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<p>Aug. 23 (UPI) — Sales of new U.S. homes sagged 9.4 percent last month — the largest drop in one month so far this year, two federal agencies announced Wednesday.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.census.gov/construction/nrs/pdf/newressales.pdf" type="external">Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development</a> reported Wednesday that homes constructed in July were at a seasonally adjusted rate of 571,000, which was 9.4 percent lower than June’s number — and 8.9 percent down from a year ago.</p>
<p>Officials said the median sales price was $313,700 last month and average price was $371,200 — and noted it would take six months to exhaust the entire supply of new homes.</p>
<p>“This looks bad, but note that sales over the previous three months were revised up by a total of 46K,” Ian Shepherdson, chief economist for Pantheon Macro, <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-home-sales-skid-to-7-month-low-in-july-2017-08-23" type="external">said Wednesday</a>. “Prices are rising too, but the data are so volatile that it’s hard to be sure what the underlying trend rate of increase is at any given point.”</p>
<p>He called the report “disappointing,” but said he expected an increase for August based on mortgage application data.</p>
<p>The national inventory rose 1.5 percent to 276,000 units in July, the highest level since 2009.</p>
<p>Department figures also said sales so far this year are running 9.2 percent higher than in the same period last year.</p>
<p>Most new homes sold were in the South (326,000), followed by the West (144,000), Midwest (69,000) and Northeast (32,000).</p>
<p>“”The unemployment rate is at a 15-year low, the economy is growing, the stock market is strong, and home prices continue to rise, putting equity in the pockets of those who may want to sell their existing home and move to a new one,” Homebuilder CEO Douglas C. Yearley, Jr., <a href="https://www.tollbrothers.com/investor-relations/press-release?pr=http%3A%2F%2Fglobenewswire.com%2Fnewsroom%2Fnitfitem%2F1090921%2Fen%3Ff%3D22%26fvtc%3D10%26fvtv%3D1363" type="external">said in a statement</a>. “New home prices are significantly outpacing existing home prices. Many buyers want new and they want it their way: That’s exactly what we provide. This bodes well for Toll Brothers over the coming years.”</p>
<p>The monthly new home sales and construction reports are based on small samples of data and are often revised.</p> | July's new home sales dropped to new low for 2017 | false | https://newsline.com/july039s-new-home-sales-dropped-to-new-low-for-2017/ | 2017-08-23 | 1 |
<p>Boston Globe Some don't like moves by <a href="http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/" type="external">Nieman</a> curator Bob Giles to ramp up fund-raising and host more workshops for other journalists. Jenna Russell writes: "Critics say that by offering more programs about journalism to an audience beyond the small group of fellows, the foundation risks diminishing the essence of the Nieman experience." Buzz Bissinger says: "The Nieman experience was fabulous, the best of my life, and I care about it. The fellowships are the thing they've done beautifully, and what made it special was, they didn't do any of that outside stuff. . . . Now it seems to want to become a journalism center, and I think that's wrong."</p> | Nieman alums don't want their exclusive club to change | false | https://poynter.org/news/nieman-alums-dont-want-their-exclusive-club-change | 2005-02-02 | 2 |
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<p>Last year was a difficult year for our residents with wildfires. The Little Bear Fire in June, which devoured 44,000 acres of land, damaged more than 200 homes, causing severe water shortages and leaving many people without shelter. Only two weeks earlier, the Gila National Forest Fire became the largest in the state’s history, covering about 400 square miles.</p>
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<p>When disasters such as these strike, there are countless community leaders and heroes who donate their time and risk their lives to keep our citizens and communities out of harm’s way.</p>
<p>Along with our area firefighters, the Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, Lifeguard Helicopters and many of our military trainees donated countless hours and risked their lives to fight these seemingly endless disasters.</p>
<p>While many may not think of it, among the crucial tools that these individuals relied upon during these time of crisis were our area airports.</p>
<p>As just one example, during some of our state’s most recent wildfires, Double Eagle Airport was transformed into a base of operations for pilots working to contain the blaze from the air, protecting lives and property.</p>
<p>The truth is that small aircraft and local airports are an important part of our community infrastructure and are uniquely suited to help public safety and support local communities.</p>
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<p>There are many other unseen benefits associated with these airports and aircraft for our local communities as well.</p>
<p>Many small business owners rely on general aviation to allow them to meet with potential customers in multiple locations within a single day, visit areas not readily served by commercial aviation, transport supplies and deliver goods. In fact, 85 percent of businesses that own and operate general aviation aircraft are small- to mid-sized businesses, and these small aircraft are particularly important in rural states like ours.</p>
<p>This activity supports many jobs, including those that fly these planes, repair and service these aircraft, and a very robust, U.S.-based general aviation industry that, all told, accounts for $150 billion in economic activity across the country each year, supporting 1.2 million jobs.</p>
<p>In New Mexico alone, general aviation accounts for $3.1 billion in economic activity annually, and according to the 2009 New Mexico Airport System Plan Update, aviation supports about 48,000 jobs across our state. Not only that, these aircraft and the airports they utilize support many critical services for communities, including medical care, law enforcement, organ and blood transport and flight training.</p>
<p>However, many are still not aware of the critical importance of these aircraft, and the Obama Administration’s recently proposed $100 “user fee” tax on all take-offs and landings for many operators that rely on these aircraft threatens to deal a serious blow to the industry.</p>
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<p>This “fee” would function similarly to a toll and would mean a huge administrative burden on the thousands of farms, businesses and groups that rely on these aircraft. It would also require a new bureaucracy within the FAA to collect these taxes. Meanwhile, the existing fuel tax structure is simple to comply with, efficient to administer, fair and proportional to use.</p>
<p>Thankfully, the significance of these community airports and their economic impacts is not lost on our community leaders.</p>
<p>New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez recently declared September 2012 “New Mexico General Aviation Appreciation Month.” And Mayor Ken Miyagishima of Las Cruces, Mayor Gus Raymond Alborn of Ruidoso and former Mayor Neil Segotta of Raton have joined with more than 115 mayors from across the country in signing a petition to President Obama, urging him to recognize the importance of general aviation and protect the industry from the threat of user fees.</p>
<p>By raising awareness about the immense value of these aircraft and airports as an integral part of the fabric of our community and an important part of our state’s economy, these leaders have helped to protect this critical form of transportation.</p> | General Aviation a Vital Part of Our Economy | false | https://abqjournal.com/162049/general-aviation-a-vital-part-of-our-economy.html | 2013-01-21 | 2 |
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<p>However, the district’s administration building at 505 S. Main Street will remain open, according to a district news release. The only LCPS students attending classes will be 11th and 12th grade students from Arrowhead Park Early College High School.</p>
<p>District spokesman Jo Galvan said the schools are closed every other year on Election Day in order to provide additional parking because many of the schools are used as voting locations.</p>
<p>All schools will resume their normal schedules on Wednesday.</p>
<p>——</p>
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<p>©2016 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)</p>
<p>Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at <a href="http://www.lcsun-news.com" type="external">www.lcsun-news.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p> | No school for LCPS students on Election Day | false | https://abqjournal.com/884395/brief-no-school-for-lcps-students-on-election-day.html | 2016-11-08 | 2 |
<p>The Department of Justice (DOJ) is ignoring requests for the release of basic information regarding Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “ <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Appointment_of_Special_Counsel_to_Investigate_Russian_Interference_with_the_2016_Presidential_Election_and_Related_Matters.pdf" type="external">investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election</a>,” <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/weekly-update-big-mueller-lawsuit/#anc3" type="external">a</a> <a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/weekly-update-big-mueller-lawsuit/#anc3" type="external">ccording to Judicial Watch</a> (JW).</p>
<p>JW filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the DOJ on Wednesday, seeking information regarding Mueller’s operational budget and investigatory activities.</p>
<p>In addition to details of its operational budget, JW is seeking details of Mueller’s investigatory and prosecutorial scope and mandate. The DOJ has not disclosed operational and budgetary limitations — if any — imposed on Mueller’s ostensible investigation into “Russian interference.”</p>
<p>Given Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal from any DOJ investigations dealing with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is responsible for Mueller's investigation.</p>
<p>Via JW:</p>
<p>We sued because the Justice Department, in scandalous fashion, failed to respond to an July 10, 2017 FOIA request for some basic info on Mueller’s budget and operations:</p>
<p>A copy of the budget prepared and submitted by Robert S. Mueller III or his staff in his capacity as appointed “Special Counsel to oversee the previously-confirmed FBI investigation of Russian government efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election and related matters.” Temporal scope of this request is from 17May2017 to 10July2017.</p>
<p>A copy of all guidance memoranda and communications by which the Justice Management Division will review the Special Counsel’s Office’s “Statement of Expenditures” prior to or for the purpose of making each public. Temporal scope of this request is from 1June2017 to present.</p>
<p>A copy of each document scoping, regulating, or governing the Special Counsel’s Office appointed under the leadership of Mueller III. Temporal scope of this request is from 17May2017 to present.</p>
<p>Tom Fitton, JW’s president, described Mueller’s project as “out of control” and not subject to departmental and congressional oversight as it should be:</p>
<p>We believe the Mueller investigation is out of control, constitutionally speaking. I’m not sure what it’s even investigating. It isn’t subject to the accountability and oversight that other Justice Department investigations would be.</p>
<p>Rod Rosenstein is responsible for everything Mueller does, from approving his budget to making sure that he’s complying with Justice Department regulations and standards in prosecutions and investigations.</p>
<p>We filed a new Freedom of Information Act lawsuit just to find out basic information about what Mueller is up to; namely, what is his budget? …</p>
<p>Why is [Mueller’s budget] secret? …</p>
<p>We don’t know what [Mueller’s] scope is. What is he doing? What has he been authorized to investigate? …</p>
<p>We asked those questions of the Justice Department, and they ignored us.</p>
<p>Despite zero evidence being publicly provided to corroborate the Democrat and left-wing narrative of “ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/01/us/politics/russia-election-hacking.html" type="external">Russian election hacking</a>,” Fitton noted that Mueller’s investigation seems to be “growing without end.”</p>
<p>Both Congress and the DOJ are “AWOL” in having allowed Mueller’s project to run amok, said Fitton. "The essentially Democrat-run investigation out of the Senate," he added, has failed to provide any evidence corroborating the "Russian election hacking" narrative despite months of pursuing testimony and thousands of documents.</p>
<p>Watch all of Fitton's comments on JW's most recent FOIA lawsuit below.</p>
<p>Andrew C. McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor and NRO columnist, has repeatedly <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/451649/robert-mueller-special-counsel-investigation-manafort-under-pressure" type="external">noted</a> the unprecedented size of Mueller's probe and its seemingly nebulous and open-ended mandate:</p>
<p>Mueller’s probe more resembles an empire, with 17 prosecutors retained on the public dime. So . . . what exactly is the crime of the century that requires five times the number of lawyers the Justice Department customarily assigns to crimes of the century? No one can say.</p>
<p>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p> | Judicial Watch Sues DOJ For Refusing To Disclose Mueller Investigation Details | true | https://dailywire.com/news/22044/judicial-watch-sues-doj-refusing-disclose-mueller-robert-kraychik | 2017-10-08 | 0 |
<p>You don't have to be Nostradamus to successfully predict that more states will legalize marijuana -- whether for medicinal use only or for recreational use. A bandwagon effect seems quite likely, considering 29 states plus the District of Columbia have already legalized medical marijuana. Nine of those (including D.C.) have also made recreational use of the drug legal.</p>
<p>But the psychological tendency of the bandwagon effect isn't the main reason more states will legalize marijuana. Instead, the single most important motivator is an issue that many states have faced frequently in the past: They need more money.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>According to the National Association of State Budget Officers (NASBO), 33 U.S. states reported collections below budget projections in 2017. That's the most states reporting budget shortfalls since the Great Recession that ended in 2010. At least 23 of those states have already made budget cuts to get through the rest of this year. It's also the second consecutive year where more states aren't meeting their budgets than those that are.</p>
<p>Multiple factors are to blame. Lower oil and gas prices have hurt tax revenue for some states. States that expanded their Medicaid programs under Obamacare began footing part of the bill in 2017. Even for those that didn't expand Medicaid, overall spending for the government-run healthcare program is outpacing revenue growth.</p>
<p>For the states that did expand Medicaid, the situation will only become more problematic in the future. If Obamacare isn't replaced, the amount that states must pay to fund the Medicaid expansion increases each year through 2020. If the current version of Trumpcare becomes law, all funding for expanding Medicaid is slated to go away in a few years.</p>
<p>NASBO didn't specifically cite the opioid-addiction epidemic as a reason for budget shortfalls. However, many states have experienced significantly higher costs for healthcare and law enforcement. The crisis has led several states to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/06/20/should-investors-steer-clear-of-opioid-drug-stocks.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=12d82f94-6b2a-11e7-88dc-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">target opioid drugmakers Opens a New Window.</a>, but the legal battles could take years to reach a resolution.</p>
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<p>With states looking for alternatives to help alleviate their budget shortfalls, it's not surprising that some politicians are eyeing the possibility of legalizing -- and taxing -- marijuana, especially recreational use of the drug. Some leaders in these states are no doubt looking at other states such as Colorado, which made an extra $200 million in tax revenue last year from legalized marijuana sales.</p>
<p>New Jersey could become the next large state to move toward recreational marijuana legalization. Although current governor Chris Christie is opposed to legalization, that's not the case for the leading contender to take his spot next year -- Democrat Phil Murphy.</p>
<p>Proponents of legalization in the state project that New Jersey could haul in an additional $300 million in taxes each year from marijuana sales. For what it's worth, New Jersey's expenditures topped its revenue in fiscal 2017 by $242 million.</p>
<p>It's not too hard to see a scenario similar to states' legalization of gambling unfold. In 2001, there were only nine states that allowed casinos. Today, 24 states permit casinos. Only six U.S. states don't have lotteries now.</p>
<p>The biggest winners with states legalizing gambling were the companies that operated casinos and sold equipment and supplies needed for gambling operations. A similar story will probably happen as more states legalize recreational marijuana.</p>
<p>How can investors potentially profit from the trend of states' legalization of marijuana? Most publicly traded U.S.-based marijuana growers are micro-cap stocks, which usually are best to avoid. There are a some small-cap Canadian marijuana stocks that could benefit by expansion into the U.S., though.</p>
<p>One Canadian company that is <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/07/3-things-investors-really-need-to-know-about-marij.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=12d82f94-6b2a-11e7-88dc-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">already moving forward with U.S. operations Opens a New Window.</a> is Aphria (NASDAQOTH: APHQF). The provider of medical marijuana already owns part of Arizona-based marijuana grower Copperstate Farms. Aphria is also increasing its expansion into the U.S. by acquiring Florida medical-marijuana grower Chestnut Hill Tree Farm.</p>
<p>Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE: SMG) should be another potential winner as more states legalize marijuana. The company has aggressively expanded into the hydroponics business and now stands as one of the leading suppliers of fertilizer, hydroponics, and lighting systems for marijuana cultivators.</p>
<p>But will the states be winners? Maybe. But many of the same states that legalized gambling are the same ones continuing to struggle today. Increasing tax revenue helps -- but only if spending increases less. You don't have to be Nostradamus to predict that more states will legalize marijuana, but it's also a pretty safe prediction that runaway spending will remain a problem for state governments for years to come as well.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Scotts Miracle-GroWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=6f9ee80d-8f5b-4029-850b-34cf35bd27e8&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=12d82f94-6b2a-11e7-88dc-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Scotts Miracle-Gro 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 July 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFishBiz/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=12d82f94-6b2a-11e7-88dc-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Keith Speights Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=12d82f94-6b2a-11e7-88dc-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Here's the Single Most Important Reason More States Will Legalize Marijuana | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/07/23/heres-single-most-important-reason-more-states-will-legalize-marijuana.html | 2017-07-23 | 0 |
<p>Ted Cruz is a noted movie buff but this week's attempt at recreating a powerful moment from a legendary film was more of an air ball than a swish. That's because when you're in Indiana and you're referencing the movie Hoosiers in a state known for its die-hard basketball fanaticism, calling it a basket ring rather than hoop will get you some flak.</p>
<p>While campaigning in Knightstown, Indiana, Cruz tried to fire up the rally with a nod to the Gene Hackman classic based on the true story of a small-town team that made the state finals in 1954. When Hackman and the boys walk onto the championship court he helps ease their nerves by measuring the height of the goal saying, "Ten feet. I think you’ll find that’s the exact same measurements as our gym back in Hickory.” (Click above for the movie clip)</p>
<p>WaPo <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/27/while-campaigning-in-indiana-ted-cruz-butchers-famous-scene-from-movie-hoosiers-by-calling-basketball-hoop-a-ring/?hpid=hp_hp-cards_hp-card-national%3Ahomepage%2Fcard" type="external">reports</a>,</p>
<p>"Here’s Ted Cruz’s version: “You know, the amazing thing about that basketball ring here in Indiana, it’s the same height as it is in New York City and every other place in this country. And there is nothing that Hoosiers cannot do.”</p>
<p>This isn't the first time Cruz has dipped into his movie knowledge bag on the campaign trail. In the clip below, while defending against Trump's attack on his wife, Cruz takes a page right out of the Michael Douglas film, The American President...</p>
<p>But the most impressive Cruz recreation is his uncanny impression of Billy Crystal's Miracle Max character from The Princess Bride. (the transformation starts at the @1:28 mark)....</p>
<p>Exit thought from The Princess Bride's Mandy Patinkin whose criticism of Ted Cruz will only make you want to vote for Cruz even more...</p> | Wait, What Did Ted Cruz Just Call A Basketball Hoop? | true | https://dailywire.com/news/5313/wait-what-did-ted-cruz-just-call-basketball-hoop-chase-stephens | 2016-04-28 | 0 |
<p>On Tuesday, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to end the city’s relationship with Wells Fargo, citing its support of the Dakota Access Pipeline.</p>
<p>According to the Seattle Times, the Pacific Northwestern metropolis cycles <a href="http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/seattle-city-council-to-vote-on-pulling-billions-from-wells-fargo/" type="external">roughly $3 billion a year</a> through the bank, which includes revenue for everything from property taxes to parking meter payments. The 9-0 vote will result in the city not renewing its contract with Wells Fargo, which ends in 2018.</p>
<p>City council members say the megabank’s funding of the controversial 1,100-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, which has been <a href="http://www.king5.com/news/local/seattle/seattle-city-council-to-vote-on-divesting-from-wells-fargo-today/401997911" type="external">protested for months by indigenous people</a> who say the pipeline route violates longstanding treaties between Native Americans and the federal government, was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back in the city deciding to move its money elsewhere.</p>
<p>“We are taking a bold policy step today that is what this movement wants to see and asks to see,” said council member Lorena Gonzalez. Socialist Alternative council member Kshama Sawant, who was famously elected to her position <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-c1-seattle-socialist-20131120-dto-htmlstory.html" type="external">after helping to organize Occupy Seattle</a>, said the vote was meant to&#160;“take our government back from the billionaires, back from [President Donald] Trump and from the oil companies.”</p>
<p>The decision seemed to take a toll on Wells Fargo’s stock price, which closed roughly a dollar lower than its opening price on Tuesday.</p>
<p />
<p>Construction of the pipeline itself is scheduled to move forward any day now, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently&#160; <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/army-grant-easement-dakota-access-pipeline/story?id=45330548" type="external">granted the final easement</a> the pipeline needed to have its route approved. President Trump called for the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline to proceed in a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/trumps-dakota-access-pipeline-memo-what-we-know-right-now/514271/" type="external">January 24 executive order</a>, along with construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Tom Cahill is a writer for the Resistance Report based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at [email protected], or <a href="http://facebook.com/tom.v.cahill" type="external">follow him on Facebook</a>.</p> | Seattle just pulled $3 billion out of Wells Fargo in protest of Dakota Access Pipeline | true | http://resistancereport.com/resistance/seattle-3-billion-wells-fargo/ | 2017-02-08 | 4 |
<p>The office of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says recent actions by credit-rating agencies confirm his view that the cost of the state pension system is a long-term issue.</p>
<p>The state's credit rating has been downgraded nine times under Christie's watch.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In a statement issued Wednesday, Christie's administration said Fitch Ratings' recently revised outlook is recognition of Christie's management of state's finances.</p>
<p>The ratings agency changed its outlook from negative to stable this week, saying near-term budget risks have abated.</p>
<p>Moody's had assigned a negative outlook to some state bonds, saying the rating could go down if New Jersey makes a low pension payment in 2017, among other factors.</p>
<p>The Republican presidential contender has urged unions and Democrats to work with him on pensions.</p> | Christie's office: Actions by credit agencies confirm view that pension is a long-term issue | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/08/19/christie-office-actions-by-credit-agencies-confirm-view-that-pension-is-long.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
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<p>CHICAGO — Airport police officers called to remove a passenger who refused to leave a United Express flight essentially walked into what law enforcement experts say was a no-win situation: enforcing a business decision by a private company.</p>
<p>But if the passenger posed no threat and was not being disruptive, officers almost certainly could have tried an approach other than dragging him out of his seat and down the aisle, including simply telling the airline to resolve the situation itself, experts said.</p>
<p>Cellphone video of the bloodied passenger, 69-year-old David Dao of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, has become a public-relations nightmare for United and led to the suspension of three police officers who worked for the Chicago Department of Aviation.</p>
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<p>The video also underscores a growing dilemma: From airlines to schools, police are called to deal with situations that in the past might have been handled without them, sometimes leading officers to respond with force far beyond the provocation.</p>
<p>“Police have an innate bias for action, but there are times that it’s not in their best interest or that of their agency to get involved in an issue that requires you to use a high level of force,” said Jim Bueermann, president of the Police Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based research group, and former police chief in Redlands, California. “You have to ask whether … you really needed to use force when doing the airline’s bidding.”</p>
<p>In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired Wednesday, the chief executive of United Airlines said the carrier will no longer ask police to remove passengers from full flights.</p>
<p>After passengers were already seated on the full flight, United announced that four people needed to get off to make room for employees of a partner airline. When nobody accepted the airline’s offer of $800 to relinquish a seat, the airline chose four passengers at random. All but Dao agreed to leave.</p>
<p>It’s unclear what police were told by the airline about the situation. Screaming can be heard on the videos as Dao is dragged from his window seat and across the armrest, but he is not seen fighting with the officers. He appears relatively passive while being dragged. Later he’s seen standing in the aisle saying quietly, “I want to go home, I want to go home.”</p>
<p>But once police were aboard the plane, it would have been difficult to walk away, especially if they did not know why the passenger was asked to leave, said Kevin Murphy, executive director of the Airport Law Enforcement Agencies Network.</p>
<p>“Once you’re there, it becomes tough to disengage. You have an obligation,” Murphy said. “If someone is saying they’re staying no matter what the property owner says, you have to wonder why they want to try so hard,” to stay … “Is there something else going on?”</p>
<p>But police officers should try to find out what they are going into and to defuse the situation, if possible, experts said.</p>
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<p>Officers with the Los Angeles Airport Police do not get involved in civil matters such as business disputes between airlines and passengers. They have sometimes refused airlines’ requests to board planes, said spokesman and police officer Rob Pedregon.</p>
<p>“We don’t just fly into action when someone calls us,” he said. Officers will “basically find out the whole situation, why we’re here, get the background and then decide if it’s within our legal authority. We wouldn’t get (someone) off just because the airline wants them off. If a law is broken, then we will take action.”</p>
<p>The Chicago Department of Aviation swiftly put the officer who removed Dao on leave, saying he had violated standard procedures and that the agency would not “tolerate that kind of action.” Two more officers were suspended Wednesday. Officials have refused to say what procedures should have been followed.</p>
<p>The agency also said that its officers, who are not part of the Chicago Police Department, have “limited authority to make an arrest.”</p>
<p>Officers could have asked themselves whether the airline had an option to reconsider its actions, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a group that has called for greater restraint from police officers. But the bottom line, he said, is that the airline put the police officers in a difficult situation by expecting them “to solve an issue that they had created.”</p>
<p>“It was within their decision-making power to try someone else,” Wexler said. “The real question is, at what point did the airline think this is no longer their problem and turns this over to the police? He could not solve this issue the way the airline could.”</p>
<p>At the same time, police frequently overreact when someone defies an order, Bueermann said.</p>
<p>“They take the bait … and you dig yourself in a deeper hole,” Bueermann said, comparing the United situation to that of a South Carolina police officer seen on cellphone video in 2015 flipping a high school student backward in her desk-chair then dragging her across the classroom after she refused to leave.</p>
<p>“Everybody reaches a limit … but police officers are paid in part to use their common sense to resolve a situation.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Don Babwin contributed to this story.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Tammy Webber at https://twitter.com/twebber02 .</p> | Experts say police who dragged passenger had other options | false | https://abqjournal.com/986827/experts-say-police-who-dragged-passenger-had-other-options.html | 2017-04-12 | 2 |
<p>The 19th Party Congress has made it very clear that “socialism with Chinese characteristics” – as codified by President Xi Jinping – is China’s roadmap ahead. Not only the strategy graphically eschews those much-lauded “Western values”; it will, in Xi’s own words, offer “a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development while preserving their independence.”</p>
<p>Xinhua even dared to venture, “the 21st century is likely to see capitalism lose its appeal while the socialist movement, led by China, rapidly catches up”.</p>
<p>To say this won’t go down very well in the West, especially in the US, may be the understatement of the century – even considering that the Chinese system is more like “neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics.”</p>
<p>It’s enlightening to crisscross what happened in Beijing with what was happening in Washington on the eve of President Trump’s trip to Asia, when he will visit China but also Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines. Discussion of virtually all the key issues in Asia-Pacific will be on the table.</p>
<p>Asia-Pacific is where the real action is – geopolitically and geoeconomically. And once again, the number one issue in the intractability stakes will be the DPRK.</p>
<p>At a recent meeting with top US military and intelligence chiefs Trump, referring to the DPRK, asked to be provided “with a broad range of military options, when needed, at a much faster pace.”</p>
<p>For his part, Pentagon head Mattis has emphasized that “the US army must stand ready.” He has been extolling his targeted military audience to read T.R. Fehrenbach’s This Kind of War – a history of the 1950-1953 Korean War, and even extracting a chilling quote from it; “You may fly over a nation forever, you may bomb it, atomize it, pulverize it and wipe it clean of life. But if you desire to defend it… you must do this on the ground the way the Roman legions did: by putting your young men in the mud.”</p>
<p>Yet the real story regarding the Trump meeting is what was taking place behind the scenes involving key business/economic decision makers – call them some of the Masters of the Universe – as revealed to me by a high-level intel source privy to these meetings. The conclusions of the debate were then presented directly to Trump, ahead of his visit to Asia.</p>
<p>The Sudetenland revival</p>
<p>The source stressed how principals in these meetings were familiar with “key strategists above Mattis who were responsible for most of the major US defense programs in place.”&#160;They know, for instance, how “we are four generations behind in defensive missiles which seals the Russian airspace” – even though any expert in US Think Tankland persists in total denial.</p>
<p>The number one concern is about “the present satellite and missile capacity of North Korea to detonate nuclear bombs over the US knocking out the entire electronic infrastructure through a&#160;electromagnetic impulse (EMP) <a href="" type="internal">attack</a> liquidating 90% of the American population within a year.&#160;This concurs with public statements by Putin that tiny countries in the future can obtain the capacity to destroy superpowers.”</p>
<p>Putin’s comment should be interpreted as this possible DPRK threat being capable of affecting a very advanced nation much more than those in the Global South; a completely different dimension compared to the former MAD concept of mutually assured (nuclear) destruction.</p>
<p>In his own presentation to Trump, Mattis emphasized the EMP “as a potential horror beyond imagination.&#160;Within 24 hours Walmart shelves would have nothing on them.&#160; Food distribution would grind to a halt. Food riots all over the US would take place.&#160;80% of the population would perish according to Mattis.”</p>
<p>The debate then moved to whether the DPRK already possesses submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). According to <a href="http://www.heritage.org/staff/bruce-klingner" type="external">Heritage’s&#160;Bruce Klingner</a>, the DPRK has twenty Romeo class submarines capable of carrying SBLMs (their range is 9,000 miles; the distance from Pyongyang to New York City is 6,783 miles). True, they are old, built in the 1950s. The question is open on how far advanced the DPRK is in miniaturization.</p>
<p>The debate considered the possibility the EMP threat was “a leak from Mattis to justify war tension, or it so should be interpreted by China and Russia.&#160;Mattis said the US would lose 80% of their population based on Pentagon studies, though they did not go that far. Mattis has no strategic sense at all and should be no more than a minor Marine functionary as his ability is very limited.”</p>
<p>Regardless of Mattis’s judgement, the principals agreed that the highest concern is the miniaturization of a hydrogen bomb set off via satellite as an EMP attack – even though that would not be very high above the earth and could, in theory, be knocked out by US ground missiles.</p>
<p>What was interesting is that this possible DPRK threat invoked the specter of the Sudetenland.</p>
<p>“The Sudetenland analogy was one of the principals’ way of expressing that WWIII has already started”, according to the source. “My interpretation was that he was referring to actions of North Korea, and actions in Syria and Ukraine.&#160;Those were his words, not mine. You could say Russia occupied Crimea or exerts its influence over Donbass. Or has displaced the US in Iraq and Syria. The main point is that Russia and China are starting to roll back US influence. So the North Korea threat is also part of Sudetenland.”</p>
<p>What’s clear is that the DPRK drama is further straining US alliances, and not only in Northwest Asia. According to the source, “a lot of this has to do with a wide perception that US weaponry does not measure up to the Russians and Chinese. And that US interests such as stopping North Korea from reaching the US overrides US considerations of its allies.&#160;These alliance structures are falling apart out of sight of the public.”</p>
<p>In a nutshell, this behind the scenes debate does show how alarmed is the US establishment. It’s unclear what Trump will make of its conclusions as he gets ready to hit the Asia trail.</p>
<p>Wang Yang to the rescue?</p>
<p>The ultimate question for the US establishment is how to find some sort of balance in breaking up the Eurasian landmass from the long-term China-Russia strategic partnership embrace.&#160;Tactics include mixing a push to resurrect Pilsudski’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Intermarium Plan</a> against Russia with countering China by seeking to ally India, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. This is by now classic Cold War 2.0 – but this time around with China and Russia massively stronger than the alliances attempted against them, and on top of it constituted as a Eurasian peer-competitor strategic partnership.</p>
<p>Progressive alienation, simultaneously, of China, Russia and Germany (for instance, via US Congress sanctions on German companies over Nord Stream Two), is not only a de facto act of strategic insanity. This will end up forcing the trio into a solid, long-term realignment in which Washington will be completely alienated from the entire Eurasian landmass to the benefit of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its spin-offs.</p>
<p>In their upcoming meeting in Beijing, a plausible scenario is Xi suggesting Trump the possibility of a deal with Kim Jong-un – eventually leading to de facto ending of the Korean War (instead of the current armistice). The process would include multilateral security guarantees (by the US, and endorsed/supervised by Russia and China) and a US no-sanction commitment towards some sort of economic opening if the DPRK freezes for good the testing of nuclear weapons and ICBMs. Xi would be a sort of guarantor of the DPRK. The question is whether Pyongyang would accept it.</p>
<p>In realpolitik terms there’s not much the Trump administration can do about the DPRK, except work through Beijing and Moscow to defuse the crisis. Some action is underway via the so-called “New York channel”, with Joseph Yun, US negotiator for North Korea, talking to diplomats at the DPRK mission to the UN. A potential, unilateral US attack on the DPRK could trigger the very World War destruction it’s supposed to halt, as China has made it quite clear.</p>
<p>So all eyes, once again, are on China. Apart from Xi, the man to watch with the emergence of the new 7-member Politburo Standing Committee is Wang Yang – the number four in the hierarchy who now becomes executive vice-premier.</p>
<p>Wang is the former party chief in both Chongqing and Guangdong, and previously vice-premier in charge of agriculture and foreign trade. He’s the top Chinese official dealing with Washington on economy and trade – and may now have his work cut out for him; to convince Team Trump, via Chinese diplomacy, that to do business with the DPRK is actually a good deal.</p>
<p>That certainly beats the specter of an EMP inferno.</p> | How the DPRK Riddle is Freaking out the US Establishment | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/11/06/how-the-dprk-riddle-is-freaking-out-the-us-establishment/ | 2017-11-06 | 4 |
<p>Lincoln Chafee, the former Rhode Island Governor and U.S senator, is perhaps the most surprising presidential candidate from either party. Chafee wasn’t on anyone’s list of potential challengers to Hillary Clinton until April, when he came out of relative political obscurity to blast Clinton for voting for the Iraq War while in Congress and declare that decision made her unfit to be president.</p>
<p>Clinton has acknowledged that vote was a mistake. But she need not worry about being defeated by Chafee because of that vote. He has virtually no chance of emerging as a serious rival to her.</p>
<p>Chafee is a huge underdog in part because of the strength of Clinton, who has consolidated support from the party’s elected officials, donors and other influential figures.</p>
<p>Get NBC News’ 2016 newsletter “The Lid” straight to your inbox every afternoon -- <a href="" type="internal">click here to sign up.</a></p>
<p>And Chafee is unlikely to become the leading anti-Clinton candidate. His late start in touting himself as a 2016 hopeful means that many progressive activists who are wary of Clinton are already lining up behind Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders or ex-Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley.</p>
<p>Sanders and O’Malley only recently formally announced their candidacies, but they have been in effect campaigning for months.</p>
<p>And the 62-year-old Chafee has few roots in the progressive community looking for an alternative to Clinton. Chafee was first appointed to the U.S Senate in 1999 when he was a Republican, replacing his father John, who had held that seat for more than two decades. John Chafee was a moderate northeastern Republican, and his son followed in that tradition.</p>
<p>After winning a full six-year term in 2000, Lincoln Chafee opposed much of George W. Bush’s agenda, including being the only Republican in the Senate to vote against the Iraq War authorization.</p>
<p>He lost his reelection race to a Democrat in 2006. Chafee then switched from being a Republican to independent, endorsed Barack Obama in 2008, and was elected governor of Rhode Island two years later. He completed his political revolution in 2013, becoming a Democrat.</p>
<p>He opted against seeking reelection for governor in 2014.</p>
<p>Chafee’s time in office has been marked by liberal stands, from his war opposition to changing Rhode Island law as governor to allow undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition at the state’s public colleges.</p>
<p>But he is unlikely to capture the most liberal of activists, since Sanders has been a leading progressive in Congress for more than a decade.</p>
<p>And those looking for a more traditional candidate as an alternative to Clinton might first opt for O’Malley, who was twice elected in a fairly large state. Chafee’s ability as a politician is relatively untested, having won in tiny Rhode Island, which has only 1.1 million people.</p>
<p>Chafee though could have an intriguing role in this process: repeatedly reminding Democrats of what they view as Clinton’s original sin. The former first lady says, in explaining her Iraq war vote, that she was mislead by the Bush administration.</p>
<p>Chafee will argue he was receiving the same intelligence and voted against the war. And his move required political courage, with a president from his own party pushing the war and all of his Senate GOP colleagues backing it.</p>
<p>Sanders and O’Malley have so far soft-pedaled their criticism of Clinton. Chaffee has not. Referring to Clinton’s war vote, Chafee told the Washington Post in April, “It's a huge mistake and we live with broad, broad ramifications today — of instability not only in the Middle East but far beyond and the loss of American credibility.”</p>
<p>If Chafee bluntly attacks Clinton over Iraq in the candidate debates, he could put her on the defensive in a unique way.</p> | Chafee Candidacy Will Bring A Relentless Attack on Clinton’s Iraq Vote | false | http://nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/chafee-almost-certainly-won-t-win-he-will-be-strong-n368591 | 2015-06-04 | 3 |
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<p>You're bored at work. You're unfulfilled in life. You need something more – a bigger risk with a bigger payoff, a more invigorating challenge.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>If that sounds like you, you may want to consider going the way of the "expat-preneur."</p>
<p>An expat-preneuer is a person who decides to&#160;move abroad in order to find their next opportunity in life. Sure, it may seem like an unnecessarily huge step – couldn't you just find a <a href="https://www.recruiter.com/starting-a-career.html" type="external">new job Opens a New Window.</a> at home? Maybe just move to a new city? – but for the expat-preneur, it's the only step that make sense.</p>
<p>Want to know more about these brave souls? Think that maybe you'd like to follow in their footsteps? Check out <a href="https://www.aetnainternational.com/en/about-us/explore/lifestyle/expat-preneur-infographic.html" type="external">this new infographic from insurance company Aetna Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;for more information about who the expat-preneurs are and why they're so eager to cross national borders:</p> | Need a New Challenge? Consider Becoming an 'Expat-preneur" [Infographic] | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/06/20/need-new-challenge-consider-becoming-expat-preneur-infographic.html | 2016-06-24 | 0 |
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<p>What:Shares of tile retailer Tile Shop Holdings Inc surged nearly 20% during the month of April, according to data from <a href="http://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So what:The flooring retailer delivered a stellar first-quarter 2016 earnings report on April 19th, causing investors to drive up TTS stock 13% by the end of the trading day. Enthusiasm over the report buoyed the stock for the rest of the month. The Tile Shop reported a vigorous revenue increase of 16.1% in the first quarter, which was supported by a powerful 13.2% rise in comparable-store sales.Surprisingly, management indicated the "comps" gain was primarily driven by an uptick in the more mature locations in the company's 31-state store base rather than stores opened in the last two years.</p>
<p>Operating income margin grew at a rate of 63%, which was perhaps the most impressive statistic in the report, as the revenue increase outpaced a rise in selling, general, and administrative services expenses.</p>
<p>Adding to the positive sentiment, CEO Chris Homeister observed that the company enjoyed"increases in traffic and average ticket across all vintages and geographies." Management also indicated that growth in trade or "Pro" customers outpaced the overall growth rate of customers during the quarter.</p>
<p>The Tile Shop announced that it had taken advantage of strong operating results during the quarter to pay down $15.0 million in long-term debt, effectively reducing its debt burden by nearly 30%, to $36.2 million. Even after this, the company actually added about $6 million in cash to its coffers versus the prior sequential quarter thanks to free cash flow of $21 million.</p>
<p>Now what: During The Tile Shop's first-quarter conference call, CEO Homeister noted that despite the 16% ramp-up in sales, ending inventory grew only 1%. This efficient and quick inventory movement backs the company's claim that it's seeing broad-based growth along nearly every product line.</p>
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<p>Investors also responded in kind to The Tile Shop's improved 2016 outlook. Management raised full-year guidance on sales from a previous range of $312-$325 million to a revised band of $320-$329 million.The company also boosted comparable-store sales growth guidance from the "low to mid single digits" to the "mid to high single digits."</p>
<p>Perhaps the quite solid start to 2016, combined with an even brighter outlook, will ease some of the recent volatility in The Tile Shop stock. Year to date, shares have plunged as low as 23%, climbed as much as 13%, and are currently up 6% since January 1. Producing another quarter like Q1 2016 is one way for management to smooth out the ascent of the TTS symbol, but that very success has already set a high bar for the second quarter. Stay tuned.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/16/the-tile-shop-shot-up-197-in-april-heres-why.aspx" type="external">The Tile Shop Shot Up 19.7% in April: Here's Why Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFfinosus/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Asit Sharma Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tile Shop Holdings. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | The Tile Shop Shot Up 19.7% in April: Here's Why | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/05/16/tile-shop-shot-up-17-in-april-here-why.html | 2016-05-16 | 0 |
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<p>On a breezy, unusually warm morning in late October, about 60 cops, mental health counselors, pastors, and business leaders are gathered inside a community center in Newton, Kansas for an intensive training. They sit mostly stone-faced around folding tables with coffee and pastries as Dr. Russell Palarea launches into a close analysis of the 1999 cult comedy Office Space. He explains why the behavior of Milton Waddams—a memorably pathetic cubicle dweller who suffers multiple indignities at the hands of his coworkers—holds the key to preventing a mass shooting.&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>Palarea cues a series of clips that show Milton muttering under his breath about a prized <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1025580993822908760" type="external">red</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqxjRzzGn8k" type="external">Swingline stapler</a> taken from him by his bullying boss. As the film progresses, Milton’s socially awkward affect begins to turn more hostile. Eventually, he slinks into the boss’s office to repossess the stapler. Palarea pauses the video to underscore the telling escalation: “He’s taken matters into his own hands. He’s moved from idea to action.” By the final clip, Milton has burned down the office building and decamped to a beach resort in Mexico, where he mumbles about slipping strychnine into the guacamole. The dark comedy cracks a couple of smiles, serving both as an icebreaker and an initial lesson on the behavioral warning signs of an attack—an obsessive grievance, oblique threats about killing.</p>
<p>Palarea, a forensic psychologist based in Washington, D.C., is a leading practitioner of <a href="" type="internal">threat assessment</a>, an emerging field in which mental health and law enforcement experts work together to identify and deter individuals who may be poised to commit violent attacks. At his invitation, I’d come to this rural, heavily Mennonite region about 30 miles north of Wichita to observe him train an unprecedented group: Virtually every person in the room was connected to the events of February 25, 2016, when a disturbed employee at the lawnmower plant in nearby Hesston went on a rampage, killing three people and wounding 14 others.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>In today’s era of <a href="" type="internal">active-shooter drills</a>, leaders here in Harvey County didn’t want to focus just on how to respond in the event of another attack; they wanted to understand what led to the rampage and do what they could to ensure that another one, however unlikely, wouldn’t occur. They had learned about Palarea’s work after reading a 2015 <a href="" type="internal">story</a> I wrote about an innovative strategy to prevent mass shootings and flew him in to teach them the fundamentals of threat assessment. Palarea has been in the threat assessment field for more than two decades, consulting with teams for the military, federal agencies, colleges, and corporations. When working in these various settings, he told me, he’s always emphasized the same theme: “You need to worry about this happening here.” But the theme in Harvey County was new: “Let’s heal from this and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”</p>
<p />
<p>I’d also come to Kansas to gain a deeper sense of the impact from the mass shooting, long after the news cameras were gone and the rest of America had moved on. Though the experience was still raw for many at the training, participants also expressed a sense of empowerment, in part because threat assessment defies the conventional wisdom that <a href="http://www.theonion.com/article/no-way-to-prevent-this-says-only-nation-where-this-36131" type="external">nothing</a> can really be done to prevent mass shootings. “As a clinician, when you are confronted with the fact that there might be harm or danger, it’s isolating,” Karla Roth, a mental health counselor, told me. “To know that you can work together and not be alone in it—that’s hopeful.”&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>Roth was among a small team from Prairie View Hospital in Newton that had rushed to Hesston to help in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Initially, she didn’t know the status of her husband and son-in-law, who both worked inside the Excel facility. “It was horror. Then when I found out that they were OK, I just had to help,” she said. “This is a peaceful, quiet, want-to-live-in place. To have it happen here is something no one would have ever thought.” &#160;</p>
<p>As the sun began to sink across the hayfields, Harvey County Sheriff Townsend “T.” Walton took me for a ride in his cruiser. He retraced a chaotic path that started around 5 p.m. that day. A burst of calls had come over the radio in the span of just a few minutes—one, two, and then three shootings. Gun violence had been relatively rare in Walton’s three decades of law enforcement in the region—and never anything like what he was hearing now. “In my head I’m going, ‘Is this terrorism?'” he recalled. It was just two months after the massacre in San Bernardino, California. “I’m not thinking, ‘This is a guy who just got served a protection-from-abuse letter and he’s flipped out.'”&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Thirty-eight-year-old <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/26/us/cedric-ford-kansas-shooting/" type="external">Cedric Ford</a> was a recent transplant to Newton who worked the paint line at Excel. He had a criminal record in Florida and had come to the attention of local authorities for beating up his girlfriend. About three hours before the attack, “everything was totally normal” and Ford seemed “happy as all could be,” remarked a coworker who’d chatted with him in the Excel parking lot. Soon afterwards, sheriff’s deputies showed up at Excel to serve Ford with a protection order obtained by his girlfriend, apparently triggering his plan to go on a killing spree. Ford drove home, <a href="http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article82564917.html" type="external">binged</a> on meth and booze, and got back into his car with an AK-47 assault rifle and Glock handgun.</p>
<p>Walton slowed down just past the intersection of 12th Street and Meridian, where he’d reached Ford’s first victims. Paramedics were rushing a middle-aged man with a blood-soaked shoulder out of a pickup truck strafed with bullet holes. The man’s two grandchildren cowering in the rear of the cab were, amazingly, unharmed. Just up the road, Ford had slammed his car to a halt in the road in front of his next victim, a 74-year-old woman who refused his demand to relinquish her vehicle. Miraculously, she also survived unscathed, ducking into the passenger seat as Ford fired through the driver’s side window. Ford succeeded in taking a truck from his third victim; the young man he shot in the leg along Old Highway 81 likely would have died if a sheriff’s deputy hadn’t arrived moments later with a tourniquet. (It is unclear why Ford went on the carjacking spree. His mental state was impaired and volatile, but he also may have been having trouble with his car.)</p>
<p />
<p>Walton was handling triage near 12th and Meridian when the radio erupted again: There was an active shooter inside Excel. Emergency dispatchers were quickly overwhelmed with nearly 50 calls from the plant. Walton immediately contacted his chief deputy: “Get ahold of everybody we have and send them to Hesston.” &#160;</p>
<p>As police vehicles and ambulances screamed toward the town, Hesston <a href="http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article108566537.html" type="external">police chief Doug Schroeder</a> had already reached Excel and found pandemonium. The large glass doors at the front of the plant had been shot out. Scores of employees were fleeing across the parking lots, some helping wounded coworkers. Schroeder didn’t know who was shooting inside the mammoth facility, or where. But like most law enforcement leaders trained in the post-Columbine era, he knew he could not hesitate: An active shooter fires an average of every four seconds. And hundreds of people were still inside the building.</p>
<p>Schroeder entered through a side door, his Colt AR-15 rifle in hand. He saw blood trails on the floor both to the left and the right. It was quiet. He went right, toward the main entrance, and began to hear gunfire. He moved through several more hallways to an office area, where he encountered a frightened employee. As they began to speak, the glass window in the door next to them shattered. Ford was just on the other side. “I’m going to get you,” Schroeder recalled him saying.</p>
<p>The terrified employee bolted as the barrel of Ford’s rifle poked through the doorway. Ford came through the door and chased after the employee, unaware that Schroeder was just behind him. Schroeder took aim with his rifle and fired four shots. As Ford spun and went down, he raised his pistol and fired at Schroeder. He missed. “I saw the shell casings being ejected from the handgun, but I didn’t hear the shots,” Schroeder recalled.&#160;</p>
<p>Many employees were hiding in nearby offices and Ford was carrying plenty more ammo when he was killed. There is no way to know how many lives were saved by the 41-year-old police chief, who waved off <a href="http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article62793242.html" type="external">a flurry of praise</a> and said he didn’t want his service to be defined by this one tragic event.</p>
<p>“He’s a humble man,” Walton remarked as we pulled out of the Excel parking lot. “But he was a hero to me, and without a doubt to the hundreds that got to go home that night.” &#160;</p>
<p>Excel employs about a thousand people, and many in this sparsely populated region are connected to someone who works at the plant. I visited Subrina Luke, a big-hearted woman with a wide smile, at her small apartment near the Wichita airport. She recalled how she was feeling grumpy when her fiancée Josh Higbee dropped her off at her job that morning: She was short on sleep and had forgotten her usual morning beverage, and she’d closed the car door without even saying goodbye. She was surprised when Higbee walked into the LensCrafters where she worked about 15 minutes later.&#160; &#160;</p>
<p>“What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>“Just bringing you a drink.”</p>
<p>“You didn’t have to do that,” she said, cracking a grin.</p>
<p>“Yes I did, woman. You would have been calling me for one.”</p>
<p />
<p>He kissed her goodbye. They’d been together for almost two years, sharing an apartment and raising Higbee’s spry four-year-old son from a prior relationship, who called Luke his mommy. A few hours later, the 31-year-old Higbee headed up the road to Excel. He mostly disliked his job as a welder on the second shift but was glad to be pulling in $23-plus an hour for his family.</p>
<p>The first call came from their four-year-old’s babysitter, whose boyfriend also worked at Excel. “There was a shooting at the job,” she said. Luke’s heart dropped, but the babysitter knew no details and Luke wouldn’t be able to reach Higbee during his shift. She tried to focus on helping her customers. Her phone kept buzzing. During a break, she answered a call from one of Higbee’s coworkers. “I’m sorry,” the woman told her, “but Josh is gone.”</p>
<p />
<p>“I think I screamed so loud everyone in the mall heard me,” Luke recalled, fighting through tears as we sat in her living room, sunlight jagging through the window blinds. Higbee’s son, now five, was playing in the bedroom with a pastor who’d been helping Luke and the boy through the recovery process. The youngster seemed to be doing remarkably well, bounding over to me to show off a favorite toy and hugging Luke affectionately before going off to play while we talked.</p>
<p>Luke reflected on being robbed of her partner, and the boy of his father. “He’s not going to get to see him graduate high school, he’s not going to even get to see him on his first day of school,” she said. “That’s what hurts the most, is what his dad is going to miss and what he’s going to miss.” She recalled when the boy grasped that Higbee wasn’t coming home again. “When you have a five-year-old break down and cry that he misses his dad, that is the most heartbreaking thing you can ever experience,” she said. “I picked him up and I said, ‘I miss him too, and I’m here for you when you need me.'”</p>
<p>Luke struggled to recount her experience but said she was compelled to share it. People needed to know about who gets left behind and what they face, she said.</p>
<p>“They should have psychological evaluations on everyone that owns a gun,” she continued. “I know that sounds crazy, but they have a way of telling people who are sane and not sane by things that they say. Not everyone should have a gun.” &#160;</p>
<p>Why did the shooter do it? And could he have been stopped?</p>
<p>Those twin questions haunt the survivors of every mass shooting, and they are always difficult to answer. Several hours into the threat assessment training, Palarea asked the community leaders whether they were comfortable discussing their own recent case. He’d confided to me over dinner the night before that he wasn’t sure he should even go there, given how fresh the attack still was. And there likely wouldn’t be any satisfying answers to those core questions. Nonetheless, the group agreed to proceed. The discussion was brief and somewhat circumspect (and not for public disclosure), but it underscored behaviors and circumstances to watch out for—domestic violence, drug abuse, menacing comments—and how to communicate more effectively among local agencies and institutions about individuals of concern.</p>
<p>With the encouragement of event organizers, Palarea also decided that he would not leave out his most graphic training material. Ford’s attack was the latest in a long history of similar workplace violence. Palarea gave an in-depth analysis of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Farley" type="external">a 1988 case</a> in Sunnyvale, California, where Richard Farley went on a rampage at the technology company ESL Incorporated, killing seven coworkers and wounding four others. One of the survivors, Laura Black, had rejected Farley’s romantic advances; after he continued harassing her and turned abusive, ESL fired him. This was another case where a restraining order appeared to have triggered the plan for an attack: The day before the order obtained by Black was to go into effect, Farley struck.&#160;</p>
<p>Palarea highlighted how ESL’s termination of Farley had obviously turned out to be an inadequate solution to the threat—and may have worsened it. He showed a clip of an interview conducted with Farley after he was taken into custody. Once ESL had fired him, Farley stated coldly to investigators, “They lost control of me.” Punitive measures may well be necessary in response to aberrant behavior, Palarea explained, but understanding and dealing with the root grievance remains crucial.</p>
<p />
<p>A few months before the rampage at Excel, Ford had <a href="http://heavy.com/news/2016/02/cedric-ford-hesston-kansas-shooting-shooter-facebook-video-firing-rifle-gun-field-ak47-ak-47-long-gun-photos-watch-youtube/" type="external">posted a video</a> on Facebook: The footage showed him standing at the side of a road, firing dozens of rounds from an AK-47 into an empty field. Was it just a guy harmlessly blowing off some steam, or something more ominous?</p>
<p>Perhaps a threat assessment team could have gained insight into Ford’s mental state and motivations. “It’s a matter of the community keeping eyes and ears open for concerns,” Palarea explains, “and reporting those concerns to authorities, whether school administrators, workplace threat assessment teams, or the police.” Once a tip comes in, a local threat assessment team scrutinizes the subject’s behavior and circumstances for signs that person could be contemplating an attack. Indicators can include the acquisition of weapons, surveillance of a target, or communicating threats about intended victims, whether directly or indirectly (as is more commonly the case). “Once we get a heads up, we can intervene,” says Palarea. “We can get the person mental health treatment if it’s appropriate. We can help the person resolve conflict in a positive way instead of using violence as a solution to the problem. We can get the people the help they need, to prevent these things from happening.”&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Misty Elder-Serene, a director at Prairie View Hospital who arranged the training, told me that the community’s interest in threat assessment stemmed in part from its social ethics: Though rural Kansas is gun country, the heavily Mennonite region is also marked by a culture of pacifism and commitment to social justice, she said. Those crosscurrents prompted some interesting conversations after the mass shooting—not so much a debate about gun violence as a discussion about “how can we heal, and how can we be safe.” The concept of threat assessment resonated with its imperative to better understand and manage people who could turn dangerous.</p>
<p>“It’s easy to just divide it into, ‘Oh well, it’s a gun problem’ or ‘It’s a mental health problem,'” remarked Dr. Mary Carman, a VP of psychological services at Prairie View. “It’s not. It is 12 problems, at least, that have to be addressed.”&#160;</p>
<p>Some in the community expressed a striking degree of compassion for the killer. At a church in Hesston on the Sunday evening after the attack, the service included four candles: three for those murdered, and a fourth for Ford. One person who was wounded, speaking to a reporter from his hospital bed, talked about seeing the look in Ford’s eyes and understanding how much pain he was in.</p>
<p>Several leaders at the training expressed the hope that their response to the tragedy might serve as a model for other communities upended by mass shootings. Carman, who has worked in mental health for more than three decades, noted that Prairie View Hospital was founded by World War II-era conscientious objectors who’d served in so-called insane asylums, where people with mental health issues were often treated brutally. The hospital’s founders felt there had to be a more humane and effective way to deal with disruptive, troubled people.</p>
<p>“I think that passion still permeates the [local] culture,” Carman told me. Ford’s attack was shocking, “but we can do something. We can learn more about it. We can help teach others. Some of this can be prevented. Let’s not just sit here and do nothing.”</p>
<p />
<p>Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and the wealthy wouldn’t fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.</p>
<p>Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation so we can keep on doing the type of journalism that 2018 demands.</p>
<p>Mark Follman is the national affairs editor at Mother Jones. Contact him with tips or feedback at [email protected].</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Mark Follman</a></p> | One Small Town’s Plan to Prevent Another Mass Shooting | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/03/mass-shooting-hesston-kansas-threat-assessment/ | 2017-03-07 | 4 |
<p>Andrew is taking a much needed day off, and tomorrow will resume live coverage — with mid-day and end-of-day wrap ups — of the Michael Dunn Trial, which enters week no. 2.</p>
<p>Here is a report from <a href="http://youtu.be/HDBc7zG4vbk" type="external">CBS News</a>&#160; (I believe Friday night).&#160; A similar report was on the NBC nightly news tonight, but I can’t find the clip yet.</p>
<p>Pop Quiz.</p>
<p>Analyze this sentence, which starts the segment:</p>
<p>“If this sounds familiar, it is the highest profile stand your ground case in Florida since George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.”</p>
<p /> | Reader “Stand Your Ground” Pop Quiz | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/02/reader-stand-your-ground-pop-quiz/ | 2014-02-09 | 0 |
<p>Now that Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton split the vote in Iowa and are essentially tied in some polls, nervous Democrats are starting to think another old, white person might be able to save the day.</p>
<p>Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden-idUSMTZSAPEC263PL8NO" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>Democratic donor contacts Biden allies about possible run</p>
<p>A prominent Democratic donor worried about the party’s chances of winning the presidency emailed dozens of fans of Vice President Joe Biden on Friday, urging them to remain prepared to donate if Biden jumps into the race.</p>
<p>The donor, Bill Bartmann, cited new polling showing Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont nearly tied with the Hillary Clinton, eroding the 30-point lead the former secretary of state held at the end of last year. Bartmann and other party insiders are concerned that Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, is too far to the left to win against a Republican in the Nov. 8 presidential election.</p>
<p />
<p>“We cannot afford to lose the White House,” Bartmann wrote in the email, seen by Reuters.</p>
<p>The email drew a string of affirmative responses, also seen by Reuters.</p>
<p>Biden announced in October that he would not seek the presidency, despite support from a group of backers under the name “Draft Biden 2016.” But whispers have continued among some donors who hope that Biden could be convinced to run after all should Clinton’s campaign prove fruitless.</p>
<p>“My sitting on the sidelines has a lot to do with my disappointment that the vice president decided not to get in the race,” Patrick Baskette, one of the recipients of Bartmann’s email, told Reuters. Baskette, a public affairs consultant in Tampa, Florida, was a special assistant to Biden during his time as a senator.</p>
<p>Ed Henry of FOX News has more:</p>
<p />
<p>Colbert I. King of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/clinton-email-scandal-why-it-might-be-time-for-democrats-to-draft-joe-biden/2016/02/05/cd69dfea-cc18-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html" type="external">Washington Post</a> suggests that the email scandal is a legitimate motivation for this.</p>
<p>Clinton email scandal: Why it might be time for Democrats to draft Joe Biden</p>
<p>The Hillary Clinton email issue is developing into a real whodunit, complete with Clintonesque legal semantics. “I never sent or received any material marked classified,” she said with respect to the discovery of classified information on her private, unclassified email server. That surface denial nearly rivals Bill Clinton’s classic: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”</p>
<p>But this is no laughing matter.</p>
<p>There is nothing trivial about a secretary of state having top-secret information on an unsecured computer in her home. That appears to have been the case, based on the State Department’s announcement last week that 22 emails, across seven email chains, containing top-secret information were on Hillary Clinton’s private email server.</p>
<p>At issue is whether the information in the emails was classified when it was sent to her unsecured server. It was, after all, the State Department, upon review of the content by intelligence agencies, that upgraded the emails to top-secret and ordered them withheld from the public.</p>
<p>No one makes a better case than Stephen Miller:</p>
<p />
<p>Featured image via <a href="https://youtu.be/R5ckac2nzvA" type="external">YouTube</a>.</p> | Return of the ‘Draft Biden’ Plan | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/02/return-of-the-draft-biden-plan/ | 2016-02-06 | 0 |
<p>(Reuters) – Toys ‘R’ Us Inc could file for bankruptcy in the coming weeks as pressure from skittish suppliers intensifies, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.</p>
<p>The company and its restructuring advisers are considering filing for Chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia, according to the WSJ report. (http://on.wsj.com/2h87WOt)</p>
<p>The privately-held toy retailer had previously said it was working with investment bank Lazard Ltd to help address its approximately $5 billion in debt, of which roughly $400 million comes due next year.</p>
<p>The potential Chapter 11 filing could be a result of the company’s suppliers tightening trade terms, including holding back on shipments unless the toy retailer is able to make cash payments on delivery, the newspaper reported.</p>
<p>Toys ‘R’ Us declined to comment on the report.</p>
<p>The move by Toys “R” Us to potentially file for bankruptcy comes at a time when more and more consumers increasingly make purchases from online retailers like Amazon.com Inc (O:) and avoid visiting brick-and-mortar shops.</p>
<p>There have been more than a dozen significant retail bankruptcies this year, but none for retailers as big as Toys “R” Us, which has more than 1,600 stores worldwide.</p>
<p>Toys tapped restructuring attorneys from Kirkland &amp; Ellis LLP, CNBC reported this month.</p>
<p>The company has been saddled with debt since buyout firms KKR &amp; Co L.P. (N:) and Bain Capital LP, together with real estate investment trust Vornado Realty Trust (N:), took Toys “R” Us private for $6.6 billion in 2005.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Toys 'R' Us mulls bankruptcy filing: Wall Street Journal | false | https://newsline.com/toys-039r039-us-mulls-bankruptcy-filing-wall-street-journal/ | 2017-09-15 | 1 |
<p>DUBAI, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets were sluggish in early trade on Monday with real estate developers weighing on Dubai because of continued concern about the impact of ample supply of new homes on the sector.</p>
<p>The Dubai index lost 0.6 percent to 3,492 points as Emaar Properties dropped 0.8 percent and Deyaar and Union Properties both fell 0.7 percent.</p>
<p>In the last several days the index has tested and failed to break resistance around 3,540 points, where the market bottomed last October - a negative short-term technical signal.</p>
<p>Saudi Arabia’s index edged up 0.1 percent after an early drop. Al Yamamah Steel climbed 3.1 percent in heavy trade; its board proposed a second-half cash dividend of 0.50 riyal, down from 1.0 riyal in the first half, but also approved the start of two projects to produce equipment for solar and wind energy generation. Investment in the projects is expected to total 260 million riyals ($69.3 million).</p>
<p>Qatar’s index slipped 0.2 percent as Medcare Group , which had doubled since mid-November, pulled back 2.2 percent. (Reporting by Andrew Torchia, editing by Larry King)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>HONG KONG (Reuters) - Gambling revenue in the Chinese territory of Macau posted a 22 percent gain for the month of March, due to sustained demand for gambling in the country’s only legal casino hub.</p> Casinos are seen in a general view of Macau, China October 8, 2015. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
<p>This is the 20th consecutive month of gains, cementing a roaring recovery in the former Portuguese colony, after revenues plunged to five-year lows due to slowing economic growth and a widespread crackdown on corruption starting in 2014.</p>
<p>Figures from Macau’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination bureau on Sunday showed revenues rose 22.2 percent to 26 billion patacas ($3.2 billion) versus analyst expectations of 13 percent to 18 percent growth.</p>
<p>However, revenues still remain far off the highs reached in 2014, hovering only around monthly tolls seen in 2012, data from Thomson Reuters Datastream showed.</p>
<p>Reporting by Kane Wu; writing by Farah Master; Editing by Christian Schmollinger</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) start-up Singulato Motors plans to invest 15 billion yuan ($2.39 billion) in eastern China’s Suzhou over the next five years, the official news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday.</p>
<p>A partnership between the company and the Suzhou city government covers research and development, production and industrial investment in the NEV industry, according to Xinhua, which said the announcement was made on Saturday.</p>
<p>Singulato Motors will set up a global research and development center in the city and will employ about 2,000 to 3,000 researchers in next five years to focus on advanced technologies like autonomous driving.</p>
<p>The two sides will also establish an industrial investment fund worth 10 billion yuan to nurture more start-ups in the sector, Xinhua added.</p>
<p>Singulato Motors, established in December 2014, covers businesses including NEVs, intelligent vehicle systems, and car networking services based on big data and cloud computing, according to its official website.</p>
<p>China began promoting electric cars in 2009 and aims to become a dominant global producer as it bids to curb vehicle emissions, boost energy security and promote high-tech industries.</p>
<p>A total of 777,000 NEVs were sold last year in China, the most anywhere, and the government aims to bring annual sales and output of NEVs to 2 million by 2020.</p>
<p>China’s finance ministry will also extend a tax rebate on purchases of NEVs until the end of 2020, a boost for hybrid and electric carmakers.</p>
<p>Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Se Young Lee; Editing by Kim Coghill</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia plans to issue tenders to consolidate consultancy services for government infrastructure projects in the coming months in a bid to improve efficiency and bring fresh momentum to stalled developments, government sources said.</p> FILE PHOTO: A view shows buildings and houses in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser/File Photo
<p>The kingdom plans to hire a consultancy at each ministry or state entity to supervise its pipeline of projects worth billions of dollars, according to one draft request for proposal (RFP) seen by Reuters.</p>
<p>Currently some entities and ministries like housing, health, power and municipalities use multiple consultants per project.</p>
<p>Local and international consultants do&#160;project design and execution, while government&#160;entities and ministries monitor.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The new plan aims to outsource these services&#160;for five years during which the winning bidders will train Saudis so government bodies ultimately have&#160;the capability to manage&#160;such work&#160;themselves.</p>
<p>It also aims to trim waste in state spending, combat corruption and help revive a slump in the construction industry at a critical time for the economy as Saudi Arabia embarks on an ambitious economic transformation plan that includes development of major projects such as the $500 billion NEOM business zone in the northwest of the country.</p>
<p>Recognized regional and foreign consultants with expertise in applying international project management standards are expected to win the contracts.&#160; &#160; &#160;</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160; Saudi Arabia’s construction sector has slumped in recent years as the government delayed payments to contractors and lower oil prices squeezed the state budget for new projects.</p>
<p>&#160; &#160;The RFPs are being finalised and tendering, worth millions of dollars, is expected to start in coming months, with five-year contracts to be awarded by the end of 2018, government sources told Reuters.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is not yet public</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160; The total value of the contracts has not been finalised, but one source said the contract his ministry is planning to tender could reach 5 billion riyals ($1.3 billion).</p> FILE PHOTO: Men walk at the under-construction King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser/File Photo &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;COUNTERING THE SLUMP
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160; The kingdom has spent billions of dollars on mega-projects over the past decades, but the absence of a standard mechanism for planning, follow up, and accountability has resulted in many projects being stalled or delayed.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Work on King Abdullah Financial District for example, a $10 billion mega project in the capital Riyadh, began in 2006 but has been plagued by construction delays, cost overruns and doubts about the initial economic feasibility study.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160; The government is now moving to standardize infrastructure project delivery across the kingdom. The project management office at each ministry and state entity will be overseen by the National Project Management Organization (NMPO) — which was set up in 2016 as part of a broad government effort to overhaul the economy and close a gaping budget deficit.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160; The government hired U.S.-based Bechtel Corp, one of the world’s largest industrial contractors, to run the NPMO - Mashroat in Arabic.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160; Consultancy Faithful+Gould has said the roll out of project management offices across government sectors would speed up delivery of priority projects and was a positive development for the industry following two years of contraction and uncertainty.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160; In a January 2018 report, Faithful+Gould forecast Saudi Arabia to award infrastructure contracts in 2018 worth $35 billion across government sectors.&#160;&#160; &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Ghaida Ghantous and Alexandra Hudson</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s exports reached a record $15.1 billion in March, economy minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Sunday during a televised interview on private broadcaster CNNTurk.</p> FILE PHOTO: Turkey's Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci speaks during an interview with Reuters in Ankara, Turkey, June 7, 2016. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
<p>“We reached the highest number in our history in exports, $15.1 billion,” Zeybekci said.</p>
<p>The Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM) also said in a statement on Sunday that the country’s exports rose 11.5 percent year-on-year in March to exceed $15 billion for the first time.</p>
<p>It said exports in the last 12 months had risen 10.5 percent to around $160 billion.</p>
<p>Data from Turkey’s official statistics institute on Friday showed exports stood at $13.18 billion in February. They also showed Turkey’s trade deficit had widened 54.2 percent year-on-year to $5.76 billion.</p>
<p>TIM President Mehmet Buyukeksi said the assembly was aiming for exports to exceed $170 billion at the end of the year.</p>
<p>Zeybekci also said he expected tourism revenues to reach $51-52 billion in 2018 from around $26 billion in 2017.</p>
<p>Tourism, a major source of funding to plug Turkey’s persistent current account deficit, is recovering from a sharp downturn caused by bomb attacks, diplomatic disputes and a failed coup.</p>
<p>Foreign arrivals surged over 27 percent in 2017 to 32.4 million, largely boosted by Russian tourists after Turkey patched up a rift with Moscow, concerns over security eased and the sector offered discounts to attract customers.</p>
<p>Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen and Behiye Selin Taner; Editing by Mark Potter</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | MIDEAST STOCKS-Gulf sluggish, property firms weigh on Dubai Macau casinos post 22 percent revenue gain in March China NEV start-up Singulato to invest $2.39 billion in Suzhou: Xinhua Exclusive: Saudi Arabia to tender consolidation of project consultancy services - sources Turkey's exports hit record $15.1 billion in March: economy minister | false | https://reuters.com/article/mideast-stocks/mideast-stocks-gulf-sluggish-property-firms-weigh-on-dubai-idUSL8N1PH1BO | 2018-01-22 | 2 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.thestatesonline.com/band.html" type="external">The States</a>, a palatable New York-based, indy/pop/punk/rock band, don’t exactly get my angsty, political blood boiling, but they do get bonus points for writing a song about former high-powered Republican lobbyist <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/06/22/LI2005062200936.html" type="external">Jack Abramoff</a> on their latest album, The Path of Least Resistance.</p>
<p>Abramoff, who was at the center of a wide-ranging public corruption investigation including fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy, gets criticized in the song “Black Jack” by The States. “How are you gonna tell your son that the game is over, that your hand is busted,” they say in the song. Ouch!</p>
<p>Karl Rove doesn’t get off too easy on the album, either. In the song “The Architect,” The States criticize Rove and the Bush Administration with the lines “You can build where you don’t belong if you are cautious…Liberty is such a bitch, yeah, when you force it.”</p>
<p>The only problem is that their well-polished hipster cool image and over-produced tracks make the band and their new album feel too safe for me. As a result, they don’t feel very rebellious or dangerous, so their bark feels louder than their bite.</p>
<p /> | The States Give a Shout-Out to Jack Abramoff | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/states-give-shout-out-jack-abramoff/ | 2007-08-06 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Small businesses continue to blaze a path in job creation, according to the June ADP National Employment Report.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Companies with fewer than 50 employees created 117,000 jobs last month – 42% of all new private-sector jobs, says the private-payroll processor.</p>
<p>According to the monthly report, 281,000 private-sector jobs were added in June, compared to 179,000 the previous month. The Labor Department’s latest jobs data, typically released on the first Friday of the month, will come out a day early this week due to the Fourth of July holiday.</p>
<p>The construction industry was a bright spot in June’s report. Construction businesses hired 36,000 new workers, more than double the May number. There was also a slight uptick in manufacturing, with 12,000 new jobs added.</p>
<p>“The June jobs number is a welcome boost,” said Carlos Rodriquez, president and CEO of ADP. “The number of construction jobs added was particularly encouraging, representing the highest total in that industry since February of 2006.”</p>
<p>Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics – which collaborates on the report -- noted in a statement that job gains are broad-based across industries and company sizes, indicating that the economic recovery is picking up speed.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>A Closer Look at Small Business Growth</p>
<p>The smallest businesses tracked by ADP added the most jobs in June, with companies with fewer than 20 employees creating 56% of all SMB positions.</p>
<p>While goods-producing companies increased the pace of hiring in June, service businesses continue to grow at a faster pace – a consistent trend through the last year.</p>
<p>Small businesses making goods added 25,000 new positions last month, while service businesses created 95,000 jobs. &#160;In May, goods-producing companies added just 9,000 jobs, while SMBs in service industries added 73,000.</p> | ADP: Small Businesses Add Over 40% of New Jobs in June | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/07/02/adp-small-businesses-add-over-40-new-jobs-in-june.html | 2016-04-07 | 0 |
<p />
<p>The idea of stand-up business meetings isn’t new; a colleague was advocating them over 15 years ago. Yet I’ve seen some recent articles about using stand-up meetings as an easy solution to make your meetings more productive.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>We’ve all attended or even organized meetings that simply dragged on and didn’t accomplish what we wanted, so the promise of stand-up meetings is very compelling. Unfortunately, this doesn’t treat the symptoms of dysfunctional meetings that waste everybody’s time.</p>
<p>Are stand-up meetings useful? Sometimes, but not as a solution to bad meetings. They can easily be used for short 5 to 10 minute status updates, particularly when you don’t want to use a meeting room or when you have too many participants to be seated in your meeting space. The stand-up meeting can even be held in an open plan office if it includes the entire team.</p>
<p>One of the principles of the stand-up meeting is that participants will pay attention since they can’t slouch in their chair and the meetings will be short because it’s less comfortable to stand. It even makes it harder for attendees to hide their phones under the table and read emails or send texts during the meeting.</p>
<p>MORE ALLBUSINESS:&#160;</p>
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<p>For meetings where more complex issues need to be discussed, lots of input gathered and solution explored, simply forcing meeting attendees to stand up won’t make the meeting more productive. These types of meetings are frequently from 30 minutes to several hours long.</p>
<p>Instead, use these techniques to get better results from your meetings:</p>
<p>Michel Theriault is an author, speaker and consultant focusing on topics relevant to Managers and aspiring Managers in businesses of all sizes who want to get results, get attention and get ahead. He is the author of <a href="http://www.successfuelformanagers.com/quick-guides/communicate-to-influence-book/" type="external">Write To Influence Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;(from the Quick Guides for Managers series),&#160; <a href="http://howtowinmorebusiness.com/about-the-book/" type="external">Win More Business – Write Better Proposals Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://thebuiltenvironment.ca/managing-facilities-book" type="external">Managing Facilities &amp; Real Estate Opens a New Window.</a>. &#160;Connect with Michel or read his blogs about management and leadership on his site at <a href="http://www.successfuelformanagers.com/" type="external">www.successfuelformanagers.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | 8 Ways to Cure Dysfunctional Business Meetings | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/10/23/8-ways-to-cure-dysfunctional-business-meetings.html | 2016-04-07 | 0 |
<p>The Libyan government ordered the country's militias to either come under government authority or disband, following popular protests last week against the armed groups that roamed the country, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/libyan-president-orders-disbanding-of-illegitimate-militias/2012/09/23/8631b91e-0573-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_story.html?wprss=rss_social-world-headlines&amp;Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost" type="external">the Associated Press reported</a>.</p>
<p>President Mohammed el-Megaref told reporters on Saturday that the militias, which the government has relied on to provide security since Muammar Gaddafi's ouster, must fall in line or disband. He said a joint operations room would coordinate between armed brigades and the army, working to dissolve militias that operated outside the "legitimacy of the state."</p>
<p>Libya's army also issued an ultimatum to militias in and around the capital, Tripoli, giving them 48 hours to leave military premises or be ejected by force, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/23/us-protests-libya-idUSBRE88M08D20120923" type="external">Reuters reported</a>.</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/120922/libya-protests-militias-four-dead" type="external">Libya protests: At least 11 dead as protesters storm militia's compound</a></p>
<p>The state-run LANA news agency reported that the army's ultimatum vowed to "use force to carry out these orders" if necessary. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/23/world/africa/libya-militias/index.html" type="external">According to CNN</a>, Libyan troops also raided a rogue infantry brigade's base in Tripoli on Sunday.</p>
<p>"Our mission is to evacuate all public installations and private property occupied by groups who are not under state jurisdiction," said Haj Musa, one of the commanders of the National Mobile Unit, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gPyKdjGMXsGLRCC3BLu_OSgBbTUw?docId=CNG.a041b90ea448e6c91b64d500bfc37b57.331" type="external">according to Agence France Presse</a>.</p>
<p>Two of the main Islamist militias in Derna, an Islamist stronghold, said that they were disbanding on Saturday. One of them, Ansar al-Sharia, was driven out of Benghazi earlier, said Reuters.</p>
<p>The increased pressure on Libya's militias comes after they were accused of involvement in the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi earlier this month, which left four Americans including the US ambassador dead.</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/120921/30000-libyans-protest-against-militias" type="external">30,000 Libyans protest against militias</a></p> | Libya: Militias ordered to fall in line or disband | false | https://pri.org/stories/2012-09-23/libya-militias-ordered-fall-line-or-disband | 2012-09-23 | 3 |
<p>Anyone who thinks teachers don’t deserve their meager salaries hasn’t heard the story behind the $3,000 tip left for a server in financial distress. The story is an incredible testament to the character of the teacher involved.</p>
<p>A New York man named Mike was moved to leave a 7000% tip for a server&#160;who had waited on&#160;him for a year.&#160; The woman told him she had received an eviction notice because she couldn’t pay her rent.</p>
<p>Mike told <a href="http://6abc.com/society/man-leaves-$3000-tip-for-struggling-waitress/685646/" type="external">ABC News</a>:</p>
<p>“She really needed it and has been so happy since then, so I feel I did the right thing. She said she was going to devote herself to the foundation and continue to pay it forward.”</p>
<p>The foundation Mike is referring to was the inspiration for his overwhelming act of kindness. Mike had a science teacher in middle-school, 10 years before, who was pretty awesome. But it’s a more recent lesson that the teacher, Rich Specht, carried into the world that motivated the tip.</p>
<p>In 2012, Rich Specht’s 22-month-old son, nicknamed Rees, died in a tragic drowning accident while his father prepared their house to ride out&#160;Hurricane Sandy. The kindness of others following the toddler’s death was so overwhelming that he and his wife, also a teacher, started a pay-it-forward foundation called “ReesSpecht Life.”</p>
<p>The organization’s purpose is spelled out on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ReesSpechtLife?fref=ts" type="external">ReesSpecht Life’s FB page</a>:</p>
<p>“Our goal is to cultivate kindness and compassion in local communities. To aid in this goal, the foundation provides scholarships to HS seniors who demonstrate a commitment to the ideals of Community, Compassion and Respect.”</p>
<p>The scholarships aren’t all the foundation does. They also hand out “Pay It Forward” cards to&#160; honor acts of kindness and encourage their movement to grow. So far, they’ve handed out over 100,000 cards worldwide. A book they wrote, titled&#160;“A Little Rees Specht Cultivates Kindness,” is used in classrooms to teach the concepts of kindness and compassion.</p>
<p>Specht told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/man-leaves-7000-percent-tip-waitress-middle-school/story?id=30622400" type="external">ABC</a>:</p>
<p>“All we ever want is to make a difference in the world. My son only had 22 months and didn’t really have a chance, and that’s all I wanted for him: to know he inspired someone he never met to do something. I don’t know if there is a word that fits it because I can’t describe the feeling. It restores something that was missing.”</p>
<p>Mike called his former teacher “an incredible human being.” He was moved by the fact that Specht’s generosity came from such tragic loss and decided to do something to pay-it-forward himself. That’s where the financially strapped server comes into the picture.</p>
<p>When Mike left the $3,000 tip, on a bill for $43.50, he wrote this message on the back of the receipt:</p>
<p>“Thank you for your kindness and humility. My teacher in middle school had such a difficult experience a few years ago which has sparked me to do this. My only requirements are:</p>
<p>1) Go to <a href="http://www.reesspechtlife.com" type="external">ReesSpechtLife.com</a>&#160;and learn!</p>
<p>2) Don’t let “Pay it forward” end with you.</p>
<p>3) Since it’s about the idea and not about you, or me, if you decide to share this, don’t use either of our names!”</p>
<p>The server has apparently honored those requirements. Because both she and Mike remain anonymous, it’s impossible to know Mike’s financial circumstances and what allowed him to make such a generous gesture.</p>
<p>However, in a world that often seems dominated by stories of how the rich and mighty, like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson, use money to try to control the direction of the country, it’s empowering to see that people like the Spechts — with few, or at least modest, resources — can make a tremendous&#160;impact on the world around them. The fact that they&#160;are teachers deserves a lot of&#160;ReeSpecht, itself.</p>
<p>You can watch the story of ReeSpecht Life in the video below:</p>
<p>https://youtu.be/U1D–N-v2p0</p>
<p>Feature photo via <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ReesSpechtLife/timeline" type="external">ReesSpecht Life Facebook page</a>.</p> | Man From One Underpaid Profession Inspires $3,000 Tip For Woman From Another (VIDEO) | true | http://addictinginfo.org/2015/04/30/teacher-inspires-3000-tip-server/ | 2015-04-30 | 4 |
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<p>Many have claimed that this is exactly what will happen as a result of the Affordable Care Act. It is simply not true.</p>
<p>The truth is the Affordable Care Act has built-in protections for Medicare, and the act will allow it to stay around for the foreseeable future. There will be no loss of services previously available. Whatever benefits our Medicare coverage provided us before will remain, including the freedom to choose our own physicians. We can therefore rest knowing that the ACA will not force us outside our comfort zones.</p>
<p>So there should be no doubt that the Affordable Care Act will preserve Medicare. In fact, one could say that the ACA actually improves it. For instance, under the ACA, those covered by Medicare will now be granted free preventive services without being charged the Part B coinsurance or deductible. These free preventive services include annual wellness exams, which range from bone mass measurements to cardiovascular screenings.</p>
<p>Not only is the Affordable Care Act’s protection of Medicare good news for seniors from a health standpoint, but from a financial standpoint as well. During the law’s first year, those seniors who fell into the “doughnut hole” received a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate for relief. On top of that, those of us who are currently in the doughnut hole because of steep prices on our prescription drugs will now receive a 50 percent rebate on all covered brand-name drugs while in the doughnut hole.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Too many seniors end up neglecting their medications because of the high cost, but this discount should rectify the problem. In addition, under this plan the doughnut hole will be closed completely by 2020. This means that the ACA was created with an understanding that it is often difficult for seniors to afford high-quality health care, regardless of coverage.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the Romney-Ryan plan would basically lead to Medicare’s demise. If elected, Romney would work to repeal the ACA, which would effectively turn Medicare into a private, voucher-based system. In other words, Medicare would be taken out of the government’s hands and transitioned into the private sector – a system that has failed many seniors in the past. Deductibles would return, and the cost of health care for senior citizens would climb to unreachable heights for many.</p>
<p>The name of the leader of our country is not what is most important to seniors like me. What is important is ensuring that our Medicare coverage is preserved for the sake of our health and our checkbooks. The Affordable Care Act seems determined to do just that. That is why I am putting my full support behind this health care law. I encourage other seniors to do the same.</p> | Seniors Can Have Confidence in ACA | false | https://abqjournal.com/140957/seniors-can-have-confidence-in-aca.html | 2012-10-24 | 2 |
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<p><a type="external" href="">They’ve All Gone to Look for America: A Veteran of the ’60s Searches Out the Activists of Today</a> Bo Burlingham February/March 1976</p>
<p>The left bobs up and down in American history, a battered and leaky craft which often disappears beneath the tide but somehow never sinks. The reports of its wreckage are always exaggerated. It is now almost five years since the last major antiwar demonstration in Washington and since Time announced the “cooling of America.” We find ourselves in the trough of the post-Vietnam wave. The issues which moved the Movement belong to another era, as we focus our attention on the pocketbook crises of the 1970s.</p>
<p>Five years: time enough to ask what remains. What ever happened to that hodgepodge of groups and movements we called the New Left, the hundreds of thousands of peace marchers, the student strikers, the radical feminists, Black Power advocates, antiwar soldiers, draft resisters, welfare-rights activists, gay liberationists, environmentalists, and community organizers?</p>
<p>I count myself among them. Like most white Americans of my age (29) and class (middle), I grew up thinking of America as the Good Ship Lollipop, only to discover in the ’60s that it more closely resembled a Roman man-of-war. The ship’s officers I came to believe combined the vision of Ahab with the sensitivity of Bligh. I joined the mutiny, for which I was court-martialed. Meanwhile, the rebellion seemed to fizzle. I got married, had a child, and found a profession. Now, in the mid-1970s, I think of America as the Titanic, and look around for a lifeboat.</p>
<p>It stands to reason that a great many people find themselves in the same predicament. The Los Angeles Times recently cited the figure of 2 to 3 million erstwhile activists who retain their radical allegiance, though they may lack a cause to which they can pledge it. Even if the numbers are accurate, I told myself, there is a difference between 3 million former activists with radical notions, and radical activity. The former is just a statistic; the latter is a political force. And political force, at least for most of my friends and myself, hasn’t been a compelling preoccupation in the last couple of years.</p>
<p><a type="external" href="">The Rabbit That Ate Pennsylvania</a> Ron Chernow January 1978</p>
<p>The Pennsylvania auto plant may prove a symbol of fiscal lunacy on as grandiose a scale [as the Lunar Rover]. In a well-publicized campaign last year, Governor Milton Shapp pledged more than $70 million to the German automaker if it would set up shop in the state. He turned Pennsylvanians, willy-nilly, into Volkswagen stockholders, hitching their fortunes to a single, shaky corporation.</p>
<p>What’s happening to VW is no different from what’s happening to major corporations everywhere. As formerly regional companies become plugged into national and global markets, corporate chieftains enjoy a corresponding freedom to shift their plants around like chess pawns. Large capital has liberated itself from all responsibility to a given community. Improved communications and transportation have enhanced this mobility. The result has been the bane of the contemporary labor movement: the runaway corporation.</p>
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<p><a type="external" href="">Arthur M. Schlesinger’s Robert Kennedy and His Times</a> Reviewed by Joe Klein December 1978</p>
<p>Think about it. The left has become rather precious in the ’70s, mostly concerning itself with libertarianism (especially the liberties of women, homosexuals, and marijuana smokers), corporate intransigence (which often translates into little more than enlightened middle-class consumerism), and a flabby environmentalism. The poor have been pretty much forgotten. Think about the articles you’ve read in this magazine over the past two years: exploding Pintos, defective birth-control devices, chemical additives, meditations on the viability of matrimony — all worthy topics, of course — but there’s not much about the inner cities and about the 40 percent unemployment among black teenagers. Very little about black people at all, in fact…</p>
<p>At one point, Schlesinger describes Kennedy visiting the Mississippi Delta hovel of an unemployed cotton picker. It was during one of those grand tours that Senate committees used to make (before it became too dangerously liberal to oppose poverty) with TV crews snaking along like Chinese dragons — a few shots of dire poverty, a few shots of senators shaking their heads, some platitudes, and then home to Washington. But Kennedy, spotting a little boy with a distended stomach on the ßoor of a shack, went inside, sat down on a filthy mattress, and held the child on his lap. Charles Evers remembered the gagging smell and pestilence of that shack — none of the others would venture inside — and Kennedy sitting there, hugging and patting the child, tears streaming down his face…</p>
<p>The passion of Robert Kennedy was a remarkable event in recent American politics, a moment of inÞnite possibilities. Looking back on it now, he clearly was the last politician able to unite the working class and the poor. His appeal crossed some impressive boundaries: Both Tom Hayden and Richard Daley, who would confront each other in Chicago several months later.</p>
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<p><a type="external" href="">A Case of Corporate Malpractice</a> Mark Dowie &amp; Tracy Johnston November 1976</p>
<p>A product that has been heavily promoted and advertised gathers a certain kind of momentum, a momentum that can carry right over obstacles like bad publicity, studies of its dangers, and the like. In the case of the Dalkon Shield, this momentum brought a curious coda to its story: Throughout the entire controversy right up to the moment [manufacturer A.H.] Robins [Company] took the Shield off the market, the U.S. foreign aid program was busily sending huge quantities of the device to more than 40 countries throughout the world.</p>
<p>The Agency for International Development’s population-control program is in the hands of Dr. R.D. Ravenholt, a man whose enthusiasm for birth control as a solution to the world’s problems borders on the fanatical. Only when the FDA ruled the Shield unsafe (which was some time after Robins had stopped selling it) did Ravenholt and aid try to recall any Shields. They managed to get back fewer than half of the 769,000 Shields they had given away.</p>
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<p><a type="external" href="">What America Needs to Do Next</a> Margaret Atwood September/October 1976</p>
<p>What I would like to see would be the development and spread of a genuinely international consciousness, as opposed to Coca-colonization, holidayinnery, or uninationalism fostered by American capitalism. It would not necessarily be produced by democratizing the U.S., but it’s unlikely to take place without it.</p>
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<p>The Final Entry of Pablo Neruda’s Memoirs, published for the first time in English August 1976</p>
<p>I am writing these quick lines for my memoirs only three days after the unspeakable events took my great comrade, President Allende, to his death. His assassination was hushed up, he was buried secretly, and only his widow was allowed to accompany that im-mortal body. The aggressors’ version is that they found clear signs of suicide on his lifeless body. The version published abroad is different. Immediately after the aerial bombardment, the tanks went into action, many tanks, fighting heroically against a single man: the President of the Republic of Chile, Salvador Allende, who was waiting for them in his office, with no other company but his great heart, wrapped in by smoke and flames.</p>
<p>They couldn’t pass up such a beautiful occasion. He had to be machine-gunned because he would never have resigned from office. That body was buried secretly, in an incon-spicuous spot, the corpse followed to its grave only by a woman who carried with her the grief of the world. That glorious dead figure was riddled and ripped to pieces by the machine guns of Chile’s soldiers, who had betrayed Chile once more.</p>
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<p><a type="external" href="">New Populist on the Scene</a> November 1978</p>
<p>Maverick attorney generals are not that rare, but Bill Clinton is one worth watching. For one thing, when he is elected governor of Arkansas this month — as he surely will be — he may prove to be the nation’s most populist governor to take office this year…. Political progressive-watchers always a worry ahead of the crowd are already wondering whether Clinton’s populism will survive as he advances politically.</p>
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<p><a type="external" href="">New Orleans, Before It’s Too Late</a> Michael Goodwin December 1977</p>
<p>Back at the fairgrounds, dancing and trying to take notes at the same time, someone pinches my ass. Turning around, I discover two beautiful Creole women, drinking beer and laughing like crazy. “What are you doing?” one of them asks.</p>
<p>“I’m taking notes,” I say, “whaddya think?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, for who?”</p>
<p>“You never heard of it.” (A safe assumption. Probably no one in New Orleans has ever heard of this magazine. And when you tell them they’ll probably call it Mother Earth.)</p>
<p>“Come on, who are you writing for?”</p>
<p>“Um, it’s a national magazine called Mother Jones.”</p>
<p>“No shit?” says one of the women. “We subscribe to Mother Jones! You want a joint?” She passes a reefer, I hit it, and we all start dancing. “Hey, when you write this up, be sure and mention that two fine New Orleans women got you stoned on dynamite Colombian,” she says.</p>
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<p>Two Poems Alice Walker September/October 1976</p>
<p>Martin King There is no end to conversation with you my thoughts talking back to that soaring voice of yours which is all we knew we had to bring us back. And when the racists and the raced against tear you apart I put you back together with eager fingers and a loving tongue. I am no cannibal to join the feast to devour you living devour you dead.</p>
<p>Malcolm X Those who say they knew you offer as proof an image stunted by perfections. Alert for signs of the man to claim, one must believe they did not know you at all nor can remember the small, less popular ironies of the Saint: that you learned to prefer all women free and enjoyed a joke and loved to laugh.</p>
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<p><a type="external" href="">Under Cover in the New Germany</a> Abbie Hoffman’s profile of radical German reporter Gunter Wallraff February/March 1979</p>
<p>So here I am at the press conference in Paris, which takes place in an old library on Boulevard Saint Germain. It’s standing-room-only, as reporters from all over Europe flock to catch a glimpse of their hero-colleague. Everyone knows it’s only a glimpse — Gunter constantly changes his appearance. There is a collection of Wallraff photos taken over the past 10 years that are worthy of Lon Chaney. Long hair, mustache, crew cut, beard, head shaved bald. He’ll put on or take off 30 pounds to better assume a role. Without being introduced, it’s possible Europe’s most celebrated reporter could be in the room undetected. He’s not the only one here incognito. Five years of fugitive living has made me a little camera-shy, so I’m wearing my best wig and dark glasses for the occasion. The mysterious Madame Ange who accompanies me on such missions as bodyguard and translator (Gunter speaks no language other than German) has transformed herself into a blond model of Aryan respectability. There may be others in disguise, for press conferences dealing with any aspect of terrorism have taken on the appearance of masquerade parties.</p>
<p /> | An Anniversary Anthology: the 1970s | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2001/05/anniversary-anthology/ | 2018-05-01 | 4 |
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<p>The tourists, who were drawn to Etna to observe the spectacle of the active volcano erupting, were caught by surprise when its flowing magma hit thick snow, causing a phreatic explosion that rained rock and other material down upon them.</p>
<p>A BBC journalist and camerawoman on assignment at the volcano were among the injured. Their film shows an explosion of steam followed by a second explosion of boiling rocks and people running away from the explosion. The clip continues in a snowcat, where a man holds a paper towel to stanch the bleeding from his head and hugs his wife.</p>
<p>Authorities say about 35 tourists were on the volcano when the explosion occurred around midday, and that the guides who accompanied them helped bring them to safety.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The president of the Italian Alpine Club chapter in Catania, Umberto Marino, said he was traveling up the volcano in a snowcat when injured people started running in his direction.</p>
<p>“The material thrown into the air fell back down, striking the heads and bodies of people who were closest,” Marino was quoted by the Catania Today website as saying.</p>
<p>According to Italian news agency ANSA, four people including three German tourists were hospitalized, mostly with head injuries. None of the injuries was listed as grave.</p>
<p>Italy’s volcanology institute said the explosion took place at about 2,700 meters (8,858 feet) above sea level, putting the tourists at more than 500 meters (1,640 feet) below the base of the newest southeast Mount Etna crater where the lava flow originated.</p>
<p>Among those present when the explosion occurred was a scientist from Italy’s volcanology institute, Boris Behncke, who said on his Facebook page that he had suffered a bruise to his head.</p>
<p>“I am generally fine and having a good, well-deserved beer in this moment,” he added.</p>
<p>The BBC’s global science reporter, Rebecca Morelle, was on assignment on Etna and described the experience in a series of tweets.</p>
<p>“Running down a mountain pelted by rocks, dodging burning boulders and boiling steam — not an experience I ever ever want to repeat,” Morelle wrote.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The BBC crew was shaken but physically OK despite having suffered cuts, bruises and burns, she wrote. Morelle later showed the camerawoman’s jacket on the air with a big hole in the back where the material had melted in the explosion.</p>
<p>Morelle said the explosion was “a reminder of how dangerous (and) unpredictable volcanoes can be.”</p>
<p>Mount Etna has been active for the past two days, creating a visual spectacle as it spews lava and ash into the air. A new lava flow started from the southeastern crater on Wednesday, and was advancing with a temperature above 1,000 degrees Centigrade (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) in an area covered by snow, creating the explosion.</p>
<p>Officials at nearby Catania airport announced Thursday they would reduce arrivals by half to five flights an hour due to Mount Etna’s ash clouds. Departures were continuing as scheduled.</p>
<p>Thousands of tourists each year visit Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes located on the eastern coast of Sicily. Eruptions occur frequently, although incidents that involve injured tourists are rare.</p>
<p>A similar phreatic explosion, caused when lava hits water, on Etna in 2002 injured 32 people, mostly firefighters and other emergency workers responding to a series of eruptions.</p>
<p>Authorities limited access to riskier areas on Mount Etna following a deadly eruption in 1979 that killed nine tourists who were standing at the volcano’s rim. Reports indicate that the tourists who experienced the eruption Thursday were in a zone where access is permitted with a guide.</p>
<p>The volcanology institute said it was continuing to monitor the situation.</p> | 10 injured by volcanic explosion on Italy’s Mount Etna | false | https://abqjournal.com/970624/10-injured-by-volcanic-explosion-on-italys-mount-etna.html | 2017-03-16 | 2 |
<p>If you have an oil fortune,&#160;I can only imagine every day is essentially a Sweet 16. So do you make your wedding day even more special than your regular life? For Said Gutseriev, you fly in Jennifer Lopez, Sting, and Enrique Iglesias. Obviously.</p>
<p>The party was documented on Instagram, which exists precisely so people can prove they threw this type of party. A few of the best shots:</p>
<p>Jennifer Lopez performing in a bejeweled body suit.</p>
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<p>Bride Khadija Uzhakhovs poses&#160;in a bejeweled wedding dress,&#160;while Sting&#160;drones in on the background.</p>
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<p>J. Lo crouches in a bejeweled leotard.</p>
<p>https://www.instagram.com/p/BDeDf1MpcIw/</p>
<p>Enrique Iglesias doesn't even bother to take off his baseball cap.</p>
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<p>Then guests enjoyed a wedding cake the size of two Russian oligarchs standing on top of each other.</p>
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<p>https://www.instagram.com/p/BDd-aarM290/?taken-by=svadby_miira_lux</p>
<p>Congrats to the happy couple! May you continue posting on Instagram as long as you both shall live.</p>
<p>https://www.instagram.com/p/BDiYIp7M2_Y/?taken-by=svadby_miira_lux</p>
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<p>&#160;</p> | Here Are the Best Photos from a Billion-Dollar Wedding | true | http://thefrisky.com/2016-03-29/russian-oligarch-billionaire-wedding/?utm_source%3Dsc-fb%26utm_medium%3Dref%26utm_campaign | 2018-10-04 | 4 |
<p>Jan. 22 (UPI) — New research suggests the dissipation of heat from Earth’s interior is responsible for the acceleration of the seaward slide of Greenland’s ice sheets.</p>
<p>The descent of of Greenland’s shrinking glaciers is well documented, but the latest research — published this week <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19244-x" type="external">in the journal Scientific Reports</a> — is the first to link the ice loss with escaped heat from Earth’s interior.</p>
<p>The research was made possible by a decade-long survey of Greenland’s Young Sound fjord. For ten years, scientists with the Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources measured temperatures and salinity levels in the fjord. Their survey showed deep-lying water in the fjord, between 650 and 1,100 feet deep, has gradually warmed over the last decade.</p>
<p>Further analysis showed a significant amount of heat is emanating from Earth’s interior, slowly warming the fjord’s water. Scientists estimated 100 megawatts per square meter of energy was transferred from the Earth’s interior to the fjord.</p>
<p>The findings suggest similar amounts of heat were transferred to the bottoms of surrounding glaciers. This newly detailed warming mechanism creates lubrication, accelerating glacial descent.</p>
<p>“It is a combination of higher temperatures in the air and the sea, precipitation from above, local dynamics of the ice sheet and heat loss from the Earth’s interior that determines the mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet,” researcher Soren Rysgaard said in a news release. “There is no doubt that the heat from the Earth’s interior affects the movement of the ice, and we expect that a similar heat seepage takes place below a major part of the ice cap in the north-eastern corner of Greenland.”</p>
<p>Measuring heat flux beneath glaciers is difficult, but scientists hope their latest findings will lead to more accurate modeling of the warming mechanism. With more accurate measurements of heat flux, scientists can more accurately predict the fate of Greenland’s ice sheets.</p> | Heat loss form Earth’s interior responsible for sliding ice sheets | false | https://newsline.com/heat-loss-form-earths-interior-responsible-for-sliding-ice-sheets/ | 2018-01-22 | 1 |
<p />
<p>Vodafone (NASDAQ:VOD) is reportedly weighing a $10 billion cash bid for Kabel Deutschland, Germany’s largest cable operator, and believes its offer and lack of antitrust issues will put the U.K. wireless carrier ahead of Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>On Monday, Kabel Deutschland confirmed that Liberty Global made a bid for the company but didn’t disclose any further details.</p>
<p>Reuters said Wednesday that Liberty Global offered nearly $10 billion for Kabel Deutschland, including a share component, while Vodafone was looking to bid at least that much in cash.</p>
<p>According to one source cited by Reuters, Vodafone has notified Kabel Deutschland that it is preparing an improved offer.</p>
<p>Reports last week indicated that Vodafone was already considering a higher bid after its informal proposal was rejected.</p>
<p>The Reuters report added that Liberty Global, which owns Unity Media, the No. 2 German cable company, would be subject to more scrutiny from German regulators. In February, Kabel Deutschland was blocked from taking over smaller cable group Telecolumbus.</p>
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<p>Liberty has already held discussions with the German antitrust office to discuss the deal, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters. The deal could also be referred to the Brussels competition watchdog that reviews large deals with regional implications in the European Union.</p>
<p>Shares of Vodafone fell 1.3% to $28.33 late Wednesday morning. Liberty was up 60 cents at $72.48.</p> | Report: Vodafone Weighing $10B Kabel Bid to Top Liberty | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/06/19/report-vodafone-weighing-10b-kabel-bid-to-top-liberty.html | 2016-01-25 | 0 |
<p>SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — Reno police are leading an investigation into the killing of a 27-year-old man who was shot by police in neighboring Sparks.</p>
<p>Reno police Lt. Zack Thew said Thursday two Sparks officers were involved in the fatal shooting at an apartment complex a few blocks from Sparks High School shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday.</p>
<p>The victim has been identified as Humberto Vera-Munoz. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His hometown wasn't immediately available.</p>
<p>No details have been released about the circumstances that led up to the fatal confrontation. But Thew confirmed the incident began with a traffic stop and no one else was in the car when the shooting occurred.</p>
<p>No one else was hurt.</p>
<p>The Washoe County Sheriff's office is assisting in the investigation under regional protocols for officer-involved shootings.</p>
<p>SPARKS, Nev. (AP) — Reno police are leading an investigation into the killing of a 27-year-old man who was shot by police in neighboring Sparks.</p>
<p>Reno police Lt. Zack Thew said Thursday two Sparks officers were involved in the fatal shooting at an apartment complex a few blocks from Sparks High School shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday.</p>
<p>The victim has been identified as Humberto Vera-Munoz. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His hometown wasn't immediately available.</p>
<p>No details have been released about the circumstances that led up to the fatal confrontation. But Thew confirmed the incident began with a traffic stop and no one else was in the car when the shooting occurred.</p>
<p>No one else was hurt.</p>
<p>The Washoe County Sheriff's office is assisting in the investigation under regional protocols for officer-involved shootings.</p> | Sparks police fatally shoot 27-year-old suspect | false | https://apnews.com/amp/8de4462007d84eefba9c380401af1dcd | 2018-01-25 | 2 |
<p>These Greek voters were “risking financial ruin in a show of defiance that could splinter Europe,” according to the Washington Post.</p>
<p>The Washington Post‘s Griff Witte and Michael Birnbaum ( <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/greeks-reject-bailout-offer-in-landslide/2015/07/06/827b840f-f803-443d-a478-5d257b1af1fe_story.html" type="external">7/6/15</a>) report on what Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras might do in the wake a resounding anti-austerity vote in his nation’s referendum:</p>
<p>Tsipras also is expected to present new proposals to a tough audience: seeking to persuade European partners that Greece can be trusted to trim its spending, and get fresh bailout funds in return.</p>
<p>Hmmm…. Can Greece be trusted to trim its spending? Let’s take a look:</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>So from 2010 to 2015, Greece has cut government spending from roughly 13 billion euros to 10 billion euros–a cut of 23 percent. Unsurprisingly, this has had a devastating effect on Greece’s economy, with <a href="http://www.tradingeconomics.com/greece/unemployment-rate" type="external">unemployment</a> stuck above 25 percent since the end of 2012.</p>
<p>In the Washington Post‘s eyes, though, Greece has not yet demonstrated the willingness to “trim its spending” that would merit a bailout.</p>
<p>Jim Naureckas is the editor of <a href="" type="internal">FAIR.org</a>.</p>
<p>Messages can be sent to the Washington Post at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>, or via Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost" type="external">@washingtonpost</a>. Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.</p> | After Greece Cuts a Quarter of Its Budget, WaPo Asks if It’s Willing to ‘Trim Spending’ | true | http://fair.org/home/after-greece-cuts-a-quarter-of-its-budget-wapo-asks-if-its-willing-to-trim-spending/ | 2015-07-06 | 4 |
<p>Chris Sayegh, the founder of The Herbal Chef talks to FOXBusiness.com’s Jade Scipioni about his cannabis-infused gourmet dishes.</p>
<p>California voters are getting ready to vote on whether or not marijuana should be legalized for recreational use and one local chef is hoping to capitalize on his new cannabis-infused gourmet meals.</p>
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<p>“I do cannabis-infused fine dining and to me it’s like how a glass of wine can be paired with a dinner,” Chris Sayegh, CEO of The Herbal Chef tells FOXBusiness.com.</p>
<p>Sayegh, 24, is leading the way with his tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD)--which are the two main ingredients found in a marijuana plant--filled dishes for private events and banquets across Los Angeles for $300 to $500 per person.</p>
<p>“I have had everyone from a two person anniversary dinner to a 50 person corporate gathering where it was a public launching of a company and honestly everybody in between,” he adds.</p>
<p>Each person gets an average of 10 milligrams of THC and CBD spread throughout 5 to 15 courses.</p>
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<p>“It’s spread out like that, so it’s a smooth ride. When you have an edible all at once, in 30 minutes it’s like bam! You’re hit with that intensity. So, this is more of a smooth come up.”</p>
<p>He also created a frozen line of prepared meals for cancer patients and other people who are battling disease.</p>
<p>“We have a chemotherapy line, geriatric line, and we’re coming out with a diabetic line,” he adds. “We work with patients and built a meal plan that is micro and macro nutrient rich along with their THC and CBD that they would normally get out of cannabis. So we combine that so they’re able to focus on getting better rather than what am I going to eat.”</p>
<p>Sayegh says the whole idea around his business is to help educate people about the health benefits of marijuana. THC is the active ingredient that gives people the psycho active high whereas CBD is used more for medicinal purposes.</p>
<p>“CBD is working behind the scenes in your endocannabinoid system making sure that it’s flowing effectively. When running efficiently, it facilitates energy to all of your major organs which helps your whole body run better.”</p>
<p>But there are some lows to the business concept especially with the heavy regulations around selling marijuana.</p>
<p>“Regulations are very difficult. Every county has different rules and regulations. Federally, we all know it’s still illegal and classified as a schedule 1 drug so technically we’re all operating federally illegally but through the state we’re operating in compliance,” he adds.</p>
<p>Sayegh says he hopes this November things will change when voters head to the polls.</p>
<p>“Everyone has been very supportive especially when they understood my mission of helping people and educating people about THC and CBD,” he says. “It really allows people to take the ‘food is medicine’ approach to a whole new level.”</p> | Five Star Munchies: Inside Weed-Infused Fine Dining | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/06/22/five-star-munchies-inside-weed-infused-fine-dining.html | 2016-06-22 | 0 |
<p>Richard Graulich/Palm Beach Post/ZUMA</p>
<p />
<p>When Donald Trump <a href="" type="internal">declared victory</a> Tuesday night in the Florida Republican presidential primary, he made sure to reserve a few choice words for his favorite target: “disgusting reporters.” His comments came in the aftermath of an accusation last week by&#160;Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields that Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, <a href="" type="internal">had violently grabbed her</a> at a Trump event. That incident was the most visible manifestation of the Trump campaign’s hostility toward the press, and the one that brought the issue fully into public view. But for months, reporters have been feeling the wrath and capriciousness of the Trump operation, which has developed a lengthy list of publications that are banned from covering the Republican front-runner’s public events.</p>
<p>Reporters who work for publications that have gotten on Trump’s bad side find themselves ignored by the campaign. They are automatically turned down from receiving credentials to his events, and their emails to the campaign go unanswered.</p>
<p>This media blacklist is growing with each passing week. On Tuesday, the Trump campaign <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/03/ben-schreckinger-denied-access-donald-trump-220836" type="external">turned down</a> a credentials request from Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger, who hadn’t had problems getting into prior Trump events but published a story earlier in the day revealing troubling aspects of&#160;Lewandowski’s past.</p>
<p>Trump’s campaign hasn’t confirmed the existence of a list of banned publications. But the list has, at times, included the National Review, the Des Moines Register, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/05/media/donald-trump-univision/" type="external">Univision</a>, BuzzFeed, the Daily Beast, <a href="http://fusion.net/story/220592/trump-revokes-fusions-press-credentials-to-cover-miami-campaign-rally/" type="external">Fusion</a>, the Huffington Post, and Mother Jones. Rather than targeting specific reporters, the Trump campaign appears to decree blanket bans on publications that have published negative coverage of the Republican candidate.</p>
<p>“Having vendettas against outlets and playing it out to the point that you’re not letting them in as press is ridiculous,” says Sam Stein, a senior politics editor at the Huffington Post, which has found itself banned from Trump events, possibly because of its decision early in the campaign to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/a-note-about-our-coverage-of-donald-trumps-campaign_us_55a8fc9ce4b0896514d0fd66" type="external">relegate</a> Trump to the website’s entertainment section. (The publication reversed that move but started adding a <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/01/huffpost-to-publish-anti-trump-kicker-with-all-trump-coverage-218345" type="external">disclaimer</a> to the end of each Trump article labeling him a racist.) “I’m completely opposed to that. And I find it fairly childish for the Trump campaign to do this. It doesn’t suggest someone who’s big and tough and brave, that he can’t face critical media.”</p>
<p>Campaigns inevitably treat media outlets differently, offering the candidate up to favored publications for exclusive interviews or feeding scoops to friendly reporters. But the absolute refusal to allow certain publications to receive credentials to cover rallies is unprecedented in the recent history of presidential campaigns.</p>
<p>“If he’s the nominee, it’s not going to be ideal,” says Alexis Levinson, a reporter for the conservative National Review who can’t get on the media list for Trump events these days. “If the Democratic nominee is willing to credential National Review and the Republican nominee is not, think on that one for a second. That’s a strange dynamic.”</p>
<p>Levinson didn’t encounter any problems reporting on Trump at the start of the campaign season but has been unable to get media credentials since her editors published an <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/inside-against-trump-issue-national-review-213556" type="external">“Against Trump” cover package</a> that collected editorials from conservatives denouncing Trump—a part of the magazine that she had no involvement in as a reporter. Nevertheless, Levinson and her colleagues have been shut out from all subsequent Trump events.</p>
<p>“You can’t just decide you don’t want to deal with press because someone was mean to you,” Levinson says. “And no other candidate would get away with holding reporters accountable for what their editorial boards do.” The ban has forced her to shift how she’s covered the campaign. After waiting several hours in the general public line at an Iowa event, only to be turned away when the venue reached capacity, Levinson now avoids reporting on daily Trump stories. “I just don’t pitch stories that involve me covering Trump stuff anymore,” she says. “I don’t have three hours to go spend in line. It’s so irritating.”</p>
<p>Many reporters on the blacklist don’t have the luxury of skipping events. Instead, they register online for free tickets available to the general public and often have to wait in line for hours—a challenge for reporters who need to cover multiple events in a day, sometimes separated by hundreds of miles. “It was okay with us because the real story happens to be in the crowd and outside the arena,” Stein says. But even that route is sometimes unavailable. Huffington Post reporter Samantha-Jo Roth says she’s been turned away at the general public line by security when she tries to enter with a backpack stuffed full of camera equipment.</p>
<p>I am hardly an unbiased observer of this phenomenon. I have regularly been turned away from Trump events since I first started to try attending them in Iowa in January. It’s not clear whether a specific Mother Jones story upset the Trump team, or if the campaign takes issue with the magazine generally. In late February, I tried to go through the official channels to attend Trump’s Nevada victory party at a Las Vegas casino, to no avail. I waited in the general admission line and eventually got in. When I saw the press pen inside the casino ballroom, it was immediately clear that the Trump campaign’s decision to deny my request had nothing to do with a lack of available table space.</p>
<p />
<p>When Mother Jones‘ Russ Choma tried to go through the media entrance to a New Hampshire event in December, Trump’s campaign staff summoned local police to <a href="" type="internal">escort</a> him from the venue. My colleague Pema Levy was <a href="" type="internal">turned away</a> from a Trump event in Iowa in January, along with several other reporters.</p>
<p>Certainly, the Trump campaign hasn’t based its blacklist on the qualifications of the reporters or the publications’ reputations within the media industry. Earlier this month, Trump’s campaign <a href="http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/03/01/donald-trumps-campaign-gave-press-credentials-t/208939" type="external">credentialed</a> the Political Cesspool, a radio show that labels itself “pro-white.” Meanwhile, for the same event, the Trump campaign <a href="http://www.thewrap.com/trump-campaign-gave-press-pass-to-pro-white-radio-host-but-not-a-black-newspaper-exclusive/" type="external">didn’t respond</a> to a request from the New Tri-State Defender, an African American newspaper in Memphis.</p>
<p>The campaign’s targeting of publications can seem arbitrary and inconsistent. While the Des Moines Register <a href="http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/07/24/trump-barring-des-moines-register-campaign-event/30645343/" type="external">made</a> the enemies list for one editorial, reporters at the New Hampshire Union Leader weren’t shut out from covering Trump even as the paper’s publisher <a href="http://www.unionleader.com/Trump-calls-Union-Leader-Publisher-McQuaid-lowlife-in-TV-interview" type="external">went to war</a> against Trump.</p>
<p>Daily Beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi didn’t have much trouble covering the Trump campaign at the start of last year. But then last November, the campaign suddenly shut Nuzzi out, cutting her from its press email list and turning down her credentials requests without any explanation. It’s not hard to see why the campaign would hold a grudge against the Daily Beast. Last July, the website published a <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/27/ex-wife-donald-trump-made-feel-violated-during-sex.html" type="external">piece</a> titled “Ex-Wife: Donald Trump Made Me Feel ‘Violated’ During Sex.” The writers quoted Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, as threatening to sue them if they wrote the story and telling them, “I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting.” But Nuzzi remains mystified about why she was able to continue covering the campaign for months afterward, only to be abruptly cut off.</p>
<p>Since November, Nuzzi has been to about 10 Trump events through the public line, an experience she says has grown nerve-racking as the events take on an increasingly hostile tone, particularly toward the media. These days, Trump regularly whips the crowd into an anti-media frenzy and urges his fans to boo the press pen.</p>
<p>“Normally I’m taking notes on my phone, so I don’t look like ‘reporter here with a fedora on and a press badge,'” Nuzzi says. “I try to be as discreet as possible about it, but if someone asks if you’re a reporter, you have to say yes, obviously. When they start booing the media when you’re in the crowd that’s doing the booing, I don’t know what to do. I just sort of look down and try to not make eye contact with anybody.” She waits to start interviewing Trump supporters until after the event, lest she attract the notice of Trump’s staff, who might wonder why she wandered off from the strictly corralled press pen. It’s not an unreasonable fear; this weekend, Michael Mayo, a columnist for Florida’s Sun-Sentinel, was <a href="http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-michael-mayo-reporter-kicked-out-trump-rally-20160314-story.html" type="external">threatened with arrest</a> if he did not leave a Trump rally in West Boca after he entered through the public line and tried to film protesters. With the growing volume of protesters at Trump’s rallies, the campaign has <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-rally-protester-crack-down-220407#ixzz42HAEzsrO" type="external">reportedly</a> begun to intersperse plainclothes security officers amid the crowd to root out anyone who is not a true Trump fan.</p>
<p>“I don’t know if I feel like I’m safer in the crowd or I would be safer in the press pen,” Nuzzi says. “Because at least in the press pen you know that you’re surrounded by a lot of people who could document or who could tell you, ‘Yeah, that was Cory Lewandowski who just pulled you to the ground.’ But if you’re in just a crowd, with hundreds of people, I find it at least a little bit nerve-racking. I feel very alone. Very, very alone.”</p>
<p>Still, things aren’t always much better for reporters stuck in the designated press pen. CBS’s Sopan Deb, who is embedded with the Trump campaign and follows the candidate around the country, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/01/10/cbs-news-embed-reports-abuse-from-trump-supporter/" type="external">tweeted</a> in January about a Trump supporter who accused him of taking pictures for ISIS. At Trump’s canceled rally in Chicago last Friday, Deb was <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-chicago-canceled-rally-cbs-news-journalist-captured-tensions-before-arrest/" type="external">arrested</a> while trying to film protesters outside the event.</p>
<p>Two weeks ago, a Secret Service officer watching over the press section <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/29/politics/donald-trump-event-protest-rally/" type="external">choked</a> Time photographer Chris Morris and slammed him to the ground when he tried to venture out of the media pen.</p>
<p>Reporters are regularly threatened with banishment by the Trump campaign if they stray from a rigid set of guidelines. In November, Lewandowski <a href="https://twitter.com/NoahGrayCNN/status/667182208231211008" type="external">threatened</a> to rescind CNN reporter Noah Gray’s credentials after Gray ventured from the press pen to document protesters at a Trump rally. In January, Trip Gabriel of the New York Times was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/15/donald-trump/" type="external">“ejected”</a> from a campaign stop in Iowa, just a few days after Gabriel wrote an unflattering piece on Trump’s campaign in the state.</p>
<p>Last month, Trump <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/29/trump-rally-photographer-secret-service-protests?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet" type="external">vowed</a> to make libel laws more punitive against the media if he becomes president. “I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” Trump <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/26/media/donald-trump-libel-laws/" type="external">said</a> during a campaign event in Texas. Hostile rhetoric toward the press is a staple of his events. “I would never kill them, but I do hate them,” he <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/03/10/donald-trump-versus-the-media/81602878/" type="external">said</a> of the press in December. “And some of them are such lying, disgusting people.”</p>
<p>Carol Lee, a Wall Street Journal reporter and the current president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, declined to speculate on how the association would respond if Trump, as president, tried to exclude specific outlets from the White House press corps. But she offered this statement: “We advocate on behalf of journalists for as much access to the president and administration officials as possible, which is in the public interest, and would obviously oppose any outlet or reporter being banned because the White House doesn’t like their coverage.”</p>
<p /> | Donald Trump’s Media Enemies List | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/donald-trump-banned-publications/ | 2016-03-16 | 4 |
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<p>San Juan County sheriff’s deputies on Monday arrested two Farmington High School teachers accused of giving alcohol to teens during a Sept. 11 birthday party for their 17-year-old daughter, <a href="http://www.daily-times.com/ci_16191931?source=most_viewed" type="external">The Daily Times</a>reported.</p>
<p>Edward Fincher, 43, and Orla Fincher, 42, turned themselves in to authorities around 3:30 p.m. Monday accompanied by their attorney, sheriff’s Lt. Dwayne Faverino told The Daily Times.</p>
<p>The teachers are facing three counts each of fourth-degree felony selling or giving alcoholic beverages to minors — counts which each carry penalties of 18 months in prison, the paper reported.</p>
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<p>Farmington school officials placed both teachers on paid administrative leave on Sept. 20, immediately after learning of the allegations, schools Superintendent Janel Ryan told The Daily Times. While they are on leave, they cannot have any contact with students, Ryan said.</p>
<p>The teachers could also face disciplinary action from the school district, she told the paper.</p>
<p>Deputies learned of the incident on Sept. 12 after a girl who attended the party alleged she was illegally detained, The Daily Times said.</p>
<p>The girl, whose name is being withheld because she is a juvenile, told deputies there was a “large quantity of alcohol present at the party which included a keg of beer, Jungle Juice, Caribou Lou and Jello Shots,” according to police records.</p>
<p>Detectives interviewed more than 20 teens, but only three admitted drinking, Faverino told The Daily Times.</p>
<p>Most of the students at the party were believed to be from Piedra Vista High School, although some students from Farmington High School also were there as well, and deputies believe as many as 50 students may have attended the party, the paper reported.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>6:10am 9/21/10 — Underage Drinking Alleged at Party Hosted by Farmington High Teachers: San Juan deputies believe at least 50 students attended Sept. 11 birthday party.</p>
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<p>San Juan County sheriff’s deputies continue to investigate allegations of underage drinking at a Sept. 11 birthday party hosted by two Farmington High School teachers, <a href="http://www.daily-times.com/ci_16115453?source=most_viewed" type="external">The Daily Times</a> reported.</p>
<p>Deputies believe at least 50 students attended the party to celebrate the birthday of a 17-year-old Piedra Vista student, whose father is a teacher at Farmington High School, The Daily Times said.</p>
<p>“We have information the birthday girl’s parents attended the party as well as her grandparents,” sheriff’s Capt. Tim Black told the paper.</p>
<p>Most of the students who attended the party are students at Piedra Vista High School, but it is possible some Farmington High students attended as well, Black told The Daily Times.</p>
<p>Black declined to release names of those involved pending further investigation, but said charges likely will be filed against the adults, the paper reported.</p>
<p>Farmington School Superintendent Janel Ryan said the school district is aware of the investigation, and Black told The Daily Times that the school is cooperating with deputies who are continuing to interview students.</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Updated at 7:45am — Farmington Teachers Arrested for Giving Alcohol to Teens | false | https://abqjournal.com/9528/updated-at-745am-farmington-teachers-arrested-for-giving-alcohol-to-teens.html | 2 |
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<p>No doubt, visual information is gaining importance on the Web. Google and Yahoo recently&#160;opened sets of programming tools for their popular services <a href="http://maps.google.com/" type="external">Google Maps</a> and <a href="http://maps.yahoo.com/" type="external">Yahoo Maps</a> in order to invite the public to play ( <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68071,00.html" type="external">Wired News recently published a nice overview</a>). Google Earth ( <a href="" type="internal">see item from Steffen Fjærvik from June 28</a>) has topped this experience and gives room for a lot of speculation about what uses people will find for it. Maybe it's a news tool? The Australian Broadcasting Corporation ( <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/" type="external">ABC News Online</a>) can claim to be among the first news sites on the Web to have it used for reporting. Its <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureitems/s1410301.htm" type="external">presentation on the London bombings</a> will fly you to the location of the bombings where you can find extra material, including the latest news, plus audio and photos. To see the map, you will need to have Google Earth running on your computer. Thanks to Matthew Liddy for the tip.</p> | London Bombings on Google Earth | false | https://poynter.org/news/london-bombings-google-earth | 2005-07-08 | 2 |
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
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<p>Many investors rely on mutual funds to build a diversified portfolio with small amounts of investment capital. Load funds, however, divert some of your hard-earned money and put it in the pocket of whoever sells the fund to you. Load funds impose sales charges, which are also known as sales loads, either on the front end when you buy fund shares or on the back end when you sell them. Those loads go directly to the broker or financial institution making the sale of the fund shares, and they mean that only a portion of your money will actually go toward your investment. Because so many no-load funds exist that don't charge sales loads, it's increasingly difficult to justify buying a load fund. In particular, with load funds charging as much as $85 for every $1,000 you invest, the draconian nature of load funds make them less attractive.</p>
<p>To understand how load funds came to exist, it's helpful to look back at their history. Before the 1970s, brokerage companies were regulated in such a way that extremely high commissions prevailed across the industry. Investors became used to the idea of having to pay hundreds of dollars in commissions just to do a simple stock trade that today would cost less than $10 to execute. As a result, the idea of paying a similar commission in the form of a sales load to buy a load fund didn't look quite as out of line as it does today. Indeed, given the incentives to sell stocks, mutual funds almost had to impose loads just to persuade advisors to consider fund shares as an option rather than individual stocks.</p>
<p>With deregulation in the brokerage industry, commissions on stock trades plunged. In addition, the advent of index mutual funds, many of which charged no sales load, made no-load funds readily available to ordinary investors. As the performance record of no-load funds grew, investors saw that there often wasn't any marked difference between the two types of mutual funds. In fact, because no-load funds had lower fees to overcome, they were often able to outperform their load-fund counterparts.</p>
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<p>The two main types of load funds involve front-end or back-end loads. For front-end loads, a percentage of your investment is taken as the sales load. That percentage typically drops as the size of your investment grows. For instance, fund giant American Funds has some load funds with a maximum 5.75% sales load for those who invest less than $25,000 in the funds. However, when you hit $25,000, that load amount falls to 5%. Further declines occur until you hit $1 million, at which no load is imposed at all.</p>
<p>Similar rules apply to back-end loads, although they typically take a different form. For back-end loads, the percentage is highest for someone who sells shortly after purchasing the fund shares. Over time, the load falls. Eventually, you won't have to pay a load at all if you hold onto your shares long enough.</p>
<p>Even though there are ways to reduce the charges that load funds impose, it's far easier to choose a no-load fund. Although a few load funds have put together impressive track records of performance, the many load funds struggle to overcome the downward pressure on returns that their sales loads inflict. By keeping total fees in mind, you can make a smarter choice that avoids seeing a portion of your initial investment go into the pocket of your broker rather than into the investments you want to buy.</p>
<p>This article is part of The Motley Fool's Knowledge Center, which was created based on the collected wisdom of a fantastic community of investors. We'd love to hear your questions, thoughts, and opinions on the Knowledge Center in general or this page in particular. Your input will help us help the world invest, better! Email us at <a href="http://mailto:[email protected]?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">[email protected] Opens a New Window.</a>. Thanks -- and Fool on!</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-a-load-fund.aspx" type="external">What Is a Load Fund? Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p>Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | What Is a Load Fund? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/07/what-is-load-fund.html | 2016-07-07 | 0 |
<p>U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday that the Trump administration's priorities as it prepares to tackle "bigger" and "more difficult" trade issues with China are better market access, less protectionism and protecting intellectual property rights.</p>
<p>Ross spoke to reporters in Hong Kong after visiting Beijing, where he said he made it clear to Chinese officials that "we do need major change" in the U.S-China trade relationship, which he said "is too lopsided."</p>
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<p>Ross met Premier Li Keqiang, China's top economic official, in Beijing as part of preparations for President Donald Trump's visit to the country in November. He will also lead a senior trade mission to China that month, the Commerce Department announced Tuesday.</p>
<p>Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met when Xi visited the U.S. in April, in a meeting where they agreed on a 100-day plan for trade talks to address Trump's complaints about China's swollen trade surpluses.</p>
<p>Ross said that while those talks have yielded some progress, such as a deal to let U.S. beef into China, "we're looking for bigger things and more difficult things than what we had in the first 100 days."</p>
<p>He didn't elaborate on specific issues, saying only that at the top of the list is "better market access both for companies operating there physically and for companies exporting there."</p>
<p>The U.S. also wants less protectionism and more respect for intellectual property rights from China, Ross said.</p>
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<p>"The U.S. is actually the least protectionist of any major country and China is one of the most protectionist," he said, while adding that the "frankness and an openness" he saw on his visit to Beijing made him optimistic about the negotiations.</p>
<p>Trump has slammed China's large trade surpluses with the United States and ordered an investigation into whether Beijing improperly pressures companies to hand over their technology in exchange for market access. Last year, the U.S. ran up a $347 billion trade deficit in goods with China — accounting for nearly half the total.</p>
<p>Xi, who took power in 2012, and other Chinese leaders have vowed to let market forces have a bigger role, give equal treatment to foreign and Chinese companies and roll back state industry's dominance. But reform advocates complain little has been done to fulfill those pledges.</p>
<p>Ross raised concerns about Chinese government support measures aimed at helping develop key industries like robotics inadvertently leading to overcapacity.</p>
<p>China has been making a big push into robotics as communist leaders seek to take an early lead in emerging industries. Out of about 400 robotics companies in China, Ross said "people in the industry tell me their estimate is that 360 of those are in it to get subsidies and tax breaks and are not really that serious about the products."</p>
<p>On North Korean sanctions, Ross said the U.S. would keep them up as part of efforts aimed at denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.</p>
<p>"We've been trying to go step by step gradually increasing the economic pressure on North Korea," Ross said. "If nothing else happens in terms of other alternative solutions, you can bet the U.S. will increase the pressure as best we can."</p>
<p>Ross also commented on a Commerce Department decision on Tuesday that Canadian plane maker Bombardier should be hit with tariffs on its C Series aircraft in a dispute with Boeing, saying it was part of playing fair.</p>
<p>Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had threatened to stop doing business with Boeing, which is in talks to sell Canada 18 Super Hornet jet fighters. British Prime Minister Theresa May also raised it with Trump because Bombardier employs more than 4,000 workers in Northern Ireland.</p>
<p>"It's not out of any anti-Canadian or any anti-U.K. or certainly any anti-Northern Ireland sentiment, but even with your friends and even with your allies, you must obey the rules," Ross said, adding that the decision was preliminary and a final ruling is expected in months. "The consequences are what they will be."</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Kelvin Chan at www.twitter.com/chanman</p> | Commerce chief: US to tackle 'bigger' China trade issues | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/26/us-commerce-secretary-strikes-upbeat-tone-on-beijing-visit.html | 2017-09-27 | 0 |
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<p>With the major indexes near all-time highs and with valuations well above the historical average, cheap stocks are like needles in a haystack. Finding compelling value is much harder today than it was a few years ago, and the post-election rally hasn't helped.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>There are still some cheap stocks available, although they come with trade-offs that help explain their beaten-down valuations. General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Bed Bath &amp; Beyond (NASDAQ: BBBY) are both undeniably cheap, but the details are important for investors considering buying shares of these companies. Here's what you need to know.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>General Motors stock, at first glance, appears shockingly cheap. The company expects to produce adjusted earnings of around $6 per share this year, putting the stock price at just six times earnings even after its post-election rally.</p>
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<p>The story isn't quite so simple, though. GM derives most of its profits from North America, and the U.S. auto market looks like it's finally plateauing after years of robust growth. This could lead to more intense competition and greater promotional activity, which would eat into GM's profits. It's very possible that GM's earnings will peak in 2016, making the stock not as cheap as it seems.</p>
<p>GM's electric Chevy Bolt. Image source: General Motors.</p>
<p>Another problem is the uncertainty produced by the election of Donald Trump. A Chinese official reportedly warned on Dec. 14 that China may fine an unnamed U.S. automaker for monopolistic behavior, a move that could be interpreted as payback for Trump's comments on Taiwan. China is an important market for GM, and any uncertainty is a concern.</p>
<p>Despite these issues, I think the market is being too pessimistic on GM. The stock would still be attractively priced even if the company suffered a steep decline in earnings. A downturn that plunges GM into the red is certainly possible, but the company is far more efficient today than it was prior to its reorganization during the financial crisis. GM stock isn't as cheap as it appears on the surface, but it's still undeniably cheap.</p>
<p>Shares of Bed Bath &amp; Beyond have surged since bottoming out prior to the election, but the stock has still taken a beating over the past few years. Margins have been contracting, in part due to an overreliance on sending 20%-off coupons to its customers in order to drive sales. On top of that issue, the threat of e-commerce looms large.</p>
<p>Bed Bath &amp; Beyond expects to produce between $4.50 and $5.00 in per-share earnings this year, roughly in line with its results from the past few years. That puts the stock's price-to-earnings ratio at 10. Aggressive share buybacks have allowed the company to prevent earnings per share from falling despite slumping margins, but this tactic won't work forever. Bed Bath &amp; Beyond needs to find a way to stabilize its bottom line sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>The iconic 20%-off coupon. Image source: Bed Bath &amp; Beyond.</p>
<p>The company is testing out an annual membership service as a way to cut its dependence on coupons. The $29 annual fee includes a permanent 20% discount and free shipping. If successful, the program could boost customer loyalty while creating additional revenue for the company, all while maintaining the 20% discount that customers know and love.</p>
<p>Bed Bath &amp; Beyond is facing some challenges, but even after years of slumping profitability, it still manages an operating margin in excess of 10%. The company's long track record of success should give investors some confidence that the coupon problem can be solved. Trading at just 10 times earnings, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond looks like one of the best deals in retail.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than General Motors When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=630ae7c6-446f-4cdf-b53b-a0de50eaf66d&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 General Motors 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 Nov. 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBargainBin/info.aspx" type="external">Timothy Green Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool recommends Bed Bath and Beyond and General Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | These 2 Stocks Are Undeniably Cheap | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/18/these-2-stocks-are-undeniably-cheap.html | 2016-12-18 | 0 |
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<p>That is why UTEP and UNM should be playing every year.</p>
<p>That was the message from two frustrated, but appreciative coaches Wednesday night after Lobo junior guard Elijah Brown atoned for a defensive lapse by sinking a game-winning, 18-foot jumper with 5 seconds left to beat old-time rival UTEP 78-77 in front of an announced crowd of 11,838 in the Pit.</p>
<p>“I had to take that shot,” Brown said of the game winner, which came 25 seconds after his defensive lapse allowed the Miners to hit their 15th 3-pointer of the game.</p>
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<p>“Unless they brought four guys at me and I passed it, I had to take it.”</p>
<p>Brown finished with a team-high 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting for the Lobos (6-3), but knew after the game his offensive heroics were barely enough to make up for his, and his teammates’, continued defensive lapses, especially against 3-point shooting.</p>
<p>With the game tied at 74, reserve guard Deon Barrett hit UTEP’s 15th 3-pointer of the night (he was 7-of-8 from beyond the arc) with 30 seconds left for his 25th point and a 77-74 Miners lead.</p>
<p>“We made some mental mistakes,” Brown said. “I made probably the biggest one of the game giving up that 3.”</p>
<p>Brown acknowledged he got caught “ball watching” as teammate Jordan Hunter played solid on-ball defense against UTEP (2-5) senior Dominic Artis (13 points, 12 assists). Barrett (25 points) was left open and Brown couldn’t close out in time – a theme throughout the game for Lobo defenders.</p>
<p>During UNM’s ensuing timeout, a play was drawn up for 3-point shooter Anthony Mathis, but when Hunter saw an open path the basket, he dove and hit a layup with 21 seconds remaining for a 77-76 UTEP lead.</p>
<p>The Lobos then fouled Artis, who missed the front end of a one-and-one with the rebound being secured by Mathis. He passed to Brown, and the game-winner was next.</p>
<p>The Lobos led by as many as 21 points, including 27-6 with 12:28 to play in the first half. UTEP rallied and led by as many as four with fewer than five minutes to play.</p>
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<p>“Well, that’s why we play UTEP,” Lobos coach Craig Neal said. Neal was clearly relieved by his team’s win, but admittedly unhappy with another lackluster defensive performance. His team has allowed 29 made 3-pointers in the past two games.</p>
<p>“I’m glad this series is back,” Neal added. “We had a really good player make a big shot. And we didn’t play very well all night. We gave them, of course, way too many 3s. …</p>
<p>“It’s a one-point win, but it’s a win, so we’ll take it. But we know we have to get a lot better.”</p>
<p>It was the 142nd meeting between the two former rivals in the Western Athletic Conference, but the first since 2011 and the first that was scheduled since 2009. They agreed to resume the rivalry last year for a two-year, home-and-home series that will see UNM play in El Paso next year.</p>
<p>While the result wasn’t what UTEP had hoped for after fighting to get the series resumed for the past several years, the drama wasn’t a surprise.</p>
<p>“It’s why the Miners and Lobos should always play,” said UTEP coach Tim Floyd. “It’s why the Miners should probably be in the Mountain West Conference. There’s too much history.”</p>
<p>After Brown’s 25, the Lobos had two other players in double figures: Sam Logwood (11 points, six assists) and Jordan Hunter (10 points, six assists). The Lobos shot 56.8 percent in the win, despite playing for a second straight game without leading scorer Tim Williams, who remains sidelined with a concussion.</p>
<p>The Lobos took advantage of a 32-14 free-throw-attempt advantage, hitting 21 to UTEP’s 8.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p /> | Lobos’ Brown hits game-winner, shoots down Miners | false | https://abqjournal.com/904722/lobos-brown-shoots-down-miners.html | 2016-12-08 | 2 |
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<p>The driver, Amberlee Aragon, 30, was pronounced dead at the scene. She and her passenger, 28-year-old Zachary Atencio, were ejected from the vehicle, police said. Atencio was hospitalized.</p>
<p>Atencio was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital in stable condition. No other cars were involved in the crash.</p>
<p>Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Simon Drobik said the car was heading west on Paseo del Norte when it hit the curb and lost control, rolling multiple times. He said neither Aragon nor Atencio were wearing seatbelts, and drugs or alcohol appear to be a factor.</p>
<p>Amberlee Aragon is the daughter of Peggy Muller-Aragon and Robert Aragon.</p>
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<p>Muller-Aragon is running for the District 2 seat in the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education election Feb. 3.</p>
<p>Robert Aragon ran against Timothy Keller for state auditor last November.</p>
<p>An obituary provided by the family described Amberlee Aragon as “always ready to have fun, always ready to take a picture.” She loved music, fashion, jewelry, nail polish and traveling, according to the obituary.</p>
<p>She graduated from New Mexico Highlands University in 2013 and recently received her insurance license in order to begin a career in the financial industry.</p> | Police ID victims in Sunday’s fatal rollover | false | https://abqjournal.com/530893/police-id-victims-in-sundays-fatal-rollover.html | 2 |
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<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-6fl" type="external">21st Century Wire</a> says…</p>
<p>The United States Congress has privately voted to funnel arms, anti-tank rockets, as well as financial backing to apparent “moderate” rebels fighting in Syria’s southern region.</p>
<p>It is suspected that the US Congress approved of the measure with some off-the-books ‘black budget’ during the passing of the defense appropriations bill back in December.</p>
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">US government previously admitted publicly in September that the CIA has been funneling cash and arms</a> to various ‘rebel’ factions in Syria.</p>
<p><a href="http://questiondigital.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/turq-Recep-Tayyip-Erdogan-y-Yasin-al-Qadi.jpg" type="external" /> IMAGE: Turkish PM&#160;Recep Erdogan with Saudi financier&#160;Yasin al-Qadi</p>
<p>If you remember,&#160;Yasin al-Qadi the Saudi financier, who has been linked to 9/11, the Mumbai attacks, the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings, as well as allegedly funnelling millions in clandestine cash to Al Qaeda, <a href="" type="internal">was recently in the news for travelling to and from Turkey in the company of&#160;Recep Erdogan’s protective detail</a>.</p>
<p>Even though at the time Al-Qadi was listed as being banned from entering the country. Not surprisingly, Erdogan’s son,&#160;Bilal Erdogan was also seen with the Al Qaeda ‘money-man’ in a hotel in Istanbul.</p>
<p>Al-Qadi is also said to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood with ties to Chicago, Obama and Dick Cheney.</p>
<p>An investigative agency,&#160;Operation Green Quest, was&#160;formed in October 2001, just following 9/11 and had been tracking&#160;Al-Qadi, as <a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article181671.html" type="external">he was linked to a company called Ptech that provided software used by the&#160;Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)</a>. Operation Green Quest was promptly disbanded in 2003 after a gigantic raid on 19 interrelated business under the multi-layered ‘umbrella&#160;corporation’ known as the&#160; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAAR_Foundation" type="external">SAAR Foundation</a>&#160;a Saudi business venture with alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>In mid January, it was reported that Turkish police seized a truck on its way to Syria with a weapons cache headed to the opposition rebels. The truck driver claimed he was transporting aid for the&#160;Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), an organization that has in the past had correspondence with the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>Turkey has become a bastion of terror related activities, just as Pakistan has been, with its variant form of the Taliban and previous support of intelligence asset Osama Bin Laden.</p>
<p>During the height of the false chemical weapons allegations against Syria, it was revealed that retired Major General Paul Vallely, as well as &#160;Arizona Senator John McCain&#160;had on two separate occasions met&#160;with the same Free Syrian Army that has been heavily linked to Al Qaeda. As tension in the region boiled over, both men <a href="" type="internal">immediately called for U.S. intervention to ship arms to Syria for the FSA terror faction</a>.</p>
<p>Let us not forget also about the terror linked stronghold that had been found with <a href="" type="internal">bags of chemicals from Saudi Arabia</a>.</p>
<p>The Turkish press has stated some 47 tons of arms have made its way into Syria from Turkey in 2013.</p>
<p>Will the morally bankrupt leaders gaming the planet with terror, ever be held accountable for their actions?</p>
<p>More from RT below.. <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Epyw1BiJlQI/UY6bLH_BC-I/AAAAAAAALfY/haZb-4bDvck/s1600/chechnya_grozny_after_war.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="http://rt.com/news/congress-approves-weapons-syria-secretly-270/" type="external">Russia Today</a></p>
<p>Congressional lawmakers have quietly authorized sending small arms, an assorted variety of rockets, and financial backing to so-called “moderate” rebels fighting in Syria’s civil war, according to a new report.</p>
<p>American and European security officials told Reuters that the US will provide anti-tank rockets, but nothing as deadly as shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles (known as MANPADs), which can be used to bring down military or civilian aircraft.</p>
<p>Legislators voted in closed-door meetings to fund the opposition forces through September 30, the end of the US government’s fiscal year. The decision is an about-face from congressional debates last year, in which the same committees were reluctant to supply arms over concerns that American weapons would wind up in the hands of radical Islamists fighting in the region, the Al-Qaeda-backed Al-Nusra being the most well known.</p>
<p>Now, though, those concerns appear to have lessened. Exactly when Congress approved the funding is not known, yet the sources speculated that it was signed in a classified section of a defense appropriations bill that was approved in December.</p>
<p>“The Syrian war is a stalemate,” said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and current foreign policy advisor to US President Obama with the Brookings Institution. “The rebels lack the organization and weapons to defeat Assad; the regime lacks to loyal manpower to suppress the rebellion. Both sides’ external allies…are ready to supply enough money and arms to fuel the stalemate for the foreseeable future.”</p>
<p><a href="http://rt.com/news/congress-approves-weapons-syria-secretly-270/" type="external">Continue this story at RT</a></p>
<p>READ MORE SYRIA NEWS AT: <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Syria Files</a></p> | COVERT WAR: US Congress ‘Quietly’ Approves More Arms to ‘Rebels’ in Syria | true | http://21stcenturywire.com/2014/01/28/covert-war-us-congress-quietly-approves-arms-to-rebels-in-syria/ | 2014-01-28 | 4 |
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<p>Image source: T-Mobile.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>No. 3 domestic wireless carrier T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) has announced preliminary subscriber figures for the third quarter. The Un-carrier has added roughly 753,000 branded postpaid net additions and 650,000 prepaid net customer additions so far in the third quarter, with just over a week left before the quarter closes.</p>
<p>The company says the poached customers are coming from all three of the other major wireless carriers, and represent sequential increases relative to second-quarter figures. T-Mobile believes it has grabbed 250,000 customers from Verizon, 400,000 customers from AT&amp;T, and 300,000 customers from Sprint.</p>
<p>T-Mobile attributes its aggressive network modernization and expansion to being able to win over customers.</p>
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<p>T-Mobile is reaffirming its full-year outlook, which calls for 2016 branded postpaid net additions in a range of 3.4 million to 3.8 million. This guidance was raised last quarter. Management will give a more detailed update on the October earnings call.</p>
<p>The company recently introduced its ONE unlimited plan, which it is pushing aggressively even though there's a lot of fine print associated with the plan. As T-Mobile grows, it is starting to increasingly resemble the carriers that CEO John Legere likes to demonize, but the brazen marketing strategy is still paying off in the form of impressive subscriber numbers.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2668&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewCow/info.aspx" type="external">Evan Niu, CFA Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool recommends T-Mobile US. 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> | T-Mobile Adds 753,000 Postpaid Customers | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/20/t-mobile-adds-753000-postpaid-customers.html | 2016-09-20 | 0 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Sitel, a worldwide call center, is adding 275 seasonal and permanent jobs to its center in Albuquerque, the company announced Thursday.</p>
<p>About 200 of the positions will support a seasonal sports program for a global satellite television provider. Employees will be able to earn bonuses and be eligible for full-time positions, depending on their performance, according to a news release.</p>
<p>There also are openings for supervisor and inbound customer care agent jobs, thanks to a new client in the consumer electronics industry.</p>
<p>"With a strong reputation as an employer-of-choice in the Albuquerque community, Sitel is actively hiring with openings for enthusiastic new team members," said Sitel's Director of Account ManagementJoel Campos.</p>
<p>The company will host an open house and job fair from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday&#160; at its Albuquerque location, 4420 The 25 Way. Job interviews will be held.</p>
<p>Those who cannot attend that day are invited to apply in person between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. June 3, June 10 or June 17. Candidates are encouraged to bring a copy of their r'sum?.&#160; Applications also will be taken immediately online at the Careers tab of www.sitel.com.</p>
<p>All positions require strong communication skills, computer and typing experience and the ability to problem-solve, the news release said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Sitel to add 275 jobs in Albuquerque | false | https://abqjournal.com/588276/sitel-to-add-270-jobs-in-albuquerque.html | 2015-05-21 | 2 |
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<p>With the agreement, the city will pay $95,000 per year for at least three years to the nonprofit group Film Las Cruces - formerly the Regional Film Development Advisory Committee.</p>
<p>State Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, a coordinator with the film group, said the budget would allow the group to run a film office to work with production companies, mainly paying a staff member's salary and benefits, travel and other office-related costs.</p>
<p>"We are going to be hiring a film liaison," he said.</p>
<p>The city also has separate funding to build a sound stage, an indoor location for filming. Steinborn said the proposed film office will help to promote it and other work related to film production, such as education and training. But the city's yearly payments to the group won't go toward the sound stage itself.</p>
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<p>Steinborn said the film office will seek to tap into the booming film industry in northern New Mexico.</p>
<p>Irene Oliver-Lewis, retired arts educator, said she's pushing for the film office to be located in the city-owned WIA Building on North Reymond Street in the Alameda Depot Historic District.</p>
<p>"I really want you to think of the WIA as a major, major part of this area and what it could bring to one of our historic neighborhoods," she told councilors.</p> | Las Cruces councilors OK $95,000 annual film agreement | false | https://abqjournal.com/669876/cruces-councilors-ok-95000-per-year-film-agreement.html | 2015-11-03 | 2 |
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<p>DALLAS — Two former North Texas deputies face up to 10-year prison terms after pleading guilty to stealing confiscated guns and pawning the weapons or selling them online.</p>
<p>Federal prosecutors in Dallas on Monday said about 40 guns stolen from an Ellis County Sheriff’s Office evidence room were meant to be destroyed.</p>
<p>Former Lt. Philip Gary Slaughter, who supervised the evidence, and ex-Deputy Thomas Glen Smith pleaded guilty, in separate plea deals since July, to possession or sale of stolen firearms. Both await sentencing.</p>
<p>Records show Slaughter in 2015 obtained a court order to destroy hundreds of firearms. Some turned up at a pawn shop.</p>
<p>Officials say Slaughter resigned in March 2016 before being arrested. Smith was with the Lampasas (lam-PA’-sis) County Sheriff’s Office when he was arrested in May 2016 and resigned.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 2 ex-Texas deputies plead guilty to evidence room gun thefts | false | https://abqjournal.com/1044468/2-ex-texas-deputies-plead-guilty-to-evidence-room-gun-thefts.html | 2 |
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<p>Dozens have been infected in a measles outbreak that led California public health officials to urge those not vaccinated to avoid the Disney parks where the outbreak started. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)</p>
<p>It was spring of 2014. Dr. Julia Shaklee Sammons looked around and saw trouble.</p>
<p>An infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, she had read the headlines about new measles cases – including outbreaks in California and Ohio – and decided it was time to speak out.</p>
<p>Writing in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, Sammons implored doctors to get more familiar with the disease. In two tightly packed pages, she described measles’ potentially deadly effects and outlined how to diagnose it. She included archival photos to drive her point home: A tow-headed boy covered in an angry rash in 1963. A child’s upper lip pulled back to display tiny white spots, an early sign of measles that sometimes can lurk unnoticed.</p>
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<p>She knew how badly coaching was needed.</p>
<p>Like many younger physicians, Sammons, who graduated from medical school in 2006, trained when the disease was no longer an issue in the United States. “I have not cared for a patient with measles,” she said. “I hope I never have to.”</p>
<p>A decades-long effort to immunize American children managed to wipe out the last homegrown cases in 2000. But the virus still can arrive here from other countries and spread.</p>
<p>Today – as California faces its largest outbreak since the disease was declared eliminated – some worry that the battle against measles has become a victim of its own success.</p>
<p>The virus is now so rare that medical schools don’t dwell on it at length. Lack of familiarity can make medical providers, the vast majority of whom have never seen a sickened patient, slow to recognize the potentially deadly, and highly contagious, disease.</p>
<p>“Doctors aren’t thinking about measles because they haven’t seen it before,” said Dr. Mark Sawyer, a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Diego and Rady Children’s Hospital. “Diagnosis is delayed, the patient isn’t isolated, and they end up managing to expose other people until somebody goes: ‘Wait a minute – this is measles!’ ”</p>
<p>It’s usually a senior doctor who sees it, Sawyer said.</p>
<p>The current outbreak began a week before Christmas and thus far has sickened at least 87 people in seven states and Mexico. About one in four of the 73 patients from California, who range in age from 7 months to 70 years, has required hospitalization. Most had visited Disneyland. Many were not immunized. A number initially were misdiagnosed.</p>
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<p>One year before the introduction of the measles vaccine in 1962, there were 481,530 reported cases nationwide, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2004, there were 37.</p>
<p>Aspiring physicians still learn about the virus in medical school, but they read up on its biology and symptoms at the same time as they’re being introduced to a multitude of illnesses they’re far more likely to encounter.</p>
<p>“It’s not something you spend a great deal of time on at all, for obvious reasons,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.</p>
<p>Schaffner said he thought the Disneyland outbreak – and the pockets of undervaccinated children that have fueled it – might lead medical schools to increase their emphasis on teaching measles. But the latest generation of doctors still won’t get hands-on experience.</p>
<p>“In the bad old days, any grandmother could walk past a child with measles and say, ‘That’s a child with measles,’ ” Schaffner said. “It’s pattern recognition. And if you haven’t seen it before, it can be puzzling.”</p>
<p>With measles in particular, which can resemble many other illnesses in its early stages, seeing is understanding, said doctors who had treated afflicted patients. Textbook pictures can’t fully convey what the signature rash looks like. Infected kids are uniquely irritable.</p>
<p>“There’s a miserableness quotient,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and outspoken immunization proponent. “You can read about it, but there’s nothing like seeing it.”</p>
<p>Sawyer said he recently asked a group of pediatric residents whether they had ever seen measles. None raised their hands.</p>
<p>It’s a problem, Sawyer said, because the virus is so contagious.</p>
<p>“There are a lot of infectious diseases physicians don’t see in training, but most don’t have the same consequences if you miss it for a little bit,” he said. “The problem with measles is, if you miss it, you put people at risk.”</p>
<p>More than 90 percent of people who don’t have immunity to measles – either through vaccination or from having had the disease – will get sick if exposed to the virus, which can survive for up to two hours in the air.</p>
<p>Dr. James Cherry, a University of California, Los Angeles research professor and principal editor of the Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, said it was important for physicians to remember that fever, cough and runny nose are initial signs of measles. About two days after those symptoms begin, white lesions known as Koplik spots emerge inside the cheek. Only later does the rash appear.</p>
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<p /> | Measles signs now elude young doctors | false | https://abqjournal.com/538299/measles-signs-now-elude-young-doctors.html | 2 |
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<p>&gt; <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Oct/10302003/utah/106689.asp" type="external">Utah news orgs drop lawsuit against e-mail deleting governor (SL Trib)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.biztimes.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=currentissue.welcome" type="external">"Milwaukee is exactly the kind of market Gannett likes to go after" (SBT)</a> &gt; <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2001778287_joa300.html" type="external">Court agrees to fast-track appeal in Seattle JOA fight (Seattle Times)</a> &gt; <a href="http://westword.com/issues/2003-10-30/message.html/1/index.html" type="external">Denver Post's new business editor praised by alt-weekly critic (Westword)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/features_columns/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2013533" type="external">Hentoff: Sacramento Bee deserves Pulitzer for Patriot Act series (E&amp;P)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/showcase/chi-0310300028oct30.column" type="external">Chicago Trib readers complain about Kobe stories in sports section (CT)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/303/nation/Journalist_didn_t_allow_dangers_to_deter_him-.shtml" type="external">Murdered Iraqi newsman knew risks of speaking out (BG)</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,1073797,00.html" type="external">Related (LG)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/9452.htm" type="external">Arnold accuser threatens to sue MSNBC over hooker, drug claims (NYP)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/132034p-117788c.html" type="external">NY Post boss denies $40M loss figure, but Auletta has it on tape (NYDN)</a></p> | Additional items for October 30, 2003 | false | https://poynter.org/news/additional-items-october-30-2003 | 2003-10-30 | 2 |
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<p>For at least the last couple of decades, the Republican Party has been anti-modern, but Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for president, is modern, even post-modern. I don’t mean that as a compliment. The man is a serial liar in a society that increasingly tolerates lying and cheating.</p>
<p>Maybe Romney and his lying-mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, are on to something about the American character these days. One example of that is the ludicrous belief held by many that President Obama is “the other,” not born in the United States and a secret Muslim.</p>
<p>“Factual truth is no longer as relevant as it used to be,” says modern communications wizard Henry Jenkins of the University of Southern California. “Modern media consumers will buy anything that ‘rings true’ to them.”</p>
<p />
<p>So without going through the whole list of Romney-Ryan whoppers, I will quote Joe Conason, an Obama-lover writing on Truthdig.com. He sees a “deep well of dishonesty” in the Romney campaign. Conason’s most interesting thought after he shows Obamacare and Romneycare in Massachusetts are the same thing, verified by various fact-checkers, is this:</p>
<p>“He … knows that when he claims economic growth alone will erase the deficit, without raising taxes, he is inventing impossible numbers. As The National Memo’s Howard Hill demonstrated, the assumptions behind his claims are ridiculous. For the numbers to work, he would have to create not 12 million jobs, as he promised to do by 2016, but 162 million — more than the total current U.S. workforce. Or else the jobs created would have to pay more than $443,000 per year on average.”</p>
<p>So who cares? Not the increasing number of Americans who are lying and cheating — or are just plain stupid. One of the more disturbing stories of this last summer was one by Richard Perez-Pena of The New York Times about cheating in the country’s best high schools and colleges, including Stuyvesant High School, Harvard University and the Air Force Academy.</p>
<p>“There have always been struggling students who cheat to survive,” Donald McCabe, a professor at Rutgers University Business School, told Perez-Pena. “But more and more there are students at the top who cheat to thrive.”</p>
<p>A Duquesne University study of student cheating came to the same conclusion, citing Internet access as providing the tools to make cheating easier than it was in the old days. In a survey by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, 60 percent of high school students admitted cheating during the past year.</p>
<p>That 60 percent, according to studies of corporate human resources officers, is the same as the percentage of job applicants who falsify resumes.</p>
<p>At Harvard, Howard Gardner, who has studied academic and professional integrity, said, “Ethical muscles have atrophied.” Perez-Pena concluded after his university interviews: “In part (this is) because of a culture that exalts success, however it is attained.”</p>
<p>That is what the former governor of Massachusetts running for president and his lying-mate have brought to the campaign. They obviously think many, many voters just don’t give a damn if they repeat their lies time after time, even after they have been caught at it.</p>
<p>The president is no saint; he has exaggerated the impact of the Bush tax cuts on the budget deficit. Like any politician or salesman, he fabricates only when necessary. Another Obama fan, Richard Cohen of The Washington Post, argues that there is no real mystery about this president. No “other” he, unless you judge him only by his race: “Some of us, in fact, think we know the real Barack Obama. He is a man of the center — or maybe a wee to the left of it — who is prudent in all things, dotes on his children and is loving to his wife. His most radical program is called Obamacare, and if it has sent us all down the road to socialism, we have somehow become stuck in a suburban cul de sac.”</p>
<p>I would add he has been a good president in difficult circumstances.</p>
<p>Conason, in his analysis, argues that much of what is happening is due to the reluctance of most big media to use the word “liar.” I’ve been there, and I agree with that.</p>
<p>“What Romney has done presents a fundamental challenge to the American political media,” says Conason. “Will news outlets hold him accountable for baldly misleading voters? Are they capable of confronting his continuous mendacity with basic facts? Some have made a beginning, while others have scarcely tried. If that isn’t their responsibility, then they no longer have any purpose at all.”</p>
<p>© 2012 UNIVERSAL UCLICK</p> | So Romney Lies -- So What? Who Cares? | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/so-romney-lies-so-what-who-cares/ | 2012-10-11 | 4 |
<p>BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana personal income taxpayers can start filing their 2017 state tax returns on Jan. 29.</p>
<p>The state Department of Revenue announced Monday it will start accepting individual income tax returns the same day the IRS starts taking federal income tax returns.</p>
<p>Louisiana taxpayers are encouraged to file <a href="http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/EServices/LouisianaFileOnline" type="external">state taxes online</a> . But they can also download paper tax forms from the <a href="http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/" type="external">revenue department website</a> or file returns through other tax preparation software. Updated printed forms will not be available until Jan. 29.</p>
<p>If someone is due a refund, the revenue department says that will generally take about 60 days from the filing date if returns are submitted electronically or 14 weeks if returns are filed on paper.</p>
<p>The deadline to file individual income tax returns with the state is May 15.</p>
<p>BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana personal income taxpayers can start filing their 2017 state tax returns on Jan. 29.</p>
<p>The state Department of Revenue announced Monday it will start accepting individual income tax returns the same day the IRS starts taking federal income tax returns.</p>
<p>Louisiana taxpayers are encouraged to file <a href="http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/EServices/LouisianaFileOnline" type="external">state taxes online</a> . But they can also download paper tax forms from the <a href="http://www.revenue.louisiana.gov/" type="external">revenue department website</a> or file returns through other tax preparation software. Updated printed forms will not be available until Jan. 29.</p>
<p>If someone is due a refund, the revenue department says that will generally take about 60 days from the filing date if returns are submitted electronically or 14 weeks if returns are filed on paper.</p>
<p>The deadline to file individual income tax returns with the state is May 15.</p> | Louisiana taxpayers can start filing state taxes on Jan. 29 | false | https://apnews.com/amp/4419cf4d0f324b8790a4d87394ccc86c | 2018-01-08 | 2 |
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price exited after the second period of a game against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>There was no announcement made in the press box as to why the league’s No. 1 goaltender left the game. He was replaced by Mike Condon.</p>
<p>Price stopped 22 shots in the first 40 minutes and the Canadiens led 2-1 at the break. They added two scores in the first 1:29 of the third period for a 4-1 advantage.</p>
<p>Price won the Ted Lindsay, Jennings, Vezina and Hart trophies last season and was the first goaltender in NHL history to win all four awards in the same season.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price exited after the second period of a game against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.</p>
<p>There was no announcement made in the press box as to why the league’s No. 1 goaltender left the game. He was replaced by Mike Condon.</p>
<p>Price stopped 22 shots in the first 40 minutes and the Canadiens led 2-1 at the break. They added two scores in the first 1:29 of the third period for a 4-1 advantage.</p>
<p>Price won the Ted Lindsay, Jennings, Vezina and Hart trophies last season and was the first goaltender in NHL history to win all four awards in the same season.</p> | Canadiens goaltender Carey Price leaves game vs Rangers | false | https://apnews.com/fa86ca5b4d214cbe8428f313e489924c | 2015-11-26 | 2 |
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<p>Mattel Inc , the largest U.S. toymaker, reported holiday quarter sales and profit that fell far short of analysts' estimates, hurt by weak demand for its Barbie dolls and Fisher Price toys.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company's shares were down about 9 percent at $28.67 in after-market trading on Wednesday. Rival Hasbro Inc's stock was down 4.1 percent at $83.20.</p>
<p>Global sales in the Mattel girls &amp; boys brands business, which includes Barbie and Hot Wheels toys, fell 7 percent in the fourth-quarter ended Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Sales of Barbie dolls fell 2 percent during the quarter after having risen in the past three quarters. Excluding the impact of a strong dollar, sales rose 1 percent.</p>
<p>Mattel's results contradicted an NPD Group report earlier in the day that said the toy industry expanded 5 percent in 2016 as customers took advantage of early Cyber Monday online promotions during Thanksgiving week.</p>
<p>The industry's growth was led by toys based on the Star Wars franchise, whose license is owned by Hasbro.</p>
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<p>The toymaker said gross margin for the fourth quarter fell by 3.2 percentage points due to increased promotions during the holiday season and a strong dollar.</p>
<p>"Our results were negatively impacted by a number of industry���wide challenges, including a significant U.S. toy category slowdown in the holiday period," outgoing Chief Executive Christopher Sinclair said in a statement.</p>
<p>The slowdown prompted an increase in promotions that contributed to the slide in gross margins.</p>
<p>Holiday quarter sales accounted for about a third of Mattel's annual sales in 2016.</p>
<p>Sales in Mattel's "other girls" category halved, mainly due to the loss of a Disney Princess contract, which includes Cinderella and Snow White dolls, to rival Hasbro Inc .</p>
<p>Sales in the Fisher-Price and the Wheels category, which includes Hot Wheels, fell 3 percent in the quarter.</p>
<p>Mattel's net income fell to $173.8 million, or 50 cents per share, in the latest quarter, from $215.2 million, or 63 cents per share, a year earlier.</p>
<p>Excluding certain items, the company earned 52 cents per share. Analysts on average were expecting 71 cents per share.</p>
<p>Net revenue fell 8.3 percent to $1.83 billion. Analysts on average had expected $1.96 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.</p>
<p>(This story corrects to say net revenue fell to $1.83 billion, not $1.84 billion, in last paragraph.)���</p>
<p>(Reporting by Gayathree Ganesan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)</p> | Barbie maker Mattel's holiday quarter sales miss estimates | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/25/barbie-maker-mattel-holiday-quarter-sales-miss-estimates.html | 2017-01-26 | 0 |
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<p>Solar energy company SunEdison Inc said on Friday it was in talks for potential debtor-in-possession financing with some of its first and second-lien lenders.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>SunEdison said it needed about $310 million to stay in business, estimating a cash shortfall of $260 million by mid-June.</p>
<p>The company's shares, which have lost nearly all of their value in the past 12 months, were down 37 percent at 37 cents Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>SunEdison said it expected to secure the financing by pledging assets, including those of its units.</p>
<p>Typically, companies enter into debtor-in-possession financing after they file for bankruptcy protection to maintain liquidity while they reorganize.</p>
<p>Analysts said that while the decision to seek debtor-in-possession financing did not necessarily mean the company would file for bankruptcy, it was likely that this would happen soon.</p>
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<p>"It is definitely a sign that they are thinking about it because they are trying to get the arrangement in place before they file," said Justin Forlenza, an analyst at credit research firm Covenant Review.</p>
<p>SunEdison, which had debt of about $12 billion as of Sept. 30, laid out three scenarios to continue in operation. Two included bankruptcy expenses of more than $70 million.</p>
<p>The company said it entered into confidentiality agreements with lenders on March 17. (http://bit.ly/1SGdzfX)</p>
<p>SunEdison's so-called yieldcos, created to hold its renewable energy assets, hired financial and legal advisors to help them prepare and develop contingency plans in case SunEdison files for bankruptcy, a spokesman for the yieldcos said on Friday.</p>
<p>The companies, which have no employees, rely on SunEdison to make interest payments for them and for back office functions.</p>
<p>Debtwire first reported in March that SunEdison was in talks with holders of its second lien loans to fund a DIP facility. (http://bit.ly/1SGjams) (Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru and Jessica DiNapoli; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Ted Kerr)</p> | SunEdison says in talks for potential DIP financing | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/15/sunedison-says-in-talks-for-potential-dip-financing.html | 2016-04-15 | 0 |
<p>Every day, Wall Street analysts upgrade some stocks, downgrade others, and "initiate coverage" on a few more. But do these analysts even know what they're talking about? Today, we're taking one high-profile Wall Street pick and putting it under the microscope...</p>
<p>Investors are not happy with Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) stock.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Over the past year, Disney shares have gained only 8% versus an overall gain of 13% on the S&amp;P 500. Nearly all of that underperformance can be tracked back to just one event -- Disney's announcement on Aug. 8 that it will more than double its initial <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/08/16/how-disneys-1-billion-stake-in-video-streaming-lea.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=96be9b1e-9248-11e7-b617-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">$1 billion stake Opens a New Window.</a> in video streaming company BAMTech by investing <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/09/disney-a-stream-is-a-wish-your-heart-makes.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=96be9b1e-9248-11e7-b617-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a further $1.6 billion Opens a New Window.</a> to take a controlling 75% interest in the company. When Disney made that announcement, the stock quickly fell 4%, or nearly the entire amount by which it has underperformed the S&amp;P 500 over the past year.</p>
<p>But here are three things you need to know.</p>
<p>This morning, banker Wells Fargo announced it is upgrading Disney stock from market perform to outperform and raising its price target on Disney stock to $116. Calculated from today's starting price of $102, that works out to a 14% anticipated profit on Disney stock -- plus another 1.5% from Disney's dividend.</p>
<p>Counting Wells, <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a> calculates that 17 analysts total now have buy or outperform ratings on Disney stock -- versus just four analysts who counsel selling. At the same time, though, 11 analysts are hedging their bets and rating Disney a hold or neutral.</p>
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<p>What has Wells Fargo feeling so excited about Disney stock, when others are on the fence? Well, while other investors were backing away, Wells says it has "had time to digest BAMTech &amp; the related streaming apps &amp; think the Street's negativity is overdone."</p>
<p>Analysts such as BMO Capital, for example, have criticized Disney's move to increase its investment in BAMTech and cut its ties with Netflix, while Jefferies warned that the acquisition of BAMTech would cause Disney stock to "respond negatively." In a note covered on <a href="https://www.streetinsider.com/Analyst+Comments/Wells+Fargo+Upgrades+Walt+Disney+%28DIS%29+to+Outperform/13263414.html" type="external">StreetInsider.com Opens a New Window.</a> today, however, Wells explains that it doesn't think Disney will suffer any more than "modest dilution" from absorbing BAMTech. Calling Wall Street's worries "widely overdone," Wells sees Disney cutting costs elsewhere in its business (e.g., at ABC) to make back the money it is spending on BAM.</p>
<p>At the same time, Wells Fargo notes that thanks to investors "responding negatively," as Jefferies put it, Disney stock now trades for just over 15 times forward earnings. But "DIS doesn't tend to stay at 15x for long," says Wells. That's why Wells says that today's share price of $102 and change marks a good "entry point" for investors who have been looking for a chance to buy Disney. According to the analyst, Disney has made a smart decision to distance itself from streaming giants like Netflix, and strike out on its own as a pioneer in "over-the-top," direct-to-viewer delivery of content via apps.</p>
<p>"While we might be early," admits Wells, "we view the risk/reward as heavily skewed to the upside."</p>
<p>Probably Wells Fargo's most interesting observation is how Disney -- a company with a 94-year history behind it -- has rarely traded for valuations of 15 times forward earnings or less.</p>
<p>While S&amp;P Global doesn't stretch back all of Disney's 94 years, it does confirm that since 1992 at least, Disney's long-term valuation has averaged about 21.5 times forward earnings -- about 37% higher than where Disney stock trades today.</p>
<p>Granted, there have been periods in which Disney stock bounced along much lower lows than where it sits today -- in 2007 and 2008 for example, where Disney stock fell below nine times forward earnings, and again in 2011, when the stock approached 10 times forward earnings.</p>
<p>By and large, though, I think Wells Fargo has it right when it says that, given the long-term trends, the chances of Disney stock bouncing back from today's prices are in fact "heavily skewed to the upside."</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Walt DisneyWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=5e8f7c5c-d57f-483e-9f3d-3d7f42183fb9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=96be9b1e-9248-11e7-b617-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Walt Disney wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=5e8f7c5c-d57f-483e-9f3d-3d7f42183fb9&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=96be9b1e-9248-11e7-b617-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=96be9b1e-9248-11e7-b617-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Netflix and Walt Disney. 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=96be9b1e-9248-11e7-b617-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Will Disney Dominate the Media Space? 1 Analyst Thinks So | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/05/will-disney-dominate-media-space-1-analyst-thinks-so.html | 2017-09-05 | 0 |
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<p>They see an economic system in which they have to work harder than ever to get ahead, and a political system that's unresponsive to their needs. They see the wealthy allowed to play by a different set of rules from everyone else.</p>
<p>Eight out of 10 Americans think it's harder now than before, taking more effort to get ahead than it did for previous generations. Just 15 percent think it takes the same work as it did before, and a scant 5 percent think it's easier now.</p>
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<p>And Americans don't think it will get better soon, with 78 percent thinking it also will be harder for the next generation to get ahead.</p>
<p>The findings underscore the landscape at a time when the economy and the country are being fundamentally changed by waves of globalization and new technology, and as Americans struggle to see a better path forward and their politicians grapple over how to help.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama speaks frequently about the growing gap between rich and poor, and he pushes for a higher minimum wage and health care subsidies, as well as programs to help people find new skills, at the same time he pushes free trade, which some blame for an exodus of jobs to lower-paying foreign factories. Republicans propose help for businesses, hoping that would lead them to hire more and pay more.</p>
<p>Neither side has sold the public on a future full of economic hope.</p>
<p>Looking at work, Americans think by 75-22 percent that U.S. corporations make stockholders their top priority, over their employees.</p>
<p>Looking at their own lives, most people consider themselves middle class. Eighty-six percent of those polled identified themselves that way, with 14 percent calling themselves upper middle class, 50 percent saying middle class and 22 percent saying lower middle class.</p>
<p>Officially, the deep recession that began in December 2007 has been over since mid-2009, but growth has been sluggish and consumer confidence has just begun to improve.</p>
<p>"The poll really explains why people are feeling on the sidelines and so despondent," said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York.</p>
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<p /> | American dream fading, poll says | false | https://abqjournal.com/352709/american-dream-fading-poll-says.html | 2 |
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<p>The pace of growth in the U.S. services sector slowed modestly in October as new orders slipped, though employment improved, an industry report showed on Monday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Institute for Supply Management said its services index eased to 54.2 last month from 55.1 in September, shy of economists' forecasts for 54.5, according to a Reuters survey.</p>
<p>A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.</p>
<p>The forward-looking new orders gauge fell to 54.8 from 57.7, but the measure of employment gained to 54.9 from 51.1.</p>
<p>The vast services sector has fared better than its manufacturing counterpart, which contracted during the summer. Still, this was the first time since June that the rate of growth in services firms has cooled.</p> | U.S. Service Sector Growth Slows in October | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/11/05/us-service-sector-growth-slows-in-october.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
<p>LOS ANGELES — Few were more aware than <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Corey-Seager/" type="external">Corey Seager</a> that the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Los-Angeles-Dodgers/" type="external">Los Angeles Dodgers</a> had been stranding an unusually high number of runners in scoring position lately.</p>
<p>So he did something about it Saturday night.</p>
<p>Seager yanked a two-out, three-run double to right field in the sixth inning to give Los Angeles the lead for good in a 6-3 victory against the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/San-Diego-Padres/" type="external">San Diego Padres</a> at Dodger Stadium.</p>
<p>“We left a lot of guys (Friday) night and to finally get some across, it was nice,” Seager said.</p>
<p>The Dodgers were 4-for-14 with runners in scoring position in a 4-3 loss to the Padres on Friday, their first defeat in 37 home games after leading at any point of the game.</p>
<p>They were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and trailing 3-1 on Saturday when Seager lined a 3-2 pitch over the head of first baseman <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Wil-Myers/" type="external">Wil Myers</a>.</p>
<p>Yasmani Grandal and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chase_Utley/" type="external">Chase Utley</a> scored easily. Yasiel Puig was held up at third, and Seager was caught between first and second. Seager scrambled back toward first and San Diego shortstop Yangervis Solarte threw low to Myers. Puig then broke for home, forcing Myers to rush his throw to catcher Austin Hedges, who had to lunge to the first-base side of the plate to make the catch. That gave Puig just enough room to score on a headfirst slide for a 4-3 lead.</p>
<p>“I think the reads were right all the way around on that particular play, Solarte just kind of threw the ball down and away to Wil and Wil had a hard time redirecting that ball back to the plate,” said San Diego manager <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Andy_Green/" type="external">Andy Green</a>. “If it’s a throw to (Hedges’) chest, he’s out by 5 or 10 feet.”</p>
<p>Seager said a key at-bat in the sixth inning also belonged to Puig, who drew a nine-pitch walk off right-handed reliever Craig Stammen to load the bases with nobody out.</p>
<p>“That was a really mature at-bat for him,” Seager said. “He didn’t give up, he didn’t give in.”</p>
<p>Los Angeles rookie first baseman <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Cody-Bellinger/" type="external">Cody Bellinger</a> stretched the lead to 5-3 in the seventh inning with his 34th home run of the season. Bellinger, who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the 4-3 loss to the Padres on Friday night, finished 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored Saturday.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chris_Taylor/" type="external">Chris Taylor</a> made it 6-3 with a solo homer with two outs in the eighth inning.</p>
<p>Dodgers relievers Tony <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Watson/" type="external">Watson</a>, <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Brandon_Morrow/" type="external">Brandon Morrow</a>, Pedro Baez and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kenley-Jansen/" type="external">Kenley Jansen</a> each threw a shutout inning to help even the series heading into Sunday’s finale.</p>
<p>Watson (6-4) picked up his first victory since he was traded to Los Angeles on July 31, and Jansen notched his 31st save in 32 opportunities this season.</p>
<p>The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Justin_Turner/" type="external">Justin Turner</a> off Padres starter Jhoulys Chacin but then stranded seven runners, including five in scoring position, before Chacin departed after five innings. He allowed one run and four hits with three strikeouts and four walks.</p>
<p>Taylor opened the first with a walk and Seager grounded a single through the right side, sending Taylor to third. Turner hit a shallow fly ball that drifted into foul territory. Hunter Renfroe made the catch up against the stands but wasn’t in good position to make a strong throw home.</p>
<p>“You can’t walk guys and expect to beat them because they’re going to run into some baseballs,” Green said. “Their lineup keeps coming at you.”</p>
<p>Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu recorded his fourth strikeout when he got Carlos Asuaje swinging for the second out of the third inning, but Jose Pirela and Renfroe followed with doubles into nearly the same spot in the left field corner to tie the score at 1.</p>
<p>Ryu got in trouble again in the fourth after giving up a leadoff walk to Solarte followed by an opposite-field single to Cory Spangenberg. Both runners moved up on a groundout by Hedges, and Chacin helped himself with a two-strike single to right, driving in Solarte for a 2-1 lead.</p>
<p>The Padres scored a run for the third consecutive inning off Ryu when Myers homered to right field on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the fifth, his third consecutive homer to the opposite field.</p>
<p>Ryu, who had combined for 14 shutout innings in his previous two starts, was finished after throwing 108 pitches in five innings, allowing three runs and seven hits, striking out five and walking two.</p>
<p>San Diego benefited from some strong defensive plays early in the game. Renfroe cut off a single in the gap by Bellinger to keep Taylor from scoring after he broke from first on a 3-2 pitch with two outs in the third.</p>
<p>Manuel Margot leaped against the center field fence to catch a long fly ball from Utley with one out in the fourth, and Solarte ended the inning with a nice backhand in the hole and strong throw to retire Puig.</p>
<p>NOTES: Padres RHP Jhoulys Chacin came in with the best ERA in the major leagues at home (1.86) and the worst in the majors on the road (7.36). … Dodgers RHP Chris Hatcher is expected to be activated Sunday after missing the past seven weeks with thoracic inflammation. … Dodgers LHP <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Clayton_Kershaw/" type="external">Clayton Kershaw</a> is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Sunday, his second in three days since going on the 10-day DL on July 24 with a back ailment.</p> | Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger propel Los Angeles Dodgers past San Diego Padres | false | https://newsline.com/corey-seager-cody-bellinger-propel-los-angeles-dodgers-past-san-diego-padres/ | 2017-08-13 | 1 |
<p>Typhoon Morakot has claimed more than 500 lives in Taiwan since the storm hit the island’s southern region a week ago. Thousands more may still be trapped, according to local reports, making Morakot the worst natural disaster to strike the island in half a century.</p>
<p>The Guardian:</p>
<p>More than 500 people have died in floods and mudslides unleashed in southern Taiwan by typhoon Morakot, the island’s president confirmed, as he came under increasing pressure over his handling of the disaster.</p>
<p>Ma Ying-jeou described it as the most severe damage to the island in half a century and asked foreign governments for prefabricated homes and helicopters capable of lifting heavy machinery.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/14/typhoon-morakot-taiwan-deaths" type="external">Read more</a></p> | Typhoon Toll in Taiwan 500 and Counting | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/typhoon-toll-in-taiwan-500-and-counting/ | 2009-08-14 | 4 |
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<p>U.S. Representative Tim Ryan said on Thursday he was challenging House Democratic leader Nancy&#160;Pelosi&#160;for the post of the chamber's top Democrat in an election set for Nov. 30.</p>
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<p>Ryan, 43, who is from Ohio, said Democrats had only been in the House of Representatives majority for four of the past 18 years, "and last week's election results set us back even further."</p>
<p>"Vote for me and I will dedicate all of my energy to lead us back into the majority," he said in a statement.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Peter Cooney)</p> | U.S. Congressman Ryan Challenging Pelosi for House Democratic Leader | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/11/17/u-s-congressman-ryan-challenging-pelosi-for-house-democratic-leader.html | 2016-11-17 | 0 |
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<p>Christian Taylor was unarmed when Arlington police officer Brad Miller shot him on Aug. 7. Miller has been fired.</p>
<p>The report shows there was THC, one of the active components of marijuana, and a synthetic drug that causes hallucinations in his system.</p>
<p>The autopsy also showed Taylor was shot four times.</p>
<p>The 6-foot-tall, 19-year-old attended Angelo State University in San Angelo in West Texas, where he was to start his sophomore year on the team.</p>
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<p>The Tarrant County district attorney has said it will bring a case against Miller, 49, to a grand jury. The district attorney did not immediately return calls on what impact the autopsy report may have on the case.</p>
<p>Security footage from the lot shows Taylor breaking out the windshield of a car on the lot and then driving his vehicle into the glass showroom. There is no video footage of the shooting itself.</p>
<p>Inside the showroom, Miller ordered Taylor to get to the ground. Instead, Taylor cursed at the officer and advanced toward him. The officer fired when Taylor was about 10 feet away, Arlington police chief Will Johnson said in a news conference last month.</p> | Autopsy: Football player shot by police had drugs in system | false | https://abqjournal.com/638354/autopsy-football-player-shot-by-police-had-drugs-in-system.html | 2 |
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<p>ALICE, Texas — Police in South Texas say they’ve arrested a man in the fatal 1974 shooting of a police officer following a traffic stop.</p>
<p>Police in Alice, about 45 miles west of Corpus Christi, announced Monday that a man currently serving a life sentence in Alabama is charged in the death of officer Matthew Murphy.</p>
<p>Authorities say Murphy was a narcotics officer who had returned to patrol duty at the time of the traffic stop. He was shot multiple times and died later at a hospital.</p>
<p>Investigators say the suspect, identified by the Alabama Department of Corrections as 70-year-old Robert Lopez, at one point bragged to a fellow inmate that he had shot a “narc” named Murphy.</p>
<p>Lopez is serving a life term after being sentenced in 1981 on a robbery conviction.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Texas police arrest Alabama inmate in 1974 death of officer | false | https://abqjournal.com/1092011/texas-police-arrest-alabama-inmate-in-1974-death-of-officer.html | 2 |
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<p>Jan 23 (Reuters) - Lombard Risk Management Plc:</p>
<p>* LOMBARD RISK MNGMENT - RECOMMENDED CASH ACQUISITION OF LOMBARD BY VERMEG</p>
<p>* ‍VERMEG INTENDS TO ACQUIRE ENTIRE ISSUED AND TO BE ISSUED ORDINARY SHARE CAPITAL OF LOMBARD RISK​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage: (Reporting by Lawrence White)</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - Stock markets jumped on Tuesday as reports that the United States and China were negotiating to avert a trade war whetted investors’ appetite for riskier assets.</p>
<p>Japan's Nikkei share index <a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.N225" type="external">.N225</a> rose 2.7 percent for its best day in almost three months while a 1.4 percent gain by Europe's Stoxx 600 put it on track for its best daily performance in seven weeks.</p>
<p>The reports of behind-the-scenes talks between Washington and Beijing spurred optimism that U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist shift is more about gaining leverage in trade talks than isolating the world’s biggest economy with tariff barriers that would stifle global growth.</p>
<p>This helped offset news that the United States and many of its allies were expelling more than 100 Russian diplomats in retaliation for a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain.</p>
<p>U.S. stocks .SP500 are still 7 percent below their January peaks and some investors are not rushing to recalculate risks around Trump’s America First trade agenda.</p>
<p>“He can flip-flop quite a lot,” said Lukas Daalder, chief investment officer at Robeco in Rotterdam. “The big problem is, how long will it take before new tweets and headlines that will change the sentiment again?”</p>
<p>Daalder said he was underweight emerging market equities and the Nikkei and overweight other developed markets “based on the expectation that there will be more trade uncertainty”.</p>
<p>White House officials are asking China to cut tariffs on imported cars, allow foreign majority ownership of financial services firms and buy more U.S.-made semiconductors, said a person familiar with the discussions.</p>
<p>Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged on Monday to maintain trade negotiations and ease access to American businesses.</p> FILE PHOTO - A woman walks past an electronic board showing the graphs of the recent movements of Japan's Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, October 23, 2017. REUTERS/Issei Kato EURO REVERSES EARLY GAINS
<p>The surge in stocks dragged on the Treasury market, which faces a record $294 billion of new supply this week. Yields on 10-year Treasury notes US10YT=RR inched up to 2.848 percent, but remained short of last week’s top at 2.90 percent.</p>
<p>In currency markets the early reaction was to offload both the yen and the dollar, helping the euro to an early gain.</p>
<a href="/finance/markets/index?symbol=.N225" type="external">Nikkei Inc</a> 21317.32 .N225 Nikkei Index +551.22 (+2.65%) .N225
<p>But the single currency later went into reverse after data showed lending to euro zone companies slowed last month, and European Central Bank Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said underlying euro zone inflation may remain lower than expected even if growth is robust.</p>
<p>The dollar, measured against a basket of currencies, .DXY used the euro’s weakness to rally 0.4 percent to 89.424, bouncing off a five-week low hit on Monday.</p>
<p>The improved mood on trade earlier pushed China’s yuan to a two-1/2 year high and gave a fillip to industrial commodities, with copper and iron ore bouncing.</p>
<p>In oil markets, Brent crude LCOc1 added 31 cents to $70.43 a barrel.</p>
<p>Daalder said there had been no clear flight to quality since February’s burst of equity market volatility, with scarce volatility in currencies and little movement in 10-year U.S. Treasury yields.</p>
<p>“It seems to be that the U.S. has lost some of its shine as the safe market to which people turn when things get rough,” said Daalder. “It’s partly the uncertainty in the U.S. itself which is playing a role.”</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Catherine Evans</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Louisiana will not charge two police officers for the fatal 2016 shooting of a black man, which was caught on video and sparked protests, because evidence showed the officers acted properly in subduing a person resisting arrest, the attorney general said on Tuesday.</p> FILE PHOTO: Alton Sterling, who was shot dead by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. on July 5, 2016, is pictured in this undated handout photo. East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters/File Photo
<p>The death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge was one of a number of killings of black men by white officers that helped fuel the Black Lives Matter movement and raised the question of racial bias in U.S. policing.</p>
<p>Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - New York state’s attorney general said on Tuesday he will lead a multistate lawsuit to try to stop the federal government from asking people whether they are citizens in the 2020 Census, arguing the move will discourage immigrants from participating.</p> FILE PHOTO: New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announces the filing of a multistate lawsuit to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients at a press conference at John Jay College in New York City, U.S., September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Penney
<p>The U.S. Commerce Department, which runs the Census Bureau, announced on Monday that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had decided to include the citizenship question after a Justice Department request based on a desire for better enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The act protects minorities’ voting rights.</p>
<p>Ross had decided that “obtaining complete and accurate information to meet this legitimate government purpose outweighed the limited potential adverse impacts,” the department said in a statement.</p>
<p>New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said that demanding to know respondents’ citizenship status “will create an environment of fear and distrust in immigrant communities that would make impossible both an accurate Census and the fair distribution of federal tax dollars.”</p>
<p>He said in a statement he would lead a multistate lawsuit to block the decision. The statement did not say which states would join the lawsuit and when it would be filed. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p>
<p>The State of California, which has a large immigrant population, filed a lawsuit early Tuesday in federal court against the Commerce Department and the Census Bureau.</p>
<p>California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California to issue a preliminary injunction and rule that the move violates the Constitution by interfering with the obligation to conduct a full count of the U.S. population.</p>
<p>The census, which is mandated under the U.S. Constitution and takes place every 10 years, counts every resident in the United States. It is used to determine the allocation to states of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and to distribute billions of dollars in federal funds to local communities.</p>
<p>Ross said in a memo that the Voting Rights Act requires a tally of citizens of voting age to protect minorities against discrimination, and that getting this information as part of the census would make it more complete. Non-citizens do not have the right to vote in federal and state elections.</p>
<p>Opponents of a 2020 Census question about citizenship status say it could further discourage immigrants from participating in the count, especially when they are already fearful of how information could be used against them.</p>
<p>The announcement came as President Donald Trump tries to keep his campaign promise to build a border wall between Mexico and the United States and to crack down on illegal immigration.</p>
<p>He ordered stricter immigration enforcement and banned travelers from several Muslim-majority countries soon after taking office in January 2017.</p>
<p>“This untimely, unnecessary, and untested citizenship question will disrupt planning at a critical point, undermine years of painstaking preparation, and increase costs significantly, putting a successful, accurate count at risk,” the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights said in a statement.</p>
<p>Test surveys showed in late 2017 that some immigrants were afraid to provide information to U.S. Census workers because of fears about being deported.</p>
<p>Citizenship questions have appeared on the census in the past and are included on more frequent population surveys that are administered by the Census Bureau.</p>
<p>Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Eric Beech in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian rebel group holed up in the besieged eastern Ghouta town of Douma said on Tuesday that Russia had yet to give its answer to proposals that involve insurgents and civilians staying in the area.</p>
<p>In the face of defeat, rebel groups in other parts of eastern Ghouta have agreed to be moved to Idlib province in northwestern Syria. Douma, held by the Jaish al-Islam group, is the last remaining rebel-held part of eastern Ghouta.</p>
<p>“The Russians have not presented a decision on what the negotiations committee presented to them,” Jaish al-Islam’s military spokesman Hamza Birqdar said in a text message to Reuters from Douma, adding that a meeting was expected on Wednesday.</p>
<p>He accused the Syrian government and its Russian ally of seeking to impose demographic changes on the area by forcing out its people.</p>
<p>“We have presented our decision to stay. This is not only a decision by Jaish al-Islam, but by all the revolutionary institutions and figures in Douma,” Birqdar said.</p>
<p>Thousands of people - rebel fighters and their families - have left other parts of eastern Ghouta since Thursday under the terms of withdrawal agreements brokered by Russia.</p>
<p>Reporting by Tom Perry; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Gareth Jones</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Lombard Risk Mngment - Recommended Cash Acquisition Of Lombard By Vermeg Risk assets jump on reports of U.S.-China trade talks Louisiana will not charge officers for fatal Alton Sterling shooting New York state will sue to block Census citizenship question Syrian rebel group says awaiting Russian answer on Douma proposals | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-lombard-risk-mngment-recommended-c/brief-lombard-risk-mngment-recommended-cash-acquisition-of-lombard-by-vermeg-idUSASM000IDG | 2018-01-23 | 2 |
<p>Did you hear the one about little Johnny’s Sunday school teacher talking to the boy’s father, a deacon? The teacher good-naturedly approached the dad in the church parking lot. “You’ll never believe what happened in Sunday school,” he began. “I asked the class who was responsible for breaking down the walls of Jericho, and right away Johnny spoke up, ‘I don’t know, but it wasn’t me!’ ”</p>
<p />
<p>Jim White</p>
<p />
<p>Upon recalling the statement, the teacher laughed as though he had not heard it previously. Johnny’s dad looked troubled. “Well,” he said, “Johnny has always been a good boy and if he says he didn’t do it, I tend to believe him. But if you will turn in a bill to the property and grounds committee I think we could pay to have it repaired.”</p>
<p>Ask any school teacher who is a Christian, and chances are you will be told that contemporary students know far less about biblical references, characters and stories than previous generations of young scholars. In a public school setting, of course, the Bible is not a part of the curriculum. But classes in art, literature and even history are replete with references to the Bible.</p>
<p>It is a cultural concern that high school students have no knowledge of Adam and Eve, Noah or Moses. Even Hollywood alludes to these characters. Oh, the names might be changed to Evan or something, but to be a well-informed American citizen requires some acquaintance with the Bible motifs. It is obviously of even greater concern that they are lacking in their knowledge of Jesus.</p>
<p>It is somewhat humorous to hear that 12 percent of Americans believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife and that only four in 10 can name more than four of the 10 commandments. Well, it would be funny if 85 percent of Americans didn’t claim to be Christian.</p>
<p>But as disconcerting as our cultural biblical illiteracy is, what is infinitely more troubling is that even church-goers come up short in the Bible knowledge department. For years researchers have been saying that Christians are failing to learn the Bible — or that churches are failing to teach it.</p>
<p>In 2001, George Barna warned, “The Christian body in America is immersed in a crisis of biblical illiteracy. How else can you describe matters when most churchgoing adults reject the accuracy of the Bible, reject the existence of Satan, claim that Jesus sinned, see no need to evangelize, believe that good works are one of the keys to persuading God to forgive their sins, and describe their commitment to Christianity as moderate or even less firm? Of all types of Baptists in America, only 43 percent believe that people don’t earn their way to heaven and only 55 percent affirm that Christ was sinless” ( <a href="http://www.barna.org/" type="external">Barna Research Online</a>, “Religious Beliefs Vary Widely by Denomination,” June 25, 2001).</p>
<p>According to another study by Barna (Nov. 28, 2000), the most widely known Bible verse among adult and teen believers is, “God helps those who help themselves.” Benjamin Franklin might have been flattered to think that his proverb would be elevated to canonical status, but the saying is not only poor theology, it is downright unbiblical.</p>
<p>This is the great problem as I see it. It would be sobering enough if it were only true that Christians do not know what the Bible teaches. But American Christians have blended biblical teachings with folk theology to such a degree that they are not even aware of the difference. The problem the church faces, then, is unlearning the false teachings while at the same time instilling the truth.</p>
<p>To make the matters still more difficult and troubling, in many cases we need to start with the clergy.</p>
<p>A troubling reality in our day is that because some mega church pastors lack seminary training the value of a theological education is being questioned. In fact, some have gone so far as to declare that a seminary education inhibits church growth. In some cases, let’s hope so.</p>
<p>Truth is stranger than fiction. Some pastors are proclaiming quirky variations of “God loves you so he wants you to be rich, powerful and comfortable.” Last Sunday morning as I was dressing for church I heard Joel Osteen tell an arena-full of people and the television audience that God wants them to be at ease. He wants to make their rough places smooth. He is getting ready to go before them and make their lives easy.</p>
<p>Now, before you send me an email asking when was the last time I preached to a television audience and an arena-full of people, let me say I am sure Brother Osteen does much good for the kingdom of God despite his deplorable theology.</p>
<p>But that’s my point. Deplorable theology is being proclaimed from some very significant pulpits. No wonder there is such biblical illiteracy.</p>
<p>OK. We all agree that Americans, Baptists and even Baptist preachers (and most especially Baptist editors) need to know more of the Bible (unless someone will actually say, “No, I know all of the Bible it is possible to know.”) So, what do we do about it?</p>
<p>I suggest a very simple remedy. It starts with a personal decision to move beyond the “oughts” and actually read the Bible. Perspective helps, so it may be helpful to ask such questions as these:</p>
<p>Do I spend as much time reading the Bible as watching TV? Not a fair question, you say? OK, how about this …</p>
<p>Do I spend as much time reading the Bible as I spend checking emails? OK, how about drying my hair?</p>
<p>The point is we have time to do what is important. If we are not reading the Bible it is because it doesn’t rank high enough in our list of priorities to get done.</p>
<p>We need to read the Bible in church, of course, but hearing the Bible read in worship will never replace the personal time spent reading and meditating on what God is saying. And the only way to get ‘er done is to just do it. Did I read that in the Bible?</p> | EDITORIAL: Finding an antidote to biblical dummies? | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/editorialfindinganantidotetobiblicaldummies/ | 3 |
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<p>SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) - The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security says the federal government is helping to remove thousands of tons of debris as part of rebuilding efforts in wildfire-ravaged areas of Northern California.</p>
<p>Wildfires that swept through Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Yuba counties in October killed 44 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes. State officials say insured damages alone topped $9 billion.</p>
<p>Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says the blazes also left behind more than 700,000 tons of debris. Nielsen spoke Wednesday in the hard-hit city of Santa Rosa, where she surveyed the destruction and met with survivors.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, she flew over areas of Southern California devastated by the largest wildfire in California's modern history. The Thomas fire has destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.</p>
<p>SANTA ROSA, Calif. (AP) - The secretary of the Department of Homeland Security says the federal government is helping to remove thousands of tons of debris as part of rebuilding efforts in wildfire-ravaged areas of Northern California.</p>
<p>Wildfires that swept through Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Yuba counties in October killed 44 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes. State officials say insured damages alone topped $9 billion.</p>
<p>Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen says the blazes also left behind more than 700,000 tons of debris. Nielsen spoke Wednesday in the hard-hit city of Santa Rosa, where she surveyed the destruction and met with survivors.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, she flew over areas of Southern California devastated by the largest wildfire in California's modern history. The Thomas fire has destroyed more than 1,000 buildings in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.</p> | Homeland Security secretary visits fire damage in Santa Rosa | false | https://apnews.com/0b7cdfc3999c489a9f6cc84aeb53a371 | 2018-01-03 | 2 |
<p>Two British Second World War dramas are among the leading contenders for Academy Awards this year.&#160;Dunkirk,&#160;about the 1940 evacuation of British troops from France,&#160;received eight nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Christopher Nolan.&#160;The Darkest Hour,&#160;showing Winston Churchill becoming Britain’s wartime Prime Minister, has six nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Gary Oldman.</p>
<p>A third British movie about the Second World War,&#160;Churchill, released in June, offers a portrait of Winston Churchill’s doubts and disagreements with his officers and allies in the run-up to the 1944 Normandy invasion. Brian Cox was superb in the title role, but 2017 was a tough year to pit the failing, war-worn Churchill against the fresh, inspirational orator who rallied his countrymen against Nazi tyranny.</p>
<p>In his review of&#160;The Darkest Hour, Guardian&#160;film critic Peter Bradshaw wrote:&#160;“Just as Britain negotiates its inglorious retreat from Europe, and our political classes prepare to ratify the chaotic abandonment of a union intended to prevent another war, there seems to be a renewed appetite for movies about 1940…”</p>
<p>Bradshaw asked the film’s producers if they recognized the relevance of their cinematic Churchill to current events. They told him they had planned their movie long before the Brexit vote. But the&#160;zeitgeist&#160;often takes a while to incubate artistic and political phenomena before bearing fruit. An abiding ambivalence, both toward Winston Churchill and membership in the European Union, have long simmered in the British psyche.</p>
<p>The UK officially joined what was then the European Communities (EC) on January 1, 1973. In 1975 the country held its first referendum about whether to leave. Various political parties – Labour, the Referendum Party, UKIP – have flirted with defection from the EU over the decades, without success, until 2016. With Brexit now imminent, the country seems to be suffering a sense of leavers’ remorse. But both of the award-nominated World War Two films offer reassurance that the UK can and will prosper in its new circumstances, on its own.</p>
<p>Churchill has always loomed larger than life for the British, even during his lifetime. A recent poll revealed that a quarter of British voters believe Churchill to be a mythical figure, even as a majority consider Sherlock Holmes historical.&#160;Churchill&#160;was&#160;mythic, as well as a flesh and blood human. He wrote history and enacted it. Both as an author and a public official he was a maker of myth.</p>
<p>Arguably the most eloquent world leader ever, Churchill wrote dozens of inspirational speeches, reams of incisive journalism and epic painstaking multi-volume cultural and military histories. In 1953, during his final term as Prime Minister, Churchill won the Nobel&#160;Prize for Literature.&#160;His country tended to embrace him in desperate times and turn him out of office when his overheated style exhausted them. At the moment the UK seems to be inviting him back for moral support.</p>
<p>Christopher Nolan’s&#160;Dunkirk&#160;is an apt companion piece to&#160;The Darkest Hour,&#160;showing the actual blood, sweat, tears and death to which Churchill only alluded. And the chilly waters of the English&#160;Channel, which swallowed many a dead and wounded soldier.&#160;Dunkirk&#160;ends by quoting Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons that&#160;“We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations.”&#160;But the survival of hundreds of thousands of soldiers feels like a victory in both films, a miracle of British resolve, despite the grim sacrifice of the Calais garrison (and four thousand troops) depicted briefly in&#160;The Darkest Hour.</p>
<p>As often in his movies (like&#160;Memento&#160;and&#160;Inception),&#160;Nolan manipulates our sense of time. Some critics have objected to his non-linear depiction of events in&#160;Dunkirk&#160;as confusing and unnecessary.&#160;But that sense of time as a cubist montage is more emotionally true to the experiences of the troops who live and re-live their near-death experiences, as vivid to them days later as they were in the moment.</p>
<p>The moral center of Nolan’s film is shared between an authority figure, Kenneth Branagh, as the Dunkirk port commander, and an “ordinary” civilian boat captain, Mark Rylance. Better than anyone else, Branagh understands the overwhelming odds against a successful evacuation but perseveres in spite of one heart-breaking disaster after another. Bearing witness is part of his responsibility and he does not shirk. Nor does he succumb, as do others under tension, to the parochial divisions among the troops. He remains behind the British to shepherd the French soldiers to safety too, despite the growing risk.</p>
<p>Rylance is a no-nonsense yachtsman with an idealized sense of quiet British competence and duty. He has already lost one son in the war, but pitches in to do his bit, with his second son, to rescue as many troops as possible. Branagh and Rylance embody British resolve, the stiff upper lip on steroids, getting on with what must be done, even if they must go it alone. In this way Nolan’s film also offers a reassuring view of Brexit, in the mode of Rosie the Riveter: We Can Do It!</p>
<p>Political commentator Andrew Rawnsley thought&#160;Darkest Hour’s&#160;portrayal of Churchill struck British audiences so strongly because “It is our misfortune to be passing through a period when the worst sort of leader uses passion in the service of malevolence…” and we “pine for politicians who aspire to do more with language than marshal banalities, incite division and rouse nastiness.”</p>
<p>Of course, in Churchill’s much-admired “we shall fight them on the beaches” speech, he ends by saying that even if the worst were to happen, leaving England “subjugated and starving,” that “the New World, with all its power and might” would step forth “to the rescue and the liberation of the old.” But as everyone must realize now, given the Trump White House, there is little hope of any such&#160;deus ex America&#160;coming to the rescue of the UK or even itself.</p> | How Brexit Won World War Two | true | https://counterpunch.org/2018/02/23/how-brexit-won-world-war-two/ | 2018-02-23 | 4 |
<p>David Ignatius, the assistant managing editor of the Washington Post, recently tried to answer a question about the Clinton administration that has been on many minds over the past year: “Why are these smart people having so much trouble, especially in foreign affairs?” Ignatius’s suggestion was that there were, in fact, two problems: the kind of “meritocratic education” that had produced this administration’s 1990s reprise of the Best and the Brightest; and the fact that history had thrown the Clinton people a curve ball, such that the new elite “had been trained to fight the last war, not the next.”</p>
<p>There is something to be said for both of these points. The deficiencies of “meritocratic education”— its unexamined confidence in the universal power of reason, its discomfort with radical ideas (from any ideological quarter), its emphasis on cleverness over substance, its suspicion of strongly held beliefs (especially if they have moral overtones)—are becoming ever more obvious. Rationality works in the seminar room; but it doesn’t get you very far in dealing with people (Kim Il-sung, Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein) who, as Ignatius gently puts it, “are less susceptible to reason.” Cleverness makes for a bracing weekend at a foundation’s country house; but it is less useful in thinking through grand strategy in unprecedented circumstances. The instinct for “the center” can be intellectually crippling in a situation in which the old boundaries don’t apply, and in which off-brand ideas may be more “realistic” than the conventional verities. And strongly held beliefs—especially beliefs about religious and ethnic identity and community—are one of the driving forces of world politics today; an inability to grasp this dimension of international conflict is a serious gap in anyone’s strategic armamentarium.</p>
<p>The problem is not that these smart people in the Clinton administration are really dumb. (Although a little less about their preparation in elite prep schools and universities would be in order; these were, after all, the years in which many of those schools were in an advanced state of intellectual decadence.) The real problem is that between the Vietnam War and the Revolution of 1989, the American foreign-policy meritocracy enforced a rather narrow ideological orthodoxy even as it was shedding its WASPishness and diversifying itself ethnically. And, like Chinese foot-binding, the enforcement of that orthodoxy produced disabilities down the road; it has, in fact, left many of these meritocrats ill equipped for the burdens of public office today, precisely because it tended to stunt their intellectual creativity.</p>
<p>To take but one (large) example: During the last decade of the Cold War, many of the people who are running U.S. foreign policy today were getting “credentialed” in any number of conferences and study groups, primarily by pondering the arcana of nuclear-arms control. Here was a world of abstraction and technical jargon not inaptly compared, on occasion, to the world of medieval theology (the chief difference being the comparative openness of discourse among the Augustinians, Bonaventurians, Scotists, and Thomists). The arms-control fraternity was an elite brotherhood, admission to whose inner chambers required unswerving acquiescence to certain dogmatic axioms: that the Soviet Union was a permanent presence in world affairs, had ceased to be an ideologically driven force, and was best dealt with as simply another great power; that disarmament was an impossible dream; and that the “arms race” could be rationally managed by rational leaders on both sides of the Cold War as they pursued the Holy Grail of the fraternity—strategic stability.1</p>
<p>To suggest, in the rarefied environs of the nuclear discussion club, that the answer to the “threat of nuclear war” was the democratization of the Soviet Union and its satellites was to invite ridicule and contempt. For in these worlds of discourse, the Helsinki Final Act and the human-rights activism it unleashed in central and eastern Europe were regarded as modest bargaining chips at best, and a distracting threat to East/West stability at worst. Change in the Communist world, if and when it came, would happen from the top down, rather than from the bottom up.</p>
<p>Yet the threat of nuclear war has now dramatically declined; and the decline has nothing to do with the arms-control studies produced by the Best and the Brightest, studies on which American foundations wasted tens of millions of dollars throughout the 1980s. Rather, the greatly reduced threat of nuclear war has to do with The Analysis That Dared Not Speak Its Name in establishment foreign-policy circles during that period: namely, that peace and stability required the collapse of European Communism and the emergence of democratic governments in central and eastern Europe.</p>
<p>So it’s not just the sociology of “meritocratic education” that is to blame for the deficiencies of the Clinton policy-wonks. The content of that education also left much to be desired.</p>
<p>George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. and holds EPPC’s William E. Simon Chair in Catholic Studies.</p> | Those Who Rule Us | false | https://eppc.org/publications/those-who-rule-us/ | 1 |
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<p>Jan 18 (Reuters) - Aetna Inc:</p>
<p>* AETNA ENHANCES ACCOUNTABLE CARE PRODUCT IN CONNECTICUT WITH TRINITY HEALTH OF NEW ENGLAND</p>
<p>* AETNA INC - ‍ANNOUNCED AN ENHANCED ACCOUNTABLE CARE PRODUCT, AETNA WHOLE HEALTH (SM) VALUE CARE ALLIANCE AND TRINITY HEALTH OF NEW ENGLAND​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - CVS Health on Friday named Marc-David Munk as the new chief medical officer of MinuteClinic, the drugstore chain’s retail medical clinic unit and as associate chief medical officer of the company.</p> FILE PHOTO: The CVS logo is seen at one of their stores in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 1, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
<p>Late last year, CVS agreed to buy health insurer Aetna Inc for $69 billion, seeking to tackle soaring healthcare spending through lower-cost medical services in pharmacies.</p>
<p>Retail clinics refer to walk-in clinics in stores and supermarkets. MinuteClinic, launched in 2000, is the largest provider of retail clinics in the United States.</p>
<p>Munk was previously the chief medical officer of Boston-based Iora Health.</p>
<p>Reporting by Mrinalini Krothapalli; Editing by Arun Koyyur</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters Health) - Fish oil supplements do not ease the symptoms of dry eye, a condition that affects about one in seven U.S. adults, according to a new test of the treatment in hundreds of volunteers.</p>
<p>People who took 3,000 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids each day for 12 months - the highest dose ever used in a trial of fish oil - experienced no more relief from their dry eye than a second group that received olive oil placebo capsules.</p>
<p>The findings were published online by the New England Journal of Medicine and reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>Dry eye, also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca, is estimated to cost the U.S. economy more than $55 billion a year in medical care and lost productivity as people struggle to cope with the pain, itchiness, burning, fatigue and vision problems that occur when the surface of the eye becomes too dessicated.</p>
<p>“This study is significant because dry eye disease is a very common condition especially among women and older individuals, and is likely the most common reason to see an eye doctor,” said Dr. Joann Kang of the division of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Montefiore Health System in New York in an email to Reuters Health.</p>
<p>The result “contradicts a popular and common treatment of dry eye disease as the study did not find any significantly better outcomes of patients treated with omega-3 fatty acids,” said Kang, who was not involved in the research.</p>
<p>Other treatments doctors may recommend include over-the-counter lubricating eye drops, eyelid-cleansing regimens, tear duct plugs to slow the drainage of the eye’s natural lubricant and two prescription drugs, including the widely-advertised Restasis prescription drops that cost more than $500 a month. The other prescription drop, Xiidra, carries a similar price tag.</p>
<p>In contrast, fish oil therapy costs roughly $30 to $150 per month.</p>
<p>But even the highest dose of fish oil didn’t produce more relief than placebo, according to the team from 27 sites, led by Maureen Maguire, a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.</p>
<p>All of the study’s participants had been dealing with moderate to severe dry eye for at least six months, and were allowed to continue their current treatments during the fish oil trial. Neither patients nor their doctors knew which type of oil they were getting.</p>
<p>More than half the patients in both groups reported improvement in the symptoms yet fish oil consumers didn’t score significantly higher than placebo recipients.</p>
<p>This illustrates that it’s very difficult for clinicians to tell whether a treatment is being beneficial, Maguire said in a telephone interview, or whether it’s random variability in the patient’s condition from one week to the next, or the patient wanting to believe the treatment is working, that accounts for improvement.</p>
<p>Maguire said optometrists and ophthalmologists frequently suggest fish oil to their dry eye patients, although “many make the recommendation saying, ‘I don’t know if this will work, but you might try it.’”</p>
<p>How a patient will respond to a specific treatment, Maguire noted, “is really quite variable, which is one of the problems with this eye condition. Some people get relief from all of the various treatments, from lid hygiene to artificial tears, where different formulations work for different people. It’s a difficult condition to manage.”</p>
<p>Based on the new results, if patients are looking for relief of their dry-eye symptoms, she said, “they may want to look at other alternatives.”</p>
<p>SOURCE: <a href="https://bit.ly/2HjALGF" type="external">bit.ly/2HjALGF</a> New England Journal of Medicine, online April 13, 2018.</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters Health) - Doctors who see fewer patients may get better online reviews than physicians who have higher-volume practices, a study of U.S. urologists suggests.</p>
<p>Researchers examined data on 665 urologists with Medicare patients in California, looking at how many patients they treated as well as what types of reviews they got on four websites: Yelp.com, Vitals.com, Healthgrades.com and Ratemd.com.</p>
<p>Half of the urologists treated at least 426 patients covered by Medicare in 2014. Overall, the physicians who treated fewer patients got higher satisfaction ratings online, the study found.</p>
<p>“There could be more than one explanation for this but our hypothesis is that patients are happier when there is less waiting and more time to communicate with the doctor,” said lead study author Dr. Gregory Murphy, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.</p>
<p>“I think it shows that patients value efficiency, ease of access and communication,” Murphy said by email.</p>
<p>Although the accuracy, usefulness and meaning of online reviews is debated by doctors, they increasingly influence decisions about where patients choose to receive care and impact how hospitals and health systems evaluate doctors’ performance, the study team writes in JAMA Surgery, online March 21.</p>
<p>Online reviews may be influenced by a variety of factors that go beyond the quality of care to include things like waiting times to see physicians, the ease of scheduling appointments and how long doctors spend in exam rooms, the authors note.</p>
<p>For the study, the researchers examined physician billing and reimbursement data as well as the number of Medicare patients they saw and how many services they billed for in 2014.</p>
<p>Most of the urologists in the study were male, and they predominantly worked in nonacademic settings.</p>
<p>On a scale that ranged from a low of 1 to a high of 5, academic doctors on average scored a 4.2 rating on the various patient satisfaction websites in the study. Outside of academic settings, doctors scored an average rating of 3.7.</p>
<p>Female urologists got similar satisfaction ratings as males, the study also found.</p>
<p>For every 100 patients seen, average patient satisfaction ratings dropped by 0.04 points.</p>
<p>Limitations of the study include the use of Medicare data from propublica.com, which may not accurately represent a physician’s non-Medicare patient population, the authors note.</p>
<p>The study also wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how the number of patients doctors treat might influence satisfaction ratings on consumer websites.</p>
<p>Even so, the results suggest that doctors need to spend some time talking to their patients, Murphy said by email. When complications happen during treatment or surgery, patients may feel better about the experience when they feel like their doctor listens to them.</p>
<p>“Patients want someone who communicates well and listens in those unfortunate and frightening moments,” Murphy said.</p>
<p>It’s possible that the results might not fully capture how many patients doctors treat, however, because it only focused on people insured by Medicare, the U.S. health program for people 65 and older, said Dr. Brian Radbill, chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s in New York City.</p>
<p>Older patients may have more complex medical needs and require more time and attention than younger patients, Radbill, who wasn’t involved in the study, said by email.</p>
<p>Specialists, especially in urology where surgery is often involved, may only interact with patients a few times and have limited opportunities to build a relationship Radbill added.</p>
<p>“To the patient, it is often a completely alien, frightening experience so the patient may get the absolute highest quality of care, but the experience may be perceived as poor,” Radbill said. “They may leave feeling like they were not treated well - perhaps the doctor swooped in and swooped out, did not engage them like they are used to.”</p>
<p>SOURCE: <a href="https://bit.ly/2IQmdeD" type="external">bit.ly/2IQmdeD</a></p>
<p>JAMA Surg 2018.</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters Health) - Many female surgeons who become pregnant or have children during their training years consider abandoning their surgical careers before they even start, a U.S. study suggests.</p>
<p>For the study, researchers examined survey data collected from 347 female surgeons who were 31 years old on average and had a total of 452 pregnancies between them. Overall, 86 percent of the women worked an unmodified schedule up until birth and roughly two-thirds said they were concerned that their job hours might have negatively impacted their babies.</p>
<p>“The women surveyed reported concerns about unmodified work schedules during pregnancy, dissatisfaction with maternity leave options, stigma and fear of loss of reputation from being pregnant during training, inadequate lactation and childcare support and a desire for greater mentorship on work-life integration,” said lead study author Dr. Erika Lu Rangel of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.</p>
<p>“This emphasizes that pregnancy and childcare support may have a significant influence on the decision to pursue or maintain a career in surgery,” Rangel said by email. “To attract and retain the most talented candidates, surgical leaders must address the challenges facing new mothers in residency.”</p>
<p>A total of 251 women, or 78 percent, said they got six weeks or less for maternity leave, researchers report in JAMA Surgery, online March 21. Roughy the same proportion of women said the duration of their leave was inadequate.</p>
<p>While 329 women, or 96 percent, said breastfeeding was important, 58 percent said they stopped nursing their babies sooner than they wanted to because of challenges such as a lack of lactation facilities or time to express milk at work, the study also found.</p>
<p>Only 64 women, or 18 percent, said they had childcare provided or subsidized by their employers.</p>
<p>A total of 135 women, or 39 percent, said they strongly considered leaving their surgical training programs due to challenges with pregnancy and becoming mothers.</p>
<p>In addition, 102 women, or 30 percent, said they would discourage female medical students from a surgical career, specifically because of the challenges of balancing pregnancy and motherhood with training.</p>
<p>Beyond its small size, another limitation of the study is that the online survey might not be representative of all women or mothers in the surgical field or in medicine, the authors note.</p>
<p>There are also many female surgeons who do successfully juggle both motherhood and medical training, Dr. Kelly McCoy of the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues write in an accompanying commentary. Good mentorship during training might help some women figure out how to navigate this, they note.</p>
<p>For some parents, the prospect of having to choose between caring for a patient needing urgent surgery and caring for kids might be too challenging, and might mean they should consider a different specialty, they write.</p>
<p>“If the prospect of leaving a recital, fencing match or tickle-fest to perform urgent surgery is enough to sway a young doctor away from a particular specialty, their gut may be guiding them in the right direction,” McCoy and colleagues write.</p>
<p>Even so, the results add to evidence that a variety of challenges may deter women from pursuing both surgical careers and motherhood even when they might be willing to try to juggle both, said Dr. Constance Guille, a researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston who wasn’t involved in the study.</p>
<p>“While none of the study findings are unexpected, the work is laudable and underscores an important reason why women are underrepresented in surgical specialties in our country,” Guille said by email. “If we want to close this gender gap, medical institutions will need to make an initial investment to support mothers in surgical training with adequate maternity leave, daycare with appropriate hours, lactation facilities, etc.”</p>
<p>SOURCE: <a href="https://bit.ly/2Gnzeiq" type="external">bit.ly/2Gnzeiq</a> and <a href="https://bit.ly/2EHOrGd" type="external">bit.ly/2EHOrGd</a></p>
<p>JAMA Surg 2018.</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Aetna Enhances Accountable Care Product In Connecticut With Trinity Health Of New England CVS Health appoints Marc-David Munk as CMO of MinuteClinic Fish oil supplements ineffective against dry eye Patients more satisfied when doctors treat fewer people Many trainee female surgeons consider leaving field after pregnancy | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-aetna-enhances-accountable-care-pr/brief-aetna-enhances-accountable-care-product-in-connecticut-with-trinity-health-of-new-england-idUSFWN1PD14Z | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
<p>By <a href="/r2/?url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=y&amp;authornamef=Richard+Hartley-parkinson" type="external">Richard Hartley-parkinson</a> Last updated at 3:16 PM on 12th April 2011</p>
<p>The sheer panic of people trying to flee the Japanese tsunami has been captured in a newly-released video that shows the life and death race to outrun the wave.</p>
<p>The fate of some of those in the footage is unknown as the water rises so quickly that they simply disappear in the swell carrying cars and buildings.</p>
<p>Residents from the town, believed to be called Minami-sanriku, are seen running up the side of a hill to safety as the water behind them closes in on them.</p>
<p />
<p>A group can be seen towards the end of the footage desperately trying to pull what are believed to be sick or elderly people up a steep ridge.</p>
<p>A person in a blue coat runs back down the hill to the aid of someone who is stuck. He is aided by another person in a red jacket and as it looks like they are about to succeed the water rises and pulls them into the water.</p>
<p />
<p>Distant problem: Clouds of smoke and dust can be seen rising in the distance but many people have already made their way up the hillside</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Getting closer: The cloud of dust moves inland. towards the bottom of the camera is a straight line that slows the water, but only momentarily</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Devastation: Buildings are tossed around and ripped to shreds as though they were made with matchsticks</p>
<p>They desperately cling to the person they were trying to rescue but in doing so they are quickly dragged with the tsunami, which struck on March 1.</p>
<p>The camera footage is shaky and pans away at that point, but it appears that he hits a hand rail to a staircase and this forces him to let go. The other two disappear.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Other people are seen running between buildings and up a bank that temporarily slows the water down.</p>
<p>One woman, however, desperately climbs the bank and runs from the wave – carrying a roof towards her – which is moving far quicker than she is. The camera then moves away so the fate of that woman is also unknown.</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Panic: People run between buildings towards the hill. The person in black is climbing a small bank that also slows the water</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Desperate: A woman runs as fast as she can and keeps looking back to see where the water is. The wave is moving much faster than her and as the roof moves closer towards her the camera pans away. Her fate is unknown</p>
<p>Rescue efforts: To the left people can be seen carrying someone at the edge of the photo while others try and help someone up a bank. But their efforts are in vain, right, as the water rises at an incredible speed&#160;</p>
<p>Other new footage has emerged of a car being swallowed up by the water as its occupants drive along a coastal road.</p>
<p>Apparently unaware of the water swelling up behind sea defences just yards away, they continue on their journey.</p>
<p>But then the wave crashes over the barrier and onto the road. It is too quick for the driver and their passengers and soon envelops the car, tossing and turning it as it bobs along the water.</p>
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<p><a href="/" type="external">We encourage you to Share our Reports, Analyses, Breaking News and Videos. Simply Click your Favorite Social Media Button and Share.</a></p> | Swallowed by the tsunami: Horrifying new footage shows life and death race to outrun giant wave | true | http://beforeitsnews.com/story/554/101/Swallowed_by_the_tsunami%3A_Horrifying_new_footage_shows_life_and_death_race_to_outrun_giant_wave.html | 2011-04-12 | 0 |
<p>In the final days of the Soviet Union, an old witticism about truth (pravda) went something like this: In the United States, they tell you everything, but you know nothing. In the USSR, they tell you nothing, but you know everything.</p>
<p>Who would ever be nostalgic for the old Soviet Union, where truth was what the official government mouthpiece told you it was and everything else was a lie meant to undermine the state? Whoever that might be, he or she would feel at home in the <a href="" type="internal">now totally neocon-ized U.S.</a>, where the old mainstream media marches in lockstep with a dysfunctional federal bureaucracy to aggressively limit freedom of speech and label anything that contradicts its ideological view of reality as enemy propaganda.</p>
<p>From 1918 until its demise in 1991, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pravda" type="external">Pravda</a> was the official newspaper of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party. But most Americans would be surprised to learn that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-New-York-Times" type="external">The New York Times</a> has been operating for decades as the U.S. government’s Pravda without anyone being the wiser.</p>
<p>Now <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/11/has-the-nyt-gone-collectively-mad/" type="external">the truth-war rages</a> between such old mainstream media outlets as The New York Times and any news operation or website that challenges its version of the truth.</p>
<p />
<p>We were drawn into this battle by a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/16/obituaries/sima-wali-dead-champion-of-afghan-womens-rights.html" type="external">New York Times obituary</a> for our dearest Afghan friend, Sima Wali, who fled the violent Marxist coup in 1978 that kicked off the U.S.-backed rise of Islamic extremism and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.</p>
<p>Considering that the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/learning/can-you-always-tell-when-something-is-fake-news.html" type="external">Times maintains</a> that the alternative media is filled with false news and Russian propaganda, we were shocked to find many claims in Sima’s obituary that contained American Cold War propaganda about Afghanistan that has long since been debunked. One particularly outrageous example was the claim that in 1978, “gender apartheid” was “imposed by the Communists and then by the Taliban.”</p>
<p>Apparently, The New York Times believes it can turn day to night by blaming communists for introducing gender apartheid, a term adapted (from the South African apartheid regime) in 1996 to draw the public’s attention to the cruelty and human rights abuses imposed by the Taliban on the women of Afghanistan. The communists did not impose it after their takeover in 1978. In fact, the opposite was true. As Sima stated in the introduction to our book, “ <a href="http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100741260" type="external">Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story</a>,” “The draconian Taliban rule stripped women of their basic human rights. Their edicts against women in Afghanistan led to an introduction of a new form of violence termed ‘gender apartheid.’ ” In reality, a major cause for the growth of the resistance to the communists in the more tradition-bound countryside was the forced education of women and girls and the forced removal of the veil. Nor is it understood in the West that many Afghan rulers in the past attempted these reforms with some level of success.</p>
<p>As David B. Edwards writes in his book, “ <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/ebook.php?isbn=9780520926875" type="external">Before Taliban</a>,” there is a direct line between these and other reforms to the reforms mandated by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanullah_Khan" type="external">King Amanullah</a> after 1919. He writes, “The transformations that he [Amanullah] sought to bring about before his overthrow in 1929 were in many respects forerunners of those of the Marxists and were particularly revealing of the problems they later encountered.”</p>
<p>An accurate picture of what was done by the communists during their rule in the early 1980s can be read in Jonathan Steele’s 2003 Guardian article, titled “ <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/nov/13/russia.afghanistan" type="external">Red Kabul revisited</a>,” in which he compares the U.S. occupation of Kabul in 2003 with Soviet-occupied Kabul of the 1980s:</p>
<p>In 1981, Kabul’s two campuses thronged with women students, as well as men. Most went around without even a headscarf. Hundreds went off to Soviet universities to study engineering, agronomy and medicine. The banqueting hall of the Kabul hotel pulsated most nights to the excitement of wedding parties. The markets thrived. Caravans of painted lorries rolled up from Pakistan, bringing Japanese TV sets, video recorders, cameras and music centres. The Russians did nothing to stop this vibrant private enterprise.</p>
<p>Prior to 9/11, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laili_Helms" type="external">Laili Helms</a>, a spokeswoman for and defender of the Taliban and niece to former CIA Director Richard Helms, went so far as to suggest that educating women was a communist plot, claiming that any Afghan woman who could read had to be a communist, because only the communists had educated women. After the American invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, Wali was outraged by this Taliban mentality, which she saw creeping into the American-installed Afghan leadership with the blessing of the American government. In an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqSeUfC1-Es&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=3042" type="external">address to the Global Citizens Circle</a> in Boston in 2003, she stated her objections: “[A]s an Afghan and an American, I will testify to you that the argument against women’s rights is neither Afghan nor Islamic!”</p>
<p>Thirty-four years ago in May, I stood before the irate Afghan press officer for the communist government in Kabul as he threw a copy of The New York Times onto his desk. “Have you read this?” he demanded, pointing to an article by Leslie Gelb, titled “ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1983/05/04/world/us-said-to-increase-arms-aid-for-afghan-rebels.html" type="external">U.S. Said to Increase Arms Aid For Afghan Rebels.”</a> What Gelb, the former Jimmy Carter administration’s assistant secretary of state, had disclosed had angered the Foreign Ministry’s press secretary, Roshan Rowan, and he was holding me, an American, responsible. “Why are you doing this to us?” he shouted. “What is it we have done to you, to deserve this invasion?”</p>
<p>I didn’t need to rely on The New York Times to tell me what was going on in Afghanistan. As the first American journalist to risk the wrath of the Ronald Reagan administration, with its newly installed neoconservative foreign policy, by bringing a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIj_kRffyR8&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=38" type="external">news crew to Kabul</a> in 1981, I was one of only a handful of Americans who knew the score. The United States was backing Muslim guerrillas who were burning down schools specifically for girls and killing local officials, whether they were communist or not. The Gelb article made clear that in collaboration with the Saudis, Egyptians, Chinese, Iranians and Pakistanis, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=iFasqHGo3p0C&amp;pg=PA6&amp;lpg=PA6&amp;dq=afghanistan+bleeders&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=jUhbtllOFt&amp;sig=PmqXMHizTYTSbjNIw16fIzMdu8U&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjosqzirKDXAhWh8oMKHZUgCvEQ6AEINDAD" type="external">the “bleeders”</a> inside the Reagan administration were upping the ante in order to “draw more and more Soviet troops into Afghanistan,” while at the same time claiming to pursue “a negotiated settlement to the war.” It was not obvious from the Gelb article how the United States could be escalating a conflict while negotiating a settlement at the same time in Afghanistan in 1983. Also missing from the article was any indication that the administration’s policy was a fundamental contradiction.</p>
<p>In the spring of 1983, we had invited Roger Fisher, director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, to return with us to Kabul to unwrap the riddle of why the United Nations negotiations were getting nowhere. Contracted to ABC’s “Nightline,” Fisher met with the Kremlin’s chief Afghan specialist, who had flown down from Moscow and told him point blank, “We want to get out. Give us six months to save face, and we’ll leave the Afghans to solve their own problems.” Upon his return, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIj_kRffyR8&amp;feature=youtu.be&amp;t=238" type="external">Fisher expected his discovery</a> would be greeted with relief. Instead he found that “negotiated settlement” was only a fig leaf for escalating the war. The mainstream media were just beginning to ramp up a propaganda campaign, which would become known as <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-gould/charlie-wilsons-backfire_b_408443.html" type="external">Charlie Wilson’s War</a>, to drive support for keeping the Soviets pinned down in their own Vietnam while bleeding Wali’s Afghanistan to death.</p>
<p>The American people expect the full story from their “free press,” and the Constitution demands that the press serve the people and not the bureaucracy. The New York Times needs to get its mission straight, lest it sacrifice its credibility to the very thing it claims to stand against. Left-wing Afghan communists cannot be magically transformed into right-wing Pakistani Taliban. The United States is not the Soviet Union, and The New York Times should stop behaving as if it is Pravda.</p>
<p>Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould are the authors of “ <a href="http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100741260" type="external">Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story</a>,” “ <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Zero-Turning-American-Empire/dp/0872865134" type="external">Crossing Zero: The AfPak War at the Turning Point of the American Empire</a>” and “ <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1439212015/ref=cm_sw_su_dp" type="external">The Voice</a>.” Visit their websites at <a href="http://www.invisiblehistory.com/" type="external">invisiblehistory</a> and <a href="http://www.grailwerk.com/" type="external">grailwerk</a>.</p> | New York Times Strikes Out Again on Afghanistan | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/new-york-times-strikes-afghanistan/ | 2017-11-06 | 4 |
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<p>SANTA FE - Police arrested a man and woman here on Thursday after they found the woman's children wandering and one napping in the parking lot of homeless shelter. The Children, Youth and Families Department was contacted about the children, who were found at the Interfaith Homeless shelter at Cerrillos and Harrison in the corner of the parking lot "where there were more than 50 other homeless individuals walking around intoxicated," according to a criminal complaint. According to the court documents, Daniel Lucero, 40, and Alicia Quintana, 32, were arrested and booked into the county jail on three counts of child abuse involving a child under 18. Lucero, the father of one of the children, was released from the Santa Fe County jail a on April 1 after being incarcerated on a possession of heroin charge. Quintana told police that she had been living in another shelter with her children but was asked on April 1 by the staff to leave because of issues of fighting and cursing with the shelter's staff, the documents state.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Santa Fe parents arrested; children found wandering, sleeping in parking lot | false | https://abqjournal.com/568696/santa-fe-parents-arrested-children-found-wandering-sleeping-in-parking-lot.html | 2 |
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<p>Creating massive insecurity for Wall Street, corporations and the super-rich is a precondition for fixing the economy and country.</p>
<p>The impact of the 2010 midterm elections is painfully clear. In Washington and in state capitols around the country, Republicans are enacting a right-wing agenda that guts Social Security, curtails union rights, restricts abortion, defunds public media, stops progress toward universal healthcare and scapegoats immigrants. For May 2011 issue's cover package, " <a href="" type="internal">The War at Home</a>," In These Times turned to labor movement strategist Stephen Lerner (Glenn Beck’s latest bête noire) and seven other progressive writers and activists to report on the battles to preserve American rights and institutions. These are their dispatches from the frontlines. —The editors</p>
<p>This can be our moment. A new activism is emerging in the United States and abroad, where people, in unexpected places, are standing up to challenge the rich and powerful. From recent uprisings in Egypt, to young people and workers in Europe marching and striking against shortsighted austerity plans, to the battle of nurses, teachers, firefighters and community members in Wisconsin, and the sit-ins and occupations of banks starting around the country, a movement is starting to grow.</p>
<p>After being battered and on the defensive, we have an opportunity in the United States to go on the offensive to transform the economy and politics of our country and create shared prosperity for all. Corporations have $1.6 trillion in cash reserves and are making record profits. The CEOs of Wall Street and the big banks paid themselves record compensation and bonuses of $135 billion in 2010 ($7 billion more than in 2009). After trillions in bailouts, they are even bigger and more dominant than before the economic crash. Now can be our moment to build a movement that both captures the popular imagination and has a strategy to engage millions of people to improve their lives by harnessing:</p>
<p>•The potential power of government to force banks to pay their fair share of taxes and renegotiate toxic interest rates that are sucking billions out of city and states budgets.</p>
<p>•The potential power of homeowners and students to renegotiate unfair mortgages and loans, keeping millions in their homes and putting billions into the economy to create jobs.</p>
<p>•The potential power of public employee unions to bargain and demand that government implements concrete proposals that would save billions by holding Wall Street and banks accountable.</p>
<p>•The potential power of private sector unions to organize and bargain not just for existing union members but also to fix broken industries, and to alter business practices that exploit communities and pollute the environment.</p>
<p>To do this, we need to understand how our country and our economy got in the mess they are in, the opportunities we have missed over the last two years and the critical role we can all start playing to fix it.</p>
<p>In an ironic twist of history, the same people responsible for the global financial and economic meltdown are using a crisis of their own making to amass wealth and power in concentrations not seen since the beginning of the 20th century. We are experiencing a corporate counter-revolution–the goal of which is to reverse the arc of the last 100 years–to undo the historic gains that built up the middle class and secured greater equality, freedom and economic, racial and social justice.</p>
<p>It is not a surprise that corporate CEOs would organize and fight ferociously to defend their interests and expand their privileges. What is shocking is how we progressives blew an opportunity in 2008, when the moral bankruptcy of the super-rich and the failure of the “free market” ideology were exposed, to challenge growing economic inequality and the power of Wall Street elites. Seduced by our new “access” to the White House, we were trapped in an inside-the-beltway political game at the very moment we should have been organizing, marching, sitting-in and confronting the corporations that crashed the economy. While millions lost their jobs, homes and the savings accumulated during a lifetime of work–with communities of color and immigrants particularly hard hit–we crowed about newfound political power and influence. And now we complain about inaction by politicians, the devastating losses in the 2010 elections, and why we can’t seem to connect with the American people on issues we should be winning on.</p>
<p>To develop a plan of action that rises to the complex perils and opportunities we face, we need to understand what has been happening. Capitalism–and our entire democracy–is being reorganized in a way that maximizes profits for the wealthiest few but ultimately shrinks the middle class. Corporate CEOs control politics and politicians to such an extent that we are unable to make the legislative changes needed to reverse this.</p>
<p>Wall Street, big banks, multinational corporations and the super-rich were able to seize the opportunity in 2008. They are now in the extraordinary position of leveraging the insecurity most Americans face to demand unending concessions, while simultaneously demanding security and certainty for their own capital and investments.</p>
<p>Events unfolding in statehouses in Wisconsin, Ohio and around the country demonstrate that Wall Street, giant corporations, the super-rich and the politicians they support are ruthlessly executing a plan to slash public budgets; destroy public employee unions and the livelihoods of teachers, nurses, firefighters and other civil servants; privatize public utilities, roads, schools, hospitals and prisons; permanently cut social programs and benefits; and, all the while, radically reduce their own taxes. But this is just the first step in the corporate elite’s campaign to eliminate the remaining islands of private-sector union strength and slash benefits and pay for all workers.</p>
<p>Corporations and the rich no longer think they need an American middle class with decent paying jobs to be profitable. Corporate profits can now be earned from a growing global consumer class, while at the same time mass unemployment and declining living standards become the new normal. The United States is important to the corporate elites as a safe haven, but they no longer see a decent living standard for the majority of Americans as important to their economic success.</p>
<p>In order to further its goals, the Right has successfully created a narrative in which “big government, unions and public employees are bankrupting the country and killing jobs.” We need to shift that narrative to: “Wall Street, multinational corporations and the super-rich are bankrupting governments and communities, shipping away jobs, foreclosing our homes, destroying the middle class and threatening our children’s future.”</p>
<p>Until we break this corporate stranglehold, we will have no money to solve state budget crises. Given the skads of money that corporate interests pump into politics, without a demand from the streets, politicians think that they cannot champion policies that would hurt their “friends.” In state after state, Democrats will make massive cuts to services and public employee jobs like their Republican counterparts–they just won’t demand an end to collective bargaining on top of it. And absent a strategy of escalating and dramatic actions that expose the wrongdoing of corporations and the uber-rich that got us into this mess, we are trapped in a strategy that depends on politicians to rein in the very corporations they are in thrall to.</p>
<p>Corporations are creating an environment that is favorable to them but harmful to most Americans. Our job is to figure out how to turn this scenario on its head, to decrease their security so we can win greater opportunity and security for the rest of us, lifting the bottom, growing the middle and holding the top in check–just as we did for most of the 20th century.</p>
<p>Creating massive insecurity for Wall Street, corporations and the super-rich is a precondition for fixing the economy and country. There can be no new “social contract,” no “new New Deal,” no comprehensive legislation that allows workers to organize and no limits to corporate power as long as corporate CEOs feel insulated from the suffering they cause.</p>
<p>At first blush this sounds a little crazy. It runs counter to the message many economists and politicians bombard us with every day in the media. Their claim is that businesses aren’t investing, jobs aren’t being created and the housing market isn’t stabilizing because the corporate community needs greater certainty and predictability. These same people would argue that Obama and the Democrats need to be more business-friendly. Yet, Corporate America already has record profits and cash on hand. In short: the best of all worlds.</p>
<p>They know far better than we do that their hold on power is dependent on our acquiescence to their false premises and pseudo-free market ideology. Therefore we must directly challenge them in the streets so that they have more to lose by ignoring the public interest than by accepting real change.</p>
<p>I know many Americans are cynical about the possibility of the success of such an effort in the United States.</p>
<p>But we have a long and proud tradition of challenging the economic and political interests of the powerful through direct action. Far from being alien to the American experience, it is central to the founding mythology of the country. Ironically, the Tea Partiers named themselves after one of the earliest acts of civil disobedience, the Boston Tea Party. Resistance to injustice is as American as apple pie. From the populist movement of the late 19th century, to the bonus marches after World War I, to the factory occupations of the 1930s, to the civil rights, student, anti-war, women’s and environmental movements born in the 1960s, to the LGBT rights, immigrant rights, and anti-globalization movements in more recent years, we have a long history of direct action mass movements that at certain moments capture the imagination of the country and lead to fundamental change.</p>
<p>And at no time since the Great Depression have so many people become disconnected from the promise of the “American Dream.” Millions of people are losing their homes or are trapped in upside-down, underwater mortgages. Students have close to a trillion dollars in debt from student loans, their schools’ budgets are being cut and they have few job options upon graduation. Millions of public-sector workers are at risk of losing their jobs, benefits and pensions. African Americans have been stripped of wealth accumulated over generations through subprime loans and declining housing values. The majority of white, non-college educated workers believe that the standard of living for them and their children will be worse in the future. Latinos and other immigrants have seen hopes of immigration reform dashed. The list of those increasingly left behind by the re-organization of the economy goes on and on.</p>
<p>The same is true for many organizations and movements. As a result of the Citizens United decision, groups that have worked for years for electoral and political change are now confronting defeat. So too are environmentalist and anti-climate change groups that have been stymied in trying to pass legislation that just a few short years ago seemed a near certainty. Organizations that have focused on state budgets and public services are under siege in state after state. There isn’t a shortage of people, constituencies or groups for whom the system no longer works. So the question is: How do we encourage, spark, magnify and grow the number of people, groups and places where people are standing up for our communities and our future?</p>
<p>A new kind of mass movement is now possible because of the speed and variety of communications. The Internet and social media not only offer an opportunity to communicate, organize and mobilize in new and creative ways, but they are uniquely designed to support efforts to destabilize and create uncertainties for elites. The exciting part is figuring out how to combine online activity with offline traditional organizing so that they magnify each other’s impact. “Anonymous” has already demonstrated how a “cyber” action can prevent a major corporation from engaging in business as usual while trampling on the public interest, in the same way a factory occupation stops production until a company negotiates fairly with its workers. We have more potential, people, organizations and tools to stand for economic justice than we have had at any time in recent history.</p>
<p>Labor, civil rights and other groups that are involved in building a progressive majority and infrastructure are important, but they can’t lead such a campaign alone. These groups are essential to funding and to creating capacity, credibility and scale. But the reality is that these important institutions have just enough political access, financial assets and institutional interests to hinder and ultimately strangle a campaign of mass resistance strong enough to force fundamental changes in how the economy is organized. In order to succeed, the campaign can’t be held in check by these institutions with too much to lose.</p>
<p>Unions with hundreds of millions in assets and collective bargaining agreements covering millions of workers won’t risk their treasuries and contracts by engaging in large-scale sit-ins, occupations and nonviolent civil disobedience that inevitably must overcome court injunctions and political pressure in order to succeed. The same is true for many progressive and civil rights groups that receive significant funding from corporations. Electorally focused groups have worked too hard to risk losing political access.</p>
<p>These aren’t criticisms. They are a reality. Groups that were built for traditional electoral politics, lobbying and collective bargaining can’t turn themselves–nor should they–into instruments of direct action challenging the status quo. And when we look back in history from the New Deal to the civil rights movement to the immigrant and gay rights movements today, we find again and again that a vibrant independent activist flank is a prerequisite for transformative change.</p>
<p>There isn’t a simple one-size-fits-all answer to the question of who can help build and lead this. It won’t happen spontaneously nor will it happen through traditional coalition work. In Madison the work of the teaching assistants and students was a critical piece of launching, sustaining and expanding the campaign. Along with community groups, they led the occupation of the capitol, which helped define and propel the campaign forward. In other cities, existing and emerging community-based organizing groups, newly activated students, and people and organizations steeped in nonviolent direct action can add energy, creativity and nimbleness to more traditional organizations and protests. One part of the answer may be to integrate and directly connect union members with independent groups and people, so that the campaign can’t be easily turned off because of legal or political pressure.</p>
<p>The cliché, from Roosevelt to Johnson to Obama, is true. We need to “make them” do the right thing. It can’t be done without the support of the labor movement and the progressive infrastructure. But rather than imagining a unified campaign spearheaded by traditional institutions, we need to think about overlapping but independent campaigns focused on challenging the power of Wall Street and out-of-control corporate power. To go on offense and win real changes in how the economy and politics of the country are organized, we need to follow three steps.</p>
<p>Stephen Lerner serves on the Service Employees International Union's International Executive Board and is the architect of the Justice for Janitors campaign. Lerner is a frequent contributor on national television and radio programs and has published numerous articles charting a path for a 21st-century labor movement.</p> | Take the Fight to the Streets | true | http://inthesetimes.com/article/7201/take_the_fight_to_the_streets | 2011-04-18 | 4 |
<p>The American labor movement has seemingly been on the verge of total obliteration for decades. Union membership and strikes are at their lowest levels in almost a century, former union strongholds like Michigan have become “Right to Work” states, massive inequality has shown little signs of abating. The American working class has seen few darker days.</p>
<p>Labor activist and scholar Kim Moody has long argued that the way to reverse labor’s long slide is not through top-down reform efforts, but through renewed commitment to struggle at labor’s grassroots. He co-founded <a href="" type="internal">Labor Notes</a>&#160;as part of an effort to promote this kind of bottom up, rank and file-led unionism. And he reflects on failed renewal efforts — both from above and below — in his latest book&#160; <a href="http://www.haymarketbooks.org/event/4080" type="external">In Solidarity: Working Class Organization and Strategy in the United States</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Moody spoke&#160;at a book event with Jacobin online editor Micah Uetricht in Chicago, two days after the 2014 Labor Notes conference.</p> | Reviving Labor From Below | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2014/04/reviving-labor-from-below/ | 2018-10-04 | 4 |
<p>(Reuters) – Marc Leishman and Adam Bland carved out a two-stroke lead at the top of the leaderboard after the second round of the Australian PGA Championship on Friday as former winner Adam Scott’s campaign came to an end.</p>
<p>Local hero Leishman struck seven birdies and an eagle in a round of seven-under-par 65 to be level on 12-under with Adam Bland who hit a second consecutive six-under 66.</p>
<p>“I felt really good on the range and felt good yesterday as well. I was striking the ball well and thought I would be pretty aggressive all day, especially after making birdies on the first couple of holes,” said Leishman, who had birdies on three of his first five holes.</p>
<p>“When you’re on a run like that and playing well, you sort of can afford to be aggressive. If you make a few mistakes, you feel like you can make some birdies.”</p>
<p>South Australian Bland had just one bogey in his seven birdies on Friday.</p>
<p>“It’s always great to get off to a flying start but if you can’t back it up in the second round or at least be thereabouts, you’re kind of just chasing your tail for the rest of the week,” Bland said.</p>
<p>“So it was really important to get off to a good start this morning and I seemed to do that, so it was great.”</p>
<p>Former world number one Scott had four bogeys in five holes to card a dismal two-over 74 and failed to make the cut at Queensland while U.S. Masters champion Sergio Garcia fell to joint-10th with a one-under 71.</p>
<p>Cameron Smith, early leader Jordan Zunic and Rhein Gibson were tied for fourth at nine-under.</p>
<p>Defending champion Harold Varner III was a further two shots behind in joint-seventh alongside James Nitties and Brett Rankin.</p>
<p>Garcia, Joachim Hansen, Peter Senior and Hong Kong Open winner Wade Ormsby were 10th at six-under. Varner, Garcia and Hansen were the only non-Australians in the top 10 heading into the weekend.</p>
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<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Leishman, Bland take lead at Australian PGA as Scott bows out | false | https://newsline.com/leishman-bland-take-lead-at-australian-pga-as-scott-bows-out/ | 2017-12-01 | 1 |
<p>BRANDON, Miss. (AP) - A district attorney says he is running for an open U.S. House seat in Mississippi.</p>
<p>Michael Guest tells the <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2018/01/05/district-attorney-michael-guest-running-congress-replace-gregg-harper-ms-03/1008400001/" type="external">Clarion Ledger</a> that he is running in the 3rd District congressional race.</p>
<p>His announcement Friday came a day after fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper said won't seek another two-year term. Harper was first elected in 2008 and is chairman of the Administration Committee.</p>
<p>Guest is the top prosecutor in Rankin and Madison counties, which are two of the largest in the congressional district that makes a diagonal across the central part of the state.</p>
<p>The open race is expected to attract several candidates, with a March 1 filing deadline. Party primaries are June 5, and the general election is Nov. 6.</p>
<p>BRANDON, Miss. (AP) - A district attorney says he is running for an open U.S. House seat in Mississippi.</p>
<p>Michael Guest tells the <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/2018/01/05/district-attorney-michael-guest-running-congress-replace-gregg-harper-ms-03/1008400001/" type="external">Clarion Ledger</a> that he is running in the 3rd District congressional race.</p>
<p>His announcement Friday came a day after fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper said won't seek another two-year term. Harper was first elected in 2008 and is chairman of the Administration Committee.</p>
<p>Guest is the top prosecutor in Rankin and Madison counties, which are two of the largest in the congressional district that makes a diagonal across the central part of the state.</p>
<p>The open race is expected to attract several candidates, with a March 1 filing deadline. Party primaries are June 5, and the general election is Nov. 6.</p> | District attorney running for House seat in Mississippi | false | https://apnews.com/53d1c277f5d649e2aa0f613ff9fac330 | 2018-01-05 | 2 |
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<p>Kerry’s nattering on the campaign trail is getting increasingly incoherent. Just this week the Massachusetts senator was expounding “victory in Iraq” in his most pompous baritone.</p>
<p>There’s no question about who he’s courting in these speeches. Only the elusive “undecided voter” is showered with such lavish attention at this late date. On the other hand, Kerry’s “hard core” anti war constituents get the back of his hand at every turn in the road.</p>
<p>Kerry is promising that he can entice reluctant allies to the rubble-strewn streets of Baghdad with nothing more than his patrician charm. This creates a dilemma for his anti war supporters. These are the die-hard leftists who believe that Kerry will miraculously morph into Mahatma Gandhi once he gets the leather seat in the Oval Office.</p>
<p>It won’t happen, and there’s a real danger in that theory, too.</p>
<p>There’s a chance that Kerry could be right about his ability to cajole more allies into the fray.</p>
<p>Is that a good thing?</p>
<p>Are we looking for a more skillful diplomat to prolong the killing, to subjugate the Iraqi people and to enshrine “unprovoked aggression” as the cornerstone of American foreign policy? Are we willing to trade a bungler and a braggart for a stentorian, flannel-mouth who can disguise criminality as “humanitarian intervention”?</p>
<p>In fact, the problem is that Kerry MIGHT succeed. And, while it is impossible to imagine a more inept cheerleader than our bilious man from Crawford; a Kerry success would be SO MUCH WORSE for the people of Iraq and the planet at large.</p>
<p>There are no “victories” to be won in Iraq. The only worthy goal is withdrawal and justice for the perpetrators.</p>
<p>The very thought of “victory” should send shivers down the spines of Kerry supporters. It only proves that Kerry still doesn’t understand the tacit immorality of the war. Like most of his pedigree, Kerry’s moral compass has gone through the spin cycle one too many times.</p>
<p>Have we heard him condemn the atrocities at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo or any of the other (25) concentration camps in the Rummy solar system?</p>
<p>Of course, not. Kerry would rather just buff up his application and put them under new management. Apparently, Warden Kerry recognizes the regrettable exigencies of global rule and is willing to live with its “unfortunate” victims.</p>
<p>“C’est la vie”: the ethics for the new century, compliments of John Kerry.</p>
<p>A man shouldn’t have to be a pillar of rectitude to run for President, (especially now that the job has become little more than a “figurehead” for America’s “extractive” industries) but he should know the difference between justifiable self defense and cold blooded murder. (i.e., Shock and Awe) Voters should be able to expect that a candidate for the highest office in the land will at least speak out forcefully against the heinous crime of torture. It doesn’t get more basic than that. If Kerry cannot meet this lenient benchmark, he doesn’t disserve your vote.</p>
<p>Kerry’s sense of morality has been asphyxiated by an all-consuming ambition to be President. It’s blinded him to his responsibilities as a candidate and his obligations as a human being. The country doesn’t need another mad-hatter to pilot the Lusitania (even if he does have better diplomatic skills) We’re looking for a man who’ll get us out of Iraq and who knows why we shouldn’t have gone in the first place.</p>
<p>MIKE WHITNEY lives in Washington state. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Kerry’s Moral Compass | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/09/28/kerry-s-moral-compass/ | 2004-09-28 | 4 |
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<p>On final count, 72.7 percent of New Mexico’s teachers were rated “effective” or better on the state’s new evaluation system, according to information released by the Public Education Department on Friday.</p>
<p>That is a little lower than the percentage of teachers who were rated as effective this spring – 76 percent – when evaluations were first released and before flawed evaluations were corrected. Also, the initial figure included only 16,000 of the state’s 21,800 educators, because not all districts had reported necessary data to the state.</p>
<p>The new evals brought good news to Albuquerque Public Schools, which employs about 6,300 teachers. In the state’s largest district, 82.2 percent teachers were rated effective or better, according to PED. The earlier APS figures, before the corrected evaluations, had 78.4 percent of APS teachers rated effective or better.</p>
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<p>However, in Santa Fe, fewer than half of the teachers were rated effective or better – ratings that Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Joel Boyd said were clearly wrong.</p>
<p>“I’m convinced that this data is inaccurate and will be adjusted significantly after our analysis and conversations with PED,” he said.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />PED spokesman Larry Behrens said later: “Even though Santa Fe Public Schools did not submit any evaluation data until well over a month past the deadline, we have continually worked to ensure accuracy. We are happy to discuss any concerns with Superintendent Boyd.” SFPS blamed the data delay on a technical glitch.</p>
<p>The new statewide figure includes all teachers and the corrected evaluations, said Behrens.</p>
<p>“What these statewide results show, in part, is that hundreds of teachers deserve recognition for excellence they would have never received under the previous system, which U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan labeled simply as ‘broken,’ ” said Matt Montano, PED director of educator quality.</p>
<p>Under the new evaluation system, teachers are rated “ineffective,” “minimally effective,” “effective,” “highly effective” or “exemplary.”</p>
<p>Behrens said corrected evaluations are now available to districts and that superintendents were notified.</p>
<p>APS spokeswoman Johanna King said that, as of Friday afternoon, district staff had not seen the corrected evaluations.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We can’t comment, because we haven’t seen the scores,” she said. She did not know when the teachers would get them.</p>
<p>PED did not have Rio Rancho data immediately available. Kim Vesely, spokeswoman for Rio Rancho Public Schools, said the district had not yet seen the corrected evaluations, so it could not provide any information. She said that, once it does, officials will need time to verify the corrected information before releasing it to the public.</p>
<p>Since PED distributed the 2013-14 teacher evaluations during the last week of school, it had been working with local school district officials to correct a variety of mistakes found by teachers and their principals. Those included evaluations based on incomplete or wrong test data, evaluations with missing student survey data and teachers being docked for absences that should have been excused, among other mistakes.</p>
<p>Behrens said he didn’t know how many total evaluations had to be corrected.</p>
<p>“We know about 40 districts submitted varying amounts of corrected data, in some cases no more than a handful of new information,” Behrens said in an email.</p>
<p>PED has said the problems were due to incomplete or incorrect data provided by the districts. Some superintendents have said they doubt districts alone were responsible for all of the errors.</p>
<p>The PED started the new system because, previously, 99 percent of teachers were considered effective and there was little accountability.</p>
<p>The evaluations have been controversial. Critics have said they doubt the accuracy of the complex statistical models – known as value-added models – used to demonstrate student growth and rate teachers.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Santa Fe, superintendent Boyd pointed out that students showed modest improvements in proficiency in both reading and math. “It doesn’t seem to align with what we know to be true about student learning gains,” Boyd said.</p>
<p>Santa Fe’s teacher evaluation formula is different from the one used by most school districts in the state. While student achievement, measured by test scores, counts for 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation elsewhere, in Santa Fe, the test scores count for 35 percent.</p>
<p>Boyd, who received the data from PED late Friday afternoon and hadn’t had time to fully analyze it, suspects one problem could be with attendance numbers.</p>
<p>For instance, 131 of more than 800 teachers in the district had their scores lowered for attendance. While teacher attendance is part of the rubric used to evaluate teachers in most districts, it does not factor in the evaluation of teachers in Santa Fe.</p>
<p>Boyd said it seemed there were other data points that appear to be missing.</p>
<p>The figures for Santa Fe showed 50.5 percent were “minimally effective” or “ineffective.”</p>
<p>Journal reporter T.S. Last contributed to this story.</p>
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<p /> | Revised evals show 72.7% of NM teachers rated ‘effective’ | false | https://abqjournal.com/443254/revised-evals-show-727-of-teachers-rated-effective.html | 2 |
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<p>Voters cast ballots for a Ferguson City Council election. Jeff Roberson/AP</p>
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<p>Black students make up more than 75 percent of students in the Ferguson-Florissant School District in Missouri, but only three of the seven school board members are black. On Monday, a federal district judge in the state ruled that the at-large election system used to choose the school board representatives violated the Voting Rights Act.</p>
<p>“It is my finding that the cumulative effects of historical discrimination, current political practices, and the socioeconomic conditions present in the District impact the ability of African Americans in [Ferguson-Florissant School District] to participate equally in Board elections,” District Judge Rodney Sippel wrote in an opinion. He added that the process “deprives African American voters of an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice” and that no elections could be conducted until a new system was put in place.</p>
<p>Voters in Ferguson had elected school board representatives every year in two or three at-large races, instead of voting for candidates representing specific subdistricts. The case, filed in December 2014 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri and the Missouri chapter of the NAACP, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/assets/001_-_complaint.pdf" type="external">alleged</a> that this practice diluted black voter strength, <a href="https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/wp-content/uploads/assets/001_-_complaint.pdf" type="external">leaving</a> them “all but locked out of the political process.”</p>
<p>ACLU attorney Julie Ebenstein <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/discrimination-written-fabric-fergusons-government" type="external">explained</a> in April 2015 that since black voters in the district as a whole made up less than half the voting-age population, they were “systematically unable to elect” board members of their choice when casting ballots across all board seats. In 12 elections that took place between 2000 and 2015, five black candidates won school board seats out of 24 potential candidates, the judge noted in his opinion. Over that period, 22 white candidates won seats out of 37 potential contenders.</p>
<p>Cindy Ormsby, the school district’s attorney, <a href="http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/judge-halts-school-board-elections-in-ferguson-florissant-saying-they/article_7dfec338-e2e2-55a1-9cbc-da94f0718b30.html" type="external">told</a> the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the district was “very disappointed in the court’s decision.”</p>
<p>You can read the opinion below:</p>
<p /> | Here’s How Blacks Were Kept off the Ferguson School Board | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/08/federal-judge-just-ruled-ferguson-school-board-voting/ | 2016-08-22 | 4 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Keven Todd, publisher of The Los Alamos Monitor since August 2009, has announced he will step down from that post at the end of this year, <a href="http://www.lamonitor.com/content/publisher-announces-plans-step-down" type="external">The Monitor</a> reported.</p>
<p>Todd, who has more than three decades in the publishing business, said he and his wife Jarda will be moving to Dover, Del., where he will become publisher of the Dover Post and Gatehouse Media’s Delaware holdings, which include five other newspapers and a monthly shopper along with affiliated digital operations, The Monitor said.</p>
<p>Landmark Community Newspapers, parent company of The Los Alamos Monitor, has launched a nationwide search for Todd’s successor, the paper reported.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Los Alamos Monitor publisher to step down | false | https://abqjournal.com/321661/los-alamos-monitor-publisher-to-step-down.html | 2 |
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<p>Hawaii representative Tulsi Gabbard told MSNBC that she was "warned" against breaking with Hillary Clinton to <a href="" type="internal">support Senator Bernie Sanders</a> in the contest for the Democrat party's presidential nomination.</p>
<p>"I'll be very honest with you, a lot of people warned me against doing what I did," the lawmaker&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/meetthepress/status/704883836556070912" type="external">told MSNBC&#160;on Tuesday night</a>:</p>
<p>"But this is a very serious issue and what I did speaks to the high stakes that exist. War is a very real thing, its real to me, it's real to our service members and their families."</p>
<p>Gabbard announced her decision to quit her DNC post to support Senator Sanders on NBC's Meet the Press&#160;on Sunday.</p>
<p>The veteran Gabbard made her remarks on MSNBC to Brian Williams after he asked her if business would be difficult in Congress for her, if Clinton were to win the presidency. Gabbard warned that Clinton's record indicated there would be "more interventionist wars and regime change" under a Hillary presidency.</p> | Ex-DNC Honcho Says She Was 'Warned' Against Breaking with Hillary | true | http://truthrevolt.org/news/ex-dnc-honcho-says-she-was-warned-against-breaking-hillary | 2018-10-06 | 0 |
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<p>PEARLAND, Texas - A suburban Houston woman has been sentenced to six years in prison for the drowning deaths earlier this year of her 14-month-old twin daughters.</p>
<p>Barbara Russo pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of criminal negligent homicide for the deaths of her children, Sabrina and Savannah, at their home in Pearland.</p>
<p>Court documents show the girls drowned in a bathtub while Russo was cleaning and playing music in another room.</p>
<p>Police and paramedics responded after she called 911, saying her daughters were unresponsive in the bathtub. The twins were taken by helicopter to a hospital where one of them was pronounced dead. Her sister died a few days later.</p>
<p>Her attorney had described the deaths as a horrible accident.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Houston-area woman sentenced for daughters' drowning deaths | false | https://abqjournal.com/698958/houston-area-woman-sentenced-for-daughters-drowning-deaths.html | 2 |
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<p>WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Michigan coach <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jim-Harbaugh/" type="external">Jim Harbaugh</a> sang the praises of first-year Purdue coach Jeff Brohm at his weekly press conference Monday, calling Brohm a “favorite for coach of the year.”</p>
<p>Saturday’s Big Ten opener between the Boilermakers and Harbaugh’s eighth-ranked Wolverines could be Brohm’s best opportunity all season to stake that claim.</p>
<p>It’s the Boilermakers’ homecoming and Brohm’s first glimpse of Big Ten competition.</p>
<p>Purdue (2-1) has already gained national attention by winning back-to-back games for the first time since 2012, including a dominant 35-3 road victory against Missouri last Saturday. It was Boilermakers’ largest road win since Sept. 4, 1999, when they defeated Central Florida 47-13.</p>
<p>Michigan (3-0) seeks its second 4-0 start in three seasons under Harbaugh, and will rely heavily on its defense and special teams to get there.</p>
<p>Purdue leads the Big Ten in red zone efficiency, having scored on all 13 of its trips, 10 of which ended in touchdowns. The Boilermakers rank third in the conference in passing, averaging 298.7 yards per game, and fourth in scoring at 35.7 points per game.</p>
<p>Redshirt freshman wide receiver Jackson Anthrop is one to watch. He has scored a touchdown in each of his first three games, emerging as quarterback David Blough’s favorite target.</p>
<p>The Wolverines defeated Air Force 29-16 last Saturday but only had to defend nine passes from the Falcons’ run-heavy offense, which rushed 49 times for 168 yards. Still, Michigan boasts the second-best passing defense and total defense in the conference, making Saturday’s matchup a intriguing clash of <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Walker/" type="external">football</a> ideologies.</p>
<p>“You just change the channel,” Harbaugh said of the difference in game plans. “One scheme to another. Change our scheme to adapt. Improvise. Adjust.”</p>
<p>Brohm knows what he’s up against in facing Harbaugh’s gritty, NFL-style defense, and stressed a balanced offensive attack as the key to victory.</p>
<p>“Coach Harbaugh is as good as it gets when it comes to knowing football and how to coach,” Brohm said. “Right now, in order to succeed and win, we’ve got to have balance.</p>
<p>“They’re very good,” Brohm added about the Wolverines. “Those defenses, you’re probably not going to be able to work the ball down the field. You’re going to have to find a way to make a big play here and there to spark you, get something going, otherwise you’re going to be punting real fast.”</p>
<p>Despite its record and top-10 ranking, Michigan has been a strange and somewhat stagnant team offensively, particularly in the red zone. Although the Wolverines rank fifth in the conference in overall red zone efficiency at 90 percent, they have managed just one touchdown in 10 trips, converting on 8-of-9 red zone field-goal attempts.</p>
<p>Against Air Force, kicker Quinn Nordin tied a school record with five field goals, four of which came from inside the red zone.</p>
<p>“(Air Force) was doing a really good job of disguising coverages,” Michigan quarterback <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Wilton-Speight/" type="external">Wilton Speight</a> said. “Often in the red zone, they would show one thing, and at the last second, they would bring another look or bring the house. They fooled us. We just have to push forward in the red zone.”</p>
<p>Speight has yet to find a groove and the Michigan offense has scored only five of the team’s nine total touchdowns. The junior is completing just 54.6 percent of his passes with three touchdowns against two interceptions, and the threat of being replaced by senior backup John O’Korn still looms.</p>
<p>It doesn’t help that true freshman wideout Tarik Black (team-best 11 grabs for 149 yards) is potentially lost for the season with a foot injury.</p>
<p>Michigan running back Ty Isaac has 336 rushing yards through three games, the best start by a Wolverines back since <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mike_Hart/" type="external">Mike Hart</a> totaled 502 at the start of the 2007 campaign.</p>
<p>While Purdue’s defense in recent years has arguably been the weakest link — the Boilermakers ranked 126th nationally in rushing yards allowed in 2016 — Brohm’s impact on the program appears to be felt on both sides of the ball.</p>
<p>“This is one of the best defenses I’ve been around,” Purdue defensive end Gelen Robinson said. “I think that’s clear to a lot of fans. They’re seeing a defense that plays hard, runs to the ball, and really wants to compete to win, not just to stay in the game.”</p> | No. 8 Michigan Wolverines will try to slow surging Purdue Boilermakers | false | https://newsline.com/no-8-michigan-wolverines-will-try-to-slow-surging-purdue-boilermakers/ | 2017-09-19 | 1 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal">a katz</a>&#160;|&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Shutterstock.com</a></p>
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<p>You haven’t heard much from the Democrats lately about foreign policy or global agendas – indeed virtually nothing at the Philadelphia convention and little worthy of mention along the campaign trail. Hillary Clinton’s many liberal (and sadly, progressive) supporters routinely steer away from anything related to foreign policy, talk, talk, talking instead about the candidate’s “experience”, with obligatory nods toward her enlightened social programs.&#160;&#160; There is only the ritual demonization of that fearsome dictator, Vladimir Putin, reputedly on the verge of invading some hapless European country.&#160;&#160; Even Bernie Sanders’ sorry endorsement of his erstwhile enemy, not long ago denounced as a tool of Wall Street, had nothing to say about global issues.&#160;&#160; But no one should be fooled: a Clinton presidency, which seems more likely by the day, can be expected to stoke a resurgent U.S. imperialism, bringing new cycles of militarism and war. The silence is illusory: Clintonites, now as before, are truly obsessed with international politics.</p>
<p>A triumphant Hillary, more “rational” and “savvy” than the looney and unpredictable Donald Trump, could well have a freer path to emboldened superpower moves not only in Europe but the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Pacific. While the candidate has not revealed much lately, she is on record as vowing to “stand up” to Russia and China, face off against Russian “aggression”, escalate the war on terror, and militarily annihilate Iran the moment it steps out of line (or is determined by “U.S. intelligence” to have stepped out of line) in its nuclear agreement with global powers.&#160;&#160; Under Clinton, the Democrats might well be better positioned to recharge their historical legacy as War Party. One of the great political myths (and there are many) is that American liberals are inclined toward a less belligerent foreign policy than Republicans, are less militaristic and more favorable toward “diplomacy”. References to Woodrow Wilson in World War I and Mexico, Harry Truman in Korea, JFK and LBJ in Indochina, Bill Clinton in the Balkans, and of course Barack Obama in Afghanistan (eight years of futile warfare), Libya (also “Hillary’s War”), and scattered operations across the Middle East and North Africa should be enough to dispel such nonsense. (As for FDR and World War II, I have written extensively that the Pearl Harbor attacks were deliberately provoked by U.S. actions in the Pacific – but that is a more complicated story.)</p>
<p>In something of a political twist, the “deranged” Trump candidacy – with its almost daily flow of bizarre utterances and proposals – actually serves Clinton’s neoliberal/neocon mission nicely, providing a foil to her outwardly more sane persona. Trump, of course, is far too irrational, too narcissistic, too unstable to assume the role of Commander-in-Chief. Who knows what might happen once his shaky hands get near the “nuclear trigger”? Worse yet, here is a bona fide challenger for the White House who has reportedly cozied up to that imperialist dictator, that great enemy of national sovereignty, Putin!&#160;&#160; No need for any discussion or debate here. It follows that Hillary will be more reliable (even if more “untrustworthy”), more in command – clearly the best option to manage imperial affairs. Why else would all those neocons and Republican super-hawks be so happy to sign on to the Clintonite project.&#160;&#160; The alliance of Hillary and foreign-policy hard-liners has, however, scarcely dampened the enthusiasm of her phalanx of liberal and progressive boosters, who endlessly talk, talk, talk about her amazing “pragmatism”, her ability to “get things done”. (That she can “get things done” in the realm of foreign policy is beyond question.)</p>
<p>A new Clinton presidency can be expected to further boost the U.S./NATO drive to strangle and isolate Russia, which means aggravated “crises” in Ukraine and worrisome encounters with a rival military power in a region saturated with (tactical, “usable”) nuclear weapons.&#160;&#160; Regime change in Syria?&#160;&#160; Hillary has indeed strongly pushed for that self-defeating act of war, combined with an illegal and provocative no-fly zone — having learned nothing from the extreme chaos and violence she did so much to unleash in Libya as Secretary of State. There are currently no visible signs she would exit the protracted and criminal war in Afghanistan, a rich source of blowback (alongside Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Israel). Increased aerial bombardments against ISIS in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere? More deployments of American troops on the ground?&#160;&#160; Such ventures, with potentially others on the horizon, amount to elaborate recipes for more blowback, followed by more anti-terror hysteria, followed by more interventions. Uncompromising economic, diplomatic, and military support of Israeli atrocities in Palestine?&#160;&#160; Aggressive pursuit of the seriously mistaken “Asian Pivot”, strategy, a revitalized effort to subvert Chinese economic and military power – one of Clinton’s own special crusades? No wonder the Paul Wolfowitzes and Robert Kagans are delighted to join the Hillary camp.</p>
<p>No wonder, too, that billionaire super-hawk Haim Saban has pledged to spend whatever is needed to get the Clintons back into the White House, convinced her presidency will do anything to maintain Palestinian colonial subjugation. Meeting with Saban in July, Hillary again promised to “oppose any effort to delegitimate Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement.” She backs legislative efforts begun in several states to silence and blacklist people working on behalf of Palestinian rights. For this her celebrated “pragmatism” could work quite effectively.</p>
<p>Democratic elites say little publicly about these and other imperial priorities, preferring familiar homilies such as “bringing jobs back” (not going to happen) and “healing the country” (not going to happen).&#160;&#160; Silence appears to function exquisitely in a political culture where open and vigorous debate on foreign-policy is largely taboo and elite discourse rarely surpasses the level of banal platitudes.&#160;&#160; And Hillary’s worshipful liberal and progressive backers routinely follow the script (or non-script) while fear-mongering about how a Trump presidency will destroy the country (now that the Sanders threat has vanished).</p>
<p>Amidst the turmoil Trump has oddly surfaced to the left of Clinton on several key global issues: cooperating instead of fighting with the Russians, keeping alive a sharp criticism of the Iraq war and the sustained regional chaos and blowback it generated, ramping down enthusiasm for more wars in the Middle East, junking “free trade” agreements, willingness to rethink the outmoded NATO alliance. If Trump, however haphazardly, manages to grasp the historical dynamics of blowback, the Clinton camp remains either indifferent or clueless, still ready for new armed ventures – cynically marketed, as in the Balkans, Iraq, and Libya, on the moral imperative of defeating some unspeakable evil, usually a “new Hitler” waging a “new genocide”. Who needs to be reminded that Hillary’s domestic promises, such as they are, will become null and void once urgent global “crises” take precedence?&#160;&#160; The Pentagon, after all, always comes first.</p>
<p>Trump is of course no great bargain, a combative warrior looking to slay dragons lurking about in a dark, menacing world – something of a high-level Rambo figure – and this he happily and repeatedly advertises. Like the mythic Rambo, he is also an uncontrollable maverick, eccentric, prone to hare-brained “solutions” — much to the dismay of even Republican officialdom. And he is emphatically and unapologetically Islamophobic.&#160;&#160; At the other extreme, Clinton emerges in the media as the most “rational” and “even-tempered” of candidates, ideally suited to carry out the necessary imperial agendas. A tiresome mainstream narrative is that Hillary is “one of the best prepared and most knowledgeable candidates ever to seek the presidency.” And she is smart, very smart – whatever her flaws.&#160;&#160; All the better to follow in the long history of Democrats proficient at showing the world who is boss. &#160;The media, for its part, adores these Democrats, another reason Trump appears to have diminished chances of winning. Further, the well-funded and tightly-organized Clinton machine can count on somewhat large majorities of women, blacks, and Hispanics, not only for the march to the White House but, more ominously, to go along with the War Party’s imperial spectacle of the day. Most anything – war, regime change, bombing raids, drone strikes, treaty violations, JFK-style “standoffs” – can escape political scrutiny if carried out by “humanitarian”, peace-loving Democrats. &#160;Bill Clinton’s war to fight “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in the Balkans, cover for just another U.S./NATO geopolitical maneuver, constitutes the perfect template here.</p>
<p>There is a special logic to the Clintonites’ explosive mixture of neoliberalism and militarism. They, like all corporate Democrats, are fully aligned with some of the most powerful interests in the world: Wall Street, the war economy, fossil fuels, Big Pharma, the Israel Lobby. They also have intimate ties to reactionary global forces – the neofascist regime in Ukraine, Israel, Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states. Against this corporatist and imperialist backdrop, the “deluded” and “unhinged” Trump becomes far too unreliable for entrance to the Oval Office; he could too easily bungle the job of managing U.S. global supremacy. In March 121 members of the Republican “national security community”, including the warmongers Wolfowitz, Robert Kagan, and Brent Scowcroft, signed a public letter condemning Trump for not being sufficiently dedicated to American (also Israeli?) interests. Trump compounded his predicament by stubbornly refusing to pay homage to the “experts” – the same foreign-policy geniuses who helped orchestrate the Iraq debacle. A more recent (and more urgent) letter with roughly the same message has made its way into the public sphere.&#160;&#160; Predictably, Trump’s “unreliability” to oversee American global objectives has been an ongoing motif at CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>Returning to the political carneval that was the Democratic convention, amidst all the non-stop flag-waving and shouts of “USA!” Hillary made what she thought would be an inspiring reference to Jackie Kennedy, speaking on the eve of her husband’s (1961) ascent to the White House. Jackie was reported as saying “that what worried President Kennedy during that very dangerous time was that a war might be started – not by men with self-control and restraint, but by little men, the ones moved by fear and pride.”&#160;&#160; We can surmise that JFK was one of those “big men” governed by “restraint”.&#160;&#160; History shows, however, that Jackie’s esteemed husband was architect of probably the worst episode of international barbarism in U.S. history – the Vietnam War, with its unfathomable death and destruction – coming at a time of the Big Man’s botched CIA-led invasion of Cuba and followed closely by the Cuban Missile Crisis, where the Big Man’s “restraint” brought the world frighteningly close to nuclear catastrophe. As for “fear” and “pride” – nothing permeates JFK’s biography of that period more than those two psychological obsessions.</p>
<p>Could it be that Hillary Clinton, however unwittingly, was at this epic moment – her breakthrough nomination – revealing nothing so much as her own deeply-imperialist mind-set?</p> | Hillary and the War Party | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/08/19/hillary-and-the-war-party/ | 2016-08-19 | 4 |
<p>A federal appeals court has agreed that Samsung illegally copied some of the patented features in Apple's iPhone. But the court sided with Samsung on one point in a long-running dispute, which means the South Korean company may end up paying less than the $930 million in damages originally awarded in the case.</p>
<p>The appellate court upheld most of the conclusions reached by a federal jury in California, after a closely watched trial in 2012. Apple had complained that Samsung smartphones copied the iPhone and infringed on Apple's technology patents.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But the appeals court, based in Washington, D.C., said Monday that Apple can't claim damages for copying the overall appearance of the iPhone. That could reduce the damage award by about $382 million, according to Samsung's court filings.</p> | Appeals court agrees Samsung infringed on Apple patents, but trims $930 million damage award | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/05/18/appeals-court-agrees-samsung-infringed-on-apple-patents-but-trims-30-million.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
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<p>In this talk, meteorologist and <a href="http://ezramagazine.cornell.edu/Update/April13/EU.DiLiberto.science.idol.html" type="external">America’s “Science Idol”</a> contest winner <a href="http://www.tomdiliberto.com/" type="external">Tom DiLiberto</a> gives a forecast of the weather of the future—the weather that will be produced by climate change.</p>
<p>While some of the details remain scientifically cloudy—according to DiLiberto, we don’t yet understand what will happen to tornadoes in the future—much else is relatively clear. We’re going to have more extreme heat, more intense downpours, worse droughts in some areas, more intense hurricanes overall. At the same time, we also have more infrastructure, and more people, in harm’s way.</p>
<p>“Sure, maybe some things will be okay,” DiLiberto explains. “But other extreme events will be worse. And that’s just a forecast I don’t want to make.”</p>
<p>DiLiberto’s talk is from a <a href="" type="internal">live August 15 event</a> held by Climate Desk—in collaboration with thirstDC and the Science Online Climate conference—to showcase new and innovative communication about climate change.</p>
<p /> | Watch: The Wild Weather of the Future | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2013/08/droughts-hurricanes-21st-century-weather/ | 2013-08-27 | 4 |
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<p>Believing in a power beyond materiality, I gain hope by reminding myself that philosophers, scholars and just good thinkers through the ages have known mankind needs inspiration. The dictionary defines inspiration as animating action or influence. Actually it all began as storytelling around a campfire.</p>
<p>It is sad that some have forgotten that creativity, ingenuity and inspiration are not exclusive to religion or a religious doctrine. Goodness is its own reward and doesn’t need a sponsor.</p>
<p>An atheist may believe we would be better off to obviate all reference to God and in so doing realize all we have to look forward to is death and oblivion. I don’t find that very inspiring.</p>
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<p>On the other hand belief in a god who encourages followers to think of themselves as limited and evil, and to act with evil intent toward others is no more inspiring than atheism. Doing evil in the name of some god is no different than doing evil in the name of no god.</p>
<p>What we need is a paradigm shift. Neither religious bullying nor dark oblivion will help us in our quest to lead lives that bless ourselves and mankind. Students don’t need to be taught more doubt concerning their own well-being and fear of the future. There is much good in America, however many young people are depressed and revert to drugs, suicide and, as evidenced in Colorado last week, uncontrolled violence.</p>
<p>As a teacher with a family of sales people I have heard many inspirational talks. Some have been in churches, but the vast majority were not, nor did they promote a religious doctrine. A case in point is the speech given in May by the president of Rotary International, Kalyan Banerjee. Banerjee is from Gujarat, India. He told many stories of people around the world making a difference in working to eradicate illiteracy, disease and poverty.</p>
<p>It was the best speech I ever heard. It was not just inspiring; it was awesome. It was the real thing demonstrating goodness of the highest order.</p>
<p>Yes, prayer belongs in the closet of our individual consciousness as Amanda’s column suggests. But God’s love is not something we put on a shelf from Sunday to Sunday.</p>
<p>Working in a local high school I often shared thoughts of joy, beauty and peace with students. Students in trouble with the law or trapped in a violent home situation needed inspiration. They sought someone to build up their self confidence.</p>
<p>My deepest regret is I did not spend more time inspiring one of my students, who, caught in a moral dilemma, took his own life.</p>
<p>School trips and events provide a broader world view, and during those outside activities there can be time for students to seek answers to their deepest doubts concerning identity and troubling relationships. Today good answers seldom come from peers or our popular media.</p>
<p>Students don’t need protection from pure honesty, selfless love or convictions based on the Infinite Principle that keeps crime in check. Yes, a paradigm shift is necessary to lift humanity above the mundane, the fearful and the depressing.</p>
<p>We all need inspiration that leads to a higher concept of God and therefore a more compassionate humanity.</p> | Inspiration Can Lift Humanity to a More Compassionate Society | false | https://abqjournal.com/120832/inspiration-can-lift-humanity-to-a-more-compassionate-society.html | 2012-07-28 | 2 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A man who said he went to a northeast Albuquerque hotel to sell speakers to someone early Monday morning was instead tied up and shot, according to a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department.</p>
<p>Officer Fred Duran said the man is expected to survive. He said he told police he went to the Quality Inn on Menaul and University NE around 1 a.m. to sell his speakers.</p>
<p>“The victim said he was tied up and then shot by the offender,” Duran wrote in an email. “(The) victim was able to escape and call police.”</p>
<p>He said police don’t know if the speakers were stolen from the victim.</p>
<p>“This case was forwarded to detectives and is an on-going active investigation to determine what occurred and who is responsible,” Duran said.</p>
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<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | APD: Man tied up and shot while selling belongings at hotel | false | https://abqjournal.com/1000419/apd-man-tied-up-and-shot-while-selling-belongings-at-hotel.html | 2 |
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<p>As with any performance art, people will disagree forever about how Clint Eastwood’s star turn should be understood.&#160; All I’ll add finally is that when a whole new meme springs up overnight—on ho!—he’s “Eastwooding” us!—you score that as: “Win.”&#160; Whether the Democrats take up my suggestion that they answer with Betty White, I guaran-darn-tee you a lot of Dems (and MSNBC reporters, but I repeat. . .) will take the Eastwood bait, and counter the empty chair with slams at Romney for being an empty suit.&#160; If I had an slave intern, I have him/her watch the entire convention with a clicker to get a complete count. &#160;Whether they RNC meant to or not, I’m guessing they got in the heads of Democrats with this amazing spectacle.</p>
<p>Even better challenge: how many empty chairs would it take to fill the empty space inside Chris Matthews’ head? &#160;There’s probably a Steyn-like metaphor about not enough deck chairs around to survive the titanic catastrophe of Matthews’ sinking mind.&#160; Even the Puffington Host noticed <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/01/chris-matthews-rnc_n_1848934.html?fb_action_ids=10151140081999725%2C10151135838814133&amp;fb_action_types=news.reads&amp;fb_source=other_multiline&amp;action_object_map=%7B%2210151140081999725%22%3A344628132287335%2C%2210151135838814133%22%3A326836450745694%7D&amp;action_type_map=%7B%2210151140081999725%22%3A%22news.reads%22%2C%2210151135838814133%22%3A%22news.reads%22%7D&amp;action_ref_map=%5B%5D" type="external">the guy is losing his grip</a>.</p>
<p>Speaking of guaran-darn-tee, the latest outrage of autocorrect occurred the other day when a text message to my local bartender about needing more <a href="http://www.laphroaig.com/" type="external">Laphroaig</a>—the greatest single-malt there is—got rendered “lap groaning” instead, much to the confusion of my local liquor purveyor.&#160; Sounds more like what you get at a plus-sized strip club.&#160; But memo to self: lay in a lot of Laphroaig for next week; I’ll need it to get through the DNC.&#160; See you at Power Line Live next week; snifter in hand, served neat, of course.&#160; No lap groaning.&#160; Just plain old regular groaning about senescent liberalism.</p>
<p>Good news: <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/08/al-gore-calls-to-end-electoral-college-133927.html#.UEAvpRtLzr4.twitter" type="external">Al Gore has called for an end to the electoral college!</a>&#160;That’s the best guaran-darn-tee yet that this venerable republican institution will survive.&#160; Even if he didn’t utter this on CurrentTV, which is the most clever cover evah for the federal witness protection program, his endorsement would still be sufficient to make me sleep better at night.</p>
<p>Hey–this “Eastwooding” stuff is kinda fun. &#160;And not that hard to do.</p> | Random Thoughts for a Saturday Afternoon | true | http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/09/random-thoughts-for-a-saturday-afternoon.php | 2012-09-01 | 0 |
<p>According to British tabloid The Sun,&#160;20 year old Hayden Cross from Gloucester, England is <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2560070/british-man-20-will-be-the-first-to-give-birth-to-a-baby-thanks-to-sperm-donor-he-found-on-facebook/" type="external">currently</a> four months pregnant and is the first British man to be having a baby. Hayden, who was born biologically as a woman, has been living as a man for three years. He had been taking hormone therapy and was planning on transitioning by removing his breasts and ovaries. These plans have now been put on hold after he found a sperm donor on Facebook (who will remain anonymous) to fulfill his desire to become a father.</p>
<p>Cross a former ASDA worker, spoke to The Sun and said:</p>
<p>“I want the baby to have the best.&#160;I’ll be the greatest dad.”</p>
<p>Hayden’s decision to fall pregnant followed an inability to freeze his eggs for use at a later time, perhaps by someone else. The refusal came from the UK National Health Service. Cross says in his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1NEWSNZ/videos/10154077261646218/" type="external">interview</a>&#160;that he feels he is being “forced” to have a baby now and shouldn’t have to because he feels like a “bloke”.</p>
<p>He sees this as his only opportunity to be a biological parent as once his transition is final, he will no longer be fertile.</p>
<p>Here is how Hayden explained the process&#160;The Sun:</p>
<p>“In September I got pregnant by a sperm donation.&#160;I found the donor on the internet.I looked on Facebook for a group and found one — it’s been shut down now.&#160;I didn’t have to pay.&#160;The man came to my house, he passed me the sperm in a pot and I did it via a syringe.&#160;I felt I’d no choice, I couldn’t afford a proper clinic.”</p>
<p>Hayden says he does not know much at all about the donor:</p>
<p>“He wouldn’t even tell me his name.&#160;He didn’t want any contact.&#160;He said he was just doing it to help people.&#160;It was the first attempt and it worked.&#160;I was really lucky.”</p>
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<p>Feature image via&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/1NEWSNZ/videos/10154077261646218/" type="external">Facebook video</a></p> | Hayden Cross Is The First British Man To Be Having A Baby (VIDEO) | true | http://offthemainpage.com/2017/01/09/hayden-cross-is-the-first-british-man-to-be-having-a-baby/ | 2017-01-09 | 4 |
<p>While a series of procedural rulings have delayed execution for Warren Lee Hill, he faces <a href="http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=856036#.URVP16XAdyw" type="external">imminent capital punishment</a> by the state of Georgia a week from tomorrow, <a href="" type="internal">in spite of a U.S. Supreme Court decision</a> that says executing the severely mentally disabled is unconstitutional. Hill, who was deemed “mentally retarded” at trial (an unfortunate legal term), has exhausted his appeals, and only U.S. Supreme Court action can stop his execution this time.</p>
<p>Among those who have advocated for Hill’s clemency are several jurors from Hill’s trial, disability groups, and President Jimmy Carter. Even the victim’s family has submitted an affidavit stating that they prefer clemency.</p>
<p>In its ruling in <a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-8452.ZS.html" type="external">Atkins v. Virginia</a>, the high court held that executing individuals deemed “mentally retarded” violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because their disability “places them at special risk of wrongful execution.” Wrongful convictions are already <a href="http://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/about.aspx" type="external">rampant</a> in the U.S. criminal justice system, and the unique irreversibility of capital punishment is one of the reasons why the remedy is becoming increasingly <a href="" type="internal">unpopular</a> and <a href="" type="internal">uncommon</a>.</p>
<p>In spite of the Supreme Court’s holding, a harsh procedural technicality has allowed the state to skirt existing Supreme Court precedent. While all other states require a finding that the defendant is meets the mental disability criteria by a “preponderance of the evidence”or some other moderate standard of evidence, Georgia imposes the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard — the equivalent of legal certainty. Psychologists have attested that this is a standard that is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margaret-nygren/warren-hill-execution_b_1695334.html" type="external">almost impossible to attain</a> when it comes to mental disability.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the statute that permits this standard survived legal challenge in a <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ga-supreme-court/1351879.html" type="external">narrow 4–3 ruling</a>. In her dissent in that case, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Sears articulates the clear inconsistency of this statute with the prohibition on executing the severely mentally disabled:</p>
<p>Despite the federal ban on executing the mentally retarded, Georgia’s statute, and the majority decision upholding it, do not prohibit the state from executing mentally retarded people. To the contrary, the State may still execute people who are in all probability mentally retarded. The State may execute people who are more than likely mentally retarded. The State may even execute people who are almost certainly mentally retarded.</p>
<p>In its decision in Atkins, the U.S. Supreme Court said, “we leave to the State[s] the task of developing appropriate ways to enforce the constitutional restriction upon [their] execution of sentences.” It is now up to the justices to make clear that, by imposing an unattainable standard for proving “mental retardation,” Georgia is not enforcing this “constitutional restriction” at all.</p> | Georgia Will Execute An Intellectually Disabled Man Next Week Unless The Supreme Court Intervenes | true | http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/11/1564611/georgia-will-execute-an-intellectually-disabled-man-next-week-unless-the-supreme-court-intervenes/ | 2013-02-11 | 4 |
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<p>Officer Daren DeAguero said a little after 3 p.m. a car T-boned a truck.</p>
<p>“Speed appears to have been a factor in this accident,” he said.</p>
<p>He said there were three people in the car and one in the truck.</p>
<p>Two passengers in the car died at the scene and the driver is currently in critical condition, DeAguero said.</p>
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<p>He said the driver of the truck was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.</p>
<p>The three people in the car have not been identified, DeAguero said.</p>
<p>The intersection has reopened but the incident is still being investigated.</p>
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<p /> | 2 dead, one critically injured in West Side crash, police say | false | https://abqjournal.com/997999/2-dead-2-critically-injured-in-west-side-crash-police-say.html | 2017-05-03 | 2 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) will offer free 12-week education courses in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho for family caregivers with loved ones suffering from mental illness.</p>
<p>The starting date for both courses is Sept. 15.</p>
<p>To register and for more information, call Cy Stanton at 321-4522.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Free NAMI courses start September 15 | false | https://abqjournal.com/637183/free-nami-courses-start-september-15.html | 2 |
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<p>FORT COLLINS, Colo. - Fort Collins firefighters will bring one of the last remaining pieces of the World Trade Center from New York City to Colorado.</p>
<p>The Coloradoan reports ( <a href="http://noconow.co/1VWEnA8" type="external">http://noconow.co/1VWEnA8</a> ) that four Poudre Fire Authority firefighters involved in Sept. 11, 2001 rescue efforts will use their own vacation time to travel to New York and pick up the 5-foot-long, 3,000-pound beam.</p>
<p>According to a news release from Poudre Fire Authority, the firefighters will participate in a ceremony with representatives from New York City-area emergency crews.</p>
<p>Afterward, they will travel across the country with more than 100 emergency services agencies, stopping for ceremonies in dozens of towns. The Poudre Fire Authority will post trip updates on its website and social media.</p>
<p>The journey will end with an Oct. 24 ceremony in Fort Collins.</p>
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<p>Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan, <a href="http://www.coloradoan.com" type="external">http://www.coloradoan.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Colorado firefighters travel to receive WTC beam | false | https://abqjournal.com/660816/colorado-firefighters-travel-to-receive-wtc-beam.html | 2 |
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<p>The entertaining ruckus over CCTV talk show host Yang Rui’s anti-foreign comments obscures a rather significant trend in Chinese government policy.</p>
<p>It appears that the CCP is winding down its five-year charm offensive meant to bolster its international legitimacy and standing, and is turning inward to focus on pressing domestic social, economic, and political concerns.</p>
<p>Disturbingly, China has a limited number of effective policy levers to deal with these issues.&#160;&#160;The few they have are ugly in conception and application—like xenophobia.</p>
<p>China’s economic miracle, typified by the spectacle of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the titanic stimulus program of 2009-2010 (which is credited with forestalling a prolonged global recession), never elicited the Western respect that the Chinese leadership felt was its due.</p>
<p>With the election of President Obama, the West rediscovered the impeccable moral self-regard it had forfeited during the Bush II years and, instead of acknowledging Chinese regional suzerainty, cobbled together an alliance to “pivot” back into Asia and contain China.</p>
<p>International policy toward China is inseparable from criticism of China’s human rights record, its neo-mercantilist economic policies, and its heightened security profile in East Asia, and the hope and expectation that China will fall on its behind before the West (excluding Greece, probably Spain, and perhaps Italy) does.</p>
<p>“Soft power”, in other words, hasn’t won China much breathing space.&#160;&#160;As the CCP turns its attention to a fraught leadership transition complicated by smoldering inflation, simmering public discontent, slowing economic growth thanks to the dysfunctional Eurozone, and a spate of opportunistic bitching over uninhabited island groups by its maritime neighbors, perhaps xenophobia is the most effective way for the Party to seize the initiative in the public sphere.</p>
<p>In recent weeks, public opinion has been entertained and inflamed by such diverse exhibition of foreign misbehavior as 1) arrogant Russian cellist putting his feet where they didn’t belong on a Chinese train 2) brain-melted foreign tourist trying to undress a hapless Chinese woman on a busy Beijing street 3) North Korean “pirates” holding Chinese fishermen for ransom.</p>
<p>There was a lot of palaver about what the kidnapping said about the North Koreans and their possible unhappiness with Chinese criticism of their weapons testing.&#160;Remarkably, there was very little discussion of why the Chinese media chose to give this event (which, quite possibly, was simply the most recent of many shakedowns by North Korea’s cash-hungry/smuggling-happy coastal security forces) front-page treatment.</p>
<p>The xenophobic&#160;piece du resistance, however, was a May 16 Weibo screed by CCTV’s Yang Rui, sneering at “foreign trash”.</p>
<p>One can safely assume that Yang was supporting the party line on pesky foreigners.&#160;&#160;It also appears that Yang put a lot of himself, too much, in fact, into his&#160; <a href="" type="internal">140-character ramble</a>, including accusations that foreigners were shacking up with Chinese women in order to make maps and send out GPS coordinates to overseas intelligence services (coordinates of what, Yang failed to enlighten his readers).</p>
<p>What caused Yang’s anti-foreign assault to backfire, however, was his use of the term “po fu” to describe Al Jazeera Beijing correspondent Melissa Chan.</p>
<p>Chan, a well-regarded reporter who had aired pieces on black prisons and illegal land grabs that the Chinese government certainly found uncomfortable, was expelled (technically, her request for a visa extension was refused) in early May.</p>
<p>Yang lumped her together with the foreign trash, declaring:</p>
<p>赶走洋泼妇，关闭半岛电视台驻京办，让妖魔化中国的闭嘴滚蛋</p>
<p>We kicked out the foreign po fu, closed down Al Jazeera’s Beijing office, so those who demonize China shut their mouths and beat it.</p>
<p>Global Times translated “po fu” as “crazy”, which is pretty far from the mark.&#160;&#160;The Wall Street Journal translated “po fu” as b*tch, which is closer to the truth, if not quite accurate, and helped feed the expressions of quivering outrage by expats in China who tweet.</p>
<p>Yang tried to explain that his insulting characterization actually means “shrew” in English, and he does have a point.&#160;&#160;“Po fu” started out as a literary term coined by the Qian Long emperor.&#160;&#160;During one of his southern tours he saw two women fighting and said&#160; <a href="http://www.hudong.com/wiki/%E6%B3%BC%E5%A6%87" type="external">something along the lines of</a>&#160;(adjusting for the dense meaning of individual characters in classical Chinese), “when you’re talking about fierce, unreasonable, and incapable of engaging in elevated moral discourse, that’s women.”</p>
<p>In essence, therefore, Yang appears not be saying that Ms. Chan was a b*tch (a bad woman), but the unfortunate but entirely predictable manifestation of female shrewishness in her reporting prevented her from scaling the highest peaks of respectable journalism (already occupied, perhaps, by certain smugly condescending male CCTV presenters).</p>
<p>Sometimes, when you’re in a hole, it’s time to stop digging.</p>
<p>The furor over “po fu” also distracts attention from the more interesting question of why Ms. Chan’s visa was not renewed.</p>
<p>The conclusion of Yang’s Weibo blast (so those who demonize China shut their mouths and beat it)&#160;implies that the Chinese government made an example of a free-wheeling reporter at a second-tier news outlet in order to pass the message to top-line media outlets that nettlesome reporting will have consequences for individual reporters and, perhaps, entire news operations (in addition to not renewing Chan’s visa, the Chinese government has so far refused to accept a replacement and the Al Jazeera Beijing bureau is, at least for the time being, defunct).</p>
<p>The impression of Chinese xenophobia was also accentuated by the announcement of a three-month drive to crack down on foreigners residing or working in China without proper documentation.</p>
<p>Needless to say, it is an unpleasant experience to be regarded as potential “foreign trash” and go through the degrading transaction of presenting one’s papers to the local police on demand.&#160;&#160;It is also an indication that the security system’s relatively kid-glove treatment of foreigners is the latest victim of China’s growing political and economic uncertainty.</p>
<p>Chinese policies toward improperly documented aliens bear a remarkable resemblance to laws in Arizona and Georgia that have integrated immigration policy into police operations largely in response to xenophobic sentiment and political unease in a deteriorated economic climate.</p>
<p>The real issue may not be the outraged feelings of foreigners today; it may be making the scapegoating of foreign troublemakers, journalists and otherwise, an available option against the day when the political climate inside China worsens for the CCP.</p>
<p>If and when bad times come, the CCP seems to have a decreasing number of tools available to deal with the situation.&#160;&#160;In particular, there are sticks available, but not a lot of carrots.</p>
<p>This restricted toolkit apparently applies to dealing with domestic dissatisfaction as well as pesky foreigners.</p>
<p>A remarkable object lesson in the financial and systemic hazards of contemporary Chinese authoritarianism is illustrated by the remarkable extralegal detention of Chen Guangcheng and other dissidents.</p>
<p>It takes a village, apparently, to button up a lawyer-activist in China, and the amounts expended on supervising and harassing Chen—estimated at over 8 million RMB—are a source of wonder.</p>
<p>What is perhaps an even more remarkable source of wonder is the fact that variants of this extravagant system are applied to perhaps 1 million Chinese that no one has ever heard of.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">As reported by Charles Hutzler of AP</a>, hundreds of thousands of Chinese activists, dissidents, miscreants, parolees, and suspicious characters are kept under intensive surveillance similar to Chen’s.</p>
<p>The operations are funded by “stability maintenance” funds from the central government, part of the $110 billion the government spends each year on domestic security and order.</p>
<p>The article recounted the case of Yao Lifa, a schoolteacher who ran afoul of the system when he tried to run as an independent for a local political office 25 years ago.&#160;The current system of tight surveillance has been in place for a year or so.</p>
<p>Yao told AP how his surveillance is managed, including a significant outsourcing to gym teachers in the school he used to teach at:</p>
<p>Anywhere from 14 to 50 people a day are on the local government payroll for his round-the-clock surveillance — what he calls the “Yao Lifa special squad.” They get 50 yuan, $8, for a day shift and twice that for night work. Often, he said, hotel rooms, transport, meals and cigarettes are thrown in.</p>
<p>The sums add up in&#160;Qianjiang, a city of struggling factories and one million people set in the center of the country. Basic pay runs about 1,000 yuan, or $160, a month for an entry-level teacher and goes to three times that amount for a veteran, Yao said.</p>
<p>“This isn’t bad for teachers,” said Yao. “An English teacher probably wouldn’t take it. They can earn extra money giving private tutoring. But gym teachers can’t do the tutoring. Besides, their superiors have told them to do this. They can’t not do it.”</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>He said he heard the school and education bureau were arguing over $48,000 for his surveillance. “I have many acquaintances. Some of them work in police stations,” Yao said. “They tell me ‘Really we could use a Yao Lifa. If we had one, we could make more money.'”</p>
<p>According to Hutzler, an article in Caijing reported on a village in south China in which a quarter of the local government personnel were on the stability payroll.</p>
<p>This would appear to be more than “stability maintenance”.&#160;&#160;It’s a form of central government support to shore up the finances and legitimacy of the local government i.e. the local Communist apparatus.</p>
<p>Call it CCP welfare, or “workfare”.&#160;&#160;Well, maybe call it “goonfare.”</p>
<p>It is, to put it mildly, not a good thing for the CCP when the local face of the party is a crew of musclemen hassling schoolteachers.</p>
<p>To add to the problem, and the perception, for many local officials the temptation to graft off the imperfectly supervised “stability maintenance” funds is reportedly irresistible.</p>
<p>Now that this system is in place, it is difficult to see how the central government can abolish it—unless, in addition to howls of protest from local cadres, it is interested in dealing with a surge of local unrest and disgruntled petitioners, and a legal system that is not up to the task of protecting the rights and serving the aspirations of its citizens.</p>
<p>The fundamental problem is that, contrary to the party’s hopes, breakneck economic growth over the last decade has not translated into an outpouring of gratitude or support for the Chinese Communist Party.&#160;&#160;“Socialism with Chinese characteristics” like another triumphant economic system we all know and love, has inequality built into it.</p>
<p>In Western capitalism, the power of the “1%” is diffused, anonymous, entrenched in every institution, and embedded in every political party.&#160;&#160;Even after the colossal rich man’s cock-up of the 2008 financial crisis, for instance, 99% Americans were unable to summon up the united political will to confront Wall Street, let alone engage in a satisfying politico-economic jacquerie against the moneyed elite.</p>
<p>However, in China, the political problem is much more severe because inequality clearly benefits party members—and princelings within the party—disproportionately.&#160;&#160;Overall GDP growth, that scorecard of economic success that infatuates state planners, foreign businesses, and economists alike is, for China, a two-edged sword, since it ineluctably widens the perceived income and social justice gap.</p>
<p>Therefore, there is a lot of anxiety inside and outside the party about closing the wealth and justice gap ranging from traditional command economy nostrums like subsidized housing to fancy free-market panaceas like reforming the pampered, cash-rich state run corporations through private corporate competition and public wealth sharing through increased stock ownership.</p>
<p>In fact, it would be useful to consider that China is now trying to turn away from macro-economic management of the economy, with its implication of passively waiting for the tide to lift all boats, to politically targeted financial and investment policy meant to selectively grow vulnerable sectors of the economy at the expense of industries and institutions that have emerged as political liabilities.</p>
<p>However, these solutions don’t go very far in addressing the disgruntlement that suffuses Chinese society like a toxic fog: the idea that Chinese wealth creation is primarily an exercise by which the CCP enriches and entrenches itself.</p>
<p>It’s not easy—or perhaps even feasible—to remove the dead hand of the party from economic and political life, or from the consciousness of the Chinese citizenry under the current system.</p>
<p>Things are less than ideal even after—and, to some extent because of—a decade of rampant growth.</p>
<p>Now, of course, China is looking at a period of slowed growth as a matter of policy as well as necessity, one that will presumably leverage even greater perceived economic and social injustice onto the shoulders of the resentful Chinese citizenry.</p>
<p>The West’s faltering effort to free itself of the incubus of its failed economic policies means a Eurozone crisis and bad news for China’s export economy.&#160;&#160;At the same time, China is still dealing with the inflation and real estate bubble hangover from its massive 2009-10 stimulus and cannot risk fueling inflation by dumping a lot of money into the economy.</p>
<p>If the CCP finds itself unable to finesse the looming economic and political crisis through a savvy combination of political and economic policies, the alternative—a bout of xenophobia and domestic repression that reveal the party in its least attractive light both to the world and its citizens—is not going to be pretty.</p>
<p>Peter Lee&#160;edits China Matters. He can be reached at:&#160;chinamatters (at) prlee. org</p> | China Battens Down the Hatches | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/06/12/china-battens-down-the-hatches/ | 2012-06-12 | 4 |
<p>Editor’s note: We are re-featuring this E.J. Dionne column from August of 2009 in light of this weekend’s deadly shooting in Arizona. <a href="" type="internal">Click here</a> to read Dionne’s reaction to the shooting.</p>
<p>Try a thought experiment: What would conservatives have said if a group of loud, scruffy leftists had brought guns to the public events of Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush?</p>
<p>How would our friends on the right have reacted to someone at a Reagan or a Bush speech carrying a sign that read: “It’s time to water the tree of liberty”? That would be a reference to Thomas Jefferson’s declaration that the tree “must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”</p>
<p>Pardon me, but I don’t think conservatives would have spoken out in defense of the right of every American Marxist to bear arms or to shed the blood of tyrants.</p>
<p />
<p>In fact, the Bush folks didn’t like any dissent at all. Recall the 2004 incident in which a distraught mother whose son was killed in Iraq was arrested for protesting at a rally in New Jersey for first lady Laura Bush. The detained woman wasn’t even armed. Maybe if she had been carrying, the gun lobby would have defended her.</p>
<p>The Obama White House purports to be open to the idea of guns outside the president’s appearances. “There are laws that govern firearms that are done state or locally,” Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said Tuesday. “Those laws don’t change when the president comes to your state or locality.”</p>
<p>Gibbs made you think of the old line about the liberal who is so open-minded he can’t even take his own side in an argument.</p>
<p>What needs to be addressed is not the legal question but the message that the gun-toters are sending.</p>
<p>This is not about the politics of populism. It’s about the politics of the jackboot. It’s not about an opposition that has every right to free expression. It’s about an angry minority engaging in intimidation backed by the threat of violence.</p>
<p>There is a philosophical issue here that gets buried under the fear that so many politicians and media-types have of seeming to be out of touch with the so-called American heartland.</p>
<p>The simple fact is that an armed citizenry is not the basis for our freedoms. Our freedoms rest on a moral consensus, enshrined in law, that in a democratic republic we work out our differences through reasoned, and sometimes raucous, argument. Free elections and open debate are not rooted in violence or the threat of violence. They are precisely the alternative to violence, and guns have no place in them.</p>
<p>On the contrary, violence and the threat of violence have always been used by those who wanted to bypass democratic procedures and the rule of law. Lynching was the act of those who refused to let the legal system do its work. Guns were used on election days in the Deep South during and after Reconstruction to intimidate black voters and take control of state governments.</p>
<p>Yes, I have raised the racial issue, and it is profoundly troubling that firearms should begin to appear with some frequency at a president’s public events only now, when the president is black. Race is not the only thing at stake here, and I have no knowledge of the personal motivations of those carrying the weapons. But our country has a tortured history on these questions, and we need to be honest about it. Those with the guns should know what memories they are stirring.</p>
<p>And will someone please tell the armed demonstrators how foolish and lawless they make our country look in the eyes of so much of the world? Are we not the country that urges other nations to see the merits of the ballot over the bullet?</p>
<p>All this is taking place as the country debates the president’s health care proposal. There is much that is disturbing in that discussion. Shouting down speakers is never a good thing, and many lies are being told about the contents of the health care bills. The lies should be confronted, but freedom involves a lot of commotion and an open contest of ideas, even when some of the parties say things that aren’t true and act in less than civil ways.</p>
<p>Yet if we can’t draw the line at the threat of violence, democracy begins to disintegrate. Power, not reason, becomes the stuff of political life. Will some group of responsible conservatives, preferably life members of the NRA, have the decency to urge their followers to leave their guns at home when they go out to protest the president? Is that too much to ask?</p>
<p>E.J. Dionne’s e-mail address is ejdionne(at)washpost.com.</p>
<p>© 2009, Washington Post Writers Group</p>
<p /> | The Politics of the Jackboot | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/the-politics-of-the-jackboot/ | 2009-08-20 | 4 |
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<p>Alaska Airlines says it will stop flying to Havana after demand dropped and the Trump administration imposed new restrictions on travel to Cuba.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Seattle-based airline said Tuesday that its last flight between Los Angeles and Havana is planned for Jan. 22.</p>
<p>Last week, the Trump administration put into effect rules that ended an allowance for "people-to-people" or individual travel to Cuba. Alaska said 80 percent of its passengers used that allowance.</p>
<p>Alaska began flying to Havana in January, but it says it was considering pulling out even before last week's change in travel rules.</p>
<p>After starting slowly — the Los Angeles-Havana flights were barely half-full in January — the airline was selling about 85 percent of the seats on average by April. Demand remained strong through the summer "but from there we saw softer bookings in the fall," said airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan.</p>
<p>Caribbean hurricanes and the impending change in travel rules both contributed to lower bookings, she said.</p>
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<p>U.S. airlines were eager to fly to Cuba last year after the Obama administration eased longtime limits on travel between the two countries. The airlines reconnected Americans to an island that had been virtually cut off by a 55-year-old trade embargo and a formal ban on U.S. citizens visiting Cuba as tourists.</p>
<p>But flagging demand and overblown expectations have led several carriers to end or reduce service to Cuba including American, Southwest, Spirit, Frontier and Silver Airways.</p> | Alaska Airlines to halt flights to Cuba | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/14/alaska-airlines-to-halt-flights-to-cuba.html | 2017-11-14 | 0 |
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<p>FILE - This file photo taken Friday, June 14, 2013 shows the Shearon Harris nuclear plant in Holly Springs, N.C. By court order, the Energy Department on Friday, May 16, 2014 will stop charging a fee that electric customers have been paying for 31 years to fund a federal nuclear waste site that doesn't exist. It's only a small percentage of most customers' bills, but it adds up to $750 million a year. The fund now holds $37 billion. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)</p>
<p>WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed changes to oil refinery rules that would compel operators to monitor benzene emissions, upgrade storage tank emission controls, ensure waste gases are properly destroyed and adopt new emission standards for delayed coking units.</p>
<p>The move is part of a consent decree that resolved a lawsuit filed by nonprofit environmental attorneys with Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project on behalf of people directly affected by pollution from refineries in Louisiana, Texas and California.</p>
<p>The EPA will take comment on the proposals for 60 days. It also plans to hold two public hearings near Houston and Los Angeles, and will finalize the standards in April 2015.</p>
<p>The agency says the proposals would reduce toxic air emissions by an estimated 5,600 tons per year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | EPA proposes changes to refinery emission rules | false | https://abqjournal.com/400431/epa-proposes-changes-to-refinery-emission-rules.html | 2 |
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<p>During a White House press briefing, President Donald Trump announced that the opioid epidemic, which has left more people dead than car crashes and gun homicide combined, is a national health emergency.</p>
<p>U.S. President Donald Trump declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency on Thursday, stopping short of a national emergency declaration he promised months ago that would have freed up more federal money.</p>
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<p>Responding to a growing problem wreaking havoc in rural areas, Trump's declaration will redirect federal resources and loosen regulations to combat opioid abuse, senior administration officials said on a conference call with reporters.</p>
<p>But it does not mean there will be more money to combat the crisis. Some critics, including Democratic lawmakers, said the declaration was meaningless without additional funding.</p>
<p>"This epidemic is a national health emergency," Trump said at the White House. "Nobody has seen anything like what's going on now. As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue."</p>
<p>The announcement disappointed some advocates and experts in the addiction fight, who said it was inadequate to fight a scourge that played a role in more than 33,000 deaths in 2015, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The death rate has kept rising, estimates show.</p>
<p>Opioids, primarily prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, are fueling the drug overdoses. More than 100 Americans die daily from related overdoses, according to the CDC.</p>
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<p>A White House commission on the drug crisis had urged Trump to declare a national emergency. On Wednesday, the president told Fox Business Network he would do so.</p>
<p>Officials told reporters on the conference call that Federal Emergency Management Agency funds that would have been released under a national emergency are already exhausted from recent storms that struck Puerto Rico, Texas and Florida.</p>
<p>The administration would have to work with Congress to help provide additional funding to address drug abuse, they added.</p>
<p>Under Thursday's declaration, treatment would be made more accessible for abusers of prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, while ensuring fewer delays in staffing the Department of Health and Human Services to help states grapple with the crisis.</p>
<p>'BAD ACTORS'</p>
<p>Trump said he would discuss stopping the flow of fentanyl, a drug 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Asia next month.</p>
<p>In his remarks, Trump said the U.S. Postal Service and Department of Homeland Security were "strengthening the inspection of packages coming into our country to hold back the flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl, a synthetic opioid manufactured in China."</p>
<p>He added he would consider bringing lawsuits against "bad actors" in the epidemic. Several states have sued opioid manufacturers for deceptive marketing. Congress is investigating the business practices of manufacturers.</p>
<p>The president also said the government should focus on teaching young people not to take drugs. "There is nothing desirable about drugs. They're bad," he said.</p>
<p>Thursday's declaration also allows the Department of Labor to issue grants to help dislocated workers affected by the crisis. HIV/AIDS health funding would also be prioritized for those who need substance abuse treatment, officials said.</p>
<p>As a candidate, Trump promised to address the crisis, including by building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the flow of illicit drugs, which he touched on in his speech.</p>
<p>Additional actions under the move would be announced in coming weeks by various agencies, officials said. (Additional reporting by James Oliphant, Susan Heavey and Jason Lange; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)</p> | Trump declares opioid epidemic a national public health emergency | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/10/26/trump-declares-opioid-epidemic-national-public-health-emergency.html | 2017-10-26 | 0 |
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<p>The biggest news event next week is undoubtedly the U.S. Supreme Court’s expected ruling on the 2010 health-care reform legislation, a decision whose impact will be wide-ranging for the business community.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The decision, expected Monday, could determine whether millions of Americans will be required under the law to obtain health insurance or pay a fine.</p>
<p>Businesses have complained since the law was first approved and almost immediately challenged that uncertainty regarding its legality has made it difficult to plan for the future.</p>
<p>The decision on what is arguably President Obama’s signature piece of legislation could also play a significant role in the November presidential election.</p>
<p>Also due next week are economic reports gauging the health of the housing market and consumer confidence.</p>
<p>New home sales for May, due Monday, are expected to rise from April but not by much. As other areas of the economy have shown occasional signs of recovery since the downturn in 2008 the housing market has remained consistently stagnant.</p>
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<p>The S&amp;P/Case-Schiller home price index is out Tuesday and a report on pending home sales is out Wednesday.</p>
<p>The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index is out Tuesday and the Reuters/University of Michigan is due Friday. Consumer confidence has taken a hit in recent months as labor markets have stalled.</p>
<p>Two regional Federal Reserve banks -- Richmond Tuesday and Kansas City on Thursday -- will release data on manufacturing and the concern is that those regions will show signs of weakness similar to reports issued recently by the New York and Philadelphia Feds.</p>
<p>In Europe, fiscal leaders will meet Thursday and Friday and the rest of the world will be watching to see if anything resembling a unified front exists in Europe’s effort to ease the two-year-old debt crisis.</p>
<p>In a quiet week for earnings, athletic apparel powerhouse Nike (NYSE:NKE) will release its quarterly report.</p>
<p>The initial public offering market may jump back into action with four new deals expected. The market for new stocks shut down following Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) botched offering in May.</p> | Week Ahead: Health-Care Ruling and Housing Data | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2012/06/22/week-ahead-health-care-ruling-and-housing-data.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
<p>Michaels Stores Inc, North America's largest arts and crafts retailer, reported same-store sales rose 2.9 percent in the second quarter, helped by more transactions and a big sales jump in its framing services.</p>
<p>The retailer, majority-owned by private equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LP, on Thursday reported a 30 percent jump in net income to $13 million for the quarter ended July 28 on sales of $892 million. Overall sales were up 4.1 percent.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Michaels, which operates 1,079 namesake stores in North America, filed in March to list shares publicly.</p>
<p>Its CEO resigned last month because of a stroke. The company gave no update on the search for a new chief.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Michaels' Same-Store Sales Rise in 2Q | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/08/23/michaels-same-store-sales-rise-in-2q.html | 2016-01-26 | 0 |
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<p>Question: I graduated from college a few months ago and I haven’t been able to find a job. I’m thinking about starting my own business, but I’m not sure what interests me that deeply. How do I go about finding my passion?</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Answer: Like many recent college graduates, you’ve entered the job market at an extremely challenging time. The economy is sluggish, the unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds is at nearly 13 percent, and many Gen Yers have been forced to move back home with their parents.</p>
<p>But the good news is that you have a few options during this downtime.</p>
<p>Exploring entrepreneurial endeavors demonstrates that you’re proactive and ready to make things happen. However, before starting your own business, finding your passion is critical. I’ve interviewed scores of entrepreneurs for Business on Main’s “Cool Runnings" and one thing they all have in common is that they are passionate about their work. (In fact, in this video interview with author and coach Jenny Blake, we talk specifically about how you can go about finding your passion.)</p>
<p>A great place to begin to find your passion is at informational meetings with a wide range of professionals. These are an excellent way to learn more about a profession, industry, person or company that might interest you. This is basically conducting market research and creating an outlet to receive useful career advice. Further, informational meetings can help you develop relationships that last for the long term. The best way to go about scheduling these interviews is to start tapping into your existing network.</p>
<p>A second way to go about finding your passion, without officially starting a company, is by testing out demand for your services in the freelance marketplace. With online workplace websites like Elance and oDesk you can post the services you offer and bid on jobs that are posted in a variety of fields, like Web design, technical writing, e-mail marketing and much more.</p>
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<p>Lastly, a great way to identify your passion is through continuing education courses and volunteering. Taking online courses through outlets like Udemy, General Assembly and Khan Academy is a low-risk proposition to explore various interests. Through volunteering with organizations like Idealist or Catchafire you can learn more about an industry or profession while putting your skills to work.</p>
<p>The key is to stay proactive, optimistic and patient. By utilizing the approaches above, you’ll be one step closer to identifying your passion. And don’t forget: Finding out what you don’t want to do is just as important as knowing what you do want to pursue.</p> | Q&A: Finding Your Passion | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/10/08/qa-finding-your-passion.html | 2016-03-23 | 0 |
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