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<p>FARGO, N.D. (NDSU Athletics) -- North Dakota State free safety Tre Dempsey was named to the Walter Camp FCS All-America Team on Thursday, Dec. 21. It is his second All-America award of the season.</p>
<p>Dempsey, a senior from Lakeland, Fla., leads the Missouri Valley Football Conference with six interceptions and has four pass breakups. He is tied for second in NDSU history and is first among FCS active players with 16 career interceptions. Dempsey has 47 tackles including 28 solo stops this season, plus one interception return for a touchdown.</p>
<p>No. 2 seed North Dakota State (13-1) advanced to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Game for the sixth time in seven years and will face top-seeded defending national champion James Madison (14-0) at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, at 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 6.</p>
<p>Walter Camp, “The Father of American football,” first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team. Visit www.waltercamp.org for more information.</p>
<p>2017 Walter Camp FCS All-America TeamOffenseWR - Keelan Doss, UC DavisWR - Neil O'Connor, New HampshireOL - Aaron Stinnie, James MadisonOL - Brandon Parker, North Carolina A&amp;TOL - Justin Lea, Jacksonville StateOL - John Cook, Central ArkansasC - Tyler Scozzaro, Jacksonville StateQB - Chris Streveler, South DakotaQB - Jeremiah Briscoe, Sam Houston StateRB - Dominick Bragalone, LehighRB - Josh Mack, MainePK - Trey Tuttle, Weber State</p>
<p>DefenseDL - Darius Jackson, Jacksonville StateDL - Andrew Ankrah, James MadisonDL - Jonathan Petersen, San DiegoDL - Ahmad Gooden, SamfordLB - Brett Taylor, Western IllinoisLB - Darius Leonard, South Carolina StateLB - Matthew Oplinger, YaleDB - Mike Basile, MonmouthDB - Marlon Bridges, Jacksonville StateDB - Tremon Smith, Central ArkansasDB - Tre Dempsey, North Dakota StateP - Joe Zema, Incarnate WordKR - Rashid Shaheed, Weber State</p> | NDSU’s Dempsey Named to Walter Camp FCS All-America Team | false | http://valleynewslive.com/content/sports/NDSUs-Dempsey-Named-to-Walter-Camp-FCS-All-America-Team-465760253.html | 2018-10-11 | 1 |
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<p>Yet most of the mess was caused by, or made worse by, growing U.S. indifference and paralysis.</p>
<p>Over the last five-and-a-half years, America has had lots of clear choices, but the administration usually took the path of least short-term trouble, which has ensured long-term hardship.</p>
<p>There was no need to “reset” the relatively mild punishments that the George W. Bush administration had accorded Vladimir Putin’s Russia for invading Georgia in 2008. By unilaterally normalizing relations with Russia and trashing Bush, Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton only green-lighted further Russian aggression that has now spread to Crimea and Ukraine.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>There was no need for Obama, almost immediately upon assuming office, to distance the U.S. from Israel by criticizing Israel’s policies and warming to its enemies, such as authoritarian Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and Hamas.</p>
<p>Any time Israel’s enemies have glimpsed growing distance in the U.S.-Israeli friendship, they seek only to pry it still wider. We see just that with terrorists in Gaza who launch hundreds of missiles into Israel on the expectation that the U.S. will broker a favorable deal that finds both sides equally at fault.</p>
<p>Sanctions had crippled Iran to the point that it soon would have grown desperate to meet U.S. demands to stop its nuclear enrichment.</p>
<p>Instead, Obama eased trade restrictions just as they were coming to fruition. Iran is now on its way to acquiring a bomb, while supplying missiles to Hamas and Hezbollah.</p>
<p>We had an option in Libya to let the tottering but reforming Muammar Gadhafi government fend for itself. Or we could have taken out Gadhafi and then sent in peacekeepers to ensure a transition to ordered government. But the Obama administration did neither.</p>
<p>Instead, the U.S. participated in a multi-nation bombing campaign and all but guaranteed that a failed state would be left on Europe’s doorstep. Now we have just closed our embassy in Tripoli and fled the country entirely.</p>
<p>There were once viable choices in Egypt. Instead, the administration managed to alienate the old Hosni Mubarak regime, alienate the elected Muslim Brotherhood that immediately tried to subvert the democracy, and alienate the military junta that stepped in to stop the Islamization of Egypt. All of these rival groups share one thing in common: a distrust of the U.S.</p>
<p>We could have made a choice in Iraq to negotiate a bit more with the Nouri al-Maliki government, leave behind a few thousand token peacekeepers and thereby preserve the calm achieved by the surge. Instead, the administration pulled out U.S. soldiers to ensure that a withdrawal would be an effective re-election talking point. The result of that void is the present bloodletting and veritable destruction of Iraq.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The U.S. once had choices in Syria. We could have loudly condemned the Bashar al-Assad government and immediately armed the most pro-Western of the anti-Assad rebels. Or we could have just stayed quiet and stayed out of the mess.</p>
<p>Instead, we chose the third – and worst – option: loudly threaten Assad while doing nothing. Both a bloody dictatorship and its bloody jihadist enemies share a general contempt for a perceived weak America.</p>
<p>There were choices on our own border as well. Obama could have advised Central American governments that our southern border was closed to any who would cross illegally, while attempting to remedy the violence in those countries.</p>
<p>Instead, the administration opened the border and has all but destroyed federal immigration law. The result is chaos.</p>
<p>The Obama administration apparently has assumed that calm, not conflict, is the natural order of things. The world supposedly can run on autopilot without much guidance from its only superpower.</p>
<p>If conflict does arise, the U.S. counts on sermonizing without the need to back up tough and often provocative rhetoric with any action. When occasional decisions must be made, the U.S. usually chooses the easiest way out: withdrawals, concessions and appeasement.</p>
<p>Behind these assumptions also lie the administration’s grave doubts that the U.S. has in the past played a positive role in postwar affairs, or that in the present and future America can claim the moral authority – or has the resources – to confront aggressors.</p>
<p>In 2017, Obama may leave office claiming to have reduced our military while avoiding conflict during his tenure. But will he also be able to assure us that China, Iran and Russia are less threatening; that the Middle East, the Pacific and the former Soviet republics are less explosive; that our border is more secure – and that America is safer?</p>
<p>To paraphrase the poet Robert Frost: Two roads diverged in the world, and we always took the one of least resistance – and that has now made all the difference.</p>
<p>Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.</p>
<p /> | Taking easy paths led to bad roads | false | https://abqjournal.com/438697/taking-easy-paths-led-to-bad-roads.html | 2 |
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<p>April 28, 2012</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>The following chart I made from <a href="http://gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx" type="external">GasBuddy.com</a>, which also lets you find the cheapest local gas prices. The chart shows gas prices in three areas for the past eight years. Note that Los Angeles (blue line) and San Francisco (orange line) usually have the same prices, with S.F. sometimes a little higher, reflecting the high taxes and extra regulations of the Pyrite State.</p>
<p>By contrast, Houston (green line) prices are markedly cheaper all along. True, Texas is an energy state. But so is California. We just restrict development and refining here because we are creating an eco-utopia in which everyone will drive cars powered by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_motion" type="external">perpetual-motion machines</a>to the <a href="http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/" type="external">High-Speed Rail system</a>.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>It’s too bad the chart doesn’t go back 13 years, to 1999, when gas gas 99 cents a gallon or less even in California.</p>
<p>Governments at all levels and the eco-elites <a href="" type="internal">&#160;want us out of our cars and into mass transit.</a>The high prices punish people who want to live in the dreaded “sprawl” of the suburbs. Nice homes and cars are reserved nowadays for the governmental, bureaucratic and “1 percent” elite. Especially in California, the middle class is being destroyed by taxes, regulations and artificially high energy prices.</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Calif. gas prices more than double in 8 years | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2012/04/28/calif-gas-prices-more-than-double-in-8-years/ | 2018-04-20 | 3 |
<p>LOUISVILLE (KY)The Courier-JournalBy Gregory A. Hall <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>The Courier-Journal</p>
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<p>A former Catholic priest who serves as a religious educator at a Samuels, Ky., parish was suspended with pay yesterday by the Archdiocese of Louisville after a lawsuit accused him of sexually abusing a girl more than 30 years ago.</p>
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<p>Lysha Beckman Sitzman filed suit in Jefferson Circuit Court yesterday, alleging that when she was 7, Joseph E. Carrico took her to a bedroom in her home on multiple occasions and forced her to have sexual contact with him.</p>
<p>The complaint says that her family was in St. Barnabas parish and was friendly with Carrico, the associate pastor, who visited the family's home during 1968.</p>
<p>Sitzman's attorney, William McMurry, said she is now 41. Attempts to contact her yesterday were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Archdiocesan spokeswoman Cecelia Price said officials spoke with Carrico yesterday.</p>
<p>In a telephone interview, Carrico, who lives in Bardstown, said he hasn't seen the lawsuit. He said he knows the plaintiff and her family but hasn't seen them in years and denied the accusations.</p>
<p>''I know I didn't harm anybody, that's for sure,'' he said.</p>
<p>The lawsuit claims that church officials knew or had reason to believe that Carrico was sexually abusing children and didn't sanction Carrico or warn people about his behavior.</p>
<p>The lawsuit is the 214th pending against the archdiocese involving claims of sexual abuse by priests, teachers and others. Five other cases filed since April have been settled, according to the archdiocese and court records.</p> | Religious educator is suspended after woman's suit alleges abuse | false | https://poynter.org/news/religious-educator-suspended-after-womans-suit-alleges-abuse | 2003-03-30 | 2 |
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<p><a href="/news/feature/2008/03/louisianas-mulch-madness.html" type="external">« return to main article</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.lmrk.org/cypressmap.html" type="external" /></p>
<p>If you’ve read Michael Behar’s “ <a href="/news/feature/2008/03/louisianas-mulch-madness.html" type="external">Mulch Madness,</a>” you already know that the sale of cypress mulch is threatening to destroy Louisiana’s best defense against hurricanes and one of the country’s most diverse ecosystems. And once destroyed, Louisiana’s cypress will never return.</p>
<p>So what can you to help? Wherever you live, making sustainable choices in your own garden is a great first step.</p>
<p>1) The first question to consider when planning to mulch your garden is whether you need to buy mulch at all. One of the biggest myths about cypress mulch is that it is especially rot resistant. In fact, the young trees that are being harvested are just as susceptible to rot as other species. So instead of buying mulch, take a lesson from Mother Nature, and consider using fallen leaves or pine needles in place of commercial mulch.</p>
<p>2) If you must buy bagged mulch, question your supplier closely to make sure you are not buying Louisiana cypress mulch or any other mulch that is not sustainably harvested. A good alternative to cypress is pine, which has many of the same properties but is far more abundant and harvested as a byproduct of the pine lumber industry.</p>
<p>3) <a href="http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=221" type="external">Wal-Mart</a>, <a href="https://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=custSvcOrderIssue&amp;topic=customerService" type="external">Lowe’s</a>, and <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=About_Our_Stores&amp;langId=-1&amp;storeId=10051&amp;catalogId=10053#email" type="external">Home Depot</a> are the largest commercial sellers of mulch. Wal-Mart has already agreed not to sell Louisiana cypress mulch, Lowe’s has a moratorium on cypress harvested from certain parts of Louisiana, and Home Depot is still crafting its policy, but all three can take steps to ensure that whatever mulch they do sell is sustainably harvested.</p>
<p>Learn More and Take Action: To read more about local and national organizations working together to fight cypress mulching and Louisiana restoration projects, please visit:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.basinkeeper.org" type="external">Atchafalaya Basinkeeper</a>, (225) 659-2499</p>
<p><a href="http://www.crcl.org" type="external">Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana</a>, (225) 767-4181</p>
<p><a href="http://www.healthygulf.org" type="external">Gulf Restoration Network</a> (GRN), (504) 525-1528</p>
<p><a href="http://www.lapurchasecypresslegacy.net" type="external">Louisiana Cypress Purchase Legacy</a>, (504) 891-7116</p>
<p><a href="http://lmrk.org" type="external">Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper</a>, (225) 928-1315</p>
<p><a href="http://www.saveourcypress.org/" type="external">Save Our Cypress</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.waterkeeper.org/mainarticledetails.aspx?articleid=255" type="external">Waterkeeper Alliance</a>, 914.674.0622</p>
<p /> | Mulch 101 | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/03/mulch-101/ | 2008-03-24 | 4 |
<p>A tornado killed two people in the small northeastern Oklahoma town of Quapaw on Sunday, officials said.</p>
<p>The tornado was one of several spawned by a large storm front moving through the Midwest and South. There have been no other reported deaths due to the storms.</p>
<p>Keli Cain of the Oklahoma Emergency Management Agency told The Weather Channel there was extensive damage to the north side of town.</p>
<p>The fire station and numerous other buildings were destroyed, she said. The state Highway Patrol confirmed there were injuries but did not provide details.</p>
<p /> | Two Killed by Tornado in Quapaw, Oklahoma | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/deadly-tornado-outbreak/two-killed-tornado-quapaw-oklahoma-n91041 | 2014-04-28 | 3 |
<p>Victoria Hanna is the freshest, edgiest, weirdest artist on the Israeli airwaves today.&#160;How did she reach that status? By singing the alphabet.</p>
<p>Hanna, a longtime fixture of the small indie Jewish spiritual music scene, released her first single this month —&#160;and it became an instant Internet sensation.</p>
<p>The song is called Aleph Bet,&#160;the name of the Hebrew alphabet,&#160;and the music video is hypnotic and strange.</p>
<p>In the video, Hanna plays a schoolteacher teaching a classroom of girls the Hebrew alphabet. She chants the entire cycle of the alphabet over and over with a different vowel.</p>
<p>Ah Ba Ga Da … Aee Bee Gee Dee … Ooh Boo Goo Doo …</p>
<p>Then she recites a Jewish prayer for rain, each line in alphabetic order.</p>
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<p>Raised in an ultra-Orthodox family in Jerusalem, Hanna draws from ancient Jewish texts for her creative inspiration.</p>
<p>“I grew up in a house full of&#160;books, plenty and plenty and plenty of Jewish religious books,” Hanna told me over tea in her Jerusalem home, where she and her husband raise their three young children.</p>
<p>We spoke late at night after her children went to sleep,&#160;rain rapping&#160;on the windows. On the bookshelf were Jewish religious texts as well as the Hindu scripture,&#160;the Bhagavad Gita.</p>
<p>Hanna’s spoken word songs are interwoven in our conversation. She recites a psalm, placing her palm under her neck to feel the vibration and then drumming out a rhythm.</p>
<p>As a child, she had a heavy stutter —&#160;traces of which still linger —&#160;and she remembers “exploring the alphabet” as part of her efforts to speak.</p>
<p>That “investigation,” as Hanna&#160;called it, of “thinking the thought and the great wish to bring that thought out loud” is what fueled her lifelong quest to explore language and song.&#160;“My handicap became a gift,” she said.</p>
<p>Hanna often turns her stutter into a mantra during her music, repeating sentences over and over "in order to feel the language from another point of view. ...&#160;Taking the meaning away in order to bring the meaning back from another place, from a physical place.”</p>
<p>The Hebrew alphabet holds a deeper spiritual resonance for Hanna. The Book of Creation, a text in Kaballah, Judaism's&#160;mystical tradition, talks about God creating the world by uttering the “22&#160;holy letters” of the Hebrew alphabet.</p>
<p>“I have found a lot of secrets in the Hebrew alphabet,” she said.</p>
<p>Hanna says she’s releasing more songs in the coming months, and her&#160;first album is coming out in the spring.</p>
<p>Victoria Hanna trades vocals with the legendary Bobby McFerrin</p>
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<p>This story was produced with Julie Subrin, <a href="http://tabletmag.com/" type="external">Tablet Magazine's</a> executive producer for audio.</p> | The 'edgiest' singer on Israeli airwaves is an Orthodox mother of three | false | https://pri.org/stories/2015-02-23/alphabet-song-makes-israeli-singer-star | 2015-02-23 | 3 |
<p>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A couple considered persons of interest in the death of a Nebraska woman now face a series of charges in an unrelated gold coin scheme.</p>
<p>A grand jury has leveled 14 counts against 51-year-old Aubrey Trail and 23-year-old Bailey Boswell for allegedly defrauding two people of more than $400,000.</p>
<p>Investigators allege that Trial used a false name in November 2015 when he convinced a Kansas couple of entering a joint venture to purchase a gold coin, with the understanding they would later sell the coin and split the profits. However, the coin wasn't worth what Trial claimed, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Russell.</p>
<p>"As part of the scheme, Trail and Boswell set up false documents and websites to convey the appearance of a legitimate transaction," Russell said.</p>
<p>Trail's lawyer, Korey Reiman, said his client will plead not guilty next week.</p>
<p>The two are also persons of interest in the death of 24-year-old Sidney Loofe. Authorities have said Loofe disappeared Nov. 15, a day after going on a date with Boswell arranged on Tinder, an online dating app. Loofe's body was found in December in rural Clay County.</p>
<p>Trail and Boswell have denied their involvement in Loofe's disappearance and death in videos posted to social media.</p>
<p>Trail has 11 felony convictions that are largely related to theft or fraud. Boswell has no felony convictions, but has an open case in Pennsylvania. Boswell remains in a Wilber jail. Trail was recently transferred to the Leavenworth Detention Center, a maximum-security facility in Kansas.</p>
<p>Trail and Boswell met in Missouri in 2016, and they traveled to antique shows and shops around the U.S. Federal prosecutors charged them last year with transporting stolen goods across state lines from Kansas to Nebraska.</p>
<p>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A couple considered persons of interest in the death of a Nebraska woman now face a series of charges in an unrelated gold coin scheme.</p>
<p>A grand jury has leveled 14 counts against 51-year-old Aubrey Trail and 23-year-old Bailey Boswell for allegedly defrauding two people of more than $400,000.</p>
<p>Investigators allege that Trial used a false name in November 2015 when he convinced a Kansas couple of entering a joint venture to purchase a gold coin, with the understanding they would later sell the coin and split the profits. However, the coin wasn't worth what Trial claimed, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Russell.</p>
<p>"As part of the scheme, Trail and Boswell set up false documents and websites to convey the appearance of a legitimate transaction," Russell said.</p>
<p>Trail's lawyer, Korey Reiman, said his client will plead not guilty next week.</p>
<p>The two are also persons of interest in the death of 24-year-old Sidney Loofe. Authorities have said Loofe disappeared Nov. 15, a day after going on a date with Boswell arranged on Tinder, an online dating app. Loofe's body was found in December in rural Clay County.</p>
<p>Trail and Boswell have denied their involvement in Loofe's disappearance and death in videos posted to social media.</p>
<p>Trail has 11 felony convictions that are largely related to theft or fraud. Boswell has no felony convictions, but has an open case in Pennsylvania. Boswell remains in a Wilber jail. Trail was recently transferred to the Leavenworth Detention Center, a maximum-security facility in Kansas.</p>
<p>Trail and Boswell met in Missouri in 2016, and they traveled to antique shows and shops around the U.S. Federal prosecutors charged them last year with transporting stolen goods across state lines from Kansas to Nebraska.</p> | 2 questioned in Nebraska woman's death face fraud charges | false | https://apnews.com/amp/5ca0e15432664cf9a5128af03b8edb42 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Altria.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Though you can rarely say this in investing, it is in fact good to be bad when it comes to so-called "sin stocks" like tobacco stocks. Potential moral qualms aside, tobacco stocks have enjoyed something of a moment of late; many of the largest tobacco stocks have outperformed the S&amp;P 500 over the past year.</p>
<p>So what are some of the top tobacco stocks on the market today? Generally speaking, the 3 best tobacco stocks on the market are Marlboro-maker Altria (NYSE: MO), international cigarette stock Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM), and the second largest tobacco company in the U.S. Reynolds American (NYSE: RAI). Here's a quick snapshot of a few of these tobacco stocks' key metrics.</p>
<p>Data source: Google Finance.</p>
<p>Though similar to a certain degree, the investment outlook for each of the above tobacco stocks is by no means uniform. As such, let's drill deeper into the specific investment rational for Altria, Philip Morris International, and Reynolds American.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Image source: Altria.</p>
<p>The seminal sin stock, the dizzying performance of Altria over the past 30 years -- <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/02/13/the-extraordinary-story-of-americas-most-successfu.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">more than doubling Opens a New Window.</a> the S&amp;P 500's annual return for three decades -- shows successful investing doesn't require reinventing the wheel. Thanks to its dominant portfolio of cigarette and smokeless tobacco brands including Marlboro, Altria produces consistent annual profits that it passes along to its shareholders. Even with use of tobacco products at a 50-year low, Altria's outlook remains surprisingly favorable.</p>
<p>Today, the average analyst rating for Altria stock remains a buy in large part due to the company's ridiculously profitable margin structure. Thanks to the aforementioned secular declines in smoking rates and tepid overall growth in the U.S., Altria's sales growth outlook isn't impressive. Analysts see its sales this year and next year increase at scant 2.7% and 2.4% rates respectively.</p>
<p>However, its roughly 50% operating margins give it the operating leverage for minuscule sales increases to translate to outsized gains in profit margins, which is exactly the case for Altria. The above sales increases are expected to correspond with EPS growth of 8.9% this year and 9.2% next year. It's this tried-and-true playbook that figures to continue to make Altria a dividend investor's dream well into the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Image source: Philip Morris International.</p>
<p>Spun off from Altria in 2008, Philip Morris International's exposure to higher-growth emerging markets makes it an extremely popular option among tobacco stocks, particularly today. With the entirety of the company's revenue base lying outside the U.S., the resounding strength of the dollar has hamstrung Philip Morris International's results in recent quarters far more than any operational issues.</p>
<p>As I mentioned in a recent piece on several <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/16/3-best-defensive-stocks-to-buy-in-2016.aspx?source=iaasitlnk0000003&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">top defensive stocks Opens a New Window.</a>, foreign exchange headwinds have negatively impacted Philip Morris' results for eight consecutive quarters. All told, the rising U.S. dollar has erased an astounding $6.8 billion from Philip Morris' top line over this period. However, the good news -- and a recent source for analyst upgrades -- is that many expect the U.S. dollar's strength to eventually moderate or reverse. When it does, Philip Morris' incredible economics will once again shine through, which analysts believe could have tremendous benefits to this top tobacco stock's share price.</p>
<p>It's been a fantastic two years for tobacco stock Reynolds American, the second largest cigarette company in the U.S. Thanks in no small part to its savvy acquisition of then-rival Lorillard, Reynolds American's stock has handily outperformed the market by roughly a factor of 10x.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/RAI" type="external">RAI</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>However, the chart also reveals a more recent weakness in Reynolds American stock price, largely the result of a late July earnings miss. Digging deeper into this disappointing earnings report reveals what was, for the most part, an impressive quarter. Sales rose 33% to $3.2 billion thanks to new revenue from Lorillard, but still fell slightly short of analyst's expectations of $3.26 billion. Reynolds's companywide U.S. cigarette market share also increased to 34.5%. Non-GAAP EPS increased from $0.51 to $0.58. Looking at these largely positive figures, it's hard not to chock this earnings "disappointment" up to the myopia that comes with following analysts' expectations to their exact dollars-and-cents amounts. Operationally, things seem to be going quite well at Reynolds American today.</p>
<p>Taking the cigarette stock in its broader context, Reynolds American's stock appears fairly valued but still compelling. Trading at roughly the same forward P/E and forward dividend rates as its slightly larger rival Altria, Reynolds American shares don't necessarily appear patently undervalued. Rather, the tremendous economics of the tobacco industry as a whole should enable the company to continue to experience continued EPS and dividend growth well into the foreseeable future. Leaving the possible moral reservations to each individual, it's hard not to like the compelling financial results tobacco stocks are capable of producing for investors.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTheDude/info.aspx" type="external">Andrew Tonner 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> | 3 Top Tobacco Stocks to Buy Now | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/24/3-top-tobacco-stocks-to-buy-now.html | 2016-09-24 | 0 |
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<p>KIEV, Ukraine - Television journalist Julia Kirienko was sheltering with Ukrainian soldiers and medics two miles (three kilometers) from the front when their cellphones began buzzing over the noise of the shelling. Everyone got the same text message at the same time.</p>
<p>"Ukrainian soldiers," it warned, "they'll find your bodies when the snow melts."</p>
<p>Text messages like the one Kirienko received have been sent periodically to Ukrainian forces fighting pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. The threats and disinformation represent a new form of information warfare, the 21st-century equivalent of dropping leaflets on the battlefield.</p>
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<p>"This is pinpoint propaganda," said Nancy Snow, a professor of public diplomacy at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies.</p>
<p>The Associated Press has found that the messages are almost certainly being sent through cell site simulators, surveillance tools long used by U.S. law enforcement to track suspects' cellphones. Photos, video, leaked documents and other clues gathered by Ukrainian journalists suggest the equipment may have been supplied by the Kremlin.</p>
<p>The texts have been arriving since 2014, shortly after the fighting erupted. The AP documented nearly four dozen of them , including the one that Kirienko received on Jan. 31 in Avdiivka, a battle-scarred town outside the principal rebel-held city of Donetsk.</p>
<p>The messages typically say things such as "Leave and you will live" or "Nobody needs your kids to become orphans." Many are disguised to look as if they are coming from fellow soldiers.</p>
<p>In 2015, Ukrainian soldiers defending the railroad town of Debaltseve were sent texts appearing to come from comrades claiming their unit's commander had deserted. Another set of messages warned that Ukrainian forces were being decimated. "We should run away," they said.</p>
<p>"They were mostly threatening and demoralizing, saying that our commanders had betrayed us and we were just cannon fodder," said Roman Chashurin, who served as a tank gunner in Debaltseve.</p>
<p>Ukrainian military and intelligence services had no comment on the phenomenon, but government and telecommunications officials are well aware of what's going on.</p>
<p>A 2014 investigation by a major Ukrainian cellphone company concluded that cell site simulators were to blame for the rogue messages, according to an information security specialist who worked on the inquiry. He spoke on the condition that neither he nor his former firm be identified, citing a nondisclosure agreement.</p>
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<p>Col. Serhiy Demydiuk, the head of Ukraine's national cyberpolice unit, said in an interview that the country's intelligence services knew the devices were being used as well.</p>
<p>"Avdiivka showed that the Russian side was using fake towers," he said. "They are using them constantly."</p>
<p>Cell site simulators work by impersonating cellphone towers , allowing them to intercept or even fake data. Heath Hardman, a former U.S. Marines signals analyst who operated the devices in Iraq and Afghanistan, said they were routinely used by American military intelligence officers to hunt insurgents.</p>
<p>Sending mass text messages in wartime isn't entirely new. Israelis have sent mass texts to urge evacuations in Gaza, for example, while the Islamic militant group Hamas sent threateningmessages to random Israelis in 2009.</p>
<p>Cell site simulators significantly sharpen the ability of propagandists to tailor those kinds of messages to a specific place or situation, according to Snow, the academic.</p>
<p>"There's just something about viewing a message on your phone that just makes people more susceptible or vulnerable to its impact," she said.</p>
<p>The type of hardware involved remains a matter of speculation. But last year, the Ukrainian investigative website InformNapalm published a video and photographs appearing to show a LEER-3, a Russian truck-mounted electronic warfare system, in the Donetsk area. InformNapalm also disclosed what it described as leaked Russian military documents discussing the LEER-3's deployment to the Luhansk area of eastern Ukraine.</p>
<p>A 2015 article in Russia's Military Review magazine said the LEER-3 has a cell site simulator built into a drone that is capable of acting over a 6-kilometer-wide area and hijacking up to 2,000 cellphone connections at once. That makes it a "pretty plausible" source for the rogue texts in Ukraine, said Hardman, the former signals analyst.</p>
<p>Russia's Defense Ministry did not return a request for comment. Moscow has long denied any direct role in the fighting in Ukraine, despite a wealth of evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>The effectiveness of the propaganda texts is an open question. Soldiers say they typically shrug them off.</p>
<p>"I can't say that it had any influence on us," said Chashurin, the former tank gunner. "We were even joking that they must be so afraid of us the only thing they can do is to spam us with these texts."</p>
<p>But Svetlana Andreychuk, a volunteer who has made frequent trips to the front line to distribute food and supplies, said the threats and mockery sometimes hit a nerve in a grinding conflict that has claimed more than 9,900 lives.</p>
<p>"Some people are psychologically influenced," she said. "It's coming regularly. People are so tired. You see people dying. And then you face this."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Valeriy Kulyk in Kiev and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Know more about military cell site simulators?</p>
<p>Raphael Satter, AP Cybersecurity Writer, can be reached at: <a href="http://raphaelsatter.com" type="external">http://raphaelsatter.com</a></p> | Ukraine soldiers bombarded by 'pinpoint propaganda' texts | false | https://abqjournal.com/1001843/sinister-text-messages-reveal-high-tech-front-in-ukraine-war.html | 2017-05-11 | 2 |
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Washington Free Beacon Staff</a>August 13, 2013 10:20 am</p>
<p>A North Carolina family-owned trucking business may be forced to close because of a possible $100,000 penalty due to Obamacare, WSOC-NC reports.</p>
<p>Citing skyrocketing rates, Kerns Trucking cut insurance benefits for its 81 employees but would be sharply punished under the new law.</p> | Family-Owned Business May Close Due To Huge Tax Bill From Obamacare | true | http://freebeacon.com/family-owned-business-may-close-due-to-huge-tax-bill-from-obamacare/ | 2013-08-13 | 0 |
<p>former CIA analyst</p>
<p>European reaction to visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s statements on torture can be summed up in lead commentary Wednesday in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, among the most widely respected German newspapers. Under the title “Justice à la Rice,” the editor “translated” her message into these words: “The end justifies the means and terrorism can be fought with borderline methods on the outer edges of legality.” He added: “Rice came to Germany to begin a new era. She has resoundingly failed to do so. Injustice remains injustice, and a wrong policy remains a wrong policy. On this basis you cannot re-launch the trans-Atlantic relationship.”</p>
<p>There was no mushroom cloud, but Rice is radioactive nonetheless. No matter how much she and the embedded reporters traveling with her tried to spin her words, they are falling on deaf ears in Europe. Even here at home, the administration is encountering unusual skepticism in the heretofore-domesticated media. The normally sleepy editorial side of the Washington Post, for example, found it possible to lead its first editorial yesterday by reminding readers that Rice broke no new ground in claiming Wednesday that US personnel – “wherever they are” – are prohibited from using cruel or inhuman interrogation techniques. This is hardly a profile in courage for the Post: The president’s spokesman, Scott McClellan, had already told reporters that Rice was merely expressing existing policy.</p>
<p>Trouble on the Home Front</p>
<p>With attention riveted on the cause célèbre occasioned by revelations concerning CIA-run prisons abroad, kidnapping, and “extraordinary renditions” of captives to torture-prone foreign countries – and the predictably neuralgic reaction among our allies – it is easy to miss the likely political fallout here at home.</p>
<p>Vice President Dick Cheney, whose unbridled chutzpah has led him to take public and well as private credit for being the intellectual author of US policy on torture, has become such a glaring liability that his tenure may be short-lived. There is a growing possibility that the vice president will resign at the turn of the year “for reasons of health,” and that his partner-in-crime – in what Colin Powell’s former chief of staff at the State Department, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, has labeled the “Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal” – will choose to retire to his home in Taos early next year.</p>
<p>Never in the sixty years since World War II has an American secretary of state been received with such hostility by our erstwhile friends in Europe. In one sense, it can be seen as poetic justice that Rice, who as national security adviser to the president never heard a Cheney suggestion she didn’t like, is taking the heat, while the vice president hides behind her skirts. Poetic justice for Cheney himself, though, may be just around the corner.</p>
<p>It is no secret that Cheney bears primary responsibility for making our country a pariah among nations by punching a gaping hole in the (until now) absolute ban on torture under international and US law. Under international treaties, including treaties ratified by the US Senate and thus the supreme law of the land, civilized societies have long since prohibited practices widely recognized as torture. No matter. At the instigation of the Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal, the inherent human right to physical integrity and personal dignity has become an early casualty of the US “war on terror.”</p>
<p>We did not need Col. Wilkerson to tell us that. What he has revealed in tracing responsibility for the US rogue policy on torture to the office of the vice president and Rumsfeld merely confirmed much of what is already known, but reported meagerly – if at all – in US media.</p>
<p>Just five days after 9/11, the vice president told Tim Russert on NBC’s Meet the Press:</p>
<p>“We also have to work, though, sort of the dark side … a lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies … it’s going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective.”</p>
<p>At that same time President George W. Bush reportedly issued instructions to the CIA to take a no-holds-barred approach when interrogating suspected terrorists and, according to counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, used colorful language to impress his attitude upon Clarke and Rumsfeld: “I don’t care what the international lawyers say, we are going to kick some ass.” The head of the Counter-terrorism Center at the CIA conveyed the atmosphere quite well when he testified to Congress that after 9/11 “the gloves were off.”</p>
<p>This was the message conveyed to CIA director George Tenet, who dutifully marched off to find interrogators to be set loose on “suspected terrorists” likely to be captured in Afghanistan – and then Iraq. For it was clear from the start that Iraq, too, was in the gun sights of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the president himself.</p>
<p>“Dark-side” operations, using “any means at our disposal” – like, say, “enhanced interrogation techniques” – by law require a “finding” signed by the president. Before signing, Bush would have sought the advice of his White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales – the more so, since this particular finding raised serious questions with regard not only to international law but also to US criminal statutes, and particularly the War Crimes Act of 1996 (18 U.S.C. 2441).</p>
<p>Enter the (in)famous memorandum of January 25, 2002, from Gonzales to the president, in which some provisions of the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war were described as “quaint” and “obsolete.” Referring to the US War Crimes Act, the author of that memorandum argued that there was a “reasonable basis in law” that Bush could escape future criminal prosecution for violating that law. Powell Protests … Not Too Much</p>
<p>Then-Secretary of State (and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Colin Powell protested, and his warning, which was inserted into the January 25 memorandum to the president, speaks volumes:</p>
<p>“A determination that the GPW [Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War] does not apply to al-Qaeda and the Taliban could undermine US military culture which emphasizes maintaining the highest standards of conduct in combat, and could introduce an element of uncertainty in the status of adversaries.”</p>
<p>In a memo dated January 26, 2002, Powell also warned that such behavior by the US would “undermine public support among critical allies [and] reverse over a century of US policy and practice in supporting the Geneva conventions and undermine the protections of the law of war for our own troops.” But Powell was a day late and a penny short with these latter warnings. And it is altogether likely that then-national security adviser Rice, at the prompting of the cabal, never showed the president Powell’s January 26 memorandum. As for the Cheney/Rumsfeld/Bush-shy Powell, he confined himself to sending memos to the president’s lawyer.</p>
<p>And so, on February 7, 2002, Bush signed the watershed memorandum telling our armed forces “to treat detainees humanely and, to the extent appropriate and consistent with military necessity, in a manner consistent with the principles of Geneva.” Therein lies the gaping loophole that largely accounts for the widespread practice of torture of the kind so graphically represented in the photos from Abu Ghraib. It was not a “few bad apples” at the bottom. The bad apples were at the very top of the barrel. But Who Wrote the January 25 Memorandum?</p>
<p>The author was Cheney’s legal counsel, David Addington, whom the vice president had the gall to promote to be his chief of staff after I. Lewis (“Scooter”) Libby was indicted. Addington’s authorship has been openly acknowledged, and Cheney appears to regard it as a feather in Addington’s cap. One searches in vain, however, for legal experts who support Addington’s tortured (no pun intended) reasoning. Indeed, in November 2004, 130 prominent jurists – including twelve federal judges, eight former American Bar Association presidents, and former FBI director William Sessions – issued a highly unusual statement criticizing Addington and others by name for failing in their “high obligation to defend the Constitution.” Bypassing the “Six Blind Mice”</p>
<p>What is new is the willingness of patriotic officials within the government to put their country before their career and go to the media to blow the whistle on the various indignities and crimes they have witnessed. Those officials, initially cowed by the object lesson served up by White House retaliation against former ambassador Joseph Wilson, have become increasingly scandalized at the jettisoning of long accepted practices like those that used to govern interrogations. And so, officials with first-hand knowledge have now begun to come forward and tell what has been going on, in hopes of getting the country back on track. Cheney no longer has Libby to keep his finger in the dike to prevent leaks that are fast becoming a flood, and Karl Rove is preoccupied with his own efforts to avoid indictment.</p>
<p>Most important, Cheney’s formidable power has been deeply dented by the indictment of his closest aide Libby, and the vice president’s unabashed support of torture has prompted old friends and colleagues like Gen. Brent Scowcroft to say, “I don’t know Dick Cheney.” Absolute power may still corrupt absolutely even when it is deeply dented, but then it is not as threatening to those with the courage to confront it.</p>
<p>It is no surprise that patriotic truth-tellers within the government have chosen to go to the fourth estate rather than to a Congress controlled by the president’s party. Their choice reflects a realization that little but trouble can be expected in seeking recourse from those who have become known as “the six blind mice” – Senators Pat Roberts, John Warner, and Richard Lugar, who chair the committees with jurisdiction in the Senate; and Congressmen Pete Hoekstra, Duncan Hunter, and Henry Hyde in the House.</p>
<p>RAY McGOVERN works for Tell the Word, the publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC. He was an analyst with the CIA for 27 years and is co-founder of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS).</p>
<p>This article first appeared on Truthout.com.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Cheney and Rice in Hot Water | true | https://counterpunch.org/2005/12/10/cheney-and-rice-in-hot-water/ | 2005-12-10 | 4 |
<p />
<p>A quick look at the week that was in the world of <a href="" type="internal">political dark money</a>…</p>
<p>Total raised by super-PACs (so far): $218 million Ratio of spending by conservative super-PACs to liberal super-PACs: 7.7 to 1 Total raised by Barack Obama: $217.1 million Total raised by Mitt Romney: $97.9 million Total raised by congressional candidates: $639.4 million Total raised by state candidates: $378.6 million Sources: <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org" type="external">Center for Responsive Politics</a>, <a href="http://www.followthemoney.org/database/nationalview.phtml?l=0&amp;f=C&amp;y=2012&amp;abbr=0" type="external">National Institute for Money in State Politics</a></p>
<p>“This idea of giving public beatings has been around for a long time…You go back to the Dark Ages when they put these people in the stocks or whatever they did, or publicly humiliated them as a deterrent to everybody else—watch this—watch what we do to the guy who did this.” —Frank VanderSloot, CEO&#160;of the <a href="" type="internal">direct-marketing company Melaleuca</a>, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76899.html" type="external">speaking to Politico</a> about the public humilation of being a Romney megadonor.</p>
<p>$1 billion: How much conservative outside groups plan to spend on the 2012 race for the White House, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76849.html" type="external">Politico reports</a>. That includes $400 million from organizations connected to the <a href="" type="internal">Koch brothers’ dark-money efforts</a>.</p>
<p>David Dewhurst v. Ted Cruz:&#160;Outside groups <a href="http://source2012.tumblr.com/post/24071114311/texas-super-pac-shoot-out-a-handful-of-super?utm_source=iwatch&amp;utm_medium=social_media&amp;utm_campaign=twitter" type="external">spent more than $6.4 million</a> ahead of Tuesday’s Republican Senate primary between Texas Lt. Gov. Dewhurst and tea partier/former state Solicitor General Cruz. Neither managed to snag more than 50 percent of the vote, so they’re headed to a July runoff—and probably a fresh influx of super-PAC&#160;cash.</p>
<p>A couple of new attack ads released Tuesday by the Romney campaign and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads super-PAC lobbed remarkably similar criticisms at Obama’s investments in energy companies like Solyndra. The Obama campaign and the pro-Obama super-PAC Priorities USA have also aired <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/the-obama-super-pac-ad-makes-a-mockery-of-campaign-finance-laws/257226/" type="external">curiously overlapping ads</a>. It’s illegal for candidates and super-PACs to coordinate their messages, but even if they did, the fines would likely be negligible, and the <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55911.html" type="external">Federal Election Commission can’t even agree</a> on what exactly defines “coordination.”</p>
<p>Here’s the Romney ad:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>And American Crossroads’:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">• Half of Scott Walker’s Cash Comes From Out-of-State Dark-Money Donors</a>: GOP heavyweights pour millions into “ground zero for the battle against Obama’s liberal agenda.” <a href="" type="internal">• Our Nation’s Biggest Money Problem of All</a>: There appears to be no stopping the tidal wave of money that’s overtaken our political system <a href="" type="internal">.</a>• <a href="" type="internal">Bye, Bye Buddy</a>: Ex-Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer is dropping out of the presidential race. A look at the political and personal demons that fueled his feisty campaign. • <a href="" type="internal">No Disclosure, Please, We’re Contractors</a>: A new bill would make it harder to find out about federal contractors’ dark-money donations.</p>
<p>• Mystery millions: The source of $55 million doled out by a Koch-connected dark-money group remains unknown. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-secret-money-20120528,0,3399955.story" type="external">Los Angeles Times</a> • Then: Obama calls super-PAC donors “threat to democracy.” Now: Super-PAC&#160;donors mingle at the White House. <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/big-donors-democratic-super-pacs-visited-white-house/" type="external">Sunlight Foundation</a> • Mitt Romney’s billionaire donors expect a big return on their investments. <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/right-wing-billionaires-behind-mitt-romney-20120524" type="external">Rolling Stone</a> • What does John Edwards’ not guilty verdict mean for the future of campaign finance? <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2012/0531/Is-John-Edwards-verdict-the-last-straw-for-campaign-finance" type="external">Christian Science Monitor</a></p> | This Week in Dark Money | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/week-dark-money-vandersloot-ads/ | 2012-06-01 | 4 |
<p>The Family Research Council (FRC) has decided on a mean <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/chelsea-manning-family-research-council_us_5971010fe4b062ea5f90b625" type="external">campaign</a>, which <a href="https://twitter.com/FRCAction/status/888035819637932035" type="external">compares</a>&#160;the military tax dollars spent on Chelsea Manning’s transition with the cost of the F-35 program. What an interesting comparison when you look at each case.</p>
<p>The F-35 fighter jet program has been a ridiculously expensive disaster.</p>
<p>In June this year it was <a href="http://nypost.com/2017/06/13/multi-billion-dollar-stealth-fighter-plane-is-suffocating-its-pilots/" type="external">revealed</a>&#160;that the multi-billion dollar scheme had led to the fleet being grounded due to pilots suffocating while flying.&#160;The National Review has called the program “ <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/443612/f-35-donald-trump-should-cancel-failed-f-35-fighter-jet-program" type="external">irredeemable</a>.”</p>
<p>While we battle it out to just have everyone in the richest country in the world provided with decent health care, military spending seems to have no bounds, and nobody questions it.</p>
<p>Why is a multi-billion dollar project not even challenged?</p>
<p>The cost of this project is one that continues in <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/a27332/f-35-rising-cost/" type="external">exponential</a>&#160;growth. At the moment it is costing over $400 billion dollars. Why is spending on education and health challenged constantly, while this spending goes unchecked?</p>
<p>Now let’s look at Chelsea Manning. She saw something that was not right and she exposed it. She is a whistleblower and she was born in the wrong body. Manning served years of imprisonment and torture, at the hands of the U.S. government for revealing several injustices to Wikileaks.</p>
<p>Manning served this country. She deserves to be looked after.</p>
<p>The approximate cost of reassignment surgery is less than $20 000. Let’s not forget that many who enter the armed services suffer mental anguish and disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and these are also costly.</p>
<p>Showing she has a thick skin, Manning posted an article about the comparison on Twitter:</p>
<p />
<p>If the Family Research Council really cared about families, they would nurture people who feel different. They would embrace differences and be loving to those who are born into a body that does not match their true identity.</p>
<p>They would not support multi-billion dollar, failing military projects that take precious tax dollars away from the needy. The U.S. spends ridiculous amounts on military, way more than many other countries put together. This <a href="https://twitter.com/FRCAction/status/888035819637932035" type="external">meme</a>&#160;from the FRC shows just how upside down their priorities truly are.</p>
<p>Where is the peace movement?</p>
<p>In the age of nuclear weapons, we need to be doing everything we can to deescalate tensions – with everyone. We should have learned this lesson by now.</p>
<p>Watch:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Featured image via <a href="https://twitter.com/xychelsea/status/888178994667032577" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | Hate Group Compares Chelsea Manning’s Surgery To Multi-Billion Dollar F-35 Failure (VIDEO) | true | http://offthemainpage.com/2017/07/22/hate-group-compares-chelsea-mannings-surgery-f-35-failure-video/ | 2017-07-22 | 4 |
<p>Staff changes</p>
<p>• Bernard Camden, to Fellowship Church, Chester, as pastor.</p>
<p>• Jeff Hudgins, to Heritage Church, Farmville, as pastor.</p>
<p>• Tim Mathia, resigning as pastor of Mentow Church, Huddleston.</p>
<p>• Bill Welch, to Woodville Church, Woodville, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>• Frank Earwood, to Faith Church, Hampton, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>• Stephanie Smith, to Oak Forest Church, Chesterfield, as part-time youth director.</p>
<p>• Rob Petrini, to Southview Church, Herndon, as minister of music and youth.</p>
<p>• Becky Glass, to Hampton Church, Hampton, as interim associate pastor for education.</p>
<p>• Andy Smith, resigning as minister to students at Vinton Church, Vinton, to accept a position in Atlanta, Georgia.</p>
<p>• David Miller, to Rosalind Hills Church, Roanoke, as minister of youth.</p>
<p>• David Bailey, to Northminster Church, Richmond, as interim music director.</p>
<p>• Jennifer P. Smith, to Hampton Church, Hampton, as interim associate pastor for youth and missions.</p>
<p>Retirement</p>
<p>• Chester Smith has retired as pastor of Bethlehem Church, Penick Road, Richmond, after 43 years in the ministry. The church will honor him at a retirement dinner on April 21. A member of the church honored Smith by matching the amount the congregation gave to a Renovation Fund. This donation was over $100,000 which will provide a new kitchen, bathroom facilities and choir robes.</p>
<p>Ordination</p>
<p>• Alan Harris, minister of children at Antioch Church, Fairfax Station, was ordained to the gospel ministry on Feb. 18.</p>
<p>• Claude Carter was ordained to the gospel ministry on March 11 at North Roanoke Church, Roanoke.</p>
<p>Deaths</p>
<p>• Basil Burcham, former pastor of Mount Hebron Church, Floyd, died on March 5. He is survived by two daughters and several grandchildren.</p>
<p>• Henry Taylor “Buck” Holloway Jr. died on March 23 at the age of 83. A charter member of Grace Community Church in Richmond, he made mission trips to Argentina, Mexico, Guatemala, England and Honduras. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn Lee Jones Holloway; sons, Guy B. Holloway, pastor of Grace Community Church, and Craig S. Holloway; seven grandchildren; and a sister. A funeral service was held March 26 with interment in Bethlehem Church cemetery.</p>
<p>Homecomings/Revivals</p>
<p>• Biltmore Church, Glen Allen; revival May 6-9; Eddie Heath, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Ephesus Church, South Hill; revival April 22-24; Robert Livesay, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Fairmount Memorial Church, Richmond; revival May 6-9; Justin Jones, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• First Church, Coeburn; revival May 6-9; Les Ritchie, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Hillcrest Church, Danville; 48th anniversary; homecoming on May 6; former pastor Daryl Joyce, guest speaker.</p>
<p>• Jerusalem Church, Warsaw; revival April 15-18; M. Timberlake, Allan Hopkins, Robert Beasley, Dave McNeely and George Daniel; guest evangelists.</p>
<p>• Readville Church, Sussex; revival May 6-8; Stuart Carlton, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Round Knob Church, Fancy Gap; revival April 30-May 4; Dwight Sechrist, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Stone Mountain Church, Laurel Fork; revival April 16-20; Jack Holland, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Upper Essex Church, Caret; revival April 29-May 2; Paul Beith, Donald Bowen, Kevin James and Clayton Custalow, guest evangelists.</p>
<p>• Villa Heights Church, Roanoke; revival April 22-25; Roger Roller, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Winfall Church, Gladys; revival April 29-May 2; Roger Roller, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>• Woodlawn Church, Colonial Heights; revival April 29-May 2; George Mullinax, guest evangelist.</p> | New about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for April 19, 2007 | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/newaboutvirginiabaptistsandtheirministriesforapril192007/ | 3 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Durango City Council voted Tuesday to put the issue of whether to impose a 10-cent fee on grocery bags to a vote in November, <a href="http://durangoherald.com/article/20130820/NEWS01/130829932/-1/s" type="external">The Durango Herald</a> reported.</p>
<p>The council voted 4-1 to put the issue on the ballot rather than repeal the ordinance it passed earlier this month, The Herald said. Councilor Keith Brant moved to kill the 10-cent fee, but the motion failed for lack of a second.</p>
<p>The referendum was prompted by a petition drive by residents opposed to the fee, which could still go into effect March 1 if upheld by voters in a mail-in vote, the paper reported.</p>
<p>David Peters, a member of the anti-fee group Bag Ordinance to Vote, said residents were “livid” that the council had passed an ordinance requiring a 10-cent fee on disposable plastic and paper bags at checkouts of Walmart, Albertsons and the two City Market stores, according to The Herald.</p>
<p>The referendum will be a ballot question during the regular Nov. 5 election and will not cost the city any additional money, city officials said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Durango to vote on 10-cent bag fee in November | false | https://abqjournal.com/251067/durango-to-vote-on-10-cent-bag-fee-in-november.html | 2013-08-21 | 2 |
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) – Morrie Low, a 28-year-old who works for a mobile technology start-up in Seattle, called from vacation in Taiwan to chat about what he has been doing the past year with his Chase Sapphire Reserve card.</p>
<p>Sapphire Reserve is the credit card that shocked the industry when JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co (NYSE:) debuted it in August 2016. Upwards of 1 million people signed up as users wrote in Internet posts that its perks, credits and give-backs were so rich people could recoup the $450 annual fee and pickup another $1,000 or so of value.</p>
<p>“It is definitely working out for me,” said Low, recounting trips he made using Sapphire Reserve and other card travel rewards to Miami, Berlin, London, the Philippines and Taiwan.</p>
<p>It hasn’t worked out so well for JPMorgan’s card competitors. And it is not clear when, or if, it will work out for JPMorgan, analysts and bank executives said.</p>
<p>Entering the premium card market with the Sapphire Reserve bid, JPMorgan dramatically undercut the pricing of the Platinum Card of American Express Co (NYSE:) and the Prestige Card of Citigroup Inc (NYSE:). It also lured credit card spending from customers of Bank of America Corp (NYSE:).</p>
<p>An American Express executive earlier this year called the move a “full frontal assault” on the Platinum Card. On Thursday, a Citigroup executive said that after JPMorgan’s move Citi changed course and turned its marketing toward no-fee cards that offer free borrowing for as long 21 months instead of travel rewards.</p>
<p>“We shifted our focus away from rewards because of the competitive heat,” Citigroup Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach said in a conference call with reporters after posting quarterly results.</p>
<p>JPMorgan’s invasion of the premium card business illustrates how Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon is leveraging the scale and strength of the biggest bank in the United States to undercut profit margins of competitors and take business, analysts said.</p>
<p>“This is another example of Dimon’s scorched earth strategy,” said one analyst who declined to be named talking so bluntly about the bank’s tactics.</p>
<p>JPMorgan has also muscled in since the financial crisis on European debt, fixed income trading, securities custody for institutional investors and commercial lending.</p>
<p>Earlier this year Dimon quoted Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (NASDAQ:) as saying “your margin is my opportunity,” noted analyst Jason Goldberg of Barclays (LON:). “JPMorgan is trying to bring some of that to the financial space,” Goldberg said.</p>
<p>The company has not given an exact cost for the Sapphire Reserve foray. It has said it must account for the expense of signing customers in the first year and that those costs have run as much as $200 million each quarter.</p>
<p>That $800 million a year is a lot of money for most companies, but not such much for JPMorgan, which this year is expected to earn about $25 billion, one analyst said.</p>
<p>EARNING SHARE IN CUSTOMERS’ WALLETS</p>
<p>The move on premium cards is also an example of how Dimon’s lieutenants throughout the bank look for thin spots in their market penetration. When JPMorgan brought out Sapphire Reserve, its no-fee, low-fee and cash-back cards had already made it a strong second to American Express in card spending, according to the Nilson Report.</p>
<p>But it needed a premium travel card of its own for its customers, Jennifer Piespzak, chief executive for Chase Card Services, said in an interview.</p>
<p>“For us to be able to earn the greatest share of the customer wallet, we don’t want them to have American Express Platinum,” she said. “We want them to have Sapphire Reserve.”</p>
<p>JPMorgan earlier this year cut its sign-up bonus for Sapphire Reserve in half, saying the initial offer was to attract a base of users.</p>
<p>Now the bank is trying to hold and consolidate the territory it has taken. It has kept the spending credits and travel perks attractive enough that Low said he is paying the annual $450 fee again to renew and tossing other cards in his sock drawer.</p>
<p>And, the bank is promoting Sapphire Reserve in the first television ads it has launched in 18 months for a consumer credit card. The ads show late night talk show wit James Corden asking millennials to plan his next vacation as they travel the world with the card.</p>
<p>Winning over millennials has been the goal from the start, said Pam Codispoti, the executive in charge of the card who was recently promoted to be in charge of the bank’s 5,000-plus branches.</p>
<p>“We want to build lifelong relationships as they buy their first car, invest in their first home, and build their deposits and investments,” Codispoti said in an interview.</p>
<p>JPMorgan declined to tell reporters or analysts on Thursday how many people have dropped the card or whether holders are borrowing as much the company has been counting on.</p>
<p>Codispoti said, “We feel good about what we are seeing, but it is really early” to say how the card’s story will end.</p> | JPMorgan's card gamble lures millennial travelers, squeezes competitors | false | https://newsline.com/jpmorgan039s-card-gamble-lures-millennial-travelers-squeezes-competitors/ | 2017-10-13 | 1 |
<p>JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The South African city of Cape Town announced new water restrictions Thursday to combat drought, saying it was looking more likely that it will have to turn off most taps on “Day Zero,” or April 21.</p>
<p>Mayor Patricia de Lille said 60 percent of residents are “callously” using more than the current limit and that the city will fine households that use too much water.</p>
<p>“We have reached a point of no return,” she said. Residents must use no more than 50 liters of water daily beginning Feb. 1, down from 87 liters currently.</p>
<p>Cape Town, a major tourist destination and a city of 3.7 million people, has assessed 200 water collection points for residents as it prepares for the possible April 21 cutoff.</p>
<p>Experts link the city’s water shortages to factors including climate change and high population growth.</p>
<p>“We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them,” de Lille said.</p>
<p>JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The South African city of Cape Town announced new water restrictions Thursday to combat drought, saying it was looking more likely that it will have to turn off most taps on “Day Zero,” or April 21.</p>
<p>Mayor Patricia de Lille said 60 percent of residents are “callously” using more than the current limit and that the city will fine households that use too much water.</p>
<p>“We have reached a point of no return,” she said. Residents must use no more than 50 liters of water daily beginning Feb. 1, down from 87 liters currently.</p>
<p>Cape Town, a major tourist destination and a city of 3.7 million people, has assessed 200 water collection points for residents as it prepares for the possible April 21 cutoff.</p>
<p>Experts link the city’s water shortages to factors including climate change and high population growth.</p>
<p>“We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water. We must force them,” de Lille said.</p> | Drought-stricken Cape Town tightens water restrictions | false | https://apnews.com/1c222949d1e54e118ffb1a6d76b9c405 | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
<p>PHOENIX, Ariz. ( <a href="https://www.intellihub.com/" type="external">INTELLIHUB</a>) — President Barack H. Obama’s birth certificate has been proven to be a “forgery,” a fraudulently “fabricated document,” law enforcement officials and forensic investigators concluded with high certainty after an intense five year investigation.</p>
<p>Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and lead investigator Mike Zullo along with forensic experts on two continents have concluded that President Obama’s birth certificate is not authentic and are seeking to take the matter up with the federal government.</p>
<p>Investigators presented evidence during a press conference Thursday detailing how, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that “nine points of forgery in which words, letters and hand-placed date stamps had been digitally copied and pasted” from another Hawaii State birth certificate to create the fake image posted on the official WhiteHouse.gov website.</p>
<p>Investigators say that the first “five points of forgery were brought over in one group” from another birth certificate while the 4 remaining points were brought over separately to create the complex “forgery.”</p>
<p>Investigator Mike Zullo told the press, “We don’t know if he [Obama] is a natural born citizen or not” but said the document stands on its own as an elaborate forgery.</p>
<p>Utilizing forensic techniques, both old and new, investigators in both the U.S. and Italy came to the same conclusion about the documents authenticity.</p>
<p>Zullo told the press that his investigation was thwarted early on when officials in Hawaii were unwilling to cooperate on several occasions and even threatened him and others investigating the matter with arrest.</p>
<p>Sheriff Arpaio told the press that his team of experts are holding out on additional and “more sensitive information” which he would not talk about publicly at this time.</p>
<p>If taken through the proper channels and pursued by congress and federal officials Barack Obama may be charged with treason, which holds a penalty of ‘life in prison,’ at a future date.</p>
<p>Sheriff Arpiao plans on turning over the investigation to federal officials within the next month.</p>
<p />
<p>Courtesy of <a href="https://www.intellihub.com/obamas-birth-certificate-proven-forgery/" type="external">Intellihub</a></p>
<p />
<p /> | Five Year Investigation Concludes: Obama’s birth certificate proven a forgery | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2016/12/16/five-year-investigation-concludes-obamas-birth-certificate-proven-a-forgery/ | 2016-12-16 | 0 |
<p>Washington Post "But journalists rarely venture into impoverished neighborhoods these days, except for quick-hit features," writes Howard Kurtz. "When a woman from one of these communities goes missing, it doesn't attain the status of a Natalee Holloway drama." He notes that it's easier for journalists to write about the politics of race than to probe the impact of federal policies on the lives of minorities. &gt; <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0509/18/rs.01.html" type="external">Page: "I think we have been abandoning inner city coverage" (CNN)</a></p> | Kurtz: Poverty in America isn't a difficult story to get at | false | https://poynter.org/news/kurtz-poverty-america-isnt-difficult-story-get | 2005-09-19 | 2 |
<p>Police arrested Andrew Comber, 38, on Saturday at his home in Salmon Arm, BC, in connection with last year's Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver.</p>
<p>Comber has been charged with participating in a riot, mischief and arson, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/04/22/bc-stanley-cup-riot-charge.html" type="external">reported The Canadian Press</a>. Police allege he set a stuffed bear on fire and threw it on top of an overturned truck. They also say Comber was "very active and noticeable" during the riots, painting himself green and even taunting police.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/canada/110617/shame-blame-hockey-riots-vancouver-facebook-police" type="external">Vancouver riots: The shame and the blame spread online</a></p>
<p>Vancouver's Integrated Riot Investigation Team Inspector Les Yeo said the unit is now trying to identify suspects not living in the Greater Vancouver area, <a href="http://www.theprovince.com/news/Alleged+Stanley+rioter+also+suspected+trouble+after+Calgary+Flames+game+Alberta/6499885/story.html" type="external">according to The Province</a>.</p>
<p>"This is the second time in as many days that suspected rioters have been arrested in their homes outside the Lower Mainland," said Yeo. "With the help and support of partner police agencies, rioters won't be able to escape justice by hiding in their communities."</p>
<p>Comber is also wanted in Alberta for many charges stemming from a 2004 incident after a Calgary Flames hockey game, <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/man-arrested-for-vancouver-riot-also-wanted-for-calgary-hockey-violence/article2410355/" type="external">reported The Globe and Mail</a>. According to police, those charges include assaulting a peace officer, mischief and theft under $5,000.</p>
<p>Not everyone who participated in the Vancouver riots set fires and taunted police. One couple became famous during the Stanley Cup aftermath when <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/canada/110617/canada-vancouver-canucks-riot-kissing-couple-photo-viral-meme" type="external">a photo</a> of the two laying on the street kissing amongst rioters and police went viral.</p> | Stanley Cup rioter arrested, also wanted by police for another hockey-related incident | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-04-23/stanley-cup-rioter-arrested-also-wanted-police-another-hockey-related-incident | 2012-04-23 | 3 |
<p>Around 2 a.m. eastern time, Hurricane Irma's eye made landfall just east of Key West, Florida, whipping the islands with 125 mile per hour winds and a storm surge that looked to be around four to six feet.</p>
<p>The massive category 4 storm, which measures a terrifying 400 miles across at its widest point, is now creeping up Florida's west coast toward Tampa. The track is a marked change from what weathermen had predicted — up until Friday evening, the storm was supposed to wallop Miami and the Atlantic coast, not the Gulf Coast — and meant that <a href="https://apnews.com/8aeee2664ccb42fdbb5ada7f2f0dc6c6/Irma-shifts:-The-prime-target-is-now-Tampa,-not-Miami" type="external">many on Florida's western shore were left scrambling for shelter</a>.</p>
<p>As of Sunday morning, more than 600,000 Floridians are without power and 29,000 of those are in the Florida Keys. Reporters riding out the storm on the small chain of islands just off Florida's tip captured amazing footage as the storm blew in Saturday night.</p>
<p>By late Saturday, the storm surge had already begun, in one case wiping out a tourist trying to take a photo at the "Southernmost Point" marker in Key West.</p>
<p>But the storm quickly got serious, moving from knocking down photographers to pushing in on Key West homes.</p>
<p>The wind threatened cell phone service as it reached more than 130 miles per hour in gusts.​</p>
<p>Across the state, in Miami, the normally raucous South Beach was slammed by wind and rain.</p>
<p>The eye of the storm is now headed for mainland Florida. It is expected to make landfall there sometime before 2 p.m.</p> | WRATH OF IRMA: Hurricane Makes Landfall In The Florida Keys | true | https://dailywire.com/news/20847/wrath-irma-hurricane-makes-landfall-florida-keys-emily-zanotti | 2017-09-10 | 0 |
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<p>The ruling is a victory for worker advocacy groups and labor unions that have long sought higher wages for domestic workers who help the elderly and disabled with everyday tasks such as bathing or taking medicine.</p>
<p>It's also a win for the White House, which announced the rules four years ago as part of an effort to go around an unwilling Congress in a bid to help low-wage workers through executive action.</p>
<p>A federal judge had scrapped the Labor Department rules earlier this year after finding that the agency had overstepped its authority. Since 1974, federal law has exempted home care workers hired through third-party staffing agencies from wage and overtime requirements.</p>
<p>But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the Labor Department has the power to interpret the law to change that exemption.</p>
<p>Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Sri Srinivasan cited a "dramatic transformation" of the home care industry over the past four decades as a valid reason for the change. While most caregivers used to be directly employed by individual households, the vast majority of workers now work for staffing companies that service hundreds or thousands of customers, Srinivasan said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He also noted a massive shift to providing care for the elderly in their own homes rather than in nursing homes, which requires workers to offer more advanced medical care and assistance to clients than the mere "companionship" services envisioned in 1974.</p>
<p>Home health care companies employing many of the workers have said overtime requirements would make it tougher for families to afford home care for aging parents.</p>
<p>Lobbyists for the $84 billion industry argued that the new rules could even reduce the take-home pay of caregivers if companies decide not to send workers out for shifts longer than eight hours to avoid overtime pay.</p>
<p>In June, President Barack Obama announced another set of rules that would make another 5 million workers eligible for overtime pay if they work more than 40 hours per week. Under the latest rules, salaried employees earning less than $50,440 a year would be assured overtime, up from the previous threshold of $23,660 a year.</p> | Appeals court reinstates wage rules for home care workers | false | https://abqjournal.com/631995/appeals-court-reinstates-wage-rules-for-home-care-workers.html | 2015-08-21 | 2 |
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<p>Donald Trump’s determination to recast the role of government has a whiff of Reaganism, and his plays on divisions are reminiscent of Richard Nixon, a historian says. But many Americans have a simpler assessment of the opening days of the new administration’s governing-by-upheaval: It’s unsettling, even to some who voted for the shake-up that Trump promised.</p>
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<p>“We’re in a very fragile state right now,” said Margaret Johnson of Germantown, Maryland, who runs a small translation business. “We don’t know what’s coming next. The country’s divided. There’s a lot of fear. And I think we’re kind of at that point where things can go any kind of way, and it’s really hard to say which way they’re going to go.”</p>
<p>That uncertainty finds an echo in Pastor Mike Bergman’s church in Adrian, Missouri, 40 miles south of Kansas City, where many congregants count themselves as conservatives and embrace the new administration’s order cutting off funding to international groups that provide abortions. But as church members consider another order — restricting refugees — worries about security are tempered by concern about the needs of refugees and whether Trump’s rhetoric is widening the gulf between Americans, Bergman said.</p>
<p>“There is worry about some of the political rhetoric … about how all that is going to cause the divide in the community to deepen and more bitterness to spring up between the people of our country. I wouldn’t say we’re really optimistic right now,” he said.</p>
<p>Trump is hardly the first president to take office promising wholesale change in the face of substantial skepticism. But Kevin Boyle, a professor of American history at Northwestern University who compared Trump to Reagan and Nixon, said the clashes set off by the administration are unique.</p>
<p>“I cannot in my adult life think of a moment that compares to this,” he said. “The level of tension between these two competing visions of the country needs to be resolved in some way or another.”</p>
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<p>Trump’s actions have unsettled Suzanne Kawamleh, 24, a graduate student born in Chicago to parents who emigrated from Syria. On Saturday night, Kawamleh said, she joined protesters at O’Hare International Airport to protest the executive order stopping Syrian refugees from entering the country. The next day, she told a crowd gathered at the county courthouse in Bloomington, Indiana, about how her relatives had fled Syria by boat and ended up in a refugee camp before finding refuge in Germany.</p>
<p>Last year, Kawamleh said, she and her father were taken off a flight for questioning when they returned from Lebanon to do relief work in a refugee camp. But that scrutiny, she said, pales with Trump’s executive order, which forced a family friend from Syria who had flown to the U.S. to visit a sick relative to return to the Middle East on Saturday.</p>
<p>“Immediately after the order, everything changed. There wasn’t a chance to plead your case,” she said. “It seems like everything is very in flux. People don’t know what’s going on.”</p>
<p>Over the last week, teacher Dee Burek has led discussions with the seventh- and eighth-graders in her debate and journalism classes about Trump’s first days as president. Students were dismayed when they read about false statements by White House press secretary Sean Spicer and by an interview with Trump adviser Steve Bannon in which he compared himself to Darth Vader.</p>
<p>When one girl compared Trump to Dolores Umbridge — a character from the Harry Potter series who provokes a student revolt after issuing a series of harsh decrees — classmates nodded in agreement, Burek said.</p>
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<p>“As a teacher I’m trying to present both sides, as I always have to, and when I deal with the children and I’m reading articles to them (about the Trump administration), their faces are in shock,” said Burek, who teaches in Allentown, New Jersey. “They just keep coming back to, ‘We’re America. How could this happen?’ And I say I just don’t have the answers.”</p>
<p>Many Americans say that Trump’s moves since taking office are exactly what the country needs. Nonetheless, they are taking note of the pushback.</p>
<p>Juan Villamizar, a 52-year-old flooring business owner in West Hartford, Connecticut, said he supports Trump’s executive order restricting refugees and immigration from seven countries as a way to protect Americans from terrorism. But while he believes the country is headed in the right direction, he is disheartened to see a negative response to Trump’s actions.</p>
<p>“I just think that the people of this country, the citizens of this country, need to take a really deep breath and read the Constitution,” he said.</p>
<p>During the presidential campaign, Brenda Horvath strapped a “Make America Great Again” sign to her Logan, West Virginia, front porch. While supportive, she thinks the new president could do a better job at presenting his plans with compassion, in a way that doesn’t alienate so many. She believes Trump is off to a rocky start, but believes he deserves more time to get on track.</p>
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<p>“You can listen to the wrong people and do the job wrong. I’m hoping and praying that he’ll start listening to the right people,” she said.</p>
<p>Yatziri Tovar, a 24-year-old college student in New York who emigrated from Mexico as a toddler, saw the response to Trump in a different light. Though troubled by the initial days of the new administration, she was encouraged to see the activism it has spurred. She felt a duty to speak, too, addressing a weekend rally that she helped organize as a member of an immigrant advocacy group, Make the Road New York.</p>
<p>“It’s a moment that has a lot of confusion, it has some scary times, but at the same time it has become a time of unity,” said Tovar, a part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which President Barack Obama instituted to allow young people brought into the country illegally as children to stay and obtain work permits.</p>
<p>Others hold the protesters, not Trump, responsible for the discord.</p>
<p>John Fusaro, an immigration officer in Dallas who voted for Trump, said the media and protesters should ease up.</p>
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<p>“They’re trying to sow seeds of doubt and keep stirring the pot,” he said.</p>
<p>Fusaro said the upheaval represents a “new normal” of constant protests. While he’s dubious of the protesters’ message, the presence of a niece in their ranks reminds him of the wide gulf in Americans’ political views.</p>
<p>“She’s standing against Trump, out there yelling and stuff, and I’m honestly thinking you don’t know the whole picture. I sent her a message: Give it time. It’ll sort itself out.”</p>
<p>So far, he said, she hasn’t responded.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Sharon Cohen in Chicago, Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, and Claire Galofaro in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.</p> | Amid Trump’s shake-up, many wondering ‘what’s coming next’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/940536/amid-trumps-shake-up-many-wondering-whats-coming-next-2.html | 2017-02-01 | 2 |
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<p>Main Bank president Ron Shettelsworth says customers will be "pleasantly surprised" by the bank's new headquarters on Menaul, east of Louisiana. (Greg Sorber/Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - After nearly a year of construction, Main Bank will open its new headquarters on March 21 to serve its growing customer base of business owners.</p>
<p>The locally owned bank's new space at 7300 Menaul NE, east of Louisiana, will continue to have a strong focus on commercial lending to fund new businesses and help existing ones grow, said Ron Shettelsworth, president and CEO. The two-story, 17,000-square-foot facility building represents a $6 million investment, Shettelsworth said.</p>
<p>"Customers will be pleasantly surprised by the new digs," he said of the facility, which is closer to the sidewalk than its current leased location on Louisiana NE. "We have much greater visibility" in the heavily traveled Uptown corridor, said the banker. Shettelsworth was part of the investment group that purchased Interamerica Bank from Fremont Bank Corp. a decade ago and changed the name to reflect its commitment to a Main Street, rather than Wall Street, approach to banking.</p>
<p>The soon-to-be former office at 2424 Louisiana NE was a leased facility.</p>
<p>Shettelsworth said the owners of the closely held business wanted a new banking center and space to better serve its clientele, such as dentists or road contractors wanting to buy and outfit a new office or buy a building. Main Bank's investment also reflects the latest technology and an open contemporary design, he said.</p>
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<p>About 6,000 square feet on the second floor is available for one or two tenants, which the bank hopes to sign soon. He said law firms and insurance and title companies have shown interest, as well as a specialty retailer.</p>
<p>The bank has total assets of $110 million, said Shettelsworth. Its 13 employees, "who wear many hats," already are in a moving mode. "We'll have two weeks to move to get all our gear and files in anticipation of the movers," said Shettelsworth.</p>
<p>Banking on the Albuquerque economy is important he said, referring to the hiring of local general contractor MV Industries and Breen + Baczek Architects. Construction began in May.</p>
<p>As for new branches, Shettelsworth doesn't see a strong upside for Main Bank at this point. The trend in branch banking, especially at the retail level, is contracting nationwide at bricks-and-mortar locations as traffic has fallen off. Technology has advanced to the point where bankers and customers can connect just as well with smartphones and laptops, he added, which many of his customers prefer.</p>
<p>Commercial banking customers, however, often need a little more in-depth information and education. "You want to be a trusted adviser, which means in-person is often the best approach," said Shettelsworth.</p> | Main Bank's new headquarters opens next month | false | https://abqjournal.com/730233/main-banks-new-headquarters-opens-next-month.html | 2 |
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<p>" <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/09/19/frackademia-the-brewing-suny-buffalo-shale-resources-society-institute-storm" type="external">Frackademia</a>"—shorthand for bogus science, economics and other research results paid for by the oil and gas industry and often conducted by "frackademics" with direct ties to the oil and gas industry—has struck again in California.</p>
<p>It comes in the form of a major <a href="http://www.communicationsinstitute.org/SHALEREPORTFINAL130228_v9.pdf" type="external">University of Southern California report</a> on the potential economic impacts of a "fracking" boom in California's Monterey Shale basin that's <a href="http://www.communicationsinstitute.org/SHALEREPORTFINAL130228_v9.pdf" type="external">hot off the presses</a>, "Powering California: The Monterey Shale and California's Economic Future."</p>
<p>California Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown recently gave <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/california-governor-brown-says-state-needs-look-fracking-023347909.html" type="external">his cautious support</a> to fracking, the toxic process via which oil and gas embedded deep within shale rock basins made famous by the documentary film " <a href="http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/" type="external">Gasland</a>," currently a topic of contention in California. The new report gleefully says we could be witnessing <a href="http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/three/63_01.htm" type="external">1849 all over again</a>, the second-coming of a " <a href="http://www.communicationsinstitute.org/SHALEREPORTFINAL130228_v9.pdf" type="external">Gold Rush</a>," a term the co-authors utilize 9 times in the Preface.</p>
<p>The report, co-authored by a Los Angeles-based public relations firm, The Communications Institute (TCI), concludes that "development of the 1,750-square-mile formation in central California could generate half a million new jobs by 2015 and 2.8 million by 2020," as reported by The Los Angeles Times, which <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-oil-monterey-shale-20130312,0,2040903.story" type="external">blared the headline</a>, "Tapping California shale oil could add millions of jobs, study says."</p>
<p>Given California's population of 37,683,933 people, this would mean 7.4 percent of the state's citizens can gain employment and economic uplift from the industry. It would also shrink the <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/48468748" type="external">20.3-percent unemployment rate</a> in the Golden State down drastically, to 12.9 percent.</p>
<p>"The Monterey shale would help stimulate the California economy to a significant extent," USC professor and co-author Adam Rose <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-oil-monterey-shale-20130312,0,2040903.story" type="external">told The Times</a>. "It's not just a benefit to the oil industry. These impacts ripple throughout the economy."</p>
<p>While a nice sentiment, the age-old questions quickly arise: who are the authors and who funded this study?</p>
<p>The answers to these questions, a DeSmogBlog investigation has revealed, paints an entirely different picture of the report's findings and how it came to such rosy conclusions.</p>
<p>Study Funded by Big Oil, Co-Author's Industry Connections Tell the Story</p>
<p>Off the bat, the report acknowledges financial support - though failing to disclose how much funding - from the Western States Petroleum Asssociation (WSPA). WSPA, " <a href="http://www.wspa.org/history.aspx" type="external">the oldest</a> petroleum industry trade association in the United States," has <a href="http://www.wspa.org/member-list.aspx" type="external">a membership list</a> that includes Chevron, ExxonMobil, Occidental Oil and Gas Corporation and Shell, to name several. All of these corporations <a href="http://www.slb.com/%7E/media/Files/industry_challenges/unconventional_gas/industry_articles/20120430_hart_energy_monterey_shale.pdf" type="external">are actively involved</a> in exploration and prospective production of the Monterey Shale.</p>
<p>Just as importantly, one of the co-authors of the "study"— <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=45590376&amp;ticker=SARA&amp;previousCapId=23090414&amp;previousTitle=SARATOGA%20RESOURCES%20INC%2FTEXAS" type="external">Fred Aminzadeh</a> — is currently an oil and gas industry employee.</p>
<p>Aminzadeh serves as a Research Professor and Executive Director at USC's Global Energy Network (GEN) and Executive Director of USC's Reservoir Monitoring Consortium (RMC) and worked in various technical and management positions at Unocal—purchased by Chevron <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Chevron-completes-Unocal-deal-Purchase-spells-2648878.php" type="external">in 2005</a>—for 17 years.</p>
<p>GEN, <a href="http://www.communicationsinstitute.org/SHALEREPORTFINAL130228_v9.pdf" type="external">credited as</a> one of the report's lead conductors, does not list its funders, but given the steep membership fee - <a href="http://gen.usc.edu/funding/" type="external">ranging between</a> $25,000-$500,000 per year—one can safely guess that at least some of its funding comes from the deep pockets of the oil and gas industry. In fact, BP America, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Anadarko and General Electric all have members sitting on GEN's Advisory Board.</p>
<p>GEN, according to its website, <a href="http://gen.usc.edu/advisory/" type="external">pays The Communications Institute</a> to do PR work on its behalf and TCI registered the website the report was originally set to be published on, <a href="http://whois.net/whois/poweringcalifornia.org" type="external">PoweringCalifornia.org</a>. In essence, this piece of the puzzle serves as Exhibit A of this study serving more so as industry PR salesmanship than as legitimate scholarship.</p>
<p>RMC also does not list its funders, but its personnel, like GEN, are also directly tied to the oil and gas industry. All three members of its Technical Advisory Board have industry jobs. Andrei Popa works for Chevron; Kurt Strack is the President of KMS Technologies, an oil services corporation <a href="http://kmstechnologies.com/clientcollaborator.html" type="external">whose clients include</a> BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Shell and Saudi Aramco; and Wang Shangxu is a professor at the China University of Petroleum.</p>
<p>Prior to coming to USC and after his Unocal stint, Aminzadeh was the CEO of dGB Earth Sciences USA, <a href="http://www.dgbes.com/index.php/about-us.html" type="external">self-described as</a> a firm that offers "innovative seismic interpretation solutions to the oil and gas industry."</p>
<p>Though he conveniently leaves it out of the biography he included in the report, Aminzadeh, alongside the paycheck he earns at USC, also serves as Founderand President of FACT-Corp. FACT is a global oil and gas industry consultancy firm whose <a href="http://www.fact-corp.com/technology-partners.html" type="external">technology partners</a> include dGB Earth Sciences, where he used to be the CEO, as well as clients such as Chevron, BP, Saudi Aramco and Eni.</p>
<p>Aminzadeh is also Chairman of the Advisory Board of both Western Standard Energy Corp. and is also on the Advisory Board of Saratoga Resources and formely served on the DOE Unconventional Resources Technology Advisory Committee from 2007-2008, right as the fracking boom was beginning in the U.S.</p>
<p>The latter committee was created under the dictates of the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/03/13/florida-legislature-pushing-alec-csg-sham-fracking-chemical-disclosure-model-bill#comment-form" type="external">Energy Policy Act of 2005</a>, which calls for the DOE to work with oil and gas industry stakeholders to "carry out a program of research, development, demonstration, and commercial application of technologies for...onshore unconventional natural gas."</p>
<p>John Martin—former head of the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/19/breaking-news-suny-buffalo-ends-frackademia-center-shale-resources-and-society-institute" type="external">now-shuttered</a> SUNY Buffalo Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI), peer reviewer of the Inglewood Oil Field <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/12/keystone-xl-contractor-suny-buffalo-shale-institute-conduct-LA-County-fracking-study" type="external">environmental impact assessment</a> (done by the same contractor the Obama State Department used for the first TransCanada Keystone XL environmental review, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/09/28/330047/state-department-keystone-xl-hearings-run-by-transcanada-contractor/" type="external">Cardno Entrix</a>) that concluded fracking in Los Angeles would have no negative ecological impacts, and head of his oil and gas consultancy firm JP Martin Energy Strategy—currently serves on the DOE Unconventional Resources Technology Advisory Committee.</p>
<p />
<p>Outside Reviewers Tied to Big Oil</p>
<p>The non-peer-reviewed "study" wasn't published in an academic journal, but rather was published "in association with" TCI - a PR firm - <a href="http://www.communicationsinstitute.org/SHALEREPORTFINAL130228_v9.pdf" type="external">on its website</a>. Though not peer-reviewed in accordance to conventional legitimate academic standards, the co-authors did thank three people for "taking the time to review this study."</p>
<p>Two of those three people, it turns out, also have direct ties to the oil and gas industry.</p>
<p>One of them is Harvard's Henry Lee. His CV details his past work as a consultant for General Electric, Gulf Oil and Texaco, the latter of which Chevron purchased as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/16/business/chevron-agrees-to-buy-texaco-for-stock-valued-at-36-billion.html" type="external">a wholly-owned subsidiary</a> in 2002.</p>
<p>The other: Hillard Huntington, Executive Director of Stanford's Energy Modeling Forum (EMF), is one of 200 members of the National Petroleum Council (NPC). The NPC is a federally-chartered, corporate-funded advisory committee started by President Harry Truman in 1946, now overseen by the DOE under the dictates of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Advisory_Committee_Act" type="external">Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972</a>. Its purpose is "to advise, inform and make recommendations to the [DOE] with respect to any matter relating to oil and natural gas, or to the oil and gas industries."</p>
<p>NPC's membership includes former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon, Chevron CEO John Watson, ExxonMobil former CEO Lee Raymond and current CEO Rex Tillerson, former Shell North America CEO John Hoffmeister, and TransCanada ( <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/03/11/state-department-keystone-xl-study-oil-industry-big-tobacco-fracking" type="external">of contentious Keystone XL fame</a>) CEO Russ Girling, among many others.</p>
<p>Huntington's EMF <a href="http://emf.stanford.edu/docs/industry_affiliates/" type="external">is funded by</a> the oil and gas industry as well, with partners <a href="http://emf.stanford.edu/docs/about_emf" type="external">including the likes of</a> Saudi Aramco, American Petroleum Institute, BP America, Chevron, ExxonMobil and others.</p>
<p>Public Relations and Advocacy Costumed as Scholarship</p>
<p>USC's report is now <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/10/12/keystone-xl-contractor-suny-buffalo-shale-institute-conduct-LA-County-fracking-study" type="external">the second case</a> of "frackademia" in the state of California in the past half-year and another example of the oil and gas industry's public relations strategy espoused at the Nov. 2011 " <a href="http://www.media-stakeholder-relations-hydraulic-fracturing.com/" type="external">Media &amp; Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative</a>" conference held in Houston, Texas.</p>
<p>At that same Houston conference in which Range Resources PR flack <a href="http://desmogblog.com/gas-fracking-industry-using-military-psychological-warfare-tactics-and-personnel-u-s-communities" type="external">Matt Pitzarella admitted</a> his company utilizes psychological warfare personnel and techniques in the communities in which Range operates, New York Independent Oil and Gas Association's <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/09/19/frackademia-the-brewing-suny-buffalo-shale-resources-society-institute-storm" type="external">S. Dennis Holbrook stated</a> that it's crucial for industry to "seek out academic studies and champion with universities—because that again provides tremendous credibility to the overall process" because the gas industry is viewed "very skeptically" by the public.</p>
<p>SUNY Buffalo came under fire in the second half of 2012 for partaking in the industry's shady PR game made public at that Houston conference, <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/19/breaking-news-suny-buffalo-ends-frackademia-center-shale-resources-and-society-institute" type="external">ending its SRSI</a> after months of outside agitation from critics. With time we'll see if the same endgame is in-store at USC.</p> | Exposed: Frackademics at USC Release "Powering California" Study | true | http://occupy.com/article/exposed-frackademics-usc-release-powering-california-study | 4 |
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<p>Three months after our perfect wedding, it all began to unravel. I learned he is bipolar with manic episodes. He has been married three times before me and always lost interest in sex. He says he may be attracted to men, then tells me he’s not sure. He also isn’t as good handling his financial affairs as he led me to believe.</p>
<p>I’m 58, and he’s 59. How could I not have had a clue about any of this? I sold my house to move into the parsonage with him. After repeatedly being lied to, misinformed or left out of the loop all together, I am now couch-surfing, mainly at my ex-husband’s house.</p>
<p>I feel tired and broken – no income, no home, no respect and no hope of him getting it together. I would appreciate any advice or counsel. All I have figured out is to start over and remain single as he is my third husband. – THIRD TIME AROUND</p>
<p>DEAR T.T.A.: You will feel less tired and broken after you have consulted a lawyer about helping you get out of this fraudulent marriage. And while you’re at it, you and your lawyer should bring this to the attention of the church council or whoever holds the lease on that parsonage. I am sure they will be very interested in what you have to say about the leader of their flock.</p>
<p>DEAR ABBY: When I started dating my husband, “Ralph,” 22 years ago, I made it very clear that I would NEVER move to his hometown, which is six hours away. Even though it may seem selfish, my wish was to be near my family. Our relationship progressed anyway. We’ve been married for 15 years, live in my hometown, and have three little boys.</p>
<p>Ralph is 42, homesick and wants us to move back home now to be around his parents because he’s lived around my parents for 15 years. I told him my intentions were made crystal clear before we got married and I wasn’t moving. His response was, “So you were worth moving for, but I’m not?”</p>
<p>There are other reasons for my not wanting to move there, but the bottom line is that I wish he had been true to himself before deciding to marry me. I think it’s a bit late to be playing this game. I’d like your thoughts, and please give it to me straight. – STAYING PUT</p>
<p>DEAR STAYING: OK, here they are. I think your husband has a valid point. Marriage is supposed to be about compromise, and for the last 15 years he has lived in your community.</p>
<p>I wish you had shared what your other reasons for being against moving are, because they might have influenced my opinion. But from where I sit, I think you owe it to Ralph to give it a try. Perhaps you and your family could rent out the home you’re living in and rent a place in his hometown for a year. That way, if you can’t adjust, you would be able to move back near your own family, which appears to be your first priority.</p>
<p>Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.</p>
<p />
<p /> | DEAR ABBY: Newlywed’s world caves in when the truth comes out | false | https://abqjournal.com/1032085/headline-here.html | 2 |
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<p>Bill Gross, founder and co-chief investment officer of bond giant PIMCO, wrote in his first letter to investors this year that money printing by central banks will lead to a destructive bout of inflation.</p>
<p>Gross, who has criticized the Federal Reserve's purchases of Treasuries and agency mortgage bonds in past letters, wrote in his January investment outlook entitled "Money for Nothin' Writing Checks For Free" that the purchases will lead to a devaluation of currencies and gradually weaker investment returns.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"The future price tag of printing six trillion dollars' worth of checks comes in the form of inflation and devaluation of currencies either relative to each other, or to commodities in less limitless supply such as oil or gold," Gross wrote.</p>
<p>Gross, whose Pacific Investment Management Co. had $1.92 trillion in assets as of September 30, 2012, referred to a speech in 2002 by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in which Bernanke said that the U.S. could print an unlimited amount of dollars "at essentially no cost."</p>
<p>Gross countered in his letter that the cost will be inflation, which will weaken the returns on long-term bonds and eventually risk assets such as stocks and high-yield bonds, and also hurt businesses.</p>
<p>Gross likened inflation to "dragons" lurking within the "cave" of money-printing programs.</p>
<p>"Zero-bound interest rates, QE maneuvering, and ���essentially costless' check writing destroy business models and stunt investment decisions which offer increasingly lower ROIs and ROEs," Gross wrote.</p>
<p>Gross recently wrote on PIMCO's twitter account on December 30 that stocks and bonds will return less than 5 percent in 2013.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sam Forgione; editing by Gunna Dickson)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | PIMCO's Gross warns investors of looming inflation | true | http://foxbusiness.com/news/2013/01/03/pimco-gross-warns-investors-looming-inflation.html | 2016-03-02 | 0 |
<p>RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the Virginia Lottery’s “Cash 5 Day” game were:</p>
<p>04-11-28-30-33</p>
<p>(four, eleven, twenty-eight, thirty, thirty-three)</p>
<p>RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the Virginia Lottery’s “Cash 5 Day” game were:</p>
<p>04-11-28-30-33</p>
<p>(four, eleven, twenty-eight, thirty, thirty-three)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘Cash 5 Day’ game | false | https://apnews.com/0b54a51aae70411bb30c9f19151a3592 | 2018-01-24 | 2 |
<p>CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela President Hugo Chavez is still receiving treatment for breathing problems. Two months ago he underwent cancer surgery in Cuba and he has not been seen in public since.</p>
<p>A government spokesman announced today that he hasn't fully recovered: “The respiratory deficiency that arose in the course of the postoperative period persists, and its tendency has not been favorable, for which reason he continues to be treated,” the information minister, Ernesto Villegas, announced to the public on national television.</p>
<p>Five days after his arrival back to Venezuela, no images of Chavez have been released, in stark contrast to previous "risen from the ashes" returns by the theatrical leader.</p>
<p>"The president holds firm with Christ, with the maximum desire to live," Villegas said.</p>
<p>There are rumors that Chavez is to be sworn in at his hospital bed this weekend, in order to perhaps renounce power. Politicians are quietly readying for elections in the coming months. Meanwhile, Venezuela — on both sides of the political divide — is on hold as it waits for news of what's next.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/venezuela/130220/venezuelan-hugo-chavez-back-mystery" type="external">For Venezuela, the great mystery starring Chavez</a></p>
<p>Virtually no medical information has been made public on Chavez's recovery, <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/02/201322223046649692.html" type="external">Al Jazeera reported</a>. Venezuelans are searching for clues about his health. The Caracas military hospital where he stays is blocked by guards to keep out reporters and onlookers.</p>
<p>Former presidential candidate Enrique Capriles is demanding that the government be more transparent about Chavez's health, <a href="http://www.euronews.com/2013/02/22/caracas-issues-first-chavez-health-statement/" type="external">Euro News reported</a>.&#160;</p> | Chavez has trouble breathing | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-02-22/chavez-has-trouble-breathing | 2013-02-22 | 3 |
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<p>Tom Begaye Jr., 27, is escorted from the Farmington Municipal Courthouse after his initial appearance Wednesday in the killing of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The man accused of abducting and killing an 11-year-old girl on the Navajo reservation earlier this week appeared in front of a federal judge Friday morning and did not contest his detention or that there was probable cause for the charges he faces.</p>
<p>Judge Steven Yarbrough ordered Tom Begaye, 27, remain behind bars.</p>
<p>Begaye, who was in a yellow jumpsuit and shackled at the ankles and wrists, hardly said anything during a very brief appearance on murder and kidnapping charges at U.S. District Court in Albuquerque near Lomas and 4th NW Friday morning.</p>
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<p>He was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing to determine if there was probable cause for the charges, as well as a detention hearing to determine if he would be released or detained.</p>
<p>Begaye and his attorney did not contest his detention or argue against probable cause and waived both hearings, so Judge Yarbrough found there was probable cause for the charges and ordered that Begaye stay in jail.</p>
<p>Begaye's alleged crimes have left shock rippling through communities both in the four corners area as well throughout the state.</p>
<p>The FBI, which is investigating the case, says Begaye saw Ashlynne playing in a ditch with her brother and picked up the children with the intention of raping Ashlynne.</p>
<p>He drove her to a desolate spot south of the Shiprock pinnacle and sexually assaulted her, then beat her, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.</p>
<p>Her brother, 9-year-old Ian Mike, was waiting in his captor's car.</p>
<p>When Begaye returned, he ordered the boy out and left.</p>
<p>Authorities later found sources who pointed them to Begaye, and he admitted to all of the horrific details of the crime, according to the complaint.</p>
<p>He faced a federal judge in Farmington for his first appearance Wednesday, and a group of bystanders outside yelled obscenities at him as he left the courtroom.</p>
<p>Begaye does not have a serious criminal history.</p>
<p>He had been ticketed for speeding a few times since 2006 and was charged with DWI in 2015, according to the Shiprock District Court for the Navajo Nation. He defaulted on the speeding tickets and the DWI charge was dismissed.</p>
<p>Three weeks ago, he was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and a petty misdemeanor of possession of marijuana or synthetic cannabinoids.</p>
<p>He was supposed to be arraigned in Farmington on Thursday on that charge, but that was cancelled in favor of today's hearing.</p> | Accused child killer to remain behind bars | false | https://abqjournal.com/769574/federal-judge-orders-child-killer-remain-behind-bars.html | 2016-05-06 | 2 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Scandal.jpg" type="external" />Most of the Democrat Party these days thinks it is their job to protect Obama no matter what The White House would have you believe that the IRS scandal is not a scandal at all, but a bunch of partisan nonsense being perpetrated by Republicans. The media has tried [?]</p>
<p><a href="http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/63003" type="external">Click here to view original web page at canadafreepress.com</a></p>
<p /> | 26 House Democrats not buying White House nonsense about the IRS | true | http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/26-house-democrats-not-buying-white-house-nonsense-about-the-irs/ | 0 |
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<p />
<p>TASER International, the maker of electrical weapons for police officers, is changing its name to Axon as it pushes further into the software business.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Axon name comes from the business unit that sells police body cameras, patrol car cameras and the software for managing the hours of digital footage they generate.</p>
<p>In a gamble that police departments will sign up for paid software subscriptions, the company is offering a free body camera to police officers in addition to a year of free access to Evidence.com, its online software for managing video and other evidence.</p>
<p>TASER still gets the bulk of its revenue from selling its weapons, which use electrical current to immobilize targets. Last year, $202.6 million of its $268.2 million in revenue came from its weapons segment, mostly in the form of replacement cartridges.</p>
<p>But nearly a quarter of TASER's revenue now comes from the Axon segment. Software revenue for Evidence.com nearly doubled to $11.7 million.</p>
<p>"The hardware creates an issue for police departments in a sense that you're creating hours and hours of raw data," said Steve Dyer, senior research analyst for Craig-Hallum Capital Group. "You have the question not only of how to store the data in an industry that is not traditionally that tech savvy, but also how to handle digital evidence with the same safeguards as physical evidence."</p>
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<p>Evidence.com software is sold on a subscription basis, typically five-year contracts. That means TASER would have to spend money to sign up the customer, but revenue would trickle in over a number of years.</p>
<p>Software firms like Salesforce.com or Workday have persuaded investors to tolerate this revenue model. But it can cut into profits in the short term: TASER's profits dipped from $19.9 million to $17.2 million last year despite strong revenue growth.</p>
<p>"Once an agency has been on board with Evidence.com for five years, we think the churn rate will be quite low," CEO Rick Smith told Reuters.</p>
<p>TASER only started selling software in earnest in 2012, so there is still little data to support Smith's assertion. Meantime, the company is working to add features: it acquired an artificial intelligence startup called Dextro this year, providing technology that helps police search and redact footage.</p>
<p>Dyer said TASER had a virtual monopoly on electric weapons and had already sold body cameras to most of the big police departments that have made a decision on the technology.</p>
<p>"It's a bet on whether they can turn this captive audience and first-mover advantage into a software and services revenue stream down the road," he said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Stephen Nellis; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Andrew Hay)</p> | TASER changes name in shift to software, services for police | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/04/05/taser-changes-name-in-shift-to-software-services-for-police.html | 2017-04-05 | 0 |
<p>A former detainee from&#160;Guantánamo Bay has resurfaced in Venezuela&#160;after officials said he had gone missing&#160;from his&#160;new&#160;home in Uruguay more than a month ago.</p>
<p>Abu Wa’el Dhiab is one of six people released from the US military prison in Cuba and brought to Uruguay in December 2014.&#160;</p>
<p>Dhiab is a free man&#160;whom the US never&#160;charged for terrorism crimes. And, according to Uruguay, he can travel abroad as he pleases.</p>
<p>But&#160;Uruguayan officials caused a stir when they said he had quietly left the country last month. Neighboring Brazil was on the lookout. A South American airline <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/airline-issues-alert-former-gitmo-detainee-abu-wa-el-dhiab-n603711" type="external">issued</a> an alert.&#160;And US&#160; <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2016-07-07/us-official-defends-plan-to-close-guantanamo" type="external">Republican lawmakers used</a> Dhiab's flight as evidence that President Barack Obama is botching the closure of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.</p>
<p>The former prisoner reportedly traveled across Brazil by bus, said California attorney Jon Eisenberg, who has been representing Dhiab in a lawsuit against the US&#160;government. Eisenberg said Dhiab has requested to be sent to Turkey to reunite with his family, who recently fled the war in Syria.</p>
<p>Read more:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Uruguay has ‘no idea’ where this former Guantánamo detainee is</a></p>
<p>Dhiab had recently surfaced in the city of Chuy, on the border between Uruguay and Brazil.&#160;This week,&#160;PRI has been&#160;in northern Uruguay following reports that Dhiab was possibly still in the country, on a religious retreat. Members of the Muslim community in&#160;Chuy confirm&#160;Dhiab visited there recently. They say he stayed for a few days,&#160;but&#160;that they&#160;don't know where he went next.</p>
<p>Uruguay's foreign minister told&#160;national newspaper <a href="http://www.elobservador.com.uy/exrecluso-guantanamo-aparecio-venezuela-n947406" type="external">El Observador</a>&#160;that Dhiab showed up at the country's consulate in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas on Wednesday.</p>
<p>However, an official reached at the Uruguayan Consulate on Wednesday&#160;afternoon told PRI that&#160;Dhiab&#160;had not been there. The official&#160;directed calls to Uruguay’s Foreign Ministry, but calls to the ministry were not answered.</p>
<p>US State Department officials at the US embassies in Uruguay and Venezuela declined to comment.</p>
<p>It’s not the first time Dhiab&#160;disappeared from Uruguay, only to resappear&#160;suddenly in another country. Last year, he dropped out of view for a few days and resurfaced&#160;in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he gave a television interview to local media.</p>
<p>“He’s not headed to the battlefield, or to terrorize the Olympics,” said&#160;Eisenberg, the lawyer, “he’s in Venezuela.”&#160;</p>
<p>Read more:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">The truth about the former Gitmo prisoner 'missing' from Uruguay</a></p> | 'Missing' ex-Gitmo inmate has resurfaced in Venezuela | false | https://pri.org/stories/2016-07-27/missing-ex-gitmo-inmate-has-resurfaced-venezuela | 2016-07-27 | 3 |
<p>Aug. 23 (UPI) — A teen in England spent 99 cents to order “nothing” from McDonald’s after removing all of the ingredients from the order.</p>
<p>Twitter user Ari <a href="https://twitter.com/Arikuyo/status/899664215186845697" type="external">shared photos</a> of the order and the resulting receipt that featured a charge of 99 cents for the list of ingredients that added up to nothing.</p>
<p>“I just spent 99p for nothing from McDonald’s,” Ari wrote.</p>
<p>Ari originally planned to order a cheeseburger without pickles, but soon realized the order station offered the option to remove every single ingredient.</p>
<p>After removing the onion, ketchup, mustard, cheese, bun and beef patty from the order the teen was left with nothing but an empty bag and a 99 cent bill.</p>
<p>“This tweet actually cost me money to make, I’m gonna be pissed off if it doesn’t blow up,” Ari tweeted.</p>
<p>The post eventually went viral, receiving more than 150,000 likes and 60,000 retweets.</p>
<p>It also inspired other Twitter users to imagine other unusual orders including removing all of the ingredients except for ketchup.</p> | Teen spends 99 cents for 'nothing' at McDonald's | false | https://newsline.com/teen-spends-99-cents-for-nothing-at-mcdonalds/ | 2017-08-23 | 1 |
<p>The United States is pushing Iran to free "without delay" US citizen Amir Mirzai Hekmati, who confessed on state television that he had been sent to infiltrate Iranian intelligence services, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5geXFB6euSfXIr61X60Q2nilk5O7Q?docId=CNG.36250fd7ea7d7c41d8cfe510d0060488.811" type="external">Agence France Presse</a> reported.</p>
<p>Hekmati, who is of Iranian descent and speaks both in English and Farsi, was born in Arizona.</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/111217/iran-claims-arrest-another-cia-spy" type="external">Iran claims arrest of another CIA spy</a></p>
<p>On Sunday, Iranian state television showed a clean-shaven man in his 20s who said he had a decade of intelligence training - and was told to obtain Iranian intelligence by offering information on US forces in neighboring Afghanistan, AFP reported.</p>
<p>A State Department spokeswoman said the US had requested access to Hekmati through the embassy of Switzerland, which operates as an intermediary between the countries, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16259013" type="external">the BBC</a> reported.</p>
<p>Hekmati's family denied their son was involved in espionage. His father, Ali Hekmati, told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/" type="external">ABC News</a>:</p>
<p>"My son is no spy. He is innocent. He's a good fellow, a good citizen, a good man ... These are all unfounded allegations and a bunch of lies."</p>
<p>It is understood that Hekmati's family first reported his detention in September, and the State Department has been offering consular assistance.</p>
<p>The Iranian television report said Hekmati joined the US Army in 2001 and received special training before being sent to Iran, the BBC reported.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/111212/iran-war-explosion-israel-attack-us-stuxnet" type="external">Iran war: Has it already begun?</a></p>
<p>Ali Hekmati said his son joined the US marines in 2001 as an Arabic translator.</p>
<p>Tehran in May claimed to be holding as many as 30 CIA operatives.</p> | US urges Iran to free 'spy' Amir Mirzai Hekmati | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-12-20/us-urges-iran-free-spy-amir-mirzai-hekmati | 2011-12-20 | 3 |
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<p>WATCHING THE disrespect shown by the sitting vice president to his opponent was startling. While many wanted a discussion of the issues, that was secondary to the smirking, laughing and disruption emanating from the man one heartbeat away from the presidency. It left no doubt why the last two years in Washington was devoid of any bipartisanship movement to resolve the serious issues before us.</p>
<p>When you refuse to listen to those with differing views, when you mock rather than seek a common ground, when you grandstand to your constituents, how can anything positive get done? And of course the blame is placed on the opponent because they are “being unreasonable.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And the position of our president on such behavior? He agreed with it all.</p>
<p>Once again, in the land of politics, we are asked to defer our desire for a discussion of the issues, accept rudeness and condescension as the norm, disregard our lying eyes and to accept personalities above principles. Joe Biden’s conduct was an embarrassment and an insult to the office. What a great example to those people of the world to whom we promote the democratic process.</p>
<p>MICHAEL B. STERN</p>
<p>Bernalillo</p>
<p>State of Nation No Laughing Matter</p>
<p>I WATCHED the vice presidential debate. I am a Democrat. I don’t exactly feel that Vice President Joe Biden won.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I watched him smirk and laugh and make fun of Paul Ryan. I know that is just who he is. I know they wanted him to act just like he is to knock Ryan off his game.</p>
<p>However, Biden worried me the last time around, 2008. He worries me more now. At what point is it OK to laugh at our future? At what point is it OK to ridicule someone who has an idea about how to make life better for Americans?</p>
<p>Mr. Biden, do you think our future is that funny? Because I don’t. I am worried about my future and my job right now and my health care and how much money I am going to be paying out for utilities next month — and do I have the funds for that? Can I afford an extra cord of wood this fall so that I don’t have to pay so much for electricity this winter? If I lose my job, how am I going to pay off my student loans?</p>
<p>How can this be funny to anyone? At what point is it OK to mock the American people and their concerns?</p>
<p>ANN CLINKSCALES</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Don’t Tell Me How To Hold My Faith</p>
<p>WE HAVE A “Tale of Two Candidates and Two Political Parties” with opposing views on women’s rights.</p>
<p>Last week’s vice presidential debate should be an eye opener for women across the country.</p>
<p>The vice president, a Catholic, said although Catholic doctrine states its views against abortion, “I just refuse to impose my religious views on others, unlike my friend here; I do not believe we have a right to tell women that they can’t control their body. It’s a decision between a woman and her doctor.”</p>
<p>Paul Ryan also a Catholic, on the other hand, wants to take away a woman’s right to choose, he wants to criminalize abortion and miscarriages through a Personhood Amendment that states life begins at conception.</p>
<p>The vice president was correct in his understanding of Catholic doctrine; 12 years of Catholic school and religious teaching taught me one thing — God gives us free will.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Free will allowed Adam to bite into the apple, allowed Cain to kill Abel, allows every horrible thing humans want to commit against each other without the interference from a God. But now we can have the interference from those Pillars of Moral Judgment — Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, the Republican Party and the Religious Right. …</p>
<p>What Republicans are failing to recognize is that we already have a Constitution that clearly states a separation of church and state. Our Founding Fathers thought it so important that this is our First Amendment to our Constitution and this amendment fits right into our Christian/Judeo teaching.</p>
<p>What God forbids is between our conscience, priest, minister or rabbi and God — and it’s not up to the government or Republican Party to enforce church doctrine.</p>
<p>PATRICIA PAGE</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p>
<p>Personal Opinions Are Being Imposed</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I WATCHED the Oct. 11 vice presidential debate with confusion and sadness.</p>
<p>The vice president portrayed himself as a lifelong Catholic who supports Catholic doctrine and teachings, and he said that he believes, consistent with Catholic teaching, that life begins at conception.</p>
<p>Then he feigned reluctance to put his personal views into the public arena. Here is an encapsulation of the convoluted logic: Life begins at conception; embryos are humans; it is illegal and immoral for one human to take the life of another human; but it is perfectly OK if abortionists take the lives of unborn humans; and laws and public policies that facilitate killing 1.5 million innocent lives annually are just fine.</p>
<p>Catholics and Christians of all denominations should be outraged at this moral dichotomy and hypocrisy!</p>
<p>The liberal mantra is, “We must keep the government out of our bedrooms.” Here is a news flash for liberals: Abortions do not occur in bedrooms. Abortions occur in abortuaries funded by those like the vice president who say they don’t want to impose their personal opinions on others.</p>
<p>It seems that they are imposing their personal opinions on millions of people of faith at the peril of lives that, while begun at conception, have ended at abortuaries.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The liberals’ logic is so confusing and its impact so sad.</p>
<p>GEORGE WRIGHT</p>
<p>Corrales</p>
<p>Excuse Us If Our Trust Is Shaken</p>
<p>AFTER WATCHING last Thursday’s VP debate, I’m hoping and praying to Jesus the Obama administration’s intelligence reports that Vice President Joe Biden touted regarding Iran not having a bomb to host their five bombs’ worth of fissile material — They don’t have a bomb to put it in! (repeated several times) — is better than the intelligence reports they got that our embassy in Libya didn’t need additional security.</p>
<p>STEPHEN R. COX</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Los Ranchos</p>
<p>This Wasn’t What You’d Call Debate</p>
<p>THE REPUBLICANS were the clear victors in the confrontation between Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Paul Ryan. By default.</p>
<p>The meeting was advertised as a debate. Certainly the country needed a debate. The nation has profound concerns about many issues. We want and need to have those issues discussed clearly and completely to help us understand the significance of our vote in the coming elections. …</p>
<p>Unfortunately, although Ryan attempted to present the Republican positions logically, and support them with facts, the vice president mainly attempted to prevent this. He constantly interrupted Ryan’s most significant arguments before they could be clearly developed, usually not refuting them with complete arguments but rather with loud and sneering attacks on selected points. In between the verbal interruptions, Biden constantly made broad gestures and contemptuous facial expressions with the apparent intention of distracting the viewers and making it difficult for us to concentrate on the factual significance of Ryan’s presentation.</p>
<p>Had Biden felt the Democratic position was sound he would have behaved quite differently. He would have wanted Ryan to present the Republican positions clearly, so that he might clearly refute them. He would have presented data supporting his own party’s record and objectives clearly and completely, challenging Ryan to find valid faults. Had Biden been confident, he would have wanted the American public to see the comprehensive strengths and weaknesses of both major parties. He would have wanted an actual debate. …</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>For me, he was conceding Democratic defeat, by default.</p>
<p>How much better for the country, had the issues been clarified by unimpeded discussion. Instead, Biden forced us to draw our conclusions from a debate — that never was.</p>
<p>BERT KORTEGAARD</p>
<p>White Rock</p>
<p>Keep Him Away From Any Enemies</p>
<p>I BELIEVE MANY will agree this fits Vice President Joe Biden’s “performance” at the debate like a glove. Proverbs 29:9, “If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only the rages and laughs, and there is no quiet. But the discerning know wisdom, and the Lord shall rise with us, as we rise for him.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In my opinion, our vice president tries to win arguments by being an arrogant, rude idiot. Imagine him as an international negotiator for the United States. Call up the National Guard and Reserves, because heaven help us if he ever gets the job.</p>
<p>MARK CUMMINGS</p>
<p>Rio Rancho</p>
<p>The Man Is Clearly Not a Role Model</p>
<p>I SEEM TO recall an old saying, “Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear what you’re saying.”</p>
<p>To me this was never so true as Joe Biden’s part in the so-called debate Thursday. As far as I am concerned, he didn’t do the position of vice president of the United States any favors.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>HARRY D. SHEARER</p>
<p>Bernalillo</p>
<p>A Debate Is Not A Comedy Show</p>
<p>I THOUGHT the vice presidential debate was a very sad spectacle. It was as though Paul Ryan was debating a tag team match made up of a laughing hyena and an Obama groupie.</p>
<p>What a sad sight to see given that there were serious questions involved and Biden was a clownish ringmaster trying to turn the whole thing into a comedy show more worthy of Comedy Central than prime-time television.</p>
<p>When a scoundrel has nothing to say, he tries to mock his opponent with inane facial gestures and even more inane comments.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>MARIE YORDY</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p>
<p>World Decidedly Wasn’t Impressed</p>
<p>DO WE WANT this man one heartbeat away from being president?</p>
<p>During the debate, Joe Biden was either off his meds or overmedicated. He was a complete idiot. If the Democrats see that as a win, heaven help them. He was a laughing hyena, showed no class whatsoever.</p>
<p>We wonder why the rest of the world sees us as weak and downright stupid. This gives our allies nightmares and our foes a sense of power.</p>
<p>LORRAINE COLLUMS</p>
<p>Albuquerque</p> | Biden’s Big Debate Bomb | false | https://abqjournal.com/139349/bidens-big-debate-bomb.html | 2012-10-18 | 2 |
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<p>If you’re going to use electricity tonight, you may as well do it watching Sundance Channel’s new green living show, <a href="http://www.sundancechannel.com/series/thegreen_bigideas" type="external">“Big Ideas for a Small Planet”</a> (9 p.m. E/P).</p>
<p>In true <a href="http://www.sundancechannel.com/home/" type="external">Sundance</a> tradition, “Big Ideas” is a series of short documentaries. But they’re not the drab, depressing kind. Instead, they feature cutting-edge technologies and brilliant inventors bent on saving the earth.</p>
<p>Each episode has a theme, and tonight’s is alternative fuels. You’ll meet a couple who’ll retrofit your gas-guzzling vintage ride into a clean machine, see an Indy 500 driver get better torque and pull using ethanol, and feel the rush with a monster trucker who fries chicken and then uses the grease as gas. These are people who don’t just “talk the talk” about being green; they “drive the drive,” as one quips. (That this first episode is about alternative fuels and a later one is about green vehicles is probably no coincidence: the show is “sponsored by Lexus,” who has a <a href="http://www.lexus.com/models/RXh/" type="external">new hybrid SUV</a> on the market.)</p>
<p>The series doesn’t end when you click off the TV. “Big Ideas” is just part of a <a href="http://www.nbcunetworks.com/insidenbccable/networks/sundance/resources/inthenews/032807.html" type="external">larger line of programming</a>, web features, and blogs called “The Green.” Viewers can check out easy tips for green living, watch video clips, or learn more about environmental issues on “The Green” section of Sundance Channel’s <a href="http://www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen/#/greenGuide" type="external">site</a>, for which <a href="http://treehugger.com/" type="external">TreeHugger</a> provided much of the content.</p>
<p>But lest you think Sundance the only cable channel targeting green viewers, the Discovery Channel is launching an <a href="http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6431001.html" type="external">entire network</a> devoted to everyday green living next year.</p>
<p>—Jen Phillips</p>
<p /> | Sundance Channel’s Green Living Show Debuts Tonight | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/04/sundance-channels-green-living-show-debuts-tonight/ | 2007-04-13 | 4 |
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<p>NM State earned that chance to play for the automatic bid and conference championship title after its resounding 4-0 victory against No. 4 Chicago State (8-16).</p>
<p>Doubles play came fairly easy for the Aggies (17-5), especially for the NM State No. 2 doubles tandem of Stijn de Haan and Mauri Benitez. The two didn’t waste time and sent Chicago State’s No. 2 doubles pair packing, 6-0.</p>
<p>Shortly thereafter, the dynamic duo of WAC Player of the Year Christofer Goncalves and First-Team All-WAC honoree Luis Flores clinched the doubles point for NM State with a 6-3 win in the top doubles position.</p>
<p>Benitez continued his tear in singles action, racing past the Cougar’s Cody Wurzelbacher 6-1, 6-0 on court No. 2. Less than 10 minutes later, Enrique Asmar pushed the Aggie lead to 3-0 when he defeated Christian Gonzalez 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 5 singles slot.</p>
<p>With match point up for grabs, Sergi Espias sent the Aggies to their third-straight championship match appearance on Sunday with his 6-3, 6-1 win over Rohan Wattley at the No. 4 singles position. New Mexico State was also leading in all three matches that were abandoned on courts 1-3.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The 17 wins by New Mexico State in dual play ties the all-time record set by the 1998-99 squad, who went 17-7 overall and 4-1 in Big West Conference play.</p>
<p>Joining the Aggie men in the WAC Championship match are the New Mexico State women’s tennis team, who defeated UT Rio Grande Valley earlier in the day 4-1.</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/29/MTEN-Match-2-NM-State-4-CSU-0.pdf" type="external">Box score: NMSU 4, Chicago State 0</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Top-seeded Aggie men to play for WAC title Sunday | false | https://abqjournal.com/995638/top-seeded-aggie-men-to-play-for-wac-title-sunday.html | 2 |
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<p>It’s another case of “you can’t make this stuff up”: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is visiting Washington Wednesday morning for top-level meetings, the day after <a href="" type="internal">President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey</a> amid an ongoing investigation into Trump’s Russia ties.</p>
<p>Lavrov, described in <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2013/04/29/minister-no/" type="external">one Foreign Policy profile</a> as “hard-drinking, hard-charging” and a “relentless and smart negotiator,”&#160;appeared to enjoy his appearance in front of American cameras when he scoffed at a reporter’s question about Comey’s firing.</p>
<p>“Does the Comey firing cast a shadow on your talks, gentleman?” NBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked at a press conference, where Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was welcoming Russia’s top diplomat—and longest serving post-Cold War foreign minister—to Washington.</p>
<p>“Was he fired?” Lavrov responded in a mocking tone. “You are kidding. You are kidding,” he said, before theatrically shrugging and retreating from the press corps with Tillerson, ignoring further questions.</p>
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<p>Trump is scheduled to meet with Lavrov later today—one day after he removed Comey from his FBI post. The former director had been leading an investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, and possible ties between Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin.</p>
<p>Update, 11:17 am: They’ve met!</p>
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<p /> | Russia’s Foreign Minister Just Mocked a Reporter’s Question About James Comey’s Firing | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/russia-sergey-lavrov-james-comey-sarcastic-joke/ | 2017-05-10 | 4 |
<p>Sirius XM Holdings Inc. reported improved fourth-quarter earnings and revenue on Thursday. Net income for the quarter was $204.6 million, or 4 cents per share, compared with $134.6 million, or 3 cents during the same period a year ago. Sirius' per-share earnings came in right at FactSet's consensus of 4 cents. Revenue hit $1.30 billion during the quarter, up from $1.20 billion during the year-earlier quarter and just ahead of FactSet's forecast for $1.29 billion. The satellite radio broadcasting company said it added 1.75 million net subscribers during the full year 2016, more than the 1.65 million FactSet expected. Sirius expects to add 1.30 million self-pay subscribers during 2017 and expects revenue of approximately $5.30 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $5.01. Shares of Sirius are up more than 33% in the trailing 12-month period, while the S&amp;P 500 Index is up nearly 20% in during the same time frame.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Sirius XM Posts Improved Q4 Earnings And Revenue, Adds 1.75 Mln Subscribers In 2016 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/02/sirius-xm-posts-improved-q4-earnings-and-revenue-adds-175-mln-subscribers-in.html | 2017-02-02 | 0 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans revealed the details of their sweeping tax legislation Thursday, including a one-year delay in plans for a major corporate tax cut despite strident opposition from the White House and others in their own party. Their bill would leave the prized mortgage interest deduction untouched for homeowners in a concession to the powerful real estate lobby but would ignore a House compromise on the hot-button issue of state and local tax deductions.</p>
<p>On the other side of the Capitol, the House Ways and Means Committee approved its own version of the legislation on a party-line 24-16 vote, amid intense political pressure on the GOP to push forward on the first major rewrite of the U.S. tax code in three decades. It’s President Donald Trump’s top priority and a goal many Republicans believe has grown even more urgent in the wake of election losses on Tuesday that displayed an energized Democratic electorate.</p>
<p>Yet as the Senate Finance Committee unveiled its bill, a few stark differences emerged with the version approved by the House tax-writing committee, underscoring the challenges ahead in getting both chambers to agree on the complex and far-reaching legislation that would affect nearly every American.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Senate measure fails to repeal the estate tax, though it doubles the size of estates exempted from the tax. It makes couples earning up to $1 million eligible for a $1,650 per-child tax credit. It creates a new 38.5 percent tax bracket for couples earning more than $1 million and individuals making more than $500,000 per year. And it takes a different approach to cutting taxes for businesses not organized as corporations that is less generous but applies to more businesses.</p>
<p>Democrats are strongly opposed to the GOP rewrite, so the Republicans must find agreement among themselves to have any hope of passage.</p>
<p>The Senate bill would fully repeal the state and local deduction claimed by many taxpayers, an idea that has drawn vigorous opposition from House Republicans in New York and New Jersey and resulted in a compromise in the House version of the bill that would allow property taxes to be deducted up to $10,000.</p>
<p>House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told The Associated Press that the Senate’s total-repeal approach would face tough sledding in his chamber. As for the hard-fought compromise, he said, “I think it’d be difficult not to have it in the final bill.”</p>
<p>On the other hand, the House bill would lower the cap on the mortgage interest deduction, an idea that caused intense blowback from the real estate lobby, but the Senate tax measure would leave it unchanged. That means homebuyers would continue to be able to deduct interest payments on loans of up to $1 million as permitted under current law; the House bill would reduce the limit to $500,000 for new home purchases.</p>
<p>The feverish efforts by Republicans in both chambers are aimed at fulfilling a self-imposed deadline to get legislation out of the House and Senate before Thanksgiving so the period between then and Christmas can be devoted to reconciling the two versions. But the Senate already seems unlikely to meet that deadline because of complex rules governing how it must consider the tax bill.</p>
<p>In one provision sure to cause a major dispute, the Senate measure includes a one-year delay in lowering the corporate tax rate, which is to be cut from 35 percent to 20 percent. Delaying that reduction would lower the cost of the bill to the Treasury, but the delay is opposed by the White House and some Senate Republicans.</p>
<p>“The president would like this to go into effect right away,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday on Fox Business Network.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Other obstacles remain, among them a band of deficit hawks in the Senate who are unhappy about the $1.5 trillion the legislation would add to the national debt over the coming decade.</p>
<p>“I remain concerned over how the current tax reform proposals will grow the already staggering national debt by opting for short-term fixes while ignoring long-term problems,” said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ala. “We must achieve real tax reform crafted in a fiscally responsible manner.”</p>
<p>The House and Senate bills are broadly similar in their outlines. Both would drastically reduce the corporate tax rate and also lower rates for individuals, while eliminating deductions claimed by many people.</p>
<p>The House version would collapse the current seven tax brackets into four, while the Senate would retain seven. The House bill would entirely eliminate the estate tax, while the Senate version would retain it while doubling the exemption level. Both versions would retain an adoption tax credit that had initially been eliminated in the House bill, but that adoption advocates fought to restore.</p>
<p>Both would increase a child tax credit, though not to levels sought by Sens. Marco Rubio and others, an indication of how individual provisions will need to be negotiated with one lawmaker after another in the weeks to come. House Republicans appear on track to pass their version of the bill next week, but in the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has a slim 52-48 majority that has proven difficult to corral.</p>
<p>Democrats are angrily opposed to the GOP rewrite, arguing it’s a giveaway to the rich and corporate America. Republicans contend that the tax reductions will help the middle class, even though some independent analyses have found that the wealthy and corporations benefit disproportionately.</p>
<p>The tax bill must deepen federal deficits by no more than $1.5 trillion over the coming decade. If Republicans don’t meet that, the measure would be vulnerable to a bill-killing Senate filibuster by Democrats that GOP senators lack the votes to block. It also cannot add to red ink beyond the first 10 years without facing the same fate.</p>
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<p>Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Erica Werner contributed to this report.</p> | Senate GOP tax bill would delay biz cut, undo deductions | false | https://abqjournal.com/1090233/senate-bill-to-unwrap-with-tax-cuts-end-to-local-deduction.html | 2017-11-09 | 2 |
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<p>As authorities search a locked-down Brussels for suspects in this month’s Paris attacks, Belgian-born Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch, cites the “marginalized ghettos” in European cities where many migrants live.</p>
<p>Bouckaert has spent the last few months interviewing refugees coming to Europe from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>“Europe really should be focusing more on the marginalized Muslim communities at home and try to better meet their needs, make sure that young people are educated and have jobs available, because the reality is that the majority of these people who carried out the Paris attacks were French citizens […] who have been living in France all of their lives,” he tells “Democracy Now!”</p>
<p />
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p> | VIDEO: Will Europe Address the Muslims of Its 'Marginalized Ghettos'? | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/video-will-europe-address-the-muslims-of-its-marginalized-ghettos/ | 2015-11-23 | 4 |
<p>SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio police say a 48-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman were found dead at a home on the city's northwest side with gunshot wounds to their heads.</p>
<p>Spokeswoman Romana Lopez says in a statement Wednesday that relatives told police that the two had a "contentious relationship," and that the woman had recently allowed the man to return home for the holidays after kicking him out.</p>
<p>The statement adds that a gun was found under the man. The victims' identities have not been released pending police notification of kin. No further details have been made available.</p>
<p>The San Antonio Express-News <a href="https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/SAPD-14-year-old-finds-mom-and-her-boyfriend-12457770.php" type="external">reports</a> that the woman's 10- and 14-year-old sons were at home during the shooting. The older boy found his mother and her boyfriend dead in the master bedroom.</p>
<p>SAN ANTONIO (AP) — San Antonio police say a 48-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman were found dead at a home on the city's northwest side with gunshot wounds to their heads.</p>
<p>Spokeswoman Romana Lopez says in a statement Wednesday that relatives told police that the two had a "contentious relationship," and that the woman had recently allowed the man to return home for the holidays after kicking him out.</p>
<p>The statement adds that a gun was found under the man. The victims' identities have not been released pending police notification of kin. No further details have been made available.</p>
<p>The San Antonio Express-News <a href="https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/SAPD-14-year-old-finds-mom-and-her-boyfriend-12457770.php" type="external">reports</a> that the woman's 10- and 14-year-old sons were at home during the shooting. The older boy found his mother and her boyfriend dead in the master bedroom.</p> | San Antonio couple found dead with gun under man's body | false | https://apnews.com/amp/4cb6d9a77a1643ccb38f57f470846d68 | 2017-12-28 | 2 |
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<p>HADI: Demanding that rebels leave Sanaa</p>
<p>The move exacerbates worries over a regional breakup and further instability in the volatile country, the Arab world’s poorest and home to a powerful al-Qaida affiliate.</p>
<p>The rebels, known as Houthis, control Sanaa and several major cities, while the south is largely free from their rule and officials there have rejected the rebel takeover amid talk of a potential secession.</p>
<p>In a statement signed as “president of the republic” from the southern port city of Aden, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called for a national dialogue and demanded the rebels leave Sanaa.</p>
<p>He said he supports the power transfer plan backed by Gulf countries after Yemen’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising, which envisaged him taking office from predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh until elections.</p>
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<p>He also called on military and security forces to support him and demanded the Houthis release members of his former Cabinet still under house arrest in Sanaa.</p>
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<p /> | Yemen leader says he is still country’s president | false | https://abqjournal.com/544918/yemen-leader-says-he-is-still-countrys-president.html | 2 |
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<p>New research on Monday revealed that BlackBerry’s (NASDAQ:BBRY) share of the U.S. smartphone market recently inched below 1%, as the handset maker grapples with disappointing sales of new phones.</p>
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<p>According to Kantar Wordpanel ComTech, BlackBerry held market share of just 0.8% for the three months ended Oct. 31. The news is worse in China, where the Canadian company now has no share of the market. BlackBerry’s strongest showing is in Great Britain at 3.3%.</p>
<p>BlackBerry once pioneered the smartphone industry, but its fortunes quickly turned amid competition from the likes of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung.</p>
<p>The company’s BlackBerry 10 operating system failed to gain traction, while Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone each gained market share in the &#160;U.S.</p>
<p>Kantar said Apple, which recently launched a new version of iOS, dropped to 40.8% in the latest quarter. Android’s domestic market share widened to 52.6% from 47.7%, and Windows rose to 4.8% from 2.5%. Windows also surpassed 10% in the five largest European Union economies.</p>
<p>Despite the dwindling market share, BlackBerry interim CEO John Chen voiced optimism in an open letter to enterprise customers on Monday.</p>
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<p>Chen said BlackBerry is “here to stay,” adding that its enterprise solutions will continue to manage all devices, not just BlackBerry smartphones.</p>
<p>“We understand the realities of the enterprise mobility market better than anyone, and we’re in the game for the long term,” he said. “We’ve been investing in enterprise mobility management -- for any device -- and thanks to customers like you, we’re doing very well.”</p>
<p>Early last month, the company disclosed that a $4.7 billion deal to take BlackBerry private fell through. Instead, investor Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial, which planned to buy the company, instead agreed to invest $1 billion through convertible shares.</p>
<p>BlackBerry also announced the exit of CEO Thorsten Heins. Several executives hired by Heins left the company last week.</p>
<p>The shares were up 3 cents at $6.41 on Monday. The stock is down about 46% on the year, trading near 10-year lows.</p> | BlackBerry's U.S. Market Share Falls Below 1%, Hits Zero in China | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/12/02/blackberry-us-market-share-falls-below-1-hits-zero-in-china.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>It seems pretty clear by now that the three young “domestic terrorists” arrested by Chicago police in a warrantless house invasion reminiscent of what US military forces are doing on a daily basis in Afghanistan, are the victims of planted evidence — part of the police-state-style crackdown on anti-NATO protesters in Chicago last week.</p>
<p>The Chicago Police clearly realized that it would be hard to convince a jury that the homemade beer-making equipment in the house was some dreaded bio-terror weapon, so for good measure they apparently dropped off some glass jars with gas in them and tried to make out that the kids were preparing molotov cocktails. That’s the word from National Lawyers Guild attorneys representing the men. They say their clients and others like them coming into Chicago from out of town to join in protests against the NATO summit were “befriended” by police informants and undercover Chicago Police, who then offered to obtain gasoline or explosive materials like toy rocket motors, and who proposed actions like firebombing police stations.</p>
<p>This kind of entrapment and official deceit by police should alarm every American. It’s bad enough when police plant evidence and lie about evidence in order to win convictions, since it means innocent people will be sent to prison or worse. But with the new post 9-11 terrorism laws, like the state terrorism statutes in Illinois being applied in these cases, it becomes far more difficult for a victim of such police and <a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html" type="external" />prosecutorial misconduct to challenge the case against her or him. In terror cases, the government can claim “national security” to hide the evidence and even the identity of the witnesses from the defendants and the courts, the jury and the public, and can avoid ever being questioned about it publicly. In a worst case, the federal government doesn’t even need to bring the case to trial. If the victim is accused of being a terrorist, under the latest National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and various executive orders, that person can be locked away indefinitely without trial — exactly the kind of abuse that led American colonists to rise up against their British colonial overlords 237 years ago.</p>
<p>Residents like me from Philadelphia know all about this stuff. Planting evidence on people you want to lock away has a venerable history in this once revolutionary town.</p>
<p>In 1995, six Philly cops were convicted of presenting false testimony and of framing over a hundred people with planted evidence that sent the victims to jail with long <a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html" type="external" />prison terms. In the end, two of those cops ended up serving jail terms themselves as the result of a federal corruption probe.&#160; A bigger federal investigation of the Philadelphia Police Department’s Center City division in the 1980s led to the conviction of several dozen cops, including a captain, four lieutenants, and the deputy chief of police, on charges of extortion and evidence tampering, including the planting of false evidence.&#160; Dozens of convicted prisoners were released from jail when it became clear their convictions had been based upon faked evidence by these uniformed miscreants.</p>
<p>The practice of planting evidence and of police lying to win convictions has continued in Philadelphia, which has paid out over $27 million in damages to people victimized by police corruption and false evidence planting since the mid-’90s. In 2009 the Philadelphia Daily News broke a story that a narcotics division cop on the force had planted drugs (a tactic known as “flaking” among dirty cops) in order to lock up <a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/CounterPunch_Books.html" type="external" />dozens of people and to rack up a seemingly stellar record of drug-busting.</p>
<p>And across the river in Camden, NJ, over 75 people jailed for drug offenses are having their cases reviewed and overturned now because of evidence that police in that city were planting evidence on the people they arrested.</p>
<p>So common was the knowledge that police in Philadelphia keep stolen unlicensed handguns and bags of drugs in their cars for the purpose of framing citizens, that after I published my book Killing Time on the case of Pennsylvania death-row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, the Afro-American journalist convicted in 1982 of killing a white Philadelphia police officer in a trial fraught with police and prosecutor perjury and faked evidence, that I was loath to drive through the city. And when I did, was extremely careful to follow traffic rules to the letter. With white police officers publicly pressing, through their union and lobbying arm, the Fraternal Order of Police, for Abu-Jamal’s execution, it seemed all to easy for them to stop me, run a make, ID me as the author of a book exposing the wrongness of his conviction, and to then plant a gun or a stash of illicit drugs in my vehicle, and lock me away. At least back then, though, you’d just be facing ordinary criminal charges, and hopefully a good attorney would be able to prove the charges were bogus. Terrorism charges make it much harder to do that.</p>
<p>The faking of terrorism crimes is abetted by a lazy corporate media, where reporters and editors just run their stories based upon the wild claims made by police and prosecutors, without bothering to consider how ludicrous those claims me be. Often, they don’t even bother to go to the victims’ defense attorneys for rebuttal.</p>
<p>Plus, the general scare-mongering by government and media, and the media&#160; propaganda glorifying of “tough” cops and prosecutors who cut corners, makes it likely that most juries will continue to believe the false statements and evidence presented by the prosecution at trials.</p>
<p>It’s ironic that the same public that is so ready to believe all manner of wild conspiracies about the president’s being a secret Kenyan Muslim or about the government deliberately trying to turn control of the US military over to the United Nations, or about a government plan to kill off old people with “death panels,” will prove completely gullible and ready to suspend any disbelief when a police officer or a prosecutor makes some outlandish claim about three kids with beer fermenting equipment in their basement.</p>
<p>Dave Lindorff&#160;is a founder of This Can’t Be Happening and a contributor&#160;to&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Hopeless: Barack Obama and the Politics of Illusion</a>, published by AK Press.&#160;Hopeless is also available in a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Kindle edition</a>.&#160;He lives in Philadelphia.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Chicago Cops are the Terrorists | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/05/24/chicago-cops-are-the-terrorists/ | 2012-05-24 | 4 |
<p>NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former personal assistant to Goldman Sachs Group Inc Co-Chief Operating Officer David Solomon has been charged with stealing hundreds of bottles of wine worth more than $1.2 million from his former boss.</p>
<p>U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday said Nicolas DeMeyer's theft scheme ran from 2014 to October 2016, when he allegedly stole seven bottles from the famed French estate Domaine de la Romanee-Conti in Burgundy that his boss had bought for $133,650.</p>
<p>Using the alias Mark Miller, DeMeyer would sell stolen bottles to a North Carolina wine dealer, who would have them picked up at Solomon's Manhattan apartment, the indictment said.</p>
<p>Solomon, known for his devotion to wine, and his wife Mary maintained an apartment at the prestigious San Remo co-op on Central Park West while the alleged scheme occurred, public records show.</p>
<p>DeMeyer's responsibilities had included receiving wine at the apartment, and moving it to his former boss's wine cellar in East Hampton, New York, the indictment said.</p>
<p>While Solomon was not identified by name in the indictment, Goldman spokesman Andrew Williams confirmed that Solomon was the "victim" described there as DeMeyer's target.</p>
<p>"The theft was discovered in the fall of 2016 and reported to law enforcement at that time," Williams said in an email.</p>
<p>Solomon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>He and Harvey Schwartz share the titles of co-COO and co-president at Goldman, and are considered potential successors to Lloyd Blankfein as the Wall Street bank's chief executive.</p>
<p>DeMeyer was arrested on Tuesday night in Los Angeles and is expected to appear in court there, according to a spokeswoman for Interim U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan.</p>
<p>The defendant was charged with one count of transporting stolen property across state lines. A lawyer for DeMeyer could not immediately be identified.</p>
<p>The case is U.S. v. DeMeyer, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.</p>
<p>Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra, Brendan Pierson and Jonathan Stempel in New York</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Fox News said on Tuesday it was putting its "full support" behind television host Sean Hannity after it was revealed that he had an "informal relationship" with U.S. President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen.</p> FILE PHOTO - Fox News Channel anchor Sean Hannity poses for photographs as he sits on the set of his show "Hannity" at the Fox News Channel's studios in New York City, October 28, 2014. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
<p>Fox News said that it did not know about the relationship.</p>
<p>The Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Cohen's home and office on April 9 as part of a criminal investigation, seizing as many as 10 boxes, hard drives and electronic equipment.</p>
<p>U.S. prosecutors conducted the search partly on a referral by the Office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.</p>
<p>Federal prosecutors are investigating Cohen for possible bank and tax fraud, and possible campaign law violations in connection with a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels and perhaps other matters having to do with foreign support to Trump's 2016 campaign, a source familiar with the investigation said.</p>
<p>Cohen was forced on Monday to reveal in a New York federal court that Hannity, one of Trump's most ardent defenders, was on his client list. Cohen disclosed Hannity's name through one of his own lawyers at the order of the judge.</p>
<p>Cohen was in court to ask the judge to limit the ability of federal prosecutors to review documents that were seized.</p>
<p>Hannity, 56, said on Monday that he had never paid for Cohen's services or been represented by him, but had sought confidential legal advice from him. The conservative host often uses his weeknight broadcast on Fox News to defend the president against what he sees as biased attacks by the media. Trump has also praised Hannity.</p>
<p>Reporting by Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took an unnecessary charter flight in June that cost taxpayers over $12,000, the Interior Department's internal watchdog said on Monday - travel linked to his visit to a professional hockey team in Nevada.</p> FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke testifies in front of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. March 13, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Thayer
<p>The report from the department's Office of Inspector General came amid mounting pressure on Trump Cabinet officials over their ethics and spending habits while in office.</p>
<p>"We determined that Zinke's use of chartered flights in fiscal year (FY) 2017 generally followed relevant law, policy, rules, and regulations," the report said.</p>
<p>"We found, however, that a $12,375 chartered flight he took in June 2017 after speaking at the developmental camp for the Golden Knights, a professional hockey team based in Las Vegas, Nevada, could have been avoided," it added.</p>
<p>The National Hockey League team is owned by Bill Foley, a donor to Zinke's congressional campaigns. The Interior Department has said Zinke's speech did not violate any laws, rules or regulations.</p>
<p>Zinke has defended his use of noncommercial aircraft as necessary for reaching the remote parts of the country that his department oversees.</p>
<p>He has also taken heat for other spending, including the repair of a door in his office that cost nearly $140,000.</p>
<p>Other Cabinet members have also been scrutinized.</p>
<p>The U.S. Government Accountability office on Monday said the Environmental Protection Agency violated spending laws when it installed a $43,000 soundproof booth for agency Administrator Scott Pruitt.</p>
<p>Writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor broke her right shoulder in a fall at her home, but will continue performing her duties as usual, a court spokeswoman said on Tuesday.</p> U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor participates in taking a new family photo with her fellow justices at the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
<p>"She will wear a sling for several weeks and will undergo physical therapy," spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said in a statement.</p>
<p>The injury that she sustained on Monday marked the second medical issue that Sotomayor, 63, has faced this year. The life-long diabetic was treated by paramedics for low blood sugar at her home in Washington in January.</p>
<p>Sotomayor, one of the nine-member court's four liberal justices, was named to the court in 2009 by Democratic former President Barack Obama. She is the first Hispanic justice to serve on the court.</p>
<p>"Justice Sotomayor plans to continue with her schedule as usual," Arberg said.</p>
<p>Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. government watchdogs rapped two members of President Donald Trump's Cabinet on Monday over their spending last year, adding pressure on an administration already roiled by ethics complaints.</p> FILE PHOTO: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Scott Pruitt testifies before a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 27, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/Files
<p>The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the Environmental Protection Agency violated the law when it approved a $43,000 soundproof phone booth last year for Administrator Scott Pruitt without seeking approval from lawmakers.</p>
<p>And the Department of Interior's Office of Inspector General said Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took an unnecessary charter flight in June after a speech he made there to a professional hockey team that cost taxpayers more than $12,000.</p>
<p>The new reports come as the White House seeks to shake off persistent criticism by lawmakers of ethical lapses and wasteful spending by Trump's senior officials - something that has helped fuel a high rate of turnover. Health Secretary Tom Price was forced out and replaced last year after reports emerged of lavish spending on flights.</p>
<p>Pruitt and Zinke are viewed as among Trump's most productive Cabinet officials and key to the president's policy of expanding energy production and exports by slashing environmental regulations and opening federal lands to drilling and mining.</p>
<p>Trump has rebuffed recent calls by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers to fire Pruitt, saying he is doing a "fantastic job" and is well-loved in "coal and energy country."</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-usa-epa-pruitt-senate/epa-must-explain-why-pruitts-43000-phone-booth-was-legal-republican-senator-idUSKBN1HN2K1" type="external">EPA must explain why Pruitt's $43,000 phone booth was legal: Republican senator</a> PRIVACY BOOTH
<p>The Government Accountability Office said the EPA violated the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act with Pruitt's privacy booth. The law prohibits an agency from obligating more than $5,000 in federal funds to furnish, redecorate or make improvements in the office of a presidential appointee without first notifying appropriations committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.</p>
<p>Liz Bowman, an EPA spokeswoman, said the agency was "addressing GAO's concern, with regard to Congressional notification about this expense, and will be sending Congress the necessary information this week."</p>
<p>The booth, which Pruitt had told lawmakers in a hearing was needed to conduct agency business, was built in a former storage closet in the administrator's office.</p>
<p>The GAO had been asked to investigate the matter by Democratic lawmakers.</p>
<p>Senator John Barrasso, a Republican and the head of the Senate environment committee, said in a statement after the GAO's decision that Pruitt's agency must give a "full public accounting" of the spending.</p>
<p>The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>Also on Monday, the EPA's Office of Inspector General released documents showing EPA's chief of staff, Ryan Jackson, had signed off on pay raises for three of Pruitt's staff, including a raise of $29,000 to above $114,000 for his scheduling director, Millan Hupp.</p>
<p>Pruitt had originally recommended the raises but was denied by the White House. Jackson approved them using the authority granted under an obscure provision in a clean water law, the documents said.</p>
<p>Pruitt told Fox News this month that he had no knowledge of the raises.</p>
<p>EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox did not respond to a request for comment.</p> FLIGHT FROM LAS VEGAS
<p>The Interior Department's watchdog said in its report Monday that Secretary Zinke chartered a plane for $12,375 from Las Vegas to Kalispell, Montana, in June that "could have been avoided." The flight was linked to a controversial visit Zinke made to a National Hockey League team owned by a campaign donor.</p>
<p>"We determined that Zinke's use of chartered flights in fiscal year (FY) 2017 generally followed relevant law, policy, rules, and regulations," the report said.</p>
<p>"We found, however, that a $12,375 chartered flight he took in June 2017 after speaking at the developmental camp for the Golden Knights, a professional hockey team based in Las Vegas, Nevada, could have been avoided," it added.</p>
<p>The report said the visit appeared unrelated to Zinke's work as Interior chief, pointing out that a video recording of the speech showed he never mentioned his role at the department and focused mainly on his experience as a Navy SEAL.</p>
<p>The hockey team is owned by Bill Foley, a donor to Zinke's past congressional campaigns.</p>
<p>Heather Swift, an Interior Department spokeswoman, said the report "said exactly what was known all along," that the chartered aircraft followed relevant law and regulations. She did not comment on the watchdog's finding that the Las Vegas flight could have been avoided.</p>
<p>Zinke has also defended his use of noncommercial aircraft as necessary for reaching the remote parts of the country that his department oversees, and said past Interior secretaries have also relied on them.</p>
<p>Zinke has also taken heat for other types of spending, including the repair of doors in his office that cost thousands of dollars.</p>
<p>Reporting by Timothy Gardner; additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | Goldman co-COO's ex-assistant charged with stealing $1.2 million of wine Fox News pledges full support of TV host Hannity U.S. Interior chief's $12,000 charter flight 'could have been avoided': watchdog Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor breaks her shoulder U.S. government watchdogs slam Trump Cabinet on spending | false | https://reuters.com/article/goldman-sachs-wine/goldman-co-coos-ex-assistant-charged-with-stealing-12-mln-of-wine-idUSL1N1PC1H3 | 2018-01-17 | 2 |
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<p>A decade ago, many predicted thatBarnes &amp; Noble(NYSE: BKS) would bite the dust.</p>
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<p>The nation's largest brick-and-mortar bookstore chain was fast losing share to Amazon.com(NASDAQ: AMZN). E-books were ascendant, and rival Borders would soon declare bankruptcy.</p>
<p>However, Barnes &amp; Noble has endured thanks in part to diversifying into toys and games, and benefited from the recovery in interest in physical books, which, contrary to popular belief, have not succumbed to their electronic counterparts. Today, even Amazon is opening retail bookstores.</p>
<p>Image source: Motley Fool.</p>
<p>Shareholders that have stuck by the stock have not seen much growth, as it has essentially traded sideways since the recession; however, they have been rewarded with a juicy dividend payout.</p>
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<p>The bookstore chain reinitiated its dividend in 2015 at $0.15 a quarter after suspending it four years earlier, and has maintained it since. The decision to start paying dividends came after the company spun off the college business. Today, that payout is good for a 6.7% yield.</p>
<p>However, there are a few reasons why that dividend may not be around forever.</p>
<p>After gaining a virtual monopoly over the bookselling industry, Amazon has moved on to bigger things like taking over the entire retail industry. Customer traffic is down at malls and shopping centers as more Americans shop online, and that trend is continuing to pressure retailers like Barnes &amp; Noble.</p>
<p>In its most recent quarter, comparable store sales plunged 8.3% due to lower traffic as well as a decline in coloring books, art supplies, and albums. Online sales increased just 2.2%, and the NOOK e-book division continued its rapid decline. The company also revised its full-year comparable store sales guidance to a 7% decline.</p>
<p>Despite the weak sales performance, effective cost-cutting meant that earnings per share through the first three quarters of the year were flat at $0.48. Still, declining sales at its stores is a worrying sign. If that pattern continues, profits will eventually fall as well.</p>
<p>Dividends can be funded by profits, cash on the balance sheet, or debt, but of those three, only funding with profits is sustainable. Through the first three quarters of the year, Barnes &amp; Noble paid out nearly all of its profits in dividends, with $0.45 per share in dividends and $0.48 in earnings per share. That gives it a payout ratio -- the percentage of profits it spends on dividends --of 94%.</p>
<p>However, those figures are skewed because of high profits in the holiday period. During the fourth quarter, analysts expect a loss of -$0.23 per share, meaning the company would have a full-year profit of $0.25, giving it a payout ratio of 240%, which is unsustainable.</p>
<p>Free cash flow may be a better way to measure the dividend payout ratio since dividends are paid out of cash, but even on that measure the payout ratio is still high. The bookseller had just $10.8 million in free cash flow over the last four quarters and paid out $44.3 million in dividends, giving it a payout ratio of 410%. Clearly, the company needs more profits to fund its dividends</p>
<p>Over the past year, the company's cash balance has fallen from $63.6 million to $11.6 million, while other assets on its balance sheet remained essentially the same. While larger companies have tapped the debt markets to fund dividends and share buybacks, taking advantage of low interest rates, Barnes &amp; Noble is in a much different position with thin profits and an uncertain future.</p>
<p>Barnes &amp; Noble could take on debt to continue funding its dividend, though that seems like an unwise move. If the underlying business does not improve soon, the company will likely have to slash or even suspend its dividend.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Barnes &amp; NobleWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7d9a6066-eaa6-4fa8-bd1d-82cd778c920c&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 Barnes &amp; Noble wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of April 3, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFHobo/info.aspx" type="external">Jeremy Bowman Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. 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> | Can Barnes & Noble's Dividend Survive? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/25/can-barnes-noble-dividend-survive.html | 2017-04-25 | 0 |
<p>USA TodayBob Greene tells Bill Zehme: ''I liked women. ...I was very good at my work and I wasn't real good at my life.'' Asked why he didn't fight for his Chicago Trib job, Greene quotes former Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes: ''Why don't we just say I got what was coming to me and leave it at that?'' GREENE ON HIS CRITICS: ''Let them kick. It's like I'm a body in the street and they keep coming by and kicking . . . but the body is already dead.'' ZEHME ON GREENE: "He didn't hurt anyone other than himself and those closest to him.'' &gt; <a href="http://chicagomag.com/stories/0303greene.htm" type="external">Earlier: Greene saga is about success, failure, and tragedy (ChiMag)</a></p> | Ex-columnist Greene sought therapy for his womanizing | false | https://poynter.org/news/ex-columnist-greene-sought-therapy-his-womanizing | 2003-03-05 | 2 |
<p>Photo by UNC – CFC – USFK | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>There really is no point any more in talking about&#160; <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/DonaldTrump" type="external">Donald Trump&#160;</a>or US foreign policy. They do not exist. Indeed, the Trump “presidency”&#160;is about as real as “Palestine”. Both deserve inverted commas although the first fantasy would clearly represent white and largely Christian Americans trying to make their country great again at the expense of lesser creatures, while the second – which is not even a state –&#160;obviously qualifies as a Trump “s***hole country”; its people are not exactly white, they are largely Muslim and many seek asylum from the enslavement of the longest military occupation of modern times. For Norway, of course, read Israel.</p>
<p>So in the crazed mind of the booby who thinks he’s running the United States, there’s not much point, surely, in peace between a modern and much loved ally and the third world people forced to live in the manure pits further east and south. Jerusalem is thus the capital of Israel, the Oslo of the Middle East, built on the “green hill far away” – though in the hymn it is supposed to be “without a city wall”. But what the hell? Trump likes walls, and Cecil Frances Alexander, the&#160;19th century Irish hymnodist of “There is a Green&#160;Hill Far Away”&#160;also wrote “All Things Bright and Beautiful”&#160;which surely appeals to the crackpot in the White House who speaks so eloquently about “beautiful babies”&#160;(in Syria, when they are dead) and “beautiful weapons”&#160;(in Riyadh, before they have killed any babies).</p>
<p>In fact, to talk about Trump’s Middle East, it’s necessary to enter the lunatic asylum. After all, “Palestine”&#160;does not qualify as a state and Israel, which does, has not the slightest idea where its eastern border lies geographically. In the middle of Jerusalem? Halfway across the Palestinian West Bank? Along the entire length of the Jordan river? And what about poor Gaza? When the Israelis bombed the place to bits in 2008-2009 (they did the same again in 2012 and 2014), they dropped munitions on the Palestinian sewage system and contaminated both drinking water and the sea with … Oh well, yes, of course, they turned part of Gaza, quite literally, into a s***hole.</p>
<p>Not even Jared Kushner, the beloved son-in-law and real estate magnate and dealmaker supreme – a woeful Dickensian hero, if ever there was one – can work out the dimensions of this particular Middle East property or, for that matter, either part of it. Since, along with the US ambassador to Israel, Kushner supports the Jewish colonisation of the Arab West Bank – and, believe me, there are no s***holes on those hilltop settlements – even he will not be able to tell us exactly where the eastern border of Israel runs, or may run or will run, eternally and forever and ever, Amen.</p>
<p>And that’s the problem, I fear, for the crank in the Oval Office. Much of the world is a land of “vapours”&#160;– the kind that supposedly affected your brain (Trump might consult Caliban about this) – and apparitions. The Middle East, as we all know, is a place of djinns, ghosts, Crusaders, Saracens, Apocalypses, 12th Imams&#160;and Christ figures and bearded men in caves. But all of them have a greater chance of appearing or reappearing in the second year of Trump’s “presidency”&#160;than a peace between two states whose physical dimensions are way beyond the comprehension of Jared and his “Kushner Companies”.</p>
<p>Acknowledging all this has a price, of course. Several times, most recently in Dublin, I have pointed out – in discussions about the Middle East, especially after the US claim that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel – that Donald Trump is mad, insane, crackers, and should be in a mental institution. And on each occasion I’ve been reminded – by presenters or producers – that I am not qualified to say this since I am not a medical doctor. I find this strange. If, for example, I had stated that Trump was utterly sane and level-headed, I don’t think I would have been reminded of my lack of medical qualifications. Nor would this have happened if I had described (as I have) Muammar&#160;Gaddafi as a lunatic, which he was.</p>
<p>But you have to watch out for those Trumpites who pop up to call you “fake news”&#160;and who frighten radio station editors. The media’s continuing respect for “fair play”&#160;when discussing a president who is self-evidently a dangerous and racist xenophobe (as opposed, for example, to the Arab variety) should one day be examined. Gaddafi, mad. Ahmedinejad, mad. Abu Nidal, mad. Saddam, mad. But try that on Trump and, hem hem, you’ll have to produce your general practitioner’s certificate to make any such aspersion about this infantile person.</p>
<p>So, let’s not be fooled. Trump, in whatever fantastical, delusional form, is making the Middle East a more brutal and cruel place, and will continue to do so, aided by his ever-smiling, ever hopeless son-in-law and his clutch of&#160;generals – “Mad Dog”&#160;Mattis did not earn his nickname because of his military wisdom, and his conviction that Iranian Shiites rather than Iraqi Sunnis messed up America’s plans in post-invasion Iraq suggests that he is dangerously emotional rather than professionally rational. It’s easy to convince oneself that very odd soldiers – chaps who ride across the Rubicon, capture Moscow when it’s on fire or wear moustaches after serving as Unteroffiziers on the Western Front – don’t really have much influence on history.</p>
<p>The Arabs know all about the power of soldiers. Remember Colonel Nasser and Colonel Gaddafi, Colonel Ali Abdullah Saleh, Air Force Commander Assad and Air Chief Marshal Mubarak and former Second Lieutenant Sadat and Field Marshal al-Sisi? Three were assassinated, two died of heart attacks and two more are joyfully still with us. Of course, they all live or lived in nations which Trump would presumably categorise as “shithole countries”. But at least they weren’t all fantasists.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | How Trump is Making the Middle East a Cruel | true | https://counterpunch.org/2018/01/25/how-trump-is-making-the-middle-east-a-cruel/ | 2018-01-25 | 4 |
<p>The European Central Bank on Thursday cut its key lending rate to zero, pushed its deposit rate further into negative territory and significantly expanded the size and scope of its asset-buying program. ECB policy makers cut the bank's key lending rate, known as the refi rate, to zero from 0.05% and pushed the rate on its deposit facility to minus 0.4% from minus 0.3%. The central bank also announced it would expand the size of its monthly bond purchases to 80 billion euros from its current level of 60 billion euros beginning in April and would include purchases of investment-grade, euro-denominated, non-bank corporate bonds. The ECB also said it would launch a new series of longer-term refinancing operations with maturities of four years.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | European Central Bank Cuts Rates, Expands Asset-buying Program | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/10/european-central-bank-cuts-rates-expands-asset-buying-program.html | 2016-03-10 | 0 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Investigation continues in Roswell church burning.</p>
<p>Roswell Mayor Sam LaGrone this week announced a $20,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the fire that damaged much of Christ’s Church, the <a href="http://www.roswell-record.com/" type="external">Roswell Daily Record</a> reported in its online edition.</p>
<p>That reward is added to the $5,000 already offered by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as $1,000 put up by the local Crime Stoppers organization, the Daily Record reported.</p>
<p>The fire that destroyed the church’s south wall and southeast corner and made church offices, classrooms and meeting hall unusable broke out in the early morning hours of last Friday and took some 35 to 40 firefighters nearly 14 hours to put out, according to a second story on the Daily Record Web site.</p>
<p>The church fire — as well as an apparently failed arson attempt at a nearby Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and on a vehicle near both churches — is being investigated as arson by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, ATF, Roswell police and fire departments, the Chaves County Sheriff’s Department and the New Mexico State Police.</p>
<p>LaGrone and police officials at the reward announcement Thursday declined to comment on any specifics of the ongoing investigation.</p>
<p>Anyone with information about the arson is asked to call Roswell Crime Stoppers at (505) 624-6513.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 1:30pm — Arson Reward Jumps | false | https://abqjournal.com/22454/130pm-arson-reward-jumps.html | 2 |
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<p>By the time the nation confronted the unthinkable school massacre in Connecticut last December, Mother Jones‘ <a href="http://www.ithaca.edu/news/releases/mother-jones-wins-izzy-award-for-independent-media-34423/#.UWSlW_HgKp0" type="external">groundbreaking</a> <a href="" type="internal">investigation of mass shootings</a>, launched the prior summer, had shown that mass gun violence in America was on the rise. The trend appeared to be no coincidence in light of <a href="" type="internal">the proliferation of guns and looser gun laws</a> nationwide. One leading criminologist <a href="" type="internal">took issue with our criteria</a>, arguing that mass shootings had not become more common. But now, research from an expert on criminal justice at Texas State University further shows that gun rampages in the United States have escalated.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&amp;q=cache:MByBgqLRF1AJ:policeforum.org/library/critical-issues-in-policing-series/Blair-UnitedStatesActiveShooterEventsfrom2000to2010Report-Final.pdf+&amp;hl=en&amp;gl=us&amp;pid=bl&amp;srcid=ADGEESgou1tDAaWu1kX16JB_Uzvd8OmTdkxHZNEtuDWNbulNE8SB_It5NVvVjaRpZzXQveEPel7sNjgAD4wEjQx503W6LEKZpapy_juDUDc6d5MgDZWBGQETvzChHph-QOsvS6ieTo3O&amp;sig=AHIEtbTyesSe022xnMj6irKkLDRdvQvu4A" type="external">research</a>, to be published in a book in July, confirms that:</p>
<p>The author of the study, Pete Blair, advises law enforcement officials and has conducted extensive research on gun rampages in workplaces, schools, and other public locations. He gathered data on 84 “active shooter events” (ASEs) between 2000 and 2010 in which the killer’s primary motive appeared to be mass murder. This chart shows his findings on the frequency of cases:</p>
<p />
<p>Notably, the jump in attacks in 2009 and 2010 was prior to the massacres in Tucson, Aurora, Oak Creek, Newtown, and <a href="" type="internal">numerous</a> <a href="" type="internal">other locations</a> during the last two years. Although Blair’s research does not cover 2011 and 2012, he concludes that “our tracking indicates that the increased number of attacks continued in those years.” As our own investigation showed, there were a record number of mass shootings in 2012.</p>
<p>Blair’s data also underscores a striking parallel we found: The unprecedented spike in these shootings came during the same four-year period, from 2009-12, that saw a wave of nearly 100 state laws making it easier to obtain, carry, and conceal firearms. ( <a href="" type="internal">We mapped those laws here</a>.)</p>
<p>By comparison, here is the chart from our investigation documenting mass shooting casualties between 1982-2012:</p>
<p>While our study examined cases in which four or more people were murdered, Blair’s dataset includes less lethal rampages in which the median number of victims shot was four and the median number of those killed was two. But casualty counts aside, his research uses similar criteria, excluding cases involving criminal motives other than indiscriminate mass murder, such as gang-related shootings. (He points out that the NYPD does not consider gang-related shootings to be “active shooter events.”)</p>
<p>Blair found that at least 41 percent of the attackers carried multiple weapons. We found that a majority of mass shooters carried multiple weapons, and that more than half of them used <a href="" type="internal">assault weapons and high-capacity magazines</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, our investigation made clear that so-called “good guys with guns” <a href="" type="internal">do not stop public shooting rampages</a>. Likewise, Blair’s data couldn’t be any clearer when it comes to the National Rifle Association’s favorite myth: He found just 3 cases out of 84 in which an armed individual who had been on the scene used a firearm to stop the shooter. And none of the three were ordinary citizens. According to Blair, in two instances those who intervened were off-duty police officers: one in a case in upstate New York in 2010, and another in a case in Philadelphia in 2005. The third case took place in Winnemucca, Nevada, in 2008; the man there who intervened and shot the rampaging gunman, as I’ve reported previously, <a href="" type="internal">was a US Marine</a>.</p>
<p>As debate over gun reform climaxes on Capitol Hill, the NRA has continued to call for more guns as a solution to gun violence. The group even <a href="" type="internal">used a phony school massacre</a> to push its agenda.</p>
<p>The question now is whether lawmakers will choose to act based on demagoguery or actual <a href="" type="internal">data</a>.</p>
<p /> | New Research Confirms Gun Rampages Are Rising—and Armed Civilians Don’t Stop Them | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/mass-shootings-rampages-rising-data/ | 2013-04-11 | 4 |
<p>ATHENS, Greece - In the tumultuous days after the May 6 election that left Greece unable to form a government, Greeks withdrew nearly a billion dollars from bank accounts, leading to speculation that a bank run may ensue. Still, many continue to trust the system with their life savings. Despite the risks, Nikos Charakaidis and his wife Magda Verouli keep their $13,000 in a Greek bank as a matter of principle. "If everybody takes their money, the economy stops."</p>
<p>That was a dramatic acceleration of a depositor exodus that began more than two years ago, when Greece's dire debt situation first became clear. Now, if the trend morphs into a full-scale bank run, Greece's financial institutions could collapse, potentially imperiling savings that remain in the system. Even if Athens steps in to ensure that depositors get their money back, it will almost certainly be forced to do so using a drastically devalued drachma.</p>
<p>In a sense, what's more surprising than the mass withdrawals is that many people continue to trust the system with their family finances.</p>
<p>Still, the threat hasn't compelled Nikos Charakaidis and his wife, Magda Verouli, to withdraw their euros from the bank. It would be easy for them to do so: There's an ATM less than a block from their video rental store in suburban Athens.</p>
<p>No thanks, they say.</p>
<p>Charakaidis and Verouli think it's not fair to drain their accounts. They estimate they have under $13,000 in deposits, and they're not touching it. For them, it's a matter of principle.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/120511/austerity-drives-europeans-extreme-politics" type="external">Austerity drives Europeans to extreme politics</a>&#160;</p>
<p>"If all the people take the money out of the banks, we're going to have a collapse," Charakaidis said. "If everybody takes their money, the economy stops."</p>
<p>Ever since Greece's massive debt was revealed more than two years ago, deposits have dwindled. Wealthy Greeks have purchased real estate in places like London, some hoard euros at home, and others tap savings to pay bills.</p>
<p>Deposits by households and businesses declined by just under 30 percent from October 2009 through the end of March, according to Bank of Greece statistics. That $90 billion decline left Greek banks with $215 billion.</p>
<p>Then, almost $1 billion was withdrawn from Greek accounts in the days after the election, when the two main parties supporting Greece's huge bailouts, funded by the IMF and other European countries, took a beating.</p>
<p>In voting against the austerity measures that accompany the rescue funds, Greeks re-launched a Europe-wide debate about whether the country can and should remain within the euro zone. Repercussions include contagion to other euro zone countries like Spain and Italy.</p>
<p>A new election is scheduled June 17 because leaders failed form a coalition government. Fitch Ratings agency underscored the risks of continued uncertainty Thursday when it downgraded Greece's credit rating.</p>
<p>Recent polls have shown that the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza), which came in second place in the May 6 election, could pass the center-right New Democracy in the next election. Syriza vehemently opposes the bailout conditions. A new poll, however, shows increased support for New Democracy, likely enough to create a coalition with the Socialist Pasok party, Reuters reported.</p>
<p>Fitch said a Greek exit from the euro would be "probable" if winners of the June 17 election don't honor the bailout conditions.</p>
<p>This prompts the question, are the banks safe?</p>
<p>For her part, Verouli acknowledges "we are afraid" of losing value if their euros become drachmas, but said keeping their savings in the bank is the right thing to do.</p>
<p>"It's not for the government; its for fellow Greeks," she said. "If we don't help each other, we have problems. It's a risk but we'll not take any money to our home like most people."</p>
<p>University of Piraeus finance professor Dimitris Malliaropulos, who also is an economic research adviser to Eurobank, said Greeks still have confidence in the banking system.</p>
<p>Greece has received half of a $65 billion bank recapitalization plan as part of the $170 billion bailout negotiated late last year. Those funds are scheduled to be disbursed to Greece's largest banks next week.</p>
<p>"There is still a big buffer of liquidity," he said.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/macro/why-abandoning-the-euro-would-mean-even-more-greek-austerity" type="external">Why Abandoning the euro would mean eve more Greek austerity</a></p>
<p>Greek banks needed recapitalization after suffering losses of more than $38 billion - applied to the 2011 books - by accepting a 53 percent "haircut" on the value of Greek government bonds.</p>
<p>Malliaropulos said there's an upside to leaving your money in Greek banks.</p>
<p>"Greek banks pay higher interest rates, which is compensating for this kind of risk," he said. "Five to 6 percent interest rates for time deposits compared to around 1 percent in other European countries."</p>
<p>The $90 billion drop in deposits since October 2009 doesn't constitute a bank run, he added.</p>
<p>"It's not a bank run. The system is bleeding. It loses deposits gradually, every time there is talk of exiting the euro. Northern Rock in the UK was a bank run, with people standing in queues to withdraw their money."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, government revenues likely will take a hit before the election, according to an analysis by Bank of America. Because of the political uncertainty, Greeks will be less likely to pay tax bills, so government revenues "will be halved" for June and July, it said.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="" type="external">The Argentine economy's fuzzy math problem</a></p>
<p>At their video rental store in the Galatsi neighborhood, Charakaidis and Verouli said they're fortunate because they own the building. At least they don't have to pay rent.</p>
<p>Nearby, professional photographer Georgia Diakaki laughs off a question about money in the bank. She has none. She said she's depressed and struggling to keep her shop open.</p>
<p>"I am desperate. I don't care," she said.</p> | Would you trust a Greek bank with your savings? | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-05-19/would-you-trust-greek-bank-your-savings | 2012-05-19 | 3 |
<p>Bob Marston is a retired electrical engineer who favors single payer national health insurance.</p>
<p>Aren’t electrical engineers pretty conservative?</p>
<p>“Actually they are not conservative per se,” Marston says. “They are apolitical. The conservative thing typically comes later when they get into their careers. Most wind up in the war industry and from there it grows on them,”</p>
<p>Marston grew up on Long Island but as a young man moved to California.</p>
<p>“The Vietnam war had a profound effect on me,” Marston says. “I was very young. But if you remember it was the first television war. The power structure did not know how to deal with it. I remember LBJ’s Daisy Commercial and then seeing the horrors in Vietnam. I thought to myself these guys — the Democrats — are a bunch of duplicitous bastards trying to portray themselves as promoters of peace.”</p>
<p>“When I was in New York, I loved listening to shortwave radio. It revealed to me how much information the US government was keeping from its people. Not lying, but actually withholding.”</p>
<p>“When I moved to Los Angeles, I got involved in the formation of the Green Party. One thing lead to another and I ran for Congress in 1994. If you remember that was the big year in healthcare. That was when Hillary Clinton’s managed competition plan was making the rounds.</p>
<p>“In California in 1994, a group of doctors — Physicians for a National Health Program — made a push to get a single payer initiative on the ballot.”</p>
<p>“I was really impressed with their efforts. Many of the doctors took out second mortgages on their homes to raise the money to put Prop 186 on the ballot” (It lost three to one).</p>
<p>“Prop 186 scared the ever loving crap out of the Democrats,” Marston says. “They decided never to let that happen again. They had to get out in front of the issue. So they initiated legislation to control the process.”</p>
<p>Marston says that the California Democrats would pass single payer legislation knowing that then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would veto it. But when Governor Jerry Brown took office, they refused to pass it.</p>
<p>“The Democrats were playing footsie with Schwarzenegger,” Marston says. “They knew he would veto the bill so they kept submitting it just to throw mud in his face. When one of their own got in they found all sorts of creative ways to bottle up the legislation in order to keep it off Brown’s desk.”</p>
<p>He’s also critical of the single payer Democrats in the Congress who refused to push for single payer when the cameras were rolling during the push for Obamacare.</p>
<p>“If you recall the 2009 health care debate, Congressman John Conyers, the author of HR-676, never took to the floor. He could have advanced HR 676 at that time when there was a big spotlight. Does that sound like the actions of someone who wants to pass that legislation?</p>
<p>“I watched the entire House proceedings – all eight hours. Conyers ran and hid.”</p>
<p>What to do now?</p>
<p>“In high school, we were taught that work equals force multiplied by distance,” Marston says. “I think that formula applies equally in activism.”</p>
<p>“If you push with all your might, grunt and groan and work up a sweat but the block doesn’t move you haven’t done any work,” he says. “This movement has been pushing really hard over the last twenty years but the block isn’t going anywhere. When you get into that situation you have to pause for a moment to figure out what you are doing wrong.”</p>
<p>“There was word behind the scenes that by the mid 2000s the healthcare system as a whole in this country was heading for the rocks. I’m talking about a full blown collapse. For those that studied the problem it is believed that when the number of uninsured people hits forty percent in any region, then the healthcare system falls apart. That is the number at which hospitals pile up unimaginable amounts of debt from uncompensated services. We were at that point in 2007 in many regions of the country. That forced the Democrats’ hand. Obama, lacking the guts, decided to expand the current system using the coercive power of the tax system and some government subsidies to pump up the system sort of like a blood transfusion. And to that extent his Obamacare system worked. But it did absolutely nothing to address the underlying problem.”</p>
<p>“What Trump does should be interesting to watch. If he guts Obamacare like he promises, we could wind up back in the same situation we were facing in 2007 in short order. I would say something like 2019 to 2020.”</p>
<p>“Based on that analysis, the single payer healthcare movement should propose a three year plan that would set itself up for action when the collapse comes.”</p>
<p>“I think it should increase the percentage of effort it devotes to public outreach and education. It should continue its work at lobbying Congress in the immediate future mindful of the fact that an all out victory is highly unlikely. I am not saying the movement should not be vigilant of opportunity when it presents itself. But with the movement in the state that it is in, it should be realistic about the prospects of enforcing its wishes. We need to grow much, much bigger in order to do that.”</p>
<p>“It may very well take a collapse of the healthcare system to bring the broader public to a place where they are even conscious about the situation. But in the meantime we can chip away at the problem.”</p>
<p>“And another thing — we are going to have to keep the Democrat party minders on the sideline.”</p>
<p>“There will be some very substantial developments over the next few months that will likely make some very big changes in the landscape.”</p> | Single Payer Engineer Rips Duplicitous Democrats | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/01/30/single-payer-engineer-rips-duplicitous-democrats/ | 2017-01-30 | 4 |
<p>Although I was born with ink in my blood (both my father and grandfather were printers by trade), I've spent the past 10 years working in <a href="http://www.jadedwritings.com/" type="external">new-media ventures</a>. I love the immediacy of the Web and the limitless space it provides to expand on stories with slideshows, multimedia presentations, interactive polls, and community forums. I'm also a diehard newshound who thrives on a vampire's schedule. So when my best friend recently asked me to define my dream job, I replied without hesitation: "Web editor on the graveyard shift at the Associated Press in New York City."On Monday, I landed that position.The AP is a fantastic news organization and I'm proud to have this opportunity to focus my writing/editing/producing skills on the stories they break overnight. I move back east at the end of this month and between now and then, I'll be looking for an apartment in Manhattan, packing like a mad fiend, and driving cross-country with my <a href="http://www.jadedwritings.com/pages/cats.html" type="external">four cats</a>. Although my work with the <a href="http://www.blogofdeath.com" type="external">The Blog of Death</a> will continue, I am cutting back on most of my other freelance activities, including E-Media Tidbits.It's been a great honor writing for this weblog these past few years, and I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who contributed comments on my entries. Thanks also to Steve Outing, Matthew Buckland, Juan C. Camus, David Carlson, Vin Crosbie, Eva Domínguez, Steffen Fjærvik, Amy Gahran, Rich Gordon, Paul Grabowicz, Steve Klein, Larry Larsen, Carla Passino, Ernst Poulsen, Madan Rao, Katja Riefler, Laura Ruel, Norbert Specker, Martha Stone, Fons Tuinstra, Monique van Dusseldorp, Steve Yelvington, and Peter M. Zollman for writing such compelling content about online media, journalism, and publishing. It's been a wonderful experience working by your side.</p> | Farewell, My Friends; Hello, AP | false | https://poynter.org/news/farewell-my-friends-hello-ap | 2005-03-16 | 2 |
<p>Most of the top Federal Reserve officials said it was likely that the central bank would start to shrink its balance sheet this year, according to minutes of the March policy meeting released Wednesday. Fed officials had an in-depth discussion of the technical details of the balance sheet policy, including whether to phase out reinvestment of principal payments or doing it all at once. Officials supported a gradual pace of rate hikes but said they could change their mind if the economy unexpectedly heated up. There was a lengthy discussion of the stock market, which some Fed officials described as "quite high" by standard valuation measures. Financial conditions were seen as a doubled-edged sword, either potentially providing greater stimulus from consumer spending or downside risks from a significant correction.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Fed Plans To Reduce Its $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet This Year, Minutes Show | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/05/fed-plans-to-reduce-its-45-trillion-balance-sheet-this-year-minutes-show.html | 2017-04-05 | 0 |
<p>Wayne LaPierre was a hit at CPAC. The National Rifle Association’s executive vice president, who in the three months since the Sandy Hook massacre has fiercely opposed any form of gun control legislation, whipped the audience of conservative activists into a frenzy on Friday with a speech that took aim at Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and the automatic budget cuts known as the sequester (or at least the prospect of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/us/immigrants-released-ahead-of-automatic-budget-cuts.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">releasing people from ICE detention centers</a>).</p>
<p>But LaPierre saved the most firepower for President Obama’s proposal to expand background checks to include all private gun sales. The push to close the so-called “gun show loophole,” in LaPierre’s view, is nothing more than a “placebo” that would do nothing to stop gun violence. (Never mind that placebos are actually <a href="" type="internal">quite effective</a>.) He alleged that improved record-keeping would leave the United States vulnerable to foreign countries like China and Mexico (video above):</p>
<p>It’s gonna be people like you and me. That’s who they’re tracking. That’s who they’re after. The names of good, decent people, all across this country, who happen to own a firearm, to go into a federal database with universal registration of every lawful gun-owner in America. That’s their answer to criminal violence? Criminalize 100 million law-abiding gun owners in a private transfer? Build a list of all the good people? As if that would somehow make us safe from violent criminals and homicidal maniacs? That’s their answer? Are they insane?</p>
<p>What’s the point of registering lawful gun-owners anyway—so newspapers can print those names and addresses for gangs and criminals to access? You know that’s happened before! So the list can be hacked by foreign enemies like the Chinese, who recently hacked Pentagon computers? So the list can be handed over to the Mexican government that, oh by the way, they’ve already requested that list from our government? In the end there are only two reasons for the government to create that list of registered gun owners: to tax them, or to take them.</p>
<p>We shouldn’t track firearms sales because if we do, Chinese hackers will find out where all the guns are, and then…what, exactly? Go door-to-door&#160; in Northern Idaho to confiscate them? LaPierre, as is his wont, didn’t get into specifics. The paranoia speaks for itself.</p> | VIDEO: At CPAC, Wayne LaPierre Channels Red Dawn | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/cpac-wayne-lapierre-red-dawn-china-hacking/ | 2013-03-15 | 4 |
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<p />
<p>Tours and events aimed at attracting both beer nerds and bird enthusiasts are popping up all over the country, attracting bearded microbrew lovers, field-guide-wielding bird buffs and folks with a passion for both suds and sparrows. Bird-and-beer happenings are taking place from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to Hampton, New Hampshire.</p>
<p>Beer and bird hobbyists say they are united by their mutual love of minutiae, rarity and variety, whether searching for an Indian peafowl or a limited release of India pale ale.</p>
<p>Typically, the trips begin with a hike and end at a brewery. One of the more successful tours is “Birds On Tap Roadtrip,” located in beer-loving, bird-rich Maine and now in its second year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There happen to be a lot of people who like birds who like beer – we've analyzed this,” said Derek Lovitch, who leads Birds On Tap Roadtrip tours. “And then, after the third or fourth pint, we really analyze this.”</p>
<p>Birds On Tap Roadtrip is coordinated by Freeport Wild Bird Supply, which is run by bird nut Lovitch and his wife, Jeannette. They partner with Maine Brew Bus, a lime green bus that shuttles people to the state's many breweries and serves as a kind of Mystery Machine of Maine beer. The tours are $65 – libations are included, but binoculars are not.</p>
<p>This year's slate of tours began in February and will run every several weeks until Dec. 11. Each trip has a theme, including “Surf and Suds,” which is a winter waterfowl tour, and “Grassland and Grains,” a late-spring search for sandpipers and sparrows on the Kennebunk Plains, a nature preserve.</p>
<p>This November's tour was “Fall Ducks and Draughts,” a chilly march around Sabattus Pond on the hunt for waterbirds including hooded mergansers, common goldeneyes, buffleheads and green-wing teals. All were located, and the group of about a dozen hearty birders then departed by bus for trips to Baxter Brewing in Lewiston and Maine Beer Co. in Freeport.</p>
<p>The beer end of the trip was as successful as the bird bit. The group located a peregrine falcon resting on a steeple just outside Baxter after imbibing. At Maine Beer Company, the brewery was able to provide fresh glasses of Dinner, its sought-after double IPA.</p>
<p>Participants agreed there was no harm in having a lager along with the loons. (Though they actually saw only one loon.) Brandon Baldwin, 40, of Manchester, Maine, went with his mother, Carole Baldwin, 73, of Skowhegan, and said the trip appealed to both of them.</p>
<p>“She's an avid birder who likes beer. I'm an avid beerer who likes birds,” he said. “It seemed like a perfect crossover.”</p>
<p>Bird-and-beer events sometimes take different forms. One, held on the rooftop of the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, brought bird experts from the National Park Service to help people observe birds in an urban environment. Libations followed. In Minneapolis, a group called “Birds and Beers” gathers to brainstorm about secret hotspots and tips on how to take bird pictures using a digital scope.</p>
<p>Smuttynose Brewery in Hampton, New Hampshire, hosted a bird walk and brewery tour on the brewery's own grounds. And in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey, people met for a hiking and birding tour of Black Run Preserve in Evesham Township followed by tours of Berlin Brewing Co., Lunacy Brewing Co. and Flying Fish Brewery.</p>
<p>Some of the trips are organized by private companies and nature societies and others are the product of local meetup groups that form online. Prices vary from nothing to about the price of a pro football ticket.</p>
<p>Don Littlefield, a partner in the Maine Brew Bus company that hosts the Maine tour, said it has proved to be a way to make beer fans out of bird lovers – and vice versa.</p>
<p>“It allows us to reach another different demographic,” he said. “There's a lot of people who are not necessarily there for the beer. They are there for the birds. And then there are others who are not there for the birds – they are there for the beer.”</p>
<p><a href="#3267f3a2-c401-4471-b869-df78ac152d7e" type="external">© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</a> Learn more about our <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy" type="external">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms" type="external">Terms of Use</a>.</p> | Loons and lager, ducks on draft: Birders, brewers form flock | false | https://abqjournal.com/896244/loons-and-lager-ducks-on-draft-birders-brewers-form-flock.html | 2016-11-26 | 2 |
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<p>BERLIN — German investigators are searching for the perpetrator or perpetrators of Monday’s attack on a crowded Berlin Christmas market after a man arrested soon after the rampage was released for lack of evidence and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.</p>
<p>The attack on the market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in the center of the capital left 12 dead and 48 injured. Shortly afterward, a Pakistani man was detained based on a description from witnesses of a suspect who jumped from the truck and fled. But he was freed Tuesday after prosecutors couldn’t find evidence tying him to the attack.</p>
<p>Police in Berlin said they had received 508 tips on the attack as of Tuesday night. But it wasn’t clear Wednesday whether prosecutors had any concrete leads.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | German investigators search for Berlin market attacker | false | https://abqjournal.com/913242/german-investigators-search-for-berlin-market-attacker.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Via Politico‘s <a href="http://www.politico.com/playbook/1108/playbook484.html" type="external">Mike Allen</a>, Newsweek <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/167582/output/print" type="external">has got</a> your post-election Palin withdrawal fix:</p>
<p>NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin’s shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain’s top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family — clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent ‘tens of thousands’ more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide … said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.</p>
<p>McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.</p>
<p>And looks like we can expect much more of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2008/nov/05/john-mccain-sarah-palin" type="external">this sort of finger-pointing</a>.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/10/27/081027fa_fact_mayer" type="external">report</a> by the New Yorker said that Bill Kristol played a key background role in promoting Palin for the GOP VP slot.</p>
<p /> | Already Missing Sarah Palin? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/11/already-missing-sarah-palin/ | 2008-11-05 | 4 |
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<p>In this photo taken May 11, 2015, Shelton High School sophomore Kylee Opper, 15, left, and her mom Tricia Marini, hold one of two prom dresses that they purchased which have been deemed inappropriate according to a newly announced prom dress code at the school in Shelton, Conn. School officials made national headlines when they announced over the intercom last Friday that dresses that were backless, showed midriff or had cutouts on the side would be considered inappropriate and not be allowed at prom. (Brian A. Pounds/The Connecticut Post via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT</p>
<p>HARTFORD, Conn. - When students at a Connecticut high school arrive Saturday for their junior-senior prom, they will have to get past the watchful eye of officials there to make sure girls' dresses don't show too much skin.</p>
<p>Shelton High School this week set up a prom dress review panel amid outrage from parents.</p>
<p>The school, outside New Haven, announced Friday it has reviewed more than 150 dresses and informed six girls that their gowns won't be allowed into the dance. Female school staff members will be at the dance to ensure that every girl attending has an "appropriate" dress, said Ann Baldwin, a spokeswoman for the school district.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The school's policy is one of several across the nation that have sparked questions about the role of educators in policing the fashion of students, especially away from the classroom.</p>
<p>Shelton headmaster Beth Smith announced over the intercom last Friday that backless dresses, those that showed midriff, had lengthy slits or cutouts on the side would be considered inappropriate and banned from the junior-senior prom.</p>
<p>School officials said they were just reminding the school community of a long-established dress code requiring appropriate dress at the prom.</p>
<p>But students and their parents, many of whom had spent hundreds of dollars on dresses, were outraged. They said neither the student handbook nor the prom contract they signed had specifics about what would be deemed inappropriate.</p>
<p>Almost 380 students signed a letter denouncing the policy and asking the school to reconsider.</p>
<p>"It takes a long time to pick out a dress or have one custom made, even longer for any necessary alterations to be made; it is unfair to release the dress guidelines eight days before the dance and expect every person to have a dress that follows them," the students wrote.</p>
<p>Baldwin said the school never intended to ban all low-backed dresses or every dress with a cutout. But some, she said, were clearly inappropriate.</p>
<p>"If the cutouts aren't too revealing and don't overexpose the girl, those are deemed appropriate," she said. "If the dress is backless, but doesn't go all the way down to the rear end, some of those have been deemed appropriate."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Students were invited to submit photos of their dresses to a committee of seven female staff members for a thumbs up or thumbs down decision. Some students who had dresses rejected have gone to tailors to have them altered, others plan to wear different dresses, she said.</p>
<p>Shelton isn't the only school this year to struggle with dress policy. A student in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was recently suspended after an official deemed her long-sleeved, floor-length prom dress too reveling in the bustline. A school in Stansbury Park, Utah, held a makeup homecoming dance after proctors turned away more than two dozen girls dresses were deemed inappropriate.</p>
<p>The students in Shelton say the issue goes beyond what school officials deem to be too revealing. They say it also speaks to a double standard and the shaming of young women.</p>
<p>"Don't teach girls to hide their bodies; teach boys self control and that they aren't entitled to a girl's body just because she dressed in a way that made her feel beautiful or just didn't want to get overheated," they wrote. "And in a time when so many young girls struggle with body image should we not encourage them to be comfortable enough in their own skin to allow people to see it?"</p>
<p>Of the 549 students who have purchased the $90 tickets to prom, 313 are females.</p>
<p>School Superintendent Freeman Burr said in a statement that the goal of the policy is to make for "a safe and memorable evening" for every student attending the prom.</p> | Say yes to the dress? Not for 6 dresses at this high school | false | https://abqjournal.com/585516/say-yes-to-the-dress-not-for-6-dresses-at-this-high-school.html | 2 |
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<p>The markets will be laser focused on the Federal Reserve next week, anxiously awaiting word on whether the central bank will initiate another round of economic stimulus.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Federal Open Markets Committee, which sets most Fed policy, is meeting Wednesday and Thursday and a statement is due at the end of the second day. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold a press conference Thursday afternoon.</p>
<p>Stock markets are all hoping for another round of quantitative easing, in which the Fed buys &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;U.S. securities in an effort to goose the stumbling U.S. economy. Friday’s dismal labor report which revealed that just 96,000 jobs were created in August only boosted hopes among investors for QE III.</p>
<p>The Fed could also extend programs already in place, such as historically low interest rates, rather than pull the trigger on more full-blown stimulus. Markets will certainly be disappointed by anything less than QE III, however.</p>
<p>On Wednesday tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is expected to unveil its next model iPhone, apparently dubbed iPhone 5. Apple has been on a roll recently, both the company and the stock. A successful launch of its latest version of the smartphone could extend Apple’s dominance of the lucrative mobile technology market.</p>
<p>The National Federation of Independent Business will release its Small Business Optimism Index on Tuesday. On Wednesday, import and export data will be released, providing a look at inflation.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>More inflation data is due Thursday with the release of the Producer Price Index, which measures the prices of goods at the wholesale level. That will be followed up on Friday with the release of the Consumer Price Index, which measures the prices of goods paid by consumers.</p>
<p>Also Friday is the Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index, which gauges how U.S. families feel about the economy.</p> | Week Ahead: All Eyes on the FOMC | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/09/07/week-ahead-all-eyes-on-fomc.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ These North Carolina lotteries were drawn Sunday:</p>
<p>Cash 5</p>
<p>05-12-20-23-25</p>
<p>(five, twelve, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $249,000</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>1-8-9, Lucky Sum: 18</p>
<p>(one, eight, nine; Lucky Sum: eighteen)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>8-4-4, Lucky Sum: 16</p>
<p>(eight, four, four; Lucky Sum: sixteen)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>7-4-4-7, Lucky Sum: 22</p>
<p>(seven, four, four, seven; Lucky Sum: twenty-two)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>7-8-2-0, Lucky Sum: 17</p>
<p>(seven, eight, two, zero; Lucky Sum: seventeen)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p>
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ These North Carolina lotteries were drawn Sunday:</p>
<p>Cash 5</p>
<p>05-12-20-23-25</p>
<p>(five, twelve, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-five)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $249,000</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p>
<p>Pick 3 Day</p>
<p>1-8-9, Lucky Sum: 18</p>
<p>(one, eight, nine; Lucky Sum: eighteen)</p>
<p>Pick 3 Evening</p>
<p>8-4-4, Lucky Sum: 16</p>
<p>(eight, four, four; Lucky Sum: sixteen)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Day</p>
<p>7-4-4-7, Lucky Sum: 22</p>
<p>(seven, four, four, seven; Lucky Sum: twenty-two)</p>
<p>Pick 4 Evening</p>
<p>7-8-2-0, Lucky Sum: 17</p>
<p>(seven, eight, two, zero; Lucky Sum: seventeen)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $40 million</p> | NC Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/7dc9267e858e41a9b24f6ff044a628f5 | 2018-01-08 | 2 |
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<p>DAWSON, Texas — Officials are trying to determine what caused an explosion at a house that injured five people in a small Texas town.</p>
<p>Authorities responded late Thursday night to an explosion at the home in Dawson, located about 70 miles south of Dallas.</p>
<p>Navarro County Sheriff Elmer Tanner said first responders had to sift through remnants of the collapsed house to rescue those injured. He says three people were flown to a Dallas hospital and two others had injuries not believed to be life threatening. He had no update Friday on the conditions of those taken to the Dallas hospital.</p>
<p>Tanner says authorities will interview the survivors to try to determine the cause of the explosion.</p>
<p>He says there was also a small fire after the explosion, but it was quickly extinguished.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 5 injured in explosion at Texas house, cause investigated | false | https://abqjournal.com/991288/5-injured-in-explosion-at-texas-house-cause-investigated.html | 2 |
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<p>Oh Bloomberg, you are the 21st century answer to Helen of Troy. The politician that launched a thousand regulations!</p>
<p>The rest of the world chuckled at the New York City's mayor's proposed ban on sodas over 16 oz., which is still winding its way through the courts. At least it was only New York - they do crazy stuff there! - the rest of us assured ourselves. Actually not quite - New Yorkers are trendsetters, yes, but also canaries in the coal mine.</p>
<p>I got a little nervous when the head of public health in Ottawa, the capital of Canada and my hometown, publicly mulled such a ban might one day be required up here.</p>
<p />
<p>Well baby steps be damned, looks like soda laws are off to conquer the world.</p>
<p>That seems to be the takeaway from the 8th Global Conference on Health Promotion, taking place right now in Helsinki, Finland. It's run by the World Health Organization, the United Nations' public health arm. Representatives from governments across the world are attending to learn about the latest public health emergency.</p>
<p>No, it's not an ebola outbreak. And it's got nothing to do with tackling malaria, TB and smallpox - the things the WHO was established in 1948 to eradicate. The crisis they're looking to mobilize all governments in opposition to is the fight against Big Soda, Big Food and Big Alcohol (their words, not mine).</p>
<p>Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, gave the opening address at the conference on Monday, the first cannon fire of this new war.</p>
<p>She said noncommunicable diseases are the new challenge to many countries - diseases furthered by Big Soda, etc. We're getting diabetes and heart problems because of our eating habits. Okay, fine, but isn't that a personal choice issue? Not a U.N. problem?</p>
<p>"The globalization of unhealthy lifestyles is by no means just a technical issue for public health. It is a political issue," she said. The conference also has an eye on "related critical issues for health such as education, environment, employment, agriculture, transportation, housing, trade, finance, and foreign and development policy."</p>
<p>In other words, every department of every government should be mobilized in this war. Say hello to a massive push for the punitive regulation of multiple industries.</p>
<p>Makes Agenda 21 look minor league.</p>
<p>Will it work? Sure. In the creative world of big government, swing a big enough stick and you can make the public do anything you want.</p>
<p>It worked for the war on Big Tobacco - which Chan acknowledges as an inspiration for the war on Big Everything.</p>
<p>Smoking has decreased considerably over the years. The difference is cigarettes aren't something humans need to live - food and drink are. Excessively regulating sustenance options - no matter how fatty or sugary some are - will likely have economic consequences, like increased prices for low-income earners already struggling to feed their families.</p>
<p>This wouldn't have been possible if an otherwise respectable politician hadn't set the mood by seriously suggesting residents of and tourists to the most famous city in the world weren't capable of making their own choices.</p>
<p>So, dear New Yorkers, next time one of your politicians comes up with a zany big government idea, please make them keep it to themselves.</p>
<p>Anthony Furey is a syndicated columnist in Canada. <a href="http://www.fureyonpolitics.com" type="external">www.fureyonpolitics.com</a>;Twitter: @anthonyfurey</p>
<p /> | Bloomberg soda ban goes global | true | http://humanevents.com/2013/06/14/bloomberg-soda-ban-goes-global/ | 2013-06-14 | 0 |
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<p>DENVER — Bruce Springsteen stopped in Denver on Wednesday as part of a nationwide tour promoting his new autobiography “Born to Run.”</p>
<p>An estimated 1,100 people who bought advance tickets lined up at the Tattered Cover Book Store to get a pre-autographed copy of the book and a photo with the Boss. The line extended out of the store and down the street.</p>
<p>The store posted a YouTube video earlier this year urging Springsteen to visit during his book tour. The new incoming co-owner, Len Vlahos, is seen playing guitar and singing “Growin’ Up” while walking through the store.</p>
<p>In the book, Springsteen remembers his childhood in New Jersey, his rise to superstardom and personal struggles that inspired songs such as “Born to Run” and “Thunder Road.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Bruce Springsteen visits Denver to promote ‘Born to Run’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/898450/bruce-springsteen-visiting-denver-to-promote-born-to-run.html | 2016-11-30 | 2 |
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<p>SANTA FE, N.M. — Ristra the Reindeer is the key to winning all kinds of prizes this holiday season as he shops at a dozen different stores in Santa Fe. Ristra is a chile-bedecked deer who will be popping up somewhere new in the city on each of the “12 Fe’s of Christmas,” beginning Wednesday through Dec. 22.</p>
<p>Clues to his whereabouts will be found each day on the Santa Fe Convention &amp; Visitors Bureau’s Facebook page – <a href="http://facebook.com/santafetourism" type="external">facebook.com/santafetourism</a> – and on the bureau’s Twitter account, <a href="http://twitter.com/CityofSantaFe" type="external">twitter.com/CityofSantaFe</a>. Ristra’s shopping spots will be spread around the city to encourage Santa Feans and visitors to shop locally as they search for where that cute face will turn up next.</p>
<p>Ristra will move to a new location each day with a new gift to be offered for one lucky shopper who finds him, then shares a photo of Ristra on their Facebook or Twitter accounts using the hashtags #RistratheReindeer and #FirstFeofChristmas or #SecondFeofChristmas. Instructions for entering will be found at every new location. Prizes, including gift certificates, tickets, overnight stays and memberships, can be claimed at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. The grand prize comes from the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Win gifts in Ristra the Reindeer hunt | false | https://abqjournal.com/317212/win-gifts-in-ristra-the-reindeer-hunt.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter as previously reported, with robust consumer spending offset by downward revisions to business and government investment.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gross domestic product rose at a 1.9 percent annual rate in the final three months of 2016, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday in its second estimate for the period. That matched the estimate published last month.</p>
<p>Output increased at a 3.5 percent rate in the third quarter.</p>
<p>The economy grew 1.6 percent for all of 2016, its worst performance since 2011, after expanding 2.6 percent in 2015.</p>
<p>Economic data early in the first quarter has been mixed, with retail sales rising in January but homebuilding and business spending on capital goods easing.</p>
<p>The economy may get a boost from President Donald Trump's proposed stimulus package of sweeping tax cuts and infrastructure spending as well as less regulations.</p>
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<p>Trump, who pledged during last year's election campaign to deliver 4 percent annual GDP growth, has promised a "phenomenal" tax plan that the White House said would include tax cuts for businesses and individuals.</p>
<p>Details on the proposal remain vague, though Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that Trump would use a policy speech to Congress on Tuesday night to preview some aspects of his tax reform plans.</p>
<p>Economists polled by Reuters had expected fourth-quarter GDP would be revised up to a 2.1 percent rate.</p>
<p>U.S. Treasury prices rose after the data, while the dollar dipped against a basket of currencies. U.S. stock index futures were largely unchanged.</p>
<p>CONSUMER SPENDING JUMPS</p>
<p>Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, was revised sharply higher to a 3.0 percent rate of growth in the fourth quarter. It was previously reported to have risen at a 2.5 percent rate.</p>
<p>That meant private domestic demand increased at a 3.0 percent rate, faster than the 2.8 percent pace reported last month.</p>
<p>Some of the rise in demand was met with imports, which increased at a 8.5 percent rate rather than the 8.3 percent pace reported last month. Exports declined, leaving a trade deficit that subtracted 1.70 percentage point from GDP growth as previously reported.</p>
<p>There was a small downward revision to inventory investment. Businesses accumulated inventories at a rate of $46.2 billion in the last quarter, instead of the previously reported $48.7 billion. Inventory investment added 0.94 percentage points to GDP growth, down from the 1.0 percentage point estimated last month.</p>
<p>Business investment was revised lower to reflect a more modest pace of spending on equipment, which increased at a 1.9 percent rate instead of the previously estimated 3.1 percent pace. That was still the first increase in over a year and reflected a surge in gas and oil well drilling in line with rising crude oil prices.</p>
<p>Spending on mining exploration, wells and shafts increased at a 23.6 percent rate instead of the previously reported 24.3 percent pace. It declined at a 30.0 percent pace in the third quarter.</p>
<p>Investment in nonresidential structures was revised to show it falling at a less steep 4.5 percent pace in the fourth quarter. It was previously reported to have declined at a 5.0 percent rate. Overall, business investment contributed 0.17 percentage point to GDP growth, less than the 0.30 percentage reported last month.</p>
<p>Spending on residential construction increased at a 9.6 percent rate, which was downwardly revised from the 10.2 percent pace reported last month. The rebound followed two straight quarterly declines.</p>
<p>Government spending increased at a 0.4 percent rate in the fourth quarter, rather than the previously reported 1.2 percent pace of growth. As a result, government investment made no contribution to growth. It was previously reported to have contributed 0.21 percentage point.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)</p> | U.S. Economy Slows in Q4; Consumer Spending Remains Bright Spot | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/28/u-s-economy-slows-in-q4-consumer-spending-remains-bright-spot.html | 2017-02-28 | 0 |
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<p>There were 672 sales in the Albuquerque metro market, well above the 542 sales in February and 596 sales in March of last year, the Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors reports.</p>
<p>March marked the 15th month where current month sales exceeded the same month the prior year, according to the GAAR report.</p>
<p>“Sales are increasing steadily, which are good signs for the housing market,” GAAR President Julie Greenwood said in a statement.</p>
<p>The association said that average sales prices for single-family detached homes have increased over the past two months. March’s average sales price of $202,605 reflects an increase of 6.82 percent over the prior year. The median sales price of $175,000 rose 10.06 percent from March 2012.</p>
<p>“The fact that we have seen some movement in price indicates that the market place is reacting to low interest rates and affordable prices.” Greenwood said.</p>
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<p>The statewide Realtors Association of New Mexico reported 1,272 sales in March, a nearly 4 percent increase over the same month last year.</p>
<p>“The housing market is showing plenty of strength, but continues to face challenges, such as homeowners facing negative equity, low inventory of homes for sale, and mortgage credit remaining tight and preventing some buyers from qualifying for a loan,” according to Cathy Colvin, RANM president.</p>
<p>The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales dipped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.92 million, from 4.95 million in February. February’s figure was revised lower. Sales in March were 10.3 percent higher than a year earlier.</p>
<p>The number of homes for sale rose 1.6 percent to 1.93 million. That is still 16.8 percent below the supply of a year earlier. The Realtors’ group says it expects a rising number of homes to become available. — This article appeared on page B1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | ‘Increasing steadily’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/191618/increasing-steadily.html | 2 |
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<p>Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kasperksy Lab is releasing new details about how its software uploaded classified U.S. documents several years ago. The incident is at the center of a controversy over whether the company's popular anti-virus really works as described.</p>
<p>Previous reports alleged that Kaspersky had uploaded National Security Agency files from an intelligence worker's home computer in 2015. Founder Eugene Kaspersky confirmed the incident in a recent interview with The Associated Press, although he said that it occurred in September 2014, that the upload was accidental and that the files were quickly deleted.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>A 13-page report published Thursday elaborates on that interview — and carries awkward claims for the NSA worker in question.</p>
<p>Under the heading "An Interesting Twist," Kaspersky says the worker's home computer was compromised by other hackers.</p> | Kaspersky Lab releases report into upload of NSA documents | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/16/kaspersky-lab-releases-report-into-upload-nsa-documents.html | 2017-11-16 | 0 |
<p>By Barrett Owen</p>
<p>It’s been a bad month. People are angry. Humans are dying. Cultures are dividing.</p>
<p>These are the talking points we have to discuss: Depression is a disease. Ukraine is in turmoil. ISIS just beheaded two American journalists. Refugee children are detained at the U.S. border. Airlines stopped their Liberian flights. Ferguson, Mo., feels more like 1960s Birmingham. Thousands of Palestinians have limited food and water. Police aren’t soldiers. Entire planes go missing. Gay Christians still aren’t accepted. Suicide is all too common. Race is still a divide.</p>
<p>Lately I’ve stood in the pulpit thinking about who we are and what we’re doing, and I hear God saying,</p>
<p>I hate, I despise your festivals,and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,I will not accept them;and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animalsI will not look upon.Take away from me the noise of your songs;I will not listen to the melody of your harps.But let justice roll down like waters,and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(Amos 5:21-24)</p>
<p>In other words, I’m standing in the pulpit wondering, “Is God satisfied with our worship?” Then I think, “How could God be? I’m not satisfied with it.”</p>
<p>I’m not satisfied with the space I’ve created for parishioners to lean close to the Divine in a month that’s brought so much death, so much separation, so much destruction and pain. I’m not satisfied with my response (or lack thereof) to Robin Williams, Ukraine, ISIS, Malaysia, refugee children, Ebola, Ferguson, Gaza, gay marriage or racial profiling.</p>
<p>My response has been yet another solemn assembly, yet another noisy song that does little to alleviate the brokenness we all feel. It’s just a business-as-usual worship service.</p>
<p>It’s as though I believe God honors loyalty over anything else, so I keep showing up each Sunday thinking God will be pleased with me. But who am I kidding? Worship should make others feel the rolling waters of justice and the righteousness of an ever-flowing stream.</p>
<p>Yet our worship is similar to the ancient Israelites’, and our lack of intentionality incubates the world’s brokenness even more.</p>
<p>Worship must be better. It must be built around the things that matter. It must listen to the spirit of God in the midst of the brokenness. It must move us to action. But how?</p>
<p>Rachel Held Evans said in a recent Sojourners blog that we should 1) Lament, 2) Listen and Learn and 3) Loose the chains of injustice. This is a good start. Our worship needs to grieve the plight of the world. Our worship needs to create space for the spirit to move. Our worship needs to address the craziness in the world.</p>
<p>My soul can’t facilitate another worship service that turns a blind eye to the pains and sufferings in the world. My soul can’t pretend that God’s anything more than frustrated with how I’ve worshiped. My soul can’t read another blog or see another news story and compartmentalize it as if it were a Netflix Original Series, gripping but insignificant to my daily routine.</p>
<p>So I offer this as a lament. My Lord and my God, I’m sorry. I can do more. We can do more. You need us doing more.</p> | I can do more: A lament | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/i-can-do-more-a-lament/ | 3 |
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<p>BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A group that preserves and promotes the work of a deaf, self-taught Idaho artist whose creations appear in museums around the world is fighting an attempt to dismiss its copyright infringement lawsuit against an Oregon children's book author.</p>
<p>The Boise, Idaho-based James Castle Collection and Archive said in documents filed Tuesday in federal court that Allen Say's book "Silent Days, Silent Dreams" steals images created by Castle, who died in 1977, and that its lawsuit should be allowed to move forward.</p>
<p>About 28 of the 150 illustrations in the children's book, described in the opening pages as a work of fiction about Castle, are Say's copies of the artist's work. The lawsuit filed in October seeks up to $150,000 for each allegation of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>A federal judge that month denied the group's request to temporarily halt book sales until the lawsuit plays out. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, who described the book as a "fictional biography," said it is not likely to infringe on Castle's work because it falls within fair legal use for purposes such as teaching or scholarship.</p>
<p>Say and publisher Scholastic Inc. asked last month that the lawsuit be dismissed.</p>
<p>The James Castle Collection and Archive responded Tuesday that the book does not fall within fair legal use because it doesn't add something new or transformative to Castle's work.</p>
<p>"Say's use of Castle's work gives the original no new expression, no new meaning and no new message," the group says, noting that the book is for commercial gain.</p>
<p>Scholastic Inc. spokeswoman Anne Sparkman said Wednesday that the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.</p>
<p>Castle was born deaf in 1899 in southwestern Idaho and was never able to speak or write. But he created thousands of works of art using various materials, including soot and his own spit.</p>
<p>The 80-year-old Say, who lives in Portland, Oregon, won the Caldecott Medal in 1994 for what judges said was the best American picture book for children.</p>
<p>His book is written from the perspective of Castle's fictional nephew. In the author's note, Say said he used soot and spit and other at-hand materials available to Castle to "emulate his unschooled style."</p>
<p>Bruce DeLaney, co-owner of Rediscovered Books in Boise, said Say's title has been a steady seller but not a best-seller despite being about a local artist. He said that might be because the James Castle Collection doesn't back the book.</p>
<p>"If there was a James Castle book that they were excited about, it would sell a lot better here in the valley because they have a lot of influence," he said.</p>
<p>BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A group that preserves and promotes the work of a deaf, self-taught Idaho artist whose creations appear in museums around the world is fighting an attempt to dismiss its copyright infringement lawsuit against an Oregon children's book author.</p>
<p>The Boise, Idaho-based James Castle Collection and Archive said in documents filed Tuesday in federal court that Allen Say's book "Silent Days, Silent Dreams" steals images created by Castle, who died in 1977, and that its lawsuit should be allowed to move forward.</p>
<p>About 28 of the 150 illustrations in the children's book, described in the opening pages as a work of fiction about Castle, are Say's copies of the artist's work. The lawsuit filed in October seeks up to $150,000 for each allegation of copyright infringement.</p>
<p>A federal judge that month denied the group's request to temporarily halt book sales until the lawsuit plays out. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, who described the book as a "fictional biography," said it is not likely to infringe on Castle's work because it falls within fair legal use for purposes such as teaching or scholarship.</p>
<p>Say and publisher Scholastic Inc. asked last month that the lawsuit be dismissed.</p>
<p>The James Castle Collection and Archive responded Tuesday that the book does not fall within fair legal use because it doesn't add something new or transformative to Castle's work.</p>
<p>"Say's use of Castle's work gives the original no new expression, no new meaning and no new message," the group says, noting that the book is for commercial gain.</p>
<p>Scholastic Inc. spokeswoman Anne Sparkman said Wednesday that the company doesn't comment on pending litigation.</p>
<p>Castle was born deaf in 1899 in southwestern Idaho and was never able to speak or write. But he created thousands of works of art using various materials, including soot and his own spit.</p>
<p>The 80-year-old Say, who lives in Portland, Oregon, won the Caldecott Medal in 1994 for what judges said was the best American picture book for children.</p>
<p>His book is written from the perspective of Castle's fictional nephew. In the author's note, Say said he used soot and spit and other at-hand materials available to Castle to "emulate his unschooled style."</p>
<p>Bruce DeLaney, co-owner of Rediscovered Books in Boise, said Say's title has been a steady seller but not a best-seller despite being about a local artist. He said that might be because the James Castle Collection doesn't back the book.</p>
<p>"If there was a James Castle book that they were excited about, it would sell a lot better here in the valley because they have a lot of influence," he said.</p> | Group pushes lawsuit saying book infringes on artist's work | false | https://apnews.com/amp/02565230e1564996b5885cfe971dec79 | 2018-01-17 | 2 |
<p>The incident provoked immediate rage in Baghdad. Witnesses described the Blackwater guards as shooting unarmed civilians. The subsequent FBI investigation and the charges announced today appeared to back up that interpretation. This national security official said the guards are charged with 35 accounts of voluntary manslaughter, attempt to commit manslaughter, and weapons charges�specifically they're charged with killing 14 unarmed civilians and wounding 20 other individuals in connection with this event. The defense says the men were acting in self-defense but U.S. Attorney described the shootings as unprovoked. The violence that day was devastating. Legal experts say accountability for such crimes is long overdue. this legal analyst says there have been thousands of violent incidents against Iraqi civilians committed by American contractors and there's been almost no accountability. He says the case is also important for establishing legal precedent. This analyst says there's a legal grey area that needs to be resolved. The accused men are gearing up to fight the charges, and one of the men accused called the trial a politically motivated event to appease the Iraqi government.</p> | Charged Blackwater guards turn themselves in | false | https://pri.org/stories/2008-12-08/charged-blackwater-guards-turn-themselves | 2008-12-08 | 3 |
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<p>Gov. Susana Martinez braves strong winds Thursday at the Rio Grande Nature Center during a news conference declaring Wildfire Awareness Week. The governor noted that the dry, windy conditions are prime conditions for wildfires. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>With winds gusting up to 37 mph rattling dry cottonwood leaves and kicking up dust at the Rio Grande Nature Center, Gov. Susana Martinez had all the props she needed to warn New Mexicans about the dangers of a wildfire season already underway.</p>
<p>“Where else could we have a press conference in this kind of weather,” Martinez said Thursday as she kept a good grip on notes during an outdoors event declaring March 29 through April 4 Wildfire Awareness Week.</p>
<p>The arid conditions and high winds so much in evidence at the nature center are major factors in the start and spread of wildfires.</p>
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<p>Martinez said that even though the 2015 New Mexico wildfire season is young, there have already been more than 150 fires that have burned nearly 10,000 acres of state and private land.</p>
<p>“As we continue to face serious drought, it is more important than ever that we work together to prevent fires,” Martinez said. “Through continued education, prevention and awareness we can make a difference together to save lives, property and valuable natural resources throughout New Mexico.”</p>
<p>During the news conference, Martinez also signed two bills into law.</p>
<p>House Bill 563 establishes a commission charged with developing the 500-mile Rio Grande Trail, a recreational byway stretching through New Mexico from Colorado to Texas.</p>
<p>And she signed Senate Bill 519, which ensures money for the Firefighters’ Survivors Fund that benefits the families of firefighters who lose their lives while doing their jobs.</p>
<p>Signing of the two bills at the nature center Thursday was an apt gesture because the Rio Grande Trail would go through the center’s property and because firefighters representing various city, county and state departments attended the news conference.</p>
<p>Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry was there, too.</p>
<p>“If you just look around you today, you understand why we are all concerned about wildfires,” said Berry, referring to the gusty, dusty conditions.</p>
<p>He talked about the seven fires that burned in the Albuquerque bosque on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the need to avoid smoking or starting any kind of fire in open, arid areas. But he talked also about the vigilance of citizens, the kind of alertness that warned firefighters of the bosque fires this week and led to the arrest of a man suspected in setting the blazes.</p>
<p>“As you have seen in the last couple of days, it was citizens’ eyes that were important,” he said.</p>
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<p /> | Governor warns of danger as fire season heats up | false | https://abqjournal.com/564258/governor-warns-of-danger-as-fire-season-heats-up.html | 2 |
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<p>The city of Liuzhou in southern China is offering a reward to anyone who catches a piranha after two residents complained of being attacked.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/11/china-piranha-attack-reward?newsfeed=true" type="external">The Guardian's Beijing correspondent said</a> that one man, named as Zhang Kaibo, needed stitches in his hand after three of the fish attacked him as he washed his dog in the Liu river.&#160; "Later on, my mum cut it into pieces and we planned to eat it. [But] some local officials came to my home and collected it to study," he said.</p>
<p>The local government has confirmed that the attackers were Serrasalmus sanchezi, a species of piranha which is mostly found in the Amazon River, <a href="http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-07/12/content_15571833.htm" type="external">says the China Daily.</a>&#160; The species cannot live in water that is cooler than 59 degrees Fahrenheit and it is unlikely they will be able to reproduce in the river, an official statement reportedly said.&#160; However, they pose a risk to local fish and may hurt swimmers, it said.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/news/regions/europe/piranhas-bark-make-sounds-study" type="external">Barking piranhas are the wordsmiths of the ocean</a></p>
<p>"People, including members of Liuzhou Fishing Association and ordinary residents, are asked to go catch the fish with free meat provided by the city government," Lu Zhengxiang, general secretary of the fishing association, said, <a href="http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/720587.shtml" type="external">according to Global Times</a>. "Anyone who catches a piranha will be given a reward of 1,000 yuan ($157)."</p>
<p>Since the announcement was made, residents have been seen fishing on the river, using pork, mutton and liver to try and snag one of the fish and claim a reward.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/que-pasa/piranhas-take-bite-out-swimmers-brazil" type="external">Piranhas take a bite out of swimmers in Brazil</a></p>
<p>"It's horrible to know that the river has such fish. I will not swim there anymore," resident Liu Junjie was <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/12/us-china-piranhas-idUSBRE86B03B20120712" type="external">quoted as saying by Reuters</a>, adding: "I'll pray they catch them soon."</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2012/07/11/chinese-city-puts-1000-yuan-bounty-flesh-eating-fish/" type="external">The Wall Street Journal remarks</a> that this is not the first time piranhas have been spotted in the Liu River, whose ecosystem is said to mimic that of the Amazon's making it a suitable environment for the piranhas.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/120302/china-new-auto-plant-bulgaria-great-wall-motors" type="external">Suite Spot - Chinese cars made in Bulgaria</a></p> | Chinese city declares war on piranhas following attacks on locals | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-07-12/chinese-city-declares-war-piranhas-following-attacks-locals | 2012-07-12 | 3 |
<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Irish Catholic boy who came of age in Sacramento after World War II is an unlikely candidate to be the author of the Supreme Court’s major gay rights rulings.</p>
<p>But those who have known Justice Anthony Kennedy for decades and scholars who have studied his work say he has long stressed the importance of valuing people as individuals. And he seems likely also to have been influenced in this regard by a pillar of the Sacramento legal community, a closeted gay man who hired Kennedy as a law school instructor and testified on his behalf at his high court confirmation hearings in Washington.</p>
<p>With three major gay rights opinions to his name already, the 78-year-old Kennedy is the prohibitive favorite to write the Supreme Court decision in June that could extend same-sex marriage nationwide.</p>
<p>Kennedy’s friendship with Gordon Schaber began in the mid-1960s when Schaber recruited the young lawyer to teach at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. Schaber, who served as the school’s dean for 34 years, was in the process of transforming McGeorge from an unaccredited night school to a respected institution that now is a part of the University of the Pacific.</p>
<p>Schaber never married and was widely believed to be gay, according to accounts from a dozen people who worked for him or were active in Sacramento’s political and legal communities.</p>
<p>“Schaber’s sexual orientation was general knowledge among the Sacramento community and the law school community,” said Glendalee “Glee” Scully, the longtime director of McGeorge’s legal clinic, where students got practical experience by taking on cases for people who couldn’t otherwise afford a lawyer.</p>
<p>Among those who worked at the school when Schaber was dean, not one could recall Schaber discussing his sexual orientation. “Generationally, it was not something gentlemen spoke about,” said McGeorge professor Larry Levine, himself openly gay.</p>
<p>Scully said, “As close as he and Tony Kennedy were as friends, I would doubt they ever had a conversation about it. But how can’t it have helped to some degree Tony’s willingness to have an open mind?”</p>
<p>Only nine years older than Kennedy, Schaber was a mentor to many of the young lawyers he brought to the school and looked after them in ways large and small.</p>
<p>Schaber helped some become judges. Year after year, Kennedy reported the same gift from Schaber on his annual financial disclosures, $400 worth of shirts.</p>
<p>Kennedy spoke at the dedication of the Sacramento courthouse in Schaber’s memory, but he has never talked about how Schaber has influenced his views on the bench. Kennedy declined to respond to questions for this story.</p>
<p>Schaber died in 1997, just shy of his 70th birthday.</p>
<p>By that time, Kennedy had written his first gay rights ruling on the Supreme Court, striking down a Colorado constitutional amendment that prevented local governments from enacting anti-discrimination protections for gays and lesbians.</p>
<p>In 2003, Kennedy again authored the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state laws that made gay sex a crime.</p>
<p>“It suffices for us to acknowledge that adults may choose to enter upon this relationship in the confines of their homes and their own private lives and still retain their dignity as free persons,” Kennedy wrote. “When sexuality finds overt expression in intimate conduct with another person, the conduct can be but one element in a personal bond that is more enduring.”</p>
<p>Ten years later, Kennedy’s opinion for the court in U.S. v. Windsor struck down part of the federal anti-gay marriage law. “It seems fair to conclude that, until recent years, many citizens had not even considered the possibility that two persons of the same sex might aspire to occupy the same status and dignity as that of a man and woman in lawful marriage,” Kennedy wrote in the Windsor case.</p>
<p>The decision left for another day the question of whether states can keep same-sex couples from marrying. That question is now before the court, with arguments set for Tuesday.</p>
<p>So what are the roots of Kennedy’s views?</p>
<p>Childhood friend Joseph Genshlea said the issue never came up at Stanford University, where they attended college together in the 1950s, or the Sacramento neighborhood in which both grew up and later raised their own families.</p>
<p>“When we were in college, we didn’t even know there was a closet,” Genshlea said. “I don’t have an answer to it except that he’s a very bright guy and he certainly has thought through the issue.”</p>
<p>Another longtime friend, former California Gov. Pete Wilson, said Kennedy always has evaluated people as individuals, not as members of a group. Kennedy, he said, sees everyone “based on their merits.”</p>
<p>Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested in an interview last summer that one reason for changes in public opinion in favor of same-sex marriage was that, as gay Americans became more comfortable talking about the topic, people learned that they had gay friends and relatives, “people you have tremendous respect for.” She was describing what sociologists call the contact theory, the idea that the majority group’s interactions with a minority will break down stereotypes and enhance acceptance of the minority group.</p>
<p>Helen Knowles, the author of a book about Kennedy’s jurisprudence, said she doesn’t place too much emphasis on this theory.</p>
<p>“Having said that, I have difficulty believing that Kennedy’s friendship with Gordon Schaber didn’t affect his views,” said Knowles, a professor of government at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Her book is “The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty.”</p>
<p>Knowles and political science professor Frank Colucci of Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, Indiana, said the earliest indication of Kennedy’s views about the treatment of gays and lesbians can be found in a 1980 ruling that ironically upheld the Navy’s dismissal of gay sailors.</p>
<p>“He rules in favor of the Navy policy, but it’s about as sympathetic as one could be to the plaintiff,” Colucci said.</p>
<p>Kennedy was a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the time. “Upholding the challenged regulations as constitutional is distinct from a statement that they are wise. The latter judgment is neither implicit in our decision nor within our province to make,” he wrote then.</p>
<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Irish Catholic boy who came of age in Sacramento after World War II is an unlikely candidate to be the author of the Supreme Court’s major gay rights rulings.</p>
<p>But those who have known Justice Anthony Kennedy for decades and scholars who have studied his work say he has long stressed the importance of valuing people as individuals. And he seems likely also to have been influenced in this regard by a pillar of the Sacramento legal community, a closeted gay man who hired Kennedy as a law school instructor and testified on his behalf at his high court confirmation hearings in Washington.</p>
<p>With three major gay rights opinions to his name already, the 78-year-old Kennedy is the prohibitive favorite to write the Supreme Court decision in June that could extend same-sex marriage nationwide.</p>
<p>Kennedy’s friendship with Gordon Schaber began in the mid-1960s when Schaber recruited the young lawyer to teach at the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. Schaber, who served as the school’s dean for 34 years, was in the process of transforming McGeorge from an unaccredited night school to a respected institution that now is a part of the University of the Pacific.</p>
<p>Schaber never married and was widely believed to be gay, according to accounts from a dozen people who worked for him or were active in Sacramento’s political and legal communities.</p>
<p>“Schaber’s sexual orientation was general knowledge among the Sacramento community and the law school community,” said Glendalee “Glee” Scully, the longtime director of McGeorge’s legal clinic, where students got practical experience by taking on cases for people who couldn’t otherwise afford a lawyer.</p>
<p>Among those who worked at the school when Schaber was dean, not one could recall Schaber discussing his sexual orientation. “Generationally, it was not something gentlemen spoke about,” said McGeorge professor Larry Levine, himself openly gay.</p>
<p>Scully said, “As close as he and Tony Kennedy were as friends, I would doubt they ever had a conversation about it. But how can’t it have helped to some degree Tony’s willingness to have an open mind?”</p>
<p>Only nine years older than Kennedy, Schaber was a mentor to many of the young lawyers he brought to the school and looked after them in ways large and small.</p>
<p>Schaber helped some become judges. Year after year, Kennedy reported the same gift from Schaber on his annual financial disclosures, $400 worth of shirts.</p>
<p>Kennedy spoke at the dedication of the Sacramento courthouse in Schaber’s memory, but he has never talked about how Schaber has influenced his views on the bench. Kennedy declined to respond to questions for this story.</p>
<p>Schaber died in 1997, just shy of his 70th birthday.</p>
<p>By that time, Kennedy had written his first gay rights ruling on the Supreme Court, striking down a Colorado constitutional amendment that prevented local governments from enacting anti-discrimination protections for gays and lesbians.</p>
<p>In 2003, Kennedy again authored the majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down state laws that made gay sex a crime.</p>
<p>“It suffices for us to acknowledge that adults may choose to enter upon this relationship in the confines of their homes and their own private lives and still retain their dignity as free persons,” Kennedy wrote. “When sexuality finds overt expression in intimate conduct with another person, the conduct can be but one element in a personal bond that is more enduring.”</p>
<p>Ten years later, Kennedy’s opinion for the court in U.S. v. Windsor struck down part of the federal anti-gay marriage law. “It seems fair to conclude that, until recent years, many citizens had not even considered the possibility that two persons of the same sex might aspire to occupy the same status and dignity as that of a man and woman in lawful marriage,” Kennedy wrote in the Windsor case.</p>
<p>The decision left for another day the question of whether states can keep same-sex couples from marrying. That question is now before the court, with arguments set for Tuesday.</p>
<p>So what are the roots of Kennedy’s views?</p>
<p>Childhood friend Joseph Genshlea said the issue never came up at Stanford University, where they attended college together in the 1950s, or the Sacramento neighborhood in which both grew up and later raised their own families.</p>
<p>“When we were in college, we didn’t even know there was a closet,” Genshlea said. “I don’t have an answer to it except that he’s a very bright guy and he certainly has thought through the issue.”</p>
<p>Another longtime friend, former California Gov. Pete Wilson, said Kennedy always has evaluated people as individuals, not as members of a group. Kennedy, he said, sees everyone “based on their merits.”</p>
<p>Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg suggested in an interview last summer that one reason for changes in public opinion in favor of same-sex marriage was that, as gay Americans became more comfortable talking about the topic, people learned that they had gay friends and relatives, “people you have tremendous respect for.” She was describing what sociologists call the contact theory, the idea that the majority group’s interactions with a minority will break down stereotypes and enhance acceptance of the minority group.</p>
<p>Helen Knowles, the author of a book about Kennedy’s jurisprudence, said she doesn’t place too much emphasis on this theory.</p>
<p>“Having said that, I have difficulty believing that Kennedy’s friendship with Gordon Schaber didn’t affect his views,” said Knowles, a professor of government at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Her book is “The Tie Goes to Freedom: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Liberty.”</p>
<p>Knowles and political science professor Frank Colucci of Purdue University Calumet in Hammond, Indiana, said the earliest indication of Kennedy’s views about the treatment of gays and lesbians can be found in a 1980 ruling that ironically upheld the Navy’s dismissal of gay sailors.</p>
<p>“He rules in favor of the Navy policy, but it’s about as sympathetic as one could be to the plaintiff,” Colucci said.</p>
<p>Kennedy was a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at the time. “Upholding the challenged regulations as constitutional is distinct from a statement that they are wise. The latter judgment is neither implicit in our decision nor within our province to make,” he wrote then.</p> | Gay mentor, belief in dignity at roots of Kennedy’s views | false | https://apnews.com/33e2ab6565a14cf581eda2c81a2b2b90 | 2015-04-26 | 2 |
<p>New controls on dollar purchases began today in Argentina.</p>
<p>Sales of foreign currency through ATMS, internet banking and phone banking are <a href="http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/83284/afips-new-controls-on-dollar-purchases-begin-today" type="external">suspended until further notice</a>, reports the Buenos Aires Herald.</p>
<p>Banks and exchange houses will have to clear all transactions with the tax agency.</p>
<p>The measures are intended to limit money laundering and to contain the deflationary pressures on the peso.</p>
<p><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/stephaniegarlow" type="external">Follow Stephanie on Twitter: @stephaniegarlow</a></p> | Argentina imposes foreign currency controls | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-10-31/argentina-imposes-foreign-currency-controls | 2011-10-31 | 3 |
<p>A mysterious duck-like sound recorded in the ocean around Antarctica has baffled scientists for decades, but the source of the sound has finally been found, researchers say.</p>
<p>For more than 50 years, researchers have recorded the so-called "bio-duck" sound in the Southern Ocean. Submarine crews first heard the oceanic quack, which consists of a series of repetitive, low-pitched pulsing sounds, in the 1960s.</p>
<p>"In the beginning, no one really knew what it was," said Denise Risch, a marine biologist at NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole, Mass. Because the sound was so repetitive, scientists first thought it might be human-made, possibly coming from submarines. As time went on, people suggested a fish may be making the sound, but it seemed too loud, Risch told Live Science. [ <a href="http://www.livescience.com/45035-mysterious-duck-like-ocean-sound-source-revealed-video.html" type="external">Listen to Mysterious Bio-Duck Sound</a>]</p>
<p>It turns out, <a href="http://www.livescience.com/44273-minke-whale-miscounting.html" type="external">Antarctic minke whales</a>actually produce the duck-like sound, Risch and her colleagues have found. Years' worth of audio recordings will now provide a wealth of information on the abundance, distribution and behavior of these elusive cetaceans, the researchers said in their study, detailed today (April 22) in the journal Biology Letters.</p>
<p>The bio-duck sounds come in sets spaced about 3.1 seconds apart. The noises also occur seasonally, and have been heard simultaneously in the Eastern Weddell Sea off Antarctica and Western Australia.</p>
<p>In February 2013, during the Southern Hemisphere's summer, Risch's colleagues tagged two Antarctic minke whales (Balaenoptera bonaerensis) off of Western Antarctica with suction-cup tags. The researchers meant to study the whale's feeding behavior and track their movements.</p>
<p>The tags also contained underwater microphones, and Risch analyzed the acoustic recordings. She found they contained the duck sounds, as well as downward-sweeping sounds previously <a href="http://www.livescience.com/27901-whale-calls-seismic-data-archive.html" type="external">linked to the whales</a>. The sounds "can now be attributed unequivocally to the Antarctic minke whale," Risch and her team wrote in the study. The researchers don't know for sure whether the tagged whales or other nearby minke whales made the sounds.</p>
<p>What the sounds mean in whale-speak remains a mystery to scientists. The whales may use the sounds for breeding or navigation, Risch speculated. The researchers don't know, either, whether only males make the sounds or females also partake. For example, male humpback whales, unlike females, <a href="http://www.livescience.com/2076-whales-sing.html" type="external">perform complex songs</a>during their mating season.</p>
<p>This is a condensed version of a report from Live Science. <a href="http://www.livescience.com/45033-mystery-of-ocean-duck-sound-revealed.html" type="external">Read the full report</a>.</p>
<p>Follow Tanya Lewis on <a href="https://twitter.com/tanyalewis314" type="external">Twitter</a>and <a href="https://plus.google.com/117033537877488293678/posts" type="external">Google+</a>. Follow us <a href="https://twitter.com/LiveScience" type="external">@livescience</a>, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience" type="external">Facebook</a> &amp; <a href="https://plus.google.com/101164570444913213957/posts" type="external">Google+</a>.</p> | If It Quacks Like a Duck, It Might Be a Whale | false | http://nbcnews.com/science/weird-science/if-it-quacks-duck-it-might-be-whale-n87206 | 2014-04-23 | 3 |
<p />
<p>Peter Drucker once said, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” In today’s age of hyperconnectivity and transparency, that has never been more true.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The role of delivering the brand is now the job of many teams within the organization--not just marketing.</p>
<p>As a result, getting your organization to truly embody the brand has become a more substantive effort--one that starts and ends with your culture.</p>
<p>Many organizations believe this to be true, but only a select few actually have a distinct brand culture that comes through in their businesses. In fact, of the CMOs we speak with, fewer than one-third think employees understand their individual roles in delivering the brand. Why is this important? Well, if an employee doesn’t understand his role, then he can’t be free to perform and must be controlled to deliver results.</p>
<p>Without a sense of purpose and self-direction, employees find it challenging to stay engaged. A&#160; <a href="http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/163130/employee-engagement-drives-growth.aspx" type="external">2012 analysis by Gallup Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;found that companies in the top quartile of employee engagement vs. the bottom quartile have a 22 percent higher profitability and 10 percent higher customer ratings.</p>
<p>What creates an internal brand culture? It starts with having a meaningfully differentiated, purpose-driven idea that the organization can rally around. Many founder-led companies demonstrate a brand culture. The cult-like status of a Jeff Bezos, James Dyson, or Larry Ellison imprint their personalities into the culture and can have a lasting impact well beyond their tenures. But what if you’re no longer founder-led? What if you’re an amalgam of many cultures merged together over time? Force-of-CEO personality is possible--just look at GE’s Jack Welch--but few CEOs have the force of character, tenure, or interest to drive this through an institution.</p>
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<p>As CMO, you are uniquely positioned to positioned to establish, influence, and sustain brand culture. The brand, most likely, is your responsibility. Traditionally a customer-facing communications tool, it can be so much more if you’re willing to share control with your peers.</p>
<p>Here are four guiding principles to help build an environment that fosters brand culture:</p>
<p>1. Define the radically simple anchor: Most companies have a mission, vision, brand strategy, values, and operating principles even before we get to unit targets. Is it any surprise that employees struggle to know what to prioritize? Work with your executive peers to craft the single statement, and prefer simplicity to comprehensiveness. For Walmart it is, “Walmart helps people around the world save money and live better.” This is backed by three simple mantras: unbeatable prices, quality products, and easy shopping. The external marketing mirrors the internal call to action. Be ruthlessly customer-focused, and anchor in creative language that is emotionally moving to the front-line.</p>
<p>2. Hire the right talent: Most recruiting is capability-based, but it’s critically important to hire for personality alongside capability. How often is the “cultural fit” interview more an opportunity to sell to a promising candidate rather than a true test?</p>
<p>As CMO, use your knowledge of your brand voice as an input to guide talent recruitment. The InterContinental Hotels Group&#160;uses psychometric testing to identify desired personality traits. The NSA tweets coded messages to attract problem solvers. Soap-maker Method asks job candidates to demonstrate&#160; <a href="http://www.inc.com/magazine/201110/eric-ryan-of-method-on-company-culture.html" type="external">how they plan to keep Method "weird." Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Post-job offer, invest in on-boarding to shape expectations of the newly recruited, and use their incoming passion to influence the established teams they will work within. Starbucks, for example, welcomes new baristas with “First Impressions,” a conversation designed to help people think about coffee and its flavor.</p>
<p>3. Create rituals:&#160;Develop rituals that define what makes your company special. Help employees not only see and hear the brand, but feel the brand. Delta employees continue a reverence for the customer-focused obsession of their founder, C.E.Woolman, extolled through regular quotations peppered throughout internal documents. Google lets many of its software engineers design their own desks and workstations. Walmart has its morning cheer. U.K. retailer John Lewis allows its shop-floor partners to make any decision on behalf of a customer andm as a peer group, they evaluate decisions at the end of the day. At&#160; <a href="http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/4/29/CMO_Interview_TD_Bank.html" type="external">TD Bank Opens a New Window.</a>, it takes “one to say yes, two to say no.”</p>
<p>These companies ensure the brand mission is a part of their employees’ day-to-day experiences. Strong rituals reduce the need for lengthy rules and regulations that dehumanize and demotivate.</p>
<p>4. Embed processes and governance: Creating a brand culture takes patience, often beyond the tenure of individuals in specific roles. Plan beyond an individual and partner with HR to holistically embed on-brand behaviors in performance reviews and as part of the incentive processes. Create a governance structure that enables all interested parties (not just the executive team) to influence the future direction of the brand. MasterCard holds massive group strategy sessions, bringing together hundreds of employees for exercises and games that help them learn about the company’s strategy and contribute new ideas. Netflix did away with formal performance reviews in favor of an informal, ongoing 360-review system.</p>
<p>As the Gallup poll and other studies show, a brand culture isn’t just a nice-to-have--it’s a direct driver of business performance. CMOs are uniquely positioned to help instill a brand culture and be the brand conduit for all other departments. Once a distinct brand culture has been cultivated, employees become passionate advocates of the company and recognize that they, as employees, also have a responsibility to the brand--to be the brand.</p>
<p>Only when the leadership team and employees unite around a simple and motivating brand purpose,&#160;and embody that purpose in how the experience is delivered, does a brand have the foundation to connect with its consumers.</p>
<p>More From CMO.com</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/8/11/at_companies_data_sh.html" type="external">Data Should Always Be On Tap Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/8/8/lessons_from_the_okc.html" type="external">Lessons From The OKCupid And Facebook Debacles Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.cmo.com/content/cmo-com/home/articles/2014/8/6/here_comes_big_data_.html" type="external">Here Comes Big-Data-Enabled Multitouch Attribution Opens a New Window.</a> <a href="http://www.cmo.com/articles/2014/8/11/i_took_the_wrong_job.html" type="external">I Took The Wrong Job Opens a New Window.</a></p> | A Strong Brand Culture Starts With The CMO | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/08/15/strong-brand-culture-starts-with-cmo.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Adam Kredo</a> May 17, 2012 2:19 pm</p>
<p>An official at the U.S. Naval Academy strongly is urging officers to no longer refer to the exercise "Indian runs" as such in order not to offend Native Americans, according to a series of emails sent from the academy’s equal opportunity adviser and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.</p>
<p>Master Chief Christopher Gary informed all officers at the USNA complex in a May 14 email slugged, "Seriously Folks—This is Stereotyping," that it is not appropriate to use the term "Indian run" in reference to the jogging exercise in which midshipmen run single file, and the man in the rear of the line sprints to the front, a process which is then repeated.</p>
<p>"The term ‘Indian Run’ is used to describe the alternating sprint exercises at various levels here at the Academy, and it is widely used among the public," Gary wrote in the May 14 email. "I hope all can already see the problem with this, but let me be clear, this is a form of stereotyping."</p>
<p>Gary told the Free Beacon in an interview that while there is no officially sanctioned term for the exercise, he sent the email as a way to open up dialogue among USNA leaders.</p>
<p>"It was something internal to say, ‘Hey, can we come up with something different?’ " Gary said. "I thought, ‘Hey, lets discuss this among the leadership here.’"</p>
<p>Gary’s email comes as Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren finds herself in <a href="" type="internal">deep water</a> for claiming she has Cherokee Indian heritage.</p>
<p>Gary’s missive goes on to explain that while the term "Indian run" is commonplace, many in the institution are likely to find it offensive—and that it could cause the USNA an unneeded political headache.</p>
<p>"The simple question is often the tip of the iceberg; as with icebergs, its what's underneath that has sunk many ships," he wrote.&#160;"I am asking everyone to revisit practices that may have caused you to pause, so we can keep our ship afloat. I'm also seeking input on an alternative name for these sprints."</p>
<p>In a subsequent email sent Tuesday, Gary offered several alternatives to the supposedly offensive phrase, among them "back to front sprints," "drafting sprints," "speed intervals," and "leap frogs."</p>
<p>Gary also noted that he received "52 emails in response" to his initial request.</p>
<p>Some of those who offered Gary feedback accused him of acting like the so-called "PC police."</p>
<p>"People warned me about being overly sensitive," Gary said. "I understand their concerns, but we can’t fix everything. It’s just something to look into."</p>
<p>"Several made attempts at establishing the term's origin; two cautioned against being overly sensitive; and one, who self reported as being of Native American descent, said he was always offended by the term, but didn't speak out because he just wanted to fit in," Gary wrote in the May 15 email. "We may not have the ability to remedy every concern that comes our way, but should be willing to address them. &#160;What the responses overwhelmingly show is that many of you are at least willing to consider things you might not have otherwise."</p>
<p>Earlier today, Gary sent out another email apologizing for his use of the term "leap frogs"—a term that he speculates could be seen as offensive to the French.</p>
<p>"It was brought to my attention this morning that the term ‘frog’ was used as a slur to refer to Franco-Americans," he wrote.&#160;"There is ample information to support this concern. Under the list of alternatives I offered for ‘Indian Runs’, please strike from the list ‘Leap Frogs.’"</p>
<p>Gary said he was simply looking to open "an opportunity for dialogue and to be reasonable and just look at it."</p> | The Academy’s PC Powwow | true | http://freebeacon.com/the-academys-pc-powwow/ | 2012-05-17 | 0 |
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<p />
<p>The Department of Defense on Friday proposed new rules to toughen the Military Lending Act’s limits on interest rates for certain types of credit available to servicemen, servicewomen and their dependents.</p>
<p>Under current law, lenders cannot charge members of the military more than 36 percent interest. But the loans covered by the law are so narrowly defined that lenders can make simple adjustments to get around its provisions.</p>
<p>The proposed rules would broaden the definition of consumer credit so that more loans would fall under the provisions of the 2006 law. Final rules likely won’t take effect until next year; the public and interest groups have 60 days to comment on the plan.</p>
<p>Government agencies like the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and private organizations like the Consumer Federation of America have compiled long lists of soldiers, sailors and airmen who have amassed heavy debts paying interest rates as high as 400 percent.</p>
<p>Currently, loans covered by the 36 percent cap on interest are payday loans of $2,000 or less with terms of no more than 91 days, loans that are secured by a personal vehicle with terms of no more than 181 days, and tax refund anticipation loans.</p>
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<p>The consumer protection bureau and the Pentagon found that some lenders made slight alterations to the loans, making them for $2,001 or adding one day to the terms in order to bypass the interest cap.</p>
<p>The new rules would apply to a much broader array of transactions with the exception of residential mortgages and credit for personal property purchases, such as a car loan. Moreover, the 36 percent cap would apply to all interest and fees associate with a loan and creditors would have to disclose more information about the loan and its terms to military borrowers.</p>
<p>In responses to an advance notice of the Pentagon’s proposal last year, financial industry members warned that the changes could create unintended consequences and reduce the availability of credit for service members.</p>
<p>The Pentagon estimates that the first-year cost to lenders of complying with the new rules would be $96 million, but officials said that figure would be exceeded by the potential savings from reducing the number of service members who leave the military due to financial distress.</p> | Pentagon wants tighter soldier loan protections | false | https://abqjournal.com/468902/pentagon-wants-tighter-soldier-loan-protections.html | 2 |
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<p>This blog post is part of a year-long series, <a href="" type="internal">School Year: Learning, Poverty, and Success in a South African Township</a>. Read more on the <a href="" type="internal">School Year Blog</a>.</p>
<p>During apartheid, black South Africans received a vastly inferior education. They were essentially trained for lives of subservience in schools that were overcrowded, underfunded, and falling apart.</p>
<p>Today, the country’s education system is still reeling from the legacy of apartheid. Public schools – particularly in urban townships and rural areas – suffer from a range of crippling problems: little infrastructure, untrained teachers, inadequate resources, and corruption. Nationally, academic achievement is barely better now than it was during apartheid. In some areas, it’s worse.</p>
<p>A growing number of education organizations have begun questioning the government’s ability – and commitment – to fixing the problem. But they’ve been unsure of what to focus on. With so many problems to solve, where should one begin?</p>
<p>Equal Education, a large and politically powerful non-profit organization, believes the answer is this: force the government to publish a set of “minimum norms and standards” for schools. In other words, the government must say what, specifically, every school in South Africa has to have – how many classrooms, how many toilets, teacher qualifications, and so on. Currently, there are no such binding regulations on the books.</p>
<p>Earlier this week, Equal Education held a meeting to explain its strategy.</p>
<p>“We don’t think this is the solution, but we think it’s a good place to start,” said Doron Isaacs, a co-founder of Equal Education.</p>
<p>His organization has been in a tug-of-war with the Minister of Education, Angie Motshekga, over this issue for several years. Under relentless political pressure, the minister promised to publish these norms – then reneged. She said she would instead publish a set of non-binding guidelines. Equal Education filed a lawsuit, and a court ruled that the minister must publish standards. If she doesn’t, her department will be in violation of children’s constitutional right to education.</p>
<p>Geoff Budlender, a lawyer representing Equal Education in the case, said that, in the absence of specific laws about school requirements, it’s impossible for courts to determine if a child’s rights are being violated.</p>
<p>“Having no toilets and no teachers for 800 kids is obviously a problem, but how many toilets, and how many teachers is enough?” Budlender said. “The courts do well with binary, yes-or-no questions, but they don’t do well with these ‘how many’ kinds of questions.”</p>
<p>He said that once the Ministry of Education lays out specific rules, the courts – and students themselves – will be able to determine when a student’s rights are being violated.</p>
<p>And the courts may suddenly become very busy.</p> | School Year Blog: How Many Teachers (and Toilets) is Enough? | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-07-12/school-year-blog-how-many-teachers-and-toilets-enough | 2013-07-12 | 3 |
<p>CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) _ These Rhode Island lotteries were drawn Sunday:</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $343 million</p>
<p>Numbers Evening</p>
<p>2-4-4-0</p>
<p>(two, four, four, zero)</p>
<p>Numbers Midday</p>
<p>0-5-7-1</p>
<p>(zero, five, seven, one)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $440 million</p>
<p>CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) _ These Rhode Island lotteries were drawn Sunday:</p>
<p>Mega Millions</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $343 million</p>
<p>Numbers Evening</p>
<p>2-4-4-0</p>
<p>(two, four, four, zero)</p>
<p>Numbers Midday</p>
<p>0-5-7-1</p>
<p>(zero, five, seven, one)</p>
<p>Powerball</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $440 million</p> | RI Lottery | false | https://apnews.com/amp/1ca836ce92de4afeba8db2d463e29d75 | 2018-01-01 | 2 |
<p><a href="http://variety.com/t/sandra-bullock/" type="external">Sandra Bullock</a> will star in the spec “ <a href="http://variety.com/t/let-her-speak/" type="external">Let Her Speak</a>” as Texas senator <a href="http://variety.com/t/wendy-davis/" type="external">Wendy Davis</a>, whose 11-hour filibuster helped stall an anti-abortion bill in the Texas state house.</p>
<p>Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal are on board to produce through their Escape Artists banner.</p>
<p>At the time, Davis was a little known Democratic senator who soon became a national icon on the subject of abortion after filibustering for 11 hours in order to stall a bill, and ultimately delaying its passage beyond the midnight deadline for the end of the legislative session. The bill would have included more restrictive abortion regulations for Texas and would have closed all abortion clinics in the state.</p>
<p>Mario Correa penned the spec.</p>
<p>The package will now be shopped to studios and should court several suitors over the next week.</p>
<p>The role seems right up Bullock’s alley and could be another awards play for the star who won her first Oscar for playing Leigh Anne Tuohy in the real-life story “The Blind Side.” She just wrapped production on Warner Bros.’ “Ocean’s Eleven” spinoff, “Ocean’s Eight,” and is about start filming on the Netflix movie “Bird Box.”</p>
<p>She is repped by CAA.</p>
<p /> | Sandra Bullock to Star as Filibustering Senator Wendy Davis in ‘Let Her Speak’ | false | https://newsline.com/sandra-bullock-to-star-as-filibustering-senator-wendy-davis-in-let-her-speak/ | 2017-11-09 | 1 |
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<p>FILE – This file photo provided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office shows Sheila Keen Warren, who was arrested Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017, in Abington, Va. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against Warren, who was accused of dressing up like a clown in 1990 and fatally shooting the wife of her future husband. (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office/Palm Beach Post via AP, File)</p>
<p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a woman accused of dressing up like a clown in 1990 and fatally shooting the wife of a man she later married.</p>
<p>Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg issued a statement Wednesday saying the death penalty is the appropriate punishment for 54-year-old Sheila Keen Warren, who was ordered held without bail at a Wednesday court hearing. She was extradited Tuesday from Abingdon, Virginia, where she lived with her husband Michael Warren for years.</p>
<p>Defense attorney Richard Lubin told reporters Sheila Warren “vehemently denies” killing Marleen Warren and will plead not guilty. She was arrested last week after a grand jury issued a first-degree murder indictment. Investigators say new DNA testing gave them what they needed to make an arrest.</p>
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<p>Michael Warren, 65, has not been charged, but detectives and prosecutors have refused to rule him out as a suspect. He has not responded to phone messages left at his home. He and Sheila Warren married in 2002.</p>
<p>Marlene Warren was killed in May 1990 by person dressed as a clown who handed her carnations and two foil balloons. Her son, who witnessed the killing, said she replied, “How pretty!” The clown then pulled a handgun, shot her in the face and drove away. Marlene Warren died two days later.</p>
<p>Detectives publicly identified Sheila Keen, who worked for Michael Warren, as their primary suspect shortly after the killing but say they lacked sufficient evidence to assure conviction without the DNA test.</p>
<p>Witnesses told investigators in 1990 that Keen and Michael Warren were having an affair, though both denied it. Costume shop employees identified Keen as the woman who had bought a clown costume a few days earlier.</p>
<p>And one of the two balloons — a silver one that read, “You’re the Greatest” — was sold at only one store, a Publix supermarket near her home. Employees told detectives a woman who looked like Keen had bought the balloons an hour before the shooting.</p>
<p>The presumed getaway car was found abandoned with orange, hair-like fibers inside. The white Chrysler convertible had been reported stolen from Michael Warren’s car lot a month before the shooting. Sheila Warren and her then-husband repossessed cars for him.</p>
<p>Relatives told The Palm Beach Post in 2000 that Marlene Warren, who was 40 when she died, suspected her husband was having an affair and wanted to leave him. But the car lot and other properties were in her name, and she feared what might happen if she did.</p>
<p>She allegedly told her mother, “If anything happens to me, Mike done it.”</p>
<p>Michael and Sheila Warren recently sold a popular restaurant in Kingsport, Tennessee.</p> | Florida to seek death penalty against killer clown suspect | false | https://abqjournal.com/1073330/florida-to-seek-death-penalty-against-killer-clown-suspect.html | 2017-10-04 | 2 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Cheryl Mills doesn’t know.</p>
<p>She doesn’t recall, she doesn’t recollect. She’s not sure.</p>
<p>She just doesn’t know.</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton’s counsel and chief of staff doesn’t know a lot of things.</p>
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<p>During seven hours of <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/jw-v-state-mills-deposition-01363/" type="external">testimony</a> before Judicial Watch, Cheryl Mills said “I don’t know” or some variation of ignorance at least 189 times.</p>
<p>Mills is clearly adept at finding ways to proclaim her ignorance. She was Bill Clinton’s counsel during the impeachment proceedings in the 1990s and has been a close advisor for both Bill and Hillary Clinton for decades.</p>
<p>Our friends at Breitbart <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/06/02/189-times-in-7-hours-cheryl-mills-did-not-know-or-did-not-recall-almost-everything-about-hillary-clinton-email-scandal/" type="external">compiled</a> a list of the near-200 times Mills declared how little she knows. Get your “down” arrow ready, it’s a long one:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>1. QUESTION:&#160;Sure. Do you remember providing testimony&#160; before Judge Lamberth in the Alexander case?</p>
<p>ANSWER: I don’t believe I’ve had occasion to meet Judge Lamberth, but that might be just inaccurate.</p>
<p>2. Q. Well, I’m not asking general litigation.&#160; I’m asking actually in a case in which you provided&#160; testimony –with respect to requests for e-mails,&#160; and in that case there being an issue with the mail to server. And the capture–&#160;</p>
<p>A. So I don’t remember the mail to server.&#160;I’m quite confident I should start with I&#160;had to provide a lot of different testimony during&#160; the time period when I served in the government. I’m happy to have my memory refreshed, if there’s&#160; something that could do that.</p>
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<p>3. Q. Okay. Did you have a lot of conversations&#160; with him?</p>
<p>&#160;A. Not that I recall a lot of conversations with Lou Lukens. I certainly did have conversations with him.</p>
<p>4. Q. Okay. Can you tell me what those were?</p>
<p>A. No, I can’t recall them.</p>
<p>5. Q. I don’t want every single — I don’t want you to describe every single conversation you had&#160; with him. But with respect to setting up the — making sure that everything is set up in the office.</p>
<p>A. So it’s not my recollection that I was typically engaging with Lou Lukens on a lot of those matters.</p>
<p>6. Q. Okay. How about devices to communicate via e-mail?</p>
<p>A. MS. BERMAN [Department of Justice Attorney who was representing Mills in her official capacity as a former State Department official]: Objection. Vague. Whose&#160;devices?</p>
<p>7. Q. Devices for you, for example, Ms. Mills.</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know when conversations about our — my device would have occurred. But I would&#160; have imagined it would have occurred close in time&#160;to when we were onboarding.</p>
<p>8. Q. Okay. Do you recall what the&#160; conversations were?</p>
<p>A. No. I’m sorry. I mean, it’s just harder&#160; for me to — to actually remember conversations at the time. Probably just weren’t significant in my mind. …So I don’t have a memory of — now, sadly.&#160;Many years ago.</p>
<p>9. Q. Okay. Did you ask for it [a BlackBerry from the State Department]?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall if I asked for it or not, but I know I received one.</p>
<p>10. Q. Okay. And did you have a State Department&#160; e-mail when you came on board?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know when they created my State&#160;Department e-mail, but I did have a State Department&#160;e-mail that I used when I was at the department.</p>
<p>11. Q. Okay. With respect to your e-mail account from the State Department, do you remember if you&#160;had to make a request for that, or was that&#160;something just issued to you?</p>
<p>A. I believe that was issued, but I could be&#160;wrong about that. So I don’t know. I don’t have a&#160;specific memory as to how it came about. But I&#160;believe it was issued.</p>
<p>12. Q. So did you just assume that she was going&#160; to use the e-mail that she had before as Secretary of State?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a specific memory of the&#160; conversations that may or may not have occurred.&#160;I know that I understood she was going to&#160;be using her personal e-mail, and that’s what she&#160;did.</p>
<p>13. Q. Do you recall her specific e-mail address?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall her specific e-mail account. It has her initials in it, and&#160;@Clintonemail.com.</p>
<p>14. Q.How did — how did she communicate that to&#160; you?- That she got a new address?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I have a specific recollection of a communication as much as I have an understanding that we needed to change the e-mail 18 address we were e-mailing her at.</p>
<p>15. Q. Was there — was there an e-mail that went&#160; out within the Secretary’s office with respect to —&#160; to the change?</p>
<p>A.&#160;I don’t remember that. There might have been. So I could be wrong, but I don’t remember&#160;that.</p>
<p>16. Q.&#160; Well, during this time in March, did you have an assistant?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t recall the assistant’s name at&#160; that time, and I apologize. But she was someone who had been provided by the department who was what we&#160;call an OMS. And she provided support largely&#160;through the first probably six, seven, eight months&#160;that I was there. So I don’t know that I can — but&#160;I apologize, I don’t remember her name. And not because she didn’t do a great job.</p>
<p>17. Q. Did you communicate to her about the Secretary’s transition?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I did or didn’t. Maybe&#160;some context would help.</p>
<p>18 Q. Just so we’re clear that we’re speaking&#160; about the same e-mail address for Clintonemail.com,&#160;is that the e-mail address that the Secretary was&#160; using during her tenure, the [email protected]?”</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know which of the two, because&#160;they both got assigned to the account. And so this&#160;might be a reflection of the timing of when&#160;materials were.&#160;But she typically used I thought HROD17.</p>
<p>19. Q. And just — are you aware if the Secretary used any auto forward function?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
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<p>20. Q. Okay. And just going back to my previous question. And if you can refresh my recollection.&#160;Why do you remember that it was March when the — when the Secretary transitioned her e-mail?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I can add more to what I’ve already said.</p>
<p>21. Q. Why is it that you think the —&#160;Secretary Clinton started using the Clintonemail.com in March?</p>
<p>A. don’t know that I could answer the&#160;question as to why she started using the Clinton e-mail in March. If you’re asking why I have a&#160; recollection of that being that time period — is&#160;that your question?</p>
<p>22. Q.&#160;Okay. Is it because that’s when the Secretary said that she started using the e-mail in&#160; March?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I can answer that question.</p>
<p>23. Q.Was Ms. Abedin working at the State Department at this time, on January 30th, 2009?</p>
<p>A. I believe she might have been. I don’t&#160;know that for sure. I don’t know what date is her official transition on date.</p>
<p>24. Q. Okay. Do you recall the entire e-mail&#160;address before the at AT&amp;T?</p>
<p>A. I don’t. I saw the HR15, and that strikes&#160;me as probably accurate, but it was — I knew it was&#160;an at AT&amp;T.</p>
<p>25. Q. Ms. Mills, did you recall that it was March when Secretary Clinton transitioned to the Clintonemail.com because — or when you reviewed the e-mails that she was returning to the State&#160; Department?</p>
<p>A. No.</p>
<p>26. Q. You had that recollection before you&#160; reviewed e-mails that she was returning to the State&#160;Department?</p>
<p>A. I ‘m trying to think about how to answer&#160;your question consistent with my obligations as —&#160;as counsel. But the answer is I did — I did not have&#160;that recollection based on materials returned to the&#160;department.</p>
<p>27. Q. When did she ask you to undertake to&#160;assist her [as representation] in the matter?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I have a specific date that she — that she did that, but it was post February of 2013.</p>
<p>28. Q. Okay. The date of the e-mail is August 22nd. So is it fair, I mean, to say that you were contacted in July of 2014, at a minimum?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know how to — so my — my — my experience of my memory with respect to that time&#160;period was that there was a set of conversations&#160; around materials that were going to be provided to&#160;the Hill, and questions that they had with respect to media inquiries that they anticipated. And then subsequent to that there was communication with respect to the department potentially needing all of her dot gov e-mails. And in terms of timing of that, I believe that was sometime in the late summer. And I don’t know if my last month was accurate or not accurate.&#160;But that’s my best understanding.</p>
<p>29. Q. Okay. And I’m not asking about what those discussions were, but I am asking you about that time frame. When — when did you learn that?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know if I could tell you when I&#160;learned that. I know that — because, obviously, over the past now year and a half I’ve been stepping through that process. So I don’t know that I have a&#160;pinpoint moment where I could tell you where there was an aha or I know or I don’t know kind of moment.</p>
<p>30. Q. Was it in 2014?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to that question. Like, I don’t know if it was before or later. Like, I don’t know how to answer that question based on having a temporal understanding. But I know that I have had conversations with respect to the setup of her e-mail, and I’ve&#160; had those conversations over a period of time.</p>
<p>31. Q. Who are they [attorneys that work at Williams &amp; Connolly]?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I could name the names.</p>
<p>32. Q. I’m not asking for the entire firm directory.</p>
<p>A. I know. But I’m being transparent with&#160;you. I don’t know that I can name. And I — that’s not a reflection — because most of my conversations with are David Kendall. But I know that there are other attorneys, obviously, there who work on matters that involve representing Secretary Clinton. And then there were&#160; obviously agents of her that I also engaged in&#160; conversation with.</p>
<p>33. Q. Okay. Was he [Bryan Pagliano] working for the Clintons at&#160; the time that you spoke to him about the — about&#160;the setup of the server?</p>
<p>A. Well, I don’t know how to answer your&#160; question because I don’t know the time period. And&#160;I know that — at least I have come to understand&#160;that he obviously did service the setup of her&#160; e-mail during the period where he was at the department.</p>
<p>34. Q.Okay. Did he [Mr. Cooper, Bill Clinton’s senior adviser] set up or register the&#160;domain name for —?</p>
<p>A. I don’t actually know who actually registered.</p>
<p>35. Q. Did you have any discussions with Mr. Cooper, prior to you or Secretary Clinton leaving the State Department, about the setup of the server?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall any discussions about the&#160; setup of the server.</p>
<p>36. Q. Did you ever discuss with him about the server itself?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t have a technological background, so I’m confident I would have had&#160;conversations about the fact that she used an e-mail. But in terms of the technicalities of how it was managed, that’s not something that I had — or at least I don’t have any recollection of having&#160; conversations around that until the time period&#160; where I was representing Secretary Clinton with&#160; Mr. Cooper.</p>
<p>37. Q. How about anybody at the State Department;&#160; did you speak with anybody at the State Department&#160;about the setup of the server?….After you left the State Department.</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having a conversation with anyone after she left the State Department about the setup of her server.</p>
<p>38. Q. Okay. When did you first learn about&#160;Platte River Networks serving her server?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know when I first learned about Platte River. I know that Platte River obviously transitioned her e-mail in 2013.</p>
<p>39. Q. Did you have any discussions with them&#160;prior to leaving the State Department, when you were getting ready to leave the State Department?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall. I might have, but I don’t recall that.</p>
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<p>40. Q. Okay. When you spoke with Platte River&#160;Networks, did you learn about how the server was set up at that point?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to your question.&#160;And — I don’t know the answer to your question.</p>
<p>41. Q.&#160; Okay. Did you learn that Datto Network&#160;transitioned over e-mail from Secretary Clinton from&#160;Platte River Networks?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that to be the case.</p>
<p>42. Q. Okay. Did you contact Datto, Inc., ever,&#160;or anybody from Datto, Inc.?</p>
<p>A. Not to my recollection.</p>
<p>43. Q. Okay. Is that a e-mail account that&#160;Ms. Abedin used while she was at the State&#160; Department — as far as you know?</p>
<p>A. No, not to my knowledge.</p>
<p>44. Q. Do you know whether Ms. Abedin had more than one e-mail account on the Clinton server?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>45. Q. Okay. Do you know how she [Abedin] was issued that e-mail address?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>46. Q.&#160; Do you know if she had to request an&#160;e-mail address for it to be issued?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>47. Q. I want to go back to when you started at&#160; the State Department. Was there a directory or something similar to a directory, with officials who&#160;worked within the Secretary’s office and their contact information, just for staff to be able to use if they needed to contact anybody?</p>
<p>A. Not to my knowledge.</p>
<p>48.Q. Okay. Do you know if Ms. Abedin had an assistant?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>49. Q. Do they [Hillary Clinton’s special assistants] ever e-mail her?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to your question. But they frequently walked in and out of her office to engage with her, to provide her with materials.</p>
<p>50.&#160;Q. Okay. And do you know how frequently they [Hillary Clinton and Abedin] e-mailed?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I don’t.</p>
<p>51. Q. Do you have any reason to dispute that of 8 the Secretary e-mails that she returned to the State&#160;Department, Ms. Abedin sent 3,000 — or Mrs. Clinton sent 3,490 e-mails to Mrs. Abedin and Ms. Abedin received 872 e-mails from Secretary Clinton?</p>
<p>A. So I know that the Secretary returned over 30,000 e-mails. I don’t know the breakdown of that in terms of how they broke down by individual.</p>
<p>52. Q. Okay. And do you know if Secretary&#160;Clinton e-mailed with Ms. Rice?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>53. Q. Okay. Why did Secretary Clinton e-mail Susan Rice?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know why she chose to at that — on that — on that occasion to e-mail her.</p>
<p>54. Q.&#160;Did Susan Rice request — make a request for Secretary Clinton’s e-mail account?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>55. Q. Okay. Do you know if Secretary Clinton&#160;requested directly to Secretary — I’m sorry, if Susan Rice made a request to Secretary Clinton for&#160;the Secretary’s e-mail address?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>56. Q. Okay. Did you provide Emanuel Rahm the Secretary’s e-mail address?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know. I would hope I did, because I said I would. But I don’t have a recollection of&#160;it.</p>
<p>57. Q. Okay. Did you know — I mean, did Secretary Clinton e-mail with John Kerry during her time at the State Department?</p>
<p>A. She may very well — she very may well have. I don’t — I don’t know that I had a contemporaneous understanding of that.</p>
<p>58. Q. Okay. How did Secretary Chu learn of 11 Mrs. Clinton’s e-mail address?</p>
<p>A. I have no idea.</p>
<p>59. Q. Okay. When did you begin using that&#160;e-mail address [[email protected]]?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
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<p>60. Q. Was it still active in July 9 of 2009?</p>
<p>A. I actually don’t know. I didn’t have a&#160;strategy for accessing it, so I don’t know the&#160;answer to that question. It might have continued to&#160;have a life, but I didn’t access that e-mail.</p>
<p>61. Q. Okay. Did he send you an e-mail to the HillaryClinton.com e-mail account before you responded on July 9, 2009?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I just don’t know.</p>
<p>62. Q.&#160;Okay. Next page, please, of the exhibit.&#160;Did Secretary Clinton e-mail with David Axelrod?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know how frequently she e-mailed&#160;with David Axelrod. I know, based on this e-mail&#160;traffic, that I provided her with his address.</p>
<p>63. Q. Okay. Who was David Axelrod at that time?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know what role David Axelrod was serving in at that time.</p>
<p>64. Q.&#160;Was he at the White House?</p>
<p>A. So David Axelrod was both in the White House for a period of time during Secretary&#160;Clinton’s tenure and also not in the White House&#160; during a period of time.&#160;And I just don’t have enough facility in&#160;my mind to know which period this was in, even by&#160;looking at the dates. I just don’t remember if he&#160;came into the government first with the President&#160; and then left or if he came in later and then —&#160; because that’s the best of my recollection. But he&#160;did serve in government for a period of time.</p>
<p>65. Q. Okay. What capacity did he serve in when&#160; he was at the White House?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know what his — I don’t know what&#160;his title was or what his capacity was. I know that&#160;he served as someone who obviously was advising the&#160;White House, but I couldn’t tell you more than that.</p>
<p>66. Q. Well, that e-mail, just to make sure we’re&#160;looking at the same thing, the last page, that’s actually not. Do you see that anywhere on the second to the last page?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know how records get produced.&#160;Because obviously these are records that have been&#160; produced — I’m not going to speculate where they came from. But I think part of the confusion, at least for me as I’m reading these, is they have a variety of different e-mail addresses that I don’t believe actually are reflective of the Secretary’s at that time. And I think it’s more a reflection of the time and when these got produced. And some of these are just aggregated. Because this second e-mail page is actually still in the same traffic. It starts with the same, For future reference, this is my — my Gmail. Thanks. And then she has the same thing, That’s all I have. And then it says, You’ve always e-mailed me on my State. And then it says, Weird, since my address book has your Gmail. Maybe the Chinese hacked it.&#160; And focuses on you. Which at least I interpret as a&#160; joke.&#160; And then it says, Even weirder. So I&#160; think of the weirder as after being weird. So I&#160;don’t know how these records were created or why&#160;they’re just aggregated in the way they are. But&#160;there is a set of things that for me make it&#160;difficult to understand the train and also the addressing on them. But at least if you were asking me, I&#160;would say that these were part of the same exchange.</p>
<p>67. Q. Okay. Do you know how Secretary Clinton — or why she had Nora Toiv’s Gmail address?</p>
<p>A. I don’t.&#160;Are we done with this exhibit?</p>
<p>68. Q. Okay. And when she transitioned, did&#160; she — from her AT&amp;T e-mail account, did she get a&#160; new BlackBerry?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to that question.</p>
<p>69. Q.&#160;Okay. Was Secretary Clinton ever issued a BlackBerry from the State Department so she could e-mail?</p>
<p>A. Not to my knowledge.</p>
<p>70. Q.&#160;Okay. How many BlackBerrys did she use?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>71. Q. Okay. How — what was set up for her to use there [office space outside of Secretary Clinton’s office]?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I have a specific recollection other than, obviously, there was a phone there so that she could use a phone if she was.</p>
<p>72. Okay. And did she go — did she use that&#160;office for e-mailing purposes?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know. Because typically her way&#160;of engaging with folks was in meetings and was&#160;through phone calls. And so I don’t know how&#160;frequently she went out to go use that space.</p>
<p>73. Q. Do you know why it [a separate network PC&#160;for Secretary Clinton] was never set up?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I don’t know why it was not set up. I do know that she was not someone who used a computer. And so to the extent the objective was to place that&#160;computer there for her use, it would not have been&#160; used.</p>
<p>74. Q Did you know Mr. Pagliano prior to him&#160;starting at the State Department?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I can add to what I’ve&#160;already said on that one.</p>
<p>75. Q. Does this help at all refresh your&#160;recollection whether Mr. Pagliano was hired as&#160;Schedule C?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know if he ended up being hired as a Schedule C or not. I believed he was, but I don’t&#160;know that for sure.</p>
<p>76. Q. What is IRM?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know what IRM stands for. I know it’s the acronym that’s associated with the&#160;technology department at the State Department.</p>
<p>77. Q.&#160;Okay. Is there a separate department that handles technology just for the Secretary’s office?</p>
<p>&#160;A. Also I don’t know how to think about the&#160;divisions. I do know that there was a group called Poems that typically is who I called when I was an&#160;issue with respect to my e-mail or my devices. And&#160;so did other folks who were in the seventh floor,&#160;which would be the Secretary and extended senior&#160;leadership’s offices.</p>
<p>78. Q. Okay. And do you know if — if he worked for IRM when he was hired?</p>
<p>A. I believe that’s where he worked for, but I don’t&#160; know that for sure. I mean, I don’t know exactly&#160;where he was assigned, but I believe he was in IRM.</p>
<p>79. Okay. These e-mails seem to be dated&#160;between February, March, 2009. Would it be long&#160; after these e-mails that he was hired?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
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<p>80. Q. Can you tell?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>81. Q. Do you know, was it typical for employees hired by the State Department to work for the IRM to&#160;be hired as Schedule C?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>82. Q. He didn’t have, though, any policy role in his work at the State Department.</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that to be the case.</p>
<p>83. Was Mr. Pagliano hired by the State Department in some capacity relating to policy for the State Department?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that — I don’t know that —&#160; I don’t know what the scope of his duties were and&#160;what he ultimately ended up handling at the State&#160;Department.</p>
<p>84. Q. Okay. I thought you said that he was hired as a technician, or IT?</p>
<p>A. That’s not my recollection. So if I stated that, I — I don’t know that I would have&#160;stated that he was a technician.</p>
<p>85. Q. Or to provide technical support?</p>
<p>A. No, I don’t know that. I think of him as someone who has an expertise with technology, and I know he was hired in the technology department.</p>
<p>86. Q. Did Mr. Pagliano ever service Secretary Clinton’s server when he was at the State&#160; Department?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I had contemporaneous knowledge of that</p>
<p>87. Q. Okay. Can you tell me what — what those interactions [with Pagliano] were about?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know that I have a lot of recollections, but I would meet with him from time to time. I don’t know that I could tell you what the different issues might be about</p>
<p>88. Q. Okay. Do you know if they engaged with respect to issues or problems related to the Secretary’s e-mail?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>89. Q. Did Mr. Pagliano often interact with the&#160;Secretary?</p>
<p>A. In my presence, I don’t recall occasions where he interacted with the Secretary.</p>
<p>90. Q. How about with anybody within the&#160;Secretary’s office?</p>
<p>A. In my presence, I don’t recall him engaging with folks in the Secretary’s office.</p>
<p>91. Q. Okay. There were times when the&#160; Secretary’s e-mail didn’t work, or she was having&#160; issues with people receiving her e-mails, and that&#160;sort of thing. Do you recall that?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall that.</p>
<p>92. Q. You don’t recall that at all?</p>
<p>A. I don’t.</p>
<p>93. Q. Okay. I guess just pointing your direction towards the last two pages of the exhibit. The e-mails between Ms. Abedin and Secretary Clinton, where she’s talking about, Means your e-mail must be back. It seems that there was — that Secretary Clinton was having issues with her e-mails being delivered.</p>
<p>A. So I don’t have a recollection of this. I don’t have a recollection of this time period or set of exchanges.</p>
<p>94. Q. Okay. Did Mr. Pagliano address the issue with her e-mail being down during Sandy?</p>
<p>A. I actually don’t know.</p>
<p>95. Q. During that time?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know. He might have.</p>
<p>96. Q. Okay. So who did the Secretary go to when her e-mail was down?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>97. Q. Her e-mail was down?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to that question as to who she would reach to. But I — but she didn’t reach to me.</p>
<p>98. Q. Okay. Was it any of the assistants in the Secretary’s office?</p>
<p>A. So I — I don’t know — I don’t know the answer. I don’t know that I can help you any more&#160;than that. I don’t know who she would reach to for that.</p>
<p>99. Q. Do you know how it was resolved?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know how it was resolved.</p>
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<p>100. Q. Do you know who may know?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a recollection of it. And I&#160;apologize, but I — I just don’t. And I know that,&#160;certainly given the limits of my own technical capacity, that I was probably not high on the list&#160;of people to reach to.</p>
<p>101. Q. When the Secretary was having the e-mail issue, let’s just say, for — during Hurricane Sandy, does she discuss that with Huma Abedin?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know. She might.</p>
<p>102. Q.&#160;You don’t — you’re not aware of any of those discussions?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a recollection of those&#160;discussions. That’s not to say it didn’t happen; I&#160;just don’t remember.</p>
<p>103. Q.&#160;Do you recall Ms. Abedin complaining about her e-mail not working during that time?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know if I have a particular recollection of her complaining about that. I think&#160;at that time period everybody’s e-mail was affected.&#160;I mean, it was kind of a — if you were on the East&#160;Coast, everybody’s e-mail was affected. So I don’t&#160;know if I have a particular paradigm for her&#160; saying —that.</p>
<p>104. Q. Did Ms. Abedin do anything as a result to try to get&#160;the issue resolved with the Clinton e-mail during&#160; Hurricane Sandy?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>105. Q. You said your e-mail was down during Hurricane Sandy?</p>
<p>A. No. I said there were a lot of folks that&#160;were down. I can’t remember if the department’s&#160;were down during that time period or not. We might&#160;have been. I just don’t remember.</p>
<p>106. Q. And the first two pages, they’re just some test e-mails. Or the second page of the exhibit, you sent a test e-mail to Secretary Clinton?</p>
<p>A. Yeah. I don’t remember that.</p>
<p>107. Q. You don’t know why you would have sent her a test e-mail?</p>
<p>A. I don’t, actually.</p>
<p>108. Q. Okay.</p>
<p>A. It’s just that I don’t remember it. I’m not — that’s all.</p>
<p>109. Q. Okay. Do you remember ever sending her test e-mails because she was having issues receiving e-mails?</p>
<p>A. No. That’s why it’s odd to me. Obviously&#160;I sent her an e-mail that says Test, but I don’t&#160;have a recollection of it.</p>
<p>110. Q. Okay. And the question is in the context&#160;of Mrs. Clinton’s e-mail being down.</p>
<p>A. I don’t know if Mrs. Clinton’s e-mail was&#160; down, or Secretary Clinton’s e-mail was down on these occasions. I just know that there’s a test being sent. So I don’t know why.</p>
<p>111. Q. When were those discussions [About Clinton having a state.gov account]?</p>
<p>A. Oh, I don’t know that. I don’t have a&#160;recollection of that. But there absolutely might have been discussions about whether or not she would or wouldn’t. I know — certainly know when I first&#160; came in, one of the questions that we were stepping through was getting her a BlackBerry. And that BlackBerry would have been a State account. And so ultimately what the department indicated was that&#160;she couldn’t use a BlackBerry, whether or not it was&#160; State or not, inside the SCIF. And so she&#160;ultimately didn’t end up then getting a State&#160;BlackBerry.</p>
<p>112. Q. Okay. Do you recall discussions about her obtaining a State e-mail after the initial discussions about her being able to use the BlackBerry in the SCIF?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall, but I’m happy to have my memory refreshed.</p>
<p>113. Q. Separately we are working to provide the Secretary per her request a department-issued BlackBerry to replace her personal unit.” Do you recall discussing that with Stephen Mull?</p>
<p>A. I do not.</p>
<p>114. Q. You don’t have any recollection with&#160; respect to any discussions in this time frame, 2011?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a recollection in this time frame of discussion with respect to issuing her a BlackBerry.</p>
<p>115. Q. Did you discuss with Stephen Mull at any point with respect to Secretary Clinton’s use of&#160; e-mail and FOIA?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having a conversation with him with respect to her use in e-mail and FOIA.</p>
<p>116. Q. Okay. Do you recall this e-mail exchange between you and Stephen Mull?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I recall this e-mail&#160;exchange. I recall that there were discussions that I would have had about the fact that her secure calls and nonsecure calls and the comms equipment that was with her was not working, and that was a persistent challenge throughout her tenure as Secretary.</p>
<p>117. Q. Okay. Did Monica discuss the details discussed in this e-mail with Steve Mull — as far as you know?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>118. Q. Everything I’m asking here is just based on your knowledge.</p>
<p>A. Okay. So I don’t have a recollection of&#160; whether or not Monica did or didn’t, to my knowledge.</p>
<p>119. Q. And then — well, did you discuss — did you discuss the possibility of having a State-Department-issued BlackBerry that’s referenced in the second part of this e-mail?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall that I did. I recall that my concerns or considerations that got prompted was the persistent challenge she was having with respect to her calls being handled and managed.</p>
<p>120. Q. What I was asking about earlier with respect to the State Department BlackBerry, the possibility of that being issued?</p>
<p>A. I may have. I don’t — I don’t know. I don’t have a recollection of that.</p>
<p>121. Q. Do you know why she thought — why Ms. Abedin thought it [a state BlackBerry] didn’t make a whole lot of sense?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know what — why Huma thought what she thought.</p>
<p>122. Q. Did you discuss with Ms. Abedin why she thought it didn’t make a whole lot of sense?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall whether or not I did or didn’t. I might have. I don’t recall.</p>
<p>123. Q. Did — at any point did you discuss with Ms. Abedin or anybody within the Secretary’s office the Secretary’s e-mail, and that being subject to FOIA?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a recollection of having a discussion with somebody in the Secretary’s office and her e-mail being subject to FOIA. It was my impression it was.</p>
<p>124. Q. When FOIA requests came implicate — to the Secretary’s office implicating the Secretary’s e-mails, how did the office go about searching the Secretary’s e-mail to respond to FOIA?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know how the Executive Secretary or the special assistant staff would have undertaken to look for the responsive records, but — so I don’t have an answer for that question, although I’m assuming that they would undertake that process.</p>
<p>125. Q. Okay. So the Executive Secretariat’s&#160;office who manage the records, let’s say with the FOIA requests that implicated the Secretary’s e-mail, how did they go about searching for the Secretary’s e-mails in response to a FOIA request —for her email?</p>
<p>A. So II don’t know- I don’t know what their process was for how they went about that. Yeah. I don’t.</p>
<p>126. Q. And what about if the subject matter contained communications between the Secretary and others outside of the State Department?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know what would have been their process for how they would have captured that. And I think that’s one of the things that is a challenge and one of the things that I think as the Secretary has spoken about, it would have been smarter for her to have had or better for her to have had an account. And if she had it to do over again, she would.</p>
<p>127. Q. Did you or anybody inform anybody within the Executive Secretariat’s office that Secretary Clinton’s account was not captured on the State Department’s system?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t have a recollection, with respect to FOIA, of making that type of an affirmative engagement. Because Secretary Clinton e-mailed relatively a wide swath of folks, more than a hundred, certainly, in the department. And so her use of her e-mail was not something that was unknown.</p>
<p>128.&#160; Q. Okay. But I guess my question is different. My question is whether you or anybody within the Secretary’s office informed the Executive Secretariat, when they were doing their searches to respond to FOIA requests implicating the Secretary’s e-mails — that the Secretary’s account was not on the State.gov e-mail system?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having a conversation about her account not being on the State.gov system. I would also be surprised that they would be unaware that it was not on the State.gov system. The Secretary e-mailed with, as you&#160; indicated, a number of folks in the State Department, and her immediate staff was aware of her e-mailing with folks in the department because she typically e-mailed with people on their State accounts.</p>
<p>129. Q. Okay. So just so I understand, the&#160;process when you received a FOIA request that related to your e-mails, you or somebody searched your e-mail account to respond to the FOIA request. But that wasn’t done for purposes of responding to FOIA requests relating to the Secretary’s e-mail account.</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that.</p>
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<p>130. Q. Okay. What about Ms. Abedin, if there was a request with respect to records related to her e-mails?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know how they would have 15 undertaken that with her.</p>
<p>131. Do you know if the ones that were printed, 8 were they retained and saved within the Secretary’s office?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to that question.</p>
<p>132.&#160; Okay. So did you step through differently when you had a FOIA request relating to Benghazi as opposed to other document requests related to Benghazi?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having a FOIA request related to Benghazi that I was stepping through while I was there.</p>
<p>133. Ms. Mills, did you communicate with the&#160;Secretary about the Benghazi attacks by e-mail?</p>
<p>A. I may have. I don’t recall. Because in realtime obviously her office is about, happily or sadly, five to seven feet from mine. And so given the sets of events that were happening in that time period, there was a lot of, obviously, direct communication.</p>
<p>134. Q. Okay. Did you communicate with Ms. Abedin about the Benghazi attacks via e-mail?</p>
<p>A. I absolutely might have. I don’t have a recollection of doing that, but I might have.</p>
<p>135. Okay. Did everybody in the State Department — I mean in the Secretary’s office do that with respect to the document requests that came in from Congress — related to the Benghazi attacks?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to your question. I would imagine that they would have. But if you’re asking me, I don’t know.</p>
<p>136. Who would know why there was a different process for searching the Secretary’s e-mail account, as opposed to your e-mail account?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to your question, is maybe the best way to answer that. I know that if there was a FOIA request, it came in through one process. I can only speak to what came to me.</p>
<p>137. Thank you. Ms. Abedin’s e-mail. Was her&#160;e-mail account searched by anybody within the Secretary’s office?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>138. Q. What about the Secretary? What about Secretary Clinton; was her e-mail account ever searched in response to — in response to a FOIA request?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to that question.</p>
<p>139. Q. With respect to Jacob Sullivan and FOIA requests implicating his e-mail, how — what was the process for searching his e-mails?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to that question.</p>
<p>140. Q. With respect to FOIA requests that came in to the Secretary’s office, how were any of their e-mail accounts searched?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know how their e-mails were searched.</p>
<p>141 Q. Have you seen this document [letter from Senator&#160;Grassley to Secretary Kerry]&#160;before?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know if I’ve seen this document, but I’ve seen references to this document before.</p>
<p>142. Q. Okay. Do you recall a FOIA request that came in from CREW that’s discussed in this document?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall the specific FOIA request in terms of what was in the request. But I’ve obviously seen references to this in the media since then.</p>
<p>143. Q. Do you recall a FOIA request that came in relating to — when you were at the State Department, of course, relating to the e-mail accounts used by Secretary Clinton and records that would provide for what the e-mail address was?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a specific recollection of it. But I certainly have read in the media exactly what is in here. And so while it doesn’t&#160; necessarily refresh my recollection, I do know that&#160;this — obviously this matter took place.</p>
<p>144. Q. Okay. Do you recall or did Brock Johnson bring this FOIA request to your attention?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a specific memory of that.</p>
<p>145. Q. Did you ever — or did you speak with Heather Samuelson regarding the CREW request?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a memory of that.</p>
<p>146. Q. Okay. So is it fair to say that the discussions you had with Ms. Samuelson would have been after the [OIG’s] report came out?</p>
<p>A. I — I don’t know if that’s fair to say. I don’t have a recollection. But I know I did have a conversation with her, and my conversation was does she remember this set of events with respect to it coming in. I don’t know if it’s fair to say if it was before or after. I can make that assumption, but I don’t know.</p>
<p>147. Q. Okay. But you don’t remember what she&#160; told you with respect to whether she remembers it or not?</p>
<p>A. I don’t believe she did remember it, but I don’t know that.</p>
<p>148. Q. So, Ms. Mills, as we sit here today, you don’t have a recollection whether, with respect to the CREW FOIA request, whether you transmitted it to&#160; Ms. Samuelson, instructing her to make queries about the status of the State Department’s response to that FOIA request?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a recollection of that, correct.</p>
<p>149. Q. Okay. For FOIA requests that came to the Secretary’s office, do you know if there was a specific office within the Secretary’s office that would respond to FOIA requests?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that.</p>
<p>150. Q. Okay. Do you have — did you engage with him [Clarence Finney] in conversation or any communications with respect to any FOIA requests that came during your time there?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall doing so.</p>
<p>151. Q. Do you recall if he engaged with anybody else within — or did he ever engage with Ms. Abedin with respect to FOIA requests?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>152. Q. Do you know who Mr. Finney reported to?</p>
<p>A. I don’t.</p>
<p>153. Q. Did you ever inform Mr. Finney about the Clinton e-mail account during your time there, with respect to FOIA requests?</p>
<p>A. I don’t have a recollection of doing so.</p>
<p>154. Q. Do you know if he was aware of Secretary’s use of the Clinton e-mail for government business?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>155. Q. Who is John Bentel?</p>
<p>A. I don’t believe I know John Bentel.</p>
<p>156. Q. Do you know of Mr. Bentel?</p>
<p>A. So I might have read about him in the newspaper, but I don’t believe I know John Bentel, and I don’t know if I can tell you more than that.</p>
<p>157. Okay. Did you ever engage in any communications while you were at the State Department with Mr. Bentel?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having a conversation with him, but I might have.</p>
<p>158. Q. Did he have any role in — with respect to setting up the Clinton e-mail server?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>159. Q. Was he told by anyone that the server, the Clinton server, or Mrs. Clinton’s personal e-mail system, was approved by legal at the State Department?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
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<p>160. Q. Do you know if he ever — or did he ever respond to any concerns that was raised by staff at the State Department with respect to Secretary Clinton’s e-mail account and the ability of searching that account in response to FOIA requests?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>161. Q. Now I want to talk about the planning and transition to depart from the State Department with respect to Secretary Clinton. Was there any planning with respect — in the context of her departure, with respect to saving her e-mails that she communicated while she was at the State Department?</p>
<p>A. So I don’t know the answer to the question from my perspective.</p>
<p>162. Do you know who, if anybody else, did?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know what others might have done in that regard.</p>
<p>163. Q. Were there any preparations with respect to making sure that her e-mails were retained by the State Department before she left?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know. I don’t know of any from my perspective.</p>
<p>164. Q. &#160;Did you have any discussions with the Secretary prior to leaving about the e-mails that&#160;were stored on her Clintonemail.com account to make sure that those would be available for Secretary Kerry coming in?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having those discussions. And, you know, I can only speak to what I can recall.</p>
<p>165. Q. Okay. And John Bass, when you were leaving, what did his office do with respect to the&#160; Secretary’s federal records that were in paper form?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know the answer to your question.</p>
<p>166. Q. Do you know if he did anything with respect to saving Secretary Clinton’s e-mails from her time at the State Department so they could be records managed after she left the State Department?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>167. Q. Did you have any discussions with Patrick Kennedy during the transition period, transitioning out of the State Department, with respect to what would happen to Secretary Clinton’s e-mails that were on her — stored on her account?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having such discussions.</p>
<p>168. Q. Did he do anything to make sure that the Secretary’s e-mails would be saved for records management for purpose of the State Department — by the State Department prior to her leaving?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>169. Q. Did he address that with anybody from your office?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>170. Q. Do you know if he had any discussions about that with the Secretary prior to her leaving?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>171. Q. Did you and the Secretary have any discussions with respect to inventorying or&#160; identifying federal records from her e-mails?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having those kinds of&#160;discussions.</p>
<p>172.&#160; Q.&#160;Okay. The question is, did you have any discussions about inventorying or identifying federal records amongst Secretary Clinton’s e-mails?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having those — discussions.</p>
<p>173. Q. Were there any discussions that you had prior to leaving with respect to how the State Department was going to access Secretary Clinton’s e-mails on her Clintonemail.com server — in response to — well for government business?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having discussions about how someone might access her e-mail apart from what was already in the State Department system. So I don’t — I wish I did.</p>
<p>174. Q. So are you aware of Secretary Clinton 2 deleting any federal records that were on her e-mail&#160;account when she was the Secretary?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know if she did or she didn’t.</p>
<p>175. Q. Okay. The federal records that she provided last year, did you have any discussion when you were at State with respect to preserving those e-mails and not deleting them while she was head of the agency?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having a question — I mean having a conversation like that.</p>
<p>176. Q. So did you have any discussions with Secretary Clinton with respect to her e-mails being saved, her federal e-mail records being saved, on other people’s State.gov e-mail accounts?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall whether or not I had a&#160; conversation or not.</p>
<p>177. Q.&#160; Do you know if anybody did have such a conversation with the Secretary?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know.</p>
<p>178. Q. Did you have any such discussions with anybody other than the Secretary?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know. I might have. I don’t know.</p>
<p>179. Did you ever discuss with her with respect to whether she could delete them or not?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having a conversation like that.</p>
<p>180. Did you ever have any such discussions with anybody other than the Secretary?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall having such discussions.</p>
<p>181. Q. And when did you become aware — when did you first learn of this lawsuit?</p>
<p>A. I actually don’t know when I first learned of it. So I actually don’t know. And I don’t know when you all first filed.</p>
<p>182. Q. Okay. With respect to the search of Secretary Clinton’s records, you were involved in that. Right?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know what you mean by “search.”</p>
<p>183. Q.&#160;How about with respect to that were documents on — that were perhaps politically sensitive or shedding the Secretary in a negative light?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know how to answer your question.</p>
<p>184. Q. Okay. And when that happened, did you at any time inform them with respect to Secretary Clinton’s e-mail account and that her e-mails were stored on her account?</p>
<p>A. I don’t recall doing that.</p>
<p>185. Q. Did you receive any training regarding&#160;FOIA when you came to the State Department?</p>
<p>A. Not that I recall.</p>
<p>186 Q. How about any training with respect to preserving federal records and records management of your e-mails?</p>
<p>A. Not that I recall.</p>
<p>187. Q. Did you learn that [the server was preexisting] from Mr. Pagliano?&#160;</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that I did learn that from Mr. Pagliano.</p>
<p>188. Q. Do you recall how you learned that information?</p>
<p>A. I don’t. Only because my representation of Secretary Clinton started after I left the department, and there might have been any number of ways in which I came to have that information.</p>
<p>189. Q. But you never discussed records management with the Secretary, with respect to her e-mail account at the State Department?</p>
<p>A. I don’t know that there’s more that I can add to what I’ve already said today.</p>
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<p /> | What Cheryl Mills Doesn’t Know Could Last Seven Hours – Wait. It Does. | true | http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/what-cheryl-mills-doesnt-know-could-last-seven-hours-wait-it-does | 0 |
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<p>CNN’s Jake Tapper, in the latest <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/10/12/fact-check-bob-corker-donald-trump-iran-deal-orig-db.cnn" type="external">fact-checking video</a> with FactCheck.org, deconstructs President Donald Trump’s misleading claim that Sen. Bob Corker was “largely responsible” for the Iran nuclear deal.</p>
<p>Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, <a href="https://www.corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-list?ID=AE04F361-2BD0-4320-A107-2A3A39961A4E" type="external">opposed the nuclear deal</a> with Iran that was brokered by the Obama administration.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/09/03/the-deciding-vote-for-obamas-iran-deal-was-bob-corker-not-barbara-mikulski/" type="external">some</a> <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/30/bob-corkers-blunder-helping-obama-get-iran-deal/" type="external">conservative critics</a> argue that Corker negotiated a bill that paved the way to deny Congress an up-or-down vote on ratification of the deal.</p>
<p>That legislation, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/615" type="external">Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act</a>, which passed in the Senate <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&amp;session=1&amp;vote=00174" type="external">98-1</a>, allowed Congress 30 days to review a nuclear deal, and potentially — if it had enough veto-proof votes — to kill it.</p>
<p>The latter scenario never happened. Republicans tried <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&amp;session=1&amp;vote=00265" type="external">multiple</a> <a href="https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&amp;session=1&amp;vote=00266" type="external">times</a>, but weren’t able to secure the votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster and squash the deal.</p>
<p>Corker <a href="https://www.corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-list?ID=AE04F361-2BD0-4320-A107-2A3A39961A4E" type="external">defended his bill</a>, saying: “This legislation actually took power back from the president, and without it, he could have unilaterally implemented the deal immediately. The president never would have been forced to submit the agreement to Congress and there would have been no review and no debate on this critical national security issue.”</p>
<p>Two policy experts we consulted agreed with Corker.</p>
<p>Watch Tapper break it all down&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/10/12/fact-check-bob-corker-donald-trump-iran-deal-orig-db.cnn" type="external">here</a>, and read “ <a href="" type="internal">Trump Misleads on Corker</a>” for more background on the congressional review of the Iran deal.</p>
<p>All of our <a href="" type="internal">video collaborations</a> with “State of the Union” are available on FactCheck.org.</p> | Video: Trump Blames Corker for Iran Deal | false | https://factcheck.org/2017/10/video-trump-blames-corker-iran-deal/ | 2017-10-13 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Gavin Grimm (Photo courtesy of American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia)</p>
<p />
<p>“It’s been exhausting,” Gavin Grimm told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview from his home in Gloucester County, Va.</p>
<p>Grimm, who will be a senior at Gloucester County High School this fall, spoke with the Blade more than a year after the American Civil Liberties Union <a href="" type="internal">filed a federal lawsuit</a> against the Gloucester County School Board on behalf of him.</p>
<p>The lawsuit alleges the policy that prohibits him from using the boys restroom or locker room because they are not consistent with his “biological gender” is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Grimm also contends the policy, which the Gloucester County School Board <a href="" type="internal">approved in 2014,</a> violates Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 that prohibits schools receiving federal funds from discriminating on the basis of sex.</p>
<p>The Justice Department argued in Grimm’s case that Title IX requires school districts to allow trans students to use restrooms that correspond to their gender identity. The Department of Education’s Office of the General Council also filed a brief in support of the Grimm.</p>
<p>“That was pretty powerful,” Grimm told the Blade, referring to the Obama administration’s decision to intervene in his case. “It felt good to have that kind of progress.”</p>
<p>The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond — which is the first federal appeals court to consider whether Title IX allows trans students to use facilities that are consistent with their gender identity — <a href="" type="internal">ruled in favor of Grimm.</a> The Gloucester County School Board subsequently announced that it plans to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case.</p>
<p>The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-3 decision earlier this month <a href="" type="internal">issued an injunction against</a> a 4th Circuit ruling that would have allowed Grimm to use the boys restroom at Gloucester County High School during his senior year. Chief Justice John Roberts on Aug. 16 refused to extend the deadline for the Gloucester County School Board to formally appeal the 4th Circuit’s ruling.</p>
<p>“I absolutely didn’t expect where it has gone . . . in two years time,” said Grimm, referring to his case.</p>
<p>Efforts to guarantee trans people have access bathrooms that are consistent with their gender identity <a href="" type="internal">have gained traction</a> since Grimm filed his lawsuit.</p>
<p>The Department of Education reached an agreement with an Illinois school district late last year that allows a trans high school student to use the girls locker room. Trans students in Maryland and Wisconsin have also challenged their respective schools’ bathroom policies.</p>
<p>North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory earlier this year signed House Bill 2, which prohibits trans people from using bathrooms in public buildings that are consistent with their gender identity and bans local municipalities from enacting LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination measures.</p>
<p>The 4th Circuit — which ruled in favor of Grimm — includes North Carolina. The Justice Department <a href="" type="internal">alleges in a civil rights lawsuit</a> it filed against the state in May that HB 2 violates Title IX, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Violence Against Women Act.</p>
<p>“It’s very unfortunate . . . what happened in North Carolina,” Grimm told the Blade.</p>
<p>The Obama administration in May told public schools that <a href="" type="internal">Title IX requires them to allow</a> trans students to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor earlier this week issued a preliminary injunction against the guidance in response to <a href="" type="internal">a lawsuit</a> that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed on behalf of a dozen states and two school districts.</p>
<p>Grimm spoke with the Blade less than a day after O’Conner issued his ruling.</p>
<p>He did not discuss the lawsuit against the Obama administration’s guidance to public schools about allowing trans students to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. Grimm spoke directly to those people who continue to criticize him.</p>
<p>“I would encourage (people) to think from the perspective . . . to put themselves in a position if they could if they were the only person forced to use the facility separate of that of their peers, especially when this decision was made in a public way that opened them up to the abuse at the meeting in which that was made,” he told the Blade.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Barack Obama</a> <a href="" type="internal">Gavin Grimm</a> <a href="" type="internal">House Bill 2</a> <a href="" type="internal">Illinois</a> <a href="" type="internal">Maryland</a> <a href="" type="internal">North Carolina</a> <a href="" type="internal">Texas</a> <a href="" type="internal">Title IX</a> <a href="" type="internal">transgender</a> <a href="" type="internal">U.S. Supreme Court</a> <a href="" type="internal">Virginia</a></p> | Gavin Grimm: Lawsuit against Va. school district ‘exhausting’ | false | http://washingtonblade.com/2016/08/24/gavin-grimm-lawsuit-va-school-district-exhausting/ | 3 |
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<p>CHICAGO (AP) - All that DeMar DeRozan wanted to talk about was the lift Toronto's bench provided. As for his recent scoring tear?</p>
<p>"I don't think nothing of it," he said.</p>
<p>DeRozan had 35 points, Delon Wright set career highs with 25 points and 13 rebounds, and the Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls 124-115 on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>DeRozan came up big again after scoring a franchise-record 52 points in a win over Milwaukee on New Year's Day. He was particularly good in the third quarter this time, scoring 18 points after being held to nine in the first half. DeRozan also shot 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and converted all 10 free throws.</p>
<p>Wright had his first career double-double and hit four 3s to lead a big effort by the bench. He scored 12 in the second quarter and eight more points in the fourth to help Toronto pull away for its ninth win in 11 games.</p>
<p>Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry scored 16 apiece for Toronto. Fred VanVleet, from nearby Rockford, added 13 points, and the Raptors' reserves outscored Chicago's 54-39.</p>
<p>"They've been great for us all year," DeRozan said. "We come out slacking. The bench always picks us up, and vice versa. Tonight, the bench did what they've been doing all year, got the energy going. We fed off that, and got back in the game."</p>
<p>He'll get no argument from coach Dwane Casey.</p>
<p>"The bench really saved us tonight," he said. "They gave us energy. We just couldn't get our mojo going with the first unit, but Delon came in and had a career high. I really liked the way he was going after rebounds. His overall game sustained us."</p>
<p>Justin Holiday led Chicago with 26 points, and Lauri Markkanen added 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nikola Mirotic scored 20, but the Bulls dropped their third straight.</p>
<p>The Bulls looked sharp early on, with a 10-point lead after the first quarter. But they couldn't sustain their edge on defense and were impatient on offense - particularly the second unit.</p>
<p>"We were coming out and jacking up contested shots with zero or one pass," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "And you can't have that. So again, that second unit's been pretty darn good for us. Tonight, we struggled with it."</p>
<p>PULLING AWAY</p>
<p>Chicago was leading 92-90 early in the fourth when Toronto went on a 16-2 run. Lowry hit a 3 to make it 106-94 with 6:39 remaining, and the Raptors remained in control the rest of the way.</p>
<p>LAVINE UPDATE</p>
<p>The Bulls hope to decide on a return date for G Zach LaVine early next week.</p>
<p>LaVine will travel with the team to games at Dallas and Indiana on Friday and Saturday. Hoiberg said the two-time slam dunk champion will meet with doctors, trainers, management and coaches after the Bulls return home.</p>
<p>LaVine averaged 18.9 points in 47 games for Minnesota last season before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The Bulls acquired him along with Kris Dunn and Markkanen in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves.</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Raptors: Toronto had dropped six straight at Chicago. ... The Raptors were 19 of 19 at the foul line. ... Wright hit 10 of 15 shots.</p>
<p>Bulls: Markkanen has led the Bulls in rebounding 13 times and has eight double-doubles. He is averaging 21 points over his last four games. ... C Robin Lopez had 12 points and a career-high six assists. ... Mirotic has scored 20 or more in eight of his 15 games.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Raptors: Visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.</p>
<p>Bulls: Visit the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p>
<p>CHICAGO (AP) - All that DeMar DeRozan wanted to talk about was the lift Toronto's bench provided. As for his recent scoring tear?</p>
<p>"I don't think nothing of it," he said.</p>
<p>DeRozan had 35 points, Delon Wright set career highs with 25 points and 13 rebounds, and the Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls 124-115 on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>DeRozan came up big again after scoring a franchise-record 52 points in a win over Milwaukee on New Year's Day. He was particularly good in the third quarter this time, scoring 18 points after being held to nine in the first half. DeRozan also shot 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and converted all 10 free throws.</p>
<p>Wright had his first career double-double and hit four 3s to lead a big effort by the bench. He scored 12 in the second quarter and eight more points in the fourth to help Toronto pull away for its ninth win in 11 games.</p>
<p>Serge Ibaka and Kyle Lowry scored 16 apiece for Toronto. Fred VanVleet, from nearby Rockford, added 13 points, and the Raptors' reserves outscored Chicago's 54-39.</p>
<p>"They've been great for us all year," DeRozan said. "We come out slacking. The bench always picks us up, and vice versa. Tonight, the bench did what they've been doing all year, got the energy going. We fed off that, and got back in the game."</p>
<p>He'll get no argument from coach Dwane Casey.</p>
<p>"The bench really saved us tonight," he said. "They gave us energy. We just couldn't get our mojo going with the first unit, but Delon came in and had a career high. I really liked the way he was going after rebounds. His overall game sustained us."</p>
<p>Justin Holiday led Chicago with 26 points, and Lauri Markkanen added 22 points and 12 rebounds. Nikola Mirotic scored 20, but the Bulls dropped their third straight.</p>
<p>The Bulls looked sharp early on, with a 10-point lead after the first quarter. But they couldn't sustain their edge on defense and were impatient on offense - particularly the second unit.</p>
<p>"We were coming out and jacking up contested shots with zero or one pass," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "And you can't have that. So again, that second unit's been pretty darn good for us. Tonight, we struggled with it."</p>
<p>PULLING AWAY</p>
<p>Chicago was leading 92-90 early in the fourth when Toronto went on a 16-2 run. Lowry hit a 3 to make it 106-94 with 6:39 remaining, and the Raptors remained in control the rest of the way.</p>
<p>LAVINE UPDATE</p>
<p>The Bulls hope to decide on a return date for G Zach LaVine early next week.</p>
<p>LaVine will travel with the team to games at Dallas and Indiana on Friday and Saturday. Hoiberg said the two-time slam dunk champion will meet with doctors, trainers, management and coaches after the Bulls return home.</p>
<p>LaVine averaged 18.9 points in 47 games for Minnesota last season before tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The Bulls acquired him along with Kris Dunn and Markkanen in the trade that sent Jimmy Butler to the Timberwolves.</p>
<p>TIP-INS</p>
<p>Raptors: Toronto had dropped six straight at Chicago. ... The Raptors were 19 of 19 at the foul line. ... Wright hit 10 of 15 shots.</p>
<p>Bulls: Markkanen has led the Bulls in rebounding 13 times and has eight double-doubles. He is averaging 21 points over his last four games. ... C Robin Lopez had 12 points and a career-high six assists. ... Mirotic has scored 20 or more in eight of his 15 games.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Raptors: Visit the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.</p>
<p>Bulls: Visit the Dallas Mavericks on Friday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>More NBA basketball: <a href="" type="internal">https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball</a></p> | DeRozan scores 35 points, Raptors beat Bulls 124-115 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/252c3877f77f4935b31ddebf1fe99d3f | 2018-01-04 | 2 |
<p>Katy Grimes: Regardless of cost, the Obama Administration is behind California’s plan to build a High-Speed Rail system, according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>“Despite a series of a cautionary reports by outside agencies and groups, the Obama administration is reaffirming its commitment to California’s $98.5-billion bullet train project,” the Los Angeles Times reported on LaHood’s visit to California this week.&#160;“Over the past week, I have traveled all over the Golden State and have found a strong base of support for the California High-Speed Rail project, from workers who will build it, manufacturers that will supply the trains to run on it and businesses that will benefit from using it,” LaHood said.</p>
<p>Despite being to stop “wasting” federal high-speed rail money on California by members of Congress in December, LaHood stands firm on his blind support of the project.&#160;Members told LaHood about California’s high-speed rail’s skyrocketing costs, delayed construction issues, and flawed passenger estimates.</p>
<p>Of course the union employees who will build a High-Speed Rail system, and the manufacturers that will supply the trains support it. Duh.</p>
<p>As is typical with government officials in this era of big government, they are deaf to taxpayer concerns and interests, as well as the “series of cautionary reports” warning that the $98.6 billion cost will bankrupt the state, and the HSR business plan is bogus.</p>
<p>Instead, a beefed-up&#160;radio campaign has hit the airways, paid for by the <a href="http://rebuildca.org/" type="external">California Alliance for Jobs</a>, which claims to be&#160;a non-profit organization “that promotes responsible investment in public infrastructure to help build a secure future for all Californians.” Take a look at their <a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2009/943/212/2009-943212041-06a29876-9O.pdf" type="external">IRS 990 forms</a>. They admit that they exist for the “enhancement and development of unionized construction work in the Northern California area.”</p>
<p>This <a href="http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2009/943/212/2009-943212041-06a29876-9O.pdf" type="external">non-profit group</a> employs a lobbyist or two, a lobbying firm, spent $525,000 on lobbying in 2009, and contributes to political campaigns.</p>
<p>Comedian Will Durst narrates the <a href="http://rebuildca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/0-Radio-Vision3.pdf" type="external">radio ads</a>. The ads are obnoxious and offensive. “There will always be skeptics,” Durst states in the ad, referring to High-Speed Rail “naysayers.” “Heck, some people would vote against sunshine and hugs.” <a href="http://rebuildca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/0-Radio-Vision3.pdf" type="external">Read the transcript of the ad</a>.</p>
<p>“It’s time to do the right thing. Put people to work now and build something momentous for our future,” Durst says.</p>
<p>If High-Speed rail had merit, was needed, or supported by voters, we could accomplish this with non-union labor, and save a tremendous amount of money in the meantime. But it has no merit, is not needed, and <a href="http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2400.pdf" type="external">voters would shut it down if a vote was taken today</a>, a Field Poll <a href="http://www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2400.pdf" type="external">reported</a>.</p>
<p>As I constantly remind people, there are still more non-union voters in California.</p>
<p>FEB. 10, 2012</p> | Californians Getting Railroaded | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2012/02/10/californians-getting-railroaded/ | 2018-02-20 | 3 |
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<p>FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, file photo, trader Gregory Rowe works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, as stocks are opening lower as investors fret about signs of belligerence in North Korea and more weakening of China's economy. Last week's harrowing plunge in U.S. stocks left investors anxious and alarmed. Some wondered if it signaled an approaching recession in the United States. The answer, most analysts say, is probably no. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON - Last week's harrowing plunge in U.S. stocks - fueled by economic fears about China and plummeting oil prices - left investors anxious and alarmed. Some wondered if it signaled an approaching recession in the United States.</p>
<p>The answer, most analysts say, is no.</p>
<p>The American economy is expected to prove resilient and nimble enough to avoid serious damage, at least anytime soon. For all the economy's challenges, the job market is strong, home sales are solid and cheaper gasoline has allowed consumers to spend more on cars, restaurants and online shopping.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The companies that make up major stock indexes are far more vulnerable than the economy itself is to distress abroad: Companies in the Standard &amp; Poor's 500 index derived 48 percent of their revenue from abroad in 2014, up from 43 percent in 2003.</p>
<p>By contrast, exports account for only about 13 percent of the nation's gross domestic product - the broadest gauge of economic output. That's one of the lowest such shares in the world. Exports to China equal just 1 percent of GDP.</p>
<p>"While the U.S. economy's exposure to China is relatively small, the multinational companies that trade on the stock market are much more exposed," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.</p>
<p>The S&amp;P 500 sank 2.2 percent Friday and has tumbled 8 percent since the year began, deflated by expectations of even lower oil prices ahead and fears that China's once-explosive economy is slowing more than anyone had expected. On Friday, the Xinhua news agency reported that Chinese banks reduced loans last month from a year earlier.</p>
<p>It was the latest sign that China's economy continues to decelerate - an ominous trend for U.S. companies, like heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar, that have significant business there. (Caterpillar shares shed 2.7 percent Friday.)</p>
<p>"For many of these companies, the narrative behind their growth and earnings prospects is China," Zandi said. "If you throw that narrative out, investors get nervous."</p>
<p>The disconnect between the actual economy and the price of stocks isn't new. From the waning days of the Great Recession into the tepid recovery that followed, stocks managed to gradually rise despite persistently high unemployment and tepid economic growth. Now, the opposite seems true.</p>
<p>"Main Street is better, and Wall Street is suffering," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The broadest gauges of the economy look fundamentally sound. GDP likely expanded 2.4 percent last year, according to JP Morgan Chase. Zandi foresees its growth hitting 2.8 percent in 2016 - hardly spectacular but decent, especially at a time when many industrialized economies are struggling to grow at all.</p>
<p>The job market appears particularly robust. Employers added an average of 221,000 jobs a month during 2015 and 284,000 a month from October through December. The unemployment rate has sunk from 10 percent in 2009 to 5 percent, a level associated with a healthy economy.</p>
<p>Improved job security - layoffs have slowed to exceptionally low levels - has helped embolden many Americans to shop. Consumer spending, which drives about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, rose at an annual rate of more than 3 percent in the spring and summer. Auto sales hit a record last year.</p>
<p>Not that the U.S. economy has been left unscathed by the weakness abroad. Partly because a stronger dollar has made their goods more expensive abroad, U.S. manufacturers are suffering.</p>
<p>Industrial production fell in December for a third straight month, the government said, and orders to factories dropped in November for the third time in four months. Last year, factories added just 30,000 jobs, the fewest since the recession year of 2009.</p>
<p>What's more, energy companies are reeling from sharply lower oil prices. And though falling oil prices have helped boost consumer spirits and encourage spending, they also helped slow the overall economy last year by causing energy companies to slash investment.</p>
<p>In addition, the Federal Reserve has signaled that it expects to further boost interest rates this year after raising them from record lows in December, and some fear it will move too fast. Fed hikes were considered a trigger for three of the past four recessions.</p>
<p>Economists don't entirely understand the links among the world's major economies. The International Monetary Fund has acknowledged surprise over just how much China's slowdown has hurt other countries in the developing world.</p>
<p>It's also possible that damage to the United States could prove worse than direct trade ties suggest. Wells Capital's Paulsen notes that small- and medium-sized U.S. companies supply the multinationals that do big business overseas. When exports falter, those companies can suffer in ways that don't show up in trade numbers.</p>
<p>Tumbling stock markets themselves can also cause economic damage, by making Americans who have money tied up in stocks feel poorer and less inclined to spend.</p>
<p>A month ago, Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors, predicted that the U.S economy would grow 3 percent this year. Now he's considering cutting his forecast. He's not worried about the impact of economic weakness overseas. He's worried about the toll that falling stocks may take on consumer confidence.</p>
<p>Still, he doesn't think a recession is coming, no matter how scary the stock plunge of late.</p>
<p>As famed economist Paul Samuelson once quipped, "The stock market has forecast nine of the last five recessions."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Condon reported from New York.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP</p> | Why global woes and sinking stocks don't mean US recession | false | https://abqjournal.com/707861/why-global-woes-and-sinking-stocks-dont-mean-us-recession.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Boeing CO appointed General Electric Co aviation executive Kevin McAllister chief executive of its commercial airplanes business.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>McAllister will succeed Ray Conner, who will continue to serve as Boeing vice chairman through 2017, the world's biggest planemaker said on Monday. (http://bit.ly/2gflk27)</p>
<p>Boeing also named Stanley Deal chief executive of the company' new business unit, called Global Services.</p>
<p>The new unit will be formed from the customer services groups within the company's existing commercial airplanes and defense, space and security businesses, Boeing said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)</p> | Boeing names GE's Kevin McAllister CEO, commercial airplanes | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/11/21/boeing-names-ge-kevin-mcallister-ceo-commercial-airplanes.html | 2016-11-21 | 0 |
<p>It has been a tough week.</p>
<p>With the “re-election” (I say “re-election” because he was never elected in the first place) of George Bush to the White House and the Republican grab of Congress, hope seems to be fading that we ­ the citizens of the world who reject the Bush doctrine and all it stands for ­ will be able to repair the damage and rebuild the world.</p>
<p>Since Wednesday, I (and I suspect many of you) have read countless articles about what will happen to America and the rest of the world during Bush’s second term, been forwarded countless versions of the “new map” of North America, and heard about the American citizens rushing to download applications from the internet for immigration into Canada. The theme throughout has been one of a growing sense of despair and feelings of helplessness. But there have also been expressions of hope and calls for courage and strength.</p>
<p>Allow me to add my voice to this chorus of hope and courage. We have so much to live for that that there is no time for despair.</p>
<p>On behalf of the world, I would like to say to my brave American friends who have struggled so long and so hard against the right-wing regime occupying their government, thank you, and don’t give up. We need you now, more than ever, to keep up your struggle and make your voice heard for all those that have been marginalized or silenced. We must not allow such an arrogant abuse of power claim to have the monopoly on “moral values” while sovereign countries are invaded and ground to dust, women’s rights are blatantly violated, and the environment is treating as a dumping ground for toxic waste. We need look no further then Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” to realize the dangers we face by a government pursuing a “moral agenda”.</p>
<p>Humans are amazing beings. I believe that the spirit of resistance and struggle for justice lives in all of us in some form; it just takes different stimuli to awaken our inner activist. If you look closely, history is full of stories people illustrating hope: the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Surviving the slaughter and genocide in Burma, Cambodia, Rwanda, and Central America. Protesting the overthrow of democratically elected governments in Chile and the Congo. Women demanding the right to vote, the right to have control over their bodies, their right to live in a world that is free from all forms of violence against them. Workers marching for their right to a living wage and safe working conditions.</p>
<p>Palestine struggling to end the occupation and for the right to a free and independent state.</p>
<p>Where does inspiration live if not here? How can we think that hope is lost when the people of Palestine, beaten and battered for the past 56 years, hold their ground and call for justice to be done?</p>
<p>Hope does not come easily here. With Ariel Sharon building the Separation Wall on confiscated land throughout the West Bank, more than 7,500 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails, bombings, assassinations, and home demolitions, most days it is easier to succumb to feelings of powerlessness and despair. But despite this, the hope that kindled is one based quite simply on the refusal to be occupied by a foreign military power. No American-made bombs dropped from Israeli warplanes can crush this hope.</p>
<p>As we continue to find our way, have courage that our struggles are not in vain. Piece by peace we will reconstitute the world. Celebrate the small victories, and do not be discouraged by the large setbacks.</p>
<p>Do not despair. You are not alone. None of us are alone, despite the mainstream media’s attempt to convince us otherwise. All of us who work for justice, peace, freedom, women’s rights, and a protected environment ­ we are the moral majority. These days may have passed into darkness but it does not mean that all is lost. Each one of us is a candle of hope, and if we stand together we will light up the world.</p>
<p>Indeed, we shall live to see these days renewed.</p>
<p>AMELIA PELTZ is a peace activist in Ramallah.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | This Not the Time for Despair | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/11/08/this-not-the-time-for-despair/ | 2004-11-08 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Campaigning for the Republican nomination at November's U.S. presidential election took a nasty turn on Wednesday with billionaire businessman Donald Trump accusing rival Ted Cruz of fraud as the field of candidates narrowed ahead of next week's New Hampshire primary.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Rand Paul, a U.S. senator from Kentucky with a libertarian philosophy, pulled out of the Republican race and CNN said conservative Rick Santorum also was quitting.</p>
<p>Both candidates did poorly in Monday's Iowa caucuses, which were dominated by conservative Cruz's defeat of Trump, who has courted controversy by urging a ban on Muslims entering the United States and branding Mexican immigrants as criminals.</p>
<p>The real estate mogul on Wednesday accused Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, on Twitter of stealing his victory in Iowa. Cruz's team hit back by telling Trump to seek help for addiction to the social media site.</p>
<p>The two men are going head-to-head for voters in New Hampshire, where Cruz's evangelical Christian credentials will not be as helpful as they were in Iowa. Trump holds big leads in opinion polls of Republicans in New Hampshire.</p>
<p>Former reality TV star Trump called for the nullification of Cruz's Iowa victory or a new vote in the state, which holds the first nominating contest in the presidential election.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it," Trump said in a series of tweets. "That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!"</p>
<p>Trump referred to an email that Cruz's campaign sent on Monday that implied another Republican candidate, Ben Carson, was about to drop out of the race and that his Iowa backers should be urged to vote for the Texan instead. Cruz later apologized for the email.</p>
<p>"TWITTER ADDICTION"</p>
<p>Trump also accused Cruz's team on Twitter of sending out a mailer designed to look like an official electoral document to scare Iowa voters into turning out at the caucuses.</p>
<p>The Cruz campaign said Trump was just clamoring for attention after the senator came from behind in the polls to beat him on Monday.</p>
<p>"Reality just hit the reality star - he lost Iowa and now nobody is talking about him, so he's popping off on Twitter," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said in a statement. "There are support groups for Twitter addiction, perhaps he should find his local chapter."</p>
<p>A Tea Party fiscal hawk, Cruz won support in Iowa from much of the same conservative Christian constituency that helped Santorum to victory in the Iowa caucuses during the 2012 presidential campaign.</p>
<p>Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, has failed to take off in this campaign. CNN, citing unidentified sources, said he planned to suspend his run for the White House later on Wednesday and would endorse another candidate.</p>
<p>Earlier on Wednesday, Paul became the second Republican to drop out of the race since the Iowa caucuses, behind former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.</p>
<p>"It's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House," he said in a statement. "Today, I will end where I began, ready and willing to fight for the cause of Liberty."</p>
<p>Polls in recent days had shown him with about 2 percent support heading into Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. It is not clear which candidate might attract Paul's supporters but Ohio Governor John Kasich said he favored some of Paul's positions, such as his criticism of government electronic surveillance and U.S. intervention abroad.</p>
<p>"If somebody were to ask me about some of the issues on surveillance, I would say that, you know, I think Rand Paul's had some good things to say about it," he told NBC News. "You know, when it comes to the use of military force, I don't want to be policeman of the world."</p>
<p>(By Amy Tennery and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington and Emily Stephenson in New Hampshire; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Bill Trott; For more on the 2016 presidential race, see the Reuters blog, "Tales from the Trail" http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/; Click here for a graphic on 2016 candidates and their poll results: http://tmsnrt.rs/1QHZulM)</p> | U.S. Republican Presidential Campaign Turns Nastier; Field Narrows | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/02/03/u-s-republican-presidential-campaign-turns-nastier-field-narrows.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
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<p>Perhaps emboldened by U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez's decision to let it operate its casinos without a valid gaming compact in place, Pojoaque Pueblo is now suing the state, Gov. Susana Martinez and the state's Gaming Control Board, claiming they're interfering with its casino business. The pueblo seeks hundreds of millions in potential damages.</p>
<p>This latest skirmish in the ongoing battle between the pueblo and the Martinez administration comes just days after nearby Santa Clara Pueblo took the highly unusual step of asking the U.S. Department of the Interior to help put an end to Pojoaque's "huge competitive advantage" over other gambling tribes by asking the Justice Department to "initiate enforcement action against Pojoaque."</p>
<p>Pojoaque cannot legally engage in gambling without a state compact - which expired June 30. Still, the U.S. Attorney has chosen not to enforce the law, saying to do so would cause Pojoaque - which operates the $250 million Buffalo Thunder Resort &amp; Casino north of Santa Fe, as well as other gambling facilities - more harm than good. What about the harm to the state's 14 other gambling tribes that are following the rules, as expressed by Santa Clara?</p>
<p>In its latest lawsuit, Pojoaque claims that the governor-appointed Gaming Control Board is interfering with its business by delaying approval of some of its vendors' gaming licenses.</p>
<p>Pojoaque has accused the state of "negotiating in bad faith" even though 15 tribes have agreed to the compacts. Given the pueblo's stance with the state and its tribal competitors, and its willingness to file lawsuits, it would seem a hard case to make that it's not the one acting in bad faith. Interior and Justice need to factor all that in going forward.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Editorial: Pojoaque's MO: lawsuits | false | https://abqjournal.com/617404/pojoaques-mo-lawsuits.html | 2 |
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<p>Shares of tech companies ticked down, after disappointing earnings from two major online travel agencies.</p>
<p>Shares of Priceline Group and TripAdvisor slid after earnings trailed investors' expectations.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Salesforce.com aims to generate $20 billion-to-$22 billion of revenue in fiscal 2022, according to the business software maker's chief financial officer.</p>
<p>Intuit, the maker of TurboTax and QuickBooks, said it will start offering loans to small businesses based in part on data that firms input into its accounting software.</p>
<p>-Rob Curran, [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 07, 2017 16:50 ET (21:50 GMT)</p> | Tech Cos Down After Disappointing Travel Site Earnings -- Tech Roundup | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/07/tech-cos-down-after-disappointing-travel-site-earnings-tech-roundup.html | 2017-11-07 | 0 |
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<p>On Wednesday, the state Higher Education Department’s Capital Projects Review Committee finally gave its consent for the $9.8 million project.</p>
<p>The committee previously had refused to consider the SFCC’s plans for the 31,000-square-foot facility, where colleges and universities from around the state will offer classes.</p>
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<p>The Martinez administration has argued that the community college needed legislative approval for the project, while SFCC officials said the college already had met all the requirements of a state statute specifically designed for learning centers like the one planned on property that formerly was part of the old College of Santa Fe campus.</p>
<p>The SFCC filed a lawsuit over the dispute and in November, state District Judge Raymond Ortiz sided with the college. Ortiz noted that legislative approval in the case of learning centers is particularly “conspicuous by its absence” from the state learning center statute.</p>
<p>Ortiz ordered the HED to review the college’s plans according to the narrow provisions of the law, which mostly have to do with whether bond money is being properly spent and whether the plans conform with department regulations.</p>
<p>Asked to comment on the state’s turnaround in approving the center, HED spokesman Larry Behrens wrote in an email: “The Department had expressed a concern that the learning center needed legislative approval to move forward. Now that this legal question has been answered, we notified Santa Fe Community College that they were free to seek the approval of our capital projects committee.</p>
<p>“They came to the committee; they addressed our long-standing questions about the center, and the committee approved the building.”</p>
<p>SFCC officials said Wednesday that construction should start in the spring, with a goal of offering classes at the center in the fall of 2014.</p>
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<p>“On the eve of its 30th anniversary, Santa Fe Community College will be able to expand opportunities for local students to pursue bachelor’s and master’s degrees through unique partnerships with our state’s colleges and universities,” SFCC president Ana “Cha” Guzmán said in a prepared statement.</p>
<p>A pilot version of the Higher Education Center program has been operational on SFCC’s Richards Avenue campus for the past two years.</p>
<p>Guzmán said the community college will grow into the Siringo Road building, initially using only the first floor with about 15,000 square feet.</p>
<p>She said that in addition to university partners holding classes at the new center, some existing SFCC programs which are now delivered in other locations around Santa Fe will relocate to the new facility.</p>
<p>The community college first got HED approval for preliminary plans for the center in 2009, under then-Gov. Bill Richardson. In 2010, Santa Fe voters overwhelmingly approved a bond issue to fund the project, and the Legislature approved the sale of land for the center early in 2011.</p>
<p>But by mid-2011, after Martinez had taken over as governor, HED began refusing to review final plans for the center, taking the position that legislative approval was required.</p>
<p>The Martinez administration was concerned about the proliferation of duplicative or unnecessary branch campuses, but SFCC leaders maintain the learning center represents the opposite of campus proliferation — allowing Santa Fe-area residents to access four-year and post-graduate classes without the establishment of branch campuses by state colleges and universities.</p>
<p>Guzman added Wednesday, “We anticipate in the near future a vibrant student community made up of SFCC students, Higher Education Center students and high school dual credit students, all pursuing their educational dreams.</p>
<p>“This approval will allow SFCC to open the next level of educational opportunity — bachelor’s and master’s degrees — to our community. With the Higher Education Center at a convenient location, we are removing barriers to a college degree. We are facilitating attendance to students who have waited, who have given up, or who may have had to choose between family and job and college.”</p> | SFCC Receives OK For Center | false | https://abqjournal.com/158962/sfcc-receives-ok-for-center.html | 2013-01-10 | 2 |
<p>Venture capital-backed 3D printing companies Carbon and Desktop Metal are among the smartest companies in the world for 2017, according to&#160; <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/lists/companies/2017/" type="external">MIT Technology Review Opens a New Window.</a>, which recently released its annual list of the 50 companies that "best combine innovative technology with an effective business model."</p>
<p>Yes, that combo sounds like a recipe for long-term success, so investors in 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) and Stratasys (NASDAQ: SSYS) -- neither of which made the list -- would be wise to keep an eye on these start-ups. Carbon began competing with the two 3D printing bigwigs last year, while Desktop Metal -- which has ties to Stratasys -- will become a competitor to 3D Systems when it launches its first metal 3D printer this fall.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Here's what you should know.</p>
<p>Silicon Valley-based Carbon is making its second consecutive appearance on MIT Technology Review's smartest list, moving up to No. 18 from No. 32. The company received the honor because its "novel 3-D printing process makes it possible to fabricate parts out of a wide variety of plastics,"&#160;according to the renowned tech publication.</p>
<p>Indeed, Carbon's Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) technology opens up a vast array of materials possibilities. Another notable advantage for the process is its speed, which is about 25 to 100 times faster than the leading polymer 3D printing technologies, according to the company. Materials limitations and slow speeds are among the major hurdles that have been holding 3D printing back from making more inroads into manufacturing. So it's not surprising that Carbon made a splash when co-founder and CEO&#160;Joseph DeSimone unveiled and demonstrated CLIP at the TED 2015 conference.</p>
<p>Unlike conventional 3D printing technologies, which print layer by layer, CLIP "grows" polymer parts continuously from a pool of liquid resin by harnessing ultraviolet light and oxygen. Eliminating the pauses between print layers is one major factor in CLIP's speed advantage.</p>
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<p>Carbon has been moving at the speed of light since 2015. It has amassed&#160;$221 million in funding from top venture capital firms and the VC arms of Alphabet,&#160;General Electric, and Autodesk.&#160;In April 2016, it <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/09/why-carbons-m1-3d-printer-subscription-pricing-mod.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5417c85a-6519-11e7-b2bd-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">launched its flagship 3D printer Opens a New Window.</a>, the M1, followed in March of this year by the launch of the larger M2, along with its 3D-printing production platform called&#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/16/general-electric-carbon-launches-speedy-3d-printin.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5417c85a-6519-11e7-b2bd-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">SpeedCell Opens a New Window.</a>. The company has inked partnerships with Ford,&#160;Johnson &amp; Johnson,&#160;BMW,&#160;UPS,&#160;and Adidas, with the latter announcing in April that it will be using Carbon's tech to make <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/13/mass-market-3d-printed-athletic-shoe-is-coming.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5417c85a-6519-11e7-b2bd-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">athletic shoes with 3D-printed midsoles for the mass market Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The publication didn't share what it found special about Carbon's business model, but I think its subscription-pricing model was probably a big factor. I've opined that this pricing model was a brilliant move because it should help expand the size of the 3D printing market. Not only does it cut down on a customer's initial capital outlay, but it should also help alleviate concerns about being stuck with pricey technology that could quickly become outdated.</p>
<p>Ranking at No. 19, Desktop Metal, based in the Boston area, made its inaugural showing on MIT Technology Review's smartest list this year. The publication cited the following reason for including the start-up, which was founded in 2015: "With nearly $100 million from VC firms, GE, Alphabet, and others, this start-up is focused on cheap, fast 3-D printing of metal parts."</p>
<p>Desktop Metal's $97&#160;million in funding&#160;should go a long way toward helping it gets its business (along with the industry's metal 3D printers) off the ground. In addition to the backers mentioned above, the company has also received investments from BMW, Lowe's, and Stratasys, which was an early investor, as I <a href="" type="external">shared Opens a New Window.</a> with Foolish readers in 2015.&#160;Stratasys strengthened its ties to Desktop Metal in May when it announced a strategic partnership that involves its distributors selling the start-up's 3D printers.</p>
<p>Today's metal 3D printers are large, slow, and extremely expensive, with most costing upward of a several hundred thousand dollars. These drawbacks have kept many entities on the sidelines with respect to 3D printing in metals. So Desktop Metal could expand the metal 3D printing market considerably if it succeeds at its goal of producing more affordable and speedier metal 3D printers that are office-friendly.</p>
<p>In April,&#160;Desktop Metal generated much buzz when it unveiled two metal 3D printing systems that it claims are faster and more cost-effective than those now on the market, and suited for an office environment.&#160;The DM Studio System, which includes a printer and sintering furnace, is priced at $120,000, and is slated to start shipping in September. It uses a proprietary technology that Desktop Metal calls Bound Metal Deposition (BMD). The DM Production System, which will cost $420,000, is expected to begin shipping next year, and is powered by a proprietary technology called Single Pass Jetting (SPJ). The company claims this system is 100 times faster than today's laser-based 3D printing systems. Taking a page from Carbon's playbook, the company has said that renting its systems will also be an option.</p>
<p>Carbon presents a notable competitive threat to 3D Systems, Stratasys, and other 3D printing companies in the polymer 3D printing space, as I've previously opined. Stratasys only makes polymer 3D printers, and they comprise the lion's share of 3D Systems' 3D printer business, though the company also makes metal 3D printers. Both companies also have sizable service operations.&#160;HP Inc.,&#160;which entered the market last year, also has the potential to be a significant threat to the incumbent polymer players.</p>
<p>3D Systems has a weapon to fight back, though we don't yet know how successful it will be in the market. In March, the company announced that it recently shipped its first speedy 3D printing production platform, Figure 4, to a "Fortune 50 industrial company." Figure 4 is powered by a form of stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing technology, which is a photopolymerization tech that uses a light source to harden resin, just like Carbon's CLIP. 3D Systems touts Figure 4 as being more than 50 times faster than conventional SLA systems, and says it enables an immense array of materials possibilities. Moreover, Figure 4 is modular and fully automatable. Stratasys does not have a super-fast 3D printing technology.</p>
<p>Desktop Metal looks like it has the potential to be just as disruptive in the metals 3D printing space. This company presents a potential threat to 3D Systems, which makes laser-based metal 3D printers, though its metal business is small. Based upon exchanges on the company's quarterly conference calls, I think we safely surmise that its metals business accounts for less than 10% of its total revenue.</p>
<p>Stratasys' recent strategic partnership with Desktop Metal will give it an ideal opportunity to strengthen its knowledge of metal 3D printing in general and intimately get to know the start-up. It seems likely to me that Stratasys would be interested in acquiring Desktop Metal if things go decently with the start-up's initial products. Whether it could afford to do so and whether Desktop Metal would be interested in being acquired are different matters.</p>
<p>Investors in 3D Systems and Stratasys should focus on the companies' revenue and gross margins in their quarterly financial reports. Increased competition that's causing pricing pressure will negatively impact these numbers.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than 3D SystemsWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of July 6, 2017</p>
<p>Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMcKenna/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5417c85a-6519-11e7-b2bd-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Beth McKenna Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Ford, and Johnson &amp; Johnson. The Motley Fool owns shares of General Electric. The Motley Fool recommends 3D Systems, BMW, Lowe's, and Stratasys. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=5417c85a-6519-11e7-b2bd-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Why 2 Competitors to 3D Systems and Stratasys Are Among the 50 "Smartest Companies" in the World | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/11/why-2-competitors-to-3d-systems-and-stratasys-are-among-50-smartest-companies-in-world.html | 2017-07-11 | 0 |
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