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<p>BENTON, Ky. (AP) — The Latest on a fatal shooting at a Kentucky high school (all times local):</p>
<p>8 p.m.</p>
<p>Hundreds of people have thronged a park in Benton, Kentucky, where they've lit flickering candles for the victims of Tuesday's shooting at Marshall County High School in their rural community.</p>
<p>"It always happens somewhere else, you know, but this week it was our community," said Misti Drew, an organizer of the vigil, speaking Thursday evening with The Associated Press.</p>
<p>With faces aglow from the candles, participants lofted banners and some wore T-shirts embossed with the words, "Marshall Strong."</p>
<p>Shock and pain visibly etched the faces of many in the crowd as the community sought solidarity after Tuesday's shooting claimed the lives of two students. Several others were injured.</p>
<p>Drew said Thursday evening's vigil was all about healing after the unspeakable occurred.</p>
<p>"I think everybody has been visibly trying to find something positive; they are reaching for anything good to try and focus on," drew said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>4:40 p.m.</p>
<p>The mother of a girl killed in a shooting at a rural Kentucky high school says she got a call from her daughter just as the violence erupted.</p>
<p>Bailey Nicole Holt was one of two 15-year-old students at Marshall County High School killed in the Tuesday morning shootings.</p>
<p>Secret Holt says she frantically tried to call her daughter when she got a report of shootings at the school.</p>
<p>Secret Holt told WKRN-TV in Nashville she received a call from Bailey's phone but all she could hear "was voices and chaos in the background." She says she called her daughter's name over and over, but she never responded.</p>
<p>Police say a gunman walked into the commons area where many students gather before classes and started shooting.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>3:35 p.m.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman says a freshman at a southern Alabama high school fired shots into the air during an incident on the school campus.</p>
<p>Rena Phillips, from the Mobile County Public Schools district, says the incident happened at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Murphy High School in Mobile.</p>
<p>No one was wounded.</p>
<p>An administrator saw the gun and alerted other staffers. The student ran and the administrators chased him.</p>
<p>Phillips says he fired a couple of shots in the air and then put the gun down.</p>
<p>Mobile police took the 16-year-old student into custody. Phillips says he'll be suspended and recommended for expulsion.</p>
<p>When the shooting happened, the campus of roughly 1,700 students immediately went into lockdown and all the students were safe in classrooms, Phillips said.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>10:35 a.m.</p>
<p>A hospital spokeswoman in Nashville, Tennessee says two more victims of the Kentucky high school shooting have been released.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokeswoman Kristin Smart said Thursday that two male patients are still being treated -- one is in critical but stable condition and the other is in stable condition.</p>
<p>More than a dozen people were shot and two of them were killed in the rampage at Marshall County High School on Tuesday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:15 a.m.:</p>
<p>A 15-year-old accused killing two students and wounding multiple others in a Kentucky high school shooting is scheduled to make a court appearance in a closed proceeding.</p>
<p>Tracy Watwood, an investigator with the Marshall County attorney's office, says the suspect has an initial hearing scheduled in juvenile court on Thursday. Juvenile hearings are closed to the public.</p>
<p>Assistant Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnall said Wednesday that Kentucky law requires a probable cause and detention hearing to be held within 48 hours of apprehension. The shooting occurred Tuesday.</p>
<p>As the process unfolds, he said prosecutors plan to seek permission to try the teen as an adult.</p>
<p>The suspect faces preliminary charges of murder and assault while police investigate what might have prompted the mass shooting at Marshall County High School.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>9:45 p.m.</p>
<p>Stunned by a deadly school shooting, a grief-stricken Kentucky community is struggling to understand how one of its own could have unleashed such terror.</p>
<p>Police haven't publicly identified the 15-year-old accused of opening fire Tuesday at Marshall County High School. With few details coming from authorities, people are left to wonder what triggered the attack that killed two teenagers, injured 18 and sent others fleeing from a place many considered immune from violence.</p>
<p>Ashley Graham's daughter was a close friend of one of the students who died. Graham says "no one with compassion and love and of a clear head could walk in and just hurt so many people randomly."</p>
<p>On Wednesday, authorities said the suspect faces preliminary charges of murder and assault while police investigate what might have prompted the mass shooting.</p>
<p>BENTON, Ky. (AP) — The Latest on a fatal shooting at a Kentucky high school (all times local):</p>
<p>8 p.m.</p>
<p>Hundreds of people have thronged a park in Benton, Kentucky, where they've lit flickering candles for the victims of Tuesday's shooting at Marshall County High School in their rural community.</p>
<p>"It always happens somewhere else, you know, but this week it was our community," said Misti Drew, an organizer of the vigil, speaking Thursday evening with The Associated Press.</p>
<p>With faces aglow from the candles, participants lofted banners and some wore T-shirts embossed with the words, "Marshall Strong."</p>
<p>Shock and pain visibly etched the faces of many in the crowd as the community sought solidarity after Tuesday's shooting claimed the lives of two students. Several others were injured.</p>
<p>Drew said Thursday evening's vigil was all about healing after the unspeakable occurred.</p>
<p>"I think everybody has been visibly trying to find something positive; they are reaching for anything good to try and focus on," drew said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>4:40 p.m.</p>
<p>The mother of a girl killed in a shooting at a rural Kentucky high school says she got a call from her daughter just as the violence erupted.</p>
<p>Bailey Nicole Holt was one of two 15-year-old students at Marshall County High School killed in the Tuesday morning shootings.</p>
<p>Secret Holt says she frantically tried to call her daughter when she got a report of shootings at the school.</p>
<p>Secret Holt told WKRN-TV in Nashville she received a call from Bailey's phone but all she could hear "was voices and chaos in the background." She says she called her daughter's name over and over, but she never responded.</p>
<p>Police say a gunman walked into the commons area where many students gather before classes and started shooting.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>3:35 p.m.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman says a freshman at a southern Alabama high school fired shots into the air during an incident on the school campus.</p>
<p>Rena Phillips, from the Mobile County Public Schools district, says the incident happened at 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Murphy High School in Mobile.</p>
<p>No one was wounded.</p>
<p>An administrator saw the gun and alerted other staffers. The student ran and the administrators chased him.</p>
<p>Phillips says he fired a couple of shots in the air and then put the gun down.</p>
<p>Mobile police took the 16-year-old student into custody. Phillips says he'll be suspended and recommended for expulsion.</p>
<p>When the shooting happened, the campus of roughly 1,700 students immediately went into lockdown and all the students were safe in classrooms, Phillips said.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>10:35 a.m.</p>
<p>A hospital spokeswoman in Nashville, Tennessee says two more victims of the Kentucky high school shooting have been released.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokeswoman Kristin Smart said Thursday that two male patients are still being treated -- one is in critical but stable condition and the other is in stable condition.</p>
<p>More than a dozen people were shot and two of them were killed in the rampage at Marshall County High School on Tuesday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:15 a.m.:</p>
<p>A 15-year-old accused killing two students and wounding multiple others in a Kentucky high school shooting is scheduled to make a court appearance in a closed proceeding.</p>
<p>Tracy Watwood, an investigator with the Marshall County attorney's office, says the suspect has an initial hearing scheduled in juvenile court on Thursday. Juvenile hearings are closed to the public.</p>
<p>Assistant Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnall said Wednesday that Kentucky law requires a probable cause and detention hearing to be held within 48 hours of apprehension. The shooting occurred Tuesday.</p>
<p>As the process unfolds, he said prosecutors plan to seek permission to try the teen as an adult.</p>
<p>The suspect faces preliminary charges of murder and assault while police investigate what might have prompted the mass shooting at Marshall County High School.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>9:45 p.m.</p>
<p>Stunned by a deadly school shooting, a grief-stricken Kentucky community is struggling to understand how one of its own could have unleashed such terror.</p>
<p>Police haven't publicly identified the 15-year-old accused of opening fire Tuesday at Marshall County High School. With few details coming from authorities, people are left to wonder what triggered the attack that killed two teenagers, injured 18 and sent others fleeing from a place many considered immune from violence.</p>
<p>Ashley Graham's daughter was a close friend of one of the students who died. Graham says "no one with compassion and love and of a clear head could walk in and just hurt so many people randomly."</p>
<p>On Wednesday, authorities said the suspect faces preliminary charges of murder and assault while police investigate what might have prompted the mass shooting.</p> | The Latest: Hundreds in vigil for school shooting victims | false | https://apnews.com/amp/162a3e1d23e94d8885240faf32ddc30f | 2018-01-26 | 2 |
<p>The American Hospital Association wants the Senate to “go back to the drawing board.”</p>
<p>The public has only had the details of the Senate’s draft replacement for the Affordable Care Act, widely known as Obamacare, since this morning, and already healthcare professionals are agog.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a cadre of Republican Senators have been at work on the draft legislation for weeks under a shroud of secrecy, and grim predictions as to the reasons for the opacity are bearing out.</p>
<p>AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack,&#160;in&#160;a&#160; <a href="http://www.publicnow.com/view/1181A040D5EA7855716812E8036624FF09EADB47?2017-06-22-20:00:18+01:00-xxx7179" type="external">statement released Thursday afternoon</a> on the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017, lamented that the association’s goal of protecting health coverage for all Americans would be undermined by the legislation. “Unfortunately, the draft bill under discussion in the Senate” would lead to fewer Americans being&#160;covered, “particularly for our most vulnerable patients,” said Pollack.</p>
<p>The statement highlights likely “deep cuts to the Medicaid program that covers millions of Americans with chronic conditions such as cancer, along with the elderly and individuals with disabilities who need long-term services and support,” saying that “Medicaid cuts of this magnitude are unsustainable and will increase costs to individuals with private insurance.”</p>
<p>Already on&#160;June 16 the AHA urged the Senate “to make continued health care coverage a priority as it considers its health care legislation.”</p>
<p>“Health care coverage is vitally important to working Americans and their families,” Pollack&#160; <a href="http://send.aha.org/link.cfm?r=tZ-dxOFpVP_eV_1F__hvQQ~~&amp;pe=SDDYOoUBb59IPC3cUffTzvT_Dd-1TOcCa5ATBvVMRZMVXFZY3qQ-XgJKFS0tyPaWKzmjPRzZRFtokZiiSWvq1w~~" type="external">wrote</a>&#160;to senators.</p>
<p>“We therefore ask that the Senate protect our patients, and find ways to maintain coverage for as many Americans as possible by rejecting the AHCA, including its elimination of Medicaid expansion, untenable cuts to the Medicaid program, dilution of consumer protections, and inadequate tax credits for individuals purchasing coverage on the exchanges.”</p>
<p>The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals, including 5,000 hospitals, health care systems, networks, other providers of care and 43,000 individual members, according to the association’s website.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The American Hospital Association just responded to Trumpcare bill | true | http://resistancereport.com/news/american-hospital-association-just-responded-trumpcare-bill/ | 2017-06-22 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>That lightning-sparked fire south of Kearny ignited Monday and grew to about 518 acres by Wednesday when officials announced most evacuations had been lifted and containment reached 50 percent.</p>
<p>One home burned on the outskirts of Kearny, and firefighters said they had stopped the blaze’s progression.</p>
<p>“There will still be some smoke out there, just some interior pockets of fuel burning, but everything looks good,” said Carrie Dennett of the Arizona State Forestry Division.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Yarnell Hill Fire, where 19 members of the Prescott-based Granite Mountain Hotshots died, remained at 90 percent containment after burning about 13 square miles. Estimates of how many structures were destroyed ranged from 114 to 129, but officials couldn’t immediately provide an exact figure. Residents were allowed back in this week, and the road through the area reopened to the public on Wednesday. Fire officials were hoping to achieve full containment by Friday.</p>
<p>Jerry Florman, 63, and her husband, Kurt, 72, headed back to see what remained of their Yarnell home on Monday after being evacuated nearly a week earlier.</p>
<p>As the couple turned the corner onto their street, the reality of the devastation hit, Jerry Florman wrote in a column for The Arizona Republic.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Half of the homes on our street are gone,” she wrote.</p>
<p>“The fire burned through our acreage thoroughly, leaving behind a moonscape,” Florman added. “The house itself is a large pile of rubble … Very few things will be recovered from this devastation.”</p>
<p>The first funerals for the fallen firefighters began Wednesday, a day after thousands attended a memorial service for the men at a minor league hockey arena in nearby Prescott Valley.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Yarnell residents head back to homes | false | https://abqjournal.com/219712/yarnell-residents-head-back-to-homes.html | 2013-07-11 | 2 |
<p>Give peace a chance, the song urges.</p>
<p>But the United States won’t have it.</p>
<p>Olympic diplomacy seems to be working on the Korean peninsula. After a pair of South Korean envoys visited Pyongyang, they issued a promising communiqué. “The North Korean side clearly stated its willingness to denuclearize,” the statement said. Considering that the Korean crisis and a derpy emergency management official had Hawaiians jumping down manholes a few months ago, this news comes as a relief.</p>
<p>Then comes the rub. The South Korean statement continued: “[North Korea] made it clear that it would have no reason to keep nuclear weapons if the military threat to the North was eliminated and its security guaranteed [my emphasis].”</p>
<p>In other words, the DPRK is saying — reasonably — we’ll get rid of our nukes but only if you promise not to invade us. That guarantee would have to be issued by two countries: South Korea and the United States.</p>
<p>This would directly contradict long-standing U.S. foreign policy, which clearly and repeatedly states that the use of military force is always on the table when we don’t get our way in an international dispute.</p>
<p>Kim Jong-On has good reasons to be afraid of us. In a speech to the UN President Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea. President George W. Bush declared them a member of the “Axis of Evil”; we invaded and currently occupy Iraq, one of the two other supposed Evildoers. After deposing and enabling the execution of Iraq’s president. Last week Bush’s UN ambassador John Bolton published a legal argument for nuking North Korea without provocation.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, this is the soft side of U.S. foreign policy.</p>
<p>For decades South Korea has tried to deescalate its relationship with the North, not infrequently expressing its desire to end formal hostilities, which legally never ended after the Korean War, and move toward the long-term goal of a united Korea under a single government. And for decades the United States has stood in the way, awkwardly trying to look reasonable as it opposes peace. “We do not seek to accelerate reunification,” a State Department spokesman said recently.</p>
<p>To say the least.</p>
<p>“South-North talks are inextricably related to North Korea-United States relations,” South Korean President Kim Dae Jung said in 2001, after Bush canceled dialogue with the North. The South, dependent on more than 20,000 U.S. troops stationed along its northern border, was forced to suspend reunification talks too.</p>
<p>The Reagan Administration pressured its South Korean ally to break off reunification talks in 1985.</p>
<p>Nixon did the same thing in 1974. After Nixon’s resignation later that year, President Gerald Ford opposed a UN resolution to demilitarize the border by withdrawing U.S. troops.</p>
<p>Even Mr. Reasonable, Barack Obama, refused to listen to South Koreans who want peace (and to visit long-lost relatives in North Korea). Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice, Obama threatened to loose the dogs of war: “The United States of America will maintain the strongest military the world has ever known, bar none, always. That is what we do.” What Obama would not do was allow North and South Korea to sit down and work out their differences. Before talks, Obama said, North Korea would have to denuclearize. After which, of course, there would be no need for talks because, hey, regime change is fun!</p>
<p>Why, a sane person might ask at this point, would U.S. policymakers want to risk World War III over two countries that repeatedly say they want to make peace and get back together?</p>
<p>For my money a 2007 analysis by the geopolitical thinktank Stratfor comes closest to explaining what’s really going on inside the Beltway: “The basic global situation can be described simply. The United States has overwhelming power. It is using that power to try to prevent the emergence of any competing powers. It is therefore constantly engaged in interventions on a political, economic and military level. The rest of the world is seeking to limit and control the United States. No nation can do it alone, and therefore there is a constant attempt to create coalitions to contain the United States. So far, these coalitions have tended to fail, because potential members can be leveraged out of the coalition by American threats or incentives.”</p>
<p>The U.S. is the Great Global Disruptor. “As powers emerge, the United States follows a three-stage program. First, provide aid to weaker powers to contain and undermine emerging hegemons. Second, create more formal arrangements with these powers. Finally, if necessary, send relatively small numbers of U.S. troops to Eurasia to block major powers and destabilize regions.” For example, Iran is the emerging hegemon in the Middle East. The U.S. undermines Iran with trade sanctions, props up rivals like Saudi Arabia with aid, and deploys U.S. troops next door in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>Similarly the U.S. keeps China off-balance by propping up Taiwan and setting up new U.S. bases in the region. We play India against Pakistan, Europe against Russia.</p>
<p>A united Korea would create a new power center, potentially a new economic rival, to the U.S. in the Pacific Rim. So the U.S. uses threats (“totally destroy”) against the North and incentivizes the South (free border security).</p>
<p>It would almost be funny if it wasn’t so sick. Here’s to the day the two Koreas see through us.</p> | Why Does the U.S. Hate Peace? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2018/03/09/why-does-the-u-s-hate-peace/ | 2018-03-09 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Salary is important: If your employees don't make enough to pay the rent, they'll be looking for other opportunities in no time.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But it might not be the most important form of compensation. According to Glassdoor's employment confidence survey from Q3 of last year, the overwhelming majority of employees ��� 79 percent ��� would prefer new and better perks and benefits over a pay raise. That number is even higher for younger workers: 89 percent of those aged 18-34 and 84 percent of those aged 35-44 value perks and benefits over paychecks. The majority of older workers agree ��� just not in such high numbers.</p>
<p>Specifically want kind of perks and benefits do employees want? The folks at SnackNation, which aims to provide healthy snacks to workplaces, used Glassdoor's survey to create an infographic that outlines 16 perks that employees want more than they want higher salaries. Check it out below if you need some ideas about how to make your employees happier at work ��� and thus more likely to perform at higher levels and stick around for longer:</p> | 16 Perks That Are Better Than Pay Raises | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/06/01/16-perks-that-are-better-than-pay-raises.html | 2016-06-06 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Vox’s Matthew Yglesias ( <a href="http://www.vox.com/2016/4/25/11502484/goldman-sachs-bank" type="external">4/25/16</a>) gave a generous write-up to Goldman Sachs’ new commercial banking subsidiary, GS Bank, without noting that Goldman Sachs is a sponsor of Vox.</p>
<p>Despite the obligatory “to be sure” paragraph, where Yglesias ran through some of the downsides (“they don’t have a checking account and there’s no ATM access”), the post mostly served to promote a new product “for the masses” from Goldman Sachs, a company <a href="https://www.google.com/finance?q=NYSE:GS&amp;fstype=ii&amp;ei=CCL6UNCILIrCkgXZeA" type="external">worth roughly $87 billion</a>. &#160;One section in particular was glowing:</p>
<p>What Goldman Sachs has that other online banks don’t is a widely recognized brand name built on excellence in other dimensions of financial services that could help further push internet banking beyond the early adopter demographic.</p>
<p>“A widely recognized brand name built on excellence” would probably not be how the thousands <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/business/dealbook/goldman-to-pay-5-billion-to-settle-claims-of-faulty-mortgages.html" type="external">it defrauded with faulty mortgages</a> would describe Goldman Sachs.</p>
<p>Another section that defended the world’s second-largest investment bank against “populist” critics concerned about the merger of investment and retailing banking was equally eyebrow-raising:</p>
<p>For fear of looking like pawns of Wall Street, they won’t come out and say this loudly, but [moderate Democrats] quietly think that it’s safer to have an economy dominated by well-balanced universal banks like JPMorgan Chase than by institutions that focus on a narrow set of business lines. Both the Canadian and European banking systems are dominated by universal banks, and during the 2007 crisis universal banks were more stable than narrower banks.</p>
<p>Missing from this report was any disclosure that Goldman Sachs is a <a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/voxs-the-weeds" type="external">sponsor</a> of Vox’s podcast, The Weeds, co-costed by Yglesias. How much exactly Goldman Sachs pays Vox Media is unknown, but any amount should compel the “new media” company to note this fact when reporting on Goldman Sachs — especially when it’s promoting both its economic and political bottom line.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/panoply/voxs-the-weeds/e/why-inequality-matters-trumps-delegate-problem-and-the-geography-43776668" type="external">One of those Goldman-sponsored podcasts</a> last week also served the investment bank’s interests: After much hand-wringing, the episode argued that raising income taxes on the super-wealthy didn’t actually do much to reduce inequality, with Yglesias asserting, “It is not a great idea to adopt an ‘inequality’ focus.” While it’s possible this conclusion may have been arrived at in good faith, it’s easy to see why Goldman Sachs—whose partners are worth an <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/study-points-to-windfall-for-goldman-partners/?_r=0" type="external">average of $24 million</a> — would be interested in sponsoring a media company that aggressively argues against radical redistributive policies.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Last fall, the same week Vox’s podcast made an earlier argument <a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/10/23/9604876/the-weeds-income-inequality" type="external">against higher income taxes on the rich</a>, Vox ran another Goldman Sachs puff piece: “Goldman Sachs Paid to Expand Pre-K in Utah. It Worked” ( <a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/10/19/9568639/social-impact-bonds-utah" type="external">10/19/15</a>), education reporter Libby Nelson’s glowing 870-word portrayal of Goldman Sachs as an educator of disadvantaged children. There was no disclosure in that piece, either, that Goldman was a Vox sponsor.</p>
<p>Vox Media, which <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/13/business/media/nbcuniversal-invests-200-million-in-vox-media.html?_r=0" type="external">landed a $200 million investment</a> last August from Comcast (the same cable giant that helped seed it back in <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/sportsblogs-inc-scores-7-million-in-2nd-round/" type="external">2009</a> and <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2012/04/27/comcast-ups-stakes-in-vox-snagfilms.html" type="external">2012</a>), has had previous disclosure problems. A Vox “explainer” last September ( <a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/9/8/9276655/cable-bill-high-why" type="external">9/8/15</a>; FAIR.org, <a href="" type="internal">9/9/15</a>) asserted that “cable bundling almost certainly saves customers money in aggregate,” singling out Comcast as a company that “may not be much loved by its customers, but it has the weight of their collective voice in its bargaining over carriage fees.” And Vox’s repeated attacks on single-payer healthcare (FAIR.org, <a href="" type="internal">1/30/16</a>) failed to mention that Comcast is a major investor in for-profit healthcare technology companies.</p>
<p>Vox, which ironically <a href="http://therealdeal.com/2015/11/12/vox-nears-deal-for-nyc-office-at-85-broad/" type="external">announced last November</a> that it will be moving into Goldman Sachs’ old address at 85 Broad Street in New York, has had an advertising relationship with the investment bank that dates back to at least late 2014, when Vox’s Creative team <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Vox/posts/282969995223943" type="external">made content</a> for Goldman Sachs to promote its energy investments.</p>
<p>Readers have a right to know when writers are covering their sponsors, especially when that coverage is broadly positive and dovetails with the economic and ideological interests of the company in question.</p>
<p>Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst for FAIR.org. Follow him on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/adamjohnsonnyc" type="external">@AdamJohnsonNYC</a>.</p>
<p>You can contact Vox <a href="http://www.vox.com/contact" type="external">here</a> (or via Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/voxdotcom" type="external">@VoxDotCom</a>). Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Vox’s Puff Piece on Goldman Sachs Doesn’t Reveal Goldman Sponsors Vox | true | http://fair.org/home/voxs-puff-piece-on-goldman-sachs-doesnt-reveal-goldman-sponsors-vox/ | 2016-04-27 | 4 |
<p />
<p>If there has been one thing to love about Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY) year in and year out, it's been the big drugmaker's dividend. With a current yield of 2.67%, investors still have reason to show the love. But there is something that might seem scary to some investors -- the company's ability to keep the dividends flowing at current levels. Are those fears warranted?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Bristol-Myers Squibb currently uses more than three-quarters of its earnings to fund shareholder dividends. Is that good? No, but it could be worse. In fact, it has been worse in the recent past.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/BMY/payout_ratio" type="external">BMY payout ratio (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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<p>Over the last five years, Bristol-Myers Squibb's dividend payout ratio has experienced wild swings. This is a direct result of similarly large fluctuations in the company's earnings.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/BMY/net_income_ttm" type="external">BMY net income (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a>.</p>
<p>While Bristol-Myers Squibb's earnings were gyrating up and down, the drugmaker continued to steadily increase its dividend payments. Can dividends keep going up while earnings rise and fall with no clear trajectory? Not indefinitely.</p>
<p>The reality is that Bristol-Myers Squibb isn't paying its dividends solely from earnings now. If we look at the company's cash flow activity from the first three quarters of 2016, Bristol didn't have enough earnings to fully cover its dividend.</p>
<p>Data source: Bristol-Myers Squibb 10-Q. Chart by author.</p>
<p>Bristol-Myers Squibb's net earnings of over $3.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2016 were whittled down significantly by several factors, including taxes, changes in accounts receivable, and a big divestiture impact. This left the company with a little over $1.4 billion in net cash provided by operating activities.</p>
<p>Dividend payments in the first three quarters of 2016 cost roughly $1.9 billion. Bristol also repurchased $231 million of stock during this period. While the company borrowed some and issued $144 million of common stock, its net cash used in financing activities was still over $1.8 billion -- primarily due to its dividend.</p>
<p>To cover the dividend payments, Bristol-Myers Squibb had to generate additional cash. The company did so mainly by selling marketable securities and by divesting assets. The biggest divestiture was the sale of its HIV pipeline program to Viiv Healthcare, a joint venture owned by Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline.</p>
<p>Can Bristol-Myers Squibb continue to fund its dividend payments by selling off its investments and assets? Again, not indefinitely.</p>
<p>Should investors be afraid that Bristol-Myers Squibb's dividend could be in jeopardy? I don't think so, but it depends largely on how well Opdivo performs.</p>
<p>Sales for the cancer drug are soaring. In the first three quarters of 2016, Opdivo generated $2.46 billion in revenue. Peak sales for the drug at one point topped $13 billion. Now, though, industry observers aren't quite as optimistic.</p>
<p>That's because Opdivo disappointed in a late-stage clinical study evaluating the drug as a first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Merck, on the other hand, saw its Keytruda post glowing results in a late-stage study for the indication. Wall Street analysts now think that Keytruda will be a bigger winner than previously projected, while Opdivo's peak sales estimates were revised downward to the tune of roughly $3 billion.</p>
<p>Even with the lower estimate for Opdivo, Bristol-Myers Squibb should experience solid earnings growth over the next several years. The company thinks that it will be able to expand indications for Opdivo by combining it with other drugs. If Bristol is right (and I suspect it is), investors should be able to keep on loving the drugmaker's dividend for years to come.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Bristol-Myers Squibb When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=90aa6f0a-1bd6-4930-bad6-a0954915734b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Bristol-Myers Squibb wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=90aa6f0a-1bd6-4930-bad6-a0954915734b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFishBiz/info.aspx" type="external">Keith Speights Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | The Scariest Thing About Bristol-Myers Squibb's Dividend | true | http://foxbusiness.com/investing/2017/01/05/scariest-thing-about-bristol-myers-squibb-dividend.html | 2017-01-05 | 0 |
<p>At Sarah Palin’s Tea Party Convention speech in Nashville, she was careful to say that the Tea Party movement has no leader and should remain that way- a leaderless, spontaneous, grassroots movement of the people. But without an official organization, platform, or leader, the Tea Party movement finds itself struggling to find an identity, a definition, and a common purpose. What is the Tea Party?</p>
<p>The Tea Party’s lack of leadership should pose no problem for the astute observer in determining its nature and purpose. While it may be without an official platform, it does certainly have an implicit one. If the Tea Party is a spontaneous, grassroots movement, then we simply need to determine the central message of the Tea Party’s “collective mind.” And while there may be differences of opinion among various “Tea Partiers” and myriad pet causes within the movement, there is one central message that emerges from what seems like a cacophony.</p>
<p>All we have to do to hear that message is look at the Tea Party’s name. Of all the different things to call itself, of all the different ways to frame its cause, the theme that emerged from the collective dissatisfaction of its activists was the Boston Tea Party of 1773. It is around this event and symbol that the Tea Partiers rallied. So with all their many differences and even disagreements, the one thing they all agree to is that America needs another Tea Party.&#160; What happened on December 16, 1773- that needs to happen again.</p>
<p>What happened at the first Boston Tea Party? Here’s the story: The English had fought a very expensive war against the French to expand its global empire. The global economy was shaky. English taxes and regulations were strangling its economy, and the East India Trading Company was about to run out of money (you know- suffer a near-term liquidity crisis?). Since it was “too big to fail”, the English decided to pass a bailout bill- the Tea Act, which imposed a tax on the American people. Angry that they had been taxed without representation, they refused to pay the tax. When told that the English tea ships wouldn’t leave the harbor until their cargo was unloaded, the people of Boston disguised themselves as Native Americans and dumped the tea overboard.</p>
<p>What does this tell us about the Tea Party of today? That whatever other differences they may have, the people who felt enough like the Bostonian dissidents in 1773 to name themselves after the Tea Party, are united in their outrage against extravagant spending (just look at our deficit), corporate welfare (like the TARP bill), taxation without representation (which happens every day at the Federal Reserve Bank), and a distant, disinterested government (yes, that would be Washington D.C.). This is what the Tea Party is about. It is primarily a movement opposed to confiscatory taxes used to reward corporate lobbying. It is a movement opposed to that two-headed monster- Big Corporations and Big Government- which threatens to devour the vast part of the fruits of American labor.</p>
<p>So anyone who tells you that the Tea Party is about a stronger national defense, getting tough on illegal immigration, maintaining a strategic military alliance with the nation of Israel, fighting a crusade against Islamic militants, making sure America remains One Nation Under God, or making sure the Republican Party takes back Washington- is simply mistaken. That was not the spirit, purpose, or nature of the original Tea Party in Boston, and neither is it the spirit, purpose, or nature of that collective grassroots voice that said “Enough is enough! We need another Tea Party.”</p>
<p>*Editor’s note:&#160; For a closer look at the origin of the modern tea party, as well as a more critical perspective of its current manifestation, click <a href="http://caivn.org/article/2010/02/04/sarah-palin-and-rand-paul-are-having-tea-party" type="external">here</a>.</p> | What is the Tea Party? | false | https://ivn.us/2010/02/12/what-tea-party/ | 2010-02-12 | 2 |
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<p>A Las Cruces man accused of giving his 6-year-old son detailed instructions in building explosives and threatening to kill the boy’s mother has been arrested, the <a href="http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_15467911" type="external">Las Cruces Sun-News</a> reported.</p>
<p>The newspaper said Anthony Stromberg, 44, was jailed in Las Cruces on Thursday under a $150,000 bond. Stromberg was charged with child abuse but Las Cruces police said more charges are possible, according to the Sun-News.</p>
<p>Stromberg, a heavy-equipment operator, allegedly taught his son how to build explosives, which they would then take to the desert to detonate, the newspaper reported.</p>
<p>According to the Sun-News, Stromberg and the boy’s 26-year-old mother do not live together but share custody of the child. The newspaper said detectives have learned that after an argument with the boy’s mother two weeks ago, Stromberg allegedly told the child that he was going to kidnap his mother and shoot her.</p>
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<p>The Associated Press reported that authorities say the boy confided in an adult, who alerted police.</p>
<p>The Sun-News said that according to court records, Stromberg had a warrant out for his arrest for driving with a suspended license and is facing charges of aggravated drunken driving from last October. The newspaper also reported that Stromberg was convicted in 2006 on charges of theft, battery against a household member, resisting arrest and assaulting a law enforcement officer.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Father Accused of Teaching 6-Year-Old Son How To Build Explosives | false | https://abqjournal.com/8312/father-accused-of-teaching-6-year-old-son-how-to-build-explosives.html | 2 |
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<p>According to POLITICO, Vice President Mike Pence just issued a game-changing statement that is bound to infuriate President Trump. Pence broke with President Trump on the issue of the travel ban when he told ABC that Judge James Robart "certainly" had the authority to halt Trump's travel ban.</p>
<p>"He certainly does, and that's why the administration is complying with that order as we speak"</p>
<p>Vice President's Pence's statement was in response to a ruling made on Friday that placed a temporary hold on Trump's Muslim ban. Moreover, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department have obeyed the order.</p>
<p>Pence said that the administration would appeal the judge's decision and insisted that the order was solely to protect the American people.</p>
<p>"And we'll go through the process in the courts to get a stay of that order, so that again, we can implement this action that is entirely focused on the safety and security of the American people."</p>
<p>On Sunday, a federal appeals court rejected the Justice Department's request to overturn Robart's ban.</p>
<p>On Saturday, Trump took to Twitter to attack Robart calling the Bush appointee a "so-called judge."</p>
<p>"The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!"</p>
<p>"What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S."?</p>
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<p>So, now Vice President Mike Pence seems like the reasonable one. Whereas, Trump's attack on Robart shows that he has no respect for the judiciary's role in determining the legality of laws and executive orders.</p> | Vice President Mike Pence Revolts Against Trump With Game-Changing Statement, Trump Is Furious | true | http://liberalplug.com/2017/02/05/vice-president-mike-pence-revolts-trump-game-changing-statement-trump-furious/ | 4 |
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<p>CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — Police in Chandler says an officer has suffered minor injuries after being dragged by a car and a search is on for the suspect.</p>
<p>They say patrol officer made a traffic stop on a vehicle in the vicinity of Arizona Avenue and Riggs Road about 4:15 p.m. Monday.</p>
<p>A few minutes after making the stop, the officer yelled a distress code from his radio.</p>
<p>Police originally reported that the officer was shot, but now say he was dragged by the suspect's vehicle.</p>
<p>They say the 27-year-old suspect fled the scene in the vehicle onto the Gila River Indian Reservation.</p>
<p>The man was last seen walking through the desert west of State Route 587 and police are searching for him.</p>
<p>CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — Police in Chandler says an officer has suffered minor injuries after being dragged by a car and a search is on for the suspect.</p>
<p>They say patrol officer made a traffic stop on a vehicle in the vicinity of Arizona Avenue and Riggs Road about 4:15 p.m. Monday.</p>
<p>A few minutes after making the stop, the officer yelled a distress code from his radio.</p>
<p>Police originally reported that the officer was shot, but now say he was dragged by the suspect's vehicle.</p>
<p>They say the 27-year-old suspect fled the scene in the vehicle onto the Gila River Indian Reservation.</p>
<p>The man was last seen walking through the desert west of State Route 587 and police are searching for him.</p> | Chandler police: Patrol officer injured when dragged by car | false | https://apnews.com/amp/2a6b6ae713ab49f1b049db9d01b67bfe | 2018-01-09 | 2 |
<p>If enacted, California could be disproportionately affected by a proposed annual tax in the national health overhaul legislation. &#160;A fine-print provision in the Senate bill would tax health insurers, such as Kaiser Permanente, while exempting plans offered by large employers who pay their employees’ medical claims. &#160;Don Crane, chief executive of the California Association of Physician Groups, stated, “It’s a real killer for California. &#160;Why should California pay more for healthcare reform than, say, Idaho or New York? &#160;It’s not fair.” &#160;The proposed <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/18/MN5S1BE2MF.DTL" type="external">tax</a>, which targets “fully insured” plans, could potentially cause the golden state to pay 33% more per capita than the average state since 77% of Californians are enrolled in fully insured plans, compared to 48% nationwide.</p>
<p>Critics who support healthcare reform in general but oppose the tax plan, claim that ultimately, the consumers will be forced to pay even higher premiums. &#160;Small businesses and the self-employed would be hit especially hard, amounting to what many call a “middle-class tax increase”. &#160;Tom Epstein, VP of Blue Shield of California, said, “It’s really a middle-class tax increase. &#160;It’s more clearly a middle-class tax increase than any source of revenue in the bill.” &#160;Stanford University economist, Alain Enthoven, also voiced his concern about the potential tax stating, “What’s happening is this tax is going to be falling on the more cost-efficient, organized systems of care.”</p>
<p>In a late change to the Senate bill, though, legislators offered fully insured health policies a tax exemption if it could be proven that they paid a significant percentage of their premiums on medical care instead of administrative costs. &#160;At this time, big insurers such as Kaiser and Blue Shield are either uncertain or skeptical whether they’d qualify for the exemption.</p>
<p>Proponents of the tax claim that any cost increase would prove insignificant, and according to Elizabeth McGlynn, associate director of health at the Rand Corp., “It is quite likely that whatever increases are attributed to that are offset by decreases from other aspects of the bill.” &#160;Proponents also claim that California will likely disproportionately benefit from healthcare overhaul since expanded coverage will be available to the state’s large pool of uninsured.</p>
<p>Considering that California is facing $83 billion worth of budget deficits over the next four years, paying <a href="http://caivn.org/article/2010/01/04/nebraska-compromise-and-california-killer" type="external">$50-$100 billion</a> a year in unfunded federal mandates, largely as a result of the <a href="http://caivn.org/issue/alternative-minimum-income-tax" type="external">Alternative Minimum Tax</a> (AMT), and suffering under a dismal 12% unemployment rate, a new healthcare tax could prove punishing to the state’s economic viability. &#160;Yet another tax hike, coupled with the potential for higher healthcare premiums, would likely stymie employee hiring in the private sector, exacerbate healthcare inflation, reduce consumer spending, stunt economic growth, and add to the crushing deficits. Perhaps proponents of healthcare reform should take a long, hard look at the potential consequences of a newly instituted tax, particularly when it comes to the most populous state in the union. &#160;</p>
<p>And here’s a big-picture perspective to consider as well. &#160;Proponents of national healthcare overhaul should consider the following. &#160;President Obama just requested a record <a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100113/D9D6RFGG1.html" type="external">$708 billion</a> military budget, including an additional $33 billion for the latest buildup in Afghanistan. &#160;This defense budget is larger than any that President Bush ever proposed. &#160;If healthcare reform is deemed such a vital priority, then why is the nation simultaneously spending 3/4 of a trillion dollars on military operations around the world? &#160;I addressed this clear cut contradiction in my recent post, <a href="http://caivn.org/article/2010/01/18/watershed-moment" type="external">A watershed moment</a>. &#160;Simply put, America does not have the money to do both. &#160;Its $1.4 trillion deficit and $12 trillion national debt demand a choice. Either healthcare is this nation’s top priority or military spending is this nation’s top priority. &#160;</p>
<p>Making both a top priority runs the risk of a future <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZA0qNsf4m0&amp;feature=pyv&amp;ad=3723781624&amp;kw=collapse" type="external">Dollar collapse</a>, a sovereign default, or decades of poor economic growth, turning America into a debt-laden, second tier global player. Healthcare reform proponents should confront its current leadership on this glaring contradiction before it’s too late.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Healthcare reform could punish California | false | https://ivn.us/2010/01/19/healthcare-reform-could-punish-california/ | 2010-01-19 | 2 |
<p>The major benchmarks were mixed today, though the indexes barely budged from where they began. Sentiment was muted as investors digested the devastation wrought on the U.S. Gulf Coast by Hurricane Harvey, which dumped 16 inches of rain on Houston within the first 24 hours while producing sustained winds that exceeded 130 miles per hour.&#160;Adding to the gloom was bad news from a number of individual companies. Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE), Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK), and Genesco Inc. (NYSE: GCO) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of Expedia fell 4.5% today on reports that CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has been selected by Uber's board to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/28/ubers-new-ceo-has-a-daunting-to-do-list.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=49c42e76-8c2d-11e7-90ba-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">head the troubled ride-hailing company Opens a New Window.</a>.&#160;The offer has been confirmed in an email sent to Expedia employees by Chairman Barry Diller. The note indicated that Khosrowshahi was expected to accept the offer.</p>
<p>Expedia shareholders have done well during Khosrowshahi's tenure with the travel-services company. In the 12 years since he took the helm, the company's revenue has more than quadrupled, from $2.1 billion in 2005 to $8.7 billion in 2016, and its stock price has tripled, doubling the performance of the broader market.</p>
<p>Khosrowshahi will have his work cut out for him at the embattled start-up. Uber's previous CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick left under a cloud following a <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/06/21/why-ubers-investors-pushed-its-visionary-ceo-to-qu.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=49c42e76-8c2d-11e7-90ba-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">series of scandals Opens a New Window.</a> that included allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and theft of intellectual property.</p>
<p>After falling more than 5%, shares of Chesapeake Energy Corporation recovered slightly to end the day down 3.7%, as refiners in the Gulf Coast went offline due to Hurricane Harvey. The Category 4 storm caused massive flooding, and heavy rains are expected to continue for several more days. Chesapeake said that production would decline as the company -- like many in the area -- was forced to suspend operations. The company shut down drilling and delayed the completion of fracking wells in the Eagle Ford shale as a result of the storm. Chesapeake expects lower production volumes until it can resume its Gulf Coast operations, though no word yet on when that might be.</p>
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<p>Harvey, which has since been downgraded to a tropical storm, has shuttered 11% of U.S. refining capacity and 25% of oil production that occurs in the Gulf of Mexico, and questions remain regarding any potential damage to the region's energy infrastructure.</p>
<p>Finally, Genesco stock fell 8.8% after the release of a negative analyst note. The maker of footwear and apparel was downgraded today by Susquehanna, which cut its rating on the company from positive to neutral, while lowering its price target from $43 to $29. Analyst Sam Poser pointed to increased promotional activity for athletic footwear, fearing the trend will only intensify. He also charged that the company's Journeys stores are <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/05/25/why-genesco-inc-stock-plunged-today.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=49c42e76-8c2d-11e7-90ba-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">responding too slowly Opens a New Window.</a> to rapidly changing consumer preferences.</p>
<p>The athletic footwear sector has been under pressure lately, as a number of retailers have reported declining sales due to the pressure e-commerce has put on retail. This comes as Genesco is scheduled to release the results of its fiscal 2018 second quarter on Aug. 31.</p>
<p>Offer from The Motley Fool: The 10 best stocks to buy nowMotley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the S&amp;P 500!*</p>
<p>Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/sa-bbn-usat?aid=8867&amp;source=isausttxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6830&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=49c42e76-8c2d-11e7-90ba-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here to get access to the full list! Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of August 1, 2017.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFLifeIsGood/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=49c42e76-8c2d-11e7-90ba-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Danny Vena Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=49c42e76-8c2d-11e7-90ba-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Expedia, Chesapeake Energy, and Genesco Slumped Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/28/why-expedia-chesapeake-energy-and-genesco-slumped-today.html | 2017-08-28 | 0 |
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<p>David Corn joined host Al Sharpton on <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755884/#46945412" type="external">MSNBC’s Politics Nation</a> to discuss President Obama’s recent criticism of <a href="" type="internal">Paul Ryan’s budget</a>, what Romney’s support of the budget means for his candidacy, and how the <a href="" type="internal">budget would hurt America’s poor</a>.</p>
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<p>David Corn is Mother Jones’ Washington bureau chief. For more of his stories, <a href="" type="internal">click here</a>. He’s also on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/davidcorndc" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p>
<p /> | Corn on MSNBC: Obama Goes After the Ryan Budget | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/corn-msnbc-obama-goes-after-ryan-budget/ | 2012-04-04 | 4 |
<p>Willard Sterne Randall is a biographer of Benjamin and William Franklin, of Benedict Arnold, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Ethan Allen, and he has co-authored collections of biographies and e-books with his wife, the biographer and award-winning poet, Nancy Nahra. His newest book is&#160;called UNSHACKLING AMERICA: How the War of 1812 Truly Ended the American Revolution.</p>
<p>Willard will be in <a href="" type="internal">The Hive on Wednesday, June 28th at 1 PM EST</a> for a chat on colonial American history, where he can discuss the continuing the impact the Founding Fathers have in today’s political sphere. <a href="" type="internal">Submit your questions</a> at any time or join us on Wednesday!&#160;If you’d like to participate but don’t have TPM Prime, sign up <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p> | US Historian Willard Randall hosting Q&A in the Hive, Wed. @1PM | true | http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/live-chat-willard-randall | 4 |
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<p>Shares of&#160;Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc.&#160;(NASDAQ: BUFF) were looking healthier last month as the high-end pet food maker rose on a strong second-quarter earnings report.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The stock jumped 6.6% on Aug. 8, sparking a rally that led the stock to gain 15% for the month, according to data from <a href="https://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>. As the chart below shows, the stock rose steadily following the earnings report.</p>
<p>Blue Buffalo said adjusted earnings per share increased from $0.19 to $0.21, matching estimates. However, revenue growth was sluggish, increasing 2.8% to $294.8 million, which was short of the analyst consensus of $302.5 million, but the stock rose anyway as the company offered solid guidance for the year and a plan for growing sales.</p>
<p>CEO Billy Bishop said, "We are excited to expand the distribution of our BLUE Life Protection Formula line with a launch in four leading mass and grocery retailers," <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/11/target-is-going-after-the-four-legged-market.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=07db7f08-933c-11e7-b23c-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">including Target Opens a New Window.</a>, and said the company would match its strategy to each of its retail partners' needs.</p>
<p>Management also announced a $50 million share buyback program, which may also have encouraged shareholders.</p>
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<p>The pet supply company called for full-year revenue of $1.24 billion-$1.27 billion, better than estimates at the time of $1.24 billion, and guided EPS at $0.91-$0.94, compared to expectations at $0.92.</p>
<p>Blue Buffalo shares have had a middling performance in the public markets since debuting in 2015. The gourmet pet supply market is becoming increasingly competitive with the likes of&#160;Freshpet and others looking to expand their reach as well. With Blue Buffalo now calling for just single-digit revenue growth this year, investors shouldn't expect last month's rally to continue.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Blue Buffalo Pet ProductsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=170e1aa7-0530-4004-b924-5b61a4bdf322&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=07db7f08-933c-11e7-b23c-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Blue Buffalo Pet Products wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=07db7f08-933c-11e7-b23c-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=07db7f08-933c-11e7-b23c-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc. Jumped 15% Last Month | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/07/why-blue-buffalo-pet-products-inc-jumped-15-last-month.html | 2017-09-07 | 0 |
<p>Cops in Cleveland had to extinguish a Republican convention protester on Wednesday after he inadvertently set himself on fire while trying to burn the American flag.</p>
<p>Video uploaded to YouTube by the nonprofit organization We Are Change features activists lighting the American flag on fire before cops descend on their position.</p>
<p>One cop yelled, “You’re on fire, stupid!” as extinguishers were <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8PYoU85ugo" type="external">deployed</a>.</p>
<p>At least 17 people were arrested during the chaos that ensued after the Revolutionary Communist Party’s protest, a local CBS affiliate <a href="https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/07/20/cleveland-police-protests-flag/" type="external">reported</a> Wednesday.</p>
<p>Carl Dix, a representative of Revolutionary Communist Party, issued a statement afterward condemning the “American empire.”</p>
<p>“There’s nothing great about America,” he added.</p>
<p>Pete Hegseth, an Army National Guard veteran who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, told the Daily Caller that he witnessed the event just outside Quicken Loans Arena.</p>
<p>“Go to jail. Follow the law. I was right there as it began. It was probably two dozen people in black shirts chanting about Communist revolution, some psychobabble nonsense. They pull out the flag, try to light it, spill some lighter fluid. He lit the flag and his own leg on fire,” Mr. Hegseth told the website on Thursday.</p>
<p>Police Chief Calvin Williams said Wednesday night that cops would continue to remain “vigilant” so they could end on “a positive note,” CBS New York reported.</p>
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<p>Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2016/jul/21/cleveland-protester-ignites-while-trying-to-burn-a/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Cleveland protester ignites while trying to burn American flag: ‘You’re on fire, stupid!’ | true | http://washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/21/cleveland-protester-ignites-while-trying-to-burn-a/ | 2016-07-21 | 0 |
<p>The White House is hiring lawyer Nicole Wong away from Twitter to become the Obama administration's first Chief Privacy Officer, <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57583249-38/white-house-picks-twitter-lawyer-as-chief-privacy-officer/" type="external">CNET is reporting</a>.</p>
<p>Neither Wong, Twitter nor the White House would confirm the hiring.</p>
<p>Wong was at Twitter for just five months before, apparently, jumping ship for Washington, according to <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20130507/white-house-taps-twitter-legal-vet-as-nations-first-chief-privacy-officer/" type="external">All Things Digital</a>.</p>
<p>At Twitter, she dealt with First Amendment issues after nearly <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/nicole-wong/5/433/96b" type="external">eight years</a> with Google.</p>
<p>Wong advised Google on censorship, especially regarding YouTube, and was there when the search engine pioneer developed the ability to suppress videos country by country to "comply with local laws while keeping information available where it's legal," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-hires-google-lawyer-nicole-wong-2012-11#ixzz2SdHp1VTe" type="external">Business Insider</a> said.</p>
<p>She also scrutinized Google products before they were made public, CNET said.</p>
<p>Wong graduated from law school at Berkley after studying at Georgetown University.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/130502/penny-pritzker-nominated-us-commerce-secretary" type="external">Penny Pritzker nominated for US commerce secretary</a></p> | Nicole Wong to White House as Chief Privacy Officer, report says | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-05-07/nicole-wong-white-house-chief-privacy-officer-report-says | 2013-05-07 | 3 |
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<p>The U.S. Fifth Fleet said on Wednesday it will not allow any disruption of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran threatened to stop ships moving through the strategic oil route.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"The free flow of goods and services through the Strait of Hormuz is vital to regional and global prosperity," a spokesperson for the Bahrain-based fleet said in a written response to queries from Reuters about the possibility of Iran trying to close the waterway.</p>
<p>"Anyone who threatens to disrupt freedom of navigation in an international strait is clearly outside the community of nations; any disruption will not be tolerated."</p>
<p>Asked whether it was taking specific measures in response to the threat to close the Strait, the fleet said it "maintains a robust presence in the region to deter or counter destabilizing activities", without providing further detail. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Andrew Hammond; Writing by Joseph Logan; Editing by Louise Ireland)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | U.S. Says it Won't Allow Disruptions to Hormuz Straight | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/12/28/us-says-it-wont-allow-disruptions-to-hormuz-straight.html | 2016-01-29 | 0 |
<p>When Americans go to the polls come November, millions will be voting in languages other than English. Voting jurisdictions are required by law to provide bilingual ballots and language assistance when 5 percent of the population does not "understand English adequately enough to participate in the electoral process." That's been the law since 1975.</p>
<p>It may be the law, but many counties and states don't comply. And when the topic came up at a Republican presidential debate in January, Mitt Romney spoke out against bilingual ballots.</p>
<p>Losing access to a bilingual ballot could harm people like Philip Van, a political refugee from Vietnam who moved to California in 1979. Van grew up speaking Chinese and Vietnamese. Six years after he arrived here, Van had to demonstrate some English proficiency to become an American citizen. But learning English as an adult, then voting in this new language wasn't so easy. Sure, he could easily choose between two candidates, but deciphering propositions and bond measures, that was tough.</p>
<p>"I have to take a lot of time to read it (the ballot). And then I check with people, where we need to understand more clearly, what is good and what is bad."</p>
<p>Van says many new Americans are afraid to vote in English, afraid they'll make a mistake. Van lives in San Francisco, which now offers trilingual ballots in English, Chinese and Spanish. Is it easier for Van to vote now?</p>
<p>"Yes. Because a lot of people, even though they are well educated, they are engineers, they are doctors, but for new immigrants, maybe they don't quite understand about the political stuff."</p>
<p>When multilingual ballots are offered, more people vote. Eight years ago, San Diego County began providing Vietnamese voting assistance. The results were immediate and dramatic.</p>
<p>"Voter registration for the Vietnamese community increased by 30 percent," said Carlo De La Cruz with the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.</p>
<p>De La Cruz said bilingual ballots are crucial today as the US becomes more diverse. Nationwide, one in three Asian Americans struggle with English.</p>
<p>"And that means that over 30 percent of our population needs some kind of assistance when it comes to being able to navigate our democracy and the political system," said De La Cruz.</p>
<p>The Moral vs. The Legal</p>
<p>But not everybody thinks American voters should get this assistance. At a Republican primary debate this past January in Florida, Newt Gingrich said ballots should only be in English.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney then said, "I think Speaker Gingrich is right."</p>
<p>Romney continued, "Look, English is the language of this nation. People need to learn English to be able to be successful, to get great jobs. We don`t want to have people limited in their capacity to achieve the American dream because they don`t speak English."</p>
<p>Six years ago, Congress reauthorized the language provision of the Voting Rights Act. A group of conservative Republicans mounted a campaign to stop it from happening. But the measure easily passed the Republican-led Congress and was signed into law by President George W. Bush.</p>
<p>Bruce Adelson — a former senior attorney with the Justice Department and now CEO of the company, Federal Compliance Consulting — said this ship has sailed.</p>
<p>"Whether you agree with it or not, whether you think every American citizen should speak English or not, those are very valid points. But the bottomline is: The law is the law. This law has been tested, evaluated, challenged. It's withstood all of them."</p>
<p>The law might be the law, but that doesn't mean all jurisdictions comply. In the past decade, the Justice Department has filed complaints against 35 cities and counties for violating election language provisions.</p>
<p>"These cases can be very expensive to litigate and to deal with," said Adelson. "And I always advise election officials, it's much better to comply voluntarily, then to get the dreaded call, letter, or e-mail, from the Department of Justice, from my old friends, saying essentially, we're going to come to visit you because we think you're violating federal law."</p>
<p>Problems with Compliance</p>
<p>But if voting jurisdictions know this, why then do they violate the law?</p>
<p>Just across the bay from San Francisco, Alameda County violated the language provision of the Voting Rights Act last year. The county, which is home to the city of Oakland, has a large immigrant population and is required to provide language assistance in four languages: Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Tagalog, the major language spoken in the Philippines.</p>
<p>County officials say they weren't thumbing their noses at the law. Cynthia Cornejo, the Deputy Registrar for Alameda County, said the county was required to provide about 1,000 bilingual poll workers — again, in four languages — for the June primary.</p>
<p>"We assessed probably close to maybe 2,200 people, just to see if they could read, speak, write the language. Then we had to do an enormous outreach effort, all the way almost until the week before the election, and try and hit our numbers. And then train them also."</p>
<p>In June, Alameda County again failed to meet their legal obligations for Chinese and Tagalog poll workers. Cornejo said they're scrambling to cover 785 polling stations, and that's not just for federal elections.</p>
<p>"Odd number years are no longer a lull, we could have anywhere from two to six elections on any given year."</p>
<p>Groups like the Asian Law Caucus recognize the strains on Alameda County. But they're not letting election officials off the hook just for trying.</p>
<p>"Because potentially it means the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters within Alameda County," said Carlo De La Cruz.</p>
<p>Across the nation, 247 other jurisdictions in 25 states will also be required to provide language voting assistance this November. That covers 19 million Americans who could use help voting in a language other than English.</p> | Why Some New Americans Could Have Trouble Voting | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-08-29/why-some-new-americans-could-have-trouble-voting | 2012-08-29 | 3 |
<p>In the “old days” of the U.S. peace movement, when many people focused on the threat of a global nuclear “exchange” an organization called Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) postulated what would happen if a major American city was actually blasted by an atomic bomb.</p>
<p>The doctors described utterly horrific scenarios extending far beyond the numbers of dead and severely wounded. In plain words they described what the few survivors would experience: a landscape that not only had sustained unimaginable casualties, but which had also suffered the destruction of its transportation and health care infrastructure. No ambulances would arrive with lights and sirens to whisk away the suffering. Doctors, nurses, blood plasma, pain killers, antibiotics, bandages ­ all would be destroyed along with the hospitals and highways.</p>
<p>As difficult as it was to picture such a reality, the hardest thing to imagine was that in a nuclear war there would be no “outside” from where help will come. When every major city suffers the same fate as yours, no one “out there” can help you. “Out there” is all gone. Instantly, in city after city, life becomes a contaminated, pre-industrial struggle for survival.</p>
<p>Fortunately for the human race, PSR’s scenarios have thus far remained a symbolic, educational exercise.</p>
<p>Listening to and watching the news coming out of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast towns of Mississippi, one can sense devastation on a scale rarely experienced in this country. New Orleans’ location below sea level and the deluge following the rupture of its levees makes Katrina’s blow even worse than when Hurricane Andrew smashed South Florida.</p>
<p>Now we hold our collective breath to see if hospital patients can be rescued before emergency generators are swamped. Mile after mile of city streets are inundated. The public water supply is getting contaminated. Desperate people wait for helicopters to rescue them from rooftops broiling in the summer sun. My nephew, lucky enough to have transportation and smart enough to use it in time, got out. But how long will he be able to stay with friends in Lafayette? And what will a young man, living month to month on a waiter’s pay, do for work if the Hard Rock Café never reopens?</p>
<p>And yet, as frightening as the situation is for New Orleans and the surrounding area, there is still an “outside.” People are mobilizing assistance. It may be inadequate at first and ultimately too late for some, but people and institutions in 48 other states are doing their best to assist their fellow citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi.</p>
<p>What would it be like to endure suffering on a scale somewhere between a nuclear attack and Hurricane Katrina ­ with nobody “out there” to mobilize assistance for you? That is the case today in Iraq.</p>
<p>These comparisons started coming to mind last month when an inversion trapped the people of Phoenix in a seemingly relentless heat wave. For weeks temperatures soared over 100 degrees and 2005 literally became a killer summer. Then I thought of what Phoenix would be like without electricity. And I thought of Baghdad.</p>
<p>In Baghdad, 115 and 120-degree weather is the norm all summer. But unless you are among the elite and have a private generator, you are lucky to get a few hours of unscheduled power a day, frequently in the middle of the night when demand is lowest. That is the reality for most of the four million people in Baghdad and some 20 million people in the rest of Iraq ­ this summer, last summer, and the one before that.</p>
<p>Water and sewer plants, thoroughly bombed by the Elder Bush in 1991, were repaired enough to limp along under a dozen years of sanctions. As a result, water-borne diseases became a significant health problem prior to the U.S. invasion of 2003, and have since gotten dramatically worse. What passes for hospital care would make even the poorest American’s blood run cold ­ and that’s when medical facilities are operating at their best, not overrun with massive numbers of wounded from a U.S. attack or a suicide bomber. In Fallujah and other cities besieged by American troops, ambulances with lights and sirens don’t whisk away the wounded; they are fired on by the U.S. military. Trucks taking pain killers, bandages and antibiotics to medical clinics are forcibly turned away. The already substandard water supplies are destroyed by the artillery and air strikes.</p>
<p>National Public Radio today featured interviews with people describing what life is like after the hurricane. A woman from Gulfport, Mississippi, trying unsuccessfully to hold back her tears, said that even though people were “amazingly resilient, some are in shocksome are running out of clean water alreadymy husband has journaled every day of his life ­ every single day since he was a boy ­ and those journals are all gone now.”</p>
<p>After a couple more questions, the NPR reporter thanked her sincerely for talking with him. As her voice cracked she responded, “Thank you for giving me an opportunity to let the outside world know help is needed.”</p>
<p>That woman in Gulfport was not worrying about next year’s congressional elections, just as millions of her counterparts in Iraq are not worrying about their constitution. She, and they, are worried about having safe water to drink in the summer heat, wondering when the electricity will come back on, grieving journals lost forever in a flood or photo albums lost in a midnight house raid, anxious about ever seeing their home rebuilt, hoping somehow to find a job.</p>
<p>Rightly so, the massive news coverage of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation is beginning to evoke Americans’ inherent compassion towards people who’ve been dealt an unfair blow. If the news media did a similar job describing the hell life has become for people in Iraq, Americans’ sense of outrage and compassion would be similarly stirred. And Iraqis could count on help instead of bombs coming from the outside world.</p>
<p>MIKE FERNER is a freelance writer from Ohio, writing a book about his trips to Iraq before and after the U.S. invasion. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>CLARIFICATION</p>
<p>ALEXANDER COCKBURN, JEFFREY ST CLAIR, BECKY GRANT AND THE INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF JOURNALISTIC CLARITY, COUNTERPUNCH</p>
<p>We published an article entitled “A Saudiless Arabia” by Wayne Madsen dated October 22, 2002 (the “Article”), on the website of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity, CounterPunch, www.counterpunch.org (the “Website”).</p>
<p>Although it was not our intention, counsel for Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi has advised us the Article suggests, or could be read as suggesting, that Mr Al Amoudi has funded, supported, or is in some way associated with, the terrorist activities of Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist network.</p>
<p>We do not have any evidence connecting Mr Al Amoudi with terrorism.</p>
<p>As a result of an exchange of communications with Mr Al Amoudi’s lawyers, we have removed the Article from the Website.</p>
<p>We are pleased to clarify the position.</p>
<p>August 17, 2005</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Waiting for the Outside World | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/09/03/waiting-for-the-outside-world/ | 2005-09-03 | 4 |
<p>Some things just have to be seen to be believed – and even then it’s not always believable. Other times it takes too strong a stomach to even sit through the unbelievable thing. Sean Hannity of Fox News has generously provided examples of all of the above.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2079972622017522" type="external" /></p>
<p>On Monday morning Hannity visited his colleagues at Fox and Friends to unload a pile defenses for his beleaguered Messiah, Donald Trump. The world around the President must seem to be falling apart as new revelations concerning his unsavory connections to Russia keep spilling out. Trump himself is in pure panic mode and is posting tweets that affirm his guilty conscience. So he is in dire need of a valiant defender to come to his aid. Unfortunately, all he has is the Doofus Squad on Fox and Friends and Sean Hannity.</p>
<p>Hannity’s segment with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes went off the rails from the start. What follows is his run-on, addled-brain meltdown just as it occurred on the air. Buckle in (video below):</p>
<p>“You’ve got the whole issue of Christopher Steele. You know, all this talk about Trump/Russia collusion, the only person that colluded in that campaign with the Russians, was Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton bought and paid for what turned out to be Russian lies. She fixes a primary election against Bernie. Then Hillary has a criminal investigation fixed for her. She tries to use Russian lies she pays for and funnels through Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS to hire a British foreign outsider who uses Russian contacts. Then the worst part of this whole story is then that unverified uncorroborated dossier is then brought before a FISA court when a FISA application, and three subsequent renewal applications to spy on a campaign associate and ostensibly the Trump campaign. Nobody told that judge, or any of those four judges, how it’s possible that Hillary paid for that. They never told them.”</p>
<p>And inhale. Before anyone hurts themselves trying to absorb that, here is a brief summary: Hillary Clinton bought a dossier on Trump that was mean.</p>
<p>That’s really all there is to it. Hannity just repeated the same issues with different words for two minutes. And none of it was true. Neither Clinton nor her campaign colluded with Russians. They did partially fund research that was started by the right-wing Free Beacon. And the firm that conducted the research hired a respected former British intelligence professional to collect information from Russian sources.</p>
<p>And what Hannity calls “the worst part of this whole story” was a blatant lie. Much, but not all, of the Steele dossier was verified. None of of it was found to be false. The FISA court was, in fact, told that the dossier was partially funded by political partisans. Even Devin Nunes, who chaired the hopelessly biased Intelligence Committee inquiry, admitted that in his Republican report. And it was not the sole – or even main – justification for the FISA warrant. What’s more, Hannity proves that he doesn’t understand the FISA application process. The renewals are required every ninety days and may not use justifications that were cited in previous applications. So the dossier could only have been used once, not four times.</p>
<p>Sadly, the people who watch Hannity and Fox and Friends will never be told about these factual details. They will only hear the rapid-fire allegations that they can’t logically follow, and the fear in Hannity’s voice. And that will be enough for them to be certain that these crackpot conspiracy theories are true. After all, the glassy-eyed disciples of Trump are no more sane than Hannity is.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p>
<p /> | Sean Hannity Lost What Was Left of His Alleged Mind in Bonkers Fox and Friends Spot | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D14218 | 4 |
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<p>Albuquerque police take a man into custody after a standoff Tuesday morning. Police haven’t confirmed if the man seen in handcuffs was the man suspected of firing shots from a home. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man shot and damaged the Albuquerque Police Department’s SWAT team robot while officers were trying to arrest him on a felony warrant on the West Side on Tuesday morning, according to police.</p>
<p>Albuquerque police were on scene near Atrisco and St. Joseph’s NW negotiating with a suspect who allegedly opened fire from a home. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Officers arrested the suspect around 9:30 a.m. following an hours-long standoff near St. Josephs and Ladera NW.</p>
<p>Shawn Torrez, 39. (MDC)</p>
<p>Police spokesman Tanner Tixier said the suspect is Shawn Torrez, 39.</p>
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<p>Jail records show Torrez is facing a slew of charges after Tuesday’s standoff, including aggravated assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon.</p>
<p>He’s also facing identity theft, fraud and other charges on a felony warrant from earlier this year, according to jail and court records.</p>
<p>Officials said the situation started before 6:30 a.m. Tuesday when they tried to arrest Torrez on the warrant. Police immediately sent in their robot and other equipment, and Torrez opened fire, they said.</p>
<p>“One of our robots did take a couple rounds,” police spokesman Fred Duran said. “That’s what the robot was there for, it did its job.”</p>
<p>Duran said officers did not fire at the suspect.</p>
<p>Roads in the area of St. Josephs, Ladera and Atrisco were shut down while officers investigated.</p>
<p>The SWAT situation began before school started, so students of at least one nearby school weren’t allowed inside while police negotiated with the suspect.</p>
<p>Officers eventually fired gas vapor into a house on St. Josephs where Torrez was holed up, and he was taken into custody.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Aside from the aggravated assault charge, he’s also facing charges of child abuse, criminal damage to property and felon in possession of a firearm.</p>
<p>He was booked into the county jail where he was being held on a no-bond hold, according to jail records.</p>
<p>A couple other people were detained at the scene. Duran said he wasn’t sure if they would also face charges.</p>
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<p /> | Police: Man arrested after opening fire on SWAT team robot | false | https://abqjournal.com/1004039/swat-called-after-suspect-opens-fire-in-nw-albuquerque-police-say.html | 2017-05-16 | 2 |
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<p>It's probably fair to say that Facebook's (NASDAQ: FB) social network is currently a distraction at the workplace and not a productivity enhancer. But Facebook wants to change this. Next week, Facebook will roll out Facebook at Work, a platform the company hopes will help coworkers connect and collaborate using the same Facebook features users are all already familiar with.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Facebook at Work. Image source: Facebook.</p>
<p>Here's what investors should know.</p>
<p>If you're still a bit baffled at how Facebook could actually enhance productivity at work, here's the big catch that may help you view Facebook at Work differently. Facebook at Work is a totally separate platform from the original Facebook that is strictly associated with a user's company.</p>
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<p>"Rather than having friends as your audience, you create and join groups with your coworkers to be a part of relevant conversations," Facebook explains in on a frequently asked questions page for Facebook at Work.</p>
<p>Importantly, Facebook at Work will also be secure. In other words, colleagues won't be able to share their project progress with their friends over on the original Facebook platform. Posts and communication within Facebook at Work can only be viewed by coworkers.</p>
<p>Facebook at Work. Image source: Facebook.</p>
<p>As a separate platform built on familiar tools, Facebook at Work may actually be a compelling collaborative tool for the workplace. Since Facebook at Work uses the same communication products built into the original Facebook, most people are already very familiar with the collaboration tools that will be available in Facebook at work. After all, 1.7 billion people around the world already use Facebook on a monthly basis and 1.1 billion people use it on a daily basis. Facebook at Work includes familiar Facebook features such as News Feed, groups, messages, and events, the company's Facebook at Work FAQ page explains.</p>
<p>Facebook at Work was actually first unveiled in 2015, but it has been limited to the company's early adopter program, enabling Facebook to get feedback from a smaller group of companies before it takes the service global. Currently, Facebook has over 450 companies using Facebook at Work, but now the social network wants to release the public-ready version of the platform.</p>
<p>In late September, Facebook sent out press invitations to an Oct. 10 launch event for Facebook at Work, according to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/29/facebook-at-work-will-launch-on-october-10-in-london/" type="external">TechCrunch Opens a New Window.</a>. The event will take place in London, where a Facebook team has been developing Facebook at Work.</p>
<p>While crossing over to enterprise collaboration would appear to present Facebook with a significant opportunity to appeal to a new, large market, the social network will face intense competition from established enterprise collaboration players such as Salesforce's Chatter and Slack. Furthermore, Facebook doesn't have any experience monetizing enterprise platforms, so investors can't be sure that it will be successful at turning this new opportunity into a meaningful business even if it does succeed in attracting a larger number of enterprises to use the service.</p>
<p>While Facebook at Work looks like an enticing opportunity with potential upside for Facebook, investors should view it skeptically given how far removed it is from the consumer-oriented focus of Facebook's social products today.</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=2668&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/TMFDanielSparks/info.aspx" type="external">Daniel Sparks Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Facebook Is Launching a Platform for Workplace Collaboration Next Week | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/04/facebook-is-launching-platform-for-workplace-collaboration-next-week.html | 2016-10-04 | 0 |
<p>I headed to a park in Queens, New York, recently with my friend Richie Parra and his two young daughters. They wanted to show me one of their favorite food stalls in the city.</p>
<p>At the far edge of the park, the grill was sizzling. There was a whole pig head roasting, buckets of chili sauce — and several roasted guinea pigs on the grill.</p>
<p>We got one to share and Parra asked his daughter, Adilem, to say guinea pig in Spanish. Cuy, it turns out.</p>
<p>We dug in. “The skin is a little crunchy,"&#160;Parra&#160;said between bites. "I like the skin."&#160;Parra’s daughter grabbed off the head and started gnawing on the cheeks.</p>
<p />
<p>Wildlife conservationists suggest that guinea pig, pictured cooked, is an easy animal to harvest, and has very little impact on the environment, unlike other livestock.</p>
<p>Chaela Herridge-Meyer</p>
<p>I met Parra when I lived in Ecuador years ago. I ate my first guinea pig — a traditional Andean dish — at his brother’s graduation. Then, about 10 years ago, Parra moved to the US.&#160;When he gets homesick, his mom will sometimes mail him a package filled with guinea pig meat straight from the family’s yard.</p>
<p>But he also knows where to get his fix in New York.</p>
<p>The food stall we visited is run by Digna, who asked that I not give her last name or her stall’s exact location — none of this is really official. She told me she sells up to 10 guinea pigs on Sundays, with the meat frozen and imported from Ecuador.</p>
<p />
<p>A package of frozen "cuy," or guinea pig meat, is available at certain ethnic food markets. Chef Diego Oka, a Peruvian chef who runs several restaurants in the United States, including La Mar in Miami, says guinea pig meat is very flavorful. "For me, it's a mix of rabbit and duck," he says.</p>
<p>Chaela Herridge-Meyer</p>
<p>I wondered about the legality of all this, if it was as hard to bring in guinea pig meat to the US as, say, certain ham from Spain. What I learned is that federal regulators, at this point, are not tracking guinea pig imports.&#160;</p>
<p>Meanwhile, demand is slowly rising in the US. Restaurants in places like New York, Texas and Washington, DC, <a href="http://dc.eater.com/archives/2014/06/27/china-chilcano-could-serve-guinea-pig.php" type="external">&#160;</a>are planning to put it on the menu.</p>
<p>One chef, Diego Oka, hopes Americans won’t be too squeamish about eating guinea pig.&#160;Oka, who is from Peru, runs La Mar, an upscale restaurant with several locations in the US. He has served guinea pig as a special dish on Peruvian Independence Day — July 28 — for the last few years.</p>
<p>“It’s a very flavorful meat,” he said. “For me, it is a mix of rabbit and duck, because it is very greasy. You have a lot of fat.”</p>
<p>Oka prepared cuy for the first time at a posh restaurant in Lima, breaking from tradition and adding a French flair — making a cuy confit. It made it so people didn't feel like they were eating a rodent, which Oka says can turn people off.</p>
<p>“I think that the more shocking part of eating cuy in Peru, traditionally, is watching his face," he said. "But the face is the most delicious part because it’s crispy. It’s like a cracker. The cuy skin is like pork skin.”</p>
<p>There are guinea pig enthusiasts from the US, too. I talked to Charles Kuck, an immigration lawyer in Atlanta. He’s heading to Peru for vacation soon and is looking forward to his favorite dish.</p>
<p>“It is now 32 years ago since the first time I had guinea pig,” Kuck said. “I was living in Cusco, Peru. I had been there about a month and the person I was working with said, ‘We have a treat for you tonight!’ And it was interesting because my first month here, I kept seeing these little guinea pigs in everybody's house, and I kept thinking how nice, they have pets here in Peru. How sweet that is. Then, the first time somebody brought it out, it was roasted. But I have to tell you, it was delicious and since then I’ve eaten it dozens of times."&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Packaged "cuy" is on sale at an Ecuadorian grocery store in New York City.</p>
<p>Chaela Herridge-Meyer</p>
<p>I agree with Kuck. I find guinea pig pretty tasty. I like the crunchy skin and picking through the bones to get at the rich meat.</p>
<p>But there might be another reason to embrace the guinea pig for dinner. Matt Miller, a wildlife conservationist in the US, said guinea pig is an environmentally-friendly livestock.&#160;“The reason that guinea pigs make sense is that you can really raise them with a very small piece of land,” Miller said. “You can even raise them in your home … which obviously you cannot do with cattle.”</p>
<p>Miller also mentioned guinea pig’s cultural significance, something you hear about a lot when it comes to this dish. “If you go into the cathedral in Cuzco, Peru, you will see a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcos_Zapata" type="external">picture of the ‘Last Supper,’</a>&#160;with Jesus sitting down to a dinner of guinea pig,” he said.</p>
<p>Now, back to that Sunday afternoon in Queens.</p>
<p>Stuffed, I headed with Parra and his daughters to the subway. On the way, we passed several Ecuadorean restaurants. One offered guinea pig as a lunch special. Another had a large photo of a roasted guinea pig in the window. In a grocery store, frozen cuy was sold for $12.99 a pound.</p>
<p>But Richie says none of the guinea pig here beats what he gets at his mom’s house. Still, he’s happy to show his daughters, who’ve never been to Ecuador, a taste from home right here in New York.</p> | How guinea pig, an Andean delicacy, is making its way onto dinner plates in the US | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-07-23/how-guinea-pig-andean-delicacy-making-its-way-dinner-plates-us | 2014-07-23 | 3 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Eek.jpg" type="external" />Share on Facebook Reviews panned&#160;Hillary Clinton's memoir Hard Choices &#160;" and critics slammed her book tour even more. Defenders of the presumed Democratic presidential frontrunner claimed that the few weeks of stumbles and gaffes would long be forgotten by the time Clinton ran for President. The same could be ["]</p>
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<p><a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2014/07/21/politico-poll-shows-public-unimpressed-with-hillarys-state-department-performance/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at hotair.com</a></p>
<p /> | Politico poll shows public unimpressed with Hillary's State Department performance | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/politico-poll-shows-public-unimpressed-with-hillarys-state-department-performance/ | 0 |
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<p>Dave McBride held an old, rusty, 4-foot-long bomb and explained how it was used in target practice training on Albuquerque’s West Mesa during World War II.</p>
<p>It was found, he said, by workers during the construction of Double Eagle II Airport in 1982.</p>
<p>The West Mesa was littered with these dummy “bombs” as crews flying AT-11 Beechcraft Kansan airplanes trained to become bombardiers for larger aircraft,</p>
<p>These restored 100-pound practice bombs are the same kind that were used in Albuquerque during World War II, when trainees aboard AT-11 aircraft honed their skills as bombardiers. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>including the B-29 Superfortress, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator.</p>
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<p>McBride, leader of the Lobo Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, was standing in the organization’s hangar at Moriarty Municipal Airport on a recent weekday where wing members are in the process of restoring a 1941 AT-11 – but not just any AT-11.</p>
<p>This is the only one in existence known to have been assigned to what was then Albuquerque Army Air Base, which later became Kirtland Army Air Field.</p>
<p>The goal is to have it restored and in good flying condition so it can be displayed at air shows across the country.</p>
<p>Three generations of one family, all members of the Lobo Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, are involved in the restoration of a World War II-era airplane in a hangar at Moriarty Municipal Airport. From left, Ken McBride, Sean McBride and Dave McBride. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The plane, No. 15 off the Beechcraft assembly line in Wichita, Kan., was delivered to Albuquerque in January 1942. About 50 of the planes were in operation at the peak of training and an estimated 5,200 trainees went through the program, McBride said.</p>
<p>“When it is restored, it will be the oldest known flying AT-11 in the world,” he said, and one of only five still flying in the U.S.</p>
<p>All together, the Beechcraft factory produced 1,584 of these aircraft, but not all of them were for the American military, said Scott Witschger, Lobo Wing executive officer and restoration project manager.</p>
<p>The aircraft originally was built for the Chinese air force, which wanted them for use as a light to medium bomber.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The aircraft had a wingspan of nearly 48 feet, could cruise at 180 mph and had a ceiling in excess of 18,000 feet. The cabin, however, was not pressurized and the plane’s normal operational altitude was 5,000 feet or below, Witschger said.</p>
<p>Commemorative Air Force member Scott L. Ruyle, of Edgewood, sits in the cockpit of the Beechcraft AT-11 Kansan that is being restored in the hangar at the Moriarty Municipal Airport. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>As used for training in Albuquerque, the airplane carried a pilot and navigator in the two front seats, and two bombardier trainees behind. It was loaded with ten 100-pound dummy bombs that were dropped on three different kinds of West Mesa targets.</p>
<p>One target was a simple large circle; another was a plywood city modeled after the German city of Schweinfurt, where ball bearings were made; and the third was the rock outline of the German battleship Tirpitz, Witschger said.</p>
<p>The nonprofit Commemorative Air Force has as its mission to acquire and restore old combat airplanes to flying condition and to educate the public about these aircraft and the historical context of the times in which they were produced and flown, McBride said.</p>
<p>The organization began in 1957 when a group of former service pilots in Texas pooled their money to purchase a P-51 Mustang and restore it. Other airplanes were subsequently added and restored, and the organization expanded.</p>
<p>Today, the Commemorative Air Force, headquartered in Dallas, has chapters in every state and in 28 foreign countries. It boasts a membership of 13,000 and a worldwide inventory of nearly 180 aircraft.</p>
<p>Sean McBride of Albuquerque cleans an engine exhaust baffle as part of the efforts to restore a Beechcraft AT-11 airplane in a hangar in Moriarty. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The Lobo Wing has about 50 members. The chapter was started in 1984 and was originally based out of the old Coronado Airport, then for a while out of Double Eagle II Airport. It moved to its current Moriarty location in 2003.</p>
<p>The wing already has restored a 1944 Fairchild PT-26 Cornell primary trainer. That project took 12 years to complete, McBride said.</p>
<p>The AT-11 airplane came from a chapter in Michigan, which learned of the Lobo Wing’s interest in the airplane and its historical ties to Albuquerque. If all goes well, the plane could be flightworthy by the middle of 2019, Witschger said.</p>
<p>The biggest barrier to the restoration project is money. He estimates about $250,000 will have been invested in the project by the time it is finished.</p>
<p>The other problem is simply finding parts.</p>
<p>When the military decommissioned these aircraft, Witschger said, they were stripped of armaments and instruments, and most were sold for their scrap metal value. Consequently, some parts are difficult or impossible to find, requiring that they be hand-fabricated in machine shops where they can.</p>
<p>Despite the time, effort and money required, this is “a labor of love and a passion” that transcends the simple restoration of an airplane, McBride said. “We’re preserving a piece of Albuquerque history.”</p>
<p />
<p /> | ‘A labor of love’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/1113903/a-labor-of-love-ex-members-of-the-commemorative-air-forces-lobo-wing-restore-a-1941-at11.html | 2 |
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<p>A yacht that had docked in the port of Smir, in northern Morocco, was escorted out of the harbor by authorities.</p>
<p>The yacht's private owners had rented it out to a Dutch abortions rights organization called "Women on Waves."</p>
<p>Abortion is illegal in Morocco.</p>
<p>So the group intended to use the yacht to run an abortion information campaign, raising a banner with a hotline number women could call.</p>
<p>It's run similar "stealth" operations in European countries from Poland to Portugal.</p>
<p>A local women's rights group had invited "Women on Waves" to do the same in Morocco.</p>
<p>Rebecca Gomperts, the director of "Women on Waves," says 300,000 women seek an abortion in Morocco every year.</p> | Dutch 'Abortion Ship' Barred from Morocco Port | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-10-05/dutch-abortion-ship-barred-morocco-port | 2012-10-05 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Germany's top lender Deutsche Bank is promoting two of its senior managers to deputy chief executives, complementing strategic adjustments and an 8 billion euro ($8.50 billion)capital raise.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Finance head Markus Schenck and retail head Christian Sewing will take on roles as co-deputy chief executives alongside bank chief John Cryan with immediate effect.</p>
<p>Schenck will also become co-head of the investment bank alongside Garth Ritchie, who currently heads the bank's bond and equities trading activities.</p>
<p>Jeffrey Urwin, currently head of corporate and investment banking which helps clients with acquisitions, raising debt and equity, is stepping down from his post, while the bank will at a later stage name a successor to CFO Schenck.</p>
<p>Deutsche Bank also set itself new financial targets. It is now planning for 2018 adjusted costs of about 22 billion euros and with 21 billion by 2021, both including Postbank and compared with 24.1 billion euros in 2016.</p>
<p>It is targeting returns (post-tax RoTE) of about 10 percent and a return to paying a "competitive dividend" for its fiscal year 2018.</p>
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<p>It sees its fully loaded core equity tier 1 ratio to be comfortably above 13 percent and its leverage ratio to be at 4.5 percent going forward.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Victoria Bryan)</p> | Deutsche Bank names Schenck, Sewing co-deputy Chief Executives | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/03/05/deutsche-bank-names-schenck-sewing-co-deputy-chief-executives.html | 2017-03-17 | 0 |
<p>SPOILER ALERT: Do not keep reading if you have not seen Season 8, Episode 8 of “ <a href="http://variety.com/t/the-walking-dead/" type="external">The Walking Dead</a>,” titled “How It’s Gotta Be”</p>
<p>The Season 8 midseason finale of “ <a href="http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/walking-dead-recap-season-8-episode-6-1202621162/" type="external">The Walking Dead</a>” saw the Saviors flip the script on Rick’s coalition, with one longtime character meeting their end. But first–</p>
<p>The episode begins with Enid (Katelyn Nacon) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) on the road. They are on their way to Oceanside, to try and recruit the women there into joining the war against Negan. Aaron gives Enid a turn at the wheel. She turns down a dirt road, saying they need to bring Oceanside something useful if they are going to ask for their help.</p>
<p>At Alexandria, Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) prepare to head to the Sanctuary to accept the Saviors’ surrender. Carl (Chandler Riggs), meanwhile, sits at home writing a letter to his father. Tears come to his eye as he finishes.</p>
<p>Aaron and Enid have procured a truck from an old distillery. They camp out for the night, but are awakened when they se someone snooping around their campsite. They investigate, with Enid shooting Oceanside leader Natania (Deborah May) dead as she was about to kill Aaron.</p>
<p>Michonne finds Carl preparing supplies to give to Siddiq (Avi Nash), but before he can explain in detail what he’s doing, they hear Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)&#160; on a loudspeaker outside. He and the other Saviors escaped the Sanctuary and are out for vengeance. He tells them he demands an apology immediately or people are going to die. Carl rallies everyone and helps them set an escape plan.</p>
<p>In the Kingdom, Ezekiel (Khary Payton) is still wallowing in his misery. He reads a note from Jerry (Cooper Andrews) saying that he has left to honor the Kingdom’s commitment to the war. Suddenly he hears a commotion outside. He hides behind some stage scenery as Saviors pour into the room. Outside, &#160;Gavin (Jayson Warner Smith) tells the assembled Kingdom residents that the community is being taken over by the Saviors.</p>
<p>On the road, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) and Jesus (Tom Payne) ride in a car toward the Sanctuary. When they notice a tree in the road, Maggie realizes that something has gone wrong. A Savior convoy appears and boxes them in. A truck pulls in front of them, with Jerry being held prisoner in the back. Simon (Steven Ogg) steps out and demands they hand over their weapons. He tells them that the Kingdom and Alexandria are being destroyed, but Hilltop will remain intact in order to provide for the Saviors. To let Maggie know he is serious, he kills one of the passengers in her car. Upon his death, Maggie agrees&#160; to return to the Hilltop.</p>
<p>Carl steps out onto the walls of Alexandria to confront Negan. He offers Negan his life in return for sparing the rest of the people in Alexandria. As they talk at the front, Daryl leads a convoy of vehicles out the back. Given the betrayal, Negan orders his men to fire on Alexandria. Carl retreats inside the walls and begins setting off smoke grenades as explosions rain down over the community.</p>
<p>Gavin tells the Kingdom that Ezekiel must die for their transgressions, but the Saviors cannot find him. Gavin keeps saying that things don’t need to be this way, but no one from the Kingdom will give up Ezekiel.</p>
<p>Eugene (Josh McDermitt) lays in bed at the Sanctuary, unable to sleep. He throws down some wine but it hardly seems to help, no doubt feeling guilty for rescuing the Saviors from the walker herd and setting them on a path of destruction with his former friends. He then goes to visit Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) to say he will assist Gabriel in getting the doctor back to Hilltop. He says that he incapacitated a guard to cover their escape. Gabriel asks Eugene to come back with them, but Eugene says he cannot.</p>
<p>Carl watches his fellow Alexandrians escape as the Savior bombardment continues. But as he tries to catch his breath, multiple houses explode all around him. Negan makes his way into Alexandria, and tells his men to find Carl and destroy the rest of the community. Before they can get a hold of him, Carl slips into the sewers.</p>
<p>Outside the walls, Daryl, Tara, Michonne, and Rosita hide in the trees as they wait for the Saviors to drive past. Dwight leads the Saviors closer to Daryl’s position. He barely escapes before Daryl and the others open fire. Dwight even fires on his fellow Saviors, killing several. But one of the women sees Dwight’s betrayal and escapes. He calls to Daryl and the others when the shooting stops, telling them he cannot return to the Sanctuary now. He pledges his allegiance to them and says he wants Negan dead. The others slip into the sewers to get back into Alexandria, but Michonne stays above ground.</p>
<p>At the Kingdom, Ezekiel sets barrels of fuel on fire, then drives a schoolbus up to help his people escape. But rather than leave, he chains the gates shut and allows himself to be captured.</p>
<p>Maggie returns to Hilltop and immediately has one of the Savior prisoners out of the pen. She guns him down in front of everyone and tells her people to prepare for a last stand. As she walks away, she begins to cry.</p>
<p>Rick returns to Alexandria as it burns. He returns home to find Negan waiting for him. Negan quickly disarms Rick and begins stalking him around the room. They begin to fight, with Negan eventually knocking Rick out a window. Michonne wanders back into Alexandria and is grabbed by a Savior, whom she quickly kills. Rick finds her and they escape into the sewers. They find everyone waiting for them, including Siddiq.</p>
<p>Carl sits ashen-faced on the sewer floor. He reveals that he has been bitten by a walker.</p> | ‘Walking Dead’ Recap: Tide of War Turns in Midseason Finale (SPOILERS) | false | https://newsline.com/walking-dead-recap-tide-of-war-turns-in-midseason-finale-spoilers/ | 2017-12-10 | 1 |
<p>Hard to say whether the $20-billion arms package Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brought to the negotiating table with Saudi Arabia has anything to do with Saudi leaders cottoning to the idea of meeting with Israel, Palestinians and select other Mideast states later this year.</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>The conference is intended to revive the peace process and would include Israel, the Palestinians and Arab states viewed as moderate by the U.S.</p>
<p>“We welcome this initiative,” said Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.</p>
<p />
<p>The kingdom has no diplomatic relations with Israel, saying previously it would only establish them at the culmination of an Arab-Israeli peace settlement.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6925583.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Saudis Cautiously 'Keen' on Mideast Peace Talks | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/saudis-cautiously-keen-on-mideast-peace-talks/ | 2007-08-01 | 4 |
<p>Spring/Summer 2002</p>
<p>Parents notified of school choice.</p>
<p>New hiring standards for paraprofessionals go into effect.</p>
<p>July 2002</p>
<p>Title I funds must be used in accordance with the new law.</p>
<p>September 2002</p>
<p>School choice goes into effect.</p>
<p>Parents of children whose teachers are not “highly qualified” will be notified, and all parents will be told they can request teacher qualification status.</p>
<p>Parents of children in specialized language programs will be notified of students’ status and options.</p>
<p>New school report cards issued.</p>
<p>New hiring standards for teachers go into effect.</p>
<p>January 2003</p>
<p>U.S. Department of Education issues final regulations.</p>
<p>2002-2003</p>
<p>New standard set for “adequate yearly progress” based on 2001-2002 tests.</p>
<p>All students with limited English proficiency must be assessed.</p>
<p>First biennial administration of National Assessment of Education Progress exams.</p>
<p>2003-2004</p>
<p>Supplemental services provided.</p>
<p>2004-2005</p>
<p>“Corrective action” requirements for failing schools kick in.</p>
<p>State must raise the initial bar for adequate yearly progress.</p>
<p>2005-2006</p>
<p>School “restructuring” begins.</p>
<p>State testing for grades 3-8.</p>
<p>All teachers and paraprofessionals must be “highly qualified.”</p>
<p>2007-2008</p>
<p>Bar raised for adequate yearly progress.</p>
<p>2010-2011</p>
<p>Bar raised for adequate yearly progress.</p>
<p>2013-2014</p>
<p>Bar raised for adequate yearly progress.</p>
<p>End of 2013-2014</p>
<p>All students should be “proficient.”</p> | The timeframe | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/timeframe/ | 2005-07-28 | 3 |
<p>Hillary Clinton says that she’s ready to come out of the closet woods. Bill Maher (and we’re sure a lot of other liberals) wishes she would stay there.</p>
<p>Obviously WE&#160;want her to come out and continue her dominance of the Democrat party, because she’s good for business. Bourbon, red meat and AR-15’s don’t buy themselves. But we can see where the left might disagree…</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>“Hillary, stay in the woods.You had your shot, you f***ed it up. You’re Bill Buckner. We had the World Series and you let the grounder go through your legs. Let someone else have the chance. This to me, the fact that she’s coming back, it just verifies every bad thing anyone’s ever thought about the Clintons – that it’s all about them. Let some of the shorter trees get a little sunlight.”</p>
<p>Maher’s rant after this was good too, because he argued about leftist identity politics vs. someone who should totally be taken seriously wearing a “resist” t-shirt. This week, Sean Spicer and Bill O’Reilly weren’t nice to a reporter and a Congressperson respectively. In both cases, they were female African-Americans. Or is it black women-Americans? Or was it people-of-color-Americans? Damn my white privilege. I’m a work in progress. Either way, Maher told the left to stop crying racism and sexism over things that aren’t racist or sexist (see&#160; <a href="" type="internal">‘Mic’ Video Claims EVERYONE is Racist</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Kellyanne Conway DESTROYS Nancy Pelosi on ‘Selective Sexism’ Hypocrisy</a>).</p>
<p>Resist T-Shirt Girl responded by crying racism and sexism.</p>
<p>… is normal.</p>
<p>A fun show all around!</p>
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<p />
<p /> | Bill Maher to Hillary: You Had Your Shot, You F***ed It Up | true | http://louderwithcrowder.com/bill-maher-hillary-shot-fed/ | 2017-04-02 | 0 |
<p />
<p>IMAGE SOURCE: AGRIUM CORPORATE WEBSITE.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In October 2014, activist hedge fundValueAct Capital disclosed a 5.7% stake inAgrium.</p>
<p>Since then, the company has rewarded shareholders with mounting cash flows, growing dividends, and massive share repurchases. With $2.1 billion in EBITDA last year, Agrium was able to return over $1 billion to shareholders through buybacks and dividends, nearly 10% of its market cap. Since 2013, it's roughly doubled its free cash flow generation.</p>
<p>With multiple secular tailwinds behind it, this could be just the beginning.</p>
<p>Agrium has built a unique business in what historically has been a volatileagriculturalcommodities market. Many of Agrium's competitors are reliant on a single product source that constitutes a majority of sales. For example, a large majority of bothPotashCorp andMosaic Co.'s sales come from potash alone.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Agrium, meanwhile, is much more diversified, with no single product constituting a majority of sales. In 2015, earnings were split fairly evenly between nitrogen, potash, crop-protection chemicals, and other nutrients. The company also has exposure to seeds, phosphates, and other services.</p>
<p>Since 2008, potash prices have fallen by over 50%, pushing most producers close to breakeven territory; PotashCorp posted a $1.2 billion profit last year, its lowest in over five years. Accordingly, shares of less diversified agricultural input producers fell by 60% or more. Agrium, meanwhile, saw its net income grow to $988 million from $798 million a year before, pushing its stock price to new highs. The company benefited from strong earnings in crop protection chemicals, seeds, and high-margin agricultural services.</p>
<p>In today's volatile commodities environment, Agrium's diversified operating model is paying off big.</p>
<p>Agrium's diversified portfolio makes it the largest global retail distributor of crop inputs in an industry where scale matters. The company has over 1,500 retail and wholesale locations spread across both Canada and the United States. It also has a sprawling network through some of South America and most of Australia. These locations are able to offer crop inputs and services for over 50 different crops.</p>
<p>This network is a unique advantage; fertilizer production peers such as PotashCorp and Mosaic lack an existing retail distribution network. Whereas Agrium management has observed peers spending a significant amount of capital to build new distribution centers, Agrium can rely on its industry-dominating connection of existing infrastructure to serve customers faster and more fully.</p>
<p>Sustaining capital expenditures are expected to fall from a 2014 high of $2 billion to just $550 million next year. This situation should open up an additional $1.5 billion in additional cash flow to be doled out to shareholders.</p>
<p>In the U.S. retail market, Agrium has a leading market share of 17%, with the nearest competitor coming in at only 7%. The company's international operations have even greater market shares closer to about 30%.</p>
<p>While Agrium is the clear market leader, there are still significant opportunities for the company to grow both organically and through acquisitions. For example, 30% of the U.S. market is serviced through small, independent providers. Another 25% is serviced by farmer co-ops. This means that over half of the market could benefit by connecting to Agrium's sprawling, full-service retail locations.</p>
<p>Agrium has also been able to buy a significant amount of smaller competitors, unlocking value by connecting themto its existing distribution network. Since 2010 the company has purchased 272 locations, adding $1.7 billion in sales and $174 million in EBITDA.</p>
<p>IMAGE SOURCE: AGRIUM CORPORATE PRESENTATION.</p>
<p>Just the beginningAll of the benefits Agrium currently enjoys should only strengthen in the coming years. The company has plenty of room to continue consolidating the fragmented retail market, adding to its leadership position. Meanwhile, demand for crop nutrients has never been higher, and Agrium's diversified model mitigates the effect of price swings in any one commodity.</p>
<p>Long-term investors of any style should view Agrium as a strong option. Mounting free cash flows should allow for consistent dividend increases, while growth tailwinds and share buybacks should continue to grow earnings per share for years to come.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/06/04/agrium-inc-its-only-just-beginning.aspx" type="external">Agrium Inc.: It's Only Just Beginning Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p>Ryan <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Vanzo/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Vanzo Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Agrium Inc.: It's Only Just Beginning | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/04/agrium-inc-it-only-just-beginning.html | 2016-06-04 | 0 |
<p>A 26-year-old victim of a home invasion is now facing the prospect of an assault charge after he successfully defended his home against two burglars who had broken in.</p>
<p>After arresting the two robbers, police then set their sites on the home owner because he hit one of them in the head with a shovel.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.iheartradio.ca/cjad/news/police-considering-charge-against-dorval-homeowner-over-break-in-confrontation-1.3087885" type="external">According to the police,</a>&#160;they were called by the home owner around 5:20 am Sunday morning when he heard a noise in his garage and went to check it out. After hanging up with 9-1-1, the man picked up a shovel to defend himself against the home invaders.</p>
<p>Commentary by Jon Masters,</p>
<p>When he confronted the burglars, he hit one of them in the head with the shovel and they both ran off.</p>
<p>Both of the suspected 19-year-old burglars were later arrested. According to police, after they received the 9-1-1 call for the home invasion and were interviewing the burglary victim, the suspected burglar then called to report his injury.</p>
<p>As Global News&#160; <a href="http://globalnews.ca/news/3666693/police-investigate-dorval-home-invasion-armed-assault/" type="external">reports</a>, upon arrival they found two men, both 19 years old, who fit the description of the suspects wanted in connection with the home invasion.</p>
<p>The teen with head injuries was rushed in serious condition to a hospital, where he was placed under arrest.</p>
<p>The other teen was arrested on site.</p>
<p>After arresting both of the teens, police launched a second investigation into the home owner. For fending off the two burglars, the 26-year-old could be charged with assault with a weapon.</p>
<p>Police spokesperson Caroline Chevrefils told CJAD News that&#160;“You cannot assault somebody&#160;if they are not hitting you.”</p>
<p>The very idea of charging someone for defending himself against two people who broke into his home is utterly asinine. According to the police logic, this man would’ve had to allow the burglars to attack him first, before defending himself. Ominously enough, that is the law in Canada.</p>
<p>While it is certainly not okay to initiate force against others who are not threatening you, the very act of entering a home without the permission of the owner is a de facto threat and appropriate force is justified.</p>
<p>The man didn’t kill the teens, he merely swung a shovel at them to get them out of his home. under Canadian <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-6.html#h-9" type="external">law</a>, the government grants property owners, what they refer to as “reasonable” right to self-defense.</p>
<p>While this incident takes place in Canada, the idea of police going after the victim of a burglary for fending off criminals is chilling.</p>
<p>In Canada, using deadly force to defend yourself can and does often result in the person being arrested and charged with a crime.</p>
<p>Just last&#160; <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/07/31/canadian-charged-attempted-murder/" type="external">month</a>, a man in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was issued numerous charges—including attempted murder—after wrestling a gun away from a home invasion suspect and shooting him with it.</p>
<p>As is the case most of the time, Crown prosecutors don’t like Canadians doing what is required to stay alive, so victims who successfully fend off their attackers all too often find themselves on trial facing serious charges.</p>
<p>Is it not reasonable to assume two men who broke into your garage are a threat, and therefore resort to force?</p>
<p>In Canada, however, the government wants to be the only ones who can use force. As previously reported,&#160;&#160;Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) killed a man outside of a restaurant in 2015 who was wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.</p>
<p>Why weren’t these officers charged?</p> | Man Facing Potential Assault Charges for Fighting Off Two Home Invaders | false | https://studionewsnetwork.com/news/man-facing-potential-assault-charges-for-fighting-off-two-home-invaders/ | 2017-08-17 | 3 |
<p>A female Mexican journalist was found decapitated alongside a sign saying she was killed for her postings on a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2041628/Woman-decapitated-postings-drug-crime-social-networking-site.html" type="external">social networking</a> site.</p>
<p>The networking site, Nuevo Laredo en Vivo, has a section for reporting the location of drug gang lookouts and sales points, which possibly angered the Zetas cartel.</p>
<p>The death of Marisol Macias Castaneda, 39, a newsroom manager for the Primera Hora newspaper in the Mexican border city of Nuevo LaredoIt, may be the third case so far this month of drug cartels killing people for what they said on the internet, the AP reports.</p>
<p>And according to CNN,&#160;earlier this month threats mentioning two websites were added to signs beside <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/25/world/americas/mexico-editor-decapitated/" type="external">mutilated bodies</a>in northern Mexico.</p>
<p>A woman was hogtied and disemboweled. Attackers left her topless, dangling by her feet and hands from a bridge in the border city of Nuevo Laredo.</p>
<p>A bloodied man next to her was hanging by his hands, his right shoulder severed so deeply the bone was visible.</p>
<p>Signs left near the bodies declared the pair, both apparently in their 20s, were killed for posting denouncements of drug cartel activities.</p>
<p>Cartels have recently upped the ante in the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/21/mexico-35-bodies-dumped-road" type="external">Mexican drug war</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>Last week, on the eve of a meeting of Mexico's top prosecutors and judicial officials in Veracruz state, masked gunmen blocked traffic a busy avenue in the Mexican coastal city of Boca del Rio and dumped the bodies of 35 murder victims in front of motorists.</p>
<p>The bodies were left piled in two trucks and on the ground of an underpass, the Guardian reports.</p>
<p>The Gulf and Zetas drug cartels are reportedly locked in a bloody battle for control of Veracruz.</p> | Mexican journalist decapitated for posts on social networking site (VIDEO) | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-09-25/mexican-journalist-decapitated-posts-social-networking-site-video | 2011-09-25 | 3 |
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<p>PHOENIX — A San Francisco-based bank that operates in 23 states is expanding its Arizona presence with a new office in Tempe with space for 1,000 workers.</p>
<p>Bank of the West announced the expansion Thursday in conjunction with the Arizona Commerce Authority and Gov. Doug Ducey’s office.</p>
<p>The company has been offered a $3 million grant and will qualify for nearly $6 million in tax credits if all jobs are filled.</p>
<p>The Tempe location alongside Interstate 10 south of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was chosen after a nationwide search.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It will be led by the bank’s Corporate Services Division leader, John Thomason.</p>
<p>Bank of the West is a subsidiary of European bank BNP Paribas.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This version corrects that the first name of the bank executive is John, not Mike.</p> | California-based Bank of the West expanding in Arizona | false | https://abqjournal.com/1074321/california-based-bank-of-the-west-expanding-in-arizona.html | 2017-10-06 | 2 |
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Purdue’s star power forward Vincent Edwards has thoroughly enjoyed his visits to Minnesota.</p>
<p>His last trip was the best yet, as the Boilermakers took full advantage of the reeling Gophers.</p>
<p>Edwards scored 25 points in 29 minutes on 9-for-14 shooting for fifth-ranked Purdue, and the Boilermakers romped past undermanned Minnesota 81-47 on Saturday for their 13th consecutive victory.</p>
<p>“I love playing here. It’s like one of my favorite places to play in the Big Ten. I just always seem to find a good rhythm here,” said Edwards, who won two of his three games on the raised court and finished with 61 points in 99 minutes on 12-for-17 shooting from 3-point range in his career at Williams Arena.</p>
<p>Isaac Haas pitched in 14 points and five rebounds for Purdue (17-2, 6-0), which produced its best Big Ten start since going 8-0 to begin conference play in the 1989-90 season. This is the fourth 6-0 start in the Big Ten in Boilermakers history. They’re tied for the program’s best record at the 19-game overall mark since 1987-88.</p>
<p>Just as important in the performance by Edwards was his defense on Jordan Murphy, who finished with just 10 points and four rebounds for the Gophers. He went nearly 22 minutes without scoring after producing Minnesota’s first six points.</p>
<p>“We knew that if we could keep them off the glass, keep Murphy off the glass, then we were going to be in great shape,” Edwards said. “Just force them into a bunch of tough shots.”</p>
<p>The Gophers (13-6, 2-4) have lost all three games since center Reggie Lynch was suspended and small forward Amir Coffey was sidelined by a shoulder injury. This was the second-largest margin of defeat at home in program history, behind only a 90-51 loss to No. 1 UCLA on Dec. 20, 1968.</p>
<p>Purdue head coach Matt Painter sympathized with the Gophers, recalling the loss of Robbie Hummel to a knee injury eight years ago and how tough it was for that team to recover.</p>
<p>“It’s just different. You need some time to adjust,” Painter said.</p>
<p>Edwards had 20 points by the break and spent much of the second half resting on the bench with the game well in hand. He made four of his five 3-pointers before halftime, and the Boilermakers finished with 24 assists and just 11 turnovers after outscoring the Gophers 41-20 in the second half.</p>
<p>Carsen Edwards added 14 points and Dakota Mathias scored 12 points for the Boilermakers, who pulled out a 70-69 victory at Michigan on Tuesday night after a go-ahead free throw by Haas with 4 seconds remaining.</p>
<p>After a Thanksgiving weekend stumble in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis when they lost by three points to Tennessee and four points to Western Kentucky, Edwards, who shot a combined 7 for 26 in those defeats, and the Boilermakers have bounced back strong.</p>
<p>They began this week with their highest ranking in The Associated Press poll since taking the No. 3 spot on Feb. 22, 2010, a week when they won at Minnesota on a Wednesday and then lost at Michigan State on a Sunday to drop to seventh in the following poll. Hummel was hurt in that game against the Gophers.</p>
<p>MURPHY TO BED</p>
<p>The Gophers registered their season-low shooting percentage (28.8) for the second straight game. They were outrebounded 46-29. Murphy, whose 17 consecutive double-doubles were the most in the country since Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan to start the 1996-97 season, has gone two straight games without one.</p>
<p>“It was huge,” Mathias said. “Obviously he’s one of the best players in the Big Ten, and the country.”</p>
<p>TEED UP</p>
<p>Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino was whistled for a technical foul 3:33 into the game. Already angered by an earlier offensive foul called on Murphy, Pitino erupted after Haas hit Gophers point guard Nate Mason in the throat without a whistle. Murphy had to hold Pitino back from charging onto the court.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>Purdue: With a perfect record through one-third of the conference schedule and four seniors in their starting lineup, the Boilermakers have established themselves as the top contender for the Big Ten title with preseason favorite Michigan State. They only play the fourth-ranked Spartans once this season, a road game on Feb. 10, and now have a two-game lead on both Michigan State and Michigan. Ohio State, which plays at Rutgers on Sunday night, is 5-0 in league play.</p>
<p>“They’re playing with a great purpose,” Pitino said. “They coach themselves. Matt’s a terrific coach, but you can tell they’re coaching each other.”</p>
<p>Minnesota: A season that began with high hopes has swiftly spiraled out of control, a slump triggered by sexual assault allegations against the senior Lynch and the untimely injury to the sophomore Coffey. The top three backcourt players for the Gophers had an abysmal afternoon, with Mason, Dupree McBrayer and Isaiah Washington shooting a combined 6 for 29.</p>
<p>“Shots aren’t falling and games aren’t going our way,” Murphy said, “but we have to just keep our heads up.”</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Purdue: Hosts Wisconsin on Tuesday, with the chance to match the program’s longest winning streak in eight years. The Boilermakers won their first 14 games of the 2009-10 season. The last victory of that streak was against the Gophers.</p>
<p>Minnesota: Plays at Penn State on Monday, the first of three straight games away from home. The Gophers gave up a home game for the Big Ten’s showcase event in New York on Jan. 20, when they take on Ohio State at Madison Square Garden.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more AP college basketball coverage: <a href="http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external">http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Purdue’s star power forward Vincent Edwards has thoroughly enjoyed his visits to Minnesota.</p>
<p>His last trip was the best yet, as the Boilermakers took full advantage of the reeling Gophers.</p>
<p>Edwards scored 25 points in 29 minutes on 9-for-14 shooting for fifth-ranked Purdue, and the Boilermakers romped past undermanned Minnesota 81-47 on Saturday for their 13th consecutive victory.</p>
<p>“I love playing here. It’s like one of my favorite places to play in the Big Ten. I just always seem to find a good rhythm here,” said Edwards, who won two of his three games on the raised court and finished with 61 points in 99 minutes on 12-for-17 shooting from 3-point range in his career at Williams Arena.</p>
<p>Isaac Haas pitched in 14 points and five rebounds for Purdue (17-2, 6-0), which produced its best Big Ten start since going 8-0 to begin conference play in the 1989-90 season. This is the fourth 6-0 start in the Big Ten in Boilermakers history. They’re tied for the program’s best record at the 19-game overall mark since 1987-88.</p>
<p>Just as important in the performance by Edwards was his defense on Jordan Murphy, who finished with just 10 points and four rebounds for the Gophers. He went nearly 22 minutes without scoring after producing Minnesota’s first six points.</p>
<p>“We knew that if we could keep them off the glass, keep Murphy off the glass, then we were going to be in great shape,” Edwards said. “Just force them into a bunch of tough shots.”</p>
<p>The Gophers (13-6, 2-4) have lost all three games since center Reggie Lynch was suspended and small forward Amir Coffey was sidelined by a shoulder injury. This was the second-largest margin of defeat at home in program history, behind only a 90-51 loss to No. 1 UCLA on Dec. 20, 1968.</p>
<p>Purdue head coach Matt Painter sympathized with the Gophers, recalling the loss of Robbie Hummel to a knee injury eight years ago and how tough it was for that team to recover.</p>
<p>“It’s just different. You need some time to adjust,” Painter said.</p>
<p>Edwards had 20 points by the break and spent much of the second half resting on the bench with the game well in hand. He made four of his five 3-pointers before halftime, and the Boilermakers finished with 24 assists and just 11 turnovers after outscoring the Gophers 41-20 in the second half.</p>
<p>Carsen Edwards added 14 points and Dakota Mathias scored 12 points for the Boilermakers, who pulled out a 70-69 victory at Michigan on Tuesday night after a go-ahead free throw by Haas with 4 seconds remaining.</p>
<p>After a Thanksgiving weekend stumble in the Bahamas at the Battle 4 Atlantis when they lost by three points to Tennessee and four points to Western Kentucky, Edwards, who shot a combined 7 for 26 in those defeats, and the Boilermakers have bounced back strong.</p>
<p>They began this week with their highest ranking in The Associated Press poll since taking the No. 3 spot on Feb. 22, 2010, a week when they won at Minnesota on a Wednesday and then lost at Michigan State on a Sunday to drop to seventh in the following poll. Hummel was hurt in that game against the Gophers.</p>
<p>MURPHY TO BED</p>
<p>The Gophers registered their season-low shooting percentage (28.8) for the second straight game. They were outrebounded 46-29. Murphy, whose 17 consecutive double-doubles were the most in the country since Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan to start the 1996-97 season, has gone two straight games without one.</p>
<p>“It was huge,” Mathias said. “Obviously he’s one of the best players in the Big Ten, and the country.”</p>
<p>TEED UP</p>
<p>Minnesota head coach Richard Pitino was whistled for a technical foul 3:33 into the game. Already angered by an earlier offensive foul called on Murphy, Pitino erupted after Haas hit Gophers point guard Nate Mason in the throat without a whistle. Murphy had to hold Pitino back from charging onto the court.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE</p>
<p>Purdue: With a perfect record through one-third of the conference schedule and four seniors in their starting lineup, the Boilermakers have established themselves as the top contender for the Big Ten title with preseason favorite Michigan State. They only play the fourth-ranked Spartans once this season, a road game on Feb. 10, and now have a two-game lead on both Michigan State and Michigan. Ohio State, which plays at Rutgers on Sunday night, is 5-0 in league play.</p>
<p>“They’re playing with a great purpose,” Pitino said. “They coach themselves. Matt’s a terrific coach, but you can tell they’re coaching each other.”</p>
<p>Minnesota: A season that began with high hopes has swiftly spiraled out of control, a slump triggered by sexual assault allegations against the senior Lynch and the untimely injury to the sophomore Coffey. The top three backcourt players for the Gophers had an abysmal afternoon, with Mason, Dupree McBrayer and Isaiah Washington shooting a combined 6 for 29.</p>
<p>“Shots aren’t falling and games aren’t going our way,” Murphy said, “but we have to just keep our heads up.”</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Purdue: Hosts Wisconsin on Tuesday, with the chance to match the program’s longest winning streak in eight years. The Boilermakers won their first 14 games of the 2009-10 season. The last victory of that streak was against the Gophers.</p>
<p>Minnesota: Plays at Penn State on Monday, the first of three straight games away from home. The Gophers gave up a home game for the Big Ten’s showcase event in New York on Jan. 20, when they take on Ohio State at Madison Square Garden.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more AP college basketball coverage: <a href="http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external">http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p> | No. 5 Purdue wins 13th in a row, 81-47 vs. Minnesota | false | https://apnews.com/06cf607e7bec43159385ccc30fbcfd67 | 2018-01-13 | 2 |
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<p>NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City man is on a mission to flush the cremated remains of his lifelong friend – a plumber – down ballpark toilets around the country.</p>
<p>Tom McDonald tells The New York Times ( <a href="http://nyti.ms/2qodwCS" type="external">http://nyti.ms/2qodwCS</a> ) that it's a fitting tribute for Roy Riegel.</p>
<p>The two baseball fans were childhood friends in Queens, not far from – wait for it – Flushing Meadows, where the Mets play.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Like baseball, this endeavor has rules. The game has to be in progress when McDonald sprinkles the ashes into the toilet from a little plastic bottle.</p>
<p>So far, he's done the deed at 16 stadiums.</p>
<p>Riegel also was a music fan: In Cleveland, McDonald flushed ashes at both Progressive Field and the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame.</p>
<p>In Chicago, McDonald did his duty at a White Sox game, skipping Wrigley Field because the Cubs are longtime rivals of the Mets.</p>
<p>“I know people might think it's weird, and if it were anyone else's ashes, I'd agree,” McDonald said. “But for Roy, this is the perfect tribute to a plumber and a baseball fan and just a brilliant, wild guy.”</p>
<p>Riegel's family agreed to share a portion of the ashes after his death in 2008. McDonald spoons out a little each time, from an old peanut can, wrapped in Mets ticket stubs, that he keeps next to World Series highlight videos and his collection of 149 baseball Hall of Fame autographs.</p>
<p>Hank Riegel, of Waterloo, New York, said his brother would appreciate the offbeat gesture.</p>
<p>“He'd be like, 'Oh, yeah, do that,'” Riegel said. “He would definitely approve of it. Never once did Roy follow the rules.”</p>
<p>McDonald has enough ashes left for one more tribute. He hopes to do it at Durham Athletic Park in North Carolina, where the 1988 movie “Bull Durham” was filmed.</p>
<p><a href="#6b9a7ae8-93f4-4623-bd33-05cd22efce9f" type="external">© 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</a> Learn more about our <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy" type="external">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms" type="external">Terms of Use</a>.</p> | Friend flushes baseball fan's remains down ballpark toilets | false | https://abqjournal.com/996946/hit-and-run-plumbers-ashes-flushed-at-ballparks.html | 2017-05-02 | 2 |
<p>British Petroleum’s proposed biofuel research deal with the University of California has sparked a growing resistance from a coalition based in UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources, claiming the deal is essentially a continuation of BP’s current greenwash campaign. After much unfavorable publicity surrounding the mismanagement of oil tankers, pipelines, and refineries, BP began airing commercials on business friendly television channels hyping their renewable energy projects with the slogan, “It’s a start.” It’s a start all right, but a rather paltry one if you consider this: BP’s net profit last year, in 2006, was $22 billion – roughly $600 per second. So the annual commitment to the UC Berkeley program represents 0.0005% of annual profits–just a few hours of the yearly take.</p>
<p>Still, the half-billion dollar windfall buys a lot of clout in a public university. Those who insist that BP’s gift will not change the climate of research at UC Berkeley might consider BP’s track record. It does not bode well for this partnership or for free and open inquiry. Here are the words of Greg Palast of BBC Newsnight:</p>
<p>“BP, which owns 46% of the Alaska pipline and is supposed to manage the system, had a habit of hunting down and destroying the careers of those who warn of pipeline problems. In one case, BP’s CEO of Alaskan operations hired a former CIA expert to break into the home of a whistleblower, Chuck Hamel, who had complained of conditions at the pipe’s tanker facility. BP tapped his phone calls with a US congressman and ran a surveillance and smear campaign against him. When caught, a US federal judge said BP’s acts were ‘reminiscent of Nazi Germany’. This was not an isolated case.”</p>
<p>Given this history, the BP deal-whose specifics remain largely unknown-is bound to produce an atmosphere of secrecy in the research laboratories of a public institution which under the agreement will be staffed by scientist-entrepreneurs enriching themselves by way of private patents and stock options, in a direct conflict of interest.</p>
<p>One of the first casualties of the deal is already clear–the English language. The authors of this proposal have already begun a laundering operation, even before the deal is signed. Genetically modified organisms and biotechnology are nowhere to be seen. The brief era of “biotech” is over, it seems; a new age of “synthetic biology” is dawning. Oddly, we find ourselves back in a world of electricians, chemists and masons. Instead of living GMOs we are dealing with “DNA circuits”; instead of genes we find “biobricks”. Plants no longer decompose; in this brave new science they undergo “depolymerization”. These linguistic constructs are presumably an attempt to obscure the fact that the core of the BP project for growing fuel instead of food remains the global proliferation of new, reproducing, lifeforms that contain genes transfected from distant species, with very poorly understood results.</p>
<p>It is not by accident that the parties to the BP-Berkeley deal borrow their rhetorical strategies from their counterparts in the military and nuclear fields. The UC scientists and administrators begin the proposal by invoking, in the most effusive terms, the Manhattan Project. In fact, the whole initiative is to be modeled on the Manhattan Project’s “team science” model. But that project is properly remembered for its secret, reckless decision-making. With its very first experiment, Arthur Compton, the head of the Chicago scientists involved, risked building a secret reactor in the middle of the city. Compton explained: “We did not see how a true nuclear explosion, such as that of an atomic bomb, could possibly occur”; still, as Richard Rhodes the historian of the Manhattan Project put it, he was risking “a small Chernobyl in the midst of a crowded city.”</p>
<p>Here, then, are some questions: What is modern science that its shining hour was the Manhattan Project, a secret project to build a weapon of mass murder? What is modern science that it flourishes in secrecy? What is it that the biofuel boosters here at UC Berkeley like so much about Lawrence and the atomic bomb project?</p>
<p>Well, here’s one possible explanation: science–and by this we mean ‘actually existing’ science–is capital’s way of knowing the world, and furthermore, science is the handmaiden of empire. It’s no accident that ballistics and the development of weapons of mass murder are at the heart of modern physics. Now the cult of the atom is mirrored and even matched by the cult of the gene. The stakes are high, they tell us, global warming and oil depletion loom. It is all rather plausible, even if promoted by known market manipulators such as BP-its history of machinations we shall address later-but for now it is worth asking: what does it mean, when the language of crisis is on so many lips? Suddenly, everyone is on board with biofuels as the answer to global warming–scientists, environmentalists, pundits, celebrities, politicians of all stripes-the Gores and Bransons and Blairs, and now the Bushes, with their ethanol deal with Brazil.</p>
<p>Global emergency, like communism and terrorism, is a very useful bogey man that brooks no dissent. It facilitates backroom deals, and in the BP case (an agreement put together, in the revealing phrase of the UC vice chancellor for research, “at warp speed”), it obscures the risks that university administrators and scientists are prepared to take not only with the local environment of Strawberry Canyon, but with the ecosystems of the planet and the lives of small farmers everywhere who face further dispossession for the purpose of biofuel monoculture. But risk, of course, is something our neoliberal masters are adept at “externalizing”; after all, its other face is profit. Formerly natural disasters were the work of the Fates and the Furies. Now, chance and contingency and cataclysm are the spectacular image both the nominal left and real right promote so that we will not look at their long history of harm and devastation, so that we will forgo all talk of prevention. But that seems to leave the Fates and the Furies unemployed. Are they then available to protect us from the fallout, no longer just nuclear but vegetable as well?</p>
<p>Iain Boal is a historian of technics and the commons, a member of the Retort collective, and a co-author of <a href="" type="internal">Afflicted Powers</a>. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>Standard Schaefer is a writer, teacher, and student in San Francisco. He can be reached <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | British Petroleum and the New Greenmail | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/03/27/british-petroleum-and-the-new-greenmail/ | 2007-03-27 | 4 |
<p>CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Paul Rudd, the versatile and forever young actor and screenwriter who stars in "Ant-Man" was named 2018 Man of the Year by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals on Thursday.</p>
<p>Rudd, 48, will get his pudding pot during a roast at Harvard on Feb. 2.</p>
<p>"He has starred in indies, mainstream films, acclaimed and often heartfelt comedies, and now he currently plays one of Marvel's biggest (and smallest) superheroes," the oldest collegiate theatrical organization in the nation announced.</p>
<p>He also apparently holds the secret to the fountain of youth.</p>
<p>"The entire company is in awe of his many accomplishments in film and television," Hasty Pudding President Amira Weeks said in a statement. "Specifically, in his ability to have not aged since 1995. Oh, and we hear he's a pretty funny guy, too."</p>
<p>Rudd co-wrote and starred in 2015's "Ant-Man" and its sequel due out this year, "Ant-Man and the Wasp."</p>
<p>He also plays the lead in "The Catcher Was a Spy," the real-life story of Ivy Leaguer and major league ballplayer Moe Berg, a spy with the forerunner of the CIA during World War II, premiering later this month at the Sundance Film Festival.</p>
<p>Previous film credits include "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," ''This is 40" and "Knocked Up."</p>
<p>Hasty Pudding gives out the awards annually to people "who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment."</p>
<p>Last year's man of the year was Ryan Reynolds. Previous winners dating to 1967 include James Stewart, Sylvester Stallone and Samuel L. Jackson.</p>
<p>Mila Kunis was named 2018 Woman of the Year last week.</p>
<p>CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — Paul Rudd, the versatile and forever young actor and screenwriter who stars in "Ant-Man" was named 2018 Man of the Year by Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Theatricals on Thursday.</p>
<p>Rudd, 48, will get his pudding pot during a roast at Harvard on Feb. 2.</p>
<p>"He has starred in indies, mainstream films, acclaimed and often heartfelt comedies, and now he currently plays one of Marvel's biggest (and smallest) superheroes," the oldest collegiate theatrical organization in the nation announced.</p>
<p>He also apparently holds the secret to the fountain of youth.</p>
<p>"The entire company is in awe of his many accomplishments in film and television," Hasty Pudding President Amira Weeks said in a statement. "Specifically, in his ability to have not aged since 1995. Oh, and we hear he's a pretty funny guy, too."</p>
<p>Rudd co-wrote and starred in 2015's "Ant-Man" and its sequel due out this year, "Ant-Man and the Wasp."</p>
<p>He also plays the lead in "The Catcher Was a Spy," the real-life story of Ivy Leaguer and major league ballplayer Moe Berg, a spy with the forerunner of the CIA during World War II, premiering later this month at the Sundance Film Festival.</p>
<p>Previous film credits include "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," ''This is 40" and "Knocked Up."</p>
<p>Hasty Pudding gives out the awards annually to people "who have made lasting and impressive contributions to the world of entertainment."</p>
<p>Last year's man of the year was Ryan Reynolds. Previous winners dating to 1967 include James Stewart, Sylvester Stallone and Samuel L. Jackson.</p>
<p>Mila Kunis was named 2018 Woman of the Year last week.</p> | Forever young Paul Rudd named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year | false | https://apnews.com/amp/bb9fc50d9b0e4c39b1457fa1e2a9ad4f | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
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<p>AUSTIN, Texas - The state of Texas has reprimanded an El Paso judge for keeping his own divorce case in his court for four months, among other violations.</p>
<p>The El Paso Times ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1WJbWSz" type="external">http://bit.ly/1WJbWSz</a> ) reports that the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct issued a reprimand against Judge Mike Herrera in February. It says that Herrera filed for divorce in 2012, kept the case in his own court for four months and filed motions in the matter.</p>
<p>The reprimand concludes that Herrera demonstrated a lack of professional competence regarding the law, and willfully engaged in conduct that was against his judicial duties.</p>
<p>The commission ordered Herrera to get six hours of additional training.</p>
<p>Herrera says he did little wrong in the case and that the fact that it was in his court made no difference.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: El Paso Times, <a href="http://www.elpasotimes.com" type="external">http://www.elpasotimes.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | El Paso judge punished for misconduct in divorce case | false | https://abqjournal.com/745053/el-paso-judge-punished-for-misconduct-in-divorce-case.html | 2 |
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<p>Congressional leaders on Monday said they are prepared to provide economic aid to Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia as tensions continue to escalate in the eastern European conflict.</p>
<p>"To deal with the crisis in Ukraine and respond to Russia's provocation, I have asked our House committee Chairmen to develop plans to assist the government of Ukraine, put pressure on Russia, and reassure allies throughout the world that the United States will not stand idly by in the face of such aggression," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said in a statement.</p>
<p>Cantor also said Congress will begin to review if it can provide the Obama administration authority to impose sanctions on Russian officials following its military intervention into Ukraine's Crimea region.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., indicated on Monday that the Senate would also be exploring ways to help Ukraine.</p>
<p>"What I am going to recommend is that anything that we do would be in coordination with our allies," said Reid. "And President Obama has said he wants to give economic aid. I think that's appropriate.”</p>
<p>The Senate isn't holding votes until Wednesday because of bad weather, and it's not yet clear what an aid package or set of actions might look like. But aides and members were in discussions over the weekend about how to move forward, and Republicans are already pressing for a tough response toward Russia.</p>
<p>President Obama earlier today said that Congress should "work with the administration to help provide a package of assistance to the Ukrainians, to the people and that government."</p> | Congress Prepares Response to Ukraine Crisis | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/congress-prepares-response-ukraine-crisis-n43486 | 2014-03-04 | 3 |
<p>LAS VEGAS (AP) — It takes just minutes for a room service attendant to respond to a text message asking for a soda, bringing the Diet Coke on a tray with a glass of ice and lime wedges, no need for the modern hassle of placing a phone call.</p>
<p>Thousands of guests at some of Las Vegas' casino-hotels also can get towels, food and toiletries delivered with just a few taps on their smartphone. It comes as the staples of hotel room technology — a phone on a nightstand and a flat-screen TV — aren't cutting it anymore in the hypercompetitive world of Sin City tourism.</p>
<p>Guests can use tablets to control room features like lights and temperature. Shower infusers and special lights promise travelers a chance to recharge. And a 4-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) robot can point visitors to the nearest ATM. In the battle for millions of Las Vegas' tourists, voice-assisted speakers and purification systems also are part of the push to attract ever-more-demanding customers and keep them coming back.</p>
<p>"The hotel brands or the casino brands are trying to make themselves evolve to become more relevant to a younger audience that is highly technologically enabled," said Robert Rippee, director of the Hospitality Lab at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.</p>
<p>Las Vegas hotels are not the only ones using such technology. The Acme Hotel Co. in Chicago put an Amazon Echo in every room and the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills, California, has equipped rooms with iPads. But what sets Sin City properties apart is the volume of guests they handle, which can test the technology that must be easy to understand.</p>
<p>"Let's say the tablet is a Microsoft Surface, but the tablet you use is an iPad, so you immediately have a gap," Rippee said. "You, as the user, now have to learn to use a product an operating system you are unfamiliar with. If you are here for two nights, you are going to discard it."</p>
<p>Caesars Entertainment launched a texting service at its 3,976-room Caesars Palace casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in August, months after rolling it out at two boutique hotels. Senior vice president and chief experience officer Michael Marino said the service aims to improve guests' stay after the company noticed a dip in phone calls.</p>
<p>"It's not like they have less needs, it's just that something has happened over the last couple of years where people just don't like to call people anymore," Marino said.</p>
<p>Four properties now have the service named Ivy, which the company credits for higher scores of two of its hotels on travel review website TripAdvisor.</p>
<p>The service uses artificial intelligence to automatically answer common questions and requests, such as gym location and hours of operation. But trained staffers type back responses to more complex inquiries such as where Muslims should face to pray in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.</p>
<p>"The window of your room faces to the East. If you pray facing the window, you will be oriented towards Mecca," Ivy answered within two minutes.</p>
<p>The Cosmopolitan casino-hotel also launched a chatbot a year ago, around the same time Wynn Resorts announced that an Amazon Echo would be installed in every room of the Wynn Las Vegas casino-hotel.</p>
<p>At the Aria and Vdara hotels, each room is equipped with a tablet with applications that allow guests to schedule breakfast delivery, access thousands of publications and adjust temperature and lights. Travelers also can choose special rooms at the MGM Grand and The Mirage with several lighting options, including one that helps the body's internal clock, and a device that infuses the shower's water with vitamin C.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a shiny white, wide-eyed standing robot named Pepper in the lobby of the luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel can answer a set of preprogrammed questions, including checkout time, how to connect to the Wi-Fi network and the location of the spa.</p>
<p>"I've seen robots on TV, but never in person. It's so cute," said Ana Rosa Santiago, a Miami resident who took a selfie with Pepper. "I already sent it to all my family."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Regina Garcia Cano on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/reginagarciakNO" type="external">https://twitter.com/reginagarciakNO</a> .</p>
<p>LAS VEGAS (AP) — It takes just minutes for a room service attendant to respond to a text message asking for a soda, bringing the Diet Coke on a tray with a glass of ice and lime wedges, no need for the modern hassle of placing a phone call.</p>
<p>Thousands of guests at some of Las Vegas' casino-hotels also can get towels, food and toiletries delivered with just a few taps on their smartphone. It comes as the staples of hotel room technology — a phone on a nightstand and a flat-screen TV — aren't cutting it anymore in the hypercompetitive world of Sin City tourism.</p>
<p>Guests can use tablets to control room features like lights and temperature. Shower infusers and special lights promise travelers a chance to recharge. And a 4-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) robot can point visitors to the nearest ATM. In the battle for millions of Las Vegas' tourists, voice-assisted speakers and purification systems also are part of the push to attract ever-more-demanding customers and keep them coming back.</p>
<p>"The hotel brands or the casino brands are trying to make themselves evolve to become more relevant to a younger audience that is highly technologically enabled," said Robert Rippee, director of the Hospitality Lab at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.</p>
<p>Las Vegas hotels are not the only ones using such technology. The Acme Hotel Co. in Chicago put an Amazon Echo in every room and the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills, California, has equipped rooms with iPads. But what sets Sin City properties apart is the volume of guests they handle, which can test the technology that must be easy to understand.</p>
<p>"Let's say the tablet is a Microsoft Surface, but the tablet you use is an iPad, so you immediately have a gap," Rippee said. "You, as the user, now have to learn to use a product an operating system you are unfamiliar with. If you are here for two nights, you are going to discard it."</p>
<p>Caesars Entertainment launched a texting service at its 3,976-room Caesars Palace casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in August, months after rolling it out at two boutique hotels. Senior vice president and chief experience officer Michael Marino said the service aims to improve guests' stay after the company noticed a dip in phone calls.</p>
<p>"It's not like they have less needs, it's just that something has happened over the last couple of years where people just don't like to call people anymore," Marino said.</p>
<p>Four properties now have the service named Ivy, which the company credits for higher scores of two of its hotels on travel review website TripAdvisor.</p>
<p>The service uses artificial intelligence to automatically answer common questions and requests, such as gym location and hours of operation. But trained staffers type back responses to more complex inquiries such as where Muslims should face to pray in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.</p>
<p>"The window of your room faces to the East. If you pray facing the window, you will be oriented towards Mecca," Ivy answered within two minutes.</p>
<p>The Cosmopolitan casino-hotel also launched a chatbot a year ago, around the same time Wynn Resorts announced that an Amazon Echo would be installed in every room of the Wynn Las Vegas casino-hotel.</p>
<p>At the Aria and Vdara hotels, each room is equipped with a tablet with applications that allow guests to schedule breakfast delivery, access thousands of publications and adjust temperature and lights. Travelers also can choose special rooms at the MGM Grand and The Mirage with several lighting options, including one that helps the body's internal clock, and a device that infuses the shower's water with vitamin C.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a shiny white, wide-eyed standing robot named Pepper in the lobby of the luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel can answer a set of preprogrammed questions, including checkout time, how to connect to the Wi-Fi network and the location of the spa.</p>
<p>"I've seen robots on TV, but never in person. It's so cute," said Ana Rosa Santiago, a Miami resident who took a selfie with Pepper. "I already sent it to all my family."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Regina Garcia Cano on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/reginagarciakNO" type="external">https://twitter.com/reginagarciakNO</a> .</p> | Las Vegas hotels bet on technology to attract, dazzle guests | false | https://apnews.com/amp/8a3f76f56a74411790c8dcece82eba07 | 2018-01-10 | 2 |
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<p>The invention of the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4757978.stm/" type="external">birthing suit</a> is upon us, and while it may sound silly, this Velcro contraption can save lives of at-risk women in remote locales by preventing haemorrhaging, which causes a third of the 500,000 deaths during delivery a year, can potentially be averted by this new invention.</p>
<p>Assembled from a mass of Velcro and tight fitting material, the reusable suit circulates blood from the legs to the vital organs, thus delivering oxygen. While it is not a permanent solution, it buys time, and according to Sullen Miller, lead researcher at the University of California, “in our research, women who appeared clinically dead, with no blood pressure and no palpable pulse, were resuscitated and kept alive for up to two days while waiting for blood transfusions.” This technology could have major effect in developing countries, as the suit requires no medical training to apply, and if it allows enough time to get the appropriate care, can rescue women from deadly situations.</p>
<p /> | Will the Birthing Suit Save Lives? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/02/will-birthing-suit-save-lives/ | 2006-02-28 | 4 |
<p>They barely had time to think about what was going on — a sudden jolt, and what was supposed to be an ordinary commute turned into a nightmare.</p>
<p>That's how various passengers on the Amtrak train that derailed as it was leaving Philadelphia on its way to New York described <a href="" type="internal">Tuesday night's terrifying ordeal</a>.</p>
<p>"It was very scary," said Max Helfman, a 19-year-old from Watchung, N.J., who was on his way home with his mother after doing work with the American Heart Association in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>He said people were thrown to the ground and "chairs inside the train became unscrewed and suitcases were falling on people."</p>
<p>He only had a few scratches, and "maybe a concussion" — but his mother was hospitalized with possible broken ribs.</p>
<p>"My mother flew into me and I literally had to catch her," he told NBC News. "People were bleeding from their head. It was awful ... I'm still shocked this even happened."</p>
<p>That was the same sentiment from Janelle Richards, an associate producer for "NBC Nightly News" who was coming back from seeing friends and family in D.C. She's usually on the other side of the camera when disaster strikes.</p>
<p>"All of a sudden there was just a loud crash and I felt myself go up in my seat a little bit and sling forward and sling back," Richards said as she waited in Hahnemann University Hospital with lower back pain.</p>
<p>"I just remember thinking, 'Is this really happening right now? What is going on?'</p>
<p>"And as quickly as it happened, it stopped," she said. "The train was in shock, I was just like, 'Okay, you're okay, can you get up?'"</p>
<p>Her car wasn't one of the five that fell on its side or flipped over. Officials said all seven train cars and the engine derailed. Richards and other passengers asked if each other were all right, then some people managed to open a door and the people started piling out. But there were more fears.</p>
<p>"Could this train blow up? Could another train come? There were two large electric poles that were bent inward. I was thinking: Could they fall on the train?" Richards recalled.</p>
<p>"As we waited, eventually we saw, I saw, a light through the sky from the helicopter." Then she saw police and other first responders who cut through a fence and helped the passengers to safety.</p>
<p>Associated Press manager Paul Cheung remembered how everything started to shake and people's belongings started flying everywhere.</p>
<p>He says it all happened "in a flash second."</p>
<p>Cheung said another passenger urged them to escape from the back of the car, which he did. He said the front of the train was a twisted mess.</p>
<p>"The front of the train is really mangled," he said. "It's a complete wreck. The whole thing is like a pile of metal."</p>
<p>The Associated Press contributed to this report.</p> | Philadelphia Train Crash: Survivors Recount Amtrak Derailment | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/amtrak-crash/philadelphia-train-crash-survivors-recount-amtrak-derailment-n358116 | 2015-05-13 | 3 |
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<p>So Diawara gathered more than 40 of Mali’s best-known musicians with her in a recording studio in Bamako, the country’s capital.</p>
<p>The result was a song and a video titled, “Mali-ko/Peace/La Paix,” which called for peace. Among the singers on it were Toumani Diabate, Habib Koite and Amadou and Mariam.</p>
<p>“It was important for me to have a group make a song and share it with the Malian people because music is very important in Mali. It has a place (in the culture),” Diawara said in a phone interview.</p>
<p>The song was a clear attempt to promote peace in Mali, a country in West Africa, but it also was a vehicle to encourage the defeat of the insurgents. She said the insurgents would ban music if they ruled any part of the country.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The song was released at about the time France flew in soldiers to help Malian government forces push back the rebels. To date, they have succeeded.</p>
<p>Diawara said the French military support has turned the conflict into “a good war. But it’s going to be difficult. I accept it. Six months ago, we didn’t know what was happening in the north. Now everything is clear.”</p>
<p>Diawara, a singer, songwriter and guitarist, will be in concert Sunday, April 14 at the Outpost Performance Space. She will be on stage with an ensemble that includes a backup singer, a guitarist, bassist and percussionist. They will be presenting some of the cuts from Diawara’s debut release, “Fatou.”</p>
<p>Diawara said many of the songs on the CD talk about love, “my kind of love. Everything I do starts from love.”</p> | Diawara sings for peace in war-torn Mali | false | https://abqjournal.com/187684/diawara-sings-for-peace-in-wartorn-mali.html | 2013-04-12 | 2 |
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<p>LONDON — British engineers say they have launched a “sewer war” against a giant fat blob clogging London’s sewers.</p>
<p>Thames Water officials said Tuesday it is likely to take three weeks to dissolve the outsize fatberg.</p>
<p>They caution against expecting quick results as the fatberg is 250 yards long and weighs as much as 11 double-decker busses.</p>
<p>The unsavory blob consists of congealed wet wipes, diapers, fat and oil.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Thames Water’s Matt Rimmer says the fatberg is “a total monster and taking a lot of manpower and machinery to remove as it’s set hard.”</p>
<p>He said the task is “basically like trying to break up concrete.”</p>
<p>Eight workers are using high powered jet hoses to break up the blob before sucking it out into tankers for disposal at a recycling site.</p> | UK engineers launch ‘sewer war’ against giant fat blob | false | https://abqjournal.com/1062193/uk-engineers-launch-sewer-war-against-giant-fat-blob.html | 2017-09-12 | 2 |
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<p>Ridden by Alfredo Sigala for trainer Fred Danley, Carson City Girl covered her quarter-mile trip in :21.213. The mare was sent to post at odds of 6-1 and returned a $15.80 win mutuel.</p>
<p>Carson City Girl was bred by Mac and Janis Murray’s MJ Farms at Veguita, New Mexico. She was coming off of a ninth-place finish, 2 3/4 lengths behind winner First Kool Moon, in the July 30, 400-yard Zia Handicap (RG2) at Ruidoso Downs, but she broke poorly and lost her path in that $50,000 race.</p>
<p>Carson City Girl had no such bad luck on Sunday, as she recorded a 103 speed index and her third stakes win.</p>
<p>“She cracked a cannon bone as a 2-year-old, and again as a 3-year-old, but this is a tough mare,” said David Barrett, who purchased Carson City Girl at the 2014 New Mexico-Bred Sale at Ruidoso Downs. “We laid her up for six months after each injury, but she wanted to run even when she was sore. She’s just a great mare. If she hadn’t had all of those physical issues, it’s hard to tell how much more successful she could be on the track.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There were about 190 horses at that sale, but there was nothing else that caught my eye after I saw her at the sale,” he added.</p>
<p>Barrett said that Carson City Girl might be bred to One Famous Eagle, American Quarter Horse racing’s champion 3-year-old colt in 2008, next year. Raced exclusively in New Mexico, Carson City Girl has won six of 17 starts, and the $41,279 winner’s share of the First Moonflash Maturity purse pushed her bankroll to $274,750.</p>
<p>Play Misty Foreme, the 3-2 favorite in the field of nine, finished second to complete a $2 exacta payoff of $53.60. Tyger Power, Comin To Your Town, Osbaldo, Fire Stones, Dont Ever Slow Down, Dungarees Version, and Major Bites completed the order of finish.</p> | ABQ Downs: Carson City Girl wins First Moonflash Maturity | false | https://abqjournal.com/1054305/abq-downs-carson-city-girl-wins-first-moonflash-maturity.html | 2 |
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<p>Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said Tuesday that one of its top leaders, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee who had a $5 million bounty on his head, had been killed in an American drone strike.</p>
<p>AQAP, al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen, issued a statement mourning the cleric, Ibrahim al-Rubeish.</p>
<p>Al-Rubeish fought in Afghanistan at Tora Bora, was captured and was sent to Guantanamo, according to Flashpoint Intelligence, a security company and NBC News partner. He was released in 2006 and joined AQAP, which U.S. officials have described as the most dangerous branch of the terror network.</p>
<p>The State Department <a href="http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/english/ibrahim_al_rubaysh.html" type="external">lists al-Rubeish</a> as 35 or 36 and describes him as a senior adviser for operational planning, including the planning of attacks.</p> | Al Qaeda Branch Says Senior Leader Ibrahim al-Rubeish Killed in U.S. Drone Strike | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/world/al-qaeda-says-senior-leader-killed-u-s-drone-strike-n341306 | 2015-04-14 | 3 |
<p>PITTSBURGH — Tommy Pham, <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Matt-Carpenter/" type="external">Matt Carpenter</a> and Paul DeJong hit home runs, three of St. Louis’ 13 hits Friday night, as the Cardinals built an eight-run lead and held on to beat the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Pittsburgh-Pirates/" type="external">Pittsburgh Pirates</a> 11-10 at PNC Park.</p>
<p>St. Louis (63-59) won its second in a row and 10th in the past 12 to remain 1 1/2 games behind the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chicago-Cubs/" type="external">Chicago Cubs</a> in the National League Central.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh (58-64) lost its sixth straight and fell five games behind the Cardinals and 6 1/2 behind Chicago.</p>
<p>For the second night in a row in the divisional series, runners and runs abounded.</p>
<p>St. Louis scored in each of the first four innings for an 8-2 lead.</p>
<p>The Cardinals tacked on two more in the sixth and another in the eighth before Pittsburgh’s Max Moroff hit the sixth homer of the game, a two-run, 420-foot shot in the eighth that bounced into the Allegheny River.</p>
<p>Josh Bell and Elias Diaz each added an RBI double later in the eighth to make it 11-8.</p>
<p>The Pirates added two more in the ninth before Seung Hwan Oh struck out Diaz to end it. Oh picked up his 19th save.</p>
<p>Cardinals starter <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Carlos_Martinez/" type="external">Carlos Martinez</a> (10-9) pitched seven innings and got stronger as he went. He allowed two early runs on homers but settled in to give up three runs on six hits, with four strikeouts and two walks.</p>
<p>Pittsburgh starter Trevor Williams (5-6) had gone at least six innings in four of previous five games, but he lasted just two batters into the fourth, giving up eight runs on seven hits — three of them homers — with three strikeouts and two walks.</p>
<p>Pham’s 16th homer — a one-out shot to right after Carpenter struck out in the first inning — gave him homers in consecutive at-bats and St. Louis a 1-0 lead. Pham led off the ninth Thursday with a homer.</p>
<p>The Pirates’ start mirrored that of the Cardinals. Starling Marte struck out and Josh Harrison followed with a homer to right for a 1-1 tie. It was Harrison’s 14th homer, setting a single-season career high, and, as with Pham, gave him blasts in consecutive games.</p>
<p>The Cardinals added some distance in the second on Greg Garcia’s RBI single and Carpenter’s 16th homer, a two-out, three-run shot to right-center field. That gave St. Louis a 5-1 lead and five runs on four hits.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/David_Freese/" type="external">David Freese</a> led off the bottom of the second with his ninth homer to pull Pittsburgh within 5-2.</p>
<p>DeJong took his turn, hitting the fifth homer of the game to lead off the third. His shot to center, his 19th homer, gave the Cardinals a 6-2 lead.</p>
<p>When St. Louis put runners at the corners with no outs in the fourth with Martinez up, the Pirates pulled Williams for <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Steven/" type="external">Steven</a> Brault. Martinez drove in a run with a sacrifice fielder’s choice, and Pham drove in another on a groundout to make it 8-2.</p>
<p>Marte’s two-out RBI triple in the fifth drew the Pirates to 8-3.</p>
<p>NOTES: St. Louis RHP <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Adam_Wainwright/" type="external">Adam Wainwright</a> was placed on the 10-day DL because of right elbow impingement. … St. Louis RHP Mike Mayers was recalled from Triple-A Memphis. … St. Louis 2B <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kolten-Wong/" type="external">Kolten Wong</a> was a late lineup scratch because of a hip problem. … Pittsburgh LHP Wade LeBlanc was placed on the 10-day DL because of a left quadriceps strain. … Pittsburgh LHP Steven Brault was recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis. … For the second night in a row, a Pirates pitcher (Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams) bunted into a double play.</p> | St. Louis Cardinals hold off Pittsburgh Pirates in slugfest | false | https://newsline.com/st-louis-cardinals-hold-off-pittsburgh-pirates-in-slugfest/ | 2017-08-18 | 1 |
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<p>LAS CRUCES — Gov. Susana Martinez has signed a bill making it a crime to distribute sensitive images of a person in an effort to harass or injure that person.</p>
<p>Posting intimate photos or videos on the internet or disseminating such images electronically or otherwise will be a crime under the so-called “revenge porn” bill signed Monday.</p>
<p>With Martinez’s signature, New Mexico joins at least 16 states that have enacted similar laws in the past 10 years.</p>
<p>Under the law, sensitive images are defined as those of a person whose genitals are exposed or images depicting certain areas of a woman’s breast.</p>
<p>Once the law takes effect July 1, the first conviction will be a misdemeanor. Subsequent convictions would constitute a fourth-degree felony.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | NM law prohibits distributing intimate images to harass | false | https://abqjournal.com/565487/nm-law-prohibits-distributing-intimate-images-to-harass.html | 2 |
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<p>PARIS (AP) — He was modest about his accomplishments in the kitchen but grandiose in his dreams. Paul Bocuse credited his long reign as France's master chef to everything but himself: good produce fresh from the garden, a superb kitchen staff and happy diners.</p>
<p>But the three-star Michelin rating held since 1965 by his restaurant outside the French city of Lyon wasn't enough. Bocuse parlayed his business and cooking skills into a globe-spanning empire, along the way transforming chefs from kitchen artists toiling in the shadows into international celebrities.</p>
<p>Bocuse died at 91 on Saturday at Collonges-au-Mont-d'or, the place where he was born and had his restaurant, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement. He had undergone a triple heart bypass in 2005 and also suffered from Parkinson's disease.</p>
<p>"French gastronomy loses a mythical figure," Macron said. "The chefs cry in their kitchens, at the Elysee (presidential palace) and everywhere in France."</p>
<p>Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted that "Mister Paul was France. Simplicity and generosity. Excellence and art de vivre."</p>
<p>"He has been a leader. He took the cook out of the kitchen," said celebrity French chef Alain Ducasse, speaking at a 2013 gathering to honor Bocuse, one of more than 100 chefs from around the world who traveled to Lyon for the occasion.</p>
<p>"Monsieur Paul" — as he was affectionately known — cultivated a larger-than-life image. The public Bocuse was all white starch, most often portrayed in his tall chef's hat, or "toque," arms folded over his crisp apron.</p>
<p>He was a tireless pioneer, the first chef to blend the art of cooking with savvy business tactics — branding his cuisine and his image to create an empire of restaurants around the globe whose offerings range from haute cuisine to fast food.</p>
<p>But the man dubbed by critics as the "pope of French cuisine" never forgot his humble beginnings learning the ropes in his family kitchen along the Saone River in southeast France. He turned that family house into a temple of gastronomy — L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges — and still lived upstairs, sleeping in the same room where he was born, he told The Associated Press in a 2011 interview.</p>
<p>"One must never forget how one reached the top of the pedestal," he is quoted as saying in a 2005 biography.</p>
<p>The restaurant has held three stars — without interruption — since 1965 in the Michelin guide, the bible of gastronomes. Bocuse greets arriving guests in a "tromp l'oeuil" painting on an outside wall and peers at them from a large portrait inside the cozy but elegant Auberge. Renowned chefs, some of whom he worked with, are portrayed in a giant mural.</p>
<p>Bocuse's cuisine was simple yet his personality complex. Three women, his wife Raymonde and two other female companions, accompanied his ascension, playing pivotal roles while remaining mostly behind the scenes.</p>
<p>In 1982, Bocuse opened a restaurant in the France Pavilion in Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, headed by his son Jerome, also a chef.</p>
<p>But while excelling in the business of cooking, Bocuse never flagged in his devotion to his first love, creating a top class, quintessentially French meal. He eschewed the fads and experiments that have captivated many other top chefs.</p>
<p>"In cooking, there are those who are rap and those who are concerto," he told the French newsmagazine L'Express — adding that he tended toward the concerto — a solo artist backed by an orchestra of talented kitchen staff.</p>
<p>In traditional cooking, there is no room for guesswork he said, declaring "one must be immutable, unattackable, monumental."</p>
<p>Born on Feb. 11, 1926, to a family of cooks that he dates to the 1700s, Bocuse entered his first apprenticeship at 16. He worked at the famed La Mere Brazier in Lyon, then spent eight years with one of his culinary idols, Fernand Point, whose cooking was a precursor to France's nouvelle cuisine movement with lighter sauces and lightly cooked fresh vegetables.</p>
<p>Bocuse's career in the kitchen traversed the ages. He went from apprenticeships and cooking "brigades" at a time when stoves were coal-fired and chefs also served as scullery workers to the ultra-modern kitchen of his Auberge.</p>
<p>"There was rigor," Bocuse told the AP. "(At La Mere Brazier) you had to wake up early and milk the cows, feed the pigs, do the laundry and cook .... It was a very tough school of hard knocks."</p>
<p>"Today, the profession has changed enormously. There's no more coal. You push a button and you have heat," he said.</p>
<p>Bocuse adapted seamlessly to the changing times, making his mark with a first coveted Michelin star in 1958, a second in 1960 and a third in 1965. In 1989, he was named Cook of the Century by Gault &amp; Millau, a noted guidebook. In 2011, the Culinary Institute of America named him Chef of the Century, opening a restaurant for students in his name.</p>
<p>Despite the accolades, he maintained a special pride in the blue, white and red stripes on his chef's collar holding a large medal, attesting to his selection in 1961 as a "Meilleur Ouvrier de France," a sought-after distinction for chefs and other artisans.</p>
<p>The gastronomic offerings at Bocuse's L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges are rooted in the French culinary tradition: simple, authentic food that was "identifiable" in its nature.</p>
<p>Emblematic of that is the crock of truffle soup he created in 1975 for then-French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing — a soup that is still served to this day. Another Bocuse classic is fricassee of Bresse chicken — from France's Bresse region, which is famed for its poultry — served in cream with morilles, a type of spring mushroom.</p>
<p>And his favorite ingredient? Butter.</p>
<p>"(It's a) magical product," he said during a visit to the Culinary Institute of America. "Nothing replaces butter."</p>
<p>Three other cooking must-haves, according to the chef, are fresh produce (his from his own garden), a solid, trusted kitchen staff and happy diners.</p>
<p>"It's the client who runs the house," Bocuse told the AP.</p>
<p>He disparaged the notion that his culinary offerings amounted to nouvelle cuisine, although he incorporated aspects of it. And he scoffed at critics who contended that his food was stuck in a bygone age. Georges Auguste Escoffier, who gave classic French cuisine a world profile, remained a solid inspiration at Bocuse's table.</p>
<p>"Escoffier was the master of us all," Bocuse once said.</p>
<p>World War II interrupted his kitchen duties. He fought in the First Division of the Free French Forces, was wounded and cared for at a U.S. field hospital.</p>
<p>"I always say I have American blood in my veins because ... I had transfusions of American blood," he said in the AP interview. An American flag still flies outside his restaurant.</p>
<p>The war had a lasting impact on the chef.</p>
<p>"(It) forges the character," he said. "You no longer have the same idea of life."</p>
<p>Bocuse might have settled for being a renowned French chef worthy of a pilgrimage by food lovers with deep pockets. Instead, he parlayed his culinary skills into a worldwide food conglomerate.</p>
<p>He opened two brasseries in Lyon in 1995 and 1997. He added three other eateries in the city and even a hotel. He planted restaurants in the south of France, in Geneva and hopped across the world to Japan, where eight Bocuse brasseries, cafes and other establishments were opened.</p>
<p>He also aimed to transmit his savoir-faire to a young generation through the Foundation Paul Bocuse, established in Lyon in 2004 to initiate youth into the cooking profession. His Bocuse d'Or, or gold award — an international competition for young chefs — has grown into a major culinary showcase since its inception in 1987.</p>
<p>While Bocuse's kitchens were meticulously in order, his personal life was unorthodox as he quietly shared his life with three women.</p>
<p>"I think cuisine and sex have lots of common points," Bocuse told the L'Express before publication of his biography "Paul Bocuse: The Sacred Fire." ''Even if it seems a bit macho, I love women."</p>
<p>The chef put an upbeat spin on his private life: "If I calculate the number of years I've been faithful to the three women who count in my life, I get 145 years," he is quoted as saying in "The Sacred Fire."</p>
<p>The biography was written by Eve-Marie Zizza-Lalu, daughter of the most recent woman in Bocuse's life, Patricia Zizza, whom he met in 1972.</p>
<p>Yet it is his wife Raymonde, with whom Bocuse had a daughter, Francoise, who helps watch over his main restaurant. That is no small task — Bocuse saw the reservation book as the real measure of any chef's cuisine.</p>
<p>"If the restaurant works, if it's full of clients ... whatever the cuisine, he (the chef) is right," he said.</p>
<p>In addition to his wife, Bocuse is survived by his daughter Francoise and his son Jerome.</p>
<p>PARIS (AP) — He was modest about his accomplishments in the kitchen but grandiose in his dreams. Paul Bocuse credited his long reign as France's master chef to everything but himself: good produce fresh from the garden, a superb kitchen staff and happy diners.</p>
<p>But the three-star Michelin rating held since 1965 by his restaurant outside the French city of Lyon wasn't enough. Bocuse parlayed his business and cooking skills into a globe-spanning empire, along the way transforming chefs from kitchen artists toiling in the shadows into international celebrities.</p>
<p>Bocuse died at 91 on Saturday at Collonges-au-Mont-d'or, the place where he was born and had his restaurant, French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement. He had undergone a triple heart bypass in 2005 and also suffered from Parkinson's disease.</p>
<p>"French gastronomy loses a mythical figure," Macron said. "The chefs cry in their kitchens, at the Elysee (presidential palace) and everywhere in France."</p>
<p>Interior Minister Gerard Collomb tweeted that "Mister Paul was France. Simplicity and generosity. Excellence and art de vivre."</p>
<p>"He has been a leader. He took the cook out of the kitchen," said celebrity French chef Alain Ducasse, speaking at a 2013 gathering to honor Bocuse, one of more than 100 chefs from around the world who traveled to Lyon for the occasion.</p>
<p>"Monsieur Paul" — as he was affectionately known — cultivated a larger-than-life image. The public Bocuse was all white starch, most often portrayed in his tall chef's hat, or "toque," arms folded over his crisp apron.</p>
<p>He was a tireless pioneer, the first chef to blend the art of cooking with savvy business tactics — branding his cuisine and his image to create an empire of restaurants around the globe whose offerings range from haute cuisine to fast food.</p>
<p>But the man dubbed by critics as the "pope of French cuisine" never forgot his humble beginnings learning the ropes in his family kitchen along the Saone River in southeast France. He turned that family house into a temple of gastronomy — L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges — and still lived upstairs, sleeping in the same room where he was born, he told The Associated Press in a 2011 interview.</p>
<p>"One must never forget how one reached the top of the pedestal," he is quoted as saying in a 2005 biography.</p>
<p>The restaurant has held three stars — without interruption — since 1965 in the Michelin guide, the bible of gastronomes. Bocuse greets arriving guests in a "tromp l'oeuil" painting on an outside wall and peers at them from a large portrait inside the cozy but elegant Auberge. Renowned chefs, some of whom he worked with, are portrayed in a giant mural.</p>
<p>Bocuse's cuisine was simple yet his personality complex. Three women, his wife Raymonde and two other female companions, accompanied his ascension, playing pivotal roles while remaining mostly behind the scenes.</p>
<p>In 1982, Bocuse opened a restaurant in the France Pavilion in Walt Disney World's Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, headed by his son Jerome, also a chef.</p>
<p>But while excelling in the business of cooking, Bocuse never flagged in his devotion to his first love, creating a top class, quintessentially French meal. He eschewed the fads and experiments that have captivated many other top chefs.</p>
<p>"In cooking, there are those who are rap and those who are concerto," he told the French newsmagazine L'Express — adding that he tended toward the concerto — a solo artist backed by an orchestra of talented kitchen staff.</p>
<p>In traditional cooking, there is no room for guesswork he said, declaring "one must be immutable, unattackable, monumental."</p>
<p>Born on Feb. 11, 1926, to a family of cooks that he dates to the 1700s, Bocuse entered his first apprenticeship at 16. He worked at the famed La Mere Brazier in Lyon, then spent eight years with one of his culinary idols, Fernand Point, whose cooking was a precursor to France's nouvelle cuisine movement with lighter sauces and lightly cooked fresh vegetables.</p>
<p>Bocuse's career in the kitchen traversed the ages. He went from apprenticeships and cooking "brigades" at a time when stoves were coal-fired and chefs also served as scullery workers to the ultra-modern kitchen of his Auberge.</p>
<p>"There was rigor," Bocuse told the AP. "(At La Mere Brazier) you had to wake up early and milk the cows, feed the pigs, do the laundry and cook .... It was a very tough school of hard knocks."</p>
<p>"Today, the profession has changed enormously. There's no more coal. You push a button and you have heat," he said.</p>
<p>Bocuse adapted seamlessly to the changing times, making his mark with a first coveted Michelin star in 1958, a second in 1960 and a third in 1965. In 1989, he was named Cook of the Century by Gault &amp; Millau, a noted guidebook. In 2011, the Culinary Institute of America named him Chef of the Century, opening a restaurant for students in his name.</p>
<p>Despite the accolades, he maintained a special pride in the blue, white and red stripes on his chef's collar holding a large medal, attesting to his selection in 1961 as a "Meilleur Ouvrier de France," a sought-after distinction for chefs and other artisans.</p>
<p>The gastronomic offerings at Bocuse's L'Auberge du Pont de Collonges are rooted in the French culinary tradition: simple, authentic food that was "identifiable" in its nature.</p>
<p>Emblematic of that is the crock of truffle soup he created in 1975 for then-French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing — a soup that is still served to this day. Another Bocuse classic is fricassee of Bresse chicken — from France's Bresse region, which is famed for its poultry — served in cream with morilles, a type of spring mushroom.</p>
<p>And his favorite ingredient? Butter.</p>
<p>"(It's a) magical product," he said during a visit to the Culinary Institute of America. "Nothing replaces butter."</p>
<p>Three other cooking must-haves, according to the chef, are fresh produce (his from his own garden), a solid, trusted kitchen staff and happy diners.</p>
<p>"It's the client who runs the house," Bocuse told the AP.</p>
<p>He disparaged the notion that his culinary offerings amounted to nouvelle cuisine, although he incorporated aspects of it. And he scoffed at critics who contended that his food was stuck in a bygone age. Georges Auguste Escoffier, who gave classic French cuisine a world profile, remained a solid inspiration at Bocuse's table.</p>
<p>"Escoffier was the master of us all," Bocuse once said.</p>
<p>World War II interrupted his kitchen duties. He fought in the First Division of the Free French Forces, was wounded and cared for at a U.S. field hospital.</p>
<p>"I always say I have American blood in my veins because ... I had transfusions of American blood," he said in the AP interview. An American flag still flies outside his restaurant.</p>
<p>The war had a lasting impact on the chef.</p>
<p>"(It) forges the character," he said. "You no longer have the same idea of life."</p>
<p>Bocuse might have settled for being a renowned French chef worthy of a pilgrimage by food lovers with deep pockets. Instead, he parlayed his culinary skills into a worldwide food conglomerate.</p>
<p>He opened two brasseries in Lyon in 1995 and 1997. He added three other eateries in the city and even a hotel. He planted restaurants in the south of France, in Geneva and hopped across the world to Japan, where eight Bocuse brasseries, cafes and other establishments were opened.</p>
<p>He also aimed to transmit his savoir-faire to a young generation through the Foundation Paul Bocuse, established in Lyon in 2004 to initiate youth into the cooking profession. His Bocuse d'Or, or gold award — an international competition for young chefs — has grown into a major culinary showcase since its inception in 1987.</p>
<p>While Bocuse's kitchens were meticulously in order, his personal life was unorthodox as he quietly shared his life with three women.</p>
<p>"I think cuisine and sex have lots of common points," Bocuse told the L'Express before publication of his biography "Paul Bocuse: The Sacred Fire." ''Even if it seems a bit macho, I love women."</p>
<p>The chef put an upbeat spin on his private life: "If I calculate the number of years I've been faithful to the three women who count in my life, I get 145 years," he is quoted as saying in "The Sacred Fire."</p>
<p>The biography was written by Eve-Marie Zizza-Lalu, daughter of the most recent woman in Bocuse's life, Patricia Zizza, whom he met in 1972.</p>
<p>Yet it is his wife Raymonde, with whom Bocuse had a daughter, Francoise, who helps watch over his main restaurant. That is no small task — Bocuse saw the reservation book as the real measure of any chef's cuisine.</p>
<p>"If the restaurant works, if it's full of clients ... whatever the cuisine, he (the chef) is right," he said.</p>
<p>In addition to his wife, Bocuse is survived by his daughter Francoise and his son Jerome.</p> | Paul Bocuse, modest but grandiose French chef, dies at 91 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/d0508839d32544f0820e779809fe7acf | 2018-01-20 | 2 |
<p>Malaysia is not a good place to violate "internal security," a vague offense that allows authorities to lock up suspects and hold them indefinitely with no trial.</p>
<p>But the Muslim-majority nation's draconian "Internal Security Act" -- which forbids infractions ranging from unauthorized protest to terrorism -- is under increasing pressure.</p>
<p>Human Rights Watch and other groups have <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/11/21/malaysia-end-use-internal-security-act" type="external">demanded its repeal.</a>&#160;And there are increasing hints that the harsh law may be softened.</p>
<p>According to the Kuala Lumpur-based Star Online, the government may finally allow <a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/22/nation/20111122115820&amp;sec=nation" type="external">any citizen over the age of 21 to gather peacefully</a> without a permit.</p>
<p>But the government insists it won't scrap a code allowing police to detain anyone accused of militancy or terrorism indefinitely and without trial.</p>
<p>Their justification?</p>
<p>The U.S. has a similar law. It's called the Patriot Act.</p>
<p>"So, <a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/21/nation/20111121193708&amp;sec=nation" type="external">please don't have double standards</a> and we don't want hypocrisy in this matter," said Malaysia's Home Minister according to the Star.</p>
<p>Despite America's push for freedom and transparency in Asia, the U.S. is in no position to pressure the Malays on this one.</p>
<p>Since 2003, America has confined two Malaysian al-Qaeda affiliates at Guantanamo. Both are profiled in Global Post's piece <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/thailand/110502/osama-bin-laden-al-qaeda-indonesia-malaysia" type="external">"Osama bin Laden's Asian Disciples."</a></p> | Malaysia inspired by U.S. Patriot Act | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-22/malaysia-inspired-us-patriot-act | 2011-11-22 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Millennials take a lot of flack when it comes to their money management. For instance, nearly 4 in 5 <a href="https://www.fool.com/retirement/2016/08/14/nearly-4-in-5-millennials-may-not-have-enough-mone.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">don't invest in stocks Opens a New Window.</a>, and two-thirds <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/05/27/can-you-guess-which-americans-have-the-highest-lev.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">think they'll never be able to sock away $1 million Opens a New Window.</a> for retirement. And of course, there are the ever-rising student loans: Among this year's grads who borrowed money to finance their higher education, the average student loan balance is $37,172, up 79% in the past 10 years.</p>
<p>Given the doom and gloom, it might not seem a stretch to assume that millennials are also suffocating under the weight of credit card debt. But that's not the case, according to a recent New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/business/dealbook/why-millennials-are-in-no-hurry-to-take-on-debt.html?_r=0" type="external">analysis Opens a New Window.</a> of data from the Federal Reserve. In fact, the percentage of Americans under 35 with credit card debt is the lowest it's been in 27 years.</p>
<p>What's behind this restraint is an open question. Millennials may have decided their student loans are already more than enough debt, or they may have drawn lessons from their parents' struggles during the subprime mortgage crisis. Whatever the cause, millennials' aversion to credit card spending may actually work against them for three major reasons.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>A good credit score is crucial for some of life's biggest purchases. Mortgage lenders, spooked by the subprime-loan crisis, are pickier than ever about credit. Good scores are also essential for nabbing low-rate car loans. Landlords and potential employers may even check the credit of potential renters and workers to judge their fiscal responsibility and even their character.</p>
<p>One of the main factors that goes into determining someone's score is their credit history. According to FICO, 15% of a person's score is based on the length of credit history -- but it's tough to amass a lengthy credit history while avoiding credit cards entirely. In addition, 10%depends on having a good mix of credit types -- and credit cards are one of the biggest pieces of this puzzle.</p>
<p>The Times article notes that millennials are turning to debit cards and payment services or apps such as PayPal and Venmo. Others have embraced prepaid debit cards they must load themselves with cash.</p>
<p>So what's the downside of these other payment methods? First, credit cards offer buyers a level of fraud protection that cash and debit transactions don't match. With a credit card, federal regulations mean users are usually looking at a maximum loss of $50 after a fraudulent transaction,and major issuers' zero-liability policies mean they probably won't lose even that. With a debit card, how soon the owner notices the fraud can come into play: Within two days, they may only lose $50; up until 60 days, they could be out $500. After that? Well, they may be out of luck completely.</p>
<p>It's also worth noting that credit cards offer other benefits and protections. Some offer purchase protection against damage or theft on certain items purchased with the cards. Others may extend warranty coverage on certain items.</p>
<p>Fear of credit cards may also lead millennials to choose sketchier ways to make ends meet. A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study found that 28% of college-educated millennials -- and 50% of those without a college degree -- have used "alternative financial services" such as payday lenders, auto-title loans, or pawn shops.</p>
<p>The appeal of these loans is obvious: They typically offer a quick cash infusion and no credit check. Payday loans require borrowers to post-date a check for the amount of the loan plus fees and interest, while auto-title loans use vehicles as collateral. But the interest rates are nothing short of astronomical -- typically in the triple digits, with interest rates on payday loans approaching 400%. (Suddenly that maximum 29.99% APR on credit cards doesn't look so bad, right?) It's also very easy for borrowers to renew the loans instead of paying them back, setting off a cycle of extremely high-interest debt.</p>
<p>Short of shunning credit cards, what's a debt-wary millennial to do?</p>
<p>Instead of exclusively turning to debit cards, prepaid cards, or sketchy high-interest loans, a better alternative is a secured credit card. These cards are tailored to users with poor or limited credit histories, and they require a small cash deposit -- say, $250 or $500. Cardholders can then charge up to the amount of the deposit, though some lenders may extend a slightly more generous limit. The deposit is a win-win: It protects the lender in case users fall behind on payments, and it keeps the cardholder from overspending.</p>
<p>The key to making the most of secured credit cards is paying them off promptly every month -- practice makes perfect -- and making sure the lender reports to all three credit bureaus. That way, cardholders get due credit for responsible behavior, boosting that all-important credit score. They'll also get the beefier fraud protection that credit cards provide, along with much lower interest rates than payday loans and their ilk can offer.</p>
<p>After some time, lenders may be willing to ditch the training wheels and upgrade cardholders to a non-secured card with a higher credit limit. Given the benefits a responsibly used credit card can bestow, that should be a change millennials welcome with open arms.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/saundra/info.aspx" type="external">Saundra Latham Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends PayPal Holdings. 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> | 3 Reasons Millennials Should Have Credit Cards | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/11/3-reasons-millennials-should-have-credit-cards.html | 2016-09-11 | 0 |
<p>NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A New York man who tried to distribute more than $2.5 million of counterfeit boots shipped to a New Jersey port has been sentenced to more than two years in prison.</p>
<p>Shi Wei Zheng had pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods. The 42-year-old Staten Island man received a 30-month sentence Tuesday.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say that from September 2016 through February 2017, Zheng got certain shipping container numbers from a person overseas that identified at least three containers containing counterfeit UGG boots. Cheng asked some Port of Newark workers to remove the containers before federal customs staffers could inspect them.</p>
<p>Once the containers were removed, Zheng directed they be delivered to others working for him. They would then distribute the boots in New Jersey and elsewhere.</p>
<p>But authorities intercepted the containers before Zheng could distribute the goods.</p>
<p>NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A New York man who tried to distribute more than $2.5 million of counterfeit boots shipped to a New Jersey port has been sentenced to more than two years in prison.</p>
<p>Shi Wei Zheng had pleaded guilty to trafficking in counterfeit goods. The 42-year-old Staten Island man received a 30-month sentence Tuesday.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say that from September 2016 through February 2017, Zheng got certain shipping container numbers from a person overseas that identified at least three containers containing counterfeit UGG boots. Cheng asked some Port of Newark workers to remove the containers before federal customs staffers could inspect them.</p>
<p>Once the containers were removed, Zheng directed they be delivered to others working for him. They would then distribute the boots in New Jersey and elsewhere.</p>
<p>But authorities intercepted the containers before Zheng could distribute the goods.</p> | Man gets prison term for bid to traffic counterfeit boots | false | https://apnews.com/amp/5e87ee7c668d4fa2896d6f7c29a2d554 | 2018-01-23 | 2 |
<p>The Philippines Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of extending martial law on the island of Mindanao Saturday as the battle against IS-affiliated fighters continues. So far, over 420 militants, 100 soldiers, and 45 civilians have been killed.</p>
<p>The initial period of martial law, which began on May 23, was due to expire Saturday evening, but strongman President Rodrigo Duterte submitted a written request to Congress to hold an extraordinary vote.</p>
<p>The decision was largely a foregone conclusion, however, as Duterte commands a majority in both houses, though several members of congress did voice their opposition.</p>
<p>“Extending martial law can unmask the Duterte government’s real political intentions to apply authoritarian rule in the country, like the way he ruled Davao City for 20 years as a city mayor,” said Rommel Banlaoi, chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, as cited by the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/22/world/asia/philippines-martial-law-rodrigo-duterte.html" type="external">New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>“Extending martial law can undermine civilian authorities and the existing democratic process in the country,” he added.</p>
<p>A group of protesters also stormed the chambers shouting, “Never again, never again, never again to martial law!”</p>
<p>Martial law is a sensitive topic in the Philippines after the two-decade rule of the brutal dictator Ferdinand Marcos.</p>
<p>“The local officials have not been arrested there. The courts are functioning. They are helping us. We are helping each other. Congress is in session. This is not the martial law that we had before. The martial law that we have now is to protect the people of Mindanao,” National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said, as cited by <a href="http://www.rappler.com/nation/176357-protesters-interrupt-congress-joint-session-martial-law" type="external">Rappler</a>.</p>
<p>Duterte said on Friday that the Maute fighters appear to be holding an estimated 300 people hostage.</p>
<p>“I told the military, we’ll just have to wait it out,” he said. “I told them, ‘Do not attack.’ Three hundred people — that’s 300 lives. If we have to wait there for one year, let us wait for one year.”</p>
<p>In his written request to congress, Duterte contradicted military estimates that claimed just 60 fighters remain entrenched in the city saying he believes 220 are still battling national security forces.</p>
<p>“Absent any plausible explanation, I can only reach one conclusion: Martial law has no strategic contribution to the military’s anti-terrorism operations in Marawi,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, who voted against the extension, said.</p>
<p>Security officials claimed that almost one thousand pro-ISIS militants remain at large in the south of the country and are currently holding 23 hostages.</p>
<p>The IS-affiliated group was formed in 2012 by the Maute brothers, Abdullah and Omar, began attacks in 2013, and officially pledged allegiance to IS in 2015.</p>
<p>The group is also linked with Isnilon Hapilon, the supposed leader of the Abu Sayyaf militant group.</p> | Protesters storm Philippines Congress as martial law extended until end of year (PHOTOS, VIDEO) | false | https://newsline.com/protesters-storm-philippines-congress-as-martial-law-extended-until-end-of-year-photos-video/ | 2017-07-22 | 1 |
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<p>TUCSON, Ariz. — Officials say a teen rescued a dog that she found hanging from a tree behind a home improvement store in Tucson.</p>
<p>Pima County spokeswoman Marcia Zamorano said in a statement that a 15-year-old girl spotted the dog on Monday after she heard it whimpering from the tree.</p>
<p>The teen climbed up and freed the dog from material wrapped around its neck.</p>
<p>Pima Animal Care Center says the dog suffered minimal injury from the hanging.</p>
<p>The black, mixed breed dog has been placed under observation and is recovering at the animal shelter.</p>
<p>Pima Animal Care Center is asking the public for help in locating a suspect.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Dog found hanging from a tree near Lowe’s store in Tucson | false | https://abqjournal.com/1120499/dog-found-hanging-from-a-tree-near-lowes-store-in-tucson.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Ah, the age-old conundrum of what to call newly-discovered species. Two U.S. scientists, self-identified political conservatives, faced no such pained deliberations over their newly-discovered beetles. The BBC <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4443263.stm" type="external">reports</a> that the three new mold-eating beetles discovered will be called Agathidium bushi, Agathidium cheneyi and Agathidium rumsfeldi. “One of the entomologists said he admired all three men for ‘having the courage of their convictions’ and standing up for freedom and democracy.” There is no finer tribute.</p>
<p />
<p /> | The neo-con beetles | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2005/04/neo-con-beetles/ | 2005-04-15 | 4 |
<p>Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p>President-elect Donald Trump has selected as his attorney general an Alabama Republican who not only was once denied a seat on the federal judiciary for allegedly making racist comments, but has been hostile to LGBT rights over the course of his career.</p>
<p>On Friday, Trump announced in a statement Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), an&#160;early supporter of the president-elect during the Republican presidential primary, would be his choice for attorney general.</p>
<p>“It is an honor to nominate U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions to serve as Attorney General of the United States,” Trump said. “Jeff has been a highly respected member of the U.S. Senate for 20 years. He is a world-class legal mind and considered a truly great attorney general and U.S. attorney in the state of Alabama. Jeff is greatly admired by legal scholars and virtually everyone who knows him.”</p>
<p>Prior to his tenure in the U.S. Senate starting in 1997, former President Reagan nominated Sessions in 1986 for a seat on the federal judiciary in Alabama, but his nomination was rejected over accusations of racism.</p>
<p>Among the lawyers who testified against Sessions at the time said Sessions&#160;called the NAACP&#160;and the American Civil Liberties Union “un-American” and “Communist-inspired” and said they “forced civil rights down the throats of people.”</p>
<p>Thomas Figures, a black assistant U.S. attorney, testified Sessions said the Ku Klux Klan was “OK until I found out they smoked pot.” (Sessions said he was joking, but apologized for the remark.) Figures also said Sessions called him “boy” and that Sessions advised him to “be careful what you say to white folks.” Sessions was also reported to have called a white civil rights attorney a “disgrace to his race” for defending black clients.</p>
<p>Sessions denied the allegations, said his remarks were taken out of context or meant in jest. He also said&#160;that groups could be considered un-American when “they involve themselves in un-American positions” on foreign policy.</p>
<p>Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said in a statement his organization would “flatly reject” any assertion from Sessions the ACLU is “un-American and communist.”</p>
<p>“His positions on LGBT rights, capital punishment, abortion rights, and presidential authority in times of war have been contested by the ACLU and other civil rights organizations,” Romero said. “As the nation’s highest-ranking law enforcement official, the attorney general is charged with protecting the rights of all Americans. In his confirmation hearings, senators, the media, and the American public should closely examine his stances on these key issues to ensure we can have confidence in his ability to uphold the Constitution and our laws on behalf of all Americans.”</p>
<p>Decades later during his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Sessions resisted LGBT rights advancements. In each of the Human Rights Campaign’s congressional scorecards, Sessions has generally scored “0” for each Congress in which he served. (The one exception was the 112th Congress, when Sessions obtained a score of “15” for voting to confirm U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken, who became the first openly gay male to serve on the federal judiciary.)</p>
<p>Among his earlier votes in 2004 and 2006 in the Senate were for a U.S. constitutional amendment that would have banned same-sex marriage nationwide and prevented the U.S. Supreme Court last year from ruling in favor of marriage equality.</p>
<p>A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sessions was among those most outspoken against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal along with Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). During a Senate hearing in December 2010 as Congress debated repeal, Sessions called the issue a “difficult discussion.”</p>
<p>“It was predicted it would have some disruptive effect on the military,” Sessions said. “I believe it probably has. It’s probably not been good for morale and problems have arisen from it, and I’m inclined to the personal views that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ has been pretty effective and I’m dubious about the change, although I fully recognize that good people could disagree on that subject.”</p>
<p>Upon the U.S. Supreme Court decision last year in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide, Sessions told <a href="http://wkrg.com/2015/06/29/senator-sessions-on-gay-marriage/" type="external">WKRG-TV in Alabama</a>he opposed the decision because “if a court can do that on a question of marriage then it can do it on almost any other issue.”</p>
<p>“I think what this court did was unconstitutional,” Sessions said. “There’s nothing in the Constitution that requires such a result. No mention of marriage in the Constitution.”</p>
<p />
<p>More recently, Sessions voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act when it came before the Senate in 2013 and became a co-sponsor of the First Amendment Defense Act, a federal “religious freedom” bill that would&#160;enable anti-LGBT discrimination.</p>
<p>Notably, last year when the Pentagon announced it would initiate a review that would lead to the end of its ban on openly transgender people in the U.S. armed forces, Sessions had no comment. <a href="" type="internal">Asked by the Washington Blade on Capitol Hill about the development</a>, Sessions said, “I saw that, but I’m not aware of any of the details.”</p>
<p>Asked whether the change sounded like something he could support, Sessions replied, “Well, I’d like to see what the military says about it. I have not done that.”</p>
<p>Tony Perkins, president of the anti-LGBT Family Research Council, said in a statement Trump made “another wise selection” with the choice of Sessions as attorney general.</p>
<p>“President-elect Trump has surrounded himself with solid advisers, and his selection of Sen. Sessions for attorney general increases my confidence that the Trump administration will be one that cherishes the Constitution and its protection of our freedom from government oppression,” Perkins said. “Sen. Sessions understands the importance of all of our God-given rights, respects the rule of law, and will be a vital part of restoring our nation to its greatness.”</p>
<p>Sessions’ appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. Under the rules instituted by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) when he served as a majority leader of the chamber, ending a filibuster on confirmation would require a bare majority of 51 votes. Another 51 votes are necessary to confirm him to the seat.</p>
<p>Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement the attorney general is “the chief protector of civil rights and civil liberties for everyone,” which he said is especially important at a time “when hate crimes have spiked across the country, especially against Muslim and LGBTQ Americans.”</p>
<p>“Sen. Sessions and I have had significant disagreements over the years, particularly on civil rights, voting rights, immigration and criminal justice issues,” Leahy said. “But unlike Republicans’ practice of unprecedented obstruction of President Obama’s nominees, I believe nominees deserve a full and fair process before the Senate. The American people deserve to learn about Senator Sessions’ record at the public Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.”</p>
<p>If the Senate confirms Sessions, he would immediately be given the opportunity to rescind ongoing actions at U.S. Justice Department on behalf of LGBT rights.</p>
<p>Likely the first to go is joint guidance from the Justice Department and the Education Department under the Obama administration instructing that discrimination against transgender students, such as barring them from the restroom consistent with their gender identity, contravenes federal law. Trump made rescinding that guidance a campaign promise.</p>
<p>Also on the chopping block is a lawsuit U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch filed against North Carolina’s House Bill 2, which bars transgender people from using the restroom consistent with their gender identity. Even if that were the case, litigation in federal court filed by Lambda Legal and the ACLU against the statute would remain ongoing.</p>
<p>If the Obama administration files a friend-of-the-court brief before the Supreme Court on behalf of a Virginia transgender student who’s challenging his school for barring him from using the restroom consistent with his gender identity, the Justice Department could withdraw that filing.</p>
<p>Sessions could also reverse the memo from former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder declaring the Justice Department interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as applicable to “discrimination based on gender identity, including transgender status.” That memo has served as the basis for Justice Department actions against transgender discrimination, such as a lawsuit filed against Southeastern Oklahoma State University alleging anti-trans discrimination in the workforce.</p>
<p>Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement Trump’s selection of Sessions as attorney general is troubling.</p>
<p>“It is deeply disturbing that Jeff Sessions, who has such clear animus against so many Americans — including the LGBTQ community, women and people of color — could be charged with running the very system of justice designed to protect them,” Griffin said. “When Donald Trump was elected, he promised to be a president for all Americans, and it is hugely concerning and telling that he would choose a man so consistently opposed to equality as one of his first — and most important — cabinet appointees.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Chad Griffin</a> <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a> <a href="" type="internal">Jeff Sessions</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a> <a href="" type="internal">Tony Perkins</a></p> | Sessions tapped as AG despite anti-LGBT views, charges of racism | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/11/18/trump-taps-sen-sessions-for-ag-despite-racist-anti-lgbt-reputation/ | 3 |
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<p>Weird wide web? &#160;Definitely.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/homeless-new-delhi-boys-forge-alter-egos-on-facebook-to-connect-with-the-world/article8563623/" type="external">Globe and Mail's Stephanie Nolen</a>reports that India's savvy street kids have taken to Facebook to make new friends -- and new identities.</p>
<p>Yep. It sounds like a scam. But it's not. These are ambitious young homeless kids with big dreams. And they're practicing on Facebook. Here's Nolen:</p>
<p>They use the site to record the life they have now – parties at the shelter, goofy poses with friends.</p>
<p>But they also use it as a sort of practise ground, to try on the life they are determined to have one day.</p>
<p>Taking advantage of computer classes at New Delhi's&#160;Ummeed Aman Ghar (House of Hope) homeless shelter, young boys have developed Facebook identities such as the one invented by "Raju Shaikh" -- who studies software engineering at NYU, once worked at ESPN, and loves living in New York.</p>
<p>Except he doesn't. He lives in a Delhi slum.</p>
<p>“The first account bored me – it was my friends from here and I already knew what they were doing,” Shaikh told Nolen. “So I started the new one so I can improve my English and make new friends and one day have someone to visit in the U.S.”</p>
<p>Unwittingly, perhaps, the street kids are mimicking the alter egos developed at India's famous call centers -- though the BPOs stopped at actually developing college careers and US residences for their employees.</p>
<p>The boys do most of their surfing at an Internet cafe a 15-minute walk from the home, a hole-in-the-wall establishment tucked beside a Chinese-food stall and a Hindu temple, with a dozen desktop computers crammed in front of plastic chairs. Surfing costs 10 rupees, or 20 cents, a half hour. The boys wangle computer time by offering to do clerical work for shelter staff, which they speed through, and then spending the rest of their purchased time surfing.</p>
<p>Although Facebook has a Hindi-language interface, and their English is shaky, they do their posting in English or in “Hinglish” – a mix of Hindi and English, most of the Hindi transliterated into Roman characters. This is the vernacular of aspiration in India today.</p>
<p>And like almost anyone else on Facebook, the life they present there is a largely happy one: They post pictures from parties at the shelter, pictures from group outings, pictures where their arms are slung over the shoulders of their friends. There has been much in their lives that was dark, but the dark doesn’t make it on to Facebook.</p>
<p>Here's hoping some of these guys can make their real lives look more like their virtual ones.</p> | Like? Unfriend? Message? Delhi street kids pose as NYU students on Facebook | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-02-13/unfriend-message-delhi-street-kids-pose-nyu-students-facebook | 2013-02-13 | 3 |
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<p />
<p>Last week, Martinez issued an executive order requiring state agencies to allow their workers to take up to eight hours of annual paid leave - depending on how many children they have - to attend school conferences.</p>
<p>In the order, Martinez described parent-teacher conferences as a way for parents to become "informed and involved" in their children's education.</p>
<p>However, Connie Derr, executive director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union in New Mexico, said the Martinez administration has, in negotiations for a new state collective bargaining agreement, sought to limit the ability of parents to attend such conferences.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"AFSCME would like to believe that the governor has evolved in her thinking on the issue, but it is clearly a political move," said Derr. But she also said the recent order was a "good change."</p>
<p>In response, state Personnel Office General Counsel Randi Johnson said there were discussions in 2011 - around the beginning of negotiations for a new contract - about whether employee leave time policies should be changed, altered or removed.</p>
<p>But Johnson said those discussions were driven by a desire to ensure employees were not improperly using such leave time.</p>
<p>"The Governor's Office has been consistent and clear that it supports parent-teacher conference leave, and simply feels processes should be in place to ensure that it's not abused," Johnson said in an email.</p>
<p>The state's previous collective bargaining agreement expired at the end of 2011 but is still in place until a new one can be hammered out.</p>
<p>Under that contract, only state employees who are union members are explicitly allowed to take time off for parent-teacher conferences. They can use unpaid leave or accrued "comp" time to cover time spent away from work.</p>
<p>Martinez's executive order, which took effect immediately upon being signed, applies to all state employees, regardless of whether they are union members.</p>
<p>The Republican governor also urged businesses statewide to enact similar policies.</p>
<p>The new executive order is a "good change," Derr said, since it will not require employees to use their personal leave or sacrifice pay in order to take part in parent-teacher conferences.</p>
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<p /> | Gov. Martinez accused of policy reversal | false | https://abqjournal.com/404883/official-denies-leave-policy-reversal-claim.html | 2014-05-23 | 2 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Two columns of black smoke can still be seen rising over the New York skyline.</p>
<p>Terrorism?</p>
<p>Not quite. The plumes of smoke are all that’s left of two major hedge funds which blew up just weeks ago leaving nothing behind but a few smoldering embers and a mound of black soot.</p>
<p>The compiled assets of the Bear Sterns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies Fund–nearly $20 billion–have vanished into the miasma of cyber-space soon be joined by $1.4 trillion of other, equally worthless, Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO).</p>
<p>If you look closely, you’ll see the mangled bodies of the CDOs, the CDSs (Credit Default Swaps), the RMBS (Residential Mortgage Backed Securities) and the other shaky debt-instruments being pulled from the wreckage and tossed on the bonfire.</p>
<p>Is this how it all ends? Will the sudden spike in subprime defaults send all the funds in “Hedgistan” crashing to earth?</p>
<p>No one knows–yet.</p>
<p>According to Bloomberg News, Bear Sterns announced last week that there’s “little value left” in one of its funds and “no value left” in the other.</p>
<p>Nothing, nada, zippo.</p>
<p>The news has left Wall Street in a state of shock.</p>
<p>What does it all mean?</p>
<p>Does that mean that the entire hedge fund Empire”which is built on a foundation of dodgy loans and quicksand—may be headed for the crapper?</p>
<p>We don’t know. But a cloud has settled-in over downtown Manhattan where gloomy-looking men in pinstriped suits are waiting for the other shoe to drop.</p>
<p>The hedge fund industry is based on the bizarre notion that one does not have to produce anything of value to make boatloads of money. You don’t even need assets any more—just a risky subprime loan that can be transformed into an investment grade security (CDO) through the magic of “securitization” a sprinkling of Wall Street snake oil.</p>
<p>Abracadabra—presto-chango!</p>
<p>It’s like wrapping up broken bottle-glass and selling it as the Hope Diamond. Until Bear went under, no one really noticed. But they are paying attention now. When these toxic CDOs went to auction, no one bid for them. Now that’s scary.</p>
<p>“No bids” means that $1.4 trillion in investments have no discernable market-value. The CDOs were graded “mark to model” which translates into “mark to fantasy”. It means that the investment bankers and hedge fund managers simply got together over Martinis one night and pulled a number out of a hat.</p>
<p>Now no one wants to buy them. They’re worthless.</p>
<p>And that’s just half the story. There’s trillions of dollars in derivatives riding on these shaky CDOs. That’s enough to bring down the whole market if interest rates rise or liquidity dries up.</p>
<p>This illustrates an important point, though. It shows what it takes to be a good hedge fund manager:</p>
<p>Take a shabby sub-prime mortgage; chop it into “investment”, “mezzanine” and “equity” tranches. Bundle it with other equally suspect mortgage backed securities (MBS). Decide (arbitrarily) what the CDOs are worth Tell your banker. Leverage at a ratio of 10 o 1. Take 2% “off the top” plus salary for your efforts. Buy a summer home in the Hampton’s and a Lexus for the wife. Wait for the crash. Then repeat.</p>
<p>Congratulations: you are now a successful hedge fund manager!</p>
<p>Oh yeah; and don’t forget to prepare a few soothing words for the investors who just lost their life savings and will now be spending their evenings squatting beneath a nearby freeway off-ramp.</p>
<p>“We’re so very sorry, Mrs. Jones. Can we get you some cardboard-bedding to keep off the rain?”</p>
<p>The problems that are appearing in the stock and bond markets all started at the Federal Reserve when Fed-Chief Alan Greenspan opened the sluice-gates in 2003 and lowered interest rates to 1%. (Way below the rate of inflation) Since then, trillions of dollars have flooded into the markets creating multiple equity bubbles in real estate, stocks and credit.</p>
<p>Serial bubble-maker Greenspan is to finance-capitalism what Wrigley is to chewing gum. The greatest flim-flam man of all time.</p>
<p>The Fed has tried to conceal the massive increase to the money supply, but the evidence is everywhere. (Many analysts now calculate that inflation is running at roughly 13%) Food and energy have skyrocketed. Housing prices have soared. Everything has gone up except the cheapo imports which the Fed uses to manipulate the inflation statistics.</p>
<p>The gigantic housing bubble is mostly Greenspan’s doing. After printing-up mountains of cash and creating artificial demand through low interest rates; he promoted his product-line with the typical huckster sales-pitch. “Maestro” advised us that the extension of loans to all-God’s creatures, creditworthy or not, is a good thing.</p>
<p>Here’s a clip of Dear Alan praising subprime lending in a speech on April 8, 2005:</p>
<p>“With these advances in technology, lenders have taken advantage of credit-scoring models and other techniques for efficiently extending credit to a broader spectrum of consumers. . . . As we reflect on the evolution of consumer credit in the United States, we must conclude that innovation and structural change in the financial services industry have been critical in providing expanded access to credit for the vast majority of consumers, including those of limited means. . . . This fact underscores the importance of our roles as policymakers, researchers, bankers and consumer advocates in fostering constructive innovation that is both responsive to market demand and beneficial to consumers.”</p>
<p>Yes, of course, with all these “advances in technology” and new-fangled “credit-scoring models” why would we need to verify a loan-applicant’s income or require that he scrape together a measly $5,000 for a $450,000 mortgage?</p>
<p>That’s all so 20th Century!</p>
<p>Now that foreclosures are mushrooming at an unprecedented rate, the Fed is trying to distance itself from the problem by blaming the banks for their shoddy underwriting practices. But the guilt lies with the Central Bank. Its all part of their whacko plan to crush the dollar and create a police state.</p>
<p>It may be trite, but “inflation is theft”. Unfortunately, inflation is also part of the ruling class’ strategy to rob the poor, fuel the stock market with cheap credit, and move jobs overseas. It is the autocrat’s method of “social engineering”—shifting wealth from one class to another by simply printing more money and pumping it through the system via low interest rates. Bankers know that people will ALWAYS borrow money if the money is cheap enough. At 1%, the Fed was basically losing money on every transaction, but persisted anyway.</p>
<p>The effects of the Fed’s low interest rates can be seen everywhere. Consumer credit rose last month by a whopping 12.9%—credit card debt by 9.8%! Since housing prices have flattened out, homeowners are no longer able to tap into their dwindling equity (Mortgage Equity Withdrawal; MEWs) so they’ve switched over to plastic even though rates are sky-high.(18%)</p>
<p>But the real damage is showing up in the subprime market where the number of defaults continues to soar. (Check out this <a href="" type="internal">mortgage delinquency map</a>.)</p>
<p>A correction in real estate is not really enough to bring down the whole economy. Unfortunately, the contagion from the subprime meltdown has spread to the stock market, the insurance industry, and the major investment banks. Everyone on Wall Street is now concerned that we may be seeing the beginning of a global credit crunch. Not even Fed-master Ben Bernanke is claiming that the subprime problems are “contained” anymore. In fact, just last week, Bernanke admitted to Senators on the Hill that the housing market has “deteriorated significantly”.</p>
<p>It’s about time. If anyone still has any doubts about the troubles in housing, they should look over <a href="http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?p=12232#post12232" type="external">these graphs</a> which tell the whole story.</p>
<p>The collapse of the Bear Sterns hedge funds indicates that the problems in the subprime market have crossed over to the bond market and are likely to inflict major damage. This could have been avoided with proper government regulation.</p>
<p>In our new deregulated environment, the banks don’t have to rely on savings anymore to make the loans. They simply originate the loans, take their commission, and sell the debt as CDOs. They’re even allowed to sell the risk of default through credit default swaps (CDS) which are a form of insurance that minimizes the banks exposure. These weird innovations have spawned riskier and riskier loans and increased the likelihood of damage to the broader market.</p>
<p>Economics correspondent, Stephen Long, explains it like this:</p>
<p>“The problem that arises from the subprime mortgage collapse is that it creates a toxic cycle of debt. Banks originate loans or bundle up loans that mortgage companies have made and sell the risk on to the hedge funds. Then the hedge funds say, Hey, we’ve got this product that has an investment grade rating so we’ll borrow against it from the banks.’ (oftentimes leveraged at a ratio of 10 to 1) Now the hedge funds are trying to buy the original loans to stop them from going into default.” (The hedge funds are forced to slow the rate of foreclosures so they won’t go bankrupt.)</p>
<p>So, what happens when these shaky CDOs are “downgraded”?</p>
<p>Will the hedge funds fall like dominos just like the subprime mortgage-lenders? Will we see liquidity evaporate in the broader market triggering a plunge in the stocks and a massive sell-off in the bond market?</p>
<p>CDOs were conjured up with the idea that vast amounts of money could be made on very meager assets through a complex expansion of leverage. They were promoted as “limiting risk” by spreading it to a greater number of investors and providing extra protection through derivatives. Mortgage Backed Securities were sliced and diced into “more risky” and “less risky” tranches depending on investor appetite. Only now”to everyone’s surprise—“collateralized debt obligations with stellar Triple-A ratings have been getting hit by the subprime market’s woes.” (Wall Street Journal, “Bernanke revises subprime outlook”) On top of that, the ABX derivative index “has started showing pronounced weakness at the top of its ratings structure.” (ibid WSJ, 7-19-07)</p>
<p>In other words, even the VERY BEST of these multi-trillion dollar investments are beginning to falter. The contagion is spreading through the entire market. The CDOs are worthless. No one wants them. In fact, the whole new regime of exotic debt-instruments which emerged from 2000-on, is barely hanging on by a thread. One minor downturn in the stock market and the hedge funds will go freefalling through open space.</p>
<p>A speech by Robert Rodriguez of First Pacific Advisors (CFA) gives us a good idea of the enormity of the money involved in these investments. In his “Absence of Fear” address in Chicago on June 28, 2007 he states:</p>
<p>“Since 2000 hedge funds have more than doubled in number, while their assets have tripled. They too are using elevated levels of leverage, as are PE (Private Equity) firms and investors in highly leveraged fixed income securities. These funds are heavy users of derivatives. The Global derivatives market grew nearly 40% in 2006–the fastest pace in the last nine years–to $415 trillion, per the Bank of International Settlements. The amount of contracts based on bonds more than doubled to $29 trillion. The actual money at risk through credit derivatives increased 93% to $470 billion, while that amount for the entire derivatives market was $9.7 trillion. The International Monetary Fund, in its April 2006 Global Financial Stability Report, estimated that credit-oriented hedge fund assets grew to more than $300 billion in 2005, a six-fold increase in five years. When levered at 5-6x, this represents $1.5 to $1.8 trillion deployed into the credit markets. Fitch, in their June 5, 2007 special report, “Hedge Funds: The Credit Market’s New Paradigm,” says that despite the upward trend in maximum allowable leverage, “notably, no prime broker reported raising margin requirements in response to historically tight credit spreads and growing concerns about the general level of risk-complacency in the credit markets.”</p>
<p>If Rodriguez’s “eye-popping” numbers are accurate and the market slumps a mere 5%, “the value of a hedge fund’s assets could lead to a forced sale of as much as 25% of its assets”. If the market falls just 10%, the fund would get a 50% haircut!</p>
<p>That just shows how over-exposed the industry really is.</p>
<p>As the requirements on mortgages gets tougher and the subprime market continues to languish; bankers will naturally become more hesitant to loan zillions of dollars to hedge funds and private equity firms. When credit gets tighter, the hedge funds will begin to nosedive which will send the stock market in a long-term swoon. That’s what happens when a market is this over-leveraged. It’s unavoidable.</p>
<p>The markets are now perfectly poised for a full-system breakdown. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair expects a CDO time bomb. She summed it up like this:</p>
<p>“Its going to get worse before it gets better. How much worse, I don’t know.”</p>
<p>MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Crisis in Hedgistan | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/07/21/the-crisis-in-hedgistan/ | 2007-07-21 | 4 |
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Delta Air Lines will soon require owners of service and support animals to provide more information before their animal can fly in the passenger cabin, including an assurance that it's trained to behave itself.</p>
<p>The airline says complaints about animals biting or urinating or defecating on planes have nearly doubled since 2016.</p>
<p>Starting March 1, Delta will require owners to show proof of their animal's health or vaccinations at least 48 hours before a flight.</p>
<p>Owners of psychiatric service animals and of those used for emotional support will need to sign a statement vouching that their animal can behave. But owners will be on the honor system — they won't have to show, for example, that their dog graduated from obedience school.</p>
<p>The new requirements don't apply to pets, for which owners pay an extra fee. Delta, American and United all charge $125 each way for small pets in the cabin. Pets that don't fit under a seat must fly in the cargo hold, also for a price.</p>
<p>Delta's policy change arrives with the number of animals in the cabin increasing.</p>
<p>A rift has grown between disabled people who rely on trained service animals, usually dogs, and passengers with support or comfort animals, with many in the first group suspecting that those in the latter are just trying to avoid paying $125.</p>
<p>However, owners of comfort animals, including veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, often say that they wouldn't be able to travel without their companion.</p>
<p>John Laughter, the airline's senior vice president of safety and security, said there are insufficient rules in place to screen animals for health and behavior issues.</p>
<p>Last June, a 70-pound dog flying as a support animal bit another passenger several times in the face on a Delta plane in Atlanta. The victim was hospitalized.</p>
<p>Delta is seeking a balance "that supports those customers with a legitimate need for these animals" while maintaining safety, Laughter said.</p>
<p>Sara Nelson, president of the largest flight attendants' union, praised Delta's decision. She said passengers abuse the system to bring untrained animals on board, and if it isn't stopped it could lead to a crackdown that will hurt veterans and the disabled "who legitimately need to travel with these animals."</p>
<p>Eric Goldmann, a sales representative in Atlanta for a health care company, posts pictures on Twitter of support animals that he thinks should have stayed home. He says owners are abusing the system and creating safety hazards.</p>
<p>"These dogs are everywhere, they're out in the aisles," he said. "Planes have to be evacuated in 90 seconds in an emergency. If animals get in the way, people will panic."</p>
<p>Although exact figures aren't available, airline employees say dogs and cats are the most common animals on planes, but there have been sightings of pigs, snakes and turkeys too.</p>
<p>Delta's new rules are aimed at two categories: service animals, which receive specific training to help blind or disabled passengers; and so-called emotional-support animals, which require no training at all. Both fly for free and are not required to be caged during the flight.</p>
<p>The emotional-support group has been growing rapidly, and it is the target of most of the new Delta procedures. Delta, the second-biggest U.S. airline by revenue, said it transports about 700 service and support animals every day, nearly 250,000 per year. More than two-thirds are emotional-support animals. That does not include animals for which owners pay a fee to keep in a carrier under their seat during flights.</p>
<p>The boom in animal travel has prompted airports to add places where pets can relieve themselves.</p>
<p>Federal regulators have interpreted a 1986 access-to-travel law to allow support animals in airplane cabins and in apartment buildings that do not allow pets. That has created a cottage industry of online companies that help people establish their pet as an emotional support animal.</p>
<p>Airlines must allow support animals in the cabin, although they can require owners to present a letter from a doctor or other medical provider who can vouch that the human traveler is helped by having the animal there. Delta will now ask to see those letters 48 hours in advance.</p>
<p>The Transportation Department, aided by an advisory committee of airline and passenger advocates, has been considering tightening the definitions of service and comfort animals but missed its own deadline last year.</p>
<p>The airlines also complain that they have no way to verify that doctors who sign off on comfort animals are qualified to decide if someone needs the emotional support. Last year an undercover reporter for a Los Angeles TV station found a chiropractor willing to sign a letter allowing the woman's dog to fly for free if she paid his $250 fee.</p>
<p>American Airlines and United Airlines said they were reviewing their animal policies. Both reported seeing a significant increase in the number of emotional-support animals since 2016.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Delta Air Lines will soon require owners of service and support animals to provide more information before their animal can fly in the passenger cabin, including an assurance that it's trained to behave itself.</p>
<p>The airline says complaints about animals biting or urinating or defecating on planes have nearly doubled since 2016.</p>
<p>Starting March 1, Delta will require owners to show proof of their animal's health or vaccinations at least 48 hours before a flight.</p>
<p>Owners of psychiatric service animals and of those used for emotional support will need to sign a statement vouching that their animal can behave. But owners will be on the honor system — they won't have to show, for example, that their dog graduated from obedience school.</p>
<p>The new requirements don't apply to pets, for which owners pay an extra fee. Delta, American and United all charge $125 each way for small pets in the cabin. Pets that don't fit under a seat must fly in the cargo hold, also for a price.</p>
<p>Delta's policy change arrives with the number of animals in the cabin increasing.</p>
<p>A rift has grown between disabled people who rely on trained service animals, usually dogs, and passengers with support or comfort animals, with many in the first group suspecting that those in the latter are just trying to avoid paying $125.</p>
<p>However, owners of comfort animals, including veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, often say that they wouldn't be able to travel without their companion.</p>
<p>John Laughter, the airline's senior vice president of safety and security, said there are insufficient rules in place to screen animals for health and behavior issues.</p>
<p>Last June, a 70-pound dog flying as a support animal bit another passenger several times in the face on a Delta plane in Atlanta. The victim was hospitalized.</p>
<p>Delta is seeking a balance "that supports those customers with a legitimate need for these animals" while maintaining safety, Laughter said.</p>
<p>Sara Nelson, president of the largest flight attendants' union, praised Delta's decision. She said passengers abuse the system to bring untrained animals on board, and if it isn't stopped it could lead to a crackdown that will hurt veterans and the disabled "who legitimately need to travel with these animals."</p>
<p>Eric Goldmann, a sales representative in Atlanta for a health care company, posts pictures on Twitter of support animals that he thinks should have stayed home. He says owners are abusing the system and creating safety hazards.</p>
<p>"These dogs are everywhere, they're out in the aisles," he said. "Planes have to be evacuated in 90 seconds in an emergency. If animals get in the way, people will panic."</p>
<p>Although exact figures aren't available, airline employees say dogs and cats are the most common animals on planes, but there have been sightings of pigs, snakes and turkeys too.</p>
<p>Delta's new rules are aimed at two categories: service animals, which receive specific training to help blind or disabled passengers; and so-called emotional-support animals, which require no training at all. Both fly for free and are not required to be caged during the flight.</p>
<p>The emotional-support group has been growing rapidly, and it is the target of most of the new Delta procedures. Delta, the second-biggest U.S. airline by revenue, said it transports about 700 service and support animals every day, nearly 250,000 per year. More than two-thirds are emotional-support animals. That does not include animals for which owners pay a fee to keep in a carrier under their seat during flights.</p>
<p>The boom in animal travel has prompted airports to add places where pets can relieve themselves.</p>
<p>Federal regulators have interpreted a 1986 access-to-travel law to allow support animals in airplane cabins and in apartment buildings that do not allow pets. That has created a cottage industry of online companies that help people establish their pet as an emotional support animal.</p>
<p>Airlines must allow support animals in the cabin, although they can require owners to present a letter from a doctor or other medical provider who can vouch that the human traveler is helped by having the animal there. Delta will now ask to see those letters 48 hours in advance.</p>
<p>The Transportation Department, aided by an advisory committee of airline and passenger advocates, has been considering tightening the definitions of service and comfort animals but missed its own deadline last year.</p>
<p>The airlines also complain that they have no way to verify that doctors who sign off on comfort animals are qualified to decide if someone needs the emotional support. Last year an undercover reporter for a Los Angeles TV station found a chiropractor willing to sign a letter allowing the woman's dog to fly for free if she paid his $250 fee.</p>
<p>American Airlines and United Airlines said they were reviewing their animal policies. Both reported seeing a significant increase in the number of emotional-support animals since 2016.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>David Koenig can be reached at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter</p> | Good dog, bad dog ... Delta wants to know before you board | false | https://apnews.com/amp/428d94da1d844db58bbfbe3f83f83406 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p>During his recent trip to Los Angeles, in which <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2014/07/24/obamas-motorcade-blocks-pregnant-womans-path-to-hospital/" type="external">his motorcade blocked a pregnant</a>woman’s path to the maternity ward, President Obama&#160;attacked U.S. corporations that flee the massively high taxes he imposes. The&#160;corporations merge with foreign corporations, thus paying the more reasonable tax rates of foreign countries.</p>
<p>He called for “economic patriotism” and said, ““You shouldn’t get to call yourself an American company only when you want a handout from American taxpayers.” In that case, why didn’t he call for ending all&#160;corporate welfare, which some estimates put well above $100 billion a year?</p>
<p>Instead, he wants Congress to close supposed “loopholes” that allow such mergers. There are indications the supposedly low-tax Republicans who run the U.S. House of Representatives might go along with him. If not, he might <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/obama-could-curb-corporate-inversions-own-ex-u-042506738--sector.html" type="external">dictatorily invoke a 1969&#160;tax law</a>dating to the Nixon administration, another way in which he would imitate the lawless President Nixon. Nixon’s tax-increase, inflationary economic policies also crashed the economy in 1974, so we might get a repeat of that.</p>
<p>But there’s a better way to keep U.S. companies from leaving: cut their taxes. The U.S. <a href="http://biztaxlaw.about.com/od/businesstaxes/a/corptaxrate.htm" type="external">top corporate tax rate</a> is 35 percent, plus <a href="http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/california" type="external">8.84 percent in California</a>. Total: 43.84 percent.</p>
<p>Here’s the top corporate tax in several countries, according to <a href="http://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/corporate-tax-by-country-" type="external">&#160;Global Finance Magazine</a>:</p> | In L.A., Obama attacks corporations | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2014/07/28/in-l-a-obama-attacks-corporations/ | 2018-07-20 | 3 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — Every president taps a legislative affairs director to work with Congress. President-elect Donald Trump appears ready to use a legislative whip like none other: Twitter.</p>
<p>On the opening day of Congress, Trump demonstrated the power of his 18.5-million Twitter followers and the clout of his populist credentials. With just a couple of tweets, the president-elect helped achieve what GOP leaders could not the night before, successfully pressuring House Republicans to reverse course on a plan to essentially scuttle an independent congressional ethics board.</p>
<p>The move, only hours before Congress was sworn in, likely offered an early preview of how Trump intends to use his tech-savvy bully pulpit to persuade lawmakers who share his party but not all of his policy priorities. If Tuesday’s tactic is an example, the days of private back-channel negotiations and behind-the-scenes arm-twisting may be giving way to a new era of lobbying by social media shaming.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Virtually everything he does is a different style than Washington is used to,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said of Trump’s lobbying style. “He’s going to be very public, very aggressive.”</p>
<p>By Trump’s standards, the tweets that piled pressure on lawmakers were relatively mild.</p>
<p>After House Republicans voted in a closed-door session on Monday evening — a federal holiday — to undercut the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, government watchdogs and Democratic lawmakers railed against the move and people began calling their representatives. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy had opposed the changes, fearing exactly the kind of backlash that emerged.</p>
<p>Then Trump weighed in with two Twitter messages Tuesday morning, writing, “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority.”</p>
<p>The incoming president urged fellow Republicans to focus on top agenda items like a tax overhaul, health care and “so many other things of far greater importance!” His tweet ended with (hashtag)DTS — a reference to “drain the swamp,” a popular catch-phrase during his outsider presidential campaign.</p>
<p>About two hours later, House Republicans, facing a deluge from angry constituents, dropped their plans to place the ethics board under their own control. The original rule’s author, Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, saw his Facebook and Twitter pages bombarded with hundreds of critical messages. After Congress reversed course, Virginia resident Ed Heresniak celebrated on Goodlatte’s Facebook page, writing: “Dead. Trump killed it with a ‘tweet.'”</p>
<p>Trump won’t rely on Twitter alone as his means of communicating with Congress.</p>
<p>Vice President-elect Mike Pence, a former Indiana congressman, is expected to be a key conduit to lawmakers and was to meet with House Republicans on Wednesday. Trump has taken steps to fill out a more traditional congressional outreach team. He’s hired Rick Dearborn, a former aide to Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, as a deputy chief of staff and Marc Short, a top Pence aide, as the White House legislative affairs director. Both previously served in chief of staff positions on the Hill.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>They’ll have no shortage of work to do. Republicans in Congress differ sharply from Trump on major issues, including trade, Russia policy and entitlements.</p>
<p>Trump seems ready to use the lobbying approach that fueled his campaign. As a candidate, he ridiculed his political opponents and detractors on Twitter, often in cutting personal terms, in a manner that his supporters said they found refreshing and direct.</p>
<p>Fear of a Trump Twitter tirade could help congressional leadership, which has chafed with its own membership in recent years.</p>
<p>That brash approach appeared to tame — for now — a rowdy group of House Republicans who have flummoxed both former House Speaker John Boehner and Ryan at times.</p>
<p>“I don’t think there’s any question that the present-elect’s tweet this morning absolutely shifted the debate on this to where yesterday’s decision was reversed. There’s no two ways about it, because as of last night it was a done deal,” said Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., one of Trump’s earliest and most vocal supporters in Congress.</p>
<p>Collins, who serves as congressional liaison to the Trump transition team, said he didn’t receive any heads up about Trump’s opinion on the rules change before the president-elect tweeted.</p>
<p>House GOP leadership aides said Ryan’s office was in touch with Trump’s transition team about the changes on Monday evening but Trump’s views were not clear until he fired off the tweets.</p>
<p>It was also done in true Trump fashion, allowing some supporters to read into it what they want to believe.</p>
<p>Trump didn’t flatly oppose the decision — he questioned the timing and the prioritization of it — and his tweets did not chastise lawmakers on the merits of their plan.</p>
<p>By suggesting the watchdog apparatus under siege from lawmakers might be “unfair,” Trump spoke to lawmakers who have complained that they have been unfairly targeted by the independent ethics office.</p>
<p>Trump had few admirers in Congress when he launched his campaign about 18 months ago but his tactics appear to be working — for now.</p>
<p>“I’m not with him on everything, but on ‘drain the swamp,’ I will work with him on anything he wants to do,” said North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones, a Republican. “My hope is that his involvement will open a door for us. I’m not sure how wide, but a crack is better than no crack.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.</p>
<p>An AP News Analysis.</p> | Trump, with 2 tweets, helps push GOP reversal on ethics | false | https://abqjournal.com/920313/trump-with-2-tweets-helps-push-gop-reversal-on-ethics.html | 2017-01-04 | 2 |
<p>“After the war starts, you anti-war demonstrators are going to support our troops and our president, aren’t you?”</p>
<p>unidentified “coed” student Oakland University teach-in on the war with Iraq, March 10, 2003</p>
<p>“In February 1943, after Stalingrad, the whole mood in the Führer’s bunker changed very suddenly.”</p>
<p>Traudl Junge, former personal secretary to Adolf Hitler, in the 2002 movie Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary</p>
<p>Traudl Junge (literally “youngster,” auf Deutsch) was 22 years old when she won a typing contest in Berlin. “Fortunately,” she says 60 years later in her filmed interview/ confession, (“or unfortunately, as things turned out”), the prize was the opportunity of working at Hitler’s side until the end of World War II. She says she was feeding the Goebbels’ six young children butter and marmalade sandwiches for lunch at the very moment, almost three years later, when she heard the fatal shot that ended her boss’s immeasurably and incomprehensibly evil life. A wide-eyed, innocent young woman had wanted to be a dancer in 1942. That girl didn’t know about the reality of her employer’s acts. Many years later in the 1960s, when books like The Diary of Anne Frank were published in Germany, the 81-year old woman on camera learned some hard lessons. Mesmerized in a crowded movie theater as her very personal and political life story unfolded on film sixty years later, I thought “Thank God for the sixties.”</p>
<p>What is happening in America today? An almost unbelievably fresh-faced naiveté and utter sincerity seemed to be fairly bursting out of the voice and demeanor of the young Michigan college student quoted above. From all appearances she couldn’t even imagine any other possible position, after the president announced that the war had “begun,” than “support our troops.” Today she must be almost exactly the same age as Traudl Junge, when the latter accepted her prestigious position as Hitler’s new stenographer. She was responding to the presentation that Wayne State University Professor Fran Shor and I had just given at the Oakland University “dialog” on the then-impending US invasion and intensified bombing of Iraq. Fran talked mostly about the current US government neoconservatives’ lust for conquering an empire. I focused on the burgeoning international peace movement. We both tried to answer her short, momentous question. Then she immediately walked out of the large, crowded room, so there was no opportunity for any further dialog with her at that time.</p>
<p>What is happening in America today? It seems to me we are collectively facing a loss of innocence. Our innocence was carefully cultivated by the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George Bush’s father. Their top officials are now in charge again, rampaging toward a fundamentalist “rapture” bathed in the blood of their countless victims. Or perhaps we are on the cusp of a comprehensively militarized, one-party corporate national security state. Maybe both a loss of innocence and a pre-fascist state. This government’s top officials, like good National Socialists, seek to totally identify the interests and affairs of the nation with their personal political ambitions. They seriously threaten to drag the rest of us into the abyss.</p>
<p>Under Dubyah’s father and his cowboy/actor role model Ronald Reagan, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, Elliott Abrams and their ilk carefully prepared their wars to avoid excessive American bloodshed. Now the Rubicon has been crossed. We’re not in Grenada any more, Toto. Their Boy Emperor has begun to use the word “sacrifice” in public. At the very bitter end, with Russian artillery shells slamming down on the 8 foot thick concrete above their heads in the Führerbunker, Goebbels’ doomed little Helmut heard the shot from the other room and exclaimed “That was a direct hit.”</p>
<p>“Better stop children, what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s goin’ down.” Indeed.</p>
<p>Sometimes People (and monsters named Dick, George, Donald, or Adolf walking the Earth in human form) will say one thing, but do another. Their words “Operation Iraqi Freedom” lead directly to their barbaric acts. Starving and incinerating little Iraqi children. Sending barely older American youngsters thousands of miles away to kill and die for an empire. We started to lose our innocence ­ Big Time – on September 11. The mega- billion dollar military psyops – endlessly repeated “God Bless America” and “United We Stand” – helped preserve our sense of innocence, very imperfectly but providing some sense of comfort if we just remained unthinkingly loyal to the leader of the nation.</p>
<p>Gulf War II turned from Gulf War I into Vietnam, less than 72 hours after the “tip of the spear” crossed the Kuwaiti border. Now we can see. Not only wasn’t it about the laughable, utterly fabricated “threat” Saddam posed to us before we invaded Iraq. Not only wasn’t it about the elusive weapons of mass destruction that Blair has been bemoaning, and the UN has been wrangling over, for months. Not only wasn’t it about liberating the Iraqis, many if whom are fighting their US “liberators” with suicidal fury. No, it was and is about getting the soldiers and the American People to acquiesce in a bloody, imperial oil war. The Marines in Iraq now have a perfectly common sense credo, based on the terrible position they have been put in by their leaders: “Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet.” The perfect start for a campaign to democratize the Arab world.</p>
<p>“Hitler would always say, ‘Trust me, don’t even think about it, I’ll take responsibility,'” The widow Junge reminisced. “That’s the evil, when the whole Volk surrender their conscience to the will of a single leader.” Now it is again about an enormous, insane project of barbaric acts. Employing 21st century mass slaughter technology against the People of Iraq (like the People of Afghanistan before them) to conquer and occupy Arab oil lands, to project US power throughout Eurasia, and to achieve permanent full spectrum dominance of the world. We can partly see it on TV even through the garbled nonsense of the networks’ promotion of the war. And it is literally, truly a matter of absolute life and death for many, many of our fellow human beings, including for many of our fellow Americans.</p>
<p>Consider the simple fact that a conservative, suburban commuter college like Oakland University even hosted a teach-in about the war with Iraq, in that era of previous human history three weeks ago, before the doctrine of preventive US war against allegedly terrorist-associated Arab evil was fully set in motion. By far the majority of this war’s consequences are still unknown. Yet even “before the war” hundreds of these relatively innocent young American students in a very mainstream institution were already discussing the demerits of the Perle/Cheney/ Rumsfeld/ Wolfowitz war policy. They had to reschedule the “dialog” from late February, so they could find a fairly conservative professor to present the US government’s perspective. Isn’t the very occurrence of such an event in such a setting, compared to Cold War McCarthyism and the relatively much later organizing of the Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam, in and of itself a sure sign of some metaphorical “loss of innocence” affecting the whole American Volk?</p>
<p>We know what genocide and aggressive war are. We learned about them in the history books. Now we have seen them in nearly real time TV, and they are likely to continue for some time, because there is no power on Earth sufficient to immediately control or recall the violent forces that have been set loose. Some of us won’t admit it is genocide yet. Some of them won’t admit it ever. Frau Junge never did talk explicitly about what happened to the six doomed Goebbels children who’d recently moved into the bunker to be near Uncle Hitler (presumably they were given cyanide in the pretext of a “vaccination”). The filmmakers didn’t ask directly about that. Some things, under some circumstances, you just can’t talk about.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of young Americans are now committed to an extremely risky, “desert lite” battle plan. At least one suicide bomber has already killed several of them. There is an almost universally recognized probability of further deadly terrorist attacks, directed largely against these now-vulnerable, heavily armed Americans, and probably against other targets of opportunity as well. We are gradually losing our innocence about what George W. Bush’s government is really doing to the world in our name. Our economy is stumbling. “The system” again, as in the Vietnam era, faces the distinct possibility of losing the loyalty of a generation of young People whom its leaders seek to use as pawns in their obscene and mass-murderous geopolitical power game.</p>
<p>Figure out where you stand regarding the Mobilization to End the War in Iraq (Iran, Syria, North Korea etc.). Please help. Don’t surrender your individual conscience. If you are scared and overwhelmed, recognize that this is a rational response to evil government policies. If you want to beat up anti-war protestors you probably stopped reading before you even started this essay, but if not please ask yourself why you feel that way, and whether it may be partly because America is losing its innocence, and we are living in a pre-fascist state.</p>
<p>If you think that the fact the nation is at war means that the People must automatically obey whatever the government leader says, please ask yourself why. Stop and think about where political authority supposedly comes from in our democracy, where the first 3 words of the nation’s constitution are “We the People.” Turn off the damn TV and search the internet for information about the war with Iraq. Question authority. Read A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. Noam Chomsky’s bestseller 9-11(or just about anything else he’s written). For an understanding of the roots of terrorism and the evils of imperialism, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. Go to a teach-in, public meeting, or demonstration, and stick around to share your thoughts and feelings with your fellow citizens and others. After you lose innocence, accurate information becomes much more useful and important. It serves as a kind of “force multiplier” against politicians’ and corporations’lies.</p>
<p>After you lose innocence, you need morality to guide your actions. America has lost its innocence. America needs morality to keep the Bush administration from hauling it into a Führerbunker. America needs its young People to lead it back to sanity, democracy, freedom and social justice. Again. Thank God for the sixties.</p>
<p>TOM STEPHENS is a lawyer in Detroit, Michigan. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:lebensbaum4@earthlink" type="external">lebensbaum4@earthlink</a>.</p>
<p>Today’s Features</p>
<p>Uri Avnery <a href="" type="internal">A Crooked Mirror: Presstitution and the Theater of Operations</a></p>
<p>David Vest <a href="" type="internal">Can You Hear the Silence?</a></p>
<p>Anthony Gancarski <a href="" type="internal">Colin Powell Telemarketer</a></p>
<p>David Lindorff <a href="" type="internal">Takoma: the Dolphin Who Refused to Fight</a></p>
<p>Michael Roberts <a href="" type="internal">War, Debts and Deficits</a></p>
<p>Ramzy Baroud <a href="" type="internal">Now That Iraqis Are Being Killed Is Israel Any More Secure?</a></p>
<p>Jo Wilding <a href="" type="internal">From Baghdad with Tears</a></p>
<p>Anton Antonowicz <a href="" type="internal">Cluster Bombs on Babylon</a></p>
<p>Alison Weir <a href="" type="internal">Israel, We Won’t Forget Rachel Corrie</a></p>
<p>Bruce Jackson <a href="" type="internal">Hating Wolf Blitzer’s Voice</a></p>
<p>Eliot Katz <a href="" type="internal">War’s First Week</a></p>
<p>Steve Perry <a href="" type="internal">War Web Log 04/03</a></p>
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<p><a href="https://www.counterpunch.org/" type="external">home</a> / <a href="http://www.easycarts.net/ecarts/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Subscriptions.html" type="external">subscribe</a> / <a href="aboutus.html" type="external">about us</a> / <a href="books.html" type="external">books</a> / <a href="archive.html" type="external">archives</a> / <a href="search.html" type="external">search</a> / <a href="links.html" type="external">links</a> /</p> | The End of the Innocence | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/04/04/the-end-of-the-innocence/ | 2003-04-04 | 4 |
<p>Hope is fading for a feel-good ending at the U.S. box office.</p>
<p>After several months of flops like Warner Bros.’ “King Arthur” and EuropaCorp’s “Valerian,” movie studios and theaters are beginning to acknowledge that their streak of record-setting ticket sales may be coming to an end.&#160;AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., the world’s biggest cinema chain, laid out a worse-than-projected outlook for the North American box office this week.</p>
<p>That announcement dragged down shares of theater stocks, wiping out $1.3 billion from the value of the top four cinema operators in North America since Aug. 1. Even with a new “Star Wars,” a Marvel superhero movie and the sequel to “Blade Runner” on the docket for the holiday season, the box office is unlikely to make up for a “severe hit” in the third quarter, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. To date, receipts are down 2 percent in 2017, and AMC is projecting a 1.5 percent decline for the full year.</p>
<p>The concern is that the slump isn’t just a run of bad luck. Cinema operators have managed for years to keep increasing sales by raising ticket prices amid stagnant attendance, but a sharp drop in filmgoing would make that harder to sustain. And the tried-and-true formula of churning out big-budget sequels and cinematic universes populated with superbeings seems to be wearing on filmgoers. Movies featuring once-reliable draws Jack Sparrow, the Transformers and the Mummy did poorly in the U.S.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, competition is heating up. Netflix Inc. and other digital distributors are creating more original movies, and consumers have more demands on their attention than ever, from Snapchat to YouTube. Further exacerbating the trend, studios are expected to push for a new premium video-on-demand window this year.</p>
<p>It’s possible that Hollywood could reverse the trend next year, when a new movie about Han Solo, an Avengers film, and sequels to “Deadpool” and “Jurassic World” are scheduled.</p>
<p>“This is very typical of the movie business,” said Paul Sweeney, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “You could make the argument that the slate for next year looks really good, which should grow the market next year in North America. That part’s a cyclical thing, and it’s likely to come back.”</p>
<p>And movie-theater operators Regal Entertainment Group, Cinemark Holdings Inc. and Imax Corp. aren’t facing the same level of pressure as AMC, which is carrying almost $5 billion in debt after expanding its empire to Europe, with acquisitions in the U.K. and Sweden.</p>
<p>Controlled by Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin’s Dalian Wanda Group Co., AMC has become the poster child for China’s incursion into Hollywood. Concern that Dalian Wanda’s international investments may wane is adding to AMC’s troubles. “With China cracking down on funding for AMC’s majority shareholder, Dalian Wanda, the cinema chain faces murky prospects given its high debt level and appetite for global M&amp;A,” wrote Geetha Ranganathan, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.</p>
<p>As an expression of confidence in its future, the theater operator late Thursday announced its board approved as much as $100 million in repurchases of its Class A stock, or about 5 percent of its total equity market value, which includes Class B shares held by Wanda.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Officer Adam Aron said he also plans to buy shares personally over the next 60 days.</p>
<p>Click here for a BI analysis of summer movie profits.</p>
<p>AMC said Tuesday it will cut jobs and plans to write off its investment in National CineMedia LLC, resulting in a loss of as much as $178.5 million. The company will also pursue “strategic pricing” — possibly selectively charging more for hot tickets or offering discounts to fill seats — and cut back on investments in improvements to its theaters, such as reclining seats.</p>
<p>The revised outlook means AMC’s indebtedness is likely to be higher by the end of the year, though probably not enough to lead to a downgrade, said Jason Cuomo, an analyst at Moody’s Investors Service. Dialing back on investments will help the company weather the storm, he said.</p>
<p>“They have some levers they can pull and manage, and they’re not going to stand still,” Cuomo said.</p>
<p>Canada’s Cineplex Inc. also reported poor second-quarter results as movie fans grow tired of franchises, so-called “sequel-itis.” It too will cut spending and jobs, even as it considers price hikes to offset higher minimum wages in Canada. Regal’s earnings missed estimates, while Imax’s were in line with analysts’ projections. Cinemark is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Friday.</p>
<p>The big shadow hanging over the industry is whether studios will push to shorten the time between theater and home release of their movies, from the standard three months to within weeks after theater attendance has dropped off. The concern is that such a premium video-on-demand offering would give consumers less incentive to go see a movie in theaters, knowing they could watch it at home within weeks.</p>
<p>The studios are negotiating with cinema operators over the matter, pushing for an agreement as soon as the end of this year. Reaching a deal may be tricky. Studios are restricted from coordinating among themselves because of antitrust rules — while exhibitors have said they will only agree to deals that boost their bottom line.</p>
<p>Meantime, the industry is counting on Walt Disney Co.’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” opening Nov. 3, and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” on Dec. 15, to make the picture brighter.</p>
<p>“Until you see box office turn, people have to assume the worst for everything and that is why see people stay relatively concerned on the space until you get to Q4,” said Eric Wold, an analyst at B. Riley &amp; Co. While he has a buy rating on the stock, he says in the past he may have been too positive. “You have got zero opportunity for positive news until maybe November of Q4 when the slate looks a little bit better.”</p> | After $1.3 Billion Stock Collapse, Hollywood's Picture Blurs | false | https://newsline.com/after-1-3-billion-stock-collapse-hollywoods-picture-blurs/ | 2017-08-04 | 1 |
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<p>An excavator and other equipment sit on the site of the planned Violet Crown Theater in Santa Fe on Thursday. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — The Santa Fe City Council’s dilemma over how to treat businesses with liquor licenses got another airing Wednesday night.</p>
<p>A beer-and-wine application submitted by Violet Crown Cinema, operators of a long-awaited and soon-to-be-built movie theater in the Santa Fe Railyard, barely squeaked through with the council’s approval.</p>
<p>Opposing councilors said they feared Violet Crown’s plan to allow patrons to bring both food and drinks into the cinema’s auditoriums could provide an opportunity for minors to consume alcohol.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The applicant may need beer and wine to make a profit, but I don’t think it’s necessary to have a good movie experience,” Councilor Chris Rivera declared. “Our children are too important,”</p>
<p>In a vote split along the city’s geographic lines, the council deadlocked 4-4 on Violet Crown’s request for the license. Councilors Patti Bushee, Peter Ives, Rebecca Wurzburger and Chris Calvert – who represent Santa Fe’s northerly Districts 1 and 2 – endorsed the liquor license application.</p>
<p>Rivera and Councilors Ron Trujillo, Bill Dimas and Carmichael Dominguez, the city’s Districts 3 and 4 representatives, voted against it.</p>
<p>Mayor David Coss broke the tie in favor of the license.</p>
<p>“I look forward to seeing a movie at your theater and maybe having a glass of wine with my dinner,” Coss told Violet Crown owner Bill Banowsky.</p>
<p>The crowd at City Hall offered some applause after the vote and, for one of the few such hearings, cheered City Hall’s issuance of the license.</p>
<p>Violet Crown sought a beer and wine license for a restaurant planned in the theater site. Violet Crown also needed the council to grant a special waiver allowing the cinema to sell alcohol because the premises are within 300 feet of Tierra Encantada Charter School.</p>
<p>The Santa Fe Railyard master plan calls for a movie theater, but getting the project off the ground has proven difficult. Another company was chosen in 2006 to build a theater, but plans fell through due to lack of financing. A gaping hole, excavated for that theater, has sat for years at the proposed theater location next to the Market Station commercial complex in the city-owned Santa Fe Railyard.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Santa Fe Railyard Community Corp., which manages the Railyard, chose Violet Crown over three competitors earlier this year to finally move forward with a new project. Officials say the new theater could be open around the end of 2014.</p>
<p>“I want to remind the council that we mandated the movie theater be here, and I am anxious to get that hole in the ground filled,” Bushee said.</p>
<p>That argument apparently didn’t move everyone. The first indication of resistance came when Trujillo, after Calvert moved to approve Violet Crown’s request, asked if the liquor license was a “do or break thing” for Violet Crown.</p>
<p>The answer was yes.</p>
<p>“We have sought a beer and wine license that is critical to the economic model of building what is not an inexpensive project. To be competitive as a restaurant, we can’t move forward without a beer and wine license,” Banowsky said.</p>
<p>Banowsky added that during the cinema bidding process, the SFRCC required that a restaurant be part of all project proposals. SFRCC director Richard Czoski added that SFRCC’s agreement with Violet Crown would allow the company to terminate its lease if the council didn’t approve the liquor license request.</p>
<p>Violet Crown’s business model will allow patrons to take food and drink ordered at the restaurant into auditoriums where movies are screened. People won’t be served inside the theaters.</p>
<p>Banowsky said he’s discussed the plan with state of New Mexico officials and received a policy exception to allow drinks to be brought into the theaters.</p>
<p>“Across the county it’s becoming more the norm that beer and wine is an amenity to the cinema experience and important to make cinema operations economical,” Banowsky said.</p>
<p>Violet Crown’s theater in Austin has a full liquor license.</p>
<p>“There is no way we would have proceeded with the proposal to build the cinema if we were not able to serve beer and wine,” Banowsky said.</p>
<p>The City Council rubber-stamps dozens of liquor licenses applications every year, ranging from full liquor licenses to beer and wine licenses to temporary licenses for special events. The council approved two other restaurant beer and wine licenses on Wednesday before debating the Violet Crown application.</p>
<p>Two months ago, the City Council approved a full liquor license for the nearby Jean Cocteau Cinema, located on the Railyard’s edge only blocks from the Violet site. But some councilors said they considered the Jean Cocteau in a different light, presumably because that theater shows films geared toward a mature audience.</p>
<p>It’s rare, though not unprecedented, for the City Council to deny a liquor license application, although the fight in recent years has been confined to package stores. In 2011, the council denied a full liquor license to the super Wal-Mart in south Santa Fe, although the state liquor licensing officials overrode the decision.</p>
<p>The city is currently embroiled in a court dispute over the council’s denial of a full liquor license for a Giant convenience store on Airport Road. On Wednesday, the council voted to appeal a recent state Court of Appeals Court decision overturning the city’s decision in the case.</p>
<p>Rivera asked Banowsky if there would be security patrolling to ensure minors weren’t consuming alcohol. Banowsky replied that employees would be monitoring the cinema for numerous reasons.</p>
<p>“My concern is, you’ll have people come in and our big brother could give little brother a beer. People won’t know who’s drinking,” Trujillo said.</p>
<p>Dominguez asked if Banowsky would be willing to work with the Santa Fe Prevention Alliance on alcohol-related training. Banowsky replied in the affirmative.</p>
<p>Councilor Peter Ives observed that other family-friendly venues, including the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball team and the Santa Fe Opera, sell alcohol using a model where people are observed as they make an alcohol purchase but may carry the drink to other areas of the site.</p>
<p>Councilor Patti Bushee noted that “it feels like the beer and baseball argument all over again – with different people and different results.”</p>
<p>Bushee referred to a 2011 vote to allow beer to be sold at Fuego baseball games tied 4-4, with Coss again breaking the tie in favor of allowing the sales to take place. Trujillo, a Fuego fan, was among those who voted in favor of allowing beer sales at the games.</p>
<p>The council voted this year to amend the rules again to allow Fuego fans to consume beer in the entire seating and concession area at Fort Marcy Park, rather than just a fenced-in beer garden. The Fuego agreed to conditions including that there be paid, uniformed guards during the game and to pay for new fencing that will enclose the grandstand area.</p>
<p>Dominguez said the reasons given at Wednesday’s meeting for denying Violet Crown’s application were “weak” and could probably be resolved. Nevertheless, Dominguez voted against the application because, he said, Santa Fe already has too many alcohol outlets in the downtown area.</p>
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<p /> | Theater beer, wine license squeaks through | false | https://abqjournal.com/319329/theater-beer-wine-license-squeaks-through.html | 2 |
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<p>ALBANY, New York - A New York state high school English teacher who asked students to imagine they were Nazis and give reasons why Jews were evil could be reprimanded or dismissed, a school district superintendent said on Friday.</p>
<p>City School District of Albany Superintendent Marguerite Vanden Wyngaard apologized at a news conference and pledged officials would personally express regret to Albany High School students who were given the assignment and their families.</p>
<p>"This assignment for some of our students at Albany High School was completely unacceptable. It displayed a level of insensitivity that we will not tolerate in our school community," Vanden Wyngaard said.</p>
<p>"I'm deeply apologetic to all of our students, to all of our families and the entire community," she said, appearing with representatives of the Anti-Defamation League and the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York at the federation office in Albany.</p>
<p>Vanden Wyngaard declined to name the teacher but said the teacher was removed from class and faced disciplinary action.</p>
<p>"It can go anywhere from a letter of counsel, to a letter of reprimand, all the way through to termination. There is a broad spectrum," Vanden Wyngaard said.</p>
<p>A letter would go out to all families in the school district, she said.</p>
<p>Vanden Wyngaard first issued an apology through the Times Union on Thursday night after the newspaper reported the assignment on its website. She responded with "absolute horror" when a parent presented her with the assignment on Thursday.</p>
<p>The teacher gave three classes of 10th-grade students a persuasive writing assignment as part of a class project to demonstrate how Nazis thought and showed their loyalty to the Third Reich before World War Two.</p>
<p>"You need to pretend that I am a member of the government in Nazi Germany, and you are being challenged to consider that you are loyal to the Nazis by writing an essay convincing me that Jews are evil and the source of our problems," the assignment instructions said.</p>
<p>One-third of the students refused to complete the task, which was assigned following a class review of Nazi propaganda, said Ron Lesko, a spokesman for the district.</p>
<p>Students were asked for an introduction, a conclusion and a list of arguments and were advised, "Please remember your life (here in Nazi Germany in the 30s) depends on it!"</p> | Hey, Mr. President, I just found someone you may want to consider for Secretary of Education. She may be available soon?. | true | https://powderedwigsociety.com/hey-mr-president-i-just-found-someone-you-may-want-to-consider-for-secretary-of-education-she-may-be-available-soon/ | 2013-07-26 | 0 |
<p>In America awareness never sleeps and has been on particularly active duty this October, designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month (proclamation of President George Bush); as Domestic Violence Awareness Month (proclamation of President George Bush); as Energy Awareness Month (proclamation of President George Bush and the Environmental Protection Agency); and–we speak here specifically of October 22-29 — Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (proclamation of David Horowitz, a fat and hairy ex-Trot living in Los Angeles).</p>
<p>Cautionary interpolation: Horowitz was certainly fat last time I clapped eyes on him and he sports a beard which waxes and wanes in outreach depending on which Google image you look at. And yes, Christopher Hitchens is also a fat and hairy ex-Trot, is also a known associate of the man Horowitz, and also thunders against Islamo-Fascism. Nonetheless we speak here of Horowitz.</p>
<p>When I first saw Horowitz he was neither fat nor hairy nor apparently aware of Islamo-Fascism. This was in the late 1960s in London and he was working for the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, studying at the feet of Isaac Deutscher and Ralph Miliband. About a decade later I saw him again, this time in Washington DC presiding over a well-publicized “Second Thoughts” conference, announcing his departure from the Left. He spoke harshly of his parents’ decision to make him watch uplifting features about the Soviet Union and forbade any Doris Day movies, a common blunder in child-brain-washing techniques among the comrades at that time.</p>
<p>Since then, like other Trotskyist vets, such as the above-mentioned Hitchens, Horowitz has thrown his energies into crusading on behalf of the American right, fuelled in his efforts by copious annual disbursements from the richer denizens of that well populated sector. Richard Mellon Scaife–apex demon in the “vast right-wing conspiracy” identified by Hillary Clinton amid the Lewinsky scandal–has poured millions into Horowitz’s organizations, as have other well-heeled conservative foundations. Every now and again Horowitz will raise some spectacularly nutty alarum, like the Los Angeles Times being taken over by pinkoes, and I always assume that Horowitz must be filling out his annual grant applications, and reminding Scaife that others may snooze and idle, but he, Horowitz, is unceasing in his vigilance against sedition.</p>
<p>In Horowitz’s bestiary, sedition comes in all the traditional forms, from commies on campus to commies in the press and he’s churned out endless bulletins charting their insidious reach. Some of his specific accusations have no doubt been useful to fearful school administrations eager to harry and expel the few radical teachers able to find employment in these bleak times.</p>
<p>But the problem for Horowitz is one of supply. The left in America is really in very poor shape: near zero Commies, and really only a sprinkling of radical black profs, militant Lesbians and kindred antinomians to beat up on. The notion of pinkoes in the media is laughable to all except the fearful imaginations of millionaires like Scaife. Hence the spotlight on Islamo-Fascism, a gloriously vague term whose origin is the topic of a tussle between Malise Ruthven, who used the term in 1980 to describe all authoritarian Islamic governments, and Stephen Schwartz, yet another fat, bearded former Trotskyist who says he was the first to use it in its specific application in 2000, eventually receiving a tap on the shoulder for so doing from Christopher Hitchens and John Sullivan. Arise, Sir Stephen!</p>
<p>Islamo-Fascism Awareness week has been featuring Horowitz and big-name ranters of the right like Anne Coulter and Fox’s Sean Hannity, plus former US Senator Rick Santorum, and noted Islamophobe Daniel Pipes. They descended on various college campuses to be received by Christian-Fascists and the curious while they hurled imprecations at the left for being soft on sons of the Prophet stoning women to death for adultery.</p>
<p>The reaction of the left has been mixed. In some ways it always takes Horowitz’s antics far too seriously, though the latter’s effect on timid college administrations cannot be entirely gainsaid. On the other hand, Awareness week is having a galvanizing effect. Coalitions have formed to combat Horowitz’s version of Awareness with superior Progressive Awareness about what is good or not so good about Islam. Since Santorum and others have ripe records of intolerance for women, the air is usefully thick with shouts of “hypocrite”. Horowitz is probably the best organizer the left has these days. He’s an Energizer, apt to the beseechings of Energy Awareness Week, though the target in that instance was probably that other insidious element in the American way of life, the incandescent light bulb.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | So Much for Islamo-Fascism Awareness | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/10/27/so-much-for-islamo-fascism-awareness/ | 2007-10-27 | 4 |
<p>Oil futures trade modestly lower Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that domestic-crude supplies climbed, but inventories of gasoline and distillates, which include heating oil and diesel, declined in the week ended Dec. 16. Crude supplies rose 2.2 million barrels. That was contrary to the 2.3-million-barrel fall expected by analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal. EIA showed that gasoline stocks declined by 1.3 million barrels, while distillates were down 2.42 million barrels. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday in New York reported that U.S. crude inventories showed a drawdown of 4.1 million barrels in the week while gasoline stocks fell by 2 million barrels and distillates dropped by 1.5 million barrels. The two reports have often offered conflicting data. West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange for February delivery lost 15 cents, or 0.3%, at $53.11 a barrel.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Oil Slips As EIA Report Shows Larger-than-expected Climb In Inventories | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/21/oil-slips-as-eia-report-shows-larger-than-expected-climb-in-inventories.html | 2016-12-21 | 0 |
<p>OCT. 29, 2010</p>
<p>By KATY GRIMES</p>
<p>California faces an energy conundrum: The 2006 global warming law AB32, dictates the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels,&#160;by 2020. However, with the demand for electricity increasing, state energy experts are considering nuclear energy production once again.</p>
<p>Nuclear power is considered a low-carbon energy source, but production in the state has been rather restricted due to a nuclear power plant moratorium in place since the mid-1970’s.</p>
<p>This week, the <a href="http://www.sen.ca.gov/ftp/SEN/COMMITTEE/STANDING/ENERGY/_home/" type="external">Senate Energy, Utilities and Communication committee</a>held an informational hearing to discuss the role nuclear power can play in climate change issues and the need for energy production in California.</p>
<p>Several panels were convened covering aspects from an overview of the moratorium, to the economics of nuclear power.</p>
<p>California has four nuclear power plants, but two were decommissioned in 1976 by then-governor Jerry Brown, according to energy committee Chairman, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima. “We are facing one of the greatest challenges to our economy – global warming. California’s two remaining nuclear plants need to be either decommissioned, or extended,” Padilla said.</p>
<p>Tim Leahy with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory and Burt Richter, Nobel Laureate from Stanford University, presented information about the role of nuclear power, past, present and future.</p>
<p>Both scientists agreed that there is plenty of evidence to support the changing climate on Earth, but said the causes are not as clear.&#160;“The energy supply will increase to meet demand,” said Richter. “There are plenty of energy sources, but some are not controlled by nations friendly to the U.S.”</p>
<p>“Nuclear power is the number one source of non-carbon energy, and has a remarkable safety record,” Leahy said. “The operating costs are the lowest, and nuclear energy is the lowest for carbon footprint.”</p>
<p>Currently 16 countries use nuclear power. There are 333 nuclear power plants outside of the U.S. Inside of the United States, there are <a href="http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/" type="external">104 operational nuclear power plants</a>, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.</p>
<p>In 2009 the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) issued a report that stated, “Nuclear power could be one option for reducing carbon emissions and that taking nuclear power off the table as a viable alternative will prevent the global community from achieving long-term gains in the control of carbon dioxide emissions.”</p>
<p>Leahy and Richter’s testimony agreed with the MIT report.</p>
<p>“There are 7 billion people on Earth. 200 years ago there were 1 billion. 40 years ago there were 3.5 billion. By 2050 is it estimated there will be 9 billion people on Earth. This increase has made an unprecedented impact on resources, and all will want and need access to energy,” said Leahy.</p>
<p>Richter agreed and said, “Access to energy fuels economic growth,” and both&#160;said nuclear power should be embraced.</p>
<p>Nuclear power already makes up 15 percent of California’s total energy production, but because the energy consumption in the state is expected to significantly increase in the next decade, nuclear power is being considered, even with the future of the two remaining California nuclear power plants in question.</p>
<p>No nuclear power plants have been constructed in California in more than 30 years. At issue is storage of the nuclear waste. James Boyd with the <a href="http://www.energy.ca.gov/" type="external">California Energy Commission</a> explained that the CEC reviewed the role of nuclear power in California in 2005, and found that the technology for nuclear waste disposal had not progressed enough to permanently dispose of or reproduce high-level waste.</p>
<p>Boyd disagreed with Leahy and Richter’s assessments of the role of nuclear power, and said, “We continue to find reproduction very expensive.” He also said that U.S. policy is opposed to the reprocessing of nuclear waste.</p>
<p>Boyd said that nuclear proliferation is another issue to be very concerned about as it directly relates to nuclear waste storage or reprocessing.</p>
<p>According to Boyd, the CEC recommended that the Legislature develop a framework to analyze the costs versus benefits of nuclear power plant license extensions, evaluate the long-term implications of continuing to store the waste on-site at the two remaining nuclear plants in the state, and reexamine nuclear transport fees.</p>
<p>A background report provided at the hearing stated, “there are approximately 57,700 tons of nuclear waste at 100 temporary sites, with tons more being generated every year. While there appears to be an international consensus that long-term storage of nuclear waste in deep underground geologically stable repositories is ideal, no nation including the United States has yet opened such a site.”</p>
<p>Boyd said he was “reluctant to recommend” nuclear power “because of the waste storage problem – it needs to be set right.”</p>
<p>Staff Scientist Robert Budnitz, a nuclear engineer and physicist with the <a href="http://www.lbl.gov/" type="external">Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</a>, presented a more positive outlook for nuclear power, while explaining the history of problems associated with nuclear power. “In 1976 there were two debates,” said Budnitz. “The safety of plants, and high-level waste. But the Legislature could not enact anything about safety, because safety is regulated by the federal government.”</p>
<p>Budnitz said that nuclear experts now know much more about safety, and analogizing nuclear power to airplanes, “is far more safe now.” Budnitz said that in 1976 scientists “asserted” safety, “but in 2010, we know for sure.” He said that the Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility will be safe “for a million years.”</p>
<p>Also testifying about current storage and waste technologies were Caroline McAndrews with Southern California Edison, and James Becker, from PG&amp;E’s Diablo Canyon power plant in San Luis Obispo.</p>
<p>The economics of nuclear power was presented to the committee by attorney Breton Peace. “Wind, solar and nuclear power are fundamentally different. You cannot compare power sources,” said Peace. “The state subsidizes wind and solar, but does not subsidize nuclear power.”</p>
<p>Peace explained, “Nuclear plants use little land, are safe and reliable.” Peace said nuclear power is not cost prohibitive when calculated over time. He said plant building costs can be high, but critics are thinking of the massive cost overruns of the building in the past. “And those costs were passed on to the rate payers.”</p>
<p>Peace said if California lifted the moratorium, rate payers would not bear the cost because nuclear power plants built today would not be built using a “typical energy model.” According to Peace, corporate boards won’t bet the company, because the risk is shared with all partners – political, regulatory and financial.</p>
<p>“California is not really even at the table yet,” Peace said.</p>
<p>In 2005, the Energy Policy Act was created to provide financial incentives for the construction of nuclear power plants through tax credits, loan guarantees and regulatory risk insurance. And while the licensing process has been streamlined dramatically, there are only two nuclear power plants scheduled to go online in the future. Both nuclear power plants are in Georgia, scheduled for 2016 and 2017 activation.</p>
<p>Peace said that the licensing costs are massive, and the interest for such projects “skyrockets” during the time it takes to complete a plant. States that have strict regulatory atmospheres are “too politically charged,” according to Peace, for lenders to lend money for the building of nuclear power plants. “The costs are so massive, they may be prohibitive,” he added. “The construction loan could double with interest expenses.”</p>
<p>And he said, “If the government guarantees a portion of the debt, it creates another debt market. Not all subsidies are the same.”</p>
<p>Peace said that states need to find a way to reduce risk in order to build nuclear power plants.&#160;“If California wants nuclear power, it may be three to five years out for licensing.” There is an early site program with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but California would need to apply for it now.</p>
<p>For financing, Peace said, “The Department of Energy is more qualified than any financial institution to vet the project. But the biggest factor is the support at the state level. If California lifted the moratorium, somebody would just show up. If California enters the energy discussion at the federal level, the NEC and DOE would have people on a plane and here the next day.”</p> | California Debates Its Nuclear Future | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2010/10/29/californias-nuclear-energy-future/ | 2018-10-20 | 3 |
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<p>Most people just assume that Saudi Arabia is the world's oil king. While it's true that the Middle Eastern nation is the leading oil producer in OPEC, it's not the undisputed leader for global oil output, as that title has rotated between Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the U.S. in recent years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Meanwhile, when it comes to proven oil reserves in the ground, Saudi Arabia comes in second among its OPEC peers. Instead, the real oil kingpin in OPEC is Venezuela, which has 300.88 billion barrels of proved oil reserves, according to OPEC's data. That's 24.8% of OPEC's total and ahead of Saudi Arabia's 266.46 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, which is 22% of the organization's reserves. However, despite being OPEC's largest reserve holder, Venezuela hasn't been able to leverage its massive reserves to threaten Saudi Arabia's control of the group.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>The bulk of Venezuela's oil is in the Orinoco Belt, which is in the northern part of the country. In fact, according to some estimates, there are as much as 1.2 trillion barrels of oil in the region. That said, this is heavy oil, which like the oil sands of Canada is more expensive to extract. That's why the estimate of proven oil reserves, which are those that the country can produce with reasonable certainty under current technology and prices, is a fraction of that amount.</p>
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<p>For example, according to data by industry consultant Rystad Energy, it costs the country $27.62 to produce a barrel of oil versus just $8.98 per barrel for Saudi Arabia. In fact, at $23.35 per barrel, shale drilling in the U.S. has cheaper costs than Venezuelan oil. That's why despite holding the largest oil reserves, Venezuela is just the sixth-largest producer within OPEC and 10th-largest globally.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>One of the main reasons Venezuela's oil output lags others with smaller reserves is due to the significant upfront capital investment required to pull a barrel out of the ground. According to Rystad, the country must invest $6.66 per barrel in capital to access the oil compared to just $3.50 for Saudi Arabia. That's because the country's heavy oil resources are deeper in the ground and harder to extract, whereas Saudi oil is close to the surface, making it much cheaper to obtain. The Washington Times further describes the differences:</p>
<p>To overcome those technical and financial challenges, Venezuela has sought to draw in foreign investment capital to boost output. In the early 1990s, for example, the country created a new fiscal framework to spur investments into the Orinoco Belt. That led U.S. oil giant ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and others to invest in the development of several oil projects in the country. However, after winning reelection as President in 2006, Hugo Chavez nationalized the country's oil, steel, cement, and banking assets, which has hurt foreign investment in the country's oil industry. After having its assets ceased, ConocoPhillips initiated arbitration proceedings against the country with an arm of the World Bank. It's been fighting that case in international courts since.</p>
<p>As a result of that nationalization, Venezuela now must rely on state-owned oil company PDVSA to do most of the heavy lifting. However, the company isn't reinvesting enough of its income back into new production even to offset the natural decline from legacy wells, let alone grow production. That lack of investment has only intensified in recent years due to the country's deepening fiscal problems as a result of the oil market downturn, since oil revenue accounts for 95% of the country's export earnings and 25% of GDP. As such, the oil price collapse has had a devastating impact on its economy, forcing the company to conserve cash. For example, PDVSA has had trouble paying its bills, which is why leading global oil-field service giant Schlumberger (NYSE: SLB) fired nearly its entire workforce in the country last year after unpaid bills from the country's oil company mounted. Meanwhile, without the help of Schlumberger, PDVSA couldn't get the services it needed to keep oil flowing.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>That said, with oil prices stabilizing, Venezuela is working to get its oil industry back on track. In fact, it recently awarded Schlumberger a $3.2 billion drilling project to drill 80 new wells, which should boost output by 250,000 barrels per day over the next few years. However, that output will not even begin to replace what the country has lost due to the natural decline of its legacy fields; production has dropped 12% over past year to around 2.3 million barrels per day and may tumble another 20% this year.</p>
<p>Because of that, the country needs ramp up spending significantly if it wants oiloutput to grow enough to match its vaunted reserves. For that to happen, the country would need to enact a new fiscal framework to spur foreign investment, which would still be a tough sell given its history and higher-cost production. That's why it really doesn't matter that Venezuela leads OPEC in reserves, because itisn't likely to ever challenge Saudi Arabia as the organization's largest producer.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of ConocoPhillips. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | This OPEC Country Has the Largest Proven Oil Reserves (and It's Not Saudi Arabia) | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/22/this-opec-country-has-largest-proven-oil-reserves-and-it-not-saudi-arabia.html | 2017-04-22 | 0 |
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<p>Downey, Calif., city firefighters furl a large American flag that had flown atop a ladder truck over a procession of vehicles carrying the body of Downey Police Officer Ricardo Galvez on Thursday. (Nick Ut/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES - A California police officer was shot to death in his own car as he was getting off work in what investigators said Thursday was a botched robbery attempt by two young men and a 16-year-old boy who were arrested within hours.</p>
<p>Downey police Officer Ricardo "Ricky" Galvez, 29, was in plainclothes in the driver's seat of his car at the end of his shift when two men ran up and opened fire late Wednesday, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. John Corina said.</p>
<p>The former Marine, and five-year veteran of the department, died in his car.</p>
<p>Downey police officer Ricardo Galvez. (Downey Police Department)</p>
<p>Corina said the attackers - aged 21, 18 and 16 - were out looking for someone to rob when they spotted Galvez sitting in his car. Galvez was shot seconds later.</p>
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<p>"They were attempting to rob Officer Galvez not realizing he was a police officer," Corina said. "I don't even think he saw these guys coming up on him."</p>
<p>Another officer heard the gunshots and pursued the attackers as they fled into the neighboring city of Montebello. Investigators said they arrested the getaway driver and other people were detained after SWAT officers swept surrounding neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Police also said they had recovered a gun they suspect was used to kill Galvez.</p>
<p>The three suspects were each booked on a charge of murder and expected to appear in court on Monday, Corina said. Prosecutors will decide later whether to charge the 16-year-old as an adult.</p>
<p>A young woman who identified herself as the sister of one of the suspects cried and yelled outside a news conference announcing the arrests that her brother didn't do it.</p>
<p>She was unavailable for questions after investigators took her inside to interview her.</p>
<p>Detectives knew quickly that Galvez had been shot in a deliberate, targeted attack.</p>
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<p>"It appeared to be an ambush style. It happened very quickly," Corina said after viewing surveillance video of the shooting.</p>
<p>Corina said he wasn't immediately able to tell if words were exchanged before Galvez was shot.</p>
<p>Downey police Chief Carl Charles praised Galvez's professionalism and said the officer had an infectious smile and a great attitude.</p>
<p>"Words cannot express the love we have for Ricky," he said.</p>
<p>Galvez was a Marine veteran from the Downey area. He was single and lived close to his siblings and other family members, Charles said at a news conference.</p>
<p>Downey police Lt. Mark McDaniel said Galvez "loved serving the city and he loved serving his country."</p>
<p>"If you could mold a police officer, you would mold that police officer after Ricky Galvez," McDaniel said. "We have a lot of police officers here who are hurting. We'll never get over it and we'll always remember Ricky."</p>
<p>Dozens of officers wiped away tears and saluted as police carried Galvez's American flag-draped body from the crime scene to a coroner's van.</p>
<p>California Gov. Jerry Brown said flags will be flown at half-staff at the Capitol in Sacramento in honor of Galvez.</p>
<p>Downey is a city of about 110,000 residents 10 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to show the youngest of the suspects is 16 years old, not 17.</p> | California police officer killed during botched robbery | false | https://abqjournal.com/679306/california-police-officer-killed-during-botched-robbery.html | 2 |
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<p>Home prices rose strongly in March, the latest sign the housing market has momentum heading into the critical spring selling season.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The S&amp;P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, covering the entire nation rose 5.2% in the 12 months ended in March, slightly less than a 5.3% increase in February.</p>
<p>The 10-city index gained 4.7% from a year earlier and the 20-city index gained 5.4% year-over-year.</p>
<p>Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a 5.4% increase in the 20-city index.</p>
<p>After years of volatility, home prices have grown at a rate around 5% since early 2015. That bodes well for sellers heading into the peak home-selling season in May and June but could pose challenges for buyers, especially first-timers who may be priced out of the market.</p>
<p>The hottest markets in the country, primarily on the West Coast, continued to show double-digit price gains, with Portland reporting a 12.3% year-over-year gain, Seattle showing a 10.8% gain, and Denver with a 10% increase</p>
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<p>Month-over-month prices the U.S. Index rose 0.7% in March before seasonal adjustment; the 20-city index rose 0.9% and the 10-city index rose 0.8% from February to March.</p>
<p>After seasonal adjustment, the national index rose 0.1% month-over-month, the 10-City index posted a 0.8% increase, and the 20-City index reported a 0.9% month-over-month increase.</p>
<p>The housing market has been stymied throughout the recovery by a lack of inventory and new home construction that has driven prices up but kept the volume of sales low. In recent weeks though it has shown recent signs of gaining broader strength.</p>
<p>Last week, the National Association of Realtors said the number of homes that in April went under contract to be sold climbed to the highest level in over a decade.</p>
<p>U.S. new-home sales also posted their strongest month in more than eight years with a 16.6% jump from a month earlier, the Commerce Department said last Tuesday.</p>
<p>"The economy is supporting the price increases with improving labor markets, falling unemployment rates and extremely low mortgage rates," said David Blitzer, managing director at S&amp;P Dow Jones Indices.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, a lack of supply of homes for sale remains a concern. The number of homes currently on the market is less than 2% of the number of households in the U.S., the lowest percentage seen since the mid-1980s, according to Mr. Blitzer.</p>
<p>Write to Laura Kusisto at [email protected]</p> | Home Price Growth Remained Robust in March | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/05/31/home-price-growth-remained-robust-in-march.html | 2016-07-06 | 0 |
<p>Attorney General <a href="/topics/loretta-lynch/" type="external">Loretta Lynch</a> said Friday she “fully” expects to accept recommendations from career Justice Department agents in the investigation into <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Hillary Clinton</a>’s private email arrangement.</p>
<p><a href="/topics/loretta-lynch/" type="external">Ms. Lynch</a> said she understands questions about her private meeting earlier this week with former President <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Clinton</a> and she said that while she wouldn’t do it again, the meeting has no bearing on how the case is being handled.</p>
<p><a href="/topics/loretta-lynch/" type="external">Ms. Lynch</a> said the case is being handled by career agents and investigators with the Justice Department and that recommendations will be reviewed by supervisors and, ultimately, FBI Director James Comey.</p>
<p>“And then, as is the common process, they present it to me and I fully expect to accept their recommendations,” <a href="/topics/loretta-lynch/" type="external">Ms. Lynch</a> said at the “Aspen Ideas Festival” in Colorado.</p>
<p>She stopped short of announcing she would fully recuse herself from the case, as some Republicans have called for, saying that would entail not being briefed on what the findings are and what the actions going forward would be.</p>
<p>“While I don’t have a role in those findings and coming up with those findings or making those recommendations as to how to go forward, I’ll be briefed on it and I will be accepting their recommendations,” she said.</p>
<p>“The final determination as to how to proceed will be contained within the recommendations in the report, in whatever format the team puts it together — that has not been resolved,” she said. “This case will be resolved by the team that’s been working on it from the beginning.</p>
<p>“I’ll be informed of those findings, as opposed to never reading them or never seeing them,” she said. “I will be accepting their recommendations and their plan for going forward.”</p>
<p><a href="/topics/loretta-lynch/" type="external">Ms. Lynch</a> said it’s reasonable for people to ask about her private meeting earlier this week with <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Mr. Clinton</a>, but said it really was a social meeting.</p>
<p>The two crossed paths during an impromptu meeting at a Phoenix airport, leading Republicans to re-issue their call for <a href="/topics/loretta-lynch/" type="external">Ms. Lynch</a> to appoint a special prosecutor in the case.</p>
<p>She said Friday she had already determined the process before the meeting with <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Mr. Clinton</a> this week.</p>
<p>“I do think that no matter how I viewed it, I understand how people view it,” she said. “And I think that because of that and because of the fact that it has now cast a shadow over how this case may be perceived, no matter how it’s resolved, it’s important to talk about how it will be resolved.”</p>
<p>“It’s important to make it clear that that meeting with President <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Clinton</a> does not have a bearing on how this matter’s going to be reviewed, resolved, and accepted by me,” she said.</p>
<p>“I certainly wouldn’t do it again,” she said.</p>
<p><a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Mrs. Clinton</a> has said she made a bad choice in using a private email account and a server run out of her New York home while she served as secretary of state. Hundreds of her messages have since been labeled classified, and authorities are investigating the arrangement.</p>
<p>Responding to <a href="/topics/loretta-lynch/" type="external">Ms. Lynch</a>’s announcement, the White House sought to emphasize that President Obama and his advisers had no role in it.</p>
<p>“The White House and the president were not at all involved in that decision,” said White House press secretary Josh Earnest.</p>
<p>The White House has also said Mr. Obama’s recent endorsement of <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Mrs. Clinton</a> won’t affect the case, but the president has received some criticism for previous comments saying he didn’t think <a href="/topics/hillary-clinton/" type="external">Mrs. Clinton</a> jeopardized national security.</p>
<p>• Dave Boyer contributed to this report.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2016/jul/1/lynch-fully-expect-recommendations-clinton-emails/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Loretta Lynch: I ‘fully expect’ to accept investigators’ recommendations in Clinton email case | true | http://washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/1/lynch-fully-expect-recommendations-clinton-emails/ | 2016-07-01 | 0 |
<p>The news: A man left nine of his 10 children at a hospital in Nebraska under the state’s safe-haven law.</p>
<p>Behind the news: According to data from the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation, a nonprofit that keeps tabs on abandoned newborns, 47 newborns were relinquished under Illinois’ safe-haven law since it was enacted in 2001. Another 53 were “illegally” abandoned, of which 26 died.</p>
<p>The highest percentage of newborns relinquished in Illinois were white, at 42 percent. African Americans followed at 35 percent and Latinos at 15 percent.</p>
<p>The state’s safe-haven law was amended in 2006 to allow parents to anonymously relinquish newborns who are 7 days old or younger.</p>
<p>The number of newborns legally relinquished has increased from two in 2002 to nine in 2008–”while the numbers of illegally abandoned babies have dropped from 12 in 2005 to four in 2008.</p>
<p>Kendall Marlowe, an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesman, said child abandonment is seen across all racial and socioeconomic lines.</p>
<p>Dawn Geras, a founding member of the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation, said Illinois’ safe-haven law is designed to protect newborns and provide them with the opportunity for a better future.</p>
<p>“There are so many people [who] would want to adopt a baby. It’s a matter of accepting that infant can’t be cared for by the biological family and letting a family that really wants, and can take care of that child, have that child,” Geras said.</p> | Fewer illegal abandonments | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/fewer-illegal-abandonments/ | 2009-01-01 | 3 |
<p>Schools will get a break under Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to pay down the state’s $11.8 billion deficit with a mix of program cuts, tax hikes and new fees.</p>
<p>But the spending boost for education relies heavily on federal stimulus funds, and overall per-pupil funding from the state will rise by just $130 per child.</p>
<p>“To be direct and honest – our state is facing the greatest crisis of modern times,” Quinn said today in his speech to the General Assembly. Sprinkled throughout his remarks, he called upon legislators to protect education spending and put children first, for the state’s long-term economic interests.</p>
<p>“Jobs follow brainpower, and Illinois needs all the brainpower it can muster in the 21st Century,” Quinn noted.</p>
<p />
<p>Schools will get a break under Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to pay down the state’s $11.8 billion deficit with a mix of program cuts, tax hikes and new fees.</p>
<p>But the spending boost for education relies heavily on federal stimulus funds, and overall per-pupil funding from the state will rise by just $130 per child.</p>
<p>“To be direct and honest – our state is facing the greatest crisis of modern times,” Quinn said today in his speech to the General Assembly. Sprinkled throughout his remarks, he called upon legislators to protect education spending and put children first, for the state’s long-term economic interests.</p>
<p>“Jobs follow brainpower, and Illinois needs all the brainpower it can muster in the 21st Century,” Quinn noted.</p>
<p>To erase the deficit, Quinn is proposing a hike in the state income tax from 3 percent to 4.5 percent, with a substantial boost in tax credits for low-to-moderate income families. A number of corporate tax “loopholes” would also close under his plan, and corporate income tax rates would climb to 7.2 percent. Quinn also proposes reforms to the state’s cash-strapped pension funds and nearly $1.3 billion in program cuts.</p>
<p>Anticipating a tough political battle, Quinn challenged naysayers to offer clear-cut alternatives and turned to schools to make his point about the need for new taxes. At one point, he described opponents as purveyors of “mean-spirited and doomsday” tactics and suggested that their no-new-taxes approach would, among other problems, lead to 34,000 teacher layoffs and class size increases of 25 percent.</p>
<p>In all, new state funding for K-12 schools would increase by about $174 million; spending for higher education would rise by about $40 million.</p>
<p>The per-pupil foundation level for general state aid will rise from $5,959 to $6,089—far shy of the $7,388 level suggested by the Education Funding Advisory Board. The increase would add about $114 million to school budgets, but make barely a dent in the funding inequities between property-wealthy and poorer school districts in the state.</p>
<p>School funding reform advocates such as state Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) and Ralph Martire with the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability have called for property tax relief and a 2 percent increase in the state income tax to fully fund the EFAB rate.</p>
<p>Just to reach $6,089 per student, Quinn will be tapping nearly $795 million in federal stimulus spending. Another $947 million in stimulus funding will beef up programs that range from bilingual education and summer school to Title I and special education.</p>
<p>To qualify for the federal money, Illinois must make several assurances to the US Department of Education: the state must improve its standards and assessments, intervene in low-performing schools, build a data system to track student performance from preschool to college and jobs; and find ways to better distribute top teachers among disadvantaged schools.</p>
<p>Quinn has also proposed putting some of the new tax revenues, and revenues from a hike in license plate sticker fees, into a $26 billion fund for construction projects. Nearly $4.2 billion would be set aside for schools.</p>
<p>Parents may also take heart in the governor’s proposal for a 10-day sales tax holiday in August for back-to-school purchases.</p> | Quinn’s budget: Amid cuts, more money for schools | false | http://chicagoreporter.com/quinns-budget-amid-cuts-more-money-schools/ | 2009-03-18 | 3 |
<p>Israel and Somalia are brothers in the international crime of piracy, attacking unarmed ships on the high seas.</p>
<p>There is a difference between Israeli piracy and Somalian piracy: Somalians do it to make profit; Israelis do it to attack mercy ships carrying wheel chairs for crippled Palestinians and medicine for sick children.</p>
<p>Israel has no need to do piracy for profit: it receives more than ten million dollars a day from its client state, the United States of America. Long John Silver and the Somalian pirates would retire if they had an income like that. Thanks to U.S. aid, Israelis are the richest and best armed pirates in history.</p>
<p>There is another difference between Somalian piracy and Israeli piracy. Israel kills during its piracy crimes and then claims it does so in self defense.</p>
<p>That is another first in the history of piracy. Traditionally, pirates were outlaws and admitted it. It is very much like a rapist saying: “The victim I was raping resisted and so I killed her in self-defense.” A defense like that would make even a mob lawyer blush.</p>
<p>The rape comparison is not outlandish. Take the rape of Gaza in December 2008-January 2009. That was more like rape than like war. It could not be a war since Gaza has no army, navy, or air force and its people are under a vicious siege enforced by Israel, Egypt, and Israel’s client state, the United States of America. In that rape of an occupied people they killed 1400 people, destroyed 3,354 homes, Gaza’s only flour mill, hospitals, ambulances, mosques, long term care facilities, 280 schools and kindergartens, the United Nations refugee centers and then they went after water treatments and sewage facilities for good measure.</p>
<p>Of course, calling that rape or even a gang bang would be a euphemism.</p>
<p>That was part of ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>Israel’s justification?</p>
<p>Self defense.</p>
<p>Chutzpah has never been made of sterner stuff.</p>
<p>DANIEL C. MAGUIRE, a professor of moral and theological ethics at Marquette University, is the author of <a href="" type="internal">The Horrors We Bless: Rethinking the Just-War Legacy</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p><a href="http://greentags.bigcartel.com/" type="external">WORDS THAT STICK</a></p>
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<p /> | Chutzpah Galore | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/06/03/chutzpah-galore/ | 2010-06-03 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Americans are more confident than at any time in almost a year, as cheap gasoline, low interest rates and a rebound in stocks boost the economy's prospects.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A measure of consumer sentiment rose to a reading of 94.7 in May, up 5.7 points from April's reading of 89, the University of Michigan said Friday. That marked the biggest jump in a single month since 2013 and the highest the index has been since last June's 96.1 reading.</p>
<p>Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected sentiment to hit 95 in May.</p>
<p>Friday's figure is below a preliminary estimate of 95.8 that the University of Michigan released earlier this month. Still, the revised figure suggests confidence has risen sharply, boosting hopes the economy will rebound this spring from a sluggish winter.</p>
<p>Consumer spending reflects more than two-thirds of economic demand in the U.S. Economists believe when consumers are feeling confident, they are more likely to spend on everything from cars to restaurant meals, helping businesses, and the economy, grow.</p>
<p>Gross domestic product—the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the U.S.— expanded at a 0.8% annual rate in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department said Friday. Recent data—including Friday's sentiment index—show the economy is poised to return to solid, though not robust, growth in the second quarter.</p>
<p>"Despite the meager GDP growth as well as a higher inflation rate, consumers became more optimistic about their financial prospects and anticipated a somewhat lower inflation rate in the years ahead," Richard Curtin, the chief economist for the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers, said in a statement. " Positive views toward vehicle and home sales also posted gains in May largely due to low interest rates."</p>
<p>But he added that consumers continue to focus on maintaining savings due to uncertainty about whether the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates this year and who will be the next president.</p>
<p>"A resilient consumer could be just what the economy needs to carry the economy through" until a boost in corporate profits lead businesses to increase investment spending, Jim Baird, chief investment officer for Plante Moran Financial Advisors, said in a note to clients.</p>
<p>Friday's report showed a measure of consumers' sentiment of current economic conditions rose to 109.9 in May from 106.7 in April. A measure of consumer expectations about conditions in the coming months rose sharply to 84.9 from 77.6.</p>
<p>"Overall, the data indicate that inflation-adjusted consumer expenditures can be expected to rise by 2.5% in 2016 and 2.7% in 2017," Mr. Curtin said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Consumer Sentiment Rises in May | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/05/27/jobs-optimism-boosts-consumer-sentiment.html | 2016-07-06 | 0 |
<p>The U.S. Senate easily passed a bill allowing James Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general, to be defense secretary. The law is needed because Mattis has not served the necessarily seven years between military service and the defense secretary job. The House is expected to pass the bill as early as Friday.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Senate Approves Bill Granting Waiver To Mattis To Be Defense Secretary | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/12/senate-approves-bill-granting-waiver-to-mattis-to-be-defense-secretary.html | 2017-01-12 | 0 |
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the Florida Lottery’s “Pick 5 Midday” game were:</p>
<p>4-7-3-4-4</p>
<p>(four, seven, three, four, four)</p>
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the Florida Lottery’s “Pick 5 Midday” game were:</p>
<p>4-7-3-4-4</p>
<p>(four, seven, three, four, four)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick 5 Midday’ game | false | https://apnews.com/234dc370817a4242ad9b463f2f9edf06 | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
<p>Many buyers expect high-end kitchens — even if they don’t intend to cook in them.</p>
<p>Be honest. How many times have you posted a photograph of your dinner on Facebook?</p>
<p>Now think back to the last time – did you cook the food or did you order from a restaurant menu? And if you were the cook, did you just post the food or did you also show us where you cooked it?</p>
<p>While many of us just eat to live, there are those among us who see food as an art form. From the preparation of ingredients to the scent, taste and texture of the end product, food becomes an aphrodisiac and the place we prepare it an artist’s studio, where paring knives and chopping blocks replace horsehair brushes and canvas.</p>
<p>So when my new client, a first-time buyer, shared the list of her housing needs with me (a condo with two bedrooms, two baths, central air, hardwood floors, a wood-burning fireplace and, oh yes, a fully renovated, gourmet kitchen) I asked, “Oh, do you enjoy cooking and entertaining?”</p>
<p>I was expecting to hear tales of boeuf Bourguignon, salmon en croute or roast pork tenderloin accented with a purée of summer squash and sprinkled with diced shitake mushrooms that had been sautéed in Marsala wine, but instead I heard, “No. I don’t cook.”</p>
<p>Since I have studied the basics of design, my brain leapt immediately to the architectural principle that form follows function, i.e. that the design of a room or object should be primarily based upon its intended purpose. So when did we decide that the function of a kitchen is immaterial as long as the room is a thing of beauty?</p>
<p>Our mothers (and to a lesser extent, our fathers) were the chefs of our youth. For them, a kitchen could be utilitarian and still evoke warmth as family members gathered to prepare and partake of a Sunday dinner or a holiday meal.</p>
<p>My first memories are of our 1950s kitchen, where colors bloomed. Ours was a pink and grey version, sporting swirling Formica counters with stainless steel edges, a corner banquette and wallpaper with little coffee pots on it.</p>
<p>Other kitchens of that era featured expanses of yellow, green and aqua accented with black and white checkerboard linoleum floors. Greater portions of stainless steel also made their debut as cooktops, wall ovens, countertops and backsplashes.</p>
<p>The ‘60s ushered in pine, oak and two-toned cabinets where the frames were painted one color and the doors and drawer fronts another. In the 1970s, appliances were available in Harvest Gold, Avocado Green and Coppertone, as seen on the refrigerator in Al Bundy’s house.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, black, white and almond appliances joined something called a “European cabinet,” a fiberboard two-tone concoction, usually made of a cream-colored laminate and accented by horizontal strips of ersatz oak. Having lived in Europe, I can attest that there was nothing “European” about them.</p>
<p>It wasn’t until the 1990s that we began to see a plethora of stainless steel appliances again, but this time with a sleek, industrial look and features that might make even Wolfgang Puck scratch his head.</p>
<p>This trend has continued during the past 15 years as we have paired restaurant-ready appliances with a progression of oak, maple, cherry, espresso and white cabinets and long strips of wood or ceramic tile flooring. “Builder Beige” has given way to “50 Shades of Gray” on our walls and our countertops now fall like water over the edges of our kitchen islands.</p>
<p>These choices make it easy for an accomplished chef to work in the kitchen of his dreams, but the reality is that our busy lives often limit our use of these functional rooms to getting cubed ice from the refrigerator, making popcorn in the microwave, fetching wine from the cooler, or throwing lemons in a basket to accent the décor.</p>
<p>So who knows? Perhaps one day, instead of gushing over granite or fondling the faucet, a client will sing to me of easy-care laminate and hanging pot racks and we can reminisce about days gone by when chickens, not countertops, needed seasoning.</p>
<p>For now, however, I’ll just sit at the breakfast bar and drool over your Facebook photos. Bon appétit!</p>
<p />
<p>Valerie M. Blake can be reached at 202-246-8602 or at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Each Keller Williams Realty office is independently owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Al Bundy</a> <a href="" type="internal">facebook</a> <a href="" type="internal">kitchen</a> <a href="" type="internal">Real estate</a> <a href="" type="internal">Wolfgang Puck</a></p> | What’s cooking: The kitchen as art | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2015/10/02/whats-cooking-the-kitchen-as-art/ | 3 |
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<p>Following Vladimir Putin’s reelection as president of Russia, Donald Trump called him to offer his hearty congratulations. The fact that Trump thinks that Putin deserves applause for masterminding a sham election is bad enough. But in the midst of ongoing atrocities related to Russia’s election tampering in the United States, and it’s complicity in executing opponents with nerve agents on British soil, it is utterly disgraceful. And he was even <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/21/17147684/do-not-congratulate-trump-putin" type="external">warned</a> against sending congratulations by his top advisors, a warning that he ignored.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2082540175094100" type="external" /></p>
<p>Many Americans are outraged by Trump’s fealty to Putin, including a few Republicans who castigated him for praising the Russian tyrant’s undemocratic victory. But most Republicans are either defending Trump or remaining silent in the wake of yet another heinous act against the interests of America. And Trump’s greatest defender is, as usual, himself. In a Wednesday morning twitter rant, Trump tried to excuse sucking up to Putin by saying that…</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>First of all, Obama didn’t call Putin while Russia was still trying to undermine America’s democracy and attacking our allies with chemical weapons. Secondly, the media are not the only critics of Trump’s Putin-fluffing. Ask GOP senators John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Lindsey Graham. Thirdly, would Trump have also said that getting along with Hitler was a good thing?</p>
<p>But the most troubling part of this tweet-plomacy is Trump’s curious reference to Russia helping with “the coming Arms Race.” Is there something he knows that he isn’t telling us?</p>
<p>It should be noted that any suggestion that an arms race is developing has to recognize that Trump himself is waging it. He has railed for months about what he regards as a depleted and ineffectual U.S. military. During his campaign, and now as president, Trump has promised to build up the military with an infusion of billions of dollars. He has advocated more and newer nuclear weapons, as well as piling on additional conventional munitions.</p>
<p>What’s more, Russia doesn’t seem to be a particularly helpful party when it comes to an arms race. Putin recently <a href="" type="internal">showed off</a> what he said were invincible new missiles that could be used against the U.S. and for which we would have no defense. If anything, Trump and Putin appear to be engaged in a mutually agreed upon escalation of weapons of mass destruction. Which would just make this the latest sweetheart deal that Trump has executed with his BFF.</p>
<p>It is no longer shocking when Trump says something false or stupid. That’s a nearly daily occurrence. But it is still worrisome when he makes dangerous comments that bring the country closer to conflict with foreign adversaries. Especially when those comments are contrary to the public policies and best interests of the nation.</p>
<p>By announcing that there is a “coming Arms Race,” Trump is alerting Russia and other nations of an intention by the U.S. to expand its military advantage. In effect, the comment has the potential to be the trigger for an arms race that didn’t exist previously. Hopefully somebody in the media will ask Trump what the heck he’s talking about. Although it may be too much to hope for that he actually knows.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p> | The Coming Arms Race? WTF is Trump Tweeting About Now? | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D32712 | 4 |
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<p>Since the election of Donald Trump, the stock market <a href="" type="internal">has gained</a> over $5 trillion in equity value, with the Dow Jones rising over 24%, the S&amp;P 500 nearly 20%, and the NASDAQ 27%.</p>
<p />
<p>The markets saw another catalyst last week as Congress made some fiscal progress. After a House vote, the Senate approved a 2018 budget bill on Thursday. Republicans passed tax cuts (or included them in the budget, rather) through budget reconciliation, which requires just a simple majority in the Senate. These cuts still have to be fully voted on, by Congress has set up the pins to knock them down later this year. And obviously tax cuts mean more money making it to the bottom line, hence why investors are bullish for stocks.</p>
<p />
<p>On Thursday, the markets set a new record before dipping slightly on Friday following a September’s job report showing a decrease in employment as a result of hurricane season. Not only did stocks set a new record high on Thursday, but the markets set a record for how many consecutive days they’ve closed at record highs.</p>
<p />
<p>According to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/asia-markets-mostly-higher-japan-stocks-lack-direction-1507171181" type="external">Wall Street Journal</a>, “The S&amp;P 500 closed at another fresh high Thursday, its longest streak of record closes in 20 years.”</p>
<p />
<p>Here’s more from the report: “The S&amp;P 500 rose 14.33 points, or 0.6%, to 2552.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 113.75 points, or 0.5%, to 22775.39 — its seventh consecutive day of gains. The Nasdaq Composite added 50.73 points, 0.8%, to 6585.36 for its eighth straight day of advances.”</p>
<p>The market has also been unusually peaceful in terms of volatility. The VIX (known as the “fear index”) historically has traded around 18.68 (for some context, during the 2008 financial crisis it peaked around $60), but has spent most of the time since the election hovering around 10.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The VIX rarely falls below 10 – and yet almost a majority of closes below 10 in the history of the index have occurred under the Trump presidency.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>It hit an all-time closing low last Thursday, at $9.19. It’s an oddity, because there’s historically been an “ <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4110220-vxx-get-ready-october-surprise" type="external">October effect</a>” in which volatility tends to trade highest in October over any other month in the year.&#160;&#160;There have been significant VIX spikes in October in every one of the past 10 years – except this year. In fact, the VIX has never closed below 10 in September or October <a href="https://www.benzinga.com/markets/futures/17/10/10151440/xiv-climbs-to-new-highs-as-vix-breaks-more-records" type="external">in history</a>, and yet has done so 6 times last month, and every trading day in October as of writing.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>So far, so good? While no market is immune from ups and downs, if these trends continue for another three and a half years, the American public will certainly vote to extend them another four in 2020.</p>
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<p>Share this great news about the stock market on Facebook now!</p> | Stock Market Sets New Record for Longest Streak of Record Closes | true | http://thepoliticalinsider.com/trump-stock-market-record/ | 2017-10-09 | 0 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Drawing a clock. Counting backward by sevens. Rattling off words that begin with "F'' before a minute's up.</p>
<p>They may not sound like difficult tasks, but they're part of a cognitive exam that's getting a lot of attention because President Donald Trump aced it.</p>
<p>For all their apparent simplicity, 10-minute quizzes like the Montreal Cognitive Assessment offer doctors a snapshot of someone's memory and certain other neurologic functions, one piece of information to help determine if trouble's brewing.</p>
<p>They're not a routine part of check-ups, either for a president or a not-so-famous senior.</p>
<p>Trump's doctor says he didn't see any symptoms that would prompt the test but that the president, who has faced questions about his mental acuity, requested it.</p>
<p>So who really needs a cognitive assessment? They're usually offered only if there are concerns about memory or other cognitive functions — concerns noticed either by the patient, a relative or the doctor.</p>
<p>"The value of screening without a complaint has not been established," cautioned Dr. David Knopman, a Mayo Clinic neurologist who chairs the Alzheimer's Association's medical and scientific advisory council.</p>
<p>And people should understand that "it's not considered definitive," he said, adding, "It's ultimately only a first pass at cognition."</p>
<p>The Montreal Cognitive Assessment — MoCa for short — is one of a list of similar tests that all aim to tap into specific functions. Medicare covers them as part of seniors' annual wellness visits.</p>
<p>"It's not a diagnostic test, but it's pretty sensitive in picking up subtle changes in cognition," things involving memory, attention and language but not mental health issues, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, professor of family medicine at Georgetown University.</p>
<p>Drawing a clock, and putting the right time on it, is a classic evaluation of how the brain comprehends spatial relationships. Someone with even very mild cognitive impairment will draw a much wobblier clock, or aim the hands wrong, than someone who's healthy.</p>
<p>Subtracting backward assesses things like attention and concentration.</p>
<p>Recalling a list of five words after five minutes of doing other tasks — or coming up with at least 11 words in a minute that begin with "F'' — can assess short-term memory and language functions.</p>
<p>Failing doesn't mean someone has dementia. There might be a fixable problem, like depression or medication side effects. Maybe the person isn't a good test-taker, or, for that counting task, never was very good at math.</p>
<p>And while passing is reassuring, someone who passes despite forgetting appointments or losing their way home probably still needs a closer look.</p>
<p>That's why doctors put together other information — including questions about day-to-day functioning — in determining who may need a next step, a three- to four-hour battery of neuropsychological testing.</p>
<p>"Cognitive concerns in middle-aged and elderly people need to be taken seriously. They can't be evaluated with a snap of a finger," Knopman said.</p>
<p>Getting that message out is an upside to all the publicity about Trump's test.</p>
<p>The downside: By reading these examples, you might have cheated. "If people practice it, guess what? It's invalid," Knopman noted.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Drawing a clock. Counting backward by sevens. Rattling off words that begin with "F'' before a minute's up.</p>
<p>They may not sound like difficult tasks, but they're part of a cognitive exam that's getting a lot of attention because President Donald Trump aced it.</p>
<p>For all their apparent simplicity, 10-minute quizzes like the Montreal Cognitive Assessment offer doctors a snapshot of someone's memory and certain other neurologic functions, one piece of information to help determine if trouble's brewing.</p>
<p>They're not a routine part of check-ups, either for a president or a not-so-famous senior.</p>
<p>Trump's doctor says he didn't see any symptoms that would prompt the test but that the president, who has faced questions about his mental acuity, requested it.</p>
<p>So who really needs a cognitive assessment? They're usually offered only if there are concerns about memory or other cognitive functions — concerns noticed either by the patient, a relative or the doctor.</p>
<p>"The value of screening without a complaint has not been established," cautioned Dr. David Knopman, a Mayo Clinic neurologist who chairs the Alzheimer's Association's medical and scientific advisory council.</p>
<p>And people should understand that "it's not considered definitive," he said, adding, "It's ultimately only a first pass at cognition."</p>
<p>The Montreal Cognitive Assessment — MoCa for short — is one of a list of similar tests that all aim to tap into specific functions. Medicare covers them as part of seniors' annual wellness visits.</p>
<p>"It's not a diagnostic test, but it's pretty sensitive in picking up subtle changes in cognition," things involving memory, attention and language but not mental health issues, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, professor of family medicine at Georgetown University.</p>
<p>Drawing a clock, and putting the right time on it, is a classic evaluation of how the brain comprehends spatial relationships. Someone with even very mild cognitive impairment will draw a much wobblier clock, or aim the hands wrong, than someone who's healthy.</p>
<p>Subtracting backward assesses things like attention and concentration.</p>
<p>Recalling a list of five words after five minutes of doing other tasks — or coming up with at least 11 words in a minute that begin with "F'' — can assess short-term memory and language functions.</p>
<p>Failing doesn't mean someone has dementia. There might be a fixable problem, like depression or medication side effects. Maybe the person isn't a good test-taker, or, for that counting task, never was very good at math.</p>
<p>And while passing is reassuring, someone who passes despite forgetting appointments or losing their way home probably still needs a closer look.</p>
<p>That's why doctors put together other information — including questions about day-to-day functioning — in determining who may need a next step, a three- to four-hour battery of neuropsychological testing.</p>
<p>"Cognitive concerns in middle-aged and elderly people need to be taken seriously. They can't be evaluated with a snap of a finger," Knopman said.</p>
<p>Getting that message out is an upside to all the publicity about Trump's test.</p>
<p>The downside: By reading these examples, you might have cheated. "If people practice it, guess what? It's invalid," Knopman noted.</p> | What about the memory test Trump aced? It's not for everyone | false | https://apnews.com/amp/0647f7d784004212a13841f035e42234 | 2018-01-17 | 2 |
<p>The Colombian Supreme Court on July 30, 2015, held a public hearing on marriage rights for same-sex couples.</p>
<p>Colombia’s highest court on Thursday held a hearing on the extension of marriage rights to same-sex couples in the country.</p>
<p>Marcela Sánchez Buitrago, executive director of Colombia Diversa, a Colombian LGBT advocacy group, and representatives of the Colombian government testified in support of nuptials for gays and lesbians during the hearing that took place before the Colombian Constitutional Court.</p>
<p>“This norm establishes rights,” said Rodrigo Uprimny, director of the Center for the Study of Law, Justice and Society, a Colombian think tank.</p>
<p>Macarena Saez of American University Washington College of Law in D.C. said during the hearing the lack of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Colombia causes “real pain for real families.”</p>
<p>“Marriage equality does not effect procreation, the institution of families nor freedom of religion,” she said. “When there is a violation of rights, it is not the majority who should be able to legislate.”</p>
<p>The hearing took place in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, less than five weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex couples have the constitutional right to marry throughout the United States.</p>
<p>Freedom to Marry President Evan Wolfson, who submitted testimony in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Colombia ahead of the hearing, noted to the Washington Blade on Thursday during a telephone interview from New York that more than 70 American courts have ruled in favor of the issue. He said he feels the Colombian Constitutional Court should follow suit.</p>
<p>“It is the role of the Constitutional Court of Colombia, as it was the role of the Supreme Court of the United States, to act and end discrimination,” said Wolfson.</p>
<p>Opponents of marriage rights for same-sex couples also spoke during the hearing.</p>
<p>“A judge or registry is not violating fundamental rights when they refuse to register the marriage of a same-sex couple,” said Javier Suárez Pascagaza, president of the Husband and Wife Foundation.</p>
<p>A representative from the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBT group from the U.S. that has supported efforts against the repeal of colonial-era sodomy laws in Belize and Jamaica, also testified during the hearing.</p>
<p>Gays and lesbians are able to legally marry in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Mexico City and a growing number of Mexican states. Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten recognize same-sex marriages that are performed in the Netherlands.</p>
<p>A law that will allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions in Chile is slated to take effect in October.</p>
<p>The Colombian Constitutional Court in 2011 ruled that same-sex couples could register their relationships in two years if lawmakers in the South American country did not pass a bill that would extend to them the same benefits heterosexuals receive through marriage.</p>
<p />
<p>Colombian lawmakers in 2013 killed a bill that would have allowed same-sex couples to marry in their country. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)</p>
<p />
<p>Inspector General Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado has challenged the rulings that allowed them to marry. The Impact Litigation Project at American University Washington College of Law and the New York City Bar Association last year <a href="" type="internal">filed a brief</a> with the Colombian Constitutional Court on behalf of two gay couples who challenged Ordóñez’s efforts to nullify their unions.</p>
<p>Luz Stella Agray, A Bogotá judge who officiated the marriage of a lesbian couple whose union was also challenged by Ordóñez, is among those who testified in support of marriage rights for same-sex couples during Thursday’s hearing.</p>
<p>“No justification exists that says people of the same-sex couples cannot be a family because of a legal relationship,” said Agray.</p>
<p>Other supporters of marriage rights for same-sex couples in Colombia took to social media during and after the hearing.</p>
<p />
<p>The court is expected to announce its decision in the coming weeks.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">Alejandro Ordóñez Maldonado</a> <a href="" type="internal">Center for the Study of Law</a> <a href="" type="internal">Colombia</a> <a href="" type="internal">Colombia Diversa</a> <a href="" type="internal">Evan Wolfson</a> <a href="" type="internal">Freedom to Marry</a> <a href="" type="internal">Husband and Wife Foundation</a> <a href="" type="internal">Javier Suárez Pascagaza</a> <a href="" type="internal">Justice and Society</a> <a href="" type="internal">Luz Stella Agray</a> <a href="" type="internal">Macarena Saez</a> <a href="" type="internal">Marcela Sanchez Buitrago</a> <a href="" type="internal">Rodrigo Uprimny</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a></p> | Colombia high court holds same-sex marriage hearing | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2015/07/30/colombia-high-court-holds-same-sex-marriage-hearing/ | 3 |
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<p>( <a href="https://www.intellihub.com/las-vegas-shooting-victim-survivor-says-3-5-shooters-several-in-venue-fbi-refusing-to-investigate/" type="external">INTELLIHUB</a>) — One of last Sunday’s shooting victims Rocky Palermo who was shot in his pelvis told “The Blast” that after he had been shot he could tell that bullets were sweeping the venue from both elevated positions and from different trajectories horizontally and said that several other shooters were firing from inside the venue.</p>
<p>Palermo&#160;believes that 3-5 shooters carried out the massacre at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival&#160;on Oct. 1&#160;killing 57 people.</p>
<p>“I definitely&#160;believe that there was 100% more than one shooter,” Palermo told The Blast. “Every other person that I talked to that, unfortunately, got hit as well have all said the same things.”</p>
<p>The brave man explained that he ran about 200 yards after being shot where he then hid behind a car. He said that he could hear the bullets whizzing by, horizontally, and could tell that a number of the shots were being fired from ground level which supports other eyewitness&#160;claims.</p>
<p />
<p>“We heard the gunfires approaching where we were,” he said. “They just started getting closer and closer, louder and louder. […] I do believe that there were people [shooters] inside the venue.”</p>
<p>Palermo also noticed that all of the gates to the concert facing Las Vegas Blvd. were always left open for the previous night’s show but were chained closed about ten minutes before the shooting started.</p>
<p>“At 10:00 they closed every exit on Las Vegas Blvd., every single one.,” he said. “They gated them all closed with chainlink&#160;fences […] the same entrances that we came in and left on Friday and Saturday night were definitely closed.”</p>
<p>Palermo said that cops were directing people to go the wrong way and said that there were a lot of things that&#160;occurred that night that ‘didn’t sit right’ with him.</p>
<p>“I believe that there were at least 3 to 5 shooters. One hundred percent there was not just one shooter firing from the 32nd-floor.”</p>
<p>Palermo said that he has tried to call the FBI on several occasions to offer them additional info but said that the FBI has not responded to&#160;his requests.</p>
<p>Hat Tip:&#160; <a href="https://www.twitter.com/tabertronic" type="external">@tabertronic</a>&#160;on Twitter</p>
<p>Featured Image: Screenshot via The Blast</p>
<p>©2017. INTELLIHUB.COM All Rights Reserved.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="https://intellihub.com/shepardambellas/" type="external">Shepard Ambellas</a>&#160;is an opinion journalist, analyst, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News &amp; Politics ( <a href="https://www.intellihub.com/" type="external">Intellihub.com</a>). Shepard is also known for producing&#160; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4529552?ref_=nmbio_mbio" type="external">Shade: The Motion Picture</a>&#160;(2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s&#160; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3220124?ref_=nmbio_mbio" type="external">America Declassified</a>&#160;(2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to&#160; <a href="https://www.infowars.com/contributors/" type="external">Infowars</a>. Read more from&#160; <a href="https://www.intellihub.com/opinion/shepsworld" type="external">Shep’s World</a>. Follow Shep on&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/shepardambellas" type="external">Facebook</a>. Subscribe to&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/shepardambellas?sub_confirmation=1" type="external">Shep’s YouTube channel</a>.</p>
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<p /> | Las Vegas shooting victim, survivor, says 3-5 shooters, several in venue, FBI refusing to investigate | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2017/10/09/las-vegas-shooting-victim-survivor-says-3-5-shooters-several-in-venue-fbi-refusing-to-investigate/ | 0 |
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<p>Imagine this is your office: a tropical island skirted by coral-packed azure waters, somewhere near the equator between Hawaii and Tahiti. Your job involves a lot of swimming. Tough, huh? “My field research is the best part of my job,” says Kim Cobb, Associate Professor of Climate Change at Georgia Institute of Technology. “It’s probably the reason I have stuck with corals for the last 15 years.”</p>
<p>Stuck with, and collected and sampled. For the past seven years, Cobb and her lab team have been recontructing the history of El Niño events across several millenia by taking core samples from corals in the Pacific. That process has uncovered reams of fresh climate data. And it’s within this new, longer baseline of temperatures from the tropical Pacific that Cobb spotted something surprising: “The 20th century is significantly, statistically stronger in its El Niño Southern Oscillation activity than this long, baseline average,” Cobb says. El Niño events have gotten worse.</p>
<p>That led Cobb to wonder: Is man-made climate change, and the level of carbon in the atmosphere, shifting in El Niño events along with it? Or should we chalk it up to coincidence? “We need a lot more data,” Cobb says. But Cobb’s 7000-year baseline study should push researchers in the right direction to discover more connections between Earth’s complex climate systems, and the role man-made climate change is playing.</p>
<p>Cobb’s results have been published in the latest edition of Science.</p> | Explained in 90 Seconds: What the @#% Is Climate Change Doing to El Niño? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/el-nino-climate-change/ | 2013-01-11 | 4 |
<p>The country’s job creators are increasingly women of color <a href="http://t.co/T0HRlHbSJf" type="external">http://t.co/T0HRlHbSJf</a></p>
<p>— ThinkProgress Econ (@TPEconomy) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPEconomy/status/634443113717739520" type="external">August 20, 2015</a></p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/Str8Grandmother" type="external">@Str8Grandmother</a> <a href="http://t.co/Vp78gRf0gW" type="external">http://t.co/Vp78gRf0gW</a> <a href="http://t.co/FRAS2lZM9z" type="external">pic.twitter.com/FRAS2lZM9z</a></p>
<p>— ThirtyBirdy (@ThirtyBirdy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThirtyBirdy/status/634444280774422529" type="external">August 20, 2015</a></p>
<p>new post: The Fight For The Soul Of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlackLivesMatter?src=hash" type="external">#BlackLivesMatter</a> <a href="http://t.co/9BDjoVRLBB" type="external">http://t.co/9BDjoVRLBB</a></p>
<p>— Greg Howard (@greghoward88) <a href="https://twitter.com/greghoward88/status/634380219063889920" type="external">August 20, 2015</a></p>
<p>Gonna start calling the rest of the GOP primary field Doze Nuts.</p>
<p>— David Roberts (@drvox) <a href="https://twitter.com/drvox/status/634462944324026368" type="external">August 20, 2015</a></p> | Thursday Tweets | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2015/08/thursday-tweets | 2015-08-20 | 4 |
<p>ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia’s conservatives and a small pro-reform party reached an agreement Wednesday to form a new government led by a little-known businessman, ending weeks of uncertainty after last month’s inconclusive parliamentary election.</p>
<p>The Croatian Democratic Union and the Most party agreed to nominate Tihomir Oreskovic, a non-partisan candidate, as the prime minister-designate. Together they said they secured 78 votes in Croatia’s 151-seat parliament.</p>
<p>Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic formally announced the nomination later Wednesday and called an inaugural parliamentary session for Dec. 28.</p>
<p>The country’s Nov. 8 election was inconclusive, with opposition right-wing and ruling left-wing coalitions winning 59 and 56 seats respectively. The newly formed Most (“Bridge” in English) party became kingmaker after winning 19 seats.</p>
<p>Most has negotiated with both coalitions, ultimately choosing to form a new government with the right-wing bloc after several shifts. Just two days ago, the incumbents led by outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic announced that they had secured a deal with Most.</p>
<p>The outcome means Milanovic and his Social Democratic Party will leave power after four years of leading the newest European Union nation amid deep economic problems, including a public debt that stands at nearly 90 percent of gross domestic product and unemployment hovering around 16 percent.</p>
<p>The conservatives, led by Tomislav Karamarko, return to power after dominating Croatia’s political scene for years. They led the state during its war for independence from the Serb-led Yugoslavia in the 1990s, but their popularity plummeted a few years ago after a series of corruption trials against top officials.</p>
<p>Oreskovic, a financial expert who worked for several pharmaceutical companies, is virtually unknown politically.</p>
<p>“I’ll do my best to form a quality government,” Oreskovic, 49, said after the president’s nomination. “Our only goal is to together work on tomorrow becoming a better day than today for Croatian citizens.”</p>
<p>ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Croatia’s conservatives and a small pro-reform party reached an agreement Wednesday to form a new government led by a little-known businessman, ending weeks of uncertainty after last month’s inconclusive parliamentary election.</p>
<p>The Croatian Democratic Union and the Most party agreed to nominate Tihomir Oreskovic, a non-partisan candidate, as the prime minister-designate. Together they said they secured 78 votes in Croatia’s 151-seat parliament.</p>
<p>Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic formally announced the nomination later Wednesday and called an inaugural parliamentary session for Dec. 28.</p>
<p>The country’s Nov. 8 election was inconclusive, with opposition right-wing and ruling left-wing coalitions winning 59 and 56 seats respectively. The newly formed Most (“Bridge” in English) party became kingmaker after winning 19 seats.</p>
<p>Most has negotiated with both coalitions, ultimately choosing to form a new government with the right-wing bloc after several shifts. Just two days ago, the incumbents led by outgoing Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic announced that they had secured a deal with Most.</p>
<p>The outcome means Milanovic and his Social Democratic Party will leave power after four years of leading the newest European Union nation amid deep economic problems, including a public debt that stands at nearly 90 percent of gross domestic product and unemployment hovering around 16 percent.</p>
<p>The conservatives, led by Tomislav Karamarko, return to power after dominating Croatia’s political scene for years. They led the state during its war for independence from the Serb-led Yugoslavia in the 1990s, but their popularity plummeted a few years ago after a series of corruption trials against top officials.</p>
<p>Oreskovic, a financial expert who worked for several pharmaceutical companies, is virtually unknown politically.</p>
<p>“I’ll do my best to form a quality government,” Oreskovic, 49, said after the president’s nomination. “Our only goal is to together work on tomorrow becoming a better day than today for Croatian citizens.”</p> | Croatian conservatives return to power with little-known PM | false | https://apnews.com/d28a1a75d4c34923b5b144d91e2fe8f4 | 2015-12-23 | 2 |
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<p>The former executive director of the Gallup Housing Authority has been indicted for alleged fraud.</p>
<p>New Mexico prosecutors said Wednesday that a federal grand jury has indicted 37-year-old Danny Garcia for allegedly engaging in a scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development out of more than $100,000.</p>
<p>They say 61-year-old Michael Virruso also was indicted in the 12-count indictment filed late Tuesday.</p>
<p>The indictment charges Garcia and Virruso with one count of conspiracy and eight counts of making false claims against the federal government.</p>
<p>It also charges Garcia with three counts of theft from programs receiving federal funds.</p>
<p>Authorities say Garcia and Virruso allegedly engaged in a scheme to steal HUD funds earmarked for the Gallup Housing Authority from June 2010 through October 2012.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Ex-Gallup Housing Authority chief indicted | false | https://abqjournal.com/254856/ex-gallup-housing-authority-chief-indicted.html | 2 |
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<p>By Alex Kirby / <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/renewables-take-economic-lead/" type="external">Climate News Network</a></p>
<p />
<p>&#160; &#160; Clean power sources such as wind and solar are shaking up the energy market. (Gerry Machen via Flickr)</p>
<p>LONDON — The cheapest way of generating energy today is to use renewable fuels — and the authors of a new analysis predict that renewables are set to enjoy even more of an advantage within a few years.</p>
<p />
<p>The <a href="http://www.carbontracker.org/report/the-end-of-the-load-for-coal-and-gas/" type="external">study by the Carbon Tracker Initiative</a> says renewable power generation costs are already lower on average worldwide than those of fossil fuels.</p>
<p>It couples this with a bold claim that clean energy plants will become more cost-competitive by 2020.</p>
<p>The Carbon Tracker authors call for new thinking about what’s happening in the energy markets in the wake of the UN climate talks in Paris last December, which concluded the <a href="http://newsroom.unfccc.int/paris-agreement/" type="external">Paris Agreement on tackling climate change</a>.</p>
<p>They say assuming that demand for energy from fossil fuels will remain high for years ahead could be seriously mistaken.</p>
<p>James Leaton, Carbon Tracker’s head of research, says: “Policy-makers and investors really need to question outdated assumptions on technology costs that do not factor in the direction of travel post-Paris. Planning for business-as-usual load factors and lifetimes for new coal and gas plants is a recipe for <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/perfect-storm-heads-for-fossil-fuel-assets/" type="external">stranded assets</a>.”</p>
<p>The study uses a tool called a <a href="http://www.renewable-energy-advisors.com/learn-more-2/levelized-cost-of-electricity/" type="external">Levelised Cost of Electricity</a> (LCOE) sensitivity analysis to compare the power-generation costs of four new-build coal, gas, wind and solar plants.</p>
<p>The LCOE is a way to compare different methods of electricity generation, using the average total cost to build and operate a power plant divided by its total lifetime energy output.</p>
<p>And the study shows that reduced load factors (measures of efficiency) and shorter lifetimes for coal and gas plants in a world that is steadily decarbonising significantly undermine the plants’ economics. It says few models so far have taken these factors into account.</p>
<p>At the same time, solar and wind energy can rely on lower-cost capital and cheaper technology, further improving the relative competitive position of renewables.</p>
<p>“This analysis explains why renewables are already the cheapest option in a number of markets,” says Paul Dowling, a co-author of the report. “This trend is only likely to spread as the growth of renewables undermines the economics of fossil fuels.”</p>
<p>Carbon Tracker says another important point to consider is who is developing renewables plants. Developers and management funds with lower costs of capital are entering the market, bringing down LCOEs for more capital-intensive renewables.</p>
<p>And taking into account that renewable energy is spreading more widely, and that workers are becoming more at home with the technologies it employs, this reduces still further the capital costs of clean power plants.</p>
<p>The study says that, after 2020, the impetus developed by the Paris Agreement will see renewables on average more cost-competitive, even if fossil fuel prices fall and carbon prices are modest at around US$10 per tonne of CO2, or lower.</p>
<p>“Markets are having to deal with integrating variable renewables on a growing scale,” says Matt Gray, senior Carbon Tracker analyst and a co-author of the report.</p>
<p>“Rather than continue debating whether this energy transition is already occurring, it is time to focus on developing the opportunities in energy storage and demand management that can smooth the process.”</p>
<p>Alex Kirby is a former BBC journalist and environment correspondent. He now works with universities, charities and international agencies to improve their media skills, and with journalists in the developing world keen to specialise in environmental reporting.</p> | Renewables Establish Economic Lead in Energy Market | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/renewables-establish-economic-lead-in-energy-market/ | 2016-09-15 | 4 |
<p>HONG KONG (Reuters) – China central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan has said keeping prices stable and controlling systematic risks in the financial sector are two core targets for the bank.</p>
<p>The People’s Bank of China would maintain efforts on deleveraging as debt levels in the economy declined, while following a prudent and neutral monetary policy, Zhou Xiaochuan said in an article seen on Thursday.</p>
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<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | China central bank governor says to control systematic risks | false | https://newsline.com/china-central-bank-governor-says-to-control-systematic-risks/ | 2017-12-07 | 1 |
<p>A new study has discovered a link between chronic sleep loss and <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/obesity/facts.htm" type="external">obesity in children</a>.</p>
<p>Lead study author Elsie Taveras, MD, MPH, chief of General Pediatrics at MGHfC, and investigators from MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) discovered compelling evidence that children who experienced chronic sleep deprivation in infancy and early childhood had an increase in overall body fat by the age of seven.</p>
<p>Unlike previous studies, the new study took into account factors other than body mass index (BMI). The current study looked at information from Project Viva, an investigation of the health effects of various factors during pregnancy and in early childhood. The data was gathered from mothers during interviews and from questionnaires completed at various points in the children’s lives.</p>
<p>Body measurements were taken at the seven-year visit, and included height and weight, total body fat, lean body tissue, abdominal fat, and waist and hip girths. Overall, kids who experienced the lowest amount of sleep had the highest levels of all body measurements, including abdominal fat which is especially dangerous. The link between lack of adequate sleep and body fat deposits was consistent among all ages.</p>
<p>“Our study found convincing evidence that getting less than recommended amounts of sleep across early childhood is an independent and strong risk factor for obesity and adiposity. Contrary to some published studies, we did not find a particular ‘critical period’ for the influence of sleep duration on weight gain. Instead, insufficient sleep at any time in early childhood had adverse effects,” said Taveras in a statement.</p>
<p>The findings of the study are to be published in the June issue of the journal&#160; <a href="http://www.jpeds.com" type="external">Pediatrics</a>.</p>
<p /> | Chronic sleep loss linked to weight gain in young children | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/05/19/chronic-sleep-loss-linked-to-weight-gain-in-young-children/ | 2014-05-19 | 3 |
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<p>LONDON — While Britain and the rest of the EU are struggling to agree on divorce terms, it’s increasingly clear that on the economic front they are diverging sharply.</p>
<p>In closely watched surveys of economic activity, financial information company IHS Markit said Tuesday that the economy of the 19 EU countries that use the euro is heading for decade-high growth rates while Britain’s is increasingly sluggish — largely due to uncertainty surrounding Brexit.</p>
<p>The purchasing managers’ index, a broad gauge of economic activity, for the eurozone was unchanged at 55.7 points in August. The index is on a 100-point scale, with anything above 50 indicating expansion.</p>
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<p>Though output growth in the third quarter is slightly down on the second quarter, the firm said the single currency bloc is on course for economic growth of 2.1 percent this year, its highest since 2007, when the global financial crisis started to bite.</p>
<p>The firm’s chief business economist, Chris Williamson, said the moderate growth slowdown from the second quarter is no cause for alarm given that business orders remain strong.</p>
<p>“There’s good reason to be optimistic that the current spurt growth has further to run,” he said.</p>
<p>The scale of the eurozone recovery this year has caught many economists by surprise. At the year’s start, many feared that the region, already disturbed by Britain’s vote last year to leave the European Union, ongoing concerns over the euro and a slew of key elections, would face a difficult time.</p>
<p>Though uncertainty over Brexit remains, the Greek crisis seems contained and populist politicians failed to make the breakthrough many economists feared during those elections, notably in France.</p>
<p>One of the main arguments made during last year’s Brexit referendum in Britain was about how the U.K. economy would be better off unshackled from a region that had battled one crisis after another for years.</p>
<p>While that will be determined in the longer-term, for now it’s clear that Britain’s economy is starting to suffer from the Brexit vote. In the first few months after the vote, it held up better than anticipated, partly because of the pound’s export-boosting 15 percent fall.</p>
<p>In a separate survey, IHS Markit said the British economy appears increasingly sluggish as the uncertainty over the EU exit mounts. In March, Prime Minister Theresa May triggered the two-year Brexit timetable but discussions between her government and the EU on what Brexit actually will mean have made little apparent headway.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And that uncertainty over the Brexit details is weighing on the British economy, as evidenced by the fact that the country is this year the slowest-growing in the Group of Seven developed economies.</p>
<p>IHS Markit’s survey suggested that the slowdown, particularly in the crucial services sector, could be getting more marked.</p>
<p>It said the pace of growth in the services sector, which accounts for around 80 percent of the British economy, eased to its slowest level since September last year.</p>
<p>Its purchasing managers’ index for the sector fell to 53.2 points in August from 53.8 the previous month amid signs that “Brexit-related uncertainty continued to undermine business confidence.”</p>
<p>In the immediate aftermath of the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union, the services sector held up. There’s been a raft of evidence recently showing a Brexit hit.</p>
<p>“The overall level of optimism also remained subdued, mainly linked to Brexit uncertainty, close to levels that have previously been indicative of the economy stalling or even contracting,” Williamson warned of the latest survey reading.</p>
<p>The new car market is one sector that has come off the boil over the past few months. The Society of Motor Manufacturers &amp; Traders, or SMMT, reported that new car registrations in August were down 6.4 percent from the year before at 76,433. That’s the fifth straight monthly fall.</p>
<p>Despite the drop, SMMT remains fairly upbeat, noting that the August sales were the third-biggest for the month over the past decade.</p> | Eurozone economy heads for decade-high growth as UK stalls | false | https://abqjournal.com/1058480/survey-points-to-decade-high-growth-for-the-eurozone.html | 2017-09-05 | 2 |
<p>PARIS - &#160;French catering and vouchers group Sodexo posted a 7.4 percent rise in quarterly revenue, driven by growing demand for its services in emerging markets.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Sales reached 4.95 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in the three months to November, its first quarter, Sodexo said on Wednesday. Like-for-like growth was 2.1 percent, including an 8.6 percent rise in countries outside Europe and North America.</p>
<p>The world's second-biggest catering services company after British group Compass reiterated its forecast for "modest growth" in full-year revenue and operating profit excluding currency effects.</p>
<p>"We are confident in our ability to seize growth opportunities in our markets, even if in the short term Sodexo's organic growth is likely to be modest given the current economic environment, particularly in Europe," chief executive Michel Landel said.</p>
<p>Sodexo, with a 420,000-strong global workforce, manages canteens and facilities for office workers, armed forces, schools and prisons, and sells vouchers for meals and gifts.</p>
<p>As the European economic climate weighs on profitability, Sodexo has been expanding in emerging markets, which now represent a fifth of sales, and estimates the global market for its services at 800 billion euros.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It unveiled a plan in November to lower costs and cut jobs to help meet its goals of a 6.3 percent operating margin by the end of 2014/15, compared with 5.4 percent for 2011/12, and average annual revenue growth of 7 percent.</p>
<p>Sodexo is targeting savings of 130-150 million euros from 2014/15.</p>
<p>(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Dan Lalor)</p>
<p /> | Sodexo says emerging markets driving growth | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/01/09/sodexo-says-emerging-markets-driving-growth.html | 2013-01-09 | 0 |
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<p>The minister, Jim Carr, told The Associated Press that President Donald Trump’s approval of the pipeline is “good news.” But he said there are other important projects like the recently approved TransMountain pipeline that will allow for exports to Asia. Ninety-eight percent of Canada’s oil exports now go to the U.S.</p>
<p>“We want to ensure we have access to Asian markets,” Carr said in a telephone interview. “We want to ensure we have more than one customer, as much as we love Americans.”</p>
<p>Canada needs infrastructure to export its growing oil sands production. Alberta has the third-largest oil reserves in the world and is America’s largest supplier of foreign oil.</p>
<p>Keystone XL would carry more than one-fifth of the oil Canada exports to the United States. The pipeline owned by TransCanada received a presidential permit Friday, but Carr said he expects protests and noted it still needs a permit from the state of Nebraska. He’s heard the Nebraska process could take eight months.</p>
<p>“Canadians aren’t going to go down there and tell state legislators what to do. They have their own process. We’ll respect that,” he said.</p>
<p>Carr will, however, meet with U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry in Washington on Thursday.</p>
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<p>“The objective is to make the point that the energy economies are integrated,” he said. “So much of the Canadian interest is aligned with the American interest. Keystone XL is a good example of that.”</p>
<p>The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline would carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma. The presidential permit comes nearly a decade after Calgary, Alberta-based TransCanada applied to build the $8 billion pipeline. Keystone would strengthen U.S. energy security by increasing access to Canada’s “dependable supply of crude oil,” said the State Department.</p>
<p>The decision follows a long scientific and political fight over the project, which became a proxy battle in the larger fight over global warming.</p>
<p>Without the pipeline, Carr said the oil would move by the more dangerous method of rail. A 2013 derailment killed 47 people when a runaway oil train from North Dakota jumped the tracks and exploded in Lac-Megantic, Quebec.</p>
<p>“The more pipeline capacity there is, the higher proportion of the oil will be moved by a safer method of transport,” Carr said.</p> | Canada determined to diversify despite Keystone XL approval | false | https://abqjournal.com/976072/canada-determined-to-diversify-despite-keystone-xl-approval.html | 2017-03-25 | 2 |
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<p>The Santa Fe New Mexican reports ( <a href="http://bit.ly/1rI9nqF)" type="external">http://bit.ly/1rI9nqF)</a> that a review of how the state awards contracts will commence this summer.</p>
<p>The study will examine purchasing policy and practices within three departments including the Department of Finance and Administration.</p>
<p>The undertaking was partially prompted by Gov. Susan Martinez freezing payments in 2013 to 15 nonprofits that provided behavioral health services after an audit raised questions about fraud and abuse.</p>
<p>They have since been cleared by the state Attorney General's Office. But their services were replaced by five Arizona providers, who got no-bid contracts.</p>
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<p>Martinez said at the time there was no bidding because the state faced an emergency in continuing treatment for people.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, <a href="http://www.sfnewmexican.com" type="external">http://www.sfnewmexican.com</a></p> | New Mexico auditor orders study of contract awarding process | false | https://abqjournal.com/766717/new-mexico-auditor-orders-study-of-contract-awarding-process.html | 2 |
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