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<p>For those who were fortunate enough to watch, McCain campaign advisers Samuel J. Wurzelbacher and Joe the Plumber recently appeared in special Fox News broadcast featuring a roundtable discussion with Neil Cavuto and Laura Ingraham.</p>
<p>Wurzelbacher, a noted Toledo-based economist, sported a gold-lamé designer Buckeye sweatshirt over rhinestone studded, skin tight DKNY blue jeans (purchased by the RNC) which accented his well-developed quads.&#160;&#160; But as Wurzelbacher piously told his host and hostess, “It’s not just about clothes.&#160; It’s about lifestyle.”</p>
<p>As McCain’s most trusted economic adviser, Wurzelbacher’s lifestyle has raised some fashion-maven eyebrows for its flash and dazzle style.&#160; Wurzelbacher also has achieved notoriety for carrying the portable head of Joe the Plumber in his muscular left arm.</p>
<p>As Cavuto astutely noted by way of introduction, “Wurzelbacher and Joe the Plumber’s head, which serves as his oracle, are virtually inseparable.”</p>
<p>Hostess Laura Ingraham looked lithesome, as always, in Gypsy haute couture and a multi-colored Gucci scarf (purchased by the RNC) wrapped around her forehead.&#160; As the show began Ingraham carefully took Joe’s big bald head from Wurzelbacher and screwed it down on a round table covered with a dark red satin cloth decorated with obscure signs and symbols.&#160; Once fastened securely in place, the ectoplasmic cranium turned crystal clear and began to emit an esoteric glow that entranced everyone in the Fox News studio.</p>
<p>Cavuto, in a striped grey worsted suit and clashing yellow silk tie (purchased by the RNC), began the panel discussion by asking Wurzelbacher “What does an Obama presidency, God forbid, mean for America?”</p>
<p>Slowly, dramatically, Wurzelbacher put his steady hands on either side of the Big Bald Ball while deftly inserting a quarter in the left ear.&#160; Then he whispered sotto voce.&#160; “Tell me Joe.&#160; Tell me the future!”</p>
<p>Three million Fox viewers sat in characteristically thoughtless silence as Joe’s mouth dropped open and words tumbled out.&#160; “I’m scared for this country,” he spoke.&#160; “I am very scared for all America.”</p>
<p>Inserting another quarter, Wurzelbacher beseeched the clairvoyant craniate: “Why, Joe?&#160; Why are you scared?”</p>
<p>Joe spoke: “If elected president, Barrack Hussein Obama is going to raise taxes on the entire middle class!”</p>
<p>Cavuto and Ingraham nodded solemnly in agreement.</p>
<p>“The black deviltry of Hussein’s hordes knows no bounds,” Ingraham seethed, visibly afraid for her virtue.</p>
<p>Cavuto added knowledgeably, “According to Republican presidential candidate John McCain, “they” have even accessed into Joe’s background!”</p>
<p>“It is political retribution, pure and simple,” Ingraham observed.</p>
<p>“What was Joe’s crime?” Cavuto inquired of Wurzelbacher.</p>
<p>“He exposed Obama as an African born Muslim and Communist who wants to spread the wealth around.” Ingraham gasped.&#160; “It’s deviltry, for a private citizen to ask a question of his elected leaders and then turn around and get a proctology exam.&#160;&#160; That’s just wrong.”</p>
<p>“If this is the way the Obama administration is going to conduct itself the American people should know,” Cavuto warned.</p>
<p>“Let’s ask Joe what he thinks,” Ingraham suggested.</p>
<p>Once again Wurzelbacher rubbed Joe’s round white shiny head, which this time turned translucent. &#160;Wurzelbacher cautiously slipped a quarter in the designated ear and asked the paranormal plumber, “How can Obama stare down Putin, if he couldn’t deal with you?”</p>
<p>Joe blurted, “Obama will visit a financial plague upon America far worse than anything Bush hath wrought in his eight years of unholy congress with Republicans!”</p>
<p>Cavuto and Ingraham were visibly taken back by Joe’s exclamation, insofar as he had, in all his previous Fox News séances, proven his undying loyalty to Supreme Skinhead Stupert Murdock, an Australian noted – like his fellow “medium,” the Reverend Sunset Moon – for meddling in American politics and channeling subliminal CIA messages.</p>
<p>Ignoring Joe’s comment about “worse than anything Bush has wrought,” Cavuto quickly prompted Wurzelbacher to ask Joe how he felt Obama palling around with terrorist Bill Ayers.” . This time, however, the quarter got stuck in the chrome dome and Wurzelbacher had to whack it to get it going.&#160; The coin fell into the slotted skull with a clank, and Joe sputtered, “Where’s my god-damned left-handed wrench?”</p>
<p>Ingraham leaned over, exposing her ample bosom, and smacked it real hard, prompting a torrent of one-liners: “McCain is a politician and his campaign promises can’t be trusted!&#160; McCain says Palin’s a diva, but I think she’s sexy and I want to run on her ticket in 2112! Senator Stevens is guilty as sin!&#160; Obama is way cool….”</p>
<p>At this point it was painfully obvious that a screw had come loose in the Fox News Hour’s Mighty Wurlitzer.&#160; It was definitely not on its divine message anymore.</p>
<p>Cavuto turned to Wurzelbacher and, with utter dismay said, “We paid twenty dollars for this!&#160; Maybe we should have tried the palm reader or…or…or an Astrologer?”</p>
<p>“Well,” Wurzelbacher retorted, “Why not ask him something practical?&#160; Just last week Joe channeled a carpenter’s dead grandmother and she told us where she hid the box of gold coins she saved all her life.”</p>
<p>As Wurzelbacher spoke, he turned Joe’s head upside down; inside, snow started falling on a quaint New England village.</p>
<p>“The average plumber would pay less in taxes under Obama than McCain,” Joe said, adding gratuitously that “US Special Forces on a CIA mission snuffed a smuggler in Syria and snatched two of his accomplices. &#160;The bastards killed his family as a warning to others who would funnel fighters, weapons and cash into Iraq!”</p>
<p>“Destroy it, before it speaks again,” Ingraham pleaded.</p>
<p>“Cut the cameras,” Cavuto screamed, grabbing for the mutant mouthpiece.</p>
<p>But Wurzelbacher held Joe’s head aloft and, as the cameras faded, you could see through a mist a cute little gerbil running inside a wheel.</p>
<p>DOUGLAS VALENTINE is the author of four books which are available at his websites <a href="http://www.members.authorsguild.net/valentine/" type="external">http://www.members.authorsguild.net/valentine/</a> and <a href="http://www.douglasvalentine.com/index.html" type="external">http://www.douglasvalentine.com/index.html</a> His fifth book, The Strength of the Pack: The Politics, Personalities and Espionage Intrigues That Shaped The DEA, will be published in September 2009 by Trine Day.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | A Glimpse Inside the Head of Joe the Plumber | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/10/29/a-glimpse-inside-the-head-of-joe-the-plumber/ | 2008-10-29 | 4 |
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<p>Most automakers reported sales Tuesday, but Ford’s results were delayed by a day because of an electrical fire at its Dearborn, Michigan headquarters.</p>
<p>Overall U.S. auto sales fell 5.8 percent last month, according to revised figures released Wednesday by data firm Autodata Corp. On Tuesday, Autodata had estimated a 4.4-percent sales decline in October, but it had assumed Ford’s sales would fall 2 percent.</p>
<p>Ford sold 188,813 vehicles last month. Its car sales plummeted 27.5 percent, while its SUV sales were down 9 percent.</p>
<p>Ford paused Transit Connect commercial van sales to fix faulty door latches, which also hurt sales. Transit Connect sales dropped 61.5 percent.</p>
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<p>One bright spot was Ford’s luxury Lincoln brand, which saw sales rise 7 percent thanks in part to the new Continental sedan.</p>
<p>Ford’s F-Series pickup sales were flat compared to last October, but the F-Series remained the best-selling vehicle in the U.S., with 65,542 sold. The Chevrolet Silverado pickup, Ram pickup, Honda CR-V SUV and Toyota Camry sedan rounded out the top five.</p>
<p>After six straight years of growth and record sales in 2015, U.S. demand for new vehicles is beginning to wane. Industry sales are down slightly through October compared to last year, Autodata said.</p>
<p>Ford Motor Co. cut production at four North American plants last month because of falling demand. Analysts say other automakers may follow with more production cuts in the coming weeks.</p> | Ford sales fall in October, bringing US industry sales down | false | https://abqjournal.com/880353/fords-us-sales-fell-12-percent-in-october.html | 2016-11-02 | 2 |
<p>Last week, 15-year-old Disney star Rowan Blanchard took to social media to once again advocate for the murder of the unborn to her near <a href="https://www.instagram.com/rowanblanchard/" type="external">5 million</a> Instagram followers.</p>
<p>The vocal left-wing teen with a heart for abortion posted a photo that said, "Women will always have abortions: They will either be safe and legal or unsafe and illegal."</p>
<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BPoNnqtD1W0/" type="external">Plannedparenthood.org / federal funding does NOT fund planned parenthood abortions so try again. / who are you pro-life for? Are you pro-life when we enter war? Are you pro-life when a unarmed black person is shot by the police? Are you pro-life for a woman who was raped at 16 and got pregnant? Who are you protecting? Yourselves? / don't support abortion? Cool! Don't have one</a></p>
<p>A photo posted by Rowan Blanchard (@rowanblanchard) on Jan 23, 2017 at 5:15pm PST</p>
<p>The flawed pro-abortion talking point was captioned with a hit at pro-lifers, painting such people as selfish and uncaring:</p>
<p>"Plannedparenthood.org / federal funding does NOT fund planned parenthood abortions so try again./ who are you pro-life for? Are you pro-life when we enter war? Are you pro-life when [an] unarmed black person is shot by the police? Are you pro-life for a woman who was raped at 16 and got pregnant? Who are you protecting? Yourselves? / don't support abortion? Cool! Don't have one.”</p>
<p>Although the 15-year-old is clearly bright and brings out the best pro-abort language she can muster, her post is a bit off:</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood's funds are fungible, as <a href="" type="internal">noted</a> by Daily Wire's Frank Camp, so those <a href="http://www.lifenews.com/2016/11/15/planned-parenthood-gets-500-million-in-tax-money-spent-38-million-on-hillary-clintons-losing-campaign/" type="external">500 million tax-payer dollars</a> the lucrative "nonprofit" annually receives can easily fund abortions, the corporation's biggest money-maker by a long shot. And the insinuation that pro-lifers are racist and unfeeling is pure leftism: When you lack an argument, cast your opponents as any "-ist" you can think of. Further, her idea that abortion is not the business of pro-lifers would have to be applied to her own logic, destroying her presumed point that Planned Parenthood should get our taxpayer dollars. In other words, if it's none of my business, why must I fund it?</p>
<p>Blanchard, who stared in the now-canceled "Boy Meets World" spin-off, has advocated hard for abortion in the past, too. In fact, the teen previously named Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards as a "role model."</p>
<p>“When I name my role models, it’s women like you," Blanchard said to Richards, during an <a href="http://www.papermag.com/cecile-richards-rowan-blanchard-planned-parenthood-1612250184.html" type="external">interview</a> last February, "and women like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and people like that who have really taken something and driven it forward.”</p>
<p>The self-styled feminist is also a fierce opponent of President Donald Trump, once calling him "openly racist/misogynist/xenophobic and a serial sexual abuser." She also explained that if you voted for Trump you are an "ally" to racism, misogyny, xenophobia and sexual assault.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BMhufqJAESl/" type="external">Yikes please use your vote wisely tomorrow your voice is valuable, so don't waste it trying to amplify someone who is openly racist/misogynist/xenophobic and a serial sexual abuser if you're insistent you are voting for him because of his (nonexistent) policies, then consider this- you are making yourself, whether you admit to it or not- an ally to these above things my 10 year old brother came home crying one day because his friend (who has Mexican immigrant parents) saw trumps comments about Mexican immigrants and what he vows to do and spent the whole class sobbing this is so much bigger than us singularly, stop being selfish and vote for Her *not saying Hillary is by any means a perfect candidate but we CANNOT pretend that her and trump are the equal amount of evil, and we cannot overlook how much experience she has, and how much does trump have? Oh right, zero</a></p>
<p>A photo posted by Rowan Blanchard (@rowanblanchard) on Nov 7, 2016 at 3:14pm PST</p>
<p>In January, Blanchard came out as "queer" on Twitter.</p>
<p><a href="http://ijr.com/2017/01/785623-15-year-old-disney-star-posts-to-social-media-women-will-always-have-abortions/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=owned&amp;utm_campaign=ods&amp;utm_term=ijamerica&amp;utm_content=life" type="external">H/T</a>IJ Review</p> | 15-Year-Old Disney Star Advocates Hard For Abortion | true | https://dailywire.com/news/12920/15-year-old-disney-star-advocates-hard-abortion-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-01-30 | 0 |
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<p>All of your correspondence should be representative of the top candidate you are, and the following are a few general tips for sending professional, impressive emails.</p>
<p>Before you begin, verify that you have the correct email address for your contact at the company. After you enter it in the recipient line, double-check it. You may want to add a delivery and read receipt option to your email to ensure that it went through correctly.</p>
<p>The subject line may seem simplistic, but it may mean whether or not your email is overlooked in someone’s inbox. Your subject line should be simple and to the point. If you are emailing regarding the status of a sales position, note “Status Inquiry of the ABC sales position with XYZ Company.” Maybe you are thanking panel members for the opportunity to interview, and you can type the subject line as “Interview Opportunity for ABC sales position.”</p>
<p>Begin your email with a salutation much like you would in a cover letter. Always begin with something such as “Dear Mr. or Ms. XYZ,” or “Good morning/afternoon Mr. or Ms. XYZ.” Double check that you have spelled their name correctly.</p>
<p>The body of your email should be direct and concise. Begin by briefly introducing yourself and stating why you are emailing. For example, “My name is Jane, and I am writing in regard to the sales position with XYZ Company.” Avoid run-on sentences and long paragraphs. Most prospective employers have limited time, so make the most of your email. End with a closing such as “Thank you,” or “Sincerely,” and your full name. You can include your phone number, website address or any other relevant contact information.</p>
<p>Do not use text slang or emoticons in your email. Do not use all caps in your email as it can be read as you speaking harshly or yelling.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Run spell check on your entire email and review for any grammar issues. Try reading your email aloud to catch any awkward sentences that your spell check and grammar check may miss. See if a friend or family member can edit your email and provide any suggestions.</p>
<p>Depending on your topic, you may need to attach documents. Always note any attachments that you have included in the body of your email. Look at the file size and type before you send your email. Files too large in size may overwhelm your recipient’s inbox. Try to send files in PDF when possible. Name your attachments appropriately, such as “Résumé for Jane XYZ” or “References for Jane XYZ.”</p>
<p>Investing the time and work into a well-drafted email will pay off when the employer sees how you well you can communicate and present yourself in all of your correspondence, including something as simple as an email.</p>
<p>This is a regular column written by the N.M. Department of Workforce Solutions. For more information, go to <a href="http://www.dws.state.nm.us" type="external">dws.state.nm.us</a>.</p>
<p /> | Well-honed emails will pay off | false | https://abqjournal.com/520936/wellhoned-emails-will-pay-off.html | 2 |
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<p>FOX Business: Capitalism Lives Here</p>
<p>The Dow and S&amp;P 500 zipped up to new highs on Thursday as traders cheered moves by the ECB aimed at jumpstarting the eurozone's economy.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Today's Markets</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 98.58 points, or 0.59%, to 16836.11, the S&amp;P 500 advanced 12.58 points, or 0.65%, to 1940.46 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 44.59 points, or 1.05%, to 4296.23.</p>
<p>The ECB cut its main refinancing rate to a historic low of 0.15% from 0.25%, and sliced its deposit rate to -0.1% from 0%. The central bank also said it is working on a bond-purchasing program, and will take other measures to boost liquidity among eurozone banks. The moves come as the ECB looks to boost inflation and economic activity across the struggling currency bloc.</p>
<p>Not everyone agrees the ECB will be able to materially lift inflation, or put pressure on the euro by cutting interest rates.</p>
<p>"Despite the ECB’s best efforts, the cost of money is certainly not the binding constraint on the European economy and banks ahead of the ECB Asset Quality Review have been more focused on shrinking their balance sheets rather than adding aggressively to their loan books," Peter Boockvar, chief market analyst at The Lindsey Group, wrote in a note to clients.</p>
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<p>"On the euro impact which is certainly a key focus of the ECB, outside via outright money printing, it’s never easy to put one’s [currency] rate to the level one wants for any prolonged period of time."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Bank of England held interest rates at historic lows and said it would hold steady its asset purchase target of 375 billion pounds.</p>
<p>On the U.S. front, traders will get a look at weekly jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economist forecast&#160;310,000 Americans applied for first-time unemployment benefits last week, from 300,000 the week prior.</p>
<p>The key monthly jobs report from the Labor Department is due on Friday.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, U.S. crude oil futures fell 40 cents, or 0.39%, to $102.23 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline dipped 0.22% to $2.929 a gallon. Gold slipped slightly to $1,244 a troy ounce.</p> | Wall Street Rallies to Record Highs on ECB Enthusiasm | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/06/05/wall-street-rallies-to-record-highs-on-ecb-enthusiasm.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Classic Lotto" game were:</p>
<p>01-03-10-31-35-44, Kicker: 3-9-8-7-5-7</p>
<p>(one, three, ten, thirty-one, thirty-five, forty-four; Kicker: three, nine, eight, seven, five, seven)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $26.3 million</p>
<p>CLEVELAND (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Ohio Lottery's "Classic Lotto" game were:</p>
<p>01-03-10-31-35-44, Kicker: 3-9-8-7-5-7</p>
<p>(one, three, ten, thirty-one, thirty-five, forty-four; Kicker: three, nine, eight, seven, five, seven)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $26.3 million</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Classic Lotto' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/cef21d423e4b4ce6be62adfe0a143716 | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>Shares of McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) have been on a tear recently, rising about 39% in the past 12 months and 24% in the past six. After such a bullish run, investors have high expectations going into McDonald's third-quarter earnings report.</p>
<p>McDonald's is scheduled to report its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 24. When the fast-food giant releases its latest results, here are the key areas investors should watch.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>McDonald's <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/01/28/this-is-why-mcdonalds-corporation-is-refranchising.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4188a4cc-9e51-11e7-ba71-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ongoing refranchising initiatives Opens a New Window.</a> are driving "choppy" growth rates on the fast-food company's income statement recently, and management explained in McDonald's second-quarter conference call that these initiatives will continue to have this effect into 2017 and 2018.&#160;Unfortunately, this makes drawing conclusions from McDonald's quarterly revenue and EPS trends a bit more difficult. But investors may find it useful to at least compare reported revenue and EPS with analyst estimates.</p>
<p>On average, analysts expect&#160;McDonald's to report revenue and EPS of $5.71 billion and $1.76, respectively. In the year-ago quarter, McDonald's reported revenue of $6.4 billion and EPS of $1.62.</p>
<p>Analysts' expectations for strong earnings growth during the quarter likely reflect a bet on high global comparable sales growth -- a factor management said played a key role in the company's 36% year-over-year jump in EPS during Q2.</p>
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<p>In McDonald's second quarter, the company reported extremely strong comparable sales of 6.6%. Robust comparable sales growth is likely to continue in Q3, as management said strength in comparable sales was broad-based, driven by higher sales and guest counts in each of its top nine markets -- a first since 2008.</p>
<p>McDonald's believes that growing its guest count is its most important priority. "This is the ultimate measure of our turnaround, as we strengthen and grow the business," said McDonald's CEO Stephen Easterbrook in the company's second-quarter conference call.</p>
<p>For McDonald's first quarter, management said about half of its 6.6% jump in comparable sales was driven by an increase in guest counts. The other half of the increase in comps was driven by price. This was a huge improvement from McDonald's first quarter, which had positive comparable sales driven entirely by price when adjusted to exclude the quarter's leap-day impact.</p>
<p>Investors should look to see if McDonald's can keep up its strong growth in guests counts during Q3.</p>
<p>As part of McDonald's <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/07/28/mcdonalds-experience-of-the-future-is-coming-to-th.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4188a4cc-9e51-11e7-ba71-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">"Experience the Future" Opens a New Window.</a> growth plan, the company is currently prioritizing mobile order and pay. In McDonald's second-quarter earnings call, management said its mobile order and pay had already rolled out to 5,000 restaurants worldwide and was on pace to be available in 20,000 restaurants by the end of 2017.</p>
<p>Look for an update from management on how well mobile order and pay is going. In McDonald's last update, it said the digital experience was driving higher average checks and helping deploy convenient curbside pickup, ultimately helping McDonald's increase its capacity at peak times.</p>
<p>Overall, investors should look to see if McDonald's can continue to keep up the promising signs of a revitalized strategy demonstrated in Q2.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than McDonald'sWhen 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=c8a9618c-9dba-4b11-96e5-e64eab72abd6&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4188a4cc-9e51-11e7-ba71-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and McDonald's 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=c8a9618c-9dba-4b11-96e5-e64eab72abd6&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4188a4cc-9e51-11e7-ba71-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDanielSparks/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4188a4cc-9e51-11e7-ba71-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Daniel Sparks Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=4188a4cc-9e51-11e7-ba71-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | McDonald's Corporation Earnings: Mark Your Calendar | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/20/mcdonalds-corporation-earnings-mark-your-calendar.html | 2017-09-20 | 0 |
<p>Also:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Jack Welch says unemployment numbers are cooked!</a></p>
<p>The Labor Department <a href="http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm" type="external">reported</a> today that U.S. employers added 114,000 jobs in September. The unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent - where it was when Barack Obama took office and not at the 5.8 his administration forecasted.</p>
<p>No doubt, the top headline of a dropping unemployment rate is helpful for the president. Democrats are celebrating. While this is certainly better news than we've been getting - which tells us more the sad expectations we have in the Obama era - the new unemployment rate reflects deep economic stagnation and, maybe, a new normal.</p>
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<p>Let's review:</p>
<p>If bringing the unemployment rate back to the 7.8 percent (with fewer people working at lousier jobs) is what a stimulus plan, three rounds of quantitative easing and endless spending gets us, this presidency can be safely&#160;categorized&#160;as one of the worst investments in history.</p>
<p /> | The ugly truth about that 'great' jobs report | true | http://humanevents.com/2012/10/05/the-truth-about-that-great-jobs-report/ | 2012-10-05 | 0 |
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<p>Nothing is certain in life but death, taxes – and as it looks now, hefty insurance premium hikes come 2016. Is there anything consumers can do?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>You can complain, especially if you live in New York.</p>
<p>That's not because New Yorkers’ premiums are going up any more than anyone else's, or that New Yorkers are better complainers. The Empire State, it turns out, is the only state that requires insurance companies to write letters to their customers regarding proposed rate changes, if they're requesting a hike of more than 10%, said Tom Harte, president and owner of Landmark Benefits in Hampstead, New Hampshire. In addition to notifying customers, companies invite them to comment on the proposed changes.</p>
<p>As a New Yorker, I received a letter last week from UnitedHealthcare Oxford saying the company has filed a request with the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) for approval of an increase to my premium of 15.8%.</p>
<p>"Rising medical expenses are the main reason for the requested increase," it said. "A number of factors contribute to these rising costs, including increases in the cost of medical services and increases in the amount of services used." It then provided a couple of options for me to submit comments on its proposal.</p>
<p>And the upcoming price hikes aren’t just coming to New York. A handful of major carriers from around the country selling plans under ObamaCare are proposing big increases in the premium rates for 2016 -- many of which are in the double-digit percentages (even as high as 30 percent), according to data released last week by the White House.</p>
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<p>To be clear, the "proposed" rate increases aren’t necessarily the actual increase we’ll have to pay in January 2016. Insurance companies are in the process of asking state authorities for a certain amount, but according to Katie Hill of the U.S. Department of Health &amp; Human Services (HHS), "proposed rates provide an early look at insurance companies' initial estimates, but rates often decrease from what is proposed before becoming final."</p>
<p>So from now until rates are finalized in October, customers have the opportunity to "weigh in," about their proposed rate hike. If you don't live in New York, you may not have received a notice about what increase your carrier is requesting, but you can still find out.</p>
<p>And you can complain.</p>
<p>"Because of the Affordable Care Act and rate review process set up in states, consumers have an opportunity to weigh in on proposed increases of 10% or greater before the rates are finalized," Hill said.</p>
<p>Consumers can look up their plan on <a href="https://ratereview.healthcare.gov/" type="external">ratereview.healthcare.gov Opens a New Window.</a> to see what rate change their insurance carrier is requesting. If they're not happy with the requested change they can "weigh in" in the "consumer comments" section, but few insurance experts believe customers' comments will carry much weight in rate negotiation.</p>
<p>"I don't see it having an effect," said Joel Koral, a health insurance broker based in Montvale, New Jersey. "It's not like appealing to a planning board for a public project.”</p>
<p>Consumer advocacy groups will also be pushing back on rate increases, according to Katherine Hempstead, director of health insurance coverage at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.</p>
<p>"Consumers shouldn't panic, because there [are] a lot of steps involved before rates are finalized," she said.</p> | What Can You Do About Health-Insurance Rate Hikes? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/06/09/what-can-do-about-health-insurance-rate-hikes.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
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<p>One of the most awkward parts of the interview process is the <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/salary.html" type="external">salary Opens a New Window.</a> discussion. Candidates don't want to bring it up, and neither do recruiters. As a result, it's not uncommon for prospective employees to go through several interviews before realizing that the company isn't offering a salary near what they were expecting.</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/" type="external">LinkedIn Opens a New Window.</a> is aiming to change all that with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/salary/" type="external">LinkedIn Salary Opens a New Window.</a>, a new tool that puts recruiters, hiring managers, and job applicants on equal footing.</p>
<p>For Job Seekers</p>
<p>When on the hunt for a job, it's important to know as much as possible about the companies one applies to. LinkedIn Salary helps applicants set realistic compensation expectations&#160;in advance of an interview or job offer, instead of going in blind.</p>
<p>"Candidates can use LinkedIn Salary to better understand what their experience and background are worth in the job market," explains Ryan Sandler, senior product manager at LinkedIn. "That way, they can enter the process much more informed about their own earning potential. They can also use LinkedIn Salary to compare salaries at top companies they're interested in and see how location and company size factor in, or how things change with different levels of educational achievement. And finally, when an opportunity arises, LinkedIn Salary can help candidates weigh job offers and make better career decisions."</p>
<p>The tool isn't just useful for entry-level job seekers, either. Those who are considering leaving their current position can see where they stand in the job market and whether or not a move would be a good idea, financially speaking.</p>
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<p>"LinkedIn Salary helps people who are already employed understand their earning potential and take steps to reach it," Sandler says. "They can see how their current compensation measures up to their peers and how making changes – like changing industries or relocating – could impact their salary and, ultimately, their career."</p>
<p>The most important thing for those on the job hunt is to stay informed. In order to get the best offer, applicants must have the right information at their fingertips. Going in unprepared can have a number of consequences, including a salary offer that's far lower than what it could have been.</p>
<p>For Recruiters</p>
<p>LinkedIn salary has value on the other side of the table as well. Recruiters can use the tool to make sure they aren't unintentionally lowballing candidates.</p>
<p>"LinkedIn Salary helps everyone operate from the same playbook," says Sandler. "Recruiters can also use the information to better understand what various types of candidates earn and how factors like experience, education, location, or company size come into play. They can then develop a realistic picture of what a given candidate is worth in the market so they're better prepared for the negotiation process."</p>
<p>To attract the best of the best, it's crucial that companies not be out of touch with what their competitors are offering in terms of salary.</p>
<p>"LinkedIn Salary also can help hiring managers develop more competitive pay structures so they're not missing out on top talent," Sandler says. "Or, when higher pay isn't an option, well-informed recruiters will be ready to point out the value their company brings, like excellent benefits, an entrepreneurial culture, or an opportunity to work on high-impact projects."</p>
<p>Like job hunters, recruiters must have all the best information available to be successful. Tools like LinkedIn Salary can help to even the playing field between recruiters and candidates. When both sides start with similar terms and expectations, the process is easier for all involved.</p>
<p>[caption id="attachment_90563" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Screenshot courtesy of LinkedIn[/caption]</p> | New LinkedIn Product Changes the Rules of the Salary Game | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/12/19/new-linkedin-product-changes-rules-salary-game.html | 2016-12-24 | 0 |
<p>Shares of GoPro (NASDAQ: GPRO)&#160;are back in the double digits after spending most of the year waffling about in the single digits. The action-camera maker saw its stock soar 14% last week after <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/07/why-gopro-inc-stock-popped-today.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3eaafd1e-94fa-11e7-bfc3-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">updating its earlier guidance Opens a New Window.</a> in a positive manner. A pair of analysts wound up boosting their price targets on the stock.</p>
<p>GoPro announced on Thursday that it will land at the high end of its earlier guidance for the current quarter. GoPro's initial outlook was for revenue to clock in between $290 million and $310 million on 36% to 38% in gross margin. GoPro also revealed that it expects to post a profit on an adjusted basis for the third quarter. Wall Street pros were holding out for a small deficit.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The quarter is still three weeks away from the finish line, so anything can change, but it's a good indication when a company is nudging expectations higher.</p>
<p>GoPro is rolling right now. Landing at the high end of its revenue range would translate into 29% year-over-year growth. This will be the fourth quarter of double-digit top-line growth for GoPro, and the wearable camera leader's second-best surge in that run. Gross margin at or near 38% would be its strongest showing on that front since the end of last year.</p>
<p>The camera and drone specialist isn't anywhere close to where it was in the past. The stock is still trading 89% lower than it was when it peaked three years ago, a few months after the company went public. Revenue maxed out in 2015. Earnings and gross margin peaked the year before that.</p>
<p>Now, momentum is turning the corner. The stock hit levels last week it hasn't seen since February. Thursday's release included the company's bullish outlook on upcoming launches of the Hero6 action camera and its new Fusion spherical camera, and analysts are buying it.</p>
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<p>Stanley Kovler at Citi is boosting his price target from $9.50 to $10.50. Paul Coster at J.P. Morgan is bumping his goal from $13 to $15. Coster is allowing for a higher multiple on GoPro based on improvement in execution, as GoPro is also reducing the pesky inventory channel levels that dogged the shares through most of 2016.</p>
<p>GoPro is now a year removed from its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/06/the-solution-to-gopros-karma-problem-is-embarrassi.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3eaafd1e-94fa-11e7-bfc3-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">fumbled initial entry into the drone market Opens a New Window.</a> and a sharp drop in popularity of its flagship wearable cameras. The Hero product line may never regain its peak, but GoPro's diversified product line arms it with more than a single catalyst. And the stock price remains low, despite the recent gains.</p>
<p>The turnaround is real. GoPro doesn't have to complete the long road back to be a market winner.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than GoProWhen 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=a0f058f1-911c-4de3-b0d0-84a3c1d45360&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3eaafd1e-94fa-11e7-bfc3-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and GoPro 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=a0f058f1-911c-4de3-b0d0-84a3c1d45360&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3eaafd1e-94fa-11e7-bfc3-0050569d4be0&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 September 5, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBreakerRick/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3eaafd1e-94fa-11e7-bfc3-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rick Munarriz Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GoPro. The Motley Fool has the following options: short January 2019 $12 calls on GoPro and long January 2019 $12 puts on GoPro. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=3eaafd1e-94fa-11e7-bfc3-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Can GoPro Stock Keep Going After Last Week's 14% Pop? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/10/can-gopro-stock-keep-going-after-last-weeks-14-pop.html | 2017-09-10 | 0 |
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The number of organ transplants rose in central Ohio and the nation last year as more organs became available because of the increase in fatal drug overdoses.</p>
<p>The nonprofit group Lifeline Ohio saw a record number of donors and recipients in 2017, <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180111/drug-overdoses-contribute-to-record-number-of-organ-donors" type="external">The Columbus Dispatch has reported</a> .</p>
<p>The organization saw a "drastic" 37 percent increase in the number of organs transplanted, said Andrew Mullins, Lifeline's director of partner services.</p>
<p>"We know the drug epidemic that's sweeping our state, and donation has had an effect on transplant rates," Mullins said.</p>
<p>Lifeline is the organ-donation service provider for 37 Ohio counties and two counties in West Virginia.</p>
<p>Ohio had the nation's second-highest drug-death rate in 2016, with 4,329 fatal overdoses. A quarter of Lifeline's organ donors fatally overdosed last year, a 12 percent increase from 2016.</p>
<p>Amanda Shires said her husband, 28-year-old Tony Shires, helped three people with the donation of his kidneys, pancreas and liver after he overdosed on heroin in October.</p>
<p>"When it's a hard day, I think, 'It's not only bad. Something good did come out of it,' " she said.</p>
<p>Becki Brown, Lifeline's family services coordinator, said there are many misconceptions about organ donations. She said that while overdoses can stop a person's breathing or their heart, it doesn't necessarily harm their organs.</p>
<p>For a donation to be possible, a person must be in a hospital, on a ventilator and declared brain dead, according to Lifeline. There are no costs or age limits. People with diabetes or hepatitis cannot be donors.</p>
<p>Organ donations are possible in only 1 percent of deaths in the U.S.</p>
<p>More than 3,000 Ohio residents are currently waiting for a transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.</p>
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The number of organ transplants rose in central Ohio and the nation last year as more organs became available because of the increase in fatal drug overdoses.</p>
<p>The nonprofit group Lifeline Ohio saw a record number of donors and recipients in 2017, <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180111/drug-overdoses-contribute-to-record-number-of-organ-donors" type="external">The Columbus Dispatch has reported</a> .</p>
<p>The organization saw a "drastic" 37 percent increase in the number of organs transplanted, said Andrew Mullins, Lifeline's director of partner services.</p>
<p>"We know the drug epidemic that's sweeping our state, and donation has had an effect on transplant rates," Mullins said.</p>
<p>Lifeline is the organ-donation service provider for 37 Ohio counties and two counties in West Virginia.</p>
<p>Ohio had the nation's second-highest drug-death rate in 2016, with 4,329 fatal overdoses. A quarter of Lifeline's organ donors fatally overdosed last year, a 12 percent increase from 2016.</p>
<p>Amanda Shires said her husband, 28-year-old Tony Shires, helped three people with the donation of his kidneys, pancreas and liver after he overdosed on heroin in October.</p>
<p>"When it's a hard day, I think, 'It's not only bad. Something good did come out of it,' " she said.</p>
<p>Becki Brown, Lifeline's family services coordinator, said there are many misconceptions about organ donations. She said that while overdoses can stop a person's breathing or their heart, it doesn't necessarily harm their organs.</p>
<p>For a donation to be possible, a person must be in a hospital, on a ventilator and declared brain dead, according to Lifeline. There are no costs or age limits. People with diabetes or hepatitis cannot be donors.</p>
<p>Organ donations are possible in only 1 percent of deaths in the U.S.</p>
<p>More than 3,000 Ohio residents are currently waiting for a transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.</p> | Organ transplant rate increases with high overdose deaths | false | https://apnews.com/amp/24056e12a2f349f18e430a6a3fad9abb | 2018-01-21 | 2 |
<p>No winning tickets were sold for <a href="http://www.megamillions.com/" type="external">Friday night’s Mega Millions prize</a>, sending the jackpot soaring to $400 million for the next drawing, lottery officials said.</p>
<p>That would rank seventh among all-time U.S. jackpots.</p>
<p>Friday night’s numbers were 7-20-40-54-69 with Mega Ball 12. That pot would have been worth an estimated $353 million — the fifth largest Mega Millions jackpot ever and the 12th largest U.S. lottery prize ever.</p>
<p>The next drawing will be 11 p.m. ET Tuesday.</p> | No Winner: Mega Millions Jackpot Hits $400 Million | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/us-news/no-winner-mega-millions-jackpot-hits-400-million-n53416 | 2014-03-15 | 3 |
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<p>It didn’t take long for Cambra, who sits atop the NM State record books in goals with 17, to find the back of the net.</p>
<p>At 4:19 in the first period Cambra shrugged off a UMKC defender and raced down the left side and drilled a shot into the goal to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead. It was the fastest goal scored by the Aggies this season.</p>
<p>For the next 30 minutes the NM State defense prevented UMKC (7-3-2, 3-0-0 WAC) from finding consistency on offense. However, at 34:03 the Aggie defense sprung a leak. After a melee in front of the NM State goal, Lauren Zach came away with the ball and one-timed a pass to Emily Herndon who tied it at 1-1. The two teams went scoreless the rest of the first stanza and the match was knotted up at intermission.</p>
<p>At 54:42 the Aggies were called for a hand ball in their box and Ellie Chadick converted the ensuing penalty kick to give the ‘Roos a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.</p>
<p>Despite the setback NM State head coach Freddy Delgado remained positive.</p>
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<p>“The girls were excited to play and were focused,” Delgado said. “Jennae is one of the top goal scorers in the conference and if you give her the opportunity, she’s going to score.”</p>
<p>NM State (2-12-0, 1-3-0 WAC) plays host to Chicago State – a team the Aggies beat 6-1 last weekend – Sunday at 11 a.m.</p>
<p>“The girls have confidence and it was a winnable game today,” Delgado added. “We outplayed them at times and I feel very confident as conference play continues.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Soccer: Aggie women fall despite Cambra’s 9th goal | false | https://abqjournal.com/478210/soccer-aggie-women-fall-despite-cambras-9th-goal.html | 2 |
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<p>By Jeff Brumley</p>
<p>Baptists will continue to be right in the heart of North Carolina’s Moral Mondays protests, which will be revived <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/175328/north-carolinas-moral-mondays" type="external">with a march</a>in Raleigh on Saturday, Feb. 8.</p>
<p>One pastor said it’s the duty of Christians to agitate for change on the local level and of Baptists in particular to participate in civil rights struggles.</p>
<p>“I think grassroots movements are the only thing that will make a difference or bring about a change in legislation,” said Kenneth Cooper, senior pastor at <a href="http://christianfaithbaptist.org/" type="external">Christian Faith Baptist Church</a> near downtown Raleigh.</p>
<p>The Moral Mondays movement erupted last year in response to Republican efforts to drastically cut spending on public education, unemployment benefits, pre-K programs, Medicaid coverage and other programs.</p>
<p>Thousands descended on the state Capitol, and close to 1,000 were arrested.</p>
<p>It will all begin again Saturday with what the movement’s minister leader and state NAACP President&#160; <a href="http://www.religionnews.com/2014/02/04/nc-pastor-kick-second-year-demonstrations/" type="external">William Barber</a>&#160;calls the Moral March.</p>
<p>Thousands are expected to attend, and among them will be Cooper and members of his congregation.</p>
<p>“I have encouraged my parishioners to make sure that they participate in the march,” he said.</p>
<p>Last year, Cooper’s National Baptist Convention USA church served as the pre-protest gathering place around 10 times, Cooper said. It’s where participants gathered for last-minute instructions and to hear from those affected by the Republican-led cutbacks.</p>
<p>The reason for such intense participation, he said: the Christian faith demands Jesus’ followers follow his example of standing up for the persecuted and poor.</p>
<p>“The Christ we serve was a grassroots movement person,” Cooper said. Moral Mondays is about social justice and ethics and therefore “right in line with our theology and right in line with the one we follow.”</p>
<p>Baptists, too, have an obligation to participate, Cooper added.</p>
<p>“For Baptists there is historical meaning” in protest movements like Moral Mondays, Cooper said.</p>
<p>“It goes back to the ’50s and ’60s when the one who was leading [the Civil Rights movement] was a Baptist minister from the South,” he said. “The Baptist church has always been in the forefront, if for no other reason than Dr. [Martin Luther] King was a Baptist minister.”</p> | Pastor: Baptists must support Moral Mondays | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/pastor-baptists-must-support-moral-mondays/ | 3 |
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<p>Israel has discovered the holiday spirit and decided that its blockade of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip should be lifted, allowing trucks of medicine, food and other supplies to enter the occupied territory beginning Friday.</p>
<p>The BBC:</p>
<p>Israel has reopened crossings into the Gaza Strip to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>Israeli officials said Defence Minister Ehud Barak took the decision after talks with security chiefs and requests from the international community.</p>
<p />
<p>About 80 trucks with supplies such as medicine, food and other goods are expected to cross on Friday.</p>
<p>The move comes despite Israeli warnings to Palestinian militants in Gaza to stop their rocket attacks on Israel.</p>
<p>On Friday, two Palestinian sisters – aged five and 12 – were killed when a mortar, apparently fired by Palestinian gunmen targeting Israel, hit their home in northern Gaza.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7799915.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Israel Offers Tidings, Lifts Blockade | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/israel-offers-tidings-lifts-blockade/ | 2008-12-26 | 4 |
<p>A review of punishments meted out to National Football League players by the League reveals a history of lenience in domestic violence cases, reports the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/sports/football/in-domestic-violence-cases-nfl-has-a-history-of-lenience.html?_r=1" type="external">New York Times.</a></p>
<p>Commissioner <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/roger_goodell/index.html?inline=nyt-per" type="external">Roger Goodell</a> was widely hailed when he instituted a new, stringent personal conduct policy in April 2007, after more than 50 NFL players had been arrested in the previous football season. The commissioner became the self-appointed judge and jury in each case, and threatened to banish players for off-the-field transgressions.</p>
<p>“It is my job — not law enforcement’s job — to protect the National Football League,” said Goodell at the time.</p>
<p>Over the seven years since Goodell implemented the policy, players charged with domestic violence regularly received significantly lighter punishments than players charged with other offenses, such as drug use or driving under the influence of intoxicants. Offenders often received no League punishment.</p>
<p>On Friday, after a week of silence,&#160; <a href="http://http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/sports/football/roger-goodell-nfl-domestic-violence.html" type="external">Goodell held a press conference</a> to announce the policy had failed and would be overhauled.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/20/sports/football/in-domestic-violence-cases-nfl-has-a-history-of-lenience.html?_r=1" type="external">Numerous cases</a>illustrate the disparity in League punishments. For example, on Nov. 25, 2011, Erik Walden, a Green Bay Packers linebacker, was arrested for the alleged assault of his live-in girlfriend. Walden agreed to perform 50 hours of community service and receive counseling. The charge was reduced to disorderly conduct, then dismissed.</p>
<p>The league imposed a one-game suspension on Walden.</p>
<p>In contrast, when police seized two-and-a-half pounds of marijuana sent to the home of Jerome Simpson, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver, the League imposed a three-game suspension.</p>
<p>“I don’t think the N.F.L. did anything more than give lip service to the notion that they were taking domestic abuse seriously,” said Ann DeLaney, an advocate for victims of domestic violence and former executive director of the Julian Center in Indianapolis, a victim support group.</p>
<p>“That’s what they did this time until it was caught on video,” continued Ms. DeLaney, referring to the Ray Rice case.</p>
<p>Former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice was given a two-game suspension after being accused of assaulting his fiancée, Janay Palmer, in February. The two are now married.</p>
<p>After public criticism that the punishment was inadequate, Goodell increasedthe league minimum suspension to six games for a first-time domestic violence offense.</p>
<p>After&#160; a video was made public showing Rice knocking out Ms. Palmer in a hotel elevator, Goodell imposed an indefinite suspension on Rice.</p>
<p /> | NFL has history of lenience in player domestic violence cases | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/09/20/nfl-has-history-of-lenience-in-player-domestic-violence-cases/ | 2014-09-20 | 3 |
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<p>Oct 17 (Reuters) -&#160;Goldman&#160;Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE:GS) reported a decline in quarterly profit, as gains in investment banking were offset by a 26 percent drop in fixed-income trading revenue.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Revenue from trading bonds, currencies and commodities (FICC) fell to $1.45 billion.</p>
<p>Net income applicable to common shareholders was $2.04 billion, or $5.02 per share, for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $2.10 billion, or $4.88 per share a year ago.</p>
<p>Analysts on average had expected earnings of $4.17 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. It was not immediately clear if the reported numbers were comparable.</p>
<p>Total revenue, including net interest income, rose 2 percent to $8.33 billion.</p>
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<p>Goldman's arch rival Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reported a higher profit, driven by its investment banking and wealth management businesses. However, fixed-income trading fell 20 percent to $1.2 billion.</p>
<p>(Reporting By Aparajita Saxena in Bengaluru and Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)</p> | Goldman Sachs beats the street even with trading drop | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/17/goldman-sachs-quarterly-bond-trading-revenue-drops-26.html | 2017-10-17 | 0 |
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<p>Liz Levine and her husband, David, like to put their pit bull rescue, Bella, on a leash and head out into the streets of Nob Hill in search of lost toys.</p>
<p>Bella, a velvety brown menschette, prefers to look for cats, but she keeps her nose in the gutters and has shown a surprising talent for ferreting out the lost plastic airplane or baby rattle or Beanie Baby.</p>
<p>Into Liz or David's pocket they go.</p>
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<p>At some point along their walk they always make a point of passing by a utility pole on Roma, midway between the cross streets of Montclaire and Fontana, and adding the new finds to the glomeration of toys already tacked up there.</p>
<p>The Lost Toy Pole has been a neighborhood collection place since 2006, when the Levines wedged their first lost toy under a staple left in the pole from some bygone missing-cat or lost-dog flier.</p>
<p>In the ensuing years, the Levines have fed the pole regularly with lost Barbie shoes and Army men, Happy Meal toys and Matchbox racers. It has also become the repository of baby socks and mittens - always singletons - and anything else that winds up dropped, lost and, perhaps, forgotten.</p>
<p>Liz, an APS substitute teacher, says the Lost Toy Pole came to life after she found a little Army man in the gutter on her walk one day. She took it to school and talked to the third-graders about the movie "Toy Story" and the sad fact that Woody was a lost toy. She encouraged them to think about the fate of lost toys and bring some in to school.</p>
<p>"Who doesn't love little toys?" Liz asks.</p>
<p>The school year ended, but as anyone who walks knows, when you start thinking about a certain item on your walk, you tend to start finding it.</p>
<p>Liz and David started finding toys. And David suggested they tack them up somewhere so whoever lost them could claim them. Because the thought occurred to him at that particular utility pole, that particular utility pole became the Lost Toy Pole.</p>
<p>"Time went by, and before you know it we just started finding all kinds of things on our walk," she says. The collection on the pole grew and others began contributing.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"Some really cool stuff gets put up and some really cool stuff gets taken," she says. "People know they can look there."</p>
<p>Case in point? The set of car keys she found and hooked onto a tack on the pole. The next day the keys were gone and, because there were no reports of a car theft in the neighborhood, we can assume the story ended happily.</p>
<p>Back before cities got huge and sprawling, before suburbs spread for miles, before we all started spending half our time in our cars and the other half staring at our phones, there were places where people could gather and visit and spread news and, I suppose, mention to their neighbors that they had lost a baby sock on a walk - or their car keys - and would appreciate everyone keeping an eye out for it.</p>
<p>We don't have the old Post Office wood stove or the cracker barrel at the general store anymore. But the people of east Nob Hill have the Lost Toy Pole.</p>
<p>The pole was glittering with a mosaic of childhood tchotchkes the other day: a bright silver airplane, one of Barbie's ice skates, a jigsaw puzzle piece, a handmade bracelet, a motorcycle, a fairy wand, a butterfly hair tie, a candy hamburger, a peace sign Beanie Baby, a rubber dinosaur, a Superball, a baby's rattle.</p>
<p>"Somebody's missing these things," Liz says.</p>
<p>But instead of sitting in the gutter or succumbing to a fractured demise, they live on at the Lost Toy Pole, waiting to go home.</p>
<p>UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Leslie at 823-3914 or <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>. Go to <a href="" type="internal">www.abqjournal.com/letters/new</a> to submit a letter to the editor.</p>
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<p /> | Lost and found at the Lost Toy Pole in Nob Hill | false | https://abqjournal.com/378239/lost-and-found-at-the-lost-toy-pole-in-nob-hill.html | 2014-04-03 | 2 |
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<p>Cordova, 32, of Truchas, says the real miracle is not only that she survived cancer, chemotherapy and radiation, but shortly after she finished the treatments she became pregnant, with her second daughter, Isla, now about 18 months.</p>
<p>“She’s perfectly healthy. She is truly a blessing from God,” she says. “During the treatment process, one of my biggest worries about the chemo treatment was that it can cause infertility. We already had one wonderful daughter, (Isabelle, 7) and we were hoping to add more children to our family. I was devastated to think this life-saving treatment may take one of life’s greatest joys away from me.”</p>
<p>The Cordova family, Leandro, Natalie, Isabelle, Isla and expected son Ivan, plan to be at the local Light the Night walk, a fundraiser for the New Mexico/El Paso Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. <a href="http://pages.lightthenight.org/nm/Albuquer14/NCordova" type="external">Visit Natalie Cordova’s page</a>. (Courtesy of Natalie Cordova)</p>
<p>At the time of this interview, Cordova says she and her husband, Leandro, 37, are expecting another child, a boy they will call Ivan, any day.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Cordova, an accountant, says her whole family, including her children, are part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s New Mexico fundraiser, Light the Night Walk, Oct. 26.</p>
<p>“I know I directly and indirectly benefitted greatly from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society programs and research during my journey,” Cordova says. “I am honored and excited to be able to contribute so that someone else can make it through as well.”</p>
<p>The New Mexico/El Paso Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society says in a news release the chapter used September, blood cancer awareness month, to gear up for the local fundraiser. According to the release, in its 65-year history, the organization has raised more than $1 billion for research and therapies. Its goal for September was $300,000.</p>
<p>Survival rates for many kinds of blood cancer have doubled, tripled or quadrupled since the 1960s. For example, five-year survival rates for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, ALL, have increased from 3 percent in 1964 to 90 percent in 2014.</p>
<p>Cancers, like Cordova’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and other lymphomas, leukemia and myeloma, affect the bone marrow, the blood cells, the lymph nodes and other parts of the lymphatic system. They may result from acquired mutations to the DNA of a single lymph-or-blood forming cell. In blood cancers, abnormal cells multiply and survive without the usual controls that are in place for healthy cells and interfere with healthy blood cell production, according to the release.</p>
<p>Cordova says she was relieved when her cancer was finally diagnosed. “It may sound absurd, but I was extremely grateful and relieved that finally someone identified what was going on.”</p>
<p>A cough that wouldn’t go away started in October about three years ago. It was so bad she couldn’t sleep on her back. She lost a great deal of weight and had night sweats and vomiting, which motivated her to make a doctor’s appointment. “In retrospect, every symptom I had was related to the cancer.”</p>
<p>She went to several doctors before someone realized it was cancer.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>She had been referred to a gastroenterologist, because another doctor suspected acid reflux. When she got to the appointment her heart rate was extreme fast, so the specialist sent her to the emergency room.</p>
<p>Chest X-rays revealed a 12-inch mass across her lungs and a tumor growing around her heart, she says.</p>
<p>She began chemo just after Christmas for stage 2 cancer, she remembers.</p>
<p>“Stage 2 was good news, considering the other possibilities,” she says. “I never expected it, but within a couple weeks after the first chemo, I already felt better than I did before the treatment. With all the horror stories of chemo, I didn’t expect to feel better, but I did.” Imaging showed the mass was smaller.</p>
<p>She regretted losing her long hair. Her daughter had played with Cordova’s hair to comfort herself, she says: “It was also difficult to think that I wouldn’t be able to take care of her like I wanted to. I needed a lot of rest and recuperation for days after each chemo treatment. Even a couple days away from her was very hard for both of us.”</p>
<p>But her family and friends rallied around her: “The list goes on and on. My husband was my number one caretaker. He was by my side, caring for me after treatment and made sure to remind me he thought I was beautiful, even without hair. My mother-in-law would take me to every chemo regimen and sit with me the whole day, making sure I was OK and brought me food. My parents, who live a distance away, cared for my daughter and did a multitude of other things.”</p>
<p>Her body was strong and three years later she is still cancer free: “Although I didn’t expect it, my body stayed strong through chemo, with few and minor side effects. I was, after all, on a mission to survive and recover.”</p>
<p /> | Lymphoma survivor, family join fundraiser | false | https://abqjournal.com/478545/lymphoma-survivor-family-join-fundraiser.html | 2 |
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<p>Check out this clip from Colbert’s clever “The Word” segment, in which the show pairs Colbert’s earnest-sounding deliveries with smart-aleck phrases at the side of the screen.</p>
<p>From this clip:</p>
<p>“Like Jesus, right now the president is lost in his own metaphorical desert. (Literally, Iraq).”</p>
<p>“Sure, maybe he can’t walk on water. (Katrina proved that).”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/03/04.html#a7388" type="external">Watch the whole clip</a> (“The Word” segment comes a few minutes into it.)</p> | Time of Salvation? Uh, Maybe Not | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/time-of-salvation-uh-maybe-not/ | 2006-03-05 | 4 |
<p>Images coutresy of the&lt;a hre="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/4090603806/"&gt; US Army&lt;/a&gt;</p>
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<p>Another Veterans’&#160;Day is upon us, and there’s perhaps no more appropriate time to pause and consider the challenges facing our 23 million military vets. There’s the obvious: wars on two fronts, which affect our troops-to-be-vets and the VA system at large, and the <a href="" type="internal">Ft. Hood massacre</a>, which magnifies the severity of dual ( <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_afghanistan" type="external">and expanding</a>) wars, being fought by a beleaguered and traumatized fighting force.</p>
<p>Today will be full of symbolism and remembrances, but there are also real policies being negotiated on Capitol Hill that can help support vets in the long-run. Two weeks ago, President Obama <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hc8qtQjB9Pg7OhmOkoQcKC12kB5wD9BGAGU02" type="external">signed a bill</a> to keep funding steady for veterans’ health care services during protracted budget negotiations. Yesterday, Sen. Tom (“Dr. No”)&#160;Coburn (R-Okla.) <a href="http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2009/11/military_veteransbill_coburnhold_110309w/" type="external">continued to be the roadblock</a> on a $3.7 billion bill that would expand mental care and offer home assistance to wounded veterans, <a href="http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Home.Home" type="external">citing “wasteful spending”</a> in his opposition to the bill. This was the same day that the <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iHNHrC59tUmMwk09hHwNL_9YOQ6AD9BSUF4O0" type="external">VA settled a lawsuit</a> pending over a two-tour Michigan vet with PTSD who died after an overdose; his family said the VA failed to hospitalize him or enter into a mental-health facility.</p>
<p>Mental- and other health-care funding, troop levels in Afghanistan, the state of our taxed VA system, these all have residual effects on vets today and vets tomorrow. And we can Support Our Troops with banners and bumper stickers all we want, but when it takes a domestic attack on a military base by one of our own for <a href="http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/texas-to-expand-mental-health-programs-for-veterans-14571.html" type="external">Texas to ramp up mental health funding</a> for its veterans, we all must not be paying close enough attention.</p>
<p>Have a look at some of Mother Jones‘ coverage over the past few years on the state of veterans’ affairs. These are stories that investigate all fronts, from <a href="" type="internal">ex-torturers</a> back stateside, photos of <a href="" type="internal">hidden caskets</a> (and of the <a href="" type="internal">hidden-from-sight injured</a>), to a <a href="" type="internal">military with combat fatigue</a>, and the <a href="" type="internal">Pentagon’s PTSD problem</a>. <a href="" type="internal">There’s more</a>, and we can do more. Look around, tell us what you think.&#160;</p>
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<p /> | Exit Wounds: Defending Our Vets | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/11/veterans-day-2009/ | 2009-11-11 | 4 |
<p>Two more European countries are rejecting <a href="https://ecowatch.com/news/food-agriculture/gmo-genetically-modified-organism/" type="external">genetically modified organisms</a> (GMOs). Latvia and Greece have specifically said no to growing <a href="//ecowatch.com/?s=monsanto" type="external">Monsanto</a>‘s genetically modified maize, or MON810, that’s widely grown in America and Asia but is the onlyvariety grown in Europe.</p>
<p>Lativia and Greece have chosen the “opt-out” clause of a European Union rule passed in March that allows member countries to abstain from growing GM crops, even if they are authorized by the EU. <a href="//ecowatch.com/2015/08/10/scotland-bans-genetically-modified-crops/" type="external">Scotland</a> and <a href="https://ecowatch.com/2015/08/26/german-follows-scotland-ban-gmo-crops/" type="external">Germany</a> also made headlines in recent weeks for seeking a similar ban on GMOs.</p>
<p>According to <a href="//www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/27/us-eu-agriculture-monsanto-idUSKCN0QW25P20150827" type="external">Reuters</a>, in many European countries, there is widespread criticism against the agribusiness giant’s pest-resistant crops, claiming that GM-cultivation threatens biodiversity.</p>
<p>Monsanto said it would abide by Latvia’s and Greece’s request to not grow the crops. The company, however, accused the two countries of ignoring science and refusing GMOs out of “arbitrary political grounds.”</p>
<p>In a statement, Monsanto said that the move from the two countries “contradicts and undermines the scientific consensus on the safety of MON810.”</p>
<p>Monsanto also told Reuters that since the growth of GM-crops in Europe is so small, the opt-outs will not affect their business.</p>
<p>“Nevertheless,” the company continued, “we regret that some countries are deviating from a science-based approach to innovation in agriculture and have elected to prohibit the cultivation of a successful GM product on arbitrary political grounds.”</p>
<p>According to <a href="//newswire.net/newsroom/news/00090159-latvia-and-greece-first-out-as-eu-introduces-a-gmo-opt-out-law.html" type="external">NewsWire</a>, the EU’s opt-out clause “directly confronts U.S. free trade deal supported by EU, under which the Union should open its doors widely for the US GM industry.”</p>
<p>In a statement on Thursday, the European Commission confirmed its zero-tolerance policy against non-authorized GM products. The commission said that it’s also consulting with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in order to answer “a scientific question” on GMO crops that’s unrelated to trade negotiations with the U.S. The EFSA announced that it would release a scientific opinion on the question by the end of 2017.</p>
<p>The environmental group, <a href="//www.foeeurope.org/EU-US-trade-deals-pushing-GM-crops-270815" type="external">Friends of the Earth Europe</a>, however, has <a href="//www.foeeurope.org/EU-US-trade-deals-pushing-GM-crops-270815" type="external">accused</a> the European Commission of “bowing to pressure from large biotech companies to minimize the level of health and safety checks on imports” of GM crops.</p>
<p>“The Commission is working behind closed doors to undermine rules that guarantee Europe’s food is GM-free,” said Mute Schimpf, a Friends of the Earth Europe food campaigner, said in a statement. “They’re bowing to pressure from big biotech companies who want to bring GM-crops through the backdoor as part of the EU-U.S. trade deal.”</p>
<p>The group cites a <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/4ufa2c3tcbkmdho/20150413105841352.pdf?dl=0" type="external">leaked letter</a> suggesting that the European Commission has asked the EFSA to explore bypassing food safety checks in the case of GM-imports.</p>
<p>“Undermining current food safety laws would mean the food on our plates could be contaminated with GMOs and we’d never know,” Schimpf continued. “It would have severe consequences for the food sector — low-level contamination could not be traced and products could never be guaranteed GM-free.”</p>
<p>RELATED STORIES</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">How Monsanto Could Get Even Bigger and More Powerful</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">House Votes to Let Monsanto Deceive Consumers About GMOs</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">As Chipotle Goes GMO-free, Monsanto's Worst Fear Is Coming True — and Corporate Media Is Freaking Out</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">El Salvador Farmers Successfully Defy Monsanto</a></p>
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<p>Lorraine Chow is a freelance writer and reporter based in South Carolina.</p> | Monsanto's GMO Crops Banned by Two More European Nations | true | http://alternet.org/environment/monsantos-gmo-crops-banned-two-more-european-nations?sc%3Dfb | 2015-09-03 | 4 |
<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the California Lottery's "Daily 4" game were:</p>
<p>4-7-7-8</p>
<p>(four, seven, seven, eight)</p>
<p>¶ Ticket-holders with all four winning numbers in the order given win the top prize. Lesser amounts are also awarded to ticket-holders with other varying combinations of the winning numbers.</p>
<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the California Lottery's "Daily 4" game were:</p>
<p>4-7-7-8</p>
<p>(four, seven, seven, eight)</p>
<p>¶ Ticket-holders with all four winning numbers in the order given win the top prize. Lesser amounts are also awarded to ticket-holders with other varying combinations of the winning numbers.</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Daily 4' game | false | https://apnews.com/amp/c1baecedbfae422ca5690656ac424aff | 2018-01-11 | 2 |
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<p>City staff and the New Mexico Inter-Faith Housing Corp., a group that works with other nonprofits and developers on affordable housing projects, say the funding will make it easier for the Arts + Creativity Center to secure low-income housing tax credits from the state. If approved by the state Mortgage Finance Authority, Inter-Faith Corp. will be eligible for $8 million worth of Low Income Housing Tax Credits and $3 million in mortgage financing on what is a $14 million project.</p>
<p>Inter-Faith Housing is facing a Feb. 13 deadline to submit its application but is asking for a commitment from the city to make the chances of approval more viable.</p>
<p>While committee members expressed support for the project, they also noted that the city has already invested millions of dollars in the project by donating land near the city’s fleet maintenance yard on Siler Road and waiving land use fees. Committee members learned Monday that making way for the infrastructure improvements would cost the city another $200,000, the bulk of it to move a structure and membrane that keeps road salt from causing environmental contamination.</p>
<p>Committee members were also wary of the tight deadline.</p>
<p>“This is at the last minute,” said Carmichael Dominguez, chairman of the committee. “It would be nice to have a little more time, but we don’t.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The proposal currently calls for the city to use $200,000 from the water/waste water fund, and another $200,000 from the gas tax bond. While the money from the water/wastewater fund is available, the gas bond money was characterized as a “placeholder” on the application until another funding source is identified.</p>
<p>Committee members talked about using other sources of funding, including the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, a Community Development Block Grant, the Tierra Contenta housing development, or funding in the capital improvement budget.</p>
<p>The proposal will be heard by the Public Works Committee next Monday and is scheduled to come before the full city Council on Jan. 31.</p>
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<p /> | Funding up in air for affordable housing project in Santa Fe | false | https://abqjournal.com/1123037/funding-up-in-air-for-affordable-housing-project-in-santa-fe.html | 2 |
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<p>The United Auto&#160;Workers&#160;(UAW) have&#160;staggered from one defeat to the next for many years. Three years ago, the union got a punch in the gut when it was defeated in a recognition vote at Volkswagen (VW) in Tennessee. Friday’s defeat at Nissan was nothing less than a knockout punch ending for the foreseeable future of any efforts by the UAW to organize the large, predominately foreign-owned auto assembly plants in the South.</p>
<p>News of the defeat trickled in on Friday night through friends who were present at the vote in Canton, Mississippi, where Nissan’s sprawling, nearly-mile-long assembly plant is located. More than 60 percent of Nissan’s approximately 3,500 eligible workers voted over a two-day period against the union. Most of us hoped to wake up on Saturday morning to better news, but Nissan — one of the world’s&#160; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/bertelschmitt/2017/06/14/top-10-global-automakers-psa-out-daimler-in/&amp;refURL=&amp;referrer=#413941a61a8b" type="external">top</a> automakers — beat the UAW hands down. It wasn’t even close.</p>
<p>“It was certainly disappointing news,” Scott Houldieson, the vice-president of UAW Local 551, told me over the phone during his lunch break on Sunday. Houldieson is a twenty-eight-year veteran of Ford’s Torrence Ave. assembly plant on Chicago’s far South Side. “A lot us are disappointed. We had high hopes.”</p>
<p>Some saw it coming. A former UAW organizer who requested anonymity told me this would be the outcome two weeks ago when I asked him about the approaching election. “They’re going to lose two to one,” he told me. He was pretty much on target.</p>
<p>The Nissan defeat won’t be an isolated southern affair for the UAW: it will blow back to the union’s heartland in the Midwest. “We’ve been told for years by Solidarity House, the UAW’s headquarters in Detroit, that we can’t make significant contract gains because our density [the percentage of union workers in a specific industry] was too low to fight the ‘Big Three,’” said Houldieson. “With the defeat at Nissan, we are backsliding.”</p>
<p>The warning signs for losing the Nissan vote were all there for us to see. Three years ago at VW in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the UAW lost a vote even though VW was encouraging its workers to vote&#160;for&#160;the UAW. The German automaker has had a long cooperative relationship with the German trade unions where “works councils” — joint management-worker in-plant committees — are&#160; <a href="http://www.worker-participation.eu/National-Industrial-Relations/Countries/Germany/Workplace-Representation/" type="external">present</a>&#160;in many workplaces. Under US law, many legal experts would consider such “councils” to be illegal company unions.</p>
<p>It was Tennessee’s aggressive Republican political establishment that intervened in the VW union election with a no-holds-barred campaign to defeat the UAW. Surprisingly, they got some help from then-UAW president Bob King. As&#160; <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/2/unions-volkswagenunitedautoworkers.html" type="external">Micah Uetricht</a>&#160;reported in February 2014:</p>
<p>As powerful right-wing forces flush with cash mounted open opposition, the union refused support from local activists.&#160;The UAW did little to counter right-wing threats and scare tactics, and refused to expand the effort into a broader grassroots campaign in support of the union … Many already-unionized Tennessee workers approached the UAW about coordinating a grassroots community response to the vicious anti-union campaign, but were rebuffed.</p>
<p>It takes quite an arrogant union leadership to refuse the help of friends and lose an election when it doesn’t even have a management opponent.</p>
<p>The UAW did do some things differently with the Nissan campaign, at least outside the plant. The union made a big effort to develop a relationship with religious and community organizations. It crafted its campaign as part of Mississippi’s long and storied black freedom struggle with the slogan “Workers’ Rights=Civil Rights.” &#160;Scott Houldieson thought this was a “hopeful sign.”</p>
<p>A “March on Mississippi” in support of the Nissan campaign&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/business/nissan-uaw-mississippi-union.html" type="external">drew</a>&#160;more than six thousand Nissan workers, their families, local supporters, and fellow UAW members from across the country — including twenty Ford workers from Houldieson’s plant — to Canton to hear former presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders and actor Danny Glover speak in support of the UAW. It was an impressive turnout for a small southern city.</p>
<p>Unfortunately — unlike at VW — the UAW had an aggressive in-plant management determined to keep it out. Only three of Nissan’s forty-five assembly plants around the globe are non-union. The company ran a well-oiled campaign, including captive audience meetings and aggressive one-on-one meetings with employees. These tactics are all perfectly legal under US labor law and have been employed by management for decades. While the UAW filed numerous labor charges against the company, it failed to win the argument on the shop floor.</p>
<p>Reaching for an explanation of their defeat, UAW president&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/05/business/nissan-united-auto-workers-union-mississippi.html?emc=edit_th_20170806&amp;nl=todaysheadlines&amp;nlid=37138740" type="external">Dennis Williams</a> released a statement that read, “Perhaps recognizing they couldn’t keep their workers from joining our union based on the facts, Nissan and its anti-worker allies ran a vicious campaign against its own work force that was comprised of intense scare tactics, misinformation, and intimidation.”</p>
<p>Houldieson scoffed at Williams’ excuses and provided another explanation. “The UAW was born when ‘scare tactics and intimidation’ meant goon squads beating union activists, company spies infesting plants and workers being fired at any sign of supporting the union,” he said. “We made our biggest gains for our membership and the whole working class when we were fighting — and we haven’t fought for a long time.”</p>
<p>Could another organizing strategy have won? The former UAW organizer told me:</p>
<p>My personal opinion is that the election&#160;route was a flawed strategy. An election is the&#160;bosses’ game, and a large number of the workers were excluded from the process&#160;because they were considered temps. There was never any consideration paid to possibly looking for&#160;weak links in the supply chain, organizing there, striking for recognition and trying to leverage Nissan that way.</p>
<p>Nissan is really vulnerable to that kind of thing because they rely on Just-In-Time suppliers, and workers at the suppliers are poorly paid and treated worse that the permanent Original Equipment Manufacturer or OEM workers,” that person continued. “Not&#160;organizing&#160;get temps was dumb too.&#160;Sure, they can’t really participate in an NLRB election, but they are important to the production process, tend to be treated and paid a lot worse, and can shut down a line or a department if they are organized.</p>
<p>The UAW strategy never considered organizing for strikes anywhere in the supply chain which is sad. The UAW was formed by militant&#160;minorities engaging in sit down strikes, yet that strategy&#160;wasn’t on the table. Clearly, they forgot all of that history when the put this campaign&#160;together.</p>
<p>The UAW has become a prisoner of its modern history. It has a very long track record of making concessions on wages, benefits, and working conditions to the “Big Three” automakers, along with the new albatross around its neck — the loss of a string of recognition elections.</p>
<p>Hopefully, some of the Nissan organizers will break ranks and tell us the inside story about how this avoidable defeat took place. I’m sure that many on the UAW’s national organizing staff and key organizers on the ground knew the outcome ahead of time but dared not to speak out earlier because they feared retaliation. There is much to learn. We need a UAW&#160; <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/1648-raising-expectations-and-raising-hell" type="external">Jane McAlevey</a>&#160;to come forward.</p>
<p>When the story is finally told, it will likely be one of incompetence, bureaucratic sloth, and undemocratic rule at work in the UAW’s defeat. But to get to the bottom of this loss, we will ultimately need to interrogate history. The failure at Nissan is an end product of several longstanding negative historical turning points in the US labor movement including the anti-communist purge of the labor movement in the late 1940s, the failure of the underfunded “Operation Dixie,” and the dominance of business unionism.</p>
<p>We, however, are not prisoners of our history. There is a new socialist movement in this country — as well as a crying need for an industrial strategy. It’s long past time to turn this around. The&#160; <a href="" type="internal">historic UPS strike of 1997</a>&#160;showed us the way forward. We need to make a change starting now.</p>
<p>Originally published by <a href="hhttp://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20395/UAW-union-Mississippi-Nissan-labor-movement" type="external">In These Times</a>.</p> | A Crushing Blow | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2017/08/uaw-mississippi-nissan-union-labor-election-autoworkers | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />The move had been expected since last week, when Amazon said it wouldn’t settle with the FTC over the charges. Amazon said in a letter to the FTC last week that it had already refunded money to parents who complained and was prepared to go to court.</p>
<p>On Thursday Amazon said its statements in the letter still apply and did not comment further.</p>
<p>The dispute is over in-app charges in children’s games on Kindle devices, where it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate whether users are spending virtual or real currency to acquire virtual items. When it introduced in-app charges in 2011, a password was not required to make a purchase. That changed in 2012, when Amazon required a password for charges over $20. In 2013, the company updated password protection again, but in a way that allowed windows of time where children could still make purchases, according to the FTC complaint.</p>
<p>One woman cited in the complaint said her daughter racked up $358.42 in charges while playing a game.</p>
<p>The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring refunds to consumers for unauthorized charges. It also seeks to ban Amazon from billing account holders for in-app charges made without their consent.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The FTC settled with Apple over a similar matter for $32.5 million in January.</p>
<p>Apple complained at the time. CEO Tim Cook explained to employees in a memo that the settlement did not require the company to do anything it wasn’t doing already but he added that it “smacked of double jeopardy” because Apple had already settled a similar class-action lawsuit in which it agreed to refunds.</p>
<p>Amazon said last week its parental controls already go beyond what the FTC required from Apple as part of the settlement.</p>
<p>The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.</p>
<p>Amazon’s shares slipped 35 cents to $329.62 in afternoon trading.</p> | FTC sues Amazon over kids’ app charges | false | https://abqjournal.com/427183/ftc-sues-amazon-over-kids-app-charges.html | 2 |
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<p>FIGHTING FOR A BUDGET: President Obama and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) are talking numbers. But are their budgets proposals leading to substantive debate about our fiscal priorities, or just political posturing in advance of an election? <a href="" type="internal">Jonathan Easley and Amie Parnes for The Hill: Obama, Ryan to go another round in battle over federal budget</a></p>
<p>STAND UP! In order to break Washington gridlock, it's up to the public to climb out of its partisan foxholes. If citizens demand problem-solving, leaders will have no choice but to solve problems: <a href="" type="internal">Dan Glickman for The Hill: Separation of powers: a blessing or a curse</a></p>
<p>GRIDLOCK — STILL BAD: So bad, in fact, that some elected officials are considering support for politically toxic earmarks as a solution. Earmarks are special interest projects that could be tacked on to major pieces of legislation to get more members on board. They were done away with last year after public outcry on certain pork barrel projects like Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere," but some think they could be the legislative grease Congress needs: <a href="" type="internal">Richard Cowan for Reuters: House GOP Discusses Reviving Earmarks</a></p>
<p>OUR APPOINTMENT PROCESS: A little over a year ago, No Labels Co-Founder Bill Galston teamed up with E.J. Dionne Jr., to describe the current appointment process in government. Over 1,000 presidential appointments are subject to Senate confirmation — and the negotiations can drag on and on. This is why we need an up or down vote on presidential appointments within 90 days: <a href="" type="internal">E.J. Dionne, Jr., and William A. Galston for Brookings: A Half-Empty Government Can't Govern</a></p>
<p>STAT OF THE DAY: In spite of all of the coverage we've seen of wedge issues, the top issue for voters is still an economic one — the federal budget deficit and national debt. A total of 44 percent of voters say that is "extremely important" to them: <a href="" type="internal">Frank Newport for Gallup: U.S. Voters' Top Election Issues Don't Include Birth Control</a></p>
<p>ACTION OF THE DAY: <a href="" type="internal">Click here to call your members of Congress today and ask them to co-sponsor the No Budget, No Pay Act.</a></p>
<p>Tips, questions or ideas? Email Collin Berglund at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a> or tweet at me ( <a href="" type="internal">@nolabelsorg</a>).</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Subscribe to the Daily Dose now</a></p> | President Obama and Rep. Paul Ryan fight for a budget | false | https://nolabels.org/blog/president-obama-and-rep-paul-ryan-fight-for-a-budget/ | 2012-04-03 | 2 |
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<p>On two occasions in my life, I found myself living close to the South China Sea. The sea became my escape from life’s pressing responsibilities. But there is no escaping the fact that the deceptively serene waters are now also grounds for a nascent but real new cold war.</p>
<p>China takes the name of the sea very seriously. Its claim over the relatively massive water body—laden with oil, natural gas and other&#160;resources—is perhaps ‘ill-defined’, per the account of the BBC (Nov 3, 2011), but it is also very serious. Countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei are uneasy&#160;but are caught in a bind. China’s growing regional influence—to some, perhaps ‘encroaching hegemony’—is an uncontested fact of life. To challenge&#160;–&#160;or balance&#160;–&#160;the rising Chinese power, these countries face a most difficult choice: accepting China’s supremacy or embracing an intractable American return to the region. The latter option is particularly worrisome considering the US’s poor military track record throughout the Asia-Pacific region.</p>
<p>Frankly, there is little choice in the matter for small, vulnerable countries. A conflict is already brewing, and China, emboldened by astonishing economic growth as well as military advancement,&#160;seems to be gearing up to challenge the US’s&#160;uncontested military dominance in the region.</p>
<p>Despite efforts to slash the defense budget by $487 billion in the next ten years, the US sees the Asia-Pacific region as its last major holdout outside NATO’s traditional geographic influence. In fact, last January the Defense Department had announced its plans to remove two of four US combat brigades stationed in Europe. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta tried to assure US NATO allies that the US remained&#160;committed to Europe’s security, and that the move was merely part of a new strategy of ‘smart defense’.&#160;But the writing on the wall was crystal clear.</p>
<p>“If we look behind the slogan of smart defense, I would say that at least 20 years ago all these ideas were on the table,” according to&#160;Thomas Enders, CEO of Airbus. “So why is this time different? It could be austerity. But…the NATO members, particularly the Europeans will not spend more on defense for the foreseeable future, say 10 years” (Reuters, Feb 4).</p>
<p>Teetering at the brink of economic depression and bankruptcy, and forced into making unprecedented austerity decisions, the US and its NATO allies have already crossed all sorts of uncharted territories. Panetta’s assurances will hardly erase the comments made by Defense Secretary Robert Gates last June foretelling a “dim, if not dismal future for the transatlantic alliance.” However,&#160;it is very telling that despite budget cuts and the downgrading of US military presence in Europe, the US will be shifting its focus to the Asia-Pacific. This was the gist of President Obama’s announcement of new military strategy last month.</p>
<p>In his recent remarks before the Senate Armed Service Committee, Panetta said the US planned&#160;to keep a rotational military presence in Australia and the Philippines. However, due to China’s growing economic might and direct sway over US’s own economy, US officials are less daring when explaining their renewed interests the region.</p>
<p>The fear of China’s dominance is at the center of US foreign policy of the Asia-Pacific region. It is a fight that China cannot lose. For a declining empire like the US, the fight is also central to American strategy aimed at maintaining a level of global hegemony—especially where the US still claims few allies. On his last Asian tour last month, Panetta was emphatic that the US return to Asia was&#160;not a temporary political maneuver. “I want to make very clear that the United States is going to remain a presence in the Pacific for a long time…If anything, we’re going to strengthen our presence in the Pacific,” he said. This&#160;message had been asserted earlier, although in different contexts, by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama himself.</p>
<p>A&#160;direct confrontation remains unlikely because of the economic interests shared by both China and the US. That said, the symbiotic relationship is now becoming increasingly imbalanced in favor of China. In his recent visit to the US, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping told business leaders that the US should not push China too far in the Asia-Pacific region. “We hope the US will truly respect the interests and concerns of countries in the region, including China,” he said (USA Today, Feb 15). Compared to other visits by top Chinese leaders, Xi received less reprimand, an indication of a shift in US diplomacy regarding China.</p>
<p>However, it’s worth noting that official US statements regarding the Asia-Pacific region—often made by departments of state, commerce and trade – are becoming increasingly fused with statements made by military leaders, a sign of creeping danger.</p>
<p>The South China Sea is, in particular, a contentious issue. The US is obviously interested in the resource-rich body for economic and strategic reasons. For China, it is additionally a matter of national pride. The Chinese message to Western and other companies is to stay away from areas that China sees as its territorial waters. “We hope foreign companies do not get involved in disputed waters for oil and gas exploration and development,” said a foreign ministry spokesman.</p>
<p>The race for supremacy over Asia is being renewed, this time with China more forceful than ever. The South China Sea is likely to emerge as major point of contention in coming years. Leaders of adjacent countries might find themselves being forced to choose sides in a foreseeable conflict over resources and military presence.</p>
<p>It was Deng Xiaoping who championed China’s economic reforms throughout the 1980s. Then China was seen too amiable—if not disaster-prone—to ever articulate and defend a clear foreign policy agenda. Those days are over, and the US has taken serious note of that.</p>
<p>“There are challenges facing the Asia-Pacific right now that demand America’s leadership (and the 21st century will be) America’s Pacific century,” declared Hillary Clinton prior to the APEC summit in Hawaii last November (Xinhua, Nov 19).</p>
<p>Understandably, her comments raised the alarm throughout Chinese media that a cold war is officially underway. While the giants are now contending in the open, smaller and less influential countries in the region are being exposed to all sorts of bleak possibilities.</p> | Cold War in Warm Waters: US-China’s Dangerous Contest for Asia-Pacific | false | http://foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/02/24/cold-war-in-warm-waters-us-chinas-dangerous-contest-for-asia-pacific/ | 2012-02-24 | 1 |
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<p>A swath of the hillside gave way in an area called Mud Creek on Saturday night, covering about one-third of a mile of road and changing the Big Sur coastline immediately below, a spokesman with the California Department of Transportation said.</p>
<p>“A massive slide. We’ve never seen anything like that,” said Colin Jones, the transportation agency’s spokesman for the area.</p>
<p>The state already had closed that part of Highway 1 to repair buckled pavement and other, earlier damage from one of California’s rainiest winters in decades. Authorities removed work crews from the area last week after realizing that saturated soil in that area was increasingly unstable, Jones said. “Now it’s covering 10 times as much,” he said.</p>
<p>State road officials plan to wait for the immediate slide danger to pass before going back to start figuring out how to strengthen the hillside and rebuild and reopen that part of the road, he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Narrow, windy Highway 1 through Big Sur is a major tourist draw, attracting visitors to serene groves of redwoods, beaches, and the highway’s dramatic oceanside scenery.</p>
<p>The rough winter has closed at least two other stretches of road in the area, forcing some resorts to close and some others to use helicopters to ferry in supplies and guests.</p>
<p>Even though the rainy season mostly has stopped and the sun come out again, “it doesn’t mean the ground isn’t shifting now based on what happened over the winter,” Jones said.</p> | Massive slide covers stretch of iconic California highway | false | https://abqjournal.com/1007247/massive-slide-covers-stretch-of-iconic-california-highway.html | 2 |
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<p>If you have grown up as a baseball fan, you know that one of the cardinal rules of the game is that you root for your home team. It doesn't matter if they are lousy and another team is better. Your home team is your team. Even moving doesn't change the tie. After the age of ten, your home team is your team for life. As someone who grew up a Cleveland Indians fan, I have been tempted by baseball disloyalty for most of my adult life.</p>
<p>The last time the Indians were in the World Series was 1954 (they lost in four straight games), and in the intervening years the Tribe has been a sorry lot. Bad trades, mental illness that ruined a star first basemen, a boating accident that killed two pitchers have made the Indians a marked team.</p>
<p /> | The Last Page | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/the-last-page-42 | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
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<p>A barrage of quarterly earnings reports are coming this month, but the most interesting will be from three tech giants, each with something to prove. International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), fresh off guiding for a return to earnings growth in 2017, will need to keep the momentum going and continue to expand its cloud business at a breakneck pace. Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), attempting to close a massive acquisition as it faces down multiple lawsuits, has the challenge of convincing investors that its cash-cow licensing business isn't under threat. And Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), which has enjoyed essentially no competition in its core markets in recent years, now needs to find a way to grow in a world where its chips aren't the only option. Here's what to look for in these three upcoming earnings reports.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>IBM stock has been on a tear since bottoming out in early 2016, gaining nearly 50% and erasing a big chunk of the preceding mult-year decline. IBM has been working for years to transform itself for the cloud computing era, divesting and de-emphasizing legacy businesses while investing in growth businesses like cognitive computing and analytics. When the company reports its first-quarter results after the market closes on April 18, investors will be looking for continued signs of progress.</p>
<p>Image source:IBM.</p>
<p>Analysts aren't expecting IBM to return to revenue growth this year, with the average estimate calling for a 1.6% decline during the first quarter and a 1.5% decline in 2017. But the company does expect to return to earnings growth. Along with its fourth-quarter report in January, IBM guided for adjusted earnings of at least $13.80 per share, up from $13.59 in 2016. IBM should reaffirm that guidance on April 18, barring any surprises.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>IBM's strategic imperatives, which include all of the company's major growth businesses, accounted for 41% of total revenue during 2016. Investors will be looking for continued double-digit growth, although that will become more difficult as the numbers get bigger. IBM's cloud business should also continue to expand quickly. During 2016, cloud delivered as a service reached an $8.6 billion annual revenue run rate, up 61% year over year.</p>
<p>IBM's turnaround is now showing tangible progress. The company will need to keep giving investors good news for the gains of the past year to stick.</p>
<p>There's a lot going on with mobile chip giant Qualcomm at the moment. The company is working to close its $47 billion blockbuster acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, a deal which, if successful, will make Qualcomm the leading supplier of automotive semiconductor products. At the same time, Qualcomm is facing multiple lawsuits from Apple as well as a complaint from the Federal Trade Commission charging the company with anti-competitive behavior.</p>
<p>All of this uncertainty has led the stock to tumble this year, down 13.5% year to date. When Qualcomm reports its fiscal second-quarter results after the market close on April 19, investors will be looking for both updates and reassurances that the company's lucrative licensing business will continue to throw off billions of dollars of profit each year.</p>
<p>Analysts are expecting a solid quarter from Qualcomm, calling for 6.8% year-over-year revenue growth and non-GAAP EPS of $1.20, up from $1.04 during the prior-year period. Qualcomm sees a good year for the licensing business ahead, predicting a 7% increase in global 3G/4G device shipments in 2017. With licensing accounting for the vast majority of Qualcomm's pre-tax profit, that should be music to shareholders' ears.</p>
<p>When Intel reports its first-quarter results after the market closes on April 27, it will need to convince investors that it can continue to thrive despite the emergence of real competition in both the PC and server chip markets. Advanced Micro Devices launched the first of its Ryzen PC CPUs in March, and it will fill out its lineup with lower-end chips in the coming months. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/07/amds-ryzen-the-good-and-the-bad.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Reviews of Ryzen have been mixed Opens a New Window.</a>, but the performance gap between Intel and AMD is now narrower than it's been in quite some time.</p>
<p>In the server chip market, Intel faces both AMD's upcoming Naples server chips as well as a significant push by the major cloud computing companies to support multiple architectures. Microsoft announced in March that it plans to use ARM server chips in its data centers, and Alphabet's Google announced last year that it was designing a server architecture that <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/12/ibm-scores-server-chip-coup-at-google.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">supported IBM's Power chips Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Analysts are expecting Intel to post both revenue and earnings growth during the first quarter, calling for a 7.3% year-over-year increase in revenue and a 20% increase in non-GAAP EPS. Given all of the threats Intel is now facing, the company's guidance and general outlook will be more important than the headline numbers. Whether Intel can continue to grow earnings in a far more competitive environment is an open question.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than IBMWhen 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=dd7399cd-2155-4022-878e-08737ba1c82a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and IBM 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=dd7399cd-2155-4022-878e-08737ba1c82a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017</p>
<p>Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBargainBin/info.aspx" type="external">Timothy Green Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of IBM and NXPI. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends GOOG, GOOGL, AAPL, and Qualcomm. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on AAPL and short January 2018 $95 calls on AAPL. The Motley Fool recommends Intel and NXPI. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 3 Stocks to Watch in April | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/03/3-stocks-to-watch-in-april.html | 2017-04-03 | 0 |
<p>Felipe Rodriguez says he thought he was hallucinating when an eagle snatched his sister's little white dog from her yard, flapped its massive wings and disappeared over the trees.</p>
<p>Did he really just see that?</p>
<p>He had. Zoey the 8-pound bichon frise was gone, taken by a hungry raptor Tuesday afternoon not 50 feet from his sister's house on the banks of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania, Rodriguez said.</p>
<p>"It seemed like something from the 'Wizard of Oz,'" he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I'm a city boy. This doesn't happen in my world."</p>
<p>Even more astonishing: Zoey would live to bark the tale.</p>
<p>More on that later. But first, let it be said that eagles are quite capable of taking a small dog or a cat.</p>
<p>"It has been documented before, but not that often," said Laurie Goodrich, a biologist at nearby Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a ridgetop preserve that annually records tens of thousands of migrating hawks, eagles and falcons.</p>
<p>With food scarce and waterways freezing up, raptors are "looking a little more widely and taking advantage of whatever might be out there," she said.</p>
<p>Rodriguez said he was by himself at his sister's home in Bowmanstown, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) north of Philadelphia, and Zoey was playing in the fenced yard when he heard a loud screech, hurried to the door and looked out.</p>
<p>"The bird was holding onto the dog. There was flapping of wings and then it was gone," said Rodriguez, a 50-year-old healthcare executive visiting from Chicago.</p>
<p>He drove around the neighborhood looking for the 7-year-old bichon, to no avail. Rodriguez assumed Zoey was gone for good.</p>
<p>His sister and her family were devastated when they found out.</p>
<p>"I did nothing but cry all day," Monica Newhard said.</p>
<p>Newhard said it's not unusual to see eagles, given her home's proximity to the river. She also suspected they occasionally grabbed one of the rabbits that lived under her shed. But it didn't occur to Newhard that any of her four dogs would be in danger.</p>
<p>Heartbroken, she and her husband scoured the woods for Zoey's body. Little did they know their bitty bichon would be found later that afternoon - a full four miles away.</p>
<p>Zoey's rescuer was Christina Hartman, 51, who said she was driving on a snow-covered back road when she spotted a furry white lump ahead and pulled over to investigate.</p>
<p>"I notice this little frozen dog, icicles hanging from all over. It could hardly move," Hartman said.</p>
<p>She scooped up the whimpering pooch, wrapped her in a blanket and took her home, feeding the dog two bowls of chicken-and-rice soup. Gradually, the bichon warmed up and began to show some spunk. Hartman noticed several small wounds on the back of her neck, and the dog walked with a limp. She had no collar.</p>
<p>"This dog belongs to a family, and I'm gonna find out who owns it," Hartman told herself.</p>
<p>It didn't take long. She spotted Newhard's public Facebook post Wednesday morning - Newhard had uploaded a photo of Zoey - and made an excited call.</p>
<p>"I said, 'It's a miracle! I have your dog!'"</p>
<p>Zoey had bruises and a few missing patches of fur. It's not clear how far the eagle might have carried the dog, but Rodriguez said he can't believe Zoey survived.</p>
<p>"She is not really herself, but she is getting lots of love," his sister, Newhard, texted the AP late Wednesday. "She doesn't want to go out. ... I really can't blame her."</p>
<p>Felipe Rodriguez says he thought he was hallucinating when an eagle snatched his sister's little white dog from her yard, flapped its massive wings and disappeared over the trees.</p>
<p>Did he really just see that?</p>
<p>He had. Zoey the 8-pound bichon frise was gone, taken by a hungry raptor Tuesday afternoon not 50 feet from his sister's house on the banks of the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania, Rodriguez said.</p>
<p>"It seemed like something from the 'Wizard of Oz,'" he told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "I'm a city boy. This doesn't happen in my world."</p>
<p>Even more astonishing: Zoey would live to bark the tale.</p>
<p>More on that later. But first, let it be said that eagles are quite capable of taking a small dog or a cat.</p>
<p>"It has been documented before, but not that often," said Laurie Goodrich, a biologist at nearby Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, a ridgetop preserve that annually records tens of thousands of migrating hawks, eagles and falcons.</p>
<p>With food scarce and waterways freezing up, raptors are "looking a little more widely and taking advantage of whatever might be out there," she said.</p>
<p>Rodriguez said he was by himself at his sister's home in Bowmanstown, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) north of Philadelphia, and Zoey was playing in the fenced yard when he heard a loud screech, hurried to the door and looked out.</p>
<p>"The bird was holding onto the dog. There was flapping of wings and then it was gone," said Rodriguez, a 50-year-old healthcare executive visiting from Chicago.</p>
<p>He drove around the neighborhood looking for the 7-year-old bichon, to no avail. Rodriguez assumed Zoey was gone for good.</p>
<p>His sister and her family were devastated when they found out.</p>
<p>"I did nothing but cry all day," Monica Newhard said.</p>
<p>Newhard said it's not unusual to see eagles, given her home's proximity to the river. She also suspected they occasionally grabbed one of the rabbits that lived under her shed. But it didn't occur to Newhard that any of her four dogs would be in danger.</p>
<p>Heartbroken, she and her husband scoured the woods for Zoey's body. Little did they know their bitty bichon would be found later that afternoon - a full four miles away.</p>
<p>Zoey's rescuer was Christina Hartman, 51, who said she was driving on a snow-covered back road when she spotted a furry white lump ahead and pulled over to investigate.</p>
<p>"I notice this little frozen dog, icicles hanging from all over. It could hardly move," Hartman said.</p>
<p>She scooped up the whimpering pooch, wrapped her in a blanket and took her home, feeding the dog two bowls of chicken-and-rice soup. Gradually, the bichon warmed up and began to show some spunk. Hartman noticed several small wounds on the back of her neck, and the dog walked with a limp. She had no collar.</p>
<p>"This dog belongs to a family, and I'm gonna find out who owns it," Hartman told herself.</p>
<p>It didn't take long. She spotted Newhard's public Facebook post Wednesday morning - Newhard had uploaded a photo of Zoey - and made an excited call.</p>
<p>"I said, 'It's a miracle! I have your dog!'"</p>
<p>Zoey had bruises and a few missing patches of fur. It's not clear how far the eagle might have carried the dog, but Rodriguez said he can't believe Zoey survived.</p>
<p>"She is not really herself, but she is getting lots of love," his sister, Newhard, texted the AP late Wednesday. "She doesn't want to go out. ... I really can't blame her."</p> | Snatched by hungry eagle, little dog lives to bark the tale | false | https://apnews.com/amp/cc6c3dc0ab7c475bae8f728f536ba3aa | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
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<p>Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: ADBE) may be best known for its ubiquitous Portable Document Format (PDF), which is used in the creation and exchange of documents. The company is also well-known for its suite of creative products like photo editing software Photoshop, Illustrator software for creating scalable graphics and artwork, and desktop publishing software InDesign.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Over the last several years, Adobe embarked on a mission to migrate its business, and has gradually evolved from a company producing and selling creative programs to a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company that provides subscriptions to a suite of products hosted on the web. During its transition, the company has also become a force in the area of web analytics. Adobe is currently working to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its products, via a system it dubbed Sensei, for use by cloud customers. Sensei is a Japanese word which means an honored teacher or mentor.</p>
<p>Adobe wants to train every technical employee in AI fundamentals. Image source: Adobe Systems.</p>
<p>Machine learning, a subdiscipline of AI, endows computers with the ability to learn, combining software models and complex algorithms that can search through massive amounts of data for hidden patterns and insights. These programs can apply what they have learned while adapting to new information.</p>
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<p>During its most recent earnings conference call, Adobe stated (emphasis mine):</p>
<p>The company has revealed several recent collaborations in pursuit of its AI agenda. Last week, it announced a partnership with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) that would integrate customer relationship management (CRM) data from Microsoft's Azure cloud and the Adobe Cloud. Applying machine-learning techniques across the data will provide advertisers with additional insights, help manage advertising across a variety of platforms, and allow for more targeted and personalized messages. The companies are also sharing data models and core libraries between Sensei and <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/24/why-2017-will-be-the-year-of-the-virtual-assistant.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Microsoft's AI assistant Cortana Opens a New Window.</a>, and will collaborate on ways to leverage Microsoft's virtual-reality HoloLens headset for advertising.</p>
<p>Adobe and Microsoft are partnering across platforms. Image source: Adobe Systems.</p>
<p>Sensei will be powered by graphics processing units (GPUs) from industry leader NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA), which Adobe already uses in many of its creative products. The companies have an ongoing collaboration to develop and optimize these graphics chips for new applications. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/18/1-reason-nvidia-thinks-its-staggering-growth-will.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">NVIDIA GPUs have been widely used Opens a New Window.</a> to accelerate the training of AI systems due to their massive parallel-processing capabilities, and are <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/08/1-company-that-is-already-winning-ai.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">already employed by Microsoft's Azure Cloud Opens a New Window.</a>, where Sensei is being hosted.</p>
<p>Adobe is partnering with Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/06/amazon-is-building-the-fourth-pillar-of-its-busine.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">virtual assistant Alexa Opens a New Window.</a> to develop skills that will integrate with its Experience Cloud and provide customers the status of their rewards miles from hotels and airlines. Alexa will also recommend activities or promotions based on customer profiles, and Adobe says it will do so while still protecting user privacy. Alexa and its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/17/4-reasons-that-amazon-is-winning-the-smart-speaker.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Echo smart-home speaker Opens a New Window.</a> possess over 10,000 skills and were the hit of the holiday season for Amazon. With a user base estimated to be nearing <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/23/amazon-is-about-to-end-the-competitions-only-advan.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10% of U.S. households Opens a New Window.</a>, this could provide a rich source of additional data for Adobe.</p>
<p>Adobe has produced impressive gains during its transition. In its most recent quarter, the company reported record results in a variety of metrics including revenue, earnings, and cash flow. Its revenue increased 22% over the prior-year quarter, while net income grew an impressive 42% year over year. The company finished 2016 with a record $5.85 billion in annual revenue, $4.01 billion of which was recurring, and $2.01 billion in deferred revenue.</p>
<p>Adobe joins a growing trend of companies jumping on the AI bandwagon to improve their businesses and gain competitive advantages. Adobe says that it has been using similar technology for some time and that this is just the next logical step. There's no way to quantify how the company will benefit financially from its venture into AI, but it provides intriguing opportunities, and companies that don't make use of the latest technology risk being left behind.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Adobe SystemsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=b40e6d04-c2af-4702-8098-6a435b0cde09&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Adobe Systems wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=b40e6d04-c2af-4702-8098-6a435b0cde09&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p>
<p>Teresa Kersten is an employee of LinkedIn and is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors; LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/dvena/info.aspx" type="external">Danny Vena Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends Adobe Systems. 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> | Adobe Is Going All In on AI | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/05/adobe-is-going-all-in-on-ai.html | 2017-04-05 | 0 |
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<p>Probably the only things dealing with paper on the first anniversary of Rio Ranchoans Buster and Lori (Stephenson) Mabrey was a map — to the Grand Canyon — and money to pay for food.</p>
<p>That’s right: The executive director of the New Mexico High School Coaches Association and the Cibola High School varsity girls basketball coach, once an assistant girls coach at Rio Rancho High School, celebrated a year of bliss with a hike from the Grand Canyon’s North Rim to the South Rim — and back on May 18.</p>
<p>You never know what you’ll get from this sports-centered duo. Just ask the guests at their engagement party at Sandia Casino a year ago — that engagement party turned into a wedding party, with only the family members of the couple knowing that in advance.</p>
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<p>“We had a musician and preacher inside,” Buster said, laughing at the memory of the dazed and confused guests.</p>
<p>The two recommend hiking, but not necessarily such an arduous trek like they did — “Twenty-one miles, rim to rim; 23 with the hike to the waterfall,” Buster said — without preparing for it.</p>
<p>“It’s what we like best,” he said of their passion for exploring, by foot, the great outdoors.</p>
<p>Mabrey, who hails from Hobbs in the southeast corner of the state, and his wife, who grew up in Kirtland, in the northwest corner of the state, did about a dozen hikes to get ready for the Grand Canyon.</p>
<p>“Two years ago, we went down (from the South Rim) and back up,” he said.</p>
<p>“The last four miles nearly killed me,” added Lori.</p>
<p>Buster, a former track and field coach at Mayfield High School in Las Cruces, said he would make his team run up “A Mountain” back in the day.</p>
<p>Of course, nobody would confuse A Mountain (with the A standing for Aggies) with the Grand Canyon. Certainly not his wife.</p>
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<p>“It was 56 degrees at the top, 90 degrees at the bottom,” Lori said, remembering how there were times she felt nauseous and was actually suffering from heat exhaustion.</p>
<p>Her hubby of a year was anything but sympathetic: “‘Shut up and let’s go.’ Those were my exact words,” he said, maybe wondering why Lori is still living in the same house with him.</p>
<p>“Actually, I wasn’t too bad,” she said, a dozen days later. “My rib cage was sore, and my calves were sore this time. … My requirement (for going along) is we stay in a hotel after the hike.”</p>
<p>So, some of that paper (money) was spent at a motel in nearby Flagstaff.</p>
<p>The Mabreys know some of their friends and people who know them from a distance — coaches around the state know Buster from his coaching days or NMHSCA duties, others have seen the former Kirtland Central and Eastern New Mexico sharp-shooting guard Lori shouting instructions to her Cougars on the hardwood — might be aghast at how they celebrated a year of marriage.</p>
<p>“Some people are shocked,” she said. “We’re old (he’s 46, she’s 45) and squatty bodies. Some are, ‘Wow, cool. That’s on our bucket list.’ It’s my getaway from basketball.”</p>
<p>Hard as that may be to understand, she said she didn’t think of the game even once, never contemplated a new inbounds play or a gimmick defense.</p>
<p>And, added her hubby, “I put my cell on airplane mode.”</p>
<p>But, he added, one of their practice hikes was at less than an opportune time to be hiking in the Sandias.</p>
<p>“Forty-eight hours from playing Volcano Vista (in the postseason), we’re were 9,000 feet up in the Sandias, which were covered with snow,” he said.</p>
<p>His wife, of course, was back in Rio Rancho in plenty of time to get her team ready to meet Volcano Vista, the 2012 state champion, in a quarterfinal game at Santa Ana Star center.</p>
<p>The Hawks beat her Cougars, 51-46, and the basketball season was over for the Mabreys — Buster catches as many games as he can, of course, so it was over for him, too.</p>
<p>That day in the Sandias had been great, she said. “We were even more committed to it; each (hike) was more difficult,” she said.</p>
<p>The Grand Canyon is a great destination, she said.</p>
<p>“I love all the trails, but the Kaibab Trail is my favorite — it is majestically beautiful.”</p>
<p>“It’s one of the wonders of the world,” Buster added.</p> | Couple celebrate in grand style | false | https://abqjournal.com/212238/couple-celebrate-in-grand-style.html | 2013-06-19 | 2 |
<p>Miners are a bright spot in Monday's trade</p>
<p>U.K. stocks sagged Monday, falling alongside European and Asian stocks as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea came back into focus.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The FTSE 100 shed 0.1% to close at 7,318.88, falling for a third straight day.</p>
<p>European (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fiat-maersk-shares-shine-in-lackluster-european-stock-market-2017-08-21), most Asian (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australia-japan-lead-asian-market-decliners-2017-08-20) and U.S (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/dow-poised-to-slide-again-after-logging-biggest-2-week-fall-in-nearly-a-year-2017-08-21). stocks started the week in negative territory, as the U.S. and South Korea kicked off annual military exercises (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tensions-expected-to-rise-as-us-south-korea-start-annual-war-games-2017-08-20). North Korea warned on Sunday that the exercises are "reckless behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war."</p>
<p>"North Korea tensions should remain elevated with the U.S. and South Korea holding joint military exercises from today to 31 August. North Korea condemns the joint exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion," said Sue Trinh, head of Asia FX strategy at RBC, in a note.</p>
<p>"We think volatility is more likely to pick up in and around the week beginning Sept. 4, coinciding with implementation of the latest sanctions and North Korea Foundation Day," she said.</p>
<p>Those geopolitical tensions are seen as having recently driven investors to flee so-called risk assets and pick up haven assets such as gold , bonds and the Swiss franc .</p>
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<p>Read:Speculators haven't been this bullish on gold since October (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-bets-jump-30-among-speculators-as-they-boost-holdings-for-5th-straight-week-2017-08-21)</p>
<p>Miners shine: Mining shares managed to push higher despite the risk-averse mood. Iron ore heavyweights BHP Billiton PLC (BLT.LN) (BHP.AU) (BHP.AU) and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO) (RIO) (RIO) ended up by 1.1% and 0.8%, respectively. Earlier Monday, rival Australian iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FMG.AU) raised its dividend payout after annual profit more than doubled (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fortescue-metals-profit-jumps-flags-dividend-rise-2017-08-21) on strong iron ore prices. Metals prices were broadly higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-inches-closer-to-1300-as-us-north-korea-tensions-return-2017-08-21).</p>
<p>Stock movers: Shares of Shire PLC (SHPG) (SHPG) slumped 4% after the drugmaker said Chief Financial Officer Jeff Poulton has decided to leave the company at the end of the year to join a startup in the U.S.</p>
<p>Housing shares were able to advance Monday even as Rightmove said the average asking price for houses fell 0.9% in August. Persimmon PLC shares (PSN.LN) rose 1.4% and Taylor Wimpey PLC (TW.LN) gained 1.1%.</p>
<p>The pound bought $1.2903, up from $1.2876 late Friday in New York.</p>
<p>Centering on central banks: Already on the radar is the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank's central bank symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., which starts Thursday and runs through Saturday.</p>
<p>Last week, a Reuters report (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecb-policy-draghi-idUSKCN1AW0LF) pointed to dampened expectations for a hawkish shift from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, saying the ECB chief will not deliver any new policy messages at the conference.</p>
<p>"This in itself suggests that the [ECB's] Governing Council remains to be convinced that it should announce its QE tapering plans at its next meeting on 7 September," said Investec's chief economist Phillip Shaw in a note late last week.</p>
<p>"But even without a landmark speech from Mr. Draghi, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen is expected to address the symposium. And of course the event usually yields general clues to the direction of central bank thinking," said Shaw.</p>
<p>Read:Euro slides after ECB hints at no hawkish shift at Jackson Hole (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-slides-after-ecb-hints-at-no-hawkish-shift-at-jackson-hole-2017-08-16)</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 21, 2017 12:08 ET (16:08 GMT)</p> | LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Slips As Renewed U.S.-North Korea Tensions Prompt Caution | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/21/london-markets-ftse-100-slips-as-renewed-u-s-north-korea-tensions-prompt-caution.html | 2017-08-21 | 0 |
<p>Gary Oldman and James Franco discuss the Time’s Up movement&#160;backstage at Golden Globe Awards, with Franco saluting Oprah Winfrey’s powerful speech and Oldman revealing that producer Harvey Weinstein gave him “the creeps.” (Jan. 8)</p>
<p>Gary Oldman and James Franco discuss the Time’s Up movement&#160;backstage at Golden Globe Awards, with Franco saluting Oprah Winfrey’s powerful speech and Oldman revealing that producer Harvey Weinstein gave him “the creeps.” (Jan. 8)</p> | James Franco hails Oprah’s Globe speech | false | https://apnews.com/3b708682e4674fa4b4e8e57962bd76d4 | 2018-01-08 | 2 |
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<p>CLEVELAND — The mother of a mentally ill woman who suffocated while handcuffed by Cleveland police says she wants the officers prosecuted after settling a lawsuit Monday for $2.25 million, the latest large settlement with the city over allegations of police misconduct.</p>
<p>Last month, the city agreed to pay $2.25 million to the family of a man shot by a Cleveland officer outside the city in 2011, and last year it agreed to pay $6 million to the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy fatally shot by a white Cleveland officer while playing with a pellet gun outside a recreation center.</p>
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<p>The settlement made public Monday is for the death of Tanisha Anderson, who died of positional asphyxiation in November 2014 outside her mother’s Cleveland home. Family members had called 911 seeking help for Anderson, who was wandering outdoors on a cold night wearing just a nightgown. Anderson had a history of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.</p>
<p>According to a federal civil rights lawsuit and family attorneys, officers Scott Aldridge and Bryan Myers initially tried talking to Anderson before putting her in the backseat of a patrol car to take her to a hospital. That’s when the 37-year-old Anderson panicked and climbed out of the cruiser. The lawsuit says the officers wrestled her to the ground on her stomach and handcuffed her. Although Anderson showed distress and stopped breathing, it took the officers 14 minutes to call for help, according to the suit.</p>
<p>Two other officers went to the home earlier that night but left after Anderson agreed to eat something and go to bed.</p>
<p>At a news conference Monday on the steps of Cleveland City Hall, Anderson’s mother, Cassandra Johnson, said she will continue her advocacy on behalf of the mentally ill. She also said Aldridge and Myers should be sent to prison. Johnson and her attorneys are frustrated that nothing has resulted thus far from an investigation being reviewed by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. The officers remain on restricted duty.</p>
<p>“The police are supposed to serve and protect,” Johnson said. “That’s not going on these days. I tell you who they’re serving and protecting — themselves. It’s not the public.”</p>
<p>A spokesman for Cleveland declined to comment about the Tanisha Anderson settlement.</p>
<p>Treatment of the mentally ill by Cleveland police is one of the key provisions in a reform-minded agreement between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice. The city agreed to federal oversight of the police department in May 2015 after a Justice Department investigation concluded Cleveland officers had shown a pattern and practice of using excessive force and violating the civil rights of residents, including the mentally ill.</p>
<p>New policies and procedures regarding Cleveland officers’ treatment of the mentally ill include language that says people who are handcuffed should be kept upright to avoid positional asphyxiation.</p>
<p>Anderson’s daughter, 18-year-old Mauvion Green, said she watched her mother die but didn’t understand what was happening at the time. She described her mother as a happy, goofy person with a wealthy of knowledge.</p>
<p>“My graduation is coming up soon,” Green said. “So I hope she’s in her seat cheering me on.”</p> | Cleveland settles woman’s excessive force lawsuit for $2.25M | false | https://abqjournal.com/943616/cleveland-settles-womans-excessive-force-lawsuit-for-2-25m.html | 2017-02-06 | 2 |
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<p>SANTA FE – A Los Alamos man found guilty of downloading child pornography onto his computer and copying it to a hard drive was sentenced to nine years in jail Wednesday.</p>
<p>David Rael, 40, was found guilty of three counts of sexual exploitation of children for manufacture, one count of sexual exploitation of children for distribution and one count of sexual exploitation of children for possession, according to an announcement from the Attorney General’s Office.</p>
<p>According to court records, a special agent from the Attorney’s General’s Office who worked with the national Internet Crimes Against Children task force searched Rael’s computer in 2013 after the task force’s software monitoring the online sharing of child pornography led to his computer’s IP address.</p>
<p>First Judicial District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer found Rael guilty in June in a nonjury trial.</p>
<p>According to court records, Rael denied being sexually attracted to children or viewing child pornography. Staff from the Attorney General’s Office wrote that he told the special agent during questioning that he watched some of the videos until they became sexual and then got rid of them.</p>
<p>“My office’s number one priority is protecting New Mexico children from sexual predators and violence,” Attorney General Hector Balderas said in the announcement. “I hope parents in Los Alamos County sleep better tonight knowing Mr. Rael will be off the streets.”</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Man gets 9 years in child porn case | false | https://abqjournal.com/1087337/man-gets-9-years-in-child-porn-case.html | 2 |
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<p>Your story that Clark's plea was "a way around new state Supreme Court deadlines designed to speed criminal cases through the judicial system" could not be further from the truth. Let me attempt to get it straight here so that Clark can have an attempt at restoring his good name in refuting the photograph inscription of "sex offender tag."</p>
<p>Clark was indicted on March 20, 2015. He was appointed a contract public defender. His trial was set for Dec. 8, 2015, but the public defender moved for a continuance by virtue of another trial commitment. Clark was unsatisfied with the efforts his state contract public defender was putting in the case, and ultimately, his family retained me on Dec. 7, 2015.</p>
<p>Clark's trial on charges that carried a potential penalty of 87 years, was set to commence on Jan. 11. Notwithstanding the short deadline, I was confident I could prepare and be ready for trial.</p>
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<p>Prior to interviewing the alleged victim, I had subpoenas issued for her school and alleged counseling records. When I was informed that those records could not be produced until after the trial, I moved for an additional one-month continuance.</p>
<p>The District Court denied the motion and our state Supreme Court denied my writ seeking that minimal extension in order to prepare for trial. Without all of the information which I would have ordinarily thought necessary, I interviewed the alleged victim on two occasions.</p>
<p>Suffice it to say that her "story" was not merely extremely implausible, but ventured into fanciful impossibility.</p>
<p>After a jury was selected, the prosecutor contacted me and offered a no contest plea with three years probation to an offense that did not require sex offender registration.</p>
<p>I ethically communicated the plea to my client and told that while I could not guarantee an acquittal, this case was as close to that outcome as anything I had ever handled in my 33 years of practicing law. I recommended to Clark that he reject the deal and that we try the case so that he would be absolutely vindicated. Clark, after weighing all, decided that the risk of 87 years of incarceration was not worth going to trial.</p>
<p>The deal was then struck and Clark, who had been out on conditions of release, continued his long-standing employment.</p>
<p>Clark's plea had nothing to do with circumventing the new time deadlines imposed by the Supreme Court. The plea had everything to do with a case that should not have been brought against Clark because he was factually innocent.</p>
<p>Because of your story, Clark was promptly fired and he has not been able to find work. Clark was falsely accused and accepted an extraordinarily sweet deal because miscarriages of justice still occur with juries across America. I hope Clark's employer at Albertson's reconsiders his employment status after reading this letter.</p>
<p /> | Lawyer: There is more to plea deal than in story | false | https://abqjournal.com/729104/lawyer-more-to-plea-deal-than-in-story.html | 2 |
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<p>The campaign bus of Hillary Clinton is being investigated for illegally dumping human waste. Yup, you read that correctly. On Tuesday, police in Lawrenceville, Georgia, received multiple reports of Hillary's "Forward Together" tour bus dumping human waste into a storm drain.</p>
<p>A local businessman took photos of the illegal activity, prompting police to launch a full investigation. The photos showed off-colored liquid oozing out of the bus. The bus was stationed at Grayson highway. Hillary Clinton was not at the scene as the bus was in-between campaign stops.</p>
<p>. <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofLville" type="external">@CityofLville</a> cops investigating claims that <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Hillary?src=hash" type="external">#Hillary</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForwardTogether?src=hash" type="external">#ForwardTogether</a> bus dumped human waste into storm drain. Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/cbs46" type="external">@cbs46</a> for updates. <a href="https://t.co/xyBnfaMy7n" type="external">pic.twitter.com/xyBnfaMy7n</a></p>
<p>When police arrived at the scene, they were greeted with a foul odor and remnants of used toilet paper scattered across the ground. What the campaign dumped at the scene was so disgusting that a HAZMAT team was called to come in to clean up the mess.</p>
<p>In addition to the local police, the Gwinnett County Stormwater Management and the State Environment Protection Department are participating in the investigation.</p>
<p>Local CBS affiliate CBS46 asked the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the party organization working in tandem with the campaign to get Hillary elected, prompting an apology by the DNC.</p>
<p>"This was an honest mistake and we apologize to the Lawrenceville community for any harm we may have caused," <a href="http://www.cbs46.com/story/33418363/witness-clinton-forward-together-tour-bus-dumps-human-waste-into-storm-drain" type="external">read</a> the apology. "We were unaware of any possible violations and have already taken corrective action with the charter bus company to prevent this from happening again. Furthermore, the DNC will work with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, as well as local and state officials to determine the best course of corrective action."</p> | Hillary Campaign Bus Investigated for Illegally Dumping Human Waste. How Fitting. | true | https://dailywire.com/news/10049/hillary-campaign-bus-investigated-illegally-michael-qazvini | 2016-10-18 | 0 |
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<p>FILE – This June 30, 2014 file photo shows the Supreme Court in Washington. Supreme Court justices found more common ground than usual this year, and nowhere was their unanimity more surprising than in ruling that police must get a judge’s approval before searching cellphones of people they’ve arrested. But the conservative-liberal divide was still evident in other cases, including this week’s ruling on religion, birth control and the health care law. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices found more common ground than usual this year, and nowhere was their unanimity more surprising than in a ruling that police must get a judge’s approval before searching the cellphones of people they’ve arrested.</p>
<p>The term that just ended also had its share of 5-4 decisions with the familiar conservative-liberal split, including Monday’s ruling on religion, birth control and the health care law.</p>
<p>But the 9-0 cellphone decision last week may be the most consequential of the justices’ 67 rulings this term. It signaled a high degree of skepticism about the government’s authority, without any need to satisfy an impartial judge, to sweep up vast quantities of information that individuals store on computers and cellphones, as well as other records that companies keep online.</p>
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<p>The scope of that ruling will await future cases, including possible challenges to NSA’s surveillance and collection of massive amounts of Americans’ telephone records. But the justices indicated that constitutional privacy protections, embodied in the Fourth Amendment, will apply strongly to cases involving computers and digital storage, said Elizabeth Wydra, the liberal Constitutional Accountability Center’s chief counsel.</p>
<p>Chief Justice John Roberts’ opinion for the court “was a broad and sweeping ruling in favor of privacy,” Wydra said.</p>
<p>The cellphone case was one of 42 in which the court was unanimous about the outcome, either 9-0 or 8-0 in cases where a justice sat out. That level of consensus is far higher than in recent terms.</p>
<p>The cases include high-profile disputes in which the administration could not attract a vote for its preferred result, even from the two justices appointed by President Barack Obama: Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. The court struck down Obama’s recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, the 35-foot buffer zone around Massachusetts abortion clinics and the criminal conviction under a chemical weapons treaty of a woman who tried to poison her husband’s lover.</p>
<p>“This was a huge rebuke for taking the very extreme positions the administration put before the court, particularly for executive power grabs,” said Carrie Severino, chief counsel of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network.</p>
<p>Yet, as even Severino acknowledged, the unanimity sometimes masked serious disagreement among the conservative justices about the grounds for the decisions.</p>
<p>In the recess appointments case, Justice Anthony Kennedy joined with the liberal justices to endorse reasoning that preserved, at least in theory, the president’s authority to make the temporary, recess appointments when the Senate takes a break from its work.</p>
<p>In the chemical weapons treaty case, Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have imposed serious limits on the federal government’s powers relating to treaties.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In the case over abortion clinic buffer zones, Roberts and the liberals banded together to preserve a 2000 high court ruling upholding a different kind of buffer. In a pointed opinion that would have overruled the earlier case, Scalia said, “I prefer not to take part in the assembling of an apparent but specious unanimity.”</p>
<p>This division among conservatives led Supreme Court lawyer Andy Pincus to conclude that the term actually was a good one for the Obama administration. “Given the stakes for the administration, these were significant victories,” Pincus said.</p>
<p>Yale Law School professor Heather Gerken said she has seen the Roberts court take small steps in voting rights and campaign finances cases, only to return with landmark rulings a few years later.</p>
<p>Based on the current crop of cases, Gerken said, “It’s hard to know whether it’s a temporary reprieve for progressive causes or a sign that the court is moderating its positions.”</p>
<p>Ten cases, including the last decision of the term in favor of companies that hold religious objections to paying for contraceptives under the Obama health care law, came out 5-4. And in these, Kennedy was in the majority each time.</p>
<p>He sided with conservatives to strike down aggregate limits on campaign contributions and to uphold mainly Christian prayer at the start of town council meetings. Joining the liberals, Kennedy’s vote was decisive in forbidding states from relying solely on an intelligence test score for death row inmates in borderline cases of mental disability and in upholding a federal law preventing a “straw” purchaser from buying a gun for someone else.</p>
<p>When the justices return for their new term on Oct. 6, they may find appeals asking them to take on several hot-button social issues, including same-sex marriage, abortion and guns. New cases involving social media and digital privacy also are pending.</p>
<p>And questions of retirement will arise anew, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg approaching a birthday — her 82nd, in March 2015 — that she once set as a marker for leaving the bench. Three other justices, Stephen Breyer, Kennedy and Scalia, are older than 75.</p>
<p>Some court observers already are looking ahead to 2016.</p>
<p>“It underlines the importance of the next election. So many issues are in a 5-4 balance. The next president could have as many as three nominations with the potential to alter the balance on the court for a generation,” Severino said.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter at: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/shermancourt" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/shermancourt</a></p> | Justices sometimes do agree: Your privacy matters | false | https://abqjournal.com/423600/justices-sometimes-do-agree-your-privacy-matters.html | 2 |
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<p>In April 2014, New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, left, and Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson spoke about the arrest of six people who transported 155 guns from Georgia and sold them to an undercover officer in Brooklyn. Seth Wenig/AP</p>
<p />
<p>Rep. Caroline Maloney (D-N.Y.) first learned that there is no federal law against gun trafficking at, of all places, a Fast and Furious hearing. In June 2011, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform convened to scrutinize the gunrunning sting known as <a href="" type="internal">Fast and Furious</a>, which had flown off the rails when agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) allowed assault weapons to land in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Much of the hearing was occupied with Republicans skewering the Obama Administration, but for a moment, the narrative flipped when Peter Forcelli testified. Forcelli, the ATF’s Phoenix field office supervisor, described just how difficult and often pointless it is to go after gunrunners. He described the existing laws against them as “toothless,” adding that it’s “difficult to obtain convictions.”</p>
<p>Maloney recalls being astounded by what she heard. “He basically said, ‘We don’t even prosecute illegal gun trafficking because there is no real penalty.’ After that hearing I questioned him more. I looked at it and there was really no federal crime for buying a gun and giving it to another person who couldn’t get it, or selling guns to drug cartels, traffickers, whatever.”</p>
<p>According to the ATF, 50,000 firearms are illegally trafficked across state lines every year. Yet the closest thing to a federal anti-gun trafficking law is a prohibition on “straw purchasing”—when someone buys guns for people who legally can not. But that offense is usually prosecuted as a minor paperwork violation and rarely results in prison time, even if the purchaser was part of a larger gunrunning ring. The penalties for straw purchasers “are very, very low,” says Lindsay Nichols, a senior attorney at the <a href="http://smartgunlaws.org/" type="external">Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence</a>. Convicted buyers get “maybe one year of probation, maybe some community service.” Gunrunners who face serious time will often get sent away on related charges, such as drug or financial offenses, which carry stiff penalties.</p>
<p>“Gun traffickers know what’s going on,” Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson recently told me. Thompson made going after gunrunners a personal crusade during his time as DA, taking more than 550 illegal guns off the streets between 2014 and his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/opinion/the-death-of-a-visionary-prosecutor.html" type="external">untimely death</a> from cancer late last week. “They can make a substantial amount of money trafficking in these weapons, and the penalties are not that severe,” Thompson said. “They get people who have clean records to buy these guns and give them to these gun traffickers, knowing that they’ll be used to commit crimes. Gun violence and gun trafficking go hand in hand.”</p>
<p>In the 2011 Fast and Furious hearing, Maloney pressed ATF agent Forcelli on what might help law enforcement go after gun traffickers more effectively. He responded, “I think that perhaps a mandatory minimum of a one-year sentence might deter an individual from buying a gun. Some people view this as no more consequential than doing 65 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone.”</p>
<p>Two years later, in February 2013, Maloney introduced the <a href="https://maloney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/maloney-sponsors-first-bipartisan-house-bill-combat-gun-trafficking" type="external">Gun Trafficking Prevention Act</a>, which would increase the penalties for straw purchasing to up to 20 years in prison, and also finally made firearms trafficking <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/452/text" type="external">a federal crime</a> that could add up to 5 years to gunrunners’ sentences. The lessons she took away from the Fast and the Furious hearing remained fresh, as did a later hearing on the crimes of William Spengler, who in 2012 murdered his sister and set fire to his house, then <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2014/09/17/Woman-gets-prison-for-buying-guns-used-to-kill-firefighters/9411410979468/" type="external">ambushed</a> firefighters and cops, killing two and wounding two before being shot himself. Because Spengler was a felon—he’d bludgeoned his grandmother to death with a hammer two decades earlier—he used his 22-year-old neighbor in Rochester, New York, to buy <a href="https://www.thetrace.org/2016/04/gander-mountain-straw-purchasing-case-new-playbook-for-cracking-gun-industry-immunity/" type="external">the AR-15 and pistol-grip shotgun</a> that he used for the murders.</p>
<p>Law enforcement groups, including the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Major Cities Chiefs Association, and the Police Foundation, came out in support of the proposed legislation. It was also the first bill of its kind to attract bipartisan support. Five Republicans signed on as cosponsors, including Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.), who had an A- rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA). He <a href="http://rigell.house.gov/news/email/show.aspx?ID=VD6H5IRB7B3ERD53LGRE3ZT6NU" type="external">commended</a> the bill as “common sense legislation…directed at keeping guns out of the hands of criminals.”</p>
<p>Then along came the gun lobby. The NRA <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/billsum.php?id=hr452-113" type="external">pushed against the bill</a>, and it never got out of committee. Its Senate <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/54" type="external">counterpart</a>, however, raced through the Judiciary Committee and appeared poised to win full Senate approval. That came to a quick end after the NRA <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/291553-key-provision-of-gun-bill-could-be-stripped" type="external">demanded</a> a change to the bill’s straw purchasing clause that would require prosecutors to prove that purchasers knew they were buying guns for someone who was legally prohibited from owning one or was intending to commit a crime. It was, as Maloney puts it, “a nearly impossible standard.” The bill died the following week.</p>
<p>Rigell, who was up for re-election the next year, became the target of an even more hardline gun rights organization. The <a href="https://www.nationalgunrights.org/" type="external">National Association for Gun Rights</a>, which bills itself as the “fastest growing guns right group in America,” had launched a million-dollar campaign to go after <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/slew-of-gun-rights-groups-flex-muscle-089781" type="external">any members of Congress</a> who supported new gun laws. NAGR’s attack ads <a href="http://www.politifact.com/virginia/statements/2013/mar/18/national-association-gun-rights/national-association-gun-rights-says-rep-scott-rig/" type="external">depicted</a> Rigell as a gun-grabber who “who wants to pass Obama’s gun control” and “wants gun owners in a federal registration system”—something that was nowhere to be found in the gunrunning bill and that Rigell had never advocated. At the end of the ad, a voiceover stated, “Scott Rigell doesn’t sound like a Republican” as his face morphed into President Obama’s.</p>
<p />
<p>“I outright oppose any initiative that would directly or indirectly result in the creation of a national database of firearms and or firearm owners,” Rigell said in <a href="http://rigell.house.gov/news/documentprint.aspx?DocumentID=326528" type="external">an interview</a> with Politico at the time. “Their charge that I am leading this, that I am supporting this, is an egregious lie, and completely unfounded…They are lying about who I am.”</p>
<p>Despite the misleading ads, Rigell won his 2014 primary. But when Maloney reintroduced the gun trafficking bill in the next session of Congress, he was notably absent from the list of co-sponsors. Maloney views the fallout from her bill as a lesson in how the gun lobby operates. “What they do, if someone does go on a bill, they then go after that person, and make them an example. They target whoever is doing it and try to defeat them or go after them so that other people become scared and don’t do it.”</p>
<p>In the meantime, straw purchasing and gun trafficking continue largely unabated. While many prosecutors find gunrunning cases daunting or unrewarding, Brooklyn DA Kenneth Thompson was one of few who tried to tackle them. In October 2015, Thompson served an 8-member gunrunning ring with a 541-count indictment for <a href="http://nypost.com/2015/10/14/trafficker-used-chinatown-buses-to-move-guns-authorities/" type="external">smuggling</a> more than $130,000 worth of guns into New York City. Michael Bassier, the 31-year-old ringleader, used a collection of straw purchasers to buy weapons from southern states before transporting them north on buses. It was Thompson’s third major bust of a gun trafficking ring.</p>
<p>But there are always more weapons out there. “I’m concerned that there are so many ways for them to flood our streets with guns,” Thompson told me. “The guns are coming up in cars, in Chinatown buses, on airplanes. These traffickers are exploiting weak gun laws. It’s left up to state prosecutors like me.” He added that sting operations to find and bust gun dealers are costly and “involve great danger to the undercover agent.”</p>
<p>Maloney is thinking of adding new elements to her bill, such as a minimum sentence for straw purchases. “Of all the bills that we have out there,” she laments, “the one that there absolutely is no argument against is the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act. This is a bill that law enforcement has literally asked for.”</p>
<p>Without a federal law against gun trafficking, gunrunners, more often then not, will get off easily, regardless of where their weapons end up or how they’re eventually used. “The fact that we don’t have a federal law prohibiting firearms trafficking is simply outrageous,” said Thompson. “Until we have our federal government step up, it’s going to continue to be a problem.” Until then, cops and prosecutors will be left to their own devices. With Thompson gone, now there’s one less DA focused on the problem.</p>
<p /> | Amazingly, There Is No Federal Law Against Gun Trafficking | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/gun-trafficking-law-maloney-kenneth-thompson/ | 2016-10-13 | 4 |
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening’s drawing of the Minnesota Lottery’s “Gopher 5” game were:</p>
<p>14-16-33-39-40</p>
<p>(fourteen, sixteen, thirty-three, thirty-nine, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $100,000</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening’s drawing of the Minnesota Lottery’s “Gopher 5” game were:</p>
<p>14-16-33-39-40</p>
<p>(fourteen, sixteen, thirty-three, thirty-nine, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $100,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Gopher 5’ game | false | https://apnews.com/c8d65410e9ed4597876336a35038d9eb | 2018-01-09 | 2 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Today, the music’s polyrhythms percolate throughout jazz and the music of everyone from David Byrne and Paul Simon to Vampire Weekend. In 2009, the Jay-Z and Will Smith-backed “Fela!” ran on Broadway to critical acclaim and 11 Tony Award nominations.</p>
<p>Santa Feans can get a taste of that beat when the Afreeka Santa Fe Fiesta Fela opens in Railyard Park on Saturday. Multiple African bands will play Fela’s music in a setting of African arts and crafts, dance and authentic food in a tribute to Fela’s artistic and human rights legacy.</p>
<p>“Fela was one of the most prominent artists to come out of Africa in modern times,” festival artistic director and producer Kamajou Tadfor said. “He used his music and his life to fight for human rights.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>WHEN: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday</p>
<p>WHERE: Railyard Park</p>
<p>CONTACT: <a href="http://www.afreekasantafe.org" type="external">www.afreekasantafe.org</a> or 505-919-9194</p>
<p>The Santa Fe event marks the third festival of African art and culture in a city already renowned for its American Indian, folk art and Spanish markets.</p>
<p>The African musicians will include traditional African drummers Agalu, led by master drummer Akeem Ayanniyi.</p>
<p>“He started playing drums when he was 5 years old,” Tadfor said. “He was the ninth generation in his family to play the drums.”</p>
<p>The West African drum and dance ensemble Moria will perform traditional Ghanaian music. Dances from Morocco, Tunisia and North Africa will be provided by the Pomegranate Dance Company.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Some of the musicians will play songs composed by Fela; others will allude to him in their musical stylings, Tadfor said.</p>
<p>Inn at Loretto regular and singer/songwriter Matthew Andrae will perform, as well the rockabilly Swank Brothers. Their guitarist Slash has often played with African bands, Tadfor said.</p>
<p>Jaka, an American band playing music from Zimbabwe, will bring the marimba and the African thumb piano to the festival.</p>
<p>Visitors can shop for arts and crafts at a re-creation of an African market offering weavings, pottery, carvings and paintings. The pace of traditional African markets differs from the American version, Tadfor said, as artists create works between sales.</p>
<p>“In the villages of Africa, the market is you make one sale and you may wait 30 minutes for the next sale.”</p>
<p>A children’s tent will offer younger fans the chance to learn drumming as well as drum-making, painting, marimba playing, belly dancing and Afrobeat.</p>
<p>In 2011, the festival drew from 300 to 400 people. Turnout was about the same last year, Tadfor said.</p>
<p>“I’ve noticed the African population growing here,” he explained. “There’s a need to try to integrate them into the community.”</p>
<p>Fela died in 1997 from AIDS-related Kaposi’s sarcoma. His music has flourished in a revival over the past decade. In 2009, Knitting Factory Records began re-releasing his catalog. This year, musician Thom Yorke cited Fela’s music as a critical influence in forming his Atoms for Peace supergroup.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Afreeka fiesta will highlight Fela’s music | false | https://abqjournal.com/279432/afreeka-fiesta-will-highlight-felas-music.html | 2013-10-11 | 2 |
<p>Shares of tech companies declined as the disenchantment with Apple continued. Since peaking on the session when it released its new line of phones and watches, Apple has retreated about 6%, shedding billions of dollars in market capitalization. Amazon.com said it's adding more than 2,000 new corporate jobs in New York City, including software engineers and data analysts. Venture-capital firm Benchmark Capital does not intend to sell any of its holdings in ride-hailing company Uber in a proposed deal that would see the Vision Fund, the $93 billion tech investment consortium headed by Japanese tech giant SoftBank, take a large position.</p>
<p>-Rob Curran, [email protected]</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 21, 2017 16:57 ET (20:57 GMT)</p> | Tech Shares Drop As Apple Selloff Continues - Tech Roundup | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/21/tech-shares-drop-as-apple-selloff-continues-tech-roundup.html | 2017-09-21 | 0 |
<p>Last week, Gore Vidal spoke with Truthdig’s Sheerly Avni about a range of topics, including this year’s Oscar-nominated films ( <a href="" type="internal">see Part I</a>). He also commented at length about many of the real-life concerns these films attempt to address, including terrorism, war, propaganda movies and, finally, the troubling relationship between the U.S. government and the American entertainment industry, which Vidal refers to as White House East and White House West. Sheerly Avni: We were talking about “Munich,” “Paradise Now” earlier, and how both of those films faced the criticism that they were too soft on terrorists.</p>
<p>Gore Vidal: I wish the word terrorist would be erased from our language. All meaning has been pumped out of it by our rulers and their media, who wish to demonize everyone or -thing they dislike starting with Us The People. Certainly under the name of fighting terrorism we are conducting wars with everyone on Earth, shifting feverishly from old loyal employees like Noriega and Saddam Hussein to new servants to be abandoned in due course. We are treacherous friends. Meanwhile, thanks to all this maneuvering, more and more of our freedoms are being erased.</p>
<p>So you would be comfortable using the word fascism to describe the direction we are heading in now?</p>
<p>No, most uncomfortable. After all, the original fascist Mussolini could never explain just what fascism was in his native Italy. Let’s say arbitrary, dictatorial government that says any law may be ignored if the leadership dislikes it in the interest of fighting terrorism, which is… whatever the controlled media tells us that morning. Although the 9/11 bombings released all sorts of fascistic measures, as I listed in my <a href="" type="internal">“President Jonah”</a> piece, the detonating trigger was not 9/11 but Oklahoma City. When the federal building was struck, the Clinton administration came up with an anti-terrorist Bill of Wrongs which is still at the heart of the USA Patriot Act and other curtailments of our liberties. And it is also clear that there is no terrorist army supported by an evil empire out there. Angry Muslims who have nothing to lose will always do some suicide bombing, to blow up our buildings and so forth, but with decent intelligence and a moderately competent government we can anticipate them and thwart them.</p>
<p />
<p>If I had been in charge of things at the time of 9/11, I would have called the police. You don’t declare war on an innocent – two innocent countries – Afghanistan and Iraq that had nothing to do with September 11th. A bunch of crazy religious zealots from Saudi Arabia did it all, and I would go to Interpol. I’d say, “Arrest these guys” — out of religious frenzy, they’ve just blown up a part of New York, a part of Washington. Arrest them, try them, do whatever you like with them, but get them.</p>
<p>Unfortunately we were waiting for an excuse to attack Iraq and Afghanistan, and establish American bases up and down the Middle East, for all sorts of nefarious purposes, starting, dare I say?, with oil.</p>
<p>How far back does this “waiting” go?</p>
<p>The early terrorism legislation was cooked up by Janet Reno and the Justice Department under Clinton: as usual, a lone crazed killer, T. McVeigh, was found guilty. But it’s my impression that there was a considerable conspiracy, and the FBI didn’t follow up. One newspaper editor, Joel Dyer, got hold of all the FBI interrogations of suspects who might have been involved in the blowing up of the federal building in Oklahoma City. They didn’t follow up on one of them.</p>
<p>I remember reading that you said it would have taken nine people to load the bomb in the truck.</p>
<p>Yes, this skinny little guy could not have loaded it, much less – have you ever driven as much explosives as he is supposed to have driven? A forensic expert in Ireland who had examined a lot of explosions found that the IRA was constantly blowing themselves up, they would put the bomb on a board across their lap, and then drive the car across bumpy roads, and the car would often explode. And all that would be left of the drivers would be the genitals, because they’d been covered by a board.</p>
<p>Everything else blew up, except that treasured part, which would be in the dust under the cars. It was a grimly funny report.</p>
<p>This is old news now, but in terms of terrorism, there was a lot of protest against the Palestinian Oscar nominee, “Paradise Now,” with a 36,000-person petition to get the film dropped from the roster because it sympathized with “terrorists.”</p>
<p>Never forget there are 1 billion Muslims on Earth. The United States is far too small a country to play big boss – and now far too insolvent a country; we have no revenues, we can’t repair our own infrastructure, much less rebuild the cities that we’ve just knocked down in the Middle East. I think we should learn a little modesty, we’re not number one! At invoking terrorism, yes, we’re pretty good at provoking people to hate us. In fact we’ve been quite successful at that. But we live in a small country, a vulnerable country, a country with no defenses, only “homeland security.” But there’s no true security here – anyone can do anything he wants and will!</p>
<p>Right, so now we have these proposals to build a wall on the Texas/Mexico border, to fill in the tunnels….</p>
<p>Oh it’s just Looney Time, but you see, we have no educational system for the general public. If you come from a well-to-do family, you get a fairly good education, but you get a lot of propaganda along with it. And we have a media that is quite poisonous and only echoes what the administration — and corporate America, which owns the administration — wants us to hear. So the average person has no information, or what he has is so distorted. How can he make up his mind intelligently on any subject?</p>
<p>As far as the American media goes, though, you’ve spoken out strongly against The New York Times, but I’m thinking now of a Bush-voting friend of mine who gets most of his information from Bill O’Reilly and Fox News. The reason he won’t read The New York Times is that he thinks it’s a left-wing mouthpiece.</p>
<p>Ignorance is an epidemic in our country, and it’s kind of virulent. No, they don’t have any information, they don’t have access to it, and the newspaper they like to hate, they might very well hate for other reasons if they had any other reasons, but they don’t have any. They have no evidence.</p>
<p>Or if they’re told about the lies of Judith Miller — it would take you 10 years to explain who she was and how she got to tell lies. And what the lies were about. There’s no such time for us. By the time you are grown and able to read The New York Times without moving your lips, you’ve been had.</p>
<p>So how can the media get to my red-state friend?</p>
<p>I don’t think you can get to him. You can get to him if something blows up somewhere — he certainly grasps that. I think what’s most apt to be getting to him these days is the firing of people at Ford, and General Motors, and people being out of work. He’s no fool when it comes to his own welfare. If he sees that jobs are drying up, he may be inclined to think “well, we’d better get another war” because he’s learned from experience that when we have a war we have full employment….</p>
<p>In 1940 the Depression had returned. It had not been defeated in&#160;’33 by Roosevelt: alas, it was back, so Roosevelt put 8 billion dollars into defense to build up particularly our air force, and we had full employment for the first time in 50 years. By the time Truman got to be president we were totally militarized, which was a very bad thing for us, but he had thought it was for a good reason. I mean, he feared, as did Dean Acheson and the others, that we would slip back into the Depression unless we had all this fueling, with federal money, of the military-industrial complex, as General Eisenhower so nicely advised us. Having served it all of his life, so he knew what he was talking about.</p>
<p>And the need for war now is systemic. There’s no going back. You can’t just say OK, we’re just stopping and we’re going to cut down the Pentagon budget by 50%, we’ll build some hospitals, we’ll do this, we’ll actually try to educate people.</p>
<p>[If you do] you’ll find a huge movement against it. Look, there are all those enemies out there: The Mexicans are armed with anthrax, and they’re entering El Paso even as we speak though hidden tunnels. Isn’t that good for conspiracy theorists? Those tunnels are great symbols.</p>
<p>And then there are the Canadians. Who knows what they’ll do to us from up north!</p>
<p>[sotto voce] They’re the most vicious of all, because they pretend to be quiet and orderly.</p>
<p>Altogether, this is not a very optimistic prognosis.</p>
<p>Well, I’m not very optimistic. This place is broken. It’s going to take a generation to repair what’s been done to the Bill of Rights, what has been done to the legal system.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, they’ll get a chance to add a couple more Supreme Court justices giving us, for a generation, a very, very right-wing interpretation of our liberties, because they don’t like them.</p>
<p>Quite openly they don’t like the freedoms we have, particularly freedom of speech, so they classify it – Top Secret. Don’t speak, whisper.</p>
<p>What will it take?</p>
<p>Organization, there will be quite a few demagogues who will say let’s burn Lawrence, Kan., like Quantrill, but there will be others, like Huey Long: Every Man a King. Make the Standard Oil pay — which is what he did in Louisiana. Built Tulane, built hospitals, siphoned all that money right into the state so everyone could benefit.</p>
<p>Roosevelt was scared to death of him in 1936, because Huey was going to run on a third ticket. And he could have denied Roosevelt a second term, and Huey’s plan was that he himself would be — in 1940 — he would be the Democratic nominee and Roosevelt would be finished. And then we would get Huey Longism, which was true populism. The money was going to go to the people for the things that would make the people’s lives better. Then he was killed in the state capitol at Baton Rouge, by a crazy MD, a doctor, who wasn’t political at all.</p>
<p>Then there were rumors that Roosevelt had hired people to kill him. Seems to me a little far-fetched since I’m pro-Roosevelt.</p>
<p>FDR gave a presidential address from the Academy Awards thanking them for being so patriotic. How much has Hollywood changed since you first started working there, in terms of its relationship to the government?</p>
<p>The change had started much earlier than Roosevelt. The change began with Woodrow Wilson…. The whole country did not want to go to war in Europe, nor did we care about whether Germany organized Europe or whether France organized Europe. It was not a matter of concern to the average American. Nor should it have been. There was no Hitler in Germany. Those days, there was the Kaiser, he was no worse than the French leaders, so it was just a continuation of that long war that had gone on and off and on for centuries between [the] French and Germany. Who’s the heir to Charlemagne? That’s what it was about.</p>
<p>Wilson wanted to go to the war very early, and the American people didn’t. So he found a great public relations man called George Creel…. And George Creel, he sent out to Hollywood to get people to make anti-German movies. So we had nothing but blind nuns being raped by German soldiers. “The Huns are coming! The Huns are coming!” A lot of those movies were made, and then others to show how great the British were, how great the French were. And Wilson, he was shameless; he went so far as to put himself into a number of movies.</p>
<p>That’s how it all started, the marriage between Washington and Hollywood. And I remember when I was first under contract to MGM, in about&#160;’54, I had nothing but dj vu every time I looked around the Thalberg Building. I said, “What does this remind me of?” These little offices, these whitewashed walls and powerful producers on every other floor, talented people like Scott Fitzgerald working in little cubbyholes….</p>
<p>And I said, “This is the White House. This is the White House West, the Thalberg Building. And the White House itself is the Thalberg Building East. And they’re bound to marry.</p>
<p>With an oligarchy bureau chief on each side.</p>
<p>Yes, and George Creel was the bridge. How was that marriage going in the&#160;’60s?</p>
<p>In the&#160;’60s, well, it got a big boost when Jack got to be president. Everybody out here was very pro-Kennedy. So it looked like a new generation had picked up the torch, and would “Bear any burden” – a pretty terrible inaugural speech, when you think about it. It was sort of a period of nostalgia: “Since You Went Away,” “Best Years of Our Lives,” it was putting a golden haze over WWII and perhaps over Korea, which had been a total mess. It was getting us comfortable and relaxed, homebodies at last, but really once again, to march and follow the flag, wherever it might lead.</p>
<p>That’s what Kennedy’s speech was about: We will bear any burden. To which the answer is, well, why? We’re not in charge of the world. There are a lot of places that we have no business bearing any other burden.</p>
<p>So does the marriage ever get rocky? In the&#160;’70s when you have start having these more acerbic films, you have people like Robert Altman….</p>
<p>Oh yes, and as Vietnam got worse, that was what the&#160;’70s were about, and the movies began to push back, and you have Altman doing it with satire wonderfully well, and quite a few others making their contributions, showing that war is hell… not too much picking of sides either.</p>
<p>Woodrow Wilson would have seen to it that we did.</p>
<p>And then we have Reagan….</p>
<p>“It’s morning in America,” he said – just as night fell.</p>
<p>And Clinton, the most telegenic president we’ve ever had.</p>
<p>Probably the most intelligent one we’ve ever had. It does not necessarily make him the very best, but certainly he was the only one who understood economics and could get up and explain it to the public — for example his first State of the Union. The teleprompter broke down, he did the entire speech from memory; now that’s over two hours of nothing but statistics and analysis. It was a brilliant coup of memory and showed that he thoroughly understood what he was talking about, he wasn’t reading.</p>
<p>What were some of his big errors?</p>
<p>Well, ending welfare as we have known it brought on disastrous effects. The business about “don’t ask, don’t tell,” whatever that was about. People who were interested in same sex in the services, so the officers were not supposed to ask questions and they weren’t supposed to give answers. This proved to be totally disastrous. And still is, to the extent that it’s enforced.</p>
<p>If Washington West is Democrat and liberal and Washington East is Republican, who gets custody of how the nation thinks?</p>
<p>Hollywood won’t. Washington East picks up all the marbles: They have the Congress, they have the courts, and of course they have the executives.</p>
<p>They also have the Christian right, making advances in Hollywood. What about that?</p>
<p>Oh they all get locked up as rapists sooner or later. [chuckles]</p>
<p /> | 'This Place Is Broken': The Gore Vidal Interview Part II | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/this-place-is-broken-the-gore-vidal-interview-part-ii/ | 2006-03-08 | 4 |
<p>What's more hip than a D.I.Y. wardrobe or a D.I.Y. bike repair co-op? A D.I.Y. tank, complete with machine gun, targeted at troops fighting on behalf of your autocratic president.</p>
<p>Rebels in Syria have built an armored car and call it the Sham II, <a href="http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/12/10/syrian_rebels_diy_armor_complete_with_playstation_console_controlled_guns" type="external">Foreign Policy reported</a>. It's reportedly built on a car chassis and can be operated with a Playstation controller.&#160;</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/business/120601/when-the-brics-crumble" type="external">When the BRICS Crumble</a></p>
<p>From far away it looks like a rusty metal box, but it is actually a homemade armored vehicle that took a month to build, <a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20121209-sham-ii-new-fighting-machine-syria-rebels" type="external">the AFP reported</a>. The vehicle is equipped with cameras and guns. The designer is Mahmud Abud from the Al-Ansar rebel brigade.</p>
<p>"This is my brother, a trained engineer, who got the idea. We got a car, left its diesel motor on the chassis and built the engine," Abud told the AFP.</p>
<p>RT News uploaded a YouTube video of the vehicle in action:</p>
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<p /> | Syrian rebels aim weapons with Playstation controller | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-12-10/syrian-rebels-aim-weapons-playstation-controller | 2012-12-10 | 3 |
<p>Small-cap stocks and exchange traded funds have been highlighted as ideal Trump Administration plays and the asset class lived up to that billing by soaring in the latter stages of 2016. Major small-cap ETFs are keeping the good times going to start 2017, too. For example, the the iShares Core S&amp;P Small-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: IJR)… <a href="http://www.etftrends.com/2017/02/macro-help-for-small-cap-etfs-on-trump-plays/" type="external">Click to read more at ETFtrends.com. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Macro Help For Small-Cap ETFs on Trump Plays | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/16/macro-help-for-small-cap-etfs-on-trump-plays.html | 2017-02-16 | 0 |
<p>The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD), the world’s largest exchange traded fund backed by physical holdings of gold, is up 11.6% year-to-date and the current environment appears to be conducive to more upside for the yellow metal. Gold has enjoyed greater demand in a low interest-rate environment as the hard asset becomes more attractive to… <a href="https://www.etftrends.com/2017/04/french-election-adds-to-the-case-for-gold-etfs/" type="external">Click to read more at ETFtrends.com. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | French Election Adds to the Case for Gold ETFs | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/25/french-election-adds-to-case-for-gold-etfs.html | 2017-04-25 | 0 |
<p>Richard Dizon / The Cavalier Daily</p>
<p>Images and footage capturing the arrest of Martese Johnson, a University of Virginia student <a href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2015/03/university-student-honor-committee-member-martese-johnson-arrested" type="external">who needed 10 stitches</a> after being arrested by state liquor police for allegedly having a fake ID, prompted large protests at UVA’s Charlottesville campus on Wednesday, with hundreds of students gathering to demand justice.</p>
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<p>UVa looking so powerful <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JusticeForMartese?src=hash" type="external">#JusticeForMartese</a> <a href="http://t.co/rGj0JLpplp" type="external">pic.twitter.com/rGj0JLpplp</a></p>
<p>— Sophie Abramowitz (@NewSoftShoe) <a href="https://twitter.com/NewSoftShoe/status/578349861805764608" type="external">March 19, 2015</a></p>
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<p>Johnson, 20-years-old and a member of the school’s Honor Committee, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/bloody-arrest-university-virginia-student-prompts-police-review-n326226" type="external">was arrested on Tuesday</a> by officers from the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control as bystanders recorded the bloody encounter. In one video, Johnson’s head appears covered in blood, and he screams “you fucking racists.” According to Johnson’s lawyer, he was <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/03/18/3635934/university-virigina-honor-student-brutally-beaten-cops-allegedly-fake-id/" type="external">charged</a> with “obstructing justice without force” and public intoxication.</p>
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<p>After footage of the arrest emerged online, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe launched an investigation into the incident.</p>
<p>“Governor McAuliffe is concerned by the reports of this incident and has asked the Secretary of Public Safety to initiate an independent Virginia State Police investigation into the use of force in this matter,” his office said in a <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/salvadorhernandez/university-of-virginia-martese-johnson-arrest#.oi7oe63M" type="external">statement.</a></p>
<p>It is unclear what led to the arrest. A statement from the state’s liquor agents <a href="http://www.nbc12.com/story/28557455/mike-martese-rally" type="external">said</a> that “a determination was made by the agents to further detain the individual based on their observations and further questioning.” On Wednesday night, Johnson joined the demonstrators and appeared with a gash wound to the head.</p>
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<p>“His head was slammed into the hard pavement with excessive force,” UVA officials said in a <a href="http://president.virginia.edu/speeches-writings/important-message-marcus-l-martin-and-maurice-apprey" type="external">released statement.</a> “This was wrong and should not have occurred. In the many years of our medical, professional and leadership roles at the University, we view the nature of this assault as highly unusual and appalling based on the information we have received.”</p>
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<p>As images of both the protest and Johnson’s arrest flooded online with the hashtag #JusticeForMartese, demonstrators <a href="http://www.nbc12.com/story/28557462/kelly-martese" type="external">chanted</a> “black lives matter” and “shut it down.”</p>
<p /> | UVA Student’s Violent Arrest Sparks Outrage and Calls for #JusticeForMartese | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/03/martese-johnson-uva/ | 2015-03-19 | 4 |
<p>Shares of Atrinsic more than doubled after the company said its popular Kazaa digital music service could be accessed without an application, in a move that could help it skirt <a href="" type="internal">Apple</a> Inc's plans to take a cut on revenue generated from sale of online subscriptions through its App Store.</p>
<p>Subscribers to Kazaa, an on-demand streaming music service that Atrinsic's acquired last year, can access it on Apple's <a href="http://www.reuters.com/subjects/ipad" type="external">iPad Opens a New Window.</a> and <a href="" type="internal">iPhone</a> and on Android-based devices by streaming it from Kazaa's website, the company said in a statement.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Application developers have been up in arms after Apple recently unveiled plans to charge a 30 percent share on all revenue generated by the sale of online subscriptions through its App Store.</p>
<p>ThinkEquity analyst Rajesh Ghai said people will see Atrinsic's move as an encroachment in Apple's monopoly as far as delivery of music and content to users of Apple's devices are concerned.</p>
<p>Music subscription companies like Rhapsody and Rdio have described the new Apple policy as "economically untenable" for their businesses.</p>
<p>Apple shares were down 2 percent at $353.20 in afternoon trade on <a href="" type="internal">Nasdaq</a> amid an overall drop in markets.</p>
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<p>Atrinsic shares were up $2.705, or 91 percent at $5.69 in afternoon trade Monday on Nasdaq. They touched a high of $6.90, their highest in over two years, earlier in the day.</p> | Atrinsic Says Kazaa Users Can Stream Music on Phones | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/03/07/atrinsic-says-kazaa-users-stream-music-phones.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>Oh noes! The First Evil must have got to our beloved Joss Whedon. “Let’s all embrace the future, stop pretending we care about each other, and start hoarding canned goods.”</p>
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<p>Transcript after the jump. <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/pop/Watch-Joss-Whedon-Anti-Romney-Ad-Warns-Zombie-Apocalypse-48699.html" type="external">[Via]</a></p>
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<p>You know, like a lot of liberal Americans, I was excited when Barack Obama took office four years ago. But it’s a very different world now, and Mitt Romney is a very different candidate. One with the vision and determination to cut through ‘business as usual’ politics’ and finally put this country back on the path to the zombie apocalypse. Romney is ready to make the deep rollbacks in healthcare, education, social services, and reproductive rights that will guaranty poverty, unemployment, overpopulation, disease, rioting – all crucial elements in creating a nightmare zombie wasteland. But it’s his commitment to ungoverned corporate privilege that will nose-dive this economy into true insolvency and chaos. The kind of chaos you can’t buy back. Money is only so much paper to the undead. The 1% will no longer be the very rich, it’ll be the very fast. Anyone can run, fight, make explosives out of household objects or especially do parkour of any kind – you’ll want to stick with them, unless they read Ayn Rand. Look, I don’t pretend to see the future. No one knows for sure if they’ll be the super-fast 28 Days Later zombies or the old-school shambling kind. But they’re out there, and they need brains. So, whether you’re a small business man just trying to keep his doors open, a single mom so concerned for her son’s welfare that she’ll run to embrace him when he’s clearly infected and going to bite her. Or a strung-out ex-military type, who’s been out there too long and is taking the kind of damn-fool chances that’ll get us all killed, you need to ask yourself, ‘Am I ready? Am I ready for the purity and courage of Mitt Romney’s apocalyptic vision?’ Mitt’s ready. He’s not afraid to face a ravening, rasping hoard of sub-humans, because that’s how he sees poor people already. Let’s all embrace the future, stop pretending we care about each other, and start hoarding canned goods. Because if Mitt takes office, sooner or later, the zombies will come for all of us.</p>
<p>Zomney – He Needs Brains</p>
<p>Paid for by the Committee to Learn Parkour, Like Really Soon, Like Maybe Take A Class Or Something.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Spam has its own key.</p> | Joss Whedon endorses Romney and the zombie apocalypse | true | http://feministing.com/2012/10/29/joss-whedon-endorses-romney-and-the-zombie-apocalypse/ | 4 |
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<p>Geoffrey Scovil, 42, also was charged with obstructing a child abuse investigation and assault on a peace officer Saturday night.</p>
<p>According to a police report, the 3-year-old told police that his father bit him and also admitted that he’d hit “Daddy” with the cue while they were playing pool.</p>
<p>“This is what caused Mr. Scovil to bite (the boy) out of frustration,” the police report says.</p>
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<p>The confrontation between the boy and his father took place at the Cowgirl BBQ.</p>
<p>Police found Scovil after officers were twice called to Ellie’s Yoberri Park on West San Francisco Street downtown.</p>
<p>About 8:20 p.m., an officer went to the frozen yogurt store on a report of a man bleeding from his face and a child with blood and swelling on his face who’d been there with a woman. As the officer patrolled the Plaza area looking for the group, a woman flagged him down to say she’d seen the three people and that the man and child “looked bad.”</p>
<p>The officer went back to Ellie’s a second time after someone found a bag that the family group left behind.</p>
<p>This time, an employee reported that the man and woman appeared very drunk, and the little boy seemed afraid of the man. She said the woman with them was so intoxicated she couldn’t keep her eyes open. The bag contained clothes, food, one shoe and an iPhone.</p>
<p>Using numbers on the phone, the police tracked Scovil, the child and Kathleen Love, 44, to a casita home on Catron Street by about 10:30 p.m. Officers found vomit along with scattered playing cards and tampons near the doorway.</p>
<p>After officers were allowed inside, they found Scovil and Love to be drunk and the 3-year-old had “a fresh bite mark” on his right cheek, the police report states.</p>
<p>The adults insisted the child was not bitten, and Love became angry and started yelling for police to leave. Scovil also started yelling and at one point brought his hand back as though he were about to strike one of the officers. The officers made him sit down and handcuffed him.</p>
<p>Scovil, who also grabbed one of the officer’s hands, at first insisted he did not bite his child, but then said he may have or couldn’t remember. He said he’d been drinking and playing pool at the Cowgirl since noon.</p>
<p>After the boy told police that it was “Daddy” who bit him after he’d hit his father with a pool cue, Scovil was arrested and booked in the Santa Fe County jail.</p>
<p>He was released Sunday afternoon after posting a $10,000 surety bond.</p> | NM attorney accused of biting 3-year-old son’s face | false | https://abqjournal.com/272434/nm-attorney-accused-of-biting-3-year-old-sons-face.html | 2 |
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<p>Starwood Hotels &amp; Resorts Worldwide Inc. says President and CEO Frits van Paasschen has resigned.</p>
<p>The operator of Westin, Sheraton and other other hotel brands says board member Adam Aron will serve as interim CEO until a permanent replacement is found.</p>
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<p>Aron has been on Starwood's board since 2006. He is the former CEO of both Vail Resorts and Norwegian Cruise Line. He also served as CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers from 2011 through 2013. Aron has been CEO of leisure-related consultancy World Leisure Partners Inc. since 2006.</p>
<p>Van Paasschen will remain with Starwood as a consultant to help with the transition.</p>
<p>Starwood is based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company announced last week that it plans to spin off its timeshare business as a separate company.</p> | Starwood President and CEO van Paasschen resigns; Aron named as interim CEO | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/02/17/starwood-president-and-ceo-van-paasschen-resigns-aron-named-as-interim-ceo.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>The Third Intifada is developing in Jerusalem</p>
<p>Jerusalem has turned into one of the key settings of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The summary execution of a young Palestinian and the subsequent decision of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to close access to the Esplanade of the Mosques, are only the most recent expressions from an extensive history of violence and oppression by the State of Israel. During the week that is coming to an end, Jerusalem was a setting of an escalation of tensions and confrontations.</p>
<p>On Wednesday night, Yehudah Glick, an Israeli-American rabbi, known for leading a campaign of nationalist and religious groups, that are demanding for themselves the sacred sites of the Muslims, was shot.</p>
<p>Yesterday, during a violent raid on Arab neighborhoods, the Israeli security forces murdered a young Palestinian suspected of being the alleged attacker.</p>
<p>That was followed by the measure taken by the Israeli government of closing the Esplanade of the Mosques and deploying an enormous security operation. Netanyahu said they were facing a "terrorist act," encouraged by the Palestinian President, M. Abbas, and he compared the Palestinian resistance organizations to the reactionary Islamic State, that has unleashed a wave of terror in Syria and Iraq. To add fuel to the fire, setters and right-wing Jewish groups are threatening to march on the Old City. Even for the well-behaved Palestinian Authority, this is a "Declaration of War."</p>
<p>These actions seem to repeat the provocation of the late Ariel Sharon, who decided to "visit" the Esplanade and, with this action, let loose the Second Intifada, of the year 2000.</p>
<p>This new escalation takes place in the context of an increasingly complex regional and geopolitical situation. Relations between Netanyahu and the US government are going through a crisis: the Obama administration refused to meet with the Israeli Defense Minister, because of his offensive remarks against Kerry. And, in a publication, remarks of US officials in high positions, who referred to Netanyahu as a coward, became known. These heated words do not have strategic consequences. For the United States, neither the unconditional alliance with Israel nor the generous financial and military aid that it provides for Israel, is in question. But that does not mean that certain policies of Netanyahu, like the permanent extension of the colonists' settlements in Palestinian territories, the military actions like that in Gaza, or the hard line towards Iran, will be relatively dysfunctional for the aims of the United States, plunged into a double war in Iraq and Syria.</p>
<p>Towards a new uprising?</p>
<p>In the most recent months, Jerusalem has appeared to be the stage where a new Palestinian popular uprising is developing. At least, this is what the press, both Israeli and international, has been stating. They call it "the silent intifada," "the Children's Intifada," or simply, "the Third Intifada." With some differences in days, they put as its date of birth July 2 this year, when the Palestinian teenager M. Abu Khudair, kidnapped by a group of settlers, who set fire to him while he was still alive, was brutally murdered.</p>
<p>This gruesome crime, together with the 51 days of bombing by air and land, in the Gaza Strip, let loose an unstoppable wave of mobilizations, especially of young people and children, who, with stones and Molotov cocktails, are confronting the Israeli security forces almost daily. One of the targets of the attacks is the high-speed train, with which the settlers cross the Arab neighborhoods, while the Palestinians cannot travel. For this very reason, it has become a symbol of the occupation and of Israel's attempt to consolidate Jerusalem as the "one and indivisible capital" of its state.</p>
<p>The most interesting thing about this new, embryonic uprising is that, at least in one fundamental aspect, it recalls the First Intifada. As in 1987, the traditional leadership of the PLO has practically no control over these young people. Nor does Hamas, virtually shut up in the Gaza Strip ghetto. An unintended consequence of Israeli policy itself: during the First Intifada, the Palestinian nationalist leadership was in exile. Now, because of the fence of colonists' settlements, Jerusalem is isolated from the General Headquarters of the Palestinian Authority at Ramallah, which gives rise not only to unknown local leaders, but to a dangerous spontaneity that worries both sides, and, against which, Israel's only policy is to escalate repression.</p>
<p>It is not even possible to know with certainty whether this wave of protests and mobilizations will give rise, or not, to a new popular uprising. The political results of the "Protective Edge" operation do not coincide with the military ones. While the State of Israel came off badly, internationally discredited for having perpetrated another massacre, without achieving any strategic goal, the Palestinian resistance has come out strengthened. That is, conditions appear to be more than ripe for a new explosion.</p> | The Third Intifada is developing in Jerusalem | true | https://leftvoice.org/The-Third-Intifada-is-developing-in-Jerusalem | 2014-10-31 | 4 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NATO.jpg" type="external" />WASHINGTON (AP) - After two decades of trying to build a partnership with Russia, NATO now feels compelled to start treating Moscow as an adversary, the alliance's second-ranking official said Thursday. "Clearly the Russians have declared NATO as an adversary, so we have to begin to view Russia no ["]</p>
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<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/nato-official-russia-now-adversary-150211090--politics.html" type="external">Click here to view original web page at news.yahoo.com</a></p>
<p /> | NATO official: Russia now an adversary | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/nato-official-russia-now-an-adversary/ | 0 |
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<p>Students unable to enroll in the public or charter school of their choice and all children on Indian reservations would qualify for the state's private school voucher program under a pair of bills approved Thursday by an Arizona Senate committee.</p>
<p>Senate Bill 1434 by Sen. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, allows anyone turned away from a public school or public charter school that's within 25 miles of their home to get a private school voucher. Lesko said her goal is to give parents more school options.</p>
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<p>"We've heard testimony over the years that parents love them because it creates another choice for their children when maybe the other school districts aren't meeting the education needs of their child," Lesko said. "And it also is a win for the state general fund."</p>
<p>Lesko and school choice proponents argue the state saves money on the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts voucher program, noting parents receive 90 percent of the funding that would go to local public schools for use in private schools.</p>
<p>But the superintendent of public instruction decided last year to also award additional money given to charter schools to all those students, meaning regular public school students get more if they take a voucher.</p>
<p>The program began in 2011 and was aimed at children with disabilities, but legislators have expanded it repeatedly. A major expansion was blocked by Democrats and some majority Republicans last year, but two smaller expansions passed.</p>
<p>State law provides 90 percent of basic state aid to children who leave regular schools, and those who leave charter schools also get 90 percent of the extra money those charters receive.</p>
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<p>"You're essentially giving them $2,000 more than they would have ever received in a public school," Jennifer Loredo of Arizona Education Association told the Senate Education Committee. "Plus, it is all on the state general fund."</p>
<p>She said the current program has just over 1,300 students who receive more than $17 million in funding. That is expected to rise to $24 million next school year.</p>
<p>The five Republicans on the committee voted to advance the bill.</p>
<p>"Anytime we can expand school choice and give parents more options I thing that's a great thing," said Sen. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa.</p>
<p>The committee's two Democrats, Tucson Sen David Bradley and Carlyle Begay of Ganado, opposed the measure.</p>
<p>Begay said he had concerns about the overall expansion of the voucher program and worried about accountability.</p>
<p>But he also is sponsoring his own bill that expands the program to all residents of Indian reservations. Senate Bill 1332 is designed to give children on reservations more school choice and is backed by the Center for Arizona Policy, a social-conservative group that is a powerful lobbying voice at the Capitol.</p>
<p>Begay said children on reservations have limited access to good schools. He expects few will use the program.</p>
<p>"My best guess is to say this will be offered to a handful of students who apply," Begay said.</p>
<p>His bill passed on a 6-1 vote.</p>
<p>The program allows yearly enrollment growth. By 2019, more than 30,000 students could be using the vouchers.</p> | Arizona Senate committee approves bills greatly expanding school voucher program eligibility | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/02/12/arizona-senate-committee-approves-bills-greatly-expanding-school-voucher.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
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<p>The building front of the The New Beginnings Senior Living center. (Courtesy of The New Beginnings Senior Living, LLC)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A proposed assisted living center for seniors and veterans in Albuquerque will include a "farm-to-table" approach in which residents will grow their own food.</p>
<p>The New Beginnings Senior Living, LLC is asking Bernalillo County for $10 million in industrial revenue bonds to build the $11 million to $12 million center on four acres at 1331 Cuesta Abajo NE, southeast of El Pueblo and Edith NE.</p>
<p>About 45 beds of the estimated 125 to 140 beds will be in a wing for veterans, with a particular focus on female veterans because there is a "huge need," said TJ&#160; Gill, whose wife is involved in the family business that will own the center.</p>
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<p>Members of the same family own the nearby The New Beginnings, which provides living and support services for developmentally disabled people, Gill said.</p>
<p>"It's a natural progression to expand the business," he said.</p>
<p>The new center would provide 24-hour non-medical staff that would help residents with meals, housekeeping, laundry, transportation and medical appointment scheduling, the IRB application says.</p>
<p>If approved by the County Commission, the bonds would be used for land purchase, construction and equipment purchases.</p>
<p>IRBs are way to spur private investment by offering certain tax exemptions. The recipient is responsible for paying off the bonds.</p>
<p>Gill said the project's plans are based on research that shows such activities as gardening can be therapeutic for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the fruit trees and gardening plots will be open to all residents, he said.</p>
<p>"Everyone can partake if they're able," he said.</p>
<p>The home-grown food will be used for meals, and any extra will be donated.</p>
<p>Although the first phase of the center is completed, it will not be opened for business until all regulatory requirements have been met.</p>
<p>Also, the County Commission will have to consider whether to approve the requested IRBs.</p> | Assisted living center planned for seniors, vets | false | https://abqjournal.com/714631/assisted-living-center-planned-for-seniors-vets.html | 2 |
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<p>On Monday, The Daily Beast&#160; <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/08/benedict-cumberbatch-on-the-imitation-game-homophobia-and-how-to-combat-isis.html" type="external">published</a> an interview with Benedict Cumberbatch, the British actor most famous for his role on the hit BBC series Sherlock, in which he called religious Christians in the United States "very homophobic" and recommended we elect both a woman president and then a gay president to make up for it.</p>
<p>The interview centered on Cumberbatch's&#160;role in the upcoming film The Imitation Game,&#160;about the life of WWII hero Alan Turing, the math prodigy who helped lead a team of codebreakers&#160;to crack the German Enigma Code allowing allied forces to obtain information about German navy locations and activity. Despite Turing's contributions to the allied war effort, the British government later imprisoned him for homosexuality, which was illegal at that time. Turing had been given two options: two years in jail or estrogen injections; Turing chose the latter and ended his life two years later by lacing an apple with cyanide.&#160;</p>
<p>According to Cumberbatch, the barbaric treatment given to Alan Turing still occurs in the United States, especially among the Christian far-right.</p>
<p>"It's still going on in North America with the Christian far right," exclaimed Cumberbatch.&#160;"There are courses and doctors and meds handed out to "cure" people of their homosexuality."&#160;Cumberbatch&#160;failed to mention that many reparative therapy programs in the United States are voluntary, whereas Turing had been forced into it by his government.</p>
<p>Cumberbatch then went off the rails when he offered the supposed cure to our barbarity in the United States. He stated: "You need to have a female president next, and then after that, a gay president. That's the full journey from Obama's legacy onwards. There's a great Morrissey lyric from "America Is Not the World" from You Are the Quarry that goes, 'In America, the land of the free, they said / And of opportunity, in a just and truthful way / But where the president is never black, female or gay, and until that day / You've got nothing to say to me, to help me believe.' It's quite an old song from before Obama took office, but you've done black, then you need to do female, then the next, gay."</p> | Benedict Cumberbatch: Christian Right 'Very Homophobic' | true | http://truthrevolt.org/news/benedict-cumberbatch-christian-right-very-homophobic | 2018-10-07 | 0 |
<p>According to a title first used by Gregory the Great (590–604), the Bishop of Rome is the “Servant of the Servants of God.” The Roman Catholic Church recognizes 265 of those servants as legitimate popes. Some were historical titans; others labored in obscurity. Some were saints, including more than two dozen martyrs; others were scandalous sinners. Some were reformers whose legacy in Catholic doctrine and practice is visible today; others were complicit in corruption. Some were men of genius, both intellectual and organizational; others were mediocrities. A few years back, a veteran Vatican bureaucrat remarked that “God has been very kind to us; we haven’t had a wicked pope in 500 years.” That wistful expression of gratitude suggests something of the papacy’s staying power while hinting at its complex history.</p>
<p>Surprises The influence and magnetism of the modern papacy are, in fact, surprises. When Leo XIII was elected in 1878–the first pope in 1,100 years not to control substantial territory as an internationally recognized sovereign–many thought the papacy an impotent anachronism. Leo, however, created the modern papacy as an office of moral persuasion. John Paul II, elected precisely 100 years after Leo, turned the papal bully pulpit into something to be reckoned with in the world. John Paul was one of the key figures in the collapse of European communism; he also played a significant role in democratic transitions in Latin America and East Asia, while defending the universality of human rights and challenging the intolerant secularism of European high culture.</p>
<p>That many Catholics feel a deep personal connection to the pope is another relatively new, and in some respects surprising, phenomenon.</p>
<p>When the first American Catholic diocese, Baltimore, was erected in 1789, few Catholics in the nascent American republic felt a personal bond with Pius VI. Beset by anticlerical Italian revolutionaries determined to incorporate the Papal States into a unified Italy, Pius IX (1846–1878) was the first modern pontiff who attracted popular Catholic sympathy and support. (He was also the first pope to set foot on sovereign American soil. Having fled Rome and Garibaldi’s legion in 1849, Pius visited the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” then berthed in Gaeta harbor. Capt. John Gwinn, USN, was court-martialed for allowing the pope aboard, in tacit violation of American neutrality in Italian politics.)</p>
<p>The millions of Catholic immigrants who came to America between the Civil War and World War I were certainly aware of Leo XIII (who defended trade unions), Pius X (who permitted children to receive holy communion), Benedict XV (who bankrupted the Vatican helping World War I refugees and POWs) and Pius XI (a fierce critic of Nazism and communism); yet these popes were hardly popular icons. Pius XII (1939–1958) was widely venerated, but he was a remote figure who seemed to inhabit a different plane; it was thought quite remarkable that such an ethereal personality used a telephone, a typewriter and an electric razor.</p>
<p>It was “Good Pope John”–now Blessed John XXIII–who sealed the bond of personal affection between the papacy and U.S. Catholics of every age and condition; when he died in June 1963 after a protracted struggle with stomach cancer, it seemed like a death in the family. The pontificate of his successor, Paul VI (1963–1978), was riddled by bitter controversies over worship, sexual morality and church governance; when Pope Paul died at Castel Gandolfo on Aug. 15, 1978, just about everyone was ready to turn a page. Paul’s immediate successor, the charming John Paul I, might have been another John XXIII but died after 33 days on the job.</p>
<p>Over the next 26 years, his successor evolved from “John Paul Superstar” into the first universal pastor of the age of globalization; as NBC’s Brian Williams said at the time, John Paul II’s April 2005 funeral was “the human event of a generation.” Tens of thousands of American Catholics have visited his tomb in the Vatican grottoes and sought his intercession since he made his final journey to what he called “the House of the Father.”</p>
<p>Benedict XVI inherited from John Paul II a certain set of expectations about who popes are and what popes do. A less pyrotechnic personality than his predecessor, in whose pontificate he played a major intellectual role, Benedict has drawn far less media attention than John Paul (at least outside Italy). He very much matters, however, in both the public and personal senses of popes “mattering”; one just has to look closer and deeper to discern the imprint of the shoes of this fisherman.</p>
<p>The Grand Strategy of Benedict XVI Modern popes deploy a distinctive form of power: the power of moral persuasion. Its effects are sometimes difficult to recognize.</p>
<p>Take John Paul II’s epic pilgrimage to Poland in June 1979. Cold-war historians now recognize June 2–10, 1979, as a moment on which the history of our times pivoted. By igniting a revolution of conscience that gave birth to the Solidarity movement, John Paul II accelerated the pace of events that eventually led to the demise of European communism and a radically redrawn map in Eastern Europe. There were other actors and forces at work, to be sure; but that John Paul played a central role in the communist crackup, no serious student of the period doubts today.</p>
<p>In 1979, however, the effects of the moral and spiritual revolution John Paul triggered were hard for some to discern. On June 5, 1979, The New York Times concluded an editorial in these terms: “As much as the visit of John Paul II must reinvigorate and reinspire the Roman Catholic Church in Poland, it does not threaten the political order of the [Polish] nation or of Eastern Europe.”</p>
<p>What accounts for this myopia? Granted, the Polish pope had not used the vocabulary normally associated with affairs of state: over nine days and 40-some addresses, John Paul II said not a word about politics, economics, the Polish communist regime or its masters in Moscow. Rather, he spoke of Poland’s authentic history and deeply religious culture while summoning his people to a noble project: the restoration of their true identity. The message was received by those with ears to hear, and history changed as a result. (Including John Paul II’s personal history, for the pope’s success hardened the conviction in Moscow that something drastic had to be done about this meddlesome priest. The assassination attempt of May 13, 1981, followed in due course.)</p>
<p>Perhaps the deeper reason for missing the impact of John Paul II’s “June 1979 moment” lies in the filters through which many people read history today. According to one such filter, religious and moral conviction is irrelevant to shaping the flow of contemporary history. They may give meaning to individual lives; but change history? Please. The world has outgrown that.</p>
<p>Or has it? The different personalities of John Paul II and Benedict XVI sometimes mask their shared (and unshakable) conviction that religious and moral ideas can redirect the course of human affairs. And that, in turn, suggests the possibility that Benedict XVI may have had his own “June 1979 moment”–a moment that was missed, or misunderstood, at the time.</p>
<p>That moment was the most controversial episode in Benedict XVI’s pontificate: his Regensburg Lecture on faith and reason, delivered at his old German university on Sept. 12, 2006. By quoting a Byzantine emperor’s sharp critique of Islam, Benedict XVI drew worldwide criticism. Others, however, including significant personalities in the complex worlds of Islam, took the pope’s point about the dangers of faith detached from reason quite seriously. And over the ensuing 19 months, there have been potentially historic tectonic shifts going on, both within Islam and in the world of interreligious dialogue.</p>
<p>Benedict has received two open letters from Muslim leaders; the October 2007 letter, “An Op en Word Between Us and You,” proposed a new dialogue between Islam and the Vatican. That dialogue will now be conducted through a Catholic-Muslim Forum that will meet twice yearly, in Rome and in Amman, Jordan. The forum will address two issues that Benedict XVI has insisted be the focus of conversation: religious freedom, understood as a human right that everyone can grasp by reason, and the separation of religious and political authority in the modern state.</p>
<p>Perhaps even more important, given his influence in Sunni Islam, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited Benedict XVI in November 2007. Subsequently, the king announced his own interfaith initiative, aimed at drawing representatives of the three monotheistic faiths into a new conversation, and negotiations between the Holy See and Saudi Arabia opened on building the first Catholic church in the kingdom. (A new Catholic church, also the first of its kind, recently opened in Doha, Qatar.) Abdullah’s voice was noticeably absent from the chorus of critics who charged Benedict XVI with “aggression” for baptizing Magdi Allam, a prominent Italian journalist and convert from Islam, in St. Peter’s Basilica on March 22. That all of this has happened after Regensburg is, at the very least, suggestive.</p>
<p>In addition to reshaping the dialogue between Catholicism and Islam, Benedict XVI has made significant changes in the Vatican’s intellectual approach to these volatile issues. Catholic veterans of the interreligious dialogue who did not press issues like religious freedom and reciprocity between the faiths have been replaced by scholars who believe that facing the hard questions helps support those Muslim reformers who are trying to find an authentic Islamic path to civility, tolerance and pluralism. Thus Benedict XVI has quietly put his pontificate behind the forces of Islamic reform–and may have found a crucial ally with a Saudi king who is wrestling with Wahhabi extremism in his own domain.</p>
<p>The pope is thinking in centuries here: a reformed Islam capable of living with religious and political pluralism could be an ally in the struggle against what Benedict once called the “dictatorship of relativism.” In any event, an Islam recognizing religious freedom and affirming the separation of religious and political authority would be good for Muslims who want to live in peace with their neighbors, and good for the rest of the world. The stakes couldn’t be higher.</p>
<p>Benedict knows that, just as he knew exactly what he was doing at Regensburg. He won’t see the fruits of his labors, as John Paul II saw the fruits of June 1979. He has, however, set in motion new dynamics in contemporary history, which is no small accomplishment.</p>
<p>The Master Teacher Modern popes matter in spiritual microcosm as well as historical macrocosm. John Paul II touched, and changed, millions of lives. Go to an American seminary today and ask the seminarians who their priestly role model is. Or visit a parish marriage-preparation course and see how John Paul’s “Theology of the Body” is reshaping the Catholic understanding of marriage, sexuality and family life. Graduate schools of theology are filled with students writing dissertations on the thought of John Paul II, whose intellectual impact on Catholicism will reverberate for centuries.</p>
<p>Benedict’s personal influence on Catholics is perhaps less dramatic, but it is no less real to those who have seen or heard him personally. Joseph Ratzinger is one of the most learned men in the world; he is also a master teacher who can unpack complex Christian doctrines in an accessible way. That helps explain why he continues to draw enormous crowds to his Wednesday general audiences, some larger than those drawn by his predecessor. The tag line in some Roman circles is that “People came to see John Paul II; they come to hear Benedict XVI.” That contrast is too sharply drawn, but Benedict’s skills as a teacher have certainly touched a significant 21st-century yearning for solid religious food. His first two encyclicals, on love and hope, were consciously framed to speak to the fears of a deeply conflicted world by reminding the world of Christianity’s basic message.</p>
<p>Benedict’s catechetical skills with children are also striking. Six months after his election, he met thousands of Italian 8- and 9-year-olds who had just made their first communion. One of them asked how Jesus could be present in the consecrated bread and wine of the Eucharist when “I can’t see him!”</p>
<p>To which the pope replied, “No, we cannot see him; there are many things we do not see, but they exist and are essential . . . We do not see an electric current; yet we see that it exists. We can see that this microphone is working, and we see lights. We do not see the very deepest things, those that really sustain life and the world, but we can see and feel their effects . . . So it is with the Risen Lord: we do not see him with our eyes, but we see that wherever Jesus is, people change, they improve, there is a greater capacity for peace, for reconciliation . . .”</p>
<p>Another youngster asked why the church urged frequent confession. Benedict answered: “It’s very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same . . . Otherwise the dirt might not be seen, but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, about me: if I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and in the end I’m always pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must work hard to improve . . .”</p>
<p>What the pope can say so winsomely to children, he will likely say to adults during his American pilgrimage: “Look again at the basics of Catholic faith and practice. They exist for a reason. They just may satisfy the hungers of the human heart. Give them a chance.”</p>
<p>Popes matter in ways that challenge our conventional thinking about the way the world works. Popes no longer claim the power to bring penitent princes to their knees in the snow, as Gregory VII did with Henry IV; the modern papacy deploys a greater power, the power to propose and persuade, religiously and morally. Popes matter by changing lives and changing history.</p>
<p>Which, as it happens, was the only power Saint Peter had.</p>
<p>George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. and holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.</p> | How Benedict XVI Will Make History | false | https://eppc.org/publications/how-benedict-xvi-will-make-history/ | 1 |
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<p>According to a shocking new <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/06/law-enforcement-sources-gun-used-paris-terrorist-attacks-came-phoenix/" type="external">report</a> by Judicial Watch, the guns used by Islamic terrorists in the November 2015 ISIS attacks in Paris came directly from President Obama’s own administration. The guns were distributed to criminals during the ATF’s notorious “Fast and Furious” program. Ultimately, the weapons traveled from Phoenix, Arizona to Paris where they were used to inflict harm on innocent civilians. Jihadists killed 130 people and wounded hundreds of others in the deadly attack at the heart of Paris.</p>
<p>Judicial Watch explains:</p>
<p>A Report of Investigation (ROI) filed by a case agent in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tracked the gun used in the Paris attacks to a Phoenix gun owner who sold it illegally, “off book,” Judicial Watch’s law enforcement sources confirm. Federal agents tracing the firearm also found the Phoenix gun owner to be in possession of an unregistered fully automatic weapon, according to law enforcement officials with firsthand knowledge of the investigation.</p>
<p>The investigative follow up of the Paris weapon consisted of tracking a paper trail using a 4473 form, which documents a gun’s ownership history by, among other things, using serial numbers. The Phoenix gun owner that the weapon was traced back to was found to have at least two federal firearms violations—for selling one weapon illegally and possessing an unregistered automatic—but no enforcement or prosecutorial action was taken against the individual. Instead, ATF leaders went out of their way to keep the information under the radar and ensure that the gun owner’s identity was “kept quiet,” according to law enforcement sources involved with the case. “Agents were told, in the process of taking the fully auto, not to anger the seller to prevent him from going public,” a veteran law enforcement official told Judicial Watch.</p>
<p>The ATF has downplayed these allegations. “No firearms used in the Paris attacks have been traced,” ATF spokesman Corey Ray <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2016/06/law-enforcement-sources-gun-used-paris-terrorist-attacks-came-phoenix/" type="external">told</a> Judicial Watch. The watchdog then asked the same spokesman about the ROI report. Here’s what he said: "I’m not familiar with the report you’re referencing."</p>
<p>When Judicial Watch attempted to contact the ATF office in Phoenix, their calls were ignored.</p>
<p>This isn’t the first time Obama’s secretive “Fast and Furious” program has made headlines. As The Daily Wire <a href="" type="internal">reported</a>, murderous drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman got his grubby hands on a .50 caliber rifle courtesy of the ATF.</p>
<p>Who knows how many other Obama-issued weapons are out there in the hands of the world’s most dangerous criminals?</p> | INSANE: Paris Attacker Used Gun From Obama’s Fast and Furious Program | true | https://dailywire.com/news/7113/insane-paris-attacker-used-gun-obamas-fast-and-michael-qazvini | 2016-06-30 | 0 |
<p>Bernie Sanders&lt;a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/96739999@N05/16305933820/in/photolist-qQUb31-HKH72-bEPgK1-bEPgBq-r17vyM-65hH1m-6rAHHq-73Er2i-6cHssT-6KE8U7-d88JVS-bEPgRL-apd65r-ajeC46-9kmvAa-apfQhy-9TMtgV-9TMtMV-9TMt7t-9TMtyi-9TMtDp-9TMts6-9TMtZP-aiTAgn-aiTAyM-aiTAuD-8ZVNpE-5UvpVU-6rwzDH-6rr8HK-6rwzfP-6rwzLK-5TTUfg-9omDT5-q4foRC-q4sSqk-qXxPva-9kACiB-7YMVkZ-yvCRt-5Uvq3d-drh4Ze-5HUNig-aGoSb2-cUDwaC-213Kab-213K79-bUbSLC-5HdbEp-gHYFC3"&gt;Brookings Institution&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p />
<p>Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the longest-serving independent in Congress and its only self-described democratic socialist, is best known for his stands against wealthy special interests and in favor of government programs that help the poor and the middle class. Now 73, Sanders <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/178717/bernie-sanders-i-am-prepared-run-president-united-states#" type="external">announced</a> last year that he may run for president in 2016. During a swing through San Francisco this week, he stopped by Mother Jones HQ to talk to us about America’s greed problem, the fecklessness of Democrats, and how to catalyze the progressive movement.</p>
<p>Mother Jones: What have you been up to lately?</p>
<p>Bernie Sanders: I’m going around the country talking about what I believe is the most important issue facing the American people: the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality. The Koch brothers and a few others are attempting to buy the United States government, and that should be of concern to everybody.</p>
<p>MJ: How bad is inequality now, in your view?</p>
<p>BS: Between 2013 and 2015, the wealthiest 14 people saw their wealth increase by $157 billion. This is their wealth increase, got it? Not what they are worth. Increase. That $157 billion is more wealth than is owned by the bottom 40 percent of the American people. One family, the Walton family, owns more wealth than the bottom 40 percent.</p>
<p>MJ: To be the devil’s advocate, why should we care about that?</p>
<p>BS: I think this goes back to the Bible. There is something immoral when so few have so much and so many have so little. I don’t come to San Francisco very often, but we’ve driven around the city and seen people sleeping out on the streets. In my state, you’ve got people working 40, 50 hours a week and going to emergency food shelves because they don’t earn enough money to feed their families adequately. You have millions of young people graduating college deeply in debt. They can’t get their lives started, can’t get married. So I think the issue of income and wealth inequality is in fact a moral issue.</p>
<p>Second of all, it becomes a political issue. The Koch brothers will end up spending far, far, far more than all of the Democratic billionaires. But even if it were equal, which it is certainly not, you’re a billionaire and I’m a billionaire—you want to control the political process from your point of view and I from my point of view. That is not what American democracy is about. Which is why I believe we’ve got to overturn Citizens United and move to public funding of elections.</p>
<p>MJ: The problems of inequality and money in politics have been getting worse for a long time. Do you think we’ve lost the will to fix this?</p>
<p>BS: It’s not a question of have we lost the will; it’s that the billionaire class is much more aggressive now than it used to be. There was a time in the ’60s or ’70s when the rich wanted to get richer, but they kind of understood that it wasn’t the worst thing in the world that their employees had a union; it wasn’t the worst thing in the world that people had Medicare or Medicaid and that college tuition was often very low. But in the last 35 or 40 years, there has been an increasingly aggressive effort on the part of the top 1 percent to take it all. And that aggression has not been effectively countered by middle-class and working families.</p>
<p>MJ: Why do you think that is? Are most people fundamentally content?</p>
<p>BS: Absolutely not. People are working longer hours for lower wages and are exhausted. I think they don’t have the energy to engage in political struggle. And second of all, the power of the billionaire class, people look up and say, “We can’t beat them.”</p>
<p>MJ: Tell me about the kinds of obstacles you face in the Senate.</p>
<p>BS: I can tell you that virtually every piece of legislation that gets to the floor of the House is in a sense being pushed by one or another powerful special interest group. The American people want to raise the minimum wage. Every poll tells us that. That bill will not get to the floor of the Senate. The American people want to ask the rich to pay more in taxes. But the legislation that will get to the floor is tax breaks for billionaires. A few moths ago, the Senate voted to <a href="" type="internal">repeal sections of Dodd-Frank</a> designed to control Wall Street greed. I would say 90 percent of the American people think that’s crazy. Wall Street thought it was a great idea. So pretty much what the American people want is exactly the opposite of what appears in the Senate.</p>
<p>MJ: There’s certainly a lot of cynicism out there about politics. Why should people think that it’s even possible to solve these problems in Washington?</p>
<p>BS: Let’s be clear: Nobody, certainly not me, has any magical solution. It may well be that the rich will win big-time. It may be that the billionaire class is so powerful in terms of their control of the economy, the political process, and the media that they will not be beat. But what I will also tell you is that I have four kids and seven grandchildren whom I love very much. I am going to do my best to try to create a country in which children are not living in poverty, in which kids can go to college, in which old people have health care. Will I succeed? I can’t guarantee you that, but I can tell you that from a human point of view it is better to show up than to give up.</p>
<p>MJ: Why has your brand of politics not swept the nation?</p>
<p>BS: I think Democrats are not stressing issues that make sense to ordinary people. People say, “No one is going to stand up for me, they are too busy worrying about the billionaires.”</p>
<p>MJ: It’s interesting that talk of income inequality increases around election time, and then kind of drops off the radar.</p>
<p>BS: Yes. You know what else is interesting, mark my words: Every three weeks before an election the TV ads expressing great concern about our trade policy and the loss of jobs to China and other low-wage countries. And then it’s forgotten about the day after the election.</p>
<p>MJ: When you approach moderate to liberal Democrats and ask for their support on key issues, what do you hear back from them?</p>
<p>BS: You can talk about raising the minimum wage, talk about pay equity for women workers, that’s okay. But to really make it clear that you are going to, say, take on Wall Street in a significant way, people are nervous about that.</p>
<p>MJ: Your <a href="" type="internal">filibuster of Obama’s 2010 tax deal</a> with Republicans, which extended the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, got a lot of attention. Have you thought about doing something like that again?</p>
<p>BS: Maybe. I happen to like Barack Obama. He’s a friend. I’ve supported him on many initiatives. But on that particular issue he made a big mistake. He caved in to Republican demands to sustain tax breaks for the rich and large corporations. And I thought that was a terrible mistake not only from a public policy perspective but from a political perspective. I thought he should make it clear at that moment that we’re not going to give the rich more tax breaks. I think that’s what the American people wanted to hear.</p>
<p>MJ: Why don’t we have more politicians willing to do this? It’s not like you got kicked out of office.</p>
<p>BS: I think you are getting to the root of the problem. Too many Democrats are worried that they’re going to antagonize wealthy people and campaign contributors. The other mindset is that I am going to increase the number of people who are going to vote. I am going to get them excited and we are going to make some real change. One of my great political lessons came after I was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981. I stood for working-class people. We made change. Two years later, you know what happened in terms of voter turnout? It almost doubled. Why? Because a lot of low-income and working-class people said, “Bernie is standing with us; let’s stand with him.” And that is the way you are going to win.</p>
<p>MJ: Of course, plenty of well-funded progressive Democrats have lost to moderates. Like Chicago’s <a href="" type="internal">Ilya Sheyman</a>, whose 2012 congressional primary loss to a centrist was seen as a bellwether for progressives.</p>
<p>BS: Yeah, he lost. You know how many times I lost in my political career? The first time I ran for office, I was running on a third party—I got 2 percent of the vote. You know what I got the next time around? One percent. Then I got 4 percent, then 6 percent. I became mayor of Burlington by a 10-vote majority! I lost the race for governor. I lost the race for US House of Representatives. I’ve lost six different times. How’s that for losing? You can’t say, “Well, he lost, that’s the end of the world.” You have to say, “Okay, you lost, what did we do wrong? What do we do next time? How do we do it again?”</p>
<p>MJ: Are you running for president?</p>
<p>BS: I am thinking about running for president. I want to make sure that if I do it, I do it well. Not just for my own ego, but if we run a poor campaign then what I believe in becomes discredited. I am trying to ascertain if I can do it well. I am not like a billionaire who says, “Well, I have decided to run, I have given my campaign manager a billion dollars, we’re off and running.” This is a different type of campaign. It has to be thought out.</p>
<p>MJ: Would you run as an independent?</p>
<p>BS: There is growing frustration with the two-party system. If I were a multibillionaire the answer would be pretty simple: I would have the financial resources to set up a political infrastructure in 50 states. If you run within the Democratic Caucus, there are a lot of people who would say, “Why did you participate in a party that doesn’t stand for very much?” On the other hand, you would be in the debates, get more media attention. But no matter what I do, I will not play the role of a spoiler who ends up helping to elect a right-wing Republican.</p>
<p>MJ: What happens if we go into the Democratic primary with no serious progressives in the race?</p>
<p>BS: It would be very, very disappointing—not just for the progressive movement but for the American people and our political system. We just came from an election where 63 percent of the people did not vote. Eighty percent of young people did not vote. I think the American people are hurting, frustrated, angry, and they want to get an understanding of what’s going on and how we can change the system to improve the lives of working families. And those ideas are not in this political debate.</p>
<p>MJ: If Hillary Clinton became president, would that be a step forward or a step back?</p>
<p>BS: It depends. I have known Hillary Clinton for many, many years. At this particular point, we have no idea of what she will campaign on and what she would do if she were elected president. What I know is, I voted against the war in Iraq and helped lead the effort against that. I was one of the strongest voices in Congress against the deregulation of Wall Street. I believe in a single-payer national health care system. I do not want to see the United States entangled in a never-ending war in the Middle East. I am opposed to the Keystone pipeline. And I am very strongly opposed to the trade policies that we’ve had for 35 years, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership. That’s my reckoning. You’ll have to ask Hillary what her views are.</p>
<p>Correction: The questioner initially mischaracterized the 2010 tax deal as making the Bush tax cuts permanent; in fact, it only guaranteed an extension of the cuts.</p>
<p /> | Bernie Sanders Goes Biblical on Income Inequality | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/04/bernie-sanders-inequality-president-interview/ | 2015-04-02 | 4 |
<p>MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ These Wisconsin lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>5 Card Cash</p>
<p>QS-AS-10D-2S-4S</p>
<p>(QS, AS, 10D, 2S, 4S)</p>
<p>Megabucks</p>
<p>04-14-18-24-27-40</p>
<p>(four, fourteen, eighteen, twenty-four, twenty-seven, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $1 million</p>
<p>SuperCash</p>
<p>07-19-26-27-30-37, Doubler: N</p>
<p>(seven, nineteen, twenty-six, twenty-seven, thirty, thirty-seven; Doubler: N)</p>
<p>Badger 5</p>
<p>04-07-08-19-27</p>
<p>(four, seven, eight, nineteen, twenty-seven)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $21,000</p>
<p>Daily Pick 3</p>
<p>0-7-5</p>
<p>(zero, seven, five)</p>
<p>Daily Pick 4</p>
<p>0-7-5-3</p>
<p>(zero, seven, five, three)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $418 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>02-18-37-39-42, Powerball: 12, Power Play: 3</p>
<p>(two, eighteen, thirty-seven, thirty-nine, forty-two; Powerball: twelve; Power Play: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $460 million</p>
<p>MADISON, Wis. (AP) _ These Wisconsin lotteries were drawn Wednesday:</p>
<p>5 Card Cash</p>
<p>QS-AS-10D-2S-4S</p>
<p>(QS, AS, 10D, 2S, 4S)</p>
<p>Megabucks</p>
<p>04-14-18-24-27-40</p>
<p>(four, fourteen, eighteen, twenty-four, twenty-seven, forty)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $1 million</p>
<p>SuperCash</p>
<p>07-19-26-27-30-37, Doubler: N</p>
<p>(seven, nineteen, twenty-six, twenty-seven, thirty, thirty-seven; Doubler: N)</p>
<p>Badger 5</p>
<p>04-07-08-19-27</p>
<p>(four, seven, eight, nineteen, twenty-seven)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $21,000</p>
<p>Daily Pick 3</p>
<p>0-7-5</p>
<p>(zero, seven, five)</p>
<p>Daily Pick 4</p>
<p>0-7-5-3</p>
<p>(zero, seven, five, three)</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $418 million</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>02-18-37-39-42, Powerball: 12, Power Play: 3</p>
<p>(two, eighteen, thirty-seven, thirty-nine, forty-two; Powerball: twelve; Power Play: three)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $460 million</p> | WI Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/cf2bc0919b7c4ce796609ee7c9c0ad97 | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - Rocky Mountain National Park almost set another visitation record in 2017.</p>
<p>The Coloradoan <a href="http://noconow.co/2n9C3Zq" type="external">reported</a> Wednesday that the park's visitation last year was less than 2 percent shy of the 4.5 million visitors it saw in 2016.</p>
<p>Last year was the first time since 2013 the park hasn't set a visitation record.</p>
<p>The park says that visitation has increased about 40 percent since 2012. The increase has been partly attributed to Front Range population growth and recent centennial celebrations for Rocky and the National Park Service.</p>
<p>The increased traffic has park managers evaluating ways to protect visitors. Last summer and fall, vehicle access was restricted during congested periods in the highly trafficked Bear Lake Road corridor, Wild Basin area and Alpine Visitor Center. Park managers will do so again in 2018.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, <a href="http://www.coloradoan.com" type="external">http://www.coloradoan.com</a></p>
<p>FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - Rocky Mountain National Park almost set another visitation record in 2017.</p>
<p>The Coloradoan <a href="http://noconow.co/2n9C3Zq" type="external">reported</a> Wednesday that the park's visitation last year was less than 2 percent shy of the 4.5 million visitors it saw in 2016.</p>
<p>Last year was the first time since 2013 the park hasn't set a visitation record.</p>
<p>The park says that visitation has increased about 40 percent since 2012. The increase has been partly attributed to Front Range population growth and recent centennial celebrations for Rocky and the National Park Service.</p>
<p>The increased traffic has park managers evaluating ways to protect visitors. Last summer and fall, vehicle access was restricted during congested periods in the highly trafficked Bear Lake Road corridor, Wild Basin area and Alpine Visitor Center. Park managers will do so again in 2018.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, <a href="http://www.coloradoan.com" type="external">http://www.coloradoan.com</a></p> | Rocky Mountain National Park nearly hits visitation record | false | https://apnews.com/amp/6fab2b8b10784ad8bd1b9ae419e71481 | 2018-01-25 | 2 |
<p>Groupon, the internet company that sells group discounts, now has the highest initial public offering or IPO for a US internet company since Google went public in 2004.</p>
<p>Groupon Inc raised $700 million Friday and is now valued at almost $13 billion, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/04/us-groupon-idUSTRE7A352020111104" type="external">Reuters reported</a>. Its shares are now priced at $20 each, which is above the initial $16 to $18 range.</p>
<p>It stated that this is the highest tech valuation since Google raised $1.7 billion in 2004.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011-11-03/groupon-ipo/51065774/1" type="external">USA Today reported</a> that Groupon's stock soared more than 50 percent Friday.</p>
<p>"Though it spawned many copycats after its 2008 launch, Groupon has the advantage of being first. This has meant brand recognition and investor demand, as evidenced by its sizzling public stock debut," it stated.</p>
<p>Groupon issued about 35 million shares Friday, and the site will now trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "GRPN," the <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/groupon-ipo-highest-tech-valuation-since-google.html" type="external">Los Angeles Times reported.</a></p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-groupon-20111104,0,7614972.story" type="external">Chicago Tribune editorial board</a> noted that Groupon's success reflects well on the city.</p>
<p>"Chicago's newest publicly held company is its most exciting commercial proposition since financial futures and Motorola cell phones," the editorial stated.</p>
<p>"Can it really be that Groupon expanded from 37 employees in late 2009 to more than 10,000 today? It's an amazing business story."</p> | Groupon: IPO causes a stir | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-04/groupon-ipo-causes-stir | 2011-11-04 | 3 |
<p>With Congress nearing a consensus on a withdrawal timetable, the president repeated the claim Wednesday that Democrats would be held responsible for denying the troops funding. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070328/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq;_ylt=AoTwO83MpfJlmNNsZ9EYNiHMWM0F" type="external">responded</a> by saying Bush should “Calm down with the threats,” and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid simply asked, “Why doesn’t he get real with what’s going on with the world?”</p>
<p>AP via Yahoo!:</p>
<p>Democratic leaders, determined to force Bush to change course in Iraq, also disputed his contention that Congress would be to blame for any funding difficulties in a war they have vowed to end.</p>
<p>“Why doesn’t he get real with what’s going on with the world?” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record), D-Nev. “We’re not holding up funding in Iraq and he knows that. Why doesn’t he deal with the real issues facing the American people?”</p>
<p />
<p>Pelosi responded to Bush with a blend of conciliation and challenge.</p>
<p>“On this very important matter, I would extend a hand of friendship to the president, just to say to him, ‘Calm down with the threats,” she said. “There’s a new Congress in town. We accept your constitutional role. We want you to accept ours.”</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070328/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq;_ylt=AoTwO83MpfJlmNNsZ9EYNiHMWM0F" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Pelosi Tells Bush to 'Calm Down' | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/pelosi-tells-bush-to-calm-down/ | 2007-03-29 | 4 |
<p>You've Heard The Fables, Now Hear The Facts</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Over the past few decades, new Bible translations have been popping up like popcorn. Many strong Christians have stood their ground and continued to believe, read, and study only the Authorized King James Bible. Many others, however, have forsaken the Book that God has used for centuries. Such people have fallen for smooth advertising schemes and have actually started believing that the modern versions are superior to the King James Bible. It's very sad that most Christians today have not taken time to study the subject thoroughly enough to see what is really happening. "Where the word of a king is, there is power" <a href="javascript:;" type="external">Ecclesiastes 8:4</a> Originally we published only one tract about the King James Bible. The tract is titled How I Know The King James Bible Is The Word Of God, and it presents some rather strong arguments for the KJV. Then we offered a second tract, titled Let's Compare Bibles. This tract shows how the modern Bible translations are literally attacking God's word! Both of these tracts are still available, and are free upon request. Now, by the grace of God, we are able to offer a third tract on the King James issue. We call it Fables And Facts About The King James Bible. It's purpose is to better educate Christians about the KJV by clearing up some of the fables that have been spread by the critics. Far too many Christians are accepting the Authorized Version by faith alone, rather than working and studying to become more grounded in some of the basic FACTS about this important issue. The following information should be helpful to the believer who desires to be readily armed with TRUTH.</p> | true | http://nowtheendbegins.com/pages/KJV/fables-and-facts-about-the-king-james-bible.htm | 0 |
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<p />
<p>What provoked the mercurial Karzai and infuriated many other Afghans was a move by the Taliban to cast their new office in the Gulf nation of Qatar as a rival embassy. The Taliban held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday in which they hoisted their flag and a banner with the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: “Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Karzai on the phone, telling him that his concerns were justified and that he would work to resolve the issue.</p>
<p>An American official said he still expects to have the first public meeting with Taliban representatives in the next few days in Qatar but that no exact meeting date has been set.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, the militants’ attempt at a publicity coup clearly played to Karzai’s longstanding distrust of both the Taliban and the United States, who had announced Tuesday that they would pursue negotiations in the Qatari capital of Doha – at least initially without the Afghan government.</p>
<p>It may have also given Karzai an excuse to try to head off the Doha talks, which he probably agreed to support only reluctantly and under U.S. pressure. Karzai has for years opposed talks outside Afghanistan and dominated or directed by the U.S. The Taliban, on the other hand, have never really wanted to negotiate with Karzai, preferring to talk directly with the U.S.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“To have this whole ceremony, televised worldwide, without a single mention of the Afghan government having a role in whatever process is going to happen … they (Karzai and his peace delegation) suddenly realized, basically they weren’t out in front, they didn’t feature at all,” said Kabul-based analyst Martine van Bijlert.</p>
<p>In a statement released by his office, Karzai lashed out at the U.S., using his leverage with Washington by suspending negotiations over what presence the United States will keep in Afghanistan after 2014. He said his High Peace Council would not enter talks with the Taliban until the negotiations were “completely Afghan.”</p>
<p>He also criticized the Taliban and insisted that they halt their attacks on the ground before negotiations can begin.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Angry Afghan president scuttles peace negotiations | false | https://abqjournal.com/212459/angry-afghan-president-scuttles-peace-negotiations.html | 2013-06-20 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Everything old is new again.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>About 100 years ago, German industrialist Linde AGsold its American unit, then known as Linde Air Products, to Union Carbide -- which in turn spun off the subsidiary in 1992, naming it Praxair (NYSE: PX). But 100 years later, Linde and Praxair are getting the band back together. Last week, the companies announced plans to join forces in a "merger of equals."</p>
<p>When consummated, the merger should create a new industrial giant with $30 billion in annual sales and a market capitalization in excess of $64 billion.</p>
<p>Here's what you need to know about it.</p>
<p>Oxygen plus hydrogen gases make water. But what does a merger of two gas-makers equal? Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Broadly speaking, both Linde and Praxair are in the "gas" business, but not by owning your corner filling station. Rather, they're in the business of producing chemicals in gaseous state -- oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and so on -- for use in medicine and industry.</p>
<p>It's a big business ($30 billion annually), and a profitable one. According to data from S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence, Linde generated operating profit margins of 11.5% over the past 12 months, while Praxair is doing closer to 22.1%. Linde does more revenue -- $18 billion annually -- while Praxair at $10.5 billion in sales sells less but makes more profit off each revenue dollar.</p>
<p>Up until the merger was announced, investors liked Praxair's approach a bit better, valuing the stock at $33.5 billion, versus Linde's $30.6 billion market capitalization. But basically, the two companies are pretty closely aligned, both in the business they conduct and the money they make off it.</p>
<p>Accordingly, the companies are structuring this as a true merger of equals, with shareholders in each company ending up owning a 50% interest in the combined company -- which, in a nod to history, will once again go by the name of Linde. Because of the differences in share prices and shares outstanding, however, to get to this 50-50 split will require giving each current Linde shareholder 1.54 shares in the combined company, while Praxair shareholders will have to content themselves with a straight 1-for-1 exchange.</p>
<p>As for when the deal will close, this remains uncertain. The company's expect it will take months to complete their internal approvals, execute, and approve a merger agreement, and obtain regulatory green lights around the world. Potentially, getting regulators to OK the merger will require selling off pieces of either or both companies to defuse antitrust concerns -- and even then, there is no assurance that the merger will ultimately succeed.</p>
<p>But what if it does? Linde and Praxair agree that by merging their operations, they stand to reap $1 billion in annual synergies -- money that can be saved and lead to higher profits. With Praxair earning $2.3 billion a year pre-tax, and Linde $2.2 billion, those savings represent an opportunity to boost profits by as much as 22%, in one fell swoop.</p>
<p>After tax, that should work out to perhaps $3.4 billion in annual profits for the combined company. On a market capitalization of $64.4 billion, that works out to about 19 times earnings for Linde 2.0. The price-to-sales ratio would be 2.1.</p>
<p>And free cash flow? Currently, Linde is generating about $2.1 billion; Praxair, $1.4 billion in cash profits. Assuming free cash rises in proportion to the promised increase in net income, this implies that the new firm could be churning out cash at the rate of $4.3 billion a year -- and selling for a valuation of as little as 15 times free cash flow.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, industrial gas is not the sexiest growth industry on the planet. Current estimates on S&amp;P Global see Praxair growing its smaller business by about 15% annually over the next five years, but Linde is only expected to expand at about an 8% rate. Blend those two numbers, and we're probably only looking at long-term growth rates of about 11% for the firm, after the initial windfall from cost-saving synergies -- <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2010/03/23/keep-your-synergies-show-us-results.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">assuming those ever arrive Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Still, if we further assume that a merged Linde-Praxair will maintain both pre-existing companies' commitment to paying modest dividends -- Linde currently pays 2.2%, and Praxair 2.5% -- then the valuation here looks about right, resulting in about a 13% total return on a stock from growth and income, costing 15 times free cash flow.</p>
<p>It's not a bargain by any stretch, which probably explains why both stocks are down modestly since the merger was announced. In fact, you have to depend pretty heavily on seeing Linde 2.0 deliver the promised synergies even to call the valuation fair.</p>
<p>But if the synergies arrive as promised, then that's what it is: a fair price, and a decent deal.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Praxair When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=68b9b69e-e343-46c3-9b5e-f431084b9ec1&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Praxair wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=68b9b69e-e343-46c3-9b5e-f431084b9ec1&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 7, 2016</p>
<p>Fool contributor <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a>does not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him on <a href="http://caps.fool.com/" type="external">Motley Fool CAPS Opens a New Window.</a>, publicly pontificating under the handle <a href="http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01002844399633209838" type="external">TMFDitty Opens a New Window.</a>, where he's currently ranked No. 346 out of more than 75,000 rated members.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://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> | Praxair and Linde Will Merge: What You Need to Know | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/29/praxair-and-linde-will-merge-what-need-to-know.html | 2016-12-29 | 0 |
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<p>The 31-year-old spa and resort has plans to open a 2,400-square-foot restaurant by this time next year.</p>
<p>“The restaurant is called Nama — which means ‘fresh’ in Japanese,” company spokesperson Mary Johnson said. “It’s going to be tapas — like Japanese food — no sushi.”</p>
<p>It also won’t be offering a traditional Japanese tea ceremony à la the Sunrise Springs Inn &amp; Resort, located in La Cienega south of Santa Fe.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“It’s going to be different from any restaurant in town,” Johnson said.</p>
<p>The eatery will feature artisan sake imported from “mom and pop” breweries across Japan. Operators plan to hire their own chef.</p>
<p>Workers have poured the concrete foundation and plan to have the exterior built before winter sets in so they can start building the interior, Johnson said. The restaurant will sit on the site of the spa’s former wood shop on the property’s upper level across from the spa.</p>
<p>Ten Thousand Waves has sold prepared sandwiches, noodles, salads, baked goods and non-alcoholic drinks for years, but when you’re listed as a “resort,” customers expect more, Johnson said.</p>
<p>“They’ve been asked and asked and asked, ‘Why don’t you have a restaurant?’ ”</p>
<p>The business operates 12 lodging rooms in addition to the spa. Some include kitchens; others don’t. During busy holiday weekends, Ten Thousand Waves can accommodate up to 500 daily visitors who soak in Japanese-style tubs and seek pampering spa treatments, such as massages and facials.</p>
<p>Johnson said owner and founder Duke Klauck is also considering expanding the number of rooms.</p>
<p>Klauck is in Japan and unavailable for comment.</p>
<p>The 20-acre property is at 3451 Hyde Park Road, about five miles above Santa Fe’s historic Plaza, on the road that leads into Santa Fe National Forest and Ski Santa Fe.</p> | the Next Wave | false | https://abqjournal.com/140707/the-next-wave.html | 2012-10-23 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Well, Riffers, this will be my last Top Ten for a few weeks as I’m leaving for a European Tour this coming weekend; yes, that’s right, Europeans will apparently part with their hard-earned euros (and zloty and koruny!) to watch me play CDs. Zut alors. So for this Top Ten, I figured I’d start the long, tortuous process of winnowing down a year-end “Best Albums” list by taking a look at the Metacritic <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2007.shtml" type="external">Top Ten Best-Reviewed Albums of the Year</a>.</p>
<p>Metacritic is a site that tallies up reviews from around the world of cultural criticism with a somewhat fallible mathematical formula, assigning points from 1 to 100 based on the grade given in the review. They’ve been adding up the points for the year so far, and their list is interesting both for its errors and its accuracy (for instance, hip-hop is noticeably absent from the top ten). Here’s their list with my thoughts and where each album might end up on my personal year-end list.</p>
<p>10. Robert Wyatt – Comicopera The 62-year-old former drummer for Soft Machine famously lost the use of his legs in an accident in 1973, and found his voice as a solo artist in the ’90s. Comicopera is airy and jazzy, and Wyatt sounds delicate and emotional, almost like the reincarnation of Nick Drake. The album’s themes revolve around protest; protest against war, against civilization in general. It’s often quite beautiful and affecting, but also a bit scattered.</p>
<p>9. Battles – Mirrored Prog rock is back, and it’s got techno in it! The New York combo sound distinctly British here in their ability to combine rock intensity with electronic experimentalism, and the album was appropriately released on Warp Records, home to Aphex Twin. But despite all that, it’s immensely listenable, with lead single “Battles” taking on a kind of Gary Glitter-style swagger and ending up in Diplo DJ sets mashed up with M.I.A.</p>
<p>8. Panda Bear – Person Pitch Good vibrations indeed, this reverb-laden tribute to the major-chord psychedelic pop of Brian Wilson has something in common with the Magnetic Fields: it achieves its traditional-sounding warmth via decidedly non-traditional methods. This is basically the solo project of Animal Collective’s Noah Lennox, yet the sound is full and rich with harmonies.</p>
<p>7. LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver A triumphant and grief-stricken album of plain-spoken dance music, Silver so perfectly defines its own place that it’s hard to imagine how we lived in its absence. Band leader James Murphy digs in the crates of classic disco, Talking Heads, and New Order, and created an album that holds together as such, despite the standout brilliance of many of its singles. The unlikely centerpiece, “Someone Great,” has entered the pantheon of melancholy electro classics like “Don’t You Want Me,” with its mechanical blips coalescing into a majestic tribute to a lost friend.</p>
<p>6. Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends The indie-punk band has built a reputation as a blistering live act, and this album captures an intensity that’s infectious. The Fav were doing angular guitar rock before Bloc Party knew how to walk, and Friends has moments of “this is how it’s done” greatness. “What Would Wolves Do” is the highlight, a ticking, melancholy track with soaring guitar lines reminiscent of early U2, but they also wander a bit into muddy ballads.</p>
<p>5. M.I.A. – Kala I’ve written enough about Kala here to fill a whole separate blog, but the album hasn’t diminished at all for me, even after months of listening. While its most powerful tracks are, basically, hipster mashups (“Paper Planes” sees M.I.A. singing Wrecks n Effect over The Clash, and on “20 Dollar” we hear the Pixies over New Order), the rest has an eclectic open-mindedness that redefines “world music” as a kind of fluorescent-colored agit-pop techno.</p>
<p>4. Patty Griffin – Children Running Through I’ll admit it: this is the least-familiar album for me in the Metacritic Top Ten, and I’m having a hard time finding an entry point. Yes, I understand that Bonnie Raitt-style country singer-songwriters can be affecting and uplifting, and “Heavenly Day” has a simple piano melody that wouldn’t sound out of place in church. But I don’t go to church, and this just isn’t my thing.</p>
<p>3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible Amusingly enough, my personal feelings about religion are much more in evidence on the Montreal collective’s follow-up to the cathartic masterpiece Funeral. “Working for the church, while your family dies,” they spit out on “Intervention,” and it’s as much of a mission statement as any on this ambitious attempt to turn the band’s focus outwards. It’s often deeply affecting, but rarely reaches the heights of Funeral, and unsettlingly, the album’s greatest song, “No Cars Go,” is a remake of a track from their first album.</p>
<p>2. Radiohead – In Rainbows That was fast: it’s only been out a few weeks and it’s already nipping at the heels of the #1 best reviewed album of 2007, only one point behind on the Metacritic tally. Amazingly, amidst all the hype about changing the music industry or whatever, the album truly deserves the accolades, managing to somehow feel both like a great leap forward for the eternally experimental combo as well as a comfortable settling into emotional territories that might seem cliché in less talented hands.</p>
<p>1. The Field – From Here We Go Sublime How odd is this: an album of abstract loopy techno from German label Kompakt is the most unifying musical statement of the year? Really? It’s not even like most of the blippy stuff on Kompakt: the tracks are made up of almost-too-simple loops of tiny excerpts of other songs, so short as to be unrecognizable, except when it’s made explicit, like when “A Paw In My Face” breaks down at the end to reveal the guitar sample has been nothing other than Lionel Richie’s “Hello.” It’s often quite lovely, but as an audio editor by trade, I can’t help but feel that this all sounds kind of easy, like the accidental loops I’d stumble across while cutting up tracks for a commercial promo or something. Could the album’s status as the most basic of “found art” be part of its genius? Maybe, but it ain’t my album of the year.</p>
<p>Thoughts, Riffers? Your favorite albums of the year so far, and CDs that are way over- or underrated? Comments please…</p>
<p /> | Top Ten Stuff ‘n’ Things – Reviewing Metacritic’s Best-Reviewed Albums of the Year | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/11/top-ten-stuff-n-things-reviewing-metacritics-best-reviewed-albums-year/ | 2007-11-06 | 4 |
<p>A retired corporate executive said in a lawsuit that she spent $150,000 on a matchmaking service that set her up with a string of highly incompatible suitors, including men who were married, mentally unstable or felons.</p>
<p>Darlene Daggett, former president for U.S. commerce for the West Chester-based home shopping channel QVC, settled the lawsuit against Corte Madera, California-based Kelleher International hours after it was filed in federal court last week, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer .</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Kelleher chief executive Amber Kelleher-Andrews, a former actress who appeared on "Baywatch" and "Melrose Place," said in a statement to the newspaper that her company is responsible for thousands of marriages over the years.</p>
<p>"It doesn't always work out," Kelleher-Andrews told the newspaper. She said her company works to end courtships "fairly and reasonably."</p>
<p>According to the lawsuit, the 62-year-old Daggett, a divorced mother of four, wanted someone to spend her retirement with, and she felt "social dating sites did not provide her with the degree of screening and privacy she was looking for."</p>
<p>She said she paid $150,000 for a "CEO Level" membership with Kelleher International that guaranteed her matches from around the globe but then endured a series of bad courtships that fell short of what the dating service promised.</p>
<p>Her attorneys described one match as an Australian entrepreneur who took Daggett on trips to Panama and Costa Rica. She said the man started a new trip around the world with his ex the same day she flew home from Panama, something she didn't learn about until a year later.</p>
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<p>Another match was revealed to be a disgraced New York judge who was censured for sleeping with an attorney, court records show.</p>
<p>Another said he was waiting for his terminally ill wife to die before he began dating again, her lawsuit alleged.</p>
<p>A match from Charlottesville, Virginia claimed he suffered from trauma that caused him to lie uncontrollably, according to the suit. Daggett said she later pursued a stalking complaint when the relationship turned sour. That suitor is now awaiting sentencing on a $10.5 million federal bank fraud case.</p>
<p>Daggett also dated a senior executive of a Fortune 500 company for months, and he spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at her home, but then he dropped their relationship without explanation, she said. The lawsuit refers to him only as "the Serial Lothario."</p> | Former exec settles with matchmaking service over bad dates | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/09/former-exec-settles-with-matchmaking-service-over-bad-dates.html | 2017-08-09 | 0 |
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<p>WASHINGTON – There is something profoundly timid about President Obama’s proposed $3.778 trillion budget for 2014.</p>
<p>Stripped of boasts about “investments” for the future and a responsible “balance” between deficit reduction and economic growth, the budget is a status-quo document.</p>
<p>It lets existing trends and policies run their course, meaning that Obama would allow higher spending on the elderly to overwhelm most other government programs. This is not “liberal” or “conservative” so much as politically expedient and lazy.</p>
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<p>The trends are clear. From 2014 to 2023, the administration projects annual spending on Social Security to rise from $860 billion to $1.4 trillion, assuming its proposal for altering the inflation adjustment of benefits is adopted. Over the same years, annual Medicare and Medicaid spending would go from $828 billion to $1.4 trillion.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, defense spending would barely rise from $618 billion to $631 billion. Non-defense discretionary spending (a catchall covering everything from Head Start to the weather service) would increase from $624 billion to $647 billion.</p>
<p>But these are all “nominal” dollars; they don’t account for inflation. When the figures are adjusted for price and population changes, shifts are more pronounced. Defense and non-defense “discretionary” spending decline by 22 percent from 2014 to 2023. (“Defense News” reported last week that the Air Force has sharply cut pilot training; there will be more of this.) Social Security rises 25 percent, Medicare and Medicaid 27 percent. (All figures are from Obama’s budget.)</p>
<p>What’s happening is that savings from shrinking defense and discretionary programs are financing expanded spending for the elderly.</p>
<p>As a share of the economy (gross domestic product), non-elderly and non-health programs are rapidly eroding. In 2012, defense and domestic discretionary programs represented 8.3 percent of GDP; by 2023, the administration projects their share at 4.9 percent of GDP. This can’t continue indefinitely, because – at some point – these programs become completely ineffective or disappear.</p>
<p>But Obama remains unwilling to grapple with basic questions posed by an aging population, high health costs and persistent deficits. Why shouldn’t programs for the elderly be overhauled to reflect longer life expectancy and growing wealth among retirees? Shouldn’t we have a debate on the size and role of government, eliminating low-value programs and raising taxes to cover the rest?</p>
<p>The “spin” given by the White House – and accepted by much of the media – is that the president is doing precisely this by putting coveted “entitlement” spending on the bargaining table.</p>
<p>It’s phony. Compared with the size of the problem, Obama’s proposals are tiny. The much-discussed shift in the inflation adjustment for Social Security benefits to the “chained” consumer price index would save $130 billion over a decade; that’s about 1 percent of projected Social Security spending of $11.23 trillion over the same period.</p>
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<p>A proposal to raise Medicare premiums for affluent retirees is more meaningful but would affect only couples with incomes exceeding $170,000, says Obama aide Gene Sperling.</p>
<p>Similarly, the administration also opposes “wasting taxpayer dollars on programs that are outdated, ineffective or duplicative.” But it proposed only 215 “cuts, consolidations and savings proposals,” reducing spending by an estimated $25 billion in 2014. That’s about seven-tenths of 1 percent of federal spending.</p>
<p>No major program is on chopping block.</p>
<p>The work of politics is persuasion. It is orchestrating desirable, though unpopular, changes. (Popular changes don’t require much work.)</p>
<p>Obama has the intellectual and rhetorical skills to conduct a debate on government’s size and role. But it would be a hard and hazardous political task, because it would challenge the assumptions and interests of wide swaths of the public.</p>
<p>There is no guarantee that he would succeed in altering attitudes. Already, his small proposed cuts in Social Security benefits have outraged much of the liberal base.</p>
<p>So Obama has taken a pass. He has chosen the lazy way out. He’s evading basic choices while claiming he’s bold and brave.</p>
<p>A more charitable interpretation is that he’s focusing his political talents on more promising causes (gun control, immigration).</p>
<p>Either way, government is slowly growing larger while – in many basic functions – it’s being strangled. This paradox, it seems, will be Obama’s questionable legacy.</p>
<p>Copyright, The Washington Post Writers Group.</p> | Budget proposal expedient, lazy | false | https://abqjournal.com/188481/budget-proposal-expedient-lazy.html | 2013-04-14 | 2 |
<p />
<p>What many do not realize is that come Jan 1st 2014, the manufacturing or importation of incandescent light bulbs will be illegal in the United States.</p>
<p>The luminous prohibition was set in motion in 2007 with a bill that set strict minimum efficiencies that were impossible for traditional incandescent bulbs to meet.</p>
<p>Much like how gun controllers want to impose end around bans on firearms by requiring technological standards that don’t exist, such as microstamping, so too have the haters of the little bulb that has lit our nights for some 100+ years use standards that are impossible to meet.</p>
<p>The result, once the stockpiles of warm yellow incandescent light bulbs are gone, we as a nation will be FORCED to use those cold dead fluorescent bulbs or dimmer bank breaking LED lights that start at $15 a bulb.</p>
<p>After efforts in Congress to avert the light bulb prohibition (2011 Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act and Better Use of Light Bulbs Act) and give Americans the freedom to choose how they wish to light their homes failed, we were left with little option other than getting these new bulbs shoved down our throats. &#160;Once again government chips away at the free market and forces itself into our bedrooms…and our dens…and our kitchens.</p>
<p>And what do we gain by having this regulation forced upon us? &#160;Dead lights and empty wallets.</p>
<p>Not only that though, but the WAY the new lights work can cause risks from migraines to cancer.</p>
<p>Dr. Elma Baron, director in the lasers and photomedicine department at UH Case Medical Center in Cleveland:</p>
<p>“Ultraviolet light is similar to the ultraviolet wavelengths found in natural sunlight, and we do not want huge amounts or extra amounts of ultraviolet light on our skin because it can cause biological effects that can lead to cancer.”</p>
<p>Though the doctor would add the risk would be highest when a defect in the coating was present, but the very design of the new bulbs &#160;facilitate a higher likelihood of defects.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://commcgi.cc.stonybrook.edu/am2/publish/General_University_News_2/SBU_Study_Reveals_Harmful_Effects_of_CFL_Bulbs_to_Skin.shtml" type="external">2012 Stony Brook University Study</a>&#160;the twisty CFL bulbs, which use mercury, are much more likely to leak UV light compared to traditional fluorescent bulbs.</p>
<p>According to the research, many of these bulbs “have cracks in the phosphor coating, probably due to the fact that the coating is brittle and has trouble making the tight bends required to make these bulbs compact.”</p>
<p>The research concludes that exposure to the new bulbs cause damage to healthy skin cells similar to that of exposure to ultraviolet radiation. &#160;It is at this point government will start to dictate how much radiation is “tolerable”. &#160;Yet, if a batch of these especially defective lights were to get out you could be exposing yourself and your family to cancer causing radiation for YEARS.</p>
<p>Why are these new lights being forced on us again? &#160;Does the government have nothing better to do than dictate that we must install cancer causing lights in our homes?</p>
<p>Apparently not, but this is America after all and we do love our loopholes.</p>
<p>One businessman who has not had his entrepreneurial spirit castrated by the federal government has begun to &#160;sell incandescent lights that will not be affected.</p>
<p>Channeling Thomas Edison, Larry Birnbaum is exploiting the law’s exceptions to continue producing incandescent bulbs for the general public.</p>
<p>He is doing so by making the bulbs “rough service”, a category that is exempt from the ban. &#160;Rough Service Bulbs were initially meant for industrial operations and are a bit more hearty than your regular bulb but they still glow that warm yellow light that we, as a species, have come to know and love over the past century.</p>
<p>Not waiting until the last minute Birnbaum has been selling his “reinvented” light bulb since 2010. &#160;With about two dozen American workers outside of Indianapolis he builds his bulbs per government standards to qualify for the loophole.</p>
<p>The government requires that&#160;his bulbs have seven filaments rather than two, a brass base, and 1 millimeter thicker glass, and &#160;be filled with a special mixture of argon and krypton to improve their lifespan.</p>
<p>Not only does the public now have an option to keep incandescent bulbs in their homes, but they will last longer. &#160;The price for one of Birnbaums Newcandescent bulbs is about $1.44 per bulb, up a bit from the 80 cents or so a regular light bulb costs now. &#160;But compared to what the government would force us to buy, LED lights starting out at about $15.00 a piece, it’s a steal.</p>
<p>While not as sexy as bootlegging and speakeasies, I am reassured in Birnbaum’s efforts. &#160;Knowing that there are still Americans out there with the ingenuity and the drive to turn tyranny on its head and to buck the system gives me hope for our country yet.</p>
<p>If it’s between an over priced cancer causing dead light bulb or Newcandscent’s Liberty Light Bulb, I’ll be choosing the latter.</p>
<p>——————————————————————————————————-</p>
<p>Anyone interested in following my lead can purchase Newcandescent bulbs here:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.newcandescent.com/" type="external">http://www.newcandescent.com/</a></p>
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<p>We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.</p> | Man Finds Loophole To Fight Government Tyranny…Of Light Bulbs | true | http://bulletsfirst.net/2013/12/17/man-finds-loophole-fight-government-tyranny-light-bulbs/ | 0 |
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<p>In Adhamiya, a largely Sunni enclave of Baghdad, the power is out this evening, but the streets are still packed with residents flooding into cafes, restaurants and shops.</p>
<p>Beneath the lively atmosphere, though, there's an undeniable current of uncertainty and fear.</p>
<p>Down an unpaved alley, one family agrees to speak to me — but only from the privacy of their living room. Everyone is nervous, double checking that their full names won't be used, joking that maybe they should just use a Shia name instead.</p>
<p>It's not so good to have a name associated with Sunnis right now in Baghdad.</p>
<p>Iraq’s capital is now a mostly Shia city, but it is still home to hundreds of thousands of Sunnis, a community feeling increasingly trapped by the rising sectarian tensions. After Sunni militants swept across northern Iraq in June, capturing Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul, Shia militias stepped up to defend Baghdad from a similar fate.</p>
<p>By candle and cell phone light, Salam, who's 23, explains that it's been a rough few years for his family. And now, the current crisis has left them — and much of the Sunni community in Baghdad — feeling cornered by Shia militias, Sunni extremists and an oppressive government.</p>
<p>Salam's father was murdered in 2007 during Iraq’s civil war — the family believes at the hands of a Shia militia. Then, after US troops pulled out of Iraq in 2011, Salam says his older brother — who was armed by the US to fight against al Qaeda-linked extremists — was arrested and tortured. Initially, the family was able to meet with him; they even hired a lawyer. But after a few visits, they were turned away. It's been close to a year since they've had any news of him.</p>
<p>“These days,” Salam says, “the situation feels like it did when my father was killed.”</p>
<p>He says some of the same fighters with the militia that murdered his father are back out patrolling the streets again. He feels stuck, reliving past tragedies over and over again</p>
<p>“We don't have a future; these memories are not memories. This is a continuous thing we are living with now. We are living those memories," he says.</p>
<p>When I ask if he blames the Shia for his family's tragedy and the current uncertainty, Salam pauses and says, after his father was killed, he did blame the Shia. But this time around, he blames the government for the insecurity, specifically Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.</p>
<p>Other young Sunni men in Salam's neighborhood complain of arbitrary arrests. They tell stories of being harassed at checkpoints and threatened by the increasingly powerful militias; as a result, many are fleeing. Salam says he's thought about going away; two of his friends already have.</p>
<p>His mother tells me that she worries every time Salam goes out.</p>
<p>After her oldest son was arrested, she says, she wanted to sell the house and move to Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. She ended up staying here in Baghdad, hoping her son would be released. Now she wishes she had just gone.</p>
<p>“Nothing is good here,” she says. “Even the good things, if they happen, they don't last. They go away and fade. That’s our life"</p>
<p>With the electricity still out, from the roof of Salam's home, the view is pitch black. All that's lit is Abu Hanifa Mosque.</p>
<p>Salam turns to me and says, "Do you think this is life, [what] you see right now with the bombing, kidnapping and no electricity?&#160; We're just like the walking dead."</p>
<p>Susannah George's reporting from Baghdad is part of our partnership with&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/" type="external">Global Post</a>.</p> | A Sunni man in Baghdad says his life is 'like the walking dead' | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-07-28/sunni-man-baghdad-says-his-life-walking-dead | 2014-07-28 | 3 |
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — A day after going without a shot on goal, Patrice Bergeron regained his scoring touch for the rolling Boston Bruins.</p>
<p>Bergeron scored three goals Thursday night for his second hat trick in less than two weeks, leading Boston to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders that gave the Bruins at least a point for the 15th consecutive game.</p>
<p>Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists as Boston improved to 11-0-4 since its last regulation loss Dec. 14 against Washington — its best stretch since going 15-0-1 from March 2-30, 2014.</p>
<p>Bergeron had at least three goals in a game for the third time in his career and just 12 days after a four-goal performance at home against Carolina. He hadn't scored since that five-point night, but had four assists in four games, including two in a win at home against Montreal on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>"Last game was one of those nights where I was trying to find my wingers," the 32-year-old center said. "Tonight I was getting the looks again and I was trying to take them."</p>
<p>With 19 goals in 39 games this season, Bergeron is on pace to eclipse his career high of 32 set two season ago.</p>
<p>"I feel like I'm shooting just as much, maybe I get some better looks and Brad is finding me a little bit more in the slot," Bergeron said. "Puck goes in sometimes and sometimes it doesn't, and right now it is so I'm going to try to keep shooting and keep trying to find the back of the net."</p>
<p>Ryan Spooner had a goal and an assist, and Anton Khudobin stopped 22 shots as the Bruins improved to 20-3-4 since Nov. 15 and pulled within five points of first-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division.</p>
<p>Jordan Eberle and John Tavares scored for New York, which has dropped seven of 10 — with each of the losses coming in regulation. Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves.</p>
<p>Bergeron completed the hat trick when he took a pass from Marchand, spun and fired from the left circle at 3:45 of the third period.</p>
<p>"When he's playing the way he is right now, it's fun to watch," Marchand said. "It's fun to be on the ice with him."</p>
<p>Tavares' 25th pulled the Islanders within two with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining. Marchand capped the scoring with his 20th, an empty-netter with just over a minute to go.</p>
<p>Boston took control with two goals in the second period and sealed it with two more in the third.</p>
<p>Spooner put Boston ahead 2-1 near the midpoint of the second. Off a faceoff in the Islanders' zone to Halak's left, Spooner backhanded the puck past the goalie for his seventh at 9:47.</p>
<p>Just 15 seconds after New York's Anders Lee was sent off for tripping, Bergeron got the puck on the right side after Torey Krug's shot went off Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech's leg and beat Halak with 6:11 left in the middle period. Krug got his 200th career point on the play.</p>
<p>"They got a break on the second goal," New York coach Doug Weight said. "The (power-play goal) slapped us in the face and we got away from our game. We got frustrated in the third (period)."</p>
<p>Eberle gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 7:35 into the game when he beat Khudobin for his 15th. Mathew Barzal got his 32nd assist and 48th point on the play — both tops among all NHL rookies.</p>
<p>The Bruins tied it with 6:19 left in the first when Bergeron fired it past Halak from the inside edge of the right circle.</p>
<p>NOTES: Barzal has eight assists and 11 points in the last five games. ... Islanders F Josh Bailey, headed to his first All-Star game, returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury. He had an assist on Tavares' goal. ... The Bruins swept the three-game season series, also winning 3-1 at home on Dec. 9 and 5-1 in New York on Jan. 2. ... Boston has won seven straight on the Islanders' home ice since a 3-1 loss at Nassau Coliseum on Nov. 2, 2013. That includes five visits to Barclays Center, the Islanders' home since the start of the 2015-16 season. ... Bergeron has nine goals and 14 points in his last eight games. ... Marchand, the Bruins' leader in goals, assists and points, has five goals and nine assists in his last seven games.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Bruins: At Montreal on Saturday to wrap a two-game trip.</p>
<p>Islanders: At Chicago on Saturday to open a three-game road trip heading into the All-Star break.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Vin Cherwoo at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP" type="external">www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP NHL: <a href="" type="internal">www.apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey</a></p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — A day after going without a shot on goal, Patrice Bergeron regained his scoring touch for the rolling Boston Bruins.</p>
<p>Bergeron scored three goals Thursday night for his second hat trick in less than two weeks, leading Boston to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders that gave the Bruins at least a point for the 15th consecutive game.</p>
<p>Brad Marchand had a goal and two assists as Boston improved to 11-0-4 since its last regulation loss Dec. 14 against Washington — its best stretch since going 15-0-1 from March 2-30, 2014.</p>
<p>Bergeron had at least three goals in a game for the third time in his career and just 12 days after a four-goal performance at home against Carolina. He hadn't scored since that five-point night, but had four assists in four games, including two in a win at home against Montreal on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>"Last game was one of those nights where I was trying to find my wingers," the 32-year-old center said. "Tonight I was getting the looks again and I was trying to take them."</p>
<p>With 19 goals in 39 games this season, Bergeron is on pace to eclipse his career high of 32 set two season ago.</p>
<p>"I feel like I'm shooting just as much, maybe I get some better looks and Brad is finding me a little bit more in the slot," Bergeron said. "Puck goes in sometimes and sometimes it doesn't, and right now it is so I'm going to try to keep shooting and keep trying to find the back of the net."</p>
<p>Ryan Spooner had a goal and an assist, and Anton Khudobin stopped 22 shots as the Bruins improved to 20-3-4 since Nov. 15 and pulled within five points of first-place Tampa Bay in the Atlantic Division.</p>
<p>Jordan Eberle and John Tavares scored for New York, which has dropped seven of 10 — with each of the losses coming in regulation. Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves.</p>
<p>Bergeron completed the hat trick when he took a pass from Marchand, spun and fired from the left circle at 3:45 of the third period.</p>
<p>"When he's playing the way he is right now, it's fun to watch," Marchand said. "It's fun to be on the ice with him."</p>
<p>Tavares' 25th pulled the Islanders within two with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining. Marchand capped the scoring with his 20th, an empty-netter with just over a minute to go.</p>
<p>Boston took control with two goals in the second period and sealed it with two more in the third.</p>
<p>Spooner put Boston ahead 2-1 near the midpoint of the second. Off a faceoff in the Islanders' zone to Halak's left, Spooner backhanded the puck past the goalie for his seventh at 9:47.</p>
<p>Just 15 seconds after New York's Anders Lee was sent off for tripping, Bergeron got the puck on the right side after Torey Krug's shot went off Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech's leg and beat Halak with 6:11 left in the middle period. Krug got his 200th career point on the play.</p>
<p>"They got a break on the second goal," New York coach Doug Weight said. "The (power-play goal) slapped us in the face and we got away from our game. We got frustrated in the third (period)."</p>
<p>Eberle gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 7:35 into the game when he beat Khudobin for his 15th. Mathew Barzal got his 32nd assist and 48th point on the play — both tops among all NHL rookies.</p>
<p>The Bruins tied it with 6:19 left in the first when Bergeron fired it past Halak from the inside edge of the right circle.</p>
<p>NOTES: Barzal has eight assists and 11 points in the last five games. ... Islanders F Josh Bailey, headed to his first All-Star game, returned to the lineup after missing four games with a lower-body injury. He had an assist on Tavares' goal. ... The Bruins swept the three-game season series, also winning 3-1 at home on Dec. 9 and 5-1 in New York on Jan. 2. ... Boston has won seven straight on the Islanders' home ice since a 3-1 loss at Nassau Coliseum on Nov. 2, 2013. That includes five visits to Barclays Center, the Islanders' home since the start of the 2015-16 season. ... Bergeron has nine goals and 14 points in his last eight games. ... Marchand, the Bruins' leader in goals, assists and points, has five goals and nine assists in his last seven games.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Bruins: At Montreal on Saturday to wrap a two-game trip.</p>
<p>Islanders: At Chicago on Saturday to open a three-game road trip heading into the All-Star break.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Vin Cherwoo at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP" type="external">www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP NHL: <a href="" type="internal">www.apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey</a></p> | Bergeron scores 3 as Bruins beat Islanders 5-2 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/b3928777eb9348a5b89ee8ce2f53a0e8 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p>In 2009, a small budget but critically successful film called Big Fan hit theaters. The film’s action centers on Paul Aufiero — a man obsessed with the New York Giants to the exclusion of all other pursuits — and the rapid collapse of his life after a chance encounter with his favorite player.</p>
<p>Paul is a geek. A stereotypical (as defined by big media) geek. He lives with his mother, is a portly white man in his mid-thirties, has no sexual relationships to speak of, and finds personal validation in his interactions with the subject of his fixation. The role works in no small part because Paul is played by Patton Oswalt, a comedian with impeccable geek culture credentials. The only difference between Paul and a stock geek culture character is what Paul geeks out about: sports. And sports, as we all know, are not geeky.</p>
<p>It was little remarked upon at the time, but the convergence of Oswalt’s casting, Paul’s obsessiveness over the Giants, and sports culture signified a new, more relevant understanding of the geek. In the world of Big Fan, the type of media Paul interacts with isn’t what designates him as a geek; it’s how he interacts with it.</p>
<p>We live in a world where comic book movies pull in record breaking box office numbers again and again, where Game of Thrones not only outsells mainstream fiction in book form but draws huge commercial and critical acclaim in television form, and where gatherings such as ComicCon — for years on the furthest periphery of mainstream consciousness — have become places for large scale entertainment news dumps. What was traditionally understood as geek culture is now the mainstream. Geeks are no longer marginalized outsiders; they’re the new normal.</p>
<p>This is hardly a new or novel observation, but it demands a fresh examination of what geekdom actually centers on. Just as Big Fan hints at, it’s instructive to examine interactions between consumers and media rather than the type of media being consumed, especially when it comes to corporate media.</p>
<p>Even by the narrow strictures of what’s traditionally accepted as geek culture, the whole thing isn’t remotely monolithic. The author, a proud participant in traditional geek pursuits, has a particular fondness for pen and paper roleplaying games — <a href="http://brunching.com/images/geekchartbig.gif" type="external">placing him below</a> video gamers but on par with Star Trek fans — and enjoys Michael Moorcock, but can’t stand Star Wars, Doctor Who, or superhero comic books. This lack of uniform interests &#160;is more common than not; what is portrayed as geek media is diverse, as geeks have varying tastes. If we’ve already fractured geek culture into a thousand cliques and interests, the term “geek culture” loses all meaning beyond one of vague convenience.</p>
<p>If, instead, we begin to look at the geek as someone who allots space for media interest alongside or in place of class, race, or gender identity, then a more meaningful pattern emerges. The geek gives primacy to media consumption, using it as both identifier and lens with which to view the world; what that media happens to look like is irrelevant. The tie that binds geeks of a given strain together is what they choose to buy.</p>
<p>This is touched on in the brilliant <a href="http://www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/SolesKunyoGeedom/" type="external">essay</a> “Postmodern geekdom as simulated ethnicity.” Time and again, an observant critic will see geeks slip into language equating fans of a specific show (or book or game) with ethnicity or class. Sometimes this is extremely overt and even offensive, as a cursory web search for “nerd blackface” will reveal. More often, it makes subtle and innocuous claims that the opposite party in an argument needs to display “tolerance,” or calls for fewer identity politics within geek culture.</p>
<p>On its face, this is innocuous enough (outside the obvious offended sensibilities), but the simulated identity politics in question can become remarkably vicious. In my beloved roleplaying game circles, doxing and threats of violence over the internet occur regularly over which edition of Dungeons and Dragons people prefer. Go to any video game forum and one can see pages of arguments about which console is the “right” one to enjoy. On and on it goes, across intellectual properties and hobbies, right down to <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/15/university-norwich-star-wars-club-fight" type="external">nearly breaking out in actual physical violence</a>.</p>
<p>This is remarkably similar to diehard sports fan culture. It’s not merely that a disagreement exists over which consumed product is superior; it’s that the fan of the other team is an Other. This, again, blurs the lines between what we think of as geek fandom and non-geek. It’s not merely the identification with a certain product that makes these things similar; it’s also the behavior when those outside the manufactured tribe intrude. This helps explain the white male geek’s antipathy towards women and people of color: if media is non-inclusive, the subcultures which are defined by consumption of that media will be reflexively non-inclusive, as well.</p>
<p>Most alarming is that, almost exclusively, the media being so strongly identified with is corporate and ruthlessly capitalist in nature. Star Trek might present an optimistic and inspiring vision of the future, which any American liberal would like to see, but it’s a vision wholly owned and operated by CBS. Star Wars is now held by Disney and all of their attendant copyright shenanigans. So, too, is Marvel Comics — a company recently focused to an alarming degree on denying ownership rights to its content creators (watching comic book fans contorting themselves in order to justify continuing to support Marvel while admitting their favorite creators are left destitute by the company’s practices is depressing). Even Dungeons and Dragons — market leader in a dwindling cottage industry — is run by a subsidiary of toy behemoth Hasbro.</p>
<p>As a thought experiment, imagine brand loyalty that doesn’t have people nearly coming to blows over Doctor Who and Star Wars; think, instead, of the argument in question being over Disney and BBC. Or, for a starker contrast, instead of people dressed as Marvel characters at ComicCon, imagine Geico geckos or Progressive Insurance Flos. This is essentially already happening: what is Superman in the twenty-first century but a corporate mascot, albeit one with a lavish backstory? It’s no wonder that non-geeky media desperately tries to cultivate geek cred in the form of viral commercials or a presence at conventions. Having brand loyalty so intense that it can incite real or simulated violence would be a remarkable windfall for any company able to harness it.</p>
<p>As with so much of modern capitalist life, the acquisition and consumption of things serves as a substitute for actual class equality. If you have lots of cool stuff, why would you question whether your job sucks or whether your wage is fair? With the combination of imagined identity politics — which the new geek culture encourages — the alienation and loneliness of the working and middle classes is <a href="http://ourvaluedcustomers.blogspot.com/2013/01/to-his-friend_3.html" type="external">compounded</a>. Practical ceilings on consumption and compartmentalized identity seal people off from their fellows even as they find commonality within their consumption cohort.</p>
<p>This is perhaps a harsh assessment, but none of this, it should be stressed, should be read as a dismissal of fandom or media consumption as a whole. Fandom can be inspiring and fun. Seeking out common interests is natural, and tempered escapism is vital to the healthy psyche of the working class.</p>
<p>What is worrying, though, is the slow creep of media consumption as a mode of living — something that is becoming not just visible but celebrated. This is divisive in the sense that imaginary tribes argue over trivialities, yes, but it also does the heavy lifting for the corporation — whether that corporation is Disney or the NFL — by placing acquisition as the new identity.</p>
<p>Neoliberalism has made geeks of us all: jocks, nerds, and dweebs alike. In the background are the corporate owners of the media which geeks love, setting man against woman, rich against poor, black and brown against white, all on manufactured lines of consumption. Ideally, the commonalities of working class identity would trump these, easily and swiftly, revealing the absurdity of the heated arguments between consumption cohorts which geek culture identity politics stir up.</p>
<p>If, however, these new lines of identity are here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future, the least that can be done is to create a concerted effort to free the media being consumed from the corporate realm. Imperfect as the process may be, creator-owned media is making a comeback. One person publishing houses and small indie video game studios are changing their respective industries as assuredly as art house cinema companies did the movie industry in the 90s. This burgeoning effort might not shake the new bonds apart, but they will loosen the reins of culture from the grip of Disney, Warner Brothers, and Sony. That is most assuredly an achievable victory worth fighting for.</p> | On Geek Culture | true | http://jacobinmag.com/2013/08/on-geek-culture/ | 2018-10-07 | 4 |
<p>Embattled NPR president and CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned.</p>
<p>NPR Board of Directors Chairman Dave Edwards released this statement:</p>
<p>“It is with deep regret that I tell you that the NPR Board of Directors has accepted the resignation of Vivian Schiller as President and CEO of NPR, effective immediately.</p>
<p>“The Board accepted her resignation with understanding, genuine regret, and great respect for her leadership of NPR these past two years.</p>
<p>“Vivian brought vision and energy to this organization. She led NPR back from the enormous economic challenges of the previous two years. She was passionately committed to NPR’s mission, and to stations and NPR working collaboratively as a local-national news network.</p>
<p>“According to a CEO succession plan adopted by the Board in 2009, Joyce Slocum, SVP of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, has been appointed to the position of Interim CEO. The Board will immediately establish an Executive Transition Committee that will develop a timeframe and process for the recruitment and selection of new leadership.</p>
<p>“I recognize the magnitude of this news – and that it comes on top of what has been a traumatic period for NPR and the larger public radio community. The Board is committed to supporting NPR through this interim period and has confidence in NPR’s leadership team.”</p>
<p>The <a href="http://giv.to/er3U9C" type="external">NPR blog</a> reports that Schiller was forced out.</p>
<p>UPDATE: PBS reports on the controversy</p>
<p /> | NPR’s Vivian Schiller Resigns | true | http://aim.org/don-irvine-blog/nprs-vivian-schiller-resigns/ | 2011-03-09 | 0 |
<p>Illustrate your article with a stock image of a couple of annoyed young white people.</p>
<p>Suzanne Venker, niece of Phyllis Schlafly and one of <a href="" type="internal">my personal favorite anti-feminists</a>, shows us how it’s done…</p>
<p>1) Give your article a “provocative” headline.&#160; <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/11/24/war-on-men/" type="external">“The war on men”</a> should do the trick.</p>
<p>2) Pretend all gay, lesbian, and trans people do not exist.</p>
<p>3) Cherry-pick a single statistic that supports your argument. For example, <a href="http://pewresearch.org/databank/dailynumber/?NumberID=1485" type="external">point to a poll</a> released recently last spring that found that the share of young women who say having a successful marriage is one of the most important things in their lives rose from 28 to 37 percent since 1997, while among young men it dropped from 35 to 29 percent. Ignore all <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2046035,00.html" type="external">other recent studies</a> that show that men are just as eager as women to fall in love, settle down, and have a family–if not more so. Instead, based on your interviews with “hundreds, if not thousands” of people, conclude that men are “retreating from marriage en masse.”</p>
<p>4) Talk about “good men” and “marriageable men” as if these are concepts that mean anything. Ignore the fact that the institution of marriage has evolved (gasp!) from being a social and economic necessity to a <a href="http://articles.cnn.com/2010-11-22/opinion/coontz.marriage.pew_1_marriage-college-educated-women-higher-plane?_s=PM:OPINION" type="external">voluntary relationship based on love</a> that seems increasingly <a href="" type="internal">obsolete to many people</a> of both genders.</p>
<p>5) Pretend feminism is just about blaming men for everything. Accuse feminists of “browbeating the American male,” of blaming men “when love goes awry,” of raising women to “think of men as the enemy,” and pushing both men and women off their respective “pedestals.” Do not acknowledge that sexism exists. Note that women make up a majority of the workforce, but <a href="" type="internal">do not mention the pay gap</a>.&#160;Say that “women are angry.” Hope nobody wonders if they might have some good reasons to be.</p>
<p>6) Make sweeping essentialist generalizations about men’s and women’s “natures.” Write lines like, “Women aren’t women anymore.” Vaguely allude to some <a href="" type="internal">evolutionary psychology bullshit</a> to justify doing so. “Men want to love women, not compete with them. They want to provide for and protect their families – it’s in their DNA.” Act like this is real science.</p>
<p>7) Pretend that it’s even possible for most women to “let” men provide for them. To do so, ignore a lot of historical and economic facts. Do not acknowledge that–even before feminism was invented in the 1970s–many women have always worked out of financial necessity. Make references to “picking up the slack at the office” and “a balanced life” to gloss over the fact that you are calling for families to rely on a single salary when the minimum wage in this country <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/171284/americans-want-raise-minimum-wage" type="external">isn’t even enough to make rent.</a> Keep pretending this isn’t a joke.</p>
<p>8) Throw in some hand-wringing about hookup culture and cohabitation for good measure. You have <a href="" type="internal">plenty of</a> <a href="" type="internal">examples</a> to guide you on this part. Most importantly, remember to assume that women do not like sex at all and that marriage magically turns men from “slackers” into responsible adults. Write lines like, “Feminism serves men very well: they can have sex at hello and even live with their girlfriends with no responsibilities whatsoever.”</p>
<p>9) Tell women to “surrender” to traditional gender roles for their own good. Remind them that <a href="" type="internal">they can’t have it all</a> and urge them to stop trying. “All they have to do is surrender to their nature – their femininity – and let men surrender to theirs.” Ignore the fact that <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/04/19/a-gender-reversal-on-career-aspirations/?src=prc-number" type="external">the very same poll you cited at the beginning of your piece found</a> that—in another significant shift since 1997–66 percent of young women now rate career high on their list of life priorities, compared to 59 percent of young men. Maintain that women can get what they really want only by giving up on what they think they want.</p>
<p>10) Find some way to justify to yourself the hypocrisy of being a woman who makes a living telling other women not to work.</p> | How to write a trend piece on gender relations for Fox News | true | http://feministing.com/2012/11/26/how-to-write-a-trend-piece-on-gender-relations-for-fox-news/ | 4 |
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<p>Francisco Sanchez, a Mexican national, repeat convicted felon, and illegal alien, who has been deported 5 times, and confessed killer of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle in San Franciso, will not be getting deported for the sixth time.</p>
<p>It seems as if law enforcement dropped the ball again, after they “declined” to prosecute Sanchez a few months back on &#160;old outstanding drug charge. Federal immigration officials pointed the finger at local law enforcement saying that this crime could have been prevented, if the suspect was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation.</p>
<p>ICE had him first, but then turned him over to <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/06/feds-fire-back-at-san-francisco-point-finger-at-city-for-releasing-suspected/?intcmp=latestnews" type="external">local law enforcement</a>so that they could prosecute him for that drug charge, and requested that they be kept in the loop of any changes in his detainment.</p>
<p>“We’re not asking local law enforcement to do our job,” ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in the statement. “All we’re asking is that they notify us when a serious foreign national criminal offender is being released to the street so we can arrange to take custody.”</p>
<p>While saying the agency understands local law enforcement’s “reticence” on the issue, Christensen said the bottom line is that if San Francisco authorities “had merely NOTIFIED ICE that they were about to release this individual into the community, ICE could have taken custody of him and had him removed from the country — thus preventing this terrible tragedy.”</p>
<p>The city did not notify ICE, she said, and, “As a result, an individual with a lengthy criminal history, who is now the suspect in a tragic murder case, was released onto the street rather than being turned over to ICE for deportation.”</p>
<p>Considering that Sanchez has already been deported 5 other times, one more deportation would have done little to prevent this criminal from returning to the U.S.</p>
<p>Someone tell Donald Trump about how this senseless murder made his case about the Mexican government facilitating the passage of criminals into the U.S.</p>
<p>Oh wait, Trump has already cried foul.</p>
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<p>Expect trump to rip the existence of these so-called “Sanctuary” cities.</p>
<p>San Francisco like many other California cities often does not turn over illegal immigrants to federal officials.</p>
<p>According to ICE, he had been deported five times, most recently in 2009, and his record included seven prior felony convictions. ICE briefly had him in their custody after he completed a prison sentence in California, but turned him over to San Francisco on an outstanding warrant for a felony drug charge in late March. They lodged what’s known as an “immigration detainer,” which was not honored.</p>
<p>Horne said federal detention orders are not a “legal basis” to hold someone, so Sanchez was released April 15. Horne said the city does not turn over people who are in the country illegally unless there’s an active warrant for their arrest.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Law Enforcement Failure: Illegal Immigrant Detained And Release Before Killing Woman | true | http://shark-tank.com/2015/07/07/law-enforcement-failure-illegal-immigrant-detained-and-release-before-killing-woman/ | 0 |
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<p>Holiday spending rose 9 percent Thursday and Friday combined, compared with the same two-day period last year, according to First Data.</p>
<p>The bump was fueled by shoppers turning to online deals.</p>
<p>E-commerce sales rose 10.8 percent for the two-day period, while sales at physical stores grew 8.6 percent, according to First Data, which analyzed online and in-store payments across different forms of payment cards from nearly one million merchants Thanksgiving and Friday. The data captures about 40 percent of all card transactions in the U.S. but excludes cash.</p>
<p>The Thanksgiving weekend kicks of the holiday shopping season though stores have increasingly started their sales earlier in October. The Friday after Thanksgiving — known as Black Friday — used to unofficially mark the kickoff to door-buster sales, but now retailers are opening earlier on Thanksgiving. But while the holiday weekend has lost some of its punch, it still sets the tone for the season.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“It was strong shopping,” said Rishi Chhabra, vice president, information and analytics products, at First Data. “But people are shopping online more. And that trend keeps going up and up.”</p>
<p>According to First Data, almost 25 percent of the holiday dollars spent over the two-day period came from e-commerce, up from 18 percent last year and nearly 16 percent in 2014. Electronics and appliances were by far the big attractions, with the category enjoying a 26.5 percent increase in sales, fueled by shoppers’ interest in TVs and other new gadgets. That compared to just a 2.3 percent increase in the year-ago period.</p>
<p>Four of the seven categories — which also include furniture and personal-care items — that First Data tracks showed slower sales growth in stores compared with online. But when it came to electronics, shoppers preferred to buy the products in the stores for the holiday start. Electronics and appliance stores saw a nearly 28 percent sales growth, while for online, that growth was a little over 11 percent.</p>
<p>Overall, the average dollar amount spent per person for the two-day period rose to $75.06, up from $72.84 a year ago. That figure for electronics and appliances grew by 34 percent to $163.76. But clothing and accessories stores saw shoppers on average spend $80.55, down from $81.63 a year ago amid heavy discounting. And sporting goods, hobby, books and music took more of a hit, with the average ticket size falling to $78.74 from $90.15.</p> | First Data: Thanksgiving, Black Friday sales up 9 percent | false | https://abqjournal.com/897473/first-data-thanksgiving-black-friday-sales-up-9-percent.html | 2016-11-28 | 2 |
<p>Perennial party-pooper Piers Morgan is still criticizing the Second Amendment, and Wednesday’s Fort Hood shooting provided what he thought was the perfect segue into the issue — but it didn’t turn out quite as perfect as planned.</p>
<p>Losing his soapbox on CNN hasn’t stopped Morgan’s gun-bashing — he just took his business to Twitter, where a couple of lady tweeps — most notably Townhall’s Katie Pavlich — were on hand to chew him up and spit him out. <a href="http://twitchy.com/2014/04/03/crazy-piers-morgan-fort-hood-shooter-was-a-good-guy-until-he-got-a-gun-katie-pavlich-shreds/" type="external">Twitchy</a> was on hand to record all the action.</p>
<p>Just before the witching hour as the rest of the nation grieved over another Fort Hood tragedy, Morgan set fingers to keyboard and hammered out his opening salvo:</p>
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<p>Pavlich took note and hammered right back — and she kept on hammering until the former TV news host was thoroughly emasculated:</p>
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<p />
<p>That’s when Morgan brought up the subject of gun registration — a hot-button issue among Second Amendment advocates, because registration invariably leads to confiscation. He got tag-teamed on that one.</p>
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<p>So take that, Morgan. Next time, you may want to do a little research before opening your mouth.</p>
<p>Read more tweets at compiled by <a href="http://twitchy.com/2014/04/03/crazy-piers-morgan-fort-hood-shooter-was-a-good-guy-until-he-got-a-gun-katie-pavlich-shreds/" type="external">Twitchy</a>, then check out “ <a href="" type="internal">Sarah Palin takes an awkward call from ‘Vlad Putin’ on The Tonight Show</a>.”</p> | Piers Morgan outgunned; blasted for ignorant response to Fort Hood shooting | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2014/04/03/piers-morgan-outgunned-blasted-for-ignorant-response-to-fort-hood-shooting-110257 | 2014-04-03 | 0 |
<p>By Chris Gallagher</p>
<p>TOKYO (Reuters) – The Japanese government stuck to its moderately upbeat view on the economy in November, its monthly economic report showed on Tuesday, saying it remained on a recovery path helped by consumer spending and business investment.</p>
<p>“Japan’s economy continues to recover moderately as a trend,” the Cabinet Office said in the report, maintaining that assessment for a sixth consecutive month.</p>
<p>The report is the first since the government announced this month that the economy had grown for a seventh straight quarter in July-September – its longest expansion in 16 years – although private consumption had suffered a rare decline.</p>
<p>But the government said in Tuesday’s report that private consumption was “picking up moderately”, unchanged from the wording it used last month, with the consumer confidence index hovering at four-year highs.</p>
<p>The government maintained its assessment that capital expenditure was “picking up”, supported by machinery orders and an increase in spending on construction work.</p>
<p>It also kept intact its view that exports and industrial output were “picking up” and were expected to continue doing so on the back of solid overseas demand.</p>
<p>The report comes ahead of a slew of October data due out this week that will provide an initial economic report card for the current quarter.</p>
<p>Retail sales and household spending are likely to have slipped last month, hurt by adverse weather including two typhoons, but industrial production is expected to have rebounded and consumer inflation is seen ticking higher.</p>
<p>The government on Dec. 8 will also report revised gross domestic product figures for the July-September quarter.</p>
<p>The world’s third-largest economy expanded at a 1.4 percent annualized rate during the period, preliminary data showed two weeks ago, after growing 2.6 percent in the prior quarter.</p>
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<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Japan govt keeps view that moderate economic recovery continuing | false | https://newsline.com/japan-govt-keeps-view-that-moderate-economic-recovery-continuing/ | 2017-11-28 | 1 |
<p>LONDON (AP) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is pressing his long-held view that voters should be given a chance to re-think Brexit once plans for Britain's departure from the European Union are clear.</p>
<p>Blair said Thursday that the Labour Party he led for 13 years should be actively challenging Brexit rather than going along with plans laid out by Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative Party allies.</p>
<p>May's government is negotiating exit plans and the outlines of a new trade relationship with the EU with an eye toward departing the bloc by a March 2019 deadline.</p>
<p>Blair and other opponents argue that voters should be able to review these terms and decide whether to go ahead rather than be bound by the 2016 referendum, which saw Britons back Brexit by a four-point margin.</p>
<p>"I'm simply saying one very, very simple thing, which is that in 2016 you knew you wanted to get out of the European Union but you didn't see the terms of the alternative relationship," Blair told the BBC radio. "If when you see those terms you think it is better to stick with Europe you are entitled to have that say."</p>
<p>Blair, the only Labour leader to win three consecutive general elections, said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's pro-Brexit strategy is misguided.</p>
<p>He said Corbyn and Labour should instead be branding the withdrawal from the EU - which started with a referendum called by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to ease party divisions - as "the Tory Brexit" to capitalize on growing public doubts about the process, caused in part by Britain's slowing economic growth.</p>
<p>In an article on his website, Blair said Labour should challenge May every week at prime minister's question time by asking why the Conservatives are "weakening our country." That approach is only credible, he said, if Labour is clearly opposed to Brexit.</p>
<p>Blair's political stock fell dramatically with public opposition to his decision to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and there are no indications that his opposition to Brexit is gaining traction within the party, which has moved sharply to the left since making Corbyn its leader in 2105.</p>
<p>LONDON (AP) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is pressing his long-held view that voters should be given a chance to re-think Brexit once plans for Britain's departure from the European Union are clear.</p>
<p>Blair said Thursday that the Labour Party he led for 13 years should be actively challenging Brexit rather than going along with plans laid out by Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative Party allies.</p>
<p>May's government is negotiating exit plans and the outlines of a new trade relationship with the EU with an eye toward departing the bloc by a March 2019 deadline.</p>
<p>Blair and other opponents argue that voters should be able to review these terms and decide whether to go ahead rather than be bound by the 2016 referendum, which saw Britons back Brexit by a four-point margin.</p>
<p>"I'm simply saying one very, very simple thing, which is that in 2016 you knew you wanted to get out of the European Union but you didn't see the terms of the alternative relationship," Blair told the BBC radio. "If when you see those terms you think it is better to stick with Europe you are entitled to have that say."</p>
<p>Blair, the only Labour leader to win three consecutive general elections, said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's pro-Brexit strategy is misguided.</p>
<p>He said Corbyn and Labour should instead be branding the withdrawal from the EU - which started with a referendum called by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron to ease party divisions - as "the Tory Brexit" to capitalize on growing public doubts about the process, caused in part by Britain's slowing economic growth.</p>
<p>In an article on his website, Blair said Labour should challenge May every week at prime minister's question time by asking why the Conservatives are "weakening our country." That approach is only credible, he said, if Labour is clearly opposed to Brexit.</p>
<p>Blair's political stock fell dramatically with public opposition to his decision to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and there are no indications that his opposition to Brexit is gaining traction within the party, which has moved sharply to the left since making Corbyn its leader in 2105.</p> | UK's Tony Blair argues voters deserve another say on Brexit | false | https://apnews.com/515b7337f6a642128c2ea3416b7bfe13 | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>On Monday at the “Ministers March for Justice,” Jesse Jackson criticized President Trump for his immigration reform plans, claiming that the president wouldn't be allowed into heaven:</p>
<p>Trump says you must be able to speak the language of English, [be] qualified, and have a job skill. Jesus would not qualify to come in Trump's country — he would not qualify to get into Jesus' kingdom. I was hungry, you fed me; naked, you clothed me; captive, you set me free.</p>
<p>The irony of Jesse Jackson claiming Trump won’t see the kingdom of God is not lost on this writer.</p> | IRONY: Jesse Jackson Says Trump 'Would Not Qualify To Get Into Jesus' Kingdom' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/20562/irony-jesse-jackson-says-trump-would-not-qualify-frank-camp | 2017-09-02 | 0 |
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<p>The University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation recently asked a nationally-representative sample of 1,800 Americans what they’d like to see the country spend on 31 key budgetary categories. Pollsters gave respondents current-year spending levels and asked them how they’d increase or decrease funding.</p>
<p>Now that Trump’s budget is out, the poll allows us to pinpoint exactly where the public’s budgetary priorities diverge the most from the president’s. And there’s no greater point of divergence than defense spending.</p>
<p>The Trump administration calls for beefing up defense spending by $52.3 billion dollars next year (with an additional $1.4 billion increase going to nuclear weapons programs at the Department of Energy), and they’d completely eliminate a slew of other agencies and programs to make it deficit-neutral.</p>
<p>But when Maryland’s pollsters asked voters, they found that the typical voter would cut defense spending by $41 billion. All told, that adds up to a nearly $100 billion gap between what the public wants to spend on defense, and what Donald Trump wants to spend on it.</p>
<p>Perhaps more surprisingly, not even Republican voters wanted to see a big defense hike. The typical Republican respondent opted to cut defense spending by $5 billion. Democrats would cut it by a whopping $81 billion.</p>
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<p>“The gaps between the public’s proposed budget and the Trump administration’s budget are quite substantial,” said survey director Steven Kull of the University of Maryland, “especially when it comes to military spending.”</p>
<p>Trump’s big military hikes are in line with his emphasis on national security, as well as his demonstrated fixation with the trappings of the military state: This week the Huffington Post obtained emails showing the administration had looked into the possibility of including tanks and other heavy military equipment in Trump’s inaugural parade.</p>
<p>There were gaps between Trump and the public in some other spending categories, but none as pronounced gap in military spending.</p>
<p>For instance, Trump has proposed drastic cuts to the Department of Education. This is generally in line with what Republicans would like to see, but Democrats would prefer to beef up education spending.</p>
<p>There’s a similar partisan split on funding the State Department — Republicans want cuts similar to what Trump has proposed, while Democrats would prefer to keep spending as it is.</p> | The public wants a budget that looks very different from Trump’s | false | https://abqjournal.com/975536/the-public-wants-a-budget-that-looks-very-different-from-trumps.html | 2 |
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<p>Victoria Martens</p>
<p>JACOBSON: Wants communities to join together</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A state Children, Youth and Families Department investigation into four referrals to the agency about the family of 10-year-old Victoria Martens prior to her brutal murder last August found that state workers were thorough, followed procedure and uncovered no evidence of physical or sexual abuse.</p>
<p>Autopsy results recently released confirmed that the cause of death was strangulation and that she had been sexually abused prior to her rape and murder.</p>
<p>The CYFD report confirmed that of the four reports, only one of them concerned an allegation involving Victoria, and that allegation and three others about her sibling or a family member were found to be unsubstantiated by CYFD investigators, according to a summary of the investigation released Friday.</p>
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<p>Another summary, of an internal review of how CYFD handled the case to determine if it conducted investigations in accordance with state statute and agency policy and procedure, also was released.</p>
<p>Both were completed last November, but CYFD held off on releasing them to the public at the request of the Albuquerque Police Department, which wanted to first complete its investigation into the child’s death, CYFD Secretary Monique Jacobson told the Journal on Friday.</p>
<p>The autopsy of Victoria Martens was still pending in November when the CYFD investigation summary was completed. The summary noted that even though a cause of death “has not yet been disclosed, upon information and belief, the manner of death was a homicide.”</p>
<p>The autopsy report was subsequently made public earlier this month. It listed the cause of death as strangulation and said the child had been sexually abused prior to her rape, murder and mutilation. It further said she had the sexually transmitted disease human papillomavirus, also known as HPV. Forensic pathologists cite this as evidence that she suffered sexual abuse before the night of Aug. 23, 2016, when her dismembered body was found on fire in the bathtub of her mother’s Northwest Albuquerque apartment.</p>
<p>Charged in connection with Victoria’s death was her mother, Michelle Martens, her boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his cousin Jessica Kelley.</p>
<p>The summary also said CYFD investigators found all allegations against Michelle Martens, Gonzales and Kelly “substantiated.”</p>
<p>According to the CYFD summary, the agency received one call in March 2015 and three others in May and June 2016, about the Martens family, though only one of those calls was specifically about Victoria, and none of the calls alleged physical or sexual abuse. All four calls were investigated by CYFD, Jacobson said.</p>
<p>The first of those contacts was on March 14, 2015, when CYFD’s Statewide Central Intake, or SCI, which screens all incoming neglect and abuse calls, got information that Victoria and her sibling (younger brother), “had poor hygiene and dirty clothes, that a grandparent had improperly disciplined the sibling, and that Michelle Martens and the grandparent had consumed alcohol in front of the children.”</p>
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<p>The call was screened in for investigation by CYFD and cross-reported to the Albuquerque Police Department’s Crimes Against Children’s Unit, the summary said.</p>
<p>Jacobson said both children were interviewed at school, separately and outside the presence of their parents and grandparent. Neither child had any marks, bruises or evidence of physical abuse, and they appeared to be clean and well cared for, she said. Neither did either child disclose any physical or sexual abuse when they were questioned by CYFD investigators, as per standard protocol.</p>
<p>Consequently, the allegations were unsubstantiated against the mother, the biological father and the grandparent, Jacobson said.</p>
<p>In May and June 2016, SCI received three calls that referenced only the younger sibling. The allegations ranged from hygiene concerns to the sibling’s biological father leaving the child with an unknown caretaker. None of the calls alleged physical or sexual abuse, and all three incidents were cross reported to APD’s Crimes Against Children Unit.</p>
<p>At least two of those calls were made by Michelle Martens herself. The third call came in anonymously. The summary noted that the biological father of the children was involved in a pending custody and child support case with Michelle Martens.</p>
<p>CYFD investigated all three reports, interviewing both children at school and home, outside the presence of adult family members. Neither child made any disclosures about physical or sexual abuse when asked.</p>
<p>All three allegations involving the sibling were unsubstantiated by CYFD investigators.</p>
<p>Jacobson also noted that on March 28, 2016, CYFD was notified by an unnamed source that Michelle Martens’ former boyfriend attempted to kiss Victoria. The source said that Michelle Martens immediately broke off contact with the man, who no longer had access to the children. Because the boyfriend was not a parent, guardian or live-in custodian, the case fell outside CYFD jurisdiction and authority to investigate, Jacobson said. The agency, however, referred it to APD. The summary does not say what happened to the case after APD received it.</p>
<p>The internal review of CYFD’s handling of the Martens case was ordered by Jacobson. The review was conduced by Karla Young, a CYFD Research Assessment and Data Bureau Chief, “who is not in the chain of command of any of the people involved in the investigation,” Jacobson said.</p>
<p>A summary of that review indicated that the various CYFD investigations conducted were “in accordance with state statute and agency policy and procedure.” Further, it said, there were “no significant deviations from required practice that would have impacted the outcome of these investigations.”</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Report: CYFD early referral in Martens case found no evidence of abuse | false | https://abqjournal.com/932709/nm-cyfd-probes-in-victoria-martens-case-found-no-evidence-of-abuse.html | 2017-01-20 | 2 |
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<p>If you believe the dire headlines lately, you're probably convinced that brick-and-mortar retailing -- the kind that requires big buildings with lots of overhead -- is dying. Conventional wisdom says there's just no industry left that isn't either already being disrupted by the digital sales channel, or about to get crushed by it. From stand-alone stores to malls, customer traffic seems destined to fall as online shopping gobbles up an ever-growing slice of the retailing pie.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Yet some companies with huge store bases are finding ways to thrive through this major traffic headwind. Here's a closer look at what Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA), and Home Depot (NYSE: HD) are doing in the digital space that sets them apart from struggling peers.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Starbucks has one of the biggest retailing presences in the world, with 25,000 restaurants in operation today. Investors might not know that the coffee giant is a leader in the digital sales channel, too. There were 13 million members of its rewards program at last count, which marked an 18% increase in the past year. Over nine million Starbucks customers chose to pay for their transactions digitally last year.</p>
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<p>The latest quarterly results showed impressive momentum in the digital arena. In fiscal Q1, Starbucks added a record 1.8 million new rewards members in the U.S. as customers loaded $2.1 billion onto Starbucks cards. The adoption rate of its mobile ordering app surged so quickly that many stores had trouble keeping up with the volume of the digital sales flow.</p>
<p>Numbers like these have executives feeling optimistic about their retailing position today even as <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/07/what-investors-can-expect-from-starbucks-corporati.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">customer traffic growth slows Opens a New Window.</a>. "In our view," founder Howard Schultz told investors in a recent conference call, "no brick-and-mortar retailer of any description is better positioned to navigate and profit from the ongoing consumer shifts underway than Starbucks."</p>
<p>Investors love Ulta Beauty stock right now, in part because the company is logging incredible customer traffic growth. Transactions spiked by 11% last quarter to match the same pace that powered <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/12/02/ulta-salon-cosmetics-fragrance-inc-beats-expectati.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">record-breaking sales growth Opens a New Window.</a> for the retailer in the prior quarter.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>But while salon services are restricted to in-person experiences, Ulta owes much of its success to wins on the digital side of the business. E-commerce revenue soared 63% last quarter and was responsible for nearly 4 full percentage points of the company's 17% comparable-store sales spike. Better yet, in contrast to many rival retailers who have had to give up profitability as their revenue mix shifts toward digital fulfillment, Ulta's gross profit margin expanded last year to 36% of sales from 35%.</p>
<p>CEO Mary Dillon and her team project that revenue growth will slow down in 2017 from last year's awesome pace, but the company's industry-leading loyalty program should still help the e-commerce channel far outgrow the core business. Digital sales should rise 40% this year to help overall comps improve by roughly 9%.</p>
<p>Home Depot has achieved a goal most bricks-and-mortar stores would kill for: deep integration between its traditional and e-commerce businesses.</p>
<p>The digital segment makes up <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/11/3-must-see-quotes-from-home-depot-incs-earnings-ca.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">6% of the home improvement giant's business Opens a New Window.</a>, compared to around 4% for Target (NYSE: TGT) and Costco (NASDAQ: COST). It grew at a 19% pace last quarter, but the more impressive metric is that just under half of those online orders involved a physical trip to a Home Depot store. In other words, the e-commerce business is strengthening the store footprint, not weakening it.</p>
<p>Home Depot has aggressive plans to pour resources into expanding in the digital channel. It just rolled out a buy-online-ship-from-store offering nationally and added bulk products like concrete to its contractor delivery choices.</p>
<p>Similarly, Ulta aims to use loyalty rewards and innovations around the tips, tutorials, and social content it offers at its website to boost the business in 2017. Starbucks' latest digital upgrade added voice command ordering functionality to its app.</p>
<p>The pace of change is quicker in the online world than in their core businesses, so all three retailers have had to get used to constantly improving so that they can keep their early leads in this booming channel.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Home DepotWhen 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=27cac99d-d417-477b-8b0a-18a5c227daf7&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and Home Depot 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-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=27cac99d-d417-477b-8b0a-18a5c227daf7&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Costco Wholesale, Home Depot, and Starbucks. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Costco Wholesale, Starbucks, and Ulta Beauty. The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 3 Brick-and-Mortar Retailers With Thriving Online Businesses | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/12/3-brick-and-mortar-retailers-with-thriving-online-businesses.html | 2017-04-12 | 0 |
<p>Photo of Elouise Cobell by Julia Whitty</p>
<p />
<p>A break from the <a href="" type="internal">Copenhagen news</a> now to note a quietly momentous development regarding one of the largest and longest-running class action lawsuits in American history. I first wrote about the <a href="" type="internal">mind-boggling intricacies of this suit</a>, brought by Elouise Cobell, a Blackfeet banker of incredible courage and tenacity, <a href="" type="internal">in MoJo</a> four years ago.</p>
<p>It took <a href="" type="internal">13 years</a> and four named defendants ( <a href="http://www.cobellsettlement.com/index.php" type="external">Cobell v. Salazar</a>, Cobell v. Kempthorne, Cobell v. Norton, Cobell v. Babbitt) spanning three presidents (Clinton, <a href="" type="internal">Bush II</a>, Obama), for Elouise Cobbell to win her suit againt the federal government for mismanagement of the Individual Indian Trust.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, the feds lost or otherwise never paid hundreds of thousands of Indian plaintiffs the monies owed them on lands they owned but were “managed” by the government for their mineral rights (think: oil wells) and agricultural rights for more than 100 years. Cobell’s forensic accountants estimated the government owed the Indians $176 billion.</p>
<p>Well, today, at long last, a settlement was reached with the Department of the Interior and the Department of the Treasury for a fraction of what Cobell believes the Indians were owed. Nevertheless, the federal government has now agreed to create on behalf of the Individual Indian Trust:</p>
<p>The settlement is believed to be the largest ever against the federal government and dwarfs the combined value of all judgments and settlements of all Indian cases since the founding of this nation. That’s the good news.</p>
<p>But as Elouise Cobell says:</p>
<p>“Indians did not receive the full financial Settlement they deserved, but we achieved the best Settlement we could. This is a bittersweet victory, at best, but it will mean a great deal to the tens of thousands of impoverished Indians entitled to share in its financial fruits, as well as to the Indian youth whose dreams for a better life, including the possibility of one day attending college, can now be realized.”</p>
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<p /> | Elouise Cobell’s Bittersweet Victory | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/12/elouise-cobells-bittersweet-victory/ | 2009-12-09 | 4 |
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<p>A gunman shot at people in a nightclub in Cincinnati, Ohio leaving one person dead and at least 14 others injured.</p>
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<p>The shooting incident happened around 2 am at the Cameo Nightclub. The injured were taken to the hospital. The gunman fled the scene.</p>
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<p>Many of the injured are said to be in serious condition. Hundreds of people were inside the club when the shooting started.</p>
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<p>Out of fear, many of the witnesses fled the scene, but local police said that anyone they can identify is being interviewed at the moment. The investigation is ongoing and the police are looking for a long night ahead for their homicide units to investigate the " horrific situation".</p>
<p />
<p>The police have yet to identify the shooter, and his reasons for shooting. No arrests have been made yet.</p>
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<p>This is a developing story.</p> | Ohio Reeling Over Nightclub Shooting in Cincinnati | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/1956-Ohio-Reeling-Over-Nightclub-Shooting-in-Cincinnati | 2017-03-26 | 0 |
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<p>Under a measure nearing final approval in Congress, businesses would be required to include direct-dial 911 on any new telephone system they install. That means there would be no need to dial an access code or additional digit to reach emergency assistance.</p>
<p>“Kari’s Law” was named after Kari Hunt Dunn, who was slain in 2013 when her estranged husband stormed into her hotel room and stabbed her multiple times while her children watched. The 9-year-old girl who tried four times to dial for help sat on her grandfather’s lap in the police station after the attack, and he promised to find a way to simplify nation’s the 911 system.</p>
<p>“A little girl did what she was taught to do, and adults prevented her from doing it,” said Hank Hunt, the girl’s grandfather and Kari Hunt Dunn’s father. “Adults should be the one to fix it. I wish I didn’t have to. I wish I had my daughter with me.”</p>
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<p>The legislation Hunt has championed through Congress would amend the 1934 Communications Act to mandate both direct-dial 911 and software that automatically alerts first responders and onsite personnel. Both the House and Senate passed versions of the bill this year without opposition, but they both must approve an identical version before sending it to President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>“I know with my own children, we taught them to call 911, so I think a lot of people identified when they heard about this situation,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican who introduced the House bill. “When it became clear that a law was not going to be an over ominous demand, then that’s what we put together.”</p>
<p>Most multiline telephone systems, like the ones installed in hotels, offices and universities, can be made compliant with a programming or software upgrade that is reasonably priced, said Mark Fletcher, the chief public safety architect at the communications technology firm Avaya. Fletcher, who has helped Hunt push for the passage of Kari’s Law, said many systems already have settings that meet compliance standards that can be enabled for free.</p>
<p>Businesses will have two years to comply before being penalized with a fine, but many have already begun making voluntary changes.</p>
<p>More than 70 percent of major hotel chains are in the process of requiring their franchises to have direct-dial capabilities to emergency services, which extends access to approximately 7,800 properties, according to a 2015 Federal Communications Commission report.</p>
<p>A year earlier, none of the chains required direct-dial access to 911. And only 25 percent of multiline telephone system vendors shipped products that allowed direct access to emergency services in the default settings.</p>
<p>“The industry wants to be responsible,” Gohmert said. “They did the reasonable thing of getting ahead of the law, but there’s always going to be some that don’t comply. The sooner this gets signed into law, the better.”</p>
<p>Legislators have passed state versions of Kari’s Law in Illinois, Maryland, Tennessee and Texas. But advocacy organizations such as the National Emergency Number Association say a national law is needed to standardize requirements and provide people with a common approach to accessing 911.</p>
<p>Until it becomes a federal mandate, Hunt said he will keep pushing for change at the state and local level. When the Texas legislation passed, his granddaughter stood beside Gov. Greg Abbott and received the pen he used to sign the bill into law. She wants to do the same in Washington.</p>
<p>“I made that promise to a 9-year-old, and I wasn’t giving up until it got signed,” Hunt said. “People kept telling me it would be 10 to 15 years down the road. I said, ‘We’ll see.'”</p> | Texas hotel slaying inspires push to mandate direct-dial 911 | false | https://abqjournal.com/1053992/texas-hotel-slaying-inspires-push-to-mandate-direct-dial-911.html | 2017-08-26 | 2 |
<p>Nvidia Corp. [s:nvda], which has experienced strong gains since announcing efforts in autonomous driving and deep learning, received another bump Thursday after announcing a partnership with Baidu Inc. to build a driverless car. The chipmaker has been working with the Chinese tech firm on artificial intelligence efforts since 2012, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/nvidia-teams-up-with-baidu-to-develop-artificial-intelligence-self-driving-car-1472706888" type="external">according to The Wall Street Journal Opens a New Window.</a>, and will now develop a full autonomous-driving platform in concert with Baidu, which has permission to test its driverless cars in California. Nvidia, which has recently traded at record highs, gained about 3% in Wednesday trading to top $63, putting it in position to top its all-time closing high of $63.04; Baidu also added 3% in U.S. trading.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Nvidia Nears Record High, Building Driverless Car With Baidu | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/01/nvidia-nears-record-high-building-driverless-car-with-baidu.html | 2016-09-01 | 0 |
<p>The general meme among the right, it seems, is that the majority is under attack. Christians, and in particular, Christian white men (you know, the people who run the media and the country) are being persecuted.</p>
<p>While many see evidence in the fact that stores have a tendency to shorthand the end of the year and its cluster of celebrations with a simple “Happy Holidays” as absolute proof that Christianity is under attack, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) couldn’t even scrounge up that example.</p>
<p>In a press conference at the South Carolina Freedom Summit, Blackburn was asked about Christian persecution.</p>
<p>“You know, there have been several lately. There’ve. Um. I can’t give you a specific (pause) right off the cuff,” Blackburn shrugs. “I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>Then Blackburn smiles, turns away from the reporter, looks back toward the camera, and says, “Yeah. Thanks.”</p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/gop-congresswoman-warns-of-christian-persecution-in-america-cant-name-one-example/" type="external">Raw Story</a></p>
<p>Here’s the video:</p>
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<p>Typically, when one thinks of the word “persecution,” one thinks of, oh, I don’t know, anything from not being served at a restaurant to being bullied and worse for beliefs, skin color, nationality or sexual orientation.</p>
<p>In fact, in several states, Christians are fighting for the right to discriminate&#160;against LGBT people,but because the media and the politicos are largely white and Christian, they have managed to turn the conversation around&#160;to paint themselves as the victims.</p>
<p>Mostly, Christians complain that they aren’t allowed to turn every single public gathering place, including schools, into churches. That’s not persecution. Persecution would be if churches were being targeted (they aren’t) or if individual Christians were being targeted for their beliefs (they aren’t).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/march-2014-church-state/featured/persecution-complex" type="external">Christian churches</a>, are however, protected from paying taxes and from pretty much any government oversight. That’s not persecution.</p>
<p>Now, Congresswoman Blackburn, would you care to answer for the fact that in <a href="http://www.alternet.org/belief/7-states-where-atheists-cant-legally-run-office" type="external">your own state</a>, atheists are prohibited from even holding office?</p>
<p>Featured image via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5855429890/" type="external">Flickr</a>.</p> | Tenn. GOP Congresswoman Complains Of Christian Persecution – Can’t Think Of A Single Example (VIDEO) | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2015/05/12/tenn-gop-congresswoman-complains-of-christian-persecution-cant-think-of-a-single-example-video/ | 2015-05-12 | 4 |
<p />
<p>The U.S. economy continued to grow at a modest to moderate pace in June and early July, with manufacturing expanding in most areas of the country, the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In its Beige Book report of anecdotal information on business activity collected from contacts nationwide, the U.S. central bank said factories in many of the 12 districts reported increases in new orders, shipments or production.</p>
<p>The findings on manufacturing, compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis from data collected on or before July 8, fit in with other surveys and suggest that a slowdown in factory activity earlier in the year had probably run its course.</p>
<p>The Fed also struck an upbeat note on the housing market, noting that residential real estate and construction increased at a moderate to strong pace in all districts. That in turn is helping to prop up manufacturing.</p>
<p>"Strong demand in residential construction continued to stimulate the manufacturing sector in several districts," the Fed said.</p>
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<p>The Fed also said consumer spending and auto sales increased, which should help to underpin the recovery in the third quarter. While hiring held steady or increased at a measured pace in most districts, there was a reluctance to hire permanent or full time workers it said.</p>
<p>"Wage pressures generally remained contained, although some districts reported modest or moderate wage growth in some sectors," the Fed said. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman)</p> | U.S. Economy Expanding at ‘Modest to Moderate’ Pace, Fed Says | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2013/07/17/us-economy-expanding-at-modest-to-moderate-pace-fed-says.html | 2016-03-02 | 0 |
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<p>We understand the difficult choices the Legislature is facing, but New Mexico’s counties request that the executive and legislative branches identify and find alternative sources of revenue to make up the state’s revenue shortfall. If the state budget is balanced on the backs of local governments, the citizens of New Mexico will suffer the consequences.</p>
<p>Many counties are struggling mightily to balance their budgets, and having to make do with less.</p>
<p>In fact, over the last several years, the state has forced many counties to raise taxes as a direct result of the state’s reduction in services and funding while placing more obligations on local government.</p>
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<p>While the state has not directly raised taxes in many years, counties have been forced to raise taxes to continue providing essential services to their residents. This is not a healthy or sustainable situation.</p>
<p>Counties and municipalities have stepped up to the plate and will continue to do so. However, the state needs to do its share, too.</p>
<p>To balance the budget over the last several years, the state has swept all fund balances in the county E-911 fund that pays for emergency medical equipment, the county local DWI fund that provides a broad spectrum of services involving DWI prevention and treatment, the Fire Protection Fund that helps finance fire and emergency services equipment and vehicles, and the Law Enforcement Protection Fund that provides for law enforcement equipment and services.</p>
<p>These funds are used by county governments to provide critical public safety services, leaving counties with a draconian choice: cut critical services or raise taxes to pay for them. This has been necessitated by the state’s unwillingness to raise taxes at a state level.</p>
<p>County government has a direct and substantial impact on peoples’ lives in New Mexico, representing every citizen in the state. Counties provide the most vital services for the health, safety and welfare of their residents:</p>
<p>• Maintenance of approximately 30,000 miles of roads (more than the state and municipalities combined);</p>
<p>• Primary law enforcement coverage through each county’s sheriff’s office;</p>
<p>• Fire and emergency medical services;</p>
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<p>• Comprehensive anti-DWI programs that include treatment, screening, enforcement, and prevention;</p>
<p>• Operation of adult and juvenile detention centers;</p>
<p>• Indigent health-care services including substance abuse and behavioral health counseling, senior services and primary care;</p>
<p>• Administration of local, state and federal elections;</p>
<p>• Assessment of real and personal properties and tax collection; and</p>
<p>• Emergency E-911 dispatch services.</p>
<p>In addition, counties are saddled with some very significant unfunded mandates. They are responsible for:</p>
<p>• Housing the state district courts (as well as providing court security), state district attorney offices and state public health offices; and</p>
<p>• Paying the state approximately $28 million to help fund the state Medicaid program and approximately $23 million to fund the Safety Net Care Pool for uncompensated care and Medicaid rate increases for hospitals.</p>
<p>New Mexico’s counties are well aware of the governor’s pledge to reject any tax increases. However, that does not mean that counties should be forced to bear the burden for increasing taxes. Please do not continue to rob Peter to pay Paul!</p>
<p /> | Pinching Pennies: Counties shoulder huge burden in making up for state shortages | false | https://abqjournal.com/952759/counties-shoulder-huge-burden-in-making-up-for-state-shortages.html | 2 |
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<p>Airbus tentatively aims to deliver as many as 80 A350 jetliners in 2017, two people familiar with the plans said on Friday.</p>
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<p>The target marks a new stage in ambitious plans to raise output of the company's newest long-haul jet to 10 a month in 2018, but depends mainly on how successful suppliers will be in curbing delays in cabin equipment.</p>
<p>An Airbus spokesman declined to comment on the provisional thinking on deliveries for 2017, which would equate to production of just under 7 aircraft a month.</p>
<p>Airbus is expected to give details of its 2017 delivery plans in February.</p>
<p>Speaking at an event to mark the first flight of the large A350-1000 variant on Thursday, Airbus planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier said he was more optimistic than before about reaching a target of at least 50 A350 deliveries in 2016.</p>
<p>Airbus delivered the 35th airplane of the year on Thursday.</p>
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<p>(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)</p> | Airbus hopes to deliver up to 80 A350 aircraft in 2017: sources | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/11/25/airbus-hopes-to-deliver-up-to-80-a350-aircraft-in-2017-sources-244534098.html | 2016-11-25 | 0 |
<p>From Sac Bee:</p>
<p>Gov.&#160; <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Jerry+Brown/" type="external">Jerry Brown</a>&#160;scored a tactical victory in his quest to raise taxes Tuesday when the “Think&#160; <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Long+Committee/" type="external">Long Committee</a>&#160;for&#160; <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California/" type="external">California</a>” decided not to pursue its own tax reform plan this year.</p>
<p>The committee, which was created by billionaire&#160; <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/Nicholas+Berggruen/" type="external">Nicholas Berggruen</a>&#160;and counted a number of prominent Californians in its membership, had proposed a massive overhaul of&#160; <a href="http://topics.sacbee.com/California/" type="external">California</a>&#160;taxes to reduce revenue volatility. The group was planning for the November ballot.</p>
<p>That complicated Brown’s plans to ask voters for a more modest temporary increase in sales and income taxes that he wants to balance the state budget. He and other advocates worried that having a multitude of competing tax measures on the ballot would confuse voters and perhaps lead to rejection of all.</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/01/think-long-committee-for-california-backs-away-from-tax-measure.html" type="external">(Read Full Article)</a> <a href="" type="internal" /></p> | ‘Think Long Committee for California’ backing away from tax hike measure? | false | http://capoliticalreview.com/trending/think-long-committee-for-california-backs-away-from-tax-measure/ | 2012-01-18 | 1 |
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<p>PHOTO CREDIT SIMON CUNNINGHAM ON FLICKR.</p>
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<p>Many income-focused investors look to the consumer-staples sector for ideas, since its products tend to be in demand regardless of economic factors. One of the most popular dividend-paying stocks from the sector isProcter &amp; Gamble , which has a storied history of showering its investors with dividends in both good times and bad. However, while Procter &amp; Gamble's dividend yield is a strong 3.3%, we Fools think there are several stocks worth buying right now that offer up a higher payout.</p>
<p>We asked our team of Motley Fool contributors to scour the investing landscape and highlight a stock that has a bigger dividend than Procter &amp; Gamble. Read on for their answers.</p>
<p>: AT&amp;T operates in a challenging industry. Most telecom operators are having a hard time trying to find new growth opportunities, and pricing competition among the leading industry players is putting downward pressure on profit margins. On the other hand, being a stable and mature company, the business produces huge sums of cash on a recurrent basis, a key advantage to consider when searching for the best dividend stocks.</p>
<p>AT&amp;T generated $35.9 billion in operating cash flow during 2015, and the company allocated nearly $20 billion to capital expenditures over the year, leaving $15.9 billion in free cash flow to reward investors with dividends, among other possible uses. Dividend payments over 2015 amounted to $10.2 billion, or 64% of free cash flow during the year, so AT&amp;T has the financial strength to sustain dividend payments going forward.</p>
<p>PHOTO CREDIT: UNSPLASH ON PIXABAY.</p>
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<p>Importantly, management believes the company is well on track to producing more than enough cash to cover financial needs, reinvestments, and dividends in the coming years. In the words of senior EVP and CFOJohn J. Stephens, during AT&amp;T's earnings conference call: "We're proud of our ability to generate cash. This gives us the financial strength to invest in our business, reduce debt, and return substantial value to our shareholders."</p>
<p>AT&amp;T has an impressive track record of dividend growth over the long term. The company has raised dividends every year since 1984, accumulating 32 consecutive years of consistent dividend growth under all kinds of economic scenarios. At current prices, AT&amp;T stock is paying a succulent dividend yield of nearly 5%.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Nehams/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Neha Chamaria Opens a New Window.</a>: I love diversified companies when it comes to dividends. Diversity averages out fluctuations and risks across industries to a huge extent, saving a company's top and bottom lines from wild swings. Case in point: 3M.</p>
<p>You may recognize 3M for its Scotch tape and Post-it Notes, but its wide range of products serve nearly every key sector you can think of, be it healthcare, automotive, oil and gas, aerospace, manufacturing, or electronics. Not surprisingly, the conglomerate has grown its net income and free cash flow by 44% and 94%, respectively, during the past decade and has raised its dividend for 57 consecutive years.</p>
<p>If you're wondering whether 3M can continue its winning dividend streak, you needn't worry. The company is currently paying out only about half its profits and free cash flow in dividends. Comparatively, Procter &amp; Gamble is paying out nearly 88% of its profits and 62% of its free cash flow.</p>
<p>In other words, 3M has enough room to increase its dividends in the years to come without jeopardizing its interest payments or growth initiatives. In fact, debt and interest burden shouldn't be a concern at all for 3M in the near future, given its whopping interest coverage of 47, meaning the company's earnings can currently cover its interest payments 47 times over. As for profits, 3M projects its earnings per share to grow between 8% and 11% through 2020. Procter &amp; Gamble doesn't have a similar vision to offer, so you may safely expect fatter paychecks from 3M going forward.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx" type="external">Tyler Crowe:</a>Nowadays, there are plenty of companies in the energy space that have dividend yields higher than Procter &amp; Gamble. The problem is finding one that has a higher yield and isn't at risk of having its dividend cut. In that case, it really narrows things down a bit. If you want both a higher yieldandsome reassurance that it isn't a high-yield trap, then you should look at Magellan Midstream Partners and its 4.78% yield.</p>
<p>The reason Magellan's payout looks sustainable is the company's business model. A vast majority of the company's pipeline and transportation infrastructure is dedicated to refined petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel, two products that have pretty inelastic demand. Also, most of its revenue is from fee-based contracts that largely insulate it from commodity prices. In fact, a large percentage of the company's pipelines are regulated much like a utility because of a lack of competition.</p>
<p>But the real differentiator for Magellan is the conservative manner in which management has manged its growth and payout to shareholders. Unlike other pipeline operators that binged on debt recently and paid out all cash inflows to shareholders, Magellan has kept a more modest debt profile to secure an investment-grade rating while retaining high levels of cash to pay for growth projects.</p>
<p>Magellan may not have as high of a yield as other companies in the energy space, but the chances of a cut are very low. That's what matters when it comes to dividend investing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.fool.com/author/14471/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Feroldi: Opens a New Window.</a>If big dividends are what you're after, I'd suggest taking a closer look at the energy sector, which is littered with companies that offer huge yields.</p>
<p>One interesting choice is Oneok , the general partner of Oneok Partners .Oneok holds a 41% ownership position in Oneok Partners, itself a master limited partnership primarily focused on gathering, treating, transporting, and processing natural gas.</p>
<p>The collapse in commodity prices has put Oneok Partners' business under a lot of pressure, which in turn has caused shares of both companies to plunge. As a result, the yields on both stocks have skyrocketed. Oneok's yield is currently north of 8%, while Oneok Partners tops 10%.</p>
<p>Of course, a high yield is tempting only if the company can afford to continue to pay it, which is why Oneok has taken a number of actions recently to ensure that will happen. Over the past year it has renegotiated many of its contracts so that it has much less commodity price exposure. In fact, in 2016, more than 85% of its profits are expected to come from fee-based activities, which don't fluctuate with energy prices. That's up sharply from 66% in 2014.</p>
<p>Moves like this helped Oneok Partners to stabilize its business, and its distribution coverage ratio stood at 1.03 in the fourth quarter, up from only 0.60 in the first quarter.</p>
<p>PHOTO CREDIT ROBZOR ON PIXABAY.</p>
<p>You might be tempted to invest in Oneok Partners because of its higher dividend yield, but I think Oneok is the better buy because of its incentive distribution rights. Those rights entitle Oneok to receive an increasing share of Oneok Partners' profits after certain distribution milestones are reached, which should allow it to grow its profits and dividends far more quickly that Oneok Partners does once commodity prices recover. That gives investors a chance to capture big capital gains growth in addition to a big yield.</p>
<p>To be clear, Oneok stock is far from a risk-free investment, given that the energy sector is rife with uncertainty. However, I think Oneok stock is trading at a compelling enough valuation and offers a high enough dividend yield that any investor brave enough buy shares is being well compensated for the risk.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/25/5-stocks-with-bigger-dividends-than-procter-gamble.aspx" type="external">4 Stocks With Bigger Dividends Than Procter &amp; Gamble Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/acardenal/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Andrs Cardenal Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Oneok. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Nehams/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Neha Chamaria</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDirtyBird/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Tyler Crowe Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Magellan Midstream Partners. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Oneok. The Motley Fool recommends Magellan Midstream Partners, Oneok Partners, and Procter &amp; Gamble. 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> | 4 Stocks With Bigger Dividends Than Procter & Gamble | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/25/4-stocks-with-bigger-dividends-than-procter-gamble.html | 2016-04-25 | 0 |
<p>In case you haven't noticed, the marijuana industry has many investors seeing green. The average pot stock valued in excess of $200 million in market cap has seen its share price double or triple over the trailing year.</p>
<p>What's behind this move? Look no further than the notable change in the way the public looks at weed. Back in 1995, the year before cannabis was legalized for the first time in California for medical use in compassionate cases, only a quarter of the population was in favor of its legalization. By the <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/10/29/support-for-legalizing-marijuana-hits-another-reco.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=a8d56908-cd90-11e7-8fd5-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">latest survey Opens a New Window.</a> in October 2017, support had reached an all-time high of 64%.&#160;As favorability toward cannabis improves, the thinking is that it could result in changes at the federal level. After all, if politicians fail to align their views with that of their constituents, they risk being voted out of office.</p>
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<p>It also hasn't hurt that legal weed sales have exploded. Colorado saw legal sales growth of more than 30% in 2016, while California's recreational legalization should result in more than $1 billion in additional tax revenue being collected by the state each year, on top of what it's already receiving from legal medical cannabis.</p>
<p>However, it's worth pointing out that most marijuana stocks are still unprofitable. Some, like cannabinoid-based drug developers, are expected to remain in the red for years to come as they develop and test their product lines. Others, like a number of the Canadian-based cannabis companies, have been pouring capital into expansion projects, which has more than negated rapid sales growth.</p>
<p>Yet a few promising "green shoots" have emerged.</p>
<p>Based on their most recent quarterly reports, the following are the only two marijuana stocks to have delivered a profit.</p>
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<p>If there's a pure-play marijuana stock that's been the most consistent in the profit column, it would have to be Canadian-based medical-cannabis grower Aphria (NASDAQOTH: APHQF). Despite being on track to spend more than $100 million on its phase 4 project that'll boost growing capacity to 1 million square feet and allow it to produce around 100,000 kilograms of dried cannabis annually, the company has been profitable in far more quarters than it hasn't been.</p>
<p>In the company's fiscal first-quarter report, released last month, it produced 40% more in sales from the prior-year period and generated its eighth-consecutive quarter of positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Just as important, its all-in costs to produce dried cannabis dropped by more than 3% from the sequential fourth quarter, while its kilograms sold (which includes kilogram equivalents, like cannabis oils) increased 15% over the same period.</p>
<p>The end result was a healthy net income of $11.8 million during Q1 2018, which compared with just $0.7 million in Q1 2017. Though margins did improve during the quarter, aiding profitability, much of the company's year-on-year profit increase was a result of gains from its strategic investments.</p>
<p>Having ended the quarter with nearly $93 million in cash and almost $106 million in working capital, <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/18/5-marijuana-stocks-overflowing-with-cash.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=a8d56908-cd90-11e7-8fd5-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Aphria is well capitalized Opens a New Window.</a> and on track to complete phase 4 by January 2019.&#160;If Canada does move forward with a bill to legalize recreational marijuana, Aphria will be looking to scoop up around 10% of the adult-use market share with its increased capacity.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Canadian medical-cannabis grower Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQOTH: ACBFF) has consistently produced losses as it's poured cash into its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/17/the-4-largest-pure-play-marijuana-stocks.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=a8d56908-cd90-11e7-8fd5-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">large-scale project Opens a New Window.</a>, the Aurora Sky. When complete by mid-2018, Aurora Sky is expected to be the largest and most automated cannabis grow facility in the world, with more than 100,000 kilograms of dried weed produced annually across its 800,000 square foot facility. Presumably, this should also push Aurora's costs to produce dried cannabis way down.</p>
<p>However, the company's fiscal 2018 first-quarter results bore a surprise: a quarterly profit. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, but included in the company's Q1 2018 press release, Aurora announced that its active registered patients surpassed 20,000, as compared with 8,200 as of the end of Q1 2017. This helped push sales higher by 169% from the prior-year period, as well as boosted the amount of gram-equivalent cannabis sold by 18% from the sequential fourth quarter.</p>
<p>But the true marvel was the $3.65 million in recorded in net income. Aurora's management team attributed the reversal from a year-ago loss mostly to higher sales, and to a lesser degree an unrealized gain on the change in fair value of biological assets, and a $1.56 million unrealized gain tied to an investment.</p>
<p>As long as Aurora Cannabis' primary project remains on track and on budget, it, too, is in great shape to claim about 10% of the medical and recreational market share (if approved) in Canada.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Aurora Cannabis Inc.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=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=8759b555-6362-4e97-91a3-15f34b36a68a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=a8d56908-cd90-11e7-8fd5-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Aurora Cannabis Inc. 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=8759b555-6362-4e97-91a3-15f34b36a68a&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=a8d56908-cd90-11e7-8fd5-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFUltraLong/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=a8d56908-cd90-11e7-8fd5-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Sean Williams Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=a8d56908-cd90-11e7-8fd5-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | The 2 Marijuana Stocks That Turned a Profit in Their Most Recent Quarter | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/27/2-marijuana-stocks-that-turned-profit-in-their-most-recent-quarter.html | 2017-11-27 | 0 |
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