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<p>The <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Baltimore-Ravens/" type="external">Baltimore Ravens</a> signed arena league quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/David_Olson/" type="external">David Olson</a> as <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Joe_Flacco/" type="external">Joe Flacco</a> deals with a back injury, the team announced Friday.</p>
<p>The Ravens began training camp Thursday without Flacco, who told the team of a disc issue in his back just before the first full-team meeting. He is expected to miss at least a week.</p>
<p>Olson, who worked out for the Ravens on Thursday, likely will have a temporary role right with Flacco sidelined, joining <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ryan_Mallett/" type="external">Ryan Mallett</a> and Dustin Caughan as quarterbacks on the roster. Mallett has taken Flacco’s spot with the first-team offense and Vaughan is a second-year player out of Division II West <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Texas_A&amp;M/" type="external">Texas A&amp;M</a>.</p>
<p>With a quarterback short at the first practice of camp, the Ravens used offensive assistant coach Matt Weiss to line up under center and hand off to running backs in drills.</p>
<p>We have signed former Clemson QB David Olson.</p>
<p>— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) <a href="https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/890911853047623684" type="external">July 28, 2017</a></p>
<p>This season is expected to be a bounce-back year for Flacco, who has gone 29-29 since winning the Super Bowl in 2012. He has thrown 80 touchdown passes, but 61 interceptions — third most in the NFL — over that four-year span.</p>
<p>Coach <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Harbaugh/" type="external">John Harbaugh</a> likely will bring in another quarterback and is considering <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Colin_Kaepernick/" type="external">Colin Kaepernick</a>, who opted out of his contract with the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/San-Francisco-49ers/" type="external">San Francisco 49ers</a> on March 3. Kaepernick has been a polarizing figure for his refusal to stand during the national anthem prior to games last season.</p>
<p>“He’s a really good <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Walker/" type="external">football</a> player,” Harbaugh said of Kaepernick after practice Thursday. “I believe he’s a really good person. It all depends on a lot of things. It depends on Colin first of all and what’s his passion, what’s his priority, what’s he want to do, what kind of shape he’s in. So we’ll just see where it goes. I don’t think it’s different for us than any other team.”</p>
<p>Olson played under Harbaugh’s brother, Jim, at Stanford. For his senior season, he transferred to Clemson and most recently played for the KC Phantoms of Champions Indoor Football.</p> | Baltimore Ravens sign arena league QB David Olson with Joe Flacco sidelined | false | https://newsline.com/baltimore-ravens-sign-arena-league-qb-david-olson-with-joe-flacco-sidelined/ | 2017-07-28 | 1 |
<p>A freshman GOP congressman said Tuesday he would like to President Donald Trump follow through on his threat to end healthcare subsidies for lawmakers.</p>
<p>“President Trump is right: the subsidies must be eliminated to incentivize members of Congress to keep their promise and repeal Obamacare,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., said in a <a href="https://biggs.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-andy-biggs-statement-obamacare-premium-subsidies-congress" type="external">statement posted on his website</a> Tuesday. “Only then, will the American people – and their Representatives – see a return to affordable healthcare premiums.”</p>
<p>Trump mentioned the subsidies in a tweet over the weekend, saying he would end “bailouts” for insurance companies and lawmakers on Capitol Hill if efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare continue to founder.</p>
<p>If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!</p>
<p>— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/891334415347060736" type="external">July 29, 2017</a></p>
<p>Republicans added an amendment to Obamacare — officially known as the Affordable Care Act — in 2010 that requires members of Congress to buy insurance through the exchanges set up by the law. But since their salaries are too high to get subsidies for premiums, the Obama White House allowed them and members of their staffs to receive funds to purchase insurance on the District of Columbia exchange.</p>
<p>Biggs, a staunch Obamacare opponent, has refused that subsidy, telling the House payroll administrator to take the amount out of his paycheck and return it to the treasury, <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/344847-gop-lawmaker-trump-should-cancel-health-insurance-subsidies-for-congress" type="external">The Hill reported.</a></p>
<p>“I would like to request that the government’s automatic contribution to my healthcare be returned to the Treasury in the amount of the government contribution,” Biggs wrote. “Please take the appropriate amount from my paycheck each month.”</p>
<p>Congress too often exempts itself from laws it imposes on the American people, Biggs said.</p>
<p>“After Democrats passed Obamacare in the dead of night, multiple loopholes were exploited so that members of Congress did not have to feel the real economic pain of everyday Americans when paying for their healthcare premiums,” he wrote. “Though I have never wanted Obamacare, nor does a day go by when I do not fight against Obamacare, I will not take a subsidy that is not afforded to my constituents.”</p> | GOP Rep Urges Trump to Stop Lawmakers' Healthcare Subsidies | false | https://newsline.com/gop-rep-urges-trump-to-stop-lawmakers-healthcare-subsidies/ | 2017-08-01 | 1 |
<p />
<p>Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI), the Olive Garden owner being pressured by activist investors to cut expenses, spends more on campaign contributions than any of its peers other than the far larger &#160;&#160;McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The political contributions highlight concerns among some about Darden’s expenses, but also highlights how large employers discuss important issues with lawmakers.</p>
<p>Activist investor Barington Capital has pushed Darden to slash annual expenses by $100 million to $150 million by streamlining operations and improving its advertising spending. Darden has agreed to cut costs by $50 million a year.</p>
<p>According to OpenSecrets.org, Darden has contributed $191,600 in the 2013-2014 election cycle, No. 2 in the restaurant industry behind only McDonald’s.</p>
<p>“It’s a company that has a spending problem,” said Howard Penney, a managing director at Hedgeye Risk Management who focuses on the restaurant industry and has been critical of Darden management.</p>
<p>The only other restaurant companies that have contributed more than $100,000 this cycle are OSI Restaurant Partners and CKE Restaurants, at $134,000 and $101,000, respectively.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Dunkin’ Brands (NASDAQ:DNKN), the parent of Dunkin’ Donuts, contributed $46,350 this election cycle, while Chili’s Grill &amp; Bar owner Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) donated just $41,980, according to OpenSecrets.</p>
<p>“The fact that they are right up there next to McDonald’s doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Every company does it (lobby), but I don’t know why Darden needs to be spending at the same rate as McDonald’s,” said Penney.</p>
<p>Darden's market value of $6.9 billion is dwarfed by McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) market cap of $96.3 billion.</p>
<p>A Darden spokesperson pointed to the large number of people employed by the company. Darden employed almost 207,000 people as of the end of the third quarter, compared with the 440,000 people who work for McDonald’s.</p>
<p>“Like many other businesses that have a national presence, we are engaged in the electoral and public policy process,” the Darden spokesman said.</p>
<p>Darden also spent $2.73 million on lobbying in the 2011-2012 cycle, compared with $3.67 million by McDonald’s, according to the non-partisan and non-profit Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Explorer.</p>
<p>The most frequently disclosed lobbying issues by Darden included taxes, health issues, agriculture, labor, antitrust/workspace and immigration.</p>
<p>In the 2009-2010 cycle, Darden outspent McDonald's on lobbying. The Red Lobster parent spent $2.34 million on lobbying, compared with $1.76 million by McDonald’s, according to the Sunlight Foundation.</p>
<p>A Darden spokesman noted that lobbying totals also include the wage equivalent of the time employees spend when they visit lawmakers, not just money paid to lobbyists.</p>
<p>In recent months, Darden has been under pressure from Barington, which owns over 2% of the restaurant company’s outstanding shares.</p>
<p>The activist firm is pushing Darden to form two independent restaurant companies, one for its more mature brands Olive Garden and Red Lobster, and the other for higher-growth restaurant brands like LongHorn Steakhouse, The Capital Grille and Yard House.</p>
<p>Penney is also pushing Darden to break up its brands.</p>
<p>“It may not be apparent to a lot of people but I think the writing is on the wall. The structure of the company will not exist a year from today,” said Penney, who said he “couldn’t be any more bullish” on Darden.</p> | Darden's Political Spending Raises Eyebrows | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/12/10/darden-political-spending-raises-eyebrows.html | 2016-03-09 | 0 |
<p>As 2014 was coming to a close, Marina Boelter was getting her life together.</p>
<p>“She had just moved into her own apartment and was working hard,” Ashley Boelter, Marina’s sister-in-law, told Dateline. “She wanted to be able to take care of herself and her son.”</p>
<p>It was New Year’s Eve 2014 when Boelter, 18, got off work from the Bloomfield, Indiana IGA grocery store. The details of what happened in the following hours are hazy, but one thing is certain; Marina disappeared.</p>
<p>“I got that phone call and it’s just something you would never expect,” said Ashley. “And there have been no clues, nothing really since.”</p>
<p>According to detectives, Marina was last seen around 6:00pm leaving the grocery store. D.J. Lockhart, Marina’s former boyfriend, and father of her young son, told police he saw the 18-year-old being driven away from the store by an older man.</p>
<p>“Who really knows if what he saw really happened, but either way, she disappeared,” said Ashley. “There are several theories, but all we know is someone out there knows what happened when she left that store.”</p>
<p>First Sergeant Paul Suding from the Indiana State Police Criminal Investigation unit, told Dateline detectives are no longer searching for that vehicle or the man Lockhart described.</p>
<p>“The best way to describe it is: an active investigation,” said Suding. “She is still considered a missing person at this time, but that’s all the information we can really release as it is an ongoing case.”</p>
<p>Just six weeks after Marina disappeared, Lockhart was found stabbed to death. Indiana Police say, however, they have no evidence to suggest the two incidents were connected in any way.</p>
<p>Since her disappearance, Ashley says Marina’s family has been desperately searching for any answers they can get. “It’s like nine out of ten days you are fine and just push on, then that tenth day comes and you collapse,” she said. “The biggest thing is that she’s a mother. The least we want is answers, so that one day we can give her little boy the information he deserves.”</p>
<p>Marina’s son is currently living with a foster family in Indiana, but Ashley and her husband, who reside in Nevada, have filed for custody. A court date is scheduled for later this summer. Ashley says that, although Marina is missing, they want to do everything they can to keep her face and story out there, “Of course we want her to come home safe, but at the least we want answers. We aren’t going to stop until we have that.”</p>
<p>Marina Boelter is described as 5’3” tall, weighing 110 pounds, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She has a tattoo on her foot of a star with butterfly wings. If you have any information that can help bring Marina home, please contact the Indiana State Police at (812) 332-4411.</p>
<p>You can also visit the ‘ <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FindMarinaBoelter?fref=ts" type="external">Find Marina Boelter</a>’ Facebook page for more updates on the case.</p> | Few Answers in Search for Missing Young Mother Marina Boelter | false | http://nbcnews.com/feature/missing-in-america/few-answers-search-missing-young-mother-marina-boelter-n379861 | 2015-06-22 | 3 |
<p>Freshman photography student Nathan (Tony Revolori) is on a quest to find the real America. On “The Long Dumb Road” of director Hannah Fidell’s title, his trek from Texas to Los Angeles, he pulls over to shoot shuttered movie theaters and American flags drooping over drive-thrus, the kind of cynical corporate salute a kid like […]</p> | Sundance Film Review: ‘The Long Dumb Road’ | false | https://newsline.com/sundance-film-review-the-long-dumb-road/ | 2018-01-20 | 1 |
<p>DOWNEY (CA)Los Angeles TimesBy William LobdellTimes Staff WriterApril 16, 2003Michael Stephen Baker, the priest who 17 years ago confessed to Cardinal Roger M. Mahony that he had molested boys, became the first Los Angeles cleric to be ordered to criminal trial since the Catholic Church's sex scandal broke last year.After a two-day preliminary hearing in Downey, a Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner ruled that there was enough evidence to try Baker on 29 felony charges of molestation. Baker left the ministry in 2000.Prosecutors presented a single witness, Matthew Severson, a 35-year-old West Hollywood man who testified he had been sexually abused by Baker more than 100 times during the 1970s and 1980s, with the first alleged molestations beginning at age 7 or 8.Besides involving the first former priest to be ordered to trial, the Baker case will be closely watched because of its link to Mahony. Baker told Mahony in 1986 that he had abused two or three boys, though Baker stayed in the ministry until 2000.</p> | Trial Ordered for Ex-L.A. Priest in Sex Abuse Case | false | https://poynter.org/news/trial-ordered-ex-la-priest-sex-abuse-case | 2003-04-16 | 2 |
<p>Russian forces are occupying part of Ukraine right now in <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/obama-allies-agree-russia-broke-international-law-n43326" type="external">clear violation of international law</a>. And yet, America's self-proclaimed "anti-war" Left is eerily silent. There is no petition on MoveOn.org to urge the US and the international community to do everything possible to end the Russian invasion. Alan Grayson, the self-declared "Congressman with guts" evidently lacks the guts to even call Russia out. The dogmatic left, known for their propensity to scream and yell, is eerily silent. The screeching Left, best known for hitting the United States for "imperialism", is barely even breathing a word against Putin's moves to seize land from another sovereign country.</p>
<p>Could the deafening silence be coming from wanting to avoid the discussion of an inconvenient reality? Could it be because of Edward Snowden?</p>
<p>No, I'm not simply talking about the reprehensible moral implications for a man the anti-government Left has joined the libertarian Right to sell as a hero to remain under the protection of the government running one of the worst surveillance states in the world. I am not even simply talking about the scathing ethical implications for a man the anti-war Left has labeled a hero to continue to enjoy the protections of a government that just invaded a neighboring country.</p>
<p>I'm talking about credibility. For those who defend Edward Snowden - both activists and publishers who are benefiting from his theft of critical American intelligence information - an essential pillar of canonizing him has been a steadfast rejection of the idea that Snowden may have (willingly or under force) handed over US intelligence secrets to China (where he first ended up after fleeing the US) or Russia (where he was finally granted asylum).</p>
<p>The idea that Edward Snowden, in possession of a treasure trove of American intelligence documents, would end up in the loving arms of Russia without turning over his information always required a good degree of suspension of disbelief. Still, his defenders, along with the person profiting the most from his revelations, Glenn Greenwald, argued that Russians couldn't get anything from him because all the data he had stolen was highly encrypted, and Russians did not have the capacity to break that encryption even if they tried. They never answered the question as to why Russia would grant Snowden asylum if there was nothing in it for them, however.</p>
<p>Just how much disbelief you are required to suspend in order to allow for their argument to even pass the laugh test, however, has gone up by an order of magnitude in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, simply because the invasion has proven Putin's willingness to be aggressive simply to achieve <a href="" type="internal">political dominance</a>. If you are to believe Snowden's devotees, you would have to believe that the same country that just invaded a neighbor to expand its political influence in startling violation of international law is also protecting and sheltering a fugitive out of concern for his interests rather than their own. Snowden's lackies would have you believe that the man looking to re-establish the Russian empire would house the possessor of the largest US intelligence leak in history and ask for nothing in return.</p>
<p>In order to believe in the innocence of Edward Snowden (when it comes to revealing intelligence information to foreign governments), one has to believe in the innocence of the Russian government. In order to believe in the righteousness of Snowden's Russian hideout, one must also believe in the righteousness of Vladimir Putin.</p>
<p>But the greatest of concerns is not that those who defend Snowden aren't making these connections - though that is probably a large part of the story. The greatest of concerns is that the most virulent defenders of Snowden's innocence are beginning to defend Russia - by the means of celebrating it as demise of "Pax America":</p>
<p>The tweeter account emptywheel belongs to Marcy Wheeler, who is the <a href="http://pando.com/2014/02/28/pierre-omidyar-co-funded-ukraine-revolution-groups-with-us-government-documents-show/" type="external">Senior policy analyst</a> for Greenwald's new magazine.</p>
<p>It is already happening. Instead of condemning Russia's aggression, Snowden's chief defenders (and his chief benefactors) are already taking Russia's side, gleefully celebrating the Russian actions as indicative of waning American influence.</p>
<p>The reason for this is simple. The people masquerading as the high priests of the anti-war, dogmatic Left aren't liberals or leftists at all. What they are is anti-American. They celebrate anything they view as embarrassing or undermining to American influence and American power. Snowden's revelations and Russian actions aren't contradictory in their value system, since the only thing they value is the undermining of the United States.</p>
<p>It's amazing what upsets the tender sensibilities of the right wing.</p>
<p>Rest in light, Stephen Hawking.</p>
<p>I'll take "Vindictive obstruction" for $1000, Alex!</p>
<p>To go with Trevor's piece of yesterday, a corrective to the idea that the past was all that golden.</p>
<p>We cannot choose the times in which we live. Understanding this can help us all work together to defeat Putin's Party and their figurehead.</p>
<p>The canary in the Republican coal mine is screeching his head off.</p>
<p>All things PA-18.</p>
<p>Well, it's another day in this malfunctioning hologram.</p>
<p>Those who are apathetic, who don't engage in the struggles of their fellow citizens, are exactly like oppressors. The New York Times decided to profile one such person this past weekend.</p>
<p>Our community mourns a tragedy.</p> | Mar 3 Ukraine: How it Got Harder for Snowden's Russia Story to Pass the Laugh Test | true | http://thepeoplesview.net/main/2014/3/3/ukraine-how-it-got-harder-for-snowdens-russia-story-to-pass-the-laugh-test | 2018-03-03 | 4 |
<p>“If you have an Arabic last name, it’s terrorism,” said Casey Jordan to Alisyn Camerota, in reference to the murderers who committed <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/12/02/san-bernadino-mass-shooting/" type="external">yesterday’s mass shooting attack</a> in San Bernardino. Jordan is a criminologist and CNN Contributor. Confidently speculating that the attack can be accurately qualified as “workplace violence”, Jordan posited that <a href="" type="internal">Syed Farook</a> had been subjected to harassment based on his ethnic background. She said, “Maybe he was harassed at work for being Middle Eastern, or having that heritage, and (human resources) did not protect him from harassment.”</p>
<p>Jordan asserted that as soon as news began to break of yesterday’s attack, her certainty of the "workplace violence" was cemented. According to Jordan, Farook's attacking of an office party of his employer’s was sufficient evidence to qualify the attack as “workplace violence."</p>
<p>Terrorism, she said, is not directed at “very specific” targets such as office parties of country employees, but at locations like big box stores, malls, and train stations. When she heard that the attack had taken place in a boardroom, her certainty of the attack’s qualification as “workplace violence” was established. She characterized it as similar to “so many disgruntled employees.”</p>
<p>Jordan also speculated that there was a “master-disciple” or “Bonnie and Clyde” syndrome at play between Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, who <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-12-03/meet-syed-farook-and-tashfeen-malik-husband-and-wife-san-bernardino-shooters" type="external">appeared to be his partner</a> in the mass murder attack.</p>
<p>“The cause, of course, was getting even,” said Jordan. As far as she could tell, there was no “political or religious ideology” or “extremist thinking” that was animating the murderers.</p> | CNN Guest: San Bernardino Killer Likely 'Harassed at Work for Being Middle Eastern' | true | https://dailywire.com/news/1564/cnn-guest-san-bernardino-killer-likely-harassed-robert-kraychik | 2015-12-03 | 0 |
<p>Janine Jackson interviewed A.C. Thompson about hate crimes and Donald Trump for the <a href="" type="internal">December 23, 2016, episode</a> of CounterSpin. This is a lightly edited transcript.</p>
<p>A.C. Thomson: ” I think the goal of journalism at this time is to provoke some sort of meaningful response from the public and from officialdom that says, this is not something that will be tolerated.” (photo: Lars Klove)</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">MP3 Link</a></p>
<p>Janine Jackson: There are pundits who still say we should wait and see what a Trump White House will do before expressing concerns. But that ignores how Trump’s media-assisted prominence, the mainstreaming of his brand of brazen hatred, has encouraged and emboldened racist, sexist xenophobes around the country already. Donald Trump didn’t invent hate crime, but he has put the relationship between legitimizing talk and violent action on a plate for media. So how will a press corps that still talks about “race relations” when they mean white supremacy deal with the particular brew now concocted?</p>
<p>We’re joined now by reporter A.C. Thompson, co-author of the book <a href="http://www.mhpbooks.com/books/torture-taxi/" type="external">Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA’s Rendition Flights</a>; he works now at ProPublica, joins us now by phone from the Bay Area. Welcome back to CounterSpin, A.C. Thompson.</p>
<p>A.C. Thompson: Thanks for having me on.</p>
<p>JJ: We hear, of course, anecdotally or through social media, about individual hate crimes, people who are targeted for harassment or for violence because of their perceived ethnicity or religion or gender. I think people might be a little surprised to learn that the official data collection on the problem is really not very good, is it?</p>
<p>ACT: It’s abysmal. What’s going on is that there’s federal law that’s been in place since about 1990 that says, hey, FBI, you have to go out to state and local cops and ask them what’s going on with hate crimes in their jurisdictions. The problem is, those local and state authorities are not compelled to compile decent statistics and give them to the FBI. So a lot of departments just don’t participate; about 20 percent across the country don’t participate at all.</p>
<p>And then the others that do participate, I think a lot of them are lackadaisical. So in some of these states where we know there’s a significant number of hate crimes, you’re getting reports of two, three, five hate crimes a year, and people that follow this know that’s simply not true.</p>
<p>JJ: We saw James Comey come out and apologize for the lack of data. He seems to do that a lot. He was apologizing that the FBI didn’t have good numbers on law enforcement’s killing of black people, and he’s saying on this, too, yeah, we don’t really have so much to go on. Is it your sense that there is a lack of motivation, perhaps, to collect these things, or is it really just that it’s more work to do?</p>
<p>JCT: You know, there’s several things going on here. One is that, at the local level, a lot of local law enforcement officials don’t necessarily know what they’re dealing with, even today, when they get a hate crime in their jurisdiction. So if you have a verbal assault that involves a racial epithet, that may be get written up and reported simply as a verbal assault, and not as a hate crime, in lots of different places. So that’s one problem, is sort of training and the actual police work on the ground.</p>
<p>The next problem is that there are no penalties for law enforcement agencies that don’t submit accurate data to the FBI, and the FBI has not pushed them to submit accurate data. They have not been particularly forceful about getting decent data, on a lot of fronts, from state and local law enforcement. And so it just hasn’t happened.</p>
<p>There has been legislation that was introduced last congressional session saying, hey, this has got to change; federal funding is going to be tied to departments accurately reporting hate crime information. And that legislation didn’t go anywhere. So it will be interesting to see if this comes up again in the next congressional session.</p>
<p>JJ: Of course, data by itself is not reporting. You have to talk to people or, more importantly, listen to people. What is the project that ProPublica is involved with? What are the goals of what you’re trying to do around collecting this information?</p>
<p>ACT: What we’re doing is we’re building a big coalition that involves civil rights groups, ethnic media, journalism students and mainstream journalism outlets. And basically what we’re trying to do is create a complementary data set to the FBI’s data. What we’re looking for are both things that would be defined under state laws or federal law as a hate crime, but also acts of intimidation and harassment that don’t rise to that level. A lot of things that we’re seeing on social media and Twitter, for example. And we are building this team to really try to understand, document and react positively to this moment, where we have a very direct linkage between political speech and crimes on the ground.</p>
<p>JJ: You were talking about police departments not knowing, maybe, the definition, or not categorizing things as hate crimes, and I think the same thing can go for journalists. You know, motives are always going to be murky. Somebody is always going to have a friend who says they don’t have a racist bone in their body. I’m not trying to minimize the difficulty of getting ahold of this issue, of talking about it. But of course we have to talk about it. I mean, we have to.</p>
<p>Nazi graffiti in Wellsville, NY. (photo: <a href="https://twitter.com/brianqwdr" type="external">Brian Quinn</a>)</p>
<p>ACT: Absolutely. I think what’s unique about this moment in modern American history is that you have some very clear signs that what is happening, a lot of it relates very directly to the presidential election. So when you see graffiti that is a spin on the Trump campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” that says “Make America White Again,” and there’s a big huge swastika, well, we know that this is a hate crime related to politics, to the current president-elect. When we see swastikas and the word “Trump” at a park in Brooklyn, we know what that’s about. And a lot of the crimes that have occurred since the election, that have been documented by groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, have quite clearly been connected to the political moment.</p>
<p>JJ: You just mentioned Southern Poverty Law Center. When I was speaking with Heidi Beirich from that group, she told me that journalists tell her that they don’t want to report on white supremacy or on racist acts because they have a sense that exposing it is legitimizing or almost glamorizing it. That seems like an unwinning strategy. But I think it’s partly because some journalists have kind of painted themselves into this corner of objectivity, where they can’t say things are bad or wrong, and I think it leads to a kind of undercoverage.</p>
<p>I wonder, what are you looking for from journalists on this? Obviously they use the data, but what would you like to see reporters doing? You’re a reporter who doesn’t just count numbers, but actually goes out and talks to people. What sort of journalism do you think would be helpful in this moment?</p>
<p>ACT: My belief is different than the people who say, oh, you know, we can’t cover this because it’s sort of legitimizing these kooks and giving them the attention they [don’t] deserve. I think we have to report on every one of these incidents that we can verify, and that we can get out there and interview people about. I think that’s crucial. And I think what we need to do is do this journalism that in part is simply witnessing a very, very scary time in our lives, and giving voice to the people who feel terrified.</p>
<p>There are people in my community who feel terrified. We’ve had two very significant hate crimes in my community where I live. And those people, my neighbors, they need to be able to speak and say, hey, this is incredibly scary to us, it’s tragic, it’s very, very upsetting, and we need somebody to listen to us.</p>
<p>And I think the goal of journalism in this moment is to generate some sort of reaction, whether that’s a popular reaction that says, hey, we are not going to tolerate racism, ethnic hatred and the rest in our community, or whether that’s an official reaction that says, hey, we are going to take every one of these crimes absolutely seriously, and we’re going to put people away if they are attacking one another based on religious beliefs, or based on their race or ethnicity or gender orientation. I think the goal of journalism at this time is to provoke some sort of meaningful response from the public and from officialdom that says, this is not something that will be tolerated.</p>
<p>JJ: We’ve been speaking with A.C. Thompson, reporter at ProPublica. Find them online at <a href="https://www.propublica.org/" type="external">ProPublica.org</a>. A.C. Thompson, thank you so much for joining us this week on CounterSpin.</p>
<p>ACT: Thanks a lot for having me on.</p>
<p>Subscribe: <a href="" type="internal">Android</a> | <a href="" type="internal">RSS</a></p> | ‘We Need to Give Voice to the People Who Feel Terrified’ | true | http://fair.org/home/we-need-to-give-voice-to-the-people-who-feel-terrified/ | 2017-01-10 | 4 |
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<p>President Barack Obama, flanked by senior adviser Brian Deese, left, and Christina Goldfuss, managing director of the Council on Environmental Quality, speaks at the Energy Department in Washington. In a highly anticipated announcement, the United States will pledge to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by up to 28 percent as its contribution to a major global climate treaty nearing the final stages of negotiation, according to people briefed on the White House’s plans. (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — The United States put forth its contribution Tuesday to a global climate treaty, relying entirely on a set of emission cuts ordered by President Barack Obama that may not survive beyond the end of his presidency.</p>
<p>Environmental groups and like-minded governments hailed the U.S. pledge as substantial and ambitious, and Obama’s aides waxed hopeful that the U.S. announcement would spur other countries to follow America’s lead. Yet with Obama’s actions at home facing serious legal challenges and intense political opposition, the Obama administration conceded that many foreign capitals are dubious the U.S. will live up to its commitment.</p>
<p>Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy for climate change, said the pollution rules Obama is counting on to achieve the U.S. goal are on solid legal ground, pushing back on Republicans who have pledged to repeal them or stop them before they can take effect.</p>
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<p>“Undoing the kind of regulations we are putting in place is something that is very hard to do,” said Stern. “Countries ask me about the solidity of what we’re doing all the time, and that’s exactly what I explain.”</p>
<p>To fulfill its pledge, the U.S. has until 2025 to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases 26 percent to 28 percent below the levels recorded in 2005. Obama first set that goal late last year as part of a joint climate agreement with China, then codified it Tuesday as the formal U.S. contribution to the climate treaty that nations are seeking to finalize by December, when leaders convene in Paris.</p>
<p>The United States is already part of the way there. Earlier in his presidency Obama set a goal to cut emissions 17 percent by 2020, and the boom in U.S. natural gas production has had the ancillary effect of curbing emissions from dirtier coal-fired power plants.</p>
<p>In its written pledge, known to climate negotiators as an Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, the U.S. did not offer an exact formula for how it would achieve the remaining reductions. Yet it pointed to an array of steps Obama has taken or is taking to curb emissions. Obama has ordered higher fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, methane limits for energy production, cuts in federal government emissions and unprecedented pollution rules for new and existing power plants.</p>
<p>Many of those steps have drawn the ire of some Democrats and almost all Republicans — not to mention the energy industry. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been urging U.S. states not to comply with Obama’s power plant rules, and argued that the U.S. could never meet Obama’s target even if those rules do survive.</p>
<p>“Considering that two-thirds of the U.S. federal government hasn’t even signed off on the Clean Power Plan and 13 states have already pledged to fight it, our international partners should proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal,” McConnell said.</p>
<p>Although Tuesday marked the informal deadline for nations to relay their commitments to the United Nations, most countries blew through that deadline and will announce their pledges later in the year. So far the U.S., the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Mexico and Russia have put their pledges on the table, with most developing nations and heavy polluters like India and China expected to wait a few more months.</p>
<p>In its message to the U.N., the U.S. argued its pledge was both “ambitious” and “fair” — buzzwords in the long-running dispute about who bears the burden for fighting climate change: Wealthy, industrialized nations like the U.S. or poorer, developing countries like India. The developing countries have argued that since they have historically been responsible for less pollution, they hold less responsibility for taking the tough economic steps needed to curb future emissions.</p>
<p>The U.S. has sought to use its pledge and its diplomatic engagement on climate to ramp up the political pressure on other countries to make ambitious commitments of their own, in hopes of securing the most robust treaty possible.</p>
<p>Yet if McConnell and others succeed in thwarting parts of Obama’s climate agenda, it’s unclear how the U.S. could meet its goal. White House officials declined to say whether they had a Plan B. And since Obama has relied on executive authority to act on climate, the longevity of Obama’s actions are up to the discretion of his successor.</p>
<p>“Foreign capitals remain nervous given the episodic history of U.S. climate engagement,” said Paul Bledsoe, a climate adviser in the Clinton White House and a scholar at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He said not all legal experts agree with the Obama administration that a future Republican president would have a hard time reversing Obama’s actions.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP" type="external">http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP</a></p> | U.S. climate treaty pledge relies on uncertain Obama actions | false | https://abqjournal.com/562675/us-to-pledge-up-to-28-percent-emission-cut-in-global-treaty.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>A group of current Dartmouth students spent the school’s multi-day <a href="http://www.dartmouth.edu/admissions/dim/" type="external">event</a> for admitted high schoolers making sure the “prospies” know the New Hampshire campus is not without urgent and inexcusable problems. Using a series of media–from chalking to chanted protest–the activists exposed the university’s shameful practices while the rest of the school worked to sell prospective students on a vision of airbrushed collegiate life. Rather than focusing on one particular issue, the dissenting students’ message honed in on Dartmouth’s oppressive silencing of students living at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities and experiences; the protestors’ stories differ, as seen in the video above, but the school’s pattern of “discrimination through inaction” is demonstrated clearly.</p>
<p>As Taylor Payer, Dartmouth ’15, told me, the participants have diverse perspectives and individual motivations, but their collective goal “was to better inform admitted students about the issues that go on in here. So we decided to get together and do some resistant actions to better inform admitted students and get the ear of the administration.”</p>
<p>Despite accusations of disloyalty from their peers, the protestors don’t want to scare potential classmates away from coming to Hanover, but rather invite them to matriculate at Dartmouth as allies. “We want to encourage them to come to Dartmouth prepared to join us in the fight and make change,” said Payer. “And we also wanted to mess things up for the administration to convince them that they need to do something about the problems here or we’re going to be loud and speak truth.”&#160;</p>
<p>The activists wrote on their <a href="http://realtalkdartmouth.wordpress.com/about/" type="external">website</a>:</p>
<p>On Wednesday evening and Thursday, Dartmouth students reached out to current and prospective students to engage in a dialogue about persistent, systematic, and structural issues of racism, sexism, rape culture, homophobia, classism, and ableism at Dartmouth through chalk, print, and video advertising. The advertising highlighted Dartmouth’s support of discrimination through inaction and communicated various facts about so-called “isolated bias incidents” at Dartmouth. Early Thursday morning, students who covered prominent campus areas with chalk messages were circled by S&amp;S vehicles, confronted by other students, and their words were professionally scrubbed away by 8:00 AM. Posters displayed around campus were torn down and thrown away by students, administrators, and employees of the college.</p>
<p>…Campus is plastered with posters saying “We ♥ 17s [prospective freshmen]!” and “Welcome Home!” How many of these 17s will be sexually assaulted, hazed, verbally abused, targeted or marginalized because of their identity, or shamed because of their class if Dartmouth does not address bias, prejudice, sex segregation, and rape culture? Most? All? Silence maintains the status quo, and serves only those in power. Honesty and dialogue (#REALTALK) are necessary for change.</p>
<p>The collective’s <a href="http://realtalkdartmouth.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/nuance-and-dialogue/" type="external">most</a> <a href="http://dartreview.com/dartlog/2013/4/20/inside-the-dimensions-debacle.html" type="external">controversial</a> move, sparking some productive debate and many violent threats, was a protest interrupting a student performance. Students chanted in call and response, returning to the refrain that “Dartmouth has a problem.”</p>
<p />
<p>Transcript of the chant after the jump (via <a href="http://realtalkdartmouth.wordpress.com/about/" type="external">Real Talk Dartmouth</a>; protestors seem to have deviated from this script, we’ll post the updated version as soon as we have it) .</p>
<p />
<p>Lead: My name is Dartmouth Chorus: Hi Dartmouth Lead: And I have a problem Chorus: Dartmouth has a problem Lead: Let us show you another dimension of Dartmouth Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: 3 years 15 reported sexual assaults Chorus: repeat Lead: But 95% go unreported Chorus: repeat Lead: Only 3 rapists expelled&#160;in 10 years Chorus: repeat Lead: Dartmouth has a problem Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: Nov 2011 Chorus: repeat Lead: homophobic, sexist graffiti Chorus: repeat Lead: dartmouth has a problem Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: May 2012 Chorus: repeat Lead: racist verbal attack Chorus: repeat Lead: Dartmouth has a problem Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: November 2011 Chorus: repeat Lead: Homophobic and sexist graffiti Chorus: repeat Lead: dartmouth has a problem Chorus: DARTMOUTH HAS A PROBLEM! Lead: My name is Dartmouth Chorus: Hi Dartmouth Lead: And I have a problem Chorus: Dartmouth has a problem Lead: Let us show you another dimension of Dartmouth Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: 3 years 15 reported sexual assaults Chorus: repeat Lead: But 95% go unreported Chorus: repeat Lead: Only 3 rapists expelled&#160;in 10 years Chorus: repeat Lead: Dartmouth has a problem Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: Nov 2011 Chorus: repeat Lead: homophobic, sexist graffiti Chorus: repeat Lead: dartmouth has a problem Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: May 2012 Chorus: repeat Lead: racist verbal attack Chorus: repeat Lead: Dartmouth has a problem Chorus: repeat</p>
<p>Lead: November 2011 Chorus: repeat Lead: Homophobic and sexist graffiti Chorus: repeat Lead: dartmouth has a problem Chorus: DARTMOUTH HAS A PROBLEM!</p> | Students protest: “Dartmouth has a problem” | true | http://feministing.com/2013/04/23/students-protest-dartmouth-has-a-problem/ | 4 |
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<p>Investing.com – Norway stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the , and sectors led shares lower.</p>
<p>At the close in Oslo, the fell 0.16%.</p>
<p>The best performers of the session on the were Petroleum Geo – Services ASA (OL:), which rose 3.80% or 0.56 points to trade at 15.30 at the close. Meanwhile, TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA (OL:) added 1.57% or 2.6 points to end at 167.8 and Aker BP ASA (OL:) was up 1.46% or 2.10 points to 146.30 in late trade.</p>
<p>The worst performers of the session were Nordic Nanovector ASA (OL:), which fell 3.40% or 2.85 points to trade at 81.05 at the close. P/f Bakkafrost (OL:) declined 2.68% or 10.00 points to end at 362.70 and Storebrand ASA (OL:) was down 1.40% or 0.90 points to 63.50.</p>
<p>Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Oslo Stock Exchange by 105 to 74 and 26 ended unchanged.</p>
<p>Crude oil for October delivery was up 0.40% or 0.19 to $47.48 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in November fell 0.66% or 0.35 to hit $52.40 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.69% or 9.17 to trade at $1339.57 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>EUR/NOK was up 0.47% to 9.2916, while USD/NOK fell 0.02% to 7.7971.</p>
<p>The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.39% at 92.46.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Norway stocks lower at close of trade; Oslo OBX down 0.16% | false | https://newsline.com/norway-stocks-lower-at-close-of-trade-oslo-obx-down-0-16/ | 2017-09-04 | 1 |
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<p>“Right now, because of some of the tragedies across the country, there’s a lot of dialogue about these issues,” Mayor Richard Berry said Friday.</p>
<p>People need a safe way to dispose of unwanted firearms, Berry said, citing the Dec. 14 shootings that left 26 dead in Newtown, Conn., and the July 20 shootings that killed 12 at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.</p>
<p>“This is something pragmatic we can do right here in our hometown,” Berry said.</p>
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<p>Firearms and ammunition will be accepted without question, city officials said in a written statement. The firearms will be checked, and stolen firearms will be returned to the owner.</p>
<p>Police will accept firearms from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Saturday in January at the Metropolitan Forensic Science Center, 5350 Second NW. After January, police will accept guns and ammunition every second Saturday during the same hours.</p>
<p>To arrange a drop-off at other times, call Marc Adams, director of the city’s crime lab, at 235-3159. — This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Public Invited To Turn In Guns | false | https://abqjournal.com/156448/public-invited-to-turn-in-guns.html | 2012-12-29 | 2 |
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<p>Today TASER International (NASDAQ: TASR) made its boldest move yet to take over the body-camera market. It offered an Axon Body 2 camera for every sworn officer in the U.S. and a full year of Evidence.com and training assistance. This is a bet that the company can ingrain itself in the law-enforcement system, in a way that will be nearly impossible to untangle once implemented.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>To show its seriousness about transitioning from a Taser-focused business to body cameras, TASER International is also changing its name to Axon, which will come with the new ticker symbol AAXN, effective tomorrow. As founder and CEO Rick Smith said in a press release, this is an "all-in" bet on the future of body cameras.</p>
<p>Image source: Axon.</p>
<p>Axon's free offer to law enforcement could change the game in the body camera industry. It could increase adoption of body cameras nationwide, while also squeezing out competitors who can't match such an offer. Here's what <a href="https://www.axon.com/info/offer" type="external">law enforcement would get Opens a New Window.</a>:</p>
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<p>This will be an extremely attractive offer for law enforcement agencies looking to try body cameras and for small jurisdictions that might not have the buying power of a big city. And it'll be tough for competitors like Vievu to match such an offer.</p>
<p>The intention of this free offer is to get officers using the Axon system. The company is selling body cameras as an easier way to record data, a way to reduce paperwork, and an effective tool to reduce violence and increase conviction rates. If customers are attracted by a free offer and get used to using the system, it'll help Axon in the long term, because the real value isn't in the body camera sale, it's in the cloud services and recurring revenue from those services. And once law enforcement starts using those services and seeing their benefits, it'll be hard to get away from them.</p>
<p>What this offer will also do is put pressure on Axon's finances in the short term. But that's a trade-off management is willing to make, if it means expanding the body camera market and grabbing a larger percentage of market share at the same time.</p>
<p>Even as Axon was building out its body camera products, it was sacrificing short-term profits for long-term profit potential. It beefed up research-and-development spending and sales staff, which hurt net income even as revenue rose:</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/TASR/revenues_ttm" type="external">TASR Revenue (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>This trend will likely continue given the free body camera offer, which will likely cost millions, depending on the adoption rate. But if adoption of the body cameras and contracts for Evidence.com and other services increase after this offer, it could pay off in spades. The company recently stopped reporting Axon body camera service margins -- which include Evidence.com -- but in the past they've been as high as 80%. Giving away cameras in return for a multiyear service contract with 80% margins is a great trade in any business.</p>
<p>A free product offer could also alleviate some of the competitive pressure the company has been feeling in the body camera business, driven by aggressive bidding by competitors. And if Axon is successful in getting body cameras into the hands of tens of thousands of law enforcement officers with this new offer, it could be a home run for long-term investors.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than AxonWhen 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>
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<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=9bb8b9b2-7b83-404e-b06d-c4fd7099a253&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/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Axon. The Motley Fool recommends Axon. 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> | TASER International Goes "All In" on Body Cameras With Name Change and Free Offer | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/05/taser-international-goes-all-in-on-body-cameras-with-name-change-and-free-offer.html | 2017-04-05 | 0 |
<p>(Zero Hedge) – While a liberal group responsible for fomenting the Electoral College rebellion claims to have at least 20 of the 37 GOP defectors needed to pull an upset and send the election to the House, The Hill reports that, among Republicans on the ground, though, there is no chatter or speculation surrounding that possibility. The liberal opposition has generated a cottage industry of online speculation that an Electoral College revolt is a real possibility. But state party leaders familiar with the thinking of their electors dismiss the speculation as fantasy.</p>
<p>Republican state party chairmen and local officials expect nearly every GOP elector to fulfill their pledges to vote for Donald Trump for president on Monday when delegates gather across the country to cast their Electoral College ballots.</p>
<p>Despite a media frenzy around the scattered groups of liberals suggesting a groundswell of Republican opposition to Trump, there is little evidence to suggest that many GOP voters will go against the popular vote in their home states.</p>
<p>An Associated Press poll of more than 330 electors published Thursday found similarly long odds for any Electoral College revolt, with both Democrats and Republicans convinced Trump will clinch the vote Monday.</p>
<p><a href="http://a9976pj4wxyjbpbgv809ylcydn.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=SPECIALOFFERMILLION" type="external" /></p>
<p>The Hill reached state party chairmen or officials for 10 of the 30 states Trump won in November, accounting for 170 of the 270 electoral votes he needs to win.</p>
<p>The officials in those states, most of whom said they are in close contact with their full slate of delegates and are working in tandem with the Republican National Committee’s whip operation, promised to deliver 169 of the 170 electoral votes up for grabs.</p>
<p>Florida:</p>
<p>“We’re certain about how our electors will vote,” Florida GOP chairman Blaise Ingoglia told The Hill. “There is a better chance of Hillary Clinton telling the truth about something than any of our 29 electoral votes going for anyone other than Donald Trump.”</p>
<p>North Carolina:</p>
<p>“We have been in contact with all of North Carolina’s electors, and as far as they have told us, they are all very excited and confident in their vote for Donald Trump,” North Carolina GOP spokeswoman Emily Weeks told The Hill.</p>
<p>“Most of the questions and concerns have been about event rehearsal prep and just making sure everyone has their ducks in a row.”</p>
<p>South Carolina:</p>
<p>GOP chairman Matt Moore said he attended a Christmas party with all nine of his state’s electors this week.</p>
<p>“I saw every single one last night, and I’m absolutely confident,” Moore said.</p>
<p>Arizona:</p>
<p>chairman Robert Graham said he’s held a roundtable meeting with his 11 electors and stays in touch through private discussions, much of which is focused on the deluge of angry correspondence and threats they’ve received.</p>
<p>“We’re getting hundreds of thousands of emails, but as it stands, every one of our members signed a pledge to support the nominee before this brouhaha,” Graham said. “Nothing has changed. All 11 will be delivered.”</p>
<p>Texas:</p>
<p>“They called to ask me who I planned to vote for and I told them Trump,” said Will Hickman, a Texas elector. “There is the one guy who said he’d vote for another Republican, and another who said he’d resign, but I’d be surprised if anyone else voted differently.” Ohio:</p>
<p>“All of Ohio’s electors will vote for Donald Trump on Monday,” said Ohio GOP chairman Matt Borges. “We specifically asked the campaign to hand-pick their electors so no issues like this would come up here.”</p>
<p>Michigan:</p>
<p>“We have been in contact with all of our electors and fully anticipate all of them to cast their ballots for Donald J. Trump for president and Mike Pence for vice president,” said Michigan GOP executive director Steve Ostrow.</p>
<p>Idaho:</p>
<p>“Less than zero percent chance any of Idaho’s four electors will cast ballots for anyone other than the overwhelming winner of our state, President-elect Donald Trump,” said Idaho GOP chairman Steven Yates.</p>
<p>“We have been in regular contact with them. They have weathered a truly sad bullying campaign via phone, email and social media. They are standing strong by the will of our voters.”</p>
<p>The lone exception is a rebel elector in Texas, who has written an op-ed in the New York Times and said in media interviews that he will not vote for Trump. Two others have said they will resign in protest. They are likely to be replaced by electors the party is certain will vote for Trump.</p>
<p>www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-15/they-are-standing-strong-will-our-voters-gop-crushes-democrats-hopes-confirms-electo</p> | “They Are Standing Strong By The Will Of Our Voters” – GOP Crushes Democrats’ Hopes, Confirms Electors Back Trump | true | http://teaparty.org/standing-strong-will-voters-gop-crushes-democrats-hopes-confirms-electors-back-trump-207091/ | 0 |
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<p>Some NFL fans are burning their season tickets and team paraphernalia in reaction to anti-Americanism being pushed by various NFL athletes, coaches, and team owners:</p>
<p>Widespread kneeling among NFL players during pre-game recitals of the national anthem began with former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who described his political expression as an opposition to "racial injustice," framing America as broadly hostile toward blacks and other non-white persons.</p>
<p>NFL ratings <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/09/26/nfl-player-protests-hurting-ratings/703619001/" type="external">have declined about 10%</a> in the first three weeks of the 2017 season relative to the same time frame last year.</p>
<p>Read about the genesis of Kaepernick's leftist politics <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p>Assorted news media outlets such as The New York Times, USA Today, and The Atlantic insist that declining NFL ratings are unrelated to the anti-American political expression of some of its athletes, coaches, and team owners.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the NFL for its handling of the protests on Twitter:</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | WATCH: NFL Fans Burn Season Tickets And Jerseys | true | https://dailywire.com/news/21613/watch-nfl-fans-burn-season-tickets-and-jerseys-robert-kraychik | 2017-09-27 | 0 |
<p>RICHMOND, Va. — Tornadoes kept Virginia Baptists’ disaster relief ministries on its toes during the first half of April, as severe weather caused damage in two widely-separated parts of the state — along the Chesapeake Bay and in the mountains of Southwest Virginia.</p>
<p>A tornado that wreaked havoc in North Carolina April 16 moved north along Virginia’s coast, damaging Chesapeake Bay communities before heading out to sea. At least one Baptist church — <a href="index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=4953&amp;Itemid=53" type="external">Zoar</a> in Deltaville, Va. — saw its sanctuary destroyed by the twister.</p>
<p>Disaster relief ministries sent a shower unit to <a href="http://www.providence-baptist.com/" type="external">Providence Baptist Church</a>&#160;in Hayes, Va., April 20 to support the congregation’s relief efforts in the Gloucester County community, said Dean Miller, who coordinates disaster relief for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.</p>
<p />
<p>“We haven’t triggered an official response in that area yet, but we’re monitoring the situation,” said Miller. “I had a conversation with one of the regional disaster relief coordinators who explained that there are many churches that are coordinating their own efforts and are responding to the needs of their own communities rather well.</p>
<p>"At least four congregations affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia are providing work teams from their own membership to respond to the needs of those affected," he added. "We stand ready to assist these churches as they respond. The shower unit is one example.”</p>
<p>Though Virginia Baptists are not mobilizing volunteers for the area, Miller said people interested in offering help can call the Virginia Department of Emergency Management volunteer center at 757.232.4819 or the non-profit group Operation Blessing at 757.374.0944.</p>
<p>Meanwhile in Pulaski County, Virginia Baptist volunteers are completing initial relief operations after two tornadoes touched down there April 8, causing more than $9 million in damage. About 10 people were injured and more than 400 structures in the town of Pulaski — the county seat — were damaged.</p>
<p>“The Virginia Department of Emergency Management asked Virginia Baptists to take the lead in coordinating all volunteer work in Pulaski,” Miller told members of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board at their April 12 meeting.</p>
<p>Most of the work involved cutting trees, removing debris and assessing damage, he said. “There was a total of 96 jobs and Virginia Baptist volunteers took care of about a third of them.”</p>
<p><a href="http://dublinbaptistva.org/" type="external">Dublin (Va.) Baptist Church</a>, about eight miles from Pulaski, housed and fed Virginia Baptist volunteers.</p>
<p>Most workers have returned home, but a laundry unit remains in place for residents whose washing machines and dryers are damaged or destroyed.</p>
<p>In the next few weeks Pulaski County administrators will release a long-term strategy for recovery, Miller said. “We plan to find ways to plug into that.”</p>
<p>Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell asked President Obama April 18 for a federal disaster declaration for the county, which would qualify its residents for low-interest loans, grants and housing assistance. Miller said county officials are awaiting the results of that request before finalizing their recovery plan.</p> | Tornadoes keep Virginia Baptists’ disaster relief ministries busy in April | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/tornadoeskeepvirginiabaptistsdisasterreliefministriesbusyinapril/ | 3 |
|
<p>SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian Grand Prix organizers are poised to sign a new three-year contract to host Formula One at the Sepang International Circuit, with a final agreement expected next month.</p>
<p>SIC chairman Mokhzani Tun Mahathir told The Associated Press on Saturday that the final details of the contract were being formalized with Formula One's commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone but there was will on both sides to extend its place on the calendar through 2018.</p>
<p>"Between Bernie and us we have an understanding of what the contract entails, but when it turns into legal language, there's a couple of things we want to make sure the understanding is correct," Mokhzani said.</p>
<p>"We have made an understanding to our stakeholders that we extend by three years and that doesn't seem to be an issue. It's just to make sure the legal language on those documents is correct - that's where we're at."</p>
<p>He said making the Malaysian Grand Prix into a night race, through the installation of expensive lighting, was still being discussed, though he said a three-year deal may not be long enough to warrant the expense.</p>
<p>"We've been looking at lights for quite a number of years now," Mokhzani said. "The associated costs would be quite considerable, so if we're going to extend for just three years, it may or may not pay for itself. A Formula One lighting system is not going to be cheap. Standards and requirements are very high. It's still something we are debating."</p>
<p>Malaysia's place in the calendar was also under discussion. Originally a late-season event when it first hosted F1 in 1999, the event is now an early-season race. A switch back to later in the year could open the possibility of Malaysia coming a week before or after the race in neighboring Singapore, which would boost attendances and tourist numbers.</p>
<p>"The racing calendar is decided sometime in September, when the World Motorsports Council sits, and that sometimes gives us a problem with lead time to promote the event," Mokhzani said." Twinning with Singapore is not a bad idea, it's just a matter of how Bernie wants to move the F1 show around the world, logistically."</p>
<p>The proposed new Malaysia deal comes at a time when Germany has lost its race and other traditional races are at threat. The European events do not receive as much government backing as those in Asia and the Middle East.</p>
<p>"Malaysia, and some of the other newer F1 hosts, look at it from a lot more angles compared to where the traditional races had been," Mokhzani said. "We have always looked at it as a platform to promote Malaysia, and attract foreign tourists into Malaysia. So there's still a reason for the government to say yes to hosting Formula One, as long as all the prerequisites are there and the internal investment is still justifiable."</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>SEPANG, Malaysia (AP) - Malaysian Grand Prix organizers are poised to sign a new three-year contract to host Formula One at the Sepang International Circuit, with a final agreement expected next month.</p>
<p>SIC chairman Mokhzani Tun Mahathir told The Associated Press on Saturday that the final details of the contract were being formalized with Formula One's commercial chief Bernie Ecclestone but there was will on both sides to extend its place on the calendar through 2018.</p>
<p>"Between Bernie and us we have an understanding of what the contract entails, but when it turns into legal language, there's a couple of things we want to make sure the understanding is correct," Mokhzani said.</p>
<p>"We have made an understanding to our stakeholders that we extend by three years and that doesn't seem to be an issue. It's just to make sure the legal language on those documents is correct - that's where we're at."</p>
<p>He said making the Malaysian Grand Prix into a night race, through the installation of expensive lighting, was still being discussed, though he said a three-year deal may not be long enough to warrant the expense.</p>
<p>"We've been looking at lights for quite a number of years now," Mokhzani said. "The associated costs would be quite considerable, so if we're going to extend for just three years, it may or may not pay for itself. A Formula One lighting system is not going to be cheap. Standards and requirements are very high. It's still something we are debating."</p>
<p>Malaysia's place in the calendar was also under discussion. Originally a late-season event when it first hosted F1 in 1999, the event is now an early-season race. A switch back to later in the year could open the possibility of Malaysia coming a week before or after the race in neighboring Singapore, which would boost attendances and tourist numbers.</p>
<p>"The racing calendar is decided sometime in September, when the World Motorsports Council sits, and that sometimes gives us a problem with lead time to promote the event," Mokhzani said." Twinning with Singapore is not a bad idea, it's just a matter of how Bernie wants to move the F1 show around the world, logistically."</p>
<p>The proposed new Malaysia deal comes at a time when Germany has lost its race and other traditional races are at threat. The European events do not receive as much government backing as those in Asia and the Middle East.</p>
<p>"Malaysia, and some of the other newer F1 hosts, look at it from a lot more angles compared to where the traditional races had been," Mokhzani said. "We have always looked at it as a platform to promote Malaysia, and attract foreign tourists into Malaysia. So there's still a reason for the government to say yes to hosting Formula One, as long as all the prerequisites are there and the internal investment is still justifiable."</p>
<p>.</p> | Malaysia poised to sign new F1 hosting deal | false | https://apnews.com/amp/2947fb026e5d4d509b3e07d89d67c65f | 2015-03-28 | 2 |
<p>Since the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiered, the adorable spinning bot BB-8 has taken the Star Wars fandom by storm. Fans were excited to learn that the newest droid was not in fact a product of CGI, but an actual prop, when he made his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUEGPY8gBd8" type="external">first appearance</a> at a Star Wars celebration earlier this month.</p>
<p>Sphero, a Boulder, Colorado based tech company that specializes in app controlled spherical toys, announced that it was the company that created the technology behind BB-8. In partnership with Disney, they plan to release a toy version to the public.</p>
<p>The BB-8 toys, to be&#160;sold in Disney stores and select retailers,&#160;will be around the size of an apple and controlled by phone applications. In addition to the toys sold in stores, The New York Times reported that larger versions of the droid, similar to the one that was shown at the Star Wars convention, will make appearances&#160;in Disney Parks.</p>
<p>“What an incredible honor it is to work with the team at Disney on one of the most interesting new characters in the Star Wars franchise,” Paul Berberian, Sphero’s CEO, <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/04/20/sphero-star-wars-bb-8-toy/" type="external">told Engadget</a>. “Our hardware and software technology advancements make it possible to build the toys of the future now. We are deepening the user connection in ways that, until today, have only been portrayed in science fiction.”</p>
<p>No information on when you can get your hands on your very own BB-8 has been released. You can sign up for updates on the project on <a href="http://www.gosphero.com/starwars/" type="external">Sphero’s website</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | Adorable spinning droid from ‘Star Wars’ trailer will be mass produced by Disney | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/04/20/adorable-spinning-droid-from-star-wars-trailer-will-be-mass-produced-by-disney/ | 2015-04-20 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Alternet’s (formerly Mother Jones‘) Ann Friedman takes a <a href="http://alternet.org/story/42638/" type="external">strong position</a> on magazines’ byline gender gap, going so far as to recommend quotas, which Alternet has employed in order to ensure that efforts to even the byline score are made. Quotas are often the subject of controversy, but when looking at the results published by <a href="http://www.womentk.com/" type="external">WomenTK.com</a>, and <a href="/news/exhibit/2006/01/limited_ambitions.html" type="external">highlighted</a> in Mother Jones last January, it’s impossible not to be struck by the gap and to reach out for any and all solutions. Here’s Friedman’s go at the ratios (male-to-female contributing writers/editors):</p>
<p>The American Prospect: <a href="http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&amp;name=Masthead" type="external">21:12</a> The Atlantic: <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/a/masthead.mhtml" type="external">27:6</a> Harper’s: 30:2 (masthead not online) In These Times: <a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/about/" type="external">6:6</a> Mother Jones: <a href="/about/edit/masthead.html#ma" type="external">10:5</a> The New Yorker: <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/main/contributors/?contribs_af" type="external">44:18</a> The Nation: <a href="http://www.thenation.com/about/masthead.mhtml" type="external">26:4</a> The New Republic: <a href="http://www.tnr.com/masthead.mhtml" type="external">12:2</a> Salon: <a href="http://www.salon.com/about/staff/index.html#edit" type="external">14:7</a> Slate: <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/117517/" type="external">20:6</a> Washington Monthly: <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/inside/staff.html" type="external">30:5</a></p>
<p>Yup, Mother Jones is in there, and although we look better than most, there’s always room for improvement.</p>
<p /> | Who Holds the Solution to the Byline Gender Gap? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/10/who-holds-solution-byline-gender-gap/ | 2006-10-10 | 4 |
<p>WASHINGTON — The director of national intelligence says he’s formally submitted his resignation.</p>
<p>James Clapper has long said he planned to retire at the end of the Obama administration, and he told the House Intelligence Committee on Thursday that he submitted his letter of resignation on Wednesday evening.</p>
<p>Committee members jokingly asked him to stay on for perhaps four more years. Clapper says his wife probably would have a problem with that.</p>
<p>Clapper has held the job since August 2010. Before that, he was a lieutenant general in the Air Force and director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.</p> | US intelligence director submits resignation | false | https://reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/us-intelligence-director-submits-resignation/ | 2016-11-17 | 1 |
<p>CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Same-sex couples married in midnight ceremonies across Australia on Tuesday after the country's last legal impediment to gay marriage expired.</p>
<p>Marriage equality became law on Dec. 9 with overwhelming support in Parliament, but Australia's requirement that all couples give a month's notice for weddings made Tuesday the first possible date for gay marriages.</p>
<p>Athletes Craig Burns and Luke Sullivan married at a midnight ceremony near the east coast city of Tweed Heads.</p>
<p>"It's another way to show your love and appreciation of your partner in front of the people in your life," said Burns, a 29-year-old sprinter who will compete in the Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast in April.</p>
<p>In Newcastle, north of Sydney, Rebecca Hickson, 32, married her partner of nine years, Sarah Turnbull, 34.</p>
<p>Hickson described the divisive build-up to a gay marriage ballot preceding Parliament's vote as "a horrible time." She said the couple wanted to be part of history by becoming one of the first lesbian couples to marry in Australia.</p>
<p>Lainey Carmichael, 51, and Roz Kitschke, 46, married shortly after dawn before 65 guests at their home in the town of Franklin in the island state of Tasmania.</p>
<p>The early ceremony was mainly to avoid the summer heat, Kitschke said. "New day; new era — and we don' like the heat that much," she said.</p>
<p>Wedding guest Rodney Croome, a long-time marriage equality advocate and spokesperson for Tasmanians United for Marriage Equality, said: "This morning's wedding marked the start of a new chapter in the lives of the two brides but also a new chapter in the life of the nation."</p>
<p>"Today we are a more equal and inclusive country that treats all loving, committed couples the same," Croome said in a statement.</p>
<p>The Australian Parliament overwhelming voted for same-sex marriage after a nationwide postal survey found that 62 percent of respondents wanted marriage equality.</p>
<p>The one-month waiting period was waived for some couples who wed in recent weeks. Those exceptional circumstances included a partner's terminal illness and overseas-based relatives booking flights to Australia before the official start date for the new law was known.</p>
<p>Civil celebrant Charles Foley has been campaigning for years to get Australia to drop the one-month waiting period, which he said is among the longest in the world.</p>
<p>The federal government imposed it at the request of churches decades ago so parishioners would have time to say why they may object to some religious unions, Foley said.</p>
<p>Ireland has a waiting period of three months.</p>
<p>Australia and Ireland are the only countries that have put the question of legalizing gay marriage to a popular vote.</p>
<p>Ireland held a legally binding referendum in 2015 to change its constitution. The referendum found 62 percent of respondents wanted marriage equality.</p>
<p>Australia's conservative government held a non-binding postal survey to avoid dividing its own lawmakers and pledged to vote on the issue if Australians endorsed equality. They did, and lawmakers quickly passed the legislation.</p>
<p>Civil celebrant Judy Ulich married 11 same-sex couples over five days in 2013 in the national capital Canberra before the High Court overturned a local territory law that briefly provided marriage equality. The court unanimously upheld the federal government's urgent case that the territory law was invalid because it was inconsistent with a federal prohibition on same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>Ulich said she was looking forward to marrying for a second time several same-sex couples whose brief marriages had been overruled. But none of her 15 gay marriage bookings was for Tuesday. Most same-sex couples preferred to wait for a suitable weekend.</p>
<p>"Unless people really wanted to make a statement and marry two minutes after midnight, people generally don't choose Tuesday, which is a working day," she said.</p>
<p>"In most cases, they want to have a celebration. They want people to be able to rejoice with them because they had such a big fight to get the right to marry," she added.</p>
<p>CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Same-sex couples married in midnight ceremonies across Australia on Tuesday after the country's last legal impediment to gay marriage expired.</p>
<p>Marriage equality became law on Dec. 9 with overwhelming support in Parliament, but Australia's requirement that all couples give a month's notice for weddings made Tuesday the first possible date for gay marriages.</p>
<p>Athletes Craig Burns and Luke Sullivan married at a midnight ceremony near the east coast city of Tweed Heads.</p>
<p>"It's another way to show your love and appreciation of your partner in front of the people in your life," said Burns, a 29-year-old sprinter who will compete in the Commonwealth Games in Australia's Gold Coast in April.</p>
<p>In Newcastle, north of Sydney, Rebecca Hickson, 32, married her partner of nine years, Sarah Turnbull, 34.</p>
<p>Hickson described the divisive build-up to a gay marriage ballot preceding Parliament's vote as "a horrible time." She said the couple wanted to be part of history by becoming one of the first lesbian couples to marry in Australia.</p>
<p>Lainey Carmichael, 51, and Roz Kitschke, 46, married shortly after dawn before 65 guests at their home in the town of Franklin in the island state of Tasmania.</p>
<p>The early ceremony was mainly to avoid the summer heat, Kitschke said. "New day; new era — and we don' like the heat that much," she said.</p>
<p>Wedding guest Rodney Croome, a long-time marriage equality advocate and spokesperson for Tasmanians United for Marriage Equality, said: "This morning's wedding marked the start of a new chapter in the lives of the two brides but also a new chapter in the life of the nation."</p>
<p>"Today we are a more equal and inclusive country that treats all loving, committed couples the same," Croome said in a statement.</p>
<p>The Australian Parliament overwhelming voted for same-sex marriage after a nationwide postal survey found that 62 percent of respondents wanted marriage equality.</p>
<p>The one-month waiting period was waived for some couples who wed in recent weeks. Those exceptional circumstances included a partner's terminal illness and overseas-based relatives booking flights to Australia before the official start date for the new law was known.</p>
<p>Civil celebrant Charles Foley has been campaigning for years to get Australia to drop the one-month waiting period, which he said is among the longest in the world.</p>
<p>The federal government imposed it at the request of churches decades ago so parishioners would have time to say why they may object to some religious unions, Foley said.</p>
<p>Ireland has a waiting period of three months.</p>
<p>Australia and Ireland are the only countries that have put the question of legalizing gay marriage to a popular vote.</p>
<p>Ireland held a legally binding referendum in 2015 to change its constitution. The referendum found 62 percent of respondents wanted marriage equality.</p>
<p>Australia's conservative government held a non-binding postal survey to avoid dividing its own lawmakers and pledged to vote on the issue if Australians endorsed equality. They did, and lawmakers quickly passed the legislation.</p>
<p>Civil celebrant Judy Ulich married 11 same-sex couples over five days in 2013 in the national capital Canberra before the High Court overturned a local territory law that briefly provided marriage equality. The court unanimously upheld the federal government's urgent case that the territory law was invalid because it was inconsistent with a federal prohibition on same-sex marriage.</p>
<p>Ulich said she was looking forward to marrying for a second time several same-sex couples whose brief marriages had been overruled. But none of her 15 gay marriage bookings was for Tuesday. Most same-sex couples preferred to wait for a suitable weekend.</p>
<p>"Unless people really wanted to make a statement and marry two minutes after midnight, people generally don't choose Tuesday, which is a working day," she said.</p>
<p>"In most cases, they want to have a celebration. They want people to be able to rejoice with them because they had such a big fight to get the right to marry," she added.</p> | Gays marry in midnight wedding ceremonies across Australia | false | https://apnews.com/amp/527fd50e4f1f422fa1b31b3ac9b7922a | 2018-01-09 | 2 |
<p>Weight-loss programs such as Weight Watchers may be just as effective as clinical programs, a new study published in the journal Obesity suggests.</p>
<p>The reason may be that both use group-based approaches to achieve weight loss, study author Angela Pinto, assistant professor of psychology at Baruch College of the City University of New York, <a href="http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/10/09/group-programs-for-weight-loss-may-work-best" type="external">told U.S. News and World Report</a>.</p>
<p>"Group-based weight-loss treatment produced weight loss, whether delivered by a professional or peer counselor. When people are in a group with others on the same journey, they feel there is that element of, 'OK, this worked for him or her, perhaps it will work for me. Perhaps I can give it a try.'"</p>
<p>Researchers assigned 141 overweight and obese people to one of three groups: The first was assigned to 48 weeks of behavioral weight-loss treatment from a health professional; the second participated in Weight Watchers for 48 weeks - &#160;chosen because it is the largest commercial program in the US; and the third received combined treatment.</p>
<p>Participants in the Weight Watchers group had lost the most weight - 13.2 pounds - while those in a professional program lost 11.9 pounds and the combination group lost an average of 7.9 pounds.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/overwt.htm" type="external">According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, more than one-third of American adults - 35.7 percent - are obese. An additional 33.3 percent are overweight.</p>
<p>Weight Watchers' success in helping people to lose weight saw Jennifer Hudson, who lost 80 pounds on its program, sign on as a spokesperson.&#160;</p>
<p>Commercial weight loss programs are also cheaper than most professional intervention, <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57528966/weight-watchers-compared-to-seeing-a-doctor-in-study/" type="external">CBS quoted Pinto as saying</a>,&#160;costing about $10 a week compared to between $10 to $35 a week on a doctor's weight loss program.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/120105/dash-weight-watchers-diet-biggest-loser-ornish-mayo-clinic-health-obesity" type="external">DASH, Weight Watchers ranked as top diets for 2012 by US News</a></p> | Weight Watchers just as effective as clinical weight loss programs, study suggests | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-10-10/weight-watchers-just-effective-clinical-weight-loss-programs-study-suggests | 2012-10-10 | 3 |
<p>NEW YORK (AP) - YouTube star Logan Paul has stepped away from posting videos following an outcry when he uploaded images of what appeared to be the body of someone who killed themselves in a Japanese forest.</p>
<p>Paul took to Twitter on Wednesday to say he was suspending his video blog "for now" and "taking time to reflect."</p>
<p>A petition on Change.org that demands his YouTube channel be deleted had been signed by more than 125,000 people by Thursday mo0rning.</p>
<p>Paul created a furor when he posted a video of him in a forest near Mount Fuji showing what seemed to be a body hanging from a tree. YouTube said the controversial images violated their policies.</p>
<p>The video was viewed some 6 million times before being removed from Paul's YouTube channel, a verified account with more than 15 million subscribers.</p>
<p>A storm of criticism followed despite two apologies, with commenters saying Paul seemed disrespectful and that his initial apology was inadequate.</p>
<p>YouTube said that while it may allow some graphic content if it is posted in an educational, documentary, scientific or artistic manner or limited to users who are 18 or older, Paul was issued a so-called "strike," or told in an email that he had violated the site's guidelines.</p>
<p>"Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video. YouTube prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner," YouTube said in a statement. "If a video is graphic, it can only remain on the site when supported by appropriate educational or documentary information and in some cases it will be age-gated."</p>
<p>In Paul's initial apology, he said he had wanted to raise awareness about suicide and possibly save lives, and he denied his goal was to drive clicks to his social media content.</p>
<p>"I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity," he said in his Twitter post.</p>
<p>"I don't expect to be forgiven. I'm simply here to apologize," he said on the more somber video apology uploaded on YouTube and Twitter late Tuesday. "None of us knew how to react or how to feel."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) - YouTube star Logan Paul has stepped away from posting videos following an outcry when he uploaded images of what appeared to be the body of someone who killed themselves in a Japanese forest.</p>
<p>Paul took to Twitter on Wednesday to say he was suspending his video blog "for now" and "taking time to reflect."</p>
<p>A petition on Change.org that demands his YouTube channel be deleted had been signed by more than 125,000 people by Thursday mo0rning.</p>
<p>Paul created a furor when he posted a video of him in a forest near Mount Fuji showing what seemed to be a body hanging from a tree. YouTube said the controversial images violated their policies.</p>
<p>The video was viewed some 6 million times before being removed from Paul's YouTube channel, a verified account with more than 15 million subscribers.</p>
<p>A storm of criticism followed despite two apologies, with commenters saying Paul seemed disrespectful and that his initial apology was inadequate.</p>
<p>YouTube said that while it may allow some graphic content if it is posted in an educational, documentary, scientific or artistic manner or limited to users who are 18 or older, Paul was issued a so-called "strike," or told in an email that he had violated the site's guidelines.</p>
<p>"Our hearts go out to the family of the person featured in the video. YouTube prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner," YouTube said in a statement. "If a video is graphic, it can only remain on the site when supported by appropriate educational or documentary information and in some cases it will be age-gated."</p>
<p>In Paul's initial apology, he said he had wanted to raise awareness about suicide and possibly save lives, and he denied his goal was to drive clicks to his social media content.</p>
<p>"I thought I could make a positive ripple on the internet, not cause a monsoon of negativity," he said in his Twitter post.</p>
<p>"I don't expect to be forgiven. I'm simply here to apologize," he said on the more somber video apology uploaded on YouTube and Twitter late Tuesday. "None of us knew how to react or how to feel."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p> | YouTube star Logan Paul steps away from posting after outcry | false | https://apnews.com/amp/31dc36728c3f411485173fc58a8caae2 | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>They ended the lockdown too soon in Sacramento.</p>
<p>For a few insane reasons, the Legislature worked late Sunday night after marathon weekend sessions led to missed Valentine’s Day dates and naps at desks, but still no state budget agreement.</p>
<p>The Assembly’s ready to pass it. The holdup: The endless “Where’s Waldo?” hunt for one senator who will join Republican leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto and Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield in voting “yes” on the agreement. Except in this case, it’s starting to appear that Waldo’s not even in the picture.</p>
<p>“I’ve negotiated it to the point where I think it doesn’t get any better,” <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/1618918.html" type="external">Cogdill said Wednesday</a>. This weekend, Cogdill even offered to resign as minority leader though his caucus rejected it, according to <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget16-2009feb16,0,1064574.story?page=2" type="external">The Los Angeles Times</a>.</p>
<p>So the Senate Republicans don’t want to vote for the budget, but they don’t want to change leaders. What exactly do they want, other than a budget deal with no tax increases?</p>
<p>In exchange for his support, Ashburn won a $10,000 tax break for new homebuyers, a provision that’s no more stimulus in California than it is at the federal level when the flood market of existing homes is taken into consideration.</p>
<p>For a while, it looked like Lou Correa, a waffling Democrat from Santa Ana elected on a no-tax pledge, might be Waldo. Saturday, lawmakers quickly added a provision to the package that would would give Orange County $35 million in additional property tax revenues in the coming fiscal year; $35 million in the 2010-11 fiscal year, and up to $50 million annually after that, <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/019631.html" type="external">according to The Sacramento Bee</a>.</p>
<p>Correa’s vote is crucial on the Democratic side because Cogdill says he won’t give up more than the minimum three “yes” votes needed from Republicans.</p>
<p>Later, Fair Oaks Republican Dave Cox was a potential Waldo after negotiators agreed to let him offer amendments to redo the Proposition 10 child development programs, <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/019636.html" type="external">the Bee reported early Sunday</a>. Even after much love and attention from Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cox remained in the “no” column.</p>
<p>Next up on the Waldo list: Abel Maldonado. In exchange for his vote, the Santa Maria Republican wanted <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/budget-vote-republican-2309145-plan-senate" type="external">nonpartisan state primary elections</a>. It’s a truly laudable goal, but is now the time and place?</p>
<p>And here’s the overarching problem: Once Steinberg had to start playing “Let’s Make A Deal” with his own members, all bets were off.</p>
<p>He and the other <a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/opinion/story/1197244.html" type="external">Big Five negotiators</a> were on shaky ground with the public and the rest of the Legislature anyway because of the way the super-secret talks were conducted: Out of sight and with no input from the public. No input from the rest of the Legislature either, for that matter.</p>
<p>The thing is, though, Cogdill is right about the resulting compromise: It’s as good as it gets.</p>
<p>In order to accept that, though, lawmakers have to reconcile themselves to the modern-day definition of compromise. It’s not longer about getting a little bit of what you want — that definition flew out the door for families the second the housing bubble started to burst.</p>
<p>These days, it’s more about accepting a little bit of something odious in exchange for knowing the other side is doing the same.</p>
<p>In the case of the budget, <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_11692858" type="external">liberals are being asked to swallow</a> loosened environmental reviews and big corporate tax breaks. Republicans are being asked to put philosophical purity aside and approve tax hikes.</p>
<p>But not enough people seem to understand that the nature of the deal has changed. They’ve shown themselves to be masters of the old-style political deal — extra tax revenue here, an election change there — but they can’t seem to grasp the new compromise calculus.</p>
<p>So lock them back up. And lock them up Assembly-style this time: Speaker Karen Bass was actually a better jailer than Steinberg, refusing to let her members even leave the chamber.</p>
<p>And keep them there until this package gets passed.</p>
<p>Photo: <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/photos/budget-vote-republican-2309145-plan-senate/pid2309147" type="external">The Orange County Register</a></p> | Lock Them in Until it Passes | false | https://ivn.us/2009/02/16/lock-them-until-it-passes/ | 2009-02-16 | 2 |
<p>UFC flyweight Demetrious Johnson’s title defense was removed from Saturday night’s UFC 215 main event in Edmonton, Alberta, after Ray Borg was forced to withdraw due to a viral illness.</p>
<p>The UFC said in a statement late Thursday that Borg “was deemed unfit to compete by the UFC medical team.”</p>
<p>“It wasn’t weight related,” Borg’s nutritionist, Dr. Michelle Ingels of Perfecting Athletes, told MMA Fighting. “Ray has been getting progressively more sick each day this week and still wanted to fight so badly that he put on a game face and went to all of his fight week obligations.</p>
<p>“However, prior to beginning the bulk of his weight cut the UFC doctor examined Borg and concluded that he was too ill to fight this week and needed time to rest and get better.”</p>
<p>The women’s bantamweight title fight between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko will now headline UFC 215. That bout had been canceled the day of the fight at UFC 213 in July when Nunes fell ill.</p>
<p>The UFC is looking to potentially rebook the Johnson-Borg flyweight championship at UFC 216 on Oct. 7 in Las Vegas, according to ESPN.</p>
<p>The 31-year-old Johnson (26-2-1) was seeking his 11th consecutive title defense, which would have surpassed former middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s mark of 10. The 24-year-old Borg (11-2) was set to compete in his first UFC title fight.</p>
<p>Johnson’s head coach, Matt Hume, expressed the champion’s discouragement in a Facebook post.</p>
<p>“We are beyond disappointed that we won’t be able to accomplish the goal this Saturday, but the end result is inevitable,” Hume wrote. “We will refocus and show the world the greatest mixed martial artist that ever existed.”</p>
<p>The UFC released a statement Thursday night regarding the cancellation and offered refunds.</p>
<p>“Due to a viral illness to UFC flyweight contender Ray Borg, the main event bout against champion Demetrious Johnson at UFC 215 has been cancelled,” the UFC statement read. “Borg was deemed unfit to compete by the UFC medical team.</p>
<p>“UFC 215, which is now headlined by the women’s bantamweight championship between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko, will proceed as scheduled with 11 bouts at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Canada. Moving to the Pay-Per-View main card will be the flyweight bout between Henry Cejudo and Wilson Reis. Additionally, the Mitch Clarke and Alex White lightweight contest will now kick off the FS1 prelims.</p>
<p>“With the removal of Johnson vs. Borg, customers may request a full refund of purchased tickets at point of sale.”</p> | UFC 215 main event: Ray Borg pulls out of fight vs. Demetrious Johnson | false | https://newsline.com/ufc-215-main-event-ray-borg-pulls-out-of-fight-vs-demetrious-johnson/ | 2017-09-08 | 1 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — Revelations that a Russian developer’s representative was the eighth attendee at a Trump Tower campaign meeting arranged by President Donald Trump’s eldest son prompted a new round of castigation on Tuesday from Democrats. It also brought word that the special counsel investigating possible Trump campaign ties to Russia wants more information about the sit-down.</p>
<p>Officials from the office of special counsel Robert Mueller reached out over the weekend to a lawyer for Ike Kaveladze, who also goes by the name Irakly Kaveladze, attorney Scott Balber told The Associated Press. Kaveladze works for a Russian developer who once partnered with Trump to bring the Miss Universe pageant to Moscow,</p>
<p>Balber’s comments are the first public indication that Mueller is probing the June 2016 gathering in Trump’s namesake New York City skyscraper.</p>
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<p>In emails, Trump Jr. enthusiastically agreed to the meeting with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and others after he was promised dirt on his father’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton. He has since denied such material ever materialized.</p>
<p>Kaveladze works for Emin and Aras Agalarov and was there to represent them, according to Balber, who is serving as legal counsel for both Kavaladze and the Agalarovs. The father and son, who worked with Trump on the pageant in 2013, were named in the emails that promised damaging information on Clinton.</p>
<p>Balber cast Kaveladze as a minor player in the meeting, saying he had “no idea what the subject of the meeting was until an hour before” and doesn’t remember saying anything other than his name during the discussion. Balber said Kaveladze believed he was attending the meeting to translate for Veselnitskaya, but the attorney brought her own interpreter.</p>
<p>Veselnitskaya said the meeting focused on U.S.-Russian adoption policies and a sanctions law. She has denied working for the Russian government.</p>
<p>Democratic lawmakers skeptical of that account repeated their concerns on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said his panel wanted to talk to the meeting’s attendees.</p>
<p>“I doubt if this individual who had a history of setting up thousands of fake accounts in Delaware was really there to talk about Russian adoptions,” Warner said.</p>
<p>Warner appeared to be referring to a 2000 New York Times story that identified Kaveladze as running a company cited in a Government Accountability Office report for laundering $1.4 billion in wealthy foreigners’ funds via U.S. banks using thousands of Delaware corporations.</p>
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<p>Former Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, who ordered the GAO report, called Kaveladze the “poster child” of using hidden ownership of American shell corporations to launder money.</p>
<p>Balber disputed that characterization, noting that no criminal charges were filed in the case.</p>
<p>The meeting was also attended by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, music publicist Rob Goldstone and Rinat Akhmetshin, a prominent Russian-American lobbyist and former Soviet military officer. Trump Jr. scheduled the gathering after Goldstone, a British publicist for Emin Agalarov, said the elder Agalarov had met with a Russian prosecutor who offered to provide the campaign with damaging information about Clinton.</p>
<p>Balber denied such a meeting ever took place and said he didn’t know why Goldstone made the assertion. He said Goldstone stopped working for Emin Agalarov in January for reasons unrelated to last year’s meeting.</p>
<p>In an online profile, Kaveladze lists himself as a vice president of Russia-based Crocus Group, Aras Agalarov’s firm, and says in a separate LinkedIn profile that he handled tax preparation for the company.</p>
<p>He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of New Haven in Connecticut, according to those profiles. His most recent U.S. address appears to be in Huntington Beach, California, although several websites he maintains say he is based in Moscow. He didn’t respond to multiple attempts to reach him through his online sites.</p>
<p>Kaveladze was named a vice president of the Crocus Group in 2004. He lists among his achievements the development of Russia’s Far Eastern Federal University, a cluster of more than 70 college buildings near Vladivostok that Agalarov built, according to websites that contain profiles of him. In 2012, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened the facility and, a year later, gave Agalarov a national “Order of Honor.”</p>
<p>The Times reported in 2000 that Kaveladze was born in the Soviet Republic of Georgia in 1960 and graduated from the Moscow Finance Academy — a degree that Ike Kaveladze also reports on his LinkedIn and internet pages. The newspaper reported he operated a firm called International Business Creations, which the GAO report said opened the bank accounts based on the Delaware shell companies.</p>
<p>Also Tuesday, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, said Mueller had approved Manafort and others to testify before the panel, though it was unclear if Manafort would agree to talk.</p>
<p>A person familiar with the discussions, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigations, said Manafort hasn’t committed to appearing next week and hasn’t decided which committees he’ll meet with.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Jeff Horwitz in Washington, Desmond Butler in Baltimore, and Jake Pearson in New York contributed to this report.</p> | Lawyer: Russian developer’s staffer also at Trump Tower meet | false | https://abqjournal.com/1034633/lawyer-russian-developers-staffer-also-at-trump-tower-meet.html | 2017-07-18 | 2 |
<p>Slate As far as Jack Shafer is concerned, "not wanting to steal the spotlight" ranks right up there with "not wanting to muss one's hair" as a valid reason to give a source anonymity. Yet, New York Times reporter Todd S. Purdum and his editors let a source go unnamed for that reason.</p> | Huh?: Anonymity for sources not wanting to steal spotlight? | false | https://poynter.org/news/huh-anonymity-sources-not-wanting-steal-spotlight | 2005-03-18 | 2 |
<p />
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<p>Shares of Endologix, Inc. (NASDAQ: ELGX), a medical device company focused on aortic disorders, gained 19.9% in January, according to data from <a href="http://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.An apparent end to manufacturing issues that had been halting shipments of key products gave the market a reason to quit beating up the troubled healthcare stock.</p>
<p>Endologix shares were pummeled last year, falling from more than $14 over the summer to around $5.30 in late December, when the company announced a temporary hold on shipments of the company's AFX Endovascular AAA System. Management stated the hold wasn't related to reported side effects from physicians using the devices, but the market appears to have assumed the worst.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
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<p>At the end of December, the company announced that testing didn't reveal any problems with certain sizes and that it would begin shipping again immediately. Management also stated it would continue testing remaining sizes.</p>
<p>The stock continued rising in response to the resumption of shipments of all sizes of the AFX2 mid-month, and they climbed again in response to reinstatement of the CE mark for the AFX and AFX2 that allows the company to market the systems throughout the EU member countries.</p>
<p>Endologix has proven itself capable of making a splash in a space dominated by much larger competitors by producing impressive revenue growth in recent years. Unfortunately, its products aren't exactly flying off the shelves on their own. Sales, general, and administrative expenses have climbed right along with revenues, sending the bottom line deep into negative territory.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/ELGX/revenues_ttm" type="external">ELGX Revenue (TTM)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Demand for devices to correct abdominal aortic aneurysms and related disorders might represent a $4.8 billion market by 2021. Unfortunately, it's hard to see how Endologix will turn the profitability corner while losses continue to outpace sales growth. The reinstated CE mark and other manufacturing issues are a step in the right direction, but I'd stay on the sidelines until margins show signs of improvement.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than EndologixWhen 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=8b3db015-fca7-452c-a925-5de37c546b88&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 Endologix 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=8b3db015-fca7-452c-a925-5de37c546b88&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><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/crenauer/info.aspx" type="external">Cory Renauer Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why Endologix, Inc. Stock Gained 20% in January | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/07/why-endologix-inc-stock-gained-20-in-january.html | 2017-02-07 | 0 |
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/27/us/politics/bosses-offering-timely-advice-how-to-vote.html?pagewanted=1&amp;smid=tw-share" type="external">Steven Greenhouse</a>&#160;has unearthed the most revealing statement of this entire controversy over employers instructing employees how to vote. David Siegel, CEO of Westgate Resorts, sent his 7000&#160;employees a mailer warning them not to vote for Obama. Asked to explain his letter, Siegel said:</p>
<p>I really wanted them to know how I felt four more years under President Obama was going to affect them. It would be no different from telling your children: “Eat your spinach. It’s good for you.”</p>
<p>Got that? No different.</p>
<p>In&#160; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reactionary-Mind-Conservatism-Edmund-Burke/dp/0199793743" type="external">The Reactionary Mind</a>, I argue that conservatism is a defense of “the private life of power,” those hierarchies in spheres like the family and the workplace that we often call private. And here you have Mr. Siegel demonstrating that for employers the two are essentially the same. Workers are children, bosses are fathers.</p>
<p>People often wonder how libertarian-ish free market types can come together with cultural and religious conservatives in the GOP. Siegel gives you the answer: Both groups value the power of fathers — in the family, and in the workplace.</p> | Suffer the Children | true | http://jacobinmag.com/2012/10/suffer-the-children/ | 2018-10-03 | 4 |
<p>Tue March 25, 2003 08:16 PM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A majority of Americans who favor the war with Iraq believe media coverage of the conflict has been excellent, while most critics of the war disagree, according to a poll issued on Tuesday.</p>
<p>A joint weekend survey conducted by CNN, USA Today and the Gallup organization found that 57 percent of Americans who support the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq believe media coverage was "excellent," while 33 percent rated it "good." Just 10 percent of pro-war respondents thought media coverage of the war was "only fair/poor."</p> | Pro-War Media Bias Seen by US Antiwar Viewers-Poll | false | https://poynter.org/news/pro-war-media-bias-seen-us-antiwar-viewers-poll | 2003-03-26 | 2 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Classes at Lincoln Middle school will resume as scheduled tomorrow morning. Crews have fixed an electrical problem that left the school without power&#160; today.</p>
<p>————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–</p>
<p>Classes for Lincoln Middle School in Rio Rancho are canceled today due to an&#160;electrical&#160;power and phone system failure affecting most of the school, <a href="http://www.rrps.net/" type="external">according to Rio Rancho Public Schools</a>.</p>
<p>Buses were scheduled to run at 10 a.m. Parents may also pick up their children at the school. The school expects the problems to be resolved by tomorrow and the school to be open.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Lincoln Middle School Back In Session Tomorrow | false | https://abqjournal.com/150784/lincoln-middle-school-cancelled-today-due-to-power-issues.html | 2012-12-03 | 2 |
<p>DALLAS (AP) - A doctor volunteering for a dog rescue operation who failed to land his small plane at an airport in Central Texas as planned and was later tracked by fighter jets flying over the Gulf of Mexico appeared unresponsive and may have been suffering from a lack of oxygen, officials said Thursday.</p>
<p>The Coast Guard identified the pilot of the Cirrus SR22T as Dr. Bill Kinsinger, who took off from Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City on Wednesday after filing a flight plan to land in Georgetown, Texas, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Austin.</p>
<p>It's unclear why the plane never landed in Georgetown. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the plane kept flying and was last observed on radar 219 miles (352 kilometers) northwest of Cancun, Mexico, flying at 15,000 feet (4,600 meters).</p>
<p>Coast Guard spokeswoman Lexie Preston in New Orleans said Thursday that Coast Guard aircraft are searching for the plane in a broad area off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.</p>
<p>After Kinsinger stopped responding to air traffic controllers, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, launched two F-16 fighters from a base in Houston and made contact with the plane, NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said. The fighters flew in front of the five-seater plane, dropped flares and performed other military maneuvers in an effort to gain the pilot's attention, but Kinsinger, who was the only person on board, appeared to be unresponsive, he said.</p>
<p>The F-16s became low on fuel and were replaced by two F-15 fighters from New Orleans. The F-15s stayed with the plane for a time but later returned to base because of darkness and their proximity to Mexican air space. Kucharek said NORAD coordinated with the Coast Guard to take over monitoring the plane. The Guard, which was relying on the FlightAware website, lost track of the plane when it stopped transmitting a signal, Coast Guard Petty Officer Travis McGee said.</p>
<p>"We didn't deem the plane to be a threat and that's normally what we're looking for," Kucharek said.</p>
<p>The Eighth Coast Guard District, referencing a NORAD report, said Kinsinger appeared to be suffering from hypoxia, in which the brain is deprived of adequate oxygen. The condition can cause confusion, nausea, breathlessness and hallucinations. If left untreated, it can be fatal.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&amp;sid=3efaad1b0a259d4e48f1150a34d1aa77&amp;rgn=div5&amp;view=text&amp;node=14:2.0.1.3.10&amp;idno=14" type="external">According to FAA regulations</a> , a civil aircraft pilot flying solo must use supplemental oxygen if flying for longer than 30 minutes above 12,500 feet (3,800 meters), and for an entire flight if flying above 14,000 feet (4,300 meters).</p>
<p>The executive director of the Oklahoma Medical Board, Lyle Kelsey, said Kinsinger is an anesthesiologist who serves on the board and lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. FAA records show the plane belongs to Abide Aviation, which is registered to Kinsinger's home address.</p>
<p>Kinsinger was flying a rescue mission for the nonprofit Pilots N Paws when his plane went missing, according to flight coordinator Monica Marshall, who said she was tracking his progress when radar indicated he had veered hundreds of miles off course. Pilots N Paws has a fleet of volunteer pilots with private planes who transport dogs in need of rescue, shelter or a new home.</p>
<p>"He was the type of guy that went above and beyond," Marshall said. "If someone bailed on an assignment then he would just stretch and do it for you."</p>
<p>A message left for a brother of Kinsinger was not immediately returned.</p>
<p>This is not the first recorded instance of a pilot losing consciousness due to a lack of oxygen.</p>
<p>The National Transportation Safety Board determined that a pilot suffered from hypoxia while flying golfer Payne Stewart and three others on a private plane from Florida to Texas in 1999. The plane veered off course and later crashed in South Dakota, killing them all.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP writers David Koenig in Dallas and Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) - A doctor volunteering for a dog rescue operation who failed to land his small plane at an airport in Central Texas as planned and was later tracked by fighter jets flying over the Gulf of Mexico appeared unresponsive and may have been suffering from a lack of oxygen, officials said Thursday.</p>
<p>The Coast Guard identified the pilot of the Cirrus SR22T as Dr. Bill Kinsinger, who took off from Wiley Post Airport in Oklahoma City on Wednesday after filing a flight plan to land in Georgetown, Texas, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Austin.</p>
<p>It's unclear why the plane never landed in Georgetown. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the plane kept flying and was last observed on radar 219 miles (352 kilometers) northwest of Cancun, Mexico, flying at 15,000 feet (4,600 meters).</p>
<p>Coast Guard spokeswoman Lexie Preston in New Orleans said Thursday that Coast Guard aircraft are searching for the plane in a broad area off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.</p>
<p>After Kinsinger stopped responding to air traffic controllers, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, launched two F-16 fighters from a base in Houston and made contact with the plane, NORAD spokesman Michael Kucharek said. The fighters flew in front of the five-seater plane, dropped flares and performed other military maneuvers in an effort to gain the pilot's attention, but Kinsinger, who was the only person on board, appeared to be unresponsive, he said.</p>
<p>The F-16s became low on fuel and were replaced by two F-15 fighters from New Orleans. The F-15s stayed with the plane for a time but later returned to base because of darkness and their proximity to Mexican air space. Kucharek said NORAD coordinated with the Coast Guard to take over monitoring the plane. The Guard, which was relying on the FlightAware website, lost track of the plane when it stopped transmitting a signal, Coast Guard Petty Officer Travis McGee said.</p>
<p>"We didn't deem the plane to be a threat and that's normally what we're looking for," Kucharek said.</p>
<p>The Eighth Coast Guard District, referencing a NORAD report, said Kinsinger appeared to be suffering from hypoxia, in which the brain is deprived of adequate oxygen. The condition can cause confusion, nausea, breathlessness and hallucinations. If left untreated, it can be fatal.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&amp;sid=3efaad1b0a259d4e48f1150a34d1aa77&amp;rgn=div5&amp;view=text&amp;node=14:2.0.1.3.10&amp;idno=14" type="external">According to FAA regulations</a> , a civil aircraft pilot flying solo must use supplemental oxygen if flying for longer than 30 minutes above 12,500 feet (3,800 meters), and for an entire flight if flying above 14,000 feet (4,300 meters).</p>
<p>The executive director of the Oklahoma Medical Board, Lyle Kelsey, said Kinsinger is an anesthesiologist who serves on the board and lives in Edmond, Oklahoma. FAA records show the plane belongs to Abide Aviation, which is registered to Kinsinger's home address.</p>
<p>Kinsinger was flying a rescue mission for the nonprofit Pilots N Paws when his plane went missing, according to flight coordinator Monica Marshall, who said she was tracking his progress when radar indicated he had veered hundreds of miles off course. Pilots N Paws has a fleet of volunteer pilots with private planes who transport dogs in need of rescue, shelter or a new home.</p>
<p>"He was the type of guy that went above and beyond," Marshall said. "If someone bailed on an assignment then he would just stretch and do it for you."</p>
<p>A message left for a brother of Kinsinger was not immediately returned.</p>
<p>This is not the first recorded instance of a pilot losing consciousness due to a lack of oxygen.</p>
<p>The National Transportation Safety Board determined that a pilot suffered from hypoxia while flying golfer Payne Stewart and three others on a private plane from Florida to Texas in 1999. The plane veered off course and later crashed in South Dakota, killing them all.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP writers David Koenig in Dallas and Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.</p> | Official: Doctor flying missing plane may have lacked oxygen | false | https://apnews.com/amp/cb49e35ea2574daab88261edec83dc3b | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>The race to find protection against the Zika virus is fueled by something often missing from tropical disease research: the potential for big profit.</p>
<p>The prospect of a blockbuster vaccine against a mosquito-borne virus has accelerated the pace of development and attracted the interest of big drugmakers, including Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Takeda Pharmaceuticals.</p>
<p>Although Zika infections are mild or asymptomatic in most people, demand for a vaccine is expected to be strong because it can cause devastating birth defects, pharmaceutical executives and disease experts said.</p>
<p>The most lucrative market is seen in travelers seeking inoculation against the virus that has moved rapidly across the Americas and is the only mosquito-borne disease also spread through sex.</p>
<p>"It scares people," said Scott Weaver, a virologist with the University of Texas and chairman of the Zika task force for the Global Virus Network. "Europeans and Americans can pay a pretty high price for these kinds of vaccines."</p>
<p>A vaccine could come to market in as little as two years. Even if the current outbreaks in Latin America and the Caribbean burn out by that time, people living in those regions are expected to want protection against a return of Zika.</p>
<p>Tens of millions of travelers from United States and other wealthy nations, including people on business trips with corporate-sponsored health coverage, are expected to get vaccines before visiting areas where Zika is circulating.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">Full NBC News Coverage of Zika</a></p>
<p>"If you consider just a portion of the U.S. traveler population, we can conservatively envision a Zika market opportunity exceeding $1 billion" a year, said Joseph Kim, chief executive of Inovio Pharmaceuticals, a Pennsylvania company that is farthest along in the development path with human testing of a vaccine candidate underway in hard hit Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>Drug makers and disease experts also envision the vaccine becoming standard care for girls before puberty to guard against birth defects in future pregnancies. Boys also could be candidates to protect eventual sexual partners.</p>
<p>"Hopefully a vaccine can be developed that's sold for a low cost in endemic areas," Weaver said.</p>
<p>Blockbuster sales for vaccines against mosquito-borne viruses are unheard of. Sanofi's dengue vaccine, approved in nine countries, is generating near-blockbuster expectations, the biggest in the market by far. Analysts forecast annual sales for Dengvaxia reaching about $900 million by 2020, according to Thomson Reuters data.</p>
<p>Efforts to find a malaria vaccine are purely philanthropic. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed significantly to GSK's decades-long effort to produce a vaccine for children in Africa. Development is ongoing, and GSK expects no profit.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">Pregnant Women Warned to Steer Clear of Zika Zone in Miami</a></p>
<p>The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) developed a potential vaccine for West Nile virus, but it failed to find a commercial partner because the virus did not inspire enough public alarm to generate big sales. West Nile leads to serious complications in less than 1 percent of people infected.</p>
<p>The NIH is negotiating with companies to produce Zika vaccines but has its own pilot plant that can make enough for early clinical testing, which began with its first candidate in August.</p>
<p>"We're not dependent on a company until you prove it works and then you need somebody to manufacture millions of doses," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).</p>
<p>The first NIH candidate is a DNA vaccine containing no actual virus, in which genetically engineered cells produce an antigen that triggers an immune response, similar to the West Nile vaccine. By early 2017, the agency expects to be able to decide whether to begin enrolling thousands of patients in an efficacy study, or move on to the next candidate.</p>
<p>The size of the Zika outbreak may help development efforts. If it remains widespread, it will be easier to tell if a vaccine is effective.</p>
<p>"If the infections die down, then it's going to take much longer to find out if it works," Fauci said.</p>
<p>A second NIH candidate contains inactivated viral material, while a third utilizes attenuated, or weakened, live virus.</p>
<p>DNA-based candidates are most likely to prove safe, but they typically require multiple doses to work. Vaccines that contain live virus are considered most effective with one dose, but have a far higher safety hurdle, particularly if they are intended for pregnant women, and so they take longer to get to market.</p>
<p>Inovio's DNA vaccine is injected along with a brief low voltage electronic pulse that induces cell membranes to open, making them more receptive, in theory, to accepting the vaccine's genetic material.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="" type="internal">More Than a Million Moms at Zika Risk</a></p>
<p>Protein Sciences Corp built its Zika vaccine using technology similar to its already approved Flublok flu vaccine. The drug maker has partnerships with companies in Argentina, Brazil, Japan and Mexico and plans to seek funding from Brazil and the NIH. It expects to start human trials by January.</p>
<p>With the help of $43 million in initial funding from the U.S. government, France's Sanofi is developing a candidate using live attenuated virus. The company is not as far along as some other efforts, but it aims to start human trials next year and is confident it can catch up.</p>
<p>GSK is working with NIAID on a new type of vaccine technology. Japan's Takeda also secured U.S. government funding to help develop a vaccine using killed Zika virus and plans to begin human testing in the second half of 2017.</p>
<p>"If there is a huge need," said Dr. Rajeev Venkayya, president of Takeda's global vaccine unit, "there will be a business model that works."</p> | Zika Vaccine Could Actually be Profitable, Companies Say | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/zika-virus-outbreak/zika-vaccine-could-actually-be-profitable-companies-say-n659276 | 2016-10-04 | 3 |
<p>Pakistan’s army suffered losses of 700 killed in its unsuccessful effort to push Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters from Afghanistan out of their tribal sanctuaries in Pakistan, an Islamabad-based journalist reports. That defeat may explain Islamabad’s reluctance to resume the struggle.</p>
<p>“With every incursion, civilian death and displacement, the Pakistan Taliban grew stronger,” writes Graham Usher in the April 16 issue of The Nation magazine, published in New York. The Taliban “defended villages, ambushed army patrols, killed pro-government elders and imposed their own brand of Islamic’ law and order. ”</p>
<p>“When the army sued for peace with pro-Taliban tribesmen in the Waziristans in 2005 and 2006, it was not because of a new holistic’ strategy for the tribal areas, as sold by (Pervez) Musharraf to Washington,” Usher said. “It was because of the army’s military and political defeat.”</p>
<p>In 56 years of independence, Pakistani soldiers had never set foot in the Waziristans, “part of the trade-off for keeping the tribes loyal,” Usher said, and when they did the numbers of civilians killed and displaced were in the thousands.</p>
<p>Malik Qadir Khan, a tribal leader in North Waziristan explained, “Everyone supported the Taliban when the army came in. It was a people’s revolt. Pakistan had broken its promise, and that’s a big thing in the tribal areas. You don’t break your promise.”</p>
<p>Although U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney’s advice to Musharraf has been to “go after them,” journalist Rahimullah Yousafzai, an expert on the tribal areas believes, “every use of force is a victory for the militants.” Yousafzai said the answer “must involve a strategy that provides education and jobs for thousands of impoverished and unemployed youth, who are ready recruits for the Taliban.”</p>
<p>The tensions in the tribal regions will not lessen until Pakistan has a civilian government, historian Ahmed Rashid told Usher. “Only a civilian government can bring reform. You cannot have free elections in the tribal areas when there are no free elections in Pakistan,” Rashid said.</p>
<p>Currently, the Pakistan Taliban are the de facto rulers of the areas vacated by the Pakistan Army. In Miramshah, capital of North Waziristan, it is not the elders or police who govern, Usher writes, “It is the mullahs and young men with black shaggy hair and rifles slung over their shoulders.”</p>
<p>Usher said the U.S. “will not tolerate” the standoff and the public response to the retaliatory Pakistani bombings in Bajaur tribal area and South Waziristan has been “ferocious.” Locals claimed the attacks, which killed seminary students and woodcutters, were not executed by Pakistani army helicopters but by U.S. Predator drones flown in from Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Suicide bomber responses to the aerial attacks since then mean the Taliban is saying, according to retired army general Talat Masood, “If you come after us in the name of America’s war in the tribal areas, we will come after you all over Pakistan.”</p>
<p>Two week before the upheavals began last March 9th in Islamabad when Musharraf suspended Pakistan’s Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, Cheney flew into Islamabad to deliver a “tough message” to Musharraf, namely he was upset by peace agreements Musharraf signed with pro-Taliban tribesmen along Pakistan’s border areas with Afghanistan, Usher wrote. “Bloodied by Iraq, the Bush Administration has realized that Afghanistan could tip the same way.” Since 9/11, Pakistan has received $10-billion in direct U.S. aid and as much again in covert aid, “most of it military,” The Nation article says.</p>
<p>The “crisis” Pakistan’s President-General Musharraf faces today, Usher writes, is the worst since he took power in his Oct., 1999 coup, and the situation in the tribal regions will not improve until democratic elections are held.</p>
<p>Critics of Musharraf have taken to the streets not only to defend an independent judiciary. “They want Musharraf to stand down, exiled civilian leaders like Benazir Bhutto to come home and free and fair elections to be held so that Pakistan can once again be a democracy,” Usher writes. This would mean “an end to policies based on military might, political abdication and panicked American dictates” but “so far no U.S. government official has called for a return to civilian rule in Pakistan.”</p>
<p>SHERWOOD ROSS is an American writer who covers political and military subjects. Reach him at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | How the Taliban Defeated the Pakistani Army in Waziristan | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/04/21/how-the-taliban-defeated-the-pakistani-army-in-waziristan/ | 2007-04-21 | 4 |
<p>North Tonawanda, NY — As Americans continue to become more and more dependent upon the state to manage their daily lives, a new law that was just approved in New York epitomizes this irresponsible and outright complacent practice.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.wbng.com/story/36552369/parents-could-face-fine-jail-under-citys-anti-bullying-law" type="external">WBNG:</a></p>
<p>Members of the North Tonawanda Common Council hope the new law will put a stop to bullying by holding parents accountable for their children’s actions. Parents could be fined $250 and sentenced to 15 days in jail if twice in a 90-day period their child under 18 violates the city’s curfew or any other city law, including bullying.</p>
<p>North Tonawanda officials say the law is geared toward minors who repeatedly bully other children in public places.</p>
<p>This law comes after four teens were reportedly kicked out of North Tonawanda Middle School for alleged bullying.</p>
<p>On the surface, the idea of fining and jailing parents for their bully kids may seem like an effective strategy to curtail bullying. However, all it does is open Pandora’s box into horrid nature of the police state and it provides no real solution.</p>
<p>We’ve already seen what happens when police get involved in matters that should not involve them, like childhood quarrels on playgrounds.</p>
<p>Just last week, SNN&#160; <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/cap-body-slams-tiny-child/" type="external">reported on a horrifying video that showed</a> a police officer pick up a tiny black child and slam him down face-first onto the concrete for being involved in a scuffle with another student. The presence of police in that situation only made it more dangerous.</p>
<p>Now, with the enactment of this new law, the parents of both of those students in the video mentioned above could also face potentially brutal police action.</p>
<p>Yes, parents are ultimately responsible for the behavior of their younger children. However, politicizing and criminalizing normal, yet often cruel, childhood behavior is not the answer. Also, there is simply no data to support its effectiveness.</p>
<p>We can have all the laws we want holding parents responsible for their children’s actions, <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/healthy_kids/Should-parents-of-bullies-be-fined.html" type="external">writes</a> Anita Kulick from ecparenting.org, but do they really make a difference?</p>
<p>“Very little research has been done to determine the effectiveness of laws that hold parents criminally liable”, says Eve Brank, an associate professor of law and psychology at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. &#160;“It’s often just a way for politicians to look hard on juvenile delinquency,” she says.</p>
<p>Often times, fining the parents of a bully could make the situation worse. Bullies, as multiple studies have shown, often have abusive parents who would probably not be too happy if their child happened to get them fined or thrown in prison.</p>
<p>Also, this law assumes that the bully will be correctly identified in the situation. Studies on the subject tell us that the opposite will often happen. School staff often have no idea that a child is being bullied. The same goes for the parents.</p>
<p>It is also important to note that many times, what parents and officials refer to as bullying is not at all seen as bullying by the child.</p>
<p>The real issue, Danah Boyd, who actually studies social interactions online among young people, suggests, is not that “bullying,” is a problem. It’s a lack of empathy. And, of course, that goes&#160;way&#160;beyond kids. As she notes, “just ask any marital therapist who’s trying to help a couple work through their relationship.” From there, as Tech Dirt notes, she points out that these interactions really aren’t all that different from adult interactions:</p>
<p>When I look at how teens hurt each other, I can’t help but also see how they’re developing training wheels for future relationships and reflecting normative behaviors that they see around them. I hear teens’ dramas reflected in their stories about how their parents fight — with each other, with their friends and family and colleagues, and with them. What teens are doing is more coarse, more direct, and more explicit. But they’re witnessing adult dramas all around them and what they tend to see isn’t pretty. Parents talking smack about work colleagues or bosses. Parents fighting with each other or ostracizing their family members over disagreements.</p>
<p>While Boyd admits that she doesn’t have the perfect solution to preventing future bullying, looking at the situation through a different lens that isn’t so black and white is a much better start.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Instead of simply making something illegal and claiming that it fixes the problem, perhaps it’s time we apply common sense to these scenarios and make it part of everyday life. Instead of teaching children how to be victims and call the police if they think they are being bullied, perhaps — with the right training wheels — we can teach them how to avoid being bullied altogether. Or, we can focus on teaching children empathy, so a bully thinks how they may feel before resorting to their abusive tactics.</p>
<p>As Mike Masnick <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101129/02594512038/rethinking-bullying-kids-dont-see-it-as-bullying.shtml" type="external">writes:</a></p>
<p>There’s a great quote, apparently by Ian Percy that “we judge others by their behavior, while we judge ourselves by our intentions.” It’s really accurate, and highlights the difficulty of having empathy in such situations. People never think that they are in the wrong — and since they can’t readily understand or know the thought process and intentions of others, it often leads to them thinking the worst. If there were better ways to get people to at least recognize that others might also have good intentions, it could at least limit the negative impact of some interactions. Such fights and misunderstandings will&#160;never&#160;go away. It’s probably wishful thinking to even imagine they can be decreased even slightly. But calling them “cyberbullying” and outlawing jerky behavior or doing silly costumed song-and-dances isn’t going to help matters at all.</p> | Newly Passed Law Will Jail Parents if Their Kids are Caught Bullying | false | https://studionewsnetwork.com/news/newly-passed-law-will-jail-parents-kids-caught-bullying/ | 2017-10-09 | 3 |
<p>Well, here’s something you don’t see everyday (unless you’re watching Fox News). Donald Trump’s former communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, was a guest on Friday’s episode of Fox and Friends. This is the guy who lost his White House job a mere ten days after he was hired because of a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/ryan-lizza/anthony-scaramucci-called-me-to-unload-about-white-house-leakers-reince-priebus-and-steve-bannon" type="external">profanity-laden meltdown</a> attacking fellow Trump staffers. He’s a hot-head in the mold of Trump who continues to serve as a loyal surrogate.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2067411009940350" type="external" /></p>
<p>During his interview by the “Curvy Couch” potatoes (video below), the Mooch leveled another of his patented gross-outs, this time aimed at MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (who is <a href="" type="internal">slaughtering Fox News and Sean Hannity</a>). It was wholly inappropriate personal insult that was devoid of substance. In other words, it was pretty much the same bullshit non-reasoning that all of the cretins on Fox News resort to. About Maddow he said that…</p>
<p>“You can tell she’s got a little bit of that Trump Derangement Syndrome, which I like. I’m hoping that one of these comedians will come up with anti-anxiety medication for liberals. Just take one tablet a day, maybe a suppository, and take it easy. […] The President is doing the right thing for the American people, but he’s also doing the right thing for the world.”</p>
<p>To be clear, Scaramucci is criticizing Maddow as being “deranged” and having an anxiety problem. The same guy who told the New Yorker that Reince Priebus is a “fucking paranoid schizophrenic,” and that Steve Bannon engages in self-fellatio, and that he wants to “fucking kill all the leakers” in the White House. That’s the guy who thinks that Maddow and other liberals should “take it easy?” Yeah, whatever. [Note: Scaramucci later <a href="https://twitter.com/Scaramucci/status/972149706171256832" type="external">tweeted</a> an apology].</p>
<p>The topic of the segment was Trump’s announcement that he accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to meet and discuss a resolution to their juvenile slap-fight on Twitter. The Fox News crew was aghast that Maddow would have anything critical to say about that. They played a clip from her show wherein she wondered…</p>
<p>“Why has no sitting American president ever met with a leader of North Korea? Why has that never happened in all the decades North Korea existed as a nation? Shouldn’t I take this to mean that this might be a particularly risky, or even an unwise move?”</p>
<p>Those are perfectly reasonable questions. What’s more, Trump’s impulsive agreement to meet with Kim demonstrates a dangerous incompetence with regard to what Trump considers his greatest asset: dealmaking. A meeting with the President of the United States is an asset that a smart negotiator would reserve until other concessions were made by the opposing party. Trump gave it up at the very beginning. He got nothing for it, or for the legitimacy it grants to Kim. He could have at least asked that the Americans currently being held in North Korea be released as a prerequisite to a meeting.</p>
<p>Fox News is predictably hailing Trump’s concession to meet Kim as a historic achievement. Never mind that the meeting hasn’t taken place and there are no guarantees that anything productive will result from them. In fact, there’s a fair chance that a summit between The Dotard and Little Rocket Man might make everything worse. They are two unstable, narcissistic individuals with little respect for one another. If their common stubbornness results in a fruitless affair, it might even make military conflict more likely as the prospects for diplomacy fade.</p>
<p>Time will tell if Trump can attend this meeting (if it even comes to pass) without screwing up. In his meetings with Congress he has proved that his word is virtually worthless and neither Democrats nor Republicans can rely on him to follow through. In the meantime, we fan expect philistines like Scaramucci to keep showing up on Fox News slinging insults and ignorance at their dimwitted audience. And maybe the world will survive a little bit longer.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p>
<p /> | Scaramucci Tells Fox News that Rachel Maddow Needs an Anti-Anxiety Suppository | true | http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D8184 | 4 |
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<p>Perhaps we have not paid enough attention to Exodus and have lost, therefore, the import of General “Jerry” Boykin’s words to the evangelical Christians as reported in the LA Times on the 16th, “We in the army of God, in the house of God, kingdom of God have been raised for such a time as this.” Exodus states it clearly enough: “The Lord is a man of war”(15:3). Lt. Gen. Boykin, the new deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence (sic), no doubt speaks for Bush and Rumsfeld’s forces in the field as he takes up his position as fourth in command under Lord General God. It is comforting to know that we are under the command of the Head Man in Heaven as we enter the lists against the infidels led by their god, a mere pagan “idol.” Boykin, who has probably met “face to face” with that other general, places the US squarely in God’s “house,” indeed, in His “Kingdom” as we “take up the cross” to fulfill His divine commands, our army having been “raised for such a time as this.”</p>
<p>One wonders if all the other ministers of war sat enthroned behind the General as he expounded on God’s words: Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, to name a few. Did they cheer him on? Did any of them suggest, perhaps, that his invocation to the God of War had imbedded in it yet another prayer, the one Mark Twain penned in his caustic satire that turned such fawning gibberish into nonsense, “The War Prayer.” Let me paraphrase: “Dear God who counseled ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ bless our cause and curse our enemy, destroy their children, leave their mothers’ barren and homeless, let the old and infirm weep alone as they await death, devastate their land, burn their fields, and destroy even the memory of their existence, in God’s name we pray!” These evangelical Christians listen in rapture to the general who has become their instrument to effect Armageddon even as they curse those who give the appearance of appeasement against the Islamic hordes, including that former general, Colin Powell who should be “nuked” according to Robertson.</p>
<p>Consider the import of this scene, the general garbed in full combat regalia, spit shined shoes, epaulets ablaze with glistening brass, marching before the attentive congregation declaring that “radical Islamists hated the United States ‘because we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and roots are Judeo-Christian …'” And more, “He’s (Bush) in the White House because God put him there.” This man, now in charge of “intelligence” in the Defense Department, enlists his Christian warriors to take on “Satan.” He becomes the embodiment of the Tele-evangelists prophecy, those who proclaim “end-time theology,” the means by which God will bring about prophecies present in the Book of Revelation. This scene contains two important revelations, neither of them resident in the Book of Revelation: the ministers of war enlist once again the myths of Revelation to achieve power in the secular realm and the myths that proclaim America’s roots as Judeo-Christian rise once again as fact when, in fact, they are anathema to the concept and purpose of democracy.</p>
<p>The rising chorus of evangelicals decrying Islam as the sole source of terror, the increasing volatility of their wrath, and their visible displays of displeasure and impatience with the policies of government in a democracy threaten the very basis of a government based on separation of church and state. Dennis Prager (October 7, 2003), prophet of the right wing airways, attempts to defend America’s need to go it alone against Islamic “terror and tyranny” in this “war of civilizations.” He notes that the world is not supportive of the “American mission” to fulfill God’s word, and this explains in good measure why they dislike George W. Bush, “the believer in the biblical God and in an American mission.” “We cannot defeat the Islamist threat,” he proclaims, “without the same degree of faith fanatical Muslims have.” Here he notes, Israel and America are one because both nations have fanatical believers who can stand against the infidels. “One civilization believes in liberty and one does not.” Prager fears that Europe and non-believers in America can jeopardize the fulfillment of God’s mission. “It is between those who fervently believe in America and in Judeo-Christian revelation and those who fervently believe in neither.” Those who do not believe are, in Prager’s mind, “the Left, many Democratic Party leaders, pacifists, the cultural elite and academia…” This type of thinking pits religious denominations against the political system because the government must become the instrument to fulfill their interpretation of God’s word. Add to Prager’s views those of Pat Robertson who beseeches God on public television to intercede to change the make-up of the Supreme Court and declares that only devout Christians and Jews are fit to hold public office, and the casting of America as a theocracy takes form.</p>
<p>According to Philip Lindsey (“Are the Neo-Cons Conning Us”) “All the major figures of the Christian right have joined the new crusade to defend the Israeli state and spread Jewish settlements around Jerusalem and in the Occupied Territories. The Reverend James Hutchins, president of Christians for Israel/US, proclaimed that this support was in order to fulfil a ‘divine calling to assist the Jewish people in their return and restoration of the land of Israel.’ A quarter of a million US Christians have sent over $60 million to Israel while Hutchins’ organization has financed the immigration of 65,000 Jews. For both the Christian and Jewish right, Islam is the new ‘evil empire’ and Yasser Arafat is Israel’s ‘bin Laden.'” With the three prominent Tele-evangelists urging their flocks to reject the rights of Palestinians to a homeland because the Jews have a covenant with God, with their active and visible intervention in political affairs directly affecting this nation, with the financial support they provide to terrorists in the settlements, with their politically motivated sermons directing their congregations to vote for born again Christians and Zionist Jews, with their loud condemnation of non-Christians and Christians not supportive of the Zionist right wing, they have created a fissure of intolerance in America that threatens not only the pillar of separation of church and state, but the rationale that under girds this nation’s tolerance of all religions in favor of the fanatics that demand obeisance to the ministers of war who interpret God’s word for him in the Book of Revelation.</p>
<p>The actions of the Christian Zionists are arguably anti-American in their attempts to gain control of the democratic system, anti-American in their efforts to impose a right-wing Christian theocracy upon all Americans, illegal in their incitement to ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, who have done nothing to Americans, through their support of Jewish settlements that terrorize Palestinians, and illegal in their active promotion of right wing factions in Israel that oppose American foreign policy that calls for the creation of a Palestinian state. These militant actions of the Christian Zionists stem from their belief that the on-going crisis in the Mid-East is prophesied in the Book of Revelation. Belief in Revelation compels them to incite their congregations to destroy the infidels. Ironically, this is not the first use of the Book of Revelation on this continent by militant ministers of the Almighty that has resulted in the slaughter of innocents. In 1500, as Columbus ravaged the “new world” with the help of the Franciscans who were set to build “the Kingdom of God on earth,” a similar intolerance of other religions took hold. “There had always been a millenarian cast to the followers of Saint FrancisºMany believed that their founding saint was the angel of the apocalypse who had unlocked the seal of the sixth age of revelation; the gospel would now be preached throughout the new world and then would come the Anti-ChristºWas not Charles V the prophesied world emperor? And had not Mexico fallen to Catholicism just as northern Europe fell to the Lutheran heretics? Were these not signs that the hosts of good and evil were assembling for Armageddon? º On New Year’s Day, 1525, the friars drove the Mexican priests from their temples and began the ‘first battle against the devil'” (Ronald Wright, The Stolen Continent, 1992). The Franciscans, driven by their fanatical zeal and bound in allegiance to the Spanish Conquistadors to affect the fulfillment of their prophecies, lost sight of the humans they killed in the name of their God. They were the Christian Zionists of their day!</p>
<p>If this was the first abuse of Revelation on this continent, it followed 20 others in Europe dating from 1186 to 1492 and yet others in preceding centuries. Not all resulted in slaughter of innocents, but many did, including the crusades initiated by Urban II who used other myths to enlist peasants and knights to the slaughter of the Jews and Muslims in attempts to reclaim Jerusalem for the Church. Does not the shear number of pseudo-prophets who have proclaimed the imminence of Armageddon require us to declare our current crop benighted idiots?</p>
<p>Have we learned nothing from history? Does superstition guide civilized people in the year 2003? Must we fall prey to denizens of myths who find power in prophecy and ego enhancement in incitement to riot? Must we repeat what we have seen in our own past, that fanatics maliciously use their positions of respect to drive their believers to actions diametrically opposed to the teachings of their supposed leader, Jesus Christ? Are not these religious zealots criminals, exhorting their legions to engage in illegal behavior when they call on them to give millions of dollars to settlements damned as illegal by the UN and the worlds’ communities of nations in numerous resolutions? Are not their rabble-rousing harangues designed to justify acquiescence and complicity to the terrorism inflicted by Ariel Sharon on innocent civilians in Palestine in the name of the God of Revelation? Yet these ministers of war know no more of that God than all the previous prophets of doom that preceded them, but they should; they hold doctorate degrees in theology; they have the scientific evidence that tracks the biblical writings of Revelation to an unknown source on Patmos; they know no one knows the authors of the New Testament; they know they cannot speak for God anymore than the pseudo-prophets of the dark ages, yet they prophecy, they prophecy for profit and power, the true ends of their proselytizing!</p>
<p>With what absolution then do they preach death and destruction? Shouldn’t this administration find these false prophets enemies of the people? Do they not incite to riot and enlist their minions to support illegal activities that are detrimental to the peace of America? Have they not brought America more insecurity by confirming in the minds of those fearful of a clash of civilizations that indeed America is on a crusade to destroy Islam? Have they not given aid and comfort to Osama and his hordes by demonstrating the truth of what he says, the Christians are out to defeat Allah?</p>
<p>Consider the power these men wield over American policy. Not only does the “General of Intelligence” preach before the evangelical hordes, but Tom DeLay, the anointed leader of the Republican majority in the House and a rabid Christian Zionist, addressed the Israeli Knesset on July 30 urging Israel “to ignore the truce and go on killing Palestinian activists.” Benny Elon, Sharon’s Minister of Tourism, appeared with DeLay at the Washington convention of the Christian Coalition where he called for the expulsion of the Palestinians from their homeland claiming that land for Israel since it was guaranteed them in the Bible. The ethnic cleansing is authorized in that same Bible according to Elon, and confirmed by no less an authority than Richard Army who called for removal of the Palestinians, despite the presence of an indigenous population of Arabs in Palestine for the last 1900 years! Even now, this month, 500 evangelicals visited Israel in support of Sharon’s divisive actions against Palestinians. The yoking of the Christian Zionists, the right-wing Jewish Zionists and the pro-Israeli neo-cons has undermined the foundational concepts that guarantee American freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. Perhaps Melchior Grimm had it right when he declared in the mid 18th century: “It has taken centuries to subdue the human race to the tyrannical yoke of the priests; it will take centuries and a series of efforts and successes to secure its freedom.”</p>
<p>We need only pay heed to Thomas Jefferson’s words to Dr. Benjamin Rush in his letter of April 21, 1803: “It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; or their case may … become his own.” Freedom of conscience cannot exist in a climate of fear or in a nation that dictates truth. For the Christian right to impose its beliefs on this nation by controlling the ballot box to ensure the election of radical “end time” believers, to impose their religious beliefs through legislation that all must accept, or to align themselves with groups like the neo-cons who desire a similar goal and would willingly subvert the rights of the people as stated in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights to attain it, can and will result in the erosion of the principles that ensure our freedom. In that same letter to Rush, Jefferson noted the corruption of Jesus’ teachings as “doctrinized” by denominations, extolling instead Christ’s undiluted teachings: he taught “universal philanthropy, not only to kindred and friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but to all mankind, gathering into one family, under the bonds of love, charity, peace, common wants and common aids”(Italics mine). How different in concept this understanding of Christ’s teachings that provides tolerance of all as members of one family from the teachings of the Christian Zionists and right-wing Jewish Zionists who would purge a people from their homeland by superstitiously interpreting words that allow them to determine the fate of millions.</p>
<p>How brilliant does the wording of the Declaration seem now, “endowed by their creator with unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” a prescription guaranteed in the Bill of Rights that indelibly marks each and every human with the same rights to live in a free society unencumbered by the dominance of another’s infallible thoughts! Jefferson understood that religions are not tolerant or democratic; indeed, they are inherently neither, since ministers serve as intermediaries to the divine and become the conduit of doctrines and dogma that determine thought for the believer. It followed logically for Jefferson that church and state must be separate if all religions were to exist in the new country. America does not rest on Christian principles; it exists, as all democracies must, in tolerance of Christian beliefs as it exists in tolerance of all religious beliefs precisely because it was not founded on beliefs expounded by one religion. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Paine, the principal exponents of the foundational concepts upon which this country rests, were Deists who accepted the genuine precepts of Jesus, not those that have evolved in the various denominations over the course of centuries. Love, charity, and compassion define Christ’s precepts; love of all, charity toward all, compassion for all, that all may live in peace. How anathema to General Boykin and the Christian Zionist teachings as they incite their congregations to war!</p>
<p>William Cook is a professor of English at the University of La Verne in southern California. His new book, <a href="" type="internal">Psalms for the 21st Century</a>, was just published by Mellen Press. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Ministers of War, Criminals of the Cloth | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/10/27/ministers-of-war-criminals-of-the-cloth/ | 2003-10-27 | 4 |
<p>Emma Watson told bell hooks in an interview in Paper magazine that she's going to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/19/emma-watson-year-off-acting-to-focus-on-feminism" type="external">taking a year off of acting</a>to focus on learning more about feminism. "My own personal task is to read a book a week, and also to read [another] book a month as part of my book club. I'm doing a huge amount of reading and study just on my own," she said.</p>
<p>Watson is referring to her Twitter-based book club, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jan/07/emma-watson-to-start-feminist-book-group-on-twitter-our-shared-shelf" type="external">Our Shared Self</a>. She said that she had considered going to university for a year to focus on gender studies, but that "I realised that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading." She added, "I want to do a lot of listening."</p>
<p>She'll also be working on HeForShe, her initiative to get men involved in activism for gender equality. Between studying, running the book club, doing on-the-ground work, and running HeForShe, she'll be busy, in other words - we won't just find her huddled in a corner surrounded Hermione-like by enormous stacks of books by this time next year.</p>
<p>Godspeed, Emma! I suggest picking up <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Transgender-History-Studies-Susan-Stryker/dp/158005224X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1455897196&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=transgender+history" type="external">Susan Stryker</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Transgender-Warriors-Making-History-Dennis/dp/0807079413/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1455897196&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=transgender+history" type="external">Leslie Feinberg</a>.</p>
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<p>[ <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/19/emma-watson-year-off-acting-to-focus-on-feminism" type="external">The Guardian</a>] Send me a line at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>.</p> | Emma Watson's Taking A Year Off Of Acting To Learn More About Feminism | true | http://thefrisky.com/2016-02-19/emma-watsons-taking-a-year-off-of-acting-to-learn-more-about-feminism/?utm_source%3Dsc-fb%26utm_medium%3Dref%26utm_campaign | 2018-10-05 | 4 |
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<p>The Senate is weighing a roughly $1.4 trillion tax overhaul. Some late changes were made to the bill Friday. The House passed a nearly $1.5 trillion tax bill two weeks ago that differs in key respects. A comparison of the two Republican-written measures:</p>
<p>–Personal income tax rates: Senate bill retains the current number of brackets, seven, but changes them to 10, 12, 22, 24, 32, 35 and 38.5 percent. Under current law, the top bracket for wealthiest earners is 39.6 percent. The House measure condenses seven brackets to four: 12, 25, 35 and 39.6 percent. Under the Senate bill, the reductions in personal income tax rates are temporary, ending in 2026. They’re permanent in the House bill.</p>
<p>–Standard deduction: Used by about 70 percent of U.S. taxpayers, currently $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for married couples. Senate, House bills both double those levels to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for couples.</p>
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<p>–Personal exemption: Both bills eliminate the current $4,050 personal exemption.</p>
<p>–State and local taxes: Senate, House bills end federal deductions for state and local income and sales taxes, but they allow the deduction for up to $10,000 in property taxes.</p>
<p>–Tax credits: Senate doubles per-child tax credit to $2,000. House raises per-child tax credit from $1,000 to $1,600, extends it to families earning up to $230,000. Creates a $300 tax credit for each adult in a family, which expires in 2023. Both bills preserve the adoption tax credit.</p>
<p>–Home mortgage interest deduction: Senate retains the current limit for the deduction to interest paid on the first $1 million of the loan. House reduces the limit to $500,000, for new home purchases.</p>
<p>–Other deductions: Senate bill preserves deduction for medical expenses not covered by insurance but ends deductions for moving expenses and tax preparation. House eliminates medical expense deduction.</p>
<p>–Individual insurance mandate: Senate bill repeals the requirement in Democrat Barack Obama’s health care law that people pay a tax penalty if they don’t purchase health insurance. House bill does not.</p>
<p>–Alternative minimum tax: The AMT is aimed at ensuring that higher-earning people pay at least some tax. Senate bill doesn’t repeal it but reduces the number of people who have to pay it. House measure repeals the tax.</p>
<p>–Inheritance tax: Currently, when someone dies the estate owes taxes on the value of assets transferred to heirs above $5.5 million for individuals, $11 million for couples. Senate bill doubles those limits but does not repeal the tax. House initially doubles the limits and then repeals the entire tax after 2023.</p>
<p>–Corporate taxes: Senate, House bills both cut current 35 percent rate to 20 percent, but Senate has one-year delay in dropping the rate.</p>
<p>–Pass-through businesses: Millions of U.S. businesses “pass through” their income to individuals, who then pay personal income tax on those earnings, not corporate tax. Senate bill lets people deduct 23 percent of the earnings and then pay at their personal income tax rate on the remainder. House measure taxes many of the pass-through businesses at 25 percent, plus creates a 9 percent rate for the first $75,000 in earnings for some smaller pass-throughs.</p>
<p>–Businesses: Senate, House bills both expand write-offs allowed for companies that buy equipment.</p>
<p>–Multinational corporations: Senate, House bills impose a one-time tax on profits that U.S.-based corporations are holding overseas. Senate bill also ends tax advantages for firms moving overseas, and requires corporations to continue paying the business version of the alternative minimum tax. House measure seeks to eliminate tax incentives that encourage some U.S. companies to move overseas.</p> | Highlights of Senate, House GOP bills to overhaul tax code | false | https://abqjournal.com/1100543/highlights-of-senate-house-gop-bills-to-overhaul-tax-code.html | 2017-12-01 | 2 |
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<p>Shares of cloud-based analytics company Inovalon Holdings (NASDAQ: INOV) increased as much as 20% on Thursday following the company's third-quarter earnings release. The gain, however, has pulled back slightly. Shares are up about 12% at the time of this writing.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Inovalon reported third-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $105 million and $0.10, respectively. The stock's gain on Thursday is likely because these results landed ahead of analyst expectations. On average, analysts were expecting revenue and adjusted EPS of $103 million and $0.06, respectively, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.</p>
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<p>CEO Keith Dunleavy seemed pleased with the results. He said:</p>
<p>Looking ahead, Inovalon importantly reaffirmed the company's full-year guidance, which calls for revenue in the range of $470 million to $490 million and adjusted EPS of $0.28 to $0.35.</p>
<p>It's also worth noting that, going forward, the company will have a new chief financial and operating officer. Inovalon promoted Chris Greiner to the role and announced that Tom Kloster has stepped down from the CFO position "to pursue other opportunities."</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2668&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDanielSparks/info.aspx" type="external">Daniel Sparks Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool 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> | Why Inovalon Holdings, Inc. Stock Jumped | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/03/why-inovalon-holdings-inc-stock-jumped.html | 2016-11-03 | 0 |
<p>Stocks in Europe and U.S. futures rose Monday as investors digested the implications of the Senate passing its version of tax reform over the weekend.</p>
<p>The Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 0.7% with gains across sectors, while futures pointed to a 0.8% opening gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed.</p>
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<p>Investors moved out of havens such as Treasurys and gold, and pushed the dollar higher.</p>
<p>The moves follow a volatile session Friday when U.S. stocks fell sharply on reports about former national-security adviser Mike Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his communications with Russia. But stocks rallied into Friday's close on signs lawmakers had the votes to pass their tax measure and markets looked set to continue that positive tone on Monday.</p>
<p>The Senate passed sweeping revisions to the U.S. tax code past midnight Saturday after Republicans overcame internal divisions to pave the way for $1.4 trillion in tax cuts that would lower the corporate rate from 35% to 20%. The House and Senate still need to reconcile competing versions of the tax plan, something GOP leaders hope to do by Christmas.</p>
<p>Ronald Temple, head of U.S. equity at Lazard Asset Management, estimated that around 50% to 70% of the impact of the tax plan had been baked into markets before the passage of the Senate's bill.</p>
<p>"Obviously, for corporates it's a windfall," Mr. Temple said. "It's unlikely to materially change the growth trajectory, but it is likely to materially change earnings growth," he said.</p>
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<p>Other markets showed signs of reversing Friday's moves as investor grappled with the news about Mr. Flynn. Investors had piled into havens like gold and U.S. Treasurys and sold the dollar.</p>
<p>The WSJ Dollar Index was up 0.3% on Monday, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.393% from 2.363% on Friday. Yields move inversely to prices. Gold declined 0.5% to $1,277 an ounce on Monday after rising on Friday.</p>
<p>Most sectors across the Stoxx Europe 600 were higher on Monday, with the banking, auto and construction sectors all up by 1% or more.</p>
<p>With U.S. stock markets near record highs, some investors say they see greater value in other regions. Jeroen Blokland, a portfolio manager at Dutch asset manager Robeco, said that given economic momentum is already building, the Senate tax bill "is another sign for investors that this rally can continue for quite some time even though valuations are stretched."</p>
<p>Still, those high valuations in the U.S. have led him to favor European and Japanese stocks. "Japan is doing great and Europe has some catching up to do," he said.</p>
<p>Some Asia-Pacific stock markets struggled Monday after pockets of selling last week, notably in technology. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average closed down 0.5% as some tech stocks again came under pressure.</p>
<p>But other markets ended higher. After declines last week, benchmarks in Korea and Taiwan rose 1.1% and 0.5% respectively.</p>
<p>Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.4% thanks to gains from index heavyweight Tencent and insurer Ping An.</p>
<p>"The weakness in Tencent and Ping An is attracting interest from value buyers," said Castor Pang, head of research for Core Pacific-Yamaichi International.</p>
<p>In commodity markets, Brent crude oil futures prices were down 0.8% at $63.22 a barrel.</p>
<p>Write to Christopher Whittall at [email protected] and Kenan Machado at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>December 04, 2017 05:35 ET (10:35 GMT)</p> | Senate Tax Bill Boosts Global Shares -- Update | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/12/04/senate-tax-bill-boosts-global-shares-update.html | 2017-12-04 | 0 |
<p>Community leaders, activists and residents directly affected by this summer's water shutoffs in Detroit will rally at the Federal Bankruptcy Court on Monday, Sept. 22, at 8:30 a.m to demand an end to the city's destructive water shutoff program and the immediate implementation of an income-based&#160; <a href="http://mwro.org/water_affordability_program.htm" type="external">Water Affordability Plan</a>.</p>
<p>Speakers will include leaders from the&#160; <a href="http://detroitwaterbrigade.org/" type="external">Detroit Water Brigade</a>&#160;and other community organizations, a local pastor, and residents currently without water.</p>
<p>The rally comes at the beginning of trial hearings in the class-action lawsuit&#160; <a href="http://www.naacpldf.org/files/case_issue/LYDA%2C%20et%20al.%20v.%20Detroit-Brief%20in%20Support%20of%20Plaintiffs%27%20Motion%20for%20Temporary%20Restraining%20Order.pdf" type="external">Lyda et.al v. City of Detroit</a>, being brought before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Stephen Rhodes. The lawsuit and community groups call on Judge Rhodes to impose a temporary restraining order on the department until a suitable plan is in place to ensure that all Detroiters can afford access to clean water.</p>
<p>Judge Rhodes, who initially hesitated to take the issue under his jurisdiction, has recently said the issue is "affecting this bankruptcy" and has sharply questioned the water department's director on the department's borrowing practices.</p>
<p>“It is undeniable that access to clean water and sanitation is an essential necessity of life and today Detroit is standing up to demand it. If we don't control the spickett democratically, then we're all in danger of losing our right to water,” said Atpeace Makita, spokeswoman for the Detroit Water Brigade.</p>
<p>Water rates in Detroit have increased dramatically over the last decade to nearly twice the national average, due to declining population and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">internal department mismanagement and corruption</a>. Former Detroit Water Director Victor Mercado is currently serving an 8-month jail term for federal corruption charges.</p>
<p>"It is everyone's God-given right to have water. We need to do something about this situation because no one should ever be without what God has given us freely to survive on," said Pastor Ray Anderson from the House of Help Community Center in Detroit, which is also facing water shutoff and eviction after renovating and revitalizing a former Detroit public school building.</p>
<p>The Detroit Water Brigade will also announce a second, escalating citywide campaign of peaceful direct action to protect Detroit residents from water shutoffs. The rally at Detroit's Federal Bankruptcy Court will occur on Monday, Sept. 22, at 231 West Lafayette Street.</p>
<p>For further background on the Detroit water crisis, read Occupy.com lead investigative reporter Carl Gibson's pieces&#160; <a href="" type="internal">here</a>,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">here</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p /> | Detroiters and Water Activists Call on Bankruptcy Judge to End the Shutoffs | true | http://occupy.com/article/detroiters-and-water-activists-call-bankruptcy-judge-end-shutoffs | 4 |
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<p>Davis, a former teenage mom who graduated from Harvard Law School, responded that Perry’s comments were “without dignity and tarnishes the high office he holds.”</p>
<p>Before the white-hot battle over abortion in the second-largest state turned personal, the Fort Worth Democrat staged a marathon filibuster Tuesday that helped defeat an omnibus bill further limiting abortion in a state where it’s already difficult to undergo them. But Perry called lawmakers back for a second special session next week to try and finish the job.</p>
<p>“Who are we to say that children born in the worst of circumstances can’t lead successful lives?” Perry said in a speech to nearly 1,000 delegates at the National Right to Life Convention in suburban Dallas. “Even the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances.”</p>
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<p>Davis, now 50, started working at age 14 to help support a household of her single mother and three siblings. By 19, she was already married and divorced with a child of her own, but she eventually graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and won her Senate seat in an upset.</p>
<p>Perry pointed out that personal history in his speech, adding “it’s just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters.”</p>
<p>In comments to reporters after his speech, he went even further.</p>
<p>“I’m proud that she’s been able to take advantage of her intellect and her hard work, but she didn’t come from particularly good circumstances,” the governor said. “What if her mom had said, ‘I just can’t do this. I don’t want to do this.’ At that particular point in time I think it becomes very personal.”</p>
<p>Davis quickly fired off an email response blasting Perry’s comments.</p>
<p>“They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view,” she said. “Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test.”</p>
<p>Davis’ supporters argued Perry never would have made such suggestions to a male politician.</p>
<p>“Rick Perry’s remarks are incredibly condescending and insulting to women,” Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and daughter of the late former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, said in a statement. “This is exactly why the vast majority of Texans believe that politicians shouldn’t be involved in a woman’s personal health care decisions.”</p>
<p>Perry called legislators into a 30-day special session to pass stricter limits on abortion, including banning the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy.</p>
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<p /> | Perry, filibuster star battle over abortion | false | https://abqjournal.com/215499/perry-filibuster-star-battle-over-abortion.html | 2013-06-28 | 2 |
<p>Iranian-American lobbyist Siamak Namazi was arrested in Tehran according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/world/middleeast/iran-is-said-to-detain-another-american.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&amp;smid=nytcore-ipad-share&amp;_r=0" type="external">sources close to him</a>. Namazi is a dual-citizen of the United States and Iran; he also happens to be an instrumental puppet-master of the Iran nuclear deal, working behind the scenes with the Obama White House.</p>
<p>Ironically, Namazi's rapprochement with the Islamic Republic left him vulnerable to the tentacles of totalitarian theocracy. The world economic consultant purportedly maintains ties with the <a href="http://www.niacouncil.org/" type="external">National Iranian American Council</a> (NIAC), an influential Washington lobbying group that has been prodding the White House for decades to fundamentally overhaul its diplomatic policy with the isolated Shiite state. "This Iran lobby...has become a staunch institutional ally of the White House selling the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the nuclear deal is known," <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/15/the-shady-family-behind-america-s-iran-lobby.html" type="external">reports</a>The Daily Beast. "But while NIAC has done the heavy-lifting—the ad-buying, the leafleting, and congressional meet-and-greets, all designed to sell lawmakers on the Iran deal—its political efforts also underwrite the economic interests of one very well connected but low-profile Iranian family, the Namazis, who played a key role as intellectual architects of NIAC."</p>
<p>Siamak Namazi is not just any detainee shackled in Iran's barbaric <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/28/inside-evin-look-at-world-most-notorious-political-prison/" type="external">Evin Prison</a>, the <a href="http://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html" type="external">ninth circle of Dante's hell</a> on earth. The man's underground dealings read like a shadowy figure in a spy novel. In fact, Siamak is the constable of the powerful Namazi clan, a family that operates as the "perfect embodiment of Iranian power politics." The Daily Beast's revealing <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/15/the-shady-family-behind-america-s-iran-lobby.html" type="external">exposé</a>on this "shady family behind the Iran lobby" documents the sheer extent of the Namazi network's disturbing influence over US-Iranian affairs:</p>
<p>Little known to the American press, the Namazis have rarely acted as spokespersons for their own cause. In fact, attempts to reach various members of the family for comment on this story were met with increasing levels of hostility and threats of legal action. Yet in many ways, the Namazi clan is the perfect embodiment of Iranian power politics, at least as it has played out among the Iranian diaspora. Those close to the Namazis say that they are savvy financial operators rather than ideologues, eager to do business with the West and enjoy all of its political freedoms and perquisites, and yet ever mindful that they’re straddling the delicate fault-line between cashing in with a theocratic dictatorship and being frozen out entirely. They have stayed on the right side of international law if not always on the right side of prevailing political interests in the Islamic Republic.</p>
<p>Accordingly, the Namazis essentially controlled the ebb and flow of US-Iranian business dealings, strategically positioning themselves as gatekeepers and intermediaries to an embattled and sanctioned Islamic state. The Daily Beast <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/15/the-shady-family-behind-america-s-iran-lobby.html" type="external">notes</a>:</p>
<p>In 1993, Pari Namazi and her husband, Bijan Khajehpour, founded a company in Tehran called Atieh Bahar Consulting (AB). It offered a range of legal and industrial services to foreign enterprises, most importantly the access it provided to the regime, and the advice it dispensed on how best to navigate the vagaries of the regime’s entrenched factions and competitive interests.</p>
<p>At the time, it looked like Iran might even be opening up to big American-based oil companies, then unencumbered by any sanctions regime on the Islamic Republic. But after an announcement in 1995 that Iran had given Conoco a contract to develop an offshore gas field, and an uproar in the U.S. Congress, the Clinton administration imposed unilateral sanctions and barred U.S. companies from doing business there.</p>
<p>Eventually Siamak Namazi, who had worked from 1994 to 1996 at Iran’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning, also joined AB. So did his brother Babak, a lawyer. And the AB client list just kept growing. Plenty of companies based outside the U.S. were more than happy to do business in Iran once they had the right connections. As Siamak eventually told Lebanon’s Daily Star newspaper, “If oil companies want to operate in the Iranian market they need to link up with a local partner, and this is where we step in and help them to find the right partner.</p>
<p>Siamak's role as chief ventriloquist slowly materialized as the Namazis worked to open the Iranian markets to Western investment. "In November 1999, when Khatami was still president, Siamak Namazi got together with a Swedish-Iranian expat named Trita Parsi at a conference in Cyprus," <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/15/the-shady-family-behind-america-s-iran-lobby.html" type="external">reports</a>The Daily Beast. The two masterminds drafted a "white paper" concluding, “the fear of coming across as a lackey of the Iranian regime is still prohibiting many Iranian Americans from fully engaging in the debate on the future of Iran-U.S. relations.” The way around this, they submitted, was to mobilize the Iranian-American community and enlist “Americans of non-Iranian background” to lessen the adversarial posture of both nations."</p>
<p>"But while NIAC has done the heavy-lifting—the ad-buying, the leafleting, and congressional meet-and-greets, all designed to sell lawmakers on the Iran deal—its political efforts also underwrite the economic interests of one very well connected but low-profile Iranian family, the Namazis, who played a key role as intellectual architects of NIAC."</p>
<p>The Daily Beast</p>
<p>"The white paper led to the creation two years later, in 2001, of NIAC," notably, the same lobbying group that helped choreograph the Iran nuclear deal. As founder and current president, Parsi targeted pro-Israel organizations, including AIPAC, for their seemingly-tough stance against Iran. "Parsi also wrote intelligence briefings as an 'affiliate analyst in Washington, D.C.' for AB, focusing on such topics as whether or not the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) would revive its anti-Iran campaigning on the eve of the Iraq war, or on efforts by the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MeK), the militant Iranian opposition group that exposed Natanz in 2002 would get itself de-listed as a terrorist entity by the U.S. State Department," <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/15/the-shady-family-behind-america-s-iran-lobby.html" type="external">confirms</a>The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>NIAC has infiltrated the corridors of power and now commands the ear of President Obama. "Perhaps NIAC’s most accomplished alum is Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, who is now National Security Council director for Iran in the Obama administration and therefore the top U.S. official for Iran policy, bringing together the various departments of government working on U.S. strategy toward the country. She is also, after the White House principals, one of the leading advisers to President Obama on Iran," <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/15/the-shady-family-behind-america-s-iran-lobby.html" type="external">says</a> The Daily Beast, adding:</p>
<p>In June of this year, as the Iran deal looked likely, NIAC inaugurated an official “lobbying” arm called NIAC Action registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(4) organization, but for years, internally, the group has described its activities (PDF) as lobbying. NIAC Action is explicitly meant to counter the influence of AIPAC, which has spent millions to block the Iran deal’s passage in Congress by securing a veto-proof bipartisan majority of senators opposed to it—an effort that now appears close to failure.</p>
<p>Siamak Namazi is the fourth American of Iranian descent surreptitiously detained by Iranian intelligence officials. Despite its intimate relationship with the Namazi family, the White House opted to remain relatively inconspicuous regarding Siamak's arrest. "We’re aware of recent reports of the possible arrest in Iran of a person reported to have U.S. citizenship. We’re looking into these reports and don’t have anything further to provide at this time," <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/world/middleeast/iran-is-said-to-detain-another-american.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&amp;smid=nytcore-ipad-share&amp;_r=0" type="external">said</a> a deputy spokesman for the State Department.</p> | Iranian-American Arrested Is 'Intellectual Architect' of Nuclear Deal. Obama: Who? | true | https://dailywire.com/news/799/iranian-american-arrested-intellectual-architect-michael-qazvini | 2015-10-30 | 0 |
<p>The widow of slain National Football League (NFL) player Pat Tillman says President Trump should not “politicize” his death amid national debate over the professional football league.</p>
<p>Tillman died in 2004 following a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan after leaving the NFL to serve in the Army Rangers due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.</p>
<p>“As a football player and soldier, Pat inspired countless Americans to unify,” Marie Tillman told <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/26/us/pat-tillman-widow-reacts-trump-national-anthem/index.html" type="external">CNN</a> late Monday.</p>
<p>“It is my hope that his memory should always remind people that we must come together,” she continued.</p>
<p>“Pat’s service, along with that of every man and woman’s service, should never be politicized in a way that divides us.”</p>
<p>Some Twitter users on Tuesday criticized President Trump for bringing Pat Tillman into the discussion over the NFL’s ongoing protests over the national anthem.</p>
<p>Pat Tillman is a true hero. Everything about this is touching and honest. Thank you Marie, very sorry for your loss. <a href="https://t.co/MvTb1XmqPS" type="external">https://t.co/MvTb1XmqPS</a></p>
<p>Pat Tillman in 2002 turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army.</p>
<p>The football star was moved to action by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks across America’s East Coast and ultimately served in Afghanistan and Iraq before his death.</p>
<p>Trump on Monday re-tweeted a Twitter user who mentioned Pat Tillman’s death in light of the ongoing demonstrations in the NFL.</p>
<p>Trump last Friday criticized athletes who do not stand for the national anthem, provoking a widespread reaction across the NFL over the weekend.</p>
<p>“Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now – he is fired,’” Trump said during a rally in Alabama for Senate candidate Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL).</p>
<p>Multiple NFL coaches, executives and players have since knelt during “The Star-Spangled Banner” following Trump’s remarks.</p>
<p>Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the song in 2016 in a protest against police treatment of minorities in the U.S.</p>
<p>Kaepernick’s initial gesture has since been imitated by multiple professional athletes across several sports.</p>
<p>We asked veterans how they really feel about the NFL anthem protests.</p>
<p /> | Pat Tillman’s widow told Trump not to ‘politicize’ her husband in the anthem debate | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/09/26/action-sports/marie-tillman-pat-tillman-widow-tells-trump-not-to-politicize-husband-in-anthem-debate | 2017-09-26 | 1 |
<p>Sept. 1 (UPI) — Hundreds of people dressed in dinosaur costumes took to the streets of Washington D.C. to protest budget cuts affecting national service programs.</p>
<p>Service Year Alliance organized the demonstration against President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a>‘s 2018 budget proposal that <a href="http://about.serviceyear.org/record_number_of_dinosaurs" type="external">threatens the “extinction” of programs</a> such as the Peace Corps, Teach for America, YouthBuild and City Year.</p>
<p>“While dinosaurs are fun – national service extinction is a serious matter,” Service Year Alliance CEO Shirley Sagawa said. “If President Trump’s budget becomes reality, the 80,000 young people who serve every year won’t be responding to natural disasters like Hurricane Harvey, teaching in our underperforming schools, supporting our veterans, maintaining our national parks, or tackling issues like the opioid epidemic and unemployment.”</p>
<p>President Trump’s proposed <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/dinosaurs-roam-washington-budget-protest/4010960.html" type="external">budget would eliminate</a> the Corporation for National and Community Service along with groups such as AmeriCorps, and Volunteers in Service to America.</p>
<p>“Together, we can tell Congress: Stop National Service Extinction,” protest organizers said. “Let’s expand national service instead.”</p>
<p>Protesters wearing inflatable dinosaur costumes walked along eight locations throughout Washington D.C. including Dupont Circle, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial, and Union Station.</p>
<p>“National service advocates made themselves known to Congress and the entire DC community this morning,” Sagawa said. “As the Senate sits down to markup the FY18 budget next week, we encourage them to listen to the folks who gathered outside the Capitol and expand national service instead of letting it go extinct.”</p> | Dinosaurs march to protest National service 'extinction' | false | https://newsline.com/dinosaurs-march-to-protest-national-service-extinction/ | 2017-09-01 | 1 |
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<p />
<p>We need more than prayer for rain</p>
<p>AS A CHRISTIAN pastor, I do believe prayer changes our own hearts and moves God to act in human events. We at Albuquerque Mennonite Church pray for rain, too. However, I hope that we people of faith, including those featured in the article “Praying for Rain,” can realize that we are the answers to our own prayers!</p>
<p>For years, climate scientists have warned that global warming, resulting from a buildup of greenhouse gasses from human activity, would result in drier conditions in the Southwest. We are all part of the problem, but the good news is we can also be part of the solution.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It is urgent that faith communities move from contemplation to action, pressuring government actors to enact meaningful climate change legislation, encouraging believers to live simpler and more sustainable lifestyles and divesting their money of all fossil fuel companies.</p>
<p>Praying for rain is easy; drastically changing our lives will truly require God’s help.</p>
<p>ANDREW CLOUSE</p>
<p>Associate pastor for youth</p>
<p>Albuquerque Mennonite Church</p>
<p />
<p>Virginal sacrifice might bring rain</p>
<p>RE: PRAYING For Rain, May 4</p>
<p>Rose petals? You’re trying to propitiate the Omnipotent Invisible Man with beads and rose petals? Surely a drought of this magnitude calls for nothing short of virgin sacrifice.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>HARRY PLETCHER</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p>
<p />
<p>GOP blocks Obama at every turn</p>
<p>CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER tries to write off Obama, accusing him of general ineffectiveness and specific weakness in foreign affairs. It takes huge hubris— and a short attention span by press and public— for this pusher of the Iraq War to be passing judgment on anyone. Pundits and politicians who have been so flagrantly wrong in the recent past should really shut up for a while.</p>
<p>It is disingenuous to say the least for Krauthammer, Fox News and the GOP to berate Obama for doing nothing when their party has blocked his best efforts with zealotry. To be frank, their ongoing obstructionism — always putting party above country — is redolent of racism as well as a shortage of patriotism.</p>
<p>By trying to sandbag Obama and, by extension, government itself, the Republicans are playing with fire. For out of the clear and deepening dysfunction comes a lack of belief that the American system — democracy — can work. Enlightenment-era historian Edward Gibbon focused on this collapse of civic belief as a leading cause of the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The expense of constant wars was another.</p>
<p>The founders were well-versed in Gibbon. Some, like Patrick Henry and George Mason, were concerned about America becoming an empire like Britain. Others, like Adams, Washington and Jefferson, were aware and fearful of the destructive potential of a reckless ultra-partisan faction like today’s GOP.</p>
<p>BRET RAUSHENBUSH</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p>
<p />
<p>Quantify film program’s success</p>
<p>RE: “FILM productions on rise in New Mexico…” good! And let’s keep incentivizing!</p>
<p>Tax cuts have been shown to be effective, but only when properly managed. Reports from Rhode Island show an 8-1 profit from tax credits to film. The answer isn’t in N.M.’s failed loan programs for film, and the answer certainly isn’t in cutting the tax credits like we’ve seen. The answer is to promote film in N.M. with a streamlined and effective tax credit system that encourages filming, and therefore spending, in N.M.</p>
<p>The current issue with this may be in the measurement of success. Success is defined by getting more out of each dollar by giving tax credits and seeing benefits in spending, as opposed to simply getting each dollar through taxes. There are varying reports on our success, ranging from 14 cents per $1 to $1.50 per $1. The flaw is in only looking at a part of what the film industry spends in N.M. Most fiscal impact research only focuses on the salaries brought to N.M. and overlooks the benefits of these individuals’ spending in N.M. The film industry brings jobs and those jobs mean people with paychecks. The benefits of film tax credits are exponential when revenue from personal spending is accounted for.</p>
<p>Everyone from the director to the boom op has to eat; if they’re eating at The Frontier that means vital tax revenue for N.M.</p>
<p>SAM HUFNAGEL</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p>
<p />
<p>Wrong use of ‘lame-duck president’</p>
<p>YOU RAN A McClatchy story on Page A8 on May 1 with a subhead referring to Obama as a “lame-duck president.” This is a misuse of that term. A lame duck president is one who is nearing the end of his tenure, especially one whose successor has already been elected. Neither applies to the current president at this time.</p>
<p>LARRY O’HANLON</p>
<p>Placitas</p>
<p />
<p>Keep bears from eating human food</p>
<p>RE. EDITORIAL “N.M. needs to be more bear and trash aware,” I have a hard time understanding how removing all food from the outdoors around our homes solves the bear problem. They’re still going to be wandering around hungry until they find something to eat. If they don’t find something in the mountains, they’ll move closer into town.</p>
<p>Bears have been known to cause a lot of damage breaking into houses looking for food, but if these animals are fed, they’ll just keep to themselves since they try to avoid humans.</p>
<p>I don’t see why Game and Fish can’t cordon off areas in the mountains and leave something for the bears—not pizza and Twinkies, but typical bear food that won’t cause them to become addicted to human food.</p>
<p>Why can’t people put things into perspective anyway? The last person killed by a bear was 12 years ago, when it broke into a woman’s house through a glass pane. Compare that to the number of people killed because of drunken driving. Alcohol was a factor in 149 traffic deaths in 2012. The city of Albuquerque recently published the names of 180 people who were arrested for DUI in just the first three months of this year. By comparison, bears aren’t a problem.</p>
<p>Bears aren’t that dangerous because their nature is to stay away from people. They’re even less dangerous when they’re not hungry and looking for food.</p>
<p>JUDY CRANE</p>
<p>Tijeras</p>
<p />
<p>H.R. 818 doesn’t stem wildfires</p>
<p>RE: THE OP-ED “Grassroots pressure can put end to ‘fire season’ printed on April 21 by U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce. I agree with the representative’s commitment to responsible forest management and forest fire prevention. However, I disagree with his support for H.R. 818, the Healthy Forest Management and Wildfire Prevention Act.</p>
<p>H.R. 818 purports to protect public lands from wildfire and disease, in actuality they fast-track a large number of projects with limited public review, federal oversight and limited protections for our most sensitive places. The language of the bill gives an unprecedented amount of power to governors and selected secretaries to designate “high risk” areas for harvesting. These “high risk” areas can also be designated for up to 20 years or indefinitely according to the language of the bill.</p>
<p>Sustainable forestry initiatives are important and are essential for forest management and wildfire prevention. H.R. 818 however is not an appropriate response to wildfire issues in New Mexico.</p>
<p>RUSTON MITCHELL</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p>
<p />
<p>Columbine Hondo a true treasure</p>
<p>IT IS FITTING that U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich along with Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham chose the week we celebrated Earth Day to introduce legislation to permanently protect the pristine Columbine Hondo as wilderness.</p>
<p>This backyard treasure in our community has long been the place to take our children to scramble up their first mountain, enjoy a family picnic at Middle Fork Lake, or experience a field of wildflowers.</p>
<p>As a mother and now grandmother, I appreciate that this bill will ensure that Columbine Hondo will stay forever as it is for future generations to experience and enjoy. As a public official, I commend the bill’s sponsors for recognizing that preserving this special place will attract visitors, who will stay in our motels, eat in our restaurants and shop in our stores — boosting our local economy.</p>
<p>Udall, Heinrich and Lujan Grisham deserve special thanks for working with varied stakeholders to find common ground that will allow access to an amazing high mountain trail for mountain bikers who want to explore these steep rugged mountains.</p>
<p>Safeguarding Columbine Hondo will also help keep our air clear, our water clean and add to the quality of life in our community. Protecting a piece of our precious Earth just makes good sense, and I hope to see it become law very soon.</p>
<p>LINDA CALHOUN</p>
<p>Mayor, Red River</p>
<p />
<p>Vet bills vs. pet suffering — tough call</p>
<p>WITH ALL THE publicity given to the overpopulation of pets and efforts to get them into homes, is anyone looking at the unregulated veterinarian dollar charges these days? Is there any wonder why companion animals are being turned in, abandoned or just plain left to suffer because who can afford these vet bills — a business that depends on emotions. We owners make decisions: Do we let our animals suffer or do we pay terrible vet bills. You tell me!</p>
<p>This veterinary industry either needs to be regulated or just plain told that animals are suffering because people can’t afford their high charges, and maybe they have a moral issue to deal with in this process without blinking an eye while handing you a bill to save your pet.</p>
<p>An example: I took my champion elkhound male to an emergency clinic late last year and came home without a dog plus a $7,000 vet bill that will take five years to pay off on the VISA.</p>
<p>Who can afford it? Vets need to consider what you are doing to people who care for their pets and make tough decisions every day that include beans or vet bills — and that the money sinkhole lasts a very long time — longer than our dear lost pet. Something is wrong here.</p>
<p>CHRIS HUBER</p>
<p>Placitas</p>
<p />
<p>PBS must be fair on immigration news</p>
<p>I AM AT once a fan of PBS and a detractor. Because it is tax-supported, it must deliver only the highest standards in reporting on critical issues, like immigration. But, on at least this topic PBS fails, presenting unfailing open-borders advocacy during routine reporting. A recent “immigration special” was shameful, devoted solely to refuting assertions by immigration-reduction advocates.</p>
<p>A tax-supported network should present both sides, plus objective sources for perspective, and so viewers can draw their own informed conclusions, something we no longer get from the rest of electronic media. How telling that Australia, too, is embarked on an immigration debate, but it does so fully informed by its electronic media, while ours brings us mostly propaganda.</p>
<p>PBS should explore immigration history, including why Americans demanded drastic immigration cuts in the early 1900s and the benefits to labor until 1965. They need to ask why labor and liberal — until corporate media, owned by interests eager for a continued flooded, cheap labor market, convinced them they were racist — reversed decades behind tight border enforcement. They need to explore immigration’s implications to the nation’s exploding population and why farm-labor organizer César Chávez begged Congress for better border enforcement.</p>
<p>We hear about “our broken immigration system” and how “everyone wants immigration reform.” PBS — as an independent, nonprofit news agency — is one of few places for objective non-biased reporting on this complicated, controversial issue. It owes it to us not to fail. It could determine whether immigration is indeed broken, and in what way: too little, as business interests needing cheap labor assert, or too much during a time of high unemployment. It could report, based on scientific polls, not “push polls” commissioned by special interests, what “everyone wants” in immigration reform or enforcement. If they can’t adhere to the best journalistic standards, its public funding should be cut.</p>
<p>KATHLEENE PARKER</p>
<p>Rio Rancho</p> | Talk of the Town | false | https://abqjournal.com/198718/talk-of-the-town-95.html | 2013-05-14 | 2 |
<p>Romenesko Memos The good news from Kathy Waltz, publisher of Tribune's Orlando Sentinel: "The Orlando Sentinel serves a growing market and our readership is now at an all-time high and continuing to build." The bad news: "After much thought and deliberation, it became clear that it will be necessary to eliminate a limited number of positions, some of which are open positions."</p> | Orlando Sentinel to cut "a limited number" of positions | false | https://poynter.org/news/orlando-sentinel-cut-limited-number-positions | 2005-11-16 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Since I wrote last week about <a href="" type="internal">Obama’s capitulation to the drug industry</a>, the White House sought to tamp down protests by Democratic House and Senate leaders by sweeping the whole business under the rug. Instead of openly agreeing to promise no control over pricing—the Obama public line earlier in the week–the White House now says, according to the Times on Saturday morning, that it’s all a big misunderstanding and the pricing question was not discussed. &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Oh, come on. That is a ridiculous line, since pricing of pharmaceutical products is not only a key issue in this year’s health care reform debate, but has been at the heart of the debate over controlling drugs since the Kefauver amendments in the 1950s. Remember, the mechanism that allows Big Pharma to have its way on pricing is patent protection, which has gone virtually unchanged over the years. What the companies are looking for is a way to maintain their monopoly. &#160;</p>
<p>Anyhow, for the record, here’s what the Times says happened Friday:</p>
<p>In a telephone interview, Linda Douglass, a White House spokeswoman on health matters, said the question of government drug-price bargaining “was not discussed during the negotiations.” Asked if that meant such a provision was excluded, as the top drug lobbyists had previously said, Ms. Douglass declined to comment, repeating, “It was not discussed.” …White House officials said Friday that Mr. Messina, the deputy chief of staff who sent the e-mail message, had not intended to confirm that the deal ruled out price negotiations… The drug industry lobbyists appeared to make peace with the White House over the terms the deal as well. The industry had reached an agreement with the White House in June to contribute $80 billion over 10 years to the cost of the health care overhaul but cap its share of the costs at that level. And since striking the deal, the drug industry lobbyists had become a vital and thus powerful White House ally, even helping to bankroll a million-dollar advertising campaign in support of the health care overhaul. On Friday night, however, the drug industry lobby appeared to line up once again with the White House, perhaps satisfied that the White House had at least ruled out the price rebates in the House bill…. Asked about the White House statements, Ken Johnson, a senior PhRMA official, said, “All of the questions about what was in the agreement distract from our shared goal of making sure everyone has access to health care coverage.”</p>
<p>One clue that the drug industry is still satisfied with its arrangement with the White House is the fact that it has agreed to bankroll the president’s plan with $150 million in advertising. As the New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/health/policy/09lobby.html?_r=3" type="external">pointed out</a> Sunday, “By comparison, President Obama’s presidential campaign spent about $236 million on television commercials while the campaign of the Republican candidate, Senator John McCain of Arizona, spent about $126 million. Few expect the opponents of the health care overhaul to muster as much advertising muscle as its backers, including sympathetic business groups, labor unions and ideological allies. The drug makers stand to gain millions of new customers from the expansion of health care coverage.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | More On That White House Drug Deal | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/08/more-white-house-drug-deal/ | 2009-08-10 | 4 |
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<p>Korn is one of the headliners for this year’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival.</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival is back with a vengeance.</p>
<p>Albuquerque audiences will see the return of rock heavy-hitters like Avenged Sevenfold and Korn on the main stage.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Asking Alexandria and Trivium will warm things up on the main stage beginning at 6:30 p.m.</p>
<p />
<p>MAIN STAGE 9:45-11 p.m. Avenged Sevenfold 8:15-9:15 p.m. Korn 7:15-7:50 p.m. Asking Alexandria 6:30-7 p.m. Trivium</p>
<p>COLDCOCK AMERICAN HERBAL WHISKEY STAGE 5:45-6:20 p.m. Cannibal Corpse 4:50-5:20 p.m. Suicide Silence 3:55-4:25 p.m. Miss May I 3:05-3:30 p.m. Mushroomhead 2:15-2:40 p.m. Texas Hippie Coalition 1:25-1:50 p.m. King 810</p>
<p>HEADBANG FOR THE HIGHWAY/SUMERIAN STAGE 5:20-5:45 p.m. Body Count, Featuring Ice T 3:30-3:55 p.m. Upon A Burning Body 2:40-3:05 p.m. Veil of Maya 1:50-2:15 p.m. Darkest Hour 1:05-1:25 p.m. Headbang For The Highway Local Winner</p>
<p>VICTORY RECORDS STAGE 4:25-4:50 p.m. Emmure 3:30-3:55 p.m. Ill Niño 2:40-3:05 p.m. Wretched 1:50-2:10 p.m. Islander 1:05-1:25 p.m. Erimha</p>
<p>Asking Alexandria from North Yorkshire, England, is new to the Mayhem main stage.</p>
<p>The band represents “everything exciting and altogether invigorating about the hardest hitting rock ‘n’ roll, both past and present,” according to the Mayhem Festival website.</p>
<p>There will be four stages rotating throughout the festival: Victory Records Stage, Headbang For The Highway/Sumerian Stage, Coldcock American Herbal Whiskey Stage and Rockstar Energy Drink Main Stage.</p>
<p>The music begins with Montreal’s Erimha taking the Victory Records Stage at 1:05 p.m.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The death-metal band bases its “haunting, melodic, merciless and operatic sound” on ancient mythology and spirituality, according to the Mayhem Festival website.</p>
<p>The festival goes nonstop from there with Islander, Wretched, Emmure, Darkest Hour, Veil of Maya and Upon a Burning Body taking two different stages.</p>
<p>Emmure, which hails from Queens, N.Y., has risen to the top of the metal scene and has “channeled their collective angst into their music to create a propulsive blend of unabashed aggression,” according to the website.</p>
<p>The Coldcock stage will keep the rockfest going with King 810, Texas Hippie Coalition, Mushroomhead, Miss May I, Suicide Silence and Cannibal Corpse.</p>
<p>Tampa, Fla.’s Cannibal Corpse has been making death metal for 24 years.</p>
<p>The band proves that when it comes to “combining unrestrained maliciousness, involving song writing and technical precision they still have no equal,” according to the website.</p>
<p>For more information on all things Mayhem, visit <a href="http://rockstarmayhemfest.com" type="external">rockstarmayhemfest.com</a>.</p>
<p /> | Headbanger bash: Channel your angst at the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival | false | https://abqjournal.com/427451/albuquerque-metal-fest.html | 2 |
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<p>Every week, Truthdig recognizes an individual or group of people who spoke truth to power, blew the whistle or stood up in the face of injustice. You can see past winners <a href="" type="internal">here</a>, and make your own nomination for our next awardee <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p>On June 17, Mike Lofgren retired after 28 years as a <a href="http://www.legistorm.com/person/Michael_S_Lofgren/7777.html" type="external">congressional staff member</a>. He worked for 16 of those years with Republicans on the House and Senate budget committees, but until this week, few people knew who he was. He would likely tell you that’s because he’s not a “lunatic” or a “crackpot” like so many Republicans who make up the “vital center” of the GOP today. But we now know who Lofgren is, and he’s our Truthdigger of the Week.</p>
<p>On Saturday, Truthout published a lengthy op-ed by Lofgren that received a surprising amount of attention, “ <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779" type="external">Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult</a>.” While not his <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-lofgren-budget-republicans-20110626,0,7490630.story" type="external">first article</a> to blast politicians for their utterly unproductive antics lately, the piece is refreshingly honest, engaging and downright sensible — characteristics that he would agree are difficult to find in today’s Republican politicians.</p>
<p>Lofgren accuses the Republican Party of practicing “political terrorism,” especially during the debt-ceiling crisis.</p>
<p />
<p>“Everyone knows that in a hostage situation, the reckless and amoral actor has the negotiating upper hand over the cautious and responsible actor because the latter is actually concerned about the life of the hostage, while the former does not care,” he wrote.</p>
<p>In nominating Lofgren, Truthdig reader Lucius said the article “is the best, hands down, evisceration of the Republican Party (and their Democratic enablers) yet published.” But Lofgren doesn’t simply “eviscerate” his own GOP. He draws the curtain wide, allowing us to see exactly why it is that the American people need to stay involved in the political process. Lofgren shows us, as Truthdig reader Carmen said, that “this is a big (Herculean) task. Let’s get on with it.”</p>
<p /> | Truthdigger of the Week: Mike Lofgren | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/truthdigger-of-the-week-mike-lofgren/ | 2011-09-09 | 4 |
<p>The Iraq War may be “over,” but the unfinished business from years of American occupation still lingers. And a particularly grim chapter from that time, reaching all the way back to 2005, was revisited Monday in the trial of Sgt. Frank Wuterich, who entered a guilty plea on dereliction of duty in association with the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha.</p>
<p>Some readers may recall that 400 pages worth of classified details from military interrogations about the Haditha massacre <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/world/middleeast/united-states-marines-haditha-interviews-found-in-iraq-junkyard.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">turned up</a> in a junkyard outside Baghdad late last year. Wuterich was the last of eight Marines implicated in the case to face charges, and his sentence is expected to be handed down Tuesday. –KA</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>Sgt Frank Wuterich was one of eight Marines originally charged with murder or failure to investigate the killings.</p>
<p />
<p>The charges against six of them were dropped or dismissed, and one was acquitted.</p>
<p>Sgt Wuterich reached a plea deal to bring an end to the most notorious case against US troops from the Iraq war.</p>
<p>He faces a maximum of three months confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a rank demotion to private.</p>
<p>Before the plea, he faced several counts of manslaughter.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16690300" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Marine Pleads Guilty in Haditha Massacre Case | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/marine-pleads-guilty-in-haditha-massacre-case/ | 2012-01-24 | 4 |
<p>First Baptist Church of Washington (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p>Members of the congregation of D.C.’s First Baptist Church on 16th Street, N.W., near Dupont Circle, are scheduled to vote on Feb. 7 on whether the church should perform same-sex marriages, according to a recent announcement in the church’s bulletin.</p>
<p>The vote on what some say could be a contentious question will take place about one month after a forum on the issue of same-sex marriage is expected to be held at the church.</p>
<p>“During a Church Forum on a January Sunday after church, to be scheduled, two leading national Christian voices on both sides of the question will present and explain the positions, with emphasis on their scriptural foundations,” the church bulletin says.</p>
<p>“As part of this January forum, members are encouraged to ask questions of the authorities and among themselves as well as to share their views with one another,” it says.</p>
<p>Rev. Deborah Cochran, the church’s acting pastor, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. D.C. LGBT rights advocate and blogger John Boushka, who has been a longtime member of First Baptist Church, said the church has a long history of having both liberal and conservative members play an active role in church affairs.</p>
<p>He said the liberal-conservative split has sometimes resulted in strong disagreements over church policy, with the congregation usually tilting toward progressive positions on civil rights issues in general.</p>
<p>“In early 2015 on several dates, members of the congregation gathered in voluntary, facilitated circle groups in light of Interim Preaching Minister Stan Hastey’s call in his August 20145 sermon to discuss the question of ‘full inclusion’ of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender persons in the church,” the church bulletin says.</p>
<p>“In recent years, First Baptist has officially described itself as ‘welcoming’ but not as ‘affirming,’” on LGBT people, the bulletin says.</p>
<p>The bulletin says a decision to hold a vote on whether the church should perform same-sex marriages was prompted by the June 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing civil same-sex marriage throughout the country.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Deborah Cochran</a> <a href="" type="internal">First Baptist Church</a> <a href="" type="internal">gay marriage</a> <a href="" type="internal">John Boushka</a> <a href="" type="internal">LGBT</a> <a href="" type="internal">marriage equality</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a> <a href="" type="internal">Sgtan Hastey</a></p> | D.C. Baptist church to vote on marriage in February | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2015/11/05/d-c-baptist-church-to-vote-on-marriage-in-february/ | 3 |
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<p>Ryan Cangiolosi, 41, has worked for the Governor’s Office since she was elected in 2010. He previously worked as Martinez’s election campaign manager.</p>
<p>Cangiolosi will become executive projects director for UNM’s Health Sciences Center, a newly created position intended to oversee organizational development projects for the wing of the university directing the hospital, medical research and health professional education programs.</p>
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<p>Cangiolosi said he hopes the new position will allow him to spend more time with his teenage daughter, in part by ending the commute between Santa Fe and his Albuquerque home.</p>
<p>“While I look forward to starting this new journey with the University of New Mexico, my alma mater, I will always treasure the time working for you and I look forward to continuing to serve New Mexicans in this new capacity,” Cangiolosi said in a letter of resignation to Martinez.</p>
<p>Cangiolosi will continue to work for the Governor’s Office until his Nov. 19 start date at UNM, Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said Friday. Martinez thanked Cangiolosi for his service.</p>
<p>Ava Lovell, the Health Sciences Center controller, said Cangiolosi was hired because of his business background and not because of his work with the governor.</p>
<p>“This is not a lobbying job,” Lovell said.</p>
<p>Lovell said Cangiolosi was one of 19 applicants for the job while the opening was publicly posted.</p>
<p>Cangiolosi will get a raise with the UNM position, earning $125,000 per year instead of the $115,000 he now earns working for Martinez, according to state records.</p>
<p>Cangiolosi drew criticism earlier this year, along with Chief of Staff Keith Gardner and other administration staff, for using personal email accounts to conduct government business. Martinez later mandated that all government work be done using state email accounts, which are subject to open records requests. — This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Aide To Gov. Steps Down For UNM Job | false | https://abqjournal.com/145242/aide-to-gov-steps-down-for-unm-job.html | 2012-11-10 | 2 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The smattering of fans that dotted the stands at University Stadium Saturday night saw a far different New Mexico team than the one that stumbled winless through its first six games.</p>
<p />
<p>Yet, in the end, both fans and Lobos left the premises with that all-too familiar feeling.</p>
<p>The Lobos, squandering a solid defensive effort by giving up two back-breaking, Ryan Lindley-to-DeMarco Sampson touchdown passes, fell 30-20 to San Diego State in a Mountain West Conference football game.</p>
<p>An 18-yard Brad Gruner-to-Lucas Reed touchdown pass with 14 seconds left in the game made the final score more than respectable. Yet, New Mexico is 0-7 on the season, 0-3 in MWC play. San Diego State is 5-2 and 2-1.</p>
<p>The crowd was announced at 16,488, though the east and north end-zone stands were virtually empty.</p>
<p>The game marked the return to University Stadium of former Lobos head coach Rocky Long, now SDSU’s defensive coordinator. The Lobos managed 308 yards total offense against his 3-3-5, blitzing defense.</p>
<p>The Aztecs lost star freshman running back Ronnie Hillman to an injury early in the third quarter.</p>
<p>Lobos quarterback B.R. Holbrook, who had missed the team’s previous four games after undergoing knee surgery, took a big hit and limped off the field with 7:42 left in the game.</p>
<p>The Lobos trailed by just a touchdown, 20-13, after a nine-play, 80-yard scoring drive midway through the third quarter. Oft-forgotten junior running back James Wright had runs of 15 and 13 yards on the drive before Holbrook finished it with a 25-yard pass to tight end Lucas Reed.</p>
<p>That small sliver of prosperity, however, was more than the Lobos could stand. The Aztecs responded by zipping 63 yards in six plays. Lindley found Sampson uncovered for a 32-yard touchdown.</p>
<p>Lindley finished with 249 yards passing on 18 completions in 37 attempts, with two touchdowns and one interception. Before his exit, Holbrook was 11-of-27 for 124 yards and a touchdown with one interception.</p>
<p>Wright rushed for 61 yards on 11 carries to lead the Lobos on the ground. Brandon Sullivan, ably filling in for Hillman, led SDSU with 69 yards on 18 carries.</p>
<p>San Diego State led at halftime, 17-6, after the Sampson outleaped two Lobo defenders to catch a 40-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the second quarter.</p>
<p>After UNM forced an SDSU punt from the New Mexico 40, the Lobos took over at their own 20 with 41 seconds left in the half. But the Lobos could neither get a first down nor run out the clock, and Ben Skaer’s shanked punt carried just 11 yards.</p>
<p>Lindley then lofted a pass into the end zone, and the 6-foot-2 Sampson easily won the jump ball.</p>
<p>The Lobos grabbed an early lead when the Aztecs’ Larry Parker muffed a Skaer punt. New Mexico deep snapper Evan Jacobsen recovered at the SDSU 30, and James Aho kicked a 46-yard field goal with 13:04 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>The Aztecs responded with a 10-play, 64-yard drive, finished by Hillman’s 11-yard touchdown run with 8:23 left in the first quarter.</p>
<p>San Diego State extended its lead to 10-3 with a 36-yard Abel Perez field goal eight seconds into the second quarter. But the Lobos, aided by two 15-yard Aztecs penalties, responded with a 25-yard Aho field goal at 10:50.</p>
<p>Hillman, the nation’s seventh-leading rusher entering the game, had 62 yards at halftime but worked hard to get them against the Lobo defense. Averaging 6.7 yards per carry coming in, he was held to a 3.6 average in the first two quarters.</p>
<p>Anthony Hooks’ late-second quarter interception of a Lindley pass halted a promising Aztecs drive and, before Sampson’s late, late TD, promised to send UNM to the locker room down by just one score.</p>
<p>The New Mexico offense, meanwhile, wasn’t getting the hoped-for boost from the presence of Holbrook. The sophomore quarterback, returning from knee surgery after missing four games, was 4-of-14 for 42 yards at halftime.</p>
<p>The Lobos couldn’t move the ball on the ground, either, and finished the first half with just 90 yards total offense.</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Lobos Improved But Still Winless | false | https://abqjournal.com/232947/lobos-improved-but-still-winless.html | 2 |
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<p>CNN’s Jake Tapper has been leading the call for Fox News to apologize and this morning they <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/watch-fox-news-contributor-apologizes-for-mocking-8-year-old-boy-with-autism-as-a-snowflake/" type="external">finally did</a>. You can see Tammy Bruce’s original remarks in the second clip below.</p>
<p>Fox News contributor Tammy Bruce on Tuesday issued a formal apology for mocking an 8-year-old autistic child by calling him a “snowflake.” “I am so sorry to the family,” Bruce began. “My intention was never to hurt a kid and his mom. We had absolutely no idea Michael was on the autism spectrum, and as a gay woman and feminist, I’ve spent most of my adult life working to improve the lives of woman and children, and those who are disenfranchised.”</p>
<p>Bruce also pledged in the future to stop attacking children for political purposes, regardless of whether or not they have autism. Bruce first criticized the autistic boy after he approached Vice President Mike Pence and demanded an apology after Pence accidentally hit him in the face. At the time, Bruce mocked the boy because video seemed to show that Pence had barely made physical contact with him while he was attending an event at the White House.</p>
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<p /> | Homocon Fox Contributor Tammy Bruce Apologizes For Mocking Autistic Boy As A “Snowflake” [VIDEO] | true | http://joemygod.com/2017/05/16/homocon-fox-contributor-tammy-bruce-apologizes-mocking-autistic-boy-snowflake-video/ | 2017-05-16 | 4 |
<p>HOUSTON — Bolstered by a ferocious defense, a resolute effort from the offensive line, and a strong debut by rookie running back <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Leonard-Fournette/" type="external">Leonard Fournette</a>, quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Blake-Bortles/" type="external">Blake Bortles</a> effectively managed the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jacksonville-Jaguars/" type="external">Jacksonville Jaguars</a>‘ 29-7 victory over the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Houston-Texans/" type="external">Houston Texans</a> on Sunday at NRG Stadium.</p>
<p>Bortles, on shaky ground as the incumbent under center, passed for 125 yards and a touchdown while avoiding the critical mistakes that have undermined his development.</p>
<p>Fournette, meanwhile, rushed for 100 yards including a 1-yard touchdown in the second quarter, and displayed the bruising running style that made him a coveted prospect out of LSU.</p>
<p>Still, the Jaguars (1-0) snapped their six-game series losing skid to the Texans (1-0) with a dominating defensive performance. Jacksonville sacked Texans quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Tom-Savage/" type="external">Tom Savage</a> six times in the first half while limiting Houston to just 52 yards on 28 plays prior to intermission. One sack, by defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, resulted in a Savage fumble that Dante Fowler Jr. returned 53 yards for a touchdown and a 19-0 lead with 49 seconds remaining in the first half.</p>
<p>Savage was so effectively bludgeoned, completing 7 of 13 attempts for 62 yards, that Texans head coach <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Bill-OBrien/" type="external">Bill O’Brien</a> switched quarterbacks at halftime, selecting rookie <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Deshaun-Watson/" type="external">Deshaun Watson</a> to start the third quarter. The first-round pick out of Clemson provided a temporary spark during his first series, engineering a 14-play, 75-yard scoring drive culminating in his 4-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/DeAndre-Hopkins/" type="external">DeAndre Hopkins</a>. Watson completed 5 of 8 passes for 37 yards on the march.</p>
<p>But Bortles and the Jaguars responded with a 10-play, 75-yard march, with Bortles finding fullback Tommy Bohanon for a 1-yard pass and a 26-7 lead. Bortles was not sacked once.</p>
<p>Watson finished 12 for 23 for 102 yards with an interception. Jacksonville totaled 10 sacks.</p>
<p>NOTES: Jaguars rookie WR <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dede-Westbrook/" type="external">Dede Westbrook</a> was placed on injured reserve on Friday with eligibility to return after eight weeks. Westbrook, a fourth-round pick out of Oklahoma, was hampered by a core muscle injury, but played in the preseason finale against Atlanta. … Texans LT <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chris_Clark/" type="external">Chris Clark</a> replaced starter Kendall Lamm late in the first half. Texans three-time Pro Bowl LT Duane Brown is holding out. Texans LG Xavier Su’a-Filo was replaced by Greg Mancz to start the second half, but returned alongside Lamm later in the third quarter. … The Texans lost LB <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Brian-Cushing/" type="external">Brian Cushing</a>, WR Bruce Ellington and TEs <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/CJ-Fiedorowicz/" type="external">C.J. Fiedorowicz</a> and Ryan Griffin to concussions. … Jaguars DE <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Calais-Campbell/" type="external">Calais Campbell</a> had 3.5 of the six first-half sacks of Texans QB Tom Savage.</p> | Jacksonville Jaguars: Blake Bortles, Leonard Fournette key in blasting of Houston Texans | false | https://newsline.com/jacksonville-jaguars-blake-bortles-leonard-fournette-key-in-blasting-of-houston-texans/ | 2017-09-10 | 1 |
<p>As the humanitarian crises loom in Lebanon, the world watches with dismay a second Qana massacre perpetrated by Israel’s air force, killing sixty civilians, mainly women and children, millions must be asking where the United Nations is. How long can the Security Council be stymied, and whether the US is an honest broker or co-belligerent.</p>
<p>Since the establishment of the UN, the US has used its veto no less than forty times to shield Israel from the international scrutiny and to enable it to violate international norms and to commit war crimes with impunity. The latest such obstruction of the international will occurred only two and a half weeks ago (July 13), when the US blocked a resolution that would have demanded Israel cease its onslaught against Gaza, the first Security Council veto in twenty one months. Not uncharacteristically, ten members voted in favor, while the US was alone voting against, with four abstentions. As a further sign of US isolation in the UN, eight of the last nine vetoes protecting Israel have been cast by the U.S. Remarkably, this is the first time in UN history that a call for a ceasefire is opposed so blatantly.</p>
<p>With pressure from the world community mounting for an immediate cessation of hostilities, the US and the Blair government are standing alone against the continuous killing of civilians despite Qana II and despite the description of Israel’s atrocities by Louise Arbour, the top UN ‘s human rights official, who served as the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, as qualifying for war crimes under International criminal law and under International humanitarian law.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Condoleezza Rice continues to excuse her opposition to a halt of civilian killings by repeating a pathetic phrase: We seek a “sustainable cease-fire,” as if a cease fire is the end of a negotiating process rather than the beginning and the necessary condition. Even more disingenuously, President Bush does the same thing by repeating an inane goal of getting to the “root cause,” forgetting that his understanding of relevant history goes back to less than five years.</p>
<p>Should the Security Council acquiesce in this complicity, it will have forfeited its raison d’etre, i.e., responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, and will have also rendered the office of the Secretary-General a virtual agency among the layers of the US foreign policy bureaucracy. Kofi Anan, who waited until July 21st to call for an immediate ceasefire, has no option now but to make good on his request, despite the opposition of the US pro-Israel lobby and its neo-conservative operatives, whose man at the UN is acting as a second ambassador from Israel, a fact which has dealt a severe blow to the humanitarian image of the UN system. Expressing his contempt for the United Nations, John Bolton had this to say about the United Nations in the year 2000 “”If I were doing the Security Council today, I’d have one permanent member [the United States] because that’s the real reflection of the distribution of power in the world.”</p>
<p>Now, that he is “doing the Security Council, a probable veto by him should not discourage the peace loving countries of the world from pursuing one of the very urgent global priorities–protecting UN personnel and facilities, and protecting defenseless civilians in time of conflict and under foreign military occupation.</p>
<p>Nor will that be an exercise in futility on the part of the Security Council. Under the Uniting for Peace resolution of 1951, the General Assembly could convene to discharge the Council’s responsibility when unanimity among the veto-wielding members of the Council could not be obtained. In such a circumstance, the US, which would be likely to vote with Israel, the Marshal Islands and Micronesia would be totally isolated with a an agonizing choice to make: will it be part of the solution or will it continue to be part of the problem? But it will not have it both ways: calling for implementation of resolution 1559, while aiding and abetting Israel’s violation of 242 and 338 for 39 years; calling for Israel’s right to self-defense, while denying it to Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, including the right of millions of refugees to return home; calling for democracy in Lebanon and Palestine but enabling Israel to wage war against the winners of democratic elections even as it reconfirms its protection of fraudulent Arab regimes from their own people. The UN Charter is being effectively put to the test. It will either be a catalyst of peace in the Middle East, or a witness to the “birth pangs of a new Middle East,” as the US Secretary of State has crudely put it. It will either be upheld and implemented, or it will be consigned to the dustbin of history.</p>
<p>NASEER ARURI is Chancellor Professor (Emeritus) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. His latest book is <a href="" type="internal">Dishonest Broker: the US Roles in Israel and Palestine</a>, Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2003</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | UN Approaches the Dustbin of History | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/08/02/un-approaches-the-dustbin-of-history/ | 2006-08-02 | 4 |
<p>Apple, Google and Facebook are just a few major players in the tech industry that have <a href="https://dreamers.fwd.us/business-leaders" type="external">signed a letter</a>&#160;urging President Donald Trump to continue the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.</p>
<p>But Trump has moved&#160;ahead with his plan to end DACA, and Silicon Valley is considering what its next steps should be.</p>
<p>“The tech industry has been very active on immigration,” says Tony Romm, politics and policy editor at tech news site <a href="https://www.recode.net/" type="external">Recode</a>. “And it sounded off in staunch opposition to the president's announcement earlier today.”</p>
<p>Related:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">DACA recipients won’t go back into the shadows quietly</a></p>
<p>Microsoft <a href="https://www.recode.net/2017/9/5/16255490/microsoft-satya-nadella-offered-aid-employee-worker-trump-daca-dreamer-deport" type="external">denounced</a> the president’s decision and said it would support employees who may be affected in any way it can, including paying for legal counsel.</p>
<p>Other companies have made similar statements&#160;and called on Congress to make replacing DACA a legislative priority.</p>
<p>But whether tech companies’ lobbying efforts will have an effect is “another matter entirely,” Romm said.</p>
<p>The industry relies heavily on highly skilled engineers, often from outside the US, and has been lobbying the government for policies that would help the hiring process for many years.</p>
<p>But not much has changed — “partisan divisions [in Congress] have prevented any sort of progress on immigration,” said Romm.</p>
<p>And despite tech companies’ efforts to engage with President Trump, Romm said, “few companies have really been able to shift this president's thinking on policy matters.”</p>
<p>You can hear The World's full interview with Recode's Tony Romm above.</p> | Silicon Valley takes a stand against President Trump's DACA decision | false | https://pri.org/stories/2017-09-05/silicon-valley-takes-stand-against-president-trumps-daca-decision | 2017-09-05 | 3 |
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<p>POLITICAL PARTY: Democratic</p>
<p>RESIDENCE: Bernalillo</p>
<p>AGE: 54 <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>EDUCATION: Graduate of Bernalillo High School, 1979; Certification from National Center of Construction Education as an Infrastructure Master Trainer.</p>
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<p>OCCUPATION: Retired from 27 years at PNM. Worked as manager and field supervisor.</p>
<p>FAMILY: Two children.</p>
<p>POLITICAL/GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE: Worked as a consultant for water infrastructure for the Town of Bernalillo; Member of Sandoval County Treasurer’s Investment Committee.</p>
<p>MAJOR PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Saving the Town of Bernalillo over $35,000 in costs while working as a water infrastructure consultant for the town.</p>
<p>MAJOR PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT: Raising my children and seeing that they were able to Obtain college degrees.</p>
<p>1. How should the county support the economic development efforts of the new Sandoval Economic Alliance to bring jobs to Sandoval County?</p>
<p>The county should be proactive assisting existing and new companies in governmental permitting activities, while still maintaining existing zoning and other requirements. County officials should be accessible to business leaders and meet regularly with them.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>2. How should the county help mitigate the controversy over the free-roaming horses in Placitas?</p>
<p>The county should continue to provide guidance and a framework for the groups and agencies to work within. Jurisdiction lies with state and federal agencies, but the county should maintain its involvement.</p>
<p>3. What further steps should the county take to improve the return on its investment portfolio?</p>
<p>As a member of the Sandoval County Treasurer’s Investment Committee, I will continue to support safe investments, adhering to NMSA 6-10-10. Safety and liquidity are priorities and then we should focus on yield.</p>
<p>4. What differentiates you from your opponent?</p>
<p>I have business experience in small and large companies. I have worked as a consultant to Bernalillo. I understand how business and government work and can use that knowledge to help the county prosper.</p>
<p>5. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens?</p>
<p>To the best of my knowledge, no company that I have ever worked for, nor my family ranch, has ever been the subject of any state of federal tax liens.</p>
<p>6. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding?</p>
<p>I have never been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding.</p>
<p>7. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state?</p>
<p>I have never been arrested, charged or convicted of any misdemeanor, felony or drunken driving.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Sandoval County Commission, District 1, (D) — R. James Dominguez | false | https://abqjournal.com/475435/sandoval-county-commission-district-1-d-r-james-dominguez.html | 2 |
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<p>MADRID (AP) — As far as Zinedine Zidane is concerned, things are not as bad as they look for Real Madrid.</p>
<p>Zidane downplayed Madrid’s recent setbacks, blaming critics for exaggerating the team’s struggles and wanting to create turmoil at the club.</p>
<p>“I’m tired of hearing that Madrid is struggling,” Zidane said on Friday. “It’s easy to say that everything is wrong, but it’s not all bad here. It’s pretty to talk negatively about Real Madrid, it sells more.”</p>
<p>Madrid has been under increased pressure since it lost to Barcelona 3-0 at home in its last game of 2017. It started the year by defeating second-division club Numancia 3-0 in the Copa del Rey, but then was held by Celta Vigo to 2-2 in the Spanish league and couldn’t manage more than another 2-2 against Numancia in the return leg of the Copa at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.</p>
<p>“We can’t listen to what is being said,” Zidane said. “Everything that is said about Real Madrid is negative, but in reality things are not like that. I don’t see it like that. The situation is what it is, and we have to try to make the most out of it. We are still alive in all competitions and we have to keep moving forward. We are not doing as bad as people say.”</p>
<p>Madrid is in the knockout stages of the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, but it already trails Barcelona by 16 points with a game in hand near the halfway point of the Spanish league. It has never been able to overcome this big of a gap and win La Liga.</p>
<p>Madrid will face Leganes in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey next week, and next month it will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League, a competition it has won the last two seasons.</p>
<p>Its next league game is on Saturday against sixth-place Villarreal.</p>
<p>“We have to show on the field that we are improving,” Zidane said. “We will do that by winning matches. That’s what’s important, and recently it has been difficult to win matches.”</p>
<p>Zidane, who this week confirmed he has renewed his contract with Madrid until 2020, said he was not worried about the team being jeered by fans at the Bernabeu, but made a plea for their support.</p>
<p>“What I ask is that they support the team, like they have always done,” Zidane said. “I’d tell them not to listen too much to what is being said. In difficult moments we need the fans to be on our side.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP Spanish soccer coverage: <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/LaLiga</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Tales Azzoni on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external">http://twitter.com/tazzoni</a></p>
<p>MADRID (AP) — As far as Zinedine Zidane is concerned, things are not as bad as they look for Real Madrid.</p>
<p>Zidane downplayed Madrid’s recent setbacks, blaming critics for exaggerating the team’s struggles and wanting to create turmoil at the club.</p>
<p>“I’m tired of hearing that Madrid is struggling,” Zidane said on Friday. “It’s easy to say that everything is wrong, but it’s not all bad here. It’s pretty to talk negatively about Real Madrid, it sells more.”</p>
<p>Madrid has been under increased pressure since it lost to Barcelona 3-0 at home in its last game of 2017. It started the year by defeating second-division club Numancia 3-0 in the Copa del Rey, but then was held by Celta Vigo to 2-2 in the Spanish league and couldn’t manage more than another 2-2 against Numancia in the return leg of the Copa at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.</p>
<p>“We can’t listen to what is being said,” Zidane said. “Everything that is said about Real Madrid is negative, but in reality things are not like that. I don’t see it like that. The situation is what it is, and we have to try to make the most out of it. We are still alive in all competitions and we have to keep moving forward. We are not doing as bad as people say.”</p>
<p>Madrid is in the knockout stages of the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, but it already trails Barcelona by 16 points with a game in hand near the halfway point of the Spanish league. It has never been able to overcome this big of a gap and win La Liga.</p>
<p>Madrid will face Leganes in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey next week, and next month it will take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League, a competition it has won the last two seasons.</p>
<p>Its next league game is on Saturday against sixth-place Villarreal.</p>
<p>“We have to show on the field that we are improving,” Zidane said. “We will do that by winning matches. That’s what’s important, and recently it has been difficult to win matches.”</p>
<p>Zidane, who this week confirmed he has renewed his contract with Madrid until 2020, said he was not worried about the team being jeered by fans at the Bernabeu, but made a plea for their support.</p>
<p>“What I ask is that they support the team, like they have always done,” Zidane said. “I’d tell them not to listen too much to what is being said. In difficult moments we need the fans to be on our side.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP Spanish soccer coverage: <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/LaLiga</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Tales Azzoni on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/tazzoni" type="external">http://twitter.com/tazzoni</a></p> | Zidane says it’s not as bad as it looks for Real Madrid | false | https://apnews.com/084486cb5e7c4682bf69106c66c625ac | 2018-01-12 | 2 |
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<p>Before this year, there were no IRS-enforced standards governing the tax preparation industry. Almost anyone could prepare a tax return for compensation without any educational or other requirements. But that all changed this year. Now, all tax preparers are required to register with the Internal Revenue Service and obtain a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) that must be listed with their signatures on any tax returns they prepare for compensation. In addition, starting in 2013, all tax preparers must pass a tax exam and obtain 15 hours of continuing education every year.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A number of federal and criminal statutes have been in place that impose fines on tax preparers for certain transgressions, such as tax fraud, identity theft or disclosing a client’s confidential information without authorization. So in a sense, there is some regulation in the industry, but they are after the fact.</p>
<p>Now, the IRS wants to qualify preparers from the start in order to minimize consumers’ risk. Aside from successful passing of the exam and the continuing education requirements, it will fingerprint and perform background checks on every tax preparer candidate. Those declined due to prior convictions will have the right to due process and appeal.</p>
<p>Some states do regulate the tax industry. For example, in Oregon and California, all compensated tax preparers must register with the state and fulfill continuing education requirements every year.</p>
<p>Enrolled agents, certified public accountants and tax attorneys are already required to be licensed. They must pass an exam and fulfill annual continuing education requirements. Not all preparers are happy with the new regulations, particularly those who offer low-cost preparation or work part-time. They claim the new exam fees and registration costs will drive them out of business.</p>
<p>Registration for a PTIN is $63, and the annual exam fee is expected to be around $125. Currently, the fee for the exam for enrolled agents (a one-time, multi-part exam) is $315. The IRS currently offers webinars and other continuing education classes at no or low cost through their Tax Practitioner Institute and National Forums.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The Institute of Justice is filing a lawsuit against the IRS claiming the regulations exceed its authority. The institute contends that the licensing unfairly targets independent tax return preparers, and will hurt—or even close—their businesses, and are an unconstitutional infringement on their economic liberties.</p>
<p>“Practice” before the IRS was originally meant to denote the professional practice of attorneys and CPAs in representing taxpayers in proceedings before the IRS—such as arguing their client’s case in a hearing before an IRS Appeals Officer—not simply preparing and filing a tax return,” the institute says in a statement.</p>
<p>According to Dan Alban, the attorney leading this lawsuit, some of the mega tax preparers requested an exemption from the licensing requirement.</p>
<p>While economic liberty and keeping government from overstepping its bounds are important issues so is continuing education for tax preparers. After all, tax law changes on a daily basis.</p>
<p><a href="http://mailto:[email protected]" type="external">Bonnie Lee Opens a New Window.</a> is an Enrolled Agent admitted to practice and representing taxpayers in all fifty states at all levels within the <a href="" type="internal">Internal Revenue Service</a>. She is the owner of Taxpertise in Sonoma, CA and the author of Entrepreneur Press book, “Taxpertise, The Complete Book of Dirty Little Secrets and Hidden Deductions for Small Business that the IRS Doesn't Want You to Know.” Follow Bonnie Lee on <a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a> at BLTaxpertise and at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/taxpertise.bonnielee." type="external">Facebook Opens a New Window.</a>.&#160;</p> | New Requirements for Tax Preparers | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/03/15/new-requirements-for-tax-preparers.html | 2017-02-08 | 0 |
<p>The Canadian economy shrank in August, the first monthly decline since October of last year, on a slump in manufacturing and lower energy production.</p>
<p>The surprise result underscores the belief that the economy slowed markedly after a remarkable performance in the first half of the year, and could keep the Bank of Canada on hold with rate policy for the immediate future.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The level of Canada's gross domestic product, or the broadest measure of goods and services produced in an economy, fell in August 0.1% to 1.74 trillion Canadian dollars ($1.36 trillion), Statistics Canada said Tuesday. Market expectations were for GDP growth of 0.1%, according to economists at Royal Bank of Canada.</p>
<p>On a one-year basis, Canadian economic output climbed by a respectable 3.5%.</p>
<p>Write to Paul Vieira at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 31, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)</p> | Canada GDP Falls 0.1% in August | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/31/canada-gdp-falls-0-1-in-august.html | 2017-10-31 | 0 |
<p>DALLAS (ABP) — Faith communities in the United States both serve and benefit from immigrants, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter said July 10 in a conference at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.</p>
<p>“Immigrants have brought renewal to the church and the moral character of our country, and they offer vitality to our culture,” Paynter said in the closing session of the half-day summit titled What Immigrants Contribute: A Special Event on Immigration, Texas and Economic Growth.</p>
<p>Paynter was the lone faith leader invited to sit on one of three panels analyzing how immigrants grow the economy, benefits of naturalization and the various ways that immigrants serve the United States.</p>
<p />
<p>Others included Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Stephen Moore a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board; University of Southern California professor Manuel Pastor; and Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum.</p>
<p>Paynter, who worked previously as head of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, said she became interested in immigration issues because of the large number of Hispanic churches within the Baptist General Convention of Texas.</p>
<p>“We have over 1,200 Hispanic Baptist congregations in Texas,” she said. "The beautiful nature of the Kingdom of God even here in this one state is diverse.”</p>
<p>Paynter said churches help government and others from the private sector by providing immigrants with services like teaching English as a second language and counseling in getting a green card.</p>
<p>“If you go by Hispanic churches in your town on Saturday morning, you’ll see lines of people waiting outside so they can have their accreditation status evaluated,” Paynter said.</p>
<p>The day opened with remarks by Former President Bush at a naturalization ceremony for America’s newest citizens.</p>
<p>“We must remember that the vast majority of immigrants are decent people who work hard, and support their families, and practice their faith and lead responsible lives,” Bush said. “Some willingly defend the flag, including two about to take the oath here today.”</p>
<p>“At its core, immigration is a sign of a confident and successful nation,” he continued. “It says something about our country that people all around the world are willing to leave their homes and leave their families and risk everything to come to our country. Their talent and hard work and love of freedom have helped us become the leader of the world.”</p>
<p>Bush touched lightly on discussions occurring the same day in Washington, where House Republicans are being pressured to take up immigration reform.</p>
<p>“I don’t particularly want to be involved in the politics, or the specifics of policy, but I do hope there is a positive resolution to the debate,” he said. “And I hope during the debate that we keep a benevolent spirit in mind, and we understand the contributions immigrants make to our country.”</p>
<p>The conference was part of the Bush Institute’s 4% Growth Project, an initiative launched in 2011 aimed at solving the nation’s economic problems through sustained economic growth.</p>
<p>Bob Allen ( <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>) is managing editor of Associated Baptist Press.</p> | Churches have role to play, Suzii Paynter tells conference on immigration | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/churcheshaveroletoplaysuziipayntertellsconferenceonimmigration/ | 3 |
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<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-declares-mistrial-michael-slager-murder-trial/story?id=43980554" type="external">reports</a> that South Carolina Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said:&#160;“I don’t mean to downplay or understate my disappointment that together we weren’t able to reach a resolution.” Wilson also issued a
<a href="http://www.scsolicitor9.org/news/press-releases/News-Release-SLAGER-6.pdf" type="external">statement</a> following the decision: Slager’s defense attorney Andy Savage
<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/judge-declares-mistrial-michael-slager-murder-trial/story?id=43980554" type="external">told the jury</a>after the mistrial was announced: Walter Scott’s mother told ABC News’ TJ Holmes, “I don’t care what man say. I don’t care how it looks. It’s not over.” Share on
<a href="" type="internal">Facebook</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Twitter</a>
<a href="" type="internal">Email</a> | Mistrial in Michael Slager Murder Trial | false | http://thewhim.com/mistrial-michael-slager-murder-trial/ | 2016-12-05 | 2 |
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans hired Houston defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel as their new coach in a fast search that wrapped up after <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/titans-kick-coaching-search-interviewing-vrabel-wilks" type="external">three interviews and just five days</a> after firing Mike Mularkey.</p>
<p>The Titans announced Saturday they have agreed to terms with Vrabel. A news conference was scheduled for Monday.</p>
<p>Vrabel was the first person Tennessee interviewed after firing Mularkey on Monday. <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/titans-split-mularkey-after-1st-playoff-win-14-years" type="external">Mularkey, who also coached Buffalo and Jacksonville, went 21-22 and led the franchise to its first playoff victory in 14 years</a> . This will be Vrabel’s first head coaching job after 18 years in the NFL — 14 as a player and four as a coach.</p>
<p>Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement it was easy to see Vrabel’s commanding presence and relationship with general manager Jon Robinson. The GM got his start in the NFL as a scout with the New England Patriots, where Vrabel won three Super Bowls as a linebacker.</p>
<p>“Mike has a commanding presence and a deep understanding for how he will attack this head coaching opportunity,” Strunk said.</p>
<p>“Throughout his football career, he has played for, been mentored by and coached with successful teams and organizations. He knows what it takes to reach that level of sustained success — he has seen it firsthand. We have a chance to build on the solid foundation that we established over the past couple of years and I believe Mike is the right person to continue that progress.”</p>
<p>The Titans became the seventh NFL team to change coaches since the start of the season, and now they are the third to hire their replacement, joining Oakland and Chicago. The <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/ap-source-colts-closing-deal-hire-mcdaniels" type="external">Indianapolis Colts are closing in on Josh McDaniels</a> but can’t hire him until the Patriots’ season ends. <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/cardinals-pool-dwindles-search-goes-coach" type="external">Arizona</a> , Detroit and New York Giants have yet to hire new coaches.</p>
<p>Tennessee also interviewed Carolina defensive coordinator Steve Wilks — who satisfied the Rooney rule requiring teams to interview at least one minority candidate — and Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur.</p>
<p>In a statement, Vrabel thanked Strunk, Robinson and the Titans for putting their faith in him.</p>
<p>“We want to build a culture around winning, competitiveness and toughness,” Vrabel said. “Everything we do is going to be geared toward winning and being physical. We want to prepare our players so they know what to do, which will allow them to play fast and aggressive.”</p>
<p>The 42-year-old Vrabel is coming off his first season as defensive coordinator for the Texans. Vrabel’s 14-year career as a player included stints with Pittsburgh under coach Bill Cowher and New England under coach Bill Belichick, along with Kansas City. In 2011, he joined the staff at his alma mater, Ohio State, coaching linebackers and defensive linemen.</p>
<p>Vrabel went to Houston in 2014 and coached linebackers with the Texans for three seasons before becoming coordinator. The Texans won the AFC South in 2015 and 2016 thanks in part to strong defenses. The unit slipped this season amid injuries to players including <a href="" type="internal">J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus</a> .</p>
<p>This was the first head coaching search since Robinson was hired in January 2016, two days before the Titans took the interim tag off Mularkey. Robinson said in a statement he always has had a great deal of respect for Vrabel as a player and as a coach.</p>
<p>“He was the ultimate team-first player, and he embodies that same mindset as a coach,” Robinson said. “He is intelligent, energetic, detailed and a leader whose deep passion for this game will resonate with our players. As a coach, I have seen him develop talent at both the college and NFL level, and put players in position for them to be successful.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Teresa M. Walker at <a href="https://twitter.com/teresamwalker" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/teresamwalker" type="external">https://twitter.com/teresamwalker</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP NFL: <a href="https://pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="https://pro32.ap.org" type="external">https://pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">https://twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans hired Houston defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel as their new coach in a fast search that wrapped up after <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/titans-kick-coaching-search-interviewing-vrabel-wilks" type="external">three interviews and just five days</a> after firing Mike Mularkey.</p>
<p>The Titans announced Saturday they have agreed to terms with Vrabel. A news conference was scheduled for Monday.</p>
<p>Vrabel was the first person Tennessee interviewed after firing Mularkey on Monday. <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/titans-split-mularkey-after-1st-playoff-win-14-years" type="external">Mularkey, who also coached Buffalo and Jacksonville, went 21-22 and led the franchise to its first playoff victory in 14 years</a> . This will be Vrabel’s first head coaching job after 18 years in the NFL — 14 as a player and four as a coach.</p>
<p>Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk said in a statement it was easy to see Vrabel’s commanding presence and relationship with general manager Jon Robinson. The GM got his start in the NFL as a scout with the New England Patriots, where Vrabel won three Super Bowls as a linebacker.</p>
<p>“Mike has a commanding presence and a deep understanding for how he will attack this head coaching opportunity,” Strunk said.</p>
<p>“Throughout his football career, he has played for, been mentored by and coached with successful teams and organizations. He knows what it takes to reach that level of sustained success — he has seen it firsthand. We have a chance to build on the solid foundation that we established over the past couple of years and I believe Mike is the right person to continue that progress.”</p>
<p>The Titans became the seventh NFL team to change coaches since the start of the season, and now they are the third to hire their replacement, joining Oakland and Chicago. The <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/ap-source-colts-closing-deal-hire-mcdaniels" type="external">Indianapolis Colts are closing in on Josh McDaniels</a> but can’t hire him until the Patriots’ season ends. <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/cardinals-pool-dwindles-search-goes-coach" type="external">Arizona</a> , Detroit and New York Giants have yet to hire new coaches.</p>
<p>Tennessee also interviewed Carolina defensive coordinator Steve Wilks — who satisfied the Rooney rule requiring teams to interview at least one minority candidate — and Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur.</p>
<p>In a statement, Vrabel thanked Strunk, Robinson and the Titans for putting their faith in him.</p>
<p>“We want to build a culture around winning, competitiveness and toughness,” Vrabel said. “Everything we do is going to be geared toward winning and being physical. We want to prepare our players so they know what to do, which will allow them to play fast and aggressive.”</p>
<p>The 42-year-old Vrabel is coming off his first season as defensive coordinator for the Texans. Vrabel’s 14-year career as a player included stints with Pittsburgh under coach Bill Cowher and New England under coach Bill Belichick, along with Kansas City. In 2011, he joined the staff at his alma mater, Ohio State, coaching linebackers and defensive linemen.</p>
<p>Vrabel went to Houston in 2014 and coached linebackers with the Texans for three seasons before becoming coordinator. The Texans won the AFC South in 2015 and 2016 thanks in part to strong defenses. The unit slipped this season amid injuries to players including <a href="" type="internal">J.J. Watt and Whitney Mercilus</a> .</p>
<p>This was the first head coaching search since Robinson was hired in January 2016, two days before the Titans took the interim tag off Mularkey. Robinson said in a statement he always has had a great deal of respect for Vrabel as a player and as a coach.</p>
<p>“He was the ultimate team-first player, and he embodies that same mindset as a coach,” Robinson said. “He is intelligent, energetic, detailed and a leader whose deep passion for this game will resonate with our players. As a coach, I have seen him develop talent at both the college and NFL level, and put players in position for them to be successful.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Teresa M. Walker at <a href="https://twitter.com/teresamwalker" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/teresamwalker" type="external">https://twitter.com/teresamwalker</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More AP NFL: <a href="https://pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="https://pro32.ap.org" type="external">https://pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">https://twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p> | Titans hire Mike Vrabel as new coach after quick search | false | https://apnews.com/90ebc69ee66b4fc9ae1bd7c4d52b3a4c | 2018-01-21 | 2 |
<p>HELENA, Mont. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Montana Lottery's "Montana Cash" game were:</p>
<p>05-08-14-16-32</p>
<p>(five, eight, fourteen, sixteen, thirty-two)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $350,000</p>
<p>HELENA, Mont. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening's drawing of the Montana Lottery's "Montana Cash" game were:</p>
<p>05-08-14-16-32</p>
<p>(five, eight, fourteen, sixteen, thirty-two)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $350,000</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Montana Cash' game | false | https://apnews.com/79058e252efc4461b0d1b2af32123fae | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>Another journalist has joined the ranks of those speaking out about Google squelching content it disapproves of. The tech giant has been fined by the European Union for monopolist practices, while the US government is probing its labor practices.</p>
<p>Journalist Kashmir Hill, now at <a href="http://gizmodo.com/yes-google-uses-its-power-to-quash-ideas-it-doesn-t-li-1798646437" type="external">Gizmodo</a>, said Google had the power to squash her Forbes magazine story on the search giant, back in 2011. The story was about Google promoting its Google Plus service by sending representatives to media organizations to encourage them to add “+1” buttons to their sites.</p>
<p>Hill was present at a meeting at Forbes, where Google representative suggested that the publication would be penalized in Google search results if it didn’t add the button.</p>
<p>“Stick Google Plus Buttons On Your Pages, or Your Search Traffic Suffers,” was the headline of the story Hill wrote, but had to unpublish. While the Mountain View-based company never challenged the accuracy of the reporting, a spokesperson said the meeting had been confidential and subject to a non-disclosure agreement.</p>
<p>Hill said she had identified herself as a reporter and never signed a non-disclosure agreement, but as she was new at her job at Forbes, she agreed to have the story pulled.</p>
<p>“Google started out as a company dedicated to ensuring the best access to information possible,” Hill <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/09/reporter-google-successfully-pressured-me-to-take-down-critical-story/" type="external">told Ars Technica</a>. “But as it’s grown into one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, its priorities have changed.”</p>
<p>Her revelation was prompted by reports that pressure from Google was behind the firing of a researcher and his team at the New America Foundation, a left-leaning think-tank in Washington, DC.</p>
<p>Praising the recent decision by the EU to fine Google $2.7 billion for violating anti-trust laws by preferred its own subsidiaries to its rival companies in search results, the Open Markets team incurred the wrath of Google, a major donor whose executive chairman Eric Schmidt sits on the foundation’s board of directors.</p>
<p>“By requiring that Google give equal treatment to rival services instead of privileging its own, [the EU is] protecting the free flow of information and commerce upon which all democracies depend,” wrote the Open Markets team in its 150-word statement.&#160;</p>
<p>Within 24 hours, Google reportedly called New America’s leadership to express displeasure. New America’s president Ann-Marie Slaughter quickly announced that the foundation would be “parting ways” with the Open Markets team and its leader, Barry Lynn.</p>
<p>While Slaughter publicly denied Google was involved in the decision, internal New America emails suggest otherwise, the Intercept reported.</p>
<p>The emails “clearly show the influence that Google wields over New America’s operations,” the Open Markets team <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/08/31/new-america-google-open-markets-barry-lynn-anne-marie-slaughter/" type="external">told</a> the Intercept.</p>
<p>“Google said it never urged New American to fire Lynn and his team,” said Hill, the former Forbes journalist. “But an entity as powerful as Google doesn’t have to issue ultimatums. It can just nudge organizations and get them to act as it wants.”</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was compelled to speak out over the banning of neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer, after back-end web infrastructure companies like GoDaddy and Google cut services to the site for political reasons.</p>
<p>The EFF, a major advocacy group for net neutrality, said it was defending the right of anyone to choose what speech they provide online, as it is protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.</p>
<p>The Daily Stormer tried moving to Google’s domain management service after it was blocked by GoDaddy. Google quickly informed them they were being rejected as a customer, and placed their domain on “Client Hold,” preventing the website’s owner from activating, using or moving the domain to another service.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/398920-google-damore-gender-equality/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Liberty Conservative, a libertarian online magazine, <a href="http://www.thelibertyconservative.com/google-issues-ultimatum-to-the-liberty-conservative-censor-your-content-or-lose-all-ad-revenue/" type="external">said</a> this week that Google threatened to cut off its AdSense service to their site unless they removed one specific article. The post in question was explaining the difference between the “alt-right” and literal Nazis, written by a former contributor James Allsup, one of the participants in the controversial rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.</p>
<p>AdSense said the article violated its policies on content “that threatens or advocates harm on oneself or others.” Faced with potentially crippling loss of advertising revenue, Liberty Conservative decided to remove the article.</p>
<p>Numerous YouTube authors have likewise complained that their work has been demonetized in this way by Google, which owns the video service.</p>
<p>In early August, Google fired software engineer James Damore after he wrote a memo accusing the company of silencing conservative political voices.</p>
<p>Damore’s 10-page memo argued that the shortage of women working in tech and leadership positions might be due to preferences and biological and psychological differences.</p>
<p>“I value diversity and inclusion, am not denying that sexism exists, and don’t endorse using stereotypes,” Damore wrote in the first sentence of the memo.</p>
<p>Google later announced he was fired for “perpetuating gender stereotypes.”</p> | Google get slammed over pressuring foundation, reporters | false | https://newsline.com/google-get-slammed-over-pressuring-foundation-reporters/ | 2017-09-01 | 1 |
<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — One year to the date of being sworn in as governor, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster told a joint assembly of lawmakers Wednesday that the state is at the "dawn of a new prosperity," thanks to tax cut proposals at the state and federal levels.</p>
<p>"The recent tax reform bill signed by President Trump was a great victory for American taxpayers and our economy," McMaster said in his first State of the State address. "Companies have already begun announcing reinvestment and raises for employees."</p>
<p>But with the federal government cutting taxes, McMaster said, it becomes incumbent on states to "do our part." The governor also touted his own executive budget proposal, which calls for cutting $2.2 billion cumulatively in taxes over the next five years.</p>
<p>State officials have said that the plan would ultimately reduce state revenue by more than $750 million a year.</p>
<p>McMaster's first State of the State address came on the one-year anniversary of his swearing in to replace Nikki Haley. Trump has endorsed his bid for a first full term, and McMaster faces several Republican opponents.</p>
<p>Here are a few of the issues the governor addressed:</p>
<p>NUCLEAR FALLOUT</p>
<p>McMaster addressed the multibillion-dollar debacle related to the decision to abandon the construction of two new reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, saying the state's viability as an economic force "requires an abundant supply of clean and affordable energy."</p>
<p>SCANA Corp. and state-owned utility Santee Cooper nixed the project last summer following the bankruptcy of lead contractor Westinghouse. State and federal authorities have been probing the failure, which resulted in thousands of job losses.</p>
<p>"We must carefully assess our situation," said McMaster, who has long said the state needs to sell Santee Cooper. "We must construct the best possible solution. The customers must either get the reactors or get their money back."</p>
<p>SCANA ratepayers have already shouldered $2 billion of the company's loan debt on the project. Dominion Energy has proposed $1.3 billion in givebacks as part of its proposal to buy SCANA, and legislation moving through the state House would stop the company from continuing to charge customers further.</p>
<p>The House is debating several bills on reforming utilities and dealing with the abandoned plants.</p>
<p>CELLPHONES IN PRISON</p>
<p>McMaster also called on state lawmakers to help combat contraband cellphones in the hands of state inmates. State and federal prison authorities across the country have called the phones the No. 1 security threat behind bars.</p>
<p>Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has become a national leader on the issue, which McMaster said has "revolutionized criminal activity," allowing inmates and their conspirators to "practice extortion, conduct blackmail, plan and execute 'hits,' operate drug rings and run any number of fraud schemes."</p>
<p>Until federal officials allow prison officials to jam cell signals, an idea Stirling and McMaster support, the governor said, states "must we must take every action, try every idea and implement any law which will stop these criminals."</p>
<p>OPIOID CRISIS</p>
<p>McMaster said his budget for the opioid epidemic includes more than $10 million for treatment and prevention, calling that a "crisis born of human pain and suffering."</p>
<p>Over the past three years, McMaster said, South Carolina had more opioid-related deaths than homicides and drunken driving deaths combined.</p>
<p>"We must take a bold new approach to this unprecedented threat," he said.</p>
<p>FREEDOM OF INFORMATION</p>
<p>McMaster also used his first joint legislative address to call on lawmakers to end a policy exempting themselves from state open records laws. In 2013, McMaster co-chaired an ethics panel that proposed doing away with a legislative FOIA exemption, but lawmakers have failed to adopt the suggestion.</p>
<p>"That destroys public confidence," McMaster said. "This exemption must end."</p>
<p>RESPONSE</p>
<p>In his party's response, Rep. James Smith said Democrats are ready to work with Republicans on restoring the public's trust in its leaders following a corruption probe that has ensnared half a dozen current and former lawmakers.</p>
<p>"I believe that the people of our state are tired of the partisan trench warfare," said Smith, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge McMaster. "In the end, South Carolina cannot succeed if we are willing to leave some behind."</p>
<p>In his address, McMaster said he opposed the Trump administration's proposal to expand drilling off the coast of states including South Carolina, saying any mistake could damage the state's "pristine" coastline and heart of its $20 billion tourism industry. McMaster has asked the Trump administration for a waiver from that proposal, following in the footsteps of Florida Gov. Rick Scott, to whom one has been granted.</p>
<p>"Dammit Henry it takes you calling your buddies Trump and Sanford and ask them to give u the same pass they gave Florida," state Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson posted on Twitter, referencing drilling opponent and Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Kinnard is adding issues related to South Carolina's Legislature and state government to her beat coverage this year. Reach her at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP, and read more of her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard.</p>
<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — One year to the date of being sworn in as governor, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster told a joint assembly of lawmakers Wednesday that the state is at the "dawn of a new prosperity," thanks to tax cut proposals at the state and federal levels.</p>
<p>"The recent tax reform bill signed by President Trump was a great victory for American taxpayers and our economy," McMaster said in his first State of the State address. "Companies have already begun announcing reinvestment and raises for employees."</p>
<p>But with the federal government cutting taxes, McMaster said, it becomes incumbent on states to "do our part." The governor also touted his own executive budget proposal, which calls for cutting $2.2 billion cumulatively in taxes over the next five years.</p>
<p>State officials have said that the plan would ultimately reduce state revenue by more than $750 million a year.</p>
<p>McMaster's first State of the State address came on the one-year anniversary of his swearing in to replace Nikki Haley. Trump has endorsed his bid for a first full term, and McMaster faces several Republican opponents.</p>
<p>Here are a few of the issues the governor addressed:</p>
<p>NUCLEAR FALLOUT</p>
<p>McMaster addressed the multibillion-dollar debacle related to the decision to abandon the construction of two new reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station, saying the state's viability as an economic force "requires an abundant supply of clean and affordable energy."</p>
<p>SCANA Corp. and state-owned utility Santee Cooper nixed the project last summer following the bankruptcy of lead contractor Westinghouse. State and federal authorities have been probing the failure, which resulted in thousands of job losses.</p>
<p>"We must carefully assess our situation," said McMaster, who has long said the state needs to sell Santee Cooper. "We must construct the best possible solution. The customers must either get the reactors or get their money back."</p>
<p>SCANA ratepayers have already shouldered $2 billion of the company's loan debt on the project. Dominion Energy has proposed $1.3 billion in givebacks as part of its proposal to buy SCANA, and legislation moving through the state House would stop the company from continuing to charge customers further.</p>
<p>The House is debating several bills on reforming utilities and dealing with the abandoned plants.</p>
<p>CELLPHONES IN PRISON</p>
<p>McMaster also called on state lawmakers to help combat contraband cellphones in the hands of state inmates. State and federal prison authorities across the country have called the phones the No. 1 security threat behind bars.</p>
<p>Corrections Director Bryan Stirling has become a national leader on the issue, which McMaster said has "revolutionized criminal activity," allowing inmates and their conspirators to "practice extortion, conduct blackmail, plan and execute 'hits,' operate drug rings and run any number of fraud schemes."</p>
<p>Until federal officials allow prison officials to jam cell signals, an idea Stirling and McMaster support, the governor said, states "must we must take every action, try every idea and implement any law which will stop these criminals."</p>
<p>OPIOID CRISIS</p>
<p>McMaster said his budget for the opioid epidemic includes more than $10 million for treatment and prevention, calling that a "crisis born of human pain and suffering."</p>
<p>Over the past three years, McMaster said, South Carolina had more opioid-related deaths than homicides and drunken driving deaths combined.</p>
<p>"We must take a bold new approach to this unprecedented threat," he said.</p>
<p>FREEDOM OF INFORMATION</p>
<p>McMaster also used his first joint legislative address to call on lawmakers to end a policy exempting themselves from state open records laws. In 2013, McMaster co-chaired an ethics panel that proposed doing away with a legislative FOIA exemption, but lawmakers have failed to adopt the suggestion.</p>
<p>"That destroys public confidence," McMaster said. "This exemption must end."</p>
<p>RESPONSE</p>
<p>In his party's response, Rep. James Smith said Democrats are ready to work with Republicans on restoring the public's trust in its leaders following a corruption probe that has ensnared half a dozen current and former lawmakers.</p>
<p>"I believe that the people of our state are tired of the partisan trench warfare," said Smith, who is seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge McMaster. "In the end, South Carolina cannot succeed if we are willing to leave some behind."</p>
<p>In his address, McMaster said he opposed the Trump administration's proposal to expand drilling off the coast of states including South Carolina, saying any mistake could damage the state's "pristine" coastline and heart of its $20 billion tourism industry. McMaster has asked the Trump administration for a waiver from that proposal, following in the footsteps of Florida Gov. Rick Scott, to whom one has been granted.</p>
<p>"Dammit Henry it takes you calling your buddies Trump and Sanford and ask them to give u the same pass they gave Florida," state Democratic Party Chairman Trav Robertson posted on Twitter, referencing drilling opponent and Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Kinnard is adding issues related to South Carolina's Legislature and state government to her beat coverage this year. Reach her at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP, and read more of her work at https://apnews.com/search/meg%20kinnard.</p> | South Carolina gov: Tax cuts boosting state's prosperity | false | https://apnews.com/amp/2e328452903443e5865309df38a1c670 | 2018-01-25 | 2 |
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<p>Value added modeling and fairness were highlighted. The rubrics establishing educator effectiveness in four domains - planning and preparation, creating an environment of learning, teaching for learning, professionalism - were memorably presented and tied directly to student achievement measures.</p>
<p>The role of professional development and teacher collaboration was illuminated in the explanation of the evaluation process.</p>
<p>I, also, was afforded long glimpses through the school administrator's portal that identifies teacher actions and resources that best facilitate student achievement. These insights and scaffoldings helped to expand my creativity in how a library media specialist could best support teachers in providing authentic and rigorous learning opportunities for students.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At this NMTEACH workshop, I also learned about the Public Education Department's "teacher outreach" initiatives, one of these being the PED teacher liaison. This person will be the classroom teacher's "connection" to the Public Education Department.</p>
<p>The person chosen as the PED teacher liaison is a teacher that has worked in the NMTEACH system and will serve as a direct link between the PED and educators in the classroom. This is a brilliant effort to find a way to improve how the state supports teachers.</p>
<p>Over the course of the two-day conference, I also watched as the PED director of educator quality, the statisticians and the liaison sat with teacher after teacher listening to their concerns and explaining their unique summative reports in a patient, jovial, intelligent, concerned manner.</p>
<p>I was thrilled to witness teachers express deep thanks for the individual attention that they had received and the genuine concern for their plight as a classroom teacher. This helped to dispel ill-founded, yet justifiable fears that had been bred by ignorance of a complicated evaluation system.</p>
<p>Until the conference, according to attendees, the summative report and evaluation system had not been adequately explained. Teachers had not been given the opportunity to express concerns freely and have questions answered in a manner that lent support and collegiality.</p>
<p>Refreshing it was to see relief on many faces exemplified by smiles and exchanges of contact information facilitating the PED team to make further contact with teachers across the state not in attendance.</p>
<p>As a library media specialist it is my role to make connections between people and information. Along with the copious amounts of curricular information needed by educators, I definitely will be sharing with the educators in the Deming Public School system my positive, informative experience at the NMTEACH workshop.</p>
<p>Kudos, Public Education Department! Your teacher liaison and outreach initiatives in efforts to support teachers across the state are a hit.</p>
<p /> | PED's eval conference was a hit | false | https://abqjournal.com/633044/peds-eval-conference-was-a-hit.html | 2 |
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<p>In his speech at the Republican National Committee on Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie "prosecuted" Hillary Clinton and, with the riled up audience's help, found her "guilty" of being unqualified for the presidency. Miffed about the headline-grabbing indictment, Clinton countered by releasing a video from just a few months ago of a decidedly less judgmental Christie's warm exchange with Hillary, complete with the Christie Hug™.</p>
<p>Christie was blasted by Republicans in 2012 after he allowed President Obama to use him as a <a href="http://time.com/4208219/chris-christie-barack-obama-hurricane-sandy-hug/" type="external">ready-made campaign ad</a> when the president visited Hurricane Sandy-slammed New Jersey right before the election. Many blamed Christie for giving Obama a last-minute bipartisan bounce.</p>
<p>It turns out that that wasn't the only big "hug" Christie has given a Democratic presidential candidate. In a video posted on Clinton's Snapchat account Wednesday, Christie and Clinton are caught behind-the-scenes having a very friendly chat on the set of CNN's "State of the Union."</p>
<p>After giving Clinton a hug, Christie says, "All I do is hug Democrats. It gets me in trouble all the time. All the time."</p>
<p>In his warm exchange with Clinton, Christie also asked her to tell the president he said "Hi" and gave her some notes on how to beat Bernie Sanders, namely getting her own ice cream flavor like his Ben &amp; Jerry's flavor.</p>
<p>"Now he's got his own ice cream with Ben &amp; Jerry," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-chris-christie-behind-the-scenes-hugging-2016-7" type="external">said</a> Christie. "You should argue for your own ice cream, Madam Secretary."</p>
<p />
<p>Below is Christie's blistering RNC speech in which he describes Clinton as "all the failure of the Obama years with less charm and more lies" while the crowd chants " <a href="" type="internal">Lock her up!</a>":</p>
<p>H/t <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-chris-christie-behind-the-scenes-hugging-2016-7" type="external">Business Insider</a></p> | Chris Christie 'Prosecutes' Hillary, So She Releases This Video | true | https://dailywire.com/news/7666/chris-christie-indicts-hillary-so-she-releases-james-barrett | 2016-07-21 | 0 |
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<p>The tried-and-true technique is to soften the blow with euphemisms by renaming the true meaning of what you are doing and the true effect on public health with vague, impersonal terminology. You start off with “control burns” but, because they sometimes get out of control, you don’t want to limit yourself. Then, switch to “prescribed burns,” like a doctor prescribing a necessary and authoritative treatment. And we all know that prescriptions often have side effects that we must endure in order to get better. “Managed wildfires” sounds less scary than just a wildfire when, in fact, it’s a wildfire that we are not trying to put out. “Managed wildfires” are wildfires that we actually grow by setting more fires nearby.</p>
<p>The problem is that we just spent 40 years educating the public about how smoking, including second-hand smoke, sickens, disables and shortens the lives of human beings. Therefore, it helps to rename human beings “smoke receptors” and particularly vulnerable human beings, such as infants, children, elderly and the infirm, “smoke-sensitive receptors.” People are no longer human beings, but “receptors” and the life-giving air they breathe is referred to as an “airshed.”</p>
<p>Despite all these euphemisms, there is still that nasty problem of the smoke. Aha! Just switch the responsibility for the harm caused from breathing smoke pollution to the individual by convincing him that if he just practices proper “averting behavior,” all will be well. “Averting behavior” sounds quite harmless and easy to do, like a sparrow darting around in the underbrush. Actually, it represents staying indoors 24 hours per day, never opening window or doors, purchasing and running expensive air cleaners, air conditioning and even taking multiple month-long vacations upwind during unplanned times of the year.</p>
<p>Don’t explain to the public how a person would do this and still go to school, play sports, work outside, drive to work, shop, go to the doctor or church.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>To top your strategy off, if the public shows up to a Forest Service meeting in order to ask questions about this ill-advised assault on public health and to suggest alternatives like changing our outdated log export laws, just prohibit any open questioning of the Forest Service in front of the public and force the participants to sit in tiny talking circles with Forest Service prepared outlines and a Forest Service moderator at each table, similar to kindergarten class. Any open discussion of smoke-free, proven and effective forest management techniques must be suppressed. And, for God’s sake, never produce a nationwide USFS public smoke complaint form in case you might be expected to document the harm you are causing to public health.</p>
<p>Joe smoke receptor passed away suddenly from a massive heart attack at age 52 following several weeks of prescribed burns and managed wildfires in his airshed, leaving behind his smoke receptor wife, Mary, and two minor smoke-sensitive receptor children. Mary worked alongside her husband in their family landscaping business and, therefore, they were not able to practice proper averting behavior. The children were notified of their father’s death at soccer practice, a non-averting behavior sport. Even though Joe’s family is third generation, they must move to cleaner air because of Mary’s recently diagnosed COPD and the children’s asthma. Joe and Mary loved the outdoors, were avid hikers and lifelong non-smokers.</p>
<p>Every successful large-scale assault on public health has been accomplished with the cooperation and blessing of lots of good people who were convinced that the harm that they were causing their fellow citizens was acceptable in the pursuit of a “higher goal.”</p>
<p /> | U.S. Forest Service to offer death by euphemism | false | https://abqjournal.com/1028041/us-forest-service-to-offer-death-by-euphemism.html | 2 |
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<p>Oct. 11 (UPI) — Kenya’s <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/supreme-court/" type="external">Supreme Court</a> ruled Wednesday that the presidential election scheduled for later this month will go forward — even though the major opposition candidate has left the race.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001257030/thirdway-alliance-leader-ekuru-aukot-allowed-to-participate-in-repeat-poll" type="external">The high court</a> allowed the name of a minor candidate, Ekuru Aukot of the Thirdway Alliance Party, to join incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta on the ballot to ensure a credible election occurs.</p>
<p>In August, Kenyatta defeated primary opposition leader <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Raila_Odinga/" type="external">Raila Odinga</a>, leader of the National Super Alliance, in the original election. However, that vote <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/09/01/Kenyan-court-overturns-presidential-election-result-orders-new-vote/4401504264601/" type="external">was annulled</a> by the high court because of voting irregularities.</p>
<p>Tuesday, <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/10/10/Kenyan-opposition-candidate-Odinga-drops-out-of-presidential-race/9791507653517/" type="external">Odinga dropped out</a> of the race — saying election reforms he’d demanded were not done.</p>
<p>“We have said and we continue to say that we will not participate in the elections if the environment is not conducive for a free and fair election,” Odinga said. “We have come to the conclusion that there is no intention on the part of [election officials] to undertake any changes to its operations and personnel. All indications are that the election … will be worse than the previous one.”</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-41572128" type="external">court elevated Aukot</a>, who ran in the August election, to the level of major candidate in the October vote to preserve the constitutional mandate of an election. It is unclear if Aukot intends to continue his presidential run.</p>
<p>In Nairobi on Wednesday, Odinga said election officials stalled on actions, “creating an illusion of motion without movement.” Kenya’s election commission has said that necessary reforms were made.</p>
<p>Wednesday, the country braced <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001257046/anti-iebc-demos-kick-off-despite-raila-withdrawal-from-race" type="external">for street protests</a> in Nairobi and Kisumu after Odinga called for demonstrations. Protesters threw stones and were met with police tear gas.</p>
<p>Tension between Kenyatta’s ruling Jubilee Party and Odinga’s opposition party have risen since the initial August election. Kenya’s 2013 presidential vote was relatively peaceful, but over 1,100 died in protests following the vote in 2007.</p>
<p>The Kenyan stock exchange <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-11/kenya-braces-for-protests-as-decision-on-election-rerun-looms" type="external">fell on Wednesday</a>, and yields on Eurobonds rose 5 basis points after Odinga’s announcement.</p>
<p>The controversy added another element of uncertainty to Kenya’s economy, which is slowing after a drought. The country is East Africa’s largest economy and the world’s largest tea grower, as well as a major manufacturing hub.</p> | Presidential election will go on, Kenya's Supreme Court rules | false | https://newsline.com/presidential-election-will-go-on-kenyas-supreme-court-rules/ | 2017-10-11 | 1 |
<p>PITTSBURGH (AP) — Josh Harris could tell by the silence that it was serious. There was no need to glance at the replay.</p>
<p>The instant the helmet of Cincinnati safety Reggie Nelson slammed into the right knee of Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell in the third quarter Sunday night, the bubbling euphoria that gripped Heinz Field only moments earlier vanished.</p>
<p>Bell, the budding second-year running back, lay in agony on the turf. Harris, an undrafted free agent turned unlikely backup, suddenly found himself prepping to go into the biggest game of the season.</p>
<p>“It was a shock at first,” Harris said.</p>
<p>For the rest of the Steelers, too. Pittsburgh held on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 27-17 and win the AFC North. Coach Mike Tomlin stressed there was no major structural damage to Bell’s knee, but the Steelers (11-5) head into Saturday’s wild-card game against Baltimore (10-6) wondering if their chances for a seventh Vince Lombardi Trophy hinge on Harris and Dri Archer.</p>
<p>That’s couple of rookies who have combined for 56 yards rushing in their brief careers.</p>
<p>No pressure or anything.</p>
<p>“At the end of the day, they have me here to do what I’m here to do,” Harris said.</p>
<p>Maybe, but the Steelers are hoping Harris doesn’t have to clock in. Bell underwent further testing Monday to judge the severity of what the team is calling a hyperextended knee. While the 22-year-old has joked in the past that he’s a quick healer, bouncing back on a short week on a bum leg to face the Ravens appears daunting.</p>
<p>“Injuries happen,” center Maurkice Pouncey said. “If he can’t go the next man has to step up and play just like him or better.”</p>
<p>Good luck with that.</p>
<p>Bell’s constantly churning knees were so vital to Pittsburgh’s resurgence that in the vote for team MVP, the Steelers selected him over quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown. They did so even though the two established stars put up numbers hard to duplicate in a video game, let alone real life. Bell set club records for all-purpose yards (2,215) and receptions by a running back (83). Oh, and he did it without fumbling once.</p>
<p>His talent became so prevalent the Steelers considered LeGarrette Blount expendable. Pittsburgh cut the well-traveled veteran in November after Blount headed to the locker room with the clock still running in a win over Tennessee, a silent but deliberate protest over a lack of touches.</p>
<p>The Steelers didn’t go looking for a free agent to replace Blount, instead promoting Harris from the practice squad. Harris shared backup duties with Archer, a third-round pick who has struggled to find any traction. Neither saw much action after Blount left. They had six carries combined following Blount’s departure until Bell half-jogged/half-limped to the sideline in the third quarter Sunday night.</p>
<p>Harris appeared to provide a momentary spark in the fourth quarter, sprinting over right guard for a 60-yard gain. The play was called back due to a holding penalty on Ramon Foster, though it did little to dampen Harris’ optimism that he can play.</p>
<p>“It was just great blocking up front, I just made one cut and I was out,” he said. “It (stinks) that it was called back, but the fact that run happened showed everyone I can actually play and do things like that.”</p>
<p>Harris managed just 7 yards on five carries on the runs that did count, while Archer caught two passes for 19 yards. Not exactly Bell-like with the NFL’s fourth-ranked run defense looming.</p>
<p>The Steelers will need to get something going on the ground to prevent Baltimore pass rush specialists Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs from teeing off on Roethlisberger.</p>
<p>The quarterback tossed six touchdowns in a 43-23 victory on Nov. 2, the second half of a two-game stretch in which Roethlisberger found the end zone a league-record 12 times.</p>
<p>He has cooled off considerably since as the Steelers became more reliant on Bell to eat up clock and yardage behind a rapidly improving offensive line. That formula will have to be altered if Bell is forced to sit.</p>
<p>“We can grow at every point,” Pouncey said. “That means sticking with what we’re always good at and letting Dri be the man he got drafted for.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>PITTSBURGH (AP) — Josh Harris could tell by the silence that it was serious. There was no need to glance at the replay.</p>
<p>The instant the helmet of Cincinnati safety Reggie Nelson slammed into the right knee of Pittsburgh running back Le’Veon Bell in the third quarter Sunday night, the bubbling euphoria that gripped Heinz Field only moments earlier vanished.</p>
<p>Bell, the budding second-year running back, lay in agony on the turf. Harris, an undrafted free agent turned unlikely backup, suddenly found himself prepping to go into the biggest game of the season.</p>
<p>“It was a shock at first,” Harris said.</p>
<p>For the rest of the Steelers, too. Pittsburgh held on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 27-17 and win the AFC North. Coach Mike Tomlin stressed there was no major structural damage to Bell’s knee, but the Steelers (11-5) head into Saturday’s wild-card game against Baltimore (10-6) wondering if their chances for a seventh Vince Lombardi Trophy hinge on Harris and Dri Archer.</p>
<p>That’s couple of rookies who have combined for 56 yards rushing in their brief careers.</p>
<p>No pressure or anything.</p>
<p>“At the end of the day, they have me here to do what I’m here to do,” Harris said.</p>
<p>Maybe, but the Steelers are hoping Harris doesn’t have to clock in. Bell underwent further testing Monday to judge the severity of what the team is calling a hyperextended knee. While the 22-year-old has joked in the past that he’s a quick healer, bouncing back on a short week on a bum leg to face the Ravens appears daunting.</p>
<p>“Injuries happen,” center Maurkice Pouncey said. “If he can’t go the next man has to step up and play just like him or better.”</p>
<p>Good luck with that.</p>
<p>Bell’s constantly churning knees were so vital to Pittsburgh’s resurgence that in the vote for team MVP, the Steelers selected him over quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown. They did so even though the two established stars put up numbers hard to duplicate in a video game, let alone real life. Bell set club records for all-purpose yards (2,215) and receptions by a running back (83). Oh, and he did it without fumbling once.</p>
<p>His talent became so prevalent the Steelers considered LeGarrette Blount expendable. Pittsburgh cut the well-traveled veteran in November after Blount headed to the locker room with the clock still running in a win over Tennessee, a silent but deliberate protest over a lack of touches.</p>
<p>The Steelers didn’t go looking for a free agent to replace Blount, instead promoting Harris from the practice squad. Harris shared backup duties with Archer, a third-round pick who has struggled to find any traction. Neither saw much action after Blount left. They had six carries combined following Blount’s departure until Bell half-jogged/half-limped to the sideline in the third quarter Sunday night.</p>
<p>Harris appeared to provide a momentary spark in the fourth quarter, sprinting over right guard for a 60-yard gain. The play was called back due to a holding penalty on Ramon Foster, though it did little to dampen Harris’ optimism that he can play.</p>
<p>“It was just great blocking up front, I just made one cut and I was out,” he said. “It (stinks) that it was called back, but the fact that run happened showed everyone I can actually play and do things like that.”</p>
<p>Harris managed just 7 yards on five carries on the runs that did count, while Archer caught two passes for 19 yards. Not exactly Bell-like with the NFL’s fourth-ranked run defense looming.</p>
<p>The Steelers will need to get something going on the ground to prevent Baltimore pass rush specialists Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs from teeing off on Roethlisberger.</p>
<p>The quarterback tossed six touchdowns in a 43-23 victory on Nov. 2, the second half of a two-game stretch in which Roethlisberger found the end zone a league-record 12 times.</p>
<p>He has cooled off considerably since as the Steelers became more reliant on Bell to eat up clock and yardage behind a rapidly improving offensive line. That formula will have to be altered if Bell is forced to sit.</p>
<p>“We can grow at every point,” Pouncey said. “That means sticking with what we’re always good at and letting Dri be the man he got drafted for.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p> | Bell’s uncertain status leaves Steelers vulnerable | false | https://apnews.com/774b713e361e40d2a082a94942e592ca | 2014-12-29 | 2 |
<p>President Obama outlined a plan on Earth Day to lease federal waters on the Outer Continental Shelf for wind and tidal power projects. Speaking at a turbine factory, Obama said wind could generate 20 percent of the nation’s electricity.</p>
<p>Bloomberg:</p>
<p>President Barack Obama said his administration is taking steps to begin leasing tracts off U.S. shores for electricity-generation projects using wind and ocean currents.</p>
<p>The president said the initiative will open the way to “major investments” in projects on the Outer Continental Shelf and that interest already is high in putting wind-power turbines off the coasts of New Jersey and Delaware. He also said he will continue pursuing a “market-based cap” for emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas linked to climate change.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&amp;sid=a3IssawSnqcQ&amp;refer=home" type="external">Read more</a></p> | There's Gold in Them Waves | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/theres-gold-in-them-waves/ | 2009-04-23 | 4 |
<p>Nov. 13 (UPI) — TLC is cutting ties with Derick Dillard following his series of tweets about Jazz Jennings.</p>
<p>The network responded Saturday after Dillard, the 28-year-old husband of Jill &amp; Jessa: Counting On star <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jill_Duggar/" type="external">Jill Duggar</a>, made new remarks about Jennings, a 17-year-old transgender reality star.</p>
<p>“We want to let our viewers know that Derick Dillard has not participated in Counting On for months and the network has no plans to feature him in the future,” TLC, which airs Counting On, <a href="https://twitter.com/TLC/status/929484003811479553" type="external">wrote</a> on Twitter.</p>
<p>“We want to reiterate that Derick’s personal statements do not reflect the views of the network,” the network added. “TLC is proud to share the story of Jazz Jennings and her family and will continue to do so.”</p>
<p>Fans had called out Dillard on social media after he criticized Jennings and her TLC series, I Am Jazz, in tweets Thursday. He referred to Jennings, who identifies as female, with male pronouns in the posts.</p>
<p>“I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child. It’s sad that ppl would use a juvenile this way. Again, nothing against him, just unfortunate what’s on tv these days,” the star <a href="https://twitter.com/derickmdillard/status/928732574414966784" type="external">wrote</a>.</p>
<p>“Never bullied anyone, just said I didn’t agree with what is being propagated on tv. I’m expressing my view of what should be treated as reality; if I say I feel like I am Nepali, that doesn’t make me so,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/derickmdillard/status/928752698849144837" type="external">added</a>.</p>
<p>I pity Jazz, 4 those who take advantage of him in order 2 promote their agenda, including the parents who allow these kinds of decisions 2 be made by a child. It’s sad that ppl would use a juvenile this way. Again, nothing against him, just unfortunate what’s on tv these days.</p>
<p>— Derick Dillard (@derickmdillard) <a href="https://twitter.com/derickmdillard/status/928732574414966784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">November 9, 2017</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2017/08/04/Jazz-Jennings-responds-to-Derick-Dillards-cyber-bullying/1101501853680/" type="external">Dillard previously disparaged Jennings</a> and her TV series in August, declaring in tweets that “‘Transgender’ is a myth.” Jennings responded with a positive message at the time, saying she will “keep sharing” her story.</p> | TLC cuts ties with Derick Dillard over Jazz Jennings tweets | false | https://newsline.com/tlc-cuts-ties-with-derick-dillard-over-jazz-jennings-tweets/ | 2017-11-13 | 1 |
<p>Avatar is a visually astonishing spectacle that demands being witnessed on the big screen. It’s aesthetics tower considerably over its predictable storyline and mediocre dialogue, but James Cameron deserves props for seamlessly blending live action, 3-D and digital effects in creating his own virtual Eden, the planet Pandora.</p>
<p>It’s been two hours since I saw the sneak preview, but lingering images of brilliantly illuminated translucent plants, strangely exotic and hostile creatures, flying mountains with waterfalls, and the big blue Na’vi inhabitants of Pandora still flicker in my mind like visual poetry.</p>
<p>James Cameron, Oscar winning director of “Titanic” and self proclaimed “King of the World,” spent the GDP of a third world country, nearly $500 million, and a dozen years laboring on his dream project ultimately creating the technology he needed to fulfill his ambitious vision. His 3-D, “performance capture” technique – whereby he directs live actors who are then digitally rendered like Andy Serkis’ performance as “Gollum” in ‘Lord of the Rings’ –&#160; is the new criterion for the medium, infusing the digital creations with such realism that most the times you forget you’re looking at a painting.</p>
<p>For those expecting introspective and nuanced character arcs, intellectually stimulating narratives and memorable dialogue, you might surf your Netflix queue this weekend instead. Although Cameron has been slammed for his perfunctory dialogue since “Titanic,” his characters [both real and digital] have usually been far more human, likable and believable than the soulless caricatures paraded on screen in the painful “Transformer” movies directed by Michael Bay. Cameron helped Sigourney Weaver get a rare Oscar nomination for playing an action heroine in “Aliens,” made us care about Ed Harris and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio’s marriage in “The Abyss,” and inspired us to root for an Austrian, killing robot who is now the terminating the state of California as Governor.&#160; This is not a carte blanche excuse for some of the truly substandard dialogue and storyboard characters you’ll witness in “Avatar.” However, it is necessary to remind ourselves that Cameron always elevates – at least technologically – the blockbuster genre and cinematic medium, which far too often falls prey to gratuitous explosion porn, a redundant heavy metal soundtracks, and seizure inducing spastic editing.</p>
<p>In “Avatar,” we follow the journey of our protagonist Jake, played ably by Australian actor Sam Worthington sporting a very dodgy American accent, a paralyzed marine grunt turned scientific guinea pig who “consciously” enters and physically controls his Na’vi Avatar [a synthetic version of the 10 ft tall, blue colored Pandora natives], which was created in a lab by fusing human and Na’vi DNA. He is commanded to infiltrate the Na’vi community, learn their “savage” ways, earn their trust, and report Intel to his military and corporate superiors who plan to rape and pillage the land to uncover the largest known quantities of Unobtainium, the most precious resource in the year 2154 for an energy depleted human population.</p>
<p>Predictably, Jake the reluctant colonizer, much like John Rolfe, falls in love with the beautiful Na’vi warrior princess and Pandoran Pocahontas, Neytiri, played exceptionally well by the athletic and expressive Zoe Saldana. After three short months under Neytiri’s tutelage, Jake’s avatar naturally evolves into an uber Alpha-Omega Na’vi male warrior and is welcomed to their clan as one of their own. Cameron rehashes the clichéd Hollywood trope most recently seen in “Last Samurai” of the naïve, ignorant White imperialist who befriends the savages, has a trans-formative epiphany,&#160; gains self awareness, mates with their hottest woman, and like a prodigy learns their fighting techniques and culture so quickly that he eventually ends up leading them.</p>
<p>However, Cameron’s cinematic foray into “White Man Meets Alien Savage” merits some applause for the level of dignity, albeit in the form of simplified Romanticism, he affords his Native American avatars, the Na’vi. Yet, I digress, since a critical analysis of “Avatar” as both political and historical allegory of imperialism, Whiteness and race relations merits a separate column.</p>
<p>As a result of his tutorial and subsequent enlightenment, Jake learns to admire and respect his initially hostile Na’vi friends and their evolved religious-philosophical ideology which preaches the necessity of respecting the interconnectedness amongst all of Pandora’s living creatures. Although this initially reeks of an elementary hodgepodge “pro-green,” eco-friendly, quasi Emersonian-Taoism, the detailed depths to which Cameron and his team have created this universe is quite impressive. This second act, the most visually arresting and interesting section of the nearly three hour film, spends considerable time inviting us to observe these daily rituals almost as if Cameron made a detailed National Geographic documentary of his own virtual playground.</p>
<p>The Na’vi have their own language – specifically created for the movie by linguists – which hopefully cannot be duplicated by human tongues thus giving pause to Trekkies who want to become bilingual and add to their Klingon. The Na’vi’s long braided hairs are essentially external dendrites that combine and connect with other living creatures allowing them to “feel” the other’s presence and thoughts. You see, the Na’vi believe in an abstract deity, “The Mother of all living things,” who collects the voices and memories of departed souls and can always hear the inhabitants of her world,&#160;including the fern and moss.&#160; If you’re rolling your eyes and groaning, I don’t blame you for subtlety has never been one of Cameron’s narrative strengths. However, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t visually enthralled by the awesome, environmental experience Cameron created which clearly represents the heart of his emotional and passionate investment in this project.</p>
<p>It certainly wasn’t invested in the human actors, who basically fall into three camps:</p>
<p>1) The Corporate Bureaucrats who only care for profit, personified by Giovanni Ribisi’s character [who, in turn, is channeling Paul Reiser’s character from Cameron’s “Aliens”].</p>
<p>2) The Gung-Ho Mercenaries led by Colonel Miles Quaritch, played with badass, steely resolve by Stephen Lang, who believes explosives, bullets and overwhelming military force should be the only form of diplomacy with the Na’vi.</p>
<p>3) The Hippie, Tree Hugging humans comprised of brilliant scientist-Na’vi conservationist Sigourney Weaver, our protagonist Jake and Fast and Furious’ Michelle Rodriguez who shows up to fly a helicopter.</p>
<p>In fact, the nearly 3 hour movie only drags when we are forced to spend time with the humans on their ship and away from the fantastic digital world of Pandora. If you really want to know the plot arc, I recommend seeing the three minute trailer which pretty much gives it all away. Undoubtedly, the movie will not break new ground in traditional storytelling, but it elevates cinematic storytelling to an exciting, untapped visual apex that allows our eyes to finally experience images that were once only imaginable in our minds.</p>
<p /> | Invading Eden | true | https://counterpunch.org/2009/12/18/invading-eden/ | 2009-12-18 | 4 |
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<p>The political news of the day is John McCain’s <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/10/10211_mccains_new_stump_speech_fight.html" type="external">new stump speech</a>. But there was an interesting Sarah Palin moment, as well.</p>
<p>Introducing McCain at the Virginia Beach rally where he unveiled his I-will-fight-fight-fight-fight speech, Palin, playing to the GOP base, declared that she and McCain believe in the “advancement of freedom,” not the “expansion of government.”</p>
<p>This is conservative cant: big government threatens individual freedoms. Think black helicopters coming to take your guns away. But has Palin not been reading the news about her own campaign? Her ticket supports the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan, which will give the Treasury secretary expanded power. And McCain has called on the federal government to buy up bad mortgages across the country, at a cost of $300 billion or so. The math is kind of simple here: that’s about $1 trillion in government expansion.</p>
<p>The question for Governor Palin is, does that mean $1 trillion less in freedom?</p>
<p /> | Freedom vs. Big Government: Palin Can’t Do the Math | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/10/freedom-vs-big-government-palin-cant-do-math/ | 2008-10-13 | 4 |
<p>DETROIT (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Michigan Lottery's "Keno" game were:</p>
<p>07-08-12-19-23-25-26-29-34-39-41-48-49-50-52-60-62-63-64-70-71-72</p>
<p>(seven, eight, twelve, nineteen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-nine, thirty-four, thirty-nine, forty-one, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty, fifty-two, sixty, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four, seventy, seventy-one, seventy-two)</p>
<p>DETROIT (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Michigan Lottery's "Keno" game were:</p>
<p>07-08-12-19-23-25-26-29-34-39-41-48-49-50-52-60-62-63-64-70-71-72</p>
<p>(seven, eight, twelve, nineteen, twenty-three, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-nine, thirty-four, thirty-nine, forty-one, forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty, fifty-two, sixty, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four, seventy, seventy-one, seventy-two)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in 'Keno' game | false | https://apnews.com/928f08978fe643bda1f64987dd05581b | 2018-01-06 | 2 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
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<p>Violent crime shot up 14 percent in Albuquerque in 2014 - the second consecutive year the Duke City has had an increase - and reached its highest mark since 2007, according to the Albuquerque Police Department's annual report.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the number of times Albuquerque police officers used weapons against people in 2014 dropped 33 percent as the department began moving toward putting in place court-enforceable reforms aimed at curbing excessive force.</p>
<p>Mayor Richard Berry said the surge in violent crime - which includes homicides, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults - was led by an uptick in aggravated assaults and robberies, not rapes and homicides.</p>
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<p>Aggravated assault, which is defined as assault with a deadly weapon or assault causing great bodily injury, and robberies accounted for 95 percent of the 4,934 violent crimes Albuquerque police investigated in 2014.</p>
<p>APD investigated 30 homicides in 2014, which was the fewest in recent memory, police officials previously said. There were 402 rapes reported to Albuquerque police last year.</p>
<p>"We think that what's driving (the increase in aggravated assaults and robberies) are repeat offenders, and we have to do a better job of keeping them in prison. Just yesterday we lost a police officer to a repeat offender," Berry said, referring to felon Andrew Romero, who has been arrested on suspicion of fatally shooting Rio Rancho police officer Gregg Benner on Monday.</p>
<p>There were 30,523 property crimes in Albuquerque in 2014, a decrease of 0.3 percent, from the previous year.</p>
<p>Use of weapons</p>
<p>Albuquerque officers used weapons against people 122 times last year, down from 184 times the year before and 287 times in 2012. Police and city officials attributed the decrease to reforms and less aggressive policing. The weapons included Tasers, firearms, canines, chemical agents such as pepper spray, batons and beanbag shotguns.</p>
<p>Shaun Willoughby, vice president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, said both the increase in violent crime and fewer officers using weapons are due to less proactive policing because APD has the fewest officers on the force since 2001 and officers have faced heavy-handed discipline and public scrutiny when they do use force.</p>
<p>"It's not worth the liability, the morale is so damaged, no one wants to get in trouble. We all have families to provide for, and there's not enough of us out here," he said. "The DOJ, not enough officers, the fear of being criminally charged, there's a lot of reasons why APD officers are thinking twice before they do anything."</p>
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<p>Berry said the decrease in officers using weapons can be attributed to reforms that were put in place both before and after the U.S. Department of Justice and the city reached a settlement agreement in October 2014 to reduce excessive force.</p>
<p>"It's a testament to our officers," he said. "I'm very proud of officers who are taking this task of reform seriously."</p>
<p>APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza said 95 percent of officers have received crisis intervention training, which has reduced the number of instances in which police used weapons.</p>
<p>The most common weapon police use is a Taser, which has had a significant drop in use in recent years. In 2014, police used Tasers against people 75 times, an eight-year low. Police used Tasers on people 122 times in 2013 and 205 times in 2012, according to the report.</p>
<p>Police shot firearms 11 times in 2014, including several times at animals. That was down from 15 times in 2013. The eight-year high for APD was in 2010, when officers fired their guns 25 times.</p>
<p>The DOJ, which in 2014 wrapped up a 16-month investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department that found it too often used excessive force, highlighted APD's use of Tasers.</p>
<p>The DOJ said in its findings letter that officers would use "the weapon on people who are passively resisting, observably non-threatening but unable to comply with orders due to their mental state, or posed only a minimal threat to officers."</p>
<p>The annual report was published last week. Unlike in recent years, it included data on police use-of-force incidents going back to 2007.</p>
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<p /> | Violent crime jumps; APD weapons use drops | false | https://abqjournal.com/591022/violent-crime-jumps-in-duke-city.html | 2 |
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<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreportfolio/3369495546"&gt;andre almeida&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
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<p>Paul Walker, best known for starring in the <a href="https://twitter.com/RealPaulWalker/statuses/215493017925197825" type="external">popular</a> <a href="" type="internal">Fast and Furious</a> franchise, <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/30/paul-walker-dead-dies-car-accident-fatal-fire-crash/" type="external">died Saturday in a car accident</a> in Valencia, California. He was 40.</p>
<p>It would be difficult to make the case that Walker was a particularly influential or exceptional actor. But he was a fine <a href="" type="internal">action</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX94QD5x05g" type="external">star</a> and was decent in his heavier <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G60I8C6IlKw" type="external">dramatic</a> fare. But beyond his on-screen credentials, all available evidence suggests that Walker was, up until the moment he died, a celebrity who genuinely cared about the world around him—someone who used his celebrity for worthy causes.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PaulWalker/posts/690316711002596" type="external">a statement</a> posted to the actor’s Facebook fan page, Walker died “in a tragic car accident while attending a charity event for his organization <a href="http://www.roww.org/" type="external">Reach Out Worldwide</a>.”</p>
<p>Reach Out Worldwide, formed by Walker in 2010, is a <a href="http://www.irs.gov/Charities-%26-Non-Profits/Charitable-Organizations/Exemption-Requirements-Section-501%28c%29%283%29-Organizations" type="external">501(c)(3)</a> that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiGCqsq9aCE" type="external">provides</a> rescue and recovery aid in the wake of major natural disasters. The group supplements rescue efforts with <a href="https://www.facebook.com/reachoutworldwide/info" type="external">its own team</a> of paramedics, doctors, and search-and-rescue professionals. Reach Out Worldwide has lent its services to disaster-relief efforts in the <a href="https://twitter.com/ReachOutWW/status/404062179751522304" type="external">Philippines</a>, <a href="https://www.roww.org/relief_efforts/alabama_tornado/" type="external">Alabama</a>, <a href="https://www.roww.org/relief_efforts/indonesia_tsunami/" type="external">Indonesia</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=104898486243570" type="external">Chile</a>, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TczyVKHBMCs" type="external">Haiti</a>. “I’d made a few runs into <a href="" type="internal">Port-au-Prince</a> and was negotiating with the army to give me baby formula, tents, extension cords,” Walker told the <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/fast-and-furious-star-paul-walkers-life-with-charity-reach-out-worldwide/story-e6frexli-1226042242783" type="external">Daily Telegraph</a>, an Australian tabloid newspaper, in 2011. “I was hustling for everything.”</p>
<p>Here’s his <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/fast-and-furious-star-paul-walkers-life-with-charity-reach-out-worldwide/story-e6frexli-1226042242783" type="external">explanation</a> for why he started Reach Out Worldwide:</p>
<p>Because of my travels with work and pleasure, a lot of the times disasters would strike in areas that I’d been. You think of the faces—they might not be people you’re in contact with but you can’t help but wonder how that family was you had dinner with. That stuff starts crossing your mind and you feel so helpless. I would be consumed with anger, like, “Fuck! I wanna be there, I wanna do whatever I can.” One of my best friends had heard it too many times and ultimately he just held me accountable. He punked me out: “So you gonna pack your bags and go to Haiti and help out or what?”</p>
<p>“When the shit hits the fan,” Walker continued, “that’s when you actually see the best in people.”</p>
<p>Hours, one of the last films Walker starred in, is scheduled for a mid-December release. It’s a fitting send-off for Walker: The film is set in a hospital in <a href="http://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/sxsw-film-review-hours-1200194590/" type="external">New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina</a>, with Walker playing a father desperately trying to protect his newborn daughter.</p>
<p>Here’s a clip of Walker and the Fast &amp; Furious 7 cast encouraging fans to help victims of <a href="" type="internal">Typhoon Haiyan</a>:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | The Cause That Paul Walker Remained Dedicated to Until the Moment of His Death | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/paul-walker-died-charity-reach-out-worldwide/ | 2013-12-01 | 4 |
<p>South Korea's Kospi index tumbled to a four month low on April 4th, the sharpest decline since November 15th — an economic malady that can likely be chalked up to continuing tensions with the North.</p>
<p>The South Korean won also tumbled to a half year low, as the threat of a potentially nuclear conflict with North Korea's belligerent regime scared off potential investors.</p>
<p>Read more from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/taxonomy/term/42825/130403/north-korea-bars-entrance-kaesong-industrial-park" type="external">North Korea bars entrance to Kaesong Industrial Park</a></p>
<p><a href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2013/04/04/83/0503000000AEN20130404009100320F.HTML" type="external">The Yonhap News agency reports</a>that the Korean Stock Indiex fell 23.77 points to 1,959.45, with Samsung, Hyundai, and Kia all looking downwards.</p>
<p>“North Korea is heightening its threats day by day and that risk factor is having a negative impact on South Korean financial markets,” said Samsung Futures Inc analyst <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-04/kospi-drops-most-in-five-months-won-falls-on-north-korea-threat.html" type="external">Jeon Seung Ji to Bloomberg.</a></p>
<p>“Rising tension is prompting foreign investors to sell more Korean stocks, weakening the currency. In the meantime, exporters are likely to look for a point to sell dollars.”</p>
<p>North Korea closed the gates to the joint Kaesong industrial park this week, forcing South Korean workers — mostly in management roles — to leave.</p>
<p>Now, the North is threatening to remove the over 53,000 North Koreans who work for 123 South Korean firms at the complex <a href="http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/04/04/97/0301000000AEN20130404006900320F.HTML" type="external">according to the Yonhap News Agency,</a> another threat to the health of the South Korean economy.</p>
<p>"If the South Korean puppets and conservative news media keep badmouthing (us), we will order all our workers to pull out from Kaesong", said a North Korean spokesman to the KCNA news agency, apparantly replying to South Korea's assertion that it had a military contingency plan to ensure the safety of its workers at the park.</p>
<p>"The full closure of the complex is set to become a reality," the spokesman <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130404/n-korea-threatens-pull-its-workers-kaesong-0#4" type="external">warned, according to AFP.</a></p> | South Korean won hit hard by continuing conflict with North Korea | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-04-04/south-korean-won-hit-hard-continuing-conflict-north-korea | 2013-04-04 | 3 |
<p>By Corey Fields</p>
<p>We recently visited my wife’s family. Up where they live, you watch a lot of Yankees baseball. At one point they were playing a series against the Rangers in Texas. In one of these away games, the Yankees steamrolled the Rangers 21-5. I remember thinking about how much they must rely on their teammates and the few traveling fans to keep a sense of energy and momentum. With each hit, run, walk, etc., the collective “ughs” from the Texas crowd just kept coming.</p>
<p>Although the Yankees clearly did fine in that game, “home field advantage” is a thing. Its scope is debated, but it’s a factor. It refers to the psychological effect of being in a place with familiar surroundings and supportive fans. Home field is where the fans know your name and cheer for you in a certain way. Home field is where they play your song when you’re up to bat. Home field is where you might know the warning track just well enough not to smash into it while chasing down a fly ball.</p>
<p>I think we adults underestimate it, but we all need a place where we have home field advantage. We all need a place where we feel secure and supported. We all need a place that’s familiar where we can kick off our shoes. It’s how we make it through life.</p>
<p>Environmental psychologist Susan Clayton has written that, for most people, home is not just a place but is a part of our self-definition; an extension of how we see ourselves and who we think we are. This, she says, explains why we decorate our houses and take care of our lawns. When property is neglected, it may be an indication that it’s not considered “home.”</p>
<p>(This is where you’re supposed to start singing Daughtry’s 2006 song “Home.” “I’m going to a place where love and feeling good don’t ever cost a thing, and the pain you feel is a different kind of pain. I’m going home, back to the place where I belong ….”)</p>
<p>My wife, my children and I recently took a vacation to visit my family, and it’s weird to visit my hometown and home church these days. We’ve all gotten older. Some things are the same, some things are different, and every once in a while, there are visual reminders that my hometown is not really home (like all the Confederate flags).</p>
<p>We were built for community, and everyone needs a place with familiar surroundings where people are rooting for them. Everyone needs at least one place where they feel safe and cared for. In a recent <a href="http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2015-06/mystery-marriage" type="external">Christian Century article</a>, Frederick Niedner wrote poignantly about some of the realities of marriage and family. I was particularly struck by his mention of Genesis 2:18 where it says in the King James Version that God sought to make a “help meet” for the man God had created. Niedner’s translation of that Hebrew phrase (“ezer kenegdo”) is “corresponding strength.”</p>
<p>We may need this “corresponding strength” only every once in a while, or we may find ourselves in circumstances where we need it several times a day. More than anywhere else, it’s in our own homes that we need to find this strength and safety, but for so many today, this is not the reality. Families can be broken and distant. Children can be neglected. The silent and hidden epidemic of domestic violence continues to make people (mostly women) prisoners in a place that is supposed to be sacred.</p>
<p>Of course, for some, there’s not even a roof overhead. In a very good <a href="http://www.ethicsdaily.com/news.php?viewStory=22795" type="external">two-part article</a> for Ethics Daily, social worker Jon Kuhrt mentions the “poverty of relationships” that he so often sees among the homeless. “Below the presenting issues … [are] stories of family chaos and the absence of stability within the home,” he writes. “The primary tragedy they shared was not material but relational.”</p>
<p>As it turns out, running out of money may not be all it takes to make one poor or homeless. The deciding factor is often whether one has a network of supportive family and friends. A person can survive things like illness, tragedy and job loss if there’s a place they can go for home field advantage, and practical help. As Kuhrt put it, “Homelessness is not the same as houselessness.”</p>
<p>Having no place or social circle of home field advantage is paralyzing. We become anxious and fearful, and begin to see every new person or situation as a potential threat. We begin to try to carve out some kind of space that we can call our own.</p>
<p>Even beyond situations of broken homes or homelessness, this describes a lot of what I see in the American public psyche these days. Twenty-four-hour news cycles are dedicated to making us feel threatened, unsafe, or part of an unrelenting saga of tragedy. The sure fire way to whip up a crowd and get ratings is to make people believe their home field — their turf — is being threatened by some outside force; be it immigrants, minority communities, or the other political party. All it usually does is make us further disenfranchise those already disenfranchised. Ironically, the more narrowly we define “home” and to whom it belongs, the more threatened we will feel by “outsiders.” At the heart of the gospel is the story of outsiders becoming insiders.</p>
<p>We all need to feel “home” every once in a while. What would it look like for our churches and ministries to be more intentional about providing home field advantage to those who need it most? Who in your congregation might feel more like the visiting team, and what can you do to change that? Who in your community is despondent because they hear more “ughs” than cheers, and how can your congregation come alongside them in ways that no one else has?</p>
<p>In a way, there’s nothing safe about following Jesus. Christian discipleship, when we’re doing it right, is far outside our comfort zone and well beyond our cherished boundaries that help everything make sense. Jesus was clear about this reality, and preached a very difficult message. Nevertheless, people flocked to him, especially the forgotten and the outcasts.</p>
<p>Why? I can only assume that it was because they had finally found a home team.</p> | Home field advantage | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/home-field-advantage/ | 3 |
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<p>With the overall restaurant business being a bit frightening in 2016, a number of chains have decided to offer special Halloween deals or menu items to scare up some business.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>With industrywide traffic dropping at least 1.9% over each of the past five months, according to data from <a href="http://nrn.com/blog/discounts-arent-bringing-in-customers" type="external">MillerPulse Opens a New Window.</a>, as reported by Nation's Restaurant News, Halloween gives restaurants a chance to encourage sampling by lapsed customers while also attracting new ones. Whether that means offering something for free or rolling out a special treat just for the spooky holiday, eateries are getting creative with their offers,</p>
<p>Of course, Halloween alone won't turn around an industry which has struggled to bring people through its doors, but it can provide a bit of a jump-start. And with the holiday falling on a Monday. Halloween 2016 gives chains a chance to pump up sales on what is usually one of the slow days of the week.</p>
<p>Before you strap on your Dracula mask, put on your Pikachu costume, or attempt to be a sexy version of a not-so-sexy profession, it might be worth checking out one of these chains. These are not the only deals being offered this Halloween, but these are some of the best and/or most ridiculous.</p>
<p>Starbucks first introduced its Frappula Frappuccino in 2015. Image source: author.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) has been a leader in offering limited-time special drinks for holidays. This year, the coffee chain has brought back a Halloween-themed favorite it introduced last year, the Frappula Frappuccino.</p>
<p>The frozen beverage is "made with a layer of mocha sauceand a dollop of whipped cream on the bottom. White chocolate mocha sauce, milk and ice blended together are then layered on top, while a drizzle of strawberry puree oozes from the rim," the company explained in a <a href="https://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-frappula-frappuccino-2016" type="external">press release Opens a New Window.</a>. Finished with a layer of whipped cream, the Frappula was released Oct. 27 and will stay on Starbucks' menu until close of business on Halloween.</p>
<p>Starbucks rival Krispy Kreme, a company recently taken private by JAB Holdings, has a straightforward Halloween offer. Wear a costume and you will receive a free doughnut, including any of the company's special holiday lineup of doughnuts.</p>
<p>Dunkin' Brands' (NASDAQ: DNKN) Baskin-Robbins is offering all regular and kid-sized ice cream scoops for $1.31 on Halloween only. In addition, the chain is selling a special "Silly Monster cake," which is an ice cream cake that looks like a less-than-scary monster. It also has a take on its ice cream pizza called Halloween Polar Pizza, which features a double fudge brownie crust, Snickers ice cream, candy corn, M&amp;M's Minis, and a hot fudge drizzle.</p>
<p>After the year Chipotle (NYSE: CMG) has had, the chain might want to avoid doing anything the least bit scary. To celebrate the spooky holiday the company has brought back its "Boorito" promotion.This deal offers customers a $3 burrito, bowl, salad, or order of tacos if they come to any Chipotle location after 3 p.m. on Oct. 31.</p>
<p>Nothing says Halloween like an inexpensive corn dog. That may not be true in any way, but it has not stoppedSonic(NASDAQ: SONC) from offering 50-cent corn dogs on Halloween. Using the tag line "Bring your monster cravings," the chain has made no attempt to explain why it's offering up corn dog deals on this particular holiday, but you have all day Oct. 31 to indulge in the corn-meal-coated treat.</p>
<p>Halloween marks the last day Wendy's (NASDAQ: WEN) offers a popular annual promotion where customers can get five Frosty coupons to give away (or keep for yourself). Through the end of Oct. 31 the chain is selling coupon books for $1 that contain five certificates entitling the holder to a Frosty Jr. The promotion, which has been running since Sept. 19, benefits the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.</p>
<p>In addition to the offers above, Halloween diners can also bring their children ages 12 and under to IHOP from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. for a free Scary Face Pancake. If pancakes aren't your thing, Sbarro will offer any customer in costume a free XL NY Pizza slice with any $5 purchase. If you would rather skip trick-or-treating and opt for a sit-down Halloween meal, Outback Steakhouse is offering 15% off your meal through its app or via a <a href="https://www.outback.com/offers/15-percent-off-thru-10-31?utm_campaign=raise-10.27.16&amp;utm_medium=paid-social&amp;utm_content=discount&amp;utm_source=facebook" type="external">coupon Opens a New Window.</a> offered on its website.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Chipotle Mexican Grill 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>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of October 3, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/Dankline/info.aspx" type="external">Daniel Kline Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. He is not going out for Halloween, but plans to eat candy. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks. 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> | These Are the Best Halloween Food Deals and Specials | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/31/these-are-best-halloween-food-deals-and-specials.html | 2016-10-31 | 0 |
<p>Shares of power-plant operators declined as traders backed off bullish earnings bets on the sector.</p>
<p>Thousands of Irish homes and businesses remained without power after the biggest storm in the North Atlantic since the 1960s struck the island nation.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Rob Curran, [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 18, 2017 17:14 ET (21:14 GMT)</p> | Utilities Lower as Traders Back Off Earnings Bets -- Utilities Roundup | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/18/utilities-lower-as-traders-back-off-earnings-bets-utilities-roundup.html | 2017-10-18 | 0 |
<p>The conflict between Russia and the pro-US regime of Georgia has been a decisive turning-point in Russia’s relations with Washington and has taken us to the brink of a new Cold War.</p>
<p>For the first time in almost twenty years, the West faces a resurgent Russia that has put the trauma of the breakup of the Soviet Union and the resulting chaos behind. Today’s Russia is run by a younger leadership with autocratic efficiency, confident because of its vast energy resources and determined to resist American hegemony, by force if necessary. The crisis in Georgia goes beyond the Caucasus region. Its roots lie in America’s overwhelming ambition to expand and its tendency to make colossal miscalculations under the Bush presidency.</p>
<p>It is often said that the first casualty of war is truth. Behind the fog of disinformation coming from Washington, London, Tbilisi and, indeed, Moscow, the fact remains that the Russian invasion came after Georgia’s bombardment of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. The vast majority of residents in the enclave are Russian citizens and Moscow had deployed its peacekeepers there. Many experts in Europe are depressed over the events in Georgia and blame hardliners in the Bush administration for provoking the Georgian President, Mikheil Saakasvili, to adopt the aggressive posture that has brought this disaster.</p>
<p>What we see in Georgia is a classic proxy war between Russia and America, which has become heavily involved in the republic since a popular revolt in late 2003 ousted Eduard Shevardnadze from power, with Western help. Today, US troops occupy Georgian military bases of the Soviet era, on the southern fringe of Russia. America provides weapons, training and intelligence to the Georgian armed forces. America’s involvement, which began under the umbrella of the ‘war on terror’ after 9/11, has since become much more. If President Bush had his way, Georgia would be granted membership of NATO as part of the alliance’s expansion around Russia.</p>
<p>The impoverished former Soviet republic is, in effect, a pawn in the broader US design to encircle Russia. It is also located in a region which has some of the largest energy reserves in the world. For the Kremlin, the prospect of NATO coming so close to its southern borders is a step too far. Fortunately, some NATO members, most notably France and Germany, also do not see Georgia either as a full democracy or a stable country. And many in the alliance and the European Union have doubts about Saakasvili’s ability to take mature decisions.</p>
<p>In an era when America has assumed the right to launch pre-emptive strikes, it is difficult to see the Kremlin behaving differently. The prospect of Georgia joining NATO, which might deploy nuclear weapons on Georgian territory, is simply not acceptable to Russia. Remember the Cuban missile crisis of 1962? At the time, Soviet nuclear missiles, deployed just 90 miles from the coast of Florida, brought America and the Soviet Union close to a disastrous war and the Soviets were forced to back down. Does the White House not know history? Or do the neo-conservatives in the Bush administration not care?</p>
<p>Saakasvili’s decision to order the bombardment of the Russian-majority South Ossetia gave the Kremlin a convenient cover to invade Georgia, just as the Bush administration had found it expedient to invade Iraq in March 2003 based on claims that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction, which were never found. Russia is playing for bigger stakes now just as America did in Iraq a few years ago.</p>
<p>About one-fifth of Georgia has fallen under Russian military occupation and the Kremlin leadership seems to be in no mood to entertain the idea of Georgia’s territorial integrity in any negotiations sponsored by the West. There are daily condemnations of Moscow in the Western capitals. However, the West is powerless to prevent the Russians doing anything they want in Georgia.</p>
<p>This US-Russia proxy war in the Caucasus region has created a serious humanitarian crisis. President Saakasvili, the pro-US leader of Georgia, has been humiliated. Its chances of joining NATO are negligible after the latest events. They have demonstrated that the West cannot and will not intervene militarily to protect Georgia from the Russian threat. The most important clause in the NATO constitution says that an attack on one member-state will be regarded as an attack on the whole alliance, which will use all possible means to protect the member-state under threat. NATO’s inability to defend Georgia now is a defeat for the West. It is difficult to see how the alliance will accept the republic as a member.</p>
<p>The description by President Bush of the Russian action as ‘disproportionate and unacceptable’ is laughable in the context of America’s own conduct in its foreign wars in recent years. Washington should be more worried about the damage the crisis has done to its authority in the world. Diplomacy was never a strong point of the Bush administration. The blunders in Washington and Tbilisi have made the conduct of relations with Russia much more difficult. They may also have created other problems for the next occupant of the White House, for an increasing number of countries around the world may begin to look to Russia now that it has risen again.</p>
<p>DEEPAK TRIPATHI, a former BBC foreign correspondent and editor, is now a researcher and an author. He is writing a book on the Bush presidency. His website is <a href="http://deepaktripathi.wordpress.com" type="external">http://deepaktripathi.wordpress.com</a>.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | A Pawn in Their Game | true | https://counterpunch.org/2008/08/16/a-pawn-in-their-game/ | 2008-08-16 | 4 |
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<p>PHOENIX - Arizona school students could soon have another option to the state's standardized achievement test under legislation signed by Gov. Doug Ducey.</p>
<p>The bill Ducey signed Friday allows local school districts to choose from a "menu" of assessments approved by the state Board of Education in addition to the standardized AZMERIT test.</p>
<p>Republican Rep. Paul Boyer says his legislation is intended to offer more effective and high quality tests. High school students taking standard college entrance exams such as the SAT could avoid having to take the regular state test.</p>
<p>Boyer says the choices in House Bill 2544 will free schools from "teaching to the test" when students are already prepared for college entrance exams.</p>
<p>The new tests must meet current standards and low-performing districts still must use the AZMERIT test.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Ducey signs bill allowing 'menu' of school tests | false | https://abqjournal.com/739157/ducey-signs-bill-allowing-menu-of-school-tests.html | 2 |
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<p>Habib Zahori was deep in the forest, his face and fingers going numb. He was lost, freezing and growing desperate by the hour.</p>
<p>Like hundreds of refugees, Zahori was risking his life to sneak into Canada.</p>
<p>But Zahori was not fleeing some war-torn country. He was running away from the US.</p>
<p>Zahori worked as a journalist back in Kabul, Afghanistan, and his reporting on the war made him a target. In 2014, he came to the US for graduate school. And as he was preparing to go back home at the end of December 2015, he received a phone call from his mom. She said he was getting death threats and his life would be in danger if he returned.</p>
<p>At the time, the US was heading into a presidential election year, with Donald Trump as the leading Republican candidate. Zahori says a surge in anti-Muslim rhetoric in the US scared him. He was worried about what would happen if he tried to stay in the US — so he decided to flee to Canada.</p>
<p>He bought a small, beat-up bicycle, and a friend drove him to the border town of Houlton, Maine.</p>
<p>When they got to an unmanned area, Habib said goodbye and started pedaling toward the forest.</p>
<p>This is a first-hand account of his journey:</p>
<p>“When I reached those woods, I got off my bike and I started walking into the woods.</p>
<p>And there were these piles and piles of snow everywhere. I’d never seen that much snow, that high.</p>
<p>I think I was the only living thing walking there, with my bicycle… like, pushing my bicycle.</p>
<p>And I couldn't see anything.</p>
<p>And I took out my GPS. My GPS stopped working. And my phone stopped working. I couldn't use anything. I didn’t know where I was.</p>
<p>The other thing was that I’d read this book when I was still in Afghanistan: "Into the Wild."&#160;</p>
<p>[It’s] the story of this American, a young American guy, who just decided to go to Alaska, away from "civilization." And he ultimately died there. That book made me scared of snow, of trees.</p>
<p>And as I was biking, images from this book [just kept] coming to me.</p>
<p>And I was miserable. I was feeling miserable.</p>
<p>[At one point], I was deep in my thoughts and I suddenly heard dogs barking: Five, six dogs just started chasing me. I don’t think they ever saw a guy on a bicycle before.</p>
<p>But the good thing was that I was on the steep point of the road and I let the bicycle take me as fast as it could. And that was the only way that I managed to survive that dog chase.</p>
<p>And I remember thinking, wishing, ‘oh God, please, please send someone to arrest me!’ You know, I was ready to be even deported or go to jail. I just wanted that misery to end.</p>
<p>[That’s when] I heard the siren. And then I saw the police car.</p>
<p>I immediately stopped, just got off my bicycle and I raised my hands. And they arrested me.</p>
<p>And they put me in the back of their car.</p>
<p>I remember thinking that I was thirsty. I was so thirsty. My mouth was like a dry wood. And I couldn’t swallow even.</p>
<p>This one police officer opened a bottle of water and he held the bottle of water to my mouth and I drank from it.</p>
<p>I felt so relieved. I felt so so relieved that finally I was somewhere warm and that I was safe.</p>
<p>When my friends hear my story, they ask me why did I do it? And they ask me if I would do it again if I have to.</p>
<p>And I tell them, ‘Hell no! I will never do that again.’</p>
<p>That was one of the worst days of my life. And I'm someone who grew up during a civil war. Then the Taliban. Then the Americans. And I've seen so much. But I've never felt as miserable as that day.</p>
<p>But I was so desperate.”</p>
<p>Habib Zahori is now living in Ottawa. He has been granted asylum in Canada.</p> | Habib Zahori was scared to seek asylum in the US. So he pushed a rickety bicycle through snow to get to Canada. | false | https://pri.org/stories/2017-02-23/habib-zahori-was-scared-seek-asylum-us-so-he-pushed-rickety-bicycle-through-snow | 2017-02-23 | 3 |
<p>The UN Security Council has condemned the recent spate of terrorist attacks in Iraq. The attacks are targeting Iraq's large Christian minority. Five people died in attacks on Christian targets in Baghdad on Wednesday, last week, insurgents linked to al-Qaeda declared that all Christians in Iraq were legitimate targets. Jane Arraf is Iraq correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor.</p> | Targeting Iraq's Christians | false | https://pri.org/stories/2010-11-10/targeting-iraqs-christians | 2010-11-10 | 3 |
<p>The University of Missouri is in disarray after <a href="" type="internal">alleged racial injustices</a> occurred both on and off campus, reportedly neglected by administration, much to the displeasure of student groups such as <a href="" type="internal">Concerned Student 1950</a>. The campus soon erupted in riots and utter chaos resulting in the resignation of both the school’s president and chancellor.</p>
<p>This campus-combustion was highlighted today when, in a designated “free speech zone” on campus (apparently free speech is now only allocated to specific zones on American campuses), a black “activist” allegedly punched a Christian preacher (who was speaking about God) in the mouth, took the microphone and began to ramble on about “fighting back” and “oppression.</p>
<p>Someone associated with the communist group <a href="https://twitter.com/NYCRevClub" type="external">@NYCRevClub</a> assaulted a man in the free speech zone at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mizzou?src=hash" type="external">#Mizzou</a> today. <a href="https://t.co/jhGJu2EgG2" type="external">pic.twitter.com/jhGJu2EgG2</a></p>
<p>Apparently speaking about God did not fit the requirements of this specific “free speech zone.” Only in leftist-land academia do a) “free speech zones” have to exist and b) also have requirements.</p>
<p>"A man of God was assaulted in our ‘free speech zone’ on campus by someone associated with a group of African American Communists from New York for simply using his first amendment rights to spread the word of God."</p>
<p>Jake Loft of Gateway Pundit</p>
<p>Jake Loft of <a href="http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/11/missouri-student-physically-assaulted-in-free-speech-zone-for-preaching-chrisitianity/" type="external">Gateway Pundit</a> reported the incident and posted via Facebook:</p>
<p>“I can no longer stand on the outside of this. A man of God was assaulted in our ‘free speech zone’ on campus by someone associated with a group of African American Communists from New York for simply using his first amendment rights to spread the word of God. This protest has become an attack on free speech and it is wrong.”</p>
<p>Missouri Christian Preacher in "free speech zone" at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Mizzou?src=hash" type="external">#Mizzou</a> before assault <a href="https://t.co/Rg6fiOstQ5" type="external">pic.twitter.com/Rg6fiOstQ5</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.periscope.tv/w/1mnGeqqWqqNGX" type="external">Click here</a> to watch the whole video via Periscope.</p> | Black Activist Allegedly Punches Christian Preacher at Mizzou ‘Free Speech Zone’ | true | https://dailywire.com/news/1114/black-activist-allegedly-punches-christian-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2015-11-13 | 0 |
<p>Shock waves reverberated through Sacramento with the recently announced closure of a Comcast call center and an iconic Campbell’s Soup plant that has employed lower middle-income people here since 1947. Campbell’s Soup <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/27/4859774/campbell-soup-announces-closing.html" type="external">employed 700 people</a> who made as much as $20 an hour as members of the Teamsters Union.</p>
<p>Comcast <a href="http://www.kcra.com/news/Comcast-to-close-Calif-call-in-centers-slash-jobs/-/11797728/16735472/-/hxedh6/-/index.html" type="external">eliminated</a> 300 call center jobs in the Natomas area just north of the Sacramento River, but unlike Campbell’s Soup, Comcast at least offered these workers positions at call centers in Oregon, Washington and Colorado. If these trends continue, could the Sacramento Valley become a California Rust Belt?</p>
<p>Local businesses have been closing as well. Capitol Nursery, another iconic business that supplied plants and gardening supplies from its original, large South Land Park facility, announced the closure of this location about six weeks ago. With the bursting of the housing bubble, and competition from Home Depot, the demand for nursery plants and supplies plummeted, forcing Capitol Nursery to close this location. Just around the corner, Ford’s Real Hamburgers closed over the weekend.</p>
<p>Local economist Jeff Michael of the University of the Pacific says not to worry because Sacramento area job growth has increased 2.2% and unemployment has dropped to 10.3%. There are other reports that confirm Michael’s analysis, a <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/news/2012/08/22/job-growth-spurt-reported-in-sacramento.html" type="external">2.6% increase</a> in new jobs in July, for example, as well as a more recent Center for Strategic Economic Research quarterly report emphasizing five straight months of positive job growth.</p>
<p>So perhaps the recovery is here at last, but, if so, it is a tepid one, as the state as a whole has only <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/20/4644737/unemployment-drops-in-california.html" type="external">recovered about one third</a> of the jobs lost in the 2007-2009 recession. It is consistent with past findings that the 2007-2009 recession is <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/american-recessions-and-recoveries" type="external">noteworthy</a> for the severity of the decline in GDP and slow employment growth compared to previous recessions in 1973-1975, 1981-1983 and 1990-1991. Through the end of 2011, <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-05/state-GDP/55408890/1" type="external">only nine states</a> had recovered to the level of economic output that existed prior to the beginning of the recession.</p>
<p>Such slow job growth is intensified by declining median household income, as Sacramento, along with San Joaquin Valley cities like Fresno and Bakersfield, <a href="%E2%80%9D" type="external">have suffered extreme declines</a>. In 2007, Sacramento lagged the state median household income by only $250, but at the end of 2011, lagged it by $2,136. Shockingly, Sacramento is an anomaly to the extent that the situation here is better than the urban areas to the south. Modesto, Fresno and Bakersfield rank in the <a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/09/19/2999148/census-shows-that-fresno-is-among.html" type="external">top 5</a> of such areas nationally in terms of people living below the poverty line, with Modesto at 23.8%, Bakersfield at 24.5% and Fresno at 25.8%. Sacramento finds itself at a relatively blissful <a href="http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_1YR_GCT1701.US05PR&amp;prodType=table" type="external">17.7%</a>, just 1.8% above the national average.</p>
<p>Without question, despite some of the apples and oranges aspects of this data, the overall direction is clear. Inland California has suffered horribly as a result of the 2007-2009 recession, and the recovery, such as it is, is having minimal impact in terms of alleviating the distress experienced by the people who live here. There are increasing numbers of homeless people in the central city and their faces become recognizable to those who travel the area frequently. The visual decay&#160;of the residential and commercial landscape is striking when driving south on Highway 99, especially in comparison to the dynamism, however uneven, of the Bay Area.</p>
<p>Richard Walker, a geography professor at UC Berkeley, has examined how California has been adversely affected by the recent cycle of housing bubbles. Upon discovering that the population of rust belt cities like Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Dayton had declined by nearly half since 1960, I asked him if there could be a similar out-migration from the cities of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys in the coming decades. He paused for a moment, and responded by saying that he&#160;wouldn’t&#160;rule it out because one of the constants of geography is change. The Sacramento Valley could be living through the beginning of this process.</p> | California Rust Belt? Contraction of Sacramento Valley | false | https://ivn.us/2012/10/05/california-rust-belt-contraction-of-sacramento-valley/ | 2012-10-05 | 2 |
<p>Jan 23 (Reuters) - Bank of Iwate Ltd</p>
<p>* Says Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&amp;I) affirmed the company’s rating at “A” -R&amp;I</p>
<p>* Says rating outlook negative -R&amp;I</p>
<p>Source text in Japanese: <a href="https://goo.gl/a1sHjA" type="external">goo.gl/a1sHjA</a></p>
<p>Further company coverage: (Beijing Headline News)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Several U.S. states and civil rights groups promised on Tuesday to stop the federal government from asking people whether they are citizens in the 2020 Census, arguing it could discourage immigrants from participating and skew the makeup of Congress.</p> An attendee holds her new country's flag and her naturalization papers as she is sworn in during a U.S. citizenship ceremony in Los Angeles, U.S., July 18, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake
<p>The U.S. Commerce Department, which runs the Census Bureau, announced on Monday that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had decided to include the citizenship question. It said he had responded to a Justice Department request based on a desire for better enforcement of the Voting Rights Act, which protects minorities’ voting rights.</p>
<p>Ross had decided that “obtaining complete and accurate information to meet this legitimate government purpose outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts,” the Commerce Department said in a statement.</p>
<p>Opponents said they worried the addition of the question was intentionally designed to undercount immigrants, leaving them more marginalized by potentially reducing their representation in Congress and federal funding for local jurisdictions, which is determined by population.</p>
<p>“I can only see one purpose for why this question is being added: It is a scare tactic to try to scare Latinos and others from participating in the 2020 census,” Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Educational Fund, told reporters.</p>
<p>Others said it will disrupt years of planning and lack the rigorous testing that Census questions typically undergo to ensure an accurate count.</p>
<p>The census, which is mandated under the U.S. Constitution and takes place every 10 years, counts every person in the United States. It is used to determine the allocation to states of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and to distribute billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities. The citizenship question has not been asked since 1950.</p>
<p>New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement he would lead a multistate lawsuit to block the decision. A spokeswoman for his office said the suit would be filed once the Commerce Department submits its report to Congress, which is due Saturday, and the full list of cities and states joining the suit would then be revealed.</p>
<p>Separately, the State of California, which has a large immigrant population, filed a lawsuit early Tuesday in federal court against the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau.</p>
<p>California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California to issue a preliminary injunction and rule that the move violates the Constitution by interfering with the obligation to conduct a full count of the U.S. population.</p>
<p>Congress can intervene to pass legislation on the questionnaire, but President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans control both the Senate and House and are seen as unlikely to overturn a decision by his administration.</p>
<p>The administration argued that its decision to include the citizenship question was aimed at protecting minority rights.</p>
<p>Ross said in a memo that the Voting Rights Act requires a tally of citizens of voting age to protect minorities against discrimination, and that getting this information would make the census more complete. Non-citizens do not have the right to vote in federal and state elections. <a href="https://bit.ly/2pIZlXr" type="external">bit.ly/2pIZlXr</a></p>
<p>The announcement on the census question came as Trump seeks to keep his campaign promise to build a border wall between Mexico and the United States and to crack down on illegal immigration.</p>
<p>Opponents of the citizenship question say it could further discourage immigrants from participating in the count, especially when they are already fearful of how information could be used against them.</p>
<p>Reporting by Daniel Trotta in New York, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - America’s most sweeping expulsion of Russian diplomats since the Cold War may have seemed like a dramatic escalation in Washington’s response to Moscow, but the groundwork for a more confrontational U.S. posture had been taking shape for months — in plain sight.</p> U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jorge Silva
<p>While President Donald Trump’s conciliatory rhetoric toward Moscow has dominated headlines, officials at the U.S. State Department, Pentagon and White House made a series of lower-profile decisions over the past year to counter Russia around the world - from Afghanistan to North Korea to Syria.</p>
<p>The State Department earlier in March announced plans to provide anti-tank missiles to Ukraine to defend against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Trump’s predecessor as president, Barack Obama, had declined to do so over fears of provoking Moscow.</p>
<p>In Syria last month, the U.S. military killed or injured as many as 300 men working for a Kremlin-linked private military firm after they attacked U.S. and U.S.-backed forces. The White House, meanwhile, firmly tied Russia to deadly strikes on civilians in Syria’s eastern Ghouta region.</p>
<p>Both the White House and Pentagon’s top policy documents unveiled in January portrayed Russia as an adversary that had returned to the center of U.S. national security planning.</p>
<p>That was all before the United States said on Monday it would expel 60 Russian diplomats, joining governments across Europe in punishing the Kremlin for a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain that they have blamed on Moscow.</p>
<p>Russia has denied any involvement.</p>
<p>With Monday’s announcement, however, it was unclear whether Trump is promoting - or just acquiescing to - the tougher U.S. stance developed by his advisers and generals.</p>
<p>Trump’s critics sought to portray him as a reluctant actor in any get-tough approach to Russia, even though one senior administration official described him as involved “from the beginning” in the expulsions of Russian diplomats.</p>
<p>“It is disturbing how grudgingly he came to this decision,” said U.S. Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.</p>
<p>Still, the Trump administration’s actions run counter to widespread perception, fueled by the president’s own statements, that Trump has softened America’s stance toward Russian President Vladimir Putin amid a U.S. investigation into Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.</p> The flag of the Russian Federation flies at the Russian Embassy in Washington, U.S., March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
<p>Regardless of the tough actions, the inconsistent messaging may undermine Washington’s strategy to deter Moscow’s aggressive behavior, experts warn.</p>
<p>“U.S. signaling is all undercut by Trump’s lack of seriousness about Russia,” said Andrew Weiss, a Russia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.</p>
<p>Just last Tuesday, Trump congratulated Putin on his re-election, drawing sharp criticism from fellow Republicans.</p>
<p>But in another sign of mixed messaging, Trump two days later named John Bolton, a strident Russia hawk, to become his national security adviser.</p> Slideshow (2 Images) DOWNWARD SPIRAL
<p>Although the nerve agent attack was the official trigger for the U.S. expulsions, Trump administration officials warned that the attack should not be viewed in isolation, citing a series of destabilizing and aggressive actions by Moscow.</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, Trump’s top commander on the ground accused Russia again last week of arming Taliban militants.</p>
<p>On North Korea, Trump himself told Reuters in January that Russia was helping Pyongyang evade United Nations sanctions.</p>
<p>And less than two weeks ago, the Trump administration imposed the first sanctions against Russia for election meddling and cyber attacks, though it held off on punishing business magnates close to Putin.</p>
<p>U.S. officials and experts widely expect ties to further deteriorate, at least in the near term, and caution that Russia’s next steps could extend far beyond retaliation against American diplomats.</p>
<p>“The risk of escalation doesn’t just come from tit-for-tat punishments,” said Matthew Rojansky, a Russia expert at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington, citing the potential for more aggressive moves from the Middle East to the cyber realm.</p>
<p>U.S. officials have said the Trump administration still seeks to avoid a complete rupture in bilateral relations. One official said Russian cooperation was still sought to address thorny diplomatic issues like North Korea and Iran.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by John Walcott; editing by Mary Milliken and G Crosse</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May called on Tuesday for a “long-term response” by the West to the security threat from Russia as NATO followed member states in expelling Russian diplomats over the poisoning of a double agent in England.</p>
<p>In the most sweeping such action against Moscow since the height of the Cold War, the United States and European Union members plan to expel scores of Russian diplomats in action against the Kremlin for the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter which they have blamed on Russia.</p>
<p>Russia, which denies any part in the March 4 attack on the Skripals, says the West’s action is a “provocative gesture” and has said it will respond.</p>
<p>The coordinated action among Western allies is seen as a huge diplomatic coup for May whose country is preparing to exit the EU bloc and may have had doubts about how much support she could count on.</p>
<p>Speaking to senior cabinet members in London on Tuesday, May said countries had acted against Russia not just out of solidarity but because they recognized the threat it posed.</p>
<p>“Yesterday was a significant moment in our response to this reckless act of aggression, but there is still more to be done as we work with international partners on a long-term response to the challenge posed by Russia,” her spokesman reported May as saying.</p>
<p>The U.S.-led NATO alliance followed suit announcing on Tuesday it was expelling seven diplomats from Russia’s mission at alliance headquarters in Brussels and blocking the appointment of three others, thus cutting the size of the mission to 20 people from 30.</p>
<p>“It sends a very clear message to Russia that it has costs,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.</p>
<p>EU member Ireland and Moldova on Tuesday joined the list of those countries expelling Russian diplomats over the Skripal poisoning.</p>
<p>The list includes 22 European countries including Britain itself which led the way by expelling 23 diplomats.</p> FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves a European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir EXPULSIONS
<p>In the toughest action that President Donald Trump has taken against Russia since coming to office, the United States has said it will expel 60 Russians, including 12 intelligence officers from Russia’s mission to the U.N. headquarters in New York.</p>
<p>It is also closing the Russian consulate in Seattle.</p>
<p>Trump discussed Russia in separate phone calls on Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.</p>
<p>The leaders endorsed the Western response to Russia’s chemical weapons attack in Britain, including the expulsion of Russian diplomatic personnel, the White House said.</p>
<p>U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis hailed the diplomatic expulsions as a statement to those who doubted the unity of NATO.</p>
<p>“Russia has the potential to be a partner with Europe ... (but) I think right now we have to recognize that they have chosen to seek a different relationship with the NATO nations,” he told reporters.</p>
<p>In Prague, Paul Ryan, the Republican U.S. House Speaker, on Tuesday commended unity shown over the affair. “It is important that we work in solidarity with each other, free people in democracies to stop Russia and condemn Russia for this kind of belligerent activity,” Ryan said.</p>
<p>Russia has not disclosed yet what retaliatory steps it will take. President Vladimir Putin was on Tuesday in the Siberian city of Kemerovo at the scene of a shopping mall fire which claimed many lives. He made no comment on the Skripal affair.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-britain-russia-eu-diplomacy/throwing-brexit-to-the-wind-how-the-eu-rallied-around-britain-over-russia-idUSKBN1H32ES" type="external">Throwing Brexit to the wind: how the EU rallied around Britain over Russia</a>
<a href="/article/us-britain-russia-expulsions-factbox/diplomatic-moves-against-russia-after-nerve-gas-attack-idUSKBN1H31KC" type="external">Diplomatic moves against Russia after nerve gas attack</a>
<a href="/article/us-britain-russia-nato/nato-expels-seven-russian-diplomats-limits-size-of-mission-idUSKBN1H31XI" type="external">NATO expels seven Russian diplomats, limits size of mission</a>
<p>Skripal’s poisoning, which Britain says was caused by use of the Soviet-era military-grade nerve agent Novichok, is the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War Two.</p>
<p>The attack on the 66-year-old Skripal and Yulia Skripal, his 33-year-old daughter, took place in the English cathedral city of Salisbury where he had been living since being swapped in a spy exchange deal in 2010.</p>
<p>They were found on March 4 unconscious on a public bench in the city and a British court says they may have suffered permanent brain damage in the attack.</p>
<p>The Kremlin has accused Britain of whipping up an anti-Russia campaign and sought to cast doubt on the British analysis that Moscow was responsible.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart and David Alexander in Washington, Robin Emmott in Brussels and Padraic Halpin in Dublin, Matthias Williams and Natalia Zinets in Kiev; Writing By Richard Balmforth; Editing by Andrew Heavens</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Russia are working on a historic long-term pact that could extend controls over world crude supplies by major exporters for many years.</p> Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman attends the Annual Horse Race ceremony, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, December 30, 2017. Bandar Algaloud/Courtesy of Saudi Royal Court/Handout via REUTERS
<p>Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters that Riyadh and Moscow were considering a deal to greatly extend a short-term alliance on oil curbs that began in January 2017 after a crash in crude prices.</p>
<p>“We are working to shift from a year-to-year agreement to a 10 to 20 year agreement,” the crown prince told Reuters in an interview in New York late on Monday.</p>
<p>“We have agreement on the big picture, but not yet on the detail.”&#160;</p>
<p>Russia, not a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, has worked alongside the 14-member group during previous oil gluts, but a 10 to 20 year deal between the two would be unprecedented.</p>
<p>Top OPEC producer Saudi Arabia recruited Russia and other non-OPEC countries to help drain oversupply when oil prices collapsed to below $30 a barrel in 2016 from over $100 in 2014.</p>
<p>Crude has since recovered to $70 but fast-rising output from U.S. shale producers has capped prices.</p>
<p>“This is all about whether the arrangement is a short-term expedient to deal with this particular crisis in the oil market, or whether it reflects a realignment in world oil,” said oil historian Daniel Yergin, vice chairman at consultancy IHS Markit.</p>
<p>“OPEC countries want to find a way to institutionalize this relationship rather than to have it be a one-shot deal.”</p>
<p>Robert McNally at consultancy Rapidan Energy Group said Riyadh wanted help in breaking the boom-bust cycles that characterize oil markets by capping crude on the upside as well as by helping lift low oil prices.</p>
<p>“History shows that without a long-term, powerful, competent coherent, disciplined swing producer in the oil markets ... you get space-mountain oil prices. Wild volatility of the sort we have seen in the past 10 to 15 years and that Saudi Arabia and Russia do not want to see again,” McNally said.</p>
<p>He said that would require Russia to join Saudi in building spare production capacity to use when prices rise too much.</p> The Russian flag and the OPEC logo are seen before a news conference in Vienna, Austria, October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger SAUDI, RUSSIA ALLIANCE “THICKER THAN OIL”
<p>A long-term pact between Moscow and Riyadh would effectively co-opt Russia to the Saudi-led OPEC cartel while strengthening Russia’s hand in the Middle East where the United States has long been the dominant super-power.</p>
<p>News of the potential oil alliance came at a time when the two have been working to cement an economic relationship despite being at odds over the conflict in Syria, where they back opposing sides.</p>
<p>Riyadh supports rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s army, while Russian and Iranian forces have backed Assad – meaning that Russia effectively sides with Iran, Riyadh’s regional arch-foe.</p>
<p>A meeting between the Saudi crown prince and Russian president Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in China in September 2016 was instrumental in bringing Russia on board to support OPEC, non-OPEC oil curbs.</p>
<p>Last October, Saudi King Salman became the first Saudi monarch to visit Russia, providing investment and political support for a Russian economy battered by Western sanctions.</p>
<p>“It is a very important strategic development,” Helima Croft at RBC Capital Markets said of a potential 10 to 20 year Saudi-Russia oil collaboration.</p>
<p>“First, the Crown Prince is making the statement, not the oil minister, one more clear sign that he (like Putin) is the final word on his country’s oil policy.</p>
<p>“Second it is one more sign of the major reversal in Saudi-Russia relations. Saudi was a staunch cold war ally of the U.S. Now this Russia-Saudi alliance appears to be thicker than oil and seems to be driven by the personal affinity between Putin and MBS,” said Croft.</p> ARAMCO IPO LATE 2018, EARLY 2019
<p>The crown prince predicted that world oil demand would not peak until 2040, despite advances in renewable energy technologies and the electric vehicle.</p>
<p>In an attempt to end Saudi Arabia’s reliance on oil, he is leading a push to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil and gas by 2030.</p>
<p>Riyadh plans to raise funds through the flotation of a 5 percent stake in state Saudi oil company Aramco. Time is running out for an initial public offering this year but the crown prince said the IPO could still take place at the end of 2018 or in early 2019, depending on financial market conditions.</p>
<p>Saudi Oil Minister Khalid al-Falih said last week that documentation was ready but that a venue for the IPO had not yet been decided. The New York stock exchange is still in the running for the IPO, alongside London and Hong Kong, but Falih said there was a risk of a “frivolous” legal action if Aramco were listed in the United States.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Stephen Adler, Jessica Resnick-Ault; Editing by Frances Kerry, Toni Reinhold</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-R&I affirms Bank of Iwate's rating at "A" and says negative outlook -R&I States, civil rights groups vow to fight U.S. Census citizenship question Before expulsions, a brick-by-brick hardening of U.S. stance toward Russia Britain's May calls for 'long-term response' to Russia after spy poisoning Exclusive: OPEC, Russia consider 10- to 20-year oil alliance - Saudi Crown Prince | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-ri-affirms-bank-of-iwates-rating-a/brief-ri-affirms-bank-of-iwates-rating-at-a-and-says-negative-outlook-ri-idUSL4N1PI2P0 | 2018-01-23 | 2 |
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<p>Atonette Magoosh, 7, of Mescalero Apache and Isleta Pueblo heritage, has her photo taken with Kalisha Anderson, left, Junior Miss Jicarilla Apache, and Shaylynn Begay, Miss Jicarilla Apache, in the rotunda of the state Capitol on Friday, American Indian Day at the Legislature. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>SANTA FE – Republican Gov. Susana Martinez was the sole speaker at the Legislature’s American Indian Day session on Friday, prompting complaints from some Democratic lawmakers – including Indian members of the House – that tribal leaders were sidelined.</p>
<p>Historically, the day has featured a series of speeches by New Mexico’s tribal leaders, outlining their priorities to a joint session of the Legislature.</p>
<p>In a change of format, Martinez gave the speech, much of it focused on education issues and advances by Native American students.</p>
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<p>She honored Navajo state Sen. John Pinto, D-Gallup, for his longtime advocacy on behalf of his constituents. And she singled out for praise some other current and former Indian lawmakers – including ex-Rep. Sandra Jeff of Crownpoint, a maverick Democrat who sometimes supported Martinez’s agenda.</p>
<p>House Democrats who are Native American – and who were not publicly acknowledged by Martinez – later complained that the format put politics first and said they were not given the opportunity to introduce their tribal guests.</p>
<p>Rep. Georgene Louis, D-Albuquerque, said the day historically had been “the one opportunity that our tribes, nations and pueblo leaders have to address both chambers of our Legislature.”</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, also weighed in, noting the history of having tribal leaders take an active part in the celebration.</p>
<p>“Many believe the departure from that to be disrespectful and unprecedented. … After all, this day was established to honor them and their culture,” Sanchez said.</p>
<p>Republican Rep. Sharon Clahchischilliage, a Navajo from Kirtland, said in response to the Democrats’ complaints that she personally asked Martinez to speak and that “it was an honor to have her address our tribes, and celebrate our rich culture and heritage.”</p>
<p>“That anyone would suggest otherwise is outlandish and nothing more than a political stunt with the shameful goal of dividing us,” Clahchischilliage said in a statement.</p>
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<p /> | Breaking tradition, governor is sole speaker at American Indian Day | false | https://abqjournal.com/538065/a-departure-from-tradition.html | 2 |
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<p>2016 was supposed to be a transformative year forTransEnterix (NYSEMKT: TRXC), but it turned out to be a bit of a nightmare instead. Investors were hoping the company would win regulatory approval for its low-cost SurgiBot system, but those hopes were dashed after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/21/why-transenterix-inc-was-obliterated-today.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">rejected Opens a New Window.</a>its submission.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In response, TransEnterix has shifted all of its resources to the launch of itsSenhance Surgery system, which was formerly called the ALF-X. While it is possible that the Senhance system could go on to become a smashing success, here's a look at three reasons why TransEnterix's stock could continue to disappoint investors.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>While TransEnterix's Senhance system is currently available for sale abroad, the company is acutely aware that the U.S. is a fertile hunting ground for robotic surgery sales. That's why the company is pushing hard to have the Senhance system sent off for FDA approval "in early 2017." If all goes well, the company could have the device on the market before year-end.</p>
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<p>While I am hopeful that the company learned a lot of valuable lessons from its SurgiBot 510(k) submission fiasco, regulatory success is never guaranteed. Yet another "no" decision from the FDA could be enough of a blow to turn the last of the company's bulls into bears.</p>
<p>Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) pioneered the use of robotic surgery, and the company has enjoyed a monopoly position for nearly two decades, so you can bet that it won't look kindly upon the potential for competition.</p>
<p>During TransEnterix's first-quarter 2016 earnings call with investors, CEO Todd Pope gave shareholders a glimpse at just how far Intuitive Surgical is willing to go in order to win deals and maintain its title as the market-share leader:</p>
<p>"We have, however, been somewhat surprised by the competitive response, which has included withdrawing their high-end platform and substituting refurbished older technology at a highly discounted price."</p>
<p>If Intuitive Surgical starts to offer big discounts on its systems to steal deals away from TransEnterix, then the latter will have a hard time gaining traction. This is a tool that Intuitive might be able to use indefinitely, as it is already <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/20/intuitive-surgical-inc-wows-with-yet-another-impre.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">highly profitable Opens a New Window.</a>and has a balance sheet that is packed with cash. That might be enough to convince any hospital systems that are on the fence to stick with the market-share leader.</p>
<p>Image Source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>As of the end of September, TransEnterix had only $53 million in cash on its balance sheet. Because the company's spending is likely to ramp up given the marketing muscle that it is putting behind the Senhance system, its losses are likely to grow. That could be a big problem, coming on the heels of the company's $12.9 million loss in the third quarter alone.</p>
<p>Over the last few months, TransEnterix was able to raise up to $25 million in capital through a common-stock purchase agreement with Lincoln Park Capital Fund. It also received a $5.2 million investment from Italian pharma SOFAR S.p.A., which should buy it additional time. However, these moves are likely to be only temporary remedies. A more substantial capital raise could be in store in the coming months, which at current prices is an unappealing prospect. If the company can't access a lot more capital without seriously diluting current shareholder value, then its shares could be in a position to tumble.</p>
<p>Can TransEnterix successfully navigate around all of these landmines and turn into a winning investment? Only time will tell.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than TransEnterix 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>
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<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=2e8ff493-84f4-40d7-b7f7-f529c434add8&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 3 Reasons TransEnterix Inc Stock Could Fall | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/05/3-reasons-transenterix-inc-stock-could-fall.html | 2017-02-05 | 0 |
<p>With so much going on in the Trump administration, it’s easy to forget some of the original complaints that Democrats had with President Donald Trump. However, Democrats have not forgotten, and it seems one Republican hasn’t, either.</p>
<p>Democrats have never forgotten that Trump refused, and still refuses, to release his tax returns — despite the fact that it’s been a longstanding tradition that all presidents and presidential candidates in modern history release their tax returns&#160;to the public. The Hill <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/334225-gop-lawmaker-signs-onto-democratic-push-to-demand-trumps-tax-returns" type="external">reported</a>:</p>
<p>‘…Democrats launched a procedure known as a discharge petition last month on Rep. Anna Eshoo’s (D-Calif.) bill requiring presidents and presidential candidates to provide their last three years of federal income tax returns to the Office of Government Ethics or the Federal Election Commission.’</p>
<p>A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discharge_petition" type="external">discharge petition</a> is a method of&#160;bringing a bill out of committee to the floor, even if the chair of a committee won’t report the bill. Though rare, it’s a method to give individual representatives more power. To have a successful discharge petition, an absolute majority is required.</p>
<p>Though the original bill was co-sponsored by three Republicans, those three representatives have not signed the petition. They include Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Justin Amash (R-Mich.), and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.). However, one Republican joined Democrats in the fight for transparency. Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) has joined with Democrats on the petition. It is rare for Republicans to join with Democrats on procedural efforts. For example, Rep. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) co-sponsored the original bill; however, he does not support the procedural effort.</p>
<p>The Hill reported discharge petitions require 218 signatures to bring a bill out of the committee to the House floor for a vote. Currently, the petition has 191 signatures. As they are used by the minority party,&#160;a successful&#160;discharge petition is rare. The last two discharge petitions that passed were in 2015 and in 2002.</p>
<p>Rep. Jones also signed another discharge petition created by Democrats that would hit Trump hard. That discharge petition called for a vote on a bill that would create an independent commission to probe the Trump campaign’s ties to&#160;Russia, as well as Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.</p>
<p>He was also the first Republican to call for chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to recuse himself from the committee’s investigation into Trump’s relationship with Russia. He <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/28/rep-walter-jones-becomes-first-republican-to-call-on-nunes-to-step-aside-in-russia-probe.html" type="external">called</a> Nunes “tainted.”</p>
<p>‘I’m frustrated by the fact that the American people have a right to know the truth. Certain actions by the chairman have hurt the credibility of the committee.’</p>
<p>His history with not toeing the line with his Republican colleagues is fairly prominent. He once <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20050830211940/http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/2408783p-8786693c.html" type="external">said</a>, “I would rather do what I think is right than to sell my political soul.” Despite that, he’s popular with his constituency and in his “last competitive race” he won by 61 percent.</p>
<p>He’s also the guy that called for French fries to be renamed to freedom fries after France opposed the Iraq invasion in 2003. However, he <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/25/usa.jamiewilson1" type="external">changed</a> his stance on the Iraq war in 2005 saying the U.S. invaded Iraq “with no justification.” He told one reporter he wished the “freedom fries” thing had never happened. In 2005, he <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_B._Jones_Jr.#cite_note-43" type="external">introduced</a> legislation to bring U.S. troops home. In 2007, he voted yes to a bill that would have forced former President George W. Bush to withdraw troops by 2008.</p>
<p>Though the discharge petition is almost guaranteed to fail, the effort spearheaded by&#160;Democrats a sign that they&#160;won’t give up. Furthermore, the fact that Jones refuses to conform to his party’s hero worship of the orange demigod gives some hope that maybe, at some point, enough Republicans will come to their addled senses that Trump was, and is, a corrupt man.</p>
<p>Featured Image by Alex Wong/ <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/53298236" type="external">Getty Images</a>.</p> | Republican Stuns Trump & Moves To Force Immediate Release Of His Tax Returns | true | http://bipartisanreport.com/2017/05/20/republican-stuns-trump-moves-to-force-immediate-release-of-his-tax-returns/ | 2017-05-20 | 4 |
<p>NBC News said Monday it has terminated its contract with Mark Halperin, the political journalist who was accused of sexual harassment by several women when he worked at ABC News more than a decade ago.</p>
<p>Since the charges came to light last week, publisher Penguin Press canceled a planned book by Halperin and John Heilemann about the 2016 election and HBO pulled the plug on a miniseries that would have been based on the book. Showtime also said Halperin would not be brought back with co-hosts Heilemann and Mark McKinnon should the political series "The Circus" be renewed.</p>
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<p>At NBC News, Halperin was a contributor who was most visible as a regular panelist on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." The network had initially suspended him last week.</p>
<p>Halperin has apologized for his behavior and said he sought counseling. He said he acknowledges and apologizes for conduct that was often aggressive and crude.</p>
<p>"No one had filed a human resources complaint against me, no colleague had confronted me," he said on Twitter. "But I didn't need a call from HR to know that I was a selfish, immature person, who was behaving in a manner that had to stop."</p>
<p>Journalist Eleanor McManus was interviewed by NBC's Megyn Kelly on Monday, describing how Halperin tried to kiss her and more in his office in the late 1990s, when she was a college student and had been invited by him to give career advice. She said she quickly left the office and didn't report the incident, and that the stories that emerged about Halperin last week made her angry.</p>
<p>"I'm angry because I was silent, and because I was silent this happened to other people," she said.</p>
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<p>She said Halperin's behavior was "an open secret," and that she's upset that some women did not pursue journalism as a career because of what had happened to them.</p>
<p>Halperin said on Twitter that some of the allegations made against him were not true, although he did not specify which ones. "But I realize that's a small point in the scheme of things," he said.</p> | NBC fires Mark Halperin after sexual harassment accusations | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/30/nbc-fires-mark-halperin-after-sexual-harassment-accusations.html | 2017-10-30 | 0 |
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<p>Under Armour may be running a different race than the market thinks. Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>WhenUnder Armour Inc.(NYSE: UA) (NYSE: UA-C) reported earnings for the third quarter on Oct. 25, there was a lot to like. The company delivered its 26th consecutive quarter of 20%-plus revenue growth, double-digit operating income and net income growth that exceeded most pre-earnings estimates, and management committed to continuing to invest in growth.</p>
<p>But a few things stood out in Under Armour's earnings presentation, including a drop in gross margin percent, a slowing of growth in North American apparel sales, and a big reduction in the company's guidance for operating income growth over the next several years. The result? Multiple Wall Street analyst downgrades, and a big sell-off of its stock, which has fallen more than 17% since the earnings release.</p>
<p>What should investors make of this quarter, as well as the change in guidance for near-term profits? Let's take a closer look at Under Armour's results and what management had to say about what it is doing.</p>
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<p>Revenue, net income, and operating income in millions. Data source: Under Armour. YOY = year over year.</p>
<p>As the numbers above show, Under Armour continued growing at a fast clip, but margin compression meant operating income grew at a slower rate than revenue. Here's a closer look at how Under Armour performed in key categories:</p>
<p>There has been growing concern in the investor community in recent months that the North American market continues to soften. And while that is happening, Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank offered up some important context, as well as pointing out how footwear remains a huge growth opportunity not only in North America but around the world:</p>
<p>Plank also highlighted the importance of China to Under Armour's international growth:</p>
<p>He also emphasized the company's investments in expanding its presence in multiple international markets, and how it was part of the long-term strategy that would mean higher spending in the short term in order to achieve long-term goals:</p>
<p>Lastly, Plank described why the company would continue to prioritize Connected Fitness:</p>
<p>Pardon the bad sports analogy above, but it's fitting. Under Armour operates in a very competitive industry, and against some behemoths in Nike and Adidaswith much greater resources and long track records of historical success. Factor in what's looking like a cyclical decline in demand for athletic apparel in the West in the near term -- a shift that could increase price competition and further squeeze margins and profitability, and Under Armour management acknowledged that its operating income isn't likely to grow over the next few years at the rate the company had projected at last year's analyst day.</p>
<p>However, Plank and his team aren't going to back down on investing in innovation -- both product development and Connected Fitness -- nor are they going to back off investing aggressively to grow the brand's retail presence and distribution partnerships outside North America.</p>
<p>And while a nonplussed market has voted against this strategy in recent days, Under Armour's track record of success -- by doing exactly what it's choosing to do now -- should make long-term investors think twice about following the herd.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2667&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/elihpaudio/info.aspx" type="external">Jason Hall Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Under Armour (A Shares) and Under Armour (C Shares). The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends NKE, Under Armour (A Shares), and Under Armour (C Shares). 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> | Under Armour's Commitment to Growth Doesn't Jibe With Market Expectations | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/28/under-armour-commitment-to-growth-doesnt-jibe-with-market-expectations.html | 2016-10-28 | 0 |
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
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<p>On the surface, yieldcos should be among the safest stocks on the market. They own renewable energy projects with long-term contracts to sell electricity to utilities over the course of decades, creating a very predictable stream of cash flows.</p>
<p>With that in mind, how can TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global lose 80% of their value in less than a year? And what can investors learn from it?</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/TERP" type="external">TERP</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The first thing to understand is that yieldcos can be structured and financed in very different ways. 8point3 Energy Partners has chosen to finance its projects with a combination of equity and corporate-level debt. It isn't taking debt onto specific projects (although it could in the future), which is a more conservative approach to financing.</p>
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<p>Assets within the portfolio can also be very different. NRG Yield owns solar, wind, and a few fossil fuel plants. As wholesale electricity prices have fallen, the natural gas assets have made less money than anticipated, and wind assets have also underperformed, the stock has declined.</p>
<p>Where TerraForm Power went wrong was using a heavy amount of leverage at both the corporate and project level to buy projects from parent SunEdison. That has led to financing problems, which I'll cover below.</p>
<p>TerraForm Global bought projects in India that weren't even completed, putting project-level financing on the assets. When SunEdison went bankrupt and failed to complete the projects as planned, the company was in trouble. And now those structural decisions are coming back to haunt the company.</p>
<p>I've already mentioned that yieldcos use some combination of corporate- and project-level debt. And the difference between the two is really important. If a company uses just corporate debt, investors can see what overall cash flows look like, where they're trending, and how debt costs compare to those cash flows. Excess above the cost of debt and what the company keeps for future growth should be returned to shareholders in the form of a dividend.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Project-level debt can be much more complicated. There can be covenants related to the health of a parent company, production from the assets, reporting of financial statements, cash reserves for a project, or any number of other requirements creditors want. And often stock investors don't know the minute details of these contracts.</p>
<p>This is exactly what has gotten TerraForm Power and TerraForm Global in trouble this year. According to Moody's, TerraForm Power faces potential default on 10 project-level loans because of different clauses, and TerraForm Global faces the same problems with five loans. And it's that project-level debt that could end up costing them millions in reserves, triggering higher interest rates, or even pulling them into bankruptcy.</p>
<p>A company like 8point3 Energy Partners or NRG Energy may not provide the growth or excitement the TerraForms did for a while, but they're also a lot safer for investors because they're not as highly leveraged, and 8point3 Energy Partners has avoided project-level debt.</p>
<p>After what we've seen in the past six months in renewable energy, safety matters.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/18/renewable-energy-yieldcos-may-not-be-as-safe-as-yo.aspx" type="external">Renewable Energy Yieldcos May Not Be As Safe As You Think Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFlushDraw/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Travis Hoium Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of 8point3 Energy Partners LP. The Motley Fool recommends Moody's. 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> | Renewable Energy Yieldcos May Not Be As Safe As You Think | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/18/renewable-energy-yieldcos-may-not-be-as-safe-as-think.html | 2016-06-18 | 0 |
<p>The Energy Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLE), the largest exchange traded fund dedicated to stocks in the S&amp;P 500’s seventh-largest sector, is down 9.5% year-to-date, but some market observers believe the energy sector is poised to end its slump. Some analysts believe the energy sector can deliver upside for investors later this year. Energy is… <a href="https://www.etftrends.com/2017/04/energy-etfs-end-of-slump-could-be-near/" type="external">Click to read more at ETFtrends.com. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Energy ETFs: End of Slump Could be Near | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/25/energy-etfs-end-slump-could-be-near.html | 2017-04-25 | 0 |
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