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<p>The flood waters may have receded in many areas of Texas, but the damage caused by those waters is still growing by the day. Many of the most polluted areas of Houston have been leaking toxic waste into both the streets and into waterways, created enormous health hazards that could linger for years. Ring of Fire’s <a href="https://twitter.com/farronbalanced?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor" type="external">Farron Cousins</a> discusses why the EPA, the corporate media, and the public in general are ignoring this problem. &#160; Link – https://news.vice.com/story/the-epa-is-ignoring-spills-at-one-of-houstons-most-toxic-sites</p>
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<p>Transcript:</p>
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<p>While most of the media coverage of Hurricane Harvey focused on the people who were trying to escape the floodwaters or the massive damage that had been caused by the floodwaters, and yeah, even some taking some cheap shots at looters who were trying to get pairs of shoes after they had lost everything that they ever owned. Almost none of the media coverage of the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey has focused on the fact that there is literally toxic waste seeping out of Superfund sites and other oil refineries into the streets and waterways around Houston. The EPA, led by climate change-denying Scott Pruitt, has done a couple flyovers. He’s done a couple meet and greets at places like the US Oil Recovery, and they didn’t see any damage. They didn’t see anything that should be a cause for concern.</p>
<p>Well, independent flyovers and the pictures taken by these groups confirm that at places like US Oil Recovery, which is an oil waste disposal facility, has in fact had leaking toxic waste coming out of their concrete storage facilities and into bodies of water in Houston and into the streets. We also know that while the floodwaters were still there, many of these Superfund sites, these toxic waste sites, and these oil refineries, their waste was seeping into the actual floodwater so that when the water receded it took all that toxic waste with it, spreading it all over the city. These are problems that will persist for years. These are problems that are going to cause health issues for years, and yet the media is not talking about it. The EPA’s not doing anything about it. They’re claiming, literally, that the problem doesn’t exist, and the American public doesn’t seem like they care one bit either.</p>
<p>These are going to cause very real, potentially fatal problems for people all along Houston who use those waterways, who drink the water from the ground. They’re going to have a lifetime of problems, some of them, as a result of these toxic waste sites leaking water, leaking sludge into the streets and into the waterways, and nobody seems to care. Nobody’s talking about it. All the attention right now has turned to the destruction of Hurricane Irma, which to be honest, has actually … all of that coverage has left the airways. Now it’s about Hurricane Maria. Oh, we got another storm to worry about, so we can’t possibly talk about the lingering damage of storms like Hurricane Harvey and how that’s going to affect people for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>We have to start caring about the environment. I don’t care if you don’t want to be a tree hugger, or if you don’t care about climate change. That’s your choice. You’re wrong, but it’s your choice. When we have instances of cancer-causing toxic sludge leaking into our streets, and our waterways, and our drinking water, that’s a problem that everybody should care about whether or not you believe in the science of climate change, or whether or not you believe that we need to protect the environment, because this is a public health issue at this point, and still nobody wants to talk about it. Nobody wants to think about it. Nobody seems to care about it, because to hell with those people in Houston. We’ve got our own shit to deal with, right?</p>
<p>These are problems that could happen anywhere in this country. We have way too many Superfund sites. We have way too many toxic waste sites, and all it takes is one natural disaster to turn your town into the next area that we’re talking about here with toxic sludge in the streets, toxic waste in your drinking water, and then suddenly you’re going to feel bad realizing that you know what? I didn’t care when it happened to them, and now nobody cares when it happens to me.</p> | Toxic Waste Is Flowing Down The Streets Of Houston And No One Seems To Care | true | https://trofire.com/2017/09/24/toxic-waste-flowing-streets-houston-no-one-seems-care/ | 4 |
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<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Ralph.jpg" type="external" />Townhall.com is the leading source for conservative news and political commentary and analysis. Townhall is packed with breaking news headlines, political news, and conservative opinion with Townhall columnists including Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Michael Barone, Star Parker, Dennis Prager, Thomas Sowell, and many more of your favorite conservatives. Political [?]</p>
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<p><a href="http://townhall.com/news/around-the-web/2014/05/28/tea-party-challenger-ousts-the-oldest-member-of-congress-n1844375" type="external">Click here to view original web page at townhall.com</a></p>
<p /> | Tea Party Challenger Ousts The Oldest Member Of Congress | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/tea-party-challenger-ousts-the-oldest-member-of-congress/ | 0 |
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<p>A blogger and photographer who was fired from his job trading bonds back in 2010 has successfully raised $1 million — 10 times the goal — for a group of Brooklyn schoolchildren to visit Harvard University.</p>
<p>Brandon Stanton launched the “Humans of New York” blog and Facebook page shortly after his firing at the Chicago Board of Trade, in which hee takes photos of New Yorkers and then posts them on his blog with a piece of prose or a quote describing their lives, providing snippets of life that became popular. He began a campaign to raise $100,000 to send middle school students to Harvard, but the story went viral and he has surpassed $1 million in donations from 36,702 people, according to a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/30/humans-of-new-york-mott-hall-bridges-harvard/22566817/" type="external">USA Today report</a>.</p>
<p>And it only took five days.</p>
<p>Stanton tweeted that the response was “amazing,” especially in such a short amount of time. It all began when Stanton published a photograph of Mott Hall Bridges eighth grader Vidal Chastanet, who described how his principal, Nadia Lopez, handles students who get in trouble, noting that she doesn’t suspend kids but rather talks to them about how society functions, and “she tells us that each time somebody fails out of school, a new jail cell gets built.”</p>
<p>He was moved to start a fundraiser a few days later to help the school — which is situated in a high-crime part of Brownsville — inspired by Lopez’s goal of taking her 6th-grade class on a tour of Harvard at the beginning of each school year as a way to encourage them to strive to do their best.</p>
<p>Stanton began the campaign on the crowdfunding sight Indiegogo.com, where the response was enormous. Lopez told her student that she had felt “broken” by recent events in the world and the strain in black and white relations, but the support had given “people a reason to feel a little less broken.”</p>
<p /> | Humans of N.Y. blogger raises more than $1 million for students after story goes viral | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/01/30/humans-of-n-y-blogger-raises-more-than-1-million-for-students-after-story-goes-viral/ | 2015-01-30 | 3 |
<p>Published time: 18 Dec, 2017 10:52Edited time: 18 Dec, 2017 11:03</p>
<p>Thousands of demonstrators have gathered in Vienna to protest the swearing-in of the new Austrian government. The rally targeted the anti-immigrant Freedom Party of Austria (FPO), which has joined the coalition government.</p>
<p>Up to 6,000 people gathered in the Heldenplatz area near the official residences of the Austrian president and chancellor, Vienna police said on Twitter. Members of anti-fascist, feminist and left-wing student groups are among those protesting against the coalition between the conservative Austrian People’s Party and the nationalist FPO. The demonstrators held banners reading “Nazis out” and “Don’t let Nazis govern.”&#160;</p>
<p>Some 1,500 police officers were deployed in Vienna, Kleine Zeitung newspaper&#160; <a href="http://www.kleinezeitung.at/politik/innenpolitik/5340159/Im-Liveticker_Tausende-protestieren-gegen-die-neue-Regierung" type="external">reported</a>. Photos on social media show protesters setting off firecrackers at the rally.The protesters began a fire in Heldenplatz, police later&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/LPDWien" type="external">wrote&#160;</a>on Twitter.</p>
<p>The FPO officially joined Austria’s new coalition government on Friday after it struck an agreement with Sebastian Kurz’s Austrian People’s Party (OVP), following the OVP’s resounding success in October’s parliamentary elections. The FPO came third with 26 percent of the vote, less than 1 percent behind the second-placed Social Democrats.</p>
<p>The FPO, which returned to the Austrian government after an absence of almost 18 years, is known for its hardline anti-immigrant stance – helping it gain public support amid a massive inflow of refugees to Austria in recent years.</p>
<p>Earlier, FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache vowed that his party would work to rescind anti-Russian sanctions as part of the new government. The FPO would “seek a solution in the interests of Europe” that would allow “Europe and Russia to come together once again,” he said.</p> | ‘Don’t let Nazis govern’: 1,000s protest new coalition govt in Austria (PHOTOS) | false | https://newsline.com/dont-let-nazis-govern-1000s-protest-new-coalition-govt-in-austria-photos/ | 2017-12-18 | 1 |
<p>Amid the fireworks, parades, Wal Mart sales, professional sporting events, and other commercialized and phony tributes to what was once a holiday celebrated not only across America but around the world, Americans have very little to be proud of.</p>
<p>With a President whose lack of mental acuity would qualify him as mentally handicapped under the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990–signed by Bush 41–the system of U.S. constitutional government and international comity is unraveling at the seams.</p>
<p>An elite group of neo-fascists in Washington, London, Canberra, Rome, Jerusalem, and Madrid are seeking to return independent nation states to colonialism. Republicans in the U.S. Congress and Texas are seeking to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of African Americans and other minorities by redistricting them into Bantustan-like congressional districts. Religious kooks like Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Pennsylvania Republican Senator Rick Santorum want a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Add that to the proposed amendment to make illegal the burning of cheap, Chinese prison-made American flags and one can begin to see the end of sane government as we have known it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in California, a state that overwhelmingly voted for Al Gore, the right-wing fascists are attempting to turn Governor Gray Davis out of office through a recall petition financed by a Republican Representative Darrell Issa. The Republicans are still smarting from the fact that Bill Simon, their crooked candidate for Governor in the last election, was soundly defeated by Davis. Typical of fascists — when elections fail, seize power through some political contrivance. The Republicans want to overthrow Davis in a coup, just like they denied Gore the White House and want to illegally steal as many as seven House seats in Texas. One Republican plan would see “Terminator” Arnold Schwarzenegger assume control of one of the most anti-Bush states in the country. Just like when Adolf Hitler made Reinhard Heydrich the overseer of the remnants of Czechoslovakia in order to stamp out any remaining resistance to the Nazis.</p>
<p>So Bush could soon have his own “Terminator” to deal with wayward California. Forgive me if I’m just a little antsy about Austrian emigres who decide to seize political office in another country. The Republicans blame Davis for California’s skyrocketing budget deficits and increased taxes, forgetting that it was Bush’s buddies at Enron who originally raped the state’s finances with usurious electricity rates. And to make the Republican plan to oust Davis even more bizarre, its prime hatcher, Issa, who made millions from selling those annoying auto alarms, was arrested in 1972 for auto theft. You just can’t make this stuff up!</p>
<p>Bush eggs on potential Iraqi insurgents by saying “bring them on,” throwing down a gauntlet for Iraqi resistance units to attack American troops who are increasingly under strain as they become a thinly-spread quasi-permanent occupation force. Bush’s swagger is reminiscent of the British troops in colonial India who dared rebels to take in the power of the British Empire. That tactic failed in India just as assuredly as it will fail in neo-colonial Iraq.</p>
<p>Bush’s fellow fascist, Italian scandal-ridden Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, just two days into Italy’s presidency of the European Union, caused a major intra-continental rift when, during a speech to the European Parliament, said a German Social Democratic member of the European parliament would make a “perfect Nazi concentration camp commander” in a movie. Berlusconi, the heir to the fascist government of Benito Mussolini, should know all about Nazis and concentration camps. Berlusconi, an Italian version of the proto-fascist Fox News Channel tycoon Rupert Murdoch, is a fervent supporter of Bush, whose own Defense Department is busy building concentration camps and execution chambers in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bush must be privately gleeful that his fascist Italian friend is tearing apart the very fabric of the European Union, an economic powerhouse that stands in the way of Bush’s plans for global domination.</p>
<p>Bush invites Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf to Camp David and asks him not to provide information on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden but requests Pakistani troops as part of the Iraq occupation force. In return, Musharraf got a five year, $3 billion military aid package from Bush. What did Bush get? A promise from Musharraf to accept “in principle” a plan to send Pakistani troops to Iraq (where conceivably they would be stationed along with Indian troops, a real recipe for continued warfare in America’s Middle East colony). Musharraf, who knows exactly where Bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar are hiding, offered no assistance in turning them over to the United States even though Bush, shortly after September 11, said, with typical bravado, that he wanted Bin Laden “dead or alive.” Cheap words from a cowardly braggart.</p>
<p>Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, in a meeting with Palestinian factions, recounted what our “apocalyptic Christian” President said to him during the recent peace summit in Jordan. Bush indicated that he was personally told by God to solve the MIddle East problem, just as God told him to attack Al Qaeda and then Saddam Hussein. Nothing like a little more religious fanaticism in trying to bring peace to a region that has no shortage of it. Bush once received revelations from the bottom of a tequila bottle along with a few lines of cocaine, now he gets them from God. Either way, the man is delusional, dangerously so.</p>
<p>Already dealing with a demoralized military, Bush, on the eve of his trip to Africa, mulls sending U.S. troops to Liberia. He also tells Liberian dictator Charles Taylor to step down. Never mind that Bush’s friends in the international diamond industry, especially the head of the Corporate Council on Africa, Maurice Tempelsman, were largely responsible for the upheavals in West Africa, including Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, and Guinea. The diamond merchants have found it lucrative to keep West African governments unstable. They found unfettered access to the diamonds controlled by local warlords to be far more profitable than having to deal with centralized governments. However, when Charles Taylor began threatening neighboring countries’s blood diamond supply lines and stood ready to upset the status quo enjoyed by the diamond cartels of Tel Aviv, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, Taylor’s days were numbered. Bush’s priority is to maintain leaders in power throughout Africa who will not stand in the way of Western exploitation. That includes the leaders of those countries he plans to visit, especially Uganda, Botswana, and Nigeria.</p>
<p>That is the way Bush’s Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Walter Kansteiner III, wants it. A neo-fascist Republican veteran of the International Republican Institute and the Corporate Council on Africa, Kansteiner, a one-time supporter of racism and apartheid in South Africa and on the record as favoring the Balkanization of nation states in Africa, wants his friends in natural resources corporations and the Pentagon (where he headed the Strategic Minerals Task Force under then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney) to have free access to Africa’s mineral and oil reserves. To make sure Africa’s natural resource rapists understand his commitment to their cause, Bush spoke to the Corporate Council on Africa prior to his departure for the beleaguered continent, a continent the moron-in-chief once referred to as a “country.”</p>
<p>The neo-cons now see West Africa as America’s next target for control. One of their chicken hawk columnists, National Review’s Rich Lowry, recently suggested that West Africa is of such strategic interest to America, the U.S. should set up military bases in the region with a U.S. military headquarters on Sao Tome, in the Gulf of Guinea, a potental future “American lake.” More U.S. colonies. After years of exploitative European colonization, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, and other African countries may soon become virtual American colonies as part of a Greater West Africa National Economic Sphere. It is a page right out of the Japanese fascist playbook from World War II. So for our mentally challenged president, his neo con advisers tell him, “West Africa = diamonds + oil.” That’s all he has to hear. He authorizes sending in U.S. troops, building U.S. bases, and makes a trip there to Africa to cement the deals.</p>
<p>A Washington insider familiar with Liberia revealed that a major reason for Bush to go into Liberia is oil. Liberia’s flag flies on most of the world’s supertankers. “Look, the United States is about ready to start moving massive supplies of Iraqi oil on supertankers. With Liberia, the major flag of convenience for those tankers in a state of upheaval, Bush has to go in with troops. Forget human rights, that’s not the issue, the Liberian Internatonal Ship and Corporate Registry must have a stable government to nurture it,” the insider said.</p>
<p>What is in store for Africa is spelled out in the most recent journal of the neo con propaganda mill, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). Its important to closely read neo-con literature in order to anticipate their future plans. Special attention must be paid to new catch phrases and code words, for example, “new American century,” West Bank “outposts” (instead of settlements), and “Iraqi secular state.” In one article in the JINSA journal, the term “Franco/Afro” dictatorships is used. This is a signal that the neo cons will make France pay dearly for its failure to support their worldwide agenda. So-called Franco-African governments in Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Mauritania, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Chad, Niger, Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Madagascar, and Mauritius are clearly on the target list. For the United States and its neo con friends around the world to take over control of Africa–complete with ready-made human guinea pigs for AIDS vaccines and genetically-modified “Frankenfood”–the “Franco/Afro dictatorships” have to go. Bush showed his compassion for the AIDS pandemic in Africa by naming the former head of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, Randall Tobias, as his global AIDS “czar.” Bush has shown us all not to be surprised at his “compassion,” his visit to Africa will rival that of an arsonist visiting a hospital burn ward.</p>
<p>And what does Bush turn around and do to some of his “coalition of the willing” partners? He cuts off military aid to them. Because some 35 nations refused to sign treaties with the United States exempting U.S. war criminals from prosecution by the International Criminal Court, the moron in the White House cuts off military aid. The Baltic nations, who supported Bush’s idiotic adventure in Iraq, are cut off. So are other coalition partners–Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bulgaria. Bush gave waivers to Uganda and Rwanda, two nations that use American military aid to maintain a brutal genocide in a fractured Congo.</p>
<p>And what of the Solomon Islands, which were added to the White House coalition list even though the country’s Prime Minister said he was unaware of his nation’s participation? Bush’s troll-like partner, Australia’s Prime Minister, John Howard, recently announced that Australian troops would occupy the civil war-ridden Solomon Islands and mete out justice a la Iraq. Never mind the fact that American small arms companies have been caught smuggling arms into the island group to help foment civil war. Howard also reserves the right to invade and re-colonize any other Pacific “failed state” he thinks might have the potential to harbor terrorists. So attention all you Al Qaeda terrorists who have moved from Tora Bora to Bora Bora, Howard is going to come after you and your pina colada beach bars.</p>
<p>With Howard threatening to invade Pacific islands, no wonder Indonesia feels it can brutalize the secessionist provinces of Aceh and West Papua, especially when Western corporate interests (oil and copper, respectively) are involved. Expect no more nations receiving independence or autonomy in Bush’s New World Order. The Indonesians, with Bush’s support, might just think about rolling back East Timor’s hard-won independence. After all, there’s oil in the Timor Sea. Better for Bush and his cronies to deal with corrupt and bloody Indonesian generals than with the Nobel Peace Prize winners who run East Timor.</p>
<p>Other neo cons are advocating US intervention to oust the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela, and Brazil, America’s so-called southern flank “Axis of Evil.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, some of these neo-con ideas are creeping into periodicals not nornally associated with their overall agenda. Here is an interesting exchange with the editor of The American Legion magazine after they published three neo-con propaganda pieces:</p>
<p>29 June 2003</p>
<p>To the Editor, The American Legion:</p>
<p>Your July issue contains a number of articles that can best be described as mere propaganda generated from the neo-conservative ideologues peppered throughout the Bush administration. These individuals, many of whom conveniently dodged the Vietnam draft, have hijacked American foreign and defense policy for their own narrow political purposes. “The Other Axis of Evil” by Paul Crespo gives weight to a white paper from the extreme right-wing Hudson Institute, while “Beyond Baghdad” is written by an official of the Hudson Institute. “A Farewell to Armistice” about North Korea follows the same neo-conservative line. Please do not allow your publication to become an echo chamber for the “neo-cons.” As a veteran, I can speak for myself and many other veterans who object to the chickenhawk neo-con agenda, one that dismisses the opinions of flag rank officers and places our young military men and women in perpetual danger in a badly thought-out Iraq occupation and possible further military adventures as suggested by the above three articles.</p>
<p>WAYNE MADSEN, Arlington, VA</p>
<p>*** Dear Mr. Madsen,</p>
<p>Thank you for your message to The American Legion Magazine. Before accusing people of being “chickenhawks” or “dodging the Vietnam draft,” you may wish to do a little more research. Paul Crespo is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Alan Dowd was seven years old when Saigon fell, and Mike O’Callaghan, a former Democratic governor of Nevada, is a Silver Star recipient who lost his leg in Korea.</p>
<p>Your point that many idealogues [sic] in the Bush administration evaded military service in Vietnam is accurate, but the same can be said of the previous administration. Draft evasion, unfortunately, is a bipartisan practice.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>John Raughter Editor USMC (1983-1990)</p>
<p>*** I did not accuse them of being draft dodgers or being chickenhawks, I was accusing them of serving the interests of those who are: Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith, Abram Shulsky, Dick Cheney, Harold Rhode, David Wurmser, Dov Zakheim, Scooter Libby, John Bolton, and the list goes on and on and ultimately also includes Messrs. Rumsfeld (weekend warrior between Korea and Vietnam) and G W Bush (AWOL weekend warrior). The draft dodgers in the previous administration did not place the country on an endless path to more unprovoked pre-emptive warfare and our previous Vice President did serve in Vietnam unlike either of the two top office holders in this administration. Many veterans were and continue to be patriotic Democrats who are opposed to this administration’s unwise policies.</p>
<p>WAYNE MADSEN</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>I noticed that you left Bill Clinton off your list of “Chickenhawks.” Were we ever attacked by Bosnia? Haiti? Or what about the air strikes he called on Afgahnistan [sic], Sudan or Iraq?</p>
<p>I agree that many Democrats are patriotic Americans. Partisanship should have nothing to do with foreign policy.</p>
<p>*** “Partisanship should have nothing to do with foreign policy.” In other words, just do what your dictators tell you to do and be about your business. On that particular note, my exchange with the editor ceased. Notice how these Republicans constantly must fall back on Bill Clinton? It demonstrates that they can’t maintain an argument based on the current situation. Their neo-fascist parents always blamed Franklin Roosevelt for every ill in America, even as late as the 1960s and 1970s and as if Roosevelt had nothing to do with pulling the country out of the deep recesses of the Depression. Now, it’s all Clinton’s fault, or Carter’s fault, or Kennedy’s fault. I refuse to get into a battle of wits with such unarmed men.</p>
<p>So as Bush goes about ousting more leaders from Charles Taylor in Liberia to Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, let us remember that the political oustings should be refocused The leaders who must be ousted are Bush, Blair, Aznar in Spain, the insulting gangster Berlusconi of Italy, and Howard in Australia for starters. It will be great day, indeed, when people can visit as tourists, a Guantanamo Bay under restored Cuban sovereignty and be taken to see the prison cages where Bush, Cheney, Berlusconi, Aznar, Musharraf, Howard, Sharon, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and Blair are held as international war criminals. See the war criminals and then celebrate their imprisonment at the nearest pina colada beach bar. Only then will we know the world has returned to sanity and Americans can celebrate Independence Day once again.</p>
<p>WAYNE MADSEN is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and columnist. He wrote the introduction to <a href="" type="internal">Forbidden Truth</a>. He is the co-author, with John Stanton, of the forthcoming book, “America’s Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II.”</p>
<p>Madsen can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | A Sad Independence Day | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/07/03/a-sad-independence-day/ | 2003-07-03 | 4 |
<p>Until recently, Colombia — a country once rife with violence — seemed relatively calm. But this summer has changed that, with a string of bombings targeting oil pipelines and now two offices in the capital of Bogota.</p>
<p>The most recent bombings took place Thursday, and targeted a private pension firm called Porvenir. At least seven people were hurt, though none of the injuries were severe.</p>
<p>According to Joshua Goodman, the Bogota bureau chief for the Associated Press, says it’s too soon to say who might have carried out the attacks.&#160;“There is speculation that it could be the rebels,” he said, referring to the FARC, “but that’s really just because the rebels have been stepping up attacks in other parts of the country.”</p>
<p>The possibility remains that the bombings in Bogota are unrelated to June bombings of oil pipelines in rural parts of Colombia.&#160;“These sorts of explosions and blasts are not unique, even to the capital,” said Goodman. “There’s a lot of criminal gangs, and a lot of extortion rackets, in Colombian cities. So this could very well have just been a private vendetta.”</p>
<p>One of the bombs exploded in the heart of Bogota’s financial district. Goodman says that when he attended a gathering seven blocks away, he could sense tension amongst the guests.</p>
<p>“Everyone at the party was surprised, and a little bit rattled,” Goodman recalled. “It’s not so common that wealthier neighborhoods in the capital experience this kind of violence.”</p>
<p>“Precisely because Bogota has made strides in terms of reducing terrorist attacks or attacks by the rebels, people have grown accustomed to having safety in their daily lives,” he added.</p>
<p>Goodman said that although most residents of Bogota aren’t worried about major terrorist attacks, it’s hard to generalize about violence in Colombia.</p>
<p>In the rest of the country, the civil conflict between the FARC and the Colombian military has flared up, despite peace negotiations that have continued for several years. “A few months ago, the entire country was expecting a peace deal to be signed sometime soon,” said Goodman.</p>
<p>“Both sides in this conflict are sort of retrenching,” he said.</p> | Two bombings in Bogota draw attention to renewed violence in Colombia | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-07-03/two-bombings-bogota-draw-attention-renewed-violence-colombia | 2015-07-03 | 3 |
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<p>Friday night at the Joe Armijo Classic gave everyone an early taste of what lies ahead in District 1-5A boys basketball.</p>
<p>League rivals Rio Rancho and Volcano Vista advanced to tonight’s 8:15 championship game with semifinal victories Friday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Rams pummeled Mayfield 85-40, while the Hawks held off Cibola 65-58.</p>
<p>Volcano (3-3) spotted the Cougars (3-3) the first six points, but took the lead late in the first quarter and never trailed again. Senior guard Sam Haywood had a team-high 23 points for the Hawks.</p>
<p>♦ Rio Rancho senior guard Jeremy Swafford poured in 33 points to lead the Rams, who led 39-27 at halftime, then opened the third quarter by scoring the first 19 points.</p>
<p>Marquis Sedillos and Josh Lucero both added 10 for Rio Rancho. Sedillos transferred after last season from Volcano Vista to Rio Rancho.</p>
<p>HOPE FINISHES SHORT-HANDED: In a boys consolation bracket game Friday at the Armijo Classic, Hope Christian played the final three minutes of overtime with only four players in a 103-92 loss to Bernalillo. The</p>
<p>Huskies suited out only seven, as many younger players were involved in a JV tournament at another site.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>LOS ALAMOS STRANDED: The Los Alamos boys couldn’t get to the Armijo Classic on Friday because of inclement weather. So the host Chargers, who were supposed to face the Hilltoppers in the other consolation game, advanced.</p>
<p>The Hilltoppers also announced they aren’t coming down this morning to play Hope in the seventh-place game.</p>
<p>BROWN RETURNS: Since Highland coach Danny Brown was ejected in the Hornets’ game against Sandia, his father, Hall of Fame coach Mike Brown, coached the Hive on Thursday night against Eldorado.</p>
<p>CLOVIS BOYS WIN IN OT: The Wildcats edged Manzano 53-51 in overtime Friday night. John Dawson had 19 points for Clovis in the victory, including the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final half minute.</p>
<p>Hope Christian and Volcano Vista will meet at 6:30 p.m. today in the Joe Armijo Classic final at Academy. In Friday’s semifinals, the Huskies beat previously unbeaten Los Lunas 67-54, while the Hawks remained perfect with a 54-40 win over Oñate.</p>
<p>“It’s a fun matchup,” Volcano Vista coach Lisa Villareal said. “Hope is a really good, fundamentally sound team. They’re aggressive, they rebound well, they move well. We have our work cut out for us.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Led by Shamarie Carrizal, Oñate (5-3) gave the Hawks (4-0) plenty of problems in the first half. Carrizal scored all 18 of her points in the first two quarters, but a late 3-pointer off the bench by Volcano’s Celina Day gave the Hawks a 27-25 lead.</p>
<p>Volcano Vista’s full-court pressure defense was the difference in the second half.</p>
<p>Freshman Raven Herrera led the Hawks with 14 points.</p>
<p>“They’re gonna be a tough game,” Volcano junior guard Hannah Fenske said of Hope. “But I feel like if we play our best, we can stick with them and even beat them.”</p>
<p>The Huskies (5-1) got a combined 50 points from Marissa Perry, Robyn Walker and Kasey Howington in their win over the Tigers (4-1). Teige Zeller led Los Lunas with 18 points.</p>
<p>CLEVELAND, SANDIA WIN: The Matadors (7-0) downed Valley 47-38 as Astrea Reed had 18 points. At Cleveland, point guard Karlie Peck had 18 points, including four treys, in a 57-39 victory over Albuquerque High.</p> | Rivals Cruise To Armijo Classic Final | false | https://abqjournal.com/30731/rivals-cruise-to-armijo-classic-final-2.html | 2 |
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<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ These Florida lotteries were drawn Thursday:</p>
<p>Cash4Life</p>
<p>01-06-24-41-44, Cash Ball: 2</p>
<p>(one, six, twenty-four, forty-one, forty-four; Cash Ball: two)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>05-31-32-35-36</p>
<p>(five, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-five, thirty-six)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $76 million</p>
<p>Pick 2 Evening</p>
<p>3-1</p>
<p>(three, one)</p>
<p>Pick 2 Midday</p>
<p>3-0</p>
<p>(three, zero)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>2-5-4</p>
<p>(two, five, four)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Midday</p>
<p>3-1-2</p>
<p>(three, one, two)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>5-4-5-3</p>
<p>(five, four, five, three)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Midday</p>
<p>7-5-2-0</p>
<p>(seven, five, two, zero)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Evening</p>
<p>6-0-7-9-1</p>
<p>(six, zero, seven, nine, one)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Midday</p>
<p>7-5-0-4-3</p>
<p>(seven, five, zero, four, three)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $112 million</p>
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ These Florida lotteries were drawn Thursday:</p>
<p>Cash4Life</p>
<p>01-06-24-41-44, Cash Ball: 2</p>
<p>(one, six, twenty-four, forty-one, forty-four; Cash Ball: two)</p>
<p>Fantasy 5</p>
<p>05-31-32-35-36</p>
<p>(five, thirty-one, thirty-two, thirty-five, thirty-six)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $76 million</p>
<p>Pick 2 Evening</p>
<p>3-1</p>
<p>(three, one)</p>
<p>Pick 2 Midday</p>
<p>3-0</p>
<p>(three, zero)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>2-5-4</p>
<p>(two, five, four)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Midday</p>
<p>3-1-2</p>
<p>(three, one, two)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>5-4-5-3</p>
<p>(five, four, five, three)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Midday</p>
<p>7-5-2-0</p>
<p>(seven, five, two, zero)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Evening</p>
<p>6-0-7-9-1</p>
<p>(six, zero, seven, nine, one)</p>
<p>Pick 5 Midday</p>
<p>7-5-0-4-3</p>
<p>(seven, five, zero, four, three)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $112 million</p> | FL Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/bd6d5520d13b4204bfd3bad83862999c | 2018-01-26 | 2 |
<p>President Donald Trump has nominated energy lawyer Kevin McIntyre to chair the vacancy-plagued commission that oversees the nation's power grid and natural gas pipelines.</p>
<p>Only one commissioner currently serves on the five-member Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, leaving it without a quorum and unable to make decisions on interstate pipelines and other projects worth billions of dollars.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>If confirmed by the Senate, McIntyre, a Republican, would lead the five-member panel. Trump has nominated Republicans Neil Chatterjee and Robert Powelson to the commission and has said he intends to nominate Democrat Richard Glick.</p>
<p>The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee has approved the two GOP nominees, but no vote has been scheduled in the Senate. Glick has not been formally nominated, but he is likely to be paired with McIntyre for Senate consideration.</p>
<p>McIntyre is co-head of global energy at Jones Day, a prominent Washington firm that has provided a steady stream of lawyers to the Trump administration, including White House counsel Don McGahn. McIntyre has represented a range of energy suppliers before FERC, including suppliers of natural gas, oil, hydropower and wind power.</p>
<p>If confirmed, he would replace Democrat Cheryl LaFleur, who has been the panel's acting chair since January. LaFleur is expected to remain on the commission.</p>
<p>Trump has promised to usher in a "golden era of American energy" and has outlined a series of initiatives aimed at boosting energy production and exports and creating thousands of jobs.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The FERC vacancies hobble the agency's ability to make decisions and threaten to undermine Trump's promise of U.S. "energy dominance" in the global market. More than a dozen major projects and utility mergers have been in regulatory limbo for months, including the $2 billion Nexus pipeline in Ohio and Michigan; the $1 billion PennEast pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; and the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.</p> | Trump names lawyer to head beleaguered energy agency | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/14/trump-names-lawyer-to-head-beleaguered-energy-agency.html | 2017-07-14 | 0 |
<p>Brazilian police are looking for a gang of beautiful, young women suspected of being behind a series of kidnappings and robberies in shopping malls around Sao Paulo.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.omglobe.com/2012/03/24/top-news-world/brazilian-police-hunting-blonde-gang/" type="external">United Press International says</a> that in three years the gang has targeted at least 50 people, mostly wealthy women, in so-called express kidnappings.</p>
<p>Police have reportedly begun to break up the gang, with three suspects arrested over the weekend, including one man thought to have co-ordinated the operations.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://globalpost.com/dispatch/venezuela/091223/kidnapping-secuestro-express" type="external">Venezuela's kidnapping express</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jj4oGnr9X_ns-1DRhNxP3fAG8xqA?docId=CNG.2957eb664618157561e8e40d9fcb3254.301" type="external">AFP describes</a> how members of the gang follow women leaving shopping malls, rob them and then uses their credit cards to buy expensive, luxury items.</p>
<p>"In one case, they bought 17,500 reales (US$9,700) worth of items with the cards, and took out more than 3,000 reales (US$1,660)" in cash, police officer Alberto Pereira is said to have told reporters.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://globalpost.com/passport/foreign-desk/090930/mexico%E2%80%99s-business-class-refugees" type="external">Mexico's "business class" refugees</a></p>
<p>Police have described the gang as consisting of "young, educated, middle-class women," <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17495375" type="external">according to the BBC.</a></p>
<p>The Sao Paulo civil police anti-kidnap division chief Joaquim Dias Alves is quoted as saying: "One or two speak more than one language, and some have been educated overseas.&#160; They are really pretty girls, well-dressed and made up."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/120217/peru-latin-america-economy-growth" type="external">Suite Spot - Latin America's hidden growth story</a></p> | Blonde kidnap gang target Sao Paulo shopping malls | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-03-26/blonde-kidnap-gang-target-sao-paulo-shopping-malls | 2012-03-26 | 3 |
<p>Jan. 14 (UPI) — Israel Defense Forces on Sunday said the air force destroyed a mile-long tunnel built by <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Hamas/" type="external">Hamas</a> under <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Gaza/" type="external">Gaza</a>, Israel and Egypt.</p>
<p>Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/14/middleeast/israel-hamas-tunnel/index.html" type="external">told CNN</a> the strike was carried out Saturday with “necessary coordination” with Egypt.</p>
<p>Sources told the <a href="http://english.pnn.ps/2018/01/13/israeli-jets-shell-tunnel-near-egyptian-border-with-gaza/" type="external">Palestinian News Network</a> no one was injured in the strike.</p>
<p>“This is a blatant violation of Israeli sovereignty, endangering the citizens of Israel and sabotaging the humanitarian efforts that Israel is making for the citizens of Gaza,” an IDF statement read.</p>
<p>Israel said the tunnel was being used to <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Infrastructure-destroyed-by-IAF-last-night-was-terror-tunnel-IDF-confirms-534667" type="external">smuggle weapons and militants</a> from Egypt into the Gaza Strip in order to attack the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kerem_Shalom/" type="external">Kerem Shalom</a> crossing. The IDF also closed the crossing.</p>
<p>“The terrorist organization Hamas is responsible for everything happening in and out of the Gaza Strip,” the IDF said.</p>
<p>Cornricus said that if the tunnel was only to smuggle harmless goods, there was no need for it to go under Kerem Shalom.</p>
<p>This is the third tunnel into Gaza Israel has destroyed in two months.</p>
<p>The IDF will continue its efforts above and below ground to thwart any attempts to harm Israeli civilians <a href="https://t.co/YGtJk37MH2" type="external">pic.twitter.com/YGtJk37MH2</a></p>
<p>— IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) <a href="https://twitter.com/IDFSpokesperson/status/952456207708639233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">January 14, 2018</a></p> | Israel destroys mile-long tunnel connecting Gaza, Egypt | false | https://newsline.com/israel-destroys-mile-long-tunnel-connecting-gaza-egypt/ | 2018-01-15 | 1 |
<p />
<p />
<p>Outside Sandusky, Ohio at the popular Cedar Point amusement park there have been multiple reports of explosions being heard.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Emergency responders from both the Sandusky Fire and Police Departments are on the scene as fires can be seen raging with smoke billowing into the sky</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Witnesses suggest the fires are from some sort of explosions which took place at the Cedar Point Marina which resulted in multiple boats being set ablaze.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>While Sandusky Fire and Rescue suggest no damage has been taken to the park itself residents and nearby businesses are being evacuated as a precaution and a particular area around the facility is being taped off to secure a perimeter to fight the fire and help in rescue efforts in case there are injuries.</p>
<p />
<p>At this time however no injuries are being reported and emergency responders said they cannot confirm the cause of the damage and the ongoing fire.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Cedar point is one of the greatest amusement parks around. Hopefully nobody got hurt and they bounce back.</p> | Possible Explosion At Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio Causes Massive Fires | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/6595-Possible-Explosion-At-Cedar-Point-in-Sandusky-Ohio-Causes-Massive-Fires | 2017-08-14 | 0 |
<p>Ed. note: This post was originally published on the <a href="" type="internal">Community site</a>.&#160;Posts published on the Community site do&#160;not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.</p>
<p>In a presidential election year, popular culture representations of politicians – real and fictional – reach new heights of significance as viewers and commentators assign them meaning. The March 2016 release of season four of the Netflix original series House of Cards was no exception.</p>
<p />
<p>The political drama focuses on the relationship between President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and First Lady Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), and reveals a power-hungry and sexually charged Washington, D.C. Even if you have not seen the show, you may have come across questions about just how accurately it depicts the dark underbelly of politics or, more relevant to the 2016 election cycle, to what extent the Underwood marriage is meant to mimic the marriage between former President Bill Clinton and current presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Regardless of both, House of Cards is ripe with complex representations of gender dynamics and sexualities worthy of a feminist pop culture analysis.</p>
<p>In the years since President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky was exposed (and his subsequent impeachment and acquittal), many have accused him and his wife of having a political marriage – a relationship orchestrated and/or maintained for some personal gain or strategic purpose, like the advancement of both Bill’s, then Hillary’s political careers. I have no right to or interest in examining the merits of such an accusation against the Clintons, but their prominence this election season has given the concept of the political marriage some resurgence in the media. In the fourth season of House of Cards, Mr. and Mrs. Underwood also navigate an election season as they gear up to seek Frank’s reelection. But Claire’s pursuit of her own political career deepens as she grows impatient, not wanting to wait for Frank to finish his own endeavors before she begins hers, like Hillary seemed to do for Bill in the 1990s. If we are to view power in the way that Michel Foucault defines it – meaning that power can concentrate across different sites and institutions – the power to shape social norms through the institution of marriage is concentrated partially in our government, through legal definitions, laws, rights, and the projected images of those working in politics, like the notion that our President should be a straight man with a straight wife, the First Lady.</p>
<p>Foucault’s notion that power is (and comes from) everywhere is a good lens through which to view Claire’s assertion of agency in the latest season of House of Cards. Like one would imagine Hillary Clinton’s were throughout her husband’s political career, Claire’s own political ambitions have largely been deemed secondary to Frank’s, simply because he is a man and she is not. Claire’s gender places her in a position of relative disadvantage in the sense that within traditional (though not all) political families, a male politician is supported by a wife whose professional life is dictated and stifled by or comes second to her husband’s. Claire takes advantage of these expectations in Season 4, though, and uses the ways in which gender and sexuality are regulated by the ideals of the political family to her own benefit. By threatening to divorce Frank in an election year, Claire has the power to ruin their (political) marriage and effectively end his political career. She makes use of her fundamental role in the production of Frank’s public image (straight, married man) by threatening to remove Frank’s ability to achieve or at least appear to approach the norms of sexuality, family structure, and marriage upheld by/concentrated in American politics.</p>
<p>Claire also operates under a similarly Foucauldian manner when she takes advantage of a sexist female victim narrative in order to avoid admitting that she and Frank did not want to have children or did not think they had time to have children given their professional goals. In an interview, Claire exaggerates stories of her own rape and abortions in an effort to implicitly explain away not having her own children, garner support for a bill to fight sexual assault, and further her pro-choice agenda in general. While this can be read as deceitful, Claire is acting to seek personal and political gain by using the pressure and expectation of motherhood as well as the patronizing victim narrative of rape (and rape-related abortion) to her advantage rather than allowing these often disempowering tropes to hinder her agency or negatively affect her own career.</p>
<p>The Underwoods serve as useful models for how the ideals of the family, heterosexual relationships between husbands and wives, gender roles and the professional hierarchy that prioritizes men’s careers above women’s are constantly demanded of and upheld by political figures. These norms are redeployed and often successfully approached by politicians like the Clintons, who have continued to strive for marital validation despite Bill’s infidelity and longstanding rumors about their political marriage. A quick Google search about the Clintons’ political marriage brings up <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-bill-hillary-clinton-marriage-52-years-20140718-story.html" type="external">this interview with Bill Clinton</a>, in which he seems to address the rumors while promoting a loving, egalitarian image of his relationship with Hillary. The Underwoods seem to have a different plan: maintain their heterosexual, monogamous images and avoid any non-loving stigma attached to being childless adults. In seasons one, two and three, House of Cards gives us access to what ‘really’ went on between the Underwoods behind closed doors, and how they contradict the aforementioned norms of gender and sexuality. We learn that both Frank and Claire have affairs outside the marriage – some more meaningful than others – and that Frank also has sex with other men. Frank’s sexuality and the seemingly open nature of his relationship with Claire go against the trajectory of compulsory heterosexuality so brilliantly explained by Judith Butler, one of the most frequently cited gender theorists of the late-20th and early 21st centuries. Butler outlines the normative expectations that everyone born considered a male will exhibit masculine qualities and go on to, when he reaches sexual maturity, have opposite-sex desires for women. Likewise, it is assumed that everyone born considered a female will exhibit feminine qualities and also be heterosexual, desiring men. Despite the performative nature of sex, gender and sexuality, deviation from this path is considered ‘other.’ In the first three seasons of House of Cards, it is obvious that Frank’s public identity of married, straight man aligns with the compulsory nature of heterosexuality as well as the added pressure on elected officials to be models for the rest of society.</p>
<p>Until the fourth season, Frank’s sexual fluidity mostly reflects a sensationalized view of sexual deviance in politics. Scandals like former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s hiring of women prostitutes, former Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s arrest for soliciting sex from an undercover male police officer, former Representative Anthony Weiner’s accidental nude photo debacle on Twitter, and – of course – President Bill Clinton’s extramarital affair with a White House intern all garnered an incredible amount of media coverage over the last twenty years. Unsurprisingly, each of these stories has its own Wikipedia page. Anthony Weiner is even the subject of a new documentary film about his post-scandal career, cleverly titled Weiner. Whether legal or illegal, harmless or harmful, politicians who are ‘caught’ departing from norms of sex, gender or sexuality are seen as deceitful, sexually deviant and morally corrupt; they are expected to adhere to narrow definitions of straight, monogamous, child-bearing marriages, are scrutinized and punished if they do not, and yet the trope of the power-drunk, sexually deviant politician appears again and again in cultural texts, from TV and film to print journalism, social media, and literature.</p>
<p>Though Frank Underwood has yet to be ‘exposed’ in House of Cards, his deviation from heterosexuality seems, in seasons one through three, to represent a desire for power rather than a sexual or emotional desire for persons of any particular gender. In the ninth episode of the series, Frank himself says, “A great man once said, everything is about sex. Except sex. Sex is about power.” The show and Frank’s attitude suggest that he falls squarely into the unfortunate trope of the sexually deviant politician, and that his same-sex experiences have no place in the formation of his personal identity.</p>
<p>During the fourth season of House of Cards, President Underwood’s sexuality is portrayed in a far more nuanced way than in the three previous seasons of the show. We see Frank’s relationship with his bodyguard Edward Meechum (Nathan Darrow) deepen as the two reveal an obvious emotional attraction to each other. In Season 2, Meechum was part of a sexual threesome with Frank and Claire; their scene had confirmed Frank’s sexual attraction to men, though it was not until Season 4 that this attraction seemed to be anything more than an appetite for power through sexual dominance. When Meechum is killed in an attempted assassination of President Underwood, Frank’s private mourning indicates that the death of his lover is an emotional loss that reflects the complicated nature of queer loss described by Sara Ahmed in her chapter on “Queer Feelings” from The Cultural Politics of Emotion. In “Queer Feelings” Ahmed’s section on Queer Grieving helps us understand the painfully hidden sadness Frank feels after losing Meechum. On top of the fact that neither Frank nor Meechum identified as queer or formally recognized their relationship as anything more than President and Secret Service agent, queer lives are devalued to the point where their loss is rendered invisible; Frank does not have the privilege of mourning the loss of something he never had, and we see how this affects him as he unravels a bit during his recovery. House of Cards, through Meechum’s death, transforms President Underwood from a simply power hungry sexual deviant to a somewhat sensitive man with same-sex desires based both on physical attraction and emotional connection. In building sympathy for Frank while he mourns, the show comments on the difficult effects sexual and social norms have on those who attempt to inhabit them by ‘passing’ or those who live in tension with them altogether. Couples like the Underwoods – who appear to inhabit most of these norms in the public eye – reveal that when such high value is placed on ‘authentic’ heterosexual marriages and the nuclear families they are assumed to (re)produce, we run the risk of erasing or marginalizing the lives of those who do not embody normativity, or who do not have the means to ‘pass’ as normative.</p>
<p>Even in the real and House of Cards’ fictional 2016, Americans remain fixated on marriages rooted in (the nuclear) family and (heterosexual) love. Why do we reject relationships that may be built upon or upheld by other desires, be they for financial, career-related, or safety reasons? Why, in order to be the leader of the ‘free world,’ does Frank’s marriage to Claire need to be perceived as what it is certainly not: a strictly heterosexual bond between two monogamous adults who want(ed) to have children? Why is it still hard for many to imagine politicians who come from queer families, women-led families, or no families at all? This 2016 election cycle and the latest season of House of Cards reflect the concentration of power to regulate gender and sexuality norms through the families of politicians and, in the greatest sense, the role of the White House as a figure for what normative, nuclear families should embody: love, heterosexuality, the desire and ability to have children, and an emphasis on men’s careers above and before women’s.</p> | Politics, Power and Queerness in “House of Cards” Season 4 | true | http://feministing.com/2016/05/31/politics-power-and-queerness-in-house-of-cards-season-4/ | 4 |
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<p>Senator Lindsey Graham once said that choosing between Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz would be like choosing between “ <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/lindsey-graham-trump-cruz-choice-218069" type="external">being shot or poisoned</a>.” Although it is unclear which reference was aimed at whom, Graham has stepped up and chosen one of the symbolic fatal incidents by announcing that he will begin fundraising for Cruz’s presidential run.</p>
<p>While speaking with CNN anchor Dana Bash, Graham, who once <a href="" type="internal">callously joked about the murder of Cruz</a> on the senate floor, which “no one” would be convicted for, has announced his tepid support for Cruz chiefly because of Cruz’s support for Israel and Trump’s fake conservatism.</p>
<p>Graham told Bash that although he favors Ohio Governor John Kasich as the most “viable candidate," Cruz is "the best alternative to Donald Trump," thus he will "help Ted in every way I can."</p>
<p>Graham added, "He's certainly not my preference, but he's a reliable Republican, conservative, which I've had many differences with.”</p>
<p>After making it abundantly clear that he does not support Cruz’s “tactics," Graham explained how fearful he is of a Trump nominee: "I have doubts about Mr. Trump, I don't think he's a Republican, I don't think he's a conservative, I think his campaign's built on xenophobia, race-baiting and religious bigotry, I think he'd be a disaster for our party and as Senator Cruz would not be my first choice, I think he is a Republican conservative who I could support."</p>
<p>The “Never Trump” movement has picked up steam in recent days as we draw closer and closer to the Republican convention. Graham has hopped on board in uniting with Cruz, along with businesswoman <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/carly-fiorina-endorses-ted-cruz-220494" type="external">Carly Fiorina</a>, South Carolina Governor <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/03/16/nikki-haley-backs-ted-cruz-after-collapse-of-marco-rubios-campaign/?_r=0" type="external">Nikki Haley</a> (a former Senator Rubio backer), and now even <a href="https://theweek.com/articles/613034/marco-rubio-team-ted-cruz-now" type="external">Rubio seems to be swinging toward Cruz</a> too.</p>
<p>The Never Trump movement is certainly making headway, but the question remains: Is this sudden coalition against Trump through backing Cruz simply too late?</p> | Has Hell Frozen Over? You’ll NEVER Guess Who's Fundraising For Ted Cruz. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/4217/has-hell-frozen-over-youll-never-guess-whos-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2016-03-18 | 0 |
<p>Brazilian clown Tiririca didn't even pretend to run a serious campaign, and he was <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11465127" type="external">rewarded</a>with more than 1.3 million votes and a job in government. Tiririca, who started his professional life at age 8 in a circus, will serve as the federal deputy for Sao Paulo, although he may be asked to take a literacy test.</p>
<p>Clearly this bodes well for the tea party. - PZS</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>But the main sensation of the election campaign was Tiririca, who ran humorous campaign adverts on YouTube that attracted millions of hits.</p>
<p />
<p>"What does a federal deputy do? Truly, I don't know. But vote for me and I will find out for you," was one of his messages.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11465127" type="external">Read more</a></p>
<p /> | Brazil Elects a Clown -- Literally -- to Congress | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/brazil-elects-a-clown-literally-to-congress/ | 2010-10-04 | 4 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Seeing immigration reform as the perfect 11th hour wedge issue against Republicans, and to hopefully solidify a foundation with their Hispanic base in 2012, Sen. Harry Reid has finally set some time after Thanksgiving to <a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/nov/17/reid-pressing-pass-dream-act-repeal-ban-gays-milit/" type="external">bring the DREAM Act to a vote</a>&#160;in the waning hours of the 111th Congress.</p>
<p>Unlike in September, when Reid tried to slip the provision into a defense appropriations bill that failed, one of the most honorable aspects about the DREAM Act this time around is that it will be stripped raw, standing alone without any other legislative gimmicks attached to it.</p>
<p>From an accountability standpoint, this will give members of congress a chance to declare their up or down stance on the issue of immigration reform. How members vote on this bill will in all likelihood determine the loyalty of support from some of their minority constituents. In addition, how politicians from both houses of congress vote in the end will also determine their future standing with those constituents who draw a harder line toward immigration policy, such as an Arizona-like law.</p>
<p>Yes, the stand alone bill pins politicians into a corner, as it very much should.&#160;</p>
<p>Reid’s home state newspaper, The Las Vegas Sun, notes that the bill has some hurdles to clear in the Senate as it might face a 60 vote fillbuster-proof barrier. To the neglect of bloggers on the left like the Daily Kos who like to say that <a href="https://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/8/19/183420/168" type="external">it is Republicans who hate Hispanics</a>, facts are a hard thing to swallow. The Sun <a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/nov/17/reid-pressing-pass-dream-act-repeal-ban-gays-milit/" type="external">notes the following</a> in this week’s article covering the DREAM Act in a lame duck congress:</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; “Immigration doesn’t split neatly along party lines. While Democrats are more supportive than Republicans are of changes to the laws that favor immigrant inclusion, as opposed to just exclusionary enforcement, they aren’t of one mind about it. Many sitting Democrats voted against immigration reform the last time it came up for a true referendum in 2007.”</p>
<p>Obviously, hate is not a central part of the issue.&#160;</p>
<p>For all that can be said on immigration reform at this point, the lame duck vote coming next week certainly doesn’t exclude Republicans from coming up with a solution of their own (especially now that they have the ball in their court by retaking the House).&#160; An <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704312504575618520808255794.html" type="external">argument</a> by two Republican officials says that the immigration reform debate belonged to the Republicans in the first place and that the 112th session of congress provides them with an opportunity to take it back by providing some real solutions to the current problem. Championed by Republicans like Ronald Reagan in 1986 and by the GOP in 1996, the immigration reform effort was also pushed by President Bush in 2006. As a matter of fact, if President Bush were president today, he would <a href="http://newscastmedia.com/bush-and-rush.htm" type="external">say</a>&#160;that there would be no need for the strict Arizona law if his plan were in place. While Democrats have led the way only recently on immigration, it has been Republicans who have really taken leadership.</p>
<p>If Republicans were to come up with a plan today, as the authors of the Journal article state, then it would need to be one that needs to take into account a post 9/11 world of emphasizing security, background checks for visa insurance, border security, and apprehending dangerous criminals. There can also be reforms in incentivizing highly skilled foreigners who study at the nation’s universities to stay and bring their innovation to the struggling U.S. economy.</p>
<p>If Republicans play their cards right and take advantage of their House majority to build a strong Hispanic coalition, Democrats could be seeing red come November 2012.&#160;</p> | Democrats seek to use DREAM Act as final wedge issue against Republicans | false | https://ivn.us/2010/11/19/democrats-seek-use-dream-act-final-wedge-issue-against-republicans/ | 2010-11-19 | 2 |
<p />
<p />
<p>This is how <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obama-skipped-aunts-funeral-went-golfing-instead_787272.html" type="external">The Weekly Standard reported the story:</a></p>
<p>President Obama did not attend the funeral of his late aunt Zeituni Onyango. Instead, he went golfing.</p>
<p>However, The NY Times (where the story was first reported) shows more, er…‘sensitivity’ in their coverage:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/us/politics/amid-politics-obama-drifted-away-from-kin.html?smid=tw-share" type="external">Amid Politics, Obama Drifted Away From Kin</a></p>
<p />
<p>….Every complicated family is complicated in its own way. The Obamas, in that sense, are ordinary. But the natural drift that has occurred within the family — already separated by oceans and languages — is exacerbated by politics.</p>
<p>….Now, as the president has embraced the family more culturally near to him — the half sister on his mother’s side with whom he remained close, the Ivy League-educated brother-in-law he bonds with over basketball, the mother-in-law who lives upstairs — the Obamas are often relegated to the farther branches of his family tree….</p>
<p>So, if Aunt Zeituni had been “Ivy League-educated,” he might have been able to “bond” with her?</p>
<p />
<p>Whatever…</p> | true | http://tammybruce.com/2014/04/obama-goes-golfing-skips-aunt-zeitunis-funeral.html | 0 |
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<p />
<p>+ First things first. I want to apologize to the Sandernistas for any impolite things I may have <a href="" type="internal">written about you</a> in the past 10 months. I especially want to apologize to those of you who rose up after your leader abandoned you, after Bernie wiped out your votes and muted your voices, after he turned you over to the DNC’s thuggish floor managers and security guards, after he sat passively as your brave chants of “No More Drones” were drowned out by the fascist war-cry of “USA! USA!!” I want to apologize for doubting your resolve. I want to apologize without qualification. You didn’t cry when Bernie betrayed you. Not for long. You marched right back into the Wells Fargo Center intent on spoiling the party. You didn’t sour on your ideals. You refused to be domesticated. You pissed on their carpet. You shouted down their war criminals. You made this squalid affair fun for a few precious hours. And that ain’t bad. Somewhere Abbie Hoffman is cracking a smile (though perhaps not at the spectacle of Meryl Streep ripping off <a href="" type="internal">his wardrobe</a> during her <a href="" type="internal">bewildering performance</a>, an act so incoherent it&#160;made one long for the Absurdist theater of Clint Eastwood and <a href="" type="internal">his empty chair</a>&#160;routine.)</p>
<p>+ I woke up this morning with a hangover that has defied the usual remedies. Too much mezcal from the Kaine Drinking Game (one shot for every reversal of a long-held position). Too many hours of tedium, dread and bombast. For relief, I turned to the Holy Text itself, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451691572/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: ’72</a> and drank in HTS’s&#160;savage denunciation of lesser-evil voting:</p>
<p>“How many more of these goddam elections are we going to have to write off as lame but ‘regrettably necessary’ holding actions? And how many more of these stinking double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me at least the 20 million people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils? I understand, along with a lot of other people, that the big thing, this year, is Beating Nixon. But that was also the big thing, as I recall, twelve years ago in 1960—and as far as I can tell, we’ve gone from bad to worse to rotten since then, and the outlook is for more of the same.”</p>
<p>Ah, I feel better now. Will someone please fax that to Professor Chomsky?</p>
<p>+ Trump took to Twitter early this morning, as his hair was being replastered into place, and denounced the All Star lineup at the Democratic Convention last night as an orgy of “empty rhetoric.” He wasn’t wrong. The whole affair had the feel of one of those rock concerts featuring bands from the 1970s. The first few phrases were thrilling, then it all started to fade away into a nostalgic stream of familiar hooks and licks you’ve heard a thousand times before on Classic Rock AM radio. All played very well with magnificent staging and a dazzling light show, yet utterly antiseptic. The curious Tim Kaine interlude was the lone exception. It was hard to tell if his performance was camp or kitsch.</p>
<p>+ Here’s another reason to like Harry Reid and lament his looming retirement from the Senate. Shortly after his speech at the Democratic Convention, Reid laid some wood on the DNC. He said he was appalled by the DNC’s efforts to sabotage Bernie Sanders’ campaign, saying “Sanders didn’t get a fair deal.” Reid was asked if the Democratic Party has a back-up plan if further damaging emails emerge that might cripple Clinton. He shrugged his shoulders and said flatly, “No.” Then again maybe Bernie deserved his fate. After all, he went along with the crushing of his campaign willingly enough, kind of like Al Gore in 2000, when he refused to challenge his own stolen election. Bernie basked in the spotlight of his great betrayal, a surrender marketed as “unity.” He savored each small, patronizing mention of his name last night by Kaine, Biden and Obama. Meanwhile, Sanders capitulated to demands from the DNC that he agree to prohibit own of his most ardent supporters, Nina Turner, the black former state senator from Ohio, from appearing on stage to place his name in nomination. “If it were Beyoncé,” Susan Sarandon fumed, “they would’ve made it work.” It’s even worse than that, Susan. The DNC is giving prime time slots on the stage to lesser talents than Beyoncé, including Carole King and Katy Perry. &#160;Turner’s crime? She’s refused to kneel down and endorse Clinton. Bernie’s crime? He choose Hillary or Nina Turner. I tell you again: there’s a reason so many blacks were suspicious about Sanders from the very beginning.</p>
<p>+ The New York Times reports that after spending most of the spring in hiding, mega-donors are flocking back to the Clinton campaign. With Bernie vanquished and pacified, it is now safe for the powerbrokers of the Clinton cash machine to re-emerge, after being asked by the campaign to be discreet during the primaries. Now hedge funders, insurance execs, Big Pharma lobbyists and securities traders can get back to the business of wining and dining the Clinton Team with style. Don’t worry though. This is their last hurrah, before Hillary, you know,&#160;Citizens United and slums shut the access door on them permanently (wink, wink)…</p>
<p>+ Ned Sublette, author of the monumental American Slave Coast, writes to remind me that Bill Clinton did a 180 on Cuba policy. He campaigned on a pledge to normalize relations with Cuba, then in 1996 did the opposite when he signed the vicious Helms-Burton Act, which tightened the embargo on Cuba nearly to the point of strangulation. The man who prodded Clinton to do so? Leon Panetta. Hit the replay button and shout him down again, in Spanish this time.</p>
<p><a href="http://store.counterpunch.org/" type="external" /></p>
<p>+ We will no doubt be bombarded tonight with a cluster bomb of references to Hillary’s brittle little book, It Takes a Village, which Cockburn savagely reviewed in The Nation, earning him a raft of rebukes from the feminist lobby. Here’s a nugget that sums up&#160;the Clintonian approach to the exploitation of children for their political advantage:</p>
<p>“The Clintonite passion for talking about children as ‘investments’ tells the whole story. Managed capitalism (progressivism’s ideal, minted in the Teddy Roosevelt era) needs regulation, and just as the stock market requires—somewhat theoretically these days—the Security and Exchange Commission, so too does the social investment (a child) require social workers, shrinks, guidance counselors and the whole vast army of the helping professions, to make sure the investment yields a respectable rate of return.</p>
<p>“The do-good progressives at the start of the century saw the family—particularly the immigrant family—as a conservative institution. So, they attacked it. Then their preferred economic system—consumer capitalism—began to sunder under the social fabric, and so today’s do-gooders say that the family and the children, our ‘investment,’ must be saved by any means necessary. When the FBI was getting ready to incinerate the Branch Davidians they told Janet Reno the group’s children were being abused. Save them, she cried. They went at it and all, including the children, were burned alive.”</p>
<p>It will come as no surprise to seasoned Clintonologists that Hillary didn’t actually write the book herself. It may, but shouldn’t, come as a surprise that Hillary (like Trump) stiffed the ghost-writer of the It Takes a Village out of the final payment. For the gory details see Doug Henwood’s book <a href="" type="internal">My Turn.</a></p>
<p>+ Chuck Schumer: “I’m not worried about the white working class voters. For every blue collar white male we lose, we’ll gain two college educated women voters in the suburbs.” I’d put my money on the TPP passing before Christmas.</p>
<p>What else would you expect from Schumer? The only regular interaction he has with working class people is the elevator operator at Citibank when he rides up to the executive suite to pick up a campaign check.</p>
<p>I’ll give Schumer this much. Though the Senator looks a little awkward, he must be a remarkable athlete. All these years racing from one TV camera to the next and not even a sprained ankle.</p>
<p>+ I used to admire Laurence Tribe. I don’t remember why now. I have a vague memory of him as a fierce defender of free speech and civil liberties. But here he is serving as a Clinton attack dog for the red-baiting of Donald Trump. In lockstep with the National Security elites, Tribe ludicrously said Trump’s snarky remarks asking Russia to return Hillary’s missing emails may have violated US law. If so, then you’d expect someone like Tribe to rush off to court to have such a law stricken down as unconstitutional. He knows it’s all bullshit, but is apparently happy to play his role in the new McCarthyism. Perhaps Tribe thinks he’s finally going to land on the Supreme Court. I’d support a Rand Paul-led filibuster against him. Have you no shame, professor?</p>
<p>+ Expect some flood warnings as the tears begin to flow when the nation celebrates its own enlightenment in finally nominating a woman for president. The rest of the world will view this “historic moment” as something of a participation trophy. Eighty-five women from 54 different nations have already been elected or appointed as heads of government starting in 1960 with Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Women have led governments in: India, Israel, Central African Republic, UK, Portugal, Dominica, Norway, Pakistan, Lithuania, Bangladesh, France, Poland, Turkey, Canada, Burundi, Rwanda, Bulgaria, Haiti, Guyana, New Zealand, Mongolia, New Zealand, Northern Cyprus, Senegal, South Korea, Sao Tome and Principe, Finland, Peru, Mozambique, Macedonia, Ukraine, &#160;Liberia, Bahamas, Germany, Jamiaca, Ukraine, Moldova, Haiti, Iceland, Croatia, Madagascar, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Slovakia, Mali, Thailand, Denmark, the Philippines, Guinea-Bissau, Slovenia, Latvia, Transnistria, Poland, Namibia, Greece, and Myanmar.</p>
<p>+ Terry O’Neill, head of Now, was asked about the tardiness of the US in relation to the rest of the world in electing a female head of state. Her response was a strange, almost misogynistic putdown of other women world leaders. “Many of them weren’t feminists. Hillary was a born feminist. It was a harder road for her.” USA! USA!</p>
<p>If Elizabeth Dole or Sarah Palin had somehow been elected president, I wonder if NOW would have put an asterisk by their names?</p>
<p>+ Working class hero Sherrod Brown, the Ohio senator who was snubbed for the VP slot, told CNN that: “We’re going to win in part by showing that Trump is a hypocrite on trade.” Did he run this message by Hillary and Kaine?</p>
<p>+ So far it’s 6 for 6. 6 speakers 6 “God Bless Americas.” There goes Tammy Duckworth. Make that 7 for 7. Despite the allegation by Ben Carson that Hillary communes with Lucifer, it’s looking like it will be another big night for God.</p>
<p>+ Here comes Elizabeth Warren to give yet another testimonial to her new BFF, HRC: “Hillary is a fighter who never gives up for the people who need her most.” Like Goldman Sachs, Monsanto and Benjamin Netanyahu. You can take it to the bank.</p>
<p>+ Joaquin Castro, the rising political star from Texas, is now on stage talking about how sensitive Hillary is to the plight of Mexican immigrants and undocumented aliens. This wasn’t always the case and who really knows if it is now. During the NAFTA debates, the Clinton administration went hard after the perils of Mexican immigration, using language that Trump may have cribbed. Al Gore even went so far as to blame Mexican immigrants for the spread of Satanic abuse in the US. This was a double lie. First, Mexican immigrants weren’t practicing Satanic abuse (or Santeria, as the Clinton people also alleged). And second there was NO Satanic abuse epidemic. Hard to document even a single real case. But these pernicious and racist lies helped sell the deal that continues to debilitate people on both sides of the border.</p>
<p>Remember that Hillary strongly backed the cruel Obama administration policy of rounding up thousands of immigrant children and sending them back to Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. When Sanders confronted her once or twice, she essentially pulled a Madeleine Albright and said it was the right thing to do. All for the children, you understand.</p>
<p>+ Chris Cuomo is giving a tribute to his father Mario Cuomo, both of whom worked as lawyers for…Donald Trump. Trumps and Cuomos go way back. In fact, Donald encouraged Mario to run for president in 1988 (he hated Bush) and Mario urged Donald to run for governor of NY, after he stepped down. Bi-partisanship you can believe. (See Wayne Barrett’s Trump: the Deals and the Downfall)</p>
<p>Cuomo is attacking Trump for “selling fear,” as he simultaneously sells fear of Trump. The Republicans sell a dark dystopian fear. While the Democrats sell fear with a smile and a drone strike.</p>
<p>+ Melania Trump’s petty crime&#160;of word theft was much less noxious than the Democrats flagrant cribbing of the GOP’s rabid USA! USA!!&#160;chants.</p>
<p>+ Nancy Pelosi, defender of the poor &amp; alleged inside stock (Visa) trader. Net Worth: $58 million. Who says West Coast liberalism doesn’t pay?</p>
<p>Pelosi mumbles unintelligible syllables into the microphone for five minutes and flies off to check her portfolio to Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.”</p>
<p>+ Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen have shown up to talk about how Hillary practices the “poetry of doing.” Doing what, one might ask? Steenburgen, a native Arkansan, is the woman Bill Clinton reportedly took out to dinner the night he executed the brain-damaged Ricky Ray Rector to boost his poll numbers in the 1992 campaign. There’s ice running through those Clinton veins. Mary Steenburgen, the woman Bill Clinton took out to dinner the night he executed the brain-damaged Ricky Ray Rector to boost his poll numbers in the 1992 campaign. It’s one thing to mock the disabled; it’s something else entirely to put them to death for your own political advancement.</p>
<p>+ Have the speakers tonight been instructed to be boring in order to make Hillary seem livelier by contrast? Or are they just flatline boring by nature?</p>
<p>+ I said last night that Obama’s speech was written in the key of Reagan. Now here is one Reagan’s speechwriters, Doug Elmets, giving a full-throated &amp; unconditional endorsement of Clinton, as the true heir of the Reagan legacy. Can anyone prove him wrong?</p>
<p>+ Yet another cop at the Mic, a moment of silence for the fallen police and speeches from relatives of dead officers. The Democrats have featured more cops as prime time speakers than the GOP, all of them lecturing about how “violence isn’t the solution” to anything. Since January 1, 668 civilians have been killed by police.</p>
<p>+ DNC Convention Motto for Coronation Night: “God, the flag and drones.”</p>
<p>There seem to be more flags in the hall tonight than at Arlington Cemetery on Memorial Day. Curiously, despite the non-step odes to the dead, none are being waved at half-staff. Thanks for the memories…</p>
<p>+ Rev. William Barber: “Jesus, a brown-skinned, Palestinian Jew…” Can’t wait to see how Bill O’Reilly explicates that tomorrow night.</p>
<p>Whoops, he said Palestinian again! They may have to pull Rev. Barber off the stage to keep him from saying the word “Palestinians” once more. By a special order of the convention rules, “Palestinians” are only allowed two mentions for the week.</p>
<p>+ The chants of USA, USA!! during Khizr Khan’s moving and powerful speech about his slain son is revolting. Do you have to be a “patriotic” American Muslim to enjoy the rights of the constitution that Khan showed? If you are a “patriotic Pakistani” does that protect you from a CIA drone strike?</p>
<p>+ Gen. Allen’s deranged speech could have been written by Donald Rumsfeld. Perhaps it was. I feel like I’ve just watched the first 45 minutes of Full-Metal Jacket again.</p>
<p>+ Trump has really gotten under the skin of the military-security establishment. His repeated swipes at NATO did it. They’ve united behind HRC. You’ve got to give him that. On the other hand, it gives an ominous new meaning to “Stronger Together.”</p>
<p>+ Who knew the Democratic National Convention would turn into a military recruitment video?</p>
<p>+ How can they possibly top this? A live drone strike on the big screen?</p>
<p>+ Two parties, both proto-fascist. How to choose?</p>
<p>+ If I were the Iranians and North Koreans, I’d be hardening my bunkers, pronto. Assad should probably book a room at the nearest Ecuadoran Embassy.</p>
<p>+ Gen. Allen just annihilated every humane sentiment expressed in Rev. Barber’s powerful sermon. Perhaps that was the point.</p>
<p>+ We begin to see the outlines of Hillary’s economic plan: military Kaine-sianism.</p>
<p>+ Bernie, how do you like your party now?</p>
<p>+ I wouldn’t be shocked if those super-charged delegates goose-step out of the Wells Fargo Center tonight to invade Delaware, waving their flags and chanting USA, USA!!!&#160;all the way to Dover.</p>
<p>+ Boomer, our Australian Shepherd, still hasn’t emerged from the closet where he fled during Gen. Allen’s war rant. Who can blame him?</p>
<p>+ Hillary has already out-Thatchered the Iron Lady and she hasn’t been elected yet. She’s made the complete metamorphosis from a Goldwater girl to a McGovern woman to a Reagan granny.</p>
<p>+ Mission Impossible: Chelsea trying to humanize her mother after the blood-thirsty madness of the previous 30 minutes.</p>
<p>+ Chelsea says her mother lost the fight for “universal health care.” Not true. Her plan wasn’t for “universal health care”, another market oriented scheme called “Managed Competition” and she fucked up that through her own incompetence and hubris, setting back the cause of single-payer by at least a generation. No wonder Chelsea decided not to go to med school.</p>
<p>+ “How many times will she leave her mark? How many ways will she light up the world?” the disembodied voice of Morgan Freeman asks. Well, how many drones and cruise missiles can Lockheed and Boeing manufacture in four years?</p>
<p>+ The word of the night is fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. I don’t know if the children are scared, but I am.</p>
<p>+ I am Woman, hear my missiles ROAR!</p>
<p>+ People in the audience are crying. I’m crying. I don’t think we’re crying for the same reasons.</p>
<p>+ Hillary looks and sounds more and more like Cersei Lannister with each new speech.</p>
<p>+ Hillary once again embraces Reagan to bash Trump. Reagan left the Democratic Party in the 1950s, but the Party apparently never left him.</p>
<p>+ I’m getting a weird vibe that they might actually bring out Qaddafi’s head on a pike.</p>
<p>+ HRC says the “service part” always came more naturally to her than the “public part”. Well, that explains the private email server…</p>
<p>+ In her brisk recitation of the Rodham family history, Hillary somehow left out the fact that her father was a John Bircher. Of course, by the end of Hillary’s&#160;2nd term her father may seem as meek as&#160;George McGovern.</p>
<p>+ Does Hillary cough every time she lies, or does she cough every time see stumbles into the truth?</p>
<p>+ Note the repeated emphasis on “believe” instead of “know” in Hillary’s description of her political ideology. My friend John Trudell used to warn against the “believers.” “Think more, believe less” he said. In Hillary’s case, “believe” is likely shorthand for “make-believe.”</p>
<p>+ The comparisons of HRC to Lady Macbeth are grossly unfair…to Lady Macbeth.&#160;Lady Macbeth had a conscience.</p>
<p>+ She says she loves to talk about her “plans.” Has she started yet? I haven’t heard one specific plan. Maybe she’s talking about her invasion plans. Oh, yes, she getting around to that now…</p>
<p>+ Pledge fealty to Israel. Check. Defend NATO. Check. Bash Russia. Check. Destroy ISIS (by funding Al Qaeda?). Check. Praise the Generals. Check. Hail our military (and its defense contractors) as a national treasure. Check. Salute the troops. Check. America is great. Check. America is good. Check. America is not a bully. Check. Manifest Destiny. Check. God bless America. Check.</p>
<p>+ Unlike Hillary’s idol Ronald Reagan, there was no&#160;pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons. Just a vow to have a more stable hand on the button than Trump. Like that Harry Truman. Duck and cover.</p>
<p>+ How appropriate that it all ends with Hillary and Kaine standing before a golden (or is it, Goldman?) shower raining down on America!</p>
<p>+ As a final blessing, Hillary’s&#160;preacher has come out to confirm at last what we’ve long suspected: there’s a Methodism to her Madness.</p>
<p>+ All Sandernistas should leave the Wells Fargo Center before they lock the exits. (See Red Wedding.)</p>
<p>+ Hillary passed her audition. She’s the authentic <a href="http://store.counterpunch.org/product/queen-of-chaos/" type="external">Queen of Chaos</a> and when she stoops, she stoops to conquer.</p>
<p>Notes From the Democratic Convention</p>
<p>Day One:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Don’t Cry for Me, DNC!</a></p>
<p>Day Two:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The Humiliation Games</a></p>
<p>Day Three:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Night of the Hollow Men</a></p>
<p>Day Four:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">She Stoops to Conquer</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | She Stoops to Conquer: Notes From the Democratic Convention | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/07/29/she-stoops-to-conquer-notes-from-the-democratic-convention/ | 2016-07-29 | 4 |
<p>Apple edges up ahead of earnings</p>
<p>The U.S. stock market finished higher Tuesday, with the Dow logging its second straight record and a sixth straight session in positive territory on the back of upbeat earnings, shaking off less-than-stellar reports on manufacturing and inflation.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 72.80 points, or 0.3%, to finish at an all-time closing high at 21,963.92, marking its 31st record in 2017 and putting the blue-chip gauge within 40 points of a milestone at 22,000. The Dow had touched an intraday all-time high at 21,990.96 before retreating somewhat.</p>
<p>Read:Dow flirts with a fresh milestone -- 22,000 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-flirts-with-a-fresh-milestone-22000-2017-07-31)</p>
<p>The blue-chip benchmark has been steadily outperforming other benchmarks over the past few sessions, thanks in part to earnings-driven gains in aircraft maker Boeing Co.(BA) and oil giant Chevron Corp.(CVX). On Tuesday, Intel Corp. (INTC) led the advance, rising 2.5%., as Boeing halted a win streak at seven sessions, closing down 1.3% on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The S&amp;P 500 index rose 6.05 points, or 0.2%, to 2,476.35, not far from its record close set last week at 2,477.83. Financials and technology were among the best sector performers of the S&amp;P 500's 11 industry groups.</p>
<p>The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 14.82 points, or 0.2%, to 6,362.94.</p>
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<p>"A combination of [market] fundamentals and positive earnings are propelling stocks higher" amid a market-friendly backdrop as the Federal Reserve takes a gradual path to normalizing interest rates along with healthy global growth, said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial.</p>
<p>Earnings remained in focus, with traders awaiting further signs of upbeat sentiment in earnings, which have so far provided healthy, said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.</p>
<p>As of last Friday, 73% of the S&amp;P 500 companies that had reported earnings posted sales numbers above estimates, according to FactSet. That puts the second quarter on track to mark the highest percentage of companies beating sales forecasts since FactSet began tracking data in 2008.</p>
<p>Apple Inc.(AAPL) was slated to report after the closing bell. The iPhone maker's results are likely to attract more than the usual share of scrutiny as the tech giant is the last of the so-called FAANG group of high-growth stocks comprised of Facebook Inc. (FB), Apple, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Netflix Inc. (NFLX), and Google -parent Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) -- to report. Apple's stock rose slightly to $149.17.</p>
<p>Read:Apple earnings: How long will iPhone sales be on 'pause'? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-earnings-how-long-will-iphone-sales-be-on-pause-2017-07-31)</p>
<p>See also:The stock market's fortunes may ride on Apple's shoulders (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-stock-markets-near-term-fortunes-may-ride-on-apples-earnings-2017-07-29)</p>
<p>Stock movers: Xerox Corp.(XRX) shares rallied 5.8% after better-than-expected earnings.</p>
<p>Shares of Ford Motors(F) dropped by 2.4% and General Motors Co. (GM) shares finished 3.4% lower after reporting sharp declines in car sales in July.</p>
<p>Archer Daniels Midland Co.(ADM) shares rose 2.7% after the company beat earnings estimates.</p>
<p>Steven Madden Ltd.(SHOO) also reported earnings that topped estimates, sending shares 2% higher.</p>
<p>Sprint Corp. (S) shares jumped 11.2% as the telecom company posted profit for the first time in three years.</p>
<p>Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.(RCL) shares jumped 3.4% after the company beat earnings estimates and raised its profit guidance.</p>
<p>Shares of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.(REGN) fell 4% after Baird downgraded the company to underperform.</p>
<p>Shares of Pfizer Inc. (PFE) slipped 0.2% after the drugmaker reported adjusted earnings ahead of forecasts.</p>
<p>Beyond tech giant Apple, after the market close, Herbalife Ltd.(HLF), Allstate Corp.(ALL) and Match Group Inc.(MTCH) are among companies slated to report.</p>
<p>Political reversals: Investors were still assessing the latest drama from the White House, in which communications director Anthony Scaramucci on Monday was removed from his post (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/anthony-scaramucci-ousted-as-white-house-communications-director-2017-07-31-151031643) after just 10 days in the job.</p>
<p>"The dismissal of the U.S. White House communications director could be interpreted as the reasserting of authority over the executive branch, or a signal of the worst chaos the White House has known since President Jackson's inauguration," said Paul Donovan, global chief economist at UBS, in a note.</p>
<p>Check out:Ex-Marine Kelly in, ex-Wall Streeter Scaramucci out: Why Trump made the switch (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ex-marine-kelly-in-ex-wall-streeter-scaramucci-out-why-trump-made-switch-2017-07-31)</p>
<p>Economic news: Consumer spending in June rose by the smallest amount in five months as income growth flatlined, but lower gasoline prices also played a role.</p>
<p>The personal-consumption expenditure index, or PCE index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, was flat in June. What's more, the 12-month rate of inflation stood at 1.4%, down from 2.2% earlier in the year.</p>
<p>The IHS Markit final manufacturing PMI climbed to 53.3 in July from a preliminary result of 52.</p>
<p>The ISM manufacturing index fell to 56.3% in July from 57.8%, while construction spending slipped 1.3% from revised May reading to $1.21 trillion SAAR in June.</p>
<p>Other markets: European stocks traded higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-rise-on-wave-of-earnings-with-gdp-in-focus-2017-08-01), while Asian markets also gained. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-start-august-with-gains-2017-07-31)</p>
<p>The dollar edged 0.2% higher following a recent selloff, while oil prices settled 2% lower (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-hovers-above-52-a-barrel-as-investors-grow-confident-of-tightening-market-2017-08-01) as investors fretted about the ability of major oil producers to trim a global glut of crude. Gold futures closed near an eight-week peak (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-challenged-to-hold-seven-week-highs-2017-08-01).</p>
<p>--Sara Sjolin and Mark DeCambre contributed to this article</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 01, 2017 16:35 ET (20:35 GMT)</p> | MARKET SNAPSHOT: Dow Books 31st Record In 2017, Nears 22,000 As Earnings Fuel Stock Gains | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/01/market-snapshot-dow-books-31st-record-in-2017-nears-22000-as-earnings-fuel-stock-gains.html | 2017-08-01 | 0 |
<p>Systemic contradictions of capitalism have only intensified in the neoliberal era. Structural unemployment, a phenomenon directly related to capitalist modes of production, has continued unabated, creating a massive and ever-growing “reserve army of labor” that has been disenfranchised on an unprecedented scale.&#160;</p>
<p>Working classes, en masse, have been corralled into legalized systems of education debt with false promises of “middle-class” lifestyles, only to be tossed into a job market that can no longer keep up with the system’s inherent deficits and inability to provide a living wage to the masses. Massive inequality and unprecedented wealth accumulation and concentration have paralleled uncontrollable costs of living and widespread housing insecurity for the working-class majority.&#160;</p>
<p>The twentieth-century liberal experiment has failed, bringing down with it the delusional hopes of constructing a manageable and benevolent form of capitalism. The ripple effects of capitalism’s structural failures, intensified by modern forms of government-facilitated debt slavery, job markets that can no longer keep pace with wage demands, and interrelated housing insecurity and displacement, have pushed us into a twenty-first-century serfdom. We are left wondering how long this balancing act can last.</p>
<p>Capitalism and Underemployment</p>
<p>Unemployment is not a natural occurrence within society. It is a purely capitalist problem that arises from artificial economic arrangements, most notably the advent of wage labor, which forces people to serve as commodities. This is an important point that is often missed, especially in regards to modern assessments of the labor market and popular reports that focus on the fiction of an unemployment rate. In the United States, since the 1950s, the official unemployment rate has fluctuated between 4.4 percent and 10 percent.1 Full employment in a capitalist system is neither possible (without government intervention) nor desirable to capitalists or those who benefit from the system. Rather, substantial and perpetual unemployment is both a byproduct of the system’s relational mechanisms and a necessity that serves a systemic purpose in regards to profitability and wage reduction (or stagnation). The never-ending search for profit by those who have access to capital, and the means to reproduce it, places those who must sell their labor power to survive in a perpetual state of insecurity. Other than the fundamental extraction of profit through the labor process (surplus value), the most basic method in regenerating profit comes from replacing variable capital (living labor) with fixed capital (machines), a relationship that Marx referred to as the “organic composition of capital.”2 While the process of creating surplus labor value consists of paying wages that equal a fraction of the value created, the process of increasing productive capacities through the implementation of machinery leaves living labor in an even more precarious situation. This process leads to the creation of what Marx referred to as the “Industrial Reserve Army” (the unemployed)—a phenomenon that becomes both a byproduct and a leveraging tool within the capitalist system.&#160;</p>
<p>Attempts to circumvent capitalism’s tendency to create and maintain high amounts of unemployment and underemployment have been carried out by industrialized capitalist societies utilizing Keynesian economic programs. By calling on a high degree of governmental involvement in the economic system vis-à-vis taxation and supplementation, John Maynard Keynes believed that structural problems like “involuntary unemployment” could be remedied.3 When coupled with the post-World War II economic boom in the United States, Keynesian techniques appeared to make positive steps towards remedying structural unemployment. Between 1948 and 1970, the official unemployment rate in the United States was relatively low by historic measures, typically fluctuating between 3 and 5 percent, and falling below 3 percent on a few occasions during the 1950s.4 The marginal tax rate during this time—also a byproduct of Keynesian thought—was a major factor in the economic success experienced by much of the U.S. population, including the white working class in its ascent to “middle class” status, and also helped create historically low unemployment rates. From 1948 to 1963, the top marginal tax rate remained at 91 percent, with the exception of 1952 and 1953 when it was raised to 92 percent.5 In 1964, this top rate was lowered to 77 percent, and from 1965 into the 1970s, it was set at 70 percent.6</p>
<p>The Keynesian experiment came to an end in the 1980s, when neoliberalism took form as a class project. Coupled with the phenomenon of globalization, which fused formerly industrialized labor markets (unionized with living wages) in the global core with formerly colonized labor markets in the global periphery, underemployment has become an epidemic with disastrous effects. Marx warned of such developments when writing, “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe. … It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, and establish connections everywhere.”7 The global consequence of this constant pursuit of profit is not only the establishment of new markets of consumers and laborers, but also the proliferation of imperialism. For the former industrialized working classes, such as in the United States, it means an intensification of capitalist mechanisms that create unemployment and underemployment. Because of this, the replacement of manufacturing jobs by low-wage service sector jobs has become a distinguishing characteristic of American capitalism since the 1980s. Government involvement in this system has become a necessity, not for the purpose of obstructing it (as many right-wing critics claim), but for the purpose of supplementing it and propping it up via infusions of money and for maintaining the minimum of social welfare programs. The former can be seen in the increased importance of the Federal Reserve and monetarism (including the practice of quantitative easing), while the latter can be seen in the working class’s increased reliance on things like food stamps—a direct result of the disappearance of living wages.</p>
<p>The type of government involvement that became common in the 1980s was nothing like its Keynesian predecessor. Rather than seeking public programs and fiscal policies that created jobs, neoliberal intervention seeks to supplement profit accumulation for those at the top of the socio-economic ladder. This is carried out with mantras like “getting government off our backs,” lowering taxes for so-called “job creators,” and even blatantly allowing for massive profits to be justified under a promise of such money “trickling down” to the masses. As neoliberalism represents an intensification of capitalism, not only through the dismantling of Keynesian-style interventions but also through a 180-degree reversal in using government to supplement the capitalists rather than the workers, the neoliberal era has brought on a uniquely precarious existence for the working class in the United States. Thomas Palley explains:</p>
<p>Before 1980, economic policy was designed to achieve full employment, and the economy was characterized by a system in which wages grew with productivity. This configuration created a virtuous circle of growth. Rising wages meant robust aggregate demand, which contributed to full employment. Full employment in turn provided an incentive to invest, which raised productivity, thereby supporting higher wages.&#160;</p>
<p>After 1980, with the advent of the neoliberal growth model, the commitment to full employment was abandoned as inflationary, with the result that the link between productivity growth and wages was severed. In place of wage growth as the engine of demand growth, the new model substituted borrowing and asset price inflation. Adherents of the neoliberal orthodoxy made controlling inflation their primary policy concern, and set about attacking unions, the minimum wage, and other worker protections.8</p>
<p>The culmination of the disastrous neoliberal measures that began in the 1980s was realized with what has been labeled the Great Recession of 2008, whose effects are only starting to be fully understood nearly seven years later. Some alarming statistics should be emphasized: Between 2008 and 2014, the U.S. labor market lost a total of 1.4 million full-time jobs; more than 20 percent of workers who were laid off as a result of the Great Recession still have not found a new job; when considering those workers who have given up looking for employment, the unemployment rate is closer to 12 percent; of all “prime-age workers” (ages 25 to 54) in the United States, 23.3 percent were “not employed” as of November of 2014.9</p>
<p>A January 2014 study conducted by Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute, entitled, “Is There Really a Shortage of Skilled Workers?” countered a popular argument presented by the mainstream analysis, which claimed there was a shortage of qualified workers to fill so-called “skilled” positions.10 Fred Goldstein, writing on Shierholz’ research, said,</p>
<p>The study found that no matter what the skill level of workers, their unemployment rate went up by 150 percent to 190 percent from 2007 to 2013. The unemployment rate for workers with less than high school education was 10.3 percent in 2007 and 15.9 percent in 2013. For high school graduates, the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent in 2007 and 9.6 percent in 2013. For workers with some college, the unemployment figures jumped dramatically from 4.0 percent in 2007 to 7.3 percent in 2013; for college graduates, it went up from 2.4 percent to 4.5 percent and for those with advanced degrees, it went from 1.7 percent to 3.2 percent, that is, almost double.11</p>
<p>This highlights perhaps the most alarming effect of the recession, which has been a mass replacement of living-wage jobs with low-wage jobs in the service sector. In sectors that experienced severe job losses during the Great Recession, workers were earning 23 percent less in 2014. In manufacturing and construction, the average salary fell from $61,637 in 2008 to $41,171 in 2014. The jobs that have been added during the “recovery” (2009-2014) have been largely low wage, confirmed by the fact that $93 billion in “lower wage income” has been created during this time period.12</p>
<p>Toward Twenty-First-Century Serfdom: Debt, Student Loans, and Rising Costs of Living&#160;</p>
<p>The net result of prolonged and skyrocketing unemployment and underemployment and the increasing stagnation of wages is the mounting epidemic of debt. Debt, in the form of medical bills, housing costs, and ballooning mortgage payments, has contributed to people having to file for bankruptcy as well as finding themselves homeless.13 This new-age form of debt has effectively divided the United States into an income-bound set of castes, the “Haves” and “Have Nots.” The awakening to this unequal balance of wealth and debt set the stage for the Occupy Movement uprisings, which spread globally and advocated on behalf of the 99 percent, the workers who collectively hold much less economic wealth than the richest 1 percent. In real terms, according to the IRS, those who belong to the lower 99 percent of U.S. income distribution are those with a household adjusted gross income of less than $343,927. This valuation not only illustrates how wealthy the 1 percent must be, but it also speaks to the fact that there is still much socio-economic stratification within the 99 percent, including differences in the likelihood of financial hardship and debt.14 While the outsourcing of jobs has greatly contributed to unemployment, those who are lucky enough to still have a job are finding themselves working long hours or having to work multiple jobs to make ends meet. Despite the noted rise in hours worked, which should logically translate into higher annual incomes, Americans are finding themselves falling into debt at unprecedented rates.15</p>
<p>All of this has helped to give rise to what can only be referred to as a twenty-first-century serfdom. An example of the indebted economy is the fact that mergers, monopolies, and concentrations of influence have created the present reality of workers finding themselves employed by, and simultaneously indebted to, the same corporate entities. The “pay” that is earned is immediately shuffled back to these corporations in the form of student loan payments, mortgage payments, cable payments, health insurance premiums, and so on. The feasibility of paying off these employer/debt-holding entities in a timely matter, or at all, is difficult or nearly impossible, especially when considering that they are the very ones who set and keep wages low and transfer the profit from workers’ increased productivity to the pockets of CEOs, investors, shareholders, bankers, and so on.&#160;</p>
<p>Debt is a Byproduct of Capitalism</p>
<p>Within this current era of unchecked capitalism, where citizens must take to the streets in protest to persuade the government to intervene and create policies that will support a living wage or protect workers’ rights, debt and inequality are the most recognizable and predictable byproducts. The process of financialization, which began in the 1970s, depends on widespread loosening of banking regulations, environmental laws, and labor laws. Inequality is inherent in capitalism due to its concentrating of wealth in the hands of the few, in the form of monopolies and by the exploitation and maximizing of profits at the expense of, or through the labor of, the masses—the twenty-first-century serfs. Neoliberal capitalism has allowed for unprecedented concentrations of not only wealth, but power, creating a landscape where the wealthy are modern representations of feudal lords. As in feudal societies, it is the pauper (serf) who pays the biggest percentage of taxes (or dues for land usage in the case of serfs), and this is even true under Democrat-led administrations in the United States. Just consider the fact that corporate taxes decreased from 25 percent during the Bush Administration to 12 percent under Obama, while workers’ tax rates remained the same or increased.16</p>
<p>The Student-Loan Debt Crisis</p>
<p>The biggest driver for debt in the past twenty-five years has been the rising cost of tuition and student-loan debt. This debt crisis may eventually represent the proverbial “final straw that breaks the camel’s back,” as there do not seem to be any plans for immediate relief. Instead, politicians spend election seasons making false promises and arguments in favor of student debt relief, but do not offer any concrete measures to bring this into fruition. Further, those outside of socialist and progressive movements remain ignorant of, or will not be honest about, the fact that capitalism is structured to produce exploitation, concentrated wealth and profitability, and debt. Capitalism’s constant pursuit of profit has led to the transformation of higher education into a no-holds-barred profit-seeking venture. This process can be summed up as follows: Colleges and universities are using decades of cutbacks in state and federal funding for higher education to justify massive increases in tuition, the proliferation of adjunct professor positions, and budget cuts to educational and other services upon which students depend. A 2008 study published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities made headlines when it shared that on average states are spending $1,805, or 20 percent, less per student than before the recession; some states, such as Alabama, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, which are for the most part states where there is a Republican stronghold, have slashed their higher education funding by more than 35 percent since 2008, and they are topped by Arizona with a decrease of 47 percent.17 Back in 1988, in the not so long ago past, public colleges and universities received 3.2 times as much revenue from state and local governments as they did from students.18 This simply means that the student did not carry the bulk of the burden to finance higher education, which was instead paid for by public dollars, collectively sharing these costs.&#160;</p>
<p>As wages go down, the cost of tuition continues to climb, leaving behind an educated populace that is saddled with debt. Tuition jumped 28 percent between the 2008-2009 and the 2013-2014 school years, while real median income fell by approximately 8 percent over this period. To understand the bigger picture, consider that since 1973 average inflation-adjusted college tuition cost has more than tripled—an increase of 270 percent—but median household income has barely changed and is up by only 5 percent;19 this represents the core of the crisis. What are graduates to do? How are they to survive and afford their most basic needs while working low-paying jobs and still being forced to pay back a student loan that they cannot even write off in bankruptcy, like the corporations and banks do with their debts?</p>
<p>There is no greater evidence of the burden of student-loan debt than the accounting of loans that have fallen into delinquency. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a 2015 report that shared that delinquent student loans (those whose payments are 90 days or more past due) increased to 11.5 percent of the $1.9 trillion (yes trillion!) in education loans.&#160;</p>
<p>Essentially, the burden of financing the exorbitant costs of education has been passed on to the students, and the high cost with dwindling returns (where are the higher-paying jobs?) has begun to discourage would-be college-goers, a process that is equally by design. Higher education was once looked on as a means to develop a cultured, well-rounded, and informed citizenry. However, this is no longer the case, since cultivation of thinkers would only lead to questioning of the prevailing system of inequality. The Great Society programs that gained steam in the 1960s set out to make sure that students who could not otherwise attend college could do so, without the burden of having to work excessive hours to help cover the cost of education. In fact, at one time students could actually use their summer vacations to “work their way through college,” something that is now impossible. In the current landscape, students are forced to take out mortgage-sized loans from financial lenders who are profit-driven corporations and who inevitably put their bottom lines before the needs and best interests of students.&#160;</p>
<p>This student-loan crisis has ensured that the last two generations are worse off than were their parents, ending the historical progression of improvements in the quality of life with each subsequent generation. Over a lifetime of employment and saving, someone with $53,000 in education debt can expect nearly $208,000 less wealth than a similarly educated person without debt.20 Crippled by this debt and entering a job market with lower and stagnant wages, graduates, who were sold the falsehood of the American Dream, are unable to afford the lifestyles that their parents and grandparents once enjoyed. Dispensable income is becoming a scarcity, while more money is being spent to cover the rising costs of food, health care, transportation, clothing, and housing. With this reality the feudal lords, the wealthy 1 percent, are gaining exponential profits through this multi-dimensional exploitation of the working class.&#160;</p>
<p>Conclusion&#160;</p>
<p>The proliferation of the capitalist system through the neoliberal era has resulted in a modern form of feudal society where there is great inequality and wealth is concentrated among the few. Policy changes, and perhaps a restructuring or change in the current systems of governance, are needed, but this will largely depend on the actions of the working-class majority: the growing number of impoverished, overworked, unemployed, or underemployed serfs whose labor and bodies are being exploited and who have been left wholly disenfranchised.&#160;</p>
<p>Despite the need for mass action, it has yet to materialize. Despite dire circumstances, there remains a great reluctance to challenge the status quo of inequality. This stems from the fact that far too many are still hopelessly reliant on the illusion of the American Dream, believe in the falsehood of rugged individualism, or merely fear the prospects of instability and the unknown. The motivation for revolutionary change exists throughout, yet many fundamental questions remain unanswered. Some may not have an answer until steps are taken. For instance, if the current system of government—which has become no more than a “dollarocracy”21 that does not represent or even consider the views or needs of the working-class majority—is overthrown, what would happen next? Fears of the unknown persist and are perpetuated by corporate-sponsored media, which thrives on the sensationalism of doomsday reporting, ignoring the fact that fluctuations in the stock market and other macroeconomic indicators are far removed from the daily lives of many who actually work for a living.&#160;</p>
<p>Despite this widespread reluctance and fear that has been peddled to the majority, action is needed. Addressing debt is an immediate concern. Action does not need to be instantly revolutionary, but may be accomplished through gradual steps and reformist means. Some steps include:</p>
<p>• Continue building movements around issues of debt, unemployment, and inequality—movements that are multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and multi-generational. An intersectional approach to such movements will effectively attack the divisions that have been artificially created to ensure that the status quo continues. Examples of this division are most visible throughout the impoverished states of the U.S. South, which despite having vast income inequality and being susceptible to corporate exploitation, also happen to possess high rates of historical, intra-working-class, racial animosity. Hate, fear, and ignorance cause many to vote and act against their own interest.&#160;</p>
<p>• Get behind efforts that are working to remove moneyed influence over the U.S. political system; some of that influence comes through the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that has the audacity to state that corporations are people. Be ready to accept that the entire system itself may need to be dismantled.&#160;</p>
<p>• Demand that the federal government gives us a New Deal that can address the problems of unemployment and the crumbling infrastructure. Bridges and highways need to be repaired, and high-speed rail needs to be laid out.</p>
<p>• Join and support unions, which are under assault, because they are the only stakeholder who truly bargains and fights for the working-class majority. Expanding the number of active unions will only benefit the workforce—those who are union and non-union alike.&#160;</p>
<p>For short-term and immediate relief of student-loan debt, which has become a critical issue:</p>
<p>• Shift direct-lending administration to the federal government and regulate and reduce interest rates on loans. Work toward de-profitizing higher education, making higher education a civic value.</p>
<p>• Reduce the military budget and replenish the diminished funding to schools, colleges, and universities that once helped to keep tuition costs down or made possible free tuition to public schools.&#160;</p>
<p>• Allow for student-loan debt to be included in bankruptcy claims, allowing for full or partial forgiveness of the debt to those who are without the means to pay.</p>
<p>The brief period of Keynesian consensus that ruled from the 1940s to the 1970s is over. The neoliberal imperative that has ruled since is currently subjecting an ever-larger share of the population to brutal austerity measures. Skyrocketing levels of debt and structural unemployment are the most visible manifestations of how far neoliberalism has penetrated into the structures of American society. However, in the years ahead, it will prove increasingly difficult to disguise the full nature of the crisis, and new opportunities to advance programs of systemic change can and will present themselves. If the left does not find a way to rise to the occasion, then it is unclear which track the country will take as it makes its way toward collapse.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="/filter/tips" type="external">More information about formatting options</a></p> | Debt, Underemployment, and Capitalism | true | http://newpol.org/content/debt-underemployment-and-capitalism | 4 |
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<p>CBS chopped their plans of airing a Ronald Regan mini-series “The Reagans” this week, although their parent company Viacom plans to run the program on Showtime sometime next month instead. Conservative critics thought the show was a tasteless liberal smear campaign of the ol’ Gipper.</p>
<p>The drama, which apparently depicts Ronald as an aloof airhead president, and Nancy as a self-indulged control freak, was thought by right-wingers to be a propaganda film; meant to tarnish Regan’s hallowed “legacy.” Viacom defends the show, but has refused to air it on CBS.</p>
<p>Almost a month ago a CBS protest website emerged in hopes to halt the airing of the mini-series. The creator of the website, Michael Paranzino said: “The idea that a TV network can make a buck… while a great American president lies on his deathbed with his wife taking care of him at his side is repugnant to the American people.” It didn’t help the case that “liberal-light” Barbara Streinsand’s husband, James Brolin was cast the lead role.</p>
<p>But Paranzino should have just turned the channel-because this is one American who would have enjoyed the laugh.</p>
<p>It is quite doubtful that the show Bill O’Reily, Sean Hannity and other leading conservative pundits railed against, truly depicted Reagan for what he was; a Neo Conservative warmonger who gave us Iran Contra, George Bush Sr, and tax cuts George W. could only dream of passing. But lets not forget the good side, he also gave us a plethora of idiotic quotes that give Dubya’s blunders a run their money.</p>
<p>A few of the choice ones:</p>
<p>“Trees cause pollution.”</p>
<p>“Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.”</p>
<p>“Facts are stupid things.”</p>
<p>“All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.”</p>
<p>“The neutron warhead is a defensive weapon designed to offset the great superiority that the Soviet Union has on the western front against the NATO nations.”</p>
<p>And lastly, my favorite;</p>
<p>“Permanent brain damage is one of the inevitable results of the use of marijuana.”</p>
<p>So what’s the big deal with having hardy laugh at a president’s expense? The conservatives who opposed its airing couldn’t have really thought a major network would put out a critical show of Reagan’s ignorance of International law, contempt for justice, etc. They simply didn’t want folks to think of Reagan as a sick feeble-minded man, who was controlled from behind the scenes, by the likes of George Schultz, James Baker, and Frank Carlucci. Perhaps it would have been too easy to make similar correlations between Reagan and our current President, who is being controlled from behind the curtain by the likes of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and Karl Rove.</p>
<p>However, you know even if Ronald had passed on, the same conservative ideologues would have opposed this film. If anything, their success in halting the show’s airing on CBS, should be a testament of who really has power over what regular Americans can watch on their TVs.</p>
<p>Too bad, “The Reagans” might just have been good for a laugh or two.</p>
<p>JOSH FRANK is a writer and activist living in New York City. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Silencing The Reagans | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/11/05/silencing-the-reagans/ | 2003-11-05 | 4 |
<p>**The University of Notre Dame has announced that Pres. Barack Obama&#160;will be the principal speaker and&#160;will&#160;receive&#160;an honorary doctor of laws degree at the university’s commencement on Sunday, May 17.&#160;The invitation comes after the president has taken several official actions that directly oppose&#160;the Catholic Church’s most sacred teachings. National Review Online asked some of our experts on education and Catholicism for their comments. Below is EPPC Distinguished Senior&#160;Fellow George Weigel’s contribution, followed by EPPC Fellow Colleen&#160;Carroll Campbell.** GEORGE WEIGEL Notre Dame’s decision to make President Obama its 2009 commencement speaker is a very bad thing. It’s bad for Notre Dame, bad for Catholic moral witness in America, and bad for the bishops who are trying to mount a defense against the Obama administration’s assault on the conscience rights of Catholic health-care professionals.</p>
<p>The invitation to deliver a commencement address, especially when coupled with the award of an honorary degree, is not a neutral act. It’s an act by which a Catholic institution of higher learning says, “This is a life worth emulating according to our understanding of the true, the good, and the beautiful.” It is frankly beyond my imagining how Notre Dame can say that of a president who has put the United States back into the business of funding abortion abroad; a president who made a mockery of the very idea of moral argument in his speech announcing federal funding for embryo-destructive stem cell research; a president whose administration and its congressional allies are snatching tuition vouchers out of the hands of desperately poor Washington, D.C., children who just as desperately want to attend Catholic schools.</p>
<p>As to Lenin’s question, “What, then, is to be done?,” one does not risk a charge of cynicism by suggesting that the most effective advocates for Notre Dame’s recovering its senses will be alumni and other donors capable of withdrawing or withholding contributions in the range of seven, eight, or nine figures. That is the sad state to which things have descended under the Golden Dome: moral argument seems to be unavailing with the leaders of an institution dedicated to developing the arts of moral reason.</p>
<p>—&#160;George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he holds the William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.</p>
<p>COLLEEN CARROLL CAMPBELL The University of Notre Dame administrators who invited Pres. Barack Obama to deliver this spring’s commencement address surely consider his acceptance a historic coup for their school and yet more proof of Notre Dame’s self-declared role as the place “where the Church does its thinking.” In reality, their decision only cements the school’s reputation as the place where anti-life politicians do their rationalizing.</p>
<p>That reputation first took hold 25 years ago, when former New York governor Mario Cuomo, a Catholic, took the podium at Notre Dame to make the case for Catholic politicians who support legalized — and, in Cuomo’s case, taxpayer-funded — abortion. Cuomo’s speech was riddled with logical fallacies; but for Catholic politicians who wanted to please the powerful pro-abortion lobby without forfeiting the Catholic vote, it was a home run. Cuomo’s abortion alibi soon was parroted by pro-choice politicians across America, its appeal bolstered by the fact that his words bore the apparent imprimatur of the nation’s leading Catholic university.</p>
<p>Now President Obama, struggling with sagging approval ratings and the growing dissatisfaction of Catholic voters who finally have awakened to his deep-seated disregard for unborn human life, needs to butter up his flagging Catholic base. Substantive policy changes are out of the question for such a strident supporter of abortion rights and embryo-destructive research. That leaves only one solution: a visit to that reliable ally of pro-choice Democrats, the University of Notre Dame. There Obama can bask in the reflected glow of Notre Dame’s storied Catholic heritage while continuing to advance policies that contradict the Catholic faith and natural law.</p>
<p>How sad that Notre Dame’s administrators imagine themselves as free-thinkers when they are, in fact, mere political pawns on the wrong side of today’s leading civil-rights struggle. Alumni embarrassed to see their alma mater used in this way should express their outrage in the language that Notre Dame’s image-conscious, endowment-hungry administrators understand: money. By withholding their donations, alumni can send the message that a Catholic school that sells its soul for secular prestige cannot depend on the faithful to foot its bills. — <a href="http://www.colleen-campbell.com/" type="external">Colleen Carroll Campbell</a>, an NRO contributor, is a fellow at the <a href="" type="internal">Ethics and Public Policy Center</a>, a former speechwriter to Pres. George W. Bush, a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the author of <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/redirect/amazon.p?j=0829416455" type="external">The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy</a>. Her television and radio show, <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/series/2006/fall2006/faithandculture.htm" type="external">Faith &amp; Culture</a>, airs weekly on EWTN, Sirius Satellite Radio, and Relevant Radio.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | A Moral Exemplar? | false | https://eppc.org/publications/a-moral-exemplar/ | 1 |
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<p>Metal band Chrysalis is touring in support of its current album, “Focus on the Center.”</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s been nearly five months since Yessi Burton released his current album. And the time has been amazing.</p>
<p>Burton is the singer for metal band Chrysalis and the band released “Focus on the Center” in February.</p>
<p>The band also consists of Chris Norris, Gabe Gallego, Jared Sturgis and Billy Norris. The band came together when Burton moved to California and met the Norris brothers at a concert.</p>
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<p>“We hit it off and the rest is history,” he jokes. “It’s been great to develop the band and the relationship among all of us.”</p>
<p>Burton says while the band is on its current tour, he will be posting video diaries weekly for the fans.</p>
<p>“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do,” he says. “It gives the fans an inside look at what we do on a daily basis. Maybe I’ll try to put one up each day. I’m learning all of this video stuff, so as I move on, it gets easier for me to do.”</p>
<p>Burton says his influences come from bands such as Korn, Slipknot, Staind and Mudvayne.</p>
<p>Yet, when it comes to writing for the band, he likes the entire band to contribute.</p>
<p>“We do focus on our own songs and try to make them as perfect as we can get them,” he says. “I’m lucky because the guys are all good at what they do. It makes the process easier.”</p>
<p>Yet, the process wasn’t always that easy. Burton says when the band first formed in 2006, it released its debut album and then was booked for the Vans Warped Tour.</p>
<p>After a few years on the road, Burton and the crew decided to take a break from it.</p>
<p>“It was a time for us to grow professionally and personally,” he says. “It helped us unlock parts of ourselves that we kept hidden. If we didn’t have this happen, I don’t think we’d be where we are now.”</p>
<p>Burton says having the great creative flow inside the band helped it delve further and helped the members push themselves in all areas.</p>
<p>He says it was important to make the best album they could make.</p>
<p>“We have songs left over from this album that didn’t quite fit,” he says. “We could probably put together another album, but we’ll wait and see if they bond together and form something strong.”</p>
<p /> | Chrysalis’ latest album is ‘Focus on the Center’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/424730/albuquerque-metal-4.html | 2 |
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<p>As I flew from Los Angeles to Tunis last week, I read about expatriate Tunisians living in the United States voting freely for the first time in more than 20 years. Some 10,000 expats voted here as part of the Tunisian diaspora. <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2011/10/23/massive-voter-turnout-in-tunisia.html" type="external">Turnout worldwide</a> was an astonishing 99 percent of the 54 percent of the over-18 population that registered. In previous elections, voters were simply given ballots preprinted with the dictator Ben Ali's name.</p>
<p>On Sunday, I was in Tunisia's capital with a delegation sponsored by the terrific National Democratic Institute to observe the country's first elections since <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2011/01/15/tunisian-president-flees-to-saudi-arabia.html" type="external">Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia</a>. Early assessments indicate they were an astounding success: a fair process, huge turnout at more than 900 polling places, and a result widely accepted by Tunisians as well as domestic and international observers. A text-message system was created to tell unregistered voters where to vote, something not even available in our country. And all this from a standing start nine months ago, when <a href="/content/dailybeast/newsweek/2011/01/14/tunisia-riots-the-youth-revolution.html" type="external">Tunisia stunningly ended</a>"by peaceful means"more than two decades of authoritarian rule by the corrupt Ben Ali regime.</p>
<p>Tunisia's is the first election to result as part of the so-called Arab Spring, and two neighbors that recently toppled tyrants, Libya and Egypt, are watching closely, as are Syria and Yemen. No one predicts the transitions in Egypt and Libya will be as smooth as Tunisia's; it is important the new leadership there move quickly to draft a fair and modern constitution and form a pluralistic and transparent government.</p>
<p>Several challenges are clear. First, <a href="/content/dailybeast/cheats/2011/10/24/moderates-take-lead-in-tunisia.html" type="external">an Islamist party is likely to win</a> the plurality of votes. This should be embraced while recognizing that the big loser in this equation is al Qaeda. Most of its senior leadership is now dead, and its reach and raison d??tre are further repudiated by the rise of Muslim parliamentarians prepared to debate and to compete for votes. Moreover, the political parties pledge to govern by consensus and to work with the West.</p>
<p>Second, women will comprise 30 percent of the new National Assembly. How much power they have and what they do with it really matters. Tunisia's impressive minister of women's affairs, Lilia Labidi, observes that the country has enjoyed years of feminism: its first modern leader, President Habib Bourguiba, instituted divorce and child-custody rights and access to abortions, all firsts in the Arab world. But, adds Labidi, there are no feminists. While Tunisia is full of talented and capable women, some in modern dress and some veiled, they must be passionately committed to forming a democracy that respects them. Indeed, it is imperative that the United States signal its strong support for the new government in Tunisia and in doing so make clear its support for strong roles for women and others.</p>
<p>Today, in Tunisia, democracy wins. Its new leaders are mindful of the opportunity and responsibility to their own people and the region. They can be hailed as the future, or they can blow it.</p> | Tunisia's Free Elections a Win for Democracy | true | https://thedailybeast.com/tunisias-free-elections-a-win-for-democracy | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — [photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000ILp9DJJF1i0″ g_name=”Funeral-for-APD-Officer-John-Kelly-04-02-2015″ f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”t” f_fullscreen=”t” f_bbar=”t” f_show_watermark=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_mtrx=”t” fsvis=”t” width=”620″ height=”465″ f_constrain=”t” bgcolor=”#000000″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”t” twoup=”t” trans=”xfade” tbs=”3000″ f_ap=”t” bgtrans=”f” linkdest=”c” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_smooth=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” ]</p>
<p>The 36-year-old Albuquerque police officer who died of a heart attack while on duty last week was laid to rest Thursday after a public ceremony in front of hundreds of uniformed officers and his family and friends.</p>
<p>During his funeral, John Kelly was praised as a selfless family man, a cunning detective and mentor as a field training officer. Fellow officers who worked with Kelly in the southeast-area command, his numerous children, Mayor Richard Berry and police Chief Gorden Eden all spoke at his funeral held at the Albuquerque Convention Center.</p>
<p>KELLY: Leaves behind three children and three stepchildren.</p>
<p>Moments before starting a training exercise on March 26, Kelly had a heart attack, according to police. He died at University of New Mexico Hospital shortly after.</p>
<p>Kelly had worked at APD since 2006. His roles included detective and field training officer and he was studying to test for a sergeant position. Prior to joining the department, he was in the Army and served in Afghanistan, according to police.</p>
<p>He leaves behind a wife, Morgan Kelly, and three children and three stepchildren. Several of the children spoke at the funeral.</p>
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<p>Berry said Kelly was a “true hero” who served his city and country and loved his family. He issued an executive order declaring Thursday “John Philip Kelly Day.”</p>
<p>“He loved his family and they were his first priority,” Eden said at the funeral.</p>
<p>After the funeral, police escorted a long line of vehicles to Santa Fe National Cemetery, where Kelly was buried.</p>
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<p /> | Public ceremony honors APD officer | false | https://abqjournal.com/563910/apd-officer-eulogized-laid-to-rest.html | 2 |
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<p>On Monday, President&#160; <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/360081-trump-nominating-azar-as-next-hhs-secretary" type="external">Trump nominated Alex Azar as secretary of Health and Human Services</a>, a role vacated when Tom Price resigned in late September after reports that <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/19/tom-price-chartered-planes-flights-242908" type="external">he spent taxpayer money</a>&#160;on private chartered flights while on the job.</p>
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<p>Like&#160; <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-pledged-to-drain-the-swamp-instead-he-filled-it-with-industry-sharks" type="external">more than half of Trump’s nominees</a>, Azar has professional ties to the industry that he will be expected to regulate.&#160;He is a former pharmaceutical executive and worked for Eli Lilly for nearly a decade, and became president of Lilly USA in 2012. Azar also served in Health and Human Services during President George W. Bush’s administration, as general counsel and as deputy secretary.</p>
<p>If confirmed, Azar will be tasked with rolling back drug prices, overseeing Medicare and Medicaid programs, and implementing the controversial Affordable Care Act (ACA). Azar is also a vocal <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/13/trump-nominates-alex-azar-as-next-hhs-secretary.html" type="external">critic of the ACA</a>, calling it “fundamentally broken”&#160; <a href="http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5430327620001/" type="external">in an interview</a> with Fox Business in May. He said <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/13/trump-nominates-alex-azar-as-next-hhs-secretary.html" type="external">to CNBC</a>&#160;in February: “There will be a piece of legislation passes this year that is called ‘the repeal of Obamacare.’ I don’t know what’s going to be in the substance of it, but there will be a piece of legislation that says that.”</p>
<p>CNBC continues:</p>
<p>Brad Woodhouse, director of the Protect Our Care Campaign, an Obamacare defense group, blasted Azar’s selection.</p>
<p>“President Trump has nominated in Mr. Azar someone who shares his misguided and factually flawed views on the Affordable Care Act,” Woodhouse said.</p>
<p>“Mr. Azar, a drug industry lobbyist, has been a harsh critic of the ACA and has gone so far as&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-picks-alex-azar-to-lead-the-health-and-human-services-department/2017/11/13/ad6a4e16-c408-11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html" type="external">to say</a>&#160;that the law is&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqHZd6yB3b0" type="external">‘circling the drain’</a>&#160;despite evidence to the contrary. In fact, the ACA is working despite President Trump and former HHS Secretary Tom Price’s repeated efforts to repeal and sabotage it — open enrollment is off to a strong start, plans remain affordable and every county in the country is covered.”</p>
<p>Azar has also said he is against <a href="http://www.zetemaproject.org/content/videos/alex-azar-has-expansion-medicaid-under-aca-been-successful" type="external">expanding Medicaid reimbursements</a>, which provide insurance to nearly 130 million Americans under the Affordable Care Act, saying that he would prefer to use government money through “private-sector vehicles” in order to provide health care.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/us/politics/alex-azar-health-human-services-trump.html" type="external">The New York Times</a> writes:</p>
<p>In contrast to Mr. Price, an orthopedic surgeon and former Republican congressman, Mr. Azar is a lawyer and health care expert who allies predicted would use his deep knowledge of the federal bureaucracy to advance Mr. Trump’s agenda of undermining President Barack Obama’s health care law. …</p>
<p>“Much of the focus will likely be changing the ideology under which the existing law will be administered,” said Mike Leavitt, a former secretary of health and human services who was Mr. Azar’s boss during the Bush administration. “I’m confident that he would like to see the way the law works change. …”</p>
<p>Critics mocked the selection by a president who promised to drain the Washington “swamp” of lobbyists and&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/897079051277537280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fhealth-care%2F2017%2F8%2F14%2F16143308%2Ftrump-merck-pharma" type="external">has complained about</a>&#160;“RIPOFF DRUG PRICES” on Twitter. Representative Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont, said that “instead of draining the swamp, he has set the fox to guard the henhouse.”</p>
<p>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also expressed concern about the appointment. “It’s time to turn over a new leaf at HHS,” he said in a statement. “The next secretary must demonstrate a commitment to lowering premiums, and not sabotaging the Affordable Care Act and our health care system with reckless actions that hurt families. I look forward to reviewing Mr. Azar’s nomination.”</p>
<p /> | Trump's Health and Human Services Nominee Has Background in Big Pharma | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/trumps-health-human-services-nominee-background-big-pharma/ | 2017-11-14 | 4 |
<p>Who is responsible for the great environmental disaster arising from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?&#160; As the country reels from the sheer magnitude of the accident, the media has rightly pointed the finger at BP. &#160;Yet, not nearly enough attention has been paid to the role of Ken Salazar and his derelict Department of Interior, a government entity which, in theory, regulates offshore oil drilling.</p>
<p>With a budget of almost $16 billion, Interior is a hugely important department overseeing more than 500 million acres of federal land including the national parks — &#160;nearly a fifth of all land in the U.S.&#160; The department’s programs range from protecting endangered species to providing oil and gas leases.</p>
<p>As recently as late 2009 the National Oceanic &amp; Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warned Interior that it was vastly underestimating the frequency of offshore oil spills and was dangerously understating the threat and impact a major spill could have on coastal people.&#160; Adding to the furor, the Washington Post reports that Interior exempted BP’s Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year.</p>
<p>Could these stories merely represent the tip of the iceberg?&#160; In light of Salazar’s lackluster stewardship of Interior, I think it’s more than likely.&#160; Whatever the case, we shall get more insight during upcoming hearings on Capitol Hill.&#160; Next week, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will address the spill, adding to an already crowded calendar of oil hearings.&#160; Though witnesses have not been announced, it is expected that Salazar will testify.&#160; The secretary is already in damage control mode and recently announced that his department would establish a board to review offshore drilling safety and technology issues as well as tighten oversight of industry equipment testing.</p>
<p>How could the government have allowed such a catastrophe to happen?&#160; This is the type of accident that one would have expected during the Bush presidency, when Big Oil had free reign, and not during the Obama administration.&#160; Indeed, under Bush the Interior Department became such an utter mockery that one could almost say it acted as a kind of subsidiary of the oil industry itself.</p>
<p>According to Interior’s inspector general Earl Devaney, who led a two year investigation of the department, there was “a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” amongst staff at the department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS).&#160; The entity handles billions of dollars in oil and natural gas supplies that are handed over by companies as in-kind royalty payments for drilling on federal lands.</p>
<p>Devaney found that about a dozen MMS workers were abusing cocaine and got drunk at social events with oil company personnel doing business with the agency.&#160; In an astonishing and blatant case of criminal conflict of interest, the MMS workers then had sex with industry contacts and accepted gifts from oil and gas industry representatives.&#160; Many MMS workers were later either disciplined or fired over the incident.</p>
<p>Western Cowboy Rides into Town</p>
<p>The ascendance of Ken Salazar at Interior was supposed to change the oily nature of politics at Interior.&#160; A westerner whose roots stretched back to the 16th century, Salazar was rarely seen without his trademark cowboy boots and hat.&#160; Obama’s nomination of Salazar to head Interior cheered some groups which had fought to protect remote backcountry and pristine watersheds from oil and gas drilling.&#160; Before becoming a Democratic Senator from Colorado, Salazar served as the state’s director of Department of Natural Resources.&#160; He also worked as an environmental and water attorney in private practice.</p>
<p>As Secretary of Interior, Salazar pledged to clean up the sleaze.&#160; During his confirmation hearings, he said he said there might be certain areas that could be off limits to offshore oil production.&#160; Overall, some groups said, Salazar had a pretty strong environmental record as Senator. &#160;To his credit, he clashed with the Bush administration over oil and gas drilling on public lands and promoted his home state of Colorado as a renewable energy leader.</p>
<p>Sounds all fine and good, but look beneath the surface and there was more than enough to give one pause.&#160; A politician with ties to old time western extractive industries like ranching and mining, Salazar joined with Republicans in actually threatening to sue the federal government if the black-tailed prairie dog was declared endangered.</p>
<p>Even more ominously, he also sided with Republicans in proposing an energy policy which included relaxing restrictions on offshore oil drilling.&#160; Indeed, in 2006 Salazar voted yes on the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which ended protections for Florida’s Gulf Coast and opened up 8 million acres off the coasts of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana for oil and gas drilling.</p>
<p>Believing that Obama had betrayed his campaign promises to bring about change, outraged wildlife advocacy groups sent a letter to the president protesting Salazar’s nomination as Secretary of the Interior.&#160; A better choice, they argued, would have been Democratic representative Raul Grijalva of Arizona who had ultra green credentials.</p>
<p>Writing in the New Mexico Independent, environmentalist and former oil and gas man Jim O’Donnell remarked “Mr. Salazar is not a visionary. He is not a change agent. Mr. Salazar has a very interesting and compelling story as a fellow Westerner. However, from my viewpoint, he has little interest in protecting biodiversity and even less interest in a fossil fuel-free economy. This is not the change we need.”</p>
<p>The Waffler</p>
<p>&#160;“The word on Ken Salazar,” opined the New York Times in January, 2009, “…is that he is friendly, approachable, a good listener, a genial compromiser and a skillful broker of deals.”&#160; But, the paper added, “That is also the rap on Ken Salazar.”&#160; Fundamentally, the Times argued, “What the Interior Department needs right now is someone willing to bust heads when necessary and draw the line against the powerful commercial groups — developers, ranchers, oil and gas companies, the off-road vehicle industry — that have long treated the department as a public extension of their private interests.”</p>
<p>Over the next year and a half, Salazar did little to challenge the Times’ mild depiction of his character.&#160; At issue for the new secretary was the hot button issue of offshore oil drilling.&#160; In the final days of the Bush presidency, both Congress and the White House allowed a federal ban on offshore oil drilling to expire which stood to open new areas along the U.S. coastline to exploration.</p>
<p>Faced with some difficult political and moral choices, Salazar delayed.&#160; The secretary declared that new offshore oil drilling would be put on hold and in the meantime the government would hold a six-month public comment period.&#160; Environmentalists were somewhat encouraged, but they noted that the move failed to stop offshore oil development per se.</p>
<p>In April, 2009 Salazar went personally to Alaska where fishermen pleaded with him not to go ahead with new Outer Continental Shelf oil development in Bristol Bay.&#160; Rebecca Noblin, an Anchorage-based attorney for the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, a group that sued to list polar bears under the Endangered Species Act, told the Anchorage Press that she was disappointed Salazar didn’t call upon scientists and environmentalists during the hearing.</p>
<p>“It’s difficult to know what impressions the event may’ve left with Secretary Salazar,” the Anchorage Press noted.&#160; “Shortly after Noblin’s testimony, he gave some informal closing remarks that indicated that he’d heard the comments, but little else,” the paper added.&#160; “In a subsequent briefing for reporters just before departing, he was noncommittal.”</p>
<p>Salazar continued his travels, heading on to another hearing in New Orleans.&#160; There, he was confronted once again by concerned environmentalists who took the microphone to explain that expanding offshore oil development would do great damage to sensitive ocean ecosystems.&#160; Darryl Malek-Wiley of the Sierra Club called for a detailed analysis of oil spills, declaring that hundreds of millions of gallons of crude had leaked in recent hurricanes, in part due to aging oil and gas infrastructure.</p>
<p>If Salazar was moved by the environmentalists’ entreaties, he made no mention. The nation needed a “comprehensive energy plan,” he said, though he wouldn’t specify whether such an approach ought to include more offshore oil drilling along the U.S. coastline.</p>
<p>The Future of Offshore Oil Exploration</p>
<p>Perhaps the hearings were all just a smoke screen for Salazar and a mere public façade. &#160;As we now know, Interior ignored the warnings put forth by the NOAA while Salazar quietly crafted a horrible offshore oil plan with the White House. &#160;In March of this year Obama, much to the chagrin of environmentalists, finally announced that he would conduct a major expansion of offshore oil and gas development in the Gulf of Mexico amongst other areas.</p>
<p>In the wake of BP’s massive oil spill off Louisiana, the White House announced that it would put a hold on new offshore oil exploration.&#160; But what is really needed now is a complete and total moratorium on ALL offshore oil exploration.&#160; In light of his track record, Ken Salazar is hardly the most appropriate bureaucrat to carry out such an ambitious agenda which would necessarily entail a switch from fossil fuels to alternative energy.</p>
<p>NIKOLAS KOZLOFF is the author of the upcoming <a href="" type="internal">No Rain In the Amazon: How South America’s Climate Change Affects The Entire Plane</a>t (Palgrave Macmillan, April 2010). Visit his web site, <a href="http://www.nikolaskozloff.com/" type="external">http://www.nikolaskozloff.com/</a></p>
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<p /> | Anatomy of an Oil Disaster | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/05/06/anatomy-of-an-oil-disaster/ | 2010-05-06 | 4 |
<p>July 27 (UPI) — A joint team composed of teams from Boeing, the Air Force, and the Naval Air Systems command have completed a series of tests for the KC-46 tanker aircraft’s resistance to electromagnetic radiation.</p>
<p><a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/2017-07-27-Boeing-Team-Completes-KC-46-Tanker-Electromagnetic-Testing" type="external">The testing took place</a> at Naval Air Station Patuxent, Md. electromagnetic pulse laboratory and the Benefield Anechoic Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.</p>
<p>“The KC-46 tanker is protected by various hardening and shielding technologies designed into the aircraft to negate any effects on the aircraft,” Boeing KC-46 vice president and program manager Mike Gibbons said <a href="http://boeing.mediaroom.com/2017-07-27-Boeing-Team-Completes-KC-46-Tanker-Electromagnetic-Testing" type="external">in a press release</a>.</p>
<p>“This successful effort retires one of the key risks on the program.”</p>
<p>Strong electromagnetic radiation can be dangerous for unshielded electrical systems, causing damage and power failures. It can be generated by radars, powerful radio towers, and, in its most extreme form, nuclear detonations.</p>
<p>Electronics that may be exposed, such as those mounted on military equipment, are encased in conductive shielding known as Faraday cages or shields that can block the radiation.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104537/kc-46a-pegasus/" type="external">KC-46 Pegasus</a> is a wide-bodied aerial refueling tanker jet being developed for the U.S. Air Force. It is capable of refueling all U.S. and allied military aircraft capable of mid-air refueling.</p>
<p>The aircraft has met performance and cost requirements but problems with development and the necessary fixes have led to delays in the KC-46’s delivery to the Air Force.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2017-06-16/boeing-steps-delivery-plan-kc-46-pegasus-tanker" type="external">The first 18 planes</a> are expected to be delivered by next February and their wingtip aerial refueling pods by October 2018, 14 months later than originally planned.</p> | Boeing, U.S. military finish EMP testing on KC-46 tanker | false | https://newsline.com/boeing-u-s-military-finish-emp-testing-on-kc-46-tanker/ | 2017-07-27 | 1 |
<p>In late October, a 4-year-old boy in Amite City, Louisiana, went through his mother’s purse, found her legally owned .22-caliber&#160; <a href="http://www.fox8live.com/story/30338896/4-year-old-boy-brings-gun-to-pre-k-class-parents-arrested" type="external">pistol</a>, and put it in his backpack. He took the loaded gun to his&#160;pre-kindergarten class, where he showed it to a girl he liked, who then told a teacher. A month earlier, in Chico, California, a nearly-identical incident took place: A teacher at Chapman Elementary School <a href="http://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/gun-found-in-chico-kindergarten-class-student-backpack-was-a-22-revolver/" type="external">discovered</a> a .22-caliber revolver in the backpack of a 5-year-old. The boy said that&#160;he found the firearm at home. He thought it was a toy.&#160;</p>
<p>While the boys did not bring weapons to school with intent to harm their peers, they&#160;represent some of the youngest offenders in a trend fueled&#160;by the ubiquity of firearms in the United States.&#160;Since the start of the school year roughly three months ago, students from kindergarten through high school have been caught bringing guns onto campus at least 77 times, according to a survey of media reports.&#160;Excluding weekends, that&#160;works out to once every 29 hours. Firearms are entering school property through the knapsacks, jackets, and cars of students in cities, suburbs, and rural towns across America, as the map below shows:</p>
<p>Florida had the most incidents, with nine.&#160;The five Gulf Coast states alone — Florida, plus Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi — account for nearly a quarter of reported incidents. It’s a corner of the country where gun ownership&#160; <a href="http://www.wxxv25.com/mostpopular/story/Gun-Ownership-Declines-in-U-S-Not-on-Gulf-Coast/7mHZicMxEUeZmRdPcdrkdQ.cspx" type="external">is surging</a>, even as the&#160;share&#160;of Americans who live in a household with at least one gun ( <a href="http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2015/06/09/injuryprev-2015-041586.full.pdf?keytype=ref&amp;ijkey=doj6vx0laFZMsQ2" type="external">32 percent</a>, according to a June study in Injury Prevention)&#160;is lower than it’s ever been. Three Gulf Coast states — Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama — have gun ownership rates <a href="http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2015/06/09/injuryprev-2015-041586.full.pdf?keytype=ref&amp;ijkey=doj6vx0laFZMsQ2" type="external">10 to 16 percent higher</a> than the national average, along with the <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/Firearm.htm" type="external">highest gun-death rates</a> in the nation.</p>
<p>Kids&#160;bring guns to school for a number&#160;of reasons.&#160;A&#160;15-year-old&#160;in Georgetown, Texas, was <a href="http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2015/10/28/gun-found-at-georgetown-school--punishment-pending-for-east-view-hs-students.html" type="external">placed in&#160;juvenile detention</a>&#160;after a trainer discovered a group of boys in a high school locker room taking pictures&#160;with a stolen 9mm handgun. On&#160;the South Side of Chicago, a&#160;12-year-old brought a gun to his elementary school&#160;because was <a href="http://wgntv.com/2014/09/16/12-year-old-took-gun-to-his-grade-school/" type="external">being bullied</a> by a classmate. A 15-year-old high school student&#160;in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, took&#160;a loaded Ruger revolver to school <a href="http://www.nwfdailynews.com/article/20150930/NEWS/150939922" type="external">to commit suicide</a>.&#160;One Mississippi high school student brought a .38 special revolver&#160;in his backpack “in case there was a shooting at school,”&#160; <a href="http://www.wlox.com/story/30254807/police-say-student-brought-a-gun-to-school-to-protect-himself" type="external">a police official said.</a>&#160;</p>
<p>Subscribe to receive The Trace’s newsletters on important gun news and analysis.</p>
<p>Some&#160;states have laws designed to hold adults accountable when a child brings a gun to school, but they are <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/10/gun_accidents_why_are_parents_who_leave_loaded_weapons_lying_around_never.html" type="external">rarely enforced</a>, even when there are deadly consequences. Often times, it is the child who is led away in handcuffs: In Middletown, Ohio, in September, a 9-year-old student was <a href="http://www.wlwt.com/news/9yearold-in-juvenile-detention-after-bringing-loaded-gun-to-school/35286734" type="external">taken into custody</a> after a teacher found a loaded handgun in his locker. Since the start of the school year, at least two&#160;11-year-old boys and four 12-year-old boys have been detained. Some punishments go&#160;even further: An eighth-grade boy&#160;who hid a gun in the ceiling tiles of&#160;his Saginaw, Michigan, middle school was held <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/10/no_bond_for_saginaw_middle-sch.html" type="external">without bond</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>The mother of that student was one of the few&#160;adults punished for failing to prevent a&#160;child from accessing a&#160;firearm. (In total, adults were charged in just five cases since the school year began.) The Michigan Department of Human Services <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2015/10/home_condemned_parental_rights.html#incart_m-rpt-2" type="external">successfully petitioned</a> to strip her of&#160;custody of her four children.&#160;In interviews with local press, family members said the juvenile was a victim of bullying at school.&#160;“He was dealing with a lot,” said an aunt.</p>
<p>“That’s the way these kids are handling things right now,” said the boy’s cousin. “They get bullied and nothing gets done and then they bring guns to school.”</p> | Kids are Bringing Guns to School on an Almost Daily Basis this Academic Year | false | https://thetrace.org/2015/11/guns-in-schools-united-states/ | 2015-11-16 | 3 |
<p />
<p>One of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) most important component suppliers is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM), or TSMC for short. TSMC is believed to be the sole manufacturer of the Apple-designed A10 applications processor that powers the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and it also builds chips for many chips that Apple procured from third-party suppliers, to boot.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Image source: Intel.</p>
<p>On TSMC's most recent earnings call, analyst Charlie Chan asked TSMC Chairman Morris Chang the following question:</p>
<p>Chang had a very extensive answer in which the key message is this: TSMC has created "hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States in the last 20-30 years of [its] existence."</p>
<p>How could a chip manufacturer that owns and operates no manufacturing plants in the United States create so many jobs in this country? Let's take a closer look.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Chang began by explaining that TSMC "for all practical purposes" created the fabless semiconductor industry model. Early in the life of the semiconductor industry, a company that wanted to design and sell chips also had to build those chips.As the complexity and costs associated with chip manufacturing grew, it became increasingly impractical for chip designers -- especially smaller ones -- to afford to own and operate their own chip manufacturing plants.</p>
<p>What TSMC did is recognize that, while many chipmakers individually didn't have the scale to develop new chip manufacturing techniques and spend all the money to build out manufacturing capacity, many small chipmakers, in aggregate, could provide the necessary revenue and unit scale to make chip manufacturing feasible.</p>
<p>By enabling virtually any chipmaker, large or small, access to robust chip manufacturing technologies and sufficient capacity, TSMC created a ton of value for its shareholders, and made it possible for more chip companies to emerge and even prosper.</p>
<p>With that background in mind, we can now understand Chang's job-creation argument.</p>
<p>"The fabless industry, I believe, employs hundreds of thousands of people in the United States," Chang explained on the call.A fabless semiconductor company, as is implied by the name, is a chipmaker that relies on third parties to manufacture its chips, since chip-manufacturing plants are often called "fabs" -- short for "fabrication plants."</p>
<p>"So, I think we'll continue to create more jobs in the United States by helping the fabless industry in the United States," Chang added.</p>
<p>The executive also made another good point: It isn't just fabless semiconductor companies that rely on TSMC for chip-manufacturing services -- there are chipmakers that run their own manufacturing plants based in the United States that rely on TSMC for manufacturing services.</p>
<p>Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), which brings in about twice the annual revenue that TSMC does, is a prime example of a chipmaker that owns its own manufacturing plants -- many of which are based in the United State -- but still relies on TSMC to manufacture some of its products, such as wireless chips.</p>
<p>These aren't manufacturing jobs in the United States that TSMC has created, but because TSMC allows many chipmakers to operate and thrive without needing to own and operate their own chip plants, the semiconductor industry can support a broader, more diverse range of companies.</p>
<p>Those companies often employ many individuals in the United States, including chip-design engineers, engineers who work closely with TSMC to build their products, product marketing, and much more.</p>
<p>Some examples of large United States-based employers that rely on TSMC for the manufacture of some, if not all, of its chips includeQualcomm, the leading merchant mobile chipmaker, and smartphone giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), which has large chip-development operations in California and Texas.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Apple 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=989cff32-78a0-4320-8023-625fec0c7958&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Apple wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=989cff32-78a0-4320-8023-625fec0c7958&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 January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/aeassa/info.aspx" type="external">Ashraf Eassa Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Intel and Qualcomm. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple and Qualcomm. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Intel. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | How This Apple Inc. Supplier Created Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs in the United States | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/17/how-this-apple-inc-supplier-created-hundreds-thousands-jobs-in-united-states.html | 2017-01-17 | 0 |
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Interim general manager Marty Hurney insists the Carolina Panthers handled the medical treatment of quarterback Cam Newton “the right way” during Sunday’s 31-26 playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints.</p>
<p>The NFL and NFL Players Association announced Monday they plan to conduct a joint review to determine if the Panthers followed the correct concussion protocol after Newton took a hard shot from Saints defensive tackle David Onyemata midway through the fourth quarter. If the concussion protocol was not properly followed the team is subject to discipline, including a $150,000 fine.</p>
<p>Newton spent time on the ground after the hit. Then, as he was walking toward the sideline, appeared to stumble to one knee. He briefly pointed toward his right eye.</p>
<p>He sat out one play, but returned on the next offensive series and finished the game.</p>
<p>“He took a hit. But when he walked off and he told the trainers he got poked in the eye, then they did take him into the tent and checked him for a concussion, which he did not have,” Hurney said. “And it was really getting poked in the eye.”</p>
<p>Hurney said Newton intentionally took a knee because he was told to by the team’s training staff so Carolina could get an official timeout, thus allowing backup quarterback Derek Anderson a chance to warm up. Anderson came in for one third down play and was nearly intercepted.</p>
<p>However, the question could become whether or not Newton should have been taken to the locker room for evaluations.</p>
<p>The league and the players union changed its concussion protocol last month after Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage returned to the field after having a concussion that left the quarterback’s hands shaking after a hit.</p>
<p>The changes to the protocol include the requirement of a locker room concussion evaluation for all players “demonstrating gross or sustained vertical instability (e.g., stumbling or falling to the ground when trying to stand.)”</p>
<p>Newton did not visit the locker room.</p>
<p>Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he is very confident that the protocol was followed correctly.</p>
<p>“Based on what the young man (Newton) said to me, that is what I believe happened,” Rivera said. “And again, from that point on I don’t think anything else needs to be said about it.”</p>
<p>Newton said after the game Sunday that “precautionary concussion protocol things” happened, but “it wasn’t my head. It was my eye. My helmet had come down low enough over my eyelid and it got pressed by the player’s stomach.”</p>
<p>The Panthers were investigated once before in the 2016 season opener at Denver when Newton took a blow to the head but remained in the game.</p>
<p>It was later determined the Panthers handled that situation correctly and no fines were handed out.</p>
<p>The Seattle Seahawks were fined $100,000 in Week 10 after the league and union determined they failed to apply the concussion protocol properly after quarterback Russell Wilson took a blow to the head against the Arizona Cardinals.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Interim general manager Marty Hurney insists the Carolina Panthers handled the medical treatment of quarterback Cam Newton “the right way” during Sunday’s 31-26 playoff loss to the New Orleans Saints.</p>
<p>The NFL and NFL Players Association announced Monday they plan to conduct a joint review to determine if the Panthers followed the correct concussion protocol after Newton took a hard shot from Saints defensive tackle David Onyemata midway through the fourth quarter. If the concussion protocol was not properly followed the team is subject to discipline, including a $150,000 fine.</p>
<p>Newton spent time on the ground after the hit. Then, as he was walking toward the sideline, appeared to stumble to one knee. He briefly pointed toward his right eye.</p>
<p>He sat out one play, but returned on the next offensive series and finished the game.</p>
<p>“He took a hit. But when he walked off and he told the trainers he got poked in the eye, then they did take him into the tent and checked him for a concussion, which he did not have,” Hurney said. “And it was really getting poked in the eye.”</p>
<p>Hurney said Newton intentionally took a knee because he was told to by the team’s training staff so Carolina could get an official timeout, thus allowing backup quarterback Derek Anderson a chance to warm up. Anderson came in for one third down play and was nearly intercepted.</p>
<p>However, the question could become whether or not Newton should have been taken to the locker room for evaluations.</p>
<p>The league and the players union changed its concussion protocol last month after Houston Texans quarterback Tom Savage returned to the field after having a concussion that left the quarterback’s hands shaking after a hit.</p>
<p>The changes to the protocol include the requirement of a locker room concussion evaluation for all players “demonstrating gross or sustained vertical instability (e.g., stumbling or falling to the ground when trying to stand.)”</p>
<p>Newton did not visit the locker room.</p>
<p>Panthers coach Ron Rivera said he is very confident that the protocol was followed correctly.</p>
<p>“Based on what the young man (Newton) said to me, that is what I believe happened,” Rivera said. “And again, from that point on I don’t think anything else needs to be said about it.”</p>
<p>Newton said after the game Sunday that “precautionary concussion protocol things” happened, but “it wasn’t my head. It was my eye. My helmet had come down low enough over my eyelid and it got pressed by the player’s stomach.”</p>
<p>The Panthers were investigated once before in the 2016 season opener at Denver when Newton took a blow to the head but remained in the game.</p>
<p>It was later determined the Panthers handled that situation correctly and no fines were handed out.</p>
<p>The Seattle Seahawks were fined $100,000 in Week 10 after the league and union determined they failed to apply the concussion protocol properly after quarterback Russell Wilson took a blow to the head against the Arizona Cardinals.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p> | NFL, NFLPA to review how Panthers handled hit on QB Newton | false | https://apnews.com/7a0cf1f5edd5406f9f6aa3e36328fd31 | 2018-01-08 | 2 |
<p />
<p>South Korean conglomerate Samsung Group [SAGR.UL] said on Monday it will disband its corporate strategy office tasked with managing long-term group-related affairs at the conclusion of the current special prosecution probe.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Jay Y. Lee, third-generation leader of the country's top conglomerate, said at a December parliament hearing he plans to disband the office but did not give a specific timeline. Samsung said in a statement the process of dismantling the office is already underway but did not elaborate further.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)</p> | Samsung Group says process to disband its corporate strategy office underway | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/02/06/samsung-group-says-process-to-disband-its-corporate-strategy-office-underway.html | 2017-02-06 | 0 |
<p>Video games often have the reputation as being "bad for you." But one European research project, called Playmancer, seeks to challenge that reputation. Playmancer has been designed to help patients undergoing physical rehabilitation, and even mental health issues like bulimia and gambling addiction.</p>
<p>At the Roessingh Rehabilitation Center in the Dutch town of Enschede, one thing is clear: it takes a lot of gear to play Playmancer. The game requires wearing a tight-fitting, full-body suit and cap.</p>
<p>But physical therapists here believe that the effort is worth it.</p>
<p>"The more you train, the more you gain," says Miriam Vollenbroek, who chairs the research and development efforts at Roessingh. Her research focuses on how new technologies can assist in therapy.</p>
<p>My suit is covered with shiny little plastic knobs. A series of cameras around the room pick up my movements, and calibrates the software to the range of motion in my neck, back and shoulders.</p>
<p>It's the same kind of motion capture system used to do animation in some recent Hollywood films.</p>
<p>On the screen in front of the treadmill, my character begins to walk through an underground tunnel. I'm required to walk at a certain pace, while gathering gold coins and avoiding dangers.</p>
<p>The motions I'm forced to make are designed to stretch what needs to be stretched for rehab. In another part of the game, for example, I am rock-climbing up a cliff, stretching my upper back and shoulders.</p>
<p>As I react, the system picks up my motions and adjusts the level of the game according. It gets harder or easier depending on my comfort level. "¨ My reward for a job well done? Another chapter of my character's ongoing story is revealed.</p>
<p>"You're like this Indiana Jones type," says Jeppe Nielsen, one of the lead developers of Playmancer at Serious Games Interactive in Copenhagen, Denmark. "That puts the player in a positive, pro-active role sort of, I want to do this, I want to explore stuff and find stuff."</p>
<p>Nielsen says it wasn't easy balancing the needs of health professionals with good game development.</p>
<p>So I ask him why they didn't just create a game for an existing gesture-based gaming system like the Microsoft Kinect, or the Nintendo Wii.</p>
<p>"The Kinect is good, but it's probably good for fun," Nielsen says. "It's not very precise. We had to use the suits for this project because we had to measure precisely where the joints are, and what muscles are you using. That just wouldn't work with the Kinect or with the Wii."</p>
<p>Even more difficult, say developers at Serious Games Interactive, was designing the mental health version of the game, which is designed to help treat eating and gambling disorders.</p>
<p>"It's easier to understand the outcomes with physical rehab," says Simon Eigenfeldt-Nielsen, founder of Serious Games Interactive. "But with psychology and mental health, it's much harder to measure."</p>
<p>Eigenfeldt-Nielsen says that it took a few tries to get the game right, but that he's happy with the version that is being trialed at a mental health facility outside of Barcelona.</p>
<p>In this version of the game, the idea it get players to break the bad thought patterns that lead to eating or gambling disorders. The game play demands that players slow down, breathe and think carefully about their next move.</p>
<p>"None of these games stands by itself," says Elias Kalapanidas, the coordinator of the Playmancer project.</p>
<p>"The games complement existing programs, and that's goal, the aim of the program — not to substitute for experts, but to help them better cope with their patients."</p>
<p>The Playmancer trials in Spain and the Netherlands are just finishing up. Researchers and game developers alike will be taking a close look at the data in the next few months. They hope to feed what they have learned back into version 2.0.</p>
<p>Miriam Vollenbroek at Roessingh sees great potential in this kind of technology.</p>
<p>"Games like this will go into the home," says Vollenbroek. "There should be technological developments that allows home-based patients to easily use this system, and see the game on their own television screens." "Many of our patients here have chronic neck or back pain, and their course of treatment can be long and repetitive. Playmancer, by making therapy more motivating, more enjoyable, can help them stick with their exercise program."</p>
<p>For the past few months, researchers at Roessingh have been trialing Playmancer with a dozen patients, of all different ages, to see if the game can really add a bit of fun to the healing process.</p>
<p>"We had some patients over 60, and they also like the game," says Vollenbroek. It's not only for very young adults. It's also something that can be used for the elderly, and that's important I think."</p>
<p>I decide to give the game a try. After I get suited up, I'm asked to stand on a treadmill.</p>
<p>My suit is covered with shiny little plastic knobs. A series of cameras around the room pick up my movements, and calibrates the software to the range of motion in my neck, back and shoulders.</p>
<p>It's the same kind of motion capture system used to do animation in some recent Hollywood films.</p>
<p>On the screen in front of the treadmill, my character begins to walk through an underground tunnel. I'm required to walk at a certain pace, while gathering gold coins and avoiding dangers.</p>
<p>The motions I'm forced to make are designed to stretch what needs to be stretched for rehab. In another part of the game, for example, I am rock-climbing up a cliff, stretching my upper back and shoulders.</p>
<p>As I react, the system picks up my motions and adjusts the level of the game according. It gets harder or easier depending on my comfort level. "¨ My reward for a job well done? Another chapter of my character's ongoing story is revealed.</p>
<p>"You're like this Indiana Jones type," says Jeppe Nielsen, one of the lead developers of Playmancer at Serious Games Interactive in Copenhagen, Denmark. "That puts the player in a positive, pro-active role sort of, I want to do this, I want to explore stuff and find stuff."</p>
<p>Nielsen says it wasn't easy balancing the needs of health professionals with good game development.</p>
<p>So I ask him why they didn't just create a game for an existing gesture-based gaming system like the Microsoft Kinect, or the Nintendo Wii.</p>
<p>"The Kinect is good, but it's probably good for fun," Nielsen says. "It's not very precise. We had to use the suits for this project because we had to measure precisely where the joints are, and what muscles are you using. That just wouldn't work with the Kinect or with the Wii."</p>
<p>Even more difficult, say developers at Serious Games Interactive, was designing the mental health version of the game, which is designed to help treat eating and gambling disorders.</p>
<p>"It's easier to understand the outcomes with physical rehab," says Simon Eigenfeldt-Nielsen, founder of Serious Games Interactive. "But with psychology and mental health, it's much harder to measure."</p>
<p>Eigenfeldt-Nielsen says that it took a few tries to get the game right, but that he's happy with the version that is being trialed at a mental health facility outside of Barcelona.</p>
<p>In this version of the game, the idea it get players to break the bad thought patterns that lead to eating or gambling disorders. The game play demands that players slow down, breathe and think carefully about their next move.</p>
<p>"None of these games stands by itself," says Elias Kalapanidas, the coordinator of the Playmancer project.</p>
<p>"The games complement existing programs, and that's goal, the aim of the program — not to substitute for experts, but to help them better cope with their patients."</p>
<p>The Playmancer trials in Spain and the Netherlands are just finishing up. Researchers and game developers alike will be taking a close look at the data in the next few months. They hope to feed what they have learned back into version 2.0.</p>
<p>Miriam Vollenbroek at Roessingh sees great potential in this kind of technology.</p>
<p>"Games like this will go into the home," says Vollenbroek. "There should be technological developments that allows home-based patients to easily use this system, and see the game on their own television screens."</p> | Playmancer Game Helps Heal | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-06-06/playmancer-game-helps-heal | 2011-06-06 | 3 |
<p />
<p>This is only getting worse. Just recently&#160; <a href="" type="internal">another vet was beaten</a>&#160;for no reason other than the fact that he would not give in to race baiting. Now This. Simply shameful.</p>
<p>From: <a href="http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc/marine-attacked-and-left-for-dead-in-nw-dc/55197802" type="external">wusa-9</a></p>
<p>A second Marine, 35-year-old Michael Schroeder, was left for dead after a being attacked in Northwest D.C. that same day, according to his family.</p>
<p>Temperatures had dropped down to the teens in weather reports. Laying in the cold, dragged between two cars, face-down, head bashed-in and cash missing is how Schroeder's family says police found him in the Glover Park neighborhood. Thankfully a dad and son driving by in a taxi saw Schroeder and called the authorities.</p>
<p>"It's an angel whoever found him and I'm very, very grateful," said the victim's mother, Diedre Schroeder. She cried recounting the phone call. Her son was missing all day until his twin brother found the 35-year-old at George Washington Hospital.</p>
<p>Michael Schroeder suffered a fractured skull, a severe concussion, there were head staples, convulsions, fevers and he could hardly speak, according to his family.</p>
<p>"Michael could've died that night," Deidre Schroeder said.</p>
<p>The worst part is the family really doesn't know what happened.</p>
<p>"I wasn't trying to find trouble. I was actually just trying to walk home," said Michael Schroeder in a softened voice.</p>
<p>That's the last thing Schroeder, an Operation Iraqi Freedom Marine, says he remembers. He was out drinking with friends that night and separated to go home. In nearby surveillance cameras, you see Schroeder near Wisconsin Avenue NW before 2 a.m. He cuts through a parking lot to 37th Street NW, but after he turns the next thing he remembers is ambulance lights.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/dc/marine-attacked-and-left-for-dead-in-nw-dc/55197802" type="external">Continue reading?</a></p>
<p>0 comments</p> | Marine beaten, left for dead on streets of DC | true | http://freedomsfinalstand.com/marine-beaten-left-for-dead-on-streets-of-dc/ | 0 |
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<p>David Boies and Ted Olson are this week’s odd couple after the pair <a href="" type="internal">teamed up to file a constitutional challenge to California’s gay marriage ban Wednesday</a>. The two lawyers made headlines in 2000 when they squared off before the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore, with Olson representing Bush and Boies representing Gore. Despite the acrimonious election battle, Boies and Olson aren’t mortal enemies. They’re lawyers–people schooled in the notion that an adversary is not an enemy.</p>
<p>As such, Olson and Boies are so friendly that last summer they took a bike trip through Italy with Tom Brokaw and media mogul Steve Brill, who, incidentally, is now responsible for another one of their joint ventures: <a href="http://www.journalismonline.com/about/index.html" type="external">Journalism Online</a>, Brill’s new attempt to save journalism by making people pay for it online. Boies and Olson are on the company’s board of advisors. But Brill didn’t pick the pair for the novelty factor. His legal team suggests that he intends to start the war that newspapers so far have shied away from: forcing Google pay for the news content it now steals for free. &#160;</p>
<p>One of the biggest obstacles to the newspaper industry’s getting revenue from search engines is newspapers’ inability to band together to create a unified payment system for online content–a roadblock that stems in part to the nation’s antitrust laws. But Boies is one of the nation’s preeminent antitrust lawyers, having taken down Microsoft as a prosecutor during the Clinton administration and later representing <a href="" type="internal">Napster against the music industry</a>. And Olson is no slouch in the antitrust department, either. In 2007, he won a major victory before the Supreme Court in a case called Leegin v. PSKS. The decision drove stake through one of the nation’s oldest and most settled pieces of antitrust law. No doubt Brill is counting on the combined legal heft of Olson and Boies (along with a lot of money), to finally get Google to cough up some cash to save the newspapers whose content it so profits from.</p>
<p /> | Bush v. Gore Lawyers Team Up To Save Journalism | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/05/bush-v-gore-lawyers-team-save-journalism/ | 2009-05-29 | 4 |
<p>Rep. Robert "Bob" Ney (R-Ohio) announced he would not seek reelection in November. Ney, who has been under investigation for corruption related to Jack Abramoff, was pressured by the House Republican leadership to step down at the end of his term. Bob Ney is the third Republican congressman to lose his seat due to corruption charges, following the resignations of Randy "Duke" Cunningham and Tom DeLay.</p>
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<p>With a critical midterm election just 92 days away, GOP leaders are moving aggressively to cut the party off from scandal-plagued candidates and hoping the taint does not spread. But Democrats and their allies are working just as hard to tar Republicans broadly with what they have labeled a “culture of corruption.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080700078.html?nav=rss_print/asection" type="external">Link</a></p>
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<p>.</p> | You Won't Have Ney to Kick Around Anymore | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/you-wont-have-ney-to-kick-around-anymore/ | 2006-08-08 | 4 |
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<p>In times of trouble, investors tend to flee to the comfort of the U.S. dollar -- even when the trouble is emanating from the United States.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>If Congress fails to reach a deficit reduction deal by the end of the year, it will automatically trigger big spending cuts and tax increases in 2013. This so-called "fiscal cliff" would hit the still-recovering U.S. economy hard.</p>
<p>But rather than bring the dollar down with it, the automatic spending cuts could be viewed as a sign of fiscal discipline that would benefit the currency.</p>
<p>Even if a protracted period of negotiations injects a heavy level of uncertainty into the markets, that could benefit safe-haven assets like U.S. Treasuries, and therefore the dollar.</p>
<p>"We risk a recession in the first half of next year and if that happens the risk-off trade will firmly be in play, which should benefit the dollar in the same way it did during the last recession," said Greg Anderson, G10 strategist at CitiFX, a division of Citigroup in New York.</p>
<p>In a "risk-off" market environment investors tend to drift towards investments perceived as safe havens.</p>
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<p>Congress is not expected to debate until after the U.S. elections on November 6, but if the Senate and House of Representatives end up in stalemate, roughly $600 billion in spending cuts and tax increases will emerge early next year. If a budget agreement is reached, then the U.S. economy should be on pace for stronger growth in 2013.</p>
<p>Both the Congressional Budget Office and International Monetary Fund have said the $600 billion in austerity measures have the potential to cause another recession.</p>
<p>U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has also warned that the tax increases and spending cuts will cause a sharp contraction in economic growth.</p>
<p>"It will be a net positive for the dollar as money flows into the greenback based on safe-haven flows more than anything else," said George Davis, chief technical analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.</p>
<p>Last year's bitter partisan fight in Congress over raising the debt ceiling, the legal amount the U.S. Treasury is allowed to borrow, caused the dollar to outperform the euro as investors sold stocks and other assets associated with risk and fled to government bonds.</p>
<p>In July 2011, the euro lost 1 percent of its value, with a 0.4 percentage-point loss in the final week of the month before the cutoff date for raising the debt ceiling.</p>
<p>The U.S. ultimately paid a price for the political partisanship, losing its coveted top-tier triple-A rating from Standard &amp; Poor's. Still, the dollar gained about 0.9 percent in the week following that downgrade. Government debt prices also gained.</p>
<p>To be sure, a U.S. "fiscal cliff" could have such a dramatic effect on the economy and markets that the dollar could eventually weaken as capital flees to regions with more stable macro policy frameworks.</p>
<p>If that happens, the Federal Reserve may be forced to undertake new stimulus measures, a negative for the dollar.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the dollar's status as one of the safest and most liquid assets in the world should trump those concerns. The fact that there are few large, liquid economies that currently have stronger fundamentals than the United States would stave off some of that flight.</p>
<p>Traditional safe-havens, such as the Japanese yen or the Swiss franc, could serve as alternatives to the dollar, but Japan is having similar issues with sluggish growth.</p>
<p>At the peak of the U.S. recession in 2008, the dollar appreciated 4.3 percent against the euro. Against a basket of major currencies , the dollar rose 5.8 percent.</p>
<p>"Should we hit another recession, the dollar could rise by 10 percent, with a 5 percent gain in December before we hit the 'fiscal cliff' and another 5 percent gain in January," Anderson said. "The shock effect helping the dollar will wear off after that."</p>
<p>EURO ZONE DEBT DILEMMA</p>
<p>The dollar's performance against the single currency shared by 17 countries also hinges on the state of the euro zone's three-year old debt crisis.</p>
<p>The euro is up 0.8 percent against the dollar so far this year, last trading at $1.3048. The euro, however, has receded from a 4-1/2 month high reached on September 17 at $1.3169.</p>
<p>An announcement by the European Central Bank last month that it was willing to buy unlimited amounts of bonds from highly indebted countries like Spain and Italy has helped the currency.</p>
<p>Expectations that Spain will eventually ask for a bailout have also quelled fears about the debt crisis, though there are concerns that the inordinate amount of debt taken on by the ECB will eventually hurt the single currency.</p>
<p>George Dowd, senior director, head of Chicago Foreign Exchange at Newedge USA in Chicago, said in order for the dollar to sustain gains garnered from the "fiscal cliff", the United States will need to make progress on a plan for fiscal sustainability.</p>
<p>"The dollar could still hold steady or gain if events in Europe deteriorate further, or if there is any escalation of military activity or tensions globally," he said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Julie Haviv; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)</p> | If U.S. Flies Off Fiscal Cliff, Dollar Could Soar | true | http://foxbusiness.com/news/2012/10/23/analysis-if-us-goes-over-fiscal-cliff-dollar-could-fly.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
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<p>WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, suggesting that claims processing disrupted by recent hurricanes has begun to improve.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 10,000 to a seasonally adjusted 239,000 for the week ended Nov. 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Claims had fallen to 229,000 in the prior week, near a 44-1/2-year low, and remain well below the 300,000 level generally regarded as signaling a healthy labor market.</p>
<p>Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 231,000 in the latest week. They have declined from an almost three-year high of 298,000 hit at the start of September in the aftermath of hurricanes that ravaged parts of Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.</p>
<p>The Labor Department noted that it is now processing backlogged claims in Puerto Rico though its operations in the Virgin Islands remain severely disrupted.</p>
<p>Last week marked the 139th straight week that claims remained below the 300,000 threshold. That is the longest such stretch since 1970, when the labor market was smaller.</p>
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<p>The four-week moving average of initial claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 1,250, to 231,250 last week, the lowest level since March 31, 1973. That suggests ongoing job growth in an economy many regard as near full employment.</p>
<p>The so-called continuing claims rose 17,000 to 1.90 million. Economists polled by Reuters had expected continuing claims of 1.89 million.</p>
<p>The four-week moving average of continuing claims fell 750, to 1.90 million, the lowest level since Jan. 12, 1974, suggesting a continued decline in labor market slack. (Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Andrea Ricci)</p> | US jobless claims rise more than expected as hurricane backlog clears | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/09/us-jobless-claims-rise-more-than-expected-as-hurricane-backlog-clears.html | 2017-11-09 | 0 |
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<p>Herding Sheep</p>
<p>Spc. Robert Ryder and Spc. William Chavez, automated field artillery tactical data systems specialists with Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 16th Field Artillery Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, escort sheep out of harm’s way during an air re-supply in Bala Marghab District, Aug. 23. Soldiers from Forward Operating Base Todd receive most of their supplies using air drops because of the tough terrain in the area. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/6108862150/in/photostream" type="external">Photo</a> by the US Army.</p>
<p /> | We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for September 6, 2011 | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/were-still-war-photo-day-september-6-2011/ | 2011-09-06 | 4 |
<p>[Mike is reporting from the ground in Oakland, former Oakland resident George contributed political analysis]</p>
<p>A major victory has been won. For only the second time in Oakland’s recent political history, mass action in the street has forced the hand of city government. If last time it was the rebellions that greeted the state murder of Oscar Grant that forced city and state officials to switch tack, arresting the shooter Johannes Mehserle and putting him on trial, the stakes have now changed and generalized in the local and national swirl of the Occupy Movement. Now, building on that history of resistance, but not without significant barriers in the near future, Oakland and the Bay Area is poised for a General Strike on the level of 1946.&#160; Or beyond.</p>
<p>“Citizen’s Arrest”&#160;</p>
<p>However, things didn’t look so good Tuesday night. As one of us stood in the increasingly desolate streets of Oakland at the intersection of 14th and Broadway, ignition point for rebellions past, the debates that emerged amid the hours of swirling tear gas from the OPD and 17 cooperating police agencies seemed to have moved backward since 2009, not forward.</p>
<p>A peculiar dialectic emerged, in which black youth out for a good time at the expense of police, had that fun doubled. When they would throw plastic bottles at the police in full riot gear, the young and mostly white liberals and peaceniks, in the street to support the displaced Occupy Oakland camp with little more than a peace sign, would preemptively and rapidly retreat in anticipation of another round of tear gas – before the police line had so much as shrugged.&#160; This must have been immensely fun to watch on one level.</p>
<p>At this point, an older white man with a mega-phone, whose face was not a familiar one in local organizing or at the Occupy encampment of the past two weeks, began saying, “This is a peaceful movement.&#160; Violent people are not part of this movement.”&#160; He was pointing out the direction from which the plastic bottle had come and where, at this point, the only people of color in the intersection were standing.&#160; The race and class dynamics of this, as well as the absurdity that someone was making this argument 30 feet from where a young Marine had been critically wounded by this same specific group of cops, was far more distasteful than the dozens of cans of chemical gas I can still taste writing this 36 hours later.&#160; I walked up and, shouting down the man with the mega-phone, told him that he was doing the cops work and was dividing the movement.&#160; I also told him that, while in the context of the moment I would agree that throwing bottles was counter productive, I would never play good protester / bad protester and point people out to cops, let alone show up here for the first time that night and appoint oneself king.&#160; We don’t need cops and we don’t need any “Yurtle the Turtle” of unprincipled pacifism.</p>
<p>After shouting down the man with the bullhorn and an 18 year old kid who tried to shout me down, I was confronted by a young, white man who told me: “We are making a citizen’s arrest.” As he and a group encircling me and attempted to grab my wrists and arms I pulled free and walked away – to a mix of boos from that group and shouts of encouragement from other sections of the protest.&#160; I had committed no crime and nothing anyone could construe as “violence”, aside from deviating from the worst of US pacifist history.&#160; Far from the Civil Rights sit-ins or the work of the Catholic Workers, people who took risks for social justice that disrupted the existing order, this broader and more prevalent pacifism is not about “principled tactics.” It is about creating a false moralism built around comfort and privilege in which those who know all too well what real violence looks like are silenced, and those who act on a critical analysis of the existing social order are “criminalized” and discursively expelled from the presumptive liberal “we” of the movement.</p>
<p>It is baffling that people who take hours of rubber bullets, concussion grenades, and assorted chemical weapons still come back to the same exact police line that has been bombarding us with chants that they too are the 99% in an attempt to “win them over.”&#160; It is even more so when they turn around and form a liberal peoples’ militia for the police State.&#160; We all need to be clear on one thing: these cops are not your friends and even though we will disagree, our most basic strength is in solidarity.&#160; At many other points in the last few days, that solidarity has started to grow and crowd out these tensions and disagreements among us.&#160; We must build this solidarity to the point where it like a natural reflex in the movement.&#160; All cops of the existing order out of Oakland!&#160; Including the ones in our heads.</p>
<p>Who’s Gonna Run The Town Tonight?&#160;</p>
<p>Just weeks ago, police chief Anthony Batts, the subject of a heavily trumpeted national search in 2009, resigned to protest the limitations the mayor’s office was placing on his leadership and attempts to reform the notoriously corrupt and violent agency. But it was not until another pro-police grouping, partly enraged by Batts’ departure, set into motion an effort to recall Quan from office that the Mayor acted, clearing the Occupy camp with the brutal force of 800 officers in the misty darkness of Tuesday morning.&#160; The tables appear to have turned.</p>
<p>By cowing so unhesitatingly and obviously to the demands of the police lobby, Mayor Quan did a massive service to the movement, showing in the brightest light of day what many of us have known for years: that OPD runs Oakland. A parasitical and colonial force which draws its members predominantly from outside Oakland, the OPD nevertheless demands the lion’s share of the budget and political control of the city, and this is what Batts’ resignation meant more than anything: this still is not enough, we want more.</p>
<p>Perhaps Quan’s biggest error was to trust the OPD, a body that was already calling for her ouster in all but open terms. The military barrage they unleashed on the protesters will also mark a turning point in Quan’s legitimacy, in part because of Scott Olson, a 2-tour Iraq War veteran who returned unscathed from war only to be shot in the head by a tear gas canister by OPD. When other protesters attempted to rescue the injured Olson, video showed OPD coolly and callously tossing more flash-bang grenades to disperse the rescuers. At last notice, Olson had entered into brain surgery at Highland Hospital in an attempt to repair the damage. Without minimizing Olson’s suffering, however, it’s worth noting that his injury came in an attempt to reclaim Oscar Grant Plaza. Both shootings – Olson’s and Oscar Grant’s – were caught on video, and much could be learned from the intertwining of these two events in Oakland’s history.</p>
<p>It seemed as though some did not get the message, and still believing that Occupy Oakland can only exist with the grace of the state began to again do the work of that state. When the crowds began to re-converge at 6pm Wednesday, Oscar Grant Plaza was a maze of tall fencing: Quan would make one last effort, albeit a weak one, to maintain order and her own dignity. Not knowing their own power, many simply followed these tangible, man-made orders in their midst, refusing to touch and some even actively protecting the fences. There was not a police officer in sight, and yet the police in the heads of many remained.</p>
<p>Drive the OPD out of Oakland by “Offing the Pig” in your own head&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>As 3000 people began to crowd the fenced-in park, the only open space was the concrete amphitheater directly in front of City Hall. More than half of the Occupiers were cut off from the General Assembly that was about to start, forced down the sidewalks a block away. Tearing down the gates would allow for a democratic mass meeting, not to mention the fact that there was no risk of arrest and it is a public park. Beyond that, it is our park – whether they put a sign up to the contrary or put 2000 cops in it. This should not be a contentious proposition.&#160; But it was.</p>
<p>A small group of us simply ripped open the fence and opened up a 50 foot hole.&#160; Three times as many protesters grabbed the fence away from us and closed it back up, as a large crowd of people looked on.&#160; Those of us who had come into the grassy part of the park were yelled at, called “vanguardist” and “agent provocateurs” for re-occupying a public park with a group of people who were here, ostensibly, to do one thing – occupy that same park.&#160; The General Assembly met for a full hour, with well over 1000 people cut off from participation and over 100 feet out of earshot, unable to hear announcements and proposals, because on this moment we had more respect for a metal fence than for democratic assembly.</p>
<p>All of this filled me with an intense and contradictory mix of sadness and anger, but also hope.&#160; Sadness, for the obviously large amount of growth we all need to go through to overcome our own limitations and lack of experience.&#160; When we force the police to fully retreat, come back to the park with 3 times the numbers who have been there in the last weeks, and we stare blankly at a little fence and hurl insults at people who try to take it down, one wonders what our capacities are.&#160; On the other hand, I was filled with immense hope.&#160; The cops overplayed their hand and lost this round.&#160; The park was ours, our numbers had doubled again, we would soon get 97% approval for a general strike, and I think we will actually win.</p>
<p>After a generation of free market class war, wars on the black and brown communities (a.k.a. the war on drugs and gangs), imperial wars and social atomization – we need to find the ability to imagine a better word and have the courage to make it real.&#160; We have to harness those instincts to tear down every “fence” that we see along the way.</p>
<p>Yesterday’s fence was eventually torn down and carefully stacked in one section of the park.&#160; The General Assembly allowed itself to actually become a General Assembly and we came together to put forward and approve a call for a General Strike on Wednesday November 2nd – no work, no school, shut it all down.&#160; A mass speak-out against police brutality in Oakland’s communities of color has been autonomously called for 6 pm Saturday at 14th and Broadway to make central the long-ignored, and everyday, violences in Oakland and to build for Wednesday’s mass action. I am confident there will be tens of thousands of people in the streets and actions in every section of the city next Wednesday.&#160; Oakland is home to the last General Strike in the US, which took place in 1946.&#160; It will be home to the next.&#160; From the immediate support we received from the around the country and world last night – from NYC to Egypt – it will not be the only one either.</p>
<p>This strike vote could be a Pyrrhic victory if we allow ourselves to divide ourselves.&#160; If we allow non-profits to become the “soft power” of the police and mayor (as they were during the Oscar Grant movement) and shepherd us into irrelevancy we will have no one to blame but ourselves.&#160; If we allow the mayor to appear to come back to the right side of history only to sell us out to the police one more time, we will have blown one of the biggest radical political opportunities in modern US history.&#160; We are smarter than that and this is our time.</p>
<p>After the General Assembly, well over 1000 protesters boisterously chanted throughout downtown Wednesday night, chasing off small groupings of police with our mere presence.&#160; We were able to stop once and debate taking the Bay Bridge or marching down West Grand.&#160; We never reached an official consensus, but after discussion we organically decided that the bridge would be a trap and had no strategic value at that point.&#160; This was a powerful moment. But it was a luxury created by retreated police force.&#160; We should not always expect to have such time or space.&#160; We can however develop a working “diversity of tactics” based on solidarity and knowing our real enemies.</p>
<p>Whether from the police or the mayor, or reactionary non-profits or union bureaucrats, forces will conspire to shorten our reaction time and force us to hone our emerging, radical reflexes, and attempt to play on old divisions.&#160; They will undoubtedly attempt to co-opt our marches or message, divide us, or simply hang their dead weight on our evolving, organic and radically democratic strength.&#160; History teaches us that movements and pivotal moments in history transform “regular people” who grow those movements to transform society and themselves.</p>
<p>The time has come to shut “their” city down for good and realize the vision of the Black Panther Party that was born in this town 45 years ago.&#160; For the creation of a radically democratic and self-determined communities – in a vibrant movement that involves people from every race and class – in the conscious pursuit of the destruction of the existing social structures of race and class, as well as every other axis of oppression, that divide and oppress in this society – “All power to all of the People!”</p>
<p>Liberate, Decolonize, and Transform Oakland!</p>
<p>Mike King is a PhD candidate at UC–Santa Cruz and East Bay activist.&#160; He can be reached at mking(at)ucsc.edu&#160;</p>
<p>George Ciccariello-Maher is an exiled Oaklander who teaches political theory at Drexel University, and can be reached at gjcm(at)drexel.edu.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Oakland on Strike! | true | https://counterpunch.org/2011/10/27/oakland-on-strike/ | 2011-10-27 | 4 |
<p>Any union negotiator will tell you that no matter how high the stakes, how tense the talks, or how agitated or unglued the parties become, contract negotiations between labor and management are mind-numbingly boring affairs.</p>
<p>Take away the shoptalk and protocol, the speeches, the lectures, the charts, the graphs, the “mission statements,” the industry overviews, history lessons and grim forecasts, and a contract bargain is nothing more than one very long and punishing argument about money.&#160; Money.&#160; And what on God’s earth (other than watching the WNBA on television) is more boring than arguing about money?</p>
<p>This isn’t to trivialize or ridicule the process.&#160; Obviously, bargains are vitally important.&#160; Indeed, to blue-collar workers a union contract not only represents their ticket to financial security, it’s the matrix, the crucible, within which they function as employees.&#160; Union contracts have rightly been called “socio-economic blueprints.”&#160; It’s just that the negotiations themselves are unimaginably tedious.</p>
<p>Every facet of a bargain—the ground rules to the “clean-up” items to the “housekeeping” items to that portion of the agenda officially designated as “non-economic” (the terminology fools no one)—has a price attached to it.&#160; Even before the parties have exchanged agendas, they’ve already argued over the incidental stuff:&#160; how to split the cost of the meeting room, who pays for the coffee, the scheduled “offs,” the printed materials, etc.&#160; Everything has a price-tag and everything is negotiable.</p>
<p>Consider:&#160; A contract bargain is like spending eight weeks on a car lot trying to buy a car.&#160; Think about that.&#160; Eight weeks—eight hours a day, five days a week—haggling over a car.&#160; How many times can you ask the salesman to lower the price?&#160; And how many times can he repeat that he’s gone as low he can go?&#160; Two or three hours of this would be enough to wipe out any normal person.&#160; Try doing it for eight weeks.&#160; The redundancy, the sheer repetition, is soul-crushing.</p>
<p>Moreover, nothing ever changes at the table; allegiances don’t shift; ideologies don’t get abandoned, epiphanies don’t occur.&#160; It’s like two mountain goats fighting on a ridge, butting heads, ramming each other.&#160; They’ll do that until they’re exhausted or one of them runs away.&#160; Mountain goats don’t change tactics.&#160; They don’t suddenly jump up and begin fighting like kangaroos.&#160; They fight like mountain goats.</p>
<p>The cardinal rule of union bargaining:&#160; Never put anything on your agenda you don’t want, because you may actually get it.&#160; A corollary to that rule:&#160; If you get it, it means you got it in lieu of something else, because a bargain is nothing if not an exercise in quid pro quo and there are only so many agenda items in play.&#160; A second corollary:&#160; Once you get it, you’re stuck with it.</p>
<p>From 1956, when the Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s Fullerton, California, paper mill first began cranking out product (Kleenex, Kotex, Hi-Dri towels, Delsey bath tissue, etc.), until 1997, when the union’s negotiating team finally—successfully, amazingly—altered the contract language, mill employees were forced to work on Thanksgiving Day.</p>
<p>Granted, there was money to be made.&#160; When you worked a holiday—any holiday—you received twenty-three hours pay (one hour short of triple-time) for a single eight-hour shift; and if you were scheduled for overtime (as the maintenance crews regularly were), it was a huge day.&#160; With holiday pay, overtime premium and “special payment,” you raked it in.</p>
<p>Still, despite the fact that everyone in the mill was there to make money, the economic bonanza wasn’t enough to offset a vague sense of malaise.&#160; In the same way that suggesting to a starving man that he become a cannibal (“Hey, it’s meat, isn’t it?”), the cold, impersonal logic underpinning the virtues of working on Thanksgiving Day couldn’t quite overcome the nagging, sentimental reasons for not wanting to do it.</p>
<p>Women employees in particular complained about having to work, and it wasn’t hard to see why.&#160; Typically, it was they who did all the preparation.&#160; It was the women who planned, arranged and hosted Thanksgiving, who straightened up the house, dressed the children, dressed the bird, cooked the meal, and, afterward, were responsible for cleaning up the mess.</p>
<p>If a woman worked day shift (6:30 AM to 2:30 PM), it meant that, under optimum conditions, she’d hurry home, bake a turkey, prepare the side dishes, shower, change clothes, and—if her family were lucky—get dinner on the table by 7:30 PM.&#160; If she worked swing-shift (2:30 PM to 10:30 PM), forget about it.&#160; A traditional Thanksgiving wasn’t going to happen, not with mom spending thirty minutes at the dinner table before having to dash off to work.</p>
<p>However, if she worked graveyard (10:30 PM to 6:30 AM), she could, in theory, have a “regular” Thanksgiving.&#160; But this woman still needed to sleep off the previous night’s shift, where she’d toiled for eight hours in a dusty, noisy paper mill.&#160; And while a short nap might get her through the preparation of an ambitious meal, she still needed to sleep before reporting back to work that same night, where she faced another grueling 8-hour shift.&#160; How do you fit that in and still host a “regular” Thanksgiving?</p>
<p>In the manufacturing industry, a restricted holiday is commonly known as a “cold down.”&#160; It refers to a day (or shift) where all production work is halted and all the equipment is locked out.&#160; On a cold down, none of the production crews are allowed to work—not even in exceptional circumstances, not even on a voluntary basis.&#160; A restricted holiday is sacrosanct.&#160; Nobody works.</p>
<p>Because machinery is a manufacturer’s primary asset, its life-blood—not to mention its main investment—agreeing to have expensive equipment lie idle is, understandably, a momentous decision. That’s why there are big-time manufacturing plants in the U.S. which don’t permit any cold downs, not even Christmas Day.&#160; They’d rather pay the crews outlandish money—crazy money—than shut down for even one shift.</p>
<p>The Fullerton mill already had three restricted holidays—Christmas, Fourth of July and Labor Day—and its union leadership viewed Thanksgiving as the inevitable final jewel in the crown.&#160; For 41 years the union had asked that Thanksgiving be made a restricted holiday, and for 41 years Kimberly-Clark management had steadfastly refused.</p>
<p>How, in 1997, we finally got them to give it to us is a complicated story.&#160; Suffice to say, it was a combination of luck, of grinding them down, of pleading, begging and cajoling, of appealing to naked sentimentality (kids want their mommies and daddies), the spirit of Feminism (set these women free!), and historical antecedents (the pilgrims and Indians).&#160; We pulled out all stops.</p>
<p>But the story has an odd footnote.&#160; When word of our Thanksgiving “coup” reached the membership the results were surprisingly mixed.&#160; While some folks were obviously pleased, many were not.&#160; In fact, the more the crews thought about it, the less they seemed to like the idea.</p>
<p>For one thing, people were flabbergasted they couldn’t volunteer to work.&#160; “You mean we don’t even have a choice?!”&#160; When we told them they were entitled to this sanctified day off, that they deserved to spend this special time with their families, some became belligerent.&#160; “Who do you think you are….Big Brother?&#160; Why don’t you let us decide how much time we need to spend with our families?”</p>
<p>When we approached the hardcore sports fans and reminded these guys that they could now stay home, kick back, have a few beers and leisurely watch their football games, the gesture backfired.&#160; “Oh really?” they said sarcastically.&#160; “There aren’t enough games on Sundays?&#160; You gave back triple-time so we could watch more TV?”</p>
<p>Even the women surprised us.&#160; Apparently, some of these ladies were relieved at not being responsible for a big Thanksgiving dinner.&#160; Others expressed dismay at now having to stay home and entertain (or visit) in-laws they despised.</p>
<p>Given the history of this agenda item, we were stunned.&#160; Call us naïve, but we expected the crews to be deliriously happy when we brought it back.&#160; Indeed, one of our negotiators actually predicted that when news of it reached the mill, we would be greeted as “conquering heroes” (his exact words).</p>
<p>Of course, once we got it, it was too late.&#160; Thanksgiving as a restricted holiday was something we were going to have to live with.&#160; We had screwed up.&#160; All we could say in our defense was that—like New Coke, the Edsel, and Julia Roberts marrying Lyle Lovett —it seemed like a good idea at the time.</p>
<p>DAVID MACARAY, a Los Angeles playwright, is a former union rep and author of “It’s Never Been Easy:&#160; Essays on Modern Labor,” available at itsneverbeeneasy.com.&#160; He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | The Gift Nobody Wanted | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/12/25/the-gift-nobody-wanted/ | 2009-12-25 | 4 |
<p>BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the Syrian conflict (all times local):</p>
<p>10:20 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the United States in a telephone conversation with President Donald Trump to halt the supply of weapons to Syrian Kurdish militia.</p>
<p>Erdogan’s office says he told Trump on Wednesday that Turkey’s military offensive into the northwestern enclave of Afrin is aimed to rid it of “terrorist elements” and protect Turkey’s national security. Erdogan also stressed the importance of cooperating against terrorism, according to the statement.</p>
<p>Ties between the two NATO allies have been tense over several issues, including U.S. support to the Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers to be “terrorists” because of their alleged links to outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey. The Syrian Kurdish militia has been the closest U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.</p>
<p>Erdogan has vowed to expand Ankara’s operation beyond Afrin and toward the town of Manbij, which would bring Turkish troops and their Syrian allies closer to U.S. forces supporting the Kurds against IS.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:05 p.m.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump is warning Turkey against taking steps that could risk military conflict between U.S. and Turkish forces in Syria.</p>
<p>Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose military has launched a cross-border operation against the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria. The White House says Trump expressed concerns about the growing violence and told Erdogan it jeopardizes shared U.S.-Turkish goals in Syria.</p>
<p>The White House says Trump is urging the Turkish leader to limit the operation and avoid civilian casualties.</p>
<p>Trump is also warning the U.S. is concerned about “destructive and false rhetoric coming from Turkey,” but isn’t specifying. He tells Erdogan the U.S. is inviting closer cooperation to address “Turkey’s legitimate security concerns” in Syria.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>8:20 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkish officials say two people who were seriously wounded in a rocket attack from across the border in Syria have died of their wounds.</p>
<p>Two rockets fired at the Turkish border town of Kilis on Wednesday hit a mosque and a home, with 13 reported hurt, some seriously.</p>
<p>The Kilis office of Gov. Mehmet Tekinarslan said later that two people died — a Turkish citizen and a Syrian national who were wounded inside the mosque during evening prayers. It says the injured are being treated in hospitals.</p>
<p>The attack came as Turkey’s military pushed forward with an offensive to clear Syrian Kurdish militias it considers to be terrorists from an enclave in northwest Syria.</p>
<p>The state-run Anadolu Agency said the Turkish military responded to the rocket attack by shelling Syrian Kurdish positions in Syria.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>5:55 p.m.</p>
<p>A Turkish official says two rockets fired from Syria hit a mosque and a home in a Turkish border town. At least 13 people were hurt.</p>
<p>Gov. Mehmet Tekinarslan says the rockets struck the border town of Kilis on Wednesday during evening prayers. Media reports said they were fired from the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin.</p>
<p>Tekinarslan says eight were wounded inside the mosque, two of them seriously. The second rocket hit a nearby home, where five were hurt.</p>
<p>Turkish TV images showed the rocket that struck the mosque had pierced through its dome. The private NTV station showed people inside the mosque frantically trying to clear the rubble.</p>
<p>It was the latest in a series of rocket attacks against the Turkish border since Ankara launched a military offensive into Afrin to clear it of Syrian Kurdish militiamen whom it considers to be linked with Turkey’s own Kurdish insurgents.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>3:50 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkey’s state-run agency says 11 people have been arrested over allegedly engaging in “terror propaganda” through social media postings about Turkey’s military offensive into a Syrian Kurdish enclave.</p>
<p>Anadolu Agency says the group is among some 150 people detained in police operations across Turkey and accused of supporting a U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey considers to be a terrorist group.</p>
<p>The report says other detainees, suspected of social media posts allegedly supporting the Syrian Kurdish fighters, were still being questioned. The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders criticized the detentions as a “witch hunt against critics.”</p>
<p>Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, an extension of the Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. Ankara last week launched a military operation codenamed Olive Branch to clear YPG fighters from the enclave of Afrin in northern Syria.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>3 p.m.</p>
<p>A senior U.S. official says Washington is concerned that Turkey’s military offensive in the Syrian-Kurdish enclave could distract from the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and could be exploited by extremists to re-supply or create safe havens.</p>
<p>The official told a group of reporters on Wednesday that Syrian Kurdish fighters in the enclave of Afrin are not part of the U.S.-supported or trained Syrian Kurdish force that is allied with the United States in the fight against IS.</p>
<p>Commenting on Turkish threats to expand the offensive into the Syrian Kurdish town of Manbij, the official says Washington’s “number one concern is the safety and security troops in the vicinity.”</p>
<p>Addressing Turkish complaints that the United States has not kept to its promises to take back weapons supplied to the Syrian Kurdish fighters, the official said Washington intended to “fulfil the commitment” but would not provide a time frame.</p>
<p>The official says the U.S. continues to be supportive of Turkey’s “legitimate security concerns” and recognize their concern for security along its border.</p>
<p>A second U.S. official denied Turkish government claims the U.S. had delivered thousands of trucks of weapons to the Syrian Kurdish forces, saying the bulk of the supplies went to U.S. forces and also included ammunition, food and humanitarian supplies.</p>
<p>Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.</p>
<p>—Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey;</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>1:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Some 350 Kurds burned images of the presidents of Turkey and Russia as they marched on the U.S. and Russian embassies in the Cypriot capital Nicosia to protest Turkey’s “invasion” of a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria.</p>
<p>Waving Kurdish flags and those of the Syrian Kurdish militant group YPG, protesters chanted slogans calling Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “fascist” and “terrorist,” and called on Turkey to “get out of Kurdistan.”</p>
<p>They also denouncing what they said was Russia’s “betrayal” for allowing the military offensive to happen.</p>
<p>Protester Azad Baker told The Associated Press that Wednesday’s march was aimed at urging European nations to use their influence in order to stop the killing of civilians in the Kurdish enclave.</p>
<p>He said Kurds are fighting alone without U.S. help.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:40 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkey’s president says its incursion into a Kurdish-held enclave in Syria is progressing “successfully” and will continue until the last “terrorist” is eliminated.</p>
<p>Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday renewed a threat to extend the offensive east to the city of Manbij, which is under the control of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters. He said he plans to “foil games along our borders starting from Manbij,” adding that “we will clean our region from this trouble completely.”</p>
<p>Erdogan said that Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters have killed at least 268 Syrian Kurdish fighters since the operation against the Afrin enclave was launched on Jan. 20. He said Turkish troops have suffered seven or eight losses.</p>
<p>Ankara views the main Syrian Kurdish militia in northern Syria as a threat because of its links to Kurdish insurgents fighting in southeastern Turkey. The Syrian Kurds are the main U.S. ally against the Islamic State group in Syria, and played a key role in driving the extremists from much of the country’s northeast. The U.S. has urged Turkey, a NATO ally, to exercise restraint.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Syria has dismissed recent reports of chemical attacks in the war-torn country as “lies.”</p>
<p>The United States and 28 other countries are launching a new initiative to better identify and punish anyone who uses chemical weapons, amid new reports of a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.</p>
<p>The U.S. says Russia, a key ally of the government, shares blame for the use of chemical weapons in Syria because it vetoed the renewal of an expert body that determined responsibility for such attacks.</p>
<p>The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that French and U.S. allegations of new chemical attacks were part of the “systematic targeting of Syria.” It blamed Western countries for blocking probes and pressuring investigators after previous chemical attacks.</p>
<p>In 2013, the U.S. and Russia reached an agreement to remove all chemical weapons from Syria. There have been several reported chemical attacks since then.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:50 a.m.</p>
<p>A top Russian diplomat has accused the United States of promoting unverified reports about chemical weapons attacks in Syria in order to cloud Russia’s peace initiatives.</p>
<p>Russia is hosting Syria peace talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi next week that some Syrian opposition figures said will run counter to U.N. peace initiatives.</p>
<p>Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Interfax news agency on Wednesday that the U.S. is promoting “rigged, unverified reports” of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria to hamper Russia’s peace efforts.</p>
<p>Ryabkov’s remarks came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Moscow “ultimately bears responsibility for the victims” of a new suspected chemical attack outside the Syrian capital Damascus.</p>
<p>BEIRUT (AP) — The Latest on the Syrian conflict (all times local):</p>
<p>10:20 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged the United States in a telephone conversation with President Donald Trump to halt the supply of weapons to Syrian Kurdish militia.</p>
<p>Erdogan’s office says he told Trump on Wednesday that Turkey’s military offensive into the northwestern enclave of Afrin is aimed to rid it of “terrorist elements” and protect Turkey’s national security. Erdogan also stressed the importance of cooperating against terrorism, according to the statement.</p>
<p>Ties between the two NATO allies have been tense over several issues, including U.S. support to the Syrian Kurdish fighters whom Turkey considers to be “terrorists” because of their alleged links to outlawed Kurdish rebels in Turkey. The Syrian Kurdish militia has been the closest U.S. ally in the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria.</p>
<p>Erdogan has vowed to expand Ankara’s operation beyond Afrin and toward the town of Manbij, which would bring Turkish troops and their Syrian allies closer to U.S. forces supporting the Kurds against IS.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:05 p.m.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump is warning Turkey against taking steps that could risk military conflict between U.S. and Turkish forces in Syria.</p>
<p>Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose military has launched a cross-border operation against the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria. The White House says Trump expressed concerns about the growing violence and told Erdogan it jeopardizes shared U.S.-Turkish goals in Syria.</p>
<p>The White House says Trump is urging the Turkish leader to limit the operation and avoid civilian casualties.</p>
<p>Trump is also warning the U.S. is concerned about “destructive and false rhetoric coming from Turkey,” but isn’t specifying. He tells Erdogan the U.S. is inviting closer cooperation to address “Turkey’s legitimate security concerns” in Syria.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>8:20 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkish officials say two people who were seriously wounded in a rocket attack from across the border in Syria have died of their wounds.</p>
<p>Two rockets fired at the Turkish border town of Kilis on Wednesday hit a mosque and a home, with 13 reported hurt, some seriously.</p>
<p>The Kilis office of Gov. Mehmet Tekinarslan said later that two people died — a Turkish citizen and a Syrian national who were wounded inside the mosque during evening prayers. It says the injured are being treated in hospitals.</p>
<p>The attack came as Turkey’s military pushed forward with an offensive to clear Syrian Kurdish militias it considers to be terrorists from an enclave in northwest Syria.</p>
<p>The state-run Anadolu Agency said the Turkish military responded to the rocket attack by shelling Syrian Kurdish positions in Syria.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>5:55 p.m.</p>
<p>A Turkish official says two rockets fired from Syria hit a mosque and a home in a Turkish border town. At least 13 people were hurt.</p>
<p>Gov. Mehmet Tekinarslan says the rockets struck the border town of Kilis on Wednesday during evening prayers. Media reports said they were fired from the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin.</p>
<p>Tekinarslan says eight were wounded inside the mosque, two of them seriously. The second rocket hit a nearby home, where five were hurt.</p>
<p>Turkish TV images showed the rocket that struck the mosque had pierced through its dome. The private NTV station showed people inside the mosque frantically trying to clear the rubble.</p>
<p>It was the latest in a series of rocket attacks against the Turkish border since Ankara launched a military offensive into Afrin to clear it of Syrian Kurdish militiamen whom it considers to be linked with Turkey’s own Kurdish insurgents.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>3:50 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkey’s state-run agency says 11 people have been arrested over allegedly engaging in “terror propaganda” through social media postings about Turkey’s military offensive into a Syrian Kurdish enclave.</p>
<p>Anadolu Agency says the group is among some 150 people detained in police operations across Turkey and accused of supporting a U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey considers to be a terrorist group.</p>
<p>The report says other detainees, suspected of social media posts allegedly supporting the Syrian Kurdish fighters, were still being questioned. The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders criticized the detentions as a “witch hunt against critics.”</p>
<p>Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, an extension of the Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. Ankara last week launched a military operation codenamed Olive Branch to clear YPG fighters from the enclave of Afrin in northern Syria.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>3 p.m.</p>
<p>A senior U.S. official says Washington is concerned that Turkey’s military offensive in the Syrian-Kurdish enclave could distract from the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and could be exploited by extremists to re-supply or create safe havens.</p>
<p>The official told a group of reporters on Wednesday that Syrian Kurdish fighters in the enclave of Afrin are not part of the U.S.-supported or trained Syrian Kurdish force that is allied with the United States in the fight against IS.</p>
<p>Commenting on Turkish threats to expand the offensive into the Syrian Kurdish town of Manbij, the official says Washington’s “number one concern is the safety and security troops in the vicinity.”</p>
<p>Addressing Turkish complaints that the United States has not kept to its promises to take back weapons supplied to the Syrian Kurdish fighters, the official said Washington intended to “fulfil the commitment” but would not provide a time frame.</p>
<p>The official says the U.S. continues to be supportive of Turkey’s “legitimate security concerns” and recognize their concern for security along its border.</p>
<p>A second U.S. official denied Turkish government claims the U.S. had delivered thousands of trucks of weapons to the Syrian Kurdish forces, saying the bulk of the supplies went to U.S. forces and also included ammunition, food and humanitarian supplies.</p>
<p>Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.</p>
<p>—Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey;</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>1:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Some 350 Kurds burned images of the presidents of Turkey and Russia as they marched on the U.S. and Russian embassies in the Cypriot capital Nicosia to protest Turkey’s “invasion” of a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria.</p>
<p>Waving Kurdish flags and those of the Syrian Kurdish militant group YPG, protesters chanted slogans calling Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “fascist” and “terrorist,” and called on Turkey to “get out of Kurdistan.”</p>
<p>They also denouncing what they said was Russia’s “betrayal” for allowing the military offensive to happen.</p>
<p>Protester Azad Baker told The Associated Press that Wednesday’s march was aimed at urging European nations to use their influence in order to stop the killing of civilians in the Kurdish enclave.</p>
<p>He said Kurds are fighting alone without U.S. help.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:40 p.m.</p>
<p>Turkey’s president says its incursion into a Kurdish-held enclave in Syria is progressing “successfully” and will continue until the last “terrorist” is eliminated.</p>
<p>Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday renewed a threat to extend the offensive east to the city of Manbij, which is under the control of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters. He said he plans to “foil games along our borders starting from Manbij,” adding that “we will clean our region from this trouble completely.”</p>
<p>Erdogan said that Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters have killed at least 268 Syrian Kurdish fighters since the operation against the Afrin enclave was launched on Jan. 20. He said Turkish troops have suffered seven or eight losses.</p>
<p>Ankara views the main Syrian Kurdish militia in northern Syria as a threat because of its links to Kurdish insurgents fighting in southeastern Turkey. The Syrian Kurds are the main U.S. ally against the Islamic State group in Syria, and played a key role in driving the extremists from much of the country’s northeast. The U.S. has urged Turkey, a NATO ally, to exercise restraint.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Syria has dismissed recent reports of chemical attacks in the war-torn country as “lies.”</p>
<p>The United States and 28 other countries are launching a new initiative to better identify and punish anyone who uses chemical weapons, amid new reports of a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus.</p>
<p>The U.S. says Russia, a key ally of the government, shares blame for the use of chemical weapons in Syria because it vetoed the renewal of an expert body that determined responsibility for such attacks.</p>
<p>The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that French and U.S. allegations of new chemical attacks were part of the “systematic targeting of Syria.” It blamed Western countries for blocking probes and pressuring investigators after previous chemical attacks.</p>
<p>In 2013, the U.S. and Russia reached an agreement to remove all chemical weapons from Syria. There have been several reported chemical attacks since then.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>10:50 a.m.</p>
<p>A top Russian diplomat has accused the United States of promoting unverified reports about chemical weapons attacks in Syria in order to cloud Russia’s peace initiatives.</p>
<p>Russia is hosting Syria peace talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi next week that some Syrian opposition figures said will run counter to U.N. peace initiatives.</p>
<p>Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in an interview with the Interfax news agency on Wednesday that the U.S. is promoting “rigged, unverified reports” of the alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria to hamper Russia’s peace efforts.</p>
<p>Ryabkov’s remarks came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Moscow “ultimately bears responsibility for the victims” of a new suspected chemical attack outside the Syrian capital Damascus.</p> | The Latest: Turkey’s Erdogan says he warned Trump over Syria | false | https://apnews.com/ea43c5e433c1434d8706773dfa8a57e4 | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“There’s Edwin now, smiling,” said Sanchez, his own face beaming.</p>
<p>Sanchez was referring to Edwin Berry (Baca), an iconic New Mexico penitente, folklorist and musician who revived a Holy Week pilgrimage to Tomé, a Spanish land grant community nearly 300 years old and about 35 miles south of Albuquerque in Valencia County.</p>
<p>Berry, who died in 2000, is credited with erecting a crucifixion shrine in the late 1940s at the top of the hill, which he often described as the perfect church: “Open to all, at all times, and no collection plate.”</p>
<p>On Tuesday, negotiations spanning years resulted in a historic signing ceremony that marked the transfer of ownership of the hill from the Valley Improvement Association to the Town of Tomé Land Grant.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>To many residents, the return of the hill – a rocky, black basalt-covered dormant volcano considered sacred for hundreds of years – represents a revival of the heart and soul of the community.</p>
<p>The hill was lost during a war over the 1968 sale of the 47,000-acre land grant to Horizon Corp., an East Coast land development company, which pitted families and friends against each other and spawned decades of ill will, open conflict and lingering discord.</p>
<p>Lawrence Sanchez re-enacts a blessing ceremony first conducted in 1739 when the Town of Tomé Land Grant was established by the king of Spain. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Community leaders hope that the transfer of ownership of 188 acres, which includes the hill, will end any lingering discord and begin a new age of conciliation among residents. Tuesday’s transfer took place inside the town of Tomé Community Center, which includes a museum that exhibits local historical artifacts.</p>
<p>The ceremony culminates years of negotiations, taken “one step at a time, one hurdle after another,” Sanchez said.</p>
<p>“The hill, really, has always belonged to the people, and now it is back in the hands of the people,” Town Trustee Rita Padilla said, crediting Paul Baca and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, leaders of the Valley Improvement Association, a private land assessment and community development company that succeeded Horizon as owners of the land. Lopez is also a land grant heir.</p>
<p>From left, Andrea Padilla, Heidi Zamora and Armando Zamora climb Tomé Hill on Tuesday, after community leaders signed documents that transferred ownership of the hill back to the Town of Tomé Land Grant. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“We’re a landless land grant, which is really ironic,” Padilla said. “But now, we’ve become a community service and history preservation land grant.”</p>
<p>Reprising the land grant war, Padilla said one side said the sale would provide new homes, college educations and a better standard of living, while opponents warned it would plunder spiritual and historic ties to the land. Years of court battles and the adding of thousands of heirs resulted in relatively small distributions to individual heirs.</p>
<p>“There might still be some residual feelings today about what happened, but we’re hoping that this (return of the hill) will heal and move this community in a really different direction,” she said.</p>
<p>Assunta Berry, the widow of Edwin Berry and an honored guest at the ceremony, said she believes her husband was smiling down on the ceremony. Later, at the top of the hill, Andrea Padilla, Berry’s niece, said she hopes the new ownership will honor the spirit of her uncle’s desire that it always be open to all denominations at no cost.</p>
<p>“My uncle is happy and smiling down on what was a truly amazing thing that has happened today,” she said. “It’s just the right thing.” [photoshelter-gallery g_id=”G0000Mo.u1XY7zBQ” g_name=”Tome-Hill-Land-Grant” f_show_caption=”t” f_show_slidenum=”t” img_title=”casc” pho_credit=”iptc” f_link=”t” f_enable_embed_btn=”t” f_send_to_friend_btn=”t” f_fullscreen=”t” f_bbar=”t” f_show_watermark=”t” f_htmllinks=”t” f_mtrx=”t” fsvis=”t” width=”620″ height=”465″ f_constrain=”t” bgcolor=”#000000″ btype=”old” bcolor=”#CCCCCC” crop=”t” twoup=”t” trans=”xfade” tbs=”3000″ f_ap=”t” bgtrans=”f” linkdest=”c” f_topbar=”f” f_bbarbig=”” f_smooth=”f” f_up=”f” target=”_self” ]</p>
<p /> | Tomé Hill ‘back in the hands of the people’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/295910/tomeacute-hill-back-in-the-hands-of-the-people.html | 2013-11-07 | 2 |
<p>Photo by ben caulfield | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Progressives and Bernie Sanders Supporters are continuing to lead efforts in support of a single&#160;payer healthcare system in contrast to Republicans pushing for Obamacare repeal that would increase premiums and relegate millions of Americans to the already 28 million Americans who have no health insurance. The supposition that healthcare is a human right and should be provided to every American is at the center of this movement, but the Democratic Party leadership has been reluctant to formally co-sponsor a Medicare for All&#160; <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/676" type="external">bill&#160;</a>introduced by Congressman John Conyers. Republicans recently&#160; <a href="" type="internal">introduced&#160;</a>single payer healthcare to a vote as a troll to the Democratic Party, poking fun at the proposal why trying to highlight the divisions among Democrats in supporting the policy. The stunt was ignored, and Obamacare repeal efforts&#160; <a href="" type="internal">floundered&#160;</a>in the Senate once again, but the fight for Medicare for All continues to gain support and momentum.</p>
<p>“A single payer system is inevitable. That’s the first thing, this is inevitable. But just because something’s inevitable doesn’t mean that it will happen without an effort and that it will happen in time to help the mass of American people who are looking for better options than they have now,” said former Congressman&#160; <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Dennis_Kucinich" type="external">Dennis&#160;Kucinich</a>&#160;(D-OH) in an interview with the Observer.&#160;Kucinich, who served eight terms in congress from 1997 to 2013, and often&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joshua-scheer/rep-dennis-kucinich-tackl_b_35182.html" type="external">introduced&#160;</a>ahis own single payer Medicare for all healthcare bill with Congressman Conyers while he served in congress. “When I worked with a number of physicians connected with Harvard to draft a bill, John Conyers and I worked together, he was the prime sponsor. And what I did and this was my roll, I went to the floor of the house and I lobbied members of Congress endlessly, just kept at it day after day after day.”&#160;Kucinich&#160;managed to get 90 co-sponsors at the time to support the bill, with that number now reaching&#160; <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/676" type="external">115 Democrats</a>&#160;in the House of Representatives co-sponsoring, but leading voices in Congress, like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) have abstained from getting behind it.</p>
<p>“People don’t want health insurance as much as they want health assurance,”&#160;Kucinich&#160;continued&#160; “The first time I ran for Congress in 1972 I brought this issue forward, mindful of the work that Ted Kennedy was doing at the time. I actually made the foolishly arrogant statement back then that if the American Medical Association which had supported the person I ran against, if they were really smart they’d make sure that I didn’t get elected that I wouldn’t be their guy, that I would be working for a single payer system. And of course I basically invited them to come in which they did and drop a lot of money in a campaign that I ended up losing by a little more than 1% at age 25 I might add.”&#160; He added, ” so this is an issue that I’ve been close to. But through the years, here’s what I’ve learned. A couple principals. I think the first and most important principal is the government cannot give you health care. It can’t give you health. They can pay the bills but they can’t give you health. And the second thing is that each one of us has to take a measure of responsibility for what we eat, what we drink, the effect if has on ourselves and others. I mean there is an element of personal responsibility here which almost never gets discussed but it needs to be. And the third thing is prevention. The government ought to be investing in prevention. The next thing is that no market-based system of health care will survive. It’s impossible. Premiums will continue to escalate, co-pays will go up, exclusions will increase and you’ll end up with only those who are well-off financially being able to pay their bills, but even then the number of health expense bankruptcies will continue to escalate.”</p>
<p>He cited that mental health, dental health,&#160; vision care, prescription drug costs and the ability for Medicare to negotiate drug prices, and long-term care for the elderly needs to be incorporated into discussions on healthcare and included in a single-payer healthcare plan. “It’s not difficult to understand that in our modern society, there are many people who are having difficulty coping, whether the incidence of drugs, opioid abuse or alcoholism continues on the rise, or just the every day stress of life, increasing suicides in certain demographic groups such as very young women and middle-aged men points to a society that’s creating enormous pressure for individuals. And so we have to make part of the guarantees of a health care system full coverage for emental health for all visits,” he said. “Then you go to the issue of dental health which is connected to overall physical health. That has to be part of the guarantee of a national system because you have so many people and it’s well known that the connection between dental health and overall physical health is exact.”&#160;Kucinich&#160; <a href="" type="internal">noted</a>&#160;the case of Deamonte Driver in Maryland, a 12 year-old who died from a toothache infection in 2007. ”</p>
<p>“We have a Baby Boomer generation that is going into its elderly years. Some will not be able to care for themselves if they’re lucky enough to approach their late eighties and early nineties. I mean in some quarters, 80 is the new 60. But the truth is unless somebody has living family to help them as they get older, there’s a tremendous burden that’s put on family budgets when someone needs nursing care in their later years. And you think of the dilemma that families face today where everything they’ve ever worked for they have to put on the table to assure care for a loved one. It’s really heart breaking. So inevitably the nest thing they had, they saved up, the home that they live in, family treasures that have commercial value, all those things being capitalized for the sake of paying for nursing care.”</p>
<p>Polls have shown the majority of Americans&#160; <a href="" type="internal">support&#160;</a>a single-payer healthcare system, with recent trends signaling that support is growing. Even so, several Democratic Party elected officials have dismissed or excused the policy platform.&#160;“It would not be good to spend our time focusing on what happens a few years from now,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) told Vox in an <a href="" type="internal">&#160;interview</a>. “We’ll have plenty of time to debate what bill we’ll craft once we get control back.” Similar consensus has been expressed from several top Democrats when pressed on the issue.</p>
<p>“We can’t be sitting around worrying about what might happen, we have to make things happen. And if I’ve learned anything about Congress is that there is a paradox of people who are in some of the most powerful positions in our society feel powerless to deal with these big questions. And yet each member of Congress does have real impact on the long-term health of the country. One of the complicating factors is the amount of money that comes from various interests who are promoting the current system and they try to use that to hold members hostage. But when one considers the broader claims of our constituents, this current system cannot meet the diverse health needs of America,” explained&#160;Kucinich. “And people have to know. I mean, there’s nobody in that Congress that isn’t personally affected by someone in their family who has an illness and the cost of it is extraordinary. Now members do have a pretty good insurance plan, but so should everyone else. Members do have the ability to have access to medical care almost 24/7. So should everyone else. And there was a member from Maryland a few years ago who talked about the effect of changing health care coverage, Donna Edwards, you may have read this story where she has a condition where she needs constant treatment and if she’s separated from that treatment, it’s going to impair her ability to live a quality standard of life.”</p>
<p>Though the majority of support for a single-payer healthcare system has come from Democrats, there has been some support for this type of system from Republicans. Fox News Contributor Charles Krauthammer&#160; <a href="" type="internal">predicted</a>&#160;in May 2017 that the U.S. will have a single-payer system inevitably in seven years. On July 27 the American Conservative published an&#160; <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-conservative-case-for-universal-healthcare/" type="external">op-ed</a>&#160;arguing a conservative case for a single-payer healthcare system, noting that it would drastically reduce costs and benefit the economy.&#160;Kucinich&#160;noted that its unsustainable to push for single-payer solely along partisan lines.&#160; “One of the things that I want to share with you is an episode where I had a town hall meeting a few years ago. And afterwards, there was a couple who walked out of the meeting saying that they didn’t want government sponsored health care. Now remember the government pays the bills. I’m not talking about the government running hospitals, understand that. Government doesn’t run the hospitals but it pays the bills. So they were saying they didn’t want the government to be involved and one was on a walker, the other one was on a cane and both were pretty seriously overweight and had visible other health problems and were of the age where I assumed that they could be on both Medicare and Medicaid. But they were complaining about government sponsored health care. This ideological divide over health care is something we have to get past in order to protect the health of our nation. This is something that Americans should be uniting on. Disease doesn’t favor Democrats or Republicans and we have to have more independent thinking on this health care matter which isn’t bound by partisanship or financial connections or lobbyists or whatever.” He added, ” The partisan approach to health care cannot succeed and people are looking for more independent-minded representatives who are not tied to the inevitable, self-defeating partisan infighting. So that’s all part of yesterday’s approach to governance. We really have to look to the future which is going to be healthy for the American people and that will require some changes in the way members of Congress approach this issue. And I think that’s&#160;possible because the one thing that you have to remember is that our system provides for a representative government and the people who are involved at some level do represent their constituents. We can all aspire to represent our constituents in a way that is more effective and I think that will happen.”</p> | Interview: Dennis Kucinich On Why Single-Payer is Inevitable | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/08/07/interview-dennis-kucinich-on-why-single-payer-is-inevitable/ | 2017-08-07 | 4 |
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">Liberals</a> have spent months telling us that Canada is in deficit.</p>
<p />
<p>That it is all Stephen Harper's fault.</p>
<p>Well it turns out they are <a href="" type="internal">wrong</a>.</p>
<p>Watch as I bring you <a href="" type="internal">Liberals</a> in their own <a href="The%20Liberals%20have%20spent%20months%20telling%20us%20that%20Canada%20is%20in%20deficit." type="external">words</a>, their reaction to the news and a good dose of the truth.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">JOIN TheRebel.media</a> for more fearless news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.TheRebel.Media/TheMegaphone" type="external">VISIT our NEW group blog The Megaphone!</a>It’s your one-stop shop for rebellious commentary from independent and fearless readers and writers.</p>
<p>Ontario will end up like Greece unless the reckless spending and borrowing stops! <a href="http://www.OntarioNotGreece.ca" type="external">SIGN THE PETITION</a> to restore fiscal sanity: OntarioNotGreece.ca</p> | Trudeau refuses to accept news that Canada finished last fiscal year in surplus | true | http://therebel.media/trudeau_refuses_to_accept_news_that_canada | 2015-09-14 | 0 |
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of shipping vessel owner DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) jumped as much as 103% on Tuesday after the completed a share offering. The stock gave back some of those gains later in trading but was still up 96.8% at 12:40 p.m. EST.</p>
<p>A $200 million share offering to Kalani Investment Limited has been completed, infusing the company with new cash. In total, 31.8 million shares were sold at an average price of $6.30 per share, which coincidentally is less than today's stock price.</p>
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<p>The mystery of the situation is who Kalani Investment Limited is and what it's done with its shares. Nothing significant is known about the company and the agreement to sell shares left the possibility that Kalani just turned around and sold shares on the open market. In fact, that may be a big reason shares are down around 90% in the past month.</p>
<p>There's no reason to think this share offering will do anything to help shareholders long term and it's likely that much of the money will end up in Chairman George Economou's pocket after he agreed to <a href="http://dryships.irwebpage.com/press/dryspr010517.pdf" type="external">sell as much as $334.0 million of incomplete vessels Opens a New Window.</a> to the company earlier this month. The series of acquisitions that pay Economou and then dilutive share sales will continue in the long term as well, so today's bounce will likely fade. There's no indication that DryShips will ever be a value-creating company, and this dilutive share sale is one indication why that'll always be the case.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than DryShips 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=b11047c1-e7a2-40f1-852b-11cbf6f01bd0&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 DryShips 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=b11047c1-e7a2-40f1-852b-11cbf6f01bd0&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 January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Shares of DryShips Inc. Exploded 103% Higher Today | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/31/why-shares-dryships-inc-exploded-103-higher-today.html | 2017-01-31 | 0 |
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<p>Now things are looking up for King Richard III. Scientists announced Monday that they had found the monarch’s 500-year-old remains under a parking lot in the city of Leicester — a discovery Richard’s fans say will rewrite the history books.</p>
<p>University of Leicester researchers say tests on a battle-scarred skeleton unearthed last year prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that it is the king, who died at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and whose remains have been missing for centuries.</p>
<p>“Richard III, the last Plantaganet King of England, has been found,” said the university’s deputy registrar, Richard Taylor.</p>
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<p>Bone specialist Jo Appleby said study of the bones provided “a highly convincing case for identification of Richard III.”</p>
<p>And DNA from the skeleton matched a sample taken from a distant living relative of Richard’s sister.</p>
<p><a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/NMALJ/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-04-Britain-Richard%20III/id-90a45dd5310f4aa18f79b00907815226" type="external">The full AP story is here.</a></p> | Remains of Richard III Found | false | https://abqjournal.com/165971/remains-of-richard-iii-found.html | 2013-02-04 | 2 |
<p>The Mars One foundation, a Dutch based non-profit group that plans to send humans on a one-way trip to Mars, has <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/tech/mars-one-final-100/" type="external">narrowed down 200,000 applications to 100</a>. Americans make up 39 of the shortlisted candidates from 35 countries. These candidates will go on into further testing later this year where they can expect team-building exercises and tests in isolation.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.mars-one.com/" type="external">Mars One</a>&#160;says they hope to launch to the Red Planet every two years from 2024, with the aim of starting a colony there and make the process a reality TV show.&#160;Eventually, 24 space bound candidates from the 100 will be selected to make up six crews of four&#160;to be launched. Mars One is&#160;considering 50 men and 50 women for the first four spots on its anticipated Red Planet mission.The&#160;winners get a one-way ticket to Mars and are expected to start colonizing it. The space start up will film the entire selection process, training and the colonization for earthling viewers.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/mars-chooses-100-applicants-reality-tv-show-mars-article-1.2118081" type="external">American candidates</a> include middle-aged engineers, Ph.D. candidates in their 30s and several contenders in their 20s. The ages of all the candidates range from 19 to 60. The United states&#160;has the most amateur astronauts in the running.</p>
<p>Felgentreff is an entrepreneur and vice president of a start-up organization outside San Francisco, and <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/02/17/ticket-mars-red-plant-mars-one/23543053/" type="external">potential Mars colonizer</a>.&#160;“I’ve always had a curiosity for all things science, especially when it comes to space exploration,”&#160;he says.&#160;Felgentreff is married and would be leaving his wife behind for the quest,&#160;“It’s a one-way ticket to anywhere. I would probably die on Earth if I stayed here too.”&#160;He said his wife shares his curiosity of combining, “humans with an element of risk and using technology to overcome those risks.”</p>
<p>“The large cut in candidates is an important step towards finding out who has the right stuff to go to Mars,” said Bas Lansdorp, Co-founder &amp; CEO of Mars One. “These aspiring martians provide the world with a glimpse into who the modern day explorers will be.”</p>
<p /> | 39 americans chosen for Mars One colony shortlist | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/02/22/39-americans-chosen-for-mars-one-colony-shortlist/ | 2015-02-22 | 3 |
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<p>Powell claims the State Canvassing Board has ordered the wrong procedures for ensuring the accuracy of voting tabulators in the recount, in violation of state law.</p>
<p>POWELL: Wants more testing of tabulators</p>
<p>Powell, a Democrat, appears to have lost his bid for re-election to Dunn, a Republican rancher.</p>
<p>But the race was so close – 704 votes out of nearly 500,000 – that it triggered an automatic recount under state law. The recount is scheduled to begin Dec. 8.</p>
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<p>At issue is how many ballots are recounted to test the accuracy of the tabulating machines before the actual recount gets underway.</p>
<p>After it met last week, the State Canvassing Board ordered that 100 ballots be recounted for each tabulator. Powell argues the law requires a different standard: Tabulators must be tested with at least 2 percent of the votes cast in each county.</p>
<p>The State Canvassing Board is made up of Gov. Susana Martinez, Secretary of State Dianna Duran and Supreme Court Acting Chief Justice Richard Bosson.</p>
<p>Martinez and Duran signed the order; Bosson did not. He said in a letter to the other two that he had reviewed the applicable laws and “reluctantly” concluded he could not sign it.</p>
<p>Powell is asking the high court to order the Canvassing Board to rewrite its order and require that tabulators be tested with 2 percent of votes cast.</p>
<p>He also wants the court to order the Canvassing Board to count provisional ballots cast by voters who swear they registered to vote at the Motor Vehicle Division.</p>
<p>According to Powell, many voters were forced to cast provisional ballots because they registered at MVD but their registration information was never transferred to voter rosters. He says there are 873 rejected provisional ballots, but it’s not known how many of those voters registered at MVD.</p>
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<p /> | Powell seeks high court intervention in recount | false | https://abqjournal.com/504146/powell-seeks-high-court-intervention-in-recount.html | 2 |
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<p>At least 43 people were killed and more than 100 wounded Sunday in <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-car-bomb-pakistan-20130929,0,4372596.story" type="external">a car bombing</a> in a market in Peshawar, Pakistan.</p>
<p>The car was carrying 440 pounds of high explosives when it was detonated in the city's historic&#160;Qissa Khawani bazaar, according to bomb disposal experts cited by <a href="http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-car-bomb-pakistan-20130929,0,4372596.story" type="external">the Los Angeles Times</a>.</p>
<p>The blast destroyed shops and vehicles, leaving a crater five-feet deep.</p>
<p>At least six children and two women were reported to be among the dead.</p>
<p>"When I got up, everything was on fire. Women and children were burning in [a] Suzuki pickup, and a number of vehicles were destroyed, besides the shops [that] were also on fire," a local shopkeeper <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/29/world/asia/pakistan-attack/" type="external">told CNN</a>.</p>
<p>It's not known who carried out the attack.</p>
<p>The Pakistani Taliban have denied involvement, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/29/world/asia/pakistan-attack/" type="external">according to CNN</a>. The militants claim that they target only government officials and not the general public.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/nigeria/130929/nigeria-boko-haram-college-shooting-leaves-dozens-dead" type="external">Boko Haram college shooting in Nigeria leaves dozens dead</a></p>
<p>Peshawar was also the scene of a deadly suicide bombing at a Christian church one week before, on Sept. 22, when 81 people were killed.</p>
<p>The suicide bombing was one of the deadliest attacks ever to target Christians in Pakistan. A splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban took responsibility,&#160;claiming that the violence was in response to US drone strikes in the area.</p> | Car bomb in Pakistan market kills more than 40 | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-09-29/car-bomb-pakistan-market-kills-more-40 | 2013-09-29 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Any commentary from Tesla Motors on its Model 3, or its upcoming electric vehicle with a starting price of $35,000, is rare. But Tesla CTO JB Straubel shared a few notes about the important electric car on Thursday at IHS Energy CERAWeek in Houston (via <a href="http://fuelfix.com/blog/2016/02/25/tesla-focusing-on-cutting-price-of-cars-executive-says-in-houston/" type="external">FuelFix.com Opens a New Window.</a>).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Here's the Tesla executive had to say.</p>
<p>Model S charging.</p>
<p>JB Straubel on Tesla and Model 3</p>
<p>Perhaps the most notable excerpt from Straubel's talk is his reference to the Model 3's having Tesla's "next generation" technology. With Tesla CEO Elon Musk noting earlier this year that the company is currently working on a next-generation suite of cameras and sensors, it's possible this could have been what Straubel was referring to.</p>
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<p>Tesla's next-generation suite of cameras and sensors could very well be built to support fully autonomous driving. Musk predicted during a question-and-answer session with press that Tesla vehicles will be able to drive themselves across the country, charging themselves along the way, in just two to three years. But Musk also noted that this feat would require Tesla's next-generation set of cameras and sensors.</p>
<p>Could Tesla be planning to equip Model 3 with autonomous driving capabilities?</p>
<p>It's also possible Straubel's mention of "next generation" technology could have simply been referring to Tesla's next-generation platform for the vehicle, as he company has repeatedly emphasized that thte Model 3 will be built on a different platform from Models S and X.</p>
<p>A Model 3 update Production and deliveries of the Model 3 won't begin until late 2017. But the public won't have to wait that long to learn more about the vehicle. Tesla confirmed in the company's fourth-quarter shareholder letter that it will unveil the Model 3 design on March 31.</p>
<p>Tesla Fremont Factory. Image source: Tesla Motors.</p>
<p>Along with a confirmation of Model 3's unveil date and a note that the company is still on schedule for production and the first deliveries of the vehicle, Musk recently shared, in a series of tweets, some specifics about how customers will be able to order the vehicle. Tesla will begin accepting reservations for the Model 3 in stores on March 31 and online on April 1. Reservations will require a $1,000 deposit -- lower than the $2,500 and $5,000 deposits required to order Model S or X, respectively.</p>
<p>The Model 3 is important for Tesla, as it will be priced significantly lower than its Model S and X, and the company is hoping it will be the vehicle to help propel annual sales from an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 in 2016 to 500,000 by 2020.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/28/model-3-to-sport-next-generation-tesla-motors-inc.aspx" type="external">Tesla Motors, Inc.: Model 3 to Sport "Next Generation" Tech Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDanielSparks/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Daniel Sparks Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla Motors. 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> | Tesla Motors, Inc.: Model 3 to Sport "Next Generation" Tech | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/02/28/tesla-motors-inc-model-3-to-sport-next-generation-tech.html | 2016-03-27 | 0 |
<p>President Obama says “[t]ransparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones” of his administration. To that end, he will toughen lobbying restrictions and require all federal agencies to give high priority to Freedom of Information Act requests. The president also announced a pay freeze for about 100 of his highest-paid aides.</p>
<p>AP via Google:</p>
<p>And Obama also revealed what he called a “clean break” from existing rules spelling out when and under what circumstances administration officials could work on issues on which they lobbied governmental agencies before.</p>
<p>He said there would be a two-year, rather than a one-year, waiting period for government officials to be able to work on such issues and said they would “not be able to work on matters you lobbied on or White House agencies you lobbied during the last two years.”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j-fugTG4LpS54ZkqqdkfoPmNm1OAD95RMP081" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Obama Announces New Ethics Rules, Freezes Aides' Salaries | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/obama-announces-new-ethics-rules-freezes-aides-salaries/ | 2009-01-22 | 4 |
<p>Photo by Raymond Depardon | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>For Mark Bowden, author of <a href="" type="internal">Hué 1968</a>, the pivotal battle of the War in Vietnam did not follow the script most Americans were used to scanning in their newspapers or visualizing on the evening news.&#160; The war Americans followed at home was like a humongous hunting expedition.&#160; U.S. forces seemed engaged in an endless chase over a lush boondocks inhabited by peasants and dotted with rice paddies or trailing the rugged forested highlands in search of the Viet Cong, a cunning and elusive enemy whose tactics were hit and run, not stand and fight.</p>
<p>When an atypical fixed battle developed, it was typically well-removed from the population centers that hugged the coastline off the South China Sea.&#160; Vietnam was, after all, a guerrilla war, or more broadly understood, a people’s war fought to reunite a nation, artificially divided into North and South by fiat of the United States in the service of geopolitical brinksmanship.&#160; Accused of fermenting the southern insurgency, North Vietnam was mercilessly bombed, but spared the carnage of a ground war.&#160; Not so the south where, by whatever foul means, the idea was “to isolate the population from the Viet Cong,” notwithstanding that, as Mark Bowden readily concedes, “in most instances they were one in the same.”&#160;&#160; The resistance was popular and widespread, and its idea was to drive the American invader out, and overthrow a despised ruling clique of Vietnamese compradors which survived only because the invader had committed hundreds of thousands of its own troops and billions of its taxpayers’ dollars to sustain it.</p>
<p>Americans were consistently assured that bit by bit the tumultuous countryside was being pacified, and the guerillas attrited, both politically and as a fighting force.&#160; In late 1967 Americans were told they were winning the war.&#160; When Tet – the Luna New Year – dawned on January 31, 1968, that illusion was irreparably shattered.&#160; The vastly superior forces of the United States and its southern catspaw, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), were caught virtually flat footed when thousands of regular troops of the People’s Army of North Vietnam seemingly materialized from thin air, and in coordination with local units of the southern resistance, launched up and down the length and breath of South Vietnam what was quickly branded the Tet Offensive. &#160;The most stunning blow for Americans, war managers and citizens alike, was an assault on the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon taken right to the walls of the American Embassy.</p>
<p>For several weeks thereafter, media attention in the U.S. and throughout the world focused primarily on the shock of Saigon’s vulnerability, overplaying its significance.&#160; A thousand kilometers north, at first scarcely noticed, even by the Commander of U.S. forces, General William Westmoreland, a battle had commenced that would become the “longest and bloodiest” of the war, not waged over the – till then – familiar rural topography, but house to house, street by street, culminating in one of the most intense chapters of urban warfare in the annals of American military history.&#160; &#160;Observers today might liken it to a more recent urban free-for-all entangling American troops in Fallujah, Iraq.&#160; Or, better yet, recall a U.S. military fiasco in downtown Mogadishu that Mark Bowden had crafted into an earlier best seller.&#160; To the extent comparisons hold, the Battle of Hue was like Black Hawk Down on steroids.</p>
<p>Hue 1968 is a comprehensive account of that battle written in the page-turning style of popular narrative non-fiction.&#160; The author has assembled a cast of eyewitnesses who participated in the action, Vietnamese and Americans, and the battle unfolds in recollections mined from their <a href="" type="internal" />interviews, and, for the departed, from other primary sources at his disposal, such as lengthy wartime correspondences.&#160; Bowden has properly set the strategic stage for his action in the context of the war’s two most relevant contemporaneous developments.&#160; There was the very fact of Tet, simultaneous attacks with varying degrees of effectiveness on virtually every population center and military base in the South.&#160; The Year of the Monkey came in like Armageddon, catching General Westmoreland, for one, completely off guard even though he later claimed he knew those crafty commies were planning something.</p>
<p>To draw attention away from their true intentions, the North Vietnamese had executed a feint, keeping a remote Marine encampment under heavy bombardment at Khe Sanh near the border with Laos, and just below the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).&#160; Taking the bait, and just two weeks before Tet, Westmoreland weakened his coastal enclaves by detaching troops to reinforce the beleaguered camp. &#160;The American general believed he was luring the North Vietnamese into a repeat of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, which in 1954 brought French colonial control of Vietnam to an end but inadvertently opened the door to an American invasion.&#160; This time, Westmoreland fantasized, “he was determined to prevent history from repeating itself.”&#160;&#160; That battle never developed, and several months later, Khe Sanh was abandoned by the Americans.</p>
<p>Westmoreland’s obsession with Khe Sanh apparently prevented him from fully grasping that Hue, South Vietnam’s third largest city, and former Imperial capital, had fallen to the Liberation Front in less than twenty-four hours.&#160; This pattern of disbelief was moreover pervasive up and down the American chain of command.&#160; &#160;At Phu Bai, a Marine base less than fifteen miles south of Hue, the commanding general, with improbable symmetry named Forster LaHue, repeatedly ignored reports on the size of the force his counterattack would face, and insisted that, instead of thousands, their number couldn’t possibly exceed more than a few hundred.&#160; Could a force as large as the one being reported enter and occupy the entire city that quickly and virtually undetected?&#160;&#160; Through some of his most original reporting Bowden reconstructs exactly how that occurred.</p>
<p>Shifting the action in his account from one adversary to the other, Bowden begins with the attack, describing how four regiments totaling roughly four thousand uniformed NVA soldiers managed to infiltrate the border between North and South Vietnam, rendezvous with local guerrillas in a force of equal size, and ultimately bivouac on the outskirts of Hue.&#160; “It was the kind of troop movement,” comments Bowden, “that could remain secret only if the citizenry supported it, or didn’t care enough to sound the alarm.”</p>
<p>Certainly in Hue there were many Catholics who, in general, were partisans of the Saigon regime, not to mention a contingent of elite ARVN soldiers stationed there, who would have sounded the alarm if they’d been aware of any imminent threat.&#160; On another side was a strong current of anti-Americanism among the Buddhists and the student body at Vietnam’s prestigious Hue University, who two years earlier had combined and rioted against the repressive South Vietnamese government, and burned the library of the United States Information Service.&#160; But by early 1968, Hue was being little frequented by the war’s violence, and hopes were stoked that the city’s rich stock of architectural treasures, not least the palace of Vietnam’s last royal dynasty, might avoid destruction.&#160; Compared with the rest of the country, life in Hue was reasonably good, and reasonably safe.&#160; A degree of political complacency had set into what remained a functional commercial entrepot where trade and traffic on Hue’s iconic Perfume River remained brisk.</p>
<p>Even though a majority of Hue’s population of 140,000 could not be considered pillars of the revolution, an underground resistance network was well-entrenched in the city and highly motivated. &#160;And Bowden, having tracked down a small cast of survivors, gives us affecting &#160;sketches of, among others, the Village Girl who guided the troops through the darkness and pointed them toward their targets; the VC commander who stood up to the hero of Dien Bien Phu, General Vo Nguyen Giap, and revised the battle plan; the college boy who worked with his fisherman landlord to smuggle arms into the city by sampan; the Buddhist poet turned what we would call ‘information officer,’ and Bowden – who holds many conventional opinions– calls “propagandist;” but my favorite was the balsy little guy who was given the task to create a giant new flag for the victors to raise once they’d taken the city.</p>
<p>The flag detail merits a special nod to illustrate the contrast between the high tech m.o. of the Empire’s war machine, and the endless improvisation of those in the Front who used gumption, imagination and stealth to their advantage in the face of overwhelming fire power from air, land and sea.&#160; The task to create a flag to be seen, not as “an invasion or occupation, but rather as a liberation,” fell to Sargent Cao Van Sen, an old war horse who’d fought with the Viet Minh against the French, joined the northern Army, and was then ordered back to his native Hue to organize among the Viet Cong. &#160;The idea of the flag, Bowden says “was to recognize real political differences between North and South,” with a design that represented, not only the liberation forces, but also “the intelligentsia and the city’s religious factions – Buddhists and Catholics.”&#160; Hanoi’s political objective at that stage was transitional, “to establish a neutral, independent South Vietnam,” leaving reunification to future negotiations.”&#160; Sgt. Sen’s job was to line up the material, a sewing machine and a seamstress to produce a single flag, which, when completed, required two men to carry it.&#160; After being “run up the 123-foot flagpole… that stood just outside the royal palace before the Citadel’s southern wall… it was visible all over Hue” when the city’s denizens awoke January 31st on the first morning of Tet.</p>
<p>Metropolitan Hue spread over both sides of the Perfume River, and the Front’s objective was to occupy the zone on the south bank called the Triangle, and, on the north, the Citadel, an “enormous fortress that enclosed nearly two square miles… its walls twenty-six feet high and impenetrably thick,” and enclosing the neighborhoods of Hue’s most affluent residents.&#160;&#160; Primary targets, included the air strip inside the Citadel, the province headquarters, the treasury, the post office, the prison, the radio station and “the sole American base, the [Military Assistance Command, Vietnam] MACV compound.”</p>
<p>The Commander of the Front, General Dang Kinh watched from high ground to the west, anxiously awaiting the assault to begin.&#160; Finally, “throughout the city arose the sound of gunfire… scattered at first, and then as if touched off by a fuse, it rose rapidly to a din.”&#160; By the time the shooting stopped, the attacking force, having “suffered only a few casualties, had dealt Hue’s defenders a crushing surprise blow.”&#160; The only major targets not overrun were a fortified redoubt occupied by the 1st ARVN Division inside the Citadel, and the MACV compound on the opposite side of the river, both heavily under siege.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the loud cheerleading from Hanoi for Tet to unleash a “popular uprising,” it was General Kinh’s opinion, according to Bowden, that no such uprising would occur, not even in subdued and occupied Hue, given the certainty of an overpowering American counter-attack.&#160; Kinh knew his forces “could take the city, but… not hold it for long.&#160; Achievable goals… were to destroy the ARVN division, and… round up… those who represented the Saigon regime… who were marked for arrest and punishment.”</p>
<p>The subsequent executions of many of these Saigon officials is thematic in Bowden’s text, an overly eager retailing of the ex post facto justification among the war’s apologists for the American decision to rescue their allies by destroying their city.&#160; More informed observers might counter that for an American writer of Bowden’s stature to lay charges of mass murder at the Vietnamese resistance– in this instance taking blood retaliation on enemies considered legitimate military targets – demonstrates a highly hometown cast of mind, and a failure to do the math on the infinitely less selective assassination orgy of the U.S. Phoenix Program, not to mention the war’s vastly unbalanced human death toll perpetrated upon the Vietnamese population by the invader.</p>
<p>Kinh’s prediction proved correct.&#160;&#160; And much of what Bowden encapsulates in Hue 1968 is devoted to a ground level view on just how the city was retaken.&#160; &#160;Bowden fully examines first January 31st, the day Hue fell, from a variety of vantage points including civilians and combatants on both sides, then moves the battle forward in week long blocks until the Front, faced with annihilation, is forced to withdraw. &#160;&#160;Had the U.S. command acted more swiftly, the lives of many marines might have been spared, but the city faced devastation in every scenario as long as the occupiers remained.&#160;&#160; The initial counter-thrust came from the nearby Marine base at Phu Bai when General LaHue, still doubting his adversary’s vast numerical superiority, initially dispatched so few marines that, on one of few occasions during the war, the U.S. was seriously out-gunned.&#160; When a marine captain already in Hue called for air and artillery strikes to dislodge the entrenched enemy, General LaHue told him “rather strikingly that he was overreacting.“&#160; LaHue “saw no reason on earth why the more than four hundred men in the [MACV] compound, reinforced with well over three hundred U.S. marines,” assorted tanks and heavy weaponized vehicles, “should not be able to flatten anything between them and the fucking Citadel.”&#160; Bowden aptly titles this episode An Idiotic Mission.</p>
<p>Three hundred men represented one understrength marine battalion, but only a single unit, Alpha Company of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Division was dispatched at first to test the enemy strength.&#160; This proved a disaster, and the best account of the action on the ground I’ve found was not Bowden’s, but in <a href="" type="internal">Vietnam-Perkasie</a>, a memoir by W.D. (Bill) Ehrhart.&#160; When Alpha Company left Phu Bai just as the sun was coming up, Bill Ehrhart was given the option of staying behind.&#160; He was short, meaning only a few days remained on what had already been a harrowing thirteen month tour.&#160; But since the unit was just going to check things out, and were told they’d be back by evening, Bill threw caution to the wind.</p>
<p>Alpha Company, moving to relieve the assault on the MACV compound passed a gas station on the city outskirts, and then, Ehrhart writes, “all hell broke loose… The shock of the ambush caught the whole column completely by surprise… We knew the compound lay straight up the road… seven blocks ahead… We fought our way up the [first] block.&#160; And the one after that.&#160; All day long we inched up the street.&#160; Casualties were appalling.&#160;&#160; Wounded and dead Marines lay everywhere.”&#160; Ehrhart, wounded in action, was in the thick of it the whole time.&#160; His memoir is a compelling, heart wrenching read.</p>
<p>From there Bowden covers the fighting chapter and verse.&#160; And if battle action is your genre, it’s a read that’s hair raising enough to fix your attention. &#160;The killing went on for 26 days, and by the end, 80% of the city lay in rubble.&#160; Bowden devotes a last chapter to Hue’s human toll.&#160; “Two-hundred and fifty American marines and soldiers were killed, and 1,554 wounded… The Front’s losses are estimated at between 2,400 and 5000…. A conservative guess at those executed would be two thousand… [which] brings us to a combined civilian death toll of about eight thousand… not an exact figure, but to the degree it’s off, it’s off by being too low.”</p>
<p>That the civilian death toll was enormous, cannot be doubted, and is by most accounts I’ve read over the years attributed to the terrible pounding the city took from naval off-shore guns, and from American and ARVN air power and artillery intent on expelling the Front whatever the human cost.&#160; As for “those executed,” it appears as if Bowden may have that figure “off” by a factor of ten.&#160; Writing in The New York Times in October 1972, Richard Barnet, a former State Department official and co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies, quotes what the Hué &#160;Police Chief told a correspondent of The Times of London in March 1968 just days after the battle.&#160; The Chief, “Doan Cong Lap estimated the total number of executions at 200.“&#160; Moreover, “the local Catholic priest reported that none of his clergy or parishioners were harmed by the N.L.F. [National Liberation Front],” who had been given instructions to be on their best behavior. &#160;Even if these two eyewitnesses under-counted the reprisal deaths, it’s still unlikely that Bowden’s figure holds water, given his reliance on official U.S. sources.</p>
<p>Richard Barnet took up this topic at a time when voices in the Nixon administration were claiming that mass executions at Hué were proof there would be a bloodbath if the U.S. withdrew and the communists came to power.&#160;&#160; When questioned on this in Hanoi, Premier Pham Van Dong retorted, “There is nothing in recent Vietnamese history to suggest that a government bent on killing hundreds of thousands of people in South Vietnam can keep peace.”&#160; In any case the bloodbath was us.&#160; As Barnet dryly quipped, “In the Orwellian age, the daily saturation bombings of Indochina are defended as missions of mercy.”</p>
<p>Mark Bowden seems to bend over backwards throughout this voluminous and valuable book to provide a two-sided perspective on a particularly tragic moment in the Vietnam War.&#160; But there’s something distastefully familiar in his throwaway rhetoric of the Cold War bias that got us into Vietnam in the first place.&#160; Bowden demonstrates how truth is betrayed by the words he chooses, for example, that “antiwar activists in the States romanticized Ho Chi Minh, and his cause, emphasizing his nationalist character…&#160; [but] Hanoi was Communist, authoritarian to the core… ruthless and doctrinaire.”&#160; Yet even this phobic reflex to honor the thought police in the mainstream where he prospers doesn’t cause Bowden to ignore that it was the Stalinists who hoped to come to power though the ballot box and the Americans who made war to prevent that.</p>
<p>By consensus in the school of conventional wisdom the Tet Offensive of 1968 was the turning point of the Vietnam War, after which the American war aim was not to win, but how to get out.&#160; Mark Bowden makes an excellent case that the fulcrum of that turning point was the Battle of Hue.&#160; But what if there was no turning point? &#160;In Vietnam the protracted war to expel a powerful foreign invader had its roots in millennia past; the American invasion was just another bump in the road.</p> | Hué Back When: Vietnam’s Pivotal Battle Reconsidered | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/09/20/hue-back-when-vietnams-pivotal-battle-reconsidered/ | 2017-09-20 | 4 |
<p>BOE expected to raise interest rates for first time in 10 years on Super Thursday</p>
<p>Blue-chip stocks in the U.K. searched for direction Thursday, as investors prepared to hear from the Bank of England, anticipating what could be the first rise in British interest rates in 10 years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The London benchmark was having troubling moving higher, in part as Randgold Resources Ltd. shares dropped following the miner's trading update.</p>
<p>What markets are doing: The FTSE 100 index was down less than 4 points at 7,485.75, as the basic materials, health care and consumer services groups fell. But utility and consumer goods stocks moved higher. The index on Wednesday fell 0.1% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-drives-higher-despite-next-gloom-as-commodity-stocks-spread-cheer-2017-11-01).</p>
<p>The pound traded hands (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pound-strengthens-ahead-of-historic-boe-decision-2017-11-02) at $1.3265, up from $1.3246 late Wednesday in New York.</p>
<p>Against the euro, sterling bought EUR1.1384, which is down from EUR1.1399 in the previous session.</p>
<p>What's moving markets: The Bank of England is widely expected to raise its key interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to 0.5% when its decision is released at 12 p.m. London time, or 8 a.m. Eastern Time. Gov. Mark Carney will hold a press conference at 12:30 p.m. London time.</p>
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<p>The first rate rise since July 2007 would come at a time when headline inflation stands at 3%, above the bank's 2% target. It would also come at a time when economic growth is weak, and there's lingering uncertainty about Brexit. On this so-called Super Thursday, the BOE will also release minutes of its meeting and its Quarterly Inflation Report.</p>
<p>Read:5 things investors need to know as the Bank of England prepares for historic rate hike (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-things-investors-need-to-know-as-the-bank-of-england-prepares-for-historic-rate-hike-2017-10-31)</p>
<p>Also check out:Here's how a Bank of England rate hike could 'kill' the British pound (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-how-a-bank-of-england-rate-hike-could-kill-the-british-pound-2017-11-01)</p>
<p>Economic docket: IHS Markit/CIPS is expected to release its U.K. construction purchasing managers index at 9:30 a.m. London time, or 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time. A 48.0 reading for October is expected in a FactSet survey of economists.</p>
<p>What strategists are saying: "Despite the divisions that we've seen within the MPC and the fact that the decision appears far from straightforward, investors are almost entirely convinced that the BoE will raise interest rates," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda, in a note.</p>
<p>"Any indication that more rate hikes are planned for next year could trigger a sharp rally in the pound as I'm not convinced this is currently priced in," said Erlam, "while anything else may weigh on the currency once the initial volatility -- of which I expect a lot -- has passed."</p>
<p>"Although we don't think the Bank will increase rates again in 2018, that is not the message we expect the Monetary Policy Committee to deliver. Its forecasts are likely to be consistent with at least two further 25 basis points rate hikes over the next 2-3yrs in order to bring inflation back to the 2% target over that timeframe," said RBC Capital Markets senior U.K. economist Sam Hill.</p>
<p>Stock movers: Randgold Resources (RRS.LN) (RRS.LN) dropped 6.7% as the miner said its pretax profit fell in the third quarter after a decline in production. Production was down 9% (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/randgold-profit-hit-by-fall-in-production-2017-11-02) to 310,618 ounces of gold compared with the second quarter.</p>
<p>BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) rose 1% as the telecommunications company held its interim dividend steady (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bt-profit-revenue-drop-points-to-pension-deficit-2017-11-02) at the same time it said second-quarter pretax profit and revenue fell from the year-ago period.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 02, 2017 04:49 ET (08:49 GMT)</p> | LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Fails To Find Purchase As Traders Brace For Bank Of England | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/02/london-markets-ftse-100-fails-to-find-purchase-as-traders-brace-for-bank-england0.html | 2017-11-02 | 0 |
<p>Jan. 15 (UPI) — Fans and artists from around the world paid tribute to Dolores O’Riordan following the announcement of The Cranberries singer’s death at the age of 46 Monday.</p>
<p>“My first time hearing Dolores O’Riordan’s voice was unforgettable,” <a href="https://twitter.com/Hozier/status/952959141894639616" type="external">Hozier tweeted</a>. “It threw into question what a voice could sound like in that context of Rock. I’d never heard somebody use their instrument in that way. Shocked and saddened to hear of her passing, thoughts are with her family.”</p>
<p>“For my 13 years old self with my Doc Martin boots and the lyrics learnt to Zombie…. Dolores O’Riordan was the epitome of cool. What an amazing voice and performer. Such sad news. Thoughts to her family. #RIPDoloresORiordan,” <a href="https://twitter.com/caitrionambalfe/status/952979087781498881" type="external">Caitriona Balfe posted</a>.</p>
<p>“I once met Delores O’Riordan when I was 15. She was kind and lovely, I got her autograph on my train ticket and it made my day. She had the most amazing voice and presence. So sorry to hear that she’s passed away today,” <a href="https://twitter.com/JKCorden/status/952953542708350977" type="external">James Corden recalled</a>.</p>
<p>“Oh Dolores, So sad,” <a href="https://twitter.com/mariadkennedy/status/952966691369209856" type="external">wrote Maria Doyle Kennedy</a>.</p>
<p>“Incredibly sad to hear one of my musical idols Dolores O’Riordan, of the Cranberries, has passed away,” <a href="https://twitter.com/RubyRose/status/953027051098796032" type="external">said Ruby Rose</a>. “I feel honoured to have been able to cover one of their iconic songs in Pitch Perfect. Devastating.”</p>
<p>“R.I.P. Dolores…. Thoughts &amp; Prayers to Family &amp; Friends….” <a href="https://twitter.com/JulianLennon/status/953061040010485761" type="external">offered Julian Lennon</a>.</p>
<p>“We are devastated on the passing of our friend Dolores,” her bandmates said in a Facebook post. “She was an extraordinary talent and we feel very privileged to have been part of her life from 1989 when we started the Cranberries. The world has lost a true artist today.”</p>
<p>Earlier in the day, the band’s website announced the sad news.</p>
<p>“Irish and international singer Dolores O’Riordan has died suddenly in London today,” the message read. “She was 46 years old. The lead singer with the Irish band The Cranberries, was in London for a short recording session. No further details are available at this time. Family members are devastated to hear the breaking news and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”</p> | Hozier, Caitriona Balfe, James Corden pay tribute to Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan | false | https://newsline.com/hozier-caitriona-balfe-james-corden-pay-tribute-to-cranberries-singer-dolores-oriordan/ | 2018-01-16 | 1 |
<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday threw its support behind a lawsuit against the University of California, Berkeley that accuses the school of a double standard for campus speakers that restricts conservative viewpoints.</p>
<p>The allegations raised by the Berkeley College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation would violate the First Amendment if proven true, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a court filing.</p>
<p>The DOJ said a federal judge should reject a request by UC Berkeley to dismiss the lawsuit.</p>
<p>The university said in a statement it does not discriminate against speakers, and the allegations in the suit are unfounded.</p>
<p>“The campus is committed to ensuring that student groups may hold events with speakers of their choosing, and it has expended significant resources to allow events to go forward without compromising the safety or security of the campus,” the statement said.</p>
<p>The lawsuit was filed in April after a campus talk by conservative commentator Ann Coulter didn’t take place.</p>
<p>University officials subjected Coulter to new restrictions for “high-profile” speakers that were implemented in the wake of violence before a scheduled talk in February by Milo Yiannopolis, a polarizing political commentator and former editor for Breitbart news, according to the lawsuit.</p>
<p>The Justice Department said concerns about campus safety do not outweigh the First Amendment.</p>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday threw its support behind a lawsuit against the University of California, Berkeley that accuses the school of a double standard for campus speakers that restricts conservative viewpoints.</p>
<p>The allegations raised by the Berkeley College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation would violate the First Amendment if proven true, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a court filing.</p>
<p>The DOJ said a federal judge should reject a request by UC Berkeley to dismiss the lawsuit.</p>
<p>The university said in a statement it does not discriminate against speakers, and the allegations in the suit are unfounded.</p>
<p>“The campus is committed to ensuring that student groups may hold events with speakers of their choosing, and it has expended significant resources to allow events to go forward without compromising the safety or security of the campus,” the statement said.</p>
<p>The lawsuit was filed in April after a campus talk by conservative commentator Ann Coulter didn’t take place.</p>
<p>University officials subjected Coulter to new restrictions for “high-profile” speakers that were implemented in the wake of violence before a scheduled talk in February by Milo Yiannopolis, a polarizing political commentator and former editor for Breitbart news, according to the lawsuit.</p>
<p>The Justice Department said concerns about campus safety do not outweigh the First Amendment.</p> | Trump administration supports suit over Berkeley speakers | false | https://apnews.com/aa0d95e8a17e4b0ba02bd7f0156217e5 | 2018-01-26 | 2 |
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<p>David Corn and Lynn Sweet joined guest host Michael Smerconish on <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#44319543" type="external">MSNBC’s Hardball</a> to discuss Dick Cheney’s memoir and the former vice president’s criticisms of Colin Powell.</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 “Hardball”: the Politics of Cheney’s Memoir | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/08/corn-hardball-cheneys-memoir/ | 2011-08-30 | 4 |
<p>The number of people afflicted with brain tapeworms worldwide has been "grossly underestimated," <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3350327/?tool=pubmed" type="external">a new study warns</a>. The brain tapeworms, which cause a disease called neurocysticercosis, are most common in Central and South America. While the disease is rare in the US and Europe, the disease is "still frequently diagnosed" in migrant populations from the endemic areas, the study says. The researchers also estimate that in areas where the disease originated, 29 percent of epilepsy cases are caused by brain tapeworms. "Overall, 1.7 to 3 million persons are conservatively estimated to suffer from epilepsy due to NCC worldwide," the study says.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/120312/burma-economy-myanmar-sanctions" type="external">Promises, pitfalls await investors in Burma's frontier&#160;</a></p>
<p>"Nobody knows exactly how many people there are with it in the United States," the study's lead author, Theodore Nash, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3350327/?tool=pubmed" type="external">told Discover Magazine</a>. Nash and other experts on the topic have been traveling through Latin America with CT scanners and blood tests to test populations for the disease, Discover reported. In a study in Peru, they found that 37 percent of the people they looked at had been infected by the tapeworm. Nash's study also shows that in Latin America, brain tapeworms may afflict up to 29 million people.</p>
<p>People can contract tapeworms from eating undercooked pork or from ingesting food or drink contaminated by feces from an infected person, <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E1DF173CF933A15757C0A9669D8B63" type="external">the New York Times reported</a>.</p>
<p>Nash sees a few dozen patients a year with brain tapeworms at his clinic in Maryland, Discover reported. His patients have come in paralyzed on one side of their body, unable to walk, unable to speak or partially blind. Some have had violent seizures and one went into a coma. But Nash stresses there are solutions to stopping the disease from starting, such as vaccinating pigs or giving drugs to people already infected so it won't spread. "All of this seems to be very feasible, but nobody wants to do anything about it," he told Discover.&#160;</p> | Brain tapeworms are more common than previously thought, study warns | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-05-23/brain-tapeworms-are-more-common-previously-thought-study-warns | 2012-05-23 | 3 |
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Daily Four-Evening” game were:</p>
<p>6-5-3-3, SB: 2</p>
<p>(six, five, three, three; SB: two)</p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Daily Four-Evening” game were:</p>
<p>6-5-3-3, SB: 2</p>
<p>(six, five, three, three; SB: two)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Daily Four-Evening’ game | false | https://apnews.com/658443e07e5f460f8f729ccf0c74611a | 2018-01-26 | 2 |
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<p>A rapid-moving, potent storm system will plow into New Mexico later today, bringing with it a very slight chance of showers in the Albuquerque area tonight and temperatures in the low 20s Wednesday night into Thursday morning.</p>
<p>"Wednesday night and Thursday morning will see the coldest temperatures of the year," said Clay Anderson, a meteorologist with the Albuquerque office of the National Weather Service. "Thursday overall will be a beautiful day, but it will start out with cold temperatures."</p>
<p>Anderson said the main impact of the storm will be potentially damaging winds in other parts of the state.</p>
<p>"I'm not expecting wind warnings for Albuquerque," he said. "We are looking at maybe 20 mph to 30 mph, with gusts to 40 mph."</p>
<p>Deirdre Kann, science officer for the weather service's Albuquerque office, characterized winds in the Albuquerque area as pesky on Tuesday and more annoying on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The Albuquerque area is unlikely to receive much precipitation from the storm system, but Anderson said 1 inch to 2 inches of snow is possible for the Grants, Farmington, Taos and Chama areas. He said there is the possibility of blowing snow and dangerous driving conditions in those areas during the heart of the storm today and Wednesday.</p>
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<p>Aside from the snow up north, Anderson said there is not much potential for substantial precipitation in the state within the next 10 days.</p>
<p>Temperatures in the Albuquerque area are expected to get down to 32 degrees tonight. Wednesday, Veterans Day, will be mostly sunny with a high of 53 and a low that night of 24. Thursday will be sunny with a high of 55 and a low of 27, and Friday will be sunny and 55 during the day, and clear and 30 at night.</p>
<p>Anderson said the weekend is shaping up to be uneventful, with temperatures reaching 56 on Saturday and 59 on Sunday. Lows on Saturday and Sunday are expected to be 33-34 degrees.</p>
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<p /> | Cold snap may bring showers, wind and snow | false | https://abqjournal.com/673277/cold-snap-may-bring-showers-wind-and-snow.html | 2015-11-10 | 2 |
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<p>Amor Towles’ much-praised novel “A Gentleman in Moscow” presents Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, who has been living above the fray in the Metropole, a grand hotel mere blocks from the Bolshoi Theatre, the Kremlin and the infamous Lubyanka prison.</p>
<p>Then in 1922, a Bolshevik court orders Rostov to spend his life in the Metropole. But he must give up his suite for a small attic room. It’s a kind of “house arrest.” Rostov, to the manor born, is able to make the Metropole his manor.</p>
<p>When the prosecutor asks Rostov his occupation, the count replies matter-of-factly, “It is not the business of gentlemen to have occupations.” (However, work eventually finds him.)</p>
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<p>How does the tribunal let the count off so easy?</p>
<p>Amor Towles</p>
<p>Towles said in a phone interview, “Rostov has friends in the upper ranks of the (Communist) party. He’s spared for specific reasons. That was more common than not.”</p>
<p>People were constantly spared for one reason or another. It was not solely a world defined by its worst elements.</p>
<p>“The other thing,” the author said, “is most Americans don’t realize that one-third of the Russian nobility survived the revolution, stayed in Russia and led their lives. In many cases, they were permitted to live in the family mansion, often relegated to a single room. The rest of the house was divided up by citizens and party members.”</p>
<p>The absorbing novel tracks 30 years in the count’s life at the Metropole, a life that Rostov displays with an aristocratic refinement and good manners. The worldly nobleman is just at ease chatting with staff as he is with diverse hotel visitors. There’s an ongoing intimate relationship with an actress.</p>
<p>Rostov is also fond of conversing with 9-year-old Nina, the precocious daughter of a widowed Ukrainian bureaucrat. Nina might remind one of Eloise, the children’s book series character who lived in the “tippy-top floor” of New York City’s Plaza Hotel.</p>
<p>A recurring four-legged character in Towles’ novel is the omniscient one-eyed cat, a Russian blue, that makes its home in the hotel lobby.</p>
<p>Rostov knowingly comments on the menu and on the chef’s food preparation. A bowl of chilled soup draws this commentary: “A tad too much salt, a tad too little kvass, but a perfect expression of dill.” Kvass is a fermented beverage.</p>
<p>Rostov exudes an elegance matched by Towles’ own elegant writing style, a style that extends to the author providing important political events in Russia that segue into this story.</p>
<p>A footnote: The Bolshevik prosecutor, who makes an early, single cameo appearance, is identified as A.Y. Vyshinsky. In the 1930s, the real A.Y. Vyshinsky was a jurist at infamous Soviet show trials and in the ’40s rose to become the Soviet Union’s foreign minister.</p>
<p>Towles also wrote the New York Times best-selling “Rules of Civility,” his debut novel about a 25-year-old secretary in 1938 New York whose chance encounter with a handsome banker alters her life.</p>
<p>A Gentleman in Moscow</p>
<p>Amor Towles discusses, signs “A Gentleman in Moscow” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW, and at 5 p.m. Thursday, July 13, at Garcia Street Books, 376 Garcia St., Santa Fe.</p>
<p /> | Story of a lifetime: A Russian aristocrat after the 1917 revolution | false | https://abqjournal.com/1026442/story-of-a-lifetime.html | 2 |
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<p>your email</p>
<p>your name</p>
<p>recipient(s) email (comma separated)</p>
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<p>captcha</p>
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<p>Alberto Ocegueda is one of the 17 workers who helped open the New Era Windows Cooperative after nearly five years of struggle. (Kari Lydersen) &#160;</p>
<p>On Dec. 5, 2008, Richard Gillman abruptly closed the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Goose Island in the Chicago River, putting almost 300 workers out of a job during the holiday season in the midst of the economic crisis, denying them their legally due severance pay and cutting off their health insurance.</p>
<p>Exactly five years later, Gillman was sentenced to four years in prison and a $100,000 fine on felony theft and fraud charges. When the judge asked if there was anything he’d like to say, Gillman turned toward Armando Robles and Melvin “Ricky” Maclin, two of his former workers, and apologized.</p>
<p>Needless to say, things have changed in the last five years. Now Gillman is headed to prison, while Robles, Maclin and other former workers from Republic Windows and Doors are respected figures in the worldwide movement for worker-owned cooperatives as the owners of <a href="http://www.newerawindows.com/" type="external">New Era Windows Cooperative</a>. They made international news for occupying the Republic Windows factory that day in December 2008, beginning a saga that included forcing Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase to pay them $1.75 million that Gillman had shorted them; being bought by a California company making cutting-edge energy-efficient windows; <a href="" type="internal">occupying the factory again</a> when that company, Serious Energy, threatened to close up shop; and finally <a href="" type="internal">buying the business themselves</a>, moving the equipment and reopening as New Era Windows in a cavernous former soup factory on the city’s southwest side.</p>
<p><a href="https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/InTheseTimes/OnlineDonation.html?utm_source=itt_InLine1&amp;utm_medium=header_link&amp;utm_campaign=EOYAppeal" type="external">Help keep this reporting possible by making a donation today.</a></p>
<p>New Era celebrated its grand opening in May this year. Now 17 men and women own and work at the factory, along with a staffer with Working World, the New York-based organization that <a href="http://www.theworkingworld.org/us/ex-republic-windows-and-doors/" type="external">helped them start</a> the cooperative with technical assistance and a $665,000 investment. Most of the former Republic Windows workers moved on to other jobs or struggled with long-term unemployment. Depending how things go at New Era, others could also join the cooperative in the future.</p>
<p>“Almost no one else has done this, it’s unprecedented,” said Alberto Ocegueda, who worked at Republic Windows for 15 years before its shutdown. “A dream became a reality.”</p>
<p>On a Monday morning about a week after Gillman’s sentencing, the factory was humming–literally–with the whir of machines providing background noise to the friendly conversations of workers who have spent years entrenched in the battle to save the factory. Robles and Maclin noted that while Gillman’s sentencing gave them a sense of closure and justice, they harbor no animosity toward him.</p>
<p>“I’m a Christian, I had already forgiven him even if he had not apologized to us,” said Maclin with a warm smile as he pored over financial records in the New Era main office below a brightly decorated Christmas tree. “You can’t hold on to negativity if you want to move in a positive direction.”</p>
<p>“I don’t feel good about it, because he’s a human being,” added Robles. “But I’m pretty sure he didn’t feel sorry for the 270 people he hurt in 2008.”</p>
<p>Gillman’s sentence came four years after the State’s Attorney’s office lodged a list of <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/18/ex_ceo_of_worker_occupied_chicago" type="external">serious felony theft and fraud-related charges</a> against him and set his bail at $10 million. The state essentially alleged that Gillman had looted Republic Windows and ripped off creditors and suppliers through the creation of shell companies and by moving equipment clandestinely to an Iowa window factory owned by his wife, which also subsequently shut down.</p>
<p>Labor advocates and experts agreed that Gillman <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/24/us/24cncrepublic.html?_r=0" type="external">and his associates</a> would likely not have been brought to justice as thoroughly without the activism of the Republic workers and their union, the <a href="" type="external">United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE)</a> Local 1110. The workers and their allies not only attracted international attention to the issue—the occupation also prevented company officials from destroying or hiding evidence.</p>
<p>“In the whole United States we almost never see something like this, always the owners run away, and nothing happens to them,” Robles told In These Times. “In this case it was the courage and the organization we had that made the difference.”</p>
<p>“Too often financial crimes go unpunished, but when union workers fight back and have the support of a team like this, we can win justice,” agreed UE Western Region President Carl Rosen, in a statement following Gillman’s sentencing.</p>
<p>The struggles that Republic Windows workers faced in the years following the closing have provided them an education in labor organizing and movements. They toured the country speaking about the Republic Windows occupation and shared experiences with workers from Europe and Latin America about their various experiences opening workers cooperatives. Shortly after Gillman was sentenced, Robles traveled to a <a href="http://content.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1947313,00.html" type="external">conference for cooperative owners</a> in Cleveland, speaking with workers from across the United States in addition to those from the famous <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2013/3/25/video_understanding_the_mondragon_worker_cooperative_corporation_in_spains_basque_country" type="external">Mondragon</a> cooperative in the Basque region of Spain. Robles has also been heavily involved in other UE campaigns, including the <a href="http://www.warehouseworker.org/" type="external">struggle for rights for non-union warehouse workers</a>. And he spent days in Madison, Wis. protesting against the virulently anti-union policies of Governor Scott Walker.</p>
<p>The workers have also learned how to run a business, from the logistics of book-keeping and maintenance to marketing, strategizing and advertising.</p>
<p>“At Republic Windows, we weren’t involved in making decisions in the office or buying materials,” said Anna Marquez, 44, who worked at Republic for eight years. “Now the change is drastic, and difficult but not impossible. Now we have to know how to make windows and to run the process in the office. It’s a responsibility. Now we’re not doing it for someone else, but for us.”</p>
<p>Since opening, New Era has gotten plenty of orders for their residential replacement windows—energy-efficient windows many homeowners buy to replace old drafty ones. The winter is typically a slow period for the window industry, so the New Era worker-owners will take the chance to get machinery ready for summer, step up their marketing and move toward their goal of selling commercial windows. Because the Chicago government has pledged to make and facilitate massive investments in <a href="http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/progs/env/retrofit_chicago.html" type="external">overhauls of public and private buildings</a>, including replacing old windows with energy-efficient ones, Robles hopes that New Era can also get substantial business from the city retrofits.</p>
<p>All planning and decision-making for things like the move into commercial windows is done with a collective, democratic process involving all the worker-owners. That’s a big difference from the days of Republic Windows and even <a href="http://www.seriousenergy.com" type="external">Serious Energy</a>, the California company that bought Republic after the CEO was impressed by the worker occupation.</p>
<p>“We have some arguments, but we always come to an agreement,” said Robles. “We like the process. Before we just heard from the supervisors, ‘This is how you do it.’ Now we’re the ones making the decisions.”</p>
<p>Maria Roman, 52, described the difference between her 12 years at Republic Windows and the present situation in even starker terms.</p>
<p>“Before we were like slaves, with so many demands on us,” said Roman, who, like all the other workers, “does everything involved in making a window”—including cutting, welding and other steps. She admitted that so far the worker-owners are not making great money, but it’s a hopefully temporary sacrifice toward bigger goals.</p>
<p>“We have to invest our time and effort to be more prosperous, and then we’ll have a better salary,” she said. “That’s what it means to be owners … I feel very proud to be part of this organization.”</p>
<p>Maclin agreed that starting the cooperative was and continues to be a financial struggle. He wishes the government would do more to support and subsidize cooperatives. “It’s a great alternative for the United States: It’s what we need to get back on track and be a country that builds things,” he said.&#160;</p>
<p>Maclin said that at Republic Windows and Serious Energy, he never “took my work home with me.” Now he does. He works weekends, and customers have his personal phone number and use it often. But, he said, it’s all worth it.</p>
<p>“It’s exciting,” he said. “I’m excited every day to come here.”</p> | As One Window Closes in Chicago, Another One Opens | true | http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/16011/as_one_window_closes_another_one_opens/ | 2013-12-18 | 4 |
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<p>A first-grade teacher sheltered her students in a closet, listening to gunshots in the hallway outside. Fearing the worst, she said she wanted these tiny 6- and 7-year-olds to know that somebody loved them, and for that to be the last thing they heard, not the gunshots. Other teachers and staff risked their lives and died trying to protect children. They literally ran out without hesitation to warn others, to pull students to safety, and to put themselves between the bullets and the children.</p>
<p>Their incredible selflessness and bravery saved many children’s lives. Thinking about that is helping to hold up the crushing weight of the rest of that horrible, tragic day. Because we can’t stop thinking about it. I wanted to do something to help somehow, but feel pretty helpless. The only thing I can do right now is draw. It’s not going to help, but I wanted to be doing something.</p>
<p>I’d like to dedicate this image to the teachers and students of Sandy Hook Elementary School. We live in Newtown. Our daughter, Daisy, goes to Newtown Middle School, and our son, Jamie, is a senior at Newtown High School. A lot of friends, relatives, and colleagues have texted and called and emailed over the last day to find out if we’re okay, to express their grief and horror, and to send love and support. We are very grateful for all the thoughts and wishes. A lot of people have also wanted to know more information. I think everyone is desperately trying to find something to help give this all some kind of meaning.</p>
<p>So I hope you’ll forgive me for describing our day here for all of the people who have been asking.</p>
<p>We got Daisy ready in the morning and got her on the school bus at 6:25 as usual. Jamie had the first few classes free and didn’t have to leave until 10 a.m. Sometime before that we were notified by phone and email of a school lockdown. It’s not all that unusual here. The schools have drills, and they also lock down the schools as a precaution if there is a robbery or anything unusual in the town, so we weren’t worried. But we wanted to know if it would be over soon so my son could get into the school. So I turned on the police scanner to see if anything was going on. Usually it’s silent—not a lot goes on here in Newtown. This time it wasn’t silent. It was immediately clear that something serious was going on. I felt a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I heard an EMT say they were setting up triage units in the parking lot. Then a dispatcher said that 3 MCI units—mass casualty incident units—were en route. It was obviously a large-scale emergency. We heard ambulances inbound from towns all around us. We heard only three ambulances leaving for nearby hospitals.</p>
<p>Details started coming out on the local news feeds. A school shooting. Our relief at eventually seeing that it wasn’t Daisy’s school was immediately overwhelmed by the horror of finding out it was Sandy Hook Elementary. On the police scanner we heard cops clearing the school—they did it a total of four times. The news was talking about one or more gunmen fleeing into the woods, and we heard the cops searching. They were also searching for a vehicle—pulling vans over on the surrounding roads. We heard the dispatcher sending units to investigate suspicious people in the parking lots of other schools near us. I tried to reassure my son that other gunmen weren’t coming to us. We turned on CNN for more news but it was useless—they didn’t know how to pronounce Newtown, much less where it was.</p>
<p>We were desperate to go get Daisy, but knew we couldn’t. The minute they lifted the lockdown we rushed over to get her. The roads and school parking lot were filled with grim parents picking up their kids. Daisy was relieved to get out, and a little stunned. The announcement “Lockdown!” had come over the intercom very quickly, and the teachers had jumped into action. They locked the door and covered the window with paper, while the children all crowded into the corner, like they had practiced many times. They sat on the floor in silence for three hours. Many had to pee, but they weren’t allowed to move or make noise. For the first hour they didn’t know what was happening, but then one of the teachers told the kids that there had been a shooting. One of the teachers showed the other her phone, and she began crying and left.</p>
<p>We originally had a plan for that afternoon—we had tickets for the Rockettes. A Christmas present for Daisy. It was the last thing we felt like doing at that moment, but we realized that it wouldn’t be doing her any good to sit at home and listen to the horrible news reports coming in. So—shaking and shell-shocked—we drove into the city, making it to Radio City Music Hall just in time. Daisy loved the show, and clapped in all the right places, but every time I looked over at her, sitting beside me in the dark, I saw her sad little face. The show was amazing, but felt surreal to say the least. I clutched my phone in a death grip, willing myself to not check the local news feeds.</p>
<p>And then the show was over, and we were walking through the streets of Midtown. It felt so odd to be in the middle of all these people—none of them seemed to know that a horrible tragedy had taken place. My wife, Lucy, said, “There’s no one here from Newtown.” So we got in our car and drove right home. Even the air in Newtown seemed sadder somehow.</p>
<p>That evening I overheard my kids downstairs, talking quietly to each other about the day. My son said, “I’m so glad you’re safe, Daisy.”</p>
<p>Today, the day after, it’s quiet here in Newtown. As I drove Daisy to a friend’s house, we saw flagpoles in front of houses here and there, with flags at half-mast. At every one, the cars passing slowed.</p>
<p>So—that was our day. It was a hard day for everyone, no more hard for us by virtue of our proximity.</p>
<p>There is a way you can help. The United Way has set up a Sandy Hook Support Fund. You can get a link to that and information about other ways to help here:</p>
<p><a href="http://newtown.patch.com/articles/ways-to-help-sandy-hook#photo-12588300" type="external">How to Help Families Affected by Newtown School Shooting</a> from NewtownPatch</p>
<p>This post originally appeared on <a href="http://drawger.com/yup/index.php?article_id=13857" type="external">Drawger</a> and was reposted with permission from the author.</p>
<p /> | “I Told Them…I Love You All Very Much” | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/i-love-you-all-very-much-newtown-father-ross-macdonald/ | 2012-12-16 | 4 |
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<p>HOUSTON — Prosecutors in Houston say a woman held a 14-year-old girl against her will and forced the child to work as a prostitute, at one point having sex with 26 men over the course of a week.</p>
<p>Bond for 19-year-old Denise Marie Coronado was increased to $100,000 during a court appearance Monday. She was arrested last week on a charge of compelling prostitution of a minor.</p>
<p>Authorities contend photos of the victim were posted online to promote her as a prostitute and that she was threatened and burned with a cigarette to force her to comply.</p>
<p>Coronado’s lawyer, Joe David Wells, told the Houston Chronicle ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2nwwx4t" type="external">http://bit.ly/2nwwx4t</a> ) the 14-year-old gave inconsistent statements to police and had access to a cellphone to call for help if she wanted.</p>
<p>Coronado is being held at the Harris County jail.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Houston Chronicle, <a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com" type="external">http://www.houstonchronicle.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Officials: Texas woman forced 14-year-old into prostitution | false | https://abqjournal.com/973089/officials-texas-woman-forced-14-year-old-into-prostitution.html | 2 |
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<p>A Minneapolis-based conservation group is again crying “fowl” this week after Minnesota Vikings’ new stadium officials and the Minnesota Audubon dismissed its report that the league’s new billion-dollar stadium is deadly to local bird life.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis released <a href="http://audubonchapterofminneapolis.org/wpaudubon/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Report_2-20_Final.pdf" type="external">a study Opens a New Window.</a> in February that charged U.S. Bank Stadium, the taxpayer-funded $1.1 billion facility, uses a type of bird-killing glass that reflects the sky, causing migrating birds to slam into its surface. The group, which projects at least 360 birds will die over a three-year period unless changes are made to the structure, plans to present solutions on Friday to the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority.</p>
<p>The Vikings, stadium officials and Audubon Minnesota (the state chapter of the National Audubon Society) told FOX Business the study has holes, noting that its findings were “incidental” and that it was “not possible” to draw conclusions based on its methods. But Ann Laughlin, a board member for the Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis, said her organization stands by its findings.</p>
<p>“Our findings are not incidental – they really establish the fact that, as we predicted, birds are being killed by collisions with the stadium glass,” Laughlin told FOX Business. “Of course we can draw conclusions. We draw the conclusion that 74 birds were found. The stadium is killing birds – that is the conclusion.”</p>
<p>Laughlin noted that the observers who participated in the report discovered 60 dead birds and an additional 14 stunned birds in three months during the fall 2016 migration period, despite a limited monitoring schedule and stadium access restrictions. The report contends that its findings exclude any birds that stadium workers may have disposed of before they could be discovered.</p>
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<p>Stadium officials argue the study does not meet scientific standards because they claim Minneapolis Audubon observers conducted their walks sporadically and presented their findings without a direct comparison to other local buildings during the same time period.</p>
<p>But Laughlin refuted that.</p>
<p>“We did compare it to one other building that was part of a previous study by [Minnesota Audubon] and that is in our report,” Laughlin said.</p>
<p>She said the study found U.S. Bank Stadium’s bird mortality rate would surpass that of an unnamed Minneapolis building that, according to a 2010 survey by Audubon Minnesota, was responsible for 250 collisions over a three-year span, for an average of 42 collisions per migratory period.</p>
<p>To address concerns from conservation groups, the Vikings and the MSFA are partnering with university researchers on a three-year study that will analyze the stadium’s impact on bird migrations and make recommendations for potential fixes. The study is set to conclude in 2019.</p>
<p>“It is important to clarify that [the Minneapolis chapter’s report] is in no way affiliated with a scientific study to be led by Audubon Minnesota in collaboration with Oklahoma State University and the University of Minnesota which will be subject to peer review prior to publication, a process that will ensure the highest possible transparency, validity, and credibility of the study,” the Vikings, MSFA and Minnesota Audubon added in their joint statement.</p>
<p>An NFL spokesperson declined to elaborate on the league’s role in the situation and referred FOX Business’ questions to the Vikings. Team representatives declined further comment.</p>
<p>Bird groups have been outspoken on the new stadium since at least 2012, when its construction was first being planned and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources advised MSFA officials to use bird-safe glass, per Audubon Minnesota’s suggestion. At the time, advocates said the glass, which has a pattern that is easily identifiable to birds, would add an extra $1 million to construction costs, the Associated Press reported. The stadium authority declined, citing estimates that the actual cost would exceed $60 million.</p>
<p>Laughlin said her colleagues at the Minneapolis chapter will present possible solutions, along with “ballpark” cost estimates, to stadium officials when they open their meeting to the public on Friday. Aside from bird-safe glass, she argues that protective netting placed outside the stadium during migratory seasons could provide an alternative resolution far in advance of the state-backed study’s conclusion.</p>
<p>“Make some fixes to the stadium right now before spring migration starts, make some fairly low cost fixes, then do your study and see what you see,” she said.</p> | Minneapolis Audubon Fires Back After Vikings Stadium Brush Off: It is 'Killing Birds' | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/03/08/minneapolis-audubon-fires-back-after-vikings-stadium-brush-off-it-is-killing-birds.html | 2017-03-08 | 0 |
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<p>OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City police officers who opened fire on a man in front of his home as he approached them holding a metal pipe didn’t hear witnesses yelling that he was deaf, a department official said Wednesday.</p>
<p>Magdiel Sanchez, 35, wasn’t obeying the officers’ commands before one shot him with a gun and the other with a Taser on Tuesday night, police Capt. Bo Mathews said at a news conference. He said witnesses were yelling “he can’t hear you” before the officers fired, but they didn’t hear them.</p>
<p>“In those situations, very volatile situations, you have a weapon out, you can get what they call tunnel vision, or you can really lock in to just the person that has the weapon that’d be the threat against you,” Mathews said. “I don’t know exactly what the officers were thinking at that point.”</p>
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<p>Sanchez, who had no apparent criminal history, died at the scene. The officer who fired the gun, Sgt. Chris Barnes, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.</p>
<p>Mathews said the officers were investigating a reported hit-and-run at around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. He said a witness told Lt. Matthew Lindsey the address where the vehicle responsible for the hit-and-run had gone, and that Sanchez was on the porch when Lindsey arrived.</p>
<p>He said Sanchez was holding a metal pipe that was approximately 2 feet (0.6 meters) long and that had a leather loop on one end for wrapping around one’s wrist. Lindsey called for backup and Barnes arrived, at which point Sanchez left the porch and began to approach the officers, Mathews said.</p>
<p>Witnesses could hear the officers giving Sanchez commands, but the officers didn’t hear the witnesses yelling that Sanchez couldn’t hear them, Mathews said. When he was about 15 feet (4.5 meters) away from the officers, they opened fire — Lindsey with his Taser and Barnes with his gun, apparently simultaneously, Mathews said.</p>
<p>He said he didn’t know how many shots were fired, but that it was more than one.</p>
<p>When asked why Barnes used a gun instead of a Taser, Mathews said he didn’t know. He said it’s possible Barnes wasn’t equipped with a Taser. Neither officer had a body camera.</p>
<p>Sanchez’s father, who was driving the hit-and-run vehicle, confirmed after the shooting that his son was deaf, Mathews said. He said Sanchez wasn’t in the vehicle when his father struck something and drove off. It wasn’t a person that he struck.</p>
<p>A man who saw Oklahoma City police officers open fire on Sanchez says his neighbor was developmentally disabled and didn’t speak in addition to being deaf.</p>
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<p>Neighbor Julio Rayos told The Oklahoman on Wednesday that Sanchez communicated mainly through hand movements.</p>
<p>“He don’t speak, he don’t hear, mainly it is hand movements. That’s how he communicates,” Rayos told the newspaper. “I believe he was frustrated trying to tell them what was going on.”</p>
<p>Mathews said the city has officers who are trained in the use of sign language, but he didn’t know if Lindsey and Barnes are among them.</p>
<p>Jolie Guebara, who lives two houses from the shooting scene, told The Associated Press that she heard five or six gunshots before she looked outside and saw the police.</p>
<p>“He always had a stick that he would walk around with, because there’s a lot of stray dogs,” Guebara said.</p>
<p>Guebara said Sanchez, whose name she didn’t know, wrote notes to communicate with her and her husband when he would occasionally stop and visit if they were outside.</p>
<p>Police initially said Sanchez was carrying a stick, but Mathews described it Wednesday as a metal pipe.</p>
<p>Sanchez’s death is the latest in a string of controversial killings by Oklahoma police in recent years. In 2015, a white Tulsa County reserve deputy fatally shot an unarmed black man who was on the ground being subdued. He said he meant to shoot the suspect with a stun gun but mistakenly used his firearm instead. He was sentenced to four years in prison.</p>
<p>In May, a white former Tulsa police officer, Betty Shelby, was acquitted in the 2016 killing of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man who had his hands up when she fired. Much like in the Sanchez killing, another officer almost simultaneously fired a Taser at Crutcher when Shelby fired her gun. Unlike Sanchez’s killing, both Tulsa killings were captured on video.</p>
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<p>Follow Ken Miller on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kenmiller7. Sign up for the AP’s weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: <a href="http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv." type="external">http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv.</a></p> | Captain: Oklahoma City man killed by police was deaf | false | https://abqjournal.com/1066538/witnesses-yell-he-cant-hear-you-as-cops-shoot-deaf-man.html | 2017-09-20 | 2 |
<p>To engage high school students in church-state issues and to generate interest from a wide range of Baptists, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington has launched its second annual religious liberty essay contest.</p>
<p>Open to all Baptist high school students in the classes of 2007 and 2008, the contest offers a grand prize of $1,000 and airfare and lodging for two to Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Second prize is $500, and third prize is $100.</p>
<p>Winners will be announced in the summer of 2007 and will be featured in the BJC's flagship publication, Report from the Capital. The grand prize winner will also be recognized at the BJC board meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 2.</p>
<p>Students entering the contest are asked to use their understanding of the importance of the separation of church and state and the prophetic role of the church to respond to the following quote by Martin Luther King Jr: “The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and critic of the state, and never its tool.”</p>
<p>Essays are required to have a minimum of 700 words and no more than 1,000 words. They will be judged on the depth of their content and the skill with which they are written. Students should demonstrate a sound knowledge of the subject matter and support their assertions and provide bibliographical references. Essays that do not meet the minimum qualifications will not be judged.</p>
<p>Visit www.BJConline.org/contest for more information or to download a promotional flier and/or registration form. Send any questions to [email protected].</p> | May 21 is entry deadline for BJC’s religious liberty essay contest | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/may21isentrydeadlineforbjcsreligiouslibertyessaycontest/ | 3 |
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<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Boston-Red-Sox/" type="external">Boston Red Sox</a> left-hander <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/David_Price/" type="external">David Price</a> is headed back to the disabled list and will miss his scheduled start Friday night against the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kansas-City-Royals/" type="external">Kansas City Royals</a> due to a recurrence of his elbow ailment.</p>
<p>The team announced Friday that Price was placed on the 10-day disabled list (retroactive to July 25) with left elbow inflammation.</p>
<p>The Red Sox said right-hander <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Rick_Porcello/" type="external">Rick Porcello</a> will start the series opener against the Royals, with left-hander <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Eduardo_Rodriguez/" type="external">Eduardo Rodriguez</a> starting on Saturday and left-hander Drew Pomeranz on Sunday.</p>
<p>Price, 31, underwent an MRI on his pitching elbow Thursday, a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney. The issue is reportedly similar to the injury that sidelined Price for the first two months of the season.</p>
<p>In March, Price was diagnosed with a strain of flexor mass muscle in the forearm near his elbow.</p>
<p>Since his return to the mound on May 29, Price is 5-3 with a 3.82 ERA and 63 strikeouts against 22 walks over 66 innings in 11 starts.</p>
<p>Price has sparred with the media this season, including a much-publicized incident in which he lashed out at Hall of Fame pitcher and current TV analyst Dennis Eckersley on the team plane June 29.</p>
<p>Price mocked Eckersley and cursed at him multiple times during the confrontation, the Boston Globe reported in a Sunday story that provided previously unreported details about the altercation.</p>
<p>The Red Sox hold a half-game lead over the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/New-York-Yankees/" type="external">New York Yankees</a> in the American League East as they return to <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Fenway_Park/" type="external">Fenway Park</a> to start the three-game series against the Royals.</p>
<p>To fill Price’s spot on the 25-man roster, left-handed pitcher Robby Scott was recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.</p>
<p>Scott, 27, has made four scoreless relief appearances for Pawtucket since being optioned on July 17, striking out four and allowing just one hit in 4 2/3 innings. He made his first career Opening Day roster in 2017 and has a 1-1 record with a 3.75 ERA over 24 innings in 38 relief appearances for the Red Sox this season.</p> | Boston Red Sox LHP David Price back on DL with elbow issue | false | https://newsline.com/boston-red-sox-lhp-david-price-back-on-dl-with-elbow-issue/ | 2017-07-28 | 1 |
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<p>Air pollution is increasingly harmful to elderly, study reports. (Dreamstime)</p>
<p>The air you breathe does more than affect your lungs.</p>
<p>A new study published this week found that older women exposed to air polluted by vehicle exhaust and other damaging particles are almost twice as likely to develop dementia. Others who carried a specific gene were almost four times likelier to develop loss of memory and reasoning skills.</p>
<p>“Although the link between air pollution and Alzheimer’s disease is a new scientific frontier, we now have evidence that air pollution, like tobacco, is dangerous to the aging brain,” study co-senior author Caleb Finch said in a statement. Finch works at the University of Southern California’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.</p>
<p>Specifically, USC researchers found that older women living in areas where air pollution particles exceed federal safety standards may face an 81 percent higher risk for cognitive decline. They also have a 92 percent greater likelihood of developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>The detrimental effects of air pollution – which includes tiny particles emitted by motor vehicles, power plants and the burning of biomass products such as wood – were also worse in women who carry APE-e4, a gene variant that increases their risk of developing Alzheimer’s.</p>
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<p>The nationwide study, published in the journal Translational Psychiatry, examined 3,600 women between the ages of 65 and 79. None of them had dementia at the beginning of the study. Researchers also looked at female lab mice and at brain tissue in petri dishes.</p>
<p>In comparing those who breathed clean air and those exposed to unsafe pollution levels, results for all three groups suggested that exposure to air pollutants increased disorientation and memory loss as well as amyloid beta protein clumps in the brain. Researchers used air pollution standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.</p>
<p>Applying their findings to the general population, the USC researchers calculated that air pollution might be to blame for about 21 percent of all cases of dementia.</p>
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<p /> | Study finds pollution is damaging brains of older women | false | https://abqjournal.com/949456/study-pollution-harms-brains.html | 2 |
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<p>The U.S. military is looking to lease space in Trump Tower to carry out its support functions for President Donald Trump, who has both a home and an office in the New York skyscraper that bears his name.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Department of Defense is working “through appropriate channels and in accordance with all applicable legal requirements” to acquire leased space in the building, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. J.B. Brindle said in a statement Tuesday, adding that it is needed for personnel and equipment to support the president there.</p>
<p>The U.S. military provides medical and communications services that have to be close to the president at all times, and ensures that the so-called nuclear football—a briefcase that allows the president to authorize a nuclear attack—accompanies the commander in chief when he’s away from the White House.</p>
<p>Located on New York’s Fifth Avenue, Trump Tower is owned by Tower Commercial LLC, which is owned in turn by three other entities, all ultimately controlled by Mr. Trump, according to a Jan. 19 analysis of his holdings by The Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>Mr. Trump has declined to sell his assets and put the money in a blind trust run by an impartial third party—as some government-ethics experts have suggested—instead opting to hand the reins of his company to his sons and put his personal holdings in a private trust.</p> | Military Looks to Lease Space in Trump Tower | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/08/military-looks-to-lease-space-in-trump-tower.html | 2017-02-08 | 0 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>When I was a kid growing up in the Boston area, the only people who ever ate octopus were Sicilians like my own family, who ate the seven fishes on Christmas eve.</p>
<p>Yum. My Grampa made it steamed and served it with olives and capers.</p>
<p>Now almost everyone has tried the seafood delicacy. It’s popular in Asia, the Mediterranean and in upscale restaurants in Hollywood and New York.</p>
<p>But not everyone is enjoying their octopus.</p>
<p>Actress <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gwyneth-paltrow-brings-up-a-good-point-about-not-eating-octopus_us_58d295fee4b0f838c62e7765" type="external">Gwyneth Paltrow wrote</a>to a group chat on Slack recently, explaining that she can’t continue to dine on the eight legged cephalopod.</p>
<p>Octopus are too smart to be food. They have more neurons in their brains than we do. I had to stop eating them because I was so freaked out by it. They can escape from sea world and shit by unscrewing drains and going out to sea.”&#160;</p>
<p>That’s right. The 44 year old actress just can’t get herself to consume any creature that is&#160;smarter than she is.</p>
<p>It is true that octopus are successful escape artists. Like “ <a href="http://digg.com/video/hank-squid-pixar-finding-dory-how" type="external">Hank</a>” in the movie&#160;“Finding Dory,” they are cunning and determined. Scientists agree that the creatures are intelligent, and that in fact, they&#160;do have a huge number of neurons inside their squishy little heads.</p>
<p>In some parts of the world people enjoy eating live octopus. Given the high number of neurons in there, they are likely to feel the pain of being chomped on while still living. I can that as&#160;a good reason not to eat a live octopus, if anyone was on the fence.</p>
<p>But cooking an intelligent creature? We do that all the time.</p>
<p>Gwyneth might be happy eating clams or calamari or chicken. I don’t know. But I can’t imagine her checking on their neural capacity before she cooks them.</p>
<p>All I know is, life is going to get very complicated if we have to give an IQ test to dinner before we throw it in the pot.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yHIsQhVxGM" type="external">Watch this</a>. You might end up agreeing with Gwyneth.</p>
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<p>Featured image by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/annie_is_okay/7617189254/in/photolist-cB75Zd-8NezWf-mrsYGD-LSawV-dbTS4S-7pTLDx-9nhQ5r-r7UBjh-bVLSka-bVxdk7-4bB2iB-9BtSaL-fq8cmq-fq8d9U-9nhSxk-4TD7E7-335sm-aEodaP-4LRjDb-aF3LvV-4qQaAi-6YhKMG-6YdGWv-6YdKaD-6YhLvE-6YhKZL-MCBtZS-8o54Wp-4FMHda-p6EpC6-oPb98U-p4CmaG-oPb8uZ-oPb8Z6-oPb8Js-oPb4Z5-p6pw7K-p6CNMJ-oPbwpN-oPbwMb-oPbcE2-54ix4S-x4cRCU-xHBPzo-xHHxPp-xXUtWA-xXUsph-x4kNRK-y1dTsp-y1TDmM" type="external">houston, I am the problem via Flickr</a>. ( <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/" type="external">CC BY-ND 2.0</a>)</p> | Gwyneth Paltrow Has An Odd Way Of Deciding What’s On The Menu (VIDEO) | true | http://offthemainpage.com/2017/03/23/gwyneth-paltrow-has-an-odd-way-of-deciding-whats-on-the-menu-video/ | 2017-03-23 | 4 |
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<p>Donald Trump. Saying it out loud could practically get you lynched in Silicon Valley. Still. Never mind that he won the election. Especially now that he won the election. Only one other name even comes close to drawing that kind of ire from the left-leaning Bay Area crowd: Peter Thiel.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>For the better part of 2016, the eccentric venture capitalist slash entrepreneur has been persona non grata in the Valley. Thiel’s first sin was bankrolling <a href="" type="internal">Hulk Hogan’s invasion of privacy suit that bankrupted Gawker Media</a> and founder Nick Denton. Then he backed Trump for President. Everyone pretty much forgot all about Gawker after that.</p>
<p>Even though practically everyone who’s anyone in the tech industry – including most of the CEOs, entrepreneurs and investors Thiel worked with – supported Hillary Clinton, he wasn’t the least bit shy about backing her opponent. He went all in as a California delegate for Trump, a donor and a speaker at the RNC.</p>
<p>The Valley elite had a cow. They called for Facebook to drop Thiel from its board and lobbied Y Combinator to cut ties with him, to no avail. The insider-turned-outcast never flinched. And one week before the election, he walked into the lion’s den – the <a href="" type="internal">National Press Club in D.C. – and gave an impassioned speech</a> on why he was behind Trump.</p>
<p>Talk about doubling down. Most in his position would shun the limelight. Avoid the controversy. Lay low and play it safe. Not Thiel. And, as the contrarian billionaire has done so many times before, he called it right. Now he serves as the Valley’s gatekeeper to the next U.S. President, an outcome I doubt even he could have foreseen.</p>
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<p>Until his book Zero to One hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list two years ago, few outside the Valley had ever heard of Thiel. But, practically everyone has heard of PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL), which he co-founded, not to mention Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), LinkedIn (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Yelp (NASDAQ:YELP), where he was an early investor.</p>
<p>As if that’s not enough evidence of the man’s uncanny ability to pick winners, Thiel’s venture arm, Founders Fund, has backed Airbnb, Lyft, Spotify and SpaceX. When <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/29/business/dealbook/abbvie-to-buy-cancer-treatment-start-up.html" type="external">cancer drug maker Stemcentrx is acquired by AbbVie Opens a New Window.</a>, his VC firm stands to net more than $1 billion. And Palantir, which he cofounded, is now valued at $20 billion.</p>
<p>Peter Thiel is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. He’s a risk taker’s risk taker. But he doesn’t make high-risk bets and back unpopular causes for the reasons you might think. He’s not a contrarian for the sake of being one. He’s certainly not a thrill-seeker. He bets on a longshot when believes in the cause and he believes it’ll pay off. That’s his formula.</p>
<p>Thiel understands that there is no wisdom in crowds and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Real-Leaders-Dont-Follow-Extraordinary/dp/159918575X" type="external">nobody wins big by doing what everyone else is doing Opens a New Window.</a>. “Thinking about how disturbingly herdlike people become in so many different contexts,” he once said, “As an investor-entrepreneur, I’ve always tried to be contrarian, to go against the crowd, to identify opportunities in places where people are not looking.”</p>
<p>Now a trusted advisor to the President-elect, the German born prodigy who immigrated to America with his parents as a young boy sat just to the left of Trump at a <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/transcript-trumps-introductory-remarks-with-tech-executives-1481754651" type="external">summit between his incoming administration and a dozen or so of tech’s most powerful executives Opens a New Window.</a>, an event that Thiel played a key role in orchestrating.</p>
<p>Trump began the meeting by thanking his Silicon Valley surrogate – not just for putting so much on the line on behalf of the campaign, but for his extraordinary ability to see what others can’t.</p>
<p>“I want to start by thanking Peter because he saw something very early, maybe before we saw it and of course he’s known for that in a different way, but he’s been so terrific and so outstanding,” Trump said.&#160;“He’s ahead of the curve, and I want to thank you, man. You’re a very special guy.”</p>
<p>Indeed, he is.</p> | Peter Thiel: Silicon Valley Outcast Turned Trump Insider | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/12/19/peter-thiel-silicon-valley-outcast-turned-trump-insider.html | 2016-12-19 | 0 |
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening’s drawing of the Minnesota Lottery’s “Gopher 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-26-33-36-45</p>
<p>(five, twenty-six, thirty-three, thirty-six, forty-five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $150,000</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening’s drawing of the Minnesota Lottery’s “Gopher 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-26-33-36-45</p>
<p>(five, twenty-six, thirty-three, thirty-six, forty-five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $150,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Gopher 5’ game | false | https://apnews.com/549c9585909344ea85abeddfddb027bb | 2018-01-20 | 2 |
<p>Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com</p>
<p>It’s a sign of how well relentless propagandizing works that Joe Stiglitz has to devote <a href="//opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/14/a-tax-system-stacked-against-the-99-percent/" type="external">a lengthy op-ed in the New York Times</a> to debunking the idea that our income tax system, whose salient characteristic is low tax burdens for the rich, is good for anyone other than the rich. Economists have increasingly taken note of the fact that the US experiment in lowering taxes produced the opposite of the outcomes that were claimed for it, namely, spurring growth and increasing incomes in all cohorts (the barmy “trickle down” theory). Cross-country comparisons show that advanced economies with higher growth rates, like Germany, typically tax their wealthy more, showing that high taxes on the rich are not a negative for growth. Instead, giving tax breaks to the rich has turbo-charged rentier capitalism:</p>
<p>Remember, the low tax rates at the top were supposed to spur savings and hard work, and thus economic growth. They didn’t. Indeed, the household savings rate fell to a record level of near zero after President George W. Bush’s two rounds of cuts, in 2001 and 2003, on taxes on dividends and capital gains. What low tax rates at the top did do was increase the return on rent-seeking. It flourished, which meant that growth slowed and inequality grew. This is a pattern that has now been observed across countries. Contrary to the warnings of those who want to preserve their privileges, countries that have increased their top tax bracket have not grown more slowly. Another piece of evidence is here at home: if the efforts at the top were resulting in our entire economic engine’s doing better, we would expect everyone to benefit. If they were engaged in rent-seeking, as their incomes increased, we’d expect that of others to decrease. And that’s exactly what’s been happening. Incomes in the middle, and even the bottom, have been stagnating or falling.</p>
<p>Stiglitz provides a compelling summary of how the rich get favored treatment:</p>
<p>The richest 400 individual taxpayers, with an average income of more than $200 million, pay less than 20 percent of their income in taxes — far lower than mere millionaires, who pay about 25 percent of their income in taxes, and about the same as those earning a mere $200,000 to $500,000. And in 2009, 116 of the top 400 earners — almost a third — paid less than 15 percent of their income in taxes….</p>
<p>With such low effective tax rates — and, importantly, the low tax rate of 20 percent on income from capital gains — it’s not a huge surprise that the share of income going to the top 1 percent has doubled since 1979, and that the share going to the top 0.1 percent has almost tripled, according to the economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez. Recall that the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans own about 40 percent of the nation’s wealth, and the picture becomes even more disturbing.</p>
<p>Stiglitz points out that not only are our tax rates on top earners strikingly low by OECD standards, but the income level at which they kick in are also higher than in most other advanced economies. And that is before you factor in that the rich for the most part don’t make their money through income but capital gains, which are taxed at lower rates. That preferable treatment has been exploited flagrantly by the hedge fund and private equity industries, which have been able to structure their funds so that the overwhelming majority of the income they get from managing the funds, which is labor income, is taxed at capital gains rates. And the worst is that the Masters of the Universe act as if that is perfectly reasonable. Stiglitz objects:</p>
<p>Some Wall Street financiers are able to pay taxes at lower capital gains tax rates on income that comes from managing assets for private equity funds or hedge funds. But why should managing financial assets be treated any differently from managing people, or making discoveries? Of course, those in finance say they are essential. But so are doctors, lawyers, teachers and everyone else who contributes to making our complex society work. They say they are necessary for job creation. But in fact, many of the private equity firms that have excelled in exploiting the carried interest loophole are actually job destroyers; they excel in restructuring firms to “save” on labor costs, often by moving jobs abroad.</p>
<p>And then the good professor turns to corporate tax breaks, citing poster child GE, which has paid on average less than 2% of its income in taxes since 2002. The picture is likely even worse than these figures suggest since corporations and wealthy individuals can hide income tax havens.</p>
<p>I do have a minor quibble with Stiglitz catering to the deficit scare-mongers by pointing out that a fairer system would collect more taxes and reduce budget squabbles. He closes by reminding us:</p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way. We could have a much simpler tax system without all the distortions — a society where those who clip coupons for a living pay the same taxes as someone with the same income who works in a factory; where someone who earns his income from saving companies pays the same tax as a doctor who makes the income by saving lives; where someone who earns his income from financial innovations pays the same taxes as a someone who does research to create real innovations that transform our economy and society. We could have a tax system that encourages good things like hard work and thrift and discourages bad things, like rent-seeking, gambling, financial speculation and pollution.</p>
<p>Of course, some people will object, and they are the ones who benefit from complexity, either by being loophole creators and users, or part of the service industry that caters to them. It’s time ordinary citizens look hard at who is peddling “go easy on the rich” advice and discount the source.</p>
<p>Yves Smith is the founder of Naked Capitalism and the author of "ECONned: How Unenlightened Self Interest Undermined Democracy and Corrupted Capitalism."</p> | Nobel Prize-Winner Joe Stiglitz Blasts America's 1 Percent-Coddling Tax System | true | http://alternet.org/economy/nobel-prize-winner-joe-stiglitz-blasts-americas-1-percent-coddling-tax-system | 2013-04-15 | 4 |
<p>TOKYO (Reuters) – Toshiba Corp (T:) will decide on Monday to raise some $5 billion from overseas investors, allowing the troubled conglomerate remain a publicly traded company even if the sale of a key business is delayed, two people with direct knowledge of the process said.</p>
<p>Toshiba, reeling from the bankruptcy of its U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse Co in the wake of an accounting scandal, needs to raise 750 billion yen ($6.7 billion) by the end of March to avoid being kicked off the Tokyo Stock Exchange.</p>
<p>The laptops-to-nuclear-reactors company has agreed to sell its prized NAND semiconductor unit for $18 billion, and is planning to sell its TV business and reportedly looking to hive off its personal-computer unit to raise cash.</p>
<p>But with the March deadline looming to avoid delisting and the chip sale threatened by antitrust concerns from China and elsewhere, Toshiba’s board will on Monday approve a plan to raise 600 billion yen ($5.3 billion) by offering shares to a group of overseas investors, the sources said.</p>
<p>In addition, the sources told Reuters, Toshiba will agree to take upfront losses that will allow tax write-offs sufficient to boost its assets back above liabilities for the first time in two years – allowing the firm to remain listed.</p>
<p>Toshiba declined comment on the plan.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Exclusive: Toshiba set to OK $5 billion injection on Monday to stay listed – sources | false | https://newsline.com/exclusive-toshiba-set-to-ok-5-billion-injection-on-monday-to-stay-listed-sources/ | 2017-11-17 | 1 |
<p>WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced criminal charges and sanctions Friday against Iranians accused in a government-sponsored hacking scheme to pilfer sensitive information from hundreds of universities, private companies and American government agencies.</p>
<p>The nine defendants, accused of working at the behest of the Iranian government-tied Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, hacked the computer systems of about 320 universities in the United States and abroad to steal expensive science and engineering research that was then used or sold for profit, prosecutors said.</p>
<p>The hackers also are accused of breaking into the networks of dozens of government organizations, such as the Department of Labor, the United Nations and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and companies including law firms and biotechnology corporations.</p>
<p>The Justice Department said the hackers were affiliated with an Iranian company called the Mabna Institute, which prosecutors say contracted since at least 2013 with the Iranian government to steal scientific research from other countries.</p>
<p />
<p>“By bringing these criminal charges, we reinforce the norm that most of the civilized world accepts: nation-states should not steal intellectual property for the purpose of giving domestic industries an advantage,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in announcing the charges.</p>
<p>Also Friday, the Treasury Department targeted the Mabna Institute and 10 Iranians — the nine defendants and one charged in a separate case last year — for sanctions that will bar them from doing business in the United States.</p>
<p>The defendants are unlikely to ever be prosecuted in an American courtroom since there’s no extradition treaty with Iran. But the grand jury indictment — filed in federal court in Manhattan — is part of the government’s “name and shame” strategy to publicly identify foreign hackers, block them from traveling without risk of arrest and put their countries on notice.</p>
<p>The strategy has been employed with past indictments accusing Iranian hackers of a digital break-in of a New York dam, Chinese military officials of large-scale hacks at energy corporations and Russians of a massive breach of Yahoo user accounts.</p>
<p>“People travel. They take vacations, they make plans with their families,” said FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich. “Having your name, face and description on a ‘wanted’ poster makes moving freely much more difficult.”</p>
<p>According to the indictment, the Iranians broke into universities through relatively simple, but common means — tricking professors to click on compromised links. The spear-phishing emails purported to be from professors at one university to those at another and contained what appeared to be authentic article links.</p>
<p>But once clicked on, the links steered the professors to a malicious Internet domain that led them to believe they had been logged out of their systems and asked them to enter their log-in. The credentials were then logged and stolen by the hackers, prosecutors say.</p>
<p>From there, according to the Justice Department, the hackers stole roughly 15 billion pages of academic research and intellectual property that was then sent outside the United States for profit.</p>
<p>More than 100,000 professors worldwide were targeted with spear-phishing emails, and the information that was stolen cost U.S. universities about $3.4 billion to procure and access.</p>
<p>“Just in case you’re wondering, they’re not admiring our work,” Bowdich said. “They’re stealing it, and they’re taking credit for it, and they’re selling it to others.”</p> | U.S. Charges 9 Iranians in Massive Hacking Scheme | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/u-s-charges-9-iranians-in-massive-hacking-scheme/ | 2018-03-23 | 4 |
<p>Jan 24 (Reuters) - Republic Bancorp Inc:</p>
<p>* REPUBLIC BANCORP, INC. INCREASES ITS COMMON STOCK CASH DIVIDENDS FOR THE 19TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR</p>
<p>* REPUBLIC BANCORP INC - ‍ANNOUNCED 10% INCREASE IN COMPANY’S QUARTERLY CASH DIVIDENDS​</p>
<p>* REPUBLIC BANCORP - ‍QTRLY CASH DIVIDEND OF $0.242 PER SHARE OF CLASS A COMMON STOCK &amp;$0.22 PER SHARE ON CLASS B COMMON STOCK WILL BE PAYABLE APRIL 20​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Salesforce.com Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=CRM.N" type="external">CRM.N</a>) is in advanced discussions to acquire U.S. software maker MuleSoft Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MULE.N" type="external">MULE.N</a>), people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, as it looks to expand its offerings beyond customer relationship management software.</p> FILE PHOTO - The Salesforce logo is pictured on a building in San Francisco, California, U.S. October 12, 2016. REUTERS/Lily Jamali/File Photo
<p>The acquisition, which the sources said could be worth more than $6 billion, would be Salesforce’s biggest ever deal, illustrating Chief Executive Marc Benioff’s push to supplement the company’s cloud-based portfolio with new technology.</p>
<p>A deal could be announced as soon as this week, the sources said, cautioning that negotiations had not been finalized and that an agreement was not certain.</p>
<p>The sources asked not to be identified because the negotiations are confidential. Salesforce and MuleSoft declined to comment.</p>
<p>MuleSoft shares jumped more than 20 percent to $39.88 after Reuters reported the talks, giving the company a market value of $5.3 billion. Salesforce shares were up 0.3 percent at $125.31.</p>
<p>Based in San Francisco, MuleSoft makes software that automatically integrates disparate data, devices and applications to help companies’ networks run faster. It could help Salesforce win business from customers which are not yet ready to transition their systems to the cloud.</p>
<p>Buying MuleSoft would help Salesforce build a larger enterprise apps ecosystem around its own products, Barclays Plc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BARC.L" type="external">BARC.L</a>) analysts wrote in a research note, adding that MuleSoft could command a premium given its rapid growth and good fit.</p>
<p>Salesforce Ventures, the company’s venture capital arm, led a $128 million funding round in MuleSoft in 2015.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=CRM.N" type="external">Salesforce.com Inc</a> 125.12 CRM.N New York Stock Exchange +0.14 (+0.11%) CRM.N MULE.N BARC.L KO.N MCD.N
<p>MuleSoft has more than 1,000 customers, including Coca-Cola Co ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=KO.N" type="external">KO.N</a>), McDonald’s Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MCD.N" type="external">MCD.N</a>), Spotify and Unilever ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=ULVR.L" type="external">ULVR.L</a>). It went public about a year ago.</p>
<p>Salesforce holds more than 18 percent of the global customer relationship management software market, followed by Oracle Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=ORCL.N" type="external">ORCL.N</a>) with 9.4 percent, according to 2016 figures provided by research firm IDC.</p>
<p>Alphabet Inc’s ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GOOGL.O" type="external">GOOGL.O</a>) Google acquired a competitor of MuleSoft called Apigee Corp in a $625 million deal in 2016.</p>
<p>Salesforce has benefited from companies switching to cloud-based services due to the lower costs and high level of scalability. Last month, it posted a quarterly profit that topped Wall Street targets, fueled by growth in its cloud-based sales and marketing software.</p>
<p>Reporting by Liana B. Baker and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Rigby and Meredith Mazzilli</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Toys ‘R’ Us said at a bankruptcy court hearing on Tuesday that it was working hard to maximize payments to suppliers and lenders, as it starts to shutter 735 big-box toy stores across the United States.</p> FILE PHOTO - People pass by Toys R Us store at Times Square in New York, U.S., March 9, 2018. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo
<p>More than 50 suppliers, including Barbie maker Mattel ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MAT.O" type="external">MAT.O</a>) and Lego, have objected in some form to the proceedings by the storied toy retailer to liquidate its U.S. business, putting 30,000 jobs at risk.</p>
<p>Toys ‘R’ Us had been trying to reorganize under U.S. Chapter 11 but last week said those efforts had failed and it was quickly running out of cash. It is also winding down its U.K business, but is looking for a buyer for operations in Canada, Europe and Asia.</p>
<p>Some trade vendors are demanding the company return any unpaid inventory rather than selling it and using going out of business sales to pay secured lenders and bankruptcy lawyers, at their cost, court papers showed.</p>
<p>“We’re making every effort to make sure (trade vendors) will be paid in full,” Lazard’s David Kurtz, who is advising Toys ‘R’ Us, testified at a hearing at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia.</p>
<p>The company is seeking approval for a March 26 deadline for bids for each of its foreign businesses, minus U.K., followed by an auction on March 29.</p>
<p>It is also seeking approval for a series of U.S. liquidation procedures including a halt to more than $450 million in supplier payments as part of a plan that experts told Reuters could cause many small toy makers to disappear.</p>
<p>Toys ‘R’ Us was the last remaining specialty toy retailer in the United States. Hundreds of companies relied on its big-box stores as a showcase for both innovative toys as well as classics.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MAT.O" type="external">Mattel Inc</a> 12.97 MAT.O Nasdaq -0.25 (-1.89%) MAT.O
<p>Under trade agreements, vendors were required to ship goods to Toys ‘R’ Us on unsecured trade credit.</p>
<p>In a court filing, Lego said any “wind-down must be implemented in a manner that is fair and equitable to all” of the company’s creditors.</p>
<p>The U.S. Trustee, a bankruptcy watchdog, has also objected, saying that while it is “resigned” to the company’s future, it is concerned about certain of the procedures and relief proposed as part of the liquidation.</p>
<p>Toys ‘R’ Us financial advisor Bill Kosturos of Alvarez &amp; Marsal was also testifying at the hearing before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Keith Phillips, which could run into Wednesday.</p>
<p>Reporting by Tracy Rucinski; Editing by David Gregorio</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is expected to unveil up to $60 billion in new tariffs on Chinese imports by Friday, targeting technology, telecommunications and intellectual property, two officials briefed on the matter said Monday.</p>
<p>One business source, who has discussed the issue with the administration, said that the China tariffs may be subject to a public comment period, which would delay their effective date and allow industry groups and companies to lodge objections.</p>
<p>This would be considerably different from the quick implementation of the steel and aluminum tariffs, which are set to go into effect on March 23, just 15 days after President Donald Trump signed the proclamations.</p>
<p>A delayed approach could allow time for negotiations with Beijing to try to resolve trade issues related to the administration’s “Section 301” probe into China’s intellectual property practices before tariffs take effect.</p>
<p>The White House declined to comment Monday. China has vowed to take retaliatory measures in response.</p> Shipping containers are seen at Nansha terminal of Guangzhou port, in Guangdong province, China June 14, 2017. Picture taken June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer
<p>Reuters first reported on the $60 billion in tariffs last week.</p>
<p>A source who had direct knowledge of the administration’s thinking told Reuters last week that the tariffs, authorized under the 1974 U.S. Trade Act, would be chiefly targeted at information technology, consumer electronics and telecoms and other products benefiting from U.S. intellectual property. But they could be much broader and hit consumer products such as clothing and footwear, with a list eventually running to 100 products, this person said.</p> FILE PHOTO - A U.S. flag is tweaked ahead of a news conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. REUTERS/Jacquelyn Martin/Pool
<p>China runs a $375 billion trade surplus with the United States and when President Xi Jinping’s top economic adviser visited Washington recently, the administration pressed him to come up with a way of reducing that number.</p>
<p>In January, Trump told Reuters he was considering a big “fine” as part of a probe into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property. Trump said the Chinese government had forced U.S. companies to transfer their intellectual property to China as a cost of doing business there.</p>
<p>Expectations of the anti-China tariffs have alarmed dozens of U.S. business groups, who warned on Sunday they would raise prices for consumers, kill jobs and drive down financial markets.</p>
<p>Reporting by David Shepardson and Steve Holland in Washington and David Lawder in Buenos Aires; Editing by Lisa Shumaker</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. film and TV studio The Weinstein Company, whose ex-Chairman Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment and assault, filed for bankruptcy on Monday and said it was ending all non-disclosure agreements that may have silenced some women.</p>
<p>The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware follows accusations by more than 70 women against the company’s co-founder, Harvey Weinstein, who was one of Hollywood’s most influential men, of sexual misconduct, including rape. Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.</p>
<p>The women who spoke out against Weinstein spurred a national movement against sexual harassment, with victims sharing their stories on social media and labeling them under the hashtag #MeToo.</p>
<p>Texas private equity firm Lantern Capital agreed to buy Weinstein Company out of bankruptcy for $310 million. The firm's offer, saving the studio from winding down its business, will be subject to higher and better bids in a court-supervised auction scheduled for May 2. <a href="http://bit.ly/2prGdNm" type="external">bit.ly/2prGdNm</a></p>
<p>The deadline for other bids is April 30.</p>
<p>Lantern had been a potential investor in former Obama administration official Maria Contreras-Sweet’s bid for the studio, which was ultimately terminated.</p>
<p>The Weinstein Company’s bankruptcy will halt victim’s lawsuits against the company and any sexual misconduct claims would likely only be compensated after secured creditors are paid in full. Maria Contreras-Sweet’s bid for the studio included a $80-90 million compensation fund that would supplement any insurance payouts victims would receive.</p>
<p>The Weinstein Company, which has won 28 Academy Awards, owns a film library of 277 feature films that have generated over $2 billion in aggregate box office receipts worldwide.</p>
<p>Yet the company said in court papers it has lost about 25 percent of its workforce and many of its long time business partners since October 2017, when accusations against Harvey Weinstein became public.</p>
<p>“It is an understatement to say that the last six months have been trying for the company,” Chief Restructuring Officer Robert Del Genio said in court papers.</p> FILE PHOTO - Harvey Weinstein speaks at the UBS 40th Annual Global Media and Communications Conference in New York, December 5, 2012. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
<p>As part of the bankruptcy filing, the Weinstein Company said it released anyone “who suffered or witnessed any form of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein” from nondisclosure agreements.</p>
<p>“Since October, it has been reported that Harvey Weinstein used non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon to silence his accusers. Effective immediately, those ‘agreements’ end,” the company said in an emailed statement.</p>
<p>In February, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued The Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein, alleging that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed employees and the company failed to respond. Bob Weinstein co-founded the company and is the co-chairman.</p>
<p>“This is a watershed moment for efforts to address the corrosive effects of sexual misconduct in the workplace,” Schneiderman said in a statement after the company’s announcement on Monday.</p>
<p>In its filing, the Weinstein Company listed $500 million to $1 billion in both liabilities and assets.</p>
<p>The studio has spent months looking for a buyer or investor. Before the deal with Contreras-Sweet’s group failed, The Weinstein Company had tried securing rescue financing from other investors.</p>
<p>Lions Gate Entertainment Corp had made an earlier offer for some of the company’s assets, as had Qatar-owned film company Miramax, which was founded by Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein. Both could be among potential bidders in the auction.</p>
<p>Movie producer Killer Content also said bankruptcy would be the best option for the company, and that it may be interested in the studio’s assets in a bankruptcy auction.</p>
<p>The Weinstein Company also won commitments from its bank lenders for a $25 million bankruptcy loan.</p>
<p>Launched in October 2005, the studio produced and distributed critically acclaimed hits including “The King’s Speech” and “Silver Linings Playbook,” as well as TV series such as long-running fashion reality competition “Project Runway.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Jessica DiNapoli in New York, Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Republic Bancorp Increases Its Common Stock Cash Dividends Exclusive: Salesforce in advanced talks to buy MuleSoft - sources Toys 'R' Us says 'making every effort' to pay vendors U.S. expected to impose up to $60 billion in China tariffs by Friday: sources Weinstein Co files for bankruptcy, ends all non-disclosure agreements | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-republic-bancorp-increases-its-com/brief-republic-bancorp-increases-its-common-stock-cash-dividends-idUSASB0C265 | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
<p>In 2013 Kshama Sawant, a member of <a href="http://www.socialistalternative.org/" type="external">Socialist Alternative</a>, surprised many <a href="" type="internal">by winning</a> a seat on&#160;the Seattle City Council.&#160;Several weeks ago, with Sawant in full reelection campaign mode (the <a href="http://www2.seattle.gov/ethics/eldata/filings/campaigns.asp?ElCycle=el15a" type="external">city’s primary</a> is tomorrow), I spent ten days in Seattle interviewing politicians, labor officials, and business leaders. Several key lessons emerged for those on the Left who are interested in winning local elections, while also building broader movements.</p> | Seven Lessons From the Sawant Campaign | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2015/08/seven-lessons-from-the-sawant-campaign/ | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio — Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of Ohio Gov. John Kasich becoming the final entrant in a crowded GOP primary field in which Donald Trump was viewed as little more than a celebrity sideshow.</p>
<p>But that same day — July 21 — will also be when Trump steps on the stage in Cleveland to accept the party's presidential nomination. And Kasich won't be there to welcome him.</p>
<p>Kasich remains one of the more popular political figures in Ohio and across the country, according to recent polling data.</p>
<p>But while the governor circles the city next week, he isn't expected to set foot inside the Quicken Loans Arena — where the official convention speeches and ceremonies are taking place.</p>
<p>Instead, he will operate in an orbit beyond the party convention's walls, much like he did over the course of his campaign.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">John Kasich Suspends Presidential Campaign</a></p>
<p>During the primary, Kasich tried to project inclusiveness and civility even as voters clearly favored the brash and confrontational Trump.</p>
<p>He would regularly drop lines on the campaign trail like, <a href="https://twitter.com/kailanikm/status/718828995731681280" type="external">"the Republican Party is my vehicle, but not my master</a>," " <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kasich-my-republican-party-doesnt-like-ideas/2016/04/20/b02c6f4c-0741-11e6-a12f-ea5aed7958dc_story.html" type="external">my Republican Party doesn't like ideas</a>," and "I have a right to shape what it means to be a conservative and <a href="https://twitter.com/kailanikm/status/710151033062707200" type="external">what the Republican Party is all about</a>."</p>
<p>At the RTCA dinner in Washington, D.C., last month, Kasich told a harsh joke at the expense of RNC Chair Reince Priebus.</p>
<p>Kasich so far has refused to endorse Trump. Never before has the governor of a state hosting his own party's nominating convention refused to get behind the nominee.</p>
<p>As governor, Kasich will receive regular security briefings during the convention as demonstrators from across the country gather to protest the candidate he fought for months to decry and defeat.</p>
<p>Kasich's team has also lined up an extensive schedule of appearances and speaking engagements next week that offer clear undertones about what the governor values in his party's political climate.</p>
<p>While he won't address the Republican convention, he will be speaking at another convention in Ohio on Sunday night, the NAACP's annual gathering in Cincinnati.</p>
<p>On Monday, he will meet with Mexico's ambassador to the United States. On Tuesday, he will speak to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (which endorsed him during the primary).</p>
<p>These events are in addition to engagements with the International Republican Institute, speeches to numerous state delegations, and a reception at the Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame in his honor.</p>
<p>"I think where he sees himself is he's going to continue to do what he thinks is the right thing to do, which has served him well for the first 30 years of public life," spokesman Chris Schrimpf said, pointing to the governor's recent <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/kasich-lost-gop-nomination-but-now-hes-finding-a-moment/2016/07/10/b2372d94-454f-11e6-8856-f26de2537a9d_story.html" type="external">comments to the Washington Post</a>: “I’m more worried about my country than I’m worried about my party right now.”</p>
<p>Kasich's appearance at the NAACP Convention — while delegates from his party touch down in Cleveland — underscores the distance he stands from the Trump nomination. Trump declined the NAACP's invitation to speak, and the real estate mogul's absence marks just the 4th time since 1980 that a presidential candidate did not speak at their convention.</p>
<p>The NAACP convention this year falls as the nation continues to mourn the deaths of two more black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, at the hands of police, and the killing of five police officers in Dallas.</p>
<p>Over the course of his presidential campaign, Kasich spoke often of his work in Ohio related to police-community relations and criminal justice issues. In December, after a Cleveland police officer was not indicted in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, <a href="" type="internal">Kasich told reporters</a> that protesters in the wake of the decision "need to be heard."</p>
<p>In a NBC News/WSJ/Marist poll released Wednesday, it was clear that Trump has significant ground to gain among African-Americans in Ohio. The poll found <a href="" type="internal">African-Americans in the state favored Clinton at 88 percent to Trump's 0 percent</a>.</p>
<p>This is not how Kasich imagined the Republican National Convention would be. A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFP3dCtJpPc" type="external">few years ago</a>, he talked very enthusiastically about the prospect of bringing the convention to his home state.</p>
<p>After his chances of clinching the nomination became mathematically impossible this spring, Kasich would speak daily about how "exciting" the convention could be if it were contested, and he and his staff spent months wooing delegates so he could take the nomination away from Trump in Cleveland.</p>
<p>Now that he lost, Kasich and his team are working to walk a delicate line. They are getting hounded with media requests, yet are not planning on breaking any news or making big headlines. "I'm not going there to disrupt," Kasich told MSNBC in June.</p>
<p>But at the same time, the wheels of Kasich's political operation are still in motion as a team around him tries to keep his profile high and his political capital a valuable commodity.</p>
<p>The governor’s team reiterates he wants to do everything he can to keep his options open for what he might do after his term as governor ends in January 2019 — whether that could be a position in business, in the media, or another run at the White House.</p>
<p>In the 2020 Republican presidential field, “I would think he would be in the upper tier almost immediately,” said Tom Rath, one of Kasich’s top advisers in New Hampshire. "Think about how much further ahead we would be. People would know him and know what he stood for."</p>
<p>Instead of focusing on the top of the ticket this year, Kasich is campaigning and raising money for other down-ballot Republican candidates, something he was not as involved with before he ran for president this year — a lack of action some supporters believe hurt him in while he was trying to raise money and court endorsements this year.</p>
<p>In the two months since Kasich left the race, he has dug in and continued his work as governor of Ohio, generating big headlines when he signed a <a href="http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/08/john-kasich-just-%20legalized-medical-marijuana-ohio-now-what/85499176/" type="external">bill to legalize medical marijuana</a> and took some heat from his own party for <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/06/17/john-kasich-vetoes-republican-backed-voting-bill.html" type="external">vetoing a voting bill that Democrats likened to a poll tax</a>.</p>
<p>Kasich is working on writing a book about his message and his experience over the course of his campaign, and he plans on holding town hall-style meetings across the country to promote the book as soon as this October, his advisers say.</p>
<p>Kasich believes it’s too early talk about 2020. “That’s like asking somebody once they finish a marathon, you know, meet them at the finish line, saying, ‘you going to run another one?’” the governor told <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFP3dCtJpPc" type="external">WEWS</a> earlier this month.</p>
<p>Kasich has still only spoken to Trump once since dropping out of the race on May 4, when he told Trump to read his "two paths" speech and explained why he couldn't back him.</p>
<p>"It's painful. It's painful. People even get divorces, you know?" Kasich told MSNBC's Joe Scarborough last month. "I've been a Republican all my life. How do you think I feel about this? I'm the Republican governor of Ohio. It's difficult."</p>
<p>Kasich said that day that Republican donors and other party leaders courted him heavily to get re-involved in the 2016 race in a number of ways.</p>
<p>"Look, if you saw the people that have contacted me, and want me to run as a third-party candidate, or the number of people that have come to me and say they want, you know, 'Would you run with Donald Trump?' I mean, you would be shocked," he said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a number of Republicans are still urging Kasich to get behind Trump. "It's about time he got on the Trump bandwagon," Newt Gingrich, who vied for Trump's vice presidential nod, said recently in Ohio.</p>
<p>But Kasich's aides say that doesn't bother him. "There's differences between requests and pressure," John Weaver, Kasich's strategist, said. "They have control of that in the way that they conduct themselves and the way that their policy proposals are. They should feel the pressure. You don't win states like Ohio unless you can cobble together coalitions and you can only cobble together coalitions with attractive, positive inclusivity."</p>
<p>This is why Kasich will stay on the outside at the convention. If he gets invited to a party and he can't say anything positive about the host, his advisers say he doesn't want to be a part of it. Weaver continued, "Even if he spoke and just laid out his positive message, critics and pundits would want to contrast that with Trump."</p>
<p>Kasich is well aware of his role.</p>
<p>"I know that as the governor of Ohio, with some people who pound on me — I said, 'I'm not prepared to do it,'" Kasich said in his MSNBC interview last month. "He's going to have to change. Period. End of story."</p> | During the RNC, John Kasich Will Look Forward From the Outside | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-conventions/during-rnc-john-kasich-will-look-forward-outside-n610696 | 2016-07-17 | 3 |
<p>Here’s one straight out of the twilight zone of Dicken’s worst nightmares.</p>
<p>Nestle Corporation, which last year earned 5.5 billion dollars in profits is demanding 6 million dollars from Ethiopia, a country facing famine. That over 14 million people are in danger of dying of starvation in a country so poor (an average income of less than $2 per day) that it can’t afford to buy enough food on the overabundant world market doesn’t seem to bother the world’s largest food corporation. Hey, business is business!</p>
<p>“But wait!” you cry in disbelief, “There must be more to the story than this!”. Ok, here’s the low-down. In 1975 a military dictatorship took over Ethiopia and nationalized the Ethiopian Livestock Development Company, or ELIDCO for short. ELIDCO was partially owned by Schweisfurth Group, a german company which Nestle acquired in 1986. In all likelihood, Nestle purchased Schweisfurth at a price that reflected the loss of ELIDCO 11 years earlier. In 1998 the current democratically elected government of Ethiopia, in heavy debt to international creditors, sold ELIDCO for 8.73 million dollars. Last year the World Bank placed it’s giant footprint into the fold – Nestle wanted “their” money back. That the total annual sales of Nestle dwarfs the GDP of famine struck Ethiopia (by a factor of 8) was obviously not a consideration to either the World Bank or Nestle.</p>
<p>Of course, the Ethiopian government is not made up of saints here. The war with Eritrea caused massive death and is one of the underlying factors leading to this famine, even if the main factor is a 3 year drought. In all likelihood, the country is also rife with corruption. Irregardless, the 14 million individuals in danger of starving aren’t responsible for that – they are just the rag puppets cast aside in that deadly game called Greed and Power. Not that this is surprising. Greed and Power lie behind “epidemics” of premature death (like war and starvation and disease) which regularly strike the poor and downtrodden on this planet. And, Nestle has got that addiction to Greed in a big and very bad way.</p>
<p>But what about common sense or common decency? That you don’t force money from the hands of people who are starving, especially when you are rich beyond avarice, is obvious to anyone older than 2 who has ever heard of Scrooge. I mean, beyond the obvious morality, just the bad PR this is gonna generate will end up costing Nestle more than 6 million. Think of the good PR Nestle could have generated if they had done the opposite – made a big declaration that they were gonna write off their debt to a country caught in the arms of famine. Hey, Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year! But “No!”, “No!”, And once again, “No!” It appears that Nestle has very strong guiding principles about this sort of thing – “Squeeze every last penny out of them!” And be sure you get it before death reduces the swell of their children’s bellies so that it matches the rest of that skin on skeleton look.</p>
<p>This isn’t the first time Nestle has walked the pathway of moral putridity. For years Nestle has been the target of boycotts due to their decades long practice of underhandedly peddling baby formula as a breast-milk substitute to mothers in the third world. Breast milk is free, healthy and protects against infection, but not very profitable for a maker of baby formula. Practices like sending sales reps into hospitals dressed as nurses to promote products to mothers were common place. The pitch was that Nestle’s formula was better than breast milk – in fact, any mother that “really” cared about her baby would use Nestle breast-milk substitute. Mothers were often given a free supply of baby formula that lasted just long enough to dry out their own breast milk. These mothers, lacking sanitized water, and with their breast milk now dried up, mixed the formula with the only water they had. The results were predictable. According to the World Health Organisation a child bottle fed using unsafe water is up to 25 times more likely to die as a result of diarrhea than a breast fed child. 1.5 million children die in this manner each year. With pressure from the boycott, Nestle agreed to abide by the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) International Code of Breastmilk Substitutes, but Nestle has continually violated the Codes. IBFAN detailed code violations by infant food manufactures in a report called “Breaking the Rules 2001” – released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the International Code. While Nestle was not the only manufacturer to violate the Codes, Nestle’s violations were the only ones to be presented in special tables “because of the sheer volume of its violations”.</p>
<p>In 1984 Ethiopia was struck by a famine in which a million people died. Even today more than a tenth of its children die before their first birthday, and almost half of all children are underweight. It has the lowest per capita income in the world, with the average person surviving on $100 a year. Still, the Ethiopian government has offered to pay Nestle 1.5 million dollars in order to settle the claim. Nestle rejected this offer and demanded 6 million dollars “as a matter of principle”. Their press release defended this demand, “In the interest of continued flows of foreign direct investment which is critical for developing countries, it is highly desirable that conflicts are resolved according to international law and in a spirit of fairness.”</p>
<p>According to Oxfam, 6 million dollars could do the following in drought ravaged Ethiopia: – buy food for a month for over 1 million people in Ethiopia. – build 6,500 wells which would provide clean water to more than 4 million people – provide 650,000 people with medicine to fight diarrhea</p>
<p>And what would the cost be to Nestle? – 6 million dollars is 0.01% of Nestle’s annual turnover.</p>
<p>Criticism of Nestle’s business activity prompted Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, their chief executive, too acknowledge the need for responsibility beyond profit when he said, “We are going to be asked: what have you done to fight hunger in developing countries?”. That was three years ago. The guy is still heading the company, and as you can see, not much has changed when it comes to grasping basic concepts like Ethics and Morals at Nestle corporation. It’s still that same old insatiable greed – need indeed! Clearly an absolute prerequisite for the job of CEO at Nestle is that your heart be made out of burnt asphalt.</p>
<p>So unless you are a chum supporter of infant mortality or famine then you might want to boycott Nestle and the long long list of companies it owns.</p>
<p>And while your at it, give a real generous gift for christmas – donate to one of the many charities trying to help the 38 million people facing famine in Africa.</p>
<p>Peace, Kevin</p>
<p>Note: The International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk substitutes was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 1981. It aims to protect all mothers and babies from aggressive company practices and to ensure that they receive accurate information. It bans all promotion of baby milks and other breastmilk substitutes.</p>
<p>KEVIN BEGLEY lives in Lund, Sweden He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Tale of Nestle and a Nation in Famine | true | https://counterpunch.org/2002/12/24/the-tale-of-nestle-and-a-nation-in-famine/ | 2002-12-24 | 4 |
<p>SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Google, Singapore investor Temasek and China’s Meituan-Dianping are investing in Go-Jek as part of a $1.2 billion fundraising round, bolstering the Indonesian ride-hailing firm in its battle with deep-pocketed rivals Grab and Uber, sources said.</p> FILE PHOTO: A woman rides on the back of a motorbike, part of the Go-Jek ride-hailing service, on a busy street in central Jakarta, Indonesia December 18, 2015. REUTERS/Garry Lotulung/File Photo
<p>The investments by Alphabet Inc’s ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GOOGL.O" type="external">GOOGL.O</a>) Google - its first in a ride-hailing firm in Asia - and the other prominent investors underscore both the potential of the business in Southeast Asia, a region of 640 million people, and the insatiable appetite for funds at ride-hailing businesses.</p>
<p>These businesses have been spending heavily to attract both riders and drivers, with discounts and promotions that have drained their cash. They have frequently courted deep-pocketed investors for funds.</p>
<p>Grab and Uber are backed by Japan’s SoftBank Group ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=9984.T" type="external">9984.T</a>), while Go-Jek has secured investments from Chinese technology giants Tencent Holdings Ltd ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=0700.HK" type="external">0700.HK</a>) and JD.com Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=JD.O" type="external">JD.O</a>).</p>
<p>“As a strategic investor, Google can add a lot to Go-Jek’s business,” said one source. “Go-Jek’s challenge is not how to grow the business but to have a big pool of funding to support all its services,” he said.</p>
<p>Go-Jek’s existing investors such as global private equity firms KKR &amp; Co LP ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=KKR.N" type="external">KKR.N</a>) and Warburg Pincus LLC are also participating in the latest funding, the sources said. The funding round opened last year and is expected to close in a few weeks, they said.</p>
<p>Google is investing about $100 million, two sources said. Samsung Venture Investment Corp also participated in the funding, one source said.</p>
<p>It was not immediately clear how much the other investors are pumping in individually. Breakingviews said, citing sources, the new money from investors values Go-Jek group at roughly $4 billion, compared to more than $6 billion for Grab.</p>
<p>Google, KKR, Meituan-Dianping, Temasek and Warburg declined to comment. Samsung Electronics also declined to comment. Go-Jek did not respond to requests for comment. The people declined to be identified as they were not authorized to speak to the media.</p>
<p>The Go-Jek investment would mark a deepening of Google’s bet on Asia. In September, it agreed to acquire 2,000 engineers from Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=2498.TW" type="external">2498.TW</a>) for $1.1 billion. It also launched a localized payments app for India as it tries to gain a foothold in the country’s rapidly-growing digital payments space.</p>
<p>This year, it joined an investment in Chinese live-stream mobile game platform Chushou, which followed a minority stake in Beijing-based artificial intelligence startup Mobvoi in 2015.</p>
<p>Southeast Asia has emerged as the fastest growing e-commerce market globally, according to a research report published by Google and Temasek in December 2017. It estimated 330 million monthly active internet users by year-end 2017, adding over 70 million new users since 2015.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GOOGL.O" type="external">Alphabet Inc</a> 1036.04 GOOGL.O Nasdaq -1.25 (-0.12%) GOOGL.O 9984.T 0700.HK JD.O KKR.N DELIVERING MASSEUSES TO MEALS
<p>Both Grab and Uber are expanding in Go-Jek’s home market, which is Southeast Asia’s most populous country and where locals are keen to lap up an array of mobile-based services. Southeast Asia is the world’s third-biggest ride-hailing market after China and the United States.</p>
<p>Go-Jek, a play on the local word for motorbike taxis, delivers everything from meals and groceries to cleaners, masseuses and hairdressers across Indonesia’s capital city Jakarta, all at the touch of a smartphone app.</p>
<p>The company, which began as a ride-hailing app for motorcycle taxis, was set up by Nadiem Makarim, a graduate of the Harvard School of Business and a former associate with McKinsey, who has quickly become a poster child for start-up success in Indonesia.</p>
<p>Go-Jek has become a crucial workaround in Jakarta, which has some of the worst traffic in the world. The service’s riders can move goods and people faster around the city than cars, helping businesses increase sales dramatically as they reach more consumers.</p>
<p>While it operates mainly in Indonesia, it is eyeing expansion in the region. Its mobile payment business, Go-Pay, is also growing rapidly.</p>
<p>“Certainly, Go-Jek wants to solve the problem of payment in Indonesia,” said Daniel Tumiwa, a member of the Indonesia E-commerce Association advisory board, referring to the latest funding.</p>
<p>“For Go-Jek’s competitors, it means that they have to keep innovating and creating better products and solving the people’s problems even faster.”</p>
<p>Reuters reported last year that JD.com was investing about $100 million in Go-Jek. This followed an investment by Tencent, which is also an investor in JD.com.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Julie Zhu and Sumeet Chatterjee in HONG KONG, Tabita Diela in JAKARTA and Joyce Lee in SEOUL; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s iTruemart, a unit of mobile phone operator True Corp Plc, said on Saturday it has fixed a data leak that led to information on some of its customers, including their ID and passport data, becoming public.</p>
<p>The files of customers buying “TrueMove H” mobile packages had been ‘hacked’, it said in a statement following reports of the leak.</p>
<p>It was the first known instance of a major data leak from a mobile operator in Thailand.</p>
<p>Niall Merrigan, a Norway-based security researcher, detailed on his personal blog on Friday that he was able to access 32 gigabytes of True’s customer data, including identification cards and passports.</p>
<p>Merrigan told Reuters the data was “public facing” and that he notified True of the leak in March.</p>
<p>The company said it would alert the customers affected by the hacking on measures it is taking to protect their data. It did not say how many customers or data files had been affected.</p>
<p>Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) asked the company to clarify the matter on Tuesday before taking any action, Secretary-General Takorn Tantasith said on Saturday.</p>
<p>True Corp is Thailand’s second biggest mobile operator and a flagship company of billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont’s Charoen Pokphand Group.</p>
<p>Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng; additional reporting by Papitcha Tanakasempipat; Editing by Clelia Oziel</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - A powerful spring storm pummeled the U.S. Midwest and Plains on Saturday with blizzard conditions and high winds, while tornadoes and thunderstorms threatened some of the South.</p> Dark clouds hover above buildings amidst tornadoes in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the U.S., April 10, 2018 in this still image obtained from a social media video. MANDATORY CREDIT. Emmet Finneran/via REUTERS
<p>Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota were under warnings for blizzard-like conditions. The city of St. Paul, Minnesota declared a snow emergency.</p>
<p>Forecasters were expecting more than a foot of snow (30 cm) in parts of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Wind gusts around Duluth, Minnesota had exceeded 50 miles (80 km) per hour, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.</p> Cars are seen on a road during a tornado in Mountainburg, Arkansas, U.S., April 13, 2018 in this picture grab obtained from social media video. Picture taken April 13, 2018. JOSHUA COLEMAN/via REUTERS
<p>“Difficult, dangerous travel conditions expected,” it said on Twitter.</p>
<p>As the storm pushed south into Saturday evening, authorities warned that severe thunderstorms could bring gusting winds, flooding and hail. Severe weather warnings extended from Texas to central Alabama, which was under a tornado watch.</p>
<p>Freezing rain and ice storms were expected to move into northern New England through Monday.</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>National weather forecasters also cautioned that high winds were producing critical fire conditions in the Southern Plains.</p>
<p>On Friday, the system produced 10 reports of tornadoes in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, the weather service said. Four people were injured and 160 buildings damaged in a possible tornado in northwest Arkansas, local media reported.</p>
<p>About 50,000 customers in the Texas and Louisiana were without power on Saturday afternoon, along with an additional 45,000 in Michigan and Wisconsin, the website Poweroutage.us reported.</p>
<p>The airport in Rochester, Minnesota said on Twitter it had canceled all flights until Sunday morning “due to the extreme weather conditions.” Rapidly falling snow also prompted Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport to suspend flight operations on Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Letitia Stein in Detroit; Editing by Helen Popper and Alistair Bell</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LIMA (Reuters) - The United States urged regional leaders on Saturday to take stronger steps to isolate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as it joined a declaration condemning the worsening humanitarian crisis and political repression in the South American nation.</p> Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores attend a rally with supporters in Caracas, Venezuela April 14, 2018. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS
<p>U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told the Summit of the Americas in the Peruvian capital that immediate action was needed as Venezuela gears up for presidential elections on May 20 that have been condemned by many regional leaders as a farce to legitimize Maduro’s rule.</p>
<p>For the first time, the United States backed a statement by heads of state from the Lima Group of nations - established last year to seek a peaceful end to Venezuela’s political turmoil - which called on Maduro to release political prisoners and hold free elections.</p>
<p>Despite an economic collapse that has driven an estimated 3 million people to flee his once-prosperous OPEC nation, Maduro is expected to win next month’s poll.</p>
<p>Venezuela’s two most popular opposition leaders are banned from competing and electoral authorities are stacked with government supporters.</p>
<p>“The United States of America will not stand idly by as Venezuela crumbles,” Pence said in a speech. “Every free nation gathered here must take stronger action to isolate the Maduro regime. We must all stand with our brothers and sisters suffering in Venezuela.”</p> U.S. Vice President Mike Pence participates in the opening session of the Americas Summit in Lima, Peru April 14, 2018. REUTERS/Andres Stapff
<p>The statement by the Lima Group voiced alarm at an exodus of migrants from Venezuela and urged governments to intensify actions aimed at restoring democracy.</p>
<p>Washington has already targeted senior members of Maduro’s administration with sanctions due to accusations of corruption and rights abuses.</p>
<p>Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised the prospect in February that this could be broadened to restrict Venezuela’s exports of crude oil and its imports of U.S. refined products.</p>
<p>Neighboring countries’ frustration with Maduro’s socialist government has been stoked by the arrival of thousands of hungry migrants across the border into Colombia and Brazil every day.</p> CALL FOR HUMANITARIAN AID
<p>The joint statement called on international organizations to offer support to neighboring countries to cope with the arrivals and for Maduro to allow access for humanitarian aid to his nation of 30 million people - something he has refused to do, denying there is a crisis.</p>
<p>“To have in Maduro a leader that will not allow humanitarian aid into his own country as people are starving and people are dying is unconscionable,” Pence said.</p>
<p>Addressing red-shirted supporters at an “anti-imperialist” rally in Caracas, Maduro branded the meeting in Lima as “a complete failure” and said Latin American presidents were wasting their time criticizing him.</p> Slideshow (12 Images)
<p>Maduro was banned from the Lima gathering due to regional censure of his democratic record.</p>
<p>Hosting the summit, Peru has sought the broadest possible support for the document from governments outside the 14-nation Lima Group - which includes regional heavyweights such as Brazil, Mexico and Canada but not the United States.</p>
<p>However, efforts to build momentum behind the statement were hit by the last-minute cancellation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s attendance.</p>
<p>In the end, the statement was signed by 16 nations, fewer than half of the 35 countries that are members of the Organization of American States (OAS).</p>
<p>Previous efforts to build consensus behind strongly worded condemnations of Venezuela at the OAS have run into resistance not just from Caracas’ left-leaning allies such as Cuba and Bolivia, but Caribbean nations that have benefited from Venezuela’s subsidized oil programmers.</p>
<p>The official theme of the Lima summit was the fight against corruption and leaders agreed a statement calling for improvements in transparency of public tenders, more independent and accountable judiciaries and stronger international cooperation on money laundering.</p>
<p>However, the meeting was overshadowed by U.S. air strikes in Syria in retaliation for what Washington said was a chemical weapons attack by President Bashar al-Assad’s government.</p>
<p>While Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voiced strong support for the air strikes by the United States, France and Britain, several Latin American nations including Brazil, Argentina and Peru expressed caution about the escalating military action.</p>
<p>“There’s deep concern in Brazil with the escalation of military conflict in Syria,” Brazilian President Michel Temer told the summit. “It’s time to find permanent solutions based on international law to a war that has been going for far too long and ended too many lives.”</p>
<p>Reporting By Roberta Rampton, Lisandra Paraguassu and Teresa Cespedes; Writing by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Alistair Bell</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Western powers said on Saturday their missile attacks struck at the heart of Syria’s chemical weapons program, but the restrained assault appeared unlikely to halt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s progress in the 7-year-old civil war.</p>
<p>The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles overnight in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Syria a week ago, targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities, including a research and development center in Damascus’ Barzeh district and two installations near Homs.</p>
<p>The bombing was the biggest intervention by Western countries against Assad and his superpower ally Russia, but the three countries said the strikes were limited to Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war.</p>
<p>The air attack, denounced by Damascus and its allies as an illegal act of aggression, was unlikely to alter the course of a multisided war that has killed at least half a million people.</p>
<p>U.S. President Donald Trump called the operation a success.</p>
<p>He proclaimed on Twitter: “Mission accomplished,” echoing former President George W. Bush, whose use of the same phrase in 2003 to describe the U.S. invasion of Iraq was widely ridiculed as violence there dragged on for years.</p>
<p>“We believe that by hitting Barzeh in particular we’ve attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon program,” U.S. Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said at the Pentagon.</p>
<p>However, McKenzie acknowledged elements of the program remain and he could not guarantee that Syria would be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-sarin/u-s-official-says-information-points-to-sarin-chlorine-use-in-syria-attack-idUSKBN1HL172" type="external">U.S. official says 'information' points to sarin, chlorine use in Syria attack</a>
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-trump/trump-mission-accomplished-on-perfectly-executed-syria-strike-idUSKBN1HL0TW" type="external">Trump: 'mission accomplished' on 'perfectly executed' Syria strike</a>
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idlib/france-warns-of-humanitarian-disaster-in-syrian-city-idlib-idUSKBN1HL1C2" type="external">France warns of humanitarian disaster in Syrian city Idlib</a>
<p>The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Trump told her that if Syria uses poisonous gas again, “The United States is locked and loaded.”</p>
<p>The Western countries said the strikes were aimed at preventing more Syrian chemical weapons attacks after a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7 killed up to 75 people. They blame Assad’s government for the attack.</p>
<p>In Washington, a senior administration official said on Saturday that “while the available information is much greater on the chlorine use, we do have significant information that also points to sarin use” in the attack.</p>
<p>Speaking at a summit in Peru, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence seemed less sure of the use of sarin, saying that Washington may well determine that it was used along with chlorine.</p> ASSAD ‘RESILIENCE’
<p>Ten hours after the missiles hit, smoke was still rising from the remains of five destroyed buildings of the Syrian Scientific Research Center in Barzeh, where a Syrian employee said medical components were developed.</p>
<p>There were no immediate reports of casualties.</p>
<p>Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption “Morning of resilience”.</p>
<p>Late on Saturday Syria time, a large explosion was heard in a Syrian government-controlled area in a rural region south of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said the cause of the explosion was unknown, as well as its target.</p>
<p>Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years has allowed Assad to crush the rebel threat to topple him.</p>
<p>The United States, Britain and France have all participated in the Syrian conflict for years, arming rebels, bombing Islamic State fighters and deploying troops on the ground to fight that group. But they have refrained from targeting Assad’s government, apart from a volley of U.S. missiles last year.</p>
<p>Although the Western countries have all said for seven years that Assad must leave power, they held back in the past from striking his government, lacking a wider strategy to defeat him.</p>
<p>Syria and its allies also made clear that they considered the attack a one-off, unlikely to do meaningful harm to Assad.</p>
<p>A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.</p>
<p>Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the strikes were “unacceptable and lawless.”</p>
<p>Syrian state media called them a “flagrant violation of international law,” while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called it a crime and the Western leaders criminals.</p>
<p>Russia had promised to respond to any attack on its ally, but the Pentagon said no Russian air defense systems were used. Syria fired 40 unguided surface-to-air missiles - but only after the Western strikes had ended, the Pentagon said.</p>
<p>“We are confident that all of our missiles reached their targets,” McKenzie said.</p>
<p>British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as “limited and targeted,” with no intention of toppling Assad or intervening more widely in the war.</p>
<p>Washington described the strike targets as a center near Damascus for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weapons; a chemical weapons storage site near the city of Homs; and another site near Homs that stored chemical weapons equipment and housed a command post.</p>
<p>The Pentagon said there had been chemical weapons agents at one of the targets, and that the strikes had significantly crippled Syria’s ability to produce such weapons.</p>
<p>Trump spoke to May and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss results of the strikes, the leaders’ offices said.</p> A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer, deployed to Al Udeid Air Base, launches a strike as part of the multinational response to Syria's use of chemical weapons is seen in this image from Al Udeid Air Base, Doha, Qatar released on April 14, 2018. U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS
<p>U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all Security Council members to exercise restraint and avoid escalation in Syria, but said allegations of chemical weapons use demand an investigation.</p> WEAPONS INSPECTIONS
<p>Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW were due to try to visit Douma on Saturday to inspect the site of the suspected gas attack. Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for their findings.</p>
<p>Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated to levels of Cold War-era hostility, has denied any gas attack took place in Douma and even accused Britain of staging it to whip up anti-Russian hysteria.</p>
<p>The Western countries took precautions to avoid unexpected conflict with Russia. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Russians was warned beforehand to avert conflict.</p>
<p>Dmitry Belik, a Russian member of parliament who was in Damascus and witnessed the strikes, told Reuters: “The attack was more of a psychological nature rather than practical. Luckily there are no substantial losses or damages.”</p>
<p>In Douma, site of the suspected gas attack, the last buses were due on Saturday to transport out rebels and their families who agreed to surrender the town, state TV reported. That effectively ends all resistance in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta, marking one of the biggest victories for Assad’s government of the war.</p>
<p>The Western assault involved more missiles than a U.S. attack last year but struck targets limited to Syria’s chemical weapons facilities. The U.S. intervention last year had effectively no impact on the war.</p> Slideshow (18 Images)
<p>Syria agreed in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons after a nerve gas attack killed hundreds of people in Douma. Damascus is still permitted to have chlorine for civilian use, although its use as a weapon is banned. Allegations of Assad’s chlorine use have been frequent during the war although, unlike nerve agents, chlorine did not produce mass casualties as seen last week.</p>
<p>Reporting by Phil Stewart and Tom Perry; additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, Yara Bayoumy, Matt Spetalnick and Joel Schectman in Washington; Michelle Nichols in New York; Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry, Laila Bassam, Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall in Beirut; Kinda Makieh in Barzeh; Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge in London; and Jean-Baptiste Vey, Geert de Clerq and Matthias Blamont in Paris; Polina Ivanova in Moscow; writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by Yara Bayoumy, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Google, Temasek investing in Indonesia's Go-Jek as ride-hailing rivalry deepens: sources Unit of Thai telco True says customers' data leakage fixed 'Snow emergency' as powerful spring storm pounds parts of U.S. U.S. urges regional leaders to isolate Venezuela's Maduro U.S. says air strikes cripple Syria chemical weapons program | false | https://reuters.com/article/us-go-jek-fundraising/google-temasek-investing-in-indonesias-go-jek-as-ride-hailing-rivalry-deepens-sources-idUSKBN1F70GS | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
<p>Today’s New York Times has a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/world/africa/24fog.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=all" type="external">story</a> by <a href="" type="internal">David Kirkpatrick</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Rod Nordland</a> running down the exaggerations and misinformation that have been spread throughout the Libya War. There’s been “spin from all sides,” they report. Gadhafi’s exaggerations are <a href="" type="internal">well-known</a>, but this passage is rather striking:</p>
<p>Still, the rebels have offered their own far-fetched claims, like mass rapes by loyalist troops issued tablets of Viagra. Although the rebels have not offered credible proof, that claim is nonetheless the basis of an investigation by the International Criminal Court.</p>
<p>And there is the mantra, with racist overtones, that the Gadhafi government is using African mercenaries, which rebels repeat as fact over and over. There have been no confirmed cases of that; supposedly there are many African prisoners of war being held in Benghazi, but conveniently journalists are not allowed to see them. There are, however, African guest workers, poorly paid migrant labor, many of whom, unarmed, have been labeled mercenaries.</p>
<p>So stories about African mercenaries are a racist mantra? If that’s the case, then point a finger at media outlets like the New York Times. While the warnings about mass rapes and mercenaries fueled the supporters of the NATO bombing, few reporters have detailed–mostly <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/amnesty-questions-claim-that-gaddafi-ordered-rape-as-weapon-of-war-2302037.html" type="external">notably</a>Patrick Cockburn in the Independent–that there was never solid evidence to support them. They were nonetheless a regular part of the media coverage of the war, as I pointed out in a recent piece in Extra!:</p>
<p>A February 24 Washington Post editorial thundered, “Mr. Gadhafi has unleashed an orgy of bloodshed in the capital, Tripoli, using foreign mercenaries and aircraft to attack his own people.” The day before, the New York Times editorial page (2/23/11) announced that in Tripoli “pro-government forces, relying heavily on mercenaries, were massacring demonstrators.” The Times added that “there were reports of warplanes and helicopters being used to attack civilians”–though the paper did note that “authoritative information was difficult to come by.”</p>
<p>“Gadhafi’s brutal side has emerged once again,” reported ABC‘s <a href="" type="internal">Martha Raddatz</a> (World News, 2/22/11). “This time, flying in cargo planes full of African mercenaries, who don’t even speak the language, to do his dirty work. Trained killers gunning down residents and protesters in cold blood.”</p>
<p>And those “racist overtones” were fairly common in the pages of the New York Times. From <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/africa/22libya.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">February 22</a>:</p>
<p>By Monday night, witnesses said, the streets of Tripoli were thick with special forces loyal to Colonel Gadhafi as well as mercenaries. Roving the streets in trucks, they shot freely as planes dropped what witnesses described as ”small bombs” and helicopters fired on protesters….</p>
<p>Two residents said planes had been landing for 10 days ferrying mercenaries from African countries to an air base in Tripoli. The mercenaries had done much of the shooting, which began Sunday night, they said. Some forces were using particularly lethal, hollow-point bullets, they said.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/world/africa/23libya.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">February 23</a>:</p>
<p>Witnesses said groups of heavily armed militiamen and mercenaries from other African countries cruised the streets in pickup trucks, spraying crowds with machine-gun fire.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/world/africa/24libya.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">February 24</a>:</p>
<p>Distrustful of even his own generals, Colonel Gadhafi has for years quietly built up this ruthless and loyal force. It is made up of special brigades headed by his sons, segments of the military loyal to his native tribe and its allies, and legions of African mercenaries he has helped train and equip. Many are believed to have fought elsewhere, in places like Sudan, but he has now called them back.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that David Kirkpatrick, co-author of today’s piece, also co-authored all of the articles excerpted above.</p>
<p>One has to wonder if the Times is changing the story now because they believe the war is over. What better time to start exercising skepticism than now?</p> | NYT Points Out ‘Racist Overtones’ in Libyan Disinformation It Helped Spread | true | http://fair.org/blog/2011/08/24/nyt-points-out-racist-overtones-in-libyan-disinformation-it-helped-spread/ | 2011-08-24 | 4 |
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<p>Lexi Menees, 8, sells Girl Scout cookies outside TruMed Dispensary, which sells medical marijuana to licensed patients, in Phoenix on Friday. (AP Photo/Terry Tang)</p>
<p>PHOENIX - Customers of some medical marijuana dispensaries are discovering this week that they don't have to go far if they have a case of the munchies.</p>
<p>A few days after a teenager sold dozens of cookie boxes outside a San Francisco pot dispensary, 8-year-old Lexi Menees is returning to TruMed Dispensary in Phoenix on Saturday for the same purpose.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The girl's mother, Heidi Carney, got the idea after hearing about what happened in San Francisco.</p>
<p>"For me, this isn't anything controversial," Carney said. "It's medication. It's no different than standing in front of a Walgreens or a CVS."</p>
<p>Lexi and her parents came on Friday with between 100 and 150 boxes to sell. Her family said they sold more than 50.</p>
<p>"It's better than she would've gotten outside a grocery store," said Justin Menees, Lexi's father.</p>
<p>Susan de Queljoe, a spokeswoman for the Girl Scouts-Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, said selling in front of marijuana dispensaries isn't something the organization would encourage, but that it's up to the parents.</p>
<p>"The girls' safety is our primary concern. So we give guidelines out to all the parents and hope that they will follow them," de Queljoe said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Lauren Gooding, an oncology nurse who is the president of TruMed, runs the state-licensed facility with her father and brother. Gooding said Carney called her Friday morning with the idea and she was immediately on board. In fact, she had already received several messages on Facebook about the San Francisco sale, with people suggesting she do the same thing, Gooding said.</p>
<p>Gooding also sent a text message to more than 2,000 customers about the cookie sale and threw in a tie-in deal: Patients who buy at least half of an ounce of pot will have their pick of a free box of Thin Mints, Samoas or any of the other cookie choices.</p>
<p>"People will wait to buy when there are incentives," Gooding said.</p>
<p>She hopes the presence of the Girl Scouts will help eliminate the stigma tied to medical marijuana dispensaries, Gooding said. Furthermore, with a security guard always on site to ensure nobody illegally consumes their pot purchase, there is no danger of Lexi or any child being exposed to marijuana, she said.</p>
<p>"We are not promoting medical marijuana to her," Gooding said.</p>
<p>Girl Scouts officials said they aren't surprised there are copycats after the story of 13-year-old San Francisco Girl Scout Danielle Lei went viral on social media and various news outlets. Lei set up a cookie table Monday outside The Green Cross, a licensed marijuana dispensary in that city's Mission district.</p>
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<p>Kevin Reed, president of the dispensary, said Lei's mother, a secretary for a city task force on medical cannabis, approached him a couple weeks ago.</p>
<p>"She wanted to help break down the barriers around medical marijuana," Reed said. "I thought it was extremely sweet. So, of course, with open arms I said yes."</p>
<p>Reed said this isn't the first time Lei has sold cookies in front of pot facilities. She did it the last two years but is just now getting attention for it, he said.</p>
<p>The feelings of Girl Scouts officials on the matter seem to vary state to state. Earlier this month, reports about Girl Scouts implementing the same strategy in Colorado, where recreational marijuana is now legal, turned out to be a hoax. The Girl Scouts of Colorado issued a statement on its Facebook page Friday to dispel the rumor, effectively prohibiting members from selling at a dispensary.</p>
<p>"We recognize these are legitimate businesses, but we don't feel they are an appropriate place for girls to be selling cookies in Colorado," the organization said.</p>
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<p /> | Girl Scouts to the munchie rescue | false | https://abqjournal.com/357734/girl-scouts-to-the-munchie-rescue.html | 2 |
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<p>WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A humpback whale spotted near Maui has been freed of braided line caught in its mouth.</p>
<p>A joint statement from state and federal agencies says the entangled whale was freed on Friday.</p>
<p>It was first spotted on Thursday by the captain of a fishing vessel. Rescue teams then went to the scene and began to remove the more than 285 feet (87 meters) of braided line that the whale was trailing.</p>
<p>The agencies say the whale was active on Thursday, and with sunset approaching, crews put a tracking buoy on the line and came back to finish the job on Friday.</p>
<p>The agencies say the whale has an excellent chance of survival. It was found off Makena Beach.</p>
<p>The gear will be analyzed to determine where it came from.</p>
<p>WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) — A humpback whale spotted near Maui has been freed of braided line caught in its mouth.</p>
<p>A joint statement from state and federal agencies says the entangled whale was freed on Friday.</p>
<p>It was first spotted on Thursday by the captain of a fishing vessel. Rescue teams then went to the scene and began to remove the more than 285 feet (87 meters) of braided line that the whale was trailing.</p>
<p>The agencies say the whale was active on Thursday, and with sunset approaching, crews put a tracking buoy on the line and came back to finish the job on Friday.</p>
<p>The agencies say the whale has an excellent chance of survival. It was found off Makena Beach.</p>
<p>The gear will be analyzed to determine where it came from.</p> | Crews free entangled humpback whale near Maui | false | https://apnews.com/d546c0f89bfd485ba878febf99702071 | 2018-01-15 | 2 |
<p>CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson forward Donte Grantham will miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.</p>
<p>The 20th-ranked Tigers are trying for their first NCAA Tournament berth in seven years, but the loss of Grantham is a major blow. The 6-foot-8 senior was second on the team with 14.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.</p>
<p>Grantham was driving to the basket during Clemson's win over Notre Dame on Saturday when his right leg appeared to buckle after getting fouled from behind. An MRI revealed the torn ligament.</p>
<p>The Tigers (16-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) announced Grantham's injury on Sunday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</p>
<p>CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Clemson forward Donte Grantham will miss the rest of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.</p>
<p>The 20th-ranked Tigers are trying for their first NCAA Tournament berth in seven years, but the loss of Grantham is a major blow. The 6-foot-8 senior was second on the team with 14.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.</p>
<p>Grantham was driving to the basket during Clemson's win over Notre Dame on Saturday when his right leg appeared to buckle after getting fouled from behind. An MRI revealed the torn ligament.</p>
<p>The Tigers (16-3, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) announced Grantham's injury on Sunday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25</p> | Clemson's Grantham out for season with torn ACL | false | https://apnews.com/amp/f9d98aad2bb54b83ad09c7f17bcaa162 | 2018-01-21 | 2 |
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<p>King Salman of Saudi Arabia is an old man, and he's used to some luxury. So whenever he travels by the Royal Saudi Air Force One, he is accompanied by another few Boeings, a few hundred servants, a busload of mistresses and - a golden escalator to help him disembark from his plane.</p>
<p>This time, however, someone had clearly not checked the proper functioning of his escalator. King Salman could be seen stuck midway his descent in a very unfortunate setting as his Russian hosts were awaiting him. To make matters worse, this was the first ever visit by a Saudi monarch to Russia.</p>
<p>Poor King Salman had to descend the rest of the escalator on foot and was visibly not too happy about it. Someone is getting fired for this when he's back in Riyadh, you can be sure.</p>
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<p>After the unfortunate mishap, King Salman and President Putin held bilateral talks on oil production and a further diversification of the economic cooperation between the two nations.</p>
<p>During those talks, 15 cooperation agreements worth billions of dollars were signed in the fields of oil production, military and space exploration. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed the visit marked the moment when Saudi-Russian relations "reached a new qualitative level".</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Saudis confirmed they would purchase the Russian S-400 defense system.</p>
<p>And then there was, of course, the issue of Syria.</p>
<p>Given that Syrian Dictator Assad will probably stay in power, Saudi Arabia was keen to know what are the future plans of Russian President Putin. It was mostly thanks to the help of the Russian military that the Syrian army was able to defeat ISIS. King Salman will likely want assurances from President Putin that the Iranian militia leaves Syria as part of any future peace settlement.</p>
<p>Source:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-41520562/saudi-king-s-golden-escalator-gets-stuck" type="external">bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-41520562/saudi-king-s-golden-escalator-gets-stuck</a></p> | Video - Saudi King Salman Visits Putin - Golden Escalator Gets Stuck | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/9247-Video-Saudi-King-Salman-Visits-Putin-Golden-Escalator-Gets-Stuck | 2017-10-06 | 0 |
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<p>HOUSTON — A court hearing has been postponed for a Texas teenager charged with capital murder in the shooting deaths of his mother and father, who was a standout linebacker for Texas A&amp;M before a brief NFL career.</p>
<p>A judge Monday delayed the hearing by two weeks. He ordered Antonio Armstrong Jr. to remain in jail in the meantime.</p>
<p>Authorities say Armstrong shot Antonio and Dawn Armstrong inside their townhome in July. They say the teen told investigators an intruder shot his parents.</p>
<p>A juvenile court determined he will stand trial as an adult. He was 16 when the shooting happened.</p>
<p>The elder Armstrong was a first-team All-American who was taken in the sixth round of the 1995 NFL draft. He had brief stints with the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Hearing postponed for Texas teen charged in death of parents | false | https://abqjournal.com/981417/texas-teen-to-appear-in-court-in-shooting-death-of-parents.html | 2017-04-03 | 2 |
<p>FOX Business: Capitalism Lives Here</p>
<p>U.S. equity markets were little changed Friday as traders digested a smattering of corporate headlines.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Today's Markets</p>
<p>As of 11:14 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:DJI) fell 2.7 points, or 0.02%, to 16007, the S&amp;P 500 (INDEXSP:GSPC) rose 2.1 points, or 0.12%, to 1798 and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ:IXIC) climbed 11.2 points, or 0.28%, to 3980.</p>
<p>It only took the blue-chip average 139 days to add 1000 points after closing at the 15000 &#160;on May 7. The markets have rallied in a big way this year, with the broader S&amp;P 500 tacking on close to 26% this year.</p>
<p>The economic calendar is completely bare on the day. However, Federal Reserve governor Daniel Tarullo is set to speak in the afternoon. Traders have been paying close attention to remarks by Fed officials to determine their views on on monetary policy, although, this particular speech isn't expected to contain any policy hints.</p>
<p>In corporate news, Nike (NYSE:NKE) boosted its dividend by 14%. Gap (NYSE:GPS), meanwhile, reported a 9% increase in its quarterly profit. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is rolling to its Xbox One on the day as it looks to compete with Sony's (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 4.</p>
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<p>In commodities, U.S. crude oil futures fell 4 cents, or 0.05%, to $95.39 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.11% to $2.741 a gallon. In metals, gold rose $2.10, or 0.16%, to $1,246 a troy ounce.</p> | Wall Street Holds Steady Amid Data Dearth | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2013/11/22/wall-street-wobbles-in-light-trading.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
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<p>On Oct. 28, in an undergraduate course she was teaching on ethics, when the subject of same-sex marriage arose, there was no debate because, a student said, Abbate insisted that there could be no defensible opposition to this. (Marquette is a Jesuit school.) After class, the student told her that he opposed same-sex marriage and her discouraging of debate about it. She replied – he recorded their interaction – that “there are some opinions that are not appropriate that are harmful … do you know whether anyone in the class is homosexual? … in this class homophobic comments … will not be tolerated.” The student’s appeals to Abbate’s superiors were unavailing – the chairman of her philosophy department referred to the student as an “insulin (sic) little twerp” – so he gave John C. McAdams his recording of Abbate rebuffing him.</p>
<p>McAdams, a tenured professor then in his 41st year at Marquette and a conservative who blogs about the school’s news, emailed Abbate seeking her version of the episode. Without responding to him, she immediately forwarded his email to some professors. She has called McAdams “the ringleader” of “extreme white (sic) wing, hateful people,” a “moron,” “a flaming bigot, sexist and homophobic idiot” and a “creepy homophobic person with bad argumentation skills.” This aspiring philosopher’s argumentation skills can be inferred from her reliance on epithets.</p>
<p>Before McAdams had written a syllable, she claimed for herself the coveted status of victim, branding as “harassment” his request for her side of the story. Striking a pose of bravery, she accused him of trying “to scare me into silence.” When, on Nov. 9, McAdams blogged, his post took no position on same-sex marriage, but said this should be a debatable issue. The next day, Abbate drafted a letter asking that McAdams be disciplined. He was.</p>
<p>After this matter earned national media attention, she received some critical emails, some of them vile, and Marquette rightly branded them “hate mail.” However, for these, and for the unspecified “harm” that they supposedly caused Abbate, McAdams was held to be somehow blameworthy. Marquette, however, offered no evidence that he had anything to do with the emails. After a committee drawn from the university’s monochrome culture recommended suspending McAdams without pay for two semesters, Marquette’s president insisted that McAdams also express in writing “deep regret,” and confess that his blog post was “reckless and incompatible” with Marquette’s mission and values. McAdams refused and has been unemployed ever since.</p>
<p>Being a private institution, Marquette had a right to be as hostile as it obviously is to the First Amendment – except for this: Its contract with tenured faculty says no one shall be disciplined for exercising “legitimate personal or academic freedoms of thought, doctrine, discourse, association, advocacy, or action” and that the threat of dismissal shall not be used to “restrain” constitutional rights. A circuit court, ignoring Marquette’s ignoring of a Wisconsin contract, refused to adjudicate this dispute. Deferring to Marquette, the court essentially held that a professor’s academic freedom exists only until some other professors, and university administrators, say it does not. So, the deferential court allowed Marquette an unconstrained right to settle a contract dispute in which it was an interested party.</p>
<p>Because there is almost no Wisconsin case law concerning academic freedom that could have guided the circuit court, McAdams is asking the state supreme court to bypass the appeals court and perform its function as the state’s “law-developing court.” He is also asking the court to be cognizant of the cultural context: Nationwide, colleges and universities “are under pressure” – all of it from within the institutions – “to enact or implement speech codes or otherwise restrict speech in various ways.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>This episode, now in its fourth year, began because McAdams tried to assist a student who suffered unprofessional behavior by a bullying instructor. Abbate has moved on. Now at the University of Colorado, she is still a perhaps career graduate student, writing a doctoral dissertation on the importance of the rights of … animals.</p>
<p>The wreckage she left in her wake illustrates how rights are imperiled when judicial deference becomes dereliction of judicial duty. Prospective Marquette students, and Marquette alumni, must decide whether this school, awash with the current academic hysteria and corruption, merits their confidence and support. Wisconsin’s Supreme Court must lay down the law that can stop some of the rot that this case illustrates.</p>
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<p /> | Court ducks free speech issue after professor fired | false | https://abqjournal.com/1113538/court-ducks-free-speech-issue-after-professor-fired.html | 2 |
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<p>Growth investors are often on the hunt for the next "monster" stock that can generate multi-bagger returns. These types of stocks are often lesser-known small cap plays with limited analyst attention and institutional ownership.</p>
<p>Therefore, investors who want to catch a monster stock should strike when it's still off the radar. Let's take a look at two stocks that might fit that description -- Energous (NASDAQ: WATT) and Limelight Networks (NASDAQ: LLNW).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Energous develops a long-range wireless charging technology called WattUp, which charges compatible devices with stationary pads from up to 15 feet away. In theory, this next-gen technology could eliminate the mess of wires behind computers, entertainment systems, and other electronics.</p>
<p>The FCC approved a miniature version of WattUp for&#160;Internet of Things (IoT) devices last year, and the company secured manufacturing deals with bigger companies like Dialog Semiconductor. Energous and Dialog produced a small wireless charging RF circuit at the beginning of 2017, which some&#160;industry watchers think will be used in the iPhone 8.</p>
<p>However, some analysts believe that&#160;Energous didn't secure the Apple deal, and bears have flatly questioned WattUp's ability to charge larger devices "through the air." Others claim that the FCC won't approve the tech&#160;for larger devices due to safety concerns.</p>
<p>Nearly all of Energous' projected revenue this year ($10.4 million) comes from its partnership with Dialog, and estimates for nearly 450% <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/10/2-companies-whose-sales-could-double-in-2017.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5b476ac6-75dc-11e7-9853-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">sales growth Opens a New Window.</a> next year depend heavily on its partners shipping marketable products, securing new deals, and obtaining FCC approval for other charging technologies. Therefore, Energous remains a highly speculative play -- but its upside potential could be explosive if its tech actually works.</p>
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<p>Limelight Networks provides global content delivery network (CDN) services which enable its customers to deliver digital content -- like videos, software updates, and online games -- to any device worldwide. The company has provided those services to huge customers like Microsoft, Comcast, and Disney, but its market cap remains under $400 million.</p>
<p>Rising demand for CDN services and the end of a <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/17/how-limelight-networks-inc-gained-75-in-2016.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5b476ac6-75dc-11e7-9853-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">patent dispute Opens a New Window.</a> with its bigger rival Akamai Technologies' (NASDAQ: AKAM) lifted Limelight's revenue annually for the past three quarters. Analysts expect that momentum to continue with 8% growth this year. Its non-GAAP earnings are expected to rise five-fold from $0.01 per share last year (its first annual profit) to $0.05 next year, and another 50% next year.</p>
<p>Limelight scaled up with numerous acquisitions over the years, and Akamai's recent&#160;shift away from the CDN market should continue boosting its top and bottom line growth. Limelight's stock has already quietly doubled over the past 12 months -- and that momentum could continue as demand for high-speed CDN services rises with the surging demands of digital content.</p>
<p>Energous is only followed by four analysts, and only 39% of&#160;its shares are held by institutional investors. Limelight is covered by five analysts, and institutional investors own 68% of its shares. Therefore, there's still time to buy these stocks before mainstream investors pile in.</p>
<p>However, investors should mind the risks. Energous has rallied about 20% over the past 12 months, but it trades at a whopping 166 times sales and its future growth remains extremely speculative. If Qualcomm or Broadcom -- which are both developing wireless charging tech -- beats Energous to the market, the stock's downside potential is nearly unlimited.</p>
<p>Limelight has a reasonable P/S ratio of 2, but its growth could be derailed if bigger players like Akamai turn toward the CDN market again. Therefore, neither Energous nor Limelight should be considered dependable core investments. But they're still interesting speculative plays which could bust out of their small cap shells over the next few years.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Limelight NetworksWhen 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=ed2de143-fc82-4f56-8078-c5c31a08e8ca&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5b476ac6-75dc-11e7-9853-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Limelight Networks wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=ed2de143-fc82-4f56-8078-c5c31a08e8ca&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5b476ac6-75dc-11e7-9853-0050569d32b9&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 July 6, 2017</p>
<p>Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSunLion/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5b476ac6-75dc-11e7-9853-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Leo Sun Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Qualcomm and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of Qualcomm. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom Ltd. 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=5b476ac6-75dc-11e7-9853-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 2 Monster Stocks in the Making: Energous and Limelight Networks | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/31/2-monster-stocks-in-making-energous-and-limelight-networks.html | 2017-07-31 | 0 |
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<p>Sgt. Aaron Williamson said deputies were called around 5 p.m. by parents who were worried about their son.</p>
<p>"The family stated that their 16-year-old son had left the residence and had not returned and was not answering his cell phone," he said.</p>
<p>Williamson said the parents told deputies the behavior was out of character and authorities began looking for him.</p>
<p>"Detectives and deputies searched the area businesses and just before 8:00 pm, located the boy in an arroyo off of Unser just north of Irving," Williamson said.</p>
<p>The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Williamson said investigators examined the scene and interviewed family members and believe the boy likely committed suicide, though he didn't say how.</p>
<p>He said the Office of the Medical Investigator will determine the official cause of death.</p>
<p>"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this extremely difficult time," Williamson said.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Missing teen found in arroyo likely killed himself, deputies say | false | https://abqjournal.com/719072/missing-teen-found-in-arroyo-likely-killed-himself-deputies-say.html | 2 |
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<p>A decade ago Tom Wolfe coined the term "radical chic" to describe what he regarded as a trendy identification of the wealthy with the poor. Wolfe's 1970 essay focused on a benefit for the Black Panther party, and what he sought to capture was the incongruity of using a Park Avenue setting to raise money for a "revolutionary" organization. It was not the idea of giving that bothered Wolfe. It was the contradiction that arose when the wealthy turned radical causes into fads.</p>
<p /> | Power Chic as Style and Politics | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/power-chic-as-style-and-politics | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
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<p>Bay Area punk duo Street Eaters is touring in support of their album “Blood Muscles Bones.”</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Johnny Geek and Megan March have been on tour for months. And it’s a good thing.</p>
<p>“The shows have been super awesome,” Geek says during an interview from Gainsville, Fla. “It’s a day off and we’re working on booking a tour in Europe.”</p>
<p>The punk duo Street Eaters, which performs with drums, guitar and vocals, has just released an album called “Blood Muscles Bones.”</p>
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<p>March says the album came together while the duo was on its last tour because the touring cycle ran very long on the last album.</p>
<p>“We were gone for so long that we decided to start the album while on the road,” March says. “I think we worked on the album for about a year while doing the smaller tours.”</p>
<p>March says the pair wanted to hone in on their sound and look at the album as a complete body of work.</p>
<p>“We wanted the record to be as full as it could be,” March says. “It was important for us to work each song so it fit together.”</p>
<p>Geek says the band kept the touring schedule focused on the West Coast so that there wasn’t a lot of travel back to their Bay Area home.</p>
<p>He says being in a two-piece band has helped build the working relationship between the two.</p>
<p>“Being that it’s just us two, our communication bleeds over to our personal and day-to-day life,” he says. “It’s an outgrowth of other areas of our lives and it weaves in and out of how we function.”</p>
<p>Geek admits that there is very little compromise when it comes to writing.</p>
<p>“There are only two of us and our philosophies are aligned,” Geek says. “This helps us go into each song as strong as we can. If we do have any problems, our communication is very good and we don’t hold anything back from each other.”</p>
<p /> | Punk duo Street Eaters sees latest album as a complete body of work | false | https://abqjournal.com/438762/albuquerque-punk-2.html | 2 |
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<p>IRVINE, Calif. — Taco Bell is testing a new service that allows users of the ride-sharing app Lyft to add a Taco Bell stop to their ride with the click of a button.</p>
<p>The companies have announced “Taco Mode,” an option for Lyft app users. Taco Bell says Lyft users who select Taco Mode get a custom menu, a taco-themed car and a free taco when they make their “ride-thru” stop at a nearby Taco Bell.</p>
<p>The fast food chain and Lyft are set to test the feature in Orange County, California, during the next two weekends. The companies expect to expand the service into other markets later this year and roll it out nationwide in 2018.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Taco Bell partners with Lyft to offer ‘ride-thru’ meals | false | https://abqjournal.com/1037992/taco-bell-partners-with-lyft-to-offer-ride-thru-meals.html | 2017-07-25 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Partly because Doha has made independence from Riyadh a hallmark of its foreign policy, but mostly because Qatar and Iran share the world’s largest natural gas field.</p>
<p>US President Donald Trump’s <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/21/politics/trump-saudi-speech-transcript/index.html" type="external">speech</a> to the assembled Gulf leaders in <a href="" type="internal">Saudi Arabia</a> on May 21 is worth reading in full. It is deeply disturbing.</p>
<p>Having praised himself for his $110 billion <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-latest-saudi-arabia-billions-arms-deal-military-sales-a7746601.html" type="external">arms deal</a> with the Saudis, he goes on to talk about the threat posed by terrorism, and what a wonderful job the US and the Gulfies – that is, the leading state sponsor of the region’s supremacist death squads and its assembled proxies – are doing in combating it. He then goes on to claim that at the root of the region’s terrorism lurks… guess who? The power leading the regional pushback against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and Al-Qaeda: Iran.</p>
<p>“Starving terrorists of their territory, their funding, and the false allure of their craven ideology, will be the basis for defeating them,” he says. “But no discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three — safe harbor, financial backing and the social standing needed for recruitment.”</p>
<p>This is pretty much exactly how Joe Biden – in his own attempt to whitewash US involvement – described Trump’s Saudi hosts three years earlier. But Trump is not talking about IS’s Saudi backers; he is talking about Iran – the same Iran responsible, with its Syrian and Russian allies, for that fact that the IS flag is not today flying over Damascus.</p>
<p />
<p>It gets worse. Look at the following passage, just after he calls on “all nations of conscience to work together to isolate Iran.”</p>
<p>“If we do not confront this deadly terror, we know what the future will bring—more suffering and despair. But if we act—if we leave this magnificent room unified and determined to do what it takes to destroy the terror that threatens the world—then there is no limit to the great future our citizens will have,” he said.</p>
<p>“The birthplace of civilization is waiting to begin a new renaissance. Just imagine what tomorrow could bring. Glorious wonders of science, art, medicine and commerce to inspire humankind. Great cities built on the ruins of shattered towns. New jobs and industries that will lift up millions of people.”</p>
<p>This is the language of genocide. Heroism and genocide have always gone hand-in-hand in the settler-colonial ideology internalized by the likes of Trump, for which ‘building great cities on the ruins of shattered towns’, be they Native American, Palestinian or, it seems, Iranian, has always been the highest accolade.</p>
<p>Some have accused Trump of making <a href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/columns/dark-days-trump-manchester-bin-zayed-thani-qatar-uae-abu-dhabi-1445689253" type="external">novice blunders</a> during his first lumbering foray into the Middle Eastern maelstrom. But I think he knows exactly what he’s doing. He knows very well that the loosely-defined ‘ideology’ he speaks of as ‘spreading venom’ will be much more readily interpreted by his hosts as Shiism – the creed to which Iran actually subscribes – than as Wahhabism, the sectarian ideology behind IS, Al-Qaeda and the Saudi state.</p>
<p>And just to make clear what he is demanding be done to this ill-defined (but, nudge-wink, understood) enemy, he spells it out: “A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists. Drive. Them. Out… Drive them out of this Earth.”</p>
<p />
<p>Doesn’t this sound horribly like Trump giving the green light to an all-out war of eradication against the region’s Shia – that is, a war very similar to the one actually being waged, in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere, by Trump’s government, his hosts and their proxies?</p>
<p>At the same time, having found it harder than expected to rip up the <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/05/17/trump-keeps-the-iran-deal-alive-for-now/" type="external">Iran deal</a>, Trump is instead hoping to render it null and void by simply blackmailing individual nations into not dealing with Iran, ensuring the formal lifting of sanctions is replaced by an informal blockade.</p>
<p>This is where Qatar comes in. Qatar has clearly not been playing ball with the US-approved, Saudi-led ‘isolate Iran’ program. This is partly because, ever since the current Emir toppled his pro-Saudi father in 1995, the country has made independence from Saudi Arabia a <a href="http://www.worldoil.com/news/2017/6/6/saudi-dispute-with-qatar-has-22-year-history-rooted-in-gas" type="external">hallmark of its foreign policy</a>. But it is mostly because Qatar and Iran share the world’s largest natural gas field, known in Qatar as North Field and in Iran as South Pars.</p>
<p>In fact, the two countries have had decent relations for some time: in May 2010, for example, in stark contrast to the hardline attitude of his Gulf neighbors, Qatari Emir Al-Thani <a href="https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/78/787344_syria-qatar-iran-turkey-qatar-syria-support-turkey-s-iran.html" type="external">joined</a> forces with President Assad of Syria, no less, to support Turkey’s diplomatic proposals over Iran’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>Then, in 2014, in a ‘dry run’ of today’s crisis, the Saudis, UAE and Bahrain <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/03/saudi-uae-bahrain-withdraw-qatar-envoys-20143591141945753.html" type="external">withdrew</a> their ambassadors from Doha following a Qatari proposal to help Iran develop its side of the North Field/ South Pars gas field. But what’s taking place now is much more serious. And that is largely because of the likely earth-shattering impact of the decisions surely now being considered by the two powers over where their gas will go, how it will get there. And in what currency it will be sold.</p>
<p>In April of this year, a self-imposed 12-year moratorium on the development of Qatar’s share of North Field <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/qatar-lifts-development-moratorium-on-worlds-biggest-gas-field" type="external">came to an end</a>, potentially opening up a flood of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) on the market in the years to come. But where will it go? Qatar had originally been hoping to build an LNG pipeline to the Mediterranean Sea via Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey; indeed, many have <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/02/rfk-jr-why-arabs-dont-trust-america-213601" type="external">speculated</a> that Assad’s blockage of this proposal in favor of an Iran-Iraq-Turkey route was a major reason for Qatar’s support of the anti-government insurgency there. The failure of this insurgency, however, has spelled the death of this proposal, leaving Qatar bound to look east to Asia – already their <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2017-06-06/saudi-qatar-s-true-battleground-is-asia" type="external">biggest customers</a> – for their LNG markets. But most of the existing eastbound LNG pipeline infrastructure is controlled by Iran.</p>
<p>For Qatar, then, cutting its Iran links would be cutting off its nose to spite its face. This is why the Saudis aim to demonstrate that the alternative is having the entire face cut off.</p>
<p>For the US, the stakes couldn’t be higher. In 2012, Iran began to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17988142" type="external">accept yuan</a> for its oil and gas payments, followed by <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-01/moscow-and-beijing-join-forces-bypass-us-dollar-global-markets-shift-gold-standard" type="external">Russia</a> in 2015. If this takes off, this could literally spell the beginning of the end of US global power. The dollar is the world’s leading reserve currency, in the main, only because oil is currently traded in dollars. Countries seeking foreign exchange reserves as insurance against crises within their own currencies tend to look to the dollar precisely because it is effectively ‘convertible’ into oil, the world’s number one commodity.</p>
<p>This global thirst for dollars is what allows the US to print endless amounts of them, virtually for free, which it can then exchange for real goods and services with other countries. This is what is known as ‘seigniorage privileges’; that is, the ability to absorb ever-increasing amounts of goods and services from other countries without having to provide anything of equivalent value in return. In turn, it is this privilege which helps to finance the staggering costs of the US military machine, now running at over <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/02/how-us-defense-spending-stacks-up-against-the-rest-of-the-world.html" type="external">$600 billion</a> per year.</p>
<p>Yet this whole system falls apart once other countries stop using the dollar as their prime reserve currency. And they stop doing this once oil stops being traded in dollars. This is one reason why the US was so keen for Saddam Hussein to go after he began trading Iraqi oil in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/feb/16/iraq.theeuro" type="external">euro</a>.</p>
<p>And slowly but surely this change is already occurring. In 2012, the People’s Bank of China <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-27/things-make-you-go-hmm-death-petrodollar-and-what-comes-after?page=1" type="external">announced</a> it would no longer be increasing its holdings of US dollars, and two years later, Nigeria <a href="http://www.golemxiv.co.uk/2014/01/from-petrodollar-to-petroyuan-the-coming-proxy-wars/" type="external">increased</a> its holdings of yuan from 2 percent to 7 percent of its total foreign exchange reserves. Many other countries are moving in the same direction.</p>
<p>At the same time, China has been on a gold-buying spree, setting up its own twice-daily pricing of gold in yuan in 2012 as part of what the chair of the Shanghai Gold Exchange called the ‘internationalization of renminbi [yuan]’, ultimately aiming towards making yuan fully convertible to gold. Once this happens, the choice for oil-producing countries between trading oil for ever-more-worthless paper dollars, or trading it for convertible-to-gold renminbi will be a <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-27/things-make-you-go-hmm-death-petrodollar-and-what-comes-after?page=1" type="external">no-brainer</a>. For Qatar, the pull may already be irresistible.</p>
<p>Hence the urgency to pre-emptively punish Qatar for its likely move towards a joint venture with Iran to supply Asia with LNG priced in yuan. The aim is to demonstrate that, however economically suicidal it may be in the long term to snub Iran and continue trading in the dollar, it will be politically suicidal in the immediate term to do anything else.</p>
<p>Just how far Trump and his Arab friends are prepared to take this, remains to be seen. But Trump has repeatedly suggested that the whole point of having a military is to use it.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/op-edge/392253-qatar-saudi-iran-gas-yuan/" type="external">SOURCE</a></p> | Why Qatar is being targeted, petro-yuan dominance & the coming war on Iran | true | http://hangthebankers.com/qatar-targeted-petro-yuan-war-iran/ | 2017-06-15 | 0 |
<p>Want to help design a spacesuit? NASA is taking one small step toward crowdsourced space exploration by letting Internet users <a href="http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/z2/" type="external">select the cover layer for its next prototype suit</a>.</p>
<p>NASA engineers drew up the choices in collaboration with spacesuit manufacturer ILC Dover and student designers from Philadelphia University. You can vote for the "Biomimicry" pattern, inspired by the look of bioluminescent sea creatures; the "Technology" pattern, with glowing panels that seem to pay homage to the classic video-game movie "Tron"; or "Trends in Society," which mimics swoopy sportswear patterns.</p>
<p>Each of the suits can fit over the Z-2 prototype spacesuit that ILC Dover is developing as a follow-up to its <a href="" type="internal">Buzz Lightyear-like Z-1 suit</a>. All three designs incorporate electroluminescent wires and patches that will help engineers track the wearer's movements while the suit is being tested.</p>
<p>"We haven't had to design a spacesuit to operate in a surface environment since we went to the moon," said Daniel Huot, a NASA spokesman at Johnson Space Center in Texas. "As you can imagine, a lot of things have changed, and this is going to incorporate the features that astronauts are going to be wearing when we go to Mars."</p>
<p>The Z-2 boasts a hard composite upper torso with a suit port built in the back. That will make the suit more durable for use on Mars, and make it easier for astronauts to climb inside. The outer cover provides an extra layer of protection — and in this case, it also provides an opportunity for a fashion statement.</p>
<p>Balloting began Monday morning on the <a href="http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/z2/" type="external">"Z-2 Spacesuit Design Vote"</a>webpage, and Huot said more than 7,000 online votes were cast by the time he left the office for the day. NASA engineers will take questions about the design contest, the Z-2 and what it takes to build a spacesuit during a <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA" type="external">Reddit AMA scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. ET Wednesday</a>. The deadline for making your selection is April 15.</p>
<p>The winning design will be used on a Z-2 that should be ready by November. That suit will be put to the test at Johnson Space Center's simulated Mars rock yard as well as in vacuum chambers and the center's spacewalk training pool, also known as the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.</p>
<p>But you shouldn't count on seeing the winning design on Mars: The light-emitting features that make these prototypes look so fashionable here on Earth probably wouldn't work on a suit that will have to endure radiation exposure, micrometeoroids and temperature swings.</p>
<p>When astronauts touch down on Mars, they might be wearing a suit that incorporates some of the snazzy fashion accents seen in these designs — <a href="" type="internal">updated for the 2030s and beyond</a> — or they might be wearing plain-vanilla spacesuits. Huot makes no promises, one way or the other.</p>
<p>"A Mars-ready suit will be designed solely for function, not form," he said.</p>
<p>Update for 12:30 p.m. ET March 25: Jinny Ferl, design engineering manager for space suit assemblies at ILC Dover, says future spacesuits may well include wearable electronics. But they won't include fashionable patches of dark material — those would absorb too much heat, making things uncomfortable for the astronaut inside. Ferl laid out the plan for the Z-2 suit in an email:</p>
<p>"We have finished a final design review with NASA on the Z-2 spacesuit and are proceeding to fabrication. ILC testing will begin in October per our current schedule. Testing will take place in lab facilities to verify the suit meets requirements. After delivery, NASA will then test the suit manned, in the 11-foot vacuum chamber at JSC. Following vacuum chamber testing, NASA will use the suit in the NBL [Neutral Buoyancy Lab].</p>
<p>"We will fabricate the winning cover design for testing, although possibly not in the NBL, depending on the design/materials tolerance for chlorinated water. ... Some of the new design technologies could carry over to Z-3 or other advanced suits. However, depending on the ultimate environment, a flight suit cover would need to be multilayer and a reflective color, unlike the Z-2."</p>
<p>Ferl says the electroluminescent lighting just might be on the right track. "It's not inconceivable that we would use a powered system either for lighting or information," she said during a follow-up phone call. The wearable display could serve as a touchscreen control panel for a <a href="" type="internal">robotic field assistant</a>, or the 21st-century equivalent of the wrist checklists that Apollo astronauts wore when they walked on the moon.</p>
<p>There's one thing those Apollo-era checklists had that the wristscreens for Mars missions will almost certainly lack: <a href="http://news.discovery.com/space/private-spaceflight/nasa-unintentionally-sent-playmates-to-the-moon-120615.htm" type="external">Playmates</a>.</p> | Thousands Vote on NASA’s Next Spacesuit Design: You Can, Too | false | http://nbcnews.com/science/space/thousands-vote-nasas-next-spacesuit-design-you-can-too-n61076 | 2014-03-25 | 3 |
<p>More than 7,000 Northeast dairy farmers stand to get an average of $4,000 in a proposed settlement with the cooperative Dairy Farmers of America to resolve antitrust allegations.</p>
<p>A final court hearing was held last week in Vermont on the $50 million settlement.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The 2009 class-action lawsuit charged the cooperative, its marketing arm Dairy Marketing Services, and Dallas-based Dean Foods with working together to monopolize the market for raw milk in the Northeast, driving down prices paid to dairy farmers.</p>
<p>Dean Foods agreed to a $30 million settlement in 2011.</p>
<p>A judge is expected to decide in the coming months whether to approve the DFA settlement, and farmers now have until May to submit a claim.</p>
<p>The settlement covers farmers in Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.</p>
<p>DFA has not admitted any wrongdoing.</p> | Northeast dairy farmers could get average of $4K in proposed anti-trust settlement | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/02/04/northeast-dairy-farmers-could-get-average-4k-in-proposed-anti-trust-settlement.html | 2016-03-09 | 0 |
<p>(Screenshot via YouTube)</p>
<p>The 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards honored Mariah Carey, Robert De Niro and the best in LGBT media in New York City on Saturday. Laverne Cox hosted the festivities.</p>
<p>Jennifer Lawrence gave a surprise appearance when she presented Robert De Niro with the Excellence in Media Award for his HBO documentary “Remembering the Artist: Robert De Niro Sr.” The documentary focused on De Niro Sr.’s struggle to hide his sexuality before coming out later in life.</p>
<p>“Robert De Niro Sr. was a gay man who struggled with self-acceptance at a time when organizations like GLAAD were not around,” Lawrence told the audience in the Waldorf Astoria.</p>
<p>“Around the time this film premiered, Bob said something that really resonated with me. He voiced the hope that this documentary would allow his children to fully understand the urgency of the present,” Lawrence continued. “He said, ‘I want them to stop and take a moment and realize that you sometimes have to do things now, instead of later, because later may be twenty years from now and that’s too late.'”</p>
<p>Director Lee Daniels presented Mariah Carey with the Ally Award. Carey told the crowd she wanted to understand what “LGBTQ” stands for before attending the award show.</p>
<p>“I had to learn a whole new alphabet to introduce and not un-include people,” Carey said. “I don’t want to do it wrong. I decided that if I have to memorize it, I might as well elaborate on it. So we have L: legendary. G: gorgeous. B: beautiful — all of you beautiful people. T: tantalizing, and even Q for quality.”</p>
<p>“Thank you for the unconditional love. I thank you, and I wish all of you love, peace and harmony,” Carey continued.</p>
<p>Comedian Aziz Ansari also honored “Anderson Cooper 360” for its segment on U.S. Supreme Court plaintiff Jim Obergefell.</p>
<p>Other winners included Caitlyn Jenner and Diane Sawyer’s “Bruce Jenner: The Interview” on “20/20” for&#160;Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine, “Tangerine” for&#160; Outstanding Film – Limited Release and Cosmopolitan for&#160;Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">GLAAD Media Awards</a> <a href="" type="internal">Jennifer Lawrence</a> <a href="" type="internal">Laverne Cox</a> <a href="" type="internal">Lee Daniels</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mariah Carey</a> <a href="" type="internal">Robert De Niro</a></p> | GLAAD Media Awards honor Mariah Carey, Robert De Niro | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/05/16/glaad-media-awards-honor-mariah-carey-robert-de-niro/ | 3 |
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<p />
<p>See below for further reading and advanced hellraising on the articles in this issue:</p>
<p><a href="/news/feature/1995/01/blow.html" type="external">Dr. Dolphin</a> <a type="external" href="">by Rich Blow</a></p>
<p><a href="/news/feature/1995/01/schrader.html" type="external">A Giant Spraying Sound</a> <a type="external" href="">by Esther Schrader</a></p>
<p><a href="/news/feature/1995/01/dreyfuss.html" type="external">The CIA Crosses Over</a> <a type="external" href="">by Richard Dreyfuss</a></p>
<p><a href="/news/special_reports/1995/01/bernstein.html" type="external">Learning to Love</a> <a type="external" href="">by Nell Bernstein</a></p>
<p><a href="/news/feature/1995/01/speart.html" type="external">A Lust for Gold</a> <a type="external" href="">by Jessica Speart</a></p>
<p /> | Resources | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1995/01/resources/ | 2018-01-01 | 4 |
<p>Sergey Kisylak, the Russian ambassador, has been a fixture in the news lately as the Democrats have used his contacts with former national security advisor Mike Flynn and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to try and take them out. This raises the following question: who exactly is Kislyak?</p>
<p>Here are seven things you need to know about him.</p>
<p>1. Kislyak originally studied engineering. He is a graduate from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute as well as the Soviet Union's Academy of Foreign Trade before working for the Russian foreign ministry.</p>
<p>2. Kislyak has an extensive career working as a Russian diplomat. Here is a <a href="http://www.russianembassy.org/page/ambassador" type="external">timeline</a> of his various diplomatic positions leading up to his current role as Russian ambassador:</p>
<p>Employee of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation since 1977. 1981-1985 – Second Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the USSR to the UN in New York. 1985-1989 – First Secretary, Counselor of the Embassy of the USSR to the U.S. 1989-1991 – Deputy Director of the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. 1991-1993 – Deputy Director of the Department of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry of the USSR/Russia. 1993-1995 – Director of the Department of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry of Russia. 1995-1998 – Director of the Department of Security Affairs and Disarmament of the Foreign Ministry of Russia. 1998-2003 – Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of Belgium and, simultaneously, Permanent Representative of Russia to NATO in Brussels, Belgium 2003-2008 - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.</p>
<p>Kislyak has been the Russian ambassador to the United States since 2008; his focus is on arms control.</p>
<p>3. Kisylak has been rumored to be an intelligence recruiter. This what <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/03/02/what_we_know_about_sergey_kislyak_the_russian_diplomat_who_can_t_stop_meeting.html" type="external">U.S. intelligence has long suspected</a>, but the Russians have denied this and have mocked such suggestions as "American paranoia." Former U.S. ambassador Steven Pifer told the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/03/sergey-kislyak-russian-ambassador-profile-donald-trump" type="external">UK Guardian</a> those allegations are "pretty odd," but Alina Polyakova, the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center's deputy director, said that "it's certainly possible. During the Soviet days the embassy was known to serve that function."</p>
<p>4. As the Russian ambassador, Kisylak has consistently tried to establish a rapport with various people in Washington, D.C. Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/world/europe/sergey-kislyak-russian-ambassador.html" type="external">The New York Times</a> that he "was impressed by the way he [Kisylak] went about that kind of socializing, the way he went about entertaining, but always with a political objective" through the various dinners that Krisylak would host. McFaul has even <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/who-is-sergey-kislyak/" type="external">referred to Krisylak as</a> "a tremendous friend and colleague to me."</p>
<p>5. Kisylak has been a staunch defender of Russia and has at times attempted to undermine America's foreign policy. Kisylak's jovial and charismatic nature belies his constant defense of his country. He has criticized Barack Obama's presidential administration for "the revival of the Cold War mentality" as well as the notion of American exceptionalism.</p>
<p>"The difference between your exceptionalism and ours is that we are not trying to impose on you ours, but you do not hesitate to impose on us yours," Kisylak said at an event at Stanford. "That is something we do not appreciate."</p>
<p>Kisylak was responding to a question about the various errors Russia has made in recent years.</p>
<p>McFaul recalled to The New York Times that Kisylak "was actively pushing to try to find fissures and disagreements among us" when the Obama administration was holding negotiations with Russia on nuclear arms treaties. Krisylak was also a key figure in obtaining a deal that stopped the U.S. from removing Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad as well as gaining support from U.S. politicians for the Iran deal.</p>
<p>6. Kisylak seems to have been a frequent visitor to the Obama White House. According to <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/02/russian-ambassador-sergey-kislyak-appeared-as-obama-white-house-visitor-at-least-22-times/" type="external">The Daily Caller</a>, Kisylak is on the White House visitor logs "at least 22 times" to discuss topics such as trade, nuclear weapons and ISIS.</p>
<p>7. Kisylak has signaled that his tenure as the Russian ambassador to the U.S. may end soon. Per The New York Times, Kisylak has lamented that Washington, D.C. "has become lonely, and he has told associates that he is surprised how people who once sought his company were now trying to stay away." A "hard-line general" will likely succeed Kisylak, whose next destination could very well be Russia's ambassador to the United Nations.</p>
<p>This article has been modified to correct Sergey Kisylak's name.</p>
<p>Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter" type="external">@bandlersbanter</a>.</p> | 7 Things You Need To Know About The Russian Ambassador, Sergey Kislyak | true | https://dailywire.com/news/14071/7-things-you-need-know-about-russian-ambassador-aaron-bandler | 2017-03-03 | 0 |
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