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<p>FILE – In this Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014 file photo, recruiter Valera Kulow, left, speaks with job seeker Leonardo Vitiello during a career fair in Dallas. The Labor Department reports the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week on Thursday, June 5, 2014. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — Slightly more Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, but claims for jobless aid continue to be anchored near seven-year lows.</p>
<p>The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications for unemployment benefits rose 8,000 to a seasonally adjusted 312,000. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell to 310,250. That’s the lowest average since June 2007.</p>
<p>Applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the running average suggests employers are letting go of fewer workers. When businesses are confident enough to hold onto staff, they may also step up hiring. That is a positive sign ahead of May’s jobs report to be released Friday and indicates steady hiring in the months ahead.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The claims data suggest sustained better payrolls are in the pipeline,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics. Shepherdson added that the pace of hiring would quicken “sooner or later,” though he cautioned that a “blockbuster” increase in jobs last month was unlikely.</p>
<p>Fewer Americans are also receiving benefits. The number of recipients declined to 2.6 million, the lowest level since October 2007.</p>
<p>The decline in applications since the start of the year has been accompanied by solid job growth, despite an economy that struggled to grow during the winter.</p>
<p>The economy shrank at an annual rate of 1 percent during the first three months of 2014, primarily because freezing winter weather slowed factory output and consumer spending.</p>
<p>Still, the pace of hiring was steady and has accelerated this spring.</p>
<p>Employers added 288,000 jobs in April, the most in 2 ½ years, and the unemployment rate dropped to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent. But that steep decline mostly occurred because fewer people than usual began looking for work. The government doesn’t count people as unemployed unless they are actively searching.</p>
<p>In the first four months of this year, employers have added an average of 214,000 jobs a month, up from 194,000 last year.</p>
<p>The government issues its May jobs report on Friday. Economists expect 220,000 jobs were created in May, according to a FactSet survey. But payroll processer ADP said Wednesday that private employers pulled back on hiring in May, adding just 179,000 jobs.</p>
<p>Improved hiring should help boost economic growth for the rest of 2014. More jobs mean more people have paychecks to spend.</p> | Applications up slightly for US jobless aid | false | https://abqjournal.com/411087/applications-up-slightly-for-us-jobless-aid.html | 2 |
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<p>The “Letter to the Synod Fathers from Catholic Women,” coordinated by the Catholic Women’s Forum, brings to the public square the much-needed voice of Catholic women who support the Church’s teachings on sexuality, marriage, and family. The letter affirms that Catholic teachings promote women’s flourishing while serving to protect the poor and vulnerable. It also expresses solidarity with women in the developing world against the forces of “ideological colonization,” and urges an expanded role for women as messengers of the faith.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Click here</a> to read the letter and to add your name to the list of signatories.</p> | Letter to Synod Fathers from Catholic Women | false | https://eppc.org/publications/letter-to-synod-fathers-from-catholic-women/ | 1 |
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<p />
<p>It’s a brave new working world for recent college grads. Find out if entrepreneurship is a good option for you as we weigh the pros and cons.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>You’re a graduate. You have a framed document that says you’re qualified to work in your field. You could apply for jobs at established companies and small businesses. You’re different, though. You crave the excitement and control of entrepreneurship. You want to start a business.</p>
<p>We live in a world with an uncertain economy that’s driving people toward self-employment — particularly young grads who can’t find work. However, starting a business straight out of college comes with pros and cons. Here, we explore those and open up a conversation for graduating students thinking about business ownership.</p>
<p>Pro No. 1: You have the time (and energy!) to fully devote to a startup.</p>
<p>Most college students, when they graduate, have more time than their seasoned counterparts to devote to a newly formed business. This allows graduates to start and become immersed in a business without feeling adverse effects elsewhere in their lives (like with their spouse and kids, or at an existing job).</p>
<p>The long work days and lack of sleep also won’t have the same effect on someone who’s used to spending nights cramming for tests and writing long papers. The discipline you gained in school will carry through to your business.</p>
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<p>Also, the stakes often aren’t as high. Graduating students typically aren’t trying to pay off a mortgage or support a family, which means that the business revenue can stay in the business to help its growth.</p>
<p>Con No. 1: You may have a difficult time securing financing and business credit.</p>
<p>One of the most important aspects of starting up is securing financing in some form or another. Sometimes that comes via personal investment, other times through angel investors, and often it’s accomplished through a business line of credit. As a new graduate, you may have a harder time securing that financing if it involves an investor or lender.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, founder of <a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a>, had his best friend contribute $1,000 to help launch Facebook. According to “The Facebook Effect,” by David Kirkpatrick, Eduardo Saverin later contributed $20,000 more before Zuckerberg was able to secure a $500,000 investment from PayPal co-founder <a href="" type="internal">Peter Thiel</a>. Know what resources are available to temper the energy you put into your business idea.</p>
<p>Of course, you can start a business with little to no overhead. Online, service-based businesses tend to require little more than a website and Internet connection to run.</p>
<p>Pro No. 2: You aren’t yet jaded by many, many years spent inside a corporation.</p>
<p>For many potential entrepreneurs, years spent working for a corporation can lead to feeling jaded about business in general. This is usually because of all the red tape, which can make employees feel overly regulated or governed instead of open, able and creative.</p>
<p>New graduates often don’t carry the same baggage about business and instead feel excited, hopeful and anticipatory about their business ventures. They have the mindset of “anything is possible” and can take leaps of faith without worrying as much about hitting bottom.</p>
<p>Remember to carry that initial spark into the years that follow the launch of your business. That zest for success, and the fearlessness that accompanies launching ideas and putting big things out into the world, is something that can be tough to maintain for a long period of time.</p>
<p>Con No. 2: Starting a business means taking on roles you may not want.</p>
<p>When people think about owning their own business for the first time, they might picture working from home (or the beach), schmoozing with other business owners, and cash flowing in to help pay the bills. Unfortunately, that’s usually not realistic — at least, not for a long while.</p>
<p>Becoming a business owner means you’re not only the leader of the company, but you’re also the sales team, the marketing department, the billing and collections department, and the receptionist. Essentially, you become every aspect of the business until the business can start hiring.</p>
<p>Before you start up, ask yourself if stepping into each of those roles is appealing and if the benefits of owning the business outweigh having to do those tasks for an undetermined amount of time.</p>
<p>Pro No. 3: Starting a company will provide you with amazing life and business experience.</p>
<p>Even if your business doesn’t survive, launching a company is an amazing experience that will bolster your resume. You can’t understand the blood, sweat and tears that go into building a company until you’ve actually built one — and you can’t understand the value of a customer until you see how difficult it can be to acquire one.</p>
<p>Business ownership will also teach you more about yourself, and other people, than any psychology course ever could. It forces you to truly examine how people think and what the motivations are behind the actions they take. Regardless of where you go in your life and career, that is powerful information to learn.</p>
<p>Con No. 3: 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first five years.</p>
<p>Starting a business doesn’t equal instant success. It’s going to take some time before the business starts earning revenue and you can bring home a paycheck. Even if the business starts off strong, there are no guarantees of its future success. When you consider the statistic that nine out of 10 businesses fail in the first five years, you can see why it isn’t exactly a “safety net.”</p>
<p>Even though that statistic might be sobering, you also need to be fearless if you decide to start a business. Avoiding the fear of failure, which can be paralyzing, will help you keep your eye on success so that thoughts of failing don’t slow you down.</p>
<p>Resources for young entrepreneurs</p>
<p>If you do decide to start a business after college, here are several amazing resources for young entrepreneurs:</p>
<p>- <a href="http://theyec.org/" type="external">Young Entrepreneur Council Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>- <a href="http://under30ceo.com/" type="external">Under30CEO Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>- <a href="http://www.retireat21.com/" type="external">Retire@21 Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>- <a href="http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/" type="external">YoungEntrepreneur.com Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Erin Blaskie started her first company at the age of 21. Today, her firm BSETC supports hundreds of businesses around the globe with their Web and graphic design, social media, Internet marketing and administration. Erin is also an active blogger and the author of “How to Become a Passive Revenue Powerhouse.” Follow her on <a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a>: @ErinBlaskie</p> | Starting Up Right Out of College | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/11/02/starting-up-right-out-college.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
<p>&#160; As is often the case, John Stewart, in making a joke on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” managed to capture the truth that the news media are missing.</p>
<p>In this case it was an interview with Senator John McCain (R-AZ). While Sen. McCain, now a staunch Bush backer, was talking about steps the government was allegedly taking to protect the homeland, Stewart interjected, “How much safer can we afford to be, Senator?”</p>
<p>In fact, the reality seems to be that for five years since the 9-11 attacks, the Bush administration has been putting the U.S. increasingly at risk.</p>
<p>The attack on Al Qaeda, which morphed into a full-scale war of “regime change” in the country of Afghanistan, and which ended up dropping its purported raison d’etre–the capture or killing of Osama bin Ladin–was a fraud and a sideshow from the outset. The country was ravaged by aerial attacks, and then the same warlords who had been pillaging and terrorizing that country for years, and running a massive opium operation, were left in power or even aided in assuming power. Bin Ladin was allowed to escape, and the ousted Taliban organization was allowed to reorganize and rebuild its forces.</p>
<p>The invasion of Iraq, on manifestly false grounds, has destroyed a country and left it exactly the kind of “failed state” that Afghanistan was said to have been in 2001–a lawless and violent region open to all kinds of terrorist activities that can be directed against the U.S. and against Americans.</p>
<p>The blank check and unlimited provision of weapons of war, including cluster bombs and phosphorus bombs, by the U.S. to Israel in its ruthless, bloody invasion of Lebanon, has linked America and Americans to the criminal slaughter of hundreds of innocent Lebanese, including children and babies, as has the Bush administration’s obstruction of efforts to engineer a cease-fire in that conflict.</p>
<p>Indeed, Bush foreign policy seems over this period to have been calculated to alienate as many countries and people as possible. It is a policy characterized by supreme arrogance, a focus on military activity over negotiation, and support of dictators large and small, while at the same time conducting what from the start was characterized as a “crusade” against Islam.</p>
<p>At home, the strategy has been to bankrupt local communities by cutting federal support for everything from police and fire departments to roads and schools, while failing to fund the most basic elements of national defense–port facilities, airports–and refusing to insist on safety reforms at vulnerable facilities like refineries and chemical plants. (The National Guard, which was conceived and established as a kind of lineal descendant of the colonial era militias, has been shipped off to fight in Iraq, leaving the country largely undefended, whether against natural disaster or foreign attack.)</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the public and Congress-and especially a congenitally spineless Democratic “opposition”–have been cowed into frightened silence by the administration’s initiation of what it calls a “war on terror,” a permanent state of “war” that it has used as a justification for canceling or weakening traditional Constitutionally protected liberties and rights, and for intimidating would-be political opponents from speaking out, for fear of their being called unpatriotic or even treasonous. The American public, uniquely united after 9-11, has been sharply divided into bitter warring camps–those who support the administration and its many wars, and those who oppose it.</p>
<p>If some diabolical anti-American mastermind had been trying, behind the scenes, to destroy this nation by secretly installing in the White House and Pentagon agents who would deliberately sink the ship of state, he or she couldn’t have come up with a subversive wrecking crew more adept at the job than the Bush administration. The nation is being bankrupted by tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy and by a pointless, and endless trillion-dollar war. At the same time blood enemies are being produced with every bomb dropped, every innocent victim kidnapped and locked away in America’s gulag, every child shot at a roadblock.</p>
<p>Clearly, though, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice et al, are not the secret agents of some malevolent foreign enemy of America. Nor is their vile reign of terror around the globe and their gutting of the Constitution here at home, simply a matter of stupid policy-making. They are, rather, home-grown enemies of American democracy, bent on subverting the country to their own ends of unbridled power.</p>
<p>Their goal in all this is not the stated one of “spreading democracy” at the point of a gun–a clearly ridiculous notion in any case. Rather, the goal is destroying democracy here at home, in order to establish a one-party dictatorship.</p>
<p>From this perspective, it is clear that far from trying to “protect the homeland,” the Bush administration is happy to weaken American defenses, as it has been doing, and to manufacture enemies–whether states like Iran and Syria, or stateless organizations like Al Qaeda and Hezzbolah. The more the better. Far from trying to prevent another 9-11, one senses that this administration would like nothing better than for there to be another strike against Americans before the coming congressional elections–a second “new Pearl Harbor” as it were–to justify a full-scale crackdown on dissent, opposition, and independent thought.</p>
<p>George Orwell long ago imagined a world deliberately kept in a perpetual state of war, where the citizenry would accept totalitarian rule in the name of patriotism and security. We are now entering such a state. The yellow “support the troops” ribbons mindlessly pasted on the trunks and rear doors of half the cars, vans and SUVs in America are testimony to a sheep-like acceptance of the official administration line that war is good and in America’s interest. I saw one such ribbon today that was particularly credulous. It read: “Remember 9-11. Support our Troops.” This despite the fact that our troops are not fighting anyone who remotely had anything to do with 9-11.</p>
<p>We are not far from that Orwellian condition.</p>
<p>The answer to John Stewart’s question is clear: We can’t afford to be any “safer.”</p>
<p>Barbara Olshansky and DAVE LINDORFF will be doing a taped event on their book “The Case for Impeachment” at Robin’s Books in Philadelphia Wednesday, Aug. 2 at 7 pm, which will be broadcast during August and September on C-Span’s Books TV program.</p>
<p>DAVE LINDORFF is the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512283/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal</a>. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled “ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512984/counterpunchmaga" type="external">This Can’t be Happening!</a>” is published by Common Courage Press. Lindorff’s new book is “ <a href="" type="internal">The Case for Impeachment</a>“, co-authored by Barbara Olshansky.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a> &#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Making America Safe … for Dictatorship | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/08/01/making-america-safe-for-dictatorship/ | 2006-08-01 | 4 |
<p>It’s Mueller Monday and the breaking news about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump’s crime family has just broken new ground. The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/us/politics/fbi-raids-office-of-trumps-longtime-lawyer-michael-cohen.html" type="external">New York Times reported</a> earlier that the FBI raided the home, office, and hotel room of Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen. This can only be viewed as a serious escalation of the legal jeopardy that Trump faces. So naturally, he is lashing out with wild accusations against the law enforcement agencies that are performing their duties to protect the public welfare.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2104511826230268" type="external" /></p>
<p>In his response, Trump made some familiar criticisms that have been the core of his past whining about being the subject of this investigation. In a brief press availability during a national security meeting, Trump said:</p>
<p>These lame and tedious complaints do nothing to counter the devastating news of this raid. Nor do they advance any argument that it was improper or help him to establish innocence. We have heard it all before and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/most-americans-believe-trump-trying-to-obstruct-russia-probe-poll-finds" type="external">majorities of the American people don’t believe him</a>.</p>
<p>Of note is his assertion that this is an attack on our country. Um…No it isn’t. This is all about Trump’s sleazy and likely illegal behavior and that of his associates. Calling the special counsel’s office “conflicted” has always been ludicrous. Mueller is a life-long Republican, as is is boss at the Department of Justice, Rod Rosenstein (who Trump appointed). And no one should be surprised by Trump’s interjection of “whataboutism” with his left field swipe at Hillary Clinton, who has been investigated ad infinitum with no hint of wrongdoing being discovered.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most ominous part of Trump’s remarks refers to the possible firing of Mueller. Trump has said in the past that he is not even considering such a thing. Now he says that “we’ll see what happens.” That’s a sharp u-turn in the direction of terminating the special counsel or Rosenstein. And if that happens, rest assured that the rest of his house of cards will quickly tumble down.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p>
<p /> | ‘WITCH HUNT’: Donald Trump Responds to the FBI Raid of His Attorney Michael Cohen (Video) | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D29757 | 4 |
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<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday afternoon's drawing of the North Carolina Lottery's "Pick 4 Day" game were:</p>
<p>6-7-5-9, Lucky Sum: 27</p>
<p>(six, seven, five, nine; Lucky Sum: twenty-seven)</p>
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday afternoon's drawing of the North Carolina Lottery's "Pick 4 Day" game were:</p>
<p>6-7-5-9, Lucky Sum: 27</p>
<p>(six, seven, five, nine; Lucky Sum: twenty-seven)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 4 Day' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/83fed845fded40569103b9266a3ea5cc | 2018-01-21 | 2 |
<p>Some things just have to be seen to be believed – and even then it’s not always believable. Other times it takes too strong a stomach to even sit through the unbelievable thing. Sean Hannity of Fox News has generously provided examples of all of the above.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2079972622017522" type="external" /></p>
<p>On Monday morning Hannity visited his colleagues at Fox and Friends to unload a pile defenses for his beleaguered Messiah, Donald Trump. The world around the President must seem to be falling apart as new revelations concerning his unsavory connections to Russia keep spilling out. Trump himself is in pure panic mode and is posting tweets that affirm his guilty conscience. So he is in dire need of a valiant defender to come to his aid. Unfortunately, all he has is the Doofus Squad on Fox and Friends and Sean Hannity.</p>
<p>Hannity’s segment with the “Curvy Couch” potatoes went off the rails from the start. What follows is his run-on, addled-brain meltdown just as it occurred on the air. Buckle in (video below):</p>
<p>“You’ve got the whole issue of Christopher Steele. You know, all this talk about Trump/Russia collusion, the only person that colluded in that campaign with the Russians, was Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton bought and paid for what turned out to be Russian lies. She fixes a primary election against Bernie. Then Hillary has a criminal investigation fixed for her. She tries to use Russian lies she pays for and funnels through Perkins Coie to Fusion GPS to hire a British foreign outsider who uses Russian contacts. Then the worst part of this whole story is then that unverified uncorroborated dossier is then brought before a FISA court when a FISA application, and three subsequent renewal applications to spy on a campaign associate and ostensibly the Trump campaign. Nobody told that judge, or any of those four judges, how it’s possible that Hillary paid for that. They never told them.”</p>
<p>And inhale. Before anyone hurts themselves trying to absorb that, here is a brief summary: Hillary Clinton bought a dossier on Trump that was mean.</p>
<p>That’s really all there is to it. Hannity just repeated the same issues with different words for two minutes. And none of it was true. Neither Clinton nor her campaign colluded with Russians. They did partially fund research that was started by the right-wing Free Beacon. And the firm that conducted the research hired a respected former British intelligence professional to collect information from Russian sources.</p>
<p>And what Hannity calls “the worst part of this whole story” was a blatant lie. Much, but not all, of the Steele dossier was verified. None of of it was found to be false. The FISA court was, in fact, told that the dossier was partially funded by political partisans. Even Devin Nunes, who chaired the hopelessly biased Intelligence Committee inquiry, admitted that in his Republican report. And it was not the sole – or even main – justification for the FISA warrant. What’s more, Hannity proves that he doesn’t understand the FISA application process. The renewals are required every ninety days and may not use justifications that were cited in previous applications. So the dossier could only have been used once, not four times.</p>
<p>Sadly, the people who watch Hannity and Fox and Friends will never be told about these factual details. They will only hear the rapid-fire allegations that they can’t logically follow, and the fear in Hannity’s voice. And that will be enough for them to be certain that these crackpot conspiracy theories are true. After all, the glassy-eyed disciples of Trump are no more sane than Hannity is.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p>
<p /> | Sean Hannity Lost What Was Left of His Alleged Mind in Bonkers Fox and Friends Spot | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D30207 | 4 |
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<p>A Boeing 727 <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/07/09/3265333.htm" type="external">passenger jet crashed into jungle</a> in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday, killing 127 people on board, officials said.</p>
<p>The transport ministry said 51 people survived the accident which occurred during heavy rain as the aircraft came in to land at the eastern port town of Kisangani, according to Reuters.</p>
<p>But executives from Hewa Bora airline said only 53 people were killed and 57 survived.</p>
<p>"The pilot tried to land but apparently they didn't touch the runway," chief executive Stavros Papaioannou told Reuters.</p>
<p>He added that only 110 people were on board the plane - one of only two 727s the airline operates - when it plunged into the forest some 200 meters (yards) from the runway.</p>
<p>Transport ministry spokesman Gudile Bualya accused the airline - which is banned from European Union airspace for safety reasons - of downplaying the true death toll.</p>
<p>Government spokesman Lambert Mende told AP that <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5htzkCKH6oLJZNld1x4bimFloB9RA?docId=adf03d6d4d40422a82bc0c59210b3e32" type="external">thunder was to blame</a> for the crash.</p>
<p>"It was due to the thunder," he said, adding that around 50 people had been killed.</p>
<p>The higher official toll would bring the number of people killed in three Hewa Bora (which means "fresh air" in Swahili) crashes since 2008 to more than 180.</p>
<p>Road and rail travel is difficult in the massive African country, making air travel essential for many journeys.</p>
<p>Nevertheless the country has one of the worst air safety records in the world.</p> | DR Congo plane crash kills 127 people | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-07-09/dr-congo-plane-crash-kills-127-people | 2011-07-09 | 3 |
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<p>Wow. I love us.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.wafb.com/clip/12660346/woman-rescued-from-sinking-convertible" type="external">Via WAFB.</a></p>
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<p>Reuters: <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-weather-floods-idUSKCN10N2D4" type="external">"Unprecedented" flooding slams U.S. Gulf Coast; at least three dead</a></p>
<p>Torrential rainfall along the U.S. Gulf Coast has caused "unprecedented" flooding in parts of Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards said on Saturday, while claiming at least three lives.</p>
<p>The National Weather Service issued flood watches for parts of southeastern Texas through Sunday evening and extended its flash flood warning further west in Louisiana until Sunday morning, according to NWS meteorologist Andrew Tingler.</p>
<p>Forecasters also maintained a flash flood watch and flood warnings for eastern regions of Louisiana, including the state capital of Baton Rouge, Tingler said.</p>
<p>More than 20 inches (51 cm) of rain had inundated parts of Louisiana by late Saturday, with another several inches expected on Sunday in some locations, he said.</p>
<p>"The heavy rainfall is not going to be as widespread as it has been over the last day or two," said Tingler.</p>
<p>Edwards, who has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, said on Saturday that emergency workers had to rescue more than 1,000 people from homes, cars and trees as rivers in the southern part of the state spilled over.</p>
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<p /> | true | http://tammybruce.com/2016/08/amazing-video-hero-rescues-a-woman-her-dog-from-louisiana-floodwaters.html | 0 |
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<p>A look at the AP Municipal Bond Index for Wednesday, Nov. 8:</p>
<p>BIGGEST MOVER: 30-year bonds. Yield decreased 13 basis points over the last week to 2.75 percent.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>TWO-YEAR: Yield dropped less than a basis point to 1.21 percent. The two-year/10-year spread is 102 basis points, down from 114 basis points a week ago. The two-year/30-year spread is 153 basis points, down from 169 basis points a week ago.</p>
<p>10-YEAR: Yield decreased 1 basis point to 2.23 percent, compared with 2.32 percent for a 10-year Treasury. The gap between 10-year municipal bonds and Treasurys has been widening over the last week. It was 4 basis points on Nov. 1. The 10-year/30-year spread for municipal bonds is 52 basis points.</p>
<p>30-YEAR: Yield dropped by 3 basis points to 2.75 percent, compared with 2.79 percent for a 30-year Treasury.</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>AP created this story using data from Municipal Bond Information Services and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Learn more about the AP Municipal Bond Index at http://mbis.com/</p> | Muni bond Wednesday update: 10-year yield decreases | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/09/muni-bond-wednesday-update-10-year-yield-decreases.html | 2017-11-09 | 0 |
<p>The barrage of late, regarding reproductive legislation shouldn’t be viewed as an assault only on women, but an attempt to curtail and contain the entire population, men included. It’s a broad, scorched earth policy that won’t end with this patchwork of bills.</p>
<p>They hate us for our freedom, and I’m not talking about the “terrorists”.</p>
<p>To be clear in this, I would say that one could be sympathetic in the past with those anti-abortion individuals who seemed sincere in their belief that it was wrong, even if you disagreed with them.&#160;But here’s the thing- those beliefs never seemed to be combined with a desire to provide easily accessible birth control or even an acceptance of a sexuality that didn’t not result in procreation. The more recent assaults further flesh out their worldview. They are going after not just abortion, but the very funding that prevents unwanted pregnancies. It’s an ownership ethos that is punishing and immovable. Those with these ideas seem to feel something of a punitive pull- another may be less restrained in some manner, and they can’t abide that- I’m not free they exude, and in something of a hazing mentality, want others to go through what they did, and be just as miserable. It goes beyond sexuality and broaches the very limits of what we call free will.</p>
<p>It’s not really a shocking development when you consider that we are all considered simple consumers by most in power. Ownership and boundary issues stem from that, and can become cherished topics of the authoritarians. The bodies of women are simply easy pickings. You are pretty freaking vulnerable waddling around at 8 ½ months, and forcing that upon the many is a magnificent control method. It has morphed into something beyond abortion, into private sexual behavior- an area the “anti-government” types can’t seem to get enough of.</p>
<p>Freedom of any kind is feared. Any hint of anarchism (and I’m talking about the lack of external controllers on individual freedom-not the more skewed and corrupted notion of that word) is terrifying to those in power. I suspect that this was the main reason for some of the brutal Occupy take-downs. Sure, they didn’t want wealth disparity being discussed, but I think they also feared a model of concern for communal well-being. That goes against the constraints that cause us all to stand in line for the latest hideous cubicle job, and step on each other to get it.</p>
<p>The inconvenient fact that the US government was built on a notion of the separation of church and state is not a concern to these types, either. They can’t fathom that they would ever not be in power- that their own rights could truly be at risk. This exposes the hypocrisy of their constant bellowing out as victims. If they really perceived their station as such, they might push for protective measures against the will of a tyrannical group being thrust upon others. It’s an amazing unstated assertion that they have no true fear of anyone else ever really being in control- the railing against Muslims/Buddhist/Atheists/Others is pure theater. And the true believers seem to be carrying water for those who just want the populace under control- they benefit from that arrangement, and will never have to live under the same rules. They know their wealth and power would preclude that. I suspect they enjoy the show.</p>
<p>This control can force men to stay at awful jobs to support the family, just as it can do to the woman. You are certainly not likely to become an activist during dangerous times if you fear for the survival of your children. And having kids sometimes ties individuals into a lifestyle they would otherwise not choose. This is not to say that children are entirely punitive! But it’s a statement of fact that upon having children, most do become a more malleable and frightened follower of social morays. And it’s one thing to enter into this voluntarily, but quite another to be pushed into it.</p>
<p>Author Daniel Quinn had a term: “erratic retaliation”. He posited that unpredictable responses from certain individuals or groups could illicit better behavior, overall. You would have to consider that someone might react in an unpredictable manner to your own overarching behavior. I would term individuals who quit easily over labor abuses to be “erratic retaliators”. This sort of thing can make an employer more cautious when they consider extending future unreasonable requests on their employees. High unemployment serves in the same manner, as do the chains of student loan debt. Give folks few options and many mouths to feed, and they will not retaliate in any manner. And I’m speaking, of course, about those who respond in a clean and decisive manner that they will not tolerate abuses- not full blown psychotic episodes that hurt others, such as going postal. We seem to still have those capacities sadly intact in some of our population. That’s just the flailing out of angst with no redeemable quality behind it.</p>
<p>I would extend that this being termed “a war on women” is not entirely accurate. It’s really a war on the very nature of freedom and the ability to use your life as you see fit- for men and women. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security if you lack a uterus. The women will, of course, suffer more in all of this, but make no mistake that this is just another method to own and control those of us they see as nothing but cogs in the enormous machine. And that machine churns out endless growth and gluttony for the few.</p>
<p>As it is with most things, there is a broadness that encompasses and swallows everyone in the interconnectedness- the diminished humanity and loss of freedom will not observe boundaries.</p>
<p>Kathleen Peine&#160;writes out of the US Midwest and can be contacted at&#160; <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p> | They Hate Us for Our (Reproductive) Freedom | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/03/23/they-hate-us-for-our-reproductive-freedom/ | 2012-03-23 | 4 |
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<p>One of Tesla Motors' (NASDAQ: TSLA) biggest selling points for its all-electric vehicles is the company's expansive network of the world's fastest charging stations. These charging stations, which blanket most major highways across the U.S., Western Europe, China, and Japan, among other places, can charge a Tesla vehicle with up to 170 miles of range in as little as 30 minutes. Best of all, anyone who buys a Tesla today gets free, lifetime access to the network for use while traveling long distance. But this is about to change, Tesla announced Monday morning.</p>
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<p>Tesla Supercharger. Image source: The Motley Fool.</p>
<p>It was inevitable. At some point, Tesla would start requiring some customers to pay a fee for its Superchargers.</p>
<p>Sure, Tesla has promised current owners lifetime access to the network for long-distance travel -- and Tesla still plans to fulfill this promise. But as the company's annual vehicle sales continue to skyrocket, it was becoming increasingly clear that free charging simply wouldn't be sustainable -- especially ahead of the company's plans to increase annual production from an estimated 80,000 vehicles this year to about 500,000 in 2018.</p>
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<p>Tesla CEO Elon Musk began hinting of plans to monetize the network earlier this year, shortly after the company unveiled the design of its lower-cost Model 3.</p>
<p>"The obvious thing to do is decouple that from the cost of the Model 3," Musk said in May during the company's annual shareholder meeting. "I wish we could [make Model 3 Supercharging free], but in order to achieve the economics, it has to be something like that."</p>
<p>And speculation surrounding Tesla's plans to monetize the network gained more traction in August when HTML code discovered on Tesla's website <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/08/30/tesla-motors-inc-may-adopt-pay-per-use-model-for-m.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">previewed Opens a New Window.</a> a payment option for Model 3 Supercharging.</p>
<p>Model 3. Image source: Tesla Motors.</p>
<p>But the official plan for monetizing the network is finally beginning to surface. Here's what Tesla has said about its plan for Supercharger economics so far: "For Teslas ordered after January 1, 2017, 400 kWh of free Supercharging credits (roughly 1,000miles) will be included annually so that all owners can continue to enjoy free Supercharging during travel. Beyond that, there will be a small fee to Supercharge which will be charged incrementally and cost less than the price of filling up a comparable gas car."</p>
<p>Furthermore, "Prices may fluctuate over time and vary regionally based on the cost of electricity," Tesla said.</p>
<p>These changes, Tesla confirmed, will not impact current owners. Additionally, anyone who orders a Tesla before Jan. 1, 2017, and takes delivery before April 1, 2017, will still get free, lifetime access to the Supercharger network for long-distance travel.</p>
<p>Tesla will "release the details of the program later this year," the company said.</p>
<p>Importantly, Tesla believes monetizing its charging network will enable the company to double down on the network's expansion.</p>
<p>The change in the economics of Supercharging, Tesla asserted, "allows us to reinvest in the network, accelerate its growth and bring all owners, current and future, the best Supercharging experience."</p>
<p>U.S. Supercharger network. Image source: Tesla Motors.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the network's monetization will enable the company to "greatly expand our Supercharger Network," Tesla said.</p>
<p>At its Model 3 unveiling earlier this year, Musk said the company planned to double its Supercharger stations around the world by the end of 2017. With about 3,608 Supercharger stations at the time of the unveiling, this would put total Supercharger stations at about 7,200 by the end of next year. Today, Tesla has 4,605 Superchargers.</p>
<p>To aid in its aggressive expansion efforts, Tesla vowed the Supercharger network "will never be a profit center."</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2691&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDanielSparks/info.aspx" type="external">Daniel Sparks Opens a New Window.</a> 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=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Tesla Motors, Inc. to Bid Farewell to Free Supercharging Next Year | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/07/tesla-motors-inc-to-bid-farewell-to-free-supercharging-next-year.html | 2016-11-07 | 0 |
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<p>DETROIT — Unemployment is down, consumer confidence is up, and gas prices and interest rates are still low.</p>
<p>Even so, U.S. auto sales fell 3 percent last month.</p>
<p>It was the sixth straight monthly decline as sales dropped off last year’s record pace. For the first six months, car and truck sales fell 2.1 percent, the first such decrease since the financial crisis in 2009.</p>
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<p>But auto executives and industry analysts say it’s no cause for panic. Sales are still strong and aren’t expected to plunge anytime soon. Plus, buyers are still loading out trucks and SUVs with high-priced options, and that’s likely to boost earnings, at least in Detroit.</p>
<p>Sales are falling largely because people who delayed car and truck purchases in the years since the Great Recession have bought new ones, says Jessica Caldwell, executive director of analysis for Edmunds.com. “We’re kind of at the point where we don’t have a boost from that,” she says.</p>
<p>Also, auto companies are cutting lease deals as used-car values fall, curtailing another incentive to buy. And people with lower credit scores are feeling the pinch from lenders tightening standards a bit, sending many into the used car market, Caldwell says.</p>
<p>In June, Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Hyundai all reported sales drops. Fiat Chrysler sales were down 7.4 percent, while Ford said its sales declined 5 percent. GM was off 4.8 percent and Korean automaker Hyundai posted a hefty 19.3 percent decrease. Nissan, Toyota and Honda each reported small increases on Monday, but they weren’t large enough to offset declines in Detroit. Volkswagen brand sales rose 15 percent over depressed numbers from last June.</p>
<p>Autotrader senior analyst Michelle Krebs says the small first-half dip is not an indication of broader economic troubles. She doesn’t expect a big recovery in the second half of the year, but also doesn’t see a huge decline, predicting full-year sales from between 16.8 million to 17.3 million. That’s still below last year’s record of 17.55 million.</p>
<p>“We think the second half could be a little bit stronger than the first half was,” says Krebs, who expects 2016 still to be the fifth-best year on record. “We don’t see any imbalances that suggest anything is going to collapse.”</p>
<p>U.S. buyers continued a trend they’ve been following for years, purchasing SUVs and trucks and shunning cars. Car sales fell 13 percent in June while trucks and SUVs rose 4 percent, according to Autodata Corp. Trucks and SUVs accounted for 63 percent of sales last month. Just five years ago they were less than half.</p>
<p>Sales of Toyota’s Camry, normally the top-selling non-pickup truck in the U.S., fell nearly 10 percent. But Ford’s F-Series pickup, the top-selling vehicle in America, rose nearly 10 percent.</p>
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<p>Slowing car sales are good for consumers who are looking to buy a car, says Caldwell. Dealer inventories are growing before production cuts take effect and discounts are rising, so now is the time to buy.</p>
<p>Even with the sales decline, auto prices remain high, according to J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. The average vehicle sold for $31,720 in June, a record for the month, surpassing the old record of $31,073 set last year. But some automakers are having to raise discounts and sell more vehicles to rental car companies to keep their sales numbers up. The average incentive spend per vehicle in June was $3,661 in June, also a record for the month. Even spending on trucks and SUVs is up about $350 from last year, J.D. Power and LMC estimated.</p>
<p>The general manager of the Honda division in the U.S., Jeff Conrad, conceded that the competition is stiff. He said Honda posted an increase “against a sea of competitors clinging to market share via heavy incentives and fleet sales.”</p>
<p>The shift toward cars is good news for companies that rely heavily on pickup trucks and SUVs such as Ford, GM and Fiat Chrysler.</p>
<p>Mark LaNeve, Ford’s vice president of sales, said even though Ford’s retail sales to individual customers were down 1 percent in the first half of the year, its revenue will be up because of strong sales of loaded-out pickup trucks.</p>
<p>The shift won’t be such good news for brands like Hyundai, which is heavily dependent on car sales. Sales of Hyundai’s Elantra compact car, normally among the brand’s top-selling vehicles, fell more than 40 percent to just over 13,000. A year ago, Hyundai set a sales record for the month of June.</p> | Auto sales fall 6 straight months, stay near record levels | false | https://abqjournal.com/1027315/gm-ford-us-sales-down-but-japanese-automakers-report-gains.html | 2017-07-03 | 2 |
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<p>HOOPS COACH SOUGHT: The girls program at Española Valley is once again looking for a head girls basketball coach. Citing family and job obligations, Ray Romero resigned, becoming the third Sundevil coach to leave the program in the past two years. He went 22-8 last season and guided Española to the Class 4A quarterfinals.</p>
<p>DANCE</p>
<p>RIBBON WINNERS: Three West Las Vegas dance team members were recognized for their knowledge of routines, leadership abilities and technique at a Leadership Camp in Albuquerque. Ashlyn Wagoner earned a blue ribbon for a superior performance and Kayla Bustos and Marina Duran both snagged red ribbons for excellent performance.</p>
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<p>GOLF</p>
<p>AMATEURS TEE OFF: The putting and driving skills of six northern New Mexico golfers will be put the test this weekend after they were selected to be among the top 60 amateur golfers in the New Mexico-west Texas region.</p>
<p>Santa Feans Richard Alarid, Ben Albin, Miguel Macias and Marty Sanchez will join Justin Aragon of Las Vegas and Ted Ball of Los Alamos in the 38th New Mexico-West-Texas Amateur Championship today through Sunday in Albuquerque. The event will be played at The Canyon Club at Four Hills. Previous winners include such notable area golfers Tommy Armour III, Rich Beem and D.J. Brigman, all of whom went on to play on the PGA Tour.</p>
<p>3 THINGS TO SEE OR DO THIS WEEKEND</p>
<p>VOLLEYBALL: The West Las Vegas High School team has two upcoming fundraisimg events, beginning with a high school and adult co-ed tournament Saturday at Highlands University Gym. The event begins with pool play at 9 a.m. A coaches’ meeting is sheduled at 8:30 a.m. Monday, high school teams are invited to West Las Vegas for a tournament that begins at 5 p.m., following the coaches’ meeting at 4:30 p.m. For information on either event, or to register, call coach Karli Andrea Salazar at 505-927-6914.</p>
<p>ARCHERY: Hitting the bull’s-eye will be the goal of the competitors taking aim Saturday and Sunday in the Sandoval 3D Shootout at the Valles Caldera National Preserve. A Family Fun Shoot takes place Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by a 30-target 3D competition Sunday, with registration from 7-9 a.m. A long-shoot competition also is planned. For more information, call 1-800-678-1802.</p>
<p>BICYCLING: The sound of music will fill the air Saturday as Taos Ski Valley will be celebrating the opening of its bike park with a DJ from 1-3 p.m. and the Latin-music band Radio La Chusma performing free from 3-6 p.m.</p>
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<p /> | Week in Review: A look back at the top sports stories in northern New Mexico | false | https://abqjournal.com/421423/week-in-review-a-look-back-at-the-top-sports-stories-in-northern-new-mexico-14.html | 2 |
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<p>Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MI) on how Congress plans to avoid a government shutdown.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on Wednesday on a bill to fund the federal government through Dec. 22, the head of the House Rules Committee told reporters on Tuesday.</p>
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<p>The panel's Republican chairman, U.S. Representative Pete Sessions, said his committee would review the short-term spending measure at a hearing due to begin later on Tuesday and that the full chamber would vote on it on Wednesday.</p>
<p>(Reporting by David Morgan; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)</p> | US House to vote Wednesday on bill to fund gov't through Dec. 22 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/12/05/us-house-to-vote-wednesday-on-bill-to-fund-govt-through-dec-22.html | 2017-12-05 | 0 |
<p>“I’m not calling for a coup d’etat, but go talk to your leaders and tell them you do not accept what is happening in Gaza”.</p>
<p>— Hezbollah Sec-Gen Hasan Nasrallah calling for Egyptians “in millions” to demonstrate their support for opening the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt, 28 December 2008</p>
<p>Giggling like smitten teenagers, exchanging Channakah and Eid greetings (neither acknowledges the more Shi’a associated Ashoura) Hosni Mubarak and Tzipi Livni ‘hooked up’ this past week in Cairo to discuss Gaza.</p>
<p>Both spoke of their desire to see Corporal Shalit returned safely. Both knew Israel’s former Mossad operative, current Foreign Minister, and Prime Minister wannabe had a permission slip from the Bush Administration for all-out war against the Palestinians in the 25 by 6 mile territorial snippet along the Eastern Mediterranean. &#160;When the correct photo-op was selected for public distribution, it showed a concerned and dour Egyptian President brooding with arching brow.</p>
<p>The duo focused on ‘diplomatic logistics and cover’ and the urgency to crush Hamas.&#160; They appeared&#160; oblivious to all who happened to be in the vicinity&#160; of American rockets and&#160; bombs or institutions leveled by waves of&#160; F-16 fighter jets and missiles kept in ready use from the $ 200 million worth of spare parts supplied by US taxpayers from 200l-2006,&#160; as well as&#160; 186 million gallons of JP-8 aviation jet fuel , and thousands of TOW, Hellfire and “bunker buster” bombs and missiles, freed up for delivery to Israel&#160; last year&#160; when the Bush administration signed a $ 1.3 billion contract with Raytheon.</p>
<p>What was not on the agenda was what both knew but ignored. &#160;The fate of 1.5 million people, one of the highest population densities in the world with nearly 60 per cent of its population 16 years or younger and nearly 75 per cent of whom are malnourished, and according to one recent estimate by the World Health Organization, 46 per cent of whom are afflicted with acute anemia, with 30 per cent suffering from stunted growth as a result of chronic malnutrition and who would need an escape via Rafah.</p>
<p>One wonders if the dynamic duo discussed the fact that 10 per cent of these children have permanent brain damage or that eighty-two per cent are afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder; the great majority of them having witnessed death first-hand or that more than eighty per cent of the population as a whole is dependent on food aid? Were Mubrak and Livni aware of reports that the sonic booms associated with Israeli overflights have caused widespread deafness, especially among children?</p>
<p>The UN and eyewitnesses such as members of the Free Gaza Project report that unemployment is rampant – upwards of 60 per cent with most Gazans subsisting on less than $2 a day.</p>
<p>Shooting fish in a barrel</p>
<p>Even a cursory examination of the events which began on December 27, 2008 require that Mohammad Hosni Mubarak be added as an accomplice to the pending International Criminal Court (ICC) case concerning international crimes being committed by Israel with American weapons.</p>
<p>HOKOK, the Beirut- and Washington DC-based International Coalition against Impunity, which filed a case against Israeli political leaders regarding Israeli crimes committed in Gaza with the International Criminal Court at The Hague on December 10, 2008, will send international lawyers back to the ICC on January 15, 2009, to amend its complaint under the Rome Statute and indict Egypt’s Mubarak among the Defendants.</p>
<p>To his great credit, Professor Richard Falk, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories and professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, has joined HOKOK’s call for the International Criminal Court to investigate Israeli violations and determine whether the Israeli leaders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.</p>
<p>The Case against Mohammad Hosni Mubarak</p>
<p>Mubarak knew that Gazans would need a safety valve, an escape route from the coming carnage, which according to the Washington-based Council for the National Interest (CNI), appears to be another Sharpeville Massacre. CNI points out that “Nearly fifty years ago, the South African regime attacked a crowd protesting the conditions in the Bantustan of Sharpeville and in a matter of minutes killed some 69 black South Africans. Eventually, after world reaction to this “incident,” sanctions were imposed and they led to the end of apartheid in South Africa. Using American weapons, Israel has just indiscriminately killed more than four times that number in Gaza. In 1960 there were 20 million black South Africans and today there are only one and a half million Palestinians in Gaza. So the first two days of the American-supported Israeli attempt to wipe out Hamas is sixty times as criminal as the Sharpeville massacre.</p>
<p>Mubarak’s actions make him complicit in International Crimes outlawed by Article 2 of the Convention on Genocide by assisting in the killing members of a specific ethnic group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.</p>
<p>By sealing its border with Gaza and forcing back many Palestinians at gunpoint who were trying to escape the slaughter, Mubarak violates basic Islamic, Christian and Judaic morality that requires that he open the cork of the bottle and let these men, women and children live. So does international law. Otherwise he is actively responsible and complicit in Israel’s project of creating a situation where Palestinians, in Rafael Eitan’s infamous phrase, “will only be able to scurry around like drugged roaches in a bottle.”</p>
<p>By denying the possibility of a broad range of necessities – food, cooking or heating oil, water, electricity, shelter, medicines, for a population unable to be self-sufficient at the end of decades of occupation, and locking them inside Gaza in a blazing holocaust, amidst millions of gallons of untreated sewage is criminal conduct: Mubarak is complicit.</p>
<p>By forcing Palestinians from Gaza back into killing fields and subjecting them to massive collective punishment, Mubarak is in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law as laid down in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.</p>
<p>On Monday morning, Israeli planes bombed a mosque. The house next to the mosque collapsed and inside, five sisters aged 2 to 10 years old were killed. Mubarak is helping Israel turn Gaza into a modern version of the Warsaw ghetto.</p>
<p>By slamming&#160; and sealing the&#160; life saving escape route Moubarak signs on to the effects of the scorn of international revulsion, the genocide, the political objective, the empirical objectives of Western dominance of the Middle East for a Greater Israel alongside an Egyptian Kingdom, the religious fanaticism, the psychopathology and the indiscriminate brutality and ruthlessness.</p>
<p>Mubarak’s actions make him complicit in International Crimes outlawed by Article 2 of the Convention on Genocide by assisting in the killing members of a specific ethnic group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.</p>
<p>Some believe Egypt’s President went further. London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi quote sources who say Egyptian intelligence minister deliberately misled the Palestinian organization about IDF intentions. Hamas sources say this is why the movement’s compounds were not evacuated:&#160; “Egypt collaborated with Israel in its Gaza attack and lulled Hamas into thinking the Israel Defense Forces would not attack Gaza”, Al Quda al-Arabi&#160; claimed. The report, based on Arab diplomatic sources, claims that Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman told a number of Arab leaders that Israel was intending to attack the Gaza Strip in a limited manner in order to pressure the Palestinian organization into agreeing to a renewed ceasefire.</p>
<p>Hamas sources close to former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar also reported that Egypt told Hamas on Friday evening that Israel had agreed to begin negotiations about a potential ceasefire and would not attack Gaza before Cairo had attempted to settle the issue.</p>
<p>These sources noted that, in general, Hamas’ internal ministry orders the evacuation of its security compounds following any Israeli threat of operative action. They had not done so this time based on Egypt’s assurance that Israel wouldn’t attack and based on the assumption that an IDF attack would not be launched on Saturday.</p>
<p>Colluding with Israel, the Bush administration and the Palestinian Authority in this aggression toward the Palestinians of Gaza, Mubarak reminds one of the Jews who served the Nazis as capos inside the ghettos of German controlled Europe during World War II.</p>
<p>Hasan Nasrallah has reminded the Egyptian people of their duty, and once it becomes widely known that Mubarak cooperated with Israel as an adjunct of its colonial army in the assault against Gaza he may be deposed as un-redeemable. Rejecting the Resistance to Zionism, Mubarak invites Revolution.</p>
<p>Lebanon reacts to the Gaza Massacre</p>
<p>Lebanon has witnessed no fewer than 30 demonstrations and day and night student vigils against the Gaza slaughter during the past 72 hours. &#160;Tens of thousands of people massed in the southern suburbs of Beirut and packed the surrounding streets for a Hezbollah-led protest rally yesterday, calling for support for Gaza as it underwent its third day of Israeli attacks. &#160;Three more demonstrations are planned for this evening.</p>
<p>Sunday saw a joint Fatah-Hamas demonstration which included Osama Hamdan and Fatah’s Abass Zaki outside the UN HQ known as ESCWA (Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia). Hezbollah plans daily demonstrations until Gaza is free according to its Media Office. All alongside countless smaller manifestations composed of smaller groups, boy and girl scouts from various confessions, individuals, shopkeepers, and increased attendance in Mosques and Churches, some of the latter ringing bells, throughout Lebanon.</p>
<p>The sewage and rain flooded alleys of Beirut’s Palestinian Refugee Camps, Shatila, Burj Burajneh and the smaller Mar Elias Camp, are filled with equally steadfast refugees in support of their countrymen to the south.</p>
<p>FRANKLIN LAMB, an international lawyer and researcher currently based in Beirut, drafted for HOKOK, the International Coalition against Impunity, its Complaint/Submission filed on December 10, 2008 (the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) with the Internationally Criminal Court in The Hague. The Case charges Israel with continuing crimes in Gaza and throughout Occupied Palestine. In January 2009 HOKOK will petition the ICC to include Mohammad Hosni Mubarak as an additional defendant in the Case. Lamb can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Mr. Mubarak, Tear Down That Wall! | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/12/31/mr-mubarak-tear-down-that-wall/ | 2008-12-31 | 4 |
<p>I’ve been wondering when the general public will receive a formal warning that information from all ObamaCare exchanges, most definitely including the federal one, cannot be trusted. &#160;Everyone who&#160;thinks&#160;they have signed up for a health care plan needs to verify their enrollment manually. &#160;None of the information emanating from Healthcare.gov and its little state satellites of failure can be presumed reliable.</p>
<p>It looks like the general public will be left twisting in the wind until the last possible moment, but the red alert just went out to Capitol Hill staffers, as reported by&#160; <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/192820-hill-staffers-warned-not-to-rely-on-info-from" type="external">The Hill</a>:</p>
<p>Capitol Hill staffers who signed up for ObamaCare through the Washington, D.C., healthcare exchange, called DC Health Link (DCHL), are being told to confirm their enrollments in person, and not to rely on data provided by the website.</p>
<p />
<p>The Hill obtained an email sent to staffers on Wednesday warning them, “it is essential that you confirm your coverage in DCHL through the Disbursing Office.”</p>
<p>“Do not rely on your ‘My Account’ page or other correspondence from DCHL,” the email reads.</p>
<p>“Please do not assume you are covered unless you have seen the confirmation letter from the Disbursing Office,” the email continues.</p>
<p>The Catch-22 Care Act thanks you for your support.</p>
<p>The DC exchange already worked out an extended enrollment period due to technical difficulties, which currently extends through December 16. &#160;I would imagine the stampede of staffers seeking to confirm the validity of their health insurance is going to make things a bit tense around the DC Health Link offices for the rest of the holiday season. &#160;Say, what about everyone&#160;else&#160;who tried to enroll through DC Health Link? &#160;Are they going to get warnings too, or is this just a special consideration extended to congressional staff?</p>
<p>How much worse is this all going to get during the alleged “surge” of enrollments the media has been touting today? &#160;The Hill&#160;says there’s a pile of 30,000 enrollments in need of hand-checking as it stands, and that’s from the comatose October and slightly twitching November. &#160;According to reports over the past week, the system is still spitting out between 10 and 25 percent bad data. &#160;That seems like an awful lot of old-fashioned paper to shuffle in a very short period of time, especially for a system that was supposed to be the model of high-tech convenience. &#160;What happens if the five million people who lost insurance due to ObamaCare all show up and start trying to buy coverage?</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | DC ObamaCare exchange warns Hill staffers not to trust it | true | http://humanevents.com/2013/12/11/dc-obamacare-exchange-warns-hill-staffers-not-to-trust-it/ | 2013-12-11 | 0 |
<p>By Tim Radford / Climate News Network</p>
<p />
<p>&#160; &#160; New York City in the summer. (Bill via Flickr)</p>
<p>This piece first appeared at <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/sea-sends-early-warning-of-heatwaves/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>LONDON — Americans could have as many as seven weeks’ <a href="http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=162534&amp;CultureCode=en" type="external">advance notice of devastating heatwaves</a>. A telltale pattern of sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean could presage weeks of intolerable temperatures in the cities and plains of the US.</p>
<p>Research <a href="http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2687.html" type="external">published in Nature Geoscience</a> reveals that a “fingerprint” of sea surface temperatures about 20 degrees north of the Equator — and dubbed the Pacific Extreme Pattern — meant that the chances of sustained and extreme heat 50 days later in the US Midwest and East Coast stepped up from one in six to one in four. And 30 days ahead, the same pattern brought the odds to better than one in two.</p>
<p>“Summertime heatwaves are among the deadliest weather events, and they can have big impacts on farming, energy use, and other critical aspects of society,” says Karen McKinnon, a post-doctoral fellow at the <a href="https://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/news/20160/ocean-temps-predict-us-heat-waves-50-days-out-study-finds" type="external">National Centre for Atmospheric Research</a> in Boulder, Colorado.</p>
<p>“If we can give city planners and farmers a heads up that extreme heat is on the way, we might be able to <a href="http://www.newswise.com/articles/ocean-temps-predict-u-s-heat-waves-50-days-out-study-finds" type="external">avoid some of the worst consequences</a>.”</p>
<p>Climate scientists have consistently predicted that climate change will be driven by global warming that will manifest itself in ever <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/climate-causing-more-and-worse-heat-waves-2/" type="external">more intense, and more frequent, extremes of heat</a>.</p>
<p>In 2012, the US was hit by an <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18758667" type="external">unprecedented and sustained heatwave</a> that broke thousands of local temperature records, and claimed an estimated 100 lives.</p>
<p>Using satellite data and meteorological records, Dr McKinnon — then at Harvard University — and her co-researchers looked for ocean temperature anomalies that could be linked with extreme heat on the eastern seaboard of the US.</p>
<p>They defined their extreme as at least 6.5°C hotter than the average during the 60 hottest days of the year, June 24 to August 22.</p>
<p>They then used their data to “hindcast” extremes of heat. They found that the Pacific Extreme Pattern, a meeting of warmer-than-average and colder-than-average ocean waters, not only coincided with US heatwaves, but tended to form in advance of the heatwaves over land.</p>
<p>And, sure enough, characteristic signals from the distant stretch of ocean preceded the arrival of thunderous temperatures over a great tract of the US in 2012.</p>
<p>It isn’t clear how the two phenomena are connected: that has yet to be explored. But one factor could be precipitation. When the Pacific Extreme Pattern forms, atmospheric circulation tends to divert rainfall from the eastern US. The less water there is to evaporate, the less it can cool the air.</p>
<p>The next step is to see whether other ocean patterns can be used to forecast other weather events well in advance. “The results suggest that the state of the mid-latitude ocean may be a previously overlooked source of predictability for summer weather,” Dr McKinnon says.</p>
<p>Tim Radford, a founding editor of Climate News Network, worked for The Guardian for 32 years, for most of that time as science editor. He has been covering climate change since 1988.</p> | Sea Sends Early Warning of Heatwaves | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/sea-sends-early-warning-of-heatwaves/ | 2016-04-08 | 4 |
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<p>Antiesha Brown.</p>
<p>The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team shook off some holiday rust Saturday and earned a championship shot.</p>
<p>After a sluggish first half, the Lobos dominated the final 20 minutes of a 56-37 win over Western Carolina in round one of the Miami Hurricane Holiday Tournament in Coral Gables, Fla.</p>
<p>Paced by Antiesha Brown and Sara Halasz, UNM outscored the Catamounts 38-17 in the second half. Brown scored 12 of her 14 points after intermission, when Halasz also amassed 13 of her game-high 15 points.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>As a result, the Lobos (5-5) will face host Miami in today’s championship game. The Hurricanes (7-4) trounced Morgan State 80-42 in Saturday’s tournament opener.</p>
<p>“Miami’s scary athletic, and we’ll have our work cut out for us,” UNM coach Yvonne Sanchez said in postgame phone interview, “but it’s fun to be able to play for a championship. That’s what we came out here for, and we’re ready to go fight for it.”</p>
<p>New Mexico was coming off a 13-day layoff Saturday, and its offense sputtered in the first half. The Lobos shot just 26 percent, including 0-for-8 from 3-point range, and trailed the Catamounts (6-5) by as many as seven points.</p>
<p>At one point UNM went 6:33 without scoring while Western Carolina turned a 9-8 deficit into a 16-9 lead.</p>
<p>Alexa Chavez finally scored inside to end the drought, and the Lobos cut the deficit to 20-18 at halftime. Sanchez said her message during the break was simple.</p>
<p>“It was really just about concentration and making shots,” Sanchez said. “I think they were a little shell-shocked in the first half, but we were playing good defense and only down two (points). I felt like we just needed a spark and we’d be fine.”</p>
<p>To that end Sanchez set up several quick plays for Brown to start the second half. The junior hit five straight shots, sandwiched around a Halasz jumper, and UNM grabbed a 30-27 lead. Western Carolina trimmed it to 30-29, but UNM outscored the Catamounts 26-8 the rest of the way.</p>
<p>Khadijah Shumpert finished with eight points, six rebounds and three blocks for New Mexico, and Chavez added four points and eight rebounds off the bench. Makensey Campbell led WCU with 11 points.</p>
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<p /> | Lobos roll past Catamounts | false | https://abqjournal.com/328085/lobos-roll-past-catamounts.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Navy doctor Ronny Jackson, who administered Trump’s first presidential physical last week, said Trump received a perfect score on a test designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairment. He also reported the 6-foot-3 president weighed in at 239 pounds — three pounds heavier than he was in September 2016, the last time Trump revealed his weight to the public. That number puts Trump on the cusp of — but just under — the obesity mark.</p>
<p>“The president’s overall health is excellent,” said Jackson, who predicted Trump would remain healthy for the duration of his presidency despite a diet heavy on fast food and an exercise regime limited to weekend golf outings.</p>
<p>“It’s called genetics,” Jackson said. “I don’t know. … He has incredibly good genes and that’s just the way God made him.”</p>
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<p>Presidents don’t typically sit for cognitive assessments during their periodic physical exams. But Jackson said Trump personally requested the test as he continues to face questions about his mental acuity for office. Such questions have escalated in the wake of an unflattering new book that paints Trump as a man-child who has trouble processing information and recognizing old friends.</p>
<p>But the 71-year-old president performed “exceedingly well” on the test, Jackson said, receiving a perfect score.</p>
<p>“He’s very sharp. He’s very articulate when he speaks to me,” said Jackson, who works in close proximity to the president. Jackson accused doctors who have tried to diagnose Trump from afar of performing “tabloid psychiatry.”</p>
<p>Still, Jackson said Trump acknowledged he’d be healthier if he lost a few pounds by exercising more and eating better. Jackson said he’d be arranging to have a dietitian consult with the White House chef to cut calories and would be recommending a low-impact, aerobic exercise program for Trump, with the aim of shedding 10 to 15 pounds this year.</p>
<p>“I would say right now on a day-to-day basis, he doesn’t have a dedicated, defined exercise program,” said Jackson. “The good part is that, you know, we can build on that pretty easily.”</p>
<p>Trump’s body mass index, or BMI, of 29.9 puts him in the category of being overweight for his height. A BMI of 30 and over is considered obese. A copy of Trump’s New York driver’s license obtained by Politico listed Trump’s height as 6-foot-2, instead of 6-foot-3; the lower height would put Trump over the obesity threshold.</p>
<p>Trump’s blood pressure was 122 over 74, and his total cholesterol was 223, which is higher than recommended, even though he takes a low dose of the statin drug Crestor. Jackson said he would increase that dose in an effort to get Trump’s so-called “bad” cholesterol, or LDL level, below 120; it currently is 143.</p>
<p>Despite the diet and cholesterol concerns, Jackson stressed that Trump’s “cardiac health is excellent.” He passed a battery of heart exams, including a stress test that Jackson said showed an above-average exercise capacity for a man of his age, despite some calcium buildup in his arteries. He also takes a low-dose aspirin for heart health.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>With such a bad dietary history, how can that be? Jackson said Trump has avoided some big heart risks — he’s never smoked and isn’t diabetic — and has no family history of heart problems.</p>
<p>Trump has experienced several recent episodes in which he appeared to slur his words, adding to concerns about his health. Jackson said he’d ruled out a list of possible causes, and that dry mouth caused by the over-the-counter decongestant Sudafed was likely to blame.</p>
<p>Trump last revealed details about his health two months before the November 2016 election, when he appeared on the “Dr. Oz” show to give details of a physical performed by his longtime physician, the eccentric Dr. Harold Bornstein. A year earlier, Bornstein had released a letter that predicted Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency” if he won.</p>
<p>The Montreal Cognitive Assessment that Trump took includes remembering a list of spoken words; listening to a list of random numbers and repeating them backward; naming as many words that begin with, say, the letter F as possible within a minute; accurately drawing a cube; and describing concrete ways that two objects — like a train and a bicycle — are alike.</p>
<p>Cognitive assessments aren’t routine in standard physicals, though they recently became covered in Medicare’s annual wellness visits for seniors.</p>
<p>“It’s not a diagnostic test, but it’s pretty sensitive in picking up subtle changes in cognition,” things involving memory, attention and language but not mental health issues, said Dr. Ranit Mishori, professor of family medicine at Georgetown University, who performs these types of routine physicals.</p>
<p>Mishori said Trump’s vital signs, blood tests and physical examinations suggest “he seems to be on track, what you would want to see in a 71-year-old overweight male.”</p>
<p>But Mishori cautioned that despite good results on his cardiac exams, Trump is at increased risk of cardiovascular disease because of his age, weight, sedentary lifestyle and cholesterol level.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard and Associated Press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.</p> | Aced it: Doc says Trump got perfect score on cognitive test | false | https://abqjournal.com/1120282/aced-it-doc-says-trump-got-perfect-score-on-cognitive-test.html | 2018-01-16 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Source: GasLog LTD.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Anytime a cyclical industry such as energy experiences a massive crash, Wall Street is prone to overreact andbeat down bothhigh- and low-quality energy stocks.This createsthe potential for long-term dividend investors to realizemarket crushing total returns for the next five to 10 years.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/GLOP" type="external">GLOP</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts</a></p>
<p>Take, for example, the LNG tanker stocks such as GasLog Partners , Golar LNG Partners , Dynagas LNG Partners, , Teekay LNG Partners, all of which have suffered mightily over the past year.</p>
<p>GasLog Partners has by far held up the bestamong its peers, andthat's no accident. Let's take a look at why this high-yield MLP is suffering the leastfrom the worst oil crash in 50 years, and, more importantly, see why it continues to make a potentially exceptional long-term income investment.</p>
<p>2015 sees gangbusters growth</p>
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<p>Sources: earnings release, Yahoo! Finance.</p>
<p>Last year's exceptional growth was a result of growing its fleet 60% via the acquisition ofthree additional LNG tankers fromits sponsor, general partner, and manager GasLog LTD (NYSE: GLOG) .</p>
<p>Whatinvestors should especially pay attention to is the growth of GasLog Partners' coverage ratio, which is one of the best metrics for measuring the long-term sustainability of the MLP's generous distribution.</p>
<p>Not only did GasLog Partners' manage to grow both it coverage ratio duringexceptionally challenging market conditions, but management has shown remarkable forethought in growing its coverage ratio over time. This despite impressive payout growth rate of 18% annually since its IPO.</p>
<p>Source: GasLog Partners' investor presentation.</p>
<p>In fact, in the last quarter of 2015, GasLog Partners reported a record high DCR of 1.43, indicating not only that the current distribution is far more secure than the sky-high yield would suggest, but also that 2016's DCR is likely to increase even further. That's especially true given that management's current payout plans don't involve any short-term distribution growth.</p>
<p>Payout profile remains one of the strongest in the industry</p>
<p>Sources: earnings reports, Yahoo! Finance.</p>
<p>High-yielding investments are often a sign of the market's lack of faith that a company can maintain the payout going forward. For example, Teekay LNG Partners, owing to large short-term financial obligations and a lack of access to cheap growth capital markets, was forced to slash its distribution by 80% to finance its upcoming liabilities with excess cash flow.</p>
<p>On the other hand, GasLog Partners' ability to retain a far larger amount of cash flow as a percentage of revenueputs it at a distinct advantage to both Dynagas and Teekay in terms of future growth potential. That's because LNG tankers are very complex and expensive to build and so MLPs in this industry require access to both cheap debt and low cost equity in order to allow them to pay out such generous distributions.</p>
<p>However, if investors become overly bearish on the industry, such as over the past year, then growing DCF per unit via new tanker acquisitions becomes extremely difficult.This can makelong-term, sustainable distribution growth all but impossible.</p>
<p>Luckily, GasLog Partners has a wayaround thisthat's independent of energy prices and fickle Wall Street sentiment.</p>
<p>Putting excess DCF to work to prepare for future growth</p>
<p>Source: Morningstar.</p>
<p>A distribution that has to be slashed, as occurred last year with Teekay, can result in massive investor losses. Thisis why the sustainability of a payout should be the first priority of any dividend portfolio.</p>
<p>Thus the coverage ratio, while important, isn't the only thing to monitor closely. An MLP's debt load is also of paramount importance, because creditors or ratings agencies, under threat of a credit downgrade that will greatly increase borrowing costs, can force an MLP to greatly reduce its payout even if cash flows remain strong.</p>
<p>GasLog Partners' leverage ratio is the second highest of its peer groupwhich is whyinvestors should beexcited to see GasLog Partners putting its excess DCF to good use in Q4. In its latest quarter the MLP , in combination withpreviously retainedcash,paid off $30.6 million in debt. Half of that was on its revolving credit facility which represents the MLP's highest borrowing costs.</p>
<p>According to management the debt repayment actually improves DCF per unit, furtherincreasing the security of thepayout in 2016 and likelyincreasing GasLog Partners' excess cash flow margin.</p>
<p>This bodes well for GasLog Partners' future growth because the MLP and its sponsor just announced successful debt refinancing off all debt coming due before 2018.</p>
<p>Combined with $1.3 billion in financing completed in October of 2015 by GasLog LTDto finance eight new tankers, GasLog Partners' potential dropdown pipeline now includes 19 potential future acquisitionsthrough 2019.</p>
<p>Bottom lineGasLog Partners isn't likely to be able to grow its payout until itsequity recovers enough to make further tanker acquisitions accretive. However, investors should have confidence in management's useof excess cash flow to pay down debt and prepare for strong growth once energy prices recover and cause its unit price to rise.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/24/why-2016-looks-to-be-another-fantastic-year-gaslog.aspx" type="external">Why 2016 Looks to Be Another Fantastic Year GasLog Partners</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/AdamGalas/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Adam Galas</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</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</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</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</a>.</p> | Why 2016 Looks to Be Another Fantastic Year GasLog Partners | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/24/why-2016-looks-to-be-another-fantastic-year-gaslog-partners.html | 2016-03-24 | 0 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — Through emails, tweets and doughnuts, the two dueling acting directors battled Monday for control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, nation’s top financial watchdog agency.</p>
<p>Leandra English, who was elevated to interim director of the bureau late last week by its outgoing director, sent staff an email offering Thanksgiving wishes. Meanwhile President Donald Trump’s choice for the role — White House budget director Mick Mulvaney — then emailed staff to tell them to “disregard” any instructions from English.</p>
<p>Laying down markers in what has quickly become a war of optics, both signed their missives “Acting Director.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>While the atmosphere at the CFPB may seem like routine Washington theatrics, which person will run this agency for the coming days, weeks or possibly months will have a real impact on banks and other financial companies and their customers.</p>
<p>English has asked a judge to issue a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney from taking over the bureau. She cited the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She said that as deputy director, she became the acting director under the law and argued that the federal law the White House contends supports Trump’s appointment of Mulvaney doesn’t apply when another statute designates a successor. The case, at the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., is being handled by Judge Timothy Kelly, a Trump appointee approved by the Senate recently.</p>
<p>English was promoted to chief of staff to deputy director by Richard Cordray as he prepared to resign last Friday.</p>
<p>The Trump administration defended its position in a court brief filed near midnight Monday.</p>
<p>It said that both the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel and the general counsel of the CFPB “agree that the President of the United States lawfully designated John M. Mulvaney as the CFPB’s Acting Director pursuant to the VRA (Vacancies Reform Act).</p>
<p>“Plaintiff’s arguments to the contrary rest on a bureaucratic sleight-of-hand effected on the final day of former CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s tenure,” it said, alluding to English’s elevation by Cordray to the agency’s top job on an acting basis.</p>
<p>The judge had said earlier that he would read the government’s response and “go from there.”</p>
<p>Cordray was appointed to the position by President Barack Obama and has been long criticized by congressional Republicans as being overzealous, but lauded by consumer advocates for aggressively going after banks for wrongdoing, like in the case of Wells Fargo. He was one of the last Obama-era political holdouts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Mulvaney, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina, has called the agency a “joke” and an example of bureaucracy run amok. He is expected to be critical of the bureau’s previous work and will likely push to dismantle some of the agency’s previous actions.</p>
<p>Cordray said Monday that the issue should be settled by a court.</p>
<p>“The law says that I shall appoint the deputy director, and I did so,” he said. “My understanding of the law is that the deputy director becomes the acting director upon my departure. If there are disagreements about those issues, then they should be settled in the courts.”</p>
<p>Mulvaney arrived Monday morning at the agency with doughnuts, and his staff tweeted out photos of him meeting with agency division heads. Meanwhile, English sent a department-wide email saying she hoped everyone had a great Thanksgiving. English also plans to have meetings on Capitol Hill, including with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Mulvaney quickly responded to English’s email, instructing CFPB staff to “disregard” any directions from her.</p>
<p>At the center of the controversy are two laws: the Dodd-Frank Act, the law passed after the financial crisis that created the bureau, and the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which gives the president authority to appoint temporary department heads while their permanent nominees are approved by the Senate.</p>
<p>While the Vacancies Act does allow a president to appoint acting directors at agencies like the CFPB, the Dodd-Frank Act has specific language that seems to indicate that only a deputy director can step into the acting director position. English was elevated to the deputy director position shortly before Cordray resigned.</p>
<p>But English’s push to be recognized as the legitimate acting director took a blow Monday after a memo was released from Mary McLeod, the CFPB’s general counsel, saying she agreed with the White House that Mulvaney should be recognized as acting director.</p>
<p>The Office of Legal Counsel, which acts as a legal adviser to the president, also argued that Mulvaney, not English, was the legitimate director of the department.</p>
<p>“The Administration is aware of the suit filed this evening by Deputy Director English. However the law is clear: Director Mulvaney is the Acting Director of the CFPB,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.</p>
<p>One straightforward solution to the issue of who runs the CFPB is for Trump to nominate his own permanent director. But it may take several weeks for someone to be nominated and even months until the Senate were to confirm his or her appointment.</p>
<p>Until the issue of who is in charge is cleared up, any actions taken by the CFPB are likely to come under legal scrutiny from the banks, credit card and other financial companies that the agency oversees. No fines are likely to be imposed or new regulations written.</p>
<p>Bank lobbyists are hoping for a lighter touch by any Trump nominee to the CFPB. W</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Sweet reported from New York. Julie Carr Smyth contributed from in Columbus, Ohio. Jeff Horwitz contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.</p> | Who’s in charge? 2 fight for control of US consumer watchdog | false | https://abqjournal.com/1098292/suit-seeks-to-stop-trump-from-naming-acting-director-of-cfpb.html | 2017-11-27 | 2 |
<p>YouTube star Casey Neistat defied New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s travel ban in an epic fashion.</p>
<p>By riding through the streets of the Big Apple on a snowboard attached to a Jeep.</p>
<p>Before it was all said and done, he was cheered on by residents, joined by a skier, and eventually by the New York City Police Department.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">&lt;img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-298325" src="http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Casey-Neistat-2.jpg" alt="Casey Neistat" width="600" height="316" srcset="http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Casey-Neistat-2.jpg 600w, http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Casey-Neistat-2-300x158.jpg 300w, http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Casey-Neistat-2-359x190.jpg 359w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /&gt;</a></p>
<p>He posted a video of his journey, set to the music of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” on YouTube on Sunday.</p>
<p>Watch the video below.</p>
<p /> | Snowboarding behind jeep through NYC! Man defies draconian travel ban in Frank Sinatra style | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2016/01/25/snowboarding-behind-jeep-through-nyc-man-defies-draconian-travel-ban-in-frank-sinatra-style-298305 | 2016-01-25 | 0 |
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<p>Ben CollinsEl Paso Times photo</p>
<p>EL PASO, Texas — The University of Texas at El Paso is mourning the loss of a former athletic director and his wife, who were fatally hit by a truck while crossing the street.</p>
<p>UTEP President Diana Natalicio confirms Ben and Mary Gene Collins died on Thursday. El Paso police say the couple didn’t use a crosswalk. They were taken to an area hospital where they died.</p>
<p>The accident occurred outside of the Don Haskins Center, named after the legendary basketball coach that Ben Collins is credited with hiring. Collins worked at Texas Western College, now UTEP, from 1946 to 1961.</p>
<p>UTEP Director of Athletics Bob Stull tells The El Paso Times that Collins was a great fan and an “absolute legend in our business.”</p>
<p>No arrests or charges have been reported.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | UTEP: Former athletics head, wife killed by truck | false | https://abqjournal.com/499857/utep-former-athletics-head-wife-killed-by-truck.html | 2 |
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<p>If there were any doubts the suborbital space race was intensely competitive, they were answered this week when it was revealed California’s Mojave Air and Space Port had hired former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson to advise them on how to get that state’s legislature to approve a limit on lawsuits against space flight operators.</p>
<p>It worked. Now California, like New Mexico, provides that protection. But Texas, Florida, Colorado and Virginia go a step further and extend such lawsuit protection to ancillary companies like manufacturers as well.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>So much for being first in this space race.</p>
<p>Christine Anderson, the executive director of New Mexico’s Spaceport America, says “increasingly the operators are the manufacturers. That’s why an emerging industry needs these protections.” She is concerned New Mexico will fall behind those other states. Mark Butler of Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America’s main tenant, says that’s already happened.</p>
<p>He explains New Mexico used to top the list of states for aerospace development but is falling to the bottom because of the incomplete liability legislation, commonly referred to as informed consent. Turns out relying on things out of state control — open airspace, three Air Force bases, a world-class Army missile range and two national labs — takes you only so far.</p>
<p>Those features make New Mexico a natural to launch this emerging industry. And despite what the trial-attorney lobby has argued, taxpayers who have invested $209 million in the spaceport just southeast of Truth or Consequences should know extending the waiver to suppliers costs nothing. That these waivers are similar to ones exempting ski areas from lawsuits by skiers. That they apply only to passengers who have paid six figures and been briefed on the risks inherent in being strapped inside a tube powered by rocket fuel for a ride into suborbital space. And that if there is gross negligence, all waivers are off.</p>
<p>Yes, it would have been cleaner if Spaceport officials and space companies had asked for both kinds of waivers the first time around. But they did not. Excusing inaction with that 20/20 hindsight now simply leaves the public stuck with a $209 million woulda, coulda, shoulda tab.</p>
<p>A recent market study commissioned by the FAA and Space Florida indicates there will be a strong demand for suborbital space travel over the next decade, with an estimated 8,000 individuals expected to buy a ticket. Virgin Galactic and Texas competitor Blue Origin hope to expand that further by hauling research, experimental and educational payloads to the edge of space along with passengers.</p>
<p>But it will take more than one company to get this endeavor off the ground. Spaceport America has three tenants — Virgin and two rocket companies. At least two other firms have rejected the Land of Enchantment because of the incomplete waivers. By comparison, the Mojave spaceport has more than 40 companies involved in manufacturing, research and development of manned and unmanned space flight — and it was still so concerned about losing this space race to one of the 18 other spaceports proposed around the country that it hired the guy who powered up New Mexico’s facility to protect its investment.</p>
<p>New Mexico lawmakers need to be just as worried about not protecting their constituents’ $209 million stake. They should act quickly in 2013 to expand the limited liability waivers and ensure Spaceport America is competitive from the ground up.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p> | Editorial: Roundhouse Can’t Let N.M. Lose Space Race | false | https://abqjournal.com/143380/roundhouse-cant-let-nm-lose-space-race.html | 2012-11-03 | 2 |
<p>At this point, if anyone still believes that progressive proposals for health insurance reform contain ominous "death panels" designed to kill their grandparents, I have a bridge to sell them in Arizona. Fear not, my conservative friends: The bridge connects a tea bag <a href="/research/2009/04/10/warning-this-tea-may-cause-severe-damage-to-jou/149068" type="external">manufacturing</a> plant with a <a href="/research/2009/04/16/fox-news-militia-media-mainstreaming-the-fringe/149227" type="external">militia</a> training camp stuck in the 1990s, so you should feel right at home.</p>
<p>The "death panel" smear goes something like this: President Obama and his comrades in Congress are hell-bent on instituting mandatory end-of-life counseling sessions for American seniors as part of their socialist takeover of the health insurance industry. They will choose who gets to live and who will die. You know, <a href="/blog/2009/08/04/liddy-reads-buchanan-column-connecting-health-c/152876" type="external">just</a> <a href="/video/2009/08/06/limbaugh-the-obama-health-care-logo-is-damn-clo/152976" type="external">like</a> <a href="/video/2009/08/06/limbaugh-discusses-the-similarities-between-the/152982" type="external">Adolf</a> <a href="/blog/2009/08/07/simon-wiesenthal-center-preposterous-to-link-ob/153033" type="external">Hitler</a> <a href="/blog/2009/08/07/rush-limbaughs-obsession-with-nazi-comparisons/153042" type="external">and</a> <a href="/research/2009/08/13/conservative-media-ignore-their-own-long-histor/153313" type="external">the</a> <a href="/research/2009/08/17/wash-times-defends-fact-based-editorials-compar/153403" type="external">Nazis</a> <a href="/video/2009/08/19/limbaugh-nazi-sign-question-fabulous-barney-fra/153507" type="external">did</a> in Germany.</p>
<p>To date, the media have <a href="/research/2009/08/15/report-the-media-have-debunked-the-death-panels/153367" type="external">debunked</a> the "kill granny" lie more than 40 times. The nonpartisan FactCheck.org <a href="http://factcheck.org/2009/08/seven-falsehoods-about-health-care/" type="external">says</a> the claim of mandatory counseling on ending seniors' lives is "a misrepresentation." ABC's chief medical editor, Dr. Tim Johnson, <a href="/video/2009/08/13/abc-news-johnson-debunks-death-panel-abortion-f/153267" type="external">said</a> "the idea about death panels" is "not at all legitimate." PolitiFact.com has <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/jul/23/betsy-mccaughey/mccaughey-claims-end-life-counseling-will-be-requi/" type="external">called</a> "death panel" claims "a ridiculous falsehood." When the Associated Press conducted a fact check of the bogus charge, it <a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090811/D9A0HFQO0.html" type="external">reported</a>, "No 'death panel in health care bill.' "</p>
<p>After former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/palin-obamas-death-panel-could-kill-my-down-syndrome-baby.php?ref=fpblg" type="external">claimed</a> that "Obama's 'death panel' " could decide the fate of her parents or her son who has Down syndrome, conservative radio host Larry Elder aptly <a href="/research/2009/08/10/fox-news-personalities-advance-palins-death-pan/153138#08140902" type="external">called</a> her comments "over the top."</p>
<p>Having been called on the carpet repeatedly for their "death panel" claims, other media conservatives like ABC's John Stossel and Fox News' Glenn Beck have taken a new approach. Many now <a href="/research/2009/08/19/after-repeated-debunkings-of-death-panels-conse/153542" type="external">claim</a> that while proposals for health insurance reform may not actually force seniors into end-of-life counseling, they will result in "de facto death panels" via the government's rationing of care. Seriously.</p>
<p>The <a href="/research/2009/08/20/myths-and-falsehoods-about-health-care-reform/153565" type="external">dubious right-wing spin</a> surrounding health insurance reform is a bit like that bad cough that just won't go away -- persistent and annoying.</p>
<p>Despite the coverage allotted to debunking the right-wing "death panel" smear, the bigger picture remains intact. Americans face real death panels from their own health insurance providers. Rather than simply debunking the right's false talking point, the media should have gone one step further and pointed out that health insurance companies make life-and-death decisions every day when they decide what they are willing and not willing to cover.</p>
<p>Largely lost in the media discussion surrounding health insurance reform is the reality of the status quo -- you know, why we need reform in the first place.</p>
<p>Back in June, the evening news broadcasts on ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS ignored a congressional <a href="http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=1671:energy-and-commerce-subcommittee-hearing-on-terminations-of-individual-health-policies-by-insurance-companies-&amp;catid=133:subcommittee-on-oversight-and-investigations&amp;Itemid=7" type="external">hearing</a> on insurance companies' practice of investigating the medical histories of people who become ill and submit claims for expensive treatments, and then rejecting those claims on the grounds that those individuals had pre-existing conditions. The goal is quite simple. Find something -- anything -- and cancel or deny coverage for needed, potentially life-saving treatment. Why save a life when you can save a buck?</p>
<p><a href="http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090616/testimony_beaton.pdf" type="external">Robin Beaton</a>, a former policyholder, testified in the hearing that she had been subject to this very practice. A retired registered nurse, Beaton's dermatologist had mistakenly indicated that she may have been suffering from a pre-cancerous skin condition. Soon after, she was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. A few days before her scheduled double mastectomy, Blue Cross launched an investigation into her health records going back five years, convinced she was hiding a serious pre-existing condition.</p>
<p>Many Americans have stories just like Beaton's. Congress ultimately <a href="/research/2009/07/24/conservative-media-ignore-reality-in-invoking-r/152442#080309" type="external">concluded</a> that three major American insurance companies rescinded 19,776 policies for over $300 million in savings over five years, a number that Wendell Potter, a former senior executive at CIGNA health insurance company, said "significantly undercounts the total number of rescissions" by the companies.</p>
<p>It's not to say that the media ignore all stories like Beaton's; they don't. The modern media are in the drama business. Too often, media of all stripes characterize this important policy debate as a "he said, she said" over the government's role in health care, something that conservatives no doubt relish, and in the process, they fail to paint a picture of the way things currently exist.</p>
<p>This practice plays not only with the health of too many Americans, but with the health of modern journalism as well. We can hardly solve this crisis if we aren't being told the whole story.</p>
<p>Death panels are real. They do exist. Your own insurance provider could be in on it. And it's time the media said so.</p>
<p>Karl Frisch is a senior fellow at <a href="" type="internal">Media Matters for America</a>, a progressive media watchdog and research and information center based in Washington, D.C. Frisch also contributes to <a href="/blog/" type="external">County Fair</a>, a media blog featuring links to progressive media criticism from around the Web as well as original commentary. You can follow him on <a href="http://twitter.com/karlfrisch" type="external">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/karl.v.frisch" type="external">Facebook</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/karlfrisch" type="external">YouTube</a>, or <a href="/u/login" type="external">sign up</a> to receive his columns by email.</p> | Those "death panels" really do exist | true | http://mediamatters.org/columns/200908200036 | 2009-08-20 | 4 |
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<p>At a news conference Thursday at the future construction site – the old Halpin Building at Guadalupe and Montezuma – museum director Mary Kershaw announced that DNCA Architects and StudioGP will partner up to plan and design the remodel and additions to the building, an old warehouse that formerly was home to the state archives. DNCA is the lead architect.</p>
<p>Though both are local firms, Kershaw said the search was nationwide, with about 30 firms in total considered by the state’s selection committee. Both DNCA and StudioGP have worked together and separately on museum and gallery projects. Kershaw said the project required a team with “solid world-class experience” in the field.</p>
<p>Graham Hogan, one of the architects who will renovate and improve the old Halpin Buildings, speaks inside the building at a news conference Thursday, (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“This is something the state and city has needed forever,” said Devandra Narayan, leader of the project at DNCA. He and Graham Hogan, principal at StudioGP, previously have worked together on museum projects.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>DNCA has converted nearby warehouses into art spaces such as the Railyard Galleries at South Guadalupe and Paseo de Peralta, designed the Tamarind Institute at University of New Mexico and is working on the new Second Street Brewery location on Rufina Street.</p>
<p>Hogan has worked on the design of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg and Colorado Springs’ Cornerstone Arts Center.</p>
<p>Narayan said the plan is to restore and use the Halpin Building’s industrial “character,” while turning it – as well as the north portion of the Railyard – into a contemporary arts hub. Plans are to keep the building’s distinctive mural by Gilberto Guzman facing Guadalupe.</p>
<p>StudioGP’s Hogan said this will be the firm’s first major museum project in its home state.</p>
<p>“We just feel like it’s an incredible opportunity for Santa Fe,” said Hogan. “With its location near the Railrunner, it really has an incredible opportunity to be the gateway to Santa Fe.”</p>
<p>Meetings will begin today between the museum’s building committee and the design firms, which will start to analyze the current structure and create a timeline for their plans.</p>
<p>Veronica Gonzales, secretary of the state Cultural Affairs Department, commended the work of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation in raising money for the project and reiterated the need for a new building. As the only museum in Santa Fe that collects contemporary art, she said the New Mexico Museum of Art’s growing collection poses an issue for its current home off the Plaza, with limited storage and exhibition space.</p>
<p>“We are in danger of losing the collections that are in our space,” she said. “We definitely don’t want that to happen, we don’t want the collections to go to other states.” The new building gives the museum of art another 34,000 square feet of total space.</p>
<p>Mayor Javier Gonzales said he’s glad to see the building moving further toward “becoming another high-quality, wonderful cultural institution.”</p>
<p>With a desire to begin construction in early 2019 and have the new facility open by 2020, the museum currently has $2.6 million of the $10 million needed to break ground, said Yvonne Montoya, vice president of development for the Museum of New Mexico Foundation. Foundation CEO Jamie Clements said he hopes having architects will “add momentum” to the fundraising campaign.</p>
<p>Montoya said a donation that may be finalized within the next few days could bring them significantly closer to the goal, but he declined to say who the donor was or how much is involved.</p>
<p>Gonzales said last year that Cultural Affairs also will seek state budget allocations to increase the Museum of Art’s operating funds by $1 million annually, and is also looking for about $6 million for renovations, preservation work and upgrades on the current museum as part of a five-year capital improvements plan.</p>
<p /> | Building a ‘gateway to Santa Fe’ for NM Museum of Art satellite | false | https://abqjournal.com/1029444/building-a-gateway-to-santa-fe.html | 2017-07-07 | 2 |
<p>Published time: 2 Dec, 2017 18:30</p>
<p>Iceland, who created a sensation by reaching the quarterfinals at Euro 2016, is aiming to perform even better at the FIFA World Cup in Russia, team manager Heimir Hallgrimsson told RT.</p>
<p>“We played in the quarterfinals [at Euro 2016] and lost 5-2 against France. Maybe our goals were too low?” Hallgrimsson said. “I’m not going to say we’re going to win the World Cup now, but at least we are aware of that in our heads. We plan to stay here a little bit longer than maybe we did at the Euros.”</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/sport/411742-morinho-world-cup-russia-chances/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Recalling Iceland’s historic 2-1 win over England at Euro-2016, the coach said: “If you’re on your good day, you can beat almost anyone. And we’ve shown it through the years. If we have a good game we, at least, have a chance against good football nations.” “The boys have shown that the bigger the event, the more focused and disciplined and better they play,” he added.</p>
<p>Foresight is essential for a good manager and Hallgrimsson, who was speaking to RT ahead of the FIFA World Cup draw at the Kremlin on Friday, was able to guess one of his team’s rivals at Russia 2018. “Small European nations like Iceland don’t get a chance to play big nations like Argentina or Brazil,” he complained, with Iceland, eventually, being drawn against a tough trio of Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria.</p>
<p>Hallgrimsson said that Iceland has already selected the location for its base during the World Cup, which runs from June 14 to July 15, 2018, opting for the famous Black Sea resort of Geledzhik, not far from Sochi. “Good weather. Icelanders love good weather. We stay normally in cold weather, so we like the warmth. And it’s a good facility,” he said, explaining the choice.</p>
<p>It’s going to be the first-ever World Cup for the small island nation, which has a population of just over 300,000. The Icelanders are looking to spend as much time as possible at home during the preparations. “That’s the best period of the year, June. It’s good to be in Iceland. The players are all playing abroad. So they also like to stay in Iceland. It’s a relaxing factor before the excitement in Russia,” the coach said.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/sport/411692-2018-draw-schmeichel-collymore-drama/" type="external">READ MORE: World Cup Draw: RT’s Peter Schmeichel &amp; Stan Collymore talk results and drama</a></p>
<p>As for Iceland’s rivals in friendly matches in the run-up to the World Cup, the country will be looking for fixtures with African and South American teams. “We’ve played so few games against teams from outside Europe. So that was the preference in the games.&#160;Just to play a different style of football opponents,” Hallgrimsson said.</p> | ‘Iceland wants to outdo its Euro 2016 success at FIFA World Cup’ – coach to RT | false | https://newsline.com/iceland-wants-to-outdo-its-euro-2016-success-at-fifa-world-cup-coach-to-rt/ | 2017-12-02 | 1 |
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<p>FILE - In this May 11, 2007 file photo, a Wall Street sign is seen at an entrance to the New York Stock Exchange. Global stock markets were mostly lower Thursday May 15, 2014 ahead of quarterly European growth figures that investors hope will show a strengthening economic recovery. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, file)</p>
<p>NEW YORK - The Dow Jones industrial average has had its worst day in five weeks following lower earnings from Wal-Mart and mixed news about the economy.</p>
<p>The Dow fell 167 points, or 1 percent, to close at 16,446. It fell as much as 216 points earlier.</p>
<p>The Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index slid 17 points, or 1 percent, to 1,870. The Nasdaq dropped 31 points, or 0.8 percent, to 4,069.</p>
<p>Wal-Mart Stores fell $1.91, or 2.4 percent, to $76.83. It reported lower quarterly earnings.</p>
<p>The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.49 percent, from 2.54 percent late Wednesday.</p>
<p>Factory output took a breather in April after two months of strong growth. However, the number of people who filed for unemployment benefits fell to its lowest in seven years last week.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Stocks drop on Wal-Mart earnings, mixed econ news | false | https://abqjournal.com/400643/stocks-drop-on-wal-mart-earnings-mixed-econ-news.html | 2 |
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<p>Earnings HQ: FBN’s Diane Macedo breaks down UNH’s first-quarter earnings report.</p>
<p>UnitedHealth Group (UNH) revealed mixed first-quarter results including a 14% year-over-year earnings decline on Thursday amid seasonal and other pressures, leading the company to sharply narrow its full-year sales outlook.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Revenue for the three months ended March 31 grew 11% to $30.34 billion from $27.28 billion a year ago but missed the Street’s view of $30.51 billion.</p>
<p>While the improvement was led by its Optum technology business, it was partially offset by seasonal margin pressure in its Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug plan product lines. Meanwhile, UnitedHealth said the revenue growth rate included the conversion of one unidentified “large public sector customer” from risk-based to fee-based benefits, which was not included in its prior outlook.</p>
<p>That caused UnitedHealth to lower its fiscal 2013 outlook revenue outlook by $2 billion. The company now sees full-year revenue climbing 10% year-over-year to $122 billion, down from its earlier view of $123 billion to $124 billion.</p>
<p>While it maintained its full-year EPS outlook of $5.25 to $5.50, it warned the sequestration could weigh on the high-end of its earlier outlook.</p>
<p>Analysts on average are looking for stronger fiscal 2013 non-GAAP EPS of $5.52 and revenue of $123.85 billion.</p>
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<p>Shares of UnitedHealth fell more than 3% to $60 in recent trade.</p>
<p>The Minnetonka, Minn.-based health insurer reported quarterly net income of $1.2 billion, or $1.16 a share, compared with a year-earlier $1.38 billion, or $1.31.</p>
<p>The company last year benefited from left-over reserves, and the results this year still topped average analyst estimates in a Thomson Reuters poll by two pennies a share.</p>
<p>“UnitedHealthcare is achieving market-leading growth in health benefits, now including Amil and TRICARE, and is positioned to achieve one of its strongest-ever growth years,” UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley said in a statement.</p>
<p>Hemsley said the insurer will continue to look for medical and operating cost cuts.</p> | UnitedHealth Shares Sink on 1Q Softer Sales, Narrowed Outlook | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/04/18/unitedhealth-shares-sink-on-mixed-1q-results.html | 2016-01-25 | 0 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>A new government report claims that some of the major automakers are retaining information about where drivers have driven. This data is collected from onboard navigation systems, and owners are not able to do anything to opt out of this.</p>
<p>The Government Accountability Office <a href="http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/660002.txt" type="external">released a report on Monday</a> which found that while major automakers have different policies about how much data they collect and how long they keep it, they all seem to be engaged in the same activity. The report reviewed the practices of&#160;Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co.&#160;It also critiqued the practices of navigation system makers Garmin and TomTom as well as app developers Google Maps and Telenav.</p>
<p>The location data is said to help provide drivers with real-time traffic information, or to help find gas stations, hotels and restaurants, or even to provide emergency roadside assistance. In more rare cases, the data can be used to help track stolen vehicles. But, the report also stated that companies, “did not allow consumers to request that their data be deleted, which is a recommended practice.”</p>
<p>Drivers, according to the report, are not being made aware of all risks to their personal information and privacy. The reporting agency says that location data can be exploited to market to individuals and to, “track where consumers are, which can in turn be used to steal their identity, stalk them or monitor them without their knowledge. In addition, location data can be used to infer other sensitive information about individuals such as their religious affiliation or political activities.”</p>
<p>Senator Al Franken, (D-Minn.) chairs a judiciary committee on privacy. He requested the report on Monday, saying that more work needs to be done to make certain that privacy concerns are addressed and protections are put in place.</p>
<p>“Modern technology now allows drivers to get turn-by-turn directions in a matter of seconds, but our privacy laws haven’t kept pace with these enormous advances,” the senator said in a statement this week. “Companies providing in-car location services are taking their customers’ privacy seriously — but this report shows that Minnesotans and people across the country need much more information about how the data are being collected, what they’re being used for, and how they’re being shared with third parties.”</p>
<p>Senator Franken said further that he plans to reintroduce location privacy legislation sometime this year.</p>
<p>(Article by James Achisa; image via BBC)</p> | Government Accountability Report Claims Car Companies Track Where You Drive | true | http://politicalblindspot.com/report-claims-car-companies-track-where-you-drive/ | 2014-01-08 | 4 |
<p>By Paul Brown, Climate News NetworkThis piece first appeared at <a href="http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2013/08/banks-put-a-price-on-earths-life-support/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p>LONDON - It is not easy to put a value on a forest, a clean river, or unpolluted air, but that is what a group of the world's biggest banks is attempting to do.</p>
<p>They have agreed that the way the present economic system uses and often destroys the environment without paying to do so is not sustainable.</p>
<p>The banks are also concerned that some companies are using up natural resources so fast, with no thought for their own future, let alone that of the planet, that they will collapse. They want a way of warning them and ultimately withdrawing their credit unless the companies mend their ways.</p>
<p />
<p>The 43 financial institutions, including the World Bank, are setting up a working party as a consequence of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012, also known as the Rio+20 summit, when the initial 39 large banks signed a Natural Capital Declaration.</p>
<p>The declaration defined natural capital as "the Earth's natural assets (soil, air, water, flora and fauna), and the ecosystem services resulting from them, which make human life possible."</p>
<p>The document went on to say that the food, fibre, water, health, energy, climate security and other essential services provided by natural capital were worth trillions of dollars a year, but that they were not adequately valued.</p>
<p>Carrot and stick</p>
<p>"Despite being fundamental to our wellbeing, their daily use remains almost undetected within our economic system. Using natural capital in this way is not sustainable", the declaration says.</p>
<p>The bankers went on to acknowledge this was partly their fault because they had no way of valuing this natural capital, nor did they currently recognize the danger to the stability of some companies because of its destruction.</p>
<p>They want governments to force companies to disclose their dependence on natural capital and the impact they have on it by disclosures in annual financial reports. They also want penalties for companies not doing so and tax incentives for those who protect natural capital as part of their business.</p>
<p>Mining and fracking</p>
<p>However, the bankers know that in order to value natural capital someone has to work out what it is worth in monetary terms. What value can you place on a hectare of forest for the clean air, rain collecting, carbon sequestration and foodstuffs it provides? Just as important, what is the economic loss if it is destroyed?</p>
<p>Industries like mining and fracking are in the front line because their operations are already perceived to damage and use up clean water resources and to cause pollution. The bankers want to put a financial price on this and ask whether the financial risk that overuse of resources causes to the businesses makes them a bad investment.</p>
<p>But all businesses, even the banks that control investments, have an impact on the natural environment, which generally they do not pay for and which does not appear in the accounts. So to turn their heady declaration of a year ago into something more tangible, the bankers have set up a high-powered working party to put a price on the natural world.</p>
<p>Liesel Van Ast, project manager for the Natural Capital Declaration, is based at the Global Canopy Programme in Oxford, England. She is working with the UN Finance Initiative in Geneva to help the bankers set up a series of committees to implement the declaration.</p>
<p>No illusions</p>
<p>She said: "The bankers need to address how they will account for natural capital, explain to everyone why they need to do it and then tell them how to do it."</p>
<p>At the moment overuse of natural capital is not seen as a business risk, because everyone believes they can get out before the resources run out and the crash occurs. We are hoping to change that attitude and get companies to pay a price for overuse of natural capital.?</p>
<p>No one has any illusions that the commitment by bankers to get natural capital accounted for on balance sheets, and then taken into account in the share price, interest on loans and cost of insurance is going to happen quickly.</p>
<p>They have set themselves a target of 2020 to get an international system up and running and recognized by all governments signed up to the UN Framework Climate Change Convention. It may be slow and difficult work, but they believe this is vital to prevent the current economic system destroying the planet.</p>
<p /> | Banks Put a Price on Earth's Life Support | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/banks-put-a-price-on-earths-life-support/ | 2013-08-30 | 4 |
<p>Smoke rises from the stacks of the main plant facility at the Navajo Generating Station, as seen from Lake Powell in Page, Arizona.</p>
<p>Ross D. Franklin / AP</p>
<p>This story was originally published by&#160; <a href="http://www.hcn.org/articles/coal-how-the-trump-administration-has-seized-mythologies-around-coal" type="external">High Country News</a>&#160;and appears here as part of the&#160; <a href="http://climatedesk.org/" type="external">Climate Desk</a>&#160;collaboration.&#160;</p>
<p>Coal.&#160;Guns.&#160;Freedom.</p>
<p>I saw these three words on a little sticker affixed, discordantly, to the window of a car in a small Colorado town. It struck me as funny at first: Coal and guns being elevated to the status of platonic ideals or, even more loftily, the refrain of a bad country song. All it was missing was Jesus, beer and Wrangler butts. A few days later, though, as I sat on a desert promontory overlooking northwestern New Mexico, the sticker didn’t seem so funny. As the sunrise spilled across sagebrush plains and irrigated cornfields, it also illuminated a narrow band of yellow-brown clouds on the horizon.</p>
<p>The clouds were smog, a soup of sulfur dioxide, particulates, nitrogen oxide and other pollutants emanating from the smokestacks of the coal-burning Four Corners Power Plant and San Juan Generating Station, on either side of the San Juan River Valley. The people of the Four Corners have experienced that cloud in one form or another nearly every day for the past half century. Our skies have been sullied, as have our lungs; mercury wafts from these and other smokestacks and falls with rain on Mesa Verde National Park and in the clear, icy streams of&#160;the San Juan Mountains. The plants suck millions of gallons of water from the river each day for steam production and cooling, and they leave behind mountains of ash, clinkers and sludge, tainted with mercury, arsenic, selenium and other toxic material. That’s all in addition to the tens of millions of tons of climate-altering carbon dioxide the stacks release each year.</p>
<p>We’ve been told that this is just the price we pay for power, that this is what it costs to keep the lights on in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, that we have no choice but to live with it. To stop burning coal, or even try to mitigate the harm, we’ve been told, will put thousands of hard-working Americans out of a job, skyrocket electricity costs, and black-out our lights and computers.</p>
<p>Coal. Guns. Freedom.</p>
<p>Now, however, as many of the biggest coal plants near the end of their lives, coal-fired electricity is going the way of the steam locomotive and manual typewriter. It’s becoming clear that King Coal was a big lie, a long-standing myth. For decades, we’ve been hoodwinked by the&#160;fetishization of coal, to the detriment of us all.</p>
<p>Navajo Generating Station and the cloud of smog with which it blankets the region.</p>
<p>Jonathan Thompson</p>
<p>Coal fueled the white invasion of the West. It stoked smelters, powered locomotives and generated steam, driving mills that processed tons and tons of rock. Newcomers heated their homes and cooked with coal, thousands of them toiling in mines to keep the fires going. The coal industry rose up on those miners’ backs, reaping enormous profits that lined politicians’ pockets. These lawmakers returned the favor by keeping regulations minimal and royalties low on federal mineral reserves, and by sending in troops to murder striking miners. “Coal is the fuel of the present,” crowed the author of a 1906 US Geological Survey report, “and so far as can be seen, will continue to lead … for a long time to come.”</p>
<p>Yet even then, Westerners were slowly shifting away from the expensive, dirty and inconvenient fuel. The electricity that powered the mines and towns was, by and large, generated from falling water. And when the pipelined bounty of the 1920s’ natural gas boom spread from New Mexico and Texas across the West, homeowners switched en masse to gas for cooking and heating, saying goodbye to stokers, clinkers and coal’s pervasive, greasy film.</p>
<p>By 1950, coal provided a mere 10 percent of the West’s electricity. Natural gas generation was eating into that slice, and plans for a network of dams along the Colorado River threatened to flood the grid with even more cheap, coal-displacing hydropower. Steam locomotives went the way of the dinosaurs, driven to extinction by diesel. American coal consumption fell by 20 percent in the 1950s alone; in the West it plummeted by 40 percent.</p>
<p>Facing an existential crisis, the coal industry executives knew they could not compete based on the merits of their fuel. Instead, they set out to imbue it with symbolism and mythology. Coal was&#160;not just coal, the lobbyists argued. It was abundant, reliable and deserving of a seat in the pantheon of American culture, alongside cowboys, guns — and, yes, freedom. (They also managed to convince the Sierra Club that coal plants were a green alternative to river-ruining dams.)</p>
<p>Most of all, coal was equated with honest jobs for hard-working miners (and voters) — never mind that mechanization and efficiency had been killing off mining jobs since the early 1900s. The shift from coal to diesel and natural gas was framed not as mere consumer choice between commodities, but as an attack on some ineffable American value.</p>
<p>Coal. Guns. Freedom.</p>
<p>The industry enlisted Sen. Wayne Aspinall, a Democrat from the coal state of Colorado, to its cause, and Congress created the Office of Coal Research in 1960 “to encourage and stimulate the production of coal in the United States through research and development … and maximize the contribution of coal to the overall energy market.” Lawmakers from coal-producing counties and states ganged up on other forms of energy, taxing natural gas, for example, or requiring public institutions to heat with coal, free market be damned.</p>
<p>In 1952, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released its “Study of Future Power Transmission for the West.” It revealed the perverse logic that prevailed at the time: Since both the population and per capita electricity use were rapidly increasing, new power plants were needed. The new power supplies would lower electricity prices, thus drawing more people and encouraging more consumption, which would then spur the building of more power plants, and so on. It was a recipe for a slow-building disaster, regardless of what fueled the power plants. Pushing coal as the main ingredient made it that much more catastrophic.</p>
<p>The authors of the report acknowledged that natural gas was relatively cheap and clean, easy to transport and abundant. Nevertheless, they recommended coal to power the massive fleet of new plants, because they worried that natural gas supplies might someday run short. In so doing, they signaled that the federal government, far from being “fuel neutral,” had a strong preference for coal. The mythology around coal became policy.</p>
<p />
<p>Starting in the mid-1960s, coal plants were built across the nation at a rapid rate, with more than 10,000 megawatts of coal-generated capacity — the equivalent of about five Four Corners power plants — added annually. Smoke-belching plants rose up from the deserts of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, including several on or near the Navajo Nation, sending their juice to the air conditioners, televisions and “electrified homes” of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Monstrous draglines gouged into spare mesas, and smog settled over valleys and obscured mesa and mountain views. Each of the new plants emitted at least 10 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.</p>
<p>The coal frenzy was not dampened by the passage of the Clean Air Act of 1970 — it took years to implement the law, and even longer to enforce it. In 1977, Congress strengthened the act in ways that would give cleaner-burning natural gas a leg up. But that was nullified by another law, the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978, which prohibited the use of natural gas as a primary fuel for generating electricity. It was a blatant act of market interference, in which the government chose coal over cleaner-burning natural gas. Lawmakers and lobbyists argued the law would help the U.S. achieve energy independence, but that was yet another&#160; <a href="http://www.hcn.org/blogs/goat/the-circular-logic-of-energy-independence" type="external">myth</a>. All it really did was double down on coal, thus tightening a&#160;stranglehold on the nation’s grid that would take decades to loosen.</p>
<p>This April, in a move that harkens back to the 1950s, Energy Secretary Rick Perry launched a review of the electrical grid, clearly looking to kill regulations and otherwise prop up the flagging coal industry. Perry presumed that reliable and “critical baseload resources,” such as coal-power, were being unfairly bullied off the grid by “regulatory burdens” and “the market-distorting effects of federal subsidies that boost one form of energy at the expense of others.”&#160;Meanwhile, long before the review was complete, the Trump administration went about killing environmental protections aimed at keeping harmful pollutants out of the air, rescinded an initiative to get corporations to pay their fair share for mining coal owned by U.S. taxpayers, and halted a study of the effects of mountaintop mining — all in the name of reliability, affordability and, of course, jobs.</p>
<p>It must have been a shock, therefore, when Perry’s own experts concluded in August that government interference isn’t killing coal; the free market is.&#160;“The biggest contributor to coal and nuclear plant retirements has been the advantaged economics of natural gas-fired generation,” the study’s authors wrote, essentially repeating common knowledge. Furthermore, coal’s phase-out and the increase in renewable energy on the grid have not hurt reliability or, for that matter, caused a net loss in jobs.</p>
<p>The findings were of little surprise to industry watchers. Coal’s foreseeable decline began when Congress repealed the Fuel Use Act in 1987. That opened the way for a huge buildup of natural gas-generated capacity. When the shale drilling revolution glutted the market with natural gas beginning in 2008, an abundance of power plants were already on hand to put it to use. The Great Recession caused electricity demand to plateau at about the same time, and the combination of factors caused wholesale electricity prices to fall. The myth of coal as the most affordable fuel perished, though its greater symbolism has proven more stubborn.</p>
<p>The buildup of wind and solar power further decreased overall electricity prices in relation to coal. Playing a minor role in coal’s misfortune were “a suite of environmental regulations” — from the Clean Power Plan to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard — that, Perry’s review says, “had varying degrees of effects on the cost of generation.” While these rules do affect coal more than other fuels, they aren’t “unfairly” targeting coal, as the industry and its boosters contend. Rather, they target air pollution, and coal happens to be the most polluting fuel currently in use. Other Obama-era regulations are harder on natural gas — both the Environmental Protection Agency and Bureau of Land Management’s methane rules targeted oil and gas production, leaving methane-venting coal mines alone.</p>
<p>Between 2002 and 2016, some 59,000 megawatts of coal-generated capacity were taken off the grid nationwide due to plant retirements. Salt River Project announced it would&#160; <a href="http://www.hcn.org/issues/49.5/what-the-navajo-generating-station-will-leave-behind" type="external">shut down</a>&#160;its Navajo Generating Station in 2019 because the plant no longer made economic sense. Colstrip in Montana is slated to go dark in 2027, and Intermountain Power Project in Utah will close in 2025. Public Service Company of New Mexico wants to phase coal out altogether over the next 15 years, which includes shutting down San Juan Generating Station in 2022 and divesting from Four Corners Power Plant. It won’t be an easy task, since the utility currently gets 54 percent of its electricity from coal, but PNM analysts insist that more efficiency&#160;and a switch to natural gas, nuclear and renewables will cost their ratepayers less in the long-run.</p>
<p>Even the coal plants that continue to run are seeing less use, and different uses, causing coal to lose ground. The Navajo Generating Station put out 30 percent&#160; <a href="https://www.eia.gov/electricity/data/browser/#/plant/4941?freq=A&amp;ctype=linechart&amp;ltype=pin&amp;columnchart=ELEC.PLANT.GEN.4941-ALL-ALL.A&amp;linechart=ELEC.PLANT.GEN.4941-ALL-ALL.A&amp;pin=&amp;maptype=0" type="external">less power</a>&#160;in 2015 than it did two years earlier, for example, so if it weren’t scheduled to be shut down, it might just fade away. Two decades ago, coal plants were mainly used as a baseload power source, meaning they’d run at maximum output around the clock in order to supply the minimum demand on the grid. Yet in 2016, according to a Western Interstate Energy Board&#160; <a href="http://westernenergyboard.org/2017/08/wieb-webinar-on-the-role-of-coal-in-the-west/" type="external">analysis</a>, only a small handful of plants spent more than half the year in baseload operation.</p>
<p>So when coal plants go dark, the grid won’t lose much in the way of baseload power or the reliability it purportedly provides. “Reliability is adequate today,” Perry’s review concludes, going on to say that the loss of capacity due to retirements has been replaced, and that energy-source diversity is as high as ever. Another piece of the coal myth, smashed.</p>
<p>One of the few things that coal-generation has going for it is “fuel assurance.” That is, coal plants can stockpile fuel on site. Natural gas is more difficult to store, and relies on vulnerable pipeline networks. Solar and wind power are weather dependent. For the centralized coal plants of the Interior West, however, fuel assurance is offset by the fact that the plants rely on long-distance powerlines to deliver the goods, and those not only leak a lot of electricity, they can be taken out by extreme weather, wildfire, saboteurs and even squirrels.</p>
<p>Such practical considerations, however, do not make for powerful myth. Symbolism does. And the coal industry seethes with symbolism.</p>
<p>Coal. Guns. Freedom.</p>
<p>Perry’s grid review found that the coal industry has shed nearly 40,000 jobs over the last 15 years, but attributes those losses not only to the downturn in demand but also “increased mechanization and a shift to western coal” — the massive mines of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin need fewer workers than those in Appalachia to extract each ton of coal. For each job lost due to displacement of coal by natural gas, solar or wind power, another rose to take its place in an electricity generation-related industry. The Energy Department’s 2017 employment&#160; <a href="https://energy.gov/downloads/2017-us-energy-and-employment-report" type="external">report</a>&#160;found that coal power plants and mines employed about 160,000 people, while the wind and solar industry provided more than 475,000 jobs. Coal jobs carry far more symbolic and therefore political heft, however, since no one has yet figured out how to&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diJreCtLXfA" type="external">romanticize</a>&#160;solar-panel installation.</p>
<p>When Obama was castigated for a so-called war on coal, it was not for trying to mitigate a catastrophic global habit, but for attacking miners, a powerful symbol in rural, white, American culture (85 percent of coal miners are white men,&#160; <a href="https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat18.htm" type="external">according to</a>&#160;the Bureau of Labor Statistics). When Trump demonstrates that he “digs coal” by rolling back regulations, he’s banking on rural nostalgia and pushing back against Obama, who for portions of white America became a symbol of urban elitism, progressivism and blackness.</p>
<p>Coal boosters have meanwhile seized upon this mythology for cynical ends. Trump has used it to blot out Obama’s legacy (one of his few discernible policy goals), and to solidify his base of white, male voters. The regulation rollback is good for coal’s bottom line, yet instead of using the savings to hire more workers, companies have poured the extra revenue into executive pay and bonuses. Top executives in the industry&#160; <a href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_212100.htm" type="external">make</a>, on average, $200,000 per year, plus millions of dollars in bonuses, while a miner toiling in dangerous conditions gets just $55,000 — if he hasn’t been replaced by a machine. The pay gap has only grown as the industry has faded, as though the folks at the top are grabbing all they can before the industry crumbles.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, neither Trump nor anyone else is helping out the miners themselves, the humans behind the symbolism. The Trump administration has delayed or rolled back a number of&#160; <a href="http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/coaltattoo/2017/07/21/trump-dumps-and-delays-key-coal-mine-safety-rules/" type="external">rules</a>&#160;aimed at miner health and safety and nominated a former coal executive to head up the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Mining-related fatalities are up this year, with 20 deaths overall, 12 of which were in coal mines. And the Republicans in Congress are working hard to lower taxes on the rich — which doesn’t include most coal miners — at the expense of the rest of us, and to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which although flawed and fragile, remains the best safety net many have.</p>
<p>If anything, the Energy Department’s review of the grid made it clear that rescinding regulations would do nothing to save the coal industry, or the miners who make it run. It offered very few justifications for saving coal plants. But that’s unlikely to stop Trump, Perry and friends from doing what they can to prop up the coal industry. After all, they’ve got the myth behind them. As for the land, the air, the water, and the people who live near and work in the plants and mines, they’ll continue to pay the price for coal, guns, and freedom. And if those ever become the lyrics of a country song, it will be a tragic one indeed.</p> | Why the Symbolism Behind Coal Is Still So Powerful | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/09/why-the-symbolism-behind-coal-is-still-so-powerful/ | 2017-09-23 | 4 |
<p>Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to merge Wisconsin's two major economic development agencies would create a new unaccountable entity, minority Democrats on the Legislature's budget committee said Wednesday.</p>
<p>The governor's 2015-17 budget proposal calls for merging the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation and the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority into the new Forward Wisconsin Development Authority.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The plan calls for doing away with the agencies' boards, both of which include legislators, and replacing it with a single 12-person board of business people whom Walker would appoint. It also would allow state auditors to review only the new agency's programs once every two years, a departure from current state law, which mandates auditors must check both WEDC's programs and finances biennially.</p>
<p>Leaders from the two agencies told the budget committee during a hearing that the merger would create a great opportunity to build an efficient, one-stop shop to help businesses and communities grow. But Democrats were quick to point out that WEDC has been plagued with problems.</p>
<p>Walker established the agency in 2011 as his flagship job-creation engine, but audits in 2012 and 2013 showed it lost track of $12 million in overdue loans and gave money to ineligible projects between July 2011 and June 2012. The agency also has seen considerable turnover in its upper ranks.</p>
<p>Democrats on the Republican-controlled committee said the new board structure coupled with the loss of the financial audit means no public transparency.</p>
<p>"We're creating a new board here with no legislative accountability. None," said Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton. "I don't understand the change."</p>
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<p>Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, was sharper, saying WEDC has been plagued by cronyism, scandal and turnover and that she's worried that will carry over into the new entity.</p>
<p>"It's kind of like trying to save a bad marriage by having a baby," she said. "It never works."</p>
<p>WEDC Secretary and CEO Reed Hall acknowledged the agency's past problems. He vowed to work to hold down turnover and said if state auditors found something in their reviews that led them to the agency's finances they wouldn't hesitate to investigate. He also noted the new agency would be subject to the state's open records law.</p>
<p>Republicans who control the committee praised Hall. Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, said WEDC has gone through "growing pains" but has made remarkable improvements. He also noted the agency deals with companies that typically can't get help from banks or private lenders because their portfolios are too risky. Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, the committee's co-chairman, attributed the turnover to the agency hiring sought-after workers.</p>
<p>The committee will begin revising Walker's budget within the next few weeks. When the panel is done it will forward the spending plan to the full Assembly and Senate for approval. From there the budget will go back to Walker, who can use his partial veto power to largely restore the document to his liking.</p> | Democrats warn that Walker plan to merge economic agencies will create unaccountable entity | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/03/04/democrats-warn-that-walker-plan-to-merge-economic-agencies-will-create.html | 2016-03-09 | 0 |
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<p>An Albuquerque police officer who helped catch a suspected felon while off duty was this week’s hero, city officials announced.</p>
<p>Officer Adam Portillos was shoe shopping with his family when he saw a man run away with a pair of stolen shoes. Portillos chased the man and called for help. The man, who officials say is a known gang member, was arrested.</p>
<p>Police Chief Ray Schultz said he was very proud of Portillos’ extra effort.</p>
<p>“He could have just said, ‘hey, i’m off duty, I’m not working,'” Schultz said. “We’re very proud of the actions Officer Portillos took.”</p>
<p>Also honored on Friday was former deputy chief Michael Castro, who retired last year.</p>
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<p>Castro was organized this year’s NRA Police Shooting Championship and was instrumental in getting the NRA to commit to two more years of hosting the event in Albuquerque, said public safety director Darren White.</p>
<p>White, who said Castro trained him when he was promoted to sergeant many years ago, called Castro’s work “a massive endeavor.”</p>
<p>Castro was paid a symbolic $1 under contract for an entire year of planning, officials said.</p>
<p>White said the mayor, who usually hosts Friday’s Heroes but was out of town this Friday, was so impressed by Castro’s efforts “that he recommended we double your contract.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Fridays Heroes: Off-Duty Cop Helps Nab Shoplifter | false | https://abqjournal.com/6264/fridays-heroes-off-duty-cop-helps-nab-shoplifter.html | 2 |
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<p>Direct multilateral talks with North Korea modeled on the landmark 2015 Iran deal may help cool tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear program, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.</p>
<p>Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, Chancellor Merkel said comprehensive negotiations that led to the historic deal between Iran and all five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany could be a model for resolving the North Korean crisis.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/401882-putin-xi-north-korea-deal/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“If our participation in these talks is desired, I will immediately say yes,” Merkel <a href="http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/deutschland-als-vermittler-merkel-ergreift-bei-nordkorea-die-initiative-15191111.html" type="external">said</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>While saying she “could imagine” that such a format would help the “settlement of the North Korea conflict,” Merkel also noted that Europe and Germany “should be prepared to play a very active part in that.”</p>
<p>Under the 2015 deal brokered by Iran and six major powers – Russia, the US, Britain, China, and France, plus Germany – Tehran agreed to redesign and reduce its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of economic embargoes.</p>
<p>In the interview, Merkel said it was “a long but important time of diplomacy” that eventually resulted in a “good end.”</p>
<p>While advocating a diplomatic solution, she also said it is crucial to put pressure on North Korea so that the leadership in Pyongyang becomes more cooperative and willing to talk to the world community. Additional sanctions would be sufficient for Pyongyang to engage in negotiations, Merkel said.</p>
<p>Recently, tensions on the Korean Peninsula have escalated following a series of missile tests. The US and its regional allies have also ramped up military preparations, contributing to the flare-up in tensions. Last Sunday, Pyongyang said it had tested a hydrogen bomb, its most powerful weapon to date.</p>
<p>While condemning the test, Moscow also said that the actions of Washington and its regional ally are pushing North Korea to more aggressive steps. “The United States and South Korea are provoking Pyongyang by flexing military muscle and making repeated threats of intervention and pre-emptive strikes,” Frants Klintsevich, deputy head of the Federation Council committee for defense and security, said.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/402421-dennis-rodman-north-korea/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Kim Young-jae, the minister of foreign economic relations of North Korea, recently <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/402311-us-seeks-war-korea/" type="external">said</a>&#160;that the US is not interested in a peaceful solution and is “pursuing the only vile goal – war.”</p>
<p>According to the German <a href="http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Aussenpolitik/Laender/Laenderinfos/01-Nodes/KoreaDemokratischeVolksrepublik_node.html" type="external">Foreign Office</a>, there have been no high-level visits to North Korea by German government delegations or trips to Germany by North Koreans at the ministerial level. Both countries, however, share some trade and humanitarian ties.</p>
<p>Merkel reiterated her call for a peaceful solution while speaking to supporters on Friday. “It’s a challenge for everyone – Europe, USA, Japan, China, Russia – to find a diplomatic solution,” she said at the campaign rally, adding, “There is no military solution for the conflict regarding North Korea.”</p>
<p>Next week, Merkel is expected to have telephone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to discuss North Korea. Both leaders have repeatedly called for diplomatic efforts to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula.</p>
<p>Last Sunday, Putin and Xi “expressed their deep concern over this situation,” adding that the two leaders stressed the importance of “preventing chaos on the peninsula,” according to the Kremlin.</p>
<p>Putin “called on the international community not to give in to emotions and to take a reasonable and balanced approach,” it added.</p> | Iran-style talks involving world powers may ease North Korea knot – Merkel | false | https://newsline.com/iran-style-talks-involving-world-powers-may-ease-north-korea-knot-merkel/ | 2017-09-10 | 1 |
<p>Megyn Kelly must be so proud. She <a href="" type="internal">doubled down on her "white Santa" remarks this Friday</a> and as our friends over at Media Matters noted, this is how Megyn Kelly's remarks <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/16/how-megyn-kellys-white-santa-plays-out-in-the-r/197293" type="external">play out in the real world:</a>:</p>
<p>The real-world impact of opinions like Megyn Kelly's was on display this week when a black ninth grader was chastised by his teacher for dressing like Santa Claus, because according to him, Santa is white. Comments such as these are not only offensive, they erode a child's self-image, as a clinical psychologist told CNN.</p>
<p>Fox's Megyn Kelly <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2013/12/12/msnbcs-all-in-calls-out-megyn-kelly-for-bizarre/197258" type="external">sparked</a> <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/13/the-daily-show-asks-who-megyn-kelly-is-reassuri/197259" type="external">much</a> <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2013/12/15/reliable-sources-stetler-if-fox-had-a-different/197274" type="external">controversy</a> on December 11 for insisting that Santa was, and is, <a href="http://mediamatters.org/video/2013/12/11/megyn-kelly-wants-kids-at-home-to-know-that-jes/197238" type="external">white</a>, in response to a piece by Slate columnist Aisha Harris on how the universal image of a white Santa can be difficult for minority children to reconcile with their own experiences. Kelly later <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/13/megyn-kelly-defends-white-santa-jest-fox-news-a/197267" type="external">accused</a> her critics of race-baiting and <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/16/megyn-kellys-non-apology-and-fox-news-race-bait/197280" type="external">targeting</a> her simply because she worked at Fox.</p>
<p>On December 16, CNN Newsroom highlighted Kelly's comments when telling the story of a black student at Cleveland High School in New Mexico who was rebuked by his teacher for dressing up in a Santa outfit. According to host Wolf Blitzer, "the teacher reportedly told the ninth grader that he couldn't dress as Santa because he was of the wrong skin color." <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/12/16/how-megyn-kellys-white-santa-plays-out-in-the-r/197293" type="external">Read on...</a></p>
<p>Here's more from Gawker: <a href="http://gawker.com/teacher-in-trouble-after-telling-black-student-he-cant-1484184252" type="external">Teacher in Trouble After Telling Black Student He Can't Be 'White' Santa</a>:</p>
<p>Megyn Kelly <a href="http://gawker.com/megyn-kelly-i-was-just-kidding-about-santa-being-white-1484095234" type="external">may have been joking</a>, but one New Mexico teacher apparently wasn't when he told a black student he couldn't dress up as Santa because " <a href="http://www.koat.com/news/new-mexico/new-mexico-teacher-questions-black-student-dressed-as-santa-claus/-/9153762/23502454/-/4ugba1z/-/index.html" type="external">Santa Claus is white</a>."</p>
<p>Cleveland High School students were given permission to dress up as their favorite Christmas character to honor the spirit of the season.</p>
<p>Christopher, a ninth grader from Rio Rancho <a href="http://www.krqe.com/news/local/dad-calls-teachers-santa-remark-racist" type="external">who also suffers from autism</a>, decided to come to school dressed as Santa much as many of his classmates did.</p>
<p>Enter the school's resident racist Grinch.</p>
<p>"Christopher, don't you know Santa Claus is white? Why are you wearing that?" <a href="http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3244757.shtml" type="external">is what the teacher told the student</a>, according to the teen's stepdad Michael Rougier.</p>
<p>"There's no room for that in the classroom," Rougier <a href="http://www.kob.com/article/stories/s3244757.shtml" type="external">told KOB Eyewitness News 4</a>.</p>
<p>The school district agreed.</p>
<p>According to a spokesperson for Rio Rancho Public Schools, the unnamed teacher self-reported the incident to officials after recognizing his "stupid mistake," <a href="http://www.elpasotimes.com/latestnews/ci_24723833/new-mexico-teacher-disciplined-santa-is-white-remark" type="external">and has been disciplined "appropriately</a>."</p>
<p>He was also made to apologize to Christopher and his family.</p> | Teacher In Trouble After Telling Black Student He Can't Dress Up As 'White' Santa | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2013/12/teacher-trouble-after-telling-black | 2013-12-16 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>I reported it to my parents and the police, but because I couldn’t remember big parts of the evening, I wasn’t considered credible and no one believed me –</p>
<p>not even my parents. My grades dropped, my weight plummeted and the entire school knew and believed his side of the story.</p>
<p>I internalized everything and became a shell of who I was before the incident. It was years before I forgave myself for making a horrible mistake. Ultimately, I moved in with my grandmother several states away to finish high school, far away from my parents and the pain.</p>
<p>Would it be appropriate to share this story (or a redacted version) with my daughters to help them understand the risks of teenage drinking? They are at the age when they are surrounded by temptation and curiosity, and their father and I can’t shield them from everything. Would I be doing them a disservice by not telling them? – UNDECIDED IN NEVADA</p>
<p>DEAR UNDECIDED: You would be doing your daughters a favor if, along with warning them about underage drinking, you shared your story with them. If you do, it will help them understand that drinking can have unintended, sometimes lifelong consequences. Forewarned is forearmed.</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: Is it possible to have a relationship with a man 20 years younger? I rented my spare room to him, and over the past month, we have spent a lot of time together and grown very close.</p>
<p>He has made it clear that he’s attracted to me, and I’m attracted to him as well. I am afraid of what people may think and say, and I worry about the long term. What are your thoughts? – RELATIONSHIP ISSUE</p>
<p>DEAR ISSUE: I gather from your letter that you are 40-plus years old. If you are still worried about what people may think, refrain from doing what you’re considering, because people do tend to talk. Since no one can predict how long the “long term” might be, my advice is to guard your heart. Because there are no guarantees in life, proceed with caution.</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: When you are on the phone with someone and the call is dropped, who is supposed to call who back? I spent five minutes trying to call my mom back while she was trying to call me. It was very frustrating; both of us kept getting voicemail.</p>
<p>Mom says the person who received the call should be the person who calls back. I say the person who MADE the call should be the person who calls back. – UNSURE IN SAN DIEGO</p>
<p>DEAR UNSURE: While I agree with you, no rule of etiquette dictates who should call the other person back in the event of a dropped call. Long waits also happen when a caller doesn’t realize the call has dropped and continues talking. Frankly, it has been my experience that the callback is usually made by the person who can get through first. And the first sentence uttered is usually, “So, where were we?”</p>
<p>Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.</p>
<p />
<p /> | DEAR ABBY: Mom’s painful past is warning to girls about teen drinking | false | https://abqjournal.com/1049601/headline-here.html | 2 |
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<p>BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal officials are proposing approving Idaho's request to loosen field burning rules that backers say offer more flexibility to disperse smoke away from people but that health advocates say will lead to breathing problems for some area residents.</p>
<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed allowing field burning in the state during worse air quality thresholds for ozone.</p>
<p>The agency in a statement said the new rules "may result in better general smoke dispersion and reduced smoke impacts in areas affected by agricultural residue burning."</p>
<p>Field burning rids fields of stubble and pests. In Idaho, it runs from March to September, with about 35,000 to 45,000 acres burned annually.</p>
<p>Rural areas can have high background ozone levels, and health advocates say combining increased ozone with particulate matter caused by field burning can trigger health problems in children, the elderly, and those with lung diseases.</p>
<p>"They don't consider that when ozone levels are higher, that inflames your lungs and makes it much harder to recover from a high (particulate matter) event," said Patti Gora-McRavin of Safe Air For Everyone.</p>
<p>Currently, farmers are allowed to burn fields when ozone levels are less than 75 percent of the EPA limit of 75 parts per billion, and had faced a reduction to 75 percent of 70 parts per billion under new federal rules. Idaho officials said that would have eliminated a third to a half of potential field burning days in the state.</p>
<p>The new Idaho rules will allow field burning at 90 percent of 70 parts per billion. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality said that's enough of a difference to significantly increase the number of potential field burning days, making it possible to burn on days when weather conditions will lift smoke straight up and away from people on the ground.</p>
<p>"Our goal is that nobody breathe any of this," said John Tippets, director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.</p>
<p>Field burning was banned in Idaho in early 2007 after the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals agreed with Safe Air For Everyone that the EPA's approval of Idaho field burning at the time didn't follow federal law. Safe Air documented what it said were numerous deaths due to breathing problems from field burning as well as car crashes caused by smoke limiting visibility on highways.</p>
<p>Field burning resumed in 2008 after Safe Air, farmers and state officials agreed on limits for when field burning could take place. Gora-McRavin said her group has recorded no deaths due to field burning since then.</p>
<p>Tippets said that following those rules being put in place, complaints about field burning in Idaho dropped from thousands per year to about 20 annually. He said the change now being proposed is mostly keeping the status quo while allowing more flexibility.</p>
<p>"I absolutely believe that it's protective of public health," he said. "We believe it's going to be more protective of public health."</p>
<p>Gora-McRavin said her group is not convinced, especially because the state ignored a proposal to decrease allowable particulate matter from field burning in exchange for an increase in ozone levels.</p>
<p>"We didn't necessarily disagree with their proposal (on ozone)," she said. "But we wanted to add a comparable particulate matter safety level so people don't get a double dose of lung irritants."</p>
<p>The EPA is taking comments on the new plan through Feb. 21.</p>
<p>BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal officials are proposing approving Idaho's request to loosen field burning rules that backers say offer more flexibility to disperse smoke away from people but that health advocates say will lead to breathing problems for some area residents.</p>
<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed allowing field burning in the state during worse air quality thresholds for ozone.</p>
<p>The agency in a statement said the new rules "may result in better general smoke dispersion and reduced smoke impacts in areas affected by agricultural residue burning."</p>
<p>Field burning rids fields of stubble and pests. In Idaho, it runs from March to September, with about 35,000 to 45,000 acres burned annually.</p>
<p>Rural areas can have high background ozone levels, and health advocates say combining increased ozone with particulate matter caused by field burning can trigger health problems in children, the elderly, and those with lung diseases.</p>
<p>"They don't consider that when ozone levels are higher, that inflames your lungs and makes it much harder to recover from a high (particulate matter) event," said Patti Gora-McRavin of Safe Air For Everyone.</p>
<p>Currently, farmers are allowed to burn fields when ozone levels are less than 75 percent of the EPA limit of 75 parts per billion, and had faced a reduction to 75 percent of 70 parts per billion under new federal rules. Idaho officials said that would have eliminated a third to a half of potential field burning days in the state.</p>
<p>The new Idaho rules will allow field burning at 90 percent of 70 parts per billion. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality said that's enough of a difference to significantly increase the number of potential field burning days, making it possible to burn on days when weather conditions will lift smoke straight up and away from people on the ground.</p>
<p>"Our goal is that nobody breathe any of this," said John Tippets, director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.</p>
<p>Field burning was banned in Idaho in early 2007 after the 9th U.S. Circuit of Appeals agreed with Safe Air For Everyone that the EPA's approval of Idaho field burning at the time didn't follow federal law. Safe Air documented what it said were numerous deaths due to breathing problems from field burning as well as car crashes caused by smoke limiting visibility on highways.</p>
<p>Field burning resumed in 2008 after Safe Air, farmers and state officials agreed on limits for when field burning could take place. Gora-McRavin said her group has recorded no deaths due to field burning since then.</p>
<p>Tippets said that following those rules being put in place, complaints about field burning in Idaho dropped from thousands per year to about 20 annually. He said the change now being proposed is mostly keeping the status quo while allowing more flexibility.</p>
<p>"I absolutely believe that it's protective of public health," he said. "We believe it's going to be more protective of public health."</p>
<p>Gora-McRavin said her group is not convinced, especially because the state ignored a proposal to decrease allowable particulate matter from field burning in exchange for an increase in ozone levels.</p>
<p>"We didn't necessarily disagree with their proposal (on ozone)," she said. "But we wanted to add a comparable particulate matter safety level so people don't get a double dose of lung irritants."</p>
<p>The EPA is taking comments on the new plan through Feb. 21.</p> | Federal agency proposes approving Idaho field burning rules | false | https://apnews.com/amp/a1cd874550704bad9117ec666aa83b14 | 2018-01-23 | 2 |
<p>It’s been a long time coming, but <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/news/rock-roll-hall-of-fame-inductees-2018-bon-jovi-1202638849/" type="external">Bon Jovi will finally be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame</a> as part of the Class of 2018. For founder, frontman and namesake Jon <a href="http://variety.com/t/bon-jovi/" type="external">Bon Jovi</a>, Wednesday morning’s news came with many emotions.</p>
<p>“It’s good news for everybody,” he tells Variety. “For the band, for the people who support us, for our families. A lot of people are very happy and proud. Some of us are even relieved!”</p>
<p>Wednesday morning’s induction announcement — which will see the group inducted along with the Moody Blues, the Cars, Dire Straits, Nina Simone and gospel singer-guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe — is a validation for the New Jersey rockers, who missed out in a previous run in 2011. <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/news/jon-bon-jovi-talks-soul-foundation-charity-upcoming-tour-1202604932/" type="external">Bon Jovi</a> credited the band’s supportive fan base, who came out strong with a dominating public fan vote of 1,162,146 votes, 214,000 ahead of The Moody Blues.</p>
<p>“The last time we were nominated there wasn’t a fan vote. There were a lot of people wondering why we didn’t get in that year. It was very closed and questions were never answered,” he says. “But after that and as a result, they have this fan vote. The Hall has recognized that it’s the people’s Hall, and we are really grateful to have the support that we didn’t have the benefit of last time.”</p>
<p>The last time Bon Jovi stepped foot in the hall was when the group performed as part of the opening ceremonies in 1995, standing alongside “the company of legends.”</p>
<p>“We were in the company of all the legends,” he recalls. “Chuck Berry was there, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash. We played with [Animals singer] Eric Burdon, who is obviously one of my huge influences,” he says. “That night is still very much alive in my memory. That is the only time I was ever there.”</p>
<p>And in answer to the question that seems to be asked about at least one inductee every year, Bon Jovi says everyone will be invited to the ceremony — including former bassist Alec John Such and <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/news/bon-jovi-rock-hall-fame-richie-sambora-1202638857/" type="external">estranged guitarist Richie Sambora.</a></p>
<p>“Richie and Alec are both going to be a part in all of the festivities,” he says. “Al came to see the band at [MetLife] Stadium, and it has been five years since we’ve seen Richie. Time flies! We are welcoming them both, and inviting them to come on[stage]. It’s just a joyous celebration. Come and participate — both of them!”</p>
<p>As for the set list? That’s a bit trickier, because the group has had four Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 hits — and Jon had one with his &#160;1990 solo single “Blaze of Glory” — and a typical Hall of Fame set is three songs.</p>
<p>“I am toying around with some ideas — you want to represent a whole catalog of music and not just be on one or two albums,” he says. “We could just do [the late ‘80s hits] ‘You Give Love a Bad Name,’ ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ and ‘Wanted Dead or Alive,’ but there is a lot of other music. ‘Bad Medicine,’ ‘I’ll Be There for You,’ and how do you not play ‘Always,’ ‘Bed of Roses,’ ‘Keep the Faith’ — it goes on and on. Start with ‘Runaway’? I don’t know!”</p>
<p>As for who might induct the band, Bon Jovi would only say that the Hall has its own rules.</p>
<p>The induction is just one of many milestones in Bon Jovi’s personal journey. He was inducted along with Sambora into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the group was inducted into the UK Hall of Fame in 2006. &#160;But there are many more in the band’s history.</p>
<p>“The first that comes to mind is playing Times Square after 9/11, and doing the telethon and launching the NFL season to half a million people in Times Square to say ‘We’re here and we’re back as a country, and not afraid to be out in public,’” he says. “The intimacy of that telethon, or the [Hurricane] Sandy telethon, which was five years ago yesterday. We have had too many to remember.”</p>
<p>The story isn’t over. Bon Jovi is already in rehearsals gearing up for a 2018 tour, and two new songs are ready to be released as part of a re-release of 2016’s No. 1 album, “This House Is Not for Sale.” One song, “Walls,” represents what is going on in the country.</p>
<p>“In light of this crazy world in which we live, it has taken me a year to process some of it and be able to write it into lyrics,” he says.</p>
<p>The other, “When We Were Us,” is the more personal story of the band. “One is from column A and one from column B, just to get the new material out, let it be a little more diverse and be two tracks worth,” he says.</p>
<p>He says the songs represent the latest evolution of the band’s sound, which he considers the key to its longevity.</p>
<p>“The last thing you want to do is chase something that is popular just to chase it,” he says. “The prerequisites for being in the hall is that your music had to have made an impression on the culture and stood the test of time. If you are chasing something instead of becoming something who you are naturally, it’s hard for me to think that we would be here talking today.”</p>
<p>As for his fellow inductees, Bon Jovi has one specific hope for the evening.</p>
<p>“I really do hope Dire Straits gets back together for it. I think it will be awesome. Everybody that was on that list is great and we could have easily come up with five more that you would have thought were automatics and everybody on it was deserved,” he says. “It’s not easy being on the other side of this, but just to say to all the other nominees: you’re great.”</p> | Jon Bon Jovi Talks Rock Hall of Fame Induction – ‘Some of Us Are Even Relieved!’ – and Whether Richie Sambora Is Invited | false | https://newsline.com/jon-bon-jovi-talks-rock-hall-of-fame-induction-some-of-us-are-even-relieved-and-whether-richie-sambora-is-invited/ | 2017-12-13 | 1 |
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<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — Panel to talk about power line safety</p>
<p>The Public Regulation Commission’s Wildfire Task Force will meet today to take up the issue of how to prevent downed or damaged power lines from sparking more forest fires.</p>
<p>Commissioner Valerie Espinoza raised the issue of power line safety after two major forest fires were started late in May when high winds brought down power lines.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Today’s meeting is scheduled for from 5:30-7 p.m. on the fourth floor of the PERA Building at 1120 Paseo de Peralta.</p>
<p />
<p>Victims’ family ups DWI awareness</p>
<p>Members of the Santa Fe Police Department will participate in a motorcycle run Saturday to benefit the Peshlakai family from Naschitti, who lost two young women following a drunk driving crash in Santa Fe.</p>
<p>On March 5, 2010 Peshlakai sisters Del Lynn, 19, and Deshauna, 17, and their parents were on their way home from a basketball tournament when a drunk driver slammed into the back of their car and killed them on Cerrillos Road.</p>
<p>The family is hosting its fourth annual motorcycle run to raise money, push for tougher DWI laws and spread awareness about the dangers of driving drunk.</p>
<p>There are two routes scheduled for Saturday. The first starts in Naschitti with registration at 7 a.m.</p>
<p>The second starts in Farmington at American Home Furnishings, 1001 W. Broadway Ave., with registration at 8 a.m.</p>
<p>Both routes will meet at San Felipe Pueblo’s Casino Hollywood around 1 p.m. and follow Interstate 25 into Santa Fe, ending with a memorial service at the crash site near the intersection of Cerrillos and Cristos. That event is expected to start about 2 p.m. Registration for the ride is $25.</p>
<p>Santa Fe Police will be helping with escort services and participating in the memorial.</p> | Around Northern New Mexico | false | https://abqjournal.com/212960/around-northern-new-mexico-415.html | 2013-06-21 | 2 |
<p>The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/27/angela-merkel-signals-u-turn-on-gay-marriage-in-germany" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>Angela Merkel has signaled a change in her party’s opposition to gay marriage after stating MPs should be allowed a free vote in the German parliament.</p>
<p>Speaking at an event organised by women’s magazine Brigitte, the German chancellor said she felt aggrieved that the gay marriage debate was mainly carried out along party lines and that she hoped the discussion would be “headed towards a conscience vote”.</p>
<p>It is widely believed the Bundestag would legalise gay marriage in a free vote on the issue. Germany is one of a few western countries where gay marriage is still not legal. Civil partnership has been allowed since 2001, but Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union has resisted calls to open up marriage to same sex couples.</p>
<p>Deutsche Welle reports on how the revelation <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/is-angela-merkel-about-to-shift-her-partys-position-on-gay-marriage/a-39429463" type="external">went down</a>:</p>
<p>With just a few minutes left for questions from the audience, a gay man challenged the chancellor on the issue of same-sex marriage: He said that he wanted to know when he would finally be allowed to refer to his registered partner as “my husband.”</p>
<p>Merkel replied that she had noticed that all other parties in the Bundestag were in favor of same-sex marriage, and that the idea of gay marriage enjoyed widespread support among German voters. And then she dropped an unexpected political bombshell: Merkel said she “hopes” that the debate will shift “into the direction of a decision of conscience.”</p>
<p>In non-political speak this mean that there could soon be a vote in the Bundestag without party whip control on the issue, suggesting that same-sex marriage may only be months away from becoming a legal reality in Germany.</p>
<p />
<p /> | GERMANY: Merkel Signals Green Light For Marriage | true | http://joemygod.com/2017/06/27/germany-merkel-signals-green-light-marriage/ | 2017-06-27 | 4 |
<p>PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on upcoming programming from the TV Critics meeting in Pasadena, California (all times local):</p>
<p>3 p.m. The 1988 cult movie "Heathers" and the title characters get makeovers in a new TV series debuting March 7 on the Paramount Network, formerly Spike TV.</p>
<p>In the big-screen dark comedy, the queen bees who shared the name Heather were three white high school students. They were played by Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk and Kim Walker.</p>
<p>The TV show's trio includes a girl of color and a boy named Heath, who is gay.</p>
<p>The teenagers represent "marginalized communities" who trash everyone around them, said Brendan Scannell, who plays Heath.</p>
<p>Unlike the film, the show can take a deeper look at what motivates the characters, said executive producer Jason Micallef.</p>
<p>He sees both the original Heathers and the new ones as victims, not villains, which the show will explore, Micallef told TV critics Monday.</p>
<p>Doherty, who played Heather Duke in the movie, will guest star in three episodes, including the first, he said, declining to provide details about her role.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:45 p.m.</p>
<p>Kevin Costner isn't a big believer in doing film sequels for a simple reason.</p>
<p>Costner told TV critics Monday that the writing often isn't as good as in the original movie and it's the screenplay that draws him to a project.</p>
<p>He says that's why he's starring in "Yellowstone," a 10-part drama series debuting June 20 on the new Paramount Television network, the rebranded Spike TV.</p>
<p>The actor says that when he likes a script, it isn't just because he has a good part, but that all the characters are "doing a nice dance."</p>
<p>Costner plays the owner of a vast, family-owned ranch who is trying to resist encroachment by developers and others. The ensemble cast includes Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Jill Hennessey and Josh Lucas.</p>
<p>PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on upcoming programming from the TV Critics meeting in Pasadena, California (all times local):</p>
<p>3 p.m. The 1988 cult movie "Heathers" and the title characters get makeovers in a new TV series debuting March 7 on the Paramount Network, formerly Spike TV.</p>
<p>In the big-screen dark comedy, the queen bees who shared the name Heather were three white high school students. They were played by Shannen Doherty, Lisanne Falk and Kim Walker.</p>
<p>The TV show's trio includes a girl of color and a boy named Heath, who is gay.</p>
<p>The teenagers represent "marginalized communities" who trash everyone around them, said Brendan Scannell, who plays Heath.</p>
<p>Unlike the film, the show can take a deeper look at what motivates the characters, said executive producer Jason Micallef.</p>
<p>He sees both the original Heathers and the new ones as victims, not villains, which the show will explore, Micallef told TV critics Monday.</p>
<p>Doherty, who played Heather Duke in the movie, will guest star in three episodes, including the first, he said, declining to provide details about her role.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>12:45 p.m.</p>
<p>Kevin Costner isn't a big believer in doing film sequels for a simple reason.</p>
<p>Costner told TV critics Monday that the writing often isn't as good as in the original movie and it's the screenplay that draws him to a project.</p>
<p>He says that's why he's starring in "Yellowstone," a 10-part drama series debuting June 20 on the new Paramount Television network, the rebranded Spike TV.</p>
<p>The actor says that when he likes a script, it isn't just because he has a good part, but that all the characters are "doing a nice dance."</p>
<p>Costner plays the owner of a vast, family-owned ranch who is trying to resist encroachment by developers and others. The ensemble cast includes Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Jill Hennessey and Josh Lucas.</p> | The Latest: Film 'Heathers' gets makeover in TV version | false | https://apnews.com/amp/a94b9d8a30e3423aa66cd30e342aa857 | 2018-01-15 | 2 |
<p>One-time New Testament professor Linda McKinnish Bridges will return to Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond as president if approved by the Virginia seminary’s trustee board March 21.</p>
<p>A presidential search committee <a href="https://www.btsr.edu/bridges2btsr/" type="external">announced</a> her nomination to replace current President Ron Crawford, who retires July 1.</p>
<p>Linda McKinnish Bridges</p>
<p>McKinnish Bridges, currently senior director of <a href="http://shorelight.com/" type="external">Shorelight Education</a>, a consulting firm based in Boston that specializes in international higher education, was part of the original faculty when BTSR opened for classes in 1991.</p>
<p>She moved to Wake Forest University in 2001, holding a variety of positions at the school in Winston-Salem, N.C.: associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, consultant to the provost, associate director of admissions and adjunct professor , director of admissions for Wake Forest Divinity School, director of the WFU China Initiative and associate dean of admissions and director of program development in China in the provost’s office.</p>
<p>Since January 2016 she has been managing director of the <a href="http://www.iua.org/" type="external">International University Alliance</a>, a global network of educational institutions working together to build international relationships.</p>
<p>Daughter of a “ <a href="" type="internal">mountain preacher</a>” who led churches in North and South Carolina and preached revivals across a dozen states, McKinnish Bridges graduated from Meredith College before serving with her husband as a Southern Baptist missionary to Taiwan, where she preached on weekends in Mandarin Chinese.</p>
<p>She returned to the United States to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where she earned both the M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees and was active in the founding of Baptist Women in Ministry.</p>
<p>She was invited to teach Greek at the seminary during the 1980s-era theological conflict in the Southern Baptist Convention,&#160;but was eventually <a href="" type="internal">told</a> her contract would not be renewed because the school’s conservative leaders did not approve of a woman teaching or holding authority over men.</p>
<p>If elected McKinnish Bridges will become third president of the free-standing seminary formed by the Alliance of Baptists, and the first woman to hold the position. Today it is one of 15 theological education programs <a href="http://www.cbf.net/partner-directory/" type="external">partnering</a> with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.</p>
<p>“Rev. Dr. Linda McKinnish Bridges represents our heritage as one of the seminary’s original professors at its founding,” said Bert Browning, chair of the presidential search committee. “She embodies our hope, as we look to her wise leadership for the challenging and promising days ahead. She joins us in the here and now to link our past and our future.”</p>
<p>On top of her theological studies, she added an MBA from Wake Forest University in 2004.</p> | One of Richmond seminary’s original professors nominated as its president | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/one-of-richmond-seminarys-original-professors-nominated-as-its-president/ | 3 |
|
<p>DETROIT (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday evening’s drawing of the Michigan Lottery’s “Fantasy 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-09-33-34-39</p>
<p>(five, nine, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $100,000</p>
<p>DETROIT (AP) _ The winning numbers in Sunday evening’s drawing of the Michigan Lottery’s “Fantasy 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-09-33-34-39</p>
<p>(five, nine, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $100,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Fantasy 5’ game | false | https://apnews.com/310edd7b48db4f7c902ca8a39c5cc5a3 | 2018-01-22 | 2 |
<p>WASHINGTON - Just two hours after WND reported MoveOn.org still had an active petition calling on the U.S. government not to designate the jihadist group Boko Haram a terrorist organization, the leftist website suddenly removed the petition. Boko Haram is the very same group that has enraged the world [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/moveon-org-petition-supports-girls-kidnappers/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at www.wnd.com</a></p>
<p /> | Liberal website 'MoveOn.org' shamed into dropping petition supporting girls' kidnappers | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/moveon-org-shamed-into-dropping-petition-supporting-girls-kidnappers/ | 0 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />May 7, 2013</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>As I <a href="" type="internal">mentioned two weeks ago</a>, the Gang of 8 immigration bill, <a href="" type="internal">S. 744</a>, extended to 844 pages of indecipherable governmentese. Here’s an example of what I quoted:</p>
<p>Page 65:</p>
<p>17 (ii) EXCEPTIONS.—The discretionary&#160; 18 authority under clause (i) may not be used&#160; 19 to waive—&#160; 20 ‘‘(I) subparagraph (B), (C),&#160; 21 (D)(ii), (E), (G), (H), or (I) of section&#160; 22 212(a)(2);&#160; 23 ‘‘(II) section 212(a)(3);&#160; 24 ‘‘(III) subparagraph (A), (C),&#160; 25 (D), or (E) of section 212(a)(10); or 66</p>
<p>Seriously. That’s the actual wording of the bill. You can <a href="http://www.schumer.senate.gov/forms/immigration.pdf" type="external">look it up</a>.</p>
<p>It’s been amended and the <a href="http://www.schumer.senate.gov/forms/immigration.pdf" type="external">new version</a>now extends to 867 pages of indecipherable governmentese. It’s inching toward the preposterous <a href="http://blogs.star-telegram.com/investigations/2011/11/texas-officials-supreme-court-to-review-2400-or-2700-page-obamacare-bill.html" type="external">2,409 pages of Obamacare</a>. When Obamacare was passed, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, <a href="http://blog.heritage.org/2010/03/10/video-of-the-week-we-have-to-pass-the-bill-so-you-can-find-out-what-is-in-it/" type="external">famously said of it</a>, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” Three years later, we still don’t know what’s in it.</p>
<p>The same thing would happen if S. 744 ever becomes law, in whatever even more bloated size it might assume.</p>
<p>Although something has to be done on immigration, the last body to do it is the U.S. Congress. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/10/graph-of-the-day-congress-is-less-popular-than-lice-colonoscopies-and-nickelback/" type="external">According to a poll in January</a>, Congress is less popular than lice, Genghis Khan and getting a root canal.</p>
<p>Probably the best solution to the problem would be to exile all 535 members of Congress from the country and start over with new elections to replace them.</p> | Immigration bill bloats to 867 pages | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2013/05/07/immigration-bill-bloats-to-867-pages/ | 2018-05-20 | 3 |
<p>Real estate mogul Donald Trump is not pleased that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan hasn't been willing to support him yet, and the smear campaign has begun.</p>
<p>Trump's spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson, slammed Ryan for refusing to support to Trump, and said that Ryan isn't fit to be speaker.</p>
<p>"We were told to hold our noses and vote for the sake of the party," Pierson <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/spokeswoman-ryan-not-fit-to-be-speaker-if-he-cant-back-trump/article/2590571?custom_click=rss" type="external">said</a>. "These same people are now telling us that because their guy didn't win, they want to hurt the party. If you can't hold yourself to the standard that you're holding everyone else to, the problem is with you."</p>
<p>Pierson called on Ryan to unite the party.</p>
<p>While it's true that many within the establishment that cajoled conservatives to vote for their candidate are hypocritical – and Ryan certainly is establishment, as evident by his <a href="" type="internal">horrific stealth budget</a> – the Ryan vs. Trump feud represents everything that's wrong with the Republican Party.</p>
<p>As <a href="" type="internal">The Daily Wire</a> editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro writes, "This, in a nutshell, is the problem with the Trump consolidation. It mashes together pseudo-conservatives with non-conservatism, then presents it as conservatism. The left couldn’t be more excited. The insanity of attempting to oust a Speaker of the House who wants to reform entitlements in favor of a Republican nominee who says he won’t touch them -- all in the name of conservatism, supposedly -- is absolutely breathtaking."</p>
<p>"This, in a nutshell, is the problem with the Trump consolidation. It mashes together pseudo-conservatives with non-conservatism, then presents it as conservatism."</p>
<p>Ben Shapiro</p>
<p>Shapiro continues, "But that’s where we are. Which is why it’s important for conservatives, both anti-Trump and pro-Trump, to stand up and declare that there is legitimate conservative opposition to Trumpism instead of silently standing behind the most leftist Republican nominee in the history of the party."</p>
<p>(h/t: <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/spokeswoman-ryan-not-fit-to-be-speaker-if-he-cant-back-trump/article/2590571?custom_click=rss" type="external">The Washington Examine</a>r)</p> | Trump Spokeswoman: Ryan Shouldn’t Be Speaker | true | https://dailywire.com/news/5523/trump-spokeswoman-ryan-shouldnt-be-speaker-aaron-bandler | 2016-05-06 | 0 |
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<p>Many parents struggle to keep up with the numerous expenses that come with having children, but if you have kids, you may get some federal income tax relief this year. If you claim the Child Tax Credit, you could reduce your tax liability by up to $1,000 per child. Here's a rundown of how this credit works and why it's given so many parents a reason to celebrate.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.</p>
<p>The Child Tax Credit is one of the simplest tax credits available to parents today. Depending on your income, you may be able to lower your federal income tax by up to $1,000 for every qualifying child you have in your family under the age of 17.</p>
<p>Now as tends to be the case with many tax credits, the amount of money you earn will impact the ultimate value of the Child Tax Credit on your return. The credit starts to phase out at the following income levels:</p>
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<p>For each $1,000 of income you bring in above these thresholds, your credit will be reduced by $50 -- which also means that high enough earners won't get the credit at all. So if you're a single filer with one qualifying child earning $76,000 a year, you'll be eligible for $950 as opposed to the full $1,000. Keep in mind, however, that this reduction is per family, not per child, so if you have two children and earn $1,000 over the limit, your credit will go down by just $50, not $100.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the Child Tax Credit is nonrefundable, which means that the most it can do is take your tax liability down to zero. Refundable credits work differently. When a refundable credit reduces your tax liability to below zero, you're able to get a check for the difference. But if you owe $600 in taxes before the Child Tax Credit and are eligible for $1,000 courtesy of it, you won't receive a check for the remaining $400. Rather, you just won't owe any money on your taxes. There is, however, a related credit called the <a href="http://www.fool.com/how-to-invest/personal-finance/taxes/2014/11/22/how-the-child-tax-credit-can-help-you.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Additional Child Tax Credit Opens a New Window.</a>, which may provide a refund if you don't end up owing any money in taxes.</p>
<p>You're eligible for the Child Tax Credit the year your first child is born, regardless of when that happens. So if your child is born on December 31, 2016, you can still claim the Child Tax Credit for the 2016 tax year.</p>
<p>Another thing to remember about the Child Tax Credit is that like all credits, it will reduce your income dollar-for-dollar for tax purposes. Deductions, by contrast, reduce your taxable income, which can work out quite differently. A $1,000 tax deduction means you don't have to pay taxes on $1,000 in income. If your effective tax is rate 25%, that saves you $250 on your taxes. But if you get a $1,000 credit, you'll automatically shave that full $1,000 off your taxes.</p>
<p>All in all, the Child Tax Credit has saved more than 22.5 million taxpayers over $27 billion on their taxes, so if you have children under the age of 17, it pays to see if you're eligible. The cost of raising kids isn't going down anytime soon, so it pays to take advantage of whatever <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/14/do-parents-get-special-tax-breaks.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">tax breaks Opens a New Window.</a> you're eligible for.</p>
<p>The $15,834 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $15,834 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | The Child Tax Credit: What You Need to Know | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/15/child-tax-credit-what-need-to-know.html | 2016-11-15 | 0 |
<p />
<p>By Right Wing News’ Cassy Fiano</p>
<p>June is Gay Pride Month and the United States women’s soccer team is celebrating by wearing gay pride jerseys in their upcoming matches against Sweden and Norway. But not everyone on the team is willing to play along. <a href="http://www.youngcons.com/a-christian-u-s-soccer-player-just-withdrew-from-june-games-to-avoid-wearing-pride-themed-jersey/" type="external">One Christian player is refusing</a>, even though it means she won’t get to play.</p>
<p>John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Jaelene Hinkle has decided to skip the upcoming games for “personal reasons.” But Hinkle is known to be an outspoken Christian who is not shy about voicing her beliefs on the LGBT agenda and same-sex marriage. When the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, for example, Hinkle took to Instagram to voice her opposition.</p>
<p>“I believe with every fiber in my body that what was written 2,000 years ago in the Bible is undoubtedly true,” she wrote. “It’s not a fictional book. It’s not a pick and choose what you want to believe. You either believe it, or you don’t. This world may change, but Christ and His Word NEVER will.”</p>
<p /> | U.S. Soccer Team DEMANDS They Wear GAY PRIDE Jerseys & Christian Players Give EPIC Response | true | http://rightwingnews.com/top-news/u-s-soccer-team-demands-wear-gay-pride-jerseys-christian-players-give-epic-response-2/ | 2018-06-20 | 0 |
<p>Washington Post "Who guards the gatekeepers of the wayward press?" writes former Los Angeles Times editor Shelby Coffey III. Ken Auletta does that job, he says. "Our modern Leibling [sic] has prime access, a fine ear and smooth narrative clarity, especially about business strategy." The New Yorker media writer "managed to get the back story of the L.A. Times shakeup quite well -- including a few closely held thoughts of mine from sources I haven't been able to identify to this day," writes Coffey. &gt; <a href="http://www.sunspot.net/features/arts/bal-bk.argu25jan25,0,5237197.story" type="external">Criticism by Auletta, Liebling shows fondness for newspapers (BaltSun)</a></p> | New Yorker's Auletta is a modern Liebling, says ex-LAT editor | false | https://poynter.org/news/new-yorkers-auletta-modern-liebling-says-ex-lat-editor | 2004-01-26 | 2 |
<p />
<p>U.S. retail sales were unexpectedly flat in July as Americans cut back on purchases of clothing and other goods, pointing to a moderation in consumer spending that could temper expectations of an acceleration in economic growth in the third quarter.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Commerce Department said on Friday that the unchanged reading last month followed an upwardly revised 0.8 percent increase in June. Retail sales in June were previously reported to have increased 0.6 percent.</p>
<p>Sales rose 2.3 percent from a year ago. Excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services, retail sales were also unchanged last month after an unrevised 0.5 percent increase in June.</p>
<p>These so-called core retail sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product. Economists had forecast overall retail sales rising 0.4 percent and core sales climbing 0.3 percent last month.</p>
<p>Robust consumer spending helped to cushion the blow on the economy from an inventory correction and prolonged drag from lower oil prices, which restricted GDP growth to an average 1.0 percent annualized rate in the last three quarters.</p>
<p>Friday's data suggested consumer spending was cooling after the second quarter's brisk 4.2 percent rate of increase.</p>
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<p>Despite the surprise weakness in July, consumer spending remains supported by a strong labor market, as well as rising home and stock market prices. The economy created a total of 547,000 jobs in June and July.</p>
<p>The Atlanta Fed is currently forecasting the economy to grow at a 3.7 percent annualized rate in the third quarter.</p>
<p>Automobile, furniture and online sales were the only bright spots in July. Sales at auto dealerships increased 1.1 percent in July after rising 0.5 percent in June.</p>
<p>Online retail sales jumped 1.3 percent, while receipts at clothing stores fell 0.5 percent.</p>
<p>With consumers cutting back on discretionary spending, sales at sporting goods and hobby stores fell 2.2 percent. Receipts at building materials and garden equipment retailers fell 0.5 percent.</p>
<p>There were declines in sales at electronics and appliance outlets and service stations. Americans also cut back on spending at restaurants and bars.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)</p> | Retail Sales Were Unexpectedly Unchanged in July | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/12/retail-sales-were-unexpectedly-unchanged-in-july.html | 2016-08-12 | 0 |
<p>* Shanghai stocks higher, blue-chip CSI300 index up</p>
<p>* Gains in Shanghai stocks led by Guizhou Wire Rope Co Ltd and losses by Eastern Gold Jade Co Ltd</p>
<p>* China’s A-shares at a 28.75 percent premium over H-shares</p>
<p>SHANGHAI, Jan 18 (Reuters) - China stocks climbed on Thursday to end at two-year highs, underpinned by robust gains in banking and infrastructure firms. Share markets closed just as China was announcing that it had annual economic growth of 6.8 percent in October-December. ** At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 31.24 points or 0.91 percent at 3,475.91. ** The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.58 percent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.94 percent, the consumer staples sector up 0.14 percent, the real estate index down 1.1 percent and healthcare sub-index down 0.62 percent . ** The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 0.13 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.23 percent. ** Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.2 percent while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.44 percent. ** At 07:01 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.4349 per U.S. dollar, 0.02 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.4335. ** The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Guizhou Wire Rope Co Ltd up 10.04 percent, followed by Qinghai Spring Medicinal Resources Technology Co Ltd gaining 10.04 percent and XINJIANG KORLA PEAR CO LTD up by 10 percent. ** The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Eastern Gold Jade Co Ltd down 10.04 percent, followed by Shanghai U9 Game Co Ltd losing 8.77 percent and Lawton Development Co Ltd down by 5.95 percent. ** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 4.16 percent, the CSI300 has gained 6 percent, while China’s H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 9.9 percent. Shanghai stocks have risen 4.16 percent this month. ** About 22.00 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 132.8 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average of 16.57 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 26.10 billion. ** As of 07:02 GMT, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 28.79 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. ** The Shanghai stock index is above its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. ** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 15.59 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 1.9 percent. ** So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has risen by 0.40 percent to 30.23 trillion yuan. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Richard Borsuk)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SYDNEY (Reuters) - Share markets started firmer in Asia on Monday amid relief U.S.-led strikes on Syria looked like being a one-off event that avoided a direct confrontation with Russia, weighing on oil prices and safe-haven Treasuries.</p> A man looks at an electronic stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan February 9, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai
<p>EMini futures for the S&amp;P 500 ESc1 sprang 0.6 percent higher in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei <a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.N225" type="external">.N225</a> added 0.3 percent.</p>
<p>MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS edged up 0.1 percent.</p>
<p>The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities in Syria in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7.</p>
<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that further Western attacks on Syria would bring chaos to world affairs, as Washington prepared to increase pressure on Russia with new economic sanctions.</p>
<p>But with President Donald Trump declaring mission accomplished, investors wagered the worst had been avoided.</p>
<p>“Trump was able to enforce his chemical weapons red line without crossing the threshold for Russian retaliation,” said analysts at JPMorgan in a note.</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>“Stocks were concerned about a prolonged and expanded U.S. campaign towards Assad and that doesn’t look probable.”</p>
<p>Safe-haven assets eased in response, with yields on U.S. 10-year Treasury debt US10YT=RR up two basis points at 2.84 percent.</p>
<p>The dollar inched up 0.2 percent on the yen to 107.53 yen <a href="/finance/currencies/quote?srcCurr=JPY&amp;destCurr=USD" type="external">JPY=</a>, and away from last week's low around 106.62.</p>
<a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.N225" type="external">Nikkei Inc</a> 21778.74 .N225 Nikkei Index +118.46 (+0.55%) .N225
<p>The euro was flat at $1.2330 <a href="/finance/currencies/quote?srcCurr=EUR&amp;destCurr=USD" type="external">EUR=</a>, while the dollar index was a fraction firmer at 89.803 .DXY.</p>
<p>In commodity markets, gold dipped 0.1 percent to $1,343.70 an ounce XAU=, and remained well short of last week’s peak at $1,365.23.</p>
<p>Oil prices slipped with Brent crude futures LCOc1 off 31 cents at $72.27 a barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 fell 26 cents to $67.13 a barrel.</p>
<p>Looking ahead, the U.S. earnings season kicks into high gear this week with Thomson Reuters data predicting profits at S&amp;P 500 companies increased by 18.6 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, their biggest rise in seven years.</p>
<p>Yet with expectations so high, bank shares ran into profit-taking on Friday after a batch of mixed results.</p>
<p>In Asia, China reports its gross domestic product for the first quarter on Tuesday with market forecasts clustered around growth of 6.7 percent to 6.8 percent.</p>
<p>The U.S. reports retail sales later Monday and there are around 15 Federal Reserve speakers in the diary for the week.</p>
<p>Also this week, the IMF will hold its annual Spring meetings of central bankers and finance ministers in Washington.</p>
<p>Editing by Shri Navaratnam</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SCHROBENHAUSEN, Germany (Reuters) - Bauer, a big producer of construction equipment, is better placed than many German companies that invested heavily in China over the past few decades.</p> Thomas Bauer, CEO of Bavaria-based construction equipment maker Bauer AG, talks during an interview with Reuters in Schrobenhausen, Germany April 3, 2018. REUTERS/Michael Dalder
<p>The Bavaria-based firm, which traces its roots back to 1790, does not have to worry about keeping a Chinese joint venture partner happy because it is the sole owner of its two plants in Shanghai and Tianjin.</p>
<p>And the specialist engineering machines Bauer produces there are sold in countries across Asia, shielding the group from swings in the volatile Chinese building market.</p>
<p>Even so, CEO Thomas Bauer, the seventh generation in his family to run the firm, is worried about his company’s place in China and a broader economic relationship that until recently was seen by German corporations and politicians as a lucrative one-way bet.</p>
<p>“Germany has put too many eggs into one basket, and that basket is China,” Bauer, a jovial 62-year-old with a thick Bavarian accent, told Reuters at the company’s headquarters in Schrobenhausen, an hour’s drive north of Munich.</p>
<p>Bauer’s BSAG.DE concern points to a growing fear in Germany. For more than a decade, the country has been the growth locomotive of Europe, its economy weathering global financial turmoil, the euro zone debt crisis and a record influx of refugees.</p>
<p>That resilience was based on two key drivers: Germany had innovative firms that produced high-end manufactured goods that fast-growing economies needed; and the country was better than others at profiting from an open, rules-based global trading system that rewarded competitiveness.</p>
<p>China has been crucial on both fronts. Over the past decade it bought up German cars and machinery at an astonishing pace, as it gradually opened up to foreign firms. Last year alone, German manufacturers sold nearly 5 million cars in China, more than three times as many as in the United States.</p>
<p>But even as the good times roll on, a radical shift is taking place in how Deutschland AG views the vast Chinese market.</p>
<p>Not only has the opening of China shifted into reverse under President Xi Jinping, but Chinese firms have moved up the value chain far faster than many in Germany expected.</p>
<p>Germany’s China conundrum is part of a broader challenge facing Europe: Years of inward-focused crisis fighting have left the bloc politically divided and ill-prepared to respond to looming geopolitical and economic challenges. Now the continent risks being squeezed between a more assertive Beijing and the “America First” policies of Donald Trump.</p>
<p>In private, some executives liken the situation of German industry in China to the proverbial frog in a pot of slowly heating water which ends up boiling to death because it won’t or can’t jump out.</p>
<p>Germany’s ambassador to China, Michael Clauss, warned at a meeting with industry chiefs in Berlin last month of “tectonic changes” in the relationship, according to participants.</p>
<p>“We need to prepare people here for a new era in our partnership with China,” an official at Germany’s powerful BDI industry federation said. “These are still golden times. But there is a huge amount of concern about what lies ahead.”</p>
<p>(GRAPHIC: Germany's China problem - <a href="https://tmsnrt.rs/2GUN6BK" type="external">tmsnrt.rs/2GUN6BK</a>)</p> ROLE OF THE STATE
<p>German companies were among the first in the West to set up shop in China, giving Germany an advantage as the Chinese economy took off.</p>
<p>Bilateral trade between the two countries hit a record 187 billion euros last year, dwarfing China’s trade with France and the UK, both around 70 billion. In 2017, Germany ran a trade deficit with China of 14 billion euros, tiny compared to the U.S. deficit of $375 billion, or about 346 billion euros.</p>
<p>Bauer AG, which employs 11,000 workers in 70 countries, built its first production facilities in China in the mid-1990s. At the time, not a single Chinese firm could make the sophisticated drilling machines it produces – towering yellow structures used to build the foundations for skyscrapers, power stations and airports.</p>
<p>By 2013 Bauer counted 36 Chinese competitors able to make such machines, a shift the CEO says was accelerated by European suppliers selling co-designed parts to the Chinese.</p>
<p>A decade ago, the company’s Chinese plants generated revenues of 109 million euros. Sales slumped to less than half that amount in five of the nine years that followed.</p>
<p>Today, what Bauer and other German firms say they are most worried about is the role of the Chinese state in the economy.</p> Slideshow (7 Images)
<p>Last year, China introduced a cyber security law which tightened state control over internet services, including secure VPN connections that are used by foreign firms to communicate confidentially with headquarters. More recently, some German companies have complained of pressure to accept Communist party officials on the boards of their joint ventures.</p>
<p>The Bauer boss fears that Xi’s “Made in China 2025” strategy, which identifies 10 key sectors – including robotics, aerospace and clean-energy cars – where China wants to be a leader, represents a direct challenge to German manufacturing dominance.</p>
<p>To keep its edge Bauer says his firm is focusing intensively on digitalization.</p>
<p>“It will not be a contest against copiers. It will be one against innovative engineers who are intent on overtaking us,” he said. “If we don’t start finding answers soon, this can end very badly.”</p> TRUMP TARIFFS
<p>The German angst over China mirrors that which has prompted Trump to threaten Beijing with tens of billions of dollars in trade tariffs.</p>
<p>But because Germany’s top firms have become so dependent on the Chinese market, the government in Berlin has avoided confronting China head-on.</p>
<p>Back in February, carmaker Daimler ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=DAIGn.DE" type="external">DAIGn.DE</a>) showed just how skittish some companies are about upsetting Beijing.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=DAIGn.DE" type="external">Daimler AG</a> 65.65 DAIGn.DE Xetra +0.18 (+0.27%) DAIGn.DE 000333.SZ KU2G.DE
<p>After a backlash in China over a Mercedez-Benz ad on Instagram that quoted the Dalai Lama – the Tibetan spiritual leader seen by Beijing as a separatist – Daimler deleted the post and its CEO Dieter Zetsche wrote a letter expressing deep regret for the “hurt and grief” his company’s “negligent and insensitive mistake” had caused the Chinese people.</p>
<p>“There is a huge gap between what people in Germany are saying about China and what they are really thinking,” said Bernhard Bartsch of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a German research group.</p>
<p>Later this month, Bertelsmann and Berlin-based China think tank MERICS will host an Oxford Union-style debate on the motion: “In ten years’ time, China will have substantially undermined Europe’s political and economic system”</p>
<p>The mood among German firms operating in China is also souring.</p>
<p>A survey late last year from the German Chamber of Commerce in China showed that for the first time in many years, more than half of its members were not planning investments in new locations in China. Nearly 13 percent of German firms operating in China said they could leave within the next two years.</p>
<p>For decades, Germany’s approach to China could be summed up with the motto “Wandel durch Handel” (change through trade).</p>
<p>Now that strategy is in tatters and government officials joke darkly that the “win-win” relationship has a new meaning: China wins twice.</p>
<p>“The hope was that closer economic ties would lead to an opening. Today it is clear this was a false hope,” said a German government official. “They tell us what we want to hear and then do the opposite.”</p>
<p>Berlin is starting to push back. Last year, after Chinese firm Midea’s ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=000333.SZ" type="external">000333.SZ</a>) takeover of robotics maker Kuka ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=KU2G.DE" type="external">KU2G.DE</a>) sparked an uproar, it tightened restrictions on foreign investments and launched a push for new Europe-wide rules for screening takeovers.</p>
<p>In December, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency infuriated Beijing when it accused Chinese counterparts of using fake social media accounts to gather information on German politicians - a rare public rebuke that Berlin says was intended to send the Chinese a message.</p>
<p>A summit between the German and Chinese governments later this year is likely to reveal a tougher line from Berlin, officials say.</p>
<p>But they also concede that divisions within the EU and a wide gap between Europe and the go-it-alone Trump administration will make it more difficult to force change in Beijing.</p>
<p>“What the Chinese are really worried about is Europe and the United States working together against them,” said the German official. “In that sense, Trump really is a gift to China.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Noah Barkin; Editing by Simon Robinson</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar firmed on Monday, hovering near a two-month high against the yen, after the market gained some clarity following military strikes on Syria by the United States and its allies at the weekend.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. Dollar and Japan Yen notes are seen in this picture illustration June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration/File Photo
<p>The United States, France and Britain launched missiles targeting what the Pentagon said were chemical weapons facilities in Syria on Saturday, in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack on April 7.</p>
<p>Suggesting that the military action would not be prolonged, Trump declared “mission accomplished” after the strikes.</p>
<p>The greenback gained against the yen after the military intervention, although the Japanese currency usually draws demand in times of political tension and market turmoil thanks to its perceived safe-haven status.</p>
<p>The U.S. currency was 0.2 percent higher at 107.515 yen. A rise above Friday’s high of 107.780 yen would take the dollar to its highest since Feb. 22.</p>
<p>“The reaction in currencies have been limited as President Trump had provided advance notice about a possible strike on Syria, giving speculators ample time to brace for the actual event,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior forex strategist at Daiwa Securities.</p>
<p>“Many speculators are showing less of a response to yen-supportive factors lately, after the Bank of Japan made clear it was not going to normalise policy soon. This goes for domestic factors as well, like falling support ratings for (Japan Prime Minister Shinzo) Abe.”</p>
<p>Support for Prime Minister Abe, plagued by accusations of cronyism and cover-ups, fell to 26.7 percent in a survey by private broadcaster Nippon TV released on Sunday, the lowest since he took office in December 2012.</p>
<p>The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was a shade higher at 89.807.</p>
<p>The euro was nearly flat at $1.2332 after ending Friday little changed.</p>
<p>The pound traded at $1.4244 after rising to a near three-month high of $1.4296 on Friday.</p>
<p>Expectations of a rate rise from the Bank of England have been a major driver of sterling’s gains in recent days.</p>
<p>The Australian dollar was flat at $0.7770 and the New Zealand dollar dipped 0.05 percent to $0.7348.</p>
<p>The Hong Kong dollar traded at 7.8499 per dollar, continuing to hover near 7.85, the weak end of its trading band.</p>
<p>The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) stepped in last week to prop up the Hong Kong dollar, as it is obliged to intervene and keep intact a trading band of 7.75 to 7.85.</p>
<p>Reporting by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Eric Meijer</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - WPP ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=WPP.L" type="external">WPP.L</a>), the world’s biggest advertising company, will head into uncharted territory on Monday when it starts life without its founder Martin Sorrell, whose departure has left it rudderless at a time of swirling industry change.</p> FILE PHOTO: Sir Martin Sorrell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of advertising company WPP, attends a conference at the Cannes Lions Festival in Cannes, France, June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File Photo
<p>The driving force behind 33 years of dealmaking and relentless expansion, Sorrell stepped down on Saturday after the board investigated an allegation of misconduct, saying that the disruption was putting too much strain on the company.</p>
<p>While WPP hunts for a new CEO, it has handed the helm to two executives, digital boss Mark Read and Andrew Scott, the chief operating officer of WPP Europe who oversaw acquisitions, making them joint chief operating officers.</p>
<p>The sudden departure of Sorrell, the face of the company since he founded it in 1985, has sparked questions as to whether the holding group can remain in its current form of employing 200,000 people in more than 400 companies across 112 countries.</p>
<p>“Sorrell’s departure is negative considering ... how instrumental he has been in assembling the assets WPP has today,” said Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser.</p>
<p>“Any executive filling Sorrell’s shoes needs to orchestrate assets across the holding company and doing so is a challenge in a fragmented federation of businesses such as those which exist within WPP.”</p>
<p>The 73-year-old’s departure comes at a difficult time for the British company. In March it published its weakest results since the financial crisis as consumer goods groups such as Unilever and P&amp;G cut spending and other customers jumped ship.</p>
<p>The whole industry is also battling the might of Google and Facebook, which dominate the online advertising market, and watching nervously as consultants such as Accenture move more aggressively into the sector.</p>
<p>The changing dynamics have meant the previous idea of building marketing groups up to offer advertising, branding, planning and research on a global scale - championed by Sorrell and followed by others - is now under threat as clients want more nimble relationships in a digital age.</p>
<p>Many are starting to ask if they can do things differently - creating their own content to place directly on online platforms or working with smaller ad groups.</p> FILE PHOTO: Martin Sorrell, chairman and chief executive officer of WPP, the world's largest advertising company, speaks at the Confederation of British Industry's (CBI) annual conference in London, Britain November 21, 2016. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/File Photo ALL CHANGE
<p>With so much change in the industry, some analysts have questioned whether the group should seek a new CEO from outside who could look at it dispassionately.</p>
<p>Names already in the frame from the industry include Jerry Buhlmann, who runs the Dentsu Aegis network, and Adam Crozier who previously ran broadcaster ITV and Royal Mail.</p>
<p>From inside WPP Read, 51, is seen as the lead candidate.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=WPP.L" type="external">WPP PLC</a> 1188.0 WPP.L London Stock Exchange +1.00 (+0.08%) WPP.L
<p>While a common refrain heard about WPP is that no one knows the company like Sorrell, Read is the one man who comes close after he wrote to the WPP boss asking for a job in 1989.</p>
<p>From the company’s office in Farm Street, Mayfair, he watched as Sorrell pulled off a string of takeovers before building his own profile by growing its digital operations.</p>
<p>He spent nearly 10 years on the WPP board, introducing him to investors, and is regarded by peers as a strategic thinker who can win corporate pitches to bring in work.</p>
<p>Scott, 49, is better known in the corporate world than the advertising community, having worked on the company’s acquisition strategy but Sorrell welcomed both appointments.</p>
<p>“Mark will be responsible for clients, operating companies and people,” a spokesman said. “Andrew will focus on financial and operational performance and implementing on-going reorganisation of the group’s portfolio.”</p>
<p>They will “report to and be supported” by Roberto Quarta, the chairman who becomes executive chairman. Read has already contacted senior executives within WPP to offer to speak to clients and reassure them that work will continue as normal.</p>
<p>Whoever replaces Sorrell however will face longer-term questions as to whether a group that was built in his mold should remain intact after his departure. Already executives are predicting that bits will be sold off in a move that could once again become a model for the wider industry.</p>
<p>David Jones, the former CEO of WPP peer Havas and the founder of tech marketing group You and Mr Jones, predicted WPP would eventually end up missing Sorrell more than he would WPP.</p>
<p>“No one else can keep that company together the way he has been able to because he built it,” he told Reuters. “It’s the fall of an emperor and one that I think will not only take the empire down with him but will also have&#160;massive ramifications for that entire industry.”</p>
<p>Editing by David Evans</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Banking and infrastructure firms power China stocks to two-year highs Asian shares up, oil down as Syria fallout seen limited 'Boiled frog syndrome': Germany's China problem Dollar firms after Syria strikes, nears 2-mth high versus yen WPP embarks on new journey without Sorrell at the helm | false | https://reuters.com/article/china-stocks-close/banking-and-infrastructure-firms-power-china-stocks-to-two-year-highs-idUSZZN2R7J00 | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
<p>BEIJING (AP) — The owner of fashion brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent has accused Alibaba Group in a lawsuit of profiting from sales of counterfeit goods despite the Chinese e-commerce giant’s pledge to combat the trade in fakes.</p>
<p>The lawsuit by France’s Kering SA and a group of its brands in a New York court is a setback for Alibaba’s effort to assure companies and regulators it is doing enough to keep counterfeits off its online sales platforms.</p>
<p>The Alibaba defendants “knowingly encourage, assist, and profit from the sale of counterfeits,” said the lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. federal court in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Alibaba said it believes the complaint has “no basis” and said the company will fight it.</p>
<p>“We continue to work in partnership with numerous brands to help them protect their intellectual property, and we have a strong track record of doing so,” said a company statement. “Unfortunately, Kering Group has chosen the path of wasteful litigation instead of the path of constructive cooperation.”</p>
<p>Alibaba, the world’s biggest e-commerce company by sales volume, has launched a series of initiatives to keep counterfeit goods off its platforms following complaints by trademark owners. The company says it has 2,000 employees dedicated to anti-counterfeiting and consumer protection work and spent 1 billion ($160 million) on that in 2013-14.</p>
<p>China has long been seen as a leading source of counterfeit goods ranging from unlicensed copies of designer clothing and Hollywood movies to fake cancer drugs.</p>
<p>The latest lawsuit accuses Alibaba not just of failing to stop sales but of permitting merchants on its platforms even if they openly say they sell unlicensed copies. The suit accuses Alibaba of mail fraud and racketeering, including processing payments for goods it knew were counterfeit.</p>
<p>The 144-page complaint says Alibaba’s computer algorithms were “intentionally designed” to offer counterfeits when consumers search for brand names. It says that when “knockoff,” a term for a counterfeit, was used in a search, Alibaba’s system added “handbag.”</p>
<p>The plaintiffs ask the court to order Alibaba to disclose its revenue from sales of counterfeit watches, handbags, clothing and other goods so damages can be assessed.</p>
<p>Other plaintiffs include Kering brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Luxury Goods International.</p>
<p>“This lawsuit is part of Kering’s ongoing global effort to maintain its customers’ trust in its genuine products and to continue to develop the creative works and talents in its brands,” the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>The complaint is Kering’s second in a year against Alibaba.</p>
<p>Kering sued the Chinese company in July, also in New York, but later withdrew the suit, saying the two sides agreed to “work together in good faith” to protect intellectual property ensure a “healthy and vibrant e-commerce ecosystem for consumers, merchants, and brand-owners alike.”</p>
<p>Alibaba, founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, a former English teacher, is one of China’s oldest Internet sites.</p>
<p>Its sales platforms include Taobao, an online bazaar used by consumers and small entrepreneurs; Tmall for brands to sell to consumers; AliExpress, a global retail marketplace, and Alibaba.com, a wholesale site.</p>
<p>The company raised $25 billion in an initial public offering last year on Wall Street. It reported a profit of 2.9 billion yuan ($463 million) for the three months ended March 31 on revenue of 17.4 billion yuan ($2.8 billion).</p>
<p>BEIJING (AP) — The owner of fashion brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent has accused Alibaba Group in a lawsuit of profiting from sales of counterfeit goods despite the Chinese e-commerce giant’s pledge to combat the trade in fakes.</p>
<p>The lawsuit by France’s Kering SA and a group of its brands in a New York court is a setback for Alibaba’s effort to assure companies and regulators it is doing enough to keep counterfeits off its online sales platforms.</p>
<p>The Alibaba defendants “knowingly encourage, assist, and profit from the sale of counterfeits,” said the lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. federal court in Manhattan.</p>
<p>Alibaba said it believes the complaint has “no basis” and said the company will fight it.</p>
<p>“We continue to work in partnership with numerous brands to help them protect their intellectual property, and we have a strong track record of doing so,” said a company statement. “Unfortunately, Kering Group has chosen the path of wasteful litigation instead of the path of constructive cooperation.”</p>
<p>Alibaba, the world’s biggest e-commerce company by sales volume, has launched a series of initiatives to keep counterfeit goods off its platforms following complaints by trademark owners. The company says it has 2,000 employees dedicated to anti-counterfeiting and consumer protection work and spent 1 billion ($160 million) on that in 2013-14.</p>
<p>China has long been seen as a leading source of counterfeit goods ranging from unlicensed copies of designer clothing and Hollywood movies to fake cancer drugs.</p>
<p>The latest lawsuit accuses Alibaba not just of failing to stop sales but of permitting merchants on its platforms even if they openly say they sell unlicensed copies. The suit accuses Alibaba of mail fraud and racketeering, including processing payments for goods it knew were counterfeit.</p>
<p>The 144-page complaint says Alibaba’s computer algorithms were “intentionally designed” to offer counterfeits when consumers search for brand names. It says that when “knockoff,” a term for a counterfeit, was used in a search, Alibaba’s system added “handbag.”</p>
<p>The plaintiffs ask the court to order Alibaba to disclose its revenue from sales of counterfeit watches, handbags, clothing and other goods so damages can be assessed.</p>
<p>Other plaintiffs include Kering brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta and Luxury Goods International.</p>
<p>“This lawsuit is part of Kering’s ongoing global effort to maintain its customers’ trust in its genuine products and to continue to develop the creative works and talents in its brands,” the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>The complaint is Kering’s second in a year against Alibaba.</p>
<p>Kering sued the Chinese company in July, also in New York, but later withdrew the suit, saying the two sides agreed to “work together in good faith” to protect intellectual property ensure a “healthy and vibrant e-commerce ecosystem for consumers, merchants, and brand-owners alike.”</p>
<p>Alibaba, founded in 1999 by Jack Ma, a former English teacher, is one of China’s oldest Internet sites.</p>
<p>Its sales platforms include Taobao, an online bazaar used by consumers and small entrepreneurs; Tmall for brands to sell to consumers; AliExpress, a global retail marketplace, and Alibaba.com, a wholesale site.</p>
<p>The company raised $25 billion in an initial public offering last year on Wall Street. It reported a profit of 2.9 billion yuan ($463 million) for the three months ended March 31 on revenue of 17.4 billion yuan ($2.8 billion).</p> | Luxury fashion brands accuse Alibaba of profiting from fakes | false | https://apnews.com/092264b0295b4862b14940778ce2fbc6 | 2015-05-18 | 2 |
<p />
<p>For an advocate of straight talk and government transparency, John McCain has been less than clear with a voter-education nonprofit, on whose board he serves, about why he hasn’t responded to its survey of issue positions. Now, after nine months, 17 phone calls, and 8 emails asking McCain to state exactly where he stands on key issues, Montana-based Project Vote Smart is poised to kick McCain off its board later this week.</p>
<p>McCain has served on PVS’s board since the late 1990s, when he replaced a different Arizona Republican, Senator Barry Goldwater, after Goldwater’s death. Richard Kimball, the group’s president and, incidentally, the Democrat who ran against McCain during his first race for Senate, says the Arizona senator has filled out the survey, called the Political Courage Test, in every campaign since its inception in 1992. (Kimball counts McCain as a friend, and has tried to reach the Arizona senator personally three times.)</p>
<p>According to call records provided by PVS, the organization first contacted McCain’s presidential campaign regarding the test late last June. After the senator failed to return the survey, PVS staffers were told that due to tumult within the campaign—money was running low and staff turnover was high—the test had gotten lost in the shuffle.</p>
<p>Since then, however, 16 more phone calls have been made to the campaign, the most recent in late February, and eight emails have been sent. Currently, <a href="http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=53270" type="external">this message</a> appears when you look for McCain’s response to the Political Courage Test on the PVS website:</p>
<p />
<p>Senator John Sidney McCain III repeatedly refused to provide any responses to citizens on the issues through the 2008 Political Courage Test when asked to do so by national leaders of the political parties, prominent members of the media, Project Vote Smart President Richard Kimball, and Project Vote Smart staff.</p>
<p>The Political Courage Test tries to pin down candidates to hard and fast answers about critical issues. Among other things, it asks them to state whether they aim to support funding increases or cuts, and to what degree, on a variety of spending issues, from defense to the arts to highway infrastructure. It is sent to state and federal candidates every time they run for office. The point of the exercise is to push candidates to be as detailed in their answers as possible—a prospect that may be unnerving to many politicians who like to preserve wiggle room for future political maneuvering.</p>
<p>According to Kimball, PVS has a rule that prohibits any nonrespondents from serving on its board. And, after more than seven months with no response from McCain, the organization’s executive committee voted in February to remove the senator from the board on April 9 unless he submits his answers to the survey or a fellow board member objects to his removal by that date. “Assuming that John McCain doesn’t change his mind or there’s not some objection from board members, which hasn’t happened, effectively on April 9 he will not be a member of our board,” says Kimball.</p>
<p>Kimball has known McCain since he ran against him in 1986. “It wasn’t a very pleasant race for either us,” he says. “But we became friends after that. He was always a big supporter of the Project. It’s personally very disappointing to me. I was surprised that he didn’t do it.”</p>
<p>Board members have been removed for this reason before. Former Democratic Senator Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) served on PVS’s board until 2000, when he ran for president and refused to fill out the survey. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has also been removed for not responding.</p>
<p>Among the remaining presidential candidates, McCain is not alone in snubbing the Political Courage Test. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have done the same. Kimball says that ignoring the survey is a worsening trend. “Every year we have measured that candidates are less and less likely to provide information out of their pollster-approved safety boxes,” he says. “Since we started keeping close track of [the response rate] in 1996, it started with 72 percent of the candidates for Congress taking it and most of the candidates for president taking it. Every year it has gone down a few percentage points, with a slight aberration in 2002. Currently, it’s down to 48 percent.”</p>
<p>The McCain campaign did not respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p /> | Senator Straight Talk Won’t Go on the Record with Project Vote Smart | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/04/senator-straight-talk-wont-go-record-project-vote-smart/ | 2008-04-07 | 4 |
<p>GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A former Michigan teacher has been sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for slashing his wife's throat after she discovered evidence of an affair that investigators said involved a middle-school student.</p>
<p>James Chelekis was sentenced Tuesday in Kent County Circuit Court after pleaded no contest to attempted murder for attacking his wife at their home in June. The 32-year-old also pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct related to the student.</p>
<p>The attack came after Amanda Chelekis found evidence of an affair. The couple spent most of the evening discussing the issue before agreeing to marriage counseling. Amanda Chelekis wasn't aware at the time that her husband's contact was with a juvenile.</p>
<p>"Standing behind me, he kissed my forehead and slit my throat from one side to the other," Amanda Chelekis said in court. "The trauma I was forced to endure was horrendous."</p>
<p>Amanda Chelekis, who is a registered nurse, was able to contain the bleeding for almost an hour before her husband called for help. She filed for divorce after the attack. The pair has two daughters together.</p>
<p>James Chelekis was a math teacher at Crestwood Middle School. Investigators said he'd traded texts, chats and photos with a 14-year-old girl that suggested they began sexual encounters in June 2016.</p>
<p>In a statement read by prosecutors, the girl's mother wrote that James Chelekis had manipulated and isolated her daughter in order to start an inappropriate relationship with the girl.</p>
<p>"He robbed our daughter of her innocence and childhood. And that is something that she can never get back," she wrote.</p>
<p>James Chelekis was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison on the criminal sexual conduct charge. The prison term will be served concurrently with the attempted murder sentence.</p>
<p>GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A former Michigan teacher has been sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for slashing his wife's throat after she discovered evidence of an affair that investigators said involved a middle-school student.</p>
<p>James Chelekis was sentenced Tuesday in Kent County Circuit Court after pleaded no contest to attempted murder for attacking his wife at their home in June. The 32-year-old also pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct related to the student.</p>
<p>The attack came after Amanda Chelekis found evidence of an affair. The couple spent most of the evening discussing the issue before agreeing to marriage counseling. Amanda Chelekis wasn't aware at the time that her husband's contact was with a juvenile.</p>
<p>"Standing behind me, he kissed my forehead and slit my throat from one side to the other," Amanda Chelekis said in court. "The trauma I was forced to endure was horrendous."</p>
<p>Amanda Chelekis, who is a registered nurse, was able to contain the bleeding for almost an hour before her husband called for help. She filed for divorce after the attack. The pair has two daughters together.</p>
<p>James Chelekis was a math teacher at Crestwood Middle School. Investigators said he'd traded texts, chats and photos with a 14-year-old girl that suggested they began sexual encounters in June 2016.</p>
<p>In a statement read by prosecutors, the girl's mother wrote that James Chelekis had manipulated and isolated her daughter in order to start an inappropriate relationship with the girl.</p>
<p>"He robbed our daughter of her innocence and childhood. And that is something that she can never get back," she wrote.</p>
<p>James Chelekis was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison on the criminal sexual conduct charge. The prison term will be served concurrently with the attempted murder sentence.</p> | Man sentenced for attacking wife after she found evidence | false | https://apnews.com/amp/afd203be5f6f49ec9e6796b4bfecee25 | 2018-01-25 | 2 |
<p>If you thought Watters World was a documentary about Donald Trump’s adventures with hookers in a Moscow hotel, you’re mistaken, but understandably so. In fact, it’s a program on Fox News featuring Jesse Watters, who is also a co-host of the daily afternoon program The Five. Watters is best known for being a smug, smartass who did ambush interviews for Bill O’Reilly and allegedly humorous segments that were overtly racist.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2069926576355460" type="external" /></p>
<p>Now the New York Daily News is <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/fox-news-host-jesse-watters-divorce-affair-employee-article-1.3867486" type="external">reporting</a> that Watters’ wife has filed for divorce due to his ongoing adulterous affair with a twenty-five year old co-worker, Emma DiGiovine. Watters has admitted his infidelity which he only reported to Fox News human resources after the divorce papers were filed. He and his now-estranged wife have twin six year old daughters.</p>
<p>Most companies have strict prohibitions against employees engaging in romantic relationships with subordinates on their staff. Generally it mandates termination of the superior employee who is in a position to abuse their power. Presumably, Fox News has the same policy. However, the response by Fox upon discovery of the relationship was to transfer DiGiovine to another program and let Watters off the hook entirely. Now he can continue leading classy discussions wherein he describes single women as “Beyoncé voters” who “depend on government because they’re not depending on their husbands. They need things like contraception, health care and they love to talk about equal pay.”</p>
<p>This is just the latest sex scandal at Fox News. Previously their founder and CEO, the late Roger Ailes was fired after multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse. Then their star host, Bill O’Reilly, got the ax when it became publicly known that he had paid millions of dollars in settlements to silence his accusers. Gee, Doanld Trump only paid $130,000 (that we know of). Fox and Friends anchor Ed Henry was suspended for several weeks for having an adulterous affair. Fox business host Charles Payne was also the subject of harassment charges. And Watters got his seat on The Five by replacing Eric Bolling, who was fired for sending explicit photos to women colleagues at Fox.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p>
<p>This obviously isn’t a case of a few bad apples. Fox News is a breeding ground for perverts. It’s a haven for men who exploit their power to demean and control women. Or as former Fox News host and victim Andrea Tantaros <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/andrea-tantaros-sues-fox-news-retaliation-sexual-harassment" type="external">said in her lawsuit</a>, “it operates like a sex-fueled, Playboy Mansion-like cult, steeped in intimidation, indecency, and misogyny.” And now Jesse Watters has become the latest face of the reprehensible pattern of misogynistic behavior that is nurtured by Fox and its management. But he certainly won’t be the last.</p> | Another Fox News Sleazeball Has Been Caught in a Sex Scandal with a 25 Year Old Co-Worker | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D30480 | 4 |
|
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court stopped the execution of a Texas murderer Thursday who was sentenced to death by jurors who were told he was a bigger threat to public safety because he is black.</p>
<p>The justices issued the order after receiving an emergency appeal in the case of Duane Edward Buck, a 48-year-old mechanic who was on death row for the 1995 killing of an ex-girlfriend and a man. Attorneys for Buck said they did not dispute his guilt, but rather took issue with the fact that prosecutors used Buck’s race as leverage to argue for a death sentence.</p>
<p>The stay came two hours into a six-hour window during which Buck had been scheduled to die, and after Texas Gov. Rick Perry and state judges failed to intervene. –BF</p>
<p>Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p />
<p>In Buck’s emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, his attorneys said, “Racial bias mars the integrity of the judicial system. An execution under these circumstances will do irreparable harm to the criminal justice system in general.”</p>
<p>The dispute dates back to 2000, when then-Texas Atty. Gen. John Cornyn acknowledged to the Supreme Court that prosecutors had violated the Constitution by relying on race-based arguments in six death penalty cases. Buck’s case was one of them, and he was the only one who did not receive a new sentencing hearing.</p>
<p>The other cases had been pending in federal court, while Buck’s was in state court. Later, after Cornyn was elected to the U.S. Senate and a new attorney general took over, state prosecutors argued that Buck’s rights were not violated, and they won in the lower courts.</p>
<p>Last week, Perry said during a GOP presidential debate that he “never struggled” over the death penalty because “the state of Texas has a very thoughtful, very clear process in place.” During Perry’s 11 years in office, the state has carried out 235 executions.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-texas-death-20110916,0,3367730.story" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Supreme Court Intervenes in Texas Execution | true | http://truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/supreme_court_intervenes_in_texas_execution_20110916/ | 2011-09-16 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Rejoice, ye Laura Ingalls Wilder wannabes.</p>
<p>People have called the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/fundamentalist_church_of_jesus_christ_of_latterday_saints/yearning_for_zion_ranch/index.html" type="external">Yearning for Zion</a> ranch members a lot of names since their compound was <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/04/7912_former_polygami.html" type="external">raided in April</a>, but “fashionable” has never been one of them. Until now.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/us/03dress.html?ref=us" type="external">The New York Times</a> reports that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) have begun peddling their prairie-chic children’s couture <a href="http://fldsdress.com/index.php" type="external">online</a>.</p>
<p>Modesty, it turns out, is totally affordable. The Jr. Teens girls’ underwear, which, with long sleeves and pants, is the ultimate anti-thong, costs between $25 and $32, depending on size. The Teen Princess Dress will set you and your flesh-concealing daughter back $60 to $73.</p>
<p>The bummer is that so far, the FLDSdress.com only sells clothes in kids’ sizes. Which leads us to the real question: Where does <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/images/pgimg/big-love-sevigny40.jpg" type="external">Chloe Sevigny’s character on Big Love</a> get her weird duds?</p>
<p>Photo courtesy of <a href="http://fldsdress.com/index.php" type="external">fldsdress.com</a>.</p>
<p /> | Yearning for Polygamist Fashion | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/yearning-polygamist-fashion/ | 2008-07-03 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>With four seniors who have been regulars on the team since freshman year, the Horsemen are tired of watching other teams celebrate at the end of the state tournament. Now it’s their turn.</p>
<p>“St. Michael’s hasn’t won since like 2009 (actually 2010), and we’ve slowly been waiting to have a strong enough team that can go and do really well,” said Marshall Spingler, who finished sixth overall last season. “We’ve always been right there with Hope and they’ve pulled ahead of us a little bit.”</p>
<p>Expectations this season are understandably high after last season’s fourth-place finish and coming in third the two previous years.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I think we have a solid enough team and we have high expectations that we’re trying to meet,” Spingler said. “It definitely pushes us and makes us a little nervous, but it’s also good at the same time.”</p>
<p>The team had a good fall with a couple of victories, but has been scuffling so far this spring, said coach Gene Torres.</p>
<p>“They’re kind of struggling right now,” he said. “They have potential to do really well. I think they need to work on their short game. They’re not hitting the greens in regulation. They need to get up and down and, right now, they’re not doing that.”</p>
<p>Still, with state tournament veterans, the struggles are something of a mystery.</p>
<p>“I think they’re just down as a team. I don’t know what to tell them,” Torres said. “I’ve tried being hard. I’ve tried being nice. I don’t know what the medium is right now. It’s rough. They have the potential to be good.”</p>
<p>It may just be a matter of building to that point, he said.</p>
<p>“What I’m trying to do is get them to peak right at district and state,” Torres said. “A couple of years in the past, we peaked a little earlier than we should have. I’m holding them back a little bit. I’m trying to ease them up. This year, we should win state. If we can get each of these guys to drop two shots, we can be right there.”</p>
<p>It may be just a matter of focus, said Allan Sanchez, who signed to play at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs in the fall.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We all came off a hot summer. I think our hopes got a little high,” he said. “Coming off of winter, we’re working out some kinks. It’s decision-making. We’re all hitting the ball, it’s just which club to hit next. But I really have high hopes for state.”</p>
<p>Getting his college plans set was a big relief, Sanchez said, so things should start to fall into place soon.</p>
<p>“It took a big burden off of my chest so now I can focus on playing golf,” he said. “School is squared away, now I just have to work for a blue trophy. We’ve fallen pretty short the past three years so (expectations) are pretty high and living up to them is going to be mission in and of itself.”</p>
<p>The state tournament this year will be at Piñon Hills Golf Course in Farmington, where the squad played in the fall.</p>
<p>“Piñon Hills … is a place where we have to keep it in the grass so I think, as we long as we kind of figure out how to keep it in play, we can do pretty well,” Spingler said.</p>
<p>Having that state championship as a final high school memory would be a great way to cap a prep career, he said.</p>
<p>“I think it would be really special to win this year,” Spingler said. “I think all of us are looking forward to it because we have the exact same team as last year, so I think we have a good chance.”</p>
<p /> | Struggling Horsemen hope to dig out of the bunker to win state | false | https://abqjournal.com/987605/struggling-horsemen-hope-to-dig-out-of-the-bunker-to-win-state.html | 2 |
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<p>FARMINGTON (AP) — An attorney says fees and payments to other creditors could cut into the amount of money the Farmington Convention and Visitors Bureau stands to recover from the estate of the bureau’s former executive director.</p>
<p>The Daily Times reports that bureau attorney Richard Gerding told city councilors this week that recovered net assets could be as low as $60,000.</p>
<p>Authorities have said 41-year-old Debbie Dusenbery embezzled close to $488,000 from the private, nonprofit visitors bureau.</p>
<p>Dusenbery died in January of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head, two weeks after resigning from her position. A passer-by discovered Dusenbery’s body inside her vehicle in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.</p>
<p>Police say Dusenbery admitted to taking money for extravagant trips, credit card bills and other personal spending.</p>
<p>Officials with the visitors bureau say Dusenbery’s assets appear to be limited.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Farmington agency tries to recover funds | false | https://abqjournal.com/184916/farmington-agency-seeks-to-recover-funds.html | 2013-04-04 | 2 |
<p>The nation’s second-largest drugstore chain is kicking the habit of selling tobacco products.&#160; CVS Caremark Corp. plans to phase out cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco from all of its 7,600 nationwide stores by October 1, 2014.</p>
<p>CVS has been working towards teaming up with hospital groups and other doctor practices in order to deliver and monitor patient care within their own facilities.&#160; Over the past several years, the drugstore industry has seen a major push towards many major drugstore chains incorporating in-store health clinics and offering additional health care plans directly through the store.&#160; CVS claims that the addition of these in-store health clinics are helping them prepare for the increased health care demand, which is due to the aging U.S. population.</p>
<p>As CVS strives to improve their image as a leading drugstore and patient care provider, the presence of tobacco in their stores has made for some awkward conversations.&#160; Dr. Troyen A. Brennan, Chief Medical Officer of CVS, noted that often times people ask why and how CVC continues to carry tobacco products when they are trying to be a leading entity of the health care system.</p>
<p>CVS’s decision to stop carrying tobacco products will lose the company about $2 billion in annual revenue.&#160; The loss in revenue, however, is not projected to affect the company’s 2014 earnings forecast.&#160; Drugstores account for only 4% of cigarettes sold throughout the U.S., while gas stations generate almost half of the tobacco sales nationwide, about $107.7 billion in 2012.&#160; As CVS begins to remove tobacco products from their shelves, they will begin to expand their smoking cessation efforts, which include teaching pharmacists to counsel people on how to quit smoking.</p>
<p>President Obama acknowledged that the decision will aid his administration’s efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as lower health care costs.</p>
<p>According to the FDA, tobacco kills over 480,000 people every year in the U.S.&#160; Dr. Brennan noted that the company’s choice to remove tobacco products will put a more positive image on the store w hill it focuses on being a healthier environment for its customers.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | CVS will stop carrying tobacco products | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/02/10/cvs-will-stop-carrying-tobacco-products/ | 2014-02-10 | 3 |
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<p />
<p>Selected by the Baltimore Orioles in round 22 of last week’s major league draft, Walker is set to report to the team’s spring training facility in Sarasota, Fla., for physical examinations and rookie orientation.</p>
<p>Flying to Florida represents the first big step in what Walker hopes will be an extended baseball journey. A Rio Rancho native, who pitched for Rio Rancho High and the University of New Mexico, Walker said the past few days have been an exciting blur.</p>
<p>Josh Walker may soon be pitching for the Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“To think I’ve signed my player agreement and will be reporting to Florida this week feels pretty incredible,” Walker said. “This is something I’ve always wanted to do, but it’s all happened so quickly.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Walker, who recently concluded an outstanding three-year career at UNM, said the draft effectively threw him a curveball. He hoped to be selected somewhere between the 12th and 25th rounds and had those hopes affirmed on day two of the three-day draft.</p>
<p>“The Detroit Tigers called me on the second day and asked if I was ready to go,” Walker said. “Then the (Florida) Marlins texted me that night and basically asked the same thing. So when the third day started I really thought it was down to those two teams.”</p>
<p>Walker and his mother were listening to an audio broadcast of the draft Saturday, when he unexpectedly heard his name called.</p>
<p>“It was a complete shock,” Walker said. “At first I thought it was a mistake. The Orioles didn’t call first or anything, but maybe a minute later the phone rang and it was (Orioles area scout) John Gillette. I thought, ‘OK, this is legit. Awesome.'”</p>
<p>Being drafted by Baltimore did not come entirely out of left field, Walker said. The organization had shown considerable interest in him throughout his senior season. He talked with Gillette during the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., as well.</p>
<p>Since the draft Walker has been in communication with Orioles personnel on a daily basis. He’s been told that if all goes well in Florida, a trip to Aberdeen, Md. – home of the Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds – could soon follow.</p>
<p>“They told me they’d probably assign me to short-season Single-A ball,” Walker said. “I’m really excited to get started.”</p>
<p>If he is assigned to Aberdeen, Walker will have an opportunity to get more familiar with his new organization. Ripken Stadium, the IronBirds’ home ballpark, is just 26 miles from Baltimore.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I’ve gotten to like the Orioles lately,” Walker said. “They’ve got some good up-and-coming players and have started being contenders. To be honest, though, Cal Ripken Jr. was the only Orioles player I knew before the last couple years.</p>
<p>“I’ve started doing some research. I don’t want to be completely oblivious about my organization.”</p>
<p>Walker was one of three Lobos drafted this year, joining senior outfielder Chase Harris (Philadelphia Phillies, 14th round) and junior catcher Alex Real (Minnesota Twins, 24th round). The draft basically progressed as UNM coach Ray Birmingham had hoped.</p>
<p>“I felt like the three guys who should’ve been drafted were drafted,” Birmingham said. “Playing pro ball is a dream they all had, and I’m happy to see them get their shot.”</p>
<p>Three recent high school players who have committed to New Mexico also were drafted late Saturday. First baseman/right-handed pitcher Carl Stajduhar of Colorado Springs Rocky Mountain was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the 27th round, RHP James Harrington of Arizona’s Mesquite High went to the Phillies in 33rd round, and catcher Cory Voss of Colorado’s Pueblo South went to the Colorado Rockies in round 34.</p>
<p>Birmingham hopes all three will choose to become Lobos rather than sign pro contracts.</p>
<p>“Most kids coming out of high school will improve their stock if they go to college,” Birmingham said. “Now, if you’re drafted early and get life-changing money, that’s different. But pro ball is hard, and guys drafted in the late rounds trying to work their way up have it even harder. Hopefully, these kids will see that and decide to come be Lobos.”</p>
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<p /> | Ex-Lobo Walker ready for his pro career | false | https://abqjournal.com/413828/exlobo-walker-ready-for-his-pro-career.html | 2 |
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<p>LAS VEGAS (AP) — After three months of investigation, police have learned more about Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock: He was a high-stakes gambler on a losing streak, obsessed with cleanliness, possibly bipolar and was having difficulties with his live-in girlfriend.</p>
<p>But hundreds of interviews and thousands of pieces of evidence have not answered the key question: Why did Paddock open fire from his high-rise hotel suite, killing 58 people and injuring more than 800 others in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history?</p>
<p>Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo released a <a href="https://www.lvmpd.com/en-us/Documents/1_October_FIT_Report_01-18-2018_Footnoted.pdf" type="external">preliminary report</a> Friday on the Oct. 1 attack on an outdoor concert staged from a room at the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel and said he did not expect criminal charges to be filed against Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, who had been named as the only person of interest in the case.</p>
<p>Investigators believe Paddock acted alone and did not leave a suicide note or manifesto before he was found dead in the room.</p>
<p>Weeks before the shooting, the couple stayed at Mandalay Bay together but Paddock was acting strangely, Danley told investigators. She remembered him constantly looking out the windows overlooking an area where the concert would be held the next month. He moved from window to window to see the site from different angles, the report said.</p>
<p>Investigators have still not discovered what motivated Stephen Paddock to embark on the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, but determined that he researched SWAT tactics ahead of the massacre and investigated other possible targets. (Jan. 19)</p>
<p>Paddock had become “distant” in the year before the shooting and their relationship was no longer intimate, Danley said during an interview with investigators. She described him as germophobic and said he had strong reactions to smells.</p>
<p>Paddock, who fatally shot himself in his hotel room, had told friends and relatives that he always felt ill, in pain and fatigued.</p>
<p>His doctor thought he may have had bipolar disorder but told police that Paddock refused to discuss the possibility, the report said. The doctor offered him antidepressants, but Paddock accepted only a prescription for anxiety medication. Paddock was fearful of medication and often refused to take it, the doctor told investigators.</p>
<p>The 64-year-old retired accountant and real estate investor had lost a “significant amount of wealth” since September 2015, which led to “bouts of depression,” the sheriff has said. Paddock had paid off his gambling debts before the shooting, according to the report.</p>
<p>Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the shooting. In the days before the attack, Paddock sent her a $100,000 wire transfer. She has said she found that odd and thought he might have been breaking up with her when he sent her the money and told her to use it to buy a home for her family there.</p>
<p>During an interview with the FBI after she returned from the Philippines, Danley volunteered that investigators would find her fingerprints on bullets used during the attack because she would sometimes help Paddock load high-volume ammunition magazines, according to FBI warrant documents.</p>
<p>Investigators found 23 rifles and a handgun in his hotel suite and more than a dozen of the rifles were fitted with “bump stock” devices that allowed rapid-fire shooting similar to fully automatic weapons. Dozens of guns were strewn around the room, some left inside a bassinet.</p>
<p>In their report, police released never-before-seen photos from inside the hotel suite, including one shot through a broken window, showing the concert venue still littered with personal belongings left when thousands ran to escape the hail of bullets raining from above.</p>
<p>Paddock fired more than 1,100 bullets, mostly from two windows on the 32nd floor of the hotel, into a crowd of 22,000 people attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival music below, Lombardo has said. That includes about 200 shots fired through his hotel room door into a hallway where an unarmed hotel security guard was wounded in the leg and a maintenance engineer took cover.</p>
<p>Prior to the attack, Paddock had researched SWAT tactics and searched online for other potential public targets, including in Chicago, Boston and Santa Monica, California, the sheriff said. His research also sought the number of attendees at other concerts in Las Vegas and the size of the crowds at Santa Monica’s beach. Among his searches was “do police use explosives,” the report said.</p>
<p>Four laptops and three cellphones were found inside his hotel suite. On one of the computers, investigators found hundreds of photos of child pornography. The same computer was used to search for the height of the Mandalay Bay, how to remove hard drives from laptops, the location of gun shows in Nevada and information about several other Las Vegas casinos.</p>
<p>A federal grand jury is hearing evidence in a case that spun off from the shooting investigation, the sheriff said. The FBI has “an ongoing case against an individual of federal interest,” Lombardo said, declining to elaborate.</p>
<p>Spokeswomen for the FBI and federal prosecutors in Las Vegas declined to comment.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Balsamo reported from Los Angeles.</p>
<p>LAS VEGAS (AP) — After three months of investigation, police have learned more about Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock: He was a high-stakes gambler on a losing streak, obsessed with cleanliness, possibly bipolar and was having difficulties with his live-in girlfriend.</p>
<p>But hundreds of interviews and thousands of pieces of evidence have not answered the key question: Why did Paddock open fire from his high-rise hotel suite, killing 58 people and injuring more than 800 others in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history?</p>
<p>Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo released a <a href="https://www.lvmpd.com/en-us/Documents/1_October_FIT_Report_01-18-2018_Footnoted.pdf" type="external">preliminary report</a> Friday on the Oct. 1 attack on an outdoor concert staged from a room at the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel and said he did not expect criminal charges to be filed against Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, who had been named as the only person of interest in the case.</p>
<p>Investigators believe Paddock acted alone and did not leave a suicide note or manifesto before he was found dead in the room.</p>
<p>Weeks before the shooting, the couple stayed at Mandalay Bay together but Paddock was acting strangely, Danley told investigators. She remembered him constantly looking out the windows overlooking an area where the concert would be held the next month. He moved from window to window to see the site from different angles, the report said.</p>
<p>Investigators have still not discovered what motivated Stephen Paddock to embark on the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, but determined that he researched SWAT tactics ahead of the massacre and investigated other possible targets. (Jan. 19)</p>
<p>Paddock had become “distant” in the year before the shooting and their relationship was no longer intimate, Danley said during an interview with investigators. She described him as germophobic and said he had strong reactions to smells.</p>
<p>Paddock, who fatally shot himself in his hotel room, had told friends and relatives that he always felt ill, in pain and fatigued.</p>
<p>His doctor thought he may have had bipolar disorder but told police that Paddock refused to discuss the possibility, the report said. The doctor offered him antidepressants, but Paddock accepted only a prescription for anxiety medication. Paddock was fearful of medication and often refused to take it, the doctor told investigators.</p>
<p>The 64-year-old retired accountant and real estate investor had lost a “significant amount of wealth” since September 2015, which led to “bouts of depression,” the sheriff has said. Paddock had paid off his gambling debts before the shooting, according to the report.</p>
<p>Danley was in the Philippines at the time of the shooting. In the days before the attack, Paddock sent her a $100,000 wire transfer. She has said she found that odd and thought he might have been breaking up with her when he sent her the money and told her to use it to buy a home for her family there.</p>
<p>During an interview with the FBI after she returned from the Philippines, Danley volunteered that investigators would find her fingerprints on bullets used during the attack because she would sometimes help Paddock load high-volume ammunition magazines, according to FBI warrant documents.</p>
<p>Investigators found 23 rifles and a handgun in his hotel suite and more than a dozen of the rifles were fitted with “bump stock” devices that allowed rapid-fire shooting similar to fully automatic weapons. Dozens of guns were strewn around the room, some left inside a bassinet.</p>
<p>In their report, police released never-before-seen photos from inside the hotel suite, including one shot through a broken window, showing the concert venue still littered with personal belongings left when thousands ran to escape the hail of bullets raining from above.</p>
<p>Paddock fired more than 1,100 bullets, mostly from two windows on the 32nd floor of the hotel, into a crowd of 22,000 people attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival music below, Lombardo has said. That includes about 200 shots fired through his hotel room door into a hallway where an unarmed hotel security guard was wounded in the leg and a maintenance engineer took cover.</p>
<p>Prior to the attack, Paddock had researched SWAT tactics and searched online for other potential public targets, including in Chicago, Boston and Santa Monica, California, the sheriff said. His research also sought the number of attendees at other concerts in Las Vegas and the size of the crowds at Santa Monica’s beach. Among his searches was “do police use explosives,” the report said.</p>
<p>Four laptops and three cellphones were found inside his hotel suite. On one of the computers, investigators found hundreds of photos of child pornography. The same computer was used to search for the height of the Mandalay Bay, how to remove hard drives from laptops, the location of gun shows in Nevada and information about several other Las Vegas casinos.</p>
<p>A federal grand jury is hearing evidence in a case that spun off from the shooting investigation, the sheriff said. The FBI has “an ongoing case against an individual of federal interest,” Lombardo said, declining to elaborate.</p>
<p>Spokeswomen for the FBI and federal prosecutors in Las Vegas declined to comment.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Balsamo reported from Los Angeles.</p> | Records: Las Vegas gunman was germophobe, possibly bipolar | false | https://apnews.com/74b69655c2434908b371570eb77ab047 | 2018-01-20 | 2 |
<p>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s opposition-controlled legislature said Monday that inflation in the economically struggling nation reached a staggering 2,600 percent last year.</p>
<p>The figures underline the problems besetting Venezuela, where food, medicines and other basic goods are in extremely short supply. There have been recent instances of looting reported across the country.</p>
<p>Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, but low production by the state oil monopoly and the global drop in crude prices has thrown the Latin American country into crisis.</p>
<p>Opposition lawmaker Angel Alvarado posted the inflation figures on Twitter, saying that the only way to fix Venezuela’s economic crisis is by changing its political course.</p>
<p>The government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro has released no official economic figures.</p>
<p>CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s opposition-controlled legislature said Monday that inflation in the economically struggling nation reached a staggering 2,600 percent last year.</p>
<p>The figures underline the problems besetting Venezuela, where food, medicines and other basic goods are in extremely short supply. There have been recent instances of looting reported across the country.</p>
<p>Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, but low production by the state oil monopoly and the global drop in crude prices has thrown the Latin American country into crisis.</p>
<p>Opposition lawmaker Angel Alvarado posted the inflation figures on Twitter, saying that the only way to fix Venezuela’s economic crisis is by changing its political course.</p>
<p>The government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro has released no official economic figures.</p> | Lawmakers: Inflation in Venezuela tops 2,600 percent in 2017 | false | https://apnews.com/4c497276383847e2b86efeee6fdd7bae | 2018-01-08 | 2 |
<p>The man whom staffers of Va. Sen. George Allen attacked on Tuesday for asking the senator combative questions, <a href="http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?c=MGArticle&amp;cid=1149191441070&amp;pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle" type="external">is fighting back</a>.</p>
<p>Richmond Times Dispatch:</p>
<p>I demand that Senator Allen fire the staffers who beat up a constituent attempting to use his constitutional right to petition his government. I also want to know why Senator Allen would want his staffers to assault someone asking questions about matters of public record in the heat of a political campaign. Why are his divorce records sealed? Why was he arrested in the 1970s? And why did his campaign batter me when I asked him about these questions.</p>
<p>George Allen defends his support of the Iraq war by saying that our troops are defending the ideals America stands for. Indeed, he says our troops are defending our very freedom. What kind of country is it when a Senator's constituent is assaulted for asking difficult and uncomfortable questions? What freedoms do we have left? Maybe we need to bring the troops home so that they can fight for freedom at George Allen's campaign events. Demanding accountability should not be an offense worthy of assault.</p>
<p />
<p>I will be pressing charges against George Allen and his surrogates later today. George Allen, at any time, could have stopped the fray. All he had to do was say, "This is not how my campaign is run. Take your hands off that man." He could have ignored my questions. Instead he and his thugs chose violence. I spent four years in the Marine Corps. I'll be damned if I'll let my country be taken from me by thugs that are afraid of taking responsibility for themselves.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?c=MGArticle&amp;cid=1149191441070&amp;pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle" type="external">Link</a></p> | Assaulted Blogger Is Pressing Charges Against Allen | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/assaulted-blogger-is-pressing-charges-against-allen/ | 2006-11-02 | 4 |
<p>That is not, of course, how the media frames the narrative.</p>
<p>The narrative relentlessly is that Republicans want to shut down government.</p>
<p>We’ll see how this plays out (I think I know).</p>
<p>Via <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57603877/house-passes-bill-funding-government-defunding-obamacare/" type="external">CBS News</a>:</p>
<p>House Republicans advanced a bill on Friday that would continue funding the government at current spending levels for nearly three months but would strip money appropriated to fund Obamacare, following through on months of threats and inviting the prospect of a government shutdown if the Senate, as expected, does not accede to the House’s decision before an Oct. 1 deadline.</p>
<p>The bill was passed on a largely party line vote, with 228 Republicans and two Democrats voting in favor of passage. 188 Democrats and one Republican were opposed.</p>
<p>Immediately after the vote concluded, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and much of the Republican conference held a rally at the Capitol to celebrate.</p>
<p />
<p>MSNBC is staying <a href="http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/09/20/house-pushes-country-toward-government-shutdown/" type="external">completely on message</a>:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p> | Will Obama and Harry Reid shut down the government over Obamacare? | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/09/will-obama-and-harry-reid-shut-down-the-government-over-obamacare/ | 2013-09-20 | 0 |
<p>What is a weekly news magazine without its own website?&#160; We are about to find out as according to <a href="http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/07/newsweekcom_will_cease_to_exis.html" type="external">The New York</a>Newseeek editor Tina Brown has decided to shutter the ailing magazine's website and redirect visitors to The Daily Beast.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>This really shouldn't come as much of a surprise as rumors circulated to this effect when it was announced that Newsweek and The Daily Beast were merging last year.&#160; In an effort to squash those rumors Brown tweeted last last year:</p>
<p>"Woah! Newsweek.com's superb content will live on under its own banner &amp; in URLs on the new site. Not shutting down, combining."</p>
<p>Yes she promised Newsweek.com would live on, but she didn't say for how long and now the time has come to end the charade.</p>
<p>In February Brown effectively wrote the obituary for the site when Newsweek.com severed its traffic ties to MSNBC which had been providing by some estimates as much as one-third of Newsweek.com's visitors in preparation to integrate the two sites.</p>
<p>By then with the merger completed Brown no longer had to hide her plans to kill Newsweek.com and it was only a matter of time as to when it would happen.</p>
<p>It's hard to imagine the print magazine succeeding without its own branded website, but maybe that was the plan all along.&#160; After all Newsweek was sold by the Washington Post Company because it was bleeding red ink but Donald Graham couldn't bear to shut it down so he found a willing and rich liberal in Sidney Harman to take it off his hands with the promise that he would continue to publish the magazine.</p>
<p>But Harman has since passed away and despite assurances that the magazine will continue to publish, doubts are surfacing.&#160; Brown's makeover has hit a few bumps like the July 4th Princess Di cover which was scorned by critics as being insensitive to her memory. And advertising which is the life blood of magazines has been all over the map showing that advertisers aren't convinced that Newsweek is here to stay.</p>
<p>Without Harman, the real decision over the future of the magazine will rest with Barry Diller&#160; the chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp who started The Daily Beast and is clearly favors digital over print.</p>
<p>Just a few months ago at the tech conference SXSW Diller&#160; said Newseek was "becoming more and more irrelevant as a weekly news magazine" as news breaks at an ever increasing speed and that The Daily Beast had deeper stories they wanted to cover so they infused the Beast into the magazine.</p>
<p>He then told the audience&#160; that he wasn't sure it would work . "We'll see in six or eight months," he said.</p>
<p>That means Diller and Brown may be reevaluating the current arrangement sometime in the fall or at the very latest at the end of the year.&#160; Based on how things have gone so far the future looks awfully bleak for Newsweek.</p>
<p>Diller is a businessman, Harman was a billionaire philanthropist.</p>
<p>In the end the business side will win out leaving what print readers are left to search elsewhere for their news.</p> | Beginning of the End, Newsweek.com Set to Die on July 19 | true | http://aim.org/don-irvine-blog/beginning-of-the-end-newsweek-com-set-to-die-on-july-19/ | 2011-07-15 | 0 |
<p>Asia-Pacific stock markets were hit by profit-taking Friday, after a strong week in the region and a selloff in U.S. tech stocks overnight.</p>
<p>Australia and South Korea led losses in the region, with the Kospi poised for its third decline in four sessions. The index fell 1.4% as a 3.4% pullback in Samsung (005930.SE) eighed. Until this week, the Kospi had been a star in setting record closing highs for eight straight trading days through Monday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Profit-taking was also evident in Australia, where the S&amp;P/ASX 200 index slid 1.5% after rising a combined 1.7% in the previous three days.</p>
<p>"The market seems to be dominated at the moment with short-term traders trading a range," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Australia. "Basically, they're looking for value where we've been consistently seeing the lows and taking profits where we've been seeing the highs."</p>
<p>Overnight, U.S. tech stocks slid abruptly around midday () following a series of record highs. As the U.S. is in the heart of earnings season and trends to results have improved after a lackluster start, Gavin Parry at Parry International Trading said he doesn't see results ultimately providing much more of a catalyst to broadly boost equities.</p>
<p>Many other Asian stock indexes were down about 0.5%. The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.6%.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, the dollar was little changed in Asian trading after a modest rebound overnight.</p>
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<p>But the Swiss franc continued to lose ground amid brighter prospects for the eurozone economy and expectations that the European Central Bank will soon begin winding down its asset-purchase program. Swiss central bank officials have long argued that country's currency is overvalued, in part because of ECB stimulus. The euro and dollar are both up 0.6% against the franc.</p>
<p>Commodities prices were also taking a breather after rising earlier this week. Oil futures eased 0.1%, copper fell 0.3% and profit-taking emerged for Asian palm oil after the commodity hit two-month highs Thursday on strong demand from China and India.</p>
<p>Write to Lucy Craymer at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>July 28, 2017 01:03 ET (05:03 GMT)</p> | ASIA MARKETS: Asian Stocks Tumble On Heels Of U.S. Tech Selloff | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/28/asia-markets-asian-stocks-tumble-on-heels-u-s-tech-selloff.html | 2017-07-28 | 0 |
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<p>And, the way things are headed in the world of basketball, maybe the type you won’t see much more of anytime soon.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t mean the 6-foot-8 former University of New Mexico Lobo forward is hanging up the high tops and ending his professional basketball journey before it even starts, even though he isn’t expecting to hear his name called in tonight’s NBA draft.</p>
<p>The “old man game” Williams used to score 1,939 points at the Division I level — 1,018 at Samford (2012-14) before transferring to the University of New Mexico and adding 939 (2015-17) — seems to be a thing of the past in the age of the 3-point revolution spearheaded at the top by NBA champion Golden State Warriors.</p>
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<p>“I was pretty much low post (in college),” Williams said. “And now the league is going away from that. Everybody wants 3s or dunks, so they’re (NBA scouts and executives he’s been working out for in the past two months) just telling me you’ve just got to knock down that NBA 3 and extend that range.”</p>
<p>Simply put, the midrange and low-post offensive game Williams used to give opposing Mountain West coaches headaches the past two seasons simply isn’t what NBA teams are seeking.</p>
<p>“Maybe if it was five or six years ago,” Williams said, “my chances would be a little better.”</p>
<p>Now, despite one of the most under-the-radar college careers in recent memory considering his scoring accomplishments — the only Lobos who ever scored more Division I points were Ruben Douglas and Charles Smith&#160; — Williams is on a crash course trying to change what he’s mastered as he embarks on a pro career.</p>
<p>While he’s expecting to have a better idea about his first professional stop after the post-draft dominoes start falling, Williams is hopeful he’ll be on an NBA Summer League roster in July and expects to be playing overseas after that.</p>
<p>And, in either case, he’ll be working on his 3-point shot. He only attempted eight in four college seasons, which is an average game for some NBA stars.</p>
<p>He’ll never be considered an outside shooter, but he is confident he can add that tool to his bag of tricks.</p>
<p>“It’s going pretty good,” Williams said of his trying to push his comfortable shooting range out another 10 feet from the 15-foot mark he was deadly at in college. “Of course, it’s a process. I think as long as I keep working on it, I’ll be OK.”</p>
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<p>He insists there is no frustration knowing the type of skill set he honed over the past several years, including the past two as the low-post focal point of the Lobos offense, has so quickly dropped off the radar of NBA teams.</p>
<p>“Nah, I haven’t been discouraged about it or anything,” Williams said. ‘It’s all been positive (feedback). Coming from Samford, I never really thought I’d have a shot of getting NBA workouts or getting in front of teams like that. So, I’m just taking everything positive and continuing to work.”</p>
<p>Williams, who earned his degree in Economics, will be in Albuquerque today to visit old teammates and gather up some items he left behind while he was hitting the NBA workout trail the past couple months. He had team workouts with several other draft-eligible prospects for the Atlanta Hawks and Phoenix Suns.</p>
<p>“I feel like I had two great workouts,” Williams said. “I felt like I belong right there with them. I definitely held my own and I fit right in with the other guys trying to make it to the league.”</p>
<p>INJURY: The stress reaction in Williams’ left foot that cost him most of the final month of his college career and a shot at 2,000 points in college is completely healed, he says.</p>
<p>UNM MEMORIES: Williams is excited about the future for the Lobos program under Paul Weir and has nothing but fond memories of his time in the cherry and silver.</p>
<p>“I’ll always be grateful for my time there and the people who were with me,” Williams said. “Some of them are no longer there, but they’ve always been good to me. I’ll always remember that. I don’t have any sour, bitter or harsh feeling about my time at UNM at all.”</p> | Ex-Lobo Williams prepares for his next basketball phase | false | https://abqjournal.com/1021664/ex-lobo-williams-prepares-for-his-next-basketball-phase.html | 2 |
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<p>President-elect Donald Trump has tried to dismiss the bombshell report about Russia’s attempts to help him win the election by dismissing the American intelligence community as useless. But a real national security expert told Fox News this Saturday that the evidence is so clear, “You don’t need the CIA” to tell you.</p>
<p>Eli Lake is a columnist for Bloomberg. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-09/how-trump-could-finally-win-the-war-on-terror" type="external">His bio</a> says he was “the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.” In other words, he’s no liberal Obama apologist.</p>
<p>Lake was asked by Fox News host Leland Vittert about Trump’s response to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_russiahack-1215p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&amp;utm_term=.388ca2dc7005" type="external">yesterday’s report</a> in the Washington Post that Russian hacking during the 2016 presidential election was designed to help Trump win and that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell threatened to smear Obama if he let the news out during the campaign. Frankly, the Trump transition team's <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_russiahack-1215p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&amp;utm_term=.388ca2dc7005" type="external">statement</a> was just about as shocking as the Post's report:</p>
<p>“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The election ended a long time ago in one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. It’s now time to move on and ‘Make America Great Again,’ ” the statement read.</p>
<p>By the way, Trump <a href="http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2016/nov/21/reince-priebus/despite-losing-popular-vote-donald-trump-won-elect/" type="external">did not win</a> one of the biggest Electoral College victories in history. The fact that his team lied in order to shore up his credibility vs. the CIA is does not help his case.</p>
<p>Regardless, Lake smacked down Trump’s attack on the CIA by saying, essentially, that the news is a no-brainer no matter what you think of the CIA.</p>
<p>LAKE: You don’t need the CIA to do this. There’s a lot of people who are just cyber security who know this very well, who’ve been saying this now for months. I don’t think it’s a controversial issue at this point. It shouldn’t be.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that Lake made a point of saying he didn’t think Trump won because of the hacking.</p>
<p>Host Leland Vittert pointed out that Trump’s reported pick for secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil, has strong ties to Russia.</p>
<p>“One of the people he’s closest with in the world … is Vladimir Putin,” Vittert said.</p>
<p>By the way, this raises another question in addition to what did Trump know about the Russian hacking and when did he know it. If Trump doesn’t want to rely on our intelligence community, whose intelligence will he rely on?</p>
<p>Democrats better be ready to deal with this and deal with it courageously and effectively.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, watch this effective push back to any efforts to delegitimize the CIA’s findings above, from the December 10, 2016 America’s News HQ.</p>
<p>Crossposted at <a href="http://www.newshounds.us/bloomberg_natl_security_columnist_smacks_down_trump_on_russia_hacking_121016" type="external">News Hounds</a>. We watch Fox so you don't have to!</p> | Bloomberg Natl Security Columnist Smacks Down Trump On Russia Hacking | true | http://crooksandliars.com/2016/12/bloomberg-natl-security-columnist-smacks | 2016-12-11 | 4 |
<p>Three months after a young woman was fatally gang-raped in Delhi, India has passed a tough new anti-rape bill that increases penalties for rapists and makes harassment a crime.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Law_%28Amendment%29_Ordinance,_2013" type="external">Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill</a> cleared the lower house of parliament on Tuesday and now goes to the upper house, which <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/british-tourist-jumps-from-indian-hotel-balcony-to-escape-sexual-assault-police-say/2013/03/19/1c25919c-9094-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html" type="external">according to the Washington Post</a> is expected to pass it in the current parliamentary session.</p>
<p>The new legislation, hailed by the Post as a landmark, is intended to send "a loud, clear and deterrent signal that the society will not tolerate such errant behavior," <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21826247" type="external">according to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/india/130316/swiss-tourist-gang-raped-madhya-pradesh-india" type="external">Swiss tourist gang-raped in India</a></p>
<p>The key provisions include:</p>
<p>• A minimum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment and a maximum of the death penalty in cases where the victim dies or is left in a persistent vegetative state.</p>
<p>• A minimum sentence of 20 years and maximum of life imprisonment for gang rape, rape of a minor, or rape by a police officer or figure of authority. Previously it was seven to 10 years.</p>
<p>• Penalties for police officers who fail to file a woman's complaint of a sex crime.</p>
<p>• The definition of sexual assault is expanded to cover molestation and unwanted touching of private parts.</p>
<p>• Sexual harassment, stalking, voyeurism, acid attacks and forcibly undressing a woman in public are defined as criminal offences punishable by jail terms.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/130319/steubenville-delhi-rape-sex-violence-america" type="external">Rape in Steubenville and Delhi: Where's the difference?</a></p>
<p>Yet <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130320/activists-welcome-indias-anti-rape-law-caution" type="external">activists have complained</a> that much is missing from the bill.</p>
<p>Notably, it does not criminalize the rape of a woman by her husband. That oversight contravenes the Indian constitution, "which considers women as equal human beings who have a right to live with dignity and be free from violence within and outside marriage," Sudha Sundararaman of the All India Democratic Women's Association <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Womens-activists-sore-with-rape-law/articleshow/19081635.cms" type="external">told the Times of India</a>.</p>
<p>Neither does the bill tackle incest or child trafficking, ban politicians charged with rape from running for public office, or <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-21796944" type="external">lower the age of consent from 18 to 16</a>, which campaigners had hoped would prevent the unfair criminalization of consensual relationships between teenagers.</p>
<p>Furthermore, there are concerns that "the rush to put tougher penalties in place and defuse public anger over the issue may create further problems for India's already beleaguered justice system," <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130320/activists-welcome-indias-anti-rape-law-caution" type="external">Agence France-Presse said</a>, citing the danger that inadequately trained police would misapply the new laws.</p>
<p>The bill's political opponents went further and claimed that it would criminalize (supposedly) normal behavior.</p>
<p>"Who among us have not followed girls?" <a href="http://newindianexpress.com/nation/article1509019.ece" type="external">asked politician Sharad Yadav of the regional Janata Dal party</a> during Tuesday's debate, in reference to the new provisions on stalking. "The girl may not give us a lift the first time, you have to pursue her and then tell politely. This is the way."</p>
<p>With such attitudes to contend with, it's perhaps not surprising that some activists have welcomed this bill, despite its flaws, as <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/british-tourist-jumps-from-indian-hotel-balcony-to-escape-sexual-assault-police-say/2013/03/19/1c25919c-9094-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html" type="external">"a major gain."</a></p>
<p>"It does not address 100 percent of all that we demanded," Kavita Krishnan of the All India Progressive Women's Association told the Post, "but we don’t want to delay or deny what we have got in order to wait for that perfect law."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/opinion-hacking-vs-rape-which-crime-more-deserving-jail-time" type="external">Hacking vs. rape: Which crime gets more jail time?</a></p> | India passes tough new rape law - but does it go far enough? | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-03-20/india-passes-tough-new-rape-law-does-it-go-far-enough | 2013-03-20 | 3 |
<p>With the company's stock up 19% since announcing "blowout" third-quarter earnings results on Oct. 26, some may think Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) must be close to righting the ship. For those who follow the tech industry in general, it was hard to miss the headlines.</p>
<p>The headlines went something like this: "Twitter reports renewed user growth." Another popular theme was "Twitter nears profitability," or some derivative thereof. Good tidings or not, Warren Buffett wouldn't touch Twitter stock for several reasons, nor should individual investors.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>One look at Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway&#160;portfolio and it's clear he looks for stocks that either are, or have the potential to become, leaders in their respective industries. Other attributes he requires include profitability, a strong management team, and future growth opportunities.</p>
<p>To date, Twitter has exhibited none of the characteristics Buffett looks for.</p>
<p>The renewed user growth Twitter supposedly enjoyed in the third quarter is bordering on ludicrous. Twitter's monthly average users (MAUs) figure, a standard metric for social media providers, was actually terrible given its relatively small user base.</p>
<p>Last quarter Twitter's MAUs grew all of 4% year over year to 330 million. That's not a return to user growth; it's an example of how low expectations for Twitter are. For some perspective, Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) MAUs rose 16% last quarter to 2.07 billion. Considering the disparity in size, Twitter's results are even more distressing.</p>
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<p>And it's not just <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/16/why-2017-was-a-year-to-remember-for-facebook-inc.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=877a7804-cbae-11e7-a612-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Facebook that is demolishing Twitter Opens a New Window.</a> in the race for users. Over the last two years, Snapchat (NYSE: SNAP) has added 87 million MAUs, nearly four times Twitter's 23 million. During that same time, Facebook grew its user base 20 times that of Twitter, adding a mind-boggling 461 million MAUs.</p>
<p>Somewhat overlooked in the niceties surrounding Twitter's efforts to turn a profit -- a key factor for Buffett -- was how it went about becoming almost profitable. Unbelievably, Twitter's total revenue of $590 million was a 4% decline compared to a year ago. Worse still, <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/14/as-its-ad-business-flounders-twitter-looks-increas.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=877a7804-cbae-11e7-a612-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ad sales were a meager Opens a New Window.</a> $503 million, a stunning 8% drop. Domestic revenue, Twitter's largest market, sank 11% to $332 million.</p>
<p>Though it doesn't seem fair, for comparison's sake Facebook's ad revenue soared 49% last quarter to $10.1 billion, driving a 77% rise in earnings per share (EPS) to $1.59. So with sales dropping, how did Twitter become almost profitable? By taking a machete to expenses, particularly sales-related costs.</p>
<p>Expenses dropped 16% last quarter, equal to $112 million, driven by "decreases in sales and marketing and R&amp;D," which both declined 23%. Sacrificing sales and development overhead today to achieve profitability tomorrow is fine for the near term. But how long can it continue as revenue continues its downward spiral, which is once again expected this quarter?</p>
<p>The problems Twitter has had retaining key executives is nothing new. The year kicked off with the departure of four senior &#160;managers, followed by the CFO over the summer, and the abrupt loss of a key member of Twitter Canada's exec team. Management turnover alone would likely put a screeching halt to any thought Buffett would have to buy Twitter stock.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest head-scratcher is CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey was adamant he retain his post as CEO of Square&#160;when he returned as Twitter CEO two years ago. The Twitter board initially opposed the idea of Dorsey keeping his CEO at Square, but they eventually relented and made Dorsey permanent CEO anyway. Twitter's stock is now near its 52-week high, which is about 50% below its valuation when Dorsey rode back in on his white horse.</p>
<p>Safe to say, Buffett likely wouldn't touch Twitter stock with a 10-foot pole. Dorsey's plan to cut expenses to drive minimal profitability, despite plunging sales, is near-term planning at its worst. Long-term investors would be wise to follow Buffett's lead and run, don't walk, away from Twitter.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than TwitterWhen 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=4a465f47-ca8b-42d5-9aa6-d07cb67623be&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=877a7804-cbae-11e7-a612-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Twitter 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=4a465f47-ca8b-42d5-9aa6-d07cb67623be&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=877a7804-cbae-11e7-a612-0050569d4be0&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 November 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/timbrugger/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=877a7804-cbae-11e7-a612-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Tim Brugger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Berkshire Hathaway (B shares), Facebook, and Twitter. The Motley Fool owns shares of Square. 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;referring_guid=877a7804-cbae-11e7-a612-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Twitter Inc Wouldn't Be a Warren Buffett Stock | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/18/why-twitter-inc-wouldnt-be-warren-buffett-stock.html | 2017-11-18 | 0 |
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<p>After the first day of the Class 6A state wrestling tournament, four of the top five teams hail from the same district.</p>
<p>District 1-6A city rivals Cleveland — the defending champion — and Rio Rancho lead the pack at the Santa Ana Star Center, with Piedra Vista third and Volcano Vista holding down fifth place as the tournament moves into its second and final day.</p>
<p>The Storm has 108 points, with Rio Rancho 19 points behind. Piedra Vista (83) has a slim, half-point lead on Carlsbad, with Volcano Vista at 77 points.</p>
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<p>Individually, a majority of the top seeds advanced into this morning’s semifinals with multiple victories on Friday.</p>
<p>Volcano Vista’s undefeated Marcus Santillanes, left, dives into the legs of Cibola’s Julius Kohn at 106 pounds.</p>
<p>Eight of the 14 weight divisions have gone strictly according to seed, with the top four seeds still alive. In four of the remaining six brackets, a No. 5 seed advanced.</p>
<p>That left two notable exceptions: Paul Garcia of Albuquerque High, the No. 6 seed at 132 pounds, and unseeded Elijah Goodwin of Rio Rancho.</p>
<p>Goodwin, a heavyweight, had two pins Friday as he advanced into the semis. He’ll face the top seed, Cleveland’s Daimon Altamirano; the two met in the recent metro final where Altamirano won by pin.</p>
<p>Goodwin received one of three wildcard berths into the heavyweight bracket; he finished outside the top three at last weekend’s 1-6A championships.</p>
<p>Several metro-area wrestlers remain on track for a third straight 6A championship — Volcano Vista’s Richard Govea at 170, Cleveland’s Mikey Mascareñas at 120 and Rio Rancho’s Ryan Rochford&#160; at 152. The Storm’s Noah Mirabal (126)&#160; is also chasing a third, albeit not in consecutive years.</p>
<p>The semifinals are scheduled for 9 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. Saturday in all three classifications.</p>
<p>The finals are set for 4 p.m. Saturday at the Star Center.</p>
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<p>CLASS 5A: Defending champion Belen scored 96½ points on Day 1. Capital (82½), Aztec (71½), Roswell (70) and Valencia (67) complete the top five.</p>
<p>Nearly all the top two seeds are going strong in their individual brackets; the only one among them that was eliminated was Albuquerque Academy’s Clay Crosby, the No. 1 seed at 126 pounds, who was pinned in his first match.</p>
<p>Jose Tapia of Capital, in search of his fifth individual state title — he is trying to become the seventh athlete to reach that status — recorded two pins on Friday at 138 pounds. Diego Pavia of St. Pius is the No. 2 seed in that bracket.</p>
<p>Metro-area No. 1 seeds to advance included Belen heavyweight Estevan Chavez, Gerald Sanchez from Los Lunas at 220, Rowdy Robinson of Belen at 182, Chris Robinson of Belen at 145 and Frankie Baca of Del Norte at 106.</p>
<p>CLASS 4A: Every weight class except one has put its top two seeds into the semis.</p>
<p>Ruidoso’s unseeded heavyweight, Michael Marin, upset the No. 2 seed, Isaiah Velarde of Tucumcari in the first round.</p>
<p>In the team standings, it’s Cobre leading with 68 points. Silver is only one point back in second, with Robertson (50) in third.</p>
<p>Click <a href="http://s200.trackwrestling.com/tw/predefinedtournaments/MainFrame.jsp?newSession=false&amp;loadBalanced=true&amp;sport=wrestling&amp;TIM=1487385159533&amp;pageName=&amp;ie=false&amp;frameSize=946" type="external">here</a> for brackets and results.</p>
<p>Saturday</p>
<p>High school state wrestling,</p>
<p>Santa Ana Star Center, Rio Rancho</p>
<p>Semifinals begin at 9 a.m., finals at</p>
<p>4 p.m. in all classes</p> | Prep wrestling: Cleveland, Belen, Cobre lead after Day 1 | false | https://abqjournal.com/952483/prep-wrestling-cleveland-belen-cobre-lead-after-day-1.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Seen and heard on the floor of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo as it begins its three-day run at the Los Angeles Convention Center:</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>E3 is all about the new: new games, new gadgets, new ways to connect with like-minded players. So the inventors and developers who are hoping they're creating the next big thing must be bewildered by the outpouring of enthusiasm for a remake of an 18-year-old game.</p>
<p>That game is Square Enix's landmark "Final Fantasy VII," a classic Japanese role-playing adventure that introduced many Westerners to the genre. When Sony announced a remake would be coming to the PlayStation 4, its fans — many of whom were children when it first appeared — roared with approval.</p>
<p>But it isn't the only old game getting attention this week. Microsoft won over some skeptics by announcing it would be making the entire library of the good old Xbox 360 playable on the Xbox One. Rare, a studio whose games date back to the early 1980s, announced "Rare Replay," a $30 compilation of 30 of its old hits, including classics like "Battletoads" and "Banjo-Kazooie." And then there are revivals of long-dormant series like Bethesda Softworks' "Doom" and Nintendo's "StarFox."</p>
<p>Nintendo, more than any other publisher, has been mining nostalgia for years: Every new "Mario Bros." or "Legend of Zelda" title takes gamers back to the '80s, when they played the originals on the Nintendo Entertainment System. When the company's "Super Mario Maker" comes out later this year, I suspect we'll see tons of fan-created tributes to the Mario games of our youth.</p>
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<p>___</p>
<p>Another old title drawing buzz is "Shenmue," a wildly ambitious Sega game from 1999. It was an intriguing and not entirely successful attempt to combine role-playing, brawling and, well, forklift racing. Despite its drawbacks — in particular, some very slow pacing that's a little too lifelike — it pioneered the sprawling open worlds of modern games like "Grand Theft Auto" and "Far Cry."</p>
<p>After a 2001 sequel flopped, Sega ditched plans to complete the trilogy. But on Monday, "Shenmue" creator Yu Suzuki appeared at Sony's pre-E3 event and announced a $2 million Kickstarter campaign to fund "Shenmue III." It reached its goal 12 hours later.</p>
<p>The whole affair has raised plenty of questions. The original "Shenmue" cost nearly $50 million to produce, and games cost a lot more to develop these days. And some critics slammed Sony for asking fans to fund "Shenmue III" rather than providing the financing itself — although Sony is expected to kick in some cash now that fans have demonstrated their ardor.</p>
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<p>E3 has always been a place where East meets West, and nowhere was that more evident than Square Enix's pre-E3 showcase. Square's portfolio is a fascinating mix of beloved Japanese franchises like "Final Fantasy" and Western-developed series like "Tomb Raider," and the company's presentation was divided pretty much evenly between developers speaking English and Japanese (sometimes without translation).</p>
<p>The epitome of this dichotomy is the newly announced "Kingdom Hearts III," the latest collaboration between Square and Disney. The series mixes anime-inspired characters with classic Disney toons like Goofy and Donald Duck; the latest chapter adds the cast of "Tangled."</p>
<p>That struck me as an odd choice, but director Tetsuya Nomura said through a translator that Rapunzel and her hair offered some interesting potential in the gameplay. He also pointed out that "Tangled" follows the "traditional Disney structure." He was less forthcoming when asked about the possibility of Disney-owned Marvel and "Star Wars" characters coming to "Kingdom Hearts" — but, given the series' focus on old-school animation, I wouldn't count on it.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Buzziest game announcements of E3 Day One:</p>
<p>— "Shenmue III."</p>
<p>— "Kingdom Hearts III."</p>
<p>— Nintendo's "The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes," a multiplayer adventure for the portable 3DS.</p>
<p>— Square Enix's role-playing sequel "Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness," earning major props for its title alone.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Lou Kesten on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lkesten</p> | E3 BUZZ: Old games find new life, in remakes and on Kickstarter | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/06/17/e3-buzz-old-games-find-new-life-in-remakes-and-on-kickstarter.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>Last year (on April Fools' Day no less), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)launched its Dash buttons, giving its Prime members the ability to order common household with the single press of a button. The public seemed incredulous at first, but is there more to this idea than at first glance?</p>
<p>On this special crossover episode of <a href="http://www.fool.com/podcasts/industry-focus?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Industry Focus: Tech Opens a New Window.</a>, Motley Fool analysts Dylan Lewis and Vincent Shen look at how leading names in the retail industry and budding start-ups are trying to make it as easy as possible for consumers to spend their money. Even companies likeDomino's(NYSE: DPZ)have invested significantly in their digital strategy and now offer over a dozen different ways to order a simple pizza pie.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Tune in to learn about the benefits this technology offers to both companies and their customers.</p>
<p>A full transcript follows the video.</p>
<p>This video was recorded on Nov. 18, 2016.</p>
<p>Dylan Lewis: Welcome to Industry Focus, the podcast that dives into a different sector of the stock market every day. It'sFriday, November 18th, and we're wrapping up crossover weekwith a chat about some of the more advanced wayspeople are placing orders. I'm your host, Dylan Lewis,and I'm joined in studio by the host of the Consumer Goods show, Vincent Shen. Vince, how's it going?</p>
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<p>Vincent Shen: I'm doing well, Dylan. How are you?</p>
<p>Lewis: It'spretty fun to have you next to me in the studio. This goes back to ... maybe eightmonths ago was the last time we did a show together, back in the Tech days when you would sub in for Sean?</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah, I think back to the days of doing the Consumer Goods show with Sean. This is my third show now -- I mentioned this on the previous episode -- ofhaving someone in studio to actually talk to you in person while shooting the podcast. That makessuch a huge difference compared to when you have someone calling in on Skype or something.I generally find it to be much easier to take a conversational tone,and the discussion is much more additive that way.</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah,I'm always worried that I'm going to cut off Evan or Daniel Sparkson the Tech show, because they're calling in on Skype. Today, we'regoing to be talking about the intersection between tech and CG -- namely, picking up on a conversation that you and Asit Sharma had on the Consumer Goods show about a month ago, talking aboutloyalty programsand the more integrated tech solutions that some of the big consumer players are adopting. I think the one that spawned the show and the idea is the Amazon Dash buttons. Do youwant to get some background for listeners who haven't encountered them?</p>
<p>Shen: Absolutely. These buttons, if you've never heard of them,picture something the size of USB thumb drive. It has some major brand of consumerhousehold items. Think, Tide detergent, Clorox, and itbranches out into things likeCoca-Cola,Gatorade, a lot of products. These have been available since AprilFool's Day in 2015 --</p>
<p>Lewis: Interesting date to launch something like this.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah,a lot of people did think it was a joke at the beginning. This little button,you can press it,and it's connected to your Wi-Fi,and it will automatically place an order forwhatever that brand item is. These buttons cost $4.99 each,but once you place that first order, Amazon will credit you $4.99,so in the end, it's essentially a free button or device.</p>
<p>Lewis: As long as you use it.</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly.I think the hook here is convenience. On the consumer side,you have something that's right there. If you're doing your laundry and you're out of detergent,it does seem very appealing to have this button that you can just press, and from that point on, maybe in a day --if you're in the right market and the distribution centers are really close -- or, within 48 hours. The thing is, the Dash buttons are only available to Prime members. So, you can have something restocked very quickly. In terms of the Dashprogram and how much it has grown,when it startedit only had a couple dozen options, in terms of different products. I went through and counted -- there's over 150 buttons now,available across six different product categories.</p>
<p>Lewis: That's incredible.</p>
<p>Shen: Thatincludes household supplies, like Tide, Clorox,Hefty bags. Then, there's groceries,so you might get Red Bull or Folgers coffee, health and personal care, beauty, pet supplies, and kids and baby.</p>
<p>Lewis: I think what you see with a lot of these is, they're all non-perishable, for the most part, or they'reproducts that have a shelf life of a month-and-a-half, soit's nothing that's going to spoil. A lot of them tend to be in housecleaning or personal maintenance, orsomething along those lines,one of those product categories. I knowit always seems like I'm neverfully stocked with paper towels, and I envision this being theirdream scenario, where you goto grab another roll of paper towelsfrom the pantry, you see you only have one or two left, so youhit the button and order more so they're therebefore you don't have any.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah. That's whatI think the company hopes that consumers see as the value-add, theidea that you run out of something,the button is right thereand you can place that order,and you can really take the entire process of shopping out of the picture. I think it's a huge benefit for Amazon,having that convenience. But also, they can track your usage, and at the same time,you don't see what the price is. So,you can get a notificationin terms of practical usage,you can get a notification after you place an order and see how much it was and adjust accordingly. For some of the items,there might be different package sizes. If you're ordering razors, for example, youmight be able to order a three-pack or a six-pack. And you can change that in your settings. Butultimately, when it comes down to it, the idea is you are not making that trip to the grocery store, you're not walking down the aisle,you don't see what's on sale, you don't see any new products in the area, you're very tied to these big-name brands from large consumer goodscompanies likeProcter &amp; Gamble, Clorox, Unilever. They are the ones that make thisrelationship with Amazon work. And they'revery happy about that,because when you put this button up, you basically have a minibillboard for that brand in each person's home.</p>
<p>Lewis: It's kind of a big brand's dream. You'reeliminating the possibility of any store brand or genericor something like that catching a customer's eye because they're $0.20 cheaper. And you're making what would be, maybe, a purchase that involved some thought,something that's automatic and a little bit more programmed. So, to give an idea of what the breakdown is here in terms of brands,I'm guessing that most of the big consumer goods conglomerates are involved in this?</p>
<p>Shen: Yes.</p>
<p>Lewis: It seems like they break down the share of buttons by sales, and P&amp;G is up top there with 31%.</p>
<p>Shen: I have to note, this data is from the early launch period of May 2015 to January 2016. This was before they rolled out a lot of new brands. Butjust to give people an idea, like you mentioned, you have Procter &amp; Gamble, their share of just the buttons sold --</p>
<p>Lewis: So that's notproduct sales using buttons.</p>
<p>Shen: No,it's the actual buttons sold. That was31%. The next biggest wasKimberly-Clark--I misspoke earlier when I said and Unilever.Kimberly-Clark is second with 14%. You haveClorox at 11.7%. Then, once you get into food and beverage,Pepsiis there with7.5%, Coca-Colaalmost 4%. This was before a lot of products rolled out, but in the end, it does give you an idea that, these aresome of the biggesthousehold names out there, in terms of branding for products. That's whoAmazon is trying to partner with. Initially, actually, there was a $200,000sign up feeif you wanted to get in on this.</p>
<p>Lewis: As a brand.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah. And the way thatAmazon makes money, is that these companies will pay Amazon $15 for every button sold. Then,Amazon will also take 15% of each sale. That'sin addition to the normal commission that Amazon collects for things that you sell through their Marketplace. So,potentially, if the volume reaches that point,it could be quite lucrative. The thing is, for these consumer products companies, that seems like a lot of money to have to pay to get in on this,but at the same time you maintain that top-of-mind awareness with consumers, the button is right there, andAmazon has obviously proven itself very capable of upending a lot of industries, a lot of ways that people shop. Insome cases, they just want to maintain this partnership with Amazon, and get in on the ground floor ifsomething like this eventually takes off.</p>
<p>Lewis: See,I was surprised by that becauseI had naturally assumed that this was something Amazon was doing as a loss leader, and they were saying, "We'regoing to give out these devices,"it probably takes $0.50 or something tomanufacture them at scale, $0.25 maybe, "We willeffectively make them free for Prime members, and we'll make it up on volume."I didn't realize that the brands were giving them that 15% per --</p>
<p>Shen: There's apretty significant payout.</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah. They're collecting from the brands, and if people don't use them, they're also collecting the $5 there.</p>
<p>Shen: Yes.I also wanted to touch onsome initial feedback. I went online trying to find a response.I never used Dash personally. I was trying to find some reception, or feedback, reviews, abouthow this works, if it's really that satisfying, feels that convenient. Itseems like there's some mixed results. Beyond a single person'sexperience, theWall Street Journalhad a really interesting report. There's some marketresearch from a place called Slice Intelligence. They said, on the one hand, for Dashadopters that are using their buttons, resultsmight not actually be as encouraging asAmazon wants them to be. They say thatless than half of people who purchase Dashbuttons have actually placed an order using the device.</p>
<p>Lewis: That'ssurprising, because you're paying the $5.</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly. For the people who do make a purchase,they've only make one maybe once every two months. Thatdoesn't really seem that indicative ofthe volume that you mentioned, that could really make this something that would drive bottom line earnings for Amazon. But on the flip side, I thinkTechCrunch reported that Amazon -- always very murky with their numbers, they always hold things very close to their chest --</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah,it wasn't until about a year ago that they broke out AWS, which was this ridiculously profitable segment.</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly. The thing for them, they've said Dash orders are coming inmore than one per minute. Then,1010data, which iswhere we got some of that market share data for the buttons, they also mentioned, based on these millions of consumers they have in their panel, it's where they get this data,they can track their online and e-commercebehavior, they said Dash button sales were actually up triple digits from early 2016 over when it first launched. So, obviously small base. But you would think thatover 200% growth, for example, would be encouraging. Overall,conflicting reports. Andwe won't know, because I doubt this is something that Amazonwill ever get that granular with,in terms of their reporting. Butoverall, I think it's a very interesting idea, wherecompanies like Amazon or trying to take theshopping experience, making it that streamlined.</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah, you'reshifting decision-making, that's really the idea here. IsAmazon kind of the only game in town for big brands that are looking to do this? Or are there other options?</p>
<p>Shen: Honestly,even with an Amazon's own ecosystem, they'restarting to compete with itself, in a sense. Amazon Echo, you can place orders through it. So, this could "cannibalize" from their own Dash platform.</p>
<p>Lewis: Butthey're just looking to get in your home,no matter how they do it.</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly. Beyond that one company, there are a few competitors, and they're taking a few different approaches. One is currently in-market, the Hiku. It sells for $49. You can get it on Amazon.</p>
<p>Lewis: (laughs) Of course.</p>
<p>Shen: You can get it fromWal-Mart. This is ahandheld device. You connect it to your Wi-Fi, and you're pretty much ready to gofrom that point. You canbasically either scan the barcode on your carton of milk,on your Oreo cookies, whatever it is --</p>
<p>Lewis: Like you would at the supermarket?</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly. And that will sync with an app on your phone and create a list. You can alsodictate into the device, and say, "bananas", for example,and it will recognize that and add it to your list. The idea is, you have this one-stopshopping list, so everyone in your house can use thiswhenever they need something. Then,when that one person goes on Saturday or Sunday, or whatever, to the grocery store,they have everything and it's updated through the app, through Wi-Fi, so it's up to date.</p>
<p>On the other hand, what is more similar in terms of the Dash program is, they'vepartnered with Wal-Mart Grocery andPeapod, thedelivery service for groceries. So,you can scan those items and potentially order themdirectly from the app through Peapod.</p>
<p>Lewis: So,similar in that you're taking what would be a routine purchase andmaking it effortless.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah. It'salmost like you're taking that cash register aisle experience at the grocery store and you'removing it to your kitchen. You have this device, you scan things,and then you can just go on your phone and hit that order button,and have it be on your doorstep the next day or whenever. The issues there, I think, is that that all works in theory, but this is a smaller player.</p>
<p>Lewis: And they're private, right?</p>
<p>Shen: Yes. And they'restill trying to develop some of the infrastructure they need.I saw some feedback, for example, on Amazon. They mentioned the Wal-Mart Grocery, with the site update, everything that works with this Hiku device broke. Then, with the Peapoddelivery service, that'slimited to certain markets. I checked the site,it's available around places like Chicago,major markets like New York,around Washington D.C. andbasically around the Northeast.</p>
<p>Lewis: When you're banking on other people forfulfillment, whether it would be Walmart or Peapod in this situation, you're limited to theirphysical presence,or any technical difficulties they might incur.</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly. On that note, though, I will say, there is some promise to this in that, even with Wal-Mart Grocery,delivery has always been a challenge. Even Amazon, which launched its Fresh program in 2007,look how slow andconservative they have been relative to their usual M.O., that they've rolled that out. But,if you look at Wal-Mart Grocery, and you look at the curbside pickup service, which has really taken off in the past year, that could be something where a device like this is -- you do the scanning, you get that order in, and you drive to pick it up. I think that kind of convenience, even if you have to drive to the store and pick it up, since it has such a ubiquitous presence -- there's so many Wal-Marts in this country.</p>
<p>It also works a little bit for Amazon. Last episode, I was speaking with Dan Kline about how they want to open this huge network ofconvenience stores or supermarkets, and drive-through is a huge part of that,because they're hoping it's something where it's like, "Oh,I'm on my way home from work,I'll stop at the store and my order will be ready," youdrive through and pick it up. Again, it's part of their effort to hook you. Not like a loyalty program, but thisconvenience aspect.</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah,once you kill brick-and-mortar, you caniterate on brick-and-mortar. Anybody else in this space thatshould be watching for, to see maybe some of the cues that Amazon will pick up from them?</p>
<p>Shen: Absolutely. This second one is called Kwik.I really like the approach they're taking. I think it's much moresustainable. Basically, the way theydescribe themselves is "an open end-to-end IoT platform," IoT is Internet of Things, "connecting retailers, brands, and delivery providers. Weenable brands to develop direct relationships with the consumersin their homes."This is a start-up based in Israel. They have a pilot program right now, and they'vepartnered with some pretty big brands like Huggies,Domino's,and evenAnheuser-Buschfor a beer button.</p>
<p>Lewis: Thatsounds dangerous, a beer button.(laughs)</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah, that is. But,the idea is,they give companies an existing system orinfrastructure to integrateinto their own operations. The business model, the buttons would be free to consumers, Kwik would take a cut of each transaction and thenprovide their serviceto accompany like Procter &amp; Gamble. The idea is, this allows the companies that are making the goods to maintain their own fulfillment, delivery, and payment partners, and Kwik is just that middle man that willconnect everything and give you the infrastructure to get everything into place.</p>
<p>Lewis: Soit's more of a platform.</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly. They even mention in their marketing on their site, they're still kind of a start-up, and they're only sending out demos right now in the United States. But they view the U.S. as theirbig market opportunity. The thing is,they mentioned specifically that it's not justpotentially buttons, but also potentially an app or button on your phone. The idea is, as convenient as it might be having the button on your dishwasher formore detergent and dish washer soap, whatever it might be,having everything consolidated in one place on your phone in a folder --and as we'll see with the next topic we'll discuss --could take that to a whole other level, essentially.</p>
<p>Lewis: So, working on the physical side and the digital side, making sure they have both their bases covered. You mentioned Domino's as someone that was working with Kwik. To switch gears a little bit, they're one of the companies you watch and you're like, I can't believe the pivot they've made to digital. In a lot of ways, they've become the gold standard for the older -- whether it's quick-serve or delivery-oriented businesses -- pivoting and entering the digital app age. They've done an incredible job.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah. We've talked about these other platforms where they will partner with a ton of different companies. But now you have a single company that offers -- I know they're just Domino's now, because they're trying to market the fact that they don't just have pizza -- but in the end, this is a much more specific offering.</p>
<p>Lewis: They sell salads now.(laughs) They've made that very clear in their advertisements.</p>
<p>Shen: The thing is,pizza is their core product,but even then they're trying to get into the spacein terms of adopting a lot of technologyto make it as convenient as possible for people to order. Management recently mentionedthat they have 16 or 17 differentconsumer access points,which is essentially different ways people can placean order with a company, which is kind of absurd.</p>
<p>Lewis: That's incredible.</p>
<p>Shen: This is a worldwide huge presence. They have 12,500 locations, in over 80 marketsall over the world. The thing is,a company this size, they have $4.7 billion in annual digital sales. So,this isn't just a small part of the operation. They mentioned that,in the United States market specifically, digital ordersmakeup over half of total sales in 2015. Some of their international partners, their franchises, are well ahead of that. So,the penetration level of their digital efforts is really impressive.</p>
<p>Lewis: And youlook at the different options, they refer to it asDomino's AnyWare,it's almost comical the number of different ways you can ordera Domino's pizza. You can useFacebookMessenger,you can use Amazon Echo, you can text,you can tweet --which is something we might talk about in a little bit.I think the one that is most surprising is this Zero Click app. Similar to where it sounds like Kwik might bepushing people down the road, there's a Domino's app that exists on your phone,it's basically a tile, you click it,and as soon as you enter the app, an egg timer starts counting down from 10 seconds. If you don't stop it in 10 seconds, it will place your saved order to the nearestDomino's location and will pay for it, and it's ready to go. That's insane! And all they're doing is looking to remove friction at any point they can.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah. We should caveat that, actually,because you went through the process of creating a profile. In order to have this level of convenience, there is a little bit of a disclaimer in thatyou need to go into your profile, set one upfrom the get-go, and then put in what your preferred pizza order is,in order for something like that, a zero-click option to work.</p>
<p>Lewis: Right. When I saw this, I was like, "This isso stupid." But, the idea that you can justtweet at Domino's with the pizza emojiand you're good to go, and you order a pizza.I went through their online profile buildingto see what that looks like. Thattakes a couple minutes. You look at the information they collect, there'syour general info, your payment info, your location, and your easy-order pie, or your easy-order with more built out stuff -- say you want pizza, wings, dessert and soda, that's your go-to order. So any time you enter that key -- the pizza emoji, in this case -- that's what you're asking for. Once you do that, they're banking on you beingable to just fall back on that, and have it -- kind of similar to the Dash button --just become part of your everyday routine. It's looking to take things thatmight sometimes be a consideration into, "Oh,it's Thursday night,why don't we just order the standard orderthat we always get from Domino's?"</p>
<p>Shen: Andnot only that, but it only requires meto flick my thumb one time,if you have that setup to place that order. Even more than the Dash button, inmy opinion, that really takes it to the point where it's truly removing all of that thought process out of a purchase. That can be pretty powerful for any of these companies.</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah. Thesecompanies want to become part of your routine. Theywant to be part of what you do from week to week, day to day. I get that. One of the things that's interesting, we have no idea, really, what thesedifferent channels do for Domino's.I'm hoping, in time, we'llget a little commentary on what's more on the gimmick side --</p>
<p>Shen: Of these different access points,which ones are actually driving sales?</p>
<p>Lewis: My hunch is, of the 16 or 17, four of themprobably contribute 80% to 90% --</p>
<p>Shen: Or more, frankly.</p>
<p>Lewis: But,something that management keeps in mind quite a bit is thedifferent elements that play into the ticket -- the ticket being a standard order. They see,digital ordering generally tends to be higher. If you'reordering online, your tickets tend to be larger. I thinkpart of that is that you have the whole menu in front of you, rather thanwhen you're ordering over the phone saying, "I want this pizza and this soda and I'm good to go." I think the options for add-ons are just better,because you have that full sweep right in front of you. As you get people into more programmed typed decisions,and you're continuing to add new products, so,in the example of them decided to roll out salads,you need to build in nudges to get people to revisit those savedpreferences so they can build on those. Otherwise, you're keeping people at a set price point with their ticket. The counter is, maybe they make that up on volume,and maybe that's how they justify that. But I do think that's something that'sinteresting to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah.Domino's recently rolled outa more traditional loyalty program --something we discussed on the Consumer Goods showmultiple times now. It's pretty attractive, in myopinion. Any order over $10 gives you 10 points. Once you've gained over 60 points, you get a freemedium two topping pizza. That's really not bad.</p>
<p>Lewis: It's pretty solid.</p>
<p>Shen: Again,that might be the kind of thing where thefrequency of your ordersgets you into the loyalty programbecause you see how quickly you'rebuilding up points, and it just becomes this additive cycle and can make people very regularcustomers.</p>
<p>Lewis: And you start doing the math, and it's like, "I only need to order four times, then I have my free one coming," and you start getting that gamified version of habits, and it cantotally transform how consumers behave.</p>
<p>Shen: Yeah. One more pointI wanted to make before we wrap up, in terms ofDomino's and how they've been so effective in rolling out thesedifferent consumer access points, and how they've really grown revenue quite well over the past few years -- the stock has done quite well, it's traded up and made some really nice gains -- is the fact that this technology focusreally permeates the entire company. The way they describe it is, they basicallyinstituted this proprietary point of sale system. If you think about it,this is a franchise model. They have almost 5,000locations in the United States. They only operate 400 of them.</p>
<p>Lewis: Really! That's tiny.</p>
<p>Shen: So, you look at that, and you think, "What about all these franchisees, they have to deal withall these new technological roll outs." We'veheard of things likeMcDonald's, all these different things they try, franchisees get pissed. Butin this case, having that technology developed in-house,like this point of sale system,allows them to integrate Zero Click orFacebook Messenger orders into that systemmuch more easily, because they basically control all the gears and the levers there.</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah, so all of that iscentralized, and it can trickle down to the local branches.</p>
<p>Shen: Exactly,and I think that has been a really important partof how they've been able to test and experiment with some of these crazy ideas, without really messing up the core operation, day to day operations, for a lot of their franchises.</p>
<p>Lewis: And,we don't know what the contribution is, whether we're looking at the Dash buttons for Amazon, or some of theseseemingly more gimmicky type things Domino's does, one,it gets us talking about these brands. It gets these brands in the news.I can't even count the number of first-personarticles I've read ofpeople talking about, "I tried the Amazon Dash button," or "I tried the Domino's tweet to order a pizza experience, and this is how it went." It's buzz-building for the brands, and ultimately, probably not that expensive to roll out. So,even if it's not something that meaningfully contributes to the top or bottom line, itcertainly gets people talking.</p>
<p>Anything else before I let you go, Vince?</p>
<p>Shen: No. If you're interested in anything that we talked about,especially with Dash --it can be free for you, right? If you're ordering some household good anyways, and you're curious, I'd say try it out, and we'd love to hear from you.</p>
<p>Lewis: Yeah,if any listeners do have these products,or have ordered through any of these means,let us know. You can shoot us an email at <a href="http://mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected] Opens a New Window.</a>. You can always tweet us @MFIndustryFocus. If you'relooking for more of our stuff, you can subscribe on iTunes, or check out The Fool'sfamily of shows at <a href="http://www.fool.com/podcasts/?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">podcasts.fool.com Opens a New Window.</a>. While you're there,check out our flagship service, Motley Fool Stock Advisor. Today, the new issue of Stock Advisor comes out with two newstock recommendations fromDavid and Tom Gardner. You can check it out by going to the Podcast Center and scrolling to the bottom of the page. That's <a href="http://www.fool.com/podcasts/?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">podcasts.fool.com Opens a New Window.</a>.As always, people on the program may own companies discussed on the show, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against stocks mentioned, so don't buy or sell anything based solely on what you hear. For Vincent Shen, I'm Dylan Lewis,thanks for listening and Fool on!</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFlewis/info.aspx" type="external">Dylan Lewis Opens a New Window.</a>has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFJourneyMan/info.aspx" type="external">Vincent Shen Opens a New Window.</a>has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, Facebook, and PepsiCo. The Motley Fool is short Domino's Pizza. The Motley Fool recommends Coca-Cola, Kimberly-Clark, and Unilever. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a>makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Ordering Anything and Everything at the Push of a Button | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/25/ordering-anything-and-everything-at-push-button.html | 2016-11-25 | 0 |
<p>Photo used under a Creative Commons license by flickr user &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/obliterated/"&gt;obLiterated&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p />
<p>A teenager in a mohawk crooning barbershop tunes.</p>
<p>That’s what greets me as I enter the Hilton in Anaheim, California, host city for this year’s big international barbershop convention/competition. The spiky-haired troubadour (who, I come to find out, has a barbershopping grandma) is among 10,000 faithful who have converged on <a href="" type="internal">Disneyland</a>‘s hometown to watch the world’s masters of four-part harmony have it out. At the Honda Center, where the competitions take place, a scrolling billboard ticks off the venue’s billings: <a href="" type="internal">Beyoncé</a>… <a href="" type="internal">Metallica</a>…The Barbershop Harmony Society.</p>
<p>I get to the center in time for the chorus and quartet finals, barbershop’s crème de la crème. (I started singing the style when I was 12, and have long dreamed of hitting the big stage.) On this Friday night, the 160-man <a href="http://www.aoh.org/" type="external">Ambassadors of Harmony</a> chorus performs a rollicking version of “Seventy Six Trombones”—complete with acrobatics and a costume change—and manages to <a href="http://www.barbershop.org/PDF/INTL20090701_CF.OSS1.pdf" type="external">upset the 11-time champ</a>. The next day, a group with members from Tennessee, Florida, Michigan, and Missouri, fittingly called <a href="http://www.crossroadsquartet.com/" type="external">Crossroads</a>, <a href="http://www.barbershop.org/PDF/INTL20090701_QF.OSS12.pdf" type="external">claims the quartet title</a>. But the biggest buzz comes from <a href="http://www.ringmastersquartet.com/biography/?en" type="external">Ringmasters</a>, four Swedes in their 20s who warble “If You Were the Only Girl in the World” and “Hello My Baby”—you know, what that frog sings in the iconic Warner Bros cartoon: Hello my baby / hello my honey / hello my ragtime gal—to take fourth place.</p>
<p>After the competition, we all hit the Hilton for a session of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5573610388" type="external">tags</a>, barbershop finales that are easy to learn and filled with ringing harmonies. I meet up with a group of young barbershoppers and we sing in the lobby until it gets so crowded that we have to move outside to the drop-off area and, finally, out onto the street. There, an elderly man approaches and teaches us the tag to “The Girl in the Gingham Gown.” I also run into Sylvia, a seven-year-old who recently became the female barbershop society’s youngest regional champion. (I didn’t tag with her, but rumor has it she knows her share of tags and grows exasperated when people don’t learn their parts quickly enough.)</p>
<p>I finally take my leave around 3 a.m., well before many of the others. Several people are singing beside their suitcases, ready to grab a taxi to the airport once dawn hits. Later that morning, when I arrive at the airport gates, I hear a familiar sound. There, one gate over, 10 men are breaking the monotony by crooning old-time tunes. I watch as one by one, people set down their Blackberries and pull off their <a href="" type="internal">iPod</a> headphones to listen, and smile. Which in the end is what every barbershopper—pint-sized, old, and spiky-haired alike—is singing for.</p>
<p>Follow MoJo music reviews on Twitter via #musicmonday or at @MotherJones. &#160;</p>
<p /> | Music Monday: Barbershop Smackdown | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/music-monday-barbershop/ | 2009-07-20 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Marathon Oil.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: Marathon Oil surged on Monday, up 11% at 2:30 p.m. EDT.</p>
<p>So what: Fueling Marathon Oil's rally was the announcement that it is buying out private equity-backed PayRock Energy for $888 million. The reason this is fueling investor enthusiasm stems from the fact that PayRock controls 61,000 acres in the emerging STACK play of Oklahoma. The STACK is a critical area for the industry because drilling returns are very lucrative in the current environment. For perspective, Marathon Oil expects internal rates of return on newly drilled wells within the acquired acreage to be 60% to 80% at $50 oil, which is remarkable given that some oil plays aren't even marginally profitable at that oil price.</p>
<p>Those lucrative drilling returns are fueling a lot of mergers and acquisitions activity in the STACK. Late last year Devon Energy paid a whopping $1.9 billion to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/12/07/devon-energy-corp-unveils-bold-moves-to-sharpen-it.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">bolster its position in the STACK Opens a New Window.</a>, acquiring 80,000 acres in a similar buyout of a private company. That transaction strengthened Devon Energy's position in the region to peer-leading 430,000 acres. With the PayRock buyout, Marathon Oil now controls 200,000 acres in the STACK, which is the third largest total and just behind Newfield Exploration's 275,000 acres. Newfield Exploration, like its rivals, just boosted its position, paying $470 million to acquire 42,000 acres from a rival that needed cash.</p>
<p>Now what: The STACK's lucrative drilling returns make it one of the hottest oil plays in America right now. The booming M&amp;A market has been a boon to sellers, which can capture huge premiums by unloading their acreage. That said, buyers like Marathon Oil, Devon Energy, and Newfield Exploration see the potential to create a lot more value by developing the STACK, which is why all three have no problem paying a premium to lock up additional acreage in the play while they still can.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/20/marathon-oil-corporation-spikes-on-stack-acquisiti.aspx" type="external">Marathon Oil Corporation Spikes on STACK Acquisition Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFmd19/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Matt DiLallo Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Devon Energy. 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> | Marathon Oil Corporation Spikes on STACK Acquisition | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/20/marathon-oil-corporation-spikes-on-stack-acquisition.html | 2016-06-20 | 0 |
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<p>This was the week that was the year that was.</p>
<p>Actually, it only took just half a week for us to see how and why Donald Trump won and Hillary Clinton and the Democrats lost. And all of that played out to two very different audiences.</p>
<p>Here’s what Washington’s politics and media insiders fixated upon:</p>
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<p>On Sunday, Trump, clearly furious that Clinton’s campaign had joined a flailing Green Party move to force a recount of the presidential votes in Wisconsin (and perhaps other states), hyper-vented in his usual way – in a barrage of bizarre tweets that made an outlandish claim. Trump recycled a conspiracy theorist claim that Clinton received “millions” of votes from illegal voters. He offered zero proof. Journalists and political insiders investigated and unanimously concluded Trump’s claim was baseless.</p>
<p>Also, Trump’s A-team was once again exploding from within. Campaign manager and chief explainer and spinner, Kellyanne Conway, bizarrely rode the Sunday talk show circuit just to send a hugely public message to her boss: That many conservatives are privately furious that he is considering as his secretary of state Mitt Romney, who famously blasted Trump as a fraud.</p>
<p>Here’s what all the rest of working class America really cared about:</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Carrier, the air-conditioning company that had planned to move more than 2,000 jobs from Indiana to Mexico, announced via Twitter that – after talks with Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who is conveniently Indiana’s governor – the company will now keep some 1,000 workers employed in Indiana. Inside the beltway, The Washington Post didn’t mention the news anywhere on the front page – it ran back in the business section.</p>
<p>All year, Trump had made a centerpiece of his campaign promises his pledge to get personally involved – using carrots and sticks – to get companies including Carrier, Ford and Nabisco to abandon their plans to move jobs out of the United States.</p>
<p>And all year, both President Barack Obama and Clinton had chosen to make no similar promises of personal commitments and action.</p>
<p>Indeed, in a June town hall meeting in Elkhart, Ind., when a union worker asked Obama what he would do about Carrier’s plan to move jobs to Mexico, Obama responded with a professorial lecture about how such job shifts were inevitable and the key was to create new jobs in other new, green industries – “because some of those jobs … are just not going to come back.”</p>
<p>Obama added that, when Trump says “he’s going to bring all of these jobs back, well, how exactly are you going to do that? … There’s no answer to it. … What magic wand do you have?”</p>
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<p>When Clinton and Trump held their first debate in September, Clinton got the first jobs question and talked about new green energy jobs, raising minimum wage, balancing family and work time – and famously tossed out a team-scripted ad lib warning that her opponent would use “trumped-up trickle-down” economics.</p>
<p>Trump pointedly warned: “Our jobs are fleeing the country. They’re going to Mexico.” He named Carrier and Ford, adding: “(W)e have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us.”</p>
<p>And – as if answering Obama’s magic wand question – Trump often regaled his rally audiences with stories about how he’d warn Ford, Nabisco and Carrier that they’d face added costs when they tried to bring their products back from Mexico to sell them here. He loved to add that the company CEOs would eventually call him and say they were dropping their plans to move and the jobs could stay in the USA.</p>
<p>This week, as an activist president-elect, Trump has already delivered by securing at least half of the jobs Carrier planned to scrap in Indiana.</p>
<p>Frightened and fed-up blue collar workers who helped Trump shatter the long-Democratic Blue Wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, now have reason to hope he can deliver, at least partially, for them, too.</p>
<p>Earlier in 2016, a video went viral showing a Carrier employee’s shock and fury at being told they were losing their jobs. We saw a woman identified as Jennifer Shanklin-Hawkins watching Trump on the news as he vowed to personally help Carrier’s workers. “I loved it,” she said. “I was so happy Trump noticed us.”</p>
<p>Trump noticed America’s frustrated working class all year – and this week he delivered a response his soon-to-be predecessor insisted could only come from a magic wand.</p>
<p>Martin Schram, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, is a veteran Washington journalist, author and TV documentary executive. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p>
<p /> | Trump delivers, saves 1,000 Indiana jobs | false | https://abqjournal.com/900215/trump-delivers-saves-1000-indiana-jobs.html | 2 |
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<p>Three-fourths of the likely voters who were polled opposed the law, echoing the findings of similar Journal Polls in 2012 and 2010.</p>
<p>Republican Gov. Susana Martinez made repealing the law an issue when she first campaigned for office in 2010 and continues to advocate repeal as she runs for re-election this year.</p>
<p>She has not been able to persuade the Democratic-controlled Legislature to undo the law, however, despite repeated efforts over the past four years.</p>
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />Her Democratic opponent in the Nov. 4 general election, Attorney General Gary King, supports keeping the law.</p>
<p>The Journal Poll asked this question: “Do you support or oppose New Mexico’s state law that allows driver’s licenses to be issued to immigrants who are in the country illegally?”</p>
<p>Seventy-five percent of those polled said they opposed it, while 20 percent said they supported it. Three percent had mixed feelings, and 2 percent didn’t know or wouldn’t say.</p>
<p>Earlier Journal Polls – also of likely voters – put the opposition at 72 percent and 71 percent.</p>
<p>Journal pollster Brian Sanderoff, president of Research &amp; Polling Inc., said driver’s licenses for those who are in the country illegally “is not a top-of-mind issue.”</p>
<p>“It’s not what people talk about at the dinner table. They talk about jobs, education, crime,” the pollster said. But once it’s brought to voters’ attention, “people have strong opinions on it.”</p>
<p>The law, enacted in 2003, was opposed in the latest Journal survey by 90 percent of Republicans, 64 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of independents. The poll was conducted Sept. 9 through 11.</p>
<p>Gender and ethnicity were not factors in determining who was in opposition.</p>
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<p>Seventy-five percent of men, 75 percent of women, 73 percent of those who said they were Hispanic and 75 percent of those who said they were Anglo objected to the law.</p>
<p>Younger voters were more supportive of the current law than older voters, with 34 percent of those ages 18 to 34 in favor of it. Still, 59 percent of that group remained opposed.</p>
<p>The least support was found among voters ages 35 to 49, at 13 percent. Eighty-five percent of that group opposed it.</p>
<p>Among education levels, support for the law peaked at 35 percent among voters with post-college education or degrees; 59 percent of that group was opposed.</p>
<p>Regionally, the strongest opposition was in northwestern New Mexico, with 87 percent opposed. That was followed by the east side at 82 percent, the Albuquerque area and the south/southwest at 72 percent, and the north-central region at 70 percent.</p>
<p>The law was passed during the administration of Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, with supporters saying it would make all drivers identifiable to law enforcement and able to insure their vehicles.</p>
<p>Eleven states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws allowing immigrants who are in the country illegally to get some type of driver’s license or permit, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But only one other state, Washington, issues a full-fledged license like New Mexico’s.</p>
<p>Martinez says the license law makes the state “a magnet for illegal immigrants” as well as attracting fraudulent activity. Her administration contends it’s a public safety issue, not an immigration issue.</p>
<p>There have been at least 10 high-profile cases since 2010 in which people have been charged in connection with fraud rings bringing immigrants already in the country illegally to New Mexico to try to get driver’s licenses.</p>
<p>The law also is out of line with the federal REAL ID Act, which in 2005 established national requirements for state-issued licenses used to enter federal buildings or board commercial airplanes. The law was passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, in which the airline hijackers used U.S. driver’s licenses, some of them obtained fraudulently.</p>
<p>Repeal legislation has twice passed the state House but failed in the Senate, which has proposed an alternative to tighten the licensing process and toughen fraud penalties, but not to abolish the law.</p>
<p>“Democrats are going to say, ‘If you give them a middle-ground option, the public supports that,’ ” said Gabriel Sanchez, associate professor of political science at the University of New Mexico. “My take is, the majority of the people would advocate for that kind of hybrid policy.”</p>
<p>Marcela Diaz, who heads the immigrant rights advocacy group Somos Un Pueblo Unido, calls the repeal effort “a fabricated wedge issue that lost its appeal years ago, as evidenced by the last election,” when pro-license forces picked up House seats.</p>
<p>The Journal Poll sample is based on a scientific, statewide survey of 500 voters who cast ballots in the 2010 and 2012 elections and said they are likely to vote again this year.</p>
<p>The margin of error for the full sample of voters is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.</p>
<p>All interviews were conducted live by professional interviewers, with multiple callbacks to households that did not initially answer the phone. Both landlines (73 percent) and cellphone numbers (27 percent) of proven general election voters were used.</p>
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<p /> | Journal Poll: Thumbs down on licenses for immigrants here illegally | false | https://abqjournal.com/466695/thumbs-down-on-licenses-for-immigrants-here-illegally.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>U.S. wholesalers increased their stockpiles in June by the largest amount in more than a year, while sales crept up slightly.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Commerce Department said Tuesday that wholesale stockpiles rose 0.9 percent, the largest monthly gain since April 2014. Sales increased 0.1 percent in June yet have dropped 3.8 percent over the past year largely because of cheaper oil prices.</p>
<p>The rising inventory levels in June possibly suggest that businesses are more confident about an increase in consumer spending and economic growth. But if sales fail to grow at the same pace as inventories, then the excess supplies could force companies to cut orders and dampen overall growth.</p>
<p>The June rise in stockpiles left inventories at the wholesale level at a seasonally adjusted $586 billion, 5.4 percent above a year ago.</p>
<p>Many economists expect stockpile levels to continue increasing as consumer demand improves and the precipitous drop in oil prices, which began in the middle of last year, has settled at slightly less than $50 a barrel. Wholesale inventories of petroleum have fallen 18.2 percent in the past 12 months.</p>
<p>But that increase in inventories must be matched by a similarly large rise in sales that has yet to occur.</p>
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<p>The U.S. economy has endured a sluggish, six-year recovery from the Great Recession. During the first half of 2015, the economy grew at a modest annual rate of 1.5 percent, slightly less than the 2 percent average during the previous five years.</p>
<p>Economists say that growth should accelerate through the end of the year. But these forecasts depend on a strong job market boosting consumer spending. Last week, the government reported that payrolls increased a solid 215,000 in July. The steady gains suggest that employers expect the economy to continue expanding.</p>
<p>The solid job growth has led many analysts to say that the Federal Reserve will begin raising a key interest rate as early as September, the first increase in nearly a decade.</p> | US wholesale stockpiles rose 0.9 percent in June; sales edge up slight 0.1 percent | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/08/11/us-wholesale-stockpiles-rose-0-percent-in-june-sales-edge-up-slight-01-percent.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>​Recently in Washington D.C., the American Optometric Association (AOA) <a href="http://www.optometrysmeeting.org/" type="external">hosted</a> the 2017 Optometry’s Meeting from June 21st to June 25th. This meeting invites thousands of optometric professionals to meet and discuss current issues affecting their field. However, it is also a time for the AOA to lobby Congress into passing legislation that serves their interests. This new legislation comes in the form of the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2777" type="external">Contact Lens Health Protection Act</a> (CLCHPA).</p>
<p>The CLCHPA would reverse previous free market reforms installed by Congress. Prior to the <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/business-center/guidance/contact-lens-rule-guide-prescribers-sellers" type="external">Fairness in Contact Lens Consumers Act</a> (FCLCA), the Republican Congress’s 2003 reform bill, eye doctors essentially claimed a monopoly over the sale of contact lenses. The FCLCA forced doctors to provide their patients with prescriptions that would allow them to shop around for contact lenses, as opposed to being forced to purchase them directly from the doctor. Thanks to this legislation, eye doctors are now only allotted an 8-hour time limit to veto sales from contact lens providers – and they are now obligated to give a good reason for doing so. Before this reform, they could block the sale for an unlimited period, forcing consumers to purchase lenses directly from them at inflated prices.</p>
<p>In the wake of these reforms, third party vendors, including places like Wal-Mart and online vendors, began selling contact lenses at reduced prices compared to buying directly from your doctor. Smartphones and tablets also have begun to debut applications that can adjust your prescription straight from home. Going to the optometrist just to update your prescription is costly, time consuming, and just plain unnecessary. It costs an average of $200 for your first visit to the eye doctor and typically $128 for subsequent visits. Apps such as Opternative, Simple Contacts and GlassesOn usually <a href="https://townhall.com/columnists/jerryrogers/2017/06/23/draft-n2345214" type="external">cost</a> only $40 for an updated prescription; this is a huge savings for the average American and they never even have to leave their homes.</p>
<p>Additional savings come from the reduction in the actual prices of contact lenses due to competition. In fact, in April 2016, Johnson &amp; Johnson, which comprises about 40% of the contact lens market due to a <a href="https://spectator.org/johnson-johnsons-war-on-affordable-healthcare/" type="external">cozy arrangement</a> they have with prescribers, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/15/news/companies/contact-lens-prices/index.html" type="external">announced</a> that it plans to end its minimum pricing requirements on its Acuvue line of contacts, which was increasing the price of contacts by as much as 35%. This was in response to Utah passing a law that outlawed minimum pricing, which led to some retailers, such as 1-800 Contacts, to decrease their prices to as low as $15 a box. This price reduction was only possible due to the free market reforms introduced by Congress.</p>
<p>The CLCHPA that the AOA pushed heavily in its recent trip to Washington would reverse much of this progress. To start, it would require contact lens vendors to provide customers with multiple forms of communication, including fax machine numbers and landline phone numbers. Many contact lens retailers, particularly online retailers, do not have these forms of communication since they are rapidly becoming obsolete. The more intrusive aspect of the CLCHPA is that eye doctors will once again have complete control over their patients’ outside orders. This bill is just a form of cronyism that will hurt consumers and allow doctors and their contact lens providers to corner the market.</p>
<p>Doctors are also incentivized to keep patients from purchasing contacts from outside contact lens providers since they often receive a progressive <a href="http://www.primaryeye.net/sites/default/files/PEN%20Marketing%20Piece%202015.pdf" type="external">percentage</a> of the sales they make. Currently, <a href="http://www.consumer-action.org/alerts/articles/protect_contact_lens_consumer_rights" type="external">one-third</a> of doctors illegally refuse to provide patients with their prescriptions so they cannot purchase from a third-party vendor. This number would most likely grow if Congress listens to the eyecare lobbyists, since this action would be legalized under the CLCHPA.</p>
<p>Johnson &amp; Johnson is <a href="https://spectator.org/johnson-johnsons-war-on-affordable-healthcare/" type="external">claiming</a> that the decreased number of visits to the optometrist is resulting in the increase of eye infections such as keratosis. The AOA also has made similar claims to Johnson &amp; Johnson. AOA President Andrea P. Thau <a href="http://www.aoa.org/news/advocacy/legislation-targets-prescription-verification-deceptive-internet-sales-tactics?sso=y" type="external">said</a> “[The CLCHPA] will give contact lens wearers peace of mind, protecting them from dishonest online sellers whose unscrupulous tactics can cause patient harm and increase health care costs.”</p>
<p>These claims have been completely debunked, as a 2007 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17975418" type="external">study</a> published in the medical journal Eye &amp; Contact Lens concluded that the incorporation of an online market into the contact lens market did not result in an increase of microbial keratitis incidences. Dr. Paul B Donzis, professor of ophthalmology at UCLA, also debunks this notion as he <a href="https://www.newsmax.com/Finance/ChrisVersace/contact-lens-prices-legislation/2016/07/31/id/741398/" type="external">wrote</a> in a letter to Senator Cassidy (R-LA), a co-sponsor of CLCHPA, “Based on authoritative scientific articles, it appears that <a href="http://clashdaily.com/2016/06/fight-freedom-choicein-contact-lens-purchasing-marches/" type="external">online sales of contact lenses</a>have not contributed to any increase in incidence of contact related injury.” A 2015 CDC <a href="http://keepcontactlenschoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Coalition-for-Contact-Lens-Consumer-Choice_Health-Claims-Fact-Sheet_020117.pdf" type="external">report</a> also did not list online/third party purchasing of contact lens as a possible risk for an eye infection. In regards to the increased healthcare costs, as stated earlier, increased competition has saved consumers money both from not having to visit the eye doctor as often and increased competition in the contact lens market resulting in a reduction of contact lens prices.</p>
<p>Although the AOA and Johnson &amp; Johnson have made claims not backed by research, it has not stopped them from pursuing this campaign beyond just the federal level – although AOA did <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?strID=C00024968" type="external">spend</a> $2 million on the federal level lobbying in this recent election cycle. Both organizations attempted to push campaigns to <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/the-free-market-is-bringing-down-costs-in-this-area-of-health-care-lobbyists-are-fighting-back/" type="external">outlaw</a> online eye exams in South Carolina, New Mexico and several other states all resulting in miserable failures. Bills passed in South Carolina and New Mexico were both vetoed by their respective governors. At least the states have initially resisted this cronyism.</p>
<p>Republicans cannot allow cronyism to continue in Washington. Free market reforms worked very well in 2003 for the contact lens market and reversing that progress would only hurt consumers, while allowing huge corporations to consolidate and corner the market.</p>
<p>Daniel MacLane is a political science major at Rutgers University. He is a columnist at the Daily Targum and a contributor to Lone Conservative. Follow Daniel on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/dannymaclane" type="external">@dannymaclane</a>.</p> | Eyecare Lobbyists Push Legislation To Inflate Healthcare Costs | true | https://dailywire.com/news/18344/eyecare-lobbyists-push-legislation-inflate-daniel-maclane | 2017-07-07 | 0 |
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<p>The gains announced Monday include an additional 570,000 U.S. subscribers, slightly more than Netflix’s management predicted. The quarter is typically the company’s slowest of the year, as people spend more time outdoors instead of watching video.</p>
<p>Investors applauded the second-quarter results as Netflix’s stock rose $6.62 to $458.57 in extended trading. The shares have surged by 23 percent this year.</p>
<p>The second quarter featured one of Netflix’s marquee attractions, “Orange Is The New Black,” which returned for its second season in early June. As with Netflix’s other original series, all 13 episodes of “Orange Is The New Black,” were released simultaneously so subscribers could watch the story unfold on their own schedules.</p>
<p>“Orange Is the New Black,” set in a women’s prison, received 12 of the 31 Emmy Award nominations bestowed upon Netflix programming for this year’s awards. The Internet video service’s vast library also includes thousands of previously released movies and shows already shown on traditional TV networks.</p>
<p>Netflix Inc. ended June with 36.2 million subscribers in the U.S. and another 13.8 million customers in roughly 40 other countries. The Los Gatos, California company picked up 1.1 million subscribers outside the U.S. in the second quarter, a figure that also topped management’s projections.</p>
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<p>The company expects to add another 3.7 million worldwide subscribers in the current quarter ending in September, including 1.3 million U.S. customers. The company plans to start selling its Internet video service in six more European countries in September, including Germany and France.</p>
<p>The second-quarter performance will likely alleviate any concerns that a price increase imposed in early May would undercut Netflix’s growth. Netflix raised its rates by $1 to $9 per month for Internet video streaming in the U.S., but the company eased the blow by allowing existing subscribers to continue paying the old price for at least two years.</p>
<p>Netflix earned $71 million, or $1.15 per share, during the April-June period. That compared to income of $29.5 million, or 49 cents per share, at the same time last year. This year’s earnings per share were a penny above the average estimate among analysts surveyed by FactSet.</p>
<p>Revenue climbed 25 percent from last year to $1.3 billion, matching analyst projections.</p> | Netflix tops 50M subscribers as 2Q earnings soar | false | https://abqjournal.com/432989/netflix-tops-50m-subscribers-as-2q-earnings-soar.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>6 money lessons from Dad</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Almost every dad has a set of stock phrases his kids hear again and again.</p>
<p>(Face it, if we'd listened the first time, he probably wouldn't have had to repeat himself.)</p>
<p>While Mom was trying to civilize you, Dad wanted to make sure you could survive in the wild. Toward that end, a lot of his advice centered on getting you ready to stand on your own two feet. (Or what he called "the day I get my game room back.")</p>
<p>But who knew that, in addition to prodding you gently toward adulthood, some of Dad's best-loved phrases could also help you work wonders with your money?</p>
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<p>Listen up to six of his favorites, and you'll really make the old man proud.</p>
<p>'Turn down that noise!'</p>
<p>Chances are, Dad was talking about your music. But, "Turn down that noise!" is one piece of advice that will serve you well when it comes to investing your money, too.</p>
<p>"Things are never as bad as they sound when you're listening to the financial report," says Barry Picker, CPA, with the New York-based firm of Picker &amp; Auerbach CPAs. "Or as good as they sound when you're listening to the financial report. So you don't want to jump on whatever you're hearing that day."</p>
<p>If you're investing money for distant goals, such as retirement or your children's education, "you're looking at the big picture and you're investing for the long term," he says. "There will be days when your investments go up in value and days when your investments go down in value. Ignore it, and know you're in it for the long haul."</p>
<p>And tune out the friend, neighbor or co-worker who's offering their 2 cents. "Everyone has a friend who did this or did that and it worked. Or it didn't work," says Picker. "You have to ignore that."</p>
<p>'Stay in school'</p>
<p>Dad said, "Stay in school" because he wanted you to have all the tools you'd need to pull in a good salary and be successful in life.</p>
<p>These days, when a lot of your future is do-it-yourself saving and investing, it makes sense to include personal finances in your personal curriculum.</p>
<p>But financial literacy is no longer a one-and-done proposition.</p>
<p>In the world of money, "things are always changing," Picker says. "And the only way you're going to be aware of that is if you make it a point to stay aware of things that are going on."</p>
<p>Financially, if you're aware of changes, you won't fall prey to mistakes and old thinking. "People come to me and say, 'I just did this because I know there's a tax credit for it.' No, the tax credit expired last year," Picker says. "It hurts them."</p>
<p>So make it a habit, Picker says. "At no point in life is your education complete." Plus, learning keeps your brain nimble and active, he says.</p>
<p>Or, like Dad liked to say: "Use your head."</p>
<p>'Keep your eye on the ball'</p>
<p>When Dad first uttered, "Keep your eye on the ball," he was probably trying to teach you how to hit a pitch or catch a spiral.</p>
<p>But he was also imparting one of life's great truths: Focus on what's important.</p>
<p>And that's critical when you're managing your money, says Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, co-founder of the personal finance advice site AskTheMoneyCoach.com.</p>
<p>Once you decide what's important, you can set goals to get there and use Dad's words to guide you, she says. "If it's a heartfelt, deeply rooted goal, you can't let impulse shopping or spending" take you away from the goal, she says.</p>
<p>Make goals as specific as possible, says Khalfani-Cox.</p>
<p>"Goals that are more clearly defined are better," she says. "'I want to buy a house' is a generic, pie-in-the-sky goal. 'I want to buy a $300,000 three-bedroom Colonial in Springfield' -- that's more specific. Or, 'I want $30,000 saved for my home, and I want to do it by Dec. 31.'"</p>
<p>And, realistically, "you can adjust along the way," she adds.</p>
<p>'Don't gamble what you can't afford to lose'</p>
<p>Whether Dad was tutoring you in the finer points of poker, Monopoly or Go Fish, he was making you a smart consumer and a savvy investor when he told you not to gamble more than you can afford to lose.</p>
<p>No matter what the venue, "it's important that the consumer understand the risk," says John Breyault, director of the National Consumer League's Fraud Center.</p>
<p>Whether you're spending time on a venture or money in the stock market, "if you can't afford the mortgage or food on the table or the car payment, then spending money on that hot stock tip might not be wise," he says.</p>
<p>"Make sure you're covering the basics before you start gambling," he says.</p>
<p>And that touches on another of Dad's favorite sayings: "Listen to your gut."</p>
<p>"Oftentimes, consumers are asked to make quick decisions for any variety of things," says Breyault. "You don't always have time to weigh the benefits. You can't always look over a Better Business Bureau report and decide if you're going to pay for the tow truck."</p>
<p>So listen to "that nagging voice" in the back of your brain, he says. "It's usually a pretty good indicator."</p>
<p>'Put something aside for a rainy day'</p>
<p>Allowance day conjures up images of spending sprees on candy, toys and comic books.</p>
<p>But Dad -- no stranger to paying the bills himself -- wanted to prepare you for the real world. The one where paychecks don't cover everything and expenses are sometimes sudden and unexpected (like that time you broke your arm). So he advised you to put something aside for a rainy day.</p>
<p>Having a rainy-day fund is essential, says David Bendix, CPA, CFP professional and president of The Bendix Financial Group in Garden City, N.Y.</p>
<p>"Maybe that's something I didn't always appreciate as a youngster," he says. "But it makes sense, while you're doing well, not to spend it all and to set some aside."</p>
<p>Instead of associating saving with scrimping or deprivation, look at it for what it really is: a pool of money that gives you breathing room and some autonomy, says Chris Farrell, economics editor of "Marketplace Money."</p>
<p>"That's your opportunity fund," he says.</p>
<p>'Play the game you love'</p>
<p>Dad wanted you to be happy. And gainfully employed.</p>
<p>But his advice can also make you successful and rich, says Khalfani-Cox.</p>
<p>"You will find people who say, 'Do what you love, and you'll never work a day in your life.' It doesn't feel like it's drudgery or a hardship for you because the passion is there," she says.</p>
<p>"And it's all part of your happiness factor, in terms of having a richer life -- an enriched life," she says. "Moms and dads want their kids to be happy."</p>
<p>It's also good business. Using your own talents to fill a need for someone else is a great way to build a very successful business or career, she says.</p>
<p>"That is such a great piece of advice, not just from a career standpoint but from a wealth-building standpoint," Khalfani-Cox says. "Because that's how you get rich."</p> | 6 Things Dad Said Then That Save Money Now | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/06/14/6-things-dad-said-then-that-save-money-now.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>RENO — Echoes of the war that U.S. forces fought and won against Nazi Germany rang out in Reno on Wednesday.</p>
<p>This time, it was a culture war waged against hate with protests, Twitter hashtags and chants. Along the way, memories of fathers and grandfathers who fought more than seven decades ago were invoked.</p>
<p>In this battle for the ideological soul of America, the foot soldiers sometimes put crossed-out swastikas on signs to condemn and denounce racism and President Donald Trump, in town Wednesday morning to give a speech at the American Legion’s annual convention. Others called for his impeachment with signs and megaphones, or criticized his stances on health care, public lands and other issues.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, a smaller group of several dozen Trump supporters squared off against the protesters, often blaming the media for how the president is perceived.</p>
<p>Trump’s visit to Reno came 11 days after the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a white supremacist protest ended in the death of one counterprotester and injuries to 19 others when police say a man intentionally plowed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters.</p>
<p>Trump’s comments in the days following the violence, including saying that “both sides” were at fault, have drawn fierce condemnation.</p>
<p>“His response to Charlottesville was beyond the pale,” said Sean Maletsky, 40, a server in Reno. “My grandfather fought Nazis.”</p>
<p>He was among the hundreds of protesters who gathered in Reno to voice their objections to Trump’s young presidency.</p>
<p>Maletsky had a sign that said, “There are no ‘fine’ Nazis.’” That was a nod to Trump’s statement about some “very fine people” on both sides of the Charlottesville conflict.</p>
<p>Veterans remembered</p>
<p>Outside the convention center in Reno, veterans were not forgotten. Protester signs welcomed veterans coming to Reno for the 2 million-member organization’s convention.</p>
<p>A smaller group of Trump supporters staged a counterprotest. Reno police officers kept both groups separated by barricade, later moving them a block apart.</p>
<p>Mike Contos, a 51-year-old Navy veteran from Sparks, was among the protesters. Veterans fought to protect the country from racism, an evil Trump needs to denounce more forcefully, he said.</p>
<p>“The stuff the veterans have fought against are being welcomed in the country,” said Contos, waving a sign that reads: “This veteran — U.S. Navy — rejects hate!”</p>
<p>Debra Evans, a 66-year-old Sparks resident, said her parents, both deceased, would have been shocked to see Trump’s presidency. Her father fought in World War II and her mother made airplane parts during the war in a San Diego factory, she said.</p>
<p>Evans also praised the Reno Police Department for its work keeping both sides separate and the event’s overall peacefulness.</p>
<p>“We’re chanting, but no one’s throwing anything,” she said.</p>
<p>Supporters weigh in</p>
<p>The handful of Trump supporters staging a counterprotest said the objections to Trump are ill-informed.</p>
<p>Mike Graham, a 66-year-old Vietnam veteran from Reno, blamed the situation on “a leftist press” intent on twisting Trump’s words and using a 24/7 news cycle to “trash this president.”</p>
<p>The group of several dozen also tried to show some love. Rochelle Swanson, a 30-year-old Reno artist and Trump supporter, offered hugs to protesters crossing the street toward her group.</p>
<p>“I’ve only given out two hugs today and one was to a Trump supporter,” she said after offering a hug to a Review-Journal reporter. (The reporter declined.)</p>
<p>Swanson, who’s getting foot surgery next week, said her insurance costs have skyrocketed under the Affordable Care Act, and she supports Trump’s efforts to repeal and replace it.</p>
<p>Before Trump spoke, veterans attending the event expressed support for Trump.</p>
<p>“He’s our commander-in-chief and regardless of what anyone thinks of him, we have to respect his position,” said Bob Terhune of Ely, a 68-year-old Navy veteran and retired state corrections officer.</p>
<p>If America is at war with itself, perhaps only its commander-in-chief can end it.</p>
<p>“Only one person can heal this wound — Trump,” said protester Cindy Norris, 62, a financial controller in Reno. “He puts gasoline on the fire instead of water. He can fix it.”</p>
<p>Contact Ben Botkin at [email protected] or 775-461-0661. Follow <a href="http://www.twitter.com/@BenBotkin1" type="external">@BenBotkin1</a> on Twitter.</p>
<p>Related</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Trump focuses on veterans’ needs during Reno speech to American Legion</a></p>
<p /> | Protesters remain calm for Trump’s Reno visit | false | https://reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/protesters-remain-calm-for-trumps-reno-visit/ | 2017-08-23 | 1 |
<p>Shares of telecommunications companies fell on doubts about the outlook for a major deal.</p>
<p>Time Warner shares declined because of speculation over whether AT&amp;T would receive regulatory approval to close a deal to buy the entertainment conglomerate in its current form. Negotiations between AT&amp;T and the Justice Department over the approval of the deal are reportedly ongoing.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer named television and movie veteran Michael Wright president of its EPIX pay-television channel.</p>
<p>Rob Curran, [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 13, 2017 17:19 ET (22:19 GMT)</p> | Telecoms Fall as Speculation Over Deal Weighs on Time Warner -- Telecoms Roundup | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/13/telecoms-fall-as-speculation-over-deal-weighs-on-time-warner-telecoms-roundup.html | 2017-11-13 | 0 |
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<p>Broadcom Corp. is in advanced talks to be bought by Avago Technologies Ltd., in what would be the latest in a recent string of mergers in the semiconductor industry.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It isn't clear what terms the companies are discussing or when a deal could be inked--if there's one at all--but Broadcom had a market value of $28 billion as of Wednesday afternoon. Avago's was about $34 billion.</p>
<p>Broadcom shares surged 16% to $54.32 in recent trading, while Avago rose 5.2% to $138.16.</p>
<p>Broadcom, based in Golden, Colo., makes chips for about half of the world's tablets and smartphones. The company was founded in 1991, and counts Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and DirecTV as customers, according to the company's website. Broadcom had $8.4 billion in sales in 2014.</p>
<p>Avago designs, develops and supplies analog, digital and mixed signal chips geared toward the wireless-communications and enterprise-storage markets, according to its website. The company was founded in 1961 and is based in San Jose, Calif., and Singapore.</p>
<p>The semiconductor sector has been consolidating at a fast clip this year. In April, NXP Semiconductors NV agreed to buy Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. in an $11.8 billion deal. Intel Corp. is in talks to buy Altera Corp., which has a $14 billion market value.</p>
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<p>Meanwhile, Qualcomm Inc. has come under pressure from activist investor Jana Partners LLC, which is pushing the chip giant to pursue a breakup, among other actions.</p>
<p>(By Dana Mattioli, Dana Cimilluca and Shayndi Raice)</p> | Broadcom is in Advanced Talks to be Bought by Avago Technologies | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/05/27/broadcom-is-in-advanced-talks-to-be-bought-by-avago-technologies.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>Jan 19 (Reuters) - ITC Ltd, India’s biggest cigarette maker, posted a 16.8 percent rise in its third-quarter profit on Friday, helped by a one-time gain.</p>
<p>The company, which also makes consumer goods ranging from biscuits to skincare products, said its profit rose to 30.90 billion rupees ($484.53 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31, from 26.47 billion rupees a year ago. <a href="http://bit.ly/2FSdIiH" type="external">bit.ly/2FSdIiH</a></p>
<p>Analysts on average had expected a profit of 28.32 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.</p>
<p>The company reported a gain of 4.13 billion rupees on account of entry tax in the state of Tamil Nadu that was written back in the quarter. (Reporting by Jessica Kuruthukulangara in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Subhranshu Sahu)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Christian Sewing, currently co-deputy chief executive officer of Deutsche Bank ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=DBKGn.DE" type="external">DBKGn.DE</a>), is to become the new CEO of Germany’s biggest lender, replacing John Cryan, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.</p> FILE PHOTO - John Cryan, CEO of Germany's Deutsche Bank, and board member Christian Sewing attend the bank's annual news conference in Frankfurt, Germany, February 2, 2018. Picture taken February 2, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski
<p>Sewing, a German national, would replace Cryan, a Briton, at a time when the bank is trying to strengthen its brand in its home market. Cryan has been in office less than three years but investors have lost faith that he can return the bank to profitability after three consecutive years of losses.</p>
<p>The promotion of Sewing, 47, with a background in retail banking, auditing and risk, comes as Deutsche Bank and its major shareholders debate the path forward for the investment banking unit where revenues have slowed and key staff defected.</p>
<p>His appointment could signal a shift in emphasis away from Deutsche Bank’s strategy of seeking profit growth through the investment bank and giving investment bankers greater influence.</p>
<p>Marcus Schenck, currently Sewing’s fellow co-deputy CEO who also helps oversee the investment bank, is close to leaving the bank, the people familiar with the matter said.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-deutsche-bank-ceo-structure/deutsche-bank-plans-to-continue-a-co-deputy-structure-under-new-ceo-source-idUSKBN1HF0WD" type="external">Deutsche Bank plans to continue a co-deputy structure under new CEO: source</a>
<p>Sewing tops a list of candidates as the preferred option to be presented by Chairman Paul Achleitner at a hastily arranged board call for Sunday evening, the people familiar with the matter said. A second external candidate is also being proposed though that person’s chances for the top spot are slim, the second person said.</p>
<p>Sewing would assume the helm at the company’s annual general meeting in May, German magazine Der Spiegel said on its website. Der Spiegel was first to report on Sunday that Sewing would likely become the bank’s next CEO.</p>
<p>Deutsche Bank said late on Saturday that the board would discuss the CEO position and make a decision.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment on Sunday.</p> BLOW TO SCHENCK
<p>In picking up the baton, Sewing would also face challenges including further cost cutting, intense competition at home and abroad, and increased regulation.</p>
<p>Sewing, a member of the management board since 2015, currently oversees the bank’s private and commercial bank division, which includes the Postbank retail banking unit.</p>
<p>He joined Deutsche Bank in 1989 and has worked in Frankfurt, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Toronto, according to the bank’s website.</p>
<p>“Our view is that Sewing seems to be an OK candidate,” said a major investor who spoke on condition of anonymity.</p>
<p>Sewing’s appointment would be a blow to Schenck, a former Goldman Sachs ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=GS.N" type="external">GS.N</a>) investment banker long considered a future CEO at Deutsche.</p>
<p>Schenck had signaled he was looking for opportunities outside the bank. Garth Ritchie would stay on as sole head of the investment bank, said the first person familiar with the matter. There is still internal debate on the outcome, said the second person.</p>
<p>Achleitner had begun a search last month to replace Cryan following a flurry of negative headlines after the bank reported a third consecutive annual loss.</p>
<p>Cryan has said he is “absolutely committed” to the bank. But Achleitner has remained silent, to the disappointment of major investors seeking clarity. Sunday’s board call is intended to provide that clarity.</p> Slideshow (3 Images) “DYSFUNCTIONAL COMPANY”
<p>The leadership debate also parallels concern about the direction of Deutsche’s investment bank, whose swift expansion in the years leading up to the financial crisis is blamed for many of the bank’s current woes.</p>
<p>The investment bank’s revenue in 2017 was down 25 percent compared with 2015, a steeper fall than those suffered by its rivals. The division employed more than 41,000 staff at the end of 2017, up 4 percent from 2015, but key staff have left.</p>
<p>The bank is conducting a global review of the investment bank, known internally as Project Colombo, a person with direct knowledge of the matter has said.</p>
<p>Octavio Marenzi, CEO of consultancy Opimas said Sewing’s appointment would mean more focus on commercial and retail banking and wealth management.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=DBKGn.DE" type="external">Deutsche Bank AG</a> 11.352 DBKGn.DE Xetra -0.31 (-2.64%) DBKGn.DE GS.N
<p>“It looks like the board of directors is capitulating on the investment banking front,” Marenzi said.</p>
<p>Cryan, the son of a jazz musician, married into the wealthy Du Pont family of the United States. He took charge at Deutsche in 2015 to overhaul the bank after years of rapid growth under investment bankers.</p>
<p>But his tumultuous tenure as CEO highlights many of the bank’s underlying issues.</p>
<p>Early on, Cryan quickly announced thousands of job cuts to trim costs but reversed the bank’s plans to sell its Postbank retail business after tepid interest from buyers.</p>
<p>Some of Germany’s most senior politicians criticized Cryan for paying 2.3 billion euros ($2.8 billion) in staff bonuses, four times higher than the previous year, after the bank had made losses in 2017.</p>
<p>The bank’s chief operating officer Kim Hammonds, told a colleagues recently that the bank was “the most dysfunctional company” she had ever worked for, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.</p>
<p>Over the past weeks, a number of names have surfaced as possible replacements for Cryan. But some analysts wonder whether anyone will be able to do a better job on turning the bank around.</p>
<p>“There has been actually a disciplined execution in a tough environment by this team,” said Peter Nerby, who analyses the bank for Moody’s. “I wonder if anyone really has a better way to get there. It’s not obvious to me what that way would be.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Andreas Framke, Tom Sims, Edward Taylor, and Hans Seidenstuecker; Editing by Christoph Steitz, Susan Fenton and Jane Merriman</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday there would be a “big price to pay” after medical aid groups reported dozens of people were killed by poison gas in a besieged rebel-held town in Syria.</p> U.S. President Donald Trump walks as he returns to the White House after a trip to Lewisburg, West Virginia, in Washington D.C., U.S., April 5, 2018. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
<p>As international officials worked to try to confirm the chemical attack which happened late on Saturday in the town of Douma, Trump took the rare step of directly criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with the incident.</p>
<p>The Syrian state denied government forces had launched any chemical attack and Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, called the reports bogus.</p>
<p>“Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price to pay,” Trump wrote on Twitter.</p>
<p>The White House declined to clarify what consequences Trump had in mind. Last year, the United States launched a cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base days after a sarin gas attack in northwestern Syria blamed on Assad.</p>
<p>The Russian Foreign Ministry warned against any military action on the basis of “invented and fabricated excuses”, saying this could lead to severe consequences.</p>
<p>A joint statement by the medical relief organization Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS) and the civil defense service, which operates in rebel-held areas, said 49 people had died in the attack. Others put the toll even higher.</p> Related Coverage
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<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-un/u-n-security-council-expected-to-meet-monday-on-syria-attack-diplomats-idUSKBN1HF0TU" type="external">U.N. Security Council expected to meet Monday on Syria attack: diplomats</a>
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<p>The United Nations Security Council is likely to meet Monday afternoon on the chemical attack at the request of the United States and eight other members, diplomats said.</p> ‘HORRIBLE’ IMAGES
<p>Last week Trump said he wanted to pull U.S. troops out of Syria, though his advisers have urged him to wait to ensure Islamic State militants are defeated and to prevent Assad’s ally Iran from gaining a foothold there.</p>
<p>There are about 2,000 U.S. troops on the ground in the country working to help fight Islamic State militants.</p>
<p>A top Trump security aide said on Sunday the United States would not rule out launching another missile attack. “I wouldn’t take anything off the table,” said Tom Bossert, the White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Adviser, in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”</p>
<p>“We are looking into the attack at this point,” he said, adding that the photos of the incident are “horrible.”</p>
<p>In one video shared by activists, the bodies of around a dozen children, women and men, some with foam at the mouth, were seen. “Douma city, April 7 ... there is a strong smell here,” a voice can be heard saying.</p>
<p>Reuters could not independently verify the reports.</p>
<p>One factor in Trump’s decision to bomb Syria last year was the television images of dead children.</p>
<p>Trump will be joined at the White House on Monday by John Bolton, who takes over as White House national security adviser.</p>
<p>Trump has shaken up his core national security team in the past two weeks, replacing national security adviser H.R. McMaster and firing Rex Tillerson as secretary of state.</p>
<p>Bolton, a hard-charging former UN ambassador, praised Trump’s missile response last year, though he has generally focused more on Iran as a bigger national security threat.</p>
<p>Trump was set on Monday to talk with senior military leadership at a previously scheduled meeting at the White House.</p>
<p>U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had warned in March during a trip to Oman that chlorine attacks would be “very unwise,” saying Trump had “full political maneuver room” to respond, though he stopped short of threatening retaliation.</p> SHELTERING IN BASEMENTS
<p>The Syrian Observatory monitoring group said it could not confirm whether chemical weapons had been used in the attack on Saturday. Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said 11 people had died in Douma as a result of suffocation caused by heavy bombardment.</p>
<p>Medical relief organization SAMS said a chlorine bomb hit Douma hospital, killing six people, and a second attack with “mixed agents”, including nerve agents, had hit a nearby building.</p>
<p>Basel Termanini, the U.S.-based vice president of SAMS, which operates medical facilities and supports medics in Syria, told Reuters another 35 people had been killed at a nearby apartment building, most of them women and children.</p>
<p>The joint statement from SAMS and the civil defense said medical centers had taken in more than 500 people suffering breathing difficulties, frothing from the mouth and smelling of chlorine.</p>
<p>Tawfik Chamaa, a Geneva-based Syrian doctor with the Syria-focused Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM), a network of Syrian doctors, said 150 people were confirmed dead and the number was growing. “The majority were civilians, women and children trapped in underground shelters,” he told Reuters.</p>
<p>Douma is in the eastern Ghouta region near Damascus. Assad has won back control of nearly all of eastern Ghouta from rebel groups in a Russian-backed military campaign that began in February, leaving just Douma in rebel hands.</p>
<p>The Ghouta offensive has been one of the deadliest in Syria’s seven-year-long war, killing more than 1,600 civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.</p>
<p>Taking Douma would seal Assad’s biggest victory since 2016, and underline his unassailable position in the war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people since it mushroomed from protests against his rule in 2011.</p>
<p>Reporting by Dahlia Nehme and Tom Perry in Beirut, Mustafa Hashem in Cairo, Roberta Rampton, John Walcott, Mark Hosenball, Michelle Price and Sarah Lynch in Washington, Michelle Nichols in New York, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Anthony Deutsch in Amstersdam, John Irish in Paris, and Polina Ivanova in Moscow; Writing by Tom Perry and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Adrian Croft and James Dalgleish</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BUDAPEST, Hungary (Reuters) - Most polling stations closed and the vote count began in Hungary’s election on Sunday, after a very high turnout that could threaten Viktor Orban’s parliamentary majority.</p> Hungarian women, wearing traditional costumes, fill their ballot papers at a polling station during Hungarian parliamentary elections in Veresegyhaz, Hungary April 8, 2018. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
<p>Following an acrimonious campaign in which the rightwing nationalist prime minister projected himself as a savior of Hungary’s Christian culture against Muslim migration into Europe, all opinion polls had put his Fidesz party well ahead.</p>
<p>A strong victory could embolden him to put more muscle into a Central European alliance against the European Union’s migration policies. Orban, Hungary’s longest-serving post-communist premier, opposes deeper integration of the bloc.</p>
<p>Interim data at 1630 GMT showed voter turnout at 68.13 percent, exceeding final turnout in the past three elections.</p>
<p>A high turnout in a 2002 vote consigned Orban to eight years of opposition. In contrast, the turnout was only 61.7 percent in the last election, in 2014, which gave him a massive victory.</p>
<p>Orban’s opponents were cheered by the enthusiasm of Hungarians to vote.</p> Related Coverage
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<a href="/article/us-hungary-election-turnout/interim-turnout-in-hungarys-election-hits-68-13-percent-idUSKBN1HF0FA" type="external">Interim turnout in Hungary's election hits 68.13 percent</a>
<p>“We are convinced that high turnout definitely reflects ... that people want a change in government,” Socialist spokeswoman Bernadett Budai was quoted as saying by national news agency MTI.</p>
<p>Fidesz lawmaker Gergely Gulyas told private broadcaster ATV his party was unlikely to retain its two-thirds parliamentary majority.</p>
<p>“A two-thirds victory is possible if neither side loses more than 10 districts and there is a difference of at least 20 percent between the winner and the runner-up,” Gulyas said.</p>
<p>“I consider this unlikely. I think this is outside the category of reality.”</p>
<p>Voters were no longer allowed to join queues at polling stations from 1700 GMT, but those already in line were being allowed to cast their ballots, meaning voting could continue for hours more at the busiest stations.</p>
<p>In central London, emigre Hungarians queued for hundreds of meters in the rain to vote, some waiting for more than two hours.</p>
<p>Some pollsters said voter turnout above 70 percent could signal that the opposition was mobilizing supporters efficiently, and might even deprive Fidesz of its parliamentary majority.</p>
<p>“High turnout means, most probably, less mandates for Fidesz than in the previous term,” said Peter Kreko, director of think tank Political Capital.</p>
<p>But he added that since all parties, including Fidesz, had mobilized intensively, it did not necessarily mean Orban was threatened with defeat.</p>
<p>Orban has far-right admirers across Europe who like his tough line on migrants and a landslide win would show that his single-issue campaign, arguing that migration poses a security threat, had paid off.</p> A woman casts her ballot during Hungarian parliamentary election in Gyongyos, Hungary, April 8, 2018. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger MIGRATION “LIKE RUST”
<p>Critics say Orban has put Hungary on an increasingly authoritarian path and his stance on immigration has fueled xenophobia.</p>
<p>After casting his vote in a wealthy district of Budapest, he said: “From here I will go and take part in mobilizing voters ... I am asking everyone to take part in the election.”</p>
<p>Asked by journalists if he was fighting the European Union, Orban said: “The EU is not in Brussels. The EU is in Berlin, in Budapest, in Prague and in Bucharest.”</p>
<p>He reiterated he would stand up for Hungary’s interests and said Hungary was a loyal member of international organizations.</p>
<p>“We love our country and we are fighting for our country,” he said.</p>
<p>A strong win for Orban would boost other right-wing nationalists in Central Europe, in Poland and in neighboring Austria, and expose cracks in the 28-nation EU.</p>
<p>While Fidesz led all opinion polls before the vote, there is a small chance that the fragmented opposition could strip Fidesz of its parliamentary majority if voters frustrated with Orban’s policies choose tactical voting in the 106 constituencies.</p>
<p>The strongest opposition party is the formerly far-right Jobbik, which has recast its image as a more moderate nationalist force. It has been campaigning on an anti-corruption agenda and urged higher wages to lure back hundreds of thousands of Hungarians who have left Hungary for western Europe.</p>
<p>Clad in a green jacket and white shirt, Jobbik leader Gabor Vona, 39, arrived to vote in the eastern city of Gyongyos, his home town and the district where he is likely to win a seat.</p>
<p>“Everyone should go to vote because this election determines Hungary’s course not for four years but for two generations at least,” he told reporters. “Emigration may or may not define Hungary, and I would prefer that it does not.”</p>
<p>The EU has struggled to respond as Orban’s government has, in the view of its critics, used its two landslide victories in 2010 and 2014 to erode democratic checks and balances. It has curbed the powers of the constitutional court, increased control of the media and appointed loyalists to key positions.</p> Slideshow (11 Images)
<p>Orban is credited with keeping the budget deficit under control, reducing unemployment and some of Hungary’s debt, and putting its economy on a growth track.</p>
<p>On Friday, at his closing campaign rally, he vowed to protect his nation from Muslim migrants, saying: “Migration is like rust that slowly but surely would consume Hungary.”</p> OUTSIDE CHANCE OF SURPRISE
<p>The anti-immigrant campaign has gone down well with many of the roughly two million core voters of Fidesz.</p>
<p>“My little daughter must be my primary concern, to make her future safe. Safety is first,” said Julia Scharle, 27, holding her child outside the polling station where Orban cast his vote. She would not reveal her voting preference.</p>
<p>In March the government gave pre-election handouts to millions of families and pensioners.</p>
<p>A poll by Zavecz research institute published on Friday showed Fidesz had 46 percent support among decided voters, while Jobbik had 19 percent. The Socialists came in third with 14 percent. Voter turnout was estimated between 64 and 68 percent.</p>
<p>However, one-third of voters were undecided.</p>
<p>In 2014, Fidesz won a two-thirds majority in the 199-seat parliament with 133 seats.</p>
<p>If Orban wins again, he is expected to continue his economic policies, with income tax cuts and incentives to boost growth.</p>
<p>His business allies are expected to expand their economic domains. Businessmen close to Fidesz have acquired stakes in major industries like banking, energy, construction and tourism, profiting from EU funds.</p>
<p>“Only a dramatic outcome of the election would force a significant shift in the direction of policymaking,” Barclays said in a note.</p>
<p>Writing by Krisztina Than; additional reporting by Simon Dawson; editing by Janet Lawrence and Andrew Roche</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary’s National Election Office expects to start publishing preliminary results of Sunday’s parliamentary election at around 1930 GMT, said its head, Ilona Palffy.</p>
<p>Interim data at 1630 GMT showed voter turnout at 68.13 percent, exceeding final turnout in the past three elections.</p>
<p>Voters were no longer allowed to join queues at polling stations from 1700 GMT, but some polling stations stayed open to allow those already in line to cast their ballots.</p>
<p>Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; editing by Andrew Roche</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | India's ITC Q3 profit rises 17 pct; beats estimates Deutsche Bank picks insider Christian Sewing as new CEO: sources Trump says 'big price to pay' for Syria chemical attack Vote count begins in Hungary's election as Orban fights to retain power Hungary to release first preliminary election results at 1930 GMT | false | https://reuters.com/article/itc-results/indias-itc-q3-profit-rises-17-pct-beats-estimates-idUSL3N1PE2K6 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p>Prof. Robert Bullard, the “father of environmental justice”, says that the lead water disaster in Flint, Michigan is just the latest example in a long history of environmental injustice in the United States. Prof. Bullard, Dean of the School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University, tells host Steve Curwood that the working class and communities of color like those of Flint are far more likely to be exposed to toxic substances like lead. (published January 29, 2016)</p> | Flint and Environmental Racism | false | https://pri.org/stories/2016-01-29/flint-and-environmental-racism | 2016-01-29 | 3 |
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<p>Republican nominee for President Donald Trump’s recent boasts about kissing and groping women without their consent have caused many to disavow the self-described billionaire reality star turned politician, including New Mexico’s college Republicans.</p>
<p>In a statement issued over the weekend, the New Mexico College Republicans said they’re dumping Trump and instead will support Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico and the Libertarian candidate for president.</p>
<p>The story is the same for college Republicans at the University of New Mexico, according to the group’s president Ryan Ansloan. Additionally, the college students called out Trump’s comments unearthed by the Washington Post on Friday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The Oval Office is no place for a vulgar and classless individual,” they said in a statement released Saturday. “The leader of the free world is someone that young girls and boys from all over the country look to for leadership and maturity. The American president should be a role model, a leader, not someone who would bring shame and embarrassment to our country.”</p>
<p>The statement also said Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is unfit to be president.</p>
<p>The New Mexico College Republicans have a presence at UNM, New Mexico State University, Highlands University and Eastern New Mexico University, with about 100 members. Trump’s campaign in New Mexico didn’t return a reporter’s call by deadline.</p>
<p>The students are just the latest to distance themselves from Trump following his comments. Republican New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez disavowed Trump over the weekend, joining a stream of conservative officials who have abandoned their party’s nominee.</p>
<p>And on Monday, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said he will no longer defend Trump and instead will focus on races down the ticket.</p>
<p>Michael Aguilar, the chairman of the New Mexico College Republicans, said it’s never easy being a Republican in the traditional left-leaning college campus environment, but this election cycle with Trump as the standard-bearer has made it even harder to recruit. And Aguilar, 21, a recent graduate of UNM living in Las Cruces, said he hopes the group’s disavowal sends a clear message.</p>
<p>“We don’t agree with the hateful rhetoric Trump is known for,” Aguilar said.</p>
<p>He said committee members who made the anti-Trump decision unanimously supported the move to endorse Johnson over Trump.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Some Republicans have called for Trump to step down and let his vice presidential candidate, Mike Pence, run instead. Aguilar said he also dislikes Pence and would still vote for Johnson if Pence led the ticket.</p>
<p>Johnson, who was a Republican as New Mexico’s governor from 1995 to 2003, is a better choice given his political history, Aguilar argued.</p>
<p>To say the least, Aguilar said, he feels isolated by the current GOP. And he said he’s aware that the decision to disavow Trump will anger traditionalist GOP members who would argue they should fall in line.</p>
<p>“We just feel that’s not right, and we’re not going to do it,” Aguilar said.</p>
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<p /> | College Republicans in NM denounce Trump | false | https://abqjournal.com/864623/college-republicans-in-nm-denounce-trump.html | 2016-10-10 | 2 |
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<p>D.C.-based drag performer Shi-Queeta Lee might have made history as the first drag queen to perform at the White House.</p>
<p>Shi-Queeta Lee performed at the Transgender Community Briefing, sponsored by the White House Office of Public Engagement, on Thursday evening. Her performance marks possibly the only time a drag queen has performed at the White House.</p>
<p>The goal of the briefing was to unite transgender leaders and other community members to discuss policy issues affecting the transgender community and to celebrate the cultural accomplishments of the community.</p>
<p>The briefing was available for streaming on whitehouse.gov.</p>
<p>Lee is a regular performer at Town and hosts Nellie’s Sports Bar Drag Brunch and Drag Bingo.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Shi-Queeta-Lee</a> <a href="" type="internal">Transgender Community Briefing</a> <a href="" type="internal">White House</a> <a href="" type="internal">White House Office of Public Engagement</a></p> | Shi-Queeta Lee performs at White House | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/11/18/shi-queeta-lee-performs-white-house/ | 3 |
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<p>5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29 – Aquatics master plan public meeting at Paradise Hills Community Center, 5901 Paradise NW.</p>
<p>5-7 p.m. Feb. 3 – Paradise Hills Community Center master plan public meeting, Paradise Hills Community Center, 5901 Paradise Blvd. NW.</p>
<p>5-7 p.m. Feb. 4 – Aquatics master plan public meeting, Raymond G. Sanchez Community Center, 9800 4th Street NW.</p>
<p>6-7:30 p.m. Feb. 10 and Feb. 12 – Los Vecinos Community Center Master Plan, 478 ½ Old Highway 66, Tijeras.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Additional meetings in other areas of the county will be announced.</p>
<p>For more information, contact John Barney at 314-0404 or [email protected].</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Public meetings set to discuss community centers/pools | false | https://abqjournal.com/341297/public-meetings-set-to-discuss-community-centerspools.html | 2 |
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<p>Appearing on Meet the Press today, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) slammed Republicans’ and the Tea Party’s intransigence and hostage taking on negotiating over the debt, calling S&amp;P;’s downgrade of U.S. debt the “Tea Party downgrade”:</p>
<p>Unknown iFrame situation</p>
<p>Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com" type="external">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" type="external">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" type="external">news about the economy</a></p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="" type="internal">S&amp;P; said</a> it made the move in part because Republicans took the debt ceiling hostage and refused to consider raising taxes.</p> | Sen. John Kerry: This Is The ‘Tea Party Downgrade’ | true | http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/07/289962/sen-john-kerry-its-the-tea-party-downgrade/ | 2011-08-07 | 4 |
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&amp;T, owner of DirecTV, is asking for documents from a long list of companies as part of preparation for a trial to determine if they will be allowed to buy movie and TV show maker Time Warner, their lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said in a pre-trial hearing on Friday.</p> The AT&amp;T logo is pictured during the Forbes Forum 2017 in Mexico City, Mexico, September 18, 2017. REUTERS/Edgard Garrido
<p>The Justice Department sued in November to stop AT&amp;T, the No. 2 U.S. wireless company, from buying Time Warner for $85 billion because of concerns that it could raise prices for rivals and pay-TV subscribers as well as hamper the development of online video. Trial is set for March 19.</p>
<p>Daniel Petrocelli, who represents AT&amp;T and Time Warner, said that his team had been unable to get data requested from third parties, who had said they no longer had some of it. He asked the government, which did have the data, to return it so it could be subpoenaed.</p>
<p>An attorney for DISH Network Corp at the hearing identified himself to Judge Richard Leon and offered to discuss the dispute but Leon declined.</p>
<p>The third parties included Verizon Communications, Comcast, Cox, DISH, Charter, Disney and Viacom, among others, a source close to the trial said after the hearing.</p>
<p>Leon expressed surprise at the problem.</p>
<p>“So, the only copy they had, they turned over to the government?” he said, calling the situation “rather extraordinary.”</p>
<p>Leon said that if no solution was found by noon on Monday, he would order the government to return the data to the companies so that they could then either comply with the subpoenas or fight them in court.</p>
<p>“I think that’s a sensible approach,” Petrocelli told the judge.</p>
<p>Fights over data are common during antitrust trials since companies that are subpoenaed frequently fear that their rivals’ executives will gain access to sensitive internal data.</p> FILE PHOTO: A screen shows the current price of Time Warner shares, above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, shortly after the opening bell in New York, U.S. on November 15, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
<p>For its part, a lawyer for the Justice Department, Peter Schwingler,&#160;said the government was barred from giving the data to AT&amp;T under the terms of the subpoena that they used to collect it.</p>
<p>Leon had given access to confidential information to the court, Justice Department lawyers and staff, service providers and AT&amp;T and Time Warner’s outside counsel.</p>
<p>A second government lawyer, Craig Conrath, said that he would request a stay if the U.S. Congress failed to fund the government and it shut down.</p>
<p>Leon said the trial would likely continue. “My natural inclination will be not to grant a stay,” he said.</p>
<p>The fate of the deal has been widely followed because U.S. President Donald Trump criticized it on the campaign trail in 2016 and has repeatedly attacked the reporting of Time Warner’s CNN news network. In November, Trump reiterated his opposition to the deal.</p>
<p>Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Sandra Maler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency has exempted one of the nation’s largest oil refining companies, Andeavor ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=ANDV.N" type="external">ANDV.N</a>), from complying with U.S. biofuels regulations - a waiver historically reserved for tiny operations in danger of going belly up, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on his proposed changes to the tax code during an event with energy workers at the Andeavor Refinery in Mandan, North Dakota, U.S. September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
<p>The exemption, which applies to the three smallest of Andeavor’s ten refineries, marks the first evidence of the EPA freeing a highly profitable multi-billion dollar company from the costly mandates of the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard. The law requires refiners to blend biofuels such as ethanol into gasoline or purchase credits from those who do such blending.</p>
<p>The decision, which has not been previously reported, raises the question of whether other big and profitable oil firms with small refineries - such as Exxon Mobil Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=XOM" type="external">XOM</a>), Chevron Corp ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=CVX.N" type="external">CVX.N</a>) and Phillips 66 ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PSX.N" type="external">PSX.N</a>) - also have or could receive the waivers, which are granted by the EPA in secret.</p>
<p>Such waivers were designed for refineries producing less than 75,000 barrels per day that can demonstrate that they suffer a “disproportionate economic hardship” from the costs of RFS compliance.</p>
<p>Andeavor posted net profits of about $1.5 billion last year.</p>
<p>The EPA exemption, granted about a month ago, could reduce Andeavor’s regulatory costs by more than $50 million this year, based on the number of biofuels credits that two brokers say the refiner recently sold into the market, along with previous disclosures by firms that own refineries of a similar size.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-biofules-epa-refineries/u-s-biofuel-credits-fall-on-refiner-exemption-report-traders-idUSKCN1HA27R" type="external">U.S. biofuel credits fall on refiner exemption report: traders</a>
<p>Biofuels credit prices tied to ethanol dropped by 6 cents, to 38 cents each, after Reuters reported Andeavor’s exemption, traders said. Andeavor shares jumped by more than 1 percent on the news, hitting a session high of $102.78.</p>
<p>Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, reacted to the report by calling the exemption an “outrageous abuse” of the law.</p>
<p>“Providing a small refiner waiver to a company like Andeavor is laughable and abandons the commitment of President Trump to protect the RFS,” he said in a statement.</p>
<p>U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican who represents Iowa - the nation’s largest corn-growing state - and a staunch defender of the biofuels program, raised questions over the legality of the exemption.</p>
<p>Giving Andeavor “a free pass when other companies are required to follow the law of the land isn’t just unfair, it may be illegal,” Grassley said late Tuesday in a statement to Reuters. “It would also amount to a massive government handout to a big corporation that made billions in profits just last year.”</p>
<p>The exemption releases the firm of its obligation to provide the EPA with biofuels credits proving compliance at the three refineries - two located in North Dakota and one in Utah - for the year 2016, which would have come due this year, the sources said. Andeavor is also asking EPA for a waiver for its 2017 obligations for the same refineries, but has not yet received a decision, the sources said.</p>
<p>Andeavor spokeswoman Destin Singleton declined to comment. EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman did not immediately comment in response to Reuters inquiries on Monday and Tuesday.</p>
<p>As a matter of policy, the agency refuses to release any information on the waivers, or to name their recipients, citing concerns over disclosing private business information. The EPA denied a Freedom of Information Act request from Reuters seeking information on companies receiving the waivers.</p>
<p>Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Phillips 66 also own refineries small enough to meet the barrel-per-day standard, as does billionaire investor and Trump ally Carl Icahn - whose efforts last year to overhaul the biofuels program drew scrutiny from federal investigators.</p>
<p>Icahn, majority owner of refiner CVR Energy ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=CVI.N" type="external">CVI.N</a>), had served as an advisor to Trump on regulatory issues during his push to reform biofuels regulations early last year, but he resigned amid allegations that the role gave him a conflict of interest.</p>
<p>Spokespeople for all four companies declined to comment on whether they had applied for or received any exemptions.</p>
<p>The lucrative waivers are typically only reported if a publicly-traded firm considers them to be material to their financial or operational performance, in which case they must disclose the information through Securities and Exchange Commission filings.</p>
<p>The RFS has long been a lightning rod of conflict between the corn lobby, which supports the policy as an engine for demand, and refiners who say it costs them a fortune.</p>
<p>The White House has sought to broker a deal between two of its key political constituencies in a series of meetings, but the effort has failed to yield policy changes acceptable to both sides.</p>
<p>Ethanol industry advocates argue exemptions for refiners undermine the intent of the law, originally designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce dependence on foreign oil and boost farm economies.</p>
<p>While the EPA’s motives in providing hardship waivers are unclear, the exemptions are one of the tools at the administration’s disposal to ease financial pressure on refiners without undertaking a reform of the RFS policy.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in his motorcade to deliver remarks on his proposed changes to the tax code during an event with energy workers at the Andeavor Refinery in Mandan, North Dakota, U.S. September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
<p>EPA chief Scott Pruitt, appointed by Trump, has repeatedly said the RFS is too costly to oil refiners and should be overhauled. But Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, told an agriculture conference in February that Trump “stands with corn farmers, biofuels farmers and the RFS,” according to a recording heard by Reuters.</p>
<p>White House spokeswoman Kelly Love did not respond to a question about whether the administration was expanding the use of the RFS waivers to help refiners. Bowman, of the EPA, also did not comment on the question.</p> LAWSUIT OVER ‘HARDSHIP’ STANDARD
<p>Andeavor’s waiver follows a successful lawsuit by another refiner, Sinclair Oil, last year challenging the strict standard the EPA has used under past administrations for determining financial hardship.</p>
<p>“The EPA’s interpretation takes the statutory language too far,” wrote Chief Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. “A ‘hardship’ is something that makes one’s life hard or difficult - not just something that makes continued existence impossible.”</p>
<p>The lawsuit - along with a perception that the Trump administration might be more sympathetic to refiners - has sparked a big increase in applications from refining firms for he exemptions this year. More than 30 refineries have sought the waivers, according to sources familiar with the matter.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=ANDV.N" type="external">Andeavor</a> 104.11 ANDV.N New York Stock Exchange +1.39 (+1.35%) ANDV.N XOM CVX.N PSX.N CVI.N
<p>In a typical year, the EPA would receive about 12 to 15 requests for hardship exemptions and would grant about half of them, a former official familiar with the program told Reuters.</p> EXEMPTIONS SAVE REFINERS BIG BUCKS
<p>Andeavor sold some 100 million of those credits to its competitors in recent weeks, according to two brokers in the biofuels credit market. The company otherwise would have needed to provide those credits to the EPA to prove compliance with the RFS.</p>
<p>Those credits would be worth about $58 million based on&#160;a Reuters calculation of&#160;average&#160;renewable fuel RIN&#160;prices this year.</p>
<p>In the past, other companies have said the exemptions they were granted saved them tens of millions of dollars, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.</p>
<p>Last year, for example, HollyFrontier disclosed a reduction of almost $58 million in its costs of credits for two refineries for 2016.</p> EPA chief Pruitt under pressure over lobbyist condo deal
<p>Refiners granted exemptions win in two ways: They no longer have to blend biofuels or buy credits to comply with the law, and they can sell any credits they had previously purchased to use for compliance.</p>
<p>Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw and Chris Prentice; Additional reporting by Jessica Resnick-Ault; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Brian Thevenot</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIJING (Reuters) - China will impose additional tariffs of 25 percent on 106 U.S. goods including soybeans, autos, chemicals, some types of aircraft and corn products, among other agricultural goods, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.</p> FILE PHOTO: A combine drives over stalks of soft red winter wheat during the harvest on a farm in Dixon, Illinois, July 16, 2013. REUTERS/Jim Young/File Photo
<p>The products targeted by the tariffs were worth $50 billion in 2017, according to a separate statement from the commerce ministry.</p>
<p>Extra tariffs will also be slapped on products such as whisky, cigars and tobacco, some types of beef, lubricants, and propane and other plastic products, the finance ministry said in its statement.</p>
<p>U.S. orange juice, certain sorghum products, cotton, some types of wheat, as well as trucks, some SUVs, certain electric vehicles, will also be subject to the new duties, the finance ministry said.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - It took China just 11 hours to retaliate against the United States for proposing tariffs on some 1,300 Chinese products, but Chinese officials are holding back on taking aim at their largest American import: government debt.</p>
<p>In a tit-for-tat response to the Trump administration’s plan for 25 percent duties on $50 billion of Chinese imports, China hit back with its own list of similar duties on key American imports including soybeans, planes, cars, beef and chemicals. But officials signaled no interest for now in bringing their vast holdings of U.S. Treasuries to the fight.</p>
<p>China held around $1.17 trillion of Treasuries as of the end of January, making it the largest of America's foreign creditors and the No. 2 overall owner of U.S. government bonds after the Federal Reserve. Any move by China to chop its Treasury portfolio could inflict significant harm on U.S. finances and global investors, driving bond yields higher and making it more costly to finance the federal government.(Graphic: Top U.S. trade partners &amp; foreign holders of Treasuries - <a href="http://reut.rs/2CUqQB0" type="external">reut.rs/2CUqQB0</a>)</p>
<a href="http://reut.rs/2CUqQB0" type="external" />
<p>Jeffrey Gundlach, the chief executive of DoubleLine Capital LP, said China can use its Treasury holdings as leverage, but only if they keep holding them.</p>
<p>“It is more effective as a threat. If they sell, they have no threat,” said Gundlach, known as Wall Street’s Bond King.</p>
<p>“It would only escalate the situation and eliminate their leverage.”</p>
<p>Prices on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes slipped on Wednesday, giving back earlier gains on the trade news. Their yield edged up to about 2.81 percent Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p>China’s Treasury holdings have dipped in recent months, declining by about $30 billion from $1.20 trillion last August, and they are down about 11 percent from their record high above $1.3 trillion in late 2013, according to U.S government data. In all, foreign governments own $4 trillion, or more than a quarter, of the $14.7 trillion in Treasury securities outstanding.</p>
<p>Asked by a reporter on Wednesday if China would reduce its U.S. Treasury holdings in retaliation, Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao reiterated China’s long-standing policy regarding its foreign exchange reserves, saying it is a responsible investor and that it will safeguard their value.</p>
<p>China’s foreign exchange reserves, the world’s largest, stood at about $3.13 trillion at the end of February, with roughly a third of it held in Treasuries.</p>
<p>“If they wanted to pull the nuclear switch, if they committed to dumping Treasuries, it would have an immediate and temporary impact on money markets in the United States,” said Jeff Klingelhofer, a portfolio manager who oversees more than $6 billion at Thornburg Investment Management Inc. “But I think it is a bigger hit to the sustainability of what they’re trying to accomplish.”</p>
<p>Brad Setser, senior fellow for international economics&#160;at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said China can sell Treasuries and buy lower-yielding European or Japanese debt.</p>
<p>But the effect would likely be to strengthen the yuan against the dollar, weakening the relative desirability of its exports, analysts said. The sale could also tank the value of the Treasuries China retains, with nothing to show for the aggression.</p>
<p>More likely, if China wanted to turn up the heat it would let the yuan depreciate against the U.S. dollar, according to CFR’s Setser, a move that could kneecap the Trump administration’s goal of jump-starting U.S. manufacturing. The yuan weakened by about 0.25 percent on Wednesday but remains near its strongest in two and a half years.</p>
<p>Even if the likelihood of a change in Chinese policy regarding its Treasuries portfolio remains low, investors are sensitive to the risk any big shift would pose to world financial markets, where Treasuries are a global benchmark asset.</p>
<p>A January report that China might halt its purchases of Treasuries forced yields higher, but China disputed the news and said it was only diversifying its foreign exchange reserves to safeguard their value.</p>
<p>Reporting by Kate Duguid and Trevor Hunnicutt; Additional reporting by Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Dan Burns and James Dalgleish</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> &#160;
<p>TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese government officials are bracing for Donald Trump to get tough in trade talks, and are particularly anxious that the U.S. president could target Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s weak-yen policies.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. Dollar and Japan Yen notes are seen in this picture illustration June 2, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration/File Photo
<p>The deal Trump clinched with South Korea last month, which was reached in unusually quick negotiations and included a side deal to deter competitive currency devaluation, was the kind of agreement Tokyo fears most.</p>
<p>The officials told Reuters that they worry that similar tactics could be used against Tokyo when Trump meets Abe for a summit at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s Florida resort, later this month.</p>
<p>If Trump forces Bank of Japan and currency policy into discussions, Japanese policymakers don’t have an obvious way to appease him, especially given the unpredictable nature of his attacks.</p>
<p>The biggest risk is if Trump links trade with currency policy and accuses Japan of keeping the yen artificially weak through ultra-easy monetary policy, especially as he seeks to appeal to voters ahead of November’s mid-term U.S. congressional elections. Back in January 2017, Trump alleged that Japan used its “money supply” to weaken the yen and give exporters an unfair advantage.</p>
<p>Any such concerted pressure could bind Tokyo’s hands in dealing with a climb in the yen, which would hurt the nation’s export-reliant economy that has been growing but may not be resilient to such a sideswipe.</p>
<p>“As mid-term elections draw near, it’s possible Washington could put Japan’s currency policy to notice,” said a Japanese government official with knowledge of the negotiations.</p>
<p>Another official said: “It’s hard to predict what Trump would say, so the BOJ’s policy could come under fire. It’s not an immediate risk but something in everyone’s mind.”</p> WARY OF SENDING SIGNAL
<p>To be sure, the side agreement on the won that South Korea agreed to is not binding and focuses on what Japan already does – disclose details on currency intervention such as how much was spent and when. Still, Japan is wary of sending out any signal to markets that Trump is attacking Japan’s currency policy and that this could in any way prevent Tokyo from acting to restrain excessive yen gains.</p>
<p>When Abe and Trump met in February 2017, they kicked off a bilateral economic dialogue led by their deputies to discuss a series of issues, including trade, infrastructure and technical aid.</p>
<p>By broadening the agenda, Japan has managed so far to avert direct U.S. demands for negotiations over a bilateral trade pact, known as a free trade agreement (FTA).</p>
<p>Japan has long upheld a multilateral framework as its export-reliant economy has benefited greatly from global free trade. This approach helps Japan diffuse direct pressure from countries like the United States to open up its politically sensitive markets, such as agriculture.</p>
<p>Japanese officials say they will resist two-way trade deals with the United States at the summit, even if that reduces the chance of gaining exemptions for Washington’s recently introduced steel and aluminum tariffs. Trump temporarily excluded six trade partners, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union from these import duties. South Korea avoided tariffs but at a cost of agreeing to export quotas.</p>
<p>There are now major questions about whether the Japanese multilateral approach will be good enough for Trump.</p>
<p>The U.S. Trade Representative last week criticized what it said were non-tariff barriers to the Japanese car market and called for greater access to Japan for American beef and rice.</p>
<p>“The United States is only interested in a bilateral deal and probably won’t listen to Japanese calls for a multilateral approach on trade,” said Naoyuki Shinohara, Japan’s former top currency diplomat who retains close contact with incumbent policymakers.</p>
<p>“Japan will eventually have to enter FTA talks” and face U.S. pressure to open up its auto and farm markets, he said.</p> BOJ’S COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE
<p>Some officials say Japan is in a stronger position than South Korea and won’t have to compromise as much. That is because it still does not have a bilateral FTA, is transparent on currency policy and hasn’t intervened in the currency market since northeastern Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and resulting tsunami in 2011.</p>
<p>“Japan has far more to lose from a bilateral FTA. It doesn’t make sense to do this to avoid tariffs,” said a third government official directly involved in bilateral negotiations. “We’ll never allow currency issues be tied to trade. That’s absolutely unacceptable.”</p>
<p>A renewed attack on Japan’s currency policy will be damaging particularly since Tokyo has hardly any ammunition left to fight another yen spike.</p>
<p>Fears of a trade war have boosted investors’ demand for the safe-haven yen and pushed up the Japanese currency to around 106 against the dollar, significantly stronger than the 109-level on which many exporters base their earnings forecasts for the current fiscal year to March 2019.</p>
<p>Japanese policymakers have warned that the yen’s 7 percent gain against the dollar this year is too volatile a move, though such verbal warnings have had little effect in keeping yen rises in check.</p>
<p>While currency intervention hasn’t been ruled out if the yen spikes to less than 100 to the dollar, gaining U.S. consent for such a move would be extremely hard, the officials say.</p>
<p>That leaves monetary policy as a last resort, though the BOJ too has barely any tools left to fight a currency gain or another recession after BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s “bazooka” stimulus that started in 2013.</p>
<p>The BOJ’s huge buying has dried up bond market liquidity and years of near-zero interest rates have eroded bank profits, raising concern that more easing could do more harm than good.</p>
<p>Even maintaining the current policy, which pegs Japanese government bond yields at zero even as U.S. interest rates rise, could draw U.S. heat if Washington perceives it as intended to weaken the yen, some analysts say.</p>
<p>“The BOJ’s current framework is clearly a weak-yen policy. Japan would struggle to explain otherwise if it comes under heat by the United States,” said Yasuhide Yajima, chief economist at NLI Research Institute.</p>
<p>Hiroshi Watanabe, a former top Japanese currency diplomat, said Tokyo could face criticism if the dollar rises to around 115 yen and the U.S.-Japan interest rate gap widens to around 350 basis points.</p>
<p>“The BOJ should be mindful that at some point, the United States could argue that it’s using monetary policy” to keep the yen weak, he said.</p> Stocks plunge on trade war fear; tech leads selloff
<p>Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Martin Howell</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Judge overseeing AT&T, Time Warner merger trial hears document dispute Exclusive: EPA gives giant refiner a 'hardship' waiver from regulation China announces additional tariffs on $50 billion of U.S. goods China, holding Treasuries, keeps 'nuclear option' in U.S. trade war Japan braces for Trump assault on trade, yen policy as summit looms | false | https://reuters.com/article/us-timewarner-m-a-at-t-hearing/judge-overseeing-att-time-warner-merger-trial-hears-document-dispute-idUSKBN1F82PB | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
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<p />
<p>You know, that easy way the site will autofill your card information so you don’t have to type it in.</p>
<p>But be aware that there risks when you do this – as so many of us do, according to a recent survey by <a href="http://creditcard.com" type="external">creditcard.com</a>. The survey showed that two out of every three online shoppers have their card information stored on at least one website or app for future purchases. About 10 percent said they always save their card information online, no matter where they’re shopping.</p>
<p>“If you extrapolate that out across the population, that means 94 million Americans let retailers store their credit- or debit-card data, and 14 million always do so,” according to the site, which surveyed 1,000 adults.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Here’s the problem: If your computer gets hacked or your smartphone is stolen, the thieves will have an easy way to make purchases in your name.</p>
<p>“For online consumers, there’s a trade-off: The more you store your payment info in a variety of places, the greater your odds of being a victim of fraud,” Alex Johnson, senior marketing manager at FICO, told <a href="http://creditcards.com" type="external">creditcards.com</a>. “But saving your information offers a definite advantage in terms of convenience, because you don’t have to have your card on hand to make a purchase.”</p>
<p>The safest thing to do, of course, is to type in your card number for every purchase. If you’re not willing to do that, then choose a credit card over a debit card because there are more protections when it comes to fraudulent purchases.</p>
<p>While certain protections cover both debit- and credit-card transactions, most credit cards go further and offer their own form of zero-fraud liability. That means you likely won’t be out any money, regardless of how much fraud is involved. Also, most credit card issuers put the fraudulent charge on hold while they investigate, so you won’t be out the money in the interim, either.</p>
<p>• • •</p>
<p>No matter what happens, Medicare is not going to call you about a back brace.</p>
<p>Keep this in mind in case you’re a target in yet another Medicare scam. This one involves someone claiming to be with Medicare, either offering you a free brace outright or saying that a caregiver had previously called about receiving one, the Better Business Bureau says.</p>
<p>If you show any interest, the caller will start asking for personal information, such as Social Security number or Medicare number. Hang up.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>• • •</p>
<p>And one more “don’t.”</p>
<p>Do not click on the big red egg featured in an email that purports to be from Amazon. It’s one of those fake “Your order has arrived” notifications, and when you open the message, you are treated to a view of a large red egg. It says there’s a possible reward inside, if only you will click the matching red “crack” button.</p>
<p>• • •</p>
<p>I have heard my share of stories from abashed readers, saying they can’t believe they were naive enough to fall for this or that scam. In retrospect, they say, it’s perfectly clear that they were being conned.</p>
<p>But scams are ever-evolving, and those who commit them know how to find our weak spots. Really, we’re all vulnerable.</p>
<p>And here’s more proof: The Colorado resort town of Snowmass forked over nearly $60,000 earlier this month because of a “sophisticated spear phishing ploy,” according to the Aspen Daily News.</p>
<p>The culprits mimicked a town email account and requested a wire transfer of town money. The transaction appeared related to construction materials, and the town’s finance department fell for it and wired the money.</p>
<p>Spear phishing is when an imposter email appears to come from a trusted source as a way to seek confidential information or money.</p>
<p>Snowmass officials noticed the crime the following week and reported it to police.</p>
<p>They added that they aren’t optimistic about getting any of it back.</p>
<p>Ellen Marks is assistant business editor at the Albuquerque Journal. Contact her at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a> or 505-823-3842 if you are aware of what sounds like a scam. To report a scam to law enforcement, contact the New Mexico Consumer Protection Division toll-free at 1-844-255-9210​.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Online shoppers should hoard credit, debit card data | false | https://abqjournal.com/1054008/online-shoppersshould-hoard-creditdebit-card-data.html | 2 |
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<p>James Gonzales III takes a knee during their semifinal game of the 3A State Championship against Taos, in Taos, November 30, 2013. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>FOOTBALL</p>
<p>James, a senior at Robertson, is a three-year starting running back for the Cardinals football team. The two-time All-District 2-3A rusher is in the midst of his most successful campaign. James heads into Saturday’s Class 3A state championship game against the Silver Fighting Colts with a team-high 1,476 yards rushing on 172 carries and 17 touchdowns.</p>
<p>Age: 18</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Hometown: Las Vegas, N.M.</p>
<p>What are the sports you play? Football, wrestling (past three seasons) and basketball (expected to play this season)</p>
<p>Favorite professional athlete: Minnesota Viking running back Adrian Peterson</p>
<p>How did you get your start playing football competitively? “I was pretty much raised in El Paso (Texas), and — maybe it was first or second grade — started playing for a team called the Upper Valley Longhorns. … I started out playing quarterback, but as I got older my line outgrew me and I couldn’t see over them. That’s when I turned over my quarterback duties and started playing running back in eighth grade.”</p>
<p>What’s your favorite class in high school? Science</p>
<p>What are plans after graduation? “My plans are to go to New Mexico State and then try to get into vet school somewhere. … Becoming a vet has always been my plan since I was little. My dad used to be a jockey and now trains race horses, so I want to kind of stay in the family business but in a different branch.”</p>
<p>What was the last book you read? “Bless Me, Ultima,” by Rudolfo Anaya</p>
<p>What was the last good movie? “2 Guns” (2013)</p>
<p>You’re stranded on a deserted island with your MP3 player. What songs would have to be on your playlist? “The Cowboy Rides Away” by George Strait; “How Do You Like Me Now?!” by Toby Keith; and “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi</p>
<p>What is your best non-athletic skill? “I have a pretty good eye for race horses — I can always pick out good ones.”</p>
<p>If you could be better at something outside the realm of athletics, what would it be? Singing</p>
<p>What’s the best meal in northern New Mexico? “Both of my grandmas’ green chile chicken enchiladas.”</p> | Face-to-face with Robertson’s James Gonzales III | false | https://abqjournal.com/315123/face-to-face-with-robertsons-james-gonzales-iii.html | 2 |
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<p>In Luke’s story about Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple ( Luke 2:22-40) they meet two prophets, Simeon and Anna, both well along in years. Simeon and Anna had been patiently waiting and looking for “the redemption of Israel” ( Luke 2:38) and for God’s salvation “prepared in the presence of all peoples” as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” ( Luke 2:31-32).</p> | Keeping hope alive | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/keeping-hope-alive/ | 3 |
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<p>There’s lots to see and do here at the <a href="http://www.mnstatefair.org/" type="external">Minnesota State Fair</a>. And most importantly, eat: It’s before noon, and already I’ve sampled the (allegedly) world’s smoothest ice cream, a Norwegian delicacy called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefse" type="external">potato lefse</a>, and a mini donut. But the coolest thing I’ve seen so far is tucked away in a small room in the agriculture building:&#160;seed art. Minnesotans have painstakingly employed a variety of common seeds—flax, lentils, poppy, adzuki, millet, and sunflower, to name just a few—to create incredibly detailed artistic masterpieces. The themes are many:&#160;cute animals, aphorisms, and affirmations of Minnesota pride abound. A bunch have political messages; this November there are two controversial measures on Minnesota’s ballot:&#160; <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Minnesota_Same-Sex_Marriage_Amendment_%282012%29" type="external">a gay marriage ban</a> and a <a href="http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Minnesota_Voter_Identification_Amendment_%282012%29" type="external">voter identification requirement</a>. Here are some of the ways that fair entrants expressed their opinions on these matters:</p>
<p />
<p>And here’s a detail:</p>
<p>This one’s in the style of Maurice Sendak’s famous children’s book Chicken Soup With Rice. But look closely:And a detail:And another:</p>
<p>Paul Ryan, in seeds:A voter ID piece:</p>
<p>A nice use of lentils:This one’s from the kids’ division. To me this wolf looks like a <a href="http://rozchast.com/" type="external">Roz Chast</a> character. Save the endearlingly neurotic wolves!</p>
<p />
<p>Artist credits:&#160;Gnomes by Jill Schaefer, Minnetonka, Minn.; Chicken Soup With Rice by Laura Melnick, St. Paul, Minn.; Mario Brothers by Mark Dahlager, St. Paul, Minn.; Paul Ryan by Kimberly Cope, Minneapolis, Minn.; Jim Crow by Elana Dahlager, St. Paul, Minn.; Occupy by Patricia Mack, Minneapolis, Minn.; Save the Wolves by Olivia Wenner, Shoreview, Minn.</p> | Gay Marriage Seed Art at the Minnesota State Fair | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/gay-marriage-seed-art-minnesota-state-fair/ | 2012-08-31 | 4 |
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<p>PHOENIX - A Buckeye man is accused of leaving his 5-year-old granddaughter alone in the desert with a loaded handgun.</p>
<p>Maricopa County authorities say 53-year-old Paul Armand Rater is being held on suspicion of two counts of child abuse and one count of child endangerment.</p>
<p>Bond was set at $25,000 at Rater's initial court appearance Monday. He doesn't have a lawyer yet.</p>
<p>Rater took his granddaughter for a ride in the desert in his new pickup truck Sunday.</p>
<p>He told authorities the vehicle got stuck and they had to walk for help because he left his cellphone at home.</p>
<p>Rater says he left the girl under a tree with a gun when she couldn't walk anymore.</p>
<p>A helicopter later located the uninjured girl. Rater was found eating and drinking at a restaurant.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Police: Man leaves granddaughter, 5, alone in desert with loaded handgun | false | https://abqjournal.com/669519/police-man-leaves-granddaughter-5-alone-in-desert-with-loaded-handgun.html | 2 |
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<p>The United Nations has sent representatives to Detroit, to <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/detroit-water-shut-offs-brings-u-n-scrutiny/" type="external">investigate</a> the city's water shut offs. Since March, the city has turned off water services to homes nearly 26,000 times. "This United Nations Human Rights team has spent the last three days trying to figure out why the shutoffs are necessary."</p>
<p>The water was turned off because people have not paid their water bill. "'At the end of the day, everybody's gotta pay their water bill,' said Alexis Wiley, chief of staff for the mayor, Mike Duggan."</p>
<p>Leilani Farha and Catarina de Albuquerque are leading the United Nations team in Detroit.</p>
<p>"People are living without dignity it's a human rights violation. the city should restore water to those unable to pay," said a representative of the U.N. team.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | United Nations Investigating Detroit's Water Shut-Offs | true | http://truthrevolt.org/news/united-nations-investigating-detroits-water-shut-offs | 2018-10-04 | 0 |
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