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<p>Seeking to calm the explosive situation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged a swift inquiry into the “reprehensible murder” and called on people to respect the rule of law. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said it was clear extremist Jewish settlers were responsible and called on Israel to bring the killers to justice.</p>
<p>“The settlers have killed and burned a little boy. They are well-known,” Abbas said, accusing Israel of tolerating settler violence toward Palestinians. “I demand that the Israeli government hold the killers accountable.”</p>
<p>The death added to the already heightened tensions caused by the killings of the three Israeli teenagers, whose bodies were discovered Monday just over two weeks after they disappeared in the West Bank. Israel accused Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, of being behind the abductions, which led to the largest ground operation in the West Bank in nearly a decade, with Israel arresting hundreds of Hamas operatives as part of a broad manhunt.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The discovery of the bodies led to a national outpouring of grief, with tens of thousands of people attending a funeral Tuesday in which the teens were laid to rest side-by-side. As the burial took place, hundreds of young, right-wing Israelis marched through downtown Jerusalem screaming for revenge.</p>
<p>Hours later, relatives of Mohammed Abu Khdeir said the 17-year-old was forced into a car in a neighborhood of east Jerusalem. A burned body believed to be his was found shortly afterward in a Jerusalem forest, though police said late Wednesday they were still awaiting forensics tests to make a positive identification.</p>
<p>Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said authorities were looking at “a number of different directions” in the killing, including nationalistic or criminal motives.</p>
<p>But Abu Khdeir’s family said they had no doubt about the killers, accusing extremist Israelis of killing him to avenge the deaths of the Israeli teenagers.</p>
<p>“Who else could do this? There’s no one else,” said the teen’s father, Saed Abu Khdeir. He said he spent the day with police and gave DNA samples to help identify the body.</p>
<p>As of Wednesday evening, police said the testing was still ongoing. Police were also reviewing security camera footage taken from the scene. Relatives said the video showed a car nearing the youth, people stepping out and forcing him into the vehicle and speeding away.</p>
<p>As news of the youth’s disappearance spread, hundreds of Palestinians in east Jerusalem took to the streets, torching light-rail train stations and hurling stones at Israeli police, who responded with stun grenades and rubber-coated bullets. Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to virtually all of the city’s Palestinian population, in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area. The Palestinians seek the area as the capital of a future state, and tensions in the volatile eastern sector often boil over into violence.</p>
<p>The clashes continued throughout the day, emptying streets in east Jerusalem’s normally bustling Beit Hanina neighborhood. Masked Palestinians hiding in alleyways and a neighborhood mosque hurled rocks toward Israeli forces, who occasionally responded with stun grenades. Two people were taken to a hospital with light injuries, police said, and the clashes left a main road littered with stones, debris and burning tires.</p>
<p>In Washington, the Obama administration denounced the killing as a “heinous murder” and called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.</p>
<p>“There are no words to convey adequately our condolences to the Palestinian people,” said Secretary of State John Kerry, calling the killing “sickening.”</p>
<p>U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called for the perpetrators of the “despicable act” to be promptly brought to justice.</p>
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<p /> | Arab teen’s death ignites rioting in Jerusalem | false | https://abqjournal.com/424384/arab-teens-death-ignites-rioting-in-jerusalem.html | 2 |
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<p>SEOUL, South Korea—It’s been more than a decade since the leaders of the two Koreas have held a summit. Could it happen now?</p>
<p>South Korean President Moon Jae-in told reporters Wednesday that he remains open to a meeting with North Korea’s leader, if it would improve the strained relations between their two countries and help resolve the global standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons development.</p>
<p>It’s not a new position for Moon, who took office in May, but it took on new meaning coming one day after high-level officials from the two Koreas held a rare and apparently successful meeting, agreeing on the North’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics in the South.</p>
<p>A meeting between the two leaders isn’t likely in the immediate future. The North’s Kim Jong Un hasn’t met any foreign leader since he succeeded his father in 2011, and attitudes have hardened since the only two previous Korean summits in 2000 and 2007, when South Korean presidents were pursuing a “Sunshine Policy” of trying to win over the North through engagement and aid.</p>
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<p>Moon is a liberal who favors a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue and whose election ended nine years of hard-line conservative rule. He was chief-of-staff to former President Roh Moo-hyun, who held the last summit with Kim’s father in 2007.</p>
<p>AP Reporter Rafael Wober says there’s no great sense of public anticipation in Pyongyang as North and South Korea held rare talks at the border on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said a meeting during Moon’s five-year term is possible.</p>
<p>“Kim has never met any foreign leader, so it would be meaningful for him to make his first summit a meeting between Koreans,” Koh said.</p>
<p>During the televised news conference in Seoul, Moon said “I keep myself open to any meeting including a summit,” and that he would push for further talks and cooperation after Tuesday’s meeting.</p>
<p>“To have a summit, some conditions must be established,” he said. “I think a certain level of success must be guaranteed.” He didn’t set any specific conditions.</p>
<p>Moon called North Korea’s participation in next month’s Olympics “very desirable,” but said inter-Korean relations cannot be improved without progress on the nuclear issue. He warned that the North would face harsher international sanctions and pressure if it resorts to new provocations, adding that “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the path to peace and our goal.”</p>
<p>Under the deal struck Tuesday at the border village of Panmunjom, North Korea will send officials, athletes, cheerleaders, journalists and others to the Olympics in Pyeongchang, a mountainous county near the border. South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Wednesday he expects the delegation will include 400 to 500 people. The accord stipulates the two Koreas will actively cooperate in the Olympics to “enhance the prestige of the Korean people.”</p>
<p>The two sides also agreed to hold military talks, and North Korea said it had recently restored a military hotline with the South, the second reopening of an inter-Korean communication channel in about a week, according to South Korean officials. All major communications had been shut down because of the tensions over the North’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>The accords, reached at the first meeting between the rival Koreas in about two years, were widely viewed as a positive step following a year of escalating tension over Kim’s rapidly advancing nuclear and missile programs. Last year, Kim and President Donald Trump exchanged bellicose rhetoric and crude insults as North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and three tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles that put the U.S. within its range.</p>
<p>Trump contended that his tough stance had helped persuade the North to sit down with the South, and Moon said during Wednesday’s news conference that he feels thankful to the U.S. president for helping make the talks happen.</p>
<p>Some warn that tensions could quickly flare again as the North still wants to expand its weapons arsenal. They also say Kim may be pushing for better ties with South Korea because North Korea is feeling the pain of U.S.-led international sanctions.</p>
<p>The countries have a long history of failing to follow through with rapprochement accords. In 2015, negotiators met for nearly 40 hours before announcing a deal to pull back from a military standoff caused by land mine blasts that maimed two South Korean soldiers. But animosities flared again several months later after the North Korea’s fourth nuclear test.</p>
<p>John Delury, a China and North Korea expert at Yonsei University in Seoul, cautioned that the process is fragile, but said Tuesday’s talks are opening up new diplomatic possibilities, in striking contrast to last year.</p>
<p>“It’s still very early in this process, and we have to see how much momentum it acquires, but so far this year is definitely getting off to a very different start,” he said. “You have to knock on the door to see if it will open.”</p>
<p>Two earlier liberal presidents, Roh and his predecessor Kim Dae-jung, met with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. But the conservative governments that followed them took a tougher line.</p>
<p>The presidency of conservative Lee Myung-bak, from 2008 to 2013, was marked by animosity, including North Korean attacks on a warship and a border island that together killed 50 South Koreans in 2010. His successor, Park Geun-hye, indefinitely suspended South Korean participation in a joint industrial park in North Korea’s Kaesong city in February 2016, the last remaining major symbol of cooperation between the two.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Moritsugu reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Dake Kang and Youkyung Lee contributed to this report.</p> | South Korea Open to Summit With North, but It Won’t Be Easy | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/south-korea-open-summit-norths-kim-wont-easy/ | 2018-01-10 | 4 |
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<p>It was a tiny Reuters’ news item last week but there was a lot more to it than a first glance might reveal. “The administration arranged for some 75 House members and 25 senators to visit Iraq in recent weeks. Most returned supporting Bush’s $87 billion proposal.” Nothing much in that, apparently, other than the fact that a great deal of taxpayers’ money was spent on a series of unproductive visits. Unproductive, that is, save for convincing the converted that they must continue to support Bush, which is the major factor in White House management during the run-up to next year’s election; and thereby hangs the tale, which is not only important for America but for all of us out here.</p>
<p>A hundred US legislators visited Iraq, but, as Reuters recorded, the number did not include “Senator Christopher Dodd and three other Democrats critical of administration policy”. Why? Well, the official Washington answer was that they were denied permission to visit Iraq because there were “logistical problems”. There were what? This is the army that drove into Iraq and took over in a couple of weeks and it can’t arrange a visit by four Democrats because its logistics aren’t up to it? This is an Air Force with 126 C-5s and 539 C-130s plus another 1000 or so transports of various types and so many helicopters they would eclipse the Washington sun at midsummer midday were they to hover concentrically round the Memorial. But there is no space for four people to be taken to Iraq?</p>
<p>How could there possibly be logistical problems about a journey of four US legislators, or four anybodies, indeed, to Iraq? There is a public relations machine whirring in top gear to cater for all the visitors to Baghdad and much else besides. CNN reported Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s observation that “We were told an airplane was not available, but Britain offered an airplane . . . If Britain can offer United States senators an airplane, you would think the United States government could do so as well.” What can be going on?</p>
<p>First, there is the lie. It is patently absurd and blatantly insulting to expect anyone to believe that “logistical problems” prevented United States senators from visiting US soldiers in Iraq and receiving briefings from people on the ground concerning a major financial commitment about which they should be well-informed before voting on it. Senators Dodd and Daschle seemingly don’t want to have an undignified squabble with the White House and the Pentagon over this almost unbelievable incident involving denigratory and vulgar treatment of elected representatives of the American people, and the matter has been quietly put aside. But it gives a very good idea of the depths to which Bush administration apparatchiks will stoop in their control freakery. (And make no mistake about responsibility in this, because minions — even high mucky-muck minions — do not insult senators without approval of somebody.)</p>
<p>So the second point revealed by this example of Bush administration contempt for the norms of politeness towards political opponents is that if you do not agree with its every word and deed you are an enemy and must be punished. Even distinguished US senators must get into administration lockstep or they will be subject to treatment more usually associated with dysfunctional schoolyard bullies than with those at the highest levels in the capital of the most powerful nation in the world. Bush was not speaking lightly two years ago when he said “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror”. Although the threat at the time was unnecessary (and indeed stupidly offensive to many nations – remember the 9/11 headline in the French newspaper Le Monde : “We are all Americans now”?), most of us thought the Bush expression of intimidation was concerned solely with the ‘war on terrorism’. But it has developed a much, much wider intent. Down in the depths of his rancid little psyche, Bush has conjured up a new war which is uncannily reminiscent of the Nixon years.</p>
<p>Stephen Ambrose, in his book about Nixon 1962-1972, records that ” . . . late in the first term, Nixon was sitting round with Kissinger, Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Colson. They were discussing some of Nixon’s enemies, in this case antiwar [anti Vietnam war] Democratic senators. Nixon said ‘One day we will get them — we’ll get them on the ground where we want them. And we’ll stick our heels in, step on them hard and twist — right. Chuck, right?’ Colson nodded assent. ‘Henry knows what I mean,’ Nixon went on. ‘Get them on the floor and step on them, crush them, show no mercy.’ Kissinger smiled and nodded”.</p>
<p>Nobody can claim that such a scene has ever occurred in the present White House with Bush, Rice and Rove discussing anti war (anti Iraq war) Democratic Senators Dodd, Daschle and the others. Heaven forbid it should or could. All Washington would be shocked — shocked — if it did. But the tenor of events is eerily parallel with those of thirty years ago, when Nixon “accused the press of being liberal, softheaded, idealistic and out to get him . . . Nixon saw all criticisms of his policy as a criticism of his person brought on by the reporters’ hatred of him.” According to Kissinger in his modest ‘Years of Upheaval’ , Nixon’s reaction to the attitude of the press was “we should draw the wagons round the White House.” Move forward thirty years, and Bush’s reaction to the attitude of the press is “There’s a sense that the people in America aren’t getting the truth.”</p>
<p>Indeed there are efforts to prevent the American people being told the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Iraq (and much else besides), because the White House demands that unsavory matters remain under wraps, especially those that might place Bush himself in a poor light. Otherwise, revelation of truth has to be selective and, in the words of Bush, must indicate “there is a positive thing that is taking place inside of Iraq.” On the day he made that pronouncement there were at least seven incidents of violence directed at occupation forces in Iraq. (There may have been more. The system of reporting attacks on US troops is far from transparent, and there have been instances of engagements whose details would not have seen the light of day had it not been for the presence of media representatives. In one egregious case, the killing of an Iraqi interpreter by a casual shot fired by a soldier who has not faced disciplinary proceedings would have remained unreported had it not been that a distinguished foreigner was covered in the blood of his dying assistant.)</p>
<p>The beginning of the Bush campaign aimed at improving public awareness of all that is Good in Iraq involved despatch of the Commerce Secretary, Don Evans, to Baghdad for forty-eight hours, during which extended period of deep exposure to the country he decided that “I’m not scared here. I feel very safe here, quite frankly” (CNN October 14).</p>
<p>October 14 was the day on which three US soldiers were killed (in, respectively, Tikrit, Baiji and on a road fifteen miles north east of Baghdad). But the valiant Evans, surrounded by bodyguards, stuck to his guns, as it were (having overnighted in Kuwait), and announced that these were merely “isolated acts of terror”. He scolded the media and said “You have to look beyond these isolated incidents that are occurring”. Mike Allen of the Washington Post reported that “Asked if he had seen any problems Evans said ‘No, I have not. There’s lots to be done, in terms of rebuilding the economy of Iraq’.” So in 48 hours in Iraq, fearless Don Evans saw no problems. Mind you, as a Texas oil magnate Friend of George who directed the Bush 2000 election campaign, Evans could hardly be expected to see problems of any sort in Bush policy.</p>
<p>One positive thing about the Evans’ exploit is he demonstrated beyond doubt that he is a patronising oaf. When he saw two boys selling soft drinks he brought his convoy to a halt and bought one. Reuters reported “he called the youngsters symbols of Iraq’s entrepreneurial spirit and said ‘We need to bring more capital into this country . . . to develop the private sector’.” It would have been more to the point if he had asked why the kids weren’t at school, but his attitude epitomises the Bush approach to news : get a quick soundbite headline whenever you can. His proposal about bringing capital into Iraq is a reasonable one. Perhaps it might make up for the destruction by US troops of people’s livelihoods.</p>
<p>As reported by Patrick Cockburn in the Independent (UK) the day before dauntless Don dropped in, “US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as lemon and orange trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops . . . The children of one woman who owned some fruit trees lay down in front of a bulldozer but were dragged away, according to eyewitnesses . . . When a reporter . . . tried to take a photograph of the bulldozers at work a soldier grabbed his camera and tried to smash it . . .”</p>
<p>Of course any farmer who dared tell US troops about guerrillas would be signing his death warrant, as anyone with a shred of common sense would realise. Further, but seemingly irrelevant to modern US practice, Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states “No protected person [civilians under occupation rule] may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited [as are] reprisals against protected persons and their property.” An Iraqi newspaper quoted a US officer, Lt-Colonel Springman, as saying “We asked the farmers several times to stop the attacks or to tell us who was responsible but the farmers didn’t tell us.” So he destroyed their livelihoods. Little wonder occupation forces are hated by so many Iraqis. But we are assured by Evans there are no problems in Iraq and, as White House spokesman Scott McClellan said three days after the trees were destroyed to the sound of blaring jazz, “We’re making great progress about improving the lives of the people there in Iraq . . . ”</p>
<p>After spending four days in Baghdad, Rep George Nethercutt (R-Wash) told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on 13 October that “The story of what we’ve done in the post-war period is remarkable. It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day.” Oh my. There’s real compassion for you. For anyone to talk casually of “losing a couple of soldiers a day” is disgusting. But he is on message, just like Rep Greg Walden (R-Ore) who returned from his visit enthusing about “restoration of a water pumping station that is now irrigating 150,000 acres of farmland”. Pretty good. But a pity it isn’t irrigating the fields where all the fruit trees were bulldozed. (And obviously Reps Nethercutt and Walden are more important than Senators Daschle and Dodd.)</p>
<p>The vice-president and other administration figures have made speeches claiming much the same as Nethercutt, Evans and Walden : there is nothing new out of Iraq except good news and anything bad is the fault of the media. “There is a positive thing that is taking place inside of Iraq” is the Bush mantra of the moment, and an assault on middle America is being made to spread that message. But those who would try to deceive us end up deceiving themselves. In the words of Bush, “The people in America aren’t getting the truth”. He is quite right. Washington’s private self-deception is manifesting itself as public propaganda, and this is dangerous for the whole world, not just America.</p>
<p>BRIAN CLOUGHLEY writes about defense issues for CounterPunch, the Nation (Pakistan), the Daily Times of Pakistan and other international publications. His writings are collected on his website: <a href="http://www.briancloughley.com/" type="external">www.briancloughley.com</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Public Propaganda and the Iraq War | true | https://counterpunch.org/2003/10/18/public-propaganda-and-the-iraq-war-2/ | 2003-10-18 | 4 |
<p>A lot can happen in a year. That’s the lesson we learn every December, when we pause to reflect on the 365 days that have come and gone. 2013 was no exception.</p>
<p>This was a busy year for progressives, who celebrated <a href="" type="internal">victories</a> and regrouped after <a href="" type="internal">defeats</a>. It was also a trying year for the country as a whole, as we bid <a href="" type="internal">farewell</a> to familiar faces and <a href="http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/17/marathon-bombings-our-favorite-tributes-to-boston/" type="external">comforted one another amidst tragedy</a>. Around the globe, this year saw everything from a <a href="" type="internal">royal birth</a> and to a <a href="" type="internal">stately death</a>.</p>
<p>Here is a look back at twelve of the iconic images from 2013:</p>
<p>President Obama was <a href="" type="internal">sworn in for his second term</a> on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, marking the beginning of a year of progress on issues ranging from marriage equality to immigration to affordable health care.</p>
<p>Jorge Mario Bergoglio was unexpectedly elevated to the papacy in March after his predecessor Pope Benedict resigned, the first time the leader of the Catholic Church left the position before his death in more than 600 years. Even more unexpected was <a href="" type="internal">the year that followed</a> in which Pope Francis preached the values of economic justice, and decried worsening income inequality and the fallacy of trickle-down economics.</p>
<p>In April, a garment manufacturing plant that serviced some of the world’s largest apparel companies collapsed, killing more than 1,000 people. In the weeks that followed, the people of Bangladesh rose up and <a href="" type="internal">demanded a living wage</a> and higher safety standards, while 70 international brands <a href="" type="internal">signed a pact</a> that opened up their Bangladeshi suppliers to inspections for the first time.</p>
<p>The celebrations that usually accompany the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon were interrupted first with a bang, then with chaos and fear, and finally with immense bravery and camaraderie on April 15, when two radicalized brothers <a href="" type="internal">set off bombs</a> that killed three people and injured hundreds more.</p>
<p>Twelve and a half years after the twin towers fell in the September 11 terrorist attacks, the new One World Trade Center eclipsed Chicago’s Willis Tower to claim the title of the tallest building in the United States, <a href="" type="internal">thanks in no small part to unionized labor.</a></p>
<p>It took a few hours, but by the end of the night on June 25, the eyes of the nation were affixed to Austin, Texas, where an unknown state senator was <a href="" type="internal">successfully filibustering</a> a Republican-sponsored bill aimed at further eroding women’s rights in Texas. Wendy Davis’ pink sneakers instantly <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/28/wendy-davis-shoes-sales-abortion-debate-amazon" type="external">shot to the top</a> of Amazon’s bestseller list and touched off a national conversation about a woman’s right to choose.</p>
<p>Friends, supporters, and couples gay and straight gathered on the footsteps of the Supreme Court in June to be the first to hear the news that the Defense of Marriage Act, which for years had ill-defined marriage as between a man and a woman, had been <a href="" type="internal">struck down as unconstitutional</a>.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in <a href="" type="internal">dozens of cities</a> across Brazil over the summer to protest <a href="" type="internal">widespread corruption and fiscal irresponsibility</a> in the halls of government. The nation is set to host to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, but public spending on soccer stadiums and Olympic halls at a time when funding for schools and hospitals is running dry struck a nerve with the people of Brazil.</p>
<p>Angered by their inability to further cut funding for programs designed to help low-income families, Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government, effectively <a href="" type="internal">shutting down the nation’s capitol</a> — and things like national parks — for more than two weeks in October.</p>
<p>The devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan has yet to subside, as the death toll from the November storm surpassed 6,000 people just last week. What’s becoming increasingly clear, however, is that the <a href="" type="internal">effects of global climate change</a> — rising sea levels, warming oceans — are helping to fuel storms like Haiyan and heighten their impact on those that live in their path.</p>
<p>Shanghai, the world’s largest city proper and home to more than 14 million people, <a href="" type="internal">disappeared in December</a> behind a pollution-induced haze that cancelled flights and forced its residents indoors. The amount of particulates in the air were as high as 31 times above the recommended levels.</p>
<p>The <a href="" type="internal">passing of Nelson Mandela</a> was a day that South Africa knew would come eventually, but that did nothing to lessen the impact of his loss. For days, the <a href="" type="internal">entire international community</a> mourned and remembered the fallen visionary, and celebrated his <a href="" type="internal">extraordinary life.</a></p> | The Iconic Photos Of 2013 | true | http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/17/3071401/iconic-photos/ | 2013-12-17 | 4 |
<p>Justice Antonin Scalia spoke at an unrecorded event at Princeton University last week with Professor Robert George, a leading religious conservative. Though video of the event does not exist, George claims on his Facebook page that Scalia <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/427131/scalia-role-courts-ramesh-ponnuru" type="external">offered some unusual thoughts</a> on how state and federal officials should treat decisions handed down by the Supreme Court:</p>
<p>[Scalia] declared that though Supreme Court rulings should generally be obeyed, officials had no Constitutional obligation to treat as binding beyond the parties to a case rulings that lack a warrant in the text or original understanding of the Constitution. Without prompting from me, he cited Lincoln’s treatment of Dred Scott. As it happened, I had a copy of Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address with me (you never know when you’ll need it), so I read Lincoln’s words on the case to the audience.</p>
<p>In case there is any doubt what Scalia meant by “case rulings that lack a warrant in the text or original understanding of the Constitution,” George says that the justice condemned two sets of cases in particular — the Court’s marriage equality decision in <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf" type="external">Obergefell v. Hodges</a> and the Supreme Court’s cases preserving the separation of church and state.</p>
<p>George’s characterization of Scalia’s remarks, it should be noted, need to be taken with somewhat of a grain of salt. They are, after all, one man’s recollection of an event that was not recorded. Professor George is also <a href="" type="internal">one of the nation’s leading anti-gay activists</a>, so he has an interest in shading Scalia’s remarks so that they appear particularly friendly to opponents of marriage equality.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, if George has not accurately characterized Scalia’s views, then he is putting quite a remarkable claim in the justice’s mouth. According to George, a sitting Supreme Court justice said that government officials who are not parties to a particular lawsuit have “no Constitutional obligation” to treat the rule announced by the Court in that case as binding upon them. That <a href="" type="internal">puts Scalia in similar company as Kim Davis</a>, the anti-gay Kentucky law clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses in defiance of the Court’s Obergefell decision.</p>
<p>It’s worth noting that Justice Anthony Kennedy, the author of Obergefell, recently <a href="" type="internal">delivered a very different message to an audience at Harvard Law School</a>. “The rule of law is that, as a public official in performing your legal duties, you are bound to enforce the law,” Kennedy said. He also strongly implied that officials like Davis should resign if they refuse to carry out their obligations under the Constitution. “Great respect, it seems to me, has to be given to people who resign rather than do something they view as morally wrong, in order to make a point.”</p>
<p>With regard to the substance of Scalia’s alleged remarks, it is true that President Lincoln did briefly discuss the appropriate balance of power between the Supreme Court and elected officials during his <a href="http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html" type="external">first inaugural</a>. While Supreme Court decisions are “entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government,” Lincoln said, “the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.”</p>
<p>These remarks are widely viewed as a response to the pro-slavery Dred Scott decision, a decision that is almost universally viewed as the worst Supreme Court decision in American history. In the face of that precedent, it is not hard to imagine why Lincoln believed that the Court’s decisions should not be treated as gospel. President Franklin Roosevelt took a <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2015/02/fdr_court_packing_plan_obama_and_roosevelt_s_supreme_court_standoffs.html" type="external">similar approach</a> to a line of Supreme Court decisions that sought to impose a fairly rigid economically libertarian agenda on the nation at the height of the New Deal, despite no language in the Constitution authorizing such a judicially enforced agenda.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is important to <a href="" type="internal">understand exactly what is at stake</a> when a president (or a justice) suggests that compliance with the Supreme Court’s decisions is optional. If public officials are not bound by Supreme Court decisions, than the Court ceases to exist as a meaningful check on state officials and on the other two branches of the federal government. It becomes nine lawyers who offer their opinions to the wind, and who can be listened to or ignored as public officials see fit. It also loses its authority to enforce provisions of the Constitution that government officials would rather not follow.</p>
<p>In fairness to Scalia, he does appear to concede that the “parties to a case” are bound by a court’s ruling. That means that Obergefell could conceivably be enforced against recalcitrant officials — provided they were all successfully sued in a lengthy and expensive series of lawsuits. As a practical matter, however, this would make enforcement of many decisions very challenging, and it would make enforcement of many other decisions impossible unless someone was willing to invest a significant amount of resources in litigating repetitive cases.</p>
<p>That’s very strong medicine, even if it may be medicine that is justified in the face of decisions like Dred Scott or the anti-government decisions resisted by Roosevelt — decisions that are now widely viewed as evil. Scalia, however, reportedly wants to prescribe this medicine to cure a decision that allows Americans to marry the person that they love.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2015/11/scalia-sort-of-gets-it-the-media-still-doesnt.html" type="external">condescending blog post</a>, Florida International University law professor Howard Wasserman claims that Scalia’s apparent framework is innocuous because “lower courts are bound by the Court’s judgments” and therefore officials like Kim Davis will still be bound by lower court decisions applying Supreme Court precedents — although he ultimately does not disagree with ThinkProgress’s conclusion that the process of bringing new lawsuits in federal district courts to enforce compliance with a Supreme Court decision that people like Kim Davis do not wish to follow is a “complex and potentially expensive” process.</p>
<p>It is far from clear, however, that the balance of power between judicial and other officials that Scalia suggested in his conversation with Professor George is as benign as Wasserman suggests. George, it is worth noting, is a very prominent conservative scholar — indeed, he is arguably the most prominent conservative Catholic scholar in the nation. Professor George <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Is-Marriage-Woman-Defense/dp/1594036225" type="external">coauthored a book</a> that formed much of the backbone of the arguments proponents of marriage discrimination presented to the Court in their failed efforts to defend this discrimination. He also co-authored a statement <a href="http://manhattandeclaration.org/man_dec_resources/Manhattan_Declaration_full_text.pdf" type="external">pledging civil disobedience</a> to “any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.” It is a testament to George’s influence that this statement was <a href="http://manhattandeclaration.org/man_dec_resources/list_of_religious_leaders.pdf" type="external">co-signed by several Catholic cardinals and archbishops</a>, including the archbishops of New York and Washington, DC.</p>
<p>In addition to calling for civil disobedience as an appropriate response to marriage equality, George has very particular views about Lincoln, Dred Scott, and Obergefell. In a “ <a href="http://www.salon.com/2015/10/13/the_rights_shameless_new_lincoln_lie_dred_scott_same_sex_marriage_and_the_honest_history_of_abraham_lincoln/" type="external">call to action</a>” issued by George shortly after the Court’s marriage equality decision, the Princeton professor claimed that “Obergefell is not ‘the law of the land.’ It has no more claim to that status than Dred Scott v. Sandford had when President Abraham Lincoln condemned that pro-slavery decision as an offense against the very Constitution that the Supreme Court justices responsible for that atrocious ruling purported to be upholding.” The call to action also instructs “officeholders to reject Obergefell as an unconstitutional effort to usurp the authority vested by the Constitution in the people and their representatives.” It instructs presidential candidates to “refuse to recognize Obergefell as creating a binding rule controlling other cases or their own conduct as President.” And it pledges to “resist” Obergefell “by every peaceful and honorable means.”</p>
<p>It is possible that when Scalia agreed to appear on stage with George that he was unaware of George’s call for massive resistance to Obergefell. It is also possible that when Scalia reportedly referenced Dred Scott and Lincoln during his conversation with George that the justice did not realize that this statement would seem to align him with George’s call for resistance. Especially given George’s prominence, however, it is more likely that Scalia was not ignorant to how these particular remarks would appear if he made them to this particular interlocutor.</p>
<p>As we note above, George “has an interest in shading Scalia’s remarks so that they appear particularly friendly to opponents of marriage equality.” So it is possible that George mischaracterized Scalia’s remark. If George’s characterization of Scalia’s remarks is accurate, however, the most likely explanation for how Scalia happened to find himself on a stage with one of the nation’s most prominent proponents of disobedience to the Obergefell decision — where the justice embraced the exact same rhetoric used by George in the professor’s arguments for disobedience — is that Scalia actually agrees with George’s views.</p> | Justice Scalia Reportedly Suggests Kim Davis May Ignore The Court’s Marriage Equality Decision | true | http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/11/17/3723135/scalia-obergefell-nonbinding/ | 2015-11-17 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Image source: NVIDIA.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>There's no mistaking NVIDIA's (NASDAQ: NVDA) success this year. The company has seen its revenue continue to grow in nearly all of its business segments and has managed to develop its key gaming segment while expanding into new markets like self-driving cars, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>All of that helped push the company's stock price up more than 182% since the beginning of 2016. But with those huge gains some investors may be left wondering if NVIDIA's winning streak is over.</p>
<p>Let's take a look at the company's current strengths, what rising competition from Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) and Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) means for the company, and why NVIDIA still looks like a good long-term buy.</p>
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<p>NVIDIA's key strength is in the company's core gaming business, which brought in 62% of its total revenue in fiscal Q3 2017. Gaming revenue increased 63% year over year in the quarter, which was a result of the company's new Pascal chip architecture and strong demand for its notebook and desktop gaming cards.</p>
<p>NVIDIA currently holds about 70% of the discrete desktop GPU market share and its rival, AMD, holds the rest. NVIDIA's dominant position should continue to come in handy as the global gaming market is expected to grow 4.8% annually until 2020, and PC gaming will grow at 6.3% over the same period.</p>
<p>But NVIDIA is doing much more with its GPUs than just gaming. The company is also setting itself up to benefit from driverless cars and virtual reality.</p>
<p>The driverless car market is still in its infancy, but is expected to reach $77 billion by 2035. NVIDIA's already taking the lead by creating an artificially intelligent supercomputer, <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/17/heres-everything-you-need-to-know-about-nvidias-ne.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">called Drive PX 2 Opens a New Window.</a>, that can process visual information and give cars situational awareness -- and automakers have already taken notice.</p>
<p>NVIDIA already has 80 automakers and Tier 1 suppliers using its Drive PX 2 semi-autonous driving supercomputer, and Tesla recently said it'll use the artificial intelligence platform from Drive PX 2 for new versions of its Model S and Model X, as well as the upcoming Model 3.</p>
<p>NVIDIA makes just 6% of its total revenue from its automotive segment right now, but investors should remember that this segment is growing quickly, with NVIDIA's automotive revenue spiking 60% year over year in Q3.</p>
<p>If all that weren't enough, <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/08/24/virtual-reality-companies-best-and-worst-investmen.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">NVIDIA will likely benefit Opens a New Window.</a> from growth in the virtual reality market as well. The amount of virtual reality (VR) gamers is expected to jump from 43 million right now to 171 million in 2018, and NVIDIA is already tapping into the market.</p>
<p>The company introduced several new notebook graphics cards earlier this year that were aimed squarely at the VR market. And its 70% discrete GPU market share means NVIDIA will likely be the go-to graphics card company as more gamers adopt VR technology.</p>
<p>As with any company, there are a few areas that NVIDIA investors would be wise to watch. The first is the rise of AMD's market share in the discrete desktop segment. AMD's market share was just 18% in mid-2015, but that's jumped up to about 30% right now.</p>
<p>This isn't exactly something to worry about at the moment, but NVIDIA needs to maintain its dominance in this space in order to keep gaming revenue up and create a strong position in the growing VR market. Any more substantial growth from AMD could start eating into NVIDIA's gaming revenue.</p>
<p>Another area investors should keep an eye on is Qualcomm's recent purchase of NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI). NXP is already a leader in the automotive chip market and Qualcomm's pending purchase of the company could create problems for NVIDIA.</p>
<p>NXP debuted a semi-autonomous driving system earlier this year, called BlueBox, which combines sensors, cameras, processors, and software into an easily implemented off-the-shelf driving system. NXP says BlueBox will bring Level 4 (nearly autonomous) driving to cars by 2020. When Qualcomm closes on its purchase of NXP (likely early next year) it'll combine NXP's automotive chip know-how with Qualcomm's long history of chip innovation and cellular connectivity. That pairing could make Qualcomm an easy choice for automakers looking for one company to supply them with nearly all of their automotive technology needs.</p>
<p>Despite the competition, NVIDIA is still in a great position to grow over the long term. The company's stock price may be a bit more expensive than some investors would like -- it currently trades at about 47 times its trailing 12 months earnings, compared to the tech industry average of 25 -- but NVIDIA is still expecting more growth in the coming quarter.</p>
<p>Management anticipates revenue to be $2.1 billion in fiscal Q4, which would represent a 50% increase year over year. That's just one quarter, of course, but investors should remember that NVIDIA has a dominant position in the gaming market and already has a jump on the VR and self-driving markets. As long as the company can maintain strong gaming revenue and continue expanding into these new markets, I think the company still looks like a good buy heading into the new year.</p>
<p>Find out why Nvidia is one of the 10 best stocks to buy now</p>
<p>Motley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. (In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market!*)</p>
<p>Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. Nvidia <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%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;impression=7cc3cf85-b4c8-4faa-ad9a-2cce986b416b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">is on the list Opens a New Window.</a> -- but there are nine others you may be overlooking.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;impression=7cc3cf85-b4c8-4faa-ad9a-2cce986b416b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here to get access to the full list! Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFNewsie/info.aspx" type="external">Chris Neiger Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool recommends NXP Semiconductors. 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> | NVIDIA's Stock Is Up 182% in 2016 -- Is There Still More Room to Grow? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/06/nvidia-stock-is-up-182-in-2016-is-there-still-more-room-to-grow.html | 2016-12-06 | 0 |
<p />
<p>There used to be a show on Fox called House. It was about a cynical and highly dysfunctional doctor who reveled in telling people truths they did not want to hear. I could have played that role pretty convincingly, if not for the medical jargon.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Anyway, Dr. House was fond of saying “Everyone lies.” Ironically so did he – a lot, actually – but that’s neither here nor there.</p>
<p>The point is it’s not true. Some people don’t lie. Of course, I’m not one of them. I sometimes exaggerate to emphasize a point, tell white lies when it’s convenient, that sort of thing. But when it comes to important matters – professional matters – never.</p>
<p>Turns out there are two types of people in the online world: those with integrity and those with personal brands.</p>
<p>The former are easy to spot. They’re the ones with simple but factual profiles and bios that represent their true capabilities and real experience. In other words, they’re not narcissistic self-obsessed self-promoters. They’re not fake. Perhaps they’re in the minority -- but they do exist.</p>
<p>As for the latter, in my experience personal branding = BS. Yes, I know the personal branding playbook says “be honest, be genuine.” Come on; be serious. Positioning a product or a company is one thing. For a person, your brand is your job, your profession. If not, guess what? You’re BSing. And that means you.</p>
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<p>Don’t look around as if to say “Who me?” You know who you are. A shrink once told me that, on some subconscious level, everyone is aware when they lie, even when they lie to themselves. That’s the principle behind lie detectors. I guess it works pretty well unless you’re a raging psychopath.</p>
<p>Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not talking about the rampant BS on Facebook. You know what I mean: all the posts about everyone’s wonderful kids, spouses, vacations and family lives. Sure they’re annoying, maybe a bit nauseating at times, but they’re not fooling anyone. Those perfect families are always the most dysfunctional.</p>
<p>I’m not talking about all the dopy recommendations on LinkedIn, either. After all, has anyone ever given an honest professional reference? What would you say? “Alan’s sort of mediocre but he does have his moments. Strengths? Um … I understand he’s pretty good at Scrabble. Makes a killer margarita, too.”</p>
<p>What I’m referring to is the way the personal brand crowd embellishes their professional capabilities and backgrounds online. Sometimes they just make stuff up. It’s pretty easy to tell if they’re faking it. When you follow up, sure enough, there’s barely a shred of truth to what they say about themselves.</p>
<p>Have you noticed how everyone’s a #1 best-selling author or award-winning blogger, speaker, expert or influencer these days? On whose list? Who’s issuing all these awards? Turns out all sorts of self-proclaimed gurus make up Top 100 lists to get clicks and boost their own personal brands, that who.</p>
<p>There are more self-proclaimed leadership experts who’ve never managed a soul than you can imagine. There are people who say they’re among the top executive coaches in the world and advisors to Fortune 500 CEOs who have no real experience, no education, and have never actually stepped foot in a boardroom.</p>
<p>There are countless CEOs of global companies who are really just solopreneurs.</p>
<p>The latest millennial fad is to tell an inspiring tale of hard-luck and survival and then bill yourself as a life or performance coach soon to be the next Tony Robbins.</p>
<p>You’d be amazed how many people who call themselves serial entrepreneurs are really just kids living in their parent’s basements trying to make a buck writing content, doing SEO and designing websites.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a chiropractor who thinks he’s a neuroscientist, a former NFL player who never played in a single game, and a pretty well-known sales expert who has never actually sold a thing, except maybe a bill of goods.</p>
<p>Probably my favorite scheme is all the company websites with leadership teams that consist entirely of family members and friends, all of whom do exactly the same thing on their own websites.</p>
<p>This is the gift that Web 2.0 – user-generated content, social media and the blogosphere – has brought us. A brave new world of virtual personas that bare little resemblance to reality. &#160;An entrepreneurial mindset where “fake it ‘til you make it” is the new normal. Welcome to Personal Branding 101.</p> | Are All Personal Brands Fake? | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2015/04/06/are-all-personal-brands-fake.html | 2016-03-06 | 0 |
<p>Jan 18 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd:</p>
<p>* DECLARED INTERIM DIVIDEND FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR 2017-18 OF 2.84 RUPEES PER EQUITY SHARE</p> * QTRLY AFRICA AVERAGE REVENUE PER USER (ARPU) US$3.2
<p>* SAYS Q3 HAS SEEN HIGHEST EVER BROADBAND SITE DEPLOYMENT OF 32K IN ANY QUARTER Source text - <a href="http://bit.ly/2EQi7RV" type="external">bit.ly/2EQi7RV</a> Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>PRAGUE (Reuters) - Milos Forman, the Czech-born movie director who found fame in Hollywood with the Oscar-winning classics “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus,” has died at the age of 86.</p>
<p>Forman passed away on Friday in the United States, where he lived, after a short illness, his wife, Martina, told Czech news agency CTK on Saturday.</p>
<p>“His departure was calm and he was surrounded the whole time by his family and his closest friends,” she said.</p>
<p>Forman was born in the Czech town of Caslav on Feb. 18, 1932. He moved to the United States after the Communist crackdown on the “Prague Spring” uprising in 1968 and became a U.S. citizen in the 1970s.</p>
<p>“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” in which a psychiatric institution becomes a microcosm of the contemporary world, and “Amadeus,” the life of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of his rival Antonio Salieri, earned 13 Oscars between them, including those for best director to Forman.</p>
<p>His other notable work included the rock musical “Hair” in 1979, “Ragtime” in 1981 and “The People vs Larry Flynt” in 1996, which was nominated for an Academy Award that year.</p>
<p>Jim Carrey, star of Forman’s 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic “Man on the Moon”, said on Twitter: “Another great one passes through the doorway. Milos Foreman. What a force. A lovely man. I’m glad we got to play together. It was a monumental experience.”</p>
<p>Larry Karaszewski, the co-writer for “Man on the Moon” and “The People vs Larry Flynt”, called Forman a master filmmaker.</p>
<p>“No one better at capturing small unrepeatable moments of human behavior,” he said on Twitter. “Milos loved life. I will miss his laughter.”</p> FILE PHOTO: Czech director Milos Forman talks after being presented with the 'Giraldillo' award for his life-long career achievements at Sevilla Festival Film in Seville, Spain November 6, 2004. REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo/File photo NEW WAVE
<p>Before emigrating, Forman studied at the Prague Film Academy (FAMU) and was a leading figure of the Czechoslovak New Wave film movement, along with directors Ivan Passer, Vera Chytilova and others.</p>
<p>He was raised an orphan after both his parents died in concentration camps during World War Two.</p>
<p>His films, such as 1964’s “Black Peter” and the 1967 communist satire “The Fireman’s Ball”, were banned for a time in the former Czechoslovakia.</p>
<p>When Soviet tanks rumbled into Prague in August 1968, Forman was in Paris for negotiations on his first American production and was fired by his Czech studio, leading him to emigrate. The film Taking Off - a look at youth protest movements - found critical acclaim but little financial success</p> Slideshow (4 Images)
<p>He remained connected to his birth country, filming Amadeus there.</p>
<p>Married three times, Forman met his third wife Martina - a writer three decades his junior - in Prague in the 1990s. He was father to two sets of twin boys, with his second and third wives.</p>
<p>Jan Hrebejk, a leading Czech film director and a friend and former classmate of Forman’s wife Martina, told Reuters the director was a gifted storyteller and a great person.</p>
<p>“In his films you can see the author,” he said. “When you watch them it’s as if that person is speaking to you, as the maker; not many people can do that.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Jason Hovet and Robert Muller; editing by Angus MacSwan and Toby Chopra</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>PARIS (Reuters) - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned of a humanitarian disaster in the rebel-controlled Syrian city of Idlib, which could be a next target of the Syrian army.</p> FILE PHOTO - People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah
<p>The northwestern Idlib region remains the largest populated area of Syria in the hands of insurgents fighting the Damascus government. In recent years, tens of thousands of fighters and civilians have fled there from parts of the country which the army has recaptured with the help of Russia and Iran.</p>
<p>Le Drian said Idlib now has some 2 million inhabitants, including hundreds of thousands of Syrians evacuated from rebel-held cities taken back by the Syrian regime.</p>
<p>“There is a risk of a new humanitarian disaster. Idlib’s fate must be settled by a political process, which includes disarming the militias,” Le Drian said in an interview with French weekly Le Journal du Dimanche.</p>
<p>Some insurgent officials have said they feared an onslaught against Idlib, which a senior Iranian official has indicated could be the next target.</p>
<p>He added that France would also keep a close eye on the situation in northeastern Syria, which was freed from Islamic State with French help.</p>
<p>“Let’s not forget that our principal enemy remains Islamic State, as well as other terrorist groups which are currently regrouping in the east of the country,” Le Drian said.</p>
<p>The insurgents controlling Idlib include both jihadist factions and nationalist FSA rebels. The dominant force there is Hayat Tahrir al Sham, an Islamist alliance spearheaded by the former al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.</p>
<p>Le Drian also said Russia was denying reality in Syria and that its protection of Bashar al-Assad could not be justified.</p>
<p>“There is a denial of reality, and he have seen this several times. Already in 2013 and then again in 2017 the Russians denied that the Syrian regime had used chemical weapons,” he said.</p>
<p>He said that at the time verification mechanisms already put in place by the United Nations had placed responsibility on the regime.</p>
<p>“It is no wonder that Russia voted against the renewal of this mechanism last autumn,” he said, adding that when France proposed last week to put in place a comparable mechanism, Russia had vetoed it.</p>
<p>Reporting by Geert De Clercqd; editing by Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Western powers said on Saturday their missile attacks struck at the heart of Syria’s chemical weapons program, but the restrained assault appeared unlikely to halt Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s progress in the 7-year-old civil war.</p>
<p>The United States, France and Britain launched 105 missiles overnight in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Syria a week ago, targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities, including a research and development center in Damascus’ Barzeh district and two installations near Homs.</p>
<p>The bombing was the biggest intervention by Western countries against Assad and his superpower ally Russia, but the three countries said the strikes were limited to Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities and not aimed at toppling Assad or intervening in the civil war.</p>
<p>The air attack, denounced by Damascus and its allies as an illegal act of aggression, was unlikely to alter the course of a multisided war that has killed at least half a million people.</p>
<p>U.S. President Donald Trump called the operation a success.</p>
<p>He proclaimed on Twitter: “Mission accomplished,” echoing former President George W. Bush, whose use of the same phrase in 2003 to describe the U.S. invasion of Iraq was widely ridiculed as violence there dragged on for years.</p>
<p>“We believe that by hitting Barzeh in particular we’ve attacked the heart of the Syrian chemicals weapon program,” U.S. Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie said at the Pentagon.</p>
<p>However, McKenzie acknowledged elements of the program remain and he could not guarantee that Syria would be unable to conduct a chemical attack in the future.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-trump/trump-mission-accomplished-on-perfectly-executed-syria-strike-idUSKBN1HL0TW" type="external">Trump: 'mission accomplished' on 'perfectly executed' Syria strike</a>
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idlib/france-warns-of-humanitarian-disaster-in-syrian-city-idlib-idUSKBN1HL1C2" type="external">France warns of humanitarian disaster in Syrian city Idlib</a>
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-un/russia-fails-in-u-n-bid-to-condemn-u-s-led-strikes-on-syria-idUSKBN1HL0S9" type="external">Russia fails in U.N. bid to condemn U.S.-led strikes on Syria</a>
<p>The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Trump told her that if Syria uses poisonous gas again, “The United States is locked and loaded.”</p>
<p>The Western countries said the strikes were aimed at preventing more Syrian chemical weapons attacks after a suspected poison gas attack in Douma on April 7 killed up to 75 people. They blame Assad’s government for the attack.</p>
<p>In Washington, a senior administration official said on Saturday that “while the available information is much greater on the chlorine use, we do have significant information that also points to sarin use” in the attack.</p>
<p>Speaking at a summit in Peru, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence seemed less sure of the use of sarin, saying that Washington may well determine that it was used along with chlorine.</p> ASSAD ‘RESILIENCE’
<p>Ten hours after the missiles hit, smoke was still rising from the remains of five destroyed buildings of the Syrian Scientific Research Center in Barzeh, where a Syrian employee said medical components were developed.</p>
<p>There were no immediate reports of casualties.</p>
<p>Syria released video of the wreckage of a bombed-out research lab, but also of Assad arriving at work as usual, with the caption “Morning of resilience”.</p>
<p>Late on Saturday Syria time, a large explosion was heard in a Syrian government-controlled area in a rural region south of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based war monitor The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory said the cause of the explosion was unknown, as well as its target.</p>
<p>Russian and Iranian military help over the past three years has allowed Assad to crush the rebel threat to topple him.</p>
<p>The United States, Britain and France have all participated in the Syrian conflict for years, arming rebels, bombing Islamic State fighters and deploying troops on the ground to fight that group. But they have refrained from targeting Assad’s government, apart from a volley of U.S. missiles last year.</p>
<p>Although the Western countries have all said for seven years that Assad must leave power, they held back in the past from striking his government, lacking a wider strategy to defeat him.</p>
<p>Syria and its allies also made clear that they considered the attack a one-off, unlikely to do meaningful harm to Assad.</p>
<p>A senior official in a regional alliance that backs Damascus told Reuters the sites that were targeted had been evacuated days ago thanks to a warning from Russia.</p>
<p>Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the strikes were “unacceptable and lawless.”</p>
<p>Syrian state media called them a “flagrant violation of international law,” while Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called it a crime and the Western leaders criminals.</p>
<p>Russia had promised to respond to any attack on its ally, but the Pentagon said no Russian air defense systems were used. Syria fired 40 unguided surface-to-air missiles - but only after the Western strikes had ended, the Pentagon said.</p>
<p>“We are confident that all of our missiles reached their targets,” McKenzie said.</p>
<p>British Prime Minister Theresa May described the strike as “limited and targeted,” with no intention of toppling Assad or intervening more widely in the war.</p>
<p>Washington described the strike targets as a center near Damascus for the research, development, production and testing of chemical and biological weapons; a chemical weapons storage site near the city of Homs; and another site near Homs that stored chemical weapons equipment and housed a command post.</p>
<p>The Pentagon said there had been chemical weapons agents at one of the targets, and that the strikes had significantly crippled Syria’s ability to produce such weapons.</p>
<p>Trump spoke to May and French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss results of the strikes, the leaders’ offices said.</p> A U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer, deployed to Al Udeid Air Base, launches a strike as part of the multinational response to Syria's use of chemical weapons is seen in this image from Al Udeid Air Base, Doha, Qatar released on April 14, 2018. U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS
<p>U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all Security Council members to exercise restraint and avoid escalation in Syria, but said allegations of chemical weapons use demand an investigation.</p> WEAPONS INSPECTIONS
<p>Inspectors from the global chemical weapons watchdog OPCW were due to try to visit Douma on Saturday to inspect the site of the suspected gas attack. Moscow condemned the Western states for refusing to wait for their findings.</p>
<p>Russia, whose relations with the West have deteriorated to levels of Cold War-era hostility, has denied any gas attack took place in Douma and even accused Britain of staging it to whip up anti-Russian hysteria.</p>
<p>The Western countries took precautions to avoid unexpected conflict with Russia. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said Russians was warned beforehand to avert conflict.</p>
<p>Dmitry Belik, a Russian member of parliament who was in Damascus and witnessed the strikes, told Reuters: “The attack was more of a psychological nature rather than practical. Luckily there are no substantial losses or damages.”</p>
<p>In Douma, site of the suspected gas attack, the last buses were due on Saturday to transport out rebels and their families who agreed to surrender the town, state TV reported. That effectively ends all resistance in the suburbs of Damascus known as eastern Ghouta, marking one of the biggest victories for Assad’s government of the war.</p>
<p>The Western assault involved more missiles than a U.S. attack last year but struck targets limited to Syria’s chemical weapons facilities. The U.S. intervention last year had effectively no impact on the war.</p> Slideshow (18 Images)
<p>Syria agreed in 2013 to give up its chemical weapons after a nerve gas attack killed hundreds of people in Douma. Damascus is still permitted to have chlorine for civilian use, although its use as a weapon is banned. Allegations of Assad’s chlorine use have been frequent during the war although, unlike nerve agents, chlorine did not produce mass casualties as seen last week.</p>
<p>Reporting by Phil Stewart and Tom Perry; additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, Yara Bayoumy, Matt Spetalnick and Joel Schectman in Washington; Michelle Nichols in New York; Samia Nakhoul, Tom Perry, Laila Bassam, Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall in Beirut; Kinda Makieh in Barzeh; Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge in London; and Jean-Baptiste Vey, Geert de Clerq and Matthias Blamont in Paris; Polina Ivanova in Moscow; writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by Yara Bayoumy, Alistair Bell and Jonathan Oatis</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Twitter praised Western air strikes against the Syrian government on Saturday as “perfectly executed”, and added “Mission Accomplished”.</p>
<p>“A perfectly executed strike last night. Thank you to France and the United Kingdom for their wisdom and the power of their fine Military. Could not have had a better result. Mission Accomplished!” Trump said in a Twitter post.</p>
<p>Trump’s message echoed the words of a banner that hung behind former President George W. Bush when he gave a speech in 2003 from the USS Abraham Lincoln, during the Iraq War.</p>
<p>That visual dogged Bush’s presidency as the war dragged out, with worsening American casualties, for the remainder of his two terms in office.</p> U.S. President Donald Trump makes a statement about Syria at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 13, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
<p>(This version of the story refiles to fix typographical error in paragraph 3).</p>
<p>Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Joel Schectman editing by Jason Neely and David Gregorio</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Bharti Airtel Declares Interim Dividend Of 2.84 Rupees Per Equity Share Forman, Oscar-winning director of 'Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Amadeus', dies at 86 France warns of humanitarian disaster in Syrian city Idlib U.S. says air strikes cripple Syria chemical weapons program Trump: 'mission accomplished' on 'perfectly executed' Syria strike | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-bharti-airtel-declares-interim-div/brief-bharti-airtel-declares-interim-dividend-of-284-rupees-per-equity-share-idUSFWN1PD0QR | 2018-01-18 | 2 |
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<p>“The product is good. The health insurance that’s being provided is good. It’s high quality, and it’s affordable,” the president announced. “People can save money – significant money – by getting insurance that’s being provided through these marketplaces.”</p>
<p>How much would you pay for a health plan like this? Before you answer, listen to this:</p>
<p>“No one who decides to purchase a plan has to pay their first premium until December 15. And unlike the day after Thanksgiving sales for the latest PlayStation or flat-screen TVs, the insurance plans don’t run out.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Wait! That’s not all.</p>
<p>“The Affordable Care Act is not just a website. It’s much more,” Obama said. “Billions of dollars have been saved by seniors already. That’s part of the law. It’s already in place. It’s happening right now.”</p>
<p>Now how much would you pay?</p>
<p>“Nearly six in 10 uninsured Americans will find that they can get coverage for less than $100 a month,” the president went on. “Through the marketplaces, you can get health insurance for what may be the equivalent of your cellphone bill. Or your cable bill. And that’s a good deal. … And that product is working. It’s really good.”</p>
<p>If you act now, you’ll also get the matching carving fork, the versatile six-in-one kitchen tool, a set of six steak knives and the spiral slicer – all for $9.95.</p>
<p>“I want the checkout lines to be smooth. So I want people to be able to get this great product,” said the president of the United States, even giving out the toll-free number from the presidential podium. “Call centers are already up and running, and you can get your questions answered by real people, 24 hours a day, in 150 different languages. The phone number for these call centers is 1-800-318-2596. I want to repeat that: 1-800-318-2596.”</p>
<p>It was an extensive pitch – a bit too extensive. As Obama was closing his 27-minute infomercial, a woman standing right behind him passed out. The people around her caught her, and Obama turned around to assist. “This happens when I talk too long,” he explained.</p>
<p>Talking too long, yes. And protesting too much. Obama’s pitch sounded a bit desperate, and perhaps it should. The product he rolled out three weeks ago was seriously defective.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>His administration says the widespread registration problems on <a href="http://www.HealthCare.gov" type="external">www.HealthCare.gov</a> are just “glitches” and “kinks.” But the difficulties may be bigger. If a sufficient number of people don’t sign up for the health care exchanges, Obamacare will be in trouble. The administration won’t say how many have signed up. The screw-up, Obama acknowledged, has emboldened opponents and unnerved supporters.</p>
<p>Obama has played pitchman before, when he bailed out the auto industry (“starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty”) and stabilized home mortgages (“If you are having problems with your mortgage, and even if you’re not and you just want to save some money, you can go to MakingHomeAffordable.gov”). But the stakes could be even higher this time, because if Obamacare fails, so will this president and his party.</p>
<p>And so the White House filled the Rose Garden with about 200 people (reporters joked that this was the total number of people nationwide who successfully navigated <a href="http://www.HealthCare.gov" type="external">www.HealthCare.gov</a>), including some in white coats.</p>
<p>And so, with embattled Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius nodding along from the front row of the audience, the commander in chief hawked health-care plans the way George Foreman sells grills and James Dyson sells vacuums.</p>
<p>He began with a happy customer’s testimonial. Janice Baker, the first person to register for Obamacare in Delaware, pronounced herself “thrilled,” and she encouraged others to be patient. Obama followed with his hard sell: “Prices have come down. … There’s a massive demand for it. … Visited nearly 20 million times. … A good deal at low costs. … People are rushing. … Thrilled with the result.”</p>
<p>The salesman said he wouldn’t sugarcoat the failures, which he’s addressing with a “tech surge.” Said Obama: “Nobody’s madder than me about the fact that the website isn’t working as well as it should, which means it’s going to get fixed.”</p>
<p>That’s important. If Obama can’t fix the problems, and quickly, the opposition will slice and dice Obamacare and make it into Julienne fries – and no sales pitch will save it.</p>
<p>E-mail: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group.</p>
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<p /> | Obama pitches defective product | false | https://abqjournal.com/286716/obama-pitches-defective-product.html | 2 |
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<p><a href="http://variety.com/tag/anne-jeffreys/" type="external">Anne Jeffreys</a>, the actress and singer known for her roles in the 1950s sitcom “ <a href="http://variety.com/tag/topper/" type="external">Topper</a>” and long-running daytime soap opera “General Hospital,” has died. She was 94.</p>
<p>News of her death was first reported by George Pennacchio, an entertainment reporter with ABC7, <a href="https://twitter.com/abc7george/status/913242698403868673" type="external">who tweeted</a> “The beautiful and elegant actress, Anne Jeffreys, has died at 94. She was a sweetheart.”</p>
<p>Jeffreys’ career started in the early 1940s with a number of film roles including&#160;“Step Lively,” a musical starring Frank Sinatra. In the late ’40s she turned to Broadway. She replaced Patricia Morison in “Kiss Me, Kate” in 1948, and also appeared in the 1952 musical “Three Wishes for Jamie.”</p>
<p>Between 1952 and 1955 she starred in the CBS sitcom “Topper.” Her husband, Robert Sterling, was also part of the show’s central cast. Jeffreys played Marion Kerby, billed in the credits as “the ghostess with the mostest.”</p>
<p>In the ’60s she appeared in television shows including “L.A. Law” and “Murder, She Wrote.” Her role in 1972’s “The Delphi Bureau” earned her a Golden Globe nomination.</p>
<p>For two decades, between 1984 and 2004, she appeared in “General Hospital” as wealthy socialite Amanda Barrington. She also appeared in the its spinoff, “Port Charles.” Her most recent credit was in a 2013 episode of “Getting On.”</p> | Anne Jeffreys, ‘General Hospital’ and ‘Topper’ Actress, Dies at 94 | false | https://newsline.com/anne-jeffreys-general-hospital-and-topper-actress-dies-at-94/ | 2017-09-28 | 1 |
<p>When Barack Obama goes abroad, he has a knack of disarming the locals by quoting from the local language. Even if the locals speak English. In Australia, he won laughs for his (slightly off) rendering of expressions like&#160;spot on,chinwag&#160;and&#160;ear bashing.</p>
<p>So, what better time to consider Australia’s languages, and its use of English? Australia is, of course, home to a great diversity (though not so great these days) of Aboriginal languages. For decades, white Australians either ignored these languages or actively tried to eliminate them. Only recently have Australians begun to embrace these languages as a central part of the country’s culture.</p>
<p>On the pod, three Australians talk about this and other language-related issues: novelist and historian&#160; <a href="http://www.allenandunwin.com/default.aspx?page=94&amp;book=9781742374482" type="external">Thomas Keneally</a>, opera singer and composer <a href="http://www.deborahcheetham.com/home" type="external">Deborah Cheetham</a>&#160;and historical novelist&#160; <a href="http://kategrenville.com/" type="external">Kate Grenville</a>. As well as the discussion of the history and fate of Aboriginal languages, bush ranger Ned Kelly is remembered for a choice turn of phrase ( “a parcel of big ugly fat-necked wombat-headed big-bellied, magpied-legged, narrow-hipped, splay-footed sons of Irish bailiffs or English landlords”).</p>
<p>This discussion was first broadcast on the BBC’s Start the Week. There’s a podcast version&#160; <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r9xr" type="external">here</a>. It’s always a must-listen.</p>
<p>For some more Aussie English, curated of the great Australian poet Les Murray, check out&#160; <a href="http://patrickcox.wordpress.com/2010/10/22/aussie-english-and-proper-english/" type="external">this&#160;</a>previous pod/post.</p> | Podcast: Australia Through its Languages | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-16/podcast-australia-through-its-languages | 2011-11-16 | 3 |
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<p>If you didn’t know any better, you’d think Indonesian timber tycoon Mohamad “Bob” Hasan was a champion of the environment. He’s received at least three awards from U.S. groups for his contributions to the environment in the past year alone.</p>
<p>In April, Hasan’s timber conglomerate, the Kalimanis Group, was recognized by Clinton administration officials for efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Then the dean of North Carolina State University’s College of Forest Resources named Hasan an honorary professor at the August ribbon-cutting of his new pulp and paper mill in East Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. “It is rare that a person emerges to have the potential of teaching the entire world,” Dean Larry Tombaugh said.</p>
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<p>What is sustainable to Hasan, apparently, is anything but sustainable to forests. Hasan, who heads Indonesia’s forest industries, is the man behind the nation’s destructive slash-and-burn forestry.</p>
<p>The Far Eastern Economic Review says that Hasan “has been unquestionably the strongest player in setting Indonesia’s forest policies.” These policies, says Stephanie Fried, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, “have led to the liquidation of Indonesia’s forest resource base, sparked major conflicts with indigenous peoples and other forest dwellers, and, in the final analysis, set the stage for the current fires.”</p>
<p>In 1993, one of Hasan’s companies, PT Kalhold Utama, bulldozed and burned hundreds of acres of forested land used by a community of indigenous Dayak people for rattan and fruit production. The company — in a move documented by the World Bank — also bulldozed graves of the community’s dead.</p>
<p>According to Christopher Hatch of the Rainforest Action Network, Hasan’s Kalimanis Group, with timber holdings spanning 7,700 square miles in Kalimatan, is “one of the most voracious, barbaric conglomerates in the world.”</p>
<p>Even the Indonesian government — a corrupt operation that normally scratches Hasan’s back — has begun to criticize his companies’ practices. In September the Environmental Minister pegged three of Hasan’s companies as being among those that deliberately set the forest fires that are still raging in Indonesia.</p>
<p>Hasan’s responsibility, though, extends far beyond his own companies’ practices. As chairman of Apkindo, a government-sanctioned cartel that regulates $3.7 billion in annual plywood exports, he plays a major role in establishing industrywide forestry practices. On behalf of the industry, he has denied any blame for the tragic fires, and instead blames peasant farmers.</p>
<p>Gurmit Singh, head of the Center for Environment, Technology and Development, a Malaysian environmental organization, says farmers clearing plots with fire are responsible for 10 to 20 percent of the damage at the most.</p>
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<p>Worth an estimated $1 billion, Hasan is one of Indonesia’s major industrial players. He owns interests in media, banking, and insurance corporations, and is chairman of Astra, one of the nation’s largest auto manufacturers. He is also a confidante and golfing buddy of President Suharto (Hasan also putted around at last year’s Bob Hope Classic) — a profitable relationship in a country where the president’s family and friends hold much of the wealth.</p>
<p>“Given the immense amount of profit accruing to companies involved in the forestry and plantation sector, there has been a lack of political will to enforce the most basic forestry regulations,” Fried says.</p>
<p>One environmental worker in Indonesia, fearing bodily harm, would speak about Hasan only under the condition of anonymity: “He is very powerful. He is very close to the president. He is beyond the law.”</p>
<p />
<p>Two of Hasan’s timber operations are enjoying favorable treatment by the U.S. government. Last April, the United States Initiative on Joint Implementation ( <a href="http://www.ji.org/usiji/descrip.shtml" type="external">USIJI</a>), a Clinton administration project, announced a new partnership with the two logging concessions and honored Hasan’s Kalimanis Group conglomerate at a White House ceremony. The partnership was one of 10 new projects announced by USIJI, which facilitates investment by U.S. companies into foreign-based industries working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ji.org/usiji/indo.shtml" type="external">Indonesia project</a>, USIJI officials say, will implement “reduced impact logging” on 1,480 acres of Hasan’s timber concessions to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Over the next 40 years, 56,400 tons of carbon will be “saved” as a result. So far, though, nothing’s been saved — a U.S. investor for the project has yet to be found. (Fifty-six thousand tons of carbon is a “miniscule amount,” notes scientist Darren Goetze of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Each year, he says, the U.S. alone emits close to 5.5 billion tons of carbon.)</p>
<p>Asked about the environmentally unsound practices of Hasan’s companies, USIJI Deputy Director Paul Schwengels says the USIJI isn’t supposed to look at a company’s track record — it just evaluates the proposed project for its future environmental benefits.</p>
<p>Says Schwengels: “We don’t necessarily say that this company — everything it does — benefits the environment…. We are asking companies to do something that benefits the environment that they wouldn’t otherwise do.”</p>
<p>That’s pretty much Dean Tombaugh’s explanation for bestowing an honorary professorship on Hasan at the opening of the Kiani Kertas pulp mill — the largest in Southeast Asia. “I would be the last to proclaim to be an expert about Indonesia, but it has appeared to me… the environmental future of that country is in the hands of a few major industrialists. And Mr. Hasan is one of them,” Tombaugh says.</p>
<p>He adds that Hasan, who made a “small gift” to North Carolina State University — somewhere in the range of $100,000 to $150,000 — is going to practice forestry no matter what, so he figured that a little award might open a dialog between the timber baron and the academic community in the West. Such a relationship might provide Hasan with an incentive to practice sustainable forestry, Tombaugh says.</p>
<p>In Oregon, meanwhile, Hasan’s award for his extraordinary achievements in forest stewardship from the <a href="http://www.vpm.com/wfi/" type="external">World Forestry Center</a> can be explained in one sentence: He sits on the board of this timber industry front group.</p>
<p><a type="external" href="" /> <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">Leslie Weiss</a> is a freelance writer based in Oakland, California.</p>
<p /> | A Timber Tycoon’s Trophies | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/1997/11/timber-tycoons-trophies/ | 1997-11-18 | 4 |
<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A top Russian official has declined to say whether his country is going to lend money to Greece, ahead of a meeting between the Greek and Russian leaders on Friday.</p>
<p>Greece is at an impasse in talks with its creditors to get more loans. Without the aid, it could default on a debt repayment of 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) on June 30.</p>
<p>While his government is locked in those talks, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is traveling to Russia, his second visit since April, to meet President Vladimir Putin. Tsipras' visit has given rise to speculation that the Greeks could be seeking Russian loans.</p>
<p>Tsipras is traveling with four cabinet ministers, arrived Thursday and is due to stay in St. Petersburg until late Friday, when he will meet Putin.</p>
<p>Asked by The Associated Press whether Russia is going to offer Greece money, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said he "cannot comment on specific decisions."</p>
<p>The Greek economy has also been hit by Russia's EU food imports ban, depriving it of millions of euros in agricultural exports, and although the Kremlin has indicated it could relax the restrictions on Greece, there has been no decision to do so.</p>
<p>Speaking on the sidelines of an investment forum in St. Petersburg, Dvorkovich said it is not surprising that the new Greek leader should visit Russia so often because Moscow and Athens "have both good political dialogue and specific investment projects and trade opportunities."</p>
<p>But he added that the visit could be interpreted as a message to Greece's creditors in Europe.</p>
<p>"For Europe it's also a signal from the Greek government that they are open to cooperation with any party," he said.</p>
<p>Greece's sudden rapprochement with Russia has given rise to speculation that Moscow might be using Greece and other countries to get a voice on its side when the EU meets to discuss whether to prolong the sanctions against Russia.</p>
<p>Dvorkovich said he hopes that Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic and other nations could help Russia in the EU as he expects they "will be pushing politicians on both sides to gradually lift the sanctions."</p>
<p>When Tsipras visited Moscow in April for talks with Putin, Russia wouldn't offer any direct financial aid and the talks focused on joint economic projects, including a Greek extension of the prospective gas pipeline that would come from Russia to Turkey.</p>
<p>Putin said then that the pipeline would allow Greece to become a major gas transit hub, helping it increase its clout and earn it hundreds of millions of dollars in transit payments.</p>
<p>Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday in televised remarks that he and his Greek counterpart will sign a memorandum Friday on building the pipeline.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.</p>
<p>ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — A top Russian official has declined to say whether his country is going to lend money to Greece, ahead of a meeting between the Greek and Russian leaders on Friday.</p>
<p>Greece is at an impasse in talks with its creditors to get more loans. Without the aid, it could default on a debt repayment of 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) on June 30.</p>
<p>While his government is locked in those talks, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is traveling to Russia, his second visit since April, to meet President Vladimir Putin. Tsipras' visit has given rise to speculation that the Greeks could be seeking Russian loans.</p>
<p>Tsipras is traveling with four cabinet ministers, arrived Thursday and is due to stay in St. Petersburg until late Friday, when he will meet Putin.</p>
<p>Asked by The Associated Press whether Russia is going to offer Greece money, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said he "cannot comment on specific decisions."</p>
<p>The Greek economy has also been hit by Russia's EU food imports ban, depriving it of millions of euros in agricultural exports, and although the Kremlin has indicated it could relax the restrictions on Greece, there has been no decision to do so.</p>
<p>Speaking on the sidelines of an investment forum in St. Petersburg, Dvorkovich said it is not surprising that the new Greek leader should visit Russia so often because Moscow and Athens "have both good political dialogue and specific investment projects and trade opportunities."</p>
<p>But he added that the visit could be interpreted as a message to Greece's creditors in Europe.</p>
<p>"For Europe it's also a signal from the Greek government that they are open to cooperation with any party," he said.</p>
<p>Greece's sudden rapprochement with Russia has given rise to speculation that Moscow might be using Greece and other countries to get a voice on its side when the EU meets to discuss whether to prolong the sanctions against Russia.</p>
<p>Dvorkovich said he hopes that Greece, Hungary, the Czech Republic and other nations could help Russia in the EU as he expects they "will be pushing politicians on both sides to gradually lift the sanctions."</p>
<p>When Tsipras visited Moscow in April for talks with Putin, Russia wouldn't offer any direct financial aid and the talks focused on joint economic projects, including a Greek extension of the prospective gas pipeline that would come from Russia to Turkey.</p>
<p>Putin said then that the pipeline would allow Greece to become a major gas transit hub, helping it increase its clout and earn it hundreds of millions of dollars in transit payments.</p>
<p>Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said Thursday in televised remarks that he and his Greek counterpart will sign a memorandum Friday on building the pipeline.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.</p> | Russia won't comment on aid to Greece ahead of Tsipras visit | false | https://apnews.com/amp/7cb3462c3fb24c2a870c87e932f77400 | 2015-06-18 | 2 |
<p>Stanley Aronowitz has never been a particular hero of mine, but I warmed to him a bit this week, as he nibbled at the well-turned fetlock of Laura Flanders. Now any guy who could brave the seas of matrimony in a boat with the late (and by me, unlamented) Ellen Willis has got to have more than enough dura-ilia to deal with a fetching young person from Air America. And he had the advantage of being, so to speak, of the devil’s party. But it was fun to watch, in a mean-spirited way–up to a point.</p>
<p>The occasion was a debate in New York, sponsored by Left Forum and The Nation, on that great, evergreen question, “Can progressives move the Democratic Party to the left?”</p>
<p>Flanders has recently written a cheerful book with the slightly unappetizing title <a href="" type="internal">Blue Grit: True Democrats Take Back Politics From the Politicians.</a> The burden of her song is, as she said in a recent interview,</p>
<p>“… [G]rit, that’s the stuff that gets you through, the mettle that enables you that take on tough stuff. It’s also the stuff that gets in your shoe and blisters your toe. Blue Gritters, the folks I’m talking about, do both of those things for the Democratic Party: they discomfort the establishment, and I think they bring the passion to the issues that won the election last year…. I think the fact that the Democratic leadership is talking about timetables at all is a victory for the Blue Grit Democrats out there.”</p>
<p>So naturally, she took the affirmative–sorta, kinda, half-heartedly. To be sure, she didn’t have a good word to say for the Democratic Party. A good thing, too, since the crowd, a half-and-half mix of grizzled old stagers and fresh-faced millennials, was clearly and overwhelmingly negative about the Party Of Clinton &amp; Clinton, LLP. (Usually, a Left crowd in New York is full of people more dependent on the Democrats than a crackhead on his drug of choice, so the prevailing bummed-out atmosphere was intensely refreshing.)</p>
<p>But among all her caveats about the general rottenness of the party, Flanders’ essential theme was that her bluegritters shouldn’t be discouraged from working in the Democratic Party. As she phrased it, with well-placed caution, “some sort-of reformists in the sort of liberal-lefty part [of the party] are having some kind of success.” And alas, Aronowitz wasn’t quite willing to take the last essential step and disagree with her decisively.</p>
<p>The debate was “moderated” by Gary Younge of The Nation, whose squishy-soft and prolix questioning took on something vaguely like an edge only once, when he asked Aronowitz whether he would advise activists to “pack their bags” and abandon the Democratic Party altogether.</p>
<p>Aronowitz, surprisingly, responded “of course not!” — surprisingly, because everything else he had to say suggested that bag-packing would be very much in order, and the sooner the better.</p>
<p>He began by rehearsing some of his left credentials, which included helping found the Reform Democratic movement in New York City–whose greatest success, as he drily noted, was “the election of Ed Koch as Mayor.” He warned activists that “You’ll be taken over by the Democratic Party before you’ll take it over…. I don’t think another New Deal is possible. Yeah, Roosevelt was pushed from below but there was some agreement from the top. Now there’s not. They’d rather bash people on the head. They’ve embraced repression now, not legitimation…. The peace movement is wimpy because they’re tied hand and foot to the Democrats…. Bill Clinton was the best Republican president of the century!”</p>
<p>Against this rehearsal of indicative-mood history, Flanders took refuge, as defense of the Democrats always does, in the subjunctive: “We wouldn’t have had the criminalization of pregnancy under a Democratic president–the Labor Department wouldn’t be used as a weapon against the labor movement.” Aronowitz replied by quoting Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, Bobby Reich, questioning whether labor unions were “still necessary.”</p>
<p>Asked by moderator Younge, in another rare moment of directness, whether he wouldn’t prefer to see a Democratic president in 2008, Aronowitz got quite a laugh by replying, “Of course–because he won’t do anything! I’m all for gridlock!” Flanders rather hotly replied that she wasn’t for gridlock — “I want troops out of Iraq, I want universal health care.” Unfortunately, Younge did not ask her what connection there might be between these good things and a Democratic president. Perhaps that would have been immoderate.</p>
<p>Maybe that was the problem: the moderation quotient was way too high. Flanders was ready to agree with any bad thing anybody might say about the Democratic Party, except that activists ought to be working night and day to destroy it — and Aronowitz was unwilling to say that. He didn’t say that working within the Democratic Party is a deadly, damning error. He didn’t call it the graveyard of activists, though no doubt he’s heard that old truism before. He didn’t say that the Democratic party absorbs the energies of left-wing activists and turns those energies against the activists’ own purposes–though I bet he would agree with the proposition. He should have been like the sepulchral voice in The Amityville Horror, hollowly booming “Get oooout!” — but alas, he wasn’t.</p>
<p>Flanders took the ‘pro,’ moderately, but Aronowitz moderately didn’t quite take the ‘con’. So though it was fun for a while, and a great deal of well-deserved and enjoyable abuse was poured on the dear old donkeys’ heads, there was a slight feeling of coitus-interruptus at the end of the evening. Perhaps we should blame the Upas-tree influence of The Nation magazine, breathing its long-brewed suffocating vapors into the already mephitic Manhattan air.</p>
<p>I wonder how many of those disgruntled old veterans and peppery youths in the audience will trudge reluctantly into the shambles of ’08 behind some Judas-goat from the Democratic Party. Oh Laura, so fresh, so fair, why must you be among them? And oh Stanley — you might have saved a few!</p>
<p>MICHAEL J. SMITH lives in New York and labors night and day to destroy the Democratic Party on his blog, <a href="http://www.stopmebeforeivoteagain.org/" type="external">stopmebeforeivoteagain.org</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Who Among Us Will Step Up to Destroy the Democratic Party? | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/06/21/who-among-us-will-step-up-to-destroy-the-democratic-party/ | 2007-06-21 | 4 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a he said-he said thing.</p>
<p>Donald Trump once promised to be “very restrained” on Twitter — “if I use it at all.” He thought campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was an “excellent guy” — until Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The president backed Republican Roy Moore in the special election for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama. But after a Democrat won the seat, Trump said he knew the embattled GOP candidate couldn’t win.</p>
<p>Ten instances in which Trump squared off against himself:</p>
<p />
<p>TWITTER:</p>
<p>“I’m going to do very restrained, if I use it at all, I’m going to do very restrained.” — President-elect Trump to “60 Minutes” in November 2016 about his use of Twitter as president.</p>
<p>One year into Trump’s presidency, hardly a day passes without Trump using Twitter against perceived adversaries, including Republican and Democratic lawmakers; FBI officials he thinks are out to undermine his presidency; and journalists he says publish “fake news” about him. One of Trump’s most recent Twitter targets: “Sloppy Steve” Bannon.</p>
<p>STEVE BANNON:</p>
<p>“I like Mr. Bannon. He’s a friend of mine. But Mr. Bannon came on very late. You know that. I went through 17 senators, governors, and I won all the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than that. And I like him, he’s a good man. He is not a racist, I can tell you that. He’s a good person. He actually gets very unfair press in that regard. But we’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon. But he’s a good person, and I think the press treats him, frankly, very unfairly.” — Aug. 15, 2017, Trump Tower news conference three days before Bannon was forced out as White House chief strategist.</p>
<p>“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” — Jan. 3, 2018, written statement after derogatory comments about Trump’s daughter Ivanka and eldest son, Don Jr., were attributed to Bannon by the author of an explosive behind-the-scenes book about Trump’s first year.</p>
<p>ROY MOORE:</p>
<p>“Spoke to Roy Moore of Alabama last night for the first time. Sounds like a really great guy who ran a fantastic race. He will help to #MAGA!” — Sept. 27, 2017, tweet, referencing his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan, after Moore won the Republican runoff for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama.</p>
<p>“The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!” — Dec. 13, 2017, tweet after Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones.</p>
<p>GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS:</p>
<p>“Excellent guy.” — Trump said of his campaign foreign policy adviser during a March 2016 meeting with The Washington Post editorial board.</p>
<p>“Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.” — Oct. 31, 2017, tweet after Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.</p>
<p>NATO:</p>
<p>Trump complained during the campaign about NATO being an “obsolete” Cold War-era holdover that had yet to reorient itself toward the modern-day fight against terrorism. As president, he shared a different opinion following a White House meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.</p>
<p>“The secretary-general and I had a productive discussion about what more NATO can do in the fight against terrorism. I complained about that a long time ago and they made a change, and now they do fight terrorism. I said it was obsolete; it’s no longer obsolete.” — April 12, 2017, White House news conference with Stoltenberg.</p>
<p>NORTH KOREA:</p>
<p>“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man ... Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!” — Oct. 2, 2017, tweet.</p>
<p>“We have certainly problems with North Korea, but a lot of good talks are going on right now, a lot of good energy. I see a lot of good energy. I like it very much what I am seeing.” — Jan. 10, 2018, White House news conference.</p>
<p>CHINA-CURRENCY MANIPULATOR:</p>
<p>“I will direct my secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator. They are. They know it. I have a great relationship with China. I’ve made a lot of money with China, but you know what, they know. They told me. That’s how they do it. It’s the single greatest tool they have, currency manipulation, and they’re grand masters. They do a great job. I congratulate them. I’m not angry at China. I’m angry at our country for allowing them to do it.” — Oct. 24, 2016, campaign speech in St. Augustine, Florida.</p>
<p>“Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!” — April 16, 2017, tweet.</p>
<p>OBAMA-WIRETAPPING:</p>
<p>“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” — March 4, 2017, tweet.</p>
<p>“I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” — March 4 tweet.</p>
<p>“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” — March 4</p>
<p>Trump said weeks later that he meant surveillance, not literal wiretapping, when he made the explosive charge about President Barack Obama.</p>
<p>“When I said wiretapping, it was in quotes. It is just a good description. But wiretapping was in quotes. What I’m talking about is surveillance.” — March 22, 2017, interview with Time magazine.</p>
<p>FIRING JAMES COMEY:</p>
<p>Trump told FBI Director James Comey in a letter that he had received letters from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “recommending your dismissal as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately.” — May 9, 2017, letter.</p>
<p>Trump tells NBC News two days later that he had been planning to fire Comey for months. “He made a recommendation but regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey.”</p>
<p>PLAYING GOLF:</p>
<p>“I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to play golf.” — Aug. 8, 2016, campaign speech in Ashburn, Virginia.</p>
<p>Since taking office, Trump has spent all or part of most weekends, and some weekdays, at his private golf clubs in northern Virginia, Florida and New Jersey. The White House has a mixed record on confirming when Trump actually plays golf, acknowledging outings with lawmakers and former pro golfers, for example, but refusing to do so at other times — even after photos posted to social media show he was playing golf.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap</a></p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a he said-he said thing.</p>
<p>Donald Trump once promised to be “very restrained” on Twitter — “if I use it at all.” He thought campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was an “excellent guy” — until Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The president backed Republican Roy Moore in the special election for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama. But after a Democrat won the seat, Trump said he knew the embattled GOP candidate couldn’t win.</p>
<p>Ten instances in which Trump squared off against himself:</p>
<p />
<p>TWITTER:</p>
<p>“I’m going to do very restrained, if I use it at all, I’m going to do very restrained.” — President-elect Trump to “60 Minutes” in November 2016 about his use of Twitter as president.</p>
<p>One year into Trump’s presidency, hardly a day passes without Trump using Twitter against perceived adversaries, including Republican and Democratic lawmakers; FBI officials he thinks are out to undermine his presidency; and journalists he says publish “fake news” about him. One of Trump’s most recent Twitter targets: “Sloppy Steve” Bannon.</p>
<p>STEVE BANNON:</p>
<p>“I like Mr. Bannon. He’s a friend of mine. But Mr. Bannon came on very late. You know that. I went through 17 senators, governors, and I won all the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than that. And I like him, he’s a good man. He is not a racist, I can tell you that. He’s a good person. He actually gets very unfair press in that regard. But we’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon. But he’s a good person, and I think the press treats him, frankly, very unfairly.” — Aug. 15, 2017, Trump Tower news conference three days before Bannon was forced out as White House chief strategist.</p>
<p>“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.” — Jan. 3, 2018, written statement after derogatory comments about Trump’s daughter Ivanka and eldest son, Don Jr., were attributed to Bannon by the author of an explosive behind-the-scenes book about Trump’s first year.</p>
<p>ROY MOORE:</p>
<p>“Spoke to Roy Moore of Alabama last night for the first time. Sounds like a really great guy who ran a fantastic race. He will help to #MAGA!” — Sept. 27, 2017, tweet, referencing his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan, after Moore won the Republican runoff for a U.S. Senate seat from Alabama.</p>
<p>“The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!” — Dec. 13, 2017, tweet after Moore lost to Democrat Doug Jones.</p>
<p>GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS:</p>
<p>“Excellent guy.” — Trump said of his campaign foreign policy adviser during a March 2016 meeting with The Washington Post editorial board.</p>
<p>“Few people knew the young, low level volunteer named George, who has already proven to be a liar.” — Oct. 31, 2017, tweet after Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.</p>
<p>NATO:</p>
<p>Trump complained during the campaign about NATO being an “obsolete” Cold War-era holdover that had yet to reorient itself toward the modern-day fight against terrorism. As president, he shared a different opinion following a White House meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.</p>
<p>“The secretary-general and I had a productive discussion about what more NATO can do in the fight against terrorism. I complained about that a long time ago and they made a change, and now they do fight terrorism. I said it was obsolete; it’s no longer obsolete.” — April 12, 2017, White House news conference with Stoltenberg.</p>
<p>NORTH KOREA:</p>
<p>“I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man ... Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!” — Oct. 2, 2017, tweet.</p>
<p>“We have certainly problems with North Korea, but a lot of good talks are going on right now, a lot of good energy. I see a lot of good energy. I like it very much what I am seeing.” — Jan. 10, 2018, White House news conference.</p>
<p>CHINA-CURRENCY MANIPULATOR:</p>
<p>“I will direct my secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator. They are. They know it. I have a great relationship with China. I’ve made a lot of money with China, but you know what, they know. They told me. That’s how they do it. It’s the single greatest tool they have, currency manipulation, and they’re grand masters. They do a great job. I congratulate them. I’m not angry at China. I’m angry at our country for allowing them to do it.” — Oct. 24, 2016, campaign speech in St. Augustine, Florida.</p>
<p>“Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens!” — April 16, 2017, tweet.</p>
<p>OBAMA-WIRETAPPING:</p>
<p>“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” — March 4, 2017, tweet.</p>
<p>“I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” — March 4 tweet.</p>
<p>“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” — March 4</p>
<p>Trump said weeks later that he meant surveillance, not literal wiretapping, when he made the explosive charge about President Barack Obama.</p>
<p>“When I said wiretapping, it was in quotes. It is just a good description. But wiretapping was in quotes. What I’m talking about is surveillance.” — March 22, 2017, interview with Time magazine.</p>
<p>FIRING JAMES COMEY:</p>
<p>Trump told FBI Director James Comey in a letter that he had received letters from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “recommending your dismissal as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately.” — May 9, 2017, letter.</p>
<p>Trump tells NBC News two days later that he had been planning to fire Comey for months. “He made a recommendation but regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey.”</p>
<p>PLAYING GOLF:</p>
<p>“I’m going to be working for you. I’m not going to have time to play golf.” — Aug. 8, 2016, campaign speech in Ashburn, Virginia.</p>
<p>Since taking office, Trump has spent all or part of most weekends, and some weekdays, at his private golf clubs in northern Virginia, Florida and New Jersey. The White House has a mixed record on confirming when Trump actually plays golf, acknowledging outings with lawmakers and former pro golfers, for example, but refusing to do so at other times — even after photos posted to social media show he was playing golf.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap</a></p> | He said-he said: 10 times that Trump has contradicted Trump | false | https://apnews.com/495269c1760c4268b6fa3162dffd1eb3 | 2018-01-19 | 2 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO — Dozens of water agencies and millions of families and farmers would be on the hook for building two giant tunnels to carry Northern California’s water southward under new plans to shore up funding for Gov. Jerry Brown’s $16 billion project.</p>
<p>The proposal that expands who pays for the state’s biggest water project in more than a half-century could mean higher rates for millions of Californians who already get the precious resource through the complex state and federal systems of aqueducts, pumps, canals and dams.</p>
<p>It pivots from longstanding state and federal assurances that only water districts that seek to participate would pay for the tunnels, an ambitious re-engineering of California’s complex north-to-south water system.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Associated Press obtained new documents from the state’s largest agricultural water agency and confirmed the expanded funding demands in phone and email interviews with state and local water officials.</p>
<p>Water districts for the Silicon Valley, the farm-rich Central Valley and cities in Southern California are due to vote in coming weeks on whether to take part in the project.</p>
<p>While many in Southern California — as one of the main beneficiaries — support the planned tunnels, a few dozen people rallied Monday at Los Angeles City Hall to urge the city to oppose it.</p>
<p>“We’re going to have huge construction costs, huge debt costs that we’re going to have to carry,” said Liza Tucker, an advocate with a group called Consumer Watchdog.</p>
<p>With no major water district yet committing to help pay for the tunnels amid uncertainty about their costs and benefits, the state now contends that dozens of local water agencies would be obligated to foot the bill under their existing contracts. That would mean higher rates for their customers, unless the agencies could find another water contractor to buy out their share of the project’s cost.</p>
<p>While speculation of that arrangement has swirled privately, “this is the first acknowledgement that we’ve heard” from the state that those water agencies would be on the hook, said Paul Gosselin, director of Northern California’s Butte County water district.</p>
<p>His agency would get no water from the tunnels and has been seeking written state and federal guarantees that its customers would not have to pay for them. He’s gotten no such assurances.</p>
<p>“Any of these funding mechanisms has been in a black box — none of it’s been described to us, the contractors or the public,” Gosselin said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Brown’s administration intends to exclude from the funding obligation a half-dozen Northern California water districts, like Gosselin’s, that would not benefit from the tunnels, although just how hasn’t been worked out, said Lisa Lien-Mager, spokeswoman for the state Natural Resources Agency.</p>
<p>The two tunnels would tap into Northern California’s Sacramento River to provide more reliable supplies for points south. Brown says the tunnels would modernize the existing water delivery system built under his father, then-Gov. Pat Brown. The younger Brown is pushing to launch his water project before leaving office next year.</p>
<p>But it’s been beset by controversy. Opponents say the tunnels could further threaten struggling native species and drain Northern California dry. Federal auditors also said last week that authorities improperly used $85 million in taxpayer money for the project.</p>
<p>The state’s newly revealed funding plan hinges on its contention that the tunnels would be an update, not a new project. As such, the 29 water districts that get water from the existing half-century-old State Water Project would have to bear the costs of the new tunnels, state officials said.</p>
<p>For any clients that decide “not to participate, it would be up to them to reach an agreement” with another water contractor to take on their share of the cost, Lien-Mager said.</p>
<p>Asked if California intended to cut off water deliveries to districts that refuse either option, Lien-Mager said, “Opting out would not affect their existing contracts, but their actual water supplies from the SWP could become less reliable in the future.”</p>
<p>“That’s what we’re being informed — our contract ends if we don’t participate,” said Richard Santos, a board member of the Santa Clara Valley water district, which supplies water to Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>If it plays out that way, Santos said, he will fight.</p>
<p>“If they say they’ll cut off our allocations if we don’t participate, then let the courts take it on,” he said.</p>
<p>The funding arrangements also are described in documents released Thursday by Westlands Water District, which covers 1,000 square miles of the Central Valley, the richest U.S. agricultural region. With strong ties to Washington, the rural water district is one the most politically influential in a state where water is the most fought-over resource.</p>
<p>Westland says in a new report to its board that the tunnels’ costs “will be allocated to all state water contractors in proportion … to their contract amount,” meaning how much water they currently get from the state.</p>
<p>A staff recommendation that the Westlands board could vote on Tuesday calls for Westlands to sign on to the mega-project — on two conditions.</p>
<p>One, which is spelled out in the meeting documents, says water agencies that get their supply from the separate, federally run Central Valley Project should also be compelled to help foot the bill for the tunnels. The second is that California not impose “unreasonable” restrictions on the amount of water Westlands can take from the Sacramento River.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press reporter Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this story.</p> | California wants millions to fund water project | false | https://abqjournal.com/1065436/millions-of-californians-on-hook-for-water-plan.html | 2017-09-18 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Oslo rådhus / Oslo City Hall / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0</p>
<p>In the “ <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-documents-in-hillary-clinton-e-mail-investigation" type="external">interest of transparency</a>,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a 58-page summary of its investigation into “allegations that classified information was improperly stored or transmitted on a personal e-mail server [Hillary Clinton] used during her tenure” as secretary of state. Read the documents below and make up your own mind on the matter.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Natasha Hakimi Zapata</a></p>
<p /> | Read the Documents the FBI Has Released on the Hillary Clinton Email Investigation | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/read-the-documents-the-fbi-has-released-on-the-hillary-clinton-email-investigation/ | 2016-09-04 | 4 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump, the presidential candidate, would not like the way Trump, the president, is crowing about today’s unemployment rate. He’d be calling the whole thing a “hoax.”</p>
<p>Trump raised a red flag about declining jobless numbers during his campaign, so as to deny President Barack Obama any credit. Trump noted that the jobless rate masks the true employment picture by leaving out the millions who have given up looking for work.</p>
<p>But Trump is seeing red no more. The same stats he assailed in 2015 and 2016 now are his proof of “fantastic,” ″terrific” economic progress, for which he wants the credit.</p>
<p>That disconnect is part of why Trump’s statements about the economy this past week, some accurate on their face, fall short of the whole truth.</p>
<p>On top of that, Trump made the far-fetched claim that the economy is better than it has ever been. And in a week consumed with the dustup over a government shutdown, Trump’s doctor stepped forward with a testament to the president’s health that other physicians found to be too rosy.</p>
<p>A look at some recent remarks away from the din of the budget battle:</p>
<p>TRUMP: “Black unemployment is the best it’s ever been in recorded history. It’s been fantastic. And it’s the best number we’ve had with respect to black unemployment. We’ve never seen anything even close.” — remarks from Oval Office on Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Yes, the black unemployment rate of 6.8 percent is the lowest on record. No, it’s not far and away superior to any time in the past. In 2000, it was within one point of today’s record for six months, and as low 7 percent.</p>
<p>As Trump was quick to note as a candidate, the unemployment rate only measures people without jobs who are searching for work. Like other demographic groups, fewer African-Americans are working or looking for work than in the past. Just 62.1 percent of blacks are employed or seeking a job, down from a peak of 66.4 percent in 1999.</p>
<p>The black unemployment rate would be much higher if the rate of black labor force participation was near its levels before the Great Recession.</p>
<p>During the campaign, Trump claimed that real unemployment then was a soaring 42 percent. It’s not quite clear, but he could have been referring to the percentage of the U.S. population without jobs — a figure that includes retirees, stay-at-home parents and students. At the time, he considered the official jobless rate a “phony set of numbers ... one of the biggest hoaxes in modern politics.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>TRUMP: “We’re making incredible progress. The women’s unemployment rate hit the lowest level that it’s been in 17 years. Well, that’s something. And women in the workforce reached a record high. ... That’s really terrific, and especially since it’s on my watch.” — at women’s event Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Again — yes, but. The 4 percent jobless rate for women is at a 17-year low, just as it is for the overall population. But the labor force participation rate by women is lower today than in 2000. The proportion of women in the workforce is not at a record high.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>TRUMP: “Our country is doing very well. Economically, we’ve never had anything like it.” — from Oval Office on Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Never say never. The U.S. economy had better employment stats during the 2000 tech boom, just for one example. It’s enjoyed stock market surges before. It’s had blazing, double-digit annual growth, a far cry from the 3.2 percent achieved during the second and third quarters of 2017. That was the best six-month pace since 2014 — hardly the best ever.</p>
<p>The economy added about 170,000 new jobs a month during Trump’s first year. That was slightly below the average of 185,000 in Obama’s last year.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>DR. RONNY JACKSON, White House physician, on his examination of Trump: “I think he’ll remain fit for duty for the remainder of this term and even for the remainder of another term if he’s elected. ... His cardiac health is excellent.” — White House briefing Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Physicians not connected with the White House have widely questioned that prediction of seven more years of healthy living and that conclusion about his heart. Cardiac functioning was indeed normal in the tests, according to the readings that were released. But Trump is borderline obese and largely sedentary, with a “bad” cholesterol reading above the norm despite taking medication for it. He’ll be 72 in June. It’s doubtful that most men that age with similar histories and findings would get such a glowing report from their doctors.</p>
<p>Trump has some things in his favor: “incredible genes, I just assume,” said his doctor, and no history of tobacco or alcohol use.</p>
<p>But “by virtue of his age and his gender and the fact he has high cholesterol and that he is in the overweight-borderline obese category, he is at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a primary care physician and professor of family medicine at Georgetown University. “The physician was saying, yes he’s in excellent health — but yes he does have risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Which is why the comment he will remain healthy for the remainder of his term makes little sense to me. How you can make that kind of assessment from a one-point-in-time examination? Just from those four factors he is at a higher risk.”</p>
<p>Trump’s LDL, the bad cholesterol, registered at 143, a number his doctor wants below 120.</p>
<p>Jackson also said Trump has nonclinical coronary atherosclerosis, commonly known as hardening of the arteries from plaque, which is a combination of calcium and cholesterol.</p>
<p>That’s common in people over 65 and can be a silent contributor to coronary heart disease. Jackson’s conclusion was based on a coronary calcium score of 133, which Mishori called “a little bit concerning” because it could show mild coronary artery disease, although how to interpret these scores isn’t clear-cut. Jackson said he consulted a variety of cardiologists about that calcium score and the consensus was reassuring.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>TRUMP: “Americans are more and more pro-life. You see that all the time. In fact, only 12 percent of Americans support abortion on demand at any time.” — remarks Friday to opponents of abortion rights.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Neither side of the abortion debate is scoring breakaway support in public opinion research. Gallup said in conjunction with its poll in June: “The dispersion of abortion views today, with the largest segment of Americans favoring the middle position, is broadly similar to what Gallup has found in four decades of measurement.” In short, half said abortion should be “legal only under certain circumstances,” identical to a year earlier, while 29 percent said it should be legal in all circumstances. The smallest proportion, 18 percent, said it should always be illegal.</p>
<p>Americans’ positions on abortion are sufficiently nuanced that both sides of the debate can find polling that supports their point of view. Polling responses on abortion are also highly sensitive to how the questions are asked.</p>
<p>But in the main, the public is not clamoring for abortion to be banned or to be allowed in all cases.</p>
<p>Trump’s claim that only 12 percent support abortion “on demand” may come from a Marist poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, which opposes abortion rights. In that poll, 12 percent said abortion should be “available to a woman any time during her entire pregnancy.”</p>
<p>Most polls have found that a distinct minority, though more than 12 percent, think the procedure should be legal in all cases. The percentage was 25 percent in an AP-NORC poll, 21 percent in a Quinnipiac poll, both done in December.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Find AP Fact Checks at <a href="http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd" type="external">http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd</a></p>
<p>Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/APFactCheck" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/APFactCheck" type="external">https://twitter.com/APFactCheck</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Lauran Neergaard, Emily Swanson and Cal Woodward contributed to this report.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump, the presidential candidate, would not like the way Trump, the president, is crowing about today’s unemployment rate. He’d be calling the whole thing a “hoax.”</p>
<p>Trump raised a red flag about declining jobless numbers during his campaign, so as to deny President Barack Obama any credit. Trump noted that the jobless rate masks the true employment picture by leaving out the millions who have given up looking for work.</p>
<p>But Trump is seeing red no more. The same stats he assailed in 2015 and 2016 now are his proof of “fantastic,” ″terrific” economic progress, for which he wants the credit.</p>
<p>That disconnect is part of why Trump’s statements about the economy this past week, some accurate on their face, fall short of the whole truth.</p>
<p>On top of that, Trump made the far-fetched claim that the economy is better than it has ever been. And in a week consumed with the dustup over a government shutdown, Trump’s doctor stepped forward with a testament to the president’s health that other physicians found to be too rosy.</p>
<p>A look at some recent remarks away from the din of the budget battle:</p>
<p>TRUMP: “Black unemployment is the best it’s ever been in recorded history. It’s been fantastic. And it’s the best number we’ve had with respect to black unemployment. We’ve never seen anything even close.” — remarks from Oval Office on Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Yes, the black unemployment rate of 6.8 percent is the lowest on record. No, it’s not far and away superior to any time in the past. In 2000, it was within one point of today’s record for six months, and as low 7 percent.</p>
<p>As Trump was quick to note as a candidate, the unemployment rate only measures people without jobs who are searching for work. Like other demographic groups, fewer African-Americans are working or looking for work than in the past. Just 62.1 percent of blacks are employed or seeking a job, down from a peak of 66.4 percent in 1999.</p>
<p>The black unemployment rate would be much higher if the rate of black labor force participation was near its levels before the Great Recession.</p>
<p>During the campaign, Trump claimed that real unemployment then was a soaring 42 percent. It’s not quite clear, but he could have been referring to the percentage of the U.S. population without jobs — a figure that includes retirees, stay-at-home parents and students. At the time, he considered the official jobless rate a “phony set of numbers ... one of the biggest hoaxes in modern politics.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>TRUMP: “We’re making incredible progress. The women’s unemployment rate hit the lowest level that it’s been in 17 years. Well, that’s something. And women in the workforce reached a record high. ... That’s really terrific, and especially since it’s on my watch.” — at women’s event Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Again — yes, but. The 4 percent jobless rate for women is at a 17-year low, just as it is for the overall population. But the labor force participation rate by women is lower today than in 2000. The proportion of women in the workforce is not at a record high.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>TRUMP: “Our country is doing very well. Economically, we’ve never had anything like it.” — from Oval Office on Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Never say never. The U.S. economy had better employment stats during the 2000 tech boom, just for one example. It’s enjoyed stock market surges before. It’s had blazing, double-digit annual growth, a far cry from the 3.2 percent achieved during the second and third quarters of 2017. That was the best six-month pace since 2014 — hardly the best ever.</p>
<p>The economy added about 170,000 new jobs a month during Trump’s first year. That was slightly below the average of 185,000 in Obama’s last year.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>DR. RONNY JACKSON, White House physician, on his examination of Trump: “I think he’ll remain fit for duty for the remainder of this term and even for the remainder of another term if he’s elected. ... His cardiac health is excellent.” — White House briefing Tuesday.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Physicians not connected with the White House have widely questioned that prediction of seven more years of healthy living and that conclusion about his heart. Cardiac functioning was indeed normal in the tests, according to the readings that were released. But Trump is borderline obese and largely sedentary, with a “bad” cholesterol reading above the norm despite taking medication for it. He’ll be 72 in June. It’s doubtful that most men that age with similar histories and findings would get such a glowing report from their doctors.</p>
<p>Trump has some things in his favor: “incredible genes, I just assume,” said his doctor, and no history of tobacco or alcohol use.</p>
<p>But “by virtue of his age and his gender and the fact he has high cholesterol and that he is in the overweight-borderline obese category, he is at a higher risk for cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a primary care physician and professor of family medicine at Georgetown University. “The physician was saying, yes he’s in excellent health — but yes he does have risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Which is why the comment he will remain healthy for the remainder of his term makes little sense to me. How you can make that kind of assessment from a one-point-in-time examination? Just from those four factors he is at a higher risk.”</p>
<p>Trump’s LDL, the bad cholesterol, registered at 143, a number his doctor wants below 120.</p>
<p>Jackson also said Trump has nonclinical coronary atherosclerosis, commonly known as hardening of the arteries from plaque, which is a combination of calcium and cholesterol.</p>
<p>That’s common in people over 65 and can be a silent contributor to coronary heart disease. Jackson’s conclusion was based on a coronary calcium score of 133, which Mishori called “a little bit concerning” because it could show mild coronary artery disease, although how to interpret these scores isn’t clear-cut. Jackson said he consulted a variety of cardiologists about that calcium score and the consensus was reassuring.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>TRUMP: “Americans are more and more pro-life. You see that all the time. In fact, only 12 percent of Americans support abortion on demand at any time.” — remarks Friday to opponents of abortion rights.</p>
<p>THE FACTS: Neither side of the abortion debate is scoring breakaway support in public opinion research. Gallup said in conjunction with its poll in June: “The dispersion of abortion views today, with the largest segment of Americans favoring the middle position, is broadly similar to what Gallup has found in four decades of measurement.” In short, half said abortion should be “legal only under certain circumstances,” identical to a year earlier, while 29 percent said it should be legal in all circumstances. The smallest proportion, 18 percent, said it should always be illegal.</p>
<p>Americans’ positions on abortion are sufficiently nuanced that both sides of the debate can find polling that supports their point of view. Polling responses on abortion are also highly sensitive to how the questions are asked.</p>
<p>But in the main, the public is not clamoring for abortion to be banned or to be allowed in all cases.</p>
<p>Trump’s claim that only 12 percent support abortion “on demand” may come from a Marist poll sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, which opposes abortion rights. In that poll, 12 percent said abortion should be “available to a woman any time during her entire pregnancy.”</p>
<p>Most polls have found that a distinct minority, though more than 12 percent, think the procedure should be legal in all cases. The percentage was 25 percent in an AP-NORC poll, 21 percent in a Quinnipiac poll, both done in December.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Find AP Fact Checks at <a href="http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd" type="external">http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd</a></p>
<p>Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/APFactCheck" type="external" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/APFactCheck" type="external">https://twitter.com/APFactCheck</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Lauran Neergaard, Emily Swanson and Cal Woodward contributed to this report.</p> | AP FACT CHECK: Trump disdained jobless rate, now loves it | false | https://apnews.com/b237cd77161a4a1aa68d80a735445da9 | 2018-01-20 | 2 |
<p />
<p />
<p>In what appears to be a domestic disturbance turned fatal, a 19 year old Monroe, Ohio man shot and killed his father.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/UPDATE?src=hash" type="external">#UPDATE</a>: Son shoots, kills father in domestic row, Monroe police say <a href="https://t.co/mzXzJKQgx8" type="external">https://t.co/mzXzJKQgx8</a> <a href="https://t.co/VjxUganFso" type="external">pic.twitter.com/VjxUganFso</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Monroe police say they received an emergency 911 call to the residence located at 50 Teil Tree Court, for a possible domestic disturbance about 12:19 AM.</p>
<p />
<p>Monroe Police Public Information Officer Joshua King, said in a prepared statement that 46 year old Christopher Bailey was shot and killed by his 19 year old son Colin Bailey from a single fatal gunshot wound.</p>
<p />
<p>The official narrative incident report from police say that they were dispatched to the residence "for an intoxicated male threatening suicide. Upon arrival it was discovered a domestic situation occurred between father and son."</p>
<p />
<p>The report also indicated that a urine sample was taken from the 19 year old Colin Bailey, and that a .45 caliber shell casing as well as an LG Android phone was also taken by homicide detectives as evidence.</p>
<p />
<p>Officers said that when they found Christopher Bailey, who had been shot, he was immediately transported to Atrium Medical Center in Middletown where he was pronounced dead at 1:09 AM, according to the Warren County Coroner's Office.</p>
<p />
<p>According to police Colin Bailey has not yet been arrested and was released into his own custody at this time pending further investigation, King said.</p>
<p />
<p>"When all pertinent information is gathered the completed case file will be reviewed by the Butler County Prosecutor's Office to decide if any charges are applicable," he said in the statement.</p>
<p />
<p>King also said that the Monroe Police Department will not be publicly releasing any additional details about the shooting or the suspect until the prosecutor's office has had a chance to review the case and made their determinations on what, if any, charges may be applicable for this crime.</p>
<p />
<p>Monroe Police Detectives are urging anyone with more information about the history of the deceased or his son to contact them at <a href="tel:15135399234" type="external">1-513-539-9234</a> and ask for homicide.</p>
<p />
<p>Source:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.journal-news.com/news/police-son-shoots-kills-father-monroe-domestic-disturbance/9MgriLpUgmy3hpzqOS7cUI/" type="external">journal-news.com/news/police-son-shoots-kills-father-monroe-domestic-disturbance/9MgriLpUgmy3hpzqOS7cUI</a></p> | Police in Monroe, Ohio Say Son Shot and Killed His Father | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/6270-Police-in-Monroe-Ohio-Say-Son-Shot-and-Killed-His-Father | 2017-08-09 | 0 |
<p>JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — A veteran New Jersey police officer who allegedly ran over a suspect twice with his patrol SUV during a chase last summer has been charged with assault by auto.</p>
<p>Hudson County prosecutors say Jersey City Sgt. John Ransom was arrested Friday.</p>
<p>The charge stems from an Aug. 6 chase in Jersey City. Authorities say the suspect ran into a park, where he was allegedly struck in an incident caught on surveillance cameras.</p>
<p>The man suffered a fracture to his face along with cuts to his body and head. He was charged with drug possession and was sentenced to two years of probation in September.</p>
<p>Ransom has served on the force for more than 20 years. It wasn't known Saturday iof he's retained an attorney.</p>
<p>JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — A veteran New Jersey police officer who allegedly ran over a suspect twice with his patrol SUV during a chase last summer has been charged with assault by auto.</p>
<p>Hudson County prosecutors say Jersey City Sgt. John Ransom was arrested Friday.</p>
<p>The charge stems from an Aug. 6 chase in Jersey City. Authorities say the suspect ran into a park, where he was allegedly struck in an incident caught on surveillance cameras.</p>
<p>The man suffered a fracture to his face along with cuts to his body and head. He was charged with drug possession and was sentenced to two years of probation in September.</p>
<p>Ransom has served on the force for more than 20 years. It wasn't known Saturday iof he's retained an attorney.</p> | Prosecutors: Officer twice ran over suspect during chase | false | https://apnews.com/amp/ea5f9bb8c78d40af82bfe1b8424fcb16 | 2018-01-13 | 2 |
<p>If you have a knowledge of all things technological and can solve any computer problem you encounter, you might think about turning these skills into profit. Starting your own computer troubleshooting business may sound like a walk in the park, but there is far more to consider and plan for than you might think. A true passion for technology and determination to succeed are critical to the success of a tech support startup, but you’ll also need to take the proper measures to help improve your chances of success. Here are five important considerations to make when starting a computer troubleshooting business.</p>
<p>Get qualified</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>You might be the greatest computer expert in town, but without the proper qualifications, your reputation will mean little. By achieving an A+ certification, you will demonstrate to potential customers that you offer a competent and qualified tech support service. This test will also ensure that there are no significant gaps in your knowledge.</p>
<p>Additionally, you’ll need to acquire the appropriate business permits in order to operate legally. Types of business entities for troubleshooting services can vary, but the two most common are Limited Liability Companies and sole proprietorships.</p>
<p>Devise a business plan</p>
<p>Whether you’re starting your business from your bedroom or an office, you’ll need to draw up a clear and focused business plan. Deciding on a mission statement will help provide your business with some direction, while short and long-term financial projections will enable you to prepare and budget for the future. It may also be wise to draw up a marketing and advertising strategy, and take account of the current market and local competition.</p>
<p>Make House Calls</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>These days, competition is stiff between computer troubleshooting services. To complicate matters, many large electronic and retail outlets have set up their own in-store tech support services. One great way to beat this competition is to make house calls. Oftentimes, people need their computers repaired quickly, and may not be able to reach the store or fix it under guidance from a phone support service. By making house calls, you can increase your profits and offer a quality of service that may be unavailable elsewhere.</p>
<p>Competitive Pricing</p>
<p>When deciding on how much to charge for you services, it’s important to offer competitive rates, without underselling yourself. An easy way to determine a fair price is to check the price of your local competitors online or inquiring in your local electronics stores. Try to set your prices for each service slightly lower than your competitors in order to entice new customers.</p>
<p>Advertise</p>
<p>Once you’re ready to begin operating, it’s time to begin advertising your business. You could distribute flyers and leaflets around your local area and place posters on public bulletin boards and store windows. Print out business cards and hand them into office buildings and stores, and perhaps include an incentive, such as a discount, to first time or returning customers. Online classified ads and forums are easy and cheap ways to gain extra exposure for your business.</p> | A Beginner’s Guide To Starting a Computer Troubleshooting Business | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/02/09/beginners-guide-to-starting-computer-troubleshooting-business.html | 2016-03-22 | 0 |
<p>Tet Offensive</p>
<p>Phase 1: 30 January – 28 March, 1968 Phase 2: 5 May – 15 June, 1968 Phase 3: 17 August – 23 September 1968.</p>
<p>Martin Luther King, Jr.</p>
<p>assassinated in Memphis, TN 4 April 1968 Riots broke out in about 100 US cities and towns over many weeks.</p>
<p>Robert F. Kennedy</p>
<p>assassinated in Los Angeles, CA 6 June 1968 RFK had won the CA primary election for DP presidential nominee that day.</p>
<p>Richard M. Nixon</p>
<p>elected US president 5 November 1968</p>
<p>In the fall (October-November) of 1968 during his election campaign as the Republican Party’s nominee for US president, Richard Nixon sabotaged the Paris Peace Talks between the Johnson Administration and the Communist Party of Vietnam (“North Vietnam”), by using Anna Chennault (of the deposed Nationalist Chinese regime) as a secret agent to contact the South Vietnamese regime of Nguyen Van Thieu and have him renege on his commitment to send a delegation to the scheduled Paris peace negotiations (Nixon promised Thieu a better deal, if Nixon became President), so the peace talks failed by not even starting.</p>
<p>This was an act of treason by Nixon during a time of war.</p>
<p>Nixon used the “failure” of the Johnson Administration to either “win the war” (militarily) or bring the four combatants (North Vietnam and the ‘Viet Cong’ versus South Vietnam and the U.S.A.) into serious armistice and peace negotiations, as an electoral issue justifying voting for him. Nixon won (over the DP’s Hubert Humphrey) by less than 1% of the popular vote.</p>
<p>Nixon and Henry Kissinger (National Security Advisor, then Secretary of State) then expanded the war (into Laos and Cambodia), and only in 1973 – 5 years later – were they able to get the the Hanoi government (the Communist government of North Vietnam, and their allied popular forces in South Vietnam: the ‘Viet Cong’) back to the negotiating table in Paris, with the Communists finally agreeing once again to the concessions they had originally made in 1968.</p>
<p>During the interim, 22,000 additional Americans had died in the war, and perhaps a million more people of Vietnam (north and south) as well as Laos and Cambodia. This is all described in Episode 7 of Ken Burns’ 10 episode TV series, “The Vietnam War” (2017).</p>
<p>It was 50 years ago this month (during Phase 1 of the Tet Offensive) that I registered for the draft. My college deferment was cancelled at the end of 1968, and I was 1-A all of 1969. Bureaucratic delaying tactics and luck kept me from being inducted, and I drew a very high number in the Draft Lottery of December 1969, and so was passed up.</p>
<p>A tense time, and one that ensured I would forever be some kind of leftist.</p>
<p>The Lyndon Johnson tapes: Richard Nixon’s ‘treason’ <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21768668" type="external">http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21768668</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Why I Am a Leftist (Vietnam War) | true | https://counterpunch.org/2018/03/21/why-i-am-a-leftist-vietnam-war/ | 2018-03-21 | 4 |
<p>your email</p>
<p>your name</p>
<p>recipient(s) email (comma separated)</p>
<p />
<p>message</p>
<p>captcha</p>
<p />
<p>Protesters continue to demonstrate in the capitol rotunda on February 28 in Madison. Police have refused to unlock the entrances today because they are trying to prevent protesters from sleeping overnight. Demonstrators have occupied building round-the-clock for the past 14 days. &#160; (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)</p>
<p>Two major victories for cross-class crowd opposing Gov. Walker's proposed unionbusting bill</p>
<p>MADISON, WIS.—“We were supposed to get kicked out about two and a half hours ago. That didn’t happen. So we started dancing.”That was the succinct explanation offered by Josh Kissel, a sophomore at UW-Madison, about what he and a crowd of around 600 were doing past closing time inside the state capitol Sunday night, despite an earlier order from capitol police that protesters would be forced to leave. “Oh, yeah,” he added, almost as an afterthought, before rejoining the massive dance party on the first floor of the capitol. “And one Republican Senator, Schultz, decided he would vote against the budget repair bill. Which means [if] two more senators [oppose it]...this bill fails.”</p>
<p>It’s been a wild two weeks in the state capitol here, where <a href="" type="internal">protests have been ongoing</a> against the Budget Repair Bill proposed by Gov. Scott Walker (R), which would all but end collective bargaining for the state’s public employees.</p>
<p>But no night has been more raucous than Sunday, when protesters may have wrested the advantage in the fight over the bill from Walker by scoring two major victories within a matter of hours: overwhelming police orders to evict them through their willingness to commit civil disobedience, and convincing the first Republican lawmaker to withdraw support from the bill. (Schultz had not officially confirmed his opposition as of Monday morning.)</p>
<p>A huge crowd gathered in the capitol Sunday afternoon, despite police efforts to limit the number who entered. As 4 p.m. approached, there was a slight sense of nervousness among some protesters, as well as an air of defiance. I had expected only a small group of hardcore protesters to still be in the building at closing time. I later realized that I was partially correct—the remaining protesters were, indeed, hardcore. But after two weeks occupying the capitol, they were anything but small. There was no die-hard group of a few dozen holding the line in the capitol for everyone else; all 600 had become die-hards, with many of them ready to be arrested. Debbie Konkol told me that she was one of them. She has been a pre-school teacher for over four decades in Madison. Leaning against the marble railing of the rotunda, she explained that she had been living in the capitol off and on for the past two weeks. “I am completely exhausted. I teach all day and come here all night,” she says. “But I am absolutely elated,” she says. “I never really wanted to get fingerprinted in my lifetime,” she explains, referring to her potential imminent arrest, “but it would be worth it.” Konkol joined in with one of the protesters’ favorite chants, the call-and-response classic, “Show me what democracy looks like! / This is what democracy looks like!” Behind a young woman with buzzed blonde hair operating a megaphone, students danced alongside clergy as they shouted their response. The chant grew in popularity during the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle—which is fitting, because there is an important similarity between Seattle in 1999 and Madison in 2011: Protesters seems to transcend typical class boundaries. Shortly after it became clear that the protesters would be holding the building for at least one more night, they linked arms in a massive circle around the rotunda, and began singing. Immediately to my left was a firefighter wearing his helmet, arm-in-arm with a college student on his left and a teacher on his right. The scene was reminiscent of the “teamsters and turtles” marches at the WTO in Seattle, when blue collar rank-and-file union members joined with environmental activists and marched together to shut down the proceedings. It was their ability to form alliances and march together—literally, arm-in-arm—that helped the anti-globalization protesters emerge victorious, shutting down the WTO. Those alliances run deep in Madison, as steelworkers and firefighters and police have taken turns sleeping in the capitol every night alongside students to ensure they are not removed. It is an example of cross-class solidarity rarely seen in this country. As rumors spread throughout the capitol that police were not going to arrest anyone, the chanting and drumming grew increasingly boisterous. At an impromptu press conference, Wisconsin Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs said that as long as protesters remained nonviolent, “there'll be no one asked to leave the Capitol tonight."</p>
<p>As that confirmation trickled up to the protesters’ floor, the energy seemed to reach a fever pitch. Soon after it was clear that protesters had won an important victory in holding the capitol, a grad student organizer on a bullhorn miraculously managed to shush the crowd to a dull roar. It was clear only a huge announcement would warrant a tempering of the energy, so protesters obliged her. The other side of the rotunda could not hear her, so the protesters around her repeated every sentence, yelling back to the other side. After the enormous pressure put on him,&#160; “State Sen. Dale Schultz”—she waited for the echo—“has withdrawn his vote for the bill!” The capitol erupted. Students and teachers embraced each other, crying; construction workers in hard hats pumped their fists in the air, cheering. A barrel-chested Teamster I had met earlier in the week threw his arms open and locked me in a bear hug. Still squeezing, he proclaimed, “Madison is a heroic city.” He let go, and rejoined the dance party behind him. An enormous banner hanging from the second floor of the capitol had read, “We Need 3 Courageous (R) Senators!” Three protesters quickly scrambled up the steps, pulled up the banner, and changed the number to “2.” The screaming and chanting grew deafening. Somehow, immediately after the banner was altered, a grinning man holding three boxes of pizza ran into the capitol. Police had not allowed any food to enter the capitol for several hours, despite—or perhaps because of—the images shown round the world of citizens of all 50 states and around the world, including Egypt, ordering pies for the capitol occupiers. But somehow, in the wake of the two key victories, the pizza embargo had been broken. “These are from Florida,” the man stated, the dazed grin on his face suggesting a complete and total sense of incredulity. Protesters dug in, and the slices quickly disappeared. The party continued at several decibels louder than is healthy for human hearing, but some protesters began to hunker down in their claimed spots on the marble floor. It was clear they were going to be there for a while. The fight in Madison is far from over. There are still two Republican state senators the bill’s opponents need to win over. If protesters’ numbers flag in the coming days, the police could still evict them. But for now, the capitol—and the moment—belongs to the protesters.</p> | Wis. Capitol Protesters Avoid Eviction, Win GOP Lawmaker to Their Side | true | http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7008/wis._protesters_score_two_major_victories_over_walker/ | 2011-02-28 | 4 |
<p>By Brian Homewood</p>
<p>GENEVA (Reuters) – Preventing the growing gap between the rich clubs and the rest is the key issue in European football, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said on Monday.</p>
<p>The issue came to a head last year when UEFA, with the European Club Association’s (ECA) backing, introduced changes to the Champions League which will reduce the number group stage slots allocated to teams from Europe’s smaller leagues.</p>
<p>The decision was made amid suggestions that the big clubs were considering a breakaway Super League.</p>
<p>“Let’s put our cards on the table and be honest with ourselves: the biggest challenge over the next few years will be ‘competitive balance’,” Ceferin told the ECA general assembly.</p>
<p>“How can we continue to develop football in Europe and avoid widening the huge gulf between the most powerful and the rest? That is the million-dollar question.</p>
<p>“I am a pragmatist; I am open to any practical suggestion that might benefit European football,” he added.</p>
<p>Ceferin said he was pleased that he had been able to talk to the ECA about “about ideas such as salary caps, luxury tax, squad limits and even reforming the transfer system” during the last few months.</p>
<p>“If this is the direction we must take, we will,” he added.</p>
<p>Ceferin, elected as UEFA president in September after the changes had been approved, admitted they had created “a few misunderstandings and frustrations for some.”</p>
<p>The Slovenian lawyer also insisted the UEFA would enforce its breakeven rules known as Financial Fair Play. UEFA’s financial control last week began investigating if Paris St Germain’s spending spree had fallen foul of the rules.</p>
<p>Brazilian striker Neymar left Barcelona to join PSG last month after the French side triggered his 222 million euros ($264 million) release clause and the record-breaking fees are unlikely to fall in the near future, agent and transfer market expert Esteve Calzada told Reuters.</p>
<p>“UEFA’s credibility and that of football rests on us ensuring that the rules that are in force are respected. Nobody is above the law,” Ceferin said.</p>
<p>ECA chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who will step aside on Tuesday after deciding not to seek re-election, said “everyone will benefit” from the reform of European club competitions.</p>
<p>“The small ones understand the big ones, and the big ones bear responsibility for the small ones,” said the former West Germany international. “The reform of the European club competitions has proven this again.”</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> | UEFA president says rich-poor divide is key issue in European football | false | https://newsline.com/uefa-president-says-rich-poor-divide-is-key-issue-in-european-football/ | 2017-09-04 | 1 |
<p>Is America in the grip of a right-wing backlash that will hit the November elections like a hurricane? This narrative is gathering steam. It is fed not only by the minority partisan right-wing media but also its majority “liberal” counterpart, which loves a horse race and is fascinated with the Tea Party, even if it isn’t so eager for the Republicans to take Congress. Regardless of the outcome, 90-plus percent of the pundits and press will cheese up the same, tired, old cliché in their post-election analysis: The Democrats were punished (they will inevitably lose at least some seats in Congress) because they tried to go too far, too fast and too left for the inherently conservative American masses. And this junk will be consumed for years, adding another layer of fat to the lazy couch potato that is American journalism’s “conventional wisdom.”</p>
<p>How about another narrative that makes more sense? Let’s start with the economic issues, since the economy was the number one issue for likely voters in the latest New York Times/CBS poll. Our worst and longest recession since the Great Depression was caused by a real estate bubble that accumulated and burst before Obama was elected. The Democrats passed a stimulus package that was much too small to compensate for the resulting loss of private spending. As my colleague Dean Baker has pointed out, the collapse of this bubble would be expected to knock about $1.2 trillion annually off of private demand. This is about eight times the size of government stimulus spending when we subtract the budget cuts and tax increases of state and local governments (special thanks to the Republicans for cutting $100 billion from the stimulus bill that would have gone straight to municipal governments to prevent some of this).</p>
<p>Now how does this get presented in the media? First, we have a debate about whether the stimulus helped or hurt the economy, or whether it created or saved any jobs at all. This is somewhat ridiculous, from the standpoint of national income accounting. It is reminiscent of the “debates” that carried on in the media for many years (they continue in some quarters), long after the question was settled in the scientific community, as to whether global warming was taking place. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that between 1.4 and 3.3 million more people were employed by mid-2010, as a result of the stimulus. There is a wide range of uncertainty about the size of the effect, but there’s hardly any doubt that the stimulus helped save jobs and output.</p>
<p>Then the horror movie scenes began about the dreaded budget deficit, which over the next decade is almost entirely attributable to two non-stimulus-related items: Iraq and Afghanistan war spending and the Bush tax cuts. In spite of this well-financed campaign against the scourge of red ink, only 3 percent of voters see the deficit as the most important issue facing the country, as compared with 32 percent who chose the economy and 28 percent for jobs. But somehow the deficit got to be so alarming to somebody that it became politically impossible for Congress to even talk about another stimulus for the economy. So very predictably, the recovery lost steam and the Democrats felt just “powerless” to do anything to boost the economy and employment before the election. This guaranteed big losses for their party in the election.</p>
<p>It didn’t help that the Obama Administration failed to create a distinction for voters between the $700 billion bailout for the banks, which was widely hated for obvious reasons, and their stimulus package. Most Americans still don’t see a difference. This was a huge public relations failure.</p>
<p>But all this adds up to something different from a “right-wing backlash.” Indeed, the New York Times/CBS poll shows a 20 percent approval rating for Congressional Republicans (the same as for the Tea Party) as opposed to 30 percent for Democrats.</p>
<p>But 55 percent of voters – a record for the past 20 years – say it is time to give a new person a chance to represent their district.</p>
<p>The conclusion is obvious: Voters are angry – not the anger of the rich who believe, as John D. Rockefeller famously said, that “God gave me my money.” It is a populist rage that will drive some independent or swing voters to vote against incumbents and the incumbent party. Even if it means voting for people who they don’t particularly like, trust, or agree with on the issues.</p>
<p>Republicans were able to keep this country moving to the right for nearly four decades – including through the Clinton years. For much of this time they used a fake populist appeal based on cultural issues, portraying a “liberal elite” who was contemptuous of the values of working-class white voters – who have generally been the biggest group of swing voters. The strategy succeeded because Democrats refused to make the obvious economic populist appeal to the real interests of these voters – who were getting hammered by the loss of manufacturing jobs, weakening of labor and redistribution of income that was engineered by the leadership of both parties. In 2004, non-college-educated whites with household income between $30,000-$50,000 voted for Republicans for Congress by a 60-38 percent margin; in 2006 a switch to a 50-50 split (22 percentage points) contributed significantly to the Democrats’ victory in Congress.</p>
<p>The Republicans’ long-term strategy collapsed in 2008. The Democrats were lucky in that the peak of the financial crisis hit just before the elections that year. In October 2008 the number of Americans believing that the country was on the wrong track hit an all-time record of 89 percent. Most importantly, this situation focused the attention of swing voters on the economy, something that negates the potential appeal of “distraction” issues such as abortion, gay marriage, guns or even the thinly-veiled racism that had been part of the Republicans’ appeal since President Nixon’s post-civil-rights-movement “southern strategy.” Obama himself had eschewed economic populism in his campaign (making an exception in Midwestern primaries such as Wisconsin, where he needed more working-class support in order to win), in keeping with his carefully cultivated media image of post-partisan conciliator. But the economy did the job for him, and for the Democratic Party.</p>
<p>What does this mean for the elections of 2010? I would predict that Democrats – even in some not-so-Democratic districts – who appeal to the massive populist discontent among the voters will do better than those who follow the conventional wisdom and run to the right of Obama on such issues as health care reform or taxes. This applies especially to the swing voters but could also be significant in rallying the party’s base, which is somewhat disillusioned and needs to be energized. Since this is a non-presidential-year election, voter turnout could easily swing the election.</p>
<p>It is not so hard to make this appeal: millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs, while the Wall Street gang who sank the economy are once again raking in billions — and only because they have been rescued and subsidized with hundred of billions of our taxpayer dollars. If enough Democrats campaign on these kinds of themes and offer a populist alternative, they will keep both houses of Congress.</p>
<p>MARK WEISBROT is an economist and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. He is co-author, with Dean Baker, of <a href="" type="internal">Social Security: the Phony Crisis</a>.</p>
<p>This article was originally published by <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/" type="external">The Guardian</a>.</p> | The Rightwing Upsurge in the U.S. | true | https://counterpunch.org/2010/09/23/the-rightwing-upsurge-in-the-u-s/ | 2010-09-23 | 4 |
<p>A U.S. official believes that Iran has obtained enough nuclear material to make a bomb. Israel is believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, though it has never acknowledged this. Why does Iran pursue a nuclear bomb? And will Iran come out of the nuclear closet?</p>
<p>Link TV’s Mosaic Intelligence Report:</p>
<p />
<p /> | Will Iran Come Out of the Nuclear Closet? | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/will-iran-come-out-of-the-nuclear-closet/ | 2009-03-15 | 4 |
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<p>The majority of the world’s leading asset managers are not factoring in climate-change in their decision-making, finds a <a href="" type="internal">new study</a> from the sustainable business group Ceres. Climate change will create risk factors for some businesses and opportunities for others, argues Ceres, and smart money managers should be accounting for that.</p>
<p>The group surveyed the world’s 500 biggest asset managers, and received responses from 84 who manage $8.6 trillion in assets. Of those, 71 percent said they currently are not factoring in climate risks when considering investments—though half said they believe that some sectors have “significant exposure to climate risks.” Forty-four percent said that they don’t consider climate risks at all “because they do not believe that climate change is material to their investment decision making.”</p>
<p>Risks associated with climate change range from the direct impacts of increased severe storms, droughts, and flooding, to the cost increases of doing business if or when a price is put on carbon dioxide. But there are also opportunities for companies who are providing low-carbon solutions or otherwise adapting to the changing climate. The Ceres analysis found that most money managers are not looking very far into the future when assessing these risks and opportunities and choosing investments.</p>
<p>Part of the challenge the report identifies is that clients are not requesting this kind of information: 49 percent said their investor clients aren’t asking them to consider this kind of risk, so they’re not doing it yet. Most said, however, that they are in the preliminary stages of figuring out how to assess climate-related factors.</p>
<p>“The vast majority of the asset managers who responded to the survey are only in first gear on climate change,” said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres. “This is disappointing–it defies reality and the very real numbers… The survey makes clear that the investment community is still overly focused on short term performance and dismissive of long-term risks like climate change.”</p>
<p>Alexis Krajeski, associate director of governance and sustainable investment at London-based F&amp;C Management Limited, one asset management group that is factoring in climate, outlined the three areas her firm examines in assessing risks and opportunities. Her company looks closely at high emitting companies that will need to reduce emissions, those that will be impacted by shifts in consumer demand, and those, like insurers, that will be exposed directly to the impacts of climate change.</p>
<p>Ceres, for its part, has been leading the effort to force companies to include climate risks as part of normal disclosure rules. The group works with investors, businesses, and environmental groups. In November, they brought 20 major institutional investors together to <a href="" type="internal">urge the Securities and Exchange Commission</a> to develop guidelines to help businesses account for climate-related factors that will affect their bottom lines. Lubber said she has been told that the SEC is in final stages of preparing that kind of guidance for companies, and expects to see guidelines announced in the coming months.</p>
<p>While many companies seem to be waiting for a law limiting carbon to start accounting for costs, Lubber pointed out, there are still significant risks to businesses outside of those stemming from legislation. “There’s no doubt that the right market signal needs to come from Congress, with a cap on carbon and a price on carbon. That would have the most impact,” she said. “But without that, the financial and material risks still exist.”</p>
<p>“The bottom line is clear–companies, investors, and the rest of capital markets need to respond to the ever-increasing business risks and opportunities presented by climate change,” said Lubber.</p>
<p /> | Climate Risks: Is Your Money Manager Paying Attention? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/01/climate-risks-your-money-manager-paying-attention/ | 2010-01-08 | 4 |
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<p>PHOENIX - A Jan. 14 trial has been scheduled for a man on charges that he helped plan an attack on a provocative Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas that ended with two Phoenix men being killed in a shootout with police.</p>
<p>Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem is accused of hosting the gunmen at his home beginning in January and providing the guns used in the May 3 shooting in Garland, Texas.</p>
<p>Kareem has pleaded guilty to the charges against him.</p>
<p>An indictment says Kareem practiced shooting with the men who would later carry out the Texas attack in remote desert outside Phoenix between January and May.</p>
<p>Authorities say Kareem also had aspirations to join the Islamic State terrorist organization and attack the Super Bowl when it was in Arizona earlier this year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Man set for trial on charges he helped plan Texas attack | false | https://abqjournal.com/631164/man-set-for-trial-on-charges-he-helped-plan-texas-attack.html | 2 |
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<p>How many race cards are in a deck of 52?</p>
<p>It seems like a lot for Florida Representative Corrine Brown (D).</p>
<p>The congresswoman who’s been in office for 20 years and who recently was indicted on 24 counts of fraud related to activities from a foundation she established is seeking out donations to her legal defense fund. The charges, she says, are a result of her being attacked for fighting racism in Washington.</p>
<p>One Door for Education, the charity founded by Brown in Virginia, “accepted more than $800,000 in donations over the course of four years. During this time, only two checks totaling $1,200 went toward charitable purposes,” reported the Justice Department in its indictment. Federal Authorities then came to the conclusion that the foundation was using the funds to personally benefit Brown, her chief of staff and Carla Wiley, the foundation’s president and someone who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud earlier this year. Authorities discovered more than $200,000 worth of funds that were spent on things such as tickets for NFL games, luxurious vacations, car repairs and plane tickets.</p>
<p>As a response, Corrine Brown has launched a fundraising website to help combat the self-proclaimed witch hunt for fighting racism and injustice.</p>
<p>On the fundraising page, a message from Corrine reads “During my entire political career, I have fought racism, injustice and advocated for individuals who normally get left behind. It should come as no surprise that some took offense to my efforts to stand up for you.”</p>
<p>The message goes on to explain that the Justice Department is trying to strip Corrine of her freedom and that she needs all the money she can get to fight back against the criminal charges.</p>
<p>“I am fighting the Department of Justice, which has unlimited resources. They have smeared my good name. They are trying to take my freedom. I am asking for your help to fight these false charges. On this website, you can make a donation to my legal defense fund.”</p>
<p>The Corrine Brown Legal Defense Trust began in 2010. The Washington Free Beacon obtained records showing that the defense trust had received thousands of dollars in donations from registered lobbyists. Exactly $5,750 in political contributions were taken from three registered lobbyists.</p>
<p>This is prohibited by House ethics rules.</p> | Corrine Brown Pulls Race Card for Charges Against Her | true | http://shark-tank.com/2016/09/22/corrine-brown-pulls-race-card-charges/ | 0 |
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<p>Sept. 6 (UPI) — A pair of amorous lions attempting to mate in South Africa were interrupted by a nosy rhino that distracted them from the dirty deed.</p>
<p>A video recorded by an observer from the safety of a vehicle shows the male lion being allowed to mount his intended lioness, but their tryst proves short-lived when a curious white rhinoceros arrives on the scene.</p>
<p>The lions break apart and flee when the rhino charges them.</p>
<p>The rhino eventually loses interest and wanders off, allowing the lions to reclaim their spot and resume their mating session.</p> | Rude rhino ruins lascivious lions' lovemaking | false | https://newsline.com/rude-rhino-ruins-lascivious-lions-lovemaking/ | 2017-09-06 | 1 |
<p>At 10 AM today, the California Supreme Court officially put an end to a miserable waste of time. <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D98E21HG1&amp;show_article=1" type="external">Proposition 8 has been upheld</a>! Yes, that’s right folks, the thing we should have stopped talking about last November has finally been officially given the California Supreme Court’s “repentant judicial activists” seal of approval! In a truly daring show of Constitutional originality, the Court has ruled that a constitutional amendment is not unconstitutional. Yes, that’s right. The State Constitution is constitutional.</p>
<p>What a surprise.</p>
<p>One need not have any love for Proposition 8 to support this decision, for a very simple reason: unlike the passage of Proposition 8, this is not a thumbs down decision on the desirability of gay marriage, but rather a thumbs up decision on a much more important concept – namely, the rule of law. Proposition 8, whatever one thinks of it, was passed by a majority, will not reduce the functionality of California’s State Government (unlike <a href="/propositions/proposition-3/2008/10/1/proposition-3-children%E2%80%99s-hospitals-bond-act" type="external">some</a> <a href="/propositions/proposition-1/2008/10/1/proposition-1a-high-speed-rail-bonds" type="external">other</a> propositions) or its economy (again, unlike <a href="/propositions/proposition-2/2008/10/1/proposition-2-standards-confining-farm-animals" type="external">others</a>), and even if it did, it would still have to be enforced until such a time as the State could either make an <a href="/article/proposition-8/2008/12/21/ideology-competence" type="external">unconvincing excuse for not enforcing it</a>, or until the voters repeal it. That’s the way it works in any State, California included, and those who disapprove of either Proposition 8 or the decision upholding it should alter their strategy accordingly, since their appeal to the Court (thankfully) went unheeded.</p>
<p>And not only did it go unheeded, it went unheeded by a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/27marriage.html?ref=us" type="external">blistering 6-1 margin</a>. However, despite this, the decision itself has an interesting qualification – all the same-sex unions performed BEFORE Proposition 8 still stand. From a legal standpoint, this is also a correct decision, as it upholds the key legal principle that laws cannot be applied ex post facto. This qualification, however, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the overall subtlety of the decision. To quote from the opening of the official <a href="http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/archive/S147999.PDF" type="external">opinion</a>, “the legal issue we must resolve is not whether it would be constitutionally permissible under the California Constitution for the state to limit marriage only to opposite-sex couples while denying same-sex couples any opportunity to enter into an official relationship with all or virtually all of the same substantive attributes, but rather whether our state Constitution prohibits the state from establishing a statutory scheme in which…the union of an opposite-sex couple is officially designated a ‘marriage’ whereas the union of a same-sex couple is officially designated a ‘domestic partnership.'”</p>
<p>To translate that out of lawyer speak, the question isn’t whether gay marriage is good or bad, but rather whether the voters are permitted to make an official decision on that question, especially if one considers that the only issue at stake is nomenclature. For those suffering from temporary amnesia induced by crusading spirit, please recall that in the status quo, gay couples enjoy all the legal privileges which married couples enjoy, with only one exception – the formality of having their union referred to as a “marriage.” This has almost no implications for the rights of the couple, but drastic implications for the State’s protections for freedom of association. For instance, before Proposition 8, photographers could be forced to photograph “married” homosexual couples despite religious objections on the grounds of “discrimination.” Such blatant violations of freedom should be opposed by anyone concerned with civil liberties, rather than with a mad dash toward totalizing egalitarianism.</p>
<p>And thanks to today’s decision, that is a question we can finally debate honestly, rather than living in fear of riots, activist intimidation and unilateral judicial imposition of non-constitutional values. The California Supreme Court should be congratulated on realizing they were wrong to try to interfere in marriage in the first place – too bad it took an official electoral reprimand, but such is the fate of unwarranted power grabs. In any case, Proposition 8 is law. The court says so. Now let’s all go home.</p> | Now Let’s All Go Home | false | https://ivn.us/2009/05/26/now-lets-all-go-home/ | 2009-05-26 | 2 |
<p>Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND). Flickr/&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/eby/380639137/"&gt;timjeby&lt;/a&gt;</p>
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<p>After nearly two weeks of cruising through <a href="" type="internal">financial reform</a> and <a href="" type="internal">passing amendments</a> that have noticeably improved the bill, Senate Democrats now face an 11th-hour scare on their Wall Street overhaul. A clutch of Democrats, including Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND), have signaled that they may not vote for the Senate’s reform bill. And with complete GOP opposition practically guaranteed, that means the fate of financial reform is a lot less assured&#160;than it was earlier this week.</p>
<p>Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said yesterday and today that he wanted a final vote on financial reform as early as this afternoon or tomorrow, in effect cutting off debate on additional amendments. Reid’s charge, however, has left some Democrats feeling burned.</p>
<p>Dorgan, for instance, wants a vote on his amendment to ban a particularly risky type of financial trading called naked short selling. That’s when a trader bets that a stock or bond will fall in price without having any skin in the game—no cash or securities in hand to pay out in case the bet goes bad. Experts say naked short selling is particularly pernicious because it artificially drives down stock or bond prices, and distorts markets. (Matt Taibbi wrote a <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/%3bkw=%5b3351,11470%5d" type="external">good—and highly entertaining—piece</a> on this.) Dorgan has an amendment pending that would ban naked short selling, something Germany <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&amp;sid=asFWbw4CZ6yo&amp;pos=1" type="external">has temporarily done</a>. But earlier today it didn’t look like Dorgan would get a vote on his amendment, and in response, he’s saying he might not vote for the full bill when the time comes. Whitehouse is pulling the same move over an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/19/gop-running-out-clock-on_n_581886.html" type="external">amendment of his</a> that would cap credit card interest rates and that has yet to be voted on.</p>
<p>Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) are also pushing hard to get a vote on <a href="http://merkley.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/?id=7ab3e0ac-9c6b-44d3-a9db-12cf73b5ce98" type="external">their amendment</a>, which would ban big banks from “proprietary trading,” that is, trading for their own benefit instead of for clients’. Cutting out prop trading, as it’s called, would eliminate the kinds of conflicts of interest seen in big investment banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Goldman in particular has taken criticism for selling mortgage-linked products to clients the firm itself was betting against. The Merkley-Levin amendment would further block banks from sponsoring hedge or private equity funds, and set caps on banks’ growth.</p>
<p>It’s unclear whether Levin or Merkley would vote against the full bill if their amendment isn’t voted on. Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64I5MN20100519" type="external">reported today</a> that a back-door compromise had been reached on the amendment, which means it could ultimately see the light of day—and give Democrats the boost they need to reach 60 votes (or more) when they vote on the full financial bill.</p>
<p /> | Doubt Surrounds Finance Bill Passage | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/05/doubt-surrounds-finance-bill-passage/ | 2010-05-19 | 4 |
<p>From Bloomberg:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=STOCA1:US" type="external">California</a>&#160;Governor&#160; <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/jerry-brown/" type="external">Jerry Brown</a>&#160;will propose a second round of automatic spending cuts that would be triggered if voters reject his proposal to temporarily increase income and sales taxes.</p>
<p>Brown said he’ll include projected revenue from the tax increase in the budget he’ll propose next month for the fiscal year that begins July 1, even though voters won’t be able to decide on the higher levies until November. That means if voters say no, it would blow a bigger hole in a budget already facing a $13 billion deficit. Automatic trigger cuts would be needed to eliminate that shortfall, Brown said.</p>
<p>“We’re going balance the budget,” Brown said in an interview in&#160; <a href="http://topics.bloomberg.com/los-angeles/" type="external">Los Angeles</a>&#160;Dec. 6. “We’ll propose cuts and the taxes, and if the taxes don’t materialize, I will propose we have trigger cuts that go into effect immediately.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/brown-to-seek-more-automatic-budget-cuts-if-california-tax-increase-fails.html" type="external">(Read Full Article)</a></p>
<p>Photo courtesy of Freedom to Marry, flickr</p> | Brown to Seek More Automatic Budget Cuts If California Tax Increase Fails | false | http://capoliticalreview.com/trending/brown-to-seek-more-automatic-budget-cuts-if-california-tax-increase-fails/ | 2011-12-09 | 1 |
<p />
<p>It's no secret that Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) is a dominant force in online retail. But it's still astounding just how dominant it's been in recent years. New data from <a href="https://intelligence.slice.com/echo-turns-volume-amazons-ambitions-audacious-bets-pay-off/" type="external">Slice Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a> shows Amazon took 53% of all the sales growth of online retailers in the US last year.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Amazon's North American sales increased 25.2% in 2016. Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau has been tracking e-commerce sales growth around 15.5% through the first three quarters of the year.</p>
<p>Put another way, despite its size, Amazon continues to take share of the growing e-commerce market, and competitors such asWal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) are struggling to keep up.</p>
<p>Image source: Amazon.com.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>While the U.S. Census Bureau hasn't released its estimates for the fourth quarter of 2016 yet, extrapolating out the steady growth rate of the first three quarters results in $53 billion in online sales for 2016. In addition, the majority of retail growth in the United States comes from e-commerce. In 2015, 62% of total growth came from online sales.</p>
<p>Slice's numbers may be a bit off, considering Amazon saw an increase of "just" $16 billion in sales across all of North America. Still, the company is undoubtedly taking market share as its sales growth outpaces the overall industry.</p>
<p>With e-commerce accounting for such a significant share of retail growth in the United States, Amazon's biggest competitors, like Wal-Mart, are really feeling the hurt. While Amazon's North American sales increased 25.2% last year, Wal-Mart's overall U.S. sales increased just 3.3% through the first three quarters of the year.</p>
<p>Wal-Mart's e-commerce sales fared a bit better, increasing 7%, 11.8%, and 20.6% in the first, second, and third quarters, respectively. The third quarter was boosted by the acquisition of Jet.com. Overall, Wal-Mart's organic e-commerce sales still appear to lag the industry.</p>
<p>Even if you're skeptical of Slice's claim that Amazon took 53% of online sales growth last year, it's clear that Amazon accounts for a huge share of the retail growth in the United States. Not just e-commerce growth, but overall retail sales.</p>
<p>Slice had a few thoughts to share on why Amazon has been able to stay ahead of the competition:</p>
<p>Undoubtedly, however, the biggest factor fueling Amazon's continued dominance of retail in the United States is its Prime program. Prime makes customers extremely loyal. It's what fuels 55% of online shoppers to check Amazon.com first (and maybe last). And it causes shoppers to spend more on Amazon than their non-Prime counterparts.</p>
<p>Last year, Amazon added "tens of millions" of new Prime members, according to its fourth-quarter earnings release. Unlike the previous two years, when Amazon experienced around 50% annual growth in membership, the company didn't provide a growth rate.</p>
<p>That may be because Prime membership is nearing saturation in markets such as the United States. Estimates show more than half of U.S. households are already Prime members. Still, with a growing majority of households subscribed to Prime (even if that growth is slowing) and going to Amazon as their first online shopping destination, it looks as if Amazon will continue to take share of the U.S. retail market for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Find out why Amazon is one of the 10 best stocks to buy now</p>
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<p>Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now. Amazon <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%3Disaeditxt0000450%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6313%26ftm_veh%3Darticle_pitch&amp;impression=fb3a0c67-45b5-4779-ae56-7b63f6eb8281&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">is on the list Opens a New Window.</a> -- but there are nine others you may be overlooking.</p>
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<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/adamlevy/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levy Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p> | Amazon's U.S. Online Sales Growth Last Year Was More Than Everyone Else's Combined | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/10/amazon-us-online-sales-growth-last-year-was-more-than-everyone-else-combined.html | 2017-02-10 | 0 |
<p>Nov. 7 (UPI) — Attorney General <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Jeff_Sessions/" type="external">Jeff Sessions</a> will testify before the House Judiciary Committee next week as part of its ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.</p>
<p>Sessions is scheduled to testify on Nov. 14, committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte <a href="https://judiciary.house.gov/hearing/oversight-department-justice-2017/" type="external">announced Tuesday</a>.</p>
<p>All 10 committee Democrats signed a letter asking Sessions about questions on Russian ties to <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a>‘s presidential campaign. Sessions has recused himself from Russian matters as head of the Justice Department because he was a top policy adviser during the Trump campaign.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/10/30/Trump-Russia-probe-Whos-involved-where-it-stands/5311501110740/" type="external">previous testimony in Congress</a>, Sessions said he was “not aware of any of those” contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign surrogates.</p>
<p>Later, it was revealed that he spoke to Russia’s then-U.S. ambassador Sergey Kislyak. At a judiciary hearing last month, Sessions testified that he had “no improper involvement” with Russian officials and that he was “not aware of anyone” who had communications with the Russians.</p>
<p>Since then it was disclosed that campaign staffer <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/George_Papadopoulos/" type="external">George Papadopoulos</a>, in a meeting that included Sessions, offered in March 2016 to use his contacts and set up a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Russians.</p>
<p>Sessions <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/07/jeff-sessions-george-papadopoulos-russia-questions-244639" type="external">reportedly rejected</a> the proposal.</p>
<p>Another campaign adviser, Carter Page, told the House Intelligence Committee last week that he informed Sessions in July 2016 about his own planned trip to Moscow.</p>
<p>“These facts appear to contradict your sworn testimony on several occasions,” the Democrats on the House judiciary panel, led by Rep. Jon Conyers Jr., of Michigan, <a href="https://democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/democrats.judiciary.house.gov/files/documents/Sessions%20letter%20signed.pdf" type="external">wrote in a letter</a> dated Tuesday.</p>
<p>The letter also noted committee members have sent more than 40 letters to the Trump administration “asking for information necessary to carry out our oversight of the Department of Justice. We have not yet received a single meaningful response to any of the letters,” including ones sent directly to the department.</p>
<p>Sen. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Lindsey_Graham/" type="external">Lindsey Graham</a>, R-S.C., also wants Sessions to testify before his <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/11/05/Graham-wants-Sessions-to-testify-on-Russia-again/9951509906134/" type="external">Senate Judiciary Committee</a>.</p>
<p>“Jeff, you need to tell us everything you know about Russia. So yeah, he probably should come back, and answer the question yet again ‘did you know anything about an effort by the Trump campaign to meet with Russia, not just collude with Russia,'” Graham told said on Fox News Sunday.</p>
<p>Committee Chairman Sen. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chuck_Grassley/" type="external">Chuck Grassley</a>, R-Iowa, hasn’t yet asked Sessions to return to testify.</p>
<p>Sessions appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee during the former Alabama senator’s confirmation hearing for attorney general.</p> | Sessions to testify to House next week in Russia probe | false | https://newsline.com/sessions-to-testify-to-house-next-week-in-russia-probe/ | 2017-11-07 | 1 |
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Confederate statue on private property along an interstate in Tennessee has been painted pink in the latest act of vandalism there.</p>
<p>The Tennessean <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/12/27/nathan-bedford-forrest-statue-nashville-vandalized-pink/984740001/" type="external">reports</a> the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest seems to have been painted late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The statue portrays the early Ku Klux Klan leader and former Confederate general riding a horse.</p>
<p>Owner Bill Dorris said the statue has been "shot at six times," among other acts of vandalism. He said he plans to leave the pink paint, which he expects will turn red in sunlight and attract more attention to the statue along Interstate 65 south of downtown Nashville.</p>
<p>Dorris said as many as a dozen cameras are posted on his property. He is waiting for assistance reviewing footage to try to identify who is responsible for the paint job.</p>
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Confederate statue on private property along an interstate in Tennessee has been painted pink in the latest act of vandalism there.</p>
<p>The Tennessean <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/12/27/nathan-bedford-forrest-statue-nashville-vandalized-pink/984740001/" type="external">reports</a> the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest seems to have been painted late Tuesday or early Wednesday. The statue portrays the early Ku Klux Klan leader and former Confederate general riding a horse.</p>
<p>Owner Bill Dorris said the statue has been "shot at six times," among other acts of vandalism. He said he plans to leave the pink paint, which he expects will turn red in sunlight and attract more attention to the statue along Interstate 65 south of downtown Nashville.</p>
<p>Dorris said as many as a dozen cameras are posted on his property. He is waiting for assistance reviewing footage to try to identify who is responsible for the paint job.</p> | Tennessee statue of former Confederate general painted pink | false | https://apnews.com/amp/257c19ce9c11411e8909679e71d514f3 | 2017-12-27 | 2 |
<p>With endless testing yielding a low percentage of helpful information, experts say new tests for breast cancer are providing actionable information for women and their doctors.</p>
<p>THE BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations are what put women at a higher risk for breast, ovarian and other cancers. But they are not the only mutated genes that experts believe lay the groundwork for similar extra risk, according to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/13/us-health-cancer-multigene-tests-idUSKCN0QI28B20150813" type="external">Reuters</a>.</p>
<p>A large group of genetic experts earlier this year argued against testing for a wider panel of breast cancer-related mutations. They insisted that until it is proven they are valid and useful in clinical practice, there is no need.</p>
<p>“There’s a lot of controversy even among experts,” said the senior author of the new study, Dr. Leif W. Ellisen of Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Boston.</p>
<p>For the past 15 years, women at a high risk have been tested only for BRCA1 and 2. But current information has led many companies to offer multi-gene panels for up to 30 other genes, said Ellisen.</p>
<p>“Are patients better off getting these much broader tests?” he said. “Does it actually change what you would tell them to do in terms of screening, prevention, or risk management?”</p>
<p>The answer was yes. According to new results, for some women these additional tests could change their clinical management.</p>
<p>The research team did panel tests for 25 or 29 genes on 1,046 women between 2001 and 2014. The participants were referred for hereditary breast or ovarian cancer gene testing, even though they had already tested negative for BRCA mutations.</p>
<p>From the study, 40 women had harmful mutations in other genes. Of those women, 26 of them had mutations with a low to moderate risk of breast or ovarian cancer. And eight of them had mutations similar to those with Lynch syndrome that increases colon and ovarian cancer risk, while three had high-risk breast cancer genes found.</p>
<p>Of the entire group that was sent for genetic testing, only nine percent tested positive for BRCA mutations. But, with an additional four percent not having BRCA mutations was still a significant number for them.</p>
<p>Even without having a high risk of getting breast or ovarian cancer, they still had a high risk of colon or uterine cancer in which they could then be sent for additional screenings.</p>
<p>And to support multigene testing, researchers pointed out that it is not more expensive than the BRCA mutation testing on its own, therefore, a reasonable option that could save more lives.</p>
<p /> | Multigene testing for additional breast cancer mutations yielding useful results | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/08/13/multigene-testing-for-additional-breast-cancer-mutations-yielding-useful-results/ | 2015-08-13 | 3 |
<p>Legendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died, NASA said Saturday. Young was 87.</p>
<p>The space agency said Young died Friday night at home in Houston following complications from pneumonia.</p>
<p>NASA called Young one of its pioneers - the only agency astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and the first to fly into space six times. He was the ninth man to walk on the moon.</p>
<p>"Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight," acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said in an emailed statement. "John was one of that group of early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nation's first great achievements in space."</p>
<p>Young was the only spaceman to span NASA's Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs, and became the first person to rocket away from Earth six times. Counting his takeoff from the moon in 1972 as commander of Apollo 16, his blastoff tally stood at seven, for decades a world record.</p>
<p>He flew twice during the two-man Gemini missions of the mid-1960s, twice to the moon during NASA's Apollo program, and twice more aboard the new space shuttle Columbia in the early 1980s.</p>
<p>His NASA career lasted 42 years, longer than any other astronaut's, and he was revered among his peers for his dogged dedication to keeping crews safe - and his outspokenness in challenging the space agency's status quo.</p>
<p>Chastened by the 1967 Apollo launch pad fire that killed three astronauts, Young spoke up after the 1986 shuttle Challenger launch accident. His hard scrutiny continued well past shuttle Columbia's disintegration during re-entry in 2003.</p>
<p>"Whenever and wherever I found a potential safety issue, I always did my utmost to make some noise about it, by memo or whatever means might best bring attention to it," Young wrote in his 2012 memoir, "Forever Young."</p>
<p>He said he wrote a "mountain of memos" between the two shuttle accidents to "hit people over the head." Such practice bordered on heresy at NASA.</p>
<p>Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon in 1969 as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked its surface, considered Young "the memo-writing champion of the astronaut office." Young kept working at Johnson Space Center in Houston "long after his compatriots had been put out to pasture or discovered other green fields," Collins wrote in the foreword of "Forever Young."</p>
<p>Indeed, Young remained an active astronaut into his early 70s, long after all his peers had left, and held on to his role as NASA's conscience until his retirement in 2004.</p>
<p>"You don't want to be politically correct," he said in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press. "You want to be right."</p>
<p>Young was in NASA's second astronaut class, chosen in 1962, along with the likes of Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad and James Lovell.</p>
<p>Young was the first of his group to fly in space: He and Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom made the first manned Gemini mission in 1965. Unknown to NASA, Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich on board, given to him by Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra. When it came time to test NASA's official space food, Young handed Grissom the sandwich as a joke.</p>
<p>The ensuing scandal over that corned beef on rye - two silly minutes of an otherwise triumphant five-hour flight - always amazed Young. Sandwiches already had flown in space, Young said in his book, but NASA brass and Congress considered this one a multimillion-dollar embarrassment and outlawed corned beef sandwiches in space forever after.</p>
<p>Two years later, with Gemini over and Apollo looming, Young asked Grissom why he didn't say something about the bad wiring in the new Apollo 1 spacecraft. Grissom feared doing so would get him fired, Young said. A few weeks later, on Jan. 27, 1967, those wires contributed to the fire that killed Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee in a countdown practice on their Cape Canaveral launch pad.</p>
<p>It was the safety measures put in place after the fire that got 12 men, Young included, safely to the surface of the moon and back.</p>
<p>"I can assure you if we had not had that fire and rebuilt the command module ... we could not have done the Apollo program successfully," Young said in 2007. "So we owe a lot to Gus, and Rog and Ed. They made it possible for the rest of us to do the almost impossible."</p>
<p>Young orbited the moon on Apollo 10 in May 1969 in preparation for the Apollo 11 moon landing that was to follow in a couple months. He commanded Apollo 16 three years later, the next-to-last manned lunar voyage, and walked on the moon.</p>
<p>He hung on for the space shuttle, commanding Columbia's successful maiden voyage in 1981 with co-pilot Robert Crippen by his side. It was a risky endeavor: Never before had NASA launched people on a rocket ship that had not first been tested in space. Young pumped his fists in jubilation after emerging from Columbia on the California runway, following the two-day flight.</p>
<p>Crippen called flying with Young "a real treat."</p>
<p>"Anybody who ever flew in space admired John," said Crippen, a close friend who last spoke to him a few months ago.</p>
<p>Young made his final trek into orbit aboard Columbia two years later, again as its skipper.</p>
<p>Young's reputation continued to grow, even after he stopped launching. He spoke out on safety measures, even before the Challenger debacle.</p>
<p>"By whatever management methods it takes, we must make Flight Safety first. If we do not consider Flight Safety first all the time at all levels of NASA, this machinery and this program will NOT make it," he warned colleagues.</p>
<p>As then chief of the astronaut corps, Young was flying a shuttle training aircraft high above Kennedy Space Center when Challenger ruptured. He took pictures of the nose-diving crew cabin. The seven Challenger astronauts never knew of all the dangerous O-ring seal trouble leading up to their flight. "If I had known these things, I would have made them aware, that's for damn sure," Young wrote in his book.</p>
<p>Young noted that even his friends at NASA considered him "doom and gloom," and that a shuttle launch "always scared me more than it thrilled me."</p>
<p>He always thought the probability was there for a space shuttle accident, he observed in his autobiography, given that it was "such an incredibly complex machine."</p>
<p>"It wasn't pessimism. It was just being realistic," he wrote.</p>
<p>Yet Young maintained that NASA and the nation should accept an occasional spaceflight failure, saying it's worth the risk.</p>
<p>"I really believe we should be operating (the shuttle), flying it right now, because there's just not a lot we can do to make it any better," Young said in 2004, a year after the Columbia tragedy. Another year passed before shuttle flights resumed.</p>
<p>Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Young maintained the United States should be doing two to three times the amount of space exploration that it was doing. NASA should be developing massive rockets to lift payloads to the moon to industrialize it, he said, and building space systems for detecting and deflecting comets or asteroids that could threaten Earth.</p>
<p>"The country needs it. The world needs it. Civilization needs it," Young said in 2000, adding with a chuckle, "I don't need it. I'm not going to be here that long."</p>
<p>In his book, Young noted that his "relentless" stream of memos about volcanic super-eruptions and killer asteroids was aimed at scaring and educating at the same time. Humans need to start living off the planet in order to save the species, he stressed again and again, pointing to the moon. "Some folks surely regarded me as a crackpot," he wrote. "But that didn't stop me."</p>
<p>Young spent his last 17 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in management, focusing on safety issues. He retired at the end of 2004, seven months shy of NASA's return to space following the Columbia accident.</p>
<p>Young was born Sept. 24, 1930 and grew up in Orlando, Florida. He became interested early on in aviation, making model planes. He spent his last high school summer working on a surveying team. The job took him to Titusville due east of Orlando; he never imagined that one day he would be sitting on rockets across the Indian River, blasting off for the moon.</p>
<p>He earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952 and went on to join the Navy and serve in Korea as a gunnery officer. He eventually became a Navy fighter pilot and test pilot.</p>
<p>Young received more than 100 major accolades in his lifetime, including the prestigious Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1981.</p>
<p>Even after leaving NASA, he worked to keep the space flame alive, noting in his official NASA biography that he was continuing to advocate the development of technologies "that will allow us to live and work on the moon and Mars."</p>
<p>"Those technologies over the long (or short) haul will save civilization on Earth," he warned in his NASA bio, almost as a parting shot.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein and AP writer Julie Watson contributed. Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to clarify that Robert Lightfoot is acting NASA administrator.</p>
<p>Legendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died, NASA said Saturday. Young was 87.</p>
<p>The space agency said Young died Friday night at home in Houston following complications from pneumonia.</p>
<p>NASA called Young one of its pioneers - the only agency astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and the first to fly into space six times. He was the ninth man to walk on the moon.</p>
<p>"Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight," acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said in an emailed statement. "John was one of that group of early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nation's first great achievements in space."</p>
<p>Young was the only spaceman to span NASA's Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs, and became the first person to rocket away from Earth six times. Counting his takeoff from the moon in 1972 as commander of Apollo 16, his blastoff tally stood at seven, for decades a world record.</p>
<p>He flew twice during the two-man Gemini missions of the mid-1960s, twice to the moon during NASA's Apollo program, and twice more aboard the new space shuttle Columbia in the early 1980s.</p>
<p>His NASA career lasted 42 years, longer than any other astronaut's, and he was revered among his peers for his dogged dedication to keeping crews safe - and his outspokenness in challenging the space agency's status quo.</p>
<p>Chastened by the 1967 Apollo launch pad fire that killed three astronauts, Young spoke up after the 1986 shuttle Challenger launch accident. His hard scrutiny continued well past shuttle Columbia's disintegration during re-entry in 2003.</p>
<p>"Whenever and wherever I found a potential safety issue, I always did my utmost to make some noise about it, by memo or whatever means might best bring attention to it," Young wrote in his 2012 memoir, "Forever Young."</p>
<p>He said he wrote a "mountain of memos" between the two shuttle accidents to "hit people over the head." Such practice bordered on heresy at NASA.</p>
<p>Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon in 1969 as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked its surface, considered Young "the memo-writing champion of the astronaut office." Young kept working at Johnson Space Center in Houston "long after his compatriots had been put out to pasture or discovered other green fields," Collins wrote in the foreword of "Forever Young."</p>
<p>Indeed, Young remained an active astronaut into his early 70s, long after all his peers had left, and held on to his role as NASA's conscience until his retirement in 2004.</p>
<p>"You don't want to be politically correct," he said in a 2000 interview with The Associated Press. "You want to be right."</p>
<p>Young was in NASA's second astronaut class, chosen in 1962, along with the likes of Neil Armstrong, Pete Conrad and James Lovell.</p>
<p>Young was the first of his group to fly in space: He and Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom made the first manned Gemini mission in 1965. Unknown to NASA, Young smuggled a corned beef sandwich on board, given to him by Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra. When it came time to test NASA's official space food, Young handed Grissom the sandwich as a joke.</p>
<p>The ensuing scandal over that corned beef on rye - two silly minutes of an otherwise triumphant five-hour flight - always amazed Young. Sandwiches already had flown in space, Young said in his book, but NASA brass and Congress considered this one a multimillion-dollar embarrassment and outlawed corned beef sandwiches in space forever after.</p>
<p>Two years later, with Gemini over and Apollo looming, Young asked Grissom why he didn't say something about the bad wiring in the new Apollo 1 spacecraft. Grissom feared doing so would get him fired, Young said. A few weeks later, on Jan. 27, 1967, those wires contributed to the fire that killed Grissom, Edward White II and Roger Chaffee in a countdown practice on their Cape Canaveral launch pad.</p>
<p>It was the safety measures put in place after the fire that got 12 men, Young included, safely to the surface of the moon and back.</p>
<p>"I can assure you if we had not had that fire and rebuilt the command module ... we could not have done the Apollo program successfully," Young said in 2007. "So we owe a lot to Gus, and Rog and Ed. They made it possible for the rest of us to do the almost impossible."</p>
<p>Young orbited the moon on Apollo 10 in May 1969 in preparation for the Apollo 11 moon landing that was to follow in a couple months. He commanded Apollo 16 three years later, the next-to-last manned lunar voyage, and walked on the moon.</p>
<p>He hung on for the space shuttle, commanding Columbia's successful maiden voyage in 1981 with co-pilot Robert Crippen by his side. It was a risky endeavor: Never before had NASA launched people on a rocket ship that had not first been tested in space. Young pumped his fists in jubilation after emerging from Columbia on the California runway, following the two-day flight.</p>
<p>Crippen called flying with Young "a real treat."</p>
<p>"Anybody who ever flew in space admired John," said Crippen, a close friend who last spoke to him a few months ago.</p>
<p>Young made his final trek into orbit aboard Columbia two years later, again as its skipper.</p>
<p>Young's reputation continued to grow, even after he stopped launching. He spoke out on safety measures, even before the Challenger debacle.</p>
<p>"By whatever management methods it takes, we must make Flight Safety first. If we do not consider Flight Safety first all the time at all levels of NASA, this machinery and this program will NOT make it," he warned colleagues.</p>
<p>As then chief of the astronaut corps, Young was flying a shuttle training aircraft high above Kennedy Space Center when Challenger ruptured. He took pictures of the nose-diving crew cabin. The seven Challenger astronauts never knew of all the dangerous O-ring seal trouble leading up to their flight. "If I had known these things, I would have made them aware, that's for damn sure," Young wrote in his book.</p>
<p>Young noted that even his friends at NASA considered him "doom and gloom," and that a shuttle launch "always scared me more than it thrilled me."</p>
<p>He always thought the probability was there for a space shuttle accident, he observed in his autobiography, given that it was "such an incredibly complex machine."</p>
<p>"It wasn't pessimism. It was just being realistic," he wrote.</p>
<p>Yet Young maintained that NASA and the nation should accept an occasional spaceflight failure, saying it's worth the risk.</p>
<p>"I really believe we should be operating (the shuttle), flying it right now, because there's just not a lot we can do to make it any better," Young said in 2004, a year after the Columbia tragedy. Another year passed before shuttle flights resumed.</p>
<p>Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Young maintained the United States should be doing two to three times the amount of space exploration that it was doing. NASA should be developing massive rockets to lift payloads to the moon to industrialize it, he said, and building space systems for detecting and deflecting comets or asteroids that could threaten Earth.</p>
<p>"The country needs it. The world needs it. Civilization needs it," Young said in 2000, adding with a chuckle, "I don't need it. I'm not going to be here that long."</p>
<p>In his book, Young noted that his "relentless" stream of memos about volcanic super-eruptions and killer asteroids was aimed at scaring and educating at the same time. Humans need to start living off the planet in order to save the species, he stressed again and again, pointing to the moon. "Some folks surely regarded me as a crackpot," he wrote. "But that didn't stop me."</p>
<p>Young spent his last 17 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston in management, focusing on safety issues. He retired at the end of 2004, seven months shy of NASA's return to space following the Columbia accident.</p>
<p>Young was born Sept. 24, 1930 and grew up in Orlando, Florida. He became interested early on in aviation, making model planes. He spent his last high school summer working on a surveying team. The job took him to Titusville due east of Orlando; he never imagined that one day he would be sitting on rockets across the Indian River, blasting off for the moon.</p>
<p>He earned an aeronautical engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952 and went on to join the Navy and serve in Korea as a gunnery officer. He eventually became a Navy fighter pilot and test pilot.</p>
<p>Young received more than 100 major accolades in his lifetime, including the prestigious Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1981.</p>
<p>Even after leaving NASA, he worked to keep the space flame alive, noting in his official NASA biography that he was continuing to advocate the development of technologies "that will allow us to live and work on the moon and Mars."</p>
<p>"Those technologies over the long (or short) haul will save civilization on Earth," he warned in his NASA bio, almost as a parting shot.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein and AP writer Julie Watson contributed. Dunn reported from Cape Canaveral, Florida.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to clarify that Robert Lightfoot is acting NASA administrator.</p> | NASA: Legendary astronaut, moonwalker John Young has died | false | https://apnews.com/amp/369e1a734dfc46ae99409b4be0f89e87 | 2018-01-06 | 2 |
<p />
<p>Image Source: AMD.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) surged for the second day in a row on Thursday following the announcement that Alphabet's (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google planned to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/16/amd-stock-surges-on-google-cloud-deal.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">integrate AMD's server GPUs Opens a New Window.</a> into its cloud platform. AMD stock was up about 9.5% at 3:30 p.m. EST, adding to a gain of nearly 10% on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Rival NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) already has a presence at most of the major cloud-computing vendors, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft's Azure, and IBM's cloud platform. For AMD, the Google deal marks the second significant cloud win for the company in recent months, following a deal that will put its GPUs into Alibaba's cloud.</p>
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<p>The Google deal represents progress for AMD, which has failed to capitalize on the growing trend of GPUs being used in the data center to the same extent as NVIDIA. NVIDIA's data center business is booming, with revenue tripling during the third quarter, to $240 million. AMD doesn't break out its data center GPU sales.</p>
<p>While some optimism is warranted due to this deal, Google is also adding NVIDIA GPUs to its cloud platform. This move fits in with Google's general push to make its cloud platform heterogeneous, not dependent on any single vendor. The company is working on developing a server based on IBM's POWER9 CPU, for example. Supporting both major GPU vendors makes sense given this strategy.</p>
<p>A recent note from analyst Ian Ing estimates that artificial intelligence could be a $15 billion opportunity for chip companies by 2025. NVIDIA is singled out as having an advantage in this area, while AMD is considered "too resource constrained to fully address the opportunity." With AMD fighting to win back market share in the GPU and CPU markets on a research and development budget that has been slashed over the past few years, that concern seems valid.</p>
<p>The Google cloud deal is certainly good news for AMD. But a 20% move in two days is hard to justify.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Advanced Micro Devices 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=f67e2a6b-8552-4024-b022-61982ea3e3f0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Advanced Micro Devices 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 November 7, 2016</p>
<p>Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. <a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFBargainBin/info.aspx" type="external">Timothy Green Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of IBM. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Amazon.com, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool owns shares of Microsoft. 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> | AMD Soars Again After Google Cloud Deal | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/17/amd-soars-again-after-google-cloud-deal.html | 2016-11-17 | 0 |
<p>On Monday, February 9th, 2004 shortly after 6:15 p.m., Rev. Jessie Jackson said a prayer for me and my visitors inside the visiting room here at San Quentin Prison. Then he and my personal pastor and friends were told to leave, which they did.</p>
<p>I was then escorted to the rear of the visiting area and taken to a hallway which contained holding cells. I was then placed in the holding cell, where I had the handcuffs removed, and was then told to get undressed, which I did. I was strip-searched and given a brand new set of prison-issued clothing and told to put them on.</p>
<p>I was handcuffed after I got dressed and was removed from that cell, where I was handed over to another squad of officers. I was surrounded by about six officers and escorted to the death chamber waiting room. When I was in the visiting room, the prison officials told me that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had granted me a stay of execution, but until they heard from the United States Supreme Court about whether or not my stay would stay in place, this prison was going to proceed as if I had no stay in place.</p>
<p>When I arrived outside the death chamber waiting room door, it was opened, and I was told to go inside, which I did. I was then told to place my back on the wall while being surrounded by a new squad of officers. These were the officers of the execution squad. There were about eight of them. The leader of the squad got real close to me and asked me if there was going to be any trouble when they took the handcuffs off of me? I looked him in his eyes and told him “no,” and he removed the handcuffs.</p>
<p>I was again told to take off all my clothes, which I did, and I was again strip-searched. This time, they used a flashlight to light up both my mouth and butt as they searched me! This room that I was now in was very, very cold; the temperature had to be in the lower 50s. I stood barefoot on that cold floor surrounded by those officers while my body was completely searched. Then I was given another new set of clothing, only these were the ones that I was to be executed in.</p>
<p>I was then placed in another cell, only this new one was half the size as a regular cell. It had only a toilet, a mattress and pillow in it. I stood there in the cold, waiting for my pastor to come pray with me, and for me. All the time not knowing what the United States Supreme Court was going to do.</p>
<p>About a half hour later, my pastor arrived, and she was placed in a cell next to mine. It was to my right-hand side, but on an angle, and it was hard to see her through the cell bars, but I managed. I was asked once again, did I want a last meal. I said no. I was asked, did I want water. I said no. The warden came in and asked me, did I have a final statement. I said no. My arms were once again checked so they could make sure that they could find my veins, and officers were passing by with armfuls of alcohol pads/swabs and other assorted items for my murder, and their execution!</p>
<p>My pastor did a great job in keeping me focused, and somewhere in the middle of one of her scriptures, the phone rang. It was my attorney calling to let me know she was with me in spirit, and as soon as she heard something from the U.S. Supreme Court, she would call and let me know.</p>
<p>I entered the death chamber waiting room around 6:35 p.m., and around 8:15 p.m., the phone rang again, and it was once again my attorney. She told me that she heard from the court and that they refused to hear the state’s petition. They denied the state and upheld my stay!</p>
<p>Even before I told my pastor the news, I told those officers that I meant them no disrespect in what I was about to say to them, but they weren’t going to do their job tonight! I then told my pastor, and her and I prayed! I came within three hours and 45 minutes of being murdered by the state of California.</p>
<p>I am now recovering from the manmade ritual of death that I had to experience. I will never be the same again! I am only getting stronger and more determined to do my part in shutting down the U.S. government’s pride and joy: ‘Their capital punishment system!’</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | The Rituals of State Murder | true | https://counterpunch.org/2004/02/14/the-rituals-of-state-murder/ | 2004-02-14 | 4 |
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<p>Republicans have made it very clear that, if Obama goes forward, it would be the equivalent of giving the middle finger to their incoming majority – and, by extension, to the American public, which helped the GOP gain seats in the House and Senate on Nov. 4.</p>
<p>At a news conference held the day after the midterm elections, Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the incoming Senate majority leader, compared Obama’s signing of an executive order on immigration to “waving a red flag in front of a bull.” Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) said Obama will “burn himself” if he moves forward.</p>
<p>You get the idea. Republicans ain’t happy – and they are going to get a lot less happy over the next week or so. No matter what congressional response McConnell and Boehner craft, the most obvious and predictable outcome of Obama’s move on immigration is that any hope of bipartisanship on much of anything in the 114th Congress that will convene in January would probably be out of the question.</p>
<p>Obama knows that. And it would seem he doesn’t care. Or, rather, he has made the calculation that the chance of genuine bipartisanship on virtually anything was so low in the first place that it didn’t make sense not to do what he believes is the right thing. The post-grand-bargain-collapse version of Obama is far less willing to extend his hand to Republicans – having, in his estimation, had it bitten so many times before. He views the “now the well is poisoned” point being made by Republicans as laughable.</p>
<p>Then there is the political calculus Obama is making as it relates to his own party. His decision to postpone the signing of the executive order until after the 2014 elections was a clear bow to Democratic senators seeking re-election in Republican (or at least Republican-leaning) states, who fretted that such a move would doom their chances.</p>
<p>Turns out, they were doomed anyway. With Sens. Mark Pryor (Ark.), Mark Udall (Colo.) and Mark Begich (Alaska) all having lost – and Sen. Mary Landrieu (La.) headed in that direction – Obama is done waiting around. (And, yes, the fact that none of those people wanted him to campaign for them in the fall miffed him.)</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>With a Republican Party with which he believes he cannot deal in any meaningful way and a timid congressional Democratic Party (in his estimation), Obama’s decision is a simple one: This is good policy and, in the long term – maybe the short term, too – good politics.</p>
<p>OBAMA: Order would cement 2nd-term legacy</p>
<p>For Obama, signing an executive order such as this one – in addition to his move on DREAMers during the 2012 campaign – cements him as the first president to succeed in bringing the millions of people living in the shadows out into the light. For someone who, rightly, sees the possibility of major legislative action on any of his priorities in the final two years of his presidency as a pipe dream, making such a move on immigration is his best/only way to build out a pillar of his second-term legacy.</p>
<p>This decision is, given the Republicans’ strongly stated opposition to it, also a bit of an act of purposeful provocation on his part. And many Democratic strategists hope/believe that conservatives in the House and Senate will react vociferously to it – damaging the already-not-so-great Republican brand among Hispanics (and voters more generally). Democrats – and, in particular, Obama – remain convinced that the 2014 elections proved nothing about how the country feels about Republicans and that, by exposing some of the elements within the Republican Party that its leaders have worked to keep quiet in recent months, they can regain the political momentum lost earlier this month.</p>
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<p /> | Immigration executive order would ignite a firestorm | false | https://abqjournal.com/497656/immigration-executive-order-would-ignite-a-firestorm.html | 2 |
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<p>Dustin Hinkle tells KCNC-TV (https://goo.gl/DJSZVB ) that he and a couple of friends were making a Parkour video on the roof of the Denver City Lofts on Thursday when he fell through a chimney cover. Parkour involves moving from point to point using obstacles along the way.</p>
<p>Hinkle plummeted down the old incineration chimney until a cable caught his fall. He was stuck for nearly two hours until firefighters broke through a brick wall to get him out.</p>
<p>Hinkle, who along with his friends is facing a trespassing charge, says he thought he was going to die and he didn’t believe in God until he survived the fall.</p>
<p>The Denver Post reports that jail records show Hinkle is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 170 pounds.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Denver Fire Department spokeswoman Melissa Taylor told the Post: “It appeared to me to be a pretty small chimney.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KCNC-TV, <a href="http://www.cbsdenver.com" type="external">http://www.cbsdenver.com</a></p> | Man practicing Parkour falls 40 feet down chimney in Denver | false | https://abqjournal.com/953326/man-practicing-parkour-falls-40-feet-down-chimney-in-denver-2.html | 2 |
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<p>The GOP wants to cut taxes on the rich. Surprised? (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images) &#160;</p>
<p>When Barack Obama was president, congressional Republicans were deficit hawks. They opposed almost everything Obama wanted to do by arguing it would increase the federal budget deficit.</p>
<p>But now that Republicans are planning giant tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, they’ve stopped worrying about deficits.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans have agreed to cut taxes by&#160; <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F09%2F19%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fsenate-republicans-tax-cut.html%3Fmcubz%3D1&amp;t=YmQ5MWJhZmU0ZmZiMTVjMzFhNTBjMDMyZjg2ZDgzNjIxZWRjMGE0Yix3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">$1.5 trillion</a>&#160;over the next decade, which means giant budget deficits.</p>
<p>Unless Republicans want to cut Social Security, Medicare, and defense, that is.&#160; Even if Republicans eliminated everything&#160;elsein the federal budget – from education to Meals on Wheels – they wouldn’t have nearly enough to pay for tax cuts of the magnitude Republicans are now touting.</p>
<p>But Republicans won’t cut Social Security or Medicare because the programs are overwhelmingly popular. And rather than cut defense, Senate Republicans want to increase defense spending by a whopping&#160; <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pastemagazine.com%2Farticles%2F2017%2F09%2Fcongress-approves-80-billion-dollar-military-spend.html&amp;t=ZmEzMmEzYzZiMzg2Yjc3ZTEzNmQ3YjhmNWFjOGY2OWYxOTk4MmYxMyx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">$80 billion</a>&#160;(enough to <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Ftheintercept.com%2F2017%2F09%2F18%2Fthe-senates-military-spending-increase-alone-is-enough-to-make-public-college-free%2F&amp;t=YjU2NTM1OTBhNGNjZmJiYjE5YzBiYjVjYWE3NzQ3MzgwNzc5MzBmMix3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">&#160;fund free public higher education</a>&#160;that Bernie Sanders proposed in last year’s Democratic primary, which deficit hawks in both parties mocked as being ridiculously expensive).</p>
<p>There’s also the cleanup from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, estimated to be least <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fstory%2Fweather%2F2017%2F08%2F30%2Fharvey-costliest-natural-disaster-u-s-history-estimated-cost-160-billion%2F615708001%2F&amp;t=ZTUxYjQ0NDIwN2VlYTcwNjhhZWU5YjI0MzRjZDBiOTk4Yzc3ODg5Zix3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">&#160;$190 billion</a>. And Trump’s “wall” – which the Department of Homeland Security estimates will cost about&#160; <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.msnbc.com%2Fvelshi-ruhle%2Fwatch%2Fwhat-is-the-real-cost-of-trump-s-wall-1037739075822&amp;t=Njg3YWI3NWU0Yzc1NDUwM2NhMGI2NWY1MWZjZmFiNjkzZTE4MjgwOCx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">$22 billion</a>.</p>
<p>Oh, and don’t forget infrastructure. It’s just about the only major spending bill that could be passed by bipartisan majorities in both houses. Given the state of the nation’s highways, byways, public transit, water treatment facilities, and sewers, it’s desperately needed. Trump campaigned on spending $1 trillion on it.</p>
<p>So how do Republicans propose to pay for any of this,&#160;and&#160;a big tax cut for corporations and the wealthy – without exploding the federal deficit?</p>
<p>Easy. Just pretend the tax cuts will cause the economy to grow so fast – <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fposteverything%2Fwp%2F2017%2F07%2F24%2Fthe-republicans-growth-plan-doesnt-add-up-thats-an-opening-for-democrats%2F%3Futm_term%3D.e536e5e14ee7&amp;t=MDk2OTVjMGRlZjg5NDg3NDk4MjNlYWFmMDZiNzFiZjRkYjI0MzRmYSx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">&#160;3 percent</a>&#160;a year on average – that they’ll pay for themselves, and the benefits will trickle down to everyone else.</p>
<p>If you believe this, I have several past Republican budgets to sell you, extending all the way back to Ronald Reagan’s magic asterisks.</p>
<p>The Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation don’t believe it. They realistically assume that the economy <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbo.gov%2Fpublication%2F52846&amp;t=NjEzYzZiMGRiNzE4NWFkN2RlZmNjOTU4MTdiZjI2NDlmYjFhY2I4Yyx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">&#160;won’t grow over 2 percent</a>&#160;a year on average over the next decade.&#160;</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve estimates the fastest sustainable rate of economic growth will be&#160; <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnbc.com%2F2017%2F09%2F20%2Fheres-the-full-transcript-of-janet-yellens-media-brief.html&amp;t=ZGQwMmVmYzUzYTdkMTliZDZmNjAzNGNmOTVjOTE3YjU2M2Q1MTEwOCx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">1.8 percent</a>, given how slowly America’s working-age population is growing as well as the slow rate of productivity gains.</p>
<p>But Trump has already made a fetish out of discrediting anyone that comes up with facts he doesn’t like, and other Republicans seem ready to join him.</p>
<p>Senator Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican who sits on the budget committee, says he doesn’t want to rely on estimates coming from economists at the CBO and the Joint Tax Committee. He’d rather rely on supply-side economists outside government. “I do think it is time for us to have a real debate and to have real economists weighing in and we should take other things into account other than Joint Tax and C.B.O,” Corker&#160; <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F09%2F22%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fin-battle-over-tax-cuts-its-republicans-vs-economists.html&amp;t=ZDc1ZmEwZDRlOWRjNGU0NDY0OGY1ZGU2ZmYwMGFjMzc3ODZiOGRiNyx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">said last week.</a></p>
<p>Unfortunately for the Republican tax cutters who used to be deficit hawks, we already have real-world historical evidence of what happens after massive tax cuts. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush both cut taxes on the wealthy and ended up with huge <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F06%2F02%2Fupshot%2Fa-tax-cut-might-be-nice-but-remember-the-deficit.html%3Fmcubz%3D1&amp;t=OTgxMGNkZWMwZTg1ZjA5NThjMTBmOGI4MGQ4YjA1YTIwNGMxOWNmMSx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">budget deficits</a>.</p>
<p>Besides, there’s no reason to cut taxes on big corporations and the wealthy. If anything, their taxes should be raised.&#160;</p>
<p>Trump says we’re “the highest taxed nation in the world.” Rubbish. The most meaningful measure is taxes paid as a percentage of GDP. On this score, the United States has the&#160; <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.taxpolicycenter.org%2Fbriefing-book%2Fhow-do-us-taxes-compare-internationally&amp;t=ZWRiY2NjOGQzNTAwM2I0NGU5YjZmYTEzMzU5ZGJkZmM5MGU2MTFmNix3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">4th lowest taxes of any major economy</a>. (Only South Korea, Chile, and Mexico ranking lower.)&#160;</p>
<p>American corporations aren’t overtaxed. After taking deductions and tax credits, the typical U.S. corporation today pays an effective tax rate of&#160; <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbpp.org%2Fresearch%2Ffederal-tax%2Factual-us-corporate-tax-rates-are-in-line-with-comparable-countries&amp;t=Zjg3NTAzNWRlMmNlZGIxY2FmMjljNWRiZjQ2N2YxYmQzMjhiYmZiOSx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">24 percent.</a>&#160;That’s only a tad higher than the average of <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cbpp.org%2Fresearch%2Ffederal-tax%2Factual-us-corporate-tax-rates-are-in-line-with-comparable-countries&amp;t=Zjg3NTAzNWRlMmNlZGIxY2FmMjljNWRiZjQ2N2YxYmQzMjhiYmZiOSx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">&#160;21 percent among advanced nations.</a></p>
<p>The rich aren’t overtaxed. The wealthiest 1 percent in the U.S. pay the lowest taxes as a percent of their income and total wealth of the top 1 percent <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewresearch.org%2Ffact-tank%2F2016%2F04%2F11%2Famong-developed-nations-americans-tax-bills-are-below-average%2F&amp;t=ZGYzZWMxYTA5ZGZhMDFhMzcyODJkYWI0Yjk4MzUwNWFjZTI5NjM5NCx3TGlvM1JOVg%3D%3D&amp;b=t%3AhQ9Ds4P3Iv6D7mgEr8WMqg&amp;p=http%3A%2F%2Frobertreich.org%2Fpost%2F165663034195&amp;m=1" type="external">&#160;in any major country</a>&#160;– and far lower than they paid in the U.S. during the first three decades after World War II, when the American economy grew faster than it’s been growing since the Reagan tax cuts.</p>
<p>But we do have a deficit in public investment – especially in education and infrastructure. And we do have a national debt that topped $20 trillion this year and is expected to grow by an additional $10 trillion over the next decade.</p>
<p>What’s the answer? Raise taxes on big corporations and the wealthy. That’s what rational politicians would do if they weren’t in the pockets of big corporations and the wealthy.&#160;</p>
<p>This piece first appeared at&#160; <a href="http://robertreich.org/post/165663034195" type="external">RobertReich.org</a>.</p> | Robert Reich: Trump and the GOP’s New Tax Plan Is a Giant Gift to the 1% | true | http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20556/trump_and_the_republicans_new_tax_plan_is_a_lie | 2017-09-28 | 4 |
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<p>My colleagues throughout the state have dedicated their lives and their careers to the health of New Mexicans. As a medical community, we take great pride in the care provided to every patient, every day.</p>
<p>I have been greatly disappointed with recent comments within our community claiming there are not enough physicians to serve our state, that many independent physicians are backlogged and that patients do not have access to the specialty care they need.</p>
<p>There are thousands of physicians and providers who stand ready to provide health care in communities across our state offering innovative procedures and the latest technology. We invest in our equipment, continuing education and our team, and we believe in providing our patients with high-quality medicine in a compassionate and patient-centered environment. We are part of a comprehensive network of primary and specialty care providers with access to some of New Mexico’s most respected and awarded hospitals and facilities.</p>
<p>I want to reassure your readers that access to state-of-the-art health care is available in Albuquerque and throughout New Mexico and that our medical community is prepared to provide excellent, uninterrupted care to every patient. The board-certified cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons at the Heart Institute are one of many physician groups that are accepting new patients and offering timely appointments.</p>
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<p>Again, I want to reassure readers that our New Mexico medical community is here and is prepared to provide excellent, uninterrupted care to every patient.</p>
<p>DR. SEAN MAZER</p>
<p>President, New Mexico Heart Institute</p> | Health Care in N.M. Alive, Well, Dedicated To Serving | false | https://abqjournal.com/147418/health-care-in-n-m-alive-well-dedicated-to-serving.html | 2012-11-19 | 2 |
<p>Kimberly-Clark (NYSE:KMB) suffered a steeper-than-expected 8.9% slide in first-quarter profits as the maker of Kleenex tissues grappled with higher prices.</p>
<p>The Dallas-based company said it earned $350 million, or 86 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $384 million, or 92 cents a share. Excluding one-time items, it earned $1.09 a share, solidly missing consensus calls from analysts for $1.17.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>On the other hand, revenue at Kimberly-Clark, which also makes Huggies diapers, increased 4% to $5.03 billion, exceeding the Street’s view of $4.98 billion. North American personal care sales slid 2%, compared with a 1% rise in Europe. Consumer tissue sales in North America were flat, while tissue sales climbed 3% in Europe.</p>
<p>“We continue to execute our global business plan strategies in a difficult environment,” CEO Thomas Falk said in a statement.</p>
<p>Kimberly-Clark announced plans to raise prices in a “number” of its businesses, including North American consumer products.</p>
<p>“The rapid run-up in commodity costs has influenced our near-term profitability, so we are taking aggressive actions in response to the cost environment,” Falk said.</p>
<p>In light of the higher prices, Kimberly-Clark lowered its 2011 non-GAAP EPS forecast to $4.80 to $5.05, compared with $4.90 to $5.05 previously. Yet the company now sees full-year sales rising 4% to 6%, up from 3% to 4% previously. Organic sales are expected to rise 2% to 4%.</p>
<p>Shareholders punished Kimberly-Clark for the earnings miss and new guidance, sending the stock down 3.1% to $64.00 ahead of Monday’s open. The company’s shares finished last week up nearly 5% on the year.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Kimberly-Clark Posts Softer 1Q Profit, Will Raise Prices | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/04/25/kimberly-clark-posts-lower-profit-says-raise-prices.html | 2016-01-28 | 0 |
<p>Published time: 11 Dec, 2017 10:32</p>
<p>Half of respondents to a survey in Russia told researchers they were unsurprised by recent Hollywood sexual harassment scandals. The historical allegations against famous figures were viewed as just an everyday occurrence in western show business.</p>
<p>In a poll conducted by the Public Opinion research foundation, about 51 percent of Russians said that they had heard about the latest string of sex-related scandals in Hollywood. Of those who’d heard about them, 18 percent thought that the victims’ testimonies are truthful and well-founded, 15 percent called the accusations far-fetched, while 20 percent said they did not know enough to draw conclusions.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/politics/407943-fresh-poll-shows-most-russians/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Almost all respondents who were aware of the stories – 50 percent – stated that they considered sexual harassment an ordinary, everyday occurrence in western show business. 31 percent thought that it was wrong for alleged victims to raise the issue decades after the event, but 50 percent said that sex crimes should have no statute of limitation.</p>
<p>Asked if they thought that victims should share part of the responsibility in sexual harassment cases, 48 percent of respondents answered in the affirmative. By contrast, 33 percent said that the blame should be attached solely to the alleged predator.</p>
<p>In any case, 81 percent of Russians think that once a sex scandal is brought to public attention, the accused should be brought to court; 57 percent told researchers that they thought sexual harassment a criminal rather than a civil offence.</p>
<p>The poll was held in early December, shortly before TIME magazine named the #MeToo social movement (aimed at raising awareness about such harassment) as the most influential ‘person’ in 2017.</p>
<p>TIME’s recognition comes amid a wave of public allegations of sexual misconduct that have singled out some of the most prominent men in US politics, media and entertainment.&#160; The allegations have already led to multiple firings and investigations.</p> | 50% say Sex Pests part of Hollywood’s everyday life – Russian poll | false | https://newsline.com/50-say-sex-pests-part-of-hollywoods-everyday-life-russian-poll/ | 2017-12-11 | 1 |
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<p>“Our goal is to make sure this is not a one- or two-year conference, but becomes an annual conference and make it grow,” he said.</p>
<p>Reyes said anyone who uses the Internet on a regular basis will find something useful at the conference, especially in terms of learning how to keep their personal or sensitive information safe from hackers, and he encourages anyone who fits that description to attend.</p>
<p>But he also hopes it attracts people who are looking for career opportunities in the field of information technology, and he envisions the conference becoming a centerpiece of the college’s long-term goal of becoming a regional center of excellence in the cyber security field.</p>
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<p>Reyes believes the local economy, at the mercy of fluctuations in the energy sector that it relies on so heavily, could be diversified and strengthened by the development of a prominent cyber security program at the college.</p>
<p>“There are approximately 200,000 jobs available in IT in America right now,” he said. “And it is projected that by 2025, there will be 1.5 million jobs available in IT, with a high percentage of those in the field of cyber security.”</p>
<p>Reyes wants to see San Juan College become the regional leader in helping meet those needs, and he thinks CyberCon 2.0 Four Corners, which takes place Thursday and Friday at the school, is the first step in making that happen.</p>
<p>“It is here to stay,” Reyes said of the conference and the school’s commitment to building such a program. “If we do it right and have the support of the community and attract high-quality students to our programs, we could transform the region.”</p>
<p>Last year’s inaugural cybercon got things off to a good start, he said. Approximately 120 people took part over two days, and Reyes is optimistic that number will increase this year.</p>
<p>He was especially pleased with the way the local business community responded to last year’s conference, ponying up sponsorship funds that allowed the college to keep the cost of attendance low. Even better, he said, this year’s event is free.</p>
<p>The first day of this year’s cybercon has been designated Business and Industry Professionals Day with Richard Hammer, a research and development scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a senior cyber security engineer, serving as the keynote speaker. The topics to be covered that day include identity protection, ransomware, DEFCON hacking, critical infrastructure protection and education in cyber security.</p>
<p>The final day has been designated Youth and Family Day. Hands-on activities will be offered for middle and high school students, and their families, while speakers will address such topics as cyberbullying, careers in cyber security and nanotechnology. There also will be a cyber patriot competition.</p>
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<p>Reyes said the long-term support of the local business community will be an important element in helping establish the college as a cyber security leader.</p>
<p>“Businesses in the community are critical for us to achieve this goal,” he said. “They need to supply internships and work experience for our students.”</p>
<p>Of course, local school districts also will need to encourage their students to explore career options in cyber security, he said, and the college is working with representatives of districts throughout the county to arrange transportation for students for this week’s conference.</p>
<p>The college also has received a grant to stage two cyber security camps for elementary, middle school and high school students this summer. Each camp will last five days, with the first one taking place the last week in June and the second being held in the second week in July. A total of 90 students will be accepted between the two camps, and Reyes hopes to have students from every district in the county attend.</p>
<p>All expenses will be covered by the grant. Students can begin applying for admission to the camps at this week’s conference.</p>
<p>Mike Easterling covers education, health and the environment for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4610.</p>
<p>If you go</p>
<p>What: CyberCon 2.0 Four Corners</p>
<p>When: 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday</p>
<p>Where: San Juan College, 4601 College Blvd. in Farmington</p>
<p>Admission: Free, but participants must register at Eventbrite.com, as seating is limited.</p>
<p>For more information: Call 505-566-3804</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>©2017 The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.)</p>
<p>Visit The Daily Times (Farmington, N.M.) at <a href="http://www.daily-times.com" type="external">www.daily-times.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p>
<p>_____</p> | San Juan College cybercon kicks off Thursday | false | https://abqjournal.com/992956/san-juan-college-cybercon-kicks-off-thursday.html | 2 |
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<p>Brian Cahn/ZUMApress.com</p>
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<p>When some of the nation’s top evangelical leaders threw their weight behind immigration reform, liberal advocates were pleased to receive help from an unexpected ally. But immigration foes saw it as nothing less than treachery.</p>
<p>Last month, the National Association of Evangelicals and Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) Ethics &amp; Religious Liberty Commission, launched an ad campaign to kick off a new lobbying campaign for immigration reform that includes a pathway to legalization for illegal immigrants. The Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative anti-immigration group, blasted the effort. “The more left-leaning clergy ignored the Apostle Paul’s warning and exchanged the truth of God for a lie,” the group said. “In some ways, the lie these evangelicals have traded for is more treacherous because for many of them it appears to wrap a cursory understanding of immigration policy in moralistic, well-intentioned error.”&#160; And this growing clash between evangelical groups and anti-immigration activists threatens to split the conservative coalition.</p>
<p>Land is one of the country’s most powerful evangelical leaders and the SBC has been a frequent ally of the Republican Party. And in the wake of Arizona’s tough immigration law, he’s been joined by other high-profile religious conservatives, who have issued a call for “Christian compassion” for illegal immigrants. They include Mat Staver, dean of the law school at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University—who has only recently come forward to support immigration reform—and prominent Latino evangelical Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, who’s been dubbed the “Hispanic Karl Rove.” All regularly cite passages recalling the Biblical exodus in Egypt. “We once were strangers and foreigners in a foreign land,” said Rev. Marcos Witt, a Houston-based preacher who leads of the largest evangelical churches in the country. “Stop the raids and welcome people.”</p>
<p>Land’s group also backed comprehensive reform in 2006—at a time when many conservative Christian groups sat out the debate or actively opposed the effort. But following the passage of Arizona’s law, Land has sharpened his rhetoric and stepped up the SBC’s lobbying efforts, calling for an overhaul of the entire immigration system. “The federal government needs to step up to the plate. If not, it’s going to rend the fabric of our society,” Land said in a conference call last month organized by Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. More strikingly, Land slammed anti-immigration foes on the right in harsh terms, suggesting they were misguided and even ignorant for opposing a pathway to legalization. “It doesn’t help when you have parts of the conservative coalition that insists on mislabeling a pathway as ‘amnesty,’” he said. “They need a course in remedial English themselves.”</p>
<p>In response, anti-immigration advocates have raised the stakes, accusing the churches of harboring illegal immigrants. “Some of the churches have become sanctuaries where illegal immigrants can take refuge—it’s an aiding and abetting activity,” says Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a leading anti-immigration group. “We shouldn’t be confusing theology with policy.”</p>
<p>The evangelical leaders’ unequivocal push for immigration reform is all the more striking because on most other topics, religious conservatives have tended to walk in lockstep with the Republican party—particularly social issues such as gay marriage and abortion. But when it comes to immigration, demographic changes give evangelical churches an incentive to embrace a more liberal policy. While the majority of Latinos in the US are Catholic, a rapidly growing number are joining evangelical churches. In 2007, over a third of Latinos identified as evangelicals, up from about 15 percent a decade earlier. “Hispanics are hard-wired to be like us on sanctity of life, marriage and issues of faith,” Land told CNN.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>Not all Christian conservatives agree. Groups such as Phyllis Schlafly’s Eagle Forum have loudly opposed the SBC’s efforts, and Focus on the Family has declined to take a position. Still, it’s striking that, according to a recent poll from the Public Religion Research Institute, 60 percent of white evangelicals backed an immigration overhaul plan with a path to citizenship, while just 31 percent wanted an enforcement-only overhaul—a breakdown similar to the general population.</p>
<p>Evangelical leaders say they’re trying to make inroads with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), the ranking GOP leader on immigration, as well as other Republicans. But so far they’ve found Democrats to be more receptive. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who’s leading the Democratic reform effort, recently called Land and has been in active dialogue with his evangelical cohort.</p>
<p>The increasingly bitter skirmishes between evangelical leaders and anti-immigration activists could pose a major political headache for Republicans. The GOP made significant electoral gains during the Bush years thanks to an alliance with conservative Christians. If Republicans were to lose the enthusiastic support of that constituency, the party could take a heavy hit at the polls. As the GOP has shifted increasingly rightward on immigration, evangelicals appear to be realizing that it’s not worth sacrificing the long-term future of their churches for short-term political gains for Republicans.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | A Right-Wing Schism Over Immigration Reform? | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/06/right-wing-clash-over-immigration-reform/ | 2010-06-01 | 4 |
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<p>French digital security company Oberthur Technologies has recently introduced the Motion Code™ credit card. Currently being tested by two financial institutions in France and a bank in Poland, the card has a small screen embedded on the back containing the security code or card verification value (CVV). While this is not revolutionary, that the CVV changes every hour is. This technology makes it almost impossible for any hacker to use a stolen credit card number after the&#160; <a href="http://www.moneytips.com/emv-101" type="external">security code Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;has changed.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>This randomly-generated code would protect a huge number of credit card users, many of whom don't realize that their card details have been stolen until several days later. Once found, the&#160; <a href="http://www.moneytips.com/counterfeit-credit-card-transactions-drop-following-chip-implementation/969" type="external">damage Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;may already have been done, with the card information used to make thousands of dollars in purchases. While the cardholder is not responsible for repaying these purchases, the&#160; <a href="http://www.moneytips.com/why-businesses-are-not-using-credit-card-chip-readers/306" type="external">retailers Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;involved will have lost their merchandise. Also, the cardholder has to wait to receive a new card and to change any recurring charges, which all takes time.</p>
<p>This article was provided by our partners at&#160; <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.moneytips.com_a-2Dnew-2Dtype-2Dof-2Dcredit-2Dcard-2Dmay-2Ddefeat-2Dfraud_527&amp;d=DQMFaQ&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=uCXtHF24dZ3113BjoaYTxHq6KVC8JfyZuAjm-D--z2s&amp;m=vXYUarMvH9N3XhPDR5v8QqDGoTsI5jVKlOXuHsuHiN4&amp;s=bUKELhCs0T3TyGdt0f4Lq6LjFzZGg81X6gsmv62dGYQ&amp;e=" type="external">moneytips.com Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.moneytips.com_criminals-2Dtarget-2Dstores-2Dwithout-2Dchip-2Dreaders_400&amp;d=DQMFaQ&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=uCXtHF24dZ3113BjoaYTxHq6KVC8JfyZuAjm-D--z2s&amp;m=vXYUarMvH9N3XhPDR5v8QqDGoTsI5jVKlOXuHsuHiN4&amp;s=CVjrtiBQF6xF69ViOiCwflM1yE1WC68YzB7bjapIIQo&amp;e=" type="external">Criminals Target Stores Without Chip Readers Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.moneytips.com_apple-2Dpays-2Dfirst-2Dbirthday&amp;d=DQMFaQ&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=uCXtHF24dZ3113BjoaYTxHq6KVC8JfyZuAjm-D--z2s&amp;m=vXYUarMvH9N3XhPDR5v8QqDGoTsI5jVKlOXuHsuHiN4&amp;s=zAQoQ74HtgH92NpdAbsCZwiW5kv6Yjkn3mqT3W3qABM&amp;e=" type="external">Apple Pay's First Birthday Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.moneytips.com_careful-2Dnew-2Dcredit-2Dcards-2Darent-2Dsafer-2Dyet&amp;d=DQMFaQ&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=uCXtHF24dZ3113BjoaYTxHq6KVC8JfyZuAjm-D--z2s&amp;m=vXYUarMvH9N3XhPDR5v8QqDGoTsI5jVKlOXuHsuHiN4&amp;s=_amk-il77IlSLf6g_jqy9iR-_I_1WAulbANVsJQscO0&amp;e=" type="external">Careful! New Credit Cards Aren't Safer Yet Opens a New Window.</a></p> | A New Type Of Credit Card May Defeat Fraud | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/10/10/new-type-credit-card-may-defeat-fraud.html | 2016-10-10 | 0 |
<p>LONDON — Britain's High Court has denied an attempt by a woman to use her dead daughter's frozen eggs to create her own grandchild, after deciding it wasn't clear whether the daughter wanted the procedure.</p>
<p>The daughter died in 2011 at age 28 and had signed a consent form agreeing that her eggs could be stored after her death but had not specified how they should be used.</p>
<p>In the ruling issued Monday, the U.K. court rejected a request by an unnamed woman and her husband to send her daughter's eggs to a U.S. fertility clinic, where they would have been fertilized and transferred into the woman.</p>
<p>Britain's fertility regulator refused to ship the eggs abroad, arguing there was no clear proof the daughter wanted her mother to use her eggs.</p> | Court Bars Mom From Using Dead Daughter’s Frozen Eggs | false | http://nbcnews.com/news/world/court-bars-grandma-using-dead-daughters-frozen-eggs-n376136 | 2015-06-16 | 3 |
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<p>In this Sept. 20, 2014 photo provided by the U.S. Army, feral horses graze in front of a soldier riding in an armored Humvee, as part of a security detail, at the Fort Polk Joint Readiness Training Center, in Fort Polk, La. Officials are trying to find a way to deal with the approximately 700 "trespass horses," and are holding a meeting Thursday, Aug. 13, 2015 to hear input from residents and animal rights groups, among others. (Sgt. William Gore/U.S. Army 40th Public Affairs Detachment via AP)</p>
<p>Herds of feral horses are roaming on thousands of acres in Louisiana where soldiers conduct intensive training, posing a danger and a nuisance to troops at risk of being kicked, bitten or unpleasantly surprised by random piles of manure, Army officials say.</p>
<p>"Sometimes training has to be halted while they shoo horses out," said Kim Reischling, spokeswoman for Fort Polk, a 198,000-acre base about 20 miles from the Texas state line.</p>
<p>The officials are trying to find a way to deal with the approximately 700 "trespass horses," and are holding a meeting Thursday to hear input from residents and animal rights groups, among others.</p>
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<p>Most of the horses can be found on about 48,000 of the 90,000 acres of forest land that the base uses for training, said Jim Caldwell, spokesman for the 604,000-acre forest.</p>
<p>Some people speculate that the horses are descended from Army cavalry horses, and a local author has self-published a children's book based on that tale. But it is more likely that they are descendants of area farm and ranch horses, said Reischling and Rita Bingham, director of the Humane Society of West Louisiana.</p>
<p>Others were almost certainly released fairly recently by people who could no longer afford to feed them, Caldwell said.</p>
<p>"These horses vary from being pretty untamed to coming up and eating potato chips out of your hand. So some of them have not been there that long," he said.</p>
<p>Roundups are difficult because the horses spend much of their time in the forest, officials said. In addition to presenting a nuisance for the soldiers, they also put a damper on local hunters' efforts, according to Caldwell.</p>
<p>"If you plant wildlife foods for deer or turkey, the horses are right on those foods because they're fertilized, and more nutritious."</p>
<p>They also snarf up sprouts from seed planted to control erosion, he said.</p>
<p>Reischling said one problem is what the horses leave behind: "horse manure in the areas used by soldiers."</p>
<p>Reischling said a roundup in 1993 snared 41 horses, which were placed with two local ranches. Another in 2000 placed only eight with new owners.</p>
<p>In 2007, horses were caught, tested for infectious diseases, and sterilized.</p>
<p>As far as controlling the horse population goes, however, "the sterilization does not work," Reischling said.</p>
<p>"With animals migrating in from other properties or being dumped, it's been determined that the sterilization process will likely not even stop growth," she said. "And in any case, it would take years."</p> | Army says nay to 700 feral horses roaming Louisiana base | false | https://abqjournal.com/627664/army-says-nay-to-700-feral-horses-roaming-louisiana-base.html | 2 |
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<p>PHOENIX (AP) — A U.S. judge has permanently blocked an ethnic studies ban in Arizona public schools that dismantled a popular Mexican-American studies program, dealing a final blow to a law that he found to be racially motivated.</p>
<p>Following a seven-year court battle, U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima issued a final judgment Wednesday that prohibits Arizona education officials from enforcing the 2010 law, which stirred up additional allegations of racial discrimination by a state that passed a landmark crackdown on immigration the same year.</p>
<p>Tashima had previously ruled that racism and political gain were behind the ban's creation, findings that he reiterated in this week's decision.</p>
<p>Because the law "was enacted and enforced, not for a legitimate educational purpose, but for an invidious discriminatory racial purpose, and a politically partisan purpose ... (the law) cannot be enforced," he wrote.</p>
<p>Attorneys for the state have denied that racial discrimination played a part in the law. The Arizona Attorney General's Office, which defended education officials in the case, said it may appeal the ruling.</p>
<p>"We will consult with the superintendent and see how she would like to proceed," spokesman Ryan Anderson said. "Additionally, we have an obligation to evaluate the likelihood of success on appeal for the individual findings."</p>
<p>The office has until Jan. 26 to appeal. Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas and the state Board of Education did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment Thursday.</p>
<p>The law banned courses appearing to promote resentment toward a race or class of people or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating people as individuals.</p>
<p>Lawmakers passed it after Tucson Unified School District began offering classes in 1998 focused on Mexican-American history, literature and art.</p>
<p>Steven Reiss, an attorney for Tucson students who sued over the law, praised the ruling.</p>
<p>"That should make it clear to everyone in the state: This law is not only invalid and cannot be enforced, it makes it clear that the Tucson Unified School District is absolutely free to readopt the Mexican-American studies program," Reiss said.</p>
<p>Nolan Cabrera, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Center for the Study of Higher Education, led a study that said students who took Mexican-American studies were more likely to graduate and pass their standardized tests.</p>
<p>If the judge's decision stands, it could open the door to more effective ethnic studies programs in all Arizona school districts, Cabrera said. Schools in other states such as California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington have already taken the lead in offering such options.</p>
<p>"You can put in Maya Angelou and take out Shakespeare and say, 'I have an ethnic studies program,'" Cabrera said. "That's not what we're talking about here, not just a tokenizing version of the curriculum."</p>
<p>The Tucson school district ceased the classes in 2012 to avoid the threat of losing 10 percent of their state funding. District officials did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.</p>
<p>By 2015, the district was expanding a "culturally relevant" curriculum developed after a separate racial desegregation lawsuit. Those courses, which include American history from an African-American perspective, are now taught at all district high schools.</p>
<p>Democratic Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales of Tucson said it's important for Arizona to teach the history of minority communities.</p>
<p>"Attacking the Mexican-American studies program sends the wrong message to Arizona's students and denies the state's rich and diverse history," Gonzales said in a statement.</p>
<p>During a July trial over the lawsuit, Tom Horne, a former state attorney general and state superintendent, defended the law he drafted. He testified that he was troubled by what he described as radical instructors teaching students to be disruptive but insisted he targeted all ethnic studies programs equally.</p>
<p>Sherman Dorn, a professor at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, said it will be beneficial if more school districts offer classes with more than one perspective.</p>
<p>"A good social studies class will give students the opportunity to learn about a subject from a variety of perspectives," Dorn said.</p>
<p>PHOENIX (AP) — A U.S. judge has permanently blocked an ethnic studies ban in Arizona public schools that dismantled a popular Mexican-American studies program, dealing a final blow to a law that he found to be racially motivated.</p>
<p>Following a seven-year court battle, U.S. District Judge A. Wallace Tashima issued a final judgment Wednesday that prohibits Arizona education officials from enforcing the 2010 law, which stirred up additional allegations of racial discrimination by a state that passed a landmark crackdown on immigration the same year.</p>
<p>Tashima had previously ruled that racism and political gain were behind the ban's creation, findings that he reiterated in this week's decision.</p>
<p>Because the law "was enacted and enforced, not for a legitimate educational purpose, but for an invidious discriminatory racial purpose, and a politically partisan purpose ... (the law) cannot be enforced," he wrote.</p>
<p>Attorneys for the state have denied that racial discrimination played a part in the law. The Arizona Attorney General's Office, which defended education officials in the case, said it may appeal the ruling.</p>
<p>"We will consult with the superintendent and see how she would like to proceed," spokesman Ryan Anderson said. "Additionally, we have an obligation to evaluate the likelihood of success on appeal for the individual findings."</p>
<p>The office has until Jan. 26 to appeal. Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Diane Douglas and the state Board of Education did not immediately reply to messages seeking comment Thursday.</p>
<p>The law banned courses appearing to promote resentment toward a race or class of people or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating people as individuals.</p>
<p>Lawmakers passed it after Tucson Unified School District began offering classes in 1998 focused on Mexican-American history, literature and art.</p>
<p>Steven Reiss, an attorney for Tucson students who sued over the law, praised the ruling.</p>
<p>"That should make it clear to everyone in the state: This law is not only invalid and cannot be enforced, it makes it clear that the Tucson Unified School District is absolutely free to readopt the Mexican-American studies program," Reiss said.</p>
<p>Nolan Cabrera, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Center for the Study of Higher Education, led a study that said students who took Mexican-American studies were more likely to graduate and pass their standardized tests.</p>
<p>If the judge's decision stands, it could open the door to more effective ethnic studies programs in all Arizona school districts, Cabrera said. Schools in other states such as California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington have already taken the lead in offering such options.</p>
<p>"You can put in Maya Angelou and take out Shakespeare and say, 'I have an ethnic studies program,'" Cabrera said. "That's not what we're talking about here, not just a tokenizing version of the curriculum."</p>
<p>The Tucson school district ceased the classes in 2012 to avoid the threat of losing 10 percent of their state funding. District officials did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Thursday.</p>
<p>By 2015, the district was expanding a "culturally relevant" curriculum developed after a separate racial desegregation lawsuit. Those courses, which include American history from an African-American perspective, are now taught at all district high schools.</p>
<p>Democratic Rep. Sally Ann Gonzales of Tucson said it's important for Arizona to teach the history of minority communities.</p>
<p>"Attacking the Mexican-American studies program sends the wrong message to Arizona's students and denies the state's rich and diverse history," Gonzales said in a statement.</p>
<p>During a July trial over the lawsuit, Tom Horne, a former state attorney general and state superintendent, defended the law he drafted. He testified that he was troubled by what he described as radical instructors teaching students to be disruptive but insisted he targeted all ethnic studies programs equally.</p>
<p>Sherman Dorn, a professor at Arizona State University's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, said it will be beneficial if more school districts offer classes with more than one perspective.</p>
<p>"A good social studies class will give students the opportunity to learn about a subject from a variety of perspectives," Dorn said.</p> | Judge blocks Arizona ethnic studies ban he found was racist | false | https://apnews.com/amp/bec341cad84446209480f133d6689fd2 | 2017-12-29 | 2 |
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<p>LAS CRUCES - Police in Las Cruces are investigating the death of a man whose body was found in a city garbage truck.</p>
<p>Officers were called to an area behind a supermarket about 10:30 a.m. Thursday.</p>
<p>Police say the body was in the garbage truck hopper where solid waste is held for transport to a transfer station.</p>
<p>They say the 61-year-old man appeared to have an injury to his head and was pronounced dead at the scene.</p>
<p>His name is being withheld until his family can be notified.</p>
<p>Police say foul play isn't suspected at this time.</p>
<p>Detectives believe the man was rummaging through a commercial trash bin behind the supermarket when the refuse truck arrived to collect the trash.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Body of 61-year-old man is found in Las Cruces garbage truck | false | https://abqjournal.com/610247/body-of-61-year-old-man-is-found-in-las-cruces-garbage-truck.html | 2 |
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<p>Apple rallies after results; Dow set for 8th straight weekly gain</p>
<p>U.S. stocks were trading flat Friday morning, with the Dow retreating from its 56th all-time high in 2017 as strong results at Apple were offset by a cooler-than-expected October jobs report.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What are stocks doing?</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 3 points, or less than 0.1%, to 23,512, after hitting an intraday record of 23,552.74 in early trading. The S&amp;P 500 was little changed to 2,579, a gain of less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 10 points, or 0.1%, at 6,724. All three benchmarks were trading within a stone's throw of all-time highs.</p>
<p>For the week, the Dow is up 0.4%, as is the Nasdaq. The S&amp;P is down 0.1%.</p>
<p>The Dow is set for its eighth straight weekly gain, its longest such streak since November 2013. If the S&amp;P ends in positive territory for the week, it will also have risen for eight straight weeks, also its longest since 2013. The Nasdaq is poised for its sixth positive week in a row, matching a streak that ended in early March.</p>
<p>What's driving the market?</p>
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<p>The October payroll report showed 261,000 jobs added last month, (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-x000-jobs-in-october-unemployment-x-2017-11-03)well below the 325,000 that had been expected. However, the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%, the September report was raised from a loss to a gain, and the August payroll tally was also lifted. The October report suggests that there are still lingering effects from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, which had muddled September's labor-market results.</p>
<p>See:U.S. adds 261,000 jobs in October in hurricane-inflated gain (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-adds-261000-jobs-in-october-in-hurricane-inflated-gain-2017-11-03)</p>
<p>The health of the U.S. labor market is one of the key measures for the Fed in determining the path for interest rates. Traders are pricing in a more than 98% probability of a rate increase next month, according to the CME Group data.</p>
<p>Read:Get ready for a huge jump in October payrolls (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/get-ready-for-a-huge-jump-in-october-payrolls-2017-11-02)</p>
<p>Thursday saw President Donald Trump nominate Fed Gov. Jerome Powell (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/text-of-powells-statement-on-being-named-fed-chairman-nominee-2017-11-02) as the next head of the U.S. central bank. Separately, the Bank of England raised interest rates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-key-carney-quotes-after-boe-hikes-rates-for-first-time-in-a-decade-2017-11-02) for the first time in a decade. The House of Representatives also unveiled a highly anticipated tax-cut bill, which will be voted on in coming weeks.</p>
<p>Read:Here's a breakdown of how the new House tax bill impacts your taxes (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-a-breakdown-of-how-the-new-house-tax-bill-impacts-your-taxes-2017-11-02)</p>
<p>What are strategists saying?</p>
<p>"The report was obviously still distorted by the hurricanes, though the net gain in the month was pretty solid. There was a good amount of jobs growth, a notable decline again in the unemployment rate, all of which sends the clear message that the labor market is tight," said Charles Lieberman, chief investment officer of Advisors Capital Management. "Ultimately there wasn't a big enough surprise to change market direction, especially for the companies that reported."</p>
<p>The dollar rose against all other major currencies, with the ICE Dollar Index up 0.1% at 94.79.</p>
<p>Which stocks are in focus?</p>
<p>Shares of Apple Inc.(AAPL) climbed 2.2%, closing in on a $900 billion valuation (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-has-900-billion-valuation-in-sight-as-earnings-allay-iphone-fears-2017-11-02). The gain came after the iPhone maker late Thursday reported earnings that easily beat estimates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-has-900-billion-valuation-in-sight-as-earnings-allay-iphone-fears-2017-11-02). The stock is the biggest company in the market, and as such has an outsize weight on all three major indexes.</p>
<p>Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.(VRX.T) jumped 2.9% after the drugmaker late Thursday said the Food and Drug Administration has approved the company's Vyzulta drug.</p>
<p>Pandora Media Inc.(P) shares slumped 23% after the music-streaming company late Thursday said its loss widened in the third quarter (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pandora-shares-fall-after-revenue-miss-2017-11-02). The stock hit an all-time low.</p>
<p>Starbucks Corp.(SBUX) shares rose 2.2% after the coffee chain's sales number out late Thursday missed Wall Street forecasts (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/starbucks-shares-down-5-after-revenue-miss-company-to-sell-tazo-brand-2017-11-02), though it also agreed to sell its Tazo tea brand to Unilever (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/unilevers-tazo-deal-targets-upscale-tea-drinkers-2017-11-02).</p>
<p>Sotheby's(BID) fell 0.4% after reporting its quarterly results.</p>
<p>What else is in focus?</p>
<p>The Institute for Supply Management's nonmanufacturing index rose more than expected to come in at 60.1%, the strongest reading since August 2005 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ism-services-index-improves-to-12-year-high-in-october-2017-11-03). Separately, factory orders rose 1.4% in September, while the IHS Markit U.S. services index stayed at 55.3 in October.</p>
<p>See:MarketWatch's economic calendar (http://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/calendars/economic)</p>
<p>At noon Eastern, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari is scheduled to give a speech on monetary policy and the 2018 outlook at a Women in Housing and Finance luncheon in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>What are other markets doing?</p>
<p>Oil prices continued higher, with the U.S. benchmark trading at a more-than-two-year high (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-rally-takes-prices-to-highest-since-july-2015-2017-11-03).</p>
<p>Metals were mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-eases-but-clings-to-weekly-gain-ahead-of-jobs-report-2017-11-03), and gold was flat at $1,278.50 an ounce.</p>
<p>Asian markets closed mixed (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/australia-stocks-near-10-year-high-as-asia-pacific-markers-gain-2017-11-02), with Japan's exchanges closed for the Culture Day holiday. Stocks in Europe rose (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-look-for-weekly-win-as-german-uk-shares-aim-for-records-2017-11-03), setting the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index on track for at 0.5% weekly gain.</p>
<p>Bitcoin is up 5.1% at $7,388.52 for a fresh all-time high. The cryptocurrency broke above $7,300 Thursday.</p>
<p>See:Bitcoin may be staging the biggest challenge yet to gold and silver (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-may-be-staging-the-biggest-challenge-yet-to-gold-and-silver-2017-11-02)</p>
<p>Also read:Bitcoin is the 'very definition of a bubble': Credit Suisse CEO (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitcoin-is-the-very-definition-of-a-bubble-credit-suisse-ceo-2017-11-02)</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 03, 2017 10:38 ET (14:38 GMT)</p> | MARKET SNAPSHOT: Dow Slips From Record After Jobs Data, Apple Results | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/03/market-snapshot-dow-slips-from-record-after-jobs-data-apple-results.html | 2017-11-03 | 0 |
<p>Take a look at the day’s top political stories in Tuesday’s&#160;Florida Five:</p>
<p>Photo: MyFoxTampaBay.com</p>
<p>Scott pledges funding for major transportation projects: Gov.&#160;Rick Scott&#160;on Monday announced plans for almost $350 million in spending on transportation projects for&#160;Orlando International Airport&#160;and a toll road in Pinellas County. <a href="" type="internal">Read more.</a></p>
<p>Pam Bondi dusts competitors in fundraising: Outside of Rick Scott, the only conceivable statewide target Democrats have in their sights for November is Pam Bondi, but so far her challengers have yet to impress with their fundraising prowess.&#160;With less than nine months to go until the general election, neither George Sheldon, who entered the race in October, or Perry Thurston, who got in on Nov. 1, have come close to matching Bondi’s fundraising pace. <a href="http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/democrats-failing-money-chase-against-pam-bondi" type="external">Read more.</a></p>
<p>Senate panel approves higher penalties for welfare fraud: A Senate panel today cleared a bill cracking down on welfare fraud, despite a lack of evidence that there’s a problem.&#160;The bill (SB 7044) was hurriedly but unanimously approved by the&#160;Senate Criminal Justice committee&#160;in the last five minutes of its two-hour meeting. <a href="http://tbo.com/news/politics/senate-panel-oks-higher-penalties-for-welfare-fraud-20140217/" type="external">Read more.</a></p>
<p>Senate president backs repealing red light cameras: Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, and House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, are no fans of red-light cameras — that much is clear. Echoing comments by the speaker, Gaetz said in a televised interview last week that he would support repealing the state’s red-light camera law. <a href="http://www.floridatoday.com/viewart/20140217/NEWS01/140217008/State-Senate-s-president-backs-red-light-camera-appeal" type="external">Read more.</a></p>
<p>Legislation could limit growth of Fla. vacation rentals: Local governments want back some control over short-term vacation rentals, contending that a nearly 3-year-old state law has allowed little-regulated mini-hotels to grow amid residential communities.&#160;But supporters of the 2011 law say Florida has achieved three consecutive years of record-setting tourism numbers in part by allowing homeowners to seasonally rent their properties. <a href="http://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/02/17/legislation-could-limit-growth-of-vacation-rentals/" type="external">Read more.</a></p>
<p>Bonus:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Former NASA astronaut Bob Crippen will land in Fla. Capitol for Space Day</a></p>
<p>For more Florida political news, visit&#160; <a href="" type="internal">BPR’s FLORIDA NEWS&#160;page</a></p> | Florida Five: Scott pledges funding for transportation projects, Bondi dusts competitors in fundraising | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2014/02/18/florida-five-scott-pledges-funding-for-transportation-projects-bondi-dusts-competitors-in-fundraising-101512 | 2014-02-18 | 0 |
<p>Cane Bay 44, Stratford 23</p>
<p>Chino Hills, Calif. 53, Spartanburg Day 42</p>
<p>Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach 93, Cheraw 60</p>
<p>Eau Claire 69, C.A. Johnson 42</p>
<p>Hilton Head Prep 60, Savannah Christian Prep, Ga. 38</p>
<p>Porter-Gaud 69, Bishop England 45</p>
<p>Irmo 78, Newberry 64</p>
<p>Cane Bay 44, Stratford 23</p>
<p>Chino Hills, Calif. 53, Spartanburg Day 42</p>
<p>Christian Academy of Myrtle Beach 93, Cheraw 60</p>
<p>Eau Claire 69, C.A. Johnson 42</p>
<p>Hilton Head Prep 60, Savannah Christian Prep, Ga. 38</p>
<p>Porter-Gaud 69, Bishop England 45</p>
<p>Irmo 78, Newberry 64</p> | Saturday’s Scores | false | https://apnews.com/6b44f875e5474ad1a25a956b59cd3e00 | 2018-01-14 | 2 |
<p>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge is delaying the sentencing of a Mississippi woman convicted of paying kickbacks to the state’s former corrections commissioner.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Monday indefinitely put off the sentencing of Teresa Malone. It had been set for Wednesday.</p>
<p>The delay was sought by Malone’s lawyer, Jamie Franks, who last week filed papers saying Malone had been admitted to a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday with complications from her lung transplant. Franks said Malone’s prognosis and recovery time are unclear.</p>
<p>Malone admitted paying kickbacks to then-Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps after Epps steered a $5,000-a-month consulting contract to Malone. Court records show she got more than $170,000.</p>
<p>Malone faces up to 30 years in prison, a fine of up to $500,000, and forfeiture of money she received.</p>
<p>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A judge is delaying the sentencing of a Mississippi woman convicted of paying kickbacks to the state’s former corrections commissioner.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate on Monday indefinitely put off the sentencing of Teresa Malone. It had been set for Wednesday.</p>
<p>The delay was sought by Malone’s lawyer, Jamie Franks, who last week filed papers saying Malone had been admitted to a hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday with complications from her lung transplant. Franks said Malone’s prognosis and recovery time are unclear.</p>
<p>Malone admitted paying kickbacks to then-Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps after Epps steered a $5,000-a-month consulting contract to Malone. Court records show she got more than $170,000.</p>
<p>Malone faces up to 30 years in prison, a fine of up to $500,000, and forfeiture of money she received.</p> | Judge delays bribery sentencing for woman who cited health | false | https://apnews.com/9f66234e5a504007ba6e05ae0728b1c3 | 2018-01-09 | 2 |
<p>Run to your bookstore and get a copy of Esi Edugyan’s <a href="" type="internal">Half-Blood Blues</a> and relish this wondrous novel.&#160; Give copies to your friends.&#160; Let the book be so successful that publishers ask themselves how they could ignore the novel after it was written.&#160; Edugyan is Canadian, of Ghanaian heritage, and the author of an earlier prize-winning novel, <a href="" type="internal">The Second Life of Samuel Tyne</a>, but that didn’t make it easy for her get a publisher for Half-Blood Blues.&#160; When the book was finally published by Serpent’s Tail in England, things began to change for her.&#160; The novel was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize last year, but that didn’t help her get an American hard-cover publisher.&#160; Fortunately, the editors at Picador still appreciate good books and have published it as a paperback original.&#160; Moral of this story?&#160; It’s too much to expect editors to recognize greatness.&#160; These days, books are only commodities—you sell them like toothpaste and detergent.</p>
<p>The novel gravitates around two time periods: 1939-1940 and 1992.&#160; In the earlier period, Edugyan focuses on a group of jazz musicians known as the Hot-Time Swingers.&#160; They’re all young, barely into their twenties: “A bunch of German and American kids meeting up in Berlin and Paris between the wars to make all this wild, joyful music before the Nazis kick it to pieces.”&#160; A couple of them are African-American; the others are German, including one guy named Hieronymus Falk <a href="" type="internal" />(called Hiero).&#160; His mother was German and father West African, which makes him a German citizen.&#160; A couple of the others are Aryan; another’s a German Jew during the awful time of Hitler’s rise.</p>
<p>Though the Hot-Time Swingers have tried to be apolitical, that’s increasingly difficult given what’s going on in Germany where the story begins.&#160; In the words of Sid, one of the musicians who’s African-American and the novel’s narrator, “Jazz.&#160; Here in Germany it become something worse than a virus.&#160; We was all of us damn fleas, us Negroes and Jews and low-life hoodlums, set on playing that vulgar racket, seducing sweet blond kids into corruption and sex.&#160; It wasn’t a music, it wasn’t a fad.&#160; It was a plague sent out by the dread black hordes, engineered by the Jews.&#160; Us Negroes, see, we was only half to blame—we just can’t help it.&#160; Savages just got a natural feel for filthy rhythms, no self-control to speak of.&#160; But the Jews, brother, now they cooked up this jungle music on purpose.&#160; All part of their master plan to weaken Aryan youth, corrupt its janes, dilute its bloodlines.”</p>
<p>First they’ve got to get out of Berlin, but they don’t all have passports or the necessary papers.&#160; Then, Louis Armstrong learns about them—and their incredible music—and he sends Delilah Brown, a young American woman, to help them escape.&#160; She’s white and has contacts to expedite their papers, but she’s only successful in getting out Hiero, Sid, and Chip—not the three other Germans.&#160; Their escape is an incredible ordeal, with jealousies developing between Sid and Hiero over Delilah.&#160; But they reach Paris and meet Armstrong, who regards Hiero (who plays the trumpet), as his successor.</p>
<p>The scenes in Paris are unforgettable—in large part because of the frenzy created by the approaching German invasion.&#160; There isn’t enough food, so the musicians mostly live on booze.&#160; They stay in an abandoned building, with the windows covered up, and listen to bombs going off in the distance.&#160; Then Armstrong convinces them that their music is so good that they need to cut a new record (though others were cut when they were still in Berlin).&#160; That’s when the tension gets ratcheted up, because Armstrong doesn’t want Sid (who plays the bass) to be part of the back-up.&#160; Chip (on the drums) is fine, and a couple of other musicians are brought in, but the intent is to feature Hiero’s amazing talents on the trumpet.</p>
<p>Conditions worsen and a later recording includes Sid, but the damage has already been done.&#160; Rivalry, jealousy, deception weaken the bonds of the three musicians, with Sid noting, “Did that scrawny Kraut bastard [Hiero] mean to take everything from me—the band, Armstrong, the recording, even Delilah?&#160; Ain’t he like to leave me no scraps?&#160; Is that what genius does—entitles a gate to claim whatever pieces of others’ lives he want?” But the final record is cut and although Hiero thinks it should be destroyed, Sid manages to salvage a copy—in spite of Hiero’s belief that it’s not good enough to be retained.&#160; Then they’ve got to flee Paris, and this time it’s Hiero who disappears.</p>
<p>Shift to 1992, years later, when a documentary has been made of Hieronymus Falk’s life, mostly because of the discovery of that final recording.&#160; Sid and Chip (who both live in the United States) fly to Berlin for the premier of the movie, the tension between the two of them palpable.&#160; They’re old men, hiding secrets of the past and the rivalries, deceits, and guilt over what happened during their last days in Paris, especially what happened to Delilah and to Hiero.</p>
<p>I’ve presented only the skeleton of Edugyan’s plot, filled with tension and surprises, and related in Sid’s colorful voice.&#160; The scenes of the jazz culture in Berlin just before Word War II are a revelation, especially the stories of the three German characters of the Hot-Time Swingers.&#160; I kept asking myself how Edugyan mastered the history of the time, the vocabulary of jazz musicians, the frenzy of people’s lives just before Europe &#160;fell apart.&#160; Half-Blood Blues is truly magnificent, especially for its revelations about race and the underground musical scene at a time most people where focused on their survival—not their musical souls.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Half-Blood Blues</a>By&#160;Esi Edugyan Picador, 321 pp., $15</p>
<p>Charles R. Larson is Emeritus Professor of Literature at American University, in Washington, D.C.&#160; Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Jazz Under the Nazis | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/03/16/jazz-under-the-nazis/ | 2012-03-16 | 4 |
<p>Imprisoned for six years without being charged or given a trial, Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj was finally released from the U.S. Navy prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, late last week. Haj, “emaciated,” according to his attorney, because of a hunger strike that began in January 2007, was taken to a hospital and later arrived home in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.</p>
<p>“I’ve been dreaming of this moment for the past seven years,” the cameraman said in an interview with Al Jazeera. Haj also said that “rats are treated with more humanity” than Guantanamo’s inmates.</p>
<p>Watch the clip:</p>
<p />
<p /> | Mosaic Intelligence Report: A Tale of Gitmo Inhumanity | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/mosaic-intelligence-report-a-tale-of-gitmo-inhumanity/ | 2008-05-04 | 4 |
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<p>AUSTIN (TX)American-StatesmanBy Eileen E. Flynn</p>
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<p>AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF</p>
<p>Wednesday, December 3, 2003</p>
<p>Bishop Gregory Aymond acknowledged Tuesday that the Catholic Diocese of Austin suspected that a former priest had sexually abused minors before it removed him from ministry in 1987 but did not notify the police.</p>
<p>"There is no indication that civil authorities were notified," Aymond said. "Unfortunately, that was not the mode of operation for society as well as the church."</p>
<p>The diocese recently paid a $250,000 settlement and more than $33,000 in therapy costs to Houston lawyer Robert Scamardo, who claimed that former Austin priest Dan Delaney and former lay youth minister James Reese molested him in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Aymond said he has heard from other people who say they were abused by Delaney, who was the diocesan director for the Catholic Youth Organization and served at other parishes in the 25-county diocese. The diocese is paying for counseling for those individuals, Aymond said.</p> | Diocese suspected abuse but did not alert police | false | https://poynter.org/news/diocese-suspected-abuse-did-not-alert-police | 2003-12-03 | 2 |
<p>Spain’s newest political party is also its most popular. With roots in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%E2%80%9312_Spanish_protests" type="external">2011 indignados movement</a> (also called the 15-M movement), Podemos emerged&#160;in&#160;January with a petition launched by a few dozen intellectuals. In May’s&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2014" type="external">European Parliament elections</a>, just months after its formation, the leftist&#160;party&#160;captured 8&#160;percent of the vote. It is now the second largest political party in Spain by membership and the largest in the polls. Even the&#160; <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/the-world/2014/11/spanish-polls-show-podemos-surge-is-no-aberration/" type="external">Financial Times</a> admits,&#160;“the new party appears to be on course to shatter Spain’s established two-party system.”</p>
<p>At a meeting held early this year in Valladolid, Spain, Podemos General Secretary Pablo Iglesias&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-T5ye_z5i0&amp;feature=youtu.be" type="external">offered</a> his thoughts on how the Left can win. Below is an excerpt from that talk. The video was uploaded by Joaquín Navarro and the transcript below was prepared for Jacobin by Enrique Diaz-Alvarez.</p> | The Left Can Win | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2014/12/pablo-iglesias-podemos-left-speech/ | 2018-10-06 | 4 |
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<p>DAVOS, Switzerland — With the U.S. increasingly looking inward and China eager to take a lead on the global stage, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday cast his country as a champion of free trade and stability, a rebuke to the isolationist urges that helped carry Donald Trump to power.</p>
<p>Some of the elites listening in Davos, Switzerland, hailed a statesmanlike, even Barack Obama-like speech from Xi as the first Chinese head of state to attend the World Economic Forum — even if it depicted a Chinese commitment to open markets that falls short of reality.</p>
<p>The speech, rife with metaphor and allusions to Ali Baba, Chinese proverbs and even Abraham Lincoln, highlighted a high-brow effort to make a contrast with an incoming U.S. leader whose own words regularly stirred controversy at home and abroad and created new doubts about U.S. leadership in the world.</p>
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<p>“We must remain committed to promoting free trade and investment through opening up and say no to protectionism,” Xi told an opening meeting of the WEF. “Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room. While wind and rain may be kept outside, so are light and air.”</p>
<p>“No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war,” he said.</p>
<p>During his campaign, Trump promised to raise tariffs on Chinese goods and declare Beijing guilty of keeping its currency artificially low. That would be a first step toward imposing sanctions. But in fact, for the past couple of years China has been intervening in markets to prop up its currency, not push it lower.</p>
<p>“China has no intention to boost its trade competitiveness by devaluing the renminbi, still less will it launch a currency war,” Xi said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Xi made no direct reference to Trump, but his vocal support for free trade could appear rich to other Western countries who have grumbled about commercial restrictions in China.</p>
<p>Foreign companies complain Beijing is reducing access to its markets for electric cars, computer security technology and other promising fields or pressing them to give know-how to potential Chinese competitors. Some say they are blocked from acquiring assets in China, just as Chinese companies have been on a foreign buying spree.</p>
<p>“The political leadership of China never ceases to assure us that further opening toward foreign investment … is a priority,” Germany’s ambassador to China, Michael Clauss, said this week. “However, many companies keep telling us that their difficulties in these areas have increased.”</p>
<p>“It often appears that somewhere down the line, political assurances of equal treatment give way to protectionist tendencies,” he said in a statement.</p>
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<p>Beijing also faces U.S. and European complaints it is exporting steel, aluminum, solar panels and other goods at improperly low prices, threatening thousands of jobs abroad.</p>
<p>“These are very nice words,” said Nariman Behravesh, IHS chief economist, of the Xi speech. “What specific things is China going to do in terms of opening up, becoming a true engine of globalization? … I like the commitments but in English we have an expression, ‘Actions speak louder than words.’ Let’s see what the actions are.”</p>
<p>Xi also stepped into other areas of international consensus, calling the Paris accord to fight climate change a “hard-won achievement,” and urging signatories to “stick to it.”</p>
<p>Trump, who has called climate change a Chinese hoax, has raised speculation that he might pull the U.S. out.</p>
<p>The visit by Xi caps the largest-ever Chinese delegation to Davos, including over 100 officials and scores of business executives and embodying a tectonic shift at an event that started nearly a half-century ago among Europeans and Americans.</p>
<p>Speaking Monday, WEF Founder Klaus Schwab said this year’s event is “not just a Western meeting.” One third of participants are from developing economies.</p>
<p>The bumpy run-up to the Trump administration — Trump’s poll numbers are low for an incoming president — has given the Chinese leader a convenient opportunity to advance his goal of giving his country a more assertive leadership role.</p>
<p>China previously sought to capture the mantle as a supporter of world trade after Trump said he would pull the United States out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal championed by President Barack Obama.</p>
<p>Xi cast the world economy as adrift, saying it lacked a “driving force” and that inadequate global governance and unequal benefits have widened the gulf between rich and poor. “This is the biggest challenge in the world today,” he said.</p>
<p>He called for a “new growth model” that takes into account climate change, aging populations and increased automation.</p>
<p>Xi hit hard on the metaphor of the world economy as an “ocean,” saying countries “must have courage to swim in the global market.”</p>
<p>“We should not develop a habit of retreating to the harbor whenever encountering the storm, for this will never get us to the other shore of the ocean,” he said.</p>
<p>Mainstream Western leaders have been grappling with populist movements at home, including the one that helped undergird Trump’s election victory. His transition team has one top adviser, Anthony Scaramucci, at the forum ahead of Friday’s presidential inauguration.</p>
<p>Chinese officials last week said that envoys to the WEF were willing to meet with members of Trump’s team in Davos, but Scaramucci said he didn’t hear Xi’s speech. Outgoing Vice President Joe Biden did, however, and briefly met with the Chinese leader, a U.S. diplomatic official said.</p>
<p>Some have been puzzled by the shifting geopolitical landscape epitomized by Xi’s speech championing free trade and globalism. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, as he interviewed Secretary of State John Kerry in Davos, quipped: “If you had just read me the words, I would have told you: ‘I didn’t know that President Obama came here.'”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Wong contributed from Beijing. Theodora Tongas also contributed to this report.</p> | As US looks inward, China seeks a lead role on world stage | false | https://abqjournal.com/929124/chinas-xi-defends-trade-as-beijing-seeks-bolder-global-role.html | 2017-01-17 | 2 |
<p>A state-run newspaper in a Chinese province bordering North Korea published a list of tips on Wednesday for how civilians can protect themselves in the event of a nuclear attack.</p>
<p>The apocalyptic article comes as tensions soar on the Korean Peninsula over Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.&#160;</p>
<p>A full-page illustrated advisory in the Jilin Daily, an official publication of the northeast province, instructed readers to close their doors and windows and thoroughly wash their belongings to minimize radioactive impact.</p>
<p>"Modern warfare is three-dimensional, and intercontinental missiles could hit any corner of the world," the newspaper said.</p>
<p>While the publication does not explicitly mention North Korea, Jilin was one of the Chinese provinces where people reported feeling tremors after Pyongyang conducted a powerful nuclear test this September.</p>
<p>Last week Pyongyang fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that it said could hit anywhere on the US mainland.&#160;</p>
<p>In China, the authoritarian regime's largest trade partner and sole major diplomatic ally, concern has grown in recent months that North Korea's expanding weapons program will cause residual damage along the border.</p>
<p>China's environmental protection ministry performed eight days of emergency monitoring following the September blast, which the North claimed was the successful detonation of a hydrogen bomb.&#160;</p>
<p>Authorities concluded that radiation levels remained normal in the four provinces where tests were done, including Jilin.</p>
<p>In something reminiscent of the Cold War era, the Jilin Daily used a colorful comic Wednesday to tell readers to wear masks and take iodine tablets to prevent radioactive iodine from collecting in their thyroid glands.</p>
<p>To remove radioactive contamination on the body, one should vigorously wash garments and swab the ears, nose and mouth, the paper advised.</p>
<p>Xu Yucheng, a deputy director for Jilin's Civil Air Defense Office, told the Beijing News that the newspaper's goal was to "strengthen national defense education."</p>
<p>Compared to Japan and other developed countries, Xu said, the public education on "ordinary national defense" in China is "still not sufficient."</p>
<p>An editorial in the Global Times, a state-run nationalistic tabloid, sought to calm what it called a "storm of conjecture" that the nuclear attack advisory has aroused on Chinese social media.</p>
<p>While conflict on the Korean peninsula is not unavoidable, the editorial said, "China must prepare for the worst. Both the country and its people should heighten vigilance."</p>
<p>Beijing has backed a slew of sanctions on Pyongyang that include bans on imports of North Korean coal, iron ore and seafood.</p>
<p>But the Chinese government fears taking any tougher action could cause the regime to collapse, triggering a refugee crisis across its border with the North and eliminating a strategic buffer separating China from the US military in South Korea.</p>
<p>Beijing has proposed that the North suspend missile and nuclear tests in exchange for a suspension of US-South Korean military exercises, a suggestion Washington has repeatedly rejected.</p> | Fallout fears: A Chinese newspaper’s illustrated guide to nuclear war | false | https://pri.org/stories/2017-12-06/fallout-fears-chinese-newspaper-s-illustrated-guide-nuclear-war | 2017-12-06 | 3 |
<p>YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Jeanette Vargas was pregnant and so cold in the dilapidated house where she lived one winter that she broke into the empty apartment upstairs, pulled down the cupboards and burned them in her fireplace.</p>
<p>It was late 1990. Utterly lost and addicted to drugs, she was living in a single-family home turned into a triplex in Yakima. There was no power, no utilities of any kind. The upstairs tenants had fled when the ceiling collapsed.</p>
<p>“I was freezing in there,” Vargas said. “I was there by myself. This guy that I was kind of being with, he rented the house and then he abandoned me there. ... It was awful.”</p>
<p>Cockroaches scuttled across the walls and inside the empty refrigerator.</p>
<p>Life seemed particularly hopeless that holiday season. There seemed to be no way out. But with the help of others who believed in her, Vargas conquered drug and alcohol addiction, got off the streets and volunteers as an advocate, educator, outreach worker and sponsor.</p>
<p>This holiday season, Vargas is working on her 26th year of sobriety. She lives in Moxee with her 9-year-old granddaughter, whom she adopted as a baby, and her dog. They are celebrating Christmas with extended family at her parents’ house nearby.</p>
<p>Sober since May 31, 1992, Vargas volunteers with the Yakima Housing Authority, Yakima Health District and Yakima Homeless Coalition, to name just a few. Her passion caught the eye of Molina Healthcare of Washington, which recently honored her with a Community Champions Award for her efforts to encourage others facing similar challenges.</p>
<p>“She has used the tremendous challenges she faced in her own life to inspire and encourage others to turn their lives around,” said Peter Adler, president of Molina Healthcare, which provides government-funded care for low-income individuals.</p>
<p>Vargas is frank about her life experiences. She will tell you she nearly died several times. She will say she wanted to die other times. But most often she’ll mention Linda Dennis, the woman she credits for saving her life by never giving up on her.</p>
<p>Although Vargas lost touch with Dennis about 15 years ago, she has never forgotten. Without her, “I’d be dead. I know I’d be dead,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>“I see the stuff that’s out there now; I know I’d be dead.”</p>
<p>DERAILED BY ABUSE</p>
<p>Her life began just like many others. Growing up in Yakima, Vargas loved her family, attended school faithfully, got good grades. She made the honor roll at East Valley High School.</p>
<p>“I grew up in a good home where bad things happened to me. ... I was abused by a friend of the family,” Vargas said. “Back then, nobody talked about abuse or anything like that.</p>
<p>“I ended up turning to drugs at a young age and going in and out of the home, and my parents always trying to get me to come home and change,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>Convinced that no one cared, Vargas escaped the abuse by running away from home when she was 12.</p>
<p>“My mom tried everything to get (me) to come home, but once I took the first drug I did, nothing else mattered. Nothing mattered except for the next hit,” she said. “Pretty soon it becomes a physical addiction.”</p>
<p>When she became pregnant as a junior, Vargas left school. Others took responsibility for her son as her self-destructive spiral continued.</p>
<p>“A lot of times you want to change but you don’t know how. I always knew I wanted to be a better person, but once you’re addicted, it seems like there’s no way out, and I didn’t know anybody who knew a way out,” she said.</p>
<p>Brutally attacked in the late 1980s, Vargas was hospitalized. As she lay in her bed, she heard nurses talking about her, saying how she would never change. “You end up thinking, ‘I don’t deserve anything else than what’s happening to me.’ You get that mentality.”</p>
<p>When she returned to the streets, Vargas became pregnant with her daughter.</p>
<p>“I was strung out; I used through my whole pregnancy. I wanted to stop but didn’t know how,” she said. “I ended up going to the hospital because I had overdosed on pills. I was trying to kick heroin; I ended up overdosing on Valium.”</p>
<p>A kindly nurse told Vargas about a detox program. Vargas decided to pursue it, knowing she had nothing to lose.</p>
<p>“I went into cardiac arrest during detox. They sent me back to hospital ... they put me on methadone. As soon as they put me on that, I disconnected myself and left the hospital. I went back to the streets,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>Despondent, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on heroin and cocaine.</p>
<p>“They pronounced me dead on arrival but revived me,” Vargas said. “I came to seven days later. After that (Dennis) was still there. She took her vacation and stayed there with me the whole time.”</p>
<p>That’s when her life really changed, Vargas said.</p>
<p>Dennis got Vargas into a treatment program; she relapsed after four months. But Dennis didn’t give up. She helped Vargas into a long-term treatment program. And that’s when, inspired by Dennis, Vargas found her purpose.</p>
<p>“She got me. Instead of just saying, ‘She’s in a good place now’ and leave me, she said, ‘Why don’t you give back? That’s why I’ve always been here for you.’ She was a recovering heroin addict. I thought I could do the same thing.”</p>
<p>A CHANCE TO HELP OTHERS</p>
<p>Dennis got Vargas involved with the Yakima County Juvenile Justice Center in 1992. She started working with youth, telling her story and mentoring girls when they were released.</p>
<p>Vargas began speaking at area high schools, starting with Eisenhower in Yakima.</p>
<p>“It was the scariest thing I ever did in my whole life,” she said. “People came up to me afterward and said, ‘Wow, there is hope.’”</p>
<p>She spoke to students at every high school in Yakima County, especially enjoying her work with the alternative schools “because I could relate to a lot of those kids there,” she said.</p>
<p>Vargas began volunteering with inpatient treatment centers. But she also wanted to be the person helping out on the streets, just as Dennis did for her.</p>
<p>She helped out with needle exchanges. She connected with local organizations to provide resources to those on the streets. She got involved with state organizations.</p>
<p>And every Friday, she counsels a group of female patients at Triumph Treatment Services. She likes supporting them and offering guidance because it also “keeps it real for me,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>“If I go down there, it reminds me where I can go if I don’t live right today. I give back because I want to keep what I have (and) I want them to have that hope; give them the hope (Dennis) gave me.”</p>
<p>Rosie Rask of Yakima is among about 30 women whom Vargas sponsors in their efforts to become and stay sober. She’s sponsored some for years but began sponsoring Rask less than a week ago.</p>
<p>“I’m just grateful that Jeanette was willing to be my sponsor,” Rask said. “She’s there for a lot of people.”</p>
<p>The award from Molina Healthcare in October surprised her, Vargas said. She accepted the honor at the Renton Pavilion in Renton.</p>
<p>“It’s humbling. It’s really humbling. I was in tears. I really didn’t think I was worthy,” she said. “We got to this big place where all these people are dressed nice and I just felt out of place.</p>
<p>Vargas still occasionally wonders if she’s making a difference.</p>
<p>“But then I see people becoming citizens in the community and becoming their own important people in what they do and I think, ’Yeah, I am. I am making a difference,” she said.</p>
<p>“I believe God gave me a second chance, so I’ve got to give back what was given to me.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Yakima Herald-Republic, <a href="http://www.yakimaherald.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.yakimaherald.com" type="external">http://www.yakimaherald.com</a></p>
<p>YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Jeanette Vargas was pregnant and so cold in the dilapidated house where she lived one winter that she broke into the empty apartment upstairs, pulled down the cupboards and burned them in her fireplace.</p>
<p>It was late 1990. Utterly lost and addicted to drugs, she was living in a single-family home turned into a triplex in Yakima. There was no power, no utilities of any kind. The upstairs tenants had fled when the ceiling collapsed.</p>
<p>“I was freezing in there,” Vargas said. “I was there by myself. This guy that I was kind of being with, he rented the house and then he abandoned me there. ... It was awful.”</p>
<p>Cockroaches scuttled across the walls and inside the empty refrigerator.</p>
<p>Life seemed particularly hopeless that holiday season. There seemed to be no way out. But with the help of others who believed in her, Vargas conquered drug and alcohol addiction, got off the streets and volunteers as an advocate, educator, outreach worker and sponsor.</p>
<p>This holiday season, Vargas is working on her 26th year of sobriety. She lives in Moxee with her 9-year-old granddaughter, whom she adopted as a baby, and her dog. They are celebrating Christmas with extended family at her parents’ house nearby.</p>
<p>Sober since May 31, 1992, Vargas volunteers with the Yakima Housing Authority, Yakima Health District and Yakima Homeless Coalition, to name just a few. Her passion caught the eye of Molina Healthcare of Washington, which recently honored her with a Community Champions Award for her efforts to encourage others facing similar challenges.</p>
<p>“She has used the tremendous challenges she faced in her own life to inspire and encourage others to turn their lives around,” said Peter Adler, president of Molina Healthcare, which provides government-funded care for low-income individuals.</p>
<p>Vargas is frank about her life experiences. She will tell you she nearly died several times. She will say she wanted to die other times. But most often she’ll mention Linda Dennis, the woman she credits for saving her life by never giving up on her.</p>
<p>Although Vargas lost touch with Dennis about 15 years ago, she has never forgotten. Without her, “I’d be dead. I know I’d be dead,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>“I see the stuff that’s out there now; I know I’d be dead.”</p>
<p>DERAILED BY ABUSE</p>
<p>Her life began just like many others. Growing up in Yakima, Vargas loved her family, attended school faithfully, got good grades. She made the honor roll at East Valley High School.</p>
<p>“I grew up in a good home where bad things happened to me. ... I was abused by a friend of the family,” Vargas said. “Back then, nobody talked about abuse or anything like that.</p>
<p>“I ended up turning to drugs at a young age and going in and out of the home, and my parents always trying to get me to come home and change,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>Convinced that no one cared, Vargas escaped the abuse by running away from home when she was 12.</p>
<p>“My mom tried everything to get (me) to come home, but once I took the first drug I did, nothing else mattered. Nothing mattered except for the next hit,” she said. “Pretty soon it becomes a physical addiction.”</p>
<p>When she became pregnant as a junior, Vargas left school. Others took responsibility for her son as her self-destructive spiral continued.</p>
<p>“A lot of times you want to change but you don’t know how. I always knew I wanted to be a better person, but once you’re addicted, it seems like there’s no way out, and I didn’t know anybody who knew a way out,” she said.</p>
<p>Brutally attacked in the late 1980s, Vargas was hospitalized. As she lay in her bed, she heard nurses talking about her, saying how she would never change. “You end up thinking, ‘I don’t deserve anything else than what’s happening to me.’ You get that mentality.”</p>
<p>When she returned to the streets, Vargas became pregnant with her daughter.</p>
<p>“I was strung out; I used through my whole pregnancy. I wanted to stop but didn’t know how,” she said. “I ended up going to the hospital because I had overdosed on pills. I was trying to kick heroin; I ended up overdosing on Valium.”</p>
<p>A kindly nurse told Vargas about a detox program. Vargas decided to pursue it, knowing she had nothing to lose.</p>
<p>“I went into cardiac arrest during detox. They sent me back to hospital ... they put me on methadone. As soon as they put me on that, I disconnected myself and left the hospital. I went back to the streets,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>Despondent, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on heroin and cocaine.</p>
<p>“They pronounced me dead on arrival but revived me,” Vargas said. “I came to seven days later. After that (Dennis) was still there. She took her vacation and stayed there with me the whole time.”</p>
<p>That’s when her life really changed, Vargas said.</p>
<p>Dennis got Vargas into a treatment program; she relapsed after four months. But Dennis didn’t give up. She helped Vargas into a long-term treatment program. And that’s when, inspired by Dennis, Vargas found her purpose.</p>
<p>“She got me. Instead of just saying, ‘She’s in a good place now’ and leave me, she said, ‘Why don’t you give back? That’s why I’ve always been here for you.’ She was a recovering heroin addict. I thought I could do the same thing.”</p>
<p>A CHANCE TO HELP OTHERS</p>
<p>Dennis got Vargas involved with the Yakima County Juvenile Justice Center in 1992. She started working with youth, telling her story and mentoring girls when they were released.</p>
<p>Vargas began speaking at area high schools, starting with Eisenhower in Yakima.</p>
<p>“It was the scariest thing I ever did in my whole life,” she said. “People came up to me afterward and said, ‘Wow, there is hope.’”</p>
<p>She spoke to students at every high school in Yakima County, especially enjoying her work with the alternative schools “because I could relate to a lot of those kids there,” she said.</p>
<p>Vargas began volunteering with inpatient treatment centers. But she also wanted to be the person helping out on the streets, just as Dennis did for her.</p>
<p>She helped out with needle exchanges. She connected with local organizations to provide resources to those on the streets. She got involved with state organizations.</p>
<p>And every Friday, she counsels a group of female patients at Triumph Treatment Services. She likes supporting them and offering guidance because it also “keeps it real for me,” Vargas said.</p>
<p>“If I go down there, it reminds me where I can go if I don’t live right today. I give back because I want to keep what I have (and) I want them to have that hope; give them the hope (Dennis) gave me.”</p>
<p>Rosie Rask of Yakima is among about 30 women whom Vargas sponsors in their efforts to become and stay sober. She’s sponsored some for years but began sponsoring Rask less than a week ago.</p>
<p>“I’m just grateful that Jeanette was willing to be my sponsor,” Rask said. “She’s there for a lot of people.”</p>
<p>The award from Molina Healthcare in October surprised her, Vargas said. She accepted the honor at the Renton Pavilion in Renton.</p>
<p>“It’s humbling. It’s really humbling. I was in tears. I really didn’t think I was worthy,” she said. “We got to this big place where all these people are dressed nice and I just felt out of place.</p>
<p>Vargas still occasionally wonders if she’s making a difference.</p>
<p>“But then I see people becoming citizens in the community and becoming their own important people in what they do and I think, ’Yeah, I am. I am making a difference,” she said.</p>
<p>“I believe God gave me a second chance, so I’ve got to give back what was given to me.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: Yakima Herald-Republic, <a href="http://www.yakimaherald.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.yakimaherald.com" type="external">http://www.yakimaherald.com</a></p> | Yakima woman helps others find a way to beat addiction | false | https://apnews.com/275955375cda416588340e9e40d13161 | 2017-12-30 | 2 |
<p />
<p>The cost of the South Dakota portion of TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline has more than doubled to $1.974 billion in the last four years the project has awaited federal approval, the company said in a petition filed with the state Public Utilities Commission on Monday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The leap in costs from the previous 2010 estimate of $921.4 million is due to factors including the protracted regulatory process, inflation, currency changes, labor cost increases and materials storage, TransCanada spokesman Shawn Howard said.</p>
<p>The project to build the 1,179 mile (1,900-km) pipeline to carry 830,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude from Alberta's oil sands to the Gulf Coast, is in its sixth year of waiting for a U.S. permit after running into fierce environmental opposition.</p>
<p>Howard said the company had not yet revised cost estimates in other U.S. states that the controversial crude oil pipeline passes through. The latest total cost estimate for Keystone XL is $5.4 billion, although TransCanada has said that will be revised higher once it receives the go-ahead from regulators to build the pipeline.</p>
<p>"Once we have approval, we are expecting there will be a material cost increase in the cost of Keystone XL because of the delays," Howard said. "We just do not know what that (increase) will be at this point."</p>
<p>TransCanada was granted a permit to construct and operate Keystone XL by the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in June 2010. However, as more than four years have passed without construction starting the company has to certify that the pipeline still meets the conditions upon which it was issued.</p>
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<p>The South Dakota portion will be 314 miles long and stretch from the Montana border in Harding County to the border of Tripp County, Nebraska.</p>
<p>In its petition TransCanada said the five-mile Bakken Marketlink pipeline, which will deliver 100,000 bpd of light sweet Bakken crude into Keystone XL, had been added to the project. The renewed petition was first reported by Argus, a trade publication.</p>
<p>There are also "minor route variations designed to accommodate landowner concerns and improve constructability," according to the filing, that will be reviewed by the Commission before construction can begin.</p>
<p>TransCanada's Howard said he did not know how long it would take for South Dakota to review the new petition.</p>
<p>"We do not know if they are going to have hearings and meetings to evaluate what we have provided them. We have to go through that process," he said.</p>
<p>In addition to federal approval, TransCanada is also awaiting word from Nebraska's Supreme Court, expected by early next year, on whether the state's governor acted properly when he approved a route for the Keystone XL pipeline.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Catherine Ngai in New York; Editing by Jessica Resnick-Ault and Marguerita Choy)</p> | Cost of South Dakota Portion of Keystone Pipeline More than Doubled | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2014/09/15/cost-s-dakota-portion-keystone-pipeline-more-than-doubled.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>BLANKYou can read the transcript below or listen to the audio version here:</p>
<p>Truthdig: OK, Bob, here goes the first question [from BJW in San Francisco]: How are new mortgages being treated differently now? Are they being packaged, sliced and sold the same way or are they kept with the bank? If we have a recently refinanced mortgage, how will we know if it is put into one of the packages by the lender? Are they required to notify the borrower? Are there some lenders such as Union Bank who were not involved or where can we find a list of lenders who were not involved in this mortgage racket?</p>
<p>Robert Scheer: Well, that’s an important question, and the reality is that it hasn’t changed at all. I mean, there are no real effective new regulations to building accountability. Securitization of mortgages is going on at a rapid rate, and we have no way of really knowing what happens to these mortgages, ’cause they’re allowed to do whatever they want with them. Resell them, slice and dice them, package them, and so forth. And so the quick and easy answer is: No, you have no way of knowing. And you know, you can challenge it, you can demand to have information, but at the end of the day your mortgage may be owned by someone else. And that’s why we needed new rules, and we didn’t get them.</p>
<p>Truthdig: OK, great. Thank you. We have the next question coming up. OK, the next question is: How are new mortgages being treated differently now?</p>
<p />
<p>RS: Well, again, they’re not. That’s the problem, that we have not learned from these mistakes. And the really big problem is that 65 million American mortgages are represented by a computer program in Reston, Va., called the MERS program, which is owned by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the top banks. And so when you go into court, you’re really up against a robo-banker, you’re up against a computer system. And that’s why the courts all over the country are throwing cases out, and that’s why 50 attorneys general, Republicans and Democrats, in the states are objecting to the process. We have an amazing crisis now in American homeownership because we turned it over to a computer. The traditional system, where your county government kept track of mortgages, and when ownership changed—you know, let’s say the bank had the mortgage, they were registered as the owner down at the county courthouse, and then if somebody else bought it they had to change that, pay a fee, get a change. And that didn’t lend itself to the securitization of mortgages, treating mortgages as poker chips in the Wall Street casino. And in order to do that, to slice and dice them, and shift them around, and resell them, and sell them and so forth, they had to unhinge them from the system that had worked for centuries, where you knew who the owners were, and as I say it was kept locally. And instead it’s now kept by a computer bank in Reston, Va. And it’s what’s caused this incredible meltdown, and the banks themselves have had to declare a moratorium on foreclosures ’cause they can’t win their cases. So we have a tremendous mess right now.</p>
<p>Truthdig: I agree, we do. OK, we have the next question. This one is from msMonk [in Oakland, Calif.]: I have been enlightened by your writings since the days of Ramparts Magazine … and feel privileged to participate in your discussions. Having lived through the nightmare of renting a foreclosed house and suffering such loss and becoming homeless as a result, I am inquiring about alternatives available to remedy so many people with nowhere to live. Public housing programs are so overburdened that you can’t even get on the waiting list for the wait list. … I am seeing more and more people homestead vacant foreclosed houses, and the banks that own them don’t even care enough to secure them. Is there a way to do this legally because I don’t want to go to jail being a senior (O.G=oldgal)!</p>
<p>RS: Well, you can’t do it on your own. To do it legally, government agencies, whether on the local level or federally, have got to step in and say, you know, we want to help people stay in their houses and if their houses are being abandoned, we want to be able to turn them over to people who need houses in some kind of way. And we’ll subsidize it, and we’ll get the paperwork going. That has … that can be done. I mean, that’s one way of stopping the meltdown. You can’t do it on your own, or you become a squatter. And one of the ironies of this is that the banks will use government to kick you out of a home—they’ll send the marshals—but they object when government will come in and look at the contract and tell you whether you’re defrauded or not, make sure the language is clear. So there’s a double standard. And then let me say something, by the way—Barack Obama has just appointed this guy Tom Donilon to be his national security adviser. And he said, “Donilon has a probing intellect and a remarkable work ethic.” This guy Donilon was the top lawyer at Fannie Mae, from 1999 to 2005 he was their chief lobbyist in Washington, arguing against any government regulation, any government control of this crazy stuff that was being done in the housing market. He’s now… so this guy made an enormous amount of money from the run-up of stock, and he’s rewarded with the most sensitive position in the United States government, being the head of our national security in the White House. And Obama applauds him. And to my mind, it’s a tip-off to not only Obama’s thinking, but that of the whole Democratic establishment. This guy’s wife, Catherine Russell, is chief of staff to Biden’s wife Jill. I mean, you know, these guys … what were they thinking? When they break bread together over dinner, do they talk about the tens of millions of people who are now suffering? We have 50 million people whose homes are … mortgages cost more than the house is worth. We have 10 million people who’ve lost their homes. And yet the guys who did it, they not only aren’t punished in any way, they’re rewarded. And I think this idea of taking this guy who at Fannie Mae was the chief counsel and argued against any kind of government supervision of this, and they’re making him in charge of our national security, tells you really a hell of a lot about Obama and who he listens to. I just find it shocking. Truthdig: Yeah. OK, thank you, Bob. The next question [from George in Mexico, Maine]: Can you state what you would like to see done to resolve the housing loan crisis? It is estimated by NBC that as many as 20 percent to 40 percent of the loans Fannie and Freddie have on their records are fraudulent.</p>
<p>RS: Yeah, I know what has to happen, since this whole thing began, which is a moratorium on foreclosures. What the banks are doing now, out of necessity, should have been done from the beginning. And it should not be up to the banks to decide; it should have been by the government, rising through the courts and saying this thing is a bloody mess. We don’t know who owns these things; you can’t foreclose on a house if you don’t know who owns it. And they should have stepped in right away at the beginning of this meltdown, and said, hey, while we unravel this, leave people in their homes. Work to empower the bankruptcy courts to force the banks to make deals. Because if you keep people in the homes, the plumbing doesn’t get stolen, the wiring, the windows don’t get broken, boarded up, and the rest of the neighborhood doesn’t suffer. I mean, the people that are suffering here are not just the people who had these lousy loans that then get foreclosed, it’s everybody in their neighborhood. Because if some houses go down, everybody gets hurt, even if you own your own house outright. And so that’s … the collapse of the housing market has affected everyone. And it seems to me very clear what should be done, which is a moratorium, a freeze on foreclosures. Everybody stay put, you know? Musical chairs. Stay put until we can sort this thing out. Whether it takes a year or two years. Sort it out, figure it out, and then compel the banks that have been saved by the taxpayers. You know, Wall Street was saved by the taxpayers, they’re now making record profits, they’re paying out record bonuses, record salaries to their people, the last two years have been their best years in history as far as their payouts. And you say to them, wait a minute, we made you whole; we saved you. You guys created the problem. And in return, you’ve got to now do something back for the homeowners. Instead we’re getting what Paul Volcker—who was head of the Federal Reserve and is actually supposed to be head of the economic advisers to the president, but he’s obviously not listened to—Paul Volcker, just eight or nine days ago, said, “We have a liquidity trap.” We’ve given the banks all this money, and the low interest rate—a zero interest rate, effectively. The Fed has taken over $2 trillion of these toxic assets off the books of the banks. And instead of the banks using all that money that they’re getting for next to nothing and lending it to people, lending it to businesses, investing in the economy, they’re holding onto it. That’s called a liquidity trap. And so the banks are made whole, and they’re not doing anything to help the rest of the people and the economy.</p>
<p>Truthdig: OK. I have another question: Where should the money come from to allow for the foreclosures to freeze?</p>
<p>RS: Where the money should come from is from the banks that have made out like bandits in this whole thing. They contrived these packages. They’re the ones who sold homes, sometimes to people who couldn’t afford it, terms that were not understood. They’re basically the swindlers in this piece. And it’s in their interest, by the way. We’re not asking the banks to do something that’s not in their long-term interest. Because they’re sitting there holding all this toxic paper—the stuff that the Fed hasn’t taken from them. Every time the housing market looks like it might get a little better, they dump this stuff. And then it gets worse again. And so in terms of where the money should come from, it’s in the long-term interest of the banks to make whatever deals they can to keep people in their homes. And if that means lowering the payments, if it means lowering the loan obligations, it’s still better than the home going belly-up. So really what we’re talking about is forcing the banks to act in their own long-term interest by keeping people in their houses as much as they can. And they’re not doing that. They’re being very, very slow to make adjustments in these loans, and as a result the foreclosure rate keeps increasing.</p>
<p>Truthdig: OK. The next question [from Belle]: Why doesn’t the media ever comment on why the government didn’t rescue the actual mortgage holders that were in trouble, versus bailing out the banks?</p>
<p>RS: Because the media is an elite media. We live in a class-driven society now that is quite extreme. And the Washington elite, the pundit class, the people who comment on this stuff—you know, they no longer work at small newspapers. They’re no longer living in regular communities. These people make out like bandits, you know, whether they’re called journalists or they’re called politicians or they’re called bankers. You know, they get enormous … people like Tom Friedman of The New York Times, he gets what, 50, 75, 200,000 dollars for speaking fees—the same thing that Lawrence Summers got when he was advising Obama, [when Summers was] ostensibly a Harvard professor. You know, and he made $4 million in speaking fees while he was advising Obama. So these people are not hurting. The people who edit the big newspapers, who run the big broadcast stations, that are chattering on TV, the politicians that serve them, you know, and of course the bankers behind them—they’re all doing quite well in these rough economic times. It’s the rest of the people that are suffering. And they’re not in touch with that. They don’t care about it, they don’t observe it, it’s not in their face. And as a result, they don’t cover it. They don’t write about it. So we have a crazy society now where we have enormous pain out there, enormous pain. That’s why you have the tea party movement. That’s why you have this rage in the country. And unfortunately, the only people dealing with it are people on the right side of the spectrum—the right-wing side of the spectrum. And we don’t have a progressive populist alternative because too many “progressives,” so called, have sold out to the Obama administration and the Democratic Party leadership. And they’re buying into this thing, “Hey, you know, circle the wagons. We gotta win this election. Let’s just shut up.” You know, the Supreme Court is at stake, it’s social issues, blah blah blah. And meanwhile, they’re letting the whole populist cry be championed by the right wing. And it’s a cynical response on the part of the right wing. They’re getting a lot of corporate money to these tea party things. They’re getting a lot of corporate support for their Republican candidates. And we should remember it was Republicans who initiated this whole radical deregulation. Yes, Bill Clinton signed off on it, and he made it a reality. But the Republicans ever since Ronald Reagan have wanted to take the wraps off, finance wraps off, big business. And that’s what caused this big meltdown, and yet here you’ve got these Republican candidates parading around as if, you know, they’re the real populists. They’re not. They’re faux populists, false populists, and they’re going to betray the people who are trusting them. But we don’t have a progressive populist alternative. We don’t have leading Democrats who are sounding the alarm. And the saddest thing is that the one who comes closest to it, Russ Feingold, the senator from Wisconsin, is in trouble. Here’s a guy who voted against the destruction of Glass-Steagall, he voted against Clinton on radical deregulation, he voted against throwing money at Wall Street on the bailout. And the poor guy’s being held responsible, unfairly in the extreme, for this meltdown. And, you know, we may lose him. That is incredibly disturbing. Truthdig: It is. OK, the next question, from Jason: Is the American dream a myth, and did that myth help cause the current problem? I just turned 30 and do not have a house, yet most of my friends do or are planning to buy very soon. I used to feel left out and envious, now I feel like I never want to have such a burden as a mortgage and be a slave to it. And by extension a slave to my job and a corporation in order to earn money to make my mortgage payments.</p>
<p>RS: Well, the fact is, you know, you want to own a house because there are a lot of breaks to people who own houses. You get a deduction on your interest rate, you know; hopefully, when there’s inflation, you’re protected somewhat. There were rational reasons why people wanted to be stakeholders, and it’s built into the … I wouldn’t say the myth; it’s built into a basic idea of American democracy of a large, ever-larger middle class of stakeholders, rather than the extremes of rich and poor which have characterized other societies. And the whole dream of the founders, going back to the Founders, was to have, you know, basically what they had in mind was an agrarian democracy with basically stakeholders in a large middle class…[OMISSION]…would create stability in the society. Now that’s eroded dramatically, and we have very sharp class differences now that have exacerbated over the last 20 years. We have 44 million people in this country now living officially under the poverty line. That’s official government statistics; 44 million people are poor! A big chunk of our population, people who are called middle class, are now really suffering. And so the question of homeownership … you’re right in the sense that homeownership was part of a dream. A dream of a large American middle class of stakeholders, people who had something, you know. They could say, “OK, I’ve got my home. I’ve got this piece of land. I’ve got something to pass on to my children. I’ve got a place where I can live when I’m retired and, you know, leave it.” That has been destroyed. It’s been destroyed. Now, in terms of the question that was asked—“does it make sense to opt out of that?”—yes. It does. Because right now it’s a very risky business to get into, housing. They have in fact destroyed the housing market, and right now the reason we have a moratorium with some of the leading banks on foreclosures is we’ve got all these houses … this is an absolute disaster. Just tracing the actual ownership of tens of millions of houses has become a major problem. … [OMISSION] And the reason I bring up this Tom Donilon, who was the chief counsel at Fannie Mae when they concocted this thing, and his wife is chief of staff to the vice president, Joe Biden—you know, I wonder, what are these people thinking? This is the guy that Obama just praised, his “probing intellect.” Why doesn’t Obama go probe this guy’s probing intellect and ask him today—just imagine, Barack Obama could say “Hey Tom, I just made you head of my National Security Council. I’ve trusted now the nation’s security and future to you, Tom. ’Cause you’re so bright, you have such a probing intellect, you have a remarkable work ethic. So what happened between 1999 and 2005 when you were the counsel of Fannie Mae, and you concocted this crazy system of the MERS, the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, that is now destroying the housing market? What were you thinking? What did you think would work? How do we fix it?” You know? You would think one reporter would ask the president that, you know? “Have you asked your good buddy Tom, now, the guy who helped you in the debates, your close friend—have you asked him why he created this monstrosity of a mortgage registration system so we don’t even know who owns these houses now?” And the people are not asking that. And if you can detect some rage in my voice—I feel very angry about this. I don’t get it. I really don’t get it. I voted for Obama, I contributed money to his campaign, and I wonder how in the world—how in the world did you turn to somebody who was as close as anyone to the creation of this monstrosity of securitized mortgages? And all the mess that was created when he [Donilon] was at Fannie Mae and made an enormous amount of money off the run-up of Fannie Mae stock and everything. And you turn to this guy to be your closest confidant and protect this country in terms of national security in the world? I think it’s a major, major scandal and it’s very, very depressing in terms of an assessment of who Obama is and where he gets his information.</p>
<p>Truthdig: Oh, yes, exactly. We have time for one more question. And the question comes from BJW … how are new mortgages being treated differently now?…</p>
<p>RS: This is the same question, and they’re not being treated differently, and that’s the whole problem. That Obama, for all of his talk about financial regulation and changing the system—they didn’t change the system. The banks are in charge, they do what they want to do, they’re not held accountable, and the mess continues. That’s the sad truth here. And, you know, this president … I can’t tell you. This is so disillusioning. So disillusioning. That this guy has been a craven tool of Wall Street. I’m sorry. That’s just the reality. And how in the world this candidate of change, who was supposed to be a community organizer, who was supposed to be feeling the pain of people out there, you know, ended up being the typical best-and-the-brightest, a lead educated snob who ends up being really indifferent to the suffering out there, and then leaves it to the Sarah Palins of this world to represent the fear and anger of people out there, and we don’t have a serious progressive alternative. That’s a very sorry state of affairs.</p>
<p>Truthdig: OK, great. Thank you, Bob.</p>
<p>RS: Thank you. Bye.</p> | Live Chat: Robert Scheer on Foreclosures | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/live-chat-robert-scheer-on-foreclosures/ | 2010-10-16 | 4 |
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<p>The Blessed Hope "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee." <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Tts&amp;c=2" type="external">Titus 2:13-15</a></p>
<p>The Tri-fold power of having the Blessed Hope within us</p>
<p>Titus chapter 2 is an amazing chapter because it tells us that the pretribulation rapture of the church is our 'blessed hope', in which we are to do the following while we wait on His return:</p>
<p>So you see that the Blessed Hope is a means by which God uses it to prepare us and purify us as we wait. It is not simply a "get out of jail free card", it is a refining tool of the Lord to make us ready on a daily basis. After all, death is a reality for over 250,000 people a day every day around the world, with lots of them being bible believing Christians.</p>
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<p>Don't you think that to be "ready at any moment" is a pretty good idea? Having the blessed hope in our lives pushes us towards readiness, and way from stagnation and slothfullness in our spiritual walk with the Lord Jesus.</p>
<p>Salvation is by grace through faith plus nothing strengthens the Blessed Hope</p>
<p>As bible believeing Christians in the age of Grace, we live in a period of time that people of no other dispensation were afforded. Salvation by grace through faith is a gift that we in this life will never understand the full measure of. We read about this in the second chapter of the book of Ephesians:</p>
<p>"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)</p>
<p>And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.</p>
<p>For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?t=KJV&amp;x=0&amp;y=0&amp;b=Eph&amp;c=2&amp;v=1" type="external">Ephesians 2: 4-10</a></p>
<p>We who are saved did nothing to save ourselves, and we do nothing to keep ourselves saved. It is all of the Lord Jesus, this is His great gift to us. We can't fall out, be pulled out, be pushed out, or be talked out of the eternal life He gives us at the moment we recieve this free gift. We can't even jump out! Paul addresses this in the eighth chapter of the book of Romans:</p>
<p>"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." <a href="http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?t=KJV&amp;x=0&amp;y=0&amp;b=Rom&amp;c=8&amp;v=1" type="external">Romans 8:38,39</a></p>
<p>God knows that we are redeemed sinners who still have to live everyday in unredeemed bodies of flesh. He knows that we will still commit sin. So He gives us verses like Romans 8 to assure us and comfort us that we can never be separated from His love no matter where we wander. The Prodigal Son, while he lost his inheritance (a picture of loss of <a href="../doctrine/faith-works-and-the-judgment-seat-of-christ.htm" type="external">rewards at the Judgment Seat</a>), he never lost his sonship with the Father.</p>
<p>Of course, it is God's desire to see us not become like the Prodigal, and to strive to live our lives as He would have us to live them.</p>
<p>Beloved, the bible teaches us that Jesus will 'never leave us or forsake us' after we have been saved. That's a promise you can hang your eternal destiny on. His return for His church to take us our before the Tribulation is also another precious promise you may trust with all your heart.</p>
<p>He said He would come get us...and He will. Be ye always ready....this is our BLESSED HOPE.</p>
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<p>"WATCH" By Warren M. Smith.</p>
<p>Oh, the glory fast approaching, of Ascension's happy morn,� When the watchful servants quickly to His bosom shall be borne; When the dear ones left behind us, shall for us oft seek in vain,� But our spirits shall have risen to the Lamb for sinners slain. Caught up in the air to meet Him, oh! the heights and depths of joy, Lengths and breadths of love surpassing, purest bliss wi ' thout alloy;� Now we see with darkened vision, then we'll see Him face to face,� And we will, through countless ages, sing the glories of His grace. Two shall at a mill be grinding, one be taken, one be left,� Two shall in a bed be sleeping, one of these shall be bereft;� Oh, what wonder and amazement, shall the ones on earth, possess,� They shall pass through tribulation, pain, and sorrow and distress. We shall live with Him forever, in the sunshine of His love,� We shall meet to part, no never, with th' angelic host above;� There we'll hear our Father's welcome, as He calls us, one by one, Saying to each one in person, "Faithful servant, 'tis well done." Let us, then, our lamps keep burning, and our wedding garments on,� Ready to go forth to meet Him, when we hear Him say, "I come;� There will be no time to slumber, lest He come whil'st we're asleep And the door be shut between us; let us then our vigil keep.</p>
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<p /> The Blessed Hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ The Tri-fold power of having the Blessed Hope within us Looking for Jesus: Denying ungodliness: Speak, exhort and rebuke: Click here | Titus 2:13 And The Blessed Hope | true | http://nowtheendbegins.com/pages/rapture/the-blessed-hope.htm | 0 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal">Research In Motion</a> Ltd has recalled about 1,000 of its Playbook tablets which were shipped with a flawed operating system build that could pose problems during the initial set-up, technology blog Engadget and several other media channels reported.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In a statement to CrackBerry.com, the <a href="" type="internal">Blackberry</a> maker said the majority of the affected devices were still in the distribution channel and had not reached customers.</p>
<p>The company is working to replace the affected tablets, it said.</p>
<p>The Engadget blog reported on Saturday that the faulty batch was shipped to office supply chain <a href="" type="internal">Staples</a> Inc.</p>
<p>RIM had hoped to turn around its fortunes with the launch of the PlayBook tablet, but the product won poor reviews and complaints it was rushed out before it was ready.</p>
<p>In April, RIM cut its first-quarter earnings outlook citing fewer BlackBerry smartphone shipments in the period.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Research In Motion and Staples could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment.</p> | RIM Recalls 1,000 Playbook Tablets: Report | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/05/16/rim-recalls-1000-playbook-tablets-report.html | 2016-03-04 | 0 |
<p>Reddit, a popular website which proclaims itself “the front page of the internet,” recently hosted a very famous guest for 30 minutes of user-generated questions. President Obama created and site moderators verified an AMA (Ask Me Anything) thread on Wednesday where he answered 10 questions ranging from his favorite basketball player to his administration’s plan for space exploration.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/" type="external">President Obama Reddit AMA</a> appeared on Reddit without warning (most famous AMA’s are scheduled well ahead of time), and the site was not prepared for the massive influx of traffic that the thread generated. Reddit was slammed with <a href="https://i.imgur.com/7Ndcn.png" type="external">7 million</a> visitors on August 29th and 30th, which caused the site to periodically crash throughout the day.</p>
<p>Obama’s <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/PresidentObama" type="external">Reddit account</a> was created 3 days ago and has since generated over 17,000 Karma points. Karma points are Reddit’s in-house system for tracking the amount of “upvotes” a user receives. On Reddit, when a user posts a comment or submits content, other users then upvote or downvote the original poster. Threads with the most upvotes rise to the front page, which is what users see when they first view the site.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Obama’s AMA was the top thread on the front page of Reddit for Wednesday, and even part of Thursday. The thread itself received over 3,000 upvotes, with more individual upvotes awarded to Obama’s responses in the thread itself.</p>
<p>While some questions were more casual in nature ( <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/c60mom8" type="external">Q:”What’s the recipe for the White House beer?”</a> A:”It will be out soon! I can tell from first hand experience, it is tasty.”), others focused on political issues and agendas. One user, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/hmlee" type="external">hmlee</a>, asked the President how his administration is aiding recent college grads, and why voters should select Obama in November:</p>
<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/c60mnkw" type="external">PresidentObama</a>: “I understand how tough it is out there for recent grads…Because of the health care bill, you can stay on your parent’s plan until you’re twenty six. Because of our student loan bill, we are lowering the debt burdens that young people have to carry. But the key for your future, and all our futures, is an economy that is growing and creating solid middle class jobs – and that’s why the choice in this election is so important…I want to keep promoting advanced manufacturing that will bring jobs back to America, promote all-American energy sources (including wind and solar), keep investing in education and make college more affordable, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in science, and reduce our deficit in a balanced way with prudent spending cuts and higher taxes on folks making more than $250,000/year…”</p>
<p>President Obama placed a lot of emphasis on rebuilding the economy in his response, perhaps in retaliation for the flak he has taken from Republican politicians leading up to the RNC. He also mentioned that his administration will invest in alternative energy sources as a nod to his recent signing of an <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/obama-signs-executive-order-to-accelerate-green-energy-polices-industry" type="external">executive order</a> to accelerate green energy policies. President Obama certainly built up a large to-do list with this response, but with election day two short months away, a summarized post of what he brings to the table is a smart way of attracting voters to his platform.</p>
<p>Another question posed by user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/suzmerk" type="external">suzmerk</a> asked how the President intends to end the corrupt force of money in politics. Both parties have committed to running their presidential campaigns entirely through private donation, rather than public funding. Though the refusal of public funds may be the noble choice, it opens up a pandora’s box of outside influences from big donors and Super PACs. President Obama responded:</p>
<p>PresidentObama: “Money has always been a factor in politics, but we are seeing something new in the no-holds barred flow of seven and eight figure checks, most undisclosed, into super-PACs; they fundamentally threaten to overwhelm the political process over the long run and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. We need to start with passing the Disclose Act that is already written and been sponsored in Congress – to at least force disclosure of who is giving to who. We should also pass legislation prohibiting the bundling of campaign contributions from lobbyists. Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t revisit it). Even if the amendment process falls short, it can shine a spotlight of the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/08-205.htm" type="external">Citizen’s United v. Federal Election Commission</a> was a 2008 Supreme Court case in which the court upheld the First Amendment rights of corporations and unions, revoking the right of the government to restrict their political speech. This allowed for the creation of Super PACs, organizations which raise massive amounts of money to speak on behalf of political parties and candidates in television, radio, Internet, and print advertisements.</p>
<p>Obama himself is supported by a number of <a href="http://www.prioritiesusaaction.org/" type="external">Super PACs</a> who may not agree with his sentiments above. However, by amending the Citizen’s United case, this could potentially level the playing field for third party candidates in future elections by restricting the amount of private donations each candidate or party may receive.</p>
<p>President Obama answered a number of other questions, which can be read in their entirety, along with the responses above, on the <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obama_president_of_the_united_states/" type="external">original Reddit thread</a>. He soon returned to more pressing presidential responsibilities after a short 30 minutes, but his impact seems to have affected the entire Reddit community.</p>
<p>Whether or not users agreed with his sentiments, many were impressed that he reached out to voters in such an open and public way. Many comments and threads the next day discussed how many of Reddit’s users had never expected the chance to interact one-on-one with the President.</p>
<p>Though he may not have answered every question, President Obama promoted himself as an open and technologically savvy candidate– certainly an appeal for his young voter base who supported him in 2008. On his overall experience with the Reddit community and the AMA process, Obama had this to say: “ <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/obama-rage-face-not-bad" type="external">NOT BAD</a>!”</p> | President Obama Reddit AMA Tackles Economy, Loans, PACs | false | https://ivn.us/2012/08/31/president-obama-reddit-ama-tackles-economy-loans-pacs/ | 2012-08-31 | 2 |
<p>This anniversary is a crossroads, a time 
to decide what to run toward and what to cast aside for a lighter burden. Ten years ago, I was a “refugee” from an American city. The consequence of that label has been a chaos of circumstances and quick decisions. The first 10 years, all a scramble to reconstruct oneself. The truth is, I am one of the lucky ones. One of the luckiest. I am home. I am sane. I am alive to speak for myself. I mourn for those lost and struggle with the gratitude and guilt of being spared. Survival is an animal instinct that moves us all toward good and bad, and I am doing my best with its weight. In these 10 years, I’ve learned to use this realization to heat and cool my anxiety, to forgive myself and propel my body into motion. There is so much about the last 10 years that I would rather forget, experiences I would remake. But it is not possible to go backward. There is only what is,and right now the stakes are high. New Orleans changes for good, a little bit at a time, every day. Houses in my neighborhood flip at sometimes three times their pre-Katrina “worth.” For white families in the new New Orleans, the median income has grown at triple the rate of black families’ income. It’s no wonder many are insistent that New Orleans is back and better than ever. There are roughly 100,000 fewer black people in the metro area. Old people out; new people in. It is critical not to cede the story at its crossroads.</p>
<p>Raised black in New Orleans and having made it to this side of these 10 years, I remember that with living comes the sacred responsibility of recalling. New Orleans has always been a place of many peoples. The Chata (Choctaw) named the city Bulbancha, “Many Languages Spoken There,” and the Ishak call it Nun Ush, “The Big Village.” Many of the places and locations known to tourists and travelers worldwide, such as the Port of New Orleans, the French Market, and Congo Square, served as thoroughfares for trade and culture long before the arrival of whites. Born and raised black in New Orleans, I speak an English marked by its African and Native vocabularies and patterns of speech. I like my short adjectives repeated two and three times each. The food is good-good and the picture might be pretty-pretty-pretty. I grew up with a distinct awareness of our longstanding ties to this land and the people who originally inhabited it. New Orleans is our place, a place with a syncretic and independent culture and a multilayered relationship to the diaspora—a relationship not of theory, but of practice.</p>
<p>Super Sunday is one tradition of the Mardi Gras Indians in New Orleans. A gathering of nations, it is an homage to and a reiteration of the political, spiritual, and blood bonds between indigenous peoples. Occasions like this, along with St. Joseph’s Night, are the times apart from Mardi Gras when certain citizens of New Orleans mask and transform themselves. Raised black in New Orleans, I learned to see the full expanse of our culture, the total expression of what it means to be transcendent, to be free, to resist. Growing up, I celebrated Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, with my schoolmates every year. Occasionally, I would attend Mass or bring flowers to the Mary Queen of Vietnam Church. Other times, I had to argue for respect in neighborhood businesses that were almost never black-owned but always black-supported. I struggled to understand where we had all come from, the histories that landed us in this place together.</p>
<p>My life in New Orleans has been an intersectional black experience, one that continues to teach me about the globe and the journeys of peoples across it. For me, Katrina and the 10 years that have followed are as much a story of movement as anything else. Many of us raised black in this city have had to wander elsewhere in the years since; others of us have adjusted our eyes to home’s jarring new landscape. I know that there is power in an identity of group and individual survival. I call upon it daily in order to understand my body in this new place. Raised black in New Orleans, we are all looking to make a way, through memory, to the life stretching out in front of us.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>The one-year anniversary of Mike
 Brown’s murder, and of the start of the protests in Ferguson, will precede this 10th anniversary of Katrina. The chilling news of Sandra Bland’s death in a Texas jail cell, and the murders in between these deaths, haunt this first decade of the storm’s destruction and aftermath. The news media’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina created looters of human beings. There were orders to shoot those human beings on sight. This year, we have all been inundated with the photographs and video clips of human beings suffering and dying. We have all seen them: some in choke holds, others riddled with bullets. People hanged or laid out on the concrete. This year has been the endless looping on television of human beings who look like me, rendered black and dead. Ten years since Katrina and 10 years among the undead, I recall having had my humanity interrupted, my community made fodder to a culture in which gazing upon our deaths is an act as simple as a few guilt-free clicks. These days, I share my culture with those who zoom their lenses in on me and my son—those who demand with point-and-shoots to know if we are a part of the festivities?</p>
<p>The Maafa is a ceremonial gathering and procession from Congo Square to the Mississippi River that has happened annually in New Orleans for the last 15 years. Attendees are asked to wear all white to honor those who came to New Orleans via the transatlantic slave trade. The procession makes several stops throughout the Quarter. One purpose of the gathering is to say: We remember. The Maafa is a day for those of African descent to show up in places where our ancestors were bought and sold. It’s a day to let it be known that we have an account of what we’ve endured in this place. On the walk, I cannot help but reimagine the tens of thousands amassed at the Superdome, the Convention Center, those on rooftops, highways. Those people who were already dead, the bloated and defaced bodies that camera lenses could find, but help could not reach.</p>
<p>At the conclusion of this year’s Maafa, we walked from the river through the Quarter, and a white man grabbed my friend’s shoulder. Shouting with a weird, expectant grin on his face, he pressed: Hey! My girlfriend wants a picture of you.All night after this encounter, I was reminded of the memorabilia that peppers the French Quarter’s souvenir shops: the postcards featuring smiling black faces at the center of sunflowers or happily eating or chopping sugarcane. Also postcards of a more sacred variety. These are the relics of universities, museums, and lay collectors, postcards with the images of black lynching victims and the mobs responsible for their murders. Lately, I think daily of the people, the families, the Americans, who waited patiently for the arrival of these postcards in the mail. The people for whom these photographs served as a form of entertainment and a way to communicate shared values. I am willing my way through the new images of black death that accost us this year. I still do not know what to do with the ones that live in my memory.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Currently, I reside in New Orleans’s 
rapidly gentrifying Fifth Ward/Mid-City neighborhood. Navigating it mostly on foot, I am always ridden by the recollections of what was there before Katrina. All over the city are the places that no longer exist, the dimension of my childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, the evidence of which has been mostly washed away. Lost to forever are still more human beings. Where did all the people who disappeared go? Ten years hasn’t been long enough to call any of them back across land or ether. It is something to be erased—or to be photographed like a relic while you’re still living.</p>
<p>This 10-year anniversary is a crossroads, a time for all refugee-citizens to live in the fullness of what we remember. I come from a people who have always asserted their right to assemble, to show up and be seen, to be counted as nations within a nation. Those of us who remain in New Orleans are tasked with separating the mere passage of time from ideas of progress, of back and better than ever. We are fighting the notion of death as a pathway to new and more resilient cities. We will not be the thing that bonds other humans to one another—the dead bodies to remind others to cherish their mortality. We are black and alive, still. This is the truth, despite what the pictures say.</p>
<p>Now is not the time to cede the story of the past 10 years, or the next.</p>
<p>Recalling the summer of 2005, the first memory is heat. It was a hellish August. Already there were things I would have liked to forget. The New Orleans I grew up in was a strange and dangerous and exhilarating place to be. There were traps and pitfalls and early deaths. There was also no place like it on earth, and much to look forward to. I was a senior in college when Katrina came in from the Gulf of Mexico. The levees breached and topped, and MR-GO, a channel built to shorten the route from the Gulf of Mexico to the Industrial Canal, pushed a wall of water through all that I had ever known. Human beings were left behind to face this water. Some lived. More than 1,800 died, many of them drowned. Many others have died prematurely in the months and years that followed.</p>
<p>Every day is a fight to make sense of the shape of my new existence. In the 10 years since, I have earned two degrees, become a mother, and buried my son’s father. I have grieved, fallen in love, been heartbroken, and moved more than a dozen times. Because I was raised black in New Orleans, I was taught many tricks on how to survive—that even heartache can be cause to make pretty and celebrate. Here, despite all that has changed, the drums beat as they always have: a little something to help the children remember that we have been here a long time, and a long time ain’t going nowhere. I struggle against those in my city who say that with progress must come our erasure. I don’t know how long my city has for me, but every day that I remain, I am working, searching for a newer, truer meaning for the concept of forward.</p>
<p>Kristina Kay Robinson is the coeditor of Mixed Company, a collection of short fiction by women of color. Her work has appeared in The Baffler, Xavier Review, and Guernica.</p> | Ten Years Since Katrina: A Meditation on New Orleans | true | http://alternet.org/news-amp-politics/ten-years-katrina-meditation-new-orleans?sc%3Dfb | 2015-08-13 | 4 |
<p>U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin made news over the weekend when he warned voters not to be fooled by the GOP candidate competing to replace him who is&#160;“really attractive” and “sounds nice.”</p>
<p>The retiring Democrat was hoping to turn votes away from Republican Joni Ernst, who is vying for his Iowa seat and is ahead in many polls.</p>
<p>“I don’t care if she’s as good looking as Taylor Swift or as nice as Mr. Rogers, but if she votes like Michele Bachmann, she’s wrong for the state of Iowa.”</p>
<p>Clever woman that she is, Ernst sent an indirect message to Harkin in a tweet that didn’t go unnoticed:</p>
<p />
<p>LOL. That is a money tweet, sister. Rock on with your bad self! <a href="https://twitter.com/joniernst" type="external">@joniernst</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13" type="external">@taylorswift13</a></p>
<p>— The 57th State ℅EF™ (@EF517_V2) <a href="https://twitter.com/EF517_V2/status/529338275979591680" type="external">November 3, 2014</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/joniernst" type="external">@joniernst</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/meredithshiner" type="external">@meredithshiner</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/taylorswift13" type="external">@taylorswift13</a> holy frack!! hella funny!!!!</p>
<p>— Marky (@thesilky) <a href="https://twitter.com/thesilky/status/529335221431193600" type="external">November 3, 2014</a></p>
<p /> | Joni Ernst uses Taylor Swift to help with ‘epic troll’ of insulting Dem senator | true | http://bizpacreview.com/2014/11/03/joni-ernst-uses-taylor-swift-to-help-with-epic-troll-of-insulting-dem-senator-156629 | 2014-11-03 | 0 |
<p>The White House will now count all jobs funded by stimulus money, not just those that were created or saved. The job market is still hemorrhaging and the administration might be looking to do a little inflation. Or it might honestly be trying to simplify a confusing and highly criticized formula for counting jobs.</p>
<p>ProPublica:</p>
<p>Part of the problem is that there’s no accepted standard for counting jobs, said Mary Foelster of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.</p>
<p>“It’s not so much calculating jobs; it’s trying to have evidence that a job was retained,” she said. “What is the client going to point to to say, ‘I was going to lay someone off, but now I’m not?’&#160;”</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.propublica.org/ion/stimulus/item/white-house-changes-stimulus-jobs-count-111" type="external">Read more</a></p> | White House Juices the Job Count | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/white-house-juices-the-job-count/ | 2010-01-12 | 4 |
<p>Over the weekend, new details emerged on just how U.S. Army Private Bradley Manning is connected to the Wikileaks case.</p>
<p>Manning is on trial in a military court and, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/19/us-usa-defense-manning-idUSTRE7BF0D720111219" type="external">according to Reuters</a>, on Sunday a military computer crimes expert testified that files and file fragments found on Manning's two computer matched those downloadable from the Wikileaks website. It's the first time that the government has publicly linked Manning to Wikileaks, though it's been widely expected.</p>
<p>Denver Nicks, author of the forthcoming book "Private: The Bradley Manning Story" is monitoring the trial at Fort Meade in Maryland, said witnesses have testified that Manning downloaded most, if not all, of the documents that wound up on Wikileaks. Also over the weekend, the Army put in place restrictions on what witnesses Manning can call in his own defense.</p>
<p>"This is not a legal proceeding in a court, in that sense. It's a pre-trial investigation presided over by an investigating officer," Nicks said. "It's a pre-trial investigation to determine whether to court-martial Bradley Manning."</p>
<p>For that reason, Nicks said don't expect to hear from Wikileaks. At this point, all the government needs to do is convince the investigating officer that a reasonable person could believe Manning leaked the documents. At a court martial, the evidentiary standards would be higher, and more similar to what you'd find in civilian courts.</p>
<p>One of the restrictions put in place prohibited Manning's attorney from calling to testify, for example, the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense. Manning's attorney, David Coombs, also wanted to question soldiers who served with Manning in an effort to call into question why Manning still had access to classified documents, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/18/bradley-manning-security-failings-iraq?newsfeed=true" type="external">despite showing signs of instability</a>.</p>
<p>"One of the issues Coombs has been trying to discuss is the level of classification of these documents and the actual damage done to national security by their leaking," Nick said. "Those are the issues he wanted the secretary of state and former defense secretary Gates to testify to."</p>
<p>Instead, the defense has had to use the witnesses that have been called to question Manning's state of mind. Nicks said they've testified about the level of stress Manning was under, as well as the gender identity crisis he was undergoing. They've also tried to establish that there was very lax information security policies at the base where Manning was stationed, which could have led him to misunderstand what he could and could not do.</p>
<p>Manning, who has been in custody since May 2010, faces several charges, including aiding the enemy and moving classified documents to a non-secured computer. Aiding the enemy carries a maximum penalty of death. He's been imprisoned at the Army prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for the past few months after being moved out of Quantico Marine base, under pressure.</p>
<p>"Earlier this year and last last year, there were some questions about Manning being held in solitary confinement. The United Nations got involved, Welsh Parliamentarian were up in arms," Nicks said. "That's another issue his defense attorney intended to bring up at this hearing."</p>
<p>According to Nicks, Coombs claims this ia a violation of Manning's rights and said he's being punished for crimes he's not yet been convicted of committing.</p> | U.S. government officially links Bradley Manning to Wikileaks documents | false | https://pri.org/stories/2011-12-19/us-government-officially-links-bradley-manning-wikileaks-documents | 2011-12-19 | 3 |
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<p>MATTHEW MEAD/THE ASSOCIATED PRESSLooking for a new way to serve the popular green at Thanksgiving? Try this sesame kale salad.</p>
<p>When it comes to leafy green vegetables, kale has been king for a while. It boasts more vitamin C than an orange, more calcium than milk, and more iron per calorie than beef.</p>
<p>It also has been the darling of the restaurant world for several years, popping up on menus all over the place. There’s even been kale backlash, as people said, “Enough kale!” But I can’t get enough. Particularly now, when kale is in its prime (it loves the cold).</p>
<p>So I wanted to find a new way to prepare it. Garlicky kale sautéed in olive oil? Been there. Baked kale chips? Done that. In search of a simple recipe that would be manageable for the Thanksgiving table, I was inspired by a kale salad I ate recently at ABC Kitchen, one of my favorite restaurants in New York. Chef Dan Kluger tosses his version with lemon, serrano chiles and mint.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I decided to give mine the Asian treatment, dressing it with soy, sesame oil and rice vinegar.</p>
<p>Kale is available in curly, ornamental and dinosaur varieties. It was the Italians who gave that last type its name; they thought the bumpy surface of its leaves resembled dinosaur skin. Generally, smaller leaves are milder in flavor. At the supermarket, look for firm, deeply colored leaves with firm stems. You can store kale in an airtight plastic bag in the fridge for up to five days.</p>
<p>There is one problem with raw kale – it’s tough. You can tenderize it by cutting it into thin shreds or, oddly enough, you can massage it. I was always taught to be gentle with greens because they bruise easily, but not kale. Kale is the punching bag of the greens world. You need to beat it into submission if you’re going to eat it raw.</p>
<p>You also need to remove the thick stems. The easiest way to do this is with a paring knife. One at a time, fold the leaves in half and lay it flat on the cutting surface. Use the knife to slice down along the side of the stem.</p>
<p>You can make the dressing for this salad ahead, then toss and massage the greens at the last moment. If you’d like, you also can dress the kale a few hours ahead of time and keep it chilled with little damage to the flavor and texture. I tried this salad after I’d left it in the fridge for a full day. It still tasted darn good. In all modesty, it’s another reason to be thankful.</p>
<p>SESAME KALE SALAD</p>
<p>Start to finish: 10 minutes</p>
<p>Serves 6</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>1 small clove garlic, minced</p>
<p>2½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil</p>
<p>1½ tablespoons vegetable oil</p>
<p>3 tablespoons rice vinegar</p>
<p>2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce</p>
<p>10 cups packed chopped kale leaves, thick stems removed</p>
<p>2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (optional)</p>
<p>Kosher salt and ground black pepper</p>
<p>In a large bowl, whisk together the garlic, sesame oil, vegetable oil, vinegar and soy sauce. Add the kale and massage it with your hands for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it has become shiny and a little translucent and reduced in volume by one third to one half. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, then season with salt and pepper. Toss well.</p>
<p>PER SERVING: 130 calories; 70 calories from fat (54 percent of total calories); 8 g fat (0.5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 12 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 0 g sugar; 5 g protein; 410 mg sodium.</p>
<p /> | Robust salad is a new take on ubiquitous kale | false | https://abqjournal.com/299764/robust-salad-is-a-new-take-on-ubiquitous-kale.html | 2013-11-13 | 2 |
<p>I think –and I do not intend to offend anyone- that this is how the Prime Minister of Canada is called.&#160; I deduced it from a statement published on “Holy Wednesday” by a spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry of that country. The &#160;&#160;United Nations Organization membership is made up by almost 200 States –allegedly independent States.&#160; They continuously change or are forced into change.&#160; Many of their representatives are honorable persons, friends of Cuba; but it is impossible to remember the specifics about each and every one of them.</p>
<p>During the second half of the twentieth century, I had the privilege of living through years of intensive erudition and I realized that Canadians, located in the northernmost region of this hemisphere, were always respectful towards our country.&#160; They invested in areas of their interest and traded with Cuba, but they did not interfere in the internal affairs of our State.</p>
<p>The revolutionary process that began on January 1st, 1959, did not introduce any measure that affected their interests, which were taken into account by the Revolution in maintaining normal and constructive relations with the authorities of that country where a significant effort was being made in the interest of its own development. Thus, they were not accomplices of the economic blockade, the war and the mercenary invasion that the United States launched against Cuba.</p>
<p>In May of 1948, the year that witnessed the foundation of the OAS, an institution with a shameful history which did away with what little was left from the dreams of the Liberators of the Americas, Canada was from belonging to it. It kept that same status for more than 40 years, until 1990. Some of its leaders visited us.&#160; One of them was Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a brilliant and courageous politician who died prematurely.&#160; We attended his burial on behalf of Cuba.</p>
<p>The OAS is supposed to be a regional organization made up by the sovereign States of this hemisphere.&#160; Such an assertion, like many others which are made everyday, involves a great number of lies. The least we can do is to be aware of them, if we are to preserve the spirit of struggle and our confidence on a more decent world.</p>
<p>The OAS is supposed to be a pan-American organization.&#160; Any country in Europe, Africa, Asia or Oceania could not belong to the OAS just because it has a colony, as it is the case of France in Guadeloupe; or the Netherlands in Curaçao.&#160; But the British colonialism could not define the status of Canada and explain whether it was a colony, a republic or a kingdom.</p>
<p>The Head of State of Canada is Queen Elizabeth II, although she vests her powers upon a Governor-General appointed by her.&#160; Therefore, we could ask whether the United Kingdom is also part of the OAS.</p>
<p>Likewise, the Honorable Foreign Minister of Canada does not dare to say whether or not he supports Argentina in the thorny issue of the Malvinas Islands.&#160; He has only expressed beatific wishes for peace to prevail between the two countries.&#160; But Great Britain has there its biggest military base outside its territory in violation of Argentina’s sovereignty.&#160; It did not apologize for having sunk the ‘General Belgrano’ cruiser which was sailing outside the jurisdictional waters that they themselves established which led to the futile sacrifice of hundreds of youths who were doing their military service. We should ask Obama and Harper what stand they will take in the face of the fairest claim by Argentina to be given back the sovereignty over the islands so that it is no longer deprived of the energy and fishing resources it so much needs to develop the country.</p>
<p>I was really amazed after I made a much deeper analysis of the activities carried out by Canadian transnationals in Latin America. I knew about the damage caused by the Yankees to the people of Canada.&#160; They forced the country to look for oil by extracting it from huge extensions of sand that are impregnated with that fluid, thus causing an irreparable damage to the environment of that beautiful and extensive country.</p>
<p>The incredible damage was the one caused to millions of persons by the Canadian companies specialized in the mining of gold, precious metals and radioactive materials.</p>
<p>An article published by the website Alainet a week ago, signed by an Engineer on Environmental Quality, which provides further details&#160; about an issue that has been identified innumerable times as one of the main scourges that affect millions of persons, stated that mining companies, 60 per cent of which are financed with Canadian capital, worked following the logic of maximum yield at a low cost and in a short time; and that these conditions turn out to be all the more advantageous if in the places where they are stationed, tax revenues are minimal and there are very few environmental and social commitments…</p>
<p>According to the article, the mining laws in our countries […] do not include any obligation or methodology to control environmental or social impacts; the tax revenues that mining companies pay to the countries of the region are, as an average, no more than 1.5 per cent of the revenues received.</p>
<p>The article adds that the social struggle against mining, particularly metal mining, has been growing as long as entire generations are becoming aware of the environmental and social impacts it causes.</p>
<p>It states that Guatemala has put up an admirable resistance against mining projects, thanks to the indigenous populations’ awareness of the value of their territories and their natural resources, which they consider a priceless ancestral heritage.&#160; However, in the last 10 years, the consequences of that struggle have been felt in the assassination of 120 human rights’ activists and advocators.</p>
<p>This article also describes the current situation in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, with figures that make us meditate very deeply about the seriousness and harshness of the ruthless pillaging that is being carried out against the natural resources of our countries, thus mortgaging the future of Latin Americans.</p>
<p>The presence of Dilma Rousseff, who made a stopover in Washington while traveling back to her country, will serve to persuade Obama that although there are some who take great delight in making slushy speeches, Latin America is far from being a choir of countries begging for alms.</p>
<p>The guayabera shirts to be worn by Obama in Cartagena has become one of the main issues covered by the news agencies: “Edgar Gómez […] has designed one for the US President, Barack Obama, who will be wearing it during the Summit of the Americas”, said the daughter of the designer, who added: “It is a white, sober guayabera, with a handiwork that is more striking that usual…”</p>
<p>Immediately after that, the news agency added that the Caribbean shirt was first made by the banks of the Yayabo River in Cuba; that is why they were originally called yayaberas.</p>
<p>The curious thing about this, dear readers, is that Cuba has been forbidden to attend that meeting, but not the guayaberas.&#160; Who could hold back from laughing? We must hurry up and tell Harper.</p> | Stephen Harper’s Illusions | true | https://counterpunch.org/2012/04/09/stephen-harpers-illusions/ | 2012-04-09 | 4 |
<p />
<p>Google Inc on Thursday accused Microsoft Corp and Nokia of conspiring to use their patents against smartphone industry rivals, and said it has filed a formal complaint with the European Commission.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In its complaint, Google claimed Microsoft and Nokia, which cooperate on smartphone technology and production, transferred 1,200 patents for assertion to a group called MOSAID, which the company called a "patent troll" - a term referring to a holder of patents that litigates them aggressively.</p>
<p>"Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side-step promises both companies have made," the Internet search leader said in a statement, adding that the complaint was filed "recently."</p>
<p>"They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices."</p>
<p>Nokia was not immediately available for comment. A Microsoft representative said the company had not seen the complaint, and declined comment.</p> | Google Accuses Microsoft, Nokia of Mobile Collusion | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/05/31/google-accuses-microsoft-nokia-mobile-collusion.html | 2016-03-03 | 0 |
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<p />
<p>Winners get the resources needed to create either a 10-minute studio pitch or a 22-minute pilot that will premiere at the 2014 Santa Fe Film Festival (May 1-4) and on SFTV-Channel 28.</p>
<p>Trailers should be 60-90 seconds long, shot in and around Santa Fe, and should help attract people to the state. Your show should be budget conscious with a strong enough story to build an ongoing series. You must own all copyrights and have all clearances in place to win.</p>
<p>Submissions received by the early deadline, Nov. 17, will be included in the “Future” Mix competition on Nov. 21, and the audience choice winner might receive $500, courtesy of MIX Santa Fe.</p>
<p>The final deadline for all entries is Dec. 1.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The entry fee is $25 ($15 for students) through Nov. 17 and $50 ($25 for students) from Nov. 18-Dec. 1.</p>
<p>Submission forms may be found at <a href="" type="internal">santafefilmfestival.com</a>.</p>
<p>Entries must be sent via a digitized file to the SFFF Dropbox — <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a> — or brought on a thumb drive with a digital file to the SFFF office, 60 W. San Francisco St., Suite 307, during regular business hours.</p>
<p>For more information, contact Nani at 505-988-7414 x102 or <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>.</p> | Television pitch could win money | false | https://abqjournal.com/301373/television-pitch-could-win-money.html | 2013-11-15 | 2 |
<p>Lax oversight at the IRS increases the risk that political and religious groups could be unfairly targeted for audits, government investigators say in a report that raises concerns about an IRS division that has been under scrutiny for singling out conservative organizations.</p>
<p>The Government Accountability Office found no evidence that agents improperly audited any groups. But a new GAO report released Thursday says poor oversight increases the risk that agents could select tax-exempt groups for audits based on their religious, educational or political views.</p>
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<p>There are 1.6 million tax-exempt groups in the U.S., according to the GAO report. Fewer than 1 percent are audited each year, a process that can be costly and time-consuming for both the IRS and the group being audited.</p>
<p>"We first learned the IRS was unfairly singling out conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status," said Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., chairman of the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee.</p>
<p>"This report exposes a new and more egregious frontier of potential targeting in the agency's audit selection process," Roskam said.</p>
<p>Roskam's subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the GAO report Thursday morning. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is scheduled to testify, as well as leaders of several tax-exempt groups that have been audited.</p>
<p>The IRS acknowledged in 2013 that agents had improperly singled out tea party and other conservative groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. The revelation led to ongoing investigations by Congress, the Department of Justice and the agency's inspector general.</p>
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<p>In response to Thursday's report, the IRS noted there was no proof that groups were unfairly selected for audit.</p>
<p>"The IRS has strong protections in place to ensure that exempt organizations are selected for audit only for the purpose of enforcing the federal tax laws with fairness and integrity," the IRS said in a statement. "No internal or external review conducted to date has found any indication that an exempt organization has been improperly selected for audit."</p>
<p>In 2014, the IRS completed a little more than 8,000 audits of tax-exempt groups.</p>
<p>About half were chosen because IRS computers detected potential problems on their annual filings. Tax-exempt groups don't file tax returns. But those with receipts of more than $50,000 must file a form that details their revenues, liabilities and program activities. Smaller groups have to file a postcard.</p>
<p>Others groups were selected as part of compliance projects in which the IRS studied types of groups or activities that might be at risk for tax evasion.</p>
<p>More than 1,600 were selected based on referrals or complaints from the public, IRS employees and other government agencies.</p>
<p>The referrals go to specialists, who either recommend an audit or dismiss them. Referrals that deal with political activities, churches or high-profile organizations that have attracted media attention are also reviewed by three-person panels.</p>
<p>IRS procedures are designed to prevent individual employees from unfairly selecting groups for an audit, based on inappropriate criteria. However, the GAO report found: "Staff are not required to obtain executive management approval to deviate from these procedures."</p>
<p>Also, supervisors don't always document whether they have approved audits, or decisions to cancel audits, the report said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap</p> | Government watchdog says lax oversight at IRS puts political groups at risk for unfair audits | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/07/23/government-watchdog-says-lax-oversight-at-irs-puts-political-groups-at-risk-for.html | 2016-03-09 | 0 |
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<p>“Untitled,” 1974, monotype in ink on tissue paper by Adolph Gottlieb. (SOURCE: The Adolph And Esther Gottlieb Foundation)</p>
<p>In 1970, Adolph Gottlieb suffered a massive stroke, leaving him paralyzed but for the use of his right arm.</p>
<p>“A Painter’s Hand: The Monotypes of Adolph Gottlieb,” at the University of New Mexico Art Museum beginning this weekend, explores this largely unexamined period in the artist’s career. The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation has loaned a suite of 40 works created within the last nine months of Gottlieb’s life.</p>
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<p>“The doctor’s advice to his wife was keep him in bed, keep him quiet; he’s only got six months,” said Sanford Hirsch, the New York foundation’s executive director. “In her mind, her response was, ‘If I keep him in bed, he’ll be dead in six days.’ ”</p>
<p>In the spring of 1973, Gottlieb agreed to create a new lithograph using a press and an assistant sent to his Long Island studio. He immediately dismissed the assistant back to Manhattan but kept the machinery and materials used to create the prints. They allowed him to work independently and gave him the will to continue working despite his fading health.</p>
<p>“Untitled,” 1974, monotype in ink on tissue paper by Adolph Gottlieb. (SOURCE: The Adolph And Esther Gottlieb Foundation)</p>
<p>“He didn’t have to do the big gesture,” guest curator Joyce Szabo said, her arm rising to an invisible canvas. “It was flat.”</p>
<p>The artist used paper, canvas, tissue and even newsprint, adding ink and oils to create his compositions. He often made small but important changes using little pieces of cardboard or his fingers to manipulate the paint.</p>
<p>Motifs from his paintings regularly appear: the multiple circular forms, the horizon lines.</p>
<p>“These are a more studied form of his imaginary landscapes,” Szabo said.</p>
<p>“Untitled,” 1974, monotype in ink on paper by Adolph Gottlieb. (SOURCE: The Adolph And Esther Gottlieb Foundation)</p>
<p>Gottlieb never intended to exhibit the prints. They represent the personal notes of a long-experienced master who was fully aware he was nearing the end of his life. Rather than a repeated series of images, like a print edition, Gottlieb carefully considered each individual composition, almost like journal entries.</p>
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<p>“When he did them, he was doing them strictly for himself,” Hirsch said. “It was to give him a way to keep working.”</p>
<p>That independence surfaced early. Gottlieb left home at 17 and worked his way through Europe, where he visited the museums. When he returned, he studied at the Art Students League under John Sloan, leader of the Ashcan School of painting.</p>
<p>A seismic stylistic shift occurred when Gottlieb moved to just outside Tucson in 1937, at the advice of his wife’s doctor. He distilled his crystallized expansive view of the Arizona desert into a basic abstracted form.</p>
<p>“They were ridiculed,” Hirsch said. “Before that, most of his close friends (also artists) rejected him. It was derogatory; they accused him of ‘going abstract.’ The press was not at all sympathetic.”</p>
<p>By 1948, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum acquired several of his works.</p>
<p>In 1968, a major retrospective exhibition organized jointly by the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Guggenheim Museum opened at both museums in New York City simultaneously —— the only time this has occurred.</p>
<p>Gottlieb died in 1974 after entering the hospital for treatment of emphysema.</p>
<p /> | Exhibition showcases the last works of Adolph Gottlieb | false | https://abqjournal.com/942945/final-forms.html | 2 |
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<p />
<p>Stocks wobbled between gains and losses today before ending the trading session slightly higher.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EINX" type="external">^INX</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 66 points, or 0.4%, and the S&amp;P 500 added 2 points, or 0.1%. Both indexes are 2% lower so far in 2016, having recovered most of the 10% year-to-date loss they recorded on Feb. 11.</p>
<p>In economic news, oil prices continued to climb higher (they're now up 45% since touching a 13-year low last month). That gain helped the energy sector lead markets higher today.</p>
<p>Individual stocks making big moves today included Pier 1 Imports and Iconix Brands Group .</p>
<p>Pier 1 Imports' steady holiday season Home furnishings specialist Pier 1 Imports surged 27% higher today, which brought its year-to-date return to a scorching 37%. Shares are still down 40% over the past 52 weeks, though.</p>
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<p>Source: Pier 1 Imports.</p>
<p>Today's jump came after the company released <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/07/why-pier-1-imports-inc-stock-popped-today.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">surprisingly strong results for its fiscal fourth quarter Opens a New Window.</a>. Sales for the holiday season period were flat on a constant currency basis, and down by just 1% as reported. Comparable-store sales slipped lower by less than 1%, which beat management's forecast for a 3% slump. "Our preliminary top line results were slightly higher than our previous guidance and reflect positive customer response to our holiday and seasonal assortments, as well as increased promotional and clearance activity during the period," CEO Alex Smith said in a press release.</p>
<p>Pier 1 met consensus estimates by booking $0.20 per share in Q4, compared to $0.37 per share in the prior year period. Meanwhile, three other encouraging data points helped convince investors to bid up shares today. First, e-commerce was responsible for a hefty 15% of revenue, demonstrating continued strength in that important sales channel. Second, the company's inventory levels fell by 15%, which gives it merchandising flexibility heading into its new fiscal year. And third, Pier 1 ended the year with $115 million of cash, up from $100 million a year ago. Overall, the holiday results describe a business that, while grappling with sluggish growth, is still healthy.</p>
<p>Iconix Brand's cash lifeline Iconix Brand's stock jumped 19%, recovering at least a small portion of the 80% decline that shareholders have suffered since last March. In the past year, the owner of global consumer brands such as Sharper Image, Umbro, and London Fog has been rocked by an accounting scandal in addition to the exit of many of its top executives.</p>
<p>Source: Iconix Brand Group.</p>
<p>Yet the stock <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/03/why-iconix-brand-group-stock-jumped-31-in-february.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">had a great February Opens a New Window.</a> up 31% -- as investors became more comfortable with the idea that the worst news was now behind the company. Today's announcement seemed to add weight to that thesis: Iconix revealed that it <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/07/why-iconix-brand-group-inc-stock-soared-today.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">has secured a $300 million loan Opens a New Window.</a> that will keep the company comfortably solvent through this fiscal year.</p>
<p>As a result, prospective investors could be attracted to the rock-bottom P/E multiple of just 5 times last year's earnings. However, while the new debt infusion means Iconix is still in business, it also brings its long-term debt load to over $1 billion, or close to three times the current market capitalization.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the new $300 million loan comes with a double-digit interest rate, which is characteristic of a highly risky bet. That's why investors who aren't interested in the risks involved in owning such a highly leveraged business shouldn't get caught up in the excitement that helped Iconix Brand's stock soar nearly 20% today.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/07/pier-1-imports-and-iconix-brand-group-soar-as-stoc.aspx" type="external">Pier 1 Imports and Iconix Brand Group Soar as Stocks Rise Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=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> | Pier 1 Imports and Iconix Brand Group Soar as Stocks Rise | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/07/pier-1-imports-and-iconix-brand-group-soar-as-stocks-rise.html | 2016-03-28 | 0 |
<p>ELKHART, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana prosecutor says a railroad police officer won't face any criminal charges for firing shots that wounded a 13-year-old boy who led police on a car chase.</p>
<p>Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker announced Thursday that a grand jury decided to clear Norfolk Southern officer Kyle Perry for his actions in the May 7 shooting. Becker says the teen was wounded in the shoulder and was hospitalized for one night.</p>
<p>Becker says the boy was a runaway who was driving a stolen car when an Elkhart officer tried to stop the vehicle for dangerous driving. The teen led police on a 2-mile chase and the railroad officer was aiding an officer in blocking the car when the driver accelerated backward toward him.</p>
<p>Becker says Perry fired seven shots.</p>
<p>ELKHART, Ind. (AP) — A northern Indiana prosecutor says a railroad police officer won't face any criminal charges for firing shots that wounded a 13-year-old boy who led police on a car chase.</p>
<p>Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Becker announced Thursday that a grand jury decided to clear Norfolk Southern officer Kyle Perry for his actions in the May 7 shooting. Becker says the teen was wounded in the shoulder and was hospitalized for one night.</p>
<p>Becker says the boy was a runaway who was driving a stolen car when an Elkhart officer tried to stop the vehicle for dangerous driving. The teen led police on a 2-mile chase and the railroad officer was aiding an officer in blocking the car when the driver accelerated backward toward him.</p>
<p>Becker says Perry fired seven shots.</p> | Officer cleared in shooting of boy, 13, in northern Indiana | false | https://apnews.com/amp/64a70a4dd9ec474c9b51d197c840a49b | 2017-12-29 | 2 |
<p>In The Lord of the Rings there was one ring to rule them all. In the Bible if there is one verse to rule them, all it is John 3:16. If one learned just one Bible verse in Sunday&#160;school or vacation Bible school, it was most likely this verse. We see it posted on billboards and held up at sporting events. The one time I could be a Bible thumper is when the camera view picks up the guy or gal in the stands behind home plate waving a sign with John 3:16. I would like to pound them over the head with it. There is no reason to give this verse exclusively to the conservatives. Progressives need to reclaim it, though perhaps in less dramatic style.“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son …”</p>
<p>God so loved the world, says John, that God sent Jesus “not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (3:17). For the world to be saved is for the world to be healed of its many wounds and made whole. For the world to be saved is for the world to be liberated from all its injustices, inequities and oppressions. For the world to be saved is for the world to be reconciled to God and one another from all its alienations, divisions and polarizations. For the world to be saved is for the world to be regenerated and renewed, so that life emerges out of death. The image of new life (new wine, new birth, living water, bread from heaven, etc.) is the one the writer/community of John’s Gospel employed most often.</p>
<p>When this Gospel says that God gave his “only” Son, there is no good reason to limit this to mean that Jesus is the only way one can encounter God and step into the flow of eternal life. The Greek word means something like “unique, one-of-a-kind” and speaks of the unique relationship Jesus had with God. John has already pointed out in his prologue that God has other children (1:12). In like manner, there is no need to conclude that Jesus is the only way one can encounter God, especially since the true light that is incarnate in Jesus is the light that enlightens every person (1:9).</p>
<p>The revelation that has been made known in Jesus has certainly been the primary means through which I have discovered God’s power and presence but not exclusively so. I have also encountered and discovered God’s power for life through my interaction with others —&#160;through words, actions, expressions, writings and conversations. I have discovered God’s presence in the wonder and mystery of creation and in common, ordinary, everyday experiences. As a Jesus follower, I filter all my experiences through the sacred story of Jesus, because Jesus is my primary source and medium for encountering God. But Jesus is not my only source or medium for experiencing God.</p>
<p>So we should not be surprised or skeptical of other people’s experience of God and participation in the life of God who live in other cultures or come out of other religious traditions and do not know the tradition of Jesus. God can speak through other mediators and means, and we must learn to respect their experience and not reject their experience or claim that our experience is superior to theirs.</p>
<p>&#160;“… so that everyone who believes in him …”</p>
<p>To believe in Jesus is first and foremost “to trust in Jesus.” There are different levels and degrees of trust. There is the trust students have in their teachers, patients have in their physicians and children have in their parents. There is the trust between friends and between life partners. When John invites his readers to trust in Jesus he is calling for a complete, holistic, even radical kind of trust and surrender to Jesus and what he lived for and stood for.</p>
<p>The Johannine community experienced Jesus as the great breakthrough of the Divine into humanity. What he stood for was what God stood for. The values he embodied and taught were God’s values. To trust in Jesus was to trust in and be faithful to all that Jesus revealed to be of God. And the supreme value was love —&#160;which is why Jesus says in John’s Gospel, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (13:35).</p>
<p>To believe in Jesus then is to make Jesus and what he stood for what we stand for. It is to make the values he lived by our values. This is what it means to confess that Jesus is Lord. When the first disciples confessed Jesus to be their Lord, they were not professing belief in some metaphysical doctrine about Jesus’ divinity, they were professing that their first allegiance was to the God Jesus revealed and no longer to the empire and to the emperor who claimed to be lord (“son of God” and “God manifest” were titles claimed by the Roman emperor). No longer was their first allegiance to the values of the empire, but rather to the values of God’s kingdom (God’s will and way in the world). This is why the first disciples all embraced nonviolence as a way of life; they were convinced this was critical to who Jesus was and what he stood for.</p>
<p>Everyone has a god or gods —&#160;something they put their trust in and live for. It might be money or power or prestige or career or country or family —&#160;but everyone’s life centers on something. To trust in Jesus and make him Lord is to trust in what Jesus trusted and to make what he stood for and died for, what he valued and lived for central in our lives.</p>
<p>I think some Christians like to argue over doctrine about Jesus in order to avoid actually following Jesus and making his values their values. I think for some church-goers doctrine is a means of distraction, a kind of ploy to avoid having to take Jesus’ life, values, and teaching seriously.</p>
<p>&#160;“… may not perish, but have eternal life.”</p>
<p>Eternal life is God’s kind of life. Those who share in eternal life share in God’s struggle with the death-dealing, violent, destructive, life-diminishing powers at work in the world by mediating and expressing&#160; life-giving powers like love, peace, faith, and hope.</p>
<p>Eternal life involves an endless cycle of giving and receiving. Brother David Steindl-Rast illustrates the life of blessing (eternal life) by observing the flow of the Jordan River. The Jordan flows down from Mount Hermon pouring out its blessings as if flows —&#160;life-giving water for parched soil. Nowhere is the richness of life it brings more evident than by the Sea of Galilee. Its shores are a paradise of fields, orchards, and gardens. The water in the lake is clear, teeming with fish. From there the Jordan meanders down to another body of water, the Dead Sea. What a contrast! The water is so dense with salt, one floats in it. Its shores are barren. The water in the Dead Sea is not even fit for irrigation. It’s the same water that feeds the Sea of Galilee, but the Dead Sea has no outflow like the lake of Galilee. It just gathers in one place and stagnates. Brother David Steindl-Rast says that life and blessing that stops flowing becomes a curse (Essential Writings, p. 54).</p>
<p>I was affiliated with a church once where the largest group was a Bible study group that met as a Sunday&#160;school class and usually through the week for some kind of special Bible study. The leaders of the church kept going to this group for help. We had some new, young families with children visiting but not enough workers to help teach and care for them. The leaders went to this class and asked for help several times but no response. They preferred to remain in their group. Most of the group were mostly dull, boring and contrary. They wouldn’t hesitate to call the preacher out if he happened to say something or teach something that they thought was contrary to sound doctrine. They took in, but they didn’t give out. There was inflow, but no outflow.</p>
<p>Whenever we bless someone, whenever we offer encouragement or give of our time, presence, provision or resources to enhance life, to make life better for someone —&#160;we are simply returning what has been given to us as a gift. Life hasn’t been bought or earned, it’s been given. It’s all grace and gift. I love the way Brother David Steindl-Rast says it in a prayer:</p>
<p>Giver of all good gifts, you give us space and time This new day, in this place, is your gift. Make me live gratefully. This day is opportunity To receive your blessing in a thousand forms And to bless. To listen to your word in all that I hear, And to respond in obedience of heart. To drink deeply from your life, And to make others come alive. By radiant smile, by cheerful answer, And by a secret blessing. (Essential Writings, p. 54)</p>
<p>This is the eternal life that John talks about in his Gospel. It’s the life of love, compassion, goodness, truth and grace that we are invited to step into and participate in right now. It’s constantly evolving, expanding and flowing into new places. Scientists tell that the universe is still expanding. When one part of the universe dies, another part is just beginning. The life that God is, that fills everything, “in whom we live, move, and have our being” (as Paul says in Acts 17) cannot be contained, it’s still emerging, growing, becoming. When we step into the flow of this divine life our souls become more, we grow, we expand in our capacity for love and kindness and goodness, we become more courageous and active in the pursuit of justice and peace, our vision for the planet widens and deepens.</p> | Reconsidering John 3:16 (A progressive Baptist’s interpretation) | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/reconsidering-john-316-a-progressive-baptists-interpretation/ | 3 |
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<p>RENO, Nev. (AP) — The Latest on the winter storm headed for the Sierra Nevada (all times local, PDT):</p>
<p>3:30 p.m.</p>
<p>The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a winter storm warning for the greater Lake Tahoe area beginning Thursday afternoon as the biggest storm so far this season makes its way toward the Sierra Nevada.</p>
<p>The service also has upgraded a high wind watch to a high wind warning for much of the Sierra’s eastern front, including Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Gardnerville and Virginia City.</p>
<p>The storm is expected to bring as much as 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow to the upper elevations around Lake Tahoe with winds over the ridgetops potentially gusting in excess of 100 mph (161 kph) Thursday night and early Friday.</p>
<p>The storm warning is in effect from 4 p.m. Thursday to 4 p.m. Friday. The wind warning is in effect Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.</p>
<p>The Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee, California also issued a backcountry avalanche watch Wednesday for the Tahoe area because of the forecast of heavy snow combined with strong winds.</p>
<p>2:45 p.m.</p>
<p>The biggest storm so far this winter is headed for the Sierra Nevada, with up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow possible in the mountains by early Friday and winds potentially gusting in excess of 100 mph (161 kph) over the ridgetops.</p>
<p>The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch in effect form Thursday afternoon though Friday afternoon for the Lake Tahoe area stretching north of Reno to Susanville, California.</p>
<p>The strongest winds are expected Thursday afternoon and night, but snowfall in the valleys could snarl the Friday morning commute in Reno, Sparks and Carson City, where gusts of 60 to 80 mph (97 to 129 kph) are possible in wind-prone areas.</p>
<p>The service warns the winds could create whiteout conditions, damage trees, trigger power outages and delay flights.</p>
<p>RENO, Nev. (AP) — The Latest on the winter storm headed for the Sierra Nevada (all times local, PDT):</p>
<p>3:30 p.m.</p>
<p>The National Weather Service in Reno has issued a winter storm warning for the greater Lake Tahoe area beginning Thursday afternoon as the biggest storm so far this season makes its way toward the Sierra Nevada.</p>
<p>The service also has upgraded a high wind watch to a high wind warning for much of the Sierra’s eastern front, including Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Gardnerville and Virginia City.</p>
<p>The storm is expected to bring as much as 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow to the upper elevations around Lake Tahoe with winds over the ridgetops potentially gusting in excess of 100 mph (161 kph) Thursday night and early Friday.</p>
<p>The storm warning is in effect from 4 p.m. Thursday to 4 p.m. Friday. The wind warning is in effect Thursday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.</p>
<p>The Sierra Avalanche Center in Truckee, California also issued a backcountry avalanche watch Wednesday for the Tahoe area because of the forecast of heavy snow combined with strong winds.</p>
<p>2:45 p.m.</p>
<p>The biggest storm so far this winter is headed for the Sierra Nevada, with up to 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow possible in the mountains by early Friday and winds potentially gusting in excess of 100 mph (161 kph) over the ridgetops.</p>
<p>The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch in effect form Thursday afternoon though Friday afternoon for the Lake Tahoe area stretching north of Reno to Susanville, California.</p>
<p>The strongest winds are expected Thursday afternoon and night, but snowfall in the valleys could snarl the Friday morning commute in Reno, Sparks and Carson City, where gusts of 60 to 80 mph (97 to 129 kph) are possible in wind-prone areas.</p>
<p>The service warns the winds could create whiteout conditions, damage trees, trigger power outages and delay flights.</p> | The Latest: Storm, wind warnings upgraded in Sierra | false | https://apnews.com/122a4fb4d6454ebdb04ec9e8fc288dac | 2018-01-17 | 2 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Since the advent of the “jungle&#160;primary” system that&#160;runs the&#160;top two votegetters in the general election, Democrats have outspent Republicans when&#160;pitted against a member of their own party. That is to say California’s open primary system has caused Democrats to spend more money against fellow Democrats in political races.</p>
<p>The findings, released by Forward Observer, paint a surprising picture of California politics in the wake of the 2012 election changes. By constitutional amendment, Proposition 14 scrapped the traditional party primary system, as citizens&#160;embraced arguments that the new approach would help insurgents and better represent voter choice.</p>
<p>A noteworthy byproduct of the open primary system though appears to be that the opponents who spent the most to defeat Democrats in same-party races were fellow Democrats.</p>
<p>According to research by Forward Observer, out of&#160;52 same-party races across elections for&#160;California’s state Senate, Assembly and House of Representatives, Democrats faced Democrats in 36 contests, while Republicans went head to head in 16 match-ups. Democrats poured $69 million into those three dozen races, while Republican totals reached just over $20 million, according to&#160;information drawn from the offices of the state Fair Political Practices Commission and the Secretary of State’s Office, as well as the Federal Election Commission.</p>
<p>Democrats, researchers concluded, outspent or outraised Republicans in same-party general elections by over three times — $3.42 in Democrat dollars for every $1 Republican.</p>
<p>Moreover, independent expenditures on behalf of Democrats well exceeded those made on behalf of Republicans. Elections where Democrats squared off caused almost $20 million to be raised or spent, while Republican dogfights attracted&#160;slightly more than $7 million.</p>
<p>The substantial sums represent outlays made over the course of only two election cycles, 2011-2012 and the current 2013-2014 campaign.</p>
<p>Forward Observer tallied the cash totals at play in each subset of races leading up to the 2012 elections. Research revealed that, among same-party Assembly races, Democrats raised $18.75 million across ten&#160;contests, while Republicans raised $8.4 million across seven. In both cases, those figures included independent expenditures.</p>
<p>Among&#160;same-party state Senate races, Democrats raised nearly $4 million between Democrats over two races — again inclusive of independent expenditures. (No Republicans went head to head in a 2012 state Senate race.)</p>
<p>During the&#160;six same-party contests between&#160;Democrats seeking congressional seats, meanwhile, candidates raised over&#160;$26 million. Republican candidates in the same situation raised just $6.3 million.</p>
<p>Because this election cycle is not yet over, fundraising numbers have reached lower totals&#160;for the same classes of same-party contests. Among eight same-party Assembly races featuring&#160;Democrats,&#160;candidates raked in&#160;$8.4 million, inclusive of&#160;independent expenditures,&#160;prior to the middle of the month. Republicans facing one another in four same-party Assembly races, by contrast, have raised just over $1 million in total, including independent expenditures.</p>
<p>Regarding same-party Senate races, Democrats once again outpaced Republicans within the same time frame, with a haul of $5.5 million versus nearly $2 million, independent expenditures included.</p>
<p>Finally, in current Congressional races, Democrats have maintained their sizable edge in total funds raised and independent expenditures. Across five same-party contests for Congress, Democrats generated $8 million in funding prior to Sept. 15 of this year. Across two such races, by the same date, Republicans have so far amassed less than $3 million.</p> | Dems spending more campaign cash against Dems in open primary system | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2014/09/17/dems-spending-more-campaign-cash-against-dems-in-open-primary-system/ | 2018-09-20 | 3 |
<p />
<p>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -&#160;Taylor&#160;Swift&#160;announced a new album titled "Reputation" on Wednesday, just over a week after scoring a court victory at a high-profile groping trial in Colorado.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The singer made the announcement in a series of Instagram images, including a possible album cover featuring a black and white illustration of&#160;Swift&#160;with newspaper-style headlines overlapping part of her face.</p>
<p>The album will be released Nov. 10, and the first single will debut on Thursday.</p>
<p>Swift, 27, ended a six-month absence from the spotlight to deliver unflinching testimony against a radio DJ in a Denver court earlier this month.</p>
<p>She was awarded the symbolic $1 in damages that she had sought after a federal jury in Denver found the DJ had grabbed her bottom while posing for a photo with her in 2013.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The singer, one of the most followed people on social media, followed her court victory by deleting posts from Instagram, Twitter and removing her avatar from her Facebook page, sending fans into a frenzy speculating about whether&#160;Swift&#160;had been hacked or was preparing to launch new music or reinvent herself.</p>
<p>"Reputation" will come three years after&#160;Swift's 2014 best-selling album "1989," which spawned hits such as "Shake It Off" and "Bad Blood."</p>
<p>Swift, who broke out at the age of 16 with her debut album and has become one of pop music's best-selling solo artists, carved a career writing songs that delve into her own experiences of love, friendship and growing up in the public eye.</p>
<p>Her lyrics are often scrutinized by eager fans for references to former flames or friends such as her relationships with singers such as John Mayer and Harry Styles and feud with fellow pop star Katy Perry.</p>
<p>"Reputation" may focus on the singer's struggle with media scrutiny of her private life, which she has spoken about in previous interviews.</p>
<p>Swift&#160;largely dropped out of public view earlier this year after a highly publicized breakup from British DJ Calvin Harris, a short-lived 2016 summer fling with British actor Tom Hiddleston and feuds with Perry, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Chris Reese and Cynthia Osterman)</p> | Taylor Swift announces 'Reputation' album after court victory | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/23/taylor-swift-announces-reputation-album-after-court-victory.html | 2017-08-23 | 0 |
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<p>Opponents on both sides of the aisle say the omnibus spending bill was filled with favors for special interests that Congress was not given time to properly debate.</p>
<p>Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney&#160; <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/cromnibus-bursts-at-the-seams-with-special-interest-goodies/article/2557285" type="external">noted</a>&#160;a section of the bill "Modification of Treatment of Certain Health Organizations. Carney wrote,&#160;"This provision would provide protection from an Obamacare provision for exactly one entity: Blue Cross Blue Shield."</p>
<p>Under <a href="https://freedomoutpost.com/2014/02/obamacare-thanks-obama-looking-middle-class/" type="external">Obamacare</a>, insurers are required to pay out at least 85 percent of revenue in claims - a statistic known as the "medical loss ratio" - and although "most insurers can include as 'medical losses' various efforts to improve the quality of healthcare provided to their customers," this did not originally apply to Blue Cross Blue Shield.</p>
<p>The spending bill changed this and made it retroactive for four years.&#160; <a href="http://video.dailycaller.com/Palin-on-ObamaBoehner-Cromnibus-Bill-It-Stinks-to-High-Heaven-28254713" type="external">(RELATED: [VIDEO] Palin on Obama/Boehner Cromnibus Bill: 'It Stinks to High Heaven')</a></p>
<p>Carney acknowledged, "It's hard to determine fairness when you begin with arbitrary profit caps and a tax code that gives special treatment to one group of insurers," but notes that, "providing Obamacare relief to exactly one corporation by tacking an opaque provision onto the end of a 1,603-page bill hardly smells of good governance."</p>
<p>The spending bill also reauthorized the&#160;Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a source of taxpayer-backed loans and guarantees for American companies establishing themselves abroad.</p>
<p>Carney contends "OPIC is naked corporate welfare," because it provides subsidies to select foreign businesses, often to the detriment of their U.S. competitors.&#160; <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2014/12/11/right-and-left-outraged-as-cromnibus-spending-bill-heads-to-senate/" type="external">(RELATED: Left and Right Outraged as Spending Bill Heads to Senate)</a></p>
<p>The major objection raised by Democratic opponents, most notably House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, has to do with a provision that they say weakens the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill and "amounts to a giveaway for the big banks,"&#160; <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/critics-say-spending-bill-includes-bonanza-wall-street-n267211" type="external">according to NBC News</a>.</p>
<p>The change allows banks "to trade certain types of the risky, complex financial instruments known as derivatives" with backing from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a practice that had been banned by Dodd-Frank.</p>
<p><a href="https://freedomoutpost.com/2014/06/elizabeth-warren-problem-isnt-inequality-subsidized-equality/" type="external">Elizabeth Warren</a>, who has made <a href="https://freedomoutpost.com/2014/12/warren-leads-progressive-charge-obamas-treasury-nominee/" type="external">criticism of "big banks"</a> a central theme, said the reform would "let derivatives traders on Wall Street gamble with taxpayer money - and, when it all blows up, require the government to bail them out."</p>
<p><a href="http://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2014/12/12/cromnibus-cronyism-spending-bill-loaded-with-favors/" type="external">Source</a></p> | Cromnibus Cronyism: Spending Bill Loaded With Favors | true | https://freedomforce.com/cromnibus-cronyism-spending-bill-loaded-favors/ | 2014-12-14 | 0 |
<p>Shares of some top credit card companies are mixed at 10 a.m.:</p>
<p>American Express Co. fell $.56 or .6 percent, to $95.28.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Capital One Financial Corp. fell $.99 or 1.2 percent, to $83.96.</p>
<p>Discover Financial Services fell $.36 or .6 percent, to $62.89.</p>
<p>Mastercard fell $.22 or .3 percent, to $76.41.</p>
<p>Visa Inc. rose $.41 or .2 percent, to $216.92.</p> | Credit Card companies shares mixed at 10 a.m. | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/12/22/credit-card-companies-shares-mixed-at-10-am.html | 2016-03-05 | 0 |
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FX channel says it’s ordered a scripted dance musical series starring Evan Peters, Kate Mara and James Van Der Beek.</p>
<p>FX said Wednesday that the series, titled “Pose,” will include what it called an unprecedented number of LGBTQ and transgender actors in ongoing roles.</p>
<p>The channel says the show is set in New York City in the 1980s, amid the “luxury Trump-era universe” and other social and literary circles.</p>
<p>Series co-creator Ryan Murphy, of “Glee” and “American Horror Story” fame, described the show as an exploration of what he called the “universal quest” for identity, family and respect.</p>
<p>FX says the first season of “Pose” will include eight episodes. The show is scheduled to start production in February and debut in summer 2018.</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — The FX channel says it’s ordered a scripted dance musical series starring Evan Peters, Kate Mara and James Van Der Beek.</p>
<p>FX said Wednesday that the series, titled “Pose,” will include what it called an unprecedented number of LGBTQ and transgender actors in ongoing roles.</p>
<p>The channel says the show is set in New York City in the 1980s, amid the “luxury Trump-era universe” and other social and literary circles.</p>
<p>Series co-creator Ryan Murphy, of “Glee” and “American Horror Story” fame, described the show as an exploration of what he called the “universal quest” for identity, family and respect.</p>
<p>FX says the first season of “Pose” will include eight episodes. The show is scheduled to start production in February and debut in summer 2018.</p> | FX orders dance musical series ‘Pose,’ set in ’80s New York | false | https://apnews.com/ca9548a6aa734800b3263e3835dcd110 | 2017-12-27 | 2 |
<p>MEXICO CITY — Mexican police Wednesday recovered a potentially lethal load of radioactive cobalt-60 just a few miles from where it had been stolen more than two days earlier.</p>
<p>Armed carjackers had made off with the cobalt-60 stored in a sealed container the size of a car battery inside a truck parked at a highway truck stop on the northeastern edge of Mexico City.</p>
<p>The small container holding the cobalt, installed in a medical device used to treat cancer, was opened when officials found it.</p>
<p>They then recovered the radioactive material about a half mile from the truck, according to Juan Eibenschutz, director of Mexico's National Commision for Nuclear Security and Safeguards.</p>
<p>Officials said the unidentified thieves face serious danger, potentially death, from contact with the "highly dangerous" radioactive material. But the authorities explained there is no public health risk.</p>
<p>GlobalPost explainer: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/mexico/131204/what-is-cobalt-60" type="external">What is cobalt-60?</a></p>
<p>Soldiers and police cordoned off a quarter-mile perimeter around the site of the recovery, he <a href="http://www.milenio.com/estados/Hallan-material-radiactivo-kilometro-camion_0_202180248.html" type="external">said</a>, adding that anyone outside the cordon would avoid exposure to the harmful material.</p>
<p>Used since the 1950s to treat cancers, cobalt-60 can prove fatal to people exposed to it in an uncontrolled manner for even a few minutes.</p>
<p>It's also considered a possible ingredient in so-called dirty bombs, which disperse radioactive material through detonation of conventional explosives. Experts say such bombs are more terror inducing than lethally effective.</p>
<p>Mexico has suffered widespread gangster violence in the past seven years, killing an estimated 80,000. A handful of Mexico's more violent gangs, including La Familia and the Zetas, operate in the working-class outskirts of the capital. Small and ineffective guerrilla groups in the past have been active in several southern states and Mexico City.</p>
<p>Mexican officials in interviews with GlobalPost earlier Wednesday expressed confidence that the Volkswagen truck, not the cobalt, was the thieves' target.</p>
<p>The cobalt-bearing device was being transferred by a private trucking company from a government hospital in Tijuana, on the California border, to a disposal facility for radioactive material near Mexico City. The driver told officials he was catching a nap when he and an assistant were assaulted.</p>
<p>“We think these were common thieves. The danger is they have no idea what they are dealing with,” Miguel Garcia, assistant secretary of civil protection in Hidalgo, the state where the truck was stolen, said in a telephone interview.</p>
<p>Neither Jimenez nor anyone else in his office could be reached for comment following the truck's recovery. But Al Jazeera, quoting an unidentified official, said Mexican authorities had requested international help to recover the radioactive material.</p>
<p>Worried Mexican officials had launched a search by local, state and federal security forces. National media reports had issued detailed descriptions of the truck and its cargo in hopes the thieves would realize the danger it posed.</p>
<p>The Mexican nuclear safety commission reported the theft to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, which <a href="http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/2013/mexicoradsource.html" type="external">issued</a> its own alert Wednesday.</p>
<p>"At the time the truck was stolen, the source was properly shielded. However, the source could be extremely dangerous to a person if removed from the shielding, or if it was damaged," the IAEA said in a statement.</p>
<p>Mexican officials this week had alerted scrap yards in Mexico City and a half dozen nearby states to be on the lookout for the radiation therapy device or the cobalt’s container.</p>
<p>This incident comes exactly three decades after cobalt-60 sold as scrap by clueless cancer clinic workers in the border city of Ciudad Juarez contaminated thousands of tons of steel used for construction in northern Mexico and the southern United States.</p>
<p>That December 1983 incident was discovered months later when sensors detected some of the radioactive steel being used in construction at the US research facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico.</p>
<p>Metal made from the scrapped cobalt later was found in chairs and table legs, and some 17,000 buildings across Mexico, half of which were torn down. More than <a href="http://laopcion.com.mx/n/id_71858.html" type="external">15,000 tons</a> of the contaminated steel remains buried at a site in the northern Mexico desert.</p>
<p>Another incident <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/131204/extremely-dangerous-radioactive-theft-mexico" type="external">occurred in Brazil</a> in 1987 in which a substance similar to cobalt-60 was collected for scrap from a closed cancer clinic, and handled by unaware residents. More than 80 houses were found to be contaminated by the material, cesium-137, dozens of people suffered radiation burns and four eventually died.</p>
<p>Jimenez, the senior nuclear safety official, told a television interview that the people who had removed the cobalt from its container could faced severe illness at best.</p>
<p>"These people are going to end up in the hospital and we'll wait for them there," he <a href="http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/2013/comision-nuclear-muertos-radiacion-970638.html" type="external">said</a>. “Even with medical attention, a death or deaths is certain."</p> | Mexico recovers stolen radioactive material outside box | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-12-04/mexico-recovers-stolen-radioactive-material-outside-box | 2013-12-04 | 3 |
<p>Southern California native Snoop Dogg has proved himself to be admirably down to earth and engaged with the politics of his community, as he once led a march to the headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department so that African-Americans could take part in a meaningful dialogue with local police.</p>
<p>He has, however, not found our 45th President Donald Trump worthy of such an opportunity to acquit himself, and he recently threw out a harsh message to people considering performing for Trump’s inauguration.</p>
<p>Trump has notoriously faced great difficulty in attracting name talent to perform at his inauguration, with original Dreamgirls Broadway cast member Jennifer Holliday, who is African-American, confirming her attendance but then withdrawing it after blowback from the LGBT and others. Snoop had blunt words from any other African-Americans who might be thinking of playing at the event. Said Snoop, “So ain’t nobody gonna perform for Donald Trump, huh? Which one of you jiggaboo ass niggas gonna be the first one to do it? I’m waitin.’ I’m gonna roast the fuck out of you uncle tom ass niggas for doin’ it. Which one of you niggas gonna do it first?” How much do you love Snoop for telling it like it is?</p> | Snoop Dogg Has Brutal Warning For Any _____ ___s Who Perform For Trump, It’s Hysterical | true | http://liberalplug.com/2017/01/19/snoop-dogg-brutal-warning-_____-___s-perform-trump-hysterical/ | 4 |
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<p><a href="http://variety.com/tag/eros-international/" type="external">Eros International</a>, the leading multinational distributor of Indian movies, has filed a lawsuit against companies and individuals which have shorted its stock and allegedly spread misinformation.</p>
<p>Eros says that the case was filed in New York County Supreme Court against Mangrove Partners, Manuel P. Asensio, <a href="http://variety.com/tag/geoinvesting/" type="external">GeoInvesting</a>, LLC, and others.&#160; It alleges a conspiracy to disseminate material false and defamatory information about Eros and misconduct that has harmed the company. “Eros seeks damages and injunctive relief for defamation, trade libel, civil conspiracy, and tortious interference,” it said in a statement.</p>
<p>Eros, which has its legal seat in the Isle of Man and is managed from London, shifted its share listing from London to the <a href="http://variety.com/tag/new-york-stock-exchange/" type="external">New York Stock Exchange</a>. It hoped that it would find more analyst coverage and a deeper market.</p>
<p>GeoInvesting is only one short seller that has attacked Eros. The company has been the object of numerous and repeated <a href="http://variety.com/tag/short-selling/" type="external">short selling</a> attacks – also known as short squeezes – in which investors holding short positions in the stock have released proprietary research that would cause the share price to drop. Another short seller to have published lengthy research documents online is Alpha Exposure. That is believed to be the alias of a Bollywood insider.</p>
<p>The researchers suggest that Eros: inflated the number of films it released in a year; overstated theatrical revenues by as much as 104% in 2015; understated the revenues earned in India by booking income in Mauritius and the UAE; falsified TV and digital revenues; and used unsafe means of amortization. Eros noted that last month another New York court dismissed a class action suit brought against it by short sellers.</p>
<p>The short selling and investor attacks have taken some toll. In March, it chose to forgo an opportunistic bond sale, after its shares plunged 12% following a GeoInvesting report.</p>
<p>In the past year Eros shares have ranged from $6.65 to $18.85. At its current $14.8 price, the company has a market capitalization of $910 million. It is the distributor of “Newton,” this year’s Indian selection for the foreign-language Oscar category.</p> | Eros Takes Legal Action Against Short Sellers | false | https://newsline.com/eros-takes-legal-action-against-short-sellers/ | 2017-10-03 | 1 |
<p>LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Zach Lofton made seven 3-pointers and scored 24 points and New Mexico State defeated Utah Valley 86-59 on Saturday to win its fifth straight and take sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference.</p>
<p>Lofton, a graduate transfer from Texas Southern and former Southwestern Athletic Conference player of the year, was 7 of 13 on 3-pointers with the team 15 of 28. Sidy N’Dir added 17 points.</p>
<p>Lofton, N’Dir and Johnathon Wilkins scored nine points each in taking a 39-29 halftime lead. Lofton made four 3-pointers over the first eight minutes of the second half when the Aggies (17-3, 5-0) outscored the Wolverines 24-6 to lead by 28.</p>
<p>Kenneth Ogbe scored 13 points for Utah Valley.</p>
<p>Utah Valley (15-6, 4-1), which handed NMSU is only loss last season at the Pan American Center to snap the Aggies’ 23-game home streak, saw its eight-game winning streak end.</p>
<p>LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Zach Lofton made seven 3-pointers and scored 24 points and New Mexico State defeated Utah Valley 86-59 on Saturday to win its fifth straight and take sole possession of first place in the Western Athletic Conference.</p>
<p>Lofton, a graduate transfer from Texas Southern and former Southwestern Athletic Conference player of the year, was 7 of 13 on 3-pointers with the team 15 of 28. Sidy N’Dir added 17 points.</p>
<p>Lofton, N’Dir and Johnathon Wilkins scored nine points each in taking a 39-29 halftime lead. Lofton made four 3-pointers over the first eight minutes of the second half when the Aggies (17-3, 5-0) outscored the Wolverines 24-6 to lead by 28.</p>
<p>Kenneth Ogbe scored 13 points for Utah Valley.</p>
<p>Utah Valley (15-6, 4-1), which handed NMSU is only loss last season at the Pan American Center to snap the Aggies’ 23-game home streak, saw its eight-game winning streak end.</p> | New Mexico State wins 86-59, now alone atop WAC | false | https://apnews.com/c9a1cc748cdd489baf5c15bf50f647f4 | 2018-01-21 | 2 |
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<p>The 3rd District representative told members of both parties from the House and Senate that they must spur job creation and get the economy moving.</p>
<p>He advised them to take a lesson from Congress and avoid gridlock.</p>
<p>And he told them not to “get bogged down in petty political fights that are only meant to score points rather than strengthen the lives of New Mexicans.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>While other states in the region have seen their economies move forward, New Mexico continues to lag behind, the representative from northern New Mexico said.</p>
<p>“We cannot continue this troubling trend of being the only state in the region to see jobs disappear while the states around us see their job numbers grow,” he added.</p>
<p>It was Luján’s first appearance before the Legislature since his father, House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Nambé, died last month after battling lung cancer. The elder Lujan was in the House for 38 years and speaker for 12 of those years, and the House chamber was “his second home,” the congressman said.</p>
<p>Luján told legislators his father had “an unwavering belief in the spirit of our people.”</p>
<p>“Despite what some have suggested, New Mexicans are not takers,” he said. “New Mexicans are not lazy or selfish. New Mexicans are hardworking and generous, proud and tough.”</p>
<p>He said New Mexicans “do not want something for nothing and do not expect to be given a handout. They want to work, to have a sense of purpose, to be able to provide for their families with respect and dignity. But too often of late, those opportunities have been fading away.”</p>
<p>Luján, who was accompanied by his mother, Carmen Lujan, also stopped in the state Senate, where lawmakers unanimously voted for a measure asking the State Transportation Commission to name a stretch of U.S. 84-285 between Nambé and Española the Ben Lujan Memorial Highway.</p>
<p>The joint memorial now goes to the House. Rep. says N.M.’s economy continues to lag behind other states’</p>
<p>AvoidING Gridlock — This article appeared on page A4 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Luján Urges Bipartisan Job Creation | false | https://abqjournal.com/164525/lujn-urges-bipartisan-job-creation.html | 2013-01-30 | 2 |
<p />
<p>South Africa is looking forward to another five years under the leadership of President Thabo Mbeki and his African National Congress. The ANC won about 70 percent of the vote, 270 out of 400 National Assembly seats, and seven out of nine provincial assemblies <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/17/international/africa/17afri.html" type="external">in last week’s general election</a>, the third since the end of apartheid in 1994. The white-led opposition Democratic Alliance picked up 50 Assembly seats, and the New National Party, heir to the party that ruled South Africa in the apartheid years, straggled in with just seven seats.</p>
<p>After the results came in, Mbeki <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-041604safrica_wr,1,7504800.story?coll=la-home-headlines" type="external">claimed a renewed mandate</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>“It is quite clear that the ANC has got the overwhelming support and of the people of South Africa. It also, I think, poses a challenge to the ANC not to disappoint the expectations of the millions of people who voted.”</p>
<p>The ANC has been in power since the end of apartheid and is projected to stay there for another 20 years, raising fears that South Africa may be heading toward <a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001903722_safvote15.html" type="external">one-party rule</a>.</p>
<p>Turnout, at 70 percent, was healthy by the standards of mature democracies, but was much less than the 89 percent figure seen five years ago. The vast majority of black South Africans, who make up 75 percent of the population, are supporters of the ANC.</p>
<p>Despite their popularity, Mbeki and the ANC face big challenges. Two million jobs have been lost in the last ten years, and unemployment has risen sharply since 1994 to between 40 and 50 percent. Crime remains a huge problem. And Mbeki, says Agence France Presse, “ <a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/80700/1/.html" type="external">is widely seen as having failed to deliver in the battle against AIDS.</a>” HIV is estimated to affect more than 1 in 9 South African adults. Mbeki appalled the world when he claimed that HIV is not the precursor of AIDS.</p>
<p>As The Australian <a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9293568%255E2703,00.html" type="external">notes</a>,</p>
<p />
<p>“Until recently he was in denial about the AIDS crisis in his country. An avid late-night Internet surfer, Mbeki became captured by the lunatic fringe of medical science that argues HIV does not cause AIDS. But late last year, with more than 600 South Africans dying from AIDS each day, he withdrew from the debate and promised to begin a program to deliver free AIDS drugs.”</p>
<p>With opposition parties pushing the issue, just a few weeks before the election the ANC offered free anti-retroviral drugs to poor blacks, many of whom have friends, relatives, and neighbors who have died due to lack of treatment.</p>
<p>The standard of living has decline sharply in South Africa, according to National Public Radio’s Jason Beaubien. “The country has gone backwards on the United Nations Human Development Index,” Beaubien reported. “And whites, who were driven from power, continue on the whole to earn nine times as much as blacks.”</p>
<p>Although opposition parties — and not a few South Africans — worry about an ANC lock on power, it’s almost certain the party will maintain its monopoly far into the future. As the Los Angeles Times <a href="http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-safrica15apr15,1,3796169.story" type="external">writes</a>, this is partly because:</p>
<p />
<p>To many blacks, voting for anyone but the ANC would be unthinkable.</p>
<p>ANC supporters such as Brown Makelo, 34, of Tokoza in eastern South Africa plans to vote for the ANC all his life and expects his children to do the same because the party ended apartheid. Tokoza was one of the violent “no go” area in the early 1990’s, where hundreds died in ethnic clashes.</p>
<p>‘I’ll vote ANC until I die. I don’t even want to see those oppostion parties, “ Makelo said. “I think it’s a good idea to have one party always in government, ANC. I don’t think the ANC could lose touch with the people.’</p>
<p>Many black South Africans interviewed by the press admit to having concerns about the ANC’s policies, but they remain patient or conclude that they should remain loyal to the ANC since it was the party that brought them out of apartheid.</p>
<p />
<p>Many blacks are utterly indifferent about their current leadership. One reason could be that the ANC has not provided employment for the country’s poor blacks, who make up 75 percent of the population. Although the richest quarter of blacks have become better off, the “bottom 45 percent of blacks are some 10 percent poorer than they were 10 years ago,” <a href="http://iht.com/articles/515459.html" type="external">says</a> the International Herald Tribune.</p>
<p>The sagging job market could be explained in part by the ANC’s pro-market policies, which have emphasized slashing foreign debt in an effort to stabilize the economy, though that has helped the economy, which has been growing at a rate of 2.8 percent per year, <a href="http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2603566" type="external">notes</a> the Economist.</p>
<p>On the bright side, notes the IHT, South Africa does possess some of the fundamentals of an up-and-coming democracy: “a critical press, vociferous single-issue campaigners such as those who recently shamed the government into distributing anti-AIDS drugs, and an impartial judiciary whose rulings are obeyed.”</p>
<p>Indeed, politically, South Africa is so stable that “Western countries no longer bother to send monitors to assess its elections,” IHT reported. With Mbeki finally tackling the AIDS crisis and making efforts to help the unemployed and underprivileged, there are reasons for optimism. Still, until there emerges a serious, viable opposition, South Africa’s democracy will remain a work in progress.</p>
<p /> | Mbeki’s Monopoly | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2004/04/mbekis-monopoly/ | 2004-04-19 | 4 |
<p>BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It was quite the homecoming for Ohio State senior forward Stephanie Mavunga.</p>
<p>Not only were her parents in attendance but her brother Julian, who plays professional basketball overseas, saw her play of the first time in college.</p>
<p>Mavunga, the 2013 Indiana Miss Basketball from Brownsburg, Ind., had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 10 Ohio State to a 77-62 victory over Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>“It was fantastic, seeing all my friends and family was an indescribable feeling for sure,” she said. “It was great to have them all in my ear.”</p>
<p>Linnae Harper chipped in with 19 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 15 points for the Buckeyes (16-2, 5-0 Big Ten).</p>
<p>“(Mavunga) got off to a great start and she played really hard (Saturday),” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “She was very efficient. She had a great game.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes won their ninth consecutive game and are the only unbeaten team in the conference. Ohio State has won 12 in a row against the Hoosiers, including an 85-70 home win on Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Jaelynn Penn scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Hoosiers (8-11, 1-5). Amanda Cahill had 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tyra Buss, who averages a team-leading 20.4 points, had just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting. She had only two at the half.</p>
<p>“(Buss) is an unbelievable player and we expended a lot of energy on her,” McGuff said. “We make her work for everything she got, so I think we wore her down a little bit.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes expanded the 16-point halftime lead to 18 points twice before settling for a 61-49 advantage after three quarters. Indiana had trimmed the deficit to seven points at 56-49 on a 3-pointer by Buss with 1:31 left in the quarter, but Ohio State finished the period with five unanswered points by Harper. McGuff had called a timeout after IU cut it to seven.</p>
<p>“He was frustrated,” Mavunga said. “He’s passionate and he knows we can do better that. We weren’t executing, that was bad on our part but we turned it around.”</p>
<p>Indiana never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>“I knew Indiana would play well, they’ve been playing very good of late,” McGuff said. “We had some great stretches (Saturday) and didn’t sustain it for as long as I’d like.”</p>
<p>Mitchell, Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer became the 13th player to score 3,000 points in NCAA history. She needed just two points for the milestone entering the game and sank her first basket with her 6:17 left in the second quarter.</p>
<p>IU committed 23 turnovers, eight more than the Buckeyes.</p>
<p>“Obviously our issue was the turnovers,” Hoosiers coach Teri Moren said. “They had 22 points off our turnovers.”</p>
<p>KEY NUMBERS:</p>
<p>Ohio State: Buckeyes got out to a 9-0 start, including first seven by Mavunga,</p>
<p>Indiana: The Hoosiers were 4 of 11 from the free throw line while the Buckeyes were 16 of 22.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes started the Big Ten 5-0 for the ninth time in school history. The last time they did it was in the 2009-10 season. Ohio State entered the game third in the NCAA in scoring average at 89.1.</p>
<p>Indiana: Buss, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer against Penn State, needs 22 points to reach 2,000 points.</p>
<p>THEY SAID IT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: “Linnae (Harper) righted the ship and we went from there,” McGuff said of her five unanswered points to boost the Buckeyes lead to 61-49 at the end of the third quarter.</p>
<p>Indiana: “I really felt like this is game we could have won and had some positive takeaways. I’m just waiting for this group to collectively have one of those nights like they did against Purdue, where they all show up,” Moren said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes will host No. 23 Michigan on Tuesday night</p>
<p>Indiana: It doesn’t get any easier for the Hoosiers, who will play at No. 11 Maryland on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It was quite the homecoming for Ohio State senior forward Stephanie Mavunga.</p>
<p>Not only were her parents in attendance but her brother Julian, who plays professional basketball overseas, saw her play of the first time in college.</p>
<p>Mavunga, the 2013 Indiana Miss Basketball from Brownsburg, Ind., had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 10 Ohio State to a 77-62 victory over Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>“It was fantastic, seeing all my friends and family was an indescribable feeling for sure,” she said. “It was great to have them all in my ear.”</p>
<p>Linnae Harper chipped in with 19 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 15 points for the Buckeyes (16-2, 5-0 Big Ten).</p>
<p>“(Mavunga) got off to a great start and she played really hard (Saturday),” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “She was very efficient. She had a great game.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes won their ninth consecutive game and are the only unbeaten team in the conference. Ohio State has won 12 in a row against the Hoosiers, including an 85-70 home win on Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Jaelynn Penn scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Hoosiers (8-11, 1-5). Amanda Cahill had 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tyra Buss, who averages a team-leading 20.4 points, had just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting. She had only two at the half.</p>
<p>“(Buss) is an unbelievable player and we expended a lot of energy on her,” McGuff said. “We make her work for everything she got, so I think we wore her down a little bit.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes expanded the 16-point halftime lead to 18 points twice before settling for a 61-49 advantage after three quarters. Indiana had trimmed the deficit to seven points at 56-49 on a 3-pointer by Buss with 1:31 left in the quarter, but Ohio State finished the period with five unanswered points by Harper. McGuff had called a timeout after IU cut it to seven.</p>
<p>“He was frustrated,” Mavunga said. “He’s passionate and he knows we can do better that. We weren’t executing, that was bad on our part but we turned it around.”</p>
<p>Indiana never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>“I knew Indiana would play well, they’ve been playing very good of late,” McGuff said. “We had some great stretches (Saturday) and didn’t sustain it for as long as I’d like.”</p>
<p>Mitchell, Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer became the 13th player to score 3,000 points in NCAA history. She needed just two points for the milestone entering the game and sank her first basket with her 6:17 left in the second quarter.</p>
<p>IU committed 23 turnovers, eight more than the Buckeyes.</p>
<p>“Obviously our issue was the turnovers,” Hoosiers coach Teri Moren said. “They had 22 points off our turnovers.”</p>
<p>KEY NUMBERS:</p>
<p>Ohio State: Buckeyes got out to a 9-0 start, including first seven by Mavunga,</p>
<p>Indiana: The Hoosiers were 4 of 11 from the free throw line while the Buckeyes were 16 of 22.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes started the Big Ten 5-0 for the ninth time in school history. The last time they did it was in the 2009-10 season. Ohio State entered the game third in the NCAA in scoring average at 89.1.</p>
<p>Indiana: Buss, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer against Penn State, needs 22 points to reach 2,000 points.</p>
<p>THEY SAID IT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: “Linnae (Harper) righted the ship and we went from there,” McGuff said of her five unanswered points to boost the Buckeyes lead to 61-49 at the end of the third quarter.</p>
<p>Indiana: “I really felt like this is game we could have won and had some positive takeaways. I’m just waiting for this group to collectively have one of those nights like they did against Purdue, where they all show up,” Moren said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes will host No. 23 Michigan on Tuesday night</p>
<p>Indiana: It doesn’t get any easier for the Hoosiers, who will play at No. 11 Maryland on Tuesday night.</p> | Mavunga lifts No. 10 Ohio State to 77-62 win over Indiana | false | https://apnews.com/ad8b951923174759b0aa907d08b80376 | 2018-01-13 | 2 |
<p>I am woman—hear me whore. For endless war.</p>
<p>Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya. Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria.</p>
<p>With my finger on the button, a mushroom cloud over Russia.</p>
<p>Cheers to Barack for nuclear modernization. But will a trillion cover my aspiration?</p>
<p>I’m not just any little woe-man. I’m Hillary Rodham Clinton with a global game plan. Woe is you. Woe is they. Woe to anyone that gets in my way. Don’t dare challenge Clinton exceptionalism. Let’s hear it for neoliberalism.</p>
<p>So much for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses, and those sorry activist asses, longing for environmental health and the rights of the indigenous. I’m talking to you, Honduras.</p>
<p>I can incinerate any woman, man, child, exact chaos, with the stroke of my pen. Strip my history with a delete button, cackle to the crackle of trash emptying, and then start over again.</p>
<p>This decider’s one determined balkanizer. I doubt it’ll give you pause that my favorite book is The Brothers Karamozov. In it, Dostoyevsky tackles issues of morality, faith, and free will. C’mere, Bill. Make a sacrifice for women’s lib. I’ll fashion a weapon from your rib. Time to take one for the team. I’ve swallowed more than Lewinsky.</p>
<p>My fans wept, overjoyed—what a feeling, when I shattered that thick, glass ceiling. Delirious with power, I’m squealing.</p>
<p>I am woman—hear me whore. In numbers too big to ignore. Take that. Take it to the big banks. Thanks.</p>
<p>&lt;&lt;&lt;&gt;&gt;&gt;</p>
<p>I am man, hear me crow. For all that’s bellicose. For my pet protocol: a WALL. Take that, you Latino aliens. Who enter this country I’m going to make great again. When you’re deported. Do I care it’s been reported that you’re more law abiding than native borns? Who you think my fans believe, some political fact checker or me?</p>
<p>Take that, anyone questioning my experience. I am brilliant, a triump of achievements. I dare you to count my TV appearances. My favorite book is the Bible. The begats, divine proscriptions, and especially the tribal………..ism.</p>
<p>My words to and from the Khans reveal they should purchase The Art of the Cons. Oops, I mean The Art of the Deal.</p>
<p>That concept called global warming was made in China. Hallmarked to undermine us.</p>
<p>Makin’ America great again. Chicken on every plate again. Each of you can be as wealthy as I am. Men can marry a Melania. Who needs Viagra?</p>
<p>I feel handsome Oh, so handsome, that the planet should give me its key, and I pity anyone who isn’t me me, me, me, me, ME.</p>
<p>I am man, hear me crow. In numbers big as Mar-a- Lago.</p> | I Am Woman, Hear Me Whore; I Am Man, Hear Me Crow | true | https://counterpunch.org/2016/08/05/i-am-woman-hear-me-whore-i-am-man-hear-me-crow/ | 2016-08-05 | 4 |
<p>( <a href="https://www.naturalnews.com/" type="external">Natural News</a>) Chances are most Americans have seen some kind of science fiction movie about the end of the world once or twice in their life. But while Hollywood does a good job of keeping us on the edge of our seats at the movie theater, there really are people in this world who are forced to fight day in and day out just to survive. These are the people who truly understand the importance of prepping, because when everything is&#160;taken away from you, items that you used to take for granted like food, water and shelter suddenly turn into the difference between life and death.</p>
<p>When Hurricane Maria plowed through Puerto Rico earlier this month, it left nothing but&#160; <a href="http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/puerto-rico-what-its-really-like-after-the-shtf-09282017" type="external">chaos and destruction</a>&#160;in its path. In a relatively short amount of time, millions of people found themselves without power, without the means to communicate over long distances, and without the essential resources needed to survive like food and clean water. If nothing else, the tragedy that occurred in Puerto Rico is a perfect example of why prepping is so important – you never know when those survival situations that you watch on the big screen&#160;are going to become a reality.</p>
<p>Many people believe that prepping for life off the grid is far too expensive and challenging for anyone other than a professional survivalist to accomplish. However, a simple breakdown of the&#160; <a href="https://www.naturalnews.com/046322_prepping_disaster_preparedness_emergency_planning.html" type="external">preparation process</a>&#160;reveals that prepping is something everyone can – and&#160;should&#160;– be doing. Because if you were to ever find yourself unprepared in a survival situation, where food is scarce and electrical power is virtually nonexistent, the chances that you will be able to live on and prosper are significantly decreased. (Related:&#160; <a href="https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-04-10-10-reasons-to-prep-even-if-shtf-never-happens.html" type="external">Here are ten good reasons why prepping is important even if SHTF never happens</a>.)</p>
<p>Next to food, clean water, and a structurally-sufficient shelter, it is strongly advised that all preppers have a bug out bag, so that in the likely event that at some point you need to travel from point A to point B, you can do so without leaving valuable resources behind. A bug out bag should contain items like medical equipment, backup communication devices in case your primary communication tools stop working, spare cash and extra clothes. The bug out bag, as you can probably tell, significantly decreases the time it takes to escape a danger zone because it enables you to grab all essential items at once, rather than spending time collecting them.</p>
<p>Part of prepping for a natural or manmade disaster requires one to have a clear, foolproof escape route so that you can easily get from point A to point B in the quickest and the most efficient way possible. Everyone in your family should be familiar with the escape route as well, and in the event that everyone becomes separated, it helps to have a rendezvous point established ahead of time.</p>
<p>The prepper understands the fact that surviving&#160; <a href="http://www.offgridliving.news/" type="external">off the grid</a>&#160;requires one to be physically fit in order to complete the challenges that they will inevitably encounter on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, sticking to a healthy diet and cutting out most or all junk food consumption is absolutely essential. Working out multiple times each week should also be a necessity for anyone that is serious about prepping, because living life off the grid requires an enormous amount of stamina and physical strength.</p>
<p>Truth be told, you don’t have to be Bear Grylls or some other professional survivalist to prepare yourself for a survival situation. After you stock up on food and clean water, and once you have a safe place to use as your shelter, the rest simply comes down to educating yourself about self-sufficiency and how to live without the technologies most of us use today. Anyone can do it – what is your excuse?</p>
<p>Sources include:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/puerto-rico-what-its-really-like-after-the-shtf-09282017" type="external">TheOrganicPrepper.ca</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.naturalnews.com/046322_prepping_disaster_preparedness_emergency_planning.html" type="external">NaturalNews.com</a></p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="https://www.naturalnews.com/2017-09-30-puerto-rico-collapse-now-leading-to-total-chaos-no-food-no-water-gang-members-robbing-citizens-at-gunpoint.html" type="external">Natural News</a></p>
<p />
<p /> | Puerto Rico collapse now leading to total chaos… no food, no water, gang members robbing citizens at gunpoint | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2017/10/02/puerto-rico-collapse-now-leading-to-total-chaos-no-food-no-water-gang-members-robbing-citizens-at-gunpoint/ | 2017-10-02 | 0 |
<p>CURWOOD: Time now to check in with Peter Dykstra and find out whats happening in the world beyond the headlines. Peter publishes Environmental Health News, thats EHN.org and the DailyClimate.org, and hes on the line now from Conyers, Georgia. So Peter, whats up today?</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: Well hi, Steve, you know I grew up in northern New Jersey, right on the edge of Hackensack Meadowlands, one of the biggest salt marshes on the east coast and historically one of the worst urban dumping grounds in America. It was a really good place for me to learn about environmental impact.</p>
<p>CURWOOD: So lets see, the Jersey Meadowlands is home to a football stadium, lots of trash and toxic waste, and the late union boss Jimmy Hoffa, right?</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: Well yeah, we still need to slap an allegedly on the Jimmy Hoffa thing, since hes never been found. But the toxic waste and trash, definitely, and despite all our abuse, the Meadowlands are coming back a little. Today, one of the biggest threats to coastal wetlands, like the Meadowlands, and freshwater swamps are invasive species like phragmites, a reed that crowds out native vegetation and is now found in every US state. It runs deep roots, emits an acid that helps crowd out native swamp plants, and despite efforts to burn it, and poison it, and plow it under with bulldozers, its still thriving, but a new effort may hold some promise.</p>
<p>CURWOOD: So let me guess, theyre being done in by the same guys who allegedly got Jimmy Hoffa?</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: No, the hero of this story is the goat. A story this week reports that experiments led by Duke University show promise one of them in a Maryland wetland, the other experiment at Fresh Kills, the immense former landfill on Staten Island. Goats think phragmites are delicious. Its not a perfect solution, and in the experiment they still used herbicides to help keep the unwanted reeds from returning, but the lowly, low-tech goat may help get the job done.</p>
<p>CURWOOD: And I understand they even eat poison ivy as well.</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: They do indeed! Ready for another wetlands story?</p>
<p>CURWOOD: Sure, ya got one?</p>
<p>Nansha Wetlands Park, China (Photo: Kathy &amp; Sam; Flickr CC BY 2.0)</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: When we hear about Chinas breakneck economic expansion, we often hear about CO2 emissions, or choking smog, or disastrous water pollution, or vanishing water supplies, or a dam project displacing millions of people, or vanishing wildlife, or contaminated food, or..</p>
<p>CURWOOD: OK, Peter, we get it. Chinas got a lot of environmental baggage. I take it youve got more?</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: I believe I do. With so much of its population and urban growth and industrial activity along the coastline, its reported that China may have lost as much as 50 percent of its coastal wetlands to erosion, development, and reclamation projects to convert wetlands to farms, living space, or industrial facilities. One researcher said those losses could translate to both ecological disaster and real financial harm billions of dollars in losses to fisheries and flood control, to say nothing of the harm to migrating birds and a lot more.</p>
<p>CURWOOD: And like so many topics, theres no such thing as a free lunch, except maybe for those goats you mentioned. So hey, take us back for our weekly trip into the environmental time machine. What have you dredged up for us this week?</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: OK, this was big in my childhood, and big for a lot of American kids, but it was an absolute phenomenon in Japan. 60 years ago this week, Godzilla premiered in Japanese movie houses.</p>
<p>[GODZILLA ROAR]</p>
<p>Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster movie poster. (Photo: Tom Simpson; Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)</p>
<p>CURWOOD: And a movie genre was launched, all with environmental undertones.</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: Right, it was all about radiation, and specifically Godzilla was upset by US nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. Remember this was 1954, only nine years after the end of World War II and Hiroshima and Nagasaki and atomic bombs were understandably a big deal in Japanese culture.</p>
<p>CURWOOD: But if Godzilla was mad at US nuclear tests, shouldnt he try to destroy San Francisco or LA not Tokyo?</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: Spot on, Steve, I never figured that one out, either. But two things: first, theres perpetual controversy on the Internet over whether Godzilla was actually a he. And secondly, he or she later became a hero instead of a villain. Notably in a 1971 movie when Hedorah, a hideous, smoke-belching blob of a monster tried to pollute Tokyo to death, and some young hippie environmentalists summoned Godzilla to literally clean up the town. Yes, Godzilla versus the Smog Monster was an environmental classic. And Steve?</p>
<p>CURWOOD: You think they should send Godzilla to China now?</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: Er, no, but could you please do me a favor and give all the people who think Im making this up the web link?</p>
<p>CURWOOD: [LAUGHS] Peter Dykstra is the publisher of Environmental Health News, thats EHN.org and DailyClimate.org. Thanks so much, Peter, for taking the time today.</p>
<p>DYKSTRA: Alright, Steve. Thank you and well talk to you soon.</p>
<p>CURWOOD: And you can get a link to all the things weve been talking about including Godzilla at LOE.org.</p> | Beyond the Headlines | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-10-30/beyond-headlines | 2014-10-30 | 3 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>New Mexico officials say investments are paying off when it comes to early childhood education, but more work needs to be done.</p>
<p>Federal statistics released this week show less than 40 percent of 4-year-olds are enrolled in publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs in New Mexico.</p>
<p>While that’s in line with the national average, dozens of states have even lower percentages, including neighboring Arizona and Colorado.</p>
<p>New Mexico has been working for the past decade to boost pre-K programs, and the budget that was recently approved by lawmakers includes nearly $25 million to expand pre-K across the state.</p>
<p>Public Education Department spokeswoman Ellen Hur says New Mexico has tripled its investment in public pre-K since 2011. That has resulted in the number of enrolled 4-year-olds increasing by nearly 150 percent.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | New Mexico looks to boost number of kids enrolled in pre-K | false | https://abqjournal.com/566469/new-mexico-looks-to-boost-number-of-kids-enrolled-in-pre-k.html | 2 |
|
<p>ATLANTA (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening’s drawing of the Georgia Lottery’s “All or Nothing Evening” game were:</p>
<p>04-05-08-09-10-14-15-17-19-20-23-24</p>
<p>(four, five, eight, nine, ten, fourteen, fifteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-four)</p>
<p>ATLANTA (AP) _ The winning numbers in Monday evening’s drawing of the Georgia Lottery’s “All or Nothing Evening” game were:</p>
<p>04-05-08-09-10-14-15-17-19-20-23-24</p>
<p>(four, five, eight, nine, ten, fourteen, fifteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-three, twenty-four)</p> | Winning numbers drawn in ‘All or Nothing Evening’ game | false | https://apnews.com/c2e8231251644fedb21ada4b2b62bc75 | 2018-01-08 | 2 |
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