<p>The Sixers blew a 16-point lead and might have been thumped from the outset had the Spurs not sat five players. Patty Mills led the Spurs with 26 points and LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 14 rebounds.</p>
<p>ROCKETS 116, MAGIC 98</p>
<p>ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Gerald Green scored 27 points, Clint Capela had 21 points and eight rebounds and Houston got by without NBA scoring leader James Harden, routing Orlando.</p>
<p>Harden was sidelined by a strained left hamstring.</p>
<p>Green made his first five 3-point shots and finished 7 for 10 from behind the arc for the Rockets, who were never behind and led by as many as 28 late in the third quarter.</p>
<p>Eric Gordon added 17 points and six assists to help Houston tune up for its Thursday night showdown with Golden State.</p>
<p>Aaron Gordon led the Magic with 16 points after missing his first eight shots. Elfrid Payton and Mario Hezonja added 14 each during Orlando's 12th loss in 13 games.</p>
<p>WIZARDS 121, KNICKS 103</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Bradley Beal scored 27 points, John Wall added 25 with nine assists and Washington beat New York.</p>
<p>Playing for the first time since he was selected Eastern Conference player of the week, Beal followed his 39-point outburst on Sunday by hitting 11 of his 14 field goal attempts for Washington, which was won five of six.</p>
<p>Marcin Gortat had a season-high 21 points, shooting 9 of 10 from the field.</p>
<p>Michael Beasley had 20 points, including 16 in the second half to lead the Knicks, who have lost six of seven.</p>
<p>Kristips Porzingis scored 16 points. New York has lost 14 of its last 15 against Washington.</p>
<p>HEAT 111, PISTONS 104</p>
<p>MIAMI (AP) - Kelly Olynyk scored 25 points, including a big layup with 39 seconds left, and Goran Dragic added 24 as Miami held off Detroit.</p>
<p>Olynyk finished with 13 rebounds and Dragic had 13 assists for the Heat, who are three games over .500 for the first time since April 2016.</p>
<p>Josh Richardson scored 22 for Miami, which shot 51 percent and outscored the Pistons 51-27 from 3-point range. James Johnson scored 16, Wayne Ellington had 12 and Hassan Whiteside added 10 for the Heat.</p>
<p>Tobias Harris led a balanced Detroit effort with 19.</p>
<p>NETS 98, TIMBERWOLVES 97</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) - Spencer Dinwiddie made the go-ahead jumper with 9.7 seconds left and tied his career high with 26 points, leading Brooklyn over Minnesota.</p>
<p>Jimmy Butler missed at the buzzer as the Timberwolves lost for just the second time in nine games.</p>
<p>Dinwiddie added nine assists as the Nets improved to 2-0 in the new year - more wins than they had all last January, when they were 1-15. Joe Harris came off the bench to score 17 points.</p>
<p>Butler finished with 30 points, mostly on the strength of 16-of-18 shooting at the foul line. Andrew Wiggins added 17 points and Karl-Anthony Towns had 16 points and 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>RAPTORS 124, BULLS 115</p>
<p>CHICAGO (AP) - DeMar DeRozan had 35 points and Delon Wright set career highs with 25 points and 13 rebounds as Toronto beat Chicago.</p>
<p>DeRozan came up big again after scoring a franchise-record 52 points in a win over Milwaukee on New Year's Day. Held to nine in the first half this time, he scored 18 in the third quarter. He also shot 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and converted all 10 free throws.</p>
<p>Wright had his first career double-double and hit four 3s.</p>
<p>Serge Ibaka scored 16 points for Toronto. Fred VanVleet added 13 and the Raptors pulled away in the fourth quarter for their ninth win in 11 games.</p>
<p>Justin Holiday led Chicago with 26 points, and Lauri Markkanen added 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nikola Mirotic scored 20, but the Bulls dropped their third straight.</p>
<p>BUCKS 122, PACERS 101</p>
<p>MILWAUKEE (AP) - Giannis Antetokounmpo had 31 points and 10 rebounds, Khris Middleton added 27 points and Milwaukee pulled away from Indiana.</p>
<p>Antetokounmpo had his way around the rim with his usual array of dunks and layups, shooting 12 of 18. He secured his 18th double-double of the season with 1:01 left in the third quarter and was rested for the entire fourth.</p>
<p>Minus leading scorer Victor Oladipo (24.9 points per game) for a fourth straight game because of a knee injury, the Pacers couldn't keep up. Domantas Sabonis had a career-high 24 points on 10-of-13 shooting for Indiana, which lost its season-high fifth in a row.</p>
<p>The Pacers shot just 3 of 15 from 3-point range.</p>
<p>PELICANS 108, JAZZ 98</p>
<p>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Anthony Davis had 29 points and 15 rebounds to lead New Orleans past Utah.</p>
<p>Jrue Holiday carried the offense early with 18 first-half points and finished with 24 for the Pelicans. DeMarcus Cousins added 19 points and 11 rebounds.</p>
<p>Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 24 points, and Joe Johnson scored 20 off the bench.</p>
<p>The Pelicans' 3-point shooting was the difference, as New Orleans went 14 for 30 (46.7 percent) from beyond the arc while the Jazz were 7 of 32 (21.9 percent).</p>
<p>The game went back and forth before the Pelicans closed the third quarter on a 12-1 run, including seven points from Davis. He added 10 in the fourth to help close it out.</p>
<p>NUGGETS 134, SUNS 111</p>
<p>DENVER (AP) - Gary Harris scored 28 of his 36 points in the first half and Denver used a big third quarter to beat Phoenix.</p>
<p>Harris tied his career high in points, finishing 14 of 17 from the field. Nikola Jokic added 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists to help the Nuggets stop a two-game slide and improve to 13-4 at home this season.</p>
<p>Wilson Chandler scored 17 points, Trey Lyles had 16 and Jamal Murray 13.</p>
<p>Devin Booker led the Suns with 17 points. Greg Monroe, filling in for starting center Tyson Chandler, had 16 points and 10 rebounds.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p> | Rozier steals spotlight, leads Celtics past Cavaliers 102-88 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/24ff67f4d7854dbd8bc17560661d58b1 | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (Reuters) - Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices on Wednesday grilled a lawyer who defended the way state congressional districts are apportioned, a design opponents have challenged as illegally skewed to benefit Republicans who hold 13 of its 18 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.</p>
<p>The majority of the court, which has five Democrats and two Republicans, appeared sympathetic to the argument that Pennsylvania's congressional districts are illegally gerrymandered. A civic group and some Democratic voters brought the challenge, one of several such lawsuits nationwide.</p>
<p>If the court ordered lawmakers to draw a new map, it could help Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. The party needs to flip two dozen seats nationwide to win control of the House, and Pennsylvania is a key battleground.</p>
<p>Jason Torchinsky, a lawyer representing Republican legislative leaders, endured tough questions from the justices over his contention that lawmakers can legally draw the map to protect partisan interests.</p>
<p>Justice Max Baer, a Democrat, questioned Torchinsky's claim that district maps can connect disparate neighborhoods using "land bridges," sometimes no wider than a single property.</p>
<p>"So if you took the Democratic areas of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and connected them via the Pennsylvania Turnpike, that's okay?" he asked.</p>
<p>Torchinsky replied yes.</p>
<p>During the 2-1/2-hour hearing, several justices expressed uncertainty about whether the map could be redrawn in time for fall elections, with some candidates already on the campaign trail.</p>
<p>"We could agree with your argument and still deny a remedy that puts the state into a tailspin," said Justice Debra Todd, a Democrat.</p>
<p>The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania filed the lawsuit challenging a 2011 redistricting by the Republican-led Pennsylvania legislature. The suit claims the legislature violated the state constitution by contorting the map to favor Republicans with some of the most gerrymandered districts in the country.</p>
<p>"We're not doing it to equalize population or make the districts more compact or contiguous," David Gersch, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said of Republican legislators. "We're doing it because we don't like the way you vote."</p>
<p>Similar challenges nationwide include a case involving Wisconsin currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, which has previously suggested extreme partisan gerrymandering may be unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Still, the U.S. high court has never articulated a specific standard, a point some of the Pennsylvania justices noted.</p>
<p>"You are asking us to go further than any court has gone before," Todd said.</p>
<p>A lawyer for Democratic Governor Tom Wolf told the court the governor supports a new map for 2018 and that primary elections in May could be postponed if needed.</p>
<p>(This version of the story corrects spelling of Pennsylvania's in paragraph two)</p>
<p>Writing by Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - A gang-related dispute sparked an overnight riot in a South Carolina prison that killed seven inmates, the deadliest U.S. prison riot since 1993, state officials and prison safety experts said on Monday.</p>
<p>Another 17 people were wounded in an eight-hour long series of fights that spread through three dorms at the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, South Carolina, said Bryan Stirling, director of the state Department of Corrections.</p>
<p>"This was all about territory. This was about contraband, this was about cellphones," Stirling told a news conference. "These folks are fighting over real money and real territory while they are incarcerated."</p>
<p>It was the deadliest U.S. prison riot since 1993, when nine inmates and one corrections officer died at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, said Steve Martin, a prisons expert and now the federal monitor for the consent decree involving New York City's Rikers Island jail complex.</p>
<p>All seven deaths were the result of stabbing injuries, said Lee County Coroner Larry Logan.</p>
<p>Forty-four guards were on duty at the 1,583-inmate prison when violence erupted Sunday evening, Stirling said. Prison staff called in reinforcements and did not move into the first unit until four hours after the fighting began, a delay that he said was necessary to ensure the guards' safety.</p>
<p>For months, South Carolina officials have said that prisoners used smuggled cellphones to manage crimes outside the prisons. Governor Henry McMaster on Monday said he would renew his request to federal officials to allow him to block cell signals on prison property.</p> A guard leaves the Lee Correctional Institution in Bishopville, Lee County, South Carolina, U.S., April 16, 2018. REUTERS/Randall Hill
<p>The State newspaper showed video it said was taken by inmates with smuggled phones that depicted trails of blood and dead bodies in the prison. Reuters could not immediately confirm that the video was authentic and Stirling declined to do so.</p>
<p>The state has about 5,000 prison employees in 22 institutions, but "security staff numbers continue to lag behind the authorized strength," the department's fiscal 2017 Accountability Report said, without giving numbers.</p>
<p>Martin said staff shortages could have been a contributing factor in the riot.</p> Slideshow (4 Images)
<p>"When high-security inmates start engaging each other and there aren't enough staff, it's hard to stop it," Martin said in a phone interview.</p>
<p>State officials identified the slain inmates as Raymond Scott, 28, who was serving a 20-year sentence for crimes including assault and battery; Michael Milledge, 44, serving 25 years for drug trafficking; Damonte Rivera, 24, serving life for murder; Eddie Gaskins, 32, serving 10 years for domestic violence; Joshua Jenkins, 33, serving 15 years for manslaughter; Corey Scott, 38, serving 22 years for kidnapping; and Cornelius McClary, 33, serving 25 years for burglary.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Jeffrey Benkoe, Susan Thomas, Jonathan Oatis and Steve Orlofsky</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took an unnecessary charter flight in June that cost taxpayers over $12,000, the Interior Department's internal watchdog said on Monday - travel linked to his visit to a professional hockey team in Nevada.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke testifies in front of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Thayer
<p>The report from the department's Office of Inspector General came amid mounting pressure on Trump Cabinet officials over their ethics and spending habits while in office.</p>
<p>"We determined that Zinke's use of chartered flights in fiscal year (FY) 2017 generally followed relevant law, policy, rules, and regulations," the report said.</p>
<p>"We found, however, that a $12,375 chartered flight he took in June 2017 after speaking at the developmental camp for the Golden Knights, a professional hockey team based in Las Vegas, Nevada, could have been avoided," it added.</p>
<p>The National Hockey League team is owned by Bill Foley, a donor to Zinke's congressional campaigns. The Interior Department has said Zinke's speech did not violate any laws, rules or regulations.</p>
<p>Zinke has defended his use of noncommercial aircraft as necessary for reaching the remote parts of the country that his department oversees.</p>
<p>He has also taken heat for other spending, including the repair of a door in his office that cost nearly $140,000.</p>
<p>Other Cabinet members have also been scrutinized.</p>
<p>The U.S. Government Accountability office on Monday said the Environmental Protection Agency violated spending laws when it installed a $43,000 soundproof booth for agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.</p>
<p>Writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government watchdogs rapped two members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet on Monday over their spending last year, adding pressure on an administration already roiled by ethics complaints.</p> FILE PHOTO: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Scott Pruitt testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/Files
<p>The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the Environmental Protection Agency violated the law when it approved a $43,000 soundproof phone booth last year for Administrator Scott Pruitt without seeking approval from lawmakers.</p>
<p>And the Department of Interior's Office of Inspector General said Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took an unnecessary charter flight in June after a speech he made there to a professional hockey team that cost taxpayers more than $12,000.</p>
<p>The new reports come as the White House seeks to shake off persistent criticism by lawmakers of ethical lapses and wasteful spending by Trump's senior officials - something that has helped fuel a high rate of turnover. Health Secretary Tom Price was forced out and replaced last year after reports emerged of lavish spending on flights.</p>
<p>Pruitt and Zinke are viewed as among Trump's most productive Cabinet officials and key to the president's policy of expanding energy production and exports by slashing environmental regulations and opening federal lands to drilling and mining.</p>
<p>Trump has rebuffed recent calls by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to fire Pruitt, saying he is doing a "fantastic job" and is well-loved in "coal and energy country."</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-epa-pruitt-senate/epa-must-explain-why-pruitts-43000-phone-booth-was-legal-republican-senator-idUSKBN1HN2K1" type="external">EPA must explain why Pruitt's $43,000 phone booth was legal: Republican senator</a> PRIVACY BOOTH
<p>The Government Accountability Office said the EPA violated the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act with Pruitt's privacy booth. The law prohibits an agency from obligating more than $5,000 in federal funds to furnish, redecorate or make improvements in the office of a presidential appointee without first notifying appropriations committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.</p>
<p>Liz Bowman, an EPA spokeswoman, said the agency was "addressing GAO's concern, with regard to Congressional notification about this expense, and will be sending Congress the necessary information this week."</p>
<p>The booth, which Pruitt had told lawmakers in a hearing was needed to conduct agency business, was built in a former storage closet in the administrator's office.</p>
<p>The GAO had been asked to investigate the matter by Democratic lawmakers.</p>
<p>Senator John Barrasso, a Republican and the head of the Senate environment committee, said in a statement after the GAO's decision that Pruitt's agency must give a "full public accounting" of the spending.</p>
<p>The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>Also on Monday, the EPA's Office of Inspector General released documents showing EPA's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, had signed off on pay raises for three of Pruitt's staff, including a raise of $29,000 to above $114,000 for his scheduling director, Millan Hupp.</p>
<p>Pruitt had originally recommended the raises but was denied by the White House. Jackson approved them using the authority granted under an obscure provision in a clean water law, the documents said.</p>
<p>Pruitt told Fox News this month that he had no knowledge of the raises.</p>
<p>EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox did not respond to a request for comment.</p> FLIGHT FROM LAS VEGAS
<p>The Interior Department's watchdog said in its report Monday that Secretary Zinke chartered a plane for $12,375 from Las Vegas to Kalispell, Montana, in June that "could have been avoided." The flight was linked to a controversial visit Zinke made to a National Hockey League team owned by a campaign donor.</p>
<p>"We determined that Zinke's use of chartered flights in fiscal year (FY) 2017 generally followed relevant law, policy, rules, and regulations," the report said.</p>
<p>"We found, however, that a $12,375 chartered flight he took in June 2017 after speaking at the developmental camp for the Golden Knights, a professional hockey team based in Las Vegas, Nevada, could have been avoided," it added.</p>
<p>The report said the visit appeared unrelated to Zinke's work as Interior chief, pointing out that a video recording of the speech showed he never mentioned his role at the department and focused mainly on his experience as a Navy SEAL.</p>
<p>The hockey team is owned by Bill Foley, a donor to Zinke's past congressional campaigns.</p>
<p>Heather Swift, an Interior Department spokeswoman, said the report "said exactly what was known all along," that the chartered aircraft followed relevant law and regulations. She did not comment on the watchdog's finding that the Las Vegas flight could have been avoided.</p>
<p>Zinke has also defended his use of noncommercial aircraft as necessary for reaching the remote parts of the country that his department oversees, and said past Interior secretaries have also relied on them.</p>
<p>Zinke has also taken heat for other types of spending, including the repair of doors in his office that cost thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>Reporting by Timothy Gardner; additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SBUX.O" type="external">SBUX.O</a>) Chief Executive Kevin Johnson hopes to meet with the two black men arrested at one of its Philadelphia cafes last week to apologize for the incident, which has sparked accusations of racial profiling at the coffee chain.</p>
<p>The men, who had not made a purchase, were handcuffed and arrested for trespassing on Thursday after a store manager called 911 and reported them for refusing to leave. Witnesses said the men were calmly sitting in the cafe and in a widely viewed video, some patrons asked police whether they were targeted because they are black.</p>
<p>Police released the men, who were not charged.</p>
<p>"The circumstances surrounding the incident and the outcome in our store on Thursday were reprehensible ... they were wrong," Johnson told ABC's Good Morning America on Monday, amid protests and calls for a boycott on social media.</p> Slideshow (16 Images)
<p>The female manager who reported the men to police has left the company, a Starbucks representative said.</p>
<p>The incident came at a time when the company is grappling with flat traffic and lackluster sales growth at its more than 14,000 U.S. cafes. It is a high-profile public relations test for Johnson, a former technology executive who took the helm at Starbucks roughly a year ago.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=SBUX.O" type="external">Starbucks Corp</a> 59.43 SBUX.O Nasdaq -- (--%) SBUX.O
<p>Johnson, who was interviewed from Philadelphia, said it was "completely inappropriate to engage the police." He added that Starbucks would conduct training to prevent unconscious bias.</p>
<p>Representatives for the two men could not immediately be reached.</p>
<p>Protesters crowded the store that was the scene of the arrest on Monday morning. It was closed at around midday. More protests and a news conference are expected in the afternoon.</p>
<p>The Reverend Mark Tyler, part of an interfaith group organizing a protest on Monday afternoon, said he had not heard reports of similar issues at other area Starbucks. Still, he said, "the idea of black people being unwanted in downtown Philadelphia is not new ... this is the underbelly of gentrification."</p>
<p>Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; editing by Susan Thomas and Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Pennsylvania court could order new congressional map before 2018 midterms Gang dispute sparks deadliest U.S. prison riot in 25 years: official U.S. Interior chief's $12,000 charter flight 'could have been avoided': watchdog U.S. government watchdogs slam Trump Cabinet on spending Starbucks CEO says arrests of two black men 'reprehensible' | false | https://reuters.com/article/usa-politics-pennsylvania/refile-update-1-pennsylvania-court-could-order-new-congressional-map-before-2018-midterms-idUSL1N1PC1KZ | 2018-01-17 | 2 |
<p>The presidents of Sudan and South Sudan are meeting in Addis Ababa today as part of ongoing efforts to hammer out a border security deal that will permit the resumption of oil exports, <a href="http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/international/Sudan,_South_Sudan_leaders_meet_to_discuss_border_security,_oil_deal.html?cid=33573582" type="external">Reuters Africa</a> reported.</p>
<p>The meeting in the Ethiopian capital is timed to meet a deadline set by the United Nations Security Council, with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for "co-operation and mutual development" from both sides.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/120804/sudan-south-sudan-sign-oil-agreement" type="external">Sudan, South Sudan sign oil agreement</a></p>
<p>While delegations from the two countries have been in talks since the beginning of the month, today will mark the first time Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir has met his southern counterpart, Salva Kiir, in more than a year.</p>
<p>The UN has threatened sanctions if the talks do not produce a deal, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19686707" type="external">the BBC</a> reported, adding that Ban is urging Sudan to accept an African Union border plan that's already been agreed by South Sudan.</p>
<p>Sudan has objected to a demilitarized border zone running through a 14-mile long strip of grazing land, but ahead of the meeting between the presidents, Sudanese delegation spokesman Badr el-Din Abdallah said the north had "conditionally" accepted the deal.</p>
<p>"There is a proposal to accept this sector of the map with some special arrangements, military and administrative arrangements."</p>
<p>Last month, the Sudans reached an <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/120804/sudan-south-sudan-sign-oil-agreement" type="external">interim deal</a> to restart southern oil exports through Sudan to the Red Sea ports.&#160;</p> | Presidents of Sudan, South Sudan discuss border deal, amid threat of UN sanctions | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-09-24/presidents-sudan-south-sudan-discuss-border-deal-amid-threat-un-sanctions | 2012-09-24 | 3 |
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="/news/feature/1997/08/" type="external">the article</a></p>
<p>The Memo <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/memo5.html" type="external">p. 1</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/memo2.html" type="external">p. 2</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/memo3.html" type="external">p. 3</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/memo4.html" type="external">p. 4</a> – p. 5</p>
<p>The Survey <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/survey1.html" type="external">p. 1</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/survey2.html" type="external">p. 2</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/survey3.html" type="external">p. 3</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/survey4.html" type="external">p. 4</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/survey5.html" type="external">p. 5</a> – <a href="/news/feature/1997/08/survey6.html" type="external">p. 6</a></p>
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<p /> | The Memo (5 of 5) | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1997/08/memo-5-5/ | 1997-08-12 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Lifted by surprisingly solid sales from rebounding Europe, fast-food giant McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) easily beat the Street on Tuesday by saying its August same-store sales jumped nearly 2%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of the world’s largest hamburger chain rallied about 1% on the stronger-than-expected monthly sales figures.</p>
<p>McDonald’s said its global same-store sales increased 1.9% last month, which is more than four times above consensus estimates for a rise of just 0.4%.</p>
<p>The results were driven by a 3.3% leap in European sales, which had been expected to suffer a 0.7% decline. McDonald’s pointed to positive performance in the U.K., France and Russia that helped offset slumping sales in Germany.</p>
<p>McDonald’s credited the introduction of blended-ice beverages in the U.K. and said Europe’s “tepid economic environment” has led the blue-chip company to take a “holistic approach to building demand with a combination of reinvigorated value platforms and compelling limited-time menu choices.”</p>
<p>The European sales represent the latest evidence that the continent is finally rebounding following a years-long slump triggered by sovereign debt crises and a hangover from the 2008 crisis.</p>
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<p>On the other hand, the fast-food giant said U.S. comparable sales inched up just 0.2%, which is well below the Street’s view of 1.1%.</p>
<p>Sales in McDonald’s Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa division dropped 0.5% in August, surpassing forecasts from analysts for a steeper decline of 1.7%. Sales were negative in Japan, China and Australia, though “many other markets” had positive results, the company said.</p>
<p>“We remain confident in the fundamental strength of the McDonald's System and our ability to connect with customers and deliver the menu choices, value and convenience they expect from McDonald's,” CEO Don Thompson said in a statement.</p>
<p>Shares of Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s were recently trading up 0.89% to $97.31, setting them up to extend their subpar 2013 gain of 9%.</p> | Rebounding Europe Fuels 1.9% Rise in McDonald's August Sales | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/09/10/mcdonald-reports-1-increase-in-global-sales.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>Even after another month of strong hiring in June and a sinking unemployment rate, the U.S. job market just isn't what it used to be.</p>
<p>Pay is sluggish. Many part-timers can't find full-time work. And a diminished share of Americans either have a job or are looking for one.</p>
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<p>Yet in the face of global and demographic shifts, this may be what a nearly healthy U.S. job market now looks like.</p>
<p>An aging population is sending an outsize proportion of Americans into retirement. Many younger adults, bruised by the Great Recession, are postponing work to remain in school to try to become more marketable. Global competition and the increasing automation of many jobs are holding down pay.</p>
<p>Many economists think these trends will persist for years despite steady job growth. It helps explain why the Federal Reserve is widely expected to start raising interest rates from record lows later this year even though many job measures remain far below their pre-recession peaks.</p>
<p>"The Fed may recognize that this is a new labor-market normal, and it will begin to normalize monetary policy," said Patrick O'Keefe, an economist at accounting and consulting firm CohnReznick.</p>
<p>Thursday's monthly jobs report from the government showed that employers added a solid 223,000 jobs in June and that the unemployment rate fell to 5.3 percent from 5.5 percent in May. Even so, the generally improving job market still bears traits that have long been regarded as weaknesses. Among them:</p>
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<p>— A shrunken labor force.</p>
<p>The unemployment rate didn't fall in June because more people were hired. The rate fell solely because the number of people who had become dispirited and stopped looking for work far exceeded the number who found jobs.</p>
<p>The percentage of Americans in the workforce — defined as those who either have a job or are actively seeking one — dropped to 62.6 percent, a 38-year low, from 62.9 percent. (The figure was 66 percent when the recession began in 2007.) Fewer job holders typically means weaker growth for the economy. The growth of the labor force slowed to just 0.3 percent in 2014, compared with 1.1 percent in 2007.</p>
<p>"It is highly unlikely that we are going to see our (workforce) participation rate move anywhere near where it was in 2007," O'Keefe says.</p>
<p>This marks a striking reversal. The share of Americans in the workforce had been steadily climbing through early 2000, and a big reason was that more women began working. But that influx plateaued in the late 1990s and has drifted downward since.</p>
<p>— The retirement of the vast baby boom generation.</p>
<p>The aging population is restraining the growth of the workforce. The pace of retirements accelerated in 2008, when the oldest boomers turned 62, when workers can start claiming some Social Security benefits. Economists estimate that retirements account for about half the decline in the share of Americans in the workforce since 2000.</p>
<p>From that perspective, the nation as a whole is beginning to resemble retirement havens such as Florida. Just 59.3 percent of Floridians are in the workforce.</p>
<p>— Younger workers are starting their careers later.</p>
<p>Employers are demanding college degrees and even postgraduate degrees for a higher proportion of jobs. Mindful of this trend, teens and young people in their 20's are still reading textbooks when previous generations were punching time clocks.</p>
<p>The recession "basically told everybody that they need an education to get better jobs," says John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo. "So how would young people respond? They stayed in school."</p>
<p>Fewer than 39 percent of 18- and 19-year-olds are employed, down from 56 percent in 2000. For people ages 20 to 24, the proportion has fallen to 64 percent from 72 percent.</p>
<p>— The number of part-timers who would prefer full-time work remains high.</p>
<p>About 6.5 million workers are working part time but want full-time jobs, up from 4.6 million before the recession began. This is partly a reflection of tepid economic growth. But economists also point to long-term factors: Industries such as hotels and restaurants that hire many part-timers are driving an increasing share of job growth, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco have found.</p>
<p>As more young adults put off working, some employers are turning to older workers to fill part-time jobs. Older workers are more likely to want full-time work, raising the level of so-called involuntary part-time employment.</p>
<p>Many economists also point to the Obama administration's health care reforms for increasing part-time employment. The law requires companies with more than 100 employees to provide health insurance to those who work more than 30 hours.</p>
<p>Michael Feroli, an economist at JPMorgan Chase, says this could account for as much as one-third of the increase in part-time jobs.</p>
<p>— Weak pay growth.</p>
<p>The average hourly U.S. wage was flat in June at $24.95 and has risen just 2 percent over the past year. The stagnant June figure dispelled hopes that strong job growth in May heralded a trend of steadily rising incomes.</p>
<p>In theory, steady hiring is supposed to reduce the number of qualified workers who are still seeking jobs. And a tight supply of workers tends to force wages up.</p>
<p>Yet a host of factors have complicated that theory. U.S. workers are competing against lower-paid foreigners. And automation has threatened everyone from assembly line workers to executive secretaries.</p>
<p>Still, economists at Goldman Sachs forecast that average hourly pay will grow at an annual pace of about 3.5 percent by the end of 2016. That is a healthy pace. But it will have taken much longer to reach than in previous recoveries.</p> | Smaller workforce, more part-timers: Job market unlikely to return to former strength | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/07/03/smaller-workforce-more-part-timers-job-market-unlikely-to-return-to-former.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>The City of Detroit filed for bankruptcy today. Detroit’s experience is, perhaps, a harbinger of things to come. The city has been going downhill for years, largely due to persistently corrupt and incompetent governance. Mayors and city councilmen have resigned in disgrace or gone to jail. The city’s finances been woeful for a long time. Detroit’s population has plummeted by 63 percent. Seventy-eight thousand empty houses and commercial buildings blight the landscape. Crime is rampant.</p>
<p>It has been obvious for quite a few years that the city’s all-Democrat governing class is a disastrous failure. One might have thought that Detroit’s citizens, forced to experience first-hand the results of decades of liberal policies, might be willing to try something different, if only out of desperation. But no: the city hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 1961, and every current member of the City Council is a Democrat. (Two City Council positions are vacant because the city can’t afford to pay the salaries.) Detroit voters have been willing, apparently, to ride liberalism and the Democratic Party right down to the cellar. One wonders whether we will see the same stubborn commitment to failure in other cities and in states like Illinois and California that are stuck in a downward spiral.</p>
<p>You can read Detroit’s bankruptcy petition <a href="http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4208687718.PDF" type="external">here</a>. The most interesting thing in it, along with a long list of properties owned by the City that are “structurally unsound and in danger of collapse,” is Governor Rick Snyder’s letter approving the bankruptcy filing. His approval was required under Michigan law. The facts that Governor Snyder recites are shocking:</p>
<p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/powerline.wpengine.com/ed-assets/2013/07/SnyderPageOne.jpg" type="external" /> <a href="https://i0.wp.com/powerline.wpengine.com/ed-assets/2013/07/SnyderPageTwo.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Much has been written in recent years about the failure of the blue-state model. What remains to be seen is whether voters in blue states, and in blue cities like Detroit, have either the common sense or the will to recognize failure when they see it, and to try a different path, before it is too late.</p>
<p>UPDATE: In 2010, French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre published a remarkable book titled The Ruins of Detroit. You can see a number of images from the book <a href="http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2011/02/07/captured-the-ruins-of-detroit/2672/" type="external">here</a>. These pictures show us, I think, liberalism’s ultimate destination.</p>
<p>William Livingstone House</p>
<p>United Artists Theater</p>
<p>Fort Shelby Hotel</p>
<p>Fisher Body Plant</p>
<p>Michigan Central Station</p>
<p>East Side Public Library</p>
<p>If you want America’s future to look like this, then do what the residents of Detroit did: vote Democrat.</p> | Detroit Goes Bust [UPDATED With Photographs] | true | http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/07/detroit-goes-bust.php | 2013-07-18 | 0 |
<p>As you can see by the above tweets by French Ambassador Gerard Araud, the French are not very happy about the snide comment Jeb Bush directed at Marco Rubio last night when he said, “I mean, literally, the Senate — what is it, like a French work week? You get, like, three days where you have to show up?” Those Bushes, masters of foreign relations.</p> | French Ambassador To USA Slams Jeb Bush Over Work Week Comment Made To Rubio During Debate | true | http://joemygod.com/2015/10/29/french-ambassador-to-usa-slams-jeb-bush-over-work-week-comment-made-during-debate/ | 2015-10-29 | 4 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/texasgovernor/5465715588/"&gt;Texas Governor Rick Perry&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p />
<p>In early August,&#160;Texas Republican governor and possible presidential candidate Rick&#160;Perry will <a href="" type="internal">host a prayer summit</a> at Reliant Stadium in&#160;Houston. The event, dubbed “The Response” and funded by the American Family Association&#160;(which was labeled a “hate group” by the Southern&#160;Poverty Law&#160;Center), is designed to combat the economic, political, and spiritual crises facing the United States by returning the nation to its Biblical roots. The Response’s website proclaims,&#160;“There is hope for America. It lies in heaven, and we will find it on our knees.” And in a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-perry-join-me-pray-and-fast-jesus-did" type="external">video message</a> Perry sent out this week, he noted, “I’m inviting you to join your fellow Americans for a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our nation.” Perhaps Perry should have clarified what sort of “fellow Americans” he meant, for at this event only Christians will be allowed to share the podium with Perry.</p>
<p>Since the event was first announced in early June, organizers have suggested that it would be a great opportunity to <a href="" type="internal">convert non-Christians</a>. Now, they’ve gone even further:&#160;According to an email blasted out by The&#160;Response, only Christians will be permitted to speak at the non-denominational event. If representatives of other faiths (particularly Muslims) were to be included, the email noted, such inclusion would promote “idolatry.” In a <a href="http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=ym7lz8bab&amp;v=001dSc8ZL6S2HGwIadr5gXZCwrwuAcWidrJIQCilf0WmdIS6f8hDO2EvfU4VIZNJSalvX710Bhl6ZxOLoExf9WCnjd3ZtsAEPnnxcq-PKFsDW6RZBJRKnOS3U2XUm6VLGzvw6-C9hZszEcI2DyJ-LbU5n61nvPyr6rYsicmWPvaJnM%3D" type="external">message</a> sent out under The Response’s official letterhead, Allan Parker, one of Perry’s organizers, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/allowing-other-faiths-participate-gov-perrys-prayer-rally-would-be-idolatry-worst-sort" type="external">described</a> the event in less-than-ecumenical terms:</p>
<p>This is an explicitly Christian event because we are going to be praying to the one true God through His son, Jesus Christ. It would be idolatry of the worst sort for Christians to gather and invite false gods like Allah and Buddha and their false prophets to be with us at that time. Because we have religious liberty in this country, they are free to have events and pray to Buddha and Allah on their own. But this is time of prayer to the One True God through His son, Jesus Christ, who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life.</p>
<p>With this prayerfest, Perry is associating himself with rather radical folks. The American&#160;Family Association’s issues director, for instance, has said that gays are “Nazis” and that Muslims should be converted to Christianity. Another organizer, <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/rick-perry-partners-apostle-who-blames-america-september-11-attacks" type="external">Doug Stringer</a>, has said that 9/11 was God’s punishment for the nation’s creeping secularism. And then there’s Jay Swallow, whose endorsement is trumpeted on&#160;The&#160;Response’s website, and who runs “A Christian Military Training Camp for the purpose of dealing with the occult and territorial enemy strong holds in America”&#160;( <a href="http://www.2-rivers.com/2Riv_TrainingCourse.htm" type="external">his description</a>). Consequently, it’s not much of a mystery why only one of the nation’s other 49 governors has so far accepted Perry’s invitation to attend the event (Perry invited all of them)—arch-conservative Sam&#160;Brownback of Kansas.</p>
<p>Still, there may be a method to all this. In mid-2009, when it looked as if Perry’s chances of winning a third term as governor of Texas were completely shot, he made a tactical decision: He’d shift even further to the right and become an unabashed tea party cheerleader. Empty threats of secession? Check. Anti-stimulus crusading? Check. Bragging to reporters about shooting a coyote while on his morning jog? Check. It worked:&#160;After trailing GOP Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison by 30 points, he easily won a three-way primary and cruised to reelection. Perry defied reports of his demise by anticipating the coming tea-party wave and hopping on his surf board.</p>
<p>Now Perry is running for president—maybe—and looks to be adopting a similar approach: swerve to the far right. The GOP field is already crowded with conservatives (real and pretend), and that includes several who do appeal or who are trying to appeal to the religious right, such as Representative Michele Bachmann and former Senator Rick Santorum. Should Perry saddle up and enter the race, he will be in direct competition with a rising-in-the-polls Bachmann for these voters. Hosting an only-Christians-speak rally—which is sure to draw media attention and be much noticed by, say, Iowa Republican caucus attendees—will certainly give Perry a prayer of chance of rustling social conservative voters from the Bachmann ranch.</p>
<p /> | Rick Perry’s Christians-Only Prayerfest | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/06/rick-perrys-prayerfest-only-christians-allowed/ | 2011-06-30 | 4 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Google parent Alphabet Inc. outspent all other companies on lobbying Washington bureaucrats and politicians in 2017, a year in which it and other tech giants were hauled before legislators probing Russian influence in the 2016 election.</p>
<p>The search giant doled out $13.6 million on lobbying firms like Prime Policy Group and Gephardt Group, edging out the $13.2 million spent by AT&amp;T, which is facing government opposition to its takeover of Time Warner Inc. for $85 billion. The figures were compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.</p>
<p>Lawyers from Google, Facebook and Twitter were grilled by lawmakers the week of Nov. 1 for not preventing abuse of their platforms by Russian agents masquerading as Americans.</p>
<p>Alphabet’s spending actually fell 12 percent compared to 2016, but AT&amp;T also cut back.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Google parent Alphabet Inc. outspent all other companies on lobbying Washington bureaucrats and politicians in 2017, a year in which it and other tech giants were hauled before legislators probing Russian influence in the 2016 election.</p>
<p>The search giant doled out $13.6 million on lobbying firms like Prime Policy Group and Gephardt Group, edging out the $13.2 million spent by AT&amp;T, which is facing government opposition to its takeover of Time Warner Inc. for $85 billion. The figures were compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.</p>
<p>Lawyers from Google, Facebook and Twitter were grilled by lawmakers the week of Nov. 1 for not preventing abuse of their platforms by Russian agents masquerading as Americans.</p>
<p>Alphabet’s spending actually fell 12 percent compared to 2016, but AT&amp;T also cut back.</p> | Google parent tops big spenders on Washington lobbyists | false | https://apnews.com/4e3170c71829455ca537813e9980152f | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
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